The sea and the moor, or, Homeward-bound

Front matter

AND THE MOO

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Chapter I

" Hark, how the mighty winds on high Suddenly lift their wailing cry ! From ocean's waves that blast is borne,

From grove and wood the leaves are torn ; Through the long watches of the night, Eed lightnings flash unquiet light."

R. M. K.

In the cold dawn of that January morning, when the telegraph wires were coiled round posts and chimneys or lay cumbering the iron roads through England, where communication was partially suspended, a great passenger steam-ship, homeward-bound from the East Indies, foundered in mid-ocean.

Such a storm had not been known within the memory of man. Even in sheltered English coombs

4 ilOMEWARD-BOUND.

and parks the lordliest trees fell. Tall firs, which had done battle with the breezes for centuries, gave way under the combined pressure of the overwhelming weight of snow upon their branches, and the violence of the gale. Ilex and juniper snapped like twigs; cedar and cypress were laid low. In Torbay scores of vessels were driven to and fro and dashed to pieces ; while, in the Thames and other large estuaries, the barges and river-craft sank with the white, cold burden, which irresistibly weighed them down.

On the deck of the "Lord Clyde," as she lay helpless, at the mercy of the winds and waves, after the mighty mountain of water descending through the hatch of the engine-room had put out the fires and stopped the throbbing pulses of the machinery, and the thundering waves had stove in her sternports and flooded the hold and the cabins— with the boards on which he stood slowly but perceptibly lowering, a man, with his arms folded across his chest, was looking straight before him out to sea. Through a rift in the storm-clouds stole one pale gleam of morning light, but his face was seen more plainly by the fitful rays of a lantern, which flashed up occasionally as one or two seamen hurriedly passed him. They were casting off the ropes

SUNSET IN THE MOOE. 5

of a large ship's boat, the starboard pinnace, the first which had been launched successfully. It needed to be a bold man to take the perilous leap from the deck of the sinking ship to the boat which was dashing against her broadside in the boiling caldron of waters.

And yet one of the figures, dimly seen through mist and spray, with which it was filled, was that of a woman; a lady by her dress, and of calm mien and bearing. Her eyes were fixed upon the man who was looking down from the ship's side without an effort to save himself. In fact the boat was already full, and he had struggled hard to obtain a place for her. She was still expecting him to join her with one other fellow-passenger, whom he had offered to seek and, if possible, to save, as a pretence for quitting her; but he did not stir. One deep throb heaved the red Garibaldi which covered his broad chest, as he bent a little forward and raised his cap solemnly, reverentially, in token of leave-taking. Then, as the boat was lifted on the waves which threatened to engulf her, he joined in the hoarse cheer of the men who stood gazing from the deck, with but little hope that there was a chance of life for those to whom they bade " God speed you !"

Through the raging of the storm, across the roaring billows, there came a -wailing cry of bitter disappointment, and the man's cheek flushed. He watched the struggles of the boat, as she writhed like a tortured living thing, in the waters; now apparently swallowed up, as wave after wave swept over her, but still emerging and receding slowly, growing less and less, till the darkness and driving mist hid her from his sight.

Though outwardly calm, the man who was left behind in the sinking vessel had bitter thoughts stirring in his heart. Not blame but envy predominated. It seemed as if it would have been so much easier to part with life — that life which beat high and strong within him — in the midst of the mighty exertions, the hideous privations, which the boat's crew must endure, than to wait for death, in the prime of early manhood, with his own bodily strength and mental powers of as little avail as the ponderous machinery of the water-logged vessel. But he had to endure his fate and he bore it manfully.

He was only a steerage passenger ; but there were signs of gentle birth in his voice and on his person, and he had enjoyed the passage. Life which had sometimes tried him sorely, had worn of late a plea santer aspect. That last faint cry of desolation, ringing across the waters, brought back recollections of loiterings on calm days in conversation; and questionings on subjects which his varied knowledge, picked up in many scenes and climes, enabled him to answer well. But it was of no u&e now — the most scientific mariner, the best scholar, the cleverest mechanic, could do nothing to avert the common doom. He was denied even the poor consolation of aiding the lovely woman, who had clung to him for help in her wild despairing agony, to bear the horrors of her almost inevitable destiny.

