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

be thought to produce a practical

effect."

 

"_Tant pis_. To me all this is inexplicable!"

 

"It has its solution, Miss Effingham, like any other problem. In

ordinary times, extraordinary men seldom become prominent, power

passing into the hands of clever managers. Now, the very vanity, and

the petty desires, that betray themselves in glittering uniforms,

puerile affectations, and feeble imitations of other systems,

probably induce more than half of those who fill the foreign missions

to apply for them, and it is no more than we ought to expect that the

real disposition should betray itself, when there was no longer any

necessity for hypocrisy."

 

"But I should think this necessity for hypocrisy would never cease!

Can it be possible that a people, as much attached to their

institutions as the great mass of the American nation is known to be,

will tolerate such a base abandonment of all they cherish!"

 

"How are they to know any thing about it? It is a startling fact,

that there is a man at this instant, who has not a single claim to

such a confidence, either in the way of mind, principles, manners, or

attainments, filling a public trust abroad, who, on all occasions

except those which he thinks will come directly before the American

people, not only proclaims himself opposed to the great principles of

the institutions but who, in a recent controversy with a foreign

nation, actually took sides against his own country, informing that

of the opposing nation, that the administration at home would not be

supported by the legislative part of the government!"

 

"And why is not this publicly exposed?"

 

"_Cui bono_! The presses that have no direct interest in the matter,

would treat the affair with indifference or levity, while a few would

mystify the truth. It is quite impossible for any man in a private

station to make the truth available in any country, in a matter of

public interest; and those in public stations seldom or never attempt

it, unless they see a direct party end to be obtained. This is the

reason that we see so much infidelity to the principles of the

institutions, among the public agents abroad, for they very well know

that no one will be able to expose them. In addition to this motive,

there is so strong a desire in that portion of the community which is

considered the highest, to effect a radical change in these very

institutions, that infidelity to them, in their eyes, would be a

merit, rather than an offence."

 

"Surely, surely, other nations are not treated in this cavalier

manner!"

 

"Certainly not. The foreign agent of a prince, who should whisper a

syllable against his master, would be recalled with disgrace; but the

servant of the people is differently situated, since there are so

many to be persuaded of his guilt. I could always get along with all

the attacks that the Europeans are so fond of making on the American

system, but those which they quoted from the mouths of our own

diplomatic agents."

 

"Why do not our travellers expose this?"

 

"Most of them see too little to know anything of it. They dine at a

diplomatic table, see a star or two, fancy themselves obliged, and

puff elegancies that have no existence, except in their own brains.

Some think with the unfaithful, and see no harm in the infidelity.

Others calculate the injury to themselves, and no small portion would

fancy it a greater proof of patriotism to turn a sentence in favour

of the comparative 'energies' and 'superior intelligence' of their

own people, than to point out this or any other disgraceful fact, did

they even possess the opportunities to discover it. Though no one

thinks more highly of these qualities in the Americans, considered in

connexion with practical things, than myself, no one probably gives

them less credit for their ability to distinguish between appearances

and reality, in matters of principle."

 

"It is probable that were we nearer to the rest of the world, these

abuses would not exist, for it is certain they are not so openly

practised at home. I am glad, however, to find that, even while you

felt some uncertainty concerning your own birth-place, you took so

much interest in us, as to identify yourself in feeling, at least,

with the nation."

 

"There was one moment when I was really afraid that the truth would

show I was actually born an Englishman--"

 

"Afraid!" interrupted Eve; "that is a strong word to apply to so

great and glorious a people."

 

"We cannot always account for our prejudices, and perhaps this was

one of mine; and, now that I know that to be an Englishman is not the

greatest possible merit in your eyes, Miss Effingham, it is in no

manner lessened."

 

"In my eyes, Mr. Powis! I do not remember to have expressed any

partiality for, or any prejudice against the English: so far as I can

speak of my own feelings, I regard the English the same as any other

foreign people."

 

"In words you have not certainly; but acts speak louder than words."

 

"You are disposed to be mysterious to-night. What act of mine has

declared _pro_ or _con_ in this important affair."

 

"You have at least done what, I fear, few of your countrywomen would

have the moral courage and self-denial to do, and especially those

who are accustomed to living abroad--refused to be the wife of an

English baronet of a good estate and respectable family."

 

"Mr. Powis," said Eve, gravely, "this is an injustice to Sir George

Templemore, that my sense of right will not permit to go

uncontradicted, as well as an injustice to my sex and me. As I told

Mr. Howel, in your presence, that gentleman has never proposed for

me, and of course cannot have been refused. Nor can I suppose that

any American gentlewoman can deem so paltry a thing as a baronetcy,

an inducement to forget her self-respect."

 

"I fully appreciate your generous modesty, Miss Effingham; but you

cannot expect that I, to whom Templemore's admiration gave so much

uneasiness, not to say pain, am to understand you, as Mr. Howel has

probably done, too broadly. Although Sir George may not have

positively proposed, his readiness to do so, on the least

encouragement, was too obvious to be overlooked by a near observer."

 

Eve was ready to gasp for breath, so completely by surprise was she

taken, by the calm, earnest, and yet respectful manner, in which Paul

confessed his jealousy. There was a tremor in his voice, too, usually

so clear and even, that touched her heart, for feeling responds to

feeling, as the echo answers sound, when there exists a real sympathy

between the sexes. She felt the necessity of saying something, and

yet they had walked some distance, ere it was in her power to utter a

syllable.

