Hardy

“ Hardy, in compliance with the request of Mr. Benson, commenced his narrative, as follows:—“ Your honour recollects the time when allured and deceived by some idle and vicious companions, I enlisted as a soldier, and thus forsook the service of your respected father, whose kindness I shall never cease to remember. My youthful imagination was full of the pleasures and honours which I expected to receive in a short time, and I never thought of any dangers or hardships which I might experience. How often do the young indulge these foolish and deceitful hopes! ”

“ Excuse the intrusive sorrow of a poor, broken hearted old man!”
“I have suffered too much myself, sir, to be indifferent to any kind of sorrow,” replied Hardy. “Besides, you are no stranger to me—for you did me a real service—and we both agree in our veneration for the same young priest.”
“The Abbe Gabriel!” cried Rodin, interrupting Hardy; “ah, sir! he is my deliverer, my benefactor. If you knew all his care and devotion, during my long illness, caused by intense grief—if you knew the ineffable sweetness of his counsels—”
“I know them, sir,” cried Hardy; “oh, yes! ”

“ So in the room where Clara lay they all kneeled down, except Will, who lay upon a lounge near his unconscious sister. Mr. Hardy, as he clasped his wife's hand in his own, poured out his soul in this petition:
"Dear Lord, we know Thou dost love us, even though we cannot always know why Thou dost allow suffering and trouble; and we would thank Thee for the things that cannot be destroyed, for the loves that cannot suffer death, for the wonderful promises of the life to come. Only we have been so careless of the things that belong to Thy kingdom! ”

“ And how will you look to-morrow, Mr. Innocent, when my uncle, the doctor, comes home?' 'As I do now, sir,' said Hardy, unmoved.
His composure threw Mr. Power into a rage too great for utterance. 'Sir,' continued Hardy, 'ever since I have been at school, I never told a lie, and therefore, sir, I hope you will believe me now. Upon my word and honour, sir, I have done nothing wrong.' 'Nothing wrong? Better and better! what, when I caught you going out at night?' 'That, to be sure, was wrong,' said Hardy, recollecting himself; 'but except that——' 'Except that, sir! I will except nothing. ”

“ She put on youth in her look and air,
And more was he wonderstruck as he viewed
Her form and flesh bloom yet more fair
While he watched her there;
Till she freshed to the pink and brown
That were hers on the night when first they met,
When she was the charm of the idle town,
And he the pick of the club-fire set. . . .
His eyes grew wet,
And he stretched his arms: "Stay—rest!—"
He cried. “Abide with me so, my own!"
But his arms closed in on his hard bare breast;
She had vanished with all he had looked upon
Of her beauty: gone. ”

“ Hardy began in a low, clear tone:
"Men and women of Barton: To-night I am not the man you have known these twenty-five years that I have been among you. I am, by the grace of God, a new creature. As I stand here I have no greater desire in my heart than to say what may prove to be a blessing to all my old townspeople and to my employés and to these strong young men and boys. Within a few short days God has shown me the selfishness of a human being's heart. ”

“ She stood upon the edge of the terrace, close to the stone balustrade, and looked towards the sun, hanging over a glade just now fair as Tempe’s vale, up which her father was walking.
Knight could not help looking at her. The sun was within ten degrees of the horizon, and its warm light flooded her face and heightened the bright rose colour of her cheeks to a vermilion red, their moderate pink hue being only seen in its natural tone where the cheek curved round into shadow. ”

“ The door was flung back till it kicked the wall and trembled from top to bottom with the blow. Mr. Oak appeared in the entry with a steaming face, hay-bands wound about his ankles to keep out the snow, a leather strap round his waist outside the smock-frock, and looking altogether an epitome of the world's health and vigour. Four lambs hung in various embarrassing attitudes over his shoulders, and the dog George, whom Gabriel had contrived to fetch from Norcombe, stalked solemnly behind.
"Well, Shepherd Oak, and how's lambing this year, if I mid say it?" inquired Joseph Poorgrass. ”

