CHRISTINE; OR, COMMON-PLACE PEOPLE.

BY JANET ROBERTSON.

I.

It is justly remarked by a celebrated metaphysical French writer, that if there is a class of people in the world more pernicious than another to the happiness of their fellow-creatures, it is the class denominated les gens médiocres. The decidedly ugly almost always yield unqualified admiration to the beautiful; the positively stupid regard splendid talent as an ignorant Indian may be supposed to worship the sun, the influence of whose rays he feels, though he cannot comprehend or explain them; but persons of middling pretensions, whether physical or mental, are commonly possessed with a mean jealousy towards those whose superiority promises them distinction. Thence we continually see people of secondrate intellect condense all their limited powers of mind in a system of low cunning, by which they try to reduce every one to their own level-a sinister cast of character which often acts most fatally on the happiness of the gifted individual whom fate has placed within its reach. The evil offices proceeding from this envious disposition can only be surmounted by the powerful impulse of natural genius, aided by a certain combination of circumstances, that rouses the oppressed object to shake off by a strong effort the leaden weight by which he, or she, is crushed into the grovelling track of those earthworms of humanity.

There is an iron energy in the masculine mind that renders it less likely to be paralysed by this malignant influence. Man goes abroad in the world, and struggles with his fellow-men on a wide and open field of action; but for the woman of talent the case is very different; she revolves within a narrow sphere, and her greatest foes are often close at hand, ready to shed the mildew on the opening flower, and extinguish the spark of genius ere it kindles to a flame.

It is an almost unerring rule that where the intellectual capacity is greatest there exists likewise the most acute sensibility; those powers of imagination which grace and ornament the bright moments of life also deepen those of despondency and grief, laying the possessor open to the attacks of the covert enemy, who, under the mask of mediocrity, is always much more dangerous than one of higher powers. He, however much he may fear and hate in the spirit of rivalry, nevertheless cannot fail to appreciate what he so well understands. But woman's greatest foe is woman, whose evil feelings are not generally confined to herself, but are exerted on those of the other sex over whom her craft has obtained an influence; therefore, however insignificant the reptile be, let the eagle intellect beware its sting, nor ever forget that the fatal viper of Amyclea was the smallest of all serpents. Pertinent to the above observations will be found the following little history of one of those sensitive plants of genius, who by a train of adverse circumstances was thrown into the power, and nearly wrecked on the quicksands and under-currents spread around her by the cunning and malevolence of les gens médiocres.

Christina Drummond, the mother of my heroine, was the youngest of a family of several sons and daughters, and found herself an orphan at an early age, left almost alone, her sisters being already married-rather poorly-and her brothers dispersed in the army and navy, the professions in former days generally selected in Scotland for the ill-provided descendants of ancestors who had originally held a certain position in their native country. In a cheap boarding-school-where Christina's small portion had obliged her friends to place her as an assistant-she seemed destined to consume her days; but she was young, and in early life disadvantages are felt comparatively lightly. It is true that the gentle and sensitive girl bloomed less vividly, and laughed less merrily than formerly, representing an apt type of some rare and delicate plant removed from the rich parterre in which it had been carefully tended, into a cold and meagre earth, where it droops and degenerates, though it still lives on. But thus to die was not her fate, for a revivifying sun-in the shape of an old rich man from India-unexpectedly shone out on the frost-nipped flower, and soon transplanted it from its ungenial soil to the sheltered and decorated garden of gay life. It is true that Mr. Douglas-the gentleman in question was nearly sixty, and Christina only eighteen, but he was polished and intellectual, and besides being a handsome man for his age, was the head of his house, having since his return home succeeded to the hereditary entailed property, and was in consequence the possessor of a large fortune. He met with her at her sister's in Edinburgh, during the Christmas holidays, was struck with her graceful and gentle manners, and charmed by the sweet voice with which she sang her plaintive native melodies. In short, he thought her just suited to be an amiable and attentive wife to an old man, and money being no object with him, he made her an offer of marriage. So far was Christina from even dreaming of a refusal, that she could hardly believe it possible such good fortune should be hers; she had formed no early attachment, and her ideas of her own attractions were but humble. She was, besides, depressed and harassed with anxieties about the future, and shrank from the vulgar quarrels and jealousies so constantly recurring among the set with whom she was doomed to pass so much of her time. Thankfully and joyfully, then, she accepted Mr. Douglas's proposal, and soon found herself installed the mistress of a fine house in Charlotte-square, with a handsome carriage and plenty of servants at her command. Some months of infinite pleasure and contentment followed her marriage; her husband was kind and attentive, her connexions and friends adulating, and she likewise became a person of some consequence in the fashionable world, where before she was unknown, or, if accidentally seen, passed carelessly by, or shoved aside as a nobody. Now, therefore, her state was comparatively one of bliss ; but there is no rose without a thorn, so poor Christina was soon doomed to be pierced by hers, for her husband quickly began to show symptoms of jealousy. Her improved looks and gayer spirits rendered her an object much more attractive than he had at first considered her, and the kindly gentleness of her nature expanding in consequence of the easy position in which she found herself placed, her society became universally courted.

