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DOM Scripting Web Design with JavaScript and the
Document Object Model Second Edition Jeremy Keith
Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Jeremy Keith, Jeffrey Sambells
ISBN(s): 9781430233893, 1430233893
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 6.29 MB
Year: 2010
Language: english
 Second
Edition

DOM SCRIPTING
 DOM Scripting
Web Design with JavaScript and the
Document Object Model
Second Edition

■■■

Jeremy Keith
with Jeffrey Sambells

i
 DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model: Second Edition
Copyright © 2010 by Jeremy Keith with Jeffrey Sambells
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the
publisher.
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-3389-3

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they are subject to proprietary rights.

Publisher and President: Paul Manning

Lead Editor: Ben Renow-Clarke
Technical Reviewer: Rob Drimmie
Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan
Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan Parkes, Jeffrey
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caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.

ii
 For Jessica, my wordridden wife
—Jeremy

For Stephanie, Addison, and Hayden, always by my side

—Jeffrey

iii
 Contents at a Glance

■Contents ................................................................................................................ v

■About the Authors .............................................................................................. xiii

■About the Technical Reviewer............................................................................ xiv

■Acknowledgments............................................................................................... xv

■Introduction ....................................................................................................... xvi
■Chapter 1: A Brief History of JavaScript ............................................................... 1

■Chapter 2: JavaScript Syntax ................................................................................ 7

■Chapter 3: The Document Object Model .............................................................. 31

■Chapter 4: A JavaScript Image Gallery ............................................................... 45

■Chapter 5: Best Practices .................................................................................... 59

■Chapter 6: The Image Gallery Revisited .............................................................. 73

■Chapter 7: Creating Markup on the Fly ............................................................... 95

■Chapter 8: Enhancing Content ........................................................................... 123

■Chapter 9: CSS-DOM .......................................................................................... 149

■Chapter 10: An Animated Slideshow ................................................................. 175

■Chapter 11: HTML5 ............................................................................................ 205

■Chapter 12: Putting It All Together.................................................................... 227

■Appendix: DOM Scripting Libraries ................................................................... 279

■Index ................................................................................................................. 303

iv
Contents

■Contents at a Glance ............................................................................................ iv

■About the Authors .............................................................................................. xiii

■About the Technical Reviewer............................................................................ xiv

■Acknowledgments............................................................................................... xv

■Introduction........................................................................................................ xvi

■Chapter 1: A Brief History of JavaScript ............................................................... 1

The origins of JavaScript ................................................................................................ 1

The Document Object Model ........................................................................................... 2

The browser wars ........................................................................................................... 3

The D word: DHTML ............................................................................................................................... 3

Clash of the browsers ............................................................................................................................ 3

Raising the standard ....................................................................................................... 4

Thinking outside the browser ................................................................................................................ 4

The end of the browser wars ................................................................................................................. 4

A new beginning .................................................................................................................................... 5

What’s next? ................................................................................................................... 5

■Chapter 2: JavaScript Syntax ................................................................................ 7

What you’ll need ............................................................................................................. 7

Syntax ............................................................................................................................. 9

Statements ............................................................................................................................................. 9

Comments ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Variables .............................................................................................................................................. 10

v
■ CONTENTS

Data types ............................................................................................................................................ 12

Arrays ................................................................................................................................................... 14

Objects ................................................................................................................................................. 16

Operations ..................................................................................................................... 17

Arithmetic operators ............................................................................................................................ 17

Conditional statements ................................................................................................. 19

Comparison operators .......................................................................................................................... 20

Logical operators ................................................................................................................................. 21

Looping statements ...................................................................................................... 22

The while loop ...................................................................................................................................... 22

The for loop .......................................................................................................................................... 24

Functions ...................................................................................................................... 24

Objects .......................................................................................................................... 27

Native objects ...................................................................................................................................... 28

Host objects ......................................................................................................................................... 29

What’s next? ................................................................................................................. 29

■Chapter 3: The Document Object Model .............................................................. 31

D is for document.......................................................................................................... 31

Objects of desire ........................................................................................................... 31

Dial M for model............................................................................................................ 32

Nodes ............................................................................................................................ 33

Element nodes ..................................................................................................................................... 34

Text nodes............................................................................................................................................ 34

Attribute nodes..................................................................................................................................... 34

Cascading Style Sheets........................................................................................................................ 35

Getting Elements .................................................................................................................................. 37

Taking stock ......................................................................................................................................... 41

Getting and Setting Attributes ....................................................................................... 41

getAttribute .......................................................................................................................................... 41

vi
 ■ CONTENTS

setAttribute .......................................................................................................................................... 43

What’s next? ................................................................................................................. 44

■Chapter 4: A JavaScript Image Gallery ............................................................... 45

The markup ................................................................................................................... 45

The JavaScript .............................................................................................................. 47

A DOM diversion ................................................................................................................................... 48

Finishing the function .......................................................................................................................... 49

Applying the JavaScript ................................................................................................ 49

Event handlers ..................................................................................................................................... 49

Expanding the function ................................................................................................. 51

Introducing childNodes ........................................................................................................................ 51

Introducing the nodeType property ...................................................................................................... 52

Adding a description in the markup ..................................................................................................... 53

Changing the description with JavaScript ........................................................................................... 54

Introducing the nodeValue property ..................................................................................................... 54

Introducing firstChild and lastChild ...................................................................................................... 55

Using nodeValue to update the description ......................................................................................... 55

What’s next? ................................................................................................................. 58

■Chapter 5: Best Practices .................................................................................... 59

Mistakes of the past ..................................................................................................... 59

Don’t blame the messenger ................................................................................................................. 59

The Flash mob...................................................................................................................................... 60

Question everything ............................................................................................................................. 60

Graceful degradation .................................................................................................... 61

The javascript: pseudo-protocol .......................................................................................................... 62

Inline event handlers ............................................................................................................................ 62

Who cares? .......................................................................................................................................... 63

The lessons of CSS ....................................................................................................... 63

Separation of structure and style ......................................................................................................... 63

vii
 ■ CONTENTS

Progressive enhancement ................................................................................................................... 64

Unobtrusive JavaScript ................................................................................................. 65

Backward compatibility ................................................................................................ 67

Object detection ................................................................................................................................... 67

Browser sniffing ................................................................................................................................... 68

Performance considerations ......................................................................................... 69

Minimizing DOM access and markup................................................................................................... 69

Assembling and placing scripts ........................................................................................................... 70

Minification .......................................................................................................................................... 70

What’s next? ................................................................................................................. 71

■Chapter 6: The Image Gallery Revisited .............................................................. 73

A quick recap ................................................................................................................ 73

Does it degrade gracefully? .......................................................................................... 74

Is the JavaScript unobtrusive? ..................................................................................... 75

Adding the event handler ..................................................................................................................... 75

Share the load ...................................................................................................................................... 80

Assuming too much ...................................................................................................... 82

Fine-tuning.................................................................................................................... 84

Keyboard access ........................................................................................................... 86

Beware of onkeypress ......................................................................................................................... 87

Sharing hooks with CSS................................................................................................ 88

DOM Core and HTML-DOM ............................................................................................ 91

What’s next? ................................................................................................................. 92

■Chapter 7: Creating Markup on the Fly ............................................................... 95

Some old-school methods ............................................................................................ 95

document.write .................................................................................................................................... 95

innerHTML ............................................................................................................................................ 97

DOM methods ............................................................................................................. 100

createElement .................................................................................................................................... 101

viii
 ■ CONTENTS

appendChild ....................................................................................................................................... 102

createTextNode .................................................................................................................................. 103

A more complex combination ............................................................................................................ 105

Revisiting the image gallery ....................................................................................... 107

Inserting a new element before an existing one ................................................................................ 109

