Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-03-17
THACKERAY AT HOME.
ACCOUNT BY HIS DAUGHTER OF
A RECEPTION TO AN AUTHOR


still see the scene quite plainlyl-the hot
summer evening the open windows, the
carriage driving TO the door as we all sat
silent and eNpectant; my father, who rare
ly waited, waiting with us; our governess
and my sister and | all in row, and pre-
pared for the great event
We saw the carriage stop, and out Of it
spraug be active well knit figure Of Mr..
George Smith, who was bringing Miss
BrOnte 20 see our father, My father, who
had been walking up and down the room,
goes out into the hail to meet his guests,
and then after a moments delay the door
opens wide, aud the two gentlemen come
in, leading tiny, delicate serious little
lady, pale, with fair, straight hair and
steady eyes. She may be a little over thir-
ty: she is dressed in a little barege dress
with pattern of faint green moss.
She enters in mttens, in silence, in Sc
robustness; our hearts are beating with
wild excitement This then, is the author
es-, the unknown power whose books have
set all London talking, reading, speculat-
ing: some people even say our father wrote
the books-the wonderful books
TO say that we little girls had been given
"Jane Eyre TO read scarcely represents
the facts of the case to say that we had
taken it without leave, read bits here and
read bits there. been carried away by an
uudreamed of and hitherto unimagined
whirlwind into things, times, places, all
utterly absorbing and at the same time alb
solutely uniuteIligible to us, would more
accurately describe our states Of mind on
that summers evening rs we look at Jane
Eyrc-the great Jane Eyre-the tiny little
lady
The moment is so breathless that dinner
comes as q relief 10 the solemnity of the
occasion, and we all smile as my father
stOops to offer his arm, for, genius though
she may be, Miss BrOute can barely reach
his elbow. My own personal impressions
are that she Is somewhat grave and stern
specially TO forward little girls who wisL
To- chatter Mr.. George Smith has since told
me how she afJgrward remarked upon ny
fathers wonderful forbearance and gentle
ness with our uucalled for incursions int
the conversation. She sat gazing at hin
with kiudling eyes of interest, lighting M
with a sort Of illumination every now ant
then as She answered him. | can see her
bending forward over the table, not eating
but listening % what he said as he carved
the dish before him.
think il must have been on this very
occasion that my father invited some oI
bis friends in the evening to meet Mis-,
Bronte-for everybody was interested ant
anxious to see her. Mrs Grove, the recitei
Of ghost stories, was there. Mrs. Brook
field, Mrs Carlyle, Mr. Carlyle himself wa
there, so am told railing at the appear
ance of Cockneys upon Scotch mountain
sides; there were also too many Americans
for his taste, but the Americans were a
God compared TO the cockneys," says TIN
philosopher. Besides the Carlyles Their
were Mrs. Elliott and Miss Perry, Mrs
Proctor and her daughter, most of M
fathers hab.tual friends and companions
In the recent life Of Lord Houghton | wa
amused to see note quoted in which Lore
Houghton was also convened Would thai
he had been prescutl-perhaps the party
would have gone Of better. It was
gloomy and 20 silent evening.
Every one waited for the brilliant con
versation which never began at all Mis-.
Broute retired TO the sofa in the study, ant
murmured "a low word now and then t
our kind goveruness, Miss Truelock. The
room looked very dark, the lamp began tC
smoke a little, the conversation grew dim
mer and more dim, the ladies sat around
still expectant, my father was too much
perturbed 10y the gloom aud the silence tC
be able 10 cope with il at all.
Mrs. BroObiield, who was in the doorway
by the study, near the corner in which Mis-
Bronte was sitting, leaned forward with q
little commonplace, since briiliance was
not to be the order of the evening "DC
you like London Miss Bronte," she said
another silence a pause, then Miss Bront,
answers ayes" and "No" very gravely
and there the conversation drops.
My sister and | were much too young t
be bored In those days; alarmed, impressed
we might be, but not yet bored. a party
was party. a lioness was "a lioness; and
shall ] confess it?-at that time an extr,
dish of biscuits was enough to mark tn,
evening We felt all the importance o
the occasion; tea spread in the dining
room, ladies in the drawing room; W,
roamed about inconvenieutly, no doubt
and excitedly, and in one of my excursions
crossing the hall was surprised to see my
father opening the front door with his ha
on. He put bis fingers to his lips, wake,
out into the darkness, and shut the doc
quietly behind him When went bacl
TO the drawing room again the ladies aske,
me where he was. | vaguely answered tina
/ thought he was coming back
was puzzled at the time, nor was it al
made clear to me till long years afterward
when one day Mrs. Proctor asked me IL
knew what had happened once when m
father had invited a party to meet Jan
Eyre at his house II was one Of the dull
est evenings she had ever spent in her life
she said. And then, with good deal {
humor, she described the situation, the Ia
dies who all come expecting so much d,
lghtful conversation, and the gloom an
the cOnstraint, and how finally, ovei
whelmed by the situation, my father ha
quietly left he room, left the house an
gone OF 90 his club
The ladies waited. wondered, and fnall
departed also, aud as we were going up t
bed with our candles after everybody wa
gone, ! remember two pretty Miss l.. S, /
shiny silk DIRE SEES, arriving, full of expet
tation. We still said we thought on
father would soon be back, but the Mis-
LIS declined 10 wait upon the chanc,
laughed and drove away again almost in
mediately.
Since writing the preceding lines hav
visited Jane Eyrelaud, and stayed In tn
delightful home where she used to sta
with MIS- Gaskeli. / have seen signs ar
tokens Of l-r presence, faint sketches van
ishing away, the delicate writing in th
beautiful book she gave that warm friend
aud | have also looked for and rerea
the Introduction TO Emma that "las
sketch and most touching chapter in th
I never-tO- be- written book OF Chariot