John Cooke

“ At such moments Verty dreamed—the real world had disappeared—perforce of that imagination given him by heaven, he entered calm and happy into the boundless universe of reverie and fancy.
For a time he would go along thus, his arms hanging down, his head bent upon his breast, his body swinging from side to side with every movement of his shaggy little horse. Then he would rouse himself, and perhaps fit an arrow to his bow, and aim at some bird, or some wild turkey disappearing in the glades. Happy birds! the arrow never left the string. ”

“ Meanwhile our little Redbud gazed, too, from the brilliantly-illumined portico, toward the golden ocean in the west. The rich light lingered lovingly upon her golden hair, and tender lips and cheeks, and snowy neck, on which the coral necklace rose and fell with the pulsations of her heart. The kind, mild eyes were fixed upon the sunset sadly, and their blue depths seemed to hold more than one dew-drop, ready to pass the barrier of the long dusky lashes, which closed gradually as the pure white forehead drooped upon her hand. ”

“ Its melting involutions and expiring cadences unwound themselves and floated from her lips like satin ribbon gradually drawn out.
As for Jacques, he was in a dream; one might have supposed that his nerves were steeped in the liquid melody—or at times, when he started, that the music came over him like a shower bath of perfume.
His sighs would have conciliated tigers; and when she turned and smiled on him, he almost staggered.
"Now," said Belle-bouche smiling softly, "suppose I sing something a little merrier. You know the minuet always gives place to the reel." ”

“ Jacques put on his hat and followed him—possibly from a desire to escape the thanks and blessings of Sir Asinus.
In vain did the noble knight charge him, sotto voce, from the closet with perfidy and fear; Jacques was not to be turned back. He issued forth and mounted his horse.
Sir Asinus appeared at the window like an avenging demon.
"Oh! you villain!" he cried, first assuring himself that Dr. Small had disappeared; "I will revenge myself!"
"Ah?" said Jacques, settling himself in the saddle and smiling languidly.
"Yes; you're afraid to remain."
"No, no," remonstrated Jacques.
"You are, sir! ”

“ Her roseate blush betrayed her.
"If only that bright dream of love could be a reality for me!" he whispered; "if one I love so——"
"Oh, Miss Bel! the girls sent for you—the pyramid is ready!" cried the merry voice of little Martha.
And running toward Belle-bouche, the girl told her that they really must have her in the garden "before the procession commenced."
Poor Jacques drew back groaning.
"There's another chance gone!" he sighed; "what luck I have! I'm always interrupted, and the fates are leagued against me."
Belle-bouche left him with a blush and a smile, and disappeared. ”

“ Strephon is never so devoted as when Chloe has been removed from him—when his glances seek for her in vain on the well-remembered lawn. And Chloe, too, is disconsolate, when she no longer sees the crook of her shepherd, or hears the madrigals he sings. Absence smoothes all rough places; and the friend from whom we are separated, takes the dearest place in the heart of hearts.
Redbud did not discover how much she loved Verty, until she was gone from him, and the fresh music of his laughter was no longer in her ears. ”

“ Roundjacket sniffed.
"Don't be sorry," said Verty.
"I cannot refrain, sir," said Roundjacket, in a tone of acute agony; "it is more than I can bear. See here, sir, again: 'High Jove! great father!' is changed into 'By Jove, I'd rather!' and so on. Sir, it is more than humanity can bear; I feel that I shall sink under it. I shall be in bed to-morrow, sir—after all my trouble—'By Jove!'"
With this despairing exclamation Roundjacket let his head fall, overcome with grief, upon his desk, requesting not to be spoken to, after the wont of great unfortunates. ”

“ Denis will ride with me in your curricle, or whatever it is, you might ride his horse in, in the morning.
"Very well," said Mowbray.
"Willingly," said Denis.
"Then it is all arranged; and I return. Don't press me, Ernest, my good fellow. When duty calls, every man must be at his post. I can't stay."
And Hoffland laughed.
In fifteen minutes the vehicle was brought round, and the two young men rose.
Denis bowed with some constraint to Lucy; but she would not see this expression, and holding out her hand bade him good-bye with a smile which lighted his path all the way back to town. ”

