The Daltons Volume I Part 30

"A little more of this, and I 'll have none with you," said Dalton, as he clenched his fist, and struck his knee a hard blow. "You presume to talk of us as people whose station was always what our present means imply; but I 'd have you to know that we 've better blood in our veins--"

"Devil take your blood! you've made me spill mine again," cried Grounsell, as he sliced a piece off his chin, and threw down the razor in a torrent of anger, while Dalton grinned a look of malicious satisfaction. "Could n't your good blood have kept you above anything like dependence?"

Dalton sprang to his feet, and clutching the chair, raised it in the air; but as suddenly dashed it on the floor again, without speaking.

"Go on," cried Grounsell, daring him. "I'd rather you 'd break my skull than that dear girl's heart; and that 's what you 're bent on. Ay, break her heart! no less. You can't terrify me, man, by those angry looks. You can't wound me, either, by retaliating, and calling me a dependant. I know I am such. I know well all the ignominy, all the shame; but I know, too, all the misery of the position. But, mark me, the disgrace and the sorrow end where they begin, with myself alone. I have none to blush for me; I stand alone in the world, a poor, scathed, sapless, leafless trunk. But it is not so with you. Come, come, Dalton, you fancy that you know something of life because you have pa.s.sed so many years of it among your equals and neighbors in your own 'country; but you know nothing absolutely nothing of the world as it exists here."

A hearty but contemptuous laugh broke from Dalton as he heard this speech. It was indeed somewhat of a surprise to listen to such a charge.

He, Peter Dalton, that knew a spavined horse, or could detect a windgall better than any man in the county; he, that never was "taken in" by a roarer, nor deceived by a crib-biter, to tell him that he knew nothing of life!

"That'll do, doctor, that'll do," said he, with a most compa.s.sionating smile at the other's ignorance. "I hope you know more about medicine than you seem to do about men and women;" and, with these words, he left the room, banging the door after him as he went, and actually ashamed that he had been betrayed into warmth by one so evidently deficient in the commonest knowledge of the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 228]

"I 'm sorry I kept you waiting, girls," said he, approaching them. "And, indeed, I might have spent my time better, too. But no matter; we must try and find out her Ladyship now, for the morning is slipping over."

As he spoke, George Onslow appeared, and recognizing the party with much cordiality, conducted them to the breakfast-room, where Sir Stafford, Lady Hester, and Miss Onslow were seated. If Sydney's reception of the two sisters was less enthusiastic than Lady Hester's, it was not less kind. Nelly was won almost instantaneously by the unaffected ease and simplicity of her manner. As for Dalton himself, her Ladyship had determined to carry him by storm. She suffered him to declaim about his ancestors and their wealth; heard him with a.s.sumed interest in all his interminable stories of Dal tons for six generations; and artfully opposed to his regrets at the approaching departure of his daughter the ingenious consolation that she was not about to sojourn with mere strangers, but with those united to her by the ties of kindred.

George had, meanwhile, made two or three efforts to engage Kate in conversation; but, whether from the preoccupation of her mind, agitated as it well might be at such a moment, or that his topics were so utterly new and strange to her, his attempt was not attended with any signal success. A sense of shame, too, at the disparity of her own and her sister's appearance, in contrast with the quiet elegance of Lady Hester and Miss Onslow's dress, oppressed her. Strange was it that this feeling should have agitated her now, she who always. .h.i.therto had never wasted a thought on such matters, and yet she felt it acutely; and as she glanced from the rustling robe of silk to the folds of her own homely costume, her heart beat painfully, and her breathing came short. Was she already changed, that thoughts tike these could impress her so strongly? Had Adam's first shame descended to his daughter? "How unlike I am to them!"

was the bitter thought that rose to her mind, and ate like a cancer into her heart.

The sense of inferiority, galling and torturing as it is, becomes infinitely more unendurable when connected with matters of trivial importance. There is a sense of indignant anger in the feeling that we are surpa.s.sed by what seem the mere conventionalities and tricks of society, and although Kate knew not the source of her unhappiness, some of it lay in this fact. Every little gesture, every motion, the merest peculiarities of voice or accent, now struck her as distinctive of a cla.s.s, a cla.s.s to which no imitation would ever give her a resemblance.

