i praise god for you, sir: your reasons at dinner have been sharp and
sententious; pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, audacious
without impudence, learned without opinion, and strange without
heresy.—love's labor lost.
l'isle, meanwhile, after spending an unwonted time at his toilet, drew himself up to the utmost of the five feet ten which nature had allotted to him, to shake off the stoop which he imagined himself to have contracted during his long hours of languor and suffering. he then inspected himself most critically in the glass, to see how far he had recovered his usual good looks. but that truthful counsellor presented to him cheeks still sunken and pallid, and sharpened features. the clear gray eye looked out from a cavern, and the rich nut-brown hair hung over a brow covered with parchment. his lean figure no longer filled the uniform which once fitted it so well. he stood before his glass in no peacock mood of self-admiration; but was compelled to own that he was not, just now at least, the man to fascinate a lady's eye; so he resolved to take lady mabel by the ear, which is, in fact, the surest way to catch a woman.
lord strathern kept his promise: to have no noisy fellows at dinner to-day. perhaps an occasional visitor, who hovered near, the gout, made him more readily dispense with his more jovial companions. the only guest, beside l'isle, was major conway, of the light dragoons.
a party of four is an excellent number for conversation, especially if there be no rivalry among them. the major had served long in india, but had arrived in the peninsula only toward the end of the last campaign. he wished to learn all he could of the country, the people and the war; and nearly five years of close observation, industrious inquiry, and active service had rendered l'isle just the man to gratify his wishes. lord strathern, too, in a long and varied military career, had seen much, and the old soldier had not failed to lay in a stock of shrewd observation and amusing anecdote. so that, to a young listener like lady mabel, eager to learn and quick to appreciate, two or three hours glided away in striking and agreeable contrast with the more jovial and somewhat noisy festivities of yesterday and many a previous day. l'isle made no attempt to engross her attention. major conway had left a wife in england, which shut out any feelings of rivalry with him. l'isle was thus quite at his ease, and showed to much advantage; for it is surprising how agreeable some people can make themselves when they are bent upon it. he combined the qualities of a good talker and a good listener; was communicative to the major; yet more attentive to his lordship; and most careful, above all things, to turn the conversation to topics interesting to lady mabel, who, while listening, asking questions, and offering an occasional remark, was fast coming to the conclusion that l'isle, young as he was, was by far the best informed and most considerate man in the brigade. she more particularly wondered how, while tied down to his military duties, he had found time to master the languages, history, topography, and even the antiquities of the peninsula. he knew personally many a spaniard and portuguese who had made himself conspicuous for good or ill, at this fearful crisis of his country's history. he thoroughly understood the people, with all their virtues and their vices, that perhaps outweigh those virtues; yet he seemed by no means to despise them. amidst the too common baseness and corruption, he could paint vividly their nobler traits, and illustrate them by many a pointed anecdote and thrilling narrative. lady mabel could not help thinking what a delightful companion he would be on a tour through these countries, if she found so much pleasure in merely listening to his account of what he had seen and witnessed there.
"traveling is my passion," said lady mabel. "from childhood i have longed to see foreign lands, and to find myself surrounded by outlandish people. i suppose it is owing to my having been kept close at home, yet encouraged to follow the footsteps of travelers over page after page of their rambles. my journey hither, through the wilderness of alemtejo, has but whetted my appetite. and there is something peculiarly fascinating in the idea of traveling in spain, the land of adventure and romance."
"just now is no good time for such a journey," said l'isle; "there are too many french and other robbers besetting the roads."
"there would be too little of romance and too much of adventure in meeting with them," said she. "it is most provoking to be thus tantalized; the cup at my lips, and i cannot taste of it; spain in sight, and i cannot explore it. i am eager to visit the alhambra and escurial, and other show-places, and take a long ramble in the sierra morena. i would wish to engage the most skillful arriero in all spain, and, mounted on his best mule, roam all over the country, through every mountain-pass, and across every desolate plain, and make a pilgrimage to every spot hallowed by poetic or historic fame. i would search out, as a shrine of chivalry, each field on which the cid displayed the gleaming blade of tizona, and on which the hoofs of his babieca trampled on the moor. i wonder if my guide could not show me, too, the foundation-stones of the manor-house of the good knight of la mancha, the site at least of the bower of dulcinea del toboso, and gil blas' robbers' cave?"
