Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters by R. M. Ballantyne (best romance ebooks TXT) đ
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- Author: R. M. Ballantyne
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âMy father detained me,â said Aileen, seating herself at the table, while her volatile friend put lumps of sugar into the cups, with a tender yet sprightly motion of the hand, as if she were doing the cups a special kindnessâas indeed she was, when preparing one of them to touch the lips of Aileen.
âNaughty man, why did he detain you?â said Miss Pritty.
âOnly to write one or two notes, his right hand being disabled at present by rheumatism.â
âA gentleman, Miss, in the dininâ-room,â said the small domestic, suddenly opening a chink of the door for the admission of her somewhat dishevelled head. âHe wonât send his name upâsays he wants to see you.â
âHow vexing!â exclaimed Miss Pritty, âbut Iâll go down. Iâm determined that he shanât interrupt our tĂȘte-Ă -tĂȘte.â
Miss Pritty uttered a little scream of surprise on entering the dining-room.
âWell, aunt,â said Edgar Berrington, with a hearty smile, as he extended his hand, âyou are surprised to see me?â
âOf course I am, dear Eddy,â cried Miss Pritty, holding up her cheek for a kiss. âSit down. Why, you were in London when I last heard of you.â
âTrue, but Iâm not in London now, as you see. Iâve been a week here.â
âA week, Eddy! And you did not come to see me till now?â
âWell, I ought to apologise,â replied the youth, with a slight look of confusion, âbutâthe fact is, I came down partly on business, andâandâso you see Iâve been very busy.â
âOf course,â laughed Miss Pritty; âpeople who have business to do are usually very busy! Well, I forgive you, and am glad to see youâbutââ
âWell, auntâbut what?â
âIn short, Eddy, I happen to be particularly engaged this eveningâon business, too, like yourself; but, after all, why should I not introduce you to my friend? You might help us in our discussionâit is to be about the poor. Do you know much about the poor and their miseries?â
Edgar smiled sadly as he repliedâ
âYes, I have had some experimental knowledge of the poorâbeing one of them myself, and my poverty too has made me inconceivably miserable.â
âCome, Eddy, donât talk nonsense. You know I mean the very poor, the destitute. But let us go up-stairs and have a cup of tea.â
The idea of discussing the condition of the poor over a cup of tea with two ladies was not attractive to our hero in his then state of mind, and he was beginning to excuse himself when his aunt stopped him:â
âNow, donât say you canât, or wonât, for you must. And I shall introduce you to a very pretty girlâoh! such a pretty oneâyouâve no ideaâand so sweet!â
Miss Pritty spoke impressively and with enthusiasm, but as the youth knew himself to be already acquainted with and beloved by the prettiest girl in the town he was not so much impressed as he might have been. However, being a good-natured fellow, he was easily persuaded.
All the way up-stairs, and while they were entering the boudoir, little Miss Prittyâs tongue never ceased to vibrate, but when she observed her nephew gazing in surprise at her friend, whose usually calm and self-possessed face was covered with confusion, she stopped suddenly.
âGood-evening, Miss Hazlit,â said Edgar, recovering himself, and holding out his hand as he advanced towards her; âI did not anticipate the pleasure of meeting you here.â
âThen you are acquainted already!â exclaimed Miss Pritty, looking as much amazed as if the accident of two young people being acquainted without her knowledge were something tantamount to a miracle.
âYes, I have met Mr Berrington at my fatherâs several times,â said Aileen, resuming her seat, and bestowing a minute examination on the corner of her handkerchief.
If Aileen had added that she had met Mr Berrington every evening for a week past at her fatherâs, had there renewed the acquaintance begun in London a year before, and had been wooed and won by him before his stern repulse by her father, she would have said nothing beyond the bare truth; but she thought, no doubt, that it was not necessary to add all that.
