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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37439-8.txt b/37439-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02049c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/37439-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7595 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wanderer (Volume 3 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 3 of 5) + or, Female Difficulties + +Author: Fanny Burney + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37439] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +VOLUME III + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + + +From the time of this arrangement, the ascendance which Mr Naird +obtained over the mind of Elinor, by alternate assurances and alarms, +relative to her chances of living to see Harleigh again, produced a +quiet that gave time to the drafts, which were administered by the +physician, to take effect, and she fell into a profound sleep. This, Mr +Naird said, might last till late the next day; Ellis, therefore, +promising to be ready upon any summons, returned to her lodging. + +Miss Matson, now, endeavoured to make some enquiries relative to the +public suicide projected, if not accomplished, by Miss Joddrel, which +was the universal subject of conversation at Brighthelmstone; but when +she found it vain to hope for any details, she said, 'Such accidents, +Ma'am, make one really afraid of one's life with persons one knows +nothing of. Pray, Ma'am, if it is not impertinent, do you still hold to +your intention of giving up your pretty apartment?' + +Ellis answered in the affirmative, desiring, with some surprise, to +know, whether the question were in consequence of any apprehension of a +similar event. + +'By no means, Ma'am, from you,' she replied; 'you, Miss Ellis, who have +been so strongly recommended; and protected by so many of our capital +gentry; but what I mean is this. If you really intend to take a small +lodging, why should not you have my little room again up stairs?' + +'Is it not engaged to the lady I saw here this morning?' + +'Why that, Ma'am, is precisely the person I have upon my mind to speak +about. Why should I let her stay, when she's known to nobody, and is +very bad pay, if I can have so genteel a young lady as you, Ma'am, that +ladies in their own coaches come visiting?' + +Ellis, recoiling from this preference, uttered words the most benevolent +that she could suggest, of the unknown person who had excited her +compassion: but Miss Matson gave them no attention. 'When one has +nothing better to do with one's rooms, Ma'am,' she said, 'it's sometimes +as well, perhaps, to let them to almost one does not know who, as to +keep them uninhabited; because living in them airs them; but that's no +reason for letting them to one's own disadvantage, if can do better. Now +this person here, Ma'am, besides being poor, which, poor thing, may be +she can't help; and being a foreigner, which, you know, Ma'am, is no +great recommendation;--besides all this, Miss Ellis, she has some very +suspicious ways with her, which I can't make out at all; she goes abroad +in a morning, Ma'am, by five of the clock, without giving the least +account of her haunts. And that, Ma'am, has but an odd look with it!' + +'Why so, Miss Matson? If she takes time from her own sleep to enjoy a +little air and exercise, where can be the blame?' + +'Air and exercise, Ma'am? People that have their living to get, and that +a'n't worth a farthing, have other things to think of than air and +exercise! She does not, I hope, give herself quite such airs as those!' + +Ellis, disgusted, bid her good night; and, filled with pity for a person +who seemed still more helpless and destitute than herself, resolved to +see her the next day, and endeavour to offer her some consolation, if +not assistance. + +Before, however, this pleasing project could be put into execution, she +was again, nearly at day break, awakened by a summons from Selina to +attend her sister, who, after quietly reposing many hours, had started, +and demanded Harleigh and Ellis. + +Ellis obeyed the call with the utmost expedition, but met the messenger +returning to her a second time, as she was mounting the street which led +to the lodging of Mrs Maple, with intelligence that Elinor had almost +immediately fallen into a new and sound sleep; and that Mr Naird had +ordered that no one should enter the room, till she again awoke. + +Glad of this reprieve, Ellis was turning back, when she perceived, at +some distance, Miss Matson's new lodger. The opportunity was inviting +for her purposed offer of aid, and she determined to make some opening +to an acquaintance. + +This was not easy; for though the light feet of Ellis might soon have +overtaken the quick, but staggering steps of the apparently distressed +person whom she pursued, she observed her to be in a state of +perturbation that intimidated approach, as much as it awakened concern. +Her handkerchief was held to her face; though whether to conceal it, or +because she was weeping, could not readily be discovered: but her form +and air penetrated Ellis with a feeling and an interest far beyond +common curiosity; and she anxiously studied how she might better behold, +and how address her. + +The foreigner went on her way, looking neither to the right nor to the +left, till she had ascended to the church-yard upon the hill. There +stopping, she extended her arms, seeming to hail the full view of the +wide spreading ocean; or rather, Ellis imagined, the idea of her native +land, which she knew, from that spot, to be its boundary. The beauty of +the early morning from that height, the expansive view, impressive, +though calm, of the sea, and the awful solitude of the place, would have +sufficed to occupy the mind of Ellis, had it not been completely caught +by the person whom she followed; and who now, in the persuasion of being +wholly alone, gently murmured, 'Oh ma chère patrie!--malheureuse, +coupable,--mais toujours chère patrie!--ne te reverrai-je jamais!'[1] +Her voice thrilled to the very soul of Ellis, who, trembling, suspended, +and almost breathless, stood watching her motions; fearing to startle +her by an unexpected approach, and waiting to catch her eye. + +[Footnote 1: 'Oh my loved country!--unhappy, guilty--but for ever loved +country!--shall I never see thee more!'] + +But the mourner was evidently without suspicion that any one was in +sight. Grief is an absorber: it neither seeks nor makes observation; +except where it is joined with vanity, that always desires remark; or +with guilt, by which remark is always feared. + +Ellis, neither advancing nor receding, saw her next move solemnly +forward, to bend over a small elevation of earth, encircled by short +sticks, intersected with rushes. Some of these, which were displaced, +she carefully arranged, while uttering, in a gentle murmur, which the +profound stillness of all around alone enabled Ellis to catch, 'Repose +toi bien, mon ange! mon enfant! le repos qui me fuit, le bonheur que +j'ai perdu, la tranquilité precieuse de l'ame qui m'abandonne--que tout +cela soit à toi, mon ange! mon enfant! Je ne te rappellerai plus ici! Je +ne te rappellerais plus, même si je le pouvais. Loin de toi ma +malheureuse destinée! je priai Dieu pour ta conservation quand je te +possedois encore; quelques cruelles que fussent tes souffrances, et +toute impuissante que J'etois pour les soulager, je priai Dieu, dans +l'angoisse de mon ame, pour ta conservation! Tu n'est plus pour moi--et +je cesse de te reclamer. Je te vois une ange! Je te vois exempt à +jamais de douleur, de crainte, de pauvreté et de regrets; te +reclamerai-je, donc, pour partager encore mes malheurs? Non! ne reviens +plus à moi! Que je te retrouve là--où ta félicité sera la mienne! Mais +toi, prie pour ta malheureuse mère! que tes innocentes prières +s'unissent à ses humbles supplications, pour que ta mère, ta pauvre +mère, puisse se rendre digne de te rejoindre!'[2] + +[Footnote 2: 'Sleep on, sleep on, my angel child! May the repose that +flies me, the happiness that I have lost, the precious tranquillity of +soul that has forsaken me--be thine! for ever thine! my child! my angel! +I cease to call thee back. Even were it in my power, I would not call +thee back. I prayed for thy preservation, while yet I had the bliss of +possessing thee; cruel as were thy sufferings, and impotent as I found +myself to relieve them, I prayed,--in the anguish of my soul,--I prayed +for thy preservation! Thou art lost to me now!--yet I call thee back no +more! I behold thee an angel! I see thee rescued for ever from sorrow, +from alarm, from poverty, and from bitter recollections;--and shall I +call thee back, to partake again my sufferings?--No! return to me no +more! There, only, let me find thee, where thy felicity will be +mine!--but thou! O pray for thy unhappy mother! Let thy innocent prayers +be united to her humble supplications, that thy mother, thy hapless +mother, may become worthy to join thee!'] + +How long these soft addresses, which seemed to soothe the pious +petitioner, might have lasted, had she not been disturbed, is uncertain: +but she was startled by sounds of more tumultuous sorrow; by sobs, +rather than sighs, that seemed bursting forth from more violent, at +least, more sudden affliction. She looked round, astonished; and saw +Ellis leaning over a monument, and bathed in tears. + +She arose, and, advancing towards her, said, in an accent of pity, +'Helas, Madame, vous, aussi, pleurez vous votre enfant?'[3] + +[Footnote 3: 'Alas, Madam! are you, also, deploring the loss of a +child?'] + +'Ah, mon amie! ma bien! ameè amie!' cried Ellis, wiping her eyes, but +vainly attempting to repress fresh tears; 't'aì-jè chercheè, t'aì-jè +attendue, t'aì-jè si ardemment desireè, pour te retrouver ainsi? +pleurant sur un tombeau? Et toi!--ne me rappelle tu pas? M'a tu +oubliee?--Gabrielle! ma chère Gabrielle!'[4] + +[Footnote 4: 'Ah, my friend! my much loved friend! have I sought thee, +have I awaited thee, have I so fervently desired thy restoration--to +find thee thus? Weeping over a grave? And thou--dost thou not recollect +me? Hast thou forgotten me?--Gabriella! my loved Gabriella!'] + +'Juste ciel!' exclaimed the other, 'que vois-je? Ma Julie! ma chère, ma +tendre amie? Est il bien vrai?--O! peut il être vrai, qu'il y ait encore +du bonheur ici bas pour moi?'[5] + +[Footnote 5: 'Gracious heaven! what do I behold? My Juliet! my tender +friend? Can it be real?--O! can it, indeed, be true, that still any +happiness is left on earth for me!'] + +Locked in each other's arms, pressed to each other's bosoms, they now +remained many minutes in speechless agony of emotion, from nearly +overpowering surprise, from gusts of ungovernable, irrepressible sorrow, +and heart-piercing recollections; though blended with the tenderest +sympathy of joy. + +This touching silent eloquence, these unutterable conflicts between +transport and pain, were succeeded by a reciprocation of enquiry, so +earnest, so eager, so ardent, that neither of them seemed to have any +sensation left of self, from excess of solicitude for the other, till +Ellis, looking towards the little grave, said, 'Ah! que ce ne soit plus +question de moi?'[6] + +[Footnote 6: 'Ah!--upon me can you, yet, bestow a thought?'] + +'Ah, oui, mon amie,' answered Gabriella, 'ton histoire, tes malheurs, ne +peuvent jamais être aussi terribles, aussi dechirants que les miens! tu +n'as pas encore eprouvé le bonheur d'être mère--comment aurois-tu, donc, +eprouvé, le plus accablant des malheurs? Oh! ce sont des souffrances qui +n'ont point de nom; des douleurs qui rendent nulles toutes autres, que +la perte d'un Etre pûr comme un ange, et tout à soi!'[7] + +[Footnote 7: 'True, my dear friend, true! thy history, thy misfortunes, +can never be terrible, never be lacerating like mine! Thou hast not yet +known the bliss of being a mother;--how, then, canst thou have +experienced the most overwhelming of calamities! a suffering that admits +of no description! a woe that makes all others seem null--the loss of a +being pure, spotless as a cherub--and wholly our own!'] + +The fond embraces, and fast flowing tears of Ellis, evinced the keen +sensibility with which she participated in the sorrows of this afflicted +mother, whom she strove to draw away from the fatal spot; reiterating +the most urgent enquiries upon every other subject, to attract her, if +possible, to yet remaining, to living interests. But these efforts were +utterly useless. 'Restons, restons où nous sommes!' she cried: 'c'est +ici que je te parlerai; c'est ici que je t'écôuterai; ici, où je passe +les seuls momens que j'arrache à la misere, et au travail. Ne crois pas +que de pleurer est ce qu'il y a le plus à craindre! Oh! qu'il ne +t'arrive jamais de savoir que de pleurer, même sur le tombeau de tout ce +qui vous est le plus cher, est un soulagement, un dèlice, auprès du dur +besoin de travailler, la mort dans le coeur, pour vivre, pour exister, +lorsque la vie a perdu toutes ses charmes!'[8] + +[Footnote 8: 'Here, here let us stay! 'tis here I can best speak to +thee! 'tis here, I can best listen;--here, where I pass every moment +that I can snatch from penury and labour! Think not that to weep is what +is most to be dreaded; oh never mayst thou learn, that to weep--though +upon the tomb of all that has been most dear to thee upon earth, is a +solace, is a feeling of softness, nay of pleasure, compared with the +hard necessity of toiling, when death has seized upon the very heart, +merely to breathe, to exist, after life has lost all its charms!'] + +Seated then upon the monument which was nearest to the little grave, +Gabriella related the principal events of her life, since the period of +their separation. These, though frequently extraordinary, sometimes +perilous, and always touchingly disastrous, she recounted with a +rapidity almost inconceivable; distinctly, nevertheless, marking the +several incidents, and the courage with which she had supported them: +but when, these finished, she entered upon the history of the illness +that had preceded the death of her little son, her voice tremblingly +slackened its velocity, and unconsciously lowered its tones; and, far +from continuing with the same quickness or precision, every circumstance +was dwelt upon as momentous; every recollection brought forth long and +endearing details; every misfortune seemed light, put in the scale with +his loss; every regret seemed concentrated in his tomb! + +Six o'clock, and seven, had tolled unheeded, during this afflicting, yet +soothing recital; but the eighth hour striking, when the tumult of +sorrow was subsiding into the sadness of grief, the sound caught the ear +of Gabriella, who, hastily rising, exclaimed, 'Ah, voilà que je suis +encore susceptible de plaisir, puisque ta société m'a fait oublier les +tristes et penibles devoirs, qui m'appellent à des tâches qui--à +peine--m'empêchent de mourir de faim!'[9] + +[Footnote 9: 'See, if I am not still susceptible of pleasure! Thy +society has made me forget the sad and painful duties that call me +hence, to tasks that snatch me,--with difficulty,--from perishing by +famine!'] + +At these words, all the fortitude hitherto sustained by Juliet,--for the +borrowed name of Ellis will now be dropt,--utterly forsook her. Torrents +of tears gushed from her eyes, and lamentations, the bitterest, broke +from her lips. She could bear, she cried, all but this; all but +beholding the friend of her heart, the daughter of her benefactress, +torn from the heights of happiness and splendour; of merited happiness, +of hereditary splendour; to be plunged into such depths of distress, and +overpowered with anguish. + +'Ah! que je te reconnois bien à ce trait!' cried Gabriella, while a +tender smile tried to force its way through her tears: 'cette ame si +noble! si inebralable pour elle-même, si douce, si compatissante pour +tout autre! que de souvenirs chers et touchans ne se presentent, à cet +instant, à mon coeur! Ma chère Julie! il est bien vrai, donc, que je +te vois, que je te retrouve encore! et, en toi, tout ce qú'il y a de +plus aimable, de plus pûr, et de plus digne! Comment ai-je pû te revoir, +sans retrouver la felicité? Je me sens presque coupable de pouvoir +t'embrasser,--et de pleurer encore!'[10] + +[Footnote 10: 'Ah, how I know thee by that trait! thy soul so noble! so +firm in itself; so soft, so commiserating for every other! what tender, +what touching recollections present themselves at this instant to my +heart! Dearest Juliet! is it, then, indeed no dream, that I have +found--that I behold thee again? and, in thee, all that is most +exemplary, most amiable, and most worthy upon earth! How is it I can +recover thee, and not recover happiness? I almost feel as if I were +criminal, that I can embrace thee,--yet weep on!'] + +Forcing herself, then, from the fatal but cherished spot, she must +hasten, she said, to her daily labour, lest night should surprise her, +without a roof to shelter her head. But Juliet now detained her; clung +and wept round her neck, and could not even endeavour to resign herself +to the keen woes, and deplorable situation of her friend. She had come +over, she said, buoyed up with the exquisite hope of joining the darling +companion of her earliest youth; of sharing her fate, and of mitigating +her hardships: but this softening expectation was changed into +despondence, in discovering her, thus, a prey to unmixt calamity; not +alone bowed down by the general evils of revolutionary events; punished +for plans in which she had borne no part, and for crimes of which she +had not even any knowledge;--not only driven, without offence, or even +accusation, from prosperity and honours, to exile, to want, to misery, +and to labour; but suffering, at the same time, the heaviest of personal +afflictions, in the immediate loss of a darling child; the victim, in +all probability, to a melancholy change of life, and to sudden privation +of customary care and indulgence! + +The task of consolation seemed now to devolve upon Gabriella: the +feelings of Juliet, long checked by prudence, by fortitude, by imperious +necessity; and kept in dignified but hard command; having once found a +vent, bounded back to nature and to truth, with a vivacity of keen +emotion that made them nearly uncontrollable. Nature and truth,--which +invariably retain an elastic power, that no struggles can wholly subdue; +and that always, however curbed, however oppressed,--lie in wait for +opportunity to spring back to their rights. Her tears, permitted, +therefore, at length, to flow, nearly deluged the sad bosom of her +friend. + +'Helas, ma Julie! soeur de mon ame!' cried Gabriella, 'ne t'abandonne pas +à la douleur pour moi! mais parles moi, ma tendre amie, paries moi de +ma mère! Où l'a tu quitte? Et comment? Et à quelle epoque?--La plus +digne, la plus cherie des mères! Helas! eloignée de nous deux, comment +saura-t-elle se resigner á tant de malheurs?'[11] + +[Footnote 11: 'Alas, my Juliet! sister of my soul! abandon not myself to +sorrow for me! but speak to me, my tender friend, speak to me of my +mother! where didst thou leave her? And how? And at what time? The most +precious of mothers! Alas! separated from us both,--how will she be able +to support such accumulation of misfortunes!'] + +Juliet uttered the tenderest assurances, that she had left the +Marchioness well; and had left her by her own injunctions, to join her +darling daughter; to whom, by a conveyance that had been deemed secure, +she had previously written the plan of the intended journey; with a +desire that a few lines of direction, relative to their meeting, under +cover to L.S., to be left till called for, might be sent to the +post-offices both of Dover and Brighthelmstone; as it was not possible +to fix at which spot Juliet might land. The initials L.S. had been fixed +upon by accident. + +Filial anxiety, now, took place of maternal sufferings, and Gabriella +could only talk of her mother; demanding how she looked, and how she +supported the long separation, the ruinous sacrifices, and the perpetual +alarms, to which she must have been condemned since they had parted; +expressing her own surprise, that she had borne to dwell upon any other +subject than this, which now was the first interest of her heart; yet +ceasing to wonder, when she contemplated the fatal spot where her +meeting with Juliet had taken place. + +Each, now, deeply lamented the time and consolation that had been lost, +from their mutual ignorance of each other's abode. Juliet related her +fruitless search upon arriving in London; and Gabriella explained, that, +during three lingering, yet ever regretted months, she had watched over +her dying boy, without writing a single line; to spare her absent +friends the knowledge of her suspensive wretchedness. Since the +irreparable certainty which had followed, she had sent two letters to +her beloved mother, with her address at Brighthelmstone; but both must +have miscarried, as she had received no answer. That Juliet had not +traced her in London was little wonderful, as, to elude the curiosity +excited by a great name, she had passed, in setting out for +Brighthelmstone, by a common one. And to that change, joined to one so +similar on the part of Juliet, it must have been owing that they had +never heard of each other, though residents of the same place. Juliet, +nevertheless, was astonished, in defiance of all alteration of attire +and appearance, that she had not instantly recognized the air and form +of her elegant and high bred Gabriella. But, equally unacquainted with +her indigence, which was the effect of sundry cruel accidents, and with +the loss of her child; no expectation was awakened of finding her either +in so distressed or so solitary a condition. Now, however, Juliet +continued, that fortunately, though, alas! not happily, they had met, +they would part no more. Juliet was fully at liberty to go whithersoever +her friend would lead, the hope of obtaining tidings of that beloved +friend, having alone kept her stationary thus long at Brighthelmstone; +where she could now leave the address of Gabriella, at the post-office, +for their mutual letters: and, as insuperable obstacles impeded her +writing herself, at present, to the Marchioness, Gabriella might make +known, in a covert manner, that they were together, and were both safe. + +And why, Gabriella demanded, could not Juliet write herself? + +'Alas!' Juliet replied, 'I must not even be named!' + +'Eh, pour quoi?--n'a-t-tu pas vu tes parens?--Peut on te voir sans +t'aimer? te connoître sans te cherir? Non, ma Julie, non! tu n'a qu'à te +montrer.'[12] + +[Footnote 12: 'And why? Hast thou not seen thy relations?--Canst thou be +seen, and not loved?--known, and not cherished? No, my Juliet, no! thou +hast only to appear!'] + +Juliet, changing colour, dejectedly, and not without confusion, besought +her friend, though for reasons that could neither be assigned nor +surmounted, to dispense, at present, with all personal narration. Yet, +upon perceiving the anxious surprise occasioned by a request so little +expected, she dissolved into tears, and offered every communication, in +preference to causing even transitory pain to her best friend. + +'O loin de moi cette exigence!' cried Gabriella, with energy, 'Ne +sais-je pas bien que ton bon esprit, juste émule de ton excellent +coeur, te fera parler lorsqu'il le faudra? Ne me confierai-je pas à +toi, dont la seule étude est le bonheur des autres?'[13] + +[Footnote 13: 'Oh far from me by any such insistence! Know I not well +that thy admirable judgment, just counterpart of thy excellent heart, +will guide thee to speak when it is right? Shall I not entirely confide +in thee?--In thee, whose sole study has been always the good and +happiness of others?'] + +Juliet, not more penetrated by this kindness, than affected by a facile +resignation, that shewed the taming effect of misfortune upon the +natural vivacity of her friend, could answer only by caresses and +tears. + +'Eh mon oncle?' continued Gabriella; 'mon tout-aimable et si pieux +oncle? où est il?'[14] + +[Footnote 14: 'And my uncle! My so amiable, so pious uncle? Where is +he?'] + +'Monseigneur l'Eveque?' cried Juliet, again changing colour; 'Oh oui! +tout-aimable! sans tâche et sans reproche!