Archibald Malmaison Page 4

  III.

  Possibly the reader, though, understanding the force of the Doctor'sillustration better than good stupid Lady Malmaison could do, is still ofopinion that that eminent practitioner's exposition of the real nucleus ofthe mystery might have been more explicit. It is all very well to say thatthe boy was asleep for seven years and then woke up; but what does such astatement mean? Are such prolonged slumbers an ordinary occurrence? And ifso, might not the slumberer, after a longer or shorter interval ofwakefulness, fall asleep again? It is to be feared that the old physicianwas not quite so well satisfied in his secret mind as he pretended to be,and that his learned dissertation upon automatic action was little betterthan a device to avoid being pressed upon the real point at issue. But itis always a delicate matter to fathom the depth of a medical man'ssagaciousness.

  Mention has already been made of little Kate Battledown, the effect ofwhose society on Archibald had been so strangely ungenial. A year or twoafter his "awakening" the little maiden was again thrown in his way, andthis time with very different results. There is extant among the familypapers a letter containing a very pretty account of the relations whichwere soon established between these small personages. They seem to havetaken to one another at once, and exercised over each other a mutualfascination. Archibald, keen and domineering with his brother andsisters, and, so far as his power went, with everybody else--was as sweetas milk to his childish enchantress; and no doubt his manners, if not hisgeneral character, greatly benefited by her companionship. There is apicture of the two children painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence and now hangingin the present Dr. Rollinson's parlor (where, doubtless, thousands of hispatients have beheld it, ignorant of its history), which is perhaps asbeautiful an example of English youth and maidenhood at eleven and nineyears of age as could be found in the three kingdoms. The boy, black-eyedand black-haired, seems to step forward daringly, with his glance fixeddefiantly upon the spectator; but his left hand, extended behind him,clasps that of little Kate with a protecting gesture; and her great browneyes rest on his face, with a look half of apprehension, half of admiringconfidence. There is a second portrait of her, taken ten years later; butof Archibald no other authentic likeness exists. Report affirms, however,that in 1823 and thereabout he was esteemed one of the handsomest youngfellows of his day.

  The devotion of the two to each other grew with their growth. She, even atthat early age, must have given occasional foretastes of the wayward,impulsive, and yet calculating character that was developed in her laterlife; but there can be little doubt that she felt a genuine attachment toArchibald; and he laid himself at her feet with a chivalricsingle-heartedness more characteristic of the fifteenth century than ofthe early nineteenth. Indeed, his jealous guardianship of her excited nota little amusement among his seniors; and it is related that in histwelfth year he actually commissioned Colonel Battledown to carry a formal"message" on his behalf to the Honorable Richard Pennroyal; the latter'soffence consisting in his having taken Miss Battledown on his knee andkissed her. The matter was, however, happily arranged on the Hon.gentleman's expressing his regret for his indiscretion, and the Coloneland Sir Clarence becoming answerable for his good behavior in future. Butthe children's preference for each other now began to suggest otherthoughts than those of mere passing entertainment to the paternal minds.There seemed to be no good reason why they should not ultimately make amatch of it. It was true that Kate might well expect to find a morebrilliant mate than the second son of a baronet; but, personal feeling andthe friendship of the families aside, she might do much worse than withArchibald. The second son of Sir Clarence stood a fair chance of hereaftermaking a favorable entry into politics; and as for fortune, his aunt onthe mother's side, a Miss Tremont, of Cornwall, an old maid without nearerrelatives than her nephew, was in a fair way to bequeath him seventythousand pounds. And furthermore (this was an aspect of the case whichColonel Battledown probably kept to himself), it was not beyond the boundsof possibility that Archibald might finally inherit Malmaison in spite ofthe accident of his birth. Edward Malmaison had always been a delicatechild, and years were not making him stronger. He was very studious, anddisinclined to those active exercises in which his brother was alreadybeginning to excel: his eyes were weak and his cheeks pale; and in short,unless his constitution should presently undergo a favorable change, thechances were fairly against his surviving Archibald, to say the least ofit. "Archie thrashed him at fisticuffs," said the old man of war tohimself, "and why shouldn't he get the better of him in other ways aswell? Of course we wish no harm to happen to poor Edward, who is a goodlittle snipe enough; but one must conduct one's campaign to an eye to whatmay happen, as well as to what is."