Inserting a new element after an existing one................................................................................... 110

The finished image gallery ................................................................................................................. 112

Ajax ............................................................................................................................. 116

The XMLHttpRequest object ............................................................................................................... 116

Progressive enhancement with Ajax .................................................................................................. 121

Hijax ................................................................................................................................................... 121

What’s next? ............................................................................................................... 122

■Chapter 8: Enhancing Content ........................................................................... 123

What not to do............................................................................................................. 123

Making the invisible visible......................................................................................... 124

The content ................................................................................................................. 124

The markup: HTML, XHTML, or HTML5 .............................................................................................. 125

The CSS .............................................................................................................................................. 127

The JavaScript ................................................................................................................................... 128

Displaying abbreviations ............................................................................................. 128

Writing the displayAbbreviations function ......................................................................................... 129

Creating the markup .......................................................................................................................... 131

A browser bomb ................................................................................................................................. 136

Displaying citations ..................................................................................................... 139

Writing the displayCitations function ................................................................................................. 140

Displaying access keys ............................................................................................... 145

Retrieving and attaching information ......................................................................... 148

What’s next? ............................................................................................................... 148

ix
■ CONTENTS

■Chapter 9: CSS-DOM ......................................................................................... 149

Three sheets to the Web . ............................................................................................149

Structure .............................................................................................................................................. 149

Presentation ......................................................................................................................................... 150

Behavior . .............................................................................................................................................. 150

Separation ............................................................................................................................................ 151

The style property ....................................................................................................... 152

Getting styles ....................................................................................................................................... 153

Setting styles ....................................................................................................................................... 158

Knowing when to use DOM styling . ........................................................................... 160

Styling elements in the node tree . ...................................................................................................... 160

Repetitive styling ................................................................................................................................. 164

Responding to events........................................................................................................................... 168

className . ................................................................................................................ 170

Abstracting a function .......................................................................................................................... 173

What’s next? . ............................................................................................................. 174

■Chapter 10: An Animated Slideshow ................................................................ 175

Animation basics ........................................................................................................175

Position . ............................................................................................................................................... 175

Time . .................................................................................................................................................... 178

Incremental movement ........................................................................................................................ 178

Abstraction ........................................................................................................................................... 181

Practical animation . ................................................................................................... 187

The situation ........................................................................................................................................ 188

The solution ......................................................................................................................................... 189

CSS. ...................................................................................................................................................... 190

JavaScript ............................................................................................................................................ 192

A question of scope.............................................................................................................................. 195

Refining the animation ......................................................................................................................... 197

Adding a safety check .......................................................................................................................... 200

x
 ■ CONTENTS

Generating markup ............................................................................................................................ 201

What’s next? ............................................................................................................... 204

■Chapter 11: HTML5 ............................................................................................ 205

What is HTML5? .......................................................................................................... 205

A little help from a friend ............................................................................................ 206

A few examples .......................................................................................................... 208

Canvas ............................................................................................................................................... 208

Audio/Video ........................................................................................................................................ 213

Forms ................................................................................................................................................. 221

Is there anything else?................................................................................................ 225

What's Next ................................................................................................................. 226

■Chapter 12: Putting It All Together.................................................................... 227

The brief ...................................................................................................................... 227

Raw materials .................................................................................................................................... 227

Site structure ..................................................................................................................................... 227

Page structure.................................................................................................................................... 229

Design ......................................................................................................................... 229

CSS ............................................................................................................................. 230

Color ................................................................................................................................................... 232

Layout ................................................................................................................................................ 234

Typography ........................................................................................................................................ 236

Markup ........................................................................................................................ 238

JavaScript ................................................................................................................... 238

Page highlighting ............................................................................................................................... 240

JavaScript slideshow ......................................................................................................................... 243

Internal navigation ............................................................................................................................. 248

JavaScript image gallery ................................................................................................................... 252

Table enhancements .......................................................................................................................... 256

Form enhancements .......................................................................................................................... 261

xi
 ■ CONTENTS

Minification ........................................................................................................................................ 276

What’s next? ............................................................................................................... 277

■Appendix: DOM Scripting Libraries ................................................................... 279

Choosing a library ....................................................................................................... 280

A few libraries .................................................................................................................................... 281

Content delivery networks ................................................................................................................. 282

Syntax ......................................................................................................................... 283

Selecting elements ..................................................................................................... 284

CSS selectors ..................................................................................................................................... 284

Library-specific selectors .................................................................................................................. 286

Filtering with a callback ..................................................................................................................... 288

Manipulating the DOM document ............................................................................... 289

Creating content................................................................................................................................. 289

Manipulating content ......................................................................................................................... 291

Handling events .......................................................................................................... 291

Load events ........................................................................................................................................ 291

Other events ....................................................................................................................................... 292

Ajax ............................................................................................................................. 293

Ajax with Prototype ............................................................................................................................ 293

Ajax with jQuery ................................................................................................................................. 296

Animation and effects ................................................................................................. 298

CSS property-based animations ........................................................................................................ 299

Packaged animations ......................................................................................................................... 300

Remember accessibility ..................................................................................................................... 301

Summary..................................................................................................................... 301
■Index ................................................................................................................. 303

xii
About the Authors

■ Jeremy Keith is a web developer living and working in Brighton, England. Working with the web
consultancy firm Clearleft (www.clearleft.com), Jeremy enjoys building accessible, elegant websites
using the troika of web standards: XHTML, CSS, and the DOM. His online home is http://adactio.com.
Jeremy is also a member of the Web Standards Project (www.webstandards.org), where he serves as joint
leader of the DOM Scripting Task Force. When he is not building websites, Jeremy plays bouzouki in the
alt.country band Salter Cane (www.saltercane.com). He is also the creator and curator of one of the Web’s
largest online communities dedicated to Irish traditional music, The Session (www.thesession.org).

■ Jeffrey Sambells is a Canadian designer of pristine pixel layouts and a developer of squeaky clean
code. Back in the good-old days of the Internet, he started a little company called We-Create. Today, he
is still there as Director of Research and Development / Mobile. The title “Director of R&D” may sound
flashy, but really, that just means he is in charge of learning and cramming as much goodness into
products as possible—ensuring they’re all just awesome. He is currently having fun exploring mobile
design and development techniques. Jeffrey loves to learn. He has as much enthusiasm for digging in the
dirt or climbing a cliff as he does for precisely aligning pixels or forcing that page to load just a little
faster. What really pushes him forward is taking the bits of knowledge he has collected and piecing them
together into something new and unique—something other people can be excited about, too. Along the
way, Jeffrey has managed to graduate university, start a few businesses, write some books, and raise a
wonderful family.

