CHAPTER V.
"Believe me, she has won me much to pity her.
Alas! her gentle nature was not made
To buffet with adversity."--ROWE.
"Sober he was, and grave from early youth,
Mindful of forms, but more intent on truth;
In a light drab he uniformly dress'd,
And look serene th' unruffled mind express'd.
* * * * *
"Yet might observers in his sparkling eye
Some observation, some acuteness spy
The friendly thought it keen, the treacherous deem'd it sly;
Yet not a crime could foe or friend detect,
His actions all were like his speech correct--
Chaste, sober, solemn, and devout they named
Him who was this, and not of this ashamed."--CRABBE.
"I'll on and sound this secret."--BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
MRS. LESLIE, the lady introduced to the reader in the last chapter, was
a woman of the firmest intellect combined (no unusual combination) with
the softest heart. She learned Alice's history with admiration and
pity. The natural innocence and honesty of the young mother spoke so
eloquently in her words and looks, that Mrs. Leslie, on hearing her
tale, found much less to forgive than she had anticipated. Still she
deemed it necessary to enlighten Alice as to the criminality of the
connection she had formed. But here Alice was singularly dull--she
listened in meek patience to Mrs. Leslie's lecture; but it evidently
made but slight impression on her. She had not yet seen enough of the
social state to correct the first impressions of the natural: and all
she could say in answer to Mrs. Leslie was: "It may be all very true,
madam, but I have been so much better since I knew him!"
But though Alice took humbly any censure upon herself, she would not
hear a syllable insinuated against Maltravers. When, in a very natural
indignation, Mrs. Leslie denounced him as a destroyer of innocence--for
Mrs. Leslie could not learn all that extenuated his offence--Alice
started up with flashing eyes and heaving heart, and would have hurried
from the only shelter she had in the wide world--she would sooner have
died--she would sooner even have seen her child die, than done that idol
of her soul, who, in her eyes, stood alone on some pinnacle between
earth and heaven, the wrong of hearing him reviled. With difficulty
Mrs. Leslie could restrain, with still more difficulty could she pacify
and soothe her; and for the girl's petulance, which others might have
deemed insolent or ungrateful, the woman-heart of Mrs. Leslie loved her
all the better. The more she saw of Alice, and the more she
comprehended her story and her character, the more was she lost in
wonder at the romance of which this beautiful child had been the
heroine, and the more perplexed she was as to Alice's future prospects.
At length, however, when she became acquainted with Alice's musical
acquirements, which were, indeed, of no common order, a light broke in
upon her. Here was the source of her future independence. Maltravers,
it will be remembered, was a musician of consummate skill as well as
taste, and Alice's natural talent for the art had advanced her, in the
space of months, to a degree of perfection which it cost others--which
it had cost even the quick Maltravers--years to obtain. But we learn so
rapidly when our teachers are those we love: and it may be observed that
the less our knowledge, the less perhaps our genius in other things, the
more facile are our attainments in music, which is a very jealous
mistress of the mind. Mrs. Leslie resolved to have her perfected in
this art, and so enable her to become a teacher to others. In the town
of C------, about thirty miles from Mrs. Leslie's house, though in the
same county, there was no inconsiderable circle of wealthy and
intelligent persons; for it was a cathedral town, and the resident
clergy drew around them a kind of provincial aristocracy. Here, as in
most rural towns in England, music was much cultivated, both among the
higher and middle classes. There were amateur concerts, and glee-clubs,
and subscriptions for sacred music; and once every five years there was
the great C------ Festival. In this town Mrs. Leslie established Alice:
she placed her under the roof of a /ci-devant/ music-master, who, having
retired from his profession, was no longer jealous of rivals, but who,
by handsome terms, was induced to complete the education of Alice. It
was an eligible and comfortable abode, and the music-master and his wife
were a good-natured easy old couple.
Three months of resolute and unceasing perseverance, combined with the
singular ductility and native gifts of Alice, sufficed to render her the
most promising pupil the good musician had ever accomplished; and in
three months more, introduced by Mrs. Leslie to many of the families in
the place, Alice was established in a home of her own; and, what with
regular lessons, and occasional assistance at musical parties, she was
fairly earning what her tutor reasonably pronounced to be "a very
genteel independence."
