diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:08:01 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:08:01 -0700 |
| commit | feaa481f8503de2c1c91323f5aa5e6e8bf98aaee (patch) | |
| tree | e033c11337fb31d7c7ecb722147f501d255335ec /37438-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '37438-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 37438-h/37438-h.htm | 8281 |
1 files changed, 8281 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/37438-h/37438-h.htm b/37438-h/37438-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d05e34 --- /dev/null +++ b/37438-h/37438-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8281 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5), by Fanny Burney. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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 2 of 5) + or, Female Difficulties + +Author: Fanny Burney + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37438] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 2 OF 5) *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h2>VOLUME II</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p class="center"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + + +<p>Ellis hastened to the house; but her weeping eyes, and disordered state +of mind, unfitted her for an immediate encounter with Elinor, and she +went straight to her own chamber; where, in severe meditation upon her +position, her duties, and her calls for exertion, she 'communed with her +own heart.' Although unable, while involved in uncertainties, to arrange +any regular plan of general conduct, conscience, that unerring guide, +where consulted with sincerity, pointed out to her, that, after what had +passed, the first step demanded by honour, was to quit the house, the +spot, and the connexions, in which she was liable to keep alive any +intercourse with Harleigh. What strikes me to be right, she internally +cried, I must do; I may then have some chance for peace, ... however +little for happiness!</p> + +<p>Her troubled spirits thus appeased, she descended to inform Elinor of +the result of her commission. She had received, indeed, no direct +message; but Harleigh meant to desire a conference, and that desire +would quiet, she hoped, and occupy the ideas of Elinor, so as to divert +her from any minute investigation into the circumstances by which it had +been preceded.</p> + +<p>The door of the dressing room was locked, and she tapped at it for +admission in vain; she concluded that Elinor was in her bed-chamber, to +which there was no separate entrance, and tapped louder, that she might +be heard; but without any better success. She remained, most uneasily, +in the landing-place, till the approaching footstep of Harleigh forced +her away.</p> + +<p>Upon re-entering her own chamber, and taking up her needle-work, she +found a letter in its folds.</p> + +<p>The direction was merely To Ellis. This assured her that it was from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>Elinor, and she broke the seal, and read the following lines.</p> + +<blockquote><p>'All that now remains for the ill-starred Elinor, is to fly the +whole odious human race. What can it offer to me but disgust and +aversion? Despoiled of the only scheme in which I ever gloried, +that of sacrificing in death, to the man whom I adore, the +existence I vainly wished to devote to him in life;—despoiled of +this—By whom despoiled?—by you! Ellis,—by you!—Yet—Oh +incomprehensible!—You, refuse Albert Harleigh!—Never, never could +I have believed in so senseless an apathy, but for the changed +countenance which shewed the belief in it of Harleigh.</p> + +<p>'If your rejection, Ellis, is that you may marry Lord Melbury, +which alone makes its truth probable—you have done what is natural +and pardonable, though heartless and mercenary; and you will offer +me an opportunity to see how Harleigh—Albert Harleigh, will +conduct himself when—like me!—he lives without hope.</p> + +<p>'If, on the contrary, you have uttered that rejection, from the +weak folly of dreading to witness a sudden and a noble end, to a +fragile being, sighing for extinction,—on your own head fall your +perjury and its consequences!</p> + +<p>'I go hence immediately. No matter whither.</p> + +<p>'Should I be pursued, I am aware I may soon be traced: but to what +purpose? I am independent alike in person, fortune, and mind; I +cannot be brought back by force, and I will not be moved by idle +persuasion, or hacknied remonstrance. No! blasted in all my worldly +views, I will submit to worldly slavery no longer. My aunt, +therefore, will do well not to demand one whom she cannot claim.</p> + +<p>'Tell her this.</p> + +<p>'Harleigh—</p> + +<p>'But no,—Harleigh will not follow me! He would deem himself bound +to me ever after, by all that men hold honourable amongst one +another, if, through any voluntary measure of his own, the shadow +of a censure could be cast upon Elinor.</p> + +<p>'Oh, perfect Harleigh! I will not involve your generous +delicacy—for not yours, not even yours would I be, by the foul +constraint of worldly etiquette! I should disdain to owe your +smallest care for me to any menace, or to any meanness.</p> + +<p>'Let him, not, therefore, Ellis, follow me; and I here pledge +myself to preserve my miserable existence, till I see him again, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>in defiance of every temptation to disburthen myself of its +loathsome weight. By the love I bear to him, I pledge myself!</p> + +<p>'Tell him this.</p> + +<p class="right">'<span class="smcap">Elinor Joddrel.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>Ellis read this letter in speechless consternation. To be the confident +of so extraordinary a flight, seemed danger to her safety, while it was +horrour to her mind.</p> + +<p>The two commissions with which, so inconsiderately, she was charged, how +could she execute? To seek Harleigh again, she thought utterly wrong: +and how deliver any message to Mrs Maple, without appearing to be an +accomplice in the elopement? She could only prove her innocence by +shewing the letter itself, which, in clearing her from that charge, left +one equally heavy to fall upon her, of an apparently premeditated design +to engage, or, as the world might deem it, inveigle, the young Lord +Melbury into marriage. It was evident that upon that idea alone, rested +the belief of Elinor in a faithful adherence to the promised rejection; +and that the letter which she had addressed to Ellis, was but meant as a +memorandum of terrour for its observance.</p> + +<p>Not long afterwards, Selina came eagerly to relate, that the dinner-bell +having been rung, and the family being assembled, and the butler having +repeatedly tapt at the door of sister Elinor, to hurry her; Mrs Maple, +not alarmed, because accustomed to her inexactitude, had made every body +dine: after which, Tomlinson was sent to ask whether sister Elinor chose +to come down to the dessert; but he brought word that he could not make +either her or Mrs Golding speak. Selina was then desired to enquire the +reason of such strange taciturnity; but could not obtain any answer.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, saying that there was no end to her vagaries, then returned +to the drawing-room; concluding, from former similar instances, that, +dark, late, and cold as it was, Elinor had walked out with her maid, at +the very hour of dinner. But Mr Harleigh, who looked extremely uneasy, +requested Selina to see if her sister were not with Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>To this Ellis, by being found alone, was spared any reply; and Selina +skipt down stairs to coffee.</p> + +<p>How to avoid, or how to sustain the examination which she expected to +ensue, occupied the disturbed mind of Ellis, till Selina, in about two +hours, returned, exclaiming, 'Sister Elinor grows odder and odder! do +you know she is gone out in the chariot? She ordered it herself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +without saying a word to aunt, and got in, with Golding, close to the +stables! Tomlinson has just owned it to Mr Harleigh, who was grown quite +frightened at her not coming home, now it's so pitch dark. Tomlinson +says she went into the hall herself, and made him contrive it all. But +we are no wiser still as to where she is gone.'</p> + +<p>The distress of Ellis what course to take, increased every moment as it +grew later, and as the family became more seriously alarmed. Her +consciousness that there was no chance of the return of Elinor, made her +feel as if culpable in not putting an end to fruitless expectation; yet +how produce a letter of which every word demanded secresy, when all +avowal would be useless, since Elinor could not be forced back?</p> + +<p>No one ascended again to her chamber till ten o'clock at night: the +confusion in the house was then redoubled, and a footman came hastily up +stairs to summon her to Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>She descended with terrour, and found Mrs Maple in the parlour, with +Harleigh, Ireton, and Mrs Fenn.</p> + +<p>In a voice of the sharpest reprimand, Mrs Maple began to interrogate +her: while Harleigh, who could not endure to witness a haughty rudeness +which he did not dare combat, taking the arm of Ireton, whom he could +still less bear to leave a spectator to a scene of humiliation to Ellis, +quitted the room.</p> + +<p>Vain, however, was either enquiry or menace; and Mrs Maple, when she +found that she could not obtain any information, though she had heard, +from Mrs Fenn, that Ellis had passed the morning with her niece, +declared that she would no longer keep so dangerous a pauper in the +house; and ordered her to be gone with the first appearance of light.</p> + +<p>Ellis, courtseying in silence, retired.</p> + +<p>In re-passing through the hall, she met Harleigh and Ireton; the former +only bowed to her, impeded by his companion from speaking; but Ireton, +stopping her, said, 'O! I have caught you at last! I thought, on my +faith, I was always to seek you where you were never to be found. If I +had not wanted to do what was right, and proper, and all that, I should +have met with you a hundred times; for I never desired to do something +that I might just as well let alone, but opportunity offered itself +directly.'</p> + +<p>Ellis tried to pass him, and he became more serious. 'It's an age that I +have wanted to see you, and to tell you how prodigiously ashamed I am of +all that business. I don't know how the devil it was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> but I went on, +tumbling from blunder to blunder, till I got into such a bog, that I +could neither stand still, nor make my way out:—'</p> + +<p>Ellis, gratified that he would offer any sort of apology, and by no +means wishing that he would make it more explicit, readily assured him, +that she would think no more upon the subject; and hurried to her +chamber: while Harleigh, who stood aloof, thought he observed as much of +dignity as of good humour, in her flying any further explanation.</p> + +<p>But Mrs Maple, who only meant, by her threat, to intimidate Ellis into a +confession of what she knew of the absence, and of the purposes, of +Elinor, was so much enraged by her calmness, that she told Mrs Fenn to +follow her, with positive orders, that, unless she would own the truth, +she should quit the house immediately, though it were in the dead of the +night.</p> + +<p>Violence so inhuman rather inspired than destroyed fortitude in Ellis, +who quietly answered, that she would seek an asylum, till day-light, at +the neighbouring farmer's.</p> + +<p>Selina followed, and, embracing her, with many tears, vowed eternal +friendship to her; and asked whether she did not think that Lady Aurora +would be equally constant.</p> + +<p>'I must hope so!' she answered, sighing, 'for what else have I to hope?'</p> + +<p>She now made her preparations; yet decided not to depart, unless again +commanded; hoping that this gust of passion would pass away, and that +she might remain till the morning.</p> + +<p>While awaiting, with much inquietude, some new order, Selina, to her +great surprise, came jumping into the room, to assure her that all was +well, and more than well; for that her aunt not only ceased to desire to +send her away directly, but had changed her whole plan, and was foremost +now in wishing her to stay.</p> + +<p>Ellis, begging for an explanation, then heard, that Ireton had told Mrs +Maple, that there was just arrived at Brighton M. Vinstreigle, a +celebrated professor, who taught the harp; and of whom he should be +charmed that Selina should take some lessons.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple answered, that it would be the height of extravagance, to send +for a man of whom they knew nothing, when they had so fine a performer +under their own roof. Ireton replied, that he should have mentioned that +from the first, but for the objections which then seemed to be in the +way of trusting Miss Ellis with such a charge: but when he again named +the professor, Mrs Maple hastily commissioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> Selina to acquaint Ellis, +that, to-morrow morning they were to begin a regular course of lessons +together upon the harp.</p> + +<p>Though relieved, by being spared the danger and disgrace of a nocturnal +expulsion, Ellis shrunk from the project of remaining longer in a house +in which Harleigh was admitted at pleasure; and over which Elinor might +keep a constant watch. It was consolatory, nevertheless, to her +feelings, that Ireton, hitherto her defamer, should acquiesce in this +offer, which, at least, not to disoblige Mrs Maple, she would accept for +the moment. To give lessons, also, to a young lady of fashion, might +make her own chosen scheme, of becoming a governess in some respectable +family, more practicable.</p> + +<p>About midnight, a horseman, whom Mrs Maple had sent with enquiries to +Brighthelmstone, returned, and informed her, that he could there gather +no tidings; but that he had met with a friend of his own, who had told +him that he had seen Miss Joddrel, in Mrs Maple's carriage, upon the +Portsmouth road.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, now, seeing all chance of her return, for the night, at an +end, said, that if her niece had freaks of this inconsiderate and +indecorous sort, she would not have the family disordered, by waiting +for her any longer; and, wishing the two gentlemen good night, gave +directions that all the servants should go to bed.</p> + +<p>The next morning, during breakfast, the groom returned with the empty +carriage. Miss Joddrel, he said, had made him drive her and Mrs Golding +to an inn, about ten miles from Lewes, where she suddenly told him that +she should pass the night; and bid him be ready for returning at eight +o'clock the next morning. He obeyed her orders; but, the next morning, +heard, that she had gone on, over night, in a hired chaise, towards +Portsmouth; charging no one to let him know it. This was all the account +that he was able to give; except that, when he had asked whether his +mistress would not be angry at his staying out all night, Miss Joddrel +had answered, 'O, Ellis will let her know that she must not expect me +back.'</p> + +<p>Selina, who related this, was told to fetch Ellis instantly.</p> + +<p>Ellis descended with the severest pain, from the cruel want of +reflection in Elinor, which exposed her to an examination that, though +she felt herself bound to evade, it must seem inexcuseable not to +satisfy.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple and the two gentlemen were at the breakfast-table. Harleigh +would not even try to command himself to sit still, when he found that +Ellis was forced to stand: and even Ireton, though he did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> not move, +kept not his place from any intentional disrespect; for he would have +thought himself completely old-fashioned, had he put himself out of his +way, though for a person of the highest distinction.</p> + +<p>'How comes it, Mistress Ellis,' said Mrs Maple, 'that you had a message +for me last night, from my niece, and that you never delivered it?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, confounded, tried vainly to offer some apology.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple rose still more peremptorily in her demands, mingling the +haughtiest menaces with the most imperious interrogations; attacking her +as an accomplice in the clandestine scheme of Elinor; and accusing her +of favouring disobedience and disorder, for some sinister purposes of +her own.</p> + +<p>Ireton scrupled not to speak in her favour; and Selina eagerly echoed +all that he advanced: but, Harleigh, though trembling with indignant +impatience to defend her, feared, in the present state of things, that +to become her advocate might rather injure than support her; and +constrained himself to be silent.</p> + +<p>A succession of categorical enquiries, forced, at length, an avowal from +Ellis, that her commission had been given to her in a letter. Mrs Maple, +then, in the most authoritative manner, insisted upon reading it +immediately.</p> + +<p>Against the justice of this desire there was no appeal; yet how comply +with it? The secret of Harleigh, with regard to herself, was included in +that of Elinor; and honour and delicacy exacted the most rigid silence +from her for both. Yet the difficulty of the refusal increased, from the +increased urgency, even to fury, of Mrs Maple; till, shamed and +persecuted beyond all power of resistance, she resolved upon committing +the letter to the hands of Harleigh himself; who, to an interest like +her own in its concealment, superadded courage and consequence for +sustaining the refusal.</p> + +<p>This, inevitably, must break into her design of avoiding him; but, +hurried and harassed, she could devise no other expedient, to escape +from an appearance of utter culpability to the whole house. When again, +therefore, Mrs Maple, repeated, 'Will you please to let me see my +niece's letter, or not?' She answered that there was a passage in it +upon which Miss Joddrel had desired that Mr Harleigh might be consulted.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to say, whether this reference caused greater +surprise to Mrs Maple or to Harleigh; but the feelings which accompanied +it were as dissimilar as their characters: Mrs Maple was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> highly +offended, that there should be any competition, between herself and any +other, relative to a communication that came from her niece; while +Harleigh felt an enchantment that glowed through every vein, in the +prospect of some confidence. But when Mrs Maple found that all +resistance was vain, and that through this channel only she could +procure any information, her resentment gave way to her eagerness for +hearing it, and she told Mr Harleigh to take the letter.</p> + +<p>This was as little what he wished, as what Ellis meant: his desire was +to speak with her upon the important subject open between them; and +her's, was to make an apology for shewing him the letter, and to offer +some explanation of a part of its contents. He approached her, however, +to receive it, and she could not hold it back.</p> + +<p>'If you will allow me,' said he, in taking it, 'to give you my plain +opinion, when I have read it.... Where may I have the pleasure of seeing +you?'</p> + +<p>Revived by this question, she eagerly answered, 'Wherever Mrs Maple will +permit.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, who, in the scowl upon Mrs Maple's face, read a direction that +they should remain where they were, would not wait for her to give it +utterance; but, taking the hand of Ellis, with a precipitation to which +she yielded from surprise, though with blushing shame, said, 'In this +next room we shall be nearest to give the answer to Mrs Maple;' and led +her to the adjoining apartment.</p> + +<p>He did not dare shut the door, but he conducted her to the most distant +window; and, having expressed, by his eyes, far stronger thanks for her +trust than he ventured to pronounce with his voice, was beginning to +read the letter; but Ellis, gently stopping him, said, 'Before you look +at this, let me beg you, Sir, to believe, that the hard necessity of my +strange situation, could alone have induced me to suffer you to see what +is so every way unfit for your perusal. But Miss Joddrel has herself +made known that she left a message with me for Mrs Maple; what right, +then, have I to withhold it? Yet how—advise me, I entreat,—how can I +deliver it? And—with respect to what you will find relative to Lord +Melbury—I need not, I trust, mortify myself by disclaiming, or +vindicating—'</p> + +<p>He interrupted her with warmth: 'No!' he cried, 'with me you can have +nothing to vindicate! Of whatever would not be perfectly right, I +believe you incapable.'</p> + +<p>Ellis thanked him expressively, and begged that he would now read the +letter, and favour her with his counsel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>He complied, meaning to hurry it rapidly over, to gain time for a yet +more interesting subject; but, struck, moved, and shocked by its +contents, he was drawn from himself, drawn even from Ellis, to its +writer. 'Unhappy Elinor!' he cried, 'this is yet more wild than I had +believed you! this flight, where you can expect no pursuit! this +concealment, where you can fear no persecution! But her intellects are +under the controul of her feelings,—and judgment has no guide so +dangerous.'</p> + +<p>Ellis gently enquired what she must say to Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>He hastily put by the letter. 'Let me rather ask,' he cried, half +smiling, 'what you will say to Me?—Will you not let me know something +of your history,—your situation,—your family,—your name? The deepest +interest occasions my demand, my inquietude.—Can it offend you?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, trembling, looking down, and involuntarily sighing, in a +faltering voice, answered, 'Have I not besought you, Sir, to spare me +upon this subject? Have I not conjured you, if you value my peace,—nay, +my honour!—what can I say more solemn?—to drop it for ever more?'</p> + +<p>'Why this dreadful language?' cried Harleigh, with mingled impatience +and grief: 'Can the impression of a cumpulsatory engagement—or what +other may be the mystery that it envelopes? Will you not be generous +enough to relieve a perplexity that now tortures me? Is it too much for +a man lost to himself for your sake,—lost he knows not how,—knows not +to whom,—to be indulged with some little explanation, where, and how, +he has placed all his hopes?—Is this too much to ask?'</p> + +<p>'Too much?' repeated Ellis, with quickness: 'O no! no! Were my +confidence to depend upon my sense of what I owe to your generous +esteem, your noble trust in a helpless Wanderer,—known to you solely +through your benevolence,—were my opinion—and my gratitude my +guides,—it would be difficult, indeed, to say what enquiries you could +make, that I could refuse to satisfy;—what you could ask, that I ought +not to answer! but alas!—'</p> + +<p>She hesitated: heightened blushes dyed her cheeks; and she visibly +struggled to restrain herself from bursting into tears.</p> + +<p>Touched, delighted, yet affrighted, Harleigh tenderly demanded, 'O, why +resist the generous impulse, that would plead for some little frankness, +in favour of one who unreservedly devotes to you his whole existence?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly now, as if self-alarmed, checking her sensibility, she gravely +cried, 'What would it avail that I should enter into any particulars of +my situation, when what has so recently passed, makes all that has +preceded immaterial? You have heard my promise to Miss Joddrel,—you see +by this letter how direfully she meditates to watch its performance;—'</p> + +<p>'And can you suffer the wild flights of a revolutionary enthusiast, +impelled by every extravagant new system of the moment;—however you may +pity her feelings, respect her purity, and make allowance for her youth, +to blight every fair prospect of a rational attachment? to supersede +every right? and to annihilate all consideration, all humanity, but for +herself?'</p> + +<p>'Ah no!—if you believe me ungrateful for a partiality that contends +with all that appearances can offer against me, and all that +circumstance can do to injure me; if you think me insensible to the +honour I receive from it, you do yet less justice to yourself than to +me! But here, Sir, all ends!—We must utterly separate;—you must not +any where seek me;—I must avoid you every where!—'</p> + +<p>She stopt.—The sudden shock which every feature of Harleigh exhibited +at these last words, evidently and forcibly affected her; and the big +tears, till now forced back, rolled unrestrained, and almost +unconsciously, down her cheeks, as she suffered herself, for a moment, +in silence to look at him: she was then hastily retiring; but Harleigh, +surprised and revived by the sight of her emotion, exclaimed, 'O why +this fatal sensibility, that captivates while it destroys? that gives +fascination even to repulse?' He would have taken her hand; but, drawing +back, and even shrinking from his touch, she emphatically cried, +'Remember my engagement!—my solemn promise!'</p> + +<p>'Was it extorted?' cried he, detaining her, 'or had it your heart's +approbation?'</p> + +<p>'From whatever motive it was uttered,' answered she, looking away from +him, 'it has been pronounced, and must be adhered to religiously!' She +then broke from him, and escaping by a door that led to the hall, sought +refuge from any further conflict by hastening to her chamber: not once, +till she arrived there, recollecting that her letter was left in his +hands; while the hundred pounds, which she meant to return to him, were +still in her own.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + + +<p>Painfully revolving a scene which had deeply affected her, Ellis, for +some time, had remained uninterrupted, when, opening her door to a +gentle tap, she was startled by the sight of Harleigh. The letter of +Elinor was in his hand, which he immediately presented to her, and +bowing without speaking, without looking at her, instantly disappeared.</p> + +<p>Ellis was so confounded, first by his unexpected sight, and next by his +so speedily vanishing, that she lost the opportunity of returning the +bank notes. For some minutes she gazed pensively down the staircase; +slowly, then, she shut her door, internally uttering 'all is over:—he +is gone, and will pursue me no more.' Then casting up her eyes, which +filled with tears, 'may he,' she added, 'be happy!'</p> + +<p>From this sadness she was roused, by feeling, from the thickness of the +packet, that it must contain some additional paper; eagerly opening it, +she found the following letter:</p> + +<blockquote><p>'I have acquainted Mrs Maple that Miss Joddrel has determined upon +living, for a while, alone, and that her manner of announcing that +determination, in her letter to you, is so peremptory, as to make +you deem it improper to be produced. This, as a mark of personal +respect, appeases her; and, upon this subject, I believe you will +be tormented no more. With regard to the unfortunate secret of +Elinor, I can but wish it as safe in her own discretion, as it will +remain in your honour.</p> + +<p>'For myself, I must now practise that hardest lesson to the +stubborn mind of man, submission to undefined, and what appears to +be unnecessary evil. I must fly from this spot, and wait, where and +as I can, the restoration of Elinor to prudence and to common life. +I must trust that the less she is opposed, the less tenaciously +she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> will cling to the impracticable project, of ruling the mind +and will of another, by letting loose her own. When she hears that +I deny myself inhabiting the mansion which you inhabit, perhaps, +relieved from the apprehension of being deceived by others, she may +cease to deceive herself. She may then return to her friends, +contented to exist by the general laws of established society; +which, though they may be ameliorated, changed, or reformed, by +experience, wisely reflecting upon the past; by observation, keenly +marking the present; or by genius, creatively anticipating the +future, can never be wholly reversed, without risking a re-bound +that simply restores them to their original condition.</p> + +<p>'I depart, therefore, without one more effort to see you. I yield +to the strange destiny that makes me adore in the dark; yet that +blazons to my view and knowledge the rarest excellencies, the most +resistless attractions: but to remain in the same house, yet +scarcely ever to behold you; or, in seeing you but for a moment, to +awaken a sensibility that electrifies every hope, only to inflict, +with the greater severity, the shock that strikes me back to +mystery and despondence—no, I will be gone! Her whom I cannot +soften, I will at least forbear to persecute.</p> + +<p>'In this retreat, my only consolation for your happiness is in the +friendship, so honourable for both, that you have formed with Lady +Aurora Granville; my only reliance for your safety, is in the +interest of Mrs Maple to detain you under her roof, for the +improvement of Selina; and my only hope for myself, is, that when +Elinor becomes reasonable, you will no longer let her exclusively +occupy your humanity or your feeling.</p> + +<p class="right">'<span class="smcap">Albert Harleigh.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The tone of remonstrance, if not of reproach, which was blended with the +serious attachment marked by Harleigh in this letter, deeply touched +Ellis; who was anxiously re-perusing it, when she received information, +through Selina, that Mr Harleigh had set out for London; whence he meant +to proceed to Bath, or, perhaps, to make the western tour.</p> + +<p>The earnestness of Ireton that Selina should take some lessons upon the +harp, joined to the equal earnestness of Mrs Maple, to elude the +expensive professor at Brighthelmstone, confirmed the new orders that +Selina should begin a course of instruction with Ellis. The mistress and +the scholar were mutually well disposed, and Ellis was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> endeavouring to +give her pupil some idea of a beautiful Sonata, when Miss Arbe, entering +the house upon a morning visit, and catching the sound of a harp from +the dressing-room of Selina, so touched as Selina, she knew, could not +touch it, nimbly ran up stairs. Happy, then, to have surprised Miss +Ellis at the instrument, she would take no denial to hearing her play.</p> + +<p>The elegance and feeling of her performance, engaged, alike, the ready +envy, and the unwilling admiration of Miss Arbe; who, a self-conceived +paragon in all the fine arts, thought superior merit in a <i>diletanti</i> a +species of personal affront. She had already felt as an injury to her +theatrical fame, the praise which had reached her ears of Ellis as Lady +Townly; and a new rivalry seemed now to menace her supremacy as chief of +lady performers: but when she gathered, through Selina, who knew not +even of the existence of such an art as that of holding the tongue, that +they were now practising together, her supercilious air was changed into +one of rapture, and she was seized with a strong desire to profit, also, +from such striking talents. A profusion of compliments and civilities, +ended, therefore, in an earnest invitation to cultivate so charming an +acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, while this was passing, came uneasily into the room, meaning +to make a sign to Ellis to glide away unnoticed. But when she found that +Ellis was become the principal object with the fastidious Miss Arbe, and +heard this wish of intimacy, she was utterly confounded that another +person of consequence should countenance, and through her means, this +itinerant Incognita. Yet to obviate the mischief by an avowal similar to +that which she had been forced to make to Mrs Howel, she thought an +insupportable degradation; and Miss Arbe, with the politest declarations +that she should call again the next day, purposely to entitle herself to +a visit in return from Miss Ellis, was already gone, before Mrs Maple +had sufficiently recovered from her confusion, to devise any impediment +to the proposal.</p> + +<p>All then that occurred to her, was her usually violent, but short +measure, of sending Ellis suddenly from the house, and excusing her +disappearance, by asserting that her own friends had summoned her away: +for Mrs Maple, like at least half the world, though delicate with +respect to her character for truth in public, had palliations always +ready for any breach of it, in favour of convenience, in private.</p> + +<p>Ellis attempted not any opposition. The sufferings annexed to an asylum +thus perpetually embittered by reproach and suspicion, had long made her +languish to change it for almost any other; and her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> whole thoughts +turned once more upon a journey to London, and an interview with Lady +Aurora Granville.</p> + +<p>Selina warmly protested that this separation should only augment her +attachment to her favourite; by whose side she stayed, prattling, +weeping, or practising the harp, till she was called away to Mrs Maple; +from whom, however, she soon returned, relating, with uplifted hands, +that all below was again in the utmost confusion, through a letter, just +arrived, from Mrs Howel, stating the following particulars. That upon +her communicating to Lord Denmeath the strange transaction, in which she +must forever blush to have been, however innocently, involved, his +lordship, very properly, had forbidden Lady Aurora to keep any sort of +correspondence with so palpable an adventurer. But the excess of grief +produced by this prohibition, had astonished and concerned both his +lordship and herself: and their joint alarm had been cruelly augmented, +by a letter from Mrs Greaves, the housekeeper, with intelligence that +Lord Melbury had been shut up nearly two hours with this suspicious +young woman, on the day that Mrs Howel had quitted Brighthelmstone; +during which time, his lordship had suffered no one to come into the +room, though she, Greaves, in accidentally passing by one of the +windows, saw his lordship demean himself so far as to be speaking to her +upon his knees. Lord Denmeath, treating this account as an impertinent +piece of scandal, requested to have it shewn to his nephew; but how +unspeakable was their consternation when Lord Melbury undauntedly +avowed, that the charge was true; and added, that he was glad of the +opportunity thus afforded him, to declare that Miss Ellis was the most +virtuous and dignified, as well as the most beautiful and amiable of her +sex: she had rejected, he said, a suit which he should always take shame +to himself for having made; and rejected it in a manner so impressive of +real purity, that he should for ever hold it his duty to do her honour +by every means in his power. The wrath expressed by Lord Denmeath, and +the tears shed by Lady Aurora, during this scene, were dreadful. Lord +Denmeath saw that there was no time to be lost in guarding against the +most eminent danger: he desired, therefore, that the young woman might +be induced, if possible, to quit the country without delay; and his +lordship was willing not only to pay for her voyage back, but to give +security that she should receive a very considerable sum of money, the +instant that he should be assured of her safe landing upon the +continent. Mrs Howel begged that Mrs Maple would endeavour to bring this +plan to bear; and, at all events, not lose sight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> of the young person, +till she should be, some how or other, secured from Lord Melbury. The +rest of the letter contained injunctions, that Mrs Maple would not let +this disgraceful affair transpire in the neighbourhood; with sundry +scornful admonitions, that she would herself be more guarded, in future, +whom she recommended to her friends.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, now, peremptorily sent word to Ellis, that she must +immediately make up her mind to leaving the kingdom. But Ellis, without +hesitation, answered that she had no such design. Commands and menaces, +though amply employed, were fruitless to obtain any change in her +resolution. She was, therefore, positively ordered to seek for charity +in some other house.</p> + +<p>Ellis, no longer wishing to stay, occupied her mind almost exclusively +with the thoughts of her young friends. The tender attachment shewn to +her by Lady Aurora, and the honourable testimony borne her by Lord +Melbury, cheered her spirits, and warmed her heart, with a trust in +their regard, that, defying the inflexibility of Mrs Howel, the +authority of Lord Denmeath, and the violence of Mrs Maple, filled her +with soft, consolatory ideas, that sweetened her night's rest, even in +her uncertainty where she should find, or where seek repose on the night +that would follow.</p> + +<p>But this brighter side of her prospects, which soothed her on its first +view, lost its gay colouring upon farther examination: that Lady Aurora +should be forbidden to see, forbidden to write to her, was shocking to +her feelings, and blighting to her happiness: and even though the tender +nature, and strong partiality, of that youthful friend, might privately +yield to the pleadings of an oppressed and chosen favourite, Ellis, +while glowing with the hope that the interest which she had excited +would be lastingly cherished, revolted from every plan that was +clandestine.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, who, in common with all those whose tempers are violent in +the same proportion that their judgment is feeble, had issued forth her +mandates, without examining whether they could be obeyed; and had +uttered her threats, without considering whether she could put them into +execution; no sooner learnt, from Selina, that Ellis was tranquilly +preparing to depart, than she repented the step which she had taken, and +passed the night in suggesting how it might be retrieved, to spare +herself the discredit, in the neighbourhood, of a breach with Mrs Howel.</p> + +<p>The next morning, therefore, the willing Selina was instructed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +hasten to Ellis, with a message from Mrs Maple, graciously permitting +one more lesson upon the harp.</p> + +<p>Destitute as Ellis felt, she would have resisted such a mockery of +benevolence, but from gratitude at the pleasure which it procured to +Selina.</p> + +<p>Again, according to her promise, arrived Miss Arbe, and again hearing +the sound of the harp, tript lightly up stairs to the dressing-room of +Selina; where she paid her compliments immediately to Ellis, whom she +courteously solicited to take an airing with her to Brighthelmstone, and +thence to accompany her home for the day.</p> + +<p>Anxious to strengthen her weak resources, by forming some new +connection, Ellis was listening to this proposal, when a footman brought +her a letter.</p> + +<p>Concluding that it came from abroad, she received it with strong +emotion, and evident alarm; but no sooner had she looked at the +direction, than the brightest bloom glowed upon her cheeks, her eyes +were suffused with tears of pleasure, and she pressed, involuntarily, to +her heart, the writing of Lady Aurora Granville.</p> + +<p>The little coronet seal, with the cypher A. G., had been observed not +alone by Miss Arbe, but by Mrs Maple, who, curiously, had followed the +footman into the room.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, now, renewed her invitation with redoubled earnestness; and +Mrs Maple felt almost insane, from excess of wrath and embarrassment, +when, suddenly, and most unexpectedly, Ellis accepted the offer; +gratefully embracing Selina, and taking of herself a grave, but +respectful leave.</p> + +<p>From the window Mrs Maple, then, saw this unknown Wanderer enter the +carriage first.</p> + +<p>For some time, she remained almost stupified by so unlooked for an +event; and she could only quiet her conscience, for having been +accessary, though so unintentionally, to procuring this favour and +popularity for such an adventurer, by devoutly resolving, that no +entreaties, and no representation, should ever in future, dupe her out +of her own good sense, into other people's fantastical conceits of +charity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + + +<p>It was not the design of Ellis to return any more to Lewes. The gross +treatment which she had experienced, and the daily menace of being +dismissed, were become utterly insupportable; and she determined, in a +letter from Brighthelmstone, to take a final leave of Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>From the high influence of Miss Arbe in what is called the polite world, +she hoped that to engage her favour, would almost secure prosperity to +her favourite wish and plan, of exchanging her helpless dependancy, for +an honourable, however fatiguing, exertion of the talents and +acquirements with which she had been endowed by her education; though +nothing short of the courage of distress could have stimulated her to +such an attempt.</p> + +<p>As soon, therefore, as Miss Arbe renewed her eager invitations, Ellis +expressively said, 'Are you sure, Madam, that you will not repent your +goodness, when you know that I want, as well as that I value it?'</p> + +<p>A carriage, which they just then met, stopt the chaise, and the voice of +Miss Bydel called out a lamentation, that she was obliged to go home, +because her brother wanted the coach; though she had earnest business at +Brighthelmstone, whither she entreated Miss Arbe to convey her. Miss +Arbe seemed much chagrined, both by the interruption and the intrusion, +yet was so obviously going that way, that she knew not how to form an +excuse; and Miss Bydel entered the chaise.</p> + +<p>Extremely pleased by the sight of Ellis, 'What,' she cried, 'my sister +actress? Why this is what I did not expect indeed! I was told you would +go no where, Miss Ellis, but to Lady Aurora Granville, and the +Honourable Med: Howel. Pray is it true? I should not ask if it were a +secret, for I know nobody likes one's being curious; but as all the +servants must know it, it's not a thing to be kept long in the dark. And +I am told, too, since it's being found out that you are a young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> lady of +fashion, that it's the high talk that you've made a conquest of Lord +Melbury; and I can't but say but I should like to know if that's a +report that has got any foundation. Pray will you be so kind as to tell +me.'</p> + +<p>Ellis assured her that it had not the least.</p> + +<p>'Well, how people do like to make strange stories! One piece of +information, however, I should be really glad if you would give me; and +that is, whether you are come over to settle here, or only upon a visit +to Mrs Maple? And whether she has the care of your fortune, as a sort of +guardian; or whether it is all in your own hands?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, disturbed by these most unseanable questions, answered, in a +dejected tone, that she was not happy enough to be able, at this moment, +to give any circumstantial account of herself.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, who only imperfectly understood the speech which had been +made as the chaise was stopt, languished to hear it explained. +Privately, therefore, by arch winks, and encouraging taps, she urged on +the broad questions of Miss Bydel; though she was too expert an adept in +the rules, at least, of good breeding, not to hold back herself from +such interrogatories, as might level her elevated fame with that of the +gross and homely Miss Bydel; who to sordid friends owed a large fortune, +left her late in life, but neither education nor manners, that might +have taught her that its most hateful privilege is that of authorising +unfeeling liberties.</p> + +<p>They had arrived, nevertheless, within half a mile of Brighthelmstone, +before any thing really explanatory had passed: Ellis, then, alarmed +with reflecting that, if again dragged to Lewes, she must again have to +quit it, with scarcely a chance of such another opportunity for +endeavouring to bring forward her project, conquered her reluctance to +opening upon her distress, and said, 'You little suspect, Miss Arbe, how +deep an obligation I owe to your kindness, in carrying me to day to +Brighthelmstone!'</p> + +<p>'How so, Miss Ellis? How so, my dear?' cried Miss Bydel, before Miss +Arbe could answer.</p> + +<p>'My situation,' she continued, 'which seems so pleasant, is perhaps +amongst the most painful that can be imagined. I feel myself, though in +my native country, like a helpless foreigner; unknown, unprotected, and +depending solely upon the benevolence of those by whom, accidentally, I +am seen, for kindness,—or even for support!—'</p> + +<p>The amazement of the two ladies, at this declaration, was equally great, +though Miss Arbe, who never spoke and never acted, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> through the +medium of what she believed the world would most approve to hear her +say, or to see her do, had no chance of manifesting her surprise as +promptly as Miss Bydel; who made her own judgment the sole arbitrator of +her speech and conduct, and who immediately called out, 'Well, nobody +shall ever try to persuade me I am in the wrong again! I said, the whole +time, there was certainly something quite out of the common way in this +young person. And it's plain I was right. For how, I said, can it be, +that, first of all, a young person is brought out as nothing, and then +is turned into a fine lady; when, all the time, nobody knows any thing +about her? But pray tell me this one thing, child; what was the first +motive of your going over the seas? And what might be the reason of your +coming back again in such an untowardly sort of manner? without any +money, or any one to be accountable for your character?'</p> + +<p>Ellis made no answer. The obligations, however heavy of endurance, which +led her to bear similar, and still more offensive examinations from Mrs +Maple, existed not here; and the compulsion of debts of that nature, +could alone strengthen the patience, or harden the feelings of a +generous spirit, to sustain so rude and unfeeling an inquisition.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, though anxious to understand, before she uttered even a word, +what sort of footing, independently of Mrs Maple, this young person was +upon in the world, failed not to remark, in her silence, a courage that +unavoidably spoke in her favour.</p> + +<p>Ellis saw, but too plainly, how little she had to expect from +spontaneous pity, or liberality; and hesitated whether to plead more +humbly, or to relinquish at once her plan.</p> + +<p>'You are still, then,' resumed Miss Bydel, 'at your secret-keeping, I +find, that we were told so much about at the beginning, before the +discovery of your being a lady of family and fashion; which came out so, +all of the sudden, at last, that I should never have believed a word of +it, but for knowing Mrs Maple to be so amazing particular as to those +points.—'</p> + +<p>'And Mrs Howel!' here interrupted Miss Arbe, casting at Ellis, upon the +recollection of such a confirmation of her birth and connections, a look +of so much favour, that, again hoping for her aid, Ellis begged to +alight at Miss Matson's, the milliner.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe said that she would attend her thither with pleasure. 'And I, +my dear,' said Miss Bydel, 'will go in with you, too; for I want a few +odd matters for myself.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, finding how little she was understood, was forced to add: 'It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> is +not for any purchases that I go to Miss Matson;—it is to lodge in her +house, till I can find some better asylum!—'</p> + +<p>The first amazement of the two ladies sunk into nothing, when contrasted +with that which they experienced at this moment. That she should +acknowledge herself to be poor, was quite enough, be her other claims to +notice what they might, to excite immediate contempt in Miss Bydel: +while Miss Arbe, in that point, more liberal, but, in all that she +conceived to belong to fashion, a very slave, was embarrassed how to +treat her, till she could gain some information how she was likely to be +treated by the world: but neither of them had entertained the most +distant suspicion, that she was not settled under the roof, and the +patronage, of Mrs Maple. To hear, therefore, of her seeking a lodging, +and wanting an asylum, presented her in so new, so altered, and so +humiliated a point of view, that Miss Bydel herself was not immediately +able to speak; and the two ladies stared at each other, as if +reciprocally demanding how to behave.</p> + +<p>Ellis perceived their dilemma, and again lost her hope.</p> + +<p>'A lodging?' at length cried Miss Bydel. 'Well, I am less surprised than +any body else will be, for when things have an odd beginning, I always +expect them to have an odd end. But how comes it,—for that can be no +secret,—that you are looking out for a lodging? I should like to know +what all that means. Pray what may be the reason that Mrs Maple does not +find you a lodging herself? And who is to take care of you? Does she +lend you any of her own servants? These things, at least, can be no +secrets, or else I should not ask; but the servants must needs know +whether they are lent or not.'</p> + +<p>Ellis made no reply; and still Miss Arbe held back.</p> + +<p>'Well,' resumed Miss Bydel, 'I don't like to judge any body, but +certainly it is no good sign to be so close. Some things, however, must +be known whether people will or not: so I hope at least I may ask, +whether your friends are coming to you in your lodging?—and what you +intend to do there?—and how long you think to live there?—and what is +the true cause of your going there?—For there must certainly be some +reason.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, who now found that she must either answer Miss Bydel or forego +her whole scheme, from the determined backwardness of Miss Arbe to take +any active part in her affairs, said, 'My past history, Madam, it would +be useless to hear—and impossible for me to relate: my present plan +must depend upon a charitable construction of my unavoidable, +indispensable silence; without which it would be madness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> to hope for +any favour, any recommendation, that may give the smallest chance of +success to my attempt.'</p> + +<p>'And what is your attempt?' cried Miss Bydel; 'for if that's a secret +too, I can't find out how you're to do it.'</p> + +<p>'On the contrary,' she answered, 'I am well aware that I must publish, +or relinquish it; and immediately I would make it known, if I dared hope +that I might appear qualified for the office I wish to undertake, in the +eyes of—'</p> + +<p>She looked at Miss Arbe, but did not venture to proceed.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, understanding, and feeling the compliment, yet uneasy to have +it equally understood by Miss Bydel, complacently broke her silence, by +saying, 'In whose eyes?—Lady Aurora Granville's?'</p> + +<p>'Ah! Madam,—the condescending partiality of Lady Aurora, might +encourage every hope of the honour of her interest and zeal;—but she is +peculiarly situated;—and perhaps the weight that must be attached to a +recommendation of the sort which I require—'</p> + +<p>She was going to say, might demand more experience than her ladyship's +extreme youth allowed to have yet fallen to her share; but she stopt. +She was aware that she stood upon dangerous ground. The vanity of Miss +Arbe was, at least, as glaring as her talents; and to celebrate even her +judgment in the fine arts, though it was the pride of her life, by an +insinuation that, at one-and-thirty she was not in the first budding +youth of fifteen, might offend, by an implication that added years +contributed to a superiority, which she wished to have considered as due +to brighter genius alone.</p> + +<p>From what was said, Miss Arbe could not be without some suspicion of +what was held back; and she as little desired to hear, as Ellis could to +utter, a word that might derogate from the universal elevation and +distinction at which she aspired; she was perfectly ready, therefore, to +accept what would flatter, and to reject what would mortify her; +forgetting, in common with all vain characters, that to shrink from the +truth ourselves, saves one person only from hearing our defects.</p> + +<p>'It is true,' said Miss Arbe, smiling, 'Lady Aurora cannot be supposed +to have much weight with the world, amiable as she is. The world is not +very easily led; and, certainly, only by those who acquire a certain +ascendance over it, by some qualifications not entirely of the most +common sort.—'</p> + +<p>'But still I don't understand,' cried Miss Bydel, 'what it is Miss Ellis +means. What is it you want to be recommended about, child?—What is this +attempt you talk of?—Have you got your fortune with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> you?—or does Mrs +Maple keep it in her own hands?—or have not you got any left?—or +perhaps you've had none from the beginning?'</p> + +<p>Ellis briefly explained, that her wish was to be placed in some family, +where there were children, as a governess.</p> + +<p>Again, the two ladies were equally surprised, at the project of so +steady and elaborate an undertaking; and Miss Bydel broke forth into the +most abrupt enquiries, of how Mrs Maple came to agree to such a scheme; +whether it were approved of by Mrs Howel; and what Ellis could teach, or +do, if it took place.