The Knight Of The Golden Melice, John Turvill Adams [the reading list TXT] 📗

Learn To Halve My Heart? Years Have Not Seen, Time Shall Not See, The Hour That Tears My Soul From Thee.)

Bride Of Abydos.

 

  

It Was Early On The Morning Of The Next Day When Arundel Started On

His Way To Boston, Whither The Message Delivered By The Soldier Had

Somewhat Hastened His Return. There Was, Indeed, To One Not In Love,

Nothing In It To Require Such Haste, And The Explanation Of His

Departure Is To Be Found Only In The Natural Desire Of A Lover To Be

Near His Mistress. Something Might Happen; He Would Seek An Occasion

To See Her; Perhaps A Plan Might Be Devised; At Least, His Wishes

Could Not Be Promoted By Keeping Himself At A Distance. While The

Young Man, Musing On Sweet Hopes And Vague Unformed Designs, Is

Threading His Way Through The Forest, We Will Take Advantage Of The

Opportunity To Explain In A Few Words What The Reader, As Yet, Only

Imperfectly Suspects. 

 

 

Two Years Previous To The Time When Our Story Commences, Edmund

Dunning, A Landholder And Gentleman Of Consideration, In The County Of

Devon, In England, Having Recently Adopted The Creed And Practice Of

The Puritans, (As A Sect Dissenting From The Church Of England,

Somewhat In Doctrine, And Wholly In Outward Observances, Was Called;

From Asserting, As It Was Thought, Pretentions To Superior Purity Of

Belief And Strictness Of Living,) Left The Shores Of His Native Island

With An Only Child, A Daughter, Then Between Seventeen And Eighteen

Years Of Age, To Seek That Freedom For His Faith In The New World,

Which, As He Conceived, Was Denied Him In The Old. His Whole Family

Consisted Of This Daughter, Eveline, His Wife Having Deceased Several

Years Previously. His Departure Was Hastened By A Circumstance Which

Had For Some Time Occasioned Him No Little Uneasiness, And The Evil

Consequences Of Which He Could Think Of No Other Means So Effectually

To Avoid. This Circumstance Was An Intimacy Between The Beautiful

Eveline And A Young Gentleman In The Neighboring Town More Tender Than

The Father Approved, Who Looked Upon The Hopes Of The Suitor As

Presumptuous, And Was, Besides, Opposed To An Union, On Account Of A

Diversity Of Religious Sentiment Betwixt Himself And The Aspirant.

  

 

This Young Man Was Miles Arundel. A Year Before Master Dunning And His

Daughter Left England, He Had Come To The Town Of Exeter, Near To

Which The Dunnings Lived On Their Estate, And Opened A Studio As A

Landscape Painter. It Was Not, However, Until A Month After His

Arrival, That He Seemed At All Decided As To His Intentions, The Time

Being Spent In Wandering Over The Beautiful Country, And Making

Occasionally A Sketch; Nor After He Had Offered His Services To The

Public In A Professional Capacity Did He Work Very Diligently. Yet Was

It Remarked That He Was Never In Want Of Money; And The Citizens Of

Exeter Thought That He Must Get High Prices For His Pictures In London

To Warrant His Expenditure.

 

  

Among The Families To Which He Was Introduced As An Artist, Was That

Of Edmund Dunning. Eveline Was No Indifferent Sketcher Herself, And

Accompanied Her Father One Day On A Visit To The Rooms Of Master

Arundel. It Is Said That The Young People Blushed At The Meeting, But

However That May Be, The Blush Was Unobserved By Master Dunning.

  

 

So Agreeable Did The Young Artist Make Himself, That One Visit Led On

To Another, And He Was Invited To The House Of Dunning, And Soon Found

Himself, He Hardly Knew How, On A Familiar Footing In His Family, And

Giving Lessons In Painting To His Daughter. Edmund Dunning Had No

Intentions That Any Other Lessons Should Be Given, And It Accordingly

Grieved Him When He Discovered The Terms On Which The Young People

Stood To One Another, And Which Their Ingenuousness Could Not Conceal.

With This Relation He Had Made Himself Acquainted As Soon As He

Suspected It, By Inquiring Of Eveline, Who Frankly Told Him The Whole

Truth. Arundel Loved Her, But Dared Not, On Account Of The Distance

That Separated Him From Her Father, Make Known His Feelings. The

Father Demanded Of His Child Why She Did Not, At The Beginning, Check

Such Aspiring Thoughts, And Whether It Was Proper To Allow Of The

Continuance Of Such A State Of Things. Poor Eveline Could Only Reply

With Tears, And That She Could Not Prevent Miles Loving Her, But

Confessed That She Had Done Wrong, And Promised To Break Off The

Intimacy.

