The Pride of Life. A novel

Front matter

la 1 vol., Price 4s. C;f., cloth lettered. THE COUNTRY HOUSE. Containing the Poultry Yard, the Piggery, the Ox, and the Dairy. Complete. Illustrated wilh numerous Woodcuts. " Eailroads, steam-boats, and other rapid conveyances, which have added so largely to urban populations, have at the same time afforded the means to a numerous body, whose industry is carried forward in towns, of seeking health and amusement in rural pursuits ; to these, as well as to the settled country residents, this book can be confidently recommended." The Seventh Thousand. Price One Shilling. BOSWELL'S BEES, PIGEONS, &c. Being the Habits, Propensities, Dispositions, &c, of Bees, Pigeons, Babbits, and the Canary Bird, familiarly explained ; their Mode of Treatment in Health and Disease. Svo, cloth gilt. In 1 vol. 24mo, 210 Pages.

Piice Two Shillings. BOSWELL'S POULTRY YARD. Being a practical view of the best method of Selecting, Bearing, aud Breeding the various species of Domestic Fowl. A new Edition, cloth gilt. In one Vol., price is. 6d., cloth lettered. RHAM'S DICTIONARY OF THE FARM. A New Edition, entirely revised, by W. and Hugu Rayxbikd. New articles, on the following important subjects, are now added : — Agricultural Implements and Linseed Compounds. Machines. Labour. Artificial Manures. Seeds. Draining. Vermin. Guano. The previous articles being entirely revised, and the latest information introduced, it now forms a most valuable, useful, and modern authority on all matters relating to the management of the Parm. London: Geo. Routledge and Co., 2, Farringdon-street. THE PRIDE OF LIFE, A NOVEL. BY LADY SCOTT, AUTHOR OF "THE HENPECKED HUSBAND," &c. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: G. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON STREET. 1854. J. BILLING, FBINTEB A__CD iTBBEOTYPEB, WOKDiG, SUB-REY. THE PEIDE OF LIFE.

Chapter I

Summer had waned, and autumn had begun, but so gloriously, that no wonder the steamers up the Rhine were still crowded. Pale-faced travellers, on the threshold of their adven tures, just emancipated from London and its duties, met at every step ; sunburnt beings, whose brief holidays had expired — for at this advanced period of the year, people are not all going one way. In that small steamer, boiling so busily towards Ant werp, a number of passengers, all, save two, apparently of that class whose trips abroad must necessarily be brief, are homeward bound. Those two are young men, bearing about them the unmistakeable stamp of a higher sphere. They were leaning against the side of the vessel, not VOL. I. B admiring the scenery, but turned towards the deck, and watching the various groups on board.

To them, the Rhine had fewer charms than the characters they met with in their travels ; for they were far more familiar with every castle and every crag on those fabled shores, than with the banks of their own father Thames, so the pleasure of novelty had worn off. These young men were friends, and, like most friends, contrasts. One was calm, quiet, and indifferent, looking about, as though moving his eyes were a trouble, and raising his eyelids an impossibility, and smoking with dreamy pertinacity. This was Mordaunt Eveleyn, going home very much against his inclination in the month of September to the marriage of a sister ; and though voting his com pulsory return a most unsatisfactory exertion, since the festival could have gone on quite as well without him, still, possessed of sufficient good feeling to be unwilling to vex the family at home by his absence on so impor tant an event.

His friend was a very different sort of person. As vivacious as his friend was 'apparently indolent, there was nothing too trivial for him to notice, nothing too contemptible for him to be amused with. There were times when Mordaunt Eveleyn found his unwearied spirits fatiguing, but then again there were other times when his energy was invaluable, and so, weighed equally in the balance, Felix "Wynn was the man to suit him, and Felix Wynn was the friend of his choice. He accompanied him everywhere, and was on the present occasion going home with him to share in the gaieties of Heron Court. Fully equal, however, to enjoying the actual present and the probable future at the same time, his attention had been for some hours engrossed by watching a group of three persons on board, whose appearance seemed to possess some great interest for him ; and unable at last to keep his cogitations any longer to himself, he joined his friend in his lounge against the sides of the vessel, and began gradually to impart his impressions and ideas.

" Do you see those three people on the other side _ a stout old lady, a man with a grey cap, and a young girl ? I have been watching them for a long time, and for the life of me, I cannot make them out." Eveleyn answered by a shrug ; but this, far from silencing his companion, appeared to be taken as a gesture of encouragement, whereupon he acted by be ginning again. " Who they are, what they are, or to what class of society they belong, I cannot imagine. All I see is, that they are evidently father, mother, and daughter ; and that I did not discover by any likeness, only from elves-dropping." " Then be happy," said his friend, " for I daresay when you have taken the trouble to enquire, that even that is more than anybody else on board knows." " Possibly, but not enough to satisfy me. There are sometimes people and faces towards whom one finds oneself irresistibly attracted, and there is something b about that old father very peculiar and striking.

