Adventures of a Bear, and a Great Bear Too Page 5

  REVERSES.

  Solitary as were Bruin's habits by nature, he had felt, since hisresidence in a town, a change stealing gradually over him, and thenecessity of companionship becoming every day more sensibly experienced.In his late position, he had had the constant companionship of Tom andthe learned society of his master, which, indeed, he was but littlecapable of appreciating, besides the acquaintance of some inferioranimals whom he had managed to fall in with during his idle hours;though that these must have been of the very lowest class, the reader,who is aware of the character of that great beast, will readily suppose.Tom was, however, now gone; poor Schwein, too, had departed; and Bruin'sfine clothes and altered condition entirely precluded at present areturn to his former associates. Society, he felt, he must have, andupon his choice now depended his future fortunes. It was whilst thisnecessity was pressing on his brain that one morning, when lolling inall the indolence of ignorance allied to wealth, he was surprised atthe appearance of a diminutive spaniel, admitted by his porter, who,dressed in a rich scarlet livery, bore a letter in his belt, which hepresented with a certain fawning grace to our hero, and hastilydeparted. This was the first epistle that worthy had ever held in hisown paws, so it may well be judged he was but little prepared toinvestigate its contents. He turned it over and over, and then put it tohis nose, for the scent which it emitted was pleasant to his sense ofsmell; but still this gave him no hint at its meaning. Never before hadhe felt the annoyance which a want of education inevitably causes; butnow that it did strike him, instead of arousing his energies to cure soserious a defect,--a cure, too, which he could under presentcircumstances so easily accomplish,--it only moved his anger to thinkthat the little scrap of paper which he held in his paw, and which hecould without the slightest effort crush into nothingness, withheld itssecrets from him, whilst every mincing puppy in the streets couldcommand its every word. Ah, Master Bruin! Master Bruin! you are not thefirst to make the discovery that knowledge is superior to brute force.Angry or not, he wished to know the meaning of the note; and summoningto his presence one who had managed to procure the chief place in hishousehold, cunning Fox as he was, he commanded that worthy to read itscontents aloud. Fox obeyed, not at all displeased that he should beselected for this duty, as he foresaw, from the so-called Count'signorance, that he would be able at a future period to turn his intimateknowledge of his master's secrets to good account. He, therefore, readas follows:--

  "You may believe I must be actuated by a strong feeling in your favour, when I thus forget what is due to my sex and rank, and overcome all the prejudices which canine society builds up as a barrier to intercourse with foreigners. I confess it; the feeling _is_ a strong one: but I rely on your honour to save me from the ill effects my imprudence might otherwise lay me open to. If you are willing to know farther, and are the animal I take you for, you will be in waiting tomorrow evening after sunset, at the extremity of the mews in the cats' quarter of the city."

  This missive, written in bold but feminine characters, was without asignature; and when Fox had retired, with a cunning leer upon his sharpfeatures, and Bruin was left alone to meditate upon the singularity ofthe adventure, that great beast lost himself in conjectures as to thewriter, and figured to his imagination a creature very different, nodoubt, to the being actually in question. His impatience, however, toget over the interval of time which must elapse ere his curiosity couldbe gratified, was sensibly felt by every inmate of the mansion. Nothingseemed to go right; the soup was tasteless, the viands were overdone,and the vegetables raw. Never was there so fastidious a bear; the cookmore than once contemplated some rash act; the poor little turnspitscrept into corners with their tails between their legs, fully expectingto be sacrificed in some moment of wrath; whilst the varioushouse-servants, pussies of doubtful reputation, seemed to creep aboutthe place as though they were every moment in dread of being accused ofpurloining certain savoury made-dishes, reserved especially for cook'sprivate friends. Fox, too, the steward and factotum of theestablishment, appeared not to possess his usual sleek and quiet ease,but, as the evening drew near, got restless and fidgetty, though hetried to be calm, and even more jocose than usual. He had been absenthalf the morning, no one knew for what purpose; not that he evercondescended to divulge the causes of his movements, but there was aslyer look in his eyes, and a sharper appearance about his clever,pointed nose, than ordinarily animated those features.

  The hour drew nigh. The sun was going down when the Count von Bruin,most superbly dressed, sallied forth from his dwelling. His demeanourwas observed and criticised by every domestic in his household, who,crowding to the windows, watched that great bear go forth,--as hefancied, to conquer. Fox allowed him to turn the corner; then,enveloped in a cloak which completely hid his figure, he let himselfout and glided after his master.

