CHAPTER II.
_Armine Described_.
AFTER his marriage Sir Ratcliffe determined to reside at Armine. In oneof the largest parks in England there yet remained a fragment of a vastElizabethan pile, that in old days bore the name of Armine Place. WhenSir Ferdinand had commenced building Armine Castle, he had pulled downthe old mansion, partly for the sake of its site and partly for the sakeof its materials. Long lines of turreted and many-windowed walls, talltowers, and lofty arches, now rose in picturesque confusion on thegreen ascent where heretofore old Sir Walsingham had raised the fairand convenient dwelling, which he justly deemed might have served thepurpose of a long posterity. The hall and chief staircase of the castleand a gallery alone were finished, and many a day had Sir Ferdinandpassed in arranging the pictures, the armour, and choice rarities ofthese magnificent apartments. The rest of the building was a mere shell;nor was it in all parts even roofed in. Heaps of bricks and stone andpiles of timber appeared in every direction; and traces of the suddenstoppage of a great work might be observed in the temporary saw-pitsstill remaining, the sheds for the workmen, and the kilns and furnaces,which never had been removed. Time, however, that had stained theneglected towers with an antique tint, and had permitted many ageneration of summer birds to build their sunny nests on all the coignesof vantage of the unfinished walls, had exercised a mellowing influenceeven on these rude accessories, and in the course of years they had beenso drenched by the rain, and so buffeted by the wind, and had become socovered with moss and ivy, that they rather added to then detracted fromthe picturesque character of the whole mass.
A few hundred yards from the castle, but situate on the same verdantrising ground, and commanding, although well sheltered, an extensiveview over the wide park, was the fragment of the old Place that we havenoticed. The rough and undulating rent which marked the severance ofthe building was now thickly covered with ivy, which in its gamesomeluxuriance had contrived also to climb up a remaining stack of tallchimneys, and to spread over the covering of the large oriel window.This fragment contained a set of pleasant chambers, which, having beenoccupied by the late baronet, were of course furnished with great tasteand comfort; and there was, moreover, accommodation sufficient for asmall establishment. Armine Place, before Sir Ferdinand, unfortunatelyfor his descendants, determined in the eighteenth century on buildinga feudal castle, had been situate in famous pleasure-grounds, whichextended at the back of the mansion over a space of some hundred acres.The grounds in the immediate vicinity of the buildings had of coursesuffered severely, but the far greater portion had only been neglected;and there were some indeed who deemed, as they wandered through thearbour-walks of this enchanting wilderness, that its beauty had beenenhanced even by this very neglect. It seemed like a forest in abeautiful romance; a green and bowery wilderness where Boccaccio wouldhave loved to woo, and Watteau to paint. So artfully had the walks beenplanned, that they seemed interminable, nor was there a single point inthe whole pleasaunce where the keenest eye could have detected a limit.Sometimes you wandered in those arched and winding walks dear topensive spirits; sometimes you emerged on a plot of turf blazing inthe sunshine, a small and bright savannah, and gazed with wonder on thegroup of black and mighty cedars that rose from its centre, withtheir sharp and spreading foliage. The beautiful and the vast blendedtogether; and the moment after you had beheld with delight a bed ofgeraniums or of myrtles, you found yourself in an amphitheatre ofItalian pines. A strange exotic perfume filled the air: you trod on theflowers of other lands; and shrubs and plants, that usually are onlytrusted from their conservatories, like sultanas from their jalousies,to sniff the air and recall their bloom, here learning from hardshipthe philosophy of endurance, had struggled successfully even againstnorthern winters, and wantoned now in native and unpruned luxuriance.Sir Ferdinand, when he resided at Armine, was accustomed to fill thesepleasure-grounds with macaws and other birds of gorgeous plumage; butthese had fled away with their master, all but some swans which stillfloated on the surface of a lake, which marked the centre of thisparadise. In the remains of the ancient seat of his fathers, SirRatcliffe Armine and his bride now sought a home.