Now, in these arrangements (for we must here go back a little), there
had been one gigantic difficulty of conscience in one party, of feeling
in another, to surmount. Mrs. Leslie saw at once that unless Alice's
misfortune was concealed, all the virtues and all the talents in the
world could not enable her to retrace the one false step. Mrs. Leslie
was a woman of habitual truth and strict rectitude, and she was sorely
perplexed between the propriety of candour and its cruelty. She felt
unequal to take the responsibility of action on herself; and, after much
meditation, she resolved to confide her scruples to one who, of all whom
she knew, possessed the highest character for moral worth and religious
sanctity. This gentleman, lately a widower, lived at the outskirts of
the town selected for Alice's future residence, and at that time
happened to be on a visit in Mrs. Leslie's neighbourhood. He was an
opulent man, a banker; he had once represented the town in parliament,
and retiring, from disinclination to the late hours and onerous fatigues
even of an unreformed House of Commons, he still possessed an influence
to return one, if not both, of the members for the city of C------. And
that influence was always exerted so as best to secure his own interest
with the powers that be, and advance certain objects of ambition (for he
was both an ostentatious and ambitious man in his own way), which he
felt he might more easily obtain by proxy than by his own votes and
voice in parliament--an atmosphere in which his light did not shine.
And it was with a wonderful address that the banker contrived at once to
support the government, and yet, by the frequent expression of liberal
opinions, to conciliate the Whigs and the Dissenters of his
neighbourhood. Parties, political and sectarian, were not then so
irreconcilable as they are now. In the whole county there was no one so
respected as this eminent person, and yet he possessed no shining
talents, though a laborious and energetic man of business. It was
solely and wholly the force of moral character which gave him his
position in society. He felt this; he was sensitively proud of it; he
was painfully anxious not to lose an atom of a distinction that required
to be vigilantly secured. He was a very /remarkable/, yet not (perhaps
could we penetrate all hearts), a very /uncommon/ character--this
banker! He had risen from, comparatively speaking, a low origin and
humble fortunes, and entirely by the scrupulous and sedate propriety of
his outward conduct. With such a propriety he, therefore, inseparably
connected every notion of worldly prosperity and honour. Thus, though
far from a bad man, he was forced into being something of a hypocrite.
Every year he had grown more starch and more saintly. He was
conscience-keeper to the whole town; and it is astonishing how many
persons hardly dared to make a will or subscribe to a charity without
his advice. As he was a shrewd man of this world, as well as an
accredited guide to the next, his advice was precisely of a nature to
reconcile the Conscience and the Interest; and he was a kind of
negotiator in the reciprocal diplomacy of earth and heaven. But our
banker was really a charitable man, and a benevolent man, and a sincere
believer. How, then, was he a hypocrite? Simply because he professed
to be far /more/ charitable, /more/ benevolent, and /more/ pious than he
really was. His reputation had now arrived to that degree of immaculate
polish that the smallest breath, which would not have tarnished the
character of another man, would have fixed an indelible stain upon his.
As he affected to be more strict than the churchman, and was a great
oracle with all who regarded churchmen as lukewarm, so his conduct was
narrowly watched by all the clergy of the orthodox cathedral, good men,
doubtless, but not affecting to be saints, who were jealous at being so
luminously outshone by a layman and an authority of the sectarians. On
the other hand, the intense homage and almost worship he received from
his followers kept his goodness upon a stretch, if not beyond all human
power, certainly beyond his own. For "admiration" (as it is well said
somewhere) "is a kind of superstition which expects miracles." From
nature this gentleman had received an inordinate share of animal
propensities: he had strong passions, he was by temperament a
sensualist. He loved good eating and good wine--he loved women. The
two former blessings of the carnal life are not incompatible with
canonisation; but St. Anthony has shown that women, however angelic, are
not precisely that order of angels that saints may safely commune with.
If, therefore, he ever yielded to temptations of a sexual nature, it was
with profound secrecy and caution; nor did his right hand know what his
left hand did.
This gentleman had married a woman much older than himself, but her
fortune had been one of the necessary stepping-stones in his career.
