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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wanderer (Volume 1 of 5) + or, Female Difficulties + +Author: Fanny Burney + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37437] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 1 OF 5) *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>THE WANDERER</h1> + +<h3>Or</h3> + +<h2>Female Difficulties</h2> + + +<h2>FANNY BURNEY</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Dedication </td><td align="right"> xvii</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Volume I</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Volume II</td><td align="right">179</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Volume III</td><td align="right">361</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Volume IV</td><td align="right">537</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Volume V</td><td align="right">681</td></tr> +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>VOLUME I</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p class="center"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span></p> + + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">TO</span> DOCTOR BURNEY,<br /> +<span class="smcap">FRS</span> <i>and correspondent to the institute</i><br /> +<i>of France</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + + +<p>The earliest pride of my heart was to inscribe to my much-loved Father +the first public effort of my pen; though the timid offering, +unobtrusive and anonymous, was long unpresented; and, even at last, +reached its destination through a zeal as secret as it was kind, by +means which he would never reveal; and with which, till within these +last few months, I have myself been unacquainted.</p> + +<p>With what grateful delight do I cast, now, at the same revered feet +where I prostrated that first essay, this, my latest attempt!</p> + +<p>Your name I did not dare then pronounce; and myself I believed to be +'wrapt up in a mantle of impenetrable obscurity<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>.' Little did I +foresee the indulgence that would bring me forward! and that my dear +father himself, whom, even while, urged by filial feelings, and yet +nameless, I invoked,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I thought would be foremost to aid, nay, charge +me to shun the public eye; that He, whom I dreaded to see blush at my +production, should be the first to tell me not to blush at it myself! +The happy moment when he spoke to me those unexpected words, is ever +present, and still gay to my memory.</p> + +<p>The early part of this immediate tribute has already twice traversed the +ocean in manuscript: I had planned and begun it before the end of the +last century but the bitter, and ever to be deplored affliction with +which this new era opened to our family, in depriving us of the darling +of our hearts,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> at the very moment—when—after a grievous absence, we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span>believed her restored to us, cast it from my thoughts, and even from my +powers, for many years. I took with me, nevertheless, my prepared +materials in the year 1802, to France; where, ultimately, though only at +odd intervals, I sketched the whole work; which, in the year 1812, +accompanied me back to my native land. And, to the honour and liberality +of both nations, let me mention, that, at the Custom-house on +either—alas!—hostile shore, upon my given word that the papers +contained neither letters, nor political writings; but simply a work of +invention and observation; the voluminous manuscript was suffered to +pass, without demur, comment, or the smallest examination.</p> + +<p>A conduct so generous on one side, so trusting on the other, in time of +war, even though its object be unimportant, cannot but be read with +satisfaction by every friend of humanity, of either rival nation, into +whose hands its narrative may chance to fall.</p> + +<p>Such, therefore,—if any such there be,—who expect to find here +materials for political controversy; or fresh food for national +animosity; must turn elsewhere their disappointed eyes: for here, they +will simply meet, what the Author has thrice sought to present to them +already, a composition upon general life, manners, and characters; +without any species of personality, either in the form of foreign +influence, or of national partiality. I have felt, indeed, no +disposition,—I ought rather, perhaps, to say talent,—for venturing +upon the stormy sea of politics; whose waves, for ever either receding +or encroaching, with difficulty can be stemmed, and never can be +trusted.</p> + +<p>Even when I began;—how unconsciously you, dear Sir, well know,—what I +may now, perhaps, venture to style my literary career, nothing can more +clearly prove that I turned, instinctively, from the tempestuous course, +than the equal favour with which I was immediately distinguished by +those two celebrated, immortal authors, Dr Johnson and the Right +Honourable Edmund Burke; whose sentiments upon public affairs divided, +almost separated them, at that epoch; yet who, then, and to their last +hours, I had the pride, the delight, and the astonishment to find the +warmest, as well as the most eminent supporters of my honoured essays. +Latterly, indeed, their political opinions assimilated; but when each, +separately, though at the same time, condescended to stand for the +champion of my first small work; ere ever I had had the happiness of +being presented to either; and ere they knew that I bore, my Father! +your honoured name; that small work was nearly the only subject upon +which they met without contestation<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>:—if I except the equally +ingenious and ingenuous friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> whom they vied with each other to +praise, to appreciate, and to love; and whose name can never vibrate on +our ears but to bring emotion to our hearts;—Sir Joshua Reynolds.</p> + +<p>If, therefore, then,—when every tie, whether public or mental, was +single; and every wish had one direction; I held political topics to be +without my sphere, or beyond my skill; who shall wonder that +now,—united, alike by choice and by duty, to a member of a foreign +nation, yet adhering, with primæval enthusiasm, to the country of my +birth, I should leave all discussions of national rights, and modes, or +acts of government, to those whose wishes have no opposing calls; whose +duties are undivided; and whose opinions are unbiased by individual +bosom feelings; which, where strongly impelled by dependant happiness, +insidiously, unconsciously direct our views, colour our ideas, and +entangle our partiality in our interests.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, to avoid disserting upon these topics as matter of +speculation, implies not an observance of silence to the events which +they produce, as matter of act: on the contrary, to attempt to +delineate, in whatever form, any picture of actual human life, without +reference to the French Revolution, would be as little possible, as to +give an idea of the English government, without reference to our own: +for not more unavoidably is the last blended with the history of our +nation, than the first, with every intellectual survey of the present +times.</p> + +<p>Anxious, however,—inexpressibly!—to steer clear, alike, of all +animadversions that, to my adoptive country, may seem ungrateful, or, to +the country of my birth unnatural; I have chosen, with respect to what, +in these volumes, has any reference to the French Revolution, a period +which, completely past, can excite no rival sentiments, nor awaken any +party spirit; yet of which the stupendous iniquity and cruelty, though +already historical, have left traces, that, handed down, even but +traditionally, will be sought with curiosity, though reverted to with +horrour, from generation to generation.</p> + +<p>Every friend of humanity, of what soil or what persuasion soever he may +be, must rejoice that those days, though still so recent, are over; and +truth and justice call upon me to declare, that, during the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> ten +eventful years, from 1802 to 1812, that I resided in the capital of +France, I was neither startled by any species of investigation, nor +distressed through any difficulties of conduct. Perhaps +unnoticed,—certainly unannoyed,—I passed my time either by my own +small—but precious fire-side; or in select society; perfectly a +stranger to all personal disturbance; save what sprang from the painful +separation that absented me from you my dearest Father, from my loved +family, and native friends and country. To hear this fact thus publicly +attested, you, dear Sir, will rejoice; and few, I trust, amongst its +readers, will disdain to feel some little sympathy in your satisfaction.</p> + +<p>With regard to the very serious subject treated upon, from time to time, +in this work, some,—perhaps many,—may ask, Is a Novel the vehicle for +such considerations? such discussions?</p> + +<p>Permit me to answer; whatever, in illustrating the characters, manners, +or opinions of the day, exhibits what is noxious or reprehensible, +should scrupulously be accompanied by what is salubrious, or chastening. +Not that poison ought to be infused merely to display the virtues of an +antidote; but that, where errour and mischief bask in the broad light of +day, truth ought not to be suffered to shrink timidly into the shade.</p> + +<p>Divest, for a moment, the title of Novel from its stationary standard of +insignificance, and say! What is the species of writing that offers +fairer opportunities for conveying useful precepts? It is, or it ought +to be, a picture of supposed, but natural and probable human existence. +It holds, therefore, in its hands our best affections; it exercises our +imaginations; it points out the path of honour; and gives to juvenile +credulity knowledge of the world, without ruin, or repentance; and the +lessons of experience, without its tears.</p> + +<p>And is not a Novel, permit me, also, to ask, in common with every other +literary work, entitled to receive its stamp as useful, mischievous, or +nugatory, from its execution? not necessarily, and in its changeless +state, to be branded as a mere vehicle for frivolous, or seductive +amusement? If many may turn aside from all but mere entertainment +presented under this form, many, also, may, unconsciously, be allured by +it into reading the severest truths, who would not even open any work of +a graver denomination.</p> + +<p>What is it that gives the universally acknowledged superiority to the +epic poem? Its historic truth? No; the three poems, which, during so +many centuries, and till Milton arose, stood unrivalled in celebrity, +are, with respect to fact, of constantly disputed, or, rather, +disproved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> authenticity. Nor is it even the sweet witchery of sound; the +ode, the lyric, the elegiac, and other species of poetry, have risen to +equal metrical beauty:—</p> + +<p>'Tis the grandeur, yet singleness of the plan; the never broken, yet +never obvious adherence to its execution; the delineation and support of +character; the invention of incident; the contrast of situation; the +grace of diction, and the beauty of imagery; joined to a judicious +choice of combinations, and a living interest in every partial detail, +that give to that sovereign species of the works of fiction, its +glorious pre-eminence.</p> + +<p>Will my dear Father smile at this seeming approximation of the +compositions which stand foremost, with those which are sunk lowest in +literary estimation? No; he will feel that it is not the futile +presumption of a comparison that would be preposterous; but a fond +desire to separate,—with a high hand!—falsehood, that would deceive to +evil, from fiction, that would attract another way;—and to rescue from +ill opinion the sort of production, call it by what name we may, that +his daughter ventures to lay at his feet, through the alluring, but +awful tribunal of the public.</p> + +<p>He will recollect, also, how often their so mutually honoured Dr Johnson +has said to her, 'Always aim at the eagle!—even though you expect but +to reach a sparrow!'</p> + +<p>The power of prejudice annexed to nomenclature is universal: the same +being who, unnamed, passes unnoticed, if preceded by the title of a +hero, or a potentate, catches every eye, and is pursued with clamorous +praise, or,—its common reverberator!—abuse: but in nothing is the +force of denomination more striking than in the term Novel; a species of +writing which, though never mentioned, even by its supporter, but with a +look that fears contempt, is not more rigidly excommunicated, from its +appellation, in theory, than sought and fostered, from its attractions, +in practice.</p> + +<p>So early was I impressed myself with ideas that fastened degradation to +this class of composition, that at the age of adolescence, I struggled +against the propensity which, even in childhood, even from the moment I +could hold a pen, had impelled me into its toils; and on my fifteenth +birth-day, I made so resolute a conquest over an inclination at which I +blushed, and that I had always kept secret, that I committed to the +flames whatever, up to that moment, I had committed to paper. And so +enormous was the pile, that I thought it prudent to consume it in the +garden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span></p> + +<p>You, dear Sir, knew nothing of its extinction, for you had never known +of its existence. Our darling Susanna, to whom alone I had ever ventured +to read its contents, alone witnessed the conflagration; and—well I +remember!—and wept, with tender partiality, over the imaginary ashes of +Caroline Evelyn, the mother of Evelina.</p> + +<p>The passion, however, though resisted, was not annihilated: my bureau +was cleared; but my head was not emptied; and, in defiance of every +self-effort, Evelina struggled herself into life.</p> + +<p>If then, even in the season of youth, I felt ashamed of appearing to be +a votary to a species of writing that by you, Sir, liberal as I knew you +to be, I thought condemned; since your large library, of which I was +then the principal librarian, contained only one work of that class;<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +how much deeper must now be my blush,—now, when that spring of +existence has so long taken its flight,—transferring, I must hope, its +genial vigour upon your grandson!<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>—if the work which I here present +to you, may not shew, in the observations which it contains upon various +characters, ways, or excentricities of human life, that an exterior the +most frivolous may enwrap illustrations of conduct, that the most rigid +preceptor need not deem dangerous to entrust to his pupils; for, if what +is inculcated is right, it will not, I trust, be cast aside, merely +because so conveyed as not to be received as a task. On the contrary, to +make pleasant the path of propriety, is snatching from evil its most +alluring mode of ascendency. And your fortunate daughter, though past +the period of chusing to write, or desiring to read, a merely romantic +love-tale, or a story of improbable wonders, may still hope to +retain,—if she has ever possessed it,—the power of interesting the +affections, while still awake to them herself, through the many much +loved agents of sensibility, that still hold in their pristine energy +her conjugal, maternal, fraternal, friendly, and,—dearest Sir!—her +filial feelings.</p> + +<p>Fiction, when animating the design of recommending right, has always +been permitted and cultivated, not alone by the moral, but by the pious +instructor; not alone to embellish what is prophane, but to promulgate +even what is sacred, from the first æra of tuition, to the present +passing moment. Yet I am aware that all which, incidentally, is treated +of in these volumes upon the most momentous of subjects, may HERE, in +this favoured island, be deemed not merely superfluous,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span> but, if +indulgence be not shewn to its intention, impertinent; and HERE, had I +always remained, the most solemn chapter of the work,—I will not +anticipate its number,—might never have been traced; for, since my +return to this country, I have been forcibly struck in remarking, that +all sacred themes, far from being either neglected, or derided, are +become almost common topics of common discourse; and rather, perhaps, +from varying sects, and diversified opinions, too familiarly discussed, +than defyingly set aside.</p> + +<p>But what I observed in my long residence abroad, presented another +picture; and its colours, not, indeed, with cementing harmony, but to +produce a striking contrast, have forcibly, though not, I hope, +glaringly tinted my pen.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, truth, and my own satisfaction, call upon me to mention, +that, in the circle to which, in Paris, I had the honour, habitually, to +belong, piety, generally, in practice as well as in theory, held its +just pre-eminence; though almost every other society, however cultured, +brilliant, and unaffectedly good, of which occasionally I heard, or in +which, incidentally, I mixed, commonly considered belief and bigotry as +synonymous terms.</p> + +<p>They, however, amongst my adopted friends, for whose esteem I am most +solicitous, will suffer my design to plead, I trust, in my favour; even +where my essays, whether for their projection, or their execution, may +most sarcastically be criticised.</p> + +<p>Strange, indeed, must be my ingratitude, could I voluntarily give +offence where, during ten unbroken years, I should, personally, have +known nothing but felicity, had I quitted a country, or friends, I, +could have forgotten. For me, however, as for all mankind, concomitant +circumstances took their usual charge of impeding any exception to the +general laws of life.</p> + +<p>And now, dear Sir, in leaving you to the perusal of these volumes, how +many apprehensions would be hushed, might I hope that they would revive +in your feelings the partial pleasure with which you cherished their +predecessors!</p> + +<p>Will the public be offended, if here, as in private, I conclude my +letter with a prayer for my dearest Father's benediction and +preservation? No! the public voice, and the voice of his family is one, +in reverencing his virtues, admiring his attainments, and ardently +desiring that health, peace of mind, and fulness of merited honours, may +crown his length of days, and prolong them to the utmost verge of +enjoyable mortality!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">F. B. d'Arblay.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>March 14. 1814</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VOLUME_I" id="VOLUME_I"></a>VOLUME I</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>During the dire reign of the terrific Robespierre, and in the dead of +night, braving the cold, the darkness and the damps of December, some +English passengers, in a small vessel, were preparing to glide silently +from the coast of France, when a voice of keen distress resounded from +the shore, imploring, in the French language, pity and admission.</p> + +<p>The pilot quickened his arrangements for sailing; the passengers sought +deeper concealment; but no answer was returned.</p> + +<p>'O hear me!' cried the same voice, 'for the love of Heaven, hear me!'</p> + +<p>The pilot gruffly swore, and, repressing a young man who was rising, +peremptorily ordered every one to keep still, at the hazard of discovery +and destruction.</p> + +<p>'Oh listen to my prayers!' was called out by the same voice, with +increased and even frightful energy; 'Oh leave me not to be massacred!'</p> + +<p>'Who's to pay for your safety?' muttered the pilot.</p> + +<p>'I will!' cried the person whom he had already rebuffed, 'I pledge +myself for the cost and the consequence!'</p> + +<p>'Be lured by no tricks;' said an elderly man, in English; 'put off +immediately, pilot.'</p> + +<p>The pilot was very ready to obey.</p> + +<p>The supplications from the land were now sharpened into cries of agony, +and the young man, catching the pilot by the arm, said eagerly, ''Tis +the voice of a woman! where can be the danger? Take her in, pilot, at my +demand, and my charge!'</p> + +<p>'Take her in at your peril, pilot!' rejoined the elderly man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rage had elevated his voice; the petitioner heard it, and +called—screamed, rather, for mercy.</p> + +<p>'Nay, since she is but a woman, and in distress, save her, pilot, in +God's name!' said an old sea officer. 'A woman, a child, and a fallen +enemy, are three persons that every true Briton should scorn to misuse.'</p> + +<p>The sea officer was looked upon as first in command; the young man, +therefore, no longer opposed, separated himself from a young lady with +whom he had been conversing, and, descending from the boat, gave his +hand to the suppliant.</p> + +<p>There was just light enough to shew him a female in the most ordinary +attire, who was taking a whispering leave of a male companion, yet more +meanly equipped.</p> + +<p>With trembling eagerness, she sprang into the vessel, and sunk rather +than sat upon a place that was next to the pilot, ejaculating fervent +thanks, first to Heaven, and then to her assistant.</p> + +<p>The pilot now, in deep hoarse accents, strictly enjoined that no one +should speak or move till they were safely out at sea.</p> + +<p>All obeyed; and, with mingled hope and dread, insensible to the weather, +and dauntless to the hazards of the sea, watchful though mute, and +joyful though filled with anxiety, they set sail.</p> + +<p>In about half an hour, the grumbling of the pilot, who was despotic +master of the boat, was changed into loud and vociferous oaths.</p> + +<p>Alarmed, the passengers concluded that they were chaced. They looked +around,—but to no purpose; the darkness impeded examination.</p> + +<p>They were happily, however, mistaken; the lungs of the pilot had merely +recovered their usual play, and his humour its customary vent, from a +belief that all pursuit would now be vain.</p> + +<p>This proved the signal to general liberty of speech; and the young lady +already mentioned, addressing herself, in a low voice, to the gentleman +who had aided the Incognita, said, 'I wonder what sort of a dulcinea you +have brought amongst us! though, I really believe, you are such a +complete knight-errant, that you would just as willingly find her a +tawny Hottentot as a fair Circassian. She affords us, however, the +vivifying food of conjecture,—the only nourishment of which I never +sicken!—I am glad, therefore, that 'tis dark, for discovery is almost +always disappointment.'</p> + +<p>'She seems to be at prayers.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>'At prayers? She's a nun, then, depend upon it. Make her tell us the +history of her convent.'</p> + +<p>'Why what's all this, woman?' said the pilot, in French, 'are you afraid +of being drowned?'</p> + +<p>'No!' answered she, in the same language, 'I fear nothing now—it is +therefore I am thankful!'</p> + +<p>Retreating, then, from her rude neighbour, she gently approached an +elderly lady, who was on her other side, but who, shrinking from her, +called out, 'Mr Harleigh, I shall be obliged to you if you will change +places with me.'</p> + +<p>'Willingly;' he answered; but the young lady with whom he had been +conversing, holding his coat, exclaimed, 'Now you want to have all the +stories of those monks and abbesses to yourself! I won't let you stir, I +am resolved!'</p> + +<p>The stranger begged that she might not incommode any one; and drew back.</p> + +<p>'You may sit still now, Mr Harleigh,' said the elderly lady, shaking +herself; 'I do very well again.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh bit his lip, and, in a low voice, said to his companion, 'It is +strange that the facility of giving pain should not lessen its pleasure! +How far better tempered should we all be to others, if we anticipated +the mischief that ill humour does to ourselves!'</p> + +<p>'Now are you such a very disciple of Cervantes,' she replied, 'that I +have no doubt but your tattered dulcinea has secured your protection for +the whole voyage, merely because old aunt Maple has been a little ill +bred to her.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know but you are right, for nothing so uncontrollably excites +resistance, as grossness to the unoffending.'</p> + +<p>He then, in French, enquired of the new passenger, whether she would not +have some thicker covering, to shelter her from the chill of the night; +offering her, at the same time, a large wrapping coat.</p> + +<p>She thanked him, but declared that she was perfectly warm.</p> + +<p>'Are you so, faith?' cried the elderly man already mentioned, 'I wish, +then, you would give me your receipt, Mistress; for I verily think that +my blood will take a month's thawing, before it will run again in my +veins.'</p> + +<p>She made no answer, and, in a tone somewhat piqued, he added, 'I believe +in my conscience those outlandish gentry have no more feeling without +than they have within!'</p> + +<p>Encreasing coldness and darkness repressed all further spirit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +conversation, till the pilot proclaimed that they were halfway over the +straits.</p> + +<p>A general exclamation of joy now broke forth from all, while the new +comer, suddenly casting something into the sea, ejaculated, in French, +'Sink, and be as nothing!' And then, clasping her hands, added, 'Heaven +be praised, 'tis gone for ever!'</p> + +<p>The pilot scolded and swore; every one was surprised and curious; and +the elderly man plumply demanded, 'Pray what have you thrown overboard, +Mistress?'</p> + +<p>Finding himself again unanswered, he rather angrily raised his voice, +saying, 'What, I suppose you don't understand English now? Though you +were pretty quick at it when we were leaving you in the lurch! Faith, +that's convenient enough!'</p> + +<p>'For all I have been silent so long,' cried the old sea officer, 'it has +not been for want of something to say; and I ask the favour that you +won't any of you take it ill, if I make free to mention what has been +passing, all this time, in my mind; though it may rather have the air of +a hint than a compliment; but as I owe to being as much in fault as +yourselves, I hope you won't be affronted at a little plain dealing.'</p> + +<p>'You are mighty good to us, indeed, Sir!' cried Mrs Maple, 'but pray +what fault have you to charge Me with, amongst the rest?'</p> + +<p>'I speak of us in a body, Madam, and, I hope, with proper shame! To +think that we should all get out of that loathsome captivity, with so +little reverence, that not one amongst us should have fallen upon his +knees, to give thanks, except just this poor outlandish gentlewoman; +whose good example I recommend it to us all now to follow.'</p> + +<p>'What, and so overturn the boat,' said the elderly man, 'that we may all +be drowned for joy, because we have escaped being beheaded?'</p> + +<p>'I submit to your better judgment, Mr Riley,' replied the officer, 'with +regard to the attitude; and the more readily, because I don't think that +the posture is the chief thing, half the people that kneel, even at +church, as I have taken frequent note, being oftener in a doze than in a +fit of devotion. But the fear of shaking the boat would be but a poor +reason to fear shaking our gratitude, which seems to me to want it +abundantly. So I, for one, give thanks to the Author of all things!'</p> + +<p>'You are a fine fellow, noble Admiral!' cried Mr Riley, 'as fine a +fellow as ever I knew! and I honour you, faith! for I don't believe +there is a thing in the world that requires so much courage as to risk +derision, even from fools.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>A young man, wrapped up in flannels, who had been undisguisedly enjoying +a little sneering laugh, now became suddenly grave, and pretended not to +heed what was passing.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple protested that she could not bear the parade of saying her +prayers in public.</p> + +<p>Another elderly lady, who had hitherto seemed too sick to speak, +declared that she could not think of giving thanks, till she were sure +of being out of danger.</p> + +<p>And the young lady, laughing immoderately, vowed that she had never seen +such a congress of quizzes in her life; adding, 'We want nothing, now, +but a white foaming billow, or a shrill whistle from Boreas, to bring us +all to confession, and surprise out our histories.'</p> + +<p>'Apropos to quizzes,' said Mr Riley, addressing the hitherto silent +young man, 'how comes it, Mr Ireton, that we have not had one word from +you all this time?'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean by aprôpos, Sir?' demanded the young man, somewhat +piqued.</p> + +<p>'Faith, I don't very well know. I am no very good French dictionary. But +I always say aprôpos, when I am at a loss how to introduce any thing. +Let us hear, however, where you have been passing your thoughts all this +time. Are you afraid the sea should be impregnated with informers, +instead of salt, and so won't venture to give breath to an idea, lest it +should be floated back to Signor Robespierre, and hodge-podged into a +conspiracy?'</p> + +<p>'Ay, your thoughts, your thoughts! give us your thoughts, Ireton!' cried +the young lady, 'I am tired to death of my own.'</p> + +<p>'Why, I have been reflecting, for this last hour or two, what a singular +circumstance it is, that in all the domains that I have scampered over +upon the continent, I have not met with one young person who could hit +my fancy as a companion for life.'</p> + +<p>'And I, Sir, think,' said the sea officer, turning to him with some +severity, 'that a man who could go out of old England to chuse himself a +wife, never deserves to set foot on it again! If I knew any worse +punishment, I should name it.'</p> + +<p>This silenced Mr Ireton; and not another word was uttered, till the +opening of day displayed the British shore.</p> + +<p>The sea officer then gave a hearty huzza, which was echoed by Harleigh; +while Riley, as the light gleamed upon the old and tattered garments of +the stranger, burst into a loud laugh, exclaiming, 'Faith, I should like +to know what such a demoiselle as this should come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> away from her own +country for? What could you be afraid of, hay! demoiselle?'—</p> + +<p>She turned her head from him in silence. Harleigh enquired, in French, +whether she had escaped the general contagion, from which almost all in +the boat had suffered, of sickness.</p> + +<p>She cheerfully replied, Yes! She had escaped every evil!</p> + +<p>'The demoiselle is soon contented,' said Riley; 'but I cannot for my +life make out who she is, nor what she wants. Why won't you tell us, +demoiselle? I should like to know your history.'</p> + +<p>'Much obliged for the new fellow traveller you have given us, Mr +Harleigh!' said Mrs Maple, contemptuously examining her; 'I have really +some curiosity myself, to be informed what could put into such a body's +mind as that, to want to come over to England.'</p> + +<p>'The desire of learning the language, I hope!' cried Harleigh, 'for I +should be sorry that she knew it already!'</p> + +<p>'I wish, at least, she would tell us,' said the young lady, 'how she +happened to find out our vessel just at the moment we were sailing.'</p> + +<p>'And I should be glad to discover,' cried Riley, 'why she understands +English on and off at her pleasure, now so ready, and now answering one +never a word.'</p> + +<p>The old sea officer, touching his hat as he addressed her, said, 'For my +part, Madam, I hope the compliment you make our country in coming to it, +is that of preferring good people to bad; in which case every Englishman +should honour and welcome you.'</p> + +<p>'And I hope,' cried Harleigh, while the stranger seemed hesitating how +to answer, 'that this patriotic benevolence is comprehended; if not, I +will attempt a translation.'</p> + +<p>'I speak French so indifferently, which, however, I don't much mind,' +cried the Admiral, 'that I am afraid the gentlewoman would hardly +understand me, or else I would translate for myself.'</p> + +<p>The stranger now, with a strong expression of gratitude, replied in +English, but with a foreign accent, 'It is only how to thank you I am at +a loss, Sir; I understand you perfectly.'</p> + +<p>'So I could have sworn!' cried Riley, with a laugh, 'I could have sworn +that this would be the turn for understanding English again! And you can +speak it, too, can you, Mistress?'</p> + +<p>'And pray, good woman,' demanded Mrs Maple, staring at her, 'how came +you to learn English? Have you lived in any English family? If you have, +I should be glad to know their names.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Ay, their names! their names!' was echoed from Mrs Maple by her niece.</p> + +<p>The stranger looked down, and stammered, but said nothing that could +distinctly be heard.</p> + +<p>Riley, laughing again, though provoked, exclaimed, 'There! now you ask +her a question, she won't comprehend a word more! I was sure how 'twould +be! They are clever beings, those French, they are, faith! always +playing fools' tricks, like so many monkies, yet always lighting right +upon their feet, like so many cats!'</p> + +<p>'You must resign your demoiselle, as Mr Riley calls her, for a heroine;' +whispered the young lady to Mr Harleigh. 'Her dress is not merely +shabby; 'tis vulgar. I have lost all hope of a pretty nun. She can be +nothing above a house-maid.'</p> + +<p>'She is interesting by her solitary situation,' he answered, 'be she +what she may by her rank: and her voice, I think, is singularly +pleasing.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you must fall in love with her, I suppose, as a thing of course. +If, however, she has one atom that is native in her, how will she be +choaked by our foggy atmosphere!'</p> + +<p>'And has our atmosphere, Elinor, no purifying particles, that, in +defiance of its occasional mists, render it salubrious?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't mean alone the foggy air that she must inhale; but the +foggy souls whom she must see and hear. If she have no political bias, +that sets natural feelings aside, she'll go off in a lethargy, from +<i>ennui</i>, the very first week. For myself I confess, from my happiness in +going forth into the world at this sublime juncture, of turning men into +infants, in order to teach them better how to grow up, I feel as if I +had never awaked into life, till I had opened my eyes on that side of +the channel.'</p> + +<p>'And can you, Elinor, with a mind so powerful, however—pardon +me!—wild, have witnessed....'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I know what you mean!—but those excesses are only the first froth +of the cauldron. When once 'tis skimmed, you will find the composition +clear, sparkling, delicious!'</p> + +<p>'Has, then, the large draught which, in a two years' residence amidst +that combustion, you have, perforce, quaffed, of revolutionary beverage, +left you, in defiance of its noxious qualities, still thus....' He +hesitated.</p> + +<p>'Inebriated, you would say, Albert,' cried she, laughing, 'if you +blushed not for me at the idea. But, in this one point, your liberality, +though matchless in every other, is terribly narrowed by adhesion to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +old tenets. You enjoy not therefore, as you ought, this glorious epoch, +that lifts our minds from slavery and from nothingness, into play and +vigour; and leaves us no longer, as heretofore, merely making believe +that we are thinking beings.'</p> + +<p>'Unbridled liberty, Elinor, cannot rush upon a state, without letting it +loose to barbarism. Nothing, without danger, is suddenly unshackled: +safety demands control from the baby to the despot.'</p> + +<p>'The opening essays here,' she replied, 'have certainly been calamitous: +but, when all minor articles are progressive, in rising to perfection, +must the world in a mass alone stand still, because its amelioration +would be costly? Can any thing be so absurd, so preposterous, as to seek +to improve mankind individually, yet bid it stand still collectively? +What is education, but reversing propensities; making the idle +industrious, the rude civil, and the ignorant learned? And do you not, +for every student thus turned out of his likings, his vagaries, or his +vices, to be new modelled, call this alteration improvement? Why, then, +must you brand all similar efforts for new organizing states, nations, +and bodies of society, by that word of unmeaning alarm, innovation?'</p> + +<p>'To reverse, Elinor, is not to new model, but to destroy. This +education, with which you illustrate your maxims, does it begin with the +birth? Does it not, on the contrary, work its way by the gentlest +gradations, one part almost imperceptibly preparing for another, +throughout all the stages of childhood to adolescence, and of +adolescence to manhood? If you give Homer before the Primer, do you +think that you shall make a man of learning? If you shew the planetary +system to the child who has not yet trundled his hoop, do you believe +that you will form a mathematician? And if you put a rapier into his +hands before he has been exercised with foils,—what is your guarantee +for the safety of his professor?'</p> + +<p>Just then the stranger, having taken off her gloves, to arrange an old +shawl, in which she was wrapt, exhibited hands and arms of so dark a +colour, that they might rather be styled black than brown.</p> + +<p>Elinor exultingly drew upon them the eyes of Harleigh, and both taking, +at the same instant, a closer view of the little that was visible of the +muffled up face, perceived it to be of an equally dusky hue.</p> + +<p>The look of triumph was now repeated.</p> + +<p>'Pray, Mistress,' exclaimed Mr Riley, scoffingly fixing his eyes upon +her arms, 'what part of the world might you come from? The settlements +in the West Indies? or somewhere off the coast of Africa?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>She drew on her gloves, without seeming to hear him.</p> + +<p>'There!' said he, 'now the demoiselle don't understand English again! +Faith, I begin to be entertained with her. I did not like it at first.'</p> + +<p>'What say you to your dulcinea now, Harleigh?' whispered Elinor; 'you +will not, at least, yelep her the Fair Maid of the Coast.'</p> + +<p>'She has very fine eyes, however!' answered he, laughing.</p> + +<p>The wind just then blowing back the prominent borders of a French +night-cap, which had almost concealed all her features, displayed a large +black patch, that covered half her left cheek, and a broad black ribbon, +which bound a bandage of cloth over the right side of her forehead.</p> + +<p>Before Elinor could utter her rallying congratulations to Harleigh, upon +this sight, she was stopt by a loud shout from Mr Riley; 'Why I am +afraid the demoiselle has been in the wars!' cried he. 'Why, Mistress, +have you been trying your skill at fisty cuffs for the good of your +nation? or only playing with kittens for your private diversion?'</p> + +<p>'Now, then, Harleigh,' said Elinor, 'what says your quixotism now? Are +you to become enamoured with those plaisters and patches, too?'</p> + +<p>'Why she seems a little mangled, I confess; but it may be only by +scrambling from some prison.'</p> + +<p>'Really, Mr Harleigh,' said Mrs Maple, scarcely troubling herself to +lower her voice as, incessantly, she continued surveying the stranger, +'I don't think that we are much indebted to you for bringing us such +company as this into our boat! We did not pay such a price to have it +made a mere common hoy. And without the least enquiry into her +character, too! without considering what one must think of a person who +could look out for a place, in a chance vessel, at midnight!'</p> + +<p>'Let us hope,' said Harleigh, perceiving, by the down-cast eyes of the +stranger, that she understood what passed, 'that we shall not make her +repent her choice of an asylum.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! there is no fear!' cried she, with quickness.</p> + +<p>'Your prepossession, then, is, happily, in our favour?'</p> + +<p>'Not my prepossession, but my gratitude!'</p> + +<p>'This is true practical philosophy, to let the sum total of good +outbalance the detail, which little minds would dwell upon, of evil.'</p> + +<p>'Of evil! I think myself at this moment the most fortunate of human +beings!'</p> + +<p>This was uttered with a sort of transport that she seemed unable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> to +control, and accompanied with a bright smile, that displayed a row of +beautifully white and polished teeth.</p> + +<p>Riley now, again heartily laughing, exclaimed, 'This demoiselle amuses +me mightily! she does, faith! with hardly a rag to cover her this cold +winter's night; and on the point of going to the bottom every moment, in +this crazy little vessel; with never a friend to own her body if she's +drowned, nor an acquaintance to say a word to before she sinks; not a +countryman within leagues, except our surly pilot, who grudges her even +life-room, because he's afraid he shan't be the better for her: going to +a nation where she won't know a dog from a cat, and will be buffetted +from pillar to post, if she don't pay for more than she wants; with all +this, she is the most fortunate of human beings! Faith, the demoiselle +is soon pleased! She is, faith! But why won't you give me your receipt, +Mistress, for finding all things so agreeable?'</p> + +<p>'You would be sorry, Sir, to take it!'</p> + +<p>'I fear, then,' said Harleigh, 'it is only past suffering that bestows +this character of bliss upon simple safety?'</p> + +<p>'Pray, Mr Riley,' cried Mrs Maple, 'please to explain what you mean, by +talking so freely of our all going to the bottom? I should be glad to +know what right you had to make me come on board the vessel, if you +think it so crazy?'</p> + +<p>She then ordered the pilot to use all possible expedition for putting +her on shore, at the very first jut of land; adding, 'you may take the +rest of the company round, wherever you chuse, but as to me, I desire to +be landed directly.'</p> + +<p>She could not, however, prevail; but, in the panic which had seized her, +she grew as incessant in reproach as in alarm, bitterly bewailing the +moment that she had ever trusted herself to such an element, such a +vessel, and such guides.</p> + +<p>'See,' said Harleigh, in a low voice to the stranger, 'how little your +philosophy has spread; and how soon every evil, however great, is +forgotten when over, to aggravate the smallest discomfort that still +remains! What recompence, or what exertion would any one of us have +thought too great, for obtaining a place in this boat only a few hours +ago! Yet you, alone, seem to have discovered, that the true art of +supporting present inconvenience is to compare it with past +calamity,—not with our disappointed wishes.'</p> + +<p>'Calamity!' repeated she with vivacity, 'ah! if once I reach that +shore,—that blessed shore! shall I have a sorrow left?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>'The belief that you will not,' said he, smiling, 'will almost suffice +for your security, since, certainly, half our afflictions are those +which we suffer through anticipation.'</p> + +<p>There was time for nothing more; the near approach to land seeming to +fill every bosom, for the instant, with sensations equally +enthusiastic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>Upon reaching the British shore, while Mrs Maple, her niece, the elderly +lady, and two maid-servants, claimed and employed the aid of the +gentlemen, the Incognita, disregarding an offer of Harleigh to return +for her, darted forward with such eagerness, that she was the first to +touch the land, where, with a fervour that seemed resistless, she +rapturously ejaculated, 'Heaven, Heaven be praised!'</p> + +<p>The pilot, when he had safely disembarked his passengers, committed the +charge of his vessel to a boy, and, abruptly accosting the stranger, +demanded a recompence for the risk which he had run in saving her life.</p> + +<p>She was readily opening her work bag to seek for her purse, but the old +sea officer, approaching, and holding her arm, gravely asked whether she +meant to affront him; and, turning to the pilot, somewhat dictatorially +said, 'Harkee, my lad! we took this gentlewoman in ourselves; and I have +seen no reason to be sorry for it: but she is our passenger, and not +your's. Come to the inn, therefore, and you shall be satisfied, +forthwith, for her and the rest of us, in a lump.'</p> + +<p>'You are infinitely good, Sir,' cried the stranger, 'but I have no +claim—.'</p> + +<p>'That's your mistake, gentlewoman. An unprotected female, provided she's +of a good behaviour, has always a claim to a man's care, whether she be +born amongst our friends or our foes. I should be ashamed to be an +Englishman, if I held it my duty to think narrower than that. And a man +who could bring himself to be ashamed of being an Englishman, would find +it a difficult solution, let me tell you, my good gentlewoman, to +discover what he might glory in. However, don't think that I say this to +affront you as a foreigner, for I hope I am a better Christian. I only +drop it as a matter of fact.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Worthy Admiral,' said Mr Harleigh, now joining them, 'you are not, I +trust, robbing me of my office? The pecuniary engagement with the pilot +was mine.'</p> + +<p>'But the authority which made him act,' returned the officer, 'was +mine.'</p> + +<p>A bright smile, which lightened up the countenance of the Incognita, +again contrasted her white teeth with her dingy complexion; while +dispersing the tears that started into her eyes, 'Fie upon me!' she +cried, 'to be in England and surprised at generosity!'</p> + +<p>'Gentlewoman,' said the Admiral, emphatically, 'if you want any help, +command my services; for, to my seeming, you appear to be a person of as +right a way of thinking, as if you had lisped English for your +mother-tongue.'</p> + +<p>He then peremptorily insisted that the boat's company should discharge +the pilot, without any interference on the part of the lone traveller, +as soon as it had done with the custom-house officers.</p> + +<p>This latter business was short; there was nothing to examine: not a +trunk, and scarcely a parcel, had the hurry and the dangers of escape +hazarded.</p> + +<p>They then proceeded to the principal inn, where the Admiral called all +the crew, as he styled the party, to a spacious room, and a cheering +fire, of which he undertook the discipline.</p> + +<p>The sight of this meanly attired person, invited into the apartment both +by the Admiral and Mr Harleigh, with a civility that seemed blind to her +shabby appearance, proved so miraculous a restorative to Mrs Maple, +that, rising from a great chair, into which, with a declaration that she +was half dead from her late fright and sickness, she had thrown herself, +she was endowed with sudden strength of body to stand stiffly upright, +and of lungs to pronounce, in shrill but powerful accents, 'Pray, Mr +Harleigh, are we to go on any farther as if we were to live all our +lives in a stage coach? Why can't that body as well stay in the +kitchen?'</p> + +<p>The stranger would hastily have retired, but the Admiral, taking her +softly by the shoulder, said, 'I have been a commanding officer the best +part of my life, Gentlewoman; and though a devil of a wound has put me +upon the superannuated list, I am not sunk into quite such a fair +weather chap, as to make over my authority, in such a little pitiful +skiff's company as this, to petticoat government;—though no man has a +better respect for the sex, in its proper element; which, however, is +not the sea. Therefore, Madam,' turning to Mrs Maple,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> 'this gentlewoman +being my own passenger, and having comported herself without any offence +either to God or man, I shall take it kind if you will treat her in a +more Christian-like manner.'</p> + +<p>While Mrs Maple began an angry reply, the stranger forced herself out of +the apartment. The Admiral followed.</p> + +<p>'I hope, gentlewoman,' he was beginning, 'you won't be cast down, or +angry, at a few vagaries—' when, looking in her face, he saw a +countenance so gaily happy, that his condolence was changed into pleased +astonishment. 'Angry!' she repeated, 'at a moment such as this!—a +moment of so blessed an escape!—I should be the most graceless of +wretches, if I had one sensation but of thankfulness and joy!'</p> + +<p>'You are a very brave woman,' said the Admiral, 'and I am sorry,' +looking at her tattered clothing, 'to see you in no better plight: +though, perchance, if you had been born to more glitter without, you +might have had less ore within. However, if you don't much like the +vapouring of that ancient lady, which I have no very extraordinary +liking to myself, neither, why stay in another room till we have done +with the pilot; and then, if I can be of any use in helping you to your +friends, I shall be glad to be at your service. For I take it for +granted, though you are not in your own country, you are too good a +woman to be without friends, as I know no worse sign of a person's +character.'</p> + +<p>He then joined his fellow-voyagers, and the stranger went on to enquire +for the master of the house.</p> + +<p>Sounds from without, that seemed to announce distress, catching, soon +after, the attentive ear of Harleigh, he opened the door, and perceived +that the stranger was returned to the passage, and in evident disorder.</p> + +<p>The sea officer briskly advanced to her. 'How now!' he cried, +'disheartened at last? Well! a woman can be but a woman! However, unless +you have a mind to see all my good opinion blown away—thus!—in a +whiff, you won't think of drooping, now once you are upon British +ground. For though I should scorn, I hope, to reproach you for not being +a native born, still, not to be over-joyed that you can say, Here I am! +would be a sure way to win my contempt. However, as I don't take upon me +to be your governor, I'll send your own countryman to you, if you like +him better,—the pilot?'</p> + +<p>'Not for the universe! Not for the universe!' she eagerly cried, and, +darting into an empty room, with a hasty apology, shut the door.</p> + +<p>'Mighty well, indeed!' said Mrs Maple, who, catching the contagion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> of +curiosity, had deigned to listen; 'so her own countryman, the only +person that she ought to belong to, she shuts the door upon!'</p> + +<p>She then protested, that if the woman were not brought forth, before the +pilot, who was already paid and gone, had re-embarked, she should always +be convinced that she had lost something, though she might not find out +what had been taken from her, for a twelve-month afterwards.</p> + +<p>The landlord, coming forward, enquired whether there were any +disturbance; and, upon the complaint and application of Mrs Maple, would +have opened the door of the closed apartment; but the Admiral and +Harleigh, each taking him by an arm, declared the person in that room to +be under their protection.</p> + +<p>'Well, upon my word,' cried Mrs Maple, 'this is more than I could have +expected! We are in fine hands, indeed, for a sea officer, and an +Admiral, that ought to be our safe-guard, to take part with our native +enemy, that, I make no doubt, is sent amongst us as a spy for our +destruction!'</p> + +<p>'A lady, Madam,' said the Admiral, looking down rather contemptuously, +'must have liberty to say whatever she pleases, a man's tongue being as +much tied as his hands, not to annoy the weaker vessel; so that, let her +come out with what she will, she is amenable to no punishment; unless +she take some account of a man's inward opinion; in which case she can't +be said to escape quite so free as she may seem to do. This, Madam, is +all the remark that I think fit to make to you. But as for you, Mr +Landlord, when the gentlewoman in this room has occasion to consult you, +she speaks English, and can call you herself.'</p> + +<p>He would then have led the way to a general retreat, but Mrs Maple +angrily desired the landlord to take notice, that a foreigner, of a +suspicious character, had come over with them by force, whom he ought to +keep in custody, unless she would tell her name and business.</p> + +<p>The door of the apartment was now abruptly opened by the stranger, who +called out 'O no! no! no!—Ladies!—Gentlemen!—I claim your +protection!'</p> + +<p>'It is your's, Madam!' cried Harleigh, with emotion.</p> + +<p>'Be sure of it, Gentlewoman!' cried the old officer; 'We did not bring +you from one bad shore to another. We'll take care of you. Be sure of +it!'</p> + +<p>The stranger wept. 'I thought not,' she cried, 'to have shed a tear in +England; but my heart can find no other vent.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Very pretty! very pretty, indeed, Gentlemen!' said Mrs Maple; 'If you +can answer all this to yourselves, well and good; but as I have not +quite so easy a conscience, I think it no more than my duty to inform +the magistrates myself, of my opinion of this foreigner.'</p> + +<p>She was moving off; but the stranger rushed forth, and with an +expression of agonized affright, exclaimed, 'Stay! Madam, stay! hear but +one word! I am no foreigner,—I am English!'—</p> + +<p>Equal astonishment now seized every one; but while they stared from her +to each other, the Admiral said: 'I am cordially glad to hear it! +cordially! though why you should have kept secret a point that makes as +much for your honour as for your safety, I am not deep enough to +determine. However, I won't decide against you, while I am in the dark +of your reasons; though I own I have rather a taste myself for things +more above board. But for all that, Ma'am, if I can be of any use to +you, make no scruple to call upon me.'