Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:The Chainbearer; or, The Littlepage Manuscripts
.pdf
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
«It is strange that Priscilla Bayard should speak of me to
you! I have been a little unguarded myself, Mr. Littlepage, and
have said so much, that I begin to feel the necessity of saying
something more. There is some excuse for my not feeling in
your presence as in that of a stranger, since uncle Chainbearer
has your name in his mouth at least one hundred times each
day. Twelve different times in one hour did he speak of you
yesterday».
«Excellent old Andries! It is the pride of my life that so
honest a man loves me; and now for the explanation I am entitled to receive as his friend by your own acknowledgment».
Dus smiled, a little saucily I thought – but saucily or not,
that smile made her look extremely lovely. She refl ected a moment, like one who thinks intensely, even bending her head
under the painful mental effort; then she drew her form to its
usual attitude, and spoke.
«It is always best to be frank», she said, «and it can do no
harm, while it may do good to be explicit with you. You will
not forget, Mr. Littlepage, that I believe myself to be conversing with my uncle’s very best friend?»
«I am too proud of the distinction to forget it, under any
circumstances; and least of all in your presence».
«Well, then, I will be frank. Priscilla Bayard was for eight
years my associate and closest friend. Our affection for each
other commenced when we were mere children, and increased
with time and knowledge. About a year before the close of
the war, my brother Frank, who is now here as my uncle’s surveyor, found opportunities to quit his regiment, and to come to
visit me quite frequently – indeed, his company was sent to
221
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Albany, where he could see me as often as he desired. To see
me, was to see Priscilla, for we were inseparable; and to see
Priscilla was, for poor Frank at least, to love her. He made me
his confi dant, and my alarm was nothing but natural concern
lest he might have a rival as formidable as you».
A fl ood of light was let in upon me by this brief explanation,
though I could not but wonder at the simplicity, or strength of
character, that induced so strange a confi dence. When I got to
know Dus better, the whole became clear enough; but, at
the moment, I was a little surprised.
«Be at ease on my account, Miss Malbone»
«Why not call me Dus at once? You will do it in a week,
like everyone else here; and it is better to begin our acquaintance as I am sure it will end. Uncle Chainbearer calls me Dus;
Frank calls me Dus; most of your settlers call me Dus, to my
very face; and even our blacks call me Miss Dus. You cannot
wish to be singular».
«I will gladly venture so far as to call you Ursula; but Dus
does not please me».
«No! I have become so accustomed to be called Dus by all
my friends, that it sounds distant to be called by any other
name. Do you not think Dus a pretty diminutive?»
«I did not, most certainly; though all these things depend on the associations. Dus Malbone sounded sweetly
enough in Priscilla Bayard’s mouth; but I fear it will not be so
pleasant in mine».
«Do as you please – but do not call me Miss Ursula,
or Miss Malbone. It would have displeased me once, not to have
been so addressed by any man; but it has an air of mockery,
222
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
now that I know myself to be only the companion and housekeeper of a poor chainbearer».
«And yet, the owner of that silver, the lady I see seated at
this table, in this room, is not so very inappropriately addressed
as Miss Ursula!»
«You know the history of the silver, and the table and
room are your own. No – Mr. Littlepage, we are poor –
very, very poor – uncle Chainbearer, Frank, and I – all alike,
have nothing».
This was not said despairingly, but with a sincerity that
I found exceedingly touching.
«Frank, at least, should have something», I answered. «You
tell me he was in the army?»
«He was a captain at the last, but what did he receive for
that? We do not complain of the country, any of us; neither my
uncle, my brother, nor myself; for we know it is poor, like ourselves, and that its poverty even is like our own, that of persons
reduced. I was long a charge on my friends, and there have
been debts to pay. Could I have known it, such a thing should
not have happened. Now I can only repay those who have discharged these obligations by coming into the wilderness with
them. It is a terrible thing for a woman to be in debt».
«But you have remained in this house; you surely have not
been in the hut, at Mooseridge?»
«I have gone wherever uncle Chainbearer has gone, and
shall go with him, so long as we both live. Nothing shall ever
separate us again. His years demand this, and gratitude is added to my love. Frank might possibly do better than work for
223
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
the little he receives; but he will not quit us. The poor love
each other intensely!»
«But I have desired your uncle to use this house, and for
your sake I should think he would accept the offer».
«How could he, and carry chain twenty miles distant?
We have been here, occasionally, a few days at a time; but
the work was to be done and it must be done on the land
itself».
«Of course, you merely gave your friends the pleasure of
your company, and looked a little to their comforts, on their
return from a hard day’s work?»
