_ CHAPTER FORTY ONE. A RIDE WITH GENERAL SAMPSON
On reaching Downside, Harry and Julia were told that Miss Jane was in the house, and that Miss Mary and May were in the garden.
"Go in and see cousin Jane," said Harry to his sister, as he assisted her to dismount. "I will go into the garden."
Without giving Julia the option of accompanying him, he hurried off in search of his blind cousin and her companion. He saw them seated on a bench under the shade of some overhanging trees. May was reading with her eyes bent down on the book. She was so absorbed in the subject that she did not hear Harry's approach.
Miss Mary's quick ear, however, soon detected the sound of his footsteps.
"Who is coming?" she asked abruptly.
May looked up, and uttering Harry's name in a tone of joy, sprang forward to meet him.
"Why, Harry, I had not expected to see you so soon," she exclaimed, gazing up into his face.
Holding her hand, he advanced to Miss Mary, who smiled kindly as she greeted him. He told them that it was the first day the doctor had allowed him to ride out.
"Did Sir Ralph know that you were coming here?" asked Miss Mary.
"No; I conclude he did not suppose I was able to ride so far."
"Then you have not acted against his orders."
"Certainly not," answered Harry; "he has not prohibited me from coming here."
"I am truly glad of that," observed Miss Mary, with marked emphasis. "I will leave you young people here, and go in and have a talk with Julia. I daresay you will have something to say to each other."
Harry and May offered to accompany the kind lady to the house.
"No, no," she answered; "I can find my way perfectly well alone, and shall not meet with an accident if there are no wheelbarrows or rakes in the way," and rising, she proceeded at a slow pace towards the house.
May told Harry how anxious she had been on hearing of his being wounded by highwaymen--how grateful she felt to him for having endeavoured to recover Jacob. Then Harry told her how, day by day, he had heard of her from the doctor, and how the knowledge that she was getting better did more to restore him than anything else. He refrained from telling her, as long as he could, what he knew would give her pain--that he was appointed to a ship which he must soon join. At length, however, he had to communicate the information.
"But May," he added, "if you will consent at once to be mine, we would marry before I go, and then no human power can separate us."
"Harry," she exclaimed, gazing at him fixedly as they sat on the bench together, "I had not thought that the time for parting would be so soon. You know my regard; but I must not tempt you to act contrary to what I fear are your father's wishes, and by so doing run the risk of injuring your prospects in life, and your advancement in your profession. Your father has been here, and has expressed his opinions strongly to Miss Jane, and she has told me all he said. I shall be as truly yours as if we were married, and you will thus avoid offending him, whose wishes you are bound to respect. My thoughts will be ever with you, my prayers hourly offered up for your safety, and I shall live in hopes that the obstacles which now exist to our union will be removed when you return. Your father may relent when he finds that you are constant, and I know you will be;" and she smiled as she gazed at his countenance, and felt the impossibility of his changing.
"But I know him so well that even then I am sure he will refuse his consent on the same grounds that he does now. Will you still believe that you ought not to marry me?" exclaimed her lover.
"Oh, Harry, do not press me for an answer," answered May. "I wish to do what is right, and your cousins tell me, and my conscience assures me that they are right, that I must not become yours while your parents object to your marrying me. I must not encourage you to do what is wrong, and expose you to your father's anger. And, Harry, though I am not proud, I could not consent to enter a family who would treat me with contempt, and consider that you had lowered yourself by marrying me."
"Oh, May, I did not expect to have this reply from you," he exclaimed at last, in a tone of bitter disappointment.
"I have spoken as I believe to be right, and therefore it must be for the best," said May, trying to calm her agitation. "How I might have acted without wise counsellors, I cannot say. Do not urge me further; I dare not, I cannot give a different reply."
