"We will make her acquaintance," said Percy. | unmistakeably, her desire for complete retirement. "I suspect Ida has already forestalled us. Well, my fairy, what of your mysterious stranger?" He apologized for his intrusion by saying that he had understood that she gave lessons in music, and was seeking an instructress for his little girl. Mrs. Chester glanced at Ida, and her face softened, and her whole deportment changed. "Oh! papa," cried Ida, who entered at that moment, "she was so pleased-only she did not think I was a fairy at all; and she would not let me run away, but held me, and made me tell her who I was, and thanked "I shall be very happy to give lessons to Miss Lee," me so much, that somehow, I found I couldn't say she replied; "that is," she added, checking herself, anything; and so, I'm afraid she thought me very" provided, of course, that you are satisfied with my stupid." "Will you like to go with me to-morrow, and call upon her?" inquired Percy. "I don't know," said Ida. "I should like to know her, very much. She is very beautiful, only pale and grave; she looks like a marble statue with black eyes. And she has such a deep, sweet voice-like F on the organ, so clear and steady. Only, if you think she will thank me any more, I would rather stay away. I do not know why it is so unpleasant to be thanked, for I wanted to give her pleasure; and I suppose she did it to show that she was pleased; but, you know, she could have done that quite as well by looking at the flowers, and smelling them; and I should have liked it a great deal better." The projected visit was paid the next day, and Ida had the satisfaction of seeing her bouquet, in undiminished freshness, duly installed in the place of the faded rose-tree. She pressed her father's hand to draw his attention to the fact, but did not venture even to glance towards it herself, lest she should incautiously give occasion for the renewal of her unknown friend's painful gratitude. Mrs. Chester, for such was the lady's name, was certainly a singular and interesting person. She could not be more than twenty-four years old; her figure was tall and distinguished-looking, stately even in her shabby mourning; and the plain border of her widow's cap set off to much advantage a marked but beautiful profile. The curved delicate nostril and short upper lip, the small head rising so gracefully from the symmetrical shoulders, the slender hand and exquisitely proportioned foot, all seemed to bespeak an aristocracy of origin strangely at variance with her present circumstances, which bore every token of the extremest poverty;-at variance, too, in some respects with her manner, which, though refined, was embarrassed and constrained, suggesting the idea either of inexperience in society of a good class, or of a natural shyness so strong that no experience could be sufficient to conquer it. Her hair and eyebrows were jet black, her complexion of that clear, pale whiteness which is sometimes seen in brunettes, and her eyes, which Ida had imagined of the same colour as her hair, were in reality of a dark blue gray, somewhat restless, very melancholy, and occasionally flashing with a fire too brilliant and too sudden to be altogether pleasing. Perfect melody of voice, and a smile of rare captivation, contradicted an expression which would otherwise have been almost repulsive, in spite of her remarkable beauty. She received her visitors rather stiffly, and, in reply to Percy's first courtesies, expressed, quite powers." .. "I have He looked involuntarily round the room. no instrument," said she, very quietly, "but I will give you references to my pupils at Sheldon, and I shall be happy to play and sing to you at any time that you like to appoint." Percy felt no encouragement to prolong the interview, and shortly afterwards took his leave, saying that she should hear from him. He subsequently ascertained from Mr. Gray, that Mrs. Chester had been introduced to him through the medium of an old and perfectly trustworthy friend, who had vouched for her respectability, but said that she had been singularly unfortunate, and that she wished for profound seclusion. Thus relieved, he invited her to Croye-house, and soon discovered that her musical abilities were of the first order, and had received the highest cultivation; her voice alone-a contralto, clear, sustained, and thrilling as a horn-would have qualified her for a much higher post than that of teacher in a small country town like Sheldon. Ida was enraptured. It was to her a perfectly new pleasure; and it required the full exercise of her habitual submissiveness, to keep her from spending her whole time at the piano. Mrs. Chester's cold and languid manner kindled gradually under the influence of her fascinating little pupil. She quitted the ordinary school instruction with which she had begun, and played to her some of the finest compositions. One day she played Beethoven's Sonate pathétique. Ida stood by the instrument, her lovely childish face reflecting, as it were, the emotions which the performer called forth; her cheeks varying; her eyes glistening, filling, and finally overflowing with quick tears, of which truly she knew not the cause. Mrs. Chester broke off in the middle of the adagio, and, suddenly clasping her in her arms, kissed her passionately; then turning back to the piano, with a half laugh at her own vehemence, she