The star of fortune , a story of the Indian mutiny

Front matter

BY

J. E. MUDDOCK

AOTHOR OP

Contents

CHAP. FJlQE

1. UNREASONING PREJUDICE - 1

II. A MAIDEN PAIR - - - - - 10

Chapter I. Unreasoning Prejudice

" Sweet, sweet Dick, Dicky, come here, you rascal. Oh, you naughty boy, how dare you fly away like that when I want to catch you ! "

These words were uttered in a clear, musical voice, by a young girl, who seemed radiant with health, and whom " the world's slow stain " had not yet touched. The scene was a well-furnished room in which there was ample evidence that it was the sanctum of a woman of refined and cultivated taste ; and the room was part of a house situated in one of the best parts of the classic city of Edinburgh. The speaker addressed her command and admonition to a very beautiful canary which had been liberated for the nonce from a brass cage that stood with open door on the table. But " Dick," in the fulness of his enjoyment of the temporary liberty thus accorded, had flown from point to point which afforded him foothold, such as picture frames and ornaments, and had resisted his pretty mistress's attempts to catch him in order that she might caress him.

It was a charming tableau, this girl and the bird,

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2 THE STAB OP FORTUNE.

one that would have transferred well to canvas, and have made a gem under the deft hands of an artist of feeling and taste.

" Tou cruel, naughty Dicky, not to come to me," continued the young lady, with a pretty pout and an attempt at a frown that was altogether out of place on the fair, bright face. At this point the door opened and a gentleman entered, looking thoughtful, solemn, and even sad.

" Why, papa, whatever is the matter with you ? " exclaimed the girl as she glanced at the intruder. " There is something wrong, for you have the tell-tale expression that so clearly denotes the state of your mind."

" Yes, Hester, there is something wrong. I am troubled," was the answer in a positively melancholy tone. " I want to talk seriously to you, but you had better put your bird into his cage again, for we cannot talk while he is flying about."

" I had better take him from the room altogether if what you have to say is so dreadfully serious, and especially if you are going to be cross with me, for Dick is very sensitive, and would be frightened out of his life if he heard his mistress scolded." The bird had alighted on the top of his cage, she managed to secure him, and, having pressed her lips to his bill and fondled him with many caresses, she placed him gently in his little prison-house, and put the cage on a table near the window which was gay with ferns and flowers. " Now, dad, I'm ready," she said with a smile as she dropped into a chair and folded her hands.

UNEEASONING PREJUDICE. 6

" I am afraid, girl, you are hardly in that serious frame of mind which would be more in keeping with the circumstances," said her father, with some severity. ' ' Indeed, I am sorry to notice the seeming levity with which you are disposed to treat everything."

" But surely, father, you wouldn't have me going about the house with a soured, Puritanical expression of face, as if this world and the beautiful things it contains were hateful to me. It was never intended, I am certain, that we should view life through a distorted medium of crabbed discontent."

" You do not understand me," he replied, with increased severity of tone, as though he considered that her expression of feeling was altogether out of place. " My remark applies to the present moment only. I have no desire that you should look at life through dun-coloured spectacles. Your happiness is too precious to me, and it is my regard for your happinessTnaFTias induced me to act as I have done, and it is that act I now wish to discuss with you." ~

A little shadow of concern swept over his daughter's finely-cut face as some inkling of his meaning dawned upon her.

" What is the act, and what have you done ? " she asked quickly.

"I have written to Lieutenant Hallett to tell him in a very emphatic manner that the intimacy between you and him must cease."

Hester's face grew red now, while a light of anger came into her eyes at this unexpected revelation; and there was an unusual warmth in her tone as she answered —

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" Then, father, you must excuse me for saying" that you have done that which you had no justification for doing."

" There you are wrong, girl. A father is justified in watching over the happiness and welfare of hischild."

"But I am no longer a child," she exclaimed indignantly.

