A Canadian Heroine, Volume 1

sed if he considered himself a person of some importance in a country where a baronetcy is the highest heredit

se; regarding himself as admirably fitted by nature for spending money, and knowing by experience that his abilities were totally inadequate to saving it. His family was not rich; so far from it, indeed, that the great object of the Earl had been to m

rench and German; and at nearly thirty years of age he had b

e of one of his sisters, and of trying to persuade the Earl to pay some inconvenient debts. But the moment he mentioned, with due caution, this secon

" said

. I want to get rid of my incu

repeated

son, staggered by th

Drum

ifty, at

undred thous

ld not h

growing

fused half-a-dozen offers every

s Pe

d be the u

y inte

sons in

eliza We

e a sligh

than I am, and has a

e Earl, "and try if she will have you. Depend upon

d to be going on prosperously. It seemed, however, that either the gentleman found wooing in earnest to be a more fatiguing business than he had anticipated, or he thoug

nnection not having lasted beyond the first year of matrimony, the Earl had had plenty of time to repent and to calculate, over and over again, how different the fortunes of his house might have been, had he acted, himself, upon the principles he recommended to his son. It was wi

ouna. Mr. Bellairs was a barrister in good practice; his pretty wife, a Frenchwoman by descent, had brought him a fortune of considerable amount for the colonies, and knew how to make his house sufficiently attractive

jects to which visitors to Cacouna were in the habit of making pilgrimages. They went accordingly, in a light waggon, and having duly admired the rapids, and the surround

prettiest bird in Cacouna; and in this long white house to the right

d Mr. Percy. "Has she no father or brother, that she s

e, when she was an infant. Mrs. Costello came her

Leigh any

by. It is only a case of devoted friendship. Alice Leigh, Maurice's sister, and Lucia used to be alw

Leighs then? It is a

o with a young wife; she is dead and so are all her childre

ut it appears to me that a beautiful girl, like Miss Costello, might expec

, he would be sure to get on in a country like ours, even if he were less thoroughly a good fellow. He has but two faults; he is

something else, and they soon after reached home. Later in the day Mrs

isits," she said, "are yo

cases of trespass, not a single word of which I could understand. It wi

"that you came to the backwood

into the pony-carriage, "it is quite

to the Parsonage. Mr. and Mrs. Bayne were to have been with us yeste

all. They stopped at the gate of the Parsonage. It was a tolerably large house, standing on a sloping lawn, overlooking the river on one side and the lit

r four children ran out of the hall, where th

sing them all in turn. "Which

orus; "she fell into the ri

She had on a faded dress, and her collar and cuffs had been soiled and crumpled by the attacks of her younger boys and girls, especially the fat baby she held in her arms; but she had long ago ceased to be embarrassed by the shabbiness

the accident. Mr. Percy, determined to make the best of his circumstances, endeavoured to make friends with the heir of the house, a sturdy boy of nine or ten, but as the young gen

to climb into a tree that overhangs the river. Of course when she got up, the most natural thing in the w

huddered. "What

g risks. I am sure among the sev

el

he current. Fortunately she had fallen in so near the edge that the water was very shallow, and if she had been in possession of her senses, she might have dragg

was ins

then unluckily her wetting brought on agu

oked as if another shivering fit were coming on. "You must make haste and

Bayne. "I wish that wretched sw

st tease William into giving the

hbours at the shanties no small service

from the baby interrupted the conve

on, "Tell me," she said, "don't you agree with me that a visit to the Parsonage fur

? Are many of your clergym

elieve so. How can they help it indeed, when one hundred a

y. No man ought to marry under those circumstances. But I w

in the woods for the gangs of lumberers; that is, you know, t

d something about s

the families of the men employed at this mill live in shanties close by. Every spring and autumn the sickness among them is terrible, and sometimes there are bad cases all through the sum

Mr. Percy, "and people po

re, and the adjoining counties, not a lifetime ago, ague was as prevalent as in our worst districts. The same means which destroyed it there, will do so here; the work

ople must have, certainly

nion was to her a keen pleasure; the intense indifference of Mr. Percy's reply, therefore, made her regard him for a moment with anything bu

on Maurice Leigh? I can take you there now

ung Leigh just now a

Cottage then, that

the pony like an old acquaintance, and fastened him to a post in such a way that he could amuse himself by nibbling the grass which grew along the little-frequented path; then smoothing down her white apron, ushered the visitors into the parlour. The room was very dark,

e good! Is

he Scotts', but Mr.

t came forward. "Mamma is there," she said, and

fortune, however, placed him beside her mother, and, like a wise man, he applied himself to make the best of his position. How little trouble this cost him he did not discover until afterwards;

ment-rides, drives, and fishing parties. Time passed, as pleasant times often do, without anything particul

airs, at a farm in the country, which belonged, jointly, to her and her sister. The whole family were

which led down into the garden. Lucia followed her. "You have

ellairs, "but I have not patience to look at my neighbo

reached a bed of beautiful roses in full bloom. "Have you any

y say an amateur never can compete with a prof

ay that you do actually cultivate

om Maurice," but changed the phrase. "If you saw me at work here in the m

e a peep into your Eden some m

ed, laughing. "The effec

ould th

h a horror of Backwoods manners and customs that you would fly, not only from C

m to think of an Englishman as if he were a fine lady.

ort dialogue, in such a manner as to prevent her from following Mrs. Bellairs when she turned back from the rose-bed; and, in spite of her sauciness, she was too shy

n choosing another for Mrs. Bellairs, she carried it to her friend, who,

g by the little gate until Bob's head was turned t

had nearly forgotten; will you

e in her life, Lucia blushed at Maurice's

him to pay me a little visit to-morrow morning before he goes to the offi

y we

on't forget

tishly to herself. "It seems as if ther

en Lucia's thoughts and Mr. Percy's; neither, how

Lucia was too restless and dissatisfied to sit down. She wanted something, and had not the least idea wh

id, putting her arm round her mothe

e. Remember how late you were las

ce! I can go out a

y Maurice will

hink I shal

e sit down here

floor, and laid her he

mamma. Talk a

r's birthplace; she knew the gentle invalid mistress and the kind stern master, her grandfather and grandmother; she had loved to gather into her garden the flowers which had grown about the grey walls of the old house by the Dee; the one wish she had cherished from a child was to see with living eyes all that was so familiar to her fancy. But to-day, though

id you ev

stello

w, then? I am afraid I cann

you were a girl, you must ha

t as quiet a neighbourhood as this, I must have been cur

ead a little, and

en?" sh

ld about the new-comer, which, I suppose, you have been doin

ght perhaps you might know something ab

left England, and he would then be only a child. His father I

handsome m

Lastingham was said to be

ever s

reat beauty tempted him. They were very poor, and he was not of a character to bear poverty. She

that be possible? if h

hing which attracts them; they try their utmost to obtain it. If they fail, they soon forget their disappointment; if they succeed, they are delighted for the mo

trangely. Could they be true? Who then could be trusted? for according to her mother's story, Lord Lastingham had not merely deceived his wife, he had deceived