Erminie

“ He turned to Erminie, whose blushing face was hid again, and said, with a smile:
“And what says my little girl? Has she authorized her old friend to say all this?”
“Yes, father,” whispered Erminie, throwing her arms around his neck.
“Well, then, I suppose I shall have to consent,” said the earl, rising. “Right, my boy,” he said, slapping Ranty heartily on the shoulder; “you are as good as any man living, and I like your bold, independent spirit. ”

“ Erminie clapped her hands with delight when she heard of it, and Lady Maude, whose heart the wild elf had taken by storm, expressed her heartfelt pleasure.
“And you must return with us to England as soon as you are married,” said Lord De Courcy, to the bridegroom-elect.
“And we will all live together. Oh, it will be so nice to be near Pet!” said Erminie delightedly. ”

“ Oh! it’s impossible you can be Miss Lawless.”
“Very well, if it affords you any consolation to think so, you are perfectly welcome to your own opinion. Who am I then?”
“You were mistaken for, or rather you ought to be, a young lady, a celebrated beauty who lives in a cottage somewhere on the heath.”
“What! Erminie?”
“I really do not know the name. Is it possible you are not the one?”
“Well no, I rather think not. Though I may not be Pet Lawless; and as you say I’m not, I won’t dispute it—but I most decidedly am not Erminie Germaine.”
“Erminie who?” cried the outlaw, with a violent start. ”

“ Where’s Ray?”
“Hush, Erminie; don’t be frightened. Go in and get a light, and don’t wake your grandmother—go.”
“But tell me first what has happened. I won’t scream. I’ll be very good,” pleaded Erminie, her face growing whiter and whiter.
“Well, then—Ray’s got hurt pretty badly, and Pet’s gone for the doctor. Now don’t go crying, or making a time, but light a candle, and kindle a fire, and get some linen bandages and things; they’re always wanted when wounds are dressed. That’s a good girl—worth your weight in gold not to speak of diamonds. Hurry up!” ”

“ Neither of them dreamed—no one dreamed—that the pompous, haughty Prince Grandison of a Judge Lawless could have fallen in love at all, much less with the little, obscure cottage-girl, Erminie Germaine—tainted, as she was, by that great [Pg 274] est of all crimes, poverty. Obscure, I said; let me retract that word. Erminie Germaine—beautiful Erminie—was known and celebrated far beyond Old Barrens Cottage for her beauty, and goodness, and gentleness, and all the other qualities that make some women a little lower than the angels. ”

“ You have been weighed in the balance, and not found wanting; you have passed through the fiery furnace of affliction, and come forth pure gold; you have been tried and found faithful; and you have been called to a much higher and holier destiny than would have been yours as the wife of——”
“Oh, don’t! don’t, Britomarte!” exclaimed Erminie, shrinking even from this light touch upon her unhealed wound. ”

“ Miss Germaine, you do not mean it; you cannot mean it! it’s impossible you can mean it! Refuse me! Oh, it is utterly impossible you can mean it!”
“On the contrary, wonderful as it seems, I must distinctly and unequivocally decline the honor.” And Erminie’s look of calm determination showed her resolution was not to be shaken. Judge Lawless rose to his feet and confronted her. Indignation, humiliation, anger, wounded pride, mortification, jealousy, and a dozen other disagreeable feelings, flushing his face until its reflection fairly imparted a rosy hue to his snow-white shirt bosom. ”

“ The conviction that he was really serious, now for the first time dawned upon Erminie’s mind. The rosy tide flooded neck and brow again, and she dropped her flushed face in her hands, as she remembered he was Ranty’s father.
“I am not surprised that you should wonder at my choice,” said the judge, complacently. “Of course the world expects I should marry a woman of rank; but I like you, and am determined to please myself, let them wonder as they will!” ”

“ Yes, you may look surprised, Lady Erminie Germaine, or De Courcy, or whatever your name may be, but you are the cause of it all; and you know it too, for all you sit up there looking as innocent and unconscious as it is possible for any young woman to look. Never mind though; I don’t care! Just go on, Lady Erminie! You’ll [Pg 393] find what a nice young man you’ve lost, when it’s too late!” said Ranty, striding up and down, and looking ferociously at poor Erminie. ”

