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 a I B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 UNIVLRSITY 
 Of ILLINOIS 

 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 "y^/ 
 
 /f}". 
 
 / 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. 
 
 J. C. M. BELLE\\'. 
 
 ' Ah me ! for anght that ever I could read, 
 Could ever hear by tale or history, 
 The course of true love never did run smooth : 
 ***** 
 And ere a man hath power to say, Behold ! 
 The jaws of darkness do devour it up]; 
 So quick bright things come to confusion." 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1865. 
 
 The right of Translation is reserved.
 
 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
 
 U3 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 
 «^ 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE ... ... 1 
 
 II. FLOEENCE ... ... ... 8 
 
 III. A DELICATE EMBARRASSMENT ... 35 
 
 IT. WARFDALE TOWER ... ... 47 
 
 V. THE DOWER HOUSE ... ... 67 
 
 TI. MAT-DAT IN THE NORTH ... ... 86 
 
 YII. THE LEAP ... ... ... 103 
 
 YIII. A MEMORABLE FIRST MEETING ... 118 
 
 IX. life's romance ... ... ... 128 
 
 X. EMINENT LAWTERS ... ... 142 
 
 XI. MUSICAL ADYENTURERS ... ... 160 
 
 XII. THE DIGBT SHIRLETS " AT home" ... 169 
 
 XIII. AN ADYENTURESS ... ... 195 
 
 XIY. APARTMENTS IN HAMPTON COURT PALACE 209 
 
 XY. THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED ... 234 
 
 XYI. MUSIC AND CARDS ... ... 256 
 
 XYII. SUNDAY AT HAMPTON COURT ... 286 
 
 XYIII. A BASSO PROFONDO ... ... 314 
 
 (r>b
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST, 
 
 CHAPTEE L 
 
 A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. 
 
 OMEWARD bound ! 
 
 Every Englishman, who has been 
 banished from his country to serve his 
 country, knows the magic influence 
 of this phrase ! A man has given up his com- 
 mand, surrendered his books, papers, accounts. 
 Everything has been examined, audited, passed, 
 signed, sealed, and delivered, and he has no more 
 to do. Suddenly he finds himself detached. 
 
 " A fish out of water," or " the right man in the 
 wrong place," are familiar forms of speech ; but 
 they would inadequately convey a notion of the 
 out-of-place feeling which possesses an old soldier, 
 
 VOL. I. 1
 
 2 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 after years of foreign service (especially of regi- 
 mental duty), wlio finally closes the orderly -book, 
 pitches his pen out of window, takes down his 
 cap from its accustomed peg, and glancing round 
 the white -washed walls, the dusky faces of the 
 clerks, receives his final *' Salaam," and leaves 
 the office bungalow, with the feelings of a man 
 out of employ. 
 
 ! Colonel Willoughby Massej^, commanding the 
 
 Light Dragoons, had made over his charge 
 
 to the senior officer of his regiment. He had 
 visited his mess for the last time, bid his com- 
 rades farewell, sent in his papers to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, and was — "Homeward Bomid." 
 Neither old, nor yet young ; neither rich, nor 
 yet poor ; when the time arrived for embarking 
 at Garden Reach, Calcutta, Colonel Massey shook 
 off the dust of India from his feet with, a will. He 
 detested the country, from the moment he first 
 caught sight of its long flat shores at the Sandheads, 
 to the moment he left it. It had been his fate ! 
 As the parish labourer hates the poor-house, so 
 had he hated India. He regarded it as the 
 "imion" of well-born paupers ; and its irk- 
 some existence as penal servitude for people con-
 
 BLOUNT .TEMPEST. 3 
 
 \dcted of being younger sons ! Tlie Colonel was a 
 younger son. He had been taugbt to know the 
 fact, to realize it, and to break bis spirit over its 
 contemplation, from bis cradle upwards. 
 
 Those domestic preachers who preach at young 
 children in all their moods and tempers, inflicting 
 morals upon their laches, and erecting schools of 
 ethics out of their good behaviour, had taught 
 Willoughby Massey to " remember that he had to 
 make his way in the world." 
 
 It was quite another matter with his elder 
 brother Gerald. Whatever he did was right, for 
 he was his father's heir ; and his way in the world 
 was made ! 
 
 This chief article of the domestic creed had 
 taken deep root in Willoughby Massey' s youthful 
 mind. It had sunk down into the soil, and brought 
 forth much fruit. It made him indifferent to home, 
 and glad to get away from it. When he got away 
 it made him resolute to be independent. 
 
 Having received, at a very early age, an ap- 
 pointment as Cornet in his Majesty's Dra- 
 goon Guards, his youthful follies were sown in 
 York, Canterbury, and Dublin. 
 
 At the former of these cities, the Leger week,
 
 4 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 and tlie Annual Hunt Ball, precipitated a crisis in 
 his history. 
 
 On attaining the rank of Lieutenant, he at the 
 same time rose to that of a lover. The pretty- 
 but penniless younger daughter of a West-Riding 
 squire captivated his heart. He proposed for her, 
 and was accepted under conditional reference to 
 the papa. This involved another reference, viz. 
 to Willoughby Massey's father, who scouted the 
 idea of anything so "preposterous," as he was 
 pleased or rather displeased to term it, and once 
 again reiterated the chief article of the domestic 
 creed, "Remember that you have to make your 
 own way in the world." 
 
 The paternal sermon had been preached once 
 too often. 
 
 " I will remember," said Willoughby. " My 
 father grudges me an allowance, while he la^dshes 
 his money on my brother. He shall find I have 
 taken him at his word, and will ask no further 
 favours." 
 
 He married the young lady ; exchanged into 
 a regiment under orders for India ; spent years in 
 that expatriation ; had fever ; touches of " liver ; " 
 went up-country, and did his share of fighting.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 5 
 
 The monotony of Indian life was to tlie last degree 
 irksome and oppressive to liim. But L.e did his 
 duty conscientiously, and rose in his regiment 
 luckily, "making his own way in the world," and 
 troubling his father or his brother as little as 
 they troubled him. 
 
 After some years of married life, death not only 
 deprived him of his father, but also of his com- 
 panion, leaving him ^dth an only child, a boy, 
 whose years and constitution had ah-eady warned 
 him that it was time for the child to be sent 
 "home," — that is, to England. Colonel Massey 
 consequently determined to apply for leave, and 
 to take the child himself. His application having 
 been granted by the Commander-in-Chief, the 
 Colonel wrote to England, apprising his wife's 
 family of his intended return. 
 
 " I shall proceed as far as Malta by the mail, 
 and then take a passage on board one of the 
 ItaKan steamers, so as to visit Naples and Home 
 and go on to Florence, where I see that my old 
 school- fellow and chimi, Geofirey Tempest, is now 
 minister. I shall return direct by Genoa, Mar- 
 seilles, and through Paris to England. I intend 
 to start by the next monthly mail, so on receipt
 
 6 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 of this you liad better, in writing to me, direct 
 *Post E-estante, Florence.' I shall write you 
 from thence as soon as I arrive, and you will not 
 receive my letter many days before you see me in 
 person. 
 
 "]^[ow that I am coming home, you may as 
 well send me any Launcester news, or a paper 
 to put me 'au courant' of passing events. 
 Since my father's death I have scarcely heard a 
 word from Launcester. My brother Gerald and 
 I rarely cross letters, so that I am grossly 
 ignorant of all the present associations of what, 
 you are pleased to call that ' lyric word ' — home." 
 
 On the 13th of the following month, one of 
 the early months of the year, and shortly after 
 " gun fire," ere the scorching sun streamed 
 down upon Fort William, or pretentious 
 Chowringhee ; while judges of the Supreme Court 
 or of the Suddur, civilians, merchants, ladies, and 
 belles, were hurrying along the " Course " or 
 across the Maidhan, riding, driving, or walking 
 in the make-believe of taking exercise ; while 
 squatting natives invited English breakfast- eaters 
 to speculate in " tupsey-muchhlee ; " while the 
 wearers of broad-brimmed topees stalked along
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. / 
 
 tlie side of tlie HoogMy, discussing, with, looks of 
 tremendous self-importance, tlie small items of 
 yesterday's affairs at the various secretariats, 
 Colonel Willoughby Massey drove in his buggy 
 down to Garden Reach, waving as he went a last 
 farewell to many a familiar face, and embarked 
 for "home." 
 
 In due course having arrived at Malta, and 
 parted company with his fellow-passengers from 
 India, he and his yomig son (named after him 
 but having that name commonly abbreviated into 
 "Willy") were compelled to wait a day or two 
 before a steamer from Sicily arrived. At length. 
 the looked-for vessel came into port, and the 
 Colonel had the delight of enjoying the hope 
 and desire of many a year. He planted his feet 
 once again on European soil. He realized the 
 dream of his life, and saw Naples and Rome.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLORENCE. 
 
 HAT exquisite pathos there is in those 
 lines in " In Memoriam " where the 
 "di^dnely gifted man," — 
 
 " Whose life in low estate began," 
 "looks back on what hath been," and asks of the 
 man of narrower fate, the "one that was his 
 earHest mate," — 
 
 " Does my old friend remember me ? " 
 Colonel Massey saw IN'aples, and did not die ! 
 He was impatient to see old faces, and renew 
 acquaintance with old friends. Old places, there- 
 fore, had little power to make his chariot -wheels 
 tarry. Without pretending to that eagle-like 
 rapidity of vision which some transatlantic tra- 
 vellers affect to possess, seeing Rome in a day.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 9 
 
 Italy in a week, Europe in a month, and Eng- 
 land in forty- eight hours, while obliged to wait 
 Cunard's convenience, nevertheless the Colonel 
 "did'' his Vesuvius, Pompeii, St Peter's, and 
 Colosseum, with a rapidity that betokened the 
 soundness of his limbs. 
 
 The very places he had been hoping all his 
 life to visit, were reached at last, and then the 
 dominating feeling of his mind was a desire to 
 get away from them. 
 
 Siste, Yiator ! Thousands of eager tourists 
 experience, like the Colonel, the realization of 
 long- cherished anticipations, but nevertheless feel 
 with him the same carelessness or indifference 
 after vieTving what they came so far to see. 
 
 Whatever were the objects or places he 
 visited, whether at I^aples or Rome, he appeared 
 always to be comparing them with Florence. 
 If he looked down upon the Tiber, he spoke of 
 the Arno, and when he gazed round St Peter's, 
 he talked of Savonarola. His mind was out- 
 stripping his body, and travelling in advance, 
 was, with the poet, asking, — 
 
 " Does my old friend remember me ? " 
 Colonel Massey and Geoffrey Despencer Tempest,
 
 10 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Minister of the Court of St James's at tlie Grand 
 Ducal Coui't of Florence, had, when boys, been 
 educated together at Fontes Court Abbey in the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire. Among its ruins they 
 had learned their Greek plays and indulged in 
 the lighter study of " Hide, and go seek." Years, 
 long years had separated them ; but the lapse of 
 time had not eaten away and destroyed, it had 
 only overgrown and concealed, the affection of 
 one of the two, whose first and great desire in 
 returning to Europe was to meet with his boy- 
 hood's friend, and see whether he remained faith- 
 ful to his youthful attachment. 
 
 On arriving, at length, at Florence, Colonel 
 Massey had neither patience nor inclination to 
 look at the rooms in the Hotel to which he was 
 conducted. 
 
 The servant who had charge of '^ Willy" 
 would see to that. Scarce allo^ving time for the 
 luggage to be deposited, the Colonel jumped into 
 a vehicle, and ordered himself to be driven to the 
 Chancellerie of the English Minister ! 
 
 Can any two people, two elements, two any- 
 things be mentioned or conceived more incon- 
 gruous than an impatient traveller and that
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 11 
 
 impertiu-bably placid member of an embassy 
 called an Attache ? 
 
 An Attache never hurries for any man. Self- 
 possession is the chief attribute of his calling. He 
 learns it at the bottom of the diplomatic lad- 
 der even in dealing with such gauche bores as 
 English travellers, and he cultivates it to the 
 top of his bent, when striving to enact the Strat- 
 ford de Redcliffe role with Emperors and Sul- 
 tans. 
 
 On entering the ChanceUerie, Colonel Massey 
 found it tenanted by two persons, the one an 
 unpaid Attache, the other a man, whose dress, 
 ring, chain, seals, ungloved hands, and thick- 
 grown beard, proclaimed him a courier. 
 
 The contrast between them was very strik- 
 ing, but not more striking than their employ- 
 ment. 
 
 The first impression upon the Colonel's mind 
 was that some clothes-man of the Hollywell Street 
 district had made a descent upon Florence ; and 
 conmiencing with the household of her Majesty's 
 Minister, was purchasing the tarnished epau- 
 lettes, gold cuffs, and collars, that had done duty 
 in by- gone years at the Court of St James's !
 
 12 
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 There was ample time allowed tlie visitor to 
 make any amount of notes or observations. Ex- 
 cept a careless glance from the Attache as the 
 former entered the office, a sort of "who-are- 
 you, -and- what-do-yoii- want ? " glance, no further 
 notice was taken of him. '' One at a time," and 
 " we can only see a certain number of people in 
 a day, the rest must wait until to-morrow," being 
 the system of all such establishments, English or 
 Foreign, throughout the world. 
 
 The Colonel discovered that it was in vain for 
 him to exhibit impatience, or expect any in- 
 quiries to be answered until the individual who 
 was " in possession of the house " had been de- 
 spatched. So sauntering about the room, and 
 waiting his turn, he amused himself by watching 
 the proceedings of the young diplomatist and the 
 courier. 
 
 An open trunk was upon the Chancellerie 
 table, out of which, one by one, the latter was en- 
 gaged in remo\dng, and exhibiting, various articles 
 of dress, which, to the surprise of the looker-on, 
 all belonged to a female's wardrobe. Every ar- 
 ticle was duly scheduled by one as it was called 
 over by the other.
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 13 
 
 " One pine-patterned sliawl/' cried the coui'ier. 
 
 "One pine-patterned shawl," repeated the 
 Bcribe. 
 
 "An embroidered scarf," said the first. 
 
 "An embroidered scarf," answered the other, 
 glancing at the article of attire — "Upon my 
 veracity, a most remarkable scarf too. Worn by 
 Mrs JSToah probably when she joined the state 
 procession out of the ark." 
 
 The Colonel smiled, and thought within him- 
 self that it was well suited for an archaeological 
 museum. 
 
 One or two trinkets, a T\Titing-case contain- 
 ing a few letters, and a pair of child's shoes, 
 were next scheduled. 
 
 Among other things that lay upon the table 
 was an English newspaper, closed in the folds in 
 which it had passed through the Post Office. 
 It would probably have escaped observation and 
 been thrown into the waste-paper basket of the 
 Chancellerie, had it not been that the upper fold 
 exposed to ^dew the commencement of the title 
 
 "The Laux— " 
 
 The Colonel's eyes lighted upon the letters, and
 
 14 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 his attention was instantly arrested. Could that 
 paper be the " Launcester Guardian," he thought, 
 the weeldy paper of the county town near which 
 lie was born ? Pooh ! there might be a hundred 
 other places in the British Gazetteer beginning 
 with the letters '^ Laun ! " There would be no 
 harm however in satisfying his curiosity ! So he 
 took the paper up and opened its folds. The 
 title ran, — 
 
 THE LAUNCESTER GUARDIAIN". 
 
 Saturday, , 18 — . 
 
 Every traveller loiows the anxiety and curi- 
 osity with which, after even a few days' absence 
 from his comitry, he seizes any English paper 
 that comes within his reach. No passion is more 
 universal th^ that of Englishmen, young as well 
 as old, for .their ''paper.'' Somewhere or another 
 on those eight broad pages there is certain to be 
 pabulum that feeds the particular fancy or taste 
 of every British man or boy. But here was not 
 only news in general, but news in particular. 
 
 Seldom during the long years of his expatri- 
 ation had Colonel Massey caught sight of the 
 once famiHar '' Guardian," that weekly which the
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 15 
 
 farmers used to purcliase on market-day at Laun- 
 cester when, he was a boy, and take home for en- 
 joyment mth the afternoon pipe on the Simday : 
 that weekly, in whose " poetic corner " the 
 Colonel recollected that he had first seen himself 
 in print in the dulcet Terses penned *' On a dis- 
 tant ^dew of the Lakes by W. M.," or ''Lines 
 addressed to A — g — ta, on hearing her sing ' Home, 
 sweet Home.' By Amator." 
 
 *' This is indeed a bit of luck," muttered the 
 Colonel to himself, " to think that I should drop 
 upon an old Launcester Guardian the first thing 
 on arriving in Europe ! The dear old Guardian, 
 that I have not seen for many a year. "Well, 
 well ! Let me see, let me see what's going on in 
 the old place." 
 
 He opened the paper, and began to read. 
 
 Farmers' advertisements, pictures of ploughs, 
 of horses with bands of straw round their tails ; 
 lectures at Institutes ; sermons to be preached at 
 the parish church ; deputations from parent socie- 
 ties ; Town Hall tea-meetings, with tales of won- 
 ders by missionaries. These things mattered no- 
 thing to the Colonel, so he turned over the broad 
 leaf. The Eoyal arms, the time of " high
 
 16 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 water" at the Launcester bridge, and a leading 
 article occupied the second page. 
 
 " Stupid rubbish," muttered the Colonel ; "if 
 the men who write these things put their names 
 to them no one would read them. Ah ! here's the 
 * Local Intelligence,' " he added, presently ; " that 
 is more in my line ! " 
 
 Down the column his eye ran, and now and 
 again a slight smile played about his mouth as he 
 recognized the names of persons and places that 
 had long been familiar. There had been a flower- 
 show ; the gardener of Gerald Massey, Esq., had 
 won the silver medal. His brother's name in print 
 sent the blood to the Colonel's cheeks. Then there 
 was the Christmas Ball at the Assembly-Eooms. 
 In the list of company appeared a few people that 
 he remembered, as well as a host of whom he 
 had never heard. 
 
 "They form a new generation, I shall be a 
 perfect stranger among them ; " and as he mur- 
 mured this, his eyes fell upon a heading spaced out 
 in large type on the next column, that painfull}^ 
 interested him.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 17 
 
 I 
 
 « FEIGHTFUL ACCIDENT ON THE LAUNE. 
 
 Ten lives lost. 
 
 (Second Edition.) 
 
 ""We stop the press in publishing our second 
 edition to announce an accident that occurred 
 this morning about 11 a. m., which will cast a 
 gloom over the whole neighbourhood. A large 
 skating party assembled to breakfast at Bolton 
 Hall in order to enjoy that winter's pastime on 
 the Bolton water. Among the company were Mr 
 Leigh of Standish, Sir Bohun Trafibrd of Trafibrd, 
 the Earl and Countess of Furness, Mr Poulett 
 Scrope, M.P., Mr Gerald Massey, Sir Nigel Tem- 
 pest, and his nephew Mr Bloimt Tempest, besides 
 a large number of ladies and gentlemen from the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 " Sledges having been prepared for the occasion, 
 the ladies were distributed in parties, and the 
 gentlemen skaters, with rope-harness attached ta 
 the sledges, set out with their fair burdens to race 
 from Bolton to the Aqueduct. 
 
 "As a precautionar}^ measure, it was thought 
 prudent for one or tv»'0 pioneers to go forward and 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 18 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 try tlie ice under the Aqueduct, so as to prove 
 whether it were sound, and safe for the sledges 
 to pass. Mr Scrope, Mr Massey, and some of the 
 labourers on the estate, proceeded upon their mis- 
 sion. On approaching their destination the ice 
 seemed perfectly trustworthy, and the whole 
 party of scouts were about returning, when Mr 
 Massey proposed that to be more certain they 
 should pass once under the Aqueduct themselves, 
 and then retui'n to report the result. 
 
 " The suggestion was agreed upon, and imme- 
 diately put into execution, with, we regret to say, 
 the most fatal consequences. Though the ice had 
 every appearance of secimty, it seems that the 
 drip from the Aqueduct above had rendered it 
 rotten beneath the arches. The moment the 
 weight of the skaters came upon it, the entire 
 block beneath the bridge became disconnected. It 
 sank like a trap beneath their feet, and precipitated 
 them into the river. This accident might not 
 have proved fatal, indeed it is confidently believed 
 that those immersed would have been rescued but 
 for the fact of the ice at once closing over their 
 lieads. 
 if. " Struggle or effort was useless ; they were
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 19 
 
 drawn by the current of the riATr under the un- 
 broken ice, and literally suffocated in presence of 
 their friends. As we write, the ladders and drags 
 have been brought to the spot, and workmen are 
 continually breaking the ice in order to recover 
 the dead bodies." 
 
 LATEST INTELLIGENCE. KiLF-rAST 3 p.m. 
 
 " Eight out of the ten persons immersed have 
 been recovered : 
 
 Mr Poidett Scrope, aged 35. 
 
 John Johnson, labourer, aged 40. 
 
 Thomas Johnson, his son, aged 14. 
 
 Ebenezer Hartopp (only child of widow Har- 
 topp), aged 20. 
 
 Harry Brun, aged 50. 
 
 William Snell, aged 22. 
 
 " The two other bodies have not as yet been 
 recognized. 
 
 " One of the most heart-rending facts in this 
 frightfid accident is the circumstance of Mr 
 Massey's corpse being distinctly discernible under 
 the ice. People standing upon the parapet of the 
 aqueduct and looking down upon the frozen sur- 
 face were im-^dllino: witnesses of his death-struo--
 
 20 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 gles, and totally unable to render Mm the smallest 
 assistance. By liis death, it is almost imneces- 
 sary to inform our readers that we lose the repre- 
 sentative of one of the oldest families in the 
 county. The deceased was never married, and by 
 his death, the extensive Massey estates devolve 
 upon his brother, Colonel Willoughby Massey^ 
 now conmianding his regiment in India." 
 
 The Chancellerie seemed set into motion 
 and revolving before the Colonel's eyes. The air 
 became thick and misty. Sounds like the moan 
 qf the tide's first flow filled his ears. His nerves 
 lost their vigour, and as the paper dropped from 
 his hands he clutched at the table and the trunk to 
 prevent himself from falling. 
 
 The courier sprang towards him to hold him 
 up. Even the Attache awoke from his lethargy 
 into animation, and proposed dashing a tmnbler 
 full of water into his face. 
 
 '' That's exactl}' how my padrona was taken," 
 said the former, ^' and all from reading a Gazetta 
 like that. Signer, it must be poisoned." 
 
 But neither the Colonel nor the Attache 
 heard the remark. " A scene " was the last thing
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 21 
 
 in which, the guardian of the Chancellerie 
 Avishecl to take part. Having siumnoned assist- 
 ance, the servants conducted the stranger into the 
 palace, and a message was sent to the ]\Iinister to 
 inform him of the occurrence. 
 
 While Colonel Massey was endeavouring to 
 recover from the shock his nerves had received, 
 her Majesty's representative, Mr Greo&ey Des- 
 pencer Tempest, entered the room, and beheld his 
 servants surrounding a figure stretched upon the 
 
 sofa. r.; 
 
 '^ What is the matter ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Eccellenza ! the signer has had a fit.'' 
 
 Mr Tempest advanced towards the sofa, and 
 saw there the tall, soldier-lil^e figure of a gentle- 
 man, apparently a stranger though a coimtr}'- 
 man. 
 
 " M}^ poor brother ! " groaned the Colonel, as 
 he returned to consciousness. 
 
 *' Your brother, sir ? " said the Minister, in- 
 quiringly, as if he wished to Ivuow what brother 
 could have produced the scene before him. 
 
 " Ay, my brother — poor Gerald, he is dead ! " 
 
 " Gerald ! " ejaculated Mr Tempest, '' Gerald ! 
 'Then you are — ? ''
 
 22 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 " Willougliby Massey." 
 
 Thus abruptly did those friends meet, who had 
 been parted more than twenty years. 
 
 The careers of both had been distinguished 
 without being brilliant. They had served their 
 country, and reached middle age as trusted officers 
 of the State. 
 
 That day of meeting was to each a living 
 again a brief epitome of their Kves. A few hours 
 told them all that many years had produced. 
 Indian life became familiar to the one, parlia- 
 mentary and diplomatic to the other. 
 
 They dined together, and as the evening closed 
 over smmy Florence, they sat in the verandah of 
 the palace, looking doT^Ti upon the street and 
 the gay life moving along, and recomiting their 
 adventures in the great world to which they be- 
 longed. 
 
 Colonel Massey could hardly realize the 
 changed position he was about to occupy. Mr 
 Tempest knew far more of Durham-Massey than 
 its o"s\'ner, who was compelled to ask him particu- 
 lars regarding his own property — ^how it had been 
 managed, how maintained, how his brother Gerald 
 had fulfilled his duties as a landlord; how he
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 23 
 
 had lived, and wliat he liad done. Everytliing was 
 information to the Colonel. 
 
 ^yiiy his brother had never married was to 
 him a surprise. " It was," said Mr Tempest, " as 
 much a surprise to every one. The belief in the 
 county was that a marriage had been arranged 
 with the Lady Fanny Howard, a younger daugh- 
 ter of the Earl and Countess of Furness ; but when 
 it was expected to come off, Gerald Massey had 
 vanished, no one knew where. He had not been 
 seen or heard of at Durham-Massey, nor yet in 
 London, for several months ; and all his letters 
 had been forwarded to the care of his lawj^ers. 
 Suddenly he returned to his mansion, and his law- 
 yers with him. Steward, agents, tenants, all were 
 in a state of commotion, and once again curiosity 
 was roused to discover his probable objects or pur- 
 poses in life. 
 
 This was the last intelligence Mr Tempest 
 could give. The end, the death of Gerald Massey, 
 was kno^Ti to the Minister, but further particulars 
 regarding him or the estate had not yet reached 
 Florence. 
 
 Mr Tempest explained that he himself was a 
 married man, that his wife and children were in
 
 24 
 
 BI.OUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 England, and that it had been arranged, as soon as 
 the hot weather should be over, that they were to 
 join him at Florence. 
 
 The deepening night at last warned the 
 Colonel it was time to retire. He declined 
 taking up his quarters at the Embassy, as he had 
 already secured rooms for himself and his son. 
 Promising to look in early in the morning, and 
 join the Minister at breakfast, he rose to take his 
 departure. 
 
 ^' God bless you, Willoughb}" ! I am delighted 
 to see you once again after so long a parting, and 
 to be the first to congratulate you on your be- 
 coming master of Durham-Massey." 
 
 " Good-night, dear old fellow, it makes me 
 feel a boy again to see you." 
 
 . '' Don't forget to bring your boy with you to 
 breakfast." 
 
 And so they parted. 
 
 Now the Colonel was little disposed for sleep. 
 The exciting events of the day had banished 
 slumber from his eyelids, so he resolved to re- 
 tui-n to his apartments, and having seen that the 
 boy was " all right " and asleep, to light a 
 cheroot, and take a stroll in the far-famed city.
 
 BLOLXT TEMPEST. 25 
 
 If there is a place in the world to provoke 
 the composition of a true Petrarchan Sonnet, 
 snrely it is Florence. Florence by day or by 
 night, but especially by night I If "Wordsworth 
 standing upon Westminster Bridge, and con- 
 templating London at early morn, was constrain- 
 ed to exclaim : — 
 
 " Dull would he be of soul who could pass by 
 A sight so touching in its majesty. 
 Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep ; 
 The river glideth at his own sweet will. 
 Dear God ! the very houses seem asleep ; 
 And all that mighty heart is lying still"— 
 
 what would he have said and smig had he, at 
 the same hour of summer-night, stood upon the 
 bridge at Florence, and contemplated the city of 
 the Medici ! 
 
 There are those to whom a book is a book, 
 a horse a horse, a church a church, 
 
 " A primrose by the river's brim 
 A yellow primrose is to him," 
 
 and it is nothing more : those who would as 
 soon, or perhaps sooner, have the latest edition 
 of Shakespeare, than a copy of the first folio that 
 may have belonged to Ben Jonson or Dick 
 Burbage.
 
 26 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Ally well-bred colt would be as mucli regard- 
 ed by them as the charger that AYellingtoii rode 
 at Waterloo. Any beautiful j)iece of architec- 
 ture by Gilbert Scott would seem just as in- 
 teresting as the " Crown " of Canterbury, or the 
 ^a\e of Westminster. 
 
 To such persons association is valueless. They 
 regard everything ^;fr se. 
 
 Enough has ah^eady been revealed of Colonel 
 Massey's character, to show that he was not a 
 person of this description. He Avas still a young 
 man, — yes, young in feeling, thought, and vigour, 
 although he had numbered eight- and- thirty years. 
 Ahnost in boyhood, as I have related, he 
 had married a penniless girl for love, and never 
 regretted it. There are cases in which when 
 poverty comes in at the door, love does not fly 
 out at the window. His was one. The penni- 
 less wife had been his companion ; and despite 
 the maxims of this age of gold, it may be as- 
 serted that the richest dowry a woman can bring 
 with her to a husband's house, is the capacity 
 and disposition to be his help-mate. 
 
 Men can work and support their wives. If 
 they cannot and do not, they are unworthy of
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 27 
 
 Laving tliem. Let those wlio liave worked and 
 won tliis world's independence, say wliether tlie 
 treasure beyond all price is not a friend, coun- 
 sellor, and associate at home ? 
 
 ''AVliat did he get with his mfe?" is the 
 well-worn question of the world when a man 
 marries ; and if the answer be "not a shilling,'' 
 society raises its eyebrows with amazement, and 
 considers that the man who is laboui^ing for a 
 fortune has lost his senses when he marries with- 
 out money. 
 
 Money ! Great god of England's idolatry — 
 Baal of modern Babylon, you have been worship- 
 ped over much ! and many a rich and wretched 
 home has testified that happiness demands that a 
 woman should bring her husband a dower com- 
 pared with which gold is as dross ! The wife 
 who is a man's companion makes him rich 
 indeed. 
 
 . Colonel Massey had what is called "romance " 
 in his composition ; that romance which does not 
 alter the realities of life, but afiects our \iew of 
 them just as sunshine affects the landscape. 
 The common-place woidd have called him " eccen- 
 tric," simply because he did not move in a groove,
 
 28 ELOUXT TEINIPEST. 
 
 as common-place folk do. He was guilty of tlie 
 extraordinary peculiarity of acting for himself 
 and thinking for himself. The bell-wethers of 
 society might gingle their bells and all the social 
 sheep race after them in a flock, bleating a chorus 
 of acquiescent opinion, without in the smallest 
 degree moving or influencing him. So he had 
 married, upon his own opinion, lived in a man- 
 ner agreeable to his own opinion, and his vv^orld 
 had been in his own home ! 
 
 It was the romantic and poetic element in 
 his nature which induced him to tm*n aside from 
 his direct route home, in order not to pass by the 
 friend of his childhood, and to see those cities 
 of Italy, which all his life long he had desired 
 to visit. His -Nvishes were gratified, ISTaples and 
 Ptome he had beheld. His friend had welcomed 
 him. He had enjoyed the strongly-coveted 
 hours of intercommunion of thought with the 
 man he loved, and now in the silence of the 
 night, he wandered forth through Florence, to 
 muse and to moralize. 
 
 Did his mind revert to the blind old Galileo 
 whom England's blind poet celebrated in his 
 epic? Did he re-people the cathedral with the
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 2^ 
 
 enraptured crowd, listening to their Savonarola, tlie 
 greatest Christian preacher since St Paul? Did 
 Lorenzo the- Magnificent rise up before his 
 imagination, "princeps et tyrannus," amidst those 
 streets that he made the monimients of his fame ? 
 
 Yes ! he thought of them all as he wandered 
 in his solitary midnight ramble along the streets 
 their feet had trod centuries ago ; but he thought 
 far more of his dead wife — of the woman, the 
 companion, who had shared all his life's trials 
 and troubles, and mth whom to have shared 
 his present unexpected accession to riches and 
 position, would have been the summit of worldly 
 happiness ! 
 
 ^' 3Iy dear, lost love ! " he murmured. " Oh ! 
 had you only lived until now ! " 
 
 Are we all so selfish and so egotistical as 
 some of the hmnom^ists of our age represent us ? 
 mth the lemons m the market cannot we secure 
 an abmidant supply of sweet oranges ? Fortune, 
 success, and perhaps fame, carry many more men's 
 thoughts backwards to some grass-groT\Ti grave 
 than they would themselves confess to the world, 
 lest they should be suspected of sentiment. 
 
 In the hour of their triumph they lack the
 
 3'0 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 pearl that slioiild be dropped into the cup of joj I 
 Their pleasure is chastened by the want of the 
 one person, whose presence, " had they onty lived 
 until now," would have made it intense. 
 
 So was it with Willoughby Massey ! He 
 had been deeph' shocked and stunned by the 
 sudden news of his brother's death ; but grief 
 there was none ! He grieved for her he loved, 
 for her he woidd have given all his present 
 fortune to recall, for her, ^dthout whom that 
 fortune profited him little ! 
 
 *' Had you only lived until now ! " he repeated 
 as he passed along the bridge, and followed the 
 bank of the Arno, watching the efiects of the 
 chequered light upon the water and upon the 
 palaces, as the moon, seemingly in chase, now 
 dived behind dark banks, and now bu]'st out 
 again, shining upon the river and the town. 
 The inconstant light became dimmed by a 
 mass of scudding clouds, and the objects under 
 tiie shadows of the walls and houses difficult to 
 discriminate ; but the Colonel felt convinced 
 that he saw a living form mo^dng along the 
 street — not openly, but stealthily, vnth the pur- 
 pose of avoiding observation.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 31 
 
 "Who could wish to escape my observa- 
 tion ? " lie mentally inquired. " I am a per- 
 fect stranger here — no one knows me, or can 
 in the least care about avoiding me. It must bo 
 the old story, the poignard and the purse, your 
 money or yoiu- life." 
 
 So the Englishman, fancying himself likely 
 to be attacked, prepared to j)ractise the noble 
 art of self-defence. 
 
 Being thoroughly on the alert, he took up 
 his position in the middle of the road, that 
 if any violence was contemj)lated, he should have 
 the advantage of seeing his adversary's approach. 
 
 But no one approached, and it became evi- 
 dent to the Colonel that he was himself the per- 
 son to be avoided, not that he had anything to 
 avoid. 
 
 Simidtaneously with the sense of personal se- 
 cmity, awoke the feeling of curiosity. "What 
 could it mean ? What cause of fear coidd he be 
 to any human being in Florence ? " he thought. 
 
 He determined if possible to soh^e the mj's- 
 tery, and advanced upon the dark, indistinct 
 mass he saw creeping along under the shadow 
 of a wall. As he came nearer, he perceived
 
 82 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 there were two persons, a male and a female, 
 both carrymg something in their arms. They 
 were hurrying in the direction he was going, and 
 he observed the nearer he approached, the more 
 rapidly they hastened away. 
 
 *'They must have committed a robbery," he 
 muttered to hunself, ''and are now decamping 
 Avith the stolen goods. What shall I do ? " 
 
 " Do ? " common-place people would reply, 
 *'Do, why mind your own business, and don't 
 risk having half a foot of cold steel poked 
 imder your ribs." 
 
 But "Willoughby Massey, as I have already 
 stated, had no respect for common-place; more- 
 over he was a soldier — and if the skulkers were 
 robbers, he resolved that, at least, he would give 
 them a fright ; so springing out into a sharp run 
 he endeavoured to overtake them. 
 
 The woman was much fleeter than the man, 
 and was evidently much more lightly weighted ; 
 indeed when she had run a short distance she 
 dropped her burden altogether, which came in 
 contact with the Colonel's feet. 
 
 ''Then you are thieves," he shouted; "but 
 you shall not escape if I can help it," and bound-
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 33 
 
 ing forward he made way quickly upon tlie man. 
 Leaving the Arno and the Ponte Yecchio, the 
 Colonel had followed in pursuit past the Duomo, 
 and alono^ the Yia dei Servi. The fuo^itives had 
 reached, and were endeavouring to escape under 
 shadow of, the Brunelleschian corridors of the 
 Piazza della S.S. Annunziata, when their pursuer 
 pressed hotly upon them. 
 
 '' Qui ! qui ! here it is, caro sposo ! " shouted the 
 woman, pointing to the wall, as they approached 
 the facaded loggia of La Santissima Annunziata. 
 
 The fellow stopped, as the Colonel thought, to 
 confront him. 
 
 " Then he is going to show fight," the English- 
 man muttered. 
 
 But he was mistaken. The man, satisfied that 
 the stranger had halted, raised the bundle in his 
 arms, dropped it somewhere or into something out 
 of sight, and taking to his heels made ofi* down 
 the Yia S. Sebastiano. 
 
 Pursuit seemed unnecessary, for the robber 
 had surrendered the plunder. 
 
 The Colonel felt more curious to examine this, 
 than to catch the thieves. He was aware that un- 
 pleasant consequences might result from such an 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 attempt, and tliat in a street-row justice sometimes 
 miscarries. He returned, therefore, to the centre 
 of the Piazza, close to the statue of Ferdinand I,, 
 picked up the bmidle, and then advanced towards 
 the spot where the man had deposited his portion 
 of the spoil. A greater mystification than he had 
 experienced before, here awaited him. 
 
 The moon darting forth from the clouds be- 
 hind which she had been concealed, played upon 
 the walls and windows of a building, in the span- 
 drils of whose Tuscan arches swathed figures of 
 infants stood out in relief. It was evidently a 
 public edifice. Its iron-clamped gateway and 
 grill, its lofty and barred windows, suggested to 
 his mind it was a prison ; but the idea was in- 
 stantly dissipated, when he discovered a basket 
 fixed upon a turnstile at the spot where the fugi- 
 tive had halted ; and deposited in the basket was 
 a child, while overhead hung the handle of a bell 
 to be rung by those presenting to the State the 
 ofispring of their love and their shame ! 
 
 The building was the Orfanotrofio, the Spedale 
 degl' Innocenti.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A DELICATE EMBARRASSMENT. 
 
 ELL ! here is an adventure witli a 
 
 vengeance/' exclaimed tlie Colonel, 
 
 with a laugh, that rang along the 
 
 silent street, and echoed against the 
 
 walls of the Spedale degl' Innocenti. 
 
 " So, so, this was the business of my runaway 
 gentleman and lady; and your poor mamma, 
 pretty miss,'' he added, addressing the foundling, 
 "came to see the last of you, did she ? Why, what 
 a brute am I that I shoidd have interrupted the 
 tender parting of a devoted parent from her help- 
 less child. Ah ! Madam, you should have been 
 braver, and have fared better." 
 
 The subject had so far presented itself to the 
 English officer's mind as a jest ; but the con- 
 templation of the infant suggested more serious
 
 36 
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 thoiiglits. What was to be done ? Had tlie un- 
 natural j)arent but rung the bell, he would have 
 been spared all speculation. The turnstile would 
 have revolved, the basket been carried within the 
 walls, and the world would never have laio^Ti of 
 the child's existence, until as a soldier, or a sister 
 of charity, the nameless orphan had been sent 
 forth to do the will of the Government. 
 
 But the bell had not been rung, and out of 
 that omission the incidents of the following history 
 were shaped. 
 
 The situation was embarrassing. No doubt 
 there was something ludicrous in a middle-aged 
 gentleman suddenly attempting to perform the 
 office of a nurse ! The hero of the adventure 
 thought of this and appeared to hesitate. 
 
 "But what's to be done? " he questioned him- 
 self again. " Shall I ring the bell ? If I do, the 
 act of consigning this helpless child to an early 
 prison and a life-long servitude, is mine. 
 
 " Confound it — no ! that would be absolute in- 
 humanity. Why should the innocent suffer for 
 those Avho committed the sin ? 
 
 " But shall I leave the poor thing here, — leave 
 it to the tender mercies of the next passer-by, who
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 37 
 
 will probably ring tbe bell for me, and end the 
 business ? Well, that would be his act, and not 
 mine/' 
 
 The last word was only half pronounced — the 
 speaker feeling ashamed of himself for allo's^'ing 
 the idea time to rise from his heart to his 
 lips! 
 
 A voice from the basket turned the current of 
 his thoughts, and fixed the destiny of its inmate. 
 In the pale splendour of the moonbeams he bent 
 over the temporary cradle, and beheld a lovely 
 little girl, a child passing out of infancy and help- 
 lessness, to that endearing age when it first learns 
 to shape words of afiectionate entreaty. 
 
 ^' Me, me, me — up ! " she cried, kicking her 
 little legs about, and laughing at the moonlight 
 shining full in her face. 
 
 " Up I " answered the Colonel. " Yes ! my 
 little lady, you shall get up," and he lifted her 
 forth from the basket and folded her to his breast. 
 
 There may be gallantry felt and exhibited 
 even under such circumstances as these. It is 
 certain the child's sex appealed at once to the 
 manly heart of her patron. Has it not been said 
 that he was " romantic ? " and was not the
 
 38 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 romance of this situation enough to touch any 
 one with a grain of sentiment in his constitution ? 
 Ah, yes ! — but this was no romantic weakness at 
 which strong men would laugh. 
 
 The sweet poetry of his existence now began 
 to flood back upon his thoughts. He recalled the 
 image of his deceased wife, the only woman whom 
 he had ever loved; he remembered the tender 
 guardianship she, by her pure and Christian living, 
 had spread round his life, and the guide, consoler, 
 and example she had always been to him in every 
 difficulty of trial or vexation. 
 
 It seemed to him as if her spirit were moving 
 in the still air, as if she were floating on the moon- 
 beams and kissing his forehead in the cool breeze 
 wafted from the water. In the audible silence of 
 the night he thought he could almost hear her 
 whispering suggestively, — 
 
 " I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I 
 was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a 
 stranger and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed 
 me. Lord, when saw we thee a stranger and took 
 thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? When saw 
 we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? 
 
 "And the King shall answer and say, 'Inas-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 39 
 
 much as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
 these, ye have done it unto me.' " 
 
 " And I will do it imto thee, my poor little 
 helpless one," said the English officer, as he 
 tenderly stroked the small head, and carefully laid 
 it on his shoulder. 
 
 "Me, me, me, mamma's Mabel, poor mam- 
 ma's Mabel," lisped the child. " Poor mam- 
 ma," she added, as if she had made up her mind to 
 be as chatty and communicative as it was possible 
 for her to be. 
 
 " Poor mamma, indeed," he murmured, " your 
 mamma's a brute, my darling ! of that there can 
 be no doubt." 
 
 But beyond the assurance that she was " mam- 
 ma's Mabel," the Colonel could learn nothing 
 from his little friend. In fact her vocabulary 
 extended no further. He had abeady enjoyed the 
 beginning and the end of her eloquence. 
 
 His determination to protect the child, and if 
 it were possible to discover her parents, being re- 
 solved upon. Colonel Massey began to reflect upon 
 the condition of his newly acquired charge, and on 
 the appearance of the persons in whose custody 
 she had last been seen.
 
 40 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 The man reminded him of some one lie had 
 met before. 
 
 " I could swear," he muttered to himself, " I 
 have seen the fellow since I arrived in Italy, but 
 for my life I cannot think where. But I hate 
 seen him I am certain. I never forget a face, — ^his 
 is one I should know if I met him at the antipodes. 
 
 He is uncommonly like no, that can't be. 
 
 This man spoke Italian ; he would have answered 
 in French had he been able, — perhaps in English, 
 if he could have spoken the language. He mxid 
 be Italian." 
 
 Thereupon the Colonel commenced an examin- 
 ation of the girl's apparel, and, much to his sur- 
 prise, observed that they were of a superior qual- 
 ity — obviously the garments of a well-born child, 
 and betokened parents of independent circmn- 
 stances. 
 
 On looking into the bundle which the woman 
 had dropped, he found that it contained linen and 
 articles of dress ; and he particularly observed that 
 round the child's neck was tied a Latin cross, 
 made of silver, and engraved '' Mabel." 
 
 " Mabel ! " he repeated, '' why ' mamma's
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 41 
 
 Mabel/ tlie poor little thing said, and that's lier 
 name, of course." 
 
 Haying noted these facts, the somewhat puz- 
 zled Englishman carried his burthen to his hotel, 
 where, on her arrival, her appearance created as 
 much amusement as astonishment. 
 
 But he was indifferent to remarks. He sur- 
 rendered his own room to the fomidling, and re- 
 tired to rest on the sofa in his boy's chamber. 
 
 Early on the following morning Colonel Mas- 
 sey sent for his letters, and fomid the announce- 
 ment of the Laimcester Guardian confirmed in 
 all particulars. 
 
 His correspondence informed him that the 
 family lawj'-ers, Messrs Probpi, Shirley, and Trigg, 
 of Lincoln's Inn, had sent off a note to India, 
 urging his immediate return to England, and in- 
 forming him that meanwhile they had taken pos- 
 session of Durham-Massey in his name. 
 
 '' It is imnecessary to point out to you, dear 
 Colonel," wrote his friend, the Hon. Cecilia Law- 
 son, " how important it is that you should not lose 
 an hour in hastening home. I thank Heaven that
 
 42 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 accidental circumstances have already brouglit you 
 so far on your way." 
 
