The Daltons; or, Three Roads in Life. ... With illustrations by Phiz

Front matter

Pagl X A4RE-E ROAfi_S 1 W LI P £ . j.viT. OR THREE ROADS IN LIFE OB THREE ROADS IN LIFE. uv CHARLES LEVER AUTHOR OF THE "KNIGHT OF GWYNNE," "ROLAND CASHEL," &C. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY PHIZ. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1852. TO LORD METHUEN. My de.vh Methuen, Soxle idle folk have pretended that certain living characters have been depicted under the fictitious names of these volumes. There is, I assure you, but one personahty7 contained in it, — and that is of a right true-hearted Enghshmau, hospitable, and manly in all his dealings, and to him I wish to dedicate my book, in testimony, not only ofthe gratitude which, iu common with aU his countrymen here, I feel to be his due, but in recognition of many happy hours passed in his society, and the honour of his friendship.

The personality begins aud ends with this dedication, which I beg you to accept of, and am Ever yours, faithfully. CHAELES LEVEE. Palazzo Capponi, Florence, Feb. 28, 1852. CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter I

page Baden out of Season 1 II. An Humble Interior 9 ni. " The Forest Road" 19 IV. The Onslows 33 V. The Patient 39 VI. A First Visit 45 VII. A Lesson in Pistol Shooting 52 VIII. The Night Excursion 58 IX. A Fine Lady's Blandishments 65 X. A Family Discussion 71 XI. '; A Peep between the Shutters," at a New Character . . .78 XII. Mr. Albert Jekyl 86 XIII. A Suspicious Visitor 92 XIV. An Embarrassing Question 97 XV. Contrasts 110 XVI. The "Saal" of "theRussie" 125 xvn. A Family Discussion 129 XVIII. Cares and Crosses 140 XIX. The Preparation for the Road CONTENTS. VII

CHAPTER XX. PAGF.

A very Small •• Interior' 161 XXI. A Family Picture 1GC XXII. Kate 177 XXIII. A Small Supper Party 185 XXIV. A Midnight Reception 193 XXV. A "Levanter" 199 XXVI. " The End of the First Act" 214 XXVII. A Small Dinner at the Villino Zoe 225 xxvni. The Viscount's Vision 236 XXIX. Frank's Journey 243 XXX. The Threat of " a Slight Embarrassment" 257 XXXI. A Convivial Eveninc 265 XXXII. At Invasion 276 XXXIII. The Conclusion of a " Grand Dinner" 289 XXXIV. Jekyl's Counsels 300 XXXV. " Racca Morlache" 309 XXXVI. " A Street Rencontre" 321 XXXVH. " Proposals" 333 XXXVIII. An Arrival 345 XXXIX. ■; Pratolino" 353 XL. A Morning of Misadventures 3C4 XLI. "A Sad Household" 37' LIST OF PLATES.-VOL. I. Frontispiece. Vignette. page Hans enveiohs against the " Horrors of War " 15 The Farewell Kiss 22 The Wooden Figure 44 To the Rescue ! 56 Lady Hester visits the Wounded 68 Mr. Alfred Jekyl at Supper 84 All is not Gold that glitters 107 A small Tea Party 109 A Hydropathic Remedy 150 Friendly Advice kindly received — (as usual) 154 Kate and Nina 180 Mr. Jekyl's Supper Trio 18G A Midnight Reception 193 The Mesmeric Trance 219 Lord Norwood 232 A Fellow-Traveller 246 Punch and Palaver 267 Mrs. Ricketts proposes a little Walk by Moonlight . . . . 284 Purvis taking a Survet 291 Mr. Purvis procures a Chair for Kate 295 A Floorer 329 A Fragment of Lace 340 Purvis caught pryinc 366 Grounsell brought to ray . . OR, THREE ROADS IN LIFE.

CHAPTER I. BADEN OUT OF SEASON.

