A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Edward Payson Roe (red seas under red skies .TXT) π
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- Author: Edward Payson Roe
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For His Reticence And Self-Control, But She Also Misjudged him; For He
Was So Patient And Strong, And Went Forward With His Duties So Quietly
And Steadily, That She Was Inclined to Believe That His Feelings Toward
Her Were Not Very Deep, Or Else That He Was So Constituted that Affairs
Of The Heart Did Not Give Him Very Much Trouble.
Chapter XLVII (Laura Chooses Her Knight)
Why Laura, How Your Cheeks Burn!" Exclaimed mrs. Arnot As She Entered
Her Niece'S Room One Afternoon.
"Now, Don'T Laugh At Me For Being So Foolish, But I Have Become Absurdly
Excited over This Story. Scott Was Well Called the 'Wizard Of The
North.' What A Spell He Weaves Over His Pages! When Reading Some Of His
Descriptions Of Men And Manners In those Old Chivalric Times, I Feel
That I Have Been Born Some Centuries Too Late--In Our Time Everything Is
So Matter-Of-Fact, And The Men Are So Prosaic. The World Moves On With A
Steady Business Jog, Or, To Change The Figure, With The Monotonous Clank
Of Uncle'S Machinery. My Castle In the Air Would Be The Counterpart Of
Those Which Scott Describes."
"Romantic As Ever," Laughed her Aunt; "And That Reminds Me, By The Way,
Of The Saying That Romantic Girls Always Marry Matter-Of-Fact Men,
Which, I Suppose, Will Be Your Fate. I Confess I Much Prefer Our Own
Age. Your Stony Castles Make Me Shiver With A Sense Of Discomfort; And
As For The Men, I Imagine They Are Much The Same Now As Then, For Human
Nature Does Not Change Much."
"O, Auntie, What A Prosaic Speech! Uncle Might Have Made It Himself. The
Idea Of Men Being Much The Same Now! Why, In that Day There Were The
Widest And Most Picturesque Differences Between Men Of The Same Rank.
There Were Horrible Villains, And Then To Vanquish These And Undo The
Mischief They Were Ever Causing, There Were Knights _Sans Peur Et Sans
Reproche._ But Now A Gentleman Is A Gentleman, And All Made Up Very
Much In the Same Style, Like Their Dress Coats. I Would Like To Have
Seen At Least One Genuine Knight--A Man Good Enough And Brave Enough To
Do And To Dare Anything To Which He Could Be Impelled by A Most
Chivalric Sense Of Duty. About The Most Heroic Thing a Man Ever Did For
Me Was To Pick Up My Fan."
Mrs. Arnot Thought Of One Man Whose Heart Was Almost Breaking For Her,
And Yet Who Maintained such A Quiet, Masterful Self-Control That The
Object Of His Passion, Which Had Become Like A Torturing Flame, Was Not
Subjected to Even The Slightest Annoyance; And She Said, "You Are
Satirical Today. In my Opinion There Are As True Knights Now As Your
Favorite Author Ever Described."
"Not In hillaton," Laughed laura, "Or Else Their Disguise Is Perfect."
"Yes, In hillaton," Replied mrs. Arnot, With Some Warmth, "And Among The
Visitors At This House. I Know Of One Who Bids Fair To Fulfil My Highest
Ideal Of Knighthood, And I Think You Will Do Me The Justice To Believe
That My Standard Is Not A Low One."
"Auntie, You Fairly Takeaway My Breath!" Said Laura, In the Same
Half-Jesting Spirit." Where Have My Eyes Been? Pray, Who Is This
Paragon, Who Must, Indeed, Be Nearly Perfect, To Satisfy Your Standard?"
"You Must Discover Him For Yourself; As You Say, He Appears To Be But A
Gentleman, And Would Be The Last One In the World To Think Of Himself As
A Knight, Or To Fill Your Ideal Of One. You Must Remember The Character
Of Our Age. If One Of Your Favorite Knights Should Step, Armed
_Cap-A-Pie,_ Out Of Scott'S Pages, All The Dogs In town Would Be At
His Heels, And He Would Probably Bring Up At The Station-House. My
Knight Promises To Become The Flower Of His Own Age. Now I Think Of It,
I Do Not Like The Conventional Word 'Flower,' As Used in this
Connection, For My Knight Is Steadily Growing Strong Like A Young Oak. I
Hope I May Live To See The Man He Will Eventually Become."
