The perils of beauty
Chamier, Frederick, 1796-1870
\>^''Kt^ /^4'/fc (M<rf/fn'/ LI B R.AR.Y OF THE U N IVER5ITY or ILLINOIS 823 ^1^=^^^ ^m THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. BY CAPTAIN CHAMIER, R.N., AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF A SAILOR," "REN BRACE," "JACK ADAMS," &c. " Unequal task ! a passion to resign, For hearts so touched, so pierced, so lost, as mine ! Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state. How often must it love — how often hate ! How often hope, despair, resent, regret. Conceal, disdain— c/o all things hut forget! ' Pope. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. m. LONDOlSi : HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1843. LONDON : F. SHOI^ERr., JUK., 51,RDPERT STREET, HAYMARKRT, PRINTER TO H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT. g2 3 V.3 ^ THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. CHAPTER XXVIII. Macintosh now began to see a new dawn. Schooled by other adventurers, he had begun to operate for himself. The mines of Mexico had done their best and worst ; about six mil- lions of money had been wasted, frittered away, sunk in the holes from which they were to have drawn more. He then went to France, under the idea that he could wring some money from that half-pauper country ; and, failing in his endeavours in the capital, he tried the provinces. There he met with the VOL. III. B 2 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. success he anticipated. France, after a ten years' continuation of the most frivolous de- bates, had begun to thinkofrailroads'and steam engines, and Macintosh, having discovered a hole in the ground near Nantes, bethought him of buying the same for a trifling sum — calling it an iron and coal mine — raising shares — managing the concern, and, very shortly after enriching himself, leave the com- pany to be buried in the grave of their own purchase. It was true that some coal and some iron was once got from this mine ; but it was nearly exhausted, w^as half filled with water, and was not now working. No sooner, however, did the proprietor of this valuable property find that an Englishman was eager to buy it, than he began to raise, not the water, but the. price. He had offered it, until he was tired of mentioning it, for one hun- dred thousand francs. Now he raised his price to two hundred and fifty thousand francs. The brilliant idea instantly occurred to Macintosh to enter into a negociation for the mine at that sum, but by no means to THE PERILS or BEAUTY. o close the bargain ; then to make a flourish in England by advertisements (that food of all English cormorants after wealth) — raise fifty thousand pounds in shares — purchase the mine with this money — and, after disposing of the rest, in the most honest manner, declare the concern bankrupt, and purchase it again at about the original price ; he himself never being a partner, but the managing director. This was the specious scheme into which he was now enticing the husband of Alice. To gain his point, he bound his victim, Alice, to forward the speculation ; he threatened her ruin — her shame— her exposure — if she revolted, and he was now about to carry out his great imdertaking. The morning following the scene we have described, Macintosh, in his conversation, ven- tured to advise Masterman to keep his specu- lation, or at least the amount of it, from his wife. Women, he said, never understood money affairs ; they were miserable financiers ; and although he had deluged the world with B 2 4 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. writings on the currency question, they still remained as ignorant as babies in their cradle. Masterman thought this very good advice, more especially as he wished to keep all his wealth to himself, and the conversation finished by Masterman taking shares to the amount of twelve thousand pounds, five of which was advanced for young Mopus. Macintosh had not passed through Paris for nothing. If he failed with the clear- sighted French themselves, he was successful with one or two English, who, having little, and being inclined to get more, were led astray by the bland and engaging manner of this daring adventurer. The money was no sooner paid, than Macintosh called upon his victim, Mopus — congratulated him upon the certainty of his realizing a large fortune, and of having so useful a friend as Masterman — put into his hands an acknowledgment of his having received the five thousand pounds as consideration for a certain number of shares in the Nantes Coal and Iron Mines — compli- mented young Mopus on his beautiful pro- THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 5 nunciation of French — and, lastly, tried with great success to induce the son to draw the father into the speculation. The name of Sir Dionysius would induce many to follow the example of one so famed for the accuracy of his judgment and the clearness of his fore- sight. It was an excuse, if one was wanting, to visit Masterman, to give him his receipts ; and he called purposely when he had seen him go out ; then, with the right of a privi- leged friend, he desired to be announced to Alice. The poor girl trembled when he entered ; never had woman so misplaced her confidence ; and yet the brilliancy of the eye, the com- manding stature of the man, his intelligent countenance, and his soft, silky expressions, with