D'Alonville

“ In the mean time Lord Aurevalle had run among the crowd who were attempting to extinguish it, and had enquired eagerly and called aloud for D'Alonville. D'Alonville was no where to be found; nobody had seen him. The generous boy flew to his father—"My Lord," said he, with extreme vehemence, "Have you seen D'Alonville? He is not here—he is still in his room—the fire gains on that quarter of the house."
"Let somebody go up thither," said Lord Aberdore; "it is fit he should be told of his danger, if it be possible that all this noise can have been made so near without rousing him." ”

“ D'Alonville eagerly seized it. "Are there any more papers," enquired he? "Let me not fail now for want of an exact search. He found two other small parcels envelloped in paper; and nothing more remaining, he retired precipitately; and breathless with the satisfaction he felt, hurried into the chapel "Never more," said he, as he sat down on a broken pillar; "Never more will I complain of my ill fortune. Oh! my worthy old friend, how shall I make you any acknowledgment adequate to the service I have received from you. I, alas! who am more reduced by fortune than you are!" ”

“ D'Alonville, I find it impossible to stay in any part of England. I will instantly quit it. If my life is to be rendered tolerable for the little time I yet live, it must be in a country where the memory of so many years of misery is not continually renewed."
"Let us go, then," said D'Alonville.—"Wherever Angelina is—where you are, is now my country; (alas! what other have I?) but I must be released from my parole before I can leave this place."
"Undoubtedly," answered Mrs. Denzil. "However eagerly I wish to go, your honour is dearest to me than ever other consideration. ”

“ To hear from a beautiful mouth a defence of the horrors that had stained, with eternal disgrace, the annals of France as a nations: to hear the dead spoken of with unfeeling ridicule, as having merited their fate: to hear a lovely girl encouraging sanguinary projects, and a daring defiance of every law of humanity, was to D'Alonville so extremely disgusting, that youth and beauty would have lost all their attractions, even if his affections had not been all engrossed by Angelina. ”

“ D'Alonville protested that he believed, nay he was persuaded, it was so firmly established, that nothing could remove it. "And if you were restored," said Ellesmere, "to your country, to your prospects,—Is it an Englishwoman, a woman of another religion, without fortune, and though of a gentleman's family, educated in a remote village; is it such a woman you would prefer?" "Upon my honour," answered D'Alonville, very solemnly, "I should prefer Angelina Denzil to every other woman; to every advantage that alliance or fortune could bring me." ”

“ D'Alonville, from the manner of the whole family on his first appearance, had taken up a notion, that from common fame, or by means of some of their vassals, the fate of their habitation was known; and that, as is often the case, in misfortune, they were sullenly resigned to their loss, yet half disposed to quarrel with the world around them. Having entertained this idea, he was surprise at the question put to him by the Baroness, and embarrassed how to answer it ”

“ The honest old servant seemed to be arrived at that period of life, when hope but faintly warms the human heart; he felt that, like the faithful dog of Ulysses, he could do little more than look upon his master and die at his feet; and he seemed half unwilling to move from the place where he had seen better days, only to linger out a few miserable months among strangers; but D'Alonville was persuaded he should render an acceptable service to his generous benefactors, in rescuing their ancient domestic from the calamitous situation to which he was reduced. ”

“ D'Alonville was undoubtedly an exception to the prejudice that indiscriminately condemns them all, for he was so far from being vain or presumptuous, that his dissident sensibility had frequently been the ridicule of his young companions; and much more so of his elder brother, who was of a daring and ambitious spirit, and had at an early period thrown of that parental authority, which in France was more and longer respected than in England ”

“ To this question he deliberated a moment what to answer, while the beldame added, in a mumbling hollow voice, and in the dialect of the country, "Go not to the castle." "Not go!" exclaimed D'Alonville, who was surprised by this unexpected by this unexpected charge. "No," replied the hag, in a still more terrific voice, "it will not answer your purpose." She moved slowly on, but D'Alonville, who was thrown entirely off his guard, again stopped her, and repeating, "Not answer my purpose?" added, "Do you know me, then?" "Know you," answered the witch, nodding her head, "Aye, aye, I know you." ”

“ D'Alonville flattered himself that from the softer sex he might obtain a more favourable hearing—and returning back to what might be called the village street; he accosted an old woman, the only woman he saw; and taking off his hat, endeavoured to the utmost of his power, to make her understand his question. The woman stopped, and fixed her eyes upon him, set down a bucket she was carrying and appeared by her countenance, to wish to understand him—Encouraged by her attention he redoubled his endeavours, but still it did not appear that he gained ground. ”

“ D'Alonville, who was not so sanguine as to the reception they might meet with, felt all the generosity of his friend, but did not seem in haste to avail himself of it. He readily, however, assented to Ellesmere's wish of going with him to wait on them; and with a melancholy smile bade him beware of the fascinating eyes of the younger Madame de Touranges. "I know the influence of beauty in distress, my friend," said he, "and I assure you, you will not find that of the young Marquisse less dangerous that that of your fair Polonese." ”

“ If he who had youth and health, could see little else before him but despair; and to an old man, the ruin that had overwhelmed his master's house, to which alone he was attached, was possibly as afflicting as those misfortunes that D'Alonville suffered in his own person; neither of them seemed disposed to break their sorrowful silence; at length D'Alonville enquired if every part of the castle was as much injured as that where they now stood. ”

“ Towards morning D'Alonville, who was impatient to get forward on his journey—arose from his straw, and found his way down a kind of ladder. He went out, and, though it was a dark and dismal morning, he roused the men who slept in the stable, entreating them to get ready as soon as they could, for he apprehended a fall of snow from the change of the wind, and was afraid that the longer they stayed the more difficult they might find it to depart. ”

