A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, Edward Payson Roe [top young adult novels TXT] 📗

Any Good. I Think I'Ll Take A

Walk Instead."

 

 

 

Mr. Growther Thought A Few Moments, And Muttered to Himself, "What A

Cussed old Fool I'Ve Been To Think That Rhubob And Jallup Could Touch

His Case! He'S Got Something On His Mind," And With A Commendable

Delicacy He Forbore To Question And Pry.

 

 

 

Gradually, However, Haldane Obtained patience And Then Strength To Meet

What Seemed inevitable, And To Go Forward With The Strong, Measured

Tread Of A Resolute Soldier.

 

 

 

While Passing Through His Lonely And Bitter Conflict He Learned the

Value And Significance Of That Ancient Prophecy, "He Is Despised and

Rejected of Men; A Man Of Sorrows And Acquainted with Grief; And We Hid,

As It Were, Our Faces From Him." How Long, Long Ago God Planned and

Purposed to Win The Sympathy And Confidence Of The Suffering By Coming

So Close To Them In like Experience That They Could Feel Sure--Yes,

Know--That He Felt With Them And For Them.

 

 

 

Never Before Had The Young Man So Fully Realized how Vital A Privilege

It Was To Be A Disciple Of Christ--To Be Near To Him--And Enjoy What

Resembled a Companionship Akin To That Possessed by Those Who Followed

Him Up And Down The Rugged paths Of Judea And Galilee.

 

 

 

When, At Last, Laura'S Engagement Became A Recognized fact, He Received

The Intelligence As Quietly As The Soldier Who Is Ordered to Take And

Hold A Position That Will Long Try His Fortitude And Courage To The

Utmost.

 

 

 

As For Laura, The Weeks That Followed her Engagement Were Like A

Beautiful Dream, But One That Was Created largely By The Springing Hopes

And Buoyancy Of Youth, And The Witchery Of Her Own Vivid Imagination.

The Springtime Had Come Again, And The Beauty And Promise Of Her Own

Future Seemed reflected in nature. Every Day She Took Long Drives Into

The Country With Her Lover, Or Made Expeditions To Picture Galleries In

New York; Again, They Would Visit Public Parks Or Beautiful Private

Grounds In which The Landscape Gardener Had Lavished his Art. She Lived

And Fairly Revelled in a World Of Beauty, And For The Time It

Intoxicated her With Delight.

 

 

 

There Was Also Such A Chorus Of Congratulation That She Could Not Help

Feeling Complacent. Society Indorsed her Choice So Emphatically And

Universally That She Was Sure She Had Made No Mistake. She Was Caused to

Feel That She Had Carried off The Richest Prize Ever Known In hillaton,

And She Was Sufficiently Human To Be Elated over The Fact.

 

 

 

Nor Was The Congratulation All On One Side. Society Was Quite As

Positive That Beaumont Had Been Equally Fortunate, And There Were Some

That Insisted that He Had Gained the Richer Prize. It Was Known That

Laura Had Considerable Property In her Own Name, And It Was The General

Belief That She Would Eventually Become Heiress Of A Large Part Of The

Colossal Fortune Supposed to Be In the Possession Of Mr. And Mrs. Arnot.

In Respect To Character, Beauty, Accomplishments-In Brief, The Minor

Considerations In the World'S Estimation-It Was Admitted by All That

Laura Had Few Superiors. Mr. Beaumont'S Parents Were Lavish In the

Manifestations Of Their Pleasure And Approval. And Thus It Would Seem

That These Two Lives Were Fitly Joined by The Affinity Of Kindred

Tastes, By The Congenial Habits Of Equal Rank, And By Universal

Acclamation.

 

 

 