"You Know Well, Auntie," Said Laura, "That I Have Not Meant Half I Have
Said. The Men Of Our Day Are Certainly Equal To The Women, And I Shall
Not Have To Look Far To Find My Superior In all Respects. I Must Admit,
However, That Your Words Have Piqued my Curiosity, And I Am Rather Glad
You Have Not Named this 'Heart Of Oak,' For The Effort To Discover Him
Will Form A Pleasant Little Excitement."
"Were I That Way Inclined," Said Mrs. Arnot, Smiling, "I Would Be
Willing To Wager A Good Deal That You Will Hit Upon The Wrong Man."
Laura Became For A Time Quite A Close Student Of Human Nature, Observing
Narrowly The Physiognomy And Weighing The Words And Manner, Of Her Many
Gentleman Acquaintances; But While She Found Much To Respect, And Even
To Admire, In some, She Was Not Sure That Any One Of Them Answered to
Her Aunt'S Description. Nor Could She Obtain Any Further Light By
Inquiring Somewhat Into Their Antecedents. As For Mrs. Arnot, She Was
Considerably Amused, But Continued perfectly Non-Committal.
After Laura Had Quite Looked through Her Acquaintances Haldane Made One
Of His Infrequent Calls, But As Mr. Beaumont Was Also Present She Gave
To Her Quondam Lover Scarcely More Than A Kindly Word Of Greeting, And
Then Forgot His Existence. It Did Not Occur To Her, Any More Than It
Would To Haldane Himself, That He Was The Knight.
Mr. Arnot, Partly Out Of A Grim Humor Peculiarly His Own, And Partly To
Extenuate His Severity Toward The Youth, Had Sent To His Niece All The
City Papers Containing Unfavorable References To Haldane, And To Her
Mind The Associations Created by Those Disgraceful Scenes Were Still
Inseparable From Him. She Honestly Respected him For His Resolute Effort
To Reform, As She Would Express It, And As A Sincere Christian Girl She
Wished him The Very Best Of Success, But This Seemed as Far As Her
Regard For Him Could Ever Go. She Treated him Kindly Where Most Others
In Her Station Would Not Recognize Him At All, But Such Was The Delicacy
And Refinement Of Her Nature That She Shrank From One Who Had Been
Capable Of Acts Like His. The Youth Who Had Annoyed her With His
Passion, Whom She Had Seen Fall Upon The Floor In gross Intoxication,
Who Had Been Dragged through The Streets As A Criminal, And Who Twice
Had Been In jail, Was Still A Vivid Memory. She Knew Comparatively
Little About, And Did Not Understand, The Man Of To-Day. Beyond The
General Facts That He Was Doing Well And Doing Good, It Was Evident
That, By Reason Of Old And Disagreeable Associations, She Did Not Wish
To Hear Much About Him, And Mrs. Arnot Had The Wisdom To See That Time
And The Young Man'S Own Actions Would Do More To Remove Prejudice From
The Mind Of Her Niece, As Well As From The Memory Of Society In general,
Than Could Any Words Of Hers.
Of Course, Such A Girl As Laura Had Many Admirers, And Among Them Mr.
Beaumont Was Evidently Winning The First Place In her Esteem. Whether He
Were The Knight That Her Aunt Had In mind Or No, She Was Not Sure, But
He Realized her Ideal More Completely Than Any Man Whom She Had Ever
Met. He Did, Indeed, Seem The "Perfect Flower Of His Age," Although She
Was Not So Sure Of The Oak-Like Qualities. She Often Asked herself
Wherein She Could Find Fault With Him Or With All That Related to Him,
And Even Her Delicate Discrimination Could Scarcely Find A Vulnerable
Point. He Was Fine-Looking, His Heavy Side-Whiskers Redeeming His Face
From Effeminacy; He Was Tall And Elegant In his Proportions; His Taste
In His Dress Was Quiet And Faultless; He Possessed the Most Refined and
Highly Cultured mind Of Any Man Whom She Had Known; His Family Was
Exceedingly Proud And Aristocratic, But As Far As There Can Be Reason
For These Characteristics, This Old And Wealthy Family Had Such Reason.
