University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.

The observer of nature in all her phases cannot
fail to have remarked the tendency of mind and matter
to form alliances with their opposites. The delicate
tendrils of the vine embrace the trunk of the
sturdy oak with sympathetic tenacity; by the side
of the mountain torrent, and on the verge of the dizzy
precipice, flowers, the beauty of whose tints shame
the colours of the rainbow, scatter their richest perfumes;
and around the riven arch, the prostrate column,
and the mouldering fane, vegetation arrays her
most gorgeous trophies.

Although, in the animal world, the beautiful prediction
in the inspired volume, that the “lion shall
lie down with the lamb,” has not yet been fulfilled,
still instances of attachment between natures not
less incongruous are not wanting, to puzzle the wits
of the seeker after analogies and affinities. In
the great collection of wild beasts in the royal
menagerie of London, the lordly lion formed an attachment
of the most endearing character with a
whiffet that was thrown into his cage to be devoured;
and an array of well-authenticated facts of the like
description could be produced, if necessary, to establish
the prevalence of this characteristic in the
brute creation.

But if the material and animal world abound with
proofs of the verity of the hypothesis, in man the phenomenon
has achieved its most wonderful triumph.
At every step of our journey along the highway
of life, we meet gentleness and modesty hand in
hand with blustering arrogance, high-souled integrity
paired with smooth-faced deceit, and unbridled licentiousness
sustaining the form of unsullied purity.
The attachment of ladies below the ordinary size
to gentlemen of the grenadier standard is proverbial;
while genius, with its sublime aspirations, its
delicate perception of the beautiful and the grand,
and its longings for ideal excellence, is not unfrequently
content to wed with folly and deformity.
Whether the ancient practice of placing an individual
near the person of the monarch who was professionally

known as the “king's fool,” originated
in this eccentricity of nature, or whether the beams
that emanated from the wisdom of royalty were
too intense to be gazed on by the multitude without
summoning the shadows of folly to mitigate
their force, is not for transatlantic republicans to
determine.

Well are we aware that there have not been wanting
rebellious and perverse democrats, who have
insinuated that the “king's fool” was selected for
the sole purpose of diverting public attention from
the imbecility of the “Lord's anointed;” and some
have not scrupled to aver that the fool often possessed
the wiser head of the two; but slanders
so gross carry with them their own refutation, and
happily relieve us veritable historians from the
necessity of chastising their authors.

But in whatever form this attraction in apparent
opposites has displayed itself in others, certain it
is that Glenthorne and the female with whom he
consorted afforded a most striking illustration of
its existence and its power.

In her, nature had combined the beauty of form
and purity of mind that give so powerful a charm
to the female character. Educated under the supervision
of tender and affectionate parents, her
budding charms, as they developed themselves in
early womanhood, were only equalled by the fascinations
of her mind; and at the age of nineteen
she might have been pronounced one of the most
beautiful and accomplished ladies of whom the continent

of America could boast. If she possessed
any constitutional defect, it was that of exaggerated
susceptibility to all the influences of passion
and feeling, lending a tinge of romance to a mind
that would otherwise have possessed the perfection
of judgment and discrimination.

Glenthorne, on the contrary, without originally
possessing all the faults that marked his subsequent
career, was stern, licentious, vindictive, and overbearing.
Long previous to his acquaintance with
his unfortunate victim, his passions had attained a
complete mastery over his judgment; and, as has
been seen in his interview with Maddox, even the
most powerful considerations of personal safety
failed to restrain his unruly temper within prudent
limits.

At the time of their first acquaintance he had
numbered nearly twice her years; and although his
education was such as entitled him to a respectable
station in mixed society, yet the cultivation of his
mental powers had failed to remove a certain air
of vulgar assurance that did not pass without remark
from impartial observers. To the lady, however,
he proved irresistible; and the first intimation
that her relatives had of her attachment was
conveyed in a brief letter written by herself on
eloping with her lover. With their subsequent
career, up to the period in which they were introduced
to the reader, this portion of our history has
no connexion, and we therefore return to the

humble dwelling in which they temporarily resided.

To the exhausted female, the repose that followed
scenes of so exciting and agitating a tendency
was calm and overpowering; but to her guilty
companion no such boon was vouchsafed. Goaded
by the demon of remorse, and shuddering at the
dark precipice that yawned in fearful distinctness
before him, his fancy continually conjured up images
of detection and punishment which no efforts
of judgment could dissipate. Wearied at length
with vain attempts to silence the voice of the monitor
within, he gently glided from the side of his
mistress, and, after hastily arranging his dress,
lighted a taper, and continued to pace the floor in
a state of feeling that was in itself a heavy punishment
of his offences. This occupation had been
pursued but for a brief space, when several voices
heard in the street directly opposite the house
were quickly succeeded by a gentle tap at the
outer door, which was from time to time repeated,
until a cartman, who occupied lower apartments
in the dwelling, demanded the cause of so unseasonable
an intrusion. The reply was couched
in terms sufficiently ambiguous; but, after a brief
colloquy, the door was opened, and the heavy tread
of several persons was heard passing through the
narrow hall and ascending the flight of steps that
led to the apartment of the sleepless Glenthorne.

