CHAPTER V.—THE COLONEL’S DAUGHTER.
Meanwhile, the subject of the previous conversation is seated in a private room before a merry crackling fire, small reflections of which lurk here and there in the dark polished oak with which the walls are panelled. Everything in the apartment has an extremely comfortable appearance save its living occupant, and his features wear an expression totally at variance with his surroundings. He is twisting a crumpled note between his fingers; while, judging from the expression with which he regards it, his feelings can scarcely be of an agreeable nature. The offending epistle is written in a bold decided hand, which harmonises well with the short and haughty tenor of its contents. As a perusal of this may enable the reader more clearly to understand the ensuing narrative, a copy is here inserted:
Colonel Thorpe presents his compliments to Lieutenant Ainslie, and in reply to that gentleman’s letter of this morning, begs to state that any overtures from him relating to Miss Thorpe will receive an absolute negative. It is also requested that Lieut. A. will discontinue his visits to Coombe Hall, as Col. T. wishes him distinctly to understand that this decision is final.
Dec. 22, 1760.
The exasperated recipient of this ungracious piece of writing makes a movement as if to consign it to the hungry blaze which is roaring up the chimney; but checking himself ere the action is performed, he places the missive in a side-pocket, and falling back in his chair, resigns himself to a long train of unenviable reflections.
Next morning, the sun, first a dull crimson, and then yellow as a copper ball, slowly mounted above the horizon and pierced cloud and vapour with its struggling rays. Snow-clad roofs and chimneys, whose quaint outlines could scarcely be distinguished from the leaden sky a short time before, now became flooded with a rich golden light, contrasting strangely with the blue mist that lingered in the shadows. As yet, it was only the high gables and towers which had caught the cheering beams; the streets and lesser thoroughfares were gloomy, dark, and silent, while ruts and gutters were fast bound with King Frost. The good people of Fridswold had not the reputation of being early risers, and with a few exceptions, the streets were almost totally deserted; but our friend who figured last night as a guest at the George, at least appeared to be no sluggard, for he was out, and walking quickly along, the iron-tipped heels of his riding-boots bringing forth a smart click from the frost-hardened ground.
Lieutenant Ainslie was not bent upon sight-seeing; he had other matters to attend to. The wintery beauties of the early morning seemed completely lost upon the young officer, and he passed the great west front of the minster—all flecked with ‘hoary flakes’—without bestowing so much as a glance upon it. His course was continued until the irregular outskirts of the town were left behind, when a large imposing red-brick mansion came within sight. The grounds which surrounded it were separated from the public highway by a substantial wall of rough masonry; while parallel with this wall extended a belt of fine trees, now leafless, and shivering as if with cold. Keeping to the road until a turn shut out the palatial residence from view, the young officer, after a hasty look around him, vaulted the wall, and then shaped his way across the white stretch of private ground.
Slowly and uncertainly he proceeded, often stopping to look back, and more than once referring to his watch as well as to a dainty note, the writing of which was in a delicate female hand. At length, after many turnings and much doubtful wandering, he emerged from the underwood and entered upon a small cleared inclosure containing a rustic summer-house, now fretted with a glittering network of snow and ice. Into this the lieutenant stepped, frequently looking out in a furtive manner from the narrow doorway, as if in expectation of some one.
After a long interval of anxious expectation, certain sounds were heard which seemed to indicate the approach of a human being. The soldier sprang eagerly forward, and then as quickly shrunk back again. A slight crackling of dry twigs was followed by a hoarse cough, and the cough was followed by the unwelcome appearance of a red-faced man with a gun upon his shoulder, but fortunately not passing in the direction of the arbour. The lieutenant knew him at once. It was the fiery-faced man whom he had seen at the inn the previous evening. ‘Ah,’ said he to himself, ‘I see it all. Colonel Thorpe’s gamekeeper—sent down last night to play the spy upon me. It is well he has not seen me now.’
Not many minutes afterwards, a young lady burst into the arbour, with a little cry, half of fear and half of pleasure. It could be nothing more nor less than a lovers’ meeting after all.
The lovers’ first tender greetings over, they seated themselves side by side in the little arbour, and talked to each other in a low voice. The state of alarm in which she evidently was, sent a brighter flush of colour to her lovely face, and enhanced in her lover’s eyes the graces of her person.
