Neville

“ Neville? Valerie, child, I'm perfectly enchanted to see you. But where in the world are you stopping?"
"At Ashuelyn," said the girl, looking straight into Hélène's eyes. A faint flash of telepathy passed between them; then, slowly, Hélène turned and looked at Neville.
"Will you wish us happiness?" he said, smiling.
"Oh-h," whispered Hélène under her breath—"I do—I do—God knows. I wish you everything that makes for happiness in all the world!" ”

“ Neville lighted his candles, and the visitor sat down. A handsome gentleman, with a young face, but an older figure in its robustness and its breadth of shoulder; say a man of eight-and-twenty, or at the utmost thirty: so extremely sunburnt that the contrast between his brown visage and the white forehead shaded out of doors by his hat, and the glimpses of white throat below the neckerchief, would have been almost ludicrous but for his broad temples, bright blue eyes, clustering brown hair, and laughing teeth. ”

“ She rose from her bed quickly and, going to the dressing table on which she kept a daguerreotype of Neville, she clasped her hands and hung her head as if overwhelmed with guilt. She was a wife, and she had dared not only to think of another man, but to touch his hand with hers! If Neville were there it would be so easy, she thought, to confess it to him. She would even write him a letter and tell him about it. But some instinct of common sense restrained her. It occurred to her that the singular change in all her other relations of life affected her with regard to Neville himself. ”

“ And I am sure if the Lady Mary and Lord Neville wished to marry, it would give his kind heart the greatest pleasure to make them happy. Do you think he loves riches or rank or honours or power? I declare to you that he cares not a fig for any of them."
"Pray, then, what does he love?"
"First and foremost, he loves England. He loves England with every breath he draws. England is the word graven on the palms of his hands; it was the word that made his sword invincible. He loves the Protestant faith, which he holds one with all religious and civil freedom. ”

“ She watched Neville, who had begun to prowl about in the disorder of the place, stepping over trailing velvets, avoiding manikins armed cap-a-pie, moving restlessly, aimlessly. And her eyes followed his indecision with a smile that gradually became perplexed and then a little troubled.
For even in the uncertain firelight she was aware of the change in his face—of features once boyish and familiar that seemed now to have settled into a sterner, darker mould—a visage that was too lean for his age—a face already haunted of shadows; a mature face—the face of a man who had known unhappiness. ”

“ And, without another glance at Neville, the man with the large ears strode off to arrange for the sunset on the next range, miles and miles away. Neville gazed at the wee yellow man hopelessly, and the wee yellow man gazed at Neville, and neither spoke a word until the man with the large ears was well out of the way. Then the Last Sunbeam grew quite cheerful again. "Well," said he, "you heard what the head scene-shifter said. You certainly can't go home by the way you came. The only thing for you to do is to go round. You'll just about have time to do it, if you hurry." ”

“ Satisfied in his own mind that he acted rightly, Neville did not seek for any other approval; and yet he gladly accepted it from Elizabeth, whose heart, touched to its very core by his nobleness, felt an almost painful weight of gratitude and love; she tried to express it: fortunately, between lovers mere language is not necessary ineffectually to utter that which transcends all expression. Neville felt himself most sweetly thanked ”

“ But at last Miss Trevor turned to her again.
"Neville, you said, my dear Mrs. Rush,—your niece—yes, Neville, indeed, Neville. Such a favorite with me—me, indeed, yes, favorite. I know a boy, yes, boy—indeed, youth—such a fine youth—such a hero—ro, indeed, ro—does not fear geese—hissing creatures, my dears—yes, creatures, indeed creatures, my dears, yes, creatures, indeed. Neville he is, yes, Neville—chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, 'proche, indeed, 'proche."
Now, as may be supposed, Lena was far from regarding her brother Percy as a "chevalier sans peur et sans reproche." ”

“ If Neville was amused he felt no need of proclaiming the fact. A sense of the ridiculous marks the noisy man, wit the talkative man; but humor and silence have a strange affinity, and a smile needs no interpreter to itself.
[56]
"Pray, Mistress Brent," said Neville, bowing before his hostess when they reached the hall, "wilt thou forgive me for being the cause that Master Cecil did put on his best suit with the troublesome lacings, whereby he was late to breakfast?" ”