Dus raised her eyes to mine; smiled; then she looked sad,
her under-lip quivering slightly; after which a smile that was
not altogether without humor succeeded. I watched these
signs of varying feeling with an interest I cannot describe; for
the play of virtuous and ingenuous emotion on a lovely female
countenance is one of the rarest sights in nature.
«I can carry chain», said the girl, at the close of this exhibition of feeling.
«You can carry chain, Ursula – Dus, or whatever I am to
call you»
«Call me Dus – I love that name best».
«You can carry chain, I suppose, is true enough – but, you
do not mean that you have?»
The face of Dus fl ushed; but she looked me full in the eye,
as she nodded her head to express an affi rmative; and she
smiled as sweetly as ever woman smiled.
«For amusement – to say you have done it – in jest!»
224
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
«To help my uncle and brother, who had not the means to
hire a second man».
«Good God! Miss Malbone – Ursula – Dus»
«The last is the most proper name for a chainbearess», rejoined the girl, smiling; and actually taking my hand by an involuntary movement of her sympathy in the shock I so evidently felt. «But, why should you look upon that little toil as so
shocking, when it is healthful and honest? You are thinking of
a sister reduced to what strikes you as man’s proper work».
Dus relinquished my hand almost as soon as she had
touched it; and she did it with a slight start, as if shocked at
her own temerity.
«What is man’s work, and man’s work, only».
«Yet woman can perform it; and, as uncle Chainbearer will
tell you, perform it well. I had no other concern, the month
I was at work, than the fear that my strength would not enable
me to do as much as my uncle and brother, and thus lessen
the service they could render you each day. They kept me on
the dry land, so there were no wet feet, and your woods are as
clear of underbrush as an orchard. There is no use in attempting to conceal the fact, for it is known to many, and would
have reached your ears sooner or later. Then concealment is
always painful to me, and never more so than when I hear you,
and see you treating your hired servant as an equal».
«Miss Malbone! For God’s sake, let me hear no more of
this – old Andries judged rightly of me, in wishing to conceal
this; for I should never have allowed it to go on for a moment».
«And in what manner could you have prevented it, Major Littlepage? My uncle has taken the business of you at so
225
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
much the day, fi nding surveyor and laborers – poor, dear
Frank! He, at least, does not rank with the laborers, and as for
my uncle, he has long had an honest pride in being the best
chainbearer in the country – why need his niece scruple about
sharing in his well-earned reputation?»
«But you, Miss Malbone – dearest Dus – who have been so
educated, who are born a lady, who are loved by Priscilla Bayard, the sister of Frank, are not in your proper sphere, while
thus occupied».
«It is not so easy to say what is the proper sphere of a woman. I admit it ought to be, in general, in the domestic circle
and under the domestic roof; but circumstances must control
that. We hear of wives who follow their husbands to the camp,
and we hear of nuns who come out of their convents to attend
the sick and wounded in hospitals. It does not strike me, then,
as so bad in a girl who offers to aid her parent as I have aided
mine, when the alternative was to suffer by want».
«Gracious Providence! And Andries has kept me in ignorance of all this; he knew my purse would have been his, and
how could you have been in want in the midst of the abundance that reigns in this settlement, which is only fi fteen
or twenty miles from your hut, as I know from the chainbearer’s letters».
«Food is plenty, I allow, but we had no money; and when
the question was between beggary or exertion, we merely
chose the last. My uncle did try old Killian, the black, for
a day; but you know how hard it is to make one of those people
understand anything that is a little intricate; and then I offered my services. I am intelligent enough, I trust» – the girl
226
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
smiled a little proudly as she said this – «and you can have
no notion how active and strong I am for light work like this,
and on my feet, until you put me to the proof. Remember, carrying chain is neither chopping wood nor piling logs; nor is it
absolutely unfeminine».
«Nor raising churches» – I answered, smiling; for it was
not easy to resist the contagion of the girl’s spirit – «at which
business I have been an eye-witness of your dexterity. However, there will now be an end of this. It is fortunately in my power to offer such a situation and such emoluments to Mr. Malbone, as will at once enable him to place his sister in this house
as its mistress, and under a roof that is at least respectable».
«Bless you for that!» cried Dus, making a movement toward catching my hand again; but checking it in time to render the deep blush that instantly suffused her face, almost unnecessary. «Bless you for that! Frank is willing to do anything
that is honest, and capable of doing anything that a gentleman
should do. I am the great encumbrance on the poor fellow; for,
could he leave me, many situations must be open to him in
the towns. But I cannot quit my uncle, and Frank will not quit
me. He does not understand uncle Chainbearer».