A theatre by daylight — a great historical picture iu the process of cleaning — a baUet-dancer of a wet-day hastening to rehearsal — the favourite for the Oaks dead-lame in a straw-yard — are scarcely more stripped of theh legitimate iUusions than is a fashionable watering-place on the approach of winter. The gay shops and staUs of flaunting wares, are closed ; tbe promenades, lately kept in trimmest order, are weed grown and neglected; the "sear and yeUow leaves" are fluttering and rustling along the aUeys where " Beauty's step was wont to tread." Both music and fountains have ceased to play ; the very statues are putting on great overcoats of snow, whde the orange-trees file off like a sad funeral procession to hide themselves in dusky sheds till the coming spring. You see as you look around you that nature has been as unreal as art itself; and that aU the bright hues of foliage and flower — all the odours that floated from hed and parterre — aU the ripphng flow of stream and fountain, have been just as artisticaUy devised, and as much " got up," as the transparencies, or the Tyrolese singers, the fireworks, or tlie fancy fair, or any other of those ingenious " spectacles" which amuse the grown children of fashion.

The few who yet hnger seem to have under gone a strange transmutation. The smiling landlord of the " Adler" — B ; OK, we refer particularly to Germany as the very land of watering-places — is a half-sulky, farmer-looking personage, busily engaged in storing up bis Indian corn, and his firewood and his forage, against the season of snows. The bland " Croupier," on whose impassive countenance no shade of fortune was able to mark even a passing emotion, is now seen higgling with a peasant for a sack of charcoal, in aU the eagerness of avarice. The trim maiden, whose golden locks and soft blue eyes made the bouquets she sold seem faber to look on, is a stout wench, whose uncouth fur cap and wooden shoes are the very antidotes to romance. All the transformations take the same sad colours. It is a pantomime read backwards.

Such was Baden-Baden in the November of 1 82 — . Some weeks of bad and broken weather had scattered and dispersed aU the gay company. The hotels and assembly-rooms were closed for the winter. The ball-room, wliich so lately was alight with a thousand tapers, was now barricaded like a gaol. The very post-office, around which each morn ing an eager and pressing crowd used to gather, was shut up— one smaU aperture alone remainingas if to show to what a fraction all correspondence had been reduced. The Hotel de Russie was the only house open hi the little town ; but although the door lay ajar, no busy throng of waiters, no lamps, invited the traveUer to believe a hospitable reception might await liim within. A very brief glance inside would soon have dispelled any such illusion had it ever existed.

The wide staircase, for merly fined with orange-trees and camelfias, was stripped of aU its bright foliage; the marble statues were removed; the great thermometer, whose crystal decorations had arrested many a passbig look, was now encased within a wooden box, as if its teU-tale face might reveal unpleasant truths, if left exposed. The spacious " Saal," where some eighty guests assembled every day, was denuded of aU its furniture, mirrors and lustres ; bronzes and pictures were gone, and nothing remained but a huge earthenware stove, within whose grating a faded nosegay — left there in summer — defied aU speculations as to a fire. In this comfortless chamber three persons now paraded with that quick step and brisk motion that bespeak a walk for warmth and exercise; for dismal as it was within doors, it was stiH preferable to the scene with out, where a cold incessant rain was fabing, that, on the lulls around, took the form of snow.

The last lingerers at a watering-place, Hke those who cling on to a wreck, have usuaUy something pecuharly sad in theb aspect. Unable, as it were, to brave the waves Hke strong swimmers, they hold on to tbe last with some vague hope of escape, aud Hke a shipwrecked crew drawing closer to each other in adversity than in more prosperous times three koads in life. they condescend now to acquaintance and even intimacy, where, before, a mere nod of recognition w;v alone interchanged. Such were the three who now, buttoned up to the chin, and with hands deeply thrust into side pockets, paced backwards and forwards, sometimes exchanging a few words, but in that broken and discursive fashion that showed that no tie of mutual taste or companionship had bound them together. The youngest of the party was a small aud very slightly made man of about five or six-and-twenty, whose face, voice, and figure were almost feminine, and, only for a very sbght line of black moustache, might have warranted the suspicion of a disguise.

His lacquered hoots and spotless yellow gloves appeared somewhat out of season, as weU as the very light textured coat which he wore ; but Mr. Albert Jekyl had been accident aUy detained at Baden, waiting for that cruel remittance which — whether the sin be that of agent or relative — is ever so slow of coming. That he bore the inconvenience admirably (and without the slightest show of impatience) it is but fair to confess, and whatever chagrin, either the detention, the bad weather, or the solitude may have occasioned, no vestige of discontent appeared upon features where a look of practised courtesy, and a most bland snule, gave the predominant expression. '■Who he was," or, in other words, whence be came — of what family — with what fortune, pursuits, or expectations, we are not ashamed to con fess our utter ignorance, seeing that it was shared by aU those that tar ried that season at Baden, with whom, however, he Hved on terms of easy and famifiar intercourse.

