Sue Petigru Bowen - The Actress in High Life
S >>
Sue Petigru Bowen >> The Actress in High Life
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23
"You do well to remember it," said L'Isle; "it will help you on
famously."
"I had some thoughts," she continued, "in order to lose no opportunity
of familiarizing myself with these tongues, of saying my prayers in
Spanish of a morning, and Portuguese at night. But a scruple of
conscience deterred me from attempting, in prayer, to kill two birds
with one stone."
"I think," said L'Isle, laughing, "that your scruple was not out of
place."
"Yet you know that Charles V. held that God should never be addressed
but in Spanish."
"A strange doctrine for a Papist, who was always praying to him in bad
Latin," said L'Isle. "That opinion savors of heresy, and deserved the
notice of the Inquisition."
"At all events," said Lady Mabel, "it is best not to pray to him in
bad Spanish. But had I an opportunity of traveling through Spain and
Portugal, and mixing freely with the people, I would show you how
quickly both tongues could be mastered."
"I see little chance of your having that opportunity soon," said
Mrs. Shortridge.
"I am afraid I must give up all hope of it. The _Santa Hermandad_ no
longer keep the roads safe; and all the knights of Alcantara and
Calatrava to boot, of these degenerate days, would afford but little
protection to a _demoiselle errante_."
"I will offer you a more trusty escort than that of those false
knights," said L'Isle. "I will place myself and regiment at your
command."
"That is truly kind. I accept the offer; and when I set out on my
travels, will send you on with it a march or two ahead, to clear the
way, and make all safe for us, while Mrs. Shortridge and myself will
follow at ease with our civic retinue, confident that you will have
removed every danger from the path!"
"That arrangement would make the journey less pleasant to me than I
hoped to find it."
"I thought your object was our safety, not your pleasure," said Lady
Mabel.
"And for my part," said Mrs. Shortridge, "I do not care to travel any
road which requires a regiment to make it safe. I am inquisitive
enough, but my fears would be stronger than my curiosity."
"Well," Lady Mabel said, "I begin to despair of ever gratifying my
longing after a rambling life. It is probably all for the best. I dare
say I would have become a mere vagabond. But I had embraced a wide
field in my contemplated travels: romantic Spain, la belle France,
classic Italy, and that dreamy, misty Faderland. But I suppose that
this war will last always, and for all practical purposes I may as
well roll up the map of Europe."
"Do you seriously imagine that this war will last forever?" L'Isle
asked.
"Why not forever, or, at least, for a long life time? It began before
I was born, and may continue long after I am dead. I have no
recollection of a state of peace, to make me think it the natural
condition of nations."
"We are luckily not limited to our own experience in drawing our
conclusions. Take my word for it, these wars are drawing to a close. I
am only afraid that they will end before I am a Major-General."
"Why! Do you expect them to go on making a series of blunders at
headquarters, like that in the affair of that unlucky Spanish
village?"
"A series of blunders," L'Isle answered, "would be quite in accordance
with the routine at the war-office, at least. So my expectations are
not so unreasonable as you may imagine."
"Then let them blunder on as fast as possible, and make you a
major-general, and a knight of the bath, too, if it please the king.
Many of your family were knighted of old, and Sir Edward L'Isle will
sound well enough until it be merged in the peerage. But mean while
hasten to drive these French out of Spain, as the czar is driving them
out of Russia; make Spain too hot, as Muscovy is too cold for them,
that I may begin my travels at an early day."
L'Isle, out of countenance, made no answer to this sally. He did not
like being laughed at, especially by Lady Mabel.
The rays of the declining sun now touched the tops only of the
luxuriant shrubbery, that overhung this fairy dell. The heat of the
day was passed, and clambering up the steep path to the more level
ground, the party found their servants at hand with the horses, and
rode slowly back toward Elvas.
Near the foot of the range of hills, L'Isle suddenly caught sight of
three red coats, and saying, "I wonder what those fellows are doing so
far from their quarters," he turned his horse out of the path, and
rode toward them. They presently saw him approaching, and much to Lady
Mabel's surprise and amusement, in which last feeling, Mrs. Shortridge
joined, instead of waiting for him to come up, they immediately ran
off different ways, seeking concealment from the thickets and hollows.
