Mr. Hardcastle

“ Hardcastle (Squire) , a jovial, prosy, but hospitable country gentleman of the old school. He loves to tell his long-winded stories about Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough. He says, “I love everything that’s old—old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine,” and he might have added, “old stories.”
Mrs. Hardcastle, a very “genteel” lady indeed. Mr. Hardcastle is her second husband, and Tony Lumpkin her son by her former husband. She is fond of “genteel” society, and the last fashions. ”

“ Mr. Hardcastle, in an uncouth, awkward manner, shook hands with Mrs. Ellerslie, nodded to Lily, and chucked Eddy good-humouredly under the chin; then, clapping George heartily on the back, he said, “So, my man, you are 114going back with me to Bristol! That’s right. See that your trunk is packed by Monday; we’ll be off by the early train.”
“I shall be ready, sir,” answered the boy.
Mr. Hardcastle sat down, pulled out his snuff-box, took a pinch of its contents, part of which he bestowed on the carpet, then held out the box to Eddy, who examined with interest the picture on the lid. ”

“ She wants not solidity; for with some address she entered on the subject of her past troubles; and with a direct application to mine, bade me never despair, for that virtue would always attain its recompence. "You will have friends in Jamaica," added she affectionately, "who, in their own happiness, will not forget yours nor Miss Cowley's interest. Be assured of this, and contrive to inform the young lady that my husband will vigilantly watch his uncle. Philip is, Mr. Hardcastle, the most amiable and worthy of the human race! ”

“ He, above all men, ought to know that offences are multiplied by the severities of penal statutes. I have heard him say this many times; therefore Mr. Hardcastle is an inconsistent man. Tell him so for me, and add, [Pg 34] if you will, that Rachel Cowley is still Rachel Cowley, and will, in spite of his scruples, be his child. But I see this will not do. There! I have taken up another pen.
The captain, after our first greetings, the other morning, drew me aside, and with some solemnity thanked me for the "generous" concern I had shewn in favour of his niece. ”

“ Run up the lot, Tyler, and Mr. Hardcastle can take his choice. It seems clear enough," continued Cameron, as the trooper disappeared. "But this is a new departure for Stingaree; it's the very thing that everybody said he would never do."
"And yet it's the logical climax of his career; it might have happened long ago, but it's not his first blood as it is," argued Hardcastle, when he had drained his glass. "Didn't he wing one of you down in Victoria the other day? Your bushranger is bound to come to it sooner or later. He may much prefer not to shoot ”

“ Upjohn. "All wrong. You should not leave your mother any work that you could spare her. One of the first things I taught our Maria" (Mrs. Upjohn in Mr. Hardcastle's presence always said our Maria with great distinctness) ,—"one of the first things I taught her was, that it was her privilege to save me in every thing. I don't believe in idleness for girls. Aren't you ready yet to attend to these crewels, Phebe? Miss Brooks is snarling them terribly."
"Phebe's really a very good girl in her way though," remarked Mrs. Hardcastle, indulgently, from her easy chair. ”

“ My dear sir, do you suppose that I thought of taking you with us? No, Mr. Hardcastle, the risks of this sort of enterprise are for those who are paid to run them. And there is a risk; if we timed our attack too early or too late there would be bloodshed to a certainty. But at two o'clock the average man is fast asleep; at a quarter after one, therefore, I start with Sergeant Cameron and Constable Tyler. ”

“ Opposition will never destroy it; but it checks his activity, preys on his spirits, and may blast the hopes of his family. It is time his father should know this. Some indulgence is necessary, unless he means [Pg 232] to sacrifice his happiness to a point of honour." Alarmed by the seriousness of this application, Mr. Freeman determined to quit his beloved home, and to plead in person for the lovers; conceiving that Mr. Hardcastle would be more accessible to his remonstrances, when urged by an affection which had led him to think Horace a match for the first woman breathing, in point of merit. ”

“ Pardon me, madam. I was always willing to be amused. The folly of most people is rather an object of mirth than uneasiness.
Hast. (To him.) Bravo, bravo. Never spoke so well in your whole life. Well! Miss Hardcastle, I see, that you and Mr. Marlow are going to be very good company. I believe our being here will but embarrass the interview.
Marl. Not in the least, Mr. Hastings. We like your company of all things. (To him.) Zounds! George, sure you won't go: how can you leave us? ”

