"Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand,
That you, yet, know not of,----"
Merchant of Venice.
Notwithstanding the active movements which had taken place in and around
the buildings of the Lust in Rust, during the night which ended with our
last chapter, none but the initiated were in the smallest degree aware of
their existence. Oloff Van Staats was early afoot; and when he appeared on
the lawn, to scent the morning air, there was nothing visible, to give
rise to a suspicion that aught extraordinary had occurred during his
slumbers. La Cour des Fées was still closed, but the person of the
faithful François was seen, near the abode of his young mistress, busied
in some of those pretty little offices, that can easily be imagined would
be agreeable to a maiden of her years and station. Van Staats of
Kinderhook had as little of romance in his composition, as could well be
in a youth of five-and-twenty, who was commonly thought to be enamoured,
and who was not altogether ignorant of the conventional sympathies of the
passion. The man was mortal, and as the personal attractions of la belle
Barbérie were sufficiently obvious, he had not entirely escaped the fate,
which seems nearly inseparable from young fancy, when excited by beauty.
He drew nigh to the pavilion, and, by a guarded but decisive manoeuvre, he
managed to come so close to the valet, as to render a verbal communication
not only natural, but nearly unavoidable.
"A fair morning and a healthful air, Monsieur François;" commenced the
young Patroon, acknowledging the low salute of the domestic, by gravely
lifting his own beaver. "This is a comfortable abode for the warm months,
and one it might be well to visit oftener."
"When Monsieur le Patteron shall be de lor' of ce manoir, aussi, he shall
come when he shall have la volonté," returned François, who knew that a
pleasantry of his ought not to be construed into an engagement on the part
of her he served, while it could not fail to be agreeable to him who heard
it. "Monsieur de Van Staats, est grand propriétaire sur la rivière, and
one day, peut-être, he shall be propriétaire sur la mèr!"
"I have thought of imitating the example of the Alderman, honest Francis,
and of building a villa on the coast; but there will be time for that,
when I shall find myself more established in life! Your young mistress is
not yet moving, Francis?"
"Ma foi, non--Mam'selle Alide sleep!--'tis good symptôme, Monsieur
Patteron, pour les jeunes personnes, to tres bien sleep. Monsieur, et
toute la famille de Barbérie sleep à merveille! Oui, c'est toujours une
famille remarquable, poui le sommeil!"
"Yet one would wish to breathe this fresh and invigorating air, which
comes from off the sea, like a balm, in the early hours of the day."
"Sans doute, Monsieur. C'est un miracle, how Mam'selle love de air!
Personne do not love air more, as Mam'selle Alide. Bah!--It was grand
plaisir to see how Monsieur de Barbérie love de air!"
"Perhaps, Mr. Francis, your young lady is ignorant of the hour. It might
be well to knock at the door, or perhaps at the window. I confess, I
should much admire to see her bright face, smiling from that window, on
this soft morning scene."
It is not probable that the imagination of the Patroon of Kinderhook ever
before took so high a flight; and there was reason to suspect, by the
wavering and alarmed glance that he cast around him after so unequivocal
an expression of weakness, that he already repented his temerity.
François, who would not willingly disoblige a man that was known to
possess a hundred thousand acres of land, with manorial rights, besides
personals of no mean amount, felt embarrassed by the request; but was
enabled to recollect in time, that the heiress was known to possess a
decision of character that might choose to control her own pleasures.
"Well, I shall be too happy to knock; mais, Monsieur sais, dat sleep est
si agréable, pour les jeunes personnes! On n'a jamais knock, dans la
famille de Monsieur de Barbérie, and je suis sûr, que Mam'selle Alide, do
not love to hear de knock--pourtant, si Monsieur le Patteron le veut, I
shall consult ses--Voila! Monsieur Bevre, qui vient sans knock à la
fenêtre. J'ai l'honneur de vous laisser avec Monsieur Al'erman."
And so the complaisant but still considerate valet bowed himself out of a
dilemma, that he found, as he muttered to himself, while retiring, 'tant
soit peu ennuyant.'
