CHAPTER 2.

            THE first mail from Mexico, after their arrival in Capri, brought no letter from Maynard. His silence occasioned considerable uneasiness to Margaret and Noel, but on consulting together they determined to appear to take it as a matter of course, and suppose either that communication with the interior was uncertain, or that James had not reached home in time to write. But it was not the state of the country that occasioned their anxiety, nearly so much as the possible condition of James’s own mind. They distrusted his power to retain his balance when left to himself, and it would have surprised them far less to see him make his appearance suddenly at any moment, than to learn that he had set himself to the steadfast performance of his duties.

            It was in the pursuance of Margaret’s firm resolve to give no hint of her actual relations with James, that she took this course in respect to the Bevans. Shrinking from Sophia’s penetration and characteristic curiosity concerning the relations of her married friends, Margaret entrenched herself in a demeanour of calmness and confidence, which Sophia, in any one in whom she had less faith, would have ascribed to indifference. In nothing did their characters present a stronger contrast than in this. The more keenly Margaret felt, and the more deeply her spirit was affected, the more intense was the calmness of her demeanour externally. While with Sophia the excitement of the one was but the measure of the excitement of the other; and she owned her incapacity to believe in feelings that did not similarly exhibit themselves. It was on one occasion when she expressed her preference of sight to faith in

(p. 409)

this respect, that Margaret reminded her that seeing was not always believing, and that the demonstration of feeling might be equally strong, although different in its character.

            ‘Thus,’ she said, ‘the effect of terror on some persons is to make them scream out, and on others to paralyse the very power of utterance. So I think,’ she added, with a gentle smile, ‘that you must agree to let me express or not express my feeling in the way that suits me best, and I will not object to your claiming a like privilege for yourself.’

            ‘Well,’ replied Sophia, ‘if I were a husband I am sure I should be more flattered by knowing that my wife was put out by not hearing from me, than by knowing that she took it quietly and showed no concern at all.’

            ‘Ah, Sophia, you have yet to learn what trust is.’

            ‘I would trust yon anywhere, darling,’ she exclaimed, repenting of the gratuitous sting of her last remark; but as for trusting a man! Why, are there no other women in Mexico?’

            ‘Oh, that is what you are thinking of!’ cried Margaret, in an ecstasy of merriment, which rather disconcerted Sophia. Poor dear James! how amused he would be at the suggestion.’ And then she inwardly sighed to herself,

            ‘Oh, that he could! What a relief it would be to – to us both.’

            Noel was anxious to wait for a second month’s mail to come in before he should, in fulfilment of his uncle’s wish, return to London to enter into communication with the lawyers. He was quite satisfied with the power of Margaret’s reserve to guard her and her secrets, and was both amused and pleased to observe how the very quietness of her disposition made her more than a match for any curiosity.

            Before the next mail steamer arrived from Mexico, news carne that the British and Spanish portions of the expedition had returned home, while the- French remained to compel the country into acquiescence with their views. Edmund did not fully reveal to Margaret the uneasiness which this intelligence gave him; but his uncle was so much disturbed by the prospect of evil to Maynard and his enterprise, as to be seriously affected in health. The old man’s nerve was evidently gene, and Edmund wished to remain a while longer with him; but the lawyers wrote urgently, and Mr. Tresham himself was anxious for him to join them.

            ‘Go, my boy,’ he said, ‘and save what you can out of the

(p. 410)

fire for me,’ and so hurried him off; while Margaret acquiesced outwardly but regretted secretly, and Sophia rebelled outwardly but acquiesced inwardly, inasmuch as her own sympathies were always strongest on the side of action.

            Noel had been but a few days in London, when he received a letter from Margaret enclosing a copy of one she had just received from James.

            ‘I did not mean to write,’ ran his letter; ‘but your friends will be wondering at your getting no letters, and that will be annoying to you. To set their minds at ease, tell them that the French are outraging Mexico, and that Mexico will resist them to the death. War seems inevitable. My own course is not yet determined, but it is probable that postal communication will be very uncertain.’

            This was all he wrote to Margaret. Enclosed was a letter for Noel, written somewhat later, full of the solicitude for Margaret which James could not bring himself to exhibit to her, thanking Edmund for the care he was sure he had taken of her, and begging him to see that she had everything she could want to ensure comfort, and desiring that she might have a separate home of her own if it would add to her happiness. Of the state of affairs, he said that so many of the Spanish and clerical party were joining the French, out of hatred to Juarez, that it was doubtful if the President could long maintain himself in the capital. The main danger to mining interests, he believed, would consist in the forced loans to the dominant party, of which the ultimate repayment was doubtful, and the depredations of guerrillas.

            ‘Most of the foreigners who are in a position similar to mine,’ he wrote, ‘are disposed to favour French ideas, in the hope of their leading to a more settled state of things. For my part, judging by what I know of the ability, patriotism, and resolution of Juarez and some of his supporters, I can at present foresee only a continued and bloody struggle, which will last until either the French get sick of Mexico, or the United States wind up their own affairs and come down with a settler upon all parties alike. There is not a particle of doubt that American sympathies are with Juarez, if only because he represents kindred institutions. In the mean time I see no reason to vary

(p. 411)

from my original programme. I shall, therefore, adhere, as secretly as may be, to Juarez, and give him such aid with men or money as will serve him now, and ourselves in the future. Already, it is reported, the French have suffered so terribly in their siege of Puebla, that fresh aid from home is necessary to their keeping a footing in the country.’

            The letter ended by saying that if the worst came to the worst, he would escape serious loss by closing the mine altogether, and placing it in charge of an agent; and when better times came it could be worked at double speed to make up for the loss of the interval.

            Noel sent this letter to Margaret, telling her to read such parts of it to Mr. Tresham as she could without alarming him; and when, soon after this, it came to be known that the French Emperor had actually thrown down a challenge to the United States by stating his design of restoring the prestige of the Latin race in the New World as a counterbalance to the Anglo-Saxon, Noel saw the sagacity and justice of Maynard’s political views.

            Of his mind in regard to Margaret, Noel and Margaret agreed that so long as he cherished resentment against her, as responsible for his domestic dissatisfaction, he was in little danger of any insane accession which might tempt him into rash action. They both felt, however, that such mood could not last very long, and they dreaded to think what his course might be if his longing to see her again should take possession of him with such intensity as to overwhelm all other considerations.

Sections: General Index   Present Section: Index   Present Work: Index   Previous: Chapter 1    Next: Chapter 3