</p> + +<p>He walked back to the parlour, where all now, except Harleigh, assembled +to a general breakfast, of which, during this scene, Riley, for want of +an associate, had been doing the honors to himself. The sick lady, Mrs +Ireton, was not yet sufficiently recovered to take any refreshment; and +the young man, her son, had commanded a repast on a separate table.</p> + +<p>Harleigh repeated to the stranger, as she returned, in trembling, to her +room, his offer of services.</p> + +<p>'If any lady of this party,' she answered, 'would permit me to say a few +words to her not quite in public, I should thankfully acknowledge such a +condescension. And if you, Sir, to whom already I owe an escape that +calls for my eternal gratitude, if you, Sir, could procure me such an +audience—'</p> + +<p>'What depends upon me shall surely not be left undone,' he replied; and, +returning to the parlour, 'Ladies,' he said, 'this person whom we have +brought over, begs to speak with one of you alone.'</p> + +<p>'Alone!' repeated Mrs Maple, 'How shocking! Who can tell what may be her +designs?'</p> + +<p>'She means that we should go out to hold a conference with her in the +passage, I suppose?' said Mrs Ireton, the sick lady, to whom the +displeasure raised by this idea seemed to restore strength and speech; +'or, perhaps, she would be so good as to receive us in the kitchen? Her +condescension is really edifying! I am quite at a loss how I shall shew +my sense of such affability.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>'What, is that black insect buzzing about us still?' cried her son, 'Why +what the deuce can one make of such a grim thing?'</p> + +<p>'O, it's my friend the demoiselle, is it?' said Riley; 'Faith, I had +almost forgotten her. I was so confoundedly numbed and gnawn, between +cold and hunger, that I don't think I could have remembered my father, I +don't, faith! before I had recruited. But where's poor demoiselle? +What's become of her? She wants a little bleaching, to be sure; but she +has not bad eyes; nor a bad nose, neither.'</p> + +<p>'I am no great friend to the mystical,' said the Admiral, 'but I +promised her my help while she stood in need of my protection, and I +have no tide to withdraw it, now that I presume she is only in need of +my purse. If any of the ladies, therefore, mean to go to her, I beg to +trouble them to carry this.' He put a guinea upon the table.</p> + +<p>'Now that she is so ready to tell her story,' said Elinor, 'I am +confident that there is none to tell. While she was enveloped in the +mystical, as the Admiral phrases it, I was dying with curiosity to make +some discovery.'</p> + +<p>'O the poor demoiselle!' cried Riley, 'why you can't think of leaving +her in the lurch, at last, ladies, after bringing her so far? Come, lend +me one of your bonnets and your fardingales, or what is it you call your +things? And twirl me a belt round my waist, and something proper about +my neck, and I'll go to her myself, as one of your waiting maids: I +will, faith!'</p> + +<p>'I am glad, at least, niece Elinor, that this once,' said Mrs Maple, +'you are reasonable enough to act a little like me and other people. If +you had really been so wild as to sustain so glaring an impostor——'</p> + +<p>'If, aunt?—don't you see how I am scalding my throat all this time to +run to her?' replied Elinor, giving her hand to Harleigh.</p> + +<p>As they re-entered the passage, the stranger, rushing from her room with +a look the most scared and altered, exclaimed, that she had lost her +purse.</p> + +<p>'This is complete!' cried Elinor, laughing; 'and will this, too, +Harleigh, move your knight-errantry? If it does—look to your heart! for +I won't lose a moment in becoming black, patched, and pennyless!'</p> + +<p>She flew with this anecdote to the breakfast parlour; while the +stranger, yet more rapidly, flew from the inn to the sea-side, where she +carefully retraced the ground that she had passed; but all examination +was vain, and she returned with an appearance of increased dismay.</p> + +<p>Meeting Harleigh at the door, his expression of concern somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> calmed +her distress, and she conjured him to plead with one of the ladies, to +have the charity to convey her to London, and thence to help her on to +Brighthelmstone. 'I have no means,' she cried, 'now, to proceed unaided; +my purse, I imagine, dropt into the sea, when, so unguardedly! in the +dark, I cast there—' She stopt, looked confused, and bent her eyes upon +the ground.</p> + +<p>'To Brighthelmstone?' repeated Harleigh; 'some of these ladies reside +not nine miles from that town. I will see what can be done.'</p> + +<p>She merely entreated, she said, to be allowed to travel in their suite, +in any way, any capacity, as the lowest of attendants. She was so +utterly reduced by this dreadful loss, that she must else beg her way on +foot.</p> + +<p>Harleigh hastened to execute this commission; but the moment he named +it, Elinor called out, 'Do, pray, Mr Harleigh, tell me where you have +been secreting your common sense?—Not that I mean to look for +it!—'twould despoil me of all the dear freaks and vagaries that give +zest to life!'</p> + +<p>'Poor demoiselle!' cried Riley, throwing half a crown upon the table, +'she shall not be without my mite, for old acquaintance sake.'</p> + +<p>'What! has she caught even you, Mr Cynical Riley?' cried Elinor; 'you, +who take as much pleasure in lowering or mortifying your +fellow-creatures, as Mr Harleigh does in elevating, or relieving them?'</p> + +<p>'Every one after his own fashion, Miss Nelly. The best amongst us has as +little taste for being thwarted as the worst. He has, faith! We all +think our own way the only one that has any common sense. Mine, is that +of a diver: I seek always for what is hidden. What is obvious soon +surfeits me. If this demoiselle had named herself, I should never have +thought of her again; but now, I'm all agog to find her out.'</p> + +<p>'Why does she not say who she is at once?' cried Mrs Maple. 'I give +nothing to people that I know nothing of; and what had she to do in +France? Why don't she tell us that?'</p> + +<p>'Can such a skin, and such a garb, be worth so much breath?' demanded +Ireton, taking up a news-paper.</p> + +<p>Harleigh enquired of Mrs Ireton, whether she had succeeded in her +purposed search, of a young woman to replace the domestic whom she had +left in France, and to attend her till she arrived at her house in town.</p> + +<p>'No, Sir,' she answered; 'but you don't mean, I presume, to recommend +this vagabond to be about my person? I should presume not; I should +presume you don't mean that? Not but that I should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> very sensible to +such a mark of distinction. I hope Mr Harleigh does not doubt that? I +hope he does not suspect I should want a proper sensibility to such an +honour?'</p> + +<p>'If you think her a vagabond, Madam,' replied Harleigh, 'I have not a +word to offer: but neither her language nor her manners incline me to +that opinion. You only want an attendant till you reach your family, and +she merely desires and supplicates to travel free. Her object is to get +to Brighthelmstone. And if, by waiting upon you, she could earn her +journey to London, Mrs Maple, perhaps, in compassion to her pennyless +state, might thence let her share the conveyance of some of her people +to Lewes, whence she might easily find means to proceed.'</p> + +<p>The two elderly ladies stared at each other, not so much as if +exchanging enquiries how to decline, but in what degree to resent this +proposition; while Elinor, making Harleigh follow her to a window, said, +'No, do inform me, seriously and candidly, what it is that urges you to +take the pains to make so ridiculous an arrangement?'</p> + +<p>'Her apparently desolate state.'</p> + +<p>'Now do put aside all those fine sort of sayings, which you know I laugh +at, and give me, instead, a little of that judgment which you so often +quarrel with me for not giving to you; and then honestly tell me, can +you really credit that any thing but a female fortune-hunter, would +travel so strangely alone, or be so oddly without resource?'</p> + +<p>'Your doubts, Elinor, are certainly rational; and I can only reply to +them, by saying, that there are now and then uncommon causes, which, +when developed, shew the most extraordinary situations to be but their +mere simple effect.'</p> + +<p>'And her miserable accoutrement?—And all those bruises, or sores, and +patches, and bandages?—'</p> + +<p>'The detail, I own, Elinor, is unaccountable and ill looking: I can +defend no single particular, even to myself; but yet the whole, the +all-together, carries with it an indescribable, but irresistible +vindication. This is all I can say for befriending her.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, if you think her really distressed,' cried Elinor, 'I feel ready +enough to be her handmaid; and, at all events, I shall make a point to +discover whom and what she may be, that I may know how to value your +judgment, in odd cases, for the future. Who knows, Harleigh, but I may +have some to propose for your decision of my own?'</p> + +<p>The Admiral, after some deliberation, said, that, as it was certainly +possible that the poor woman might really have lost her purse, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +he, for one, believed to be the simple truth, he could not refuse to +help her on to her friends; and, ringing for the landlord, he ordered +that a breakfast should be taken to the gentlewoman in the other room, +and that a place should be secured for her in the next day's stage to +London; for all which he would immediately deposit the money.</p> + +<p>'And pray, Mr Landlord,' said Mrs Maple, 'let us know what it was that +this body wanted, when she desired to speak with you?'</p> + +<p>'She asked me to send and enquire at the Post-office if there were any +letter directed for L.S., to be left till called for; and when she heard +that there was none, I thought, verily, that she would have swooned.'</p> + +<p>Elinor now warmly united with Harleigh, in begging that Mrs Maple would +let her servants take charge of the young woman from London to Lewes, +when, through the charity of the Admiral, she should arrive in town. Mrs +Maple pronounced an absolute negative; but when Elinor, not less +absolutely, declared that, in that case, she would hire the traveller +for her own maid; and the more readily because she was tired to death of +Golding, her old one, Mrs Maple, though with the utmost ill will, was +frightened into compliance; and Elinor said that she would herself carry +the good news to the Incognita.</p> + +<p>The landlord desired to know in what name the place was to be taken.</p> + +<p>This, also, Elinor undertook to enquire, and, accompanied by Harleigh, +went to the room of the stranger.</p> + +<p>They found her standing pensively by the window; the breakfast, which +had been ordered for her by the Admiral, untouched.</p> + +<p>'I understand you wish to go to Brighthelmstone?' said Elinor.</p> + +<p>The stranger courtsied.</p> + +<p>'I believe I know every soul in that place. Whom do you want to see +there?—Where are you to go?'</p> + +<p>She looked embarrassed, and with much hesitation, answered, 'To ... the +Post-office, Madam.'</p> + +<p>'O! what, you are something to the post-master, are you?'</p> + +<p>'No, Madam ... I ... I ... go to the Post-office only for a letter!'</p> + +<p>'A letter? Well! an hundred or two miles is a good way to go for a +letter!'</p> + +<p>'I am not without hopes to find a friend.—The letter I had expected +here was only to contain directions for the meeting.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>'O! if your letter is to be personified, I have nothing more to say. A +man, or a woman?—which is it?'</p> + +<p>'A woman, Madam.'</p> + +<p>'Well, if you merely wish to go to Brighthelmstone, I'll get you +conveyed within nine miles of that place, if you will come to me, at Mrs +Maple's, in Upper Brooke-street, when you get to town.'</p> + +<p>Surprise and pleasure now beamed brightly in the eyes of the stranger, +who said that she should rejoice to pass through London, where, also, +she particularly desired to make some enquiries.</p> + +<p>'But we have no means for carrying you thither, except by the stage; and +one of our gentlemen offers to take a place in it for you.'</p> + +<p>The stranger looked towards Harleigh, and confusion seemed added to her +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>Harleigh hastily spoke. 'It is the old officer,—that truly benevolent +veteran, who wishes to serve you, and whose services, from the nobleness +of his character, confer still more honour than benefit.'</p> + +<p>Again she courtsied, and with an air in which Harleigh observed, with +respect, not displeasure, her satisfaction in changing the object of +this obligation.</p> + +<p>'Well, that's settled,' said Elinor; 'but now the landlord wants your +name, for taking your place.'</p> + +<p>'My place?—Is there no machine, Madam, that sets off immediately?'</p> + +<p>'None sooner than to-morrow. What name am I to tell him?'</p> + +<p>'None sooner than to-morrow?'</p> + +<p>'No; and if you do not give in your name, and secure it, you may be +detained till the next day.'</p> + +<p>'How very unfortunate!' cried she, walking about the room.</p> + +<p>'Well, but what is your name?'</p> + +<p>A crimson of the deepest hue forced its way through her dark complexion: +her very eyes reddened with blushes, as she faintly answered, 'I cannot +tell my name!'</p> + +<p>She turned suddenly away, with a look that seemed to expect resentment, +and anticipate being abandoned.</p> + +<p>Elinor, however, only laughed, but laughed 'in such a sort' as +proclaimed triumph over Harleigh, and contempt for the stranger.</p> + +<p>Harleigh drew Elinor apart, saying, 'Can this, really, appear to you so +ridiculous?'</p> + +<p>'And can you, really, Harleigh, be allured by so glaring an adventurer? +a Wanderer,—without even a name!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>'She is not, at least, without probity, since she prefers any risk, and +any suspicion, to falsehood. How easily, otherwise, might she assume any +appellation that she pleased!'</p> + +<p>'You are certainly bewitched, Harleigh!'</p> + +<p>'You are certainly mistaken, Elinor! yet I cannot desert her, till I am +convinced that she does not merit to be protected.'</p> + +<p>Elinor returned to the stranger. 'You do not chuse, then, to have your +place secured?'</p> + +<p>'O yes Madam!—if it is impossible for me to attend any lady to town.'</p> + +<p>'And what name shall you like for the book-keeper? Or what +initials?—What think you of L.S.?'</p> + +<p>She started; and Harleigh, again taking Elinor aside, more gravely said, +'Elinor, I am glad I am not—at this moment—my brother!—for certainly +I could not forbear quarrelling with you!'</p> + +<p>'I heartily wish, then,' cried she, with quickness, 'that,—at this +moment!—you were your brother!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, now, addressing the stranger, in whose air and manner distress +seemed palpably gaining ground, gently said, 'To save you any further +trouble, I will take a place in my own name, and settle with the +landlord, that, if I do not appear to claim it, it is to be made over to +the person who produces this card. The book-keeper shall have such +another for a check.'</p> + +<p>He put into her hand a visiting ticket, on which was engraven Mr +Harleigh, and, not waiting for her thanks, conducted Elinor back to the +parlour, saying, 'Pardon me, Elinor, that I have stopt any further +enquiries. It is not from a romantic admiration of mystery, but merely +from an opinion that, as her wish of concealment is open and confessed, +we ought not, through the medium of serving her, to entangle her into +the snares of our curiosity.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you are decided to be always right, I know!' cried Elinor, +laughing, though piqued; 'and that is the very reason I always hate you! +However, you excite my curiosity to fathom her; so let her come to me in +town, and I'll take her under my own care, if only to judge your +discernment, by finding out how she merits your quixotism.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh then returned to the young woman, and hesitatingly said, +'Pardon my intrusion, but—permit me, as you have so unfortunately lost +your purse-'</p> + +<p>'If my place, Sir,' hastily interrupted the stranger, 'is taken, I can +require nothing else.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Yet—you have the day to pass here; and you will with difficulty exist +merely upon air, even where so delightedly you inhale it; and Miss +Joddrel, I fear, has forgotten to bring you the little offering of your +veteran friend; therefore—'</p> + +<p>'If he has the infinite goodness to intend me any, sir, permit, at +least, that he may be my only pecuniary creditor! I shall want no +addition of that sort, to remember,—gratefully and for ever! to whom it +is I owe the deepest obligation of my life!'</p> + +<p>Is this a house-maid? thought Harleigh; and again he rejoiced in the +perseverance with which he had supported her; and, too much respecting +her refusal to dispute it, expressed his good wishes for her welfare, +and took leave; yet would not set out upon his journey till he had again +sought to interest the old officer in her favour.</p> + +<p>The guinea was still upon the tea-table; but the Admiral, who, in the +fear of double dealing, had conceived some ideas to the disadvantage of +the Incognita, no sooner heard that she had declined receiving any +succour except from himself, than, immediately softened, he said that he +would take care to see her well treated.</p> + +<p>Harleigh then drove after the carriage of Mrs Maple and Elinor, who were +already on their way to London.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>The Admiral immediately repaired to the stranger. 'Young woman,' he +cried, 'I hope you don't take it into your mind, that I was more +disposed to serve you while I thought you of foreign culture, than now I +know you to be of our own growth? If I came forwarder then, it was only +because I was afraid that those who have had less occasion than I have +had, to get the upper hand of their prejudices, would keep backwarder.'</p> + +<p>The stranger bowed her thanks.</p> + +<p>'But as to me,' he continued, 'I have had the experience of what it is +to be in a strange land; and, moreover, a prisoner: in which time I came +to an agreement with myself—a person over whom I keep a pretty tight +hand! because why? If I don't the devil will! So I came, I say, to an +agreement with myself, to remember all the ill-usage I then met with, as +a memento to forbear exciting in others, those black passions which +sundry unhandsome tricks excited, in those days, in myself.'</p> + +<p>Observing her breakfast to be utterly neglected, he demanded, with an +air of some displeasure, whether she had no longing to taste the food of +her mother country again?</p> + +<p>The fulness of her mind, she answered, had deprived her of appetite.</p> + +<p>'Poor girl! poor woman!' cried he, compassionately, 'for I hardly know +which to call you, those cap-flounces pon the cheeks making a young +woman look no better than an old one. However, be you which you may, I +can't consent to see you starve in a land of plenty; which would be a +base ingratitude to our Creator, who, in dispensing the most to the +upper class; grants us the pleasure of dispensing the overplus, +ourselves, to the under class; which I take to be the true<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> reason of +Providence for ordering that difference between the rich and the poor; +as, most like, we shall all find, when we come to give in our accounts +in t'other world.'</p> + +<p>He then enquired what it was she intended to do; adding, 'I don't mean +as to your secrets, because they are what I have no right to meddle +with; though I disapprove your having any, they being of little service, +except to keep foul deeds from the light; for what is fair loves to be +above board. Besides, as every thing is sure to come out, sooner or +later, it only breeds suspicion and trouble for nothing, to +procrastinate telling to-day with your own free will, what you may be +certain will be known to-morrow, or next day, with or without it. Don't +be discomposed, however, for I don't say this by way of a sift, nor yet +for a reproach; I merely drop it as a piece of advice.'</p> + +<p>'And I should be happy, Sir, to endeavour to deserve it, by frankly +explaining my situation, but that the least mistake, the smallest +imprudence, might betray me to insupportable wretchedness.'</p> + +<p>'Why then, if that's the case, you are very right to hold your tongue. +If the law never makes a person condemn himself, much less ought a +little civility. There are dangers enough in the world without running +risks out of mere compliment.'</p> + +<p>Then putting his guinea before her, upon the table, he charged her to +keep it unbroken till she set out, assuring her that he should himself +order whatever she could require for her dinner, supper, and lodging, +and settle for the whole with the landlord; as well as with the +book-keeper for her journey to London.</p> + +<p>The stranger seemed almost overpowered with gratitude; but interrupting +what she attempted to say, 'No thankings,' he cried, 'young woman! it's +a bad sign when a good turn surprises a person. I have not escaped from +such hard fare with my body, to leave my soul behind me; though, God +knows, I may forget it all fast enough. There's no great fear of mortal +man's being too good.'</p> + +<p>Then, wishing her farewell, he was quitting the room, but, thoughtfully +turning back, 'Before we part,' he said, 'it will be but Christian-like +to give you a hint for your serious profit. In whatever guise you may +have demeaned yourself, up to this present date, which is a solution I +don't mean to meddle with, I hope you'll always conduct yourself in a +becoming manner, for the rest of your days, in remembrance of your great +good fortune, in landing safely upon this happy shore.'</p> + +<p>He was going, but the Incognita stopt him, and again the dark hue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> of +her skin, was inadequate to disguise the deep blushes that were burning +upon her cheeks, as she replied, 'I see, Sir, through all your +benevolence, that you believe me to be one of those unhappy persons, +whose misfortunes have been the effect of their crimes: I have no way to +prove my innocence; and assertion may but make it seem more doubtful; +yet—'</p> + +<p>'You are right! you are right!' interrupted he; 'I am no abettor of +assertions. They are but a sort of cheap coinage, to make right and +wrong pass current together.'</p> + +<p>'I find I have been too quick,' she answered, 'in thinking myself happy! +to receive bounty under so dreadful a suspicion, proves me to be in a +desolate state indeed!'</p> + +<p>'Young woman,' said the Admiral, in a tone approaching to severity, +'don't complain! We must all bear what we have earned. I can't but see +what you are, though it's what I won't own to the rest of the crew, who +think a flaw in the character excuse plenty for letting a poor weak +female starve alive; for which, to my seeming, they deserve to want a +crust of bread themselves. But I hope I know better than that where the +main fault is apt to lie; for I am not ignorant how apt our sex is to +misbehave to yours; especially in slighting you, if you don't slight +them; a thing not to be defended, either to God or man. But for all +that, young woman, I must make free to remark, that the devil himself +never yet put it into a man's head, nor into the world's neither, to +abandon, or leave, as you call it, desolate, a woman who has kept tight +to her own duty, and taken a modest care of herself.'</p> + +<p>The eyes of the stranger were now no longer bright from their mere +natural lustre, nor from the beams of quick surprize, or of sudden +vivacity; 'twas with trembling emotion that they shone, and with +indignation that they sparkled. She took up the guinea, from which her +sight seemed averted with horror, and said, 'Pardon me, Sir, but I must +beg you to receive this again.'</p> + +<p>'Why, what now? do you think, because I make no scruple to give you an +item that I don't fancy being imposed upon; do you think, I say, because +of that, I have so little Christian charity, as not to know that you may +be a very good sort of woman in the main, for all some flaunty coxcomb +may have played the scoundrel, and left you to the wide world, after +teaching you to go so awry, that he knows the world will forsake you +too? a thing for which, however, he'll pay well in time; as I make no +doubt but the devil takes his own notes of all such actions.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>She now cast the guinea upon the table. 'I would rather, Sir,' she +cried, 'beg alms of every passenger that I may meet, than owe succour to +a species of pity that dishonours me!'</p> + +<p>The Admiral looked at her with earnestness. 'I don't well know,' he +said, 'what class to put you in; but if you are really a virtuous woman, +to be sure I ought to ask your pardon for that little hint I let drop; +and, moreover, if I asked it upon my knees, I can't say I should think +it would be over-much, for affronting a virtuous woman, without cause. +And, indeed, if I were free to confess the truth, I must own there's +something about you, which I don't over-much know what to call, but that +is so agreeable, that it goes against me to think ill of you.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Sir! think well of me, then!—let your benevolence be as liberal as +it is kind, and try, for once, to judge favourably of a stranger upon +trust!'</p> + +<p>'Well, I will! I will, then! if you have the complaisance to wish for my +good opinion, I will!' cried he, nodding, while his eyes glistened; +'though it's not my general method, I can tell you, young woman, to go +the direct opposite road to my understanding. But, out of the way as +things may look, you seem to me, in the main, to be an innocent person; +so pray, Ma'am, don't refuse to accept this little token of my good +will.'</p> + +<p>The countenance of the stranger exhibited strong indecision. He enjoined +her, however, to keep the guinea, and, after struggling vainly to speak, +she sighed, and seemed distressed, but complied.</p> + +<p>He nodded again, saying, 'Be of good cheer, my dear. Nothing comes of +being faint-hearted. I give you my promise I'll see you in town. And, if +I find that you turn out to be good; or, moreover, if you turn good, +after having unluckily been t'other thing, I'll stand your friend. You +may depend upon it.'</p> + +<p>With a look of mingled kindness and concern, he then left the room.</p> + +<p>And here, shocked, yet relieved, and happy, however forlorn, she +remained, till a waiter brought her a fowl, a tart, and a pint of white +wine, according to commands issued by the Admiral. She then heard that +the whole of the boat-party had set off for London, except Mrs Ireton, +the sick lady, who did not think herself sufficiently recovered to +travel till the next day, and who had enquired for some genteel young +lady to attend her to town; but she was so difficult, the waiter said, +to please, that she had rejected half-a-dozen candidates who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> been +presented to her successively. She seemed very rich, he added, for she +ordered things at a great rate, though she found fault with them as fast +as they were carried to her; but what had put her the most out of humour +of all, was that the young gentleman, her son, had set off without her, +in a quarrel: which was not, however, so much to be wondered at, for the +maids of the two other ladies said that the gentlewoman was of so +aggravating a humour, that nobody could live with her; which had +provoked her own woman to leave her short in France, and hire herself to +a French lady.</p> + +<p>The little repast of the stranger was scarcely over, when the waiter +brought her word that the sick lady desired to see her up stairs.</p> + +<p>Extremely surprised, she demanded for what purpose.</p> + +<p>He answered, that a seventh young person whom he had taken into the +lady's room, with an offer to serve her, upon being sharply treated, had +as sharply replied; which had so affronted her, that she had ordered +that no one else should be brought into her presence; though in two +minutes more, she had rung the bell, said she was too ill to be left +alone, and bid him fetch her the woman who came over from France.</p> + +<p>The stranger, at first, refused to obey this imperious summons; but the +wish of placing herself under female protection during her journey, +presently conquered her repugnance, and she accompanied the messenger +back.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton was reclining upon an easy chair, still somewhat disordered +from her voyage, though by no means as much in need of assistance for +her shattered frame, as of amusement for her restless mind.</p> + +<p>'So!' she cried, 'you are here still? Pray,—if I may ask so +confidential a question,—what acquaintance may you have found in this +inn?—The waiters?—or the grooms?'</p> + +<p>'I was told, Madam, that you had some commands for me.'</p> + +<p>'O, you are in haste, are you? you want to be shewing off those patches +and bandages, perhaps? You won't forget a veil, I hope, to preserve your +white skin? Not but 'twould be pity to make any sort of change in your +dress, 'tis so prodigiously tasty!'</p> + +<p>The stranger, offended, was now moving off, but, calling her back, 'Did +not the waiter,' Mrs Ireton demanded, 'give you to understand that I +sent for you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Madam; and therefore—'</p> + +<p>'Well, and what do you suppose it was for? To let you open and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> shut the +door, just to give me all the cold wind of the passages? You suppose it +was for that, do you? You surmize that I have a passion for the +tooth-ache? You conclude that I delight in sneezing?—coughing?—and a +stuft-up nose?'</p> + +<p>'I am sorry, Madam,—'</p> + +<p>'Or perhaps you think me so robust, that it would be kind to give me a +little indisposition, to prevent my growing too boisterous? You may deem +my strength and health to be overbearing? and be so good as to intend +making me more delicate? You may be of opinion that it would render me +more interesting?'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Madam,'—</p> + +<p>'Or, you may fancy that a friendly catarrh might be useful, in +furnishing me with employment, from ordering water-gruel, and balm-tea, +and barley-water, and filling up my leisure in devising successive +slops?'</p> + +<p>The difficulty of being heard made the stranger now cease to attempt +speaking; and Mrs Ireton, after sundry similar interrogatories, angrily +said, 'So you really don't think fit to initiate me into your motives +for coming to me, without troubling yourself to learn mine for admitting +you into my presence?'</p> + +<p>'On the contrary, Ma'am, I desire—'</p> + +<p>'O! I am mistaken, am I? It's on the contrary, is it? You are vastly +kind to set me right; vastly kind, indeed! Perhaps you purpose to give +me a few lessons of behaviour?'</p> + +<p>'I am so wholly at a loss, Madam, why I have been summoned, that I can +divine no reason why I should stay. I beg, therefore, to take my leave.'</p> + +<p>Again she was retreating; but Mrs Ireton, struck by her courage, began +to conceive that the mystery of her birth and business, might possibly +terminate in a discovery of her belonging to a less abject class than +her appearance announced; and therefore, though firmly persuaded that +what might be diminished in poverty, would be augmented in disgrace, her +desire was so inflamed to develop the secret, that, softening her tone, +she asked the young person to take a chair, and then entered into +discourse with some degree of civility.</p> + +<p>Yet with all this restraint, inflicted upon a nature that, to the +privilege of uttering whatever it suggested, claimed that of hearing +only what it liked, she could gather no further intelligence, than that +the stranger had received private information of the purposed sailing of +the vessel, in which they all came over: but her birth, her name,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> her +connexions, her actual situation, and her object in making the voyage, +resisted enquiry, eluded insinuation, and baffled conjecture. +Nevertheless, her manners were so strikingly elevated above her attire, +that, notwithstanding the disdain with which, in the height of her +curiosity, Mrs Ireton surveyed her mean apparel, and shrunk from her +dusky skin, she gave up her plan of seeking for any other person to wait +upon her, during her journey to town, and told the Incognita that, if +she could make her dress a little less shocking, she might relinquish +her place in the stage-coach, to occupy one in a post-chaise.</p> + +<p>To avoid new and untried risks, in travelling wholly alone, the stranger +acceded to this proposal; and immediately, by the assistance of the maid +of the inn, appropriated the guinea of the Admiral to purchasing decent +clothing, though of the cheapest and coarsest texture.</p> + +<p>The next morning they set off together for London.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>The good understanding with which the eagerness of curiosity on one +side, and the subjection of caution on the other, made the travellers +begin their journey, was of too frail a nature to be of long endurance. +'Tis only what is natural that flows without some stimulus; what is +factitious prospers but while freshly supplied with such materials as +gave it existence. Mrs Ireton, when she found that neither questions, +insinuations, nor petty artifices to surprise confessions, succeeded in +drawing any forth, cast off a character of softness that so little paid +the violence which its assumption did her humour; while the stranger, +fatigued by finding that not one particle of benevolence, was mixed with +the avidity for amusement which had given her a place in the chaise, +ceased all efforts to please, and bestowed no further attentions, than +such as were indispensably due to the mistress of the vehicle in which +she travelled.</p> + +<p>At a little distance from Rochester, the chaise broke down. No one was +hurt; but Mrs Ireton deemed the mere alarm an evil of the first +magnitude; remarking that this event might have brought on her death; +and remarking it with the resentment of one who had never yet considered +herself as amenable to the payment of that general, though dread debt to +nature. She sent on a man and horse for another carriage, and was forced +to accept the arm of the stranger, to support her till it arrived. But +so deeply was she impressed with her own ideas of the hardships that she +endured, that she put up at the first inn, went to bed, sent for an +apothecary, and held it to be an indispensable tribute to the delicacy +of her constitution, to take it for granted that she could not be +removed for some days, without the most imminent hazard to her life.</p> + +<p>Having now no other resource, she hung for comfort, as well as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> for +assistance, upon her fellow-traveller, to whom she gave the interesting +post of being the repository of all her complaints, whether against +nature, for constructing her frame with such exquisite daintiness, or +against fate, for its total insensibility to the tenderness which that +frame required. And though, from recently quitting objects of sorrow, +and scenes of woe, in the dreadful apparel of awful reality, the +Incognita had no superfluous pity in store for the distresses of +offended self-importance, she yet felt relief from experiencing milder +usage, and spared no assiduity that might purchase its continuance.</p> + +<p>It was some days before Mrs Ireton thought that she might venture to +travel, without appearing too robust. And, in this period, one only +circumstance called forth, with any acrimony, the ill humour of her +disposition. This was a manifest alteration in the complexion of her +attendant, which, from a regular and equally dark hue, appeared, on the +second morning, to be smeared and streaked; and, on the third, to be of +a dusky white. This failed not to produce sundry inquisitive comments; +but they never succeeded in obtaining any explanatory replies. When, +however, on the fourth day, the shutters of the chamber, which, to give +it a more sickly character, had hitherto been closed, were suffered to +admit the sun-beams of a cheerful winter's morning, Mrs Ireton was +directed, by their rays, to a full and marvellous view, of a skin +changed from a tint nearly black, to the brightest, whitest, and most +dazzling fairness. The band upon the forehead, and the patch upon the +cheek, were all that remained of the original appearance.</p> + +<p>The first stare at this unexpected metamorphosis, was of unmingled +amazement; but it was soon succeeded by an expression of something +between mockery and anger, evinced, without ceremony or reserve, by the +following speech: 'Upon my word, Ma'am, you are a very complete figure! +Beyond what I could have conjectured! I own that! I can't but own that. +I was quite too stupid to surmize so miraculous a change. And pray, +Ma'am, if I may take the liberty to enquire,—who are you?'</p> + +<p>The stranger looked down.</p> + +<p>'Nay, I ought not to ask, I confess. It's very indelicate, I own; very +rude, I acknowledge; but, I should imagine, it can hardly be the first +time that you have been so good as to pardon a little rudeness. I don't +know, I may be mistaken, to be sure, but I should imagine so.'</p> + +<p>The Incognita now raised her eyes. A sense of ill treatment seemed to +endue her with courage; but her displeasure, which, though not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> uttered, +was not disguised, no sooner reached the observation of Mrs Ireton, than +she conceived it to be an insolence to justify redoubling her own.</p> + +<p>'You are affronted, I hope, Ma'am? Nay, you have reason enough, I +acknowledge; I can't but acknowledge that! to see me impressed with so +little awe by your wonderful powers; for 'twas but an hour or two since, +that you were the blackest, dirtiest, raggedest wretch I ever beheld; +and now—you are turned into an amazing beauty! Your cheeks are all +bedaubed with <i>rouge</i>, and you are quite a belle! and wondering, I +suppose, that I don't beseech you to sit on the sofa by my side! And, to +be sure, it's very ill bred of me: I can't deny that; only as it is one +of the rudenesses that I conceive you to have had the goodness to submit +to before, I hope you'll forgive it.'</p> + +<p>The young woman begged leave to retire, till she should be called for +the journey.</p> + +<p>'O! what, you have some other metamorphosis to prepare, perhaps? Those +bandages and patches are to be converted into something else? And pray, +if it will not be too great a liberty to enquire, what are they to +exhibit? The order of Maria Theresa? or of the Empress of all the +Russias? If I did not fear being impertinent, I should be tempted to ask +how many coats of white and red you were obliged to lay on, before you +could cover over all that black.'</p> + +<p>The stranger, offended and tired, without deigning to make any answer, +walked back to the chamber which she had just quitted.</p> + +<p>The astonished Mrs Ireton was in speechless rage at this unbidden +retreat; yet anger was so inherently a part of her composition, that the +sight she saw with the most lively sensation was whatever authorized its +vent. She speedily, therefore, dispatched a messenger, to say that she +was taken dangerously ill, and to desire that the young woman would +return.</p> + +<p>The Incognita, helpless for seeking any more genial mode of travelling, +obeyed the call, but had scarcely entered the apartment, when Mrs +Ireton, starting, and forgetting her new illness, exclaimed, in a +powerful voice, 'Why, what is become of your black patch?'</p> + +<p>The young woman, hastily putting her hand to her cheek, blushed +extremely, while she answered, 'Bless me, it must have dropt off!—I +will run and look for it.'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton peremptorily forbade her to move; and, staring at her with a +mixture of curiosity and harshness, ordered her to draw away her hand. +She resisted for some time, but, overpowered by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> authoritative commands, +was reduced, at length, to submit; and Mrs Ireton then perceived, that +neither wound, scar, nor injury of any sort, had occasioned the patch to +have been worn.</p> + +<p>The excess of her surprize at this discovery, led her to apprehend some +serious imposition. She fearfully, therefore, rose, to ring the bell, +still fixing her eyes upon the face of the young woman, who, in her +confusion, accidentally touching the bandage which crossed her forehead, +displaced it, and shewed that feature, also, as free from any cause for +having been bound up, as the cheek.</p> + +<p>It was now rather consternation than amazement with which Mrs Ireton was +seized, till the augmenting disorder, and increasing colour of her new +attendant, changed all fear of any trick into personal pique at having +been duped; and she protested that if such beggar-stratagems were played +upon her any more, she would turn over the impostor to the master of the +inn.</p> + +<p>The paleness of terror with which this menace overspread the complexion +of the stranger, forced a certain, however unwilling conviction upon the +mind of Mrs Ireton, that <i>rouge</i>, at least, was not amongst the +artifices of which she had to complain. But, though relieved from her +own alarm, by the alarm which she inspired, she was rather irritated +than appeased in finding something less to detect, and, scoffingly +perusing her face, 'You are a surprising person, indeed!' she cried, 'as +surprising a person as ever I had the honour to see! So you had +disfigured yourself in that horrid manner, only to extort money from us +upon false pretences? Very ingenious, indeed! mighty ingenious, I +confess! Why that new skin must have cost you more than your new gown. +Pray which did you get the best bargain?'</p> + +<p>The stranger did not dare risk any sort of reply.</p> + +<p>'O, you don't chuse to tell me? But how could I be so indiscreet as to +ask such a thing? Will it be impertinent, too, if I enquire whether you +always travel with that collection of bandages and patches? and of black +and white outsides? or whether you sometimes change them for wooden legs +and broken arms?'</p> + +<p>Not a word of answer was returned.</p> + +<p>'So you won't tell me that, neither? Nay, you are in the right, I own. +What business is it of mine to confine your genius to only one or two +methods of maiming or defacing yourself? as if you did not find it more +amusing to be one day lame, and another blind; and, to-day, it should +seem, dumb? The round must be entertaining enough. Pray do you make it +methodically? or just as the humour strikes you?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>A fixed silence still resisted all attack.</p> + +<p>'O, I am diving too deeply into the secrets of your trade, am I? Nay, I +ought to be contented, I own, with the specimens with which I have +already been indulged. You have not been niggardly in varying them. You +have been bruised and beaten; and dirty and clean; and ragged and whole; +and wounded and healed; and a European and a Creole, in less than a +week. I suppose, next, you will dwindle into a dwarf; and then, perhaps, +find some surprising contrivance to shoot up into a giantess. There is +nothing that can be too much to expect from so great an adept in +metamorphoses.'</p> + +<p>The pleasure of giving vent to spleen, disguised from Mrs Ireton, that +by rendering its malignancy so obvious, she blunted its effect. She +continued, therefore, her interrogatories a considerable time, before +she discovered, that the stillness with which they were heard was +produced by resolution, not awe. Almost intolerably offended when a +suspicion of this truth occurred, she assumed a tone yet more imperious. +'So I am not worth an answer? You hold it beneath you to waste your +breath upon me? And do you know whom it is you dare treat in this +manner? Do you imagine that I am a fellow-adventurer?'</p> + +<p>The hand of the young woman was now upon the lock of the door, but +there, trembling, it stopt, withheld by a thousand terrors from +following its first impulse; and the entrance of a waiter, with +information that a chaise was at the door, interrupted any further +discourse. The journey was resumed, and the rest of the way was only +rendered supportable to the stranger, from the prospect that its +conclusion would terminate all intercourse with one who, so wilfully and +so wantonly, seemed to revel in her powers of mockery and derision.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>Upon the entrance of the travellers into London, the curiosity of Mrs +Ireton was more than ever inflamed, to find that the journey, with all +its delays, was at an end, before she had been able to gratify that +insatiable passion in a single point. Yet every observation that she +could make tended to redouble its keenness. Neither ill humour nor +haughtiness, now the patches and bandages were removed, could prevent +her from perceiving that the stranger was young and beautiful; nor from +remarking that her air and manner were strikingly distinguished from the +common class. One method, however, still remained for diving into this +mystery; it was clear that the young woman was in want, whatever else +might be doubtful. Mrs Ireton, therefore, resolved to allow no +recompense for her attendance, but in consideration of what she would +communicate of her history.</p> + +<p>At a large house in Grosvenor Square they stopt. Mrs Ireton turned +exultingly to the stranger: but her glance met no gratification. The +young woman, instead of admiring the house, and counting the number of +steps that led to the vestibule, or of windows that commanded a view of +the square, only cast her eyes upwards, as if penetrated with +thankfulness that her journey was ended.</p> + +<p>Surprised that stupidity should thus be joined with cunning, Mrs Ireton +now intently watched the impression which, when her servants appeared, +would be made by their rich liveries.</p> + +<p>The stranger, however, without regarding them, followed their mistress +into the hall, which that lady was passing through in stately silence, +meaning to confound the proud vagrant more completely, by dismissing her +from the best drawing-room; when the words, 'Permit me, Madam, to wish +you good morning,' made her look round. She then saw that her late +attendant, without waiting for any answer, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> tranquilly preparing to +be gone. Amazed and provoked, she deigned to call after her, and desired +that she would come the next day to be paid.</p> + +<p>'I am more than paid already, Madam,' the Incognita replied, 'if my +little services may be accepted as cancelling my obligation for the +journey.'</p> + +<p>She had no difficulty, now, to leave the house without further +interruption, so astonished was Mrs Ireton, at what she thought the +effrontery of a speech, that seemed, in some measure, to level her with +this adventurer; though, in her own despite, she was struck with the air +of calm dignity with which it was uttered.</p> + +<p>The Wanderer obtained a direction to the house of Mrs Maple, from a +servant; and demanded another to Titchfield Street. To the latter she +rapidly bent her steps; but, there arrived, her haste ended in +disappointment and perplexity. She discovered the apartment in which, +with her husband and child, the lady whom she sought had resided; but it +was no longer inhabited; and she could not trace whether her friend had +set off for Brighthelmstone, or had only changed her lodging. After a +melancholy and fruitless search, she repaired, though with feet and a +mind far less eager, to Upper Brooke Street, where she soon read the +name of Mrs Maple upon the door of one of the capital houses. She +enquired for Miss Joddrel, and begged that young lady might be told, +that a person who came over in the same boat with her from France, +requested the honour of admission.</p> + +<p>To this message she presently heard the voice of Elinor, from the +landing-place, answer, 'O, she's come at last! Bring her up Tomlinson, +bring her up!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Ma'am; but I'll promise you she is none of the person you have +been expecting.'</p> + +<p>'How can you tell that Tomlinson? What sort of figure is she?'</p> + +<p>'As pretty as can be.'</p> + +<p>'As pretty as can be, is she? Go and ask her name.'</p> + +<p>The man obeyed.</p> + +<p>The stranger, disconcerted, answered, 'My name will not be known to Miss +Joddrel, but if she will have the goodness to receive, I am sure she +will recollect me.'</p> + +<p>Elinor, who was listening, knew her voice, and, calling Tomlinson up +stairs, and heartily laughing, said, 'You are the greatest fool in the +whole world, Tomlinson! It is she! Bid her come to me directly.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tomlinson did as he was ordered, but grinned, with no small +satisfaction, at sight of the surprise with which, when they reached the +landing-place, his young mistress looked at the stranger.</p> + +<p>'Why, Tomlinson,' she cried, 'who have you brought me hither?'</p> + +<p>Tomlinson smirked, and the Incognita could not herself refrain from +smiling, but with a countenance so little calculated to excite distrust, +that Elinor, crying, 'Follow me,' led the way into her dressing room.</p> + +<p>The young woman, then, with an air that strongly supplicated for +indulgence, said, 'I am truly shocked at the strange appearance which I +must make; but as I come now to throw myself upon your protection, I +will briefly—though I can enter into no detail—state to you how I am +circumstanced.'</p> + +<p>'O charming! charming!' cried Elinor, clapping her hands, 'you are +going, at last, to relate your adventures! Nay, no drawing back! I won't +be disappointed! If you don't tell me every thing that ever you did in +your life, and every thing that ever you said, and every thing that ever +you thought,—I shall renounce you!'</p> + +<p>'Alas!' answered the Incognita, 'I am in so forlorn a situation, that I +must not wonder if you conclude me to be some outcast of society, +abandoned by my friends from meriting their desertion,—a poor destitute +Wanderer, in search of any species of subsistence!'</p> + +<p>'Don't be cast down, however,' cried Elinor, 'for I will help you on +your way. And yet you have exactly spoken Aunt Maple's opinion of you.'</p> + +<p>'And I have no right, I acknowledge, to repine, at least, none for +resentment: yet, believe me, Madam, such is not the case! and if, as you +have given me leave to hope, you will have the benevolence to permit me +to travel in your party, or in whatever way you please, to +Brighthelmstone, I may there meet with a friend, under whose protection +I may acquire courage to give a more intelligible account of myself.'</p> + +<p>A rap at the street door made Elinor ring the bell, and order, that when +Mr Harleigh came, he should be shewn immediately up stairs.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, presently appearing, looked round the apartment, with striking +eagerness, yet evident disappointment; and, slightly bowing to the +scarcely noticed, yet marked courtsie of the stranger, said, 'Tomlinson +told me that our fellow-traveller was at last arrived?'</p> + +<p>Elinor, taking the young woman apart, whispered a hasty injunction that +she would not discover herself. Then, addressing Harleigh, 'I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> believe,' +she said, 'you dream of nothing but that dismal Incognita. However, do +not fancy you have all the mysterious charmers to yourself. I have one +of my own, now; and not such a dingy, dowdy heroine as yours!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh turned with quickness to the stranger; but she looked down, and +her complexion, and bloom, and changed apparel, made a momentary +suspicion die away.</p> + +<p>Elinor demanded what news he had gathered of their strayed voyager?</p> + +<p>None, he answered; and uneasily added, that he feared she had either +lost herself, or been misled, or betrayed, some other way.</p> + +<p>'O, pray don't waste your anxiety!' cried Elinor; 'she is in perfect +safety, I make no doubt.'</p> + +<p>'I should be sorry,' he gravely replied, 'to think you in equal danger.'</p> + +<p>'Should you?' cried she in a softened tone; 'should you, Harleigh, be +sorry if any evil befel me?'</p> + +<p>'But why,' he asked, 'has Tomlinson given me this misinformation?'</p> + +<p>'And why, Mr Harleigh, because Tomlinson told you that a stranger was +here, should you conclude it could be no other than your black +fugitive?'</p> + +<p>Again Harleigh turned to the traveller, and fixed his eyes upon her +face: the patch, the bandage, the large cap, had hitherto completely +hidden its general form; and the beautiful outline he now saw, with so +entire a contrast of complexion to what he remembered, again checked, or +rather dissolved his rising surmizes.</p> + +<p>Elinor begged him to be seated, and to quiet his perturbed spirit.</p> + +<p>He took a chair, but, in passing by the young woman, her sex, her +beauty, her modest air, gave him a sensation that repelled his using it, +and he leant upon its back, looking expressively at Elinor; but Elinor +either marked not the hint, or mocked it. 'So you have really,' she +said, 'taken the pains to go to that eternal inn again, to enquire after +this maimed and defaced Dulcinea? What in the world can have inspired +you with such an interest for this wandering Creole?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">''Tis not her face does love create,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For there no graces revel.'