‘A tulip to a jessamine,’ muttered Griff
as she drove off, and he looked up at his Ellen’s
sweet refined face.
The unfortunate Colonel Brereton put an end to himself
when the court-martial was half over. How Clarence
was shocked and how ardent was his pity! But
Griffith received the thanks of the Corporation of
Bristol for his gallant conduct, when the special
assize was held in January. Mrs. Fordyce was
almost as proud of him as we were, and there was
much less attempt at restraining the terms on which
he stood with Ellen—though still the formal
engagement was not permitted.
’Whither shall I go?
Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes?’
Tennyson.
It was in the May of the ensuing year, 1832, that
Clarence was sent down to Bristol for a few weeks
to take the place of one of the clerks in the office
where the cargoes of the incoming vessels of the
firm were received and overhauled.
This was a good-natured arrangement of Mr. Castleford’s
in order to give him change of work and a sight of
home, where, by the help of the coach, he could spend
his Sundays. That first spring day on his way
down was a great delight and even surprise to him,
who had never seen our profusion of primroses, cowslips,
and bluebells, nor our splendid blossom of trees—apple,
lilac, laburnum—all vieing in beauty with
one another. Emily conducted him about in great
delight, taking him over to Hillside to see Mrs.
Fordyce’s American garden, blazing with azaleas,
and glowing with rhododendrons. He came back
with a great bouquet given to him by Ellen, who had
been unusually friendly with him, and he was more
animated and full of life than for years before.
Next time he came he looked less happy. There
was plenty of room in our house, but he used, by
preference, the little chamber within mine, and there
at night he asked me to lend him a few pounds, since
Griffith had written one of his off-hand letters
asking him to discharge a little bill or two at Bristol,
giving the addresses, but not sending the accounts.
This was no wonder, since any enclosure doubled
the already heavy postage. One of these bills
was for some sporting equipments from the gunsmith’s;
another, much heavier, from a tavern for breakfasts,
or rather luncheons, to parties of gentlemen, mostly
bearing date in the summer and autumn of 1830, before
the friendship with the Fordyces had begun. On
Clarence’s defraying the first and applying
for the second, two more had come in, one from a
jeweller for a pair of drop-earrings, the other from
a nurseryman for a bouquet of exotics. Doubting
of these two last, Clarence had written to Griff,
but had not yet received an answer. The whole
amount was so much beyond what he had been led to expect
that he had not brought enough money to meet it,
and wanted an advance from me, promising repayment,
to which latter point I could not assent, as both
of us knew, but did not say, we should never see
the sum again, and to me it only meant stinting in
new books and curiosities. We were anxious
to get the matter settled at once, as Griffith spoke
of being dunned; and it might be serious, if the
tradesmen applied to my father when he was still groaning
over revelations of college expenses.
