Frank Fairlegh Part 53

"This is a matter I leave entirely to themselves; if -352-- Lawless wishes to marry f.a.n.n.y, and she likes him well enough to accept him, and his parents approve of the arrangement, I shall make no objection: it would be a very good match for her."

"Umph! yes--she would make a very nice addition to his stud," returned Mr. Frampton, in a more sarcastic tone than I had ever heard him use before. "What do you suppose are the girl's own wishes? is she willing to be Empress of the Stable?"

"Really, sir, you ask me a question which I am quite unable to answer; young, ladies are usually reserved upon such subjects, and f.a.n.n.y is especially so; but from my own observations, I am inclined to think that she likes him."

"Umph! dare say she does; women are always fools in these cases--men too, for that matter--or else they would take pattern by me, and continue in a state of single blessedness," then came an aside, "Single wretchedness more likely, n.o.body to care about one--nothing to love--die in a ditch like a beggar's dog, without a pocket-handkerchief wetted for one--there's single blessedness for you! ride in a hea.r.s.e, and have some fat fool chuckling in the sleeve of his black coat over one's hard-earned money. n.o.body shall do that with mine, though; for I'll leave it all to build union work-houses and encourage the slave-trade, by way of revenging myself on society at large. Wonder why I said that, when I don't think it! just like me--umph!"

"I am not at all sure but that this may prove a mere vision of our own too lively imaginations, after all," replied I, "or that Lawless looks upon f.a.n.n.y in any other light than as the sister of his old friend, and an agreeable girl to talk and laugh with; but if it should turn out otherwise, I should be sorry to think that it is a match which will not meet with your approval, sir."

"Oh! I shall approve--I always approve of everything--I dare say he'll make a capital husband--he's very kind to his dogs and horses. Umph!

silly boy, silly girl--when she could easily do better, too. Umph 1 just like me, bothering myself about other people, when I might leave it alone--silly girl though, very!"

So saying, Mr. Frampton walked away, grunting like a whole drove of pigs, as was his wont when annoyed.

The next morning I was aroused from an uneasy sleep by the sun s.h.i.+ning brightly through my shutters, and, springing out of bed, and throwing open the window, I perceived that it was one of those lovely winter days -353-- which appear sent to a.s.sure us that fogs, frost, and snow will not last for ever, but that Nature has brighter things in store for us, if we will bide her time patiently. To think of lying in bed on such a morning was out of the question, so, dressing hastily, I threw on a shooting jacket, and sallied forth for a stroll. As I wandered listlessly through the park, admiring the h.o.a.r-frost which glittered like diamonds in the early suns.h.i.+ne, clothing the brave old limbs of the time-honoured fathers of the forest with a fabric of silver tissue, the conversation I had held with Mr. Frampton about f.a.n.n.y and Lawless recurred to my mind. Strange that Harry Oaklands and Mr. Frampton--men so different, yet alike in generous feeling and honourable principle--should both evidently disapprove of such a union: was I myself, then, so blinded by ideas of the worldly advantages it held forth, that I was unable to perceive its unfitness? Would Lawless really prize her, as Tennyson has so well expressed it in his finest poem, as

"Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse"?

and was I about to sacrifice my sister's happiness for rank and fortune, those world-idols which, stripped of the supposit.i.tious attributes bestowed upon them by the bigotry of their wors.h.i.+ppers, appear, in their true worth-lesaness, empty breath and perishable dross? But most probably there was no cause for uneasiness; after all, I was very likely worrying myself most unnecessarily: what proof was there that Lawless really cared for f.a.n.n.y? His attentions--oh! there was nothing in that--Lawless was shy and awkward in female society, and f.a.n.n.y had been kind to him, and had taken the trouble to draw him out, therefore he liked her, and preferred talking and laughing with her, rather than with any other girl with whom he did not feel at his ease. However, even if there should be anything more in it, it had not gone so far but that a little judicious snubbing would easily put an end to it--I determined, therefore, to talk to my mother about it after breakfast: she had now seen enough of Lawless to form her own opinion of him; and if she agreed with Oaklands and Mr. Frampton that his was not a style of character calculated to secure f.a.n.n.y's happiness, we must let her go and stay with the Colemans, or find some other means of separating them. I had just arrived at this conclusion, when, on pa.s.sing round the stem of an old tree which stood in the path, I encountered -354-- some person who was advancing rapidly in an opposite direction, meeting him so abruptly that we ran against each other with no small degree of violence.

"Hold hard there I you're on your wrong side, young fellow, and if you've done me the slightest damage, even scratched my varnish, I'll pull you up."

