The Last Man | Page 8

within me, and were about to
shadow with their noxious overgrowth, my path of life.
I panted for enterprises beyond my childish exploits, and formed distempered dreams of
future action. I avoided my ancient comrades, and I soon lost them. They arrived at the
age when they were sent to fulfil their destined situations in life; while I, an outcast, with
none to lead or drive me forward, paused. The old began to point at me as an example,
the young to wonder at me as a being distinct from themselves; I hated them, and began,
last and worst degradation, to hate myself. I clung to my ferocious habits, yet half
despised them; I continued my war against civilization, and yet entertained a wish to
belong to it.
I revolved again and again all that I remembered my mother to have told me of my
father's former life; I contemplated the few relics I possessed belonging to him, which
spoke of greater refinement than could be found among the mountain cottages; but
nothing in all this served as a guide to lead me to another and pleasanter way of life. My
father had been connected with nobles, but all I knew of such connection was subsequent
neglect. The name of the king,--he to whom my dying father had addressed his latest

prayers, and who had barbarously slighted them, was associated only with the ideas of
unkindness, injustice, and consequent resentment. I was born for something greater than I
was--and greater I would become; but greatness, at least to my distorted perceptions, was
no necessary associate of goodness, and my wild thoughts were unchecked by moral
considerations when they rioted in dreams of distinction. Thus I stood upon a pinnacle, a
sea of evil rolled at my feet; I was about to precipitate myself into it, and rush like a
torrent over all obstructions to the object of my wishes-- when a stranger influence came
over the current of my fortunes, and changed their boisterous course to what was in
comparison like the gentle meanderings of a meadow-encircling streamlet.

CHAPTER II.
I LIVED far from the busy haunts of men, and the rumour of wars or political changes
came worn to a mere sound, to our mountain abodes. England had been the scene of
momentous struggles, during my early boyhood. In the year 2073, the last of its kings, the
ancient friend of my father, had abdicated in compliance with the gentle force of the
remonstrances of his subjects, and a republic was instituted. Large estates were secured to
the dethroned monarch and his family; he received the title of Earl of Windsor, and
Windsor Castle, an ancient royalty, with its wide demesnes were a part of his allotted
wealth. He died soon after, leaving two children, a son and a daughter.
The ex-queen, a princess of the house of Austria, had long impelled her husband to
withstand the necessity of the times. She was haughty and fearless; she cherished a love
of power, and a bitter contempt for him who had despoiled himself of a kingdom. For her
children's sake alone she consented to remain, shorn of regality, a member of the English
republic. When she became a widow, she turned all her thoughts to the educating her son
Adrian, second Earl of Windsor, so as to accomplish her ambitious ends; and with his
mother's milk he imbibed, and was intended to grow up in the steady purpose of
re-acquiring his lost crown. Adrian was now fifteen years of age. He was addicted to
study, and imbued beyond his years with learning and talent: report said that he had
already begun to thwart his mother's views, and to entertain republican principles.
However this might be, the haughty Countess entrusted none with the secrets of her
family-tuition. Adrian was bred up in solitude, and kept apart from the natural
companions of his age and rank. Some unknown circumstance now induced his mother to
send him from under her immediate tutelage; and we heard that he was about to visit
Cumberland. A thousand tales were rife, explanatory of the Countess of Windsor's
conduct; none true probably; but each day it became more certain that we should have the
noble scion of the late regal house of England among us.
There was a large estate with a mansion attached to it, belonging to this family, at
Ulswater. A large park was one of its appendages, laid out with great taste, and
plentifully stocked with game. I had often made depredations on these preserves; and the
neglected state of the property facilitated my incursions. When it was decided that the
young Earl of Windsor should visit Cumberland, workmen arrived to put the house and
grounds in order for his reception. The apartments were restored