The Romance of Gilbert Holmes: An Historical Novel

by Marshall M. Kirkman

"If you buy it, Gilbert, and ever build a house, let it be something like a manor, for that will be in keeping with the place," Mrs. Singleton, who greatly admired the old-fashioned houses of the South, spoke up.

"Yes; and I would like to suggest a name for it, Gilbert, if you have a mind," Mr. Seymour interposed.

"I should be glad to have you, sir," I answered, in great spirits, delighted to find my plan met with every one's approval.

"Call it Black Hawk Lodge, in honor of that great man and much maligned savage," Mr. Seymour responded.

"I will build the house if only to name it in remembrance of him, and in gratitude for his having saved the lives of my father and mother," I answered, the image of the great savage rising like a specter before my eyes.

Afterward it fell out as I had proposed; and not waiting to make any change in the Appletop house, I went there to live, bringing Cousin Rolland from Rock Island, as we had talked. Now, having a good deal of time on my hands, for my studies were not so much of a burden as I had thought, I soon began to think of building the new home, the old one being hardly fit to live in. The planning of this, however, I found required more time and study than I had thought, and being in doubt about nearly everything pertaining to such a place, I was compelled to seek Constance's aid, and this almost every hour of the day. First of all we had to locate the building, and this with reference to the trees and lawns and the streets that ran past the park. This required a deal of time and much walking back and forth, for we were both agreed that the matter of location was everything. The labor, too, being tiresome in the extreme, we to rest ourselves would oftentimes have refreshments brought and served on the lawn, or in some friendly arbor. Thus, not being in any hurry, a thing I thought very simple at first grew each day more difficult, so that in the end it required quite a year for its fulfillment.

When we had fixed upon the location, the plans had next to be drawn, and that there might be no mistake or lack of attention we kept them in our own hands. As we were new to such things, and yet aware how important it was, we found it necessary to make many changes, often tearing up the plans we had made and beginning anew, so little satisfied were we with what we had done. At the start we determined that the house should have a wide veranda supported by pillars, as Mrs. Singleton had said. Then the hall came next; and this, as regards width and depth and the location of the stairs, caused us a world of planning. After that the reception-room had to be agreed upon, and this with reference to the drawing-room; but both of these we got fixed finally to our liking. The living-room, most important of all, you will say, after making the circuit of the building in search of a fit place, we at last located on the sunny side of the house, where we should have put it at first. The dining-room we determined from the very beginning to make extra big, in the belief that entertaining one's friends tends to keep people young, if not carried to an excess; and thus it was. The sleeping-rooms and closets and things of that sort, as regards number and arrangement, occasioned us a deal of study, but finally all were arranged to our liking. The stable, last of all, we hid away behind a clump of pines, and so constructed that we could add to it, and this without destroying the symmetry of the structure, for we thought that a barn, being almost as conspicuous as the dwelling, should be gracefully planned, so far as it was possible to have it.

When finally the plans were arranged to our liking, and we could think of nothing more, we called the architect to go on with the work; but now some two years had gone by, so much time had it taken to locate and plan the structure to our liking. At last, just before my twentieth birthday, the whole was turned over to me complete. Then, not waiting for furnishings, but calling on Mr. Seymour, and he bringing every needed thing, we celebrated the event with a dinner, and afterward a great ball, to which all the people of Appletop and thereabouts were invited. This last was thought to be a great event, and to surpass by far anything of the kind ever before attempted in the new country. Certainly it passed off with great spirit; and one of the things that pleased me most about it was having the Haywards and Blakes to stay with me during the week of the celebration.

Now, being free and the house in readiness, Constance and I began to talk more seriously of our marriage, but still as a thing some way off. Not, indeed, that we thought it needful to wait till I was of age, but being separated by only a step a few days more or less did not so much matter. Thus it would have turned out, except for the most surprising and unheard-of thing that happened just at this time, and that was the need that arose for Mr. Seymour's immediate return to England. For, so it appeared, he was not the obscure Englishman we all had thought, but the son of a great lord; and now, his two elder brothers dying without issue, and his father being already dead, he had come into the title and estate, and so must return to his own home. Of his coming to America, and the reason therefor, it appeared, so the story ran, that when a young man and hot-headed, being greatly disheartened and angered by the obstacles his father placed in the way of his union with the lady of his choice, he had married her whether or no, and gathering together all his belongings, had come to this country, and finally to Little Sandy and the Dragon, as you know. Of all this I had not a hint till one afternoon when Constance and her father were to dine with me, and she, coming early, told me the story as I have related.

"Surely you have known before to-day that your father was the son of a nobleman?" I answered, when she had finished, surprised out of my senses at what she said.