</p> + +<p>Ellis, when compelled to speak, was compelled, also, to confess, that +she had not mentioned her design to either of those ladies.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel now, stiffly drawing up, declared that she could not help +taking the liberty to say, that for a young lady, who was under the care +of two persons of so much consideration and fortune, to resolve upon +disposing of herself, without consulting either of them, was a thing she +never should countenance; and which she was sure all the world would be +against.</p> + +<p>These were alarming words for Miss Arbe, whose constant and predominant +thought, was ever upon public opinion. All, too, seemed, now, at an end, +that had led, or could lead, to conciliation, where there was so +peculiar a rivalry in talents; joined to a superiority of beauty, +visible even to her own eyes; for how, if the hours of Ellis were to be +consigned to the care and improvement of young ladies, could either time +or opportunity be found, to give, and in private, the musical +instructions, for the hope of which alone Miss Arbe had been so earnest +in her invitations, and so courteous in her manners?</p> + +<p>Without offering, therefore, the smallest softening word to the bluff +questions, or gross censures of Miss Bydel, she was silent till they +entered Brighthelmstone; and then only spoke to order the postilion to +stop at Miss Matson's. There arrived, the two ladies let her alight +alone; Miss Bydel, with a proud nod, just uttering, 'Good bye!' and Miss +Arbe, with a forced smile, saying she was happy to have been of any use +to her.</p> + +<p>Ellis remained so confounded, when thus unexpectedly abandoned, that she +stood still, a few minutes, at the door, unable to answer, or even to +understand, the civil inquiries of a young woman, from the shop, whether +she would not come in, to give her commands. When a little recovered, +she entered, and, in the meek tone of apprehension, asked whether she +could again hire, for a few nights, or a week, the little room in which +she had slept some time since.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Matson, recollecting her voice, came now from the back parlour, +most courteously rejoicing at seeing her; and disguising her surprise, +that she should again enquire for so cheap and ordinary a little +lodging. For Miss Matson, and her family, had learnt, from various +reports, that she was the same young lady who had given so much pleasure +by her performance in the Provoked Husband; and who had, since, made a +long visit at the Honourable Mrs Howel's, near whose mansion was +situated the shop. But, whatever might be the motive of her return, +there could be none against her admission, since they knew her high +connections, and since, even now, she was set down at the shop by Miss +Arbe. The little room, therefore, was speedily prepared, and the first +use that Ellis made of it, was to write to Selina.</p> + +<p>She desired leave to present her thanks to Mrs Maple, for the asylum +which had been afforded to her distress; without any hints at the +drawbacks to its comfort; and then briefly communicated her intention, +to pass the rest of the time of her suspence and difficulties, in +working at her needle; unless she could find means to place herself in +some respectable family, as a governess to its children. She finished +her letter by the warmest acknowledgments, for the kindness which she +had experienced from Selina.</p> + +<p>The person who took this note was desired to apply to Mrs Fenn, for the +ready prepared baggage of Ellis.</p> + +<p>This, which she thought a respect demanded by decency to Mrs Maple, was +her first action: she then opened, as a balm to her wounded feelings, +the letter of Lady Aurora Granville; but had the cruel disappointment to +find in it only these words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>'Hate me not, sweet Miss Ellis—but I am forbidden to write to +you!—forbidden to receive your letters!—</p> + +<p class="right">'A. G.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>Deeply hurt, and deeply offended, Ellis, now, was filled with the +heaviest grief; though neither offended nor hurt by Lady Aurora, whose +trembling hand-writing she kissed a thousand times; with a perfect +conviction, that their sufferings were nearly reciprocal, from this +terrible prohibition.</p> + +<p>Her little baggage soon arrived, with a letter from Selina, containing a +permission from Mrs Maple, that Ellis might immediately return to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +Lewes, lest, which Mrs Howel would never forgive, she should meet with +Lord Melbury.</p> + +<p>Ellis wrote a cold excuse, declaring her firm purpose to endeavour to +depend, henceforth, upon her own exertions.</p> + +<p>And, to strengthen this resolution, she re-read a passage in one of her +letters from abroad, to which she had frequent recourse, when her +spirits felt unequal to her embarrassments.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>'Dans une position telle que la vôtre,—'</p> + +<p>'In your present lonely, unprotected, unexampled situation, many +and severe may be your trials; let not any of them shake your +constancy, nor break your silence: while all is secret, all may be +safe; by a single surmise, all may be lost. But chiefly bear in +mind, what has been the principle of your education, and what I +wish to be that of your conduct and character through life: That +where occasion calls for female exertion, mental strength must +combat bodily weakness; and intellectual vigour must supply the +inherent deficiencies of personal courage; and that those, only, +are fitted for the vicissitudes of human fortune, who, whether +female or male, learn to suffice to themselves. Be this the motto +of your story.'</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + + +<p>The hope of self-dependence, ever cheering to an upright mind, sweetened +the rest of Ellis in her mean little apartment, though with no brighter +prospect than that of procuring a laborious support, through the means +of Miss Matson, should she fail to obtain a recommendation for the +superiour office of a governess.</p> + +<p>The decision was yet pending, when a letter from Selina charged her, in +the name of Mrs Maple, to adopt, as yet, no positive measure, in order +to put an end to the further circulation of wonder, that a young lady +should go from under Mrs Maple's protection, to a poor little lodging, +without any attendant, and avowedly in search of a maintenance: and, +further, Selina was bid to add, that, if she would be manageable, she +might still persist in passing for a young gentlewoman; and Mrs Maple +would say that she was reduced to such straights by a bankruptcy in her +family; rather than shock all the ladies who had conversed with her as +Mrs Maple's guest, by telling the truth. Mrs Howel, too, with the +approbation of Lord Denmeath himself, to keep her out of the way of Lord +Melbury, would try to get her the place of an humble companion to some +sick old lady who would take up with her reading and singing, and ask no +questions.</p> + +<p>Ellis, with utter contempt, was still perusing this letter, when she was +surprised by a visit from Miss Arbe and Miss Bydel.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe had just been calling upon Mrs Maple, by whom she had been +told the plan of Mrs Howel, and the plausible tale of its sudden +necessity. Finding Ellis still under a protection so respectable, the +wish of a little musical intercourse revived in Miss Arbe; and she +remarked to Miss Bydel, that it would be a real charity, to see what +could be done for an accomplished young woman of family, in +circumstances so lamentable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<p>The reception they met with from Ellis was extremely cold. The careless +air with which Miss Arbe had heard, without entering into her distress; +and the indifference with which she had suddenly dropt the invitations +that, the minute before, had been urgent nearly to persecution, had left +an impression of the littleness of her character upon the mind of Ellis, +that made her present civilities, though offered with a look that +implied an expectation of gratitude, received with the most distant +reserve. And still less was she disposed to welcome Miss Bydel, whose +behaviour, upon the same occasion, had been rude as well as unfeeling.</p> + +<p>Neither of them, however, were rebuffed, though Miss Arbe was +disappointed, and Miss Bydel was amazed: but Miss Arbe had a point to +carry, and would not be put from her purpose; and Miss Bydel, though she +thought it but odd not to be made of more consequence, could not be hurt +from a feeling which she neither possessed nor understood,—delicacy.</p> + +<p>'So I hear, Miss Ellis, you have met with misfortunes?' Miss Bydel +began: 'I am sorry for it, I assure you; though I am sure I don't know +who escapes. But I want to know how it all first began. Pray, my dear, +in what manner did you set out in life? A great deal of one's pity +depends upon what people are used to.'</p> + +<p>'What most concerns me for poor Miss Ellis,' said Miss Arbe, 'is her +having no instrument. I can't think how she can live without one. Why +don't you hire a harp, Miss Ellis?'</p> + +<p>Ellis quietly answered, that she was not very musically inclined.</p> + +<p>'But you must not think how you are inclined,' said Miss Bydel, 'if you +are to go out for a companion, as Mrs Howel wants you to do; for I am +sure I don't know who you will get to take you, if you do. I have known +pretty many young women in that capacity, and not one among them ever +had such a thought. How should they? People do not pay them for that.'</p> + +<p>'I only hope,' said Miss Arbe, 'that whoever has the good fortune to +obtain the society of Miss Ellis, will have a taste for music. 'Twill be +a thousand shames if her fine talents should be thrown away.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, as she suspected not her design, was much surprised by this +return to fine speeches. Still, however, she sustained her own reserve, +for the difficulty of devising to what the change might be owing, made +her cast it upon mere caprice. To the enquiries, also, of Miss Bydel, +she was equally immoveable, as they evidently sprang from coarse and +general curiosity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>This distance, however, was not successful, either in stopping the +questions of Miss Bydel, or the compliments of Miss Arbe. Each followed +the bent of her humour, till Miss Arbe, at length, started an idea that +caught the attention of Ellis: this was, that instead of becoming an +humble companion, she should bring her musical acquirements into use, by +giving lessons to young ladies.</p> + +<p>Ellis readily owned that such a plan would be best adapted to her +inclinations, if Mrs Howel and Mrs Maple could be prevailed upon to +exert their influence in procuring her some scholars.</p> + +<p>'But a good word or two from Miss Arbe,' said Miss Bydel, 'would do more +for you, in that tuning way, than all their's put together. I should +like to know how it was you got this musical turn, Miss Ellis? Were your +own friends rich enough, my dear, before their bankruptcy, to give you +such an education themselves? or did it all come, as one may say, from a +sort of knack?'</p> + +<p>Ellis earnestly asked whether she might hope for the powerful aid of +Miss Arbe to forward such a plan?</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, now, resumed all her dignity, as an acknowledged judge of the +fine arts, and a solicited patroness of their votaries. With smiles, +therefore, of ineffable affability, she promised Ellis her protection; +and glibly ran over the names of twenty or thirty families of +distinction, every one of which, she said, in the choice of instructors +to their children, was guided by her opinion.</p> + +<p>'But then,' added she, with an air that now mingled authority with +condescension, 'you must have a better room than this, you know. The +house is well enough, and the milliner is fashionable: she is my own; +but this little hole will never do: you must take the drawing room. And +then you must buy immediately, or at least hire, a very fine instrument. +There is a delightful one at Strode's now: one I long for myself, and +then—' patting her shoulder, 'you must dress, too, a little ... like +other people, you know.'</p> + +<p>'But how is she to do it,' said Miss Bydel, 'if she has got no money?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, however ashamed, felt rather assisted than displeased by this +plump truth; but it produced no effect upon Miss Arbe, who lightly +replied, 'O, we must not be shabby. We must get things a little decent +about us. A few scholars of my recommending will soon set all that to +rights. Take my advice, Miss Ellis, and you won't find yourself vastly +to be pitied.'</p> + +<p>'But what have you got to begin with?' said Miss Bydel. 'How much have +you in hand?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Nothing!' answered Ellis, precipitately: 'I lost my purse at Dover, and +I have been destitute ever since! Dependant wholly upon accidental +benevolence.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, now, was extremely gratified: this was the first time that +she had surprized from Ellis any account of herself, and she admitted +not a doubt that it would be followed by her whole history. 'That was +unlucky enough,' she said; 'and pray what money might you have in it?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, strongly affected herself, though she had not affected her +auditors, by the retrospection of a misfortune which had been so +eventful to her of distress, said no more; till she saw some alarm upon +the countenance of Miss Arbe, at the idea of a <i>protegée</i> really +pennyless; and then, fearing to forfeit her patronage, she mentioned the +twenty pounds which she owed to the generous kindness of Lady Aurora +Granville.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe now smiled more complacently than ever; and Miss Bydel, +straining wide open her large dull eyes, repeated, 'Twenty pounds? Good +me! has Lady Aurora given you twenty pounds?'</p> + +<p>'The money,' said Ellis, blushing, 'I hope I may one day return: the +goodness surpasses all requital.'</p> + +<p>'Well, if that is the case, we must all try to do something for you, my +dear. I did not know of any body's having begun. And I am never for +being the first in those sort of subscriptions; for I think them little +better than picking people's pockets. Besides that I entirely disapprove +bringing persons that are poor into habits of laziness. However, if Lady +Aurora has given so handsomely, one does not know how to refuse a +trifle. So, I tell you what; I'll pay you a month's hire of a harp.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, deeply colouring, begged to decline this offer; but Miss Arbe, +with an air of self-approbation that said: I won't be excelled! cried, +'And I, Miss Ellis, will go to the music shop, and chuse your instrument +for you myself.'</p> + +<p>Both the ladies, now, equally elated by internal applause, resolved to +set out instantly upon this errand; without regarding either refusal or +objection from Ellis. Yet Miss Bydel, upon finding that neither Mrs +Howel nor Mrs Maple had yet given any thing, would have retracted from +her intended benefaction, had not Miss Arbe dragged her away, positively +refusing to let her recant, from a conviction that no other method could +be started, by which her own contribution could so cheaply be +presented.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<p>A very fine harp soon arrived, with a message from Miss Arbe, desiring +that she might find Miss Ellis wholly disengaged the next morning, when +she meant to come quite alone, and to settle every thing.</p> + +<p>The total want of delicacy shewn in this transaction, made the wishes of +Ellis send back the instrument to Miss Bydel, and refuse the purposed +visit of Miss Arbe: but a little reflection taught her, that, in a +situation so defenceless, pride must give way to prudence; and nicer +feelings must submit to necessity. She sat down, therefore, to her harp, +resolved diligently to practise it as a business, which might lead her +to the self-dependence at which she so earnestly languished to arrive; +and of which she had only learnt the just appreciation, by her +helplessness to resist any species of indignity, while accepting an +unearned asylum.</p> + +<p>Cheered, therefore, again, by this view of her new plan, she received +Miss Arbe, the next morning, with a gratitude the most flattering to +that lady, who voluntarily renewed her assurances of protection. 'Very +luckily for you,' she added, 'I shall stay here very late; for Papa says +that he can't afford to begin his winter this year before May or June.'</p> + +<p>Then, sending for a large packet of music from her carriage, she +proposed trying the instrument; complacently saying, that she had chosen +the very best which could be procured, though Miss Bydel had vehemently +struggled to make her take a cheaper one. Miss Arbe, however, would not +indulge her parsimony. 'I can't bear,' she cried, 'any thing that is +mean.'</p> + +<p>What Miss Arbe called trying the instrument, was selecting the most +difficult passages, from the most difficult music which she attempted to +play, and making Ellis teach her the fingering, the time, and the +expression, in a lesson which lasted the whole morning.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, who aspired at passing for an adept in every accomplishment, +seized with great quickness whatever she began to learn; but her +ambition was so universal, and her pursuits were so numerous, that one +of them marred another; and while every thing was grasped at, nothing +was attained. Yet the general aim passed with herself for general +success; and because she had taken lessons in almost all the arts, she +concluded that of all the arts she was completely mistress.</p> + +<p>This persuasion made her come forward, in the circles to which she +belonged, with a courage that she deemed to be the just attribute of +superiour merit; and her family and friends, not less complaisant, and +rarely less superficial, in their judgments than herself, sanctioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +her claims by their applause; and spread their opinions around, till, +hearing them reverberated, they believed them to be fame.</p> + +<p>The present scheme for Ellis had another forcible consideration in its +favour with Miss Arbe; a consideration not often accustomed to be +treated with utter contempt, even by higher and wiser characters; the +convenience of her purse. Her various accomplishments had already +exhausted the scanty powers for extra-expences of her father; and it was +long since she had received any instructions through the ordinary means +of remuneration. But, ingenious in whatever could turn to her advantage, +she contrived to learn more when she ceased to recompense her masters, +than while the obligation between them and their pupil was reciprocated; +for she sought no acquaintance but amongst the scholars of the most +eminent professors, whether of music or painting: her visits were always +made at the moment which she knew to be dedicated to practising, or +drawing; and she regularly managed, by adroit questions, seasoned with +compliments, to attract the attention of the master to herself, for an +explanation of the difficulties which distressed her in her private +practice.</p> + +<p>Compliments, however, were by no means the only payment that she +returned for such assistance: if a benefit were in question, she had not +an acquaintance upon whom she did not force tickets; if a composition +were to be published, she claimed subscriptions for it from all her +friends; if scholars were desired, not a parent had a child, not a +guardian had a ward, whom she did not endeavour to convince, that to +place his charge under such or such a professor, was the only method to +draw forth his talents. She scarcely entered a house in which she had +not some little scheme to effect; and seldom left it with her purpose +unfulfilled.</p> + +<p>The artists, also, were universally her humble servants; for though they +could not, like the world at large, be the dupes of her unfounded +pretensions to skill, they were sure, upon all occasions, to find her so +active to serve and oblige them, so much more civil than those who had +money, and so much more social than those who had power, that, from +mingling gratitude with their personal interest, they suffered her +claims to superiour knowledge to pass uncanvassed; and while they +remarked that her influence supplied the place of wealth, they sought +her favour, they solicited her recommendation, they dedicated to her +their works. She charmed them by personal civilities; she won them by +attentions to their wives, sisters, or daughters; and her zeal in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +return for their gratuitous services had no limit—except what might be +attached to her purse.</p> + +<p>To pay for the instructions of Ellis by patronage, was no sooner decided +than effected. A young lady who had been educated abroad, who was +brought forth into the world by Mrs Maple, and protected by Mrs Howel, +and Lady Aurora Granville, was already an engaging object; but when she +was reduced to support herself by her own talents, through the +bankruptcy of her friends, she became equally interesting and +respectable; and, as such, touched for her misfortunes, yet charmed to +profit from her accomplishments, Lady Kendover, a leading <i>Diletante</i> in +the highest circles, was the first to beg that Miss Arbe would arrange +the terms, and fix a day and hour, for Miss Ellis to attend Lady Barbara +Frankland, her ladyship's niece.</p> + +<p>One pupil of this rank, thus readily offered, procured another before +the day was over; and, before the evening was finished, a third.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, enchanted with her success, hastened to have the pleasure of +communicating it to Ellis, and of celebrating her own influence. The +gratitude of Ellis was, however, by no means unruffled, when Miss Arbe +insisted upon regulating the whole of her proceedings; and that with an +expence which, however moderate for any other situation, was for hers +alarming, if not ruinous. But Miss Arbe declared that she would not have +her recommendation disgraced by any meanness: she engaged, therefore, at +a high price, the best apartment in the house; she chose various +articles of attire, lest Ellis should choose them, she said, too +parsimoniously; and employed, in fitting her up, some trades-people who +were honoured, occasionally, by working for herself. In vain Ellis +represented the insufficiency of her little store for such expences. +Miss Arbe impatiently begged that they might not waste their time upon +such narrow considerations; and, seizing the harp, devoted the rest of +the visit to a long, though unacknowledged lesson; after which, in +hastily nodding an adieu, she repeated her high disdain of whatever was +wanting in spirit and generosity.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, with mingled choler and amazement, soon learnt the wonderful +tidings, that the discarded Wanderer had hired the best drawing-room at +the famous milliner's, Miss Matson, and was elegantly, though simply +arrayed, and prepared and appointed to be received, in various houses of +fashion, as a favoured and distinguished professor.</p> + +<p>The fear of some ultimate responsibility, for having introduced such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> an +imposter into high life, now urged Mrs Maple to work upon the curiosity +of Mrs Ireton, to offer the unknown traveller the post of her humble +companion: but Ellis retained a horrour of the disposition and manners +of Mrs Ireton, that made her decidedly refuse the proposition; and the +incenced Mrs Maple, and the imperious Mrs Howel, alike ashamed to +proclaim what they considered as their own dupery, were alike, +ultimately, reduced to leave the matter to take its course: Mrs Howel +finally comforting herself, that, in case of detection, she could cast +the whole disgrace upon Mrs Maple; who equally consoled herself by +deciding, in that case, to throw the whole blame upon Mr Harleigh.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + + +<p>Thus equipped, and decided, the following week opened upon Ellis, with a +fair prospect of fulfilling the injunctions of her correspondent, by +learning to suffice to herself. This idea animated her with a courage +which, in some measure, divested her of the painful timidity, that, to +the inexperienced and modest, is often subversive of the use of the very +talents which it is their business and interest to display. Courage, not +only upon such occasions, but upon others of infinitely higher +importance, is more frequently than the looker on suspects, the effect +of secret reasoning, and cool calculation of consequences, than of +fearless temperament, or inborn bravery.</p> + +<p>Her first essay exceeded her best expectations in its success; a success +the more important, as failure, there, might have fastened discredit +upon her whole enterprize, since her first pupil was Lady Barbara +Frankland.</p> + +<p>Lady Kendover, the aunt of that young lady, to whom Miss Arbe, for the +honour of her own patronage, had adroitly dwelt upon the fortnight +passed at Mrs Howel's, and, in the society of Lady Aurora Granville, by +her <i>protegée</i>; received and treated her with distinguished +condescension, and even flattering kindness. For though her ladyship was +too high in rank, to share in the anxious tenaciousness of Mrs Howel, +for manifesting the superiour judgment with which she knew how to +select, and how to reject, persons qualified for her society; and though +yet less liable to be controlled by the futile fears of the opinion of a +neighbourhood, which awed Mrs Maple; still she was more a woman of +quality than a woman of the world; and the circle in which she moved, +was bounded by the hereditary habits, and imitative customs, which had +always limited the proceedings of her ladyship's, in common with those +of almost every other noble family,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> of patronizing those who had +already been elevated by patronage; and of lifting higher, by peculiar +favour, those who were already mounting by the favour of others. To go +further,—to draw forth talents from obscurity, to honour indigent +virtue, were exertions that demanded a character of a superiour species; +a character that had learnt to act for himself, by thinking for himself +and feeling for others.</p> + +<p>The joy of Lady Barbara, a lively and lovely young creature, just +blooming into womanhood, in becoming the pupil of Ellis, was nearly +extatic. Lady Aurora Granville, with whom she was particularly +connected, had written to her in such rapture of the private play, that +she was wild to see the celebrated Lady Townly. And though she was not +quite simple, nor quite young enough, to believe that she should +literally behold that personage, her ideas were, unconsciously, so +bewildered, between the representation of nature and life, or nature and +life themselves, that she had a certain undefined pleasure in the +meeting which perplexed, yet bewitched her imagination. She regarded it +as the happiest possible event, to be brought into such close +intercourse, with a person whom she delighted herself with considering +as the first actress of the age. She looked at her; watched her; +listened to her; and prevailed upon Lady Kendover to engage that she +should every day take a lesson; during which her whole mind was directed +to imitating Miss Ellis in her manner of holding the harp; in the air of +her head as she turned from it to look at the musical notes; in her way +of curving, straightening, or elegantly spreading her fingers upon the +strings; and in the general bend of her person, upon which depended the +graceful effect of the whole. Not very singular, indeed, was Lady +Barbara, in regarding these as the principal points to be attained, in +acquiring the accomplishment of playing upon the harp; which, because it +shews beauty and grace to advantage, is often erroneously chosen for +exhibiting those who have neither; as if its powers extended to bestow +the charms which it only displays.</p> + +<p>The admiration of Lady Barbara for her instructress, lost some boundary +of moderation every day; and Ellis, though ashamed of such excess of +partiality, felt fostered by its warmth, and returned it with sincerity. +Lady Barbara, who was gaily artless, and as full of kindness as of +vivacity, had the strong recommendation of being wholly natural; a +recommendation as rare in itself, as success is in its deviations.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe was all happy exultation, at a prosperity for which she repaid +herself, without scruple, by perpetual, though private lessons; and +Ellis, whose merit, while viewed with rivalry, she had sought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +depreciate, she was now foremost to praise. The swellings of envy and +jealousy gave way to triumph in her own discernment; and all severities +of hypercriticism subsided into the gentler vanity, and more humane +parade, of patronage.</p> + +<p>Another happy circumstance signalized, also, this professional +commencement of Ellis; Miss Arbe secured to her the popular favour of +Sir Marmaduke Crawley, a travelled fine gentleman, just summoned from +Italy, to take possession of his title and estate; and to the +guardianship of two hoyden sisters, many years younger than himself. His +character of a connoisseur, and admirer of <i>les beaux arts</i>; a person of +so refined a conformation, as to desire to be thought rather to vegetate +than to live, when removed from the genial clime of the sole region of +the muses, and of taste, Italy; made his approbation as useful to her +fame, as the active influence of Miss Arbe was to her fortune. This +gentleman, upon hearing her perform to Lady Kendover, declared, with a +look of melancholy recollection, that The Ellis was more divine than any +thing that he had yet met with on this side the Alps. He requested Miss +Arbe, therefore, to place his sisters under her elegant tuition, if he +might hope that The Ellis could be prevailed upon to undertake two such +Vandals.</p> + +<p>Born to a considerable fortune, though with a narrow capacity, Sir +Marmaduke had persuaded himself, that to make the tour of Europe, and to +become a connoisseur in all the arts, was the same thing; and, as he was +rich, and, therefore, able to make himself friends, civil, and therefore +never addicted to make enemies, no one felt tempted, either by sincerity +or severity, to undeceive him; and, as all he essentially wanted, for +the character to which he thought himself elevated, was 'spirit, taste, +and sense,' he uttered his opinions upon whatever he saw, or heard, +without the smallest suspicion, that the assiduity with which he +visited, or the wealth with which he purchased, works of art, included +not every requisite for their appreciation. Yet though, from never +provoking, he never encountered, that foe to the happy feelings of +inborn presumption, truth, he felt sometimes embarrassed, when suddenly +called upon to pronounce an opinion on any abtruse point of taste. He +was always, therefore, watchful to catch hints from the dashing Miss +Arbe, since to whatever she gave her fearless sanction, he saw fashion +attached.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more different than the reception given to Ellis by +Lady Kendover, and that which she experienced from the Miss Crawleys. +Without any superiority to their brother in understanding,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> they had a +decided inferiority in education and manners. They had been brought up +by a fond uncle, in the country, with every false indulgence which can +lead to idle ease and pleasure, for the passing moment; but which teems +with that weariness, that a dearth of all rational employment nurses up +for the listless and uncultured, when folly and ignorance out-live mere +thoughtless merriment. Accustomed to follow, in every thing, the +uncontrolled bent of their own humours, they felt fatigued by the very +word decorum; and thought themselves oppressed by any representation of +what was due to propriety. Their brother, on the contrary, taking the +opposite extreme, had neither care nor wish but what related to the +opinion of the <i>virtuosi</i>: because, though possessed of whatever could +give pecuniary, he was destitute of all that could inspire mental +independence.</p> + +<p>'Oh ho! The Ellis!' cried Miss Crawley, mimicking her brother: 'you are +come to be our school-mistress, are you? Quick, quick, Di; put on your +dumpish face, and begin your task.'</p> + +<p>'Be quiet, be quiet!' cried Miss Di; 'I shall like to learn of all +things. The Ellis shall make me The Crawley. Come, what's to be done, +The Ellis? Begin, begin!'</p> + +<p>'And finish, finish!' cried the eldest: 'I can't bear to be long about +any thing: there's nothing so fogrum.'</p> + +<p>Their brother, now, ventured, gently, to caution them not to make use of +the word fogrum, which, he assured them, was by no means received in +good company.</p> + +<p>'O, I hate good company!' cried the eldest: 'It always makes me fall +asleep.'</p> + +<p>'So do I,' cried the youngest; 'except when I take upon myself to wake +it. O! that's the delight of my life! to run wild upon a set of formals, +who think one brainless, only because one is not drowsy. Do you know any +fogrums of that sort, brother?'</p> + +<p>The merriment that this question, which they meant to be personal, +occasioned, extremely confused Sir Marmaduke; and his evident +consciousness flung them into such immoderate laughter, that the new +mistress was forced to desist from all attempt at instruction, till it +subsided; which was not till their brother, shrugging his shoulders, +with shame and mortification, left the room.</p> + +<p>Yawning, then, with exhausted spirits, they desired to be set to work.</p> + +<p>Proficiency they had no chance, for they had no wish to make; but Ellis, +from this time, attended them twice a-week; and Sir Marmaduke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> was +gratified by the assurances of Miss Arbe, that all the world praised his +taste, for choosing them so accomplished an instructress.</p> + +<p>The fourth scholar that the same patronage procured for Ellis, was a +little girl of eleven years of age, whose mother, Lady Arramede, the +nearly ruined widow of a gamester peer, sacrificed every comfort to +retain the equipage, and the establishment, that she had enjoyed during +the life of her luxurious lord. Her table, except when she had company, +was never quite sufficient for her family; her dress, except when she +visited, was always old, mended, and out of fashion; and the education +of her daughter, though destined to be of the first order, was +extracted, in common with her gala dinners, and gala ornaments, from +these daily savings. Ellis, therefore, from the very moderate price at +which Miss Arbe, for the purpose of obliging her own various friends, +had fixed her instructions, was a treasure to Lady Arramede; who had +never before so completely found, what she was always indefatigably +seeking, a professor not more cheap than fashionable.</p> + +<p>On the part of the professor, the satisfaction was not quite mutual. +Lady Arramede, reduced by her great expences in public, to the most +miserable parsimony in private, joined, to a lofty desire of high +consideration in the world, a constant alarm lest her pecuniary +difficulties should be perceived. The low terms, therefore, upon which +Ellis taught, though the real inducement for her being employed, urged +the most arrogant reception of the young instructress, in the +apprehension that she might, else, suspect the motive to her admission; +and the instant that she entered the room, her little pupil was hurried +to the instrument, that she might not presume to imagine it possible, +that she could remain in the presence of her ladyship, even for a +moment, except to be professionally occupied.</p> + +<p>Yet was she by no means more niggardly in bestowing favour, than +rapacious in seeking advantage. Her thoughts were constantly employed in +forming interrogatories for obtaining musical information, by which her +daughter might profit in the absence of the mistress; though she made +them without troubling herself to raise her eyes, except when she did +not comprehend the answer; and then, her look was of so haughty a +character, that she seemed rather to be demanding satisfaction than +explication.</p> + +<p>The same address, also, accompanied her desire to hear the pieces, which +her daughter began learning, performed by the mistress: she never made +this request till the given hour was more than passed; and made it then +rather as if she were issuing a command, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> execution of some +acknowledged duty, than calling forth talents, or occupying time, upon +which she could only from courtesy have any claim.</p> + +<p>Miss Brinville, the fifth pupil of Ellis, was a celebrated beauty, who +had wasted her bloom in a perpetual search of admiration; and lost her +prime, without suspecting that it was gone, in vain and ambitious +difficulties of choice. Yet her charms, however faded and changed, +still, by candle-light, or when adroitly shaded, through a becoming +skill in the arrangement of her head-dress, appeared nearly in their +first lustre; and in this view it was that they were always present to +herself; though, by the world, the altered complexion, sunk eyes, and +enlarged features, exhibited by day-light, or by common attire, were +all, except through impertinent retrospection, that were any more +noticed.</p> + +<p>She was just arrived at Brighthelmstone, with her mother, upon a visit +to an acquaintance, whom that lady had engaged to invite them, with a +design of meeting Sir Lyell Sycamore, a splendid young baronet, with +whom Miss Brinville had lately danced at a private ball; where, as he +saw her for the first time, and saw her to every advantage which well +chosen attire, animated vanity, and propitious wax-light could give, he +had fallen desperately enamoured of her beauty; and had so vehemently +lamented having promised to join a party to Brighthelmstone, that both +the mother and the daughter concluded, that they had only to find a +decent pretence for following him, to secure the prostration of his +title and fortune at their feet. And though similar expectations, from +gentlemen of similar birth and estate, had already, at least fifty +times, been disappointed, they were just as sanguine, in the present +instance, as if, new to the world, and inexperienced in its ways, they +were now receiving their first lessons, upon the fallaciousness of +self-appreciation: so slight is the impression made, even where our +false judgment is self-detected, by wounds to our vanity! and so elastic +is the re-bound of that hope, which originates in our personal estimation +of our deserts!</p> + +<p>The young Baronet, indeed, no sooner heard of the arrival at +Brighthelmstone of the fair one who had enchanted him, than, wild with +rapture, he devoted all his soul to expected extacies. But when, the +next morning, fine and frosty, though severely cold, he met her upon the +Steyn, her complexion and her features were so different to those yet +resting, in full beauty, upon his memory, that he looked at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> her with a +surprise mingled with a species of indignation, as at a caricature of +herself.</p> + +<p>Miss Brinville, though too unconscious of her own double appearance to +develope what passed in his mind, was struck and mortified by his change +of manner. The bleak winds which blew sharply from the sea, giving +nearly its own blue-green hue to her skin, while all that it bestowed of +the carnation's more vivid glow, visited the feature which they least +become, but which seems always the favourite wintry hot-bed of the ruddy +tints; in completing what to the young Baronet seemed an entire +metamorphosis, drove him fairly from the field. The wondering heroine +was left in a consternation that usefully, however disagreeably, might +have whispered to her some of those cruel truths which are always +buzzing around faded beauties,—missing no ears but their own!—had she +not been hurried, by her mother, into a milliner's shop, to make some +preparations for a ball to which she was invited for the evening. There, +again, she saw the Baronet, to whose astonished sight she appeared with +all her first allurements. Again he danced with her, again was +captivated; and again the next morning recovered his liberty. Yet Miss +Brinville made no progress in self-perception: his changes were +attributed to caprice or fickleness; and her desire grew but more urgent +to fix her wavering conquest.</p> + +<p>At the dinner at Lady Kendover's, where Miss Arbe brought forward the +talents and the plan of Ellis, such a spirit was raised, to procure +scholars amongst the young ladies of fashion then at Brighthelmstone; +and it seemed so youthful to become a pupil, that Miss Brinville feared, +if left out, she might be considered as too old to enter such lists. Yet +her total ignorance of music, and a native dull distaste to all the +arts, save the millinery, damped her wishes with want of resolution; +till an exclamation of Sir Lyell Sycamore's, that nothing added so much +grace to beauty as playing upon the harp, gave her sudden strength and +energy, to beg to be set down, by Miss Arbe, as one of the first +scholars for her <i>protegée</i>.</p> + +<p>Ellis was received by her with civility, but treated with the utmost +coldness. The sight of beauty at its height, forced a self-comparison of +no exhilarating nature; and, much as she built upon informing Sir Lyell +of her lessons, she desired nothing less than shewing him from whom they +were received. To sit at the harp so as to justify the assertion of the +Baronet, became her principal study; and the glass before which she +tried her attitudes and motions, told her such flattering tales, that +she soon began to think the harp the sweetest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> instrument in the world, +and that to practise it was the most delicious of occupations.</p> + +<p>Ellis was too sincere to aid this delusion. Of all her pupils, no one +was so utterly hopeless as Miss Brinville, whom she found equally +destitute of ear, taste, intelligence, and application. The same +direction twenty times repeated, was not better understood than the +first moment that it was uttered. Naturally dull, she comprehended +nothing that was not familiar to her; and habitually indolent, because +brought up to believe that beauty would supply every accomplishment, she +had no conception of energy, and not an idea of diligence.</p> + +<p>Ellis, whose mind was ardent, and whose integrity was incorrupt, felt an +honourable anxiety to fulfil the duties of her new profession, though +she had entered upon them merely from motives of distress. She was +earnest, therefore, for the improvement of her pupils; and conceived the +laudable ambition, to merit what she might earn, by their advancement. +And though one amongst them, alone, manifested any genius; in all of +them, except Miss Brinville, she saw more of carelessness, or idleness, +than of positive, incapacity. But here, the darkness of all musical +apprehension was so impenetrable, that not a ray of instruction could +make way through it; and Ellis who, though she saw that to study her +looks at the instrument was her principal object, had still imagined +that to learn music came in for some share in taking lessons upon the +harp, finding it utterly vain to try to make her distinguish one note +from another, held her own probity called upon to avow her opinion; +since she saw herself the only one who could profit from its +concealment.</p> + +<p>Gently, therefore, and in terms the most delicate that she could select, +she communicated her fears to Mrs Brinville, that the talents of Miss +Brinville were not of a musical cast.</p> + +<p>Mrs Brinville, with a look that said, What infinite impertinence! +declared herself extremely obliged by this sincerity; and summoned her +daughter to the conference.</p> + +<p>Miss Brinville, colouring with the deepest resentment, protested that +she was never so well pleased as in hearing plain truth; but each made +an inclination of her head, that intimated to Ellis that she might +hasten her departure: and the first news that reached her the next +morning was, that Miss Brinville had sent for a celebrated and expensive +professor, then accidentally at Brighthelmstone, to give her lessons +upon the harp.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, from whom Ellis received this intelligence, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> extremely +angry with her for the strange, and what she called unheard-of measure +that she had taken. 'What had you,' she cried, 'to do with their manner +of wasting their money? Every one chooses to throw it away according to +his own taste. If rich people have not that privilege, I don't see how +they are the better for not being poor.'</p> + +<p>The sixth scholar whom Ellis undertook, was sister to Sir Lyell +Sycamore. She possessed a real genius for music, though it was so little +seconded by industry, that whatever she could not perform without labour +or time, she relinquished. Thus, though all she played was executed in a +truly fine style, nothing being practised, nothing was finished; and +though she could amuse herself, and charm her auditors, with almost +every favourite passage that she heard, she could not go through a +single piece; could play nothing by book; and hardly knew her notes.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Ellis found her so far superiour, in musical capacity, to +every other pupil that had fallen to her charge, that she conceived a +strong desire to make her the fine player that her talents fitted her +for becoming.</p> + +<p>Her utmost exertions, however, and warmest wishes, were insufficient for +this purpose. The genius with which Miss Sycamore was endowed for music, +was unallied to any soft harmonies of temper, or of character: she was +presumptuous, conceited, and gaily unfeeling. If Ellis pressed her to +more attention, she hummed an air, without looking at her; if she +remonstrated against her neglect, she suddenly stared at her, though +without speaking. She had a haughty indifference about learning; but it +was not from an indifference to excel; 'twas from a firm self-opinion, +that she excelled already. If she could not deny, that Ellis executed +whole pieces, in as masterly a manner as she could herself play only +chosen passages, she deemed that a mere mechanical part of the art, +which, as a professor, Ellis had been forced to study; and which she +herself, therefore, rather held cheap than respected.</p> + +<p>Ellis, at first, seriously lamented this wayward spirit, which wasted +real talents; but all interest for her pupil soon subsided; and all +regret concentrated in having such a scholar to attend; for the manners +of Miss Sycamore had an excess of insolence, that rather demanded apathy +than philosophy to be supported, by those who were in any degree within +her power. Ellis was treated by her with a sort of sprightly defiance, +that sometimes seemed to arise from gay derision; at others, from +careless haughtiness. Miss Sycamore, who gave little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> attention to the +rumours of her history, saw her but either as a Wanderer, of blighted +fortune, and as such looked down upon her with contempt; or as an +indigent young woman of singular beauty, and as such, with far less +willingness, looked up to her with envy.</p> + +<p>Twice a-week, also, Selina, with the connivance, though not with the +avowed consent of Mrs Maple, came from Lewes, to continue her musical +lessons, at the house of Lady Kendover, or of Miss Arramede.</p> + +<p>Such was the set which the powerful influence of Miss Arbe procured for +the opening campaign of Ellis; and to this set its own celebrity soon +added another name. It was not, indeed, one which Miss Arbe would have +deigned to put upon her list; but Ellis, who had no pride to support in +her present undertaking, save the virtuous and right pride of owing +independence to her own industry, as readily accepted a preferred +scholar from the daughter of a common tradesman, as she had accepted the +daughter of an Earl, whom she taught at Lady Kendover's.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, a grocer, who had raised a very large fortune, was now at +Brighthelmstone, with his only daughter and heiress, at whose desire he +called at Miss Matson's, to enquire for the famous music-teacher.</p> + +<p>Ellis, hearing that he was an elderly man, conceived what might be his +business, and admitted him. Much surprised by her youthful appearance, +'Good now, my dear,' he cried, 'why to be sure it can't be you as +pretends to learn young misses music? and even misses of quality, as I +am told? It's more likely it's your mamma; put in case you've got one.'</p> + +<p>When Ellis had set him right, he took five guineas from his purse, and +said, 'Well, then, my dear, come to my darter, and give her as much of +your tudeling as will come to this. And I think, by then, she'll be able +to twiddle over them wires by herself.'</p> + +<p>The hours of attendance being then settled, he looked smirkingly in her +face, and added, 'Which of us two is to hold the stakes, you or I?' +shaking the five guineas between his hands. But when she assured him +that she had not the most distant desire to anticipate such an +appropriation, he assumed an air of generous affluence, and assuring +her, in return, that he was not afraid to trust her, counted two guineas +and a half a guinea, upon the table, and said, 'So if you please, my +dear, we'll split the difference.'</p> + +<p>Ellis found the daughter yet more innately, though less obviously, +vulgar; and far more unpleasant, because uncivil, than the father. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> a +constant struggle to hide the disproportion of her origin, and early +habits, with her present pretensions to fashion, she was tormented by an +incessant fear of betraying, that she was as little bred as born to the +riches which she now possessed. This made her always authoritative with +her domestics, or inferiours, to keep them in awe; pert with gentlemen, +by way of being genteel; and rude with ladies, to shew herself their +equal.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman conceived, immediately, a warm partiality for Ellis, whose +elegant manners, which, had he met with her in high life, would have +distanced him by their superiority, now attracted him irresistibly, in +viewing them but as good-nature. He called her his pretty tudeler, and +bid her make haste to earn her five guineas; significantly adding, that, +if his daughter were not finished before they were gone, he was rich +enough to make them ten.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + + +<p>With these seven pupils, Ellis, combating the various unpleasant +feelings that were occasionally excited, prosperously began her new +career.</p> + +<p>Her spirits, from the fulness of her occupations, revived; and she soon +grew a stranger to the depression of that ruminating leisure, which is +wasted in regret, in repining, or in wavering meditation.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe reaped, also, the fruits of her successful manœuvres, by +receiving long, and almost daily instructions, under the pretence of +trying different compositions; though never under the appellation of +lessons, nor with the smallest acknowledgement of any deficiency that +might require improvement; always, when they separated, exclaiming, +'What a delightful musical regale we have enjoyed this morning!'</p> + +<p>So sincere, nevertheless, was the sense which Ellis entertained of the +essential obligations which she owed to Miss Arbe, that she suffered +this continual intrusion and fatigue without a murmur.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, also, who was nearly as frequent in her visits as Miss Arbe, +claimed constantly, however vainly, in return for paying the month's +hire of the harp, the private history of the way of life, expences, +domestics, and apparent income, of every family to which that instrument +was the means of introduction. And but that these ladies had personal +engagements for their evenings, Ellis could not have found time to keep +herself in such practice as her new profession required; and her credit, +if not her scholars, might have been lost, through the selfishness of +the very patronesses by whom they had been obtained.</p> + +<p>Another circumstance, also, somewhat disturbed, though she would not +suffer it to interrupt what she now deemed to be her professional study: +she no sooner touched her harp, than she heard a hurrying,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> though heavy +step, descend the stairs; and never opened her door, after playing or +singing, without perceiving a gentleman standing against it, in an +attitude of listening. He hastened away ashamed, upon her appearance; +yet did not the less fail to be in waiting at her next performance. +Displeased, and nearly alarmed by the continual repetition of this +curiosity, she complained of it to Miss Matson, desiring that she would +find means to put an end to so strange a liberty.