At that moment, when an unaccountable moisture dimmed eyes long unused to tears, a hand was laid suddenly on the man's arm, the touch of tiny trembling fingers made his pulses vibrate. He looked up quickly; and saw, close beside him, hanging over the vessel's side, looking out to sea, a fair, fragile girl, loosely wrapped in a white-frilled dressing-gown, with pale golden hair flowing over her shoulders. So light, so frail, that it almost seemed as if the snowdrifts, the foam-wreaths in which all were about to perish, had conjured up a mocking semblance of humanity.

The man whom that soft, quivering touch had roused from a reverie in which he was bidding adieu to life, looked with compassion at the feeble creature who was about to perish with him. It did not seem as if she had much vitality to relinquish ; and yet, in a certain way, she was beautiful. There were the same perfect lines of form and features, which, under warmer colouring, he had greatly admired ; but the delicate pearly skin showed the blue veins meandering beneath it, the small hand resting on his arm might belong to a fairy. He could see the pulse throbbing on the temple, whence the fair abundant hair had been pushed back, or blown away by the rough wind, not in sport, but anger. The wonderfully-beautiful large grey eyes wete following with their tearful glances the track of the boat upon the water.

There was something unearthly in the thrilling whisper which sounded plainly in his ear, even amidst the din of the tempest. The man scarcely knew what words she used; but he had already guessed that one person on board the pinnace was very dear to her. They stood for several moments afterwards silently together, looking seaward.

fjome new feeling stirred within the man's mind. The only woman in whom, previously, beyond the common claim of suffering feminine humanity, he had felt interested, had profited by the faint chance of life he had obtained for her; and, this done, he was content to share the fate of the captain, the ship's officers, and the remainder of the crew and passengers. Now, as the fair pale girl stood patiently beside him, he resolved to make one more effort to save her.

It needed but few words to nerve hearts as manty as his own to make another struggle, when he pointed out that, for the moment, there was a slight break in the storm. The winds and waves were mercifully subsiding.

The girl had crouched down shivering where he had left herewith her long tresses blown back by the gale, when he returned bringing a seaman's cap that lay ownerless, and a warm cloak belonging to the captain.

" Dare you venture ? Will you follow your sister's brave example ? There is a chance of life left for us if you will trust entirely to me," the man said, bending down to speak. " Who knows but we may see again those we love best on earth. The captain and most of the officers elect to stay by the ship ; but there is still a boat to be launched, and he has ordered an officer and crew to man the port-cutter. Will you come with me ?"

A thrill like that which heralds returning life after long insensibility ran through the girl's frame. A faint blush stole over her cheeks, the grey eyes kindled lustrously, the sweet expressive curve of the mouth relaxed, as she laid her hand frankly in that of her new friend, saying faintly, yet firmly : "lam ready."

The man- turned away again; and for the next half hour a band of resolute fellows and himself were busy with preparations for launching the port-cutter. One of the officers of the ship, a mere lad, had just consigned to the waves a bottle, carefully corked, containing a last farewell to his friends in England. The youth looked up and said, encouragingly:

" Will you not send a message to say you have left the ship ? I will write down the words for you."

The steerage-passenger hesitated ; then, with warm thanks for the offer, he dictated a short letter, which ran as follows :

" On Board the Passenger Steam-ship, ' Lord Clyde.'

"January — , 1865. Nine o'clock, a.m.

" The ship is sinking fast. In the hope of saving the

life of Lady Desborough, I have persuaded the men

to launch the port-cutter, in which we are about to

put to sea. Miss Forester quitted the ship an hour

ago in the starboard-pinnace. Any one who picks up

this letter is requested to forward it to Desborough

House, Newmarket.