Selecting one of them for the chase, L'Isle pushed his horse boldly
over the rough ground. But the soldier, finding the pursuit too hot,
pulled off the coat which made him conspicuous, and folding it into
small compass, pushed through an overgrown hedge and vanished. L'Isle
was soon at fault, and had to give up the chase. He returned somewhat
out of humor, with his horse somewhat blown.
"You are a bold rider," said Lady Mabel, "but those red foxes are too
cunning for you. What made you chase them? What harm were they doing?"
"None that I know of--and had they let me speak to them I would have
suspected none. But a soldier is always at mischief when he avoids
being seen and identified by his officer. The men are allowed too much
liberty in rambling over the country. No wonder we have so many
complaints lodged against them."
"You had better speak to papa about it," said Lady Mabel, in simple
confidence that so doing would set all to right.
"So I have, more than once. But he does not agree with me, and is
opposed to what he calls needless restraint."
"Oh, if papa thinks so, you need not worry yourself about the
matter. It is his business, and doubtless near forty year's experience
has taught him what amount and kinds of restraint are needed, and what
is merely burthensome and oppressive. I have heard him discuss these
matters more than once."
She seemed so little disposed to think her father might be mistaken,
that L'Isle did not venture to hint further the possibility of it. In
that father, Lady Mabel had full faith, and also some of the faith of
inexperience in the beautiful theory which teaches that the general
knows best, that after him the second in command approaches nearest to
infallibility, and so on through every gradation of rank, in all
services, civil and military. Had she made an exception to the
application of this rule, it would have been in her father's case; for
she inclined to the belief, that notwithstanding the reputation and
higher rank of the military men who stood between him and the
commander-in-chief, her father was, after Wellington, the strongest
bulwark against the torrent of invading French.
"I dare say that many of these poor fellows," observed Lady Mabel,
"though they are but common soldiers, enjoy a stroll into the country
as much as we do. In a rude way they admire picturesque beauty, and
observe with interest, bird, beast and plant of a country so different
from their own."
"I suspect," said Mrs. Shortridge, "they look chiefly for the
picturesque spots frequented by the pigs and poultry of the peasants,
and have a keen eye to detect where the fruits of the orchard are
stored, and where the wine skins hang."
Lady Mabel was indignant at this suggestion. "It is a libel on the
British army in general, and on our brigade in particular. They are
soldiers, not robbers; and the king's troops are too well cared for to
be driven to plunder for a living."
"But they may rob from love of mischief, of excitement, of excess,
from mere idleness, or old habits," said L'Isle. "In recruiting we
adopt a physical, and not a moral standard. A sound body, five feet
some inches long, is all we look for, and we are glad to get it. A
great many rogues fulfil these requisites, and get into the ranks; and
though we charge ourselves with the moral as well as the physical
training, we are not always successful. The sack of Badajoz, and of
Ciudad Rodrigo bear witness to this."
They reached Elvas without further incident, and this proved but the
first of many excursions made from time to time to points around that
place. Thus, altogether with a view to her profit and pleasure, L'Isle
contrived to withdraw Lady Mabel frequently from the military throng
at headquarters, and, with Mrs. Shortridge's aid, appropriate her to
himself.
By this adroit manoeuvre, L'Isle did not gain the good will of some of
his brother officers, who found their share of her ladyship's society
much curtailed. What cared L'Isle for that? No more than colonels
usually care for the inclinations of subalterns. Many were the
pleasant morning rambles on horseback and on foot that he took with
the two ladies; and this mode of life agreed with him wonderfully
well. Before long he recovered strength and activity to achieve some
tall climbing after rare plants among the rocks and crags, which would
have gained him great credit in an escalade. Occasionally too, while
Mrs. Shortridge prudently, or indolently, kept the more level ground
he would contrive to lead Lady Mabel to some elevated and perilous
spot--and she boldly putting herself into difficulties, and not always
seeing the way out of them, had to rely on his aid, and the supporting
arm he delighted to afford her. And they gave to love for botany the
credit of it all.
The zeal with which Colonel L'Isle followed up this new study, did not
escape Colonel Bradshawe's watchful eye. So his satirical tongue had
many a comment to make on the change in L'Isle's habits. To his own
cronies Bradshawe dubbed him the bushman, not as being neighbor to the
Hottentots, but from his often riding into Elvas, equipped like one of
Malcolm's soldiers, marching from Birnam wood to Dunsinane.