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson said, that the person in question, who was a gentleman of +very good character, though rather odd in his ways, had taken the little +room which Ellis had just relinquished: she was sure, however, that he +meant no harm, for he had often told her, as he passed through the shop, +that he ought to pay double for his lodging, for the sake of hearing the +harp, and the singing. Miss Matson remonstrated with him, nevertheless, +upon his indiscretion; in consequence of which, he became more +circumspect.</p> + +<p>From Selina, whose communications continued to be as unabated in +openness, as her friendship was in fondness, Ellis had the heartfelt +satisfaction of receiving occasional intelligence, drawn from the +letters of Mrs Howel to Mrs Maple, of the inviolable attachment of Lady +Aurora Granville.</p> + +<p>She heard, also, but nearly with indifference, that the two elder ladies +had been furious with indignation, at the prosperity of the scheme of +Miss Arbe, by which Ellis seemed to be naturalized at Brighthelmstone; +where she was highly considered, and both visited and invited, by all +who had elegance, sense, or taste to appreciate her merits.</p> + +<p>Of Elinor nothing was positively known, though some indirect information +reached her aunt, that she had found means to return to the continent.</p> + +<p>About three weeks passed thus, in the diligent and successful practice +of this new profession, when a morning concert was advertised at the New +Rooms, for a blind Welsh harper, who was travelling through the +principal towns of England.</p> + +<p>All the scholars of Ellis having, upon this occasion, taken tickets of +Lady Kendover, who patronized the harper, Ellis meant to dedicate the +leisure thus left her to musical studies; but she was broken in upon by +Miss Bydel, who, possessing an odd ticket, and having, through some +accident, missed joining her party, desired Ellis would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> immediately get +ready to go with her to the concert. Ellis, not sorry to hear the +harper, consented.</p> + +<p>The harper was in the midst of his last piece when they arrived. Miss +Bydel, deaf to a general buz of 'Hush!' at the loud voice with which, +upon entering the room, she said, 'Well, now I must look about for some +acquaintance,' straitly strutted on to the upper end of the apartment. +Ellis quietly glided after her, concluding it to be a matter of course +that they should keep together. Here, however, Miss Bydel comfortably +arranged herself, between Mrs Maple and Selina, telling them that, +having been too late for all her friends, and not liking to poke her way +alone, she had been forced to make the young music-mistress come along +with her, for company.</p> + +<p>Ellis, though both abashed and provoked, felt herself too justly under +the protection of Miss Bydel, to submit to the mortification of turning +back, as if she had been an unauthorised intruder; though the averted +looks, and her consciousness of the yet more disdainful opinions of Mrs +Maple, left her no hope of countenance, but through the kindness of +Selina. She sought, therefore, the eyes of her young friend, and did not +seek them in vain; but great was her surprise to meet them not merely +unaccompanied by any expression of regard, but even of remembrance; and +to see them instantaneously withdrawn, to be fixed upon those of Lady +Barbara Frankland, which were wholly occupied by the blind harper.</p> + +<p>Disappointed and disconcerted, she was now obliged to seat herself, +alone, upon a side form, and to strive to parry the awkwardness of her +situation, by an appearance of absorbed attention to the performance of +the harper.</p> + +<p>A gentleman, who was lounging upon a seat at some distance, struck by +her beauty, and surprised by her lonely position, curiously loitered +towards her, and dropt, as if accidentally, upon the same form. He was +young, tall, handsome, and fashionable, but wore the air of a decided +libertine; and her modest mien, and evident embarrassment, rendered her +peculiarly attractive to a voluptuous man of pleasure. To discover, +therefore, whether that modesty were artificial, or the remains of such +original purity as he, and such as he, adore but to demolish, was his +immediate determination.</p> + +<p>It was impossible for Ellis to escape seeing how completely she +engrossed his attention, sedulously as she sought to employ her own +another way. But, having advanced too far into the room, by following +Miss Bydel, to descend without being recognized by those whose good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +opinion it was now her serious concern to preserve, all her scholars +being assembled upon this occasion; she resolved to sustain her credit, +by openly joining, or, at least, closely following, Miss Bydel, when the +concert should be over.</p> + +<p>When the concert, however, was over, her difficulties were but +increased, for no one retired. Lady Kendover ordered tea for herself and +her party; and the rest of the assembly eagerly formed itself into +groups for a similar purpose. A mixt society is always jealous of its +rights of equality; and any measure taken by a person of superiour rank, +or superiour fortune to the herd, soon becomes general; not humbly, from +an imitative, but proudly, from a levelling spirit.</p> + +<p>The little coteries thus every where arranging, made the forlorn +situation of Ellis yet more conspicuous. All now, but herself, were +either collected into setts to take tea, or dispersed for sauntering. +She felt, therefore, so awkward, that, hoping by a fair explanation, to +acquit herself to her scholars at their next lessons, she was rising to +return alone to her lodging, when the gentleman already mentioned, +planting himself abruptly before her, confidently enquired whether he +could be of any service in seeing her out.</p> + +<p>She gravely pronounced a negative, and re-seated herself. He made no +attempt at conversation, but again took his place by her side.</p> + +<p>In the hope of lessening, in some degree, her embarrassment, Ellis, once +more, sought the notice of Selina, whose behaviour appeared so +extraordinary, that she began to imagine herself mistaken in believing +that she had yet been seen; but when, again, she caught the eye of that +young lady, a low and respectful courtesy vainly solicited return, or +notice. The eye looked another way, without seeming to have heeded the +salutation.</p> + +<p>She grew, now, seriously apprehensive, that some cruel calumny must have +injured her in the opinion of her affectionate young friend.</p> + +<p>Her ruminations upon this unpleasant idea were interrupted, by the +approach of Mrs and Miss Brinville, who, scornfully passing her, stopt +before her lounging neighbour, to whom Mrs Brinville said, 'Do you take +nothing Sir Lyell? We are just going to make a little tea.'</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, looking negligently at Miss Brinville, and then, from her +faded beauty, casting a glance of comparison at the blooming prime of +the lovely unknown by his side, carelessly answered, that he took tea +but once in a day.</p> + +<p>Miss Brinville, though by no means aware of the full effect of such a +contrast, had not failed to remark the direction of the wandering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> eye; +nor to feel the waste and inadequacy of her best smiles to draw it back. +She was compelled, however, to walk on, and Ellis now concluded that her +bold and troublesome neighbour must be Sir Lyell Sycamore, who, seldom +at home but to a given dinner, had never been present at any lesson of +his sister's.</p> + +<p>The chagrin of being seen, and judged, so unfavourably, by a friend of +Lord Melbury, was a little softened, by the hope that he would soon +learn who she was from Miss Sycamore; and that accident, not choice, had +placed her thus alone in a public room.</p> + +<p>Miss Brinville had not more keenly observed the admiring looks of Sir +Lyell, than the Baronet had remarked her own of haughty disdain, for the +same object. This confirmed his idea of the fragile character of his +solitary beauty; though, while it fixed his pursuit, it deterred him +from manifesting his design. His quietness, however, did not deceive +Ellis; the admiration conveyed by his eyes was so wholly unmixt with +respect, that, embarrassed and comfortless, she knew not which way to +turn her own.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, soon after, perceiving her to be alone, and unserved, came, +with a good humoured smirk upon his countenance, to bring her a handful +of cakes. It was in vain that she declined them; he placed them, one by +one, till he had counted half a dozen, upon the form by her side, +saying, 'Don't be so coy, my dear, don't be so coy. Young girls have +appetites as well as old men, for I don't find that that tudeling does +much for one's stomach; and, I promise you, this cold February morning +has served me for as good a whet, as if I was an errand boy up to this +moment—put in case I ever was one before;—which, however, is neither +here nor there; though you may as well,' he added, lowering his voice, +and looking cautiously around, 'not mention my happening to drop that +word to my darter; for she has so many fine Misses coming to see her, +that she got acquainted with at the boarding-school, where I was +over-persuaded to put her—for I might have set up a good smart shop for +the money it cost me; but she had a prodigious hankering after being +teached dancing, and the like; and so now, when they come to see us, she +wants to pass for as fine a toss up as themselves! And, lauk adaisy! put +in case I was to let the cat out of the bag—.'</p> + +<p>Steadily as Ellis endeavoured to avoid looking either to the right or to +the left, she could not escape observing the surprise and diversion, +which this visit and whisper afforded to Sir Lyell; yet the good humour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +of Mr Tedman, and her conviction of the innocence of his kindness, made +it impossible for her to repulse him with anger.</p> + +<p>Advancing, next, his mouth close to her ear, he said, 'I should have +been glad enough to have had you come and drink a cup of tea with I and +my darter; I can tell you that; only my darter's always in such a fuss +about what the quality will think of her; else, we are dull enough +together, only she and me; for, do what she will, the quality don't much +mind her. So she's rather a bit in the sulks, poor dear. And, at best, +she is but a so so hand at the agreeable. Though indeed, for the matter +of that, I am no rare one myself; except with my particulars;—put in +case I am then.'</p> + +<p>He now, good-humouredly nodding, begged her not to spare the cakes, and +promising she should have more if she were hungry, returned to his +daughter.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, with a scarcely stifled laugh, and in a tone the most +familiar, enquired whether she wished for any further refreshment.</p> + +<p>Ellis, looking away from him, pronounced a repulsive negative.</p> + +<p>An elderly gentleman, who was walking up and down the room, now bowed to +her. Not knowing him, she let his salutation pass apparently +disregarded; when, some of her cakes accidentally falling from the form, +he eagerly picked them up, saying, as he grasped them in his hand, +'Faith, Madam, you had better have eaten them at once. You had, faith! +Few things are mended by delay. We are all at our best at first. These +cakes are no more improved by being mottled with the dirt of the floor, +than a pretty woman is by being marked with the small pox. I know +nothing that i'n't the worse for a put-off, ... unless it be a quarrel.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, then, through his voice and language, discovered her fellow +voyager, Mr Riley; though a considerable change in his appearance, from +his travelling garb, had prevented a more immediate recollection.</p> + +<p>Additional disturbance now seized her, lest he should recur to the +suspicious circumstances of her voyage and arrival.</p> + +<p>While he still stood before her, declaiming upon the squeezed cakes, +which he held in his hand, Mr Tedman, coming softly back, and gently +pushing him aside, produced, with a self-pleased countenance, a small +plate of bread and butter, saying, 'Look, here, my dear, I've brought +you a few nice slices; for I see the misfortune that befel my cakes, of +their falling down; and I resolved you should not be the worse for it. +But I advise you to eat this at once, for fear of accidents; only take +care,' with a smile, 'that you don't grease your pretty fingers.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>He did not smile singly; Sir Lyell more than bore him company, and Riley +laughed aloud saying,</p> + +<p>''Twould be pity, indeed, if she did not take care of her pretty +fingers, 'twould, faith! when she can work them so cunningly. I can't +imagine how the lady could sit so patiently, to hear that old Welsh man +thrum the cords in that bang wang way, when she can touch them herself, +like a little Queen David, to put all one's feelings in a fever. I have +listened at her door, till I have tingled all over with heat, in the +midst of the hard frost. And, sometimes, I have sat upon the stairs, to +hear her, till I have been so bent double, and numbed, that my nose has +almost joined my toes, and you might have rolled me down to the +landing-place without uncurbing me. You might, faith!'</p> + +<p>Ellis now further discovered, that Mr Riley was the listening new +lodger. Her apprehensions, however, of his recollection subsided, when +she found him wholly unsuspicious that he had ever seen her before; and +called to mind her own personal disguise at their former meeting.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, piqued to see her monopolized by two such fogrums as he +thought Messieurs Riley and Tedman, was bending forward to address her +more freely himself, when Lady Barbara Frankland, suddenly perceiving +her, flew to take her hand, with the most cordial expressions of partial +and affectionate regard.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell Sycamore, after a moment of extreme surprise, combining this +condescension with what Riley had said of her performance, surmized that +his suspicious beauty must be the harp-mistress, who had been +recommended to him by Miss Arbe; who taught his sister; and whose +various accomplishments had been extolled to him by Lord Melbury. That +she should appear, and remain, thus strangely alone in public, marked +her, nevertheless, in his opinion, as, at least, an easy prey; though +her situation with regard to his sister, and a sense of decency with +regard to her known protectors, made him instantly change his demeanour, +and determine to desist from any obvious pursuit.</p> + +<p>Lady Barbara had no sooner returned to her aunt, than Sir Marmaduke +Crawley, in the name of that lady, advanced with a request, that Miss +Ellis would be so obliging as to try the instrument of the Welsh harper.</p> + +<p>Though this message was sent by Lady Kendover in terms of perfect +politeness, and delivered by Sir Marmaduke with the most scrupulous +courtesy, it caused Ellis extreme disturbance, from her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> unconquerable +repugnance to complying with her ladyship's desire; but, while she was +entreating him to soften her refusal, by the most respectful +expressions, his two sisters came hoydening up to her, charging him to +take no denial, and protesting that they would either drag The Ellis to +the harp, or the harp to The Ellis, if she stood dilly dallying any +longer. And then, each seizing her by an arm, without any regard to her +supplications, or to the shock which they inflicted upon the nerves of +their brother, they would have put their threat into immediate +execution, but for the weakness occasioned by their own immoderate +laughter at their merry gambols; which gave time for Lady Kendover to +perceive the embarrassment and the struggles of Ellis, and to suffer her +partial young admirer, Lady Barbara, to be the bearer of a civil +apology, and a recantation of the request.</p> + +<p>To this commission of the well-bred aunt, the kind-hearted niece added a +positive insistance, that Ellis should join their party; to which she +rather drew than led her, seating her, almost forcibly, next to herself, +with exulting delight at rescuing her from the turbulent Miss Crawleys.</p> + +<p>Lady Kendover, to whom the exact gradations of <i>etiquette</i> were always +present, sought, by a look, to intimate to her niece, that while the +Hon. Miss Arramede was standing, this was not the place for Ellis: but +the niece, natural, inconsiderate, and zealous, understood not the hint; +and the timid embarrassment of Ellis shewed so total a freedom from all +obtrusive intentions, that her ladyship could not but forgive, however +little she had desired the junction; and, soon afterwards, encouragingly +led her to join both in the conversation and the breakfast.</p> + +<p>Selina, now, ran to shake hands with her dear Ellis, expressing the +warmest pleasure at her sight. Ellis as much, though not as disagreeably +surprised by her notice now, as she had been by the more than neglect +which had preceded it, was hesitating what judgment to form of either, +when Miss Sycamore, from some distance, scornfully called out to her, +'Don't fail to stop at our house on your way back to your lodgings, Miss +Ellis, to look at my harp. I believe it's out of order.'</p> + +<p>Lady Kendover, whose invariable politeness made her peculiarly sensible +of any failure of that quality in another, perceiving Ellis extremely +disconcerted, by the pointed malice of this humiliating command, at the +moment that she was bearing her part in superiour society, redoubled her +own civilities, by attentions as marked and public as they were +obliging; and, pleased by the modest gratitude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> with which they were +received, had again restored the serenity of Ellis; when a conversation, +unavoidably overheard, produced new disturbance.</p> + +<p>Mr Riley, who had just recognized Ireton and Mrs Maple, was loud in his +satisfaction at again seeing two of his fellow-voyagers; and, in his +usually unceremonious manner, began discoursing upon their late dangers +and escape; notwithstanding all the efforts of Mrs Maple, who knew +nothing of his birth, situation in life, or fortune, to keep him at a +distance.</p> + +<p>'And pray,' cried her, 'how does Miss Nelly do? She is a prodigious +clever girl; she is faith! I took to her mightily; though I did not much +like that twist she had got to the wrong side of my politics. I longed +prodigiously to give her a twitch back to the right. But how could you +think Ma'am, of taking over such a brisk, warm, young girl as that, at +the very instant when the new-fangled doctrines were beginning to +ferment in every corner of France? boiling over in one half of their +pates, to scald t'other half.'</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, however unwilling to hold a public conference with a person +of whom she had never seen the pedigree, nor the rent-roll, could still +less endure to let even a shadow of blame against herself pass +unanswered: she therefore angrily said, that she had travelled for +health, and not to trouble herself about politics.</p> + +<p>'O, as to you, Ma'am, it's all one, at your years: but how you could +fancy a skittish young girl, like that, could be put into such a hot bed +of wild plants, and not shoot forth a few twigs herself, I can't make +out. You might as well send her to a dance, and tell her not to wag a +foot. And pray what's become of Mr Harleigh? I've no where seen his +fellow. He was the most of a manly gentleman that ever fell in my walk. +And your poor ailing mama, Squire Ireton? Has she got the better of her +squeamish fits? She was deuced bad aboard; and not much better ashore. +And that Demoiselle, the black-skinned girl, with the fine eyes and +nose? Where's she, too? Have you ever heard what became of her?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, who every moment expected this question, had prepared herself to +listen to it with apparent unconcern: but Selina, tittering, and again +running up to her, and pinching her arm, asked whether it were not she, +that that droll man meant by the black-skinned girl?</p> + +<p>'She was a good funny girl, faith!' continued Riley. 'I was prodigiously +diverted with her. Yet we did nothing but quarrel. Though I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> don't know +why. But I could never find out who she was. I believe the devil himself +could not have made her speak.'</p> + +<p>The continual little laughs of Selina, whom no supplications of Ellis +could keep quiet, now attracted the notice of Lady Kendover; which so +palpably encreased the confusion of Ellis, that the attention of her +ladyship was soon transferred to herself.</p> + +<p>'She was but an odd fish, I believe, after all,' Riley went on; 'for, +one day, when I was sauntering along Oxford Street, who should I meet +but the noble Admiral? the only one of our set I have seen, till this +moment, since I left Dover. And when we talked over our adventures, and +I asked him if he knew any thing of the Demoiselle, how do you think she +had served him? She's a comical hand, faith! Only guess!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, now, apprehensive of some strange attack, involuntarily, looked +at him, with as much amazement and attention, as he began to excite in +all others who were near him; while Mrs Maple, personally alarmed, +demanded whether the Admiral had found out that any fraud had been +practised upon him by that person?</p> + +<p>'Fraud? ay, fraud enough!' cried Riley. 'She choused him neatly out of +the hire of her place in the Diligence; besides that guinea that we all +saw him give her.'</p> + +<p>Ellis now coloured deeply; and Ireton, heartily laughing, repeated the +word 'choused?' while Mrs Maple, off all guard, looked fiercely at +Ellis, and exclaimed, 'This is just what I have all along expected! And +who can tell who else may have been pilfered? I protest I don't think +myself safe yet.'</p> + +<p>This hasty speech raised a lively curiosity in all around; for all +around had become listeners, from the loud voice of Riley; who now +related that the Admiral, having paid the full fare for bringing the +black-skinned girl to town, had called at the inn at which the stage +puts up in London, to enquire, deeming her a stranger, whether she were +safely arrived; and there he had been informed, that she had never made +use of her place.</p> + +<p>Ellis had no time to dwell upon the cruel, but natural misconstruction, +from the change of her plan, which had thus lost her the good opinion of +the benevolent Admiral; the speech which followed from Mrs Maple was yet +more terrific. 'I have not the least doubt, then,' said that lady, in a +tone of mingled triumph and rage, 'that she put the money for her place +into her pocket, as well as the guinea, while she wheedled Mrs Ireton +into bringing her up to town gratis! for I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> was all along sure she was +an adventurer and an impostor; with her blacks, and her whites, and her +double face!'—</p> + +<p>She stopt abruptly, recollecting the censure to which anger and +self-importance were leading her, of having introduced into society, a +creature of whom, from the origin of any knowledge of her, she had +conceived so ill an opinion.</p> + +<p>But while the various changes of complexion, produced in Ellis by this +oration, were silently marked by Lady Kendover; and drew from Lady +Barbara the most affectionate enquiries whether she were indisposed; the +Miss Crawleys, who heard all that passed with their customary search of +mirth, whether flowing from the ridiculous, the singular, or the +mischievous, now clamourously demanded what Mrs Maple meant, by the +double face, the blacks, and the whites.</p> + +<p>'Oh, no matter,' answered Mrs Maple, stammering; ''tis not a thing worth +talking of.'</p> + +<p>'But the blacks—and the whites—and the double face?' cried Miss +Crawley.</p> + +<p>'Ay, the double face, the blacks, and the whites?' cried Miss Di.</p> + +<p>'The blacks,' said Mr Riley, 'I understand well enough; but I remember +nothing about the double face. Surely the Demoiselle could not +hodge-podge herself into one of the whites? What do you mean by all +that, Ma'am?'</p> + +<p>'Pray ask me nothing about the matter,' replied Mrs Maple, impatiently. +'I am not at all accustomed to talk of people of that sort.'</p> + +<p>'Why, how's all this?' cried Riley. 'Have any of you met with the +Demoiselle again?'</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple would not deign to make any further reply.</p> + +<p>He addressed himself to Ireton, who only laughed.</p> + +<p>'Well, this is droll enough! it is, faith! I begin to think the +Demoiselle has appeared amongst you again. I wish you'd tell me, for I +should like to see her of all things, for old acquaintance sake. She was +but a dowdy piece of goods, to be sure; but she had fine eyes, and a +fine nose; and she amused me prodigiously, she was so devilish shy.'</p> + +<p>'You believe, then,' said Ireton, excited, not checked, by the palpable +uneasiness of Ellis, 'that if you saw her again, you should know her?'</p> + +<p>'Know the Demoiselle? ay, from an hundred, with her beautiful black +marks, and <i>insignia</i> of the order of fisty cuffs.'</p> + +<p>'Look for her, then, man! Look for her!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I shall want small compulsion for that, I promise you; but where am I +to look? Is she here?'</p> + +<p>Ireton nodded.</p> + +<p>'Nay, then, Master Ireton, since you bid me look, lend me, at least, +some sort of spectacles, that may help me to see through a mask; for I +am sure, if she be here, she must wear one.'</p> + +<p>'Are you sure that, if you should see her without one, you should not +mistake her?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, faith, am I!'</p> + +<p>'What will you bet upon it?'</p> + +<p>'What you will, Squire Ireton. A guinea to half a crown.'</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, alarmed now, for her own credit, desired Ireton to enquire +whether her carriage were ready; but Ireton, urged by an unmeaning love +of mischief, which, ordinarily, forms a large portion of the common cast +of no character, would not rest till he had engaged Riley in a wager, +that he could make him look his Demoiselle full in the face, without +recollecting her.</p> + +<p>Riley said that he should examine every lady, now, one by one, and take +special note that she wore her own natural visage.</p> + +<p>He began with the jocund Miss Crawleys, whose familiar gaiety, which +deemed nothing indecorous that afforded them sport, encouraged him, by +its flippant enjoyment, to proceed to others. But he no sooner advanced +to Ellis, than she turned from his investigation, in so much disorder, +that her kind young friend, Lady Barbara, enquired what was the matter.</p> + +<p>She endeavoured to control her alarm, cheerfully answering, that she was +well; but Riley no sooner caught the sound of her voice, than, riotously +clapping his hands, he exclaimed, ''Tis the Demoiselle! Faith, 'tis the +Demoiselle herself! That's her voice! And those are her eyes! And +there's her nose! It's she, faith! And so here are the whites, and the +double face!'</p> + +<p>A laugh from Ireton confirmed his suggestion, while the change of +countenance in Ellis, satisfied all who could see her, that some +discovery was made, or impending, which she earnestly wished concealed.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple, scarcely less disconcerted than herself, enquired again for +her carriage.</p> + +<p>'Faith, this is droll enough! it is, faith!' cried Riley, when his first +transport of surprise subsided. 'So the Demoiselle is a Beauty, after +all! And the finest harp-player, to boot, on this side King David!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ellis, dreadfully distressed, silently bowed down her head.</p> + +<p>'I should like to have a model of her face,' continued Riley; 'to find +out how it's done. What a fine fortune she may raise, if she will take +up a patent for beauty-making! I know many a dowager that would give +half she is worth for the secret. I should think you would not be sorry +yourself, Mrs Maple, to have a little touch of the art. It would not do +you much harm, I can tell you, Ma'am.'</p> + +<p>The scornful looks of Mrs Maple alone announced that she heard him; and +the disturbed ones of Ellis made the same confession; but both were +equally mute.</p> + +<p>'You'll pay for your sport, I can tell you, Master Ireton!' Riley +triumphantly went on; 'for I shall claim my wager. But pray, Demoiselle, +what's become of all those plaisters and patches, as well as of the +black coat over the skin? One could see nothing but eyes and nose. And +very handsome eyes and nose they are. I don't know that I ever saw +finer; I don't, faith! However, ladies, you need none of you despair of +turning out beauties, in the long run, if she'll lend you a hand; for +the ugliest Signora among you i'n't so frightful as poor Demoiselle was, +when we saw her first; with her bruises, and scars, and bandages.'</p> + +<p>Overwhelmed with shame at this disgraceful, and, in public, +unanswereable attack, Ellis, utterly confounded, was painfully revolving +in her mind, what vindication she might venture to offer; and whether it +were better to speak at once, or afterwards, and individually; when, at +the intimation of these deceits and disguises, the whole party turned +towards her with alarmed and suspicious looks; and then abruptly arose +to depart; Lady Kendover, taking the hand of her young niece, who still +would have fondled Ellis, leading the way. Miss Arbe alone, of all the +society to which Ellis was known, personally fearing to lose her useful +mistress, ventured to whisper, 'Good morning, Miss Ellis: I'll call upon +you to-morrow.' While all others, with cast-up eyes and hands, hurried +off, as if contagion were in her vicinity.</p> + +<p>Riley, claiming his wager, followed Ireton.</p> + +<p>Petrified at her own situation, Ellis remained immovable, till she was +roused from her consternation, by a familiar offer, from Sir Lyell +Sycamore, to attend her home.</p> + +<p>Fearful of fresh offence, she recovered from her dismay to rise; but, +when she saw that the bold Baronet was fixed to accompany her, the dread +of such an appearance to any one that she might meet, after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> the +disastrous scene in which she had been engaged, frightened her into +again sitting down.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell stood, or sauntered before her, meaning to mark her, to the +gentlemen who still lingered, observant and curious, in the room, as his +property; till Mr Tedman, coming back from an inner apartment, begged, +in the civilest manner, leave to pass, and carry a glass of white wine +negus to the young music-player, which he had saved out of a bowl that +he had been making for himself.</p> + +<p>'Oh, by all manner of means, Sir!' cried Sir Lyell, sneeringly giving +way: 'pray don't let me mar your generosity!'</p> + +<p>Ellis declined the negus, but, rejoicing in any safe and honest +protection, entreated that Mr Tedman would have the goodness to order +one of his servants to see her home.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, sneeringly, and again placing himself before her, demanded to +play the part of the domestic; and Mr Tedman, extremely disconcerted, as +well as disappointed by the rejection of his negus, hung back ashamed.</p> + +<p>Ellis, now, feeling a call for the most spirited exertion to rescue +herself from this impertinence, begged Mr Tedman to stop; and then, +addressing the young Baronet with dignity, said, 'If, as I believe, I +have the honour of speaking to Sir Lyell Sycamore, he will rather, I +trust, thank me, than be offended, that I take the liberty to assure +him, that he will gratify the sister of his friend,—gratify Lady Aurora +Granville,—by securing me from being molested.'</p> + +<p>Had she named Lord Melbury, the ready suspicions of libertinism would +but have added to the familiarity of the Baronet's pursuit; but the +mention of Lady Aurora Granville startled him into respect, and he +involuntarily bowed, as he made way for her to proceed. She then eagerly +followed Mr Tedman out of the room; while Sir Lyell merely vented his +spleen, by joining some of his remaining companions, in a hearty laugh, +at the manners, the dress, the age, and the liberality of her chosen +esquire.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + + +<p>The shock given to Ellis by this scene of apparent detection and +disgrace, prevented not Mr Tedman from exulting at a mark of preference, +which he considered as a letting down to what he called the quality. He +ordered his footman to see Miss safe to her lodging; and regretted that +he could not take her to it in his own coach, 'which I would certainly, +my dear, do,' he said, 'but for the particularity of my darter, who will +never consent to the most minimus thing in the world, but what she +thinks will be agreeable to the quality.'</p> + +<p>Ellis passed the rest of the day in the most severe inquietude, +ruminating upon the ill effects that would probably result from an +attack which she had been so little able to parry. Vainly she expected +Miss Arbe, from whom alone she had any hope of support; and the +apprehension of being forsaken even by her professed patroness, made the +thought of appearing before Lady Kendover grow seriously formidable: but +all fears were trifling compared to the consternation with which they +terminated, when, the next day, while fancying that every sound would +prove the chaise of Miss Arbe, hour after hour passed, without any +carriage, any message; and, finally, the night closed in by the +reception of a note from the steward of Lady Kendover, to demand the +account of Miss Ellis, as Lady Barbara Frankland did not purpose to take +any more lessons.</p> + +<p>The abruptness of this dismission, and the indelicacy of sending it +through a domestic, were not more offensive to the feelings of Ellis, +than the consequences to be expected from such a measure of hostility, +were menacing to her present plan of existence.</p> + +<p>She was still deliberating in what manner to address some sort of +self-justification to Lady Kendover, when a similar note arrived from +the butler of Lady Arramede.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>The indignant sensations which these testimonies of utter contempt +excited in Ellis, were embittered by every kind of perplexity. She had +not courage to present herself to any other of her scholars, while +uncertain whether she might not meet with treatment equally scornful; +and in this state of depression and panic, she rejoiced to receive a +visit, the following morning, even from Miss Bydel, as some mark of +female countenance and protection.</p> + +<p>Yet the opening to this interview seemed not very propitious: Miss +Bydel, instead of ascending the stairs, as usual, seated herself with +Miss Matson, and sent for Ellis; who obeyed the call with extreme ill +will, conscious how little fit for a milliner's shop, was either what +she might be called upon to say, or what she might be constrained to +hear.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel failed not to take this opportunity of making sundry +enquiries into the manner in which Ellis passed her time; whom she saw; +whither she went; what sort of table she kept; and what allowance she +made for the trouble which she gave to the servants.</p> + +<p>'Well, my dear,' she cried, 'this is but a bad affair, this business of +the day before yesterday. I have been to Mrs Maple, and I have worked +out the truth, at last; though nobody would believe the pains it cost me +before I could sift it to the bottom. However, the most extraordinary +part is, that when all came to all, she did not tell me who you were! +for she persists she don't so much as know it herself!'</p> + +<p>The surprise of the milliners, and the disturbance of Ellis, were alike +unheeded by Miss Bydel, whose sole solicitude was to come to the point.</p> + +<p>'Now the thing I principally want to know, my dear, is whether this is +true? for though I would not for ever so much doubt Mrs Maple's word, +this is such a prodigious old thing, that I can't give it the least +credit.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, in much confusion, besought that she would have the goodness to +walk up stairs.</p> + +<p>'No, no; we are very well here; only be so kind as to let me know why +you make such a secret of who you are? Every body asks me the question, +go where I will; and it's making me look no better than a fool; to think +I should be at such an expence as to hire a harp for a person I know +nothing of.'</p> + +<p>Affrighted at the effect which this display of her poverty, and +detection of its mystery, might produce upon her hostess, Ellis was +again entreating for a <i>tête à tête</i>, when Mr Riley, descending from +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> room to pass through the shop, exclaimed, 'Ah ha! the Demoiselle? +Why I had never the pleasure to meet you down here before, Ma'am?'</p> + +<p>'Well, if this is not the gentleman who told us all those odd things +about you at the concert!' cried Miss Bydel: 'I should not be sorry to +speak a word or two to him myself. You were one of the passengers, I +think, Sir, who came over in the same boat with Mrs Maple? And glad +enough you must have been to have got back; though I suppose you were +only there upon business, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'Not a whit, Madam! not a whit, faith! I never make bad better. I make +that a rule. I always state the worst, that is to say the truth, in my +own case as well as in my neighbour's.'</p> + +<p>'Why then pray, Sir, if it's no secret,—what might be the reason of +your going over to such a place?'</p> + +<p>'Curiosity, Madam! Neither more nor less. I was agog to know what those +famous Mounseers were about; and whether there were any Revolution +really going forward amongst them, or not. For I used often to think +they invented tales here in England, basking by their own fire-sides, +that had not an atom of truth in them. I thought so, faith! But I paid +for my scepticism! I was cast into prison, by Master Robertspierre, a +demon of an attorney, that now rules the roast in France, without +knowing what the devil it was for; while I was only gaping about me, to +see what sort of a figure Mounseer would make as a liberty boy! But I +shall be content to look after my own liberty in future! I shall, faith. +So one's never too old to learn; as you may find yourself, Madam, if +you'll take the trouble to cross the little canal, on a visit to Master +Robertspierre. He'll teach you gratis, I give you my word, if you have a +fancy to take a few lessons. He won't mind your age of a fig, any more +than he did mine; though I imagine you to be some years my senior.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know what you may imagine, Sir,' said Miss Bydel; 'but you +can't know much of the matter, I think, if you have not seen my +register.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, Ma'am, you may just as well be my junior, for any knowledge I have +about it. Women look old so much sooner than men, that there is no +judging by the exteriour.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Sir, and if they do, I don't know any great right you have to +call them to account for it.'</p> + +<p>'Bless me, Sir!' cried Miss Matson, 'if you knew Miss Ellis all this +time, why did you ask us all so many questions about her, as if you had +never seen her before in your life?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Why I never had! That's the very problem that wants solving! Though I +had spent a good seven or eight hours as near to her as I am to you, I +never had seen her before!'</p> + +<p>'Oh! you mean because of her disguise, I take it, Sir?' said Miss Bydel; +'but I heard all that at the very first, from Miss Selina Joddrel; but +Miss Elinor told us it was only put on for escaping; so I thought no +more about it; for Mrs Maple assured us she was a young lady of family +and fashion, for else she would never, she said, have let her act with +us. And this we all believed easily enough, as Mrs Maple's own nieces +were such chief performers; so that who could have expected such a turn +all at once, as fell out the day before yesterday, of her proving to be +such a mere nothing?'</p> + +<p>Ellis would now have retired, but Miss Bydel, holding her gown, desired +her to wait.</p> + +<p>'Faith, Madam, as to her being a mere nothing,' said Riley, 'I don't +know that any of us are much better than nothing, when we sift ourselves +to our origin. What are you yourself, Ma'am, for one?'</p> + +<p>'I, Sir? I'm descended from a gentleman's family, I assure you! I don't +know what you mean by such a question!'</p> + +<p>'Why then you are descended from somebody who was rich without either +trouble or merit; for that's all that your gentleman is, as far as +belongs to birth. The man amongst your grand-dads who first got the +money, is the only one worth praising; and he, who was he? Why some one +who baked sugar, or brewed beer, better than his neighbours; or who +slashed and hewed his fellow-creatures with greater fury than they could +slash and hew him in return; or who culled the daintiest herbs for the +cure of gluttony; or filled his coffers with the best address, in +emptying those of the knaves and fools who had been set together by the +ears. Such, Ma'am, are the origins of your English gentlemen.'</p> + +<p>'That, Sir, is as people take things. But the most particular part of +the affair here, is, that here is a person that we have got in the very +midst of us, without so much as knowing her name! for, would you believe +it, Miss Matson, they tell me she had no name at all, till I gave her +one? For I was the very first person that called her Miss Ellis! And so +here I have been a godmother, without going to a christening!'</p> + +<p>Miss Matson expressed her surprise, with a look towards Ellis that +visibly marked a diminution of respect; while one of the young women,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +who had fetched Ellis a chair, at the back of which she had been +courteously standing, now freely dropt into it herself.</p> + +<p>'But pray, Sir, as we are upon the subject,' continued Miss Bydel, 'give +me leave to ask what you thought of this Miss we don't know who, at the +beginning.'</p> + +<p>'Faith, Madam, I had less to do with her than any of them. The +Demoiselle and I did not hit it off together at all. I could never get +her to speak for the life of me. Ask what I would, she gave me no +answer. I was in a devil of an ill humour with her sometimes; but I hope +the Demoiselle will excuse that, I was so plaguy qualmish: for when a +man with an empty stomach can't eat but he turns sick, nor fast, but he +feels his bowels nipt with hunger, he is in no very good temper of mind +for being sociable. However, the Demoiselle must know but little of +human nature, if she fancies she can judge before breakfast what a man +may be after dinner.'</p> + +<p>They were here broken in upon by the appearance of Mr Tedman, who, +gently opening the shop-door, and carefully closing it again before he +spoke or looked round, was beginning a whispering enquiry after the +young music-maker; when, perceiving her, he exclaimed, 'Mercy me, why, +where were my eyes? Why, my dear, I never hapt to light upon you in the +shop before! And I often pop in, to buy me a bit of ribbon for my +pig-tail; or some odd little matter or other. However, I have called +now, on purpose to have a little bit of chat with you, about that +consort of music that we was at the day before yesterday.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, in a low voice, enquired the name of this gentleman; and, +hearing that he was a man of large fortune, said to Ellis, 'Why you seem +to be intimate friends together, my dear! Pray, Sir, if one may ask such +a thing, how long may you and this young person have known one another?'</p> + +<p>'How long, Ma'am? Why I'd never sate eyes upon Miss a fortnight ago! But +she's music-learner to my darter. And they tell me she's one of the +best, which I think like enough to be true, for she tudles upon them +wires the prettiest of any thing I ever heard.'</p> + +<p>'And pray, Sir, if you have no objection to telling it, how might she +come to be recommended to you? for I never heard Miss Arbe mention +having the pleasure of your acquaintance.'</p> + +<p>'Miss Arbe? I don't know that ever I heard the lady's name in my life, +Ma'am. Though, if she's one of the quality, my darter has, I make small +doubt, for she sets great store upon knowing the names<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> of all the +quality; put in case she can light upon any body that can count them +over to her. But the way I heard of this music-miss was at the +book-shop, where my darter always makes me go to subscribe, that our +names, she says, may come out in print, with the rest of the gentry. And +there my darter was put upon buying one of those tudeling things +herself; for she heard say as a young lady was come over from France, +that learns all the quality. So that was enough for my darter; for +there's nothing the mode like coming from France. It makes any thing go +down. And 'twould be a remarkable cheap job, they said, for the young +lady was in such prodigious want of cash, as one Miss Bydel, her +particular friend, told us in the shop, that she'd jump at any price; +put in case she could but get paid. So, upon that—'</p> + +<p>The narration was here interrupted by Sir Lyell Sycamore, who, having +caught a glimpse of Ellis through the glass-door, entered the shop with +a smile of admiration and pleasure; though, at sight of Mr Tedman, it +was changed into one of insolence and derision. With a careless swing of +his hat, and of his whole person, he negligently said, that he hoped she +had caught no cold at the concert; or at least none beyond what the +cakes, the bread and butter, or the negus, of her gallant and liberal +admirer, had been able to cure.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, much affronted, mumbled the gilt head of his cane; Ellis +gravely looked another way, without deigning to make any answer; and +Riley exclaimed, 'O, faith, if you expect a reply from the Demoiselle, +except she's in a talking humour, you'll find yourself confoundedly out +in your reckoning! You will, faith! Unless you light upon something that +happens to hit her taste, you may sail from the north pole to the south, +and return home by a voyage round the world, before she'll have been +moved to squeeze out a syllable.'</p> + +<p>The young Baronet, disdaining the plain appearance, and rough dialect +and manners of Riley, nearly as much as he despised the more civil +garrulity and meanness of Tedman, was turning scoffingly upon his heel, +when he overheard the latter say, in a low voice, to Ellis, 'Suppose we +two go up stairs to your room, to have our talk, my dear; for I don't +see what we get by staying down with the quality, only to be made game +of.'</p> + +<p>Highly provoked, yet haughtily smiling, 'I see,' said the Baronet, 'for +whose interest I am to apply, if I wish for the honour of a private +audience!'</p> + +<p>'Well, if you do,' said Mr Tedman, muttering between his teeth, 'it's +only a sign Miss knows I would not misbehave myself.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, now, not able to keep his countenance, went to the other end +of the shop; and pitched upon the prettiest and youngest of Miss +Matson's work-women, to ask some advice relative to his cravats.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, in doubt whether this retreat were the effect of contempt, or +of being worsted, whispered to Ellis, 'One knows nothing of life, as one +may say, without coming among the quality! I should have thought, put in +case any body had asked me my opinion, that that gentleman was quite +behind hand as to his manners; for I'll warrant it would not be taken +well from me, if I was to behave so! but any thing goes down from the +quality, by way of politeness.'</p> + +<p>'Sir Lyell Sycamore,' said Miss Bydel, who was as hard, though not as +bold as himself, 'if it won't be impertinent, I should be glad to know +how you first got acquainted with this young person? for I can't make +out how it is so many people happen to know her. Not that I mean in the +least to dive into any body's private affairs; but I have a particular +reason for what I ask; so I shall take it as a favour, Sir Lyell, if +you'll tell me.'</p> + +<p>'Most willingly, Ma'am, upon condition you will be so kind as to tell +me, in return, whether this young lady is under your care?'</p> + +<p>'Under my care, Sir Lyell? Don't you know who I am, then?'</p> + +<p>A supercilious smile said No.</p> + +<p>'Well, that's really odd enough! Did not you see me with Mrs Maple at +that blind harper's concert?'</p> + +<p>'Faith, Madam,' cried Riley, 'when a man has but one pair of eyes, you +elderly ladies can't have much chance of getting a look, if a young lass +is by. The Demoiselle deserves a full pair to herself.'</p> + +<p>'Why yes, Sir, that's true enough!' said Mr Tedman, simpering, 'the +young lady deserves a pair of eyes to herself! She's well enough to look +at, to be sure!'</p> + +<p>'If she has your eyes to herself, Sir,' said Sir Lyell, contemptuously, +'she must be happy indeed!'</p> + +<p>'She should have mine, if she would accept them, though I had an +hundred!' cried Riley.</p> + +<p>Ellis, now, was only restrained from forcing her way up stairs, through +the apprehension of exciting fresh sneers, by an offered pursuit of Mr +Tedman.</p> + +<p>'Don't mind them, my dear,' cried Miss Bydel; 'I'll soon set them right. +If you have any naughty thoughts, gentlemen, relative to this young +person, you must give me leave to inform you that you are mistaken; for +though I don't know who she is, nor where she comes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> from, nor even so +much as what is her name; except that I gave her myself, without in the +least meaning it; still you may take my word for it she is a person of +character; for Mrs Maple herself, though she confessed how the young +woman played upon her, with one contrivance after another, to ferret +herself into the house; declared, for positive, that she was quite too +particular about her acquaintances, to let her stay, if she had not been +a person of virtue. And, besides, Sir Lyell, my young Lord Melbury—'</p> + +<p>At this name Ellis started and changed colour.</p> + +<p>'My young Lord Melbury, Sir Lyell, as young lords will do, offered to +make her his mistress; and, I can give you my word for it, she +positively refused him. This his young lordship told to Mr Ireton, from +whom I had it; that is from Mrs Maple, which is the same thing. Is it +not true Mrs Ellis? or Mrs something else, I don't know what?'</p> + +<p>The most forcible emotions were now painted upon the countenance of +Ellis, who, unable to endure any longer such offensive discourse, +disengaged herself from Miss Bydel, and, no longer heeding Mr Tedman, +hurried up stairs.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell Sycamore stared after her, for a few minutes, with mingled +surprise, curiosity, admiration, and pique; and then loitered out of the +shop.</p> + +<p>Riley, shouting aloud, said the Demoiselle always amused him; and +followed.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, not daring, after the insinuations of Sir Lyell, to attempt +pursuing the young <i>music-maker</i>, produced a paper-packet, consisting of +almonds, and raisins, and French plums; saying, 'I intended to pop these +nice things upon that young Miss's table, unbeknown to her, for a +surprise; for I did not like to come empty handed; for I know your young +housekeepers never afford themselves little dainties of this kind; so I +poked together all that was left, out of all the plates, after desert, +yesterday, when we happened to have a very handsome dinner, because of +company. So you'll be sure to give her the whole, Mrs Matson. Don't +leave 'em about, now! They are but tempting things.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel remained last; unable to prevail upon herself to depart, +while she could suggest a single interrogatory for the gratification of +her curiosity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + + +<p>The retreat sought by Ellis, from a recital as offensive to her ear as +it was afflicting to her heart, was not long uninterrupted: Miss Arbe, +next, made her appearance. Gravely, but civilly, she lamented the +disturbance at the concert; paradingly assuring Ellis that she should +have called sooner, but that she had incessantly been occupied in +endeavours to serve her. She had conversed with every one of her +scholars; but nothing was yet quite decided, as to what would be the +result of that strange attack. Poor Mrs Maple, to whom, of course, she +had made her first visit, seemed herself in the utmost distress; one +moment repining, that she had suffered her charity to delude her into +countenancing a person so unknown; and another, vindicating herself +warmly from all possible imputation of indiscretion, by the most +positive affirmations of the unblemished reputation of Miss Ellis; and +these assertions, most fortunately, had, at length, determined Miss +Bydel to support her, for how else, as she justly asked, should she get +the money repaid that she had advanced for the harp?