"I wish you had pulled up a little quicker yourself, Lawless," replied I, for, as the reader has doubtless discovered from the style of his address, it was none other than the subject of my late reverie with whom I had come in collision. "I don't know whether I have scratched your varnish, as you call it, but I have knocked the skin off my own knuckles against the tree in the scrimmage."

"Never mind, man," returned Lawless, "there are worse misfortunes happen at sea; a little sticking-plaster will set all to rights again. But look here, Fairlegh," he continued, taking my arm, "I'm glad I happened to meet you; I want to have five minutes' serious conversation with you."

"Won't it do after breakfast?" interposed I, for my fears construed this appeal into "confirmation strong as holy writ" of my previous suspicions, and I wished to be fortified by my mother's opinion before I in any degree committed myself. All my precautions were, however, in vain.

"Eh! I won't keep you five minutes, but you see this sort of thing will never do at any price; I'm all wrong altogether--sometimes I feel as if fire and water would not stop me, or cart-ropes hold me--then again I grow as nervous as an old cat with the palsy, and sit moping in a corner like an owl in fits. Last hunting-day I was just as if I was mad--pressed upon the pack when they were getting away--rode over two or three of the tail hounds, laid 'em sprawling on their backs, like spread eagles, till the huntsman swore at me loud enough to split a three-inch oak plank--went slap at everything that came in my way--took rails, fences, and timber, all flying, rough and smooth as nature made 'em--in short, showed the whole field the way across country at a pace which rather astonished them, I fancy;--well, at last there was a check, and before the hounds got on the scent again, something seemed to come over me, so that I could not ride a bit, and kept cranning at mole-hills and s.h.i.+rking gutters, till I wound up by getting a tremendous purl from checking my horse at a wretched little fence that he could have stepped over, and actually I felt so fainthearted that I gave it up as a bad job, and rode home -355-- ready to eat my hat with vexation. But I know what it is, I'm in love--that confounded Charade put me up to that dodge. I fancied at first that I had got an ague, one of those off-and-on affairs that always come just when you don't want them, and was going to ask Ellis to give me a ball, but I found it out just in time, and precious glad I was too, for I never could bear taking physic since I was the height of sixpenny worth of halfpence."

"Really, Lawless, I must be getting home."

"Eh! wait a minute; you haven't an idea what a desperate state I'm in; I had a letter returned to me yesterday, with a line from the post-office clerk, saying no such person could be found, and when I came to look at the address I wasn't surprised to hear it. I had written to give some orders about a dog-cart that is building for me, and directed my letter to 'Messrs. Lovely f.a.n.n.y, Coachmakers, Long Acre'. Things can't go on in this way, you know--I must do something--come to the point, eh?--What do you say?"

"Upon my word," replied I, "this is a case in which I am the last person to advise you."

"Eh I no, it is not that--I'm far beyond the reach of advice, but what I mean is, your governor being dead--don't you see--I consider you to stand _in propria quae maribus_, as we used to say at old Mildman's."

"_In loco parentis_ is what you are aiming at, I imagine," returned I.

"Eh! Psha, it's all the same!" continued Lawless impatiently; "but what do you say about it? Will you give your consent, and back me up a bit in the business?--for I'm precious nervous, I can tell you."

"Am I to understand, then," said I, seeing an explanation was inevitable, "that it is my sister who has inspired you with this very alarming attachment?"

"Eh! yes, of course it is," was the reply; "haven't I been talking about her for the last ten minutes? You are growing stupid all at once; did you think it was your mother I meant?"

"Not exactly," replied I, smiling; "but have you ever considered what Lord Cas.h.i.+ngtown would say to your marrying a poor clergyman's daughter?"

"What! my governor? oh! he'd be so delighted to get me married at any price, that he would not care who it was to, so that she was a lady. He knows how I s.h.i.+rk female society in general, and he is afraid I shall break my neck some of these fine days, and leave him the -356-- honour of being the last Lord Cas.h.i.+ngtown as well as the first."

"And may I ask whether you imagine your suit likely to be favourably received by the young lady herself?"

"Eh! why, you see it's not so easy to tell; I'm not used to the ways of women, exactly. Now with horses I know every action, and can guess what they'd be up to in a minute; for instance, if they p.r.i.c.k up their ears, one may expect a shy, when they lay them back you may look out for a bite or a kick; but, unluckily, women have not got movable ears."

"No," replied I, laughing at this singular regret; "they contrive to make their eyes answer nearly the same purpose, though. Well, Lawless, my answer is this--I cannot pretend to judge whether you and my sister are so const.i.tuted as to increase each other's happiness by becoming man and wife; that is a point I must leave to her to decide; she is no longer a child, and her destiny shall be placed in her own hands; but I think I may venture to say that if your parents are willing to receive her, and she is pleased to accept you, you need not fear any opposition on the part of my mother or myself."

