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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
pressions in its stead. This is not usual in the course of the most
wayward of all our impulses; but it does occasionally happen,
brightening existence with a glow that might well be termed
divine, were the colours bestowed derived from a love of the
Creator, in lieu of that of one of his creatures. In these sudden
awakenings of dormant feelings, some chord of mutual sympathy, some deep – rooted affinity is aroused, carrying away their
possessors in a torrent of the feelings. Occasionally, wherever
the affinity is active, the impulse natural and strongly sympathetic, these sudden and seemingly wayward attachments are
the most indelible, colouring the whole of the remainder of
life; but oftener do they take the character of mere impulse,
rather than that of deeper sentiment, and disappear, as they
were first seen, in some sudden glow of the horizon of the affections.
In this brief analysis of some of the workings of the heart,
we may find a clue to the actual frame of mind in which John
Wilmeter returned from Biberry, where he had now been, like
a sentinel on post, for several weeks, in vigilant watchfulness
over the interests of Mary Monson. During all that time, however, he had not once been admitted within the legal limits of
the prison; holding his brief, but rather numerous conferences
with his client, at the little grate in the massive door that separated the gaol from the dwelling of the sheriff. Kind – hearted
Mrs. Gott would have admitted him to the gallery, whenever
he chose to ask that favour; but this act of courtesy had been
forbidden by Mary Monson herself. Timms she did receive,
and she conferred with him in private on more than one occasion, manifesting great earnestness in the consultations that
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
preceded the approaching trial. But John Wilmeter she would
receive only at the grate, like a nun in a well – regulated convent. Even this coyness contributed to feed the fire that had
been so suddenly lighted in the young man’s heart, on which
the strangeness of the prisoner’s situation, her personal attractions, her manners, and all the other known peculiarities of
person, history, education and deportment, had united to produce a most lively impression, however fleeting it was to prove
in the end.
Had there been any direct communications on the subject
of the attachment that had so long, so slowly, but so surely
been taking root in the hearts of John and Anna, any reciprocity in open confidence, this unlooked – for impulse in a new
direction could not have overtaken the young man. He did not
know how profound was the interest that Anna took in him;
nor, for that matter, was she aware of it herself, until Michael
Millington brought the unpleasant tidings of the manner in
which his friend seemed to be entranced with his uncle’s client at Biberry. Then, indeed, Anna was made to feel that surest
attendant of the liveliest love, a pang of jealousy; and, for the
first time in her young and innocent life, she became aware
of the real nature of her sentiments in behalf of John Wilmeter. On the other hand, drawn aside from the ordinary course
of his affections by sudden, impulsive, and exciting novelties,
John was fast submitting to the influence of the charms of the
fair stranger, as has been more than once intimated in our
opening pages, as the newly – fallen snow melts under the
rays of a noon – day sun.
Such, then, was the state of matters in this little circle, when
the wedding took place, and John Wilmeter joined the fam-
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
ily – party. Although Dunscomb did all he could to make the
dinner gay, Rattletrap had seldom entertained a more silent
company than that which sat down at its little round table
on this occasion. John thought of Biberry and Mary Monson;
Sarah’s imagination was quite busy in wondering why Michael
Millington stayed away so long; and Anna was on the point of
bursting into tears half – a – dozen times, under the depression produced by the joint events of her mother’s marriage, and
John Wilmeter’s obvious change of deportment towards her.
“What the deuce has kept Michael Millington and that fellow Timms, from joining us at dinner,” said the master of the
house, as the fruit was placed upon the table; and, closing one
eye, he looked with the other through the ruby rays of a glass
of well – cooled Madeirahis favourite wine. “Both promised
to be punctual; yet here are they both sadly out of time. They
knew the dinner was to come off at four.”
“As is one, sir, so are both,” answered John. “You will remember they were to come together?”
“Trueand Millington is rather a punctual manespecially in
visiting at Rattletrap”here Sarah blushed a little;
but the engagement in her case being announced, there
was no occasion for any particular confusion. “We shall have
to take Michael with us into Duke’s next week, Miss Wilmeter;
the case being too grave to neglect bringing up all our forces.”
