Alden Lytton

“ And there she received him alone, and after the usual greetings opened the conversation herself by informing him of the betrothal of her granddaughter to Mr. Alden Lytton.
"It was upon that very subject that I came to see you, madam, on the part of the young gentleman's guardian," replied the minister, and then and there announced the fact that Mr. Alden Lytton's "guardian" would be prepared to pay down to his ward one hundred thousand dollars on the day of his marriage with Miss Cavendish.
"Emma has money enough," said the old lady; "but that indeed is very liberal. ”

“ Alden Lytton turned to look at her, in order to catch her eyes, but they were fixed upon the ground, and never once raised.
Even he, so deeply injured by her diabolical arts, turned away from her with shuddering pity.
"The woman is at once going mad and dying," he said to himself.
Mary Grey was then fully identified by the three witnesses as the woman who was, at the time and place specified, married to Mr. Alden Lytton.
But she had scarcely stood long enough to be sworn to, when her white face turned blue and she fell swooning into the arms of Philip Desmond. ”

“ You must give me house-room there for a few weeks, for I do not wish to stop at the hotel to be stared at, and—I shall not return to Blue Cliffs, or enter the presence of my pure and noble young wife, until I shall be cleared from this foul charge," said Alden Lytton, firmly.
"Not return to Blue Cliffs? Why, Lytton, you will break your wife's heart if you keep her from you in this your day of sorrow!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle.
"Her heart is too heroic to be easily broken. ”

“ I a'n't a standing into nobody's light, much less my own flesh and blood's!" exclaimed John, raising his red head.
"Yes-yes-yes, you are too! You're a standing into your own dear nephew's, Alden Lytton's, light, in opposing of his going to Blue Cliffs along of his sister to-morrow," complained the old lady.
"Riddle-me-riddle-me-ree! I know no more of what you're talking than the fish of Zuyder Zee!"
"Why-why-why then this is what I'm a talking about. Can-can-can't you see that Emma Cavendish is perfectly wrapped up in Laura Lytton? She's as fon-fon-fond of her as ever she can be. ”

“ Alden Lytton had lingered to make a quiet donation to the charity, and he was passing out, when, he saw Mary Grey standing shivering near the door. [65]
As he came up to her she stepped out into the darkness and the rain.
He hastened after her, exclaiming:
"Mrs. Grey! I beg your pardon! Are you alone?"
"Yes, Mr. Lytton," she answered, quietly.
"And you have no umbrella!" he said, quickly, as he hoisted his own and stepped to her side. "Permit me to see you safe to your door. Take my arm. It is very dark and the walking is dangerous. ”

“ Chapter LI. WHO KILLED HENRY LYTTON—FATE OF MARY GREY.
In pursuance of his promise to tell who killed his father, Alden Lytton said:
"One hardly knows how to begin so painful a story. But here it is. You may have heard of a wild, handsome ne'er-do-weel who kept the White Perch Point hotel and married a relative of the Cavendish family?"
"Oh, yes, of course! He was the husband of this widow lady who lives here." ”

“ And every hour confirmed Alden Lytton's admiration of Emma Cavendish.
The next day Alden Lytton was invited upstairs to the old lady's room and presented to Madam Cavendish, who received him with much cordiality, telling him that his grandfather had been a lifelong personal friend of hers, and that she had known his father from his infancy up to the time that he had left the neighborhood to practice law in the city.
And after a short interview the ancient gentlewoman and the young law student parted mutually well pleased with each other.
"A fine young man—a very fine young man indeed ”

“ Then turning round, still propped upon his elbow, he fixed his proud eye upon Aldyth, and said gravely, “Wife, pale is thy face, and gloomy thy brow; mournest thou the throne or the man?”
Aldyth cast on her wild lord a look of more terror than compassion, a look without the grief that is gentle, or the love that reveres; and answered:
“What matter to thee my thoughts or my sufferings? The sword or the famine is the doom thou hast chosen. Listening to vain dreams from thy bard, or thine own pride as idle, thou disdainest life for us both: be it so; let us die!” ”

