Fairfax, or, The master of Greenway Court :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Earl sat opposite in one of the carved-backed seats;
and, resting one arm upon a small table, prepared for business.
Two great deer-hounds lay at his feet, and altogether
he presented, in his rich costume of blue velvet, slashed and
ornamented with embroidery, an extremely picturesque
appearance, though the listless and melancholy expression
of his features seemed to indicate that his feelings were far
from cheerful.

On the table, beneath the hand of the Earl, lay a rudely-drawn
map of the frontier, and beside it were a number of
roughly-folded letters, and an inkstand, from which a long
eagle's quill rose, like a bulrush bowed by the wind.

As to Captain Wagner, that worthy was clad as usual in
his rough travelling dress, and heavy boots. One would
have imagined that the soldier never doffed these vestments,
so wholly a part of him did they seem; and it would have
astonished his acquaintances to have seen the huge sword
anywhere else than in its natural position, suspended from
the great broad belt, and between the athletic legs.

Lord Fairfax leaned back in his chair, and passed his
hand wearily over his brow. His features wore their ordinary
expression of gloomy, almost harsh repose, but from
time to time the grim, melancholy smile flitted over them.

“Thus, you see, Captain,” he said, at length, “that I want
assistance. The audacious attack upon my house here
which you have just related, proves that I was not wrong in
sending for you to come and help me. You think that this
was only a prowling band, and of no strength—mere pillagers
from the recesses of the mountains, come down on a
momentary foray, as we say in Scotland; you may be right
—I do not dispute it—in fact I agree with you. But that
the appearance of Indians, in any numbers, east of the
North Mountain, is a thing to take heed of, I need not tell
you. Besides, I have other information which I have laid
before you, to which you have listened attentively, and beyond
doubt carefully considered. It comes to me in right
of my office. I am Lord Lieutenant, or, as they say here,
County Lieutenant of Frederick and the adjoining shires,
and this information proves to me, that a great Indian attack
may be expected at any moment. I am not sure that
this day will pass in peace; that a runner will not, in an
hour from this time, burst into my presence to announce
an attack upon my manors on the South Branch.”

“Not improbable,” said the Captain, smoothing his moustache,
thoughtfully.

“Thus I have sent for you,” continued Lord Fairfax,
“and I thank you for your promptness. You have grown
hard in these encounters, and I know your military genius
perfectly well.”

“Thanks, my lord.”

“Look,” continued the Earl, pointing to the map; “all
these lands are, as you know, a part of my grant from the
Crown; this is the South Branch of the Potomac, and you
see these crosses. You know better than I do myself that
they are houses of settlers. I do not wish these Indian
devils to ruin my lands, to scare off settlers. I shall
never return to England at that rate.”

“Does your lordship think of going back?”

“Assuredly,” said Lord Fairfax, with a grim look; “I do
not expect to live all my days here in the wilderness.”

“I thought this was your chosen home.”

“You have thought wrongly, then. As soon as I have
collected money enough to re-purchase Denton, I shall return.”

“Denton, my lord?”

“The paternal estate.”

“How was it sold?”

“By my rascally guardians; the entail was cut off while I
was a minor, and thus the prophecy of old Lord Thomas,
the founder of our house, was fulfilled—but I shall disappoint
him yet.”

These words were uttered gloomily, but with a dark flush
upon the swarthy features of the Earl.

“What prophecy does your lordship allude to, pray?”
asked the Captain.

“Have you never heard it?”

“Never.”

“Listen, then; the story is not long. The house of Fairfax
had for its founder and head, Sir Thomas Fairfax, who
became, for services to the Crown, Earl of Fairfax, and Baron
of Cameron, somewhere about the year 1600. He was a
sagacious man, and held great sway in Yorkshire, where
lies Denton—my Denton it shall be again if there is money
enough in the province of Virginia to re-purchase it! You
do not understand, Captain Wagner, the feeling a man has
toward a place which not only his earliest years have been
passed in, but in which his house has lived for centuries.
I love Denton, its park, its chase, its hills, and flats and
forests; the old dining-room, the fencing gallery, the dogs
and horses—yes, the very rustle of the great oaks around
the door! Well, sir, that estate, as I said, was taken from
me, the entail was cut off by my guardians, who, I firmly
believe, were bribed to betray my interests. And so the
prophecy was fulfilled. But I have not told you what that

was. I have said that the founder of the Earldom was
Sir Thomas Fairfax, and he was the grandfather of the Parliamentary
General, the “Tom Fairfax,” of the civil war,
whom you have doubtless heard of—whose wife was present
at the mock trial of King Charles, and created so much confusion
by crying that her husband was too politic to be
there. But I digress. The character of his grandson, the
young general, had often caused Sir Thomas anxiety, and
so clear-sighted was the old first earl, that he foresaw that
this young man would ruin the house of Fairfax. This was
put regularly upon record. Charles Fairfax, son of the
first Earl, wrote it down. The old gentleman, walking in
his great parlor at Denton, about the year 1640—a century
ago—was much troubled. He said that something told him
that General Tom, and his descendants of the same name,
would bring the house of Fairfax to an end. It was fulfilled.
General Fairfax alienated his family estate to marry into a
powerful house. A century afterward, I felt the effect of
his act, and Denton escaped from my hands—I am here.”

The Earl paused and looked coldly through the window.

“And this exiled your lordship?” asked the Captain,
with sympathy; “this act of your guardians?”

“That and other things,” replied Lord Fairfax, a dark
shadow passing over his brow. “My life has been unfortunate
and tragic; Fate has sported with me, and woven a
wild mesh to entangle me; I have been mastered in the
struggle, and struck me down. But I'll not yield! Let a
million prophecies be hurled against me—let Fate do her
worst! I'll struggle and contend with her till I die!”

The Earl set his teeth close and was silent.

“That is right, my lord,” said Captain Wagner, approvingly:
“no brave man knocks under. I do not myself, believe
in prophecies, nor any such flummery—and even am a
disbeliever in witchcraft.”

“I have had doubts myself, on the subject of this latter,
and no longer place as much confidence in astrology either,

as I did formerly,” said the Earl, coldly. “A great seer in
Italy informed me that I would recover Denton, and hence
my struggling thus in the teeth of fate. I will struggle so
to the end—and I will collect every pistole in this colony, but
I will have it back.”

“You have a tolerable grant of land from his Majesty,
here, my lord, in place of the said Denton,” replied Captain
Wagner; “why not be content?”

“I am not content, because I am in fact a landless man.
I tell you, Captain Wagner, that as long as the oaks of Denton
are not mine—the old walls, the chase—everything—I'll
not rest.”

“Well, all that is natural, my lord.”

“Certainly. And now you will understand me perfectly.
I own a fourth of Virginia, and I wish to sell it.”

“Zounds!” said the Captain, “it's a glorious bit of land
to be in the market. I'd like to buy it.”

The Earl smiled gloomily.

“You may at least help me to make it attractive to settiers,
by grants to whom I aim at realizing what I need to
re-purchase Denton.”

“An empire for a plantation!” said the Captain; “but
every man to his humor. Your lordship is the best judge of
your own wishes—now, I'd take Virginia—but that's nothing.
I don't deny that there are drawbacks in the shape
of bloody savages, but we'll grind 'em, or I'll eat my own
head!”