resumed, not, however, where she had left off, but at the final rondo, which she played with a force and an abandon positively overpowering. From that day, strange as it may appear, there arose between the mistress and the pupil a sentiment which, notwithstanding the difference of age and temperament, we can call by no other name than friendship. Towards Ida Mrs. Chester was never cold, though her manner still vibrated rather fitfully between languor and impetuosity, habitual melancholy and occasional vivacity. For Ida she displayed her talents; she was a good linguist, and a great reader-especially in imaginative literature; and Percy found her educational assistance so valuable, that he availed himself of it more and more, power achieved by this misuse of noble instruments differs in degree only, and not in kind, from that which we attribute to Satan. Intellect, be it remembered that is, pure, dry, unimaginative intellect, "the vase of cold water"-is the one of the Divine instruments which may be turned to evil purposes without degenerating in itself by the misapplication. The intellect of Mephistophiles is as perfect as his wickedness. till she had gradually established herself as daily governess to his darling. The closest vigilance, and not a few misgivings on his part, preceded and accompanied this step; Mrs. Chester became, unconsciously, the subject of many an anxious examination. Much he could not elicit, for there was a reserve about her which the most pertinacious inquirer could not have succeeded in penetrating; nevertheless, her blameless and regular life, and a certain nobleness and elevation of sentiment-expressions of which occasionally escaped her, as it were, in spite of herself-satisfied him that Ida was not likely to derive harm from close intercourse with her, carried on under his own eye and that of Mr. Becket, whose great age, though slowly but surely taking from him bodily strength, had not seemed to cast one shadow upon the clear, bright surface of intellect and spirit. There was no process of ruin in that calm decay. Rather was he like the figure in the Etruscan tomb, which stood with outline unimpaired, hues undimmed, and proportions unveil cast by modesty over an inconvenient excess of marred-seen, one moment in all its original stateliness and perfection, the next, at the opening of a door, ready to crumble into undistinguishable dust. Percy answered Melissa's letter, kindly but resolutely declining her proposal; and giving, at the same time, so vivid a picture of the profound seclusion in which he lived, that it greatly diminished her inclination to come and share it. The next letter which he received from his family contained the intelligence that Frederick was hopelessly blind. CHAPTER IV.-LAYING A TRAIN.-A CONTRAST. "In every face," says Coleridge, "there is either a history or a prophecy, which should sadden, or at least soften, the heart of the reflecting observer." It must have been a very tender heart indeed that would have melted at the aspect of Mr. Lee senior's face, as he sat upright in his easy chair opposite to his son, while his daughter Florence presided over the breakfast-table. The expression was hard and dry when we first saw it, and it has been hardening and drying for twelve years since then. There is the high, smooth, bald forehead, with its air of benign imperturbableness; the narrow, thoughtful, never-kindling eyes; the gentlemanly nose, rising somewhat abruptly at the bridge, and compressed at the nostrils; the thin, tightly-closed, but rather wide mouth, drooping at the corners; and the square, obstinate chin. The whole face expresses, in the highest degree, that asceticism of the intellect which is, perhaps, the most repulsive aspect of humanity. Even the extravagances (if such there be) of spiritual self-denial are lovely and venerable, because they speak of the subjection of the body to the heart and soul, which are the higher part of man's nature, and suggest that Beyond to which man's nature can never except by self-denial attain. But the subjection of the body to the mere mind, and that mind of the earth, earthy, whose end and aim are in the present, is simply hateful; and the Mr. Lee sat upright in his easy chair-he never indulged in unnecessary repose, either of mind or body-and, from behind the folds of the newspaper which he held in his hand, watched, with a kind of pompous stealthiness, the looks and gestures of his son. The latter was a young man of two-and-twenty, unexceptionably dressed, and distinguished by all that elaborate effeminacy of deportment which a certain class of young men of the present day assume, in the hope, we suppose, that it may be considered as the the manly virtues. He spoke with a drawl (not with 66 duce." At the present moment it appeared that somebody had been sufficiently pertinacious to drive him to the extremity of sulking; for a most forbidding scowl disfigured his handsome features, and he seemed to have made a vow of silence, though his dignified observance thereof was somewhat impaired by the fact that nobody spoke to him. The third of this attractive group was Florence, the only sister of the sublime Alexander. We are sorry to apply the epithet "clumsy" to a young lady, but we fear that no other could adequately describe her. She was immensely tall, and disproportionately large, with a thick waist, and huge hands and feet. Her features were