xiii
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 CHAPTER V.
THE NEW WORLD CONTINUED.
The morning of Miss Vernon's visit to her ci-devant music-master
rose bright and clear; and smiling at her own care, it was with rather
more than usual attention to her appearance, she arranged her
simple toilette; for, thought she, "I am to meet his daughter—and
women judge so much more critically of dress than men."
The Colonel's announcement of his intention to accompany her,
called forth all her tact to avoid the escort. She remembered keenly,
the effect produced on him, by Mr. Langley's plain, unvarnished
communications; and, as he had now apparently forgotten them,
and returned to his usual happy, easy frame of mind, she dreaded
the renewal of those unpleasant sensations, which had so disturbed
him, by the discussion of the important questions of pounds,
shillings, and pence, which she was nerving herself to approach
boldly; besides, she did not feel quite certain, how Herman would
take the intelligence she had to communicate. Then she dreaded
that the kind old man might fancy himself de trop.
"I am afraid, dear grandpapa, we must start so early, you will not
have time to read the paper comfortably."
"It cannot take more than half-an-hour to drive from this to Baker
Street?"
"I intended walking. Cabs are so expensive."
"Why, Kate, my love, you are grown quite miserly."
Finally, she managed to insinuate a strong necessity that he should
return Mr. Langley's call, and fix a day for her to visit his studio, and
carried her point, that she and Mrs. O'Toole should walk to Baker
Street, by the Park, while the Colonel was pacified, by the paper, and
the projected visit to Langley.
"Good bye, my own, dear grandpapa—am I looking nice?"
"Yes, darling, like a rose-bud, as you are."
And he gazed proudly at her, over his glasses, as she stood before
him in her simple, elegant, muslin dress, straw bonnet, with plain
white ribbon, and large, soft barège shawl.
"There isn't the like iv her in Buckingham Palace!" said Mrs. O'Toole,
with a confidential nod, as she followed her out of the room.
"Keep to the Parks, till you come to the Marble Arch, then down
Oxford Street—any one will show you the way to Portman Square,
and—"
"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Crooks, once I am in Portman Square, I shall
know my way."
Kate was not quite so agreeable a companion as usual during this
walk, as she felt considerable nervousness about the approaching
interview.
Nurse, too, greatly disliking the errand on which they were bound,
spoke little, except an occasional ejaculation of pious discontent, or
a growl at the various conductors, who kindly invited them to ride in
their omnibusses.
Their walk was, therefore, silent and fatiguing; but Baker Street was
gained at last.
"Not at home, 'm," said a smart girl, with a cap at the back of her
head, in reply to Miss Vernon's enquiries.
"And Miss Herman?"
"Oh, Miss Herman is at home, 'm—please walk this way."
"Nurse, will you wait for me."
And Kate followed the servant up a handsomely carpeted stair-case.
Miss Herman was working something in a frame; she was more
English-looking than her father, with a profusion of fair hair, and in a
very handsome morning costume.
"I have expected to see Miss Vernon," she said, rising to receive her
visitor, with much graciousness, and rather too much ease. "My
father told me, he expected a visit from one of his former pupils."
"I was so fortunate as to meet him accidentally, the day before
yesterday, and was delighted to renew my acquaintance with him."
"I have often heard my father speak of you, and of your great taste
for music; you were quite one of his pet pupils. I expect him in
immediately."
And the two young ladies were soon excellent friends, the more so,
as Kate's new acquaintance was quite able to make up for any
silence or pre-occupation, on her part, caused by the nervous
anxiety with which we watch for an important interview.
Miss Herman was evidently rather curious as to the object of Kate's
visit to her father; and Kate saw no reason why she should not
gratify her curiosity; for, pre-occupied as she was, any other topic
was irksome; and though not exactly of the stamp she had been
accustomed to, it was so long since she had enjoyed a conversation
with a lady, at all near her own age, that she found it a pleasant
variety. Yet it was with a sensation of relief, that poor Kate hailed her
exclamation—
"There is my father's knock."
In another moment, he bustled into the room.
"Rather late, dear lady; but much pleased to see you."
"Luncheon directly, Gertrude."
Then seating himself by Kate, as his daughter left the room—
"Now let me hear in what I can serve you, my dear Miss Vernon, for
I got your note all safe."
Kate hesitated a moment, and then, her color rising, yet with a
certain playfulness, and without any preface, said—
"You thought I wanted to take lessons from you, my dear sir—no; I
want pupils myself."
Herman uttered a slight groan.
"I was apprehensive of something of the kind, when I read your
note; yet I turned from the idea, as quite preposterous; and your
noble relative!"
"She knows nothing of my intention. But my dear Mr. Herman,"
continued Kate, with a firmness and decision, that surprised even
herself, "let us not waste time in deploring what is inevitable; believe
me, there is a strong necessity for the step I am about to take,
which does not, considered in the abstract, offer any great
attractions; the question is, can you, and will you, kindly put me in
the way of carrying out my views; to say that I have been your
pupil, would, I am sure be greatly in my favour; but I want more
than that; to introduce me, in my new career."
"Dear lady: I happen, it is true, to be rather the fashion as a musical
teacher, just at present; and I should be most happy to serve you;
but, though I gave you lessons for three or four months, I cannot
say I trained you; and I have some pupils, brought up to music as
their profession, whom I must consider first; besides though you had
great talent, as an amateur, it is a different thing for a teacher, ah—
have you kept up your music?"
"Yes, most diligently," replied Kate, who felt her cheeks hot, and her
hands cold, during this speech of Herman's.
"Well then," rising, and opening a grand piano, "let me hear you
play, and I will tell you exactly what I think; now you must hear the
truth."
"It is all ask."
Miss Vernon, threw aside her bonnet and shawl, and seated herself
at the piano; but her memory seemed suddenly clouded, by the very
necessity for clearness, nay, her physical vision, by the intense
anxiety to acquit herself well, and while the room swam before her,
the only distinct image she could perceive, was Hermann, standing
opposite, with a look of severe criticism on his countenance; but this
moment of suffering did not last—Kate was making rapid strides in
the acquirement of that self-command, without which, the empire of
the world is but a wider range for the sceptred slave. "I must be
calm—I will not be false to myself," she thought, and pressing her
hands to her eyes for an instant, she conjured up the organist's pale,
benevolent face, as it used to look, when he listened to her playing,
and thus placed her spirit once more within the calm influence of her
old cloistered home; then with a true and steady finger, began a
fantasia, composed by Hermann himself. He started at the first notes
—and listened with wrapt attention, quite as much the effect of her
performance, as his own will. His daughter entered—he held up a
warning finger, to enjoin silence—she came to listen; but whether
there was one listener or a thousand, was now a matter of
indifference to Kate, who absorbed in the music, and revelling in the
tones of a magnificent instrument, after nearly a week's fast, poured
forth the really beautiful composition, with a fervour of feeling, and a
perfection of execution, that quite astonished her hearers; and when
at length, after some beautiful and difficult runs, the piece ended
with sustained chords, the German burst into exclamations of
delight, in his native tongue—echoed by his daughter; while Kate,
agitated by her success, stood quite still—silent from her utter
inability to articulate.
"But it is wonderful how well you have remembered my instructions,
I shall certainly mention you everywhere, as my pupil—my advanced
pupil. And now we will have our luncheon—let me offer you my arm.
Do you sing?"
"Yes."
"Ah, then, we will first have a song."
