Laura Valentine

“ In this war,” said the Colonel, in a whisper, “everything serves as a signal. The wild beasts even are our assistants. Your eyes are excellent, Edward; you have a cat-like perception of the mysteries of the night. Look earnestly at those ruins; what do you behold there?”
Sir Edward, with the nonchalance of his character, declares that he sees fine ruins in the style of a Japanese temple, and starts off into a disquisition on Oriental architecture, which would be signally out of place, if it did not prove how utterly indifferent the brave Englishman is to Thugs and tigers. ”

“ Tower, a clerk in the Foreign Office, is of course compelled to yield to the orders of his Government, but obliges Colonel Douglas to place the forfeited dowry in a banker’s hands for the benefit of his ward. The only person who objects to his departure is a certain young French widow, a Comtesse Octavie de Verzon, who being herself in love with Count Elona, the Pole, is anxious to see a formidable rival removed by the marriage of Amalia. But she tries anger and cajoleries alternately in vain, and sees the gentlemen depart, vowing an eternal hatred to Sir Edward Klerbbs. ”

“ We have said the three heroes, but the hero par excellence is undoubtedly Sir Edward Klerbbs, who is evidently the beau ideal of an Englishman in a French imagination. Although he is a “dandy of Kensington Gardens,” he is possessed by a mania for travelling amongst savage nations and exploring unknown lands, so he abandons his noble mansion in Bond Street—which to English ears does not appear so great a sacrifice—to wander in India, and engage in amateur warfare in company with his friend Douglas. He is imperturbably cool, brave, and careless of peril ”

“ James’s, a handsome girl burst through the line of attendants, caught the Danish sovereign in her arms, as he alighted from his carriage, and kissed him heartily, exclaiming, as she released the astonished stranger: “Now kill me, if you please! I have kissed the prettiest fellow in the world, and I shall die contented.” The King laughed heartily, assured the girl he quite forgave her, shook her hand, into which he slipped a golden keepsake, and sprang up-stairs, intensely amused by the adventure. ”

“ Flotilla—army—emperor, vanished like the pageant of a dream; the long peace set in—and martial ardour became as dormant as music amongst us, till they suddenly woke up together the other day, and Robin Hood’s descendants, seizing the rifle, found it come as handy to them as the long bow, and beat the whole military world at hitting the mark they aimed at.
And altogether a very different race are these Volunteers from those we remember. They have the culture of half a century on them, united to the old “pluck.” ”

“ My heart ceased beating for the moment as I remembered how I had seen Deloraine take the book from his own bosom; but I was quite silent. Between horror and fear I could not speak.
My father continued:
“I have promised, of course, to appear for him; and probably you may be called on—”
“Oh! don’t let them call me! I can’t—I can’t,” said I, in an agony.
“Well, of course, it is unpleasant for a young lady to appear in a court of justice, and if I can prevent it you shall not; but we must not let proprieties peril a fellow-creature’s life.” ”

“ Certainly, Colonel Douglas and Sir Edward are deficient in that high sense of truthfulness which an English soldier would be dishonoured if he were not believed to possess, both in their conduct towards Amalia and in their singular denials of the existence of Thugs, but they are evidently intended by the friendly Monsieur Mery as the ideal of chivalrous gentlemen, and the exceedingly high opinion of the English thus incidentally betrayed is most flattering to our national vanity. ”

“ They visit us, trade with us, fight beside us, and yet prove by their writings that they see England and the English through a thick veil of misconception. The writers most friendly to us blunder about our “ways” as amusingly as those who bear the strongest prejudice against us.
We have just finished a tale by Monsieur Mery, the hero of which, a perfect preux chevalier, is an Englishman and there is scarce anything more entertainingly unlike and unreal, than himself, and the events which display his character. ”

“ He thought her manner theatrical and studied; but she managed, nevertheless, to please him, and the acquaintance, thus commenced, progressed into intimacy.
We rode together frequently, accompanied by my father and William Deloraine. I am quite sure that dear father never dreamed of anything like love between William and me; he still thought me a mere child; he was too much occupied by his own affairs to observe my gradual advance towards womanhood.
But I was gradually becoming attached to William Deloraine. He was just the sort of man to please an imaginative young lady like myself. ”

“ I declare to you, Miss Morton, we never, either of us, knew what goodness was till we became acquainted with you.”
I looked, doubtless, as I was, astonished.
“No! our parents educated us without any principle,” she continued, “and though poor William so generously acquitted his family of all complicity in his guilt, they did not deserve it.”
At this minute the ill-looking man-servant opened the door and said Mrs. Deloraine would be glad to see me alone in the north parlour, an upper sitting-room in the gable end of the house. ”

“ Sir Edward meantime places the Countess Octavie in a secure corner, and stands beside her to defend her, “for her sake” refraining from mingling in the fight. This grand act of self-denial wins her, and the volume closes with the approaching marriages of Col. Douglas and Miss Arinda, Count Elona and Amalia, Sir Edward and Octavie. ”

“ The Thugs who escaped the first shock of this attack rushed desperately on their enemies to stifle them in a close embrace; to crunch their skulls with their serpents’ teeth, and to drink a little of their blood before dying; for the Thugs have not degenerated from the primitive races of India. ”

“ In one of his City rambles he saw a poor tradesman being carried off to prison, followed by his weeping family. Touched by this scene of domestic misery, he ordered Count Holckte to follow them, pay the debt and costs, and give the poor debtor five hundred dollars to begin business again.
Whenever he appeared as the King of Denmark, he was followed by immense crowds, for his character was one which, with all its faults, could not fail to be popular, and his good nature delighted in giving the simple folks pleasure. ”