While these events were taking place below, he
again had resort to the bottle; and, after a lengthened

draught, he summoned those energies which
had on all former occasions developed powers
equal to the emergency, but which appeared on
the present to fail in directing him to any feasible
plan of escape.

Resorting, therefore, to the desperate resolution
of selling his life as dearly as possible, he grasped
his pistols, and awaited in silence the appearance
of his captors.

After a brief conversation in an under tone, in
which the quickened ear of Glenthorne detected
the voice of Maddox, a powerful assault was made
on the door, the fastenings of which proved treacherous,
and the assailants rushed in a body into the
room. The report of two pistols followed in rapid
succession, and the heavy fall of one of the intruders
attested the fatal skill that had been exhibited
in their discharge.

A shrill and almost childlike shriek succeeded;
and, casting his eyes on the prostrate form of the
wounded individual, Glenthorne recognised the
youth whose presence at the tavern was noticed
in the previous chapter.

“Confound the foolish boy,” he muttered through
his teeth; “why did he thrust his womanish face
between me and the scoundrel Maddox? I'd barter
my hopes of heaven for another shot at that
villain's heart.”

The strong grasp of the minions of the law interrupted
his vindictive speech; and appearing convinced
of the futility of farther attempts at resistance,

he passively submitted to the manacles that
were placed on his arms. As may be inferred,
these eventful occurrences did not fail to arouse
the sleeping inmates of the apartment.

So sudden was the onset, and so rapidly passed
the events that succeeded, that the bewildered female
was incapable of comprehending the nature of
the uproar, until the fall of the youth and the seizure
of Glenthorne developed the catastrophe in all its
horrors. Springing from the bed in her night clothes,
and insensible to everything but the safety of him
she loved, she rushed to his side in an agony of
terror.

By this time Maddox, who, on the discharge of
Glenthorne's pistols, had prudently retired to the rear
of the party, now that he was secured, valiantly
placed himself forward and confronted his enemy.

“Aha!” said he, “my jockey, you're caged at
last. So you thought to wing me, did you? You
ought to know that I'm too old to be upset in that
way. You always go off half cocked; but, as the
Kentuckians say, you're not a priming to me. I'll
have the satisfaction of seeing you dance upon nothing
any how. Well, well, I'm of a forgiving temper,
and after your neck is well stretched I'll cry
quits.”

With this harangue the speaker placed his arms
akimbo, and with an insulting leer at the prisoner,
grinned in evident triumph.

As the last words fell from his lips, Glenthorne's
eyes flashed and his face reddened; and raising his

arms, he made a rush at Maddox, designing to fell
him with the manacles with which his wrists were
confined; but the wary eye of that worthy detected
the movement in time to escape the blow. Justly
supposing that there might still be danger in too
close proximity to such a desperate prisoner, he
again took up his position in the rear.

Meanwhile the wounded youth was stripped of his
coat and vest, when it was found that the bullet had
passed through his breast near the region of the
heart; and from the fact that but little blood flowed
outwardly, it was judged that the internal hemorrhage
was proportionably great. As they applied the
light to his naked breast, the prisoner rushed forward
with the most violent symptoms of agitation;
and gazing as if his eyeballs would leap from their
sockets at the semblance of an eagle that was imprinted
in India ink in the upper part of the shoulder
of the sufferer, he exclaimed, in tones of heartrending
agony, “My child, my child,” and fell prostrate
across his victim. There are periods when the
miseries of years appear to concentrate in a single
moment of horror; and as the prostrate Glenthorne
raised his head from the position it had occupied on
the form of the wounded youth, the change that had
taken place in his features was absolutely fearful.

His ruddy and flushed cheek had assumed an unearthly
ghastliness; his eyeballs appeared to have
retreated to the very depths of their cavities; his
nostrils were compressed like those of one on whom
the angel of death had set his seal; and his livid

lip and the distorted muscles of his face were terrible
witnesses of the giant shock that had shattered
every fibre of his frame. If Salvator Rosa could
have viewed the group that now presented itself,
his master genius would not have been unworthily
employed in its delineation.

