CHAPTER VI.

_In Which Captain Armine Pays His First Visit to Ducie_.

YES! it is the morning. Is it possible? Shall he again behold her? That form of surpa.s.sing beauty: that bright, that dazzling countenance; again are they to bless his entranced vision? Shall he speak to her again?

That musical and thrilling voice, shall it again sound and echo in his enraptured ear?

Ferdinand had reached Armine so many days before his calculated arrival, that he did not expect his family and the Grandisons to arrive for at least a week. What a respite did he not now feel this delay! if ever he could venture to think of the subject at all. He drove it indeed from his thoughts; the fascinating present completely engrossed his existence. He waited until the post arrived; it brought no letters, letters now so dreaded! He jumped upon his horse and galloped towards Ducie.

Mr. Temple was the younger son of a younger branch of a n.o.ble family.

Inheriting no patrimony, he had been educated for the diplomatic service, and the influence of his family had early obtained him distinguished appointments. He was envoy to a German court when a change of ministry occasioned his recall, and he retired, after a long career of able and a.s.siduous service, comforted by a pension and glorified by a privy-councillorship. He was an acute and accomplished man, practised in the world, with great self-control, yet devoted to his daughter, the only offspring of a wife whom he had lost early and loved much.

Deprived at a tender age of that parent of whom she would have become peculiarly the charge, Henrietta Temple found in the devotion of her father all that consolation of which her forlorn state was susceptible.

She was not delivered over to the custody of a governess, or to the even less sympathetic supervision of relations. Mr. Temple never permitted his daughter to be separated from him; he cherished her life, and he directed her education. Resident in a city which arrogates to itself, not without justice, the t.i.tle of the German Athens, his pupil availed herself of all those advantages which were offered to her by the instruction of the most skilful professors. Few persons were more accomplished than Henrietta Temple even at an early age; but her rare accomplishments were not her most remarkable characteristics. Nature, which had accorded to her that extraordinary beauty we have attempted to describe, had endowed her with great talents and a soul of sublime temper.

It was often remarked of Henrietta Temple (and the circ.u.mstance may doubtless be in some degree accounted for by the little interference and influence of women in her education) that she never was a girl. She expanded at once from a charming child into a magnificent woman. She had entered life very early, and had presided at her father's table for a year before his recall from his mission. Few women in so short a period had received so much homage; but she listened to compliments with a careless though courteous ear, and received more ardent aspirations with a smile. The men, who were puzzled, voted her cold and heartless; but men should remember that fineness of taste, as well as apathy of temperament, may account for an unsuccessful suit. a.s.suredly Henrietta Temple was not deficient in feeling; she entertained for her father sentiments almost of idolatry, and those more intimate or dependent acquaintances best qualified to form an opinion of her character spoke of her always as a soul of infinite tenderness.

Notwithstanding their mutual devotion to each other, there were not many points of resemblance between the characters of Mr. Temple and his daughter; she was remarkable for a frankness of demeanour and a simplicity yet strength of thought which contrasted with the artificial manners and the conventional opinions and conversation of her sire. A mind at once thoughtful and energetic permitted Henrietta Temple to form her own judgments; and an artless candour, which her father never could eradicate from her habit, generally impelled her to express them. It was indeed impossible even for him long to find fault with these ebullitions, however the diplomatist might deplore them; for Nature had so imbued the existence of this being with that indefinable charm which we call grace, that it was not in your power to behold her a moment without being enchanted. A glance, a movement, a sunny smile, a word of thrilling music, and all that was left to you was to adore. There was indeed in Henrietta Temple that rare and extraordinary combination of intellectual strength and physical softness which marks out the woman capable of exercising an irresistible influence over mankind. In the good old days she might have occasioned a siege of Troy or a battle of Actium. She was one of those women who make nations mad, and for whom a man of genius would willingly peril the empire of the world.

So at least deemed Ferdinand Armine, as he cantered through the park, talking to himself, apostrophising the woods, and shouting his pa.s.sion to the winds. It was scarcely noon when he reached Ducie Bower. This was a Palladian pavilion, situated in the midst of beautiful gardens, and surrounded by green hills. The sun shone brightly, the sky was without a cloud; it appeared to him that he had never beheld a more graceful scene. It was a temple worthy of the divinity it enshrined. A facade of four Ionic columns fronted an octagon hall, adorned with statues, which led into a salon of considerable size and fine proportion. Ferdinand thought that he had never in his life entered so brilliant a chamber.

The lofty walls were covered with an Indian paper of vivid fancy, and adorned with several pictures which his practised eye a.s.sured him were of great merit. The room, without being inconveniently crowded, was amply stored with furniture, every article of which bespoke a refined and luxurious taste: easy chairs of all descriptions, most inviting couches, cabinets of choice inlay, and grotesque tables covered with articles of vertu; all those charming infinite nothings, which a person of taste might some time back have easily collected during a long residence on the continent. A large lamp of Dresden china was suspended from the painted and gilded ceiling. The three tall windows opened on the gardens, and admitted a perfume so rich and various, that Ferdinand could easily believe the fair mistress, as she told him, was indeed a lover of flowers. A light bridge in the distant wood, that bounded the furthest lawn, indicated that a stream was at hand. What with the beauty of the chamber, the richness of the exterior scene, and the bright sun that painted every object with its magical colouring, and made everything appear even more fair and brilliant, Ferdinand stood for some moments quite entranced. A door opened, and Mr. Temple came forward and welcomed him with cordiality.