Some twelve months before the present meeting, Colonel Thorpe made a sudden resolve to spend the winter in London; and fearing to leave this his only daughter out of his sight for any length of time, he determined to take her with him also. The season was a tolerably gay one; but the colonel, an austere man, though much in request at the houses of titled and wealthy friends, cared little for society, and constantly refused invitations both on behalf of himself and his daughter. Such a high pressure of circumspection could not last for ever. Receiving an earnest request from Lady Hardy—a friend of many years’ standing—that they would honour a fashionable entertainment with their presence, Colonel Thorpe somewhat relented, and meeting Amy’s wistful gaze with a smile which he intended to be severely pleasant, he told her to prepare herself to accompany him on the following Thursday. At this intelligence the young lady was naturally delighted; and even her severe parent condescended to relax and bring himself to converse about the forthcoming ball. This agreeable demeanour he sustained until about the middle of the festive evening, when, as if by magic, his spirits suddenly lowered to freezing temperature. He had observed that a well-favoured, handsome young gallant had danced three times with his daughter in the course of the evening. Now, the crusty old colonel did by no means approve of this, and was not aware that his daughter had more than once met the same young gallant since coming to London. In answer to inquiries which he made as to the unknown partner of his daughter, he learned that his name was Ainslie, that he was a subaltern in the Guards, and the only son of a widow lady of title, once wealthy, but now reduced in circumstances. His informant added, that though the young officer was not rich, he was of prepossessing manners—a piece of information which scarcely appeared to afford gratification to the master of Coombe Hall. Immediately upon receipt of this news the angry colonel sought out Miss Thorpe from among the dancers, and after bidding a hasty adieu to his hostess, drove away with his daughter from the house.
Colonel Thorpe’s temper was not improved when, on the day following the ball, he received a call from Ainslie; but in a short political conversation which ensued, the visitor—strangely enough—contrived to advance in his good graces considerably. Still, the colonel, who was habitually suspicious, did not encourage the young officer. He had only the doubtful satisfaction of knowing that the penniless son of Sir Henry Ainslie, deceased, was a suitor for his daughter’s hand.
‘Amy,’ he said to himself, ‘must return to Coombe Hall. The wiles of this dangerous young man can be kept at a safe distance there.’
But railways were as yet things of the future, and the weather became an unexpected ally in Ainslie’s favour, the colonel’s departure being thus delayed for fully a week. During this time Reginald contrived to see Miss Thorpe several times, as well as to ingratiate himself with her father, who listened to his visitor’s conversation and wit with a mingled feeling of approval and distrust. The time passed quickly; and when Reginald parted from Amy Thorpe it was with many protestations of eternal devotion, to which that young lady replied with equal warmth. Colonel Thorpe wished Ainslie a formal ‘Good-bye,’ and the lovers were separated from each other for a weary space of ten months.
The interval was not unfraught with change. Reginald had the good fortune to be raised in rank, and now entered upon his full grade of lieutenant. Since the departure of Amy Thorpe he had endeavoured to keep up a correspondence with her; but the age in which they lived, though practically a fast one, was slow enough in some respects, and the means of communication were so unsatisfactory, that long intervals elapsed between an interchange of letters.
At the close of October 1760, the tidings of King George II.’s death became known throughout the greater part of the kingdom; and following closely upon the spreading of this intelligence came a letter from Amy to Reginald, containing the joyful news that Colonel Thorpe was on his way to London to attend the opening of parliament by the new king, and that his daughter was coming with him. Ainslie, after the expiration of a few days, presented himself at Colonel Thorpe’s former apartments, where the first person he encountered was that worthy officer himself, stiff, irritable, and in a decidedly unpleasant temper. Their conversation commenced with a formal exchange of civilities, and Reginald seated himself on the chair which was pointed out to him, calm and unruffled in countenance, but with a heart which he had steeled and prepared for the worst.
Colonel Thorpe was glad that Lieutenant Ainslie had called, as he wished to have some serious conversation with him. There had been a—in fact there had been a correspondence kept up with his daughter, an interchange of letter-writing and—and that sort of thing, which must be discontinued.
‘Am I to understand, sir,’ said the young officer, with difficulty repressing his growing wrath—‘am I to understand that you wish me to resign all pretensions to Miss Thorpe’s hand?’
The colonel did not exactly say that; he said the correspondence must be discontinued for—for a time. If at some future date Lieutenant Ainslie could show satisfactory proofs that he would be able to maintain his daughter in a position of comfort and dignity consistent with that in which she had been brought up, he (Colonel Thorpe) might feel disposed to listen to any advances Lieutenant Ainslie thought proper to make. Till then, all interchange of sentiment must cease. That was all; Colonel Thorpe had nothing further to say.