—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The bell of Mrs Maple now ringing, Elinor made a sign to the Incognita +not to avow herself, and flew down stairs to caution Tomlinson to +silence.</p> + +<p>The chair which Harleigh had rejected for himself, he then offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> to +the fair unknown. She declined it, but in a voice that made him start, +and wish to hear her speak again. His offer then became a request, and +she thanked him in a tone that vibrated certainty upon his ears, that it +could be no other than the voice of his fellow-voyager.</p> + +<p>He now looked at her with an earnest gaze, that seemed nearly to draw +his eyes from their sockets. The embarrassment that he occasioned her +brought him to his recollection, and, apologising for his behaviour, he +added; 'A person—a lady—who accompanied us, not long since, from +abroad, had a voice so exactly resembling yours—that I find it rather +impossible than difficult not to believe that I hear the same. Permit me +to ask—have you any very near relation returned lately from France?'</p> + +<p>She blushed, but without replying.</p> + +<p>'I fancy,' he cried, 'I must have encountered two sisters?—yet you have +some reason, I own, to be angry at such a supposition—such a +comparison—'</p> + +<p>He paused, and a smile, which she could not repress, forced her to +speak; 'By no means!' she cried; 'I know well how good you have been to +the person to whom you allude, and I beg you will allow me—in her +name—to return you the most grateful acknowledgements.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, now, yet more curiously examining her, said, 'It would not +have been easy to have forborne taking an interest in her fate. She was +in evident distress, yet never suffered herself to forget that she had +escaped from some yet greater. Her mind seemed fraught with strength and +native dignity. There was something singular, indescribable, in her +manner of supporting the most harassing circumstances. It was impossible +not to admire her.'</p> + +<p>The blush of the stranger now grew deeper, but she remained silent, till +Elinor, re-entering, cried, 'Well, Harleigh, what say you to my new +demoiselle? And where would you have looked for your heart, if such had +seemed your Dulcinea?'</p> + +<p>'I should, perhaps, have been but the safer!' answered he, laughing.</p> + +<p>'Pho! you would not make me believe any thing so out of nature, as that, +when you were in such a tindery fit as to be kindled by that dowdy, you +could have resisted being blown into flames at once by a creature such +as this?'</p> + +<p>'Man is a perverse animal, Elinor; that which he regards as pointed for +his destruction, frequently proves harmless. We are all—boys and +libertines alone excepted—upon our guard against beauty; for, as every +sense is up in arms to second its assault, our pride takes the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> alarm, +and rises to oppose it. Our real danger is where we see no risk.'</p> + +<p>'You enchant me, Harleigh! I am never so delighted as when I hear beauty +set at nought—for I always suspect, Harleigh, that you do not think me +handsome?'</p> + +<p>'If I think you better than handsome, Elinor—'</p> + +<p>'Pho! you know there is no such better in nature; at least not in such +nature as forms taste in the mind of man; which I certainly do not +consider as the purest of its works; though you all hold it, yourselves, +to be the noblest. Nevertheless, imagination is all-powerful; if, +therefore, you have taken the twist to believe in such sublimity, you +may, perhaps, be seriously persuaded, that your heart would have been +more stubborn to this dainty new Wanderer than to your own +walnut-skinned gypsey.'</p> + +<p>'Walnut-skinned?'</p> + +<p>'Even so, noble knight-errand, even so! This person whom you now behold, +and whom, if we believe our eyes, never met them till within this half +hour, if we give credit to our ears, scrambled over with us in that +crazy boat from France.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh was here summoned to Miss Maple, and Elinor returned to her +interrogatories; but the stranger only reverted to her hopes, that she +might still depend upon the promised conveyance to Brighthelmstone?</p> + +<p>'Tell me, at least, what it was you flung into the sea?'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Madam, that would tell every thing!'</p> + +<p>'You are a most provoking little devil,' cried Elinor, impatiently, 'and +I am half tempted to have nothing more to say to you. Give me, however, +some account how you managed matters with that sweet tender dove Mrs +Ireton.'</p> + +<p>The recital that ensued of the disasters, difficulties, and choler of +that lady, proved so entertaining to Elinor, that she soon not only +renewed her engagement of taking her unknown guest free to Lewes, but +joined the warmest assurances of protection. 'Not that we must attempt,' +she cried, 'to get rid of the spite of Aunt Maple, for if we do, alter +so completely the basis of her composition, that she won't know how to +stand upright.'</p> + +<p>'But now,' she continued, 'where are you to dine? Aunt Maple is too +fusty to let you sit at our table.'</p> + +<p>The stranger earnestly solicited permission to eat alone: Elinor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +consented; assigned her a chamber, and gave orders to Mrs Golding, her +own maid, to take care of the traveller.</p> + +<p>The repast below stairs was no sooner finished, than Elinor flew back to +summon the Incognita to descend for exhibition. 'I have told them all,' +she said, 'that you are arrived, though I have revealed nothing of your +metamorphosis; and there is a sister of mine, a conceited little thing, +who is just engaged to be married, and who is wild to see you; and it is +a rule, you know, to deny nothing to a bride elect; probably, poor +wretch, because every one knows what a fair way she is in to be soon +denied every thing! That quiz, Harleigh, would not stay; and that +nothingly Ireton has nearly shrugged his shoulders out of joint, at the +very idea of so great a bore as seeing you again. Come, nevertheless; I +die to enjoy Aunt Maple's astonishment at your new phiz.'</p> + +<p>The stranger sought to evade this request as a pleasantry; but finding +that it was insisted upon seriously, protested that she had neither +courage nor spirits for being produced as an object of sport.</p> + +<p>Elinor now again felt a strong temptation to draw back from her promise; +but while, between anger and generosity, she hung suspended, a message +arrived from Mrs Maple, to order that the woman from France should be +sent to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>Elinor, changing the object of her displeasure, now warmly repeated her +resolution to support the stranger; and, hastening to the +dining-parlour, declared to her aunt, and to the party, that the woman +from France should not be treated with indignity; that she was evidently +a person who had been too well brought up to be consigned to domestics; +and that she herself admired, and would abet her spirit, in refusing to +be stared at like a wild beast.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>The affairs of Mrs Maple kept her a week longer in London; but the +impatience of the Wanderer to reach Brighthelmstone, was compelled to +yield to an utter inability of getting thither unaided. During this +period, she gathered, from various circumstances, that Elinor had been +upon the point of marriage with the younger brother of Harleigh, a +handsome and flourishing lawyer; but that repeated colds, ill treated, +or neglected, had menaced her with a consumption, and she had been +advised to try a change of climate. Mrs Maple accompanied her to the +south of France, where she had resided till her health was completely +re-established. Harleigh, then, in compliment to his brother, who was +confined by his profession to the capital, crossed the Channel to attend +the two ladies home. They had already arrived at —— on their return, +when an order of Robespierre cast them into prison, whence enormous +bribes, successful stratagems, and humane, though concealed assistance +from some compassionate inhabitants of the town, enabled them, in common +with the Admiral, the Iretons, and Riley, to effect their escape to a +prepared boat, in which, through the friendly darkness of night, they +reached the harbour of their country and their wishes.</p> + +<p>The stranger learnt also from Elinor, by whom secresy or discretion were +as carelessly set aside, as by herself they were fearfully practised, +that young Ireton, urged by a rich old uncle, and an entailed estate, to +an early marriage, after addressing and jilting half the women of +England, Scotland, and Ireland, had run through France, Switzerland, and +Italy, upon the same errand; yet was returned home heart-whole, and +hand-unshackled; but that, she added, was not the extraordinary part of +the business, male coquets being just as common, and only more +impertinent than female; all that was worth remarking, was his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> conduct +for the last few days. Some accounts which he had to settle with her +aunt, had obliged him to call at their house, the morning after their +arrival in London. He then saw Selina, Elinor's younger sister, a wild +little girl, only fourteen years of age, who was wholly unformed, but +with whom he had become so desperately enamoured, that, when Mrs Maple, +knowing his character, and alarmed by his assiduities, cautioned him not +to make a fool of her young niece, he abruptly demanded her in marriage. +As he was very rich, Mrs Maple had, of course, Elinor added, given her +consent, desiring only that he would wait till Selina reached her +fifteenth birth-day; and the little girl, when told of the plan, had +considered it as a frolic, and danced with delight.</p> + +<p>During this interval, the time of the stranger was spent in the tranquil +employment of needle-work, for which she was liberally supplied with +cast-off materials, to relieve her necessities, from the wardrobe of +Elinor, through whose powerful influence she was permitted to reside +entirely up stairs. Here she saw only her protectress, into whose +apartment Mrs Maple did not deign, and no one else dared, to intrude +unbidden. The spirit of contradiction, which was termed by Elinor the +love of independence, fixed her design of supporting the stranger, to +whom she delighted to do every good office which Mrs Maple deemed +superfluous, and whom she exulted in thus exclusively possessing, as a +hidden curiosity. But when she found that no enquiry produced any +communication, and that nothing fresh offered for new defiance to Mrs +Maple, a total indifference to the whole business took place of its +first energy, and the young woman, towards the end of the week, fell +into such neglect that it was never mentioned, and hardly even +remembered, that she was an inhabitant of the house.</p> + +<p>When the morning, most anxiously desired by herself, for the journey to +Lewes, arrived, she heard the family engaged in preparations to set off, +yet received no intimation how she was to make one of the party. With +great discomfort, though with tolerable patience, she awaited some +tidings, till the sound of carriages driving up to the street door, +alarmed her with apprehensions of being deserted, and, hastily running +down stairs, she was drawn by the voice of Elinor to the door of the +breakfast-parlour; but the sound of other voices took from her the +courage to open it, though the baggage collected around her shewed the +journey so near, that she deemed it unsafe to return to her chamber.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a few minutes, Harleigh, loaded with large drawings, crossed the +hall, and, observing her distress, enquired into its cause.</p> + +<p>She wished to speak to Miss Joddrel.</p> + +<p>He entered the parlour, and sent out Elinor, who, exclaiming, 'O, it's +you, is it? Mercy on me! I had quite forgotten you!—' ran back, crying, +'Aunt, here's your old friend, the grim French voyager! Shall she come +in?'</p> + +<p>'Come in? What for, Miss Joddrel? Because Mr Harleigh was so kind as to +make a hoy of my boat, does it follow that you are to make a booth of my +parlour?'</p> + +<p>'She is at the door!' said Harleigh, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>'Then she is at her proper place; where else should such a sort of body +be?'</p> + +<p>Harleigh took up a book.</p> + +<p>'O, but do let her come in, Aunt, do let her come in!' cried the young +Selina. 'I was so provoked at not seeing her the other day, that I could +have cried with pleasure! and sister Elinor has kept her shut up ever +since, and refused me the least little peep at her.'</p> + +<p>The opposition of Mrs Maple only the more strongly excited the curiosity +of Selina, who, encouraged by the clamorous approbation of Elinor, flew +to the door.</p> + +<p>There, stopping short, she called out, 'La! here's nothing but a young +woman!—La! Aunt, I'm afraid she's run away!'</p> + +<p>'And if she is, Niece, we shall not break our hearts, I hoped not but, +if she's decamped, it's high time I should enquire whether all is safe +in the house.'</p> + +<p>'Decamped?' cried Elinor, 'Why she's at the door! Don't you know her, +Aunt? Don't you see her, Ireton?'</p> + +<p>The stranger, abashed, would have retreated. Harleigh, raising his eyes +from his book, shook his head at Elinor, who, laughing and regardless, +seized the hand of the young person, and dragged her into the parlour.</p> + +<p>'Who is this?' said Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>'Who, Aunt? Why your memory is shorter than ever! Don't you recollect +our dingy French companion, that you took such a mighty fancy to?'</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple turned away with angry contempt; and the housekeeper, who had +been summoned, appearing, orders were given for a strict examination +whether the swarthy traveller, who followed them from France, were +gone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>The stranger, changing colour, approached Elinor, and with an air that +claimed her protection, said, 'Will you not, Madam, have the goodness to +explain who I am?'</p> + +<p>'How can I,' cried Elinor, laughing, 'when I don't know it myself?'</p> + +<p>Every one stared; Harleigh turned round; the young woman blushed, but +was silent.</p> + +<p>'If here is another of your Incognitas, Miss Joddrel,' said Mrs Maple, +'I must beg the favour that you'll desire her to march off at once. I +don't chuse to be beset by such sort of gentry quite so frequently. +Pray, young woman, what is it you want here?'</p> + +<p>'Protection, Madam, and compassion!' replied the stranger, in a tone of +supplication.</p> + +<p>'I protest,' said Mrs Maple, 'she has just the same sort of voice that +that black girl had! and the same sort of cant! And pray, young woman, +what's your name?'</p> + +<p>'That's right, Mrs Maple, that's right!' cried Ireton; 'make her tell +her name!'</p> + +<p>'To be sure I shall!' said Mrs Maple, seating herself on a sofa, and +taking out her snuff-box. 'I have a great right to know the name of a +person that comes, in this manner, into my parlour. Why do you not +answer, young woman?'</p> + +<p>The stranger, looking at Elinor, clasped her hands in act of entreaty +for pity.</p> + +<p>'Very fine, truly!' said Mrs Maple: 'So here's just the second edition +of the history of that frenchified swindler!'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Aunt; it's only the sequel to the first part, for it's the same +person, I assure you. Did not you come over with us from France, +Mademoiselle? In the same boat? and with the same surly pilot?'</p> + +<p>The stranger silently assented.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, now, doubly enraged, interrogated her upon the motives of her +having been so disfigured, with the sternness and sharpness of +addressing a convicted cheat.</p> + +<p>The stranger, compelled to speak, said, with an air of extreme +embarrassment, 'I am conscious, Madam, how dreadfully all appearances +are against me! Yet I have no means, with any prudence, to enter into an +explanation: I dare not, therefore, solicit your good opinion, though my +distress is so urgent, that I am forced to sue for your assistance,—I +ought, perhaps, to say your charity!'</p> + +<p>'I don't want,' said Mrs Maple, 'to hear all that sort of stuff over +again. Let me only know who you are, and I shall myself be the best<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +judge what should be done for you. What is it, then, once for all, that +you call yourself? No prevarications! Tell me your name, or go about +your business.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, your name! your name!' repeated Elinor.</p> + +<p>'Your name! your name!' echoed Selina.</p> + +<p>'Your name! your name!' re-echoed Ireton.</p> + +<p>The spirits and courage of the stranger seemed now to forsake her; and, +with a faultering voice, she answered, 'Alas! I hardly know it myself!'</p> + +<p>Elinor laughed; Selina tittered; Ireton stared; the leaves of the book +held by Harleigh were turned over with a speed that shewed how little +their contents engaged him; and Mrs Maple, indignantly swelling, +exclaimed, 'Not know your own name? Why I hope you don't come into my +house from the Foundling Hospital?'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, throwing down his book, walked hastily to Mrs Maple, and said, +in a low voice, 'Yet, if that should be the case, would she be less an +object of compassion? of consideration?'</p> + +<p>'What your notions may be upon such sort of heinous subjects, Mr +Harleigh,' Mrs Maple answered, with a look of high superiority, 'I do +not know; but as for mine, I think encouraging things of that kind, has +a very immoral tendency.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh bowed, not as acquiescent in her opinion, but as declining to +argue it, and was leaving the room, when Elinor, catching him by the +arm, called out, 'Why, Harleigh! what are you so sour for? Are you, +also, angry, to see a clean face, and a clean gown? I'll make the +demoiselle put on her plasters and patches again, if that will please +you better.'</p> + +<p>This forced him to smile and to stay; and Elinor then ended the +inquisition, by proposing that the stranger should go to Lewes in the +chaise with Golding, her own maid, and Fenn, Mrs Maple's housekeeper.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple protested that she would not allow any such indulgence to an +unknown pauper; and Mrs Fenn declared, that there were so many hats, +caps, and things of consequence to take care of, that it would be +impossible to make room for a mouse.</p> + +<p>Elinor, ever alert to carry a disputed point, felt her generosity doubly +excited to support the stranger; and, after some further, but +overpowered opposition from Mrs Maple, the hats, caps, and things of +consequence were forced to submit to inferior accommodation, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the +young woman obtained her request, to set off for Sussex, with the +housekeeper and Elinor's maid.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>The house of Mrs Maple was just without the town of Lewes, and the +Wanderer, upon her arrival there, learnt that Brighthelmstone was still +eight miles farther. She earnestly desired to go on immediately; but how +undertake such a journey on foot, so late, and in the dark month of +December, when the night appears to commence at four o'clock in the +afternoon? Her travelling companions both left her in the court-yard, +and she was fain, uninvited, to follow them to the apartment of the +housekeeper; where she was beginning an apology upon the necessity that +urged her intrusion, when Selina came skipping into the room.</p> + +<p>The stranger, conceiving some hope of assistance from her extreme youth, +and air of good humour, besought her interest with Mrs Maple for +permission to remain in the house till the next day. Selina carried the +request with alacrity, and, almost instantly returning, gave orders to +the housekeeper to prepare a bed for her fellow-traveller, in the little +room upon the stairs.</p> + +<p>The gratitude excited by this support was so pleasant to the young +patronness, that she accompanied her <i>protégée</i> to the destined little +apartment, superintended all the regulations for her accommodation and +refreshments, and took so warm a fancy to her, that she made her a visit +every other half-hour in the course of the evening; during which she +related, with earnest injunctions to secresy, all the little incidents +of her little life, finishing her narration by intimating, in a +rapturous whisper, that she should very soon have a house of her own, in +which her aunt Maple would have no sort of authority. 'And then,' added +she, nodding, 'perhaps I may ask you to come and see me!'</p> + +<p>No one else appeared; and the stranger might tranquilly have passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the +night, but from internal disturbance how she should reach +Brighthelmstone the following morning, without carriage, friends, money, +or knowledge of the road thither.</p> + +<p>Before the tardy light invited her to rise the next day, her new young +friend came flying into the room. 'I could not sleep,' she cried, 'all +last night, for the thought of a play that I am to have a very pretty +dress for; and that we have fixed upon acting amongst ourselves; and so +I got up on purpose to tell you of it, for fear you should be gone.'</p> + +<p>She then read through every word of her own part, without a syllable of +any other.</p> + +<p>They were both soon afterwards sent for into the parlour by Elinor, who +was waiting breakfast for Mrs. Maple, with Harleigh and Ireton. 'My dear +demoiselle,' she cried, 'how fares it? We were all so engrossed last +night, about a comedy that we have been settling to massacre, that I +protest I quite forgot you.'</p> + +<p>'I ought only, Madam,' answered the stranger, with a sigh, 'to wonder, +and to be grateful that you have ever thought of me.'</p> + +<p>'Why what's the matter with you now? Why are you so solemn? Is your +noble courage cast down? What are you projecting? What's your plan?'</p> + +<p>'When I have been to Brighthelmstone, Madame, when I have seen who—or +what may await me there—'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Maple, now appearing, angrily demanded who had invited her into the +parlour? telling her to repair to the kitchen, and make known what she +wanted through some of the servants.</p> + +<p>The blood mounted into the cheeks of the Incognita, but she answered +only by a distant courtsie, and turning to Elinor and Selina, besought +them to accept her acknowledgements for their goodness, and retired.</p> + +<p>Selina and Elinor, following her into the ante-room, asked how she meant +to travel?</p> + +<p>She had one way only in her power; she must walk.</p> + +<p>'Walk?' exclaimed Harleigh, joining them, 'in such a season? And by such +roads?'</p> + +<p>'Walk?' cried Ireton, advancing also, 'eight miles? In December?'</p> + +<p>'And why not, gentlemen?' called out Mrs Maple, 'How would you have such +a body as that go, if she must not walk? What else has she got her feet +for?'</p> + +<p>'Are you sure,' said Ireton, 'that you know the way?'</p> + +<p>'I was never in this part of the world till now.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Ha! Ha! pleasant enough! And what are you to do about money? Did you +ever find that purse of yours that you—lost, I think, at Dover?'</p> + +<p>'Never!'</p> + +<p>'Better and better!' cried Ireton, laughing again, yet feeling for his +own purse, and sauntering towards the hall.</p> + +<p>Harleigh was already out of sight.</p> + +<p>'Pour soul!' said Selina, 'I am sure, for one, I'll help her.'</p> + +<p>'Let us make a subscription,' said Elinor, producing half a guinea, and +looking round to Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>Selina joined the same sum, full of glee to give, for the first time, as +much as her sister.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple clamorously ordered them to shut the parlour door.</p> + +<p>With shame, yet joy, the stranger accepted the two half guineas, +intimated her hopes that she should soon repay them, repeated her +thanks, and took leave.</p> + +<p>The sisters would still have detained her, but Mrs Maple peremptorily +insisted upon breakfasting without further delay.</p> + +<p>The Incognita was proceeding to the housekeeper's room, for a packet of +the gifts of Elinor, but she was stopt in the hall by Ireton, who was +loitering about, playing with his purse, and jerking and catching it +from hand to hand.</p> + +<p>'Here, my dear,' he cried, 'look at this, and take what you will from +it.'</p> + +<p>She coldly thanked him, and, saying that the young ladies had amply +supplied her, would have moved on: but he prevented her, repeating his +offer, and adding, while with uncontrolled freedom he stared at her, +'How the deuce, with such a pretty face as that, could you ever think of +making yourself look such a fright?'</p> + +<p>She told him that she was in haste.</p> + +<p>'But what was the whim of it?'</p> + +<p>She desired him to make way, every moment of day-light being precious to +her.</p> + +<p>'Hang day-light!' cried he, 'I never liked it; and if you will but wait +a few minutes—'</p> + +<p>Selina, here, running to call him to breakfast, he finished in a +whisper, 'I'll convey you in my own chaise wherever you like to go;' and +then, forced to put up his purse, he gallantly handed his fair +bride-elect back to the parlour.</p> + +<p>The stranger, entering the housekeeper's room, met Harleigh, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +seriously remonstrated against her walking project, offering his servant +to procure her a post-chaise. The sigh of her negative expressed its +melancholy economy, though she owned a wish that she could find some +meaner vehicle that would be safe.</p> + +<p>Harleigh then disappeared; but, a few minutes afterwards, when she was +setting out from the garden-gate, she again met him, and he told her +that he was going to order a parcel from a stationer's at +Brighthelmstone; and that a sort of chaise-cart, belonging to a farmer +just by, would be sent for it, almost immediately. 'I do not recommend,' +added he, smiling, 'such a machine for its elegance; and, if you would +permit me to offer you one more eligible—'</p> + +<p>A grave motion of the head repressed him from finishing his phrase, and +he acquainted her that he had just been to the farm, to bespeak a sober +driver, with whom he had already settled for his morning's work.</p> + +<p>This implied assurance, that he had no plan of following the machine, +induced her to agree to the proposition; and, when the little carriage +was in sight, he expressed his good wishes that she might find the +letter, or the friend, that she desired, and returned to the breakfast +parlour.</p> + +<p>The length of the way, joined to the dirt of the roads, made her truly +sensible of his consideration, in affording her this safe conveyance.</p> + +<p>When she arrived at the Post-office, the words, 'Oh, you are come at +last!' struck her ear, from the street; but not conceiving herself to be +addressed, they failed to catch her attention, till she saw, waiting to +give her his hand, while exclaiming, 'What the deuce can have made you +so long in coming?' young Ireton.</p> + +<p>Far less pleased than surprised, she disengaged herself from him with +quickness, and enquired for the post-master.</p> + +<p>He was not within.</p> + +<p>She was extremely disturbed, and at a loss where to wait, or what to do.</p> + +<p>'Why did not you stay for my chaise?' said Ireton. 'When I found that +you were gone, I mounted my steed, and came over by a short cut, to see +what was become of you; and here you have kept me cooling my heels all +this devil of a time. That booby of a driver must have had a taste for +being out-crawled by a snail.'</p> + +<p>Without answering him, she asked whether there were any clerk at hand, +to whom she could apply?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>Oh, yes! and she was immediately shewn into an office, and followed, +without any ceremony, by Ireton, though she replied not a word to any +thing that he said.</p> + +<p>A young man here received her, of whom, in a fearful voice, she demanded +whether he had any letter directed for L.S., to be left till called for.</p> + +<p>'You must make her tell you her name, Sir!' cried Ireton, with an air of +importance. 'I give you notice not to let her have her letter, without a +receipt, signed by her own hand. She came over with Mrs Maple of Lewes, +and a party of us, and won't say who she is. 'T has a very ugly look, +Sir!'</p> + +<p>The eye of the stranger accused him, but vainly, of cruelty.</p> + +<p>The clerk, who listened with great curiosity, soon produced a foreign +letter, with the address demanded.</p> + +<p>While eagerly advancing to receive it, she anxiously enquired, whether +there were no inland letter with the same direction?</p> + +<p>None, she was answered.</p> + +<p>Ireton then, clapping his hand upon the shoulder of the clerk, +positively declared, that he would lodge an information against him, if +he delivered any letter, under such circumstances, without a signed +receipt.</p> + +<p>An almost fainting distress was now visible in the face of the +Incognita, as the clerk, surprised and perplexed, said, 'Have you any +objection, Ma'am, to giving me your name?'</p> + +<p>She stammered, hesitated, and grew paler, while Ireton smiled +triumphantly, when the party was suddenly joined by Harleigh.</p> + +<p>Ireton ceased his clamour, and hung back, ashamed.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, approaching the stranger, with an apology for his intrusion, +was struck with her disordered look, and enquired whether she were ill?</p> + +<p>'Ah, Sir!' she cried, reviving with hope at his sight, and walking +towards the window, whither, wondering, he followed, 'assist me in +mercy!—you know, already, that some powerful motive deters me from +naming myself—'</p> + +<p>'Have I been making any indiscreet enquiry?' cried he, gently, yet in a +tone of surprise.</p> + +<p>'You? O no! You have been all generosity and consideration!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, much gratified, besought her to explain herself with openness.</p> + +<p>'They insist upon my telling my name—or they detain my letter!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Is that all?' said he, and, going to the clerk, he demanded the letter, +for which he gave his own address and receipt, with his word of honour +that he was authorised to require it by the person to whom it was +written.</p> + +<p>He then delivered it into her hand.</p> + +<p>The joy of its possession, joined to the relief from such persecution, +filled her with a delight which, though beaming from all her features, +she had not yet found words to express, when Ireton, whom Harleigh had +not remarked, burst into a significant, though affected laugh.</p> + +<p>'Why, Harleigh! why, what the deuce can have brought you hither?' cried +he. Harleigh wished to retort the question; but would not hazard a +raillery that might embarrass the stranger, who now, with modest grace, +courtsied to him; while she passed Ireton without notice, and left the +room.</p> + +<p>Each wished to follow her, but each was restrained by the other. Ireton, +who continued laughing maliciously, owned that his journey to +Brighthelmstone had been solely to prevail with the clerk to demand the +name of the stranger, before he gave up the letter; but Harleigh +protested that he had merely ridden over to offer his mediation for her +return to Lewes, if she should miss the friend, or letter, of which she +came in search.</p> + +<p>Ireton laughed still more; and hoped that, from such abundant charity, +he would attribute his own ride, also, to motives of as pure +benevolence. He then begged he might not interfere with the following up +of so charitable a purpose: but Harleigh assured him that he had neither +right, pretension, nor design to proceed any farther.</p> + +<p>'If that's the case,' cried Ireton, 'since charity is the order of the +day, I'll see what is become of her myself.'</p> + +<p>He ran out of the room.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, following, soon joined him, and they saw the Incognita enter a +milliner's shop. They then separated; Harleigh pleading business for not +returning immediately to Lewes; while Ireton, mounting his horse, with +an accusing shake of the head, rode off.</p> + +<p>Harleigh strolled to the milliner's, and, enquiring for some gloves, +perceived, through the glass-door of a small parlour, the stranger +reading her letter.</p> + +<p>He begged that the milliner would be so good as to tell the lady in the +inner room, that Mr Harleigh requested to speak to her.</p> + +<p>A message thus open could neither startle nor embarrass her, and he was +instantly admitted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>He found her pale and agitated. Her letter, which was in her hand, she +hastily folded, but looked at nothing else, while she waited an +explanation of his visit.</p> + +<p>'I could not,' he said, 'go back to Lewes without knowing whether your +expectations are answered in coming hither; or whether you will permit +me to tell the Miss Joddrels that they may still have the pleasure to be +of some use to you.'</p> + +<p>She appeared to be unable to speak.</p> + +<p>'I fear to seem importunate,' he continued, 'yet I have no intention, +believe me, to ask any officious questions. I respect what you have said +of the nature of your situation, too much to desire any information +beyond what may tend to alleviate its uneasiness.'</p> + +<p>She held her hands before her eyes, to hide her fresh gushing tears, but +they trickled fast through her fingers, as she answered, 'My situation +is now deplorable indeed!—I have no letter, no direction from the +person whom I had hoped to meet; and whose abode, whose address, I know +not how to discover! I must not apply to any of my original friends: +unknown, and in circumstances the most strange, if not suspicious, can I +hope to make myself any new ones?—Can I even subsist, when, though thus +involved in mystery, I am as indigent as I am friendless, yet dare not +say who, nor what I am,—and hardly even know it myself!'</p> + +<p>Touched with compassion, he drew nearer to her, meaning, from an almost +unconscious impulse of kindness, to take her hand; but feeling, with +equal quickness, the impropriety of allowing his pity such a +manifestation, he retreated to his first place, and, in accents of +gentle, but respectful commiseration, expressed his concern for her +distress.</p> + +<p>Somewhat soothed, yet heavily sighing, 'To fail finding,' she said, +'either the friend, or her direction, that I expected, overwhelms me +with difficulty and perplexity. And even this letter from abroad, though +most welcome, has grievously disappointed me! I am promised, however, +another, which may bring me, perhaps, happier tidings. I must wait for +it patiently; but the person from whom it comes little imagines my +destitute state! The unfortunate loss of my purse makes it, by this +delay of all succour, almost desperate!'</p> + +<p>The hand of Harleigh was involuntarily in his pocket, but before he +could either draw out his purse, or speak, she tremulously added, +colouring, and holding back, 'I am ashamed to have mentioned a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +circumstance, which seems to call for a species of assistance, that it +is impossible I should accept.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh bowed, acquiescent.</p> + +<p>Her eyes thanked him for sparing her any contest, and she then +gratefully acceded to his proposal, of soliciting for her the renewed +aid and countenance of the Miss Joddrels, from whom some little notice +might be highly advantageous, in securing her decent treatment, during +the few days,—perhaps more,—that she might be kept waiting at +Brighthelmstone for another letter.</p> + +<p>He gently exhorted her to re-animate her courage, and hoped to convince +her, by the next morning, that he had not intruded upon her retirement +from motives of idle and useless curiosity.</p> + +<p>As soon as he was gone, she treated with Miss Matson, the milliner, to +whom Harleigh had considerately named her as a young person known to Mrs +Maple, for a small room in her house during a few days; and then, +somewhat revived, she endeavoured, by recollecting the evils which she +had escaped, to look forward, with better hopes of alleviation, to those +which might yet remain to be encountered.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>The next morning, the Wanderer had the happy surprise of seeing Elinor +burst into her chamber. 'We are all on fire,' she cried, 'at our house, +so I am come hither to cool myself. Aunt Maple and I have fought a noble +battle; but I have won the day.'</p> + +<p>She then related, that Harleigh had brought them an account of her +disappointments, her letter, her design to wait for another, and her +being at the milliner's. 'Aunt Maple,' she continued, 'treated the whole +as imposition; but I make it a rule never to let her pitiful system +prevail in the house. And so, to cut the matter short, for I hate a long +story, I gave her to understand, that, if she would not let you return +to Lewes, and stay with us till your letter arrives, I should go to +Brighthelmstone myself, and stay with you. This properly frightened her; +for she knew I would keep my word.'</p> + +<p>'And would you, Madam?' said the stranger, smiling.</p> + +<p>'Why not? Do you think I would not do a thing only because no one else +would do it? I am never so happy as in ranging without a guide. However, +we came to a compromise this morning; and she consents to permit your +return, provided I don't let you enter her chaise, and engage for +keeping you out of every body's way.'</p> + +<p>The stranger, evidently hurt and offended, declined admission upon such +terms. Her obligations, she said, were already sufficiently heavy, and +she would struggle to avoid adding to their weight, and to supply her +own few wants herself, till some new resource might open to her +assistance.</p> + +<p>Elinor, surprised, hastily demanded whether she meant to live alone, +that she might only be aided, and only be visited by Mr Harleigh.</p> + +<p>The stranger looked all astonishment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Nay, that will certainly be the most pleasant method; so I don't affect +to wonder at it; nevertheless—'</p> + +<p>She hesitated, but her face was tinted with a glow of disturbance, and +her voice announced strong rising emotion, as she presently added, 'If +you think of forming any attachment with that man—' She stopt abruptly.</p> + +<p>The heightened amazement of the stranger kept her for a few instants +speechless; but the troubled brow of Elinor soon made her with firmness +and spirit answer, 'Attachment? I protest to you, Madam, except at those +periods when his benevolence or urbanity have excited my gratitude, my +own difficulties have absorbed my every thought!'</p> + +<p>'I heartily congratulate your apathy!' said Elinor, her features +instantly dilating into a smile; 'for he is so completely a +non-descript, that he would else incontestably set you upon hunting out +for some new Rosamund's Pond. That is all I mean.'</p> + +<p>She then, but with gaiety and good humour, enquired whether or not the +stranger would return to Lewes.</p> + +<p>Nothing, to the stranger, could be less attractive at this moment; yet +the fear of such another misinterpretation and rebuff, and the +unspeakable dread of losing, in her helpless situation, all female +countenance, conquered her repugnance.</p> + +<p>Elinor then said that she would hurry home, and send off the same +elegant machine from the farm, which, she found, had been made use of in +her service the preceding day.</p> + +<p>Far from exhilarated was the young person whom she left, who, thus +treated, could scarcely brook the permission to return, which before she +would have solicited. Small are the circumstances which reverse all our +wishes! and one hour still less resembles another in our feelings, than +in our actions.</p> + +<p>Upon arriving again at the house of Mrs Maple, she was met by Selina, +who expressed the greatest pleasure at her return, and conducted her to +the little room which she had before occupied; eagerly announcing that +she had already learnt half her part, which she glibly repeated, crying, +'How lucky it is that you are come back; for now I have got somebody to +say it to!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, she added, had refused her consent to the whole scheme, till +Elinor threatened to carry it into execution in Farmer Gooch's barn, and +to invite all the county.</p> + +<p>She then entered into sundry details of family secrets, the principal of +which was, that she often thought that she should be married before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> her +sister Elinor, though Sister Elinor was twenty-two years old, and she +herself was only fourteen: but Sister Elinor had had a violent quarrel +with Mr Dennis Harleigh, whom she had been engaged to marry before she +went abroad, about the French Revolution, which Sister Elinor said was +the finest thing in the world, but which Mr Dennis said was the very +worst. But, for all that, he loved her so, that he had made his brother +fetch her home, and wanted the marriage to take place directly: and Aunt +Maple wished it too, of all things, because Sister Elinor was so hard to +manage; for, now she was of age, she did everything that she liked; and +she protested that she would not give her consent, unless Mr Dennis +promised to change his opinion upon the French Revolution; so they +quarrelled again the day before they left town; and Aunt Maple, quite +frightened, invited Mr Harleigh, the elder brother, to come and spend a +week or two at Lewes, to try to bring matters round again.</p> + +<p>These anecdotes were interrupted by the appearance of Elinor, of whom +the Incognita entreated, and obtained, permission to reside, as in town, +wholly in her own room.</p> + +<p>'I wish you could hear,' said Elinor, 'how we all settle your history in +the parlour. No two of us have the same idea of whom or what you are.' +She then entered upon the subject of the play, which was to be the +Provoked Husband, in compliment to Miss Arbe, a young lady of celebrated +talents, who, having frequently played the part of Lady Townly, with +amazing applause, at private theatres, had offered her services for that +character, but would study no other. This, Elinor complained, was +singularly provoking, as Harleigh, who alone of the whole set was worth +acting with, must necessarily be Lord Townly. However, since she could +not try her own theatrical skill, by the magnetizing powers of +reciprocated exertions, she determined, in relinquishing what was +brilliant, to adopt at least what was diverting; for which reason she +had taken the part of Lady Wronghead. Selina was to be Miss Jenny; +Ireton, 'Squire Richard; and she had pitched upon Mr Scope and Miss +Bydel, two famous, formal quizzes, residing in Lewes, to compliment them +with the fogrum parts of Manly and Lady Grace; characters which always +put the audience to sleep; but that, as they were both good sort of +souls, who were never awake themselves, they would not find out. The +other parts she had chiefly arranged for the pleasure of giving a lesson +of democracy to Aunt Maple; for she had appointed Sir Francis Wronghead +to Mr Stubbs, an old steward belonging to Lord Rockton; Count Basset to +young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> Gooch, a farmer's son; Myrtylla to Golding, her own maid, and +John Moody to Tomlinson, the footman.</p> + +<p>The air of attention with which the stranger listened, whether she +answered or not, renewed again in Elinor the pleasure which she had +first found in talking to her; and thus, between the two sisters, she +had almost constantly a companion till near midnight.</p> + +<p>To be left, then, alone was not to be left to unbroken slumbers. She had +no dependence, nor hope, but in an expected second letter, yet had +devised no means to secure its immediate reception, even if its quick +arrival corresponded with her wishes. As soon, therefore, as she heard +the family stirring the next morning, she descended, with an intention +of going to the housekeeper's room, to make some arrangement for that +purpose.</p> + +<p>Ireton, who caught a glimpse of her upon the stairs, met and stopt her. +'My dear,' he cried, 'don't think me such a prig as to do you any +mischief; but take a hint! Don't see quite so much of a certain young +lady, whom I don't wish should know the world quite so soon! You +understand me, my dear?'</p> + +<p>Inexpressibly offended, she was contemptuously shrinking from him, when +they were joined by Harleigh, who asked, with an air of respect that was +evidently meant to give a lesson to Ireton, whether she would permit him +to call at the post-office, to order that her letters should be +forwarded to Lewes.</p> + +<p>This offer was irresistible, and, with looks of the brightest gratitude, +she was uttering her acknowledgements, when the voice of Elinor, from a +distance, sounding tremulous and agitated, checked her, and she hastily +retreated.</p> + +<p>But her room-door was only shut to be almost instantly thrown open by +Elinor herself, who, entering with a large parcel in her hands, while +her face shewed pain and disorder, said, 'See how I have been labouring +to assist and to serve you, at the very moment of your insidious +duplicity!'</p> + +<p>Thunderstruck by the harshness of an attack nearly as incomprehensible +as it was vehement, the stranger fixed her eyes upon her accuser with a +look that said, Are you mad?</p> + +<p>The silent, yet speaking expression was caught by Elinor, who, struck +with sudden shame, frankly begged her pardon; and, after a little +reflexion, coolly added, 'You must never mind what I say, nor what I do; +for I sport all sort of things, and in all sort of manners.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> But it is +merely to keep off stagnation: I dread nothing like a lethargy. But pray +what were you all about just now?'</p> + +<p>The Incognita related her intended purpose; its interruption; the offer +of Mr Harleigh; and its acceptance.</p> + +<p>Elinor looked perturbed again, and said, 'You seem mighty fond, +methinks, of employing Mr Harleigh for your Mercury!'</p> + +<p>'He is so good as to employ himself. I could never think of taking such +a liberty.'</p> + +<p>Elinor put up her lip; but told her to make what use she could of the +parcel, and, with an abrupt 'Good morning,' went down to breakfast.</p> + +<p>The stranger, amazed and confounded, remained for some time absorbed by +conjectures upon this scene.</p> + +<p>The parcel contained cast-off clothes of almost every description; but, +much as she required such aid, the manner in which it was offered +determined her upon its rejection.</p> + +<p>In a few hours, the maid who brought her meals, was desired by Mr +Harleigh to inform her, that he had executed her commission at the +post-office.</p> + +<p>This assurance revived her, and enabled her to pass the day in tolerable +tranquillity, though perfectly alone, and without any species of +employment to diversify her ruminations, or help to wear away the +tediousness of expectation.</p> + +<p>When the next day, however, and the next, passed without her seeing any +of the family, she felt disconcerted and disturbed. To be abandoned by +Elinor, and even by Selina, made her situation appear worse than +forlorn; and her offended spirit deemed the succour thus afforded her, +inadequate to compensate for the endurance of universal disesteem and +avoidance. She determined, therefore, to quit the inhospitable mansion, +persuaded that no efforts could be too difficult, no means too +laborious, that might rescue her from an abode which she could no longer +inhabit, without seeming to herself to be degraded.</p> + +<p>But the idea of this project had a facility of which its execution did +not partake. She had no money, save what she had received from the two +sisters; even that, by a night and day spent at the milliner's, was much +diminished. She could not quit the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone, +while still in expectation of a letter; and if, while awaiting it in any +other house, the compassion, or the philanthropy of Harleigh should urge +him to see her, might not Elinor conclude that she had only retreated to +receive his visits alone?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>Apprehensions such as these frightened her into forbearance: but in +teaching her prudence, they did not endow her with contentment. Her +hours lingered in depression and uncertainty; her time was not employed +but consumed; her faculties were not enjoyed, but wasted.</p> + +<p>Yet, upon more mature reflexion, she enquired by what right she expected +kinder treatment. Unknown, unnamed, without any sort of recommendation, +she applied for succour, and it was granted her: if she met with the +humanity of being listened to, and the charity of being assisted, must +she quarrel with her benefactors, because they gave not implicit credit +to the word of a lonely Wanderer for her own character? or think herself +ill used that their donations and their aid were not delicate as well as +useful?</p> + +<p>This sober style of reasoning soon chased away resentment, and, with +quieter nerves, she awaited some termination to her suspence and +solitude.</p> + +<p>Meantime, most of the other inhabitants of the house, were engaged by +studying their parts for the intended representation, which so +completely occupied some by choice, and others by complaisance, or +necessity, that no visit or excursion was made abroad, till several days +after their arrival at Lewes. Mrs Maple then, with her whole party, +accepted an invitation to dine and spend the evening with the family of +their principal actress, Miss Arbe; but a sudden indisposition with +which that lady was seized after dinner, forced them home again early in +the evening. Their return being unexpected, the servants were all out, +or out of the way, but, entering by a door leading from the garden, +which they found open, they were struck with the sound of music. They +stopped, and distinctly heard a harp; they listened, and found that it +was played with uncommon ability.</p> + +<p>''Tis my harp!' cried Selina, 'I am sure of that!'</p> + +<p>'Your harp?' said Mrs Maple; 'why who can be playing it?'</p> + +<p>'Hist! dear ladies,' said Harleigh; ''tis some exquisite performer.'</p> + +<p>'It must be Lady Kendover, then,' said Mrs Maple, 'for nobody else comes +to our house that plays the harp.'</p> + +<p>A new movement was now begun; it was slow and pathetic, and played with +so much taste and expression, though mixed with bursts of rapid +execution, that the whole auditory was equally charmed and surprized; +and every one, Mrs Maple herself not excepted, with uplifted finger +seemed to beseech attention from the rest.</p> + +<p>An Arpeggio succeeded, followed by an air, which produced, alternately, +tones sweet, yet penetrating, of touching pathos or impassioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +animation; and announced a performer whom nature had gifted with her +finest feelings, to second, or rather to meet the soul-pervading +refinements of skilful art.</p> + +<p>When the voice ceased, the harp was still heard; but some sounds made by +an involuntary, though restrained tribute of general approbation, +apparently found their way to the drawing-room, where it was played; for +suddenly it stopped, the instrument seemed hastily to be put away, and +some one was precipitately in motion.</p> + +<p>Every body then hastened up stairs; but before they could reach the +landing-place, a female figure, which they all instantly recognized for +that of the unknown young woman, glided out of the drawing-room, and, +with the quick motion of fear, ran up another flight of stairs.</p> + +<p>'Amazing!' cried Mrs Maple, stopping short; 'could any body have +credited assurance such as this? That bold young stroller has been +obtruding herself into my drawing-room, to hear Lady Kendover play!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, who had contrived to be the first to enter the apartment, now +returned to the door, and, with a smile of the most animated pleasure, +said, 'No one is here!—Not a creature!'</p> + +<p>His tone and air spoke more than his words, and, to the quick +conceptions of Elinor, pronounced: This divine singer, whom you were all +ready to worship, is no other than the lonely Wanderer whom you were all +ready to condemn!</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple now, violently ringing the bell, ordered one of her servants +to summon the woman who came from abroad.</p> + +<p>The stranger obeyed, with the confused look of a person who expected a +reprimand, to which she had not courage to reply.</p> + +<p>'Be so good as to tell me,' said Mrs Maple, 'what you have been into my +drawing-room for? and whether you know who it is, that has taken the +liberty to play upon my niece's harp?'</p> + +<p>The Incognita begged a thousand pardons, but said that having learnt, +from the house-maid, that the family was gone out for the day, she had +ventured to descend, to take a little air and exercise in the garden.</p> + +<p>'And what has that to do with my niece's harp?—And my drawing-room?'</p> + +<p>'The door, Madam, was open.—It was long since I had seen an +instrument—I thought no one would hear me—'</p> + +<p>'Why you don't pretend that it was you who played?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>The young woman renewed her apology.</p> + +<p>'You?—You play upon a harp?—And pray who was it that sung?'</p> + +<p>The stranger looked down.</p> + +<p>'Well, this is surprising indeed!—And pray where might such a body as +you learn these things?—And what use can such a body want them for? Be +so good as to tell me that; and who you are?'