"Our would be Achilles, laden with that huge bunch of materials for
Lady Mabel's _hortus siccus_, thinks himself like Hercules with the
distaff. To me he looks like a florist's apprentice, selling his
flowers at a penny a bunch. It must be confessed though that the
fellow has talents and tact. How completely has he contrived to shut
out rivalry, by availing himself of my lady's weakness in imagining
herself a great botanist, and providing her with a zealous and
admiring pupil in his own person. And then to use so adroitly his
accommodating temporary female friend in decoying his lawful love into
the trap. She is certainly the finest girl of her day, and acres are
good things, even though they be Scotch acres; for in the same
proportion they are broader as well as more barren than English acres.
The whole thing is admirable. It is a combination of means to a
combination of ends, evincing genius of high order. Were I at the head
of the war office, I would promote him on the spot."
"Poor Shortridge!" sighed Colonel Bradshawe, dropping at once from a
tone of the highest admiration to one of deep commiseration, "can he
possibly be blind to what is going on? And what is Lord Strathern
dreaming of! What a pity one cannot interfere in these little matters,
and put our friends on their guard! But Shortridge is so obtuse, and
my Lord so self-willed and wrong-headed, that it would only make
matters worse. Indeed, it is too late to help Shortridge, poor fellow!
and we must console ourselves with the wise conclusion of the great
bard:
"He that is robbed, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know it, and he's not robbed at all."
CHAPTER VII.
Whanne that April with his shoures sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veine in swiche licour,
Of which vertue engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eke with his sote brethe,
Enspired hath in every holt and hethe
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
And smale foules maken melodie
That sleepen all night with open eye,
So pricketh hem nature in hir corages;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken strange strondes,
To servo halwes couthe in sondry londes.
_Prologue to Canterbury Tales_.
"Why, _Ma belle_, you are an indomitable excursionist!" exclaimed Lord
Strathern one evening, when the botanical party, after a hard day's
work in pleasure-hunting, returned to a late dinner at headquarters.
"I wonder Mrs. Shortridge is not worn out in accompanying you."
"I take it easily, my Lord," said Mrs. Shortridge, "keeping the
broadest and smoothest path I can find, like the wicked in Scripture,
while Lady Mabel rambles about on either hand, having, I think, a
liking for rough ground. Like the mountain goat, if she will forgive
the comparison, she prefers the crag to the plain. If your Lordship
saw the hardihood with which she puts herself into all sorts of
perilous situations, until, at times, it needs all the aid Colonel
L'Isle can give to extricate her, I fear you would put a stop to our
jaunts."
"As yet my wardrobe has been the only sufferer," said Lady Mabel. "I
have just taken off the third dress I have damaged past remedy."
"If you had been a boy, _Ma belle_, instead of a girl, you would have
made a rare sportsman!"
"A sportsman, indeed! By this time I would have held a commission in
his Majesty's service. Why, papa, I am a year older than ensign Wade,
have almost as much beard to my chin, and, but for my sex, would make
quite as good a soldier."
"I am content, however, to have you as you are, and would not exchange
you for a regiment of the best boys in England."
"Better one daughter than a thousand sons," said Lady Mabel, "for they
would make a cumbersome family."
"You are a cumbersome baggage yourself," said Lord Strathern. "Just
see the endless litter of flowers, leaves, yea, branches of trees,
with which you cumber the house. We will have to apply to the
quartermaster for the use of a returning supply-train to convey your
botanical treasures to Lisbon, and we will have to charter a vessel
there to carry them home. Dr. Graham's study will not contain all you
collect for him. You must have exhausted the neighborhood."
"In one sense I am afraid we have. Colonel L'Isle tells me that we
have explored almost every part of the country immediately around
Elvas."
"I am sorry we are tied down to this one spot," said her father. "As
you have never been from home before, I would wish you to see as much
as possible of this country. But I must stick close to the brigade, at
hand for orders at any moment."
"I must be content," said Lady Mabel. "And, after all, it is better to
see one place thoroughly, than to take a hasty glance at a dozen in
the style of common-place travelers."
"I confess I am but a common-place traveler," said Mrs. Shortridge,
"and would like to see a new place every day; though I have, I own,
found more variety and amusement in exploring the neighborhood than I
expected."
"You will shortly have an opportunity, Mrs. Shortridge," said L'Isle,
"of visiting a very striking place by merely accompanying the
commissary. He thinks of going to Evora to purchase cattle and grain
for the troops, and Evora is well worth seeing, as well as the country
you pass through in going thither."