The air and manner of the Alderman, as he approached his guest, were, like
the character of the man, hale, hearty and a little occupied with his own
enjoyments and feelings. He hemmed thrice, ere he was near enough to
speak; and each of the strong expirations seemed to invite the admiration
of the Patroon, for the strength of his lungs, and for the purity of the
atmosphere around a villa which acknowledged him for its owner.
"Zephyrs and Spas! but this is the abode of health, Patroon!" cried the
burgher, as soon as these demonstrations of his own bodily condition had
been sufficiently repeated. "One sometimes feels in this air equal to
holding a discourse, across the Atlantic, with his friends at Scheveling,
or the Helder. A broad and deep chest, air like this from the sea, with a
clear conscience, and a lucky hit in the way of trade, cause the lungs of
a man to play as easily and as imperceptibly as the wings of a
humming-bird.--Let me see; there are few four-score men in thy stock. The
last Patroon closed the books at sixty-six; and his father went but a
little beyond seventy. I wonder, there has never been an intermarriage,
among you, with the Van Courtlandts; that blood is as good as an insurance
to four-score and ten, of itself."
"I find the air of your villa, Mr. Van Beverout, a cordial that one could
wish to take often," returned the other, who had far less of the brusque
manner of the trader, than his companion. "It is a pity that all who have
the choice, do not profit by their opportunities to breathe it."
"You allude to the lazy mariners in yon vessel! Her Majesty's servants are
seldom in a hurry; and as for this brigantine in the Cove, the fellow
seems to have gotten in by magic! I warrant me, now, the rogue is there
for no good, and that the Queen's Exchequer will be none the richer for
his visit. Harkee, you Brom," calling to an aged black, who was working at
no great distance from the dwelling, and who was deep in his master's
confidence, "hast seen any boats plying between yonder roguish-looking
brigantine and the land?"
The negro shook his head, like the earthen image of a mandarin, and
laughed loud and heartily.
"I b'rieve he do all he mischief among a Yankee, an' he only come here to
take he breat'," said the wily slave. "Well, I wish, wid all a heart, dere
would come free-trader, some time, along our shore Dat gib a chance to
poor black man, to make an honest penny!"
"You see, Patroon, human nature itself rises against monopoly! That was
the voice of instinct, speaking with the tongue of Brom; and it is no easy
task, for a merchant, to keep his dependants obedient to laws, which, in
themselves, create so constant a temptation to break them. Well, well; we
will always hope for the best, and endeavor to act like dutiful subjects.
The boat is not amiss, as to form and rig, let her come from where she
will.--Dost think the wind will be off the land this morning?"
"There are signs of a change in the clouds. One could wish that all should
be out in the air, to taste this pleasant sea-breeze while it lasts."
"Come, come," cried the Alderman, who had for a moment studied the state
of the heavens with a solicitude, that he feared might attract his
companion's attention. "We will taste our breakfast. This is the spot to
show the use of teeth! The negroes have not been idle during the night,
Mr. Van Staats--he-e-em--I say, Sir, they have not been idle:--and we
shall have a choice among the dainties of the river and bay.--That cloud
above the mouth of the Raritan appears to rise, and we may yet have a
breeze at west!"
"Yonder comes a boat in the direction of the city," observed the other,
reluctantly obeying a motion of the Alderman to retire to the apartment
where they were accustomed to break their fasts. "To me, it seems to
approach with more than ordinary speed."
"There are stout arms at its oars! Can it be a messenger for the cruiser?
no--it rather steers more for our own landing. These Jersey-men are often
overtaken by the night, between York and their own doors. And now,
Patroon, we will to our knives and forks, like men who have taken the best
stomachics."
"And are we to refresh ourselves alone?" demanded the young man, who ever
and anon cast a sidelong and wistful glance at the closed and immovable
shutters of la Cour des Fées.
