Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/textfile/lcl102.zip/LCL04.DOC

Text File | 1993-09-22 | 71KB | 988 lines

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│                octor Hilliard, my grandfather's chaplain,          │
│                 was as holy a man as ever wore a gown,             │
│          though I can remember none of his discourses.             │
│                                                                    │
│             The worthy doctor, who had baptized both my            │
│          mother and father, died suddenly at Carvel Hall           │
│          in the spring following the Stamp Act riots, of           │
│          a cold contracted while visiting a poor man who           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          dwelt across the Severn.                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             He would have lacked but three years of                │
│          fourscore come Whitsuntide, and he was                    │
│          universally respected, by rich and poor alike,            │
│          in that district where he had lived so long and           │
│          ably.                                                     │
│                                                                    │
│             Doctor Hilliard was indeed a beacon in a               │
│          time when his profession among us was all but             │
│          darkness, and when many of the scandals of the            │
│          community might be laid at the door of those              │
│          whose duty it was to prevent them.                        │
│                                                                    │
│             The fault lay without doubt in his Lordship's          │
│          charter, which gave to the parishioners no voice          │
│          in the choosing of their pastors.  Rather, this           │
│          matter was left to Lord Baltimore's whim.  Hence          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          it was that he sent among us many fox-hunting             │
│          and gaming parsons who read the service ill and           │
│          preached drowsy and illiterate sermons.  These            │
│          are but charitable words to cover the real                │
│          characters of those impostors in holy orders.             │
│                                                                    │
│             Nay, I have seen a clergyman drunk in the              │
│          pulpit, and even in those freer days the                  │
│          clergy's laxity and immorality were such that             │
│          many flocked to hear the parsons of the                   │
│          Methodists and the Lutherans, whose simple and            │
│          eloquent words and simpler lives were worthy of           │
│          their cloth.                                              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                y Uncle Grafton came to Dr. Hilliard's              │
│                 funeral, and, as was but proper, he came           │
│          to the Hall drest entirely in black.  And he              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          would have had his lady and Philip, a lad near            │
│          my own age, clad likewise in sombre colours,              │
│          but my Aunt Caroline would have none of this,             │
│          holding it to be the right of her sex to dress            │
│          as became its charms.                                     │
│                                                                    │
│             Still, her silks and laces went but ill with           │
│          the low estate my uncle liked to claim for his            │
│          purse.  And, in truth, the family travelled in a          │
│          coach as grand as Mr. Carvel's own, with panels           │
│          wreathed in flowers and a footman and outrider            │
│          in livery, from which my aunt descended like a            │
│          duchess.                                                  │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                rafton had given many of my grandfather's           │
│                 old servants cause to remember him.                │
│          Harvey in particular, who had come back from              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          England early in the century with my grandfather,         │
│          spoke with bitterness of him.  On the subject of          │
│          my uncle, the old coachman's taciturnity gave             │
│          way to torrents of reproach.                              │
│                                                                    │
│             "Beware of him, as he has no use for horses,           │
│          Master Richard," he would say--for this trait of          │
│          Uncle Grafton in Harvey's mind lay at the bottom          │
│          of all others.                                            │
│                                                                    │
│             At my uncle's approach he would retire into            │
│          his shell like an oyster, nor could he be got to          │
│          utter more than a monosyllable in his presence.           │
│          Harvey's face would twitch, and his fingers               │
│          clench of themselves as he touched his cap.               │
│                                                                    │
│             And with my Aunt Caroline he was the same.  He         │
│          vouchsafed but a curt reply to all her questions.         │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                 "Humph!" grunted Harvey,           │
│                              when she was gone to the              │
│                              house.  "She thinks old               │
│                              Harvey don't know a thorough-         │
│                              bred when he sees one, Master         │
│                               Richard.  But Mrs. Grafton's         │
│                                no such--I tell 'ee that.           │
│                                                                    │
│                                   "I've seen her sort in           │
│                                the old country, and I've           │
│                                seen 'em here, and it's the         │
│                                 same the world over.  Fine         │
│                                 trappings don't make the           │
│                                 horse, and they don't take         │
│                                 thorough-breds from a              │
│          grocer's cart."                                           │
│                                                                    │
│             "A Philadelphy grocer," sniffed the old                │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          aristocrat, "I'd knowed her father was a grocer           │
│          had I seen her in Pall Mall with a Royal High-            │
│          ness; by her gait, I may say."                            │
│                                                                    │
│             Indeed, it was no secret that my Aunt                  │
│          Caroline had been a Miss Flaven of Philadelphia,          │