" Not in the literal sense, but for all purpose of argument in the present sense you are. At any rate 7 it cannot be expected that you should be able to form that dispassionate judgment of a matter in which the affections are concerned that I, your father, can, and there can be no doubt in my own mind that if this connection between you and Hallett is persisted in, it will be destructive of your own future welfare."

" Why ? " she demanded, with a force of expression that seemed to cause him some astonishment.

" Because he is in every way unfitted to make you happy."

" Why, again ? "

"Without going too much into detail, I may answer your question by saying that he is extravagant, reckless, unprincipled-

" Unprincipled ? "

(i

Yes. I am sorry if the word offends you, but I use it advisedly."

" In what way is he unprincipled ? "

u In nearly every way in which that word can be applied. But more particularly in the lack of honourable regard for his actions, which any man who was proud of his reputation would certainly have."

UNREASONING PREJUDICE. 5

" This is a very serious charge, father/' said his daughter sadly, while her face assumed such a look of dejection that it presented a marked contrast to her appearance of a few minutes previously.

" I am fully alive to its seriousnes," he answered, " and I accept all the responsibility of my accusation, for it is an accusation. But, as I have said, it is your happiness I am consulting."

"A curious way of consulting my happiness, truly," she remarked sarcastically. "My happiness is bound up in Lieutenant Hallett, and yet you insult him and wound my feelings."

tc To say that I insult him is not correct. I have been to the trouble to learn a good deal about his career, and I have no hesitation in saying that that career has been shameful and dishonourable. Therefore, to tell such a man the truth is not to insult him. As regards your feelings, it may be doubted if you are capable of rightly understanding even your own feelings, for girls of your age are generally led away by mere sentiment. There is such a thing as calf love, and that should not be mistaken for the genuine article."

" Well," replied his daughter dryly, " that may be your opinion, and I will not quarrel with you about it, but you will admit, as a just and upright man, that every one is liable to err — even you, my clever, precise, and usually accurate father."

" Yes, of course, I admit that ; but in this case there is no error. I have convinced myself that Hallett is not a man who would do honour or credit to my family, and I must repeat again and again that if you were to marry him you would rue the step as long as you lived. At any rate, the fact remains that I do not approve of him, and will not countenance your continuing a connection that is so distasteful to me, and so well calculated to cause you shame and misery. In speaking thus, I can have no other interests at heart but yours. If I were indifferent to you, I should allow you to take your own course and do as you like. But as your loving and affectionate father, I cannot sit still with folded arms and see your future destroyed. And you as my daughter must acknowledge my right to control you, unless you wish to set yourself in opposition to my desires and requests, in which case you would have to take your fate in your own hands."

"It is far from my intention," she answered, in a cool and collected way which suggested that, though young in years, she had the power when occasion required of acting and thinking as a matured woman of experience, " to set myself up in opposition to your just parental authority, but I would point out that your charges against Hallett are too vague, too ambiguous for serious consid eration "

"This is absolutely insulting," her father exclaimed, with unusual anger, for he felt that his judgment was being called into question and his rights as a father flouted.

" Pray hear me out. No good can result if this matter is discussed with warmth and temper. What I was going to say is this. I have never observed anything in Hallett's conduct or speech but what was perfectly consistent with the character of a true

UNREASONING PREJUDICE. 7

gentleman and an upright and honest man. I gather from what you say that you have felt it necessary in my interest and out of a jealous regard for the good name of our family to inquire into the private character and past history of Lieutenant Hallett, and presumably you have been told certain things which induce you to believe that he is not a desirable person to know. Well, that may be the case, father, but in common fairness I must ask that you will request him to come here, and in his presence that you will formulate a distinct charge against him, so that he may have full opportunity of answering it."