“ She's but a woman, you know.
Marl. And of all women, she that I dread most to encounter.
Enter Miss Hardcastle, as returning from walking, a bonnet, &c.
Hast. (Introducing him.) Miss Hardcastle—Mr. Marlow. I'm proud of bringing two persons of such merit together, that only want to know, to esteem each other.
Miss Hard. (Aside.) Now, for meeting my modest gentleman with a demure face, and quite in his own manner. (After a pause, in which he appears very uneasy and disconcerted.) I'm glad of your safe arrival, sir—I'm told, you had some accidents by the way. ”

“ The mutual confidence which subsisted between Lord William and Horace Hardcastle, was of that nature which precludes all concealment; and the dejection of the lover's spirits was not only a subject of disquietude to Lord William, but of anxiety to Doctor Innes. He was influenced, by the account given him of the young man's difficulties, to write to his uncle, Mr. Freeman; and, stating to him his fears for his nephew's health, he with much earnestness expatiated at large on the effects of a domineering passion. ”

“ Hardcastle's weakness in giving. The report that Mr. Upjohn had apostatized from the Presbyterian Church, disapproving of its tenets as regarded waltzing, was duly started, denied, violently adopted, and as violently exploded. The statements that Jake Dexter was engaged to Nellie Atterbury, that Bell Masters had offered herself to Mr. Halloway and been declined with thanks, and that Gerald's hat had been imported from Paris two days before, were also duly aired and evaporated. ”

“ Kate: That word has undone all the rest, still I think I'll have him. (Exit Hardcastle.) Reserved and sheepish. Can't he be cured? (Enter Miss Neville.) I'm glad you came, my dear. I am threatened with a lover, the son of Sir Charles Marlow.
[Pg 41]
Miss Neville: The most intimate friend of Mr. Hastings, my admirer; and such a character. Among ladies of reputation the modestest man alive, but with others——
Miss Hardcastle: And has my mother been courting you for my brother Tony, as usual? I could almost love him for hating you so. ”

“ My friend, quoth Hardcastle, by the title that lieth yonder I have gotten thy wealth, and every jot of it might I keep if I would. But see how kind I am to thee and thine. For have I not told you that ye shall live in this house, and eat the sweet and drink the strong and lie warm a-nights, so long as ye do my will. Yea, said the goodman, but we must needs toil as thralls. Great fool, said Hardcastle, what matters that to thee? It is like thou shalt work no harder than erst, or no harder than may be enough to keep me as thy guest. ”

“ So you run home to Logie, if there’s any Logie standing.”
“It’s stood against the Garsykes swine for years out of mind. I’m not for hurrying, Murgatroyd.”
Deep, sullen hatred showed in the man’s face, mottled with returning life. To Hardcastle it was as if he looked down into the pit of hell, seeing a lost man who would not be saved at any cost of trouble from helping hands above. ”

“ Roy whimpered as he reared across the closed gate and licked Hardcastle’s face. He was getting near to old age, as dogs count life; but the lure of a gun renewed his youth at all times.
Hardcastle turned as he went down Logie-lane. The dog had his forepaws on the gate still, and he barked a friendly, dolorous farewell. “Guard, lad,” said the Master, “the Lost Folk are out, I tell you.” ”

“ Some idee fixe, according to these gentlemen, caused the doctor to wander down the tunnel, and a fall among the rocks was sufficient to account for his injuries. On the other hand, a legend of a strange creature in the Gap has existed for some months back, and the farmers look upon Dr. Hardcastle’s narrative and his personal injuries as a final corroboration. So the matter stands, and so the matter will continue to stand, for no definite solution seems to us to be now possible. It transcends human wit to give any scientific explanation which could cover the alleged facts. ”

“ The Lost Folk were happier when they fought in numbers against few; but now the biggest of the three saw, too, the red, dancing lights and made at Hardcastle. The bleak, well-matched fight went this way and that. Neither spared nor hoped to be spared. The world was narrowed to the limit of blows that thudded out into the breeze. Then Hardcastle swept his left arm round, as it might have been a hammer, and his man went down, and lay still, and cursed no more.
The Master of Logie had given tribute, enough and to spare. ”