--Il sera bientôt, je crois, +ici;--ou j'aurois de ses nouvelles; et alors--ma destinée me sera +connue!'[15] + +[Footnote 15: 'My lord the Bishop?--Oh yes! yes!--amiable +indeed!--pure!--without blemish!--He will soon, I believe, be here; or I +shall have some intelligence from him; and then--my fate will be known +to me!'] + +A deep sigh tried to swallow these last words. Gabriella looked at her, +for a moment, with re-awakened earnestness, as if repentant of her own +acquiescence; but the sight of encreasing disturbance in the countenance +of Juliet, checked her rising impatience; and she quietly said, 'Ah! +s'il arrive ici!--si je le revois,--j'éprouverai encore, au milieu de +tant de désolation, un mouvement de joie!--tel que toi, seule, jusqu'à +ce moment, a su m'en inspirer!'[16] + +[Footnote 16: 'Ah, should he come hither!--should I be blest again by +his sight, I should feel, once more, even in the midst of my desolation, +a sensation of joy--such as thou, only, as yet, hast been able to +re-awaken!'] + +Juliet, with fond delight, promised to be governed wholly, in her future +plans, occupations, and residence, by her beloved friend. + +'C'est à Brighthelmstone, donc,' cried Gabriella, returning to the +little grave; 'c'est ici que nous demeurions! ici, où il me semble que +je n'ai pas encore tout à fait perdu mon fils!' + +Then, tenderly embracing Juliet, 'Ah, mon amie!' she cried, with a smile +that blended pleasure with agony; 'ah, mon amie! c'est à mon enfant que +je te dois! c'est en pleurant sur ses restes que je t'ai retrouvée! Ah, +oui!' passionately bending over the grave; 'c'est à toi, mon ange! mon +enfant! que je dois mon amie! Ton tombeau, même, me porte bonheur! tes +cendres veulent me bénir! tes restes, ton ombre veulent du bien à ta +pauvre mère!'[17] + +[Footnote 17: ''Tis at Brighthelmstone, then,--'tis here that we must +dwell! Here, where I seem not yet, entirely, to have lost my darling +boy! Oh my friend! my dearest, best loved friend! 'tis to him--to my +child, that I am indebted for seeing thee again! 'tis in visiting his +remains that I have met my Juliet!--Oh thou! my child! my angel! 'tis to +thee, to thee, I am indebted for my friend! Even thy grave offers me +comfort! even thy ashes desire to bless me! Thy remains, thy shadow, +would do good, would bring peace to thy unhappy mother!'] + +With difficulty, now, Juliet drew her away from the fond, fatal spot; +and slowly, and silently, while clinging to each other with heartfelt +affection, they returned together to their lodgings. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + + +Elinor, kept in order by a continual expectation of seeing Harleigh, +ceased to require the presence of Juliet; who, but for the sorrows of +her friend, would have experienced a felicity to which she had long been +a stranger, the felicity of being loved because known; esteemed and +valued because tried and proved. The consideration that is the boon of +even the most generous benevolence, however it may soothe the heart, +cannot elevate the spirits: but here, good opinion was reciprocated, +trust was interchanged, confidence was mutual. + +The affliction of Gabriella, though of a more permanent nature, because +from an irreparable cause, was yet highly susceptible of consolation +from friendship; and when once the acute emotions, arising from the tale +of woe which she had had to relate, at the meeting, were abated, the +charm which the presence of Juliet dispensed, and the renewal of early +ideas, pristine feelings, and first affections, soon reflected back +their influence upon her own mind; which gradually strengthened, and +insensibly revived. + +Juliet immediately resigned her large apartment, and fixed herself in +the small room of Gabriella. There they settled that they would live +together, work together, share their little profits, and endure their +failures, in common. There they hoped to recover their peace of mind, if +not to re-animate their native spirits; and to be restored to the +harmony of social sympathy, if not to that of happiness. + +Yet, it was with difficulty that they learnt to enjoy each other's +society, upon such terms as their altered condition now exacted; where +the eye must never be spared from laborious business, to search, or to +reciprocate a sentiment, in those precious moments of endearing +converse, which, unconsciously, swell into hours, ere they are missed as +minutes. Their intercourse was confined to oral language alone. The +lively intelligence, the rapid conception, the arch remark, the cordial +smile; which give grace to kindness, playfulness to counsel, gentleness +to raillery, and softness even to reproach; these, the expressive +sources of delight, and of comprehension, in social commerce, they were +fain wholly to relinquish; from the hurry of unremitting diligence, and +undivided attention to manual toil. + +Nevertheless, to inhale the same air, and to feel the consoling +certitude, that they were no longer cast wholly upon pity, or charity, +for good opinion, were blessings that filled their thoughts with +gratitude to Providence, and brought back calm and comfort to their +minds. + +Still, at every sun-rise, Gabriella visited the ashes of her little son; +where she poured forth, in maternal enthusiasm, thanks and benedictions +upon his departed spirit, that her earliest friend, the chosen sharer of +her happier days, was restored to her in the hour of her desolation; and +restored to her There,--on that fatal, yet adored spot, which contained +the ever loved, though lifeless remains of her darling boy. + +Juliet, in this peaceful interval, learnt, from the voluble Selina, all +that had been gathered from Mrs Golding relative to the seclusion of +Elinor. + +Elinor had travelled post to Portsmouth, whence she had sailed to the +Isle of Wight. There, meeting with a foreign servant out of place, she +engaged him in her service, and bid him purchase some clothes of an +indigent emigrant. She then dressed herself grotesquely yet, as far as +she could, decently, in man's attire; and, making her maid follow her +example, returned to the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone, and took +lodgings, in the character of a foreigner, who was deaf and dumb, at +Shoreham; where, uninterruptedly, and unsuspectedly, she resided. Here, +by means of her new domestic, she obtained constant intelligence of the +proceedings of Juliet; and she was no sooner informed of the musical +benefit, in which an air, with an harp-accompaniment, was to be +performed by Miss Ellis, than she sent her new attendant to the +assembly-room, to purchase a ticket. Golding, who went thither with the +lackey, met Harleigh in the street, as he was quitting the lodgings of +Juliet. + +The disguise of the maid saved her from being recognised; but her +tidings set her mistress on fire. The moment seemed now arrived for the +long-destined catastrophe; and the few days preceding the benefit, were +spent in its preparation. Careless of what was thought, Elinor, had +since, casually, though not confidentially, related, that her intention +had been to mount suddenly into the orchestra, during the performance of +Juliet; and thence to call upon Harleigh, whom she could not doubt would +be amongst the audience; and, at the instant of his joining them, +proclaim to the whole world her immortal passion, and expire between +them. But the fainting fit of Juliet, and its uncontrollable effect upon +Harleigh, had been so insupportable to her feelings, as to precipitate +her design. She acknowledged that she had studied how to die without +torture, by inflicting a wound by which she might bleed gently to death, +while indulging herself, to the last moment, in pouring forth to the +idol of her heart, the fond effusions of her ardent, but exalted +passion. + +The tranquillity of Elinor, built upon false expectations, could not be +long unshaken: impatience and suspicion soon took its place, and Mr +Naird was compelled to acknowledge, that Mr Harleigh had set out upon a +distant tour, without leaving his address, even at his own house; where +he had merely given orders that his letters should be forwarded to a +friend. + +The rage, grief, and shame of the wretched Elinor, now nearly destroyed, +in a moment, all the cares and the skill of Mr Naird, and of her +physician. She impetuously summoned Juliet, to be convinced that she was +not a party in the elopement; and was only rescued from sinking into +utter despair, by adroit exhortations from Mr Naird, to yield patiently +to his ordinances, lest she should yet die without a last view of +Harleigh. This plea led her, once more, though with equal disgust to +herself and to the whole world, to submit to every medical direction, +that might give her sufficient strength to devise means for her ultimate +project; and to put them into practice. + +Mr Naird archly confessed, in private, to Juliet, that the real danger +or safety of Miss Joddrel, so completely hung upon giving the reins, or +the curb, to her passions, that she might, without much difficulty, from +her resolution to die no other death than that of heroic love, in the +presence of its idol, be spurred on, while awaiting, or pursuing, its +object, to the verge of a very comfortable old age. + +He acknowledged himself, also, secretly entrusted with the abode of Mr +Harleigh. + +Elinor, when somewhat calmed, demanded of Juliet when, and how, her +meetings with Harleigh had been renewed. + +Juliet recounted what had passed; sparing such details as might be +hurtful, and solemnly protesting that all intercourse was now at an +end. + +With a view to draw Elinor from this agitating subject, she then +related, at full length, her meeting, in the church-yard, with the friend +whom she had so long vainly sought. + +In a short time afterwards, feeling herself considerably advanced +towards a recovery, Elinor, impetuously, again sent for Juliet, to say, +'What is your plan? Tell it me sincerely! What is it you mean to do?' + +Juliet answered, that her choice was small, and that her means were +almost null: but when she lamented the severe DIFFICULTIES of a FEMALE, +who, without fortune or protection, had her way to make in the world, +Elinor, with strong derision, called out, 'Debility and folly! Put aside +your prejudices, and forget that you are a dawdling woman, to remember +that you are an active human being, and your FEMALE DIFFICULTIES will +vanish into the vapour of which they are formed. Misery has taught me to +conquer mine! and I am now as ready to defy the world, as the world can +be ready to hold me up to ridicule. To make people wise, you must make +them indifferent; to give them courage, you must make them desperate. +'Tis then, only, that we throw aside affectation and hypocrisy, and act +from impulse.' + +Laughing, now, though with bitterness, rather than gaiety, 'What does +the world say,' she cried, 'to find that I still live, after the pompous +funeral orations, declaimed by myself, upon my death? Does it suspect +that I found second thoughts best, and that I delayed my execution, +thinking, like the man in the song, + + That for sure I could die whenever I would, + But that I could live but as long as I could? + +'Well, ye that laugh, laugh on! for I, when not sick of myself, laugh +too! But, to escape mockery, we must all be guided one by another; all +do, and all say, the very same thing. Yet why? Are we alike in our +thoughts? Are we alike in our faces? No. Happily, however, that +soporiferous monotony is beginning to get obsolete. The sublimity of +Revolution has given a greater shake to the minds of men, than to the +kingdoms of the earth.' + +After pausing, then, a few minutes, 'Ellis,' she cried, 'if you are +really embarrassed, why should you not go upon the stage? You know how +transcendently you act.' + +'That which might seem passable in a private representation,' Juliet +answered, 'might, at a public theatre--' + +'Pho, pho, you know perfectly well your powers. But you blight them, I +suppose, yourself, with anathemas, from excommunicating scruples? You +are amongst the cold, the heartless, the ungifted, who, to discredit +talents, and render them dangerous, leave their exercise to vice, by +making virtue fear to exert, or even patronize them?' + +'No, Madam, indeed,' cried Juliet: 'I admire, most feelingly, the noble +art of declamation:--how, then, can I condemn the profession which gives +to it life and soul? which personifies the most exalted virtues, which +brings before us the noblest characters, and makes us witnesses to the +sublimest actions? The stage, well regulated, would be the school of +juvenile emulation; would soothe sorrow in the unhappy, and afford +merited relaxation to the laborious. Reformed, indeed, I wish it, and +purified; but not destroyed.' + +'Why, then, do you disdain to wear the buskins?' + +'Disdain is by no means the word. Talents are a constant source to me of +delight; and those who,--rare, but in existence,--unite, to their public +exercise, private virtue and merit, I honour and esteem even more than I +admire; and every mark I could shew, to such, of consideration,--were I +so situated as to bestow, not require protection!--I should regard as +reflecting credit not on them, but on myself.' + +'Pen and ink!' cried Elinor, impatiently: 'I'll write for you to the +manager this moment!--' + +'Hold, Madam!' cried Juliet smiling: 'Much as I am enchanted with the +art, I am not going to profess it! On the contrary, I think it so +replete with dangers and improprieties, however happily they may +sometimes be combatted by fortitude and integrity, that, when a young +female, not forced by peculiar circumstances, or impelled by resistless +genius, exhibits herself a willing candidate for public applause;--she +must have, I own, other notions, or other nerves, than mine!' + +'Ellis, Ellis! you only fear to alarm, or offend the men--who would keep +us from every office, but making puddings and pies for their own +precious palates!--Oh woman! poor, subdued woman! thou art as dependant, +mentally, upon the arbitrary customs of man, as man is, corporally, upon +the established laws of his country!' + +She now grew disturbed, and went on warmly, though nearly to herself. + +'By the oppressions of their own statutes and institutions, they render +us insignificant; and then speak of us as if we were so born! But what +have we tried, in which we have been foiled? They dare not trust us with +their own education, and their own opportunities for distinction:--I +except the article of fighting; against that, there may, perhaps, be +some obstacles: but to be condemned, as weaker vessels in intellect, +because, inferiour in bodily strength and stature, we cannot cope with +them as boxers and wrestlers! They appreciate not the understandings of +one another by such manual and muscular criterions. They assert not that +one man has more brains than another, because he is taller; that he is +endowed with more illustrious virtues, because he is stouter. They judge +him not to be less ably formed for haranguing in the senate; for +administering justice in the courts of law; for teaching science at the +universities, because he could ill resist a bully, or conquer a footpad! +No!--Woman is left out in the scales of human merit, only because they +dare not weigh her!' + +Then, turning suddenly to Ellis, 'And you, Ellis, you!' she cried, +'endowed with every power to set prejudice at defiance, and to shew and +teach the world, that woman and man are fellow-creatures, you, too, are +coward enough to bow down, unresisting, to this thraldom?' + +Juliet hazarded not any reply. + +'Yet what futile inconsistency dispenses this prejudice! This Woman, +whom they estimate thus below, they elevate above themselves. They +require from her, in defiance of their examples!--in defiance of their +lures!--angelical perfection. She must be mistress of her passions; she +must never listen to her inclinations; she must not take a step of which +the purport is not visible; she must not pursue a measure of which she +cannot publish the motive; she must always be guided by reason, though +they deny her understanding!--Frankness, the noblest of our qualities, +is her disgrace;--sympathy, the most exquisite of our feelings, is her +bane!--' + +She stopt here, conscious, colouring, indignant, and dropt the subject, +to say, 'Tell me, I again demand, what is it you mean to do? Return to +your concert-singing and harping?' + +'Ah, Madam,' cried Juliet, reproachfully, 'can you believe me not yet +satisfied with attempting any sort of public exhibition? + +'Nay, nay,' cried Elinor, resuming her careless gaiety, 'what passed +that evening will only have served to render you more popular. You may +make your own terms, now, with the managers, for the subscription will +fill, merely to get a stare at you. If I were poor myself, I would +engage to acquire a large fortune, in less than a week, by advertising, +at two-pence a head, a sight of the lady that stabbed herself.' + +'What, however,' she continued, 'is your purpose? Will you go and live +with Mrs Ireton? She is just come hither to give her favourite lap-dog a +six weeks' bathing. What say you to the place of her toad-eater? It may +be a very lucrative thing; and I can procure it for you with the utmost +ease. It is commonly vacant every ten days. Besides, she has been dying +to have you in her toils, ever since she had known that you spurned the +proposition, when it was started by Mrs Howel.' + +Juliet protested, that any species of fatigue would be preferable to +subservience of such a sort. + +'Perhaps you are afraid of seeing too much of Ireton? Be under no +apprehension. He makes it a point not to visit her. He cannot endure +her. Besides, 'tis so rustic, he says, to have a mother!' + +Juliet answered, that her sole plan, now, was to be guided by her +friend. + +'And who is this friend? Is she of the family of the Incognitas, also? +What do you call her?--L.S.?' + +Juliet only replied by stating their project of needle-work. + +Elinor scoffed the notion; affirming that they would not obtain a morsel +of bread to a glass of water, above once in three days. She felt, +nevertheless, sufficient respect to the design of the noble fugitive, to +send her a sealed note of what she called her approbation. + +This note Juliet took in charge. It contained a draft for fifty pounds. + +Ah, generous Elinor! thought Juliet, tears of gratitude glistening in +her eyes: what a mixture of contrasting qualities sully, and ennoble +your character in turn! Ah, why, to intellects so strong, a heart so +liberal, a temper so gay, is there not joined a better portion of +judgment, a larger one of diffidence, a sense of feminine propriety, and +a mind rectified by religion,--not abandoned, uncontrolled, to +imagination? + +Gabriella, though truly touched by a generosity so unexpected, declined +accepting its fruits; not being yet, she said, so helpless, however +poor, as to prefer pecuniary obligation to industry. She would leave, +therefore, the donation, for those who had lost the resources of +independence which she yet possessed--youth and strength. + +The tender admiration of Juliet forbade all remonstrance, and excluded +any surprise. She well knew, and had long seen, that the distress which +is the offspring of public calamity, not of private misfortune, however +it may ruin prosperity, never humbles the mind. + +Gabriella, in a letter of elegant acknowledgements, to obviate any +accusation of undue pride, solicited the assistance of Elinor, in +procuring orders for embroidery, amongst the ladies of her acquaintance. + +Elinor, zealous to serve, and fearless to demand, instantly attacked, +by note or by message, every rich female at Brighthelmstone; urging the +generous, and shaming the niggardly, till there was scarcely a woman of +fortune in the place, who had not given, or promised, a commission for +some fine muslin-work. + +The two friends, through this commanding protection, began their new +plan of life under the most favourable auspices; and had soon more +employment than time, though they limited themselves to five hours for +sleep; though their meals were rather swallowed than eaten; and though +they allowed not a moment for any kind of recreation, of rest, or of +exercise; save the sacred visit, which they unfailingly made together, +at break of day, to the little grave in the church-yard upon the hill. + +Yet here first, since her arrival on the British shores, the immediate +rapturous moment of landing, and the fortnight passed with Lady Aurora +Granville excepted, here first sweet contentment, soft hopes, and gentle +happiness visited the bosom of Juliet. No privation was hard, no toil +was severe, no application was tedious, while the friend of her heart +was by her side; whose sorrows she could mitigate, whose affections she +could share, and whose tears she could sometimes chase. + +But the relief was not more exquisite than it was transitory; a week +only had passed in delicious repose, when Gabriella received +intelligence that her husband was taken ill. + +Whatever was her reluctance to quitting the spot, where her memory was +every moment fed with cherished recollections, she could not hesitate to +depart; but, when Juliet, in consonance with her inclination and her +promise, prepared to accompany her, that hydra-headed intruder upon +human schemes and desires, Difficulty, arose, in as many shapes as she +could form projects, to impede her wishes. Money they had none: even for +the return to town of Gabriella, her husband was fain to have recourse +for aid to certain admirable persons, whose benevolence had enabled her, +upon the illness of her son, to quit it for Brighthelmstone: and, in a +situation of indigence so obvious, could they propose carrying away with +them the work with which they were entrusted? Juliet, indeed, had still +Harleigh's bank notes in her possession; but she turned inflexibly from +the temptation of adopting a mode of conduct, which she had always +condemned as weak and degrading; that of investing circumstance with +decision, in conscientious dilemmas. + +These terrible obstacles broke into all their plans, their wishes, +their happiness; involved them in new distress, deluged them in tears, +and, after every effort with which ingenious friendship could combat +them, ended in compelling a separation. Gabriella embraced, with pungent +affliction, the sorrowing Juliet; shed her last bitter tears over the +grave of her lost darling, and, by the assistance of the angelic +beings[18] already hinted at, whose delicacy, whose feeling, whose +respect for misfortune, made their beneficence as balsamic to +sensibility, as it was salutary to want, returned alone to the capital. + +[Footnote 18: Residing in, and,--in 1795!--at the foot of Norbury Park.] + +Juliet thus, perforce, remaining, and once again left to herself, was +nearly overwhelmed with grief at a stroke so abrupt and unexpected; so +ruinous to her lately acquired contentment, and dearly prized social +enjoyment. Yet she suffered not regret and disappointment to consume her +time, however cruelly they preyed upon her spirits, and demolished her +comfort. Solitarily she continued the employment which she had socially +begun; but without relaxing in diligence and application, without +permitting herself the smallest intermission that could be avoided: +urged not alone to maintain herself, and to replace what she had touched +of the deposit of Harleigh, but excited, yet more forcibly, by the fond +hope of rejoining her friend; to which she eagerly looked forward, as +the result and reward of her activity and labour. