Home as Found, James Fenimore Cooper [bookreader txt] 📗

our countrymen possess, and I hope the advantage

has not been entirely thrown away. It was as a traveller on the

continent of Europe, that I had the pleasure of first meeting with

Mr. and Miss Effingham. I was much abroad, even as a child, and owe

some little skill in foreign languages to that circumstance."

 

"So my cousin has informed me. You have set the question of country

at rest, by declaring that you are an American, and yet I find you

have English relatives. Captain Ducie, I believe, is a kinsman?"

 

"He is; we are sister's children, though our friendship has not

always been such as the connexion would infer. When Ducie and myself

met at sea, there was an awkwardness, if not a coolness, in the

interview, that, coupled with my sudden return to England, I fear did

not make the most favourable impression, on those who witnessed what

passed."

 

"We had confidence in your principles," said John Effingham, with a

frank simplicity, "and, though the first surmises were not pleasant,

perhaps, a little reflection told us that there was no just ground

for suspicion."

 

"Ducie is a fine, manly fellow, and has a seaman's generosity and

sincerity. I had last parted from him on the field, where we met as

enemies; and the circumstance rendered the unexpected meeting

awkward. Our wounds no longer smarted, it is true; but, perhaps, we

both felt shame and sorrow that they had ever been inflicted."

 

"It should be a very serious quarrel that could arm sister's children

against each other," said John Effingham, gravely.

 

"I admit as much. But, at that time, Captain Ducie was not disposed

to admit the consanguinity, and the offence grew out of an

intemperate resentment of some imputations on my birth; between two

military men, the issue could scarcely be avoided. Ducie challenged,

and I was not then in the humour to balk him. A couple of flesh-

wounds happily terminated the affair. But an interval of three years

had enabled my enemy to discover that he had not done me justice;

that I had been causelessly provoked to the quarrel, and that we

ought to be firm friends. The generous desire to make suitable

expiation, urged him to seize the first occasion of coming to America

that offered; and when ordered to chase the Montauk, by a telegraphic

communication from London, he was hourly expecting to sail for our

seas, where he wished to come, expressly that we might meet. You will

judge, therefore, how happy he was to find me unexpectedly in the

vessel that contained his principal object of pursuit, thus killing,

as it might be, two birds with one stone."

 

"And did he carry you away with him, with any such murderous

intention?" demanded John Effingham, smiling.

 

"By no means; nothing could be more amicable than Ducie and myself

got to be, when we had been a few hours together in his cabin. As

often happens, when there have been violent antipathies and

unreasonable prejudices, a nearer view of each other's character and

motives removed every obstacle; and long before we reached England,

two warmer friends could not be found, or a more frank intercourse

between relatives could not be desired. You are aware, sir, that our

English cousins do not often view their cis-atlantic relatives with

the most lenient eyes."

 

"This is but too true," said John Effingham proudly, though his lip

quivered as he spoke, "and it is, in a great measure, the fault of

that miserable mental bondage which has left this country, after

sixty years of nominal independence, so much at the mercy of a

hostile opinion. It is necessary that we respect ourselves in order

that others respect us."

 

"I agree with you, sir, entirely. In my case, however, previous

injustice disposed my relatives to receive me better, perhaps, than

might otherwise have been the case. I had little to ask in the way of

fortune, and feeling no disposition to raise a question that might

disturb the peerage of the Ducies, I became a favourite."

 

"A peerage!--Both your parents, then, were English?"

 

"Neither, I believe; but the connection between the two countries was

so close, that it can occasion no surprise a right of this nature

should have passed into the colonies. My mother's mother became the

heiress of one of those ancient baronies, that pass to the heirs-

general, and, in consequence of the deaths of two brothers, these

rights, which however were never actually possessed by any of the

previous generation, centered in my mother and my aunt. The former

being dead, as was contended, without issue--"

 

"You forget yourself!"

 

"Lawful issue," added Paul, reddening to the temples, "I should have

added--Mrs. Ducie, who was married to the younger son of an English

nobleman, claimed and obtained the rank. My pretension would have

left the peerage in abeyance, and I probably owe some little of the

opposition I found, to that circumstance. But, after Ducie's generous

conduct, I could not hesitate about joining in the application to the

crown that, by its decision, the abeyance might be determined in

favour of the person who was in possession; and Lady Dunluce is now

quietly confirmed in her claim."

 

"There are many young men in this country, who would cling to the

hopes of a British peerage with greater tenacity!"

 

"It is probable there are; but my self-denial is not of a very high

order, for; it could scarcely be expected the English ministers would

consent to give the rank to a foreigner who did not hesitate about

avowing his principles and national feelings. I shall not say I did

hot covet this peerage, for it would be supererogatory; but I am born

an American, and will die an American; and an American who swaggers

about such a claim, is like the daw among the peacocks. The less that

is said about it, the better."

 

"You are fortunate to have escaped the journals, which, most

probably, would have _begraced_ you, by elevating you at once to the

rank of a duke."