│          though she would have had the fashion of our              │
│          province believe that she belonged to the                 │
│          Governor's set there.  And she spoke in terms of          │
│          easy familiarity of the first families of her             │
│          native city, deceiving no one save herself, poor          │
│          lady.                                                     │
│                                                                    │
│             Not a visitor to Philadelphia but knew                 │
│          Terence Flaven, Mrs. Grafton Carvel's father,             │
│          who not many years before had sold tea and                │
│          spices and soap and glazed teapots over his own           │
│          counter, and still advertised his cargoes in the          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          public prints.                                            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                t the time of Miss Flaven's marriage to my          │
│                 uncle, 'twas a piece of gossip in every            │
│          mouth that he had taken her for her dower, which          │
│          was not inconsiderable.  But to hear Mr. and Mrs.         │
│          Grafton talk, they knew not wence the next                │
│          month's provender was to come.                            │
│                                                                    │
│             They went to live in Kent County, spending             │
│          some winters in Philadelphia, where Grafton was           │
│          thought to have interests, though it never could          │
│          be discovered what his investments were.                  │
│                                                                    │
│             On hearing of his marriage, which took place           │
│          shortly before my father's, Mr. Carvel expressed          │
│          neither displeasure nor surprise.  But he would           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          not hear of my mother's request to settle a               │
│          portion upon his younger son.                             │
│                                                                    │
│             "He has the Kent estate, Bess," he said,               │
│          "which is more than enough for him.  And by the           │
│          Lord, he shall have no more while I live, nor             │
│          afterwards if I can help it!"                             │
│                                                                    │
│              And so that matter ended, for Mr. Carvel              │
│          could not be moved from a purpose he had once             │
│          made.  Grafton was clearly not my grandfather's           │
│          favourite, and I sometimes thought he was of a            │
│          mind with Harvey about him.                               │
│                                                                    │
│             My grandfather would not make any advances             │
│          whatsoever to Grafton, or receive those hints             │
│          which he was forever dropping, until at length            │
│          Grafton begged to be allowed to come to Dr.               │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          Hilliard's funeral, a request my grandfather              │
│          could not in decency refuse.                              │
│                                                                    │
│                              During his stay, I tried to           │
│                           be civil to him.  But my uncle's         │
│                           fairest words seemed to me to            │
│                           contain a sting of hidden                │
│                           resentment.                              │
│                                                                    │
│                               And once, when he spoke in           │
│                            innuendo of my father, I ran            │
│                            from the room to a deserted             │
│                            study, where my tears flowed            │
│                            freely.                                 │
│                                                                    │
│                               I know not what strange              │
│                            intuition of the child made me          │
│                            think of him so constantly              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          after that visit; and yet I sometimes would wake          │
│          from my sleep, with his name upon my lips.                │
│                                                                    │
│                              ______                                │
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│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                n the eighteenth century, the march of              │
│                 public events was much more eagerly                │
│          followed than now by men and women of all                 │
│          stations, and even children.                              │
│                                                                    │
│             Each citizen was ready, nay, forward, in               │
│          taking an active part in all political                    │
│          movements, and the children mimicked their                │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          elders.                                                   │
│                                                                    │
│             Thus, old William Farris read his news of a            │
│          morning before he began the mending of his                │
│          watches, and by evening had so well digested it           │
│          that he was primed for discussion with Pryse, of          │
│          the opposite persuasion, at the "Rose and                 │
│          Crown."                                                   │
│                                                                    │
│             Sol Mogg, the sexton of St. Anne's, had his            │
│          beloved Gazette in his pocket as he tolled the            │
│          church bell of a Thursday, and would hold forth           │
│          on the rights and liberties of man with the               │
│          carpenter who mended the steeple.                         │
│                                                                    │
│             Mrs. Willard could talk of Grenville and               │
│          Townshend as knowingly as her husband, the rich           │
│          factor, and Francie Willard made many a speech            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          to us younger Sons of Liberty on the steps of             │
│          King William's School.                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             We younger sons, indeed, declared bitter war           │
│          against the mother-country long before our                │
│          conservative old province ever dreamed of                 │
│          secession.  For Maryland was for the most part            │