all the warmth, all the fire, of his pas- sionate discourse when he had wooed and won her, still kept alive some almost extin- guished sparks of her former love. To win a woman, a passionate volubility, sparkling eyes, and quivering lips, will succeed where 6 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. calmness and sincerity will be unavailing. Macintosh could speak of affection with all the stillness of emasculated passion — he could picture the romantic visions which haunt the brain of the credulous and warm the blood of the passionate — master of himself, he watched every variation of feature in his intended victim, and his untiring patience and perseverance almost invariably led to success. " Well, Alice," he began, " I have ealled to congratulate you on your prudence, and once more to call upon your love to forward my views. You are silent ! but, as I have something to demand, perhaps you show your discretion in becoming a listener. I have this day heard that the death of Frederick Clincher and his wife has so paralysed their parents that Hughes Everett has died, and the x\d- miral has been ordered to France by his doc- tor— that change of scene and of air may contribute to restore his health. He seems to care more about his son having deserted his profession than for his death. Snimens, THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 7 finding the heiress averse to him, has con- sented to marry his first love. I must have the other, and, if possible, be before Snimens ; for, if he is first married, he will never let me into the family. Sit down, therefore, and write me a strong letter to your old one- legged admirer, and speak of me in all the fervour of our former acquaintance — such, for instance, as may be found in this letter (showing one of her own passionate epistles of former days). I must go to France di- rectly; so delay not the letter, but begin at once. Do you hesitate ?" " I am so lost, so fallen, so heart-broken, that I have but one resource which can inspire my hope. Here, at your feet, Mr. Macintosh, I implore you, on my knees, drive me not into desperation, nor plunge me further in guilt." '' The woman's mad !" said Macintosh, as he raised her up. " What guilt is there in your telling the Admiral how long you have known me, and in your borrowing a few past thoughts for present occasion ? I do not ask 8 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. you to be the means of my introduction. I have introduced myself; but I want a letter to the Admiral, declaratory of our long ac- quaintance; and one to Caroline, in which you will mention how often I have spoken of her, and the conviction on your mind that I love her. These hints inspire thoughts ; and, if once a girl has an object before her, it grows familiar with the mind, and prepares the heart to receive an impression which love may in- delibly stamp. Come — my time is precious." " I cannot, and I will not do it — it is enough that you have already drawn my husband into your mesh of dangerous speculations. Woman as I am, and unaccustomed as I may be to discourse on these subjects, yet I am clear- sighted enough to see the result. My husband and myself ruined — the son of my oldest and best friend entrapped in the same rash ven- ture — the blight cast upon my own family — and now another victim sought, through my influence, to swell the triumph of the most degraded of mankind — with only one inferior to yourself, and that the wretch that stands THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 9 before you, and who, not a moment past, knelt at your feet, in the foolish hope that your heart might yet retain one spark of honour, one gleam of affection." All the best feelings which this unfortunate girl still retained seemed to animate her words, and there was a resolution in her manner which would have startled most men from their pur- pose. Macintosh knew the sex better than to inflame a passionate woman by an equally passionate answer. He burst into a fit of laughter, and begged to ask if her mother had taught her that speech by heart, or out of what book she might have obtained it ? Then, taking her hand, which she in vain at- tempted to withdraw, he said — " Fair Alice, you have known me long enough to know that neither you, nor your husband, nor all your acquaintances, could ever turn me from a pursuit or daunt me in an undertaking which I have resolved to ac- complish. between you an everlasting apple of discord. At this I rejoice — for, in spite of your fine- flown sentences, and your worst opinion of me, I envy that man the charms of Alice Master- man ; and I felt an inward satisfaction when I heard him check you with some asperity, for your interference. Why then struggle in the toils which must ensure your captivity ! — You are mine — bound to me by every volun- tary tie. You have subjected yourself to me, and must either obey my commands or meet the vengeance of my displeasure. All other passions, appetites, and feelings dwindle into insignificance when opposed to my re- venge. Baulk me in my endeavour, pretty Alice, and the hissings and bowlings which will accompany your exposure shall be my sweetest music. My determination is fixed as the course of the sun. Write that letter, or your ruin is irrevocable — there is the paper — write." " Never! — In spite of your cowardly re- venge, though every thing conspires to hurl me from