HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1921-06-24, Page 74t
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TernbarQrn
By
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Toronto—William Briggs.
(Continued from last week.)
At a number of the cottage doors
the group stood upon the threshold
and touched foreheads or curtsied.
Tembarom saluted again and again,
and more than once his friendly grin
, showed itself. It made him feel queer
to drive along, turning from side to
aide to acknowledge 'obeisances, as
he had seen a well known military
hero acknowledge them as he ucove
down Broadway.
The chief street of the village of
Temple Barholm wandered almost
within hailing distance, of the great
entrance to the park. The gates were
supported by massive pillars, on
which crouched huge stone griffins.
Tembarom felt that they stared sav-
agely over his head as he was driven
toward them as for inspection and in
disdainful silence allowed to pass be-
tween them' as they stood on guard,
apparently with the haughtiest men-
tal reservations.
The park through which the long
avenue rolled concealed its beauty to
the unaccustomed eye, showing only
more bare trees and sodden stretches
of brown grass. The house itself, as
it loomed up out of the thickening
rain -mist, appalled Tembarom by its
size and gloomily gray massiveness.
Before it was spread a broad terrace
of stone, guarded by more griffins of
even more disdainful aspect than
those watching over the gates. The
stone noses held themselves rigidly
in the air as the reporter of the up-
town society page passed with Mr.
Palford up a flight of steps broad
enough to make him feel as though
he were going to church. Footmen
with powdered heads received 'him
at the carriage door, seemed to as-
sist hint to move, to put one foot
before the other for him, to stand ig
rows as though they were a military
guard ready to take hint into custody.
Then he was inside, standing in an
enormous hall filled with furnishings
such as he had never seen or heard
of before. Carved oak, suits of
armor, stone urns, portraits, another
flight of church steps mounting up-
ward to 'urrounding galleries. stain-
ed glass windows, tigers' and lions'
beads, horn: of tremendous size,
strange and beautiful weapons, sug-
gested to hint that the dream he had
been living in for weeks had never
before been so much of a dream. He
had waluied about as in a vision, but
among fami'itr surroundings. Mrs.
Bowse's boarders and his halt bed- .
room had helps I hint to retain some
bold over actual existence. But here
the reverently saluting villagers
staring at him through windows as
though he were General Grant, the •
61i1 i ItI'til1llllIIILllIi1• lid 1ftfly°
US, •: 3®gd to ycop
4t Qp �
chair
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There are no barb wire
entanglements around us
no sentries to challenge
you. The door is open
and you are welcome. See
our stock.
W. W. ROBINSON
%nnunsl11041I
SEAFORTH
so�:tlNt,.' B it sltl t,�lttsr•
huge; one ezitimnce; the drive of
what seemed to be ten miles through
the park, the gloomy mass of archi-
tecture looming up, the regiment of
'liveried men -servants, with respect-
fully' lowered • but ,excitedly curious
.eyes,' the dark and solemn richness
incinsing and claiming him—all this
-created an atmosphere wholly unreal.
As he had not known books, its par-
allel bad not been suggested to him
by literature. He had literally not
heard Abet such things existed. Sell-
ing newspapers and giving every
moment to the struggle . for life or
living, one did not come within the
range of splendors. He had indeed
awakened' in that other world of
which he had spoken. And though
he hhd heard that there was another
world, he had had neither time nor
opportunity to make mental pictures
of it. His life so far had expressed
itself in another language of figures.
The fact that 'he had in his veins the
blood of the Norman lords and Saxon
kings may or may not have had some-
thing to do with the fact that he
was not abashed, but bewildered. The
{same factor May or may not have
aided him to preserve a certain stoic,
outward composure. Who knows
what remote influences express them-
selves in common acts,,of modern
common life? As Caasivellaunus ob-
served his surroundings as he follow-
ed in captive chains his conqueror's
triumphal car through the streets of
Rome, so the keen -eyed product of
New York pavement life "took in"
all atfout him. Existence had forced
upon him the habit of sharp observ-
ance. The fundamental working law
of things had expressed itself in the
simple colloquialism, "Beep your eye
skinned, and don't give yourself a-
way." In what phrases the parallel
of this concise advice formulated it-
self in GG B. C. no classic has yet
exactly informed us, but doubtless
something like it was said in ancient
Rome. Tembarom did not give him-
self away, and he took rapid, if un-
certain, inventory of people and
things. lie remarked, for instance,
that Palford's manner of speaking to
a servant was totally different from
the manner he used in addressing
himself. It was courteous, but re-
mote, ae' though he spoke across an
accepted chasm to beings of another
race., There was no hint of incivility
in it, but also no hint of any pos-
sibility that it could occur to the per-
son addressed to hesitate or resent.
