Self-Raised | Page 5

needed to be done for our reception."
Ishmael smiled when he heard the name of the professor; but before he
could make any comment, Mr. Brudenell inquired:
"What do you say, Mr. Worth? Will you accompany me thither, or will
you come after me?"
"I thank you very much, Mr. Brudenell. I should like to visit Brudenell
Hall; but--"
"Then you will come? I am very glad! I shall be alone there with my
servants, you know, and your society will be a god-send to me. Had
you not better go down at once when I do? I go by land, in a hired
carriage. The carriage is very comfortable; and we can make the
journey in two days, and lay by during the heat of both days. I think the
trip will be pleasant. We can reach Brudenell Hall on Friday night, and
have a good rest before Sunday, when we can go to the old country
church, where you will be likely to meet the faces of some of your old
friends. I think we shall be very comfortable, keeping bachelor-hall
together at Brudenell Hall this summer, Mr. Worth," said Herman
Brudenell, who longed more than tongue could tell to have Nora's son
at home with him, though it might be only for a short time.
"I feel your kindness very much indeed, Mr. Brudenell; and I should be
very, very happy to accept your hospitable invitation; but--I was about
to say, it really is quite impossible in the existing state of my business

for me to go anywhere at present," said Ishmael courteously.
"Indeed? I am very sorry for that. But the reasons you give are
unanswerable, I know. I am seriously disappointed. Yet I trust, though
you may not be able to come just at present, you will follow me down
there after a little while--say in the course of a few days or weeks--for I
shall remain at the hall all summer and shall be always delighted to
receive you. Will you promise to come?"
"Indeed, I fear I cannot promise that either, for I have a very great
pressure of business; but if I can possibly manage to go, without
infringing upon my duties, I shall be grateful for the privilege and very
happy to avail myself of it; for--do you know, sir?--I was born in that
neighborhood and passed my childhood and youth there. I love the old
place, and almost long to see the old hut where I lived, and the hall
where I went to school, and the wooded valley that lies between them,
where I gathered wild-flowers and fruits in summer and nuts in winter,
and--my mother's grave," said the unconscious son, speaking
confidentially, and looking straight into his father's eyes.
"Ishmael," said Herman Brudenell, in a faltering voice, and forgetting
to be formal, "you must come to me: that grave should draw you, if
nothing else; it is a pious pilgrimage when a son goes to visit his
mother's grave."
There was something in this new friend's words, look, and manner that
always drew out the young man's confidence, and he said, in a voice
trembling with emotion:
"She died young, sir; and oh! so sorrowfully! She was only nineteen,
two years younger than I am now; and her son was motherless the hour
he was born."
Violent emotion shook the frame of Herman Brudenell. He had not
entered the room with any intention of making a disclosure to Ishmael;
but he felt now that--come life, come death, come whatever might of
it--he must claim Nora's son.
"Ishmael," he began, in a voice shaken with agitation, "I knew your
mother."
"You, sir!" exclaimed the young man in surprise.
"Yes, I knew her and her sister, naturally, for they were tenants of
mine."
"I knew that they lived on the outskirts of the Brudenell estate; but I did

not know you were personally acquainted with them, sir; for I thought
that you had resided generally in Europe."
"Not all the time; I was at Brudenell Hall when--you were born and
your mother went to heaven, Ishmael."
Some of the elder man's agitation communicated itself to the younger,
who half arose from his seat and looked intently at the speaker.
"I knew your mother in those days, Ishmael. She was not only one of
the most beautiful women of her day, but one of the purest, noblest, and
best."
Herman Brudenell hesitated. And Ishmael, who had dropped again into
his seat, bent eagerly forward, holding his breath while he listened.
Herman continued.
"You resemble her in person and character, Ishmael. All that is best and
noblest and most attractive in you, Ishmael, is derived under Divine
Providence from your mother."
"I know it! Oh, I know it!"
"And, Ishmael, I loved your mother!"