over, that the elder Mr. Langdale, || spouse, touching the seasonable defor private reasons of his own, wished lay of which I am speaking; and it his son to attain to the age of twen- was agreed, that immediately after ty-one before he married; and seeing, the coming of age of Frederick Langmoreover still, that Mrs. Langdale, dale, and not before, he was to lead who was little more than six and thir- to the hymeneal altar the delicate ty years of age herself, had reasons, and timid Maria Harding. which she also meant to be private, for seeking to delay as much as possible a ceremony, the result of which, in all probability, would confer upon her, somewhat too early in life to be agreeable to a lady of her habits and propensities, the formidable title of grandmamma. The affair got whispered about: George's fortune in life was highly extolled; Maria's excessive happiness prophesied by every body of her acquaintance; and already had sundry younger ladies, daughters and nieces of those who discussed these matters in divan after dinner, begun to look upon poor Miss Harding with envy and maliciousness, and wonder what Mr. Frederick Langdale could see in her: she was proclaimed to be insipid, inanimate, shy, bashful, and awkward; nay, some went so far as to discover that she was absolutely awry. Still, however, Frederick and Maria went loving on; and their hearts grew as one, so truly, so fondly were they attached to each other. George, who was somewhat of a plague to the pair of lovers, was luckily at Oxford, reading away till his head ached, to qualify himself for a degree, and the distant duties of the office whence he was to cull bunches of diplomatic laurels, and whence were to issue rank and title, and ribbons and crosses innumerable. How curious it is, when one takes up a little bit of society (as a geologist crumbles and twists a bit of earth in his hand to ascertain its character and quality), to look into the motives and manœuvrings of all the persons connected with it; the various workings, the indefatigable labours, which all their little minds are undergoing to bring about divers and sundry little points, perfectly unnconnected with the great end in view; but which, for private and hidden objects, each of them is toiling to carry. Nobody but those who really knew Mrs. Langdale understood why she so readily acquiesced in the desire of her husband to postpone the marriage for another twelvemonth. A stranger would have seen only the dutiful wife according with the sensible husband; but I knew her, and knew that there must be more than met the eye or the ear in that sympathy of feeling between her and Mr. Langdale, which was not upon ordinary occasions so evidently displayed. Like the waterman who pulls one accosted by one of those female gipway and looks another, Mrs. Lang-sies who are found begging in the dale aided the entreaties and second- streets of the metropolis, and espeed the commands of her loving cially in the particular part of the Things were in this prosperous state, the bark of life rolling gaily along before the breeze, when Mr. Harding was one day proceeding from his residence to his office in Somerset-place, and in passing along Charlotte street, Bloomsbury, was town in question. Pray remember poor Martha the gipsy," said the woman: "give me a halfpenny for charity, sir!" Mr. Harding was a subscriber to the Mendicity Society, an institution which proposes to check beggary by the novel mode of giving nothing to the poor: moreover he was a magistrate; moreover he had no change; and he desired the woman to go about her business. All availed him nothing; she still followed him, and reiterated the piteous cry," Pray remember poor Martha the gipsy!" At length, irritated by the perseverance of the woman, for even subordinates in government hate to be solicited importunately, Mr. Harding, contrary to his usual custom, and contrary to the customary usages of modern society, turned hastily round, and fulminated an oath against the supplicating vagrant. "Curse!" said Martha; "have I lived to this? Hark ye, man-poor weak haughty man! Mark me, look at me!" He did look at her; and beheld a countenance on fire with rage. A pair of eyes blacker than jet and brighter than diamonds glared like stars upon him; her black hair dishevelled hung over her olive cheeks; and a row of teeth, whiter than the driven snow, displayed themselves from between a pair of coral lips, in a dreadful smile, a ghastly sneer of contempt which mingled in her passion. Harding was riveted to the spot; and what between the powerful fascination of her superhuman countenance and the dread of a disturbance, he paused to listen to her. "Mark me, sir," said Martha; "you and I shall meet again. Thrice shall you see me before you die. My visitings will be dreadful; but the third will be the last!" There was a solemnity in this appeal which struck to his heart, coming as it did only from a vagrant outcast. Passengers were approaching; and wishing, he knew not why, to sooth the ire of the angry woman, he mechanically drew from his pocket some silver, which he tendered to her. "There, my good woman-there," said he, stretching forth his hand. "Good woman!" retorted the hag. "Money now? I-I that have been cursed? "Tis all too late, proud