one of the ministers in charge of the cathedral was the reverend mr. crisparkle, a ruddy, young, active, honest fellow, who was perpetually practising boxing before the looking-glass or pitching himself head-foremost into all the streams about the town for a swim, even when it was winter and he had to break the ice with his head.
mr. crisparkle sometimes took young men into his home to live while he tutored them to prepare them for college. one day he received word from a mr. luke honeythunder in london, telling him he was about to bring to cloisterham a twin brother and sister, neville and helena landless, the young man to be taught by mr. crisparkle and his sister helena to be put in miss twinkleton's seminary.
this luke honeythunder called himself a philanthropist, but he was a queer sort of one, indeed. he was always getting up public meetings and talking loudly, insisting on everybody's thinking exactly as he did, and saying dreadful things of them if they did not.
helena and neville landless had been born in ceylon, where as little children they had been cruelly treated by their stepfather. but they had brave spirits, and four times in six years they had run away, only to be brought back each time and punished. on each of these occasions (the first had been when they were but seven years old) helena had dressed as a boy and once had even tried to cut off her long hair with neville's pocket-knife. at length their cruel stepfather died, and they were sent to england, where for no other reason than that his name was continually appearing in the newspapers, mr. honeythunder had been appointed their guardian.
no wonder the brother and sister had grown[pg 446] up thinking everybody was their enemy. they were quite prepared to hate mr. crisparkle when their guardian brought them. but by the time mr. honeythunder had gone (and mr. crisparkle was as glad as they were when he went home) they liked the young minister and felt that they would be happy there. they were a handsome pair, and mr. crisparkle was attracted to them both. neville was lithe, and dark and rich in color; helena was almost like a gypsy, slender, supple and quick. both seemed half shy, half defiant, as though their blood were untamed.
to make them welcome that first evening, mr. crisparkle invited to his house jasper, the choir master, with edwin drood, who was visiting him, and rosebud from the seminary. before they parted rosebud was asked to sing.
jasper played her accompaniment, and while she sang he watched her lips intently. all at once, to their great astonishment, rosebud covered her face with her hands and, crying out, "i can't bear this! i am frightened! take me away!" burst into tears.
helena, the new-comer, who had liked rosebud at first sight, seemed to understand her better than any one else. she laid her on a sofa, soothed her, and in a few moments rosebud seemed again as usual. mr. crisparkle and edwin drood thought it only a fit of nervousness. to her relief, they made light of the matter, and so the evening ended.[pg 447]
but later, at nun's house, where she and helena were to be room-mates, rosebud told her new friend how much she disliked jasper and how his eyes terrified her, and how, as she sang, with his eyes watching her lips, she felt as if he had kissed her.
while the two girls were talking of this, neville and edwin drood, who had gone with them as far as the door of the seminary, were walking back together. mr. crisparkle had told neville of drood's betrothal to rosebud, and neville now spoke of it. drood, who had felt all along that he and rosebud did not get along well together and who was sensitive on the subject, was unjustly angry that the other should so soon know what he considered his own private affair. he answered in a surly way and, as both were quick-tempered, they soon came to high words.
as it happened, jasper was walking near, and, overhearing, came between them. he reproved them good-naturedly and took them to his rooms, where he insisted they should drink a glass of wine with him to their good fellowship. there he did a dastardly thing. he mixed with the wine a drug which, once drunk, aroused their angry passions. their speech grew thick and the quarrel began again. safe now from any spectator, jasper did not attempt to soothe them. he let them go on until they were about to come to blows. then, pretending the greatest indignation, he threw himself upon[pg 448] neville and forced him, hatless, from the house.
in the cool night air neville's strange dizziness, and with it his rage, cleared away. he realized that the blame for the quarrel had been jasper's, but he did not guess the drugging of the wine and could not explain the incident even to himself. he went, however, manfully and sorrowfully to mr. crisparkle and told him what had occurred, and naturally mr. crisparkle, who had never found edwin drood quarrelsome, thought it the fault of neville's hot blood and revengeful character.
he was the more certain of this when jasper came to him, bringing neville's hat, and told him his own story of the meeting. jasper told him falsely that neville had made a murderous attack on drood, and but for him would have laid his nephew dead at his feet. he warned the minister that neville had a tigerish nature and would yet be guilty of terrible crime. mr. crisparkle liked neville, and all this saddened him, for he had not the least suspicion that jasper was lying for a cruel purpose of his own.
the affair was an unhappy one for neville. jasper took care that the story spread abroad, and as it went it grew, so that almost everybody in cloisterham came to consider helena's brother a sullen fellow of a furious temper. and they believed it the more because neville made no secret[pg 449] of the fact that he had fallen in love, too, with rosebud, and in this they thought they saw a reason for his hating edwin drood.
mr. crisparkle was a faithful friend. he concluded soon that the fault was not all on neville's side. but he was anxious to have the two young men friends, and he begged his pupil for his own part to lay aside the ill feeling. he went to the choir master also on the same errand, and jasper assured him that his nephew would do the same. he even promised, hypocritically, that to bring this about he would invite both edwin drood and neville to dine with him on christmas eve, in his own rooms, where they might meet and shake hands.
both young men promised to come to the dinner, and mr. crisparkle was highly pleased, little dreaming what the outcome would be.