“ Her lover, who had only looked on at the rat-catching, was promptly at her side.
'What—after all—my insulting slap, too!' said she in an underbreath. She was so utterly exhausted that she had not strength to speak louder.
'I should indeed be foolish to feel offended at anything you say or do,' he answered, in the seductive voice of the Trantridge time. 'How the little limbs tremble! You are as weak as a bled calf, you know you are; and yet you need have done nothing since I arrived. How could you be so obstinate? ”

“ At that moment hasty steps were heard in the entry, and the door opened to admit the figure of Gabriel Oak, followed by the maid of the inn bearing a candle. He stared sternly at the one lengthy and two round faces of the sitters, which confronted him with the expressions of a fiddle and a couple of warming-pans. Joseph Poorgrass blinked, and shrank several inches into the background.
"Upon my soul, I'm ashamed of you; 'tis disgraceful, Joseph, disgraceful!" said Gabriel, indignantly. "Coggan, you call yourself a man, and don't know better than this." ”

“ The Figure against the Sky When the whole Egdon concourse had left the site of the bonfire to its accustomed loneliness, a closely wrapped female figure approached the barrow from that quarter of the heath in which the little fire lay. Had the reddleman been watching he might have recognized her as the woman who had first stood there so singularly, and vanished at the approach of strangers. She ascended to her old position at the top, where the red coals of the perishing fire greeted her like living eyes in the corpse of day. ”

“ After the old soldier had concluded his devotions, leaning on his staff, he arose, and pursued his journey with trembling steps. Edward and his sister, on seeing this, immediately ran down the lawn, and opening the garden-gate, went out into the road and met Hardy, who pulled off his hat and bowed; as the young gentleman and lady approached him.
Edward went up to the old soldiers, while his sister waited a little behind, and looking him in the face, with affectionate sympathy he said, “Poor old man! you seem to be very feeble and aged.” ”

“ Hardy is only an exception. Let the people but give a good pull all together, and the exception will become the rule, and all the world be happy.”
“What you say there is true, but it would be a devil of a pull that would make an honest man out of my old master, Baron Tripeaud, who made me what I am—an out-and-out rip.”
“Hardy’s workmen are coming; you are their comrade, and have no interest in deceiving them. They will believe you. Join with me in persuading them—”
“To what?”
“To leave this factory, in which they grow effeminate and selfish, and forget their brothers.” ”

“ Hardy, who was a few steps from him, turning round, saw [Pg 304] three men raising him up. "They have done for me at last, Hardy," said he. "I hope not," cried Hardy. "Yes," he replied, "my backbone is shot through." Yet even now, not for a moment losing his presence of mind, he observed, as they were carrying him down the ladder, that the tiller ropes, which had been shot away, were not yet replaced, and ordered that new ones should be rove immediately: then, that he might not be seen by the crew, he took out his handkerchief, and covered his face and his stars. ”

“ Hardy was different, realizing his helplessness, but eying me coolly, his hands held over his head.
"What does all this mean?" he asked quietly. "Who the devil are you?"
"He's that damned Yank Billie's been so interested in," broke out the captain, "the same fellow who knocked me off my horse at Jonesboro."
Major Hardy glanced toward his daughter inquiringly, but before she could utter a word in explanation I cut in:
"This has nothing to do with Miss Hardy. She is as much a prisoner as you are. Now, Captain, hand me your revolver--butt first, please. Major Hardy, I will also trouble you. ”

“ At the end of her dream the Countess of Uplandtowers awoke and arose, and then the enactment of former nights was repeated. Her husband remained still and listened. Two strokes sounded from the clock in the pediment without, when, leaving the chamber-door ajar, she passed along the corridor to the other end, where, as usual, she obtained a light. So deep was the silence that he could even from his bed hear her softly blowing the tinder to a glow after striking the steel. She moved on into the boudoir, and he heard, or fancied he heard, the turning of the key in the closet-door. ”

“ Hardy. "Haven't you had enough of battle? There was a time, after the news of Braddock's defeat came, when I feared that you had fallen, but a message sent by the young Englishman, Grosvenor, told me you were safe, and I was very thankful. It is natural for the young to seek what they call adventure, and to serve their country, but you have done much already, Robert. You might go with me now to New York, and still feel that you are no shirker."
"You are most kind, Mr. Hardy. I believe that next to Willet and Tayoga you are the greatest and best of my friends. ”