 It was plain enough, there was not a mo- 
 ment to be lost ; so the Colonel, with his son and 
 the little Mabel, proceeded to breakfast with Mr 
 Tempest, to whom the previous evening's strange 
 incidents were related. 
 
 The diplomatist was more a man of the world 
 than his friend. While he laughed at the nar- 
 ration, he could not help suggesting that the child 
 might prove a great encumbrance. 
 
 . " ^Yhat can you do with her, my dear Massey ? 
 you cannot take her with you. It will be far 
 better to give her over to the police, and put them 
 in possession of the facts of the case." 
 
 " Give her to the police ! Just look at her, 
 Geoffrey, and tell me whether you would have 
 the heart to trust such a darling as that to police 
 care. No ! I shall do nothing of the kind. 
 She shall go with me. I have no time to make 
 inquiries — that duty I shall venture to leave to 
 your kindness. If you discover her parents — 
 weU and good. If not — remember the poor man's 
 ewe lamb. 
 
 " ' It grew up together ^dth him and with his
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 43 
 
 cliilclren, it did eat of liis otvti meat, and drank 
 of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was 
 unto him as a daughter.' 
 
 " So shall this child grow up as a daughter 
 to me. God has very unexpectedly given me 
 riches that I neither anticipated nor deserved, 
 and has foimd for me one object at least for 
 their profitable disposal." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow ! are you serious ? In 
 a matter of such mere chance — " 
 
 " Chance I Tempest ! There's no such thing 
 as chance. I^ot a sparrow falls unkno'^m. I 
 believe in destiny, — ' fate,' people call it." 
 
 " S}TiamTnous terms, are they not ? " 
 
 "They may be, but I do not feel that they 
 are I To my ears the one sounds a heavenly, the 
 other an earthly, term. That child was as much 
 destined to be saved and protected by me as I 
 believe it to be the maxim of oiu' religion to be 
 a * Father to the fatherless.' " ^ 
 
 The diplomatist was silenced. He bent his 
 head in order to signify his respectfid attention 
 to whatever his friend might say further. 
 
 "No, Tempest," the other continued, "there's 
 chance ' in this world ! For some wise 
 
 no
 
 44 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 purpose this foundling has been given to my 
 protection. You may make what inquiries j^ou 
 like, but I have a presentiment we shall never 
 find her father. If so, * she shall be unto me 
 as a daughter.'" 
 
 Prophetic words ! Could those two men have 
 lifted the veil of futurity and haA^e foreknown 
 the influence which that child was to exercise 
 over persons connected with both, would they 
 not have instantly acknowledged that men's lives 
 are destined ; and with the first glimpse behind 
 the veil, would they not have droj)ped the folds 
 in fear and trembling ? 
 
 It is a mercifid ordination that none of us 
 can look into the future ! 
 
 Mr Tempest made no further attempt to dis- 
 suade his friend from taking little Mabel with 
 him. The "fatalist" (as he afterwards called 
 Massey) had unconsciously succeeded in produc- 
 ing upon his mind an impression that at any 
 previous period he would have denounced as a 
 weakness ; but which at that particular time as- 
 sumed the character of religious awe. 
 
 Mr Tempest had not been used to such men 
 as Willoughby Massey. They had not been fami-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 45 
 
 liarly known to him in parliamentary or diplomatic 
 life. Had he been a stranger, the other would 
 probably have regarded him with distrust. But 
 he knew that in word and in act the soldier 
 was thoroughly in earnest, and would strictly 
 act according to the resolution he had taken. 
 So, the corner in his mind that might have been 
 occupied T\dth doubt was filled with respectful 
 admiration. He acknowledged to himself that he 
 had as much need to honom^ the man as he had 
 loved the boy. 
 
 It was with this feeling deeply impressed 
 upon him that he and his friend parted. They 
 had parted twenty years ago as boys. They had 
 met after that lapse of time for a single day. 
 !N^ow they parted once again and for ever. But 
 that day had done its work. The earnest and 
 the simple had left his mark upon the strong 
 man's mind, as all genuine and unostentatious 
 goodness will ever do, purifjdng the moral at- 
 mosphere in which the busy and the bm^dened 
 live. 
 
 *' The spirit," as Mr Maurice truthfully reads 
 the passage — " the spirit bloweth where it Ksteth." 
 
 Geoffrey Tempest had heard the sound there-
 
 46 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 of. His communion with tlie companion of his 
 boyhood thoroughly imbued him with the convic- 
 tion of a high destiny being involved in all the 
 "chances" of existence. Massey had done his 
 work and made him a better man during the 
 brief tenure of life that remained to him. 
 
 That evening the Colonel, accompanied by his 
 two juA'enile charges, set out for England.
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 "VYARFDALE TOWER. 
 
 iiR ^iGEL Blouxt Tempest of Warf- 
 dale Tower, in Lancashire, and of 
 Farningliam Castle in tlie West Hid- 
 ing of Yorkshire, was the represent- 
 ative of one of the oldest houses in the north 
 country. 
 
 A branch of the Despencer family, one among 
 the famous names upon the Roll of Battle, settled 
 in Yorkshire, having received grants of land from 
 the Conqueror. In the reign of Edward III., 
 John the heir of Geoffrey Despencer d}T.ng in his 
 childhood, the property divided between his sisters 
 Maud and Eleanor, who became co-heiresses. 
 
 Maud Despencer married Talbot Tempest, 
 who had distinguished himself, along with many
 
 48 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 of the English, nobility in Scotland, under the 
 command of Baliol. 
 
 Talbot was himself possessed of extensive 
 lands, but by his marriage with Maud Desj)encer 
 an amount of property was brought into the 
 Tempest family which placed its successive re- 
 presentatives among the wealthiest commoners 
 of the ^N'orth. 
 
 Sir Nigel, the possessor of Warfdale at the 
 commencement of this narrative, was one of that 
 select body of English county gentlemen whom 
 the late Emperor of E-ussia was j)leased to say 
 he regarded with envy. It is something to 
 know that an autocrat does envy us, and in 
 this instance we are instructed as well as flat- 
 tered. 
 
 Given a man of old family, living on his ances- 
 tral property, occupying himself with old English 
 sports, fond of farming and of breeding stock, 
 particularly horses of as good pedigree as their 
 master ; possessed of ten thousand pounds per 
 annum, or "upwards;" relieved of the pressure 
 attending him who wears a cro^^ai or a coronet 
 coupled with immense estates ; and yet able to 
 hold a position socially as respectable and as in-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 49 
 
 fluential as a noble. Sucli a man excited imperial 
 envy. Sucli was Sir Nigel. 
 
 His income was affected by the word ''up- 
 wards." 
 
 It was nearer twenty tlian ten thousand a 
 year, and was wbat is called " impro^dng." That 
 is to say, beds of coal haying been found under 
 one portion of it, the black diamonds had for a 
 series of years being adding considerably to the 
 yalue of the estate. Happily the coal mines do 
 not intrude upon the Warfdale property. They 
 are miles away in Yorkshire, completely out of 
 sight, but neyer out of mind. 
 
 Warfdale Tower stands in a yalley caryed 
 out of the slopes of the Yorkshire hills. The 
 family residence itself, a great portion of the 
 park and chase, and all the arable land, are in 
 the adjoining comity ; but the riyer Warfe rises 
 in "the backbone of England." Tumbling and 
 foaming among the rocks which impede its flow, 
 it makes its Avay through the larger part of the 
 estate l}^g Ayithin the boundaries of York- 
 shire, wild and mountainous and picturesque, 
 purple with heather in the autumn, with stretches 
 of splendid moor abounding -^ith grouse. 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 In feudal times a border tower guarded Warf- 
 dcde, adjoining wliich. was a "cell" attached to 
 Bolton Abbey. Tlie tower still stands. After 
 the Reformation, the Tempests had made this 
 place their residence, but the family archives 
 mention that it was destroyed by fire early in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Another domicile 
 Avas built by Sir Marmion Tempest, a few years 
 subsequently, which continues to be tenanted to 
 the present day by the OAvners of the estate. 
 
 Though the name '' Warfdale Tower " is still 
 preserved, the tower is in the grounds, removed 
 some little distance from the hall, which is 
 quadrangular, and one of the finest specimens in 
 the North of England of those picturesque houses 
 (so few of which, alas ! now remain) constructed 
 of beams of oak, the spaces between the huge 
 framework being filled in with plaster, which, 
 Avhite-washed, contrasts beautifully mth the dark 
 wood- work on which it dej)ends. 
 
 The vale of the Warfe is one of those old 
 English nooks which Turner at the particular 
 date of this story delighted to portray in his 
 water-colour sketches. There are several draw-
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 51 
 
 ings by Mm delineating picturesque portions of 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
 The mountain- stream, the Warfe, is a tribu- 
 tary of the Laime, which floAvs into the Irish 
 Sea. BrawKng among the Yorkshire moors, it 
 at last reaches a narrow valley, overhung on 
 either side by crags, that often lift themselves 
 perpendicularly out of the river's bed, and among 
 their crevices give resting-place to the ferns 
 which there grow luxuriantly. For some two 
 or three miles the AYarfe flows between these 
 steeps, rolling over huge boulders that seem in 
 some primaeval age to have been precipitated 
 from the surroundino: heights. 
 
 Then it forms small basins with recesses 
 sheltered by overhanging foliage, the special ad- 
 miration of Sir Nigel. To these delightfid re- 
 treats he invited his choice friends to kill the 
 trout. 
 
 Beyond this, the rocks rise precipitously out 
 of the bed of the river, as if they had plotted to 
 cut off its retreat. 
 
 But the Warfe is not to be out-generaled. 
 
 It has cut its way through the ranks of the 

 
 52 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 enemy in a narrow sluice knoA;\Ti as tlie "Leap," 
 some twenty feet deep, in the bottom of whicli 
 it foams defiance, and with a hollow, cayernous 
 roar dashes madly onward, impatiently spread- 
 ing itself out, beyond, in a large expanse, fringed 
 by a mossy sward. The valley gradually widens, 
 and the oak forest sweeping over inviting slopes 
 casts its green shade upon the self- congratu- 
 lating stream, that sparkles as if with sentient 
 joy in having escaped from the turmoil and op- 
 position of the gorge above. 
 
 At this spot the first view is caught of Warf- 
 dale Tower. About a mile beyond, the vale of 
 the AVarfe expands into a park, slanting down 
 on either side to the river, calmlj^ and compla- 
 cently gliding amidst luxuriant vegetation. 
 Clumps of ancient oaks are scattered about ; and 
 banks of chestnut line the valley's sides, where 
 they begin to get steeper and rise to join their 
 encompassing hills. 
 
 Backed by one of these chestnut woods stands 
 Warfdale Tower, looking from its entrance across 
 the Warfe, and towards the moors which in 
 picturesque outline enclose the prospect ; while 
 on the north, its windows face towards the
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 53 
 
 gorge, and catcli a peep of one of its precipitous 
 cliffs. On the south, it commands the pano- 
 rama of the winding vale as it stretches away 
 for miles, exhibiting glistening turns in the tor- 
 tuous river, sloping woods, and ever -varying 
 lofty hills, here patched with emerald- coloured 
 fields, there checked with sepia-like squares that 
 the plough has made, and high over all clothed 
 with the purple garments whose glorious hues 
 the pencil of Linnell can alone describe. 
 
 In the middle-distance the prospect termin- 
 ates with an orbed mound, as it appears, on the 
 top of which, in the dimness of the perspective, 
 the eye detects the grey battlements of the Keep, 
 and the curling smoke of the town that has 
 gro^^^l up about the protecting towers of the 
 Castle of Launcester. 
 
 Such is the situation of Warfdale Tower. The 
 house itself would be best conceived by a reference 
 to iN'ash's views of English residences. It has 
 been stated that it is quadrangular. It is also 
 moated, and the moat is crossed by a stone bridge 
 leading to a large gateway, with a wicket in one 
 half of the gate. This is of stone, built into the 
 wood- work of the house, and, like the bridge, ex-
 
 54 , BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 hibits tlie fantastic taste of the age of the first 
 Stuart. 
 
 Ill the centre of the arch are the arms of 
 Tempest with the quarterings of Despencer ; and 
 a label, — "■ Godfrey Tempest : hoc fecit a. d. 
 1603." It was erected to commemorate the visit 
 of King James, who slept at Warfdale two nights, 
 on his way to London, at the period of his succes- 
 sion, and the current stories in the family state 
 that the royal condescension cost the said Godfrey 
 so dearly, that he expressed his determination to 
 burn his house do"s\Ti if the King ever came that 
 way again. The house, however, had been built 
 by his father, as the lettering carved on the face 
 of some of the oak bracing-ribs shows, exhibiting 
 the initials, '' M. T., a. d. 1559." 
 
 The architectural details of Warfdale Tower 
 are " debased Tudor," which, though impure when 
 compared "^dth the domestic structures of the time 
 of Eichard III. and Henry YII., retain their 
 general features, and are infinitely to be preferred 
 to the style which grew and flourished during the 
 time of James I. 
 
 On passing under the entrance arch, a Tudor 
 doorway, right and left, leads into a cloister-pas-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 55 
 
 sage running roimd tlie four sides of the building, 
 and meeting at the opposite side another gateway 
 and portal leading out, across the moat, to the 
 stabling and to the woods at the rear of the house. 
 This passage looks into the quadrangle, and is 
 lighted by a succession of windows, each in three 
 compartments, filled with diamond- shaped glazing 
 in leaded frames, and decorated with a quantity 
 of armorial bearings and initials in stained 
 glass. 
 
 The apartments and offices open with a series of 
 doors out of these passages, and are all lighted from 
 the outside, where they overlook the moat, with 
 the exception of the great hall, which, occupying 
 the whole of one angle, attains the entire height 
 of the house, and has a deeply bayed oriel win- 
 dow projecting into the quadrangle, looking out 
 upon two immense yew-trees, which fill the square, 
 and tower above the surrounding buildings. Their 
 lace-like boughs here and there brush the panes 
 of glass of the upper corridor, which, like the one 
 on the ground floor, also runs round the four sides 
 of the house, and gives admission to the bed- rooms, 
 whose doorways, in a rank, range down its inner 
 side.
 
 56 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Warfdale Manor lias no doubt a marked so- 
 lemnity of aspect, and, it is unnecessary to state, 
 is one of those places whose appearance points it 
 out as the favoured retreat of a family ghost. 
 
 For three hundred years this house has been 
 the home and the pride of the Tempests. None 
 have been prouder of it than Sir Nigel. Under 
 his care and taste everj^thing has been restored, 
 and the hall, the corridors, the rooms, entirely 
 tilled with antique furniture. In the Georgian 
 era, when any taste seemed miknown in England, 
 except bad taste, the dame of the then baronet had 
 been enamoured of the oj^ster-shell Gothic outrages 
 of the Honourable Horatio Walpole. That fash- 
 ionable antiquarian of the last century had once 
 visited the Tempests in London, and Lady Mar- 
 garet had persuaded her yielding spouse to " im- 
 prove " that '' dull, gloomy hole " in the North. 
 
 Much of the ancient furniture had been ban- 
 ished to the outbuildings and scattered among the 
 cottages of the tenantr3^ Its place was occupied 
 by cane-bottomed seats, chinese-like chairs, gilded 
 sofas ; and the private dining-room which adjoined 
 the hall (enriched with an elaborate ceiling covered 
 with heraldic achievements) had been metamor-
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 57 
 
 ptosed iiito a cliamber after the fashion of the 
 toy-shop at Strawberry Hill, the walls being cut 
 away to admit Walpolean windows, and the 
 glorious old oak wainscoting painted -^ith white 
 and gold and blue, and decorated with Watteau- 
 like pastoral scenes, that gave it the aj)pearance of 
 a house of fans. 
 
 Lad}^ Tempest contemplated cutting down the 
 yew-trees in the quadrangle, which she said 
 " looked as if they were waiting for a funeral." 
 
 And so they were, for death cut off her weak, 
 jdelding husband, and before the long minority of 
 her infant son had terminated, the dame herself 
 and her friend Mr Walpole had been "removed." 
 
 The yew-trees escaped, and when Sir Nigel 
 came into possession, the follies of his grandfather 
 were quickly corrected. Walpole^s windows were 
 pitched out of window. The wainscot was tho- 
 roughly^ cleaned, the Georgian furniture and Chi- 
 nese monsters were sent to market for what they 
 would fetch, and the ancestral high-backed chairs, 
 the presses with their elaborately carved panels 
 and doors, the antique Venetian velvet covers and 
 hangings, with the tapestry and quaint old silver 
 sconces, took up their former dignified positions.
 
 58 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 The " dull, gloomy liole " became once again a 
 perfect picture (which may it long remain !) of an 
 English manorial residence of the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 There was a favourite room in the old house, in 
 which the master of the mansion was almost certain 
 of being found, when known to be at home. It was 
 a well-proportioned chamber of oak- wainscot dark 
 with age, with a richly carved chimney-piece that 
 occupied nearly one side of the room, displaying 
 armorial quarterings of the principal families with 
 whom the Tempests had intermarried, while inside 
 the capacious fire-place was a lining of glazed tiles 
 repeating their several cognizances in wonderful 
 variety. 
 
 The flooring was parqueted very curiously, 
 and so highly poKshed, that except in the centre, 
 where the thick Turkey carpet sj^read its dim 
 magnificence, it was as unsafe as ice for inex- 
 perienced feet. The ceiling was fantastically 
 groined with projecting bosses here and there, on 
 which the coat- armour of the heroic owners of 
 Warfdale appeared in gilding and colours that 
 were fading into obscurity; and in the carved 
 panels were portraits, full-lengths and ovals, exe-
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 59 
 
 cuted by limners of liigh reputation, of the hus- 
 bands and vdxes of the race who bad flourished 
 most conspicuously at Court during the Tudor and 
 Stuart dynasties, — Holbeins, Mores, Jansens, and 
 Yandykes, in heavy oak frames, only a degree 
 darker than some of the canvasses they contained. 
 
 In one place there was a row of carved shelves 
 full of books, in old vellimi and calf bindings, of 
 abnost inestimable value, — rare editions of our 
 earliest English printers, typographical treasures 
 from the presses of Caxton and WjnikjTi de 
 "Worde, printed books as rare as ]MSS., including, 
 as special favourites, the first folio edition of 
 Shakespeare, Lord Berners' translation of Frois- 
 sart, and the quaint treatise on hunting and 
 hawking by Dame Juliana Barnes. 
 
 The room seemed to be part library, part 
 armoury, with a large mixture of modern sport. 
 In the corners were figures in armour of various 
 periods ; against one rested a salmon rod, another 
 was made to hold a landing net, a third had a creel 
 round his neck, suspended by its leathern strap, 
 and a fourth carried upon his steel basenet a wide- 
 awake, encircled by artificial flies. 
 
 On an ebony cabinet was a glass case con-
 
 60 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 taining a stuffed otter witli a trout in its mouth, 
 and at the top of an ancient chest was another, 
 enclosing a stuffed fox and cubs. An enormous 
 pike stood in the centre of one of the shelves, and 
 a hawk descending on a covey of partridges 
 showed to equal advantage on the ledge of an old 
 marqueterie cupboard. 
 
 A table was covered with fishing tackle and a 
 variety of odds and ends made use of in its manu- 
 facture, while upon one of the high -backed chairs 
 was an open gun- case, displaying one of Manton's 
 famous double-barrel guns. 
 
 Sir Nigel was seated near this table, in one of 
 the bay windows of Warfdale Tower, dressing flies. 
 The trout had been rising briskly in the Warfe 
 during the morning, and the Baronet was pre- 
 paring himself for the enjoyment of a little sport 
 before sundown. The butler entered the room with 
 the letters and laid them on a tray beside his 
 master. 
 
 Correspondence always excited in the master 
 of the mansion a shudder and a growl. He wrote a 
 bold Roman hand, but had the greatest possible 
 objection to exhibit it. In fact, he hated let- 
 ters, partly because they were commonly begging
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 61 
 
 petitions for all sorts of things from all sorts of 
 people, who, " knowing the kindness and generos- 
 ity of his heart," as they invariably said, did their 
 very best to petrify it with their epistolary mendi- 
 cancy ; partly because to write kept him at home, 
 and, being a devoted sportsman, he hated to be 
 confined to the house during the day. 
 
 The post delivery before him on this occasion 
 excited his particular annoyance, for it was more 
 numerous than usual ; and as one communication 
 after the other was opened and flimg upon the 
 floor, the butler's ears were greeted with the ex- 
 pressions, " The old story, a sick wife and threaten- 
 ing tradesmen ; '' " No, no, it won't do ; my Chris- 
 tian principles won't induce me." 
 
 Presently his tone and manner changed com- 
 pletely. 
 
 " Bless me ! " he exclaimed, " this is Miss 
 Lawson's writing ; what can she have to ask for, 
 I wonder ? " 
 
 Whereupon he broke the seal, and read as 
 follows, — 
 
 " My kind and dear friend, 
 
 " Dr Clifford has just arrived from Italy.
 
 62 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 He is the bearer of sad intelligence, wliicli he lias 
 begged me to communicate to you ; and it is tbe 
 most grievous task I ever undertook. Your bro- 
 tlier, Mr Geoffrey, was suddenly seized at Florence 
 with fever on the 2nd ultimo, and freely bled the 
 following day ; but as the malady increased, he 
 was again bled on the 6th. There was a consulta- 
 tion of physicians on the 8th, who resolved to take 
 more blood, which seemed to arrest the progress 
 of the fever. Unhappily — " 
 "Murderers!" 
 
 The word was literally screamed by Sir Mgel. 
 He rose, or rather shot up from his seat, brushing 
 back his white hair from his brow, and fixing a 
 wild stare upon the butler, as if transfixed by some 
 horrible sight. 
 
 For a considerable period he remained motion- 
 less ; then turning to the table, took up the fly he 
 had been constructing, and smoothing the feathers 
 with his little finger, bent over the artificial snare 
 as though to look at it were the most serious occur- 
 rence of his life. One solitary tear dropped upon 
 the wing and drabbled it. It was the only one 
 Sir Mgel shed for his lost brother Geoffrey, — and 
 that was the last fly his nimble fingers ever made.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 63 
 
 That falling tear seemed to waken liini out of 
 a dream ; and the old man was busy in an instant 
 with thought for others. 
 
 "Dear Augusta," he said, raising the letter 
 again to his eyes, " this will indeed be a blank in 
 your life," and then he finished the epistle. 
 
 — " Unhappily the following day Mr Geofirey's 
 strength was evidently failing, and he became 
 conscious of approaching death. Dr Clifford says 
 your dear brother declared his religious convic- 
 tions very composedly, and he has nothing but a 
 peaceful death to describe. Mr Geofirey sent his 
 love and blessing to his surviving kindred, and 
 committed his wife and children to your protec- 
 tion. This seemed to him great comfort. He re- 
 peatedly said, 'Sir Nigel will love them as he 
 loved me ; ' ' He will love them,' and so on, mi- 
 til his mind began to wander ; in which state he 
 was engaged in repeating the Lord's prayer, and 
 the last words he articulated were, ' Deliver them 
 from evil.' 
 
 " It has cost me a great effort, Sir Nigel, to 
 write this letter, but I have regarded it as a sacred 
 duty, and am certain you will know, without 
 my intruding my unavailing sympathy, that I
 
 64 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 shall feel witli and for you, and for Mr Geoffrey's 
 widow and children. 
 
 " I am your faithful servant, 
 
 *' Cecilia Lawsox." 
 
 The Baronet's eye glanced through the case- 
 ment, wandered over the valley, and rested at 
 length upon the distant towers of Launcester. 
 
 '' There ! " he thought, " there ! Augusta un- 
 consciously awaits her fate. Ah ! her elder child 
 is now my heir ! " 
 
 As the thought of the brother who had been 
 his pride, and for whose comfort he had so long 
 laboured to cultivate the estate to the highest per- 
 fection, crossed his mind, Sir Mgel's tall, firm- set 
 frame trembled with emotion. 
 
 Xo wife, no child had been his. In earKer 
 days the only love he ever knew had been blighted 
 by death. He loved, and the object of his de- 
 votion had died. She died resting on his ann, 
 fading away from existence hour by hour, her last 
 look fixed on his face, and her last words were, " I 
 shall never leave you." From that moment he 
 had never loved any other being but his brother. 
 
 Death was a thing in which he seemed to have
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 65 
 
 no belief. He had parted with his dearest friend 
 on earth, but he felt that she was still near him 
 and with him. This feeling cheered his life. 
 
 He was never desponding or melanchol}-. On 
 the contrary, the comitry round could produce no 
 more cheerful friend and host. He entered into 
 every one's pleasures and enjo}Tnents. He de- 
 lighted in a true sportsman; and his command- 
 ing figure, with every muscle developed from ex- 
 ercise, ncA'er seemed to feel fatigue as he roamed 
 over the moors, or "fenced" the stiffest country 
 a horseman would wish to meet. 
 
 He woidd come home from a long day's hunting, 
 and still, even when years stole upon him, appear- 
 ed the freshest and the youngest in buoyancy of 
 spirit at his own table. He delighted in well-told 
 anecdotes and sparkling wit ; and his laugh would 
 ring along the corridors of Warfdale, the true 
 metal of delight. 
 
 JN^evertheless, dignity of mamier stamped all 
 he said or did, and communicated its influence to 
 every one who approached him. 
 
 His younger brother was a child when ho 
 had reached manhood, and upon this child he 
 lavished his affection. Geoffrey became to him a 
 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 66 r>LOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 sacred trust, and his ''brotherhood" the object 
 most dear to him in life. He had trained him for 
 official duties, delighted in his success ; and his 
 marriage seemed to fidnl the hope that the " old 
 place " should preserve its line of masters. 
 
 I^ow death had once more assailed him. Years 
 ago the destroyer had taken from him his early 
 but unforgotten love ; now it had snatched away 
 his dear brother. 
 
 "And his eldest boy is my heir," he repeated 
 and repeated, as though a structure he had been 
 building for long years had been blown down, and 
 all the work was to be begun again. 
 
 "With a groan of grief, that sounded strangely 
 in "Warfdale, Sir IN'igel ordered the horses to be 
 put to his carriage ; and in a few minutes was on 
 the high road to Launcester, crouching back in a 
 corner of the vehicle, and wondering how he should 
 tell his widowed sister of her husband's death and 
 her children of their orphanage.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE DOWER HOL'SE. 
 
 AuxcESTER isoiie of the most picturesque 
 towns in England. The lake moun- 
 tains and Yorkshire hills sweeping- 
 southward, and gradually diminishing- 
 as they advance, are guarded towards the sea-hoard 
 by a solitary hill, whose base is washed by the waters 
 of the river Laune. On its crest — a strong posi- 
 tion for fortifications, and recognized as such ever 
 since the time when it was a " Castra " of the 
 Romans — stands an ancient castle : Picts and Scots, 
 i^iglo- Saxons, jN'onnans, the House of Lancaster, 
 the Tudors, and finally the troops of the Pretend- 
 er, have in successive ages occupied this historic 
 hill. Roman remains have frequently been fomid, 
 and walls that boast their Roman origin still stand.
 
 68 BLOUIsT TEMPEST. 
 
 Laimcester is famous for its Castle Gateway 
 and its Keep. 
 
 The Keep, wliicli occupies tlie centre of tlie 
 building, was erected by King Jobn. It presents 
 the same general ai^pearance as the Norman Keeps 
 at Normcb and Newcastle on Tyne ; the same 
 massive walls, full fom^teen feet in thickness, and 
 the same splayed windows, witli the plainest 
 ^' lights." Unlike its sister Keeps, it is poor in de- 
 tail ; and what few enrichments or decorations it 
 once possessed, the utilitarian stone-mason of the 
 last century destroyed to the best of his ability. 
 
 Neyertheless, in their solid grandeur, the walls 
 and chambers survive the changes of six hmidred 
 years ; and when the stranger stands within them 
 he can re-people those stern-looking reception- 
 rooms of King John, and imagine the scene pre- 
 sented there, when, surrounded by his barons and 
 soldiers, the monarch recei^xd the submission of 
 Alexander King of Scotland. 
 
 The castle gateway belonging to a later century 
 was erected by John O'Graunt, and is now the most 
 perfect and most noble of its kind in England. 
 The gate, deeply recessed, and protected by its-
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 69 
 
 portciiUis, is flanked r'ght and left by projecting 
 octagonal turrets rising some seventy feet in 
 height, tlieir walls pierc?d with those strange- 
 looking loop-holes that served the bo^^nnen of 
 former days, and their smnmits cro^^aied with 
 machicolated battlements through which iron, fire, 
 and molten lead could be poured down on any ag- 
 gressive foe. 
 
 Here that mother of heroes, Philippa of Hain- 
 aidt, may have listened to the verses of the man 
 who consolidated the EngKsh language, (and 
 whose friendship was the pride of her royal spouse)- 
 — Geofirey Chaucer ; and here came that pro- 
 totype of special correspondents, the chronicler 
 who has left us so many life-like pictures of the 
 chivalry of the EngKsh and continental courts — 
 Froissart. 
 
 There are few panoramas in England more 
 .striking than that which courts the eje "\iewed 
 from the parapets of the towers of Launcester. 
 To the north the horizon is clothed with the 
 mountains of the English lakes. The heads of 
 Skiddaw, of Helvellyn, of the Saddleback, and 
 Borrowdale fells, are seen, "heaven-kissing
 
 70 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 liills," while beneath gree-"! pastures ghde down 
 to the margin of a bay, ^ 'hich singularly resem- 
 bles that of jN'aples. 
 
 On the east, the moors and pikes of Yorkshire 
 as they descend and slope towards the sea are 
 everpvhere indented A^T.th valleys, enriched by 
 Avoods and dotted with parks and mansions. In 
 the midst, ^vinds Launesdale ; the snake-like Laune, 
 fed by the AYarfe and many a moiuitain rill, cours- 
 ing through it, and (at its bends) forming successive 
 *' doughs," whose steep banks display the luxuri- 
 ance of English landscape scenery. 
 
 As the Laune approaches nearer the town to 
 which it gives its name, it is interspersed with 
 islands where the cattle rimiinate, and the angler 
 seeks the well-protected salmon. Flowing by the 
 walls and quad's that were for centuries busy with 
 the hum of a sea-faring trade before Liverpool 
 was kno^Ti, the towers of the castle overhang the 
 hurrying current, which here meets the tide, and 
 widening as it flows, falls, at a short distance off,, 
 into the sea. 
 
 Everj'thing the eye can covet is presented in 
 this view. Mountain, ocean, river, woods, islands, 
 the picturesque outline of an ancient town climb-
 
 BLOXJNT TEMPEST. 71 
 
 ing up an isolated liill, whose crest is circled with 
 frowning battlements, and with the aspiring- 
 tower of its antique church, — these combine to 
 make a perfect picture, and to recommend the 
 country around Launcester to the favour and ad- 
 miration of the lover of nature. 
 
 The town still preserves in its nomenclature 
 the remembrances of ancient days. It has its 
 Gates, St Agnes' Gate, Dean's Gate, and St Leonard 
 Gate. It rejoices in a Kun's Alley and a Vicar's 
 Walk. Its church adjoining the castle's walls is 
 one of those "perpendicidar" edifices, with length- 
 ened nave, deep chancel, and long-drawn aisles, 
 which contrast strongty with the dwarfed style of 
 the present day. 
 
 Sir Mgel was proud of contemplating the 
 castle and church of Launcester, and contrasting 
 them "with the feeble imitations or tasteless edifices 
 of the 17th and 18th centuries. They had been 
 objects of intense interest to him since his earli- 
 est years, when, as a boy, he received his educa- 
 tion in the adjoining school founded by Ed- 
 ward YI. 
 
 The Dower House of the Tempests stands on 
 the steep of the hill hard by the church ; and as
 
 72 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 the Baronet was hurrying along the road from 
 Warfdale to Launcester, at many a turn of 
 Launsdale Valley the distant towers were visible, 
 and he knew the roof of the house to which he 
 was wending his way lay beneath their shadow. 
 The manorial residence of the Tempests is situate 
 some twelve miles from Lamicester ; but they 
 have also for many generations kept up a civic 
 residence in the county-town. This has some- 
 times been a Dower House ; has sometimes been 
 occupied by the chief in person; and sometimes 
 granted to a younger brother for his habitation 
 on his marriage. It had been so tenanted by 
 Geoffrey Despencer Tempest, who, as before 
 stated^ was many years younger than Sir Nigel, 
 and b}^ whom he had been brought up more like 
 a son than a brother. AYhen Geoffrey married, 
 Sir !N"igel gave him possession of this house for 
 his life. 
 
 Sir Nigel's carriage dashed through the 
 streets of Launcester, up the Castle-Hill, and 
 stopped at Geoffrey Tempest's house. Little did 
 its inmates suspect the horror and gloom which 
 within another hour was to cloud that happy 
 home.
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 As tliere was nothing unusual in a \isit from 
 Sir oN^igel, on tlie present occasion it created no 
 surprise. He paused in the hall to kiss his 
 nephews and to inquire after their health, hav- 
 ing sent a message to apprize his sister-in-law of 
 his arrival. This place was merely the entrance 
 passage with a stair-case at the end, but it was 
 wide and lofty. It was lighted by a sky-light in 
 a kind of dome in the centre, but possessed no 
 furniture except a bench, an mnbrella stand, a 
 lamj) in the centre, and a barometer against the 
 wall ; it therefore was particularly adapted for 
 such juvenile sports as were obliged to be played 
 in-doors. This accomited for the rocking-horse 
 which held a prominent position in the space un- 
 der the dome. On the diamond- shaped black 
 and white pavement two boys of about ten years 
 of age were whipping a top with the engrossing 
 earnestness usually characteristic of children at 
 that age when engaged in a favourite pastime. 
 
 They were dressed alike, in jackets, trowsers, 
 and broad fall-down collars, and looked very 
 much alike at the first glance ; but when Sir 
 ISigel went up hurriedly to the elder, caressed 
 him with more than his usual tenderness, and
 
 74 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 addressed liiiu with much, more than his cus- 
 tom.ary affectionate solicitude, there was a dif- 
 ference clearly perceptible between the glowing^ 
 delight expressed in the face of the one so dis- 
 tinguished and the gloomy mortified look of the 
 other, who at once drew aside as if to escape 
 observation. 
 
 Young as he was, Geoffrey Tempest had 
 already begun to feel the hmniliation of being 
 a younger son. On the present occasion his 
 uncle, of whom he had learnt to stand in no 
 slight degree of awe, had a cause for being 
 more demonstrative towards his brother than he 
 had ever been before ; of this however the former 
 was ignorant. He only knew that his uncle 
 went to Blount first, as everybody did, and 
 made much of him, and did not seem to think 
 that he, Geoffrey, was entitled to any notice at 
 all. Therefore it was, that half sullen, half shy, 
 the offended younger brother drew off into the 
 darkest part of the hall. 
 
 The entrance of another person did not im- 
 prove either his temper or his position. Yet 
 the new comer was a lady, who had always 
 been kind to him, and though unquestionably
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. t i> 
 
 she liad passed her premiere Jeunesse, her features 
 wore a freshness of feeling which plainly proved 
 that her heart was still young. She was dressed 
 with that studied simplicity which betrays the 
 greatest amount of refinement, the most notice- 
 able part of her toilette being a dove-coloured 
 silk gown, and a shawl and bonnet equally 
 quiet in colour. 
 
 Sir 'Nigel looked up on hearing the rustle 
 of her gown as she approached. In a moment 
 his hat was off with the ready courtesy that 
 distinguished him, and an exclamation of plea- 
 sm-e escaped his lips as he hastened to take her 
 extended hand. Without a word she threw her 
 arms romid the boy over whom his imcle had 
 the moment before been bending, and Geoffrey 
 had the mortification of "witnessing another dis- 
 play of affectionate regard bestowed on his elder 
 brother, while he was, as he fancied, overlooked. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Lawson," exclaimed the Baronet, 
 *'^you see I have lost no time." 
 
 "You never lose time. Sir J^J^igel, when any 
 good work is to be done," repKed the lady, 
 smilinor throuo-h the tears which then filled her 
 eyes. " But where is Geoffrey ? "
 
 76 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 She looked about searcliingly, and at last 
 spied liim in a corner, affecting to be engrossed 
 with his whipping-top. 
 
 '' Come here, sir," she called to him. " Come 
 and shake hands mth the best friend you have 
 in the world." 
 
 The yoimg gentleman was evidently not in 
 an amicable disposition. He looked sternly at 
 the toy he kept turning round and round. 
 
 " Come here, my boy ! " cried his micle in 
 his kindest voice. 
 
 Geoffrey obej^ed with alacrity, the shadow 
 passing slowly from off his face. He now 
 received the greetings that had only been de- 
 layed, and both his friends gave them with 
 a heartiness he had never before experienced. 
 
 The}^ presently walked away (talking in an 
 iinder-tone), in the direction of Mrs Tempest's 
 sitting-room, and left the boys to retium to 
 their interrupted play, prudently deferring for 
 the present any intimation to them of their 
 grievous loss. 
 
 While the two friends are thus communing 
 and taking comisel together for the better per- 
 formance of their charitable errand, the reader
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 77 
 
 had better be made acquainted T\itli tlie one 
 least known to him. The Hon. Cecilia Law- 
 son was the sister of a general officer who had 
 been killed m action while assisting in one of 
 the great Peninsidar triumphs. Her family and 
 the Tempests had been very intimate, and Miss 
 Lawson had been on the most friendly footing 
 both at Warfdale Tower and at the Dower House. 
 There was onh' one other famity in the county 
 ^yitli whom she had been as closely connected, 
 and this was the Masseys of Durham-Massey. 
 By those T7ho knew her best she was regarded as 
 a woman of superior intelligence as well as of 
 exceedingly actiye beneyolence. For years she 
 had been consulted by these dear friends in 
 affairs of difficulty, and been accepted by them 
 as a consoler in eyery domestic affliction they 
 had endured. 
 
 There could be nothing therefore surj)rising 
 in Miss Lawson bemg associated with Sir INTigel 
 in this yisit of condolence to the widow of his- 
 brother. 
 
 The boys looked after the two retreating 
 figures, the tall fonn of the Baronet bending to 
 his companion to hear more distinctly a confi-
 
 78 BLOrNT TEMPEST. 
 
 dential commimication she was making to liiiii 
 ill a low soft voice, as slie gazed into his now 
 thoughtful, melancholy face. They looked for 
 a time silently, with the impression that there 
 was something going on they did not clearly 
 understand. 
 
 "^Yliat made Miss Lawson cry when she 
 first caught hold of you?'^ demanded the 
 younger, when their visitors had disappeared 
 round the stair-case. 
 
 "1 don't know," rcj)lied the other, looking 
 unusually grave. 
 
 "And imcle, I'm sure I saw tears in his 
 eyes when he threw his arms romid you as 
 soon as he came in ? " 
 
 "I don't know, Geoffrey," said Blount, with 
 a gravity of demeanour that contrasted strongly 
 with the hilarious earnestness with which a few 
 minutes before he had been pursuing his sjport. 
 
 "I don't think they cried over me, either 
 of them," added the first, sullenly. 
 
 "Miss Lawson did," observed the other. 
 " I saw the tears on her cheek when she kissed 
 
 " Oh, I dare say she hadn't done crying for
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 79 
 
 yoiT. You know you're such a precious favour- 
 ite ! " 
 
 The elder brother made no answer, though 
 the sentence just uttered was expressed with a 
 good deal of bitterness. 
 
 "She never conies but what she hugs you 
 and hangs over you, and talks and laughs with 
 you nearly all the time she is in the house." 
 
 Blount remained grave and abstracted. 
 
 *' Then my uncle, too, — 3'ou're a favoimte 
 there. He always talks to you the most, and 
 gives his present to you first, whenever he visits 
 us or we ^dsit him." 
 
 " Mamma has told you before, Geoffrey," now 
 said Blount calmly, "that as I am the elder, 
 my being first noticed by friends or relations, 
 ought to be no cause of complaint to you." 
 
 " Oh, of course not, I'm nobody and you're 
 CA'Crybody. And yet mamma acknowledged that 
 there was scarcely half an hour's difference in 
 our ages. It doesn't seem to me fiiir that in 
 consequence I should be regarded as so much 
 your inferior. I don't think i/oft would like it 
 if you were in my place and I in 3'om's." 
 
 Again the elder brother remained silent.
 
 80 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 ^'But what do they want coming here," 
 demanded the other with increasing asperity, 
 *' looking like mourners in a funeral proces- 
 sion?" 
 
 "I don't know," repeated Blount, for he 
 began to experience an apprehension of evil. 
 
 ''Oh, you neyer know anything," replied 
 Geoffrey, mingling impatience with contempt. 
 ''There's something in the wind, you ma}^ rest 
 assured. Uncle, who is always so cheerful, 
 wouldn't look so solemn for nothing. Perhaps 
 the Tower has been burnt do^vn." 
 
 " I don't think it can be that. Uncle is rich 
 enough to build up another house in its j)lace, 
 quite as grand, I dare sa}'; but I begin to be- 
 lieve with you," he added, lowering his voice, 
 "that some misfortune has happened. I am 
 afraid—" 
 
 Here a servant came to the boys, summoning 
 them to their mamma's room. Blomit did not 
 give expression to his fears, whatever they were ; 
 but proceeded at once, with a troubled counten- 
 ance, to ascend the stairs. Geoffrey threw aside 
 his top, and followed, his face denoting not only 
 irritation but vmeasiness.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 81 
 
 Both entered the apartment. It was their 
 mother's ordinary sitting-room, furnished "with 
 a mingling of modern luxuries and time-hon- 
 oured comforts, the elegant and the solid. Hand- 
 some ottomans in gay chintzes of the latest 
 French manufacture stood by the side of tall 
 cane-backed chairs that must have been re- 
 tained in the Dower House since the reign of 
 the first James. 
 
 The first object that met their gaze was a 
 delicate fragile figure in a morning wrapper, 
 only a little more colourless than the face that 
 rested against the back of the great invalid 
 chair, in which, almost as long as they could re- 
 member, their mother had sat when able to see 
 her childi-en or her visitors. Both were alarmed 
 at its death-like pallor, and the rigid attitude 
 in which they found her, — Sir Nigel on one 
 side holding one of her hands with a look of 
 profound commiseration, Miss Lawson on the 
 other, bathing her temples. 
 
 There was another person in the room, a 
 man of middle age, and of that saturnine com- 
 plexion produced by continuous hard study and 
 abstinence. He wore an ill-fitting suit of black, 
 
 . VOL. I. 6
 
 82 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 the frock-coat descending nearly to his heels, 
 but any one could discern at a glance that the 
 wearer was careless of appearance, and had a dis- 
 taste for the ordinary vanities of personal decor- 
 ation. 
 
 The expression of his features was decidedly 
 ascetic, but they were then iiliunined by spiritual 
 enthusiasm to such a degree as to render them 
 singularly striking. In one hand he held a 
 small ivory crucifix with an exquisite carving 
 of the dying Saviour, in the other Avas a breviary 
 open, and from it he was reading a portion of 
 one of the services, in a subdued yet thrilling 
 
 voice : — 
 
 " Quauclo corpus morietur 
 Eac, ut anirao douetur 
 Paradisi gloria." 
 
 It was Dr Clifibrd, a Boman Catholic priest, 
 who had called to pay his usual visit of spirit- 
 ual consolation to a much-respected member of 
 his flock, just before the arrival of Sir Nigel 
 and Miss Lawson. He had therefore been pre- 
 sent at the revelation thej had come to make, 
 and was striving to alleviate her sorrow with 
 that sublime prospect which is the Christian's 
 birth- ri2:ht.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 83 
 
 Blount gave a cry of alarm, and hm^ried to- 
 wards his mother. Geoffrey hung back, appar- 
 ently subdued by the spectacle. Sir Nigel 
 held up his hand to impress on the children 
 the necessity of silence and self-command, but 
 the elder boy was already kneeling at his 
 mother's feet, clasping her disengaged hand, and 
 gazing with half- suppressed sobs and streaming 
 eyes into her corpse-like face. 
 
 For a moment Mrs Tempest opened her eyes, 
 fixed them affectionately on her eldest born, 
 then looked apj)ealingly at her brother-in-law. 
 The Baronet instantly took the boy by the hand. 
 
 " I acknowledge my nej)hew as my heir," he 
 said with a trembling voice. ^'And, with the 
 blessing of God, will be as a father to him as 
 long as I live." 
 
 " Amen ! " said the priest reverently, as he 
 still read from his breviary. 
 
 Blount did not know what this recognition 
 meant, his mind was subdued with a great dread ; 
 he trembled and would have fallen, but for the 
 strong affectionate arm of Miss Lawson that 
 had encircled his waist. Geoffrey still stood aloof. 
 Frightened though he was by the dreadful sig-
 
 84 BLOUNT TEIMPEST. 
 
 nlficance of the scene, he was painfull}^ conscious 
 of ha\dng again been overlooked, apparently of 
 not being wanted. 
 