  

 

"I Am Unacquainted With His Family, Which Is Probably Obscure," Said

Edmund Dunning; "But Were The Blood Of Alfred In His Veins, He Should

Have No Daughter Of Mine So Long As He Favors The Persecuting Church

Of England, Which I Know He Does, Notwithstanding His Constant

Attendance At The Meetings Of The Congregation, The Reason Whereof I

Now Understand."

 

  

The Promise Which Eveline Made To Her Father She Kept, Nor From That

Moment Would She Consent To See Arundel. He Pleaded Hard For A Single

Interview, If Only To Take Leave, And Though Her Heart Strongly Took

His Part, She Replied That She Would Not Increase The Reproaches Of

Her Conscience By Advancing A Step Further In An Intimacy Which She

Had Wrongly Concealed From Her Father, And Was Disapproved By Him. All

Intercourse Between The Lovers Ceased From This Time, And Shortly

After Arundel Disappeared From The Neighborhood.

  

 

But It Was At The Risk Of Her Health That Eveline Obeyed Her Parent.

The Rounded Form Began To Become Thin; The Cheeks, In Which Red Roses

Were Accustomed To Bloom, Faded, And The Lovely Blue Eyes Lost Their

Lustre. The Anxious Father Noticed These Signs With Apprehension, And

In The Hope That New Scenes And A Change Of Climate Might Improve His

Daughter's Health, Hastened Their Departure.

 

  

Almost Immediately On His Arrival In The New World He Formed An

Acquaintance With Spikeman, Who Used Every Effort To Ingratiate

Himself Into His Confidence. So Successful Was Spikeman, That He

Persuaded Master Dunning To Embark A Considerable Portion Of His

Property In The Business Wherein Spikeman Was Engaged, And On The

Death Of Dunning, Which Happened Only Six Months Thereafter, To

Appoint Him The Guardian Of Eveline. But As The Shadows Of This World

Were Settling On The Eyelids Of The Dying Man, The Light Of Another

And A Better Dawned Upon His Mind. The Differences Of Opinion Which

Had Separated Him From The Friends Of His Youth And Manhood, And The

Distinctions Of Rank, Assumed Less And Less Importance. He Regarded

With Pity The Sadness Of His Daughter, And Determined That He Would Be

No Obstacle In The Way Of Her Happiness. He Called Her And His Friend

To His Bed-Side, And After Kissing Her Pale Cheek, Gave His Full

Consent To Her Union With Arundel, And Made Spikeman Promise To Favor

Her Wishes In All Things. Having Thus Settled His Worldly Affairs,

Edmund Dunning Turned His Face To The Wall And Gave Up The Ghost.

 

  

The Tears Of Eveline, Left An Orphan Far Away From The Only Spot Which

She Considered Her Home, Flowed Bitterly At The Loss Of Her Father. He

Had Been A Gentle And Sweet-Tempered Man, And An Indulgent Parent, And

She Thought Of Him With A Grief And Yearning Affection, The Pain Of

Which The Removal Of The Interdiction To Her Marriage With One Whom

She Loved, Served At First, But In A Slight Degree, To Mitigate. But

Time Had Its Usual Effect. The Swollen Eyes Of Poor Eveline At Last

Resumed Their Brightness; The Color Returned To Her Cheeks; Her Step

Became Lighter, And She Looked Forward Wish Pleasure To The Time When

She Should Give Her Hand To One Who Already Had Her Heart.

  

 