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + + +Left thus to herself, and devoted to incessant work, Juliet next, had +the vexation to learn, how inadequate for entering into any species of +business was a mere knowledge of its theory. + +She had concluded that, in consecrating her time and her labours to so +simple an employment as needle-work, she secured herself a certain, +though an hardly earned maintenance: but, as her orders became more +extensive, she found that neither talents for what she undertook, nor +even patronage to bring them into notice, was sufficient; a capital also +was requisite, for the purchase of frames, patterns, silver and gold +threads, spangles, and various other articles; to procure which, she was +forced, in the very commencement of her new career, again to run in +debt. + +Alas! she cried, where business is not necessary to subsistence, how +little do we know, believe, or even conceive, its various difficulties! +Imagination may paint enjoyments; but labours and hardships can be +judged only from experience! + +She was equally, also, unprepared for continual and vexatious delays of +payment. Her work was frequently, when best executed; or set apart for +some distant occasion, and forgotten; or received and worn, with no +retribution but by promise. Even the few who possessed more +consideration, seemed to estimate her time and her toil as nothing, +because she was brought forward by recommendation; and to pay debts of +common justice, with the parade of generosity. + +Yet, vanity and false reasoning set apart, the ladies for whom she +worked were neither hard of heart nor illiberal; but they had never +known distress! and were too light and unreflecting to weigh the +circumstances by which it might be produced, or prevented. + +To save time, and obviate innumerable mortifications, Juliet, at first, +employed a commissioner to carry home her work, and to deliver her +bills; but he returned always with empty messages, that if Miss Ellis +would call herself, she should be paid. Yet when, with whatever +reluctance, she complied, she was ordinarily condemned to wait in +passages, or anti-chambers, for whole hours, and even whole mornings; +which were commonly ended by an excuse, through a footman, or lady's +maid, that Lady or Miss such a one was too much engaged, or too much +indisposed, to see her till the next day. The next day, when, with +renewed expectation, she again presented herself, the same scene was +re-acted; though the passing to and fro of various comers and goers, +proved that it was only to herself her fair creditor was invisible. + +Nevertheless, if she mentioned that she had some pattern, or some piece +of work, finished for any other lady to exhibit, she was immediately +admitted; though still, with regard to payment, she was desired to call +again in the evening, or the next morning, with a new bill; her old one +happening, unluckily, to be always lost or mislaid; and not seldom, +while stopping in an anti-room, to arrange her packages, she heard +exclamations of 'How amazingly tiresome is that Miss Ellis! pestering +one so, always, for her money!' + +Is it possible, thought Juliet, that common humanity, nay, common sense, +will not tell these careless triflers, that their complaint is a lampoon +upon themselves? Will no reflexion, no feeling point out to them, that +the time which they thus unmercifully waste in humiliating attendance, +however to themselves it may be a play-thing, if not a drug, is, to +those who subsist but by their use of it, shelter, clothing, and +nourishment? + +If sometimes, in the hope of exciting more attention from this +dissipated set, she ventured to drop a mournful hint, that she was a +novice to this hard kind of life; the warm compassion that seemed +rapidly kindled, raised expectations of immediate assistance; but the +emotion, though good, took a direction that made it useless; it merely +played about in exclamations of pity; then blazed into curiosity, vented +itself in questions,--and evaporated. + +She soon, therefore, ceased all attempt to obtain regard through +personal representations; feeling yet more mortified to be left in +passages, or recommended to domestics, after avowing that her lowly +state was the effect of misfortune; than while she permitted it to be +presumed, that she had nothing to brook but what she had been born and +bred to bear. + +Some, indeed, while leaving their own just debts unpaid and unnoticed, +would have collected, from their friends, a few straggling half-crowns; +but when Juliet, declining such aid, modestly solicited her right, they +captiously disputed a bill which had been charged by the strictest +necessity; or offered half what they would have dared propose to any +ordinary and hired day-jobber. And whatever admiration they bestowed +upon the taste and execution of work prepared for others, all that she +finished for themselves, was received with that wary precursor of +under-valuing its price, contempt; and looked over with fault-finding +eyes, and unmeaning criticism. + +Yet, if the following day, or even the following hour, some sudden +invitation to a brilliant assembly, made any of these ladies require her +services, they would give their orders with caressing solicitations for +speed; rush familiarly into her room, three or four times in a day, to +see how she went on; supplicate her to touch nothing for any other human +being; load her with professions of regard; confound her with hurrying +entreaties; shake her by the hand; tap her on the shoulder; call her the +best of souls; assure her of their eternal gratitude; and torment her +out of any time for sleep or food:--yet, the occasion past, and the work +seen and worn, it was thought of no more! Her pains and exertions, their +promises and fondness, sunk into the same oblivion; and the commonest +and most inadequate pay was murmured at, if not contested. + +Now and then, however, she was surprised by sudden starts of kindness, +and hasty enquiries, eagerly made, though scarcely demanding any answer, +into her situation and affairs; followed by drawing her, with an air of +confidence, into a dressing-room or closet:--but there, when prepared +for some mark of favour or esteem, she was only asked, in a mysterious +whisper, whether she could procure any cheap foreign lace, or French +gloves? or whether she could get over from France, any particularly +delicate paste for the hands. + +To ladies and to behaviour of this cast, there were, however, +exceptions; especially amongst the residents of the place and its +neighbourhood, who were not there, like the visitors, for dissipation or +irregular extravagance, that, alternately, causes money to be loosely +squandered, and meanly held back. But this better sort was rare, and +sufficed not to supply employment to Juliet for her maintenance, though +the most parsimonious. Nor were there any amongst them that had the +leisure, or the discernment, to discover, that her mind both required +and merited succour as much as her circumstances. + +Yet there was the seat of what she had most to endure, and found hardest +to sustain. Her short, but precious junction with her Gabriella, gave +poignancy to every latent regret, and added disgust to her solitary +toil. Thoughts uncommunicated, ideas unexchanged, fears unrevealed, and +sorrows unparticipated, infused a heaviness into her existence, that not +all her activity in business could conquer; while slackness of pay, by +rendering the result of her labours distant and precarious, robbed her +industry of cheerfulness, and her exertions of hope. With an ardent love +of elegant social intercourse, she was doomed to pass her lonely days in +a room that no sound of kindness ever cheered; with enthusiastic +admiration of the beauties of Nature, she was denied all prospect, but +of the coarse red tilings of opposite attics: with an innate taste for +the fine arts, she was forced to exist as completely out of their view +or knowledge, as if she had been an inhabitant of some uncivilized +country: and fellow-feeling, that most powerful master of philanthropy! +now taught her to pity the lamentations of seclusion from the world, +that she had hitherto often contemned as weak and frivolous; since now, +though with time always occupied, and a mind fully stored, she had the +bitter self-experience of the weight of solitude without books, and of +the gloom of retirement without a friend. + +During this period, the only notice that she attracted, was that of a +gouty old gentleman, whom she frequently met upon the stairs, when +forced to mount or descend them in pursuit of her fair heedless +creditors. She soon found, by the manner in which he entered, or +quitted, at pleasure, the apartment that she had recently given up, that +he was her successor. He was evidently struck by her beauty, and, upon +their first meeting, looked earnestly after her till she was out of +sight; and then, descended into the shop, to enquire who she was of Miss +Matson. Miss Matson, always perplexed what to think of her, gave so +indefinite, yet so extraordinary an account, that he eagerly awaited an +opportunity of seeing her again. Added examination was less calculated +to diminish curiosity, than to change it into pleasure and interest; and +soon, during whole hours together, he perseveringly watched, upon the +landing-places, for the moments of her going out, or coming back to the +house; that, while smiling and bowing to her as she passed, he might +obtain yet another, and another view of so singular and so lovely an +Incognita. + +As he annexed no fixed idea himself to this assiduity, he impressed none +upon Juliet; who, though she could not but observe it, had a mind too +much occupied within, for that mental listlessness that applies for +thoughts, conjectures, or adventures from without. + +Soon, however, becoming anxious to behold her nearer, and, soon after, +to behold her longer, he contrived to place himself so as somewhat to +obstruct, though not positively to impede, her passage. The modest +courtesy, which she gave to his age, when, upon her approach, he made +way for her, he pleased himself by attributing to his palpable +admiration; and his bow, which had always been polite, became +obsequious; and his smile, which had always spoken pleasure, displayed +enchantment. + +Still, however, there was nothing to alarm, and little to engage the +attention of Juliet; for though ostentatiously gallant, he was +scrupulously decorous. His manners and deportment were old-fashioned, +but graceful and gentleman-like; and his eyes, though they had lost +their brilliancy, were still quick, scrutinizing, and, where not +softened by female attractions, severe. + +One day, upon her return from a fruitless expedition, as fearfully, +while ascending the stairs, she opened a paper that had just been +delivered to her in the shop, her deeply absorbed and perplexed air, and +the sigh with which she looked at its contents, induced him, with +heightened interest, to attempt following her, that he might make some +enquiry into her situation. He had discerned, as she passed, that what +she held was a bill; he could not doubt her poverty from her change of +apartment; and he wished to offer her some assistance: but finding that +he had no chance of overtaking her, before she reached her chamber, he +gently called, 'Young lady!' and begged that she would stop. + +With that alacrity of youthful purity, which is ever disposed to +consider age and virtue as one, she not only complied, but, seeing the +difficulty with which he mounted the stairs, respected his infirmities, +and descended herself to meet him, and hear his business. + +To a younger man, or to one less experienced, or less sagacious, this +action might have appeared the effect of forwardness, of ignorance, or +of levity; but to a man of the world, hackneyed in its ways, and +penetrating into the motives by which it is ordinarily influenced, it +seemed the result of innocence without suspicion; yet of an innocence to +which her air and manner gave a dignity that destroyed, in its birth, +all interpretation to her disadvantage. His purse, therefore, which +already he held in his hand, he felt must be offered with more delicacy +than he had at first supposed to be necessary; and, though he was by no +means a man apt to be embarrassed, he hesitated, for a moment, how to +address a forlorn young stranger. + +That moment, however, sufficed to determine him upon making an apology, +with the most marked respect, for the liberty which he had taken in +claiming her attention. The look with which she listened rewarded his +judgment: it expressed the gratitude of feelings to which politeness was +a pleasure; but not a novelty. + +'I think--I understand, Ma'am,' he then said, 'you are the lady who +inhabited the apartment to which, most unworthily, I have succeeded?' + +Juliet bowed. + +'I am truly concerned, Ma'am, at a mistake so preposterous in our +destinies, so diametrically in opposition to our merits, as that which +immures so much beauty and grace, which every one must wish to behold, +in the attics; while so worn-out, and good-for-nothing an old fellow as +I am, from whom every body must wish to turn their eyes, is perched, +full in front, and precisely on the very spot so every way your +superiour due. Whatever wicked Elf has done this deed, I confess myself +heartily ashamed of my share in its operation; and humbly ready, should +any better genius come amongst us, with a view to putting things into +their proper places, to agree, either that you should be lodged, in the +face of day, in the drawing-room, and I be jammed, out of sight, in the +garret; or--that you should become gouty and decrepit, and I grow +suddenly young and beautiful.' + +Juliet could not but smile, yet waited some explanation without +speaking. + +Charmed with the smile, which his own rigid features immediately caught, +'I have so frequently,' he continued, 'pondered and ruminated upon the +good which those little aerial beings I speak of might do; and the +wrongs which they might redress; were they permitted to visit us, now +and then, as we read of their doing in days of yore; that, sometimes, I +dream while wide awake, and fancy I see them; and feel myself at the +mercy of their antic corrections; or receive courteous presents, or +wholesome advice. Just this moment, as you were passing, methought one +of them appeared to me!' + +Juliet, surprised, involuntarily looked round. + +'And it said to me, "Whence happens it, my worthy antique, that you grow +as covetous as you are rich? Bear, for your pains, the punishment due to +a miser, of receiving money that you must not hoard; and of presenting, +with your own avaricious hand, this purse to the fair young creature +whose dwelling you have usurped; yet who resides nearest to those she +most resembles, the gods and goddesses."' + +With these words, and a low bow, he would have put his purse into her +hand; but upon her starting back, it dropt at her feet. + +Surprized, yet touched, as well as amused, by a turn so unexpected to +his pleasantry, Juliet, gracefully restoring, though firmly declining +his offer, uttered her thanks for the kindness of his intentions, with a +sweetness so unsuspicious of evil, that they separated with as strong an +impression of wonder upon his part, as, upon hers, of gratitude. + +Anxious to relieve the perplexity thus excited, and to settle his +opinion, he continued to watch, but could not again address her; for +aware, now, of his purpose, she fled down, or darted up stairs, with a +swiftness that defied pursuit; yet with a passing courtesy, that marked +respectful remembrance. + +Thus, in a life of solitary hardship, with no intermission but for +mortifying disappointment, passed nearly three weeks, when Juliet found, +with affright and astonishment, that all orders for work seemed at an +end. It was no longer the season for Brighthelmstone, whose visitors +were only accidental stragglers, that, here to-day, and gone to-morrow, +had neither care nor leisure but for rambling and amusement. The +residents, though by no means inconsiderable, were soon served; for +Elinor was removed to Lewes, and her influence was lost with her +presence. Some new measure, therefore, for procuring employment, became +necessary; and Juliet, once more, was reduced to make application to +Miss Matson. + +In passing, therefore, one morning, through the shop, with some work +prepared for carrying home, she stopt to open upon the subject; but the +appearance of Miss Bydel at the door, induced her, with an hasty +apology, to make an abrupt retreat; that she might avoid an encounter +which, with that lady, was always irksome, if not painful, from her +unconstrained curiosity; joined to the grossness of her conceptions and +remarks. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + + +Juliet, in re-mounting the stairs, was stopt, by her new acquaintance, +before the door of his apartment. + +'If you knew,' he said, 'how despitefully I have been treated, and how +miserably black and blue I have been pinched, by the little Imp whose +offer you have rejected, sleep would fly your eyes at night, from +remorse for your hardness of heart. Its Impship insists upon it, that +the fault must all be mine. What! it cries, would you persuade me, that +a young creature whose face beams with celestial sweetness, whose voice +is the voice of melody, whose eyes have the softness of the Dove's--' + +Juliet, though she smiled, would have escaped; but he told her he must +be heard. + +'Would you persuade me, quoth my sprite, that such an angelic personage, +would rather let my poor despised coin canker and rust in your miserly +coffers, than disperse it about in the world, in kind, generous, or +useful activity? No, my antique, continues my little elf, you have +presented it in some clumsy, hunchy, awkward mode, that has made her +deem you an unworthy bearer of fairy gifts; and she flies the downy +wings of my gentle succour, from the fear of falling into your rough and +uncooth claws.' + +Juliet, who now, through the ill-closed fingers of his gouty hand, +discerned his prepared purse, seriously begged to decline this +discussion. + +'What malice you must bear me!' he cried. 'You are surely in the pay of +my evil genius! and I shall be whipt with nettles, or scratched with +thorns, all night, in revenge of my failure! And that parcel, +too,--which strains the fine fibres of your fair hands,--cast it but +down, and millions of my little elves will struggle to convey it safely +to your chamber.' + +'I doubt not their dexterity,' answered Juliet, 'nor the benevolence of +their fabricator; but I assure you, Sir, I want no help.' + +'If you will not accept their aerial services, deign, at least, not to +refuse mine!' + +He endeavoured, now, to take the gown-packet into his own hands; +laughingly saying, upon her grave resistance, 'Beware, fair nymph, of +the dormant sensations which you may awaken, if you should make me +suppose you afraid of me! Many a long day is past, alas! and gone, since +I could flatter myself with the idea of exciting fear in a young +breast!' + +Ceasing, however, the attempt, after some courteous apologies, he +respectfully let her pass. + +But, upon entering her room, she heard something chink as she deposited +her parcel upon a table; and, upon examination, found that he had +managed to slip into it, during the contest, a little green purse. + +Vexed at this contrivance, and resolved not to lose an instant in +returning what no distress could induce her to retain, she immediately +descended; but the staircase was vacant, and the door was closed. +Fearful any delay might authorize a presumption of acceptance, she +assumed courage to tap at the door. + +A scampering, at the same moment, up the stairs, made her instantly +regret this measure; and by no means the less, for finding herself +recognized, and abruptly accosted by young Gooch, the farmer's son, at +the very moment that her gouty admirer had hobbled to answer to her +summons. + +'Well, see if I a'n't a good marksman!' he cried; 'for else, Ma'am, I +might have passed you; for they told me, below, you were up there, at +the very top of the house. But I'd warrant to pick you out from a +hundred, Ma'am; as neat as my father would one of his stray sheep. But +what I come for, Ma'am, is to ask the favour of your company, if it's +agreeable to you, to a little junket at our farm.' + +Then, rubbing his hands with great glee, unregarding the surprised look +of Juliet, at such an invitation, or the amused watchfulness of the +observant old beau, he went glibly on. + +'Father's to give it, Ma'am. You never saw old dad, I believe, Ma'am? +The old gentleman's a very good old chap; only he don't like our clubs: +for he says they make me speak quite in the new manner; so that the +farmers, he says, don't know what I'd be at. He's rather in years, +Ma'am, poor man. He don't know much how things go. However, he's a very +well meaning old gentleman.' + +Juliet gravely enquired, to what unknown accident she might attribute an +invitation so unexpected? + +'Why, Ma'am,' answered Gooch, delighted at the idea of having given her +an agreeable surprize, 'Why it's the 'Squire, Ma'am, that put it into my +head. You know who I mean? our rich cousin, 'Squire Tedman. He's a great +friend of yours, I can assure you, Ma'am. He wants you to take a little +pleasure sadly. And he's sadly afraid, too, he says, that you'll miss +him, now he's gone to town; for he used often, he says, to bring you one +odd thing or another. He's got a fine fortune of his own, my cousin the +'Squire. And he's a widower.--And he's taken a vast liking to you, I can +tell you, Ma'am;--so who knows....' + +Juliet would have been perfectly unmoved by this ignorant forwardness, +but for the presence of a stranger, to whose good opinion, after her +experience of his benevolence, she could not be indifferent. With an +air, therefore, that marked her little satisfaction at this familiar +jocoseness, she declined the invitation; and begged the young man to +acquaint Mr Tedman, that, though obliged to his intentions, she should +feel a yet higher obligation in his forbearance to forward to her, in +future, any similar proposals. + +'Why, Ma'am,' cried young Gooch, astonished, 'this i'n't a thing you can +get at every day! We shall have all the main farmers of the +neighbourhood! for it's given on account of a bargain that we've made, +of a nice little slip of land, just by our square hay-field. And I've +leave to choose six of the company myself. But they won't be farmers, +Ma'am, I can tell you! They'll be young fellows that know better how the +world goes. And we shall have your good friend 'Squire Stubbs; for it's +he that made our bargain.' + +Juliet, now, turning from him to the silent, remarking stranger, said, +'I am extremely ashamed, Sir, to obtrude thus upon your time, but the +person for whom you so generously destined this donation commissions me +to return it, with many thanks, and an assurance that it is not at all +wanted.' + +She held out her hand with the purse, but, drawing back from receiving +it, 'Madam,' he cried, 'I would upon no account offend any one who has +the honour of being known to you; but you will not, therefore, I hope, +insist that I should quarrel with myself, by taking what does not belong +to me?' + +While Juliet, now, looked wistfully around, to discover some place where +she might drop the purse, unseen by the young man, whose +misinterpretations might be injurious, the youth volubly continued his +own discourse. + +'We shall give a pretty good entertainment in the way of supper, I +assure you, Ma'am; for we shall have a goose at top, and a turkey at +bottom, and as fine a fat pig as ever you saw in your life in the +middle; with as much ale, and mead, and punch, as you can desire to +drink. And, as all my sisters are at home, and a brace or so of nice +young lasses of their acquaintance, besides ever so many farmers, and us +seven stout young fellows of my club, into the bargain, we intend to +kick up a dance. It may keep you out a little late, to be sure, Ma'am, +but you shall have our chay-cart to bring you home. You know our +chay-cart of old, Ma'am?' + +'I, Sir?' + +'Why, lauk! have you forgot that, Ma'am? Why it's our chay-cart that +brought you to Brighton, from Madam Maple's at Lewes, as good as half a +year ago. Don't you remember little Jack, that drove you? and that went +for you again the next day, to fetch you back?' + +Juliet now found, that this was the carriage procured for her by +Harleigh, upon her first arrival at Lewes; and, though chagrined at the +air of former, or disguised intimacy, which such an incident might seem +to convey to her new friend, she immediately acknowledged recollecting +the circumstance. + +'Well, I'm only sorry, Ma'am, I did not drive you myself; but I had not +the pleasure of your acquaintance then, Ma'am; for 'twas before of our +acting together.' + +The surprise of the listening old gentleman now altered its expression, +from earnest curiosity to suppressed pleasantry; and he leant against +his door, to take a pinch of snuff, with an air that denoted him to be +rather waiting for some expected amusement, than watching, as +heretofore, for some interesting explanation. + +Juliet, in discerning the passing change in his ideas, became more than +ever eager to return the purse; yet more than ever fearful of +misconstruction from young Gooch; whom she now, with encreased +dissatisfaction, begged to lose no time in acquainting Mr Tedman, that +business only ever took her from home. + +'Why, that's but moping for you, neither, Ma'am,' he answered, in a tone +of pity. 