insignificant, her expression dull and heavy, her bearing a stoop, her walk a shamble; a Devi and a Camille united would have failed to impart the smallest grace to her figure, or to soften the hopeless vulgarity of a face which had absolutely nothing to recommend it. Her brother treated her with undisguised contempt, her father with illconcealed impatience; her life was a continuous and unsuccessful struggle to avoid rebuke. Indeed, how could she avoid it when every gesture was an offence against the laws of elegance and fashion? while the persons whose object it was to bring her under the dominion of that august code visited every violation of it upon her with unsparing harshness, partly in the I "Alexander," said Mr. Lee, after he had allowed to his son what he considered a sufficient time for indulging and recovering from his uncomfortable mood, "do you know that your cousin Ida is seventeen to-day ?" Alexander quietly took up the newspaper which his father had laid down, and immersed himself in politics. "One year more," proceeded Mr. Lee, either not perceiving, or determined not to notice his son's discourtesy, one year more, and the independence which you so greatly desire will be ready to drop into your hands, if you will only take the trouble of stretching them out." 66 "Ah, Florence!" said Alexander, "here is the account of Persiani in the Somnambula;-you had a loss, I assure you; her last fioritura was exquisite. I will give it you as a subject for practice." "Alexander!-Did you hear me?" inquired the elder gentleman, in a tone of grave upbraiding. "Now Florence, attend," said the son; and in a feeble, but delicate falsetto, he executed an elaborate passage with perfect self-possession, repeating the last phrase, after he had finished it, to enforce a particular accentuation. assure you I have quite enough to do to practise for Signor Scappa without learning any extra lessons. Besides, how am I to know that you sang it correctly ?" "How are you to know, indeed, my dear!" returned her brother; "for assuredly your ear won't help you to decide the question. Do you ride to-day, sir?" Mr. Lee's face flushed crimson. "I will not be treated with this open disrespect!" cried he. Alexander put up his eyebrows, and looked inquiringly, as much as to say, You won't?-well-what then ?" "I insist upon receiving the common attention due from a son to a father," said Mr. Lee;" your behaviour is insolent,-absolutely insolent,—I will not endure it!" "Florence, my dear!" said Alexander, in a quiet compassionating tone, with a slight gesture towards bis father, implying that he was not exactly fit company for a young lady at that moment; “I think had better go up stairs!" you 'I have not done my breakfast!" replied Florence, with manifest dissatisfaction. Mrs. Lee's bell rang. "Go directly, Florence!" said her father; "I have something to say to your brother." a Florence rose sullenly, and moved towards the door. 'Do, for heaven's sake, child, try to hold yourself little less awkwardly!" exclaimed Mr. Lee, who, for good and sufficient reasons, never vented his wrath on his son, save when tried beyond all power of endurance; "Will nothing break you of that unfortunate poke? There-put down your cup and saucer -Saunders shall bring you your breakfast up stairs, if that very masculine appetite of yours is not yet satisfied. Don't drink your tea while I am speaking to you, I beg!-it is most disrespectful ;-put the cup on the table, and let me see if you can walk across the room a little less like a cow in a farm-yard!" Florence coloured painfully during this address, with a mixture of anger and shame, and being somewhat bewildered, contrived to overset the cream-jug in obeying orders and placing her cup on the table. "Upon my honour, Florence, you are the most inconceivably gauche person that I ever encountered!" cried her brother, drawing hastily back from the dangerous neighbourhood; "really, you ought to keep the width of the room between you and civilized human creatures; one is never safe within a hundred yards of you." "It is almost past endurance!" said Mr. Lee, indignantly, as the offender escaped from the room. tage. He was aware that his father's whole ambition | was set upon his marrying his cousin Ida, and so obtaining possession of the family property. This fair scheme would be frustrated at once by a fit of waywardness on the young man's part, therefore Mr. Lee, who found to his cost that he had reared in him a will stronger than his own, was forced to the bitter expedient of soothing his humour, and avoiding, as far as possible, an open outbreak. The present difference had arisen out of Alexander's determination to have his allowance raised,—a plan which his father had strenuously resisted, and to which he had not yet yielded. An angry dispute had been the consequence, and now Mr. Lee sought a loophole for concession, without irreparably destroying his own authority,-a means of compromise which his son was determined not to afford him. The scene which ensued was not pleasing, and need not be recorded. At its conclusion the young man strolled forth to his day's | amusement with a smile of triumph on his lips. It was not that he had obtained, or even sought to obtain the money for which he originally sued; on the contrary, he had baffled all his father's attempts to return to the subject, risen somewhat abruptly from the table, and quitted the room, turning in the door-way to say, with an air of nonchalance,-“ And so, my cousin Ida is seventeen to-day!