Gradually, However, The Glamour Thrown Around Her New Relationship By

Its Very Novelty, By Unnumbered congratulations, And The Excitement

Attendant On So Momentous A Step In a Young Lady'S Life, Began To Pass

Away. Every Fine Drive In the Country Surrounding The City Had Been

Taken Again And Again; All The Fine Galleries Had Been Visited, And The

Finer Pictures Admired and Dwelt Upon In mr. Beaumont'S Refined and

Quiet Tones, Until There Was Little More To Be Said. Laura Had Come To

Know Exactly Why Her Favorite Paintings Were Beautiful, And Precisely

The Marks Which Gave Them Value. The Pictures Remained just As

Beautiful, But She Became Rather Tired of Hearing Mr. Beaumont Analyze

Them. Not That She Could Find Any Fault With What He Said, But It Was

The Same Thing Over And Over Again. She Became, Slowly And Unpleasantly,

Impressed with The Thought That, While Mr. Beaumont Would Probably Take

The Most Correct View Of Every Object That Met His Eye, He Would Always

Take The Same View, And, Having Once Heard Him Give An Opinion, She

Could Anticipate On All Future Occasions Just What He Would Say. We All

Know, By Disagreeable Experience, That No Man Is So Wearisome As He Who

Repeats Himself Over And Over Again Without Variation, No Matter How

Approved his First Utterance May Have Been. Beaumont Was Remarkably

Gifted with The Power Of Forming a Correct Judgment Of The Technical

Work Of Others In all Departments Of Art And Literature, And To The

Perfecting Of This Accurate Aesthetic Taste He Had Given The Energies Of

His Maturer Years. He Had Carefully Scrutinized in every Land All That

The Best Judges Considered pre-Eminently Great And Beautiful, But His

Critical Powers Were Those Of An Expert, A Connoisseur, Only. His Mind

Had No Freshness Or Originality. He Had Very Little Imagination. Laura'S

Spirit Would Kindle Before A Beautiful Painting Until Her Eyes Suffused

With Tears. He Would Observe Coolly, With An Eye That Measured and

Compared everything With The Received canons Of Art, And If The Drawing

And Coloring Were Correct He Was Simply--Satisfied.

 

 

 

Again, He Had A Habit Of Forgetting That He Had Given His Artistic Views

Upon A Subject But A Brief Time Before, And Would Repeat Them Almost

Word For Word, And Often His Polished sentences And Quiet Monotone Were

As Wearisome As A Thrice-Told Tale.

 

 

 

As Time Wore On The Disagreeable Thought Began To Suggest Itself To

Laura That The Man Himself Had Culminated; That He Was Perfected to The

Limit Of His Nature, And Finished off. She Foresaw With Dread That She

Might Reach A Point Before Very Long When She Would Know All That He

Knew, Or, At Least, All That He Kept In his Mind, And That Thereafter

Everything Would Be Endless Repetition To The End Of Life. He Dressed

Very Much The Same Every Day; His Habits Were Very Uniform And

Methodical. In the World'S Estimation He Was, Indeed, A Bright Luminary,

And He Certainly Resembled the Heavenly Bodies In the Following

Respects. Laura Was Learning That She Could Calculate His Orbit To A

Nicety, And Know Beforehand What He Would Do And Say In given

Conditions. When She Came To Know Him Better She Might Be Able To Trace

The Unwelcome Resemblance Still Further, In the Fact That He Did Not

Seem To Be Progressing Toward Anything, But Was Going Round And Round A

Habitual Circle Of Thought And Action, With Himself As The Centre Of His

Universe.

 

 

 

Laura Resisted the First And Infrequent Coming Of These Thoughts, As If

They Were Suggestions Of The Evil One; But, In spite Of All Effort, All

Self-Reproach, They Would Return. Sometimes As Little A Thing as An

Elegant Pose--So Perfect, Indeed, As To Suggest That It Had Been Studied

And Learned by Heart Years Ago--Would Occasion Them, And The Happy Girl

Began To Sigh Over A Faint Foreboding Of Trouble.

 

 

 

By No Word Or Thought Did She Ever Show Him What Was Passing In her

Mind, And She Would Have To Show Such Thoughts Plainly Before He Would

Even Dream Of Their Existence, For No Man Ever More Thoroughly Believed

In Himself Than Did Auguste Beaumont. He Was Satisfied he Had Learned

The Best And Most Approved way Of Doing Everything, And As His Action

Was Always The Same, It Was, Therefore, Always Right. Moreover, Laura

Eventually Divined, While Calling With Him On His Parents, That The

Greatest Heresy And Most Aggravated offence That Any One Could Be Guilty

Of In the Beaumont Mansion Would Be To Find Fault With Auguste. It Would

Be A Crime For Which Neither Reason Nor Palliation Could Be Found.

 

 

 

Thus The Prismatic Hues Which Had Surrounded this Man Began To Fade, And

Laura, Who Had Hoped to Escape The Prose Of Life, Was Reluctantly

Compelled to Admit To Herself At Times That She Found Her Lover

Tiresomely Prosy And "Splendidly Null."

 

 

 

In The Meantime Haldane Had Finished the Studies Of His Second Year At

The Medical College, And Had Won The Respect Of His Instructors By His

Careful Attention To The Lectures, And By A Certain Conscientious,

Painstaking Manner, Rather Than By The Display Of Any Striking Or

Brilliant Qualities.

 

 

 

One July Evening, Before Taking His Summer Vacation, He Called on Mrs.

