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- Herausgeber: Musaicum Books
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
Charlotte Brontë's lesser-known work, 'The Green Dwarf', is a novella that delves into themes of love, betrayal, and redemption. The story follows the protagonist, Ellinor, as she navigates through a complex web of relationships and secrets. Brontë's writing style in this novella is characterized by lush descriptions and intricate character development, showcasing her talent for creating compelling narratives that captivate the reader. Set in the early 19th century, 'The Green Dwarf' is a prime example of the gothic literary tradition, with its dark and mysterious atmosphere contributing to the overall haunting beauty of the story. Charlotte Brontë's personal experiences and her keen insight into human emotions undoubtedly influenced her writing of 'The Green Dwarf'. As a member of the renowned Brontë literary family, Charlotte had a unique perspective on the complexities of relationships and societal expectations, which is reflected in the nuanced portrayal of characters in this novella. I highly recommend 'The Green Dwarf' to readers who appreciate gothic fiction and enjoy exploring the darker aspects of human nature. Charlotte Brontë's masterful storytelling and richly developed characters make this novella a compelling read that will leave a lasting impression.
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THE GREEN DWARF
Published by
Books
Table of Contents
PREFACE
I am informed that the world is beginning to express in low, discontented grumblings its surprise at my long, profound, & (I must say) very ominous silence. What says the reading publick as she stands in the market place with gray cap & ragged petticoat the exact image of a modern blue “What is the matter with lord Charles?” “is he expifli-cated by the literary captains lash? have his good genius & his scribbling mania forsaken him both at once?” “Rides he now on Man-back through the mountains of the moon or mournful thought lies he helpless on a sick-bed of pain?”
the last conjecture I am sorry to say is or rather was true. I have been sick, most sick, I have suffered dreadful indescribable tortures arising chiefly from the terrible remedies which were made use of to effect my restoration.’ One of these was boiling alive in what was called a hot-bath, another roasting before a slow fire, & a third a most rigid system of starvation, for proof of these assertions apply to Mrs Cook, back of Waterloo Palace situated in the suburbs of Verdopolis. How I managed to survive such a mode of treatment, or what the strength of my victorious constitution must be wiser men than I am would fail in explaining.
Certain it is however that I did at length get better or to speak more elegantly become convalescent but long after my cadaverous cheek had begun to reassume a little of its wonted freshness I was kept penned up in a corner of the Housekeepers parlour, forbid the use of pen, ink & paper, prohibited setting foot into the open air & dieted on rice-gruel, sago, snail soup panado, stewed cock-chaffers, milk-broth & roasted mice. I will not say what was my delight when first Mrs Cook deigned to inform me about two o’clock on a fine summer afternoon that as it was a mild warm day I might take a short walk out if I pleased, ten minutes sufficed for arraying my person in a new suit of very handsome clothes & washing the accumulated dirt of seven diurnal revolutions of the earth from my face & hands.
as soon as these necessary operations were performed I sallied out in plumed hat & cavalier mantle. Never before had I been fully sensible of the delights of liberty, the suffocating atmosphere which filled the hot, flinty street was to me as delicious as the dew-cooled & balm-breathing air of the freshest twilight in the wildest solitude, there was not a single tree to throw its sheltering branches between me & that fiery sun but I felt no want of such a screen as with slow but not faltering step I crept along in the shadow of shops and houses. At a sudden turn the flowing ever-cool sea burst unexpectedly on me. I felt like those poor wretches do who are victims to the disease called a calenture. the green waves looked like widespread plains covered with foam - white flowers & tender spring grass & the thickly clustered masts of vessels my excited fancy transformed into groves of tall, graceful trees, while the smaller craft took the form of cattle reposing in their shade. I passed on with something of that springing step which is natural to me, but soon my feeble knees began to totter under the frame which they should have supported, unable to go further without rest I looked round for some place where I might sit down till my strength should be un peu retabli. I was in that ancient & dilapidated court, called (pompously enough) Quaxmina Square, where Bud, Gifford, Love-dust, & about twenty other cracked old antiquarians reside. I determined to take refuge in the house of the first mentioned as well because he is my most intimate friend as because it is in the best condition.
Buds’ mansion is indeed far from being either incommodious or unseemly, the outside is venerable & has been very judiciously repaired by modern masons (a step by the bye which brought down the censure of almost all his neighbours) & the inside is well & comfortably furnished. I knocked at the door, it was opened by an old footman with a reverend grey head. on asking if his master were at home he showed me upstairs into a small but handsome room. Here I found Bud seated at a table surrounded by torn parchments & rubbish & descanting copiously on some rusty knee-buckles which he held in his hand to the Marquis of Douro & another puppy who very politely were standing before him with their backs to the fire.
“What’s been to do with my darling?” said the kind old gentleman as I entered “what’s made it look so pale & sickly, I hope not chagrin at Trees superannuated drivel”
“Bless us” said Arthur before I could speak a word “What a little chalky spoon he looks! the whipping I bestowed on him has stuck to his small body right well.f hey Charley any soreness yet?”
