Arthur Huntingdon

“ So his younger brother Walter got the praise, and was looked upon as the hero of the adventure.
Chapter Two. Under a cloud.
Mr Huntingdon was a country gentleman of good fortune and popular manners, warm in his temper, hasty in his speech, upright in his transactions, and liberal in his dealings. No man could make a better speech, when he had those to address who substantially agreed with him; while in ordinary conversation he generally succeeded in silencing an opponent, though, perhaps, more by the vehemence of his utterances than by the cogency of his reasonings. ”

“ Most gladly did he acquiesce in the plans proposed by his sister as to the day and manner of his wife’s return, promising that he would duly restrain himself at the first meeting, and that he would endeavour to erase, by his future consideration and attention to her every wish, any painful scar that might remain from harshness or unkindness in times past. Miss Huntingdon was most deeply thankful that her path had been thus smoothed by the wise and tender hand that guides all the footsteps of the trusting people of God ”

“ On 4 July 1479 he gave up the earldom of Pembroke in exchange for the earldom of Huntingdon at the request of the king, who desired to bestow it on his son Edward. He was captain of the army in France, June to September 1475; was appointed justice of South Wales on 15 Nov. 1483, and acted as commissioner of array in Wales, Monmouth, and Herefordshire. He died in 1491. On 28 Feb. 1484 he covenanted to marry Catherine, daughter of Richard III; but the princess died before the time appointed for the marriage, and Huntingdon married Mary, fifth daughter of Richard, earl Rivers. ”

“ His mother was Catherine Pole (d. 1576) , a descendant of George, duke of Clarence; and, asserting that he was thus entitled to succeed Elizabeth on the English throne, Huntingdon won a certain amount of support, especially from the Protestants and the enemies of Mary, queen of Scots. In 1572 he was appointed president of the council of the north, and during the troubled period between the flight of Mary to England in 1568 and the defeat of the Spanish armada twenty years later he was frequently employed in the north of England. ”

“ They are found at Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Canterbury, Cheltenham, Ely, Exeter, Hereford, Kidderminster, Malvern, Margate, Norwich, St. Ives, Cornwall, Rochdale, Swansea, Spa Fields, Tunbridge Wells, Worcester, and Yarmouth.
X. CLOSING YEARS. Until the close of her long life of eighty-four years, Lady Huntingdon retained much of that vigour of intellect which had marked the whole of her career. In spiritual life also she continued to develop year by year. ”

“ But here her niece interrupted her. “O auntie, there can be no possible harm. No one will notice us; there will be thousands of people, and we shall be lost in the crowd. People are never so thoroughly alone as when they are in the middle of a great crowd.”
“And who is to go with you?” asked Mr Huntingdon.
“Oh, of course I don’t expect dear sober old Amos to go, he is quite above such things; but Walter might take me,—wouldn’t you, dear Walter?—Now, may I go, dear father, if Walter takes me? It will be such fun cantering there and back this delightful summer weather.” ”

“ The party had assembled in the drawing-room, all but Mr Huntingdon. Five minutes—ten—a quarter of an hour past the usual time, but the squire had not made his appearance. At last his step was heard rapidly approaching. Then he flung the door hastily open, and rushed into the room, his face flushed, and his chest heaving with anger. Striding up to Walter, he exclaimed: “So this is the end of your folly and disobedience. You go contrary to my orders, knowing that I would not have you take part in the steeplechase; you ruin another man’s horse worth some three hundred guineas ”

“ At the same time Gregson made it to be distinctly understood that the sovereign was only to be given to the man, if such should be found, who should beat Walter Huntingdon in all three things,—namely, in shooting, leaping, and running. ”

“ It was doubtless felt that the earl’s own title to the crown was a pledge that he would show scant sympathy with the advocates of Mary’s claim. He assisted George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, to remove the Scottish queen from Wingfield to Tutbury, and for a short time in 1569 he was one of her custodians. Huntingdon was responsible for the compilation of an elaborate history of the Hastings family, a manuscript copy of which is now in the British Museum. As he died childless, his earldom passed to his brother George. ”