</p> + +<p>'And Miss Bydel,' continued Miss Arbe, 'like all other old maids, is so +precise about those sort of particulars, that, though she has not the +smallest influence with any body of any consequence, as to any thing +else, she is always depended upon for that sort of thing. We must not, +therefore, shew her that we despise her, for she may be useful enough; +especially in letting you have the harp, you know, that we may still +enjoy a little music together. For I can make her do whatever I please +for the sake of my company.'</p> + +<p>Ellis had long known that the civilities which she owed to Miss Arbe, +had their sole motive in selfishness; but the total carelessness of +giving them any other colour, became, now, so glaring, that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> could +with difficulty conceal the decrease either of her respect or of her +gratitude.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, however, was but little troubled with that species of +delicacy which is solicitous to watch, that it may spare the feelings of +others. She continued, therefore, what she had to offer, hurrying to +come to a conclusion, as she had not, she declared, three minutes to +stay.</p> + +<p>If Lady Kendover, she said, could be brought over, every body would +follow; not excepting Lady Arramede, who was obliged to be so great a +niggard, in the midst of her splendid expences, that she would be quite +enchanted to renew her daughter's lessons, with so economical a +mistress, if once she could be satisfied that she would be sustained by +other persons of fashion. But Lady Kendover, who did not wait to be led, +protested that she could by no means place her niece again under the +tuition of Miss Ellis, till the concert-scene should be explained.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe then asked whether Ellis would give it any explanation.</p> + +<p>Ellis dejectedly answered, that she could offer no other, than that +necessity had forced her to disguise herself, that she might make her +escape.</p> + +<p>'Well but, then, people say,' cried Miss Arbe, 'now that your escape is +made, why don't you speak out? That's the cry every where.'</p> + +<p>Ellis looked down, distressed, ashamed; and Miss Arbe declared that she +had not another moment at present, for discussion, but would call again, +to settle what should be done on Monday. Meantime, she had brought some +new music with her, which she wished to try; for the time was so +unaccountable, that she could not make out a bar of it.</p> + +<p>Ellis heartily felicitated herself upon every occasion, by which she +could lessen obligations of which she now felt the full weight, and, +with the utmost alacrity, took her harp.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe here had so much to study, so many passages to pick out, and +such an eagerness to practise till she could conquer their difficulties, +that she soon forgot that she had not a moment to spare; and two hours +already had been consecrated to her improvement, when intelligence was +brought that Mr Tedman's carriage was come for Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>'You must not accept it for the world!' cried Miss Arbe. 'If, at the +moment people of distinction are shy of you, you are known to cultivate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +amongst mechanics, and people of that sort, it's all over with you. +Persons of fashion can't possibly notice you again.'</p> + +<p>She then added, that, after the scene of the preceding day, Miss Ellis +must make it a point to let the first house that she entered be that of +somebody of condition. She might go amongst trades-people as much as she +pleased, when once she was established amongst persons of rank; for +trades-people were so much the best paymasters, that nobody could be +angry if artists were partial to them; but they must by no means take +the lead; nor suppose that they were to have any hours but those that +would not suit other people. As she could not, therefore, re-commence +her career at Lady Kendover's, or at Lady Arramede's, she must try to +get received at Miss Sycamore's;—or, if that should be too difficult, +at the Miss Crawleys, who would object to nothing, as they cared for +nobody's opinion, and made it a rule to follow nobody's advice. And this +they took so little pains to hide from the world, that their countenance +would not be of the least service, but for their living with Sir +Marmaduke, who was scrupulosity itself. This being the case, joined to +their extreme youth, they had not yet been set down, as they must +necessarily be, in a few years, for persons of no weight, and rather +detrimental than advantageous to people of no consequence. At present, +therefore, Ellis might safely make her court to them, as she could +always drop them when they became dangerous, or of no use. And just now +she must snap at whoever and whatever could help to bring her again into +credit. And the Miss Crawleys, though each of them was as wilful as a +spoiled child, as full of tricks as a schoolboy, and of as boisterous +mirth as a dairy-maid, were yet sisters of a baronet, and born of a very +good family; and therefore they would be more serviceable to her than +that vulgar Miss Tedman, even though she were an angel.</p> + +<p>Ellis listened in silent, and scarcely concealed disdain, to these +worldly precepts; yet Miss Tedman was so utterly disagreeable, and the +sneers of Sir Lyell Sycamore had added such repugnance to her distaste +of the civilities of Mr Tedman, that she did not attempt opposing the +dictatorial proceedings of Miss Arbe; who gave orders, that the coachman +should be told that Miss Ellis was indisposed, and sent her compliments, +but could not wait upon Miss Tedman till the next week.</p> + +<p>She then again went on with her unacknowledged, but not less, to her +tutress, laborious lesson, till she was obliged to hasten to her +toilette, for her dinner-engagement; leaving Ellis in the utmost alarm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +for her whole scheme; and tormented with a thousand fears, because +unable to fix upon any standard for the regulation of her conduct.</p> + +<p>The next day was Sunday. Ellis had constantly on that day attended +divine worship, during the month which she had spent at Brighthelmstone; +and now, to a call stronger than usual for the consolation which it +might afford her, she joined an opinion, that to stay away, in her +present circumstances, might have an air of absconding, or of +culpability.</p> + +<p>She was placed, as usual, in a pew, with some other decent strangers, by +a fee to the pew-opener; but she had the mortification to find, when the +service was over, that the dry clear frost, of the latter end of March, +which had enabled her to walk to the church, was broken up by a heavy +shower of rain. She had been amongst the first to hurry away, in the +hope of escaping unnoticed, by hastening down the hill, on which the +church is built, before the higher ranks of the congregation left their +pews; but, arrived at the porch, she was compelled to stop: she was +unprovided with an umbrella, and the rain was so violent that, without +one, she must have been wet through in a minute.</p> + +<p>She would have made way back to the pew which she had quitted, to wait +for more moderate weather; but the whole congregation was coming forth, +and there was no re-passing.</p> + +<p>She was the more sensibly vexed at being thus impeded, from finding +herself, almost immediately, joined by Sir Lyell Sycamore; whose +eagerness to speak to her by no means concealed his embarrassment in +what manner to address, or to think of her. He was making, various +offers of service; to find the pew-opener; to give her a seat to +herself; to fetch her a chaise from the nearest inn; or an umbrella from +his own carriage; when Mrs and Miss Brinville, who hurried from their +pew, the instant that they saw the Baronet depart, cast upon them looks +of such suspicious disdain, that he deemed it necessary, though he +smiled and appeared gratified by their undisguised pique, to walk on +with them to their carriage; whispering, however, to Ellis that he +should return to take her under his care.</p> + +<p>Ellis, extremely shocked, could not endure to remain on the same spot, +as if awaiting his services; she glided, therefore, into a corner, close +to the door; hoping that the crowd, which incommoded, would at least +protect her from being seen: but she had not been stationed there a +moment, before she had the unwelcome surprise of hearing the words, +'Why, Mr Stubbs, if here is not Miss Ellis!' and finding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> that she had +placed herself between young Gooch, the farmer's son, and Mr Stubbs, the +old steward.</p> + +<p>'Good now, Ma'am,' the young man cried, 'why I have never seen you since +that night of our all acting together in that play, when you out-topped +us all so to nothing! I never saw the like, not even at the real play. +And some of the judges said, you were not much short of what they be at +the grand London theatre itself. I suppose, Ma'am, you were pretty well +used to acting in France? for they say all the French are actors or +dancers, except just them that go to the wars. I should like to know, +Ma'am, whether they pop off them players and fidlers at the same rate +they do the rest? for, if they do, it's a wonder how they can get 'em to +go on acting and piping, and jiggetting about, and such like, if they +know they are so soon to have their heads off, all the same. You could +not get we English now to do so, just before being hanged, or shot. But +the French a'n't very thoughtful. They're always ready for a jig.'</p> + +<p>'I am sorry I had no notice of seeing you here to day, Ma'am,' said Mr +Stubbs, 'for if I had, I would have brought my bit of paper with me, +that I've writ down my queries upon, about raising the rents in those +parts, and the price that land holds in general; and about a purchase +that I am advised to make.—'</p> + +<p>'But I should like much to know, Ma'am,' resumed Gooch, 'whether it's a +truth, what I've been told at our club, that your commonest soldier in +France, when once he can bring proof he has killed you his dozen or so, +with his own hand, is made a general upon the spot? If that's the case, +to be sure it's no great wonder there's so much blood shed; for such +encouragement as that's enough to make soldiers of the very women and +children.'</p> + +<p>'Why, I am told, the French have no great head,' said Mr Stubbs, 'except +for the wars; and that's what makes the land so cheap; for, I am told, +you may buy an estate, of a thousand or two acres, for an old song. And +that's the reason I am thinking of making a purchase. The only point is, +how to see the premises without the danger of crossing the seas; and how +to strike the bargain.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, thus beset, was not sorry to be joined by Mr Scope, who, though +more formal and tedious than either of the others, was a gentleman, +spoke in a lower tone of voice, and attracted less attention.</p> + +<p>'I am happy, Ma'am,' he said, 'to have met with you again; for I have +wished for some time to hold a little discourse with you, relative to +the rites practised abroad, as to that Goddess of Reason, that, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> I am +credibly informed, has been set up by Mr Robert-Spierre. Now I should +wish to enquire, what good they expect to accrue by proclaiming, one +day, that there is no religion, and then, the next day, making a new one +by the figure of a woman. It is hardly to be supposed that such sort of +fickleness can serve to make a government respectable. And as to so many +females being called Goddesses of Reason,—for I am assured there are +some score of them,—one don't very well see what that means; the ladies +in general,—I speak without offence, as it's out of their line,—not +being particularly famous for their reason; at least not here; and I +should suppose they can hardly be much more so in that light nation. The +Pagans, it is true, though from what mode of thinking we are now at a +loss to discover, thought proper to have Reason represented by a female; +and that, perhaps, may be the cause of the French adopting the same +notion, on account of their ancient character for politeness; though I +cannot much commend their sagacity, taken in a political point of view, +in putting the female head, which is very well in its proper sphere, +upon coping, if I may use such an expression, with the male.'</p> + +<p>This harangue, which Mr Stubbs and young Gooch, though too respectful to +interrupt, waited, impatiently, to hear finished, might have lasted +unbroken for half an hour, if Miss Bydel, in passing by with her +brother, to get to her carriage, had not called out, 'Bless me, Mr +Scope, what are you talking of there, with that young person? Have you +been asking her about that business at the blind harper's concert? I +should be glad to know, myself, Miss Ellis, as I call you, what you +intend to do next? Have any of your scholars let you go to them again? +And what says Miss Arbe to all this? Does she think you'll ever get the +better of it?'</p> + +<p>Mr Bydel, here, begged his sister to invite Mr Scope to take a place in +the carriage.</p> + +<p>Young Gooch, then, would have renewed his questions relative to the +generals, but that, upon pronouncing again her name, Mr Tedman, who, +with his daughter, was passing near the porch, to examine whether they +could arrive safely at their carriage, called out, 'Well, if you are not +here, too, my dear! Why how will you do to get home? You'll be draggled +up to your chin, if you walk; put in case you haven't got your umbrella, +and your pattens. But I suppose some of your quality friends will give +you a lift; for I see one of 'em just coming. It's Miss Ellis, the +music-maker, Ma'am,' added he, to Lady Arramede, who just then came out +with Miss Arramede; 'the young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> girl as teaches our darters the musics; +and she'll spoil all her things, poor thing, if somebody don't give her +a lift home.'</p> + +<p>Lady Arramede, without moving a muscle of her face, or deigning to turn +towards either the object or the agent of this implied request, walked +on in silent contempt.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, extremely offended, said, 'The quality always think they may +behave any how! and Lady Arrymud is not a bit to choose, from the worst +among them. And even my own darter,' he whispered, 'is just as bad as +the best; for she'd pout at me for a month to come, put in case I was to +ride you home in our coach, now that the quality's taken miff at you.'</p> + +<p>During this whisper, which Ellis strove vainly to avoid hearing, and +which the familiar junction of young Gooch, who was related to Mr +Tedman, rendered more observable, she had the mortification of being +evidently seen, though no longer, as heretofore, courteously +acknowledged, by all her scholars and acquaintances. Miss Sycamore, the +hardiest, passed, staring disdainfully in her face; Mrs Maple, the most +cowardly, and who was accidentally at Brighthelmstone, pretended to have +hurt her foot, that she might look down: the Miss Crawleys screamed out, +'The Ellis! The Ellis! look, The Marmaduke, 'tis The Ellis!' Sir +Marmaduke, turning back to address Miss Arbe, said, with concern, 'Is it +possible, Madam, 'tis The Ellis, the elegant Ellis, that can join such +low company?' Miss Arbe shrugged her shoulders, crying, 'What can one do +with such people?' Lady Kendover's eyes kept carefully a +straight-forward direction; while Lady Barbara, whom she held by one +hand, incessantly kissed the other at Ellis, with ingenuous and +undisguised warmth of kindness; an action which was eagerly repeated by +Selina, who closely followed her ladyship.</p> + +<p>Ireton, who brought up the rear, quitted the group, to approach Ellis, +and say, 'I am, positively, quite confounded, my dear Miss Ellis, at the +mischief my confounded giddiness has brought about. I had not an idea of +it, I assure you. I merely meant to play upon that confounded queer +fellow, Riley. He's so cursed troublesome, and so confounded free, that +I hate him horribly. That's all, I assure you.'</p> + +<p>Ellis would make no answer, and he was forced to run after Selina.</p> + +<p>The rain being, now, much abated, the congregation began to disperse, +and Mr Tedman was compelled to attend his daughter; but he recommended +the young music-maker to the care of his cousin Gooch; whose assistance +she was declining, when she was again joined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> by Sir Lyell Sycamore, +with a capacious umbrella, under which he begged to be her escort.</p> + +<p>She decidedly refused his services; but he protested that, if she would +not let him walk by her side, he would follow her, like an Indian slave, +holding the umbrella over her head, as if she were an Indian queen.</p> + +<p>Vexed and displeased, and preferring any other protection, she addressed +herself to old Mr Stubbs, who still stood under the porch, and begged +him to have the kindness to see her home.</p> + +<p>Mr Stubbs, extremely flattered, complied. The other candidates vainly +opposed the decision: they found that her decree was irrevocable, and +that, when once it was pronounced, her silence was resolute. Mr Stubbs, +nevertheless, had by no means the enjoyment that he expected from this +distinction; for Ellis had as little inclination as she had spirit, to +exert herself for answering the numerous enquiries, relative to lands +and rents, which he poured into her ears.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + + +<p>Harassed and comfortless, Ellis passed the remainder of the day in +painful recollections and apprehensive forebodings; though utterly +unable, either by retrospection to avoid, or by anticipation to prepare +for the evils that she might have to encounter.</p> + +<p>The next morning, Miss Arbe came to her usual appointment. Though glad, +in a situation so embarrassed, to see the only person whom she could +look upon as a guide, her opinion of Miss Arbe, already lowered during +that lady's last visit, had been so completely sunk, from her joining in +the cry raised at the church, that she received her with undisguised +coldness; and an open remonstrance against the cruel injustice of +ascribing to choice, circumstances the most accidental, and a position +as unavoidable, as it had been irksome and improper.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, who came into the room with a gravely authoritative air, +denoting that she expected not simply a welcome, but the humblest +gratitude, for the condescension of her visit, was astonished by the +courage, and disconcerted by the truth of this exhortation. She was by +no means ignorant how unpleasantly Ellis might have been struck by her +behaviour at the church; but she thought her in a condition too forlorn +to feel, much less to express any resentment: and she meant, by entering +the chamber with an wholly uncustomary importance, to awe her from +hazarding any complaint. But the modesty of Ellis was a mixture of +dignity with humility; if she thought herself oppressed or insulted, the +former predominated; if she experienced consideration and kindness, she +was all meek gratitude in return.</p> + +<p>But when, by the steadiness of her representation, Miss Arbe found her +own mistake, and saw what firmness could exist with indigence, what +spirit could break through difficulty, she disguised her surprise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> and +changed, with alertness, the whole of her manner. She protested that +some other voice must have been taken for her's; declared that she had +always thought nobody so charming as Miss Ellis; railed against the +abominable world for its prejudices; warmly renewed her professions of +regard; and then rang the bell, to order her footman to bring up a +little parcel of music from her coach, which she was sure would delight +them both to try together.</p> + +<p>Ellis suffered the music to be fetched; but, before she would play it, +entreated Miss Arbe to spare a few minutes to discourse upon her +affairs.</p> + +<p>'What, Madam, am I now to do? 'Tis to your influence and exertions I am +indebted for the attempt which I have made, to procure that +self-dependance which I so earnestly covet. I shall always be most ready +to acknowledge this obligation; but, permit me to solicit your +directions, and, I hope, your aid, how I may try to allay the storm +which accident has so cruelly raised around me; but which misconception +alone can make dangerous or durable.'</p> + +<p>'Very true, my dear Miss Ellis, if every body judged you as justly as I +do; but when people have enemies—'</p> + +<p>'Enemies?' repeated Ellis, amazed, 'surely, Madam, you are not +serious?—Enemies? Can I possibly have any enemies? That, in a situation +so little known, and so unlikely to be understood, I may have failed to +create friends, I can easily, indeed, conceive,—but, offending no one, +distressed, yet not importunate, and seeking to obviate my difficulties +by my exertions; to supply my necessities by my labours,—surely I +cannot have been so strangely, so unaccountably unfortunate as to have +made myself any enemies?'</p> + +<p>'Why you know, my dear Miss Ellis, how I blamed you, from the first, for +that nonsense of telling Miss Brinville that she had no ear for music: +what could it signify whether she had or not? She only wanted to learn +that she might say she learnt; and you had no business to teach, but +that you might be paid for teaching.'</p> + +<p>'And is it possible, Madam, that I can have made her really my enemy, +merely by forbearing to take what I thought would be a dishonourable +advantage, of her ignorance of that defect?'</p> + +<p>'Nay, she has certainly no great reason to be thankful, for she would +never have found it out; and I am sure nobody else would ever have told +it her! She is firmly persuaded that you only wanted to give Sir Lyell +Sycamore an ill opinion of her accomplishments; for she declares that +she has seen you unceasingly pursuing him, with all the wiles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +imaginable. One time she surprised you sitting entirely aloof, at the +Welshman's benefit, till he joined you; another time, she caught you +waiting for him in the aisle of the church; and, in short—'</p> + +<p>'Miss Arbe,' cried Ellis, interrupting her, with undisguised resentment, +'if Miss Brinville can be amused by inventing, as well as propagating, +premeditated motives for accidental occurrences, you must permit me to +decline being the auditress, if I cannot escape being the object of such +fictitious censure!'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, somewhat ashamed, repeated her assurances of personal good +opinion; and then, with many pompous professions of regard and concern, +owned that there had been a discussion at Lady Kendover's, after +church-time on Sunday, which had concluded by a final decision, of her +ladyship's, that it was utterly impossible to admit a young woman, so +obscurely involved in strange circumstances, and so ready to fall into +low company, to so confidential a kind of intercourse, as that of giving +instructions to young persons of fashion. Every body else, of course, +would abide by her ladyship's decision, 'and therefore, my dear Miss +Ellis,' she continued, 'I am excessively sorry, but our plan is quite +overset. I am excessively sorry, I assure you; but what can be done? +However, I have not above three minutes to stay, so do let us try that +sweet adagio. I want vastly to conquer the horrid long bars of that +eternal cadenza.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, for a few moments, stood almost stupified with amazement at so +selfish a proposition, at the very instant of announcing so ruinous a +sentence. But disdain soon supplied her with philosophy, and scorning to +make an appeal for a consideration so unfeelingly withheld, she calmly +went to her harp.</p> + +<p>When Miss Arbe, however, rose to be gone, she begged some advice +relative both to the debts which she had contracted, and those which she +was entitled to claim; but Miss Arbe, looking at her watch, and hurrying +on her gloves, declared that she had not a second to lose. 'I shall see +you, however,' she cried, in quitting the chamber, 'as often as +possible: I can find a thousand pretences for coming to Miss Matson's, +without any body's knowing why; so we can still have our delightful +little musical meetings.'</p> + +<p>The contempt inspired by this worldly patroness, so intent upon her own +advantage, so insensible to the distress of the person whom she affected +to protect, occupied the mind of Ellis only while she was present; the +door was no sooner shut, than she felt wholly engrossed by her own +situation, and her disappointment at large. This scheme,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> then, she +cried, is already at an end! this plan for self-dependence is already +abortive! And I have not my disappointment only to bear, it is +accompanied with disgrace, and exposes me to indignity!</p> + +<p>Deeply hurt and strongly affected, how insufficient, she +exclaimed, is a FEMALE to herself! How utterly dependant upon +situation—connexions—circumstance! how nameless, how for ever +fresh-springing are her DIFFICULTIES, when she would owe her existence +to her own exertions! Her conduct is criticised, not scrutinized; her +character is censured, not examined; her labours are unhonoured, and her +qualifications are but lures to ill will! Calumny hovers over her head, +and slander follows her footsteps!</p> + +<p>Here she checked herself; candour, the reigning feature of her mind, +repressed her murmurs. Involved as I am in darkness and obscurity, she +cried, ought I to expect milder judgment? No! I have no right to +complain. Appearances are against me; and to appearances are we not all +either victims or dupes?</p> + +<p>She now turned her thoughts to what measures she must next pursue; but +felt no chance of equally satisfying herself in any other attempt. Music +was her favourite study, and in the practice of that elegant, grateful, +soul-soothing art, she found a softening to her cares, that momentarily, +at least, lulled them to something like forgetfulness. And though this +was a charm that could by no means extend to the dull and dry labour of +teaching, it was a profession so preferable to all others, in her taste, +that she bore patiently and cheerfully the minute, mechanical, and +ear-wearing toil, of giving lessons to the unapt, the stupid, the idle, +and the wilful; for such, unhappily are the epithets most ordinarily due +to beginners in all sciences and studies.</p> + +<p>The necessity, however, of adopting some plan that should both be speedy +and vigorous, was soon alarmingly enforced by a visit from Miss Matson; +who civilly, but with evidently altered manners, told her that she had a +little account to settle with some tradesmen, and that she should take +it as a favour if her own account could be settled for her lodgings.</p> + +<p>There are few attacks to which we are liable, that give a greater shock +to upright and unhackneyed minds, than a pecuniary demand which they +know to be just, yet cannot satisfy. Pride and shame assault them at +once. They are offended by a summons that seems to imply a doubt of +their integrity; while they blush at appearing to have incurred it, by +not having more scrupulously balanced their means with their expences.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> + +<p>She suffered, therefore, the most sensible mortification, from her +inability to discharge, without delay, a debt contracted with a +stranger, upon whose generosity she had no claim; upon whose forbearance +she had no tie.</p> + +<p>Far from having this power, she had other bills to expect which she as +little could answer. The twenty pounds of Lady Aurora were already +nearly gone, in articles which did not admit of trust; and in the +current necessaries which her situation indispensably and daily +required. She feared that all the money which was due to her would be +insufficient to pay what she owed; or, at least, would be wholly +employed in that act of justice; which would leave her, therefore, in +the same utter indigence as when she began her late attempt.</p> + +<p>Her look of consternation served but to stimulate the demands of Miss +Matson, which were now accompanied with allusions to the conversation +that had been held in the shop, between Miss Bydel and Mr Riley, +relative to her poverty and disguise, that were designedly offensive.</p> + +<p>Ellis, with an air grave and commanding, desired to be left alone; +calmly saying that Miss Matson should very speedily be satisfied.</p> + +<p>The impulse of her wishes was to have recourse to the deposit of +Harleigh, that her answer to this affront might be an immediate change +of lodging, as well as payment. But this was a thought that scarcely +out-lived the moment of its formation. Alas! she cried, he who alone +could serve me, whose generosity and benevolence would delight in aiding +me, has put it out of my power to accept his smallest assistance! Had my +friendship contented him, how essentially might I have been indebted to +his good offices!</p> + +<p>She was here broken in upon by one of the young apprentices, who, with +many apologies, brought, from the several trades-people, all the little +bills which had been incurred through the directions of Miss Arbe.</p> + +<p>However severely she was shocked, she could not be surprised. She wrote +immediately to communicate these demands to Miss Arbe, stating her +distress, and entreating that her late scholars might be urged to settle +their accounts with the utmost expedition. She felt her right to make +this application to Miss Arbe, whose advice, or rather insistance, had +impelled her into the measures which produced her present difficulties. +Her request, therefore, though urged with deference and respect, had a +tone which she was sure could not justly be disputed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> + +<p>She wished earnestly to address a few words to Lady Kendover, of such a +nature as might speak in her favour to her scholars at large; but so +many obstacles were in the way, to her giving any satisfactory +explanation, that she was obliged to be contented with silent +acquiescence.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe sent word that she was engaged, and could not write. The rest +of the day was passed in great anxiety. But when the following, also, +wore away, without producing any reply, she wrote again, proposing, if +Miss Arbe had not time to attend to her request, to submit it to Miss +Bydel.</p> + +<p>In about half an hour after she had sent this second note, Mr Giles Arbe +desired to be admitted, that he might deliver to her a message from his +cousin.</p> + +<p>She recollected having heard, from Selina, that he was a very absent, +but worthy old man, and that he had the very best temper of any person +breathing.</p> + +<p>She did not hesitate, therefore, to receive him; and his appearance +announced, at once, the latter quality, by a smile the most +inartificial, which was evidently the emanation of a kind heart, opening +to immediate good will at sight of a fellow-creature. It seemed the +visible index of a good and innocent mind; and his manners had the most +singular simplicity.</p> + +<p>His cousin, he said, had desired him to acquaint her, that she could not +call, because she was particularly engaged; and could not write, +because, she was particularly hurried. 'And whenever I have a commission +from my cousin,' he continued, 'I always think it best to deliver it in +her own words, for two or three reasons; one of which is that my own +might not be half as good; for she is the most accomplished young lady +living, I am told; and my other reasons you'll do me a favour by not +asking me to mention.'</p> + +<p>'I may, at least infer, then, Sir, that, when less hurried, and less +engaged, Miss Arbe means to have the goodness to come, or to write to +me?'</p> + +<p>'I don't doubt it: those ladies that she don't like should see her with +you, can hardly keep watching her all day long.'</p> + +<p>'What ladies, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'O, I must not mention names!' returned he, smiling; 'my cousin charged +me not. My fair cousin likes very well to be obeyed. But, may be, so do +you, too? For they tell me it's not an uncommon thing among ladies. And +if that's the case, I shall find myself in a dilemma;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> for my cousin has +the best right; and yet, what have you done to me that I should deny you +what you ask me?'</p> + +<p>Then looking earnestly, but with an air so innocent, that it was +impossible to give offence, in her face, he added, 'My cousin has often +told me a great many things about you; yet she never mentioned your +being so pretty! But may be she thought I might find it out.'</p> + +<p>Ellis enquired whether he were acquainted with the nature of her +application to Miss Arbe.</p> + +<p>He nodded an assent, but checking himself from confirming it, cried, 'My +cousin bid me say nothing; for she will have it that I always mention +things that should not be told; and that makes me very careful. So I +hope you won't be angry if you find me rather upon my guard.'</p> + +<p>Ellis disclaimed all inquisitive designs, beyond desiring to know, +whether Miss Arbe meant that she should discuss her situation with him, +and receive his counsel how she should proceed.</p> + +<p>'My cousin never asks my counsel,' he answered: 'she knows every thing +best herself. She is very clever, they tell me. She often recounts to me +how she surprises people. So does her papa. I believe they think I +should not discover it else. And I don't know but they are in the right, +for I am a very indifferent judge. But I can't make out, with that +gentle air of yours, and so pretty a face, how you can have made those +ladies take such a dislike to you?'</p> + +<p>'A dislike, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; Lady Arramede talks of you with prodigious contempt, and—'</p> + +<p>Ellis colouring at this word, hung back, evidently declining to hear +another; but Mr Giles, not remarking this, went on. 'And Miss Brinville +can't endure you, neither. It's a curious thing to see what an angry +look comes over her features, when she talks of you. Do you know the +reason?'</p> + +<p>'I flatter myself it is not to be known, Sir! Certainly I am innocent of +any design of offending her.'</p> + +<p>'Why then perhaps she does not know what she has taken amiss, herself, +poor lady! She's only affronted, and can't tell why. It will happen so +sometimes, to those pretty ladies, when they begin going a little down +hill. And they can't help it. They don't know what to make of it +themselves, poor things! But we can see how it is better, we +lookers-on.'</p> + +<p>He then seated himself upon an arm-chair, and, leaning back at his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> ease, +continued talking, but without looking at Ellis, or seeming to address +her.</p> + +<p>'I always pity them, the moment I see them, those pretty creatures, even +when they are in their prime. I always think what they have got to go +through. After seeing every body admire them, to see nobody look at +them! And when they cast their eyes on a glass, to find themselves every +day changing,—and always for the worse! It is but hard upon them, I +really think, when they have done nothing to deserve it. It is but a +short time ago that that Miss Brinville was almost as pretty as this +young harp-player here.'—</p> + +<p>'Sir!' cried Ellis, surprised.</p> + +<p>'Ma'am?' cried he, starting, and looking round; and then, smiling at +himself, adding, 'I protest I did not think of your being so near me! I +had forgot that. But I hope you won't take it ill?'</p> + +<p>'By no means,' she answered; and asked whether she might write a few +lines by him to Miss Arbe.</p> + +<p>He willingly consented.</p> + +<p>She then drew up an animated representation, to that lady, of the +irksome situation into which she was cast, from the evident distrust +manifested by Miss Matson; and the suspicious speed with which the other +bills had been delivered. She meant to send her small accounts +immediately to all her scholars, and entreated Miss Arbe to use her +interest in hastening their discharge.</p> + +<p>When she raised her head to give this, with an apology, to Mr Giles, she +saw him unfolding some small papers, which he began very earnestly to +examine. Not to interrupt him, she took up some needle-work; but, upon +looking, soon after, at the chimney-piece, she missed the packet which +she had placed there, of her bills, and then with the utmost surprise, +perceived that it was in his hands.</p> + +<p>She waited a few instants, in expectation that he would either put it +down, or make some excuse for his curiosity; but he seemed to think of +nothing less. He sorted and counted the bills, and began casting them +up.</p> + +<p>'Have you then the goodness, Sir,' said Ellis, 'to prepare yourself for +acquainting Miss Arbe with the state of my affairs?'</p> + +<p>He started again at this question, and looked a little scared; but, +after a minute's perplexity, he suddenly arose, and hastily refolding, +and placing them upon the chimney-piece, said, with a good deal of +confusion, 'I beg your pardon a thousand times! I don't well know how +this happened; but the chimney-piece looks so like my own,—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> the +fire was so comfortable,—that I suppose I thought I was at home, and +took that parcel for one that the servant had put there for me. And I +was wondering to myself when I had ordered all those linens, and +muslins, and the like: I could not recollect one article of them.'</p> + +<p>He then, after again begging her pardon, took leave.</p> + +<p>While Ellis was ruminating whether this strange conduct were the effect +of absence, oddity, or curiosity, he abruptly returned, and said, 'I +protest I was going without my errand, at last! Did you bid me tell my +cousin that all those bills were paid?'</p> + +<p>'All paid?—alas, no!—not one of them!'</p> + +<p>'And why not? You should always pay your bills, my dear.'</p> + +<p>Ellis looked at him in much perplexity, to see whether this were uttered +as a sneer, or as a remonstrance; but soon perceived, by the earnestness +of his countenance, that it was the latter; and then, with a sigh, +answered, 'You are undoubtedly right, Sir! I am the first to condemn all +that appears against me! But I made my late attempt with a persuasion +that I was as secure of repaying others, as of serving myself. I would +not, else, have run any risk, where I should not have been the sole +sufferer.'</p> + +<p>'But what,' said he, staring, and shutting the door, and not seeming to +comprehend her, 'what is the reason that you can't pay your bills?'</p> + +<p>'A very simple reason, Sir—I have not the power!'</p> + +<p>'Not the power?—what, are you very poor, then?'</p> + +<p>Ellis could not forbear smiling, but seeing him put his hand in his +pocket, hastened to answer, 'Yes, Sir,—but very proud, too! I am +sometimes, therefore, involved in the double distress, of being obliged +to refuse the very assistance I require.'</p> + +<p>'But you would not refuse mine!'</p> + +<p>'Without a moment's hesitation!'</p> + +<p>'Would you, indeed? And from what motive?'</p> + +<p>Again Ellis could scarcely keep her countenance, at a question so +unexpected, while she answered, 'From the customs, Sir, of the world, I +have been brought up to avoid all obligations with strangers.'</p> + +<p>'How so? I don't at all see that. Have you not an obligation to that +linen draper, and hosier, and I don't know who, there, upon your +chimney-piece, if you take their things, and don't pay for them?'</p> + +<p>Yet more struck with the sense of unbiassed equity manifested by this +question, than by the simplicity shewn by that which had preceded it, +Ellis felt her face suffused with shame, as she replied, 'I blush to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +have incurred such a reprimand; but I hope to convince you, by the +exertions which I shall not a moment delay making, how little it is my +intention to practise any such injustice; and how wide it would be from +my approbation.'</p> + +<p>She sat down, sensibly affected by the necessity of uttering this +vindication.</p> + +<p>'Well, then,' said he, without observing her distress, 'won't it be more +honest to run in debt with an old bachelor, who has nobody but himself +to take care of, than with a set of poor people who, perhaps, have got +their houses full of children?'</p> + +<p>The word honest, and the impossibility of disproving a charge of +injuring those by whom she had been served, so powerfully shocked her +feelings in arraigning her principles, that she could frame no answer.</p> + +<p>Conceiving her silence to be assent, he returned to the chimney-piece, +and, taking the little packet of bills, prepared to put it into his +pocket-book; but, hastily, then, rising, she entreated him to restore it +without delay.</p> + +<p>Her manner was so earnest that he did not dare contest her will, though +he looked nearly as angry as he was sorry. 'I meant,' he said, 'to have +given you the greatest pleasure in the world; that was what I meant. I +thought your debts made you so unhappy, that you would love me all your +life for getting them off your hands. I loved a person so myself, who +paid for some tops for me, when I was a boy, that I had bought for some +of my playmates; without recollecting that I had no money to pay for +them. However, I beg your pardon for my blunder, if you like your debts +better.'</p> + +<p>He now bowed to her, with an air of concern, and, wishing her health and +happiness, retreated; but left her door wide open; and she heard him say +to the milliners, 'My dears, I've made a great mistake: I wanted to set +that pretty lady's heart at rest, by paying her bills; but she says she +had rather owe them; though she did not mention her reason. So I hope +the poor people are in no great hurry. However, whether they be or not, +don't let them torment her for the money, for she says she has none. So +'twould only be plaguing her for nothing. And I should be sorry for her, +for she looks as if she were very smart, besides being so pretty.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + + +<p>Ellis, for some minutes, hardly knew whether to be most provoked or +diverted by this singular visit. But all that approached to amusement +was short lived. The most distant apprehension that her probity could be +arraigned, was shocking; and she determined to dedicate the evening to +calculating all that she had either to pay or to receive; and sooner to +leave herself destitute of every means of support, but such as should +arise from day to day, than hazard incurring any suspicion injurious to +her integrity.</p> + +<p>These estimates, which were easily drawn up, afforded her, at once, a +view of her ability to satisfy her creditors, and of the helpless +poverty in which she must then remain herself: her courage, +nevertheless, rose higher, from the conviction that her honour would be +cleared.</p> + +<p>She was thus employed, when, late in the evening, Miss Arbe, full +dressed, and holding her watch in her hand, ran up stairs. 'I have but a +quarter of an hour,' she cried, 'to stay, so don't let us lose a moment. +I am just come from dining at Lady Kendover's, and I am going to an +assembly at the Sycamore's. But I thought I would just steal a few +minutes for our dear little lyre. You can give me your answer, you know, +as I am going down stairs. Come, quick, my dear Miss Ellis!—'Tis such a +delight to try our music together!'</p> + +<p>'My answer, Madam?' cried Ellis, surprised: 'I had hoped for yours! and, +as you will, probably, meet all the ladies to whom you have had the +goodness to mention me, at Miss Sycamore's, I entreat—'</p> + +<p>'I am so dreadfully hurried,' cried she, unrolling her music, 'that I +can't say a word of all that now. But we'll arrange it, and you can tell +me how you like our plan, you know, as I am putting up my music, and +going; but we can't possibly play the harp while I am drawing on my +gloves, and scampering down stairs.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<p>This logic, which she felt to be irrefutable, she uttered with the most +perfect self-complacency, while spreading her music, and placing herself +at the harp; but once there, she would neither say nor hear another +word; and it was equally in vain that Ellis desired an explanation of +the plan to which she alluded, or an answer to the petition which she +had written herself. Miss Arbe could listen to no sounds but those +produced by her own fingers; and could balance no interests, but those +upon which she was speculating, of the advantages which she should +herself reap from these continual, though unacknowledged lessons. And +Ellis found all her painful difficulties, how to extricate herself from +the distresses of penury, the horrour of creditors, and the fears of +want, treated but as minor considerations, when put in competition with +the importance of Miss Arbe's most trivial, and even stolen improvement.</p> + +<p>She saw, however, no redress; displeasure was unnoticed, distaste was +unheeded; and she had no choice but to put aside every feeling, and give +her usual instructions; or to turn a professed protectress into a +dangerous and resentful enemy.</p> + +<p>She sat down, therefore, to her business.</p> + +<p>The quarter of an hour was scarcely passed, before Miss Arbe started up +to be gone; and, giving her music to Ellis to fold, while she drew on +her gloves, cried, 'Well, you can tell me, now, what I must say to Lady +Kendover. I hope you like my scheme?'</p> + +<p>Ellis protested herself utterly ignorant what scheme she meant.</p> + +<p>'Bless me,' she cried, 'did not my cousin tell you what I've been doing +for you? I've quite slaved in your service, I can assure you. I never +made such exertions in my life. Every body had agreed to give you up. +It's really shocking to see how people are governed by their prejudices! +But I brought them all round; for, after Lady Aurora's letter, they none +of them could tell what to resolve upon, till I gave them my advice. +That, indeed, is no unusual thing to happen to me. So few people know +what they had best do!'</p> + +<p>This self-eulogium having elated her spirits, her haste to depart +sufficiently slackened, to give her time to make a farther demand, +whether her cousin had executed her commission.</p> + +<p>Ellis knew not even that he had had any to execute.</p> + +<p>'Well,' she cried, 'that old soul grows more provoking every day! I have +resolved a thousand times never to trust him again; only he is always at +hand, and that's so convenient, one does not know how to resist making +use of him. But he really torments me more than any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> thing existing. If +he had literally no sense, one should not be so angry; but, when it's +possible to make him listen, he understands what one says well enough: +and sometimes, which you will scarcely believe, he'll suddenly utter +something so keen and so neat, that you'd suppose him, all at once, +metamorphosed into a wit. But the fact is, he is so tiresomely absent, +that he never knows what he does, nor hears what one says. At breakfast, +he asks whether there is nothing more coming for dinner; at dinner, he +bids his servant get ready his night-cap and slippers, because he shall +eat no supper; if any body applies to him for a pinch of snuff, he +brings them an arm chair; if they ask him how he does, he fetches his +hat and cane, buttons his great coat up to his chin, and says he is +ready to attend them; if they enquire what it is o'clock, he thanks them +for their kindness, and runs over a list of all his aches and pains; and +the moment any body enters the room, the first word he commonly says to +them is Good-bye!'</p> + +<p>Ellis earnestly begged to know what was meant by the letter of Lady +Aurora.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe again declared herself too much hurried to stay; and spent +more time in censuring Mr Giles, for not having spared her such a loss +of it, than would have been required for even a minute recital of the +business which he had forgotten. Ellis, however, at length learnt, that +Miss Arbe had had the address to hit upon a plan which conciliated all +interests, and to which she had prevailed upon Lady Kendover to consent. +'Her la'ship's name,' she continued, 'with my extensive influence, will +be quite enough to obtain that of every body else worth having at +Brighthelmstone. And she was vastly kind, indeed; for though she did it, +she said, with the extremest repugnance, which, to be sure, is natural +enough, not being able to imagine who or what she serves; yet, in +consideration of your being patronized by me, she would not refuse to +give you her countenance once more. Nothing in the world could be +kinder. You must go immediately to thank her.'</p> + +<p>'Unhappily, Madam,' answered Ellis, colouring, 'I have too many +obligations of my own unrepaid, to have the presumption to suppose I can +assist in the acknowledgments of others: and this plan, whatever it may +be, has so evidently received the sanction of Lady Kendover solely to +oblige Miss Arbe, that it would be folly, if not impertinence, on my +part, to claim the honour of offering her ladyship my thanks.'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, whose watch was always in her hand, when her harp was not, +had no time to mark this discrimination; she went on, therefore, +rapidly, with her communication. 'Lady Kendover,' she said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> 'had +asserted, that if Miss Ellis had been celebrated in any public line of +life, there would be less difficulty about employing her; but as she had +only been seen or noticed in private families, it was necessary to be +much more particular as to her connexions and conduct; because, in that +case, she must, of course, be received upon a more friendly footing; and +with a consideration and confidence by no means necessary for a public +artist. If, therefore, all were not clear and satisfactory—'</p> + +<p>Ellis, with mingled spirit and dignity, here interrupted her: 'Spare me, +Madam, this preamble, for both our sakes! for though the pain it causes +is only mine, the useless trouble,—pardon me!—will be yours. I do not +desire—I could not even consent to enter any house, where to receive me +would be deemed a disgrace.'</p> + +<p>'O, but you have not heard my plan! You don't know how well it has all +been settled. The harp-professor now here, a proud, conceited old +coxcomb, full of the most abominable airs, but a divine performer, wants +to obtrude his daughter upon us, in your place; though she has got so +cracked a voice, that she gives one the head-ache by her squeaks. Well, +to make it his interest not to be your enemy, I have prevailed with Lady +Kendover to desire him to take you in for one of his band, either to +play or sing, at the great concert-room.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, amazed, exclaimed, 'Can you mean, Madam,—can Lady Kendover +mean—to propose my performing in public?'</p> + +<p>'Precisely that. 'Tis the only way in the world to settle the business, +and conquer all parties.'</p> + +<p>'If so, Madam, they can never be conquered! for never, most certainly +never, can I perform in public!'</p> + +<p>'And why not? You'll do vastly well, I dare say. Why should you be so +timid? 'Tis the best way to gain you admission into great houses; and if +your performance is applauded, you'll have as many scholars as you like; +and you may be as impertinent as you will. Your humility, now, won't +make you half so many friends, as a set of airs and graces, then, will +make you partizans.'</p> + +<p>'I am much obliged to you for a recommendation so powerful, Madam,' +answered Ellis, dryly; 'but I must entreat you to pardon my inability to +avail myself of it; and my frank declaration, that my objections to this +plan are unsuperable.'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe only treated this as an ignorant diffidence, scarcely worth +even derision, till Ellis solemnly and positively repeated, that her +resolution not to appear in public would be unalterable: she then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +became seriously offended, and, slightly wishing her good night, ran +down stairs; without making any other answer to her enquiry, concerning +the request in her note, than that she knew not what it meant, and could +not stay another moment.</p> + +<p>Ellis, now, was deeply disturbed. Her first impulse was to write to Lady +Aurora, and implore her protection; but this wish was soon subdued by an +invincible repugnance, to drawing so young a person into any clandestine +correspondence.</p> + +<p>Yet there was no one else to whom she could apply. Alas! she cried, how +wretched a situation!—And yet,—compared with what it might have +been!—Ah! let me dwell upon that contrast!—What, then, can make me +miserable?</p> + +<p>With revived vigour from this reflection, she resolved to assume courage +to send in all her accounts, without waiting any longer for the +precarious assistance of Miss Arbe. But what was to follow? When all +difficulty should be over with respect to others, how was she to exist +herself?</p> + +<p>Music, though by no means her only accomplishment, was the only one +which she dared flatter herself to possess with sufficient knowledge, +for the arduous attempt of teaching what she had learnt. Even in this, +she had been frequently embarrassed; all she knew upon the subject had +been acquired as a <i>diletante</i>, not studied as an artist; and though she +was an elegant and truly superiour performer, she was nearly as +deficient in the theoretical, as she was skilful in the practical part +of the science of which she undertook to give lessons.