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

Bloom field, appearing to renew her youth;

or, Eve, with her sweet simplicity, and highly cultivated mind and

improved tastes, seemed like a highly-polished mirror, to throw back

the flashes of thought and memory, that so constantly gleamed before

both; it was all lost on these thoroughly matter-of-fact

utilitarians. Mr. Effingham, all courtesy and mild refinement, was

seldom happier; and John Effingham was never more pleasant, for he

had laid aside the severity of his character, to appear, what he

ought always to have been, a man in whom intelligence and quickness

of thought could be made to seem secondary to the gentler qualities.

The young men were not behind their companions, either, each, in his

particular way, appearing to advantage, gay, regulated, and full of a

humour that was rendered so much the more agreeable, by drawing its

images from a knowledge of the world, that was tempered by

observation and practice.

 

Poor Grace, alone, was the only one of the whole party, always

excepting Aristabulus and Steadfast, who, for those fleeting but gay

hours, was not thoroughly happy. For the first time in her life, she

felt her own deficiencies, that ready and available knowledge, so

exquisitely feminine in its nature and exhibition, which escaped Mrs.

Bloomfield and Eve, as it might be from its own excess; which the

former possessed almost, intuitively, a gift of Heaven, and which the

latter enjoyed, not only from the same source, but as a just

consequence of her long and steady self-denial, application, and a

proper appreciation of her duty to herself, was denied one who, in

ill-judged compliance with the customs of a society that has no other

apparent aim than the love of display, had precluded herself from

enjoyments that none but the intellectual can feel. Still Grace was

beautiful and attractive; and though she wondered where her cousin,

in general so simple and unpretending, had acquired all those stores

of thought, that, in the _abandon_ and freedom of such a fete,

escaped her in rich profusion, embellished with ready allusions and a

brilliant though chastened wit, her generous and affectionate heart

could permit her to wonder without envying. She perceived, for the

first time, on this occasion, that if Eve were indeed a Hajji, it was

not a Hajji of a common school; and, while her modesty and self-

abasement led her bitterly to regret the hours irretrievably wasted

in the frivolous levities so common to those of her sex with whom she

had been most accustomed to mingle, her sincere regret did not lessen

her admiration for one she began tenderly to love.

 

As for Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, they both determined, in their own

minds, that this was much the most stupid entertainment they had ever

seen on that spot, for it was entirely destitute of loud laughing,

noisy merriment, coarse witticisms, and practical jokes. To them it

appeared the height of arrogance, for any particular set of persons

to presume to come to a spot, rendered sacred by the public suffrage

in its favour, in order to indulge in these outlandish dog-in-the-

mangerisms.

 

Towards the close of this gay repast, and when the party were about

to yield their places to the attendants, who were ready to re-ship

the utensils, John Effingham observed--

 

"I trust, Mrs. Hawker, you have been-duly warned of the catastrophe-

character of this point, on which woman is said never to have been

wooed in vain. Here are Captain Truck and myself, ready at any moment

to use these carving knives, _faute des Bowies_, in order to show our

desperate devotion; and I deem it no more than prudent in you, not to

smile again this day, lest the cross-eyed readings of jealousy should

impute a wrong motive."

 

"Had the injunction been against laughing, sir, I might have

resisted, but smiles are far too feeble to express one's approbation,

on such a day as this; you may, therefore, trust to my discretion. Is

it then true, however, that Hymen haunts these shades?"

 

"A bachelor's history of the progress of love, may be, like the

education of his children, distrusted; but so sayeth tradition; and I

never put my foot in the place, without making fresh vows of

constancy to myself. After this announcement of the danger, dare you

accept an arm, for I perceive signs that life cannot be entirely

wasted in these pleasures, great as they may prove."

 

The whole party arose, and separating naturally, they strolled in

groups or pairs again, along the pebbly strand, or beneath the trees,

while the attendants made the preparations to depart. Accident, as

much as design, left Sir George and Grace alone, for neither

perceived the circumstance until they had both passed a little rise

in the formation of the ground, and were beyond the view of their

companions. The baronet was the first to perceive how much he had

been favoured by fortune, and his feelings were touched by the air of

gentle melancholy, that shaded the usually bright and brilliant

countenance of the beautiful girl.

 

"I should have thrice enjoyed this pleasant day," he said, with an

interest in his manner, that caused the heart of Grace to beat

quicker, "had I not seen that to you it has been less productive of

satisfaction, than to most of those around you. I fear you may not be

as well, as usual?"

 

"In health, never better, though not in spirits, perhaps."

 

"I could wish I had a right to inquire why you, who have so few

causes in general to be out of spirits, should have chosen a moment

so little in accordance with the common feeling."

 

"I have chosen no moment; the moment has chosen me, I fear. Not until

this day, Sir George Templemore, have I ever been truly sensible of

my great inferiority to my cousin, Eve."

 

"An inferiority that no one but yourself would observe or mention."

 

"No, I am neither vain enough, nor ignorant enough, to be the dupe of

this flattery," returned Grace, shaking her hands and head, while she

forced a smile; for even the delusions those we love pour into our

ears, are not without their charms. "When I first met my cousin,

after her return, my own imperfections rendered me blind to her

superiority; but she herself has gradually taught me to respect her

mind, her womanly character, her tact, her delicacy, principles,

breeding, every thing that can make a woman estimable, or worthy to

be loved! Oh! how have I wasted in childish amusements, and frivolous

vanities, the precious moments of that girlhood which can never be

recalled, and left myself scarcely worthy to be an associate of Eve

Effingham!"