It was a subtle thing, and Tembarom
wondered how he diel it.
They were shown into -a room the
walls of which seemed built of books;
the furniture was rich and grave and
luxuriously comfortable. A fire blaz-
ed as well as glowed in a fine chim-
ney, and a table near it was set with
a glitter of splendid silver urn and
equipage for tea.
"Mrs, Butterworth was afraid you
might not have been able to get tea
sir." said the man -servant, who did
not wear livery, but whose butler's
air of established authority was more
impressive than any fawn color and
claret enriched with silver could have
encompassed. •
Tea again? Perhaps one was oblig-
ed to drink it at regular intervals.
Tembarom for a moment did not
.•waken to the fact that the man was
speaking to hitt, as the master from
whom orders came. He glanced at
Mr. Palford.
"Mr. Temple Barholm had tea af-
tu r we ltft Crowly," Mr. Palford said.
"Ile will not doubt wish to go to his
mono at once, Burrill."
"Yes, sir" said Burrill, with that
note of entire absence of comment
with which Tembarom later became
familiar. "Pearson is waiting."
It was not unnatural to wonder
who Pearson wits and why he was
waiting, but Tembarom knew he
would find out. There was a slight
relief on realizing that tea was not
imperative. He and Mr. Palford were
led through the hall again. The
carriage had rolled away, and two
footmen, who were talking cenfl-
dentially together, at once stood at
attention. The staircase was more
imposing as one mounted it than it
appeared as one looked at it from be-
low. Its breath made Tembarom
wish to lay a hand on a balustrade,
which seemed a anile away. He had
paver particularly wished to touch
balustrades before. At the head of
the first flight hung an enormous
piece of tapestry, its forest, and hunt-
ers and falconers awakening Tem -
10 Cr1Y M`�� •
I it�1e
Bl"OW7`t
213W Package'
iYe
to•Cstri elr6 Mtn lcflue
9'hdse,who are in a "run down', coney
tion will notice that Catarrh bothers
them Busch more than when they are In
g600.dd health. This fact ptsves that while
Catcrrh 1p a local disease, It lc greatly
1�anfuenced by constitutional -condition/.
HAWS CATARRH DIBING1ND Is a
Tonin and Blood Purifier, and acts through
the blood upon the mucous aurfacee of
the body, thus reducing the incasement°
and restoring normal conditions,
Mi druggists, Circulars free.
Cheney & Co., Toledo, Obf&
barom's curiosity, as. it looked wholly
unlike any picture he had ever seen
in •a shop -window. There were pie -
tures everywhere, and none of them
looked like chromes. • Most of the
people in the portraits were in fancy '
dress. Rumors of a New York mil-
lionaire ball had given hint some
vague idea of fancy dress. A lot of
them looked like freaks. He ,caught i
glimpses of corridors lighted by curl- i
ous, high, deep windows with leaded
-panes. It struck him that there was
no end to the place, and that there
must be rooms enough in it for a
hotel.
"The tapestry chamber of course,
Burrill," he heard Mr. ]Salford say
in a low tone.
"Yes, sir. Mr. Temple Barholm al-
ways used it."
(A few yards farther on a door
stood open, revealing an immense
room, rich and gloomy with tapestry
covered walls and dark oak furniture.
A bed which looked to Tembarom in-
credibly big, with its carved oak can-
opy and massive posts, had a presid-
ing personality of its own. It was
mounted by steps, and its hangings
and coverlid were of embossed vel-
vet, time -softened to the perfection
of purples and blues. A fire enrich-
ed the color of everything, and did
its best to drive the shadows away.