“ He passed the lodge; he was on the road; a chaise and pair dashed by him; he heard not a voice exclaim "Varney!" he saw not the wondering face of John Ardworth; bending over the tossing mane, he was deaf, he was blind, to all without and around. A milestone glides by, another, and a third. Ha! his eyes can see now. The object of his chase is before him,—he views distinctly, on the brow of yon hill, the horse and the rider, spurring fast, like himself. They descend the hill, horse and horseman, and are snatched from his sight. Up the steep strains the pursuer. He is at the summit. ”

“ There are not many persons in existence, mad or not mad, who on discovery of so horrifying a nature would not have become wild with excitement, and fallen into a state closely bordering upon insanity; but Lady Lytton sustained throughout these most trying and frightful circumstances a calm and dignified demeanour. She was indeed the calmest of the two--herself and her Taunton friend--for the affrighted Miss Ryves had rushed into the street. She was ushered into another room, on entering whcih she observed a figure, like that of Sir Edward's, hastily retreating by a door at the other end. ”

“ When Mordaunt had read this letter, which, in spite of its incoherence, his fears readily explained, he rose hastily; his eyes rested upon a sober-looking man, clad in brown. The proud love no spectators to their emotions.
“Who are you, sir?” said Algernon, quickly.
“Morris Brown,” replied the stranger, coolly and civilly. “Brought that letter to you, sir; shall be very happy to serve you with anything else; just fitted out a young gentleman as ambassador, a nephew to Mrs. Minden,—very old friend of mine. Beautiful slabs you have here, sir, but they want a few knick-knacks ”

“ Presently he grew pale, and his hands trembled. "Saints defend her! Saints defend her! She is here, disguised, in London!"
"Margaret! our hero-queen! the manlike woman!" exclaimed Allerton, clasping his hands. "Then be sure that—" He stopped, and abruptly taking Adam's arm, drew him aside, while Henry continued to read— "Master Warner, we may trust thee,—thou art one of us; thou art sent here, I know; by Robin of Redesdale,—we may trust thee?"
"Young sir," replied the philosopher, gravely, "the fears and hopes of power are not amidst the uneasier passions of the student's mind. ”

“ A contriver likes not others to learn his secret ere the time hath come to reap its profits.”
“Surely, surely!” said Adam, and alarmed at the idea thus suggested, he threw the folds of his gown over the model.
The attendant bowed and retired; Hugh followed him, but not till he had exchanged a significant look with Allerton. As soon as the room was left clear to Adam, the captive, and Master Allerton, the last rose, and looking hastily round the chamber, approached the mechanician. “Quick, sir!” said he, in a whisper, “we are not often left without witnesses.” ”

“ Well, that woman to me is what a churchyard was to black Jean. No: if she is in London, I have but to go to her house and say, 'Food, shelter, money;' and I would rather ask Jack Ketch for a rope."
"How do you account for it, General? She does not beat you; she is not your wife. I have seen many a stout fellow, who would stand fire without blinking, show the white feather at a scold's tongue. But then he must be spliced to her—"
"Cutts, that Griffin does not scold: she preaches. She wants to make me spoony, Cutts: she talks of my young days, Cutts ”

“ Taptape, "is coming to the point."
"Well!" said the youth, slowly, and as if in a profound reverie, "well, Bossolton is certainly the most singular name I ever heard; he does right to put it in a book: it is quite a curiosity! is he clever?"
"Very, sir," said the landlady, somewhat sharply; "but it is your name, not his, that he wishes to put into his book."
"Mine?" said the youth, who appeared to have been seeking to gain time in order to answer a query which most men find requires very little deliberation, "mine, you say; my name is Linden—Clarence Linden—you understand?" ”

“ Dr. Thompson promised to lay these requirements before Sir Edward immediately upon his return to London, and then withdrew, Lady Lytton giving vent on his departure to her overwrought feelings in a flood of tears, which could not be restrained fro a considerable time, notwithstanding the consolation offered by the landlady, whose kindness to her throughout these painful and sad proceedings had been very great; and even of the nurse, whose opinion as to the state of her ladyship's mind had undergone a considerable change since the time she was in her presence. ”