gentleman-the deed is done, the curse be now on you." Saying which, she tossed her ragged red cloak across her shoulder, and hurried from his sight, across the street by the side of the chapel, into the recesses of St. Giles's. Harding felt a most extraordinary sensation; he felt grieved that he had spoken so harshly to the poor creature, and returned his shillings to his pocket with regret. Of course, fear of the fulfilment of her predictions did not mingle with any of his feelings on the occasion; and he proceeded to his office in Somerset-place, and performed all the official duties of reading the Opposition newspapers, discussing the leading politics of the day with the head of another department, and of signing his name three times before four o'clock. Martha the gipsy, however, although he had poohpoohed her out of his memory, would ever and anon flash across his mind; her figure was indelibly stamped upon his recollection; and though of course, as I before said, a man of his firmness and intellect could care nothing, one way a hackney-coach, and proceed en voiture to his house, rather than run the risk of encountering the metropolitan sibyl, under whose forcible denunciation he was actually labouring. There is a period in each day of the lives of married people, at which I am given to understand, a more than ordinarily unreserved communication of facts and feelings takes place; when all the world is shut out, and the two beings, who are in truth but only one, commune together freely and fully upon the occurrences of the past day. At this period, the else sacred secrets of the drawingroom coterie, and the tellable jokes of the after-dinner convivialists, are mutually interchanged by the fond pair, who, by the barbarous customs of uncivilized Britain, have been separated during part of the preceding evening. or another, for the maledictions of A few friends at dinner and some an ignorant illiterate being like a refreshers in the evening had pregipsy, still his feelings, whence aris-vented Harding from saying a word ing I know not, prompted him to call to his beloved Eliza about the gipsy; || and perhaps till the "witching time" which I have attempted to define, he would not have mentioned the occurrence even had they been alone. Most certainly he did not think the less of the horrible vision; and when the company had dispersed, and the affectionate couple had retired to rest, he stated the circumstance exactly as it had occurred, and received from his fair lady just such an answer as a prudent, intelligent, and discreet woman of sense would give to such a communication. She vindicated his original determination not to be imposed upon, wondered at his subsequent willingness to give to such an undeserving object while he had three or four soup-tickets in his pocket, was somewhat surprised that he had not consigned the bold intruder to the hands of the beadle, and ridiculing the impression which the hag's appearance seemed to have made upon her husband's mind, narrated a tour performed by herself with some friends to Norwood when she was a girl, and when one of those very women had told her fortune, not one word of which ever came true; and in a discussion of some length, animadverting strongly upon the weakness and impiety of putting faith in the sayings of such creatures, she fell fast asleep. Then it is that the husband informs his anxious consort how he has forwarded his worldly views with such a man, how he has carried his point in such a quarter, what he thinks of the talents of one, of the character of another; while the communicative wife gives her view of the same subjects, founded upon what she has gathered from the individuals composing the female cabinet, and explains why she thinks he must have been deceived upon this point, or misled upon that. And thus in recounting, in arguing, in discussing and descanting, the blended interests of the happy pair are strengthened, their best hopes nourished, and perhaps eventually realized. Vol. III. No. XVII., Not so Harding: he was restless and worried, and felt that he would give the world to be able to recal the curse which he had rashly uttered against the poor woman. Helpless as she was, and in distress, why did his passion conquer his judgment? Why did he add to the bitterness of refusal the sting of malediction? However, it was useless to regret that which was past, and wearied and mortified with his reflections, he at length followed his better half into that profound slumber which the length and subject of his harangue had so comfortably insured her. The morning came, and brightly beamed the sun, that is, as brightly as it can beam in London. The office-hour arrived; and Mr. Harding proceeded, not by Charlotte-street, to Somerset-House, such was his dread of seeing the ominous woman. It is quite impossible to describe the effect produced upon him by the apprehension of encountering her; if he heard a female voice behind him in the street, he trembled and feared to look round, lest he should behold Martha. In turning a corner he proceeded carefully and cautiously, lest he should come upon her unexpectedly; in short, wherever he went, whatever he did, his actions, his movements, his very words, were controlled and constrained by the horror