The Chainbearer; Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts Read online

  CHAPTER IV.

  _Beat._ "Against my will, I am sent to bid you come in to dinner." _Bene._ "Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your pains." _Beat._ "I took no more pains for these thanks, than You take pains to thank me; if it had been painful, I would not have come."--_Much Ado About Nothing._

  In the porch of the house at Satanstoe stood my dear grandmother and thenotable Tom Bayard, to receive us. The first glance at the latter toldme that he was a "proper man;" and by the second, I got the pleasingassurance that he had no eye, just then, but for Kate. This was pleasantto know, as I never could have been happy in consenting to yield thatdear girl to any but a man who appreciated her worth, and fully admiredher beauty. As to my dear "ole, ole" grandmother, who was not so veryold neither, being still under seventy, her reception of us was justwhat I had ever found it; warm, affectionate, and gentle. She called myfather, the general, Corny, even when she spoke to him in a room full ofcompany; though, for that matter, I have heard my mother, who was muchmore of a woman of the world, having lived a great deal in society, dothe same thing, when she thought herself alone. I have read somepriggish book or other, written no doubt by one who knew men onlythrough pages like his own, decry such familiarities; but I havegenerally found those the happiest families, and at the bottom, the besttoned, where it was Jack, and Tom, and Bob, and Dick, and Bess, and Di.As for your Louisa Adelinas, and Robert Augustuses, and all suchelaborate respect, I frankly declare I have a contempt for it. Those arethe sort of people who would call Satanstoe, Dibbleton; Hellgate,Hurlgate; and themselves accomplished. Thank heaven, we had no suchnonsense at Lilacsbush, or at the Neck. My father was Corny; my mother,Anneke; Katrinke, Kate; and I was Mordy, or Mord; or, when there was nohurry, Mordaunt.

  Tom Bayard met my salutations frankly, and with a gentleman-like ease,though there was a slight color on his cheek which said to me, "I meanto get your sister." Yet I liked the fellow's manner. There was nograsping of the hand, and coming forward to rush into an intimacy at thefirst moment we met; but he returned my bow graciously and gracefully,and his smile as he did so seemed to invite farther and betteracquaintance.

  Now I have seen a man cross a whole room to shake hands at anintroduction to an utter stranger, and maintain a countenance the wholetime as sombre as if he were condoling with him on the loss of his wife.This habit of shaking hands dolefully is growing among us, and isimported from some of our sister States; for it is certainly not a NewYork custom, except among intimates; and it is a bad usage in myopinion, as it destroys one of the best means of graduating feelings,and is especially ungraceful at an introduction. But alas! there are somany such innovations, that one cannot pretend to predict where they areto stop. I never shook hands at an introduction, unless it were under myown roof, and when I wished to denote a decidedly hospitable feeling,until after I was forty. It was thought vulgar in my younger days, and Iam not quite certain it is not thought so now.

  In the little old-fashioned drawing-room, as of late years my goodgrandmother had been persuaded to call what was once only the bestparlor, we found Miss Priscilla Bayard, who for some reason that wasunexplained, did not come to the porch to meet her friend. She was intruth a charming girl, with fine dark eyes, glossy hair, a delicate andlady-like form, and a grace of manner that denoted perfect familiaritywith the best company of the land. Kate and Pris embraced each otherwith a warmth and sincerity that spoke in favor of each, and withperfect nature. An affected American girl, by the way, is very uncommon;and nothing strikes me sooner, when I see my own countrywomen placed atthe side of Europeans, than the difference in this respect; the oneseems so natural, while the other is so artificial!

  My own reception by Miss Bayard was gracious, though I fancied it wasnot entirely free from the consciousness of having, on some idleoccasion, heard her own name intimately connected with mine. PerhapsKate, in their confidential moments, may have said something to thiseffect; or I may have been mistaken.