 The mother glanced uneasily round the room. 
 She gazed on her younger son standing hj him- 
 self, tearless, though alarmed. Inpidsively he 
 sprang forward as if determined to claim his 
 share of her maternal solicitude. She smiled 
 faintly, as the bo}^ knelt on the other side of 
 her chair, and seized her hand. 
 
 Presently the smile faded away. Dr Clifford 
 on his knees commenced the last offices of his 
 Church. Sir Nigel and Miss Lawson bowed their 
 heads. Blount continued to sob. Geoffrey grasped 
 tighter the hand that was slipping from his own, 
 and grew paler as he observed the eyes glazing 
 into unconsciousness that had a moment before 
 looked at him so lovingly, and the smiKng lips 
 becoming blue and rigid in the ghastly aspect of 
 death. 
 
 When the priest concluded the prayers, Sir 
 Kigel took each of the boys and led them 
 silently out of the room. They had become or- 
 phans in the fullest sense of the word, for the in- 
 valid whose life had lono- hung bv a thread, the
 
 BLOr^'T TEMPEST. 
 
 85 
 
 tenuity of wMcb. was only known to herself, had 
 not been able to sustain the shock of her hus- 
 band's death. 
 
 Blount and Geoffrey Tempest went to live 
 "svith their uncle at "Warfdale Tower.
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 MAY DAY IN THE NORTH. 
 
 
 HE Royal Grammar Scliool of Laim- 
 cester was a venerable building, with a 
 venerable Head Master, barring vener- 
 able forms and desks, and adjoined tbe 
 yard of the venerable cbnrcb. Its ^^dndows looked 
 out into tbe clinrcliyard, giving tbe scholars the full 
 benefit of seeing tbe funerals wbich every after- 
 noon reached that God's acre ; and affording Dr 
 Breman a dismal opportunity of pointing a moral 
 to dull or idle boj^s as regards the value of time, 
 and working while it was day. 
 
 FamiKarity bred contempt ; the daily habit of 
 seeing mourners led the young gentlemen to 
 speculate upon the different shades of grief by 
 which they might be affected. They gave very 
 little credit for sincerity to the greater nmnber
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 87 
 
 of tliGin, whom tliey narrowly scrutinized at 
 tliese grim ceremonials. 
 
 In front of tlie school and in tliis church- 
 yard grew a large sycamore tree, 'producing an 
 abundant suj)ply of cock-chafers, which were 
 caught and kept in Ry cages, in order that out of 
 school hours they might be made to spin for the 
 diversion and relaxation of the scholastic mind 
 of Laimcester. 
 
 This churchyard was the one breathing 
 ground into which the boys were turned out 
 when a form came down or when school hours 
 were over. They learned their lessons often in 
 smnmer time l}^g upon the tombstones ; and 
 one of the most popular gymnastic exercises was 
 to slide do^^i the iron rod which served as a 
 handrail to the long flight of steps by which the 
 chm^chyard was reached up the castle-hiU, on 
 apjDr caching from the town side. 
 
 By taking a run in the yard, and then agilely 
 leaning upon the rod, a boy might slide from top 
 to bottom of this flight of steps, shooting down 
 the Kne with tremendous velocity. Grave di- 
 "vines, men in lawn-sleeves, the Head of a college, 
 High Sherifis, and county magistrates, on visit-
 
 88 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ins: Launcester, have been known to look at tliat 
 iron rail, and wish tliey were as nimble as in 
 those days Avken 
 
 " The sports of children satisfied the child." 
 
 One of the scholars, after having made a bun- 
 gling descent, on running up the steps into the 
 churchyard to prepare for another essay, observed 
 a school -fellow sitting cross-legged upon a 
 tombstone, watching the sails of the ships which, 
 standing -in from sea, were entering the mouth 
 of the Laune. 
 
 "^Yhy, Willoughby," he exclaimed, ^'what's 
 the matter ? Has the doctor given you an imposi- 
 tion? you look as solemn as if you were going 
 there ! " pointing to a corner under the castle 
 walls where executions take place : a dismal 
 corner, marked out by the blocks of stone let 
 into the pavement into which is fixed the ma- 
 chinery of death, when " forth from the opening 
 ranks " "a waggon comes laden with posts and 
 with planks ! '' 
 
 '^ No ! Blount," answered the other lad, ^' no- 
 thing's the matter. I was only thinking." 
 
 '' Thinking ! a penny for your thoughts ! " 
 
 "They would not be worth a penny to you,"
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 89 
 
 answered Willoughby Massey, " for I was thinking 
 about some one you don't know ! " 
 
 *' I'll bet j'-ou a twopenny tart at Sally Brown's 
 tuck sbop, I know what you were thinking of ! " 
 
 " Done, Raspberry," said young Massey. 
 
 "You'll give me two guesses?" 
 
 " 1^0 ! only one, and you must guess before I 
 can say two twos." 
 
 " Girl for ever ! " cried Blount Tempest. 
 
 " Girl ! " echoed his school- fellow, " who told 
 you?" 
 
 It needed no telling, for in his hand he held a 
 letter, evidently written by a female, and the other 
 naturally concluded that he was thinking of the 
 writer. The two hojs were — the eldest son of the 
 late minister at Florence, and the heir of his 
 friend the proprietor of Durham-Massey. As 
 neighbours, they had first become known to each 
 other, as school-fellows they were almost insepar- 
 able. 
 
 " I was thinking about my sister Mabel," young 
 Massey went on to say. "We had scarcely been 
 separated until I came here to school : and she 
 went to live at Hampton Court with Miss Law- 
 son."
 
 90 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 *' I remember them both us well as I remem- 
 ber anything," said Blount; "nice little thing 
 Mabel — everybody liked her; and as for Miss 
 Lawson, I have scarcely a pleasant recollection in 
 which she does not figure, like a guardian angel, 
 or fairy god-mother, or good genius, or something 
 of that sort. 
 
 " And so they are living together in the old 
 palace of Cardinal Wolsey?" he added inquir- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Yes, and Mabel gives me a long description 
 of the place ; there seem such a jolly lot of intri- 
 cate passages in it, leading to out-of-the-way 
 nooks, where different sets of people live as cosy as 
 rabbits in a warren, but apparent!}- not quite so 
 sociable." 
 
 "I thought that only kings and queens and 
 their attendants lived in such palaces." 
 
 " So did I, Blount ; but this is evidently a royal 
 palace without royalty ; kings and queens, and 
 princes and princesses too, have turned their 
 backs upon it ; but the i^recious great place has 
 found humbler tenants, I dare say very glad to 
 find such highly respectable lodgings, especially 
 as I'm told they get 'em for nothing."
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 91 
 
 ^' Convenient tliat, I should say, to small in- 
 comes and uncommonly genteel tastes. At any 
 rate, I hope your sister is happy there, "Wil- 
 loughby?" 
 
 " Well, I don't quite think she is, Blomit. To 
 be sure, she Tvrites a lot about the pictures, and 
 the gardens, and the river, but only, as far as I 
 can see, to let me know how much better she likes 
 similar attractions at Durham- Massey." 
 
 " Good little thing ! no doubt the people she 
 meets at this ram-shackle old palace are strangers, 
 and she misses the affection of your father and 
 yourself. The Colonel, I know, is very fond of her. ' ' 
 
 " Everybody is fond of her, and we all try to 
 make her as happy as possible. By George, don't 
 I miss her bright face ? " 
 
 "Well, it's no use fretting, old fellow, so put 
 up your letter and let's have a game at cricket." 
 
 The school-fellows went away with their arms 
 flung over each other's shoulders, and presently 
 were at the wickets^ displaying a tremendous 
 amount of energy. Both were excellent bats as 
 well as expert round bowlers, indeed they excelled 
 in the game, and were sure to contribute largely 
 to the score when victory was achieved.
 
 92 ]JI,OrNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Greoffrej^ Tempest, thongli at tlie same scliool, 
 was not so friendly with Willoiigliby !^Iassey. 
 He was not popular vnth liis scliool-fellows, in 
 consequence of his mood}', discontented spirit ; 
 which frequently betrayed itself when he observed 
 the superiority of his brother, and the favour 
 shown him by the boys. 
 
 In Launcester school, holidays or particular 
 festivals or anniversaries Avere guarded with 
 almost religious respect. Royal- Oak-Day was a 
 whole holiday. On the 29th of January the boys 
 always went to church, and so escaped Dr Bee- 
 man's matutinal ferule. Charles I. was po- 
 pular on that accoimt, and a sort of scholastic 
 gratitude was felt for OliA^er Cromwell (notwith- 
 standing his usurpation) for having delivered the 
 school from one day's "martyrdom." But among 
 all the holidays there was none enjoyed more 
 than May-day. May-day had no political asso- 
 ciations, and it was observed with the most jubi- 
 lant demonstrations in the country about Lami- 
 cester. 
 
 Your Southerner or Londoner knows little or 
 nothing of English sports as they were kept in 
 "the good old times."
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 93 
 
 It is only those who have been born and bred 
 in the North who can remember how such a day 
 as the 1st of May used to be celebrated. " Used ! " 
 Even in the IS'orth such old customs are fast dy- 
 ing out, and in a few years the land T\dll know 
 them no more. 
 
 Old English customs and sports have a parti- 
 cular hold upon our affections. We like them 
 for themselves, and love them for their associations. 
 The iron- age is beating out many quaint old habits 
 over whose decay we may sincerety mourn. 
 
 Why shoidd Lady Godiva no longer ride into 
 Coventry, and country chaw-bacons miss being 
 annually taught the moral upon curiosity, learnt 
 from Peeping Tom? A few years back some 
 "fast men" turned the venerable show into an 
 orgie, and the usage is therefore to be sacrificed 
 to a particular abuse. IS'o one especially loves 
 Archbishop Laud in the Star Chamber; but he 
 seems a thoroughly hearty gentleman when he 
 gets among English sports. 
 
 " We, the latest seed of Time, 
 New meD, that in the flying of a wheel 
 Cry down the past " — 
 
 in Lady Godiva and many other kindred celebra-
 
 94 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 tions and English, customs, that were not only 
 surrounded with happy associations, but liad in 
 them beneficial effects. Lady Godiva "clothed 
 o'er with chastity " reminded us year by year of 
 the wrongs of oppressive taxation ; and contrasted 
 with, the hardness of the tyrant, the blessedness 
 of s}Tnpatliy between tbe ricb and noble and the 
 poor and lowly. 
 
 A May-pole and a Morris-dance are things 
 that have long ceased to be familiar to the eyes of 
 the citizens of London. Time was, when a royal 
 " Colimin of May ^' stood where the church of St 
 Mary-le-Strand now stands. 
 
 " Amid the area wide they took their stand 
 When the tall May-pole once o'erlook'd the Strand : 
 But now (so Anne and Piety ordain) 
 A church collects the saints of Drury Lane." 
 
 Sir Mgel Tempest was not the man to allow 
 such an old English holiday as Maj^-day to 
 pass miobserved. He had a noble "Colmnn 
 of May" upon the village green of Thornby, — 
 a gift to the villagers, being one of the finest 
 American pines out of the park, one hundred feet 
 high. 
 
 Year after year on the eve of the 1st of May
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 95 
 
 yoimg Massey came over to Warfdale to join in 
 tlie sports. May morn was usliered in by tlie 
 pealing of Thornby bells, and by a song to the 
 rising sun which the villagers sang on the church 
 tower at the annual celebration, as the choristers 
 still do at Magdalen College. 
 
 Tennyson has described May-day as the mad- 
 dest merriest day of all the glad new year. It 
 certainly was so at Thornby. All the young girls 
 and boys had their May- gads, or peeled willow- 
 wands, dressed with ribbons and flowers. Their 
 hats, caps, and button-holes were ornamented witli 
 the beautifid hawthorn blossom. The young 
 people headed the procession, as it woimd its way 
 from the village green to the Hall. Behind the 
 May-gads came little girls, who looked like ani- 
 mated flower-beds, so decked were they, theii^ hair, 
 their dresses, and their baskets, with flowers. 
 
 The blossoms were stre^s^Ti in the path of the 
 May Queen vrho followed. The Queen of the 
 May was always chosen for her beauty; and 
 Thornby flattered itself that it coidd boast as 
 many " witches " as could be foimd in the valleys 
 and villages for which our !North comitry is 
 famous.
 
 \)b BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 The Queen always rode. Her Majesty was 
 the onh' moimted person in the cavalcade. A 
 favourite old mare of Sir Nigel's acted as charger 
 on these festive celebrations ; and rarely has Eoyal 
 palfrey carried a more lovely burthen than has 
 been seen upon the back of Sir Nigel's pet 
 'SSmut." 
 
 The May Queen was invariably dressed in 
 white, crowned with a chaplet of cowslips, blue- 
 bells, hawthorn flowers, and ferns. Diamond 
 head-dresses and lace lappets at a birthday draw- 
 ing-room never could approach in loveliness the 
 head- gear of majesty at a Thornby show. 
 
 She was surroimded by maids of honom% who 
 danced about and around her diu'ing the whole 
 time the procession was in movement, twirling in 
 the air hoops of willow boimd vrith. flowers ; so 
 that the Queen literally rode in the midst of a 
 garden of roses. 
 
 Behind her came the Rush -cart. A long 
 hay -cart (drawn by a picked team of horses, 
 their bridles decked with flowers, and streamers 
 flowing from their winkers) was hidden be- 
 neath a superstructure of green rushes, built up 
 some fourteen feet hiffh. The decoration of this
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 97 
 
 equipage was grand in village sj)lendonr. The 
 " Tempest Arms " had a le^y laid upon it for the 
 occasion. Every pewter pot in that establish- 
 ment, with a superfine polish, served to form part 
 of stars or letterings upon the side of the rush- 
 cart. "May-day," ''Heaven save the Tempests," 
 "The May Queen," and other appropriate le- 
 o-ends, surmounted bv emblems and devices, 
 adorned the sides of the cart, which glittered 
 brilliantly in the sun's rays. 
 
 The rush- cart was not to be viewed or ex- 
 amined closely. Like David Cox's drawings it 
 depended upon breadth of effect ; and great 
 breadth the pewter pots gave it. Seen from a 
 distance, the wall of moving rushes seemed to be 
 adorned with silver devices, and however much the 
 description may be calculated to produce a smile 
 upon the uninitiated, those who have once seen 
 a May-day rush-cart Avill aver it was a very 
 pretty piece of rustic mise en scene. 
 
 Behind the vehicle, and closing the procession, 
 came the greatest delight of all, the Morris- 
 dancers. Oh ! Morris-dancers and " Peace- 
 effgrers," who that once has seen can ever forget 
 your noble persons and your strange apparel? 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 98 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 fStand forth, dear Fools, and let the modern Avorld 
 be moved to admiration ! 
 
 How the clown belabours the lads and lasses ! 
 How that weapon swings about his head and 
 falls with a smash and a rattle like a hail-storm 
 on the face of some grinning j)loughboy ! He 
 carries his weaj)on like a Gog or Magog, and 
 it somewhat resembles that staff with a chain and 
 a spiked ball at the end Avhich the giants displa^^ 
 The Morris-fool carries his staff, and at the end 
 of it a cord attached to an inflated bladder with a 
 handful of peas inside. 
 
 The bladder does great execution upon the 
 faces of the bimipkins, and as it whacks them 
 about the ears, the internal hail-storm rolls and 
 riunbles, to the edification of the farmers' wenches. 
 
 The Fool is the Prologue, accompanied by a 
 party of six "Morris-dancers," who enact a 
 Mystery of the most chivalric character, that 
 always was and will remain a mystery. The per-, 
 formance opens by the dancers taking their places 
 as if for a quadrille. To the music of triangles, 
 fifes, and driuns, they move off upon a wild career, 
 in a figure that seems to have been borrowed by 
 the ''Lancers," — that dizzy figure in which the
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 99 
 
 whole company appear to be suddenly intoxicated, 
 and to go %Yinding and twirling and reeling in 
 and out, as tliougli lost in a Rosamond's bower, 
 and dodging to and fro in search of their partners. 
 
 The Morris-dancers as they quicken their pace 
 become strangely excited ; they flourish their 
 arms, and Maid Marian brandishes in mid air a 
 shining ladle, while the corps dmmatique slap 
 their hands and their knees with the fervour of 
 an Indian devotee. 
 
 The dance having wound up both performers 
 and sj)ectators to a pitch of enthusiasm, thus the 
 * 'mystery" commences. There is a valiant knight 
 and a desperado of fiercest aspect : there is a 
 Royal personage and a venerable indi\ddual, who 
 Avhether he be father of the maid or '' Father " in 
 an unsocial and ecclesiastical sense has never been 
 clearly revealed. The mystery has something to 
 do with Robin Hood, Coeur de Lion, Friar Tuck, 
 and Little John. A valiant knight on occasion 
 declares 
 
 '- 1 ham the Knight, who fought in harms of steel ; 
 St George it is my name !" 
 
 It has been mentioned that the procession, 
 whose component parts have been described, pro-
 
 100 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 ceeded from the A'illage to tlie Hull, but not before 
 the MaY-j)ole had been "raised." Isow, as the 
 May-pole was a fixture, it is necessary to explain 
 that by " raising " is meant — decoration. There 
 ^Yas a crown to be placed upon its top : it had to 
 be woimd round with ribbons: ropes of flowers 
 had to be fastened to it, and to be stretched out 
 and pegged into the gromid in a circle forming a 
 floral tent, beneath which popular games were 
 played. 
 
 Then the procession moved forward to the 
 Hall, where a party of ladies annually received 
 the villagers, and welcomed the May Queen. 
 Her Majesty alighted at the Jacobian gateway 
 and partook of egg-flip and other Royal drinks ; 
 which (after being tasted by the Queen) circu- 
 lated among the company. There were donkey 
 races, hurdle races, quoits, and cricket ; so that 
 Warfdale park assumed the aspect of a country 
 fair, and looked particularly^ gay as the Rush- 
 cart and the IMorris-dancers and the flower girls 
 moved about, to the delectation of old and young. 
 
 At last it was proposed that there should be a 
 game at " hare and homids,'' — a game with which 
 every English school-boy is perfectly familiar.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 101 
 
 Willoiigliby Massey was selected to be liarc. 
 Fastening a leathern strap round bis waist, mtb 
 bis flannel jacket buttoned tigbt over bis cbest np 
 to tbe tbroat, be looked as niucb as to say " Catch 
 me who can." 
 
 "Put plenty of paper into the bag, if you 
 please," he said, "for I intend to give them a long- 
 chase, and you won't soon see me again ! " 
 
 "Well, you have four hours clear before 
 dinner," cried Sir Nigel, "and if that is not 
 enough to tire even your legs, I shall conclude 
 you are a Kving example of perpetual motion." 
 
 " Dear Mabel ! " said Willoughby to his 
 friend, " I msh she were here to-day, Blount. 
 She should dance with Sir ]N'igel. "What fun 
 we would have. Suppose we make her name 
 our field cry? It will sound pretty among the 
 woods of "Warfdale." 
 
 " Now then, are you ready ? " he presently 
 demanded. " Five minutes' law, mind you ! 
 Fp the valley, on to Warfe moors, then down 
 again towards the Warfe, and home. That's 
 the line of country. If you lose the scent, you 
 A\'ill shout Olabel,' and I shall answer. Good- 
 bye, Sir Nigel, I'm off."
 
 102 BLOUNT TJ^MPEST. 
 
 xVU watelied liim, bounding like a deer over 
 the grass, and under tlie old oaks, along tlie upland 
 of the Park, until he i)assed out of sight. 
 
 ''You will have to run hard, my boy," said 
 Sir ^N'igel, " to catch Willoughby to-day. What 
 fine condition he is in. The fiye minutes are 
 up. Away ! " 
 
 And away they ran. Such a set of hounds 
 were neyer seen, for not only did the lads of 
 the yillage start with their ribbons in their coats 
 and flowers and hawthorn in their hats ; but even 
 tlie valiant knight and the Royal personage, and 
 the villain of the Morris dancers, took to their 
 heels, a most motley fantastic grouj), and hurried 
 upon the track of the hare.
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 THE LEAP. 
 
 HE scent lay right up the hills, and 
 before half an hour was over, the pack 
 of hounds was considerably thinned. 
 The stout parties lagged and the slim- 
 mer found their legs ache dreadfully. 
 
 Splendid exercise no doubt is rmming, and 
 apparently a very simple imdertaking ; but it 
 is anything rather than simple to the untrained, 
 particularly in such a country as that about 
 Thornb}', where you may run for miles up-hill 
 every inch of the way, and yet see the spread- 
 inj? hill-sides risins: above vou until vou reach 
 the summit of Ingleborough Topping. Had 
 Daniel Lambert been trained upon those moors 
 he woidd ne^'cr have become the distinguished 
 person into which he developed.
 
 104 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 It was not until they got through the park, 
 through the woods, through the pheasant covers, 
 beyond the gorse lays, and well into the open 
 upon the hills, that they even caught a glimpse 
 of Willoughby. 
 
 " And from the sky, serene and far, 
 A voice fell like a falling star." 
 
 It seemed as if the voice calling "Mabel" fell 
 from the sky, as they heard his voice borne 
 down by, the breeze from the high slopes above, 
 and watched him lightly sjoringing over the 
 heather, the heather green and lovely in the 
 freshness of the spring. 
 
 "Mr Massey will lead us a pretty dance," 
 gasped the Morris Knight. " St George it is 
 my name ! but, by St George I I'd rather dance 
 any nmnber of Morris dances than be a hound 
 over these Warfdale hills." 
 
 The voice from afar continued in the most 
 aggravating way to exasperate the hounds, until 
 at last they reached the brow of a line of hills 
 beyond which they had seen the figure of the 
 hare disappear. The scent lay all right, but 
 not a vestige of him could be detected.
 
 BLOL^'T TEMPEST. 105 
 
 Tliere was notliing for it but to follow tlie 
 line of paper, wliicli led clown a steep descent 
 to the valley of the AVarfe. In the woods they 
 caught the cry " Mabel/' and encouraged, pushed 
 onward as bravely as they might amidst the bram- 
 bles and oak sapKngs that scratched them fear- 
 fully. The valiant knight was here bereft of 
 some of his finery, and the King left portions 
 of his Royal robes as gifts to the "woods and 
 forests." 
 
 It was evident that Willoughby had crossed 
 the Warfe by springing from stone to stone in 
 the shallow Avater, for the scent took the water's 
 edge. They were forced to follow, with the 
 agreeable feeling that they should have to cross 
 again in order to retm-n to the Hall. Some slip- 
 ped in and got very wet, others stopped short 
 and gave up the chase. There was no danger, 
 but e\idently the hounds meditated, and be- 
 thought them if the hare ran do^^^l stream on 
 the opposite bank there would be some tough 
 jumping on nearing home in that picturesque 
 portion of the Warfe, where the cabined stream 
 dashed do^NTi between rocks which are easy
 
 106 }ir.()UNT lEMPEST. 
 
 enougli to leap, as to width, but not inviting 
 when the dangers of a false stej) are taken into 
 consideration. 
 
 The pack therefore became much smaller at 
 the edge of the Warfe. The bold and agile 
 alone crossed. There were not more than ten in 
 nimiber that found the scent on the opposite 
 side, and made their way through the thick 
 woods that clothe the sides of Warfdale proper. 
 
 In the distance, but faintly, they coidd hear 
 the cry of *' Mabel," and the paj^er on the 
 ground showed clearly enough which way to 
 follow\ It led down stream, in the direction of 
 the park ; and all felt certain that "VYilloughby 
 had made for the ^'Leap." It was just what he 
 would do, because he could clear it Avitli per- 
 fect ease, and be able to laugh at those from 
 the opposite side who dared not follow. 
 
 As it has been already described, the distance 
 from the Leap to the Hall is only about a mile, 
 and Willoughby could easily watch the hounds 
 follow on his scent, and yet make to cover at 
 the Hall, uncaught. Blomit Tempest deter- 
 mined, if he had made for the Leap, and par- 
 ticularly if he were found watching on the op-
 
 r.LOrXT TEMPEST. 107 
 
 posite side to see liow the homids would follow, 
 tliat lie would be the first to dash across the 
 dangerous chasm, and at least give hini a stiff 
 run home. 
 
 The valiant knight, who was one of Sir 
 Niger s hinds, and knew every inch of the 
 estate, seemed to anticipate what Willoughby 
 would do, and strove hard to reach the Leap 
 first. The scent all lay in that direction ; the 
 hounds ran with increased eagerness, and broke 
 out from the brushwoods on to the rocky and 
 mossy shelves that intervene between the forest 
 and the bed of the river. Had the Warfe been 
 swollen they could not have approached the 
 Leap. As it was, the greater part of the bed 
 of the stream was dry, and the gorge at the 
 Leap was quite enough to carry off all the 
 water, that roared and foamed through its nar- 
 row jaws. Down to the edge of the Leap the 
 scent lay, and confirmed their supposition. 
 
 Most of the pursuers by this time had been 
 left some distance behind, and were scrambling 
 as well as they could through the forest. On 
 emerging upon the Leap the leaders were dis- 
 appointed not to catch sight of Willoughby.
 
 108 BLOL^'T TEMPEST. 
 
 There could be no doubt which, way he had 
 gone; so his friend, young Tempest, concluded 
 that he must have made haste to reach the 
 Hall, and was waiting there for the return of 
 his pursuers. 
 
 "Steady, Eobert, steady," said Blount to the 
 A^aliant knight, '' it's slij^pery work over this half- 
 dried moss ! " 
 
 "Summut soa]3y, maister," the man replied. 
 *'Maister Massey's safe on t'other side, and I'sc 
 welly nigh sure '11 be damicing at t'Hall wi' 
 one o' the lasses there afore thee r'le get nigh 
 /mn." 
 
 I^ot waiting to make any answer, and net- 
 tled with Eobert' s remark, the youth made a 
 dash at the Leap, and over he went. Eobert 
 followed instantly. It seemed nothing to him; 
 but Blount felt exceedingly glad when he found 
 himself safe, desjiite a tmnble ; for on landing, 
 his feet went straight away from luider him, and 
 like a boy on a slide, in the most degraded atti- 
 tude he glided down a shelf of rock, to the im- 
 mense amusement of his companion. 
 
 The former Avas a good deal surj^rised to find
 
 BT.OrXT TEMPEST. 109 
 
 Willoughby's bag hang at the spot where his 
 slide came to an end. 
 
 ''Well, Robert, here's the bag at any rate. 
 Mr Massey intends to poke his fun at us with 
 this." 
 
 They picked up the bag, and in a short 
 time reached the Hall, where the company were 
 in expectation of their return. There stood the 
 Eush-cart. The Queen of the May and the flower- 
 girls were dancing. Sir Nigel was pacing the 
 terrace overhanging the moat, and his friends 
 were looking on at the dance. 
 
 The Baronet first caught sight of his nephew 
 approaching, carrying the hare bag in his 
 hands. 
 
 ''Hollo," he cried, "are you the hare now? 
 Where was Willoughby caught then ? " 
 
 " Caught ! " Blount replied, " we never caught 
 him. "He distanced us all, took to the river, 
 and crossed it again at the Leap ! Has he not 
 come in ? " 
 
 No ! no one had seen him. 
 
 " Oh ! I dare say he's gone up to his own 
 room," suggested one of the ladies, a visitor at
 
 110 ELOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Warfdale Tower; ''perhaps lie came in by the 
 garden entrance, and intends to change his clothes 
 at once for dinner. He must have been very 
 hot." 
 
 "I will go and look for him," volunteered 
 a motherly dame, " and, my boy, you had better 
 come along with me before you get chilled. Why, 
 Blount, how hot you are ! The perspiration is 
 standing on your cheeks like dew-drops." 
 
 It was so. 
 
 " Where was Willoughby caught ? " 
 
 As Sir Nigel spoke these words Blount haji- 
 pened to be looking at Dr Clifford, and observed 
 his fiice turn deadly pale. The Doctor did not 
 utter a word. His anxiety was instantly dis- 
 guised ; but as Blount entered the house he fol- 
 lowed, and overtook him. 
 
 ''Don't you trouble, madam, to ascend to 
 Willoughby' s room," he said, addressing Mj.'s 
 Fitzgerald. " I and Blount wdll go. The stairs 
 would fatigue you. Pray let us ascend by our- 
 selves." 
 
 " Oh ! very well. Doctor. You are extremely 
 polite," the old lady replied; "but mind, Blount,
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. Ill 
 
 that you change jouv clothes directly. I am so 
 fearful of your catching cold." 
 
 Unsuspectingly she turned, and passed out 
 again to the May revels. 
 
 The instant she was gone Dr Clifford's hand 
 fell heavily upon Blount Tempest's arm, clutch- 
 ing it, and gi\ing the youth acute pain. 
 
 "Was that bag near the edge of the Leap, 
 Blount ? " 
 
 "Yes, Doctor. I found it there." 
 
 "^\Tiere? How?" 
 
 "'Where! Why a few yards from the 
 Leap." 
 
 " A few yards ? Oh ! thank God." 
 
 "AVhen I and Robert jumped the Leap I 
 am ashamed to say my legs went from under 
 me; I slid down the shelf and the bag pulled 
 me up. But why do you ask. Doctor ? " 
 
 "Oh, Blount, Bloimt," he replied with pas- 
 sionate grief. " Quick, quick, for God's sake, 
 call Hobert, and let us go to the Leap." 
 
 To the Leaj) they went. ()n the road they 
 met none of the pursuers. Finding, as they 
 imagined, which way the hare and his two
 
 112 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 followers had gone, they liad turned back, and 
 retracing their stej^s up the bed of the river, 
 had recrossed at a shallow spot, where there 
 were stepping-stones for the use of the herds- 
 men and labourers. 
 
 IN^early three-quarters of an hour had elapsed 
 since the Leap had been left, and Blount Tempest 
 hurried back to it as fast as Dr Clifford coidd 
 2:)0ssibly move ; but a mile's distance gave the 
 former ample tune to reflect. He began to think 
 that the Doctor might be right in his suspicion. 
 Willoughby might have missed his footing. If 
 he did he must have fallen into the rushing 
 water in the depth of the Leap, and have been 
 instantly carried into the pool. In the pool 
 lie would be safe, for he could swim. 
 
 "To be sure he could swim," he said to him- 
 self, " and, after all, how foolish I was not to go 
 and look for him in his room before we left the 
 Hall. If he got a ducking, he would natural^ 
 not like us to see him, because we should laugh 
 at the pickle he must be in." 
 
 So Bloimt comforted himself, and tried to 
 make up his mind that there was no danger, 
 that tlie Doctor was mistaken, and that Wil-
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 113 
 
 loiigliby would have a rare joke at the old 
 gentleman's expense when they got back home. 
 
 The boy was crying peace where there was no 
 peace. 
 
 The Doctor and he were of different minds, 
 the former anticipating evil, the latter beguiling 
 himself into the belief that there was no cause 
 for apprehension. 
 
 They reached the Leap at last. Blount in 
 his anxiety trembled as he stood upon the ledge 
 of rock, and looked down into the narrow gut 
 where the Warfe was boiling and foaming at 
 the obstacles to its current. He tried to gain 
 confidence from the recollection that he had 
 within the hour leapt in safety from side to side 
 of that chasm, and asked why should not so 
 expert and agile a youth as his school-fellow 
 haye done the same ? 
 
 He, the Doctor, and Robert stood side by 
 side, gazing into the depth, as if they expected 
 to see "W^illoughby there. There was not a trace 
 of him ! 
 
 ''Stay ye there, reverent sir," said Robert. 
 "Let's tak a look at t'other side. She be a 
 slithering wench be th'Warf in ganging w'hom." 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 And across the Leap lie went. What good 
 looking at the gorge from the other side could do, 
 no one but the countryman had a notion ; for he 
 walked up the ledges and hank until he came to 
 the bits of paper which the hare had scattered. 
 Having found them, he turned round upon the 
 river, and measuring with his eye the line which 
 he thought would be the course Willoughby 
 Massey would take, walked straight back to the 
 gorge, approaching it some three yards belovf the 
 spot where the others stood. 
 
 Ha^dng reached the ledge, the man on hands 
 and Iniees began carefully to examine the sur- 
 face of the rock. This manoeuvre again puzzled 
 his associates. His meaning however was soon 
 revealed. 
 
 *'Ere be a slither, Maister Bloimt," cried he, 
 with his finger upon the rock, pointing out a spot 
 where the wet moss had broken under some 
 one's foot, and a dark clay line was marked 
 by the slipping of the flat of a boot's sole. 
 
 "May 'bees Maister Massey cum this way." 
 
 If he did, however, there was no evidence 
 of his having been precipitated into the gorge.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 115 
 
 "We must go doT\Ti to tlie pool/' said Dr 
 Clifford; "if anything has happened, he would 
 be carried there." 
 
 Then they all scrambled along the rocks to 
 the pool. Hope made Blount's heart leap on 
 reaching the spot where the river emerged from 
 between the rocks and spread into the broad 
 basin. Still there was not a trace of him to be 
 seen. Nevertheless, the Doctor seemed dissatis- 
 fied, and ordered Blount to be silent when the 
 latter tried to reassm-e him and tempt him to be- 
 lieve that Willoughby had gone home. 
 
 "We must examine the pool carefully, 
 Robert," observed the Doctor. "Let us walk 
 round it first." 
 
 At its mouth the "lasher" dashed into the 
 basin, and the stream, which seemed to dive 
 into the depths of the pool, rose again a few 
 yards out, and bubbled up with strong emotion. 
 Then quietly it mingled with the peacefid waters, 
 and its rage vanished. 
 
 Dr Clifford walked forward, and reached 
 the opposite side of the pool in advance of his 
 companions. "W^iile they were looking about the
 
 116 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 laslier for some trace of the missing youtli, they 
 were startled by a piercing cry. 
 
 Both turned to look at the Doctor, and beheld 
 him standing by a broken bank, his arms 
 stretched out over the water, and his whole 
 frame motionless, as if he had been suddenly 
 turned to stone. 
 
 There Willoughby Massey lay floating, and 
 looking so calm upon the water, that it might have 
 been his bed, and he asleep. On his temple a 
 small spot of blood told the sad story of his fate. 
 He had missed his footing, slipped, and fallen 
 headlong into the gorge of the Warfe. In falling, 
 some point of rock must have struck his temple 
 and rendered him insensible. In that state the 
 river had carried him away, and swept him over 
 the lasher into the pool. 
 
 There had been no struggle, no fight with 
 the angry waters. They had sported with him 
 as they pleased. They had hurried him away; 
 flung him into the spreading basin ; toj^ed with 
 him for a while; and then cahnly floated the 
 lifeless form to the bank beneath which they 
 foimd it, sleeping in its watery grave, without
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 11' 
 
 a trace of pain. ^J^o clenclied hand, no distorted 
 features, no cramped limbs betokened d}^g 
 tigony. He lay so pale and calm and beautiful 
 upon tbe fatal element, tbat a "v\'ater lily could 
 not have breasted it with a more gentle grace.
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 A MEMORABLE FIRST MEETING. 
 
 R Clifford would not leave tlie corpse, 
 but despatclied Blount Tempest to the 
 Hall to make known what kad occui-- 
 red, and to arrange for its being re- 
 moved. 
 
 As tke youth approached the moat a scene 
 less in accordance with his own melancholy 
 thoughts could scarcely have been imagined. 
 Peals of laughter followed the antics of the clo'^ai. 
 Groups were scattered about the lawns. Here 
 the Morris-dancers, there the May Queen and 
 the flower - girls ; in another spot, the truly 
 English game of bowls (in which Sir Nigel 
 joined) was beiag i^layed. His nephew aj)- 
 proached him, and with faltering accents and 
 haggard looks communicated the terrible intelli-
 
 BT.OrXT TE3[PEST. 119 
 
 gciice. Within a few moments it had passed 
 from month to month, and a painful silence fell 
 upon the collected miiltitnde. All stood aghast, 
 afraid to speak or move. 
 
 ISTeyer, perhaps, was a more monrnfnl scene 
 witnessed in a garden, except on that day when 
 the remains of the Duchess of Orleans were 
 committed to the tomb at Weybridge ; and Ary 
 Schefier caught his death-cold, as he stood upon 
 the lawn, when the offices for the dead were 
 celebrated over that coffin of the brave and noble- 
 hearted woman. Schefter came with lo-STUg hands 
 to help in bearing her to her resting-place ; and 
 when they had resigned to a grave among flowers 
 the lady whose life had been past amidst thorns, 
 he went home, and died. 
 
 It was a very bright sunny day ; but the 
 news Bloimt Tempest brought from the Leap 
 chilled every one. Before a storm bursts forth 
 in eastern latitudes there comes a cold wind, 
 raising clouds of dust, and giving miniistake- 
 able warning of the impending hurricane. The 
 air that was scarce endurable with heat, sud- 
 denly turns chilly and makes the flesh creep ; and 
 then a stillness faUs upon the scene ; not a leaf
 
 120 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 moves, not a bii'd flutters in the air. An oppres- 
 sive silence, a leaden calm prevenes the clouds 
 rising on the horizon. 
 
 So silence and stiUness fell upon that jubilant 
 band of villagers at Warfdale Hall. The chill had 
 come, then the silence, and then the desolation 
 with clouds and thick darkness rose from the 
 banks of the Warfe. 
 
 Presently Sir Nigel was seen approaching, 
 marshalling four sturdj^ yeomen the way to the 
 Hall. The}^ carried between them something 
 stretched out upon a plank and covered with a 
 white sheet. It was a strange group. Motley 
 mixed up with death. There was the valiant 
 knight, still clad in his Morris finery; and the 
 other men displaying flowers and ribbons fast- 
 ened to their clothes. But no one seemed con- 
 scious of this. The faces of all were grave and 
 downcast, sadly out of keeping "with their holiday 
 attire. 
 
 The solemn procession approached the Hall. 
 Children clung to their mothers' skirts, and hid 
 their faces in the folds. The farmer boj^s and 
 A^illagers simultaneously defied their felt caps, and 
 the young girls herded together in groups, sobbing
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 121 
 
 pitifully, and shrinkingiy making way for tlie 
 burden borne by those four men. It was the first 
 time that most of those young people had been 
 confronted with death, and they were awed. But 
 to the school- fellow of the dead youth surrounding 
 objects seemed to swim before his eyes as he 
 watched and waited the approach of the bearers. 
 
 ^'Can this," he thought, "be all that is left 
 of my dear friend and favourite play- fellow ! 
 Dear Willoughby lies there silent and motionless. 
 He can speak no more. I cannot persuade myself 
 that he is dead. He sleeps, he will wake, I thinlv. 
 Dead, dead and dro^yned, while I was so near, 
 heated in a game — a game played with him — 
 this I cannot realize." 
 
 The groan that rose like one voice from the 
 assembly as the four men passed into the Hall 
 smote his heart, and taught him that was truth 
 which he could not school himself to look upon as 
 true. 
 
 They laid the corpse in the Guestin-chambcr, 
 not in Willoughby's own small bed-room. 
 
 "Let him have all the honour that the 
 Tempests can pay him, Blount," said Sir 'Nigel 
 to his nephew. " He comes of an old stock, and
 
 122 ]?LOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 he is tlie last — the last of liis race. In him the 
 Masseys end." 
 
 " 'VA^at a blow for his father ! " remarked the 
 affectionate boy. 
 
 " His father ! with all my soul I pity him ! " 
 
 During that long solemn week, when every 
 one crept noiselessly about the Hall, and the 
 sKghtest somid startled the ear, as it reverberated 
 along the corridors of Warfdale, Blount Tempest 
 used constantly to visit the Guestin-chamber. 
 
 Day after day passed wearily. The officers of 
 death came and went, made every preparation, but 
 never moved the corpse. 
 
 At last one evening Sir Nigel murmm-ed, " We 
 must postpone it no longer." 
 
 " It ! what is it, uncle ? " demanded the in- 
 consolable friend of the deceased. " You would 
 not have the funeral before his father comes, 
 surely ? " 
 
 "]N"o, Blount, that is not what I mean. You 
 know, my boy, we have not yet laid Willoughby 
 in his coffin : and that is it. We must do so, 
 Blount, to-morrow, and take a last fiirewell of our 
 friend." 
 
 " Oh ! uncle," — but his utterance was choked ;
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 123 
 
 he could say no more. At last liis boy's heart real- 
 ized the truth : and he sobbed conAoilsively. Sir 
 'Nigel pitied hiin ; who could help sjonpathizing 
 with a boy's first great grief in life? Perhaps 
 the old man felt that his kinsman's grief was like 
 something he had himself once suffered, for he led 
 Blount out into the garden, and with all the ten- 
 derness of his nature tried to comfort him. But the 
 school-fellow and pla^Tuate was not to be com- 
 forted. It may be but dust we dote on when 
 'tis hmnan life we love : but it is when we have to 
 part from that dust that we first experience the 
 awfidness of death. 
 
 The hour had come, then, when Blount Tempest 
 must part from the first friend of his yoimg exist- 
 ence. He now remembered that if the dead was 
 to be shut out from his eyes, so woidd he be hid- 
 den from the eyes of his doting father, who must 
 be on his road to Warfdale Tower, to which he 
 had been summoned from a distant part of the 
 kingdom. Blount resolved to pass the night in 
 the chamber of death, and pray beside what re- 
 mained of his friend. He could then tell him for 
 the last time how much he had loved him. 
 
 He determined to cut ofi" three locks of his
 
 124 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 sunny brown liair, and keej) tlicm, one for liis 
 friend's fatlier, one for his sister, one for himself ; 
 and after watching b}^ him until the morning, he 
 would take a last gaze upon his handsome face, 
 and imjDress its dear image upon his memory for 
 ever ! 
 
 Unquestionably Blount loved him; with a 
 boy's full heart dearly loved him, and cried bit- 
 terly when he thought that those Avho loved him 
 still better would see his face no more. 
 
 The household had retired to bed, and the last 
 foot-fall had died away. Blount Tempest passed 
 from his room, unlocked the door, and stood again 
 beside the bed whereon Willoughby's remains 
 lay waiting for burial. The tapers were dimly 
 burning at each side of the antique bed-head ; 
 that bed on which a king had slept. He knelt by 
 the corpse, and laid a hand on his. In that atti- 
 tude he said his prayers, and then in a thrilling 
 whisper thus addi-essed him : 
 
 " Good-bye, dearest Willoughby ; to-morrow, 
 best, kindest of friends, I shall see you no more ! 
 They avlU never see you! but I will tell them 
 everj^thing." 
 
 He then rose and cut off the locks of hair.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 125 
 
 ''I will tell them liow you loved them, and 
 how your sister's name was the last word you 
 uttered." 
 
 "Mabel, Mabel!" he repeated with pas- 
 sionate emphasis. "Oh, Mabel, why are you 
 not here ? " 
 
 He buried his head in the clothes at the bed- 
 side, and sobbed aloud, for there was no need 
 to check his grief. The silence of the room 
 seemed, as it T^^ere, audible ; and through the si- 
 lence there came not music, not sounds distinct, 
 but a singing in the air, that reverberated through 
 his brain, like the remote song of the waves chil- 
 dren fancy they hear in shells. 
 
 As he raised his head to listen, his eyes fell 
 upon a face that seemed unearthly. In the dim 
 light he thought at first it was the spirit of his 
 dead friend come down to comfort him, the ex- 
 pression and the features appeared so like his. 
 What was it ? Who was it ? The door was locked. 
 If a human being, how coidd the chamber have 
 been entered? If not, — but no! he rejected the 
 thought of any supernatural \dsitation. While 
 yet staring in wild astonishment at the form be- 
 fore him, it moved round the bed and came to his
 
 126 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 side. Tlie boy was still on his knees crouclied 
 before the presence that seemed to him angelic. 
 *' Mabel is here," it said. 
 
 It was Willoughby's sister ! 
 
 She knelt down by his side : she too clasped 
 the hand of the dead, and pressed _his cold lips 
 to hers. Then followed sobs and tears and 
 groans mingled with ejacnlations, which com- 
 pletely recalled Blonnt's senses. From being 
 absorbed by his own thoughts, he turned his at- 
 tention to his fair companion. 
 
 "He is dead, dead! cold and dead," she 
 moaned. " Could no one save his dear Kfe : — no 
 one for his poor father's and his sister's sake ? " 
 
 " Every one here would have saved him if it 
 had been possible," his friend answered. 
 
 "Everyone?" 
 
 "Yes, every one, for we all loved him very 
 dearly ! " 
 
 The eyes of Mabel brightened, and she looked 
 her associate straight in the face. 
 
 "And you are — ?" 
 
 "Blount Tempest," he whispered. 
 
 They spoke no more. The recognition was 
 enough. She stretched out her thin hand, placing
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 127 
 
 it in his, and a soft pressure told her thanks! 
 The next moment everything but her dead brother 
 was forgotten. She flung herself iipon the bed 
 and clasped him to her heart, called him by his 
 name, and prayed him, in her anguish and desola- 
 tion, not to leave them. 
 