</p> + +<p>The stranger, in the utmost disturbance, painfully answered, 'I am truly +ashamed, Madam, so often to press for your forbearance, but my silence +is impelled by necessity! I am but too well aware how incomprehensible +this must seem, but my situation is perilous—I cannot reveal it! I can +only implore your compassion!—'</p> + +<p>She retired hastily.</p> + +<p>No one pursued nor tried to stop her. All, except Harleigh, remained +nearly stupified by what had passed, for no one else had ever considered +her but as a needy travelling adventurer. To him, her language, her air, +and her manner, pervading every disadvantage of apparel, poverty, and +subjection, had announced her, from the first, to have received the +education, and to have lived the life of a gentlewoman; yet to him, +also, it was as new, though not as wonderful, as to the rest, to find in +her all the delicately acquired skill, joined to the happy natural +talents, which constitute a refined artist.</p> + +<p>Elinor seemed absorbed in mortification, not sooner to have divined what +Harleigh had so immediately discovered; Selina, triumphant, felt +enchanted with an idea that the stranger must be a disguised princess; +Mrs Maple, by a thousand crabbed grimaces, shewed her chagrin, that the +frenchified stroller should not rather have been detected as a positive +vagabond, then proved, by her possession of cultivated talents, to have +been well brought up; and Ireton, who had thought her a mere female +fortune-hunter, was utterly overset, till he comforted himself by +observing, that many mere adventurers, from fortuitous circumstances, +obtain accomplishments that may vie, in brilliancy, with those acquired +by regular education and study.</p> + +<p>Doubts, however, remained with all: they were varied, but not removed. +The mystery that hung about her was rather thickened than cleared, and +the less she appeared like an ordinary person, the more restless became +conjecture, to dive into some probable motive, for the immoveable +obstinacy of her concealment.</p> + +<p>The pause was first broken by Elinor, who, addressing Harleigh, said, +'Tell me honestly, now, what, all together, you really and truly think +of this extraordinary demoiselle?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I think her,' answered he, with readiness, 'an elegant and well bred +young woman, under some extraordinary and inexplicable difficulties: for +there is a modesty in her air which art, though it might attain, could +not support; and a dignity in her conduct in refusing all succour but +yours, that make it impossible for me to have any doubt upon the +fairness of her character.'</p> + +<p>'And how do you know that she refuses all succour but mine? Have you +offered her yours?'</p> + +<p>'She will not let me go so far. If she perceive such an intention, she +draws back, with a look that would make the very mentioning it +insolent.'</p> + +<p>Elinor ran up stairs.</p> + +<p>She found the stranger disturbed and alarmed, though she was easily +revived upon seeing Elinor courteous, almost respectful; for, powerfully +struck by a discovery, so completely accidental, of talents so superior, +and satisfied by the assurance just received from Harleigh, that his +pecuniary aid had never been accepted, she grew ashamed of the angry +flippancy with which she had last quitted the room, and of the resolute +neglect with which she had since kept aloof. She now apologized for +having stayed away, professed a design to be frequent in her future +visits, and presented, with generous importunity, the trifles which she +blushed to have offered so abruptly.</p> + +<p>Addressed thus nearly upon equal terms, the stranger gracefully accepted +the donation, and, from the relief produced by this unexpected good +treatment, her own manners acquired an ease, and her language a flow, +that made her strikingly appear to be what Harleigh had called her, a +well bred and elegant young woman; and the desire of Elinor to converse +with her no longer hung, now, upon the mere stimulus of curiosity; it +became flattering, exhilarating, and cordial.</p> + +<p>The stranger, in return, upon nearer inspection, found in Elinor a solid +goodness of heart, that compensated for the occasional roughness, and +habitual strangeness of her manners. Her society was gay and original; +and, to great quickness of parts, and liberality of feeling, she joined +a frankness of character the most unbounded. But she was alarming and +sarcastic, aiming rather to strike than to please, to startle than to +conquer. Upon chosen and favourite subjects she was impressive, nay +eloquent; upon all others she was careless, flighty, and indifferent, +and constantly in search of matter for ridicule: yet, though severe, +almost to ferocity, where she conceived herself to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> offended, or +injured, she became kind, gentle, and generously conceding, when +convinced of any errour.</p> + +<p>Selina, when her sister retired, tripped fleetly into the chamber, +whisperingly revealing, that it was Mr Ireton who had persuaded her to +relinquish her visits; but that she would now make them as often as +ever.</p> + +<p>Thus supported and encouraged, the stranger, again desiring to stay in +the house, earnestly wished to soften the ill will of Mrs Maple; and +having heard, from Selina, that the play occupied all hands, she begged +Mrs Fenn to accept her services at needle-work.</p> + +<p>Mrs Fenn conveyed the proposal to her mistress, who haughtily protested +that she would have nothing done under her roof, by she did not know +who; though she tacitly suffered Mrs Fenn to try the skill of the +proposer with some cambric handkerchiefs.</p> + +<p>These she soon returned, executed with such admirable neatness, that Mrs +Fenn immediately found her other similar employment; which she presented +to her with the air of conferring the most weighty of obligations.</p> + +<p>And such, in the event, it proved; for she now continued to receive +daily more business of the same sort, without any hint relative to her +departure; and heard, through Selina, that Mrs Maple herself had +remarked, that this was the first singer and player she had ever known, +who had not been spoilt by those idle habits for a good huswife.</p> + +<p>The Incognita now thankfully rejoiced in the blessing bestowed upon her, +by that part of her education, which gave to her the useful and +appropriate female accomplishment of needle-work.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>Mrs Maple was of opinion, that every woman ought to live with a needle +and thread in her hand; the stranger, therefore, had now ample +occupation; but as labour, in common with all other evils, is relative, +she submitted cheerfully to any manual toil, that could rescue her from +the mental burthen of exciting ill will and reproach.</p> + +<p>Two days afterwards, Elinor came to summon her to the drawing-room. They +were all assembled, she said, to a rehearsal, and in the utmost +confusion for want of a prompter, not a soul, except Miss Arbe, knowing +a word, or a cue, of any part but his own; and Miss Arbe, who took upon +her to regulate every thing, protested that she could not consent to go +on any longer in so slovenly a manner.</p> + +<p>In this dilemma it had occurred to Elinor to have recourse to the +stranger; but the stranger desired to be excused: Mrs Maple seemed now +to be softened in her favour; and it would be both imprudent and +improper to risk provoking fresh irritation, by coming forward in an +enterprise that was a known subject of dissention.</p> + +<p>Elinor, when she had formed a wish, never listened to an objection. +'What an old fashioned style you prose in!' she cried; 'who could +believe you came so lately from France? But example has no more force +without sympathy, than precept had without opinion! However, I'll get +you a licence from Aunt Maple in a minute.'</p> + +<p>She went down stairs, and, returning almost immediately, cried, 'Aunt +Maple is quite contented. I told her I was going to send for Mr Creek, a +horrible little pettifogging wretch, who lives in this neighbourhood, +and whom she particularly detests, to be our prompter; and this so +woefully tormented her, that she proposed you herself. I have ample +business upon my hands, between my companions of the buskin, and this +pragmatical old aunt; for Harleigh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> himself refused to act against her +approbation, till I threatened to make over Lord Townly to Sir Lyell +Sycamore, a smart beau at Brighthelmstone, that all the mammas and aunts +are afraid of. And then poor aunty was fain, herself, to request +Harleigh to take the part. I could manage matters no other way.'</p> + +<p>Personal remonstrances were vain, and the stranger was forced down +stairs to the theatrical group.</p> + +<p>All that was known of her situation having been sketched by Elinor, and +detailed by Selina, the mixt party there assembled, was prepared to +survey her with a curiosity which she found extremely abashing. She +requested to have the book of the play; but Elinor, engaged in arranging +the entrances and exits, did not heed her. Harleigh, however, +comprehending the relief which any occupation for the eyes and hands +might afford her, presented it to her himself.</p> + +<p>It preserved her not, nevertheless, from a volley of questions, with +which she was instantly assailed from various quarters. 'I find Ma'am, +you are lately come from abroad,' said Mr Scope, a gentleman self-dubbed +a deep politician, and who, in the most sententious manner, uttered the +most trivial observations: 'I have no very high notion, I own, of the +morals of those foreigners at this period. A man's wife and daughters +belong to any man who has a taste to them, as I am informed. Nothing is +very strict. Mr Robertspierre, as I am told, is not very exact in his +dealings.'</p> + +<p>'But I should like to know,' cried Gooch, the young farmer, 'whether it +be true, of a reality, that they've got such numbers and numbers, and +millions and millions of red-coats there, all made into generals, in the +twinkling, as one may say, of an eye?'</p> + +<p>'Money must be a vast scarce commodity there,' said Mr Stubbs, the +steward: 'did you ever happen to hear, Ma'am, how they go to work to get +in their rents?'</p> + +<p>Before the stranger could attempt any reply to these several addresses, +Miss Arbe, who was the principal person of the party, seating herself in +the chair of honour, desired her to advance, saying, 'I understand you +sing and play amazingly well. Pray who were your masters?'</p> + +<p>While the Incognita hesitated, Miss Bydel, a collateral and uneducated +successor to a large and unexpected fortune, said, 'Pray, first of all, +young woman, what took you over to foreign parts? I should like to know +that.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>Elinor, now, being ready, cut short all further investigation by +beginning the rehearsal.</p> + +<p>During the first scenes, the voice of the Incognita was hardly audible. +The constraint of her forced attendance, and the insurmountable +awkwardness of her situation, made all exertion difficult, and her tones +were so languid, and her pronunciation was so inarticulate, that Elinor +began seriously to believe that she must still have recourse to Mr +Creek. But Harleigh, who reflected how much the faculties depend upon +the mind's being disengaged, saw that she was too little at her ease to +be yet judged.</p> + +<p>Every one else, absorbed in his part and himself, in the hope of being +best, or the shame of being worst; in the fear of being out, or the +confusion of not understanding what next was to be done, was regardless +of all else but his own fancied reputation of the hour.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, however, as the play proceeded, and the inaccuracy of the +performers demanded greater aid, found the patience of his judgment +recompensed, and its appreciation of her talents just. Her voice, from +seeming feeble and monotonous, became clear and penetrating: it was +varied, with the nicest discrimination, for the expression of every +character, changing its modulation from tones of softest sensibility, to +those of archest humour; and from reasoning severity, to those of +uncultured rusticity.</p> + +<p>When the rehearsal was over, Miss Bydel, who had no other idea of the +use of speech than that of asking questions, said, 'I should be glad, +before you go, to say a few words to you, young woman, myself.'</p> + +<p>The stranger stood still.</p> + +<p>'In the first place, tell me, if you please, what's your name?'</p> + +<p>The Incognita coloured at this abrupt demand, but remained silent.</p> + +<p>'Nay,' said Miss Bydel, 'your name, at least, can be no such great +secret, for you must be called something or other.'</p> + +<p>Ireton, who had hitherto appeared decided not to take any notice of her, +now exclaimed, with a laugh, 'I will tell you what her name is, Miss +Bydel; 'tis L.S.'</p> + +<p>The stranger dropt her eyes, but Miss Bydel, not comprehending that +Ireton meant two initial letters, said. 'Elless? Well I see no reason +why any body should be ashamed to own their name is Elless.'</p> + +<p>Selina, tittering, would have cleared up the mistake; but Ireton, +laughing yet more heartily, made her a sign to let it pass.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel continued: 'I don't want to ask any of your secrets, as I +say, Mrs Elless, for I understand you don't like to tell them; but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +will be discovering no great matter, to let me know whether your friends +are abroad, or in England? and what way you were maintained before you +got your passage over in Mrs Maple's boat.'</p> + +<p>'Don't let that young person go,' cried Miss Arbe, who had now finished +the labours of her theatrical presidency, 'till I have heard her play +and sing. If she is so clever, as you describe her, she shall perform +between the acts.'</p> + +<p>The stranger declared her utter inability to comply with such a request.</p> + +<p>'When I believed myself unheard,' she cried, 'musick, I imagined, might +make me, for a few moments, forget my distresses: but an expected +performance—a prepared exhibition!—pardon me!—I have neither spirits +nor powers for such an attempt!'</p> + +<p>Her voice spoke grief, her look, apprehension; yet her manner so +completely announced decision, that, unopposed even by a word, she +re-mounted the stairs to her chamber.</p> + +<p>She was, there, surprised by the sight of a sealed packet upon her +table, directed, 'For L.S. at her leisure.'</p> + +<p>She opened it, and found ten bank notes, of ten pounds each.</p> + +<p>A momentary hope which she had indulged, that this letter, by some +accidental conveyance, had reached her from abroad, was now changed into +the most unpleasant perplexity: such a donation could not come from any +of the females of the family; Mrs Maple was miserly, and her enemy; and +the Miss Joddrels knew, by experience, that she would not refuse their +open assistance: Mr Harleigh, therefore, or Mr Ireton, must have +conveyed this to her room.</p> + +<p>If it were Mr Ireton, she concluded he meant to ensnare her distress +into an unguarded acceptance, for some latent purpose of mischief; if it +were Mr Harleigh, his whole behaviour inclined her to believe, that he +was capable of such an action from motives of pure benevolence: but she +could by no means accept pecuniary aid from either, and determined to +keep the packet always ready for delivery, when she could discover to +whom it belonged.</p> + +<p>She was surprised, soon afterwards, by the sight of Selina. 'I would not +let Mr Ireton hinder me from coming to you this once,' she cried, 'do +what he could; for we are all in such a fidget, that there's only you, I +really believe, can help us. Poor Miss Arbe, while she was teaching us +all what we have to do, put her part into her muff, and her favourite +little dog, that she doats upon, not knowing it was there, poor thing, +poked his nose into the muff to warm himself; and when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> Miss Arbe came +to take her part, she found he had sucked it, and gnawed it, and nibbled +it, all to tatters! And she says she can't write it out again if she was +to have a diamond a word for it; and as to us, we have all of us got +such immensities to do for ourselves, that you are the only person; for +I dare say you know how to write. So will you, now, Ellis? for they have +all settled, below, that your real name is Ellis.'</p> + +<p>The stranger answered that she should gladly be useful in any way that +could be proposed. The book, therefore, was brought to her, with writing +implements, and she dedicated herself so diligently to copying, that the +following morning, when Miss Arbe was expected, the part was prepared.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, however, came not; a note arrived in her stead, stating that +she had been so exceedingly fatigued the preceding day, in giving so +many directions, that she begged they would let somebody read her part, +and rehearse without her; and she hoped that she should find them more +advanced when she joined them on Monday.</p> + +<p>The stranger was now summoned not only as prompter, but to read the part +of Lady Townly. She could not refuse, but her compliance was without any +sort of exertion, from a desire to avoid, not promote similar calls for +exhibition.</p> + +<p>Elinor remarked to Harleigh, how inadequate were her talents to such a +character. Harleigh acquiesced in the remark; yet his good opinion, in +another point of view, was as much heightened, as in this it was +lowered: he saw the part which she had copied for Miss Arbe; and the +beautiful clearness of the hand-writing, and the correctness of the +punctuation and orthography, convinced him that her education had been +as successfully cultivated for intellectual improvement, as for elegant +accomplishments.</p> + +<p>Elinor herself, now, would only call the stranger Miss Ellis, a name +which, she said, she verily believed that Miss Bydel, with all her +stupidity, had hit upon, and which therefore, henceforth, should be +adopted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>The Incognita continued to devote herself to needle-work till the +morning of the next rehearsal. She was then again called to the double +task of prompting, and of reading the part of Lady Townly, Miss Arbe +having, unceremoniously, announced, that as she had already performed +that character three several times, and to the most brilliant audiences, +though at private theatres, any further practice for herself would be a +work of supererogation; and if the company, she added, would but be so +good as to remember her directions, she need only attend personally at +the final rehearsal.</p> + +<p>The whole party was much offended by this insinuation of its +inferiority, as well as by so contemptuous an indifference to the +prosperity of the enterprize. Nor was this the only difficulty caused by +the breach of attendance in Miss Arbe. The entertainment was to conclude +with a cotillon, of which Ireton had brought the newest steps and method +from France, but which, through this unexpected failure, the sett was +incomplete for practising. Elinor was persuaded, that in keeping the +whole group thus imperfect, both in the play and in the dance, it was +the design of Miss Arbe to expose them all to ridicule, that her own +fine acting and fine steps might be contrasted to the greater advantage. +To obviate, as much as possible, this suspected malice, the stranger was +now requested to stand up with them; for as she was so lately come from +abroad, they concluded that she might know something of the matter.</p> + +<p>They were not mistaken: the steps, the figure, the time, all were +familiar to her; and she taught the young Selina, dropt hints to Elinor, +endeavoured to set Miss Bydel right, and gave a general, though +unpremeditated lesson to every one, by the measured grace and lightness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +of her motions, which, little as her attire was adapted to such a +purpose, were equally striking for elegance and for modesty.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, however, alone perceived her excellence: the rest had so much +to learn, or were so anxious to shine, that if occasionally they +remarked her, it was rather to be diverted by seeing any one dance so +ill equipped, than to be struck with the elevated carriage which no such +disadvantage could conceal.</p> + +<p>Early on the morning preceding the intended representation, the stranger +was summoned to the destined theatre, where, while she was aiding the +general preparations, of dresses, decorations, and scenery, previous to +the last grand rehearsal, which, in order to try the effect of the +illuminations, was fixed to take place in the evening, Mrs Maple, with +derision marked in every feature of her face, stalked into the room, to +announce to her niece, with unbridled satisfaction, that all her fine +vagaries would now end in nothing, as Miss Arbe, at last, had the good +sense to refuse affording them her countenance.</p> + +<p>Elinor, though too much enraged to inquire what this meant, soon, +perforce, learnt, that an old gentleman, a cousin of Miss Arbe's, had +ridden over with an apology, importing, that the most momentous reasons, +yet such as could not be divulged, obliged his relation to decline the +pleasure of belonging to their dramatic party.</p> + +<p>The offence given by this abrupt renunciation was so general, though +Elinor, alone, allowed it free utterance, that Mr Giles Arbe, the bearer +of these evil tidings, conceived it to be more advisable to own the +plump truth, he said, at once, than to see them all so affronted without +knowing what for; though he begged them not to mention it, his cousin +having peremptorily charged him not to speak out: but the fact was, that +she had repented her engagement ever since the first rehearsal; for +though she should always be ready to act with the Miss Joddrels, who +were nieces to a baronet, and Mr Harleigh, who was nephew to a peer, and +Mr Ireton, who was heir to a large entailed estate; she was yet +apprehensive that it might let her down, in the opinion of the noble +theatrical society to which she belonged, if she were seen exhibiting +with such common persons as farmers and domestics; whom, however, for +all his cousin's nicety, Mr Giles said he thought to be full as good men +as any other; and, sometimes, considerably better.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was elevated into the highest triumph by this explanation. 'I +told you how it would be!' she cried. 'Young ladies acting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> with mere +mob! I am truly rejoiced that Miss Arbe has given you the slip.'</p> + +<p>Elinor heard this with a resentment, that determined her, more +vehemently than ever, not to abandon her project; she proudly, +therefore, returned thanks, by Mr Giles, for the restoration of the +part, which she had resigned in mere complaisance, as there was nothing +in the world she so much desired as to act it herself, even though it +must be now learnt in the course of a day; and she begged leave, as a +mark that she was not offended at the desertion, to borrow the dress of +the character, which she knew to be ready, and with which she would +adorn herself the following night, at the performance.</p> + +<p>This last clause, she was well aware, would prove the most provoking +that she could devise, to Miss Arbe, who was renowned for being +finically tenacious of her attire; but Elinor would neither add a word +to her message, nor suffer one to be taken from it; and when Mr Giles +Arbe, frightened at the ill success of his confidence, would have +offered some apology, she drove him from the house, directing a trusty +person in the neighbourhood, to accompany him back, with positive orders +not to return without the dress.</p> + +<p>She then told the stranger to study the part of Lady Wronghead, to fill +up the chasm.</p> + +<p>The stranger began some earnest excuses, but they were lost in the +louder exclamations of Mrs Maple, whose disappointment in finding the +scheme still supported, was aggravated into rage, by the unexpected +proposition of admitting the stranger into the sett.</p> + +<p>'What, Miss Joddrel!' she cried, 'is it not enough that you have made us +a by-word in the neighbourhood, by wanting to act with farmers and +servants? Must you also bring a foundling girl into your sett? an +illegitimate stroller, who does not so much as know her own name?'</p> + +<p>The stranger, deeply reddening, gravely answered, 'Far from wishing to +enter into any plan of amusement, I could not have given my consent to +it, even if solicited.'</p> + +<p>'Nobody asks what you could have done, I hope!' Mrs Maple began, when +Elinor, pushing the stranger into a large light closet, and throwing the +part after her, shut the door, charging her not to lose a moment, in +getting ready for the final rehearsal that very evening.</p> + +<p>The Incognita, fixed not to look at the manuscript, now heard, perforce, +a violent quarrel between the aunt and the niece, the former protesting +that she would never agree to such a disgrace, as suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> a poor +straggling pauper to mix herself publicly with their society; and the +latter threatening, that, if forced to grant such a triumph to Miss +Arbe, as that of tamely relinquishing the undertaking, she would leave +the country and settle at once in France, and in the house of +Robespierre himself.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, who, in a hasty and dashing, but masterly manner, was +colouring some scenery; had hitherto been silent; but now, advancing, he +proposed, as a compromise, that the performance should be deferred for a +week, in which time Miss Sycamore, a young lady at Brighthelmstone, whom +they all knew, would learn, he doubted not, the part, and supply, with +pleasure, the vacant place.</p> + +<p>To this Mrs Maple, finding no hope remained that she could abolish the +whole project, was sullenly assenting, when Elinor reproachfully +exclaimed, 'What, Don Quixote! is your spirit of chivalry thus cooled? +and are you, too, for rejecting, with all this scorn, the fellow-voyager +you were so strenuous to support?'</p> + +<p>'Scorn?' repeated Harleigh, 'No! I regard her, rather, with reverence. +'Tis she herself that has declined the part, and with a dignity that +does her honour. All she suffers to be discerned of her, announces +distinguished merit; and yet, highly as I have conceived of her +character, she is unknown to us; except by her distresses; and these, +though they call loudly for our sympathy and assistance, and, through +the propriety of her conduct, lay claim to our respect, may be thought +insufficient by the world, to justify Mrs Maple, who has two young +ladies so immediately under her care, for engaging a perfect stranger, +in a scheme which has no reference to humanity, or good offices.'</p> + +<p>'Ah ha, Mr Harleigh!' cried Ireton, shaking his head, 'you are afraid of +what she may turn out! You think no better of her, at last, than I do.'</p> + +<p>'I think, on the contrary, so well of her,' answered Harleigh, 'that I +am sincerely sorry to see her thus haughtily distanced. I often wish +these ladies would as generously, as I doubt not that they might safely, +invite her into their private society. Kindness such as that might +produce a confidence, which revolts from public and abrupt enquiry; and +which, I would nearly engage my life, would prove her innocence and +worth, and vindicate every trust.'</p> + +<p>He then begged them to consider, that, should their curiosity and +suspicions work upon her spirits, till she were urged to reveal, +prematurely, the secret of her situation, they would themselves be the +first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> to condemn her for folly and imprudence, if breaking up the +mystery of her silence should affect either her happiness or her safety.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple would have been inconsolable at a defence against which she +had nothing positive to object, had she not reaped some comfort from +finding that even Harleigh opposed including the stranger in the acting +circle.</p> + +<p>The delay of the performance, and an application to Miss Sycamore, +seemed now settled, when Mrs Fenn, the housekeeper, who was also aiding +in the room, lamented the trouble to be renewed for the +supper-preparations, as neither the fish, nor the pastry, nor sundry +other articles, could keep.</p> + +<p>This was a complaint to which Mrs Maple was by no means deaf. The +invitations, also, were made; the drawing-room was given up for the +theatre; another apartment was appropriated for a green-room; and there +was not any chance that the house could be restored to order, nor the +maids to their usual occupations, till this business were finally over.</p> + +<p>Her rancour now suddenly relented, with regard to the stranger, and, to +the astonishment of every one, she stopt Harleigh from riding over to +Brighthelmstone, to apply to Miss Sycamore, by concedingly saying, that, +since Mr Harleigh had really so good an opinion of the young woman who +came from France, she must confess that she had herself, of late, taken +a much better notion of her, by finding that she was so excellent a +needle-woman; and, therefore, she did not see why they should send for +so finical a person as Miss Sycamore, who was full of airs and +extravagance, to begin all over again, and disappoint so much company, +when they had a body in the house who might do one of the parts, so as +to pass amongst the rest, without being found out for what she was.</p> + +<p>Harleigh expressed his doubts whether the young person herself, who was +obviously in very unpleasant circumstances, might chuse to be brought +forward in so public an amusement.</p> + +<p>The gentleness of Mrs Maple was now converted into choler; and she +desired to know, whether a poor wretch such as that, who had her meat, +drink, and lodging for nothing, should be allowed to chuse any thing for +herself one way or another.</p> + +<p>Elinor, dropping, though not quite distinctly, some sarcastical +reflections upon the persistence of Harleigh in preferring Miss Sycamore +to his Dulcinea, retired to her room to study the part of Lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> Townly; +saying that she should leave them full powers, to wrangle amongst +themselves, for that of Lady Wronghead.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, who had not seen the stranger turned into the closet, now +entered it, in search of a pencil. Not a little was then his surprize to +find her sketching, upon the back of a letter, a view of the hills, +downs, cottages, and cattle, which formed the prospect from the window.</p> + +<p>It was beautifully executed, and undoubtedly from nature. Harleigh, with +mingled astonishment and admiration, clasped his hands, and +energetically exclaimed, 'Accomplished creature! who ... and what are +you?'</p> + +<p>Confused, she blushed, and folded up her little drawing. He seemed +almost equally embarrassed himself, at the expression and the question +which had escaped him. Mrs Maple, following, paradingly told the +stranger, that, as she had hemmed the last cambric-handkerchiefs so +neatly, she might act, upon this particular occasion, with the Miss +Joddrels; only first premising, that she must not own to a living soul +her being such a poor forlorn creature; as the only way to avoid +disgrace to themselves, amongst their acquaintance, for admitting her, +would be to say that she was a young lady of family, who came over with +them from France.</p> + +<p>To the last clause, the stranger calmly answered that she could offer no +objection, in a manner which, to the attentive Harleigh, clearly +indicated that it was true; but that, with respect to performing, she +was in a situation too melancholy, if not disastrous, to be capable of +making any such attempt.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was so angry at this presumption, that she replied, 'Do as you +are ordered, or leave my house directly!' and then walked, in high +wrath, away.</p> + +<p>The stranger appeared confounded: she felt an almost resistless impulse +to depart immediately; but something stronger than resentment told her +to stay: it was distress! She paused a moment, and then, with a sigh, +took up the part, and, without looking at Harleigh, who was too much +shocked to offer any palliation for this grossness, walked pensively to +her chamber.</p> + +<p>She was soon joined by Elinor, who, in extreme ill humour, complained +that that odious Lady Townly was so intolerably prolix, that there was +no getting her endless babbling by heart, at such short notice: and +that, but for the triumph which it would afford to Miss Arbe, to find +out their embarrassment, and the spite that it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> gratify in Aunt +Maple, the whole business should be thrown up at once. Sooner, however, +than be conquered, either by such impertinence, or such malignity, she +would abandon Lady Townly to the prompter, whom Miss Arbe might have the +surprise and amusement to dizen out in her fine attire.</p> + +<p>Then, declaring that she hated and would not act with Miss Sycamore, who +was a creature of insolence and conceit, she flung the part of Lady +Townly to the Incognita, saying, that she must abide herself by that of +Lady Wronghead; a name which she well merited to keep for the rest of +her life, from her inconceivable mismanagement of the whole affair.</p> + +<p>The stranger earnestly entreated exemption from the undertaking, and +solicited the intercession of Elinor with Mrs Maple, to soften the hard +sentence denounced against her refusal. To act such a character as that +of Lady Townly, she should have thought formidable, if not impossible, +even in her gayest moments: but now, in a situation the most helpless, +and with every reason to wish for obscurity, the exertion would be the +most cruel that could be exacted.</p> + +<p>Elinor, however, listened only to herself: Miss Arbe must be mortified; +Mrs Maple must be thwarted; and Miss Sycamore must be omitted: these +three things, she declared, were indispensable, and could only be +accomplished by defying all obstacles, and performing the comedy upon +the appointed day.</p> + +<p>The stranger now saw no alternative between obsequiously submitting, or +immediately relinquishing her asylum.</p> + +<p>How might she find another? she knew not where even to seek her friend, +and no letter was arrived from abroad.</p> + +<p>There was no resource! She decided upon studying the part.</p> + +<p>This was not difficult: she had read it at three rehearsals, and had +carefully copied it; but she acquired it mechanically because +unwillingly, and while she got the words by rote, scarcely took their +meaning into consideration.</p> + +<p>When called down, at night, to the grand final rehearsal, she gave equal +surprise to Harleigh, from finding her already perfect in so long a +part, and from hearing her repeat it with a tameness almost lifeless.</p> + +<p>At the scene of the reconciliation, in the last act, he took her hand, +and slightly kissed the glove. Ireton called out, 'Embrace! +embrace!—the peace-making is always decided, at the theatre, by an +embrace. You must throw your arms lovingly over one another's +shoulders.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh did not advance, but he looked at the stranger, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> blush +upon her cheeks shewed her wholly unaccustomed even to the mention of +any personal liberty; Ireton, however, still insisting, he laughingly +excused himself, by declaring, that he must do by Lord Townly as he +would do by himself; and he never meant, should he marry, to be tender +to his wife before company.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple now, extremely anxious for her own credit, told all the +servants, that she had just discovered, that the stranger who came from +France, was a young lady of consequence, and she desired that they would +make a report to that effect throughout the neighbourhood; and, in the +new play-bills which were now written, she suffered to see inserted, +Lady Townly by Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>Harleigh was the first to address the stranger by this name, previously +taking an opportunity, with an air of friendly regard, to advise that +she would adopt it, till she thought right to declare her own. She +thanked him gratefully for his counsel, confessing, that she had long +felt the absurdity of seeming nameless; and adding, 'but I had made no +preparation for what I so little expected, as the length of time in +which I have been kept in this almost unheard of situation! and the +hourly hope of seeing it end, made me decide to spare myself, at least +by silence, from deceit.'</p> + +<p>The look of Harleigh shewed his approbation of her motive, while his +words strengthened her conviction, that it must now give way to the +necessity of some denomination. 'Be it Ellis, then,' said she, smiling, +'though evasion may, perhaps, be yet meaner than falsehood! +Nevertheless, I am rather more contented to make use of this name, which +accident has bestowed upon me, than positively to invent one for +myself.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, therefore, which appellation, now, will be substituted for that +of the Incognita, seeing no possibility of escaping this exhibition, +comforted herself, that, however repugnant it might be to her +inclinations and her sense of propriety, it gave her, at least, some +chance, during the remainder of her stay at Lewes, of being treated with +less indignity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>The hope of meeting with more consideration in the family, inspirited +Ellis with a wish, hitherto unfelt, of contributing to the purposed +entertainment. The part which she had been obliged to undertake, was too +prominent to be placed in the back ground; and the whole performance +must be flat, if not ridiculous, unless Lady Townly were a principal +person. She read over, therefore, repeated, and studied the character, +with an attention more alive to its meaning, style, and diversities; and +the desire which animated all that she attempted, of doing with her best +means whatever unavoidably must be done, determined her to let no effort +in her power be wanting, to enliven the representation.</p> + +<p>The lateness of this resolution, made her application for its +accomplishment so completely fill up her time, that not a moment +remained for those fears of self-deficiency, with which diffidence and +timidity enervate the faculties, and often, in sensitive minds, rob them +of the powers of exertion.</p> + +<p>When the hour of exhibition approached, and she was summoned to the +apartment destined for the green-room, universal astonishment was +produced by her appearance. It was not from her dress; they had seen, +and already knew it to be fanciful and fashionable; nor was it the +heightened beauty which her decorations displayed; this, as she was +truly lovely, was an effect that they expected: but it was from the ease +with which she wore her ornaments, the grace with which she set them +off, the elegance of her deportment, and an air of dignified modesty, +that spoke her not only accustomed to such attire, but also to the good +breeding and refined manners, which announce the habits of life to have +been formed in the superior classes of society.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>Selina, as she opened the door, exultingly called out, 'Look! look! only +look at Ellis! did you ever see any thing in the world so beautiful?'</p> + +<p>Ireton, to whom dress, far more than feature or complexion, presented +attraction, exclaimed, 'By my soul, she's as handsome as an angel!'</p> + +<p>Elinor, thus excited, came forward; but seemed struck speechless.</p> + +<p>They now all flocked around her; and Mrs Maple, staring, cried, 'Why who +did you get to put your things on for you?' when suddenly recollecting +the new account which she had herself given, and caused to be spread of +this young person, she forced a laugh, and added, 'Bless me, Miss Ellis, +if I had not quite forgotten whom I was speaking to! Why should not Miss +Ellis know how to dress herself as well as any other young lady?'</p> + +<p>'Why, indeed,' said Miss Bydel, 'it makes a prodigious change, a young +lady's turning out a young lady, instead of a common young woman. I've +seen a good many of the Ellis's. Pray, Ma'am, does your part of the +family come from Yorkshire? or Devonshire? for I should like to know.'</p> + +<p>'And, if there were any gentlemen of your family, with you, Ma'am, in +foreign parts,' said Mr Scope, 'I should be glad to have their opinion +of this Convention, now set up in France: for as to ladies, though they +are certainly very pleasing, they are but indifferent judges in the +political line, not having, ordinarily, heads of that sort. I speak +without offence, inferiority of understanding being no defect in a +female.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I thought from the first,' said young Gooch, 'and I said it to +sisters, that the young lady was a young lady, by her travelling, and +that. But pray, Ma'am, did you ever look on, to see that Mr Robert Speer +mow down his hundreds, like to grass in a hay-field? We should not much +like it if they were to do so in England. But the French have no spirit. +They are but a poor set; except their generals, or the like of that. +And, for them, they'll fight you like so many lions. They are afraid of +nobody.'</p> + +<p>'By what I hear, Ma'am,' said Mr Stubbs, 'a gentleman, in that country, +may have rents due to the value of thousands, and hardly receive a frog, +as one may say, an acre.'</p> + +<p>While thus her fellow-performers surrounded the Incognita, Harleigh, +alone, held back, absorbed in contemplating the fine form, which a +remarkably light and pretty robe, now first displayed; and the beautiful +features, and animated complexion, which were set off to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> their utmost +lustre, by the waving feathers, and artificial flowers, which were woven +into her soft, glossy, luxuriant brown hair. But though he forbore +offering her any compliments, he no sooner observed that she was seized +with a sudden panic, upon a servant's announcing, that the expected +audience, consisting of some of the principal families of Sussex, was +arrived, than he addressed, and endeavoured to encourage her.</p> + +<p>'I am aware, Sir,' she said, 'that it may seem rather like vanity than +diffidence, for one situated as I am to feel any alarm; for as I can +have raised no expectations, what have I to fear from giving any +disappointment? Nevertheless, now the time is come, the attempt grows +formidable. It must seem so strange—so wond'rous strange,—to those who +know not how little my choice has been consulted—'</p> + +<p>She was interrupted, for all was ready; and Harleigh was summoned to +open the piece, by the famous question, 'Why did I marry?'</p> + +<p>The fright which now had found its way into the mind of the new Lady +Townly, augmented every moment till she appeared; and it was then so +great, as nearly to make her forget her part, and occasion what, +hesitatingly, she was able to utter, to be hardly audible, even to her +fellow-performers. The applause excited by her beauty, figure, and +dress, only added to her embarrassment. She with difficulty kept to her +post, and finished her first scene with complete self-discontent. +Elinor, who watched her throughout it, lost all admiration of her +exterior attractions, from contempt of her feeble performance.</p> + +<p>But her second scene exhibited her in another point of view; her +self-displeasure worked her up to exertions that brought forth the +happiest effects; and her evident success produced ease, by inspiring +courage. From this time, her performance acquired a wholly new +character: it seemed the essence of gay intelligence, of well bred +animation, and of lively variety. The grace of her motions made not only +every step but every turn of her head remarkable. Her voice modulated +into all the changes that vivacity, carelesness, pride, pleasure, +indifference, or alarm demanded. Every feature of her face spoke her +discrimination of every word; while the spirit which gave a charm to the +whole, was chastened by a taste the most correct; and while though +modest she was never awkward; though frightened, never ungraceful.</p> + +<p>A performance such as this, in a person young, beautiful, and wholly +new, created a surprize so powerful, and a delight so unexpected, that +the play seemed soon to have no other object than Lady Townly, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the +audience to think that no other were worth hearing or beholding; for +though the politeness exacted by a private representation, secured to +every one an apparent attention, all seemed vapid and without merit in +which she was not concerned; while all wore an air of interest in which +she bore the smallest part; and she soon never spoke, looked, nor moved, +but to excite pleasure, admiration, and applause, amounting to rapture.</p> + +<p>Whether this excellence were the result of practice and instruction, or +a sudden emanation of general genius, accidentally directed to a +particular point, was disputed by the critics amongst the audience; and +disputed, as usual, with the greater vehemence, from the impossibility +of obtaining documents to decide, or direct opinion. But that which was +regarded as the highest refinement of her acting, was a certain air of +inquietude, which was discernible through the utmost gaiety of her +exertions, and which, with the occasional absence and sadness, that had +their source in her own disturbance, was attributed to deep research +into the latent subjects of uneasiness belonging to the situation of +Lady Townly. This, however, was nature, which would not be repressed; +not art, that strove to be displayed.</p> + +<p>But no pleasure excited by her various powers, approached to the +pleasure which they bestowed upon Harleigh, who could look at, could +listen to her alone. To himself, he lost all power of doing justice; +wrapt up in the contemplation of an object thus singular, thus +excelling, thus mysterious, all ambition to personally shining was +forgotten. He could not fail to speak his part with sense and feeling; +he could not help appearing fashioned to represent a man of rank and +understanding; but that address which gives life and meaning to every +phrase; that ingenuity, which beguiles the audience into an illusion, +which, for the current moment, inspires the sympathy due to reality; +that skill which brings forth on the very instant, all the effect which, +to the closet reader, an author can hope to produce from reflection; +these, the attributes of good acting, and for which his taste, his +spirit, and his judgment all fitted him, were now, from slackened +self-attention, beyond his reach, though within his powers. At a public +theatre, such an actress might have proved a spur to have urged the +exertions of competition; in this private one, where success, except to +vanity, was unimportant, her merit was, to Harleigh, an absorbent that +occupied, exclusively, all his faculties.</p> + +<p>In the last act, where Lady Townly becomes serious, penitent, and +pathetic, the new actress appeared to yet greater advantage: the state<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +of her mind accorded with distress, and her fine speaking eyes, her +softly touching voice, her dejected air, and penetrating countenance, +made quicker passage to the feelings of her auditors, even than the +words of the author. All were moved, tears were shed from almost every +eye, and Harleigh, affected and enchanted, at the moment of the +peace-making, took her hand with so much eagerness, and pressed it to +his lips with so much pleasure, that the rouge, put on for the occasion, +was paler than the blushes which burnt through it on her cheeks. He saw +this, and, checking his admiration, relinquished with respect the hand +which he had taken nearly with rapture.</p> + +<p>When the play was over, and the loudest applause had marked its +successful representation, the company arose to pay their compliments to +Mrs Maple. Lady Townly, then, followed by every eyes, was escaping from +bearing her share in the bursts of general approbation; when a youth of +the most engaging appearance, and evidently of high fashion, sprang over +the forms, to impede her retreat; and to pour forth the highest +encomiums upon her performance, in well-bred, though enthusiastic +language, with all the eager vivacity of early youth, which looks upon +moderation as insipidity, and measured commendation as want of feeling.</p> + +<p>Though confused by being detained, Ellis could not be angry, for there +was no impertinence in his fervour, no familiarity in his panegyric; and +though his speech was rapid, his manners were gentle. His eulogy was +free from any presumption of being uttered for her gratification; it +seemed simply the uncontrollable ebullition of ingenuous gratitude.</p> + +<p>Surprised still more than all around her, at the pleasure which she +found she had communicated, some share of it now stole insensibly into +her own bosom; and this was by no means lessened, by seeing her youthful +new admirer soon followed by a lady still younger than himself, who +called out, 'Do you think, brother, to monopolize Miss Ellis?' And, with +equal delight, and nearly equal ardour, she joined in the +acknowledgements made by her brother, for the entertainment which they +had received; and both united in declaring that they should never endure +to see or hear any other Lady Townly.</p> + +<p>There was a charm, for there seemed a sincerity in this youthful tribute +of admiration, that was highly gratifying to the new actress; and +Harleigh thought he read in her countenance, the soothing relief +experienced by a delicate mind, from meeting with politeness and +courtesie, after a long endurance of indignity or neglect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>Almost everybody among the audience, one by one, joined this little set, +all eager to take a nearer view of the lovely Lady Townly, and availing +themselves of the opportunity afforded by this season of compliment, for +examining more narrowly whom it was that they addressed.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, meanwhile, suffered the utmost perplexity: far from +foreseeing an admiration which thus bore down all before it, she had +conceived that, the piece once finished, the actress would vanish, and +be thought of no more: nor was she without hope, in her utter disdain of +the stranger, that the part thus given merely by necessity, would be so +ill represented, as to disgust her niece from any such frolics in +future. But when, on the contrary, she found that there was but one +voice in favour of this unknown performer; when not all her own pride, +nor all her prejudice, could make her blind to that performer's truly +elevated carriage and appearance; when every auditor flocked to her, +with 'Who is this charming Miss Ellis?'—'Present us to this +incomparable Miss Ellis;' she felt covered with shame and regret; though +compelled, for her own credit, to continue repeating, that she was a +young lady of family who had passed over with her from the Continent.</p> + +<p>Provoked, however, she now followed the crowd, meaning to give a hint to +the Incognita to retire; but she had the mortification of hearing her +gallant new enthusiast pressing for her hand, in a cotillon, which they +were preparing to dance; and though the stranger gently, yet steadily, +was declining his proposition, Mrs Maple was so much frightened and +irritated that such a choice should be in her power, that she called out +impatiently, 'My Lord, we must have some refreshments before the dance. +Do pray, Lady Aurora Granville, beg Lord Melbury to come this way, and +take something.'</p> + +<p>The young lord and lady, with civil but cold thanks, that spoke their +dislike of this interference, both desired to be excused; but great was +their concern, and universal, throughout the apartment, was the +consternation, upon observing Miss Ellis change colour, and sink upon a +chair, almost fainting. Harleigh, who had strongly marked the grace and +dignity with which she had received so much praise, now cast a glance of +the keenest indignation at Mrs Maple, attributing to her rude +interruption of the little civilities so evidently softening to the +stranger, this sudden indisposition; but Mrs Maple either saw it not, or +did not understand it, and seized, with speed, the opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of +saying, that Miss Ellis was exhausted by so much acting, and of desiring +that some of the maids might help her to her chamber.</p> + +<p>Elinor stood suspended, looking not at her, but at Harleigh. Every one +else came forward with inquiry, fans, or sweet-scented vials; but Ellis, +a little reviving, accepted the salts of Lady Aurora Granville, and, +leaning against her waist, which her arm involuntarily encircled, +breathed hard and shed a torrent of tears.</p> + +<p>'Why don't the maids come?' cried Mrs Maple. 'Selina, my dear, do call +them. Lady Aurora, I am quite ashamed.—Miss Ellis, what are you +thinking of, to lean so against Her Ladyship? Pray, Mr Ireton, call the +maids for me.'</p> + +<p>'Call no one, I beg!' cried Lady Aurora: 'Why should I not have the +pleasure of assisting Miss Ellis?' And, bending down, she tried better +to accommodate herself to the ease and relief of her new acquaintance, +who appeared the more deeply sensible of her kindness, from the +ungenerous displeasure which it evidently excited in Mrs Maple. And +when, in some degree recovered, she rose to go, she returned her thanks +to Lady Aurora with so touching a softness, with tearful eyes, and in a +voice so plaintive, that Lady Aurora, affected by her manner, and +charmed by her merit, desired still to support her, and, entreating that +she would hold by her arm, begged permission of Mrs Maple to accompany +Miss Ellis to her chamber.