“ The blow from the bowsprit or the shock of the water or both together, falling on nerves so terribly overwrought, had unseated reason and dethroned memory, at least made a gap which the wandering mind was powerless to fill.
Neville dwelt much in the world of his childhood, fancied himself riding along English lanes, and pulling briar and eglantine in the valleys of [294] Surrey and Somerset with Peggy by his side. Then his imagination led to a beautiful golden-haired girl who went robed in green holding herself like some stately palm. ”

“ What a wonderful, noble thing to believe, at twenty, thought Neville, remembering the levity of her own irresponsible youth, when her only interest in the population had been a nightmare fear lest they should at last become so numerous that they would be driven out of the towns into the country and would be scuttling over the moors, downs and woods like black beetles in kitchens in the night. They were better than she had been, these children; more public-spirited and more in earnest about life. ”

“ Neville is esteemed by all the county: you are the only gentleman in it who has ever uttered a disparaging word against him. Are you sure you are more free from passion and prejudice and wiser than all the county? Oblige me, and do what is right. Come, Griffith Gaunt, let your reason unsay the barbarous words your passion hath uttered against a worthy gentleman whom we all esteem. ”

“ Neville crossed glances with the priest as men cross swords. "Or confidence through love—
"Cecil," he continued, "beg thy mother to heed the petition of a guest and let thee sit here by me for ten little minutes; I will bid thee eat nuts,—so shalt thou practise Father Mohl's precepts of obedience."
Elinor smiled, Neville put out his hand, a strong, nervous hand, and Cecil knew his cause was won.
"Lonely upstairs," he confided to Neville as he helped himself to nuts; "makes me think of bears."
"Bears come not into houses." ”

“ Handsome, graceful, endowed with a beautiful voice, and a master of his art, Henry Neville was an ideal hero of romance, and though to-day he elects to play quieter parts, and to delight his audiences with his rich appreciation of comedy, he looks as young and dashing as he did in the days of 1864. ”

“ If ever I’ve had a disagreeable job, this one of Lord Neville’s was one. Most of ’em treat one like dirt, and give a lot of trouble into the bargain. I’ve met with rough usage sometimes, my lady; but Lord Neville, though he’s young and full of go, so to speak, has behaved like a gentleman, and treated me as if I had the feelings of a man. Yes, he’s a nobleman, every inch of him, and—I hope you won’t laugh, my lady!—but, I declare, if I’d had the money, I’d have lent it him myself rather than taken him off. ”

“ It is so nice to see relations living together in harmony——”
“But we don’t live in harmony!” broke in Neville, in his impetuous fashion. “We have only met once or twice and have nearly quarreled on each occasion.”
“Oh, come, I don’t think the dear marquis could quarrel with you, his nephew.”
“No, you’re right,” said Neville, with a rather grim laugh. “The dear marquis doesn’t quarrel, he’s too highly polished to do anything so vulgar; he only carries on until one is driven half mad by the longing to pitch him out of the window——”
“My dear Neville! Always the same wild recklessness. ”

“ Neville called to Stephanie.
The girl came from the lighted drawing-room, and, together, the two women ascended the stairs.
Stephanie smiled and nodded to Neville, then continued on along the hall; but his mother stopped to speak to him.
"Go and sit with your father a little while," she said. "And don't be impatient with him, dear. He is an old man—a product of a different age and a simpler civilisation—perhaps a narrower one. Be patient and gentle with him. He really is fond of you and proud of you."
"Very well, mother.... Is anybody going to sit up with Valerie?" ”

“ I must do that thing that would benefit you, though the whole world rose to forbid. You are of more worth in your innocence and nobleness, than a nation of men such as my father. Do you think I can hesitate in my determinations thus founded, thus impelled?"
More vehement, more impassioned than Elizabeth, Neville bore down her objections, while he awakened all her tenderness and gratitude: "Now I prove myself your friend," he said, proudly; "now Heaven affords me opportunity to serve you, and I thank it." ”

“ Dimly discerning through the thicket the steep path that climbed to such liberty as she sought, seeing far off the place towards which her stumbling feet were set, where life should be lived with alert readiness and response, oblivious of its personal achievements, its personal claims and spoils, Neville the spoilt, vain, ambitious, disappointed egoist, strained her eyes into the distance and half smiled. ”

