Arabella Stuart. G. P. R. James

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СКАЧАТЬ the confines of Hampshire and Wiltshire, at the distance of about twenty miles from Salisbury, was a good house belonging formerly to the Dowager Countess of Lennox, surrounded by a park of nearly a thousand acres, paled in from the neighbouring country on account of some very fine deer which it contained. The hand of nature had done far more for it than art, and nothing could be more beautiful than the variety of hill and dale, of forest, fell and mead, which it displayed. It is true no mountains were there, no bold and rocky scenery; but it was full of rich old woods, deep ferny dells, and constant heights and falls of ground, which compelled a considerable stream swarming with fine trout to wander in a thousand turns and bends, so that its course through the park, if traced along its meanderings, could not extend to less than many miles in length.

      The woodpecker and the squirrel found there a home to their utmost satisfaction; multitudes of hares, whose possession was only disputed by the herds of deer, might be found sleeping in their forms on the sunny sides of the hill, or seen galloping along when disturbed, ever and anon standing raised upon their hind feet, and listening with erected ear for any sound of pursuit; while towards the close of evening, the rabbits, in a part especially called the Warren, came out to play in thousands, like schoolboys issuing forth for sport after the tasks of the day are ended.

      In this park, in the month of June, and towards the hour of nine in the morning, a lady was sitting on the grass under the trees, at a considerable distance from the house. The spot she had chosen was the side of one of the little hills, which was crowned by a clump of old oaks, and looking down over a considerable extent of scene, both in front and on either hand. It was, in fact a sort of spur or promontory from the high ground to the westward of the park, on which ran the paling, bounding a high road. The distance between the hill and the public way, however, was at least four hundred yards; and the intervening space was filled with wide-spreading trees, devoid of underwood, so that it was from that side alone that any one could approach the spot chosen by the lady for her seat without being perceived by her, even at a considerable distance.

      The sun was rising bright over the fair landscape beneath her eyes, the wanderings of the stream were in every direction seen, like the beneficent hand of the Almighty in all his works, to the eye of the thoughtful believer giving light and brightness to the whole; and while the long shadows of the trees moved slowly as the morning sun got up in heaven, like the tardy progress of the world's affairs, the deep blue shadow of some passing clouds floated rapidly over the bright scene, resembling the free thoughts of man when his heart is at rest.

      For several minutes the lady sat and gazed around her, leaning lightly on her rounded arm, and fixing her soft and thoughtful eyes, from time to time, upon each fair spot in the glowing landscape. Was she merely drinking in the flood of beauty that poured upon the eye, contemplating the magnificence of nature, feeling with delight and awe the perfection of God's works? Or were her thoughts turned inward to her own fate and circumstances, and her eye roving inattentive over things familiar to her? Neither was exactly the case; she felt the loveliness of the scene, she marked with pleasure many a fair object in the view, she looked "through Nature up to Nature's God," but still her own hopes and wishes, her own fears and anxieties intruded themselves, whether she would or not, upon her attention with importunate appeal, and connected her own fate with all her contemplations, deriving from the objects before her eyes, sometimes fanciful illustrations, sometimes consolations higher and holier than any that man can give.

      Thus she sat for several minutes, and why or wherefore matters not much, nor can we indeed tell--for who can trace the wanderings of a quick and imaginative mind?--but that fit of her reverie ended with a bright drop upon her eyelids. The next moment, however, sweet Arabella Stuart roused herself, though with a sigh, to other thoughts. Oh, how hard it is when the mind, like a young bird, has soared forth at liberty, into the face of heaven, and tried its wing at large, amongst all the joyous things of nature, to be called back to the close cage of the dull world's doings, the strifes, the cares, the meannesses, which form the bars that prison in the heart. Such was her fate, however, continually through life.

      As if to make the transition more easy, however, she repeated--we may call it sung, for she preserved, though her voice rose scarcely above a murmur, the air of the song--the lines of some long-forgotten poet, which were but too applicable to herself.

      "I must not love where I would love,

       I must not dwell where I would stay."

      "Alas, it is all in vain," she added. "And now to the letter."

      Thus saying, she drew forth from her bosom a note, the seal of which had been broken, but of the contents of which she had, as yet, only read the first words. Unfolding it, her eye ran over the lines it contained, and her cheek grew very pale; a look of anxiety and apprehension rose in her countenance; and at length, clasping her hands together, she exclaimed, "The King and all the Court live in daily dread of the plague; but if these rash men did but know how much more I dread the plague of their ambitious designs, they would not surely try to communicate the infection to me by such letters as this. What is to be done with this thing now? If I reveal it, I bring the poor wretch to the block. If I conceal it, I make myself a sharer of their treasons."

      She paused and meditated for a moment or two, and then exclaimed aloud, "Oh, that I had some one to advise me!"

      The words were scarcely uttered, when there was a step amongst the trees behind; and starting up with a look of alarm, she turned round. The blood rose in her cheek, her eye sparkled, though she would fain have quenched its light, and her voice faltered with emotion, as she exclaimed, "Oh, Seymour! rash, rash young man, your imprudence will be the ruin of yourself and me!"

      "Nay, dearest Arabella," he replied, with a gay smile, "neither rash nor imprudent--bold, perhaps, to watch you as you sat here musing; but I claim but the privilege of the sun, who looks at you through the green leaves, even whilst you fancy yourself hidden from his bright eye."

      "Nay, but you are rash, William," she answered, "rash to come hither at all."

      "I could not help it, Arabella," he said in reply, kissing her hand. "You would not have me a traitor or a rebel?"

      "Heaven forbid!" exclaimed Arabella, her imagination immediately connecting his words with the letter she had just been reading. "Oh, William, of all things, if you would not break my heart, avoid all dealings with the many dangerous men who are striving for things impossible. But you are laughing--I have mistaken you. Nay, if you smile so, I shall call back again all my old careless gaiety, which, to say truth, has been somewhat disturbed. If you could not help coming, tell me what brings you?"

      "The King's commands," replied William Seymour. "The King's commands, to bid you to Wilton on Wednesday next."

      "Oh, then, the King's commands shall be obeyed," said Arabella, "and his messenger is right welcome. But how got you in? You could not come hither from the house without my seeing you."

      "I sent on horses and servants," answered William Seymour, "letter and all--for there is an epistle, brightest Arabella, writ by the King's own hand, in very choice Latin, as I understand, judging you a learned lady."

      "Heaven help the mark!" interrupted Arabella. "But still, how got you in, William Seymour? 'Tis very rude of you to take me so by surprise." But her smiles, as the reader has already supposed, contradicted her words.

      "Nay," said Seymour, "'tis worse than that, for I did so on purpose. Dismounting on the road, I sent my men and horses on, and leaped the paling, telling them that I would fain take a walk through the park; but, in truth, having an intimation from a good enchanter that I should find Arabella beneath these trees."

      "Fie, fie!" cried Arabella, "you are an impostor, Seymour, and would have me think that love can work СКАЧАТЬ