  My grandmother soon announced that the whole party was to pass the nightat Satanstoe. As we were accustomed to such plans, neither Kate normyself raised the least objection, while the Bayards submitted toorders, which I soon discovered even they were not unused to, withperfect good will and submission. Thus brought together, in thefamiliarity of a quiet and small party in a country house, we made greatprogress in intimacy; and by the time dinner was over, or by fouro'clock, I felt like an old acquaintance with those who had so latelybeen strangers to me, even by name. As for Bayard and my sister, theywere in the best of humors from the start, and I felt satisfied _their_affair was a settled thing in their own minds; but Miss Priscilla was alittle under constraint for an hour or two, like a person who felt aslight embarrassment. This wore off, however, and long before we leftthe table she had become entirely herself; and a very charming self itwas, I was forced to admit. I say forced; for spite of all I had said,and a certain amount of good sense, I hope, it was impossible to get ridof the distrust which accompanied the notion that I was expected to fallin love with the young lady. My poor grandmother contributed her share,too, to keeping this feeling alive. The manner in which she looked fromone to the other, and the satisfied smile that passed over hercountenance whenever she observed Pris and myself conversing freely,betrayed to me completely that she was in the secret, and had a hand inwhat I chose to regard as a sort of plot.

  I had heard that my grandmother had set her heart on the marriage of myparents a year or two before matters came round, and that she alwaysfancied she had been very instrumental in forming a connection that hadbeen as happy as her own. The recollection, or the fancy of this successmost probably encouraged her to take a share in the present scheme; andI have always supposed that she got us all together on that occasion inorder to help the great project along.

  A walk on the Neck was proposed in the cool of the evening; forSatanstoe had many a pleasant path, pretty vista, and broad view. Awaywe went, then, the four of us, Kate leading the way, as the person mostfamiliar with the "capabilities." We were soon on the shore of theSound, and at a point where a firm, wide beach of sand had been left bythe receding waters, rocks fringing the inner boundary toward the main.Here one could walk without confinement of any sort, there being room togo in pairs, or all abreast, as we might choose. Miss Bayard seeming alittle coy, and manifesting a desire to keep near her friend, Iabandoned the intention of walking at her side, but fell behind alittle, and got into discourse with her brother. Nor was I sorry to havethis early opportunity of sounding the party who was likely soon tobecome so nearly connected with me. After a few minutes, theconversation turned on the late revolution, and the manner in which itwas likely to influence the future fortunes of the country. I knew thata portion of the family of my companion had adhered to the crown, losingtheir estates by the act of confiscation; but I also knew that a portiondid not, and I was left to infer that Tom's branch belonged to thelatter division of his name, inasmuch as his father was known to be veryeasy in his circumstances, if not absolutely rich. It was not long,however, before I ascertained that my new friend was a mild tory, andthat he would have been better pleased had the rights we had sought, andwhich he was willing enough to admit had been violated, been securedwithout a separation of the two countries. As the Littlepages hadactually been in arms against the crown, three generations of them, too,at the same time, and the fact could be no secret, I was pleased withthe candor with which Tom Bayard expressed his opinions on these points;for it spoke well of the truth and general sincerity of his character.

  "Does it not strike you as a necessary consequence of the distancebetween the two countries," I remarked in the course of theconversation, "that a separation must, sooner or later, have occurred?It is impossible that two countries should long have common rulers whenthey are divided by an ocean. Admitting that _our_ separation has been alittle premature, a circumstance I should deny in a particulardiscussion, it is an evil that every hour has a tendency to lessen."

  "Separations in familie
s are always painful, Major Littlepage; whenaccompanied by discussions, doubly so."

  "Quite true; yet they always happen. If not in this generation, in thenext."

  "I _do_ think," said Tom Bayard, looking at me a little imploringly,"that we might have got along with our difficulties without castingaside our allegiance to the king."

