Peveril of the Peak | Page 8

may please God to avert
in your case as it has done in mine; and here comes a sight which bears
good assurance of it."
The door of the apartment opened as she spoke, and two lovely children
entered. The eldest, Julian Peveril, a fine boy betwixt four and five
years old, led in his hand, with an air of dignified support and attention,

a little girl of eighteen months, who rolled and tottered along, keeping
herself with difficulty upright by the assistance of her elder, stronger,
and masculine companion.
Bridgenorth cast a hasty and fearful glance upon the countenance of his
daughter, and, even in that glimpse, perceived, with exquisite delight,
that his fears were unfounded. He caught her in his arms, pressed her to
his heart, and the child, though at first alarmed at the vehemence of his
caresses, presently, as if prompted by Nature, smiled in reply to them.
Again he held her at some distance from him, and examined her more
attentively; he satisfied himself that the complexion of the young
cherub he had in his arms was not the hectic tinge of disease, but the
clear hue of ruddy health; and that though her little frame was slight, it
was firm and springy.
"I did not think that it could have been thus," he said, looking to Lady
Peveril, who had sat observing the scene with great pleasure; "but
praise be to God in the first instance, and next, thanks to you, madam,
who have been His instrument."
"Julian must lose his playfellow now, I suppose?" said the lady; "but
the Hall is not distant, and I will see my little charge often. Dame
Martha, the housekeeper at Moultrassie, has sense, and is careful. I will
tell her the rules I have observed with little Alice, and----"
"God forbid my girl should ever come to Moultrassie," said Major
Bridgenorth hastily; "it has been the grave of her race. The air of the
low grounds suited them not--or there is perhaps a fate connected with
the mansion. I will seek for her some other place of abode."
"That you shall not, under your favour be it spoken, Major
Bridgenorth," answered the lady. "If you do so, we must suppose that
you are undervaluing my qualities as a nurse. If she goes not to her
father's house, she shall not quit mine. I will keep the little lady as a
pledge of her safety and my own skill; and since you are afraid of the
damp of the low grounds, I hope you will come here frequently to visit
her."

This was a proposal which went to the heart of Major Bridgenorth. It
was precisely the point which he would have given worlds to arrive at,
but which he saw no chance of attaining.
It is too well known, that those whose families are long pursued by
such a fatal disease as existed in his, become, it may be said,
superstitious respecting its fatal effects, and ascribe to place,
circumstance, and individual care, much more perhaps than these can in
any case contribute to avert the fatality of constitutional distemper.
Lady Peveril was aware that this was peculiarly the impression of her
neighbour; that the depression of his spirits, the excess of his care, the
feverishness of his apprehensions, the restraint and gloom of the
solitude in which he dwelt, were really calculated to produce the evil
which most of all he dreaded. She pitied him, she felt for him, she was
grateful for former protection received at his hands--she had become
interested in the child itself. What female fails to feel such interest in
the helpless creature she has tended? And to sum the whole up, the
dame had a share of human vanity; and being a sort of Lady Bountiful
in her way (for the character was not then confined to the old and the
foolish), she was proud of the skill by which she had averted the
probable attacks of hereditary malady, so inveterate in the family of
Bridgenorth. It needed not, perhaps, in other cases, that so many
reasons should be assigned for an act of neighbourly humanity; but
civil war had so lately torn the country asunder, and broken all the
usual ties of vicinage and good neighbourhood, that it was unusual to
see them preserved among persons of different political opinions.
Major Bridgenorth himself felt this; and while the tear of joy in his eye
showed how gladly he would accept Lady Peveril's proposal, he could
not help stating the obvious inconveniences attendant upon her scheme,
though it was in the tone of one who would gladly hear them overruled.
"Madam," he said, "your kindness makes me the happiest and most
thankful of men; but can it be consistent with your own convenience?