In vain Harry endeavoured to induce May to alter her determination, although he reasoned as an ardent lover who was not willing to be convinced. May was not surprised that Harry should argue the point, perhaps she was pleased at his doing so; but, being satisfied that she was right, the very fact that her feelings prompted her to act differently assisted her to hold to her resolution. Harry was inclined to be angry, not with her, that seemed impossible, but with his cousins for advising her as they had done. He considered his father tyrannical and unjust in the matter, and he was even less disposed than ever to obey him. May endeavoured to soothe him. She succeeded at last. She spoke of the future when there might be no impediment to their happiness. They were both still very young, and when Harry had become a commander, or obtained his post rank, they might realise their wish of living in just such a cottage as Downside, and enjoy all the happiness their mutual love could afford.
They were interrupted by the appearance of Miss Jane and Julia. The latter had taken more note of time than had Harry, and considered that they ought to be on their return to Texford.
Julia led May to a distance.
"Your sister will tell you our wishes, Harry," said Miss Jane. "You know how May is situated, and you know how affectionately we regard you. Though we do not consider that your father is right in withholding his consent, we feel bound to obey his commands, and as he has insisted on our not encouraging you to come to the house, and as we understand you are to join a ship as soon as possible, we must beg you to bid May farewell. I say this with regret, but I am sure it will be the best for both of you."
"What! do you forbid me from coming here again?" exclaimed Harry. "Would you deny me the only happiness I prize on earth?"
"You must, I understand, in a few days join your ship, and though we would rather for your sake in the meantime that you did not come, we cannot turn you from our doors," answered Miss Jane, somewhat relenting. "Only you must promise not to try to induce May to waver in her resolution. You will then part with the consciousness that you have acted rightly, and may hope for your reward when you return from sea."
Though Harry would have lingered, Julia wisely considered that they ought to return homewards without delay.
May did not refuse to allow him to press her to his heart, and his cousins wished him an affectionate farewell, and he and Julia mounting their horses commenced their ride back to Texford.
Julia did her best to raise his spirits. Never could brother and sister more completely sympathise with each other.
The next morning Harry received a note from his cousin Jane, saying that she and Mary had resolved to pay a visit to some friends residing about forty miles away to the north of Hurlston, and that as, of course, May would accompany them, though they were grieved at his disappointment he must consider his visit of the previous day a farewell one. They hoped, however, that nothing would prevent them seeing him on his return from sea. A note was enclosed from May, giving him every assurance of her unalterable affection which he could desire, and expressing her grief at not seeing him again, though she endeavoured to persuade herself with his cousins that it was for the best.
This was indeed an unexpected and bitter disappointment. Harry, however, with right manly spirit, felt that it must be endured.
He was as eager now to set off from home as he had before been anxious to remain. He had, however, one duty to perform. As he had missed meeting the lawyer at Downside, he must ride over to Morbury to him.
The general heard him order his horse.
"In which direction are you going?" he asked.
Harry told him.
"If you will accept me as a companion, I shall be happy to ride with you," said the general. "You, I suspect, must not put your horse to greater speed than I have been accustomed of late years to jog along the road?"
Harry's politeness compelled him to say that he was happy to have his company.
General Sampson could make himself agreeable to old and young alike. He had seen a great deal of the world, knew all that was going forward, and seasoned his conversation with numerous anecdotes. Harry could not help being amused.
Harry had not ridden over to Downside day after day without the general suspecting the object of his visits, and he had managed to obtain pretty accurate information of the state of the case. He really liked Harry more than he did any other young man, and his present object was to draw him out of himself. He would have been glad to gain Harry's confidence, and to hear from him how matters stood, though he very well knew he should fail if he asked the question point-blank. He therefore beat about the bush for some time, talking of his own love affairs when he was a young man, and of those of several of his friends.
"You see, my dear Harry, we must all be prepared for trials in this rugged world, but then, according to my experience, we are the better for them in the end. If the lady is obdurate or coy, or if her friends throw obstacles in the way, or if want of means exist, we must try to win her by greater attention, or sometimes by pretended indifference, or we must set to work to overcome the obstacles, or to gain the means which are wanting, and we shall enjoy double satisfaction when we triumph. I sometimes wish that I were young again to take advantage of the experience I possess, but as that is an impossibility, I have great satisfaction in enabling others to benefit by it. You understand me, Harry, _nil desperandum_ is the motto I advise you to adopt."