The next to him was a bihous looking man, somewhat past the middle of life, with that hard and severe cast of features that rather repels than invites intimacy. In figure he was compactly and stoutly bmlt, his step as he walked and his air as he stood showed one whose military training had given the whole tone to his character. Certain strong Hues about the mouth, and a peculiar puckering of the angles of the eyes, boded a turn for sarcasm, which aU his instincts, and they were Scotch ones, could not completely repress. His voice was loud, sharp, and ringing ; the voice of a man who, when he said a thing, would not brook being asked to repeat it. That Colonel Haggerstone knew how to be sapling as weU as oak, was a tradition among those who had served with him; stiU it is right to add, that his more congenial mood was the imperative, and that which he usuaUy practised.

The accidental lameness of one of his horses had detained him some weeks at Baden, a durance which assuredly appeared to push his temper to its very last en trenchments. The thbd representative of forlorn humanity was a very taU, muscular man, whose jockey-cut green coat and wide-brimmed hat, contrasted b ; OR, oddly with a pah of huge white moustaches, that would have done credit to a captain of the old guard. On features, originaUy handsome, tune, poverty, and dissipation, had left many a mark; but still the half droll, half truculent twinkle of his clear grey eyes, showed him one whom no turn of fortune could thoroughly subdue, and who, even hi the very hardest of his trials, could find heart to indulge his humour — for Peter Dalton was an Irishman; and although many years an absentee, held the dear island and its prejudices as green in his memory as though he had left it but a week before.

Such were the three — who, -without one sympathy in common, without a point of contact in character — were now drawn into a chance acquaint ance by the mere accident of bad weather. Their conversation — if such it could he called — showed how Httle progress could be made hi intimacy by those whose roads in Hfe He apart. The by-gone season, the com pany, the play-table and its adventures, were all discussed so often, that nothing remained but the weather. That topic, so inexhaustible to Englishmen, however, offered little variety now, for it had been uni formly bad for some weeks past. " Where do you purpose to pass the winter, Sir ?" said Haggerstone to Jekyl, after a somewhat lengthy lamentation over the probable con dition of all the Alpine passes. "I've scarcely thought of it yet," simpered out the other, with his habitual smile.

" There's no saying where one ought to pitch his tent till the Carnival opens." " And you, Sir ?" asked Haggerstone of his companion on the other side. "Upon my honour, I don't know then," said Dalton; "but I wouldn't wonder if I stayed here or hereabouts." "Here! — why, this is Tobolsk, Sb ! — you surely couldn't mean to pass a winter here?" " I once knew a man who did it," interposed Jekyl, blandly. " They cleaned him out at 'the tables;' and so he had nothing for it but to re main. He made rather a good thing of it, too ; for it seems these worthy people, however conversant with the great arts of ruin, had never seen the royal game of thimble-rig; and Frank Mathews walked into them all, and contrived to keep himself in beet-root and boiled beef by his little talents." " Wasn't that the feUow who was broke at KUmagund ?" croaked Haggerstone.

" Something happened to him bi India ; I never well knew what," simpered Jekyl. " Some said he had caught the cholera ; others, that he had got into the Company's service." THREE ROADS IN LIKE. 5 By way of a mishap, Sir, I suppose," said the Colonel, tartly. " He woiddn't bave minded it, in the least. For certain," resumed the other coolly, "he was a sharp-witted feUow; always ready to take the tone of any society." The Colonel's cheek grew yellower, and his eyes sparkled with an angrier lustre ; but he made no rejoinder. " That's the place to make a fortune, I'm told," said Dalton. " I hear there's not the Hke of it aU the world over." " Or to spend one," added Haggerstone, curtly. " WeU, and why not ?" replied Dalton. " I'm sure it's as pleasant as saving — barring a man's a Scotchman." " And if he should be, Sb ? — and if he were one that now stands be fore you?" said Haggerstone, drawing liimself proudly up, and looking the other sternly in the face.

