Thomas Hartley

“ POOR 'Lile Hartley'—little Hartley, as the neighbours called him—is one of the most pathetic figures in English literature. Undersized in body, of promising intellect from childhood, of child-like simplicity in character, devoid of self-control, and overmastered by the alcoholic habit, as his father was by the opium habit, he is at once pitiable, excusable, and lovable. As you ride from Ambleside to Grasmere you pass a low cottage on your right, just beneath Nab Scarr, where the young farmer and his wife lived who cared so unselfishly for him and for his comfort and welfare. ”

“ Robin went forward to see what was going on. The youth had not gone many steps when he suddenly stopped short with an exclamation, his whole soul in his eyes,—looking like a man who beholds an apparition. Before him, in the yellow torch-light, stood Harold Hartley, clad in snowy Oriental garments, looking even more startled than himself, for Harold recognised in the form before him, dressed in Persian costume, the brother for whose supposed death he had so bitterly mourned! ”

“ Shall the energetic men of earth look on difficulties as 'things to be overcome,' whilst God's servants magnify them into impossibilities."
Harold's reflections were interrupted by Miss Petty's meeting him as he passed out of the shop. She looked flustered, excited, and eager.
"Oh! Dear Mr. Hartley, I'm so delighted to see you; you are the very person whom I wanted to meet!" she exclaimed. "Do just lend me twelve shillings at once, for I've spent my last sixpence already in lace. Malta, with its shops full of beautiful things, is the place to empty the purse of a Crœsus!" ”

“ Now Lady O'More wants to have her Shelah with her—such a fond mother, you know; and she could not trust the darling to anyone but me, so I consented, as guardian, you understand, to my dear friend's child, to take her under my care as far as Bombay."
The Hartleys did not inquire whether the friendship, now first heard of by them, was a mere formal correspondence concerning what was really a simple matter of business, Miss Petty, for a consideration, undertaking to play the nurse to a baronet's child. ”

“ Would you have me believe that the country is any the more anxious to receive James back than it was, two years ago, to be quit of him?”
“I am afraid that I do not understand you, sir!” my lady answered. “You have heard what has already been said!”
“Granted,” he replied quickly. “And now hear what I have to say, madam. Is it right for us to risk our—” he coughed slightly—“to risk the lives of these poor peasants in a premature and ill-organized rising? The sin of doing so is a matter to be considered, madam. We should unite the—hum!—guile of the serpent——”
“With the courage of the hare!” ”

“ That means nine. It's an English house and nobody will be in time. It's out of fashion to be prompt nowadays."
"I should hardly call the Marquis de Saulnes English, you know!" objected Hartley.
"Well, his wife is," said the other, "and they're altogether English in manner. Dinner won't be before nine. Shall we get out and walk across the bridge and up the Champs Elysées? I should like to, I think. I like to walk at this time of the evening—between the daylight and the dark."
Hartley nodded a rather reluctant assent, and Ste. Marie prodded the pear-shaped cocher in the back with his stick. ”

“ But aw'll gladden mi e'en wi' its face,
To mak sure at its safe in its nick;—
But aw'm blest if ther's owt left i' th' place!
Why, its hook'd it as sure as aw'm wick.
Whear its gooan to's a puzzle to me,
An' who's taen it aw connot mak aat,
For it connot be th' wife, coss you see
It's a paand 'at shoo knew nowt abaat.
But thear shoo is, peepin' off th' side,
An' aw see 'at shoo's all on a grin;
To chait her aw've monny a time tried,
But I think it's nah time to give in,
A chap may be deep as a well,
But a woman's his maister when done ”

“ But I [173] forget that this story can have but little interest for you, my lady.”
“Why should it not?” she replied. “Life is full of such sad stories.” She leant her head on her hand, and for a moment or two we were silent. “I, too, am troubled to-night for the safety of one I love,” she continued.
“Yes, madam?” I murmured as she paused.
“I allude to my brother,” she said quickly. “Mr. Cassilis, you know well that a battle is imminent. Alas! my brother is a true Ingram, in that he is so rash. I tremble for his safety.” ”