</p> + +<p>Wide is the difference between exhibiting that which we have attained +only for that purpose, from the power of dispensing knowledge to others. +Where only what is chosen is produced; only what is practised is +performed; where one favourite piece, however laboriously acquired, +however exclusively finished, gains a character of excellence, that, for +the current day, and with the current throng, disputes the prize of +fame, even with the solid rights of professional candidates; the young +and nearly ignorant disciple, may seem upon a par with the experienced +and learned master. But to disseminate knowledge, by clearing that which +is obscure, and explaining that which is difficult; to make what is hard +appear easy, by giving facility to the execution of what is abstruse to +the conception; to lighten the fatigue of practice, by the address of +method; to shorten what requires study, by anticipating its result; and, +while demonstrating effects to expound their cause: by the rules of art, +to hide the want of science; and to supply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> the dearth of genius, by +divulging the secrets of embellishments;—these were labours that +demanded not alone brilliant talents, which she amply possessed, but a +fund of scientific knowledge, to which she formed no pretensions. Her +modesty, however, aided her good sense, in confining her attempts at +giving improvement within the limits of her ability; and rare indeed +must have been her ill fortune, had a pupil fallen to her lot, +sufficiently advanced to have surpassed her powers of instruction.</p> + +<p>But this art, the favourite of her mind, and in which she had taste and +talents to excel, must be now relinquished: and Drawing, in which she +was also, though not equally, an adept, presented the same obstacles of +recommendation for obtaining scholars, as music. Her theatrical +abilities, though of the first cast, were useless; since from whatever +demanded public representation, her mind revolted: and her original wish +of procuring herself a safe and retired asylum, by becoming a governess +to some young lady, was now more than ever remote from all chance of +being gratified.</p> + +<p>How few, she cried, how circumscribed, are the attainments of women! and +how much fewer and more circumscribed still, are those which may, in +their consequences, be useful as well as ornamental, to the higher, or +educated class! those through which, in the reverses of fortune, a +<span class="smcap">FEMALE</span> may reap benefit without abasement! those which, while preserving +her from pecuniary distress, will not aggravate the hardships or sorrows +of her changed condition, either by immediate humiliation, or by what, +eventually, her connexions may consider as disgrace!</p> + +<p>Thus situated, she could have recourse only to the dull, monotonous, and +cheerless plan, from which Miss Arbe had turned her aside; that of +offering her services to Miss Matson as a needle-woman.</p> + +<p>Her first step, upon this resolution, was to send back the harp to the +music-shop. Since no further hope remained of recovering her scholars, +she would not pay her court to Miss Arbe at the expence of Miss Bydel. +She next dispatched her small accounts to Lady Kendover, Lady Arramede, +Miss Sycamore, Miss Brinville, the Miss Crawleys, and Miss Tedman; but, +notwithstanding her poverty, she desired to be allowed to have +instructed Selina simply from motives of gratitude.</p> + +<p>To give up her large apartment, was her next determination; and she +desired to speak with Miss Matson, to whom she made known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> her +intention; soliciting, at the same time, some employment in needle-work.</p> + +<p>This was a measure not more essential than disagreeable. 'Mercy, Ma'am!' +Miss Matson cried, seating herself upon the sofa: 'I hope, at least, you +won't leave my first floor before you pay me for it? And as to +work,—what is the premium you mean to propose to me?'</p> + +<p>Ellis answered that she could propose none: she desired only to receive +and to return her work from day to day.</p> + +<p>Looking at her, now, with an air extremely contemptuous, Miss Matson +replied, that that was by no means her way; that all her young ladies +came to her with handsome premiums; and that she had already eight or +nine upon her list, more than she was able to admit into her shop.</p> + +<p>Ellis, affrighted at the prospect before her, earnestly enquired whether +Miss Matson would have the kindness to aid her in an application +elsewhere, for some plain work.</p> + +<p>'That, Ma'am, is one of the things the most difficult in the world to +obtain. Such loads of young women are out of employ, that one's quite +teized for recommendations. Besides which, your being known to have run +up so many debts in the town,—you'll excuse me, Ma'am,—makes it not +above half reputable to venture staking one's credit—after all those +droll things that Mr Riley, you know, Ma'am, said to Miss Bydel.—'</p> + +<p>Ellis could bear no more: she promised to hasten her payment; and begged +to be left alone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + + +<p>Ellis had but just cast herself, in deep disturbance, upon a chair, when +her door was opened, without tapping, or any previous ceremony, by Mr +Giles Arbe; who smilingly enquired after her health, with the familiar +kindness of an intimate old friend; but, receiving no immediate answer, +gave her a nod, that said, don't mind me; and, sitting down by her side, +began talking to himself.</p> + +<p>Roused by this interruption, she begged to know his commands.</p> + +<p>He finished his speech to himself, before he took any notice of hers, +and then, very good humouredly, asked what she wanted.</p> + +<p>'May I hope,' she cried, 'that you have the goodness to bring me some +answer to my note?'</p> + +<p>'What note, my pretty lady?'</p> + +<p>'That which you were so obliging as to undertake delivering for me to +Miss Arbe?'</p> + +<p>He stared and looked amazed, repeating, 'Note?—what note?' but when, at +last, she succeeded in making him recollect the circumstance, his +countenance fell, and leaning against the back of his chair, while his +stick, and a parcel which he held under his arm, dropt to the ground: 'I +am frighted to death,' he cried, 'for fear it's that I tore last night, +to light my little lamp!'</p> + +<p>Then, emptying every thing out of his pockets; 'I can soon tell, +however,' he continued, 'because I put t'other half back, very +carefully; determining to examine what it was in the morning; for I was +surprised to find a folded note in my pocket: but I thought of it no +more, afterwards, from that time to this.'</p> + +<p>Collecting, then, the fragments; 'Here,' he continued, 'is what is +left.—'</p> + +<p>Ellis immediately recognized her hand-writing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I protest,' cried he, in great confusion, 'I have never above twice or +thrice, perhaps, in my life, been more ashamed! And once was when I was +so unfortunate as to burn a gentleman's stick; a mighty curious sort of +cane, that I was unluckily holding in my hand, just as the fire wanted +stirring; and not much thinking, at that moment, by great ill luck, of +what I was about, I poked it into the middle of the grate; and not a +soul happened to take notice of it, any more than myself, till it made a +prodigious crackling; and all that was not consumed split into +splinters. I never was so out of countenance in my life. I could not +make a single apology. So they all thought I did not mind it! Don't you +think so, too, now? For I am very sorry I tore your note, I assure you!'</p> + +<p>Ellis readily accepted his excuse.</p> + +<p>'Well, and another time,' he continued, 'I had a still worse accident. I +was running after an ill-natured gnat, that had stung a lady, with my +hand uplifted to knock him down, and, very unluckily, after he had led +me a dance all over the room, he darted upon the lady's cheek; and, in +my hurry to crush him, I gave her such a smart slap of the face, that it +made her quite angry. I was never so shocked since I was born. I ran +away as fast as I could; for I had not a word to say for myself.'</p> + +<p>He then began relating a third instance; but Ellis interrupted him; and +again desired to know his business.</p> + +<p>'Good! true!' cried he, 'you do well to put me in mind, for talking of +one thing makes a man sometimes forget another. It's what has happened +to me before now. One i'n't always upon one's guard. I remember, once, +my poor cousin was disappointed of a chaperon, to go with her to a ball, +after being dressed out in all the best things that she had in the +world, and looking better than ever she did before in her life, as she +told me herself; and she asked me to run to a particular friend, to beg +that she would accompany her, instead of the one that had failed her; so +I set off, as fast as possible, for I saw that she was in a prodigious +fidget; not much caring, I suppose, to be dizened out, and to put on her +best looks, to be seen by nobody but her papa and me; which is natural +enough, for her papa always thinks her pretty; and as to me, I don't +doubt but she may be so neither; though I never happened to take much +notice of it.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Sir, to our business?' cried Ellis.</p> + +<p>'Well, when I arrived at this friend of my cousin's, I met there a +friend of my own, and one that I had not seen for fifteen years. I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +so prodigious much to say to him, that it put all my poor cousin's fine +clothes and best looks out of my head! and, I am quite ashamed to own +it, but we never once ceased our confabulation, my old friend and I, +till, to my great surprise, supper was brought upon the table! I was in +extreme confusion, indeed, for, just then, somebody asked me how my +cousin did; which made me recollect my commission. I told it, in all +haste, to the lady, and begged, so urgently, that she would oblige my +cousin, who would never forgive me for not delivering my message sooner, +if I carried a refusal, that, at last, I persuaded her to comply; but I +was so abashed by my forgetfulness, that I never thought of mentioning +the ball. So that when she arrived, all in her common gear, my poor +cousin, who supposed that she had only waited, for her hair-dressers and +shoe-makers, looked at her with as much amazement as if she had never +seen her before in her life. And the lady was prodigiously piqued not to +be received better; so that they were upon the very point of a quarrel, +when they discovered that all the fault was mine! But by the time that +they came to that part, I was so out of countenance, you would have +judged that I had done it all on purpose! I was frightened out of my +wits: and I made off as fast as possible; and when I got to my own room, +there was not a chair nor a table that I did not put against the door, +for fear of their bursting the lock; they were both of them in such +prodigious passions, to know why I had served them so. And yet, the +whole time, I was as innocent of it as you are; for I never once thought +about either of them! never in my life!'</p> + +<p>Again Ellis enquired what were his commands, frankly avowing, that she +was too much engrossed by the melancholy state of her own affairs, to +attend to any other.</p> + +<p>'What, then, I'm afraid those poor people a'n't paid yet?'</p> + +<p>'A poorer person, Sir, as I believe, and hope,' answered she, sighing, +'than any amongst them, is unpaid also! They would not, else, have this +claim upon your compassion.'</p> + +<p>'What, have you got any bad debts yourself?'</p> + +<p>'Enquire, Sir, of Miss Arbe; and if you extend your benevolence to +representing what is due to my creditors, it may urge her to consider +what is due to me.'</p> + +<p>'Does any body owe you any money, then?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Sir; and as much as will acquire all I myself owe to others.'</p> + +<p>'What is the reason, then, that they don't pay you?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p>'The want of knowing, Sir, the value of a little to the self-supported +and distressed! The want, in short, of consideration.'</p> + +<p>'Bad! bad!—that i'n't right!' cried he: 'I'll put an end to it, +however;' rising hastily: 'I'll make my cousin go to every one of them. +They must be taught what they should do. They mean very well; but that's +of no use if they don't act well too. And if my cousin don't go to them, +I'll go myself.'</p> + +<p>He then quitted the house, in the greatest haste; leaving behind him his +parcel and his stick, which were not perceived till his departure.</p> + +<p>Ellis knew not whether to lament or to rejoice at this promised +interference; but, wholly overset by these new and unexpected obstacles +to providing for her immediate subsistence, she had no resource but to +await with patience the effect of his efforts.</p> + +<p>The following day, while anxiously expecting him, she was surprised by +another visit from Miss Arbe; who, with an air as sprightly as her own +was dejected, cried, 'Well, I hope this new plan will make an end of all +our difficulties. You have had time enough, now, to consider of it; for +I have such a little minute always to stay, that I can never pretend to +discuss an hundred <i>pros</i> and <i>cons</i>. Though, indeed, I flatter myself, +'tis impossible your scruples should still hold out. But where in the +world have you hid your harp? I have been peeping about for it ever +since I came in. And my music? Have you looked it over? Is it not +delightful? I long to play it with you. I tried it twenty times by +myself, but I could not manage it. But every thing's so much easier when +one tries it together, that I dare say we shall conquer all those horrid +hard passages at once. But where's your harp?—Tell me, however, first, +what you decide about our plan; for when once we begin playing, there's +no thinking of any thing else.'</p> + +<p>'If it be the concert you mean, Madam, I can only repeat my thanks; and +that I can never, except to those ladies who are, or who would venture +to become my pupils, consent to be a performer.'</p> + +<p>'What a thousand pities, my dear Miss Ellis, to throw away your charming +talents, through that terrible diffidence! However, I can't give you up +so easily. I must positively bring you round;—only if we stop now, we +shan't have a moment for those horrid hard passages. So where's my +music? And where have you conjured your harp?'</p> + +<p>The music, she answered, she had neither seen nor heard of; the harp, +useless since no longer necessary, she had sent home.</p> + +<p>The smiles and sprightly airs of Miss Arbe now instantly vanished, and +were succeeded by undisguised displeasure. To send back,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> without +consulting her, an instrument that could never have been obtained but +through her recommendation, she called an action the most extraordinary: +she was too much hurried, however, to enter into any discussion; and +must drive home immediately, to enquire what that eternal blunderer, her +cousin Giles, had done, not only with her note, but with her music; +which was of so much consequence, that his whole life could not make her +amends, if it had met with any accident.</p> + +<p>Ellis had been so far from purporting to cast herself into any +dependence upon Miss Arbe, that, upon this unjust resentment, she +suffered her to run down stairs, without offering any apology. +Conceiving, however, that the parcel, left by Mr Giles, might possibly +contain the music in question, she followed her with it into the shop; +where she had the mortification of hearing her say, 'Miss Matson, as to +your debts, you must judge for yourself. I can't pretend to be +responsible for the credit of every body that solicits my patronage.'</p> + +<p>With the silent displeasure of contempt, Ellis put the parcel into her +hands, and retreated.</p> + +<p>'Why how's this? here is my note unopened,' cried Miss Arbe.</p> + +<p>Ellis, returning, said that she had not seen any note.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe declared that she had placed it, herself, within the +pack-thread that was tied round the music; but it appeared that Mr Giles +had squeezed it under the brown paper cover, whence it had not been +visible.</p> + +<p>'And I wrote it,' cried Miss Arbe, 'purposely that you might be ready +with your answer; and to beg that you would not fail to study the +passages I marked with a pencil, that we might know how to finger them +when we met. However, I shall certainly never trust that monstrous +tiresome creature with another commission.'</p> + +<p>She then, accompanied by Miss Bydel, who now entered the shop, and +invited herself to be of the party, followed Ellis up stairs, to read +the note, and talk the subject over.</p> + +<p>From this note, Ellis discovered that the plan was entirely altered: the +professor was wholly omitted, and she was placed herself at the head of +a new enterprize. It was to be conducted under the immediate and avowed +patronage of Miss Arbe, upon a scheme of that lady's own suggestion and +arrangement, which had long been projecting.</p> + +<p>A subscription was to be raised amongst all the ladies of any fashion, +or consequence, in or near Brighthelmstone, who, whether as mothers, +aunts, guardians, or friends, had the care of any young ladies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +possessing musical talents. Lady Kendover had consented that her name +should be placed at the head of the list, as soon as any other lady, of +sufficient distinction to be named immediately after her ladyship, +should come forward. The concert was to be held, alternately, at the +houses of the principal subscribers, whose apartments, and inclinations, +should best be suited to the purpose. The young ladies were to perform, +by rotation or selection, according as the lady directress of the night, +aided by Miss Arbe's counsel, should settle. A small band was to be +engaged, that the concert might be opened with the dignity of an +overture; that the concertos might be accompanied; and that the whole +might conclude with the <i>eclat</i> of a full piece. Ellis, for whose +advancement, and in whose name, the money was to be raised, that was to +pay herself, the other artists, and all the concomitant expences, was to +play upon the harp, and to sing an air, in the course of every act.</p> + +<p>This plan was far less painful to her feelings than that which had +preceded it, since the concert was to be held in private houses, and +young ladies of fashion were themselves to be performers; but, though +her thanks were grateful and sincere, her determination was immoveable. +'It is not,' she said, 'believe me, Madam, from false notions of pride, +that, because I, alone, am to be paid, I decline so honourable a method +of extricating myself from my present difficulties: my pride, on the +contrary, urges me to every exertion that may lead to self-dependence: +but who is permitted to act by the sole guidance of their own +perceptions and notions? who is so free,—I might better, perhaps, say +so desolate,—as to consider themselves clear of all responsibility to +the opinions of others?'</p> + +<p>'Of others? Why do you belong, then, really, to any body, Mrs Ellis?' +cried Miss Bydel.</p> + +<p>'They must be pretty extraordinary people,' said Miss Arbe, +contemptuously dropping her eyes, 'if they can disapprove a scheme that +will shew your talents to so much advantage; besides bringing you into +the notice of so many people of distinction.' Then, rising, she would +forbear, she said, to trouble her any more; inform Lady Kendover of her +refusal; and let Lady Aurora know that her farther interference would be +unacceptable.</p> + +<p>At the name of Lady Aurora, Ellis entreated some explanation; but Miss +Arbe, without deigning to make any, hurried to her carriage.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, pouring forth a volley of interrogatories upon the +intentions of Ellis, her expectations, and her means, would have +remained;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> but she reaped so little satisfaction that, tired, at length, +herself, she retreated; though not till she had fully caught the +attention of Ellis, by the following words: 'I have been very ready, Mrs +Ellis, to serve you in your distress; but I hope you won't forget that I +always intended to be disbursed by your music teaching: so, if you don't +do that any more, I can't see why you won't do this; that you may pay +me.'</p> + +<p>She then took leave.</p> + +<p>Ellis was far more grieved than offended by this reprimand, which, +however gross, did not seem unjust. To judge me, she cried, by my +present appearance, my resisting this offer must be attributed to +impertinence, ingratitude, or folly. And how can I expect to be judged +but by what is seen, what is known? Who is willing to be so generous, +who is capable to be so noble, as to believe, or even to conceive, that +lonely distress, like mine, may call for respect and forbearance, as +well as for pity and assistance?—Oh Lady Aurora!—sole charm, sole +softener of my sufferings!—Oh liberal, high-minded Harleigh!—why are +there so few to resemble you? And why must your virtues and your +kindness, for me, be null? Why am I doomed to seek—so hardly—the +support that flies me,—yet to fly the consolation that offers?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + + +<p>The sole hope of Ellis for extrication from these difficulties hung now +upon Mr Giles Arbe; whom she had begun to apprehend had forgotten his +promise, when, to her great relief, he appeared.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be less exhilarating than his air and manner. He looked +vexed and disconcerted; sat down without answering the civilities of her +reception; sucked, for some minutes, the head of his stick; and then +began talking to himself; from time to time ejaculating little broken +phrases aloud, such as: 'It i'n't right!—It can't be right!—I wish +they would not do such things.—Fair young creatures, too, some of +them—Fie! fie!—They've no thought;—that's it!—they've no +thought.—Mighty good hearts,—and very pretty faces, too, some of +'em;—but sad little empty heads,—except for their own pleasures;—no +want of flappers<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> there!—Fie! fie!'</p> + +<p>Then letting fall two guineas and a half upon the table, 'There, my +dear,' he cried, in a tone of chagrin, 'there's all I have been able to +gather amongst all your scholars put together! What they do with their +money I don't know; but they are all very poor, they tell me: except +Lady Arramede; and she's so rich, that she can't possibly attend, she +says, to such pitiful claims: though I said to her, If the sum, Ma'am, +is too small for your ladyship's notice, the best way to shew your +magnificence, is to make it greater; which will also be very acceptable +to this young person. But she did not mind me. She only said that you +might apply to her steward at Christmas, which was the time, she +believed, when he settled her affairs; but as to herself, she never +meddled with such insignificant matters.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Christmas?' repeated Ellis; 'and 'tis now but the beginning of April!'</p> + +<p>'I went next to the Miss Crawleys; but they only fell a laughing. All I +could say, and all I could do, and all I could represent, only set 'em a +laughing. I never knew what at. Nor they, neither. But they did not +laugh the less for that. One of them stretched her mouth so wide, that I +was afraid she would have cut her cheeks through to her ears: and +t'other frightened me still more, for she giggled herself so black in +the face, that I thought she must have expired in a fit. And not one +among us knew what it was all for! But the more I stared at them, the +louder they laughed. They never stopt till they were so weak that they +could not stand; and then they held their sides, and were quiet enough; +till I happened to ask them, if they had done? and that set them off +again. They are merry little souls; not very heavy, I believe, in the +head: I don't suppose they have a thought above once in a twelve-month.'</p> + +<p>He had then applied to their brother. Sir Marmaduke professed himself +extremely shocked, at the circumstances which had prevented his sisters +from profiting longer by the instructions of so fine a virtuosa as The +Ellis; but he hoped that something might yet be adjusted for the future, +as he was utterly ashamed to offer such a trifle as this account, to so +accomplished a young person as The Ellis. 'I told him, then,' continued +Mr Giles, 'that it was no trifle to you, for you were so very poor that +you could not pay for your clothes; but I could never obtain any other +answer from him, than that he had too much consideration for you, to +think of offering you a sum so unworthy your merit.'</p> + +<p>'This, indeed, is rather singular,' cried Ellis, half smiling, 'that the +smallness of my demands should make one person decline paying me from +contempt, and another, from respect!'</p> + +<p>Next, he related, he went to Miss Brinville, who, with great +displeasure, denied, at first, having ever been a scholar of Miss Ellis. +The young woman had been with her, indeed, she said, to chose her a +harp, or tune it, or something of that sort; but she had found her so +entirely unequal to giving any lessons; and the professor, her present +master, had so completely convinced her of the poor young woman's +ignorance, that it was quite ridiculous to suppose having seen any body, +once or twice, for an odd hour or two, was sufficient for being +considered as their scholar. 'Upon this,' continued Mr Giles, 'I told +her that if she were not amongst your pupils, she must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> amongst your +friends; and, in that case, I doubted not, from your great good nature, +you would dispense with her payment.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Sir?' cried Ellis laughing, 'and what said my friend?'</p> + +<p>'Good me! all was changed in a minute! she had never, she said, had such +a thought as receiving you but as her music-mistress. So then, again, I +demanded the money; for if she is not your friend, said I, you can't +expect her to teach you for nothing. But she told me she was just +quitting Brighthelmstone, and could not pay you till she got to London. +I really can't find out what makes them all so poor; but they are +prodigiously out of cash. Those operas and gauzes, I believe, ruin them. +They dress themselves so prettily, and go to hear those tunes so often, +that they have not a shilling left for other expences. It i'n't right! +It can't be right! And so I told her. I gave her some advice. "There's a +great concert to-night, Miss Brinville," said I; "if you take my +counsel, you won't go to it; nor to ever another for a week or two to +come: and then you can pay this young lady what you owe her, without +putting yourself to any difficulty." But she made me no reply. She only +eyed me askance, as if she would have liked prodigiously to order me out +of the room. I thought I never saw her nose look so thick! I never took +so much notice of it before: but it spoils her beauty sadly. After this, +I went to Miss Sycamore, and I surprized her playing upon her harp. +"This is lucky enough," said I, "Miss Sycamore! I find you in the act of +reaping advantage from the very person who wants to reap advantage from +you." So then I demanded your money. But she told me that she had none +to spare, and that she could not pay you yet. "Why then," said I, "Miss +Sycamore, you must give her back her instructions!" I thought this would +have piqued her; but she won't easily be put out of her way. So she +threw her arms round her harp, with the prettiest languishment you can +imagine, making herself look just like a picture; and then she played me +a whole set of airs and graces; quite ravishing, I protest. And when she +had done, "There!" she cried, "there, Mr Arbe, those were her +instructions: carry them back!"—I declare I don't know how I could be +angry with her, she did it with such an elegant toss! But it was not +right; it could not be right; so I was angry enough, after the first +moment. "Pray, Miss Sycamore," said I, "what have you done for this +young lady, to expect that she should do all this for you? Have you got +her any place?—Have you procured her any emolument?—Have you given her +any pleasure?—Have you done her any honour?'—She had not a word to +answer: so she twirled her fingers upon her harp, and sung and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> played +till I was almost ravished again. But I would not give way; so I said, +"Miss Sycamore, if she owes you neither place, nor profit; neither +pleasure, nor honour, I should be glad to know upon what pretence you +lay claim to her Time, her Trouble, her Talents, and her Patience?"'</p> + +<p>'O could such a question,' cried Ellis, 'be put more at large for all +the harassed industrious, to all the unfeeling indolent!—what +reflections might it not excite! what injustice might it not obviate!'</p> + +<p>'Why I'll say it any where, my dear, if you think it will do any good. I +always give my opinion; for I never see what a man has one for, if he +must not utter it. However, I could make nothing of Miss Sycamore. Those +young ladies who play and sing in public, at those private rooms, of +four or five hundred people, have their poor little heads so taken up, +between the compliments of the company when they are in the world, and +their own when they are by themselves, that there i'n't a moment left +them for a little thought.'</p> + +<p>His next visit was to Lady Kendover; by whom he was received, he said, +with such politeness, and by whom Ellis was mentioned with so much +consideration, that he thought he should quite oblige her ladyship, by +giving her an opportunity to serve a young person of whom she spoke with +so much civility. 'Upon which,' continued he, 'I told her about your +debts, and how much you would thank her to be as quick as possible in +helping you to pay them. But then she put on quite a new face. She was +surprised, she said, that you should begin your new career by running +into debt; and much more at my supposing that she should sanctify such +imprudence, by her name and encouragement. Still, however, she talked +about her concern, and her admiration, in such elegant sentences, that, +thinking she was coming round, "Madam," said I, "as your ladyship +honours this young lady with so generous a regard, I hold it but my duty +to tell you how you may shew it the most to her benefit. Send for all +her creditors, and let them know your ladyship's good opinion of her; +and then, I don't doubt, they'll wait her own convenience for being +paid." Well! All at once her face turned of a deep brick red, as if I +had offered her an affront in only naming such a thing! So then I grew +very angry indeed; for, as she is neither young nor pretty, there is no +one thing to excuse her. If she had been young, one might have hoped she +would mend; and if she were pretty, one might suppose she was only +thinking of her looking-glass. But her ladyship is plain enough, as well +as old; so I felt no scruple to reprimand her. But I gained no ground; +for just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> as I was beginning to cry down the uselessness of that +complimentary language, if it meant nothing; she said that she was very +sorry to have the honour to leave me, but that she must go and dress for +dinner. But then, just as I was coming away, and upon the point of being +in a passion, I was stopt by little Lady Barbara; that sweet fine child; +who asked me a hundred kind questions about you, without paying any +regard to the winking or blinking of her aunt Kendover. She is a mighty +agreeable little soul. I have taken a great kindness to her. She let out +all their secrets to me; and I should like nothing better than to tell +them all to you; only Lady Kendover charged me to hold my tongue. The +ladies are very fond of giving that recommendation to us men! I don't +know (smiling) whether they are as fond of giving the example! In +particular, she enjoined me not to mention Lady Aurora's being your +banker.'</p> + +<p>'Lady Aurora?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, because my cousin would be quite affronted; for she arranges +things, Lady Kendover says, so extremely well, that she deserves to have +her own way. She likes to have it too, I believe, very well.'</p> + +<p>'Lady Aurora my banker?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; they wrote to Lady Aurora about it, and she sent them word that, +if the scheme were agreeable to you, she begged to be considered as +responsible for any expences that you might incur in its preparation.'</p> + +<p>'Lady Aurora, then, approves the plan?' cried Ellis in much disturbance.</p> + +<p>'Yes, mightily, I believe; though I am not quite sure, for she desired +you might not be pressed, nor hurried; for "if," says she, in a letter +to Lady Barbara, "it is not her own desire, don't let any body be so +cruel as to urge her. We know not her history, and cannot judge her +objections; but she is so gently mannered, so sweetly well bred, so +inexpressibly amiable, that it is impossible she should not do every +thing that is right."'</p> + +<p>'Sweet-trusting-generous Lady Aurora!' cried Ellis, while tears gushed +fast into her eyes, with strong, but delighted emotion: 'Mr Giles, I +see, now, what path I may pursue; and you, who are so benevolent, will +aid me on my way.'</p> + +<p>She then entreated him, through the medium of Lady Barbara, to +supplicate that the beneficence of Lady Aurora might be exerted in the +payment of the debts already contracted; not in obviating new ones, +which she felt no disposition to incur.</p> + +<p>'I'll undertake that with all my heart, my dear; and you'll be sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> to +have the money for what you like best, because it's a man who is to be +your paymaster.'</p> + +<p>'A man?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; for Lady Aurora says, that though she shall pay the whole herself +ultimately, the draft upon the banker, for the present, must be in the +name of her brother.'</p> + +<p>Ellis changed colour, and, with far deeper emotion, now walked about her +room, now seated herself, now hid her face with her hands, and now +ejaculated, 'How—how shall I decide!'</p> + +<p>She then enquired from whom Mr Giles had received the two guineas and +the half guinea which he had put upon the table.</p> + +<p>From Mr Tedman.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman, she said, was the only person of the whole set who owed her +nothing; but to whom, on the contrary, she was herself indebted; not +having yet had an opportunity to clear what he had advanced.</p> + +<p>'So he told me,' cried Mr Giles; 'for I don't believe he forgets things +of that sort. But he said he had such a regard for you, that he would +stand to trusting you with as much again, <i>put in case</i> you would give +him your receipt for paying it off in lessons to his daughter. And for +this much, in the mean while, as you were not by, he consented to take +mine.'</p> + +<p>'You are very kind, Sir,' said Ellis; 'and Mr Tedman himself, +notwithstanding his deficiency in education and language, is, I believe, +really good: nevertheless, I am too uncertain of my power to continue my +musical project, to risk a new bankruptcy of this nature.' She then +begged him to take back the money; with a promise that she would +speedily settle what yet remained undischarged of the former account.</p> + +<p>He blamed her warmly. 'Mr Tedman,' he said, 'is rich and good natured, +you are poor and helpless: he ought to give; it's only being just: you +ought to accept, or you are only very foolish.'</p> + +<p>'Do not be hasty to blame me, my good Mr Giles. There are certain points +in which every one must judge for himself. With regard to me, I must +resist all pecuniary obligations.'</p> + +<p>'Except to poor trades-people!' cried he, nodding a little +reproachfully; 'and those you will let work and toil for you gratis!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, shocked, and struck to the quick, looked deeply distressed. +'Perhaps,' she said, 'I may be wrong! Justice, certainly, should take +place of whatever is personal, however dear or near its interest!—'</p> + +<p>She paused, ruminated, irresolute, and dissatisfied; and then said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +'Were I to consult only myself, my own feelings, whatever they may be, +should surely and even instantly, give way, to what is due to others; +but I must not imagine that I shall be doomed for ever to this +deplorable condition; and those to whom I may yet belong, may blame—may +resent any measures that may give publicity to my situation. Will not +this objection have some weight, Sir, to lessen your censure of my +seeming insensibility, to claims of which I acknowledge the right?'</p> + +<p>'What, then, you think, I suppose, that when your friends come to you, +they'll be quite pleased to find you have accepted goods and favours +from your shoe-maker, and your hosier, and your linen-draper? though +they would be too proud to let you receive money from the rich and idle? +Better sing those songs, my dear! much better sing those songs! Then +you'll have money for yourself and every body.'</p> + +<p>Ellis now breathed hard. 'Alas!' she cried, 'justice, reason, common +sense, all seem against me! If, therefore, Lady Aurora approve this +scheme,—my fears and my feelings must yield to such a tide!'</p> + +<p>Again, painfully, she paused; and then, sighing bitterly, added, 'Tell +Miss Arbe, Sir,—acquaint Lady Kendover,—let Lady Aurora be +informed,—that I submit to their opinions, and accept, upon their own +terms, their benevolent assistance.'</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to her, now, with exulting approbation; but she +seemed overwhelmed with grief, apprehension, and regret.</p> + +<p>He looked at her with surprise. 'Why now, my dear,' he said, tenderly, +'what's the matter with you? Now that you are going to do all that is +right, you must be happy.'</p> + +<p>'What is right, alas!—for me, at least,' she cried, 'I know not!—I +should not else be thus perplexed.—But I act in the dark!—The measure +in which I acquiesce, I may for ever repent,—yet I know not how, else, +to extricate myself from difficulties the most alarming, and +remonstrances—if not menaces—the most shocking!'</p> + +<p>Heavily she sighed; yet, definitively, she agreed, that, since, +unhappily, the debts were incurred, and her want of credit made +immediate payment necessary, she could not, herself, in combining the +whole of her intricate situation, find any plan more eligible than that +of performing at this subscription-concert.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + + +<p>This resolution once made known, not an instant was allowed to retract, +or even to deliberate: to let it reach Miss Arbe was to put it into +execution. That lady appeared now in her chosen element. She suggested +all that was to be attempted; she directed all that was to be done. A +committee of ladies was formed, nominally for consultation, but, in +fact, only for applause; since whoever ventured to start the smallest +objection to an idea of Miss Arbe's, was overpowered with conceited +insinuations of the incompetency of her judgment for deciding upon such +matters; or, if any one, yet bolder, presumed to hint at some new +arrangement, Miss Arbe looked either sick or angry, and declared that +she could not possibly continue to offer her poor advice, if it were +eternally to be contested. This annihilated rather than subdued +interference; for the whole party was of opinion, that nothing less than +utter ruin to the project could ensue from her defection.</p> + +<p>This helpless submission to ignorant dominion, so common in all +committees where the leaders have no deeper science than the led, +impeded not the progress of the preparations. Concentrated, or arbitrary +government may be least just, but it is most effective. Unlimited in her +powers, uncontrouled in their exertion, Miss Arbe saved as much time by +the rapidity, as contention by the despotism of her proceedings.</p> + +<p>All seemed executed as soon as planned. The rooms were fitted up; the +music was selected for the performance; the uniform for the lady-artists +was fixed upon; all succeeded, all flourished,—save, only, the +subscription for the concert!</p> + +<p>But this, the essential point, neither her authority nor her influence +was sufficiently potent to accelerate. Nothing is so quick as the +general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> circulation of money, yet nothing requires more address than +turning it into new channels. Curiosity was amply awakened for one +evening's entertainment; but the subscription, which amounted to ten +guineas, was for three nights in the week. The scheme had no interest +adequate to the expence either of time or of money thus demanded; except +for matrons who had young ladies, or young ladies who had talents to +display. And even these, in the uncertainty of individual success, were +more anxious to see the sum raised from others, than alert to advance it +themselves.</p> + +<p>This slackness of generosity, and dearth of spirit, however offensive to +the pride, rather animated than dampt the courage of Miss Arbe. She saw, +she said, that the enterprize was arduous; but its difficulties, and not +the design, should be vanquished. Her preparations, therefore, were +continued with unabated confidence, and, within a week, all the +performers were summoned to a rehearsal.</p> + +<p>Ellis was called upon with the rest; for in the name of Miss Ellis, and +for the sake and the benefit of Miss Ellis, all the orders were given, +all the measures were taken, and all the money was to be raised: yet in +no one point had Ellis been consulted; and she would hardly have known +that a scheme which owed to her its name, character, and even existence, +was in agitation, but from the diligence with which Miss Arbe ordered +the restoration of the harp; and from the leisure which that lady now +found, in the midst of her hurries, for resuming her lessons.</p> + +<p>Ellis, from the time that she had agreed to this scheme, devoted herself +completely to musical studies; and the melodious sounds drawn forth from +her harp, in playing the exquisite compositions of the great masters, +with whose works her taste, industry, and talents had enriched her +memory, softened her sorrows, and soothed her solitude. Her vocal +powers, also, she cultivated with equal assiduity; and she arrived at +the house of Miss Sycamore, where the first rehearsal was to be held, +calmly prepared to combat every internal obstacle to exertion, and to +strive, with her best ability, to obtain the consideration which she +desired, from the satisfaction, rather than solely from the indulgence +of her auditors.</p> + +<p>But the serenity given, at least assumed, by this resolution, was +suddenly shaken through a communication made to her by Mr Giles Arbe, +who was watching for her upon the staircase, that fifty pounds had been +deposited, for her use, with his cousin, Miss Arbe, by Lady Aurora +Granville.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> + +<p>Intelligence so important, and so touching, filled her with emotion. Why +had not Miss Arbe transmitted to her a donation so seasonable, and so +much in unison with her wishes? Instantly, and without scruple, she +resolved to accept it; to adopt some private plan of maintenance, and to +relinquish the concert-enterprise altogether.</p> + +<p>This idea was enforced by all her feelings. Her original dislike to the +scheme augmented into terrour, upon her entrance into the apartment +destined for its opening execution, when she perceived her own harp +placed in the most conspicuous part of the upper end of the room, which +was arranged for an orchestra: while the numerous forms with which the +floor was nearly covered, shewed her by how many auditors she was +destined to be judged, and by how many spectators to be examined. Struck +and affrighted, her new hope of deliverance was doubly welcomed, and she +looked eagerly round for Miss Arbe, to realize it without delay.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, however, was so encircled, that there seemed little chance of +obtaining her attention. The situation of Ellis was awkward and painful; +for while the offences by which she had so lately been wounded, made her +most want encouragement, the suspicions which she had excited seemed to +distance all her acquaintance. No mistress of the house deigned to +receive, or notice her; and though, as a thing of course, she would +herself have approached any other than Miss Sycamore, there was a +lively, yet hardy insolence in that young lady, which she had not +courage to encounter.</p> + +<p>The company, at large, was divided into groups, to the matron part of +which Miss Arbe was dictatorially haranguing, with very apparent +self-applause. The younger sets were engaged in busy whispering trios or +quartettos, in corners, or at the several windows.</p> + +<p>Embarrassed, irresolute, Ellis stopt nearly upon her entrance, vainly +seeking some kind eye to invite her on; but how advance, where no one +addressed, or seemed to know her? Ah! ye proud, ye rich, ye high! +thought she, why will you make your power, your wealth, your state, thus +repulsive to all who cannot share them? How small a portion of +attention, of time, of condescension, would make your honours, your +luxuries, your enjoyments, the consolation, not the oppression, of your +inferiours, or dependants?</p> + +<p>While thus, sorrowingly, if not indignantly, looking round, and seeing +herself unnoticed, if not avoided, even by those whose favour, whose +kindness, whose rising friendship, had most eminently distinguished her, +since the commencement of her professional career,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> she recollected the +stories of her disguises, and of her surreptitious name, which were +spread abroad: her justice, then, felt appeased; and she ceased to +resent, though she could not to grieve, at the mortification which she +experienced.</p> + +<p>Catching, nevertheless, the eye of Selina, she ventured to courtesy and +smile; but neither courtesy nor smile was returned: Selina looked away, +and looked confused; but rapidly continued her prattling, though without +seeming to know herself what she was uttering, to Miss Arramede.</p> + +<p>Ellis, disconcerted, then proceeded, with no other interruption than an +'Ah ha! are you there, The Ellis?' from Miss Crawley; and an 'Oh ho! how +do do, The Ellis?' from Miss Di.</p> + +<p>At the sound, however, of her name, Lady Barbara Frankland, starting +from a little group, of which she had been the orator, exclaimed, +'Ellis?—Is Miss Ellis come?' And, skipping to the place where Ellis was +seated, expressed the most lively pleasure at her sight, mixt with much +affectionate regret at their long separation.</p> + +<p>This was a kindness the most reviving to Ellis, who was now approached, +also, by Lady Kendover; and, while respectfully courtesying to a cold +salutation from that lady, one of her hands was suddenly seized, and +warmly pressed by Selina.</p> + +<p>Excited by the example of Lady Kendover, various ladies, who, from +meeting Ellis at the houses of her several scholars, had been struck +with her merit, and had conceived a regard for her person, flocked +towards her, as if she had now first entered the room. Yet the notice of +Lady Kendover was merely a civil vehicle, to draw from her attractions +the young and partial Lady Barbara.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe no sooner saw her thus surrounded, than, alertly advancing, +and assuming the character and state of a patroness, she complacently +bowed around her, saying, 'How kind you all are to my <i>Protegée</i>!'</p> + +<p>Miss Sycamore ended this scene, by calling upon one of the young ladies +to open the rehearsal.</p> + +<p>She called, however, in vain; every one declared herself too much +frightened to take the lead; and those whose eager eyes rolled +incessantly round the room, in search of admirers; and whose little +laughs, animated gestures, and smiling refusals, invited solicitation, +were the most eloquent in talking of their timidity, and delaying their +exhibition; each being of opinion that the nearer she could place her +performance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> to the conclusion, the nearer she should approach to the +post of honour.</p> + +<p>To finish these difficulties, Miss Arbe desired Ellis to sing and play.</p> + +<p>Ellis, whose hopes were all alive, that she might spare herself this +hazardous experiment, demanded a previous conference; but Miss Arbe was +deaf and blind to whatever interfered with the vivacity of her +proceedings; and Ellis, not daring, without more certain authority than +that of Mr Giles Arbe, to proclaim her intended change of measures, was +forced to give way; though with an unwillingness so palpable, that she +inspired general pity.</p> + +<p>Mr Scope himself would have handed her to the orchestra, but that he +apprehended such a step might be deemed an action of gallantry, and as +such affect the public opinion of his morals; and Mr Giles Arbe would +have been enchanted to have shewn her his high regard, but that the +possibility of so doing, occurred to him only when the opportunity was +past. Sir Marmaduke Crawley, however, studiously devoted to the arts, +set apart, alike, the rumours which, at one time, raised Ellis to a +level with the rest of the company, and, at another, sunk her beneath +their domestics; and, simply considering her claim to good breeding and +attention, as an elegant artist, courteously offered her his hand.</p> + +<p>Somewhat comforted by this little mark of respect, Ellis accepted it +with so much grace, and crossed the apartment with an air so +distinguished, that the urbanity of Sir Marmaduke soon raised an almost +general envy of his office.</p> + +<p>Every one now was attentive: singing charms universally: no art, no +accomplishment has such resistless attraction: it catches alike all +conditions, all ages, and all dispositions: it subdues even those whose +souls are least susceptible either to intellectual or mental harmony.</p> + +<p>Foremost in the throng of listeners came Lady Barbara Frankland, +attended by Selina; unopposed either by Lady Kendover or Mrs Maple; +those ladies not being less desirous that their nieces should reap every +advantage from Ellis, than that Ellis should reap none in return.</p> + +<p>But Ellis was seized with a faint panic that disordered her whole frame; +terrour took from her fingers their elasticity, and robbed her mind and +fancy of those powers, which, when free from alarm, gave grace and +meaning to her performance: and, what to herself she had played with a +taste and an expression, that the first masters would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> most have +admired, because best have understood, had now neither mark, spirit, nor +correctness: while her voice was almost too low to be heard, and quite +too feeble and tremulous to give pleasure.</p> + +<p>The assembly at large was now divided between sneerers and pitiers. The +first insinuated, that Ellis thought it fine and lady-like to affect +being frightened; the second saw, and compassionated, in her failure, +the natural effect of distressed modesty, mingled with wounded pride.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, her fervent, but indiscriminating juvenile admirer, Lady +Barbara, echoed by Selina, enthusiastically exclaimed, 'How delightfully +she plays and sings! How adorably!'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, well aware that fear alone had thus 'unstrung the lyre' of +Ellis, secretly exulted, that the <i>Diletanti</i> would possess her name and +services for their institution, without her superiority. The Miss +Crawleys were laughing so immoderately, at Mr Giles Arbe's requesting +them to be quiet, that they did not find out that the rehearsal was +begun: and the rest of the ladies had seized the moment of performance, +for communicating to one another innumerable little secrets, which never +so aptly occur as upon such occasions; Miss Sycamore excepted, who, with +a cold and cutting sneer, uttered a malicious 'bravissima!'</p> + +<p>Inexpressibly hurt and chagrined, Ellis precipitately quitted the +orchestra; and, addressing Miss Arbe, said, 'Alas, Madam, I am unequal +to this business! I must relinquish it altogether! And,—if I have not +been misinformed, Lady Aurora Granville—'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, reddening, and looking much displeased, repeated, 'Lady +Aurora?—who has been talking to you about Lady Aurora?'</p> + +<p>Ellis would have declined giving her authority; but Miss Arbe, without +scruple, named Mr Giles. 'That tiresome old creature,' she cried, 'is +always doing some mischief. He's my cousin, to be sure; and he's a very +good sort of man, and all that; but I don't believe it's possible for an +old soul to be more troublesome. As to this little sum of Lord +Melbury's—'</p> + +<p>'Lord Melbury's?' repeated Ellis, much agitated, 'If it be Lord +Melbury's, I have, indeed, no claim to make! But I had hoped Lady +Aurora—'</p> + +<p>'Well, well, Lady Aurora, if you will. It's Lady Aurora, to be sure, who +sends it for you; but still—'</p> + +<p>'She has, indeed, then, sent it for me?' cried Ellis, rapturously; +'sweet, amiable Lady Aurora!