" No offence — no offence in Hfe. I didn't mean to burt your feehngs. Sure, a man can't help where he's goingto be born." " I fancy we'd aU have booked ourselves for a cradle in Buckingham Palace," interposed Jekyl, " if the matter were optional." " Faith ! I don't think so," broke in Dalton. "Give me back Corrig- O'Neal, as my7 Grandfather Pearce had it, with the whole Barony of Kihnurray-O'Mahon, two packs of hounds, and the first cellar in the county, and to the devU I'd fling aU the royal residences ever I seen." " The sentiment is scarcely a loyal one, Sir," said Haggerstone, " and as one wearing his Majesty's cloth, I beg to take the liberty of remind ing you of it." " Maybe it isn't ; — and what then ?" said Dalton, over whose good natured countenance a passing cloud of displeasure lowered.

" Simply, Sb, that it shouldn't be uttered in my presence," said Haggerstone. " Phew !" said Dalton, with a long whistle. " Is that what you're at? See, now — " Here he turned fuUy round, so as to face the Colonel — "see, now; I'm the duUest feUow in the world at what is caUed ' taking a thing up ;' but make it clear for me — let me only see what is pleasing to the company, and it isn't Peter Dalton wiU baulk your fancy." " May I venture to remark," said Jekyl, blandly, " that you are both hi error, and however I may (the cold of the season being considered) envy y-our warmth, it is after all only so much caloric needlessly ex pended." " I wasn't choleric at all," broke in Dalton, mistaking the word, and ; OR, thus happily, by the hearty laugh his blunder created, bringing the sUly altercation to an end.

"Well," said Haggerstone, "since we are all so perfectly agreed in our sentiments, we couldn't do better than dine together, and have a bumper to the King's health. " I always dine at two, or half past," simpered Jekyl : " besides, I'm on a regimen, and never drink wine." " There's nobody likes a bit of conviviaUty better than myself," said Dalton ; " but I've a kind of engagement — a promise I made this morning." There was an evident confusion in the way these words were uttered, which did not escape either of the others, who exchanged the most significant glances as he spoke. " What have we here ?" cried Jekyl, as he sprang to the window and looked out. "A courier by all that's muddy7? Who coidd have expected such an apparition at this time ?" " What can bring people here now ?" said Haggerstone, as with his glass to his eye he surveyed the little well-fed figure, who, in his tawdry jacket aU slashed with gold, and heavy jack-boots, was closely locked in the embraces of the landlord.

Jekyl at once issued forth to learn the news, and, although not fully three minutes absent, returned to his companions vith a fuU account of the expected arrivals. " It's that rich hanker, Sir Stafford Onslow-, with his family. They were on their way to Italy, and made a mess of it somehow in the Black Forest — they got swept away by a torrent, or crushed by an avalanche, or something of the kind, and Sir Stafford was seized with the gout, and so they've put back, glad even to make such a port as Baden." " If it's the gout's the matter with him," said Dalton, " I've the finest receipt in the world. Take a pint of spirits — poteen if you can get it beat up two eggs and a pat of butter in it ; throw in a clove of garlic and a few scrapings of horse-radish, let it simmer over the fire for a minute or two, stir it with a sprig of rosemary to give it a flavour, and then drink it off."

" Gracious Heaven ! what a dose !" exclaimed Jekyl, in horror. " WeU, then, I never knew it faU. My father took it for forty years, and there wasn't a haler man in the country. If it wasn't that he gave up the horse-radish, for he didn't like the taste of it, he'd, maybe, be alive at this hour." " The cure was rather slow of operation," said Haggerstone, with a sneer. TnREE ROADS IN LIFE. 7 " 'Twas only the more hke all remedies for Irish grievances, then," observed Dalton, aud his face grew a shade g-raver as he spoke. " Who was it this Onslow married?" said the Colonel, turning to Jekyl. '• One of the Headworths, I think," " Ah, to be sure ; Lady Hester. She was a handsome woman when I saw her first, but she fell off sadly, and indeed, if she had not, she'd scarcely have condescended to an aUiance with a man in trade, even though he were Sb GUbert Stafford."