"just at this time," said l'isle, "the cave of captain rolando and his comrades, being in the north of leon, is particularly inaccessible, for there are some ninety thousand similar gentry wintering between us and it."
"those fellows have been very quiet of late, and it will probably be some time before they are stirring again," said lord strathern.
"we will give them reason to bestir themselves as soon as the corn is grown enough to fodder our horses," answered l'isle. "meanwhile, lady mabel, there is much worth seeing in portugal. all is not like the wilderness of alemtejo. if you will believe the portuguese, it was not to the imagination of the poet, but to the eye of the traveler in lusitania, that we owe the poetic pictures of the elysian fields. all the portuguese agree that their country is crowded with the choice beauties and wonders of nature, and they certainly should know their own country best. i have seen enough of it to satisfy me, that though but a little corner of the smallest of the continents, it is a lovely and remarkable part of the earth. its beautiful mountains, not sublime, perhaps, like the alps and pyrenees, but exquisitely rich and wonderful in coloring, with a variety of romantic and ever-shifting scenery, are perhaps unrivaled in europe; its grand rivers, often unite on their banks the wildest rocks with the loveliest woodland scenes; its balmy climate fosters in many places an ever green foliage and a perpetual spring."
"from your description of the country," said lady mabel, "one might take you for a portuguese."
"yet they themselves have little perception of the real beauties of nature," said l'isle. "they will lead you away from the loveliest scene in their land, to point out some curiosity, more to their taste; some miraculous image, some saintly relic brought by angels from the holy land, or, perhaps, some local natural phenomenon, which has a dash of the wonderful about it. for instance, when at braga, three years ago, with my hands full of business, and anxious at the same time to learn all i could of the country around, my portuguese companion compelled me to waste a precious hour in visiting a famous spring in the garden of a convent of st. augustine. the water, you must know, is intensely cold, and if a bottle of wine be immersed in it, it is instantly turned into vinegar."
"did you see that?" asked lady mabel.
"when i called for a bottle of wine, the good fathers told me they had given all they had to a detachment of portuguese troops that marched by the day before—a charity more wondrous than the virtue of the spring."
"yet it is a pity you could not test the virtues of this wonderful spring," said she.
"not more wonderful," said l'isle, "than the fountain in the village of friexada. its water, too, is excessively cold, and of so hungry a nature, that in less than an hour it consumes a joint of meat, leaving the bones quite bare."
"you of course tested that," said she.
"unluckily," said l'isle, "our party had only one leg of mutton in store, and were too hungry to risk their dinner in the fountain's maw."
"you are a bad traveler," said lady mabel, "and seem never to have with you the means of testing the truth of what you are told."
"i take with me a good stock of faith," said l'isle, "and believe, or seem to believe, all that i am told. this pleases these people wonderfully well, and keeping them in good humor is the main point just now. there is, however, near estremoz, which place you passed through coming hither, a curiosity of somewhat a similar kind. it is a spring which is dry in winter, but pours out a considerable stream in summer. its waters are of so petrifying a quality, that the wheels of the mills it works are said to be soon turned into stone."
"i trust, for your credit as a traveler," said lady mabel, "that you will be able to say that you, for once, proved the truth or falsehood of what you heard."
"i did, and found them incrusted with stone. but that is not so curious as the prophetic spring of xido, which foretells to the rustics around a fruitful season, by pouring forth but little water, or a year of scarcity by an abundant flow. these are little things; but were i to run over each class of objects of curiosity or interest this country affords, i would soon convince you that you were already in a land of wonders and rare sights."
"but even here i am trammeled. papa did not come out here to examine the curiosities of the country, or to hunt out picturesque scenery, moorish antiquities, or roman ruins, and i cannot go scampering over the neighborhood with an escort of volunteers from the brigade or the light dragoons. it is true that mrs. captain howe, who is a great connoisseuse in nature and art, has promised to be my guide in exploring the country as soon as she gets rid of her rheumatism. but from the number of her flannel wrappers, i infer that there is no hope of her soon extending her explorations beyond the walls of her room."
"you must indeed feel the want of a companion to free you from the awkwardness of your situation; here with no company but those rude comrades his majesty has sent out hither."
"my want is so urgent that were it not for my loyalty, i would now exchange a crack regiment for a companionable woman."