The athletic and muscular frame of the prisoner,
his limbs still quivering with the intensity of his
agony; the elegant but attenuated form of his female
companion, whose sunken eyes were gazing in his
face with eager and inquiring solicitude; the wounded
youth, whose compressed lips and frequent moans
indicated his sufferings; the group of officials, their
strongly-marked features partially cast in shadow;
the shrinking Maddox, with subdued apprehension
still resting on his repulsive countenance; the shivering
child, that had quietly crept near the female;
and the astonished terrier protruding his head from
beneath the bed, where he had retreated on the entrance
of the assailants, were the prominent objects
that would have glowed upon the canvass.

It is unnecessary to detail the events that occurred
before the removal of the prisoner. Suffice
it to say that the wounded youth was placed on the
bed, and that a messenger was despatched for a surgeon
to minister to his relief. The female hastily
arranged her dress, and with a countenance on
which the traces of violent emotions were still visible,
prepared to follow her protector to the cells of
the watchhouse, whither he was about to be conducted.
To this determination both the prisoner

and the officers urged many objections, but no persuasion
could induce her to abandon her purpose.
As the party issued from the house, they found that
a chilly and drenching rain had succeeded the close
of a gloomy day, while the wind, which blew in
fitful gusts, rendered the storm peculiarly severe on
those who, like the female and child, were clad in
light summer dresses. Little, however, did the unfortunate
victim of unlicensed passion heed the rude
encounter of the elements. The master grief that
held possession of her mind permitted no rival, and
she therefore moved on in that hopeless misery
which admits of neither consolation nor forgetfulness.
As they passed through the silent and deserted
streets, the thoughts of Glenthorne involuntarily
reverted to the period when a youth, with heart
bounding with rapture, he first threaded their windings.
Rapidly did the prominent events that had
marked his career, from that happy state of innocence
to the present cheerless moment, pass in review
before him, and startling was the groan that
issued from the depths of his bosom at the survey.

At length the dark outline of a large building,
whose subterraneous recesses were occupied for the
purposes of a watch-house, was imperfectly defined
by the lamplight, and soon the prisoner and his attendants
were confronted with the burley form of
that autocrat in his own dominions, the captain of
the watch. The individual to whom was intrusted
this important duty on the present occasion was
some fifty years of age, and his corpulent figure, and

florid and self-satisfied countenance, attested the perfection
to which he had arrived in practically attaining
the philosophy of good living. As he occupied
the judgment-seat, which was considerably elevated
above the floor of the apartment, he threw himself
back in his elbow-chair, and, placing his arms akimbo,
cast on the prisoner a look which, if it failed to
intimidate that individual, was evidently intended by
the consequential dignitary as a floorer.

“What is this ugly-looking rascal brought in for?”
was his first inquiry of the officers.

Briefly they informed his worship of the manifold
crimes that were laid at the door of the prisoner, and
most indignant was that respectable functionary at
their enormity.

“I knowed the fellow was a scoundrel when I
first laid eyes on him,” resumed the captain. “I
say, Mr. Jimmerson,” he continued, addressing an
individual who was occupied in recording the name
and alleged crime of the delinquent, “didn't you
hear me call him a villanous-looking rascal when he
first comed up? It takes me to know these here
chaps. If I get my eyes on 'em, they can't come
over me with their nonsense.”

To this eulogy on his superior judgment of physiognomy,
Mr. Jimmerson responded most fully;
but some of the “Charlies” in the background
turned up the white of their eyes, twisted their
mouths in outlandish shapes, and by other unseem-ly
gestures testified their dissent from the verdict
in favour of their captain's sagacity.

“Tim,” whispered one in the ear of his companion,
“the captain twigged the handcuffs; that's
what made him so hard on that fellow.”

“Ay, ay,” muttered the listener; “between
ourselves, he's a devilish old fool. If I couldn't
make a better captain out of the maple in our shop,
I wish I may be shot.”

But why record these mutinous evidences of the
perversity of our species? Does not the experience
of every day attest the fact that aldermen
and assistants, yea, mayors and governors, and
even presidents, cannot escape similar aspersions?
Nay, did not a wicked editor, but a few days since,
publicly state in his columns, that a certain judge
therein named should be tried, convicted, and sentenced
for murdering the king's English? But, as
these reflections are powerless to correct this evil
in the body politic, we will return to our history.
On proceeding to place Glenthorne in a solitary
cell, it was found necessary to remove the female
from his neck, to which she clung with convulsive
tenacity.

After inquiring on what charge she was detained,
and learning that she was not implicated,
the captain bade her retire; but on her earnest
solicitations to be permitted to remain, backed by
those of the officers, her request was granted, and
she therefore joined the motley ranks of houseless
vagrants or benighted wanderers that were scattered
on the benches of this reservoir of crime,
poverty, and dissipation. As she placed the wearied

child on her lap, her fancy depicted scenes of
misery in the vista to which those of the past were
happiness, and sighs, such as issue alone from the
depths of a broken heart, continued audibly to interrupt
the silence of her prison-house.