“ Ther's nowt left to pop nor to sell,
An aw cannot get trust if aw try.
My wife has to turn aght to wark,
An th' little uns all do a share;
An they're tewin throo dayleet to dark,
To keep me sittin here i' mi chair.
It doesn't luk long sin that day
When Bessy wor stood bi mi side;
An shoo promised to love an obey,
An me to protect an provide.
Shoo wor th' bonniest lass i' all th' taan,
An fowk sed as they saw us that day,
When we coom aght o' th' church, arm i' arm,
Shoo wor throwin' hersen reight away.
But shoo smiled i' mi face as we went,
An her arm clung moor tightly to mine ”

“ There must have been some extraordinary attraction about John Hartley, in spite of his mean and paltry occupation of a footpad, for the young women who went in white to beg for a reprieve were eager, if their prayer were granted, to cast lots among themselves for the honour of being his wife. ”

“ The child, desolate and helpless in a land of strangers, where the name of Christian was scarcely known, had no one to whom to look for kindness and protection but Harold. He had regarded her as unlovely and unloveable; Shelah, in her merrier days, had excited no sympathy in his mind; but Christian pity now touched a chord, and that chord wakened something like music in young Hartley's desolate spirit. As he marched on painfully in the heat, keeping as near as he could to the camel on which poor Shelah was perched, Harold thought much of the future fate of the young Irish girl. ”

“ She had an odd little bird-like way of holding her head on one side—an attitude that not only suggested a sort of timorous alertness, but endowed her at the same time with a certain flattering, half-ingratiating, dreamy-eyed attentiveness.
When Hartley thought it over in cold blood he could never adequately explain to himself just why it was he had entered into that long and exhaustive revelation of his aims and ambitions, of his great works undone, of his huge books unwritten, of his visionary tasks as yet unbegun. ”

“ Look here, young man, you were a sandwich-eating, no-account immigrant, starving in the gutters when I picked you up and tried to make a New York newspaper man out of you. There's men from Maine to New Mexico hungering to get the chance I gave you—men who'd pay good money to get into this office. And you can do what I say or get out."
Hartley wondered what strange metamorphosis had taken place somewhere deep within his soul to give rise to the sudden new reckless spirit of independence which swept through him. ”

“ The younger is little more than a lad, numbering, perhaps, sixteen or seventeen summers, with broad shoulders, a form made more for activity than grace, a sunburnt face, and a rough head of hair under his wide-awake; his locks are brown in colour with a little dash of auburn red, which also tints the thick eyebrows which overhang bright intelligent eyes.
"So, Robin, we are fairly started for India!" said Harold, laying his hand on his brother's arm. "We have the meeting with our father to look forward to now; all the partings are over." ”

“ Near the lamp, a book of verses open on his knee, sat Hartley's unexpected guest. He was slim, dark, and vital, but where his arresting note of vitality lay would have been hard to explain. No one can tell exactly what it is that marks one man as a courageous man, and another as a coward, and yet, without need of any test, these things may be known and judged beforehand. The man whose eyes followed the lines:
"They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep"—
was as distinctive as he well could be, and yet his face was not expressive. ”

“ She fears no denial, and she meets with none; as soon as she has stated her case, the good woman replies, "Sit wi' 'em lass! aw'm sure aw will! an' thee," she said, turning to her husband, "put on thi hat an' coit an' goa wi' her."
"O, they're nobbut laikin at snowball, or else slurrin a bit," he said;—at the same time he put on his hat and coat, and showed as much alacrity to join in the search as the mother herself.
Owd Becca thrust into her capacious pocket a tea cake and two eggs, and taking the teapot into which she put a good supply of tea, she prepared for starting off ”

“ When panics come an th' brass gets done,
An they've to try to borrow.
When th' chap at th' strap shop's lukkin glum,
An hardly seems to know yo;
An gooas on sarvin other fowk
As if he nivver saw yo.
An when yo're fain to pile up th' foir,
Wi' bits o' cowks an cinders;—
When poverty says, "here' aw've come,"
Love hooks it aght o'th' winders.
Friends yo once had are far too thrang
To ax yo to yer drinkin;
They happen dunnot meean owt wrang,—
But one cannot help for thinkin.
An when yo're lukkin seedy like,
Wi' patched an tattered clooas ”

“ Travellers used to look after him on the road, and guides and drivers were always willing to tell about him; and still his old friends almost expect to see Hartley at any turn,—the little figure, with the round face, marked by the blackest eyebrows and eyelashes, and by a smile and expression of great eccentricity. ”