"Thy mother hath spoilt thee, young Oloff; unless the coffee comes from a
pretty female hand, it loses its savor. I take thy meaning, and think none
the worse of thee; for the weakness is natural at thy years. Celibacy and
independence! A man must get beyond forty, before he is ever sure of being
his own master. Come hither, Master Francis. It is time my niece had
shaken off this laziness, and shown her bright face to the sun. We wait
for her fair services at the table.--I see nothing of that lazy hussy,
Dinah, any more than of her mistress."
"Assurément non, Monsieur," returned the valet. "Mam'selle Dinah do not
love trop d'activité. Mais, Monsieur Al'erman, elles sont jeunes, toutes
les deux! Le sommeil est bien salutaire, pour la jeunesse."
"The girl is no longer in her cradle, Francis, and it is time to rattle at
the windows. As for the black minx, who should have been up and at her
duty this hour, there will be a balance to settle between us. Come,
Patroon:--the appetite will not await the laziness of a wilful girl; we
will to the table.--Dost think the wind will stand at west this morning?"
Thus saying, the Alderman led the way into the little parlor, where a neat
and comfortable service invited them to break their morning fast. He was
followed by Oloff Van Staats, with a lingering step for the young man
really longed to see the windows of the pavilion open, and the fair face
of Alida smiling amid the other beautiful objects of the scene. François
proceeded to take such measures to arouse his mistress, as he believed to
comport with his duty to her uncle, and his own ideas of bienséance. After
some little delay, the Alderman and his guest took their seats at the
table; the former loudly protesting against the necessity of waiting for
the idle, and throwing in an occasional moral concerning the particular
merit of punctuality in domestic economy, as well as in the affairs of
commerce.
"The ancients divided time," said the somewhat pertinacious commentator,
"into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and moments, as they
divided numbers into units, tens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of
thousands; and both with an object. If we commence at the bottom, and
employ well the moments, Mr. Van Staats, we turn the minutes into tens,
the hours into hundreds, and the weeks and months into thousands--ay! and
when there is a happy state of trade, into tens of thousands! Missing an
hour, therefore, is somewhat like dropping an important figure in a
complex calculation, and the whole labor may be useless, for want of
punctuality in one, as for want of accuracy in the other. Your father, the
late Patroon, was what may be called a minute-man.--He was as certain to
be seen in his pew, at church, at the stroke of the clock, as to pay a
bill, when its items had been properly examined. Ah! it was a blessing to
hold one of his notes, though they were far scarcer than broad pieces, or
bullion. I have heard it said, Patroon, that the manor is backed by plenty
of Johannes and Dutch ducats!"
"The descendant has no reason to reproach his ancestors with want of
foresight."
"Prudently answered;--not a word too much, not too little--a principle on
which all honest men settle their accounts. By proper management, such a
foundation might be made to uphold an estate that should count thousands
with the best of Holland or England. Growth and majority! Patroon; but we
of the colonies must come to man's estate in time, like our cousins on the
dykes of the Low Countries, or our rulers among the smithies of
England.--Erasmus, look at that cloud over the Raritan, and tell me if it
rises."
The negro reported that the vapor was stationary; and, at the same time,
by way of episode, he told his master that the boat which had been seen
approaching the land had reached the wharf, and that some of its crew were
ascending the hill towards the Lust in Rust.
"Let them come of all hospitality," returned the Alderman, heartily; "I
warrant me, they are honest farmers from the interior, a-hungered with the
toil of the night. Go tell the cook to feed them with the best, and bid
them welcome. And harkee, boy;--if there be among them any comfortable
yeoman, bid the man enter and sit at our table. This is not a country,
Patroon, to be nice about the quality of the cloth a man has on his back,
or whether he wears a wig or only his own hair.--What is the fellow gaping
at?"
Erasmus rubbed his eyes, and then showing his teeth to the full extent of
a double row, that glittered like pearls, he gave his master to
understand, that the negro, introduced to the reader under the name of
Euclid, and who was certainly his own brother of the half-blood, or by the
mother's side, was entering the villa. The intelligence caused a sudden
cessation of the masticating process in the Alderman, who had not,
however, time to express his wonder ere two doors simultaneously opened,
and François presented himself at the one, while the shining and doubting
face of the slave from town darkened the other. The eyes of Myndert
rolled first to this side and then to that, a certain misgiving of the
heart preventing him from speaking to either; for he saw, in the disturbed
features of each, omens that bade him prepare himself for unwelcome
tidings. The reader will perceive, by the description we shall give that
there was abundant reason for the sagacious burgher's alarm.