âWell, well, what strange things do happen!â said Miss Pritty, resuming her duties at the tea-table. âSugar, Eddy? And cream?âOnly to think that Aileen and I have known each other so well, and she did not know that you were my nephew; but after all it could not well be otherwise, for now I think of it, I never mentioned your name to her. Out of sight, out of mind, Eddy, you know, and indeed you donât deserve to be remembered. If we all had our deserts, some people that I know of would be in a very different position from what they are, and some people wouldnât be at all.â
âWhy, aunt,â said Edgar, laughing. âWould youââ
âSome more cake, Eddy?â
âNo, thank you. I was going to sayââ
âHave you enough cream? Allow me toââ
âQuite enough, thanks. I was about to remarkââ
âSome sugar, Aileen?âI beg your pardonâyesâyou were about to sayââ
âOh! Nothing,â replied Edgar, half exasperated by these frequent interruptions, but laughing in spite of himself, âonly Iâm surprised that sentence of annihilation should be passed on âsome peopleâ by one so amiable as you are.â
âOh! I didnât exactly mean annihilation,â returned Miss Pritty, with a pitiful smile; âI only mean that I wouldnât have had them come into existence, they seem to be so utterly useless in the world, and so interfering, too, with those who want to be useful.â
âSurely that quality, or capacity of interference, proves them to be not utterly useless,â said Edgar, âfor does it not give occasion for the exercise of patience and forbearance?â
âAh!â replied Miss Pritty, with an arch smile, shaking her finger at her nephew, âyou are a fallacious reasoner. Do you know what that means? I canât help laughing still at the trouble I used to have in trying to find out the meaning of that word fallacious, when I was at Miss Dullandoorâs seminary for young ladiesâhi! Hi! Some of us were excessively young ladies, and we were taught everything by rote, explanations of meanings of anything being quite ignored by Miss Dullandoor. Do you remember her sister? Oh! Iâm so stupid to forget that itâs exactly thirty years to-day since she died, and you canât be quite that age yet; besides, even if you were, it would require that you should have seen, and recognised, and remembered her on her deathbed about the time of your own birth. Oh! She was so funny, both in face and figure. One of the older girls made a portrait of her for me which I have yet. Iâll go fetch it; the expression is irresistibleâit is killing. Excuse me a minute.â
Miss Pritty rose and trippedâshe never walkedâfrom the room. During much of the previous conversation our hero had been sorely perplexed in his mind as to his duty in present circumstances. Having been forbidden to hold any intercourse with Aileen, he questioned the propriety of his remaining to spend the evening with her, and had made up his mind to rise and tear himself away when this unlooked-for opportunity for a tĂȘte-Ă -tĂȘte occurred. Being a man of quick wit and strong will, he did not neglect it. Turning suddenly to the fair girl, he said, in a voice low and measuredâ
âAileen, your father commanded me to have no further intercourse with you, and he made me aware that he had laid a similar injunction on yourself. I know full well your true-hearted loyalty to him, and do not intend to induce you to disobey. I ask you to make no reply to what I say that is not consistent with your promise to your father. For myself, common courtesy tells me that I may not leave your presence for a distant land without saying at least good-bye. Nay, more, I feel that I break no command in making to you a simple deliberate statement.â
Edgar paused for a moment, for, in spite of the powerful restraint put on himself, and the intended sedateness of his words, his feelings were almost too strong for him.
âAileen,â he resumed, âI may never see you again. Your father intends that I shall not. Your looks seem to say that you fear as much. Now, my heart tells me that I shall; but, whatever betide, or wherever I go, let me assure you that I will continue to love you with unalterable fidelity. More than this I shall not say, less I could not. You said that these New Testamentsââpointing to a pile of four or five which lay on the tableââare meant to be given to poor men. I am a poor man: will you give me one?â
âWillingly,â said Aileen, taking one from the pile.
She handed it to her lover without a single word, but with a tender anxious look that went straight to his heart, and took up its lodging thereâto abide for ever!
The youth grasped the book and the hand at once, and, stooping, pressed the latter fervently to his lips.
At that moment Miss Pritty was heard tripping along the passage.
Edgar sprang to intercept her, and closed the door of the boudoir behind him.
âWhy, Edgar, you seem in haste!â
âI am, dear aunt; circumstances require that I should be. Come down-stairs with me. I have stayed too long already. I am going abroad, and may not spend more time with you this evening.â
âGoing abroad!â exclaimed Miss Pritty, in breathless surprise, âwhere?â
âI donât know. To China, Japan, New Zealand, the North Poleâanywhere. In fact, Iâve not quite fixed. Good-bye, dear aunt. Sorry to have seen so little of you. Good-bye.â
He stooped, printed a gentle kiss between Miss Prittyâs wondering eyes, and vanished.
âA most remarkable boy,â said the disconcerted lady, resuming her seat at the tea-tableââso impulsive and volatile. But heâs a dear good boy neverthelessâwas so kind to his mother while she was alive, and ran away from school when quite youngâand no wonder, for it was a dreadful school, where they used to torture the boys,âabsolutely tortured them. The head-master and ushers were tried for it afterwards, Iâm told. At all events; Eddy ran away from it after pulling the masterâs nose and kicking the head usherâso it is said, though I cannot believe it, he is usually so gentle and courteous.âDo have a little more tea. No? A piece of bun? No? Why, you seem quite flushed, my love. Not unwell, I trust? No? Well, then, let us proceed to business.â
Charles Hazlit, Esquire, was a merchant and a shipowner, a landed proprietor, a manager of banks, a member of numerous boards and committees, a guardian of the poor, a volunteer colonel, and a good-humoured man on the whole, but purse-proud and pompous. He was also the father of Aileen.
Behold him seated in an elegant drawing-room, in a splendid mansion at the âwest endâ (strange that all aristocratic ends would appear to be west ends!) of the seaport town which owned him. His blooming daughter sat beside him at a table, on which lay a small, peculiar, box. He doated on his daughter, and with good reason. Their attention was so exclusively taken up with the peculiar box that they had failed to observe the entrance, unannounced, of a man of rough exterior, who stood at the door, hat in hand, bowing and coughing attractively, but without success.
âMy darling,â said Mr Hazlit, stooping to kiss his childâhis only childâwho raised her pretty little three-cornered mouth to receive it, âthis being your twenty-first birthday, I have at last brought myself to look once again on your sainted motherâs jewel-case, in order that I may present it to you. I have not opened it since the day she died. It is now yours, my child.â
Aileen opened her eyes in mute amazement. It would seem as though there had been some secret sympathy between her and the man at the door, for he did precisely the same thing. He also crushed his hat somewhat convulsively with both
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