"No, no, Mr. Herman, I was foolishly nervous about playing, and now
I feel hardly able to speak much less to sing."
"Well then, you must come and have a glass of wine to restore you."
During the progress of the luncheon, Kate learned many particulars,
as to the usual rates of remuneration, &c.; and was surprised to find
it so low.
"As a beginner you can hardly hope to get much," said Hermann,
who was devouring veal pie and pickled cabbage, with great
appetite; "but I hope to be of use to you here too; I will try to get
you the best terms I can, and you will agree to whatever I arrange?"
"Of course; you are most kind, my dear sir; but how soon do you
think you will be able to get me some pupils?"
"We shall see—we shall see—you must not be in a hurry; and
Gertrude, give me that portfolio. Here," said he, "here is a simple air,
harmonise it in four parts, at your leisure, and enclose it to me, that
will show me what you know of theory; if you would consent to play
and sing at private concerts, you might make a very good thing of it;
and with your figure and face, I—"
"Hush, hush," cried Kate, with an involuntary action, and holding up
her hand, as if to repel by physical force, the idea suggested by
Herman, "it is useless to mention such a plan."
"Well well, as you like—but it is the pleasantest and most lucrative
line by far; and now, dear lady, I must run away—I am beyond my
time, and the old Duchess of L—— is as sharp as a needle about a
minute more or less of the lesson. God bless you—write your
address in my book, I might lose your note—you are a pupil I may
well be proud of. Good bye," and he bustled off.
After a few more civil words with Miss Herman; and writing her
name and address in the book, Herman kept for the purpose, Kate
took her leave.
"I hope to have the pleasure of calling on you," said Miss Herman.
"I shall be most happy to see you, and to introduce you to
grandpapa."
"If I do not call soon, pray excuse me, as I have many
engagements. Are there any omnibusses pass near your house?"
"Oh, yes, several. I think I had better take one going back—they are
not very disagreeable—are they?"
"Why, have you never been in an omnibus?" said Miss Herman, with
some surprise.
"Never as yet."
And (nurse having appeared from the lower regions,) Kate shook
hands once more with her lively, good-humoured, new acquaintance,
and departed in high spirits at the result of her visit.
"I am very tired, nurse, and I am sure so are you."
"Is it tired, Miss Kate? not a bit iv it; sure was'nt I aitin the best iv
cauld beef, an' dhrinkin' the best iv ale, down in the house-keeper's
parlour, they seem mighty nice kind of people, an' there was wan of
thim with the quarest cap."
"There, dear nurse, call that omnibus."
"Och, sure, Miss Kate, ye would'nt be afther goin' into wan iv the like
iv thim; its nothin's but the counter-jumpers goes in thim."
"No matter, the sooner I get used to them the better," said Miss
Vernon, resolute not to do things by halves but to descend freely,
and, therefore, gracefully. "So do not let another pass, nurse, for
indeed I am very tired."
"Oh, blessed Bridget! Oh, marciful Moses, look at this! did iver I
think to—Stop, will ye, have ye no eyes in yer head, ye thief? ye wor
niver tired bawlin' to us to go wid yez whin we did'nt want ye."
"Bayswater, mum—yes, mum," and Kate and Mrs. O'Toole were
crammed into a vehicle, apparently full to overflowing; at least so
Kate thought, though the conductor assured them he had not got his
number. The occupants, as usual, would not at first open their ranks,
and it was not until after some moments of uneasy balancing and
staggering, that our two novices in omnibus travelling, were
accommodated with seats, as far as possible from the door of the
carriage. Nurse, who was of tolerable dimensions, reducing two
angular old maiden ladies to scarcely visible lines; while poor Kate,
with a feeling of deep repugnance, was squeezed between a fat,
elderly man and the upper end of the conveyance; the road
appeared interminable, and, owing to their unacquaintance with it,
and their inexperience of omnibus travel, they were carried far
beyond their destination.
Never had the sight of her grandfather's face been so welcome to
Kate, as when she saw him looking from the window on their return;
after the various small, but not the less trying, trials of the day; and
joyous was the tone, in which she exclaimed—"victoria, dearest
grandpapa," as she threw off her bonnet and shawl.
"Come and tell me all about it, dearest," said he, holding out his
hand to her.
She seated herself beside him, and detailed her interview with
Herman, brightening the brighter parts, and subduing the darker,
with exquisite pious tact; and then, turning from the subject of her
own plans, which always fretted the old gentleman, enquired what
his movements had been, and if there was a letter from the Winters?
"No, none," said the Colonel.
"Well, I will go and get ready for dinner, and afterwards we will have
a short stroll in the gardens. Perhaps this evening's post may bring
us a letter from our friends. Nurse is a capital chaperone, and I am
glad you did not go, dear grandpapa, it would have been quite too
much for you."
After this nothing could surpass the unbroken but rather gloomy
quiet, in which Kate's days slipped by; her piano having arrived, was
a great source of enjoyment to her, and lent wings to many a heavy
hour.
Winter, though kind, was like most men, a tardy correspondent, and
Kate was ashamed of writing as often as her heart dictated. Lady
Desmond, too, engrossed by some new pleasure or occupation,
wrote, though affectionately, but seldom; and at times the sad
feeling, that to the friends who are afar, we are as nothing, scarcely
missed, and merely remembered, through the importunate efforts of
our own pen, would steal over Kate's mind in spite of every effort of
reason and common sense; for hers was a nature too noble, too
unexacting, to doubt the kindness or the truth of those who
professed either. Yet it is hard, very hard, not to become restless and
complaining, when, day after day, the letter carrier hurries past, or
worse still, his startling, though hoped for, knock, thrills every pulse,
and there is nothing for you. Oh, you who are still left in peace and
security, amongst all that has been endeared to you in childhood and
in youth; amongst kindred and familiar faces; and scenes of beauty
associated with happiness, and disregarded in the full certainty of
possession; think well before you charge the absent with querulous
avidity for letters; you cannot know, you cannot dream the intense
longing with which we turn from the looks and tones, the places and
the people around us, and conjure up old scenes and voices, long
unheard; and then ask again, and again, with a mournful
tenderness, unspeakable in its depth, "Shall I never see them
more?" while a gloomy echo from our own unspoken presage
answers, "they are gone—they are all passed by;" ay, passed indeed,
for what is gone is eternally passed by. "Speak to them that they go
forward," is the message of God to mankind, as to the Israelites of
old; forward we must go, on—on, in sin or in righteousness; there is
no pause, and what is left is left for ever!
Kate felt an extraordinary longing to have the old hound, Cormac,
with her once more, and wrote on the subject to Mr. Winter. As
usual, when any positive question was to be answered, his reply was
prompt.
"Cannot you leave the dog where he is?" wrote the testy little artist,
"I tell you he will be a troublesome customer; even here he is quite
savage, and we have to throw him his meat from a civil distance."
"Poor Cormac!" sighed Kate, who was reading the letter aloud to her
grandfather, "how unhappy he must be, when he is so cross; he will
become irretrievably savage if we do not remove him; may I write
about him, dear grandpapa, at once?"
"Oh, yes, my dear," said the Colonel.
"Besides," resuming the letter, "your lodgings are too dear already,
and Cormac will be an addition to them. I dare say you find your
money slipping away fast enough; I hope you remember you have a
balance of thirty pounds in my hands, after the sale of the furniture,
so do not think about Cormac at present. Poor Gilpin is very ill, and
cannot last long. What is Herman about? I think he is a humbug;
and what's become of Langley's sister, that was to have called on
you. I remember her a good humoured woman, that murdered the
King's English, her husband is very well off, she ought to have some