│          well pleased with his Lordship's government.              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                 fear that I got at King William's School           │
│                  learning of a far different sort than             │
│          pleased my grandfather.                                   │
│                                                                    │
│             In those days the school stood upon the Stadt          │
│          House hill near School Street, not having moved           │
│          to its present larger quarters.  Mr. Isaac                │
│          Daaken was then master, and had under him some            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          eighty scholars.                                          │
│                                                                    │
│             After all these years, Mr. Daaken stands               │
│          before me as a prominent figure of the past,              │
│          and I recall that schoolroom of a bright                  │
│          morning, the sun's rays shot hither and thither,          │
│          and split violet, green, and red by the bulging           │
│                                     panes of the windows.          │
│                                                                    │
│                                        And by a strange            │
│                                     irony it so chanced            │
│                                     that where the                 │
│                                     dominie sat--and he            │
│                                     moved not the whole            │
│                                     morning long save to           │
│                                     reach for his                  │
│                                     birches--the crimson           │
│                                     rays would often               │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          rest on the end of his long nose, and the word            │
│          "rum" would be passed tittering along the                 │
│          benches.                                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             Some men are born to the mill, and others to           │
│          the mitre, and still others to the sceptre; but           │
│          Mr. Daaken was born to the birch.  His long,              │
│          lanky legs were made for striding after culprits,         │
│          and his arms for caning them.                             │
│                                                                    │
│             He taught, along with caning, the classics,            │
│          the English language grammatically, arithmetic            │
│          in all its branches, book keeping in the Italian          │
│          manner, and the elements of algebra, geometry,            │
│          and trigonometry, with their applications to              │
│          surveying and navigation.                                 │
│                                                                    │
│             He also wrote various sorts of hands fearful           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          and marvelous to the uninitiated, with which he           │
│          was wont to decorate my monthly reports to my             │
│          grandfather.                                              │
│                                                                    │
│             I can shut my eyes and see                             │
│          even now that wonderful                                   │
│          hyperbola in the C in                                     │
│          Carvel, which, after                                      │
│          traveling around the paper,                               │
│          ended in intricate curves and a                           │
│          flourish which surely must have broken the                │
│          quill.                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             The last day of every month I fetched that             │
│          scrolled note to Mr. Carvel, and he laid it               │
│          beside his plate until dinner was over.  And              │
│          then, as sure as the sun had risen that morning,          │
│          my flogging would come before it set.                     │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             This done with, and another promised the next          │
│          month, provided Mr. Daaken wrote no better of me,         │
│          my grandfather and I renewed our customary                │
│          footing of love and companionship.                        │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                ut Mr. Daaken, unwittingly or designedly,           │
│                 taught other things than those I have              │
│          mentioned above.  And though I never once heard           │
│          a word of politics fall from his lips, his                │
│          school shortly became known to all good Tories            │
│          as a nursery of conspiracy and sedition.                  │
│                                                                    │
│             There are other ways of teaching besides               │
│          preaching, and of that which the dominie taught           │
│          best he spoke not a word.  He was credited with           │
│          calumnies against King George, and once my                │
│          Uncle Grafton and Mr. Dulany were for clapping            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          him in jail, avowing that he taught treason to            │
│          the young.                                                │
│                                                                    │
│             I can account for the tone of King William's           │
│          School in no other way than to say that                   │
│          patriotism was in the very atmosphere, and                │
│          seemed to exude in some mysterious way from Mr.           │
│          Daaken's person.  Most of us, indeed, became              │
│          infected with it.                                         │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                 also recall one bright day in April when           │
│                  I played truant and had the temerity to           │
│          go afishing with Will Fotheringay on Spa Creek,           │
│          the bass being plentiful there.                           │
│                                                                    │
│             We had royal sport of it that morning, and             │
│          two o'clock came and went with never a thought.           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             And presently I got a pull which bent my               │
│          English rod near to double, and in my excitement          │
│          plunged waist deep into the water, Will crying            │
│          out directions from the shore.                            │
│                                                                    │
│                           But all of a sudden the head of          │
│                        Mr. Daaken's mare thrust through            │
│                        the bushes, followed by Mr. Daaken          │
