University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.
MYSTERY ABOUT ANTONY BRADE.

Young Antony Brade had come to St. Bart's only
that fall, and, as has been seen, the boys soon found, or
fancied a mystery about him. It would have been difficult,
perhaps, to trace the prevailing opinion to any definite
source; but it had spread through the school, and
had stayed there, more or less strong and active, according
as it was fed, more or less often, from without
and within, by fresh supplies of conjecture. He was
generally thought to belong to some very important
family abroad; he either might be the heir-apparent of
royalty, for some reason sent off and concealed a great
way from home, or he might be a son of some family
lower than royalty, who, for whatever reason (as above),
had been sent away to be educated in this country;
most likely because this country was the greatest in the
world; and sent to the Rector of St. Bart's because “the
Caput” was one of the most illustrious scholars and
teachers in the world. It was not settled in this community
whether the Rector was in the secret of Antony's
origin, or partly in the secret, or not at all in the secret;
but it was a thing of course to the boys that the lad's
guardian in the city knew nothing further than that the
boy was to be watched over carefully, and that there
was plenty of money appropriated to his bringing-up.

Outside the school, among the families that called
themselves “society” in Eastham, an opinion of a somewhat
definite character had found a place, — that young
Brade was a Russian of high extraction and very great
expectations.

This started from some unknown source; but gained
its chief circulation from the lively interest taken in it
for several days together by Mr. Greenwood, who talked
with as many people, and said as many things, as anybody
in Eastham. He had got most of his education at
Harvard, and a degree in law from Michigan, and was
now occupied, as it was understood, with “railroad
business,” which allowed of his living quietly here, and
being one of the liveliest, if not most useful, members
of Eastham society, and of his having all the daytime
and evening to himself, and working only at such convenient
times as would not interfere with his own
pleasure, or that of others.

Mr. Greenwood had repeatedly discussed this subject
with much interest, never absolutely pronouncing for or
against the opinion; but, as he said, “A story, starting
from an unknown source in this way, and which cannot
be referred to any author, is precisely the material of
all early history in every country, — in Greece, in
Persia, in Rome, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in England,
in Peru, — and nobody can remember how many
other countries.”

This consideration weighed strongly with many intelligent
persons.

At St. Bart's, in spite of the greatness of this mystery,
or because of the mysteriousness of Antony's greatness,
the boys took him among them pretty quietly, much like
any other boy; yet there had been not a few silent onlookers,

when his trunk was unpacked, who expected to
see a crown roll out, or a purple robe unfolded, or some
strange implement or other fall to the floor. All these
were disappointed; for young Brade's clothes (though
of better quality than usual perhaps) were much like
the clothes of other young boys, — so many jackets and
trousers, so many shirts, so many pairs of socks, so many
drawers, so many flannel waistcoats. To be sure, a crown
stamped in gilding was indeed spied upon his prayer-book;
but, as it surmounted a stamped cross, almost
every one agreed that it marked no definite distinction
between Antony Brade and other Christians, although
one — Will Hirsett — held out as long as he could that
there was “just a little mite of difference — he could
see it well enough, though he could not point it out —
between that crown and others.”

When the Russian theory made its way within the
school limits, the boys were not long in applying their
quick wit and broad intelligence to the investigation in
the new direction. Hutchins, or Towne, or some one,
started the thought of putting in Brade's way a thing
which was especially national, and so would be a touchstone
that would bring the secret out at once. Such a
thing exactly, the boys thought, was the famous “Russian
Imperial Kezan Soap” of Mr. Diogenes Smith, Pharmacopeist.
Half a dozen cakes of this “inimitable article”
they procured, through Mr. Parmenter going to the city,
at wholesale price; and one or more of these, in flaming
labels, they put in the supposed young Russian's way,
but all without appreciable result.

Boys are not slow or scrupulous, within certain limits,
short of what seems to them unkind or rude, about
seeking to make their fellows satisfy curiosity; and so

the mysterious new-comer had, from time to time, been
questioned, but as he had, the first time the subject of
his family was directly inquired into, galloped off with
a laugh, and said, “Oh, yes! I'm a very great man, of
course;” and the next time had told his curious young
friends that he had neither father nor mother, and was
embarrassed and pained whenever it was approached,—
the result was supposed to have confirmed the mysteriousness
of his origin; and if the curiosity was not so
sharp after a little while as at the outset, the only reason
probably was that curiosity will, like other things, lose
its edge and become dull when tried upon something
too hard for it. That he was an excellent scholar, and
as willing to work as he was quick at learning, no one
could help seeing, and no one could deny that he was a
very kind-hearted, obliging young fellow. So he was
a leading scholar in the Third Form, though one of the
youngest boys in it, and bade fair to be a distinguished
member of the school, as time went on.

Several things which bore upon the question, the boys
had observed about him. No parent or other relation
had visited him at the school; his letters at first had
come addressed by his guardian on the outside, although
more than one boy was sure of having seen a lady's
delicate writing enclosed, which, from Antony's eagerness
to read it, and tenderness after reading it, was concluded
to be his mother's. Latterly — some said, since
this woman in black came — he had received no letters
and wrote none; and it was observed that, when others
were writing or reading letters, he generally kept away.
This at least was the rumor among the younger boys
with whom he most associated.

Now, however convenient this might be to somebody

(perhaps his father and mother, who might be pretending
to be dead), or whatever purpose it might answer,
yet practically it deprived the young fellow of a home,
or made him homeless. All this had been often enough
discussed, and public opinion at St. Bart's held itself in
suspense.

This last circumstance — the loneliness of young Antony,
in spite of his supposed lofty extraction — occasioned
a pretty general feeling of compassion for him,
until it was found that he needed nothing of that sort;
and then, as he was very likable in himself, all the boys
of the school held him in more or less of tender regard,
as no other boy at the time was held. He was nicknamed
sometimes “King,” sometimes “Duke,” sometimes
“Royalty,” sometimes “Your Highness;” but
boys' nicknames are never meant to hurt each other,
and are given and taken with equal indifference, and in
this case Antony answered to any of these names as
readily and as gravely as he would have answered to
the name of his family, or to that given him in baptism.