my envied situation and plunge me THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 1 1 into poverty and disgrace, I tell you I will not write this letter, nor will I ever see you again. Spare yourself and me the horror of further contest." Had a flash of lightning dashed across the face of Macintosh, it would not have illu- mined it more than the fire which seemed emitted from his eyes ; his face resembled a demon's, his lips quivered with rage, he seemed to breathe with difficulty, and, whilst this in- dication of the volcano of his mind gave warn- ing of the eruption about to follow, he riveted his eagle eyes upon his victim, and folded his arms, as if firmly to press upon his heart and stop its rapid pulsation. Alice met his look with all the dignity of courage, aided by returning virtue ; and, desperate as was the resolution she had adopted, she had courage enough to fulfil it. For this resolution she must brave shame, dishonour, and contempt, become an outcast, lose her husband, and see her name, her family, and her connexions blighted and blasted by the virulence of public scorn. 12 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. '* Hear me, before I go for ever, excepting those times when my name shall be announced to you as the warning of a calamity near at hand ; for then I shall be present to you. By that Heaven which is above us, and which neither of us can enter, and that hell which is below, and gaping to receive us, I will be true to my purpose, and in this you shall never accuse me of falsehood. If you refuse to write this letter, this day shall be your last of comfort and security. As yet your secret is safe — as yet you are believed immaculate — as yet you are beloved. Choose between doing that which cannot turn me from my course — for I shall marry her if it suits my conve- nience—or prepare to find your grandeur tot- tering beneath you, and feel the withering contempt of those who now cringe to you in all the subserviency of dependence. Look at that poor woman who is dragging after her those miserable, ragged, half-famished chil- dren— that woman shall be rich to you — shall be envied by you — and gladly shall you avail yourself of such a disguise to escape the THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. IS greater loathing of society, which shall shun you as a pest, and regard you as an apple from the shores of the Dead Sea — fair to sight, but ashes within. I have spoken — I await your answer." " It is thus—" said the now fearless woman, and she rang the bell. ** Remember, Alice, remember my words — remember by what I have sworn." " Show Mr. Macintosh the door," said Alice, in a firm tone of voice. " I have the pleasure of wishing Mrs. Master- man good morning," said Macintosh, " and likewise a long continuance of health, wealth, and happiness." He made her a most respectful bow, which she answered by a most dignified curtsey, and, as the door closed, she fell upon the sofa and fainted. 14 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. CHAPTER XXIX. Admiral Clincher, after having heard that his son survived his companions, and had landed at New York in a very precarious state of health, immediately resolved to cross the Atlantic, and made preparations for so doing ; but, before he had made his necessary arrange- ments, another ship arrived, which announced his son's death ; and nearly on the same day he received a very kind letter from the captain of the Snarler, mentioning his having been obliged to write to the Admiral on the station, and report also to the Admiralty the absence of his son. From his infancy the Admiral had been attached to the service ; he had always re- THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 15 garded it as the main stay of the country, and he looked to the wooden walls of old England as its best and surest defence ; he had been brought up in the strict school of discipline, and he considered that hanging at Tyburn or at the Old Bailey was far preferable to being dismissed from that service to which it was his greatest pride to belong. It is a fact, that the gallant old officer felt the letter of the captain with more poignancy of regret than even the one which announced his death. " When I placed him," he said, " in that ser- vice where a man is daily and hourly exposed to peril, I steeled my heart to hear of his death, for I thought it not unlikely; but never, never did I anticipate that my son could be- come a deserter, or have an R placed against his name. Now I care not how soon I am placed in the grave, since my name is dis- graced." '' The doctor, sir," said Marling, as he ushered in an old shipmate of the Admiral's. Loud was the conversation which ensued, the Admiral asserting that he wished to die. 16 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. as his name was disgraced ; and the doctor, giving a direct negative to both the assertions. The conversation finished by the doctor be- coming the senior officer, and ordering his patient, whom he considered somewhat in- clined to fall into a low, melancholy state, to go to Paris. " Your hatred to those fellows," said the doctor, "will turn your thoughts another way ; and, much as you detest them, you will have no objection either to their climate or their wines." " What am I to do with my daughter, doc- tor?" asked the Admiral. " There is that lanky-haired, snivelling fellow, Snimens, stick- ing