'You'd have double the spirits if you'd go a little abroad; +for staying within doors gives one but a hippish turn. It will go nigh +to make you grow quite melancholick, Ma'am.' + +Hopeless to get rid either of him or of the purse, Juliet, now, was +moving up stairs, when the voice of Miss Bydel called out from the +passage, 'Why, Mr Gooch, have you forgot I told you to send Mrs Ellis to +me?' + +'That I had clean!' he answered. 'I ask your pardon, I'm sure, +Ma'am.--Why, Ma'am, Miss Bydel told me to tell you, when I said I was +coming up to ask you to our junket, that she wanted to say a word or two +to you, down in the shop, upon business.' + +Juliet would have descended; but Miss Bydel, desiring her to wait, +mounted herself, saying, 'I have a mind to see your little new room:' +stopping, however, when she came to the landing-place, which was square +and large, 'Well-a-day!' she exclaimed: 'Sir Jaspar Herrington!--who'd +have thought of seeing you, standing so quietly at your door? Why I did +not know you could stand at all! Why how is your gout, my good Sir? And +how do you like your new lodgings? I heard of your being here from Miss +Matson. But pray, Mrs Ellis, what has kept you both, you and young Mr +Gooch, in such close conference with Sir Jaspar? I can't think what +you've been talking of so long. Pray how did you come to be so intimate +together? I should like to know that.' + +Sir Jaspar courteously invited Miss Bydel to enter his apartment; but +that lady, not aware that nothing is less delicate than professions of +delicacy; which degrade a just perception, and strict practice of +propriety, into a display of conscious caution, or a suspicion of evil +interpretation; almost angrily answered, that she could not for the +world do such a thing, for it would set every body a talking: 'for, as +I'm not married, Sir Jaspar, you know, and as you're a single gentleman, +too, it might make Miss Matson and her young ladies think I don't know +what. For, when once people's tongues are set a-going, it's soon too +late to stop them. Besides, every body's always so prodigious curious to +dive into other people's affairs, that one can't well be too prudent.' + +Sir Jaspar, with an arched brow, of which she was far from comprehending +the meaning, said that he acquiesced in her better judgment; but, as she +had announced that she came to speak with this young lady upon business, +he enquired, whether there would be any incongruity in putting a couple +of chairs upon the landing-place. + +'Well,' she cried, 'that's a bright thought, I declare, Sir Jaspar! for +it will save me the trouble of groping up stairs;' and then, seizing the +opportunity to peep into his room, she broke forth into warm +exclamations of pleasure, at the many nice and new things with which it +had been furnished, since it had been vacated by Mrs Ellis. + +A look, highly commiserating, shewed him shocked by these observations; +and the air, patiently calm, with which they were heard by Juliet, +augmented his interest, as well as wonder, in her story and situation. + +He ordered his valet to fetch an arm-chair for Miss Bydel; while, +evidently meant for Juliet, he began to drag another forward himself. + +'Bless me, Sir Jaspar!' cried Miss Bydel, looking, a little affronted, +towards Juliet, 'have you no common chairs?' + +'Yes,' he answered, still labouring on, 'for common purposes!' + +This civility was not lost upon Juliet, who declining, though thankful +for his attention, darted forward, to take, for herself, a seat of less +dignity; hastily, as she passed, dropping the purse upon a table. + +A glance at Sir Jaspar sufficed to assure her, that this action had not +escaped his notice; and though his look spoke disappointment, it shewed +him sensible of the propriety of avoiding any contest. + +Relieved from this burthen, she now cheerfully waited to hear the orders +of Miss Bydel: young Gooch waited to hear them also; seated, +cross-legged, upon the balustrade; though Sir Jaspar sent his valet +away, and, retired, scrupulously, himself, to the further end of his +apartment. + +Miss Bydel, as little struck with the ill breeding of the young farmer, +as with the good manners of the baronet, forgot her business, from +recollecting that Mr Scope was waiting for her in the shop. 'For +happening,' said she, 'to pass by, and see me, through the glass-door, +he just stept in, on purpose to have a little chat.' + +'O ho, what, is 'Squire Scope here?' cried young Gooch; and, rapidly +sliding down the banisters, seized upon the unwilling and precise Mr +Scope, whom he dragged up to the landing-place. + +'Well, this is droll enough!' cried Miss Bydel, palpably enchanted, +though trying to look displeased; 'only I hope you have not told Mr +Scope 'twas I that sent you for him, Mr Gooch? for, I assure you, Mr +Scope, I would not do such a thing for the world. I should think it +quite improper. Besides, what will Miss Matson and the young milliners +say? Who knows but you may have set them a prating, Mr Gooch? It's no +joke, I can assure you, doing things of this sort.' + +'I'm sure, Ma'am,' said Gooch, 'I thought you wanted to see the 'Squire; +for I did not do it in the least to make game.' + +'There can be no doubt, Madam,' said Mr Scope, somewhat offended, 'that +all descriptions of sport are not, at all times, advisable. For, in +small societies, as in great states, if I may be permitted to compare +little things with great ones, danger often lurks unseen, and mischief +breaks out from trifles. In like manner, for example, if one of those +young milliners, misinterpreting my innocence, in obeying the supposed +commands of the good Miss Bydel, should take the liberty to laugh at my +expence, what, you might ask, could it signify that a young girl should +laugh? Young persons, especially of the female gender, being naturally +given to laughter, at very small provocatives; not to say sometimes +without any whatsoever. Whereupon, persons of an ordinary judgment, may +conclude such an action, by which I mean laughing, to be of no +consequence.--' + +'But I think it very rude!' cried Miss Bydel, extremely nettled. + +'Please to hear me, Madam!' said Mr Scope. 'Persons, I say, of deeper +knowledge in the maxims and manners of the moral world, would look +forward with watchfulness, on such an occasion, to its future effects; +for one laugh breeds another, and another breeds another; for nothing is +so catching as laughing; I mean among the vulgar; in which class I would +be understood to include the main mass of a great nation. What, I ask, +ensues?--' + +'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, rather impatiently, 'I +assure you if I knew any body that took such a liberty as to laugh at +me, I should let them know my thoughts of such airs without much +ceremony!' + +'My very good lady,' said Mr Scope, formally bowing, 'if I may request +such a favour, I beg you to be silent. The laugh, I observe, caught +thus, from one to another, soon spreads abroad; and then, the more aged, +or better informed, may be led to enquire into its origin: and the +result of such investigation must needs be, that the worthy Miss Bydel, +having sent her commands to her humble servant, Mr Scope, to follow her +up stairs--' + +'But if they said that,' cried Miss Bydel, looking very red, 'it would +be as great a fib as ever was told, for I did not send my commands, nor +think of such a thing. It was Mr Gooch's own doing, only for his own +nonsense. And I am curious to know, Mr Gooch, whether any body ever put +such thoughts into your head? Pray did you ever hear any body talk, Mr +Gooch? For, if you have, I should be glad to know what they said.' + +Mr Scope, waving his hand to demand attention, again begged leave to +remark, that he had not finished what he purposed to advance. + +'My argument, Madam,' he resumed, 'is a short, but, I hope, a clear one, +for 'tis deduced from general principles and analogy; though, upon a +merely cursory view, it may appear somewhat abstruse. But what I mean, +in two words, is, that the laugh raised by Mr Gooch, and those young +milliners; taking it for granted that they laughed; which, indeed, I +rather think I heard them do; may, in itself, perhaps, as only +announcing incapacity, not be condemnable; but when it turns out that it +promulgates false reports, and makes two worthy persons, if I may take +the liberty to name myself with the excellent Miss Bydel, appear to be +fit subjects for ridicule; then, indeed, the laugh is no longer +innocent; and ought, in strict justice, to be punished, as seriously as +any other mode of propagating false rumours.' + +Miss Bydel, after protesting that Mr Scope talked so prodigiously +sensible, that she was never tired of hearing him, for all his speeches +were so long; abruptly told Juliet, that she had called to let her know, +that she should be glad to be paid, out of hand, the money which she had +advanced for the harp. + +Sir Jaspar, who, during the harangue of Mr Scope, which was uttered in +too loud and important a manner, to leave any doubt of its being +intended for general hearing; had drawn his chair to join the party, +listened to this demand with peculiar attention; and was struck with the +evident distress which it caused to Juliet; who fearfully besought a +little longer law, to collect the debts of others, that she might be +able to discharge her own. + +Young Gooch, coming behind her, said, in a half whisper, 'If you'll tell +me how much it is you owe, Ma'am, I'll help you out in a trice; for I +can have what credit I will in my father's name; and he'll never know +but what 'twas for some frolic of my own; for I don't make much of a +confidant of the old gentleman.' + +The most icy refusal was insufficient to get rid of this offer, or +offerer; who assured her that, if the worst came to the worst, and his +father, by ill luck, should find them out, he would not make a fuss for +above a day or two; 'because,' he continued, 'he has only me, as one may +say, for the rest are nothing but girls; so he can't well help himself. +He gave me my swing too long from the first, to bind me down at this +time of day. Besides, he likes to have me a little in the fashion, I +know, though he won't own it; for he is a very good sort of an old +gentleman, at bottom.' + +Sir Jaspar sought to discover, whether the colour which heightened the +cheeks of Juliet at this proposal, which now ceased to be delivered in a +whisper, was owing to confusion at its publicity, or to disdain at the +idea of conspiring either at deceiving or braving the young man's +father; while Miss Bydel, whose plump curiosity saved her from all +species of speculative trouble, bluntly said, 'Why should you hesitate +at such an offer, my dear? I'm sure I don't see how you can do better +than accept it. Mr Gooch is a very worthy young man, and so are all his +family. I'm sure I only wish he'd take to you more solidly, and make a +match of it. That would put an end to your troubles at once; and I +should get my money out of hand.' + +This was an opportunity not to be passed over by the argumentative but +unerring Mr Scope, for trite observations, self-evident truths, and +hackneyed calculations, upon the mingled dangers and advantages of +matrimony, 'which, when weighed,' said he, 'in equal scales, and +abstractedly considered, are of so puzzling a nature, that the wise and +wary, fearing to risk them, remain single; but which, when looked upon +in a more cursory way, or only lightly balanced, preponderate so much in +favour of the state, that the great mass of the nation, having but small +means of reflection, or forethought, ordinarily prefer matrimony. If, +therefore, young Mr Gooch should think proper to espouse this young +person, there would be nothing in it very surprising; nevertheless, in +summing up the expences of wedlock, and a growing family, it might seem, +that to begin the married state with debts already contracted, on the +female side, would appear but a shallow mark of prudence on the male, +where the cares of that state reasonably devolve; he being naturally +supposed to have the most sense.' + +'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, 'if Mr Gooch should take a +liking to this young person, she has money enough to pay her debts, I +can assure you: I should not have asked her for it else; but the thing +is, she don't like to part with it.' + +Juliet solemnly protested, that the severest necessity could alone have +brought her into the pecuniary difficulties under which she laboured; +the money to which Miss Bydel alluded being merely a deposit which she +held in her hands, and for which she was accountable. + +'Well, that's droll enough,' said Miss Bydel, 'that a young person, not +worth a penny in the world, should have the care of other people's +money! I should like to know what sort of persons they must be, that can +think of making such a person their steward!' + +Young Gooch said that it would not be his father, for one, who would do +it; and Mr Scope was preparing an elaborate dissertation upon the nature +of confidence, with regard to money-matters, in a great state; when Miss +Bydel, charmed to have pronounced a sentence which seemed to accord with +every one's opinion, ostentatiously added, 'I should like, I say, Mrs +Ellis, to know what sort of person it could be, that would trust a +person with one's cash, without enquiring into their circumstances? for +though, upon hearing that a person has got nothing, one may give 'em +something, one must be no better than a fool to make them one's banker.' + +Juliet, who could not enter into any explanation, stammered, coloured, +and from the horrour of seeing that she was suspected, wore an air of +seeming apprehensive of detection. + +A short pause ensued, during which every one fixed his eyes upon her +face, save Sir Jaspar; who seemed studying a portrait upon his +snuff-box. + +Her immediate wish, in this disturbance, was to clear herself from so +terrible an aspersion, by paying Miss Bydel, as she had paid her other +creditors, from the store of Harleigh; but her wishes, tamed now by +misfortune and disappointment, were too submissively under the controul +of fear and discretion, to suffer her to act from their first dictates: +and a moment's reflection pointed out, that, joined to the impropriety +of such a measure with respect to Harleigh himself, it would be liable, +more than any other, to give her the air of an impostor, who possessed +money that she could either employ, or disclaim all title to, at her +pleasure. Calling, therefore, for composure from conscious integrity, +she made known her project of applying once more to Miss Matson, for +work; and earnestly supplicated for the influence of Miss Bydel, that +this second application might not, also, be vain. + +The eyes of the attentive Sir Jaspar, as he raised them from his +snuff-box, now spoke respect mingled with pity. + +'As to recommending you to Miss Matson, Mrs Ellis,' answered Miss Bydel, +'it's out of all reason to demand such a thing, when I can't tell who +you are myself; and only know that you have got money in your hands +nobody knows how, nor what for.' + +An implication such as this, nearly overpowered the fortitude of Juliet; +and, relinquishing all further effort, she rose, and, silently, almost +gloomily, began ascending the stairs. Sir Jaspar caught the expression +of her despair by a glance; and, in a tone of remonstrance, said to Miss +Bydel, 'In your debt, good Miss Bydel? Have you forgotten, then, that +the young lady has paid you?' + +'Paid me? good Me! Sir Jaspar,' cried Miss Bydel, staring; 'how can you +say such a thing? Do you think I'd cheat the young woman?' + +'I think it so little,' answered he, calmly, 'that I venture to remind +you, thus publicly, of the circumstance; in full persuasion that I shall +merit your gratitude, by aiding your memory.' + +'Good Me! Sir Jaspar, why I never heard such a thing in my life! Paid +me? When? Why it can't be without my knowing it?' + +'Certainly not; I beg you, therefore, to recollect yourself.' + +The stare of Miss Bydel was now caught by Mr Scope; and her 'Good Me!' +was echoed by young Gooch; while the surprised Juliet, turning back, +said, 'Pardon me, Sir! I have never been so happy as to be able to +discharge the debt. It remains in full force.' + +'Over you, too, then,' cried Sir Jaspar, with quickness, 'have I the +advantage in memory? Have you forgotten that you delivered, to Miss +Bydel, the full sum, not twenty minutes since?' + +Miss Bydel now, reddening with anger, cried, 'Sir Jaspar, I have long +enough heard of your ill nature; but I never suspected your crossness +would take such a turn against a person as this, to make people believe +I demand what is not my own!' + +Juliet again solemnly acknowledged the debt; and Mr Scope opened an +harangue upon the merits of exactitude between debtor and creditor, and +the usefulness of settling no accounts, without, what were the only +legal witnesses to obviate financial controversy, receipts in full; when +Sir Jaspar, disregarding, alike, his rhetoric or Miss Bydel's choler, +quietly patting his snuff-box, said, that it was possible that Miss +Bydel had, inadvertently, put the sum into her work-bag, and forgotten +that it had been refunded. + +Exulting that means, now, were open for vindication and redress, Miss +Bydel eagerly untied the strings of her work-bag; though Juliet +entreated that she would spare herself the useless trouble. But Sir +Jaspar protested, with great gravity, that his own honour was now as +deeply engaged to prove an affirmative, as that of Miss Bydel to prove a +negative: holding, however, her hand, he said that he could not be +satisfied, unless the complete contents of the work-bag were openly and +fairly emptied upon a table, in sight of the whole party. + +Miss Bydel, though extremely affronted, consented to this proposal; +which would clear her, she said, of so false a slander. A table was then +brought upon the landing-place; as she still stiffly refused risking her +reputation, by entering the apartment of a single gentleman; though he +might not, as she observed, be one of the youngest. + +Sir Jaspar demanded the precise amount of the sum owed. A guinea and a +half. + +He then fetched a curious little japan basket from his chamber, into +which he desired that Miss Bydel would put her work-bag; though he would +not suffer her to empty it, till, with various formalities, he had +himself placed it in the middle of the table; around which he made every +one draw a chair. + +Miss Bydel now triumphantly turned her work-bag inside out; but what was +her consternation, what the shock of Mr Scope, and how loud the shout of +young Gooch, to see, from a small open green purse, fall a guinea and a +half! + +Miss Bydel, utterly confounded, remained speechless; but Juliet, through +whose sadness Sir Jaspar saw a smile force its way, that rendered her +beauty dazzling, recollecting the purse, blushed, and would have +relieved Miss Bydel, by confessing that she knew to whom it belonged; +had she not been withheld by the fear of the strange appearance which so +sudden a seeming intimacy with the Baronet might wear. + +Sir Jaspar, again patting her snuff-box, composedly said, 'I was +persuaded Miss Bydel would find that her debt had been discharged.' + +Miss Bydel remained stupified; while Mr Scope, with a look concerned, +and even abashed, condolingly began an harangue upon the frail tenure of +the faculty of human memory. + +Miss Bydel, at length, recovering her speech, exclaimed, 'Well, here's +the money, that's certain! but which way it has got into my work-bag, +without my ever seeing or touching it, I can't pretend to say: but if +Mrs Ellis has done it to play me a trick--' + +Juliet disavowed all share in the transaction. + +'Then it's some joke of Sir Jaspar's! for I know he dearly loves to +mortify; so I suppose he has given me false coin, or something that +won't go, just to make me look like a fool.' + +'The money, I have the honour to assure you, is not mine,' was all that, +very tranquilly, Sir Jaspar replied: while Mr Scope, after a careful +examination of each piece, declared each to be good gold, and full +weight. + +Sundry 'Good me's!' and other expressions of surprise, though all of a +pleasurable sort, now broke forth from Miss Bydel, finishing with, +'However, if nobody will own the money, as the debt is fairly my due, I +don't see why I may not take it; though as to the purse, I won't touch +it, because as that's a thing I have not lent to any body, I've no right +to it.' + +Juliet here warmly interfered. The purse, she said, and the money +belonged to the same proprietor; and, as neither of them were hers, both +ought to be regarded as equally inadmissible for the payment of a debt +which she alone had contracted. This disinterested sincerity made even +Mr Scope turn to her with an air of profound, though surprised respect; +while Sir Jaspar fixed his eyes upon her face with encreased and the +most lively wonder; young Gooch stared, not perfectly understanding her; +but Miss Bydel, rolling up the purse, which she put back into the +basket, said, 'Well, if the money is not yours, Mrs Ellis, my dear, it +can be nobody's but Sir Jaspar's; and if he has a mind to pay your debt +for you, I don't see why I should hinder him, when 'twould be so much to +my disadvantage. He's rich enough, I assure you; for what has an old +bachelor to do with his money? So I'll take my due, be it which way it +will.' And, unmoved by all that Juliet could urge, she put the guinea +and the half-guinea carefully into her pocket. + +Juliet declared, that a debt which she had not herself discharged, she +should always consider as unpaid, though her creditor might be changed. + +Confused then, ashamed, perplexed,--yet unavoidably pleased, she mounted +to her chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + + +With whatever shame, whatever chagrin, Juliet saw herself again involved +in a pecuniary obligation, with a stranger, and a gentleman, a support +so efficacious, at a moment of such alarm, was sensibly and gratefully +felt. Yet she was not less anxious to cancel a favour which still was +unfitting to be received. She watched, therefore, for the departure of +Miss Bydel, and the restoration of stillness to the staircase, to +descend, once more, in prosecution to her scheme with Miss Matson. + +The anxious fear of rejection, and dread of rudeness, with which she +then renewed her solicitation, soon happily subsided, from a readiness +to listen, and a civility of manner, as welcome as they were unexpected, +in her hostess; by whom she was engaged, without difficulty, to enter +upon her new business the following morning. + +Thus, and with cruel regret, concluded her fruitless effort to attain a +self-dependence which, however subject to toil, might be free, at least, +from controul. Every species of business, however narrow its cast, +however limited its wants, however mean its materials; required, she now +found, some capital to answer to its immediate calls, and some steady +credit for encountering the unforeseen accidents, and unavoidable risks, +to which all human undertakings, whether great or insignificant, are +liable. + +With this conviction upon her mind, she strove to bear the +disappointment without murmuring; hoping to gain in security all that +she lost in liberty. Little reason, indeed, had she for regretting what +she gave up: she had been worn by solitary toil, and heavy rumination; +by labour without interest, and loneliness without leisure. + +Nevertheless, the beginning of her new career promised little +amelioration from the change. She was