Mr. Douglas was subject to attacks of gout, which required the greatest care and attention lest it might prove fatal; he therefore was often

obliged to keep himself warm and quiet at home, which of course rendered him unable to accompany his young and admired wife to the many gay scenes where her presence was earnestly solicited. Instead of forbidding her to go out without him, he adopted the part of being morose and fretful, without assigning any cause for his discomposure, thus allowing to ferment in secret a temper naturally difficult and irritable, becoming every day more intractable by increasing infirmity and the galling consciousness that he was "mated, not matched." The affectionate Christina could not at first imagine what was the matter, and tried by every possible means to soothe and conciliate him; then, as the truth dawned upon her mind, she feigned that her situation-for she was in the way of becoming a mother-rendered visiting disagreeable and fatiguing. It was all the same thing; if she avoided displeasing him in one way, she roused his suspicions in another, and made him attribute to deceitful and interested motives her endeavours to please him. She was scoffed at and turned into ridicule in presence of their mutual acquaintances, and in private desired "not to grin and show her teeth to the fellows!" nor "to sing her love-lorn ditties to her sentimental friends." In short, nothing she could do, or leave undone, succeeded in giving satisfaction to her domestic tyrant, and the suspicion and irritability of the old man grew so intolerable as almost to make her regret the uncomfortable boardingschool which she had renounced to take possession of her apparently brilliant, yet in reality wounding, position.

The pure and warm heart, however, always finds comfort somewhere, and Christina found hers in the near prospect of the birth of her child, so she bore with unshaken equanimity her husband's variations of temper, studying to avoid doing or saying anything that might chance to irritate him, and conscious of being guiltless of intentional offence, busied herself in preparation for her approaching confinement. At last the happy moment arrived, she became the mother of a fine boy, and in the delightful task of nursing him forgot or disregarded all the petty annoyances inflicted by his father. In this respect, however, her situation improved considerably, for Mr. Douglas, proud and happy in having a son to inherit his name and fortune, became milder and more attached to the amiable woman whom fate had given him as a partner. His jealousy was almost forgotten in seeing the manner in which she devoted herself to her infant, or if remembered, it was only shown, by way of a variety, in reference to this new tie, in which, he insinuated, she forgot the stronger one that ought to bind her to him. At such, or similar, speeches Christina only smiled as she played with and caressed her darling, or hushed him to sleep on her bosom, thanking Heaven mentally that her husband had at last found so inoffensive a channel in which to discharge the stream of ill humour that she now so plainly perceived must flow in some direction, little dreaming how this concentration of affection on her child would tell upon the happiness of after life.

Three years passed over, during which time the old man's health visibly declined; and when at last he was summoned suddenly hence, his gentle wife scarce knew whether to be glad that his sufferings and her trials had ceased, or to be sorry at the loss of a husband who had left her in a state of affluence, besides having appointed her one of the guardians to her boy, whose dawning mind and endearing smiles promised to gild

her perspective of life with light and love. It was thus, at the early age of three-and-twenty, that Christina found herself a widow, in possession of wealth, beauty, and good health; but, with all these essential attributes to happiness, she continued devoted to her first source of joy, and, without hesitating, dedicated herself to her infant treasure. She watched over his early years with unintermitting tenderness, and then, with unceasing care, followed up and aided his first steps in education. When at a more advanced age he was removed by the authority of his other guardians from her immediate control, and was placed at a great public seminary, she fixed herself near, in order to be ever at hand to fill his leisure hours with pleasure, or to tend him when sick; but there is no good without its concomitant evil, and whilst the fond mother thought only of her boy, the boy began to think only of himself.