Laura Certainly Could Not Find Fault With These Traits, For From The
First Mr. Beaumont'S Parents Had Sought To Pay Her Especial Attention.
It Was Quite Evident That They Thought That The Orphaned girl Who Was So
Richly Dowered with Wealth And Beauty Might Make As Good A Wife For
Their Matchless Son As Could Be Found, And Such An Opinion On Their Part
Was, Indeed, A High Compliment To Laura'S Birth And Breeding. No One
Else In hillaton Would Have Been Thought Of With Any Equanimity.
The Son Was Inclined to Take The Same View As That Entertained by His
Parents, But, As The Party Most Nearly Interested, He Felt It Incumbent
Upon Him To Scrutinize Very Closely And Deliberately The Woman Who Might
Become His Wife, And Surely This Was A Sensible Thing To Do.
There Was Nothing Mercenary Or Coarse In his Delicate Analysis And Close
Observation. Far From It. Mr. Beaumont Was The Last Man In the World To
Look A Lady Over As He Would A Bale Of Merchandise. More Than All Things
Else, Mr. Beaumont Was A _Connoisseur_, And He Sought Mrs. Arnot'S
Parlors With Increasing Frequency Because He Believed that He Would
There Find The Woman Best Fitted to Become The Chief Ornament Of The
Stately Family Mansion.
Laura Had Soon Become Conscious Of This Close Tentative Scrutiny, And At
First She Had Been Inclined to Resent Its Cool Deliberateness. But,
Remembering That A Man Certainly Has A Right To Learn Well The Character
Of The Woman Whom He May Ask To Be His Wife, She Felt That There Was
Nothing In his Action Of Which She Could Complain; And It Soon Became A
Matter Of Pride With Her, As Much As Anything Else, To Satisfy Those
Fastidious Eyes That Hitherto Had Critically Looked the World Over, And
In Vain, For A Pearl With A Lustre Sufficiently Clear. She Began To
Study His Taste, To Dress For Him, To Sing For Him, To Read His Favorite
Authors; And So Perfect Was His Taste That She Found Herself Aided and
Enriched by It. He Was Her Superior In these Matters, For He Had Made
Them His Life-Study. The First Hour That She Spent With Him In a
Picture-Gallery Was Long Remembered, For Never Before Had Those Fine And
Artistic Marks Which Make A Painting Great Been So Clearly Pointed out
To Her. She Was Brought To Believe That This Man Could Lead Her To The
Highest Point Of Culture To Which She Could Attain, And Satisfy Every
Refined taste That She Possessed. It Seemed as If He Could Make Life One
Long Gallery Of Beautiful Objects, Through Which She Might Stroll In
Elegant Leisure, Ever Conscious That Lie Who Stood By To Minister And
Explain Was Looking away From All Things Else In admiration Of Herself.
The Prospect Was Too Alluring. Laura Was Not An Advanced female, With A
Mission; She Was Simply A Young And Lovely Woman, Capable Of The Noblest
Action And Feeling Should The Occasion Demand Them, But Naturally
Luxurious And Beauty-Loving In her Tastes, And Inclined to Shun The
Prosaic Side Of Life.
She Made Beaumont Feel That She Also Was Critical And Exacting. She Had
Lived too Long Under Mrs. Arnot'S Influence To Be Satisfied with A Man
Who Merely Lived for The Pleasure He Could Get Out Of Each Successive
Day. He Saw That She Demanded that He Should Have A Purpose And Aim In
Life, And He Skilfully Met This Requirement By Frequently Descanting On
Aesthetic Culture As The Great Lever Which Could Move The World, And By
Suggesting That The Great Question Of His Future Was How He Could Best
Bring This Culture To The People. As A Christian, She Took Issue With
Him As To Its Being The Great Lever, But Was Enthusiastic Over It As A
Most Powerful Means Of Elevating The Masses, And She Often Found Herself
Dreaming Over How Much A Man Gifted with Mr. Beaumont'S Exquisite Taste
And Large Wealth Could
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