Ere another week had passed, during which the lovers met but once, the colonel’s apartments were again vacant, and Reginald Ainslie was wondering at what remote period of his life he should again see Amy Thorpe. Poverty was the bane of the young soldier, and the monotonous round of barrack-life was by no means the royal road to wealth. Reginald, however, had for some time been meditating over a deep-laid purpose, the object of which was to recover an ancient property which his immediate ancestors, by their Jacobite proclivities, had forfeited. On obtaining leave of absence, therefore, shortly before Christmas, he set out for Fridswold, and made a series of excursions to Coombe Hall, to lay before his beloved Amy all his hopes and fears, and to receive from her encouragement in his momentous quest. But his proposed visit had been put a stop to by the colonel’s letter, and now this secret meeting in the arbour was the next expedient of the faithful pair.
For a while, the joy of meeting was so great that all other things were forgotten; but Reginald could not long shut his eyes to the barrier which destiny and the will of Colonel Thorpe had placed between the lovers. He was still poor; he was not yet able to fulfil the colonel’s stipulation. But he had hopes, and these he could now breathe into Amy’s sympathetic ear.
‘What would you say, Amy, if I were to tell you that I am the bearer of good tidings?’
‘I should say the news might be too good to be true,’ replied Miss Thorpe. ‘O Reginald, it cannot be; you do not mean it?’
‘I do, Amy,’ answered the lieutenant. ‘For what purpose do you suppose I undertook this journey?’ he added, after a pause, and turning so as to face his fair companion.
The girl’s blue eyes opened to their fullest extent, and she answered in a slight tone of wonderment: ‘To see me. Was it not so, Reginald?’
‘It was, dearest,’ said the lieutenant; ‘but if I were to say that I came in search of you alone, my words would be false.’
‘Then pray, sir, may I not know your other reason?’ inquired Amy laughingly. ‘Have you an appointment to meet some other distressed damsel in these lonely parts?’
‘Nothing of the kind,’ replied Ainslie, more earnestly than the question seemed to warrant. ‘You alone, Amy, I came to see, and it is principally on your account that I am about to journey farther.’
‘On my account!’
‘Yes, Amy, yours; this journey is all for your sake. I will explain myself. For some time past, I have been urged to take a singular step by one who believes that our lost wealth may be actually regained. The idea is a vague and most likely a visionary one, and had I never met you, Amy, it is probable that the task of unravelling this coil might not have been essayed. It was Colonel Thorpe who clenched my half-hearted resolution by informing me that I must not hope to call you mine until possessed of sufficient affluence to maintain you in a position equal to that in which you had been brought up. Those words struck home. I instantly formed a fixed determination, and am now about to follow it up, for which purpose I intend to start this very afternoon.’
‘This afternoon!’ echoed Amy. ‘Why so soon, Reginald? You have been here no time at all. When did you arrive?’
‘The day before yesterday,’ replied Ainslie. ‘But do not blame me, dearest, for not seeing you before. I repaired to Coombe Hall almost directly after I got here, hoping to see both you and your father, and having no thought that admittance would be refused.’
‘O Reginald, I am so sorry!’ faltered the girl. ‘What could I do? Did they really refuse to admit you?’
‘They did,’ answered the young officer. ‘But I am perfectly aware it was no fault of yours. I then wrote to your father, asking permission to see you, telling him that I had some expectation of recovering what my parent so unfortunately lost, when I hoped to be able to maintain you in a manner worthy of our ancient house. But two hours afterwards, my letter was returned!—yes, returned, Amy, and with it was inclosed a note from your father forbidding me to enter the house or seek an interview with his daughter. I disobeyed the latter part of his injunction, and have succeeded, darling, in meeting you once more.’
As we intend to follow Reginald in his quest, it is needless to repeat here the story of his hopes as he hastily unfolded them in the ears of Amy Thorpe; enough that, after remaining together as long as, or perhaps longer than prudence enjoined, the two tore themselves asunder, with thrice-repeated vows of fidelity and affection. The remembrance of their tender parting was to Reginald in after-years like a strain of sweet, bygone music passing through his memory.
That very evening the young lieutenant quitted Fridswold. His way lay in a different direction from that leading to Coombe Hall, and the farewell glance he gave back only showed him the black bulk of the minster towering above a mass of smoky chimneys. The suburbs of the town were speedily left behind, and soon a prospect lay before Reginald’s eyes which for savage desolation he had never seen surpassed. Extending as far as the eye could reach, stretched a dreary waste of flooded fields, black peat, broken ice, and frozen sedge, dotted at remote intervals with a few scanty willows. The wind was rising again, bringing up with it heavy clouds, and its moaning voice rustled among the patches of alder and withered rushes like a low, dying murmur. Taking warning by these signs, Reginald urged his horse forward to a quicker pace than hitherto, riding swiftly and eagerly into the gathering darkness of the night.