“ Who is this gallant but our friend of one day's standing, the handsome, the smiling, the forlorn, the melancholy—and, being melancholy, the interesting—Jacques.
He approaches smiling, modest, humble—a consummate strategist; his ambrosial curls and powdered queue tied with its orange ribbon, shining in the sun. He wears a suit of cut velvet with gold buttons; a flowered (p. 016) satin waistcoat reaching to his knees; scarlet silk stockings, and high-heeled worsted shoes. His cuffs would enter a barrel with difficulty, and his chin reposes upon a frill of irreproachable Mechlin lace. ”

“ Verty's face was more dreamy and thoughtful than ever. The dim smile still dwelt upon his lips, and though his countenance had as much of the forest Indian character as ever, there was a languor about the drooping eyelids, with their long lashes, and a stoop in the usually erect neck, which betrayed the existence in the boy's mind of some ever-present sadness. His costume was just what it had always been—moccasins, deerskin leggings, a shaggy forest paletot, and fringed leather gauntlets, which now lay by him near his white fur hat. He had not changed by becoming a lawyer's clerk ”

“ Belle-bouche raises her eyes, and gently flirts her fan, covered with shepherds and shepherdesses in silks and satins, who tend imaginary sheep by sky-blue waters, against deeply emerald trees.
Jacques sighs, remembering his discourse on crooks, and Belle-bouche smiles. He gathers courage then, and says:
"I think I have never seen a more beautiful morning."
"Yes," says Belle-bouche in her soft tender voice, "I have been out to take my customary walk before breakfast."
"An excellent habit. The fields are the true abodes of the Graces and Muses; all is so fresh." ”

“ No more! when it dreams of and clings to that thought of meeting, as the life and vital blood of to-morrow!—when the heart is liquid—the eyes moist with tenderness—the warp of thought woven of golden thread—at such a moment for the blow of the wave to fall, and drown the precious argosy with all its freight of love, and hope, and memory—this is the supreme agony of youth, the last and most refined of tortures.
Verty lived in the thought of meeting Redbud—his days were full of her; but the hours he passed at Apple Orchard were the brightest. The noonday culminated at dawn and sunset! ”

“ Am I the son of a brave; am I a Delaware; or am I what my face makes me out—a Long-knife?"
"Ough! ough! ough!" groaned the old woman; "he wants to go, away from the nest where he was warmed, and nursed, and brought up. The Great Spirit has put evil into his heart—it is cold."
"No, no," said Verty, earnestly—"my heart is red, not white; every drop of my life-blood is yours, ma mere; you have loved me, cherished me: when my muscles were soft and hot with fever, you laid my head upon your bosom, and rocked me to sleep as softly as the topmost bough of the oak rocks the oriole ”

“ The Doctor nodded with a benevolent smile, and restored his handkerchief to the pocket of his long, heavy, flapped coat.
"Why, sir," said Jacques, "there is a very beautiful young lady in the immediate vicinity of town, who has smiled on Tom perhaps as many as three times; and would you believe it, sir, the infatuated youth thinks she is in love with him."
"Ah! ah!" smiled the Doctor; "a mere youthful folly."
"She cares not one pinch of snuff for him," said Jacques, "and he believes that she is dying for him." ”

“ I would give my life to save her any suffering—her hand on my forehead would be dearer and sweeter than the cool spring in the hills after a weary, day-long hunt, when I come to it with hot cheeks and burnt-up throat! Oh, yes! I may be an Indian, and be different—but this is all to me—this feeling, as if I must go to her, and kneel down and tell her that my life is gone from me when I am not near her—that I walk and live like a man dreaming, when she does not smile on me and speak to me!"
Verty's head drooped, and his cheeks reddened with the ingenuous blush of boyhood. ”

“ He was falling more deeply in love with her every moment.
"You are very severe upon the fine gentlemen," he said; "I think your picture is the exception."
"No, no! the rule! the rule!" she went on laughing. "Just look at them yonder. See how they smile and simper, and press their hands to their hearts, and daintily arrange their drop curls! I would as soon be loved by a lay-figure!"
And Philippa burst into a fit of merry laughter.
"Look!" she said; "see that ridiculous young gentleman near the door, with the velvet breast-knot—think of a velvet breast-knot! ”

“ She, therefore, gazed at Verty with more overwhelming dignity than ever, and not deigning to make any reply to his rhapsody, sailed by with a stiff inclination of the head, toward the door. But Verty was growing gallant under Mr. Roundjacket's teaching. He rose with great good humor, and accompanied Miss Lavinia to her carriage—he upon one side, the gallant head clerk on the other—and politely assisted the lady into her chariot, all the time smiling in a manner which was pleasant to behold. ”