The visage of the valet, at all times meagre and long, seemed extended to
far more than its usual dimensions, the under jaw appearing fallen and
trebly attenuated. The light-blue protruding eyes were open to the utmost,
and they expressed a certain confused wildness, that was none the less
striking, for the painful expression of mental suffering, with which it
was mingled. Both hands were raised, with the palms outward; while the
shoulders of the poor fellow were elevated so high, as entirely to destroy
the little symmetry that Nature had bestowed on that particular part of
his frame.
On the other hand, the look of the negro was guilty, dogged, and cunning.
His eye leered askance, seeming to wish to play around the person of his
master, as, it will be seen, his language endeavored to play around his
understanding. The hands crushed the crown of a woollen hat between their
fingers, and one of his feet described semicircles with its toe, by
performing nervous evolutions on its heel.
"Well!" ejaculated Myndert, regarding each in turn. "What news from the
Canadas?--Is the Queen dead, or has she restored the colony to the United
Provinces?"
"Mam'selle Alide!" exclaimed, or rather groaned, François.
"The poor dumb beast!--" muttered Euclid.
The knives and the forks fell from the hands of Myndert and his guest, as
it were by a simultaneous paralysis. The latter involuntarily arose; while
the former planted his solid person still more firmly in its seat, like
one who was preparing to meet some severe and expected shock, with all the
physical resolution he could muster.
"--What of my niece!--What of my geldings?--You have called upon Dinah?"
"Sans doute, Monsieur!"
"--And you kept the keys of the stable?"
"I nebber let him go, at all!"
"--And you bade her call her mistress?"
"She no make answair, de tout."
"--The animals were fed and watered, as I ordered?"
"'Em nebber take he food, better!"
"--You entered the chamber of my niece, yourself, to awake her?"
"Monsieur a raison."
"What the devil has befallen the innocent?"
"He lose he stomach quite, and I t'ink it great time 'fore it ebber come
back."
"--Mister Francis, I desire to know the answer of Monsieur Barbérie's
daughter."
"Mam'selle no répond, Monsieur; pas un syllabe!"
"--Drenchers and fleams! The beauty should have been drenched and
blooded--"
"He'm too late for dat, Masser, on honor."
"--The obstinate hussy! This comes of her Huguenot breed, a race that
would quit house and lands rather than change its place of worship!"
"La famille de Barbérie est honorable, Monsieur mais le Grand Monarque fut
un pen trop exigeant. Vraiment, la dragonade était mal avisée, pour faire
des chrétiens!"
"Apoplexies and hurry! you should have sent for the farrier to administer
to the sufferer, thou black hound!"
"'Em go for a butcher, Masser, to save he skin; for he war' too soon
dead."
The word dead produced a sudden pause. The preceding dialogue had been so
rapid, and question and answer, no less than the ideas of the principal
speaker, had got so confused, that, for a moment, he was actually at a
loss to understand, whether the last great debt of nature had been paid by
la belle Barbérie, or one of the Flemish geldings. Until now,
consternation, as well as the confusion of the interview, had constrained
the Patroon to be silent, but he profited by the breathing-time to
interpose.
"It is evident, Mr. Van Beverout," he said, speaking with a tremor in the
voice, which betrayed his own uneasiness, "that some untoward event has
occurred. Perhaps the negro and I had better retire, that you may question
Francis concerning that which hath befallen Mademoiselle Barbérie, more at
your leisure."
The Alderman was recalled from a profound stupor, by this gentlemanlike
and considerate proposal. He bowed his acknowledgments, and permitted Mr.
Van Staats to quit the room; but when Euclid would have followed, he
signed to the negro to remain.
