Home as Found - James Fenimore Cooper (ebook reader wifi txt) 📗

with those who are supposed to

dwell at the fountain of foreign intelligence, not to receive any

thing from those who ought not to be better informed than themselves,

the Effinghams and their friends had never heard of his account of

the matter.

 

While all thought the incident of the sudden return extraordinary, no

one felt disposed to judge the young man harshly. The gentlemen knew

that military censure, however unpleasant, did not always imply moral

unworthiness; and as for the ladies, they retained too lively a sense

of his skill and gallantry, to wish to imagine evil on grounds so

slight and vague. Still, it had been impossible altogether to prevent

the obtrusion of disagreeable surmises, and all now sincerely

rejoiced at seeing their late companion once more among them,

seemingly in a state of mind that announced neither guilt nor

degradation.

 

On quitting the mountain, Mr. Effingham, who had a tender regard for

Grace, offered her his arm as he would have given it to a second

daughter, leaving Eve to the care of John Effingham. Sir George

attended to Mademoiselle Viefville, and Paul walked by the side of

our heroine and her cousin, leaving Aristabulus to be what he himself

called a "miscellaneous companion;" or, in other words, to thrust

himself into either set, as inclination or accident might induce. Of

course the parties conversed as they walked, though those in advance

would occasionally pause to say a word to those in the rear; and, as

they descended, one or two changes occurred to which we may have

occasion to allude.

 

"I trust you have had pleasant passages," said John Effingham to

Paul, as soon as they were separated in the manner just mentioned.

"Three trips across the Atlantic in so short a time would be hard

duty to a landsman, though you, as a sailor, will probably think less

of it."

 

"In this respect I have been fortunate; the Foam, as we know from

experience, being a good traveller, and Ducie is altogether a fine

fellow and an agreeable messmate. You know I had him for a companion

both going and coming."

 

This was said naturally; and, while it explained so little directly,

it removed all unpleasant uncertainty, by assuring his listeners that

he had been on good terms at least, with the person who had seemed to

be his pursuer. John Effingham, too, well understood that no one

messed with the commander of a vessel of war, in his own ship, who

was, in any way, thought to be an unfit associate.

 

"You have made a material circuit to reach us, the distance by Quebec

being nearly a fourth more than the direct road."

 

"Ducie desired it so strongly, that I did not like to deny him.

Indeed, he made it a point, at first, to obtain permission to land me

at New-York, where he had found me, as he said; but to this I would

not listen, as I feared it might interfere with his promotion, of

which he stood so good a chance, in consequence of his success in the

affair of the money. By keeping constantly before the eyes of his

superiors, on duty of interest, I thought his success would be more

certain."

 

"And has his government thought his perseverance in the chase worthy

of such a reward?"

 

"Indeed it has. He is now a post, and all owing to his good luck and

judgment in that affair; though in his country, rank in private life

does no harm to one in public life."

 

Eve liked the emphasis that Paul laid on "his country," and she

thought the whole remark was made in a spirit that an Englishman

would not be apt to betray.

 

"Has it ever occurred to you," continued John Effingham, "that our

sudden and unexpected separation, has caused a grave neglect of duty

in me, if not in both of us?"

 

Paul looked surprised, and, by his manner, he demanded an

explanation.

 

"You may remember the sealed package of poor Mr. Monday, that we were

to open together on our arrival in New-York, and on the contents of

which, we were taught to believe depended the settling of some

important private rights. I gave that package to you, at the moment

it was received, and, in the hurry of leaving us, you overlooked the

circumstance."

 

"All very true, and to my shame I confess that, until this instant,

the affair has been quite forgotten by me. I had so much to occupy my

mind while in England, that it was not likely to be remembered, and

then the packet itself has scarce been in my possession since the day

I left you,"

 

"It is not lost, I trust!" said John Effingham quickly.

 

"Surely not--it is safe, beyond a question, in the writing-desk in

which I deposited it. But the moment we got to Portsmouth, Ducie and

myself proceeded to London together, and, as soon as he had got

through at the Admiralty, we went into Yorkshire, where we remained,

much occupied with private matters of great importance to us both,

while his ship was docked; and then it became necessary to make

sundry visits to our relations--"

 

"Relations!" repeated Eve involuntarily, though she did not cease to

reproach herself for the indiscretion, during the rest of the walk.

 

"Relations--" returned Paul, smiling. "Captain Ducie and myself are

cousins-german, and we made pilgrimages together, to sundry family

shrines. This duty occupied us until a few days before we sailed for

Quebec. On reaching our haven, I left the ship to visit the great

lakes and Niagara, leaving most of my effects with Ducie, who has

promised to bring them on with himself, when he followed on my track,

as he expected soon to do, on his way to the West Indies, where he is

to find a frigate. He owed me this attention, as he insisted, on

account of having induced me to go so far out of my way, with so much

luggage, to oblige him. The packet is, unluckily, left behind with

the other things."

 

"And do you expect Captain Ducie to arrive in this country soon?--The

affair of the packet ought not to be neglected much longer, for a

promise to a dying man is doubly binding, as it appeals to all our

generosity. Rather than neglect the matter much longer, I would

prefer sending a special messenger to Quebec."

 

"That will be quite unnecessary, as, indeed, it would be useless.