  "Ay, that has been the stumbling-block with thousands; and yet it is, intruth, the very weakest part of the transatlantic side of the question.Of what avail is allegiance to the king, if parliament uses its power ina way to make American interests subservient to those of England? Agreat deal may be said, that is reasonable, in favor of kingly power;that I am ready enough to allow; but very little that renders one_people_ subject to _another_. This thing called loyalty blinds men tofacts, and substitutes a fancied for a real power. The question hasbeen, whether England, by means of a parliament in which we have norepresentative, is to make laws for us or not; and not whether GeorgeIII. is to be our sovereign, or whether we are to establish thesovereignty of the people."[4]

  [Footnote 4: [This short dialogue is given in the text, because it isfound in Mr. Mordaunt Littlepage's manuscript, and not because the stateof feeling in this country to-day has any connection with the opinionsexpressed. The American nation, as a whole, is now as completelyemancipated from English political influence, as if the latter never hadan existence. The emancipation is too complete, indeed, the effecthaving brought with it a reaction that is, on many points, running intoerror in a contrary direction; the third of our manuscripts havingsomething to do with these excesses of opinion. But Mr. MordauntLittlepage appears to have some near glimmerings of the principles whichlay at the root of the American revolution, though the principle itselfdoes not appear to have been openly recognized anywhere at the time. Theking of England was originally king of America, as he was king ofIreland, and king of Scotland. It is true, there was no American flag,the system excluding the colonies from any power on the ocean; then eachcolony existed as independent of the others, except through their commonallegiance. The revolution of 1688 slowly brought parliament into theascendant; and by the time George III. ascended the throne, thatascendancy had got to be almost undisputed. Now, America had no properconnection with parliament, which, in that day, represented England andWales only; and this was a state of things which made one _country_dependent on the _other_, a subserviency of interests that clearly couldlast only so long as the party governed was too weak to take care ofitself.]]

  Bayard bowed, civilly enough, to my remark, and he changed the subject.Sufficient had been said, however, to satisfy me that there would belittle political sympathy between us, let the family tie be drawn asclose as it might. The girls joined us before we had got altogether intoanother vein of discourse, and I was a little chagrined at finding thatKate entered rather more into her admirer's views of such subjects thancomported with the true feelings, as I fancied, of a Littlepage, afterall that had passed. Still, as I should have liked the woman I loved toagree with me in opinion as much as possible in everything, I was notdisposed to judge harshly of my sister on that account. On the otherhand, to my surprise, I found Miss Priscilla a zealous, and, to say thetruth, a somewhat blind patriot; condemning England, the king, and theefforts of parliament with a warmth that was only equal to that withwhich she defended everything, act, measure, principle, or policy, thatwas purely American.

  I cannot say I had as much tolerance for the patriotism of Miss Bayardas I had for the petit treason of my sister. It seemed natural enoughthat Kate should begin to look at things of this nature with the eyes ofthe man she had made up her mind to marry; but it looked far more likemanagement in her friend, who belonged to a tory family, to volunteer sofreely the sentiments of one she could not yet love, inasmuch as untilthat day she had never even seen him.

  "Is it not so, Major Littlepage?" cried this lovely creature, for verylovely she was, beyond all dispute; and feminine and delicate, andlady-like, and all I could have wished her, had she only been a littleless of a whig, and a good deal more of a tory; her eyes sparkling andflashing, at the same time, as if she felt all she was saying from thevery bottom of her heart--"Is it not so, Major Littlepage?--America hascome out of this war with imperishable glory; and her history, athousand years hence, will be the wonder and admiration of all who readit!"

  "That will somewhat depend on what her history may prove to be, betweenthat day and this. The early history of all _great_ nations fills uswith admiration and interest, while mightier deeds effected by aninsignificant people are usually forgotten."

  "Still, this revolution has been one of which any nation might have beenproud!"

  As it would not have been proper to deny this I bowed, and strayed alittle from the rest of the party, under the pretence of looking forshells. My sister soon joined me, when the following short conversationpassed between us.

  "You find Pris Bayard a stanch whig, Major Littlepage," commenced mywarm-hearted sister.

  "Very much so; but I had supposed the Bayards excessively neutral, ifnot absolutely the other way."

  "Oh! that is true enough of most of them, but not with Pris, who haslong been a decided whig. There is Tom, now, rather moderate in hisopinions, while the father and mother are what you call excessivelyneutral; but Pris has been a whig almost as long as I have known her."