He has the shabby-genteel air of a broken-down gentle man. What can he be ? and yet people who have ' seen better days,' as the saying is, don't go touring up the Rhine. I have been walking up and down, and round and round them, and all I have been able to gather is, that they came on a six weeks' holiday, and that it has just expired. Now what can they be ?" " In the first place," replied Eveleyn, when he found he was expected to answer, " what does it signify ? in the next, look at that sketch book on the ground near me. The wind has been blowing over the leaves one by one, in the most obliging manner. The man is evidently an artist." Wynn could not resist the temptation thus placed be fore him. He stooped, picked up the book, and before his friend could prevent him, advanced to the objects of his attention and presented it.

With a gesture of thanks, the father took it, and gave it to the young girl by his side, but not before Wynn had possessed himself of some more information to carry back to Mordaunt Eveleyn. " The prettiest creature I ever saw in my life !" he began, " well worth crossing the deck to look at such a face as that ; and the book is hers evidently, not the father's. There are initials on it — S. A. M." " Unfortunate for a young lady," returned Eveleyn, laughing in spite of himself; " Sam is not exactly a good name." " It adds a link to my chain," proceeded his friend ; " come and take a turn, and let us see what she is going to draw." " I have seen already. The sketches are masterly," said Eveleyn, rousing up a little ; " depend upon it, it is as I said, they are artists ; but as / find nothing irresistibly attractive in them, take your turn alone."

In a short time the restless spirit was back again. " She is drawing. Come and look." But no. Eveleyn was not to be persuaded. He still retained his position, because from where he stood he could see as much as he wished. He saw the young girl's small white ungloved hand. He saw her poise her colour box gracefully on the left, whilst with the right she rapidly filled in, with colour, the sketches he had justly designated as masterly, and since it was the pleasure of his friend to oblige him to take a share of interest in the party, he still set them down in his own mind as artists. But Mr. Wynn had by this time made a rapid stride. He had been talking to the father, and ascertained that he had never held a paint-brush in his life, and that the talent of his daughter was inherent. He also discovered that their place of abode was London, for he read it backwards on the fly-leaf of the sketch-book ; but the name, visibly commencing with an M, baffled all his ingenuity.

" Now is it worth while," said Eveleyn, on his second return laden with all he had gleaned, " is it worth while to take all this trouble about people whom we never saw before, and shall never see again ?" " Quite," was the reply, " for it amuses me ; and, as I said before, there is something attractive about the whole group. The man's language and manners are above his apparent station, and the girl is beautiful. Come and look at her." " No," said Eveleyn, with an energy very unworthy the subject, "no woman who submits to disfigure her self in one of those abominable shades — " " Uglys," interrupted Wynn. " Those atrocious ' uglys,' can ever expect to be looked at. Besides, the people don't interest me. I leave them to you, my good fellow. We shall land in half-an-houi", so make the most of your time."

This Wynn did, to the best of his ability; but he learnt nothing further, except that the mother called the daughter by a double name, sounding fatally like " Sarah- Anne," and this rather disenchanted him. At Antwerp every one separated. The passengers dispersed and went their various ways ; and as Mordaunt Eveleyn and his friend did not travel by the conveyance patronized by those who had engrossed so much of their attention, they parted, as they imagined, for ever. " At the same time," exclaimed Felix Wvnn, as a finale, " it will be very long before I get that man's careworn, wretched face, out of my head ; or before I forget that girl's beautiful features." It so happened, however, that his memory was not destined to be put to the test. At Ostend, some slight detention occurred, and they found themselves compelled to remain there the night.

At the usual dinner hour of the hotel at which they were staying, they joined the table-d'-hote, and found everyplace occupied except five, two of which were reserved for themselves, and three for some persons unknown. It was not in the nature of Felix Wynn to suffer even this trifling circumstance to occur, without rousing his insatiable curiosity. He was in a fidget of conjecture till the party arrived ; and when suddenly the chairs were set down, and three people took them, it was all he could do to conceal his surprise and satis faction at recognising his fellow-passengers on board the Rhine steam-boat ! The only hindrance to his contentment, was the fact of the young lady being placed between her parents at table. In the course of the dinner, however, the mother became faint, and left the room.