 

"Instead of which, I had no other station than that of a dog in the

manger. If it makes my aunt happy to be called Lady Dunluce, I am

sure she is welcome to the privilege; and when Ducie succeeds her, as

will one day be the case, an excellent fellow will be a peer of

England. _Voila tout_! You are the only countryman, sir, to whom I

have ever spoken of the circumstance, and with you I trust it will

remain a secret"

 

"What! am I precluded from mentioning the facts in my own family? I

am not the only sincere, the only warm friend, you have in this

house, Powis."

 

"In that respect, I leave you to act your pleasure, my dear sir. If

Mr. Effingham feel sufficient interest in my fortunes, to wish to

hear what I have told you, let there be no silly mysteries,--or--or

Mademoiselle Viefville--"

 

"Or Nanny Sidley, or Annette," interrupted John Effingham, with a

kind smile. "Well, trust to me for that; but, before we separate for

the night, I wish to ascertain beyond question one other fact,

although the circumstances you have stated scarce leave a doubt of

the reply."

 

"I understand you, sir, and did not intend to leave you in any

uncertainty on that important particular. If there can be a feeling,

more painful than all others, with a man of any pride, it is to

distrust the purity of his mother. Mine was beyond reproach, thank

God, and so it was most clearly established, or I could certainly

have had no legal claim to the peerage."

 

"Or your fortune--" added John Effingham, drawing a long breath, like

one suddenly relieved from an unpleasant suspicion.

 

"My fortune comes from neither parent, but from one of those generous

dispositions, or caprices, if you will, that sometimes induce men to

adopt those who are alien to their blood. My guardian adopted me,

took me abroad with him, placed me, quite young, in the navy, and

dying, he finally left me all he possessed As he was a bachelor, with

no near relative, and had been the artisan of his own fortune, I

could have no hesitation about accepting the gift he so liberally

bequeathed. It was coupled with the condition that I should retire

from the service, travel for five years, return home, and marry.

There is no silly-forfeiture exacted in either case, but such is the

general course solemnly advised by a man who showed himself my true

friend for so many years."

 

"I envy him the opportunity he enjoyed of serving you. I hope he

would have approved of your national pride, for I believe we must put

that at the bottom of your disinterestedness, in the affair of the

peerage."

 

"He would, indeed, although he never knew anything of the claim which

arose out of the death of the two lords who preceded my aunt, and who

were the brothers of my grandmother. My guardian was in all respects

a man, and, in nothing more, than in a manly national pride. While

abroad a decoration was offered him, and he declined it with the

character and dignity of one who felt that distinctions which his

country repudiated, every gentleman belonging to that country ought

to reject; and yet he did it with a respectful gratitude for the

compliment, that was due to the government from which the offer

came."

 

"I almost envy that man," said John Effingham, with warmth. "To have

appreciated you, Powis, was a mark of a high judgment; but it seems

he properly appreciated himself, his country, and human nature."

 

"And yet he was little appreciated in his turn. That man passed years

in one of our largest towns, of no more apparent account among its

population than any one of its commoner spirits, and of not half as

much as one of its bustling brokers, or jobbers."

 

"In that there is nothing surprising. The class of the chosen few is

too small every where, to be very numerous at any given point, in a

scattered population like that of America. The broker will as

naturally appreciate the broker, as the dog appreciates the dog, or

the wolf the wolf. Least of all is the manliness you have named,

likely to be valued among a people who have been put into men's

clothes before they are out of leading-strings. I am older than you,

my dear Paul," it was the first time John Effingham ever used so

familiar an appellation, and the young man thought it sounded

kindly--"I am older than you, my dear Paul, and will venture to tell

you an important fact that may hereafter lessen some of your own

mortifications. In most nations there is a high standard to which man

at least affects to look; and acts are extolled and seemingly

appreciated, for their naked merits. Little of this exists in

America, where no man is much praised for himself, but for the

purposes of party, or to feed national vanity. In the country in

which, of all others, political opinion ought to be the freest, it is

the most persecuted, and the community-character of the nation

induces every man to think he has a right of property in all its

fame. England exhibits a great deal of this weakness and injustice,

which, it is to be feared, is a vicious fruit of liberty; for it is

certain that the sacred nature of opinion is most appreciated in

those countries in which it has the least efficiency. We are

constantly deriding those governments which fetter opinion, and yet I

know of no nation in which the expression of opinion is so certain to

attract persecution and hostility as our own, though it may be, and

is, in one sense, free."

 

"This arises from its potency. Men quarrel about opinion here,

because opinion rules. It is but one mode of struggling for power.

But to return to my guardian; he was a man to think and act for

himself, and as far from the magazine and newspaper existence that

most Americans, in a moral sense, pass, as any man could be."

 

"It is indeed a newspaper and magazine existence," said John

Effingham, smiling at Paul's terms, "to know life only through such

mediums! It is as bad as the condition of those English who form

their notions of society from novels written by men and women who

have no access to it, and from the records of the court journal. I

thank you sincerely, Mr. Powis for this confidence, which has not

been idly solicited on my part, and which shall not be abused. At no

distant day we will break the seals again, and renew our

investigations into this affair of the unfortunate Monday, which is

not yet, certainly, very promising in the way of revelations."

 

The gentlemen shook hands cordially, and Paul, lighted by his

companion, withdrew. When the young man was at the door of his own

room, he turned, and saw John Effingham following him with his eye.

The latter then renewed the