-Well, it matters very little to me: I would rather live on a crust than be dependent on my wife, though she brought me the riches of Croesus." When Mr. Lee was left alone, the passion which he had been so laboriously repressing vented itself in a gesture of impotent wrath. He stretched forth his clenched hands and shook them, as though in actual encounter with some unseen foe; then shaking his head with a half smile at his own vehemence, he rose, and twice paced the length of the room with deliberate step and upcast eyes. He felt himself so keenly to be the outraged father, that he was for the moment almost pious, and his views of reverence, duty, and obedience, were altogether changed. "He will drive me to it”—such were the words that passed through his mind, as he paused before an escritoire and laid his hand upon the key-" he will drive me to it. Yet it is a tremendous risk. Well, what matter! Better, as he said himself, better lose all than be dependent on a heartless, undutiful, rebellious son." He opened the drawer, took out Mr. Clayton Lee's Will, of which it will be remembered that he had demanded a copy, and sitting down, for the hundreth time perused it, bringing all the energies of his mind to bear upon one particular part. The result appeared to be satisfactory; he replaced the will and locked the drawer; but afterwards paused twice in his passage across the room, as though he could not satisfy his mind of the expediency of the step which he was about to take. Perhaps he never would have taken it at all, save for the accumulated irritation of temper which had this morning overflowed its limits. He rang the bell, ordered his horse, and rode forth, stopping at the Albany, where he inquired if Lord Sylvester was visible. The answer was in the affir mative, and flinging the bridle to his groom he ran up stairs, and was speedily admitted into the presence of his lordship, a remarkably handsome man, of about twenty-five, whose black curls and almost feminine brilliancy of complexion had established his reputation in the circle wherein he moved as “the first ladykiller" of the day. From the brief colloquy which passed between them, it was evident that the handsome marquess's affairs were in a state of hopeless disorder, and that Mr. Lee had been serviceable to him in assisting to defer the evil day for a little while. His good offices, it will be understood, had been tendered merely in the way of friendship; the late marquess, a college friend, had made him trustee to his son's property, and though relieved from the responsibility some years since, he had since been a useful and agreeable counsellor to the young lord, helping him out of scrapes when he could, and not troubling him with any objectionable morality or offensive principle. It might be observed, however, that his present tone was highly discouraging; details were obtruded before the spendthrift's unwilling eyes, which he had never before been compelled to contemplate, and it was with a face of most unwonted gravity that he pronounced his courteous " good morning" as the lawyer rose to depart. Hillo! Lee-stop a minute-here, come back, will you, and see what you've dropped!" Mr. Lee's foot was on the stairs, but he returned at this sudden summons, and the young man, with an air of laughing mischief, presented him with a piece of silver paper, open, and containing a long bright tress of the softest golden hair. Upon my honour, Lee, it is very pretty," said he; "I didn't give you credit for so much taste. Pray, who is the lady, if it be not impertinent to ask?" "A little niece of mine, who will one day, I hope, be my daughter," replied Mr. Lee. "A great prize, I assure your lordship, for she will be one of the first heiresses in England." "Is she as pretty as her hair?" inquired his lordship. "She was when I last saw her," was the answer; "she was as lovely a little creature as I ever beheld. She is seventeen to-day, and owing to a strange romantic fancy of her father's has been educated in profound retirement, and is not to be introduced to her future bridegroom till she is eighteen. I assure you, my mind often misgives me that some fortunate man will carry off the prize in the interval." "I protest," cried Lord Sylvester with sudden animation, " I think your fears are uncommonly well founded. Seventeen, a beauty, and a great heiresspray, where is this paragon to be found?" 66 Oh, my lord, that is the last thing I should think of telling you; you are the very person to steal a march. I am afraid of you, I frankly confess that I am afraid of you. You are too good a shot to be an old sportsman's favourite companion." Sylvester laughed heartily, and twisted the tip of his black moustache round his finger. "Well," said he, "I commend your caution. But remember, I give you fair warning. I shall find out. You know me pretty well by this time, and you know if I set my fancy upon a thing I don't easily give it up. Why, I was just dying of ennui and sheer exhaustion, and here is a positive novelty-in other words, you have done the impossible for my amusement. My dear Lee, I shall be indebted to you all my life, and I seriously advise you, as a friend, to set a treble fence of thorns round the castle of this unknown beauty, for, you may rely upon it, the