Every vacant place being valuable, Mr. Wynn and Mr. Eveleyn were soon requested to move up, and by this means the former was placed next to the object of his admiration. But by this time the aspect of affairs changed slightly. Whilst the tongue of Felix Wynn discoursed rapidly with both father and daughter, the eyes of Mordaunt Eveleyn again and again rested on the be witching face which had hitherto been obscured by the atrocious invention which has had such universal tole rance amongst the sex, upon whose character has been unjustly affixed the stigma of vanity. It was a face that could bear any amount of scrutiny, and a head which any style of hair would become ; therefore, though the wavy auburn bands were drawn back, so as even to allow the small white tip of the ear to be seen beneath them, no one could find fault with the profile thus exposed.

Every line was delicately chiselled, every curve faultlessly rounded. The next day, on board the steamer, the same party were thrown together during the few hours occupied in crossing, and this time Mordaunt Eveleyn appeared to take part in the enthusiasm of his friend, except that whilst Felix Wynn devoted himself to the mother and daughter, Eveleyn was more attracted by the father, Avhose behaviour on the present occasion had struck him as something peculiarly honest and straightforward. In stead of withdrawing his daughter from the admiration he saw she excited, he appeared hardly to notice it ; but Eveleyn observed that with no small degree of tact, as soon as an opportunity occurred, he gave both the young men a brief account of himself and family, making himself out no better than he really was ; and, on the contrary, insinuating, with much delicacy, his conscious ness that they moved in a sphere of life very different to his own.

" This has been our first trip abroad," said he, as his eyes glanced towards his wife and daughter ; " and though my holiday comprises only the short space of six weeks, still it has been a time productive of great pleasure, and I hope some profit to at least one of us, for I am sure, Sir, you will not call me vain, when I tell you that my daughter has a real talent for the art to which she must some day look for her bread. I intend her to be an artist, for I humbly believe God himself has guided her into this path. I have nothing myself to give or to leave her ; but she works with a willing and a happy hand, and when fully competent to teach, it will be her profession." Eveleyn followed the direction of the father's eyes, resting lovingly and admiringly on the young girl's face, and read his thoughts.

He saw clearly that he was thinking that the beauty they were all admiring was perhaps only a drawback to her career. It was but a dangerous possession to one so situated. " But she has a steady head for such young shoul ders," he continued, " otherwise it would have stood many a chance of being turned long ere this. My avocations, Sir, take me very much away from home. Within the last year or two I have been a comparatively affluent man — that is to say," he added, with a smile, which seemed more to sadden than enliven his face, " I have been in the receipt of upwards of two hundred a-year, partly as clerk to an Insurance Com pany. You will smile, Sir, at my calling this affluence, but not when I tell you that for fourteen years of my married life, my income never exceeded eighty pounds — " Mordaunt Eveleyn almost started.

" Eighty pounds ! and a wife and daughter to support ?" " Eighty pounds a year," continued his new ac quaintance emphatically, " and a wife, a daughter, and two sons to support." " Good Heavens !" exclaimed Eveleyn, shaking on his apathy in spite of himself, " how could you possi bly manage this ? to me it seems perfectly incredible !" " It must," was the answer, " when you take' into consideration education, which sons must have, and which I resolved my daughter should have." " But how ?" repeated Eveleyn, " how could it be done ? how has even your daughter's talent for drawing been cultivated ?" " I will tell you, Sir. By those fortunate chances which often fall in the way of the unfortunate. My daughter has found many friends in the profession, and she has had for many years, free admissions to the British Museum and the Dulwich Gallery ; but I will not rob her of all merit — she has studied in both these schools by herself — her professional education has not cost me a farthing !

As for my sons," he added, with a shadow of pain crossing his face, " one had a presentation to Christ's Hospital — this was a godsend." " And the other ?" asked Eveleyn, without thought. " The other, Sir — I hope the worst days of his life are over — he has a long life before him in which to atone — to amend, I mean — and I hope the sins of his youth may not be set down entirely to my account. but I suffered him to enter the profession of his choice — I thought it my duty — and he met bad companions. He was a medical student — " " And now ?" persisted Eveleyn, so much interested that the grief on the father's face failed to silence him, " what is he, where is he, now ?" " He is in London, Sir. My daily prayer is that he may some day be removed from so many temptations. What I should like him to do would be, to try for a situation as Parish Doctor in any country place — he has talents — he has one great requisite too — he is devoted to the medical profession."