“ You perceive I have banished those ignoble fears of proctors. I no longer shiver when I hear a footstep on the staircase."
Jacques smiled languidly.
"Only when you hear it on the portico—at Shadynook or elsewhere," he said.
"No more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me," said Sir Asinus cheerfully. "The greatest men are subject to (p. 055) these sudden panics, and I am no exception. Ah! what news?"
Jacques sat down sighing.
"None," he said, "except that we have a new student at college—Hoffland is his name, I believe—a friend of Mowbray's apparently. ”

“ A thought is rising on the troubled and agitated mind of the lawyer, like a moon soaring above the horizon. He trembles, and does not take his eyes for a moment from the young man's face.
"A fountain—Indians?" he mutters, almost inarticulately.
"Yes, yes!" says Verty, with dreamy eyes, and crouching, so to speak, Indian fashion, until his tangled chestnut curls half cover his cheeks—"yes, yes!—there again!—why it is magic—there! I see it all—I remember it! I must have seen it! Redbud!" ”

“ Then with an effort Philippa drives away her preoccupation, and says:
"I wish Heaven had made me a man!"
"A man?" says Jacques.
"Yes, sir."
"Pray why? Is there any young lady you would like to marry? Ah," he murmurs, "you need not go far if that is the case."
And he glances tenderly at Belle-bouche, who smiles and blushes.
"I wish to be a man, that my movements may not be restricted. There is my guardian, who murmurs at my travelling about from county to county with only Jugurtha to drive me—as if Jugurtha couldn't protect me if there were any highwaymen or robbers." ”

“ Verty turned round, and interrogated Mr. Roundjacket with a look. He had evidently not heard the question.
"There, you are dreaming again, sir," said Mr. Rushton; "this will never do—come, write away. The idleness of this world is revolting!" he growled, returning to his sanctum, and closing the door with a bang.
Roundjacket pointed after him with his ruler.
"An odd fish, young man," he said, shaking his head; "take care not to make him your model. If you want a proper model to imitate, you need not go far. Modesty, which is my weakness, prevents my saying more." ”

“ It is almost wrong to remain in the house."
"Let us go forth then, my dear Madam Belle-bouche," said Sir Asinus.
"I see you retain that funny name for me," said the young girl with a smile.
"Yes: it is beautiful, as all about Shadynook is—the garden most of all—yourself excepted of course, madam."
"It was very adroitly done, that turn of the sentence," Belle-bouche replied, smiling again pleasantly. "Let us go into the garden, as you admire it so much."
And she rose.
Sir Asinus hastened to offer his arm, and they entered the beautiful garden, alive with flowers. ”

“ I was always cold, hungry, weary, depressed by the dull gray skies; and I knew what awaited me there—a blazing fire, a good supper, and Katy’s smiles brighter than sunshine! She always ran to greet me, with both hands extended. Her blue eyes danced with joy, her rosy cheeks glowed, her lips laughed, and were like carnations, her golden ringlets fell in a shower over her white and delicate temples, or were blown back in ripples by the wintry wind. ”

“ Roundjacket pointed toward the sanctum of Mr. Rushton.
Verty only smiled.
Mr. Roundjacket descended from his stool, and cast his eyes upon the paper.
"What!" he cried, "you made that picture! How, sir Upon my word, young man, you are in a bad way. The youngster who stops to make designs upon a copy of a deed in a law office, is on the high-road to the gallows. It is an enormity, sir—horrible! dreadful!"
"What the devil are you shouting about there!" cried the voice of Mr. Rushton, angrily. And opening the door between the two rooms, the shaggy-headed gentleman appeared upon the threshold. ”

“ Can I escape? Oh heavens! there is his shadow on the floor! Jacques, my boy, protect my memory—I must retire!"
And Sir Asinus rushed through the open door leading into the adjoining room, just as Doctor Small entered with his benevolent smile and courteous inclination.
He had been informed in town, he said, that his young friend Thomas, withdrawn now some days from college, was at Shadynook; and taking advantage of his acquaintance with Mrs. Wimple, and he was happy to add with Miss Rebecca, he had come to find and have some friendly conversation with Thomas. ”