"Thank you, general," said Harry. "You seem to suppose that I am in a position to require your advice."
"Of course I do," said the general. "I know something about your love affair. Though my friend Sir Ralph and Lady Castleton may not see with your eyes, and may have other views for you, I can sympathise with you, and as far as my respect to them will allow me, I shall be glad to give you all the assistance in my power."
Harry thanked the general for his kind feelings, and supposing that he knew from Sir Ralph and his mother exactly how things stood enlightened him yet further on the subject.
"You should not be surprised at their objecting on the score of the lady's want of birth, charming as I doubt not she is," observed the general. "I regret, as she has gone away, that I shall not have the pleasure of being introduced to her, and by pouring her praises into Sir Ralph's ear, perhaps assist in softening his heart. However, as I said before, don't despair, but keep up your spirits, and you will soon be too busy in your professional duties to allow your thoughts time to dwell on the subject."
Harry again thanked him, and promised to follow his advice.
They reached Morbury. Harry proposed putting up their horses, and begged the general to take a few turns on the esplanade, as he had business which would occupy him some little time.
Harry was absent longer than he expected, and the general, after looking at his watch two or three times, began to wonder what he could be about.
"Can the fair lady have come to the place," he thought. "Perhaps the young fellow has been making a cat's-paw of me all the time, and has gone to church and got married, ha! ha! ha! that would be a joke; but by-the-bye it's out of canonical hours; he cannot have done that then."
He took another turn or two, exchanged a few words with the boatmen on the beach, looked about in the hopes of meeting an acquaintance, and resumed his seat on a bench facing the sea.
At last Harry made his appearance.
"What have you been about?" exclaimed the general. "I began to fear that you had given me the slip altogether, and that I should hear of you next at Gretna Green, or find that you had had a licence in your pocket all the time, and had been laughing in your sleeve while I was bestowing my sage advice on you."
"No, indeed," answered Harry, who did not like the general's joke. "To confess the truth, I have been making my will. I thought it was a matter which would occupy five or ten minutes at the utmost, but found that there were all sorts of complications, of which I had not dreamed."
"Make your will, my dear boy! What could induce you to do that?" exclaimed the general.
"When a man is going to run the risk of being shot or drowned, or cut down by fever, or finished in some other way, he naturally wishes to make such arrangements that his property may benefit those in whom he is most interested. I should have asked you to be a witness, but the lawyer found those who would answer as well, and I therefore did not think it necessary to trouble you."
"Well, we will talk about it as we ride homewards," observed the general. "It is time that we should be in the saddle, or we may be late for dinner."
The general, as they rode along, pumped Harry, curious to know how he had disposed of his property. He suspected from poor Algernon's condition that the younger brother would himself soon become heir of Texford, and would thus, should Sir Ralph die, have no inconsiderable amount of property to leave.
He succeeded in satisfying himself that should Harry Castleton be killed, Miss Pemberton's protege would succeed to all the property he could leave.
"I hope, my young friend, you will be able to endow her with it in a different way," he observed, "and though I do not know what some may say to your intentions, for my part I think it is a very right thing to do. Supposing Algernon were to die, and you be killed, and I heartily hope that won't happen, your sister Julia will inherit Texford, and I shall be very much mistaken if your friend Headland does not some day become its master. Mrs Appleton and I agree that the young people are admirably matched. By the way, Harry, I want you and Headland to come and pay me a visit at a little box I have got near Portsmouth, if you can manage to get away from your ships before they sail, or when you come into port. I had thought of going to take a few weeks' shooting with my friend, Sir Pierce Berrington, but I have made up my mind to go home direct, and if you will give me your company we will travel together. You will find posting pleasanter than the coach, and we shall give a good account of any highwaymen who may think fit to cry, 'Halt; your money or your lives.'"
Harry gladly accepted the general's last offer, and promised to deliver his message to Headland. He was glad to secure so amusing a companion for his journey. He hoped also to pay the general a visit, for unless May and his cousins returned to Downside, he should have no wish to go home. _