  Bruin, meanwhile, strutted on till he reached the quarter of the cityinhabited by the descendants of the feline race; and as he had neverbefore been in that part of the town, he was at first utterly confoundedby the discordant cries. Instead, too, of the order prevailing in thecanine portions, the inhabitants seemed to take delight in the wildestgymnastic demonstrations, and certainly seemed to prefer the house-topsto any other lounging-place. Kittens, in horrible abundance, werefrisking about in every direction, and the scene was altogether of acharacter which seemed to justify the wisdom of the magnates ofCaneville in obliging this singular people to dwell in a distinct partof the town; a rule which, with a few exceptions, was strictly carriedout.

  On reaching the mews, a place so called at the outskirts of the city inthis direction, and sufficiently removed from the noisy streets as tomake the spot a very solitary one, Bruin perceived he was alone at therendezvous; so, to while away the time, he strutted to and fro, andmeditated, in his usual style, on his own self-importance. He wasaroused from his reverie by a slight bark, or cough; and raising hishead, he perceived in the dim light a tall and graceful figure deeplyveiled.

  He hastily advanced, his rough nature for the first time touched at thisproof of confidence, and his vanity suddenly rising to a dangerousheight, and taking the delicate white paw, which drooped gracefully froma mantle, within his own, he unclosed his jaws to make some tenderspeech. But before he had time to commit himself by his ignorance, theyoung lady uttered an aristocratic squeak, and darted away with theutmost swiftness, and Bruin at the same instant found himself seized bya strong grip from behind. He turned round with a violence which threwhis assailant a dozen paces off, into a pool of stagnant water, his owncoat being slit right up the back by the movement; but he was at onceattacked by half-a-dozen others, who seemed bent on his destruction.Bruin's great strength, however, served him in good stead; with his backagainst an old wall, he received the assaults of his adversaries withall his wonted ferocity: so that after ten minutes' fighting they drewoff, leaving two of their number motionless on the ground, and a thirdstruggling in vain to escape from the unsavoury hole where the whisk ofBruin's coat-tails had cast him. To this spot Bruin now proceeded; andsitting himself down on the edge, told the struggling dog he would helphim out if he would divulge the meaning of this unexpected attack onhim. The half-drowned cur, having supplicated the bear in vain to lethim out before he commenced his narration, in accents sadly interruptedby his throat getting at intervals choked with dirty water, explainedthat himself and the others of his assailants were the attendants ofone of the most noble families in Caneville; and that their master,learning from some member of Count von Bruin's household that he (theCount) intended meeting the eldest daughter at this spot to-night, hadcommanded a body of his servitors to be in readiness to fall upon him,and if possible take him prisoner, for presuming to raise or lower hiseyes to a damsel of such standing.

  Scarcely had Bruin heard this communication to an end, than, despite hispromise and the poor dog's cries, he caught up a huge clod of earth anddropped it upon the devoted head of the struggling animal beneath. Therewas a great splash; a bubble or
two came to the surface of the horridpool, and the brutal deed was consummated. Yet at the same moment Bruinregretted he had been so precipitate, for he had not learnt _which_member of his household had played the spy. As he slowly left the place,he revolved this subject in his mind, but could come to no satisfactoryconclusion; for though Fox appeared the most likely to be guilty, thatworthy animal had made himself so useful to his master, that he couldnot well manage without him. He resolved, nevertheless, to watch himclosely, and with this prudent resolve he reached his own door.

  Very different was his appearance now to that which it presented on hisissuing from the mansion. His coat torn to ribbons, his hat without acrown, his majestic frill rumpled and bloody, and his waistcoat withouta single button left wherewith to restrain the exuberance of his linen.All his domestics were eager in their inquiries and offers of service;and Fox was so overpowering in his expressions of regret, that allsuspicion vanished from Bruin's brain at once; and he attributed hisinformant's tale to some malicious calumny, invented to save his lifeand conceal the true cause of the attack upon him.