summoned early to the shop to +take her work; but, when she begged leave to return with it to her +chamber, she was stared at as if she had made a demand the most +preposterous, and told that, if she meant to enter into business, she +must be at hand to receive directions, and to learn how it should be +done. + +To enter into business was far from the intention of Juliet; but the +fear of dismission, should she proclaim how transitory were her views, +silenced her into acquiescence; and she seated herself behind a distant +counter. + +And here, perforce, she was initiated into a new scene of life, that of +the humours of a milliner's shop. She found herself in a whirl of hurry, +bustle, loquacity, and interruptions. Customers pressed upon customers; +goods were taken down merely to be put up again; cheapened but to be +rejected; admired but to be looked at, and left; and only bought when, +to all appearance, they were undervalued and despised. + +It was here that she saw, in its unmasked futility, the selfishness of +personal vanity. The good of a nation, the interest of society, the +welfare of a family, could with difficulty have appeared of higher +importance than the choice of a ribbon, or the set of a cap; and +scarcely any calamity under heaven could excite looks of deeper horrour +or despair, than any mistake committed in the arrangement of a feather +or a flower. Every feature underwent a change, from chagrin and +fretfulness, if any ornament, made by order, proved, upon trial, to be +unbecoming; while the whole complexion glowed with the exquisite joy of +triumph, if something new, devised for a superiour in the world of +fashion, could be privately seized as a model by an inferiour. + +The ladies whose practice it was to frequent the shop, thought the time +and trouble of its mistress, and her assistants, amply paid by the +honour of their presence; and though they tried on hats and caps, till +they put them out of shape; examined and tossed about the choicest +goods, till they were so injured that they could be sold only at half +price; ordered sundry articles, which, when finished, they returned, +because they had changed their minds; or discovered that they did not +want them; still their consciences were at ease, their honour was +self-acquitted, and their generosity was self-applauded, if, after two +or three hours of lounging, rummaging, fault-finding and chaffering, +they purchased a yard or two of ribbon, or a few skanes of netting silk. + +The most callous disregard to all representations of the dearness of +materials, or of the just price of labour, was accompanied by the most +facile acquiescence even in demands that were exorbitant, if they were +adroitly preceded by, 'Lady ----, or the Duchess of ----, gave that sum +for just such another cap, hat, &c., this very morning.' + +Here, too, as in many other situations into which accident had led, or +distress had driven Juliet, she saw, with commiseration and shame for +her fellow-creatures, the total absence of feeling and of equity, in the +dissipated and idle, for the indigent and laborious. The goods which +demanded most work, most ingenuity, and most hands, were last paid, +because heaviest of expence; though, for that very reason, the many +employed, and the charge of materials, made their payment the first +required. Oh that the good Mr Giles Arbe, thought Juliet, could arraign, +in his simple but impressive style, the ladies who exhibit themselves +with unpaid plumes, at assemblies and operas; and enquire whether they +can flatter themselves, that to adorn them alone is sufficient to +recompense those who work for, without seeing them; who ornament without +knowing them; and who must necessarily, if unrequited, starve in +rendering them more brilliant! + +Upon further observation, nevertheless, her compassion for the milliner +and the work-women somewhat diminished; for she found that their notions +of probity were as lax as those of their customers were of justice; and +saw that their own rudeness to those who had neither rank nor fortune, +kept pace with the haughtiness which they were forced to support, from +those by whom both were possessed. Every advantage was taken of +inexperience and simplicity; every article was charged, not according to +its value, but to the skill or ignorance of the purchaser; old goods +were sold as if new; cheap goods as if dear; and ancient, or vulgar +ornaments, were presented to the unpractised chafferer, as the very pink +of the mode. + +The rich and grand, who were capricious, difficult, and long in their +examinations, because their time was their own; or rather, because it +hung upon their hands; and whose utmost exertion, and sole practice of +exercise consisted in strolling from a sofa to a carriage, were +instantly, and with fulsome adulation, attended; while the meaner, or +economical, whose time had its essential appropriations, and was +therefore precious, were obliged to wait patiently for being served, +till no coach was at the door, and every fine lady had sauntered away. +And even then, they were scarcely heard when they spoke; scarcely shewn +what they demanded; and scarcely thanked for what they purchased. + +In viewing conflicts such as these, between selfish vanity and cringing +cunning, it soon became difficult to decide, which was least congenial +to the upright mind and pure morality of Juliet, the insolent, vain, +unfeeling buyer, or the subtle, plausible, over-reaching seller. + +The companions of Juliet in this business, though devoted, of course, to +its manual operations, left all its cares to its mistress. Their own +wishes and hopes were caught by other objects. The town was filled with +officers, whose military occupations were brief, whose acquaintances +were few, and who could not, all day long, ride, or pursue the sports of +the field. These gentlemen, for their idle moments, chose to deem all +the unprotected young women whom they thought worth observance, their +natural prey. And though, from race to race, and from time immemorial, +the young female shop-keeper had been warned of the danger, the folly, +and the fate of her predecessors; in listening to the itinerant admirer, +who, here to-day and gone to-morrow, marches his adorations, from town +to town with as much facility, and as little regret, as his regiment; +still every new votary to the counter and the modes, was ready to go +over the same ground that had been trodden before; with the fond +persuasion of proving an exception to those who had ended in misery and +disgrace, by finishing, herself, with marriage and promotion. Their +minds, therefore, were engaged in airy projects; and their leisure, +where they could elude the vigilance of Miss Matson, was devoted to +clandestine coquetry, tittering whispers, and secret frolics. + +'These,' said Juliet, in a letter to Gabriella, 'are now my destined +associates! Ah, heaven! can these--can such as these,--setting aside +pride, prejudice, propriety, or whatever word we use for the +distinctions of society,--can these--can such as these, suffice as +companions to her whose grateful heart has been honoured with the +friendship of Gabriella? O hours of refined felicity past and gone, how +severe is your contrast with those of heaviness and distaste now +endured!' + +The inexperience of Juliet in business, impeded not her acquiring almost +immediate excellence in the millinery art, for which she was equally +fitted by native taste, and by her remembrance of what she had seen +abroad. The first time, therefore, that she was employed to arrange some +ornaments, she adjusted them with an elegance so striking, that Miss +Matson, with much parade, exhibited them to her best lady-customers, as +a specimen of the very last new fashion, just brought her over by one of +her young ladies from Paris. + +In a town that subsists by the search of health for the sick, and of +amusement for the idle, the smallest new circumstance is of sufficient +weight to be related and canvassed; for there is ever most to say where +there is least to do. The phrase, therefore, that went forth from Miss +Matson, that one of her young ladies was just come from France, was soon +spread through the neighbourhood; with the addition that the same person +had brought over specimens of all the French _costume_. + +Such a report could not fail to allure staring customers to the shop, +where the attraction of the youth and beauty of the new work-woman, +contrasted with her determined silence to all enquiry, gave birth to +perpetually varying conjectures in her presence, which were followed by +the most eccentric assertions where she was the subject of discourse in +her absence. All that already had been spread abroad, of her acting, her +teaching, her playing the harp, her needle-work, and, more than all, her +having excited a suicide; was now in every mouth; and curiosity, baffled +in successive attempts to penetrate into the truth, supplied, as usual, +every chasm of fact by invention. + +This species of commerce, always at hand, and always fertile, proved so +highly amusing to the lassitude of the idle, and to the frivolousness of +the dissipated, that, in a very few days, the shop of Miss Matson became +the general rendezvous of the saunterers, male and female, of +Brighthelmstone. The starers were happy to present themselves where +there was something to see; the strollers, where there was any where to +go; the loungers, where there was any pretence to stay; and the curious +where there was any thing to develop in which they had no concern. + +Juliet, at first, ignorant of the usual traffic of the shop, imagined +this affluence of customers to be habitual; but she was soon undeceived, +by finding herself the object of inquisitive examination; and by +overhearing unrestrained inquiries made to Miss Matson, of 'Pray, Ma'am, +which is your famous French milliner?' + +In the midst of these various distastes and discomforts, some interest +was raised in the mind of Juliet, for one of her young +fellow-work-women. It was not, indeed, that warm interest which is the +precursor of friendship; its object had no qualities that could rise to +such a height; it was simply a sensation of pity, abetted by a wish of +doing good. + +Flora Pierson, without either fine features or fine countenance, had +strikingly the beauty of youth in a fair complexion, round, plump, rosy +cheeks, bright, though unmeaning eyes, and an air of health, strength, +and juvenile good humour, that was diffused copiously through her whole +appearance. She was innocent and inoffensive, and, as far as she was +able to think, well meaning, and ready to be at every body's command; +though incapable to be at any body's service. Yet her simplicity was of +that happy sort that never occasions self-distress, from being wholly +unaccompanied by any consciousness of deficiency or inferiority. +Accustomed to be laughed at almost whenever she spoke, she saw the smile +that she raised without emotion; or participated in it without knowing +why; and she heard the sneer that followed her simple merriment without +displeasure; though sometimes she would a little wonder what it meant. + +This young creature, who had but barely passed her sixteenth year, had +already attracted the dangerous attention of various officers, from +whose several attacks and manoeuvres she had hitherto been rescued by +the vigilance of Miss Matson. Each of these anecdotes she eagerly took, +or rather made opportunities to communicate to Juliet; waiting for no +other encouragement than the absence of Miss Matson, and using no other +prelude than 'Now I've got something else to tell you!' + +Except for some slight mixture of contempt, Juliet heard these tales +with perfect indifference; till that ungenial feeling, or rather absence +of feeling, was superceded by compassion, upon finding that she was the +object, probably the dupe, of a new and unfinished adventure, with which +Miss Matson was as yet unacquainted. 'Now, Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'I'll +tell you the drollest part of all, shall I? Well, do you know I've got +another admirer that's above all the rest? And yet he i'n't a captain, +neither, nor an officer. But he's quite a gentleman of quality, for he's +a knight baronight. And he's very pretty, I assure you. As pretty as +you, only his nose is a little shorter, and his mouth is a little +bigger. And he has not got quite so much colour; for he is very pale. +But he's prettier than I am, I believe. Yet I'm not very homely, people +say. I'm sure I don't know. One can't judge one's self. But I believe +I'm very well. At least, I am not very brown; I know that, by my +looking-glass. I've a pretty good skin of my own.' + +Neither the giggling derision of her fellow-work-women, nor the total +abstinence from enquiry or comment with which Juliet heard these +insignificant details, checked the pleasure of Flora in her own prattle; +which, whenever she could find some one to address,--for she waited not +till any one would listen,--went on, with sleepy good humour, and +pretty, but unintelligent smiles, from the moment that she rose, to the +moment that she went to rest. But when, in great confidence, and +declaring that nobody was in the secret, except just Miss Biddy, and +Miss Jenny, and Miss Polly, and Miss Betsey, she made known who was this +last and most striking admirer, the attention of Juliet was roused; it +was Sir Lyell Sycamore. + +Copiously, and with looks of triumph, Flora related her history with the +young Baronet. First of all, she said, he had declared, in ever so many +little whispers, that he was in love with her; and next, he had made her +ever so many beautiful presents, of ear-rings, necklaces, and trinkets; +always sending them by a porter, who pretended that they were just +arrived by the Diligence; with a letter to shew to Miss Matson, +importing that an uncle of Flora's, who resided in Northumberlandshire, +begged her to accept these remembrances. 'Though I'm sure I don't know +how he found out that I've got an uncle there,' she continued, 'unless +it was by my telling it him, when he asked me what relations I had.' + +Her gratitude and vanity thus at once excited, Sir Lyell told her that +he had some important intelligence to communicate, which could not be +revealed in a short whisper in the shop: he begged her, therefore, to +meet him upon the Strand, a little way out of the town, one Sunday +afternoon; while Miss Matson might suppose that she was taking her usual +recreation with the rest of the young ladies. 'So I could not refuse +him, you may think,' she said, 'after being so much obliged to him; and +so we walked together by the sea-side, and he was as agreeable as ever; +and so was I, too, I believe, if I may judge without flattery. At least, +he said I was, over and over; and he's a pretty good judge, I believe, a +man of his quality. But I sha'n't tell you what he said to me; for he +said I was as fresh as a violet, and as fair as jessamy, and as sweet as +a pink, and as rosy as a rose; but one must not over and above believe +the gentlemen, mamma says, for what they say is but half a compliment. +However, what do you think, Miss Ellis? Only guess! For all his being so +polite, do you know, he was upon the point of behaving rude? Only I told +him I'd squall out, if he did. But he spoke so pretty when he saw I was +vexed, that I could not be very angry with him about it; could I? +Besides, men will be rude, naturally, mamma says.' + +'But does not your mamma tell you, also, Miss Pierson, that you must not +walk out alone with gentlemen?' + +'O dear, yes! She's told me that ever so often. And I told it to Sir +Lyell; and I said to him we had better not go. But he said that would +kill him, poor gentleman! And he looked as sorrowful as ever you saw; +just as if he was going to cry. I'm sure I'm glad he did not, poor +gentleman! for if he had, it's ten to one but I should have cried too; +unless, out of ill luck, I had happened to fall a laughing; for it's +odds which I do, sometimes, when I'm put in a fidget. However, upon +seeing his sister, along with some company of his acquaintance, not far +off, he said I had better go back: but he promised me, if I would meet +him again the next Sunday, he would have a post-chaise o'purpose for me, +because of the pebbles being so hard for my feet; and he'd take me ever +so pretty a ride, he said, upon the Downs. But he came the next morning +to tell me he was forced, by ill luck, to go to London; but he'd soon be +back: and he bid me, ever so often, not to say one word of what had +passed to a living creature; for if his sister should get an inkling of +his being in love with me, there would be fine work, he said! But he'd +bring me ever so many pretty things, he said, from London.' + +Juliet listened to this history with the deepest indignation against the +barbarous libertine, who, with egotism so inhuman, sought to rob, first +of innocence, and next, for it would be the inevitable consequence, of +all her fair prospects in life, a young creature whose simplicity +disabled her from seeing her danger; whose credulity induced her to +agree to whatever was proposed; and whose weakness of intellect rendered +it as much a dishonour as a cruelty to make her a dupe. + +Whatever could be suggested to awaken the simple maiden to a sense of +her perilous situation, was instantly urged; but without any effect. Sir +Lyell Sycamore, she answered, had owned that he was in love with her; +and it was very hard if she must be ill natured to him in return; +especially as, if she behaved agreeably, nobody could tell but he might +mean to make her a lady. Where a vision so refulgent, which every speech +of Sir Lyell's, couched in ambiguous terms, though adroitly evasive of +promise, had been insidiously calculated to present, was sparkling full +in sight, how unequal were the efforts of sober truth and reason, to +substitute in its place cold, dull, disappointing reality! Juliet soon +relinquished the attempt as hopeless. Where ignorance is united with +vanity, advice, or reproof, combat it in vain. She addressed her +remonstrances, therefore, to their fellow-work-women; every one of +which, it was evident, was a confidant of the dangerous secret. How was +it, she demanded, that, aware of the ductility of temper of this poor +young creature, they had suffered her to form so alarming a connexion, +unknown either to her friends or to Miss Matson? + +Pettishly affronted, they answered, that they were not a set of fusty +duennas: that if Miss Pierson were ever so young, that did not make them +old; that she might as well take care of herself, therefore, as they of +themselves. Besides, nobody could tell but Sir Lyell Sycamore meant to +marry her; and indeed they none of them doubted that such was his +design; because he was politeness itself to all of them round, though he +was most particular, to be sure, to Miss Pierson. They could not think, +therefore, of making such a gentleman their enemy, any more than of +standing in the way of Miss Pierson's good fortune; for, to their +certain knowledge, there were more grand matches spoilt by meddling and +making, than by any thing else upon earth. + +Here again, what were the chances of truth and reason against the +semblance, at least the pretence of generosity, which thus covered folly +and imprudence? Each aspiring damsel, too, had some similar secret, or +correspondent hope of her own; and found it convenient to reject, as +treachery, an appeal against a sister work-woman, that might operate as +an example for a similar one against herself. + +Juliet, therefore, could but determine to watch the weak, if not willing +victim, while yet under the same roof; and openly, before she quitted +it, to reveal the threatening danger to Miss Matson. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + + +The first Sunday that Juliet passed in this new situation, nearly robbed +her of the good will of the whole of the little community to which she +belonged. It was the only day in the week in which the young work-women +were allowed some hours for recreation; they considered it, therefore, +as rightfully dedicated, after the church-service, to amusement with one +another; and Juliet, in refusing to join in a custom which they held to +be the basis of their freedom and happiness, appeared to them an +unsocial and haughty innovator. Yet neither wearying remonstrances, nor +persecuting persuasions, could prevail upon her to parade with them upon +the Steyne; to stroll with them by the sea-side; to ramble upon the +Downs; or to form a party for Shoreham, or Devil's Dyke. + +Evil is so relative, that the same chamber, the lonely sadness of which, +since her privation of Gabriella, had become nearly insupportable to +her, was now, from a new contrast, almost all that she immediately +coveted. The bustle, the fatigue, the obtrusion of new faces, the spirit +of petty intrigue, and the eternal clang of tongues, which she had to +endure in the shop, made quiet, even in its most uninteresting dulness, +desirable and consoling. + +To approach herself, as nearly as might be in her power, to the loved +society which she had lost, she destined this only interval of peace and +leisure, to her pen and Gabriella; and such was her employment, when the +sound of slow steps, upon the stairs, followed by a gentle tap at her +door, at once interrupted and surprised her. Miss Matson and her maids, +as well as her work-women, were spending their Sabbath abroad; and a +shop-man was left to take care of the house. The tap, however, was +repeated, and, obeying its call, Juliet beheld Sir Jaspar Herrington, +the gouty old Baronet. + +The expression of her countenance immediately demanded explanation, if +not apology, as she stepped forward upon the landing-place, to make +clear that she should not receive him in her apartment. + +His keen eye read her meaning, though, affecting not to perceive it, he +pleasantly said, 'How? immured in your chamber? and of a gala day?' + +The recollection of the essential, however forced obligation, which she +owed to him, for her deliverance from the persecution of Miss Bydel, +soon dissipated her first impression in his disfavour, and she quietly +answered that she went very little abroad: but when she would have +enquired into his business, 'You can refuse yourself, then,' he cried, +pretending not to hear her, 'the honour--or pleasure, which shall we +call it? of sharing in the gaieties of your fair fellow-votaries to the +needle? I suspected you of this self-denial. I had a secret presentiment +that you would be insensible to the fluttering joys of your sister +spinsters. How did I divine you so well? What is it you have about you +that sets one's imagination so to work?' + +Juliet replied, that she would not presume to interfere with the +business of his penetration, but that, as she was occupied, she must beg +to know, at once, his commands. + +'Not so hasty! not so hasty!' he cried: 'You must shew me some little +consideration, if only in excuse for the total want of it which you have +caused in those little imps, that beset my slumbers by night, and my +reveries by day. They have gotten so much the better of me now, that I +am equally at a loss how to sleep or how to wake for them. 'Why don't +you find out,' they cry, 'whether this syren likes her new situation? +Why don't you discover whether any thing better can be done for her?' +And then, all of one accord, they so pommel and bemaul me, that you +would pity me, I give you my word, if you could see the condition into +which they put my poor conscience; however little so fair a young +creature may be disposed to feel pity, for such a hobbling, gouty old +fellow as I am!' + +Softened by this benevolent solicitude, Juliet, thankfully, spoke of +herself with all the cheerfulness that she could assume; and, encouraged +by her lessened reserve, Sir Jaspar, to her unspeakable surprise, said, +'There is one point, I own, which I have an extreme desire to know; how +long may it be that you have left the stage, and from what latent +cause?' + +No explanation, however, could be attempted: the attention of Juliet was +called into another channel, by the sound of a titter, which led her to +perceive Flora Pierson; who, almost convulsed with delight at having +surprised them, said that she had heard, from the shop-man, that Miss +Ellis and Sir Jaspar were talking together upon the stairs, and she had +stolen up the back way, and crept softly through one of the garrets, on +purpose to come upon them unawares. 