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple recollecting, with the utmost confusion, the small and +ordinary room allotted for Ellis, so unlike what she would have bestowed +upon such a young lady as she now described for her fellow-voyager, +found no resource against exposing it to Lady Aurora, but that of +detaining the object of her compassionate admiration; she stammered, +therefore, out, that as Miss Ellis seemed so much better, there could be +no reason why she should not stay below, and see the dance.</p> + +<p>Ellis gladly courtsied her consent; and the watchful Harleigh, in the +alacrity of her acceptance, rejoiced to see a revival to the sentiments +of pleasure, which the acrimonious grossness of Mrs Maple had +interrupted.</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury now took the hand of Selina, and Harleigh that of Lady +Aurora. Elinor would not dance, but, seating herself, fixed her eyes +upon Harleigh, whose own were almost perpetually wandering to watch +those of his dramatic consort.</p> + +<p>Since the first scene, in which the stranger had so ill entered into the +spirit of Lady Townly's character, Elinor had ceased to deem her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> worthy +of observation; and, giving herself up wholly to her own part, had not +witnessed the gradations of the improvements of Ellis, her rising +excellence, nor her final perfection. In her own representation of Lady +Wronghead, she piqued herself upon producing new effects, and had the +triumph, by her cleverness and eccentricities, her grotesque attitudes +and attire, and an unexpected and burlesque manner of acting, to bring +the part into a consequence of which it had never appeared susceptible. +Happy in the surprise and diversion she occasioned, and constantly +occupied how to augment it, she only learnt the high success of Lady +Townly, by the bursts of applause, and the unbounded admiration and +astonishment, which broke forth from nearly every mouth, the instant +that the audience and the performers were united. Amazed, she turned to +Harleigh, to examine the merits of such praise; but Harleigh, no longer +silent, cautious, or cold, was himself one of the 'admiring throng,' and +so openly, and with an air of so much pleasure, that she could not catch +his attention for any critical discussion.</p> + +<p>After two country dances, and two cotillons, the short ball was broken +up, and Lady Aurora hastened to seat herself by Miss Ellis, and Lord +Melbury to stand before and to converse with her, followed by all the +youthful part of the company, to whom she seemed the sovereign of a +little court which came to pay her homage. Harleigh grew every instant +more enchanted; for as she discoursed with her two fervent new admirers, +her countenance brightened into an animation so radiant, her eyes became +so lustrous, and smiles of so much sweetness and pleasure embellished +every feature, that he almost fancied he saw her now for the first time, +though her welfare, or her distresses, had for more than a month chiefly +occupied his mind. Who art thou? thought he, as incessantly he +contemplated her; where hast thou thus been formed? And for what art +thou designed?</p> + +<p>Supper being now announced, Mrs Maple commissioned Harleigh to lead Lady +Aurora down stairs, adding, with a forced smile of civility, that Miss +Ellis must consult her health in retiring.</p> + +<p>'Yes, Ma'am; and Miss Ellis knows,' cried Lady Aurora, offering her arm, +'who is to be her chevalier.'</p> + +<p>Again embarrassed, Mrs Maple saw no resource against exposing her shabby +chamber, but that of admitting its occupier to the supper table. She +hastily, therefore, asked whether Miss Ellis thought herself well enough +to sit up a little longer; adding, 'For my part, I think it will do you +good.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>'The greatest!' cried Ellis, with a look of delight; and, to the +speechless consternation of Mrs Maple, Lord Melbury, calling her the +Queen of the night, took her hand, to conduct her to the supper-room. +Ellis would have declined this distinction, but that the vivacity of her +ardent new friend, precipitated her to the staircase, ere she was aware +that she was the first to lead the way thither. Gaily, then, he would +have placed her in the seat of honour, as Lady President of the evening; +but, more now upon her guard, she insisted upon standing till the +visitors should be arranged, as she was herself a resident in the house.</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury, however, quitted her not, and would talk to no one else; +and finding that his seat was destined to be next to that of Mrs Maple, +who called him to her side, he said, that he never supped, and would +therefore wait upon the ladies; and, drawing a chair behind that of +Ellis, he devoted himself to conversing with her, upon her part, upon +the whole play, and upon dramatic works, French and English, in general, +with the eagerness with which such subjects warm the imagination of +youth, and with a pleasure which made him monopolize her attention.</p> + +<p>Harleigh listened to every word to which Ellis listened, or to which she +answered; and scarcely knew whether most to admire her good sense, her +intelligent quickness, her elegant language, or the meaning eyes, and +varied smiles which spoke before she spoke, and shewed her entire +conception of all to which she attended.</p> + +<p>No one now could address her; she was completely engrossed by the young +nobleman, who allowed her not time to turn from him a moment.</p> + +<p>Such honours shewn to a pauper, a stroller, a vagabond; and all in the +present instance, from her own unfortunate contrivance, Mrs Maple +considered as a personal disgrace; a sensation which was three-fold +encreased when the party broke up, and Lady Aurora, taking the chair of +her brother, rallied him upon the envy which his situation had excited; +while, in the most engaging manner, she hoped, during her sojourn at +Brighthelmstone, to have frequently the good fortune of taking her +revenge. Then, joining in their conversation, she became so pleased, so +interested, so happy, that twice Mrs Howel, the lady under whose care +she had been brought to Lewes, reminded Her Ladyship that the horses +were waiting in the cold, before she could prevail upon herself to +depart. And, even then, that lady was forced to take her gently by the +arm, to prevent her from renewing the conversation which she most +unwillingly finished. 'Pardon me, dear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> Madam,' said Lady Aurora; 'I am +quite ashamed; but I hope, while I am so happy as to be with you, that +you will yourself conceive a fellow feeling, how difficult it is to tear +one's self away from Miss Ellis.'</p> + +<p>'What honour Your Ladyship does me!' cried Ellis, her eyes glistening: +'and Oh!—how happy you have made me!'—</p> + +<p>'How kind you are to say so!' returned Lady Aurora, taking her hand.</p> + +<p>She felt a tear drop upon her own from the bent-down eyes of Ellis.</p> + +<p>Startled, and astonished, she hoped that Miss Ellis was not again +indisposed?</p> + +<p>Smilingly, yet in a voice that denoted extreme agitation, 'Lady Aurora +alone,' she answered, 'can be surprised that so much goodness—so +unlooked for—so unexpected—should be touching!'</p> + +<p>'O Mrs Maple,' cried Lady Aurora, in taking leave of that lady, 'what a +sweet creature is this Miss Ellis!'</p> + +<p>'Such talents and a sensibility so attractive,' said Lord Melbury, +'never met before!'</p> + +<p>Ellis heard them, and with a pleasure that seemed exquisite, yet that +died away the moment that they disappeared. All then crowded round her, +who had hitherto abstained; but she drooped; tears flowed fast down her +cheeks; she courtsied the acknowledgements which she could not pronounce +to her complimenters and enquirers, and mounted to her chamber.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple concluded her already so spoiled, by the praises of Lord +Melbury and Lady Aurora Granville, that she held herself superior to all +other; and the company in general imbibed the same notion. Many disdain, +or affect to disdain, the notice of people of rank for themselves, but +all are jealous of it for others.</p> + +<p>Not such was the opinion of Harleigh; her pleasure in their society +seemed to him no more than renovation to feelings of happier days. Who, +who, thought he again, can'st thou be? And why, thus evidently +accustomed to grace society, why art thou thus strangely alone—thus +friendless—thus desolate—thus mysterious?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>Selina, regarding herself as a free agent, since Ireton professed a +respect for Ellis that made him ashamed of his former doubts, flew, the +next morning, to the chamber of that young person, to talk over the +play, Lord Melbury, and Lady Aurora Granville: but found her <i>protégée</i> +absorbed in deep thought, and neither able nor willing to converse.</p> + +<p>When the family assembled to breakfast, Mrs Maple declared that she had +not closed her eyes the whole night, from the vexation of having +admitted such an unknown Wanderer to sup at her table, and to mix with +people of rank.</p> + +<p>Elinor was wholly silent.</p> + +<p>They were not yet separated, when Lady Aurora Granville and Mrs Howel +called to renew their thanks for the entertainment of the preceding +evening.</p> + +<p>'But Miss Ellis?' said Lady Aurora, looking around her, disappointed; 'I +hope she is not more indisposed?'</p> + +<p>'By no means. She is quite well again,' answered Mrs Maple, in haste to +destroy a disposition to pity, which she thought conferred undue honour +upon the stranger.</p> + +<p>'But shall we not have the pleasure to see her?'</p> + +<p>'She ... generally ... breakfasts in her own room,' answered Mrs Maple, +with much hesitation.</p> + +<p>'May I, then,' said Lady Aurora, going to the bell, 'beg that somebody +will let her know how happy I should be to enquire after her health?'</p> + +<p>'Your Ladyship is too good,' cried Mrs Maple, in great confusion, and +preventing her from ringing; 'but Miss Ellis—I don't know why—is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> so +fond of keeping her chamber, that there is no getting her out of it ... +some how.—'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps, then, she will permit me to go up stairs to her?'</p> + +<p>'O no, not for the world! besides ... I believe she has walked out.'</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora now applied to Selina, who was scampering away upon a +commission of search; when Mrs Maple, following her, privately insisted +that she should bring back intelligence that Miss Ellis was taken +suddenly ill.</p> + +<p>Selina was forced to comply, and Lady Aurora with serious concern, to +return to Brighthelmstone ungratified.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was so much disconcerted by this incident, and so nettled at +her own perplexed situation, that nothing saved Ellis from an abrupt +dismission, but the representations of Mrs Fenn, that some fine work, +which the young woman had just begun, would not look of a piece if +finished by another hand.</p> + +<p>The next morning, the breakfast party was scarcely assembled, when Lord +Melbury entered the parlour. He had ridden over, he said, to enquire +after the health of Miss Ellis, in the name of his sister, who would do +herself the pleasure to call upon her, as soon as she should be +sufficiently recovered to receive a visit.</p> + +<p>Elinor was struck with the glow of satisfaction which illumined the face +of Harleigh, at this reiterated distinction. A glow of a far different +sort flushed that of Mrs Maple, who, after various ineffectual evasions, +was constrained to say that she hoped Miss Ellis would be well enough to +appear on the morrow. And, to complete her provocation, she was reduced, +when Lord Melbury was gone, to propose, herself, that Selina should lend +the girl a gown, and what else she might require, for being seen, once +again, without involving them all in shame.</p> + +<p>Ellis, informed by Selina of these particulars, shed a torrent of +grateful tears at the interest which she had thus unexpectedly excited; +then, reviving into a vivacity which seemed to renew all the pleasure +that she had experienced on the night of the play, she diligently +employed herself in appropriating the attire which Selina supplied for +the occasion.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, now, had no consolation but that the stay of Lady Aurora in +the neighbourhood would be short, as that young lady and her brother +were only at Brighthelmstone upon a visit to the Honourable Mrs Howel; +who, having a capital mansion upon the Steyne, resided there the +greatest part of the year.</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel accompanied her young guest to Lewes the following<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> morning. +Miss Ellis was enquired for without delay, and as Mrs Maple would suffer +no one to view her chamber, she was summoned into the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>She entered it with a blush of bright pleasure upon her cheeks; yet with +eyes that were glistening, and a bosom that seemed struggling with +sighs. Lady Aurora hastened to meet her, uttering such kind expressions +of concern for her indisposition, that Ellis, with charmed sensibility, +involuntarily advanced to embrace her; but rapidly, and with timid +shame, drew back, her eyes cast down, and her feelings repressed. Lady +Aurora, perceiving the design, and its check, instantly held out her +hand, and smilingly saying, 'Would you cheat me of this kindness?' led +her to a seat next to her own upon a sofa.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the stranger were not now the only ones that glistened. +Harleigh could not see her thus benignly treated, or rather, as he +conceived, thus restored to the treatment to which she had been +accustomed, and which he believed her to merit, without feeling tears +moisten his own.</p> + +<p>With marked civility, though not with the youthful enthusiasm of Lady +Aurora, Mrs Howel, also, made her compliments to Miss Ellis. Lord +Melbury arrived soon afterwards, and, the first ceremonies over, devoted +his whole attention to the same person.</p> + +<p>O powerful prejudice! thought Harleigh; what is judgment, and where is +perception in your hands? The ladies of this house, having first seen +this charming Incognita in tattered garments, forlorn, desolate, and +distressed; governed by the prepossession thus excited of her +inferiority, even, to this moment, either neglect or treat her harshly; +not moved by the varied excellencies that should create gentler ideas, +nor open to the interesting attractions that might give them more +pleasure than they could bestow! While these visitors, hearing that she +is a young lady of family, and meeting her upon terms of equality, find, +at once, that she is endowed with talents and accomplishments for the +highest admiration, and with a sweetness of manners, and powers of +conversation, irresistibly fascinating.</p> + +<p>The visit lasted almost the whole morning, during which he observed, +with extreme satisfaction, not only that the dejection of Ellis wore +away, but that a delight in the intercourse seemed reciprocating between +herself and her young friends, that gave new beauty to her countenance, +and new spirit to her existence.</p> + +<p>When the visitors rose to be gone, 'I cannot tell you, Miss Ellis,'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +said Lady Aurora, 'how happy I shall be to cultivate your acquaintance. +Will you give me leave to call upon you for half an hour to morrow?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, with trembling pleasure, cast a fearful glance at Mrs Maple, who +hastily turned her head another way. Ellis then gratefully acceded to +the proposal.</p> + +<p>'Miss Ellis, I hope,' said Mrs Howel, in taking leave, 'will permit me, +also, to have some share of her society, when I have the honour to +receive her at Brighthelmstone.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, touched, enchanted, could attempt no reply beyond a courtesy, and +stole, with a full heart, and eyes overflowing, to her chamber, the +instant that they left the house.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was now in a dilemma which she would have deemed terrible +beyond all comparison, but from what she experienced the following +minute, when the butler put upon the table a handful of cards, left by +the groom of Mrs Howel, amongst which Mrs Maple perceived the name of +Miss Ellis, mingled with her own, and that of the Miss Joddrels, in an +invitation to a small dancing-party on the ensuing Thursday.</p> + +<p>'This exceeds all!' she cried: 'If I don't get rid of this wretch, she +will bring me into universal disgrace! she shall not stay another day in +my house.'</p> + +<p>'Has she, Madam, for a single moment,' said Harleigh, with quickness, +'given you cause to repent your kind assistance, or reason to harbour +any suspicion that you have not bestowed it worthily?'</p> + +<p>'Why, you go beyond Elinor herself, now, Mr Harleigh! for even she, you +see, does not ask me to keep her any longer.'</p> + +<p>'Miss Joddrel,' answered Harleigh, turning with an air of gentleness to +the mute Elinor, 'is aware how little a single woman is allowed to act +publicly for herself, without risk of censure.'</p> + +<p>'Censure?' interrupted Elinor, disdainfully, 'you know I despise it!'</p> + +<p>He affected not to hear her, and continued, 'Miss Joddrel leaves, +therefore, Madam, to your established situation in life, the protection +of a young person whom circumstances have touchingly cast upon your +compassion, and who seems as innocent as she is indigent, and as formed, +nay elegant in her manners, as she is obscure and secret in her name and +history. I make not any doubt but Miss Joddrel would be foremost to +sustain her from the dangers of lonely penury, to which she seems +exposed if deserted, were my brother already—' He approached Elinor, +lowering his voice; she rose to quit the room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> with a look of deep +resentment; but could not first escape hearing him finish his speech +with 'as happy as I hope soon to see him!'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Mr Harleigh,' said Mrs Maple, 'when shall we bring that to bear?'</p> + +<p>'She never pronounces a positive rejection,' answered Harleigh, 'yet I +make no progress in my peace-offerings.'</p> + +<p>He would then have entered more fully upon that subject, in the hope of +escaping from the other: Mrs Maple, however, never forgot her anger but +for her interest; and Selina was forced to be the messenger of +dismission.</p> + +<p>She found Ellis so revived, that to destroy her rising tranquillity +would have been a task nearly impossible, had Selina possessed as much +consideration as good humour. But she was one amongst the many in whom +reflection never precedes speech, and therefore, though sincerely sorry, +she denounced, without hesitating, the sentence of Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>Ellis was struck with the deepest dismay, to be robbed thus of all +refuge, at the very moment when she flattered herself that new friends, +perhaps a new asylum, were opening to her. Whither could she now wander? +and how hope that others, to whom she was still less known, would escape +the blasting contagion, and believe that distress might be guiltless +though mysterious? A few shillings were all that she possessed; and she +saw no prospect of any recruit. Elinor had not once spoken to her since +the play; and the childish character, even more than the extreme youth +of Selina, made it seem improper, in so discarded a state, to accept any +succour from her clandestinely. Nevertheless, the awaited letter was not +yet arrived; the expected friend had not yet appeared. How, then, quit +the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone, where alone any hope of receiving +either still lingered? The only idea that occurred to her, was that of +throwing herself upon the compassion of her new acquaintances, +faithfully detailing to them her real situation at Mrs Maple's, and +appealing to their generosity to forbear, for the present, all enquiry +into its original cause.</p> + +<p>This determined, she anxiously desired, before her departure, to +restore, if she could discover their owner, the anonymous bank-notes, +which she was resolute not to use; and, hearing the step of Harleigh +passing her door in descending the stairs, she hastened after him, with +the little packet in her hand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>Turning round as he reached the hall, and observing, with pleased +surprise, her intention to speak to him, he stopt.</p> + +<p>'You have been so good to me, Sir,' she said, 'so humane and so +considerate, by every possible occasion, that I think I may venture to +beg yet one more favour of you, before I leave Lewes.'</p> + +<p>Her dejected tone extremely affected him, and he waited her explanation +with looks that were powerfully expressive of his interest in her +welfare.</p> + +<p>'Some one, with great, but mistaken kindness,' she continued, 'has +imagined my necessities stronger than my ...' She stopt, as if at a loss +for a word, and then, with a smile, added, 'my pride, others, perhaps, +will say; but to me it appears only a sense of right. If, however, my +lengthened suspense forces me to require more assistance of this sort +than I already owe to the Miss Joddrels, and to the benevolent Admiral, +I shall have recourse to the most laborious personal exertions, rather +than spread any further the list of my pecuniary creditors.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh did not, or seemed not to understand her, yet would not resist +taking the little packet, which she put into his hands, saying, 'I have +some fear that this comes from Mr Ireton; I shall hold myself +inexpressibly obliged to you, Sir, if you will have the goodness to +clear up that doubt for me; and, should it prove a fact, to return it to +him with my thanks, but the most positive assurance that its acceptance +is totally impossible.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh looked disturbed, yet promised to obey.</p> + +<p>'And if,' cried she, 'you should not find Mr Ireton to be my creditor, +you may possibly discover him in a person to whom I owe far other +services, and unmingled esteem. And should that be the case, say to him, +I beg, Sir, that even from him I must decline an obligation of this +sort, though my debts to him of every other, are nearly as innumerable +as their remembrance will be indelible.'</p> + +<p>She then hastened away, leaving Harleigh impressed with such palpable +concern, that she could no longer doubt that the packet was already +deposited with its right owner.</p> + +<p>He passed into the garden, and she was going back, when, at the entrance +of the breakfast-parlour, she perceived Elinor, who seemed sternly +occupied in observing them.</p> + +<p>Ellis courtsied, and stood still. Elinor moved not, and was gloomily +silent.</p> + +<p>Struck with her mien, her stillness, and her manner, Ellis, in a fearful +voice, enquired after her health; but received a look so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> indignant, yet +wild, that, affrighted and astonished, she retreated to her chamber.</p> + +<p>As she turned round upon entering it, to shut herself in, immediately +before her stood Elinor.</p> + +<p>She looked yet paler, and seemed in a sort of stupor. Ellis respectfully +held open the door, but she did not advance: the fury, however, of her +aspect was abated, and Ellis, in a voice condolingly soft, asked whether +she might hope that Miss Joddrel would, once more, condescend to sit +with her before her departure.</p> + +<p>At these words Elinor seemed to shake herself, and presently, though in +a hollow tone, pronounced, 'Are you then going?'</p> + +<p>Ellis plaintively answered Yes!</p> + +<p>'And ... with whom?' cried Elinor, raising her eyes with a glance of +fire.</p> + +<p>'With no one, Madam. I go alone.'</p> + +<p>This answer was uttered with a firmness that annulled all suspicion of +deceit.</p> + +<p>Elinor appeared again to breathe.</p> + +<p>'And whither?' she demanded, 'whither is it you go?'</p> + +<p>'I know not, alas!—but I mean to make an attempt at Howel Place.'</p> + +<p>The countenance of Elinor now lost its rigidity, and with a cry almost +of extacy, she exclaimed, 'Upon Lord Melbury?—your new admirer? O go to +him!—hasten to him!—dear, charming Ellis, away to him at once!—'</p> + +<p>Ellis, half smiling, answered, 'No, Madam; I go to Lady Aurora +Granville.'</p> + +<p>Elinor, without replying, left the room; but, quick in action as in +idea, returned, almost instantly, loaded with a packet of clothes.</p> + +<p>'Here, most beautiful Ophelia!' she cried, 'look over this trumpery. You +know how skilfully you can arrange it. You must not appear to +disadvantage before dear little Lord Melbury.'</p> + +<p>Ellis now, nearly offended, drew back.</p> + +<p>'O, I know I ought to be excommunicated for giving such a hint,' cried +Elinor, whose spirits were rather exalted than recovered; 'though every +body sees how the poor boy is bewitched with you: but you delicate +sentimentalists are never yourselves to suspect any danger, till the men +are so crazy 'twould be murder to resist them; and then, you know, +acceptance is an act of mere charity.'</p> + +<p>Ellis laughed at her raillery, yet declined her wardrobe, saying that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +she had resolved upon frankly stating to Lady Aurora, all that she was +able to make known of her situation.</p> + +<p>'Well, that's more romantic,' returned Elinor, 'and so 'twill be more +touching; especially to the little peer; for as you won't say who you +are, he can do no less than, like Selina, conclude you to be a princess +in disguise; and that, as you know, will bring the match so properly +forward, that parents, and uncles, and guardians, and all those +supernumeraries of the creation, will learn the business only just in +time to drown themselves.'</p> + +<p>Ellis heard this with a calmness that shewed her superior to offering +any vindication of her conduct; and Elinor more gently added, 'Now don't +construe all this into either a sneer or a reprimand. If you imagine me +an enemy to what the old court call unequal connexions, you do me +egregious injustice. I detest all aristocracy: I care for nothing upon +earth but nature; and I hold no one thing in the world worth living for +but liberty! and liberty, you know, has but two occupations,—plucking +up and pulling down. To me, therefore, 'tis equally diverting, to see a +beggar swell into a duchess, or a duchess dwindle into a beggar.'</p> + +<p>Ellis tried to smile, but felt shocked many ways; and Elinor, gay, now, +as a lark, left her to get ready for Howel Place.</p> + +<p>While thus employed, a soft tap called her to the door, where she +perceived Harleigh.</p> + +<p>'I will detain you,' he said, 'but a moment. I can find no owner for +your little packet; you must suffer it, therefore, still to encumber +you; and should any accident, or any transient convenience, make its +contents even momentarily useful to you, do not let any idea of its +having ever belonged to Mr Ireton impede its employment: I have examined +that point thoroughly, and I can positively assure you, that he has not +the least knowledge even of its existence.'</p> + +<p>As she held back from taking it, he put it upon a step before the door, +and descended the stairs without giving her time to answer.</p> + +<p>She did not dare either to follow or to call him, lest Elinor should +again appear; but she felt convinced that the bank-notes were his own, +and became less uneasy at a short delay, though equally determined upon +restitution.</p> + +<p>She was depositing them in her work-bag, when Selina came jumping into +the room. 'O Ellis,' she cried, 'I have the best news in the world for +you! Aunt Maple fell into the greatest passion you ever saw, at hearing +you were going to Howel Place. "What!" says she,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> "shall I let her +disgrace me for ever, by making known what a poor Wanderer I have taken +into my house, and permitted to eat at my table? It would be a thing to +ruin me in the opinion of the whole world." So then, after the greatest +fuss that ever you knew in your life, she said you should not be turned +away till Lady Aurora was gone.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, however, hurt by this recital, rejoiced in the reprieve.</p> + +<p>The difficulties, nevertheless, of Mrs Maple did not end here; the next +morning she received a note from Mrs Howel, with intelligence that Lady +Aurora Granville was prevented from making her intended excursion, by a +very violent cold; and to entreat that Mrs Maple would use her interest +with Miss Ellis, to soften Her Ladyship's disappointment, by spending +the day at Howel Place; for which purpose Mrs Howel begged leave to send +her carriage, at an early hour, to Lewes.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple read this with a choler indescribable. She would have sent +word that Ellis was ill, but she foresaw an endless embarrassment from +inquiring visits; and, after the most fretful, but fruitless +lamentations, passionately declared that she would have nothing more to +do with the business, and retired to her room; telling Elinor that she +might answer Mrs Howel as she pleased, only charging her to take upon +herself all responsibility of consequences.</p> + +<p>Elinor, enchanted, fixed upon two o'clock for the arrival of the +carriage; and Ellis, who heard the tidings with even exquisite joy, +spent the intermediate time in preparations, for which she no longer +declined the assisting offers of Elinor, who, wild with renovated +spirits, exhorted her, now in raillery, now in earnest, but always with +agitated vehemence, to make no scruple of going off with Lord Melbury to +Gretna Green.</p> + +<p>When the chaise arrived, Mrs Maple restless and curious, suddenly +descended; but was filled with double envy and malevolence, at sight of +the look of pleasure which Ellis wore; but which gave to Harleigh a +satisfaction that counter-balanced his regret at her quitting the house.</p> + +<p>'I have only one thing to mention to you, Mrs Ellis,' said Mrs Maple, +with a gloomy scowl; 'I insist upon it that you don't say one syllable +to Mrs Howel, nor to Lady Aurora, about your meanness, and low +condition, and that ragged state that we found you in, patched, and +blacked, and made up for an object to excite pity. Mind that! for if you +go to Howel Place only to make out that I have been telling a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> parcel of +stories, I shall be sure to discover it, and you shall repent it as long +as you live.'</p> + +<p>Ellis seemed tempted to leave the room without condescending to make any +reply; but she checked herself, and desired to understand more clearly +what Mrs Maple demanded.</p> + +<p>'That there may be only one tale told between us, and that you will be +steady to stand to what I have said, of your being a young lady of good +family, who came over with me from France.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, without hesitation, consented; and Harleigh handed her to the +chaise, Mrs Maple herself not knowing how to object to that civility, as +the servants of Mrs Howel were waiting to attend their lady's guest. +'How happy, how relieved,' cried he, in conducting her out, 'will you +feel in obtaining at last, a little reprieve from the narrow prejudice +which urges this cruel treatment!'</p> + +<p>'You must not encourage me to resentment,' cried she, smiling, 'but +rather bid me, as I bid myself, when I feel it rising, subdue it by +recollecting my strange—indefinable situation in this family!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>The presage of Harleigh proved as just as it was pleasant: the heart of +Ellis bounded with delight as she drove off from the house; and the hope +of transferring to Lady Aurora the obligation for succour which she was +now compelled to owe to Mrs Maple, seemed almost lifting her from earth +to heaven.</p> + +<p>Her fondest wishes were exceeded by her reception. Mrs Howel came +forward to meet her, and to beg permission not to order the carriage for +her return, till late at night. She was then conducted to the apartment +of Lady Aurora, by Lord Melbury, who assured her that his sister would +have rejoiced in a far severer indisposition, which had procured her +such a gratification. Lady Aurora welcomed her with an air of so much +goodness, and with looks so soft, so pleased, so partial, that Ellis, in +taking her held-out hand, overpowered by so sudden a transition from +indignity to kindness, and agitated by the apprehensions that were +attached to the hopes which it inspired, burst into tears, and, in +defiance of her utmost struggles for serenity, wept even with violence.</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora, shocked and alarmed, asked for her salts; and Lord Melbury +flew for a glass of water; but Ellis, declining both, and reviving +without either, wiped, though she could not dry her eyes and smiled, +while they still glistened, with such grateful sensibility, yet beaming +happiness, that both the brother and the sister soon saw, that, greatly +as she was affected, nothing was wanting to her restoration. 'It is not +sorrow,' she cried, when able to speak; ''tis your goodness, your +kindness, which thus touch me!'</p> + +<p>'Can you ever have met with any thing else?' said Lord Melbury, warmly; +'if you can—by what monsters you must have been beset!'</p> + +<p>'No, my Lord, no,' cried she: 'I am far from meaning to complain;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> but +you must not suppose the world made up of Lady Aurora Granvilles!'</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora was much moved. It seemed evident to her that her new +favourite was not happy; and she had conceived such high ideas of her +perfections, that she was ready to weep herself, at the bare suggestion +that they were not recompensed by felicity.</p> + +<p>The rest of the morning passed in gentle, but interesting conversation, +between the two young females; or in animated theatrical discussions, +strictures, and declamation, with the young peer.</p> + +<p>At dinner they joined Mrs Howel, who was charmed to see her young guests +thus delighted, and could not refuse her consent to a petition of Lady +Aurora, that she would invite Miss Ellis to assist her again, the next +day, to nurse her cold with the same prudence.</p> + +<p>The expressive eyes of Ellis spoke enchantment. They parted, therefore, +only for the night; but just before the carriage was driven from the +door, the coachman discovered that an accident had happened to one of +the wheels, which could not be rectified till the next morning.</p> + +<p>After some deliberation, Mrs Howel, at Lady Aurora's earnest desire, +sent over a groom with a note to Mrs Maple, informing her of the +circumstance, and begging that she would not expect Miss Ellis till the +following evening.</p> + +<p>The tears of Ellis, at happiness so unlooked for, were again ready to +flow, and with difficulty restrained. She wrote a few words to Elinor, +entreating her kind assistance, in searching a packet of some things +necessary for this new plan; and Elinor took care to provide her with +materials for remaining a month, rather than a day.</p> + +<p>A chamber was now prepared for Ellis, in which nothing was omitted that +could afford either comfort or elegance; yet, from the fulness of her +mind, she could not, even for a moment, close her eyes, when she +retired.</p> + +<p>Some drawback, however, to her happiness was experienced the next +morning, when she found Mrs Howel fearful that the cold of Lady Aurora +menaced terminating in a violent cough. Dr P—— was immediately called +in, and his principal prescription was, that Her Ladyship should avoid +hot rooms, dancing, company, and talking. Mrs Howel, easily made anxious +for Lady Aurora, not only from personal attachment, but from the +responsibility of having her in charge, besought Her Ladyship to give up +the play for that night, an assembly for the following, and to permit +that the intended ball of Thursday should be postponed, till Her +Ladyship should be perfectly recovered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lady Aurora, with a grace that accompanied all her actions, +unhesitatingly complied; but enquired whether it would not be possible +to persuade Miss Ellis to remain with them during this confinement? Mrs +Howel repeated the request. The delight of Ellis was too deep for +utterance. Joy of this tender sort always flung her into tears; and Lady +Aurora, who saw that her heart was as oppressed as it was gentle, +besought Mrs Howel to write their desire to Lewes.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, however enraged and perplexed, had no choice how to act, +without betraying the imposition which she had herself practised, and +therefore offered no opposition.</p> + +<p>Ellis now enjoyed a happiness, before which all her difficulties and +disappointments seemed to sink forgotten, or but to be remembered as +evils overpayed; so forcible was the effect upon her mind, of the +contrast of her immediate situation with that so recently quitted. Mrs +Howel was all politeness to her; Lord Melbury appeared to have no study, +but whether to shew her most admiration or respect; and Lady Aurora +behaved to her with a sweetness that went straight to her heart.</p> + +<p>It was now that they first became acquainted with her uncommon musical +talents. Lady Aurora had a piano forte in her room; and Mrs Howel said, +that if Miss Ellis could play Her Ladyship an air or two, it might help +to amuse, yet keep her silent. Ellis instantly went to the instrument, +and there performed, in so fine a style, a composition of Haydn, that +Mrs Howel, who, though by no means a scientific judge of music, was +sufficiently in the habit of going to concerts, to have acquired the +skill of discriminating excellence from mediocrity, was struck with +wonder, and congratulated both her young guest and herself, in so +seasonable an acquisition of so accomplished a visitor.</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury, who was himself a tolerable proficient upon the +violoncello, was enraptured at this discovery; and Lady Aurora, whose +whole soul was music, felt almost dissolved with tender pleasure.</p> + +<p>Nor ended here either their surprise or their satisfaction; they soon +learnt that she played also upon the harp; Lord Melbury instantly went +forth in search of one; and it was then, as this was the instrument +which she had most particularly studied, that Ellis completed her +conquest of their admiration; for with the harp she was prevailed upon +to sing; and the sweetness of her voice, the delicacy of its tones, her +taste and expression, in which her soul seemed to harmonize with her +accents, had an effect so delightful upon her auditors, that Mrs Howel +could scarcely find phrases for the compliments which she thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +merited; Lord Melbury burst into the most rapturous applause; and Lady +Aurora was enchanted, was fascinated: she caught the sweet sounds with +almost extatic attention, hung on them with the most melting tenderness, +entreated to hear the same air again and again, and felt a gratitude for +the delight which she received, that was hardly inferior to that which +her approbation bestowed.</p> + +<p>Eager to improve these favourable sensations, Ellis, to vary the +amusements of Lady Aurora, in this interval of retirement, proposed +reading. And here again her powers gave the utmost pleasure; whether she +took a French author, or an English one; the accomplished Boileau, or +the penetrating Pope; the tenderly-refined Racine, or the all-pervading +Shakespeare; her tones, her intelligence, her skilful modulations, gave +force and meaning to every word, and proved alike her understanding and +her feeling.</p> + +<p>Brilliant, however, as were her talents, all the success which they +obtained was short of that produced by her manners and conversation: in +the former there was a gentleness, in the latter a spirit, that excited +an interest for her in the whole house; but, while generally engaging to +all by her general merit, to Lady Aurora she had peculiar attractions, +from the excess of sensibility with which she received even the smallest +attentions. She seemed impressed with a gratitude that struggled for +words, without the power of obtaining such as could satisfy it. Pleasure +shone lustrous in her fine eyes, every time that they met those of Lady +Aurora; but if that young lady took her hand, or spoke to her with more +than usual softness, tears, which she vainly strove to hide, rolled fast +down her cheeks, but which, though momentarily overpowering, were no +sooner dispersed, than every feature became re-animated with glowing +vivacity.</p> + +<p>Yet, that some latent sorrow hung upon her mind, Lady Aurora soon felt +convinced; and that some solicitude or suspense oppressed her spirits, +was equally evident: she was constantly watchful for the post, and +always startled at sight of a letter. Lady Aurora was too delicate to +endeavour to develope the secret cause of this uneasiness; but the good +breeding which repressed the manifestation of curiosity, made the +interest thus excited sink so much the deeper into her mind; and, in a +short time, her every feeling, and almost every thought, were absorbed +in tender commiseration for unknown distresses, which she firmly +believed to be undeserved; and which, however nobly supported, seemed +too poignant for constant suppression.</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora, who had just reached her sixteenth year, was now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> budding +into life, with equal loveliness of mind and person. She was fair, but +pale, with elegant features, a face perfectly oval, and soft expressive +blue eyes, of which the 'liquid lustre' spoke a heart that was the seat +of sensibility; yet not of that weak romantic cast, formed by early and +futile love-sick reading, either in novels or poems; but of +compassionate feeling for woes which she did not suffer; and of anxious +solicitude to lessen distress by kind offices, and affliction by tender +sympathy.</p> + +<p>With a character thus innately virtuous, joined to a disposition the +most amiably affectionate, so attractive a young creature as the +Incognita could not fail to be in unison. Without half her powers of +pleasing, the most perfect good will of Lady Aurora would have been won, +by the mere surmize that she was not happy: but when, to an idea so +affecting to her gentle mind, were added the quick intelligence, the +graceful manners, the touching sense of kindness, and the rare +accomplishments of Ellis, so warm an interest was kindled in the +generous bosom of Lady Aurora, that the desire to serve and to give +comfort to her new favourite, became, in a short time, indispensable to +her own peace.</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel, the lady with whom she was at present a guest, possessed none +of the endearing qualities which could catch the affections of a mind of +so delicate a texture as that of Lady Aurora. She was well bred, well +born, and not ill educated; but her heart was cold, her manners were +stiff, her opinions were austere, and her resolutions were immoveable. +Yet this character, with the general esteem in which, for unimpeachable +conduct, she was held by the world, was the inducement which led her +cousin, Lord Denmeath, the uncle and guardian of Lady Aurora, to fix +upon her as a proper person for taking his ward into public; the tender +and facile nature of that young lady, demanding, he thought, all the +guard which the firmness of Mrs Howel could afford.</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury was two years the senior of Lady Aurora: unassuming from +his rank, and unspoiled by early independence, he was open, generous, +kind-hearted and sincere; and though, from the ardour of juvenile +freedom, and the credulity of youth, he was easily led astray, an +instinctive love of right, and the acute self-reproaches which followed +his least deviations, were conscious, and rarely erring guarantees, that +his riper years would be happy in the wisdom of goodness.</p> + +<p>In a house such as this, loved and compassionated by Lady Aurora, +admired by Lord Melbury, and esteemed by Mrs Howel, what felicity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> was +enjoyed by its new guest! Her suspenses and difficulties, though never +forgotten, were rather gratefully than patiently endured; and she felt +as if she could scarcely desire their termination, if it should part her +from such heart-soothing society.</p> + +<p>Smoothly thus glided the hours, till nearly a fortnight elapsed, Lady +Aurora, though recovered, saying that she preferred this gentle social +life, to the gayer or more splendid scenes offered to her abroad: yet +neither with gaiety nor splendour had she quarrelled; it was Ellis whom +she could not bear to quit; Ellis, whose attractions and sweetness +charmed her heart, and whose secret disturbance occupied all her +thoughts.</p> + +<p>The admiration of Lord Melbury was wrought still higher; yet the +constant respect attending it, satisfied Mrs Howel, who would else have +been alarmed, that his chief delight was derived from seeing that his +sister, whom he adored, had a companion so peculiarly to her taste. +Severely, however, Mrs Howel watched and investigated every look, every +speech, every turn of the head of Ellis, with regard to this young +nobleman; well aware that, as he was younger than herself, though her +beauty was in its prime, his safety might depend, more rationally, upon +her own views, or her own honour, than upon his prudence or +indifference: but all that she observed tended to raise Ellis yet more +highly in her esteem. The behaviour of that young person was open, +pleasing, good-humoured and unaffected. It was evident that she wished +to be thought well of by Lord Melbury; but it appeared to be equally +evident that she honourably deserved his good opinion. Her desire to +give him pleasure was unmixt with any species of coquetry: it was as +wide from the dangerous toil of tender languor, as from the fascinating +snares of alluring playfulness. The whole of her demeanour had a +decorum, and of her conduct a correctness, as striking to the taste of +Mrs Howel, as her conversation, her accomplishments, and her sentiments +were to that of the youthful brother and sister. Mrs Howel often begged +Lady Aurora to remark, that this was the only young lady whom she had +ever invited to her house upon so short an acquaintance; nor should she, +even to oblige Her Ladyship, have made this exception to her established +rules, but that she knew Mrs Maple to be scrupulosity itself, with +respect to the female friends whose intimacy she sanctioned with her +nieces. It was well known, indeed, she observed, that Mrs Maple was +forced to be the more exact in these points on account of the +extraordinary liberties taken by the eldest Miss Joddrel, who, being now +entirely independent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> frequently flung off the authority of her aunt, +and did things so strange, and saw people so singular, that she +continually distressed Mrs Maple. Miss Ellis, therefore, having been +brought back to her native land, by one so nice in these matters, must +certainly be a young lady of good family; though there seemed reason to +apprehend, that she was an orphan, and that she possessed little or no +portion, by her never naming her friends nor her situation, +notwithstanding they were subjects to which Mrs Howel often tried to +lead.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>Lady Aurora being now perfectly well, and the period of her visit at +Brighthelmstone nearly expired, Mrs Howel could not dispense with +repeating her dinner-invitation to Mrs Maple; and, three days previously +to the return of Lady Aurora to her uncle, it was accepted.</p> + +<p>The whole Lewes party felt the most eager curiosity to see Ellis in her +new dwelling; but not trifling was the effort required by Mrs Maple to +preserve any self-command, when she witnessed the high style in which +that young person was treated throughout the house. Harleigh hastened to +make his compliments to her, with an air of pleasure that spoke +sympathising congratulation. Elinor was all eye, all scrutiny, but all +silence. Ireton assumed, perforce, a tone of respect; and Selina, with +such an example as Lady Aurora for her support, flew to embrace her +<i>protégée</i>; and to relate, amongst sundry other little histories, that +Mr Harleigh had been going back to town, only Aunt Maple had begged him +to stay, till something could be brought about with regard to his +brother Dennis, who was grown quite affronted at sister Elinor's long +delays.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, almost the whole dinner-time, had the mortification to hear, +echoing from the sister to the brother, and re-echoed from Mrs Howel, +the praises of Miss Ellis; how delightfully the retirement of Lady +Aurora had passed in her society; the sweetness of her disposition, the +variety of her powers, and her amiable activity in seeking to make them +useful. Not daring to dissent, Mrs Maple, with forced smiles, gave a +tacit concurrence; while the bright glow that animated the complexion, +and every feature, of Harleigh, spoke that unequivocal approbation which +comes warm from the heart.</p> + +<p>Elinor, whose eyes constantly followed his, seemed sick during the whole +repast, of which she scarcely at all partook. If Ellis offered to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> serve +her, or enquired after her health, she darted at her an eye so piercing, +that Ellis, shrinking and alarmed, determined to address her no more; +though again, when any opportunity presented itself, for shewing some +attention, the resolution was involuntarily set aside; but always with +equal ill success, every attempt to soften, exciting looks the most +terrific.</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora surprised one of these glances, and saw its chilling effect. +Astonished, at once, and grieved, she felt an impulse to rise, and to +protect from such another shock her new and tenderly admired favourite. +She now easily conceived why kindness was so touching to her; yet how +any angry sensation could find its way in the breast of Miss Joddrel, or +of any human being, against such sweetness and such excellence, her +gentle mind, free from every feeling of envy, jealousy, or wrath, could +form no conjecture. She sighed to withdraw her from a house where her +merits were so ill appreciated; and could hardly persuade herself to +speak to any one else at the table, from the eagerness with which she +desired to dispel the gloom produced by Elinor's cloudy brow.</p> + +<p>The looks of Elinor had struck Mrs Howel also; but not with similar +compassion for their object; it was with alarm for herself. A sudden, +though vague idea, seized her, to the disadvantage of Ellis. With all +her accomplishments, all her elegance, was she, at last, but a +dependent? Might she be smiled or frowned upon at will? And had she +herself admitted into her house, upon equal terms, a person of such a +description?</p> + +<p>Doubt soon gives birth to suspicion, and suspicion is the mother of +surmise. It was now strange that she should have been told nothing of +the family and condition of Miss Ellis; there must be some reason for +silence; and the reason could not be a good one.</p> + +<p>Yet, was it possible that Mrs Maple could have been negligent upon such +a subject? Mrs Maple who, far from being dangerously facile, in forming +any connexion, was proud, was even censorious about every person that +she knew or saw?</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel now examined the behaviour of Mrs Maple herself to Ellis; and +this scrutiny soon shewed her its entire constraint; the distance which +she observed when not forced to notice her; the unwilling civility, +where any attention was indispensable.</p> + +<p>Something must certainly be wrong; and she determined, in the course of +the evening, to find an opportunity for minutely, nay rigorously, +questioning Mrs Maple. Ellis, meanwhile, fearing no one but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Elinor, and +watching no one but Lady Aurora, found sufficient occupation in the +alternate panic and consolation thus occasioned; or if any chasm +occurred, Lord Melbury with warm assiduities, and Harleigh with delicate +attentions, were always at hand to fill it up.</p> + +<p>When, early in the evening, that the horses might rest, the carriage of +Mrs Maple arrived, the groom sent in a letter, which, he said, had just +been brought to Lewes, according to order, by a messenger from the +Brighthelmstone post-office. Ellis precipitately arose; but Mrs Maple +held out her hand to take it; though, upon perceiving the direction, +"For L.S., to be left at the post-office at Brighthelmstone till called +for," fearing that Mrs Howel, who sat next to her, should perceive it +also, she hastily said, 'It is not for me; let the man take it back +again;' and, turning the seal upwards, re-delivered it to the servant; +anxious to avoid exhibiting an address, which might lead to a discovery +that she now deemed personally ignominious.</p> + +<p>Ellis, at this order, re-seated herself, not daring to make a public +claim, but resolving to follow the footman out, and to desire to look at +the direction of the letter. Elinor, however, stopping him, took it +herself, and, after a slight glance, threw it upon a table, saying, +'Leave it for who will to own it.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, changing colour, again arose; and would have seized it for +examination, had not Ireton, who was nearer to the table, taken it up, +and read, aloud, "For L.S." Again Ellis dropt upon her chair, distressed +and perplexed, between eagerness to receive her letter, and shame and +fear at acknowledging so mysterious a direction.