girls to be taught."
The letter ended with a kind message from Mrs. Winter, who seldom
wrote, and left an uneasy unpleasant impression on Kate's mind.
"Well, I will write about Cormac, I so long to have him to walk with
me," she said, after a moment's thought. Beginning her letter with
excuses for so imprudent a proceeding, to her terrible mentor, she
continued—
"The complete disappearance of all the agents through whom I
hoped to achieve, such great things from the little stage of my life, is
indeed marvellous, and so dispiriting that I felt inclined to most
unbecoming impatience when I read your letter, in which you, as
usual, set forth, so forcibly, important points; but second thoughts
are best maestro mio. Let us give them the benefit of our doubts;
both Miss Herman and Mrs. Storey may be out of town, or unwell, or
any thing you like, and while it is better for my heart and spirits to
fancy my ci-devant music-master moving heaven and earth, though
unsuccessful in my behalf, than to imagine him playing me false, by
culpable negligence, let me think so; I must wait; so let the
imagination I so often indulged, in happier days, show her gratitude
by lightening the interval of wretched doubt. Is this right? If you
think so, say it, for I am not, heaven knows, so strong that I can
dispense with the wholesome encouragement of friendly
approbation; and though there is great support in the whisperings of
an approving conscience, yet it is wonderfully comforting to have its
accents echoed by a voice one loves. By the arrangements I have
made here, Cormac's advent will add nothing to our expenses, and I
am sure his absence will be a relief to you."
Miss Vernon went to Euston Square, accompanied by Mrs. O'Toole,
to meet him, and the joy of the old hound, at sight of her, was quite
touching.
"We are afraid to go near him, ma'am," said the porter, who led
them to where he was chained, "he's the fiercest dog we ever had
charge on."
But Kate fearlessly went up to him, and unfastened his chain, while
he almost overpowered her by his uncouth caresses, to the dread of
the beholders. Then sitting close by her, his head stretched up that
he might look in her face, and only noticing Mrs. O'Toole, by an
occasional lick, he remained as docile as a lamb.
Kate and nurse walked gaily home with him, feeling they had gained
the addition of a friend to their society; indeed Cormac conducted
himself with so much discretion, that the smiling, because regularly
paid, landlady observed, he was, "a perfect hangel in disposition."
As if pleasures and pains were equally gregarious, Mr. Langley called
just as they were going to tea. He was livelier than usual, and
explained his own and his sister's apparent inattention, by informing
them that she had been obliged to take her little boy to the Isle of
Wight, for change of air; that he had accompanied them for the
same purpose, and had there met Miss Herman, who was on a visit
to her married sister. Thus were all Kate's doubts satisfactorily
cleared up, and the very lightness of heart which these few words of
explanation produced, proved to her how heavily their silence and
apparent neglect had preyed upon her spirits. It was no wonder
therefore that Langley felt surprised he had not before been struck
by the brilliancy as well as the sweetness of her face; she played,
and sang for him too, for the first time, and although he said little,
was evidently charmed by a degree of excellence he was in no wise
prepared for.
He left them at an early hour (after an offer of books from his
collection), considerably cheered by his visit. He had been much
more agreeable than usual, indeed there was something in the noble
manner of Colonel Vernon, in the grace and piquancy of his
grandchild, in her perfect freedom from all idea of self; and spirited
intelligent assumption of her right to think for herself—that attracted
the taciturn, though well informed, Langley, in no common degree.
He had a bad opinion of women in general—like many men, he
divided them into two classes, fools and knaves; and could not
imagine the combination of heart and intellect—yet Kate's original
observations, surprised him by their freshness, while it was
impossible to look upon her sweet, but noble countenance—and
doubt that if ever the spirit of truth had stamped its impress on a
human soul, that soul was hers.
 CHAPTER VI.
RESIGNATION.
Nearly two months had elapsed since the Vernons left A——; and
affairs wore much the same aspect as the first days of their arrival in
town. Miss Herman had called on Kate, on her return from the Isle
of Wight, and Kate had, selon les regles, returned the visit; and not
liking to trespass on Herman's time, unnecessarily, had written
merely to ask some trifling question, and thus, remind him of his
promise; in reply to which, she received a vague assurance of his
readiness to serve her, and a recommendation to patience.
Meantime, parliament was within a few days of its prorogation—
town fast thinning—and the season, to all intents and purposes,
over. This was indeed a trying time; and no portion of it so trying, as
when the Colonel sunk into his evening sleep. Kate then ventured to
release her thoughts from the books, or work, on which she always
endeavoured to fix them, in his presence, lest he should think her
pre-occupied or depressed; and sometimes gazing from the window,
at the slowly closing evening—sometimes fixing her eyes on the
beloved face, which, freed from constraint, bore a pained expression
—too truly indicative of internal feeling—occasionally an uneasy sigh
would escape him, or some muttered word; and, oh! the
inexpressible tenderness and anguish that would then swell his
grandchild's heart.
Did you ever watch one you loved, asleep? if not, you never knew of
how much love your nature was capable; yet these communings
with self, like Jacob's wrestling with the angel, left a blessing behind
—though the frequent, bitter, passionate questions—"Why is it so?
Why is he, who would turn aside, rather than tread upon a worm;
whose strong, warm heart, was chiefly pleased in shewing mercy
and pity—why is he thus tried, and left desolate, now when the
years are come in which he has no pleasure?" would rise to her lips;
and, hard, hard was it to suppress them, for Kate Vernon's heart
beat with too strong, too passionate a pulse, not to feel that
chastening was very grievous; nor could she frame unreal words of
resignation—when the strong turmoil of her breast, lay open to the
All-seeing—she could but cry, from out its troubled depths—"Behold,
O Lord, and see!"
One morning, her grandfather was reading aloud to her—she
sometimes made him do so—it fixed his attention more—when the
door was opened suddenly, and a lady presented herself,
unannounced. She was richly dressed in rather showy colors, and
held a large embroidered lace-edged handkerchief in her hand. The
Colonel and Kate both rose.
"Miss Vernon, I presume!"
"Yes," she replied, advancing.
The visitor presented a card; and Kate, glancing at it, exclaimed—
"Ah! Mrs. Storey—grandpapa—Mr. Langley's sister."
And mutual civilities were exchanged.
The new comer was slightly consequential, inclined to talk of her
husband's firm, as of a subject of universal and recognized interest;
she was a little patronising too; but evidently charmed and subdued
by the inexpressible tone of deference and esteem which
characterised the Colonel's manner to women, and to which few
ladies, connected with even the most eminent firms, are
accustomed.
"I am come on a double errand," said she, to Kate, after explaining
about her long delayed visit—"one, to hand you this note; the other,
to beg you and Colonel Vernon will kindly consent to join a small
circle of friends, at my house, on Thursday evening, though I have
made the request rather unceremoniously."
"You are very kind; I am sure, grandpapa, and myself will have great
pleasure—"
"Yes, certainly," chimed in the Colonel; "though I seldom do so gay a
thing, as to appear at a soiree."
"Then I shall expect you at half-past eight, as it is to be an early
party, of a few friends only; and now, Miss Vernon, read that note."
Kate opened it, and read as follows—
"Dear Mrs. Storey,
"I should like to see the young person of whom your
brother spoke to me, as I wish Mary and Angelina to begin
music, without any further delay; they have quite
forgotten what they learned at Mrs. Birch's. Can Miss
Vernon teach singing? I shall be at home for her at one
o'clock, on Tuesday next.
"With kind regards to Mr. S——,