  "Almost as long! She was, then, a tory once?"

  "Hardly; though certainly her opinions have undergone a very gradualchange. We are both young, you will remember; and girls at their firstcoming out do very little of their own thinking. For the last threeyears, certainly, or since she was seventeen, Pris has been getting tobe more and more of a whig, and less and less of a tory. Do you not findher decidedly handsome, Mordaunt?"

  "Very decidedly so, and very winning in all that belongs to hersex--gentle, feminine, lady-like, lovely, and withal a whig."

  "I knew you would admire her!" cried Kate, in triumph, "I shall live tosee my dearest wish accomplished!"

  "I make no doubt you will, child; though it will not be by the marriageof a _Mr._ Littlepage to a _Miss_ Bayard."

  I got a laugh and a blush for this sally, but no sign of submission. Onthe contrary, the positive girl shook her head, until her rich curlswere all in motion, and she laughed none the less. We immediately joinedour companions, and by one of those crossings over and figurings in,that are so familiar to the young of the two sexes, we were soon walkingalong the sands again, Tom at Kate's side, and I at that of PriscillaBayard's. What the other two talked about I never knew, though I fancyone might guess; but the young lady with me pursued the subject of therevolution.

  "You have probably been a little surprised, Major Littlepage," shecommenced, "to hear me express myself so warmly in favor of thiscountry, as some of the branches of my family have been treated harshlyby the new government."

  "You allude to the confiscations? I never justified them, and wish theyhad not been made; for they fall heaviest on those who were quiteinoffensive, while most of our active enemies have escaped. Still it isno more than is usual in civil wars, and what would surely have befallenus, had it been our fortune to be the losing party."

  "So I have been told; but, as no loss has fallen on any who are verynear to me, my public virtue has been able to resist private feeling. Mybrother, as you may have seen, is less of an American than I am myself."

  "I have supposed he is one of the 'extremely neutral;' and they, I havethought, always incline a little in favor of the losing party."

  "I hope, however, his political bias, which is very honest, though verymuch in error, will not materially affect him in your good opinion. Toomuch depends on that, for me not to be anxious on the subject; and beingthe only decided whig in the family, I have thought I would venture tospeak in behalf of a very dearly beloved brother."

  "Well," I said to myself, "this is being sufficiently managing; but I amnot quite so unpractised as to be the dupe of an artifice so littleconcealed! The deuce is in the girl; yet she seems in
earnest, looks atme with the good faith and simplicity of a sister who feels even morethan she expresses, and is certainly one of the loveliest creatures Iever laid eyes on! I must not let her see how much I am on my guard, butmust meet management with management. It will be singular, indeed, if I,who have commanded a company of continentals with some credit, cannotget along with a girl of twenty, though she were even handsomer, andlooked still more innocent than this Pris Bayard, which would be no easymatter, by the way."

  The reader will understand this was what I said to myself, and it wassoon uttered, for one talks surprisingly fast to himself; but that whichI said to my fair companion, after a moment's hesitation, was verydifferent in language and import.

  "I do not understand in what way Mr. Bayard can be affected by myopinion, let it be for or against him," I answered, with just as muchinnocency of expression, according to my notion of the matter, as theyoung lady herself had thrown into her own pretty countenance, therebydoing myself infinite credit, in my own conceit; "though I am far fromjudging any man severely, because he happens to differ from me in hisjudgment of public things. The question was one of great delicacy, andthe most honest men have differed the widest on its merits."

  "You do not know how glad I am to hear you say this, Mr. Littlepage,"returned my companion, with one of the sweetest smiles woman everbestowed on man. "It will make Tom completely happy, for I know he hasbeen sadly afraid of you, on this very point."

  I did not answer instantly; for I believe I was watching the traces ofthat bewitching smile, and speculating against its influence with thepertinacity of a man who was determined not to be taken in. That smilehaunted me for a week, and it was a long time before I fullycomprehended it. I decided, however, to come to the point at once, asrespects Bayard and my sister, and not be beating the bush with indirectallusions.