Eveleyn had listened attentively during this recital, and his sympathy warmed towards the gentlemanly, quiet, and melancholy man before him. He felt inte rested in himself and his family, and marvelled no longer at the half-starved, care-worn look he wore. Eighty pounds a year ! Eighty pounds for fourteen years ! and to educate, dress, and feed three souls on this besides his wife ! — in addition to which, one of three was evidently a wild one, possibly that most bitter belonging, " a thankless child !" He longed to speak — to say something expressive of what he felt — but he could not. There was an air about his companion which repelled rather than courted ques tionings, and Eveleyn felt too that he had already been inquisitive, though he had not intended it. Before they parted, however, he could not resist a few more words.

"Do not think me impertinent," said he, " but your history has interested me deeply. I live a great part of the year in the country, and my father is a country gentleman. Sometimes even those with the least pos sible amount of interest find themselves able to forward the views of others. If I might venture to ask for your card, and should I ever hear of anything likely to suit your eldest son. ..." " You shall have my name with pleasure, Sir," was the reply. " I will write it on your own card, if you give me leave, and my address ; — I have no card." " And I hope," added Mordaunt Eveleyn, as the vessel neared the Pier, and the confusion of landing began, " I hope some day we may meet again." " It is unlikely, Sir," said his acquaintance firmly but respectfully ; " our paths in life are very wide apart — our spheres, our habits, our very natures are different. I thank you much for your kindness and sym pathy, but I do not anticipate that we shall meet again."

Chapter II

So passed this inconsiderable incident of daily life ; yet on introductions as casual, and on foundations as slight, many have built for themselves, without knowing it, the groundwork of their whole future. From the steamer, the passengers, eager for emanci pation, rushed to the Pier. From the Pier there was a simultaneous rush to the vehicles which were to convey them to the terminus, and long after Mordaunt Eveleyn and his friend Wynn were quietly seated in a first-class carriage, distracted groups were still flying hither and thither, losing their companions, looking for places, and persisting in making the porters show them exactly where their luggage was put. At one of those pretty fantastic stations which we so often see along a line of railroad, generally at the end of a long green lane, and marked by a sort of Swiss cottage and a white gate, a dogcart and groom were waiting ; and this was the end of Mordaunt Eveleyn's journey.

A drive of four miles through a lovely coun try would see him at home ; and as he sprang into the vehicle he was on the point of uttering an exclamation of thankfulness, when the train, moving slowly by, brought before his sight once more that peculiar, sorrowful face, and opposite to it, peeping shyly out of the window of a second-class carriage, that face of singular beauty. Another moment and they were gone, and Felix Wynn sighed. " Touched," said Eveleyn smiling, " or more than touched. Rather far gone, perhaps." " No, only sighing over a pleasant little episode. It will be some time before I see anything half so pretty as that little creature again, and the idea makes me me lancholy." And his friend might have believed him, had he not wound up his sentence with one of those laughs so jarring to the more refined ear of Mordaunt Eveleyn.

But now we come to large iron gates between hand some stone pillars, over which are coronets. The gates fly open, and we descend slightly down the gravel sweep, turn sharp round one angle of the building which now emerges, and find ourselves in front of a fine old ba ronial hall. This is Eveleyn's home, his father's princely seat, by virtue of his mother, who was only sister and heiress of the last Lord Heron. A large party are collected in the house in honour of the approaching wedding, and the young men being told that dinner had been put back and was only wait ing for them, went direct to their apartments. As Mor daunt traversed the great hall, ascended its grand stone staircase, passed over velvet carpetings which deadened every sound, and entered his luxurious room where everything that was requisite, from the costly down to the comfortable, was prepared for his reception, a thought intruded upon his home-thoughts, and a vision rose up between his eyes and his luxurious toilet ap pendages ; and those poor people, enjoying on so bttle their brief hobday, and bearing so meekly and respect ably their poverty-stricken destiny, recurred vividly to his memory.

But this feeling, in a scene like that in which he en tered a few moments afterwards, could be but of short duration. The galleries were still echoing with the sound of the dinner-bell, when he found himself in the suite of rooms opening into the dining-room, and the guests were just advancing down the centre as he joined the last two or three. This was the dinner before the wedding day, and the table was decked with all the ancient plate of the Heron family. By the side of the fiancee, — a girl with more style than beauty, — sat the bridegroom elect, Lord Alexander Aylmer, a younger son, but the son of a duke, and consequently considered, even by the proud Eveleyns, a fitting match for their daughter. Mordaunt Eveleyn had two other sisters, fine, showy, handsome girls, who sat near him at table, and who seemed to worship the very air he breathed.