│                        himself.                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                            Will stood stock still from             │
│                        fright, and I was for dropping my           │
│          rod and cutting, when the dominie called out,             │
│          "Have a care, Master Carvel; have a care, sir.            │
│          You will lose him.  Play him, sir; let him run a          │
│          bit."                                                     │
│                                                                    │
│             And down he leaped from his horse and into             │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          the water after me, and together we landed a              │
│          three-pound bass, while drenching Mr. Daaken's            │
│          snuff-coloured suit.                                      │
│                                                                    │
│             When the big fish lay shining in the basket,           │
│          the dominie smiled grimly at William and me, as           │
│          we stood sheepishly by, and without a word he             │
│          drew his clasp knife and cut a stout switch from          │
│          the willow near by; and then and there he gave us         │
│          such a thrashing as we remembered for many a day          │
│          after.                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             And we both had another when we reached home.          │
│                                                                    │
│                               _____                                │
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│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                r. Carvel," said Mr. Dulany to my                   │
│                 grandfather, "I would strongly counsel             │
│          you to take Richard from that school.                     │
│          Pernicious doctrines, sir, are in the air, and            │
│          like diseases are early caught by the young.              │
│          'Twas but yesterday I saw Richard at the head             │
│          of a rabble of the sons of riff-raff in Green             │
│          Street, and their treatment of Mr. Fairbrother            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          hath set the whole town by the ears."                     │
│                                                                    │
│             What Mr. Dulany said was true.  The lads of            │
│          Mr. Fairbrother's school being mostly of the              │
│          unpopular party, we of King William's had                 │
│          organized our cohorts and led them on to a                │
│          signal victory.                                           │
│                                                                    │
│             We fell upon the enemy even as they were               │
│          emerging from their stronghold, the schoolhouse,          │
│          and smote them hip and thigh, with the sheriff            │
│          of Anne Arundel County a laughing spectator.              │
│                                                                    │
│             Some of the Tories took refuge behind Mr.              │
│          Fairbrother's skirts, and he shook his cane               │
│          angrily enough, but without avail.  Others of             │
│          the Tory brood fought stoutly, calling out, "God          │
│          save the King!" and "Down with the traitors!"             │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             On our side, Francie Willard fell, and                 │
│          Archie Jennison raised a lump on my head.  But            │
│          we fairly beat them, and afterwards must needs            │
│          attack the Tory dominie himself.                          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                ur schoolboy battle, though lightly                 │
│                 undertaken, was fraught with no                    │
│          inconsiderable consequences for me.  I was duly           │
│          chided and soundly whipped by my grandfather for          │
│          the part I had played.  But he was inclined to            │
│          pass the matter after that.                               │
│                                                                    │
│             And he would have gone no farther than this            │
│          had it not been that Mr. Green, of the Maryland           │
│          Gazette, could not refrain from printing the              │
│          story in his paper.  That gentleman, being a              │
│          stout Whig, took great delight in pointing out            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          that a grandson of Mr. Carvel was a ringleader            │
│          in the affair.                                            │
│                                                                    │
│             The story was indeed laughable enough, but             │
│          when I came home from school, I found Scipio              │
│          beside my grandfather's empty seat in the                 │
│          dining-room, and I learned that Mr. Carvel was            │
│          in the garden with Uncle Grafton and the                  │
│          Reverend Bennett Allen, rector of St. Anne's.             │
│                                                                    │
│             I well knew that something out of the common           │
│          was in the wind to disturb my grandfather's               │
│          dinner.                                                   │
│                                                                    │
│             Into the garden I went, and under the black            │
│          walnut tree I beheld Mr. Carvel pacing up and             │
│          down in great unrest, his Gazette in his hand,            │
│          while on the bench sat my uncle and the Reverend          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          Allen.                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             So occupied                                            │
│          was each in his                                           │
│          own thought that                                          │
│          my coming was                                             │
│          unperceived; and                                          │
│          I paused in my                                            │
│          steps, seized                                             │
│          suddenly by an                                            │
│          instinctive fear.                                         │
│                                                                    │
│             I read plainly                                         │
│          in Mr. Allen's handsome face, flushed red with            │
│          wine as it ever was, and in my uncle's looks, a           │
│          snare to which I knew my grandfather was blind.           │
│                                                                    │
│             I never rightly understood how it was that             │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          Mr. Carvel was deceived in Mr. Allen--perchance           │