  "In what manner can my opinion influence your brother, Miss Bayard?" Iasked, as soon as I was ready to say anything. "To preventmisconceptions, let me beg of you to be a little more explicit."

  "You can hardly be ignorant of my meaning, I should think!" answeredPriscilla, with a little surprise. "One has only to look at the couplebefore us, to comprehend how your opinion of the gentleman might have aninfluence on himself, at least."

  "The same might be said of us, Miss Bayard, so far as my inexperiencedeye can tell. They are a young couple, walking together; the gentlemanappearing to admire the lady, I will confess; and we are a young couplewalking together, the gentleman appearing to admire the lady, or he doesno credit to his taste or sensibility."

  "There," said I to myself again, "that is giving her quite as good as Ireceived; let me see how you take _that_."

  Pris took it very well; laughing, and blushing just enough to make herappear the loveliest creature I had ever laid eyes on. She shook herhead very much as my sister had done not long before, and disclaimed theanalogy, first in her manner, and next with her tongue.

  "The cases are very different, sir," she answered. "We are strangers toeach other, while Tom Bayard and Kate Littlepage are acquaintances ofyears' standing. _We_ do not love each other in the least; not a bit,though we are inclined to think very well of each other, on account ofthe interest we take in the couple before us, and because I am theintimate friend of your only sister, and because you are the onlybrother of my intimate friend. _There_, however," and she now spoke withemphasis, "our interest ceases, never to be increased beyond a friendlyregard, that I trust will grow up out of our respective merits andrespective discernment. It is very, _very_ different with the couplebefore us;" here, again, the flexible girl spoke with extreme feeling;every tone and cadence of her voice denoting lively sensibility. "Theyhave been long attached, not _admirers_ of each other, as you call it,Major Littlepage, but _attached_; and your opinion of my brother just atthis moment, is of the last importance to him. I hope I have at lastmade myself understood?"

  "Perfectly; and I intend to be just as explicit. In the first place Ienter a solemn protest against all that you have said about the 'othercouple,' with the exception of the interest we each feel in the brotheror sister. Next, I proclaim Kate Littlepage to be her own mistress, sofar as her brother Mordaunt is concerned, and lastly, I announce that Isee or know nothing in the character, connections, fortune, person, orposition of her suitor, Thomas Bayard, of the Hickories, Esquire, thatis in the least below her pretensions or merits. I hope that issufficiently satisfactory?"

  "Entirely so; and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for it. I willown I have had some little apprehensions on the subject of Tom'spolitical opinions; but those removed, nothing else _can_ remain tocreate the smallest uneasiness."

  "How is it possible that any of you could consider my notions of so muchimportance, when Kate has a father, a mother, and a grandmother living,all of whom, as I understand things, approve of her choice?"

  "Ah, Mr. Littlepage, you are not conscious of your importance in yourown family, I see. I know it better than you appear to know it yourself.Father, mother, grandmother, and sister, all think and speak of Mordauntalike. To hear the general converse of the war, you would suppose that_he_ had commanded a company, and Captain Littlepage the regiment. Mr.Littlepage defers to Mordaunt's taste, and Mordaunt's opinions, andMordaunt's judgment, even in housekeeping and hemstitching. Kate isforever saying, 'my brother says this,' 'my brother writes that,' 'mybrother does t'other;' and as for the old lady here at the 'Toe,' shewould hardly think her peaches and cherries could ripen, unless MordauntLittlepage, the son of _her_ son Corny Littlepage--by no accident doesshe ever call him 'general,'--were on the face of the earth to create aneternal sunshine!"

  Was there ever a girl like this! That speech was made too, in thequietest, most gentle, lady-like manner possible. That the young ladyhad spirit and humor enough, was very apparent; and for a moment Idoubted whether both were not accompanied by the most perfect simplicityof character, and the most perfect good faith. Subsequent remarks andoccurrences, however, soon revived all my original distrusts.

