We will not dwell upon the passing of a week or two, on the prosecution of his academical studies, on the society that he kept, or the amusements which the narrow means his father afforded him enabled him to seek. We are coming now to the more bustling and active scenes of the drama, and we must not pause upon many interludes.
Time slipped by quietly. Charles kept his word faithfully to Mrs. Effingham; he wrote not to Lucy. He sent her even no message when he wrote to his mother, though he never failed to mention her in his letters with terms which he knew would induce Lady Tyrrell to repeat them to Lucy herself, and would show to her whom he loved how deeply he still loved her. In so writing, to say the truth, there was perhaps a greater pleasure than there even would have been in writing to herself. There was something exciting and doubly interesting in the shadowing forth, under anything that suggested itself, those feelings, wishes, hopes, and memories which he was forbidden to express more plainly. He now mentioned to his mother having met with some flower, or heard some song that recalled the sweet moments passed in the society of Lucy Effingham; it was now a picture he had bought which he longed to show her; it was now a book that he had read which would give her pleasure to read also; it was something now that she had said which he remembered and applied under new circumstances.
He certainly thought of Lady Tyrrell when he wrote those letters to her; but neither Lady Tyrrell, nor himself, nor Lucy Effingham could doubt that he thought of the latter, too, at every line he wrote. Lady Tyrrell could not help soon perceiving that her son was really, and not nominally, in love with Lucy Effingham; but, between a mother's fondness and a woman's clear-sightedness, she had discovered something long before which gave her comfort and satisfaction; it was, that Lucy Effingham was not quite indifferent to her son.
The time thus slipped quietly away, day after day, and Charles Tyrrell was calculating, with schoolboy impatience, how many days yet remained to the holidays. He had totally forgotten, by this time, Lieutenant Hargrave and everything concerning him. As soon as he had found that Lucy had never loved that personage, he had lost all feelings of enmity towards him, and his conduct in regard to the duel had only excited contempt.
A person we despise is soon forgotten, and such was the case in the present instance; but he was suddenly roused one morning from such forgetfulness by having a note put into his hands bearing Arthur Hargrave's name. It simply went to inform him that he had followed him to Oxford, with his friend Lieutenant ----, for the purpose of settling the affair which they had been prevented from settling before. The servant who brought the note told him farther, that the gentleman who delivered it had said he would call again for an answer towards five o'clock; and Charles, fully determined to have nothing farther to do with a person who had before failed to keep his appointment, merely sent for one of his friends of the same college to witness the explanation that was to ensue, and waited patiently for the hour appointed.
At five o'clock precisely the lieutenant of the revenue cutter made his appearance, and after the ordinary civilities usual on such occasions, Charles Tyrrell informed him that, by the advice both of the friend who accompanied him on the previous occasion and the gentleman whom he then saw present, he had determined to proceed no farther in the matter, having already done all that was required of him, and not thinking himself bound to be at the beck and call of Lieutenant Hargrave at any time that he thought proper.
"I am afraid, sir," replied the lieutenant, "that if you adhere to this resolution, you will seriously affect your own reputation. I am charged to give you a full explanation of the causes which prevented Lieutenant Hargrave from meeting you, and those causes will be found quite sufficient in the eyes of any man of honour."
Charles Tyrrell turned a questioning look upon his friend, who replied to it by saying,
"Of course we must hear. Pray, sir, what were those causes?"
"Why, sir," replied the lieutenant of the revenue cutter, "it is a delicate subject, in some degree, to deal with; but as I am quite sure I am speaking with two gentlemen and men of honour, who will not, on any account, betray a trust reposed in them, I will give you the real causes explicitly. You must know, that after I left Mr. Tyrrell, with the full determination of bringing Lieutenant Hargrave to the ground appointed on the following morning, Hargrave informed me of his intention of carrying off a young lady, who, he said, was willing to elope with him, and with whom he was in love."