"i am glad, then, to be able to tell you that a lady has arrived in elvas, who may be very useful in filling up this awkward gap in the circle of your acquaintance!"
"a lady? an english lady? who is she?"
"an english lady. one old enough to be your chaperon, and young enough to be your companion. she has some other merits too, not the least of which, in my estimation is that she professes to be a great friend of mine."
"a crowning virtue, that," said lady mabel.
"it does not blind me, however, to two or three faults, and a misfortune she labors under."
"what then are her faults?"
"the first is, that she is, it must be confessed, rather simple."
"simplicity may be a virtue. we will overlook that."
"then she sometimes clips the king's english!"
"there is no statute against it, like clipping his coin."
"she is afflicted, moreover, with an inveterate love of sight-seeing."
"that is a positive virtue. i have fellow-feeling with her. she would be no true woman if she ever lost her chance at a spectacle. but what is her misfortune?"
"she is the wife of a commissary," said l'isle with a very grave face.
"why l'isle," said lord strathern, "has shortridge brought his wife to elvas?"
"yes, my lord, they came last night. yes, lady mabel; the woman who marries a commissary can hardly escape being the wife of a knave!"
"but i really believe," said his lordship, "that our rascal is the most honest fellow in the commissariat department."
"that is not saying much for his honesty."
"i hope for the honor of human nature," interposed major conway, "that there are honest men among commissaries?"
"it is no imputation on human nature to think otherwise," said l'isle; "you might as soon hope there are honest men among pickpockets. for some good reason or other, honest men cannot follow either trade."
"that is one of your prejudices, l'isle," said lord strathern, "and in them you are a true bigot. you are too hard upon poor shortridge and his brethren. shortridge is a very good fellow, though a little vulgar it is true. and he always cheats with a conscience, and so do many of his brethren."
"i shall have no scruples of conscience in making use of mrs. commissary, if i can," said lady mabel. "i hope she is of a sociable temper?"
"quite so. and moreover, i forgot one trait that will make her particularly accessible to you. she is very fond of people of fashion, and a title secures her esteem.
"then she belongs to me, for i shall not be wanting in attention to your newly arrived friend. how comes she to be your friend?"
l'isle told mrs. shortridge's adventure in the patriarchal church; mentioned the straits she was now in for lodgings, and his intention to yield his present quarters to her.
"why colonel l'isle," exclaimed lady mabel, "you must be the very pink of chivalry. i do not know which most to admire, your gallant rescue of the dame, or your self-sacrificing spirit in finding her a home."
"you will make shortridge jealous, l'isle, by taking such good care of his wife," said lord strathern.
"our sharp friend has too much sense," answered l'isle, "to be guilty of such folly as that."
major conway setting the example, l'isle now thought it time to take his leave, and he returned to his quarters with the air of a man who thought he had done a good day's work.
"i think," said lord strathern to his daughter, "that l'isle is improving in manners."
"his manners are good, papa. were they ever otherwise?"
"i mean that he is becoming more conciliatory, and more considerate of other people. he has scarcely differed from me to-day, and certainly did not undertake to set me right, or contradict me even once, a habit he is much addicted to, and very unbecoming in so young a man! it is certainly, too, very kind of him to give up his comfortable quarters to the shortridges, in their distress, particularly as i know he despises the man."
now do not blunder on to the hasty conclusion, good reader, that l'isle, having, at first sight, plunged over head and ears in love with lady mabel, had resolved to win and wear her with the least possible loss of time; that he was now investing the fortress, about to besiege it in form, and would hold himself in readiness to carry it by storm on the first opportunity. he acknowledged to himself no such intention; and he doubtless knew his own mind best. without exactly holding the opinion of sir john, as set forth by his follower, bardolph, that a soldier is better accommodated than with a wife—he had often strenuously maintained, in opposition to some love-stricken comrade, that, in the midst of a bloody war, a soldier can give no worse proof of devotion to the lady of his choice, than urging her to become a promising candidate for early widowhood. he preached exceedingly well on this text, and it is but fair to believe that he would practice what he preached. no! in the interest he took in lady mabel's situation, he was actuated by no selfish or personal motives. he acquitted himself of that. had he come across lady mabel's old lisbon coach, beset by robbers, in her journey through the alemtejo, he would have dashed in among them, sword in hand, like a true gentleman, and a good knight. now, when he saw her surrounded by evils and embarrassments of a less tangible kind, the same spirit of chivalry brought him promptly to her aid.
