Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
And where was her father--mother? Why had the law been allowed by this
eccentric lover to violate the humble sanctuary of home, at the desolate
Llaneol? What was become of the wicker chair? Was the hated Lewis to be
maintained in his usurpation of the chair of Bevan's _ancestral_ post of
steward, (for his father had been steward to the father of the squire
deceased?) Above all, was Dame Bevan to see that home of her heart's
hope, the permanent home of the harsh supplanter of her husband?
Passing over the affecting scene of poor Winifred's fainting, which drew
round her father and mother, and others from below, proceed we to answer
those queries and conclude our tale.
When perfectly restored, Winifred, leaning on the arm of her future
husband, accompanied her parents down into the comfortable kitchen,
where, by a huge fire, stood the veritable wicker chair, familiar to her
eyes from infancy, rickety as ever, but surviving its desecration by the
boys at the auction; and looking round, she saw standing the whole solid
old oaken furniture, coffers, dressers, &c., even to the same bright
brazen skillets, pewter dishes, and sundries--the pride of Mistress
Bevan's heart, the splendour of better days. Mr Fitzarthur led the old
man by the hand to his own chair, his wife to another; and then, having
seated himself by their daughter, began, over the fumes of tea and
coffee, (the honours of which pleasant meal, so needful after her
agitation, he solicited Winifred to perform,) to narrate various
matters, which we must condense into a nutshell.
To their surprise and amusement, they now learned that the hated "spy"
who had prowled round their folds and fields so long, would resign to
Mistress Bevan the house in which they sat, and that atonement made,
vanish into thin air--_a vox et preterea nihil!_ being in reality the
Proteus-like, mysterious, handsome, though sallow stranger, and no
stranger, sitting among them!
We said that Mr Fitzarthur's conduct in espousing this long-unseen
mistress of his fancy, was not quite so extraordinary and wild as it
appeared. For coming back grown into maturity, and altered by climate in
complexion and all characteristics, he found himself quite unrecognised,
and conceived the idea of at once reconnoitring his dilapidated estate,
and watching the conduct of his long-remembered Winifred. _Two_
disguises seemed necessary toward these two purposes, and he adopted the
two we have seen, one on the "hither side Tivy," the other on the "far
side Tivy," which his coracle allowed him to cross at pleasure. His
close watch of the blameless girl's whole life confirmed the warm and
romantic wishes of his soul, which her beauty inspired--that beauty as
fully confirming the vision of his love-dream when far and long away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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