The Knight Of The Golden Melice - John Turvill Adams (little red riding hood read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: John Turvill Adams
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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
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