—Oh! when will the hour come—'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>She checked her speech; but could not check the brilliant colour, the +brightened countenance, which indicated the gay ideas that internally +consoled her recent mortification.</p> + +<p>'And why, Madam,' she soon more composedly, yet with spirit, added, +'might I not be indulged with the knowledge of her ladyship's goodness +to me? Why is Mr Giles Arbe to be blamed for so natural a communication? +Had it, happily, reached me sooner, it might have spared me the distress +and disgrace of this morning?'</p> + +<p>She then earnestly requested to receive what was so kindly meant for her +succour, upon milder terms than such as did violence to her disposition, +and were utterly unfitting to her melancholy situation.</p> + +<p>Somewhat embarrassed, and extremely piqued, Miss Arbe made no reply but +a fretful 'Pish!'</p> + +<p>'Lady Aurora,' continued Ellis, 'is so eminently good, so feelingly +delicate, that if any one would have the charity to name my petition to +her ladyship, she would surely consent to let me change the destination +of what she so generously assigns to me.'</p> + +<p>Her eyes here glanced anxiously towards Lady Barbara; who, unable to +resist their appeal, sprang from Lady Kendover, into the little circle +that was now curiously forming around Ellis; eagerly saying, 'Miss +Ellis, 'tis to me that Lady Aurora wrote that sweet letter, about the +fifty pounds; and I'll send for it to shew you this moment.'</p> + +<p>'Do, little lady, do!' cried Mr Giles, smiling and nodding, 'you are the +sweetest little soul amongst them all!'</p> + +<p>Laughing and delighted, she was dancing away; but Lady Kendover, gently +stopping her, said, 'You are too young, yet, my dear, to be aware of the +impropriety of making private letters public.'</p> + +<p>'Well, then, at least, Miss Ellis,' she cried, 'I will tell you that one +paragraph, for I have read it so often and often that I have got it by +heart, it's so very beautiful! "You will entreat Miss Arbe, my dear Lady +Barbara, since she is so good as to take the direction of this +concert-enterprize, to employ this little loan to the best advantage for +Miss Ellis, and the most to her satisfaction. Loan I call it, for Miss +Ellis, I know, will pay it, if not in money, at least in a thousand +sweetnesses, of a thousand times more value."'</p> + +<p>Ellis, touched with unspeakable pleasure, was forced to put her hand +before her eyes.</p> + +<p>'"Don't let her consult Miss Ellis about its acceptance. Miss Ellis will +decline every thing that is personal; and every thing that is personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +is what I most wish to present to her. I beg Miss Arbe will try to find +out what she most requires, and endeavour to supply it unnamed.</p> + +<p>'"Oh! could I but discover what would sooth, would console her! How +often I think of her! How I love to recollect her enchanting talents, +and to dwell upon every hour that I passed in her endearing society! Why +did not Lady Kendover know her at that time? She could not, then, my +dear Lady Barbara, have wished you a sweeter companion. Even Mrs Howel +was nearly as much captivated by her elegance and manners, as I was, and +must ever remain, by her interesting qualities, and touching +sensibility. O be kind to her, Lady Barbara! for my sake be kind to her: +I am quite, quite unhappy that I have no power to be so myself!"'</p> + +<p>Tears now rolled in resistless streams down the cheeks of Ellis, though +from such heartfelt delight, that her eyes, swimming in liquid lustre, +shone but more brightly.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the respect which such a panegyric might have excited in +the assembly at large, was nearly lost through the rapidity with which +it was uttered by the eager Lady Barbara; and nothing short of the +fascinated attention, and quick consciousness given by deep personal +interest, could have made it completely intelligible even to Ellis: but +to the sounds we wish to hear the heart beats responsive: it seizes them +almost unpronounced.</p> + +<p>Revived, re-animated, enchanted, Ellis now, with grace, with modesty, +yet with firmness, renewed her request to Miss Arbe; who, assuming a +lively air, though palpably provoked and embarrassed, answered, that +Miss Ellis did not at all understand her own interest; and declared that +she had taken the affair in hand herself, merely to regulate it to the +best advantage; adding, 'You shall see, now, the surprise I had prepared +for you, if that blabbing old cousin of mine had not told you every +thing before hand.'</p> + +<p>Then, in a tone of perfectly restored self-complacency, she produced a +packet, and, with a parading look, that said, See what I bestow upon +you! ostentatiously spread its contents upon a table.</p> + +<p>'Now,' she cried, 'Miss Ellis, I hope I shall have the good fortune to +please you! see what a beautiful gown I have bought you!'</p> + +<p>The gown was a sarcenet of a bright rose-colour; but its hue, though the +most vivid, was pale to the cheeks of Ellis, as she repeated, 'A gown, +Madam? Permit me to ask—for what purpose?'</p> + +<p>'For what purpose?—To sing at our concert, you know! It's just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> the +thing you want the most in the world. How could you possibly do without +it, you know, when you come to appear before us all in public?'</p> + +<p>While Ellis hesitated what to reply, to a measure which, thus conducted, +and thus announced, seemed to her unequivocally impertinent, the packet +itself was surrounded by an eager tribe of females, and five or six +voices broke forth at once, with remarks, or animadversions, upon the +silk.</p> + +<p>'How vastly pretty it is!' cried Miss Arramede, addressing herself +courteously to Miss Arbe.</p> + +<p>'Yes, pretty enough, for what it is meant for,' answered Miss Sycamore; +glancing her eyes superciliously towards Ellis.</p> + +<p>'Pray, Miss Arbe, what did you give a yard for it,' demanded Miss Bydel; +'and how much will the body-lining come to? I hope you know of a cheap +mantua-maker?'</p> + +<p>'Bless me, how fine you are going to make The Ellis!' cried Miss +Crawley: 'why I shall take her for a rose!'</p> + +<p>'Why then The Ellis will be The rose!' said Miss Di; 'but I should +sooner take her for my wax-doll, when she's all so pinky winky.'</p> + +<p>'Why then The Ellis will be The doll!' cried Miss Crawley.</p> + +<p>The two sisters now seated, or rather threw themselves upon a sofa, to +recover from the excessive laughter with which they were seized at their +own pleasantry; and which was exalted nearly to extacy, by the wide +stare, and uplifted hands, of Mr Giles Arbe.</p> + +<p>'It's horridly provoking one can't wear that colour one's self,' said +Miss Arramede, 'for it's monstrously pretty.'</p> + +<p>'Pretty?' repeated Miss Brinville: 'I hope, Miss Arramede, you don't +wish to wear such a frightful vulgar thing, because it's pretty?'</p> + +<p>'Well, I think it's vastly well,' said Miss Sycamore, yawning; 'so don't +abuse it. As our uniform is fixed to be white, with violet-ornaments, it +was my thought to beg Miss Arbe would order something of this shewy sort +for Miss Ellis; to distinguish us <i>Diletanti</i> from the artists.'</p> + +<p>It was not Ellis alone who felt the contemptuous haughtiness of this +speech; the men all dropt their eyes; and Lady Barbara expressively +exclaimed, 'Miss Ellis can't help looking as beautiful and as elegant as +an angel, let her dress how she will!'</p> + +<p>All obstacles being now removed for continuing the rehearsal, the +willing Lady-artists flocked around Miss Arbe; and songs were sung, and +lessons upon the piano forte, or harp, were played; with a readiness of +compliance, taken, by the fair performers, for facility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> execution; +and with a delight in themselves that elevated their spirits to rapture; +since it was the criterion whence they calculated the pleasure that they +imparted to others.</p> + +<p>The pieces which they had severally selected were so long, and the +compliments which the whole company united to pour forth after every +performance, were so much longer, that the day was nearly closing, when +Ellis was summoned to finish the act.</p> + +<p>Ellis, who had spent this interval first in curious, next in civil, and +lastly in forced attention, rose now with diminished timidity, to obey +the call. It was not that she thought better of the scheme, but that it +appeared to her less formidable; her original determination, therefore, +to make her best exertions, returned with more effect, and she executed +a little prelude with precision and brilliancy; and then accompanied +herself in a slow and plaintive air, with a delicacy, skill, and +expression, at once touching and masterly.</p> + +<p>This concluded the first act; and the first act was so long, that it was +unanimously agreed, that some new regulations must be adopted, before +the second and third could be rehearsed.</p> + +<p>Every piece which had followed the opening performance, or, rather, +failure, of Ellis, had been crowned with plaudits. Every hand had +clapped every movement; every mouth had burst forth with exclamations of +praise: Ellis alone was heard in silence; for Ellis was unprotected, +unsustained, unknown. Her situation was mysterious, and seemed open at +times, to the most alarming suspicions; though the unequivocal +regularity and propriety of her conduct, snatched her from any positive +calumny. Yet neither this, nor the most striking talents, could have +brought her forward, even for exhibition, into such an assembly, but for +the active influence of Miss Arbe; who, shrewd, adroit, and vigilant, +never lost an opportunity to serve herself, while seeming to serve +others.</p> + +<p>The fortune of this young lady was nearly as limited as her ambition and +vanity were extensive; she found, therefore, nothing so commodious, as +to repay the solid advantages which she enjoyed, gratuitously, from +various artists, by patronage; and she saw, in the present case, an +absolute necessity, either to relinquish her useful and elegant +mistress, as an unknown adventurer, not proper to be presented to people +of fashion; or to obviate the singular obstacles to supporting her, by +making them become a party themselves in the cause of her <i>protegée</i>, +through the personal interest of a subscription for their own +amusement.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Ellis, after a performance which, if fairly heard, and +impartially judged, must have given that warm delight that excites +'spirit-stirring praise,' was heard in silence; though had a single +voice been raised in her favour, nearly every voice would have joined in +chorus. But her patroness was otherwise engaged, and Lady Barbara was +gone; no one, therefore, deemed it prudent to begin. Neglect is still +more contagious than admiration: it is more natural, perhaps, to man, +from requiring less trouble, less candour, less discernment, and less +generosity. The <i>Diletanti</i>, also, already reciprocally fatigued, were +perfectly disposed to be as parsimonious to all without their own line, +as they were prodigal to all within it, of those sweet draughts of +flattery, which they had so liberally interchanged with one another.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe considered her own musical debts to be cancelled, from the +moment that she had introduced her <i>protegée</i> into this assembly. She +was wholly, therefore, indifferent to what might give her support, or +mortification; and had taken the time of her performance, to demand a +general consultation, whether the first harmonic meeting should be held +in the apartment of Lady Arramede, which was the most magnificent; or in +that of Miss Sycamore, which, though superb, was the least considerable +amongst the select subscribers.</p> + +<p>This was a point of high importance, and of animated discussion. The +larger apartment would best excite the expectations of the public, and +open the business in the highest style; but the smaller would be the +most crowded;—there would not be room to stir a step;—scarcely a soul +could get a seat;—some of the company must stand upon the stairs;—'O +charming!'—'O delightful!'—was echoed from mouth to mouth; and the +motion in favour of Miss Sycamore was adopted by acclamation.</p> + +<p>Ellis now, perceiving that the party was breaking up, advanced to Miss +Arbe, and earnestly requested to be heard; but Miss Arbe, looking as if +she did not know, and was too busy to enquire what this meant, protested +herself quite bewildered with the variety of matters which she had to +arrange; and, shaking hands with Miss Sycamore, was hurrying away, when +the words 'Must I address myself, then, Madam, to Lady Aurora!' startled +her, and she impatiently answered, 'By no means! Lady Aurora has put the +money into my hands, and I have disposed of it to the very best +advantage.'</p> + +<p>'Disposed of it——I hope not!—I hope—I trust—that, knowing the +generous wishes of Lady Aurora to indulge, as well as to relieve me, you +have not disposed of so considerable a sum, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> permitting me first +to state to you, how and in what manner her ladyship's benevolence may +most effectually be answered?'</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe, evidently more disturbed though more civil, lowered her tone; +and, taking Ellis apart, gently assured her, that the whole had been +applied exclusively for her profit, in music, elegant desks, the hire of +instruments, and innumerable things, requisite for opening the concert +upon a grand scale; as well as for the prettiest gown in the world, +which, she was sure, would become her of all things.</p> + +<p>Ellis, with undisguised astonishment, asked by what arrangement it could +justly be settled, that the expences of a subscription-concert should be +drawn from the bounty of one lady; that lady absent, and avowedly +sending her subscription merely for the service of an individual of the +sett?</p> + +<p>'That's the very thing!' cried Miss Arbe, with vivacity: 'her ladyship's +sending it for that one performer, has induced me to make this very +arrangement; for, to tell you the truth, if Lady Aurora had not been so +considerate for you, the whole scheme must have been demolished; and if +so, poor Miss Ellis! what would become of you, you know?'</p> + +<p>Then, with a volubility that shewed, at once, her fear of expostulation, +and her haste to have done, she sought to explain that, without the +necessary preparations, there could be no concert; without a concert +Miss Ellis could not be known; without being known, how could she +procure any more scholars? and without procuring scholars, how avoid +being reduced again to the same pitiable state, as that from which Miss +Arbe had had the pleasure to extricate her? And, in short, to save +further loss of time, she owned that it was too late to make any change, +as the whole fifty pounds was entirely spent.</p> + +<p>It was not, now, chagrin alone, nor disappointment, nor anxiety, that +the speaking features of Ellis exhibited; indignation had a strong +portion of their expression; but Miss Arbe awaited not the remonstrance +that they announced: more courteous, while more embarrassed, she took +Ellis by the hand, and caressingly said, 'Lady Aurora knows—for I have +written to her ladyship myself,—that every smiling is laid out for your +benefit;—only we must have a beginning, you know,—so you won't +distress poor Lady Aurora, by seeming discontented, after all that she +has done for you? It would be cruel, you know, to distress her.'</p> + +<p>With all its selfishness, Ellis felt the truth of this observation with +respect to Lady Aurora, as forcibly as its injustice with regard to +herself. She sighed from helplessness how to seek any redress; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> Miss +Arbe, still fawningly holding her hand, added, 'But you don't think to +steal away without giving us another air?—Miss Sycamore!—Sir +Marmaduke!—Sir Lyell! pray help me to persuade Miss Ellis to favour us +with one more air.'</p> + +<p>Disgusted and fatigued, Ellis would silently have retired; but the +signal being given by Miss Arbe, all that remained of the assembly +professed themselves to be dying for another piece; and Ellis, pressed +to comply with an eagerness that turned solicitation into persecution, +was led, once more, by Sir Marmaduke, to the orchestra.</p> + +<p>Here, her melancholy and distressed feelings again marred her +performance; she scarcely knew what she played, nor how she sung; her +execution lost its brilliancy, and her expression its refined +excellence: but Miss Arbe, conscious of the cause, and alarmed lest any +appeal to Lady Aurora should sully her own character of patroness, +hoped, by the seductive bribery of flattery, to stifle complaint. She +was the first, therefore, to applaud; and her example animated all +around, except the supercilious Miss Sycamore, and the jealous Miss +Brinville, whom envy rendered inveterate. 'How exquisite!'—'How +sweet!'—'How incomparable!'—'What taste!'—'What sounds!'—'What +expression!'—now accompanied almost every bar of the wavering, +incorrect performance; though not even an encouraging buzz of +approbation, had cheered the exertions of the same performer during the +elegant and nearly finished piece, by which it had been preceded. The +public at large is generally just, because too enormous to be +individually canvassed; but private circles are almost universally +biassed by partial or prejudiced influence.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe chose now to conclude, that every objection was obviated; and +Ellis strove vainly to obtain a moment's further attention, from the +frivolous flutter, and fancied perplexities, of busy self-consequence. +The party broke up: the company dispersed; and the poor, unconsidered, +unaided <i>protegée</i>, dejectedly left the house, at the same moment that +it was quitted triumphantly, by her vain, superficial, unprotecting +patroness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + + +<p>Discouraged and disgusted as Ellis returned from this rehearsal, the sad +result of her reflections, upon all that had passed, and upon her +complicate difficulties, with her debtors and creditors, served but to +convince her of the necessity of perseverance in what she had +undertaken; and of patience in supporting whatever that undertaking +might require her to endure.</p> + +<p>From the effects of a hard shower of rain, in which she had been caught, +while returning from the first rehearsal, she was seized with a +hoarseness, that forced her to decline her own vocal performance at the +second. This was immediately spread about the room, as an excess of +impertinence; and the words, 'What ridiculous affection!'—'What +intolerable airs!'—'So she must have a cold? Bless us! how fine!'—were +repeated from mouth to mouth, with that contemptuous exultation, which +springs from the narrow pleasure of envy, in fixing upon superior merit +the stigma of insolence, or caprice.</p> + +<p>Ellis, who, unavoidably, heard these murmurs, was struck with fresh +alarm, at the hardship of those professions which cast their votaries +upon the mercy of superficial judges; who, without investigation, +discernment, or candour, make their decisions from common place +prejudice; or current, but unexamined opinions.</p> + +<p>Having no means to obviate similar injustice for the future, but by +chacing the subject of suspicion, the dread of public disapprobation, to +which she was now first awakened, made her devote her whole attention to +the cure of her little malady.</p> + +<p>Hitherto, a desire to do well, that she might not displease or +disappoint her few supporters, had been all her aim; but sarcasms, +uttered with so little consideration, in this small party, represented +to her the disgrace to which her purposed attempt made her liable, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +cases of sickness, of nervous terrors, or of casual inability, from an +audience by which she could be regarded only as an artist, who, paid to +give pleasure, was accountable for fulfilling that engagement.</p> + +<p>She trembled at this view of her now dependent condition; and her health +which, hitherto, left to nature, and the genial vigour of youth, had +disdained all aid, and required no care, became the first and most +painful object of her solicitude. She durst not venture to walk out +except in the sun-shine; she forbore to refresh herself near an open +window; and retreated from every unclosed door, lest humidity, or the +sharpness of the wind, or a sudden storm, should again affect her voice; +and she guarded her whole person from the changing elements, as +sedulously as if age, infirmity, or disease, had already made her health +the salve of prudential forethought.</p> + +<p>These precautions, though they answered in divesting her of a casual and +transient complaint, were big with many and greater evils, which +threatened to become habitual. The faint warmth of a constantly shut up +apartment; the total deprivation of that spring which exercise gives to +strength, and fresh air to existence, soon operated a change in her +whole appearance. Her frame grew weaker; the roses faded from her +cheeks; she was shaken by every sound, and menaced with becoming a +victim to all the tremors, and all the languors of nervous disorders.</p> + +<p>Alas! she cried, how little do we know either of the labours, or the +privations, of those whose business it is to administer pleasure to the +public! We receive it so lightly, that we imagine it to be lightly +given!</p> + +<p>Alarmed, now, for her future and general health, she relinquished this +dangerous and enervating system; and, committing herself again to the +chances of the weather, and the exertions of exercise, was soon, again, +restored to the enjoyment of her excellent constitution.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the reproaches of Mr Giles Arbe, for her seeming neglect of +her own creditors, who had applied for his interest, constrained her to +avow to him the real and unfeeling neglect which was its cause.</p> + +<p>Extremely angry at this intelligence, he declared that he should make it +his especial business, to urge those naughty ladies to a better +behaviour.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, at the next rehearsal,—for, as the relation of Miss Arbe, +he was admitted to every meeting,—he took an opportunity, upon +observing two or three of the scholars of Ellis in a group, to bustle in +amongst them; and, pointing to her, as she sat upon a form,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> in a +distant corner, 'Do but look,' he said, 'at that pretty creature, +ladies! Why don't you pay her what you owe her? She wants the money very +much, I assure you.'</p> + +<p>A forced little laugh, from the ladies whom this concerned, strove to +turn the attack into a matter of pleasantry. Lady Kendover alone, and at +the earnest desire of her niece, took out her purse; but when Mr Giles, +smiling and smirking, with a hand as open as his countenance, advanced +to receive what she meant to offer, she drew back, and, saying that she +could not, just then, recollect the amount of the little sum, walked to +the other end of the room.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I'll bring you word what it is directly, my lady!' cried Mr Giles; +'so don't get out of the way. And you, too, my Lady Arramede; and you, +Miss Sycamore; and you, Miss Brinville; if you'll all stand together, +here, in a cluster, I'll bring every one of you the total of your +accounts from her own mouth. And I may as well call those two merry +young souls, the Miss Crawleys, to come and pay, too. She has earned her +money hardly enough, I'm sure, poor pretty lady!'</p> + +<p>'O, very hardly, to be sure!' cried Lady Arramede; 'to play and sing are +vast hardships!'</p> + +<p>'O, quite insupportable!' said Miss Sycamore: 'I don't wonder she +complains. Especially as she has so much else to do with her time.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think it very agreeable, then, ladies,' cried Mr Giles, 'to +teach all that thrim thrum?'</p> + +<p>'Why what harm can it do her?' said Miss Brinville: 'I don't see how she +can well do any thing that can give her less trouble. She had only just +to point out one note, or one finger, instead of another.'</p> + +<p>'Why yes, that's all she does, sure enough,' said Miss Bydel, 'for I +have seen her give her lessons.'</p> + +<p>'What, then, ladies,' cried Mr Giles, surprised; 'do you count for +nothing being obliged to go out when one had rather stay at home? and to +dress when one has nothing to put on? as well as to be at the call of +folks who don't know how to behave? and to fag at teaching people who +are too dull to learn?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, who was within hearing, alarmed to observe that, in these last +two phrases, he looked full at Miss Sycamore and Miss Brinville, upon +whose conduct towards herself she had confidentially entrusted him with +her feelings, endeavoured to make him some sign to be upon his guard: +though, as neither of those two ladies had the misfortune to possess +sufficient modesty to be aware of their demerits, they might both have +remained as secure from offence as from consciousness, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> her own quick +fears had as completely escaped notice. But, when Mr Giles perceived her +uneasiness, he called out, 'Don't be frightened, my pretty lady! don't +think I'll betray my trust! No, no. I can assure you, ladies, you can't +be in better hands, with respect to any of your faults or oversights, +for she never names them but with the greatest allowances. For as to +telling them to me, that's nothing; because I can't help being naturally +acquainted with them, from seeing you so often.'</p> + +<p>'She's vastly good!'—'Amazingly kind!' was now, with affected contempt, +repeated from one to another.</p> + +<p>'Goodness, Mr Giles!' cried Miss Bydel, 'why what are you thinking of? +Why you are calling all the ladies to account for not paying this young +music-mistress, just as if she were a butcher, or a baker; or some +useful tradesman.'</p> + +<p>'Well, so she is, Ma'am! so she is, Mrs Bydel! For if she does not feed +your stomachs, she feeds your fancies; which are all no better than +starved when you are left to yourselves.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, as to that, Mr Giles,' said Miss Bydel, 'much as it's my interest +that the young woman should have her money, for getting me back my own, +I can't pretend to say I think she should be put upon the same footing +with eating and drinking. We can all live well enough without music, and +painting, and those things, I hope; but I don't know how we are to live +without bread and meat.'</p> + +<p>'Nor she, neither, Mrs Bydel! and that's the very reason that she wants +to be paid.'</p> + +<p>'But, I presume, Sir,' said Mr Scope, 'you do not hold it to be as +essential to the morals of a state, to encourage luxuries, as to provide +for necessaries? I don't speak in any disparagement to this young lady, +for she seems to me a very pretty sort of person. I put her, therefore, +aside; and beg to discuss the matter at large. Or, rather, if I may take +the liberty, I will speak more closely to the point. Let me, therefore, +Sir, ask, whether you opine, that the butcher, who gives us our richest +nutriment, and the baker, to whom we owe the staff of life, as Solomon +himself calls the loaf, should barely be put upon a par with an artist +of luxury, who can only turn a sonata, or figure a minuet, or daub a +picture?'</p> + +<p>'Why, Mr Scope, a person who pipes a tune, or dances a jig, or paints a +face, may be called, if you will, an artist of luxury; but then 'tis of +your luxury, not his.'</p> + +<p>'Mine, Sir?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Yes, yours, Sir! And Mrs Maple's; and Mrs Bydel's; and Miss +Brinville's; and Miss Sycamore's; and Mrs and Miss every body's;—except +only his own.'</p> + +<p>'Well, this,' said Miss Bydel, 'is curious enough! So because there are +such a heap of squallers, and fidlers, and daubers, I am to have the +fault of it?'</p> + +<p>'This I could not expect indeed,' said Mrs Maple, 'that a gentleman so +amazingly fond of charity, and the poor, and all that, as Mr Giles Arbe, +should have so little principle, as to let our worthy farmers and +trades-people languish for want, in order to pamper a set of lazy +dancers, and players, and painters; who think of no one thing but +idleness, and outward shew, and diversion.'</p> + +<p>'No, Mrs Maple; I am not for neglecting the farmers and trades-people; +quite the contrary; for I think you should neither eat your meat, nor +drink your beer, nor sit upon your chairs, nor wear your clothes, till +you have rewarded the industrious people who provide them. Till then, in +my mind, every body should bear to be hungry, and dry, and tired, and +ragged! For what right have we to be fed, and covered, and seated, at +other folks' cost? What title to gormandize over the butcher's fat +joints, and the baker's quartern loaves, if they who furnish them are +left to gnaw bones, and live upon crumbs? We ought all of us to be +ashamed of being warmed, and dizened in silks and satins, if the poor +weavers, who fabricate them, and all their wives and babies, are +shivering in tatters; and to toss and tumble ourselves about, on couches +and arm-chairs, if the poor carpenters, and upholsterers, and joiners, +who have had all the labour of constructing them, can't find a seat for +their weary limbs!'</p> + +<p>'What you advance, there, Sir,' said Mr Scope, 'I can't dispute; but +still, Sir, I presume, putting this young lady always out of the way; +you will not controvert my position, that the morals of a state require, +that a proper distinction should be kept up, between the instruments of +subsistence, and those of amusement.'</p> + +<p>'You are right enough, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel; 'for if singing and +dancing, and making images, are ever so pretty, one should not pay folks +who follow such light callings, as one pays people that are useful.'</p> + +<p>'I hope not, truly!' said Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>Mr Scope, thus encouraged, went on to a formal dissertation, upon the +morality of repressing luxury; which was so cordially applauded by Miss +Bydel; and enforced by sneers so personal and pointed against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Ellis, by +Mrs Maple, Miss Brinville, and Miss Sycamore, that Mr Giles, provoked, +at length, to serious anger, got into the middle of the little auditory, +and, with animated gesticulation, stopping all the attempts of the slow +and prosing Mr Scope to proceed, exclaimed, 'Luxury? What is it you all +of you mean by luxury? Is it your own going to hear singing and playing? +and to see dancing and capering? and to loll at your ease, while a +painter makes you look pretty, if you are ever so plain? If it be, do +those things no more, and there will soon be an end to them! but don't +excite people to such feats, and then starve them for their pains. +Luxury? do you suppose, because such sights, and such sounds, and such +flattery, are luxuries to you, they are luxuries to those who produce +them? Because you are in extacies to behold yourselves grow younger and +more blooming every moment, do you conclude that he who mixes your +colours, and covers your defects, shares your transports? No; he is sick +to death of you; and longing to set his pencil at liberty. And because +you, at idle hours, and from mere love of dissipation, lounge in your +box at operas and concerts, to hear a tune, or to look at a jump, do you +imagine he who sings, or who dances, must be a voluptuary? No! all he +does is pain and toil to himself; learnt with labour, and exhibited with +difficulty. The better he performs, the harder he has worked. All the +ease, and all the luxury are yours, Mrs Maple, and yours, Miss Bydel, +and yours, ladies all, that are the lookers on! for he does not pipe or +skip at his own hours, but at yours; he does not adorn himself for his +own warmth, or convenience, but to please your tastes and fancies; he +does not execute what is easiest, and what he like best, but what is +hardest, and has most chance to force your applause. He sings, perhaps, +when he may be ready to cry; he plays upon those harps and fiddles, when +he is half dying with hunger; and he skips those gavots, and fandangos, +when he would rather go to bed! And all this, to gain himself a hard and +fatiguing maintenance, in amusing your dainty idleness, and +insufficiency to yourselves.'</p> + +<p>This harangue, uttered with an energy which provocation alone could +rouse in the placid, though probing Mr Giles, soon broke up the party: +Miss Sycamore, indeed, only hummed, rather louder than usual, a +favourite passage of a favourite air; and the Miss Crawleys nearly +laughed themselves sick; but Mrs Maple, Miss Bydel, and Miss Brinville, +were affronted; and Miss Arbe, who had vainly made various signs to her +cousin to be silent, was ashamed, and retreated: without Miss Arbe, +nothing could go on; and the rehearsal was adjourned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>The attempt of Mr Giles, however, produced no effect, save that of +occasioning his own exclusion from all succeeding meetings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + + +<p>The <i>Diletanti</i>, in a short time, thought themselves perfect, yet the +destined concert was not opened; the fifty pounds, which had been sent +for Ellis, had been lavished improvidently, in ornamental preparations; +and the funds otherwise raised, were inadequate for paying the little +band, which was engaged to give effect in the orchestra.</p> + +<p>Severely as Ellis dreaded the hour of exhibition, a delay that, in its +obvious consequences, could only render it more necessary, gave her no +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>A new subject for conjecture and reflexion speedily ensued: the visits +of Miss Arbe, hitherto wearisome and oppressive, alike from their +frequency and their selfishness, suddenly, and without any reason +assigned, or any visible motive, ceased.</p> + +<p>The relief which, in other circumstances, this defection might have +given to her spirits, she was now incapable of enjoying; for though Miss +Arbe rather abused than fulfilled the functions of a patroness, Ellis +immediately experienced, that even the most superficial protection of a +lady of fashion, could not, without danger, be withdrawn from the +indigent and unsupported. Miss Matson began wondering, with a suspicious +air, what was become of Miss Arbe; the young work-women, when Ellis +passed them, spared even the civility of a little inclination of the +head; and the maid of the house was sure to be engaged, on the very few +occasions on which Ellis demanded her assistance.</p> + +<p>Some days elapsed thus, in doubt and uneasiness, not even broken into by +a summons to a rehearsal: another visit, then, from Mr Giles Arbe, +explained the cause of this sudden desertion. He brought a manuscript +air, which Miss Arbe desired that Ellis would copy, and, immediately, +though unintentionally, divulged, that his cousin had met<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> with the +newly-arrived professor at Miss Brinville's, and had instantly +transferred to him the enthusiasm of her favour.</p> + +<p>Ellis but too easily comprehended, that the ruin of her credit and +consequence in private families, would follow the uselessness of her +services to her patroness. The prosecution, therefore, of the +concert-scheme, which she had so much disliked in its origin, became now +her own desire, because her sole resource.</p> + +<p>The next morning, while she was busy in copying the MS., the customary +sound of the carriage and voice of Miss Arbe, struck her ears, and +struck them, for the first time, with pleasure.</p> + +<p>'I have not,' cried that lady, 'a moment to stay; but I have something +of the greatest importance to tell you, and you have not an instant to +lose in getting yourself ready. What do you think? You are to sing, next +week, at Mr Vinstreigle's benefit!'</p> + +<p>'I, Madam!'</p> + +<p>'Yes! for you must know, my dear Miss Ellis, he has asked it of me +himself! So you see what a compliment that is! I am quite charmed to +bring you such news. So be sure to be ready with one of your very best +<i>scenas</i>.'</p> + +<p>She was then, with a lively air, decamping; but Ellis gently, yet +positively, declined performing at any concert open to the public at +large.</p> + +<p>'Pho, pho! don't begin all those scruples again, pray! It must be so, I +assure you. I'll tell you how the matter stands. Our funds are not yet +rich enough for beginning our own snug scrip-concert, without risk of +being stopt short the first or second night. And that, you know, would +raise the laugh against us all horridly. I mean against us <i>Diletanti</i>. +So that, if we don't hit upon some new measure, I am afraid we shall all +go to town before the concert can open. And that, you know, would quite +ruin you, poor Miss Ellis! which would really give me great concern. So +I consulted with Sir Marmaduke Crawley; and he said that you ought, by +all means, to sing once or twice in public, to make yourself known; for +that would raise the subscription directly; especially as it would soon +be spread that you are a <i>protégée</i> of mine. So, you see, we must either +take this method, or give the thing quite up; which will be your utter +destruction, I am sorry to say. So now decide quick, for there is not a +second to spare.'</p> + +<p>Ellis was alarmed, yet persisted in her negative.</p> + +<p>Piqued and offended, Miss Arbe hurried away; declaring aloud, in passing +through the shop, that people who were so determined to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> their own +enemies, might take care of themselves: that, for her part, she should +do nothing more in the affair; and only wished that Miss Ellis might +find better means for paying her debts, and procuring herself a handsome +maintenance.</p> + +<p>However shocked by this petulant indelicacy, Ellis saw not without the +most serious concern, that the patronage of Miss Arbe was clearly at an +end. Personal interest which, it was equally clear, had excited it, now +ran in another channel; for if, by flattery or good offices, she could +obtain gratis, the instructions of an eminent professor, what could she +want with Ellis, whom she had never sought, nor known, nor considered, +but as a musical preceptress? And yet, far from elevating as was such +patronage, its extinction menaced the most dangerous effects.</p> + +<p>With little or no ceremony, Miss Matson, the next morning, came into her +room, and begged leave to enquire when their small account could be +settled. And, while Ellis hesitated how to answer, added, that the +reason of her desiring a reply as quickly as possible, was an interview +that she had just had with the other creditors, the preceding evening; +because she could not but let them know what had passed with Miss Arbe. +'For, after what I heard the lady say, Miss Ellis, as she went through +my shop, I thought it right to follow her, and ask what she meant; as it +was entirely upon her account my giving you credit. And Miss Arbe +replied to me, in so many words, "Miss Ellis can pay you All, if she +pleases: she has the means in her own power: apply to her, therefore, in +whatever way you think proper; for you may do her a great service by a +little severity: but, for my part, remember, I take no further +responsibility." So upon this, I talked it all over with your other +creditors; and we came to a determination to bring the matter to +immediate issue.'</p> + +<p>Seized with terror, Ellis now hastily took, from a locked drawer, the +little packet of Harleigh, and, breaking the seal, was precipitately +resolving to discharge every account directly; when other conflicting +emotions, as quick as those which had excited, checked her first +impulse; and, casting down, with a trembling hand, the packet, O let me +think!—she internally cried;—surrounded with perils of every sort, let +me think, at least, before I incur new dangers!</p> + +<p>She then begged that Miss Matson would grant her a few minutes for +deliberation.</p> + +<p>Certainly, Miss Matson said; but, instead of leaving the room, took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +possession of the sofa, and began a long harangue upon her own hardships +in trade; Ellis, neither answering nor listening.</p> + +<p>Presently, the door opened, and Mr Giles Arbe, in his usually easy +manner, made his appearance.</p> + +<p>'You are busy, you are busy, I see,' he cried; 'but don't disturb +yourselves. I'll look for a book, and wait.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, absorbed in painful ruminations, scarcely perceived him; and Miss +Matson loquaciously addressed to him her discourse upon her own affairs; +too much interested in the subject herself, to mark whether or not it +interested others, till Mr Giles caught her attention, and awakened even +that of Ellis, by saying aloud, though speaking to himself, 'Why now +here's money enough!—Why should not all those poor people be paid?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, turning round, saw then, that he had taken up Harleigh's packet; +of which he was examining the contents, and spreading, one by one, the +notes upon a table.</p> + +<p>She hastily ran to him, and, with an air extremely displeased, seized +those which she could reach; and begged him instantly to deliver to her +those which were still in his hand.</p> + +<p>Her discomposed manner brought him to the recollection of what he was +doing; and, making abundant apologies, 'I protest,' he cried, 'I don't +know how it happened that I should meddle with your papers, for I meant +only to take up a book! But I suppose it was because I could not find +one.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, in much confusion, re-folded the notes, and put them away.</p> + +<p>'I am quite ashamed to have done such a thing, I assure you,' he +continued, 'though I am happy enough at the accident, too; for I thought +you very poor, and I could hardly sleep, sometimes, for fretting about +it. But I see, now, you are better off than I imagined; for there are +ten of those ten pound bank-notes, if I have not miscounted; and your +bills don't amount to more than two or three of them.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, utterly confounded, retreated to the window.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson, who, with the widest stare, had looked first at the +bank-notes, and next at the embarrassed Ellis, began now to offer the +most obsequious excuses for her importunity; declaring that she should +never have thought of so rudely hurrying such a young lady as Miss +Ellis, but that the other creditors, who were really in but indifferent +circumstances, were so much in want of their money, that she had not +been able to quiet them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then, begging that Miss Ellis would take her own time, she went, +courtesying, down stairs.</p> + +<p>'So you have got all this money, and would not own it?' said Mr Giles, +when she was gone. 'That's odd! very odd, I confess! I can't well +understand it; but I hope, my pretty lady, you won't turn out a rogue? I +beg you won't do that; for it would vex me prodigiously.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, dropping upon a chair, ejaculated, with a heavy sigh, 'What step +must I take!'</p> + +<p>'What?—why pay them all, to be sure! What do other people do, when they +have got debts, and got money? I shall go and tell them to come to you +directly, every one of them.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, starting, supplicated his forbearance.</p> + +<p>'And why?—why?' cried he, looking a little angry: 'Do you really want +to hide up all that money, and make those poor good people, who have +served you at their own cost, believe that you have not gotten any?'</p> + +<p>She assured him that the money was simply a deposit left in her hands.</p> + +<p>This intelligence overset and disappointed him. He returned to his +chair, and drawing it near the fire, gave himself up to considering what +could be done; ejaculating from time to time, 'That's bad!—that's very +bad!—being really so poor is but melancholy!—I am sorry for her, poor +pretty thing!—very sorry!—But still, taking up goods one can't pay +for?—Who has a right to do that?—How are trades-people to live by +selling their wares gratis?—Will that feed their little ones?'</p> + +<p>Then, turning to Ellis, who, in deep disturbance at these commentaries, +had not spirits to speak; 'But why,' he cried, 'since you have gotten +this money, should not you pay these poor people with it, rather than +let it lie dead by your side? for as to the money's not being +yours,—theirs is not yours, neither.'</p> + +<p>'Should I raise myself, Sir, in your good opinion, by contracting a new +debt to pay an old one?'</p> + +<p>'If you contract it with a friend to pay a stranger, Yes.—And these +notes, I suppose, of course, belong to a friend?'</p> + +<p>'Not to ... an enemy, certainly!—' she answered, much embarrassed; 'but +is that a reason that I should betray a trust?'</p> + +<p>'What becomes of the trust of these poor people, then, that don't know +you, and that you don't know? Don't you betray that? Do you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> think that +they would have let you take their goods, if they had not expected your +payment?</p> + +<p>'Oh heaven, Mr Arbe!' cried Ellis, 'How you probe—perplex—entangle +me!'</p> + +<p>'Don't vex, don't vex!' said he, kindly, 'for that will fret me +prodigiously. Only, another time, when you are in want, borrow from the +rich, and not from the poor; for they are in want themselves. This +friend of yours is rich, I take for granted?'</p> + +<p>'I ... I believe so!'</p> + +<p>'Well, then, which is most equitable, to take openly from a rich friend, +and say, "I thank you;" or to take, underhand, from a hardworking +stranger, whom you scorn to own yourself obliged to, though you don't +scruple to harass and plunder? Which, I say, is most equitable?'</p> + +<p>Ellis shuddered, hesitated, and then said, 'The alternative, thus +stated, admits of no contest! I must pay my debts—and extricate myself +from the consequences as I can!'</p> + +<p>'Why then you are as good as you are pretty!' cried he, delighted: 'Very +good, and very pretty, indeed! And so I thought you at first! And so I +shall think you to the end!'</p> + +<p>He then hurried away, to give her no time to retract; nodding and +talking to himself in her praise, with abundant complacency; and saying, +as he passed through the shop, 'Miss Matson, you'll be all of you paid +to-morrow morning at farthest. So be sure bid all the good people come; +for the lady is a person of great honour, as well as prettiness; and +there's money enough for every one of you,—and more, too.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + + +<p>Ellis remained in the deepest disturbance at the engagement into which +she had entered. O cruel necessity! cruel, imperious necessity! she +cried, to what a resource dost thou drive me! How unjust, how improper, +how perilous!—Ah! rather let me cast myself upon Lady Aurora—Yet, +angel as she is, can Lady Aurora act for herself? And Lord Melbury, +guileless, like his nature, as may now be his intentions, what +protection can he afford me that calumny may not sully? Alas! how may I +attain that self-dependence which alone, at this critical period, suits +my forlorn condition?</p> + +<p>The horror of a new debt, incurred under circumstances thus delicate, +made the idea even of performing at the public benefit, present itself +to her in colours less formidable, if such a measure, by restoring to +her the patronage of Miss Arbe, would obviate the return of similar +evils, while she was thus hanging, in solitary obscurity, upon herself. +Vainly she would have turned her thoughts to other plans, and objects +yet untried; she had no means to form any independent scheme; no friends +to promote her interest; no counsellors to point out any pursuit, or +direct any measures.</p> + +<p>Her creditors failed not to call upon her early the next morning, guided +and accompanied by Mr Giles Arbe; who, bright with smiles and good +humour, declared, that he could not refuse himself the pleasure of being +a witness to her getting rid of such a bad business, as that of keeping +other people's money, by doing such a good one as that of paying every +one his due. 'You are much obliged to this pretty lady, I can tell you,' +he said, to the creditors, 'for she pays you with money that is not her +own. However, as the person it belongs to is rich, and a friend, I +advise you, as you are none of you rich yourselves, and nearly strangers +to her, to take it without scruple.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>To this counsel there was not one dissentient voice.</p> + +<p>Can the same person, thought Ellis, be so innocent, yet so mischievous? +so fraught with solid notions of right, yet so shallow in judgement, and +knowledge of the world?</p> + +<p>With a trembling hand, and revolting heart, she changed three of the +notes, and discharged all the accounts at once; Mr Giles, eagerly and +unbidden, having called up Miss Matson to take her share.</p> + +<p>Ellis now deliberated, whether she might not free herself from every +demand, by paying, also, Miss Bydel; but the reluctance with which she +had already broken into the fearful deposit, soon fixed her to seal up +the remaining notes entire.</p> + +<p>The shock of this transaction, and the earnestness of her desire to +replace money which she deemed it unjustifiable to employ, completed the +conquest of her repugnance to public exhibition; and she commissioned Mr +Giles to acquaint Miss Arbe, that she was ready to obey her commands.</p> + +<p>This he undertook with the utmost pleasure; saying, 'And it's lucky +enough your consenting to sing those songs, because my cousin, not +dreaming of any objection on your part, had already authorised Mr +Vinstreigle to put your name in his bills.'</p> + +<p>'My name?' cried Ellis, starting and changing colour: but the next +moment adding, 'No, no! my name will not appear!—Yet should any one who +has ever seen me....'</p> + +<p>She shuddered; a nervous horrour took possession of her whole frame; but +she soon forced herself to revive, and assume new courage, upon hearing +Mr Giles, from the landing-place, again call Miss Matson; and bid all +her young women, one by one, and the two maid-servants, hurry up stairs +directly, with water and burnt feathers.</p> + +<p>Ellis made every enquiry in her power, of who was at Brighthelmstone; +and begged Mr Giles to procure her a list of the company. When she had +read it, she became more tranquil, though not less sad.</p> + +<p>Miss Arbe received the concession with infinite satisfaction; and +introduced Ellis, as her <i>protegée</i>, to her new favourite; who professed +himself charmed, that the presentation of so promising a subject, to the +public, should be made at his benefit.</p> + +<p>'And now, Miss Ellis,' said Miss Arbe, 'you will very soon have more +scholars than you can teach. If once you get a fame and a name, your +embarrassments will be at an end; for all enquiries about who people +are, and what they are, and those sort of niceties, will be over.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> We +all learn of the celebrated, be they what they will. Nobody asks how +they live, and those sort of things. What signifies? as Miss Sycamore +says. We don't visit them, to be sure, if there is any thing awkward +about them. But that's not the least in the way against their making +whole oceans of riches.'</p> + +<p>This was not a species of reasoning to offer consolation to Ellis; but +she suppressed the disdain which it inspired; and dwelt only upon the +hoped accomplishment of her views, through the private teaching which it +promised.</p> + +<p>In five days' time, the benefit was to take place; and in three, Ellis +was summoned to a rehearsal at the rooms.</p> + +<p>She was putting on her hat, meaning to be particularly early in her +attendance, that she might place herself in some obscure corner, before +any company arrived; to avoid the pain of passing by those who knowing, +might not notice, or noticing, might but mortify her; when one of the +young work-women brought her intelligence, that a gentleman, just +arrived in a post chaise, requested admittance.</p> + +<p>'A gentleman?' she repeated, with anxiety:—'tell him, if you please, +that I am engaged, and can see no company.'</p> + +<p>The young woman soon returned.</p> + +<p>'The gentleman says, Ma'am, that he comes upon affairs of great +importance, which he can communicate only to yourself.'</p> + +<p>Ellis begged the young woman to request, that Miss Matson would desire +him to leave his name and business in writing.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson was gone to Lady Kendover's, with some new patterns, just +arrived from London.</p> + +<p>The young woman, however, made the proposition, but without effect: the +gentleman was in great haste, and would positively listen to no denial.</p> + +<p>Strong and palpable affright, now seized Ellis; am I—Oh heaven!—she +murmured to herself, pursued?—and then began, but checked an inquiry, +whether there were any private door by which she could escape: yet, +pressed by the necessity of appearing at the rehearsal, after painfully +struggling for courage, she faintly articulated, 'Let him come up +stairs.'