true prince will find his way in, after all." Mr. Lee joined the laugh. "To show you how little I fear your lordship in earnest," said he, "I will let you see her picture if you will dine with me 66 pile of gold, current money of the realm, does certainly seem rather strange. However, so it was; but the only present result of the vision which we have any means of ascertaining, consists in the discomfiture of Alexander Lee junior, who, contrary to his expectation, received no submission from his father, and did not have his allowance raised. The street of a great city at noonday is a scene of glare, glitter, and bustle; noise, folly, and as often, perhaps, though not as evidently, of sin. It bewilders the brain, wearies the eyes, and makes the heart faint as you walk along it. But look at that low arched portal-it is but stepping across the threshold, and you are in another world. So close does the Pure and Ideal lie to the Earthly and Actual in this world, if we would only know it; so easy is it needing but an effort and a movement, a will and an act-to pass from the one to the other! Yet we pause, almost in Not so easily caught!" rejoined the lawyer, "I fear, at the fragile bar which separates the world of wish you a very good morning." As Mr. Lee walked down stairs it would have been difficult to interpret the expression of his face. There was a mixture of triumph, doubt, fear, excitement, and discontent. He pressed the palms of his hands together, ejaculating gently, "It's done! It's done!" and then added mentally, " and, after all, I need not make myself uneasy. It may produce no result whatsoever-but if it works—and if I am right-(and I should know something of law by this time)-why, a great injustice will be undone-that's all." din and trouble, vanity and evil, from the world of holy shadows and heavenly radiances, where, under the solemn canopy of silence, the eye moves onward, and reposes at length in the suggestive vagueness of the pillared distance. Let us pause, though but for an instant, and then enter with reverent boldness and subdued hearts! On the evening of that same day, Ida's birthday, the second father of her happy childhood lay on his death-bed. Full of peace was that venerable face as it rested upon the pillow, settled into the composure He had not miscalculated the effect of his few words; of approaching slumber; there was the pallor of death he knew right well the nature of the man with whom on the cheeks, and the feeble hands could scarce lift he had to deal, and he had chosen his moment admir- themselves in prayer or benediction; yet no cloud had ably. Lord Sylvester was on the brink of ruin, and been suffered to pass upon the mind, no darkness, could scarcely object to the fetters whose golden links not even a momentary gloom, had afflicted the spirit. should save him from the fall. Moreover he had a The kind arms of Percy supported his drooping form, spice of romance in his character, and was likely to be and Ida was kneeling by the bed-side, bathing with instantly attracted by the idea of this fair young re- her tears the hand which she held to her lips; her cluse, offering, as she must needs do, so vivid a long golden locks lay partly across the old man's contrast to the women among whom he had been bosom, and the white veil by which they had been accustomed to move; he was lively, enterprising, and covered had fallen back upon her shoulders. She had excessively vain-the very man of all others to enjoy just returned from the solemn rite of Confirmation: hunting out a mystery, and conducting a plot the how could she more fitly seal the promises she had success of which should depend entirely upon his own just renewed, and employ the strength she had just personal qualifications. Mr. Lee had perhaps for received, than here and thus-hopefully watching the gotten for the moment that a somewhat intimate entrance of a soul into paradise? acquaintance between his brother John and Lord Sylvester would enable the latter at once to discover the residence of Ida; indeed, he had forgotten it so completely that it never occurred to him afterwards to write and caution his brother on the subject. On the contrary, as he rode home he amused himself by building a castle in the air, one inhabitant of which was the aforesaid niece Ida, in the character of Lady Sylvester-and, penniless. That he should imagine her as Lady Sylvester was quite natural, because he was a man, and no man ever yet seriously contemplated the idea of a woman's resisting high personal attractions in his own sex ; but that he should imagine her to be penniless, and that the same vision should present to his view an image of himself enthroned on a The door opened, and Mrs. Chester glided softly into the room. Mr. Gray is come," said she, putting her arm round Ida's waist, as if to lead her away, and looking inquiringly at Percy. Ida turned her blue, innocent eyes, now glistening with tears, also upon her father; she said nothing, but the look was full of supplication. She wishes to stay," said he, gently. The dying priest raised his weak hand with an effort, and placed it upon her young bright head. "God bless my daughter!" said he, in a voice now reduced to a whisper. "Stay, if you have strength." In a moment the tears were wiped from her face, and she looked clearly and calmly, though with pale cheeks and trembling lips, up into her father's eyes. |