Before his appearance in the drawing-room they had been ex tolling him to the skies, for returning in the month of September, for Susan's wedding, and Susan and he were never such very good friends either, only he was such a good brother. Susan was too worldly for him, only this was a great secret, but still he was pleased that she had done so well for herself, so he testified his approbation by an act of considerable self-sacrifice. They strongly suspected that Susan did not care a straw for Lord Alex ; but then it was such an undeniable con nexion, and Mordaunt was just as particular about those things as their father and mother. All this was imparted to their faithful friend and ally, Felix Wynn, whom they had artfully contrived to place between them at dinner, thus ensuring their own com fort and pleasure, since they had rather dreaded, all day long, being seated amongst some of Susan's new re lations, of whom they as yet knew but little.

Mr. Wynn was in his element. Being grandson and heir-presumptive to a barony, he was considered eligible to talk as much nonsense as he pleased to Grace and Gertrude Eveleyn, without the calm proud eyes of her mother being brought to bear down upon them in a way peculiar to herself, when they were wasting their sweetness on a " desert heir." After having allowed them to expatiate for some time on their brother's good qualities, and their sense of his peculiar goodness on the occasion in question, Mr. Wynn suddenly asked them, if they thought that a sister-in-law would be as agreeable an addition to their domestic circle, as a brother-in-law apparently was ? " Certainly ! provided she were a person we all liked, and thought good enough for him." " That means, I suppose, provided she were young, and pretty, and clever, and dressed well ?"

" Yes, and a little more," said Grace. " We should like her to be our own age," said Ger trude, " and, of course, very ladylike." " And well-born," added Grace. " Would there be any objection to her, were she in the habit of wearing what you ladies call an uyly ?" " You gentlemen, you mean ! we call them sun-shades ; but what an absurd question — why do you ask ?" " Because, to tell you a great secret " " Nonsense," said both sisters, half doubtingly, " what are you going to say ?" " I was going to prepare you for something that Mordaunt himself will communicate more fully at the first convenient moment." " Some of your inventions," said Gertrude. " No, on my word. For once in my life I am not joking. Since Mordaunt parted from you two months ago, he has seen a young lady May I go on ? do Mrs. Eveleyn's eyes say yes or no, for they are fixed on us, though she is holding a conversation with the Duke at the same time."

" Mamma has that faculty," said Grace, sotto voce ; " she can keep up a coherent dialogue, whilst she hears every word passing around her. She hears us now." It was true. Mrs. Eveleyn had not lost a syllable of the conversation held between Mr. Wynn and her daughters, and now looked towards them with a proud calm smile. " Yes, I hear you," said she, " and I assure you, Mordaunt is quite aware that I shall be happy, when ever it pleases him, to welcome the daughter-in-law he selects for me." " Mr. Wynn says he has found one, mamma," cried Gertrude, the heedless, as she was styled in the domestic circle. " Very well," answered Mrs. Eveleyn, " Mordaunt has chosen well, I have no doubt." Then turning to her lordly neighbour, she added, " I have a sort of superstition that none of our family can ever contract a mesalliance, for there is no record, either in the Heron of the Eveleyn family, or any of their members having ever married beneath them."

Nearly opposite to Mr. Wynn and his merry com panions, sat Lady Heron, the widow of the last Lord, and when she heard this speech, she tried to edge in a few little sentiments of her own ; but having a very weak voice, and a very tremulous manner, it was not often she gained any attention. " Well, my dear," she began, " I daresay that is a VOL. I. C very agreeable reflection to those who set store by thcs things ; but do you know, I do not myself see the great crime of people moving a little out of their sphere now and then ; a little higher or a little lower." " A little higher with pleasure," said Mrs. Eveleyn, " but not lower, my dear Lucy." " Yes, my dear, I repeat, or a little lower. Now look at my niece Miller. She was one of seven daughters, all single, and the youngest twenty-two, when Mr. Miller, who is really a most excellent man, was so good as to " My dear Lucy !" ejaculated Mrs. Eveleyn.

" Yes, Susan, I call it good of him, because he had made his fifteen thousand a year, in his good honest profession — I rather think it was the tea trade — but at all events, he married my niece without a sixpence, and from a poor clergyman's home ; and I give you my word when my sister Julia first went to stay with the new-married couple in that magnificent place of theirs, she shed tears of thankfulness !" " Nevertheless," said Mrs. Eveleyn, with a flush on each cheek, although Lady Heron's niece's husband was no relation of hers, " I well remember Lady Julia's shedding very different tears the day Mr. Miller pro posed !" " Ah, very possibly," retorted Lady Heron, de lighted to have achieved so long a story, " very likely she felt a few bttle worldly twinges at first ; but my dear, when poor peers have a great many daughters, as my father had, they must put pride a little on one side when a new generation enters the field."