 

"I fear my presumption has offended you, Miss Effingham," said Paul,

speaking more like a corrected child, than the lion-hearted young man

he had proved himself.

 

There was deep homage in the emotion he betrayed, and Eve, although

she could barely distinguish his features, was not slow in

discovering this proof of the extent of her power over his feelings.

 

"Do not call it presumption," she said; "for, one who has done so

much for us all, can surely claim some right to take an interest in

those he has so well served. As for Sir George Templemore, you have

probably mistaken the feeling created by our common adventures for

one of more importance. He is warmly and sincerely attached to my

cousin, Grace Van Cortlandt."

 

"That he is so now, I fully believe; but that a very different magnet

first kept him from the Canadas, I am sure.--We treated each other

generously, Miss Effingham, and had no concealments, during that long

and anxious night, when all expected that the day would dawn on our

captivity. Templemore is too manly and honest to deny his former

desire to obtain you for a wife, and I think even he would admit that

it depended entirely on yourself to be so, or not."

 

"This is an act of self-humiliation that he is not called onto

perform," Eve hurriedly replied; "such allusions, now, are worse than

useless, and they might pain my cousin, were she to hear them."

 

"I am mistaken in my friend's character, if he leave his betrothed in

any doubt, on this subject. Five minutes of perfect frankness now,

might obviate years of distrust, hereafter."

 

And would you Mr. Powis, avow a former weakness of this sort, to the

woman you had finally selected for your wife?"

 

"I ought not to quote myself for authority, for or against such a

course, since I have never loved but one, and her with a passion too

single and too ardent ever to admit of competition. Miss Effingham,

there would be something worse than affectation--it would be trifling

with one who is sacred in my eyes, were I now to refrain from

speaking explicitly, although what I am about to say is forced from

me by circumstances, rather than voluntary, and is almost uttered

without a definite object. Have I your permission to proceed?'

 

"You can scarcely need a permission, being the master of your own

secrets, Mr. Powis."

 

Paul, like all men agitated by strong passion, was inconsistent, and

far from just; and Eve felt the truth of this, even while her mind

was ingeniously framing excuses for his weaknesses. Still, the

impression that she was about to listen to a declaration that

possibly ought never to be made, weighed upon her, and caused her to

speak with more coldness than she actually felt. As she continued

silent, however, the young man saw that it had become indispensably

necessary to be explicit.

 

"I shall not detain you, Miss Effingham, perhaps vex you," he said,

"with the history of those early impressions, which have gradually

grown upon me, until they have become interwoven with my very

existence. We met, as you know, at Vienna, for the first time. An

Austrian of rank, to whom I had become known through some fortunate

circumstances, introduced me into the best society of that capital,

in which I found you the admiration of all who knew you. My first

feeling was that of exultation, at seeing a young countrywoman--you

were then almost a child, Miss Effingham--the greatest attraction of

a capital celebrated for the beauty and grace of its women----"

 

"Your national partialities have made you an unjust judge towards

others, Mr. Powis." Eve interrupted him by saying, though the

earnestness and passion with which the young man uttered his

feelings, made music to her ears: "what had a young, frightened,

half-educated American girl to boast of, when put in competition with

the finished women of Austria?"

 

"Her surpassing beauty, her unconscious superiority, her attainments,

her trembling simplicity and modesty and her meek purity of mind. All

these did you possess, not only in my eyes, but in those of others;

for these are subjects on which I dwelt too fondly to be mistaken."

 

A rocket passed near them at the moment, and, while both were too

much occupied by the discourse to heed the interruption, its

transient light enabled Paul to see the flushed cheeks and tearful

eyes of Eve, as the latter were turned on him, in a grateful

pleasure, that his ardent praises extorted from her, in despite of

all her struggles for self-command.

 

"We will leave to others this comparison, Mr. Powis," she said, "and

confine ourselves to less doubtful subjects."

 

"If I am then to speak only of that which is beyond all question, I

shall speak chiefly of my long cherished, devoted, unceasing love. I

adored you at Vienna, Miss Effingham, though it was at a distance, as

one might worship the sun; for, while your excellent father admitted

me to his society, and I even think honoured me with some portion of

his esteem, I had but little opportunity to ascertain the value of

the jewel that was contained in so beautiful a casket; but when we

met the following summer in Switzerland, I first began truly to love.

Then I learned the justness of thought, the beautiful candour, the

perfectly feminine delicacy of your mind; and, although I will not

say that these qualities were not enhanced in the eyes of so young a

man, by the extreme beauty of their possessor, I will say that, as

weighed against each other, I could a thousand times prefer the

former to the latter, unequalled as the latter almost is, even among

your own beautiful sex."

 

"This is presenting flattery in its most seductive form, Powis."

 

"Perhaps my incoherent and abrupt manner of explaining myself

deserves a rebuke; though nothing can be farther from my intentions

than to seem to flatter or in any manner to exaggerate. I intend

merely to give a faithful history of the state of my feelings, and of

the progress of my love."

 

Eve smiled faintly, but very sweetly, as Paul would have thought, had

the obscurity permitted more than a dim view of her