 Yain, vain was that cry of heart-wrung agony. 
 He heard not her. loving voice. He could not 
 answer its thrilling appeal !
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LIFE S ROMANCE. 
 
 ad's love and stick fires are soon out," 
 is one of a class of stereotyped say- 
 ings commonly applied to a youth's 
 affection. Has not the falsehood of 
 the proverb been proved in thousands upon thou- 
 sands of instances ; and have we not just as bright 
 and beautiful evidences of the permanency and 
 loyalty of early love as of the same qualities when 
 the passion is developed at a more advanced age ? 
 Are we to place confidence in the tenderness of 
 a steady middle-aged gentleman, " who looks be- 
 fore he leaps," and not rely on that of the young 
 soldier who goes to distant lands to serve his coun- 
 try, and to earn a competence for himself that will 
 enable him to return and wed the girl he leaves 
 behind him ?
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 129 
 
 Surely there is truth in young affection, beauty 
 in early love ; something holy and manly in what 
 romance usuall}^ too lightl}?- regards as ^^senti- 
 ment." Let the reader adopt this profession of 
 faith, for it will assist materially in imderstanding 
 the hero and heroine of this story. 
 
 Before Willoughby Massey was committed to 
 the grave, his sister had made so profoimd an im- 
 pression on the thoughts and feelings of Blomit 
 Tempest, as to give an entirely new impidse to his 
 nature. Part of this was probably due to the im- 
 pressionable state in which the sudden loss of his 
 warm-hearted friend had left him, much, no doubt, 
 to the fact of both j)ossessing and sharing a com- 
 mon sorrow ; but more to the exceeding attractive- 
 ness of the young lady with whom, under such 
 tr^dng circumstances, the sensitive youth became 
 so tenderly connected. Out of their association 
 with the dead arose a new life to the living. 
 
 Sufficient excuse for any extravagance of 
 youthful devotion might have been found in the 
 charming face and graceful figure of Mabel at this 
 period. Although quite a girl, she was tall and 
 womanly in appearance. Indeed, every one a^^- 
 parently regarded her as a woman. She com- 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 inancled respect from all, by her reserved and 
 reticent manner. 
 
 I 'Not a look or action ever betrayed a suspicion 
 tliat slie Tallied lierself for her beauty. There 
 was a total absence of all Yanit3\ But she was 
 proud. Mabel's demeanour made her male ac- 
 quaintances comprehend that there must be no 
 approach towards familiarity. 
 
 Such women seem to say, and yet say it with 
 perfect courtesy, 
 
 *' You and I can be friends. We have objects 
 of interest in coimiion. We can converse pleasantly 
 and profitably on topics that are agreeable to both. 
 We may ride together to-day in the park. We 
 may sit next one another at dinner to-night. At 
 a later hour, we may be charmed while enjoying 
 together the same Opera. We may visit together 
 the same galleries, and may sec a great deal of 
 one another by cultivating the same tastes — ^biit! 
 that must be the beginning and the end of our 
 intimacy." 
 
 Mabel's conduct made Blount quickly appre- 
 hend the footing on which his acquaintance could 
 alone be tolerated. She was evidently prepared to 
 be friendly, and (when she talked of her brother)
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 131 
 
 became alQiost affectionate. With tears in lier 
 eyes she spoke of the pleasure it gave her to think 
 that " her dear Willoughby had found such kind 
 friends, had been so much beloved by Sir Nigel, 
 and had met vdth so affectionate a friend as his 
 favourite school-fellow." 
 
 " In his letters home he constantly spoke of 
 you," she said. 
 
 These words made the youth's heart beat 
 quickly, and he wondered whether Willoughb^^'s 
 friend would have been welcomed by his sister. 
 But not a sj^llable was uttered to show whether she 
 woidd or would not have been glad to see him. 
 He felt disappointed. Mabel, though but a few 
 months the elder, seemed to be some years her 
 lover's senior in feeling and in thought. 
 
 She spoke lilve a woman, and no doubt felt like 
 one. She had then attained her fidl statm-e, and 
 looked commandingly as she swept along, resem- 
 bling the figures of angels seen in Flaxman's dl^aw-^ 
 ings, " trailing clouds of glory as they come." 
 
 The thin material of her dress falling in grace- 
 ful folds about her lithe figure displayed its j)ro- 
 portions to the greatest advantage. 
 
 The horrible fashions of a later date were
 
 132 ]iLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 not then invented, wliicli disfigure a woman, and 
 mar the outline that nature has dictated and art 
 accepted as the Beautiful. 
 
 Her head was small and classical. It might 
 have been a model for the Yenus de Milo. Her 
 hair, 
 
 " Oh, golden hair, -with, which I used to play," 
 
 was such as the poet has ascribed to Guinevere, 
 Well may women pride themselves upon it, for 
 nature has adorned them with no attraction more 
 decorative. 
 
 Mabel's hair was of that golden hue rarely 
 seen except in master-pieces of painting. Artists, 
 particular^ Pre-Raphaelite, seem to think that 
 the poet sings of something dashed -vsdth red, or 
 bright as fire. That which the upper ten of St 
 James's call " auburn " passes also for " golden." 
 It is no such thing. 
 
 The light bro-WTi hair of a child naturally 
 darkens as years advance. Earely, very rarely, 
 on some fair woman's head the child-time colour 
 remains, but as she passes into womanhood the 
 delicate brown becomes glistering, and as the light 
 strilvcs upon the glossy tresses, a wave of gold 
 seems to sweep over them, like the wave of sun-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 133 
 
 shine wHcL. passes over the wheat as it bends be- 
 fore the sununer breeze. 
 
 This golden hair was di^awn smoothly and 
 tightly off the face, and knotted in a coil, which, 
 falling into the hollow of the neck, left the outline 
 and configuration of her head sharp and clear. 
 
 Her brow was not Grecian. The brow and 
 nose which the Grecian sculjDtors delighted to cut 
 seldom realizes our ideal of beauty, because they 
 appear to portray women of small intellectual 
 power ; and when intelligence is wanting, beauty 
 is marred. 
 
 The brow of om- heroine was not lofty (which 
 in a woman's face gives an expression of boldness), 
 but it was sufficiently so to convey a feeling of the 
 possession of power, and was remarkably straight, 
 imtil it curved outward over the ej^e-brow, where- 
 by greater depth was given to the setting of the 
 eye, and the organ of " ideality " was as strongly 
 developed as the disciples of Spurzheim would 
 desire it. 
 
 Eye-brows are often described as what is called 
 "pencilled." Mabel's were not in this artificial 
 state, but were much darker in shade than her 
 hair. Indeed, the eye-brows seemed to shadow
 
 134 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 lier eyes, and to aid the overlianglng foreliead in 
 deepening tlieir tone and eiFect. 
 
 Blount had seen no colour like the eyes of his 
 mistress, except that of the ocean, when a grey 
 tone softens and subdues the bright blue of the 
 waters as they appear at simrise. 
 
 The sea, however tranquil in the bright morn- 
 ing, may be agitated by storms before noon. So 
 may the cahn eye. The long, fringing lashes 
 that sweep over it not only increase the liquid ex- 
 pression, but when raised, can emit a flash that 
 tell of the passionate lightning concealed within.. 
 Xo angry elements existed in Mabel's gentle na- 
 ture; but her eyes flashed with agitation when 
 she spoke of Willoughby. 
 
 Her nose was long, thin, and straight ; its only 
 deviation from the strictest regularity was to be 
 Ibmid in the bridge (which was so finety modelled 
 as to attract attention by its transparency), where- 
 by the sameness of the Grreek type was avoided,, 
 and character given to the face. 
 
 The small well-rounded cheek ended in a dim- 
 pled and somewhat saucily projecting chin. 
 
 Ever since Lord Bvron's time the " breeding '*"
 
 r.LOt'NT TEMPEST. 13-J 
 
 exliibited iii hands aud feet has been a favourite 
 subject for comment. There are many in this 
 liberal age who " smile at the claims of long 
 descent," and think that education T\dll make one 
 person as refined and elegant as another ; and that 
 it matters not what ancestors we have, if we are 
 properly and carefidly trained. 
 
 Apart from all personal prepossessions in the 
 matter, it is difficidt to imderstand on what prin- 
 ciple those who admit the results of breeding 
 among inferior races of animals coidd doubt them 
 in the highest race. Sometunes the ploughman's 
 or mechanic's son may, through early training and 
 b}' dint of his own quick perceptions and observa- 
 tion of the ways of society, become the polished 
 and true gentleman ; sometimes, too, the son born 
 of gentle lineage, taught and trained with care, 
 will turn out a rough, rude lout ; but these are 
 exceptions to the rule. 
 
 Eefinement of habit, of life, of emj)lo}Tnent, 
 and mode of living (embracing refinement in 
 feeling as well as in thinking), having belonged 
 to a man's ancestors from generation to generation, 
 do produce in their ofispring physical and mental
 
 136 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 results, evinced in tlie grace, ease, and elegance of 
 manner considered to be characteristics of high, 
 breeding. 
 
 If a small foot and small hand are regarded as 
 evidences of gentle blood, still more trustworthy- 
 are small ears. When they are transparent like 
 wafer china they have a singular charm, and this 
 Mabel possessed in an eminent degree. Her 
 golden hair brushed tightly back from off the face, 
 left exposed to view a pair that Phidias might 
 have wished to model. 
 
 She had adopted no barbaric habits. No 
 slave-like hoops of metal pierced her flesh ; no 
 miserable imitation of the vanities of savage life 
 hung pendent from those dehcate lobes. 
 
 Such evidence of purity of taste was, however, 
 most probabty due to whoever had had the super- 
 intendence of her childhood, for the custom of 
 making a hole through the tender cartilage to ob- 
 tain a place for an additional feminine decoration 
 is one for which very few who follow it are re- 
 sponsible. It is a sacrifice on the altar of vanity 
 to w^hich the girl is forced to submit at an early- 
 age. Mabel had not been called upon to go 
 through this hmniliation. Her education and
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 137 
 
 nurture had been conducted mtli unusual ten- 
 derness. 
 
 Of this there could be no doubt among those 
 who knew who it was Colonel Massey had en- 
 trusted with the cultivation of her feminine \drtucs 
 and accomplishments. The task had been con- 
 fided to no " strong-minded woman," strong only 
 in a factitious strength that gives no mental ad- 
 vantage to the possessor — petticoated Herculeses, 
 who talk not merely with masculine independ- 
 ence, but affect a Brobdignagian muscularity of 
 idea among the intellectual Lilliputians mth 
 whom their hard fate obliges them to associate. 
 The instructress of Mabel was a stTong-hcartcd 
 woman — much the most reliable as a young lady's 
 guide — and the development of the character of 
 the pupil showed how judicious had been the se- 
 lection of the teacher. 
 
 The reader has no doubt surmised that the 
 charming sister of Blount's school-fellow held 
 claim to that title by adoption only. She was 
 the foundling discovered in the basket of the 
 Orfanotrovio at Florence by the Indian officer 
 on his return home, brought to England by 
 him, carefully nursed at his ancestral home, and
 
 138 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 year after year by tier glad spirit and childisli 
 beauty throwing so much sunshine over his in- 
 heritance, that Durham-Massey without her seemed 
 the gloomiest old mansion in all Lancashire. 
 
 The Colonel had been persuaded to part with 
 her, when the strong-hearted woman, to whom 
 she had been confided, had satisfied him that her 
 charge should live for a few years entirely at her 
 residence near the metropolis, that she might 
 have the advantage of the best masters available 
 for finishing her education. 
 
 This, however, was not arranged without cer- 
 tain stipulations, by which he could occasionally 
 enjoy the society of his adopted daughter. The 
 untimely death of his only son brought her un- 
 expectedly back to Durham-Massey, where her 
 presence did much toAvards reconciling its pro- 
 prietor to that heavy afiliction. Her afiectionate 
 solicitude, her untiring devotion to him in this 
 great trial, rivetted the links which attached 
 them so closely. 
 
 The Colonel be^fan to ref^ard her with the 
 fondness due to a real, rather than with the kind- 
 ness he had satisfied himself with showing to his 
 adopted, daughter. She had long been treated as
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 139 
 
 sucb. by the friends of the family, was styled Miss 
 3Iassey by every one, and her accidental intro- 
 duction having been completely lost sight of, it 
 was not strange that Blount Tempest, among 
 others, should have so readily accepted her for 
 what she was styled. But his opportmiities for 
 cultivating a grand passion became more and 
 more circumscribed as his micle's plans for his 
 education led him in one direction and Colonel 
 Massey's plans for Mabel's benefit led her in 
 another. 
 
 Geoffrey Tempest did not happen to be 
 present at the May- day festival. Sir jN^igel had 
 thought proper, some time previously, to remove 
 him from Launcester and send^ him to a distant 
 school, having observed in him indications of 
 jealousy towards his elder brother that rendered 
 separation, he thought, a prudent course. He 
 was, therefore, not a spectator of the mournful 
 tragedy which made that May-day so memorable 
 at Warfdale Tower. In the pursuit of a very 
 prudent policy Sir Xigel had resolved to keep the 
 brothers as much apart as possible until they 
 Avere grown up, and their different callings in life 
 necessitated that separation as a principle which
 
 140 
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 he felt it his duty to inaugurate. As they became 
 adults, Geoffrey and Blount knew little of one an- 
 other. They met, as boys from school meet, at 
 holiday-time, very good friends for the first day 
 or two, while home is fresh and their intercourse 
 is fresh to themselves likewise : but presently 
 familiarity breeds — if not contempt, at least con- 
 temptuous observations, niggling speeches, and 
 ebullitions of temper that commonly and healthily 
 end in a round with the fists. At the Midsmn- 
 mer holidays, after the death of Willoughby 
 Massey, Geoffrey heard all the details of the fatal 
 accident, and various spots associated ^vith it were 
 pointed out to him by his brother Blount. 
 But this was all. Xot a remark was ever made 
 regarding Mabel that tended to arrest Geoffrey's 
 attention. Blount had already learned by ex- 
 perience his brother's jealousy of temper and 
 moodiness of disposition ; they were a barrier to 
 all confidences. As it often happens with brothers, 
 so it happened with them : God had made them 
 relations, bat they chose their own friends. 
 Blount's young love for Mabel was utterly un- 
 known to and unsuspected by Geoffrej^ In this 
 way the two boys approached manhood. Meeting
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 141 
 
 only at their holidays, they were practically 
 estranged ; and even when they did meet, it was 
 but a short time before Sir !N^igel, and especially 
 his old iavourite domestics, had good reason to 
 long for that happy day when school would re- 
 commence, and the brothers again be parted for 
 another six months. 
 
 At length the time arrived when school-boy 
 days drew to a close. Sir Xigel, the guardian of 
 his nephews, sent his heir as a Gentleman Com- 
 moner to Magdalen College, Oxford ; while Geof- 
 frey proceeded to London, there to study the law, 
 and to pursue that career which events will pre- 
 sently illustrate.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EMINENT LAWYERS. 
 
 ESSRS Probyn, Shirley, and Trigg, of 
 Lincoln's Inn, have long held a promi- 
 nent position in the legal profession. 
 Mr Herbert Probyn, the senior part- 
 ner of the firm, may be said to have been the 
 relict of the old-established house of Probyn and 
 Probyn, and from father to son the business has 
 been handed down to the j)resent day. The late 
 Timothy Probyn, who resolutely remained a part- 
 ner long after he had ceased being able to 
 share in the labours of the ofiice, retired to the 
 sunny '^rus in urbe" contentment of Teddington, 
 leaving his '* boys " to look after matters in Elm 
 Court. The boys were then respectively (for they 
 were brothers) about 50 and 45 years of age. 
 Theirs indeed was a case of "lucus a non/*
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 143 
 
 for tliey never liad been boys, — tlie elder at 
 school ^Yas always knoT\Ti as " Old Probyn," the 
 younger was nick-named '' Daddy." Old Probyn, 
 a man addicted to " generous port," and a great 
 parocbial authority in the district where he re- 
 sided, suddenly took leave of the world one morn- 
 ing without giving his brother or housekeeper 
 the slightest warning. He was foimd dead in a 
 large arm-chair in his bed-room, after ha^dng 
 fared sumptuously over night with an ex-Lord 
 Chancellor. 
 
 His business and all his worldly effects became 
 the sole property of the remaining brother, Mr 
 Herbert ProbjTi. 
 
 The churchyard of Teddington received the 
 mortal remains of the defmict, who now sleeps 
 with his fathers beneath a ponderous accumula- 
 tion of stone-work, such as London citizens de- 
 light in, exhibiting foiu' huge sides, -s^dth ample 
 room for grandiloquent epitaphs, and crowned 
 with a decoration which looks like a petrified icine- 
 cooler. Such sepulchral ornamentation vras, at 
 any rate, appropriate to the habit in his life of 
 Old Probyn. 
 
 "\Ylien his brother had been decently interred,
 
 144 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Mr Herbert Probyn found liimself unable, single- 
 handed, to carry on tlie business at Elm Court. 
 Owing to the Railway mania, then in its most 
 frantic state, the business had been tremendously 
 increased. A partner, therefore, had to be found. 
 He was discovered in the person of Mr Digby 
 Shirley. 
 
 Grreater contrasts than Herbert Probpi and 
 Digby Shirley it would be impossible to conceive. 
 Mr Probyn had the appearance and manner of a 
 highly respectable dignitary of the Church. A 
 complete suit of black always encased his portly 
 form. A white neck-cloth, such as graced the 
 throat of George TV., entAvined with many folds 
 of ample cambric his ox-like neck, being finished 
 with an elaborate tie in front — a genuine and 
 honest bow. It seemed proud of looking what 
 it reall}- was; appearing to regard itself as a 
 protest against the shams of haberdashers and 
 laundresses. 
 
 A lengthy black waistcoat " with good capon 
 lined " confined a snow-white shirt decorated with 
 a frill. Beneath the waistcoat hung a watered 
 ribbon and a bunch of family seals. It was 
 impossible to contemplate that waistcoat, that
 
 BLOUNT TEMrp:ST. 145 
 
 sliirt frill, and those seals, and not feel penetrated 
 with the conviction that Mr Herbert Probyn was 
 an "eminently respectable man." On looking 
 at him you saw at once that he was well to do. 
 You felt he coidd refer you to Coutts and Co. 
 with satisfaction ; and that his paper would be 
 considered as good as gold in the Bank parlour. 
 
 Jovial, pleasant, and chatty, every one was 
 pleased to honour Mr Probyn in street or mart, 
 in town-house, in country-hall, and in church 
 vestry. He was "influential," and he deserved 
 to be ; for never had Herbert Probyn soiled h?s 
 hands in any dii'ty work, or transacted business 
 in any but an old-fashioned, honourable way. 
 
 Mr Higby Shirley was insinuating. He was 
 a man of reticence. He never said an}i:hing 
 but what was right ; he never said it but in a 
 way that was right ; and he never spoke but 
 when it was right to speak. 
 
 Mr Shirley had never been betrayed into a 
 kindly deed to any one ; but he always looked 
 as though he were on the point of being detected 
 in the performance of some splendid act of 
 philanthropy, and was about to abandon himself 
 for ever to the exclusive practice of benevolence. 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 He did nothing of the sort ; he never said any- 
 thing that coidd reasonably create snch an im- 
 pression. IN'or did he ever ntter any expression 
 to which objection could be raised. Did Herbert 
 Prob}ni blurt out a strong word in office to a 
 client, then did Digby Shirley redden with con- 
 fusion ; but with a smile, a painful smile, he woidd 
 look on the client with an imploring look peti- 
 tioning for forgiveness for his Probyn, and for 
 himself also, as though he vrere another Naaman 
 bowing: down in the house of Eimmon. 
 * Mr Digby Shirley, at the date to which 
 reference is now made, might be a man of fifty 
 smnmers. In person and in dress he affected 
 fashion. Iron-grey hair, closely clipped, sur- 
 mounted a tall square forehead. "Not a pro- 
 jecting bump significant of wit or imagination 
 interfered with that thoroughly ''capable" fore- 
 head, which terminated in shaggy eye-brows 
 that shaded a pair of cold, gre}', quick, darting 
 ej^es. 
 
 A hooked nose — the bloom of which indicated 
 the wearer's being troubled with chronic indiges- 
 tion — overhung a pair of thin, j^ale lips, that 
 looked as if they had not been made to laugh : but
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 147 
 
 only (and that rarely and measuredly) to let out 
 words, and be instantly shut again, like a door 
 that opened into the cabinet of a Private Inquiry 
 Office, closing quickly upon the exit of a detect- 
 ive. Mr Shirley's words were detectives. He 
 seldom spoke othermse than to track out other 
 men's thoughts or acts. 
 
 Middle-sized and spare, there was absolutely 
 nothing about Digby that would have commanded 
 a second look in a crowd. He was one of those 
 men whom a man might meet in the street every 
 xlay of his life and never remember : but when 
 the face was more carefidly contemplated it ex- 
 pressed a good deal. The quick, darting eye 
 evidently took everything in at a glance. The 
 big, hard forehead was plainly a muniment room 
 full of shelves, where everything the eye had 
 once seen was recorded, docketed, and put aside 
 ready for use at an}^ moment. 
 
 The la^\yer was, in short, pre-eminently a 
 man of penetration. His face, figure, gait, in- 
 dicated this. When he engaged a client in con- 
 versation, his eyes wormed through his reserve, 
 and pierced his secrets however well concealed. 
 His smile made things pleasant. He was always
 
 148 KT-OUXT TE:MrEST. 
 
 courteous, ahvuA's agreeing aud agreeable, al- 
 ways considerate for other men's comfort or 
 ease, always at your service, and feeling liigHy 
 honoured by }'our favouring him by asking his 
 opinion, or deeming him able to give you ad\ice. 
 *' JS^'etre pas poli " would haAe been undiplomatic 
 with Digby, as ■s\'ith the courtiers of Le Grand 
 Monarque. 
 
 HoAV did such a man come to be partner of 
 Herbert Probyn? Thus. Mr Digby Shirley, 
 and Mrs, and the children, worshipped in the 
 next pew to the eminent and benevolent and 
 philanthropic banker, >Sir Jonathan Pole, Bart. 
 Even in his religion Digby exercised penetration. 
 What Pole subscribed to, Digby subscribed to — 
 but always afar off, with the monetary sentiment 
 of himiility that became a Shirley ^' sitting nnder '^ 
 the same ministry as a Pole. If the Baronet 
 gave £1, the lawyer gave 10.9. If Lady Pole 
 contributed ^Os'. for a ticket book to the Soup- 
 kitchen Fund, IMrs Digby Shirley sent a donation 
 of 12s. (jcL 
 
 The proximity of pews gradually led to the 
 respectful offering of small courtesies. Digby 
 blessed Lady Pole's parasol. Did her Ladyship
 
 * BLOUXT tempp:st. 149 
 
 on one sultry clay hook that beautiful ivory 
 handle over the door ? Her Ladyship did. And 
 when the tall powdered footman came with 
 solemn tread to open the door, did that climisy 
 fellow not see the delicate sun-shade, but knock 
 it down with a bang on the floor ? Did not the 
 courteous Digby instantly pick it up, rapidly 
 present it to her Ladyship, and most obligingly 
 venture to hope that her Ladyship's family were 
 aUwell? 
 
 A bow of course was his recompense at their 
 next meeting. Did not the bow warm into " Good 
 morning. Sir John, — what a charming discourse 
 to-day ! — what beautiful metaphors ! " So the 
 thin edge of the wedge being once safely in- 
 serted, did not Digby Shirley take care to drive it 
 home stealthily but steadily every week? until 
 at a parochial meeting where he acted as Hon- 
 orary Secretar}^, he so lucidly put upon paper the 
 sentiments of Sir Jonathan touching the Christian 
 duty of patronizing paupers, that the Baronet at 
 the conclusion of business observed, "I am sure, 
 Mr Digby Shirley, I cannot sufiiciently express 
 my obligation. AVe really seem to be so mutually 
 interested in the affairs of this neighbourhood,
 
 150 BLOrNT TEMPEST. * 
 
 that I should feel pleased if Mrs Digby Shirley 
 would allow Lady Pole to leave her card.'^ 
 
 Oh ! happy, happy day for Digby I oh goodly 
 l-eward of his — penetration I 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that thenceforth 
 the law^^er never lost sight of the Baronet, though 
 it always a23peared to Pole that it was he who 
 did not lose sight of Digby. 
 
 The intimacy which began in church, and 
 was strengthened at home, was cemented on the 
 mart. It happened — of course by accident — that 
 the lawyer had a neat little bit of business to 
 transact for a client of the house with which at 
 that thne he was connected. Money had to be 
 raised. A good rate of interest and the title- 
 deeds of an estate were at Digby's command. 
 "Would this be in the line of my friend the^ 
 banker ? " he asked himself. 
 
 The Bank parlour soon settled the question. 
 It was \^YY much in the line of the banker, who 
 had the control of a good deal of money, and 
 was always ready to put that money out at good 
 interest upon the best security. 
 
 He considered moreover that in advancing
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 151 
 
 tlie sums required, while benefitting himself, lie 
 was showing attention to his obliging friend. 
 
 By degrees the city intimacy increased, until 
 Sir Jonathan Pole found the conyeyancer's ex- 
 periences yery useful and — yery profitable. 
 
 Among the monied men who occasionally did 
 business ^yith Mr Herbert Probyn was the head 
 of the banking firm just named. 
 
 Ciyilities were interchanged between the 
 houses of Pole- and Probyn, and in the most 
 natural manner Mr Herbert mentioned to Sir 
 Jonathan, subsequently to the death of his brother, 
 that he was on the look-out for a partner. Thus 
 Digby came to be recommended to Mr Probyn, 
 and thus Sir Jonathan was made useful, without 
 eyer suspecting that he was being used for the 
 worldly adyancement of Mr Digb}' Shirley. 
 
 The third member of the finn, Mr Trigg, 
 James Thelwall Trigg, was the son of a car- 
 penter at Kirby Lonsdale. He had been sent 
 to J^auncester school during the life -time of 
 the Key. Dr Lawson — Miss Lawson's cousin. 
 The boy's abilities had been recognized by the 
 Doctor, and he had pushed him forward in
 
 152 BLOUNT TEMTEST. 
 
 the school. Through, the former's influence, 
 Trigg had been articled to Messrs Probyn and 
 Probyn. He had become a part of the "house," 
 and through his quickness and trustworthiness 
 had risen to the position of confidential clerk to 
 the late Mr Probyn. Thoroughly master of the 
 business of the firm, Thelwall Trigg was Mr 
 Probyn's right hand while he lived : when he 
 died, Mr Herbert awoke to a sense of his value. 
 
 On Shirley being admitted into the firm, 
 whatever his talents might be, Herbert Probyn 
 found that both he and his new partner must 
 perpetually refer to some one familiar with '' the 
 connection." To Mr Shirley the clients wxre 
 strangers. In addition, Mr Herbert Prob^ai was 
 not very long in discovering that Mr Digby 
 Shirley was sometimes really a little too clever. 
 ProbjTi again and again found himself sanction- 
 ing measures which subsequently he did not 
 approve, and wondered how he came to allow 
 them. He was puzzled, then became contem- 
 plative, — ^finally alive to the fact that his partner's 
 insinuating and persuasive advice had made him 
 adopt proceedings which stood forth as his in-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 153 
 
 dividual acts, with which subsequently Shirley 
 seemed to have nothing to do. 
 
 He now began to feel uncomfortable, though 
 not sharp enough to perceive that he was practi- 
 cally losing the control of his own affairs, while 
 Mr Shirley seemed only to wait upon his will. 
 A bright thought struck him. Why not make 
 Trigg a junior partner "wdth a small share in the 
 profits of the firm ? In Trigg he coidd confide. 
 If Shirley was very sharp, so was Trigg. Shirley 
 he had not long known, Trigg he had known since 
 he was a school-boy. Consequently, enter Trigg a 
 junior partner. Hence the firm " Probyn, Shirley, 
 and Trigg." 
 
 Trigg was not long in the firm before he dis- 
 covered that he had a mission. Mr Digby 
 Shirley was his mission. Just as Blomit Tempest 
 had a strong first impression regarding Miss 
 Massey, so had Trigg a strong first impression 
 regarding Mr Shirley. The manners of the latter 
 were extremely suave, almost deferential to 
 Trigg. Inexperienced as he, Shirle}', must ne- 
 cessarily be in the ProbjTi connection, he felt in 
 promoting the interests of the house what in-
 
 154 15L01XT TEMPEST. 
 
 valuable liclp and insight into business lie coitIcI 
 obtain tlirongli tlie knowledge that Mr Trigg 
 possessed. Shirley intended to be persuasive : 
 he proved repulsive. 
 
 *' Gammon," muttered the other; and taking a 
 proper measure of his man, he appreciated at its 
 full value his pai'tner's impressiveness of manner. 
 
 ""Knowledge is power," Mr Shirley used to 
 say : and would listen to the prattle of children 
 with apparent, a}', real interest, because from the 
 child he was almost certain to hear some domestic 
 infonnation dropped about papa or mamma. 
 It is perfectly astonishing how much social 
 scandal that amiable gentleman picked up by 
 nursing and playing with the childi^en of his 
 friends. All was grist that came to his mill : 
 and was carefully stored in the garner-house of 
 his brain. 
 
 There are persons in this world too acute. 
 Becoming so confident in their own powers of 
 penetration they forget that others may be able 
 to read character, and to feel the pulse of the 
 moral constitution. Trigg was a ver}^ young 
 man, yet he read his partner off as clearly and 
 quickly as he would have read a page iii a book.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 155 
 
 The other never suspected this. He flattered 
 liimself that in the firm of Probyn, Shirley, and 
 Trigg, there were three elements. First, the 
 respectable ; then the discerning ; and lastly, the 
 hard-working element. He regarded Trigg as 
 a machine, made to execute a certain amount of 
 labour in a day. Mr Probyn he considered a 
 pompous, important, shallow man, whom he 
 woidd twirl round his finger as he pleased. He 
 regarded himself as the acute, obseryant, penetrat- 
 ing, neyer-miss-a-chance man of the world, grave, 
 serious, respectable, engaging, agreeable, conver-- 
 sational, as occasion might require — the man to 
 get on, and leap oyer the shoulders of other men 
 into riches and prosperity. 
 
 At the age of nineteen, Blomit Temj)est pro- 
 ceeded to Oxford, and matriculated as a Gentle- 
 man Commoner at Magdalen College. Much 
 about the same period, Geofirey, his brother, was 
 .sent to London to read with the eminent con- 
 vey ancers, "ProbjTi, Shirley, and Trigg," the 
 Probyns having had the management of the law 
 affairs of the Tempest family for at least two 
 generations. 
 
 On arriving in London, Geoff'rey was com-
 
 156 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 mended to the care of Mr Trigg, who was to 
 present him to Mr Probyn, and to make his advent 
 to office work as agreeable as possible. Of course 
 the Baronet's nephew was kindly and courteously 
 received by the head of the house. He was in- 
 cited on several occasions to spend his Smidays 
 at Teddington with Mr Probyn, in whose com- 
 pany he enjoyed the orthodoxy of the vicar in 
 the morning, and the "old crusted" of the 
 Probyn cellar in the evening. 
 
 Trigg was not in a position to show the young 
 man social attentions, for as yet he merely oc- 
 cupied humble lodgings near the New Road, and 
 his recollection of the station held by the Tempest 
 family in the North made him shy of making 
 any other advances to the nephew of Sir Mgel 
 beyond such as he coidd legitimately offer him in 
 office hours. 
 
 The second member of the firm was influenced 
 by no such bashfulness. The Earonet's nephew, 
 the twin brother of the heir to his broad acres, 
 and (slioidd anything ha]3pen to that brother) 
 heir hmiself of Warfdale, was a young gentleman 
 whose acquaintance ought to be cidtivated. Had 
 not Shirley two interesting daughters, both mar-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 157 
 
 riageable? What was the vision that began to 
 break upon his imagination ? 
 
 5ven a Baronet must die ! He was satisfied 
 of that. A nephew, perchance a young nephew, 
 succeeds. The nephew, as Mr Bigby Shirley 
 has heard, is in residence as a Gentleman Com- 
 moner of Oxford. Do not young men sometimes 
 contract extravagant and dissipated habits at 
 college? Do they not occasionally ruin their 
 constitutions and die early, or do they not some- 
 times come to a sudden end ? 
 
 "Su]3pose a case," suggested his eminently 
 legal mind, moralizing to itself. 'SSir Mgel in 
 the course of nature cannot live long. The heir 
 succeeds. If the heir lives, his brother must 
 have a handsome fortune : if he dies childless, his 
 brother inherits the title and the estates. 'Sir 
 Geoffrey and Lady Tempest ! ' Good ! It sounds 
 well. Maria or Georgey would do well as mistress 
 of AYarfdalc. Georgey would be dashing and 
 attractive ; but Maria would be more ambitious 
 and more tractable. Through her I might 
 manage the husband. 
 
 "A step up in life, Digby Shirley I " he mur- 
 mured exultantly. ''Yet mind what you are
 
 158 BI-OUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 about. The game is worth playing, and we will 
 play it. But we must play it cautiously. Let me 
 see, let me see. First of all, Mr Geoffrey 
 Tempest must be won. Then I must awaken his 
 ambition. This Blount — what is he? what are 
 his habits ? what can be clone with him ? JN^o, 
 no, Digby, that is not to be thought of. That 
 would be flpng at too high game. He is sure 
 to know his o^\^l importance too well to con- 
 descend to Digby Shirley. I have one bird in 
 the hand, I must leave the other in the bush. 
 The thing is to make the bush-bird sing cheer- 
 fully for the interests of my bird. Geoffrey, 
 ah, ah, Geoffrey, you are to be my bird in the 
 hand." 
 
 Thus did the penetrating Shirley begin to 
 model out the future in the plastic clay of his 
 cunning : and with the colours of his imagination 
 painted a most glowing landscape. There was 
 Warfdale Hall in the distance ; banked-in mth 
 northern hills ; a river flowed through the vale ; 
 noble oaks filled up the sides ; and a well-posed 
 *' tableau" of his characters occupied the fore- 
 ground, in Avhich stood prominently Maria Shirley 
 receiving a paternal benediction from her re-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 159 
 
 spected parent, as she was about to be united to 
 Sir Geoffrey Tempest, Baronet, amidst the peal- 
 ing of church bells and the delighted shouts of 
 an admiring tenantry. 
 
 " Oh, Lady Pole," he muttered, "• what a 
 blessing that parasol of yoiu's may prove eventu- 
 ally ! What great endings may arise from that 
 veiy small beginning! Ah, yes. ^Vhat a pri- 
 vilege it is to worship in an adjoining pew to 
 the serious-minded family of 'a great London 
 Banker.' "
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MUSICAL ADVENTURERS. 
 
 R Ci'SACK Creevy was a clerk of many 
 years' standing in the liouse of Probyn. 
 Assiduous in Lis duties, lie was always 
 at hand when wanted ; could remember 
 a date — any date when any one had called, or 
 anything had hapiDcned. He could tell the age of 
 ever}" Peer of the realm, and every M.P. of any 
 distinction. He knew when any one of the 
 judges was raised to the Bench, what great 
 trials he had conducted, how in his younger 
 days he had misconducted himself, where he 
 lived, how he lived, where he died, what he died 
 of, and where he was buried. 
 
 Creevy was the son of a farm bailiff in Ireland, 
 and at an early age had been brought OA^er to 
 England to ffive evidence before the House of
 
 BLOrXT TE:\rPEST. 161 
 
 Commons regarding a case of bribery at a con- 
 tested election. He became so enamoured of 
 lawyers and of the subtlety of tbeir arguments, 
 tbat be resolved to dedicate his gifts to the hum- 
 bler walks of the profession. In the house of Pro- 
 byn he began active life : to the house of Probyn 
 he has since adhered. ^Yhen Mr Shirley first 
 entered the house, Creevy was the most familiar 
 with the routine of general business. 
 
 The former soon a|3preciated his peculiar ac- 
 quirements, and determined in due season to 
 make use of them. If Gree\y heard a speech or 
 listened to an eloquent discourse he could repeat 
 almost word for word the language of the speaker. 
 So valuable a gift did not long remain concealed. 
 
 The useful clerk became acquainted ■v\dth re- 
 porters and subsequently with editors. A little 
 later he found himself seated and entertained at 
 annual festivals of public charities at the London 
 Tavern, where he was employed to rej)ort the 
 speeches of eminent philanthropists. In this way 
 he estabKshed a "connection" of his own, ta 
 which his Milesian himiour made him highly 
 acceptable. 
 
 On leaving the establishment of Probyn, 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 162 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 SMrley, and Trigg, wlieii office-hours were over, 
 Oreev}^ ceased to be Creev^\ From the legal grub 
 lie changed into a flashy butterfly. It was un- 
 der the name of Julius Montgomery that he 
 apjoeared now at a tayern, now at a concert, 
 now at a political meeting, and anon, in the press 
 of the session, in the Reporters' Gallerj^ of the 
 House of Commons. At the London Tavern he 
 was pecidiarly in his element. 
 
 The head waiter knew his tastes, and always 
 took care to bring him his favourite dishes. The 
 stewards of festivals became familiar with Mr 
 Montgomery, recognized him as an established 
 reporter of public dinners, and gave particular 
 orders that he should be well supplied with good 
 things. The secretaries, too, always happened to 
 stop ^4th a friendly salutation. 
 
 Mr Julius Montgomery had a soul for music, 
 and the "professionals" accustomed to sing 
 ''Non Nobis," "Hearts of Oak," &c., at the 
 Tavern and Freemason's, always cast kindly 
 glances at him, in anticipation perhaps of a 
 friendly paragraph. 
 
 A man so inclined for hannony coidd hardly 
 escape the tender passion and, as a matter of
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 163 
 
 course, matrimony. Miss AYaverle}^ earned at 
 concerts and musical festivals a very decent com- 
 petence. The -vdoloncello at a Worcester trien- 
 nial meeting had become enamoured of her and 
 had made her his wife. Miss Waverley's talents 
 were transferred to the Metropolis, where the 
 lawyer's clerk met her in the first year of her 
 widowhood, left alone in the world with ''one 
 darling babe," the pledge of the departed violon- 
 cello. 
 
 Rather earlier than a twelvemonth and a day 
 *'Miss Waverley,'' as she continued to be styled, 
 became Mrs Cusack Creevy, and thenceforth was 
 professionally known as Madame Waverley Mont- 
 gomery. 
 
 The pledge of the departed instrumentahst 
 growing tall and strong, was transferred to Ox- 
 ford, where his mother's friends succeeded in 
 securing him an election into the Magdalen 
 School and the post of chorister boy in the 
 chapel of that college. 
 
 When the earnings at Lincoln's Inn came to 
 be thrown into the same cash-box as the profes- 
 sional " fees " of Madame Waverley Montgomery, 
 the result was highly satisfactory. In short, the
 
 164 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 world smiled upon the clever Creepy, and he 
 throve. Madame formed singing classes, and took 
 pupils to reside \^ith her, in training for the pro- 
 fession. This also was profitable. 
 
 It was suggested to the clever clerk that the 
 joint income might be still further improved if a 
 lodging-house were started in a highly respect- 
 able neighbourhood, where "artists" could find 
 every required accommodation, and be near the 
 great scenes of action. A house in Half-Moon 
 St, Piccadilly, therefore was secured and furnished 
 by a broker. 
 
 The musical world was well informed of the 
 advantages which this residence offered, and the 
 speculation promised to be a decided success. 
 
 Their lodger on the ground-floor was a musi- 
 cal agent. Mr Stapleton's income was derived 
 from the per-centage taken off the salaries of 
 weary songsters, for whom he made engagements 
 at concerts, in companys, and for provincial tours. 
 The drawing-room floor was tenanted by a prima 
 donna; the second story accommodated the 
 family of Montgomery and pupils; while the 
 air}^ regions, "with a charming view over the
 
 BLOTTXT TEMPEST. 165 
 
 <jrreen Park," were inhabited by a flute from tbe 
 Opera, and the cornet a piston of a dance band. 
 
 It has been said that Madame Waverley 
 Montgomery had pupils in training, — one pupil 
 at least. During a tour in the pro\inces Madame 
 had met with a girl of singularly powerful and 
 musical A^oice, who possessed likev/ise no ordinary 
 recoimnendation in a joretty face. The child was 
 literally bought from its parents, who were 
 tempted, by gold and fair promises, to part with 
 her. It matters not what her real name was, for 
 in Half- Moon Street she was invested with a 
 musical title, and the Montgomery circle knew her 
 only as Clara Harcourt. She was fed, clothed, 
 housed, taught, schooled, as a speculation. She 
 attended the Eoyal Academy of Music ; she learned 
 calisthenic exercises; she was instructed in de- 
 portment; she was tutored by "professors;" she 
 could go through a series of attitudes or studies 
 from pictures and statues ; in short, everything 
 that could be done to fit her for a great musical 
 success was attempted. She possessed everything 
 but a home. 
 
 Madame Waverley never seemed to remember
 
 166 BLOL'XT TEMPEST. 
 
 tliat licr pupil was a fellow- creature, mth human 
 feelings, passions, or affections. She regarded 
 lier simply and solely as a singing machine, 
 which was to be brought as nearly as possible to 
 perfection, for the exclusive benefit of her own 
 family. 
 
 "What Avith office-hours during the day and 
 *'the profession" at night, together with the 
 general management of the establishment in 
 Half-Moon Street, it is apparent that the time of 
 Cusack CreeYj was fidly occupied. 
 
 But occupation fell upon the shoulders of a 
 man able to sustain it. The clever clerk had 
 from his first start in life accepted the dictum of 
 lago, to put money in his purse : honestly if he 
 could. Seemingly honest he always woidd. Dis- 
 honestly, if he felt siu-e of not being found out. 
 
 Such were the associates of Geoffrey Tempest 
 when he commenced reading for the law. They 
 were not exactly such as his uncle woidd have 
 selected for him had he known theii^ antecedents ; 
 perhaps the young man might have made a better 
 selection had a choice been left him, but he felt that 
 he had no option but to accept the inferior society 
 into which his inferior position had cast him.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 167 
 
 Blomit, lie complained to himself, liad been 
 sent to college, and would be band and glove witli 
 all the Tufts tbere, while he was doomed to pass 
 his time with a lot of snobs whom Sir Nigel would 
 think hardly worthy to brush his brother's boots. 
 
 This was another grieyance, and the discon- 
 tented sj)irit nursed it day after day till it 
 grew as vigorous as those of earlier growth. 
 His nature had become a hot-house where such 
 plants were secretly cultivated with hope of turning 
 them to profit at some not very remote period. 
 
 In the mean time his poKcy was to watch and 
 Avait. It was not improbable, he thought, that 
 among the kwyers he should be able to pick up 
 knowledge that might be useful to him. He had 
 long entertained an idea that law was a very power- 
 ful engine, which could be turned to incalculable 
 advantage by any one inclined to test its strength 
 to the utmost, and he had both heard and read 
 many suggestive stories of legal ambition prodi- 
 gally rewarded. 
 
 The impression such ideas made on his mind, 
 and the bright prospect that often dazzled his 
 imagination, had induced him to select the law as 
 a profession, so he submitted to the drudgery of
 
 168 BLOrNT TEMPEST. 
 
 the usual course of reading and cojDying, regard- 
 ing it as a means to an end, intermitting liis dry 
 studies with sullen broodings over liis imaginary 
 wrongs, and feverisli dreams of the remedy that 
 was to end them. 
 
 Geoffrey Tempest, however, was not content 
 to be a dreamer of dreams. AVliatever he suffered 
 did not take from him his capacity to enjoy. 
 He was young, good-looking, and liberally pro- 
 vided ^^dth funds, and was moreover well aware 
 that the modern Babylon afforded innumerable 
 sources of pleasure it was not imperative that 
 he should deny himself. !N^or was he ignorant 
 of the social value of the advantages he possessed, 
 or his more important " contingencies.'^ 
 
 So that he was quite ready to be made much 
 of by any one who should desire to make the 
 most of him, to forward particular schemes of 
 his or her owti. He Icnew his own claims to 
 notice, and his own interests quite as well.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE DIGBY SHIRLEYS "AT HOME. 
 
 ^m 
 
 T tlie period of Mr Shirley's promotion 
 to partnership with Mr Probyn, his 
 family were "plain, homely people." 
 II Wlien he had once safely mounted a 
 
 step on the ladder of life it was necessary to 
 migrate, and establish himself with a fashionable 
 direction in the Court Guide. He knew that 
 there is as much in a direction as in a name. 
 
 l^Tiat miserable attics for homes some men 
 will put uj) with, if they can succeed in becoming 
 members of a good club, such being considered 
 a first-class address. "The Carlton," or "The 
 TJuited Ser\dce," or the " Travellers," reads well 
 on a card. Noble ladies whose "high lineage 
 springs" from famous ancestors, would stare, if 
 beneath the name of many of their bachelor
 
 170 
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 A-isitors' club tlie}^ could read tlie direction of 
 liis bed- room ! Mr Shirley felt a first-class address 
 was necessary to liis " respectability/' an address 
 to which. Mr Probyn might occasionally be in- 
 yited, and where Lady Pole might call. 
 