Deep windows opened either into the
leafless boughs of close -growing trees
or upon outspread spaces of heavily
timbered park, where gaunt, though
magnificent, bare branches menaced
and defied. A slim, neat young man,
with a rather pale face and a touch
of anxiety in his expression, came for-
ward at once.
"This is Pearson, who will valet
you," exclaimed Mr. Palford.
"Thank you, sir,": said Pearson in
a low, respectful voice. Ills manner
was correctness itself.
There seemed to Mr. Palford to be
really nothing else to say. Ile want-
ed, in fact, to get to his own apart-
ment and have a hot bath and a rest
before dinner.
"Where am F, Burrill?" he inquir-
ed as he turned to go down the corri-
dor.
"Thr crimson room, sir," answered
Burrill, and he closed the door of the
tapestry phamber and shut Tembarom
in alone with Pearson.
aa►d_' biul*t , aril yr$end. he ` hatnir
everything .better:'than anyyonne else
and lose is temper:lrightfully when
he made mistakes, :and try to
other people seem to blame. Set; a
beggar on horaeeback, and who didn'
� knew what he Wag: There ' were
Ichances enough and to spare that not
one of them would be able to stand
it, and that -In a month's time they
would all be 'looldug for new places.
ISo while Tembarom was rather a-
fraid of Pearson and moved about in
Ian awful state of uncertainty, Pearson
was horribly afraid of Tembarom, and
Iwas, in fact, in such a condition of
nervous anxiety that he was obliged
, more than once furtively to apply to
his damp, pale young forehead' his
exceedingly fresh and spotless poticet-
handkerchief.
•In' the first place, there was the
wardrobe. What could he do? Howcould he approach the subject with
sufficient delicacy? Mr. Temple Bar -
holm had brought with hint only a
steamer trunk and a Gladstone bag,
the latter evidently bought in Lon-,
don, to be stuffed with hastily pur-
chased handkerchiefs and shirts, worn
as they came out of the shop, and as
evidently bought without the slightest
idea of the kind of linen a gentleman
should own. What mast terrified
Pearson, who was of a timid and must '
delicate 'minded nature, was that hav-
ing the workhouse and the boot-'
blacking as a back -ground, the new
Mr. Temple Barholm couldn't know,
as all this had come upon him so aud= .
denly. And was it to be Pearson's
calamitous duty to explain to him that
he had nothing, that he apparently
{ knew nothing, and that as he had no
friends who knew, a mere common'
servant must educate him, if he did '
not wish to see. him derided and looked i
down upon and actually "cut" by gen- .
tlemen that were gentlemen? All
this to say nothing of Pearson's own ,
well-earned reputation fur knowledge
of custom, intelligence, and deftness
in turning out the objects of his care
in sash form as to be a reference in
themselves when a new place was
wanted. Of course, sometimes there
were even real gentlemen who were
most careless and indifrereut. to ap-
pearance, and who, if left to them- .
selves, would buy garments which
made the blood run, cold when one '
realized that his own character and
hopes fur the future often depended
upon his latest employer's outward
aspect. But the ulster in which Mr.
Temple Barholm had presented him-
self was of a cut and material such as
Pearson's most discouraged moments
had never forced him to contemplate.
The limited wardrobe in :he steamer
trunk wan all new and all equally bad.
There was no evening dD'S n, no pro-
per linen,—not what Pearson called
"proper,"—nal proper tilt appur-
tenances.. What was Pearson called
upon by duty to do? If he had only
bail the initiative to anticipate this,
he might have adked permission to
colitiult • in darkest aaerecl
:Palford. But he had neeerrdteatlw
eke Iof such 'a situation. -and 0 li1mJY.
be would be obliged to Mend new
ehtarge down to his Drat dinner do the
t I majectically deceroao din}ng room
"before all the servants" in a'cart
of .speckled tweed cutaway, with a
brown necktie.
Tembarom, realizing without delay
that Pearson did not expect to be
talked to and being cheered by the
sight of the tire, sat down before it
in ap easy -chair the like of which for
litxcurious comfort he had never
known. He was, in fact, waiting for
developements. Pearson would say
or dig. something shortly which would
give him a chance to "catch on," or
perhaps he'd go out of the room and
leave hint to himself, which would be
a thing to thank God for. Then he
could wash his face and hands, brush
his hair, and wait till the diener -bell
rang. They'd be likely to have one.
