University of Virginia Library

6. CHAPTER VI.

Although youth has ever been heralded as the
season of enjoyment, yet few have attempted to
record the items which constitute the full measure
of its felicity, and a still less number would peruse
such detail with any degree of satisfaction.
So rapid are the transformations in the kaleidoscope
of youth, that it is a hopeless task to attempt to
sketch, with any degree of fidelity, their changeful
forms and hues; for, ere the varied tints of one combination
are transferred to the canvass, lo! the vision
has departed, to be succeeded by other views as
beauteous and as evanescent. But while this assertion
holds good in relation to the fleeting pleasures
of juvenility, the measure of its application is materially
changed when we proceed to the investigation
of those passions and feelings which, while they
are identified with individual enjoyment, exercise a
permanent influence over the destiny and after happiness
of their possessor. The attempt, indeed, to

explore the hidden recesses of human character, and
assign to each action its appropriate motive, must
be ever ineffectual, unless we can trace the visible
effect to its latent cause through all the sinuosities
of childhood, youth, and manhood.

With our hero the sunny period of youth was
rapidly receding; but, as the glittering pageant swept
along, it developed the springs that gave activity to
his feelings, at times imparting to them an unhealthy
impetus, and again retarding their progress by improper
obstructions. As we have before remarked,
the prominent defects of his mental structure were
remedied by the well-directed exertions of Mrs.
Clifton; but as perfection is not attainable in this
mundane sphere, there were periods when his natural
temperament would exhibit its constitutional failings
to a limited extent, thus operating as a partial
foil to the brightness of his general character.

During the earlier portion of his childhood, the
anomalous position he held in society was neither
understood nor appreciated; but as he advanced
in years he began slowly to comprehend that there
was something in his history that his foster parents
endeavoured to veil in obscurity; nor can it be
considered surprising that the desire to unravel
the mystery strengthened with his strength. Certain
it is that he had frequently alluded to the
subject in conversation with his protectors; but
Mrs. Clifton did not fail to perceive how destructive
would be the sad revelation to his peace of
mind, if made before his judgment was sufficiently

perfected to operate as a check upon the impetuosity
of his feelings. To every inquiry, therefore,
she replied evasively, assuring him that there were
good reasons to delay the recital, but that he might
expect to be made fully acquainted with the facts
whenever it was proper for her to detail them.
Ardently attached to his more than mother, he was
ashamed to continue importunities when he felt
satisfied that her resolution was not formed without
adequate cause, and he therefore determined
not again to introduce the subject until it should be
adverted to by Mrs. Clifton.

Meanwhile, his progress in his studies was such
as to excite the approbation of all who felt an interest
in his welfare. In the Latin and French
languages he had made great proficiency; but as
it was not the intention of Clifton and his wife to
give him a strictly classical education, he devoted
a large portion of his time to advancement in those
studies that were calculated to be beneficial to his
future interests. In arithmetic, bookkeeping, and
the elements of commercial law, he had become a
proficient; nor was he wanting in the more elegant,
but less practical, acquirements connected
with rhetoric and belles lettres.

As his education was rapidly approaching its
assigned limit, Clifton solicited Mr. de Lyle to exercise
his influence in procuring him a suitable
situation in a respectable mercantile establishment;
and as Sydney was a great favourite with the distinguished
merchant, he at once proposed to assign

him a station in his own counting-room. This
proposition was gratefully acceded to by all parties,
and but a few days were to elapse before it
would become necessary for the high-minded boy
to sever those youthful associations which had
been productive of so much unalloyed happiness.

How do we all fondly revert to the same period
in our individual history, and how vividly is the
parting scene imprinted on the tablet of memory!
Arrived, as it were, at the half-way point that divides
youth from manhood, we pause in doubt on
the threshold, scarcely knowing whether to direct
our eyes to the fascinations of the past, or to revel
in the hopes that illumine the vista of the future.