  "This is a vivid picture of family weaknesses, that you have sographically drawn, Miss Bayard," I answered; "and I shall not easilyforget it. What renders it the more lively and pointed, and the morelikely to be relished by the world, is the fact that Mordaunt so littledeserves the extreme partiality of the friends you have mentioned."

  "The last feature forms no part of my picture, Major Littlepage, and Idisown it. As for the world, it will never know anything about it. Youand I are not the world, nor are we at all likely ever to be the worldto each other; I wish you particularly to understand _that_, which isthe reason I am so frank with you on so short an acquaintance. I tellyou your opinion is of the last importance to Tom; as your sister wouldnot marry him, did she believe you thought in the least ill of him."

  "And she would, did I think well of him?"

  "That is a question a lady must answer for herself. And now we will sayno more on the subject; for my mind is easy since I find you entertainno political hostility to Tom."

  "Men are much less apt to entertain such feelings, I fancy, after theyhave fairly fought out a quarrel, than when they only talk over itsheads. Besides, the winning party is commonly the least rancorous, andsuccess will make us whigs forgiving. I give you my honor, no objectionwill be raised against your brother, by me, on account of his opinionsof the revolution. My dear mother herself has been half a tory the wholewar; and Kate, I find, has imbibed all her charity."

  A singular, and, as I found, a painful smile, crossed the sweet face ofPriscilla Bayard, as I made this remark; but she did not answer it. Itseemed to me she was now desirous of quitting the subject entirely, andI immediately led the discourse to other things.

  Kate and I remained at Satanstoe several days, and Tom Bayard was adaily visitor; the distance between the Neck and the Hickories being nogreat matter. I saw the young lady twice during the interval; once, byriding over to her father's residence with that express object; and oncewhen she came across on horseback to see her friend. I co
nfess I wasnever more at a loss to understand a character than I was that of thisyoung woman. She was either profoundly managing, or as innocent andsimple as a child. It was easy to see that her brother, my sister, mygrandmother, and, as I fancied, the parents of the young lady herself,were anxious that I should be on as good terms as possible with Pris, asthey all called her; though I could not fathom her own feelings on thesubject. It would have been unnatural not to have loved to gaze on herexceeding beauty, or not to have admired her extremely graceful andfeminine manner, which was precisely all that one could wish it to be inthe way of ease and self-possession, without being in the least free orforward; and I did gaze on the one, and admire the other, at the verymoment I was most disposed to distrust her sincerity, and to believe hernature the very perfection of art. There were times when I was disposedto fancy this Pris Bayard as profound and skilful an actor as one of hersex, years, and condition in life could well become, without fallingaltogether; and there were moments, too, when she seemed to be instinctwith all the sensitive and best qualities of her sex.

  It is scarcely necessary to say I remained heart-whole, under suchcircumstances, notwithstanding the obvious wishes of my friends, and theyoung lady's great advantages! A man no more falls blindly in love whenhe distrusts anything amiss, than he sees anything amiss when he isblindly in love. It has often been a matter of surprise to me, how oftenand how completely the wisest of the earthly races conspire to deceivethemselves. When suspicions are once excited, testimony is not needed;condemnation following much as a logical induction, though founded onnothing better than plausible distrusts; while, on the other hand, whereconfidence exists, testimony is only too apt to be disregarded. Women,in particular, are peculiarly apt to follow the bias of theiraffections, rather than of their reasons, in all cases connected withguilt. They are hard to be convinced of the unworthiness of those whobelong to them through the affections, because the affections areusually stronger with them than their reasoning powers. How they clingto their priests, for instance, when the cooler heads and greaterexperience of men condemn, and that merely because their imaginationschoose to adorn the offenders with the graces of that religion whichthey venerate, and on which they rely? He is a shrewd man who can drawthe line between the real and the false in these matters; but he istruly a weak one who disregards evidence, when evidence is complete andclear. That we all have our sins and our failings is true, but there arecertain marks of unworthiness which are infallible, and which oughtnever to be disregarded, since they denote the existence of the want ofprinciple that taints a whole character.