“Fratricide” said I “how dare you speak thus lightly to your half murdered brother, how dare you demand whether the tortures you have inflicted continue yet to writhe his agonized frame?”
he answered this appeal with a laugh intended I have no doubt to display his white teeth & a sneer designed to set of his keen wit & at the same instant he gently touched his riding-wand.
“Nay my lord” said Bud who noticed this significant manoeuvre, “let us have no more of such rough play - you’ll kill the lad in earnest if you don’t mind”
“I’m not going to meddle with him yet” said he “he’s not at present in a condition to show game but let him offend me again as he has done & I’ll hardly leave a strip of skin on his carcase”
What brutal threats he would have uttered besides I know not but at this moment he was interrupted by the entrance of dinner.
“My lord & Colonel Morton” said Bud “I hope you’ll stay & take a bit of dinner with me, if you don’t think my plain fare too coarse for your dainty palates”
“On my honour Captain” replied Arthur “your bachelor’s meal looks very nice & I should really feel tempted to partake of it had it been more than two hours since I breakfasted, last night or rather this morning I went to bed at six & so it was twelve before I rose, therefore dining you know is out of the question till seven or eight o’clock in the evening”
Morton excused himself on some similar pretext & shortly after both the gentlemen much to my satisfaction took their leave.
“Now Charley” said my friend when they were gone “you’ll give me your company I know, so sit down on that easy chair opposite to me & let’s have a regular two-handed crack.”
I gladly accepted his kind invitation because I knew that if I returned home Mrs Cook would allow me nothing for dinner but a basin-full of some filthy vermined slop. During our meal few words were spoken for Bud hates chatter at feeding time & I was too busily engaged in discussing the most savoury plateful of food I had eaten for the last month & more to bestow a thought on anything of less importance, however when the table was cleared & the dessert brought in, Bud wheeled the round table nearer the open window poured out a glass of sack seated himself in his cushioned armchair & then said in that quiet satisfactory tone which men use when they are perfectly comfortable :
“What shall we talk about Charley.”
“anything you like” I replied .
“Anything?” said he “why that means just nothing, but what would you like?”
“Dear Bud” was my answer “since you have been kind enough to leave the choice of a topic to me there is nothing I should enjoy so much as one of your delightful tales if you would but favour me this once I shall consider myself eternally obliged to you.”
Of course Bud according to the universal fashion of all story-tellers refused at first but after a world of flattery, coaxing & intreating he at length complied with my request & related the following incidents which I now present to the reader not exactly in the original form of words in which I heard it but strictly preserving the sense & facts.
July 10th -33. C. Wellesley
CHAPTER THE FIRST
Twenty years since or thereabouts there stood in what is now the middle of Verdopolis but which was then the extremity a huge irregular building called the Genii’s Inn. it contained more than five hundred appartments all comfortably & some splendidly fitted up for the accommodation of travellers who were entertained in this vast hostelry free of expense, it became in consequence of this generous regulation the almost exclusive resort of wayfarers of every nation who in spite of the equivocal character of the host & hostesses being the four chief Genii, Talli, Brani, Emi, & Anni & the despicable villany of the waiters & other attendants which noble offices were filled by subordinate spirits of the same species continually flocked thither in prodigious multitudes; the sound of their hurrying footsteps, the voice of rude revel, & the hum of business has ceased now among the ruined arches, the damp mouldy vaults, the dark halls & the desolate chambers of this once mighty edifice which was destroyed in the great rebellion, & now stands silent, & lonely in the heart of Great Verdopolis. But our business is with the past, not the present day, therefore let us leave moping to the owls & look on the bright side of matters; On the evening of the fourth of June 1814 it offered rather a different appearance, there had been during that day a greater influx of guests than usual - which circumstance was owing to a Grand fete to be held on the morrow, the great hall looked like a motley masquerade in one part was seated cross legged on the pavement a group of Turkish merchants who in those days used to trade largely with the shopkeepers & citizens of Verdopolis in spices, shawls, silks, muslins, jewellry, perfumes, & other articles of oriental luxury, these sat composedly smoking their long pipes & drinking choice sherbet & reclining against the cushions which had been provided for their accommodation. Near them a few dark sunburnt Spaniards strutted with the gravely proud air of a peacock, which bird according to the received opinion dares not look downwards lest his feet should break the self complacent spell which enchants him. Not far from these lords of creation sat a company of round, rosy-faced, curly-pated, straight-legged one-shoed beings, from Stumps’es Island, where that now nearly obsolete race of existences then flourished like the green bay tree, more than a dozen Genii were employed in furnishing them with melons & rice pudding for which they roared out incessantly.
at the opposite extremity of the hall five or six sallow, bilious Englishmen were conversing over a cup of green-tea. behind them a band of withered monsieurs sat presenting each other with fine white bread peculiarly rich elegant prussian butter,” perfumed snutf brown sugar & calico. at no great distance from these half withered apes, within the great carved screen that surrounded a huge blazing fire two gentlemen had established themselves before a table on which smoked a tempting dish of beefsteaks with the due accompaniments of onions ketchup & cayenne flanked by a large silver vessel of prime old Canary & a corresponding tankard of spiced ale.