His exemplary conduct towards this lady, ugly as well as old, had done
much towards increasing the odour of his sanctity. She died of an ague,
and the widower did not shock probabilities by affecting too severe a
grief.
"The Lord's will be done!" said he; "she was a good woman, but we should
not set our affections too much upon His perishable creatures!"
This was all he was ever heard to say on the matter. He took an elderly
gentlewoman, distantly related to him, to manage his house, and sit at
the head of the table; and it was thought not impossible, though the
widower was past fifty, that he might marry again.
Such was the gentleman called in by Mrs. Leslie, who, of the same
religious opinions, had long known and revered him, to decide the
affairs of Alice and of Conscience.
As this man exercised no slight or fugitive influence over Alice
Darvil's destinies, his counsels on the point in discussion ought to be
fairly related.
"And now," said Mrs. Leslie, concluding the history, "you will perceive,
my dear sir, that this poor young creature has been less culpable than
she appears. From the extraordinary proficiency she has made in music,
in a time that, by her own account, seems incredibly short; I should
suspect her unprincipled betrayer must have been an artist--a
professional man. It is just possible that they may meet again, and (as
the ranks between them cannot be so very disproportionate) that he may
marry her. I am sure that he could not do a better or a wiser thing,
for she loves him too fondly, despite her wrongs. Under these
circumstances, would it be a--a--a culpable disguise of truth to
represent her as a married woman--separated from her husband--and give
her the name of her seducer? Without such a precaution you will see,
sir, that all hope of settling her reputably in life--all chance of
procuring her any creditable independence, is out of the question. Such
is my dilemma. What is your advice?--palatable or not, I shall abide by
it."
The banker's grave and saturnine countenance exhibited a slight degree
of embarrassment at the case submitted to him. He began brushing away,
with the cuff of his black coat, some atoms of dust that had settled on
his drab small-clothes; and, after a slight pause, he replied, "Why,
really, dear madam, the question is one of much delicacy--I doubt if men
could be good judges upon it; your sex's tact and instinct on these
matters are better--much better than our sagacity. There is much in the
dictates of your own heart; for to those who are in the grace of the
Lord He vouchsafes to communicate His pleasure by spiritual hints and
inward suggestions!"
"If so, my dear sir, the matter is decided; for my heart whispers me
that this slight deviation from truth would be a less culpable offence
than turning so young and, I had almost said, so innocent a creature
adrift upon the world. I may take your opinion as my sanction."
"Why, really, I can scarcely say so much as that," said the banker, with
a slight smile. "A deviation from truth cannot be incurred without some
forfeiture of strict duty."
"Not in any case? Alas, I was afraid so!" said Mrs. Leslie,
despondingly.
"In any case! Oh, there /may/ be cases! But had I not better see the
young woman, and ascertain that your benevolent heart has not deceived
you?"
"I wish you would," said Mrs. Leslie; "she is now in the house. I will
ring for her."
"Should we not be alone?"
"Certainly; I will leave you together."
Alice was sent for, and appeared.
"This pious gentleman," said Mrs. Leslie, "will confer with you for a
few moments, my child. Do not be afraid; he is the best of men." With
these words of encouragement the good lady vanished, and Alice saw
before her a tall dark man, with a head bald in front, yet larger behind
than before, with spectacles upon a pair of shrewd, penetrating eyes,
and an outline of countenance that showed he must have been handsome in
earlier manhood.
"My young friend," said the banker, seating himself, after a deliberate
survey of the fair countenance that blushed beneath his gaze, "Mrs.
Leslie and myself have been conferring upon your temporal welfare. You
have been unfortunate, my child."
"Ah--yes."
"Well, well, you are very young; we must not be too severe upon youth.
You will never do so again?"
"Do what, please you, sir?"
"What! Humph! I mean that you will be more rigid, more circumspect.
Men are deceitful; you must be on your guard against them. You are
handsome, child, very handsome--more's the pity." And the banker took
Alice's hand and pressed it with great unction. Alice looked at him
gravely and drew the hand away instinctively.
The banker lowered his spectacles, and gazed at her without their aid;
his eyes were still fine and expressive. "What is your name?" he asked.
"Alice--Alice Darvil, sir."
