CHAPTER V.
_His Grace's Rival_
ARUNDEL DACRE was the only child of Mr. Dacre's only and deceasedbrother, and the heir to the whole of the Dacre property. His father,a man of violent passions, had married early in life, against theapprobation of his family, and had revolted from the Catholic communion.The elder brother, however mortified by this great deed, which passionhad prompted, and not conscience, had exerted his best offices tomollify their exasperated father, and to reconcile the sire to the son.But he had exerted them ineffectually; and, as is not unusual, found,after much harrowing anxiety and deep suffering, that he was not evenrecompensed for his exertions and his sympathy by the gratitude of hisbrother. The younger Dacre was not one of those minds whose rashness andimpetuosity are counterbalanced, or rather compensated, by a generouscandour and an amiable remorse. He was headstrong, but he was obstinate:he was ardent, but he was sullen: he was unwary, but he was suspicious.Everyone who opposed him was his enemy: all who combined for hispreservation were conspirators. His father, whose feelings he hadoutraged and never attempted to soothe, was a tyrant; his brother, whowas devoted to his interests, was a traitor.
These were his living and his dying thoughts. While he existed, he wasone of those men who, because they have been imprudent, think themselvesunfortunate, and mistake their diseased mind for an implacable destiny.When he died, his deathbed was consoled by the reflection that hispersecutors might at last feel some compunction; and he quitted theworld without a pang, because he flattered himself that his departurewould cost them one.
His father, who died before him, had left him no fortune, and even hadnot provided for his wife or child. His brother made another ineffectualattempt to accomplish a reconciliation; but his proffers of love andfortune were alike scorned and himself insulted, and Arundel Dacreseemed to gloat on the idea that he was an outcast and a beggar.
Yet even this strange being had his warm feelings. He adored his wife,particularly because his father had disowned her. He had a friend whomhe idolised, and who, treating his occasional conduct as a speciesof insanity, had never deserted him. This friend had been his collegecompanion, and, in the odd chapter of circumstances, had become apowerful political character. Dacre was a man of talent, and his friendtook care that he should have an opportunity of displaying it. He wasbrought into Parliament, and animated by the desire, as he thought, oftriumphing over his family, he exerted himself with success. But hisinfernal temper spoiled all. His active quarrels and his noisy brawlswere even more endurable than his sullen suspicions, his dark hints, andhis silent hate. He was always offended and always offending. Such aman could never succeed as a politician, a character who, of all others,must learn to endure, to forget, and to forgive. He was soon universallyshunned; but his first friend was faithful, though bitterly tried, andDacre retired from public life on a pension.
His wife had died, and during the latter years of his life almost hisonly companion was his son. He concentrated on this being all thatardent affection which, had he diffused among his fellow-creatures,might have ensured his happiness and his prosperity. Yet even sometimeshe would look in his child's face with an anxious air, as if he readincubating treason, and then press him to his bosom with unusualfervour, as if he would stifle the idea, which alone was madness.
This child was educated in an hereditary hate of the Dacre family. Hisuncle was daily painted as a tyrant, whom he classed in his young mindwith Phalaris or Dionysius. There was nothing that he felt keener thanhis father's wrongs, and nothing which he believed more certain than hisuncle's wickedness. He arrived at his thirteenth year when his fatherdied, and he was to be consigned to the care of that uncle.
Arundel Dacre had left his son as a legacy to his friend; but thatfriend was a man of the world; and when the elder brother not onlyexpressed his willingness to maintain the orphan, but even his desire toeducate and adopt him as his son, he cheerfully resigned all his claimsto the forlorn boy, and felt that, by consigning him to his uncle, hehad most religiously discharged the trust of his confiding friend.
The nephew arrived at Castle Dacre with a heart equally divided betweenmisery and hatred. It seemed to him that a fate more forlorn thanhis had seldom been awarded to mortal. Although he found his unclediametrically opposite to all that his misled imagination had paintedhim, although he was treated with a kindness and indulgence which triedto compensate for their too long estranged affections, Arundel Dacrecould never conquer the impressions of his boyhood; and had it not beenfor his cousin, May, a creature of whom he had not heard, and of whom nodistorted image had therefore haunted his disturbed imagination; had itnot been for this beautiful girl, who greeted him with affection whichwarmed and won his heart, so morbid were his feelings, that he wouldin all probability have pined away under the roof which he should havelooked upon as his own.
His departure for Eton was a relief. As he grew up, although hisknowledge of life and man had long taught him the fallacy of his earlyfeelings, and although he now yielded a tear of pity, rather than ofindignation, to the adored manes of his father, his peculiar temper andhis first education never allowed him entirely to emancipate himselffrom his hereditary feelings. His character was combined of many andeven of contrary qualities.
His talents were great, but his want of confidence made them moredoubtful to himself than to the world; yet, at times, in his solitarymusings, he perhaps even exaggerated his powers. He was proud, and yetworldly. He never forgot that he was a Dacre; but he desired to be thearchitect of his own fortune; and his very love of independence madehim, at an early period, meditate on the means of managing mankind. Hewas reserved and cold, for his imagination required much; yet he pantedfor a confidant and was one of those youths with whom friendship is apassion. To conclude, he was a Protestant among Catholics; and althoughthis circumstance, inasmuch as it assisted him in the views which hehad early indulged, was not an ungracious one, he felt that, till hewas distinguished, it had lessened his consideration, since he couldnot count upon the sympathy of hereditary connections and ancient party.Altogether, he was one who, with the consciousness of ancient blood, thecertainty of future fortune, fine talents, great accomplishments, andnot slight personal advantages, was unhappy. Yet, although not of asanguine temper, and occasionally delivered to the darkest spleen, hisintense ambition sustained him, and he lived on the hope, and sometimeson the conviction, that a bright era would, some day, console him forthe bitterness of his past and present life.
At school and at college he equally distinguished himself, and waseverywhere respected and often regarded; yet he had never found thatfriend on whom his fancy had often busied itself, and which one whosealternations of feeling were so violent peremptorily required. Hisuncle and himself viewed each other with mutual respect and regard, butconfidence did not exist between them. Mr. Dacre, in spite of his longand constant efforts, despaired of raising in the breast of his nephewthe flame of filial love; and had it not been for his daughter, who wasthe only person in the world to whom Arundel ever opened his mind, andwho could, consequently, throw some light upon his wants and wishes,it would not have been in his power to evince to his nephew that thisdisappointment had not affected his uncle's feelings in his favour.
When his education was completed, Mr. Dacre had wished him to take uphis residence in Yorkshire, and, in every sense, to act as his son, ashe was his successor. But Arundel declined this proposition. He obtainedfrom his father's old political connection the appointment of _attache_to a foreign embassy, and he remained on the Continent, with theexception of a yearly visit to Yorkshire, three or four years. But hisviews were not in the diplomatic line, and this appointment only servedas a political school until he could enter Parliament. May Dacre hadwormed from him his secret, and worked with energy in his cause. Anopportunity appeared to offer itself, and, under the patronage of aCatholic nobleman, he was to appear as a candidate for an open borough.It was on this business that he had returned to England.