“ Miss Erminie, will you be still? What a restless little creature it is.”
“Papa, papa, tate Minnie,” crowed that small individual, holding out her little arms, and looking pathetic and imploring.
“Here, papa, take the young lady,” said the duchess, depositing her in the young man’s arms, and shaking out her glittering plumage, slightly discomposed by the frantic exertions of the “young lady” in question. “She is fonder of gentlemen than ladies, I perceive. ”

“ Do stay, like a dear, good boy.”
“You must have a heart of flint if you can resist all these pleadings,” said Lord De Courcy, drawing Erminie fondly toward him. “Come, Miss Lawless, will you not aid my little girl, here, in persuading this ungrateful scapegrace of ours from running away?”
“Oh, there is no use in me asking anybody to do anything,” said Pet, coloring slightly, yet looking saucy still, “because they never do it; if Minnie—beg pardon, Lady Erminie, can’t persuade him, then there is no use in my trying.”
“Now, Pet,” said Erminie, reproachfully, and blushing at her new-found title. ”

“ You know that she is not responsible to any human being in the world for her actions! And you also know what a consummate actress she is, and how perfectly she would enact the part of a soldier. And finally, Erminie, you know, for you have often heard her declare, that she will keep the laws of God and man, and in other respects do as she pleases! ”

“ Toosypegs, speaking with his mouth full; “she’s going to bring you a parcel of muslin things to work for her.”
[Pg 131] “The collar and cape she was speaking of, I guess,” said Erminie, with her pleasant smile.
“How in the world, Ermie,” exclaimed Pet, “do you find time to work for everybody? I never saw you a moment idle yet.”
“Well, it is pleasanter to be doing something,” said Erminie; “and besides, Miss Priscilla can’t do fine sewing, her eyes are so weak, you know. I can’t bear to sit still and do nothing; I like to sew, or read, or something.” ”

“ No, they wouldn’t, although I told them all that I told you, and proved to them that I didn’t come under any one of the heads of exemption, and that I was both willing and able to serve my country. No; for all I could say they wouldn’t accept me.”
“My dear, did you really expect that they would?” inquired Erminie in astonishment.
“I don’t see why they shouldn’t. It’s all bosh about my being a woman. I tell you, Erminie, a healthy young woman is quite as well able to perform military duty as most men are, and much more able than the mere boys they are constantly mustering into the ranks. ”

“ Britomarte laughed, but Erminie said:
“Men who are fighting cannot stop to feed. He must have fasted long.”
“Long! I should think he had fasted forty days and nights. I told him so; and he answered that he felt ‘hollow.’ And I couldn’t help saying as I carved the second fowl for him:
“Pap, I know next to nothing about anatomy and physiology, but from certain indications I should judge you to be hollow all the way down to the soles of your boots.”
“Oh, Elfie! how could you?” exclaimed Erminie. “Have you no veneration at all?” ”

“ She wouldn’t be a true female, though, if she wasn’t.”
Miss Erminie, in a paroxysm of delight, immediately buried her “long, aristocratic, white fingers” in papa’s thick burnished locks, with variations of pulling his whiskers and mustache and then tenderly kissing the above hirsute appendages to make them well again. And papa, like all other young papas, looked, as if he thought her the most wonderful baby that ever lived, and danced her up and [Pg 88] down until she forgot all sense of etiquette and propriety, and fairly screamed with delight. ”

“ On hearing this admission, how earnestly Ernestine congratulated herself upon having won Herminie's affection before her new friend knew who she, Ernestine, really was! And what a strange coincidence! She had feared that, because she was the richest heiress in France, she would never be loved for herself alone; while Herminie, because she was poor, feared that her affection would not appear disinterested. ”

“ Far from holding herself aloof from the amusements of her companions, Herminie greatly enjoyed seeing them enjoy themselves, and always did everything in her power to add to their pleasure, but this generosity of feeling would hardly suffice to explain the exuberance of life and youth and happiness which imparted an unusually radiant expression to the enchanting features of the duchess. ”

“ I do not know your name, you do not know mine; yet here we are almost exchanging confidences."
"But why should you be surprised to see affection and confidence spring up suddenly between a benefactress and the person obliged, mademoiselle?" asked Ernestine, timidly, almost imploringly, as if fearing Herminie might regret the interest she had manifested in her up to this time. "I am sure nothing could bring two persons together so quickly and so closely as compassion on one side and gratitude on the other." ”

