CHAPTER XII.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
Next morning Jack and Rose went out for a walk along the beach. Out inthe little bay a man and a woman were sailing and enjoying themselves,for the sound of their laughter came across the water to the shore. Jackwas just remarking to Rose that they in the boat were carrying a gooddeal of sail, when a sudden squall upset the boat. The man was not aswimmer, but as he came to the surface he managed to seize upon theoverturned boat and support himself.
When the accident happened, Browning shouted to some boatmen farther upthe beach to come with a boat quickly, and, throwing off coat, vest andshoes, he plunged in and swam toward where the boat capsized. Rose wasleft on the beach, wringing her hands and crying. The accident was notfar from shore, and Jack was a strong swimmer. He reached the spot intime to grasp the arm of the woman as she came to the surface. She washalf smothered by the water, and completely rattled, for the fear ofdeath was full upon her, so she madly clung to Browning. He made the beststruggle that he could, but the woman carried him under before the boatarrived. As the two rose to the surface, the boatmen managed to seizethem and draw them into the boat, but the woman was senseless, andBrowning was almost so, and fearfully exhausted.
As the boat was rowed to the shore and Rose saw Browning lying limp andhelpless in it, she went off in a dead faint, and was so upset andnervous that it was determined to return to London that evening. When outof sight of the place and of the sea, she rapidly recovered, and was soonher old self, but she reproached Jack, and with an adorable smile toldhim she never would have believed that he would, on the very firstopportunity, go off, half kill himself for another woman, and compel herto make such a spectacle of herself down on the beach before all thosevillagers.
The old days began again in London; Browning and Rose were all in all toeach other, and Sedgwick and Grace were likewise in the seventh heaven oflove's ecstasy.
In Nevada parlance, Sedgwick would have wagered two to one with Browning,on the measure of their respective happiness.
The happy couples visited every point of interest in and about London.
One day they went through Westminster Abbey. Sedgwick hardly spoke duringthe visit, and as they entered the carriage to return home, Rose said:"Mr. Sedgwick, I am disappointed; I thought our great national chamber ofdeath would greatly interest you."
"So did I," said Browning, "but I suppose a foreigner cannot understandjust how English-born people feel toward that spot."
Sedgwick smiled faintly, and said: "You mistake me, Miss Rose, and youtoo, Jack. That Abbey is the only thing I have seen in England that I amjealous or envious of. I see your great works and say to myself, 'We willrival all that.' I read your best books and say of myself, 'they are apart of our inheritance as well as yours.' But that Abbey is a monument,sufficient to itself, it seems to me, to make every Englishman afraid toever falter in manhood or to fail in honor. It is filled with lessons ofsplendor. There slumber great kings and princes, and queens who werebeautiful in life, but there under the seal of death a higher royalty isrecognized--the royalty of great hearts and brains; the royalty thatcomes to the soldier when in the face of death he saves his country; theroyalty of the statesman who turns aside the sword and opens new pathsand possibilities to his countrymen; the royalty of the poet when he setsimmortal thoughts to words, which once spoken, go sounding down the agesin music forever. And these should have their final couches spread besidethe couches of kings, for each when called can answer, 'I, too, wasroyal.'
"And when other nations dispute for recognition with Englishmen, yourcountrymen have but to point to that consecrated spot and say: 'There isour country's record. It is chiseled there by the old sculptor, Death; goand study it; it will carry you through thirty generations of men; fromit you will learn how Englishmen were strong enough, while subduing theworld, to subdue themselves; to create to themselves laws and aliterature of their own, until they at last held aloft the banners ofcivilization when nearly all the world beside was dark; there is therecord of England's soldiers, statesmen, poets, scholars; read theimmortal list, and then if you will, come back and renew the argument.'
"That pile ought to be enough to make every Englishman a true man, abrave man, a gentleman, for to me the names there make the most augustscroll ever written.
"Listening within those walls, it seemed to me I could hear mingling allthe voices of the mighty dead; the battle-cry of soldiers, the appeals ofstatesmen; the edicts of kings; the hymns of churchmen, the rhythm ofimmortal numbers as from poets' harps they were flung off; the glory ofa thousand years shone before my eyes; the splendor of almost everythingthat is immortal in English history was before me.
"That place ought to impress all who visit it with what mortals must do,if they would embalm their memories upon the world.
"You are right to reverence and to feel a solemn joy at that place; it isone of the few real splendors of this old world."
"Forgive me, Mr. Sedgwick," said Rose; "I should have known yourthoughts." While she was speaking, Grace, under the lap-robe, pressed herlover's hand.
The Wedge of Gold Page 12