'So now,' added she, nodding, 'we'll +go into my room, if you please, Miss Ellis; for I have got something +else to tell you! Only you must not stay with me long.' + +'And not to tell me, too?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her under the +chin: 'How's this, my daffodil? my pink? my lilly? how's this? surely +you have not any secrets for me?' + +'O yes, I have, Sir Jaspar! because you're a gentleman, you know, Sir +Jaspar. And one must not tell every thing to gentlemen, mamma says.' + +'Mamma says? but you are too much a woman to mind what mamma says, I +hope, my rose, my daisy?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her again under the +chin, while she smiled and courtsied in return. + +Juliet would have re-entered her chamber; but Flora, catching her gown, +said, 'Why now, Miss Ellis, I bid you come to my room, if you please, +Miss Ellis; 'cause then I can show you my presents; as well as tell you +something.--Come, will you go? for it's something that's quite a secret, +I assure you; for I have not told it to any body yet; not even to our +young ladies; for it's but just happened. So you've got my first +confidence this time: and you have a right to take that very kind of me, +for it's what I've promised, upon my word and honour, and as true as +true can be, not to tell to any body; not so much as to a living soul!' + +To be freed quietly from the Baronet, Juliet consented to attend her; +and Flora, with many smiles and nods at Sir Jaspar, begged that he would +not be affronted that she did not tell all her secrets to gentlemen; +and, shutting him out, began her tale. + +'Now I'll tell you what it is I'm going to tell you, Miss Ellis. Do you +know who I met, just now, upon the Steyne, while I was walking with our +young ladies, not thinking of any thing? You can't guess, can you? Why +Sir Lyell himself. I gave such a squeak! But he spoke to all our young +ladies first. And I was half a mind to cry; only I happened to be in one +of my laughing fits. And when once I am upon my gig, papa says, if the +world were all to tumble down, it would not hinder me of my smiling. +Though I am sure I often don't know what it's for. If any body asked me, +I could not tell, one time in twenty. But Sir Lyell's very clever; +cleverer than I am, by half, I believe. For he got to speak to me, at +last, so as nobody could hear a word he said, but just me. Nor I could +not, either, but only he spoke quite in my ear.' + +'And do you think it right, Miss Pierson, to let gentlemen whisper you?' + +'O, I could not bid him not, you know. I could not be rude to a +Knight-Baronet! Besides, he said he was come down from London, on +purpose for nothing else but to see me! A Knight-Baronet, Miss Ellis! +That's very good natured, is it not? I dare say he means something by +it. Don't you? However, I shall know more by and by, most likely; for he +whispered me to make believe I'd got a head-ache, and to come home by +myself, and wait for him in my own room: for he says he has brought me +the prettiest present that ever I saw from London. So you see how +generous he is; i'n't he? And he'll bring it me himself, to make me a +little visit. So then, very likely, he'll speak out. Won't he? But he +bid me tell it to nobody. So say nothing if you see him, for it will +only be the way to make him angry. I must not put the shop-man in the +secret, he says, for he shall only ask for old Sir Jaspar; and he shall +go to him first, and make the shop-man think he is with him all the +time. So I told our young ladies I'd got a head-ache, sure enough; but +don't be uneasy, for it's only make believe; for I'm very well.' + +Filled with alarm for the simple, deluded maiden, Juliet now made an +undisguised representation of her danger; earnestly charging her not to +receive the dangerous visit. + +But Flora, self-willed, though good natured, would not hear a word. + + No ass so meek;--no mule so obstinate. + +She never contradicted, yet never listened; she never gave an opinion, +yet never followed one. She was neither endowed with timidity to suspect +her deficiencies, nor with sense to conceive how she might be better +informed. She came to Juliet merely to talk; and when her prattle was +over, or interrupted, she had no thought but to be gone. + +'O yes, I must see him, Miss Ellis,' she cried; 'for you can't think how +ill he'll take it, if I don't. But now we have stayed talking together +so long, I can't shew you my presents till he is gone, for fear he +should come. But don't mind, for then I shall have the new ones to shew +you, too. But if I don't do what he bids me, he'll be as angry as can +be, for all he's my lover; (smiling.) He makes very free with me +sometimes; only I don't mind it; because I'm pretty much used to it, +from one or another. Sometimes he'll say I am the greatest simpleton +that ever he knew in his life; for all he calls me his angel! He don't +make much ceremony with me, when I don't understand his signs. But it +don't much signify, for the more he's angry, the more he's kind, when +it's over, (smiling.) And then he brings me prettier things than ever. +So I a'n't much a loser. I've no great need to cry about it. And he says +I'm quite a little goddess, often and often, if I'd believe him. Only +one must not believe the men over much, when they are gentlemen, I +believe.' + +Juliet, kindly taking her hand, would have drawn her into her own +chamber; but they were no sooner in the passage, than Flora jumped back, +and, shaking with laughter at her ingenuity, shut and locked herself +into her room. + +Juliet now renounced, perforce, all thought of serving her except +through the medium of Miss Matson; and she was returning, much vexed, to +her own small apartment, when she saw Sir Jaspar, who, leaning against +the banisters, seemed to have been waiting for her, step curiously +forward, as she opened her door, to take a view of her chamber. With +quick impulse, to check this liberty, she hastily pushed to the door; +not recollecting, till too late, that the key, by which alone it was +opened, was on the inside. + +Chagrined, she repaired to Flora, telling the accident, and begging +admittance. + +Flora, laughing with all her heart, positively refused to open the door; +saying that she would rather be without company. + +The shop-man now came up stairs, to see what was going forward, and to +enquire whether Miss Pierson, who had told him that she was ill, found +herself worse. Flora, hastily checking her mirth, answered that her head +ached, and she would lie down; and then spoke no more. + +The shop-man made an attempt to enter into conversation with Juliet; but +she gravely requested that he would be so good as to order a smith to +open the lock of her door. + +He ought not, he said, to leave the house in the absence of Miss Matson; +but he would run the risk for the pleasure of obliging her, if she would +only step down into the shop, to answer to the bell or the knocker. + +To this, in preference to being shut out of her room, she would +immediately have consented, but that she feared the arrival of Sir +Lyell Sycamore. She asked the shop-man, therefore, if there were any +objection to her waiting in the little parlour. + +None in the world, he answered; for he had Miss Matson's leave to use it +when she was out of a Sunday; and he should be very glad if Miss Ellis +would oblige him with her company. + +Juliet declined this proposal with an air that repressed any further +attempt at intimacy; and the shop-man returned to his post. + +'I must not, I suppose,' the Baronet, then advancing, said, 'presume to +offer you shelter under my roof from the inclemencies of the staircase? +And yet I think I may venture, without being indecorous, to mention, +that I am going out for my usual airing; and that you may take +possession of your old apartment, upon your own misanthropical terms. At +all events, I shall leave you the door open, place some books upon the +table, take out my servants, and order that no one shall molest you.' + +Extremely pleased by a kindness so much to her taste, Juliet would +gratefully have accepted this offer, but for the visit that she knew to +be designed for the same apartment; which the absence of its master was +not likely to prevent, as the pretence of writing a note, or his name, +would suffice with Sir Lyell for mounting the stairs. Who then could +protect Flora? Could Juliet herself come forward, when no one else +remained in the house, conscious, as she could not but be, of the +dishonourable views of which she, also, had been the object? The +departure of Sir Jaspar appeared, therefore, to be big with mischief; +and, when he was making a leave-taking bow, she almost involuntarily +said, 'You are forced, then, Sir, to go out this morning?' + +Surprized and pleased, he answered, 'What! have my little fairy elves +given you a lesson of humanity? Nay, if so, though they should pommel +and maul me for a month to come, I shall yet be their obedient humble +servant.' + +He then gave orders aloud that his carriage should be put up; saying, +that he had letters to write, and that his servants might go and amuse +themselves for an hour or two where they pleased. + +Juliet, now, was crimsoned with shame and embarrassment. How account for +thus palpably wishing him to remain in the house? or how suffer him, by +silence, to suppose it was from a desire of his society? Her blushes +astonished, yet, by heightening her beauty, charmed still more than they +perplexed him. To settle what to think of her might be difficult and +teazing; but to admire her was easy and pleasant. He approached her, +therefore, with the most flattering looks and smiles; but, to avoid any +mistake in his manner of addressing her, he kept his speech back, with +his judgment, till he could learn her purpose. + +This prudential circumspection redoubled her confusion, and she +hesitatingly stammered her concern that she had prevented his airing. + +More amazed still, but still more enchanted, to see her thus at a loss +what to say, though evidently pleased that he had relinquished his +little excursion, he was making a motion to take her hand, which she had +scarcely perceived, when a violent ringing at the door-bell, checked +him; and concentrated all her solicitude in the impending danger of +Flora; and, in her eagerness to rescue the simple girl from ruin, she +hastily said: 'Can you, Sir Jaspar, forgive a liberty in the cause of +humanity? May I appeal to your generosity? You will receive a visitor in +a few minutes, whom I have earnest reasons for wishing you to detain in +your apartment to the last moment that is possible. May I make so +extraordinary a request?' + +'Request?' repeated Sir Jaspar, charmed by what he considered as an +opening to intimacy; 'can you utter any thing but commands? The most +benignant sprite of all Fairyland, has inspired you with this gracious +disposition to dub me your knight.' + +Yet his eyes, still bright with intelligence, and now full of fanciful +wonder, suddenly emitted an expression less rapturous, when he +distinguished the voice of Sir Lyell Sycamore, in parley with the +shop-man. Disappointment and chagrin soon took place of sportive +playfulness in his countenance; and, muttering between his teeth, 'O ho! +Sir Lyell Sycamore!'--he fixed his keen eyes sharply upon Juliet; with a +look in which she could not but read the ill construction to which her +seeming knowledge of that young man's motions, and her apparent interest +in them, made her liable; and how much his light opinion of Sir Lyell's +character, affected his partial, though still fluctuating one of her +own. + +Sir Lyell, however, was upon the stairs, and she did not dare enter into +any justification; Sir Jaspar, too, was silent; but the young baronet +mounted, singing, in a loud voice, + + O my love, lov'st thou me? + Then quickly come and see one who dies for thee! + +'Yes here I come, Sir Lyell!'--in a low, husky, laughing voice, cried +Flora, peeping through her chamber-door; which was immediately at the +head of the stairs, upon the second floor; and to which Sir Lyell looked +up, softly whispering, 'Be still, my little angel! and, in ten +minutes--' He stopt abruptly, for Sir Jaspar now caught his astonished +sight, upon the landing-place of the attic story, with Juliet retreating +behind him. + +'O ho! you are there, are you?' he cried, in a tone of ludicrous +accusation. + +'And you, you are there, are you?' answered Sir Jaspar, in a voice more +seriously taunting. + +Juliet, hurt and confounded, would have escaped through the garret to +the back stairs, but that her hat and cloak, without which she could not +leave the house, were shut into her room. She tried, therefore, to look +unmoved; well aware that the best chance to escape impertinence, is by +not appearing to suspect that any is intended. + +Three strides now brought Sir Lyell before her. His amazement, vented by +rattling exclamations, again perplexed Sir Jaspar; for how could Juliet +have been apprized of his intended visit, but by himself? + +Sir Lyell, mingling the most florid compliments upon her radiant beauty, +and bright bloom, with his pleasure at her sight, said that, from the +reports which had reached him, that she had given up her singing, and +her teaching, and that Sir Jaspar had taken the room which she had +inhabited, he had concluded that she had quitted Brighthelmstone. He was +going rapidly on in the same strain, the observant Sir Jaspar intently +watching her looks, while curiously listening to his every word; when +Juliet, without seeming to have attended to a syllable, related, with +grave brevity, that she had unfortunately shut in the key of her room, +and must therefore seek Miss Matson, to demand another; and then, with +steady steps, that studiously kept in order innumerable timid fears, she +descended to the shop; leaving the two Baronets mutually struck by her +superiour air and manner; and each, though equally desirous to follow +her, involuntarily standing still, to wait the motions of the other; and +thence to judge of his pretensions to her favour. + +Juliet found the shop empty, but the street-door open, and the shop-man +sauntering before it, to look at the passers by. Glad to be, for a +while, at least, spared the distaste of his company, she shut herself +into the little parlour, carefully drawing the curtain of the +glass-door. + +The two Baronets, as she expected, soon descended; the younger one eager +to take leave of the elder, and privately re-mount the stairs; and Sir +Jaspar, fixed to obey the injunctions, however unaccountable, of Juliet, +in detaining and keeping sight of him to the last moment. + +'Decamped, I swear, the little vixen!' exclaimed Sir Lyell, striding in +first; 'but why the d--l do you come down, Sir Jaspar?' + +'For exercise, not ceremony,' he answered; though, little wanting +further exertion, and heartily tired, he dropt down upon the first +chair. + +Sir Lyell vainly offered his arm, and pressed to aid him back to his +apartment; he would not move. + +After some time thus wasted, Sir Lyell, mortified and provoked, cast +himself upon the counter, and whistled, to disguise his ill humour. + +A pause now ensued, which Sir Jaspar broke, by hesitatingly, yet with +earnestness, saying, 'Sir Lyell Sycamore, I am not, you will do me the +justice to believe, a sour old fellow, to delight in mischief; a surly +old dog, to mar the pleasures of which I cannot partake; if, therefore, +to answer what I mean to ask will thwart any of your projects, leave me +and my curiosity in the lurch; if not, you will sensibly gratify me, by +a little frank communication. I don't meddle with your affair with +Flora; 'tis a blooming little wild rose-bud, but of too common a species +to be worth analysing. This other young creature, however, whose wings +your bird-lime seems also to have entangled--' + +'How so?' interrupted Sir Lyell, jumping eagerly from the counter, 'what +the d--l do you mean by that?' + +'Not to be indiscreet, I promise you,' answered Sir Jaspar; 'but as I +see the interest she takes in you,--' + +'The d--l you do?' exclaimed Sir Lyell, in an accent of surprize, yet of +transport. + +Sir Jaspar now, ironically smiling, said, 'You don't know it, then, Sir +Lyell? You are modest?--diffident? unconscious?--' + +'My dear boy!' cried Sir Lyell, riotously, and approaching familiarly to +embrace him, 'what a devilish kind office I shall owe you, if you can +put any good notions into my head of that delicious girl!' + +New doubts now destroying his recent suspicions, Sir Jaspar held back, +positively refusing to clear up what had dropt from him, and laughingly +saying, 'Far be it from me to put any such notions into your head! I +believe it amply stored! All my desire is to get some out of it. If, +therefore, you can tell me, or, rather, will tell me, who or what this +young creature is, you will do a kind office to my imagination, for +which I shall be really thankful. Who is she, then? And what is she?' + +'D--l take me if I either know or care!' cried Sir Lyell, 'further than +that she is a beauty of the first water; and that I should have adored +her, exclusively, three months ago, if I had not believed her a thing of +alabaster. But if you think her--' + +'Not I! not I!--I know nothing of her!' interrupted Sir Jaspar: 'she is +a rose planted in the snow, for aught I can tell! The more I see, the +less I understand; the more I surmize, the further I seem from the mark. +Honestly, then, whence does she come? How did you first see her? What +does she do at Brighthelmstone?' + +'May I go to old Nick if I am better informed than yourself! except that +she sings and plays like twenty angels, and that all the women are +jealous of her, and won't suffer a word to be said to her. However, I +made up to her, at first, and should certainly have found her out, but +for Melbury, who annoyed me with a long history of her virtue, and +character, and Lady Aurora's friendship, and the d--l knows what; that +made me so cursed sheepish, I was afraid of embarking in any measures of +spirit. My sister, also, took lessons of her; and other game came into +chase; and I should never have thought of her again, but that, when I +went to town, a week or two ago, I learnt, from that Queen of the Crabs, +Mrs Howel, that Melbury, in fact, knows no more of her than we do. He +had nobody's world but her own for all her fine sentiments; so that he +and his platonics would have kept me at bay no longer, if I had not +believed her decamped from Brighthelmstone, upon hearing that you had +got her lodging. How came you to turn her into the garret, my dear boy? +Is that _à la mode_ of your _vieille cour_?' + +Sir Jaspar protested that, when he took the apartment, he knew not of +her existence; and then enquired, whether Sir Lyell could tell in what +name she had been upon the stage; and why she had quitted it. + +'The stage? O the d--l!' he exclaimed, 'has she been upon the stage?' + +'Yes; I heard the fact mentioned to her, the other day, by a +fellow-performer! some low player, who challenged her as a sister of the +buskins.' + +'What a glorious Statira she must make!' cried Sir Lyell. 'I am ready to +be her Alexander when she will. That hint you have dropt, my dear old +boy, sha'n't be thrown away upon me. But how the d--l did you find the +dear charmer out?' + +Sir Jaspar again sought to draw back his information; but Sir Lyell +swore that he would not so lightly be put aside from a view of success, +now once it was fairly opened; and was vowing that he should begin a +siege in form, and persevere to a surrender; when the conversation was +interrupted, by the entrance of the shop-man, accompanied by a +mantua-maker, who called upon some business. + +Juliet, who, from the beginning, had heard this discourse with the +utmost uneasiness, and whom its conclusion had filled with indignant +disgust; had no resource to avoid the yet greater evil of being joined +by the interlocutors, but that of sitting motionless and unsuspected, +till they should depart; or till Miss Matson should return. But her care +and precaution proved vain: the shop-man invited Mrs Hart, the +mantua-maker, into the little parlour; and, upon opening the door, +Juliet met their astonished view. + +Sir Jaspar, not without evident anxiety, endeavoured to recollect what +had dropt from him, that might hurt her; or how he might palliate what +might have given her offence. But Sir Lyell, not at all disconcerted, +and privately persuaded that half his difficulties were vanquished, by +the accident that acquainted her with his design; was advancing, +eagerly, with a volley of rapid compliments, upon his good fortune in +again meeting with her; when Juliet, not deigning to seem conscious even +of his presence, passed him without notice; and, addressing Mrs Hart, +entreated that she would go up stairs to the room of Miss Pierson, to +examine whether it were necessary to send for any advice; as she had +returned home alone, and complained of being ill. Mrs Hart complied; and +Juliet followed her to Flora's chamber-door. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + + +The gentle tap that Mrs Hart, fearing to disturb her, gave at the door +of Flora, deceived the expecting girl into a belief that Sir Lyell was +at length arrived; and crying, in a low voice, as she opened it, 'O Sir! +how long you have been coming!' she stared at sight of Mrs Hart, with an +amazement equal to her disappointment. + +Presently, however, with a dejected look and tone, 'Well, now!' she +cried, 'is it only you, Mrs Hart?--I thought it had been somebody quite +different!' + +Mrs Hart, entering, enquired, with surprize, why Miss Ellis had said +that Miss Pierson was ill, when, on the contrary, she had never seen her +look better. + +'Well, now, Miss Ellis,' cried Flora, whispering Juliet, 'did not I tell +you, as plain as could be, 'twas nothing but make believe?' + +Juliet, without offering any apology, answered, that she had invited Mrs +Hart to make her a visit. + +'Why, now, what can you be thinking of?' cried Flora, angrily: 'Why, you +know, as well as can be, that I want to see nobody! Why, have you forgot +all I told you, already, about you know who? Why I never knew the like! +Why he'll be fit to kill himself! I'll never tell you any thing again, +if you beg me on your knees! so there's the end to your knowing any more +of my secrets! and you've nobody but yourself to thank, if it vexes you +never so!' + +Mrs Hart interrupted this murmuring, by enquiring who was the Sir that +Miss Pierson expected; adding that, if it were the shop-man, it would be +more proper Miss Pierson should go down stairs, than that she should let +him come up to her room. + +'The shop-man?' repeated Flora, simpering, and winking at Juliet; 'no, +indeed, Mrs Hart; you have not made a very good guess there! Has she, +Miss Ellis? I don't think a man of quality, and a baronet, is very like +a shop-man! Do you, Miss Ellis?' + +This blundering simplicity of vanity was not lost upon Mrs Hart. 'O ho!' +she cried, 'you expect a baronet, do you, then, Miss Pierson? Why there +were no less than two Baronets in the shop as I came through, just now; +and there's one of them this minute crossing the way, and turning the +corner.' + +'O Me! is he gone, then?' cried Flora, looking out of the window. 