“ By following these directions, an unclouded future will be yours, and you will probably be translated, at last, in a cloud of fire and brimstone, and your virtues inscribed on a pewter-plate, as an example for all future generations.”
“What an enviable fate, Erminie!” exclaimed Ray.
“Seems to me, old lady, our Ranty’s a great bother to you,” said Pet, suspiciously, as she fixed her bright, searching eyes keenly on her face.
“I always take an interest in nice youths,” said the old woman, rising and grasping her stick, preparatory to starting. [Pg 141] “I guess I won’t mind staying for dinner. ”

“ He asked himself, too, with no less astonishment, how Ernestine had managed to secure several hours of entire freedom that very morning, but fearing he would arouse Herminie's suspicions by questioning her further, he remarked:
"It is pleasant for me to know that you have a friend so worthy of you, and it seems to me," added the hunchback, "that she could not have come more opportunely." ”

“ Won't you promise me that?"
"Oh, yes," replied Herminie, greatly relieved, for, as Ernestine had suspected, the duchess had trembled lest her friend should insist upon her acceptance of a hospitality which she regarded as humiliating.
"And now we can only hope that fate will prove propitious, my children," said the marquis, rising. "As for your manner towards your guardian, my dear Ernestine, let it be slightly cold and reserved. Remain in your own room as much as possible, but do not manifest any very bitter resentment towards these people. A quarrel might injure us deeply. ”

“ Besides, I shall be left to you, and we three, together, can surely make a brave stand against misfortune."
"Ah, if I had to endure such a sorrow, deprived of Ernestine's friendship and yours, I believe it would kill me," murmured Herminie.
"Alas! my dear Herminie, how fraught with fears and anxiety this coming week will be!" exclaimed Ernestine. "But we shall at least see each other every day, shall we not? Or what is far better," exclaimed Mlle. de Beaumesnil, starting violently as a new idea suddenly occurred to her, "we need not be separated any more." ”

“ The idea originated with me, even prior to your arrival in Paris. There is a poor, but honest young girl, who was employed to play and sing to your poor dear mother during her last illness. This young girl is very proud, in spite of her poverty; so we thought you might assist her pecuniarily under the pretext of taking a few music lessons, and if you are willing to do so, the marquis will bring her to you to-morrow."
The reader can imagine Ernestine's response, and the impatience with which she awaited the coming of Herminie and her escort. ”

“ Erme was alive. Lady Lucy was hanging over him in a sort of agony of ecstasy, and yet of grief; but still she looked up, and put her little white hand into the collier’s big black one, and said, “Thank you,” and then he fairly burst out crying, and so his wife led him away. I saw Lord St. Erme for one moment, and never was anything more death-like, such ghastly white, except where grimed with coal-dust. They are in his room now, trying to restore animation. ”

“ The men doubting their senses, gazed at each other curiously, then they looked at Elliott again. With indescribable speed a spirit flew from mind to mind, seizing them all alike. Then without a word, silently, and as though abashed, they turned away. Elliott was left alone, surprised at his sudden triumph, gazing with a curious stare at the frowning walls of the dingy jail. ”

“ The lady herself is the most beautiful woman ever seen by man in Erin."
After Trembling had disappeared from the church, the son of the king of Emania said to the other kings' sons: "I will have that lady for my own."
They all said: "You didn't win her just by taking the shoe off her foot; you'll have to win her by the point of the sword; you'll have to fight for her with us before you can call her your own."
"Well," said the son of the king of Emania, "when I find the lady that shoe will fit, I'll fight for her, never fear, before I leave her to any of you." ”

“ His momentary glimpse on that day of Echo had stung his every sense to quivering protest. It had pierced, as with a fiery sword, the torpor which had unwrapped his love with its protecting armour and that love had awaked to agonised consciousness, vivified and intensified. Then, in his loneliness, the knowledge that the woman he would have died for had left him to drag out his penalty, would sweep over him till a fierce hatred of her would rise up in him—to be swept away as swiftly by something sweeter and stronger that would not be denied. ”