“ What?"
"Oh, you're doing very well," laughed Neville.
"I've got to.... I've—h'm!—undertaken to assume obligations toward civilisation—h'm!—and certain duties to my—h'm—country—"
"What on earth are you driving at?" asked Neville, eying him.
"Huh! Driving single just at present; practising for tandem—h'm!—and a spike—h'm—some day—I hope—of course—"
"Sam!"
"Hey?"
"Are you trying to say something?"
"Oh, Lord, no! Why, Kelly, did you suspect that I was really attempting to convey anything to you which I was really too damned embarrassed to tell you in the patois of my native city?" ”

“ The boy, as he spoke, looked fearlessly into the eyes of his parents. He had never before dared to speak Neville’s name in their presence, but now, being a man, he spoke like a man. At his words Colonel and Mrs. Tremaine grew deeply agitated. They had reckoned their eldest-born a traitor and false to his honor; but this boy, the youngest of all their household, looking at things with clear young eyes, reckoned Neville a true man. And Angela replied steadily:
“Dear Archie, I shall tell Neville so. He loves you [358] and everybody at Harrowby, and he is where he thinks his duty calls him.” ”

“ Voyaging homewards through the spring seas, Neville saw life as an entangling thicket, the Woods of Westermain she had loved in her childhood, in which the scaly dragon squatted, the craving monster self that had to be subjugated before one could walk free in the enchanted woods. ”

“ Neville think?
I remembered Colonel von Quarovitch, and his ragged troops. Those other brave men turned into brigands by oppression. The gathering of gentlefolk in Mr. Smith's house. Mr. Smith himself, who had planned and plotted so many years for me. And lastly my mother; what could she be thinking of her son? I felt Mr. Neville's hand on my shoulder, and gave a weak little laugh.
"I'm a pretty spectacle for a King," I said quietly, "a most noble and worthy specimen. Mother dear, look up--it's all over, you shall never hear another kick from me. And you, Mr. Smith, you acclaimed me as King. ”

“ It will not fade. Neville's mother thinks that is a very strange and wonderful thing. And so it is. Since that day, when Neville goes to the top of the bald hill to watch a sunset, he is almost sure that, just as the golden light is fading, he can see a little yellow man by the gateway; and it seems to him that the little yellow man waves a cheery greeting. But, whether this is so or not, Neville always waves back; and he feels very happy to think that he has a good friend inside the sunset.
THE TRAM-MAN
I'd like to be a Tram-man, and ride about all day, Calling out, "Fares, please!" ”

“ I had always ridden the pony, so it was a great joy to me to be able to accompany Mr. Neville on an animal equal in height to his. Then again, it was my stepfather who first taught me to box, use the rapier, and shoot with a revolver, himself superintending my efforts with the greatest care; until from being a stranger he became a friend, one whom I could love, trust, and admire, nearly as much as Mr. Neville. ”

“ Neville married Ida, or Isabella, widow of Roger de Bertram, baron of Mitford. By her he had two sons, Robert and John; Robert, the elder, predeceased his father in 1271, and his son, Ranulf or Ralph, third baron, was father of Ralph de Neville (1291?–1367) [q. v.] ; from him were descended the earls of Salisbury and Westmorland and barons of Abergavenny, who were thus in the male line of Anglo-Saxon descent. A charter of Neville's, with his seal, is preserved in the British Museum (MSS. Index of Seals) . ”

“ A Neville, nowadays, must vail his plume to a Woodville! And not the great barons whom it will suit Edward's policy to win from the Lancastrians, not the Exeters and the Somersets, but the craven varlets, and lackeys, and dross of the camp--false alike to Henry and to Edward--are to be fondled into lordships and dandled into power. Young man, I am speaking hotly. Richard Neville never lies nor conceals ”

“ Crisparkle, out of my innermost heart, and to say that there is no treachery in it, is to say nothing!" Thus Neville, greatly moved. "I beg your forgiveness for my miserable lapse into a burst of passion."
"Not mine, Neville, not mine. You know with whom forgiveness lies, as the highest attribute conceivable. Miss Helena, you and your brother are twin children. You came into this world with the same dispositions, and you passed your younger days together surrounded by the same adverse circumstances. What you have overcome in yourself, can you not overcome in him? ”