 

The first feelings of Grace had so far gotten the control, that she

scarce knew what she said, or to whom she was speaking; she even

wrung her hands, in the momentary bitterness of her regrets, and in a

way to arouse all the sympathy of a lover.

 

"No one but yourself would say this, Miss Van Cortlandt, and least of

all your admirable cousin."

 

"She is, indeed, my admirable cousin! But what are _we_, in

comparison with such a woman. Simple and unaffected as a child, with

the intelligence of a scholar; with all the graces of a woman, she

has the learning and mind of a man. Mistress of so many

languages----"

 

"But you, too, speak several, my dear Miss Van Cortlandt."

 

"Yes," said Grace, bitterly, "I _speak_ them, as the parrot repeats

words that he does not understand. But Eve Effingham has used these

languages as means, and she does not tell you merely what such a

phrase or idiom signifies, but what the greatest writers have thought

and written."

 

"No one has a more profound respect for your cousin than myself, Miss

Van Cortlandt, but justice to you requires that I should say her

great superiority over yourself has escaped me."

 

"This may be true, Sir George Templemore, and for a long time it

escaped me too. I have only learned to prize her as she ought to be

prized by an intimate acquaintance; hour by hour, as it might be. But

even you must have observed how quick and intuitively my cousin and

Mrs. Bloomfield have understood each other to-day; how much extensive

reading, and, what polished tastes they have both shown, and all so

truly feminine! Mrs. Bloomfield is a remarkable woman, but she loves

these exhibitions, for she knows she excels in them. Not so with Eve

Effingham, who, while she so thoroughly enjoys every thing

intellectual, is content, always, to seem so simple. Now, it happens,

that the conversation turned once to-day on a subject that my cousin,

no later than yesterday, fully explained to me, at my own earnest

request; and I observed that, while she joined so naturally with Mrs.

Bloomfield in adding to our pleasure, she kept back half what she

knew, lest she might seem to surpass her friend. No--no--no--there is

not such another woman as Eve Effingham in this world!"

 

"So keen a perception of excellence in others, denotes an equal

excellence in yourself."

 

"I know my own great inferiority now, and no kindness of yours, Sir

George Templemore, can ever persuade me into a better opinion of

myself. Eve has travelled, seen much in Europe that does not exist

here, and, instead of passing her youth in girlish trifling, has

treated the minutes as if they were all precious, as she well knew

them to be."

 

"If Europe, then, does indeed possess these advantages, why not

yourself visit it, dearest Miss Van Cortlandt?"

 

"I--I a Hajji!" cried Grace with childish pleasure, though her colour

heightened, and, for a moment, Eve and her superiority was forgotten.

 

Certainly Sir George Templemore did not come out on the lake that day

with any expectation of offering his baronetcy, his fair estate, with

his hand, to this artless, half-educated, provincial, but beautiful

girl. For a long time he had been debating with himself the propriety

of such a step, and it is probable that, at some later period, he

would have sought an occasion, had not one now so opportunely

offered, notwithstanding all his doubts and reasonings with himself.

If the "woman who hesitates is lost," it is equally true that the man

who pretends to set up his reason alone against beauty, is certain to

find that sense is less powerful than the senses. Had Grace Van

Cortlandt been more sophisticated, less natural, her beauty might

have failed to make this conquest; but the baronet found a charm in

her _naivete_, that was singularly winning to the feelings of a man

of the world. Eve had first attracted him by the same quality; the

early education of American females being less constrained and

artificial than that of the English; but in Eve he found a mental

training and acquisitions that left the quality less conspicuous,

perhaps, than in her scarcely less beautiful cousin; though, had Eve

met his admiration with any thing like sympathy, her power over him

would not have been easily weakened. As it was, Grace had been

gradually winding herself around his affections, and he now poured

out his love, in a language that her unpractised and already

favourably disposed feelings had no means of withstanding. A very few

minutes were allowed to them, before the summons to the boat; but

when this summons came, Grace rejoined the party, elevated in her own

good opinion, as happy as a cloudless future could make her and

without another thought of the immeasurable superiority of her

cousin.

 

By a singular coincidence, while the baronet and Grace were thus

engaged on one part of the shore, Eve was the subject of a similar

proffer of connecting herself for life, on another. She had left the

circle, attended by Paul, her father, and Aristabulus; but no sooner

had they reached the margin of the water, than the two former were

called away by Captain Truck, to settle some controverted point

between the latter and the commodore. By this unlooked-for desertion,

Eve found herself alone with Mr. Bragg.

 

"That was a funny and comprehensive remark Mr. John made about the

'Point,' Miss Eve," Aristabulus commenced, as soon as he found

himself in possession of the ground. "I should like to know if it be

really true that no woman was ever unsuccessfully wooed beneath these

oaks? If such be the case, we gentlemen ought to be cautious how we

come here."

 

Here Aristabulus simpered, and looked, if possible, more amiable than

ever; though the quiet composure and womanly dignity of Eve, who

respected herself too much, and too well knew what was due to her

sex, even to enter into, or, so far as it depended on her will, to

permit any of that common-place and vulgar trifling about love and

matrimony, which formed a never-failing theme between the youthful of

the two sexes, in Mr. Bragg's particular circle, sensibly curbed his

ambitious hopes. Still he thought he had made too good an opening,

not to pursue the subject.

 

"Mr. John Effingham sometimes indulges in pleasantries," Eve

answered, "that would lead one astray who might attempt