" Sb GUbert Stafford!" repeated Dalton. "Yes, sb; and now Sb Gifford Stafford Onslow. He took the name from that estate hi Warwiekshbe. Skepton Park, I beheve they caU it." "By my conscience, I wish that was the only thing he took," ejaculated Dalton, with a degree of fervour that astonished the others, " for he took an elegant estate that belonged by right to my wife. Maybe you have heard teU of Corrig-O'Neal ?" Haggerstone shook his head, winle with his elbow he nudged his companion, to intimate bis total disbelief in the whole narrative. " Surely you must have heard of the murder of Arthur Godfrey, of Corrig-O'Neal; wasn't the whole world ringing with it ?" Another negative sign answered this appeal. "WeU, weU, that beats aU ever I heard! but so it is, sorrow bit they care in England ff we all murdered each other !

Arthur Godfrey, as I was saying, was my wife's brother — there were just the two of them, Arthur and Jane — she was my wife." " Ab ! here they come !" exclaimed Jekyl, not sorry for the event which so opportunely interrupted Dalton's unpromising history. And now a heavy7 travelling carriage, loaded with imperials and beset with boxes, was dragged up to the door hy six smoking horses. The courier and the landlord were immediately bi attendance, and after a brief delay the steps were lowered, and a short, stout man, with a very red face, and a very yeUow wig, descended, and assisted a lady to aHght. She was a tab woman, whose figure and carriage were characterized by an ah of fashion. After her came a younger lady, and lastly7 — moving with great difficulty, and showing by his worn looks and enfeebled frame the suffer big he had endured — came a very thin, mUd-looking man of about sixty.

Leaning upon the arm of the courier at one side, and of his stout com panion, whom he caUed Doctor, at the other, he slowly followed the ladies into the house. They had scarcely disappeared, when a caleche, drawn by three horses at a sharp gaUop, drew up, and a young feUow sprang ; OR, out, whose easy gestures and active movements showed that aU the enjoyments of wealth, and aU the blandishments of fashion, had not undermined the elastic vigour of body which young Englishmen owe to the practice of field sports. " This place quite deserted, I suppose," cried he, addressing the land lord. " No one here ?" " No one, Sir. AU gone," was the reply. Haggerstone's head shook with a movement of impatience as he heard this remark, disparaging, as it was, to his own importance ; but he said nothing, and resumed his walk as before.

"Our Irish friend is gone away, I perceive," said Jekyl, as he looked around in vain for Dalton. "Do you beheve aU that story of the estate he told us ?" " Not a syUable of it, Sir. I never yet met an Irishman — and it has been my lot to know some scores of them — who had not been cheated out of a magnificent property, and was not related to half the Peerage to boot. Now, I take it, that our highly-connected friend is rather out at elbows !" And he laughed his own peculiar hard laugh, as though the mere fancy of another man's poverty was something inconceivably pleasant and amusing. " Dinner, Sb," said the waiter, entering, and addressing the Colonel. " Glad of it," cried he ; " it's the only way to kiU time in this cursed place;" and so saying, and without the ceremony of a good-bye to his companion, the Colonel bustled out of the room with a step intended to represent extreme youth aud activity.

" That gentleman dines at two?" asked he of the waiter, as he foUowed him up the stairs. " He has not dined at all, Sir, for some days back," said the waiter. " A cup of coffee in the morning and a biscuit are all that he takes." The Colonel made an expressive gesture by turning out the lining of his pocket. "Yes, Sb," replied the other, significantly; "very much that way, I beheve." And with that he uncovered the soup, and the Colonel arranged his napkin and prepared to dine.

Chapter II. An Humble Interior

W hen Dalton parted fi-om his companions at the " Russie," it was to proceed by many an intricate and narrow passage to a remote part of the upper town, where close to the garden waU of the Ducal palace stood, and stiU stands, a little sofitary two-storied bouse, framed in wood, and the partitions displaying some very faded traces of fresco painting. Here was the web-known shop of a toy-maker ; and although now closely barred and shuttered, in summer many a gay and merry7 troop of children devoured with eager eyes the treasures of Hans Roeckle. Entering a dark and narrow passage beside the shop, Dalton ascended tbe Httle creaking stabs whieh led to the second story. The landing place was covered with fire-wood, great branches of newly-hewn beech and oak, ia the midst of which stood a youth, hatchet in hand, busily engaged hi chopping and spfitting the heavy masses around him.