With such ardent feelings as were possessed by
Sydney, the friendships he had formed could not be
severed without many a bitter pang; and on the
night preceding the day that was to close his connexion
with the academy, its teachers, and pupils,
he endeavoured in vain to summon oblivion to his
aid, and arose in the morning unrefreshed by his
customary rest.

This was the day appointed for the usual half-yearly
examination; and as Sydney was impressed
with the importance of closing his academic career
with éclat, the composition he delivered succeeded
in eliciting the admiration of a numerous auditory,
who spontaneously awarded the palm of superiority
to the handsome, dark-eyed boy. As may be
inferred, his protectors found little interest in the
display of youthful rhetoric when their protegé had

delivered his essay, and they therefore retired to
their dwellings with feelings of honest pride swelling
in their breasts at the success of the child of
their affection. Not more than two hours had
elapsed after their return, when Sydney burst into
the room, pale and haggard, and exhibiting the
most violent symptoms of mental agony.

“Who am I? What am I? Am I, indeed, the
child of a murderer? Speak at once, or I shall
drop dead at your feet!” exclaimed the agitated
boy, as he rushed to the side of Mrs. Clifton and
buried his face in her bosom.

“Be calm, my son,” said that excellent woman,
“and you shall know all.”

As the crisis had evidently arrived when longer
concealment would be attended with the most calamitous
effects, his foster mother informed him of
all the circumstances with which the reader is already
acquainted. Most conclusively did she demonstrate
that, under the operation of our just and
equal code of laws, neither rank, fortune, nor character
is hereditary; that intelligence and virtue
are sure to gain for their possessor the esteem and
confidence of the community; and that, with a conscience
void of offence, he might pass by the taunts
of the malicious and the sneers of the envious as
he would the ravings of the idle wind.

Thus, mingling the consolations of religion and
an elevated philosophy with the exciting details of
the narrative, did Mrs. Clifton sooth the irritated
feelings of her protegé; and, at the conclusion of the

development, he exhibited much less agitation than
could have been expected from its gloomy character.

From Sydney they learned that the composition
of Edward de Lyle was so imperfect, both in
structure and language, that the teacher could not
refrain from expressing his disappointment and dissatisfaction;
and, as he contrasted the faults of
Edward's style with the beauties of Sydney's, his
reproof excited, in the bosom of the delinquent, the
most intense feeling of hatred for his innocent fellow
in the unlucky comparison. Burning with
rage, therefore, he no sooner left the academy than
he commenced abuse of Sydney, whom he stigmatized
as a low, base-born wretch, and the son of a
foul murderer and assassin, who cheated the gallows
by putting an end to his own life. Our hero
was almost overwhelmed by the shock of this
abrupt development; but, on his bullying assailant
repeating the indignity, to which he added the
epithet of coward, and contemptuously assaulted
him with a kick, the floodgates of his impetuous
feelings were thrown down, and, with the fury of
a lion, he attacked his insulting vilifier, whom he
left stretched on the pavement with but feeble
signs of vitality. As Edward was older and much
more athletic than his conqueror, the schoolboys
universally uttered a shout of triumph at the success
of Sydney, who was a general favourite.

The well-balanced mind of Mrs. Clifton perceived
the necessity of instantly acquainting Mr.

de Lyle with the facts, before he should receive
them through the distorted medium of Edward's
narrative; and Clifton, therefore, at once visited
that gentleman, and communicated the details we
have furnished to the reader; and on the following
morning the worthy protectors of the orphan had
the satisfaction of learning that the whole matter
was concluded by Edward's penitence for the insult,
who was directed by his father to apologize
to the injured party. To this Sydney would not
consent, but volunteered a reconciliation, and, to
all outward appearances, the affray was amicably
and finally disposed of.

As it is no part of our purpose to anticipate the
future progress of our history, we shall refrain from
penetrating the secrets of Edward's bosom to ascertain
whether his reconciliation with his playmate
was the result of his moral convictions, or whether
he still harboured sentiments of revenge towards
the author of his double discomfiture.