"I am yours, very sincerely,

"A. Potter."
"St. Cecilia Terrace,

"Brompton, Saturday evening."

"I am very glad to get a summons, at last," said Kate, smiling. "I
was beginning to fear pupils were an unattainable good. The note is
from a friend of Mrs. Storey's, grandpapa," she continued, anxious to
prevent the old gentleman from reading it, as, she justly thought,
the wording of it might ruffle his pride, "who requires instruction in
music for her two daughters, and wishes me to call upon her on
Tuesday. How do you go to Brompton from hence, Mrs. Storey?"
"The most agreeable way is through Kensington Gardens, then
across the Knightsbridge Road."
"Thank you; that sounds as if it would be a pleasant walk."
"Oh, very pleasant, indeed; will you excuse me for running away
very abruptly? but I do not think I should have made time to call
only for Mrs. Potter's note; another time, I hope we shall be able to
improve our acquaintance, Miss Vernon. Good morning; pray don't
come to the door. Half-past eight, Miss Vernon; a few friends; my
brother brings some professors of music;" and she chattered out of
the room, overpowering Kate's every effort to thank her for her
kindness.
Nurse was in readiness to open the hall door, with a look of extreme
displeasure on her countenance.
"I niver seen the like iv thim English," she said, indignantly. "Hesther
was washin' the steps whin she come up—'Is Miss Vernon at home?'
ses she. 'Yes,' ses Hesther; 'I'll call Mrs. O'Toole.' An' away she runs
for me; but me lady couldn't wait, I suppose; so in she walks widout
—'By yer lave, or with yer lave,' instead of waiting to be announced
like a christian."
"No matter, nurse, she brought me good news," replied Kate.
"Well, my love, I congratulate you, that your pious wishes are likely
to be accomplished," said the Colonel, as she returned to the room.
"This Mrs. Storey appears to be a good sort of woman."
"Oh, I am delighted with her! and no wonder; she has rekindled the
almost extinct flame of hope; I do trust I may succeed with her
friend. Do come out, dearest grandpapa, I feel too glad to stay in
the house."
The next day was Tuesday, and Kate, escorted by Mrs. O'Toole and
Cormac, started at an early hour—to keep Mrs. Potter's appointment
—as they had to explore their way—this they accomplished without
much difficulty; and, leaving nurse and Cormac to wait her return,
Kate followed a rather seedy man-servant, in plain clothes, up a
dingy stair-case, into a very handsomely-furnished, but uninhabited-
looking drawing-room, with richly-bound books, geometrically placed
on round tables, vases filled with wax flowers, alabaster Cupids, and
a grand, rosewood piano. She had hardly glanced at all this finery,
when the door was opened hastily, and a fat and rather red-faced
woman, her hair done up into little round, flat curls, secured with
pins, who breathed audibly, after mounting the stairs, came quickly
into the room.
"Ah, I beg pardon," she involuntarily exclaimed, as Kate's slight,
elegant figure met her eye; "I understood Miss Vernon was here."
"I am Miss Vernon," replied Kate, quietly.
"Oh!" or, as she pronounced it, 'ho,' "indeed! then will you just step
down to the front parlour? that stupid man did not know who you
were."
"Indeed!"
The front parlour at No. ——, St. Cecilia Terrace, was like all other
front parlours of its class; there were horse-hair chairs and sofa,
dyed moreen curtains, and the cast off furniture of humbler days, a
former and less splendid house; no books, and a large work-basket;
two young ladies that might be twelve and sixteen years of age, rose
on their entrance; but did not long suspend the labours of their busy
needles. There was a third person, whose semi-genteel dress, and
hurried, anxious expression of face, and surrounding circle of shreds,
of every hue and texture, declared her to be—"The very reasonable
girl who goes out dress-making."
"Now, Miss Vernon," began Mrs. Potter, rapidly, almost before she
was seated, "I want these two young ladies to be taught music. I
understand you were a pupil of Herman's?"
"I was."
"And can you teach singing?"
"Yes."
"Well?"
"Why," said Kate, "I cannot possibly be considered a fair judge."
"Well, I should like some reference as to your capabilities."
"I have none to offer, if you are not satisfied with Mr. Langley's
opinion."
"Oh, yes; he is a very good judge."
"Perhaps you will let me hear you play," returned Mrs. Potter,
sweeping off a mingled pile of silk merino and fringe, from a very
antique piano.
"Of course," replied Kate, drawing off her gloves.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, shrinking back at the discordant tones, which
her first touch drew forth. "This is rather out of tune, and has not
got the additional keys; I could not play anything on this
instrument."
"Well, there's the grand up-stairs," said Mrs. Potter, with more
respect than her manner had yet testified, at this raising of
difficulties on the part of Kate. "Come along, girls."
They ascended to the decorated apartment before described; and
there, although she found the "grand rose-wood," as it was termed
by the family, to be deplorably out of tune also, Kate performed a
noisy introduction and march, which she guessed would be most
likely to suit her auditors; a song was then demanded, and given;
and mother and daughters exchanged glances, which said very
plainly—"We've drawn a prize!"
"Well, I'm sure that's very nice," began Mrs. Potter. "I have no
objection to engage you."
Then came the discussion of terms; the greatest trial poor Kate had
yet encountered. It was so difficult to name her price, so hard to
bear the attempt to beat her down; yet all things must have an end;
and, at length, she was finally engaged. Then, with what a feeling of
relief she walked briskly on to meet Mrs. O'Toole, who was loitering
about in waiting for her young mistress.
"How valuable poor Mr. Gilpin's hints have been to me," thought she;
"what exquisite torture that whole interview would have been, had I
not, by his advice, made up my mind to treat and think of the whole
affair as a business transaction, which could not touch me really."
Nurse was less curious than usual—the subject was one that could
only give her pain and grief, so she contented herself with Kate's
general assurance that all was satisfactorily settled. The Colonel,
notwithstanding all his consideration for his loving, self-forgetting
child, could not suppress a groan, when he heard all the particulars
she thought fit to give.
"Ah, dear Kate! what costs us so dear, brings but little into our
exchequer."
"But I shall get more pupils, you know, and then—"
"Well, God's will be done!"
The lessons at Brompton began the next day; and Kate was
surprised to find how rapidly the time flew in the endeavour to
convey her own knowledge to her pupils; then the walk back,
accompanied by Cormac, who lay outside the hall door, like a
chiselled effigy of watchfulness, all the time the lesson lasted, was
charming. The welcome from nurse and grandpapa! how grateful the
task to work for them. "All I ask of Thee, oh Mighty Parent! is
abundance of work!" she often murmured, almost aloud.
Thus cheered, she wrote in a strain of unwonted gaiety to Winter,
promising him an account of Mrs. Storey's soirée, at which nurse
was determined her darling should appear in most recherché
costume; but, to her dismay, the object of all this care, refused to
appear in anything but "a demi-toilette."
"An' why won't ye show yer illigant white neck, an' arums, just to let
them see what we've got in ould Ireland?"
"You see, it will be a small party, nurse; and, at all events, I would
rather look too little, than too much, dressed; besides, it is of no
consequence; yet, that is not quite true," she added, with a frank
smile, "I should not like to look frightful."
So she had her own way, and wore the style of dress she preferred.
Nurse produced a very handsome bouquet, just at the critical
moment when the toilette was "un fait accompli," and Kate was
thinking how unfinished her costume looked without what had
hitherto been, with her, an invariable accompaniment.
"Oh, nurse, how lovely! and you have got these for me! Ah, you
spoil your child! but I am so glad to have them! Now I am indeed
mise a ravir; and shall value them a thousand times more as your
gift, than if they were from—"
"The Captin?" put in Mrs. O'Toole, slily.
"Yes, far more," said Kate, and she spoke the truth, for the moment.
Some slight delay in procuring a cab, rendered their appearance at
Mrs. Storey's later than they had intended, and her rooms were
more than half full when they entered. There was the usual group of
gentlemen near the door, conversing in under tones with each other;
there was the same spare sprinkling of broad cloth, amongst the
silks, satins, and muslins, seated stiffly round the walls, or rigidly
enthroned on ottomans; the same half dozen of bolder spirits, more
at home with the company than those about the door, amongst
whom the facetious man, (for there is always such at third rate
parties), shone conspicuous, entreating the ladies to teach him the