"That's the time of day," exclaimed Lawless, rubbing his hands with glee, "this is something like doing business; oh! it's jolly fun to be in love, after all. Then everything depends upon f.a.n.n.y now; but how am I to find out whether she will have me or not? eh? that's another sell."

"Ask her," replied I; and, turning down a different path, I left him to deliberate upon this knotty point in solitude.

As I walked towards home my meditations a.s.sumed a somewhat gloomy colouring. The matter was no longer doubtful, Lawless was f.a.n.n.y's declared suitor; this, as he had himself observed, was something like doing business. Instead of planning with my mother how we could prevent the affair from going any farther, I must now inform her of his offer, and find out whether she could give me any clue as to the state of f.a.n.n.y's affections. And now that Lawless's intentions were certain, and that it appeared by no means improbable he might succeed in obtaining f.a.n.n.y's hand, a feeling of repugnance came over me, and I began to think Mr. Frampton was right, and that my sister was formed for better things than to be the companion for life of such a man as Lawless. From a reverie which thoughts like these had engendered, I was aroused by Harry Oaklands' favourite -357-- Scotch terrier, which attracted my attention by jumping and fawning upon me, and on raising my eyes I perceived the figure of his master, leaning, with folded arms, against the trunk of an old tree. As we exchanged salutations I was struck by an unusual air of dejection both in his manner and appearance. "You are looking ill and miserable this morning, Harry; is your side painful?" inquired I anxiously.

"No," was the reply, "I believe it is doing well enough; Ellis says so;"

he paused, and then resumed in a low hurried voice, "Frank, I am going abroad."

"Going abroad!" repeated I in astonishment, "where are you going to?

when are you going? this is a very sudden resolution, surely."

"I know it is, but I cannot stay here," he continued; "I must get away--I am wretched, perfectly miserable."

"My dear Harry," replied I, "what is the matter? come tell me; as boys we had no concealments from each other, and this reserve which appears lately to have sprung up between us is not well: what has occurred to render you unhappy?"

A deep sigh was for some minutes his only answer; then, gazing steadily in my face, he said, "And have you really no idea?--But why should I be surprised at the blindness of others, when I myself have only become aware of the true nature of my own feelings when my peace of mind is destroyed, and all chance of happiness for me in this life has fled for ever!"

"What do you mean, my dear Harry?" replied I; "what can you refer to?"

"Have you not thought me very much altered of late?" he continued.

"Since you ask me, I have fancied that illness was beginning to sour your temper," I replied.

"Illness of mind, not body," he resumed; "for now, when life has lost all charm for me, I am regaining health and strength apace. You must have observed with what a jaundiced eye I have regarded everything that Lawless has said or done; what was the feeling, think you, which has led me to do so? Jealousy!"

"Jealousy?" exclaimed I, as for the first time the true state of the case flashed across me--"Oh! Harry, why did you not speak of this sooner?"

"Why, indeed! because in my blindness I fancied the affection I entertained for your sister was merely a brother's love, and did not know, till the chance of losing her for ever opened my eyes effectually, that she had -358-- become so essential to my happiness that life without her would be a void. If you but knew the agony of mind I endured while they wore acting that hateful charade last night! I quite shudder when I think how I felt towards Lawless; I could have slain him where he stood without a shadow of compunction. No, I must leave this place without delay; I would not go through what I suffered yesterday again for anything--I could not bear it."

"Oh! if we had but known this sooner," exclaimed I, "so much might have been done--I only parted from Lawless five minutes before I met you, telling him that if f.a.n.n.y approved of his suit, neither my mother nor I would offer the slightest opposition. But is it really too late to do anything? shall I speak to f.a.n.n.y?"

"Not for worlds!" exclaimed Oaklands impetuously; "do not attempt to influence her in the slightest degree. If, as my fears suggest, she really love Lawless, she must never learn that my affection for her has exceeded that of a brother--never know that from henceforth her image will stand between me and happiness, and cast its shadow over the whole future of my life."

He stood for a moment, his hands pressed upon his brow as if to shut out some object too painful to behold, and then continued abruptly, "Lawless has proposed, then?"

"He has asked my consent, and his next step will of course be to do so,"

replied I.

"Then my fate will soon be decided," returned Oak-lands. "Now listen to me, Frank; let this matter take its course exactly as if this conversation had never pa.s.sed between us. Should f.a.n.n.y be doubtful, and consult you, do your duty as Lawless's friend and her brother--place the advantages and disadvantages fairly before her, and then let her decide for herself, without in the slightest degree attempting to bias her.

Will you promise to do this, Frank?"

"Must it indeed be so? can nothing be done? no scheme hit upon?"