If it were not for very shame, she would have drawn back now at the eleventh hour. More than once was she on the verge of confessing what was pa.s.sing within her mind; but fears of various kinds, of her father's anger, of ridicule, of the charge of frivolity, all conspired to keep her silent, and she sat and listened to descriptions of pleasure and scenes wherein she had already lost every interest, and which somehow came a.s.sociated with a sense of her own inferiority.

Never did home seem so regrettable as in that moment: the humble fireside in winter; the happy evenings with little Hanserl; the summer's day rambles in the forest; their little feasts beside the waterfall, under the ivy-clad walls of Eberstein, all rose before her. They were pleasures which had no alloy in her own humble lot, and why desert them?

She had almost gained courage to say that she would not, when a chance word caught her ear one word how little to hang a destiny upon! It was Lady Hester, who, conversing in a half-whisper with Mr. Dalton, said,

"She will be perfectly beautiful when dressed becomingly."

Was this, then, all that was needed to give her the stamp and semblance of the others? Oh, if she could believe it! If she could but fancy that, at some future time, such graceful elegance should be her own, that gentle languor, that chastened quietude of Sydney, or that sparkling lightness of Lady Hester herself!

"What time de horses, saar?" said the courier, popping his head into the room.

"I scarcely know what do you say, Lady Hester?"

"I 'm quite ready this instant if you like indeed, I 'm always the first," said she, gayly; "n.o.body travels with less preparation than I do. There, see all I want!" and she pointed to a fan, and a book, and a smelling-bottle, as if all her worldly effects and requirements went no further, and that four great imperials and a dozen capacious boxes were not packed with her wardrobe. "I do detest the worry and fuss some people make about a journey for a week, or even a month beforehand; they unsettle themselves and every one around them; putting under lock and key half the things of every-day utility, and making a kind of 'jail-delivery' of all the imprisoned old cloaks and dresses of the toilet. As for me, I take the road as I 'd go to the Opera, or drive out in the Park I ask for my bonnet, that's all."

There was some truth in this. Her Ladyship did, in fact, give herself not a whit more thought or consideration for preparation of any kind, than if the excursion had been a promenade.

"It is now two o'clock," said Sir Stafford, "and if we mean to reach Offenburg to-night we must not lose more time. Isn't it Offenburg you advise as our halt, Mr. Jekyl?"

"Yes, Sir Stafford," simpered out that bland personage. "It is a most comfortable little inn, and a very praiseworthy cook."

"By the bye, has any one thought of ordering luncheon here?" cried George.

Jekyl gave a nod, to intimate that he had taken that precaution.

"And, Mr. Jekyl," said Lady Hester, "what of those bullfinches, for I must have them?"

"They are safely caged and packed in our britzska, madam. You 'll also find that your sketch-book and the water-colors are available at any moment, Miss Onslow," said he, with a respectful gesture. She smiled, and bowed her thanks in silence.

"And de horses, saar?" asked the courier once more, for during this colloquy he had been standing in expectation of his orders.

"Do tell him, Mr. Jekyl," said Lady Hester, with that tone of languor that bespoke her dislike to the trouble of even a trifling degree of resolution.

"I think we shall say in one hour, Gregoire," said Jekyl, mildly. "And, perhaps, it would be better that you should see--" What this matter was that the courier should bestow his special attention upon is not on record in this history, inasmuch as that when the speaker had reached thus far, he pa.s.sed out of the door, talking as he went, in a low and confidential voice.

"Capital fellow Jekyl!" exclaimed George; "he forgets nothing."

"He appears to be a most accomplished traveller," said Sir Stafford.

"And such a linguist!" said Sydney.

"And so amusing!" added my Lady.

"And such a rogue!" muttered Dalton to himself, who, although so open to any imposition that took the form of flattery, could at once detect the knavery that was practised upon others, and who, at a glance, read the character of the new acquaintance.