│          the secret lay in his bold manner, and in the             │
│          appearance of dignity and piety he wore as a              │
│          cloak when on his guard.                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             I caught my breath sharply and made my way             │
│          toward them.  It was my uncle, whose ear was              │
│          ever open, who first heard my footstep and                │
│          turned on me.                                             │
│                                                                    │
│             "Here is Richard now, father," he said.                │
│                                                                    │
│              My grandfather stopped in his pacing and              │
│          his eye rested upon me, in sorrow rather than             │
│          in anger, I thought.                                      │
│                                                                    │
│             "Richard," he began, and paused.  For the              │
│          first time in my life I saw him irresolute.  He           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          looked in appeal at the rector, who rose.                 │
│                                                                    │
│             Mr. Allen was a man of fair height and good            │
│          bearing.  And he spoke solemnly, in a deep                │
│          voice, as though from the pulpit:                         │
│          "I fear it is my duty, Richard,                           │
│          to say what Mr. Carvel cannot.                            │
│          It grieves me to tell you, sir,                           │
│          that young as you are, you have                           │
│          been guilty of treason against                            │
│          the King, and of grave offence                            │
│          against his Lordship's govern-                            │
│          ment.  I cannot mitigate my                               │
│          words, sir.  By your rashness,                            │
│          Richard, and I pray it is such, you have brought          │
│          grief to your grandfather in his age, and                 │
│          ridicule and reproach upon a family whose loyalty         │
│          has hitherto been unstained."                             │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             "I fear he has little respect for his King or          │
│          his country, sir," Grafton added.  "You are now           │
│          reaping the fruits of your indulgence."                   │
│                                                                    │
│             I turned to my grandfather.  "Please tell me           │
│          what I now stand accused of?" I said.  And I              │
│          almost cried.                                             │
│                                                                    │
│             "Very fair words, indeed, nephew Richard,"             │
│          said my uncle, "and I draw from them that you             │
│          have yet to hear of your beating an honest                │
│          schoolmaster without other provocation than               │
│          he was a loyal servant to the King, and your              │
│          likewise wantonly injuring the children of his            │
│          school."                                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             And he drew from his pocket a copy of that             │
│          Gazette which Mr. Carvel had held.                        │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             "Here, then, is news which will doubtless              │
│          surprise you, sir," he said.  "And knowing you            │
│          for a peaceful lad, I dare swear the editor has           │
│          drawn on his imagination."                                │
│                                                                    │
│             I took the paper in amazement, not knowing why         │
│          my grandfather, who had ever been so jealous of           │
│          others taking me to task, should permit the               │
│          rector and my uncle to chide me in his presence.          │
│          The account was in the main true enough, and              │
│          made sad sport of Mr. Fairbrother.                        │
│                                                                    │
│             "Have I not been caned for this, sir?" I said,         │
│          looking to my grandfather.                                │
│                                                                    │
│             "You have, Richard, and stoutly," he replied.          │
│          "But your uncle and Mr. Allen seem to think that          │
│          your offence warrants more than a caning, and             │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          deem that you have been actuated by bad                   │
│          principles rather than by boyish spirits."                │
│                                                                    │
│             He paused to steady his voice, and I realized          │
│          then for the first time how sacred he held                │
│          allegiance to the King.                                   │
│                                                                    │
│             "Tell me, my lad, tell                                 │
│          me, as you love God and                                   │
│          the truth, whether they are right."                       │
│                                                                    │
│             For the moment I shrank from speaking, seeing          │
│          what a sad blow to Mr. Carvel my words would be.          │
│          But then I spoke up--and caught the exulting              │
│          look on my uncle's face, and the note of triumph          │
│          in Mr. Allen's.                                           │
│                                                                    │
│             "I have never deceived you, sir," I said,              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          "and will not hide from you that I believe the            │
│          Colonies to have a just cause against his                 │
│          Majesty and Parliament."                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             The words came readily to my lips.  "We are            │
│          none the less Englishmen because we claim the             │
│          rights of Englishmen, and we are as loyal as              │
│          those who do not."                                        │
│                                                                    │
│             My grandfather stood astonished at such a              │
│          speech from me, whom he had thought a lad yet             │
│          without a formed knowledge of public affairs.             │
│          But I was, in fact, supersaturated with that of           │
│          which I spoke, and could have given my hearers            │
│          many Whig arguments to surprise them.                     │
│                                                                    │
│             There was silence for a space after I had              │