 ^'The district of Grosvenor Place, or Eaton 
 Square, my dear Matilda/' said the thoughtful 
 husband, brushing his hat one morning pre^T^ous 
 to setting out for Lincoln's Inn, '' should be well 
 house-hunted ; it would be of immense importance 
 to the girls if we could meet with something 
 reasonable in that quarter." 
 
 Something reasonable was met with in Wilton 
 Street, Grosvenor Place, and there the family was 
 located when Geoffrey Tempest came to town. 
 
 Shortly afterwards a card reached his lodgings. 
 
 Me and Mks Digbt Shiklet 
 
 request the honour of 
 
 Me Geoffeet Tempest's company 
 
 to dinner, 
 
 Saturday, Feb. 2Qth, at 8 o'clock. 
 
 30, Wilton St., Grosvenor Place. 
 
 At 8 o'clock on the day named Geoffrey 
 presented himself at the first-class address. The
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 171 
 
 new tenant was in the dining-room, decanting- 
 the wine. 
 
 ^' My dear sir, I am my own butler," he was^ 
 in the habit of explaining to his friends, ''my 
 man- servant is so apt to cloud the port." 
 
 The truth being that this domestic was hired 
 only for the occasion. He had been a footman, 
 but was now proprietor of spring-vans in the 
 neighbouring mews. 
 
 On seeing Geoffrey Tempest descend from his- 
 cab, Mr Shirley hastened to meet him in the 
 passage, politely called " the hall." 
 
 " My dear sir, I feel highly honoured, greatly 
 pleased by yom^ favouring us with your society. 
 I do assure you, my dear sir, this is really very 
 pleasant and very kind of you; very kind in- 
 deed," violently shaking him by the hand. 
 
 The young man did not precisely see the 
 kindness, so contented himself with stammering 
 out something about mutual pleasure, and per- 
 mitted himself to be conducted to the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 There Mrs Digby Shirley sat enthroned. At 
 first sight it occiuTed to the visitor that he was 
 about to be presented to Queen EKzabeth. Mrs
 
 172 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 ShMey had a media3yal aspect. A brocaded gown' 
 elaborately ornamented with old point ; a sto- 
 macher heaving ^^dth Mechlin; a head-dress of 
 Valenciennes covering a profusion of grey hair 
 curled, frizzled, and crisped, and the neck en- 
 compassed by a paling of starched lace, must 
 be allowed to be a striking costmne for a private 
 individual in the reign of Queen Victoria. 
 
 Mrs Shirley rose mth great dignity, and re- 
 ceived the yomig gentleman in his new suit and 
 kid gloves wdth a curtesey she had been studying 
 for a month. 
 
 Miss Maria and Miss Georgiana (the latter 
 familiarly " Georgey") stood like maids of honoiu* 
 beside their queenly mother. 
 
 The elder was a combination of her mother's 
 loftiness of stature and her father's peculiarity 
 of nose. Georgey exhibited no apparent relation- 
 ship to either. She was pretty, with dark eyes, 
 dark hair, a pair of cherry-coloured lips, and a 
 happy smile. She would have been rather strik- 
 ing-looking had not nature given her a thick-set 
 figure and a coffee- coloured comj)lexion. Of 
 course they floated in a sea of tarletan, indeed 
 both had been got up quite regardless of expense.
 
 BLOL'XT TE3IPEST. 17^ 
 
 A faded female, a distant connection, from 
 wliom the family had expectations, was the only 
 other lady present. There were a brace of fashion- 
 able gentlemen, who possessed good- sounding* 
 names as well as first-rate addresses, at whose 
 presence the aboriginal acquaintances of the Shir- 
 leys in Camden Town would have stared. 
 
 The Honourable Archibald Cavendish was well 
 knoT\Ti in Eotten Row, at the Opera, and elsewhere 
 in fashionable life. He was indebted to the Bur- 
 lington Arcade for his hair, to Bond Street for 
 his whiskers, to Cavendish Square for his teeth, 
 and to various other well-kno^-n localities for 
 other artificial attractions, and, at the age of sixty- 
 five, the restorers of faded hmnaiiity] there carry- 
 ing on their several vocations flattered him with 
 the assurance that he made up admirably for a 
 man of forty. 
 
 Mr Henry Balfour was young, apparently 
 simple and ingenuous, "svith a light complexion 
 and a prepossessing, gentlemanlike demeanoiu*. 
 He could bring people together. He knew 
 p very thing about everybody, and had the happiest 
 capacity of putting the rich and noble " up to a 
 thing," on the Stock Exchange, in shares, or in
 
 174 BLOUNT TE]MPEST. 
 
 investments. The rotund citizen, Tvitli commer- 
 cial liat and black velvet waistcoat, peculiar in his 
 manners, wlio was the diurnal tenant of an express 
 omnibus at 9 A. M. to the " Bank " and Cheapside, 
 foimd in Mr Henry Balfour a convenient link be- 
 tween high and mercantile life. So did many 
 other persons. 
 
 Mr Henry Balfour found in turn a profitable 
 per-centage from bringing the City and the West 
 End in pretty close approximation. How this 
 convenient gentleman managed to move about the 
 City regularly, and yet not to be of the City, it 
 would be difficult to describe. He was never seen 
 there to be recognized. It would have seemed as 
 natural to expect the Lord Chancellor in wig and 
 srown on Cornhill or in Threadneedle Street. Mr 
 Balfour was seen, and regularly seen, only where 
 a Balfour should be seen. As the nephew of an 
 Earl and son of an Honourable, where should he 
 be but at the West End ? 
 
 Mr Shirley and the faded female, Mrs Shirley 
 and the Honourable Archibald, Miss Shirley and 
 Geoffrey Tempest, Georgey and Mr Balfoiu- paii'ed 
 off to dinner. 
 
 Mr Digby Shirley had heard that a celebrated
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 175 
 
 Welsh bishop, equally great iipoii Greek accidence 
 and good living, pronounced eight to be the proper 
 number for a dinner-party. Therefore he always 
 invited eight, and 'during the repast invariably 
 related this anecdote. With the exception of one 
 or two slight errors, such as iceing the Burgundy, 
 and an audible apology from the van proprietor 
 for the absence of the lobster cutlets (which had 
 not arrived from the confectioner's), things went 
 off with tolerable regularity. 
 
 Maria Shirley was evidently not only the genius 
 •but the presiding genius of the establishment. 
 She presided over Mrs Shirley, and her opinion too 
 was reverentially taken by her father. It was not 
 laiown whether her sister had any opinions ; if 
 she had, she never expressed them. 
 
 " Water, cold this morning, very cold, very cold 
 indeed," observed the Honourable Archibald, at 
 the close of the favourite anecdote concerning the 
 Welsh bishop. 
 
 Mr Shirley was addressed ; and felt it was ne- 
 cessary to reply. 
 
 " Are you partial to water ? " he inquired. 
 
 ''Could not live without it," answered Mr 
 ^Cavendish. " Grand thing for the spine."
 
 176 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 His liost looked perplexed. What comiectioii 
 there could be between cold water and the verte- 
 bral column he evidently did not perceive. 
 
 "I have seen no water since I came to Lon- 
 don/* observed Greoffrey. 
 
 "What!" cried Mrs Digby Shirley, striding 
 to look poetical ; " not by 
 
 'That shore where Thames' translucent stream 
 Reflects new glories on his breast,' 
 
 as the poet says." 
 
 "But it is not translucent, is it, papa?" in- 
 quired Georgey. 
 
 "How absurd you are, Georgey, you never 
 seem to understand a quotation," said Maria in 
 her most dogmatic manner. 
 
 This snub was followed by a slight pause. 
 
 "I believe Warfdale is the name of your 
 uncle's property?" observed Mr Shirley — (he 
 " believed ! " did he not know ?) 
 
 "l^ephew of Sir Nigel Tempest?" inquired 
 Mr Balfoui'. 
 
 "Oh yes." 
 
 " I had the pleasure of his brother's acquaint- 
 ance," added Mr Balfour, with emphasis. " He
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 1/7 
 
 voted for tlie Catholic Emancipation, I think, a 
 great mistake — " 
 
 "My father, sir," said Geofirey. 
 
 " Ah ! I remember your father well," said the 
 Honourable Archibald. "I can remember your 
 being born," he continued "s^ith a chuckle, as if 
 no one could possibly belieye that he was old 
 enough to remember anything so remote. 
 
 " Oh ! Mr Cayendish, how yery old j'ou must 
 be," exclaimed the junior young lady artlessly. 
 
 A dead silence, an awfid silence followed this 
 thoughtless remark. 
 
 ''Does Sir Mgel come to town this season ? " 
 asked Mr Balfour, hurriedly, as if to show his 
 social tact. 
 
 " It is yery uncertain." 
 
 "I hope he remains as hale and hearty as 
 eyer." 
 
 " Thank you. He is pretty well." 
 
 "And your brother, what is he doing?" in- 
 quired Balfour, with an air of interest. 
 
 " Oh, Blount ! Blount is gone to Oxford." 
 
 " Indeed ! I am an Oxford man. What college- 
 is he at ? " 
 
 "Magdalen!" 
 
 yOL. I. 12
 
 178 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 " So, SO, under dear old Kouth ! Dr Eoutli is 
 a very old friend of my father's." 
 
 '' Who is Dr Routli ? " inquired Mrs Digby 
 Shirley. 
 
 " My dear madam," answered Balfour, " you 
 really sui'prise me ! He is the President ! " 
 
 The President ! Here was a source of per- 
 plexity for the easily perplexed hostess. 
 
 *'The President is head of the college, my 
 dear," humbly suggested Mr Shirley, who di-eaded 
 his 's^ife making a blimder, and equally dreaded 
 her -^Tath should he venture to correct her. 
 
 " Of coui'se, of course," remarked the lady. 
 
 " Has your brother been long at Magdalen ? " 
 inquired Mr Balfour. 
 
 " !N'o, he is a Freshman." 
 
 " Your brother is your senior, I believe ? " said 
 the host. 
 
 " We are twins," replied Geoflrey. 
 
 " We were two daughters of one race ! " miu*- 
 mured Maria pellucidly. 
 
 " Did Tennyson ever ^Tite apoemupon twins ? " 
 inquired Georgey. 
 
 " Georgey, how can you be so exceedingly
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 179 
 
 .labsiird?" exclaimed Maria T\dtli severe coim- 
 tenance. 
 
 '\Ylien the siunptuoiis repast was ended and 
 the ladies had withdrawal, the Honourable Archi- 
 bald thought it would be complimentary to the 
 stranger to narrate all he knew about Geoffrey's 
 father, imcle, or family. 
 
 ]\Ir Shirley smiled approvingly, and gave his 
 undivided attention. 
 
 What a virtue there is in patient listening. 
 Your good listener is often a far more agreeable 
 member of society than your great talker. The 
 great talker, though agreeable to the guests gen- 
 erally, is certain to excite jealousy in the breast of 
 the moderate talker. He who cannot talk fluently 
 on popidar topics thinks the man w^ho can a bore, 
 possibly a self-opinionated, conceited donkey. 
 But he who respectfully Kstens, listens to all small 
 talk, all reminiscences (^' I remember when I was 
 a child," &c. &c.), all experiences, and all travels 
 or sporting incidents, makes no enemies, and wins 
 innumerable friends ! 
 
 Such an admirable listener was Mr Digby 
 Shirley, though perhaps with very different mo-
 
 180 ULOL'XT TEMPEST. 
 
 tives to ordinary listeners at dinner-parties. Ho 
 argued in his o-^ii mind, tliat if a man will smile 
 and listen, he is certain to learn something useful 
 from the oyer-cormnunicatiye. 
 
 "Never ask questions if you wish to gain 
 information," was one of his proverbs, which 
 though not stolen from Kochefoucault, was 
 worthy of that authority. "If you will only 
 listen, people will tell you all you want to know. 
 Ask them about what you desire to learn, and 
 they will probably not reply ; either because they 
 wdll suspect you have some motive for asking,. 
 or because they will think, perhaps, they had 
 better not tell." 
 
 While the Hon. Archibald told his experiences- 
 over his wine, and Balfour cross-examined 
 Geoffrey, their attentive host learned everj^ par- 
 ticular he desired to ascertain regarding tho 
 Tempest property ; and yet, though poKte to his 
 guests, he seemed the least interested in the sub- 
 ject of the four at table. 
 
 When at length the familiar words " Shall we 
 join the ladies " were uttered, he had ascertained 
 the age of Sir Mgel, his habits, his life : the date 
 of the death of Geoffrey's father : the date of the
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 181 
 
 birth, of the twins : the prospects of the heir : 
 and last, though not least, Mr Digby discovered 
 that the Uxms were not the most cordial of 
 brothers ! 
 
 Maria and Georgey and their mother formed 
 a charming trio, and greatly delighted their 
 friends in the drawing-room. The latter cul- 
 tivated a taste for literature and art, which she 
 exhibited by endeavouring to attract around her 
 as many authors and artists as chose to accept her 
 invitations. Her circle of acquaintance had not 
 yet become large. JS'evertheless, like the circles 
 made in water that create fresh ones, each com- 
 prehending its predecessor, she fomid that at 
 every successive " at home," hers expanded. 
 
 ^Yhen the gentlemen arrived in the draTving- 
 room, the Que'en of Wilton Street was holding 
 her court. She had a "reception.'' The tem- 
 porary groom of the chambers was at the head 
 of the stairs announcing the arrivals in rapid 
 succession, w^hile a coachman, borrowed for the 
 night from a friend, stood at the foot, and hal- 
 looed the names of the thronging company, as if 
 he were a skipper giving orders to the men in the 
 main-top.
 
 182 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Stories, we are told, never lose in the telKng. 
 ]N"ames, travelling np-stairs at a party, occasion- 
 ally undergo most extraordinary improvements. 
 Gentlemen with, monosyllabic appellations who 
 enter a hall door as Jones, have a chance of being 
 landed in the drawing-room as Johnson, Jackson, 
 or Jenkinson; but woe betide the man who 
 trusts a name of three syllables to such handling. 
 The purgatorial process it has to suffer in getting 
 up-stairs is sure to make him as much a puzzle to 
 himself as to his acquaintances. 
 
 Geoffrey Tempest being a stranger and every- 
 body strange to him, Maria Shirley took him 
 under her protection (she protected every young 
 man that would allow her). As the visitors 
 arrived, she instructed the young gentleman who 
 everybody was. His observation of the degree of 
 agitation the lace stomacher suffered while its 
 wearer greeted each fresh arrival, enabled him to 
 ascertain the exact value at which the presence of 
 every guest was estimated. 
 
 Mr and Mrs Digby Shirley had their in- 
 diAT.dual predilections. The lady's were directed 
 to the arts and sciences; the husband's to phi- 
 lanthropy and the cardinal virtues. At the
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 183 
 
 Wilton Street " at homes " there was a pleasing 
 mixture of society — a compound of all j)ossible 
 social ingredients. 
 
 "VVliile Geoffrey watched the arrivals, he ob- 
 served his host make a sudden dash across the 
 drawing-room to the door as if he had been taken 
 suddenly ill. Something imusual had evidently 
 haj)pened, for Mrs Shirley's magazine of lace was/ 
 singularly agitated as soon as her husband was 
 seen to plimge violently down the stairs. Sus- 
 pense was presently relieved by the voice of the 
 temporary groom of the chambers announcing 
 with extraordinary loudness the advent of Sir 
 Jonathan and Lady Pole ! 
 
 Geoffrey's attention was directed to the door- 
 way. Presently he beheld Mr Shirley advancing 
 backward, with a bow at every step (he only 
 wanted a white wand in his hand to fit him for 
 the office of a deputy chamberlain), imtil ha\ing 
 reached the side of his spouse, he ejaculated with 
 very strong emphasis, " My dear — Sir Johx and 
 Lady Pole." 
 
 "I am enchanted to see your Ladyship. It 
 is extremely kind of you, my Lady, to honour us 
 with your presence ! Really, this is a great
 
 184 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 favour you have conferred on us. A little music, 
 and a few of the literati, that is all! Shirley, 
 my love, can you find Lady Pole a seat ? " 
 
 The delighted host, Avith another very low 
 genuflexion, ventured to ofler her Ladyship his 
 arm, which that gorgeous female condescended to 
 accept. Standing beside Mr Shirley, she was 
 literally " gorgeous," for being a tall woman, 
 large in proportion, and dressed in green velvet, 
 her Ladyship looked expansive enough to have 
 enveloped his slender figure in the folds of her 
 prodigious skirt. 
 
 Sir Jonathan was a tall and portly man, with 
 a large head — very bald, [an unctuous face, and 
 double chin. He seemed to have lived on a feast 
 of fat things. An oleaginous benignity exuded 
 over his countenance. He had acquired great 
 popidarity among Exeter Hall philanthropists, 
 by whom he was regarded as a benefactor to his 
 species — a powerful advocate of the interests of 
 humanity and the progress of the human race. 
 
 "Papa is a great admirer of Sir Jonathan," 
 remarked Maria, on retui^ning to her seat, after 
 having made a reverential courtesy to Lady 
 Pole.
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 185 
 
 "Indeed," answered Geoffrey, his face be- 
 tokening tliat lie was a little surprised at the 
 admiration. 
 
 " You must know Sir Jonathan Pole ? " said 
 the young lady, inquiringly. 
 
 '' I never even heard of the gentleman. I am 
 grossly ignorant. Miss Shirley ! Pray enlighten 
 me!" 
 
 Whereupon she applied herself to inform his 
 mind respecting her father's distinguished guest. 
 
 Passing from the lion of the evening, Geoffrey 
 led on his instructress to describe to him the 
 rest of the menagerie — and she performed the 
 duties of sho^\TQan so well, that she and her com- 
 panion became very good friends, particularly 
 when he annotated her information with facetious 
 comments of his otvti, which she seemed to relish 
 greatly. 
 
 " Mrs Montgomery and Miss Clara Harcourt," 
 shouted the coachman. Geoffrey's eyes involim- 
 tarily tmmed towards the door to examine the new 
 arrivals. He was instantly struck by their demean- 
 our and costimie. It seemed to him that both 
 were a Httle prononce, the ladies being slightly 
 Spanish about the head, Swiss about the shoulders,
 
 186 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 and French, in tlieir exj)ansiYe drapery. There was 
 so decided an air of patronage of the new comers 
 in Mr Shirley, that he felt curious to know who 
 they were. 
 
 As they passed across the room, they were 
 recognized with a suj)pressed murmur and with 
 stage whispers. 
 
 " Oh, where ! which ! " an enthusiastic young 
 lady was heard to exclaim, as she turned roimd 
 with a start and put her glasses to her eyes to ex- 
 amine the strangers. 
 
 The yoimger of the two swept haughtily 
 across the room, and T\dth her protectress was 
 quickly seated near the grand piano, where she 
 was welcomed with the highest consideration 
 hy two or three gentlemen of very foreign aspect, 
 the flute from the Opera being one, but from his 
 manner no one would have suspected that he had 
 ever seen the ladies before. 
 
 " Have you ever heard Miss Clara Har court ? '^ 
 inquired Maria. 
 
 '' JS^ever ! You see I am such a stranger in 
 London that I know no one." 
 
 *' Oh, I thought you might have heard her ; 
 she is ouYsingmri mistress ; " and the young lady's
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 187 
 
 eyes watcliecl those of lier companion as the last 
 words fell off her tongue with a dej)reciatory in- 
 flection of the Yoice, clearly intended to intimate 
 that Miss Harcourt was no friend, only a paid 
 instructress. 
 
 *' Indeed ! " answered Geoffrey, *' I had no 
 idea that such — such — I really am at a loss for a 
 word — such a stylish-looking lady would give 
 lessons ! " 
 
 " How absurd, Mr Tempest. Your ignorance 
 is quite amusing. People will do anything for 
 money." 
 
 '^ Indeed," he repeated with a start, beginning 
 to suspect that his fair friend knew much more 
 of the world than he did. His surprise was 
 observed. 
 
 "Will they not?" she inquired, her twink- 
 ling, cmming eye with a side-long glance fixed 
 upon his face. 
 
 " I shoidd not liaA'e siq^posed that Miss Har- 
 court would do anything for mone3^" 
 
 " Perhaps not," was the reph^, " but her cha- 
 perone will." 
 
 " And that person is— ? " 
 
 *^ Madam Waverley Montgomery- — who has
 
 188 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 taught her, and brought her out in her profession, 
 and will try to make a bargain of her." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 "By living on her," added Maria, sotto vocBy 
 as the subject of their conversation approached, 
 music in hand. 
 
 "Mrs Shirley wishes for a little music, Miss 
 Maria," she whispered, " would you and your 
 sister like to attempt ' Oh ! Madra Mea ? ' " 
 
 " Pray do. Miss Shirley," interposed Geoffrey, 
 as he rose with an air of entreaty, constrained to 
 be civil to the daughter of his host, but hoping 
 by this move to make the acquaintance of her 
 more attractive instructress. 
 
 " Are you fond of music, Mr Tempest ? Our 
 singing is quite absurd, but if you wish it I ^^dll 
 call Georgey." 
 
 Miss Shirley moved away in search of her 
 sister, leaving GeoflPrey and Clara Harcourt 
 standing face to face beside the piano. There 
 had been no introduction, but the situation was 
 embarrassing, and the inexperienced young man 
 felt it so. 
 
 The movement of the cantatrice had occasioned 
 that rustle and subsequent silence of exjDectation
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 189 
 
 whicli invariably overtakes a babbling evening 
 party when a move towards the favourite musical 
 instrument first takes place. Some one is going 
 to favour society with a song ; and society regards 
 the favour in a very solemn light, until it is con- 
 ferred. The buzz of conversation instantly be- 
 comes stilled. 'WhisjDers float upon the air, while 
 ladies arrange their dresses to face the instru- 
 ment, and knots of gentlemen discussing poKtics, 
 philanthrojDy, or science, wheel about, and stand 
 staring in mute expectancy. 
 
 AVhen the music once begins, society takes 
 courage and re-opens its mouth. Ladies talk be- 
 hind fans, and gentlemen in the midst of a 
 thrilling bravm'a are heard relapsing into mat- 
 ter-of-fact conversations to the intense disgust 
 of the performers who are " favouring '' them. 
 
 Geoffrey's situation was awkward. The pre- 
 liminary hush occm^red while he was standing 
 i'is-d-vis to the musical celebrity from whom the 
 company were looking for entertainment. 
 
 "You are an accomplished vocalist. Miss 
 Harcourt," he blurted out, catching at the first 
 distinct idea his mind allowed him to master. 
 
 " You are very complimentar}^, sir,'' responded
 
 190 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 the lady, self-possessed and at ease. Witli the 
 tact however that always helps a woman and so 
 often deserts a man, she perceived that her com- 
 panion was utterly unable to express another 
 idea. 
 
 "You have only lately come to town, I be- 
 lieve, Mr Tempest ? " she said. 
 
 Geoffrey bowed, " Very lately." 
 
 " Are you a stranger in London ? " 
 
 " I never was in town until a week ago." 
 
 "What a number of new sensations you will 
 experience ! I had heard of your arrival." 
 
 " You seem to know my name." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I alwaj's — " 
 
 At this moment Miss Maria returned accom- 
 panied by her sister, and the three ladies took 
 up their position at the piano. 
 
 Geoffrey thought he saw a slight froAAai upon 
 the brow of the elder Miss Shirley as she ap- 
 proached, but it instantly changed to a smile. 
 
 It was a fro^vn, and it expressed anger. It 
 was very far from Maria Shirley's intention that 
 Geoffrey Tempest and Clara Harcourt shoidd 
 be introduced to one another. The concert 
 singer and singing mistress had been invited
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 191 
 
 to make the evening's reception attractive, but 
 tlie furthest thought from her pupil's mind (for 
 Maria managed all domestic affairs) was that she 
 should have an opportunity of fascinating any 
 of her own male friends or possible admirers. 
 
 Had the fair Maria guessed that Clara read 
 her mind through and through and was abeady 
 determined to take her j)astime thereby, it is 
 unnecessary to remark that neither Madame 
 Montgomery nor Miss Harcourt would ever 
 have crossed the threshold of the Wilton Street 
 residence again. 
 
 Georgey played the accompaniment, Maria 
 and her mistress occupjdng the usual positions 
 right and left, while Gfeoffrey imdertook, at 
 the suggestion of Maria, the honourable office 
 of turning over the leaves of the music. 
 
 ^^Tature has certainly created beings fitted 
 for particular offices, but Geoffrey Tempest was 
 not created for his present office, and he felt 
 annoyed with the position in \N'hich Maria 
 Shirley had placed him, from the conviction that 
 her object was to keep him at her own side and 
 cut off commimications "vvith her dangerous music 
 mistress.
 
 192 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ■ Miss Shiiiey was out-generalled. jSTecessity 
 compelled lier to look towards her music, and 
 also towards the lady whose voice she had to 
 accompany. The consequence was that Miss 
 Maria was nnconscioiis of the marked manner 
 in which Clara sang at her particular friend 
 and possible admirer. 
 
 At every cadence of her voice her large 
 dark eyes fell upon the young man, apparently 
 seeking for his approval, their expression almost 
 saying, ''I am singing to you and for you. 
 Do you not admire, are you not enchanted ? " 
 
 Meanwhile, in the trio, Maria and Greorgey 
 sang with tremendous emphasis, "doing great 
 credit'' (as their politic Papa took occasion to 
 remark) "to their mistress," at which the latter 
 bit her lips, and would gladly have enjoyed an 
 opportunity of boxing Mr Shirley's ears. 
 
 Both youths and grey-beards are susceptible 
 to the attack of womankind, particularly when 
 the murderous assault of bright eyes keeps up 
 a "killing fire." Between the attentions of 
 Maria and the glances of Clara, the advancing 
 favours of the one, the retreating allurements
 
 BLOL'NT TEMPEST. 193 
 
 of the otlier, Geoffrey felt himself well occujDied 
 if not highly gratified. 
 
 In due course the company paired off to the 
 supper-room. Of course Geoffrey offered his 
 arm to Maria, but in doing so, the infirmity of 
 the flesh betrayed him into looking curiously 
 to see who woidd have the pleasure of taking 
 down Clara Har court. AYhile doing so, he 
 caught another glance of the songtress fixed 
 upon him, though her eyes instantly fell on 
 encountering his own, as if their owner was 
 inwardly chiding herself for being detected in 
 a very foolish act. That glance was long re- 
 membered. 
 
 For the moment it made the j^oung lawyer's 
 conduct and conversation rather remarkable; 
 but if there was any confusion in his manners 
 or eccentricity in the way in which he insisted 
 upon his fair companion partaking of every dish 
 at the table, that young lady was self-confident 
 enough to believe it arose from the very decided 
 impression she had made upon him. An im- 
 pression had been made upon him, but not by 
 her. 
 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 194 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 On the wliole, however, Geoffrey emerged 
 from the dining-room and his Ute-d-Ute with 
 Maria, leaving on that young lady's mind a 
 conviction that he was an exceedingly amusing 
 young man, with quaint ideas about people that 
 were entertaining, that he woidd make a very 
 good " friend of Papa's," and hanger-on at Wil- 
 ton Street, and he might perhaps! — but time 
 would show. 
 
 When the company of the evening had dis- 
 persed, when Science was jolting home in a 
 cab, and Philanthropy with thoughts of benevo- 
 lence was looldng down from its brougham upon 
 the fallen and the outcast as it wended its way 
 homewards, the family of Shirley drew round 
 the fire to discuss the company, and especially 
 the new acquaintance. 
 
 It was resolved : 
 
 1st. That the entertainment had been a great 
 success. 
 
 2nd. That Clara Harcourt had given herself 
 great airs. 
 
 3rd. That Geoffrey Tempest was a most 
 agreeable yoimg man, and that Papa shoidd 
 show him attention.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AN ADVENTURESS. 
 
 LARA Harcourt was well calculated 
 to attract the attention of any sus- 
 ceptible young man. She had in 
 her. favour beauty, style, manner, 
 confidence, and ease in conversation. 
 
 Circumstances had cast her lot in a position 
 wherein tact and penetration were not only valu- 
 able but necessary. "VYhat she despised in her 
 pro-parents, the Creev^^s, she practised herself. 
 
 Example with young minds is not only catch- 
 ing, but irresistible. The child cannot live day 
 by day and year by year associated with persons 
 possessed of selfish and deceitful dispositions, and 
 not contract feelings similarly calculating and dis- 
 ingenuous. 
 
 The protegee of the Montgomerys was desti-
 
 196 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 tute of any high moral principle. No such 
 motive-ftower regulated or guided her conduct. 
 At the same time she had an intuitive aj)precia- 
 tion of it and admiration for it. Her natural 
 instincts were good, her educational acquirements 
 bad. The one led her to perceive that the whole 
 course, object, ]3urpose, of her career was wrong ; 
 the other led her to put up with the wrong and 
 to practise it. 
 
 She had not groAvn into womanhood without 
 weighing in a just balance the characters of the 
 two people she was li^^ng with. >She regarded 
 and despised them as hucksters ; and she felt 
 herseK to be their goods, docketed for sale at a 
 certain price. They were trading in her, and she 
 knew it. She hated them for this. She blushed 
 for herself, as an adventuress, but never thought 
 of resisting her fate. The schemes her o^^iers 
 contrived she was content to work out. "S^Tiat 
 they planned, she performed. But in doing so, 
 she despised both them and herself. 
 
 Had any one asked Clara why she suffered 
 herseK to be used as a marketable article by the 
 Montgomerys; why, having reached womanliood 
 and being of age, she did not take advantage of the
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 197 
 
 riglits wliicli the law allowed her, she would 
 have shrugged her shoulders, and replied, " "What 
 could she do ? " 
 
 The same reply under similar circum.stances 
 would have fallen from thousands of lips besides 
 hers. Lives are lived out, and multitudes of 
 human beings continue to do the things they 
 are indisposed to do, simply from habit. In the 
 case of this adventuress, such indisposition was 
 not thorough. She hated being treated as a 
 property, the purpose of which was to enrich 
 the present proprietors, but she did not hate 
 the adulation and admiration which in the pursuit 
 of her profession for their aggrandizement she 
 received. 
 
 The love of admiration was her bane, and 
 ■at the same time the antidote to rebellion against 
 the Montgomery designs. In public, she was ambi- 
 tious to excel, because she enjoyed surpassing her 
 rivals and securing for herself the chief applause 
 of the multitude. In private, it was her delight 
 to seduce the attention of the men from her rival 
 beauties, and to appropriate as much as possible 
 to herself the devotion that ought to have been 
 shared by others. Nature had been prodigal in
 
 198 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 la^dsHng upon her gifts whereby she was ordin- 
 arily certain of success in this feminine game. 
 Clara was essentially a man's beauty. Her own 
 sex generally did not think her beautiful, and out 
 of pique and annoyance affected not to think 
 her attractive. Whatever might be the true 
 cause of their opinion, she was always run down 
 by these ladies' patronesses. She was too big, 
 or too coarse ; or she wanted refinement and 
 repose ; or her hands showed the absence of breed- 
 ing ; or her feet and ancles were lilce those of a 
 dairy-maid. 
 
 Whether the philosopher is correct who teaches^ 
 us that truth wears various aspects when idewed 
 in different lights, need not to be determined 
 here ; but it may with certainty be asserted that 
 beauty wears a very different appearance when 
 viewed by male or female eyes. The charms of Clara. 
 Harcourt, which her own sex could not see, were 
 apparent to the man-kind who listened to her in 
 public, or had the privilege of approaching her in 
 private. 
 
 Though it suited the depreciatory piu^pose of 
 the young ladies who were jealous of her popu- 
 larity to call her big, coarse, vulgar, she was>
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 199 
 
 notHng: of tlie kind. She was tall. Her slionlders 
 and arms were admirably proportioned, and graced 
 with dimples at tlie elbows. Her waist was not 
 too small, her hands — well, truth must be told — 
 they were perhaps a trifle too large, caused 
 perhaps by straining at the piano. Her male 
 admirers only smiled when this was referred to, 
 and thought her face made ample amends for 
 such an unimportant defect. 
 
 She was possessed of the commanding car- 
 riage and nobility of person that belonged to 
 Mrs Siddons. Indeed, she looked as if she had 
 been born of the Kemble famity. But in her 
 features there was a softness and sweetness of 
 expression no one of that dramatic race possessed. 
 Her large dark eyes were saved from any look 
 of iierceness by the unusual thickness of the 
 fringing eye-lashes, which seemed to throw a 
 shadow upon the cheek. 
 
 Of late years the French ladies have cultivated 
 the fashion of dividing the hair into three com- 
 partments, making the central one form an acute 
 angle over the brow, and brushing it tightly 
 back. The efiect is most unpleasant. It gives 
 a bold expression to the countenance, combined
 
 200 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 with a look of affright, as if the proprietor had 
 met with some supernatural visitation, and her 
 tin-combined locks stood on end — so ill can the 
 face (particularly the female face) bear to be 
 robbed of the relief which a woman's tresses 
 give to the features. 
 
 Had the face of Clara been scrutinized with 
 her hair drawn back from the face, it would 
 have seemed more massive and perhaps more 
 mascidine than most young ladies' ; but it so 
 happened that in the adornment of luxuriant 
 glossy bro-^TL hair natui^e had endowed her with 
 her chiefest beauty. 
 
 Her female critics all allowed " that certainly 
 her hair was magnificent," excepting one rigid 
 spinster who had a talent for saying agreeable 
 things, and she despitefully described her as " the 
 hairy woman." Men, who raved aboiit her, pro- 
 tested that her hair alone made amends for her 
 defective hands. Her diflB.culty was to know how 
 to bind it together, to plait, and confine it to her 
 head, its groAvth was so luxuriant. She could not 
 only sit upon it, but almost stand upon it. The 
 glossy silkiness softened and refined her featui-es, 
 making the face peculiarly one of expression.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 201 
 
 Sucli was Clara Harcoiirt. It was impossible 
 for lier to be seen anj^where without conimaiiding 
 attention. Academicians entreated ber to be tbe 
 originals of their Constances, Diana Yernons, their 
 Katherines, and Marie Antoinettes. Etty had 
 delighted in persuading her to sit to him for a 
 *' study;" and, had Sir Joshua knoTVTi her, Nelly 
 o'Brien might not perhaps have been so great a 
 favourite in Leicester Square. 
 
 She T^as attractive from accidental circum- 
 stances. She was professional, and a great fa- 
 Youiite. To whatever reason it may be traced, 
 there is no question that professional ladies exer- 
 cise a peculiar fascination. The public has sur- 
 rounded such persons T\T.th an atmosphere of 
 romance ; and whether they like it or not, insist 
 upon regarding them as inhabitants of a sort of 
 fairy world, that is altogether removed from the 
 common-place, matter-of-fact business of life. 
 
 Authors and magazine writers have unkindly 
 taken delight in tearing away the veils of fancy 
 in which society loves to shroud the beings who 
 minister to its social entertainment and intel- 
 lectual recreation. It is an mikind act, for which 
 society will never thank them. When steam and
 
 202 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 iron, coal and telegraphs are making tlie world 
 a workshop where everything is done ^\ith a 
 whiz and a whirl, amidst the hissing of pij)es and 
 pistons, and the eternal clatter of revolving 
 wheels, the scribes of useful knowledge might be 
 content to leave a few occupations in life invested 
 with a touch of romance. 
 
 In such an atmosphere Clara lived and moved. 
 It had its fascination for the gay and fashionable 
 class among whom her lot was cast, and in private 
 it conferred upon her an attractiveness which 
 made her out-distance many a girl with personal 
 gifts superior to her own, and of rank far above 
 her. Her female detractors always asserted that 
 she wore false hair, had rouge upon her cheeks, 
 stained her eye-lashes and eye-brows with burnt 
 hair-pins, and was a mass of pretension, affecta^ 
 tion, and presmnption ; but Clara cared for none 
 of these slanders. She could afford to laugh at 
 women's spite. Fully conscious that she was a 
 man's beauty she revenged herself upon the envy 
 of the youthful, and the acidity of the elder 
 virgins of her acquaintance, by enticing all the 
 young men that she coidd contrive to allure. 
 
 It must be allowed that the adventuress
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 203^ 
 
 was in addition pronounced a flirt. " Poiu' 
 s'amuser" was tlie motto of her life. For this 
 she got thoroughly well rated. 
 
 ''It was shameful, it was disgusting, it was 
 infamous." 
 
 " Had she no principle, no delicacy? no, none." 
 
 They did not know her inner life : the 
 wretchedness of the place called her "ho7ne:'* 
 the eternal falseness, intrigue, professional jea- 
 lousy, scheming, contriving, negotiating, that was 
 going on in Half-Moon Street. She flew to so- 
 ciety, to amusement, and admiration, and "flirta- 
 tion," to save herself from desperation. Without 
 such excitement she felt she should have gone 
 mad, perhaps have destroyed herself. 
 
 Of these feeKngs the looking- on world knew 
 nothing. He or she saw a tall, commanding, 
 haughty-looking beauty patronized by the 
 
 Duchess of S and the Marchioness of A . 
 
 They saw her petted, admired, sought after, and 
 having shoals of people anxious to obtain her for 
 their concerts and parties, because she was known 
 to be in favour at S House. 
 
 They beheld antique Barons of diplomatic 
 fame pay her court, and carriages with coronets
 
 204 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 on the panels rein- up at lier door to drop 
 bouquets or pay complimentary attentions. 
 How could tlie " whirling- whirlpool world" (as 
 some one has sublimely called it) be expected to 
 regard this girl except as a butterfly of fashion ? 
 or to suppose that she was a flirt and an adven- 
 turess by force of circimistance ; that she had no 
 "home," and therefore was a wanderer in society, 
 seeking rest and finding none. 
 
 True to the instincts of their nature, the 
 Oreevys had shown themselves ready to barter 
 Clara Harcourt for any "eligible ofier." She 
 could only be regarded as an expensive luxury, 
 because any one who married her would have 
 been obliged to make compensation to her pro- 
 prietors. They might have been reconciled to 
 the separation, but only for a heavy consideration. 
 
 Among the crowd of flatterers and admirers 
 who welcomed Clara on her dehut was the young 
 Earl of Wolverhampton, some few years her 
 senior. She was nineteen, he twenty-four. His 
 attentions were most marked and most constant. 
 He was allowed to Aasit in Half- Moon Street, and 
 took constant advantage of the permission. The 
 clever Creev^^s thought that they were about to
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 205 
 
 negotiate a splendid matrimonial sale, and in 
 order to insure it, threw the girl of nineteen as 
 much as possible in the way of the Earl of 
 twenty-four. The consequences were what 
 might have been expected. His Lordship was 
 joked and envied by his friends at his clubs. 
 ^' Lucky dog " sounded in his ears, and he awoke 
 to find himself famous for the hopeful prospects 
 of his " gallantry." 
 
 To make Clara his wife had never remotely 
 entered the brain of this noble Earl, neither had 
 any thought of shame. 
 
 His Lordship took the gifts the gods pro- 
 vided him, "without any particular concern as to 
 how they might come or how they might go. 
 Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof when- 
 ever the evil arrived; but mitil it did, no fore- 
 shadows darkened his path, nor did he ever dream 
 of anticipating evil or meeting it half way. 
 
 He was weak, vain, foolish, but not at heart 
 a bad man. On awakening therefore, tardily, to a 
 sense of the truth, and of the manner in which 
 the fair fame of Clara Harcourt was being sacri- 
 ficed on the altar of his vanity, the Earl was high- 
 minded and upright enough to do at once what
 
 206 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 lie had better have done long before. The sudden 
 
 desire 
 
 * to wander far away,' 
 ' On from island unto island at the gateways of the day," 
 
 seized upon his imagination. He felt that his 
 absence would be real kindness to the girl whom 
 it was abhorrent to his nature to injure. 
 
 With the favour Clara had shown him he had 
 been flattered ; with her beauty he had been 
 fascinated; and to tear himself away from a 
 pretty woman who had become a part of his rou- 
 tine of life would be a desperate struggle as well 
 as a great embarrassment, if he remained in Lon- 
 don. He had no reason to quarrel with her ; none 
 to cut her acquaintance. In fact, the only way to 
 resolve the difficulty which presented itself to his 
 mind was to run away from it. 
 
 'No doubt the beautiful Cantatrice would thinlc 
 him rude and unfeeling and ungentlemanly. 
 Better she should think thus, than suspect him of 
 having cherished any dishonourable intentions. 
 He ran away accordingly. 
 
 A morning or two afterwards the column of 
 " Haut Ton^' in the fashionable journals an 
 nounced among arrivals and departui^es, ''The
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 207 
 
 Earl of Wolverhampton, for Egypt and tlie East." 
 On the day of the announcement, about the 
 hour of five p. m., a certain bay-window in St 
 James's Street famous for the mastication of tooth- 
 picks and the circulation of scandal, was crowded 
 with an eager throng of fashionable speculators 
 upon the reasons for Wolverhampton's bolt. The 
 prevailing opinion was that he had '^gone off 
 with the singing girl." No other solution of the 
 enigma presented itself. But even this idea was 
 shortly afterwards dissipated, when a man, boimd 
 in boards, passing up the street, exhibited a large 
 placard to public gaze, amiouncing a concert for 
 that evening at the Hanover Square Rooms ; and in 
 large letters, " Miss Clara Harcourt will sing," &c. 
 The placard did its work, and contributed 
 largely to the treasury of the enterprising caterer 
 for the public, who gave the concert. The after- 
 noon, which had been passed in curious specula- 
 tion at the club, had been a period of misery, the 
 misery of wounded pride, to Clara, exasperated by 
 spitefully reproachful remarks from Mrs Mont- 
 gomery. The angler who has angled for many 
 hoiu-s and successfully hooked a splendid salmon, 
 and played with him down stream imtil he thinks
 
 208 BLOL'NT TEMPEST. 
 
 liis Yictim is pretty well exhausted and tlie land- 
 in o"-net may be] brought into use, sees him give a 
 sudden splash and snap the line and make away, 
 is not much in a humour to be taunted with his 
 want of skill in the very moment of his mortifica- 
 tion and loss ! Neither was Clara capable of en- 
 during the cruel taunts of Madame on the day 
 when she learnt to her amazement that Lord 
 "Wolverhampton had snapt the cord with which 
 she fondly thought she was about to draw him 
 into the landing-net of a proposal ! 
 
 "V^Tiatever sorrow or sufiering she might have 
 experienced in silence and solitude, was smothered 
 by the passionate indignation which those mi- 
 merited taunts raised in her breast. The woman's 
 vulgarity excited her to such a pitch that in her 
 heart she proudly resolved that no living eye 
 should ever see on her face a s^nnptom of sorrow 
 or regret. The critics of the Times and the 
 Athenceum proclaimed that Miss Harcourt never 
 sang more superbly than at the concert of that 
 evening ; and this critical opinion perfectly har- 
 monized with the sentiments of the kid- gloved 
 clubmen, who attended from curiosity, and listened 
 with admiration.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 APARTMENTS IN HA3irT0N COURT PALACE. 
 
 ^Y0 females sat in a remarkably 
 pleasant chamber lighted by one 
 large window which enliA^ened it 
 with a luxuriant prospect over the 
 Thames. It was in exerj respect a charming*^ 
 room, furnished in excellent taste, with nothing 
 rococo. There was no gaudy rubbish scattered 
 about, no worthless veneer and cheap gilding, no 
 clumsy imitation antique; in short, no vestige 
 either of Moor Fields or of Wardour Street. 
 
 Yery few sitting-rooms are now to be met 
 with that do not display either absurd pretension 
 or vitiated taste, the apartment being an elaborate 
 attempt at luxury, or else an old curiosity shop. 
 Gaudy Axminster carpets and rugs, heavy gor- 
 geous curtains surmounted by a heavy gorgeous 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 14
 
 210 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 cornice, every possible yariety of imcomf or tabic 
 chairs, two or three tables that are used only for 
 a bazaar display of articles no sensible person 
 wonld think of purchasing, and a medley of 
 meretricious pictures, make up the furnishing in- 
 dulged in by a considerable number of our modern 
 genteel families. 
 
 Bad as this combination is howeyer, it is 
 better than the style in favour with another class, 
 an affectation of media3yal fashions, where things 
 ugly, coarse, and outre are brought together. 
 Monstrosities in form and extravagances in colour 
 meet you wdierever you turn ; chairs you camiot 
 sit upon, tables that ivill not be moved, pictures 
 that frighten you, and other objects of '' vertu " 
 that ought to be put behind the fire, are precious 
 in the eyes of many Avho affect a taste for the an- 
 tique, w^hile exhibiting no true appreciation of the 
 really Beautiful in the antique. 
 