«Frank must be a noble fellow, and I honor him for his
attachment to such a sister. This makes me only the more anxious to carry out my intentions».
«Which are such, I hope, that there is no impropriety in his
sister’s knowing them?»
This was said with such an expression of interest in
the sweet, blue eyes, and with so little of the air of common
curiosity, that it completely charmed me.
227
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
«Certainly there is none», I answered, promptly enough
even for a young man who was acting under the infl uence of
so much ingenuous and strong native feeling; «and I shall
have great pleasure in telling you. We have long been dissatisfi ed with our agent on this estate, and I had determined to
offer it to your uncle. The same diffi culty would have to be
overcome in this case, as there was in making him a safe surveyor – the want of skill in fi gures; now this diffi culty will
not exist in the instance of your brother; and the whole family, Chainbearer as well as the rest, will be benefi ted by giving
the situation to Frank».
«You call him Frank!» cried Dus, laughing, and evidently delighted with what she heard. «That is a good omen; but
if you raise me to the station of an agent’s sister, I do not
know but I shall insist on being called Ursula, at least, if
not Miss Ursula».
I scarce knew what to make of this girl; there was so much of
gayety, and even fun, blended with a mine of as deep feeling
as I ever saw throwing up its signs to the human countenance.
Her brother’s prospects had made her even gay; though she
still looked as if anxious to hear more.
«You may claim which you please, for Frank shall have
his name put into the new power of attorney within the hour.
Mr. Newcome has had a hint, by letter, of what is to come, and
professes great happiness in getting rid of a vast deal of unrequited trouble».
«I am afraid there is little emolument, if he is glad to be
rid of the offi ce».
228
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
«I do not say he is glad; I only say he professes to be so. These
are different things with certain persons. As for the emolument, it will not be much certainly; though it will be enough to
prevent Frank’s sister from carrying chain, and leave her to
exercise her talents and industry in their proper sphere. In
the fi rst place, every lease on the estate is to be renewed; and
there being a hundred, and the tenant bearing the expense, it
will at once put a considerable sum at your brother’s disposition. I cannot say that the annual commissions will amount to
a very great deal, though they will exceed a hundred a year by
the terms on which the lands will be relet. The use of this
house and farm, however, I did intend to offer to your uncle;
and, for the same reason, I shall offer them to Frank».
«With this house and farm we shall be rich!» exclaimed
Dus, clasping her hands in delight. «I can gather a school of
the better class of girls, and no one will be useless – no one
idle. If I teach your tenants’ daughters some of the ideas of their
sex and station, Mr. Littlepage, you will reap the benefi t in
the end. That will be some slight return for all your kindness».
«I wish all of your sex, and of the proper age, who are connected with me, no better instructress. Teach them your own
warmth of heart, your own devotedness of feeling, your own
truth, and your own frankness, and I will come and dwell on
my own estate, as the spot nearest to paradise».
Dus looked a little alarmed, I thought, as if she feared she
might have uttered too much; or, perhaps, that I was uttering
too much. She rose, thanked me hurriedly, but in a very ladylike manner, and set about removing the breakfast service,
with as much diligence as if she had been a mere menial.
229
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Such was my very fi rst conversation with Ursula Malbone;
her, with whom I have since held so many, and those that have
been very different! When I rose to seek the Chainbearer, it
was with a feeling of interest in my late companion that was
as strong as it was sudden. I shall not deny that her beauty had
its infl uence – it would be unnatural that it should not – but
it was less her exceeding beauty, and Ursula Malbone would
have passed for one of the fairest of her sex – but it was less
her beauty that attracted me than her directness, truth, and
ingenuousness, so closely blended as all were with the feelings
and delicacy of her sex. She had certainly done things which,
had I merely heard of them, would have struck me unpleasantly, as even bold and forward, and which may now so strike
the reader; but this would be doing Dus injustice. No act, no
word of hers, not even the taking of my hand, seemed to me, at
the time, as in the least forward; the whole movement being so
completely qualifi ed by that intensity of feeling which caused
her to think only of her brother. Nature and circumstances
had combined to make her precisely the character she was;
and I will confess I did not wish her to be, in a single particular, different from what I found her.
Talk of Pris Bayard in comparison with Ursula Malbone!
Both had beauty, it is true, though the last was far the handsomest; both had delicacy, and sentiment, and virtue, and all
that pertains to a well-educated young woman, if you will; but
Dus had a character of her own, and principles, and an energy,
and a decision, that made her the girl of ten thousand. I do
not think I could be said to be actually in love when I left that
room, for I do not wish to appear so very easy to receive im-
230
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]