CHAPTER VI.
If Professor Ross entered my room under evil auspices, it was not longbefore he sent the birds the other way. For the first time, since mychildhood, I met a man of large and various knowledge; a man who hadspent his life in amassing information, and learning how to make themost of it. A little too much perhaps there was of the second, and morefruitful branch, of the sour-sweet tree. Once I had been fool enough tofancy that some of my own little bopeeps at nature were original andpeculiar. To Thomas Kenwood, Farmer Huxtable, and even Mr. Shelfer, agardener, I had been quite an oracle as to the weather, the sky, and theinsects about. Moreover, in most of the books I had read, there weresuch blunders, even in matters that lie on nature's doorsteps, that,looking back at them, I thought I had crossed her threshold.
As the proverb has it, nature always avenges herself; and here was I, amere "gappermouth" (I use a Devonshire word), to be taught that I hadnot yet cropped even a cud to chew. True, I did not expect (like Mr.and Mrs. Shelfer) that a boiled caterpillar would become a livebutterfly; neither did I believe, with Farmer Huxtable, that hips andhaws foretell a hard winter, because God means them for the thrushes;but I knew no more than they did the laws and principles of things. Mylittle knowledge was all shreds and patches. It did not cover even thesmallest subject. Odd things here and there I knew; but a person ofsound information knows the odd and the even as well. My observationsmight truly be called my own; but instead of being peculiar to me,nearly all of them had been anticipated centuries ago. I was but agipsey straying where an army had been.
All this I suspected in less than ten minutes from the Professor'sentrance; he did not leave me long in doubt about it. It is just tomyself to say that the discovery did not mortify me much. My littleobservations had been made, partly from pure love of nature's doings,partly through habits drawn from a darker spring. At first I had feltno pleasure in them, but it could not long be so. Now they were mine asmuch as ever, though a thousand shared them with me.
As the Professor laid bare my ignorance and my errors, and proved thatthe little I did know was at second hand--which it certainly was not--Iattempted no reply; I was too young for argument, and too muchinterested to be impatient. So he demolished my ham and myself, withequal relish and equal elegance of handling. He seemed to have nointention of doing either, but managed both incidentally, and almostaccidentally, while he opened his mental encyclopaedia.
At length, Isola, who was tired of lectures, such as she got and forgotevery day, felt that it was high time to assert her prerogative, andcome to my rescue.
"Come, Pappy, you fancy you know everything, don't you?"
He was just beginning to treat of mosses; and I knew that he was wrongupon several points, but did not dare to say so.
"My dear child, of the million things I never shall discover, one is theway to keep you at all in order."
"I should hope not, indeed. Come now, here is another thing you don'tknow. How long did it take to boil this delicious ham? Clara knows,and so do I."
"Upon that matter, I confess my total ignorance."
"Hear, hear! Pappy, you can lecture by the hour upon isothermic laws,and fluids, and fibrine, and adipose deposits, and you can't tell howlong it took to set this delicate fat. I'll tell you what it is, Pappy,if you ever snub me in lecture again before the junior sophists, as youdared to do yesterday, I'll sing out, 'Ham, Pappy, ham!' and you'll seehow the girls will laugh."
"No novelty, my dear, for them to laugh at you. I fear you never willlearn anything but impertinence."
His words were light, and he strove to keep his manner the same; but hiseyes belied him.
Isola ran round, and administered her never-failing remedy. There wasthat sweetness about her nobody could resist it. Returning to her seat,she gave me a nod of triumph, and began again.
"Now, Papples, when you are good again, you shall have a real treat.Clara will show you her cordetto, won't you, dear? It is twice as bigas yours, and more than twice as pretty."
I took it from my neck, where it had been throughout my illness. Isolatold me continually that it had saved my sight; and so old Cora devoutlybelieved, crossing herself, and invoking fifty saints. Long afterwardsI found that Cora knew it to be the heart of the Blessed Virgin,perpetuated in the material which her husband used. If so, it had beenmultiplied as well.
Dr. Ross took my pretty gordit, and examined it narrowly, carrying it tothe window to get a stronger light.
"Beyond a doubt," he said at last, "it is the finest in Europe. I haveonly seen one to compare with it, and that had a flaw in the centre.Will you part with it, Miss Valence?"
"No; I have promised never to do that."
"Then I must say no more; but I should have been proud to add it to mycollection."
"To carry it about with you, you mean, Pappy. You know you are asuperstitious old Pappy, in spite of all your learning."
Weak as my eyes were, I could see the scowl of deep displeasure in his.Isola was frightened: she knew she had gone too far. She did not evendare to offer the kiss of peace. No more was said about it, and Iturned the conversation to some other subject. But when he rose todepart, I found a pretext for keeping Isola with me.
"Good-bye for the present, Miss Valence," Dr. Ross said gracefully--hedid everything but scowl with an inborn grace--"I hope that your veryfirst journey in quest of natural history will terminate at my house. Icannot show you much, but shall truly enjoy going over my littlecollection with you whenever you find that your sight is strong enough.Meanwhile, let me earnestly warn you to abstain from chemicalexperiments"--this was the cause of my injury assigned by Mrs.Shelfer--"until you have a competent director. Isola, good-bye. I willsend Cora for you in good time for tea. Your attendance at lecture willbe excused."
All my interest in the subjects he had discussed, and in his mode oftreating them, all my admiration of his shrewd intellectual face, didnot prevent my feeling it a relief when he was gone. He was not at alllike his children. About them there was something so winning andunpretentious, few could help liking them at first sight. They did allthey could to please, but without any visible effort. But with theProfessor, in spite of all his elegance and politeness, I could not helpperceiving that he was not doing his best, that he scorned to put forthhis powers when there was neither antagonist nor (in his opinion) dulyqualified listener. Nevertheless I could have told him some things hedid not know concerning lichens and mosses.
When I was left with my favourite Isola, that gentle senior sophistseemed by no means disconsolate at her Papa's departure. She loved himand was proud of him, but there were times, as she told me, when she wasquite afraid of him.
"Would you believe it, dear, that I could be afraid of old Pappy?"--hisage was about four and forty--"It is very wicked I know, but how am I tohelp it? Were you like that with your Papa, when he was alive?"
"No, I should think not. But I am not at all sure that he wasn't afraidof me."
"Oh, how nice that must be! But it is my fault, isn't it?"
I could not well have told her, even if I had known it, that the faultin such cases is almost always on the parent's side.