"Don't you like the stir and excitement of the road, my dear child?"

said Lady Hester to Kate, who, with very red eyes and very pale cheeks, stood in a window to avoid being observed. "There is something so adventurous about a journey always. One may be robbed, you know, or the carriage upset, as happened to ourselves t' other day; or mistaken for somebody else, and carried off to prison. It gives such a flurry to the spirits to think of these things, and a life of monotony is so very detestable."

Kate tried to smile an a.s.sent, and Lady Hester ran on in the same strain, extolling the delights of anything and everything that promised an excitement. "You know, my dear child, that this little place has almost been the death of me," added she. "I never was so bored in all my life; and I vow I shall detest a mill and a pine-forest to the last day I live. If it had not been for you and your sweet sister, I do not know what we should have clone; but it 's all over now. The dreary interval is pa.s.sed, and when we turn the foot of that hill yonder, we shall have seen the last of it."

Kate's heart was almost bursting as she heard these words. To speak thus of the little valley would have been a profanation at any time, but to do so now, when she was about to leave it, when she was about to tear herself away from all the ties of love and affection, seemed an actual cruelty.

"Small places are my aversion," continued Lady Hester, who, when satisfied with her own talk, never cared much what effect it was producing upon others. "One grows down insensibly to the measure of a petty locality, with its little interests, its little people, and its little gossip don't you think so, dear?"

"We were so happy here!" murmured Kate, in a voice that a choking fulness of her throat almost stifled.

"Of course you were, child, very happy; and it was very good of you to be so. Yes, very good and very right." Here Lady Hester a.s.sumed a peculiar tone, which she always put on whenever she fancied that she was moralizing. "Natural amiability of disposition, and all that sort of thing, is very nice indeed; but there 's luncheon, I see, and now, my dear, let us take our places without loss of time. George, will you give your arm to Miss Dalton? Mr. Dalton but where 's Mr. Dalton?"

"Papa has taken him with him to his dressing-room," answered Sydney, "but begged you'd not wait; they'll be back presently."

"No lady does wait at luncheon," said Lady Hester, snappishly, while, drawing Kate's arm within her own, she led her into the adjoining room.

The party had scarcely seated themselves at table when they were joined by Jekyl. Indeed, Lady Hester had only time to complain of his absence when he appeared; for it was a trick of that gentleman's tact merely to make himself sufficiently regretted not to be blamed. And now he came to say that everything was ready, the postilions in the saddle, the carriages drawn up before the door, the relays all been ordered along the road, the supper bespoken for the end of the journey. These pleasant facts he contrived to season with a running fire of little gossip and mimicry, in which the landlord, and Gregoire, and Mademoiselle Celestine were the individuals personated.

Never were Mr. Jekyl's peculiar abilities more in request; for the moment was an awkward and embarra.s.sing one for all, and none, save himself, were able to relieve its seriousness. Even Nelly smiled at the witty sallies and playful conceits of this clever talker, and felt almost grateful to him for the momentary distraction he afforded her from gloomier thoughts. With such success did he exert himself, that all the graver sentiments of the occasion were swallowed up in the pleasant current of his small-talk, and no time given for a thought of that parting which was but a few minutes distant. Sir Stafford and Mr. Dalton were not sorry to discover the party in this pleasant humor, and readily chimed in with the gayety around them.

The bugle of the postilions at length announced that "time was up," and the half-hour, which German politeness accords to leave-taking, expired.

A dead silence succeeded the sound, and, as if moved by the same instinctive feeling, the two sisters arose and withdrew into a window.

Close locked in each other's arms, neither could speak. Kate's thick sobs came fast and full, and her heart beat against her sister's side as though it were bursting. As for Nelly, all that she had meant to say, the many things she had kept for the last moment, were forgotten, and she could but press the wet cheek to her own, and murmur a tremulous blessing.

"Oh, if I could but remain with you, Nelly dearest," sobbed Kate; "I feel even already my isolation. Is it too late, sister dear, is it too late to go back?"

"Not if this be not a sudden impulse of sorrow for parting, Kate; not if you think you would be happier here."

"But papa! how will he--what will he--"

She had not time for more, when her father joined them. A certain flurry of his manner showed that he was excited by talking and wine together.

There was that in the expression of his features, too, that betokened a mind ill at ease with itself a restless alternating between two courses.