“ I began to esteem her less. I set my teeth, and was about to rush on, when a voice close beside me said,—
"Stay, young man; I will let you through the gate."
I turned round sharply, and saw close by my side, in great wonder that I had not seen him before, a man, whose homely (but not working) dress seemed to intimate his station as that of the head-gardener, of whom my guide had spoken. He was seated on a stone under a chestnut-tree, with an ugly cur at his feet, who snarled at me as I turned.
"Thank you, my man," said I, joyfully. "I confess frankly that I was very much afraid of that leap." ”

“ His dark countenance was flushed with rage, which he in vain endeavoured to conceal; and the smile of scorn that he strove to summon to his lip made a ghastly and unnatural contrast with the lowering of his brow and the fire of his eyes. “Be it so, sir,” he said, slowly advancing, and confronting Clarence. “You will dispute my claims to the hand Lady Flora Ardenne has long promised to one who, however unworthy of the gift, knows, at least, how to defend it. It is well; let us finish the dispute elsewhere. It is not the first time we shall have met, if not as rivals, as foes.” ”

“ Wherever he has really written after the old model, there is something to be deprecated: in spite of all the spirit and freshness, in spite of his happy assumption of that cheerful acceptation of things as they are, which, rightly or wrongly, we come to attribute to the ideal fabulist, there is ever a sense as of something a little out of place. A form of literature so very innocent and primitive looks a little over-written in Lord Lytton’s conscious and highly-coloured style. ”

“ They were not, indeed, seen to the same profit as my own province, whose tillage I knew, and whose fruits were the answer to my desire; but the fact of seeing them at all gave a largeness to my view, and a candor to my judgment. I could not be ignorant how much there was I did not know, nor leave out of sight the many sides to every question, while, by the law of affinity, I chose my own.
'Lytton was not loved by any one. He was not positively hated, or disliked; for there was nothing which the general mind could take firm hold of enough for such feelings. ”

“ The boy learnt to read very early, wrote poems at the age of seven, and was considered in the family to be a prodigy. Old Mr. Lytton died on 30 Dec. 1810. His library was sent to London, where the grandson dipped into some of the books. The books had soon to be sold, and three sides of the Knebworth quadrangle were pulled down to suit the house to Mrs. Bulwer's diminished means. Edward asked his mother one day whether she was ‘not sometimes overcome by the sense of her own identity,’ to which she replied that it was high time that he should go to school. His school career was desultory. ”

“ Lytton was the lowest human being he had ever known, degenerated to an organism that lived solely to satiate its most unworthy appetites. Ann, the woman crying yonder, was quite the most beautiful creature on whom he had ever looked and, though he had seen her for the first time no more than an hour before, her charm had touched every masculine instinct, had gripped him with that urge which draws the sexes one to another ... ”

“ I now, my dear Linden, leave you to your fate. For my part, though I own Lord Ulswater is a lord whom ladies in love with the et ceteras of married pomp might well desire, yet I do think it would be no difficult matter for you to eclipse him. I cannot, it is true, advise you to run away with Lady Flora. Gentlemen don’t run away with the daughters of gentlemen; but, without running away, you may win your betrothed and Lord Ulswater’s intended. ”

“ Stubmore, and your assurance that you knew me, have sent me adrift upon the world."
"What's one man's meat is another man's poison," said the captain, philosophically; "no use fretting, care killed a cat. I am as badly off as you; for, hang me, if there was not a Bow Street runner in the town. I caught his eye fixed on me like a gimlet: so I bolted—went to N——, left my pheaton and groom there for the present, and have doubled back, to bauffle pursuit, and cut across the country. You recollect that voice girl we saw in the coach; 'gad, I served her spouse that is to be a praetty trick! ”

“ And they grew so fond of him,—as the young and gentle ever will grow fond of genius, however rough, once admitted to its companionship!
Percival by this time had recalled to his mind where he had first seen that strong-featured, dark-browed countenance, and he gayly reminded Ardworth of his discourtesy, on the brow of the hill which commanded the view of London. That reminiscence made his new friend writhe; for then, amidst all his ambitious visions of the future, he had seen Helen in the distance,—the reward of every labour, the fairest star in his horizon. ”