language of flowers, or propounding far-fetched conundrums,
ending, invariably, with, "do you give it up?"
Tea and coffee was being handed round by two most respectable-
looking men, whose faces seemed strangely familiar to Kate, until
she remembered that she saw them almost daily, at the gate of
Kensington Gardens, mounting guard over the Bath chairs, which
they had there for hire; and young ladies were gently nibbling small
squares of cake, and then depositing them in their saucers, as if
ashamed of being guilty of so sublunary an occupation; in short,
there was every thing that could possibly be expected at a soirée of
the class we are describing.
The appearance of Colonel Vernon, with his elegant-looking
granddaughter, drew general attention; and a whisper of curiosity
ran round the room, as each one felt, instinctively, there was
something in the newly arrived guests, different from themselves.
Miss Vernon advanced through the numerous company, to her total
strangers, with the quiet self-possession which so peculiarly
distinguished her, and which had struck Egerton so forcibly, at the
memorable ball, where they had first met. It was so different from
the assured manner of a veteran society hunter, or the "look at me,"
air of a professed beauty, and seemed to say, "there is no position so
lofty, where I should be out of place."
Mrs. Storey welcomed her new acquaintance with great warmth,
advancing rapidly to meet them, with a huge bouquet held fiercely in
her hand like a Lancer charging the foe.
"Very glad to see you, Miss Vernon, and your grandpa, looking so
well—Mr. Storey, Colonel Vernon, Miss Vernon, &c."
Mr. Storey was a rubicund, jolly looking man, not yet absolutely fat,
but promising well for the time to come; slightly bald, with small
twinkling eyes, and an inveterate affection for the letter R; moreover,
he constantly held his hands in his trowsers' pockets; laughed often
a fat laugh, had an unmistakeable air of prosperity, and was
altogether what Mrs. Storey, called, "very good company."
"Happy to see you, Miss Vernon, happy to see you, sir; just a few
friends, what my friend Jones calls a "tea fight," that's his
interpretation of "a soirée."
Langley here disengaged himself, rather abruptly, from a group of
two or three bold, confident-looking girls, and pale dishevelled men,
evidently artistic, to greet the Vernons, very warmly for him.
"Let me get you a seat, Miss Vernon," said Mrs. Storey, drawing Kate
towards the group Mr. Langley had just left. "Sorry I was out when
you called yesterday. Did you arrange with Mrs. Potter?"
"Yes, and I have to thank you and Mr. Langley for procuring me my
first pupils."
"Oh, I was very glad."
"Miss Dent," said Mrs. Storey to one of the dashing looking young
ladies, before mentioned, "let me introduce Miss Vernon, you are
both very musical; Miss Vernon plays beautifully, I am told; we hope
to hear her farther on in the evening—Miss Charlotte Dent."
And Kate, to her dismay, was left to the tender mercies of these
evidently "very fashionable," girls, who were, "en grande tenue,"
with the lowest cut dresses, and shortest sleeves permissible in
society.
"Been long in town?" said the eldest, (after a deliberate survey of
Miss Vernon's simple costume,) in a bold and rather deep toned
voice.
Kate replied courteously, and turned to see what had become of the
Colonel; he was engaged, apparently, in interesting conversation
with Mr. Langley, and satisfied that he did not feel lonely, she gave
her attention to the people round her.
"Were you ever in town before?" continued her examiner.
"Oh, yes, for some time, three years ago."
"Horrid place at this time of year. I am counting the days until I start
for Germany."
Here one of Langley's dishevelled friends, from some change in the
surrounding group (for the rooms were now almost crowded),
suddenly stepped back, and in so doing, trod on Miss Vernon's
dress; he begged pardon with much empressement, in a manner
which bespoke him to be no common man; he was pale, thin and
foreign-looking, with deep sunk, flashing eyes, wild hair, and an
unsteady expression of countenance.
"I am always doing these sort of things, and have vowed a hundred
times never to brave the dangers of a soirée again; but," he
shrugged his shoulders.
"Passato l'pericolo gabbato l'santo," said Kate, gaily and archly;
judging from his air and manner, that this scrap of poor Winter's lore
would be understood.
"La Signorina parla l'Italiano," he exclaimed, joyously.
"So little that I dare not venture to begin a conversation in it," she
replied, as she did not consider it impossible to speak to a stranger
without a formal introduction.
"Yet you pronounce it correctly," said the wild looking man.
"You think so?"
"Yes, and although it is not my native tongue, I love it, as if it were."
"So did the friend from whom I learned what little I know of it, and
the proverb I have just said; yet no; not quite so well as his own
tongue, for he was English."
"Your emphasis would imply that you think I am not, nor am I."
"Mr. Winter used to say——"
"Winter!" he interrupted, "is he the painter who has buried himself
so strangely in some monastic tomb, some old city, "en Province?""
"The same."
"Then you are the young lady Langley spoke of?"
"Yes."
"Maraviglia!"
"Why are you surprised?" asked Kate, smiling.
He only repeated, "maraviglia!"
"Miss Dent, will you kindly play us something," said Mrs. Storey,
sailing up, bouquet in hand.
"With pleasure, Mrs. Storey, but really you must send for my music,
for Mr. Jones has been making me laugh so, I could not remember a
note if I was to die for it; it is in the cloak room."
While Miss Dent was making numerous preparations for the
proposed exhibition, Langley for the first time, left Vernon, and came
over to Kate, who, feeling pleased to speak to her only
acquaintance, at least of any standing, received him with a brilliant
smile, making room for him beside her on the sofa, with her usual
unpremeditated grace.
"I see my friend Galliard has made your acquaintance, Miss Vernon,
without my assistance."
"Ah, out of evil cometh good, thanks to Mademoiselle!" said the man
he called Galliard, gaily. "Tore her dress, she pardoned the penitent,
and permitted him to speak, voilà tout."
A warning hus-sh-sh silenced him, and taking a large pinch of snuff,
he assumed a critical air as Miss Dent struck a powerful blow on an
unfortunate chord, and started off at a brisk gallop up the keys; her
execution was really remarkable, and the music she performed full of
physical difficulties; there were interminable shakes, and thundering
chords; crossing of the hands and rushing from one extreme of the
keys to the other; at last the performance, amid a crash of chords,
came to a sudden end, upon which the talkers, startled at hearing
their own voices, all at once, so loud, stopped too, and clapped their
hands.
Miss Dent rose with a triumphant air, gathered together her gloves,
fan and bouquet, and stood at the end of the "instrument," as Mrs.
Storey called it, laughing and talking noisily, with the numerous
beaux who surrounded her.
"Now, Miss Vernon, may I call upon you?" said the lady of the house,
approaching.
Kate rose with a smile, and addressing Langley, in a low tone, said—
"Will you kindly stay with grandpapa, while I play, and do not let him
come near me."
She took Mr. Storey's arm, as she spoke, and moved to the piano.
Galliard and two or three more of Langley's friends followed, with
every appearance of interest, very different from the degree of
attention they bestowed on Miss Dent. Kate felt little or no
nervousness; her trial and success, at Herman's, had set her mind at
ease, and she at once began a very lovely Fantasia, composed by
Gilpin, at her request, and meant to convey the feeling of sweet
peacefulness she had described to him, as often stealing over her
heart, when, after the last notes of the evening service had scarce
died away, she stood in the Priory church yard, where it overlooked
the river, and saw its waters silvered by the moonbeams.
The music was of the Mendelssohn school, of which the organist was
a great admirer, and Kate played it well; she knew every note by
heart, from the first solemn sustained chords, to the noble march
and tender aria with which it concludes.
The talkers frequently begun, but were as frequently hushed by the
indignant "chut, chut" of the connoisseurs; and when she quietly
rose from the piano, the emphatic "good, very good!" "she can
play!" "a remarkable composition!" testified the satisfaction of
Langley's professional friends; while they left the task of noisy
plaudits to the indiscriminating multitude.
Kate now in her turn, the centre of a little group, had to answer
many questions as to the author of the music she had played, and,
with her usual eagerness to exalt a friend, she pronounced a
glowing eulogium on the organist as a man, and a musician.
"He has genius, undoubtedly," said Galliard, "but can genius be
satisfied with the obscurity of a little provincial town?"
"He is happy there," said Kate.
"Happy!" Galliard repeated, with a cynical accent.