</p> + +<p>Her dread of the consequence of disobeying Mrs Maple, had made her, +hitherto, defer relating her situation with regard to that lady; and she +had always flattered herself, that the longer it was postponed, the +greater would be her chance of inspiring such an interest as might cause +an indulgent hearing.</p> + +<p>Harleigh now took the letter himself, and, calmly saying that he would +see it safely delivered, put it into his pocket.</p> + +<p>Ellis, thus relieved from making an abrupt and unseasonable avowal, yet +sure that her letter was in honourable custody, with difficulty +refrained from thanking him. Lord Melbury and Mrs Howel thought there +was something odd and unintelligible in the business, but forbore any +enquiry; Lady Aurora, observing distress in her amiable Miss Ellis, felt +it herself; but revived with her revival; and the rest of the company, +though better informed, were compulsatorily silenced by the frowns of +Mrs Maple.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>Harleigh then, asking for a pen and some ink to write a letter, left the +room. Ellis, tortured with impatience, and hoping to meet with him, soon +followed. She was not mistaken: he had seated himself to write in an +ante-room, which she must necessarily cross if she mounted to her +chamber.</p> + +<p>He softly arose, put the letter into her hand, bowed, and returned to +his chair without speaking. She felt his delicacy as strongly as his +kindness, but, breathless with eagerness, observed the silence of which +he set the example, and, thanking him only by her looks, flew up stairs.</p> + +<p>She was long absent, and, when she descended, it was with steps so slow, +and with an air so altered, that Harleigh, who was still writing in the +room through which she had to pass, saw instantly that her letter had +brought disappointment and sorrow.</p> + +<p>He had not, now, the same self-command as while he had hoped and thought +that she was prosperous. He approached her, and, with a face of deep +concern, enquired if there were any thing, of any sort, in which he +could have the happiness to be of use to her? He stopt; but she felt his +right to a curiosity which he did not avow, and immediately answered:</p> + +<p>'My letter brings me no consolation! on the contrary, it tells me that I +must depend wholly upon myself, and expect no kind of aid, nor even any +intelligence again, perhaps for a considerable time!'</p> + +<p>'Is that possible?' cried he, 'Does no one follow—or is no one to meet +you?—Is there no one whose duty it is to guard and protect you? to draw +you from a situation thus precarious, thus unfitting, and to which I am +convinced you are wholly unaccustomed?'</p> + +<p>'It is fatally true, at this moment,' answered Ellis, with a sigh, 'that +no one can follow or support me; yet I am not deserted—I am simply +unfortunate. Neither can any one here meet me: the few to whom I have +any right to apply, know not of my arrival—and must not know it!—How I +am to exist till I dare make some claim, I cannot yet devise: but, +indeed, had it not been under this kind, protecting roof, that I have +received such a letter—I think I must have sunk from my own +dismay:—but Lady Aurora—' Her voice failed, and she stopt.</p> + +<p>'Lady Aurora,' cried Harleigh, 'is an angel. Her quick appreciation of +your worth, shews her understanding to be as good as her soul is pure. I +can wish you no better protection.—But pardon me, if I venture again to +repeat my surprise—I had almost said my indignation—that those to whom +you belong, can deem it right—safe—or decent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> to commit you—young as +you are, full of attractions, and evidently unused to struggle against +the dangers of the world, and the hardships of life,—to commit you to +strangers—to chance!—'</p> + +<p>'I know not how,' she cried, 'to leave you under so false an impression +of those to whom I belong. They are not to blame. They are more unhappy +than I am myself at my loneliness and its mystery: and for my poverty +and my difficulties, they are far, far from suspecting them! They are +ignorant of my loss at Dover, and they cannot suppose that I have missed +the friend whom I came over to join.'</p> + +<p>'Honour me,' cried he, 'with a commission, and I will engage to +discover, at least, whether that friend be yet at Brighthelmstone.'</p> + +<p>'And without naming for whom you seek her?' cried Ellis, her eyes +brightening with sudden hope.</p> + +<p>'Naming?' repeated he, with an arch smile.</p> + +<p>She blushed, deeply, in recollecting herself; but, seized with a sudden +dread of Elinor, drew back from her inadvertent acceptance; and, though +warmly thanking him, declined his services; adding that, by waiting at +Brighthelmstone, she must, ultimately, meet her friend, since all her +letters and directions were for that spot.</p> + +<p>Harleigh was palpably disappointed; and Ellis, hurt herself, opened her +letter, to lessen, she told him, his wonder, perhaps censure, of her +secresy, by reading to him its injunction. This was the sentence: 'Seek, +then, unnamed and unknown, during this dread interval of separation, to +reside with some worthy and happy family, whose social felicity may +bring, at least, reflected happiness to your own breast.'</p> + +<p>'That family,' she added, 'I flatter myself I have found here! for this +house, from the uniform politeness of Mrs Howel, the ingenuous goodness +of Lord Melbury, and the angelic sweetness of his sister, has been to me +an earthly paradise.'</p> + +<p>She then proceeded, without waiting to receive his thanks for this +communication; which he seemed hardly to know how to offer, from the +fulness of his thoughts, his varying conjectures, his conviction that +her friends, like herself, were educated, feeling, and elegant; and his +increased wonder at the whole of her position. Charming, charming +creature! he cried, what can have cast thee into this forlorn condition? +And by what means—and by whom—art thou to be rescued?</p> + +<p>Not chusing immediately to follow, he seated himself again to his pen.</p> + +<p>Somewhat recovered by this conversation, Ellis, now, was able to command +an air of tolerable composure, for re-entering the drawing-room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> where +she resolved to seek Elinor at once, and endeavour to deprecate her +displeasure, by openly repeating to her all that she had entrusted to Mr +Harleigh.</p> + +<p>As she approached the door, every voice seemed employed in eager talk; +and, as she opened it, she observed earnest separate parties formed +round the room; but the moment that she appeared, every one broke off +abruptly from what he or she was saying, and a completely dead silence +ensued.</p> + +<p>Surprized by so sudden a pause, she seated herself on the first chair +that was vacant, while she looked around her, to see whom she could most +readily join. Mrs Howel and Mrs Maple had been, evidently, in the +closest discourse, but now both fixed their eyes upon the ground, as if +agreeing, at once, to say no more. Ireton was chatting, with lively +volubility, to Lord Melbury, who attended to him with an air that seemed +scared rather than curious; but neither of them now added another word. +Elinor stood sullenly alone, leaning against the chimney-piece, with her +eyes fastened upon the door, as if watching for its opening: but not all +the previous resolution of Ellis, could inspire courage sufficient to +address her, after viewing the increased sternness of her countenance. +Selina was prattling busily to Lady Aurora; and Lady Aurora, who sat +nearly behind her, and whom Ellis perceived the last, was listening in +silence, and bathed in tears.</p> + +<p>Terror and affliction seized upon Ellis at this sight. Her first impulse +was to fly to Lady Aurora; but she felt discouraged, and even awed, by +the strangeness of the general taciturnity, occasioned by her +appearance. Her eyes next, anxiously, sought those of Lord Melbury, and +instantly met them; but with a look of gravity so unusual, that her own +were hastily withdrawn, and fixt, disappointed, upon the ground. Nor did +he, as hitherto had been his constant custom, when he saw her +disengaged, come to sit by her side. No one spoke; no one seemed to know +how to begin a general or common conversation; no one could find a word +to say.</p> + +<p>What, cried she, to herself, can have happened? What can have been said +or done, in this short absence, to make my sight thus petrifying? Have +they told what they know of my circumstances? And has that been +sufficient to deprive me of all consideration? to require even +avoidance? And is Lord Melbury thus easily changed? And have I lost +you—even you! Lady Aurora?</p> + +<p>This last thought drew from her so deep a sigh, that, in the general +silence which prevailed, it reached every ear. Lady Aurora started,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> and +looked up; and, at the view of her evident dejection, hastily arose, and +was crossing the room to join her; when Mrs Howel, rising too, came +between them, and taking herself the hand which Lady Aurora had extended +for that of Ellis, led Her Ladyship to a seat on a sofa, where, in the +lowest voice, she apparently addressed to her some remonstrance.</p> + +<p>Ellis, who had risen to meet the evident approach of Lady Aurora, now +stood suspended, and with an air so embarrassed, so perturbed, that Lord +Melbury, touched by irresistible compassion, came forward, and would +have handed her to a chair near the fire; but her heart, after so sudden +an appearance of general estrangement, was too full for this mark of +instinctive, not intentional kindness, and courtsying the thanks which +she could not utter, she precipitately left the room.</p> + +<p>She met Harleigh preparing to enter it, but passed him with too quick a +motion to be stopt, and hurried to her chamber.</p> + +<p>There her disturbance, as potent from positive distress, as it was +poignant from mental disappointment, would nearly have amounted to +despair, but for the visibly intended support of Lady Aurora; and for +the view of that kind hand, which, though Mrs Howel had impeded her +receiving, she could not prevent her having seen stretched out for her +comfort. The attention, too, of Lord Melbury, though its tardiness ill +accorded with his hitherto warm demonstrations of respect and kindness, +shewed that those feelings were not alienated, however they might be +shaken.</p> + +<p>These two ideas were all that now sustained her, till, in about an hour, +she was followed by Selina, who came to express her concern, and to +relate what had passed.</p> + +<p>Ellis then heard, that the moment that she had left the room, Mrs Howel, +almost categorically, though with many formal apologies, demanded some +information of Mrs Maple, what account should be given to Lord Denmeath, +of the family and condition in life, of the young lady introduced, by +Mrs Maple, into the society of Lady Aurora Granville, as Her Ladyship +proposed intimately keeping up the acquaintance. Mrs Maple had appeared +to be thunderstruck, and tried every species of equivocation; but Mr +Ireton whispered something to Lord Melbury, upon which a general +curiosity was raised; and Mr Ireton's laughs kept up the enquiry, 'till, +bit by bit,' continued Selina, 'all came out, and you never saw such a +fuss in your life! But when Mrs Howel found that Aunt Maple did not take +you in charge from your friends, because she did not know them; and when +Mr Ireton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> told of your patches, and black skin, and ragged dress, Mrs +Howel stared so at poor aunt, that I believe she thought that she had +been out of her senses. And then, poor Lady Aurora fell a-crying, +because Mrs Howel said that she must break off the connexion. But Lady +Aurora said that you might be just as good as ever, and only disguised +to make your escape; but Mrs Howel said, that, now you were got over, if +there were not something bad, you would speak out. So then poor Lady +Aurora cried again, and beckoned to me to come and tell her more +particulars. Sister Elinor, all the time, never spoke one word. And this +is what we were all doing when you came in.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, who, with pale cheeks, but without comment, had listened to this +recital, now faintly enquired what had passed after she had retired.</p> + +<p>'Why, just then, in came Mr Harleigh, and Aunt Maple gave him a hundred +reproaches, for beginning all the mischief, by his obstinacy in bringing +you into the boat, against the will of every creature, except just the +old Admiral, who knew nothing of the world, and could judge no better. +He looked quite thunderstruck, not knowing a word of what had passed. +However, he soon enough saw that all was found out; for Mrs Howel said, +'I hope, Sir, you will advise us, how to get rid of this person, without +letting the servants know the indiscretion we have been drawn into, by +treating her like one of ourselves.'</p> + +<p>'Well? and Mr Harleigh's answer?—' cried the trembling Ellis.</p> + +<p>'Miss Joddrel, Madam, he said, knows as well as myself, all the +circumstances which have softened this mystery, and rendered this young +lady interesting in its defiance. She has generously, therefore, held +out her protection; of which the young lady has shown herself to be +worthy, upon every occasion, since we have known her, by rectitude and +dignity: yet she is, at this time, without friends, support, or asylum: +in such a situation, thus young and helpless, and thus irreproachably +conducting herself, who is the female—what is her age, what her rank, +that ought not to assist and try to preserve so distressed a young +person from evil? Lady Aurora, upon this, came forward, and said, "How +happy you make me, Mr Harleigh, by thus reconciling me to my wishes!" +And then she told Mrs Howel that, as the affair no longer appeared to be +so desperate, she hoped that there could be no objection to her coming +up stairs, to invite you down herself. But Mrs Howel would not consent.'</p> + +<p>'Sweet! sweet Lady Aurora!' broke forth from Ellis; 'And Lord Melbury? +what said he?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing; for he and Mr Ireton left the room together, to go on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> with +their whispers, I believe. And Elinor was just like a person dumb. But +Lady Aurora and Mr Harleigh had a great deal of talk with one another, +and they both seemed so pleased, that I could not help thinking, how +droll it would be if their agreeing so about you should make them marry +one another.'</p> + +<p>'Then indeed would two beings meet,' said Ellis, 'who would render that +state all that can be perfect upon earth; for with active benevolence +like his, with purity and sweetness like hers, what could be +wanting?—And then, indeed, I might find an asylum!'</p> + +<p>A servant came, now, to inform Selina that the carriage was at the door, +and that Mrs Maple was in haste.</p> + +<p>What a change did this day produce for Ellis! What a blight to her +hopes, what difficulties for her conduct, what agitation for her +spirits!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>Ellis, who soon heard the carriage drive off for Lewes, waited in +terrour to learn the result of this scene; almost equally fearful of +losing the supporting kindness of Lady Aurora through timid +acquiescence, as of preserving it through efforts to which her temper +and gentle habits were repugnant.</p> + +<p>In about half an hour, Mrs Howel's maid came to enquire whether Miss +Ellis would have any thing brought up stairs for supper; Mrs Howel +having broken up the usual evening party, in order to induce Lady +Aurora, who was extremely fatigued, to go to rest.</p> + +<p>Not to rest went Ellis, after such a message, though to that bed which +had brought to her, of late, the repose of peace and contentment, and +the alertness of hope and pleasure. A thousand schemes crossed her +imagination, for averting the desertion which she saw preparing, and +which her augmenting attachment to Lady Aurora, made her consider as a +misfortune that would rob her of every consolation. But no plan occurred +that satisfied her feeling without wounding her dignity: the first +prompted a call upon the tender heart of Lady Aurora, by unlimited +confidence; the second, a manifestation how ill she thought she merited +the change of treatment that she experienced, by resentfully quitting +the house: but this was no season for the smallest voluntary hazard. All +chance of security hung upon the exertion of good sense, and the right +use of reason, which imperiously demanded active courage with patient +forbearance.</p> + +<p>She remitted, therefore, forming any resolution, till she should learn +that of Mrs Howel.</p> + +<p>It was now the first week of February, and, before the break of day, a +general movement in the house gave her cause to believe that the family +was risen. She hastened to dress herself, unable to conjecture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> what she +had to expect. The commotion continued; above and below the servants +seemed employed, and in haste; and, in a little time, some accidental +sounds reached her ears, from which she gathered that an immediate +journey to London was preparing.</p> + +<p>What could this mean? Was she thought so intruding, that by change of +abode alone they could shake her off? or so dangerous, that flight, +only, could preserve Lady Aurora from her snares? And was it thus, she +was to be apprized that she must quit the house? Without a carriage, +without money, and without a guide, was she to be turned over to the +servants? and by them turned, perhaps, from the door?</p> + +<p>Indignation now helped to sustain her; but it was succeeded by the +extremest agitation, when she saw, from her window, Lord Melbury +mounting his horse, upon which he presently rode off.</p> + +<p>And is it thus, she cried, that all I thought so ingenuous in goodness, +so open in benevolence, so sincere in partiality, subsides into neglect, +perhaps forgetfulness?—And you, Lady Aurora, will you, also, give me up +as lightly?</p> + +<p>She wept. Indignation was gone: sorrow only remained; and she listened +in sadness for every sound that might proclaim the departure which she +dreaded.</p> + +<p>At length, she heard a footstep advance slowly to her chamber, succeeded +by a tapping at her door.</p> + +<p>Her heart beat with hope. Was it Lady Aurora? had she still so much +kindness, so much zeal?—She flew to meet her own idea—but saw only the +lady of the house.</p> + +<p>She sighed, cruelly disappointed; but the haughty distance of Mrs +Howel's air restored her courage; for courage, where there is any +nobleness of mind, always rises highest, when oppressive pride seeks to +crush it by studied humiliation.</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel fixed her eyes upon the face of Ellis, with an expression that +said, Can you bear to encounter me after this discovery? Then, formally +announcing that she had something important to communicate, she added, +'You will be so good as to shut the door,' and seated herself on an +arm-chair, by the fire side; without taking any sort of notice that her +guest was still standing.</p> + +<p>Ellis could far better brook behaviour such as this from Mrs Maple, from +whom she had never experienced any of a superiour sort; but by Mrs Howel +she had been invited upon equal terms, and, hitherto, had been treated +not only with equality but distinction: hard, therefore, she found it to +endure such a change; yet her resentment was soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> governed by her +candour, when it brought to her mind the accusation of appearances.</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel then began an harangue palpably studied: 'You cannot, I think, +young woman—for you must excuse my not addressing you by a name I now +know you to have assumed;—you cannot, I think, be surprised to find +that your stay in this house is at an end. To avoid, however, giving any +publicity to your disgrace, at the desire of Mrs Maple, who thinks that +its promulgation, in a town such as this, might expose her, as well as +yourself, to impertinent lampoons, I shall take no notice of what has +passed to any of my people; except to my housekeeper, to whom it is +necessary I should make over some authority, which you will not, I +imagine, dispute. For myself, I am going to town immediately with Lady +Aurora. I have given out that it is upon sudden business, with proper +directions that my domestics may treat you with civility. You will still +breakfast, therefore, in the parlour; and, at your own time, you will +ask for a chaise, which I have bespoken to carry you back to Lewes. To +prevent any suspicion in the neighbourhood, I shall leave commands that +a man and horse may attend you, in the same manner as when you came +hither. No remark, therefore, will follow your not having my own +carriage again, as I make use of it myself. Lord Melbury is set off +already. We shall none of us return till I hear, from Mrs Maple, that +you have left this part of the country; for, as I can neither receive +you, nor notice you where I might happen to meet with you, such a +difference of conduct, after this long visit, might excite +animadversion. The sooner, therefore, you change your quarters, the +better; for I coincide in the opinion of Mrs Maple, that it is wisest, +for all our sakes, that this transaction should not be spread in the +world. And now, young woman, all I ask of you in return for the +consideration I shew you, is this; that you will solemnly engage to hold +no species of intercourse with Lady Aurora Granville, or with Lord +Melbury, either by speech, or writing, or message. If you observe this, +I shall do you no hurt; if not,—expect every punishment my resentment +can inflict, and that of the noble family, involved in the indignity +which you have made me suffer, by a surreptitious entrance into my house +as a young lady of fashion.'</p> + +<p>No sort of answer was offered by Ellis. She stood motionless, her eyes +fixed, and her air seeming to announce her almost incredulous of what +she heard.</p> + +<p>'Do you give me,' said Mrs Howel, 'this promise? Will you bind yourself +to it in writing?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ellis still was silent, and looked incapable of speaking.</p> + +<p>'Young woman,' said Mrs Howel, with increased austerity, 'I am not to be +trifled with. Will you bind yourself to this agreement, or will you +not?'</p> + +<p>'What agreement, Madam?' she now faintly asked.</p> + +<p>'Not to seek, and even to refuse, any sort of intercourse with Lady +Aurora Granville, or with her brother, either by word of mouth, or +letter, or messenger? Will you, I say, bind yourself, upon your oath, to +this?'</p> + +<p>'No, Madam!' answered Ellis, with returning recollection and courage; +'no peril can be so tremendous as such a sacrifice!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel, rising, said, 'Enough! abide by the consequence.'</p> + +<p>She was leaving the room; but Ellis, affrighted, exclaimed, 'Ah, Madam, +before you adopt any violent measures against me, deign to reflect that +I may be innocent, and not merit them!'</p> + +<p>'Innocent?' repeated Mrs Howel, with an air of inexorable ire; 'without +a name, without a home, without a friend?—Innocent? presenting yourself +under false appearances to one family, and under false pretences to +another? No, I am not such a dupe. And if your bold resistance make it +necessary, for the safety of my young friends, that I should lodge an +information against you, you will find, that people who enter houses by +names not their own, and who have no ostensible means of existence; will +be considered only as swindlers; and as swindlers be disposed of as they +deserve.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, turning pale, sunk upon a chair.</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel, stopping, with a voice as hard as her look was implacable, +added; 'This is your last moment for repentance. Will you give your +promise, upon oath?'</p> + +<p>'No, Madam! again no!' cried Ellis, starting up with sudden energy: +'What I have suffered shall teach me to suffer more, and what I have +escaped, shall give me hope for my support! But never will I plight +myself, by willing promise, to avoid those whose virtuous goodness and +compassion offer me the only consolation, that, in my desolate state, I +can receive!'</p> + +<p>''Tis well!' said Mrs Howel, 'You have yourself, then, only, to thank +for what ensues.'</p> + +<p>She now steadily went on, opened the door, and left the room, though +Ellis, mournfully following her, called out: Ah, Madam!—ah, Mrs +Howel!—if ever you know more of me—which, at least, is not +impossible,—you will look back to this period with no pleasure!—or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +with pleasure only to that part of it, in which you received me at your +house with politeness, hospitality, and kindness!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Howel was not of a nature to relent in what she felt, or to retract +from what she said: the distress, therefore, of Ellis, produced not the +smallest effect upon her; and, with her head stiffly erect, and her +countenance as unmoved as her heart, she descended the stairs, and +issued, aloud, her commands that the horses should immediately be put to +the chaise.</p> + +<p>Ellis shut herself in her room, almost overpowered by the shock of this +attack, so utterly unexpected, from a lady in whose character the +leading feature seemed politeness, and who always appeared to hold that +quality to be pre-eminent to all others. But the experience of Ellis had +not yet taught her, how distinct is the politeness of manner, formed by +the habits of high life, to that which springs spontaneously from +benevolence of mind. The first, the product of studied combinations, is +laid aside, like whatever is factitious, where there is no object for +acting a part: the second, the child of sympathy, instructs us how to +treat others, by suggesting the treatment we desire for ourselves; and +this, as its feelings are personal, though its exertions are external, +demands no effort, waits no call, and is never failingly at hand.</p> + +<p>The gloomy sadness of Ellis was soon interrupted, by enquiries that +reached her from the hall, whether the trunks of Lady Aurora were ready. +Is she so nearly gone? Ellis cried; Ah! when may I see her again?—To +the hall, to wait in the hall, she longed to go herself, to catch a last +view, and to snatch, if possible, a kind parting word; but the +tremendous Mrs Howel!—she shrunk from the idea of ever seeing her +again.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards, she heard the carriages drive up to the house. She now +went to the window, to behold, at least, the loved form of Lady Aurora +as she mounted the chaise. Perhaps, too, she might turn round, and look +up. Fixt here, she was inattentive to the opening of her own room-door, +concluding that the house-maid came to arrange her fire, till a soft +voice gently articulated: 'Miss Ellis!' She hastily looked round: it was +Lady Aurora; who had entered, who had shut herself in, and who, while +one hand covered her eyes, held out the other, in an attitude of the +most inviting affection.</p> + +<p>Ellis flew to seize it, with joy inexpressible, indescribable, and would +have pressed it to her lips; but Lady Aurora, flinging both her arms +round the neck of her new friend, fell upon her bosom, and wept,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +saying, 'You are not, then, angry, though I, too, must have seemed to +behave to you so cruelly?'</p> + +<p>'Angry?' repeated Ellis, sobbing from the suddenness of a delight which +broke into a sorrow nearly hopeless; 'O Lady Aurora! if you could know +how I prize your regard! your goodness!—what a balm it is to every evil +I now experience, your gentle and generous heart would be recompensed +for all the concern I occasion it, by the pleasure of doing so much +good!'</p> + +<p>'You can still, then, love me, my Miss Ellis?'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Lady Aurora! if I dared say how much!—but, alas, in my helpless +situation, the horror of being suspected of flattery—'</p> + +<p>'What you will not say, then,' cried Lady Aurora, smiling, 'will you +prove?'</p> + +<p>'Will I?—Alas, that I could!'</p> + +<p>'Will you let me take a liberty with you, and promise not to be +offended?'</p> + +<p>She put a letter into her hand, which Ellis fondly kissed, and lodged +near her heart.</p> + +<p>The words 'Where is Lady Aurora?' now sounded from the staircase.</p> + +<p>'I must stay,' she said, 'no longer! Adieu, dear Miss Ellis! Think of me +sometimes—for I shall think of you unceasingly!'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Lady Aurora!' cried Ellis, clinging to her, 'shall I see you, then, +no more? And is this a last leave-taking?'</p> + +<p>'O, far from it, far, far, I hope!' said Lady Aurora: 'if I thought that +we should meet no more, it would be impossible for me to tell you how +unhappy this moment would make me!'</p> + +<p>'Where is Lady Aurora?' would again have hurried her away; but Ellis, +still holding by her, cried, 'One moment! one moment!—I have not, then, +lost your good opinion? Oh! if that wavers, my firmness wavers too! and +I must unfold—at all risks—my unhappy situation!'</p> + +<p>'Not for the world! not for the world!' cried Lady Aurora, earnestly: 'I +could not bear to seem to have any doubt to remove, when I have none, +none, of your perfect innocence, goodness, excellence!'</p> + +<p>Overpowered with grateful joy, 'Angelic Lady Aurora!' was all that Ellis +could utter, while tears rolled fast down her cheeks; and she tenderly, +yet fervently, kissed the hand of the resisting Lady Aurora, who, +extremely affected, leant upon her bosom, till she was startled by again +hearing her name from without. 'Go, then, amiable Lady Aurora!' Ellis +cried; 'I will no longer detain you! Go!—happy in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> happiness that +your sweetness, your humanity, your kindness bestow! I will dwell +continually, upon their recollection; I will say to myself, Lady Aurora +believes me innocent, though she sees me forlorn; she will not think me +unworthy, though she knows me to be unprotected; she will not conclude +me to be an adventurer, though I dare not tell her even my name!'</p> + +<p>'Do not talk thus, my dear, dear Miss Ellis! Oh! if I were my own +mistress—with what delight I should supplicate you to live with me +entirely! to let us share between us all that we possess; to read +together, study our musick together, and never, never to part!'</p> + +<p>Ellis could hardly breathe: her soul seemed bursting with emotions, +which, though the most delicious, were nearly too mighty for her frame. +But the melting kindness of Lady Aurora soon soothed her into more +tranquil enjoyment; and when, at length, a message from Mrs Howel +irresistibly compelled a separation, the warm gratitude of her heart, +for the consolation which she had received, enabled her to endure it +with fortitude. But not without grief. All seemed gone when Lady Aurora +was driven from the door; and she remained weeping at the window, whence +she saw her depart, till she was roused by the entrance of Mrs Greaves, +the housekeeper.</p> + +<p>Her familiar intrusion, without tapping at the door, quickly brought to +the recollection of Ellis the authority which had been vested in her +hands. This immediately restored her spirit; and as the housekeeper, +seating herself, was beginning, very unceremoniously, to explain the +motives of her visit, Ellis, without looking at her, calmly said, 'I +shall go down stairs now to breakfast; but if you have time to be so +good as to make up my packages, you will find them in those drawers.'</p> + +<p>She then descended to the parlour, leaving the housekeeper stupified +with amazement. But the forms of subordination, when once broken down, +are rarely, with common characters, restored. Glad of the removal of a +barrier which has kept them at a distance from those above them, they +revel in the idea that the fall of a superiour is their own proper +elevation. Following, therefore, Ellis to the breakfast-room, and +seating herself upon a sofa, she began to discourse with the freedom of +addressing a disgraced dependent; saying, 'Mrs Maple will be in a fine +taking, Miss, to have you upon her hands, again, so all of the sudden.'</p> + +<p>This speech, notwithstanding its grossness, surprised from Ellis an +exclamation, 'Does not Mrs Maple, then, expect me?'</p> + +<p>'How should she, when my lady never settled what she should do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> about +you herself, till after twelve o'clock last night? However, as to +sending you back without notice, she had no notion, she says, of +standing upon any ceremony with Mrs Maple, who made so little of popping +you upon her and Lady Aurora in that manner.'</p> + +<p>Ellis turned from her with disdain, and would reply to nothing more; but +her pertinacious stay still kept the bosom letter unopened.</p> + +<p>Grievously Ellis felt tormented with the prospect of what her reception +might be from Mrs Maple, after such a blight. The buoyant spirit of her +first escape, which she had believed no after misfortune could subdue, +had now so frequently been repressed, that it was nearly borne down to +the common standard of mortal condition, whence we receive our daily +fare of good and of evil, with the joy or the grief that they separately +excite; independently of that wonderful power, believed in by the +youthful and inexperienced, of hoarding up the felicity of our happy +moments, as a counterpoise to future sorrows and disappointments. The +past may re-visit our hearts with renewed sufferings, or our spirits with +gay recollections; but the interest of the time present, even upon +points the most passing and trivial, will ever, from the pressure of our +wants and our feelings, predominate.</p> + +<p>Mrs Greaves, unanswered and affronted, was for some minutes silenced; +but, presently, rising and calling out, 'Gemini! something has happened +to my Lady, or to Lady Aurora? Here's My Lord gallopped back!' she ran +out of the room.</p> + +<p>Affrighted by this suggestion, Ellis, who then perceived Lord Melbury +from the window, ran herself, after the housekeeper, to the door, and +eagerly exclaimed, as he dismounted, 'O, My Lord, I hope no accident—'</p> + +<p>'None!' cried he, flying to her and taking and kissing both her hands, +and drawing, rather than leading, her back to the parlour, 'none!—or if +any there were,—what could be the accident that concern so bewitching +would not recompense?'</p> + +<p>Ellis felt amazed. Lord Melbury had never addressed her before in any +tone of gallantry; had never kissed, never touched her hand; yet now, he +would scarcely suffer her to withdraw it from his ardent grasp.</p> + +<p>'But, My Lord,' said Mrs Greaves, who followed them in, 'pray let me ask +Your Lordship about my Lady, and My Lady Aurora, and how—'</p> + +<p>'They are perfectly well,' cried he, hastily, 'and gone on. I am ridden +back myself merely for something which I forgot.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I was fearful,' said Ellis, anxious to clear up her eager reception, +'that something might have happened to Lady Aurora; I am extremely happy +to hear that all is safe.'</p> + +<p>'And you will have the charity, I hope, to make me a little breakfast? +for I have tasted nothing yet this morning.'</p> + +<p>Again he took both her hands, and led her to the seat which she had just +quitted at the table.</p> + +<p>She was extremely embarrassed. She felt reluctant to refuse a request so +natural; yet she was sure that Mrs Howel would conclude that they met by +appointment; and she saw in the face of the housekeeper the utmost +provocation at the young Lord's behaviour: yet neither of these +circumstances gave her equal disturbance, with observing a change, +indefinable yet striking, in himself. After an instant's reflection, she +deemed it most advisable not to stay with him; and, saying that she was +in haste to return to Lewes, she begged that Mrs Greaves would order the +chaise that Mrs Howel had mentioned.</p> + +<p>'Ay, do, good Greaves!' cried he, hurrying her out, and, in his +eagerness to get her away, shutting the door after her himself.</p> + +<p>Ellis said that she would see whether her trunk were ready.</p> + +<p>'No, no, no! don't think of the trunk,' cried he: 'We have but a few +minutes to talk together, and to settle how we shall meet again.'</p> + +<p>Still more freely than before, he now rather seized than took her hand; +and calling her his dear charming Ellis, pressed it to his lips, and to +his breast, with rapturous fondness.</p> + +<p>Ellis, struck, now, with terrour, had not sufficient force to withdraw +her hand; but when she said, with great emotion, 'Pray, pray My Lord!—' +he let it go.</p> + +<p>It was only for a moment: snatching, it then, again, as she was rising +to depart, he suddenly slipt upon one of her fingers a superb diamond +ring, which he took off from one of his own.</p> + +<p>'It is very beautiful, My Lord;' said she, deeply blushing; yet looking +at it as if she supposed he meant merely to call for her admiration, and +returning it to him immediately.</p> + +<p>'What's this?' cried he: 'Won't you wear such a bauble for my sake? Give +me but a lock of your lovely hair, and I will make myself one to replace +it.'</p> + +<p>He tried to put the ring again on her finger; but, forcibly breaking +from him, she would have left the room: he intercepted her passage to +the door. She turned round to ring the bell: he placed himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> again in +her way, with a flushed air of sportiveness, yet of determined +opposition.</p> + +<p>Confounded, speechless, she went to one of the windows, and standing +with her back to it, looked at him with an undisguised amazement, that +she hoped would lead him to some explanation of his behaviour, that +might spare her any serious remonstrance upon its unwelcome singularity.</p> + +<p>'Why, what's this?' cried he gaily, yet with a gaiety not perfectly +easy; 'do you want to run away from me?'</p> + +<p>'No, my lord,' answered she, gravely, yet forcing a smile, which she +hoped would prove, at once, a hint, and an inducement to him to end the +scene as an idle and ill-judged frolic; 'No; I have only been afraid +that your lordship was running away from yourself!'</p> + +<p>'And why so?' cried he, with quickness, 'Is Harleigh the only man who is +ever to be honoured with your company tête-à-tête?'</p> + +<p>'What can your lordship mean?'</p> + +<p>'What can the lovely Ellis blush for? And what can Harleigh have to +offer, that should obtain for him thus exclusively all favour? If it be +adoration of your charms, who shall adore them more than I will? If it +be in proofs of a more solid nature, who shall vie with me? All I +possess shall be cast at your feet. I defy him to out-do me, in fortune +or in love.'</p> + +<p>Ellis now turned pale and cold: horrour thrilled through her veins, and +almost made her heart cease to beat. Lord Melbury saw the change, and, +hastily drawing towards her a chair, besought her to be seated. She was +unable to refuse, for she had not strength to stand; but, when again he +would have taken her hand, she turned from him, with an air so severe of +soul-felt repugnance, that, starting with surprise and alarm, he forbore +the attempt.</p> + +<p>He stood before her utterly silent, and with a complexion frequently +varying, till she recovered; when, again raising her eyes, with an +expression of mingled affliction and reproach, 'And is it, then,' she +cried, 'from a brother of the pure, the exemplary Lady Aurora Granville, +that I am destined to receive the most heart-rending insult of my life?'</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury seemed thunderstruck, and could not articulate what he +tried to say; but, upon again half pronouncing the name of Harleigh, +Ellis, standing up, with an air of dignity the most impressive, cried, +'My lord, Mr Harleigh rescued me from the most horrible of dangers, in +assisting me to leave the Continent; and his good offices<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> have +befriended me upon every occasion since my arrival in England. This +includes the whole of our intercourse! No calumny, I hope, will make him +ashamed of his benevolence; and I have reaped from it such benefit, that +the most cruel insinuations must not make me repent receiving it; for to +whom else, except to Lady Aurora, do I owe gratitude without pain? He +knows me to be indigent, my lord, yet does not conclude me open to +corruption! He sees me friendless and unprotected,—yet offers me no +indignity!'</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury now, in his turn, looked pale. 'Is it possible—' he cried, +'Is it possible, that—' He stammered, and was in the utmost confusion.</p> + +<p>She passed him, and was quitting the room.</p> + +<p>'Good Heaven!' cried he, 'you will not go?—you will not leave me in +this manner?—not knowing what to think,—what to judge,—what to do?'</p> + +<p>She made no answer but by hastening her footsteps, and wearing an aspect +of the greatest severity; but, when her hand touched the lock, 'I swear +to you,' he cried, 'Miss Ellis, if you will not stay—I will follow +you!'</p> + +<p>Her eyes now shot forth a glance the most indignant, and she resolutely +opened the door.</p> + +<p>He spread out his arms to impede her passage.</p> + +<p>Offended by his violence, and alarmed by this detention, she resentfully +said, 'If you compel me, my lord, to summon the servants—' when, upon +looking at him again, she saw that his whole face was convulsed by the +excess of his emotion.</p> + +<p>She stopt.</p> + +<p>'You must permit me,' he cried, 'to shut the door; and you must grant me +two minutes audience.'</p> + +<p>She neither consented nor offered any opposition.</p> + +<p>He closed the door, but she kept her place.</p> + +<p>'Tell—speak to me, I beseech you!' he cried, 'Oh clear the cruel +doubts—'</p> + +<p>'No more, my lord, no more!' interrupted Ellis, scorn taking possession +of every feature; 'I will neither give to myself the disgrace, nor to +your lordship the shame, of permitting another word to be said!'</p> + +<p>'What is it you mean?' cried he, planting himself against the door; 'you +would not—surely you would not brand me for a villain?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>She determined to have recourse to the bell, and, with the averted eyes +of disdain, resolutely moved towards the chimney.</p> + +<p>He saw her design, and cast himself upon his knees, calling out, in +extreme agitation, 'Miss Ellis! Miss Ellis! you will not assemble the +servants to see me groveling upon the earth?'</p> + +<p>Greatly shocked, she desisted from her purpose. His look was aghast, his +frame was in a universal tremour, and his eyes were wild and starting. +Her wrath subsided at this sight, but the most conflicting emotions rent +her heart.</p> + +<p>'I see,' he cried, in a tremulous voice, and almost gnashing his teeth, +'I see that you have been defamed, and that I have incurred your +abhorrence!—I have my own, too, completely! You cannot hate me more +than I now hate—than I shrink from myself! And yet—believe me, Miss +Ellis! I have no deliberate hardness of heart!—I have been led on by +rash precipitance, and—and want of thought!—Believe me, Miss +Ellis!—believe me, good Miss Ellis!—for I see, now, how good you +are!—believe me—'</p> + +<p>He could find no words for what he wished to say. He rose, but attempted +not to approach her. Ellis leant against the wainscoat, still close to +the bell, but without seeking to ring it. Both were silent. His extreme +youth, his visible inexperience, and her suspicious situation; joined to +his quick repentance, and simple, but emphatic declaration, that he had +no hardness of heart, began not only to offer some palliation for his +conduct, but to soften her resentment into pity.</p> + +<p>He no sooner perceived the touching melancholy which insensibly took +place, in her countenance, of disgust and indignation, than, forcibly +affected, he struck his forehead, exclaiming, 'Oh, my poor Aurora!—when +you know how ill I have acted, it will almost break your gentle heart!'</p> + +<p>This was an apostrophe to come home quick to the bosom of Ellis: she +burst into tears; and would instantly have held out to him her hand, as +an offering of peace and forgiveness, had not her fear of the +impetuosity of his feelings checked the impulse. She only, therefore, +said, 'Ah, my lord, how is it that with a sister so pure, so perfect, +and whose virtues you so warmly appreciate, you should find it so +difficult to believe that other females may be exempt, at least, from +depravity? Alas! I had presumed, my lord, to think of you as indeed the +brother of Lady Aurora; and, as such, I had even dared to consider you +as a succour to me in distress, and a protector in danger!'</p> + +<p>'Ah! consider me so again!' cried he, with sudden rapture;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +'good—excellent Miss Ellis! consider me so again, and you shall not +repent your generous pardon!'</p> + +<p>Ellis irresistibly wept, but, by a motion of her hand, forbad his +approach.</p> + +<p>'Fear, fear me not!' cried he, 'I am a reclaimed man for the rest of my +life! I have hitherto, Miss Ellis, been but a boy, and therefore so +easily led wrong. But I will think and act, now, for myself. I promise +it you sincerely! Never, never more will I be the wretched tool of +dishonourable impertinence! Not that I am so unmanly, as to seek any +extenuation to my guilt, from its being excited by others;—no; it +rather adds to its heinousness, that my own passions, violent as they +sometimes are, did not give it birth. But your so visible purity, Miss +Ellis, had kept them from any disrespect, believe me! And, struck as I +have been with your attractions, and charmed with your conversation, it +has always been without a single idea that I could not tell to Aurora +herself; for as I thought of you always as of Aurora's favourite, +Aurora's companion, Aurora's friend, I thought of you always together.'</p> + +<p>'Oh Lord Melbury!' interrupted Ellis, fresh tears, but of pleasure, not +sorrow, gushing into her eyes; 'what words are these! how penetrating to +my very soul! Ah, my lord, let this unhappy morning be blotted from both +our memories! and let me go back to the morning of yesterday! to a +partiality that made,—and that makes me so happy! to a goodness, a +kindness, that revive me with heart-consoling gratitude!'</p> + +<p>'Oh, incomparable—Oh, best Miss Ellis!' cried Lord Melbury, in a +transport of joy, and passionately advancing; but retreating nearly at +the same instant, as if fearful of alarming her; and almost fastening +himself against the opposite wainscoat; 'how excessive is your +goodness!'</p> + +<p>A sigh from Ellis checked his rapture; and she entreated him to explain +what he meant by his allusion to 'others.'</p> + +<p>His complexion reddened, and he would have evaded any reply; but Ellis +was too urgent to be resisted. Yet it was not without the utmost +difficulty that she could prevail upon him to be explicit. Finally, +however, she gathered, that Ireton, after the scene produced by the +letter for L.S., had given vent to the most sneering calumnies, chiefly +pointed at Harleigh, to excite the experiment of which he had himself so +shamefully, yet foolishly, been the instrument. He vowed, however, that +Ireton should publicly acknowledge his slanders, and beg her pardon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ellis earnestly besought his lordship to let the matter rest. 'All +public appeals,' cried she, 'are injurious to female fame. Generously +inform Mr Ireton, that you are convinced he has wronged me, and then +leave the clearing of his own opinion to time and to truth. When they +are trusted with innocence, Time and Truth never fail to do it justice.'</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury struggled to escape making any promise. His self-discontent +could suggest no alleviation so satisfactory, as that of calling Mr +Ireton to account for defamation; an action which he thought would +afford the most brilliant amends that could be offered to Miss Ellis, +and the best proof that could blazon his own manliness. But when she +solemnly assured him, that his compliance with her solicitation was the +only peace-offering she could accept, for sinking into oblivion the +whole morning's transaction, he forbore any further contestation.</p> + +<p>Mrs Greaves now brought information, that a chaise was at the door, and +that a groom was in readiness. Lord Melbury timidly offered Ellis his +hand, which she gracefully accepted; but neither of them spoke as he led +her to the carriage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + +<p>From all the various sufferings of Ellis, through the scenes of this +morning, the predominant remaining emotion, was that of pity for her +penitent young offender; whom she saw so sorely wounded by a sense of +his own misconduct, that he appeared to be almost impenetrable to +comfort.</p> + +<p>But all her attention was soon called to the letter of Lady Aurora.</p> + +<blockquote><p>'To Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>'I cannot express the grief with which I have learnt the +difficulties that involve my dear Miss Ellis. Will she kindly +mitigate it, by allowing me, from time to time, the consolation of +offering her my sympathy? May I flatter myself that she has +sufficient regard for me, to let the enclosed trifle lead the way +to some little arrangement during her embarrassment? Oh! were I in +similar distress, I would not hesitate to place in her a similar +trust! Generously, then, sweet Miss Ellis, confide in my tender +regard.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">'Aurora Granville.</span>'</p> + +<p>'At Lord Denmeath's,<br /> +Portman Square.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>The 'enclosed trifle' was a bank-note of twenty pounds.</p> + +<p>Most welcome to the distress of Ellis was this kindness and this +succour; and greatly she felt revived, that, severe as had been her late +conflicts, they thus terminated in casting her, for all pecuniary +perplexities, upon the delicate and amiable Lady Aurora.</p> + +<p>Uncertain what might prove her reception, she desired, upon approaching +Lewes, that the groom would ride on, and enquire<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> whether she could have +the honour of seeing Mrs Maple. The man then said, that he had a note +for that lady, from Mrs Howel.</p> + +<p>After being detained at the gate a considerable time, a servant came to +acquaint Miss Ellis, that the ladies were particularly engaged, but +begged that she would walk up stairs to her room.</p> + +<p>There, again established, she had soon a visit from Selina, who +impatiently demanded, how she had parted from Lady Aurora; and, when +satisfied that it had been with the extremest kindness, she warmly +embraced her, before she related, that Aunt Maple had, at first, +declared, that she would never, again, let so unknown a pauper into her +house; but, when she had read the note of Mrs Howel, she changed her +tone. That lady had written word, that she was hastening to consign Lord +Melbury and Lady Aurora to their uncle; in order to be acquitted of all +responsibility, as to any continuance of this amazing acquaintance, now +that, at last, she was apprized of its unfitness. She conceived that she +had some claim, however, to desire, that Mrs Maple would, for the +present, receive the person as usual; since if any dismissal, or +disgrace, were immediately to follow her return from Howel House, it +might publish to the world what an improper character had been admitted +there; a mortification from which she thought that she had some right to +be exempted.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was by no means the less offended, by the pride and +selfishness of this note, because those qualities were familiar to her +own practice. It is the wise and good alone that make allowance for +defects in others. Her resentment, however, endowed her with rancour, +but not with courage; she complied, therefore, with the demand which she +did not dare dispute; but her spleen against its helpless object was +redoubled; and she sent her a message, by Selina, to order that she +would complain of a sore throat, as an excuse for not quitting her room, +nor expecting any of the ladies to visit her: yet charged her to be +careful, at the same time, to say, that it was very slight, lest the +people in the neighbourhood, or the servants themselves, should wonder +at not seeing a physician.</p> + +<p>Ellis could by no means repine at a separation, that saved her from the +pride and malevolence of Mrs Maple and of Ireton, and from the +distressing incongruities of Elinor.</p> + +<p>Her spirits being thus freed from immediate alarm, she was able to +ruminate upon her situation, and upon what efforts she might make for +its amelioration. Her letter from abroad enjoined her still to live in +concealment, with respect to her name, circumstances, and story:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> all +hope, therefore, of any speedy change was blown over; and many fears +remained, that this helpless obscurity might be of long duration. It was +necessary that she should form some plan, to accommodate her mode of +life to her immediate condition; and to liberate, if possible, her +feelings, from the continual caprices to which she was now subject.</p> + +<p>To live upon charity, was hostile to all her notions, though the +benefaction of Lady Aurora had soothed, not mortified, her proudest +sensations. But Lady Aurora was not of an age to be supposed already +free from controul, in the use of her income; and still less was she of +a character, to resist the counsel, or even wishes of her friends. Ellis +was determined not to induce her to do either: nor could she endure to +give a mercenary character to a grateful affection, which languished to +shew that its increase, as well as its origin, sprang from disinterested +motives. All her thoughts, therefore, turned upon making the present +offering suffice.