67.
Chapter LXVII.
THE ADMIRAL'S STORY OF THE BEAUTIFUL BELINDA.
Just at this moment Flora Bannerworth stole into the room from whence she
had departed a short time since; but when she saw that old Admiral Bell was
looking so exceedingly serious, and apparently about to address Henry upon
some very important subject, she would have retired, but he turned towards
her, and said, —
"My story, my dear, I've no objection to your hearing, and, like all
women folks, a love story never comes amiss to you: so you may as well stay
and hear it." —"A love story," said Flora; "you tell a love story, sir?"
"Yes, my dear, and not only tell it, but be the hero of it, likewise;
ain't you astonished?" —"I am, indeed."
"Well, you'll be more astonished then before I've done; so just listen.
As Jack Pringle says, it was the matter of about somewhere forty years ago,
that I was in command of the Victory frigate, which was placed upon the West
Indian station, during a war then raging, for the protection of our ports and
harbours in that vicinity. We'd not a strong force in that quarter,
therefore, I had to cut about from place to place, and do the best I could.
After a time, though, I rather think that we frightened off the enemy; during
which time I chiefly anchored off the island of Antigua, and was hospitably
received at the house of a planter, of the name of Marchant, who, in fact,
made his house my home, and introduced me to all the elite of the society of
the island. Ah! Miss Flora, you've no idea, to look at me now, what I was
then; I held a captain's commission, and was nearly the youngest man in the
service, with such a rank. I was as slender, ay, as a dancing master. These
withered and bleached locks were black as the raven's plume. Ay, ay, but no
matter: the planter had a daughter."
"And you loved her?" said Flora —"Loved her," said the old man, and the
flush of youthful animation came to his countenance; "I loved her, do you say!
I adored her; I worshipped her; she was to me —but what a d——d old fool I
am; we'll skip that if you please."
"Nay, nay," said Flora; "that is what I want to hear." —"I haven't the
least doubt of that, in the world; but that's just what you won't hear; none
of your nonsense, Miss Flora; the old man may be a fool, but he isn't quite an
idiot."
"He's neither," said Flora; "true feelings can never disgrace any one."
—"Perhaps not; but, however, to make a long story short, somehow or other,
one day, Belinda was sitting alone, and I rudely pounced upon her; I rather
think then I must have said something that I oughtn't to have said, for it
took her so aback; I was forced, somehow or other, to hold her up, and then I
—I —yes; I'm sure I kissed her; and so, I told her I loved her; and then,
what do you think she said?"
"Why," said Flora, "that she reciprocated the passion." —"D—n my
rags," said Jack, who at that moment came into the room, "I suppose that's the
name of some shell or other."
"You here, you villain!" said the admiral; "I thought you were gone." —
"So I was," said Jack, "but I came back for my hat, you see."
Away he went again, and the admiral resumed his story.
"Well, Miss Flora," he said, "you haven't made a good guess, as she
didn't say anything at all, she only clung to me like some wild bird to its
mother's breast, and cried as if her heart would break." —"Indeed!"
"Yes; I didn't know the cause of her emotion, but at last I got it out of
her." —"What was it?"
"Oh, a mere trifle; she was already married to somebody else, that's all;
some d——d fellow, who had gone trading about the islands, a fellow she
didn't care a straw about, that was old enough to be her father."
"And you left her?" —"No, I didn't. Guess again. I was a mad-headed
youngster. I only felt —I didn't think. I persuaded her to come away with
me. I took her aboard my ship, and set sail with her. A few weeks flew like
hours; but one day we were hailed by a vessel, and when we neared her, she
manned a boat and brought a letter on board, addressed to Belinda. It was
from her father, written in his last moments. It began with a curse and ended
with a blessing. There was a postscript in another hand, to say the old man
died of grief. She read it by my side on the quarter-deck. It dropped from
her grasp, and she plunged into the sea. Jack Pringle went after her; but I
never saw her again."
"Gracious Heavens! what a tragedy!" —"Yes, tolerable," said the old
man.
He arose and took his hat and placed it on his head. He gave the crown
of it a blow that sent it nearly over his eyes. He thrust his hands deep into
his breeches pockets, clenched his teeth, and muttered something inaudible as
he strode from the apartment.
"Who would have thought, Henry," said Flora, "that such a a man as
Admiral Bell had been the hero of such an adventure?" —"Ay, who indeed; but
it shows that we never can judge from appearances, Flora; and that those who
seem to us the most heart-whole may have experienced the wildest vicissitudes
of passion."
"And we must remember, likewise, that this was forty years ago, Henry,
which makes a material difference in the state of the case as regards Admiral
Bell."
"It does indeed —more than half a lifetime; and yet how evident it was
that his old feelings clung to him. I can well imagine the many hours of
bitter regret which the memory of this his lost love must have given him."
"True —true." I can feel something for him; for have I not lost one
who loved me —a worse loss, too, than that which Admiral Bell relates; for
am I not a prey to all the horrors of uncertainty? Whereas, he knew the
worst, and that, at all events, death had claimed its victim, leaving nothing
to conjecture in the shape of suffering, so that the mind had nothing to do
but to recover slowly, but surely, as it would, from the shock which it had
received."
"That is worse than you, Flora; but rather would I have you cherish hope
of soon beholding Charles Holland, probably alive and well, than fancy any
great disaster has come over him."
"I will endeavour to do so," replied Flora.
"I long to hear what has become of Dr. Chillingworth. His disappearance
is most singular; for I fully suspected that he had some particular object in
view in getting possession for a short time of Bannerworth Hall; but now, from
Jack Pringle's account, he appears not to be in it, and, in fact, to have
disappeared completely from the sight of all who knew him."
"Yes," said Flora; "but he may have done that, brother, still in
furtherance of his object."
"It may be so, and I will hope that it is so. Keep yourself close,
sister, and see no one, while I proceed to his house to inquire if they have
heard anything of him. I will return soon, be assured; and, in the meantime,
should you see my brother, tell him I shall be at home in an hour or so, and
not to leave the cottage; for it is more than likely that the admiral has gone
to Bannerworth Hall, so that you may not see anything of him for some time."
—
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