"A man must be very happy when he allows it," replied Miss Vernon.
"E vero," cried Galliard, laughing.
"Or so very proud that he will not admit the contrary," suggested
Langley.
"If you knew Mr. Gilpin," began Kate, when their hostess advancing,
interrupted her, and begged for a song, to which request Kate at
once acceded.
Then the hostess proposed a quadrille, and introduced a young
gentleman, redolent of eau de mille feurs, with an elaborately
worked shirt front, lined with pink, and a white pastry face, to Kate,
whispering, in a jocose manner, "is quite a catch, junior partner in
the great firm of Jones, Brown and Tuckett;" and, with a knowing
nod, she walked away, leaving Kate half amused at the extraordinary
confidences of her communicative hostess; but feeling through all
that, had she still been heiress of Dungar, and any strange chance
had thrown Mrs. Storey in her way, the acquaintanceship would have
been conducted on very different terms.
She stood up very good-humouredly, however, and replied to all her
partner's vapid remarks, very readily; yet, somehow, Tuckett, junior,
though he was "the glass of fashion and the mould of form," to
Hammond-court, Mincing-lane, did not feel at his ease with her; and
she, in the innocence of her heart, believing that all firms dwelt in
the city, and never dreaming that a man could be so silly as to blush
because he was a worker instead of an idler, put him to torture by
her unconscious questions.
"I am anxious to explore the city," she said, while the side couples
were dancing La Poule. "I suppose you know all its charming nooks
by heart."
"Aw, no, indeed, it's a place I have too great a distaste for, to stay
in, except when obliged."
"For shame," said Kate, "A citizen of 'famous London Town,' ought to
know, and prize the various interesting 'locales' in the mighty
capital."
"Shall I get you an ice?" said her partner, sullenly.
"No, no, thank you," replied Kate, shaking her head rather
mournfully, as she remembered the last time a similar question had
been put to her; and taking her seat near the Colonel, who was
standing with Langley and Galliard; she dismissed Tuckett, junior,
with a gracious inclination of the head.
Soon after, the Colonel complaining of fatigue, and Kate, glad to
escape her good-humoured host's frequently expressed wish that
she would 'polkar,' took her leave of the soirée. Langley and Galliard
attended them to the carriage, which awaited them.
"Mr. Langley tells me he saw our friend Egerton's name, in some
paper, promoted to a majority," said the Colonel.
"Did he! oh, where?" cried Kate.
"It was in the Gazette, I took it up while waiting for Lord H— —,
whose portrait I am painting."
"What did it say?" asked Kate, folding her shawl round her.
"Oh,—'The Honourable Frederic Egerton to be Major in the Lancers,
without purchase, vice,' some one, I forget the name, 'deceased.'"
"I dare say it cost him some hard cash, though it is there stated
'without purchase;' I understand all that. Come, Kate. Good night,
Mr. Langley. Bon soir, monsieur, au plaisir de vous voir," said the
Colonel.
The Frenchman bowed profoundly, and they drove away.
The Colonel was not animated after this piece of gaiety, as he used
to be in former days; it seemed to have depressed him, and he
complained of slight cold. Mrs. O'Toole was woefully disappointed to
find that there was "ne'er a lord, nor even an honourable, good or
bad, at the party."
"To think iv yer playin' an' singin' for the likes iv thim!" she
exclaimed, indignantly.
"What have I said to make you think so contemptuously of the very
respectable people, amongst whom we have spent (I confess) 'a
rather slow evening,' as my eloquent partner would term it?"
"Och no matther, sure it's thim that's the only quolity goin' now;
well, niver mind, Miss Kate, we'll lave thim all yet."
"I hope so," sighed Kate.
 CHAPTER VII.
LETTERS.
The next morning, just as Kate was preparing to write a long letter
to the Winters, one from the kind-hearted little artist was put into
her hand. It was sealed with black wax, and announced the death of
poor Gilpin. He had suffered a good deal; but, towards the last, fell
into a calm, sweet sleep, out of which he suddenly awoke with a
look of bright happiness, such as they had never seen on his face
before, as if had heard a summons inaudible to their ears.
"I come," he said, and, feebly laying his hand on Winter's, passed to
"where his treasure was," without a sigh.
There was little in the letter besides the account of the good man's
death; he had left a memorandum of the persons amongst whom his
books and music were to be distributed. He had desired, kindly
messages, to one or two friends, and the last name he uttered was
that of Kate Vernon.
She read the letter aloud, calmly, but the intonation of her voice
indicated deep emotion; at its conclusion there was a pause, which
neither the Colonel nor his granddaughter were inclined to break;
both were hushed and awed by this description of their friend's
passage to the World of Spirits.
The large, round, pearly tears weighed down Kate's long lashes, and
slowly rolled over her cheeks, without any effort on her part to
restrain them. She was unconscious that she wept.
At last the old man broke the silence, saying,
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like
his!"
"Amen," replied his granddaughter. "Oh, dearest grandpapa," she
continued at length, "he has entered into his rest, and though it is
an awful thought to us, that he still exists, but where no mortal eye
can see him; what an exchange from the many woes and struggles
of his warfare here, to the boundless bliss of heaven! He had many
sorrows, and yet surely the coming shadow of a great deliverance
rested on his spirit, long before he was freed! How sensitive he was
—about his appearance I mean—how keenly alive to every glance,
and yet how resolutely he used to brace up his soul to love, and to
endure!"
"I suppose we shall soon hear from Winter again," said the Colonel,
after another pause.
"I suppose so," returned Kate, dreamily. "Ah, nurse," she exclaimed,
a few moments after, as Mrs. O'Toole entered, about some
household matter, "he is gone—he is happy—our kind, gentle friend,
Mr. Gilpin."
"The heavens be his bed," said Mrs. O'Toole, crossing herself. "Och,
whin was he taken, Miss Kate?"
"Two days ago."
"Athin 'twas he was fit to go! faith, he was worth a score iv clargy to
the poor; an', at the first goin' to A—, I used to think it beneath ye,
to be talkin' an' walkin, wid a poor crathure iv an organist; but I was
proud to spake to him aftherwards meself; for he always looked as if
he'd a taste iv heaven inside iv him, so he did. Sure, it's no wondher,
this is such a miserable place to be in, wid sich min as Misther Gilpin
an' the masther, whipt off like—like a pooff, or robbed iv their own;
an' sich chaps as Taaffe an' Moore, or thim in their coaches, an'
desavin' the world! faith, it's beyant me entirely, so it is."
"And beyond many a wiser head than either yours or mine, Nelly,"
said the Colonel, kindly. "We must leave all that to God."
"Thrue for ye, sir." And she retired, murmuring—"Och, blessed
Jasus! resave yer soul, mee poor Gilpin! It's a saint on airth ye wur!"
So Kate's letter was written, in a very different strain from what she
had intended; and then she strolled with her grandfather in
Kensington Gardens. The old man seemed feeble and depressed; he
took Kate's arm, as he often did of late, and spoke much of his own
advancing years, and his anxiety, in the event of his death, for her in
a tone that thrilled her heart with fear and anguish. She strove to
turn the conversation—but it would not do.
"I have no doubt, that you alone would find a happy home under
Georgina's roof; but I wish I might see you happily married, and in a
house of your own, before I am called away. I fear from Moore's
intelligence, brief and scanty as it is, there is no chance of our
gaining this fatal lawsuit, so that you will be totally unprovided for;"
and he sighed deeply. "Our relations are so few, and—"
"Oh, hush, hush, dearest and best!" cried Kate; "you cannot dream
what pain you inflict on me, by such words; do not fear for me; I
never know dread on my own account, for the future; you do not
know the strong courage of my heart—I did not know it myself till of
late; we cannot provide against future ills; why then darken the
present by anticipating them. Let us leave it all to God, as you told
nurse this morning; believe me, I fear nothing, except hearing you
speak in this manner."
The old man was silent for a while, and then resumed—
"We little thought, the day Fred Egerton rushed back so gallantly to
rescue our poor friend, how soon that pleasant little party would be
scattered."
"Little indeed," echoed Kate; "next week it will be a year since the
ball at Carrington, where I first met him."
The Colonel smiled, and sighed.
"He will be sorry to hear of poor Gilpin's death. I wonder he has not
written."
"Good morning, Miss Vernon," said Langley, coming up behind them.
"I hope you caught no cold last night? How do you do, Colonel
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