“ We choose always the most lofty.” . . . .
The old pagoda of Miessour exhibits its honours on the borders of this lake. It is a hill of ruins, the stones of which are veiled with moss, broom, and aloes; at intervals gigantic heads of Indian gods rise from the herbage . . . . preserving still beneath the stars the hideous stillness given them by the Mahratta architect of Aurengzebe . . . This awful spot is often enlivened by black tigers, who seek a pedestal of their own colour and extend themselves on it like a sphynx . ”

“ The arrival of Garibaldi in England has been hailed with an enthusiasm which has astonished even those who were most inclined to welcome the peerless hero of Italy. The universality of the feeling is singular, unless we consider a little the slow and silent causes which have been preparing the national mind to sympathise so fully with the country of which he is the representative and the life, We think one of these has been the Italian Master. ”

“ Viewing the great conqueror now from a better point of observation, it is extraordinary to remember what a popular “bogey” he was.
Of course the volunteers were ready everywhere. At first they appeared in London and in the seaports. In our little village they caused a wonderful sensation. It was a very small place, and each volunteer was well-known to us personally. A quaint, simple set they were, but brave and active fellows, a worthy portion of the home and hearth defence, which doubtless did its part in keeping the “bogey” on the other side of the Channel. ”

“ I felt convinced that her rapacity would defeat its object, for the banker would make inquiries before he cashed such a cheque. But the same thought had evidently occurred also to the man.
“It is too much!” he said, slowly, “fifty will be enough for our immediate wants. We dare not present a larger cheque.”
With a murmur, Mrs. Deloraine put the first cheque in her pocket, and desired me to write another—perhaps she kept the five hundred for some future opportunity. ”

“ My father remarked that Deloraine’s honesty put him to a great expense, and that it was singular no one claimed the pocket-book; then we took no further notice of the matter, though I secretly wondered what it could mean.
Once more before we left our sea-side home, Deloraine urged me to become his wife secretly. He was sure, he said, that my father would forgive me when once we were married; and I also should have been sure of that; indeed, I believed he would not have refused his assent at all, even though Deloraine was (as he avowed) poor ”

“ Deloraine.”
“Yes! he is to live, that you may not suffer remorse. I understand it all. But what kind of life?—that of a felon!—my boy!—my pride!”
She clasped her hands passionately. The man whispered sullenly in her ear.
“You are right,” she said, “put down the ink, and get yonder writing-case. I suppose Miss Morton does not travel with a cheque-book in her pocket?”
“For once she does,” I answered steadily. “I feared poor Kate might need assistance, and put it in my pocket.” ”

“ A similar force has always been ready for defence whenever the “cloud, as big as a man’s hand,” has loomed across the sea.
A recollection of the last misgiving and dread which called forth England’s Volunteers has been forcibly recalled to the minds of the aged by the Volunteer movement of the present; and we were amused to hear, from the lips of an old lady of very warlike ancestry, an account of what Volunteers were in her youth. ”

“ Imagine, if you can, my distress. I dared not write and tell him that I knew he did not find it, lest my letter should be read before it was given to him. I could only be silent on the subject, and urge my father to keep me from the public court, and prevent my being subpoenaed as a witness. Alas! ”

“ We had powerful friends; and Mr. Morton used such exertions, that, difficult as the task was at that time, he achieved it, and the sentence of Deloraine was changed into transportation for life. All this dreadful anxiety increased my previous indisposition, and it became impossible for me to return home, as my father wished, when the trial and his subsequent efforts were over. So we remained by the sea-side. One day I received, to my astonishment, a letter from Kate Deloraine: it was full of gratitude for my father’s goodness in saving her brother from the last rigour of the law ”

“ James’s (where in 1814 the King of Prussia was lodged) was in 1768 assigned as the metropolitan abode of the King of Denmark. His Chamberlain, Count Holckte, preceded his giddy master to inspect the accommodations allotted him, and, struck by the mean exterior of the English palace compared with that of Denmark, he was guilty of a pun, exclaiming: “This will never do! It is not fit to lodge a Christian in.” ”

“ Countess Octavie is not, however, to be deceived by pretexts or delays; she determines to set out for Nerbuddah herself, and discover at once the reason of this singular request, and she hires the ubiquitous Tauly or Nizam to conduct her thither. ”

“ A final battle with the Thugs takes place, in which the English are victors, and the “Vieux Sing” is made prisoner. They imprison him in the Nabob’s house at Nerbuddah. One thing which is very amusing throughout the book is the exceeding paucity of English soldiers and commanders in the Nizam. Colonel Douglas has only a captain and lieutenant with their men at his command,—a deficiency for which he confidentially blames the English minister to Tauly. ”

“ At a time when “Volunteering” has become a national characteristic, and grand rifle tournaments at Aldershot, and prize-giving at the Crystal Palace, are affording matter for every newspaper, and interest for every household, it may not be uninteresting to look back upon the Volunteers of former days, and see what they were like. ”

“ We will not follow him on his return to his northern home, to grieve over the extinction of his brilliant youth, and the deplorable end of his reign; but leave in our readers’ fancy the bright image of the gallant, light-hearted, kindly boy, who visited our English shores—a royal and beloved Dane—one hundred years ago. ”

“ We will return to our own teacher, who was, as we have observed, a fair type of the class, and fancy we sit again in the library that sultry July day when the leaves hung mutely on the trees of the square, and only the distant roar from busy Piccadilly told that we were in a great city. ”