Mr. Dellaby looked at his daughter in astonishment. He knew that she had a far-seeing and reasoning mind, no less than a determined will, but he had always-persuaded himself..ihat in that, household he was the supreme ruler, that his word and will were law, and that when he had once" delivered judgment jno one had any right to gainsay it. It was an unfortunate weakness that, and one which was in every way calciiTa^edTo^bring about the~very discord he. was so anxious to avoid. Herein, of course, he displayed the spirit of a martinet, a spirit which had been developed and fostered during long service in India, and to brook contradiction or questioning on the part of his daughter, whom he was unable to look upon in any other light than as a child incapable of forming a safe conclusion upon anything, was what he could not do. Of course, this was very unreasonable and unfair, but he did not thin k,~aniJ"probably nothing in the world could have persuaded him that it was so. Under these circumstances he must be credited with conscientiousness, for it cannot be supposed that such a man was actuated by mere malice or petty spite. He believed himself right, and men who believed that, however wrong they may be, are entitled to a certain amount of respectful consideration.

It was pretty clear from his manner that he had not anticipated such opposition from his daughter, and the frame of mind he was then in did not allow him to view the subject dispassionately or with a cool and unbiassed judgment, and this was the answer he made to her suggestion —

" I consider it outrageous that you should call my statements into question. The sources from whence I have drawn my information about this young man, who seems to have charmed away your usual good sense and reasoning power, are above suspicion, therefore I should regard it as an act of imbecil ity were I to fall in with your view. Hallett shall never cross the threshold of my door again, and unless you wish to shut yourself out of my heart for ever and [ever, you will regard my injunctions. I will not ' tolerate any disobedience on your part. Dare to go against my will, and I'll bar the door against you as sure as the heavens are above us. There is no appeal from Caasar. Bear that in mind."

He had worked himself up to a pitch of unusual excitement, and appeared to have lost all control of himself, and having given this forcible expression to his views, he waited not for any answer or further comment from his daughter, but hastily left the room, feeling, do doubt, that he could not trust him-

UNREASONING PREJUDICE. V

self to prolong the argument then, for his anger had got the better of his discretion.

Poor Hester was terribly distressed. There were tears in her eyes, but she dashed them away as being out of place on such an occasion. She had always been a loving daughter, and a dutiful daughter, but not even her love or sense of duty could blind her now to the manifest injustice of her father's behaviour. She was greatly put out, her feelings were wounded, and they found expression in a remark she addressed to her bird, which at that moment burst forth into a full gush of song, and, turning to the cage where the little songster trilled so beautifully, she murmured —

" Ah, Dick, happy Dicky ; how I envy you ! This world might be such a paradise if men were only more considerate, more reasonable. But, ' Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn/ "

It was not often that she was cast down and dejected, for her disposition was a very happy aud contended one ; but now it was a question of forfeiti ng a lover's love or a father's affection. Fromthe unexpected turn ^matters had taken, it seemed that she must certainly forfeit one or the other ; it is little wonder that she found it difficult to decide which she should do, and after much earnest consideration and deep reflection, she decided to go to her mother a nd see k consolation and sympathy from her. """

Chapter II. A Maiden Fair

It was generally admitted by those whose privilege it was to be well acquainted with her, that Hester Dellaby could justifiably claim to be numbered amongst the belles of which Edinburgh had cause to be proud. She had many natural advanta ges, such as good, .health, a_good physique, and a bright, cheerful,.^ engaging, -manner. There are "some women who embody in the very highest degree the attributes of fascination, and who draw around them by some irresistible power of attraction other people, in much_the__ same, way as certain flowers attract^ butterflies .and bees. Such a woman was Hester. Her years at this time were but a score, so that she had all the advantages which youth offers, and allied to them was a sweet ness of _dispositipn, and a cheerful , e ven tem per, which made her very popular with both sexes. She had been well nurtured, tenderly brought up, and ed ucated

with a. view _ to her .shining, some day as an

accomplished member, of society, for her parents were ambitions, and a little given to boasting of the " good _stock "_they came from. Possibly the boast was justified, but anyway they ranked then amongst those who were pleased to think themselves

A MAIDEN FAIE. 11

mem bers of "rank an d fashion/" in the so-called Northern Athens.