“ A darkish night, and me with just enough light to see where to crack his skull—and Hardcastle riding the lonely roads he’s fond of——”
“All in good time.” Nita’s voice was clear as a throstle’s, her fingers busy with the willows. “Before an end comes to him that way, Jake, we’ll strike elsewhere.”
“If you choose. You’re wiser than the rest of us put together.”
“We’ll maim before we kill. Hardcastle is a fool altogether, I tell you so. He cares for his own, when wise folk care for themselves.” ”

“ It was a saying centuries old in Garsykes that luck never came of hindering a Hardcastle. They might rob or take tribute of Logie’s tenants, but must not touch its master.
“Bleating ewes, are you?” snarled Murgatroyd. “There’s all us—and up yonder only Hardcastle and two women, and an aged man who may be quick or stiff by now. ”

“ A breeze got up, quick and merry, from the top of swart Pengables Hill. The clouds overhead were riven apart, and the eager moon leaped through. It maddened the Garsykes Men afresh to see Hardcastle standing there straight to his height and waiting silently for what might follow.
Widow Mathison, still clutching her boy as if she feared to let him go again, ran suddenly in front of Hardcastle and loosened her tongue on the rabble.
“Where’s your shame, you hulking wastrels? Do as you like to Hardcastle when you can catch him fair—but not when he’s on this sort of errand. ”

“ And over the din of it all there sounded, far overhead, the crying of belated wild-geese, hurrying south.
Even in that moment of harsh peril, Hardcastle laughed quietly. It was odd that he, of all men, should be asked to go seeking about for a woman lost in the snow. These five years past he had been striving to lose all women, except Rebecca.
Voice answering voice, they strove to find each other. Sometimes they came near, and again they called through the sundering distance. And then at last Hardcastle touched the rough pedlar’s cloak she wore, and reached down, and got her hand into his. ”

“ Hardcastle got out a knife and ripped the cord across. The body tottered and swayed for an instant, and afterwards it needed all his strength to check it in its fall and lower it into the withered brackens, Then he loosed the frowsy shirt and watched the dull purple steal from the man’s face, giving way to a pallor as of death.
The slow return of life was terrible to be alone with, and Hardcastle welcomed the plea for water that came by and by. ”

“ And so did you, Hardcastle. What could I do but laugh? We might have been swinging together—me on one tree, and Logie’s high-almighty on its neighbour. We’d have made a bonnie picture—with Nita coming to look on.”
The farm-dogs yelped and barked across the wastes. Fear gained on the little people of the wood. The breeze sobbed and whimpered, and would not be still. And Hardcastle feared greatly, too—lest he could keep his hands no longer from Long Murgatroyd. ”

“ His mind wandered to the glens of home, to unforgotten pibrochs and his long fight with poverty—wandered to the gorsy braes that he had roamed with Causleen’s mother. Then he spoke again, smiling gently.
“When one is chained as I am, there is nothing to be done, except grow wise. If a man can fight one sort of honest battle, he can fight all. I wanted you to know that—that your guests have not turned vagabonds for choice, or for lack of struggle.”
Hardcastle, wrenched out of old ruts by war and heartache, found a fine simplicity. ”

“ Hardcastle’s face was grim as the nether-millstone. “I’m past your sort of guile, Nita. No woman takes me twice in the same net.”
“But was it guile? Suppose, as I threaded the withies in and out, I was thinking of Logie—and its Master?”
“And of twenty other men, no doubt.”
He had struck home at last. She got to her feet, shaken by a storm of passion. “Fancies are no crime. I’d have lost every man in the dale for sake of Hardcastle of Logie—aye, and have burned their houses at a word from him.” ”

“ CHAPTER III. IT seemed strange, at first, to the good people of Harleyford to see young Lord Hardcastle and the rector’s son daily in close and friendly intercourse, accustomed, as they were, to see each politely ignored by the other, or else spoken of in terms of supercilious contempt. It was certainly a strange sight to see the young men constantly walking side by side in earnest conversation, or else riding to and from each other’s houses. Lord Hardcastle’s weakness had hitherto been near-sightedness whenever Varley had happened [35] to cross his path. ”