│          finished, and then Mr. Carvel sank right heavily          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          upon the bench.                                           │
│                                                                    │
│             "A Carvel against the King!" was all he said.          │
│                                                                    │
│                               ______                               │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                nd so it was soon settled that I should             │
│                 be tutored by the rector of St. Anne's.            │
│                                                                    │
│             To add to my troubles, my grandfather was              │
│          shortly taken very ill with the first severe              │
│          sickness he had ever had in his life.  Dr.                │
│          Leiden came and went sometimes thrice daily,              │
│          and for a week he bore a look so grave as to              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          frighten me.                                              │
│                                                                    │
│             My uncle came as well.  He appeared the first          │
│          evening at supper, suave as ever, and gravely             │
│          concerned as to his father's health, which                │
│          formed the chief topic between us.                        │
│                                                                    │
│             And he gave me to understand that he would             │
│          take the green room until the "old gentleman"             │
│          was past danger--though not a word, mind you,             │
│          of a wish to go into the sick-room itself.                │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                hile my Uncle Grafton was in the house,             │
│                 I had an opportunity of marking the                │
│          intimacy which existed between him and the                │
│          Reverend Allen.  The latter swung each evening            │
│          the muffled knocker, and was ushered on tiptoe            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          across the polished floor to the library where            │
│          my uncle sat in state.                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             It was often well after supper before the              │
│          rector left, and coming in upon them once I               │
│          found wine between them and empty decanters on            │
│          the board, and they fell silent as I passed.              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                y friend Captain Clapsaddle was away when           │
│                 my grandfather fell sick, having been              │
│          North for three months on some business known to          │
│          few.  'Twas generally supposed he went to                 │
│          Massachusetts to confer with the patriots of              │
│          that colony.                                              │
│                                                                    │
│             But hearing the news as he at last rode into           │
│          town, he came booted and spurred to Marlboro'             │
│          Street before going to his lodgings.                      │
│                                                                    │
│             I ran out to meet him, and Harvey, who always          │
│          came to take the captain's horse, swore that he           │
│          was glad to see a friend of the family once               │
│          again.                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             I told the captain very freely of my doings,           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          and showed him the clipping from the Gazette,             │
│          which made him laugh heartily.                            │
│                                                                    │
│             But a shade came upon his face when I                  │
│          rehearsed the scene with my uncle and Mr. Allen           │
│          in the garden.  And he asked me much concerning           │
│          the rector and what he taught me, and appeared            │
│          ill-pleased at what I had to tell him.                    │
│                                                                    │
│             Yet he left me without so much as a word of            │
│          comment or counsel.  For Captain Clapsaddle               │
│          would have deemed it unfair to Mr. Carvel had             │
│          he attempted to win my sympathies to his.                 │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                efore my grandfather's illness, I was               │
│                 some three weeks with my new tutor, the            │
│          rector, and I went back again as soon as Mr.              │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          Carvel began to mend.                                     │
│                                                                    │
│             I was not altogether unhappy, owing to a               │
│          certain grim pleasure I had in debating with              │
│          him.  But there was much to annoy and anger me,           │
│          too.                                                      │
│                                                                    │
│             My cousin Philip was also there, and was               │
│          forever carping and criticising my Greek and              │
│          Latin.  He had pat replies ready to correct me            │
│          when called upon, and 'twas only out of                   │
│          consideration for Mr. Carvel that I kept my               │
│          hands off of him when we were dismissed.                  │
│                                                                    │
│             I think the rector disliked Philip in his way          │
│          as much as I did in mine.  The Reverend Bennett           │
│          Allen, indeed, might have been a very good                │
│          fellow had Providence placed him in a different           │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          setting.                                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             He was one of those whom his Excellency the            │
│          Governor dubbed "fools from necessity."  He               │
│          should have been born with a fortune, though I            │
│          can think of none he would not have run through           │
│          in a year or so.                                          │
│                                                                    │
│             But nature had given him aristocratic tastes,          │
│          with no other means toward their gratification            │
│          than good looks, convincing ways, and a certain           │
│          bold, half-defiant manner, which went far with            │
│          Lord Baltimore and those like him--who thought            │
│          Mr. Allen excellent good company.                         │
│                                                                    │
