Afloat and Ashore Part 36

"No, but much love; and love that has lasted from childhood. I cannot remember the time when I have not loved Lucy Hardinge."

"Quite true--nor I. Lucy is an excellent girl, and one is almost certain of always retaining a strong regard for _her_. How singularly the prospects of the Hardinges are changed by this sudden liking of Mrs.

Bradfort!"

"It is not sudden, Miles. You have been absent years, and forget how much time there has been to become intimate and attached. Mr. Hardinge and Mrs. Bradfort are sister's children; and the fortune of the last, which, I am told, exceeds six thousand a-year, in improving real estate in town, besides the excellent and valuable house in which she lives, came from their common grandfather, who cut off Mrs. Hardinge with a small legacy, because she married a clergyman. Mr. Hardinge is Mrs.

Bradfort's heir-at-law, and it is by no means unnatural that she should think of leaving the property to those who, in one sense, have as good a right to it as she has herself."

"And is it supposed she will leave Rupert her heir?"

"I believe it is--at least--I think--I am afraid--Rupert himself imagines it; though doubtless Lucy will come in for a fair share. The affection of Mrs. Bradfort for Lucy is very strong--so strong, indeed, that she offered, last winter, openly to adopt her, and to keep her with her constantly. You know how true and warm-hearted a girl Lucy is, and how easy it is to love her."

"This is all new to me--why was not the offer accepted?"

"Neither Mr. Hardinge nor Lucy would listen to it. I was present at the interview in which it was discussed, and our excellent guardian thanked his cousin for her kind intentions; but, in his simple way, he declared, as long as life was spared him, he felt it a duty to keep his girl; or, at least, until he committed her to the custody of a husband, or death should part them."

"And Lucy?"

"She is much attached to Mrs. Bradfort, who is a good woman in the main, though she has her weaknesses about the world, and society, and such things. Lucy wept in her cousin's arms, but declared she never could leave her father. I suppose you do not expect," added Grace, smiling, "that _she_ had anything to say about a husband."

"And how did Mrs. Bradfort receive this joint declaration of resistance to her pleasure, backed, as the last was, by dollars?"

"Perfectly well. The affair terminated by Mr. Hardinge's consenting to Lucy's pa.s.sing each winter in town, until she marry. Rupert, you know, lives there as a student at law, at present, and will become established there, when admitted to the bar."

"And I suppose the knowledge that Lucy is likely to inherit some of the old Bleecker estate, has not in the least diminished her chance of finding a husband to remove her from the paternal custody of her father?"

"No husband could ever make Lucy anything but Mr. Hardinge's daughter; but you are right, Miles, in supposing that she has been sought. I am not in her secrets, for Lucy is a girl of too much principle to make a parade of her conquests, even under the pretence of communicating them to her dearest friend--and in that light, beyond all question, does she regard me; but I feel as morally certain as one can be, without actually knowing the facts, that Lucy refused _one_ gentleman, winter before last, and three last winter."

"Was Mr. Andrew Drewett of the number?" I asked, with a precipitation of which I was immediately ashamed.

Grace started a little at the vivacity of my manner, and then she smiled, though I still thought sadly.

"Of course not," she answered, after a moment's thought, "or he would not still be in attendance. Lucy is too frank to leave an admirer in doubt an instant after his declaration is made, and her own mind made up; and not one of all those who, I am persuaded, have offered, has ever ventured to continue more than a distant acquaintance. As Mr. Drewett never has been more a.s.siduous than down to the last moment of our remaining in town, it is impossible he should have been rejected. I suppose you know Mr. Hardinge has invited him here?"

"Here? Andrew Drewett? And why is he coming here?"

"I heard him ask Mr. Hardinge's permission to visit us here; and you know how it is with our dear, good guardian--the milk of human kindness himself, and so perfectly guileless that he never sees more than is said in such matters, it was impossible he could refuse. Besides, he likes Drewett, who, apart from some fas.h.i.+onable follies, is both clever and respectable. Mr. Drewett has a sister married into one of the best families on the other side of the river, and is in the habit of coming into the neighbourhood every summer; doubtless he will cross from his sisters house to Clawbonny."

I felt indignant for just one minute, and then reason resumed its sway.

Mr. Hardinge, in the first place, had the written authority, or request, of my mother that he would invite whom he pleased, during my minority, to the house; and, on that score, I felt no disapprobation. But it seemed so much like braving my own pa.s.sion, to ask an open admirer of Lucy's to my own house, that I was very near saying something silly.

Luckily I did not, and Grace never knew what I suffered at this discovery. Lucy had refused several offers--that was something; and I was dying to know what sort of offers they were. I thought I might at least venture to ask that question.