Ducie left Quebec yesterday, and has sent his and my effects direct

to New-York, under the care of his own steward. The writing-case,

containing other papers that are of interest to us both, he has

promised not to lose sight of, but it will accompany him on the same

tour, as that I have just made; for, he wishes to avail himself of

this opportunity to see Niagara and the lakes, also: he is now on my

track, and will notify me by letter of the day he will be in Utica,

in order that we may meet on the line of the canal, near this place,

and proceed to New-York, in company."

 

His companions listened to this brief statement with an intense

interest, with which the packet of poor Mr. Monday, however, had very

little connection. John Effingham called to his cousin, and, in a few

words, stated the circumstances as they had just been related to

himself, without adverting to the papers of Mr. Monday, which was an

affair that he had hitherto kept to himself.

 

"It will be no more than a return of civility, if we invite Captain

Ducie to diverge from his road, and pass a few days with us, in the

mountains," he added. "At what precise time do you expect him to

pass, Powis?"

 

"Within the fortnight. I feel certain he would be glad to pay his

respects to this party, for he often expressed his sincere regrets at

having been employed on a service that exposed the ladies to so much

peril and delay."

 

"Captain Ducie is a near kinsman of Mr. Powis, dear father," added

Eve, in a way to show her parent, that the invitation would be

agreeable to herself, for Mr. Effingham was so attentive to the

wishes of his daughter, as never to ask a guest to his house, that he

thought would prove disagreeable to its mistress.

 

"I shall do myself the pleasure to write to Captain Ducie, this

evening, urging him to honour us with his company," returned Mr.

Effingham. "We expect other friends in a few days, and I hope he will

not find his time heavy on his hands, while in exile among us. Mr.

Powis will enclose my note in one of his letters, and will, I trust,

second the request by his own solicitations."

 

Paul made his acknowledgments, and the whole party proceeded, though

the interruption caused such a change in the _figure_ of the

promenade, as to leave the young man the immediate escort of Eve. The

party, by this time, had not only reached the highway, but it had

again diverged from it, to follow the line of an old and abandoned

wheel-track, that descended the mountain, along the side of the

declivity, by a wilder and more perilous direction than suited a

modern enterprise; it having been one of those little calculated and

rude roads, that the first settlers of a country are apt to make,

before there are time and means to investigate and finish to

advantage. Although much more difficult and dangerous than its

successor, as a highway, this relic of the infant condition of the

country was by far the most retired and beautiful; and pedestrians

continued to use it, as a common foot-path to the Vision. The seasons

had narrowed its surface, and the second growth had nearly covered it

with their branches, shading it like an arbour; and Eve expressed her

delight with its wildness and boldness, mingled, as both were, with

so pleasant a seclusion, as they descended along a path as safe and

convenient as a French _allee_. Glimpses were constantly obtained of

the lake and the village, while they proceeded; and altogether, they

who were strangers to the scenery, were loud in its praises.

 

"Most persons, who see this valley for the first time," observed

Aristabulus, "find something to say in its favour; for my part, I

consider it as rather curious myself."

 

"Curious!" exclaimed Paul; "that gentleman is, at least, singular in

the choice of his expressions."

 

"You have met him before to-day," said Eve, laughing, for Eve was now

in a humour to laugh at trifles. "This we know, since he had prepared

us to meet a poet, where we only find an old friend."

 

"Only, Miss Effingham!--Do you estimate poets so high, and old

friends so low?"

 

"This extraordinary person, Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, really deranges

all one's notions and opinions in such a manner, as to destroy even

the usual signification of words, I believe. He seems so much in, and

yet so much out of his place; is both so _ruse_, and so unpractised;

so unfit for what he is, and so ready at every thing, that I scarcely

know how to apply terms in any matter with which he has the smallest

connection. I fear he has persecuted you since your arrival in

Templeton?"

 

"Not at all; I am so much acquainted with men of his cast, that I

have acquired a tact in managing them. Perceiving that he was

disposed to suspect me of a disposition to 'poetize the lake,' to use

his own term, I took care to drop a couple of lines, roughly written

off, like a hasty and imperfect effusion, where I felt sure he would

find them, and have been living for a whole week on the fame

thereof."

 

"You do indulge in such tastes, then?" said Eve smiling a little

saucily.

 

"I am as innocent of such an ambition, as of wishing to marry the

heiress of the British throne, which, I believe, just now, is the

goal of all the Icaruses of our own time. I am merely a rank

plagiarist--for the rhyme, on the fame of which I have rioted for a

glorious week, was two lines of Pope's, an author so effectually

forgotten in these palmy days of literature, in which all knowledge

seems so condensed into the productions of the last few years, that a

man might almost pass off an entire classic for his own, without the

fear of detection. It was merely the first couplet of the Essay on

Man, which, fortunately, having an allusion to the 'pride of Kings,'

would pass for original, as well as excellent, in nineteen villages

in twenty in America, in these piping times of ultra-republicanism.

No doubt Mr. Bragg thought a eulogy on the 'people' was to come next,

to be succeeded by a glorious picture of Templeton and its environs."

 

"I do not know that I ought to admit these hits at liberty from a

foreigner," said Eve, pretending to look graver than she felt; for

never before, in her life, had