│             It was a sealed story what he had been before          │
│          he came to Governor Sharpe with Baltimore's               │
│          directions to give him the best in the colony.            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          But our rakes and wits, and even our solid men,           │
│          like my grandfather, received him with open arms          │
│          --and he had ever a tale on his tongue's end              │
│          tempered to the ear of his listener.                      │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                n our debates, I could more than hold my            │
│                 own with Reverend Allen, and he was, as a          │
│          consequence, always curious to know from whom I           │
│          got my ideas.                                             │
│                                                                    │
│             That gentleman was, in truth, Mr. Henry                │
│          Swain, a rising barrister and man of note among           │
│          our patriots, and a member of the Lower House.            │
│                                                                    │
│             A diffident man in public, with dark, soulful          │
│          eyes, he had declined a nomination to the                 │
│          Congress of '65.                                          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                    At his fireside,                │
│                                 unknown to my grandfather          │
│                                 and Mr. Allen, I learned           │
│                                 my principles of government.       │
│                                                                    │
│                                       He had been my friend        │
│                                    since childhood, but I          │
│                                    never knew the meaning          │
│                                    and the fire of oratory         │
│                                    until curiosity brought         │
│                                    me to the gallery of            │
│                                    the Assembly chamber in         │
│                                    the Stadt House, where          │
│                                    the barrister was on his        │
│                                    feet at the time.               │
│                                                                    │
│                                       In the House, Mr.            │
│                                    Swain spoke only under          │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          extraordinary emotion, and then he gained every           │
│          ear.  I looked and listened.  And I went again            │
│          and again.                                                │
│                                                                    │
│             So, when Mr. Allen brought forth for my                │
│          benefit those arguments of the King's party               │
│          which were deemed their strength, I would                 │
│          confront him with Mr. Swain's logic.  And when            │
│          beaten in argument, he could only laugh out               │
│          some sneer.                                               │
│                                                                    │
│             The rector was especially bitter toward the            │
│          good people of Boston Town, whom he dubbed                │
│          Puritan fanatics.  To him, Mr. Otis was but a             │
│          meddling fool, and Mr. Adams a traitor whose              │
│          head only remained on his shoulders by grace of           │
│          the extreme clemency of his Majesty--which,               │
│          indeed, Mr. Allen was at a loss to understand.            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                ut, come June, I bade farewell to Mr.               │
│                 Allen, and Mr. Carvel and I went to                │
│          Carvel Hall.  My grandfather was weak still, so           │
│          feeble that he had to be carried to his barge in          │
│          a chair, a vehicle he had ever held in scorn.             │
│                                                                    │
│             Yet he was cheerful, and his spirit remained           │
│          the same as of old.  Except for that spirit I             │
│          believe he would never again have risen from his          │
│          bed in Marlboro' Street.                                  │
│                                                                    │
│             My uncle and the rector were among those who           │
│          walked by his side to the dock, and would have            │
│          gone to the Hall with him had he permitted it.            │
│          But he was kind enough to say that my arm was             │
│          sufficient to lean on.                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             We had little company at the Hall that year,           │
│          on account of Mr. Carvel.  But I was busy                 │
│          indeed.  I sought with all my might to master a           │
│          business for which I had but little taste, and            │
│          my grandfather complimented me, before the                │
│          season was done, upon my management.                      │
│                                                                    │
│             I was wont to rise that summer at four of a            │
│          morning, to canter afield beside our factor, Mr.          │
│                         Rawlinson.  And I came to know             │
│                         the yield of every patch of                │
│                         tobacco to a hogshead, and the             │
│                         pound price to a farthing.                 │
│                                                                    │
│                             I grew to understand as well           │
│                          as another the methods of curing          │
│                          the leaf.  And the wheat pest             │
│                          appearing that year, I had the            │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│          good fortune to discover some of the clusters in          │
│          the sheaves, and I ground our oyster-shells in            │
│          time to save the crop.                                    │
│                                                                    │
│             Of none of this was I particularly fond.  But          │
│          the sight of the old man, trembling and tremulous,        │
│          aged by a single stroke, with his childlike trust         │
│          in my strength, and above all his faith in a              │
│          political creed which he deemed needful for the           │
│          soul's salvation--these things held me to my              │
│          duty.                                                     │
│                              _____                                 │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │
│                                                                    │