lady mabel lost no time in adding mrs. shortridge to the list of her female acquaintances in elvas, which, unlike that of her male friends was so short that this new comer was the only one available as a companion. this jewel of a companion, which elsewhere might have escaped her notice, was now seized upon as a diamond of the first water; and mrs. shortridge was happy and flattered to find herself the associate of a lady of rank, not to speak of her other merits.
it is not always similarity of character that makes people friends. it quite as often makes them rivals. to have what your companion wants, and to need what he can afford you, is a better foundation for those social partnerships, often dignified with the name of friendship. the great talker wants a good listener; the sluggish or melancholic are glad of a companion who will undertake the active duty of providing conversation and amusement; he whose nature it is to lead, wants some one who will follow; and the doubting man welcomes as a strong ally, him who will decide for him. as dogberry says, "when two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind," and the social, compliant and admiring temper of mrs. shortridge fitted in so well with the animated, impulsive, and vigorous spirit of lady mabel, that something very like friendship grew up between them.
lady mabel's habits now underwent a change, which proved that her late mode of life, and her morning and evening levees of epaulettes, had been quite as much the result of necessity as of choice. her father's house was still much frequented by her gay and dashing comrades. but whenever there was a large company to dinner, or any other cause brought many of the gentlemen to head-quarters, she made a point of having mrs. shortridge at hand to countenance and sustain her; and in return she would often mount her horse early and canter into elvas, followed only by a groom, to shut herself up with mrs. shortridge for a whole morning, doubtless in the enjoyment of those confidential feminine chats, for which she had longed so much. on these occasions the representatives of the ruder sex seldom gained admittance, except that l'isle would now and then drop in for an hour, he being too great a favorite with mrs. shortridge to be excluded; and, for a time, he showed no disposition to abuse his special privilege.
it was on one of these occasions that l'isle discovered that with all his assiduity in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the peculiar and interesting land in which he had now spent more than four years—an assiduity, on the result of which he much prided himself, and which had done him good service in his profession—there was still one important point that he had quite overlooked. he knew absolutely nothing of the botany of this region, nor, indeed, of any other. he made this discovery suddenly on hearing lady mabel express the interest she felt in this science, and her hope of finding many opportunities of pursuing it in a country whose flora was so new to her. he at once began to supply this omission by borrowing from her half a dozen books on the subject. in two or three days he reappeared, armed with a huge bunch of wild flowers and plants, and professed to have mastered the technicalities sufficiently to enter at once on the practical study of the science in the field. unless he deceived himself, he was an astonishing fast learner. lady mabel told him that she had heard that poeta nascitur, and now she believed it from analogy; for he was certainly born a botanist. he rebutted the sarcasm by showing that he had the terms stamen, pistil, calix, corolla, capsule, and a host of others at the tip of his tongue; though possibly, had he been called upon to apply each in its proper place, he would have been like a certain student of geometry we once knew, who, by aid of a good memory alone, could demonstrate all euclid's theorems, without understanding one of them, provided the diagrams were small enough to be hidden by his hand, so you could not detect him in pointing to the wrong angle and line.
january was gone, and the earlier of the two springs that mark this climate was opening beautifully. l'isle displayed temptingly before lady mabel's eyes the wild flowers he had collected during a laborious morning spent on hill and plain, in wood and field, and urged her to lose no time in taking the field too, and making collections for the hortus siccus of which she talked so much, but toward which she had yet done nothing; while at the same time, she might, without trouble, indoctrinate him in the mysteries of this beautiful branch of natural history. most of these flowers were new to her as living specimens. her botanical enthusiasm was roused at the sight of them, and the offer of a pupil added to her zeal. when we know a little of any thing, it is very pleasant to be applied to for instruction by the ignorant, as it enables us to flatter ourselves that we know a great deal. and it is only the more gratifying when our voluntary pupil is otherwise well informed.
it was at once arranged that the party should take the field to-morrow. mrs. shortridge, it is true, had no particular taste for botany. if the flowers in her bouquet were beautiful, or fragrant, or both, she did not trouble herself about their history, names, class, order, or alliances; but pleasant company, fresh air, exercise, and new scenes were inducements enough for her.