 In the chamber here attempted to be described 
 there was neither modern frivolity nor ancient 
 grotesqueness. It contained nothing either very 
 new^ or very old. The pretty pair of cabinets 
 that stood against the wainscot with their charm- 
 ing pastoral pictures from the pencil of Lancret,
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 211 
 
 Avere certainly not of the nineteenth, centiuy, nor 
 were they of English manufaetm^e ; and the 
 ormolu and tortoiseshell corner cupboard (where 
 mthin its plate-glass divisions, choice specimens 
 of Dresden, Sevres, and Wedgwood stood in the 
 prettiest possible groujDS, was as certainly not 
 renaissance, nor even Parisian), for it had been 
 bought in Oxford Street, and was the work of a 
 London mechanic. 
 
 The carpet was Brussels of a quiet pattern, 
 mth which the rug corresponded. Handsome lace 
 €urtains were elegantly draped at the window, a 
 large mirror filled the space over the chimney, 
 •except a narrow margin on each side, where 
 shelves covered with purple velvet contained 
 valuable examples of Rankin and Japan china 
 tea-cups and saucers ; while the slab over the fire- 
 place, concealed by velvet of the same colour vdth 
 .a gold border, supported several figures and 
 groups in old Chelsea of singular beauty and 
 rarity. 
 
 The pictures with which the old panelling 
 of the room was literally decorated, consisted en- 
 tirely of portraits and miniatures. The former 
 <iomprised the full-length of a General Ofiicer by
 
 212 in.OUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence, and another canvas of 
 smaller size contained two female heads by the 
 same graceful pencil, — sisters, unquestionably ; 
 and it was quite as evident that they must have 
 been in the possession of personal attractions 
 worthy of sitting to such an artist. One was a 
 few years younger than the other, whose earnest 
 thoughtful brow contrasted well with the tender 
 confiding glance of her jmiior. 
 
 The miniatui^es represented both sexes ^^ith 
 tolerable impartiality — ^^dth a few children, all 
 members of the same family, or else dear, departed 
 friends. Some were still bright and pure in the 
 flesh tints ; but in others the colour had faded 
 from age or want of skill in the limner. The 
 worn gold frames exhibited signs of age, but 
 they were only additional proofs of the tender 
 estimation in which the originals were held. 
 Everything around testified not only to a woman's 
 taste, but to a taste of more than ordinary purity — 
 possessed by a mind as far removed from s}Tnpathy 
 with the shams as with the cant of art, one that 
 had as little inclination for Pre-Raphaelite eccen- 
 tricities, as for insijiid pictures of singing charity
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 213 
 
 girls or ecstatic little boys in immaculate surpKces 
 and picturesque heads of hair. 
 
 The mistress of this chamber sat back in a 
 well -cushioned, capacious chair, covered A^-itli 
 French chintz, engaged upon some useful feminine 
 employment with her needle, for she was never 
 to be caught at any of those make-believes of 
 industry and excuses for wasting time, wool-work 
 and hole-se^dng, with which so many of her female 
 contemporaries were content to waste away a large 
 portion of every four-and- twenty hours. 
 
 She was not alone. At a table, a little distance 
 from her, sat another lady, engaged in writing. 
 There was a marked difference in their ages. 
 They personified the morning and noontide of 
 womanly life. The younger was in the full en- 
 jo}Tnent of its sunrise ; in the elder, the rays were 
 tempered, the heat had abated, the light was just 
 beginning to fade. The woman had hardly got 
 clear of her girl-hood, the matron had as yet 
 escaped the penalties of age. 
 
 The occupants of the room were the Hon. 
 Cecilia Lawson and Mabel Massey. The former 
 was its tenant. She was in possession of four or
 
 214 15L0UNT TEMPEST. 
 
 five other apartments adjoining, in acknowledg- 
 ment by tlie Crown of the military services of 
 her brother, for she was one of the favoured few 
 for whom gratuitous tenements are provided in 
 Hamj)ton Court Palace. 
 
 And a very desirable residence it was; at 
 least Miss Lawson had skilfidlj- made the most of 
 its capacity for comfort, and the least of its evils, 
 reversing the plan adopted by certain of her 
 fellow-lodgers, wliom the Lord Chamberlain found 
 great difficulty in satisfying. 
 
 Mabel (in a well-fitting dress of dark material 
 relieved b}' a worked collar and cuffs, her bright 
 hair hanging round her bright face like the nim- 
 bus in a mediiToval picture that distinguishes a 
 saint) continued to write. 8he wore no ornament 
 but a fine gold chain romid her neck. It was 
 easy to see by the form of the paper upon her 
 rosewood desk that she was inditing a letter, and 
 by the expression that made her face so radiant, it 
 Avas equally clear that she was much interested in 
 its composition. 
 
 Was it a love-letter ? Judging from ordinary 
 instances of tender epistolary manufacture by 
 young ladies, this might be more than doubtful ;
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 215 
 
 since a fair scribe seldom reconciles lierself to 
 carrying on her j^rivate correspondence except 
 with the greatest 230ssible degree of privacy. To 
 do anything of the kind, with the knowledge or 
 sanction of parents or guardians, would apparently 
 deprive it of more than half its interest. With a 
 great nmnber, even conceahnent does not give the 
 aflPair sufficient zest, it must be accompanied by a 
 large admixture of dissimulation. 
 
 Miss Massey was ^vriting openly, close to her 
 protectress and instructress. The elder lady could 
 vfith very little difficulty have read every sen- 
 tence as fast as it was penned had she desired 
 to do so ; but when she raised her eyes from her 
 work it was not on the writing but on the writer 
 they rested. Isow and then she looked at the 
 ingenuous happy face with a smile of perfect con- 
 tent. There beamed the mind of the letter- writer, 
 and she knew that she need not look elsewhere 
 for her thoughts. 
 
 Mabel wrote on, covering page after page, 
 quite imconscious of the affectionate scrutiny she 
 was undergoing, quite as imaware of the affection- 
 ate memories she was exciting, for while the 
 romance of the youthfid beauty was in the future.
 
 21G 3JL0UNT TEMPEST. 
 
 there was evidently one equally brilliant for her 
 senior in the past. As the observer noted the warm 
 flush, the tender smile, and the sparkling eye, 
 could she not recall a time when her cheek 
 crimsoned, her smile glowed, and her eyes became 
 more lustrous Avhile striA^ing to place on paper 
 tlie passionate feelings that filled her heart ? She 
 did recall the time, but a shadow fell upon her 
 spirit, and the sadness of an mitold sorrow 
 weighed heavily upon her soul. 
 
 With a strong effort, with an effort that only 
 a strong-hearted woman can make upon such 
 emergencies. Miss Lawson cast from her the pain- 
 ful recollection, and concentrated her attention 
 upon her work. She sewed with increased expedi- 
 tion, but the implement of the ready writer seem- 
 ed quicker even than that of the ready worker. 
 
 Could the former be writing a love-letter ? 
 It might be. She was quite an exceptional young 
 lady ; could never be brought to degrade herself 
 by the practice of deceit, would neither tell a lie 
 nor act a lie, and as for the harmless popular 
 recreation of dissimulation toAvards parents and 
 guardians, Mabel Avould have recoiled Avith horror 
 at the mere idea of such j)erfidy.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 217 
 
 It Avas not at all iiiilikely that perfect confi- 
 dence existed between teaclier and pupil, and 
 tlien of course it became the most natural thing 
 in the world for the one to be writing a love- 
 letter with the cognizance, indeed with the 
 approval, of the other. 
 
 If the epistle was intended for Blount 
 Tempest, his college career might be rendered 
 doubly brilKant by his knowledge of the eloquent 
 looks of his correspondent, for surely her heart 
 was borne upon her pen. A happy man would 
 that Gentleman Commoner have been, coidd he 
 have got some demoniacally clever Asmodeus to 
 make a clear vista for him between Oxford and 
 Hampton Court, and to have sIio^tl him the object 
 of so many Petrarchan sonnets, sitting at that 
 little rose-wood desk placing line after line upon 
 delicate note-paper in a clear Italian hand, and 
 looking during the production of these admii'able 
 thoughts as if all the felicity of her yomig and 
 innocent life was in her emplojTnent. 
 
 "Mabel, my love, you are \\Titing a very 
 long letter." 
 
 Miss Lawson made this remark without re- 
 movino: her eyes from her work.
 
 218 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 " Yes, clear Miss Lawson," replied lier com- 
 panion in a cheerful voice, ''it is long, but Papa 
 likes nie to write long letters/' 
 
 After all, the young lady ^^^as not writing a 
 love-letter. It was merely a communication from 
 Miss Lawson's pupil to her guardian — quite a 
 common-place thing, not for a moment to be 
 compared to those specimens of tenderness that 
 are written in a multitude of instances, it is to be 
 feared, to most unworthy correspondents. 
 
 *' Now I have finished," she presently added, 
 taking up the sheets and putting them together 
 with a look of buoyant gratification, "and you 
 shall hear what I have written." 
 
 " 'No, my dear," replied the elder lady, " what 
 you Avrite to Colonel Massey should be for his eye 
 alone." 
 
 "I could never have secrets from you, dear 
 Miss Lawson, so please to give an attentive audi- 
 ence to my humble epistolarj^ powers. I am sure 
 Papa would be all the better pleased were he to 
 know that you honoured my composition with a 
 hearing before permitting me to send it to the 
 post." 
 
 '' Do as you like, my dear. If Colonel Massey
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 219" 
 
 lias no objection, I do not see that I can have 
 any." 
 
 The young hicly did not wait for further com- 
 ment. Having placed the sheets in the order in 
 which they were written, she connnenced readings 
 
 " Hampton Court Palace. 
 
 ^' Dear Papa, 
 
 " It would be difficidt to say anj'thing 
 in a letter which I have not repeated many times. 
 Were I to express my feelings towards you I coidd 
 scarcely help such repetitions. I am afraid I do 
 not alter at all, certainly not as your daughter ; 
 therefore there can be very little of that variety in 
 me which is said to be the chief charm in modern 
 belles. As you do not complain of me, darling- 
 Papa, I am content to go on in my ordinary way, 
 lo^^Jlg you and dear Miss Lawson every day, 
 month, and year the same, and never growing- 
 tired of confessing my obligations to both. 
 
 ''Of course I should be set down as dread- 
 fidly tiresome, if not intolerably stupid, by per- 
 sons who are only to be satisfied with perpetual 
 change. These exacting people have their minds 
 filled with images of heroines, who do every-
 
 ^20 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 tiling, talk cvcrytliing, look everytliing, feminine 
 chameleons, who are eA'ery colour in tlie rainbow, 
 and ai'e seldom of one hue long enough to be suc- 
 cessfully photographed. 
 
 '' You know that I have no ambition of being 
 a heroine, so you will be kind enough not to 
 expect me to vary in any degree from what I 
 was when I wrote last, and dear Miss LaAvson 
 seems to be equally content with my sameness. 
 Both of you assist as much as you can in spoiling 
 me for all heroine-like purposes, so please not to 
 feel more bored than you can help if you find my 
 pen going over the familiar track ; the well-used 
 path which j^our unambitious, faithfid Mabel has 
 taken from her childhood. 
 
 "You ask me, darling Papa, if I am happy 
 here. I should be very ungratefid were I not 
 happy with dear [Miss Lawson ; for, as you know 
 very well, she is as anxious to prevent my feeling 
 a moment's mihappiness as she is to promote my 
 improvement ; but though Hampton Court is very 
 beautiful, and every one in it appears very nice, 
 after all it is not dear Durham-Massey ; and all 
 the good people within its wide circmnference are 
 far from reconciling me to the absence of one
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 221 
 
 good, kind, thouglitful Papa, ^vlio made the old 
 home so delightful to his poor Mabel. 
 
 ^'Even ill the days long ago, when there ex- 
 isted a dearer claim on your paternal solicitude, 
 how well do I remember A^ith what liberality you 
 shared yoiu^ affection between us I 
 
 " Dear Papa, I strive to make my affection equal 
 to what you used to enjoy from the two grateful 
 natures, who felt that they could not appreciate 
 your goodness sufficiently, so that you may not 
 miss our darling TVilloughby too much ; but I am 
 quite aware how incompetent I am to the task. I 
 am far from -^dshing you to forget him, I know by 
 my o^^'n feelings that this would be impossible ; 
 but I should be very glad, very glad indeed, if I 
 coidd make you more cheerful than I am afraid 
 you are while li^dng alone at Durham- Massey. 
 
 ''You are kind enough to say that you miss 
 me very much. I am so sorry I cannot come 
 and cheer you ; but Miss Lawson says that I 
 am making such progress under my several mas- 
 ters, that next year, or the year after at fur- 
 hest, she thinks that I shall be quite finished. 
 Then you know I can come and keep house for 
 you, sing to you, j^lay to you, talk all kinds of
 
 "222 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 g-iiiisli trifling, ride with, you, walk with 3-011, 
 iieA'cr let you remain alone, never allow you 
 to be dull. Won't this be nice ? Dear Papa, you 
 shall be happy once more if 3'our poor Mabel 
 can make you so. And I know that I shall be 
 hap23y, happier, at least, than I have ever been 
 since I lost dear, noble Willoughby. 
 
 '' You ask me to describe the sort of life I am 
 living and the kind of people ^^dth whom I asso- 
 ciate. Miss Lawson parcels out the day so that 
 there is a proper interchange of leisure and study. 
 I rise early and devote an hour to the piano. 
 When I have conquered the difficulties of Chopin, 
 or Beethoven, or Mendelssohn, or any other maes- 
 tro I am obliged to have literally at my fingers' 
 ends, I am called to breakfast, and it is not Miss 
 Lawson' s fault if I do not do justice to that 
 pleasant meal. Then I generally take a wallc with 
 her in the Palace gardens or the j^ark, or along- 
 the banks of the river by Moulsey, and the Hurst, 
 where David Garrick used to play at Golf. 
 
 '' I read Schiller with Herr Schwartz, and 
 Dante with Signer Yeroni, the former a j)ortly 
 florid Hanoverian professor with a very thick 
 moustache and a particularly ^^dld head of hair ;
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 223 
 
 the latter a dark-complexioned, black-bearded 
 Roman, with restless flashing eyes, that make me 
 imagine him to be some prodigious conspirator or 
 Jesuit of the deepest dye ; but the poor man is 
 really quite harmless ; in truth, he does not seem to 
 have an idea out of the Divine Comed}'. 
 
 "On alternate days I have nw harp, piano- 
 forte, and singing masters or mistresses ; the 
 drawing-master also claims his portion of my time. 
 This completes my course A\dth " professors," other 
 studies being pursued under the superintendence 
 of Miss Lawson. I sometimes have a charming 
 row on the river, or a ride through this picturesque 
 neighbourhood, in a pretty little pony-carriage 
 which Miss Lawson keeps. 
 
 '•'In the evening we have company, or visit 
 one or other of the people living with us in the 
 Palace, Avith whom we have formed an acquaint- 
 ance. Shall I describe you one or two of our 
 Palace Society ? "Well, to begin ; there is the 
 Chaplain, who has the spiritual charge of the en- 
 tire establishment, the Hex. Cecil Mildmay, an 
 exceedingly fair-complexioned, fair-haired, fair- 
 spoken gentleman, very tranquil in his manners, 
 and apparently only particular in the set of his
 
 22-1: JJLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 cravat, wliicli always betrays marks of liavmg been 
 the result of innumerable failures to effect a satis- 
 factory tie. The hardest heart could scarcely re- 
 fuse to soften on noticing the great pains the 
 reverend gentleman must have taken to mar the 
 skill of his laundress. 
 
 " Then there is the Dowager Lady Dewlap, a 
 relic of the Court of the Prince Ecgent, who 
 always goes out of an evening with ostrich feathers 
 in her head, and in a dress that w^as in fashion 
 about the period of the visit of the Allied Sove- 
 reigns. Her ladyship is a wonderful gossip, but 
 would not condescend to discuss scandal more 
 recent than the death of the Princess Charlotte. 
 
 "How 3'ou would smile if you could see the 
 Honourable Belinda Carruthers and Miss Lavinia 
 Fotheringay, both unappreciated blessings, they 
 being maiden ladies, a little, I am afraid, on 
 the shady side of forty ; but, according to their 
 own account (in which they support each other 
 with remarkable fidelit}^), there ne^'er existed two 
 women so generally admired by the other sex. 
 They are both tall and slender, with aquiline noses 
 and high cheek-bones, yet are not at all alike, — the 
 Honourable Belinda being a blonde with light
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 225 
 
 hair, Miss Laviuia a brunette with raven 
 tresses. 
 
 *'I am greatly diverted by a Mrs ^Admiral' 
 Boyle (she always calls herself *Mrs Admiral'), 
 a stout little lady with awfully good spirits, who 
 seems, however, to talk, laugh, eat, drink, sleep, 
 with no other object than to plaj' at whist. The 
 good old soul is only capable of entertaining one 
 idea, and that is comprised in the word — Rubber. 
 From her rising, which is somewhere about noon, 
 to her setting, which is usually towards daj^-break, 
 her attention seems to be absorbed with games, 
 past, present, and to come. Military veterans 
 are said to fight their battles o'er again. Mrs 
 Admiral Boyle is content to re23eat her card-pla}^- 
 ing triimiphs. Her pleasantest memories are based 
 upon winning the odd trick, and her most agree- 
 able associations connected with holding four by 
 honours. 
 
 "We have cultivated a bowing acquaintance 
 with a few more of the residents, mostly ladies, 
 by the way, for this enchanted castle, o'r rather 
 Palace, seems to have been selected by way of 
 experiment on the sociability of our sex ; but per- 
 haps you Tvill think that I have introduced you 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 to enougli for the present. Miss Lawson is popu- 
 lar, particularly with old Lady Dewlap, who re- 
 members her grandmother dancing at a birthday 
 at St James's in the time of Queen Charlotte. 
 
 "As for me, I am held in tolerable favour. 
 Indeed, the Honourable Belinda acknowledged 
 that if I had a little more ton I might do very 
 well at Court ; and Miss Lavinia endorsed this 
 flattering opinion with her valuable approval, 
 adding confidentially that the officers of the Tenth 
 Hussars, with whom she had been a toast for three 
 successive seasons, without a rival, disliked hair 
 like mine. She kindly suggested having my head 
 shaved, and my wearing a wig as black as her 
 own. Of course I was grateful, but I am not in a 
 hurry to gratify the fastidious taste of the officers 
 of the Tenth. I think that I have heard some 
 one admire my poor curls who is a great deal more 
 easy to please. 
 
 " I hope when you come to town, dear Papa, 
 you will lose no time in finding your way here. 
 Of course you know all about the place, but it 
 would be a very great gratification to me to show 
 jou my favourite haunts. We have a most charm-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 227 
 
 ing \dew (from the -sviiidow of the room in which. I 
 am writing) of part of the Palace gardens and the 
 river, and all the neighbourhood is putting forth 
 its greatest attractions. I am sure you will be 
 pleased with everything, and I hope that the im- 
 provement I have made will insure your being- 
 pleased with me. 
 
 " Remember me to Sir Mgel, and please tell 
 me hoYf all my pets are getting on in my absence. 
 I know that they wiU not be neglected by the 
 kind, dear Papa, to whom I am indebted for 
 them. I shall be so happy when I can get back 
 to dear Durham-Massey, and see that jou are pro- 
 perly cared for. jSTevertheless, I will wait patiently, 
 and try to make as much progress in my studies 
 as will the better enable me to be all you desire 
 as a daughter. 
 
 *' Dear Papa, accept the devotion of my loving 
 and faithful heart, and believe me to remain 
 " Ever your affectionate 
 
 Mabel Massey." 
 
 "Now I have only got the postscript," said 
 the reader, apologetically.
 
 228 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 " Ah, but tlie postscript to a lady's letter, you 
 know," replied the other, " ought to contain the 
 real meaning of the letter." 
 
 *' It is not the case in this instance," added her 
 pupil. 
 
 The elder lady looked a little incredulous.. 
 The perusal continued, — 
 
 *'P.S. Please to let the Widow Jones have 
 some new flannel, as she suffers much from the 
 rhemnatism." 
 
 The reader began to fold her letter. 
 
 'as that aU, Mabel?" 
 
 ''Yes, Miss Lawson." 
 
 The latter regarded her with a look of disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 "But you've said nothing about Blount Tem- 
 pest." 
 
 " Oh haven't I ?" was the reply, as the young 
 lady proceeded to place the folded paper in an 
 envelope. " I don't see that in writing to Papa it 
 is necessary that I should mention Blount. We 
 know that he is at College, and I suppose he is 
 very well, as in his last letter he said nothing to 
 the contrary." 
 
 Miss Lawson regarded her companion with an
 
 BLOU^'T TEMPEST. 229 
 
 expression of mystification, but the latter wrote 
 tlie address without betraying the slightest inter- 
 est in the absent Collegian. 
 
 ^' Blount was the dearest friend of poor Wil- 
 loughby," observed the elder lady ; " the Colonel 
 takes a great interest in him, partly on that 
 accoimt, I think, partly because he is Sir MgeFs 
 heir, and, to a considerable extent also, because he 
 is a fine, manly fellow." 
 
 Mabel looked up with quickening intelligence. 
 
 " Yes, I know he was loved by darling Wil- 
 loughby, and I have always liked him in conse- 
 quence ; but Papa, of coiu'se, hears all about him 
 from Sir Nigel. I coidd not tell him anything 
 about Bloimt." 
 
 Miss Lawson resinned her work, but there was 
 a look of dissatisfaction impressed upon her fea- 
 tures as she plied her needle. Bloimt Tempest 
 was a great favourite with her, and she was not 
 pleased to find that he was held in so little estima- 
 tion, in a quarter where, as she perhaps Avas aware, 
 he desired to be particularly esteemed. 
 
 Her regrets were abruptly put an end to by 
 the entrance of a little elderly woman in a black 
 dress, a confidential servant, bearing a letter on a
 
 230 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 salver. Her aspect was somewliat stolid, but there 
 was a twinkle in the grey eyes that redeemed the 
 coarse features and made the round rough face 
 pleasant to look upon. 
 
 " Letter for Miss Massey, just brought by the 
 j)Ost-man," she said. 
 
 "Oh, it's from Papa!" exclaimed Mabel, her 
 features radiant with animation as she recog- 
 nized the hand- writing. 
 
 "Post-man insisted it was a love-letter," ob- 
 served the old dame with a suggestive shake of 
 her head. " But I told him as no such rubbish 
 ever came to my ladies." 
 
 "I hope that nothing unpleasant has hap- 
 pened," remarked Miss Lawson. 
 
 Her pupil clapped her hands and looked 
 transported with delight, as soon as she had mas- 
 tered the contents. 
 
 "Oh no — such good news, dear Miss Lawson ! " 
 she presently exclaimed, "such agreeable news! 
 I could not have anticipated anything half so 
 pleasant. Only think. Papa and Sir Nigel are 
 going to the Oxford Commemoration, and they 
 propose coming up to to^\Ti, in order to take us 
 with them."
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 231 
 
 *'Wliat a gratification that ^Ylll be to 
 Bloimt," said tlie elder lady, considerately. 
 
 "To be sure it will, and to Papa too, and to 
 dear Sir Nigel, and to you, I liope, as much as 
 any one." 
 
 "Well, if the Colonel and Sir 'Nigel are 
 coming to ^dsit 7ni/ ladies," observed the house- 
 keeper, apparently more to herself than to any 
 one else, " I must get things ready. Though we 
 can't be as hospitable as at Warfdale Tower or 
 Durham-Massey, we can give them a respectable 
 meal, thank God." 
 
 "Yes, Mrs Wilkins," said Mabel joyfully, 
 "Papa and Sir Nigel intend being here in 
 June." 
 
 "We must have everything ready for them 
 when they arrive, Mrs Wilkins," added her mis- 
 tress ; "if the hospitality of the Lawsons suffers 
 in your hands, you alone will be to blame." 
 
 Mrs Wilkins hurried out of the room, deeply 
 impressed with her responsibility. 
 
 " But will not this proposed excursion afford 
 you gratification, Mabel?" 
 
 " The very greatest gratification possible." 
 
 Miss Lawson looked satisfied.
 
 232 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 " Oil ! shall I not enjoy being with dear 
 Papa?'^ 
 
 This addition to the sentence apparently 
 did not please her quite so well as the preceding 
 portion. 
 
 "Oh, shall we not have a happy time of it, 
 dear Miss Lawson ? I shall be so impatient, till 
 we get to Oxford ! Sir Nigel shall take charge of 
 yon, and Papa will take care of me." 
 
 "And is Blount to ramble about by himself? 
 The Colonel intends the visit as a compliment 
 to him; I don't think he would lilve Blount to 
 feel slighted." 
 
 The young lady gazed inquiringly into the 
 face of her companion, and did not speak for a 
 few minutes. 
 
 " If Papa wishes me to walk with Blount," 
 she presently said slowly, almost -svith hesitation, 
 "Iwm." 
 
 " Of course he will expect you to do so ; it 
 would appear an affront to Mr Tempest if you 
 refused his escort to a spectacle in which he is 
 personally interested. I am sure he would feel it 
 deeply."
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 233 
 
 '' Then I shall walk with hiin instead of with 
 Papa. I AYOiild not offend Bloimt for worlds, poor 
 dear Willoughby was so fond of him. But then 
 you know I would much rather be with Papa." 
 
 Miss Lawson saw it was useless saying more, 
 and endeavoured to seem satisfied "s\dth the case 
 as it stood.
 
 CHAPTER XV, 
 
 THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED. 
 
 N the offices of tlie eimnent legal fimi 
 of Probyn, Shirle}^, and Trigg there 
 reigned a remarkable degree of quiet, 
 for the simple reason that there 
 were within — visible or audible — neither lawyers, 
 clients, nor clerks. So completely deserted was 
 the usually stirring place, that the hobady-hoy 
 yrhose pri^dlege it was to stick a pen behind his 
 ear, to announce visitors, and to spoil excellent 
 foolscap Avith attempts to write a legal hand while 
 perched on a very tall stool near the outer door, 
 had vacated his pedestal, and was enjoying a slice 
 of hot Yorkshire pudding in a neighbouring by- 
 street. 
 
 It was the luncheon hour of the principals 
 and the dinner hour of their dependents. The
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 235 
 
 MgUy respectable Mr Probyn had gone to take 
 liis basin of soup at tbe pastry-cook's, the fashion- 
 able ]\Ir Digby Shirley was indulging in sand- 
 wiches and sherry at the Law Club, and the more 
 j)ractical Mr Trigg was enjojdng a mutton-chop 
 and a glass of stout at that celebrated taAxrn, 
 "The Lord ChanceUor's Head." Their clerks 
 were refreshing themselves ^^ith viands and drinks 
 of various descriptions, in different places of 
 prandiary resort in the immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 Though the outer office was quite deserted, 
 the chambers had not been left entirely tenant- 
 less. In one of the inner rooms, ajoproached 
 through hermetically sealed green-baize doors, 
 two persons were absorbed examining some papers 
 which they had just taken out of a japanned deed- 
 case, standing open on the table before them. 
 
 It was the usual circular leather- covered piece 
 of furniture, known as a library table, and was 
 covered with the usual little piles of folded en- 
 dorsed and red-taped papers, mth here and there 
 a half-opened parchment showing the bold en- 
 grossing of some important word or phrase, one 
 or two law books, and a diary clasped and locked. 
 The further end of the room was filled with book-
 
 "236 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 cases, crammed with books bound miiformly in 
 law calf. In one corner was a large iron safe, 
 also locked. Round a sbelf were ranged a row of 
 japanned boxes inscribed with different names. 
 
 Among the most conspicuous were " The Eight 
 Honourable the Earl of Wolverhampton," 'SSir 
 Nigel Tempest, Bart.," " The Dowager Lady- 
 Dewlap." There were several other names of in- 
 fluential personages'belonging to the aristocracy, 
 or holding high positions in the mercantile world. 
 It was Mr Probyn's private room, where the 
 papers of the best clients of the firm were care- 
 fully preserved, and where the clients themselves 
 were ad\dsed, cautioned, encouraged, or remon- 
 strated with in the arrangement of their several 
 affairs. 
 
 The two individuals intently engaged in ex- 
 amining the papers out of the box were the clever 
 ■clerk, Mr Creevy, and that most hopeful articled 
 clerk, Mr Geoffrey Tempest. The face of the 
 former was a study for a painter. As the man 
 held a document in his hand which he was show- 
 ing to his companion, the expression was not 
 pleasing. It seemed like a combination of the 
 keenness of the vidture with the cunnino- of the
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 237 
 
 fox. The physiognomy of the latter was not more 
 prepossessing at that moment, for it wore a sinis- 
 ter and malicious expression. The glance of the 
 grey eyes was singularly eager, and a smile of 
 satisfaction played about the mouth as if caused 
 by some new prospect of selfish gratification. 
 
 The two stood together as if a sense of com- 
 mon interest had suddenly connected them in a 
 closer relationship than am^ of mere kindred. 
 The elder watched with scrutinizing earnestness 
 the effect of his temptation, very much as Mephis- 
 tophiles ma}^ be supj)osed to have watched the 
 effect of similar appeals to the easily }delding 
 Faust ; indeed, there was a demoniac sj)irit, half 
 jocular, half sneering, exhibited by the useful 
 servant of Messrs Probyn, Shirley, and Trigg, that 
 was at times very suggestive of the German poet's 
 creation ; and as he noticed the signs of the ger- 
 mination of the e"ST.l seed he was dexterously sow- 
 ing, the gleam of triumph that lit up his dark 
 eyes and strongly-marked features made the re- 
 semblance closer. 
 
 *'You see, Mr Tempest," he observed in a 
 kind of respectful, almost coaxing tone, '' what 
 a glorious opj)ortmiity this discovery offers for
 
 238 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 changing j'onr present clej^endent position for one 
 tliat would surromid you with, every luxury." 
 
 Geoffrey Tempest did not answer immediately. 
 With, the caution of a cunning nature he was 
 weighing the chances of success in the enterprise 
 that had been proposed to him. But the nature 
 with which he had come in contact was far more 
 cunning than his own, and it had resolved that 
 the said enterprise shoidd be undertaken ostensibly 
 for the profit of his young friend, but in a large 
 measure for his own advantage. 
 
 " I can understand very well the humiliations 
 you must have been obliged to endure," he added. 
 "They are inseparable from your having the 
 great misfortmie of being a younger brother ; but 
 with the golden prospect before you which this 
 idea of mine opens, you may laugh at the destiny 
 your friends have arranged for your acceptance." 
 
 "Do you think, Mr Cree\y, such a j)-^^ii 
 could be carried out without exciting suspicion ? " 
 he inquired. 
 
 " Leave that to me," replied his friend, T^ith 
 a sardonic laugh. "IVe succeeded in carrying 
 out too many difficult plans to dou.bt mjr success 
 in this. Besides, nothing could be more easily
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 239 
 
 managed. 'Now just listen to me a few minutes, 
 and I will make you master of all tlie details. 
 In the first place — " 
 
 He was interrupted by a loud voice proceed- 
 ing from the ofiice. " Ahoy ! Ahoy ! Anybody 
 aboard?'' 
 
 The consjDirators paused, and listened. 
 
 " What cheer, my hearties ? " again was 
 shouted. "Is the craft a derelict, as there's 
 nobody left to keep a look-out ? " 
 
 " Oh, it's only a sailor come to the wrong- 
 place, with the usual stupidity of Jack ashore," 
 said Mr Creevy. 
 
 Jack ashore, however, did not seem to fancy 
 that he had made any error. It soon became 
 evident that he felt himself the right man in the 
 right place, for instead of continuing to shout, he 
 began to sing. In a voice that was capable of 
 making itself heard in a gale of wind, he com- 
 menced, 
 
 " Tom Starboard vras a lover true. 
 As brave a tar as ever sail'd ; 
 The duties English seamen do, 
 
 Tom did, and never yet had fail'd." 
 
 " The feUow will go, if no notice is taken of
 
 240 «LOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 him," observed the law-clerk ; which, assurance 
 checked his companion's progress to the green- 
 baize door. No notice tvas taken of him ; never- 
 theless he did not go, but presently recommenced 
 shouting : 
 
 ^' AVhat ho, there ? Is the watch up the 
 rigging or down in the hold ? It must be un- 
 common safe anchorage hereabouts when you 
 arn't got so much as a loblolly boy to answer a 
 hail." 
 
 Ha\ang expressed this opinion, the speaker 
 resumed his singing, but with a different tune 
 and words, being now extremely energetic in 
 praise of " The glorious Arethusa ! " 
 
 " '^Yhat the deuce are you making such a 
 catterwauling here for ? " cried Mr Creexj, 
 bursting through the door of communication. 
 
 He beheld a tall, stout man in the blue 
 cloth suit usually worn by the better class of 
 seamen, a little black waterproof hat on his head, 
 a silk handkerchief of the same colour loosely 
 tied with a true-lover's knot roimd his throat, 
 and his hands in the pockets of his jacket. His 
 face was a jovial, weather-beaten one, the surface 
 of which looked as rough as a melon, but in
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 241 
 
 colour seemed as if cut out of maliogan}-. The 
 light that sparkled in the blue eyes was, how- 
 ever, trustworthy evidence of its being a li\'ing 
 face, and the silvery streaks ^dsible in the black 
 whiskers that met under the chin as clearly 
 testified to its ha^dng a tolerably lengthened 
 acquaintance with hmnan life. 
 
 " Catterwaiding ! " repeated the stranger, in- 
 dignantly, as he hitched up his trowsers, and 
 endeavoiu^d to steady himself on the flooring 
 of the office. ''"VYhat do you mean, joii son 
 of a grampus ? " 
 
 " I'll let you know what I mean, if you don't 
 make yourself scarce. This isn't a tap-room in 
 Eatclifi" Highway." 
 
 ''I knows that well enough, but I arn't a- 
 going to make myself scarce for you, or a dozen 
 such. Where's the skipper ? " 
 
 " There's no skij)per here ! ^Yhat do you 
 mean by asking such absurd questions, you 
 drimken vagabond ? " 
 
 ''Avast there ! To be sure I've been splicing 
 the main brace wi' an old messmate as was 
 captain o' the top, when I was Bosun of the 
 Agamemnon, but I laiows a martin sj)ike from 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ii darning needle as well as you, you swab ! 
 AVhere's the skipper, I say? He knows Jack 
 Laddler. He lias tlie overliauling my claim on 
 the OAvners of the ' Mary Jane.' " 
 
 "Oh, you mean Mr Probyn,'' replied the 
 other in a milder tone. "He has just stepped 
 out, — gone to the courts at Westminster, — won't 
 be back for a couple of hours." 
 
 " Then I'll put in here again," answered the 
 sailor. " I must see the skipper. He won't call 
 Jack Laddler, who's ranked A 1. for nigh upon 
 thirty years, a drunken vagabond. " 
 
 Mr Creevy commenced an apology, but Jack 
 with a contemptuous look turned on his heel, 
 hitched up his trowsers, clapped his hat firmly 
 on his head, made a lurch in the direction of 
 the outer door, and departed, vociferating the 
 praises of the Arethusa more lustily than be- 
 fore. 
 
 " A queer fellow that I " said Geoffrey Tempest, 
 "Blundering blockhead! " exclaimed his friend. 
 '"I wish he had kept in his vessel, or been 
 shipwrecked in her, or fallen overboard; any- 
 thing rather than have interrupted me at such a 
 moment. Confound the fellow, here he is again."
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 243 
 
 Sure enough a strong mellow voice resounded 
 
 through the next room. 
 
 " Ship ahoy ! Pipe all hands ! Tumble tip ! 
 Tmnble up ! Out of your hammock, you lazy 
 beggar of a porpoise, and come on deck." 
 
 Then was added in his singing voice, — 
 
 " What cheer, brother, quickly tell ! 
 
 A friend. The word ? 'Good-night.' ' All's Well !' " 
 
 " ^Yhat do you want now ? " angrily demanded 
 Mr Creepy, again rushing through tho green 
 door, as the final notes of the well-kno^Ti melody 
 were swelling forth. 
 
 "Mind you tell the skipper as I called." 
 The grin on Jack's well-tanned face as he 
 once more made his exit, after solemnly delivering 
 the foregoing sentence, woidd have aggravated 
 a less forbearing la-svs^er's clerk than the clever 
 Mr Creevy, so there is nothing siu-prisiug in 
 that gentleman hurling a hearty imprecation, 
 after him. It either fell short of its mark, or 
 was considered too contemptible a missile to 
 deserve notice, for Jack was heard going on his 
 somewhat devious way, singing the glories of 
 the Arethusa with a chuclding accompaniment
 
 244 J3L0UNT TEMPEST. 
 
 that gave quite a new character to that stirring 
 song. 
 
 "If ever I happen to be engaged against 
 YOU at the Old Bailey," muttered Mr Creevy,. 
 with a particularly menacing look, " your chance 
 of getting off will be small. Precious small, I 
 think I may say, you impudent old rascal ! " 
 
 He returned to the inner room in anything- 
 but a good hmnour. Geoffrey Tempest was still 
 poring oyer the papers, but Creeyy's quick eye 
 detected a pecidiar play about the corners of the 
 young man's mouth, that indicated a sense of 
 hmnorous enjoyment, the influence of which had 
 superseded eyen the momentous enterprise his 
 cleyer friend had been so eloquently recommend- 
 ing: to his consideration. 
 
 "As I was saying, my dear sir," he began 
 as soon as he found himself again by the side 
 of his young friend. "May I be nonsuited in 
 eyery case for which I am concerned," he added 
 in accents of mingled bitterness and anger, "if 
 that seafaring scoundrel hasn't come back again." 
 Certainly some one was heard in the office. 
 "I'll giye you in charge of a constable I " 
 shouted Mr Creeyy, apparently rmable to restrain
 
 BLOr>'T TEMPEST. 245 
 
 his passion, as lie once more darted out of tlie 
 green door. To his intense astonishment, he 
 nearly ran against the figure of a very handsome 
 man of elegant appearance, rather slim in person, 
 but tall. 
 
 When the observer had sufficiently admired 
 the graceful proportions of his form and his fine 
 features, he could not help noticing the coloiu' 
 of his somewhat luxuriant hair, which was ahnost 
 white, and very deKcate and silk-like in appear- 
 ance. He wore a thick moustache of the same 
 colour on his upper lip, and as the clever 
 law-clerk stopped short in his rmi to avoid a col- 
 lision, he raised it with a good-hmnoured smile, 
 and displayed a remarkably fine set of teeth. 
 
 "Beg yoiu" pardon, my Lord," exclaimed Mr 
 Creevy, mth ready obsequiousness. "The fact 
 is, there has been a miserable tramp here, whom 
 I have driven away twice, and I thought the 
 fellow had returned." 
 
 " Awfully droll that," replied the distinguished 
 visitor. "And I quite appreciate the compli- 
 ment, I assure you — aw! I have come to town 
 for a day or two, being about to start to ^^or- 
 way with a few fellows for some salmon fish-
 
 246 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ing. I wanted to see Probjoi, is Probyn visi- 
 ble?" 
 
 His Lordship was most obligingly told that 
 ]Mr Probyn bad gone out for bis luncbeon, 
 would be sure to return in half an hour, would 
 be greatly vexed to find that his Lordship had 
 called in his absence; with a great deal more to 
 the same soothing effect, ending with a most 
 touching appeal to the distinguished visitor to 
 repeat his call at his Lordship's earliest possible 
 convenience. 
 
 In answer, his Lordship merely elevated his 
 bushy moustache, nodded, and took his departure. 
 
 "Who was that?" asked Geoffrey Tempest. 
 "A tremendous swell whoever he is." 
 
 " Yes, a tip-top sawyer even among our most 
 fashionable exquisites," replied Mr Creevy. " That 
 is Lord Wolverhampton." 
 
 " The deuce ! " cried the young gentleman, 
 who had lately put forth pretensions to fashion 
 in the way of cut-away coats, "fast" trowsers, 
 and waistcoats of a "loud" pattern, a taste, by 
 the way, he had copied from his present associate, 
 who, when not in Lincoln's Inn, patronized rather
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 247 
 
 a flashy style of dress. " >So that was the 
 aristocratic lover of the beautiful Clara ! " 
 
 Mr Creevy looked severe, looked virtuously 
 severe, ^o heavy father in a thrilling domestic 
 drama coidd have looked more severe than he did 
 at that moment. 
 
 " Between you and I, Mr Tempest," ob- 
 served that gentleman mildly, " I think Miss 
 Clara Har court well rid of him. No doubt the 
 position of Countess of Wolverhampton ought 
 to have satisfied her ambition, but she is as 
 superior to her sex for disinterestedness as for 
 loveliness. Her fancy is not to be captivated by 
 a title. She will only give her hand where she 
 gives her heart, and if I do not mistake the signs 
 I have observed of her preference, that priceless 
 gift might become the prize of a certain friend 
 of mine, whose modesty is at present the obstacle 
 to his success." 
 
 Mr Geoffrey Tempest was aware of an un- 
 usual warmth in his face, for he was not ac- 
 customed to blushing, and of a rather agree- 
 able sensation about the region of his heart ; 
 hitherto he had remained in ignorance of possess-
 
 248 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ing siicli an organ. He had. greatly admired 
 the accomplislied young lady, who was so very 
 decided an attraction in a certain establishment 
 in Half-Moon Street. Her singing had charmed 
 him ; he had listened to her plajing with more 
 gratification than he had derived from any other 
 performer; but her looks, her smiles, her win- 
 ning manners, her agreeable conversation, had 
 made a sensible impression upon his feehngs. 
 He ver}^ much liked the idea of her being favour- 
 ably disposed towards him. 
 
 Mr Creevy observed this, and immediately 
 prepared to follow up his advantage. 
 
 ''^ow suppose, my dear sir," he said in a 
 very persuasive tone, " suppose this yoimg lady, 
 in addition to her personal attractions, were, 
 through some miexpected turn in fortune's wheel, 
 to become the possessor of a noble estate, I 
 venture to express my opinion as a friend, that 
 she would be a most desirable wife." 
 
 Mr Geoffrey Tempest laughed. He was in no 
 hurry to get married, but a handsome girl with a 
 handsome fortune might, he acknowledged to him- 
 self, entice him into matrimony. 
 
 "All I can say on so interesting a j)oint at
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 249 
 
 present, is," added the observant Creevy, " that if 
 you will place yourself entirely in my hands and 
 be guided by me exclusiyely, I will midertake to 
 secure for you the hand of Clara Harcourt with 
 an annual income at least equal to the rental of 
 the Durham- Massey estate." 
 
 !Mr Geoffrey Tempest seemed to look at the 
 glittering bait with something like the sense of 
 fascination small birds are said to feel when 
 under the glance of a serpent. His heart flut- 
 tered a little, but he made no outward demonstra- 
 tion of his feelings, except by a certain glistening 
 in his cold, selfish, grey eyes, which betrayed the 
 inward satisfaction the contemplated prospect af- 
 forded him. 
 
 He was perfectly aware of the illegality of 
 the proceedings that had been recommended to 
 him. The little time he had been in a law^^er's 
 office had given him some insight into the princi- 
 ples of common law in dealing with property, 
 but the yomig gentleman had already so familiar- 
 ized his mind ■\\'ith suggestions of self-interest that 
 they put good principles completely in the back- 
 groimd. So when this imromantic Faust met 
 with this rather common-place Mephistophiles in-
 
 250 15L0UXT TEMPEST. 
 
 clinecl to turn liis pliability to evil to account^ 
 he was found ready to meet liim half- way if he 
 coidd thereby secure two advantages — his interest 
 and his revenge. In the former, he would have 
 grasped at everything that lay in his way; in 
 the latter, he was as willing to sacrifice every- 
 body that stood in his way. 
 
 *' These peoj)le I am pretty certain I can 
 secure,'^ added Mr Creevy, pointing to two names 
 in a document he had taken up. '^I think I 
 know where to find them, and they will prove 
 invaluable agents. Of course it must be made 
 worth their while to assist us, but leave that to 
 me. I am certain of accomplishing that part of 
 the business without assistance. In our profession 
 it is necessary to be able to manage all sorts of 
 characters, and in that kind of management I 
 flatter myself I have no superior. 
 
 " But — " here he laid hold of a flashy-looking 
 watch-chain festooned about his waistcoat, and 
 looked at his watch — ^'it is almost time for Mr 
 Probyn's return, and we must avoid exciting* 
 suspicion, particularly in the mind of Trigg. 
 There are two men in this oflice whom it would 
 be difficult to deceive when once their attention
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 251 
 
 liacl been roused. Trigg is one, and tlie other is, 
 Methusaleh ^^Hiiffler, as we sometimes call our 
 managing clerk in Chancery. It woidd not bo 
 easy to hood-^dnk him if he were determined to 
 see his way. With proper caution, however, the 
 plan is sure to succeed. AVe can confer further 
 and more securely on the affair at my house, where 
 Mrs Montgomery and Miss Harcourt will be most 
 happy to see you." 
 
