The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Hester Kirton. Be the Author of "A Bad Begin-
ning," " Chesterford," &e. Three Vols. Smith,
Elder, end Co.
All who read this novel will follow with a deep
interest and increasing sympathy the lives and for-
tunes of Hester Kirton and Frederick Hallam. At
first both hero and heroine are little deserving of
our admiration—the hero, amiable and polished to
a superfine degree, is nothing more than a
fortune-hunter, who, having learned from
treacherous lawyer of the vast wealth some
day to be enjoyed by the daughter of the miserly
owner of Kirton's Farm, makes his way there, and
seeks to win a bride, only enamoured of the " beaux
Tells de sa cassette." The character of Hester in
powerfully drawn, and is for a time singularly
repellant—at first a timid, loving, devoted bride;
and then, on learning the deception practised on
her, a hard, stern, irfi xible woman. Here is a
glimpse of Kirton's Farm, when, on litllltteB first
arrival, he met with the following—.
INHOSPITABLE RECEPTION.
Spite of what he had heard in London, and of the boy's
hints about Mr. Kirton, Frederic Hallam was pleased with
his appearance; his clear complexion and benevolent fore-
head were net those generally belonging to a mean charac-
ter; but there was a thinness in the lips, and a rigid firm-
ness in the lower jaw, that in one more skilled in human
nature might he ye awakened doubts.
He glanced from the young man's open, handsome face
to his dress, and thence to his portmanteau.
Hallam raised his hat, and began to introduce himself,
but Mr. Kirton stopped him.
" You mistake, sir ; this is no inn for travellers."
" Mr. Kirton, I conclude ; if you will be so kind as to
look at this note, you will see that I do not come to you
quite as a stranger."
The old man drew his tall form up more stifly still, and
pressed his lips more tightly together. As the letter was
handed to him, he eyed Hallam so closely again before he
opened it, that he added—.
"The letter is from your friend Mr. Goldsmith, who has
entrusted me with some business papers he wishes you to
sign."
Mr. Kirton opened the envelope, and read his letter
slowly, keeping his visitor standing in the sunshine all the
time. He was inwardly chafing, and had a great mind to
ask permission to enter; but there was something so rigid
and unbending about the old farmer that he forbore,
When he read it twice over, his countenance relaxed a
little, and he invited Hallam to come in and rest himself.
The visitor looked at his portmanteau reposing ignomi-
niously on the grass-plot; he was just going to ask Mr.
Kirton to have it carried indoors, when the farmer said—
" You can let that be—it's safe ; when you have eaten a
meal with us and rested, one of the men shall carry it where
you will."
And here is the first meeting of"-
THE ILL-MATCHED PAIR.
Mr. Hallam's attention was attracted by a young girl
who stood at her place on one side of the table, evidently
waiting for them.
He bowed and she made a sort of movement in return.
Mr. Kirton did not seem to think any introduction neces-
sary, but pointed to a seat opposite his daughter, whom he
called Hester.
Hallam could not take his eyes from her face; he had
determined to find her agreeable, but he was surprised to
see her so pretty.
She was apparently about sixteen years old, and her tall
undeveloped figure gave promise of much symmetry ; her
features were small and regular, and her clear hazel oyes
full of expression, but what most surprised the critical Lou..
doner, accustomed to polished society, was her self-pos-
session Although quiet, her manner was neither con-
• strained nor awkward.
"She is not conceited, thank Heaven," said Hallam to
himself; he felt almost piqued by her apparent indifference
to the evidently unusual presence of a stranger.
A deeper thinker would, perhaps, have noted the firm-
set jaw and chin which gave too much squareness to the
lower part of the face, contradic ing the delicate chiselling
of the nose and lips, and would possibly have looked fer
more masculine defects than conceit; not that I would
imply conceit to be the sole inheritance of women; with far
less excuse men are just as vain as they are, and it sits
worse on them—it comes out more broadly, wnereas a
woman will clothe her infirmity in such a mantle of grace
ful nonsense that it often seems to add to her charms.
The dinner was meagre enough—a straggling raw-boned
fowl, evidently a patriarch of the farm-yard, and a large
piece of bacon, or rather of bacon fat, to lean was nut
visible, surrounded with greens, which gave oat a strong
unsavory smell. However, the Londoner tried to make the
best of it, and carved the greasy bacon as though it had
been a choicer dish.
Miss Kirton only replied in monosyllabes to his conver-
sational attempts, and he began to think her face was the
best part of her.
The old man noticed how carefully he was watching her.
"She has had not m ich schooling," he said, ' but she
can make butter, or pudding and pie, with the best o'
" Very useful accomplishments," said Hallam, with an
inward shudder.
Biz, who was in the act of pouring out a glass of ale
for the visitor, nodded her head approvingly, but Hester
coloured and it seemed more from annoyance than from
shyness.
" Never mind about me, father; the gentleman wants
to drink his ale."
Hallam started ; she spoke broadly, almost with the
accent of a peasant; he now remarked, what her very pretty
face had prevented him from seeing before, that her hands,
although small, were coarse and red, evidently from ex-
posure. He noticed her gown, too; au ill made, washed-
out pink gingham, which she had grown too tall for, the
waist being much too short, and some tucks had been "let
out" in the skirt, as was apparent by the fresher colour
about midway down. She scarcely spoke again except to
answer her father about household matters; her voice wee
low and soft, but her manner in speaking was so singu-
larly harsh and abrupt that Mr. Hallam was glad when
she ceased, for either this, or the red hands or the pudding
making, had dispelled his first illusion, and the ale,
scarcely better than vinegar, completed his discomfiture.
Poor Hallam at first gains little by his adven-
(erre, and is obliged to put up with much unplea-
sant advice from the plain-spoken farmer, who
among other things favours him with his.--
DEFINITION OF A GENTLEMAN.
" Oh I that's it, is it ?" said the old man.
" You be one of them gentlemen as must wear good
clothes, and keep respectable, and read the papers, and write
a few letters, all at the country's expense ; and I don't
doubt now but what you think your work uncommon hard."
" Iwork as hard as a gentleman need work, I believie,"
said Hallam, nettled out of his indifference.
" Gentlemen, indeed I Now look you here, young man ;
no offence, but such a gentleman as you are, I take it,
is uncommon like a butterfly as never does nothing to
earn his own bread, it's all set ready for him. I'm a plain-
spoken man, you see."
Oh I " raid Hallam, laughing, for he was very good-
tempered, " you only consider gentlemen worthy of the
name who live on their own property, and derive their
income from their own acres."
"Not exactly," said Kirton ; "nothing can make a man
a gentleman who is not born one; all the borrowed feathers
in the world won't do that," he added, looking hard at
" He may rub against other gentlemen, and get
some of their polish, but it comes off again, man, at a hard
.rub—it cornea off. Even for a born gentleman, I take it,
an idle life is the worst thing that can happen to him ; but
for one who's not quite sure what he is, work, sir, wok, is
the likeliest thing to happen him into what he wants."
Hallam gulped down these very distasteful observations
and advice in the best way he could.
Hester inherits not only the old man's money, but
much of his hard inflexible nature, as Frederick
Hallam discovers when too late. The development
of her character is very skilfully portrayed, as is
also the transformation that gradually takes place
in Hallam, although, judging from his antecedents,
we can hardly consider such a transformation alto-
gether nature.% The lesson of life proves a bitter
one to both hero and heroine; but though heavy is
the trial and severe the temptation, good is ulti-
mately wrought out of evil. With deep regret the
reader finds the third volume close in tears, but they
are not tears wholly of affliction. Such an ending
to the narrative may be regretted by the interested
reader who has learned to feel a deep interest in the
hopes and fears of Hester's wayward heart, bat it
does not diminish the value of the book; on the
contrary, the most favourite stories, and those
which linger most tenderly in the memory are for
tho most part overcast with some inevitable grief.
As a happy contrast to the painful history of the
Hallams aro bright glimpses of the charming Lucy
Bonham and her happy home. Lucy's mother,
Mrs. Frank Wrenshaw, is one of the many
happily-drawn portraits with which the book
abounds. She is so tender-hearted and good-
humoured that one cannot but love her,
and yet she is so ridiculous in her would-
be particularity, that one cannot but laugh
at her, and heartily too. Poor Lacy, with
dismay, occasionally tries to check her mother's
exuberance, but for the most part in vain,
and the old lady tells her she is " as sour as—as,
well—as a crab with its claws out !" Mrs Wren-
shaw mks a pattern mother-in-law, and yet the
can barely restrain an ooctsional outburst of indig
nation at the outspoken evidences of Lucy's dee°.
lion to her husband, The young wife's deferential
parenthesis, "Jacob me," becomes almost iatolere