  So this matrimonial arrangement, without being definitely resolved upon(except possibly in the hearts of the two young persons principallyconcerned), was allowed to remain in a state of favorable suspense. Kateand Archibald saw one another as much as was good for them--although, byway of keeping up the chivalric conditions, they used to pretend that allmanner of portentous obstacles intervened between them and theconsummation of their desires; and exhausted their ingenuity in thedevising of secret meetings, of elopements across the garden wall, and ofheart-rending separations, when imaginary heartless parents tore themruthlessly from one another's arms. In a letter written by Sir Clarence toDr. Rollinson, under date December 27th, 1811, the jolly Baronet says:"Our Xmas festivities were for a time interupted by another RomanticEvent. Catherine, onely daughter of Colonel Battledown eloped with Mr.Archibald Malmaison of Malmaison. The Fugitives escaped by the pantrydore, and before they could be overtaken, had been maid man and wife bythe under Gardner in the tool house in the corner of the yard. Anapplication will be made to Parlement to dissolve the marriage untill theparties are out of the Nursrie." By this it may appear that Sir Clarencehad even more humor than orthography.

  It was a few weeks after this event that poor old Aunt Jane left the worldby way of the ornamental fish-pond. The pond in question lay on theboundary-line between the Malmaison estate and that of the Pennroyals; andthe ornamentation consisted of two flights of steps leading down to thewater, and of half a dozen willows whose twisted trunks bent over thesurface. Although of no great area, this pond was startlingly deep, andthe bottom, when you got to it, was of the softest and most unfathomablemud. Had not Aunt Jane been seen just as she was sinking for the thirdtime, therefore, the chances are that she would never have been seen tilldoomsday; there was room, and to spare, for all the Malmaison line in theslimy depths of that pool. After the catastrophe, Mr. Pennroyal caused ahandsome iron railing to be erected round the scene of it. This act causedit to be said that he might have done it before. Did he expect his futurewives to go the road of the first one? And was it not criminal negligencein him to have suffered her to escape from her attendants? How could sucha thing have happened? Did Mr. Pennroyal consider that people might saythat the death of his wife was no loss to him, but the contrary? becausethat fifty thousand pounds of hers, of which, during her lifetime, hecould touch only the interest, became, at her decease, his absoluteproperty, to do with as he liked. Under such circumstances, a gentlemancareful of his reputation should have guarded her as the apple of his eye.It was certainly very odd that a poor frail crazy creature should havebeen able to elude all pursuit, and then have gone straight to thepool--in midwinter, too--and deliberately jumped in. And there she mighthave lain, and no one the wiser, had not young Archibald Malmaisonhappened to see her, and given the alarm. If he had been a few minutesearlier, who can tell but he might have seen something--that nobodysuspected!

  All this random talk proved nothing more than that the Honorable Mr.Pennroyal was not a favorite with his neighbors; and that was a fact ofwhich no proof was needed. Some men, who are good fellows enough at bottomand even capable of inspiring genuine attachment in particular cases,never become generally popular. When Mr. Pennroyal was accused ofstinginess, it was not considered that he had a great many liabilities tomeet, and perhaps some big debt
s to pay off. When it was said that he wasunsocial and cynical, it was forgotten that these very remarks were enoughto make him so. And when he was blamed for neglecting his wife, andprofiting by her demise--well, now, how is a gentleman to pay attentionsto an idiot, or to be inconsolable when Providence gives him fiftythousand down in exchange for her? Besides, he gave her an imposingfuneral, and put himself and all his household into strict mourning. Asfor the iron railing, it might be looked upon as a sort of monument to thedeparted, in which practical usefulness and a becoming sentiment wereingeniously combined.