One of the personages whose good fortune it was to be the devourer of such choice cheer was a middle-aged man who might perhaps have numbered his fifty-fif|th year, his rusty black habiliments, powdered wig & furrowed brow spoke at once the scholar & the despiser of external decorations; the other presented a remarkable contrast to his companion, he was in the prime of life being apparently not more than six or seven & twenty years of age. a head of light brown hair arranged in careless yet tasteful curls well became the pleasing though not strictly regular features of his very handsome countenance to which a bright & bold blue eye added all the charms of expression. His form evincing both strength & symmetry was set of to the best advantage by a military costume while his erect bearing & graceful address gave additional testimony to the nature of his profession.
“this young soldier” said Bud with a kindling eye “ was myself, you may laugh Charlev;” for I could not forbear a smile on contrasting the dignified corporation of my now somewhat elderly fat friend with the description he had just given of his former appearance “you may laugh but I was once as gallant a youth as ever wore a soldiers sword. alack a day time troubles Good Liquour & good-living change a man sorely”
But the reader will ask who was the other gentleman mentioned above, he was John Gilford then the bosom friend of Ensign Bud as he is now of Captain Bud. There was a profound silence so long as their savoury meal continued but when the last mouthful of beef, the last shred of onion the last grain of cayenne & the last drop of ketchup had disappeared, Gilford laid down his knife & fork, uttered a deep sigh & opening his oracular jaws said “Well Bud I suppose the fools whom we see here gathered together from all the winds of heaven are come to our Babylonian City for the unworthy purpose of beholding the gauds & vanities of tomorrow.”
“Doubtless” replied the other “And I sincerely hope that you Sir also will not disdain to honnour their exhibition with your presence.”
“I!” almost yelled the senior gentleman, “I go & see the running of chariots, the racing & prancing of horses, the goring of wild beasts, the silly craft of archery & the brutal sport of the wrestlers! art thou mad or are thy brains troubled with the good wine & nutmeg ale” here the speaker filled his glass with the latter generous liquid.
“I am neither one nor t’other Gilford” answered Bud, “but I’ll venture to say that forasmuch as you despise those gauds & vanities as you call them, many a better man than you is longing for tomorrow on their account”
“Ah! & I suppose thou art among the number of those arrant fools”
“Aye truly said! I see no shame in the avowal”
“Don’t you indeed, Oh Bud, Bud I sometimes hope that you are beginning to be sensible of the folly of these pursuits. I sometimes dare to imagine that you will one day be found a member of that chosen band who despising the weak frivolities of this our degenerate age, turn studiously to the contemplation of the past who value as some men do gold & jewels every remnant however small however apparently trivial which offers a memento of vanished generations.”
“Goodness Gifford! how you talk! I like well enough to see Melchizedecs cup for the sacramental wine, the tethers by which Abraham’s camels were fastened in their pasture-grounds or even the thigh bone & shoulder-blade of one of our own worthy old Giants even when these latter articles turn out to be the remains of a dead elephant. (Ah Giff touched ye there I see) but as to making such matters the serious business of my life, why hang me if I think I shall turn to that trade before a round dozen of years have trotted merrily over my head.”
“you speak like one of the foolish people” replied Giff solemnly “but still I glean a handful of comfort from your last words. at some future period you will give serious attention to the grand purpose for which we were all brought into the world?”
“May be aye & may be nay but whether I do or not my cherub there, Stingo, seems as if he would have no objection to turn both antiquarian & lawyer already.”
“Ha! what is it that same sweet boy whom I saw yesterday at your house whose young features express a promising solemnity far beyond his tender years?”
“the same and a sour squalling ill-tempered brat it is” “My dear friend,” said GifFord with great earnestness “take care that you do not check the unfolding of that hopeful flower, mind my words, he will be an honnour to his country & here give him these toys (taking a number of roundish stones from his pocket) & tell him I have no doubt they were used as marbles by the children of the ancient Britons, doubtless he will know how to value them accordingly.”
“to be sure he will, but my dear friend, the next time you make Stingo a present let it be some slight treatise on the law. he is continually hunting in my library for books of that nature & complains that he can scarcely find one of the sort he wants.”
“The angel! “ exclaimed Gifford in ecstasy “the moment I get home I will send him a compleat edition of my compendium of the laws, he shall not long pine in the agonies of inanition.”
“You are very kind” said Bud “but now let us change the subject. I understand that Bravey is to occupy the president’s throne tomorrow. I wonder who will be the rewarder of the victors.”
“it is not often that I remember the idle chat which passes in my presence but I heard this morning that Lady Emily Charlesworth is to be honoured with that dignity.”
“Is she? that’s well! they could not possibly have made a better choice - why her beauty alone will give eclat to the whole routine of tomorrows proceedings^ now tell me honestly Giff do you not think Lady Emily the most beautiful of earthly creaturesf?”
“She’s well enough favoured” replied Gifford “that is her garments ever become her person but for her mind I fear it is a waste, uncultivated field which where it is not wholly barren presents a rank crop of the weeds of frivolity”
“Prejudiced old prig!” said I angrily “ would you have a spiritual essence of Divinity like that to wither her roses by studying rotten scrolls & bending over grub-devoured law-books?”