“ With all his love for that father, he could not help having a strong conviction that, were he to consult him in the matter, the attempt at restoration would probably prove a failure. Either Mr Huntingdon would take things into his own hands, and, acting with characteristic impetuosity and bluffness, would most likely hinder where he meant to help forward, or else he would fail perhaps to understand and appreciate his son’s views and methods of proceeding, and would prevent a successful issue by his impatience or interference. ”

“ First and foremost, the raffle has come to grief, partly, I suppose, because Walter Huntingdon, junior, Esquire of Flixworth Manor, in the county of Hertfordshire, has refused to put down his name or have anything to do with it. There—what does the present company think of this important announcement?”
Amos and his aunt replied by loving smiles; Julia kept her eyes fixed on some work she had taken up.
“My next announcement,” continued Walter, “is of equal interest and importance. The great firm of Huntingdon, Gregson, and Saunders has dissolved partnership. ”

“ Who dares do more is none.”
“So says Shakespeare, and so say I.—Then they took to abusing Amos again; so I just told them that I had found by experience that my brother’s advice and opinion were worth taking, and that I had no wish to hear him cried down unless they could show that he was wrong. Well, you may suppose that we soon found out that our horses wanted to go different ways; so we raised our hats to one another and took leave, and thus ended the partnership of Huntingdon, Gregson, and Saunders.” ”

“ Gregson will ask me about it, and what am I to say? ‘Brother Amos disapproves of raffles;’ will that do? I can just fancy I can see him and Saunders holding their sides and shaking like a pair of pepper-boxes. No, it won’t do; we can’t always be doing just what’s right. If Amos don’t go in for the raffle, I think I must, unless I wish to be laughed at till they’ve jeered all the spirit out of me.”
Amos made no answer, nor did Miss Huntingdon; but as Walter looked towards her, with no very happy expression of countenance, she quietly laid one hand across the other. ”

“ He hunted much in Leicestershire while still keeping his harriers, Somerby being his centre. Of good runs he has borne part in many; he thinks one of the best he ever saw was that with the Belvoir from Harley to Staunton on December 14th, 1892, one hour and thirty minutes.
Lord Huntingdon has played polo for many years. He is President of the King’s County Club, also the Crystal Palace Polo Club, and is a member of the Roehampton, Ranelagh, and other clubs; for many seasons he played back in the King’s County Irish team for the County Cup. ”

“ Some shrugged their shoulders, some smiled, others looked annoyed. Mrs Morse and her daughter exchanged looks of bewilderment behind Amos’s back. Walter, with feelings of mingled shame and vexation, glanced at the bright face of his aunt, whose eyes swam with grateful tears. Then he glanced down: her hands were crossed; yes, he knew that it would be so. And how felt Mr Huntingdon? To the surprise of all, and of none more than Amos himself, he exclaimed, “That’s right, Amos; you’ve spoken out like a man, and I believe you are right.” ”

“ Such were the words which suddenly broke the stillness of a dark October night, and roused up the household of Mr Walter Huntingdon, a country gentleman living on his own estate in Derbyshire. The voice was the coachman’s, and came apparently from somewhere near the drive-gate, which was about a couple of hundred yards from the front door of the house. The evening had been dark and stormy; and it was in a lull of the tempest that the ominous sounds of distress reached the ears of the inmates of Flixworth Manor.
In a few moments all was bustle and excitement—lights flashing; feet hurrying ”

“ Huntingdon had grown harder and more tyrannical as the years passed on. Neither of the young men ventured to oppose his iron will. He was fond of his grandson, proud of his good looks and aristocratic air, and not disposed to quarrel with him because he was a little wild. “Young men would be young men,” was a favorite saying of his; he had used it before in the case of Lord Ronald Gower.
But his nephew, Erle, was really dearer to the old man’s heart. But then every one liked Erle Huntingdon, he was so sweet-tempered and full of life, so honest and frank, and so thoroughly unselfish. ”

“ At the end of November 1688 Huntingdon attempted, it is said, to poison the Earl of Bath at Plymouth and seize upon the citadel for James II. He was imprisoned for a time with all the officers of his regiment save Captain Viscount Hatton and excepted from the Act of Indemnity in July 1689 (ib. i. 480, 554; Hatton Correspondence, ii. 117) . Huntingdon was one of the managers of the conference with the commons in February 1689. ”