“ The longer she was acquainted with D'Alonville the more time she had given herself to study his temper and disposition, the more firmly she believed, that the day which made Angelina his, ought to be for her a day of joy.—To D'Alonville it seemed as if destiny, determined to teach him every extreme of misery and felicity, had now raised him to happiness beyond the lot of humanity.—He had the unexpected satisfaction of remaining almost a fortnight with his wife, before the final summons arrived which called him from her, to the duties he had undertaken in the family of Lord Aberdore. ”

“ Happiness is so rare, that when once it presents itself, it should never be suffered to escape, lest it disappear for ever." "Oh, seducing epicurean;" cried D'Alonville, "do not inculcate doctrines to which I am but too wiling to listen. I must fly from them, my dear Edouard; indeed I must; and whatever it may cost me, take shelter under the religious stoicism of the Abbé."
Such were the generous resolutions of D'Alonville, when, after taking a formal leave of the family at Eddisbury-hall, he set out the next morning for Fernyhurst. ”

“ While the introduction to these people operated on the opinions of D'Alonville so very differently from what his brother had intended, he was himself engaged in studying, as far as he could do it with safety, the real sentiments of the people. In this enquiry he was sometimes repulsed by caution, and sometimes baffled by fear: but he was convinced, that there were a very great number of persons, even in Paris, who were only restrained by terror from openly declaring themselves ”

“ Insensibly, from being engaged to find out who D'Alonville was, she discovered that he was very amiable; and became so fond of him that she could not conceal her partiality. Personal beauty might possibly have its effect; and the unassuming manners of D'Alonville, who, though he was master of almost every science, was contented to listen to the dictatorial theories of the universal Miss Milsington, flattered her vanity, and gratified her ambition of being considered by her wondering friends as omniscient. This experiment was far from giving pleasure to the sapient Mr. Ellesmere. ”

“ At my time of life, D'Alonville, to become a wandering fugitive; No. Fayolles has no longer business in this world. But you may, unhappy boy! you, whose life opened with prospects so different!"
"For God's sake, Sir, forbear. If you indeed love me, would you not endeavour to preserve a life so precious? Ah! ladies!" continued he, perceiving the Baroness and Madame D'Alberg; who, greatly affected, had by this time softly approached him; "generous humanity has saved my father, if he will but endeavour to live; but he gives himself up to despair, and I shall lose him still." ”

“ His blood ran cold as he canvassed these sad possibilities, and he stood for some moments petrified with horror—In the mean time, the dog continued his importunities; till at length the poor animal, as if it gave itself up to despair, sighed deeply, and lay down; his head hanging almost over the brink of the pit. When it was thus calm, D'Alonville listened earnestly to hear if there was any noise within the gulph, for some living creature might be there: he fancied that he heard a low and tremulous groan:—he threw himself on the pavement, for the purpose of hearing more distinctly ”

“ Those who ever felt that delicious sensation which fills the bosom, when we hope we have paid in some degree a debt of gratitude to friends we love, and when we are on a point of meeting them after such a service, and after a long absence, may also have experienced the blank and sullen gloom which follows a cold repulse, instead of the cordial reception anticipated. D'Alonville at this moment experienced it, in all its bitterness, and never till now had he though himself wholly desolate and wretched. ”

“ D'Alonville had been introduced during his short stay in London, to Mr. Ellesmere, the elder brother of his friend, and his wife, Lady Sophia. But though they were well bred, and spoke French like people of education, D'Alonville was never tempted to renew the visit, though he received a civil common place invitation. Mr. Ellesmere seemed emmersed in politics, and gave very little attention to whatever passed that had nothing to do with his pursuits. ”

“ The bodies of men, to whom neither the conquerors or the conquered had afforded the rites of sepulture, and many horses lay scattered over the ground; the dreary silence was broken only be the hollow cries of the owls from the wood; and there was just that degree of light that served to lend artificial to the real horrors with which D'Alonville was surrounded, for the objects appeared indistinct, and uncertain. ”

“ The most timid could hardly be accused of yielding too much to fear.
Lost in these contemplations, D'Alonville often lingered behind his friends, and arrived at the places where they stopped, some time after them. As the same horses were to draw them all the way to Dresden, and the man to whom they belonged had bargained that he was to take his own time, they were to be four days in reaching that town from Prague, though it is not much above seventy English miles. On the third of these days D'Alonville had walked with his two friends up a steep ascent in order to relieve the horses. ”

“ This was a little too much,—though D'Alonville was of a temper remarkably mild, he was violent when thoroughly provoked, and he now thought himself cruelly insulted; insomuch, that from the expression of his countenance, Ellesmere was afraid he might on being farther irritated, strike Melton. Well aware of the disagreeable consequences which might arise to his friend from such a quarrel in such a place, he caught his hands—"My dear chevalier," cried he eagerly, "I insist upon your leaving this matter to me: be assured no man living shall insult my friend with impunity. ”

“ The laborious life to which the old sailor had been injured, had not hardened his heart—Nature had still a powerful influence; and his voice bore testimony of the tribute he paid it, as he thus concluded his mournful narrative.
D'Alonville would have spoken comfort to him, but he could find none. For these wounds to domestic happiness he knew there could be no cure. ”

“ D'Alonville saw the cabriole in which his friends were, stop, and the Abbé de St. Remi was already out of it, to lend what assistance he could to the travellers. He hastened on himself as fast as the road would allow; and when he came near the carriages tied his horse to a tree and went forward to offer his services to the gentlemen, whom he now learned from a servant who could speak French, were Englishmen, travelling in their own chaise with post horses to Dresden, on their way through Germany from Italy to England. ”