" Gloege Campion."

" Nothing to your own friends ? Is that all ?" inquired the young officer.

" I have no friends !" was the curt reply.

As he said the words Campion looked across the heaving waters ; while a pang of self-reproach shot through his heart, and a lurid light rushed past his eyes, dimming them by its blinding lustre. The mountainous crested billows took the forms of stony castles on the waste, in the blood-red radiance of a sunset among the Cornish moors.

The girl had fallen quite prostrate on the deck when he again went back to her. It seemed impossible that so frail a thing should survive the tempest, but she smiled gratefully at his approach. The sailors murmured among themselves that it was scarcely fair to take her in the place of a man, who could lend aid and weather the storm. The poor young lady was half dead already. On this point, however, Campion was immovable ; and, with the chivalrous good-nature of their class, the crew yielded to his persuasions.

There was scant time for ceremony. With the slight form — well-nigh insensible after the first glance at the hell of waters into which they seemed about to plunge — clasped close to his breast, Campion took the leap which made even the boldest shudder. Then,

J 2 HOMEWARD-BOUND,

laying his burden down gently, and covering the girl's slender figure with a cloak, he lent himself, mind and body, heart and soul, to the task before him. Deep down, almost in the mermaid's caves, with awful glimpses into the abyss, then riding on the crests of mountain waves, the boat still lived and made way slowly. Slowly, indeed; for, before her crew had pulled beyond the range of vision, the ship went down — one wild wailing cry rising above the rearing of the winds and waves.

Chapter II

" She sailed away, for ever arid aye, No message drifts to shore, And the sea, like Death, it never saith Why the ship comes home no more !

" But among the throng that waits along The quay, when ships come home, Is many a face, whose far-off gaze Turns seaward over the foam."

" Sunset in the Moor ! Yes, that's the Admiral's address — he's sure to be here punctual. The train is in a few minutes before its time," said the railway poi ter, addressing a lady who had been set down at a small station on the Devon and Cornwall line ; as he deposited two modest-looking packages on one side of the platform and hastened away to attend to other passengers.

The young lady to whom the boxes appertained sat down on a bench within sight of her luggage. She looked extremely pale and delicate, and, in spite of

14 HOMEWARD-BOUMD.

her very fair complexion, there was something foreign in her air and accent as she exchanged a few words with the railway official, and then remained patiently waiting for the carriage which was to be sent, she said, to meet her.

Precisely at the moment announced in " Bradshaw" as that for the arrival of the afternoon train, a carriage drove up to the station-gate. A man-servant claimed the luggage, and touched his hat respectfully to the lady ; who, after giving up her ticket, had scarcely a minute to wait in the quiet country road before the boxes were neatly disposed of under a tarpaulin, and the door closed upon her of the well-appointed britschka.

The young lady leant back and threw" up her veil after the horses moved on. Very pale, very sad, very young she looked ; with the shadows of apprehension and loneliness gathering round her as she approached her new and unknown home. She had very little clue to the character of its inmates, and her position must be dependent and might be painful. Let us read over her shoulder, before the twilight deepens, one of the many singular advertisements extracted from the columns of The Times, which had attracted her attention and led to her present engagement.

" Wanted. — Iu a remote part of England, a Lady competent to undertake the management of the establishment of an elderly widower, and to educate his only daughter. She must sing well, and understand thoroughly the science of music. She must also be a good performer on the organ. Knowledge of the Italian language a principal consideration. Christian principles indispensable. Form of worship, immaterial. No references given or required."

A translation into somewhat cramped Italian of this notification of her future employer's requisitions followed ; and the address, to initials, at a small posttown in Cornwall.

Perhaps the chief attraction, in the first instance, to the friendless lady had been the appearance of mystery, which, under other circumstances, might have been distasteful. At all events it had not deterred her from making the few inquiries which had resulted in her receiving a cheque for the expenses of her long journey, and half a year's salary in advance.