“ The ninth Earl of Huntingdon, father of the first Countess of Moira, died in 1746, and was succeeded by his son, brother of the Lady Moira. The tenth earl, however, died without issue in 1789; whereupon the earldom became suspended, and so continued for thirty years, a fact involving matters of very deep interest, but of no importance so far as present purposes are concerned. The tenth Earl of Huntingdon’s heir was his sister, Lady Moira, and upon her descended the ancient baronies of the Huntingdon earldom—namely, Hastings, Hungerford, Botreaux, and Molines. ”

“ Then a fit of coughing came on, and all were silent. “I will leave you together, if you please,” said the Scripture reader after a pause to Amos. “You know where to find me if I am wanted,” and he retired.
Long was it before the unhappy man could trust himself to speak. At last, having sipped a little of a soothing mixture which Mr Harris had brought him, he turned his face towards his brother-in-law, who had now taken a seat in front of him on a three-legged stool, and said, “Shall I tell you why I sent to you, Mr Huntingdon?” Amos inclined his head. ”

“ Thus he was able to travel and spend his money like a man of wealth, and was very glad of the opportunity of making Mr Huntingdon’s acquaintance, which gave him access to a house where he could spend a portion of every year amidst bountiful hospitality and in good society. ”

“ And now for the special hero, the counterpart of Amos.”
“My hero this time,” said Miss Huntingdon, “is a very remarkable man, a most excellent clergyman, Mr Fletcher of Madeley. He had a very profligate nephew, a military man, who had been dismissed from the Sardinian service for base and ungentlemanly conduct, had engaged in two or three duels, and had wasted his means in vice and extravagance. One day this nephew waited on his uncle, General de Gons, and, presenting a loaded pistol, threatened to shoot him unless he would immediately advance him five hundred crowns. ”

“ In an after-conversation the honest King confessed that Lady Huntingdon herself had been painted to him in very odd colours, and, in admitting her to an interview, he was partly influenced by his curiosity to see whether she was so strange a creature as she had been described by her enemies. To his expressions of admiration for herself and her work the Queen added similar assurances ”

“ And so, as boy and young man, Amos Huntingdon learned, under the severe discipline of his earthly home, lessons which were moulding his character to a nobility which few suspected, who, gazing on that timid, shrinking youth, went on their way with a glance or shrug of pity. ”

“ She fully understood the feelings of both her nephews; and, while she profoundly pitied Amos, she equally grieved at the cruel want of love and forbearance in her younger nephew towards his elder brother.
Some weeks had passed away since the disastrous ride, and Forester being none the worse for his mishap, Mr Huntingdon allowed Walter to exercise him occasionally, accompanied by Dick, who had been fully restored to favour. It was on a lovely summer afternoon that the two had trotted briskly along to a greater distance from home than they had at all contemplated reaching when they started. ”

“ The old man’s appearance now attracted every one’s attention. He had drawn himself up to his full height, and had turned so as to confront Mr Huntingdon, who was sitting with his sister by his side on a garden bench facing the house. His snow-white hair gave him ordinarily a venerable appearance, and this was now increased by the look of intense earnestness which glowed in his every feature. His back was to Amos, who, noticing that the old man was evidently about to speak under the pressure of some unusual excitement, half rose to his feet, but too late to stop old Harry’s purpose. ”

“ My dear, dear nephew, I do earnestly desire to see you grow up into a truly noble man, and I want to be, as far as God permits me, in the place of a mother to you.”
As Miss Huntingdon uttered these words with deep emotion, Walter flung his arms passionately round her, and, sinking on his knees, buried his face in her lap, while tears and sobs, such as he was little accustomed to give vent to, burst from him. ”

“ Even in women of the strongest understanding and the deepest and widest culture, there is generally a want of ballast which unfits them for such a responsibility; and Lady Huntingdon was not a lady of a strong understanding, and still less of a deep and wide culture. But she possessed what was better still—a single eye to her Master's glory, a truly humble mind, and genuine piety. ”