CHAPTER X. "But love, first learned in a lady's eyes, As soon as our hero had so far ingratiated himself into the best affections of the Squire and John Hardy, as to be transferred from the nurturing kindness of Dame Woodley and her humble cottage to the Hall, a tutor had been provided for him in the person of Mr. Baldwin, the rector of the parish, residing in one of the prettiest and most retired spots that a scholar or bookworm could wish to live in. The parsonage, a low-roofed, snug-looking building, was situated at the base of a gentle slope, at the back of which a thick plantation of firs acted as a screen to the northern blast, and sheltered the flower-beds, dotted here and there about the dwelling, from the nipping wind. A rapid, noisy, and rippling stream swept over the clear pebbles, within a stone's throw of the house, and here might be seen and heard the speckled trout rise and dash at the partycoloured ephemera hovering in multitudes over the water at sunrise and sunset. A dove-cote stood at the sunny corner of the garden, and a numerous colony of pigeons occupied the tenement, cooing, quarrelling, and making love to each other without intermission. Not far removed was a row of hives, and the thrifty bees had not to wander far to lease their store; for so luxuriantly the flowers grew around, and the woodbine and jessamine crept and climbed in festoons about the walls and eaves of the house, that the air itself was laden with their sweetness. Here, in this cozy nook, the rector lived, a wise, a virtuous, and a happy man. Of the world, and yet removed far from its strife and struggles, its heartlessness, deception, and ingratitude, he knew but little of the dark side of humanity, and remained contented with his ignorance. Surrounded with old books, kept free from damp and dust, as things of priceless worth, he would sit and study, and reflect upon the great and good, and become better as he reflected. To those pages wherein the immortal thoughts of men are recorded to lead the way like lights in darkness, he turned with reverence, and moulding his life from the best of precepts, he found himself at peace with all mankind; in charity and good-will towards all men. The apartment appropriated for his study was a dark panelled room with a stained glass window, through which the purple and mellow light streamed in varied tints, and here our hero used to sit and listen to that soft, low voice, instilling the choicest of knowledge and counsel into his apt and pliant mind. Mr. Baldwin had been left a widower within the year of his marriage, the child—a daughter -having been the cause of the bereavement of his young, loved, and loving wife. His child, being the sole object of his tenderest care and attention, became his constant companion, and was seldom to be seen absent from his side, either in the hours of study or relaxation. Long before she could lisp her first infant lesson, little Mary would sit at the feet of her father, with her long, light, silken curls waving upon her shoulders, and her dark violet eyes bent intensely upon an opened page. Thus she would remain, patiently waiting for the hour when both would quit the philosophy of books, to wander in the fields and woods, and watch the gay-winged butterflies, and gather wild flowers from mossy banks, dingle, and dell Master Tom had not been a regular attendant at the Rectory more than a week, when little Mary made it a rule to meet him at the garden gate, and invariably accompanied him homewards as far as this boundary. It has often been the subject of remark that the gentle and timid are fond of the bold and resolute; and those possessed of animal courage and daring turn with tenderness to the weak and fearful. This may easily be accounted for from the influence of sympathy, and was doubtlessly the cause of the engendered and growing affection between Master Tom and little Mary. Be the cause what it may, however, they loved as others have done before them, and they never thought of inquiring why or wherefore. As years rolled on, it never seemed to occur to the mind of the rector that there was any necessity to put restraint or restrictions on the close companionship of Mary and his pupil. To him they were the same boy and girl of a dozen years ago, and he dreamt not of the |