as close to her as the mate of the deck to the grog-tub. I wish, with all my heart, I was dead, and she married. As for Caroline, she will take care of herself; she does not believe one word any man says who pretends to be better than his neighbours." " A clever girl," answered the doctor ; *' take them all to Paris with you ; it will give you unceasing occupation to guard against French THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 17 adventures and English hypocrites ; the sooner you go the better. Poor Hughes Everett was buried yesterday." " Ay, look there !" said the Admiral, " how many ways there are by which children shorten the days of their parents." About a month after this conversation, the Admiral, Marling, and the daughters, landed at Boulogne from London. " Keep your eyes about you. Marling," said the Admiral ; " remember these fellows ; they are free and easy chaps, and will make a great deal too free with our luggage, if you don't mind." At that moment arose that discordant noise which greets the ears of every traveller landing in France ; a thousand tongues seemed em- ployed by as many pair of lungs, to roar out the names of different hotels ; a dozen arms were extended for the object of forcing a card into the new comer's hand ; and, as Marling was determined to take all he could get, how- ever insignificant it might appear, he took one from each man, who, in acknowledgment for 18 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. the kindness of preferring his hotel, said, " Merci, monsieur." " Mercy !" repeated Marling ; " why, you pack of monkeys, do ye think I am going to ropes-end you ? What a set of frogs they look, surely !" " I think, Marling," said the Admiral, ''that when we were amongst the negroes on the coast of Africa, we saw handsomer men than we see now." " I never, your honour, saw such a poor, pitiful, picked-up-along-shore set of jab- bering marmoset monkeys as these fellows ! Leave the carpet-bag alone, you ugly crapaud, or ril shove you into it ; why, it would break your back to carry a pair of boots and a great coat." Miss Caroline watched the manners of the new nation with intense interest, whilst her sister kept moaning and groaning over the depravity of the world in general, and es- pecially directing her sacred denunciations against such a poor, blind, bigoted, igno- rant, misbelieving set of heretics, who never THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 19 thought of an hereafter, and who wasted their precious moments in idleness and dissi- pation. The Admiral's passport was examined, and the whole of his party were desired to walk out; but, just as the pious Miss Clincher and her maid got to the outer door, some suspi- cion entered into the minds of the Custom House sharks that appearances were against the maidens, and that they bulged out more than any natural means would occasion. W^ith some rudeness they were desired to stop, and were turned into a small room to be examined. Xo sooner had the young lady been told that such a thing was in contem- plation, and that perhaps by a great bewhis- kered Frenchman, than she gave vent to her feelings, and declared she would resist any desecration of her sacred person. Two old women, however, soon began to search her, by passing their hands over her person, like a blue-bottle fly cleaning itself. From under- neath the maid's outward garments, a suffi- cient quantity of muslin was taken to make 20 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. two summer dresses ; and small bundles of English needles, besides one or two other arti- cles of prohibited wares, came into the hands of the examiners. " Where is your sister Caroline ?" said the Admiral. " They stopped the lady and the maid to examine them," said the commissioner. " Who did?" cried the Admiral. " One of the men," answered the commis- sioner of the inn. " What! boarded and taken my young, missus !" said Marling ; " examine her hold for a cargo ! capture a prize alongside the Admiral ! Make a lane here !" said Marling, as he pushed aside a dozen fellows, and forced open the door in the direction in which he heard the voice of Miss Clincher. There she was, in a very improper dress to meet the eye of any man. The women, having found their contraband articles, insisted upon a closer examination, and had proceeded to undress them. Marling's first exclamation was — '* Made a prize of, by all that's pretty ! THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 21 stripped of their rigging, and only the hull left !" Miss Clincher held up her dress before her, to shield her person ; the maid told him to get out of a lady's bedchamber ; and poor Marling, quite astonished at what he saw and heard, ran and reported that the daughter and the maid were unrigged, and likely to be laid up in ordinary. Nothing could exceed the indignation of the Admiral. He purposely put his wooden leg on two of the Custom House officers' feet, and stamped and swore in such undeniable English, that no man could have mistaken his profession. The commissioner, at the first stop to take breath on the part of the Admiral, recom- mended a little moderation, and hinted, that as these contraband things had been found, the less the Admiral said about the business the better, or he might be fined, and the ladies punished. The Admiral swore he w^ould return to England that instant, and