The principal chamber of Armine Place was a large irregular room, witha low but richly-carved oaken roof, studded with achievements. Thisapartment was lighted by the oriel window we have mentioned, the upperpanes of which contained some ancient specimens of painted glass,and having been fitted up by Sir Ferdinand as a library, contained acollection of valuable books. From the library you entered through anarched door of glass into a small room, of which, it being much out ofrepair when the family arrived, Lady Armine had seized the opportunityof gratifying her taste in the adornment. She had hung it with someold-fashioned pea-green damask, that exhibited to a vantage severalcopies of Spanish paintings by herself, for she was a skilful artist.The third and remaining chamber was the dining-room, a somewhat gloomychamber, being shadowed by a neighbouring chestnut. A portrait of SirFerdinand, when a youth, in a Venetian dress, was suspended over theold-fashioned fireplace; and opposite hung a fine hunting piece bySchneiders. Lady Armine was an amiable and accomplished woman. She hadenjoyed the advantage of a foreign education under the inspection of acautious parent: and a residence on the Continent, while it had affordedher many graces, had not, as unfortunately sometimes is the case,divested her of those more substantial though less showy qualities ofwhich a husband knows the value. She was pious and dutiful: her mannerswere graceful, for she had visited courts and mixed in polished circles,but she had fortunately not learnt to affect insensibility as a system,or to believe that the essence of good breeding consists in showing yourfellow-creatures that you despise them. Her cheerful temper solaced theconstitutional gloom of Sir Ratcliffe, and indeed had originally won hisheart, even more than her remarkable beauty: and while at the sametime she loved a country life, she possessed in a lettered taste, in abeautiful and highly cultivated voice, and in a scientific knowledge ofmusic and of painting, all those resources which prevent retirement fromdegenerating into loneliness. Her foibles, if we must confess that shewas not faultless, endeared her to her husband, for her temper reflectedhis own pride, and she possessed the taste for splendour which was alsohis native mood, although circumstances had compelled him to stifle itsgratification.
Love, pure and profound, had alone prompted the union between RatcliffeArmine and Constance Grandison Doubtless, like all of her race, shemight have chosen amid the wealthiest of the Catholic nobles and gentryone who would have been proud to have mingled his life with hers; but,with a soul not insensible to the splendid accidents of existence, sheyielded her heart to one who could repay the rich sacrifice only withdevotion. His poverty, his pride, his dangerous and hereditary gift ofbeauty, his mournful life, his illustrious lineage, his reserved andromantic mind, had at once attracted her fancy and captivated her heart.She shared all his aspirations and sympathised with all his hopes; andthe old glory of the house of Armine, and its revival and restoration,were the object of her daily thoughts, and often of her nightly dreams.
With these feelings Lady Armine settled herself at her new home,scarcely with a pang that the whole of the park in which she lived waslet out as grazing ground, and only trusting, as she beheld the groupsof ruminating cattle, that the day might yet come for the antleredtenants of the bowers to resume their shady dwellings. The good man andhis wife who hitherto had inhabited the old Place, and shown the castleand the pleasaunce to passing travellers, were, under the new order ofaffairs, promoted to the respective offices of serving-man and cook,or butler and housekeeper, as they styled themselves in the village.A maiden brought from Grandison to wait on Lady Armine completed theestablishment, with her young brother, who, among numerous duties,performed the office of groom, and attended to a pair of beautiful whiteponies which Sir Ratcliffe drove in a phaeton. This equipage, which wasremarkable for its elegance, was the especial delight of Lady Armine,and certainly the only piece of splendour in which Sir Ratcliffeindulged. As for
neighbourhood, Sir Ratcliffe, on his arrival, of coursereceived a visit from the rector of his parish, and, by the courteousmedium of this gentleman, he soon occasioned it to be generallyunderstood that he was not anxious that the example of his rector shouldbe followed. The intimation, in spite of much curiosity, was of courserespected. Nobody called upon the Armines. This happy couple, however,were too much engrossed with their own society to require amusement fromany other sources than themselves. The honeymoon was passed in wanderingin the pleasure-grounds, and in wondering at their own marvelloushappiness. Then Lady Armine would sit on a green bank and sing herchoicest songs, and Sir Ratcliffe repaid her for her kindness withspeeches softer even than serenades. The arrangement of their dwellingoccupied the second month; each day witnessed some felicitous yeteconomical alteration of her creative taste. The third month Lady Arminedetermined to make a garden.
'I wish,' said her affectionate husband, as he toiled with delight inher service, 'I wish, my dear Constance, that Glastonbury was here; hewas such a capital gardener.'
'Let us ask him, dear Ratcliffe; and, perhaps, for such a friend we havealready allowed too great a space of time to elapse without sending aninvitation.'
'Why, we are so happy,' said Sir Ratcliffe, smiling; 'and yetGlastonbury is the best creature in the world. I hope you will like him,dear Constance.'
'I am sure I shall, dear Ratcliffe. Give me that geranium, love. Writeto him, to-day; write to Glastonbury to-day.'