"Well, Alice, we have been considering what is best for you. You wish
to earn your own livelihood, and perhaps marry some honest man
hereafter."
"Marry, sir--never!" said Alice, with great earnestness, her eyes
filling with tears.
"And why?"
"Because I shall never see /him/ on earth, and they do not marry in
heaven, sir."
The banker was moved, for he was not worse than his neighbours, though
trying to make them believe he was so much better.
"Well, time enough to talk of that; but in the meanwhile you would
support yourself?"
"Yes, sir. His child ought to be a burden to none--nor I either. I
once wished to die, but then who would love my little one? Now I wish
to live."
"But what mode of livelihood would you prefer? Would you go into a
family, in some capacity?--not that of a servant--you are too delicate
for that."
"Oh, no--no!"
"But, again, why?" asked the banker, soothingly, yet surprised.
"Because," said Alice, almost solemnly, "there are some hours when I
feel I must be alone. I sometimes think I am not all right /here/," and
she touched her forehead. "They called me an idiot before I knew
/him/!--No, I could not live with others, for I can only cry when nobody
but my child is with me."
This was said with such unconscious, and therefore with such pathetic,
simplicity, that the banker was sensibly affected. He rose, stirred the
fire, resettled himself, and, after a pause, said emphatically: "Alice,
I will be your friend. Let me believe you will deserve it."
Alice bent her graceful head, and seeing that he had sunk into an
abstracted silence, she thought it time for her to withdraw.
"She is, indeed, beautiful," said the banker, almost aloud, when he
was alone; "and the old lady is right--she is as innocent as if she had
not fallen. I wonder--" Here he stopped short, and walked to the glass
over the mantelpiece, where he was still gazing on his own features,
when Mrs. Leslie returned.
"Well, sir," said she, a little surprised at this seeming vanity in so
pious a man.
The banker started. "Madam, I honour your penetration as much as your
charity; I think that there is so much to be feared in letting all the
world know this young female's past error, that, though I dare not
advise, I cannot blame, your concealment of it."
"But, sir, your words have sunk deep into my thoughts; you said every
deviation from truth was a forfeiture of duty."
"Certainly; but there are some exceptions. The world is a bad world, we
are born in sin; and the children of wrath. We do not tell infants all
the truth, when they ask us questions, the proper answers of which would
mislead, not enlighten them. In some things the whole world are
infants. The very science of government is the science of concealing
truth--so is the system of trade. We could not blame the tradesman for
not telling the public that if all his debts were called in he would be
a bankrupt."
"And he may marry her after all--this Mr. Butler."
"Heaven forbid--the villain!--Well, madam, I will see to this poor young
thing--she shall not want a guide."
"Heaven reward you! How wicked some people are to call you severe!"
"I can bear /that/ blame with a meek temper, madam. Good day."
"Good day. You will remember how strictly confidential has been our
conversation."
"Not a breath shall transpire. I will send you some tracts
to-morrow--so comforting. Heaven bless you!"
This difficulty smoothed, Mrs. Leslie, to her astonishment, found that
she had another to contend with in Alice herself. For, first, Alice
conceived that to change her name and keep her secret was to confess
that she ought to be ashamed, rather than proud, of her love to Ernest,
and she thought that so ungrateful to him!--and, secondly, to take his
name, to pass for his wife--what presumption--he would certainly have a
right to be offended! At these scruples Mrs. Leslie well-nigh lost all
patience; and the banker, to his own surprise, was again called in. We
have said that he was an experienced and skilful adviser, which implies
the faculty of persuasion. He soon saw the handle by which Alice's
obstinacy might always be moved--her little girl's welfare. He put this
so forcibly before her eyes; he represented the child's future fate as
resting so much, not only on her own good conduct, but on her outward
respectability, that he prevailed upon her at last; and, perhaps, one
argument that he incidentally used, had as much effect on her as the
rest. "This Mr. Butler, if yet in England, may pass through our
town--may visit amongst us--may hear you spoken of by a name similar to
his own, and curiosity would thus induce him to seek you. Take his
name, and you will always bear an honourable index to your mutual
discovery and recognition. Besides, when you are respectable, honoured,
and earning an independence, he may not be too proud to marry you. But
take your own name, avow your own history, and not only will your child
be an outcast, yourself a beggar, or, at best, a menial dependant, but
you lose every hope of recovering the object of your too-devoted
attachment."