“ My companion turned to the master with a mute inquiry in his eyes.
The latter shook his head with a lugubrious air. “’Tis not, yon vessel will prove to be some rascally French picaroon. Were there more wind I would not fear the result; but I misdoubt gentlemen, whether we shall see Teignmouth this trip.”
The gentleman at my side uttered an exclamation of annoyance.
“But our bargain, captain?” he cried quickly. “You have been paid to carry me to Teignmouth, and a bargain is a bargain.”
“Aye,” the other answered doggedly; “and a life is a life ”

“ There are circumstances in which even the least energetic of mankind learn to behave with vigour and decision, and the most cautious forget their prudence and embrace foolhardy resolutions. This was one of those occasions for Harry Hartley; and those who knew him best would have been the most astonished at the lad’s audacity. He stopped dead, flung the bandbox over a garden wall, and leaping upward with incredible agility, and seizing the cope-stone with his hands, he tumbled headlong after it into the garden. ”

“ He recalled the fact that he had a very deep and special interest in the life of Hartley, and Hartley was recklessly splashing about beyond the end of the shelving rock, where the water was deep. Wherefore, wrapping his blanket about him, Connorton hurried down to the rock and pleaded with the inventor to come out.
“What for?” asked Hartley.
“You might drown,” replied Connorton. “I can’t swim, so I couldn’t help you.”
“Bosh!” returned Hartley. “This is fine! Better come in yourself and get freshened up for the day.” ”

“ Luk sharp, aw'm blessed if aw believe th' little thing's deead." An' th' owd woman wor reight, for it, hadn't been long i' th' warm watter when it opened its little peepers. An' if onybody can say 'at Burt cannot dance a single step, Heelan' fling, a hornpipe, an' owt else, all at once, aw say they lie, for th' way he capered raand that kitchen wor a caution.
"Aw fun it, an' it belangs to me," he sed; "get aght o' th' gate, there's noabody nowt to do wi' that but me."
"Hold thi din, tha gurt maddlin', are ta wrang i' thi head? Does ta think tha can suckle a child?" ”

“ Her een are black an breet;
They shine under her raven locks,
Like stars i'th' dark o'th' neet.
Her little cheeks are like a peach,
'At th' sun has woo'd an missed;
Her lips like cherries, red an sweet,
Seem moulded to be kissed.
Her breast is like a drift o' snow,
Her little waist's soa thin,
To clasp it wi' a careless arm
Wod ommost be a sin.
Her little hands an tiny feet,
Wod mak yo think shoo'd been
Browt up wi' little fairy fowk
To be a fairy queen.
An when shoo laffs, it saands as if
A little crystal spring,
Wor bubblin up throo silver rocks,
Screened by an angel's wing. ”

“ After writing a few lines in a silence unbroken in the room save for the scratching of the pen, he raised his head.
“Colonel Zulestein,” he said curtly, “you will see to the carrying out of this sentence, for which this shall be your warrant.” And he held the paper out to him.
Ere the latter could take it, however, my lady, who had [300] drawn gradually nearer to the table while he had been writing, snatched the paper from his hand. But no sooner had her eyes fallen upon what was written there than a cry of pain escaped her lips.
“To be shot!” she cried wildly. “To be shot at dawn!” ”

“ Nevertheless, I will strain a point in your favour. You shall have a dozen men.”
“A dozen men?” I cried incredulously—“a dozen men to guard this place?”
“And that is ten too many,” he replied. “What? Are [134] you afraid of a set of country clodpoles, who could not tell a sabre from a scythe?”
“Yet even a scythe may form a dangerous weapon, as Sedgemoor proved,” I said tartly.
“Bah!” he replied contemptuously. We were dismounting in the courtyard of the inn as he spoke. “’Tis not like you, Cassilis, to reckon odds. ”

“ It was at this very time that my father commenced writing his Analysis of the Mind, which carried Hartley’s mode of explaining the mental phenomena to so much greater length and depth. He could only command the concentration of thought necessary for this work, during the complete leisure of his holiday of a month or six weeks annually: and he commenced it in the summer of 1822, in the first holiday he passed at Dorking; in which neighbourhood, from that time to the end of his life, with the exception of two years, he lived, as far as his official duties permitted, for six months of every year. ”