</p> + +<p>The young woman descended, and Ellis remained in breathless suspense, +till she heard some one tap at her door.</p> + +<p>She could not pronounce, Who's there? but she compelled herself to open +it; though without lifting up her eyes, dreading to encounter the object +that might meet them, till she was roused by the words,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> 'Pardon my +intrusion!' and perceived Harleigh gently entering her apartment.</p> + +<p>She started,—but it was not with terrour; she came forward,—but it was +not to escape! The colour which had forsaken her cheeks, returned to +them with a crimson glow; the fear which had averted her eyes, was +changed into an expression of even extatic welcome; and, clasping her +hands, with sudden, impulsive, irresistible surprise and joy, she cried, +'Is it you?—Mr Harleigh! you!'</p> + +<p>Surprise now was no longer her own, and her joy was participated in yet +more strongly. Harleigh, who, though he had forced his way, was +embarrassed and confused, expecting displeasure, and prepared for +reproach; who had seen with horrour the dismay of her countenance; and +attributed to the effect of his compulsatory entrance the terrified +state in which he found her; Harleigh, at sight of this rapid transition +from agony to delight; at the flattering ejaculation of 'Is it you?' and +the sound of his own name, pronounced with an expression of even +exquisite satisfaction;—Harleigh in a sudden trance of irrepressible +rapture, made a nearly forcible effort to seize her hand, exclaiming, +'Can you receive me, then, thus sweetly? Can you forgive an intrusion +that—' when Ellis recovering her self-command, drew back, and solemnly +said, 'Mr Harleigh, forbear! or I must quit the room!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh reluctantly, yet instantly desisted; but the pleasure of so +unhoped a reception still beat at his heart, though it no longer +sparkled in her eyes: and though the enchanting animation of her manner, +was altered into the most repressing gravity, the blushes which still +tingled, still dyed her cheeks, betrayed that all within was not +chilled, however all without might seem cold.</p> + +<p>Checked, therefore, but not subdued, he warmly solicited a few minutes +conversation; but, gaining firmness and force every instant, she told +him that she had an appointment which admitted not of procrastination.</p> + +<p>'I know well your appointment,' cried he, agitated in his turn, 'too, +too well!—'Tis that fatal—or, rather, let me hope, that happy, that +seasonable information, which I received last night, in a letter +containing a bill of the concert, from Ireton, that has brought me +hither;—that impelled me, uncontrollably, to break through your hard +injunctions; that pointed out the accumulating dangers to all my views, +and told me that every gleam of future expectation—'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ellis interrupted him at this word: he entreated her pardon, but went +on.</p> + +<p>'You cannot be offended at this effort: it is but the courage of +despondence, I come to demand a final hearing!'</p> + +<p>'Since you know, Sir,' cried she, with quickness, 'my appointment, you +must be sensible I am no longer mistress of my time. This is all I can +say. I must be gone,—and you will not, I trust,—if I judge you +rightly,—you will not compel me to leave you in my apartment.'</p> + +<p>'Yes! you judge me rightly! for the universe I would not cause you just +offence! Trust me, then, more generously! be somewhat less suspicious, +somewhat more open, and take not this desperate step, without hearkening +to its objections, without weighing its consequences!'</p> + +<p>She could enter, she said, into no discussion; and prepared to depart.</p> + +<p>'Impossible!' cried he, with energy; 'I cannot let you go!—I cannot, +without a struggle, resign myself to irremediable despair!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, recovered now from the impression caused by his first appearance, +with a steady voice, and sedate air, said, 'This is a language, +Sir,—you know it well,—to which I cannot, must not listen. It is as +useless, therefore, as it is painful, to renew it. I beseech you to +believe in the sincerity of what I have already been obliged to say, and +to spare yourself—to spare, shall I add, me?—all further oppressive +conflicts.'</p> + +<p>A sigh burst from her heart, but she strove to look unmoved.</p> + +<p>'If you are generous enough to share, even in the smallest degree,' +cried he, 'the pain which you inflict; you will, at least, not refuse me +this one satisfaction.... Is it for Elinor ... and for Elinor only ... +that you deny me, thus, all confidence?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, no, no!' cried she, hastily: 'if Miss Joddrel were not in +existence,—' she checked herself, and sighed more deeply; but, +presently added, 'Yet, surely, Miss Joddrel were cause sufficient!'</p> + +<p>'You fill me,' he cried, 'with new alarm, new disturbance!—I supplicate +you, nevertheless, to forego your present plan;—and to shew some little +consideration to what I have to offer.—'</p> + +<p>She interrupted him. 'I must be unequivocally, Sir,—for both our +sakes,—understood. You must call for no consideration from me! I can +give you none! You must let me pursue the path that my affairs, that my +own perceptions, that my necessities point out to me, without +interference, and without expecting from me the smallest reference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> to +your opinions, or feelings.—Why, why,' continued she, in a tone less +firm, 'why will you force from me such ungrateful words?—Why leave me +no alternative between impropriety, or arrogance?'</p> + +<p>'Why,—let me rather ask,—why must I find you for ever thus +impenetrable, thus incomprehensible?—I will not, however, waste your +patience. I see your eagerness to be gone.—Yet, in defiance of all the +rigour of your scruples, you must bear to hear me avow, in my total +ignorance of their cause, that I feel it impossible utterly to renounce +all distant hope of clearer prospects.—How, then, can I quietly submit +to see you enter into a career of public life, subversive—perhaps—to +me, of even any eventual amelioration?'</p> + +<p>Ellis blushed deeply as she answered, 'If I depended, Sir, upon you,—if +you were responsible for my actions; or if your own fame, or name, or +sentiments were involved in my conduct ... then you would do right, if +such is your opinion, to stamp my project with the stigma of your +disapprobation, and to warn me of the loss of your countenance:—but, +till then, permit me to say, that the business which calls me away has +the first claim to my time.'</p> + +<p>She opened the door.</p> + +<p>'One moment,' cried he, earnestly, 'I conjure you!—The hurry of alarm, +the certainty that delay would make every effort abortive; have +precipitated me into the use of expressions that may have offended you. +Forgive them, I entreat! and do not judge me to be so narrow minded; or +so insensible to the enchantment of talents, and the witchery of genius; +as not to feel as much respect for the character, where it is worthy, as +admiration for the abilities, of those artists whose profession it is to +give delight to the public. Had I first known you as a public performer, +and seen you in the same situations which have shewn me your worth, I +must have revered you as I do at this instant: I must have been devoted +to you with the same unalterable attachment: but then, also,—if you +would have indulged me with a hearing,—must I not have made it my first +petition, that your accomplishments should be reserved for the resources +of your leisure, and the happiness of your friends, at your own time, +and your own choice? Would you have branded such a desire as pride? or +would you not rather have allowed it to be called by that word, which +your own every action, every speech, every look bring perpetually to +mind, propriety?'</p> + +<p>Ellis sighed: 'Alas!' she said, 'my own repugnance to this measure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +makes me but too easily conceive the objections to which it may be +liable! and if you, so singularly liberal, if even you—'</p> + +<p>She stopt; but Harleigh, not less encouraged by a phrase thus begun, +than if she had proceeded, warmly continued.</p> + +<p>'If then, in a case such as I have presumed to suppose, to have +withdrawn you from the public would not have been wrong, how can it be +faulty, upon the same principles, and with the same intentions, to +endeavour, with all my might, to turn you aside from such a project?—I +see you are preparing to tell me that I argue upon premises to which you +have not concurred. Suffer me, nevertheless, to add a few words, in +explanation of what else may seem presumption, or impertinence: I have +hinted that this plan might cloud my dearest hopes; imagine not, thence, +that my prejudices upon this subject are invincible: no! but I have +Relations who have never deserved to forfeit my consideration;—and +these—not won, like me, by the previous knowledge of your virtues.—'</p> + +<p>Ellis would repeatedly have interrupted him, but he would not be +stopped.</p> + +<p>'Hear me on,' he continued, 'I beseech you! By my plainness only I can +shew my sincerity. For these Relations, then, permit me to plead. It is +true, I am independent: my actions are under no control; but these are +ties from which we are never emancipated; ties which cling to our +nature, and which, though voluntary, are imperious, and cannot be broken +or relinquished, without self-reproach; ties formed by the equitable +laws of fellow-feeling; which bind us to our family, which unites us +with our friends; and which, by our own expectations, teach us what is +due to our connexions. Ah, then, if ever brighter prospects may open to +my eyes, let me see them sullied, by mists hovering over the approbation +of those with whom I am allied!'</p> + +<p>'How just,' cried Ellis, trying to force a smile, 'yet how useless is +this reasoning! I cannot combat sentiments in which I concur; yet I can +change nothing in a plan to which they must have no reference! I am +sorry to appear ungrateful, where I am only steady; but I have nothing +new to say; and must entreat you to dispense with fruitless repetitions. +Already, I fear, I am beyond the hour of my engagement.'</p> + +<p>She was now departing.</p> + +<p>'You distract me!' cried he, with vehemence, 'you distract me!' He +caught her gown, but, upon her stopping, instantly let it go. Pale and +affrighted, 'Mr Harleigh,' she cried, 'is it to you I must own a scene +that may raise wonder and surmises in the house, and aggravate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +distresses and embarrassments which, already, I find nearly +intolerable?'</p> + +<p>Shocked and affected, he shut the door, and would impetuously, yet +tenderly, have taken her hand; but, upon her shrinking back, with +displeasure and alarm, he more quietly said, 'Pardon! pardon! and before +you condemn me inexorably to submit to such rigorous disdain and +contempt—'</p> + +<p>'Why will you use such words? Contempt?—Good heaven!' she began, with +an emotion that almost instantly subsided, and she added, 'Yet of what +consequence to you ought to be my sensations, my opinions?' They can +avail you nothing! Let me go,—and let me conjure you to be gone!'</p> + +<p>'You are then decided against me?' cried he, in a voice scarcely +articulate.</p> + +<p>'I am,' she answered, without looking at him, but calmly.</p> + +<p>He bowed, with an air that relinquished all further attempt to detain +her; but which shewed him too much wounded to speak.</p> + +<p>Carefully still avoiding his eyes, she was moving off; but, when she +touched the lock of the door, he exclaimed, 'Will you not, at least, +before you go, allow me to address a few words to you as a friend? +simply,—undesignedly,—only as a friend?'</p> + +<p>'Ah! Mr Harleigh!' cried Ellis, irresistibly softened, 'as a friend +could I, indeed, have trusted you, I might long since,—perhaps,—have +confided in your liberality and benevolence: but now, 'tis wholly +impossible!'</p> + +<p>'No!' exclaimed he, warmly, and touched to the soul; 'nothing is +impossible that you wish to effect! Hear me, then, trust and speak to me +as a friend; a faithful, a cordial, a disinterested friend! Confide to +me your name—your situation—the motives to your concealment—the +causes that can induce such mystery of appearance, in one whose mind is +so evidently the seat of the clearest purity:—the reasons of such +disguise—'</p> + +<p>'Disguise, I acknowledge, Sir, you may charge me with; but not deceit! I +give no false colouring. I am only not open.'</p> + +<p>'That, that is what first struck me as a mark of a distinguished +character! That noble superiority to all petty artifices, even for your +immediate safety; that undoubting innocence, that framed no precautions +against evil constructions; that innate dignity, which supported without +a murmur such difficulties, such trials;—'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Mr Harleigh! a friend and a flatterer—are they, then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> synonimous +terms? If, indeed, you would persuade me you feel that they are +distinct, you will not make me begin a new and distasteful career—since +to begin it I think indispensable;—with the additional chagrin of +appearing to be wanting in punctuality. No further opposition, I beg!'</p> + +<p>'O yet one word, one fearful word must be uttered—and one fatal—or +blest reply must be granted!—The excess of my suspense, upon the most +essential of all points, must be terminated! I will wait with inviolable +patience the explanation of all others. Tell me, then, to what barbarous +cause I must attribute this invincible, this unrelenting reserve?—How I +may bear an abrupt answer I know not, but the horrour of uncertainty I +experience, and can endure no longer. Is it, then, to the force of +circumstances I may impute it?—or ... is it....'</p> + +<p>'Mr Harleigh,' interrupted Ellis, with strong emotion, 'there is no +medium, in a situation such as mine, between unlimited confidence, or +unbroken taciturnity: my confidence I cannot give you; it is out of my +power—ask me, then, nothing!'</p> + +<p>'One word,—one little word,—and I will torment you no longer: is it to +pre-engagement—'</p> + +<p>Her face was averted, and her hand again was placed upon the lock of the +door.</p> + +<p>'Speak, I implore you, speak!—Is that heart, which I paint to myself +the seat of every virtue ... is it already gone?—given, dedicated to +another?'</p> + +<p>He now trembled himself, and durst not resist her effort to open the +door, as she replied, 'I have no heart!—I must have none?'</p> + +<p>She uttered this in a tone of gaiety, that would utterly have confounded +his dearest expectations, had not a glance, with difficulty caught, +shewed him a tear starting into her eye; while a blush of fire, that +defied constraint, dyed her cheeks; and kept no pace with the easy +freedom from emotion, that her voice and manner seemed to indicate.</p> + +<p>Flushed with tumultuous sensations of conflicting hopes and fears, he +now tenderly said, 'You are determined then, to go?'</p> + +<p>'I am; but you must first leave my room.'</p> + +<p>'Is there, then, no further appeal?'</p> + +<p>'None! none—We may be heard disputing down stairs:—persecute me no +longer!'</p> + +<p>Her voice grew tremulous, and spoke displeasure; but her eyes still +sedulously shunned his, and still her cheeks were crimsoned. Harleigh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +paused a moment, looking at her with speechless anxiety; but, upon an +impatient motion of her hand that he would depart, he mildly said, 'As +your friend, at least, you will permit me to see you again?' and, +without risking a reply, slowly descended the stairs.</p> + +<p>Ellis, shutting herself into her room, sunk upon a chair, and wept.</p> + +<p>She was soon interrupted by a message from Mr Vinstreigle, to acquaint +her that the rehearsal was begun.</p> + +<p>She felt unable to sing, play, or speak, and, sending an excuse that she +was indisposed, desired that her attendance might be dispensed with for +that morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> + + +<p>Ellis passed the rest of the day in solitary meditation upon the scene +just related, her singular situation, and complicated difficulties. If, +at times, her project yielded to the objections to which she had been +forced to give ear, those objections were soon subdued, by the painful +recollection of the unacknowledged, yet broken hundred pounds. To +replace them, by whatever efforts, without giving to Harleigh the +dangerous advantage of discovering what she owed to him, became now her +predominant wish. Yet her distaste to the undertaking, her fears, her +discomfort, were cruelly augmented; and she determined that her airs +should be accompanied only by herself upon the harp, to obviate any +indispensable necessity for appearing at the rehearsals.</p> + +<p>To this effect, she sent, the next morning, a message that pleaded +indisposition, to M. Vinstreigle; yet that included an assurance, that +he might depend upon her performance, on the following evening, at his +concert.</p> + +<p>Once more, therefore, she consigned herself to practice; but vainly she +attempted to sing; her voice was disobedient to her desires: she had +recourse, however, to her harp; but she was soon interrupted, by +receiving the following letter from Harleigh.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>'To Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>'With a satisfaction which I dare not indulge—and yet, how +curb?—I have learnt, from Ireton, that you have renounced the +rehearsals. 'Tis, but, however, the trembling joy of a reprieve, +that, while welcoming hope, sees danger and death still in view. +For me and for my feelings your disclaim all consideration: I will +not, therefore, intrude upon you, again, my wishes or my +sufferings; yet as you do not, I trust, utterly reject me as a +friend, permit me, in that capacity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> to entreat you to deliberate, +before you finally adopt a measure to which you confess your +repugnance. Your situation I know not; but where information is +withheld, conjecture is active; and while I see your +accomplishments, while I am fascinated by your manners, I judge +your education, and, thence, your connections, and original style +of life. If, then, there be any family that you quit, yet that you +may yourself desire should one day reclaim you; and if there be any +family—leave mine alone!—to which you may hereafter be allied, +and that you may wish should appreciate, should revere you, as you +merit to be revered and appreciated—for such let me plead! Wound +not the customs of their ancestors, the received notions of the +world, the hitherto acknowledged boundaries of elegant life! Or, if +your tenderness for the feelings—say the failings, if you +please,—the prejudices, the weaknesses of others,—has no weight, +let, at least, your own ideas of personal propriety, your just +pride, your conscious worth, point out to you the path in society +which you are so eminently formed to tread. Or, if, singularly +independent, you deem that you are accountable only to yourself for +your conduct, that notion, beyond any other, must shew you the high +responsibility of all actions that are voluntary. Remember, then, +that your example may be pleaded by those who are not gifted, like +you, with extraordinary powers for sustaining its consequences; by +those who have neither your virtues to bear them through the trials +and vicissitudes of public enterprise; nor your motives for +encountering dangers so manifest; nor your apologies—pardon the +word!—for deviating, alone and unsupported as you appear, from the +long-beaten track of female timidity. Your example may be pleaded +by the rash, the thoughtless, and the wilful; and, therefore, may +be pernicious. An angel, such I think you, may run all risks with +impunity, save those which may lead feeble minds to hazardous +imitation.</p> + +<p>Is this language plain enough, this reasoning sufficiently sincere, +to suit the character of a friend? And as such may I address you, +without incurring displeasure? or, which is still, if possible, +more painful to me, exciting alarm? O trust me, generously trust +me, and be your ultimate decision what it may, you shall not repent +your confidence!</p> + +<p class="right">'A.H.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was not a letter to quiet the shaken nerves of Ellis, nor to +restore to her the modulation of her voice. She read it with strong +emotion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> dwelling chiefly upon the phrase, 'long-beaten track of female +timidity.'—Ah! she cried, delicacy is what he means, though he +possesses too much himself to mark more strongly his opinion that I +swerve from it! And in that shall I be wanting?—And what he thinks—he, +the most liberal of men!—will surely be thought by all whose esteem, +whose regard I most covet!—How dreadfully am I involved! in what misery +of helplessness!—What is woman,—with the most upright designs, the +most rigid circumspection,—what is woman unprotected? She is pronounced +upon only from outward semblance:—and, indeed, what other criterion has +the world? Can it read the heart?</p> + +<p>Then, again perusing her letter, You, alone, O Harleigh! she cried, you, +alone, escape the general contagion of superficial decision! Your own +heart is the standard of your judgment; you consult that, and it tells +you, that honour and purity may be in the breasts of others, however +forlorn their condition, however mysterious their history, however dark, +inexplicable, nay impervious, the latent motives of their conduct!—O +generous Harleigh!—Abandoned as I seem—you alone—Tears rolled rapidly +down her cheeks, and she lifted the letter up to her lips; but ere they +touched it, started, shuddered, and cast it precipitately into the fire.</p> + +<p>One of Miss Matson's young women now came to tell her, that Mr Harleigh +begged to know whether her commissions were prepared for London.</p> + +<p>Hastily wiping her eyes, she answered that she had no commissions; but, +upon raising her head, she saw the messenger descending the stairs, and +Harleigh entering the room.</p> + +<p>He apologised for hastening her, in a calm and formal style, palpably +intended for the hearing of the young woman; but, upon shutting the +door, and seeing the glistening eyes of Ellis, calmness and formality +were at an end; and, approaching her with a tenderness which he could +not resist, 'You are afflicted?' he cried. 'Why is it not permitted me +to soothe the griefs it is impossible for me not to share? Why must I be +denied offering even the most trivial assistance, where I would devote +with eagerness my life?—You are unhappy,—you make me wretched, and you +will neither bestow nor accept the consolation of sympathy? You see me +resigned to sue only for your friendship:—why should you thus +inflexibly withhold it? Is it—answer me sincerely!—is it my honour +that you doubt?—'</p> + +<p>He coloured, as if angry with himself even for the surmize; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> Ellis +raised her eyes, with a vivacity that reproached the question; but dropt +them almost instantaneously.</p> + +<p>'That generous look,' he continued, 'revives, re-assures me. From this +moment, then, I will forego all pretensions beyond those of a friend. I +am come to you completely with that intention. Madness, indeed,—but for +the circumstances which robbed me of self-command,—madness alone could +have formed any other, in an ignorance so profound as that in which I am +held of all that belongs to propriety. Does not this confession shew you +the reliance you may have upon the sincerity with which I mean to +sustain my promised character? Will it not quiet your alarms? Will it +not induce you to give me such a portion of your trust as may afford me +some chance of being useful to you? Speak, I entreat; devise some +service,—and you shall see, when a man is piqued upon being +disinterested, how completely he can forget—seem to forget, at +least!—all that would bring him back, exclusively, to himself.—Will +you not, then, try me?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, who had been silent to recover the steadiness of her voice, now +quietly answered, 'I am in no situation, Sir, for hazarding experiments. +What you deem to be your own duties I have no doubt that you fulfil; you +will the less, therefore, be surprised, that I decidedly adhere to what +appears to me to be mine. Your visits, Sir, must cease: your letters I +can never answer, and must not receive: we must have no intercourse +whatever; partial nor general. Your friendship, nevertheless, if under +that name you include good will and good wishes, I am far from desiring +to relinquish:—but your kind offices—grateful to me, at this moment, +as all kindness would be!'—she sighed, but hurried on; 'those, in +whatever form you can present them, I must utterly disclaim and repel. +Pardon, Sir, this hard speech. I hold it right to be completely +understood; and to be definitive.'</p> + +<p>Turning then, another way, she bid him good morning.</p> + +<p>Harleigh, inexpressibly disappointed, stood, for some minutes, suspended +whether resentfully to tear himself away, or importunately to solicit +again her confidence. The hesitation, as usual where hesitation is +indulged in matters of feeling, ended in directing him to follow his +wishes; though he became more doubtful how to express them, and more +fearful of offending or tormenting her. Yet in contrasting her desolate +situation with her spirit and firmness, redoubled admiration took place +of all displeasure. What, at first, appeared icy inflexibility, seemed, +after a moment's pause, the pure effect of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> noble disdain of trifling; +a genuine superiority to coquetry. But doubly sad to him was the +inference thence deduced. She cruelly wanted assistance; a sigh escaped +her at the very thought of kindness; yet she rejected his most +disinterested offers of aid; evidently in apprehension lest, at any +future period, he might act, or think, as one who considered himself to +be internally favoured.</p> + +<p>Impressed with this idea, 'I dare not,' he gently began, 'disobey +commands so peremptory; yet—' He stopt abruptly, with a start that +seemed the effect of sudden horrour. Ellis, again looking up, saw his +colour changed, and that he was utterly disordered. His eyes directed +her soon to the cause: the letter which she had cast into the fire, and +from which, on his entrance, he had scrupulously turned his view, now +accidentally caught it, by a fragment unburnt, which dropt from the +stove upon the hearth. He immediately recognized his hand-writing.</p> + +<p>This was a blow for which he was wholly unprepared. He had imagined +that, whether she answered his letter or not, she would have weighed its +contents, have guarded it for that purpose; perhaps have prized it! But, +to see it condemned to annihilation; to find her inexorably resolute not +to listen to his representations; nor, even in his absence, to endure in +her sight what might bring either him or his opinions to her +recollection; affected him so deeply, that, nearly unconscious what he +was about, he threw himself upon a chair, exclaiming, 'The illusion is +past!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, with gravity, but surprise, ejaculated, an interrogative, 'Sir?'</p> + +<p>'Pardon me,' he cried, rising, and in great agitation; 'pardon me that I +have so long, and so frequently, intruded upon your patience! I begin, +indeed, now, to perceive—but too well!—how I must have persecuted, +have oppressed you. I feel my error in its full force:—but that eternal +enemy to our humility, our philosophy, our contentment in ill success, +Hope,—or rather, perhaps, self-love,—had so dimmed my perceptions, so +flattered my feelings, so loitered about my heart, that still I +imagined, still I thought possible, that as a friend, at least, I might +not find you unattainable; that my interest for your welfare, my concern +for your difficulties, my irrepressible anxiety to diminish them, might +have touched those cords whence esteem, whence good opinion vibrate; +might have excited that confidence which, regulated by your own +delicacy, your own scruples, might have formed the basis of that +zealous, yet pure attachment, which is certainly the second<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> blessing, +and often the first balm of human existence,—permanent and blameless +friendship!'</p> + +<p>Ellis looked visibly touched and disturbed as she answered, 'I am very +sensible, Sir, of the honour you do me, and of the value of your +approbation: it would not be easy to me, indeed, to say—unfriended, +unsupported, nameless that I am!—how high a sense I feel of your +generous judgment: but, as you pleaded to me just now,' half smiling, +'in one point, the customs of the world; you must not so far forget them +in another, as not to acknowledge that a confidence, a friendship, such +as you describe, with one so lonely, so unprotected, would oppose them +utterly. I need only, I am sure, without comment, without argument, +without insistance, call this idea to your recollection, to see you +willingly relinquish an impracticable plan: to see you give up all +visits; forego every species of correspondence, and hasten, yourself, to +finish an intercourse which, in the eye of that world, and of those +prejudices, those connections, to which you appeal, would be regarded as +dangerous, if not injurious.'</p> + +<p>'What an inconceivable position!' cried Harleigh, passionately; 'how +incomprehensible a state of things! I must admire, must respect the +decree that tortures me, though profoundly in the dark with regard to +its motives, its purposes,—I had nearly said, its apologies! for not +trifling must be the cause that can instigate such determined +concealment, where an interest is excited so warm, so sincere, and, +would you trust it, honourable as mine!'</p> + +<p>'You distress, you grieve me,' cried Ellis, with an emotion which she +could not repress, 'by these affecting, yet fruitless conflicts! Could I +speak ... can you think I would so perseveringly be silent?'</p> + +<p>'I think, nay I am convinced, that you can do nothing but what is +dictated by purity, what is intentionally right; yet here, I am +persuaded, 'tis some right of exaggeration, some right stretched, by +false reasoning, or undue influence, nearly to wrong. That the cause of +the mystery which envelopes you is substantial, I have not any doubt; +but surely the effects which you attribute to it must be chimerical. To +reject the most trivial succour, to refuse the smallest communication—'</p> + +<p>'You probe me, Sir, too painfully!—I appear, to you, I see, wilfully +obstinate, and causelessly obscure: yet to be justified to you, I must +incur a harsher censure from myself! Thus situated, we cannot separate +too soon. Think over, I beg of you, when you are alone, all that has +passed: your candour, I trust, will shew you, that my reserve has been +too consistent in its practice, to be capricious in its motives.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> I can +add nothing more. I entreat, I even supplicate you, to desist from all +further enquiry; and to leave me!'</p> + +<p>'In such utter, such impenetrable darkness?—With no period +assigned?—not even any vague, any distant term in view, for letting in +some little ray of light?—'</p> + +<p>He spoke this in a tone so melancholy, yet so unopposingly respectful, +that Ellis, resistlessly affected, put her hand to her head, and half, +and almost unconsciously pronounced, 'Were my destiny fixed ... known +even to myself....'</p> + +<p>She stopt, but Harleigh, who, slowly, and by hard self-compulsion, had +moved towards the door, sprang back, with a countenance wholly +re-animated; and with eyes brightly sparkling, in the full lustre of +hope and joy, exclaimed, 'It is not, then, fixed?—your destiny—mine, +rather! is still open to future events?—O say that again! tell me but +that my condemnation is not irrevocable, and I will not ask another +word!—I will not persecute you another minute!—I will be all patience, +all endurance;—if there be barely some possibility that I have not seen +and admired only to regret you!—that I have not known and +appreciated—merely to lose you!'</p> + +<p>'You astonish, you affright me, Sir!' cried Ellis, recovering a dignity +that nearly amounted to severity: 'if any thing has dropt from me that +can have given rise to expressions—deductions of this nature, I beg +leave, immediately, to explain that I have been utterly misunderstood. I +see however, too clearly, the danger of such contests to risk their +repetition. Permit me, therefore, unequivocally, to declare, that here +they end! I have courage to act, though I have no power to command. You, +Sir, must decide, whether you will have the kindness to quit my +apartment immediately;—or whether you will force me to so unpleasant a +measure as that of quitting it myself. The kindness, I say; for however +ill my situation accords with the painful perseverance of your ... +investigations ... my memory must no longer "hold its seat," when I lose +the impression I have received of your humanity, your goodness, your +generosity!... You will leave me, Mr Harleigh, I am sure!'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, as much soothed by these last words, as he was shocked by all +that had preceded them, silently bowed; and, unable, with a good grace, +to acquiesce in a determination which he was yet less entitled to +resist, slowly, sadly, and speechless, with concentrated feelings, left +the room.</p> + +<p>'All good betide you, Sir!—and may every blessing be yours!'—in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> a +voice of attempted cheerfulness, but involuntary tremour, was pronounced +by Ellis, as, hastily rising, she herself shut the door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2> + + +<p>The few, but precious words, that marked, in parting, a sensibility that +he had vainly sought to excite while remaining, bounded to the heart of +Harleigh; but were denied all acknowledgment from his lips, by the sight +of Miss Bydel and Mr Giles Arbe, who were mounting the stairs.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel tapt at the door of Ellis; and Harleigh, ill as he felt +fitted for joining any company, persuaded himself that immediately to +retreat, might awaken yet more surmize, than, for a few passing minutes, +to re-enter the room.</p> + +<p>He looked at Ellis, in taking this measure, and saw that, while she +struggled to receive her visitors with calm civility, her air of +impatience for his departure was changed, by this surprize, into +confusion at his presence.</p> + +<p>He felt culpable for occasioning her so uneasy a sensation; and, to +repair it as much as might be in his power, assumed a disengaged +countenance, and treated as a mark of good fortune, having chanced to +enquire whether Miss Ellis had any commands for town, at the same time +that Miss Bydel and Mr Giles Arbe made their visit.</p> + +<p>'Why we are come, Mrs Ellis,' said Miss Bydel, 'to know the real reason +of your not being at the rehearsal this morning. Pray what is it? Not a +soul could tell it me, though I asked every body all round. So I should +be glad to hear the truth from yourself. Was it real illness, now? or +only a pretext?'</p> + +<p>'Illness,' cried Mr Giles, 'with all those roses on her cheeks? No, no; +she's very well; as well as very pretty. But you should not tell +stories, my dear: though I am heartily glad to see that there's nothing +the matter. But it's a bad habit. Though it's convenient enough, +sometimes. But when you don't like to do a thing, why not say so at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +once? People mayn't be pleased, to be sure, when they are refused; but +do you think them so ill natured, as to like better to hear that you are +ill?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, abashed, attempted no defence; and Harleigh addressed some +discourse to Miss Bydel, upon the next day's concert; while Mr Giles +went on with his own idea.</p> + +<p>'We should always honestly confess our likings and dislikings, for else +what have we got them for? If every one of us had the same taste, half +the things about us would be of no service; and we should scramble till +we came to scratches for t'other half. But the world has no more +business, my dear lady, to be all of one mind, than all of one body.'</p> + +<p>'O now, pray Mr Giles,' cried Miss Bydel, 'don't go beginning your +comical talk; for if once you do that, one can't get in a word.'</p> + +<p>'But, for all that, we should all round try to help and be kind to one +another; what else are we put all together for in this world? We might, +just as well, each of us have been popt upon some separate bit of a +planet, one by himself one. All I recommend, is, to tell truth, or to +say nothing. We whip poor pretty children for telling stories, when they +are little, and yet hardly speak a word, without some false turn or +other, ourselves, when we grow big!'</p> + +<p>'Well, but, Mr Giles,' said Miss Bydel, 'where's the use of talking so +long about all that, when I'm wanting to ask Mrs Ellis why she did not +come to the rehearsal?'</p> + +<p>'For my own part, Ma'am,' continued Mr Giles, 'if any body puts me to a +difficulty, I do the best I can: but I'd rather do the worst than tell a +fib. So when I am asked an awkward question, which some people can't +cure themselves of doing, out of an over curiosity in their nature, as, +Giles, how do you like Miss such a one? or Mr such a one? or Mrs such a +one? as Miss Bydel, for instance, if she came into any body's head; +or—'</p> + +<p>'Nay, Mr Giles,' interrupted Miss Bydel, 'I don't see why I should not +come into a person's head as well as another; so I don't know what you +say that for. But if that's your notion of being so kind one to another, +Mr Giles, I can't pretend to say it's mine; for I see no kindness in +it.'</p> + +<p>'I protest, Ma'am, I did not think of you in the least!' cried Mr Giles, +much out of countenance: 'I only took your name because happening to +stand just before you put it, I suppose, at my tongue's end; but you +were not once in my thoughts, I can assure you, Ma'am,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> upon my word of +honour! No more than if you had never existed, I protest!'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, neither accepting nor repelling this apology, said, that she +did not come to talk of things of that sort, but to settle some business +of more importance. Then, turning to Ellis, 'I hear,' she continued, +'Mrs Ellis, that all of the sudden, you are grown very rich. And I +should be glad to know if it's true? and how it has happened?'</p> + +<p>'I should be still more glad, Madam,' answered Ellis, 'to be able to +give you the information!'</p> + +<p>'Nay, Mrs Ellis, I had it from your friend Mr Giles, who is always the +person to be telling something or other to your advantage. So if there +be any fault in the account, it's him you are to call upon, not me.'</p> + +<p>Mr Giles, drawn by the silence of Ellis to a view of her embarrassment, +became fearful that he had been indiscreet, and made signs to Miss Bydel +to say no more upon the subject; but Miss Bydel, by no means disposed, +at this moment, to oblige him, went on.</p> + +<p>'Nay, Mr Giles, you know, as well as I do, 'twas your own news. Did not +you tell us all, just now, at the rehearsal, when Miss Brinville and +Miss Sycamore were saying what a monstrous air they thought it, for a +person that nobody knew any thing of, to send excuses about being +indisposed; just as if she were a fine lady; or some famous singer, that +might be as troublesome as she would; did you not tell us, I say, that +Mrs Ellis deserved as much respect as any of us, on account of her good +character, and more than any of us on account of her prettiness and her +poverty? Because her prettiness, says you, tempts others, and her +poverty tempts herself; and yet she is just as virtuous as if she were +as rich and as ordinary as any one of the greatest consequence amongst +you. These were your own words, Mr Giles.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh, who, conscious that he ought to go, had long held by the lock +of the door, as if departing, could not now refrain from changing the +position of his hand, by placing it, expressively, upon the arm of Mr +Giles.</p> + +<p>'And if all this,' Miss Bydel continued, 'is not enough to make you +respect her, says you, why respect her for the same thing that makes you +respect one another, her money. And when we all asked how she could be +poor, and have money too, you said that you had yourself seen ever so +many bank-notes upon her table.'</p> + +<p>Ellis coloured; but not so painfully as Harleigh, at the sight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> her +blushes, unattended by any refutation; or any answer to this +extraordinary assertion.</p> + +<p>'And then, Mr Giles, as you very well know, when I asked, if she has +money, why don't she pay her debts? you replied, that she had paid them +all. Upon which I said, I should be glad to know, then why I was to be +the only person left out, just only for my complaisance in waiting so +long? and upon that I resolved to come myself, and see how the matter +stood. For though I have served you with such good will, Mrs Ellis, +while I thought you poor, I must be a fool to be kept out of my money, +when I know you have got it in plenty: and Mr Giles says that he +counted, with his own hands, ten ten-pound bank-notes. Now I should be +glad if you have no objection, to hear how you came by all that money, +Mrs Ellis; for ten ten-pound bank-notes make a hundred pounds.'</p> + +<p>Oh! absent—unguarded—dangerous Mr Giles Arbe! thought Ellis, how much +benevolence do you mar, by a distraction of mind that leads to so much +mischief!</p> + +<p>'I hope I have done nothing improper?' cried Mr Giles, perceiving, with +concern, the disturbance of Ellis, 'in mentioning this; for I protest I +never recollected, till this very minute, that the money is not your +own. It slipt my memory, somehow, entirely.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, nay, how will you make that out, Mr Giles?' cried Miss Bydel. 'If +it were not her own, how came she to pay her tradesmen with it, as you +told us that she did, Mr Giles?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, in the deepest embarrassment, knew not which way to turn her +head.</p> + +<p>'She paid them, Miss Bydel,' said Mr Giles, 'because she is too just, as +well as too charitable, to let honest people want, only because they +have the good nature to keep her from wanting herself; while she has +such large sums, belonging to a rich friend, lying quite useless, in a +bit of paper, by her side. For the money was left with her by a very +rich friend, she told me herself.'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir,—no, Mr Giles,' cried Ellis, hastily, and looking every way to +avoid the anxious enquiring, quick-glancing eyes of Harleigh: 'I did +not ... I could not say....' she stopt, scarcely knowing what she meant +either to deny or to affirm.</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, 'twas a rich friend, my dear lady, you owned that. If you had +not given me that assurance, I should not have urged you to make use of +it. Besides, who but a rich friend would leave you money in such a way +as that, neither locked, nor tied, nor in a box, nor in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> parcel; but +only in a little paper cover, directed For Miss Ellis, at her leisure?'</p> + +<p>At these words, which could leave no doubt upon the mind of Harleigh, +that the money in question was his own; and that the money, so often +refused, had finally been employed in the payment of her debts, Ellis +involuntarily, irresistibly, but most fearfully, stole a hasty glance at +him; with a transient hope that they might have escaped his attention; +but the hope died in its birth: the words, in their fullest meaning, had +reached him, and the sensation which they produced filled her with +poignant shame. A joy beamed in his countenance that irradiated every +feature; a joy that flushed him into an excess of rapture, of which the +consciousness seemed to abash himself; and his eyes bent instantly to +the ground. But their checked vivacity checked not the feelings which +illumined them, nor the alarm which they excited, when Ellis, urged by +affright to snatch a second look, saw the brilliancy with which they had +at first sought her own, terminate in a sensibility more touching; saw +that they glistened with a tender pleasure, which, to her alarmed +imagination, represented the potent and dangerous inferences that +enchanted his mind, at a discovery that he had thus essentially +succoured her; and that she had accepted, at last, however secretly, his +succour.</p> + +<p>This view of new danger to her sense of independence, called forth new +courage, and restored an appearance of composure; and, addressing +herself to Miss Bydel, 'I entreat you,' she cried, 'Madam, to bear a +little longer with my delay. To-morrow I shall enter upon a new career, +from the result of which I hope speedily to acknowledge by obligation to +your patience; and to acquit myself to all those to whom I am in any +manner, pecuniarily obliged;—except of the lighter though far more +lasting debt of gratitude.'</p> + +<p>Harleigh understood her determined perseverance with cruel +disappointment, yet with augmented admiration of her spirited delicacy; +and, sensible of the utter impropriety of even an apparent resistance to +her resolution in public, he faintly expressed his concern that she had +no letters prepared for town, and with a deep, but stifled sigh, took +leave.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel continued her interrogations, but without effect; and soon, +therefore, followed. Mr Giles remained longer; not because he obtained +more satisfaction, but because, when not answered, he was contented with +talking to himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p> + +<p>The rest of the day was passed free from outward disturbance to Ellis; +and what she might experience internally was undivulged.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2> + + +<p>The day now arrived which Ellis reluctantly, yet firmly, destined for +her new and hazardous essay. Resolute in her plan, she felt the extreme +importance of attaining courage and calmness for its execution. She shut +herself up in her apartment, and gave the most positive injunctions to +the milliners, that no one should be admitted. The looks of Harleigh, as +he had quitted her room, had told her that this precaution would not be +superfluous, and, accordingly, he came; but was refused entrance: he +wrote; but his letters were returned unread. His efforts to break, +served but to fix her purpose: she saw the expectations that he would +feed from any concession; and potent as had hitherto been her objection +to the scheme, they all subsided, in preference to exciting, or +passively permitting, any doubts of the steadiness of her rejection.</p> + +<p>Still, however, she could not practise: her voice and her fingers were +infected by the agitation of her mind, and she could neither sing nor +play. She could only hope that, at the moment of performance, the +positive necessity of exertion, would bring with it, as so often is its +effect, the powers which it requires.</p> + +<p>The tardiness of her resolution caused, however, such an accumulation of +business, not only for her thoughts, but for her time, from the +indispensable arrangements of her attire, that scarcely a moment +remained either for the relief or the anxieties of rumination. She set +off, therefore, with tolerable though forced composure, for the rooms, +in the carriage of Miss Arbe; that lady, once again, chusing to assume +the character of her patroness, since as such she could claim the merit +of introducing her to the public, through an obligation to her own new +favourite, M Vinstreigle.</p> + +<p>Upon stopping at the hotel, in which the concert was to be held, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +strange figure, with something foreign in his appearance, twice crossed +before the chariot, with a menacing air, as if purposing to impede her +passage. Easily startled, she feared descending from the carriage; when +Harleigh, who was watching, though dreading her arrival, came in sight, +and offered her his hand. She declined it; but, seeing the intruder +retreat abruptly, into the surrounding crowd of spectators, she alighted +and entered the hotel.</p> + +<p>Pained, at once, and charmed by the striking elegance of her appearance, +and the air of gentle dignity which shewed such attire to be familiar to +her, Harleigh felt irresistibly attracted to follow her, and once more +plead his cause. 'Hear, hear me!' he cried, in a low, but touching +voice: 'One moment hear me, I supplicate, I conjure you! still it is not +too late to avert this blow! Indisposition cannot be disputed, or, if +doubted, of what moment would be the suspicion, if once, generously, +trustingly, you relinquish this cruel plan?'</p> + +<p>He spoke in a whisper, yet with an impetuosity that alarmed, as much as +his distress affected her; but, when she turned towards him, to call +upon his forbearance, she perceived immediately at his side, the person +who had already disconcerted her. She drew hastily back, and he brushed +quickly past, looking round, nevertheless, and evidently and anxiously +marking her. Startled, uneasy, she involuntarily stopt; but was relieved +by the approach of one of the door-keepers, to the person in question; +who haughtily flung at him a ticket, and was passing on; but who was +told that he could not enter the concert-room in a slouched hat.</p> + +<p>A sort of attendant, or humble friend, who accompanied him, then said, +in broken English, that the poor gentleman only came to divert himself, +by seeing the company, and would disturb nobody, for he was deaf and +dumb, and very inoffensive.</p> + +<p>Re-assured by this account, Ellis again advanced, and was met by Mr +Vinstreigle; who had given instructions to be called upon her arrival, +and who, now, telling her that it was late, and that the concert was +immediately to be opened, handed her to the orchestra. She insisted upon +seating herself behind a violencello-player, and as much out of sight as +possible, till necessity must, of course, bring her forward.</p> + +<p>From her dislike to being seen, her eyes seemed rivetted upon the +music-paper which she held in her hand, but of which, far from studying +the characters, she could not read a note. She received, with silent +civility, the compliments of M Vinstreigle; and those of his band,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> who +could approach her; but her calmness, and what she had thought her +determined courage, had been so shaken by personal alarm, and by the +agitated supplications of Harleigh, that she could recover them no more. +His desponding look, when he found her inexorable, pursued her; and the +foreign clothing, and foreign servant, of the man who, though deaf and +dumb, had so marked and fixt her, rested upon her imagination, with a +thousand vague fears and conjectures.</p> + +<p>In this shattered state of nerves, the sound of many instruments, loud +however harmonious, so immediately close to her ears, made her start, as +if electrified, when the full band struck up the overture, and +involuntarily raise her eyes. The strong lights dazzled them; yet +prevented her not from perceiving, that the deaf and dumb man had +planted himself exactly opposite to the place, which, by the disposition +of the harp, was evidently prepared for her reception. Her alarm +augmented: was he watching her from mere common curiosity? or had he any +latent motive, or purpose? His dress and figure were equally remarkable. +He was wrapt in a large scarlet coat, which hung loosely over his +shoulders, and was open at the breast, to display a brilliant waistcoat +of coloured and spangled embroidery. He had a small, but slouched hat, +which he had refused to take off, that covered his forehead and +eye-brows, and shaded his eyes; and a cravat of enormous bulk encircled +his chin, and enveloped not alone his ears, but his mouth. Nothing was +visible but his nose, which was singularly long and pointed. The whole +of his habiliment seemed of foreign manufacture; but his air had +something in it that was wild, and uncouth; and his head was continually +in motion.</p> + +<p>To the trembling Ellis, it now seemed but a moment before she was +summoned to her place, though four pieces were first performed. M +Vinstreigle would have handed her down the steps; she declined his aid, +hoping to pass less observed alone; but the moment that she rose, and +became visible, a violent clapping was begun by Sir Lyell Sycamore, and +seconded by every man present.</p> + +<p>What is new, of almost any description, is sure to be well received by +the public; but when novelty is united with peculiar attractions, +admiration becomes enthusiasm, and applause is nearly clamour. Such, +upon the beholders, was the effect produced by the beauty, the youth, +the elegance, and the timidity of Ellis. Even her attire, which, from +the bright pink sarsenet, purchased by Miss Arbe, she had changed into +plain white satin, with ornaments of which the simplicity shewed as much +taste as modesty, contributed to the interest which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> she inspired. It +was suited to the style of her beauty, which was Grecian; and it seemed +equally to assimilate with the character of her mind, to those who, +judging it from the fine expression of her countenance, conceived it to +be pure and noble. The assembly appeared with one opinion to admire her, +and with one wish to give her encouragement.