"I may have occasion to question thee farther," he said, in a voice that
had lost most of that compass and depth for which it was so remarkable.
"Stand there, sirrah, and be in readiness to answer. And now, Mr. Francis,
I desire to know why my niece declines taking the breakfast with myself
and my guest?"
"Mon Dieu, Monsieur, it is not possible y répondre Les sentiments des
demoiselles are nevair décides!"
"Go then, and say to her, that my sentiments are decided to curtail
certain bequests and devises, which have consulted her interests more than
strict justice to others of my blood--ay, and even of my name, might
dictate."
"Monsieur y réfléchira. Mam'selle Alide be so young personne!"
"Old or young, my mind is made up; and so to your Cour des Fées, and tell
the lazy minx as much.--Thou hast ridden that innocent, thou scowling imp
of darkness!"
"Mais, pensez-y, je vous en prie, Monsieur. Mam'selle shall nevair se
sauver encore; jamais, je vous en répond."
"What is the fellow jabbering about?" exclaimed the Alderman, whose mouth
fell nearly to the degree that rendered the countenance of the valet so
singularly expressive of distress. "Where is my niece, Sir?--and what
means this allusion to her absence?"
"La fille de Monsieur de Barbérie n'y est pas!" cried François, whose
heart was too full to utter more. The aged and affectionate domestic laid
his hand on his breast, with an air of acute suffering; and then,
remembering the presence of his superior, he turned, bowed with a manner
of profound condolence, struggled manfully with his own emotion, and
succeeded in getting out of the room with dignity and steadiness.
It is due to the character of Alderman Van Beverout, to say, that the blow
occasioned by the sudden death of the Flemish gelding, lost some of its
force, in consequence of so unlooked-for a report concerning the
inexplicable absence of his niece. Euclid was questioned, menaced, and
even anathematized, more than once, during the next ten minutes; but the
cunning slave succeeded in confounding himself so effectually with the
rest of his connexions of the half-blood, during the search which
instantly followed the report of François, that his crime was partially
forgotten.
On entering la Cour des Fées, it was, in truth, found to want her whose
beauty and grace had lent its chief attraction. The outer rooms, which
were small, and ordinarily occupied during the day by François and the
negress called Dinah, and in the night by the latter only, were in the
state in which they might be expected to be seen. The apartment of the
attendant furnished evidence that its occupant had quitted it in haste,
though there was every appearance of her having retired to rest at the
usual hour. Clothes were scattered carelessly about; and though most of
her personal effects had disappeared enough remained to prove that her
departure had been hurried and unforeseen.
On the other hand, the little saloon, with the dressing-room and bed-room
of la belle Barbérie, were in a state of the most studied arrangement. Not
an article of furniture was displaced, a door ajar, or a window open. The
pavilion had evidently been quitted by its ordinary passage, and the door
had been closed in the customary manner, without using the fastenings. The
bed had evidently not been entered, for the linen was smooth and
untouched. In short, so complete was the order of the place, that,
yielding to a powerful natural feeling, the Alderman called aloud on his
truant niece, by name, as if he expected to see her appear from some
place, in which she had secreted her person, in idle sport. But this
touching expedient was vain. The voice sounded hollow through the deserted
rooms; and though all waited long to listen, there came no playful or
laughing answer back.
"Alida!" cried the burgher, for the fourth and last time, "come forth,
child; I forgive thee thy idle sport, and all I have said of
disinheritance was but a jest. Come forth, my sister's daughter, and kiss
thy old uncle!"
The Patroon turned aside, as he heard a man so Known for his worldliness
yielding to the power of nature; and the lord of a hundred thousand acres
forgot his own disappointment, in the force of sympathy.
"Let us retire," he said, gently urging the burgher to quit the place. "A
little reflection will enable us to deride what should be done."
The Alderman complied. Before quitting the place, however, its closets and
drawers were examined; and the search left no further doubts of the step
which the young heiress had taken. Her clothes, books, utensils for
drawing, and even the lighter instruments of music, had disappeared.