They'd have to in a place like this.
But Peasron did not go out of the
room. He moved about behind him
for a short time with footfall so al-
most entirely soundless that Tembar-
om became aware that, if it went on
long, he should be nervous, in fact,
he was nervous already. He wanted
to know what 'ho was doing. He
could scarcely resist the temptation
Continued on page six
CIIAPTER XE
For a few moments the two young
men larked at each other, Pearson's
gaze being one of respectfulness
which hoped to propitiate, if propitia-
tion was necessary, though Pearson
greatly trusted it was not. Tembar-
oat's was the gaze of hasty investiga-
tion and inquiry. He suddenly thought
that it would have been "all to the
merry" if somebody had "put him on
to" a sort of idea of What was done
to -•a fellow when he' was "valeted.''
A valet, he had of course gathered,
waited on one somehow and I:euked
after one's clothes. But were there
ty chance either things he expected to
do,. -manicure one's nails or cut
hair,—and how often did he do it, and
was this the day? lie was evidently
there to do sotttething, or he wouldn't
have been :wailing behind the door to
pounce out the minute he appeared,
and when the other two went away,
Fat rill wouldn't have closed the {loo:'
as solemnly its though he shut the pair
of them together to get through surae
sort of performance,
"Here's where T. T. begins to feel
like a fool," he thought. "And here's
where there's no way out of looking
like one. I don't know a thing."
But personal vanity was not to
strong in hint as healthy and normal
good temper. Despite the fact that
the neat correctness of Pearson's
style and the finished expression of
his neat face suggested that he was
of a class which knew with the most
finished exactness all that custom and
propriety demanded on any occasion
on which "valeting" in its most occult
branches might be clone, he was only
"another fellow" after all, and must
he human. So Tembarom smiled at
him.
"Hello, Parson," ho said. "How are
you?"
Pearson slightly started. It was
the tiniest possible start, quite invol-
intary, from which he recovered in-
stantly, to reply in a tone of respect-
ful gratefulness:
"Thank you, sir, very well, thank
you, sir."
"That's all right," answerer! Tem-
barom, a sense of relief because he'd
"got started" increasing the friendli-
ness of his smile. "I see you got my
trunk open," he said, glancing at some
articles of clothing neatly arranged
upon the bed.
Pearson was slightly alarmed. it
occurred to hint suddenly that per-
haps it was not the custom in Ameri-
ca to open a gentleman's box and lay
out his clothes for him.nr special
reasons he was desperately ant ious
to keep his place, and above all things
be felt he must avoid giving offense
by doing things which, by being too
English, might seem to cast shades
of doubt on the entire correctness of
the customs of America. He had
known ill feeling to arise between
"gentlemen's gentlemen" in the ser-
vants' hall in the case of slight dif-
ferences in customs, contested with a
bitterness of feeling which had made
then almost an international ques-
tion. There hail naturally been a
great deal of talk about the new Mr.
Temple Barholm and what might he
expected of him. When a gentleman
was not a gentleman—this was the
form of expression in "the hall"—the
Lord only knew what would happen.
And this one, who had, for all one
knew been horn in a workhouse, and
had 'Seen a boot -black kicked about
in American streets --they did not
know Tembarom—and nearly starved
to death, and found at last in a low
lodging house, what could he know
about decent living? And ten to one
he'd be American enough to swagger
Mayors,
THE Directorsy f'ta ,
agreed that 'Tklursd
as Music Dayat the sold
of special importance it'.W,i1
Music, one of the features ACl s ds00lIts
amateur bands throughout the Q on
A hand from every town; is desired. No matter glia.
it will'be'groupped with other Similar batatdb,`
Is Your Town Band Competing?
iing?.
It wlU bring the mime of the ti wp it i'epragentil hei
thousands of people and boost it as nothing Nth CPI'
do. It will give the bandsmen the opportunity of
a handsome sum from the $,4,150 in Cash ,,Prizes,
Full particulars of the Canadian Nationalbitiolii,.
Contest will gladly be forwarded to any t4tufiei
Write tpday to
The Secretary
Exhibition Band Contest •' Committee
145 Yonge Street - Toronto, Ont.
dHy�
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14