Arnot. The Sky In the West Was So Threatening, And The Storm Came On So

Rapidly, That Mr. Beaumont Did Not Venture Down To The City, And Laura,

Partly To Fill A Vacant Hour, And Partly To Discover Wherein The Man Of

To-Day, Of Whom Her Aunt Could Speak In such High Terms, Differed from

The Youth That She, Even As An Immature Girl, Despised, Determined to

Give Haldane A Little Close Observation. When He Entered she Was At The

Piano, Practicing a Very Difficult And Intricate Piece Of Music That

Beaumont Had Recently Brought To Her, And He Said:

 

 

 

"Please Do Not Cease Playing. Music, Which Is A Part Of Your Daily Fare,

Is To Me A Rarely Tasted luxury, For You Know That In hillaton There Are

But Few Public Concerts Even In winter."

 

 

 

She Gave Him A Glance Of Genuine Sympathy, As She Remembered that Only

At A Public Concert Where He Could Pay His Way To An Unobtrusive Seat

Could He Find Opportunity To Enjoy That Which Was A Part Of Her Daily

Life. In no Parlor Save Her Aunt'S Could He Enjoy Such Refining

Pleasures, And For A Reason That She Knew Well He Had Rarely Availed

Himself Of The Privilege. Then Another Thought Followed swiftly: "Surely

A Man So Isolated and Cut Off From These Aesthetic Influences Which Mr.

Beaumont Regards As Absolutely Essential, Must Have Become Uncouth And

Angular In his Development." The Wish To Discover How Far This Was True

Gave To Her Observation An Increasing Zest. She Generously Resolved,

However, To Give Him As Rich A Musical Banquet As It Was In her Power To

Furnish, If His Eye And Manner Asked for It.

 

 

 

"Please Continue What You Were Playing," He Added, "It Piques My

Curiosity."

 

 

 

As The Musical Intricacy Which Gave The Rich But Tangled fancies Of A

Master-Mind Proceeded, His Brow Knit In perplexity, And At Its Close He

Shook His Head And Remarked:

 

 

 

"That Is Beyond Me. Now And Then I Seemed to Catch Glimpses Of Meaning,

And Then All Was Obscure Again."

 

 

 

"It Is Beyond Me, Too," Said Mrs. Arnot With A Laugh. "Come, Laura, Give

Us Something Simple. I Have Heard Severely Classical And Intricate Music

So Long That I Am Ready To Welcome Even 'Auld Lang Syne.'"

 

 

 

"I Also Will Enjoy A Change To Something Old And Simple," Said Laura,

And Her Fingers Glided into A Selection Which Haldane Instantly

Recognized as Steibelt'S Storm Rondo.

 

 

 

As Laura Glanced at Him She Saw His Deepening Color, And Then It

Suddenly Flashed upon Her When She Had First Played that Music For Him,

And Her Own Face Flushed with Annoyance At Her Forgetfulness. After

Playing It Partly Through She Turned to Her Music-Stand In search Of

Something Else, But Haldane Said:

 

 

 

"Please Finish The Rondo, Miss Romeyn;" Adding, With A Frank Laugh, "You

Have, No Doubt, Forgotten It; But You Once, By Means Of This Music, Gave

Me One Of The Most Deserved and Wholesome Lessons I Ever Received."

 

 

 

"Your Generous Acknowledgment Of A Fancied mistake At That Time Should

Have Kept Me From Blunders This Evening," She Replied in a Pained tone.

 

 

 

With A Steady Glance That Held Her Eyes He Said Very Quietly, And Almost

Gently:

 

 

 

"You Have Made No Blunder, Miss Romeyn. I Do Not Ignore The Past, Nor Do

I Wish It To Be Ignored with Painstaking Care. I Am Simply Trying To

Face It And Overcome It As I Might An Enemy. I May Be Wrong, For You

Know I Have Had Little Chance To Become Versed in the Ways Of Good

Society; But It Appears To Me That It Would Be Better Even For Those Who

Are To Spend But A Social Hour Together That They Should Be Free From

The Constraint Which Must Exist When There Is A Constant Effort To Shun

Delicate Or Dangerous Ground. Please Finish The Rondo; And Also Please

Remember That The Ice Is Not Thin Here And There," He Added with A

Smile.

 

 

 

Laura Caught Her Aunt'S Glance, And The Significant Lighting Up Of Her

Face, And, With An Answering Smile, She Said:

 

 

 

"If You Will Permit Me To Change The Figure, I Will Suggest That You

Have Broken The Ice So Completely That I Shall Take You At Your Word,

And Play And Sing Just What You Wish;" And, Bent Upon Giving The Young

Man All The Pleasure She Could, She Exerted her Powers To The Utmost In

Widely Varied selections; And While