It was quite early in the spring, but the season

was an advanced one in the south of England. The

banks were starred with primroses, and on the wide

commons, which in that district are called moors, the

2—2 furze was all aglow. Leaving the shelter of the hedgerows, the road struck off across the waste, where piles of stone were fantastically backed by glorious sunset-clouds. Very dark purple streaks alternated with golden hues and breaks of burning crimson ; while dark ridges of the, at present, unflowering heath undulated all around. Towers and pinnacles of castellated structures seemed to vary the otherwise desolate landscape, magnified by the low, slanting rays and wavering lights and shadows. These fairy edifices, in the morning, resolved themselves into the rude stony outlines of the Cornish Tors.

Eyes accustomed to English landscapes would not, probably, have been so easily deceived ; but the Eastern palaces in fairy tales, the edifices raised by the Genii of the Lamp and the King, the enchanted gardens of Armida, were more familiar than those rugged wastes to the vivid imagination of the young woman reclining silently in the open carriage. Suffice it that the view gave her pleasure, raising images which, for the moment, banished fatigue and disquiet ; and she longed to know which of the grand castles on the rocky mounds was to be her future abode.

It was rather disappointing when the road sud=

SUNSET m THE MOOR. 17

denly turned away from the gorgeous sunset and the sharp acclivities, and dipped down into a dark basin of woodland. Blood-red crimson glowed on the trunks of the grand old beech trees, and shot up through the, as yet, leafless branches which formed overhead an impervious canopy. Moss lay thick at the roots of the enormous boles, and lichen and mistletoe hung and clustered from and on the mighty monsters, which had stood the rains and storms of centuries with less injury than had been done to them on one night of the previous winter. More than a hundred trees had been prostrated in Admiral Champernowne's grounds during the great snowstorm in January.

This piece of information, which was imparted to the lady by the servant who had received the luggage, while the coachman drove slowly through the lodgegates, did not elicit an answer. A slight quiver of the lip and eyelid showed that the remark awakened some painful associations. The foreign lady shivered, and drew her shawl closer, perhaps at the thought of the inclement winters she must pass far from the sunny South. Both veil and dress were indicative of deep and recent mourning, and her health, judging from her fragile appearance, was likely to be very delicate,

The long avenue through the beech and oak wood wound up the steep side of a hill. Glimpses of the red sunset were here and there visible through the trees, as the road rose higher and higher ; until, once more, the glorious prospect westward, as far as the sea, grew visible; crossed by yet darker and brighter lines, more vividly contrasted. On the summit of the hill, with the full glory of the sunset on the moor stretching away for miles in front of the windows, stood a large mansion, of a faint pinkish hue, now flooded over with red light. A long colonnade of the rough granite of the district extended the whole length of the facade; the sun -rays sparkling on the windows and glittering in sparks on the rough pillars, and on the pebbled walks which intersected a garden full of spring flowers on one side of the house. Stiff beds and borders of crocuses, hepaticas, dwarf-jonquils and anemones, all crimsoned over by the slanting beams, were edged with stones from the moor, which glimmered and glinted in the warm light; while, behind the large country house, deep masses of foliage closed in. All the brilliancy and loveliness of the prospect lay westward ; dark night and cominggloom brooding in the east, as the sunbeams entered reluctantly and were immedintely absorbed in tlin shadowy woodland,

The straight rows of windows facing the moor and the sunset were mostly open; and, as the carriage stopped and the footman got down to open the low iron gates which shut in the house and flower garden, a faint strain of music stole on the ear. The foreign lady listened attentively to the uncertain notes of the organ, feebly touched, and the tones of a girl's voice, singing, in Latin, a Vesper hymn. Though the utterances were indistinct, they seemed to harmonise with the dying day, and the slight hopes of welcome entertained by the stranger. Over the moor the red sunset was retreating — light after light died off from the panes of the long lines of windows, flower after flower resumed its natural hue — as the brooding shadow crept steadily along the front of the old house, which a caprice of its eccentric owner caused to be known far and near under the name of " Sunset in the Moor."