</p> + +<p>Yet she was aware how short a time she could exist upon twenty pounds; +and while a residence at Mrs Maple's would be now more than ever +unpleasant, recent circumstances had rendered it, more than ever, also, +unlikely.</p> + +<p>To acquire that sort of independence, that belongs, physically, to +sustaining life by her own means, was her most earnest desire: Her many +accomplishments invited her industry, and promised it success; yet how +to bring them into use was difficult. She had no one with whom she could +consult. Elinor, though, at times, cordially her friend, seemed, in +other minutes, her enraged foe. Selina was warmly good natured, but +young in every sense of the word; and Mrs Maple considered her always +with such humiliating ideas, that to ask her advice would be to invite +an affront.</p> + +<p>The occupation for which she thought herself most qualified, and to +which, from fondness for young people, she felt herself most inclined, +was that of governess to some young lady, or ladies; and, finally, she +settled, that she would endeavour to employ herself in that capacity.</p> + +<p>This arrangement mentally made, she communicated it, in a letter of the +tenderest and most grateful thanks, to Lady Aurora; entreating her +ladyship's kind and valuable aid, to enable her to leave, in future, for +other distressed objects, such marks of benevolence as she had last +received; and to owe, personally, those, only, of esteem and regard; +which she prized beyond all power of expression.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next day, again, very unexpectedly, Selina skipt into her room. 'We +have had a most terrible fuss:' she cried; 'Do you know Lord Melbury's +come on purpose to see you!'</p> + +<p>'Lord Melbury? Is he not gone to town?'</p> + +<p>'Mrs Howel wrote word so, and aunt thought so; but he only went a little +way; and then came back to spend two or three days with Sir Lyell +Sycamore, at Brighthelmstone. He asked after you, when he came in, and +said that he begged leave to be allowed to speak with you, a few +minutes, upon a commission from Lady Aurora. Aunt was quite shocked, and +said, that she hoped his lordship would excuse her, but she really could +not consent to any such acquaintance going on, in her house, now he knew +so well what a nobody you were; if not worse. Upon which he said he did +not doubt your being a well brought up young lady, for he was certain +that you were modesty itself. And then he begged so hard, and said so +many pretty and civil things to Aunt, that she was brought round; only +it was upon condition, she said, that there should be a witness; and she +proposed Mrs Fenn. Lord Melbury was as red as fire, and said that would +not be treating Miss Ellis with the respect which he was sure was her +due; and he could not be so impertinent as to desire to see her, upon +such terms. So, after a good deal more fuss, it was settled, at last, +that Sister Elinor should be present. So now you are to come down to her +dressing-room.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, though startled at the effect that might be produced by his +remaining at Brighthelmstone, was sensibly touched by these public and +resolute marks of his confirmed and undoubting esteem.</p> + +<p>Elinor, presently, with restored good humour, and an air of the most +lively pleasure, came to fetch her. 'Lord Melbury,' she cried, +'certainly adores you. You never saw a man's face of so many colours in +your life, as when Aunt Maple speaks of you irreverently. If you manage +well, you may be at Gretna Green in a week.'</p> + +<p>They descended, without any answer made by Ellis, to the dressing-room.</p> + +<p>The air of Lord Melbury was far less dejected than when they had last +parted; yet it had by no means regained its natural spring and vivacity; +and he advanced to pay his compliments to Ellis, with a look of even +studious deference. He would detain her, he said, but a few minutes; yet +could not leave the country, without informing her of two visits, which +he had made the day before: both of which had ended precisely with the +amity that she had wished.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<p>Elinor, enchanted in believing, from this opening, that a confidential +intercourse was already arranged, declared, that her aunt must look +elsewhere for a spy, as she would by no means play that part; and then +ran into the adjoining room. Lord Melbury and Ellis would have detained, +but could not follow her, as it was her bed-chamber.</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury then, who saw that Ellis was uneasy, promised to be quick. +'I demanded,' said he, 'yesterday, an interview with Mr Harleigh. I told +him, without reserve, all that had passed. I cannot paint to you the +indignation he shewed at the aspersions of Ireton. He determined to go +to him directly, and I resolved to accompany him.—Don't look pale, Miss +Ellis: I repeated to Mr Harleigh the promise you had exacted from me, +and he confessed himself to be perfectly of your opinion, that all angry +defence, or public resentment, must necessarily, in such a case, be +injurious. Yet to let the matter drop, might expose you to fresh +abominations. Ireton received us with a mixture of curiosity and +carelessness; very inquisitive to know what had passed, but very +indifferent whether it were good or bad. We both, by agreement, affected +to treat the matter lightly, gravely as we both thought of it: I thanked +him, therefore, for the salutary counsel, by which he had urged me to +procure myself so confounded a rap of the knuckles, for my assurance; +and Mr Harleigh made his acknowledgements in the same tone, for the +compliment paid to his liberality, of supposing that a person, who, in +any manner, should be thought under his protection, could be in a state +of penury. We both, I hope, made him ashamed. He had not, he owned, +reflected deeply upon the subject; for which, Mr Harleigh told me, +afterwards, there was a very cogent reason, namely, that he did not know +how! Mr Harleigh, when we were coming away, forcibly said, "Ireton, +placing Lord Melbury and myself wholly apart in this business, ask your +own sagacity, I beg, how a female, who is young, beautiful, and +accomplished, can suffer from pecuniary distress, if her character be +not unimpeachable?" Upon that, struck with the truth of the remark, he +voluntarily protested that he would make you all the amends in his +power. So ended our visit; and I cannot but hope that it will release +you from all similar persecutions.'</p> + +<p>Ellis expressed her sincere and warm gratitude; and Lord Melbury, with +an air of penetrated respect, took his leave; evidently much solaced, by +the consciousness of serving one whom he had injured.</p> + +<p>Ellis had every reason to be gratified by this attention, which set her +mind wholly at rest upon the tenour of Lord Melbury's regard:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> while +Elinor was so much delighted, to find the acquaintance advance so +rapidly to confidence, that she embraced Ellis, wished her joy, mocked +all replies of a disclaiming nature, and, accompanying her back to her +room, made her a long, social, lively, and entertaining visit; hearing +and talking over her project of becoming a governess, but laughing at +it, as a ridiculous idea, for the decided wife elect of Earl Melbury.</p> + +<p>She was succeeded by Selina, who exultingly came to acquaint Ellis, that +Mr Ireton had just made a formal renunciation of all ill opinion of her; +and had told Mrs Maple, that he had indubitable proofs that she was a +person of the very strictest character. 'So now,' cried she, 'Lady +Aurora and I may vow our friendship to you for life.'</p> + +<p>This was a very solid satisfaction to Ellis, to whom the calumny of +Ireton had been almost insupportable. She now hoped that Mrs Maple would +favour her new scheme, and that she might remain tranquilly in the house +till it took place; and equip herself, from the donation of Lady Aurora, +for her immediate appearance in the situation which she sought. She +resolved to seize the first opportunity for returning Harleigh his bank +notes, and the Miss Joddrels their half-guineas. She wished, also, to +repay the guinea of the worthy Admiral, and to repeat to him her +grateful acknowledgements: his name and address she concluded that she +might learn from Harleigh; but she deferred this satisfaction till more +secure of success.</p> + +<p>The next day, Selina ran upstairs to her again. 'Who do you think,' she +cried, 'came into the parlour in the middle of breakfast? Mr Dennis +Harleigh! He arrived at Brighthelmstone last night. Sister Elinor turned +quite white, and never spoke to him; she only just made a sort of bow to +his asking how she did, and then swallowed her tea burning hot, and left +the room. He can stay only one day, for he must be in London to-morrow +night. He is come for his final answer; for he's quite out of patience.'</p> + +<p>Selina had hardly descended the stairs, when Elinor herself mounted +them. She entered the chamber precipitately, her face colourless, and +her eyes starting from her head. 'Ellis!' she cried, 'I must speak with +you!'</p> + +<p>She seated herself, made Ellis sit exactly opposite to her, and went on: +'There are two things which I want to say to you; or, rather, to demand +of you. Have you fortitude enough to tell truth, even though it should +wound your self-love? and honour enough to be trusted with a commission +a thousand times more important than life or death?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> and to execute it +faithfully,—though at the risk of seeing the greatest idiot that ever +existed, shew sufficient symptoms of sense to run mad?'</p> + +<p>Alarmed by her ghastly look, and frightened at the abruptness of +questions utterly incomprehensible, Ellis gently entreated to be spared +any request with which she could not comply.</p> + +<p>'I do not mean,' cried Elinor, with quickness, 'to make any call upon +your confidence, or to put any fetters upon your conduct. You will be as +free after you have spoken as before. I want merely to ascertain a fact, +of which my ignorance distracts me! If you have to give me a negative, +your vanity alone can suffer; if an affirmative—' She put her hand upon +her forehead, and then rapidly added,—'the suffering will not be +yours!—give it, therefore, boldly! 'Twill be heaven to me to end this +suspense, be it how it may!'</p> + +<p>Starting up, but preventing Ellis from rising, by laying a hand upon +each of her shoulders, she gazed upon her eyes with a fixed stare, of +almost frantic impatience, and said, 'Speak! say Yes, or No, at once! +Give me no phrase—Let me see no hesitation!—Kill me, or restore me to +life!—Has Harleigh—' she gasped for breath—'ever made you any +declaration?'</p> + +<p>'None!' steadily, forcibly, and instantly Ellis answered.</p> + +<p>'Enough!' cried she, recovering some composure.</p> + +<p>She then walked up and down the room, involuntarily smiling, and her +lips in a motion, that shewed that she was talking to herself. Then +stopping, and taking Ellis by the hand, and half laughing, 'You will +think me,' she cried, 'crazy; but I assure you I had never a more +exquisite enjoyment of my senses. I see every thing to urge, and nothing +to oppose my following the bent of my own humour; or, in other words, +throwing off the trammels of unmeaning custom, and acting, as well as +thinking, for myself.'</p> + +<p>Again, then, walking up and down the chamber, she pursued her new train +of ideas, with a glee which manifested that she found them delightful.</p> + +<p>'My dear Ellis,' she cried, presently, 'have you ever chanced to hear of +such a person as Dennis Harleigh?'</p> + +<p>Ellis wished to avoid answering this question, on account of her +informant, Selina; but her embarrassment was answer sufficient. 'I see +yes!' cried Elinor, 'I see that you have heard of that old story. Don't +be frightened,' added she, laughing, 'I am not going to ask who blabbed +it. I had as lieve it were one impertinent fool as another. Only never +imagine me of the tribe of sentimental pedants, who think it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> disgrace +to grow wiser; or who suppose that they must abide by their first +opinions, for fear the world should know that they think twice upon one +subject. For what is changing one's mind, but taking the <i>pro</i> one time, +and the <i>con</i> another?'</p> + +<p>'But come,' continued she, 'this is no time for rattling. Two years I +have existed upon speculation; I must now try how I shall fare upon +practice. Is it not just, Ellis, that it should be you who should drag +me out of the slough of despond, since it was you who flung me into +it?—However, now for your commission. Do you feel as if you could +execute it with spirit?'</p> + +<p>'With willingness, certainly, if I see any chance of success.'</p> + +<p>'No ifs, Ellis. I hate the whole tribe of dubiosity. However, that you +may not make any blunder, I shall tell you my story myself; for all that +you have heard from others, you must set down to ignorance or prejudice. +Nobody knows my feelings, and nobody understands my reasons. So +everybody is at war against me in the dark.</p> + +<p>'Now hearken!</p> + +<p>'Just as I came of age, and ought to have shaken off the shackles of +Aunt Maple, and to have enjoyed my independence and my fortune together, +accident brought into my way a young lawyer—this Dennis Harleigh—of +great promise in the only profession in the world that gives wit fair +play. And I thought him, then,—mark me, Ellis, then!—of a noble +appearance. He delighted to tell me his causes, state their merits, and +ask my opinions. I always took the opposite side to that which he was +employed to plead, in order to try his powers, and prove my own. The +French Revolution had just then burst forth, into that noble flame that +nearly consumed the old world, to raise a new one, phœnix like, from +its ashes. Soon tired of our every day subjects and contests, I began +canvassing with him the Rights of Man. He had fallen desperately in love +with me, either for my wit or my fortune, or both; and therefore all +topics were sure to be approved. Enchanted with a warfare in which I was +certain to be always victorious, I grew so fond of conquest, that I was +never satisfied but when combating; and the joy I experienced in the +display of my own talents, made me doat upon his sight. The truth is, +our mutual vanity mutually deceived us: he saw my pleasure in his +company, and concluded that it was personal regard: I found nothing to +rouse the energies of my faculties in his absence, and imagined myself +enamoured of my vanquished antagonist. Aunt Maple did her little +best—for every thing she does is little—to forward the connexion; +because, though his fortune is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> trifling, his professional expectations +are high; and though he is a younger brother, he is born of a noble +family: and that sort of mean old stuff is always in her head; for if +the whole world were revolutionized, you could never make her conceive a +new idea. And the great fact of all is, she cannot bear I should leave +her house before I marry, because, she is sure, in one of my own, I +shall adopt some new system of life. Thus, in the toils of my self-love, +I became entangled; poor Dennis called himself the happiest of men; the +settlements were all drawn up; and we were looking about us for a house +to our fancy, and all that sort of stuff, when Dennis introduced his +family to us.—Now the rest, I suppose, you can divine?'</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, not difficult; but Ellis durst not risk any reply.</p> + +<p>With a rapidity scarcely intelligible, and in a manner wholly +incoherent, she then went on: 'Ellis, I pretend not to any mystery. Why +is one person adorable, and another detestable, but to call forth our +love and our hatred? to give birth to all that snatches us from mere +inert existence; to our passions, our energies, our noblest conceptions +of all that is towering and sublime? Whether you have any idea of this +mental enlargement I cannot tell; but with it I see human nature endowed +with capabilities immeasurable of perfection; and without it, I regard +and treat the whole of my race as the mere dramatis personæ of a farce; +of which I am myself, when performing with such fellow-actors, a +principal buffoon.'</p> + +<p>Nearly out of breath, she stopt a moment; then, looking earnestly at +Ellis, said, 'Do you understand me?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, in a fearful accent, answered, 'I ... I am not quite sure.'</p> + +<p>'Remove your doubts, then!' cried she, impatiently; 'I despise what is +obscure, still more than I hate what is false. Falsehood may at least +approach to that degree of grandeur which belongs to crime; but +obscurity is always mean, always seeking some subterfuge, always +belonging to art.'</p> + +<p>Again she stopt; but Ellis, uncertain whether this remark were meant to +introduce her confidence, or to censure her own secresy, waited an +explanation in silence. Elinor was evidently, however, embarrassed, +though anxious to persuade herself, as well as Ellis, that she was +perfectly at her ease. She walked a quick pace up and down the room; +then stopt, seemed pausing, hemmed to clear her voice for speech; and +then walked backwards and forwards before the window, which she +frequently opened and shut, without seeming to know that she touched it; +till, at length, seized with sudden indignation against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> herself, for +this failure of courage, she energetically exclaimed, 'How paltry is +shame where there can be no disgrace!—I disdain it!—disclaim it!—and +am ready to avow to the whole world, that I dare speak and act, as well +as think and feel for myself!'</p> + +<p>Yet, even thus buoyed up, thus full fraught with defiance, something +within involuntarily, invincibly checked her, and she hastily resumed +her walks and her ruminations.</p> + +<p>'What amazing, unaccountable fools,' she cried, 'have we all been for +these quantities of centuries! Worlds seem to have a longer infancy +taken out of the progress of their duration, even than the long +imbecility of the childhood of poor mortals. But for the late glorious +revolutionary shake given to the universe, I should, at this very +moment, from mere cowardly conformity, be the wife of Dennis!—In spite +of my repentance of the engagement, in spite of the aversion I have +taken to him, and in spite of the contempt I have conceived—with one +single exception—for the whole race of mankind, I must have been that +poor man's despicable wife!—O despicable indeed! For with what +sentiments could I have married him? Where would have been my soul while +I had given him my hand? Had I not seen—known—adored—his brother!'</p> + +<p>She stopt, and the deepest vermillion overspread her face; her effort +was made; she had boasted of her new doctrine, lest she should seem +impressed with confusion from the old one which she violated; but the +struggle being over, the bravado and exultation subsided; female +consciousness and native shame took their place; and abashed, and unable +to meet the eyes of Ellis, she ran out of the room.</p> + +<p>In the whole of this scene, Ellis observed, with mingled censure and +pity, the strong conflict in the mind of Elinor, between ungoverned +inclination, which sought new systems for its support; and an innate +feeling of what was due to the sex that she was braving, and the customs +that she was scorning.</p> + +<p>She soon re-appeared, but with a wholly new air; lively, disengaged, +almost sportive. Her heart was lightened by unburthening her secret; the +feminine delicacies which opposed the discovery, once broken through, +oppressed her no more; and the idea of passing, now, straight forward, +to the purposes for which she had done herself this violence, +re-animated her spirit, and gave new vigour to her faculties.</p> + +<p>She laughed at herself for having run away, without explaining the +meaning of her communication; and for charging Ellis with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> commission, +of which she had not made known even the nature. She then more clearly +stated her situation.</p> + +<p>From the time of her first interview with Albert, her whole mind had +recoiled from all thought of union with his brother; yet the affair was +so far advanced, and she saw herself so completely regarded by Albert as +a sister, though treated by him with an openness, a frankness, and an +affection the most captivating, that she had not courage to proclaim her +change of sentiment.</p> + +<p>The conflict of her mind, during this doubting state, threatened to cast +her into a consumption. She was ordered to the south of France. And +there, happily arrived, new scenes,—a new world, rather, opened to her +a code of new ideas, that soon, she said, taught her to scoff at idle +misery: and might even, from the occupation given to her feelings, by +the glorious confusion, and mad wonders around her, have recovered her +from the thraldom of an over-ruling propensity, had not Dennis, unable, +from professional engagements, to quit his country, been so blind, upon +hearing that her health was re-established, as to persuade his brother +to cross the Channel, in order to escort the two travellers home. From +the moment, the fated moment, that Albert arrived to be her guide and +her guard, he became so irresistibly the master of her heart, that her +destiny was determined. Whether good or ill, she knew not yet; but it +was fixed. Ill had not occurred to her sanguine expectations, nor doubt, +nor fear, till the eventful meeting with Ellis: till then, she had +believed her happiness secure, for she had supposed that nothing stood +in her way, save a little brotherly punctilio. But, since the junction +of Ellis, the spontaneous interest which Albert had taken in her fate, +and her affairs, had appeared to be so marvellous, that, at every new +view of his pity, his respect, or his admiration, she was seized with +the most uneasy feelings; which sometimes worked her up into pangs of +excruciating jealousy; and, at others, seemed to be so ill founded, +that, recollecting a thousand instances of his general benevolence, she +laughed her own surmises to scorn. How the matter still stood, with +regard to his heart, she confessed herself unable to form any permanent +judgment. The time, however, was now, happily, arrived, to abolish +suspense, for even Dennis, now, could bear it no longer. She expected, +she said, a desperate scene, but, at least, it would be a final one. She +had only, for many months past, been restrained from giving Dennis his +dismission, lest Albert should drop all separate acquaintance, from the +horrour of seeming treacherously to usurp the place of his brother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +Nevertheless, she would frankly have ended her disturbance, by an avowal +of the truth, had not Albert been the eldest brother, and, consequently, +the richest; and the disgraceful supposition, that she might be +influenced to desire the change from mercenary motives, would have had +power to yoke her to Dennis, for the rest of her weary existence, had +not her mind been so luminously opened to its own resources, and +inherent right of choice, by her continental excursion.</p> + +<p>'The grand effect,' she continued, 'of beholding so many millions of +men, let loose from all ties, divine or human, gave such play to my +fancy, such a range to my thoughts, and brought forth such new, +unexpected, and untried combinations to my reason, that I frequency felt +as if just created, and ushered into the world—not, perhaps, as wise as +another Minerva, but equally formed to view and to judge all around me, +without the gradations of infancy, childhood, and youth, that hitherto +have prepared for maturity. Every thing now is upon a new scale, and man +appears to be worthy of his faculties; which, during all these past +ages, he has set aside, as if he could do just as well without them; +holding it to be his bounden duty, to be trampled to the dust, by old +rules and forms, because all his papas and uncles were trampled so +before him. However, I should not have troubled myself, probably, with +any of these abstruse notions, had they not offered me a new road for +life, when the old one was worn out. To find that all was novelty and +regeneration throughout the finest country in the universe, soon +infected me with the system-forming spirit; and it was then that I +conceived the plan I am now going to execute; but I shall not tell it +you in its full extent, as I am uncertain what may be your strength of +mind for measures of force and character; and perhaps they may not be +necessary. So now to your commission.</p> + +<p>'I am fixed to cast wholly aside the dainty common barriers, which shut +out from female practice all that is elevated, or even natural. Dennis, +therefore, shall know that I hate him; Albert ... Ah, Ellis! that I hate +him not!'</p> + +<p>'My operations are to commence thus: Act I. Scene I. Enter Ellis, +seeking Albert. Don't stare so; I know perfectly well what I am about. +Scene II. Albert and Ellis meet. Ellis informs him that she must hold a +confabulation with him the next day; and desires that he will remain at +Lewes to be at hand.—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Miss Joddrel!' interrupted Ellis, 'you must, at least, give me +leave to say, that it is by your command that I make a request so +extraordinary!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p>'By no means. He must not suspect that I have any knowledge of your +intention. The truth, like an explosion of thunder, shall burst upon his +head at once. So only shall I truly know whether it will shake him with +dismay—or magnetize him by its sublimity.'</p> + +<p>'Yet how, Madam, under what pretence, can I take such a liberty?'</p> + +<p>'Pho, pho; this is no time for delicate demurs. If he be not engaged to +stay before I turn his brother adrift, he will accompany him to town, as +a thing of course, to console him in his willowed state. The rest of my +plot is not yet quite ripe for disclosure. But all is arranged. And +though I know not whether the catastrophe will be tragic or comic, I am +prepared in my part for either.'</p> + +<p>She then went away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + + +<p>Elinor returned almost instantly. 'Hasten, hasten,' she cried, 'Ellis! +There is no time to be lost. Scene the first is all prepared. Albert +Harleigh, at this very moment, is poring over the county map in the +hall. Run and tell him that you have something of deep importance to +communicate to him to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>'But may he not—if he means to go—desire to hear it immediately?'</p> + +<p>Elinor, without answering, forced her away. Harleigh, whose back was to +the stair-entrance, seemed intently examining some route. The distress +of Ellis was extreme how to call for his notice, and how to execute her +commission when it should be obtained. Slowly and unwillingly +approaching a little nearer, 'I am afraid,' she hesitatingly said, 'that +I must appear extremely importunate, but—'</p> + +<p>The astonishment with which he turned round, at the sound of her voice, +could only be equalled by the pleasure with which he met her eyes; and +only surpassed, by the sudden burst of clashing ideas with which he saw +her own instantly drop; while her voice, also, died away; her cheeks +became the colour of crimson; and she was evidently and wholly at a loss +what to say.</p> + +<p>'Importunate?' he gently repeated, 'impossible!' yet he waited her own +explanation.</p> + +<p>Her confusion now became deeper; any sort of interrogation would have +encouraged and aided her; but his quiet, though attentive forbearance +seemed the result of some suspension of opinion. Ashamed and grieved, +she involuntarily looked away, as she indistinctly pronounced, 'I must +appear ... very strange ... but I am constrained.... Circumstances of +which I am not the mistress, force me to ... desire—to request—that +to-morrow morning—or any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> part of to-morrow ... it might be possible +that I could ... or rather that you should be able to ... to hear +something that ... that....'</p> + +<p>The total silence with which he listened, shewed so palpably his +expectation of some competent reason for so singular an address, that +her inability to clear herself, and her chagrin in the idea of +forfeiting any part of an esteem which had proved so often her +protection, grew almost insupportably painful, and she left her phrase +unfinished; yet considered her commission to be fulfilled, and was +moving away.</p> + +<p>'To-morrow,' he said, 'I meant to have accompanied my brother, whose +affairs—whatever may be his fate—oblige him to return to town: but +if ... if to-morrow—'</p> + +<p>He had now, to impede her retreat, stept softly between her and the +staircase, and perceived, in her blushes, the force which she had put +upon her modesty; and read, in the expression of her glistening eyes, +that an innate sense of delicacy was still more wounded, by the demand +which she had made, even than her habits of life. With respect, +therefore, redoubled, and an interest beyond all calculation increased, +he went on; 'If to-morrow ... or next day—or any part of the week, you +have any commands for me, nothing shall hurry me hence till they are +obeyed.'</p> + +<p>Comforted to find herself treated with unabated consideration, however +shocked to have the air of detaining him purposely for her own concerns, +she was courtsying her thanks, when she caught a glance of Elinor on the +stairs, in whose face, every passion seemed with violence at work.</p> + +<p>Ellis changed colour, not knowing how to proceed, or how to stop. The +alteration in her countenance made Harleigh look round, and discern +Elinor; yet so pre-occupied was his attention, that he was totally +unmindful of her situation, and would have addressed her as usual, had +she not abruptly re-mounted the stairs.</p> + +<p>Harleigh would then have asked some directions, relative to the time and +manner of the purposed communication; but Ellis instantly followed +Elinor; leaving him in a state of wonder, expectation, yet pleasure +indescribable; fully persuaded that she meant to reveal the secret of +her name and her history; and forming conjectures that every moment +varied, yet every moment grew more interesting, of her motives for such +a confidence.</p> + +<p>Ellis found Elinor already in her chamber, and, apparently, in the +highest, though evidently most factitious spirits: not, however, feigned +to deceive Ellis, but falsely and forcibly elated to deceive, or, at +least,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> to animate herself. 'This is enchanting!' she cried, 'this is +delectable! this is every thing that I could wish! I shall now know the +truth! All the doubts, all the difficulties, that have been crazing me +for some time past, will now be solved: I shall discover whether his +long patience in waiting my determination, has been for your sake, or +for mine. He will not go hence, till he has obeyed your commands!—Is he +glad of a pretence to stay on my account? or impelled irresistibly upon +yours? I shall now know all, all, all!'</p> + +<p>The lengthened stay of Albert being thus, she said, ascertained, she +should send Dennis about his business, without the smallest ceremony.</p> + +<p>What she undertook, she performed. Early in the evening she again +visited Ellis, exultingly to make known to her, that Dennis was finally +dismissed. She had assigned no reason, she said, for her long +procrastination, reserving that for his betters, alias Albert; but she +had been so positive and clear in announcing her decision, and assuring +him that it proceeded from a most sincere and unalterable dislike, both +to his person and mind, that he had shewn spirit enough to be almost +respectable, having immediately ordered his horse, taken his leave of +Aunt Maple, and set off upon his journey. Albert, meanwhile, had said, +that he had business to transact at Brighthelmstone, which might detain +him some days; and had accepted an invitation to sleep at Lewes, during +that period, from poor Aunt Maple; whose provocation and surprise at all +that had passed were delightful.</p> + +<p>'To-morrow morning, therefore,' she continued, 'will decide my fate. +What, hitherto, Albert has thought of me, he is probably as ignorant as +I am myself; for while he has considered me as the property of my +brother, his pride is so scrupulous, and his scruples are so squeamish, +that he would deem it a crime of the first magnitude, to whisper, even +in his own ear, How should I like her for myself? He is suspicious of +some sophistry in whatever is not established by antiquated rules; and, +with all his wisdom, and all his superiority, he is constantly anxious +not to offend that conceited old prejudice, that thinks it taking a +liberty with human nature, to suppose that any man can be so indecent as +to grow up wiser, and more knowing, than his grandpapa was before him.</p> + +<p>'Trifling, however, apart, all my real alarm is to fathom what his +feelings are for you! Are they but of compassion, playing upon a +disengaged mind? If nothing further, the awakening a more potent +sentiment will plant them in their proper line of subordination. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +is what remains to be tried. He has not made you any declaration; he is +free, therefore, from any entanglement: his brother is discharged, and +for ever out of the question; he knows me, therefore, also, to be +liberated from all engagement. When I said that you had given me life, I +did not mean, that merely to hear that nothing had yet passed, was +enough to secure my happiness:—Ah no!—but simply that it inspired me +with a hope that gives me courage to resolve upon seeking certitude. And +now, hear me!</p> + +<p>'The second act of the comedy, tragedy, or farce, of my existence, is to +be represented to-morrow. The first scene will be a conference between +Ellis and Albert, in which Ellis will relate the history of Elinor.'</p> + +<p>Suddenly, then, looking at her, with an air the most authoritative, +'Ellis!' she added, 'there is one article to which you must answer this +moment! Would you, should the choice be in your power, sacrifice Lord +Melbury to Harleigh? No hesitation!'</p> + +<p>'Miss Joddrel,' answered Ellis, solemnly, 'I have neither the hope, nor +the fear, that belongs to what might be called sacrifice relative to +either of them: I earnestly desire to preserve the esteem of Mr +Harleigh; and the urbanity—I can call it by no other name—of Lord +Melbury; but I am as free from the thought as from the presumption, of +expecting, or coveting, to engage any personal, or particular regard, +from either.'</p> + +<p>Elinor, appeased, said, 'You are such a compound of mystery, that one +extraordinary thing is not more difficult to credit in you, than +another. My design, as you will find, in making you speak instead of +myself, is a stroke of Machievalian policy; for it will finish both +suspences at once; since if, when you talk to him of me, he thinks only +of my agent, how will he refrain, in answering your embassy, to betray +himself? If, on the contrary, when he finds his scruples removed about +his brother, he should feel his heart penetrated by the cause of that +brother's dismission—Ah Ellis!—But let us not anticipate act the +third. The second alone can decide, whether it will conclude the piece +with an epithalamium—or a requiem!'</p> + +<p>She then disappeared.</p> + +<p>Ellis saw her no more till the next morning, when, entering the chamber, +breathless with haste and agitation, 'The moment,' she cried, 'is come! +I have sent out Aunt Maple, and Selina, upon visits for the whole +morning; and I have called Harleigh into my dressing-room. There, +wondering, he waits; I shall introduce you, and wait, in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> turn, till, +in ten minutes' time, you follow, to give me the argument of the third +and last act of my drama.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, alarmed at what might be the result, would again have supplicated +to be excused; but Elinor, proudly saying, 'Fear no consequences for me! +Those who know truly how to love, know how to die, as well as how to +live!' forcibly dragged her down to the dressing-room; through which she +instantly passed herself, with undisguised trepidation, to her inner +apartment.</p> + +<p>The astonishment of Harleigh was inexpressible; and Ellis, who had +received no positive directions, felt wholly at a loss what she was to +relate, how far she ought to go, and what she ought to require. Hastily, +therefore, and affrighted at her task, she tapped at the bedroom door, +and begged a moment's audience. Elinor opened it, in the greatest +consternation. 'What!' cried she, taking her to the window, 'is all +over, without a word uttered?'</p> + +<p>No; Ellis answered; she merely wished for more precise commands what she +should say.</p> + +<p>'Say?' cried Elinor, reviving, 'say that I adore him! That since the +instant I have seen him, I have detested his brother; that he alone has +given me any idea of what is perfection in human nature! And that, if +the whole world were annihilated, and he remained ... I should think my +existence divine!'</p> + +<p>She then pushed her back, prohibiting any reply.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, to whom all was incomprehensible, but whose expectations every +moment grew higher, of the explanation he so much desired, perceiving +the embarrassment of Ellis, gently advanced, and said, 'Shall I be +guilty of indiscretion, if I seize this hurried, yet perhaps only +moment, to express my impatience for a communication of which I have +thought, almost exclusively, from the moment I have had it in view? Must +it be deferred? or—'</p> + +<p>'No; it admits of no delay. I have much to say—and I am allowed but ten +minutes—'</p> + +<p>'You have much to say?' cried he, delighted; 'ten minutes to-day may be +followed by twenty, thirty, as many as you please, to-morrow,—and after +to-morrow,—and whenever you command.'</p> + +<p>'You are very good, Sir, but my commission admits as little of extension +as of procrastination. It must be as brief as it will be abrupt.'</p> + +<p>'Your commission?' he repeated, in a tone of disappointment.</p> + +<p>'Yes; I am charged by ... by ... by a lady whom I need not name—to say +that ... that your brother—'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>She stopt, ashamed to proceed.</p> + +<p>'I can have no doubt,' said he, gravely, 'that Miss Joddrel is +concerned, for the length of time she has wasted in trifling with his +feelings; but this is all the apology her conduct requires: the breach +of the engagement, when once she was convinced, that her attachment was +insufficient to make the union as desirable to herself as to him, was +certainly rather a kindness than an injury.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,—but, her motives—her reasons—'</p> + +<p>'I conceive them all! she wanted courage to be sooner decided; she +apprehended reproach—and she gathered force to make her change of +sentiments known, only when, otherwise, she must have concealed it for +ever.—Pardon this presumptuous anticipation!' added he, smiling; 'but +when you talk to me of only ten minutes, how can I suffer them to be +consumed in a commission?'</p> + +<p>He spoke in a low tone, yet, Ellis, excessively alarmed, pointed +expressively to the chamber-door. In a tone, then, still softer, he +continued: 'I have been anxious to speak to you of Lord Melbury, and to +say something of the indignation with which I heard, from him, of the +atrocious behaviour of Ireton. Nothing less than the respect I feel for +you, could have deterred me from shewing him the resentment I feel for +myself. I should not, however, have been your only champion; Lord +Melbury was equally incensed; but we both acknowledged that our +interests and our feelings ought to be secondary to yours, and by yours +to be regulated. The matter, therefore, is at an end. Ireton is +convinced that he has done you wrong; and, as he never meant to be your +enemy, and has no study but his own amusement, we must pity his want of +taste, and hope that the disgrace necessarily hanging upon detected +false assertion, may be a lesson not lost upon him. Yet he deserves one +far more severe. He is a pitiful egotist, who seeks nothing but his own +diversion; indifferent whose peace, comfort, or reputation pays its +purchase.'</p> + +<p>'I am infinitely obliged,' said Ellis, 'that you will suffer the whole +to drop; but I must not do the same by my commission!—You must let me, +now, enter more particularly upon my charge, and tell you—'</p> + +<p>'Forgive, forgive me!' cried he, eagerly: 'I comprehend all that Miss +Joddrel can have to say. But my impatience is irrepressible upon a far +different subject; one that awakens the most lively interest, that +occupies my thoughts, that nearly monopolizes my memory; and that +exhausts—yet never wearies my conjectures.—That letter you were so +good as to mention to me?—and the plan you may at length decide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> to +pursue?—permit me to hope, that the communication you intend me, has +some reference to those points?'</p> + +<p>'I should be truly glad of your counsel, Sir, in my helpless situation: +but I am not at this moment at liberty to speak for myself;—Miss +Joddrel—'</p> + +<p>Her embarrassment now announced something extraordinary; but it was +avowedly not personal; and Harleigh eagerly besought her to be +expeditious.</p> + +<p>'You must make me so, then,' cried she, 'by divining what I have to +reveal!'</p> + +<p>'Does Miss Joddrel relent?—Will she give me leave to summon my brother +back?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no! no! no!—far otherwise. Your brother has been indifferent to +her ... ever since she has known him as such!'</p> + +<p>She thought she had now said enough; but Harleigh, whose faculties were +otherwise engaged, waited for further explanation.</p> + +<p>'Can you not,' said Ellis, 'or will you not, divine the reason of the +change?'</p> + +<p>'I have certainly,' he answered, 'long observed a growing insensibility; +but still—'</p> + +<p>'And have you never,' said Ellis, deeply blushing, 'seen, also,—its +reverse?'</p> + +<p>This question, and yet more the manner in which it was made, was too +intelligible to admit of any doubt. Harleigh, however, was far from +elated as the truth opened in his view: he looked grave and disturbed, +and remained for some minutes profoundly silent. Ellis, already ashamed +of the indelicacy of her office, could not press for any reply.</p> + +<p>'I am hurt,' he at length said, 'beyond all measure, by what you +intimate; but since Miss Joddrel has addressed you thus openly, there +can be no impropriety in my claiming leave, also, to speak to you +confidentially.'</p> + +<p>'Whatever you wish me to say to her, Sir,—'</p> + +<p>'And much that I do not wish you to say to her,' cried he, half smiling, +'I hope you will hear yourself! and that then, you will have the +goodness, according to what you know of her intentions and desire, to +palliate what you may deem necessary to repeat.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, poor Miss Joddrel!' said Ellis, in a melancholy tone, 'and is this +the success of my embassy?'</p> + +<p>'Did you, then, wish—' Harleigh began, with a quickness of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> he +instantly felt the impropriety, and changed his phrase into, 'Did you +then, suspect any other?'</p> + +<p>'I was truly sorry to be entrusted with the commission.'</p> + +<p>'I easily conceive, that it is not such a one as you would have given! +but there is a dangerous singularity in the character of Miss Joddrel, +that makes her prone to devote herself to whatever is new, wild, or +uncommon. Even now, perhaps, she conceives that she is the champion of +her sex, in shewing it the road,—a dangerous road!—to a new walk in +life. Yet,—these eccentricities set apart,—how rare are her qualities! +how powerful is her mind! how sportive her fancy! and how noble is her +superiority to every species of art or artifice!'</p> + +<p>'Yet, with all this,' said Ellis, looking at him expressively, 'with all +this....' she knew not how to proceed; but he saw her meaning. 'With all +this,' he said, 'you are surprised, perhaps, that I should look for +other qualities, other virtues in her whom I should aspire to make the +companion of my life? I beseech you, however, to believe, that neither +insolence nor ingratitude makes me insensible to her worth; but, though +it often meets my admiration, sometimes my esteem, and always my good +will and regard, it is not of a texture to create that sympathy without +which even friendship is cold. I have, indeed ... till now....'</p> + +<p>He paused.</p> + +<p>'Poor, poor, Miss Joddrel!' exclaimed Ellis, 'If you could but have +heard,—or if I knew but how to repeat, even the millionenth part of +what she thinks of you!—of the respect with which she is ready to yield +to your opinions; of the enthusiasm with which she honours your +character; of the devotion with which she nearly worships you—'</p> + +<p>She stopt short, ashamed; and as fearful that she had been now too +urgent, as before that she had been too cold.</p> + +<p>Harleigh heard her with considerable emotion. 'I hope,' he said, 'your +feelings, like those of most minds gifted with strong sensibility, have +taken the pencil, in this portrait, from your cooler judgment? I should +be grieved, indeed, to suppose—but what can a man suppose, what say, +upon a subject so delicate that may not appear offensive? Suffer me, +therefore, to drop it; and have the goodness to let that same +sensibility operate in terminating, in such a manner as may be least +shocking to her, all view, and all thought, that I ever could, or ever +can, entertain the most distant project of supplanting my brother.'</p> + +<p>'Will you not, at least, speak to her yourself?'</p> + +<p>'I had far rather speak to you!—Yet certainly yes, if she desire it.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Give me leave, then, to say,' cried Ellis, moving towards the bedroom +door, 'that you request an audience.'</p> + +<p>'By no means! I merely do not object to it. You may easily conceive what +pain I shall be spared, if it may be evaded. All I request, is a few +moments with you! Hastily, therefore, let me ask, is your plan decided?'</p> + +<p>'To the best of my power,—of my ideas, rather,—yes. But, indeed, I +must not thus abandon my charge!'</p> + +<p>'And will you not let me enquire what it is?'</p> + +<p>'There is one thing, only, in which I have any hope that my exertions +may turn to account; I wish to offer myself as a governess to some young +lady, or ladies.'</p> + +<p>'I beseech you,' cried he, with sudden fervour, 'to confide to me the +nature of your situation! I know well I have no claim; I seem to have +even no pretext for such a request; yet there are sometimes +circumstances that not only excuse, but imperiously demand extraordinary +measures: perhaps mine, at this moment, are of that sort! perhaps I am +at a loss what step to take, till I know to whom I address myself!'</p> + +<p>'O Sir!' cried Ellis, holding up her hands in act of supplication, 'you +will be heard!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, conscious that he had been off all guard, silenced himself +immediately, and walked hastily to the window.</p> + +<p>Ellis knew not whether to retire, at once, to her own room; or to +venture into that of Elinor; or to require any further answer. This +last, however, Harleigh seemed in no state to give: he leant his +forehead upon his hand, and remained wrapt in thought.</p> + +<p>Ellis, struck by a manner which shewed that he felt, and apparently, +repented the possible meaning that his last words might convey, was now +as much ashamed for herself as for Elinor; and not wishing to meet his +eyes, glided softly back to her chamber.</p> + +<p>Here, whatever might be the fulness of her mind, she was not allowed an +instant for reflection: Elinor followed her immediately.</p> + +<p>She shut the door, and walked closely up to her. Elinor feared to behold +her; yet saw, by a glance, that her eyes were sparkling, and that her +face was dressed in smiles. 'This is a glorious day for me!' she cried; +''tis the pride of my life to have brought such a one into the history +of my existence!'</p> + +<p>Ellis officiously got her a chair; arranged the fire; examined if the +windows were well closed; and sought any occupation, to postpone the +moment of speaking to, or looking at her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was not offended; she did not appear to be hurried; she seemed +enchanted with her own ideas; yet she had a strangeness in her manner +that Ellis thought extremely alarming.</p> + +<p>'Well,' she cried, when she had taken her seat, and saw that Ellis could +find no further pretext for employing herself in the little apartment; +'what garb do you bring me? How am I to be arrayed?'</p> + +<p>Ellis begged to know what she meant.</p> + +<p>'Is it a wedding-garment?' replied she, gaily; 'or ...' abruptly +changing her tone into a deep hoarse whisper, 'a shroud?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, shuddering, durst not answer. Elinor, catching her hand said, +'Don't be frightened! I am at this moment equal to whatever may be my +destiny: I am at a point of elevation, that makes my fate nearly +indifferent to me. Speak, therefore! but only to the fact. I have +neither time nor humour for narratory delays. I tried to hear you; but +you both talked so whisperingly, that I could not make out a sentence.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Miss Joddrel,' said Ellis, trembling violently, 'Mr Harleigh's +regard—his affection—'</p> + +<p>'Not a word of that trite class!' cried Elinor, with sudden severity, +'if you would not again work all my passions into inflammation involve +me no more in doubt! Fear nothing else. I am no where else vulnerable. +Set aside, then, all childish calculations, of giving me an inch or two +more, or an inch or two less of pain,—and be brief and true!'</p> + +<p>Ellis could not utter a word: every phrase she could suggest seemed to +teem with danger; yet she felt that her silence could not but indicate +the truth which it sought to hide; she hung her head, and sighed in +disturbed perplexity. Elinor looked at her for some time with an +examining eye, and then, hastily rising, emphatically exclaimed, 'You +are mute?—I see, then, my doom! And I shall meet it with glory!'</p> + +<p>Smiles triumphant, but wild, now played about her face. 'Ellis,' she +cried, 'go to your work, or whatever you were about, and take no manner +of heed of me. I have something of importance to arrange, and can brook +no interruption.'</p> + +<p>Ellis acquiesced, returning to the employment of her needle, for which +Mrs Fenn took especial care that she should never lack materials.</p> + +<p>Elinor spoke to her no more; but her ruminations, though undisturbed by +her companion, were by no means quiet, or silent. She paced hastily up +and down the room; sat, in turn, upon a chair, a window seat, and the +bed; talked to herself, sometimes with a vehemence that made several +detached words, though no sentences,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> intelligible; sometimes in softer +accents, and with eyes and gestures of exultation; and, frequently, she +went into a corner by the side of the window, where she looked, in +secret, at something in a shagreen case that she held in her hand, and +had brought out of her chamber; and to which she occasionally addressed +herself, with a fervency that shook her whole frame, and with +expressions which, though broken, and half pronounced, denoted that she +considered it as something sacred.</p> + +<p>At length, with an air of transport, she exclaimed, 'Yes! that will +produce the best effect! what an idiot have I been to hesitate!' then, +turning with quickness to Ellis: 'Ellis,' she cried, 'I have withheld +from any questions relative to yourself, because I abominate all +subterfuge; but you will not suppose I am contented with my ignorance? +You will not imagine it a matter of indifference to me, to know how I +have failed?'</p> + +<p>She reddened; passion took possession of every feature, and for a moment +nearly choaked her voice: she again walked, with rapid motion, about the +room, and then ejaculated, 'Let me be patient! let me not take away all +grandeur from my despair, and reduce it to mere common madness!—Let me +wait the fated moment, and then—let the truth burst, blaze, and flame, +till it devour me!</p> + +<p>'Ellis,' she presently added, 'find Harleigh; tell him I wish him a good +journey from the summer-house in the garden. Not a soul ever enters it +at this time of the year. Bid him go thither directly. I shall soon join +him. I will wait in my room till you call me. Be quick!'</p> + +<p>Ellis required not to have this order repeated: to place her under the +care of Harleigh, and intimate to him the excess of her love, with the +apprehensions which she now herself conceived of the dangerous state of +her mind, was all that could be wished; and where so essential a service +might be rendered, or a mischief be prevented, personal punctilio was +out of the question.</p> + +<p>He was not in the hall; but, from one of the windows, she perceived him +walking near the house. A painful sensation, upon being obliged again, +to force herself upon his notice, disturbed, though she would not suffer +it to check her. He was speaking with his groom. She stopt at the +hall-door, with a view to catch his eye, and succeeded; but he bowed +without approaching her, and continued to discourse with his groom.