"Ah! I would like the jaunt very much. But I did not know that the
commissary was going thither."
"He is going, and you might accompany him," said L'Isle. "You could
not indeed make the journey in your coach if you had one, for off this
high road, from Lisbon to Madrid, there is scarcely a carriage-road in
the country. But you are now quite at home, on the back of your
sure-footed mule."
The truth was, L'Isle had himself suggested to the commissary that the
country south of Evora was rich and productive, and that prices had
not been raised there by the vicinity of the troops, and the demands
of their market. At the same time he gave Shortridge to understand
that he wished to get up a party to visit Evora, and Lady Mabel must
be included in it.
"I will ask the commissary to-night when he is going," said Mrs.
Shortridge; "and to take me with him, if he can."
Lady Mabel had listened with silent interest so far; but here she
broke in upon their conference, just as L'Isle desired.
"Why, Mrs. Shortridge," she exclaimed, with a well-feigned air of one
deeply wronged, "do you mean to desert me? After partaking of my
pleasant excursions and botanical instructions (but I find you a very
dull scholar), do you mean to go traveling about, in search of
adventures and rare sights, without even asking me to be of the
party?--I, who am afflicted with a mania for traveling which can only
be cured by being gratified? But such is woman's friendship."
"My dear Lady Mabel, how do you know that my lord would trust you
so far under my care?
"So far!" said Lady Mabel, scornfully. "Did I not come from Scotland
hither, braving the perils of the sea and of the wilderness, the
stormy Bay of Biscay, and the desert of Alemtejo, teeming with robbers
and wild beasts? With no guardian but old Moodie, whose chief merit is
that of being a suspicious old Scot, with the fidelity and
snappishness of a terrier."
"I am surprised now that I sent for you," said Lord Strathern,
"considering the difficulties in the way of your coming. But you are
here, and I thank God for it. But you would find it a long, rough ride
to Evora, and the weather grows hotter every day."
"Rough roads are nothing to us who travel on horseback," Lady Mabel
said, with the air of a cavalier; "and as for the distance, it is not
much over a morning's ride. Colonel L'Isle, could not you ride there
in a morning?"
"With relays of good horses, and good luck to my neck," said L'Isle,
with a laugh. "It is about fifty miles; but one need not go the whole
way in one day."
"Of course not," she answered. "We will not ride post, but take our
ease, and see the country at our leisure."
"I see you intend going, _ma belle_," said Lord Strathern; "so I may
as well give my consent with a good grace. But is the commissary able
and willing to take charge of more than one lady, Mrs. Shortridge,
who has a will of her own? I trust, too, L'Isle, that after giving
these ladies a taste for rambling, you do not mean to desert them
now. They may need your escort. Small parties are never safe traveling
about this country. Our friends just hereabouts, especially, (I am
sorry to say it of them), are apt to fall in love with other men's
goods, and have a strong throat-cutting propensity."
"Oh, there is nothing to fear, papa," said Lady Mabel. "Our troops
occupy the country, and, if necessary, we will take Colonel L'Isle
with us for further protection. Pray, Colonel L'Isle, how many robbers
could you defend us from?"
"I would try to defend you against a hundred."
"But pray," said Mrs. Shortridge, "carry at least two servants, well
armed."
"Certainly," said Lady Mabel; "we will do the thing effectually. They
shall carry no baggage, but stuff their valises full of loaded
pistols, as antidotes to Mrs. Shortridge's fears."
"I will join the party with pleasure, my lord. I suppose I can be
spared from this post for a few days?" said L'Isle, well pleased to be
urged to join in an excursion, secretly and ingeniously contrived by
himself.
The ladies, delighted at the prospect of a pleasant journey and new
scenes, were at once full of plans and preparations for their outfit
on the road. Nor did they reckon without their host; for the
commissary assented to their joining him the moment it was proposed.