A very large and lofty room — evidently newly built, still partially lit up by the red sunbeams which sparkled on the gilt railings of an organ gallery at the farther end — was revealed when the quiet welltrained servant waiting in the hall ushered in the traveller. No one was visible, but the low notes of the organ, imperfectly as it was played, filled the apartment. A curtain drawn across hid the musician ; and the domestic had to cross the whole length of the long room and ascend a short staircase at the farther end, shut off by a closed door, to give notice of the arrival of the new inmate of the Admiral's mansion.

The young foreign lady's glance, sadly, yet with a kind of mournful satisfaction, travelled slowly round. The glowing tints pleased her southern taste, probably bringing back recollections of palaces in the fair cities of Italy. The walls were painted in compartments of white and gold, and dusky rose or Eoman red ; the ceiling, curiously moulded, was tinted with soft grey, relieved by gilding; flattened columns with burnished brackets broke the long lines of the room. A classical pattern was wrought in the velvet pile of the carpet ; and, in far corners unpenetrated by the sunbeams, one or two marble statues stood in shadow. A few priceless pictures, and works of art in bronze and Florentine mosaic, were ranged around. On every table lay handsome books in ornamented covers, shut and open, giving the room a pleasant appearance of constant occupation. An enormous wood-fire glowed on the hearth, near which two delicate Italian greyhounds lay basking in the heat.

Suddenly the music stopped, almost before the Signora had finished her inspection ; and presently the servant returned through the door below the organ gallery, bringing word that Miss Champernowne would be down directly; but for several minutes there was perfect silence. The timid stranger was becoming very nervous, and began to regard the delay as slightly uncourteous ; when the door behind her from the hall opened quickly, and Admiral Champemowne entered the music-room.

He was a tall man, much above the average height, and looking yet more stately from his thin and very erect figure. Not quite so elderly as might have been expected from the adv-ertisement, but yet with hair silvered by time and blown about by the fresh air. He carried his head high, and with a certain gesture which gave an appearance of haughtiness ; turning his face slightly away when speaking, especially if addressing strangers. And yet, the glance shot from beneath those shaggy grey eyebrows was not indirect nor unkindly, and his voice was courteous and pleasant.

Undoubtedly it must have sounded all the more so to the Italian lady, from his addressing her in her native language. The moment the Signora entered the Italianised English mansion, the accents of her own country greeted her. Perhaps this reception kindly as it was meant to be, took her by surprise ; and she coloured, as an English girl might have done in replying to her master ; but there was little to blush for in the liquid tones and pure accent — as the old Admiral, in his old-fashioned gallantry, described' it—" Lingua Toscana in bocca Eomana."

Perhaps the Admiral had expected to see a darkbrowed magnificent Boman lady, for he lowered his lofty glance with some difficulty to the slight low figure and fair face of his blushing visitor. But, since Petrarch's time, there have been many Lauras as fair as his beloved one, with her chiome d1 oro, extolled enthusiastically in terza and ottava rima; or living in beauty, on the Pdalto and by the Arno, as well as on the canvas in Italian studios and galleries.

A fluttering of draperies, a hurried footstep, and then the door at the farther end of the long room opened and shut again. "La poverina," the Admiral said, was undoubtedly afraid to come in alone. He must go and fetch her.

Again the stranger was left in solitude. The red sun-reflections faded entirely from the walls, the logs ■sank on the hearth and glowed dimly; the largo room grew dreamily indistinct, with its fair lines of white, and red, and gold, mingling together and receding harmoniously.

SUNSET IN THE MOOE, 23

At last the door reopened; the dogs lifted their heads, jingling softly the silver bells of their collars. One last straggling ray shone level from the horizon into the room, glinting in the large glass opposite the window, after lighting up the dark face, shyly uplifted, of Juliet Champernowne. There was the same haughty gesture, the small head slightly averted, the same piercing glance rapidly withdrawn, the same melodious southern accent; only the Admiral's daughter's slight girlish form reached no higher than his shoulder, though she was tall for a woman ; and the slender fingers clasping his arm trembled with excitement, as the young country-bred maiden came forward to meet her future instructress and companion.