But Spikeman Was Far From Sympathizing With Her Views, Nor Had He Any

Intention To Keep His Promise. At The Time When He Inveigled Edmund

Dunning Into Entrusting Property To His Hands, His Affairs Were In An

Embarrassed Condition, And He Needed Then And Now The Funds To Save

Him From Ruin. And Again, Hypocrite Though He Was In Some Respects, He

Was Not Altogether So. A Man Of Violent Passions, And Unscrupulous In

Their Gratification, Deluding Himself With The Idea That Having Once

Tasted The Sweets Of Justification, (As He Fancied,) His Condition Was

One Of Safety, And That The Sins Which Reigned In The Members Of His

Body Could Not Reach His Soul, He Was Yet Zealous For The Faith Which

He Had Adopted, And Devoted To The Interests Of The Colony. It Was To

This Devotion Mainly That He Owed His Dignity Of Assistant. As A

Puritan, He Was, Or At Least Believed Himself To Be, Opposed To A

Marriage Between Eveline And Arundel On The Same Principle Which Had

At First Influenced Her Father, And Been Corrected Only By The Dawning

Light Of Eternity. Shortly Before The Decease Of His Friend, Spikeman

Had Frequently, Though Never In The Presence Of Eveline, Combated

Dunning's Resolution With Which He Had Been Made Acquainted, But In

Vain. Had He Dared, He Would Have Resorted To One Or More Of The

Elders To Exert Their Potent Influence, But This Would Have Been To

Betray The Secret, And In Case Of Their Failure, Might Have Placed

Himself In An Unpleasant Predicament. He Concluded It Was Better To

Lock It Up In His Own Breast, And So Remain Master Of His Actions And

Of Her Destiny, At Least Till Her Majority, Which Lacked Two Years

Before Attainment. During That Time, His Circumstances Might

Change--She Might Decease--No One Knew What Was In The Future.

  

 

It Is Not, Therefore, Surprising That The Assistant Did Not Write To

England To Inform Edmund Dunning's Relatives Of His Death; Much Less

That He Did Not Inform Arundel Of The Fact. Months Slowly Dragged By,

And Yet The Expecting Girl Received No Word From Home. At First

Spikeman Accounted For It By The Length Of Time Required To Make The

Passage Between The Countries; Afterwards By The Supposition That The

Letters Might Have Failed, Or Intimating That Arundel Had Probably

Changed His Mind. A Cold Pang, As If She Had Been Stabbed By An

Icicle, Pierced The Bosom Of Eveline At This Cruel Suggestion, And She

Felt Utterly Desolute. What, However, Frightened And Depressed Her

Spirit, Only Roused The Indignation Of Prudence Rix, Her Attendant

From England, Who Even Then Had A Sharper Insight Into The Character

Of The Assistant Than Her Mistress.

  

 

"Hey-Day!" She Exclaimed; "To Think That Master Miles, The Handsomest

And Darlingest Young Gentleman In Devonshire, And Who, If He Was Only

A Painter, Looked Grander And Gave Away More Gold Pieces Than Many A

Lord She'd Known, And Who Worshipped Mistress Eveline Like Some Pagans

She'd Heard Of Did The Sun, Should Think Of Forgetting Her! It Was

Precious Nonsense. For Her Part, If She Was Mistress Eveline, She

Would Write To Him Herself, Without Letting Old Vinegar-Face Know

Anything About It."

  

 

The Advice Was Not Thrown Away On The Young Lady, Though With An

Instinctive Delicacy She Did Not Follow It Literally. Instead Of

Addressing Arundel Directly, She Wrote To A Female Friend, And

Communicated The Change In Her Circumstances, And The Relenting Of Her

Deceased Father, Rightly Judging That The Information Would Not Long

Remain Unknown To Her Lover. She Did This Without The Knowledge Of

Spikeman, Else It Is Probable That The Letter Would Never Have Reached

Its Destination. The Event Answered Her Expectations, And With The

Arrival Of The First Ship After Her Epistle Was Received, She Had The

Gratification Of Greeting Arundel. But What Was Her Astonishment,

When, Upon The Demand Of The Young Man That Her Guardian Should Carry

Into Effect The Wishes Of His Deceased Friend, Spikeman Denied That

Any Obligation Was Imposed Upon Him. He Would Not Admit That There Had

Been Any Change Of Opinion In The Dying Man, But Insisted, On The

Contrary, That He Had Remained Steadfast In His Purpose To The Last.

He Affected Surprise At The Declarations Of Eveline, And While Not

Pretending To Say What Might Have Taken Place In His Absence,

Persisted In Asserting That Nothing Of The Kind Had Occurred In His

Presence. The Young Lady Was Surely In Error. The Bewilderment

Occasioned By Excessive Grief On Account Of Her Father's Condition,

And Partiality For Her Lover, Had Caused Her To Mistake The Meaning Of

The Former. He Could Not, However Much Desirous To Please His Ward,

Violate The Instructions Of His Deceased Friend.

 

 

 The Remonstrances Of Arundel, And Gentle Expostulations And Entreaties

Of Eveline, Were Without Effect; And When Once The Young Man, In A

Moment Of Anger, Threatened Spikeman With An Appeal To Justice And

Punishment By The Government In England, The Latter Grimly Sneered At

His Threats, And Bade Him Beware Lest He Himself Might