that he would pay 22 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. any sura to get out of such an infernal coun- try ; but the commissioner succeeded in sooth- ing him, and arranged the affair, leaving the contraband goods as true and lawful prizes. This was a fresh and very serious annoy- ance to the Admiral ; he was perfectly con- vinced, in his own mind, that all the English papers would be full of this business, and that his name, already disgraced by his son, w^o.uld now be a by- word and a scorn, as the ob- noxious terra " smuo^o^ler" would be affixed to it ; or, disguise it as they raight, he would be naraed as having taken contraband goods to France, which w^ere seized upon the person of his own daughter : nay, he had no doubt but the undressing of the darasel would forra a very proraiuent feature in the descriptive history. The young lady consoled herself by half-a- dozen scriptural quotations, and ultiraately settled in her own raind that this was a very proper infliction, for her leaving the sisterhood to reside araongst heretics. Caroline laughed at the whole aflair, and the lady of the hotel came to console the THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 23 party by saying, that it was an every-day occurrence, and that they were very lucky in not being detained in the office half the day. Marling considered himself in an enemy's country, and always kept ready for immediate action. He had conceived the droll idea, that as the English Navy had so thoroughly beat the French upon every occasion, an English seaman would be such an object of dread to these miserable victims, that they would run from him in daylight, but be ever active to destroy him by night ; and he felt very con- siderably annoyed when he found he did not attract universal admiration and attention. The Admiral sat upon a sofa, and continued one tide of abuse against every thing he saw. Nothing pleased him ; the fireplace was too large, and half the heat went up the chimney ; the chairs were heavy, unsightly things, into which a man sunk, as if he was seated on a mud-bank ; the sofas were so round, that it was a business of peril to lie down upon them ; and the whole concern was a vulgar, tawdry exhibition. S4 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. Caroline, on the contrary, was much pleased with all she saw^ ; there was a certain degree of gaiety in the looks of the people ; none of them seemed to mope about, as if they were just made bankrupts, or to walk quick with their heads down, absorbed in thought, and urging forwards upon some great speculation. Every body seemed to enjoy life ; there was a lively hum of conversation ; and even the beggars seemed to have more manner in their solicitation of charity. than in the dogged de- mand so often experienced in England. Harriet Clincher was busy up-stairs, as Marling reported, repairing damages, and wondering if any of the Frenchmen saw her divested of some of her garments ; and the maid was very much annoyed at the indiffer- ence of the soldiers, who might have seen her in that situation, but who never gave them- selves the trouble of looking. Marling entered the room, and told the Admiral if he went to the window, he would see something between a line-of-battle-ship on wheels and a wild-beast caravan, drawn THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 25 by six horses ; and, as he spoke, a diligence hound to Paris drove up and stopped between the Hotel du Nord and the Hotel de Londres. Marling wetted the top of his fore-finger, and held it to see which way the wind blew, as he was quite confident no such a lubberly craft could possibly beat to windward, and unless the wind was fair she must come to an anchor. The Admiral surveyed the huge, unsightly mass with the same Avonder as a physician would survey a bicephalous child ; he could not conceive how any man conversant in ship- building could have put such a thing to- gether ; and when he saw it move on, he wound up his remarks by observing, that from time immemorial the nation were called lubberly Frenchmen — that they knew no more of ship- building than they did of navigation — " And there," said he, " is a proof of it. There's hotel due north, and I'll be hanged if it does not stand east and west." That was quite sufficient for Marling, who unhesitatingly declared them all to be a lub- VOL. III. c 26 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. berly set of rascals, and walked out to see what was cooking for dinner, as he had particular orders from his medical man not to eat cat's tails, or stewed frogs, and he was very desi- rous of ascertaining that the Admiral was not poisoned by any such food, on which, he knew, from every soul who had ever visited the country, the generality of the people existed. " I shall go on to-morrow, girls, to Paris," said the Admiral ; " it's no use unstowing the trunks. If I am to die in France, I may as well die near their famous burial-place. It must be as hazardous as working through the Straits of Babelmandel, getting up to the capital, if every conveyance must be built as strong and as bulky as that unwieldy thing which just now rattled like thunder through the streets." As Caroline was very anxious to see Paris, she clapped her hands, as her sister said, in unholy joy, and forthwith ordered every thing to be ready by nine o'clock the following morn- ing. Harriet was