'O Me! +what shall I do? O Miss Ellis! this is all your fault! And now, perhaps, +he'll be so angry he'll never speak to me again! And if he don't, ten to +one but it may break my heart! for that often happens when one's crossed +in love. And if it does, I sha'n't thank you for it, I assure you! And +it's just as likely as not!' + +Juliet, though she sought to appease both her grief and her wrath, could +not but rejoice that their unguarded redundance informed Mrs Hart of the +whole history: and Mrs Hart, who, though a plain, appeared to be a very +worthy woman, immediately endeavoured to save the poor young creature, +from the snares into which she was rather wilfully jumping, than +deludedly falling, by giving her a pressing invitation to her own house +for the rest of the day. But to this, neither entreaty nor reproof could +obtain consent. Flora, like many who seem gentle, was only simple; and +had neither docility nor comprehension for being turned aside from the +prosecution of her wishes. To be thwarted in any desire, she considered +as cruelty, and resented as ill treatment. She refused, therefore, to +leave the house, while hoping for the return of Sir Lyell; and continued +her childish wailing and fretting, till accident led her eyes to a +favourite little box; when, her tears suddenly stopping, and her face +brightening, she started up, seized, opened it, and, displaying a very +pretty pair of ear-rings, exclaimed, 'Oh, I have never shewn you my +presents, Miss Ellis! And now Mrs Hart may have a peep at them, too. So +she's in pretty good luck, I think!' + +And then, with exulting pleasure, she produced all the costly trinkets +that she had received from Sir Lyell; with some few, less valuable, +which had been presented to her by Sir Jaspar; and all the baubles, +however insignificant or babyish, that had been bestowed upon her by her +friends and relatives, from her earliest youth. And these, with the +important and separate history of each, occupied, unawares, her time, +till the return of Miss Matson. + +Mrs Hart then descended, and, urged by Juliet, briefly and plainly +communicated the situation and the danger of the young apprentice. + +Miss Matson, affrighted for the credit of her shop, determined to send +for the mother of Flora, who resided at Lewes, the next day. + +Relieved now from her troublesome and untoward charge, Juliet had her +door opened, and re-took possession of her room. + +And there, a new view of her own helpless and distressed condition, +filled and dejected her with new alarm. The licentiously declared +purpose of Sir Lyell had been shocking to her ears; and the +consciousness that he knew that she was informed of his intention added +to its horrour, from her inability to shew her resentment, in the only +way that suited her character or her disposition, that of positively +seeing him no more. But how avoid him while she had no other means of +subsistence than working in an open shop? + +The following morning but too clearly justified her apprehensive +prognostics, of the improprieties to which her defenceless state made +her liable. At an early hour, Sir Lyell, gay, courteous, gallant, +entered the shop, under pretence of enquiring for Sir Jaspar; whom he +knew to be invisible, from his infirmities, to all but his own nurses +and servants, till noon. Miss Matson was taciturn and watchful, though +still, from the fear of making an enemy, respectful; while Flora, +simpering and blushing, was ready to jump into his arms, in her +eagerness to apologize for not having waited alone for him, according to +his directions: but he did not look at Miss Matson, though he addressed +her; nor address Flora, though, by a side glance, he saw her +expectations; his attention, from the moment that he had asked, without +listening to any answer, whether he could see Sir Jaspar, was all, and +even publicly devoted to Juliet; whom he approached with an air of +homage, and accosted with the most flattering compliments upon her good +looks and her beauty. + +Juliet turned aside from him, with an indignant disgust, in which she +hoped he would read her resentment of his scheme, and her abhorrence of +his principles. But those who are deep in vice are commonly incredulous +of virtue. Sir Lyell took her apparent displeasure, either for a +timidity which flattery would banish, or an hypocrisy which boldness +would conquer. He continued, therefore, his florid adulation to her +charms; regarding the heightened colour of offended purity, but as an +augmented attraction. + +Juliet perceived her failure to repress his assurance, with a +disturbance that was soon encreased, by the visible jealousy manifested +in the pouting lips and frowning brow of Flora; who, the moment that +Sir Lyell, saying that he would call upon Sir Jaspar again, thought it +prudent to retire, began a convulsive sobbing; averring that she saw why +she had been betrayed; for that it was only to inveigle away her +sweetheart. + +Pity for the ignorant accuser, might have subdued the disdain due to the +accusation, and have induced Juliet to comfort her by a self-defence; +but for a look, strongly expressing a suspicion to the same effect, from +Miss Matson; which was succeeded by a general tossing up of the chins of +the young work-women, and a murmur of, 'I wonder how she would like to +be served so herself!' + +This was too offensive to be supported, and she retired to her chamber. + +If, already, the mingled frivolity and publicity of the business into +which she had entered, had proved fatiguing to her spirits, and ungenial +to her disposition; surmises, such as she now saw raised, of a petty and +base rivality, urged by a pursuit the most licentious, rendered all +attempt at its continuance intolerable. Without, therefore, a moment's +hesitation, she determined to relinquish her present enterprise. + +The only, as well as immediate notion that occurred to her, in this new +difficulty, was to apply to Mrs Hart, who seemed kind as well as civil, +for employment. + +When she was summoned, therefore, by Miss Matson, with surprize and +authority, back to the shop, she returned equipped for going abroad; +and, after thanking her for the essay which she had permitted to be made +in the millinery-business, declared that she found herself utterly unfit +for so active and so public a line of life. + +Leaving then Miss Matson, Flora, and the young journey-women to their +astonishment, she bent her course to the house of Mrs Hart; where her +application was happily successful. Mrs Hart had work of importance just +ordered for a great wedding in the neighbourhood, and was glad to engage +so expert a hand for the occasion; agreeing to allow, in return, bed, +board, and a small stipend per day. + +With infinite relief, Juliet went back to make her little preparations, +and take leave of Miss Matson; by whom she was now followed to her room, +with many earnest instances that she would relinquish her design. Miss +Matson, in unison with the very common character to which she belonged, +had appreciated Juliet not by her worth, her talents, or her labours, +but by her avowed distress, and acknowledged poverty. Notwithstanding, +therefore, her abilities and her industry, she had been uniformly +considered as a dead weight to the business, and to the house. But now, +when it appeared that the pennyless young woman had some other resource, +the eyes of Miss Matson were suddenly opened to merits to which she had +hitherto been blind. She felt all the advantages which the shop would +lose by the departure of such an assistant; and recollected the many +useful hints, in fashion and in elegance, which had been derived from +her taste and fancy: her exemplary diligence in work; her gentle +quietness of behaviour; and the numberless customers, which the various +reports that were spread of her history, had drawn to the shop. All, +now, however, was unavailing; the remembrance of what was over occurred +too late to change the plan of Juliet; though a kinder appreciation of +her character and services, while she was employed, might have engaged +her to try some other method of getting rid of the libertine Baronet. + +Miss Matson then admonished her not to lose, at least, the benefit of +her premium. + +'What premium?' cried Juliet. + +'Why that Sir Jaspar paid down for you.' + +Juliet, astonished, now learnt, that her admission as an inmate of the +shop, which she had imagined due to the gossipping verbal influence of +Miss Bydel, was the result of the far more substantial money-mediation +of Sir Jaspar. + +She felt warmly grateful for his benevolence; yet wounded, in reflecting +upon his doubts whether she deserved it; and confounded to owe another, +and so heavy an obligation, to an utter stranger. + +She was finishing her little package, when the loud sobbings of Flora, +while mounting the stairs for a similar, though by no means as voluntary +a purpose, induced her to go forth, with a view to offer some +consolation; but Flora, not less resentful than disconsolate, said that +her mother was arrived to take her from all her fine prospects; and +loaded Juliet with the unqualified accusation, of having betrayed her +secrets, and ruined her fortune. + +Juliet had too strong a mind to suffer weak and unjust censure to breed +any repentance that she had acted right. She could take one view only of +the affair; and that brought only self-approvance of what she had done: +if Sir Lyell meant honourably, Flora was easily followed; if not, she +was happily rescued from earthly perdition. + +Nevertheless, she had too much sweetness of disposition, and too much +benevolence of character, to be indifferent to reproach; though her +vain efforts, either to clear her own conduct, or to appease the angry +sorrows of Flora, all ended by the indignantly blubbering damsel's +turning from her in sulky silence. + +Juliet then took a quick leave of Miss Matson, and of the young +journey-women; and repaired to her new habitation. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + + +Experience, the mother of caution, now taught Juliet explicitly to make +known to her new chief, that she had no view to learn the art of +mantua-making as a future trade, or employment; but simply desired to +work at it in such details, as a general knowledge of the use of the +needle might make serviceable and expeditious: no premium, therefore, +could be expected by the mistress; and the work-woman would be at +liberty to continue, or to renounce her engagement, from day to day. + +This agreement offered to her ideas something which seemed like an +approach to the self-dependence, that she had so earnestly coveted: she +entered, therefore, upon her new occupation with cheerfulness and +alacrity, and with a diligence to which the hope, by being useful, to +become necessary, gave no relaxation. + +The business, by this scrupulous devotion to its interests, was +forwarded with such industry and success, that she soon became the open +and decided favourite of the mistress whom she served; and who repaid +her exertions by the warmest praise, and proposed her as a pattern to +the rest of the sewing sisterhood. + +This approbation could not but cheer the toil of one whose mind, like +that of Juliet, sought happiness, at this moment, only from upright and +blameless conduct. She was mentally, also, relieved, by the local change +of situation. She was now employed in a private apartment; and, though +surrounded by still more fellow-work-women than at Miss Matson's, she +was no longer constrained to remain in an open shop, in opposition alike +to her inclinations and her wishes of concealment; no longer startled by +the continual entrance and exit of strangers; nor exposed to curious +enquirers, or hardy starers; and no longer fatigued by the perpetual +revision of goods. She worked in perfect quietness, undisturbed and +uninterrupted; her mistress was civil, and gave her encouragement; her +fellow-semptresses were unobservant, and left her to her own reflexions. + +It is not, however, in courts alone that favour is perilous; in all +circles, and all classes, from the most eminent to the most obscure, the +'Favourite has no friend[19]!' The praises and the comparisons, by which +Mrs Hart hoped to stimulate her little community to emulation, excited +only jealousy, envy, and ill will; and a week had not elapsed, in this +new and short tranquillity, before Juliet found that her superiour +diligence was regarded, by her needle-sisterhood, as a mean artifice 'to +set herself off to advantage at their cost.' Sneers and hints to this +effect followed every panegyric of Mrs Hart; and robbed approbation of +its pleasure, though they could not of its value. + +[Footnote 19: Gray.] + +Chagrined by a consequence so unpleasant, to an industry that demanded +fortitude, not discouragement; Juliet now felt the excess of her +activity relax; and soon experienced a desire, if not a necessity, to +steal some moments from application, for retirement and for herself. + +Here, again, she found the mischief to which ignorance of life had laid +her open. The unremitting diligence with which she had begun her new +office, had advanced her work with a rapidity, that made the smallest +relaxation cause a sensible difference in its progress: and Mrs Hart, +from first looking disappointed, asked next, whether nothing more were +done? and then observed, how much quicker business had gone on the first +week. In vain Juliet still executed more than all around her; the +comparison was never made there, where it might have been to her +advantage; all reference was to her own setting out; and she was soon +taught to forgive the displeasure which, so inadvertently, she had +excited, when she saw the claims to which she had made herself liable, +by an incautious eagerness of zeal to reward, as well as earn, the +maintenance which she owed to Mrs Hart. + +Alas, she thought, with what upright intentions may we be injudicious! I +have thrown away the power of obliging, by too precipitate an eagerness +to oblige! I retain merely that of avoiding to displease, by my most +indefatigable application! All I can perform seems but a duty, and of +course; all I leave undone, seems idleness and neglect. Yet what is the +labour that never requires respite? What the mind, that never demands a +few poor unshackled instants to itself? + +From this time, the little pleasure which she had been able to create +for herself, from the virtue of her exertions, was at an end: to toil +beyond her fellow-labourers, was but to provoke ill will; to allow +herself any repose, was but to excite disapprobation. Hopeless, +therefore, either way, she gave, with diligence, her allotted time to +her occupation, but no more: all that remained, she solaced, by devoting +to her pen and Gabriella, with whom her correspondence,--her sole +consolation,--was unremitting. + +This unaffected conduct had its customary effect; it destroyed at once +the too hardly earned favour of Mrs Hart, and the illiberal, yet too +natural enmity of her apprentices; and, in the course of a very few +days, Juliet was neither more esteemed, nor more censured, than any of +her sisters of the sewing tribe. + +With the energy, however, of her original wishes and efforts, died all +that could reconcile her to this sort of life. The hope of pleasing, +which alone could soften its hardships, thus forcibly set aside, left +nothing in its place, but calmness without contentment; dulness without +serenity. + +Experience is not more exclusively the guide of our judgment, than +comparison is the mistress of our feelings. Juliet now also found that, +local publicity excepted, there was nothing to prefer in her new to her +former situation; and something to like less. The employment itself was +by no means equally agreeable for its disciples. The taste and fancy, +requisite for the elegance and variety of the light work which she had +quitted; however ineffectual to afford pleasure when called forth by +necessity, rendered it, at least, less irksome, than the wearying +sameness of perpetual basting, running, and hemming. Her +fellow-labourers, though less pert and less obtrusive than those which +she had left, had the same spirit for secret cabal, and the same passion +for frolic and disguise; and also, like those, were all prattle and +confidential sociability, in the absence of the mistress; all sullenness +and taciturnity, in her presence. What little difference, therefore, she +found in her position, was, that there she had been disgusted by +under-bred flippancy; here, she was deadened by uninteresting monotony; +and that there, perpetual motion, and incessant change of orders, and of +objects, affected her nerves; while here, the unvarying repetition of +stitch after stitch, nearly closed in sleep her faculties, as well as +her eyes. + +The little stipend which, by agreement, she was paid every evening, +though it occasioned her the most satisfactory, by no means gave her the +most pleasant feeling, of the day. However respectable reason and +justice render pecuniary emolument, where honourably earned; there is a +something indefinable, which stands between spirit and delicacy, that +makes the first reception of money in detail, by those not brought up to +gain it, embarrassing and painful. + +During this tedious and unvaried period, if some minutes were snatched +from fatiguing uniformity, it was only by alarm and displeasure, through +the intrusion of Sir Lyell Sycamore; who, though always denied admission +to herself, made frequent, bold, and frivolous pretences for bursting +into the workroom. At one time, he came to enquire about a gown for his +sister, of which Mrs Hart had never heard; at another, to look at a +trimming for which she had had no commission; and at a third, to hurry +the finishing of a dress, which had already been sent home. The motive +to these various mock messages, was too palpable to escape even the most +ordinary observation; yet though the perfect conduct, and icy coldness +of Juliet, rescued her from all evil imputation amongst her companions, +she saw, with pique and even horrour, that they were insufficient to +repress the daring and determined hopes and expectations of the +licentious Baronet; with whom the unexplained hint of Sir Jaspar had +left a firm persuasion, that the fair object of his views more than +returned his admiration; and waited merely for a decent attack, or +proper offers, to acknowledge her secret inclinations. + +Juliet, however shocked, could only commit to time her cause, her +consistency, her vindication. + +Three weeks had, in this manner, elapsed, when the particular business +for which Mrs Hart had wanted an odd hand was finished; and Juliet, who +had believed that her useful services would keep her employed at her own +pleasure, abruptly found that her occupation was at an end. + +Here again, the wisdom of experience was acquired only by distress. The +pleasure with which she had considered herself free, because engaged but +by the day, was changed into the alarm of finding herself, from that +very circumstance, without employment or home; and she now acknowledged +the providence of those ties, which, from only feeling their +inconvenience, she had thought oppressive and unnecessary. The +established combinations of society are not to be judged by the personal +opinions, and varying feelings, of individuals; but by general proofs of +reciprocated advantages. If the needy helper require regular protection, +the recompensing employer must claim regular service; and Juliet now +saw, that though in being contracted but by the day, she escaped all +continued constraint, and was set freshly at liberty every evening; she +was, a stranger to security, subject to dismission, at the mercy of +accident, and at the will of caprice. + +Thus perplexed and thus helpless, she applied to Mrs Hart, for counsel +how to obtain immediate support. Gratified by the application, Mrs Hart +again recommended her as a pattern to the young sisterhood; and then +gave her advice, that she should bind herself, either to some milliner +or some mantua-maker, as a journey-woman for three years. + +Painfully, again, Juliet attained further knowledge of the world, in +learning the danger of asking counsel; except of the candid and wise, +who know how to modify it by circumstances, and who will listen to +opposing representations. + +Mrs Hart, from the moment that Juliet declined to be guided wholly by +her judgment, lost all interest in her young work-woman's distresses. +'If people won't follow advice,' she said, ''tis a sign they are not +much to be pitied.' Vainly Juliet affirmed, that reasons which she could +not explain, put it out of her power to take any measure so decisive; +that, far from fixing her own destiny for three years, she had no means +to ascertain, or scarcely even to conjecture, what it might be in three +days; or perhaps in three hours; although in the interval of suspense, +she was not less an object for present humanity, from the incertitude of +what either her wants or her abundance might be in future; vainly she +reasoned, vainly she pleaded. Mrs Hart always made the same reply: 'If +people won't follow advice, 'tis a sign they are not much to be pitied.' + +In consequence of this maxim, Juliet next heard, that the small room and +bed which she occupied, were wanted for another person. + +Alas! she thought, how long must we mingle with the world, ere we learn +how to live in it! Must we demand no help from the understandings of +others, unless we submit to renounce all use of our own? + +These reflections soon led her to hit upon the only true medium, for +useful and safe general intercourse with the mass of mankind: that of +avowing embarrassments, without demanding counsel; and of discussing +difficulties, and gathering opinions, as matters of conversation; but +always to keep in mind, that to ask advice, without a predetermination +to follow it, is to call for censure, and to risk resentment. + +Thus died away in Juliet the short joy of freedom from the controul of +positive engagements. + +Such freedom, she found, was but a source of perpetual difficulty and +instability. She had the world to begin again; a new pursuit to fix +upon; new recommendations to solicit; and a new dwelling to seek. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + + +Juliet was making enquiries of the young work-women, for a +recommendation to some small lodging, when she was surprised by the +receipt of a letter from Mrs Pierson, soliciting her company immediately +at Lewes; where poor Flora, she said, was taken dangerously ill of a +high fever, and was raving, continually, for Miss Ellis. A return +post-chaise to the postilion of which Mrs Pierson had given directions +to call at Mrs Hart's, at three o'clock in the afternoon, would bring +her, for nearly nothing; if she would have so much charity as to come +and comfort the poor girl; and Mrs Pierson would find a safe conveyance +back at night, if Miss Ellis could not oblige them by sleeping at the +house: but she hoped that Mrs Hart would not refuse to spare her from +her work, for a few hours, as it might produce a favourable turn in the +disorder. + +Juliet read this letter with real concern. Had she rescued the poor, +weak, and wilful Flora from immediate moral, only to devote her to +immediate physical, destruction? And what now could be devised for her +relief? Her intellects were too feeble for reason, her temper was too +petulant for entreaty. Nevertheless, the benevolent are easily urged to +exertion; and Juliet would not refuse the summons of the distressed +mother, while she could flatter herself that any possible means might be +suggested for serving the self-willed, and half-witted, but innocent +daughter. + +She set out, therefore, upon this plan, far from sanguine of success, +but persuaded that the effort was a duty. + +By her own calculations from memory, she was arrived within about a mile +of Lewes, when the horses suddenly turned down a narrow lane. + +She demanded of the postilion why he did not proceed straight forward. +He answered, that he knew a short cut to the house of Mrs Pierson. +Uneasy, nevertheless, at quitting thus alone the high road, she begged +him to go the common way, promising to reward him for the additional +time which it might require. But he drove on without replying; though, +growing now alarmed, she called, supplicated, and menaced in turn. + +She looked from window to window to seek some object to whom she might +apply for aid; none appeared, save a man on horseback, whom she had +already noticed from time to time, near the side of the chaise; and to +whom she was beginning to appeal, when she surprised him making signs to +hurry on the postilion. + +She now believed the postilion himself to be leagued with some +highwayman; and was filled with affright and dismay. + +The horses galloped on with encreased swiftness, the horseman always +keeping closely behind the chaise; till they were stopt by a small cart, +from which Juliet had the joy to see two men alight, forced, by the +narrowness of the road, to take off their horse, and drag back their +vehicle. + +She eagerly solicited their assistance, and made an effort to open the +chaise door. This, however, was prevented by the pursuing horseman, who, +dismounting, opened it himself; and, to her inexpressible terrour, +sprung into the carriage. + +What, then, was her mingled consternation and astonishment, when, +instead of demanding her purse, he gaily exclaimed, 'Why are you +frightened, you beautiful little creature?' And she saw Sir Lyell +Sycamore. + +A change, but not a diminution of alarm, now took place; yet, assuming a +firmness that sought to conceal her fears, 'Quit the chaise, Sir Lyell,' +she cried, 'instantly, or you will compel me to claim protection from +those two men!' + +'Protection? you pretty little vixen!' cried he, yet more familiarly, +'who should protect you like your own adorer?' + +Juliet, leaning out, as far as was in her power, from the chaise-window, +called with energy for help. + +'What do you mean?' cried he, striving to draw her back. 