“ During the first few days their watching was an easy matter, for the suspected individual appeared well content to hug the camp, only making daily visits to Hardy's stable, generally in the evening; but to enter the house was something he avoided.
"No," he said, in answer to Hardy's invitation; "I reckon I'm more at home with the horses than with your new company. I'll drop in sometime after the Kootenai valley is clear of uniforms."
"My wife told me to ask you," said Hardy; "and when you feel like coming, you'll find the door open." ”

“ After a little talk with his mother, George came up and inquired after Bess and Will. They were both sleeping, and after the doctor had gone out the father and mother and son sat down together in the room where Clara lay.
Mr. Hardy did not say a word to George about the incident of the evening. The shame of it was too great yet. When men of Mr. Hardy's self-contained, repressed, proud nature are pained, it is with an intense, inward fire of passion that cannot hear to break out into words. ”

“ There the two indistinct persons leapt together like a pair of dewdrops on a leaf; and then they stood apart, facing each other, the woman looking down.
‘Emmeline, you begged me to come, and here I am, Heaven forgive me!’ said the man hoarsely.
‘You are going to emigrate, Alwyn,’ she said in broken accents. ‘I have heard of it; you sail from Plymouth in three days in the Western Glory?’
‘Yes. I can live in England no longer. Life is as death to me here,’ says he.
‘My life is even worse—worse than death. Death would not have driven me to this extremity. ”

“ RELIGION makes me happy every where,” said the old soldier, Hardy, as he rested his weary limbs on a mossy bankside the road, and stooped down to quench his thirst from a purling stream which flowed at his feet. ”

“ He seemed a well-disposed lad; but when he grew up to be a man, he became connected with some bad companions, who gradually led him astray, and at last persuaded him to despise the simple toil of a peasant's life, and to enlist as a soldier. I recollect the time when Hardy came to take leave of us: I loved hem so much that I could not refrain from tears, and he seemed exceedingly grieved to part with me. ”

“ And looking back we could see the handpost still
In the solitude of the moor.
“It struck her too,” I thought, for as if afraid
She heavily breathed as we trailed;
Till she said, “I did not think how ’twould look in the shade,
When I leant there like one nailed.”
I, lightly: “There’s nothing in it. For you, anyhow!”
—“O I know there is not,” said she . . .
“Yet I wonder . . . If no one is bodily crucified now,
In spirit one may be!” ”

“ Hardy was taken completely by surprise. But he was a vigorous, athletic man, and his first impulse was to shake himself loose, to knock down two of his assailants next to him and make a run for it. His next glance, however, showed him the nature of the group of young men. They were not professional robbers, but young men about town who had been drinking late and were evidently out on a lark, and were holding him up just for fun. Mr. Hardy guessed exactly right. What could he do? Two of the young men were known to him, the sons of the Bramleys, who were well-to-do people in Barton. ”

“ Hardy, however, very dexterously threw some cord round the arms, and tied the poor old creature down.
"We won't hurt you, Goody," said he. "We only want you for a guy. You shall have all the money."
"I won't be a guy! I won't be a guy!" said Goody. "I do not want any money. Let me out! let me out!"
She then made a blow with her broomstick, and struck Master Hardy on the nose, from which the blood flowed freely. This, however, only made him the more determined, and [pg 434] in a few minutes the poor old woman's arms were secured as well as her legs.
"Oh, help, neighbors! ”

“ I'll know the bottom of this; and to Lord Hardy's lodgings as I am, instantly. 'Tis but the back side of this street, I think. Let a coach be called.—Tattleaid, as soon as I am gone, conduct my brother and his friends to Lady Sharlot. Away with her. Bring mademoiselle away to me, that she may not be a witness.—Come, good Mr. Trusty.
[Pg 84]
SCENE IV.—Lord Hardy's Lodgings.
Enter Lord Hardy, leading Harriot; Campley, and Trim.
L. Ha. Why, then I find this Mr. Trim is a perfect general; but I assure you, sir, I'll never allow you an hero, who could leave your mistress behind you. ”