</p> + +<p>But, unused to being an object of tumultuous delight, the effect +produced by such transports was the reverse of their intention; and +Ellis, ashamed, embarrassed, confused, lost the recollection, that +custom demanded that she should postpone her acknowledgements till she +arrived at her post. She stopt; but in raising her eyes, as she +attempted to courtesy, she was struck with the sight of her deaf and +dumb tormentor; who, in agitated watchfulness, was standing up to see +her descend; and whose face, from the full light to which he was +exposed, she now saw to be masked; while she discerned in his hand, the +glitter of steel. An horrible surmise occurred, that it was Elinor +disguised, and Elinor come to perpetrate the bloody deed of suicide. +Agonized with terror at the idea, she would have uttered a cry; but, +shaken and dismayed, her voice refused to obey her; her eyes became dim; +her tottering feet would no longer support her; her complexion wore the +pallid hue of death, and she sunk motionless on the floor.</p> + +<p>In an instant, all admiring acclamation subsided into tender pity, and +not a sound was heard in the assembly; while in the orchestra all was +commotion; for Harleigh no sooner saw the fall, and that the whole band +was in movement, to offer aid, than, springing from his place, he +overcame every obstacle, to force a passage to the spot where the pale +Ellis was lying. There, with an air of command, that seemed the +offspring of rightful authority, he charged every one to stand back, and +give her air; desired M Vinstreigle to summon some female to her aid; +and, snatching from him a phial of salts, which he was attempting to +administer, was greatly bending down with them himself, when he +perceived that she was already reviving: but the instant that he had +raised her, what was his consternation and horror, to hear a voice, from +the assembly, call out:</p> + +<p>'Turn, Harleigh, turn! and see thy willing martyr!—Behold, perfidious +Ellis! behold thy victim!'</p> + +<p>Instantly, though with agony, he quitted the sinking Ellis to dart +forward.</p> + +<p>The large wrapping coat, the half mask, the slouched hat, and +embroidered waistcoat, had rapidly been thrown aside, and Elinor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +appeared in deep mourning; her long hair, wholly unornamented, hanging +loosely down her shoulders. Her complexion was wan, her eyes were fierce +rather than bright, and her hair was wild and menacing.</p> + +<p>'Oh Harleigh!—adored Harleigh!—' she cried, as he flew to catch her +desperate hand;—but he was not in time; for, in uttering his name, she +plunged a dagger into her breast.</p> + +<p>The blood gushed out in torrents, while, with a smile of triumph, and +eyes of idolizing love, she dropt into his arms, and clinging round him, +feebly articulated, 'Here let me end!—accept the oblation—the just +tribute—of these dear, delicious, last moments!'</p> + +<p>Almost petrified with horrour, he could with difficulty support either +her or himself; yet his presence of mind was sooner useful than that of +any on the company; the ladies of which were hiding their faces, or +running away; and the men, though all eagerly crowding to the spot of +this tremendous event, approaching rather as spectators of some public +exhibition, than as actors in a scene of humanity. Harleigh called upon +them to fly instantly for a surgeon; demanded an arm-chair for the +bleeding Elinor, and earnestly charged some of the ladies to come to her +aid.</p> + +<p>Selina, who had made one continued scream resound through the apartment, +from the moment that her sister discovered herself, rapidly obeyed the +summons, with Ireton, who, being unable to detain, accompanied her. Mrs +Maple, thunderstruck by the apparition of her niece, scandalized by her +disguise, and wholly unsuspicious of her purpose, though sure of some +extravagance, had pretended sudden indisposition, to escape the shame of +witnessing her disgrace; but ere she could get away, the wound was +inflicted, and the public voice, which alone she valued, forced her to +return.</p> + +<p>A surgeon of eminence, who was accidentally in the assembly, desired the +company to make way; declaring no removal to be practicable, till he +should have stopt the effusion of blood.</p> + +<p>The concert was immediately broken up; the assembly, though curious and +unwilling, dispersed; and the apparatus for dressing the wound, was +speedily at hand:—but to no purpose. Elinor would not suffer the +approach of the surgeon; would not hear of any operation, or +examination; would not receive any assistance. Looks of fiery disdain +were the only answers that she bestowed to the pleadings of Mrs Maple, +the shrieks of Selina, the remonstrances of the surgeon, and the +entreaties of every other. Even to the supplications of Harleigh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> she +was immovable; though still she fondly clung to him, uttering from time +to time, 'Long—long wished for moment! welcome, thrice welcome to my +wearied soul!'</p> + +<p>The shock of Harleigh was unspeakable, and it was aggravated by almost +indignant exhortations, ejaculated from nearly every person present, +that he would snatch the self-devoted enthusiast from this untimely end, +by returning her heroic tenderness.</p> + +<p>Mrs Maple was now covered with shame, from apprehension that this +conduct might be imputed either to any precepts or any neglect of her +own.</p> + +<p>'My poor niece is quite light-headed, Mr Harleigh,' she cried, 'and +knows not what she says.'</p> + +<p>Fury started into the eyes of Elinor as she caught these words, and +neither prayers nor supplications could silence or quiet her. 'No, Mrs +Maple, no!' she cried, 'I am not light-headed! I never so perfectly knew +what I said, for I never so perfectly spoke what I thought. Is it not +time, even yet, to have done with the puerile trammels of +prejudice?—Yes! I here cast them to the winds! And, in the dauntless +hour of willing death, I proclaim my sovereign contempt of the whole +race of mankind! of its cowardly subterfuges, its mean assimilations, +its heartless subtleties! Here, in the sublime act of voluntary +self-extinction, I exult to declare my adoration of thee,—of thee +alone, Albert Harleigh! of thee and of thy haughty,—matchless virtues!'</p> + +<p>Gasping for breath, she leant, half motionless, yet smiling, and with +looks of transport, upon the shoulder of Harleigh; who, ashamed, in the +midst of his concern, at his own situation, thus publicly avowed as the +object of this desperate act; earnestly wished to retreat from the +gazers and remarkers, with whom he shared the notice and the wonder +excited by Elinor. But her danger was too eminent, and the scene was too +critical, to suffer self to predominate. Gently, therefore, and with +tenderness, he continued to support her; carefully forbearing either to +irritate her enthusiasm, or to excite her spirit of controversy, by +uttering, at such a crisis, the exhortations to which his mind and his +principles pointed: or even to soothe her feeling too tenderly, lest +misrepresentation should be mischievous, either with herself or with +others.</p> + +<p>The surgeon declared that, if the wound were not dressed without delay, +no human efforts could save her life.</p> + +<p>'My life? save my life?' cried Elinor, reviving from indignation: 'Do +you believe me so ignoble, as to come hither to display the ensigns<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> of +death, but as scare crows, to frighten lookers on to court me to life? +No! for what should I live? To see the hand of scorn point at me? No, +no, no! I come to die: I bleed to die; and now, even now, I talk to die! +to die—Oh Albert Harleigh! for thee:—Dost thou sigh, Harleigh?—Do I +hear thee sigh?—Oh Harleigh! generous Harleigh!—for me is it thou +sighest?—'</p> + +<p>Deeply oppressed, 'Elinor,' he answered, 'you make me indeed wretched!'</p> + +<p>'Ebb out, then, oh life!' cried she, 'in this extatic moment! Harleigh +no longer is utterly insensible!—Well have I followed my heart's +beating impulse!—Harleigh! Oh noble Harleigh!—'</p> + +<p>Spent by speech and loss of blood, she fainted.</p> + +<p>Harleigh eagerly whispered Mrs Maple, to desire that the surgeon would +snatch this opportunity for examining, and, if possible, dressing the +wound.</p> + +<p>This, accordingly, was done, all who were not of some use, retiring.</p> + +<p>Harleigh himself, deeply interested in the event, only retreated to a +distant corner; held back by discretion, honour, and delicacy, from +approaching the spot to which his wishes tended.</p> + +<p>The surgeon pronounced, that the wound was not in its nature mortal; +though the exertions and emotions which had succeeded it, gave it a +character of danger, that demanded the extremest attention, and most +perfect tranquillity.</p> + +<p>The satisfaction with which Harleigh heard the first part of this +sentence, though it could not be counter-balanced, was cruelly checked by +its conclusion. He severely felt the part that he seemed called upon to +act; and had a consciousness, that was dreadful to himself, of his +powers, if upon her tranquillity alone depended her preservation.</p> + +<p>She soon recovered from her fainting fit; though she was too much +weakened and exhausted, both in body and spirits, to be as soon restored +to her native energies. The moment, therefore, seemed favourable for her +removal: but whither? Lewes was too distant; Mrs Maple, therefore, was +obliged to apply for a lodging in the hotel; to which, with the +assiduous aid of Harleigh, Elinor, after innumerable difficulties, and +nearly by force, was conveyed.</p> + +<p>The last to quit the apartment in which this bloody scene had been +performed, was Ellis; who felt restored by fright for another, to the +strength of which she had been robbed by affright for herself. Her +sufferings, indeed, for Elinor, her grief, her horrour, had set self +wholly aside, and made her forget all by which, but the moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> before, +she had been completely absorbed. She durst not approach, yet could not +endure to retreat. She remained alone in the orchestra, from which all +the band had been dismissed. She looked not once at Harleigh; nor did +Harleigh once dare turn her way. In the shock of this scene, she thought +it would be her duty to see him no more; for though she was unassailed +by remorse, since unimpeached by self-reproach—for when had she +wilfully, or even negligently, excited jealousy?—still she could not +escape the inexpressible shock, of knowing herself the cause, though +not, like Harleigh, the object of this dreadful deed.</p> + +<p>When Elinor, however, was gone, she desired to hurry to her lodgings. +Miss Arbe had forgotten, or neglected her, and she had no carriage +ordered. But the terrific magnitude of the recent event, divested minor +difficulties of their usual powers of giving disturbance. 'Tis only when +we are spared great calamities, that we are deeply affected by small +circumstances. The pressing around her, whether of avowed, or discreet +admirers; the buzz of mingled compliments, propositions, interrogtories +or entreaties; which, at another time, would have embarrassed and +distressed her, now scarcely reached her ears, and found no place in her +attention; and she quietly applied for a maid-servant of the hotel; +leaning upon whose arm she reached, sad, shaken, and agitated, the house +of Miss Matson.</p> + +<p>Before she would even attempt to go to rest, she sent a note of enquiry +to Mr Naird, the surgeon, whom she had seen at Mrs Maple's: his answer +was consonant to what he had already pronounced to Harleigh.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2> + + +<p>Nothing now appeared so urgent to Ellis, as flying the fatal sight of +Harleigh. To wander again alone, to seek strange succour, new faces, and +unknown haunts; to expose her helplessness, plead her poverty, and +confess her mysterious, nameless situation; even to risk delay in +receiving the letter upon which hung all her ultimate expectations, +seemed preferable to the danger of another interview, that might lead to +the most horrible of catastrophes;—if, already, the danger were not +removed by a termination the most tragic.</p> + +<p>To escape privately from Brighthelmstone, and commit to accident, since +she had no motive for choice, the way that she should go, was, therefore +her determination. Her debts were all paid, save what their discharge +had made her incur with that very Harleigh from whom she must now +escape; though to the resources which he had placed in her hands, she +owed the liberation from her creditors, that gave her power to be gone; +and must owe, also, the means for the very flight which she projected +from himself. Severely she felt the almost culpability of an action, +that risked implications of encouragement to a persevering though +rejected man. But the horrour of instigating self-murder conquered every +other; even the hard necessity of appearing to act wrong, at the very +moment when she was braving every evil, in the belief that she was doing +right.</p> + +<p>She ordered a post-chaise, in which she resolved to go on stage; and +then to wait at some decent house upon the road, for the first passing +public vehicle; in which, whithersoever it might be destined, she would +proceed.</p> + +<p>At an early hour the chaise was ready; and she was finishing her +preparations for removal, when a tap at her chamber-door, to which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +imagining it given by the maid, she answered, 'Come in,' presented +Harleigh to her affrighted view.</p> + +<p>'Ah heaven!' she cried, turning pale with dismay, 'are you then fixed, +Mr Harleigh, to rob me of peace for life?'</p> + +<p>'Be not,' cried he, rapidly, 'alarmed! I will not cost you a moment's +danger, and hardly a moment's uneasiness. A few words will remove every +fear; but I must speak them myself. Elinor is at this instant out of all +but wilful danger; wilful danger, however, being all that she had had to +encounter, it must be guarded against as sedulously as if it were +inevitable. To this end, I must leave Brighthelmstone immediately—'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir,' interrupted Ellis; 'it is I who must leave Brighthelmstone; +your going would be the height of inhumanity.'</p> + +<p>'Pardon me, but it is to clear this mistake that, once more, I force +myself into your sight. I divined your design when I saw an empty +post-chaise drive up to your door; which else, at a time such as this, I +should unobtrusively have passed.'</p> + +<p>'Quick! quick!' cried Ellis, 'every moment affrights me!'</p> + +<p>'I am gone. I cannot oppose, for I partake your fears. Elinor has +demanded to see us together to-morrow morning.'</p> + +<p>'Terrible!' cried Ellis, trembling; 'what may be her design? And what is +there not to dread! Indeed I dare not encounter her!'</p> + +<p>'There can be, unhappily, but one opinion of her purpose,' he answered: +'She is wretched, and from impatience of life, wishes to seek death. +Nevertheless, the cause of her disgust to existence not being any +intolerable calamity, though the most probing, perhaps, of +disappointments, life, with all its evils, still clings to her; and she +as little knows how to get rid of, as how to support it.'</p> + +<p>'You cannot, Sir, mean to doubt her sincerity?'</p> + +<p>'Far from it. Her mind is as noble as her humour and taste are flighty; +yet, where she has some great end in view, she studies, in common with +all those with whom the love of frame is the ruling passion, Effect, +public Effect, rather than what she either thinks to be right, or feels +to be desirable.'</p> + +<p>'Alas, poor Miss Joddrel! You are still, then, Sir, unmoved—' She +stopt, and blushed, for the examining eyes of Harleigh said, 'Do you +wish to see me conquered?'</p> + +<p>Pleased that she stopt, enchanted that she blushed, an expression of +pleasure illumined his countenance, which instantly drew into that of +Ellis a cold severity, that chilled, or rather that punished his rising<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +transport. Ah! thought he, was it then but conscious modesty, not +anxious doubt, that mantled in her cheek?</p> + +<p>'Pity,' he returned, 'in a woman to a man, is grateful, is lenient, is +consoling. It seems an attribute of her sex, and the haughtiest of ours +accepts it from her without disdain or disgrace; but pity from a +man—upon similar causes—must be confined to his own breast. Its +expression always seems insolent. Who is the female that could wish, +that could even bear to excite it? Not Elinor, certainly! with all her +excentricities, she would consider it as an outrage.'</p> + +<p>'Give it her, then,' cried Ellis, with involuntary vivacity, 'the sooner +to cure her!'</p> + +<p>'Nay, who knows,' he smilingly returned, 'since extremes meet, that +absconding may not produce the same effect? At all events, it will +retard the execution of her terrible project; and to retard an act of +voluntary violence, where the imagination is as ardent, the mind as +restless, and the will as despotic as those of Elinor, is commonly to +avert it. Some new idea ordinarily succeeds, and the old one, in losing +its first moment of effervescence, generally evaporates in disgust.'</p> + +<p>'Do not, Sir, trust to this! do not be so cruel as to abandon her! Think +of the desperation into which you will cast her; and if you scruple to +avow your pity, act at least with humanity, in watching, soothing, and +appeasing her, while you suffer me quietly to escape; that neither the +sound, nor the thought, of my existing so near her, may produce fresh +irritation.'</p> + +<p>'I see,—I feel,—' cried he, with emotion, 'how amiable for her,—yet +how barbarous for me,—is your recommendation of a conduct, my honour, +from regard to her reputation, in a union to which every word that you +utter, and every idea to which you give expression, make me more and +more averse!—'</p> + +<p>Ellis blushed and paused; but presently, with strengthened resolution, +earnestly cried, 'If this, Sir, is the sum of what you have to say, +leave me, I entreat, without further procrastination! Every moment that +you persist in staying presents to me the image of Miss Joddrel, +breaking from her physicians, and darting bloody and dying, into the +room to surprize you!'</p> + +<p>'Pardon, pardon me, that I should have given birth to so dreadful an +apprehension! I will relieve you this instant: and omit no possible +precaution to avert every danger. But that least reflexion, to a mind +delicate as yours, will exculpate me from blame in not remaining at her +side,—after the scene of last night,—unless I'purposed to become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> her +permanent guardian. The tattling world would instantly unite—or +calumniate us. But you, who, if you retreat, will be doubted and +suspected, you, must at present, stay, and openly, clearly, and +unsought, be seen. Elinor, who breathes but to spur her misery by +despair, that she may end it, reserves for me, and for my presence,—to +astonish, to shock, or to vanquish me,—every horrour she can devise. In +my absence, rest assured, no evil will be perpetrated. 'Tis for her, +then, for her sake, that you must remain, and that I must depart.'</p> + +<p>Ellis could not contest a statement which, thus explained, appeared to +be just; and, gratified by her concurrence, he no longer resisted her +urgent injunctions that he would be gone. He tried, in quitting her, to +seize and kiss her hand; but she drew back, with an air not to be +disputed; and a look of reproach, though not of displeasure. He +submitted, with a look, also, of reproach; though expressive, at the +same time, of reverence and admiration mixt with the deepest regret.</p> + +<p>Mechanically, rather than intentionally, she went to the window, when he +had left her, whence she saw him cross the way, and then wistfully look +up. She felt the most painful blushes mount into her cheeks, upon +observing that he perceived her. She retreated like lightning; yet could +not escape remarking the animated pleasure that beamed from his +countenance at this surprise.</p> + +<p>She sat down, deeply confused, and wept.</p> + +<p>The postilion sent in the maid for orders.</p> + +<p>She satisfied and discharged him; and then, endeavouring to dismiss all +rumination upon the past, deliberated upon the course which she ought +immediately to pursue.</p> + +<p>Her musical plan once more became utterly hopeless; for what chance had +she now of any private scholars? what probability of obtaining any new +protection, when, to the other mysterious disadvantages under which she +laboured, would be added an accusation of perjury, denounced at the +horrible moment of self-destruction?</p> + +<p>While suggesting innumerable new schemes, which, presented by +desperation, died in projection, she observed a small packet upon the +ground, directed to herself. The inside was sealed, but upon the cover +she found these words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>'This packet was prepared to reach you by an unknown messenger; but +I see that you are departing, and I must not risk its missing you. +As a friend only, a disinterested, though a zealous one, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> have +promised to address you. Repel not, then, my efforts towards +acquiescence, by withholding the confidence, and rejecting the +little offices, which should form the basis of that friendship. +'Tis as your banker, only, that I presume to enclose these notes.</p> + +<p class="right">'A. H.'</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Ellis concluded that, upon seeing the chaise at the door, he had entered +some shop to write these lines.</p> + +<p>The silence which she had guarded, relative to his former packet, +from terrour of the conflicts to which such a subject might lead, +had made him now, she imagined, suppose it not partially but completely +expended. And can he think, she cried, that not alone I have had +recourse,—unacknowledged, yet essential recourse,—to his generosity in +my distress, but that I am contented to continue his pensioner?</p> + +<p>She blushed; but not in anger: she felt that it was from his view of her +situation, notions of her character, that he pressed her thus to +pecuniary obligation. She would not, however, even see the amount, or +contents, of what he had sealed up, which she now enclosed, and sealed +up herself, with the remaining notes of the first packet.</p> + +<p>The lines which he had written in the cover, she read a second time. If, +indeed, she cried, he could become a disinterested friend!... She was +going to read them again, but checked by the suggested doubt,—the +if,—she paused a moment, sighed, felt herself blush, and, with a quick +motion that seemed the effect of sudden impulse, precipitately destroyed +them; murmuring to herself, while brushing off with her hand a starting +tear, that she would lose no time and spare no exertions, for replacing +and returning the whole sum.</p> + +<p>Yet she was forced, with whatever reluctance, to leave the development +of her intentions to the chances of opportunity; for she knew not the +address of Harleigh, and durst not risk the many dangers that might +attend any enquiry.</p> + +<p>A short time afterwards, she received a letter from Selina, containing a +summons from Elinor for the next morning.</p> + +<p>Mr Naird, the surgeon, had induced Mrs Maple to consent to this measure, +which alone deterred Elinor from tearing open her wound; and which had +extorted from her a promise, that she would remain quiet in the +interval. She had positively refused to admit a clergyman; and had +affronted away a physician.</p> + +<p>Ellis could not hesitate to comply with this demand, however terrified<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +she felt at the prospect of the storm which she might have to encounter.</p> + +<p>The desperate state of her own affairs, called, nevertheless, for +immediate attention; and she decided to begin a new arrangement, by +relinquishing the far too expensive apartment which Miss Arbe had forced +her to occupy.</p> + +<p>In descending to the shop, to give notice of her intention, she heard +the voice of Miss Matson, uttering some sharp reprimand; and presently, +and precipitately, she was passed, upon the stairs, by a forlorn, +ill-dressed, and weeping female; whose face was covered by her +handkerchief, but whose air was so conspicuously superiour to her garb +of poverty, that it was evidently a habit of casual distress, not of +habitual indigence. Ellis looked after her with quick-awakened interest; +but she hastily mounted, palpably anxious to escape remark.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson, softened in her manners since she had been paid, expressed +the most violent regret, at losing so genteel a lodger. Ellis knew well +how to appreciate her interested and wavering civility; yet availed +herself of it to beg a recommendation to some decent house, where she +might have a small and cheap chamber; and again, to solicit her +assistance in procuring some needle-work.</p> + +<p>A room, Miss Matson replied, with immediate abatement of complaisance, +of so shabby a sort as that, might easily enough be found; but as to +needle-work, all that she had had to dispose of for some time past, had +been given to her new lodger up two pair of stairs, who had succeeded Mr +Riley; and who did it quicker and cheaper than any body; which, indeed, +she had need do, for she was extremely troublesome, and always wanting +her money.</p> + +<p>'And for what else, Miss Matson,' said Ellis, dryly, 'can you imagine +she gives you her work?'</p> + +<p>'Nay, I don't say any thing as to that,' answered Miss Matson, surprised +by the question: 'I only know it's sometimes very inconvenient.'</p> + +<p>Ah! thought Ellis, must we be creditors, and poor creditors, ourselves, +to teach us justice to debtors? And must those who endure the toil be +denied the reward, that those who reap its fruits may retain it?</p> + +<p>Miss Matson accepted the warning, and Ellis resolved to seek a new +lodging the next day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</h2> + + +<p>At five o'clock, on the following morning, the house of Miss Matson was +disturbed, by a hurrying message from Elinor, demanding to see Miss +Ellis without delay. Ellis, arose, with the utmost trepidation: it was +the beginning of May, and brightly light; and she accompanied the +servant back to the house.</p> + +<p>She found all the family in the greatest disorder, from the return of +another messenger, who had been forwarded to Mr Harleigh, with the +unexpected news that that gentleman had quitted Brighthelmstone. The +intelligence was conveyed in a letter, which he had left at the hotel, +for Miss Maple; and in which another was enclosed for Elinor. Mrs Maple +had positively refused to be the bearer of such unwelcome tidings to the +sick room; protesting that she could not risk, before the surgeon and +the nurse, the rude expression which her poor niece might utter; and +could still less hazard imparting such irritating information <i>tête à +tête</i>.</p> + +<p>'Why, then,' said Ireton, 'should not Miss Ellis undertake the job? +Nobody has had a deeper share in the business.'</p> + +<p>This idea was no sooner started, than it was seized by Mrs Maple; who +was over-joyed to elude the unpleasant task imposed upon her by +Harleigh; and almost equally gratified to mortify, or distress, a person +whom she had been led, by numberless small circumstances, which upon +little minds operate more forcibly than essential ones, to consider as a +source of personal disgrace to her own dignity and judgement. Deaf, +therefore, to the remonstrances of Ellis, upon whom she forced the +letter, she sent for Mr Naird, charged him to watch carefully by the +side of her poor niece, desired to be called if any thing unhappy should +take place; and, complaining of a violent head-ache, retired to lie +down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ellis, terrified at this tremendous commission, and convinced that the +feelings and situation of Elinor were too publicly known for any attempt +at secresy, applied to Mr Naird for counsel how to proceed.</p> + +<p>Mr Naird answered that, in cases where, as in the present instance, the +imagination was yet more diseased than the body, almost any certainty +was less hurtful than suspense. 'Nevertheless, with so excentrical a +genius,' he added, 'nothing must be risked abruptly: if, therefore, as I +presume, this letter is to acquaint the young lady, with the proper +modifications, that Mr Harleigh will have nothing to say to her; you +must first let her get some little inkling of the matter by +circumstances and surmizes, that the fact may not rush upon her without +warning: keep, therefore, wholly out of her way, till the tumult of her +wonder and her doubts, will make any species of explication medicinal.'</p> + +<p>She had certainly, he added, some new project in contemplation; for, +after extorting from her, the preceding evening, a promise that she +would try to sleep, he heard her, when she believed him gone, exclaim, +from Cato's soliloquy:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Sleep? Ay, yes,—This once I'll favour thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That may awaken'd soul may take its flight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Replete with all its pow'rs, and big with life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An offering fit for ... Glory, Love, ... and Harleigh!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>'Our kind-hearted young ladies of Sussex,' continued Mr Naird, 'are as +much scandalized that Mr Harleigh should have the insensibility to +resist love so heroic, as their more prudent mammas that he should so +publicly be made its object. No men, however,—at least none on this +side the Channel,—can wonder that he should demur at venturing upon a +treaty for life, with a lady so expert in foreign politics, as to make +an experiment, in her own proper person, of the new atheistical and +suicidical doctrines, that those ingenious gentlemen, on t'other side +the water, are now so busily preaching for their fellow-countrymen's +destruction.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Challenging one's existence for every quarrel with one's +Will; and running one's self through the Body for every affront to one's +Mind; used to be thought peculiar to the proud and unbending humour of +John Bull; but John did it rarely enough to make it a subject of +gossipping, and news-paper squibs, for at least a week. Our merry +neighbours, on the contrary, now once they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> set about it, do the +job with an air, and a grace, that shew us we are as drowsy in our +desperation, as we are phlegmatic in our amusements. They talk of it +wherever they go; write of it whenever they hold a pen; and are so +piqued to think that we got the start of them, in beginning the game +first, that they pop off more now in a month, than we do in a year: and +I don't in the least doubt, that their intention is to go on with the +same briskness, till they have made the balance even.'</p> + +<p>Looking then archly at Ellis, 'However clever,' he added, 'this young +lady may be; and she seems an adept in their school of turning the world +upside down; she did not shew much skill in human nature, when she fired +such a broadside at the heart of the man she loved, at the very instant +that he had forgotten all the world, in his hurry to fire one himself +upon the heart of another woman.'</p> + +<p>Ellis blushed, but was silent; and Mrs Golding, Elinor's maid, came, +soon after, to hasten Mr Naird to her mistress; who, persuaded, she +said, by their non-appearance, that Mr Harleigh had eloped with Miss +Ellis, was preparing to dress herself; and was bent to pursue them to +the utmost extremity of the earth.</p> + +<p>Mr Naird, then, entering the room, heard her in the agitated voice of +feverish exultation, call out, 'Joy! Joy and peace, to my soul! They are +gone off together!—'Tis just what I required, to "spur my almost +blunted purpose!—"'</p> + +<p>Ellis, beckoned by Mr Naird, now appeared.</p> + +<p>Elinor was struck with astonishment; and her air lost something of its +wildness. 'Is Harleigh,' she cried, 'here too?'</p> + +<p>Ellis durst not reply; nor, still less, deliver the letter; which she +dropt unseen upon a table.</p> + +<p>Amazed at this silence, Elinor repeated her enquiries: 'Why does he not +come to me? Why will he not answer me?'</p> + +<p>'Nay, I should think it a little odd, myself,' said Mr Naird, 'if I did +not take into consideration, that our hearing requires an approximation +that our wishes can do without.'</p> + +<p>'Is he not yet arrived, then?—Impenetrable Harleigh! And can he sleep? +O noble heart of marble! polished, white, exquisite—but +unyielding!—Ellis, send to him yourself! Call him to me immediately! It +is but for an instant! Tell him it is but for an instant.'</p> + +<p>Ellis tremblingly drew back. The impatience of Elinor was redoubted, and +Mr Naird thought proper to confess that Mr Harleigh could not be found.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<p>Her vehemence was then converted into derision, and, with a contemptuous +laugh, 'You would make me believe, perhaps,' she cried, 'that he has +left Brighthelmstone? Spare your ingenuity a labour so absurd, and my +patience so useless a disgust. From me, indeed, he may be gone! for his +soul shrinks from the triumph in which it ought to glory! 'Tis pity! Yet +in him every thing seems right; every thing is becoming. Even the narrow +feelings of prudence, that curb the expansions of greatness, in him seem +graceful, nay noble! Ah! who is like him? The poor grovelling wretches +that call themselves his fellow creatures, sink into nothingness before +him, as if beings of another order! Where is he? My soul sickens to see +him once more, and then to be extinct!'</p> + +<p>No one venturing to speak, she again resolved to seek him in person; +convinced, she said, that, since Ellis remained, he could not be far +off. This appeared to Mr Naird the moment for producing the letter.</p> + +<p>At sight of the hand-writing of Harleigh, addressed, to herself, every +other feeling gave way to rapturous joy. She snatched the letter from Mr +Naird, blew it all around, as if to disperse the contagion of any +foreign touch, and then, in a transport of delight, pressed it to her +lips, to her heart, and again to her lips, with devouring kisses. She +would not read it, she declared, till night: all she experienced of +pleasure was too precious and too rare, not to be lengthened and enjoyed +to its utmost possible extent; yet, nearly at the same moment, she broke +the seal, and ordered every one to quit the room; that the air which +would vibrate with words of Harleigh, should be uncontaminated by any +breath but her own. They all obeyed; though Mr Naird, fearing what might +ensue, stationed himself where, unsuspectedly, he could observe her +motions. Eagerly, rapidly, and without taking breath till she came to +the conclusion, she then read aloud the following lines:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>'To Miss <span class="smcap">Joddrel</span>.</p> + +<p>'I fly you, O Elinor, not to irritate those feelings I dare not +hope to soothe! My heart recoils, with prophetic terrour, from the +summons which you have issued for this morning. I know you too +noble to accept, as you have shewn yourself too sincere to present, +a heartless hand; but will you, therefore, blight the rest of my +existence, by making me the cause of your destruction? Will you +only seek relief to your sufferings, by means that must fix +indelible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> horrour on your survivors? Will you call for peace and +rest to yourself, by an action that must nearly rob me of both?</p> + +<p>'Where death is voluntary, without considering our ultimate +responsibility, have we none that is immediate? For ourselves only +do we exist? No, generous Elinor, such has not been your plan. For +ourselves alone, then, should we die? Shall we seek to serve and to +please merely when present, that we may be served and pleased +again? Is there no disinterested attachment, that would suffer, to +spare pain to others? that would endure sooner than inflict?</p> + +<p>'If to die be, as you hold, though as I firmly disbelieve, eternal +sleep, would you wish the traces that may remain of that period in +which you thought yourself awake, to be marked, for others, by +blessings, or by misfortune? Would you desire those whom you have +known and favoured whilst amongst them, gratefully to cherish your +remembrance, or to shrink with horrour from its recollection? Would +you bequeath to them the pleasing image of your liberal kindness, +or the terrific one of your despairing vengeance?</p> + +<p>'To you, to whom death seems the termination of all, the +extinguisher, the absorber of unaccounted life, this airy way of +meeting, of invoking it, may appear suitable:—to me, who look +forward to corporeal dissolution but as to the opening to spiritual +being, and the period of retribution for our past terrestrial +existence; to me it seems essential to prepare for it with as much +awe as hope, as much solicitude as confidence.</p> + +<p>'Wonder not, then, that, with ideas so different, I should fly +witnessing the crisis which so intrepidly you invite. Would you +permit your cooler reason to take the governance of your too +animated feelings, with what alacrity, and what delight, should I +seek your generous friendship!</p> + +<p>'The Grave, you say, is the end of All, of soul and of body alike!</p> + +<p>'Pause, Elinor!—should you be mistaken!...</p> + +<p>'Pause!—The less you believe yourself immortal, the less you +should deem yourself infallible.</p> + +<p>'You call upon us all, in this enlightened age, to set aside our +long, old, and hereditary prejudices. Give the example with the +charge, in setting aside those that, new, wilful, and self-created, +have not even the apology of time or habit to make them sacred; and +listen, O Elinor, to the voice and dictates of religion! Harden not +your heart against convictions that may pour balm into all its +wounds!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Consent to see some learned and pious divine.</p> + +<p>'If, upon every science, every art, every profession, you respect +the opinions of those who have made them their peculiar study; and +prefer their authority, and the result of their researches; to the +sallies, the loose reasoning, and accidental knowledge of those who +dispute at large, from general, however brilliant conceptions; from +partial, however ingenious investigations; why in theology alone +must you distrust the fruits of experience? the proofs of +examination? the judgement of habitual reflexion?</p> + +<p>'Consent, then, to converse with some devout, yet enlightened +clergyman. Hear him patiently, meditate upon his doctrine +impartially; and you will yet, O Elinor, consent to live, and life +again will find its reviving, however chequered, enjoyments.</p> + +<p>'Youth, spirits, fortune, the liveliest parts, the warmest heart, +are yours. You have only to look around you to see how rarely such +gifts are thus concentrated; and, grateful for your lot, you will +make it, by blessing others, become a blessing to yourself: and you +will not, Elinor, harrow to the very soul, the man who flattered +himself to have found in you the sincerest of friends, by a stroke +more severe to his peace than he could owe to his bitterest enemy.</p> + +<p class="right">'<span class="smcap">Albert Harleigh.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>The excess of the agitation of Elinor, when she came to the conclusion, +forced Mr Naird to return, but rendered her insensible to his +re-appearance. She flung off her bandages, rent open her wound, and tore +her hair; calling, screaming for death, with agonizing wrath. 'Is it for +this,' she cried, 'I have thus loved—for this I have thus adored the +flintiest of human hearts? to see him fly me from the bed of death? +Refuse to receive even my parting sigh? Make me over to a dissembling +priest?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, returning also, urged Mr Naird, who stood aloof, stedfastly, yet +quietly fixing his eyes upon his patient, to use his authority for +checking this dangerous violence.</p> + +<p>Without moving, or lowering his voice, though Ellis spoke in a whisper, +he drily answered, 'It is not very material.'</p> + +<p>'How so?' cried Ellis, extremely alarmed: 'What is it you mean, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'It cannot, now,' he replied, 'occasion much difference.'</p> + +<p>Ellis, shuddering, entreated him to make some speedy effort for her +preservation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p> + +<p>He thoughtfully stroked his chin, but as Elinor seemed suddenly to +attend to them, forbore making further reply.</p> + +<p>'What have you been talking of together?' cried she impatiently, 'What +is that man's opinion of my situation?—When may I have done with you +all? Say! When may I sleep and be at rest?—When, when shall I be no +longer the only person in this supine world, awake? He can sleep! +Harleigh can sleep, while he yet lives!—He, and all of you! Death is +not wanted to give repose to hearts of adamant!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, in a low voice, again applied to Mr Naird; but Elinor, watchful +and suspicious, insisted upon hearing the subject of their discourse.</p> + +<p>Mr Naird, advancing to the bed-side, said, 'Is there any thing you wish, +my good lady? Tell me if there is any thing we can do, that will procure +you pleasure?'</p> + +<p>In vain Ellis endeavoured to give him an hint, that such a question +might lead her to surmise her danger: the perceptions of Elinor were too +quick to allow time for retraction or after precaution: the deepest +damask flushed her pallid cheeks; her eyes became wildly dazzling, and +she impetuously exclaimed, 'The time, then, is come! The struggle is +over!—and I shall quaff no more this "nauseous draught of life<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>?"'</p> + +<p>She clasped her hands in an extacy, and vehemently added, +'When—when—tell me if possible, to a moment! when eternal stillness +may quiet this throbbing breast?—when I may bid a final, glad adieu to +this detestable world, to all its servile customs, and all its +despicable inhabitants?—Why do you not speak?—Be brief, be brief!'</p> + +<p>Mr Naird, slowly approaching her, silently felt her pulse.</p> + +<p>'Away with this burlesque dumb shew!' cried she, indignantly. 'No more +of these farcical forms! Speak! When may your successor close these +professional mockeries? fit only for weak patients who fear your +sentence: to me, who boldly, eagerly demand it, speak reason and truth. +When may I become as insensible as Harleigh?—Colder, death itself has +not power to make me!'</p> + +<p>Again he felt her pulse, and, while her eyes, with fiery impatience, +called for a prompt decision, hesitatingly pronounced, that if she had +any thing to settle, she could not be too expeditious.</p> + +<p>Her countenance, her tone, her whole appearance, underwent, now, a +sudden change; and she seemed as powerfully struck as if the decree +which so earnestly she had sought, had been internally unexpected.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> She +sustained herself, nevertheless, with firmness; thanked him, though in a +low and husky voice, for his sincerity; and crossing her arms, and +shutting her eyes, to obviate any distraction to her ideas by +surrounding objects, delivered herself up to rapt meditation: becoming, +in a moment, as calm, and nearly as gentle, as if a stranger by nature +to violent passions, or even to strong feelings.</p> + +<p>An impression so potent, made by the no longer doubted, and quick +approximation of that Death, which, in the vigour and pride of Life, and +Health, she had so passionately invoked, forcibly and fearfully affected +Ellis; who uttered a secret prayer, that her own preparations for an +event, which though the most indispensably common, could never cease to +be the most universally tremendous of mortality, might be frequent +enough, and cheerful enough, to take off horrour from its approach, +without substituting presumption.</p> + +<p>After a long pause, Elinor opened her eyes; and, in a subdued voice and +manner, that seemed to stifle a struggling sigh, softly said, 'There is +no time, then, it seems, to lose? My short race is already run,—yet +already has been too long! O Harleigh! had I been able to touch your +heart!—'</p> + +<p>Tears gushed into her eyes: she dispersed them hastily with her fingers; +and, looking around her with an air of inquietude and shame, said, with +studied composure, 'You have kindly, Mr Naird, offered me your services. +I thankfully accept them. Pursue and find, without delay, Mr Harleigh, +repeat to him what you have just pronounced, and tell him....' She +blushed deeply, sighed; checked herself, and mildly went on, 'This is no +season for pride! Tell him my situation, and that I beg, I entreat, I +conjure, I even implore him to let me once more—' Again she stopt, +almost choaked with repressed emotions; but presently, with a calmer +accent, added, 'Say to him, he will not merely soften, but delight my +last moments, in being then the sole object I shall behold, as, from the +instant that I first saw him, he has been the only one who has engaged +my thoughts:—the imperious, constant master of my mind!'</p> + +<p>Mr Naird respectfully accepted the commission; demanding only, in +return, that she would first permit him once more to dress her wound. +This she opposed; though so faintly, that it was evident that she was +more averse to being thought cowardly, or inconsistent, than to stopping +the quicker progress of dissolution. When Mr Naird, therefore +represented, that it was sending him upon a fruitless errand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> if she +meant to bleed to death in his absence, she complied. He then enjoined +her to be quiet, and went forth.</p> + +<p>With the most perfect stillness she awaited his return; neither speaking +nor moving; and holding her watch in her hand, upon which she fixed her +eyes without intermission; except to observe, from time to time, whether +Ellis were in sight.</p> + +<p>When he re-appeared, she changed colour, and covered her face with her +hand; but, soon removing it, and shewing a steady countenance, she +raised her head. When however, she perceived that he was alone; and, +after looking vainly towards the door, found that no one followed, she +tremulously said,</p> + +<p>'Will he not, then, come?'</p> + +<p>Mr Naird answered, that it had not been possible to overtake him; a +note, however, had been left at his lodgings, containing an earnest +request, that a daily written account of the patient, till the danger +should be over, might be forwarded to Cavendish Square; where it would +follow him with the utmost expedition.</p> + +<p>Elinor now looked almost petrified.</p> + +<p>'Danger!' she repeated: 'He knows me, then, to be in danger,—yet flies +me! And for Him I have lived;—and for Him I die!'</p> + +<p>This reflexion destroyed all her composure; and every strong passion, +every turbulent emotion, resumed its empire over her mind. She commanded +Mr Naird from the room, forced Golding to dress her, and ordered a +chaise and four horses immediately to the door. She was desperate, she +said, and careless alike of appearances and of consequences. She would +seek Harleigh herself. His icy heart, with all its apathy, recoiled from +the sound of her last groan; but she would not spare him that little +pain, since its infliction was all that could make the end of her career +less intolerable than its progress.</p> + +<p>She was just ready, when Mrs Maple, called up by Mr Naird, to dissuade +her niece from this enterprize, would have represented the impropriety +of the intended measure. But Elinor protested that she had finally taken +leave of all fatiguing formalities; and refused even to open the +chamber-door.</p> + +<p>She could not, however, save herself from hearing a warm debate between +Mrs Maple and Mr Naird, in which the following words caught her ears: +'Shocking, Madam, or not, it is indispensable, if go she will, that you +should accompany her; for the motion of a carriage in her present +inflamed, yet enfeebled state, may shorten the term of your solicitude +from a few days to a few hours. I am sorry to pronounce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> such a +sentence; but as I find myself perfectly useless, I think it right to +put you upon your guard, before I take my leave.'</p> + +<p>Elinor changed colour, ceased her preparations, and sunk upon the bed. +Presently, however, she arose, and commanded Golding to call Mr Naird.</p> + +<p>'I solemnly claim from you, Mr Naird,' she cried, 'the same undisguised +sincerity that you have just practised with Mrs Maple.' Then, fixing her +eyes upon his face, with investigating severity, 'Tell me,' she +continued, 'in one word, whether you think I have strength yet left to +reach Cavendish Square?'</p> + +<p>'If you go in a litter, Madam, and take a week to make the journey—'</p> + +<p>'A week?—I would arrive there in a few hours!—Is that impossible?'</p> + +<p>'To arrive?—no; to arrive is certainly—not impossible.'</p> + +<p>'Dead, you perhaps mean?—To arrive dead is not impossible?—Speak +clearly!'</p> + +<p>'A medical man, Madam, lives in a constant round of perplexity; for +either he must risk killing his patients by telling them unpleasant +truths; or letting them kill themselves by nourishing false hopes.'</p> + +<p>'Take some other time for bewailing your own difficulties, Sir! and +speak to the point, without that hateful official cant.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Madam, if nothing but rough honesty will satisfy you, bear it, at +least, with fortitude. The motion of a carriage is so likely to open +your wound, that, in all probability, before you could gain +Cuckfield—or Reigate, at furthest,—'</p> + +<p>He stopt. Elinor finished for him: 'I should be no more?'</p> + +<p>He was silent.</p> + +<p>'I thank you, Sir!' she cried, in a firm voice, though with livid +cheeks. 'And pray, how long,—supposing I do just, and only, what you +bid me,—how long do you think it likely I should linger?'</p> + +<p>'O, some days, I have no doubt. Perhaps a week.'</p> + +<p>The storm, now, again kindled in her disordered mind: 'How!' she cried, +'have I done all this—dared, risked, braved all things human,—and not +human—to die, at last, a common death?—to expire, in a fruitless +journey, an unacknowledged, and unoffered sacrifice?—or to lie down +tamely in my bed, till I am extinct by ordinary dissolution?—'</p> + +<p>Wringing then her hands, with mingled anguish and resentment, 'Mr +Naird,' she cried, 'if you have the smallest real skill; the most +trivial knowledge or experience in your profession; bind up my wound so +as to give me strength to speed to him! and then, though the lamp of +life should be instantly extinguished; though the same moment that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +bless annihilate me, I shall be content—O more than content! I shall +expire with transport!'</p> + +<p>Mr Naird making no reply, she went on yet more impetuously: 'Oh snatch +me,' she cried, 'snatch me from the despicable fate that threatens +me!—With energies so pure, with affections so genuine, with feelings so +unadulterated, as mine, let me not be swept from the earth, with the +undistinguished herd of common broken-hearted, broken-spirited, +love-sick fanatics! Let me but once more join Harleigh! once more see +that countenance which is life, light, and joy to my soul! hear, once +more, that voice which charms all my senses, which thrills every +nerve!—and then, that parting breath which rapturously utters, +Harleigh, I come to die in beholding thee! shall bless you, too, as my +preserver, and bid him share with you all that Elinor has to bequeath!'</p> + +<p>She uttered this with a rapidity and agitation that nearly exhausted her +remnant strength; and, tamed by feeling her dependance upon medical +skill, she listened patiently to the counsels and propositions of Mr +Naird; in consequence of which, an express was sent to Harleigh, +explaining her situation, her inability to be removed, her request to +see him, and her immediate danger, if not kept quiet both in body and +mind.</p> + +<p>This done, satisfied that Harleigh could not read such a letter without +hastening back, she agreed to all the prescriptions that were proposed; +and even suffered a physician to be called to the assistance of Mr +Naird, in her fear lest, if Harleigh should not be found in Cavendish +Square, she might expire, before the sole instant for which she desired +either to live or to die, should arrive.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></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> Swift's Laputa.</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> During the dominion of Robespierre.</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> Dryden.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 2 OF 5) *** + +***** This file should be named 37438-h.htm or 37438-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37438/ + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> |