  The incident had its effect upon Archibald--in rather a curious fashion. Hewas, as has been intimated, the one to give the alarm. He had been passingthat way, it seemed, and had caught sight of a struggling something in thewater; and his shouts had speedily drawn the gamekeeper and a couple ofvillagers to the spot. The boy had watched the recapture of the lifelessbody in solemn silence, a red flush of color in either cheek. He had beenrather fond of Aunt Jane after her insanity became confirmed, and he wasthe only human being whom the poor woman had seemed to recognize, and inwhose company she felt some dull gleams of pleasure. He now shed no tears,seeming more angry than grieved, and continued to maintain a markedtaciturnity for several days; and, concerning the catastrophe itself, hecould never be induced to speak at all. The power of keeping his owncounsel had always characterized him: in the present instance he was asgloomily reserved as though he had buried a secret of state in his breast.Toward the widower his manner became, from hostile, almost insolent. Itwas a curious spectacle to see the lad, scarcely out of the nursery,either ignoring his tall relative, as if the latter were a caitiffunworthy the notice of a gentleman, or else staring him haughtily in theface, and staring him down, too! for it was remarked that the HonorableRichard exhibited an admirable forbearance, not to say meekness, towardhis rude little kinsman. And yet, before this time, he had occasionallygiven the boy harsh words and looks.... It must have been that hisbereavement had softened his heart.

  However, time went on, and by degrees the poignancy of the widower's griefwas blunted, and Aunt Jane's name was seldom mentioned by any one; afterall she had not done herself, or anybody connected with her, much credit.And other changes occurred: the stout old Colonel found it incumbent uponhim to join Sir Arthur Wellesley in the Peninsula; and Kate began to takethe lead in household affairs (her mother was a good deal of an invalid),and stayed more at home than she used to do, and consequently did not seeso much of Archibald; she gave him to understand that it was more genteelfor him to come and call on her, as Mr. Pennroyal and other gentlemen did.The young lady was already coming into her heritage of beauty, andpossessed more than her share of maidenly dignity, considering that shewas barely thirteen. And when, at that mention of Pennroyal, Archibaldsaid:

  "Indeed, Kate, you must not class me with him, or with any man. Rememberthat we were married two Christmases ago--" she answered:

  "You foolish boy! that was not a real marriage: a real marriage is done ina church, by a parson, and I wear a white veil."

  "But ours was an elopement," objected Archibald, disturbed.

  "An elopement without a carriage-and-four and a blacksmith? What an idea!"

  "Do you mean to say you are not my wife, Kate?" demanded the boy, turningpale.

  "Neither yours nor anybody's, Mr. Archibald."

  "Kate!" he broke out passionately, the blood leaping to his face, "takecare you never let yourself be any body else's wife than mine! And I don'tsee what difference a blacksmith or a veil makes. And if you do, theyshall die! I know how to use a sword, and a pistol too!"

  "O Archie, how wicked you are! and how cruel to me, when you know that Ican never love any man but you, though cruel fate may separate us for aseason!" The young lady was quoting from "Evelina," as Archibald wellknew, but they had got so much in the habit of applying the phraseology ofthat work to the requirements of their own private romance, that it camewithout their thinking of it.

  "But say that you will be my own at last!" cries Archibald, carrying on thescene in all seriousness.

  "Nay, my lord, 'tis ungenerous thus to press me--Oh, no, you must not doso, Archie; the book says that Lord Orville only kisses her hand--"

  "I am not Lord Orville, and I will kiss you where I like; and I don't carefor the book when I feel as I do now! I only care for you."

  "Bravo, young gentleman! that's the way to talk to 'em!" cried Dr.Rollinson, who had overheard the whole of this conversation, and who nowappeared with his broad figure, his gouty legs, and his gruff chuckle."Books are very well for make-believe, but when it comes to downrightearnest, use a tongue of your own--eh?" and he clapped the boy kindly onthe shoulder. "Yes, yes, she'll marry you fast enough when she sees youmaking eyes at some other pretty girl! Don't tell me! there's plenty of'em, go where you will, and when you start on the grand tour, as you'll bedoing one of these days, you'll see for yourself!" Such were the cynicalblasphemies which this man was not ashamed to instil into the ear of hisyoung friend; and then he led him away somewhere, still chuckling, andleft Miss Battledown to digest her slight the best way she could. TheDoctor fancied he knew a thing or two about the sex. If so, he was veryknowing!