"Did you know the four gentlemen that you suppose Lucy to have refused?"

said I, with as indifferent an air as I could a.s.sume, affecting to destroy a cobweb with my rattan, and even carrying my acting so far as to make an attempt at a low whistle.

"Certainly; how else should I know anything about it? Lucy has never said a word to me on the subject; and, though Mrs. Bradfort and I have had our pleasantries on the subject, neither of us is in Lucy's secrets."

"Ay, your pleasantries on the subject! That I dare say. There is no better fun to a woman than to see a man make a fool of himself in this way; little does _she_ care how much a poor fellow suffers!"

Grace turned pale, and I could see that her sweet countenance became thoughtful and repentant.

"Perhaps there is truth in your remark, and justice n your reproach, Miles. None of us treat this subject with as much, seriousness as it deserves, though I cannot suppose any woman can reject a man whom she believes to be seriously attached to her, without feeling for him.

Still, attachments of this nature affect your s.e.x less than ours, and I believe few men die of love. Lucy, moreover, never has, and I believe never would encourage any man whom she did not like; this principle must have prevented any of that intimate connection, without which the heart never can get much interested. The pa.s.sion that is produced without any exchange of sentiment or feeling, Miles, cannot be much more than imagination or caprice."

"I suppose those four chaps are all famously cured, by this time, then?"

said I, pretending again to whistle.

"I cannot answer for that--it is so easy to love Lucy, and to love her warmly. I only know they visit her no longer, and, when they meet her in society, behave just as I think a rejected admirer would behave, when he has not lost his respect for his late flame. Mrs. Bradfort's fortune and position may have had their influence on two; but the others I think were quite sincere."

"Mrs. Bradfort is quite in a high set, Grace--altogether above what we have been accustomed to?"

My sister coloured a little, and I could see she was not at her ease.

Still, Grace had too much self-respect, and too much character, ever to feel an oppressive inferiority, where it did not exist in essentials; and she had never been made to suffer, as the more frivolous and vain often suffer, by communications with a cla.s.s superior to their own; especially when that cla.s.s, as always happens, contains those who, having nothing else to be proud of, take care to make others feel their inferiority.

"This is true, Miles," she answered; "or I might better say, both are true. Certainly I never have seen as many well-bred persons as I meet in her circle--indeed, we have little around us at Clawbonny to teach us any distinctions in such tastes. Mr. Hardinge, simple as he is, is so truly a gentleman, that he has not left us altogether in the dark as to what was expected of us; and I fancy the higher people truly are in the world, the less they lay stress on anything but what is substantial, in these matters."

"And Lucy's admirers--and Lucy herself--"

"How, Lucy herself?"

"Was she well received--courted--admired? Met as an equal, and treated as an equal? And you, too?"

"Had you lived more in the world, Miles, you would not have asked the question. But Lucy has been always received as Mrs. Bradfort's daughter would have been received; and as for myself, I have never supposed it was not known exactly who I am."

"_Captain_ Miles Wallingford's daughter, and _Captain_ Miles Wallingford's sister," said I, with a little bitterness on each emphasis.

"Precisely; and a girl proud of her connections with both," rejoined Grace, with strong affection.

"I wish I knew one thing, Grace; and I think I _ought_ to know it, too."

"If you can make the last appear, Miles, you may rest a.s.sured you shall know it, if it depend on me."

"Did any of these gentry--these soft-handed fellows--ever think of offering to _you_?"

Grace laughed, and she coloured so deeply--oh! how heavenly was her beauty, with that roseate tint on her cheek!--but she coloured so deeply, that I felt satisfied that she, too, had refused her suitors.

The thought appeased some of my bitter feelings, and I had a sort of semi-savage pleasure in believing that a daughter of Clawbonny was not to be had for the asking, by one of that set. The only answers I got were these disclosures by blushes.

"What are the fortune and position of this Mr. Drewett, since you are resolved to tell me nothing of your own affairs?"

"Both are good, and such as no young lady can object to. He is even said to be rich."

"Thank G.o.d! _He_ then is not seeking Lucy in the hope of getting some of Mrs. Bradfort's money?"

"Not in the least. It is so easy to love Lucy, for Lucy's sake, that even a fortune-hunter would be in danger of being caught in his own trap. But Mr. Drewett is above the necessity of practising so vile a scheme for making money."

Here, that the present generation may not be misled, and imagine fortune-hunting has come in altogether within the last twenty years, I will add that it was not exactly a trade, in this country--a regular occupation--in 1802, as it has become, in 1844. There were such things then, certainly, as men, or women, who were ready to marry anybody who would make them rich; but I do not think theirs was a calling to which either s.e.x served regular apprentices.h.i.+ps, as is practised to-day.

Still, the business was carried on, to speak in the vernacular, and sometimes with marked success.

"You have not told me, Grace," I resumed, "whether you think Lucy is pleased, or not, with the attentions of this gentleman."