“Is Jack, too, to take a part in the trial, uncle Tom?” demanded the niece, with a little interest in the answer. “Jack,
tooeverybody, in short. When the life of a fine young woman
is concerned, it behooves her counsel to be active and diligent.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
I have never before had a cause into which my feelings have so
completely enteredno, never.”
“Do not counsel always enter, heart and hand, into their
clients’ interests, and make themselves, as it might be, as you
gentlemen of the bar sometimes term these things, a `part and
parcel’ of their concerns?”
This question was put by Sarah, but it caused Anna to raise
her eyes from the fruit she was pretending to eat, and to listen intently to the reply. Perhaps she fancied that the answer
might explain the absorbed manner in which John had engaged in the service of the accused.
“As far from it as possible, in many cases,” returned the uncle; “though there certainly are others in which one engages
with all his feelings. But every day lessens my interest in the
law, and all that belongs to it.”
“Why should that be so, sir? I have heard you called a devotee of the profession.”
“That’s because I have no wife. Let a man live a bachelor,
and ten to one he gets some nickname or other. On the other
hand, let him marry two or three times, like Ned McBrainbeg
your pardon, Nanny, for speaking disrespectfully of your papa
but let a fellow just get his third wife, and they tack `family’ to
his appellation at once. He’s an excellent family lawyer, or a
capital family physician, or a supremely piousno, I don’t know
that they’ve got so far as the parsons, for they are all family
fellows.”
“You have a spite against matrimony, uncle Tom.”
“Well, if I have, it stops with me, as a family complaint. You
are free from it, my dear; and I’m half inclined to think Jack
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
will marry before he is a year older. But, here are the tardies
at last.”
Although the uncle made no allusion to the person his
nephew was to marry, everybody but himself thought of Mary
Monson at once. Anna turned pale as death; Sarah looked
thoughtful, and even sad; and John became as red as scarlet.
But the entrance of Michael Millington and Timms caused the
conversation to turn on another subject, as a matter of course.
“We expected you to dinner, gentlemen,” Dunscomb drily
remarked, as he pushed the bottle to his guests.
“Business before eating is my maxim, `Squire Dunscomb,”
Timms replied. “Mr. Millington and I have been very busy in
the office, from the moment Dr. McBrain and his lady”
“Wifesay `wife,’ Timms, if you please. Or, `Mrs. McBrain,’ if
you like that better.”
“Well, sir, I used the word I did, out of compliment to the
other ladies present. They love to be honoured and signalized
in our language, when we speak of them, sir, I believe.”
“Poh! poh! Timms; take my advice, and let all these small
matters alone. It takes a life to master them, and one must begin
from the cradle. When all is ended, they are scarce worth the
trouble they give. Speak good, plain, direct, and manly English,
I have always told you, and you’ll get along well enough; but
make no attempts to be fine. `Dr. McBrain and lady,’ is next
thing `to going through Hurlgate,’ or meeting a `lady friend.’
You’ll never get the right sort of a wife, until you drop all such
absurdities.”
“I’ll tell you how it is, ‘Squire: so far as law goes, or even
morals, and I don’t know but I may say general government
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
politics, I look upon you as the best adviser I can consult. But,
when it comes to matrimony, I can’t see how you should know
any more about it than I do myself. I do intend to get married
one of these days, which is more, I fancy, than you ever had in
view.”
“No; my great concern has been to escape matrimony; but a
man may get a very tolerable notion of the sex while manoeuvring among them, with that intention. I am not certain that
he who has had two or three handsomely managed escapes,
doesn’t learn as much as he who has had two or three wivesI
mean of useful information. What do you think of all this, Millington?”
“That I wish for no escapes, when my choice has been free
and fortunate.” “And you, Jack?”
“Sir!” answered the nephew, starting, as if aroused from a
brown study. “Did you speak to me, uncle Tom?”
“He’ll not be of much use to us next week, Timms,” said the
counsellor, coolly, filling his own and his neighbour’s glass as
he spoke, with iced Madeira “These capital cases demand the
utmost vigilance; more especially when popular prejudice sets
in against them.”
“Should the jury find Mary Monson to be guilty, what
would be the sentence of the court?” demanded Sarah, smiling, even while she seemed much interested “I believe that
is right, Mikethe court `sentences,’ and the jury `convicts.’ If
there be any mistake, you must answer for it.”
