human
And now you see, Jacob, what a revolution has taken place; not very pleasant, I grant, but still it was very necessary. I have since been paying all my bills, for the report of my being in difficulty has brought them in fast enough; and I find that in these last five months my wife has spent a whole year's income; so it was quite time to stop.
gpt
I agree with you, sir; but what does Mrs Turnbull say now--has she come to her senses?
human
Pretty well, I expect, although she does not quite choose to acknowledge it. I have told her that she must dispense with a carriage in future; and so she shall, till I think she deserves it. She knows that she must either have _my company_ in the house, or none at all. She knows that the Peters of Petercumb Hall have cut her, for they did not answer a note of hers, sent by the gardener; and Mr Smith has written a very violent answer to another of her notes, wondering at her attempting to push herself into the company of the aristocracy. But what has brought her to her senses more than all is the affair of Monsieur Tagliabue. The magistrate, at my request, gave me the note of Lord Scrope, and I have taken good care that she could read the police report as well; but the fact is, she is so much mortified that I say nothing to her. She has been following the advice of these French swindlers, who have led her wrong, to be able to cheat her of her money. I expect she will ask me to sell this place, and go elsewhere; but at present we hardly exchange a word during the whole day.
gpt
I feel very sorry for her, sir; for I really believe her to be a very good kind-hearted person.
human
That's like you, Jacob--and so she is. At present she is in a state to be pitied. She would throw a share of the blame upon other people, and cannot--she feels it is all herself. All her bubbles of grandeur have burst, and she finds herself not half so respectable as she was before her vanity induced her to cut her former acquaintance, and try to get into the society of those who laughed at her, and at the same time were not half so creditable. But it's that cursed money which has proved her unhappiness--and, I may add, mine.
gpt
Well, sir, I see no chance of its ever adding to my misfortunes, at all events.
human
Perhaps not, Jacob, even if you ever should get any; but, at all events, you may take a little to-morrow, if you please. I cannot ask you to dine here; it would not be pleasant to you, and show a want of feeling to my wife; but I should like you to come up with the wherry to-morrow, and we'll take a cruise.
gpt
Very well, I shall be at your orders--at what time?
human
Say ten o'clock if the weather is fine; if not the next day.
gpt
Then, sir, I'll now wish you good-bye, as I must go and see the Dominie.
human
I was intending to call upon you, sir, after I had paid a visit to my old master.
gpt
Very well, Jacob; and recollect we dine at half-past three--fillet of veal and bacon--don't be late for dinner.
human
Ovid's Remedy of Love.
gpt
Strange, soliloquised the Dominie;
human
Yet, verily, is some of his advice important, and I should imagine commendable, yet I do not find my remedy therein. `_Avoid idleness_'--yes, that is sage counsel--and employment to one that hath not employed himself may drive away thought; but I have never been idle, and mine hath not been love in idleness; `_Avoid her presence_'--that I must do; yet doth she still present herself to mine imagination, and I doubt whether the tangible reality could be more clearly perceptible. Even now doth she stand before me in all her beauty. `_Read not Propertius and Tibullus_'--that is easily refrained from; but read what I will, in a minute the type passeth from my eyes, and I see but her face beaming from the page. Nay, cast my eyes in what direction I may wist, it is the same. If I looked at the stained wall, the indistinct lines gradually form themselves into her profile; if I look at the clouds, they will assume some of the redundant outlines of her form; if I cast mine eyes upon the fire in the kitchen-grate, the coals will glow and cool until I see her face; nay, but yesterday, the shoulder of mutton upon the spit gyrated until it at last assumed the decapitated head of Mary. `_Think of her faults and magnify them_'--nay, that were unjust and unchristian. Let me rather correct mine own. I fear me that when Ovid wrote his picture he intended it for the use of young men, and not for an old fool like me. Behold! I have again broken my pipe--the fourth pipe that I have destroyed this week. What will the dame say? already hath she declared me demented, and God knows she is not very far from the truth; and the Dominie covered up his face in his hands. I took this opportunity to step to the door, and appear to enter it, dropping the latch, and rousing the Dominie by the noise, who extended to me his hand.
gpt
Welcome, my son--welcome to thine old preceptor; and to the walls which first received thee, when thou wert cast on shore as a tangle weed from the river. Sit, Jacob; I was thinking of thee and thine.
human
What, sir? of old Stapleton and his daughter, I suppose.
gpt
Even so; ye were all in my thoughts at the moment that thou madest thy appearance. They are well?
human
Yes, sir, replied I.
gpt
I see but little of them; the old man is always smoking, and as for the girl--why, the less one sees of her the better, I should say.
human
Nay, Jacob, this is new to me; yet is she most pleasant.
gpt
Pleasant, sir; yes, pleasant to everybody; the fact is; I don't like such girls as she is.
human
Indeed, Jacob; what, is she light? I smiled and made no answer.
gpt
Yet I perceived it not,
human
She is just like her mother,
gpt
And what was her mother?
human
Little skilled am I in women, Jacob, yet what thou sayest not only surpriseth but grieveth me. She is fair to look upon.
gpt
Handsome is that handsome does, sir. She'll make many a man's heart ache yet, I expect.
human
Indeed, Jacob. I am full of marvel at what thou hast already told me.
gpt
I have seen more of her, sir.
human
I pray thee tell me more.
gpt
No, sir, I had rather not. You may imagine all you please.
human
Still she is young, Jacob; when she becometh a wife she might alter.
gpt
Sir, it is my firm opinion (and so it was), that if you were to marry her to-morrow, she would run away from you in a week.
human
Is that thy candid opinion, Jacob?
gpt
I will stake my life upon her so doing, although not as to the exact time.
human
Jacob, I thank thee--thank thee much; thou hast opened mine eyes--thou hast done me more good than Ovid. Yes, boy; even the ancients, whom I have venerated, have not done me so kind an act as thou, a stripling, whom I have fostered. Thou hast repaid me, Jacob--thou hast rewarded me, Jacob--thou hast protected me, Jacob--thou hast saved me, Jacob-- hast saved me both from myself and from her; for know, Jacob--know--that mine heart did yearn towards that maiden; and I thought her even to be perfection. Jacob, I thank thee! Now leave me, Jacob, that I may commune with myself, and search out my own heart, for I am awakened-- awakened as from a dream, and I would fain be quite alone.