The flush of exercise upon his cheek suited weU the character of a figure which clothed only in shirt and trousers, presented a perfect picture of youthful strength and symmetry. "Tbed, Frank ?" asked the old man, as he came up. " Tbed, father ! not a bit of it. I only wish I had as much more to spbt for you, since the winter wiU be a cold one." "Come in and sit down, boy, now," said the father, with a shght tremor as he spoke. " We cannot have many more opportunities of talking together. To-morrow is the twenty-eighth of November." " Yes ; and I must be in Vienna by the fourth, so uncle Stephen writes." " You must not caU him uncle, Frank, he forbids it himself ; besides, he is my uncle, and not yours. My father and he were brothers, but never saw each other after fifteen years of age, when the Count — that's what we always caUed him — entered the Austrian service, so that we are aU strangers to each other."

" His letter doesn't show any Hvely desire for a closer intimacy," said the boy, laughing. " A droU composition it is, spelling, and aU." " He left Ireland when he was a chUd, and lucky he was to do so," sighed Dalton, heavily ; " I wish I had done the same." The chamber into which they entered was, although scrupulously clean and neat, marked hy every sign of poverty. The furniture was scanty ; OR, and of the humblest kind. The table bnen such as used by the pea santry, whHe the great jug of water that stood on the board seemed the very climax of narrow fortune in a land where the very poorest are wine drinkers. A smaU knapsack with a light traveUing cap on it, and a staff beside it, seemed to attract Dalton's eyes as he sat down. " It is but a poor equipment, that yonder, Frank," said he at last, with a forced smile.

" The easier carried," rephed the lad, gaily. " Very true," sighed the other. " You must make the journey on foot." " And why not, father? Of what use aU this good blood, of which I have been told so often and so much, if it wiU not enable a man to com pete with the low-born peasant. And see how weU tliis knapsack sits," cried he, as he threw it on liis shoulder. " I doubt if the Emperor's pack wiU be as pleasant to carry." " So long as you haven't to carry a heavy heart, boy," said Dalton, with deep emotion, " I believe no load is too much !" " If it were not for leaving you and the gbls, I never could be happier, never more fuU of hope, father. Why should not / win my w7ay upward as Count Stephen has done? Loyalty and courage are not the birthright of only one of our name !" " Bad luck was all the bbthright ever I inherited," said the old man, passionately; "bad luck in everything I touched through bfe!

Where others grew rich, I became a beggar; where they found happiness, /met misery and ruin! But it's not of this I ought to be thinking now," cried he, changing his tone. " Let us see, where are the girls?" And so say ing, he entered a Httle kitchen which adjoined the room, and where, en gaged bi the task of preparing the dinner, was a girl, who, though several years older, bore a striking resemblance to the boy. Over features that must once have been the very type of buoyant gaiety, years of sorrow and suffering had left their deep traces, and the dark circles around the eyes betrayed how deeply she had known affliction. Ellen Dalton's figure was faulty for want of height in proportion to her size, but had another and more grievous defect in a lameness, which made her walk with the greatest difficulty.

This was the consequence of an accident when riding, a horse having faUen upon her and fractured the hip-bone. It was said, too, that she had been engaged to be married at the time, but that her lover, shocked by the disfigurement, had broken off the match, and thus made this calamity the sorrow of a life long. "Where's Kate?" said the father, as he cast a glance around the chamber. EUen drew near, and whispered a few words hi his ear. " Not in this dreadful weather; surely, EUen, you didn't let her go out in such a night as this." "Hush!" murmured she, "Frank will hear you; and remember, father, it is his last night with us." " Couldn't old Andy have found the place ?" asked Dalton; and, as he spoke, he turned his eyes to a corner of the kitchen, where a little old man sat in a straw chair peelingturnips, while he croned a ditty to hhnself hi a low sing-song tone; his tliin wizened features, browned by years and smoke, liis small scratch wig, and the remains of an old scarlet hunting-coat that he wore, giving lum the strongest resemblance to one of the monkeys one sees in a street exhibition.