John Douglas was a very handsome, masculine lad, full of health and energy; his animal spirits were high and his temper good; but, from never having almost had a wish ungratified, he had no sympathy whatever with those who were less fortunate. He laughed at "long faces," as he called them, and rushed off in search of amusement whenever the restraint of school hours was past. He did not at all shine in the way of learning; but what did he care? he was heir to five thousand a year, and was always sure of finding some schoolfellow ready for a bribe to supply -when it was practicable-whatever flagrant deficiencies might occur either in his lessons or exercises. When, as it sometimes occurred, he could not escape punishment for idleness or any wild escapade he might have committed, he underwent it with such good-humoured indifference, that even his masters could scarcely be angry. This, to a person of acute discernment, would only have been indicative of great physical force and defective sensibility of character, but among his schoolfellows and teachers he was considered as a fine, dashing, manly fellow, with an excellent temper; and as for showing tenderness of heart, why he had nothing to try it he had everything he wanted-a tear had scarcely ever wet his cheek, and he was so strong, as hardly to know— beyond the maladies incidental to childhood—what even the word "headache" meant.

In the midst of his growing selfishness, however, he apparently preserved much love for his mother; in her elegant home every person and everything was subservient to his will and pleasure. He was also proud of her, for, besides that softness of maternal affection which led her to cede her own inclinations to his on all subjects, he felt that she possessed much more grace and beauty than the mothers of most of his companions could boast. She was, therefore, not a person calculated to elicit the unamiable points of his character; and if he were guilty of anything she might have been obliged to blame, her temper was so unsuspicious, that he easily contrived to conceal it from her. At last he went to Oxford, and Christina withdrew herself in this her truly second widowhood to their country-seat in East Lothian, where she lived in the blessed perspective of his periodical visits at the vacations, when he generally joined her, accompanied by some of his college friends. This was the happiest period of her life; her natural taste led her to prefer the quiet of rural scenes, and her liberal jointure supplied her with all the luxuries which render a country residence so pleasant. Her door was ever open to

friends and relations; her kind and generous heart surrounded her with old and helpless dependents on her bounty, and even with favourites among the brute creation, all of which filled up her time and occupied those thoughts which were unconnected with her son, that star of her life.

He, meanwhile, passed his college life very pleasantly, and if he were quite undistinguished there, he at least committed no glaring faults; he associated with young men of a certain rank, but did not imitate their follies, though he never censured them. He sometimes even lent money when the being repaid was not a hopeless case, although it was remarked that he occasionally protested to have run short of funds when applied to in some desperate emergency. In short, he proved himself "a good kind of steady fellow enough," and all his friends felicitated him when the period approached which was to put him in possession of his fine fortune. Christina likewise joyfully anticipated the happy day, and busied herself at Birkhill with many preparations to celebrate the great event, which would restore her darling son to her for a little time before his being married to some "charming woman"—which she decided must be the case; but she soon found that she was destined not to wait quite so long as she expected for a daughter-in-law, for just at the time he was to have set out for Scotland, she received a letter from him apprising her of his approaching marriage with the sister of one of his college friends, the daughter of the Honourable Mr. Cleveland.

II.

THE unexpected intelligence of her son's approaching marriage at once surprised and saddened Mrs. Douglas; she felt that there was something unkind, which she neither liked to reflect upon nor endeavoured to explain to herself. She sought consolation, however, in repeating the hackneyed saying of "everything being for the best," and hastened to arrange all the preliminaries for the instalment of her successor at Birkhill. Another letter soon arrived, in which John apprised her that he would remain in England until he was of age, then marry, make a short tour, and bring down his wife to take possession of her country-seat-his mother having generously offered to renounce her life-lease of it. This was not to be misunderstood, and Christina was obliged to look out immediately for a new abode, and accordingly established herself in a small house in the neighbourhood, leaving for the use of her son and his wife the handsome furniture of Birkhill House, besides farm-stocking, carriage, horses, &c., which were all hers by her marriage settlement. There was great weakness of mind in this, but it was only an additional link to the chain of long-existing habit; her whole life had been devoted to promoting the welfare of her son; in him centred all the pleasure and hope she had near at heart in the world; and she thus sought to mark more strongly her devotion to his happiness, flattering herself thereby to conciliate her daughter-in-law and make her for ever a friend.

The important day at length arrived, and with a beating heart she saw the carriage drive up to the hall-door, to which she descended to receive the new-married pair. The pretty, pale, fashionable-looking bride entered, leaning on the arm of her husband, to whose shoulder her head