 Greoffrey accepted the in^dtation and acceded 
 to the arrangement ; the deeds were put back 
 into the case, and the case returned to its ordinary 
 position. The clever Creevy gave a glance at 
 the table to see that none of 3Ir Probyn's papers 
 had been displaced, and returned to the office, 
 closing the green-baize door carefidly behmd him. 
 
 Scarcely had this been done, when the hobady- 
 hoy in trowsers and sleeves a couple of inches too 
 short for him, came in, looking as innocent of 
 puddmg as of guile, and perched his long legs on 
 his accustomed stool. He seemed surprised to find 
 that the articled pupil and Mr Cveeyj had re- 
 turned to their posts. The latter at once began 
 to address him in energetic language as to the 
 misdemeanor he had committed in overstaying his
 
 252 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 time nearly lialf a minute ; so the poor fellow set 
 himself to the pursuit of his duties without ven- 
 turing to raise his eyes from his desk. 
 
 Present^ the more important members of the 
 establishment began to re-assemble — the small 
 salaries first. The remarkable white head of the 
 Chancery clerk had scarcely become visible within 
 the railings of his comjoartment, when the active 
 little junior partner came bustling in, full of orders 
 for everybody, and taking a business-like glance 
 at what all were about, that included even the 
 round text of the now extremely diligent pro- 
 prietor of the over-groT^ai clothing. Then he 
 passed to his private room. 
 
 JS'ext came the fussy Mr Digby Shirley, looking 
 as if the existence of the firm depended on his 
 exertions, yet endeavom^ing to maintain an air of 
 grandeur calculated to convince genteel clients 
 that though his body was in Lincoln's Inn, his 
 soul was in Belgravia. He had a great nmnber 
 of apparently important questions to ask, then he 
 also passed into his apartment. 
 
 Lastly, came the respectable Mr Probjm, 
 but not alone. He was accompanied by Lord 
 Wolverhampton, who was telling some remark-
 
 ' BLOUXT TEMPEST. 253 
 
 ably good joke. Both were evidently higlily 
 amused. l^o doubt it is quite proper tbat a 
 tbriidng lawyer sboidd find entertaimneiit in a 
 wealthy client. However this may be, it is a fact 
 that the head of the eminent legal firm in Lin- 
 coln's Inn laughed heartily all through the office ; 
 and imtil the green-baize doors prevented any 
 further evidence of his mirth becoming cognizable 
 to his clerks. 
 
 The clever Mr Creevy did not look up to 
 ascertain the cause of his principal's good hu- 
 mour, or evince the slightest surprise at the dis- 
 tinguished client's facetiousness. Ostensibly he 
 was dee^^ly engaged in deciphering some short- 
 hand notes he had written in his private memo- 
 randmn-book respecting certain affidavits that it 
 was necessary he should prepare, in which a large 
 amomit of very hard swearing was to form a prin- 
 cipal ingredient ; in reality, he was calculating the 
 profit that ought to accrue to him through the 
 discovery he had made in the family papers he 
 had been examining. 
 
 The clever fellow saw before him a handsome 
 competence for life, and resolved not to permit 
 any foolish scruples, even should such unfamiliar
 
 254 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ^dsitants trouble liim, to stand in tlie way of that 
 most desirable object of liis ambition. For, to say 
 no more than the truth, even the establishment in 
 Half-Moon Street did not satisfy his desires. His 
 professional prospects in that direction failed at 
 jDresent to present such solid adA^antages as he 
 aspired to possess, and the Old Bailey was be- 
 ginning to fail in its attraction. His active 
 mind required a new field of enterprise, and he 
 had fomid one that offered abundant scope for the 
 profitable exercise of its peculiar talent. ■ He 
 presently shut up the note-book Avith the deter- 
 mination of developing its resoiu'ces. 
 
 Neither did Greoffrey Tempest exhibit any 
 marked interest in the source of Mr Probpi's 
 good hiunour. The recent discovery, and the 
 proposition that had come with it, had set him 
 thinldng. While very carefully writing in bold 
 characters ''This Indenture," he had sunk his 
 ingenious mind to the lowest level of selfishness. 
 I^othing could have appealed more strongly to 
 such a nature as his than the temptation that 
 had been artfully put in his way. He could not 
 resist succmnbing to it. Even the grave mischief 
 to others which it was sure to produce had its re-
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. ^0'> 
 
 -commendation, and lie smiled maliciously as lie 
 tliouglit of that contingency. 
 
 He had the greatest confidence in the clever- 
 ness of his colleague, and was not without a 
 certain reKance in his own. If Creevy went too 
 far, he could draw back (for he should refrain 
 from committing himself), — take any advantage, 
 but avoid the slightest risk. He was too wide 
 awake, the young gentleman flattered himself, to 
 put his arm further out than he could withdraw it 
 with comfort. 
 
 Clara too, he was willing to allow, with a large 
 unencimibered estate, was a prize Avorth ha^dng, 
 even if a little risk in o^ainino: it should be un- 
 avoidable, but he would see his way clearly before 
 he gave his final decision. So when the " e " of 
 " Indenture " had been decorated with a flourish 
 he resolved to join Creevy in a bowl of pimch in 
 the evening, and with such very unreliable spec- 
 tacles to look thoroughly into the afiair.
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 MUSIC AND CARDS. 
 
 HE Hox. Cecilia Lawsox's suite 
 of apartments in the Cardinal's 
 magnificent residence consisted of 
 a kitclien, four bed-rooms, and a 
 drawing-room. Mncli did slie desire to have a 
 dining-room in addition, but in this slie was 
 merely one of a large nmnber of residents wlio 
 wislied for more accommodation than tbey could 
 obtain. 
 
 The Lord Chamberlain would have had his time 
 engrossed by the persons placed under his super- 
 vision had he attempted to satisfy every want of 
 every tenant ; for some could not be reconciled to 
 their kitchen, especially if it happened to be, as 
 w^as often the case, at an inconvenient distance 
 from the eating-rooms ; some coidd not be content
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 257 
 
 witli a bed- chamber unless it had a particular 
 aspect; a few were indignant at not having a 
 bath-room, and several demanded a boudoir. 
 
 But the evil which pressed most severely upon 
 Miss Lawson was her inability to secure both a 
 dining and a di'awing-room. It was a grievance 
 to be obliged to receive evening company with the 
 smell of the dinner filling an apartment ; equally 
 intolerable was it to be obKged to have their meals 
 in a room they had taxed their resources to trans- 
 form from a bed-room for the nonce into a salle a 
 manger. 
 
 Miss Lawson had fared no better than many 
 of her neighbours in this respect, but had learnt 
 to be content wdth her limited suite of apart- 
 ments, the handsomest of which — the one already 
 described — she had fitted up as a reception-room 
 when she chose to entertain her friends, and used 
 as breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper-room for 
 herself and pupil when company was not ex- 
 pected. 
 
 On a particular evening, more than usual care 
 was taken to make this room as like a dra-sving- 
 room as it could be made. The piano was open, 
 the harp imcovered, the card-tables were ready 
 
 VOL. I. 17 ,
 
 258 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 ^Yit'h. wax-liglits in tlie silver candlesticks, and tlie 
 handsome little chandelier was glittering -^itli pris- 
 matic rays. The books were on their shelves, the 
 flowers in their vases, and the rare China and the 
 charming miniatui'es were as bright as argant 
 lamps and wax-candles could make them. 
 
 Mrs Wilkins too was brightened up for the 
 occasion. The twinkle in her queer little eyes 
 caused her somewhat inexpressive features to look 
 astonishingly cordial, and her black silk dress and 
 matronly cap trimmed with smart pink ribbon 
 (her unvarjang company costume), invested her 
 mth an amount of respectability that would have 
 conferred credit on the establishment even of the 
 great Cardinal himself. 
 
 Round a card-table in the aforesaid drawing- 
 room were grouped four females, each too 
 thoroughly individualized to be mistaken for any- 
 body else. The white plume in her head that 
 distinguished the senior of the party, quite as 
 much as her low-bodied amber satin dress, pointed 
 her out as the Dowager Lady Dewlap. Her 
 complexion, notwithstanding the rouge that 
 bloomed upon the surface of her pendulous cheeks, 
 very much resembled that of an Eg}i3tian mmn-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 259 
 
 my, and her shrivelled hands and arms helped to 
 support the comparison. 
 
 On the other side appeared the Hon. Belinda 
 Carriithers, her whitey-broTvii head- gear encircled 
 vdth velvet bands that, aided by a muslin frock 
 with crimson sash, rendered her pale complexion 
 more unhealthy than usual. She was with con- 
 siderable animation referring to a memorable 
 incident in her fashionable career, across the table, 
 to her bosom friend. Miss La^dnia Fotheringay, 
 who, in a blue skirt and velvet bod}", smiled and 
 simpered her concurrence. 
 
 Opposite to her, in a cashmere turban and 
 black satin robe, sat the plimip figiu^e of ''Mrs 
 Admiral" Boyle, her black sharp eyes glancing 
 from imder her thick black eye-brows, at every- 
 thing and everybod}", mth a half jocose expres- 
 sion, that lent a pecidiar vivacity to her fat 
 cheeks and triple chin, and gave the large cameo 
 brooch and the thick gold chain that rested upon 
 her capacious neck and bosom a particidarly 
 uneasy seat. 
 
 The fact was, Mrs Admii^al Boyle was in her 
 element. She vegetated during that portion of 
 the day in which she was removed from the green
 
 260 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 « 
 
 baize tliat fomied the surface of a certain descrip- 
 tion of table; but she lived with an intense 
 enjojmient of life when, having cut for partners 
 and for deal, she saw her share of the cards 
 falling before her. 
 
 But it was scarcely possible to exceed her 
 sense of enjoyment when she was dealing; her 
 bright black eyes flashed, and her fat cheeks 
 dimpled from excess of satisfaction. It was only 
 when gaining the odd trick after a critical 
 struggle, that her pleasure became more evident. 
 Then her joA'ial physiognomy shone like that of a 
 Bacchante, and her restless brooch and chain 
 seemed in a state of chronic convulsions. 
 
 Mrs Admiral Boyle was now dealing, and her 
 cashmere turban was apparently lifted consider- 
 ably above its ordinarj^ level by the elevation of 
 the wearer's spirits. The Hon. Belinda was her 
 partner, sitting opposite to her, trying hard to 
 reciprocate her fat friend's satisfaction, but look- 
 ing like a badly-modelled figure of the Queen of 
 Scots in a wax-work exhibition at a comitry- 
 fair, with a faded complexion and an unnatural 
 smile. 
 
 "This reminds me, my dear," said the old
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 261 
 
 lady with, an imctiious cliuckle, as slie distributed 
 the pack, ''of a rubber I once played with the 
 Princess RombofFski against Metternich and 
 Talleyrand during the first occupation of Paris by 
 the Allies. It was immensely diverting, for the 
 poor Princess did not know in the least what to 
 do, and as she miderstood no language but 
 Russian, I could not very easily direct her. But 
 would you believe me, my dear, her Highness, 
 if she did not know how to pla}-, somehow or 
 other contrived to know how to win. It was 
 a capital joke to see her, while the two diplo- 
 matists w^ere absorbed in some wonderfully im- 
 portant discussion, showing me her hand, and 
 making signs in the way of asking me what she 
 ought to do next. 
 
 "And the charming creature did it so 
 innocently," added the Admiral's widow with 
 immense gratification, e^'ident in the increased 
 buoyancy of her large cameo. "She revoked three 
 times, my dear Miss Carruthers, in one game ; 
 she took every trick, as long as she had a trmnp 
 in her hand, without the slightest attempt at 
 following suit, and when she could no longer do 
 that, she would throw do^Ti any little card, no
 
 262 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 matter what, reserving lier court-cards to wiii 
 witli." 
 
 " But wasn't that cheating ^ dear Mrs Boyle ? '' 
 inquired the Hon. Belinda, solemnly. 
 
 "JS'othing of the sort, my dear. The Princess 
 Homboffski was yoimg, innocent, and very pretty, 
 and as our distinguished opponents did not take 
 any notice of her proceedings, it wasn't for her 
 partner to object. I thought the affair the best 
 joke I ever heard of in my life — particularly when 
 that dear, wise, gallant M. de Talle}T:'and paid me 
 Mty K'apoleons at the end of the rubber." 
 
 Here the brooch and the chain jumped up and 
 down (like corks in a boiling caldron), under the 
 influence of the rich burst of mirth with which 
 the speaker concluded the sentence. 
 
 The listener contented herself with smiling 
 painfully. Miss Belinda's opinions were as rigid 
 as her person; she thought the Princess Rom- 
 boffski anj'lhing but honest, and her dear friend 
 Mrs Admiral Boyle not quite so particular in 
 forming acquaintances as she ought to have been. 
 
 In the mean time the other pair had not been 
 silent. Old Lady Dewlap rarely was, never was
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 263 
 
 when slie could find an attentive listener, and sucli 
 it appeared slie liad now found. 
 
 " It was very shocking, my dear, wasn't it ? " 
 she was asking, and ^dthoiit waiting for a reply, 
 proceeded, *^ Captain Gregory of the Blues was 
 qiute a lady-killer, I assure j^ou ; and it is true 
 that Lord Hotherdale was a brute to his wife, who 
 was one of the most charming women ever seen in 
 the Pavilion. Indeed, the Prince noticed her so 
 much that Mrs Fitzherbert was in dudgeon about 
 it, I assure you." 
 
 "Dear me," exclaimed Miss Lavinia, ap- 
 parently feeling the deepest interest. 
 
 "Yes, my dear," continued the gossip, "I 
 heard it on the Steine from one of the Prince's 
 equerries the morning after she had taken his 
 Royal Highness to task about it, and they very 
 nearly came to a quarrel on accoimt of Lady 
 Eotherdale." 
 
 " Is it possible ? " cried Miss Fotheringay. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, and Captain Gregory of the 
 Blues was seen in Lady Rotherdale's carriage on 
 the Hone road, the very day that Lord Pother - 
 dale was sent by the Prince to Carlton House.
 
 264 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 The week afterwards, tlie Captain got leave of 
 absence for a montli's shooting on the Moors, 
 and Lady Rotherdale received a pressing sum- 
 mons to join her mother at Harrowgate : but two 
 daj^s later his Lordship received the astounding 
 intelligence that his lady was living in a retired 
 cottage at Tunbridge Wells." 
 
 ^'Shocldng! dear Lady Dewlap, positively 
 shocking ! " cried Miss Lavinia, apparently very 
 much affected. 
 
 " Hearts are trimaps ! " chuckled forth Mrs 
 Admiral Boyle, turning up the ace, at sight of 
 which good fortmie, bright eyes, fat cheeks, triple 
 chin, and capacious bosom, exhibited a common 
 impulse. 
 
 Conspicuous was the hostess in her favourite 
 dove-coloured silli, looking over some music in a 
 portfolio that rested on a Canterbury. Beside 
 her, leaning over a harp, stood her pupil in a 
 light muslin dress and broad blue sash. She was 
 in a very animated manner conversing ^^dth a 
 yoimg lady who sat at the piano. The peculiar 
 display of hair, indeed the entire costmne, was 
 sufficient to point out Miss Clara Harcourt to 
 those who knew her. Clara was Miss Massey's
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 265 
 
 singing mistress, but Miss Lawson and her charge 
 yrere too well bred to let this be known. 
 
 The former appreciated this young lady's 
 musical talent highly, and having some know- 
 ledge of the uncongenial life she led at Half- 
 Moon Street, occasionally invited her to prolong 
 her visit to the next day. Though she was re- 
 ceived on the footing of a guest, her assistance 
 at the little musical parties given at Hampton 
 Court invariably received professional acknow- 
 ledgment. 
 
 Mabel was an enthusiast in music, and had 
 become partial to the society of her singing 
 mistress, whose painfid position she often dis- 
 cussed with Miss Lawson. Miss Harcourt felt 
 the kindness with which she was treated, and 
 did her best to deserve the good opinion of her 
 patronesses. Indeed, her Yisits to Hampton Court 
 were the most enjoyable incidents in her career. 
 There she was no longer artificial and theatri- 
 cal; there she had no Madame "Waverley Mont- 
 gomery to dread. She could with perfect safety 
 be natural and sincere, and she did her best to 
 be both. 
 
 The two girls were in the habit of chatting
 
 266 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 together um^estrainedl}^, for Miss Lawsoii having 
 satisfied herself that there was nothing to be 
 apprehended from treating the young artist 
 with confidence, did not interfere in the slightest 
 degree with the sociaKty of the young people, 
 and so the one was sometimes amused with ac- 
 counts of London entertainments which the other 
 had recently enjoyed. 
 
 " Oh, I must tell you of Mrs Digby Shirley's 
 conversazione,'' said the fair Cantatrice, her face 
 becoming extremely animated. " The family, you 
 ought to know, have lately taken a house in 
 Belgravia, and are evidently extremely ambi- 
 tious of being thought fashionable, though they 
 have not the most remote claim to anything 
 of the kind." 
 
 " AVho is Mrs Digby Shirley ? " inquired 
 Mabel. 
 
 "She is the wife of a lawyer, dear Miss 
 Massey, and that is about all I know of her. 
 Her manners do not indicate a very high origin, 
 nevertheless she affects amazing state and dignit}'. 
 Indeed, it is impossible sometimes to keep a steady 
 countenance when she is most grand in her be- 
 haviour and appearance."
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 267 
 
 *' Does she give nice parties ? " 
 
 "She contrives to get together all sorts of 
 people, literary, artistic, musical, very strange 
 creatiu-es a good many ; but now and then there 
 may be discovered amongst them one or two 
 worth knoT^ing." 
 
 '^ Oh, I like clever people. Did you meet with 
 any one particularly distinguished ? " 
 
 "'No one you would care to know anj'ihing 
 about, I think. There was, however, at the last 
 conversazione a yoimg gentleman Mrs Shirley 
 had incited solely with the hope that he might 
 fall in love Avith one of her daughters.'' 
 
 " Are they very pretty ? " 
 
 "Xot remarkable in that way; indeed, the 
 elder I consider positively disagreeable; but I 
 was exceedingly amused at her manoeuvres to 
 make a lasting impression on the heart if not on 
 the mind of the young gentleman I have just 
 referred to." 
 
 " Was he j)articularly taken with her ? " 
 
 "Isot at all. He was obliged to be civil to 
 her, as he was not only her father's guest, but an 
 articled clerk or pupil to the firm to Avhich that 
 gentleman belongs ; but if I am not very greatly
 
 268 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 mistaken, Mr Geoffrey Tempest knows his o^ti 
 value too well to be so easily ensnared." 
 
 Miss Lawson had heard every word of the 
 conversation, though she had not given it par- 
 ticular attention, but at the name of Tempest 
 she paused and looked up. 
 
 " Mr Greoffrey Tempest ! " repeated Mabel. 
 
 "Yes, the nephew of Sir Nigel Tempest, 
 who possesses a place somewhere in Lancashire." 
 
 " Warfdale Tower," added the other quietly ; 
 *' before I came here I lived close to it." 
 
 "Perhaps you know Mr Geoffrey Tempest, 
 Miss Massey." 
 
 "Yery slightlj'. I have seen him once or 
 twice, but that was some years ago." 
 
 " I hear that he has an elder brother." 
 
 " Quite true, Miss Harcourt," interposed Miss 
 Lawson. " Sir Nigel is a very old friend of mine. 
 But here is the duet for which I have been so 
 long looking." 
 
 The music mistress was in a moment pro- 
 fessionally attentive. Mr Geoffrey Tempest and 
 the Digby Shirleys were at once sent to Co- 
 ventry, as she placed the printed sheets before 
 her. Mabel as readily put her portion on her
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 269 
 
 desk, and the two iiistrmneiits simultaneously 
 commenced -s^dth. so grand a crash that it qiute 
 dro^aied Mrs Wilkins's small voice as she en- 
 tered the room announcing ''the Rev. Cecil 
 MHdmay." 
 
 Miss Lawson received that gentleman with 
 the regard due to his position; but she did not 
 fail to take a sly glance at his cravat, which, as 
 might have been expected, was timibled and 
 creasy, as if it had been worn a month. 
 
 He looked at the card-players, but they 
 were so engrossed by their game that none had 
 noticed his entrance. Mrs xidmiral Boyle was in 
 a violent state of jocose agitation, winning all 
 before her; and Lady Dewlaj) was so intent on 
 relating a piece of obsolete scandal, that she 
 trumj)ed her partner's trick, to the extravagant 
 delight of the Admirars fat widow, whose personal 
 decorations thereupon worked up and down like 
 the piston of a steam-engine under pressui-e. 
 
 The chaplain di'ew a chair near the per- 
 formers, and surrendered his attentions now to 
 the nimble fingers of the pianoforte player, now 
 to those of the harpist. Presently he raised 
 his eyes to their faces, and appeared to think
 
 270 BLOITJs'T TEMPEST. 
 
 them worthy of his scrutiny, for he looked long 
 first at one and then at the other. He dwelt on 
 the first, not because he adniired it the most, but 
 because it was strange to him. 
 
 The fair objects of this attention, having 
 their eyes upon their music, were, it might be 
 presmned, insensible of the compliment that 
 was being paid to them; nevertheless both were 
 perfectly aware of the reverend gentleman's 
 presence. 
 
 The Rev. Cecil Mildmay was a bachelor of 
 rather large experience in that state. He was 
 tolerably good-looking and gentleman-like in 
 appearance and manners. He was in prodigious 
 request at the little evening parties perpetrated 
 by the more social of his congregation, where he 
 and Dr Grosling, the medical practitioner most 
 apjDealed to by the residents at the Palace, 
 were frequently'the only gentlemen in the party. 
 Hence he was quite a triton among such min- 
 nows. 
 
 But he was far too sensible to give himself 
 airs of importance. Even could he have pro- 
 fited by the small supply of marriageable hu- 
 manity in such a market, he knew that his
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 271 
 
 'Chaplaincy broiiglit him but a liundred a year, 
 and that this siim was insufficient to marry upon, 
 particularly a wife taken out of a Royal Palace. 
 So he went on from day to day, from month 
 to month, and from year to year, doing his 
 duties irreproachably, and making himself as 
 amiable out of the pidpit as he was mild in it. 
 
 It was not to be expected that the gentle- 
 man should have been so long in such a dove- 
 cote without wishing to appropriate some of 
 its turtles, but this occurred in his dreams only. 
 !N"o young lady had attracted him so much as 
 Miss Massey. She was not only the youngest 
 member of his flock, but she was infinitely the 
 handsomest. No one could help admiring her. 
 If the Lord Chamberlain had seen her, perhaps 
 Miss Lawson might have acquired apartments vdth 
 a drawing-room. The Chaplain admired her, but 
 prudently waited for substantial preferment before 
 he allowed his admiration to manifest itself con- 
 spicuously. 
 
 He thought himself quite safe, when he 
 sat down and watched the face of the harp- 
 player through a page of rapid arpeggios, and 
 wondered if St Cecilia had ever looked half as
 
 272 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 beautiful or played lier favourite instrument half 
 as well. And he ivas quite safe. He might ad- 
 mire, and he might dream, — the substantial pre- 
 ferment was very far off, the wife he aspired to 
 at an unreachable distance. 
 
 " Single, double, and the rub," cried Mrs 
 Admiral Boyle as audibly as she could, full of 
 pleasurable excitement, that made her expansive 
 bust shake like jelly. " You finished very well, 
 my dear, in the last game — very well indeed ; in 
 consequence of which your friend Miss Lavinia's 
 king fell to my ace. I remember I jDlayed once 
 T\ith old Dr Penruddock, and the Dowager 
 Duchess of Devonshire, and Major Singlebatch, 
 when the dear old doctor, who was famous for his 
 whist parties and his agreeable suppers in Han- 
 over Square, lost the game and the rubber just in 
 the same way. Oh ! it was the best joke in the 
 world, for we were pla}^g for guinea points and 
 five guineas on the rub, and I won twenty pounds 
 of him. Wasn't it droll, my dear ? " 
 
 Her sense of the enjoyment of her triumph 
 spread from her bright black eyes over her fat 
 cheeks, do^ii her triple chins, and dispersed itself 
 over her expansive bosom.
 
 BI-OUXT TEMPEST. 273 
 
 "Are you fond of music, Mr Mildmay ? " 
 inquired Mabel. When lier performance liad 
 concluded, she had greeted the new comer, and 
 introduced him to her friend. She was perfectly 
 well aware that he was fond of music — lier music 
 at least. "Miss Harcourt is a most accomplished 
 musician, I am sure you must admire her playing 
 and singing." 
 
 " Can the young lady sing the compositions of 
 Handel ? I am very partial to Handel." 
 
 Miss Harcourt did not wait for any pressing ; 
 she merely glanced in the direction of her hostess, 
 and meeting there the telegraphic look she sought, 
 commenced plajong a series of tender modula- 
 tions, and then sang the exquisite air, " Waft her. 
 Angels, to the skies." 
 
 In a moment the grave Chaplain was listen- 
 ing not only with his ears but with his soid. He 
 softly drew his chair a little nearer the singer, 
 crossed his legs, leaned back in his seat, inter- 
 laced his gloved fingers, fixed his eyes upon the 
 ceiling, and surrendered himself to the influence 
 of that touching melody. 
 
 It was sung admirably, indeed Mabel on 
 one side and Miss Lawson on the other were 
 
 VOL. I. 18
 
 274 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 qiiite as attentive as Mr Mildmay, and equally 
 impressed witli the taste and skill of tlie singer. 
 She was not now singing for display ; she knew 
 that she was not in the concert-room, she felt that 
 she was not under the exacting authority of 
 Madame "VYaverley Montgomer}^, — she was de- 
 veloping her great natural gifts under the in- 
 fluence of her genuine sjTiipathy for what was 
 good and ennobKng in the art she professed ; and 
 the charm she evidently exerted over her three 
 listeners throughout the performance was ex- 
 hibited in their rapt enjoyment of every note. 
 
 " Thanls: you, my dear, you have afforded me a 
 very great pleasure,'' observed Miss Lawson, with 
 marked tenderness of manner, when the song was 
 finished. 
 
 "Dear Miss Harcourt, I never heard any 
 singing that pleased me so much," exclaimed her 
 pupil with warm enthusiasm. 
 
 The vocalist turned round on the music-stool, 
 expecting, of course, some commendation from 
 the individual she had so readily volunteered to 
 gratify. He was still in the same attitude, ap- 
 parently spell-bomid, fixed, iimnoveable. 
 
 It is probable that she was better pleased with
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 275 
 
 this silent homage than with the compliments 
 she had just heard, for as she met the amused 
 look of the younger lady, her sense of the grati- 
 fication she experienced was displayed in a smile 
 that Lord Wolverhampton never was fortujiate 
 enough to receive in his most agreeable moments. 
 
 '' How do you like my friend Miss Harcourt's 
 singing, Mr Mildmay ? " inquired his hostess in a 
 key loud enough to excite his attention. 
 
 " I beg your pardon — really I fancied — indeed 
 I quite forgot — " 
 
 The reverend gentleman started up, confused- 
 1}^, disturbed out of a reverie in which he was in. 
 possession of the long-desired substantial prefer- 
 ment, as well as of the long-desired amiable and 
 accomplished wife, who was entertaining his 
 leisui'e from parochial business in the most de- 
 lightful manner imaginable. 
 
 " I am very much obKged to Miss Harcourt. 
 I beg leave to tender her my grateful thanks. I 
 don't think I ever heard my favourite Handel to 
 such advantage. This particular air too, of all 
 others, is the one of which I am most partial." 
 
 Mr Mildmay ran on vdih nervous fluency. 
 Miss Lawson considerately doing her best to put
 
 276 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 him at his ease, and Mabel and her friend good- 
 naturedly helping in the conversation. Of course 
 the latter had to sing again, and wanting no sug- 
 gestion, as she was aware of the predilection of 
 her clerical admirer, she gave another Handelian 
 composition, with at least equal effect, although 
 the Chaplain contriA'ed not to lose himself this 
 time in a vision of the future. 
 
 Then Miss Lawson made the two girls sing 
 one of Mozart's delicious duets, which they did 
 with so much sweetness and grace that the 
 worshipper of Handel began for the first time in 
 his life to waver in his fidelity. This perform- 
 ance was presently succeeded by a song from the 
 Irish Melodies by Mabel, accompanying herself 
 on the harp. 
 
 The Chaplain had heard it often, for it was 
 " The Last Rose of Summer,'' but he had never 
 heard it sung so charmingly, for the voice was 
 ftdl, fresh, and rich in its tones, and the singer 
 sang it with as much feeling as taste. 
 
 As he listened, his ideas returned to the direc-^ 
 tion they had been wont to take before he had 
 been under the spell of the brilliant vocalist he 
 had heard for the first time that evening ; and he
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 277 
 
 was just on tlie point of surrendering hiinself to 
 tlie easy- chair, sKppers, and dressing-gown, pretty 
 rosewood piano in the snug parsonage parloui% 
 with the most amiable and most attractive clergy- 
 man's wife that had ever made a substantial pre- 
 ferment an earthly Paradise, when his attention 
 was diverted and his dream dispersed by the loud 
 laugh of Mrs Admiral Boyle. 
 
 "Our rub again, my dear,'' exclaimed that 
 lady to her partner with her usual hilarious 
 movements. ^' It is so very amusing to hold such 
 capital cards. It is as good as a comedy, my dear. 
 Indeed, I am never half so much amused at the 
 play as I am when I hold a good hand. 
 
 " You owe me seven and sixpence. Lady Dew- 
 lap," she added. "By the way, that reminds me of 
 a rubber in which a bishop's lady was one of the 
 players, who at first pretended to have scruples of 
 conscience against touching such wicked things 
 as cards, but ha^^ng been at last persuaded to join 
 in a harmless game or two, continued at the table 
 till daylight. I used to joke her afterwards, for 
 she became imcommonly fond of whist from that 
 night : for it was the most laughable thing in the 
 world to see her directly the good bishop's back
 
 278 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 was turned rushing to tlie card- room to seize an 
 opportunity to cut in." 
 
 The losses were paid, Miss Lavinia pajdng 
 hers to lier friend with not quite that passionate 
 amount of affection which she displayed on other 
 occasions, Lady Dewlaj) settling with, the Ad- 
 iniraFs widow, and taking advantage of their 
 being left together to communicate the shocking 
 story of poor Lady Grreatorex, who played lier 
 last stake to that good-for-nothing Sir Frederick 
 Foljambe, who killed the injured husband in a 
 duel at least half a centur}^ ago. 
 
 The whist-players presently joined the musical 
 group. This necessitated other performances. The 
 Hon. Belinda Carruthers was prevailed uj)on to 
 sing " The Soldier Tired," for which she had a 
 kind of right in the select circle in which she 
 moved, no other lady ever venturing to attempt it 
 in her presence. She usually smig with immense 
 emphasis, and on this particular occasion, as if 
 determined to take the only gentleman present by 
 storm, was prodigiously effective. 
 
 The Chaplain, however, did not throw himself 
 back in his chair and fix his 03^68 on the ceiling, or 
 betray the sKghtest evidence of absence of mind.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 279 
 
 It was quite clear that lie was not thinking of the 
 comfortable ^dsionarv parlour in the comfortable 
 parsonage of the futiu-e — at least the Hon. 
 Belinda's aquiline nose and high cheek-bones 
 would most assui'edly not have been there if he 
 had. If he entertained any particular wish at 
 that precise moment, it would have been for cotton- 
 wool in his ears. 
 
 It was next Miss Lavinia Fotheringay's turn, 
 and she chose to exhibit her yocal powers in the 
 equally tr^ong " Una voce.'' She too simg at the 
 Chaplain, and with all her might, but the reverend 
 gentleman was evidently of a very peace-loving 
 nature. He was not disposed to imagine such a 
 noisy bravura as the enjojonent of his leisure 
 when the substantial preferment he was so fond 
 of anticipating arrived. He liked the ending of 
 it, and in acknowledgment of the pleasure the 
 cessation of the performance occasioned him, ap- 
 plauded it cordially. 
 
 Miss Harcourt was persuaded to gratify the 
 new comers, again sat do^Ti to the piano, and 
 presently charmed all aromid her into the most 
 perfect silence by the touching manner with 
 which she gave '^Auld Eobin Gray." It must
 
 280 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 have been very impressive to restrain Mrs Ad- 
 miral Boyle's everlasting thoiiglits upon lier 
 favourite pursuit ; it even made old Lady Dewlap 
 obli\dous to the gossip of a former generation, 
 and the two faithful friends absolute^ sat still 
 mthout referring to their several conquests. 
 
 It was difficult to say which was most deeply 
 affected, Miss Lawson or her pupil. But a more 
 profound impression than had been made on either 
 was being produced on the susceptible Chaplain. 
 He was fast sinking into the usual forgetfulness 
 of the present and suggestiveness of the future. 
 His Hampton Court Chaplaincy was fading away, 
 and his substantial preferment looming in the 
 prospect — even his beloved Handel was dropping 
 out of his life-long partialit}^, when he was re- 
 called to consciousness by a silver tray coming 
 nearly in contact -^ith his chin, as certain steam- 
 ing beverages in handsome china-cups were thrust 
 towards him by the quiet^and handy housekeeper. 
 
 '' Tea or coffee, Sir ? " 
 
 Mr Mildmay stared as his eyes fell upon the 
 smirking homely visage of Mrs Wilkins. She 
 was evidently in a most comfortable state of 
 mind. These evening parties were her particular
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 281 
 
 enjoyment, and when slie entered T^dtli the re- 
 freshments she looked about her — particularly at 
 the signs of luxury brought forward on these 
 occasions — as if she felt a large access of import- 
 ance in the display. 
 
 So with her best dress and her best manners 
 she had noiselessly approached the visionary, with 
 the silver cream-jug shining like a mirror, and 
 the choice china glomng Avith the brightest pig- 
 ments. jS;otwithstanding the intense amiability 
 of her looks and the hospitality of her errand, 
 the Chaplain wished the old woman at Jericho. 
 He accepted his coffee, however, and greatly scan- 
 dalized that model of economic housekeepers by 
 appropriating nearly all the cream and helping 
 himself twice to sugar, in the confusion of mind 
 her sudden apparition had produced. 
 
 As she left him, the ballad concluded amid a 
 burst of genuine encomiums ; the two faithful 
 friends being the loudest and the most voluble in 
 praise of the singer, though feeKng how com- 
 pletely their own vocal exhibitions had been 
 thrown into the shade. 
 
 Then came the flow of conversation and of 
 tea and coffee ; for the talking became as general
 
 282 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 as tlie sipping as soon as tlie smiling Mrs Willdns 
 liad completed her rounds. Mr Mildmay was 
 expected by the members of his congregation to 
 be commmiicative, and he seemed to feel the de- 
 mand upon his sociality, for he contrived to talk 
 to every lady in turn ; going with his coffee-cup 
 in his hand from chair to chair, and readily enter- 
 ing upon every subject that he believed woidd be 
 most acceptable to her. 
 
 Somehow or other he lingered longest beside 
 Clara and Mabel — now addressing one, now 
 the other, almost exclusively about music. His 
 knowledge was confined to church music, but 
 with the assistance of the two girls he contrived 
 to talk about secular productions quite as sensibly 
 as persons who affect the greatest familiarity with 
 both. 
 
 Miss Lawson kept her other guests in full 
 commmiicativeness, yet the Hon. Belinda and 
 Miss Lavinia could not refrain from casting 
 imeasy glances in the direction of the gratified 
 and well-employed Chaplain. They had spoken 
 warmly in praise of Miss Harcourt's singing, but 
 now interchanged whispered criticisms about her 
 acting. They agreed that she was a flirt. Miss
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 28-5 
 
 Carruthers pronounced tier vulgar ; Miss Fother- 
 ingay stigmatized her as very conceited. Never- 
 theless half an hour later both asked to be intro- 
 duced to her, and treated her -^ith extraordinary 
 attention during the rest of the evening. 
 
 When the party was breaking up and the 
 visitors were shawling and cloaking to return 
 to theii' several sets of rooms, the steadfast friends 
 had indi^-idually succeeded, as each thought, in 
 establishing the most confidential relations with 
 the attractive stranger. 
 
 "Dear Miss Harcourt," exclaimed the Hon. 
 Belinda in the gushing manner that distinguished 
 her, *'I hope that you will soon afibrd us the 
 happiness of seeing you again. It is not often, 
 I assure you, that we meet with so charming a 
 companion. I was just your age and had very 
 much your appearance, my dear, when I was 
 first presented to the officers of the Tenth, the 
 most captivating, the most fastidious of beaux. 
 Yet I assure you they pronounced my debut 
 the most successful they remembered. The dear 
 Colonel, how fond he was of me ! La^dnia will tell 
 you all about that. Mce girl Lavinia Fotheringay. 
 What splendid hair she has, hasn't she ? ''
 
 284 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Then she added in a whisper, — 
 
 '' It was bought of Tmefitt." 
 
 And she hiuried away laughing. 
 
 Presently came the other turtle-dove. 
 
 *'Ah, Miss Harcourt, I am so sorry I must 
 leave you ! " she said. ^' Pray come to us again 
 as soon as you can. I so wish to be considered 
 amongst your friends. AYhat a wonderful mu- 
 sical talent you possess! and your manner re- 
 minds me so strongly of what my admirers in 
 the gallant Tenth used to rave about so. Belinda 
 will tell you what an immense favourite I was 
 with those dear seductive fellows. I thought 
 the poor Major would go out of his mind. Charm- 
 ing girl Belinda Carruthers, and one can't help 
 admiring her fine set of teeth." 
 
 Then she added in a lower voice, — 
 
 " Cartwright received a hundred guineas for 
 them." 
 
 And she also fled, laughing, out of the room. 
 
 The Chaplain shook hands with everybody 
 and said everything that was appropriate to each 
 in turn, but his mind had not quite recovered 
 its equilibrium, for he lingered the last ; then, as 
 if making a desperate resolution, shook hands for
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 285 
 
 the second time with his hostess and her young 
 companions, and hurried do^^Ti the cork-screw 
 stair-case that descended to the outer door, where 
 Mrs Wilkins waited to drop her valedictory 
 curtesey and fasten up securely for the night.
 
 CHAPTEH XVII. 
 
 SUNDAY AT HAMPTON COURT. 
 
 HANK Heaven ! there is one day of 
 tlie week wliicli in England can be 
 called a day of rest. Were the 
 observance of Sunday nothing more 
 than a political institution, it would be one of the 
 dearest, possessed and enjoyed by the ]3eople. All 
 estates of men look forward to it as a day of 
 repose, and specially of domestic comfort and 
 happiness. However hmnble may be the enjoy- 
 ment attainable, there are none so poor among us, 
 but desire to attain some particular indulgence or 
 gratification for themselves and their children on 
 a Sunday, that may make it happy. Puritan- 
 ism marked the day with an austere observance, 
 of which the spirit partially survives : but time 
 and j)rogress are smoothing down the edges of
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 287 
 
 sucli austerity, while tlie good work that the 
 Puritans enforced, remains. Our EngKsh Sunday- 
 is not a day of toiL How woidd the Roundheads 
 wonder if they could contrast a Sunday at Hamp- 
 ton Court such as they knew it when " stout 
 OKver " was there, and a Sunday at the same 
 place in the reign of Queen Victoria ! I^o ex- 
 periment of the Government has ever proved 
 more satisfactory than that of opening the gal- 
 leries and gardens of Hampton Coiu't to the 
 pubKc on Sunday afternoon. It would be im- 
 possible for the most acrid and severe sectarian to 
 contemplate the crowds of homely, toilsome arti- 
 sans with their wives and children, passing 
 through those galleries — all orderty, and cleanty, 
 and good-humoured, and respecting the pro]Derty 
 they are allowed to enjoy, without acknowledging 
 that the spectacle is impressive and encouraging. 
 It is encouraging, because it strengthens the 
 hands and hearts of those who are the true friends 
 of labour (and not the ostentatious woidd-be jxt- 
 trons of the humble and the lowly), — and it gives 
 them a ttov o-tcd in urging upon the Government 
 of the country an enlarged and nationally de- 
 veloped scheme, for granting the sons of toil in
 
 288 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 every crowded hive of business, an opportunity 
 for refreshing both mind and body upon God's 
 good Sabbath. The unctuous Sabbatarian no 
 doubt exudes mth holy anger at the thought of 
 any public gallery or national institute being 
 opened on the afternoon of England's day of 
 rest ! /' Why not open all your places of amuse- 
 ment likewise ? " saith he — 
 
 " ' With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masquing, 
 And otlier things which may be had for asking.' 
 
 ^VTiy not make ours a Continental Sabbath ? " 
 Oh, well-to-do Pharisaic Gospeller, 
 
 " Broad-cloth without, and a cold heart within," 
 
 — is there no difference between the places which 
 are open for gain, for speculation, for trade, and 
 those which yield no gain except to the visitor, 
 whose feelings and thoughts are elevated, chast- 
 ened or instructed bj^ the beauties of nature or of 
 art; those which make the mind busy with no s])ecii- 
 lations except such as lead us in wonder and delight 
 to recognize the affluence and love of our Creator- 
 Pather ; those which have no relations with trade, 
 except in reminding the craftsman that he enjoys 
 a day of blessed rest once a week, when he can
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 289 
 
 shake off tlie dust of work, and be the peer of 
 the noblest in a dearly earned repose ? 
 
 Ob ! well-to-do Pharisee in softly cushioned 
 pew, comfortably partaking the consolations of 
 thy profession at mid-day, and in still more softh" 
 padded chair at a later hour ruminating and 
 digesting both meats 'and doctrines together, 
 lubricated with the choicest wines, — art thou 
 am.ongst thy '' fine old Masters," and thy valued 
 specimens of the Modern School, thy inlaid 
 cabinets, thy Sevres and Chelsea and Dresden, 
 thy damask draperies and veh'et-pile, thy 
 shaven lawns, and shady avenues, and emerald 
 fields, — art thou a righteous judge in Israel, a fair 
 Dictator fitted to decide and to proclaim what 
 limner's art the poor man shall not see, because it 
 is the Sabbath ; what National Gallery or what 
 British Museum he shall not enter, because it is 
 the Sabbath ; what Gardens, Parks, or Palaces 
 he shall not visit, because it is the Sabbath ! 
 
 "He shall live a man forbid," thou sayest, 
 Draco of the pulpits and the pews ! 
 
 And yet, there once was One who with His 
 disciples walked through the fields, while they 
 plucked the ears of corn upon the Sabbath day ! 
 
 A'OL. I. 19
 
 290 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 In opening Hampton Court Palace and 
 Gardens to the public on Sunday afternoon, the 
 Government has paid the first instalment of a 
 debt long due to the working classes of the Me- 
 tropoKs ! Hampton Court, however, in a pecuni- 
 ary sense is as much beyond the reach of the 
 poor of London as Holyrood, geographically ! 
 How much longer a Christian country will persist 
 in supplementing clauses to the fourth command- 
 ment as far, and so far only, as that command 
 can be made to press upon the poor, it is hard 
 and grievous to speculate ! 
 
 Is it not a mockery of humble industry to say to 
 it that our clubs and parks may be crowded by the 
 upper ten thousand on the Sabbath, and that they 
 shall be free to indulge in every gratification and 
 luxury, but that the poor man, out of respect for 
 Eeligion, shall have no resource, or gratification, 
 save such as the " Public " ofiers him ? 
 
 Dives in Belgravia shall be free to feast his 
 eyes, his tastes, his senses on the seventh dajy 
 but Lazarus at the Seven-Dials, or Clare-Market, 
 or Shoreditch, shall not so much as lift his eyes to 
 contemplate any nobler work of Art than a 
 pewter-pot !
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 291 
 
 Hampton Court Gardens and Bushby Park 
 were in unusually ricli foliage. The chestnuts 
 had never been seen in more superb flower. 
 Thousands of Londoners flocked to Hampton, and 
 pic-nics were held in every direction under the 
 S23reading trees. On a certain Sunday, it was 
 suggested that the Digby Shirleys, under conduct 
 of Mr Gfeofeey Tempest, should drive down to see 
 the chestnuts. The girls greatly enjoyed the 
 prospect, and strongly urged their mamma to 
 obtain Shirley's consent. An empty pew, and 
 " What will Sir Jonathan Pole say ? " were severe 
 obstacles in the way of the proposed enjojTuent. 
 Internally Shirlej^ enjoj^ed the idea amazingly. 
 Externally Shirley saw grave objections. " He 
 was always delighted for the dear girls to have 
 any innocent recreation — but really Mr Tempest's 
 idea of starting early in the morning was not to 
 be thought of. Could they not drive down in the 
 .afternoon, when the morning service was over ? ' ' 
 Geoffrey Tempest had his o^^ii objections, which 
 he kept to himself ; but eventually a compromise 
 was effected by the astute Maria. They might 
 attend the early service at Kensington church. 
 Kensington was on the way to Hampton. If
 
 292 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Papa remaiiied in Town and occupied his own 
 pew, and accounted for the absence of the family 
 by sajang they had gone to Kensington, appear- 
 ances would be kept up, the inquiries of the Poles 
 answered, and if the whole truth was not told, at 
 least the supprcssio reri would not amount to an 
 actual fib ! 
 