Hester's father had long and honourably served the Old East India Company in the Civil Service. He was a native of Edinburgh, though of English parents, and, marrying young, had gone out to India in the Company's employ. Three sons were born to him there, but two died in early childhood. The third grew up, and at the date of the commencement of this history he held a commission in the army, and was then stationed with his regiment in Malta. In addition to these sons, Mr. Dellaby had two daughters; his eldest, Margaret, was born at sea while her mother was on her way home ; and the second, Hester, drew her first breath in Edinburgh. Mr. Dellaby had at that time been compelled to leave India, as his health had broken down. Margaret subsequently became the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Greorge Henry Pritchard, and had gone out to India with her husband, so that Hester was her father's and mother's solace in their old age. A just and upright man, he_ was nevertheless a severe one where he considered there was any dereliction of duty, or a lackjDf obedience Jo lawful command, or what seemed _ to him lawful command. His wife had long be en^ content to be guided by him, and she would have no more thought of calling, his decisions into question than she would have thought of flying. She was a gentle, submissive woman, and believed that her husband could not err.

There was one point upon which Mr. Dellaby was disposed to be very arbitrary indeed, and that was with reference to his daughter forming a connection with any one of the sterner sex. At first she had laughed at his petty tyranny, and was amused by his treating her as if she were still a child. But this laughter and amusement underwent an entire •change soon after she made the acquaintance of John Montague Halle tt. They met at one of those little social gatherings, in which young people of both sexes are brought into contact with each other and dream dreams of an earthly paradise. It is an impossible paradise, of course, but youth takes no count of that, for to the young nothing seems impossible, and they firmly believe that the mirage is reality and that shadow is substance. You greybeards and wiseacres may argue as much as you like, with a view to convincing them that they are wrong, but be assured you will fail.

In the case of these young people it was almost love at first sight. An hour or two of each other's society, and then they both felt they had found their counterpart. A little later in the evening the hostess at whose house the gathering had taken place said to Hester —

" Well, dear, what do you think of young Hallett?"

At the question a little tell-tale flush dyed the girl's cheeks, and she answered demurely —

" He seems very nice."

" He's charming, dear," the hostess exclaimed. " He's my very ideal of what a young man should be — so different to the stuck-up, stiff-collared, pomatumed-haired fops of the present day, who would scream if they found themselves alone in a

A MAIDEN FAIR. 13

room with a mouse. I shouldn't be at all surprised if young Hallett makes a noise in the world some day. All his people have been prominent in one way or other, and he's got go and grit in him."

This praise, which, by the way was only a spontaneous testimony to Jack's worth, and not uttered with any underlying motives such as often' actuate ladies when they din the praises of young men into the ears of simpering maidens, had its effect on the listener, although she made no further comment one way or the other. But she had seen with her own eyes, and heard with her own ears, and she was quite capable of forming a perfectlyindependent judgment, though it may at once besaid that her judgment was in accord in the main with that of her friend.

So it came to pass that the acquaintance thus begun ripened. Hallett gave every sign that he had comewithin the sphere of Hester's attraction, and was being drawn towards her as one orb that has got out of its orbit is drawn towards another. Opportunities were made for meetings, and after a time Jack was invited to Mr. Dellaby's house. Hester had a little gathering of friends, and he was included amongst the invitees. The attention he paid her that eveningattracted the attention of her parents, and her father subsequently questioned her about him. She concealed nothing, made no attempt to prevaricate. She told the pretty little story from its initial stage up to the very point at which it had then gone. It was painfully obvious it did not please her father. He listened with frowning brow and stern countenance^ and reproached his daughter with having been indiscreet, whereupon she exclaimed —

" But you don't suppose that I am going to lead the life of a recluse, and never open my lips to a man unless it be yourself ? "

" No," he said sharply, " I don't suppose anything of the kind. But I maintain that you have no right to form an acquaintance with a young man without first taking steps to ascertain that he is honourable and of good report. And in order to do that your father is certainly the proper person to appeal to. In this instance I shall, beyond doubt, go to the root of the matter ; for I have too much regard for you, and too much respect for my own good name, to remain silent and indifferent where your happiness is concerned. For aught I know or you know, this fellow may be an unprincipled adventurer."