Colonel Bradshawe might amuse himself and his cronies by expressing
astonishment at his blindness or complaisance, but Shortridge had good
reasons for what he did. Since he had made money, both his wife and
himself felt a strong craving for social promotion; and Colonel L'Isle
and Lady Mabel were just the persons to lend them a helping hand in
their efforts to ascend the social ladder. But with Shortridge this
was just now but a secondary matter. The commander-in-chief had been
lately giving a rough overhauling to the officials of the
commissariat. Their numberless peculations, and short-comings at
critical moments, had exasperated him into a conviction that they were
necessary evils, and rascals to a man by right of office, and only to
be dealt with as such. And Sir Rowland Hill, to whose division the
brigade belonged, had learned this, among other lessons, from his
great commander. Now L'Isle was known to have the ear of Sir Rowland,
and the commissary was of opinion that, while Lord Strathern commanded
the brigade, Lady Mabel commanded him, so that the good opinion and
good word of those parties might avail him much on certain
emergencies. If a friend at court be a good thing, two are still
better; so he was all compliance, and let the ladies fix the next day
but one for the journey.
Early on that morning, accordingly, the party assembled at
headquarters, and their horses and mules crowded the little court of
the monastic building. L'Isle had provided an _arriero_ for a guide,
with his three mules for their baggage. The kind, and quantity, too,
of provision he had prepared for their journey, was a reflection on
the resources and hospitality of the country they were to pass
through. Nor had the commissary been negligent of creature comforts.
Lord Strathern placed his daughter in the saddle. "Remember, _ma
belle_, your blood is not used to this feverous climate, and even your
pretty neck may get broken in a mountain path."
Lady Mabel listened with dutiful attention to the warnings of
experience against the dangers from the noonday sun, the chilly night
wind, and fast riding over rough paths; but, full of anticipated
pleasure, she perhaps did not remember them an hour after.
"You are much encumbered with baggage, L'Isle," said Lord Strathern;
"and your party larger than I expected."
"My party, papa," said Lady Mabel, with an air of asserting her
position. "I like to travel in good style. This is my retinue, and a
very complete one it is. Colonel L'Isle is my dragoman, and interprets
for me among the barbarous natives. The servants, armed to the teeth,
are my guards. The commissary is my purveyor, and," she added, glancing
at his rotund figure, "I have no fear of starving in his company. Mrs.
Shortridge, though she does not look sour enough for the office, is my
duenna, punctilious and watchful--" Here she suddenly broke off her
discourse, and fixed her eyes on old Moodie, who now entered the
court, leading in a powerful horse of her father's, with a pair of
huge holsters at the saddle-bow. Being a small and an old man, he
climbed stiffly and with some difficulty into the saddle; but, when
seated there, his earnest face and resolute air made him look a hero
of the covenant quitting the conventicle for the battle-field.
After watching him in silent surprise, she exclaimed: "Why, Moodie,
are you going too? I did not know that you were so fond of traveling,
and so inquisitive about these idolatrous foreigners and their
country."
"I would gladly turn my back on them and their country; but my duty
forbids it."
"But how will papa do without you?"
"Better than your ladyship can."
"But you have made yourself so useful, indeed necessary, as steward in
this house, which needed one sadly."
"Perhaps, so, my lady. But I know where I am most needed. I do not
mean to lose sight of you for twenty-four hours, until you are safe at
Craiggyside."
Lady Mabel looked exceedingly provoked and much out of countenance at
the _surveillance_ he assumed over her. Did he think her still a child
now, when she felt herself a woman? It was well she did not ask _him_
that question, for Moodie thought this the time when she needed most
watching. She was about to forbid his following her, but her father,
laughing at her discomfiture, said, "Moodie told me last night that he
would have to be of the party. He got his general orders before he
left Scotland, and in this case my sister is commander-in-chief."
The party was now ready, and rode out of the court, L'Isle putting
himself by Lady Mabel's side.
"What special part does this old man fill in your father's household?"
"Properly, none; though he has made himself steward by an act of
usurpation. Just at this time he belongs to my household," said she,
with mock dignity. "And, when at home, he is a very important person
at Craiggyside, a place unknown to your geography, but a very
important and delightful place, notwithstanding."
"I blush to acknowledge my ignorance. Pray put an end to it by telling
me what sort of a place Craiggyside is."
"It is a villa and farm, the home of my aunt, with whom I live. There
old Moodie fulfills his round of duties. He manages the farm, sells
the crops, tasks the ploughmen, overlooks the shepherd, scolds the
dairymaid, bullies the servants, and regulates all that come near
him. He can be charged with no shortcomings, for he overdoes all he
undertakes. Not content with controlling our secular concerns, he
would gladly take upon him the cure of souls. But there he meets with
stubborn resistance."
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23