anxious to retard this for- ward movement, as Mr. Snimens might acci- THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 27 dentally arrive, and be a safe escort through the foreign country. At dinner, one everlasting tide of abuse came from the Admiral. The soup was all cabbage and old carrots chopped up small ; the frica7ideau, a dish which is as certain of forming a part of the dinner as a plate is of being a part of the service, looked to the jaun- diced eye of the Admiral like a South Ame- rican's chin with the beard chopped short ; and there was as much green food round the chicken as would have served Nebuchadnezzar for a week's graze. The wines were soon discovered to be weak, washy stuff, without strength and without taste ; even the brandy was inferior to what is sold in England ; and as for the dessert, it was made up of old stale cakes, which had rowed guard for a month, and which were dry enough to choak a bull- dog. There was no doubt that the doctor had acted wisely in sending the Admiral to France. His irritability against the nation c 2 28 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. had somewhat removed the distress of his mind, occasioned by his son's tarnished name. If he was dissatisfied, he was not depressed ; and in his abuse he had spoken more than he had done for a month, and had frequently smiled at his own ideas, or the extravagancies of his Gallic neighbours. After dinner, he walked down to the port, accompanied by his daughters, and attended by Marling, and, having ascertained that the wind blew from the direction of England, he inhaled the breeze which had passed over the rich and luxuriant fields of his native country, and from the end of the pier saw an English ension wave from the peak of a man-of-war brig standing up towards the Downs. Th( Admiral now grew excessively patriotic : he spoke to Marling in glowing terms of many a victory gained under that flag, and he won- dered that any set of men could bear the sight of the bunting which had waved over the tri- coloured rag at the Nile or Trafalgar. " They have no sense of shame, Marling,*' said the old Admiral ; " if that flag gives their THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 29 hearts as lusty a twitch as it delights mine, they would shut themselves up in a back room, and drown themselves in their own mi- serable wines." Marling stood as most old seamen stand when near the sea — legs rather wide apart, and arms firmly folded together. There is a kind of independence in the attitude, and seems to imply, " You are my element, and I am not afraid to face you." A Frenchman buttons himself close up, squeezes his features into contortions, as if he had the toothache, thrusts his hands into his pockets, and not unfrequently expresses himself truly enough thus : — "' Vair de mer me fait malT "" Come along, girls," said the Admiral, '' it makes me low-spirited now to look long at the sea — ay, that sea, on which I have been so many years, and which witnessed the tri- umphs of Nelson." " I don't think, your honour," said Marling, " that it's quite the same sea, for here's some I have got in a bottle, and it tastes of garlic and salt herrino-s." 30 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. The Admiral could not complain of the beds ; he acknowledged the superiority of those articles over the hard knobby ones in English inns ; but he made up for his praise of them by his abuse of the teacups, which to him seemed made expressly to hinder any one drinking out of them ; they were all shoul- ders and no waists, like a tight-laced girl ; and as for the knives, they were more like the ends of a New Zealander's arrows than the ship-shape, round-pointed, elegant-balanced affairs used in English houses. Every thing afforded the Admiral some scope for his vitu- peration, and the post-horses did not escape the universal censure. Jack Marling eyed the postillion with looks of considerable regard, particularly his large, unwieldy, preposterous boots, in which his thin legs had as much sea-room as a jolly-boat in Portsmouth harbour ; and as to the harness of the post-horses, " there they beat us," he said — " all rope, by the powders ! — splice it, if it's carried away; sheep-shank it, if it's too long ; add to it, if it's too short ; repair da- THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 31 mages in a moment, and no need of tongues or buckles to belay it. I suppose," said lie, musing to himself, " when they laid their ves- sels up in ordinary, they did not know what to do with the rope ; so, rather than keep it in the boatswain's storeroom, or return it to the dockyard, they served it out to the postillions ; and very wisely they acted, too, or it would have made oakum to calk the seams of an English deck." " Are you stowed away behind ?" said the Admiral. " We are endeavouring, your honour, to share out the birth ; but, owing to the build of Miss Harriet's maid, we must get into a rough sea-way before I shake down into my place. Start ahead, helmsman, and mind how you luff round the corner." " En routed' said the commissionaire, who stood bowing with his hat off, and away rattled the Admiral's carriage. The postillion cracked his whip ; Marling roared out to keep less noise on the forecastle; and the prodigious efforts of the heavy animals nearly managed 32 TUE PERILS OF BEAUTY. to progress the vehicle at the rate of five