Hester winced a little, for she did not like to hear it suggested that the man she admired above all others might possibly be what is usually termed ls an adventurer," meaning in plain words a scoundrel who sticks at nothing to further his own ends. And yet she displayed no feeling, but quietly Remarked —

" You forget, father, that an officer and a gentleman are inseparable terms."

" In theory, yes. But in practice it is not so, for many an army and navy officer is an unmitigated blackguard. However, I make no reflections on Hallett, because I know nothing about him at present. We will renew the subject later on, however."

Mr. Dellaby was a persistent man, and having

A MAIDEN FAIR. 15

resolved to do a thing, it took a good deal to tarn him from it. So the first thing he did was to wait on young Hallett at his quarters in the Castle, and demand from him what his intentions were ; having been assured that they were honourable, and based on a hope that the young fellow might be found acceptable in the young lady's sight, and the sight of those who had her welfare at heart, he next requested to be referred to Hallett's family, a request that was very promptly complied with.

So far as all this went Mr. Dellaby could find no flaw. The Halletts, as he proved, were people of high standing, and something more than merely respectable. But in the story of Jack's college career there was a black page. While at Oxford he had given way to extravagance and recklessness that had plunged him into serious difficulties, and his mother was unable to discharge his liabilities, but a scandal was avoided by an uncle coming forward and doing so. This was not all, however, for the young man had had an intrigue with a girl, the daughter of a farmer, and had, so it was averred, promised her marriage. Into the merits or demerits of this matter it is not in the least necessary to enter here. It may be mentioned in passing that it was the means of prematurely, to some extent, closing the young man's college career, and his friends had to pay over to the girl's friends a very liberal sum of money to hush the affair up.

Armed with these facts Mr. Dellaby returned home, not altogether sorry, perhaps, that he had found a weak spot in Jack's armour, for the fact could not be disguised that he had felt annoyed, and very much annoyed indeed, that Hester had dared to form such an acquaintanc without first taking him into her confidence and asking his advice. In dealing with the Oxford incident he was not in the least disposed to make any allowance for the proverbial weakness of human nature, nor did he care to consider how highly probable it was that if the incidents in the youth of any eminent man one might like to single out were inquired into, no man would come out unsullied. Youth, it has been said, is the time of f oily, and wisdo m com es with_whitening hair. But Mr. Dellaby was strongly prejudiced, and, quite disposed to view the affair through a magnifyingglass, he clearly proved this when he again discussed the subject with his daughter after he had exhausted his inquiries, for he said to her —

"I don't want to be unkind or unduly severe," showing thereby that he was not speaking strictly in accordance with that high regard for unswerving accuracy which he claimed to have. But men often err from lack of judgment, and it is charitable to suppose that Mr. Dellaby did so in this instance.

" There can be no question in my mind," he went on, l ' that Hallett is a blackguard." When he saw how Hester was stung by this all too severe condemnation he qualified it by saying — "Well, what I mean is, he is a man of little principle, one who is not likely to have much respect for any woman's feelings. Under these circumstances I shall resolutely decline to recognize him, and I hereby give you strict injunctions to at once sever the connection. Let there be no mistake as to my meaning. You

A MAIDEN PAIE. 17

must treat him as if he were an absolute stranger. Do you understand ? "

Poor Hester tacitly admitted that sho understood only too well. And while not prepared just then to set herself in direct opposition to her father's wishes, she certainly did not intend to accept his dictum a9 irrevocable.