</p> + +<p>To seem bent upon pursuing him, when he appeared himself to think that +he had gone too far, and even to mean to shun her, dyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> her cheeks of +the deepest vermilion; though she compelled herself, from a terrour of +the danger of delay, to run across the gravel-walk before the house, to +address him. He saw her advance, with extreme surprise, but by no means +with the same air of pleasure, that he had manifested in the morning. +His look was embarrassed, and he seemed unwilling to meet her eyes. Yet +he awaited her with a respect that made his groom, unbidden, retire to +some distance; though to await her at all, when he might have met her, +struck her, even in this hurried and terrified moment, as offering the +strongest confirmation which she had yet received, that it was not a man +of pleasure or of gallantry, but of feeling and of truth, into whose way +she was thus singularly and frequently cast: and the impression which +she had made upon his mind, had never, to her hitherto nearly absorbed +faculties, appeared to be so serious or so sincere, as now, when he +first evidently struggled to disguise a partiality, which he seemed +persuaded that he had, now, first betrayed. The sensations which this +discovery might produce in herself were unexamined: the misery with +which it teemed for Elinor, and a desire to relieve his own delicacy, by +appearing unconscious of his secret, predominated: and she assumed +sufficient self-command, to deliver the message of Elinor, with a look, +and in a voice, that seemed insensible and unobservant of every other +subject.</p> + +<p>He soon, now, recovered his usual tone, and disengaged manner. 'She must +certainly,' he said, 'be obeyed; though I so little expected such a +summons, that I was giving directions for my departure.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, no!' cried Ellis, 'rather again defer it.'</p> + +<p>'You would have me again defer it?' he repeated, with a vivacity he +tried still more, though vainly, to subdue than to disguise.</p> + +<p>The word again did not make the cheeks of Ellis paler; but she answered, +with eagerness, 'Yes, for the same purpose and same person!—I am forced +to speak explicitly—and abruptly. Indeed, Sir, you know not, you +conceive not, the dreadfully alarming state of her nerves, nor the +violence of her attachment.—You could scarcely else—' she stopt, for +he changed colour and looked hurt: she saw he comprehended that she +meant to add, you could scarcely else resist her: she finished, +therefore, her phrase, by 'scarcely else plan leaving her, till you saw +her more composed, and more reconciled to herself, and to the world.'</p> + +<p>'You may imagine,' said he, pensively, 'it is any thing rather than my +inclination that carries me hence ... but I greatly fear 'tis the only +prudent measure I can pursue.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>'You can best judge by seeing her,' said Ellis: 'her situation is truly +deplorable. Her faculties are all disordered; her very intellects, I +fear, are shaken; and there is no misfortune, no horrour, which her +desperation, if not softened, does not menace.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh now seemed awakened to sudden alarm, and deep concern; and +Ellis painfully, with encreasing embarrassment, from encreasing +consciousness, added, 'You will do, I am sure, what is possible to +snatch her from despair!' and then returned to the house: satisfied that +her meaning was perfectly comprehended, by the excess of consternation +into which it obviously cast Harleigh.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + + +<p>Comforted, at least, for Elinor, whose situation in being known, seemed +to lose its greatest danger, Ellis, with less oppression upon her +spirits, returned to the dressing-room.</p> + +<p>Elinor was writing, and too intently occupied to heed the opening of the +door. The motion of her hand was so rapid, that her pen seemed rather to +skim over, than to touch her paper. Ellis gently approached her; but, +finding that she did not raise her head, ventured not even to announce +that her orders had been executed.</p> + +<p>At length, her paper being filled, she looked up, and said, 'Well! is he +there?'</p> + +<p>'I have delivered to him, Madam, your commands.'</p> + +<p>'Then,' cried she, rising with an exulting air, 'the moment of my +triumph is come! Yes, Harleigh! if meanly I have offered you my person, +nobly, at least, I will consecrate to you my soul!'</p> + +<p>Hastily rolling up what she had been writing, and putting it into a +desk, 'Ellis!' she added, 'Mark me well! should any accident betide me, +here will be found the last and unalterable codicil to my will. It is +signed, but not witnessed: it is not, however, of a nature to be +disputed; it is to desire only that Harleigh will take care that my +bones shall be buried in the same charnel-house, in which he orders the +interment of his own. All that remains, finally, of either of us, there, +at least, may meet!'</p> + +<p>Ellis turned cold with horrour. Her first idea was to send for Mrs +Maple; yet that lady was so completely without influence, that any +interference on her part, might rather stimulate than impede what it was +meant to oppose. It seemed, therefore, safest to trust wholly to +Harleigh.</p> + +<p>The eyes of Elinor were wild and fierce, her complexion was livid,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> her +countenance was become haggard; and, while she talked of triumph, and +fancied it was what she felt, every feature exhibited the most tortured +marks of impetuous sorrow, and ungoverned disappointment.</p> + +<p>She took from her bureau the shagreen case which she had so fondly +caressed, and which Ellis concluded to contain some portrait, or +cherished keep-sake of Harleigh; and hurried down stairs. Ellis +fearfully followed her. No one happened to be in the way, and she was +already in the garden, when, turning suddenly round, and perceiving +Ellis, 'Oh ho!' she cried, 'you come unbidden? you are right; I shall +want you.'</p> + +<p>She then precipitately entered the summer-house, in which Harleigh was +awaiting her in the keenest anxiety.</p> + +<p>His disturbance was augmented upon observing her extreme paleness, +though she tried to meet him with a smile. She shut and bolted the door, +and seated herself before she spoke.</p> + +<p>Assuming then a mien of austerity, though her voice betrayed internal +tremour, 'Harleigh!' she cried, 'be not alarmed. I have received your +answer!—fear not that I shall ever expect—or would, now, even listen +to another! 'Tis to vindicate, not to lower my character that I am here. +I have given you, I am aware, a great surprise by what you conceive to +be my weakness; prepare yourself for a yet greater, from an opposite +cause. I come to explain to you the principles by which I am actuated, +clearly and roundly; without false modesty, insipid affectation, or +artful ambiguity. You will then know from what plan of reasoning I adopt +my measures; which as yet, believing to be urged only by my feelings, +you attribute, perhaps,—like that poor scared Ellis, to insanity.'</p> + +<p>Ellis forced a smile, and, seating herself at some distance, tried to +wear the appearance of losing her apprehensions; while Harleigh, drawing +a chair near Elinor, assured her that his whole mind was engaged in +attention to what she might disclose.</p> + +<p>Her voice now became more steady, and she proceeded.</p> + +<p>'You think me, I know, tarnished by those very revolutionary ideas +through which, in my own estimation, I am ennobled. I owe to them that I +dare hold myself intellectually, as well as personally, an equal member +of the community; not a poor, degraded, however necessary appendent to +it: I owe to them my enfranchisement from the mental slavery of +subscribing to unexamined opinions, and being governed by prejudices +that I despise: I owe to them the precious privilege, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> shamefully new +to mankind, of daring to think for myself. But for them—should I not, +at this moment, be pining away my lingering existence, in silent +consumption? They have rescued me from that slow poison!'</p> + +<p>'In what manner,' said Harleigh, 'can I presume—'</p> + +<p>She interrupted him. 'Imagine not I am come to reproach you! or, still +less, to soften you!' She stopt, confused, rose, and again seated +herself, before she could go on. 'No! littleness of that description +belongs not to such energies as those which you have awakened! I come +but, I repeat, to defend myself, from any injurious suspicion, of having +lightly given way to a mere impulse of passion. I come to bring you +conviction that reason has guided my conduct; and I come to solicit a +boon from you,—a last boon, before we separate for ever!'</p> + +<p>'I am charmed if you have anything to ask of me,' said Harleigh, 'that +my zeal, my friendship, my attachment, may find some vent; but why speak +of so solemn a separation?'</p> + +<p>'You will grant, then, what I mean to request?'</p> + +<p>'What can it be I could refuse?'</p> + +<p>'Enough! You will soon know. Now to my justification. Hear me, +Harleigh!'</p> + +<p>She arose, and, clasping her hands, with strong, yet tender, emotion, +exclaimed. 'That I should love you—' She stopt. Shame crimsoned her +skin. She covered her face with both her hands, and sunk again upon her +chair.</p> + +<p>Harleigh was strongly and painfully affected. 'O Elinor!' he cried, and +was going to take her hand; but the fear of misinterpretation made him +draw back; and Elinor, almost instantly recovering, raised her head, and +said, 'How tenacious a tyrant is custom! how it clings to our practice! +how it embarrasses our conduct! how it awes our very nature itself, and +bewilders and confounds even our free will! We are slaves to its laws +and its follies, till we forget its usurpation. Who should have told me, +only five minutes ago, that, at an instant such as this; an instant of +liberation from all shackles, of defiance to all forms; its antique +prescriptions should still retain their power to confuse and torment me? +Who should have told me, that, at an instant such as this, I should +blush to pronounce the attachment in which I ought to glory? and hardly +know how to articulate.... That I should love you, Harleigh, can +surprise no one but yourself!'</p> + +<p>Her cheeks were now in flames; and those of Harleigh were tinted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> with +nearly as high a colour. Ellis fixed her eyes stedfastly upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Shocked, in despite of her sunk expectations, that words such as these +could be heard by Harleigh in silence, she resumed again the haughty air +with which she had begun the conference.</p> + +<p>'I ought not to detain you so long, for a defence so unimportant. What, +to you, can it matter, that my valueless preference should be +acknowledged from the spur of passion, or the dictates of reason?—And +yet, to the receiver, as well as to the offerer, a sacrifice brings +honour or disgrace, according to its motives. Listen, therefore, for +both our sakes, to mine: though they may lead you to a subject which you +have long since, in common with every man that breathes, wished +exploded, the Rights of woman: Rights, however, which all your sex, with +all its arbitrary assumption of superiority, can never disprove, for +they are the Rights of human nature; to which the two sexes equally and +unalienably belong. But I must leave to abler casuists, and the slow, +all-arranging ascendence of truth, to raise our oppressed half of the +human species, to the equality and dignity for which equal Nature, that +gives us Birth and Death alike, designs us. I must spend my remaining +moments in egotism; for all that I have time to attempt is my personal +vindication. Harleigh! from the first instant that I saw you—heard +you—knew you—'</p> + +<p>She breathed hard, and spoke with difficulty; but forced herself on.</p> + +<p>'From that first instant, Harleigh! I have lived but to cherish your +idea!'</p> + +<p>Her features now regained their highest expression of vivacity; and, +rising, and looking at him with a sort of wild rapture, 'Oh Harleigh!' +she continued, 'have I attained, at last, this exquisite moment? What +does it not pay of excruciating suspense, of hateful, laborious +forebearance and unnatural self-denial? Harleigh! dearest Harleigh! you +are master of my soul! you are sovereign of my esteem, my admiration, my +every feeling of tenderness, and every idea of perfection!—Accept, +then, the warm homage of a glowing heart, that beats but for you; and +that, beating in vain, will beat no more!'</p> + +<p>The crimson hue now mounted to her forehead, and reddened her neck: her +eyes became lustrous; and she was preparing, with an air of extacy, to +open the shagreen case, which she had held folded to her bosom, when +Harleigh, seizing her hand, dropt on one knee, and, hardly conscious of +what he did, or what he felt, from the terrible impression made by a +speech so full of love, despair, and menace,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> exclaimed, 'Elinor! you +crown me, then, with honours, but to kill me with torture?'</p> + +<p>With a look of softness new to her features, new to her character, and +emanating from sensations of delight new to her hopes, Elinor sunk +gently upon her chair, yet left him full possession of her hand; and, +for some instants, seemed silent from a luxury of inward enjoyment. 'Is +it Harleigh,' she then cried, 'Albert Harleigh, I see at my feet? Ah! +what is the period, since I have known him, in which I would not +joyfully have resigned all the rest of my life, for a sight, a moment +such as this! Dear, dear, delicious poison! thrill, thrill through my +veins! throb at my heart! new string every fibre of my frame! Is it, +then, granted me, at last, to see thee thus? and thus dare speak to +thee? to give sound to my feelings; to allow utterance of my love? to +dare suffer my own breath to emit the purest flame that ever warmed a +virgin heart?—Ah! Harleigh! proud Harleigh!—'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, embarrassed had risen, though without quitting her hand, and +re-seated himself.</p> + +<p>'Proud, proud Harleigh!' she continued, angrily snatching away her hand; +'you think even this little moment of sympathy, too long for love and +Elinor! you fear, perhaps, that she should expect its duration, or +repetition? Know me, Harleigh, better! I come not to sue for your +compassion,—I would not accept it!—Elinor may fail to excite your +regard, but she will never make you blush that you have excited hers. My +choice itself speaks the purity of my passion, for are not Harleigh and +Honour one?'</p> + +<p>She paused to recover some composure, and then went on.</p> + +<p>'You have attached neither a weak, giddy, unguarded fool, nor an idly +wilful or romantic voluptuary. My defence is grated upon your character +as much as upon my own. I could divide it into many branches; but I will +content myself with only striking at its root, namely, the Right of +woman, if endowed with senses, to make use of them. O Harleigh! why have +I seen you wiser and better than all your race; sounder in your +judgment, more elegant in your manners, more spirited in your +conduct;—lively though benevolent,—gentle, though brilliant,—Oh +Albert! Albert! if I must listen to you with the same dull ears, look at +you with the same unmarking eyes, and think of you with the same +unmeaning coldness, with which I hear, see, and consider the +time-wearing, spirit-consuming, soul-wasting tribe, that daily press +upon my sight, and offend my understanding? Can you ask, can you expect, +can you wish to doom half your species to so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> degraded a state? to look +down upon the wife, who is meant for the companion of your existence; +and upon the mother, of whose nature you must so largely partake; as +upon mere sleepy, slavish, uninteresting automatons? Say! speak! answer, +Harleigh! can such be your lordly, yet most unmanly desire?'</p> + +<p>'And is it seriously that Elinor would have me reply to such a +question?'</p> + +<p>'No, Harleigh! your noble, liberal nature answers it in every word, in +every look! You accord, then,—you conceive, at least, all that +constitutes my defence, in allowing me the use of my faculties; for how +better can I employ them than in doing honour to excellence? Why, for so +many centuries, has man, alone, been supposed to possess, not only force +and power for action and defence, but even all the rights of taste; all +the fine sensibilities which impel our happiest sympathies, in the +choice of our life's partners? Why, not alone, is woman to be excluded +from the exertions of courage, the field of glory, the immortal death of +honour,—not alone to be denied deliberating upon the safety of the +state of which she is a member, and the utility of the laws by which she +must be governed:—must even her heart be circumscribed by boundaries as +narrow as her sphere of action in life? Must she be taught to subdue all +its native emotions? To hide them as sin, and to deny them as shame? +Must her affections be bestowed but as the recompence of flattery +received; not of merit discriminated? Must every thing that she does be +prescribed by rule? Must everything that she says, be limited to what +has been said before? Must nothing that is spontaneous, generous, +intuitive, spring from her soul to her lips?—And do you, even you, +Harleigh, despise unbidden love!'</p> + +<p>'No, Elinor, no!—if I durst tell you what I think of it—'</p> + +<p>He stopt, embarrassed.</p> + +<p>'I understand you, Harleigh; you know not how to find expressions that +may not wound me? Well! let me not pain you. Let us hasten to conclude. +I have spoken all that I am now capable to utter of my defence; nothing +more remains but the boon I have to beg. Harleigh!—if there be a +question you can resolve me, that may mitigate the horrour of my +destiny, without diminishing its glory—for glory and horrour go hand in +hand! would you refuse me—when I solicit it as a boon?—would you +refuse, Harleigh, to satisfy me, even though my demand should be +perplexing? could you, Harleigh, refuse me?—And at such a moment as +this?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>'No, certainly not!'</p> + +<p>'Tell me, then, and fear not to be sincere. Is it to some other +attachment—' a sort of shivering fit stopt her for a moment, but she +recovered from it by a pride that seemed to burn through every vein, as +she added, 'or is it to innate repugnance that I owe your dislike?'</p> + +<p>'Dislike? repugnance?' Harleigh repeated, with quickness, 'can Elinor +be, at once, so generous and so unjust? Can she delineate her own +feelings with so touching and so glowing a pencil, yet so ill describe, +or so wilfully fail in comprehending mine?'</p> + +<p>'Dare, then, to be ingenuous, and save me, Harleigh,—if with truth you +can, the depression, the shame, of being rejected from impenetrable +apathy! I ought, I know, to be above such narrow punctilio, and to allow +the independence of your liberty; but I did not fall into the refining +hands of philosophy, early enough to eradicate wholly from my mind, all +dregs of the clinging first impressions of habit and education. Say, +then, Harleigh, if it be in your power so to say, that it is not a free +heart which thus coldly disdains me; that it is not a disengaged mind +which refuses me its sympathy! that it is not to personal aversion, but +to some previous regard, that I owe your insensibility! To me the event +will be the same, but the failure will be less ignoble.'</p> + +<p>'How difficult, O Elinor!—how next to impossible such a statement makes +every species of answer!'</p> + +<p>'At a period, Harleigh, awful and finite to our intercourse like this, +fall not into what I have hitherto, with so much reverence, seen you, +upon all occasions, superiour to, subterfuge and evasion! Be yourself, +Harleigh!—what can you be more noble? and plainly, simply let me into +the cause, since you cannot conceal from me the effect. Speak, then! Is +it but in the sullen majesty of masculine superiority,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Lord of yourself, uncumber'd by a wife,'<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>that you fly all marriage-bonds, with insulated, haughty singleness? or +is it that, deceived by my apparent engagement, your heart never asked +itself the worth of mine, till already all its own pulsations beat for +another object?'</p> + +<p>Harleigh tried to smile, tried to rally, tried to divert the question; +all in vain; Elinor became but more urgent, and more disordered. 'O +Harleigh!' she cried, 'is it too much to ask this one mark of your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +confidence, for a creature who has cast her whole destiny at your feet? +Speak!—if you would not devote me to distraction! Speak!—if you would +not consign me to immediate delirium!'</p> + +<p>'And what,' cried he, trembling at her vehemence, 'would you have me +say?'</p> + +<p>'That it is not Elinor whom you despise—but another whom you love.'</p> + +<p>'Elinor! are you mad?'</p> + +<p>'No, Harleigh, no!—but I am wild with anguish to dive into the full +depth of my disgrace; to learn whether it were inevitable, from the very +nature of things,—from personal antipathy,—gloss it over as you will +with esteem, regard, and professions;—or whether you had found that +you, also, had a soul, before mine was laid open to you. No evasion—no +delay!' continued she, with augmenting impetuosity; 'you have promised +to grant my boon,—speak, Harleigh, speak!—was it my direful fate, or +your insuperable antipathy?'</p> + +<p>'It was surely not antipathy!' cried he, in a tone the most soothing; +yet with a look affrighted, and unconscious, till he had spoken, of the +inference to which his words might be liable.</p> + +<p>'I thank you!' cried she, fervently, 'Harleigh, I thank you! This, at +least, is noble; this is treating me with distinction, this is honouring +me with trust. It abates the irritating tinglings of mortified pride; it +persuades me I am the victim of misfortune, not of contempt.'</p> + +<p>Suddenly, then, turning to Ellis, whose eyes, during the whole scene, +had seemed rivetted to the floor, she expressively added, 'I ask not the +object!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh breathed hard, yet kept his face in an opposite direction, and +endeavoured to look as if he did not understand her meaning. Ellis +commanded her features to remain unmoved; but her complexion was not +under the same controul: frequent blushes crossed her cheeks, which, +though they died away almost as soon as they were born, vanished only to +re-appear; evincing all the consciousness that she struggled to +suppress.</p> + +<p>A pause ensued, to Harleigh unspeakably painful, and to Ellis +indescribably distressing; during which Elinor fell into a profound +reverie, from which, after a few minutes, wildly starting, 'Harleigh,' +she cried, 'is your wedding-day fixed?'</p> + +<p>'My wedding-day?' he repeated, with a forced smile, 'Must not my wedding +itself be fixed first?'</p> + +<p>'And it is not fixed?—Does it depend upon Ellis?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>He looked palpably disconcerted; while Ellis, hastily raising her head, +exclaimed, 'Upon me, Madam? no, indeed! I am completely and every way +out of the question.'</p> + +<p>'Of you,' said Elinor, with severity, 'I mean not to make any enquiry! +You are an adept in the occult sciences; and such I venture not to +encounter. But you, Harleigh, will you, also, practise disguise? and +fall so in love with mystery, as to lose your nobler nature, in a blind, +infatuated admiration of the marvellous and obscure?'</p> + +<p>Ellis resentfully reddened; but her cheeks were pale to those of +Harleigh. Neither of them, however, spoke; and Elinor continued.</p> + +<p>'I cannot, Harleigh, be deceived, and I will not be trifled with. When +you came over to fetch me from France; when the fatal name of sister +gave me a right to interrogate you, I frankly asked the state of your +heart, and you unhesitatingly told me that it was wholly free. Since +that period, whom have you seen, whom noticed, except Ellis! Ellis! +Ellis! From the first moment that you have beheld her, she has seemed +the mistress of your destiny, the arbitress of your will. My boon, then, +Harleigh, my boon! without a moment's further delay! Appease the raging +ferment in my veins; clear away every surmize; and generously, honestly +say 'tis Ellis!—or it is another, and not Ellis, I prefer to you!'</p> + +<p>'Elinor! Elinor!' cried Harleigh, in a universal tremour, 'it is I that +you will make mad!' while Ellis, not daring to draw upon herself, again, +the rebuke which might follow a single declaiming word, rose, and +turning from them both, stood facing the window.</p> + +<p>'It is surely then Ellis! what you will not, Harleigh, avow, is +precisely what you proclaim—it is surely Ellis!'</p> + +<p>Ellis opened the window, and leant out her head; Harleigh, clapping his +hand upon his crimsoned forehead, walked with hasty steps round the +little apartment.</p> + +<p>Losing now all self-command, and wringing her hands, in a transport of +ungovernable anguish, 'Oh, Harleigh! Harleigh!' Elinor cried, 'to what a +chimera you have given your heart! to an existence unintelligible, a +character unfathomable, a creature of imagination, though visible! O, +can you believe she will ever love you as Elinor loves? with the warmth, +with the truth, with the tenderness, with the choice? can she show +herself as disinterested? can she prove herself as devoted?—'</p> + +<p>'She aims, Madam, at no rivalry!' said Ellis, gravely, and returning to +her seat: while Harleigh, tortured between resentment and pity, stood +still; without venturing to look up or reply.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Rivalry?' repeated Elinor, with high disdain: 'No! upon what species of +competition could rivalry be formed, between Elinor, and a compound of +cold caution, and selfish prudence? Oh, Harleigh! how is it you thus can +love all you were wont to scorn? double dealing, false appearances, and +lurking disguise! without a family she dare claim, without a story she +dare tell, without a name she dare avow!'</p> + +<p>A deep sigh, which now burst from Ellis, terminated the conflict between +indignation and compassion in Harleigh, who raised his eyes to meet +those of Elinor, with an expression of undisguised displeasure.</p> + +<p>'You are angry?' she cried, clasping her hands, with forced and terrible +joy; 'you are angry, and I am thankful for the lesson. I meant not to +have lingered thus; my design was to have been abrupt and noble.'</p> + +<p>Looking at him, then, with uncontrolled emotion, 'If ever man deserved +the sacrifice of a pure heart,' she continued, ''tis you, Harleigh, you! +and mine, from the period it first became conscious of its devotion to +you, has felt that it could not survive the certitude of your union with +another. All else, of slight, of failure, of inadequate pretensions, +might be borne; for where neither party is happy, misery is not +aggravated by contrast, nor mortification by comparison. But to become +the object of insolent pity to the happy!—to make a part of a rival's +blessings, by being offered up at the shrine of her superiority—No, +Harleigh, no! such abasement is not for Elinor. And what is the charm of +this wretched machine of clay, that can pay for sustaining its burthen +under similar disgrace? Let those who prize support it. For me,—my +glass is run,—my cup is full,—I die!'</p> + +<p>'Die?' repeated Ellis, with a faint scream, while Harleigh looked +petrified with horrour.</p> + +<p>'Die, yes!' answered Elinor, with a smile triumphant though ghastly; 'or +sleep! call it which you will! so animation be over, so feeling be past, +so my soul no longer linger under the leaden oppression of +disappointment; under sickness of all mortal existence; under incurable, +universal disgust:—call it what you please, sleep, rest, or death; +termination is all I seek.'</p> + +<p>'And is there, Elinor, no other name for what follows our earthly +dissolution?' cried Harleigh, with a shuddering frown. 'What say you if +we call it immortality?'</p> + +<p>'Will you preach to me?' cried she, her eyes darting fire; 'will you bid +me look forward to yet another life, when this, short as it is deemed, I +find insupportable? Ah, Harleigh! Harleigh!' her eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> suffusing with +sudden tenderness; 'were I your's—I might wish indeed to be immortal!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh was extremely affected: he approached her, took her hand, and +soothingly said, 'My dear Elinor, compose your spirits, exert your +strength of mind, and suffer us to discuss these subjects at some +length.'</p> + +<p>'No, Harleigh; I must not trust myself to your fascinations! How do I +know but they might bewitch me out of my reason, and entangle me, again, +in those antique superstitions which make misery so cowardly? No, +Harleigh! the star of Ellis has prevailed, and I sink beneath its +influence. Else, only sometimes to see you, to hear of you, to watch +you, and to think of you always, I would still live, nay, feel joy in +life; for still my imagination would gift you, ultimately, with +sensibility to my regard. But I anticipate the union which I see to be +inevitable, and I spare my senses the shock which I feel would demolish +them.—Harleigh!—dearest Harleigh, Adieu!'</p> + +<p>A paleness like that of death overspread her face.</p> + +<p>'What is it,' cried Harleigh, inexpressibly alarmed, 'what is it Elinor +means?'</p> + +<p>'To re-conquer, by the courage of my death, the esteem I may leave +forfeited by my jealousy, my envy, my littleness in life! You only could +have corrected my errours; you, by your ascendance over my feelings, +might have refined them into virtues. Oh, Harleigh! weigh not alone my +imperfections when you recollect my attachment! but remember that I have +loved you so as woman never loved!'</p> + +<p>Her voice now faultered, and she shook so violently that she could +not support herself. She put her hand gently upon the arm of Harleigh, +and, gliding nearly behind him, leant upon his shoulder. He would have +spoken words of comfort, but she seemed incapable of hearing him. +'Farewell!' she cried, 'Harleigh! Never will I live to see Ellis +your's!—Farewell!—a long farewell!'</p> + +<p>Precipitately she then opened the shagreen case, and was drawing out its +contents, when Ellis, darting forward, caught her arm, and screamed, +rather than articulated, 'Ellis will never be his!—Forbear! +Forbear!—Ellis never will be his!'</p> + +<p>The astonished Harleigh, who, hitherto, had rigorously avoided meeting +the eyes of Ellis, now turned towards her, with an expression in which +all that was not surprise was resentment; while Elinor, seeming suddenly +suspended, faintly pronounced, 'Ellis—deluding Ellis!—what is it you +say?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I am no deluder!' cried Ellis, yet more eagerly: 'Rely, rely upon my +plighted honour!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh now looked utterly confounded; but Ellis only saw, and seemed +only to breathe for Elinor, who recovering, as if by miracle, her +complexion, her voice, and the brightness of her eyes, rapturously +exclaimed, 'Oh Harleigh!—Is there, then, sympathy in our fate? Do you, +too, love in vain?'—And, from a change of emotion, too sudden and too +mighty for the shattered state of her nerves, she sunk senseless upon +the floor.</p> + +<p>The motive to the strange protestations of Ellis was now apparent: a +poniard dropt from the hand of Elinor as she fell, of which, while she +spoke her farewell, Ellis had caught a glance.</p> + +<p>Harleigh seemed himself to require the aid that he was called upon to +bestow. He looked at Elinor with a mixture of compassion and horrour, +and, taking possession of the poniard, 'Unhappy Elinor!' he cried, 'into +what a chaos of errour and of crime have these fatal new systems +bewildered thee!'</p> + +<p>The revival of Elinor was almost immediate; and though, at first, she +seemed to have lost the remembrance of what had happened, the sight of +Ellis and Harleigh soon brought it back. She looked from one to the +other, as if searching her destiny; and then, with quick impatience, +though somewhat checked by shame, cried, 'Ellis! have you not mocked +me?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, covered with blushes and confusion, addressing herself to +Harleigh, said, 'Pardon, Mr Harleigh, my seeming presumption, where no +option has been offered me; and where such an option is as wide from my +expectations as it would be from my desert. This terrible crisis must be +my apology.'</p> + +<p>A shivering like that of an ague-fit again shook the agitated Elinor, +who, ejaculating, 'What farce is this?—Fool! fool! shall I thus +sleepily be duped?' looked keenly around for her lost weapon.</p> + +<p>'Duped? no, Madam,' cried Ellis, in a tone impressive of veracity: 'if I +had the honour to be better known to Miss Joddrel, one assertion, I +flatter myself, would suffice: my word is given; it has never yet been +broken!'</p> + +<p>While this declaration, though softened by a sigh the most melancholy, +struck cold to the heart of Harleigh, its effect upon Elinor was that of +an extacy which seemed the offspring of frenzy. 'Do I awake, then,' she +cried, 'from agony and death—agony, impossible to support! death, +willing and welcome! to renewed life? to an interesting, however<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +deplorable, existence? is my fate in harmony with the fate of Harleigh? +Has he, even he! given his soul,—his noble soul!—to one who esteems +and admires him, yet who will not be his? Can Harleigh love in vain?'</p> + +<p>Tears now rolled fast and unchecked down her cheeks, while, in tones of +enthusiasm, she continued, 'I hail thee once again, oh life! with all +thy arrows! Welcome, welcome, every evil that associates my catastrophe +with that of Harleigh!—Yet I blush, methinks, to live!—Blush, and feel +little,—nearly in the same proportion that I should have gloried to +die!'</p> + +<p>With these words, and recoiling from a solemn, yet tender exhortation, +begun by Harleigh, she abruptly quitted the little building; and, her +mind not more highly wrought by self-exaltation, than her body was +weakened by successive emotions, she was compelled to accept the +fearfully offered assistance of Ellis, to regain, with tottering steps, +the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + + +<p>Ellis entered into the chamber with Elinor; who, equally exhausted in +body and in mind, flung herself upon her bed, where she remained some +time totally mute: her eyes wide open, yet looking at nothing, +apparently in a state of stupefaction; but from which, in a few minutes, +suddenly starting, and taking Ellis by the hand, with a commanding air, +she abruptly said, 'Ellis, are you fixed to marry Lord Melbury?'</p> + +<p>Ellis positively disclaimed any such idea.</p> + +<p>'What am I to infer?' cried Elinor, with returning and frightful +agitation; 'Will you be firm to your engagement? Is it truly your +decision to refuse the hand of Harleigh, though he were to offer it +you?'</p> + +<p>Ellis shuddered, and looked down; but answered, 'I will surely, Madam, +never forget my engagement!'</p> + +<p>The most perfect calm now succeeded to the many storms which had both +impelled and shattered Elinor; and, after swallowing a copious draught +of cold water, she laid her head upon her pillow, and fell into a +profound and heavy, though not tranquil sleep.</p> + +<p>Ellis, unable to conjecture in what frame of mind she might wake, did +not dare leave her. She sat watchfully by her side, amazed to see, that, +with such energy of character, such quickness of parts, such strength of +comprehension, she not only gave way to all her impulses like a child, +but, like a child, also, when over-fatigued, could suddenly lose her +sufferings and her remembrance in a sort of spontaneous slumber.</p> + +<p>But the balmy rest of even spirits, and a composed mind, was far from +Elinor; exhausted nature claimed some respite from frantic exertion, and +obtained it; but no more. She awoke then; yet, though it was with a +frightful start, even this short repose proved salutary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> not only to +her nerves, but to her intellects. Her passions became less inflamed, +and her imagination less heated; and, though she remained unchanged in +her plans, and impenitent in her opinions, she acknowledged herself +sensible to the strangeness of her conduct; and not without shame for +its violence. These, however, were transitory sensations: one regret +alone hung upon her with any serious weight: this was, having suffered +her dagger to be seen and seized. She feared being suspected of a mere +puerile effort, to frighten from Harleigh an offer of his hand, in +menacing what she had not courage, nor, perhaps, even intention to +perform.</p> + +<p>This suggestion was intolerable: she blushed with shame as it crossed +her mind. She shook with passion, as she considered, that such might be +the disgraceful opinion, that might tarnish the glory that she meant to +acquire, by dying at the feet of the object of her adoration, at the +very moment of yielding to the happier star of an acknowledged rival; a +willing martyr to successless, but heroick love.</p> + +<p>She was now tempted to prove her sincerity by her own immediate +destruction. 'And yet,' she cried, 'shall I not bear what Harleigh +bears? Shall I not know the destiny of Harleigh?'</p> + +<p>This idea again reconciled her to present life, though not to her actual +situation; and she ruminated laboriously, for some time, in gloomy +silence; from which, however, breaking with sudden vivacity, 'No, no!' +she cried: 'I will not risk any aspersing doubt; I will shew him I have +a soul that strenuously emulates the nobleness of his own. He shall see, +he shall confess, that no meanness is mixt with the love of Elinor. He +shall not suppose, because she glories in its undisguised avowal, that +she waits in humble hope for a turn in her favour; that she is a +candidate for his regard; a supplicant for his compassion! No! he shall +see that she is frank without weakness, and free from every species of +dissimulation or stratagem.'</p> + +<p>She then rushed out of the room, shutting the door after her, and +commanding Ellis not to follow: but Ellis fearing every moment some +dreadful catastrophe, softly pursued her, till she saw her enter the +servants' hall; whence, after giving some orders, in a low voice and +hurried manner, to her own footman, she re-mounted to her chamber; into +which, without opposition, or even notice, Ellis also glided.</p> + +<p>Here, eagerly seizing a pen, with the utmost rapidity, though with many +blots, and frequent erazures, she wrote a long letter, which she read +and altered repeatedly before she folded; she then wrote a shorter one; +then rang for her maid, to whom she gave some secret directions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> which +she finished by commanding that she would find out Mr Harleigh, and +desire that he would go immediately to the summer-house.</p> + +<p>In about a quarter of an hour, which she spent in reading, revising, +sealing, and directing her letters, the maid returned; and, after a long +whisper, said, that she had given the message to Mr Harleigh.</p> + +<p>Turning now to Ellis, with a voice and air of decision, that seemed +imperiously to forbid resistance, she put into her hand the long letter +which she had just written, and said, 'Take this to him immediately; +and, while he reads it, mark every change of his countenance, so as to +be able to deduce, and clearly to understand, the sensations which pass +in his mind.'</p> + +<p>When Ellis expostulated upon the utter impropriety of her following Mr +Harleigh, she sternly said, 'Give the letter, then, to whatever other +person you judge most proper to become a third in my confidence!'</p> + +<p>She then nearly forced her out of the room.</p> + +<p>Ellis did not dare venture to keep the letter, as she wished, till some +opportunity should offer for presenting it quietly, lest some high +importance should be annexed to its quick delivery; yet she felt that it +would be cruel and indelicate to make over such a commission to another; +in opposition, therefore, to the extremest personal repugnance, she +compelled herself, with fearful and unwilling, yet hasty steps, to +proceed again to the summer-house.</p> + +<p>She found Harleigh, with an air at once pensive and alarmed, waiting for +Elinor; but at the unexpected sight of Ellis, and of Ellis alone, every +feature brightened; though his countenance, his manner, his whole frame, +evinced increased agitation.</p> + +<p>Anxious to produce her excuse, for an intrusion of which she felt +utterly ashamed, she instantly presented him the letter, saying, 'Miss +Joddrel would take no denial to my being its bearer. She has even +charged me to remain with you while you read it.'</p> + +<p>'Were that,' said he, expressively, 'the severest pain she inflicts upon +me, I should soon become her debtor for feelings that leave pain +apart!—Urgent, indeed, was my desire to see you again, and without +delay; for after what has passed this morning, silence and forbearance +are no longer practicable.'</p> + +<p>'Yet, at this moment,' said Ellis, striving but ineffectually to speak +without disturbance; 'it will be impossible for me to defer returning to +the house.'</p> + +<p>'Yet if not now, when?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I know not—but she will be very impatient for some account of her +letter.'</p> + +<p>'She will, at least, not be desperate, since she expects, and therefore +will wait for you; how, then, can I hope to find a more favourable +opportunity, for obtaining a few instants of your time?'</p> + +<p>'But, though she may not be desperate just now, is it not possible, Sir, +that my staying may irritate, and make her so?'</p> + +<p>'That unhappily, is but too true! There is no relying upon the patience, +or the fortitude, of one so completely governed by impulse; and who +considers her passions as her guides to glory,—not as the subtlest +enemies of every virtue! Nevertheless, what I feel for her is far beyond +what, situated as I now am with her, I dare express—Yet, at this +moment—'</p> + +<p>'Will you not read her letter?'</p> + +<p>'That you may run away?' cried he, half smiling; 'no, at this moment I +will not read her letter, that you may be forced to stay!'</p> + +<p>'You cannot wish me to make her angry?'</p> + +<p>'Far, far from it! but what chance have I to meet you again, if I lose +you now? Be not alarmed, I beg: she will naturally conclude that I am +studying her letter; and, but for an insuperable necessity of—of some +explanation, I could, indeed think of no other subject: for dreadful is +the impression which the scene that I have just had with her has made +upon my nerves.—Ah! how could she imagine such a one calculated to +engage my heart? How wide is it from all that, to me, appears +attractive! Her spirit I admire; but where is the sweetness I could +love? I respect her understanding; but where is the softness that should +make it charm while it enlightens? I am grateful for her partiality; but +where is the dignity that might ennoble it, or the delicacy that might +make it as refined as it is flattering? Where—where the soul's +fascination, that grows out of the mingled excellencies, the blended +harmonies, of the understanding with the heart and the manners?'</p> + +<p>Vainly Ellis strove to appear unconscious of the comparison, and the +application, which the eyes of Harleigh, yet more pointedly than his +words, marked for herself in this speech: her quickly rising blushes +divulged all that her stillness, her unmoved features tried to disguise; +and, to get rid of her confusion, she again desired that he would open +the letter, and with an urgency which he could not resist. He merely +stipulated that she would wait to hear his answer; and then read what +follows.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">'For Albert Harleigh.</p> + +<p>'I am sick of the world, yet still I crawl upon its surface. I +scorn and defy the whole human race, yet doom myself to be numbered +in its community. While you, Albert Harleigh, you whom alone, of +all that live and breath, I prize,—you, even your sight, I, from +this moment, eternally renounce! Such the mighty ascendance of the +passion which you have inspired, that I will sooner forego that +only blessing—though the universe without it is a hateful blank to +my eyes—than risk opposing the sway of your opinion, or suffer you +to think me ignoble, though you know me to be enslaved. O Harleigh! +how far from all that is vile and debasing is the flame, the pure, +though ardent flame that you have kindled! To its animating +influence I am indebted for one precious moment of heavenly truth; +and for having snatched from the grave, which in its own +nothingness will soon moulder away my frame, the history of my +feelings.</p> + +<p>'I have conquered the tyrant false pride; I have mocked the +puerilities of education; I have set at nought and defeated even +the monster custom; but you, O Harleigh! you I obey, without +waiting for a command; you, I seek to humour, without aspiring to +please! To you, my free soul, my liberated mind, my new-born ideas, +all yield, slaves, willing slaves, to what I only conceive to be +your counsel, only conjecture to be your judgment; that since I +have failed to touch your heart, after having opened to you my own, +a total separation will be due to my fame for the world, due to +delicacy for myself....</p> + +<p>'Be it so, Albert ... we will part!—Though my fame, in my own +estimation, would be elevated to glory; by the publication of a +choice that does me honour; though my delicacy would be gratified, +would be sanctified, by shewing the purity of a passion as spotless +as it is hopeless—yet will I hide myself in the remotest corner of +the universe, rather than resist you even in thought. O Albert! how +sovereign is your power!—more absolute than the tyranny of the +controlling world; more arbitrary than prescription; more +invincible than the prejudices of ages!—You, I cannot resist! you, +I shall only breathe to adore!—to bear all you bear,—the tortures +of disappointment, the abominations of incertitude; to say, +Harleigh himself endures this! we suffer in unison! our woes are +sympathetic!—O word to charm all the rigour of calamity!.... +Harleigh, I exist but to know how your destiny will be fulfilled, +and then to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> from my concealment, and bid you a last farewell! +to leave upon the record of your memory the woes of my passion; and +then consign myself for ever to my native oblivion. Till then, +adieu, Albert Harleigh, adieu!</p> + +<p class="right">'<span class="smcap">Elinor Joddrel</span>.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>Harleigh read this letter with a disturbance that, for a while, wholly +absorbed his mind in its contents. 'Misguided, most unfortunate, yet +admirable Elinor!' he cried, 'what a terrible perversion is here of +intellect! what a confusion of ideas! what an inextricable chaos of +false principles, exaggerated feelings, and imaginary advancement in new +doctrines of life!'</p> + +<p>He paused, thoughtfully and sadly, till Ellis, though sorry to interrupt +his meditations, begged his directions what to say upon returning to the +house.</p> + +<p>'What her present plan may be,' he answered, 'is by no means clear; but +so boundless is the licence which the followers of the new systems allow +themselves, that nothing is too dreadful to apprehend. Religion is, if +possible, still less respected than law, prescriptive rights, or any of +the hitherto acknowledged ties of society. There runs through her +letter, as there ran through her discourse this morning, a continual +intimation of her disbelief in a future state; of her defiance of all +revealed religion; of her high approbation of suicide.—The fatal deed +from which you rescued her, had no excuse to plead from sudden +desperation; she came prepared, decided, either to disprove her +suspicions, or to end her existence!—poor infatuated, yet highly gifted +Elinor!—what can be done to save her; to recall her to the use of her +reason, and the exercise of her duties?'</p> + +<p>'Will you not, Sir, see her? Will you not converse with her upon these +points, in which her mind and understanding are so direfully warped?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly I will; and I beg you to entreat for my admission. I must +seek to dissuade her from the wild and useless scheme of seclusion and +concealment. But as time now presses, permit me to speak, first, upon +subjects which press also,—press irresistibly, unconquerably!—Your +plan of becoming a governess—'</p> + +<p>'I dare not stay, now, to discuss any thing personal; yet I cannot +refrain from seizing a moment that may not again offer, for making my +sincerest apologies upon a subject—and a declaration—I shall never +think of without confusion. I feel all its impertinence, its inutility,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +its presumption; but you will make, I hope, allowance for the excess of +my alarm. I could devise no other expedient.'</p> + +<p>'Tell me,' cried he, 'I beg, was it for her ... or for me that it was +uttered? Tell me the extent of its purpose!'</p> + +<p>'You cannot, surely, Sir, imagine—cannot for a moment suppose, that I +was guided by such egregious vanity as to believe—' She stopt, +extremely embarrassed.</p> + +<p>'Vanity,' said he, 'is out of the question, after what has just passed; +spare then, I beseech, your own candour, as well as my suspense, all +unnecessary pain.'</p> + +<p>'I entreat, I conjure you, Sir,' cried Ellis, now greatly agitated, +'speak only of my commission!'</p> + +<p>'Certainly,' he answered, 'this is not the period I should have chosen, +for venturing upon so delicate—I had nearly said so perilous a subject; +but, so imperiously called upon, I could neither be insincere, nor +pusillanimous enough, to disavow a charge which every feeling rose to +confess!—Otherwise—just now,—my judgment, my sense of propriety,—all +in the dark as I am—would sedulously, scrupulously, have constrained my +forbearance, till I knew—' He stopt, paused, and then expressively, yet +gently added, 'to whom I addressed myself!'</p> + +<p>Ellis coloured highly as she answered, 'I beg you, Sir, to consider all +that was drawn from you this morning, or all that might be inferred, as +perfectly null—unpronounced and unthought.'</p> + +<p>'No!' cried he with energy, 'no! To have postponed an explanation would +have been prudent,—nay right:—but every sentiment of my mind, filled +with trust in your worth, and reverence for your virtues, forbids now, a +recantation! Imperious circumstances precipitated me to your feet—but +my heart was there already!'</p> + +<p>So extreme was the emotion with which Harleigh uttered these words, that +he perceived not their effect upon Ellis, till gasping for breath, and +nearly fainting, she sunk upon a chair; when so livid a paleness +overspread her face, and so deadly a cold seemed to chill her blood, +that, but for a friendly burst of tears, which ensued, her vital powers +appeared to be threatened with immediate suspension.</p> + +<p>Harleigh was instantly at her feet; grieved at her distress, yet charmed +with a thousand nameless, but potent sensations, that whispered to every +pulse of his frame, that a sensibility so powerful could spring only +from too sudden a concussion of pleasure with surprise.</p> + +<p>He had hardly time to breathe forth a protestation, when the sight of +his posture brought back the blood to her cheeks, and force to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +limbs; and, hastily rising, with looks of blushing confusion, yet with a +sigh that spoke internal anguish, 'I cannot attempt,' she cried, 'Mr +Harleigh,—I could not, indeed, attempt—to express my sense of your +generous good opinion!—yet—if you would not destine me to eternal +misery, you must fly me—till you can forget this scene—as you would +wish me to fly perdition!'</p> + +<p>She rose to be gone; but Harleigh stopt her, crying, in a tone of +amazement, 'Is it possible,—can it be possible, that with intellects +such as yours, clear, penetrating, admirable, you can conceive eternal +misery will be your portion, if you break a forced engagement made with +a mad woman?—and made but to prevent her immediate self-destruction?'</p> + +<p>Shaking her head, but averting her eyes, Ellis would neither speak not +be detained; and Harleigh, who durst not follow her, remained +confounded.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> To which honour Dr Burney was elected, by the wholly +unsolicited votes of the members <i>des beaux arts</i>. His daughter brought +over his diploma from Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Preface to Evelina.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Inscription of Evelina, 'O Author of my being!' &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Susanna Elizabeth Phillips.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> So strongly this coincidence of sentiment was felt by Mr +Burke himself, that, some years afterwards, at an assembly at Lady +Galloway's, where each, for a considerable time, had seemed to stimulate +the other to a flow of partial praise on Evelina and—just then +published—Cecilia; Mr Burke, upon Dr Johnson's endeavouring to detain +me when. I rose to depart, by calling out, 'Don't go yet, little +character-monger!' followed me, gaily, but impressively exclaiming, +'Miss Burney, die to-night!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Fielding's <i>Amelia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Alexander Charles Lewis d'Arblay.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Dryden.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer (Volume 1 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 1 OF 5) *** + +***** This file should be named 37437-h.htm or 37437-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37437/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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