of beholding her again. The words she had uttered rang incessantly in his ears; nay, such possession had they taken of him, that he had written them down and sealed the document which contained them: "Thrice shall you see me before you die. My visitings will be dreadful; but the third will be the last." "Calais" was not imprinted more deeply upon our queen's heart, than these words upon that of Harding; but he was ashamed of the strength of his feelings, and placed the paper wherein he had recorded them at the very bottom of his desk. Meanwhile Frederick Langdale was unremitting in his attentions to Maria; but, as is too often the case, the bright sunshine of their loves was clouded. Her health, always delicate, now appeared still more so, and at times her anxious parents felt a solicitude upon her account new to them; for symptoms of consumption had shewn themselves, which the faculty, although they spoke of them lightly to the fond mother and to the gentle patient, treated with such care and caution, as gave alarm to those who could see the progress of the fatal disease, which was unnoticed by Maria herself, who anticipated parties and pleasure and gaieties in the coming spring, which the doctors thought it but too probable she might never enjoy. That Mr. Langdale's punctilio, or Mrs. Langdale's excessive desire for apparent juvenility, should have induced the postponement of Maria's marriage, was indeed a melancholy circumstance. The agitation, the surprise, the hope deferred, which weighed upon the sweet girl's mind, and that doubting dread of something unexpected which lovers always feel, bore down her spirits and injured her health: whereas, had the marriage been celebrated, the relief she would have experienced from all her apprehensions, added to the tour of France and Italy, which the happy couple were to take immediately after their union, would have restored her to health, while it ensured her happiness. This, however, was not to be. It was now some three months since poor Mr. Harding's rencontre with Martha, and habit and time and constant avocation had conspired to free his mind from the dread she at first inspired. Again he smiled and joked, again he enjoyed society, and again dared to take the nearest road to Somerset-House; nay, he had so far recovered from the unaccountable terror he had originally felt, that he went to his desk, and selecting the paper wherein he had set down the awful denunciation of the bag, deliberately tore it into bits, and witnessed its destruction in the fire with something like real satisfaction, and a determination never more to think upon so silly an affair. Frederick Langdale was as usual with his betrothed, and Mrs. Harding enjoying the egotism of the lovers (for, as I said before, lovers think their conversation the most charming in the world, because they talk of nothing but themselves), when his curricle was driven up to the door to convey him to Tattersall's, where his father had commissioned him to look at a horse, or horses, which he intended to purchase; and Frederick was, of all things in the world, the best possible judge of a horse. To this sweeping dictum, Mr. Harding, however, was not willing to assent; and therefore, in order to have the full advantage of two heads, which, as the proverb says, are better than one, the worthy father-in-law elect proposed accompanying the youth to the auctioneer's at HydePark Corner, it being one of those few privileged days when the labourers in our public offices make holiday. The proposal was hailed with delight by the young man, who, in order to shew due deference to his elder friend, gave the reins to Mr. Harding, and bowing their adieux to the ladies at the window, away they went, the splendid cattle of Mr. Langdale prancing and curveting, fire flaming from their eyes, and smoke breathing from their nostrils. The elder gentleman soon found that the horses were somewhat beyond his strength, even putting his skill wholly out of the question, and in turning into Russell-streçt, proposed giving the reins to Frederick. By some misunderstanding of words in the alarm which Harding felt, Frederick did not take the reins which he (perfectly confounded) tendered to him. They slipped over the dashing-iron between the horses, who thus freed from restraint, reared wildly in the air, and plunging forward, dashed the vehicle against a post, and precipitated Frederick and Harding on the curb-stone: the off horse kicked desperately as the carriage became entangled and impeded, and struck Frederick a desperate blow on the head. Harding, whose right arm and collar-bone were broken, raised himself on his left hand, and saw Frederick weltering in blood apparently lifeless before him. The infuriated animals again plunged forward with the shattered remnant of the carriage; and as this object was removed from his sight, the wretched father-in-law beheld, looking upon the scene with a fixed and an unmoved countenance-MARTHA THE GIPSY. It was doubtful whether the appearance of this horrible vision, coupled as it was with the verification of her prophecy, had not a more dreadful effect upon Mr. Harding than the sad reality before him. He trembled, sickened, fainted, and fell senseless on the ground. (To be concluded in our next.) |