able in her mother's ears. Here is one of the good
h umonred skirmishes that occasionally take

place :

WIFE AN 'MOTHER- IN•LAW.

" Jacob says

" Ah, of course, Jacob thinks something different to
what I do. Really, Lucy, for a girl who used to be fond
of having her own way, I don't believe you've an idea of
your own in your head, that I don't. It's Jacob says this,
and Jacob thinks the other, tiil I sometimes feel as if he
was my husband, too, and I must believe all ho asys."
Well, mother," Lucy had turned very red during her
in other's speech, and usen't you to be just the some with
my father ?" . _

" Oh, but that was quite a different thing; why, he was
your own father, Lucy; you're surely nat going to compare
any one' to him."

Lucy burst out laughin3, inspitoof her• vexation that

her mother should speak slightly of Jacob.
" Well, mamma, there never can he any use in talking of
one's husband ; no one else ever sees him with one's own
(yes; but for heater's sake, I should like you to bear
v..hat Jacob says about this letter; may I tell your"

" Yes, yes, my dear, of c9urse," said Mrs. Wrenshaw,
already rather ashamed of what sh had said; for she was •
both fond and proud of her son-in-law, although, it was
irritating to have his opinion so constantly quoted, against
her own.

The admirers of " Chesterford" will recognise a great
development of the author's powers since the pub-
lication of that very interesting work, and those
who remember "A Bad Beginning" will again
have reason to say of " Hester Kirton," " alt's well
that ends well"