After they had pa.s.sed a half-hour in looking at the pictures and in conversation to which they gave rise, Mr. Temple, proposing an adjournment to luncheon, conducted Ferdinand into a dining-room, of which the suitable decorations wonderfully pleased his taste. A subdued tint pervaded every part of the chamber: the ceiling was painted in grey tinted frescoes of a cla.s.sical and festive character, and the side table, which stood in a recess supported by four magnificent columns, was adorned with choice Etruscan vases. The air of repose and stillness which distinguished this apartment was heightened by the vast conservatory into which it led, blazing with light and beauty, groups of exotic trees, plants of radiant tint, the sound of a fountain, and gorgeous forms of tropic birds.

'How beautiful!' exclaimed Ferdinand.

''Tis pretty,' said Mr. Temple, carving a pasty, 'but we are very humble people, and cannot vie with the lords of Gothic castles.'

'It appears to me,' said Ferdinand, 'that Ducie Bower is the most exquisite place I ever beheld.'

'If you had seen it two years ago you would have thought differently,'

said Mr. Temple; 'I a.s.sure you I dreaded becoming its tenant. Henrietta is ent.i.tled to all the praise, as she took upon herself the whole responsibility. There is not on the banks of the Brenta a more dingy and desolate villa than Ducie appeared when we first came; and as for the gardens, they were a perfect wilderness. She made everything. It was one vast, desolate, and neglected lawn, used as a sheep-walk when we arrived. As for the ceilings, I was almost tempted to whitewash them, and yet you see they have cleaned wonderfully; and, after all, it only required a little taste and labour. I have not laid out much money here.

I built the conservatory, to be sure. Henrietta could not live without a conservatory.'

'Miss Temple is quite right,' p.r.o.nounced Ferdinand. 'It is impossible to live without a conservatory.'

At this moment the heroine of their conversation entered the room, and Ferdinand turned pale. She extended to him her hand with a graceful smile; as he touched it, he trembled from head to foot.

'You were not fatigued, I hope, by your ride, Miss Temple?' at length he contrived to say.

'Not in the least! I am an experienced horsewoman. Papa and I take very long rides together.'

As for eating, with Henrietta Temple in the room, Ferdinand found that quite impossible. The moment she appeared, his appet.i.te vanished.

Anxious to speak, yet deprived of his accustomed fluency, he began to praise Ducie.

'You must see it,' said Miss Temple: 'shall we walk round the grounds?'

'My dear Henrietta,' said her father, 'I dare say Captain Armine is at this moment sufficiently tired; besides, when he moves, he will like perhaps to take his gun; you forget he is a sportsman, and that he cannot waste his morning in talking to ladies and picking flowers.'

'Indeed, sir, I a.s.sure you,' said Ferdinand, 'there is nothing I like so much as talking to ladies and picking flowers; that is to say, when the ladies have as fine taste as Miss Temple, and the flowers are as beautiful as those at Ducie.'

'Well, you shall see my conservatory, Captain Armine,' said Miss Temple, 'and you shall go and kill partridges afterwards.' So saying, she entered the conservatory, and Ferdinand followed her, leaving Mr. Temple to his pasty.

'These orange groves remind me of Palmero,' said Ferdinand.

'Ah!' said Miss Temple, 'I have never been in the sweet south.'

'You seem to me a person born to live in a Sicilian palace,' said Ferdinand, 'to wander in perfumed groves, and to glance in a moonlight warmer than this sun.'

'I see you pay compliments,' said Miss Temple, looking at him archly, and meeting a glance serious and soft.

'Believe me, not to you.'

'What do you think of this flower?' said Miss Temple, turning away rather quickly and pointing to a strange plant. 'It is the most singular thing in the world: but if it be tended by any other person than myself it withers. Is it not droll?'

'I think not,' said Ferdinand.

'I excuse you for your incredulity; no one does believe it; no one can; and yet it is quite true. Our gardener gave it up in despair. I wonder what it can be.'

'I think it must be some enchanted prince,' said Ferdinand.

'If I thought so, how I should long for a wand to emanc.i.p.ate him!' said Miss Temple.

'I would break your wand, if you had one,' said Ferdinand.

'Why?' said Miss Temple.

'Oh! I don't know,' said Ferdinand; 'I suppose because I believe you are sufficiently enchanting without one.'

'I am bound to consider that most excellent logic,' said Miss Temple.

'Do you admire my fountain and my birds?' she continued, after a short pause. 'After Armine, Ducie appears a little tawdry toy.'

'Ducie is Paradise,' said Ferdinand. 'I should like to pa.s.s my life in this conservatory.'

'As an enchanted prince, I suppose?' said Miss Temple.

'Exactly,' said Captain Armine; 'I would willingly this instant become a flower, if I were sure that Miss Temple would cherish my existence.'

'Cut off your tendrils and drown you with a watering-pot,' said Miss Temple; 'you really are very Sicilian in your conversation, Captain Armine.'

'Come,' said Mr. Temple, who now joined them, 'if you really should like to take a stroll round the grounds, I will order the keeper to meet us at the cottage.'

'A very good proposition,' said Miss Temple.

'But you must get a bonnet, Henrietta; I must forbid your going out uncovered.'

'No, papa, this will do,' said Miss Temple, taking a handkerchief, twisting it round her head, and tying it under her chin.

'You look like an old woman, Henrietta,' said her father, smiling.