 Shirley's head shook disapprovingh', while 
 his face smiled acquiescence. He called Maria 
 "a clever puss," and Maria knew she had won 
 her point. 
 
 Early ser"\dce at Kensington was attended by 
 the Shirley family. It cannot be said that any of 
 the party were in a proper frame of mind to 
 derive benefit from the devotions in which they 
 formally joined. Georgey pronounced the singing 
 of the charity-children " absurd," Mrs Shirley 
 thought the curate a "very well-bred young 
 gentleman, who would have read tolerably well 
 if his r's had not all tumbled out of the alphabet 
 to have their places supplied with w's." Maria 
 inquired of Geoffi'ey how he liked the sermon ; 
 and Geoffrey, expressing his sentiments in legal 
 form, proclaimed it " a very dry piece of docmnent- 
 arv evidence," which so shocked Mrs Shirlev that
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 293 
 
 she demanded if lie was not " afraid to speak evil 
 of digmtaries ! " However, the Shirley s had, as 
 they considered, done their duty for truth's sake 
 and their conscience, and straightway proceeded 
 to Hampton Court. 
 
 Arrived at their destination, it was necessary 
 to wait until the morning service in the Palace 
 Chapel was concluded, when the galleries and 
 grounds would be opened. Leaving the ladies to 
 arrange their bonnets and cloaks at the Mitre, 
 Geoffrey strolled out, as he said, " to look after 
 the horses." In reality he strolled into the 
 Palace quadrangle and made his way to the 
 Chapel. 
 
 In that remarkable edifice, which, not being 
 included in the public exhibition, is rarely 
 visited by the ordinary sight- seer, a full con- 
 gregation was joining with every appearance of 
 devotion in the religious exercises appointed for 
 the day. 
 
 Almost every one of the imiiates of the Court 
 Avas present. Even the venerable Duchess, who 
 laboured under the worst infirmities of extreme 
 old age, was to be recognized in her plaid scarf 
 at her accustomed place in the gallery, once set
 
 294 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 apart for Koyal Christians, ^Yith. her silver ear- 
 trmxij)et raised in the hope of hearing some words 
 of comfort. 
 
 Another octogenarian, the equally well-laio"\^ai 
 Lady Dalrymple, was in the same seat she had 
 occupied on similar occasions for the last thirty 
 years. She had not sufficient eye-sight left to 
 see the clerg^Tiian, though he was within a few 
 yards of her, but then she enjoyed the advantage 
 of hearing him distinctly. 
 
 Hampton- Court Chapel is an unusual place of 
 worship, as any one entering it for the first time 
 must acknowledge. The roof, resplendent with 
 gilding, is elaborately carved in a style of de- 
 coration that seems to have been designed in the 
 statuary's yard or the undertaker's shop ; and the 
 jDews and reading-desk covered -^dth faded velvet, 
 give the whole affair the aspect of an obsolete 
 theatrical property. 
 
 Yet it is a Eoyal Chapel, full of most 
 interesting historical associations in connection 
 with the two rival faiths that have flourished 
 in England since the erection of the Palace. 
 There High Mass was performed under the
 
 BLOr]ST TEMPEST. 295 
 
 auspices of tlie great Cardinal, dignitaries of 
 tlie E-omisli Church scarcely less illustrious of- 
 ficiating in the presence of the royal " Defender 
 of the Faith," Rome's most dutiful son. There 
 the dutiful son, haying thrown off submission to 
 the Pope, married Anna BolejTi, and when that 
 Protestant Queen had been disposed of, the 
 equally luckless Jane Se^onour. 
 
 There was baptized in the reformed reKgion, 
 the Protestant heir of the great Henry. There 
 the bigoted Mary shared with the King of Spain's 
 son the consolation of restoring the Mass in all 
 its ancient splendour, and there her lion-hearted 
 Protestant successor changed the service once 
 more. 
 
 Thus it remained till the weakest of a weak 
 line, who lost three kingdoms for one Mass, 
 turned out the Protestant ministers, and sent 
 in their places the particular friends of Father 
 Petre. It has been affirmed that from these 
 priests, assisted by monks and friars of different 
 orders, who had come to establish themselves 
 in "Catholic England," the infant hero of the 
 warming-pan received the rite of baptism. It was
 
 296 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 tliere tliat DutcL. William and his biixom spouse 
 worsliipped in tlie simple form familiar to him in 
 his beloved Holland. 
 
 Other changes have occurred, though Protest- 
 antism has contrived to keep its ground ; but the 
 officiating minister has ceased to preach to Eoyal 
 ears since the gallery opposite the altar used to be 
 filled mth the Court of George II. 
 
 Vestiges of a Court might be recognized in 
 the present congregation, in a superannuated 
 mistress of the robes, three infirm ladies of the 
 bed-chamber, half a dozen sexagenarian maids of 
 honour, a paralytic Lord Chamberlain's daughter, 
 an asthmatic widow of a gold stick, and a large 
 assortment of near relatives of various officers of 
 the Hoyal household, more or less damaged by 
 old time. 
 
 All had their appointed seats, a select few 
 sharing the honour of the Eoyal gallery above, 
 not, however, without considerable heart-burn- 
 ings among the less favoured below. A good 
 deal of discontent always existed about the sit- 
 tings. Some wanted to be nearer the clergy- 
 man, to be further from the organ, to be out 
 of a draught, to be in the centre when they
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 297 
 
 were at the side, or to be at tlie side wlien they 
 were in the centre. But the important state 
 functionary who had the apportioning the apart- 
 ments had also the arrangement of the pews, 
 and his fiat having gone forth, the discontented 
 had no resource but in grmnbling, of which 
 privilege many liberally availed themselves. 
 
 On entering at the door under the gallery, 
 the tall figures of the Hon. Belinda Carruthers 
 and Miss Lavinia Fotheringay were easily dis- 
 tinguished. They shared the same seat, a little 
 in advance of that instrument of Father Smidth 
 which has pealed forth its grand chords to so 
 many generations of Christians; and they ge- 
 nerally shared the same prayer and hjonn-books. 
 
 Their conduct was irreproachable during di- 
 vine service; apparently they forgot the officers 
 of the ultra-fashionable Hussar regiment they 
 were so inordinately fond of quoting elsewhere, 
 and thought only of their rehgious duties. JN^ever- 
 theless they invariably made a particularly careful 
 toilette, and looked towards the door frequently 
 in the early part of the service, as if among the 
 general public who entered at that door, chiefly 
 people living in the neighbourhood, they expected
 
 298 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 to see some one on whom their gay mantles and 
 smart bonnets would not be entirely thrown 
 away. 
 
 There, too, was the Dowager Lady DeAvlap, 
 looking, good old soul, as if she had never uttered 
 a word of scandal in her life. Nothing could 
 surpass the fervour with which she repeated the 
 prayer to be dehvered from evil speaking, lying, 
 and slandering. It was quite edifying to observe 
 her devotional look and absorbed appearance. 
 Ko one AYOuld have suspected that the volmne on 
 which she was gazing so intently was held up- 
 side down. 
 
 In the next pew shone the fat face of Mrs 
 Admiral Boyle. Much to her credit, directly 
 she heard the opening sentence, "When the 
 wicked man turneth away from his wickedness," 
 she composed her features as well as her body 
 to a serene quietude. She seemed to feel a pe- 
 culiar sense of comfort whenever that sentence 
 commenced the service. It was the wicked 7nan 
 whose turning away from misdoing was referred 
 to. As there was not a word said of female short- 
 comings, she felt that there was nothing she need 
 apprehend. So she continued, exceedingly con-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 299 
 
 tented and serene, to give her attention to what 
 followed. 
 
 She joined in the responses, she assisted in 
 the psalms, she listened to the anthem with 
 admirable propriety of demeanour. No one could 
 look at her j)lacid plump features and imagine 
 that their owner ever set her mind upon such 
 frivolous things as playing cards. That fixed 
 expression surely characterized a serious disposi- 
 tion : that mildly reverential gaze, a truly re- 
 ligious nature. 
 
 So a stranger might have surmised up to 
 the commencement of the sermon, often to about 
 half-way through it. But beyond that, the in- 
 fluence of a powerful restraint would not go. A 
 suspicious drooping of her triple chin upon her 
 voluminous bosom showed that CA'en Mr Mild- 
 may's gentle arguments were being urged in 
 vain. 
 
 This was not a solitary case, as the estimable 
 Chaplain was well aware, but he was unconscious 
 that it arose from any somnolency in his dis- 
 coui'se. 
 
 Miss Law^son's pew was at the side of the 
 reading-desk, partly facing the congregation.
 
 300 RI.OUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 It was while the reverend gentleman was pro- 
 ceeding with, his sermon in his most nervous 
 manner, that Mabel allowed her eyes to stray for 
 a few minutes from the preacher towards the 
 door, which had just been opened. A yoimg 
 man of gentlemanly appearance had entered, and 
 although his demeanour was not in the slightest 
 degree offensive, it was easy to see that he re- 
 garded the place with curiosity rather than with 
 reverence. 
 
 Mabel started involuntarily. The features were 
 well known to her. They Avere those of Blount 
 Tempest. She wondered why he had left Oxford. 
 She wondered why he should come there so un- 
 expectedly. She wondered more to see him stare 
 at the roof and at the altar, as if he had never 
 seen them before. 
 
 The intruder did indeed behave as if the 
 meretricious carving on the joendent bosses of 
 the roof was a prodigy of art; then he dwelt 
 with more satisfaction on the triumphs of wood- 
 sculptui-e from the graceful chisel of Grinling 
 Gibbons. They excused his admiration. The 
 figm^es in the former sui^prised him by their
 
 BLOrXT TE^IPEST. 301 
 
 coarseness, the work in the latter astonished him 
 by its delicacy. 
 
 At last he directed his scrutiny to the rows 
 of bonneted heads that filled the area before him, 
 the owners of which were regarding his intrusion 
 with an}i:hing but amicable feelings. He glanced 
 carelessly over them all, over the Roman noses 
 and high cheek-bones of the devoted friends with 
 supreme indifierence, notwithstanding that both 
 ladies condescended to favour him T^dth a steady 
 stare; over the liigh- dried physiognomy of the 
 Dowager Lady Dewlap; over the fat cheek and 
 triple chin, with eyes closed and mouth a little 
 open, of Mrs Admiral Boyle ; over even the 
 pleasant features of the somewhat scandaKzed 
 Miss Lawson ; but stopped suddenly when he 
 came to her young companion, stopped with a 
 gaze of admiration of a far warmer character 
 than he had a minute or two before directed 
 to the chef-cVceuvre aromid the altar-piece. 
 
 Mabel withdrew her glance at once. She 
 was quite certain that the stranger was not Blount. 
 He never would have stared at her so rudely. 
 Besides, his style of dress was difierent, and his
 
 302 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 manners equally so. The resemblance, however, 
 was remarkable both in height and in face. 
 
 She stole another glance at him, hoping that 
 by this time he was looking another way. Their 
 eyes met, those of the yomig man expressed the 
 most passionate admiration, and were still fixed 
 upon her comitenance. He was under the gal- 
 lery, leaning against a carved pillar with folded 
 arms, engrossed by the bright vision that he had 
 so suddenly beheld. 
 
 Mabel did not look again. She turned her 
 face resolutely in the direction of the Chap- 
 lain, and endeavoured to fix her attention on 
 the remainder of the sermon, but there was a 
 feeling of bewilderment that interfered a good 
 deal with her desire to concentrate her thoughts 
 on Mr Mildmay's discourse. 
 
 At last the sermon was over, and the congre- 
 gation began to disperse. Miss Lawson and her 
 pupil Kngered till the clergjTnan returned from 
 the vestry, and walked between them as far as his 
 own lodgings. There they parted, and the ladies 
 turned into one of the innumerable passages that 
 led to their apartments. 
 
 Nothing more had been seen of the stranger,
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 303 
 
 A^ery mucli to Mabel's relief, and as she followed 
 Miss Lawson up tlie narrow winding stair-case 
 slie began to feel a returning sense of security. 
 A sligbt noise below made ber lean against tlie 
 central post round wbich tbe stair winds, and 
 look doA\TL tbe well. She uttered a faint cry of 
 terror, for ber eyes rested upon an upturned face, 
 wonderfidly like Blount's, but it alarmed ber tbe 
 more because sbe knew it was not Blount. 
 
 Sbe was so confused between surprise and 
 apprebension, tbat sbe went at once into ber 
 room witbout mentionino^ tbe strange circum- 
 stance to ber friend, and lost several minutes 
 wondering wbo tbe intrusive stranger could be, 
 and wbat coidd bave induced bim to follow ber 
 bome. Presently, bowever, sbe returned to tbe 
 sitting-room wbere Miss Lawson awaited ber. 
 
 "VYitbout tbe slightest preparation tbat lady 
 entered upon tbe subject tbat bad so greatly 
 disturbed ber pupil. 
 
 *' Did you notice a stranger enter tbe cbapel 
 during tbe sermon?" sbe inquired, — '' a J^^^^g 
 man ratber over-dressed." 
 
 " Yes, I saw bim. I coidd not beip observing 
 bim, be was so exceedingly rude."
 
 304 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 " Did you remark a likeness to any one you 
 know?" 
 
 "Yes, dear Miss Lawson. I thouglit him 
 very like Blount. Indeed, I thouglit he was 
 Blount for a few minutes." 
 
 "I have not tlie slightest doubt that he is 
 Blount's brother. I have not seen Geoffrey for 
 some time, but I know that he is in London, and 
 probably Miss Harcourt has again met him, and 
 has said something about you which has sent the 
 young gentleman here to judge for himself." 
 
 Mabel laughed, and now only wondered how 
 she coidd have been so foolish as to feel uneasy 
 because Blount's brother had looked at her. The 
 ladies had a little further talk on the subject and 
 then dismissed it. 
 
 Miss Lawson's explanation was partly true. 
 Geoffrey TemjDest had heard of the beauty of 
 Miss Masse}" from her music mistress, and the 
 desciiption had been so highly coloured that 
 having promised the ladies of the Shirley family 
 a drive to Hampton Cornet, he had hired a 
 phaeton and pair, and taken them do^^Ti early 
 that morning in time to breakfast at the Mitre, 
 where he had left them to enjoy themselves,
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 305 
 
 while lie, as lie said, went to look after the horses 
 and smoke a cigar. Instead of which he bent his 
 steps to the chapel, where he soon recognized 
 the object of his search ; moreover with the 
 dexterity of a lover of the old school of gallantry, 
 he had lost no time in tracing her to her home. 
 
 "What a time you have been seeing after 
 the comfort of those stupid horses ! " exclaimed 
 Miss Maria, regarding him reproachfully. 
 
 "Perhaps they are valuable, my dear," ob- 
 served her mamma. "And as Mr Tempest is 
 responsible for their safe return, it is only proper 
 prudence in him to see that they are not ex- 
 changed for inferior animals. I knew an instance 
 of the kind happening to a friend of mine in the 
 aristocracy — Lady Whappleshavv', who borrowed 
 a pair of matchless steeds such as a lady of 
 title might be expected to drive, and they took 
 her to West Wickham. After dark she drove 
 them back again, but when her ladyship sent 
 them home, the horse-dealer swore they had been 
 exchanged, and absolutely made my friend Lady 
 Whappleshaw pay him two hundred guineas as 
 the value of the magnificent pair he had lent 
 her." 
 
 VOL. L 20
 
 306 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 The absurdity of the story was not lost upon 
 the young man, who was quite as well up in 
 horse-flesh as he was in law, but he was getting 
 familiar with Mrs Shirley's bounce about aris- 
 tocratic friends, and her blunders respecting 
 their proceedings. With as grave a face as 
 he could assume, he ^ dwelt on the immense 
 price he should have to pay if the sj)lendid 
 animals — they were the ordinary hacks — T^ith 
 which he had been intrusted should disappear 
 like those of her ladyship. 
 
 The breakfast then proceeded in due course, 
 every one doing justice to the delicacies provided, 
 Mrs Shirley setting a good example, and only 
 stopping in her attentions to the pigeon-jDie to 
 impress " her young friend," as she condescended 
 to style Mr Geofirey Tempest, with her familiarity 
 with the Peerage, by quoting Lady Whappleshaw 
 about every five minutes. 
 
 Miss Maria thought her mamma "very 
 absui'd," but prudently kept her opinion to her- 
 self. She affected to have no appetite, but a little 
 pressing from her cavalier, whom she now began 
 to fancy her exclusive property, sufficed to stiaiu- 
 late an attempt at a delicate slice of ham and a
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 307 
 
 wing of cMcken wMch lie placed on her plate. 
 Her younger sister either was not ashamed of 
 being hungry, or not in a himiour to be senti- 
 mental, for she ate of everything offered her, 
 laughing and talking the whole time, evidently 
 in the most perfect state of enjoyment. 
 
 Mr Geoffrey Tempest did his best to keep up 
 the spirits of his party. He was jocose mth 
 Georgey, quoted poetry to Maria, and listened 
 respectfully to the apocrjrphal anecdotes of their 
 mamma ; but he wished the party at the bottom 
 of the Red Sea. His nature seemed to have im- 
 bibed a new spirit. That graceful form and lovely 
 face had taken possession of him so entirety that 
 Maria's tenderness, Georgey's pleasantry, and Mrs 
 Shirley's aristocratic affectation, became at last 
 absolutely odious. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe his sense of 
 relief when his fair companions acknowledged 
 themselves ready to accompany him to the pic- 
 ture-galleries ; he was even reconciled to having 
 Maria on his arm, when he foimd himself ap- 
 proaching the home of that beautiful creature, who 
 in every feminine attribute appeared to him so 
 complete a contrast to her.
 
 308 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 He tried to rattle on tlie usual small talk 
 current on such, occasions, anxious that his com- 
 panion should not discover the pre- occupation of 
 his thoughts. He pointed out eYer;yi;hing worthy 
 of notice, constantly turning round to show the 
 same courtesy to lier mamma, which the yoimg 
 lady considered perfectly superfluous, as it marred 
 the confidential relations she was anxious to 
 maintain -Nyitli the companion of her wallv. 
 
 Mrs Shirley had a good deal to say. She was 
 aware that she had entered a Royal palace, and 
 deemed it essential that she should let every one 
 know how completel}" at home she was in such a 
 place. She spoke with a loud voice, constantly 
 referring to the names and customs of great 
 people, and as sh.e was very much over-dressed, 
 she had eYerj reason to hope that she might be 
 taken for one of that exclusive set. Sunday 
 however is not a day when distinguished company 
 are expected at Hampton Court, and although 
 several peifeons turned round and stared at her, 
 they were chiefly wives of mechanics or of small 
 trades-people, whose notice was not at all of a 
 respectful kind. 
 
 Of course the party stopped at the Cartoons.
 
 BLOUNT TEIMPEST. 309 
 
 Mrs Shirley was in ecstasies about tlie largeness 
 of the figures in the foreground. 
 
 "Ah, great people were great people then, Mr 
 Tempest," she said, loud enough to be heard 
 throughout the hall. " It must have been a most 
 covetable privilege to have lived in those days. 
 'N'^Hiat is the use of being one of the aristocracy, 
 if the himible classes don't feel their insignificance 
 in your presence ? Here you see, my dear young 
 friend, is exactly what I mean. These are people 
 of distinction evidently, and the artist has done 
 justice to their importance." 
 
 Mr Tempest agreed that the individuals repre- 
 sented were not likely to be overlooked : he might 
 have added, even by a spectator from the top of 
 the nearest house, so monstrously were they out 
 of proportion with the accessories of the pic- 
 ture. 
 
 Georgey ventured to say that they were the 
 finest men she had ever seen, and asked if they 
 belonged to Frederick the Great's regiment of 
 grenadiers. Miss Maria said she wondered at her 
 sister's exceedingly masculine taste, but she was 
 always so very absurd. For her part, she did not 
 •care for giants. Her taste was a good deal less
 
 310 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 ambitious. Hereupon she breathed a sigh, and 
 looked pensive. 
 
 The party moved on. In due time they 
 stopped at the " Miraculous Draught of Fishes." 
 
 " When I was with dear Lady Whappleshaw 
 last season at Brighton/' observed Mrs Shirley 
 impressively, ''I took particular notice of the 
 fishing-boats. They were not in the least like the 
 boat in that picture." 
 
 '^I dare say," observed the young lawyer, 
 admirably maintaining his gravity, " that Raphael 
 knew what he was about. In delineating the 
 vessel so small and the fishermen so large, he 
 was merely striving to do justice to the superiority 
 of his characters, over the accessories of his 
 picture, much as we observed it just now in the 
 'Beautiful Gate.'" 
 
 " Of course," said the lady, perfectly satisfied, 
 ^' they must have been persons of importance. 
 You know it's not at all unusual for noblemen in 
 our time to belong to the Fishmongers' Company. 
 Dear Lady "WTiappleshaw's husband, as well as 
 many more of my aristocratic friends, are mem- 
 bers of that wealthy Corporation." 
 
 Mr Geoff'rey did not venture upon any ad-
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 311 
 
 ditional remark on that subject, and presently 
 they were proceeding through the long suite of 
 rooms devoted to the pictui^es. At first Mrs Shirley 
 had a fair amount of artistic criticism ready, but 
 when she became aware of the enonnous number 
 of pictures there were for her to look at, her 
 commentaries became less and less. At last, after 
 they had come to "the Beauties," she hiuTied 
 Greorgey through the half-dozen remaining rooms. 
 Whether she disliked the expression of some of 
 the faces or the looseness of some of their dresses, 
 or whether the good lady felt that she had had 
 quite enough of picture seeing, it is certain that 
 the bed furniture and portraits of the "favour- 
 ites " were scarcely looked at. 
 
 There were still a portion of the customary 
 round of sights to see, and the attentive cavalier 
 seemed desirous that none should be missed. 
 Not that he was very anxious to gratii^^ the 
 ladies, young and old, whom he had the honour 
 of escorting, but he went from place to place 
 with the hope of seeing again the face that had 
 so charmed him in the chapel. He dallied around 
 the pond of gold-fish, he lounged through the 
 gardens, and sauntered under the great Yine, but
 
 312 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 T\dtliout meeting anything in the slighest degree 
 resembling the bright yision of the morning. 
 
 At last he wandered into the Maze, and 
 his mind was so affected by his disappointment 
 that the tender Maria found no difficulty in 
 giving the slip to her mamma and sister, with- 
 out attracting his attention. It Was only when 
 the young lady feigned to be greatly alarmed, 
 hurrying from one bKnd alley into another, and 
 affecting to be " completely lost," that he seemed 
 to wake up to consciousness. 
 
 He tried to soothe her alarm, but the more 
 soothing his words became, the more excited 
 became the young lady. She rushed along the 
 narrow paths of the labyrinth in a state of ap- 
 parent frenzy, and of course Mr Geoffrey was 
 obliged to rush after her. As they neither 
 met with Mrs Shirley nor the way out. Miss 
 Maria increased her pace and her fright. 
 
 In trying to overtake her, half laughing, 
 half vexed, and crying out to the fugitive every 
 expression he could think of likely to allay her 
 alarm, he caught her by the waist when rapidly 
 turning the corner of one of the alleys, and, as 
 much to his confusion as mortification, came
 
 BLOU^'T TEMPEST. 313 
 
 suddenly face to face with the lovely creature 
 lie had seen in the chapel. 
 
 Mabel had kindly taken Mrs AYilkins's grand- 
 child for a walk, and for the little creature's 
 special amusement had led her into the Maze. 
 The look she gave the panting Mr Geoffrey 
 Tempest as she rapidly swept by him was not 
 satisfactory to that young gentleman. Before he 
 could recover his breath, she was gone. 
 
 When the yomig lawyer left the Digby 
 Shirleys at their Belgravian house in Wilton 
 Street, he made a vow that he would never be 
 seen with them in public again ; most certainly 
 nothing should ever induce him to go within 
 half a dozen miles of Hampton Court in their 
 society.
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 A BASSO PROFONDO. 
 
 NE pound twelve shillings and six- 
 pence, tliat is the amount of my 
 losings, I think, Signer Carbono ? ^' 
 " Si, Signer, a million of thanks. 
 It is a grand pleasure to play with a gentleman. 
 wh© loses like a prince. You English Signori 
 do not care about parting with money." 
 
 " That depends, Signer ; but when one meets 
 Tvith a companionable foreigner who has tra- 
 velled and been used to good society, what can 
 be the cost of a sovereign or two for the plea- 
 sure of his company ? " 
 
 Saying this, the Englishman placed the sum 
 he had just named in the dingy palm of his 
 companion. He had counted it out of a well- 
 filled purse somewhat unguardedly exhibited.
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. S15' 
 
 considering lie knew lie was in a ganibling- 
 liouse of bad repute tliat was carried on as a 
 j)rivate club in the immediate neigbbourbood 
 of Golden Square. 
 
 "Ab mio amico," replied tbe man, slipping 
 tbe money into bis waistcoat pocket witb a 
 smile of satisfaction tbat considerably improved bis 
 swartby, well-wbiskered, tbick-moustacbed face, 
 "as you bave tbe great kindness to saj-, I bave 
 travelled mucb and associated witb tbe nobili and 
 gentili of your owti and otber nations.'^ 
 
 His companion quietly drew out a bandsome 
 cigar-case, and banded it across tbe table. 
 
 " Cospetto ! tbey are cboice Havannas,'' tbe 
 Italian exclaimed, belping bimself, and bowing as 
 be banded back tbe case. 
 
 *' Tbey are of tbe very best brand," said tbe 
 otber, taking anotber from tbe case and manipu- 
 lating it after tbe manner of a connoisseur in 
 smoking. " I import tbem exclusively to sbare^ 
 tliem witb my friends." 
 
 " Corpo di Bacco, you are my patrino," cried 
 tbe black-baired, black- wbiskered man, as be drew 
 a candle towards bim, Ht tbe end of bis cigar, 
 and began to smoke witb great rebsb. " I
 
 316 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 felicitate myself on making your acquaintance, 
 Signor.'* 
 
 The Englisliman drew his chair nearer, and 
 proceeded to light his cigar by placing the end of 
 it against the ignited end of that of his com- 
 panion, who drew his simultaneously. Their 
 faces were close together, their eyes looking into 
 each other's, searchingly, during the operation. 
 They were in this position when the English- 
 man, having ignited his Havanna, said with a 
 peculiar emphasis, gazing inquiringly into the 
 lustrous dark eyes before him : " Were you not a 
 courier before you were a chorus singer, Signer 
 Carbono?" 
 
 The Italian drew back his chair with a sudden 
 start, and the dark eyes and the dark hair and 
 the dark visage seemed equally disturbed. 
 
 "Be not offended, my dear sir," added the 
 other, leaning back in his seat and smoking with 
 the greatest possible composure. "ISTo idle cu- 
 riosity induces me to ask the question. It is not 
 at all improbable that I can be of essential service 
 to you, if you can give me a little reliable inform- 
 ation on that point." 
 
 " Si, Signer, I was courier for some time."
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 31T 
 
 The man said this with affected cheerfulness, 
 "but the light of the two candles on the table 
 showed that he was not quite at his ease. 
 
 "Many of your compatriots employ me on 
 different journeys. I have been as far north as 
 St Petersburg, but that cold climate I like not at 
 all. I have been to Spain, and — " 
 
 " You have been to Florence, I think, my dear 
 sii^ ? " 
 
 The Englishman said this, lolling back and 
 watching the smoke as he puffed it forth. 
 
 '' Many times. Signer ; I was with Sir Brookes 
 I^oddler, and my Lord Chesterford, and — " 
 
 " And Madame Dupont ? " 
 
 The question was asked in the very mildest 
 accent, the querist watching the smoke-wreaths 
 in the most guileless manner, nevertheless the 
 distiu-bance it caused was most obvious. The 
 dark \dsage seemed to turn yellow, and the 
 lustrous eyes to shoot fire, but the questioner 
 lolled back on his chair, which rested on the back 
 legs, with the swing of a determined idler. 
 
 " Madame Dupont and her child/' he added, 
 with marked emphasis on the last two words. 
 
 The Italian smoked ydth. singular rapidity,
 
 '318 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 and an expression came over his by no means 
 agreeable countenance, very mnch resembling the 
 glare of a wild beast about to spring on his prey. 
 
 " I can make it well worth your while, Signer 
 •Carbono, to place confidence in me," added the 
 Englishman in a low but perfectly distinct voice. 
 " I do not want to know anything about the con- 
 siderable sum of money that Madame Dupont had 
 with her when she died." 
 
 The Italian stopped smoking. 
 
 " All that it is at all necessary for me to learn 
 is, what became of Madame Dupont' s daughter ?" 
 
 " Buono ! buono ! " cried the fellow, laughing- 
 hoar sely. "The Signorina? JN^on mi recordo. 
 It is a long time back. I remember the Signora 
 Dupont. She died at Florence that is true ; but 
 the Signorina, — I think there is some mistake, 
 Signer." 
 
 " In the first place, I can get you engaged in 
 the chorus at the ItaKan Opera, Signer Carbono, 
 a regular engagement with a good salary," con- 
 tinued the Englishman, without in the slightest 
 degree altering his position. "And I can pro- 
 cure constant employment for your wife, my ctear 
 3ir."
 
 BLOUJ^'T TEMPEST. 319 
 
 " Diavolo ! " thouglit the other, " this fellow 
 of an Englishman knows everything ! '' 
 
 " All I want is, for both of yon to be ready to 
 give evidence as to the existence of a daughter 
 left by Madame Dupont at her decease. IN'o harm 
 can by any possibility happen to either, and a 
 good round siun in gold will be ready for your 
 acceptance as soon as your testimony has been 
 recorded." 
 
 " Si, Signer," said the man, smoking again, 
 and looking as cheerful as ever, " you do not 
 want me to produce the Signorina ? I think you 
 said ! " 
 
 " By no means ; what mil be required of you 
 is much easier. You will lose no time, my dear 
 friend, in communicating with your excellent wife, 
 who having been the deceased lady's confidential 
 attendant entrusted with the charge' of her infant, 
 must naturally be supposed to know more about 
 her than anybody else ; you will prepare her, my 
 dear sir, to state all she knows on the subject. 
 And you will have the kindness to bring her to 
 my house in Half-Moon Street, Piccadill}", to- 
 morrow evening at latest, and she will then have 
 an opportunity of conferring confidentially with
 
 320 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 my wife, whom she will find disposed to serve lier 
 to the utmost of her power — Buona notte, Signer 
 Carbono. It will be your own fault if you are 
 not singing on the boards of the Italian Opera at 
 its opening." 
 
 " Buona notte, Signor," replied the Italian as 
 he rose to shake hands with his new friend, who 
 had just sprung from his seat. 
 
 "Another cigar, my dear sir/' said Mr Mont- 
 gomery, pulling out his case. 
 
 " A million thanks, Signer, they are ex- 
 quisite ! " 
 
 '' They are to share with my friends." 
 
 The two men shook hands and parted. The 
 Englishman went home mth the conviction that 
 he had done a ticklish piece of work very cleverly ; 
 the Italian lit his second Havanna and remained 
 to smoke it out. 
 
 " Cospetto ! " he muttered as he threw himself 
 into a chair. "How came that Englishman to 
 know about the Signorina ? She is as a di'op of 
 rain in the ocean." 
 
 " And I am to be engaged in the chorus of 
 the Grand Opera'J " he added presently. " Buona. 
 And when aU is done to have a sum in 2:old.
 
 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 321 
 
 Buone parole ! I shall at once get Signora 
 Carbono to remember all about the Signorina. 
 "We shall go together to the Stracla Demi-luna, 
 and I will have more of that Englishman's 
 money." 
 
 With that final resolution expressed very 
 resolutely, the ex-courier went to one of the mir- 
 rors in the room, and proceeded deliberately to 
 comb his curly black hair and whiskers, hum- 
 ming an air from "II Barbiere" during the 
 performance with much complacency of manner. 
 Then he took a brush from a side-table and as 
 deliberately brushed his clothes, which appeared 
 to have been more used to that process than was 
 good for the cloth. 
 
 The frock-coat buttoned up to the chin con- 
 cealed both waistcoat and shirt, and a pair of 
 equally well-worn trowsers, with a stripe down 
 the side, nearly hid the jean boots — probably 
 because they were not in a fit state to be 
 seen. The satin stock with the showy pin 
 stuck in it had a similarly decayed appearance. 
 ^Nevertheless, still humming the opera air with 
 every sign of inward satisfaction, the Signer 
 brushed a cap with a projecting peak and a gold 
 
 VOL. I. 21
 
 322 BLOUNT te:mpest. 
 
 band, put it jauntily on the mass of black curls 
 tbat covered bis bead, and baving pulled up bis 
 faded stock and pulled down bis tbread-bare 
 sleeves, stared a little at tbe reflection of bimself, 
 and tben rang tbe bell. 
 
 A dapper Kttle man witb a close- cropped 
 bead and a sallow complexion, in dirty sbirt 
 sleeves, immediately made bis appearance. 
 
 " Aba, Ricardo ! '' cried tbe Signer in ItaKan, 
 stopping bis sotto voce recollections of Rossini's 
 master-piece. " You are quick ; you tbougbt you 
 sbould be wanted, and waited near tbe door. Eb, 
 Eicardo ? " 
 
 " Yes,'' replied tbe otber, ratber sullenly, in 
 tbe same melodious Tuscan, " I want some monej', 
 Signor Carbono. You bave won of tbe Englisb- 
 man ; you must pay me what I bave been waiting 
 for so long." 
 
 " Basta ! " exclaimed tbe Signor witb an air 
 of profound contempt, tbrowing away tbe end of 
 bis exquisite Havanna. "Am I not a basso 
 profondo as good as engaged at tbe Grand Opera 
 of London, and sball I not be able to pay my 
 subscriptions to tbe Club as regular as any one 
 wbo comes bere ? ''
 
 BLOUXT TE3IPEST. 323 
 
 *' By the Yirgin, I have heard that so often 
 that I am tired of it, Sigiior Carbono." 
 
 " You shall hear of it once more then, caro 
 mio ; and what is more, yon shall hear me, for I 
 shall get you orders for yourself and the Signora 
 for the gallery.'' 
 
 " I have heard that too. Signer Carbono, and 
 am tired of that also. We do not want orders 
 that never come ; we want money, Signer Carbono, 
 and it must come." 
 
 '' Buono, amico mio ! Buono ! and how much 
 will content you for the present ? for my win- 
 nings of the Englishman have been but small." 
 
 *' I will not be hard upon j^ou, for you bring 
 custom. You owe, let me see, a hundred scudi or 
 a little more. Pay me half now, and the rest in 
 a month or two." 
 
 This was said by the Kttle man mth the 
 cropped head and the dirty shirt sleeves in a 
 gentler tone than he had hitherto used. In reply, 
 Signer Carbono mibuttoned his coat, and from one 
 of his waistcoat pockets produced a sovereign 
 which he threw on the table. 
 
 '' Eccolo 11," he said, buttoning up again very 
 carefully. " There is of the Englishman's gold.
 
 324 JJLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 I shall have more in a sliort time for you. Be 
 satisfied witli this." 
 
 The keeper of the gambling-house caught up 
 the coin with a gleam of gratification in his dark 
 eyes, and a cordial smile instantly broke over his 
 purple muzzle. He bowed obsequiously. 
 
 "Addio," cried the ex-courier, as he drew 
 on a pair of very worn gloves with an air of 
 dignity. 
 
 " Addio, amico mio ! Do me the honour to 
 remember me to the cara sposa, and tell her that 
 the orders shall come for the opera, for it is a fact, 
 Ricardo, I am to be engaged for the season among 
 the hassh 2^rofondi of that grand estabKshment." 
 
 Signer Carbono waved his hand majestically 
 as he passed his old acquaintance on his way to 
 the street, and then held his head up as high as 
 ever he had done twenty years before, when his 
 fine head of hair and luxuriant whiskers attracted 
 so much feminine notice in the great cities of 
 Europe through which he happened to be pass- 
 ing. 
 
 He strolled leisurely into the Quadrant, 
 glanced into some of the shop-windows, as if to 
 ascertain the prices of the most attractive articles.
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 325 
 
 wHcli he had never before thought of doing. He 
 looked at female ornaments with at least an equal 
 amount of scrutiny, such as gold watches and 
 chains, diamond rings and pearl bracelets, till it 
 might reasonably have been presumed that he 
 was making a selection for the Signora Carbono, 
 anxious to study her taste and exhibit his own 
 liberality to the utmost. 
 
 Having tui^ned into Piccadilly without mak- 
 ing any purchases, he strolled in the same 
 leisurely way in the direction of Leicester Square, 
 passed along one of its most disreputable by- 
 streets ; then taking a latch-key from his pocket, 
 opened the private door of a shabby restaurant, 
 and proceeded to ascend a very dirty flight of 
 stairs. 
 
 At last he reached the top flight, where he 
 paused to take breath. A door of one of the 
 attics opened and a woman presented herself, 
 whose attire was even more worn and faded than 
 the frock-coat, the striped trowsers, the jean 
 boots, and the satin stock of the ex- courier. But 
 the cotton go^\Ti did not look so old as the face, 
 the face that only twenty years before had be- 
 longed to one of the prettiest lady's maids that
 
 326 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 ever graced the rumble of a trayelling car- 
 riage. 
 
 *' I was certain it was you ! " she exclaimed 
 with a faint smile, as she recognized the Italian. 
 
 "Yes, Signora Carbono, it is your faithful 
 sposo/' he replied, gallantly taking off his cap, and 
 with much tenderness proceeding to salute the 
 faded female. " And I have just been looking at 
 a suite of amethysts that woidd become you 
 amazingly, cara mia." 
 
 " Come in and eat your maccaroni, and don't 
 talk nonsense," she said, sadly and somewhat 
 impatiently. " I have had some lace to wash and 
 mend from a former mistress of mine, and so 
 have been enabled to get you a good diinier. I 
 hope you will like it." 
 
 " What an angel of a "v^ofe you are ! " ex- 
 claimed the man fervently, as he noticed the 
 clean cloth spread on the table, the smoking dish 
 of which he was so fond, and a bottle of claret, 
 to which he was no less partial. " Corpo di Bacco, 
 you are a treasure beyond price." 
 
 He sat himself down to his skilfully-prepared 
 meal, evidently in the greatest possible good 
 humour, and having gallantly helj)ed his wife,
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 327 
 
 took no less care of himself. He heaped his own 
 plate as though considering his larger capacity 
 for enjoyment, and there could be no question he 
 enjoyed his supper thoroughly. 
 
 The faded lady's maid regarded her swarthy 
 husband's manner of taking his repast with the 
 most intense satisfaction, though she ate scarcely 
 anything herself. Signer Carbono devoured his 
 maccaroni as a IS'eapolitan would be sure to do, 
 letting it dangle from his fork, and eating it 
 up with every possible demonstration of gratifi- 
 cation known to the Italian nature, in which 
 compliments, half in English, half in Tuscan, to 
 his poor faded wife and her superlative cookery 
 were liberally mingled. 
 
 Presently he poured out tw^o glasses of the 
 bright liquid from the long-necked bottle with 
 increased animation, and with tender gallantry 
 handed one to his companion, then seized on the 
 other. The fulness of his heart, if not of his 
 stomach, was expressed in his dark eyes, as he 
 raised the fidl glass between himself and the 
 light. 
 
 ''I drink to your happiness, cara mia," he 
 exclaimed, "and to my success at the Grand
 
 328 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 
 
 Opera/' lie added, nodding Ms black curls know- 
 ingly as lie poured the di^auglit do'RTi Ids throat. 
 
 " Your success at the Opera, Mr Carbono ! 
 what in the name of wonder do you mean ? " she 
 inquired. 
 
 He was again absorbed in the disappearance of 
 a^nother heap of the well Parmesaned delicacy 
 which he had placed on his plate. He chuckled 
 and winked his dark eyes merrily as he dropped 
 the savoury coils into his big moustached 
 mouth. 
 
 " Aha, my cara sposa does not know ! " he 
 laughingly replied, "that she is the wife of a 
 basso profondo, and the distinction that is in 
 store for her when she shall hear him singing 
 the compositions of his immortal countryman, 
 E-ossini, from the stage of the Grand Opera of 
 London." 
 
 " I know that you have been anxious for an 
 engagement to sing somewhere for a very long 
 time, but I knew not there was any chance of your 
 getting one." 
 
 "Oho, some people think better of Signer 
 Carbono than the Signora his wife, for I am able 
 to delight her little heart with the good news
 
 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 329 
 
 I shall Be engaged for the season, at a salary 
 which shall enable her to live as a bella padrona. 
 Is it not good news, idola niia ? " 
 
 "Indeed it is, I hope it isn't too good to 
 be true," cautiously answered the wife, who per- 
 haps had been disappointed too often to be 
 sanguine on hearing such intelligence. ''But 
 how was it brought about, Mr Carbono ? " 
 
 The ex-courier continued to consimie the fari- 
 naceous diet that had been so carefully provided 
 for him, washing it down from time to time "wdth 
 a glass of claret, and winking and chuckling with 
 immense energ}', till he had excited his com- 
 panion's curiosity to the fullest extent, and equally 
 satisfied his own himger. 
 
 "Aha, Signora Carbono!" he cried at last, 
 exultantly, "you desire to know what brought 
 your faithful marito this good fortune. You are 
 a good wife, I will have no secrets. It is true I 
 have some musical knowledge and a deep bass 
 voice, and since I gave up travelling I have 
 aspired to join some operatic company. Well, I 
 have always failed to get an engagement as you 
 know, cara ; but this day I have had the happiness 
 to fall in with an Englishman, who promised to
 
 330 BLOrXT TEMPEST. 
 
 help me to secm-e tlie object of my ambition. I 
 am to siiig regularly in tlie cliorus of the Grand 
 Opera, -with a handsome recompense to be paid 
 every Aveek." 
 
 " Oh, Mr Carbono, I am very glad indeed ! " 
 The poor faded face looked quite fresh and charm- 
 ing under the influence of the pleasurable feelings 
 the unexpected intelKgence had created. 
 
 "Yes, it is true," he added; "but my good 
 fortune is conditional. I am to have it only in 
 case I can give information respecting the little 
 girl that was with your bella padrona when she 
 died at Florence." 
 
 The smiling face suddenly became deadly pale. 
 
 " Oh, Mr Carbono, don't say anything about 
 that," she cried piteously, as she clasped her 
 hands together. " The money never did us any 
 good ! We never prospered afterwards." 
 
 " Bah ! then it is time that we should prosper 
 now," replied the man. " It seemed an easy way 
 to make oneself comfortable, and so I induced you 
 to consent to it." 
 
 The faded lady's maid wrung her hands, and 
 tears fell down her cheeks. 
 
 " But remember we are only required to tell
 
 BLOUNT TEMPEST. 331 
 
 what we know respecting the Signorina ; I sus- 
 pect she has been discovered, and the friends of 
 your bella padrona are trpng to establish her 
 identity." 
 
 *'If we could help in getting the dear child 
 her rights," said his -^vife, " I should not mind 
 what I did." 
 
 "But you must mind. Cospetto ! you must 
 be carefid what you do as well as what you 
 say," urged the ex-courier impressively. "I 
 have promised you shall go ^ith me to this 
 Englishman's house, when you are to see this 
 Englishman's wife. You will afPect to know 
 nothing respecting the Signorina till you have 
 heard what they want you to say about her. You 
 have been a good wife to me, and, Diavolo ! I have 
 been much to blame in getting you into this 
 trouble, but you must show your sense as well as 
 your goodness, to benefit poor bad Marco Carbono 
 in this affair. 
 
 " When I have engagement at the Grand 
 Opera, I shall not leave you to go to the club ; I 
 shall have piano and learn my parts at home, and 
 we will live in a respectable house, and my wife 
 shall have everything she likes for her dress, for
 
 332 BLOUXT TEMPEST. 
 
 lier dinner, for everything she clioose. I shall have 
 plenty money for mia marita. Say it is a bargain, 
 and I will drink success to the Signorina. We 
 vnR do all we can to procure her good fortune. 
 It is proper — it is right — and we shall then be 
 prosperous. You will help poor bad Marco 
 Carbono, and make him good for the rest of his 
 life." 
 
 The great black curly head was very near 
 the faded face when the last sentence was spoken, 
 and, as may be imagined, a consent to aid the 
 worthless husband, was ultimately extorted from 
 the subservient wife. 
 
 THE END OF VOL. I. 
 
 EEEATA. 
 
 Page 134, line 12, for tell, read telh. 
 
 137, line 23, for Orfanotrovio, read Orfauotroflo. 
 
 JOHX CHILDS AND SOX, PRINTERS.