To what an extraordinary concatenation of thrilling- events this difference of opinion between herself and her father was to lead will be disclosed as the narrative proceeds ; but Mr. Dellaby himself had no foreshadowing of what was to come. He considered his word law, his commands final, an d in o rder to gi ve, as he thought, the fin al blow ^to jthe whole affair, he penned the following severe letter to young Jiall ett— ■

" Sir, — As my daughter's happiness is more precious to me than aught else in this world, I am naturally anxious that she should do nothing calculated in any way to jeopardize that happiness. I must therefore request — nay, demand in the most emphatic manner, that from this moment you cease your attentions to her, for I do not regard you as being in any way likely to promote her well-being. In fact, it would be nothing short of a calamity if she were to become your wife, and I, her father, as well as all those who love her, would regard it as a dire infliction if by your insidious arts and wiles she were induced to disobey my wishes. As the receipt of this letter will give you clearly to understand how very objectionable you are in my sight, you surely will not have the audacity to persevere in forcing your unwelcome attentions on my child. I have been very outspoken because I consider that any ambiguity would have been a fatal mistake.

"William Henry Dellaby."

Mr. Dellaby read this letter over two or three times, and he evidently considered that its strong language was fully justified, for he did not alter a single word, nor soften down an expression. But sealing it up, he dispatched the missive to Hallett at his quarters in the Castle, and having done that he sought an interview with his daughter, as recorded in the opening pages of this story.

Chapter III. At Cross Pukposes

"Jack" Hallett was still a very young man, not more than four or five and twenty. He was a lieutenant stationed with his regiment, then quartered in Edinburgh Castle. He represented a long line of ancestors, who had honourably and loyally served their country either in the navy or the army. His father had been an admiral and had greatly distinguished himself during the Crimean War for conspicuous bravery and devotion, but during the bombardment of Sebastopol was mortally wounded at the post of duty by a bursting shell. John was his youngest son, and having elected to enter the army in preference to the navy, he had been well educated, and launched upon his career with the prayers and good wishes of his loving sisters and widowed mother.

The lad had the misfortune — the word is used advisedly — to be singularly handsome. He really seemed to embody all the physical attributes which go to make up a perfect man, while face and feature were full of the pride of goodly stock and high heritage. It was a patrician face, with clear, frank, blue eyes and a delicate chiselled nose ; a mobile face, that in certain moods told of the true soldierly

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THE STAE OF FORTUNE.

nature, a nature, stern, determined, defiant, unyielding, and full of courage and fire. He who would have set Jack Hallett down as merely a pretty boy would have made a woeful mistake. He had the vivacity of the boy, the laughter of the boy, the joyousness of the boy. But let the occasion arise for the manhood to display itself, and then — what a change ! This can best be exemplified by the following little incident in his career. He was barely twenty, when one day as he was strolling along the highroad near his home, he was suddenly startled by a roar of voices, and looking back beheld a sight that might have turned an older head than his. A magnificent pair of horses attached to a brougham had taken fright, and were thundering on towards him utterly uncontrolled, for the coachman, as was subsequently proved, had been seized with apoplexy, and pitching forward on the backs of the animals had startled them into madness ; and on they flew to the certain destruction of themselves, the carriage, and its occupants ; for, a couple of hundred yards or so ahead, the road bent at an acute angle, and at that angle was a deep stone quarry into which the frenzied horses must necessarily dash. Hallett took in the situation at a glance, and never a muscle quivered, never a nerve quailed. It seemed as if he was doomed to certain death if he dared to oppose himself to those maddened steeds, and the swaying and jolting vehicle that flew along the road and shook the solid earth. But no fear of death was there ; no thought of self disturbed him. He placed himself at the side of the road, he breathed hard, his lips were tightly set. As the panting beasts neared him he