Chetwynd Calverley. Ainsworth William HarrisonЧитать онлайн книгу.
now you have asked me a good many questions, let me ask you one in return?” said Mrs. Calverley.
“Delighted to answer any questions you may put to me,” he replied, wondering what she was going to say.
“But don’t answer this, unless you like,” she observed.
“Let me hear it,” he rejoined, fearing something unpleasant was coming.
“How is it that your lovely cousin, Emmeline, has not married? I know she has had several very good offers.”
“‘Pon my honour, I can’t tell. I fancy – but mind its only fancy – she has had some disappointment.”
“I should think that scarcely possible,” observed Mrs. Calverley. “Why, she is an only child, and will be a great heiress!”
“Well, that’s the only solution I can give of the mystery. I know Lord Bollington proposed to her, and I know my uncle would have liked the match to take place, but the young lord was refused.”
“Possibly she has an attachment,” observed Mrs. Calverley, thoughtfully. “If so, it’s a great pity.”
“Here she comes, with Miss Calverley,” said Captain Danvers, as the two young ladies were seen advancing along the terrace.
XII. BRACKLEY MERE
Judging from her lively manner, no one would have dreamed that she nourished a secret attachment. But she kept it carefully locked up in the recesses of her heart, and had no confidante except Mildred.
Captain Danvers rose to meet them, but Mrs. Calverley retained her seat.
“We shall see now how he acts,” she thought.
He did not leave her long in doubt. He immediately began an animated conversation with Mildred, and kept by her side as they walked round the garden, leaving Emmeline to amuse Mrs. Calverley.
No doubt the handsome captain could make himself extremely agreeable if he chose, and he now exerted himself to the utmost, and succeeded.
Having expatiated upon the beauty of the formal old garden they were surveying, and saying how much he preferred it to the landscape style, he turned the discourse to the amusements and gaieties of London, and soon found that Mildred was really anxious to spend a season in town; whereupon he expressed the greatest satisfaction, as he should frequently have an opportunity of meeting her.
By this time Lady Barfleur had made her appearance, and as she could report nothing of Sir Leycester, she suggested a visit to the mere.
“It is a nice shady walk there through the wood,” she said; “and if you have not seen the mere, I think you will be struck by it.”
“Not by its beauty, mamma,” remarked Emmeline, “but rather by its blackness.”
“Well, such blackness as that water boasts is a beauty,” said Captain Danvers. “In my opinion, the mere is well worth seeing.”
“There are all sorts of legends attached to it,” said Emmeline. “Amongst others, there is a superstition, that when anything is about to happen to our house, a great piece of black oak, that has been sunk for ages at the bottom of the lake, floats to the surface.”
“An idle story,” remarked Lady Barfleur.
“You excite my curiosity,” said Mrs. Calverley. “I should like to see this mysterious lake.”
“You must excuse my accompanying you,” said Lady Barfleur. “Captain Danvers will conduct you there.”
“With the greatest pleasure,” said the captain. “I hope you will go too, Miss Calverley?”
“Oh, of course!” she replied.
So they all set off, with the exception of Lady Barfleur, who rarely got beyond the garden.
In a very few minutes, they had plunged into a wood, through which a narrow road led to the mere.
In some places, the path was overarched by trees, and the branches formed a delightful screen on that hot day.
Captain Danvers led the way with Mildred, and the path being only wide enough for two, the others were obliged to follow. As the wood seemed to inspire such a tone, his accents became low and tender.
Suddenly they burst upon the lake in all its sombre grandeur. The water looked intensely black, but when examined, it was found to be perfectly clear. The broad expanse was surrounded by trees, which, in some instances, advanced beyond the bank.
The surface of the mere was unruffled, for not a breath of wind was stirring, and reflected the trees as in a mirror. Occasionally, however, a fish would leap up, and the smooth water was, for a moment, rippled.
But the effect of the scene was not cheerful. An air of gloom brooded over the place, that impressed the beholder with melancholy. Both Mrs. Calverley and Mildred acknowledged the feeling.
At the point where the visitors had approached it, the lake was shallow, and occupied by a large bed of reeds and bullrushes; but, at the opposite extremity, the water was profoundly deep, and supposed, by the common folk, to be unfathomable.
On the left, and not far from where they stood, was a boat-house, and Captain Danvers offered to row them to the further end of the lake, so that they might have an opportunity of completely surveying it.
The proposal was gladly accepted.
Repairing to the shed, they embarked in a large flat-bottomed boat, better adapted for fishing than moving rapidly through the water.
However, it answered the purpose. Captain Danvers took the sculls, and contrived to get Mildred next him. The clumsy craft moved slowly on, and was now and then stopped that the ladies might look around.
As they drew near the lower end, the lake seemed to become darker, and the trees that shut it in assumed a yet more sombre appearance.
Here it was deepest.
Captain Danvers was tugging at the sculls, but still making very slow progress, when the boat struck against something in the water that gave it a great shock.
The captain ceased rowing, and looking round to see what he had come in contact with, to his surprise and consternation, he beheld the blackened trunk of a huge oak.
Hitherto, the dusky mass had scarcely appeared above the surface, but on being thus forcibly struck, it rolled round in such manner as to display its enormous bulk, and then gradually sank.
All three ladies saw the ill-omened piece of timber at the same time as Captain Danvers.
Uttering a cry of fright, Emmeline stood up, and, pointing to it, exclaimed:
“‘Tis the black oak I told you of. One of my father’s house is doomed!”
The others looked aghast, but spoke not. Even Captain Danvers seemed struck dumb.
Without a word, he turned the boat’s head, and began to row back.
While he was moving round, Emmeline sat down, and covered her eyes, to shut the hideous object from her view.
“It is gone,” said Mildred, in a low tone. “Try not to think about it.”
“I ought to think about it,” rejoined Emmeline, scarcely above her breath. “It is a death-warning!”
“But not to you, dearest girl,” said Mildred.
“I would rather it applied to me than to those I love,” she returned.
Silence prevailed among the party till they landed. No more jesting on the part of the captain. He looked very gloomy.
When they got out of the boat, he tried to cheer up his fair cousin, but did not succeed.
They walked back quietly to the Hall, where a painful surprise awaited them.
XIII. PURSUIT OF THE GIPSIES
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