Much more Italian in appearance than the daughter of a Florentine lady standing by the hearth, dark as night, with jet black hair, and large liquid eyes surrounded by dark streaks and overshadowed by dusky brows and veiling lashes of the deepest hue, Juliet Champernowne glided through the shadowy saloon, with a graceful movement inherited from her Neapolitan mother which redeemed her from the vice of awkwardness. She was so painfully embarrassed that the words died in whispers on her lips ; and her hand clung to her father's arm, even when he tried to release himself that she might welcome her visitor. Nothing is more infectious than shyness ; and there were no subjects in common between the three persons who stood contemplating each other in constrained silence in the twilight, after the first greetings had been exchanged.

The Admiral broke the pause, hurriedly bidding his daughter take " La Signora Bianchi — no, no," he said with a half smile, looking kindly at the delicate girl, " La Signorina," to her apartment. He then rang the bell and ordered dinner to be on the table in half an hour ; if that time, he added, would be sufficient for her toilette. All in that house now, he said emphatically, were as punctual as clockwork.

A. shadow passed over the girl's face, and her eyes sparkled with passionate lustre ; but she did not speak, as she somewhat sullenly obeyed her father. The Signorina, as she was always afterwards called in the Admiral's house, formed her own conclusions ; which, though hasty, were right ones.

Something, or some one, had gone forth, or been taken away from that orderly household which, or who, had sinned against its stiff decorum. That thing or person was tenderly regretted by Juliet, and had been harshly treated by the veteran. La Signorina assumed her black evening dress hastily, before the

SUNSET IN THE MOOR.

oval mirror in the old-fashioned bedroom to which she had been conducted ; instinctively taking warning not to sin against the rules laid down by her hosto

Chapter III

:<And when winds awake my heart will quake. As though the good ship could feel The angry waves lash her groaning staves, And tear at her straining keel."

Oxe stringent article in Admiral Champernowns's code was early rising ; and Juliet's southern indolence of temperament rebelled systematically against it. To the lazy girl it seemed simply incomprehensible that, winter and summer, she must descend at the sound of that dreaded bell, to preside at a breakfast-table where she seldom touched a morsel ; and that any good effect could result from such mortification of the flesh.

Then again, to linger late in the twilight, watching the red sunset flooding the moor, till the golden moon rose above the woodland, might be pleasant ; but to take a brisk constitutional walk at intervals in her studies, measured by the infallible chronometer in the hall, and to be strictly questioned as to its extent, was a positive penance.

Another trial was the constantly recurring injunction as to the direction of these monotonous promenades. Before noon, the Admiral's daughter and her governess were to walk on the side of the hill which lay open to the morning sunshine. Later in the day, the old officer was on the watch to open the gate into the avenue beneath the beech trees. Eeason and taste might have prompted the same decision had she been free to choose; but, day after day, Juliet turned away from the light and brightness, and strove to follow the bias of her own inclination — to the full as self-willed as her parent. It would have been a real gratification for once to turn her back upon the glowing west, though she was a child of the sunny South, and plunge into the shadowy woodland at eventide — but this was never permitted.

La Signorina, to whom the whole country was new, always preferred the sunny side of the hill; and strove to reconcile the wilful girl to her fate. " It will come upon you in time. At first it is not so bad — you will hate everything, as I do, soon," her pupil would murmur ; as, with the Admiral politely bowing them out, they passed through the appointed gate at the usual inevitable hour, and saw the sun

28 fiOMEWAED-BOUXt).

gleam on the face of his watch, as lie held it up and compared it with the one he had given to his daughter, that they might not exceed the allotted time.

" What can be the use of such savage punctuality V the girl exclaimed passionately one morning, when they were out of hearing but not out of sight. " I wonder what would happen if we were half an hour late !"