  Our hero, finding that the paths of gallantry were filled with so muchunpleasantness, resolved, like a prudent animal, to avoid them carefullyin future; but as his desire for an introduction to society continued,he availed himself of the offer of his steward, who promised to procurehim introductions to youth of the best families. The class with whichFox managed to bring him into connexion was the most worthless inCaneville, consisting of fast young dogs, who had a singular knack ofreversing the order of nature, and going to bed when other animals weregetting up, and thinking of rising when the discreet part of the worlddeemed it time to retire to rest. They had formed themselves into a sortof club, which they called the "Hard and Fast;" and, indeed, no termscould better express the habits of the members; for they gamed hard,drank hard, and talked hard, and lived so uncommonly _fast_, that it wasnot surprising that, though quite young, they should have many of theinfirmities of age. To these worthies Bruin was an acquisition; for hewas rich, ignorant, and gullible, whilst they were poor, grasping, andunscrupulous. At the very first interview, all parties were equallydelighted with each other; the ease of his new companions' manners wasperfectly charming to Bruin, who considered it as a proof of theirbreeding, and every following day strengthened the connexion. Riotousparties of pleasure were constantly projected, for which their friendVon Bruin paid; banquets of the most expensive kind were always spreadupon his table, at which his "dear fellows of the club"assisted--themselves; and, indeed, so closely were the bonds of uniondrawn, that after some time many of them could not bear to separate fromtheir esteemed Count; and, therefore, took up their residence with himaltogether.

  If disorder were running such a race in company with the chief of theestablishment, it may be conjectured that but little prudence or economywas displayed by the domestics. Extravagance of every kind ran riotamongst them as wildly as with their master, and they scrupled not atall sorts of petty pilfering, where there were none to censure orrestrain. Fox, it is true, had the right, and possessed the influencerequisite to do so; but, for some evil design of his own, possibly thathis private peccadilloes might escape unnoticed, he seemed tacitly tosubmit to such a state of things, and in some instances actuallyencouraged it. And what could be the only result of such a life ofdissipation, unchecked by a single effort of discretion? Why, nothingbut the most irretrievable ruin; and ruined the bear was after threemonths' trial. And when, following a banquet of several days' duration,the clouded intellects of the beast were made sensible of the fact; whenhe found his table cleared for the last time both of servants andguests; when he traversed the various apartments of his mansion, andobserved all stripped, destroyed, and echoing only to the sounds of hisown footsteps; when, in fine, he discovered that he was again alone inthe world, without any portion of that wealth which he had so sadlyabused, and with many new and vicious tastes which he had no longer themeans to gratify; bitter, indeed, were his lamentations, shocking hisfits of anger. These over, and they lasted long, long days, he seriouslyexamined the state of his affairs. With the exception of the clothesupon his back, and a little change in his pocket, he possessedabsolutely nothing, so effectually had his kind friends and faithfulservants stripped him of his means: it was, therefore, with no enviablefeelings he left the house, his house no longer, to seek a shelter forhis head, and a crust to appease his hunger.

  He carefully avoided all his former resorts, and directed his steps tothose parts of the town where poverty and vice were accustomed toassemble, strong in their numbers and their misery. Among them he nowstrove to bury his griefs and acquire consolation; but, alas, it was atthe cost of every hope of virtue which might yet lurk in his nature!Characters like Bruin's, that are ever more apt to imitate the evil thanthe good which is around them, can only acquire some fresh stain fromevery contact with the wicked; and thus our bear sunk lower and lower inthe scale of beasts, till many even of his new associates at last shrunkfrom him.

  Some months after Bruin's being turned out of his splendid home therewas a great fair held, just without the town of Caneville; and, as isusual in such cases, the lowest orders of the population assembledthere. The Hon. Miss Greyhound, who had been a prey to feelings of avery mixed nature since her interrupted interview with Bruin, had joineda party of fashionables in an unusually long walk, and on their returnto the city by a different route they came upon the fair. They stoppedon a rising ground at some little distance to view the sports; thenobserving a group with a tall ungainly figure in the centre, a little tothe right, they drew nearer to observe the proceedings. The great beastin the centre had his back to them, so they could not observe hisfeatures; but they saw that his clothes were ragged, his wholeappearance very dirty, and his hat a particularly bad one. A dozen ofheavy sticks were at his feet, and a couple were under his arm; whilstat some twenty paces distant two wands, with an ornament or trinket atthe top of each, were stuck upright in a straw bag, ready to bethrown at by any adventurous puss or puppy who had a coin at hisdisposal. A couple of cats were lovingly walking at some distance,another was climbing a large tree which overhung the place, and a fourthwas lazily seated high above; whilst, in the neighbourhood of the animalwho was presiding over the scene, were several dogs and a cat or twowaiting for their turn. The tall beast now altered his position, and thestrongly-marked features of a bear became plainly visible to the party;at the same time he caught sight of the fashionable group, and, with afierce expression in his eye, surlily invited the well-dressed males totake their chance at "Three throws a-penny!"

  THREE THROWS A-PENNY.]

  A gentle howl from Miss G. was the only reply, as the party hastilyretreated; for she recognized in the dirty, degraded beast, who waspresiding over this vulgar sport, the object she had once looked on withaffection, the once wealthy Count von Bruin.