miles an hour. " Just the same," said the Admiral, " as on board their ships — all noise, and no work." The Admiral's was a handsome carriage, and stowed with great care as to neatness. Mar- ling walked round it often before he started, to see that no straps were hanging down, no ropes'-ends, as he called it, towing overboard. The Admiral strongly objected to any hat- cases being made fast to the stern, and hang- ing over it like beef and cabbage in a merchant- ship : the consequence was, that Marling took the liberty of jamming all such articles into the hold or the wells, without any regard to the probable smash of the goods. " Well, Mary," said Marling, as the carriage turned into the Paris road, " there we get our starns to the sea, and our figure-heads towards the Admiral's last roadstead. He will never live to come back again ; and I'm blessed if we shan't be so tightly stowed in this seat, that they'll have to raise a pair of sheers over the carriage to get us out. There's no fear of our breaking adrift in a roll ; and she may THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 33 pitch as heavy as a frigate in a head-sea with- out starting our starn-posts." Mary affected modest indignation at Mar- ling's remarks. " Why, you need not look so taken aback either, Mary," continued Marling, " I did not say you were badly built, because I could not say that, after what I saw at the Custom House — and most ships that are bluff about the bows, and carry their catheads well for- ward, are generally full about the quarters, and seldom run very small in the waist." Here Marling roared out, ''Postillion ahoy ! do you think we are all dead, and that you are driving our funerals ?" The French postillion merely looked round, and pointed to the slightly rising ground, which he called a mountain, and then dismounting, he leisurely walked by the side of the horses, until he had to descend the other side, before doing which he came to put the shoe on the wheel. This Marling declared was not neces- sary, saying the ship was too heavy to start ahead, and that it would be quite time enough c 5 34 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. to stopper the cable if she was inclined to run it out to the clinch. The Frenchman seemed to understand that Marling would not have the shoe put on, so, mounting his horse, he began to descend the hill, driving the carriage off the centre of the road, and plunging it into every rut and hole in the route, in order to stop its sudden rush. " What the devil are you doing in the eddy- tide ?" said the Admiral. " Keep out to sea, you Frenchified, frog- eating lubber," said Marling ; " put the helm a-starboard, or you'll have us in the narrows in a minute." They might both have bellowed like bulls, had not Caroline's voice attracted even the ears of the obstinate driver, who, listening to her orders to avoid the sides of the road, trotted down the hill without the smallest danger. The Admiral had been preciously knocked about ; he swore he never had been in such a sea-way before, and that if the carriage had not been of the best English manufacture it must have foundered. THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 35 The postillion, not at all satisfied with hav- ing been baulked of his intention, if possible, to smash the vehicle, jogged on a little further, when he began to crack his whip, and Marling saw a young woman come out of a house by the wayside, with a plate and a small glass in one hand, and a bottle in the other. The postillion drew up and entered into conver- sation with the woman, whilst Marling called out that if it was the Admiral's order to splice the main-brace, he should like to have his allowance. At the end of an hour and a half, the Ad- miral had made good ten miles out of the one hundred and fifty. "I'm blessed if our old jolly-boat, rigged mudeon fashion, would not beat the Admiral's barge at this rate," said Marling. "Come, bear a hand and shift the horses — we shall never make the harbour to-night without the breeze freshens." 36 THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. CHAPTER XXX. Sir Dionysius was now far advanced in years ; and in the calm solitude of his beauti- ful place, he prepared himself for the inevita- ble fate which awaits us all. He had been known in early life as an active politician; he had been a great favourite with his sove- reign, and had won golden opinions from all who had been numbered amongst his ac- quaintances. As he sat reading the newspaper, one of the servants entered. " Here's Jem Broadway's wife, Sir Diony- sius, very anxious to see you, and begs, for Heaven's sake, you will not refuse her." " I should not refuse," said the Baronet, THE PERILS OF BEAUTY. 37 " for her own sake, and therefore she need not have invoked Heaven ; tell her to come in." In a few minutes the Baronet heard con- vulsive sobs from more than one woman, and the voice of his servant, who said, " Cheer up, Mrs. Jem, he'll do it, if any one can do it ; he'll never turn his face from the wretched ; go in and tell him boldly; I'll open the door." Sir Dionysius stood by the window which overlooked the long sloping lawn. He felt in his pockets to ascertain that he had money enough to relieve the necessity of Mrs. Broad- way, who, he presumed,' had been sent by her husband to ask for some assistance, as his pedlar -like life did not seem to be very promising. 