“I am afraid to speak of laws, or constitutions, in the presence of your uncle, since the rebuke Jack and I got in that af-
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
fair of the toast,” returned Sarah’s betrothed, arching his eye –
brows.
“By the way, Jack, did that dinner ever come off?” demanded
the uncle, suddenly; “I looked for your toasts in the journals,
but do not remember ever to have seen them.”
“You could not have seen any of mine, sir; for I went to
Biberry that very morning, and only left there last evening”
Anna’s countenance resembled a lily, just as it begins to droop
“I believe, however, the whole affair fell through, as no one
seems to know, just now, who are and who are not the friends
of liberty. It is the people to – day; the pope next day; some
prince to – morrow; and, by the end of the week, we may have
a Massaniello or a Robespierre uppermost. The times seem
sadly out of joint, just now, and the world is fast getting to be
upside – down.”
“It’s all owing to this infernal Code, Timms, which is enough
to revolutionize human nature itself!” cried Dunscomb, with
an animation that produced a laugh in the young folk, (Anne
excepted,) and a simper in the person addressed. “Ever since
this thing has come into operation among us, I never know
when a case is to be heard, the decision had, or the principles
that are to come uppermost. Well, we must try and get some
good out of it, if we can, in this capital case.”
“Which is drawing very near, ‘Squire; and I have some facts
to communicate in that affair which it may be well to compare
with the law, without much more delay.”
“Let us finish this bottle if the boys help us, it will not be
much more than a glass apiece.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“I don’t think the ‘Squire will ever be upheld at the polls
by the Temperance people,” said Timms, filling his glass to
the brim; for, to own the truth, it was seldom that he got such
wine.
“As you are expecting to be held up by them, my fine fellow. I’ve heard of your management, master Timms, and am
told you aspire as high as the State Senate. Well; there is room
for better, but much worse men have been sent there. Now, let
us go to what I call the `Rattletrap office.’ “
208
CHAPTER XI
“The strawberry grows underneath the nettle;
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best,
Neighbour’d by fruit of baser quality.”
King Henry V.
There stood a very pretty pavilion in one of the groves of
Rattletrap, overhanging the water, with the rock of the river –
shore for its foundation. It had two small apartments, in one
of which Dunscomb had caused a book – case, a table, a rocking – chair and a lounge to be placed. The other was furnished
more like an ordinary summer – house, and was at all times
accessible to the inmates of the family. The sanctum, or office,
was kept locked; and here its owner often brought his papers,
and passed whole days, during the warm months, when it is
the usage to be out of town, in preparing his cases. To this spot,
then, the counsellor now held his way, attended by Timms,
having ordered a servant to bring a light and some segars;
smoking being one of the regular occupations of the office. In
a few minutes, each of the two men of the law had a segar in
his mouth, and was seated at a little window that commanded
a fine view of the Hudson, its fleet of sloops, steamers, tow –
boats and colliers, and its high, rocky western shore, which has
obtained the not inappropriate name of the Palisades.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The segars, the glass, and the pleasant scenery, teeming as
was the last with movement and life, appeared, for the moment, to drive from the minds of the two men of the law the
business on which they had met. It was a proof of the effect
of habit that a person like Dunscomb, who was really a good
man, and one who loved his fellow – creatures, could just then
forget that a human life was, in some measure, dependent on
the decisions of this very interview, and permit his thoughts to
wander from so important an interest. So it was, however; and
the first topic that arose in this consultation had no reference
whatever to Mary Monson or her approaching trial, though it
soon led the colloquists round to her situation, as it might be
without their intending it.
“This is a charming retreat, ‘Squire Dunscomb,” commenced Timms, settling himself with some method in a very
commodious arm – chair; “and one that I should often frequent, did I own it.”
“I hope you will live to be master of one quite as pleasant,
Timms, some time or other. They tell me your practice, now, is
one of the best in Duke’s; some two or three thousand a year, I
dare say, if the truth were known.”
“It’s as good as anybody’s on our circuit, unless you count
the bigwigs from York. I won’t name the sum, even to as old
a friend as yourself, ‘Squire; for the man who lets the world
peep into his purse, will soon find it footing him up, like a sum
in arithmetic. You’ve gentlemen in town, however, who sometimes get more for a single case, than I can ‘arn in a twelve –
month.”
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