Thus Alice was convinced. From that time she became close and reserved
in her communications. Mrs. Leslie had wisely selected a town
sufficiently remote from her own abode to preclude any revelations of
her domestics; and, as Mrs. Butler, Alice attracted universal sympathy
and respect from the exercise of her talents, the modest sweetness of
her manners, the unblemished propriety of her conduct. Somehow or other,
no sooner did she learn the philosophy of concealment than she made a
great leap in knowledge of the world. And, though flattered and courted
by the young loungers of C------, she steered her course with so much
address that she was never persecuted. For there are few men in the
world who make advances where there is no encouragement.
The banker observed her conduct with silent vigilance. He met her
often, he visited her often. He was intimate at houses where she
attended to teach or perform. He lent her good books--he advised
her--he preached to her. Alice began to look up to him--to like him--to
consider him as a village girl in Catholic countries may consider a
benevolent and kindly priest. And he--what was his object?--at that
time it is impossible to guess:--he became thoughtful and abstracted.
One day an old maid and an old clergyman met in the High Street of
C------.
"And how do you do, ma'am?" said the clergyman; "how is the rheumatism?"
"Better, thank you, sir. Any news?"
The clergyman smiled, and something hovered on his lips, which he
suppressed.
"Were you," the old maid resumed, "at Mrs. Macnab's last night?
Charming music?"
"Charming! How pretty that Mrs. Butler is! and how humble! Knows her
station--so unlike professional people."
"Yes, indeed!--What attention a certain banker paid her!"
"He! he! he! yes; he is very fatherly--very!"
"Perhaps he will marry again; he is always talking of the holy state of
matrimony--a holy state it may be--but Heaven knows, his wife, poor
woman, did not make it a pleasant one."
"There may be more causes for that than we guess of," said the
clergyman, mysteriously. "I would not be uncharitable, but--"
"But what?"
"Oh, when he was young, our great man was not so correct, I fancy, as he
is now."
"So I have heard it whispered; but nothing against him was ever known."
"Hem--it is very odd!"
"What's very odd?"
"Why, but it's a secret--I dare say it's all very right."
"Oh, I sha'n't say a word. Are you going to the cathedral?--don't let
me keep you standing. Now, pray proceed!"
"Well, then, yesterday I was doing duty in a village more than twenty
miles hence, and I loitered in the village to take an early dinner; and,
afterwards, while my horse was feeding, I strolled down the green."
"Well--well?"
"And I saw a gentleman muffled carefully up, with his hat slouched over
his face, at the door of a cottage, with a little child in his arms, and
he kissed it more fondly than, be we ever so good, we generally kiss
other people's children; and then he gave it to a peasant woman standing
near him, and mounted his horse, which was tied to the gate, and trotted
past me; and who do you think this was?"
"Patience me--I can't guess!"
"Why, our saintly banker. I bowed to him, and I assure you he turned as
red, ma'am, as your waistband."
"My!"
"I just turned into the cottage when he was out of sight, for I was
thirsty, and asked for a glass of water, and I saw the child. I declare
I would not be uncharitable, but I thought it monstrous like--you know
whom!"
"Gracious! you don't say--"
"I asked the woman 'if it was hers?' and she said 'No,' but was very
short."
"Dear me, I must find this out! What is the name of the village?"
"Covedale."
"Oh, I know--I know."
"Not a word of this; I dare say there is nothing in it. But I am not
much in favour of your new lights."
"Nor I neither. What better than the good old Church of England?"
"Madam, your sentiments do you honour; you'll be sure not to say
anything of our little mystery."
"Not a syllable."
Two days after this three old maids made an excursion to the village of
Covedale, and lo! the cottage in question was shut up--the woman and the
child were gone. The people in the village knew nothing about them--had
seen nothing particular in the woman or child--had always supposed them
mother and daughter; and the gentleman identified by the clerical
inquisitor with the banker had never but once been observed in the
place.
"The vile old parson," said the eldest of the old maids, "to take away
so good a man's character!--and the fly will cost one pound two, with
the baiting!"