'What are you +afraid of? You don't imagine me such a blundering cavalier, as to intend +to carry you off by force?' + +The postilion was assisting the two men to fix their horse, for dragging +back their cart; but her cries reached their ears, and one of them, +advancing to the chaise, exclaimed, 'Good now! if it is not Miss Ellis!' +And, to her infinite relief and comfort, she beheld young Gooch. + +She entreated him to open the door; but, lolling his arms over it, +without attending to her, he said, 'Well! to see but how things turn +out! Here have I been twice this very morning, at your new lodgings, to +let you know it's now or never, for our junket's to night; and the old +gentlewoman that keeps the house, who's none of the good-naturedest, as +I take it, would never let me get a sight of you, say what I would; and +here, all of the sudden, when I was thinking of you no more than if you +had never been born, I come pop upon you, as one may say, within +cock-crow of our very door; all alone, with only the young Baronight!' + +Nearly as much shocked, now, as, the moment before, she had been +relieved, Juliet eagerly declared, that she was not with any body; she +was simply going to Lewes upon business. + +'Why then,' cried he, 'the Baronight must be out his head, begging his +pardon, to let you come this way; and the postilion as stupid as a post; +for it's quite the contrary. It will lead you to you don't know where. +We only turned down it ourselves, just to borrow a few glasses, of +farmer Barnes, because we've more mouths than we have got of our own: +for I've invited all our club; which poor dad don't much like. He says I +am but a bungler at saving money, any more than at getting it; but I am +as rare a hand as any you know, far or near, says the old gentleman, for +spending it. The old gentleman likes to say his say. However, I must not +leave my horse to his gambols.' + +Then nodding, still without listening to Juliet, he returned to his +_chay-cart_. + +Juliet now unhasped the chaise-door herself, and was springing from the +carriage; when Sir Lyell, forcibly holding her, exclaimed, 'What would +you do, you lovely termagant? Would you make me pass for a devil of a +ravisher? No, no, no! you handsome little firebrand! name your terms, +and command me! I know you love me,--and I adore you. Why then this idle +cruelty to us both? to nature itself; and to beauty?' + +More and more indignant, Juliet uttered a cry for help, that immediately +brought back young Gooch, who was followed by an elderly companion. + +Provoked and resentful, yet amazed and ashamed, the Baronet jumped out +of the chaise, saying, with affected contempt, yet stronger pique, +'Yes! help, gentlemen, help! come quick! quick! Miss Ellis is taken +suddenly ill!' + +The insolent boldness of this appeal, was felt only by Juliet; whose +scorn, however potent, was less prevalent than her satisfaction, upon +beholding her old friend Mr Tedman. She descended to meet him, with an +energetic 'Thank Heaven!' and an excess of gladness, not more tormenting +to the Baronet, than unexpected by himself. 'Well, this is very kind of +you, indeed, my dear,' cried he, heartily shaking hands with her; 'to be +so glad to see me; especially after the ungenteel way I was served in by +your lodging-gentlewoman, making no more ceremony than refusing to let +me up, under cover that you saw no gentlemen; though I told her what a +good friend I had been to you; and how you learnt my darter the musics; +and how I used to bring you things; and lend you money; and that; and +how I was willing enough to do the like again, put in case you was in +need: but I might just as well have talked to the post; which huffed me +a little, I own.' + +'O, those old gentlewomen,' interrupted Gooch, 'are always like that. +One can never make any thing of 'em. I don't over like them myself, to +tell you the truth.' + +Juliet assured them that, having no time but for business, her +injunctions of non-admission had been uniform and universal; and ought +not, therefore, to offend any one. She then requested Mr Tedman to order +that the postilion would return to the high road; which he had quitted +against her positive direction; and to have the goodness to insist upon +his driving her by the side of his own vehicle, till they reached Lewes. + +Tedman, looking equally important and elated, again heartily shook hands +with her, and said, 'My dear, I'll do it with pleasure; or, I'll engage +Tim to send off your chay, and I'll take you in his'n; put in case it +will be more to your liking; for I am as little agreeable as you are, to +letting them rascals of drivers get the better of me.' + +Juliet acceded to this proposal, in which she saw immediate safety, with +the most lively readiness; entreating Mr Tedman to complete his +kindness, in extricating her from so suspicious a person, by paying him +the half-crown, which she had promised him, for carrying her to Lewes. + +'Half-a-crown?' repeated Mr Tedman, angrily refusing to take it. 'It's +too much by half, for coming such a mere step; put in case he did not +put to o'purpose. You're just like the quality; and they're none of +your sharpest; to throw away your money, and know neither the why nor +the wherefore.' + +The Baronet, with a loud oath, said that the postilion was a scoundrel, +for having offended the young lady; and menaced to inform against him, +if he received a sixpence. + +The postilion made no resistance; the horses were taken off, and the +chaise was drawn back to the high road. The little carriage belonging to +young Gooch followed, into which Juliet, refusing all aid but from Mr +Tedman, eagerly sprang; and her old friend placed himself at her side; +while Gooch took the reins. + +Sir Lyell looked on, visibly provoked; and when they were driving away, +called out, in a tone between derision and indignation, 'Bravo, Mr +Tedman! You are still, I see, the happy man!' + +Young Gooch, laughing without scruple, smacked his horse; while Mr +Tedman angrily muttered, 'The quality always allows themselves to say +any thing! They think nothing of that! All's one to them whether one +likes it or not.' + +The design of Juliet was, when safely arrived at the farm, which was +within a very short walk of the town of Lewes, to beg a safe guide to +accompany her to the house of Mrs Pierson; where she resolved to pass +the night; and whence she determined to write to Elinor, and solicit an +interview; in which she meant to lay open her new difficulties, in the +hope of re-awakening some interest that might operate in her favour. + +To save herself from the vulgar forwardness of ignorant importunity, she +forbore to mention her plan, till she alighted from the little vehicle, +at the gate of the farm-yard. + +'Goodness! Ma'am,' then cried young Gooch, 'you won't think of such a +thing as going away, I hope, before you've well come? Why our sport's +all ready! why, if you'll step a little this way, you may see the three +sacks, that three of our men are to run a race in! There'll be fine +scrambling and tumbling, one o' top o' t'other. You'll laugh till you +split your sides. And if you'll only come here, to the right, I'll shew +you the stye where our pig is, that's to be caught by the tail. But it +will be well soaped, I can tell you; so it will be no such easy thing.' + +Slightly thanking him, Juliet applied for aid, in procuring her a +conductor, to Mr Tedman; who, though at first he pressed her to stay, as +she might get a little amusement so pure cheap, since it would cost +nothing but looking on; no sooner heard her pronounce that she was +called away by business, than he ceased all opposition; and promised to +take care of her to Lewes himself, when he'd just spoken a word or two +to his cousin Gooch: 'For I can't go with you, my dear, only I and you, +you know, without that,' he said, 'just upon coming; for fear it should +put them upon joking; which I don't like; for all the quality's so fond +of it. Besides which, I must give in my presents; for this little +hamper's full of little odd things for the junket; and if I leave 'em +out here, to the mercy of nobody knows who, somebody or other'll be a +pilfering, as sure as a gun; put in case they smoke what I've got in my +hamper. And they're pretty quick at mischief.' + +Juliet supplicated him to be speedy. Pleased to have his services +accepted, he put his hamper under his arm, and walked on to the house; +mindless of the impatient remonstrances of young Gooch, who exclaimed, +'Why now, who'd have thought this of the 'Squire? it's doing just +contrary; for he's the very person I thought would make you stay! for +he's come, as one may say, half o' purpose for your sake; for he never +plump accepted of our invitation till I told him, in my letter, of my +having invited of you. And then he said he would come.' + +Then, lowering his voice into a whisper, he added, 'Between ourselves, +Ma'am, the poor 'Squire, my good cousin, don't get much for his money at +home, I believe. His daughter's got quite the top end; and she's none of +your obligingests; she won't do one mortal thing he desires. She's been +brought up at them fine boarding-schools, with misses that hold up their +heads so high, that nothing's good enough for 'em. So she's always +ashamed of her papa, because, she says, he's so mean; as he tells us. +The poor 'Squire, my cousin, don't much like it; but he can't help +himself. She's as exact like a fine lady as ever you see; and she won't +speak a word to any of her poor relations, because they are so low, she +says.' He then added, 'If you won't go while I'm gone, I'll give you as +agreeable a surprize as ever you had in your life!' + +He ran on to the house. + +In a few minutes, Juliet felt something tickle the nape of her neck, +and, imagining it to be an insect, she would have brushed it away with +her hand, but received, between her fingers, a pink; and, looking round, +saw Flora Pierson, nearly breathless from her efforts to smother a +laugh. + +'Is it possible?' cried Juliet, in great amazement. 'Miss Pierson! I +thought you were ill in bed?' + +No further efforts were necessary to repress the laugh; resentment, +rather than gravity, took its place, and, with pouting lips, and a +frowning brow, she answered, 'Ill? Yes! I have had enough to make me +ill, that's sure! It's more a wonder, by half, that I a'n't dead; for I +cried so that my eyes grew quite little; and I looked quite a fright; +and I grew so hoarse that nobody could tell a word I said; though I +talked enough, I'm sure; for nothing can hinder me of my talking, if it +was never so, papa says.' + +Juliet now, upon closer enquiry, learnt that Flora had neither had a +fever, nor desired a meeting; and that Mrs Pierson had neither written +the letter, nor given any orders about a return post-chaise. + +The passing suspicions which already had occurred to Juliet in disfavour +of Sir Lyell Sycamore, returned, now, with redoubled force. That he had +made signs to the driver to quit the high road, however dismaying, she +had attributed to sudden impulse, upon meeting her alone in a +post-chaise; and had not doubted that, upon seeing the sincerity of her +resentment, he would have retired with shame and repentance: but a plan +thus concerted to get her into his power, changed apprehension into +certainty, and indignation into abhorrence. + +The happy accident to which she owed her escape, even from the +knowledge, till it was past, of her danger, she now blessed with +rapture; and the junket, so disdained and rejected, she now felt that +she could never recollect without grateful delight. + +But how return to Brighthelmstone? What vehicle find? How trust herself +to any even when procured? + +She enquired of Flora whether it were possible that Mrs Pierson could +grant her one night's lodging? + +The smiles, the dimples, and the good humour of the simple girl, all +revived, and played about her pretty face, at this request. 'O yes!' she +cried. 'Miss Ellis, I shall be so glad to have you come! for mamma and I +are so dull together that I'm quite moped. I don't like it by half as +well as I did the shop. So many smart gentlemen and ladies coming in and +out every moment! dressed so nice, and speaking so polite! I'm obliged +to wear all my worst things, now, to save my others, mamma says, for +fear of the expence. And it makes me not look as well by half, as I did +at Miss Matson's. I looked well enough there, I believe; as people told +me; at least the gentlemen. But I go such a dowd, here, that it's enough +to frighten you. I'm sure when I go to the glass, and that's a hundred +times a-day, for aught I know, if it were counted, to see what sort of a +figure I make, I could break it with pleasure, for seeing me such a +disguise; for I look quite ugly, unless I happen to be in my smilings.' + +This prattle was interrupted by a signal from Mr Tedman, that made +Juliet hope that he was now ready to depart; but, upon approaching him, +he only said, 'Come hither, my dear, and sit down a bit, upon this +bench, for we can't go yet. I have not given all my presents. And I +don't care to leave 'em!' winking significantly: 'not that I mean to +doubt any body; only it's as well have a sharp eye. We are all honestest +with good looking after.' + +Juliet now was surrounded by young farmers, who offered her cakes or +ale, and asked her hand for the ensuing dance; while young Gooch +collected around him an admiring audience, to listen to his account, how +he and the young gentlewoman, who was so pretty, had acted together in a +play. + +Mr Tedman then bid her divine how his cousin Gooch was employed, and why +the presents were not yet delivered? and upon her declared inability to +conjecture, 'Would you believe it, my dear?' he cried, 'For all Tim +drove us such a good round trot, the quality got the start of us! And +now he's in the kitchen, with cousin Gooch, taking a cup of ale!' + +The disturbance of Juliet at this intelligence, he thought simply +surprize, and continued, 'Nay, it was not easy to guess, sure enough. He +must have rid over every thing, hedge, ditch, and the like. But your +quality's not over mindful of other people's property. He's come to buy +some hay. He come o'purpose, he says. And he's a mortal good customer, +for he says nothing but, "Mighty well! That's very reasonable, indeed! I +thought it had been twice the price!" Old coz chuckles, I warrant him! +Your quality's but a poor hand at a bargain. I would not employ 'em, +between you and I. They never know what they are about.' + +They were now joined by Mr Gooch, a hale, hearty, cherry-cheeked dapper +farmer, fair in all his dealings, and upright in all his principles, +except when they had immediate reference to his professional profits. +'Well!' he cried, ''Squire!' rubbing his hands in great glee. 'I've had +a good chapman enough here! I've often seen un at our races, but I +little thought of having to chaffer with un. Howsever, one may have +worse luck with one's money. A don't much understand business. But who's +that pretty lass with ye, 'Squire? Some play-mate, I warrant, of cousin +Molly? And why did no' cousin Molly come, too? A'd a have been heartily +welcome. And perhaps a'd a picked up a sweetheart.' + +'Stop, father, stop!' cried young Gooch: 'I've something to say to you. +You know how you've always stood to it, that you would not believe a +word about all those battles, and guillotines, and the like, of Mounseer +Robert Speer, in foreign parts; though I told you, over and over, that I +had it from our club? Well! here's a person now here, in your own +grounds, that's seen it all with her own eyes! So if you don't believe +it, never believe it as long as you live.' + +'Like enough not, Tim,' answered the father: 'I do no' much give my mind +to believing all them outlandish fibs, told by travellers. I can hear +staring stories eno' by my own fire-side. And I a'n't over friendly to +believing 'em there. But, bless my heart! for a man for to come for to +go for to pretend telling me, because it be a great ways off, and I +can't find un out, that there be a place where there comes a man, who +says, every morning of his life, to as many of his fellow-creatures as a +can set eyes on, whether they be man, woman, or baby; here, mount me two +or three dozen of you into that cart, and go and have your heads chopt +off! And that they'll make no more ado, than go, only because they're +bid! Why if one will believe such staring stuff as that be, one may as +well believe that the moon be made of cream-cheese, and the like. +There's no sense in such a set of lies; for life's life every where, +even in France; though it be but a poor starving place, at best, without +pasture, or cattle; or corn, either, fit for a man for to eat.' + +'Ay, father, ay; but Bob Spear, as we call him at our club--' + +'Y're young, y're young, Tim,' interrupted Mr Gooch; 'and your +youngsters do believe every thing. When you've sowed your wild oats, +you'll know better. But we mustn't all be calves at the same time. If +there were none for to give milk, there'd be none for to suck. So it be +all for the best. And that makes me for to take it the less to heart, +when I do see you be such a gudgeon, Tim, with no more sense than to +swallow neat down every thing that do come in your way. But you'll never +thrive, Tim, till you be like to what I be; people do tell such a peck +of staring lies, that I do no' believe, nor I wo'no' believe one mortal +word by hear-say.' + +'For my part,' said Mr Tedman, 'I never enquire into all that, whether +it be true, or whether it be false; because it's nothing to me either +way; and one wastes a deal of time in idle curiosity, about things that +don't concern one; put in case one can't turn them to one's profit.' + +'That's true, coz,' said Mr Gooch; 'for as to profit, there be none to +come from foreign parts: for they be all main poor thereabout; for, they +do tell me, that there be not a man among un, as sets his eyes, above +once in his life, or thereabout, upon a golden guinea! And as to roast +beef and plum-pudding, I do hear that they do no' know the taste of such +a thing. So that they be but a poor stinted race at best, for they can +never come to their natural growth.' + +'What, then, you do believe what folks tell you sometimes, father?' +cried the son, grinning. + +'To be sure I do, Tim; when they do tell me somewhat that be worth a +man's hearing.' + +They were now joined by Mr Stubbs, who, seeing Juliet, was happy in the +opportunity of renewing her favourite enquiries, relative to the +agricultural state of the continent. + +Mr Gooch, extremely surprized, exclaimed, 'Odds heart! Why sure such a +young lass as that be, ha'n't been across seas already? Why a couldn't +make out their gibberish, I warrant me! for't be such queer stuff that +they do talk, all o'un, that there's no getting at what they'd be at; +unless one larns to speak after the same guise, like to our +boarding-school misses. I've seen one or two o'un myself, that passed +here about; but their manner o' talk was so out of the way, I could no' +make out a word they did say. T'might all be Dutch for me. And I found +'em vast ignorant. They knew no more than my horse when land ought to be +manured, from when it ought for to lie fallow. I did ask un a many +questions; but a could no' answer me, for to be understood.' + +'But, for all that, Master Gooch,' said Mr Stubbs, 'my late Lord has +told me that France is sincerely a fine country, if they knew how to +make the most of it; but the waste lands are quite out of reason; for +they are such a boggling set of farmers, that they grow nothing but what +comes, as one may say, of itself.' + +'France a fine country, Maister Stubbs? Well, that be a word I did no' +count to hear from a man of your sense. Why't be as poor a place as ye +might wish to set eyes on, all over-run with weeds, and frogs, and the +like. Why ye be as frenchified as Tim, making out them mounseers to be a +parcel of Jack the Giant-killers, lopping off heads for mere play, as a +body may say. However, here be one that's come to our hop, that be a +finer spark than there be in all France, I warrant me: for a makes a bow +as like to a mounseer, as if a was twin-brother to un; and a was so +ready to pay down his money handsomely, I could no' but say a'd be +welcome to our junket; for a says a does like such a thing more than all +them new fangled balls and concerts.' + +'Oh, and you believe that upon hear-say do you, father?' cried Tim, +sneeringly. + +'Yes, to be sure, I do, Tim. When a man do say a thing that ha' got some +sense in it, why should no' I believe un, Tim?' + +Juliet, who from what had preceded, had concluded the Baronet to be +gone, earnestly now pressed Mr Tedman to fulfil his kind engagement; but +in vain: Mr Gooch brought his best silver tankard, to insist upon his +cousin's drinking success to the new purchase, that occasioned the +junket; and Tim was outrageous at the proposal of retiring, just as the +feats were going to commence. 'Before five minutes are over,' said he, +'the pig will begin!' + +'Well,' answered Mr Tedman, 'it is but a silly thing, to be sure, things +of that sort; and I never give my mind to them; but still, as it's a +thing I never saw, put in case you've no objections, we'll just stay for +the pig, my dear.' + +Flora, having now gathered that _the quality_ meant Sir Lyell Sycamore, +began dancing and singing, in a childish extacy of delight, that shewed +her already, in idea, Lady Sycamore, when, turning to Juliet with sudden +and angry recollection, her smiles, gaiety, and capering gave way to a +bitter fit of crying, and she exclaimed, 'But if he is here, it will be +nothing to me, I dare say, if Miss Ellis is here the while; for he won't +look at me, almost, when she is by: will he? For some people play one so +false, that one might as well be as ugly as the cat, almost, when they +are in the way.' + +'Don't be fretted, Miss Flora,' cried young Gooch, soothingly; 'for I +shall ask Miss Ellis to dance myself; for as I shall begin the hop, +because of its being our own, I think I've a good right to chuse my +partner; so don't be fretted, so, Miss Flora, for you'll have the +Baronight left to you whether he will or no! But come; don't let's lose +time; if you'll follow me, you won't want sport, I can tell you; for the +beginning's to be a syllabub under the cow.' + +Flora was not too proud to accept this consolation; but Juliet +positively declared that she should not dance; and earnestly entreated +that some one might be found to conduct her to Mrs Pierson's. + +Flora, recovering her spirits, with the hopes of getting rid of her +rival, whispered, 'If you're in real right earnest, Miss Ellis, and +don't say you want to go, only to make a fool of me, which I shall take +pretty unkind, I assure you; why I can shew you the way so as you can't +miss it, if you'd never so. And I'm sure I shall be glad enough to have +you go, if I must needs speak without a compliment. Only don't tell +mamma who's here, for she don't like persons of quality, she says, +because of their bad designs; but I'm sure if she was to hear 'em talk +as I do, she'd think quite another opinion: wouldn't she?' + +Fortunately for the intentions of Juliet, which were instantly to make +known to Mrs Pierson the new danger of her daughter, Flora waited not +for any answer to this injunction; but set out, prattling incessantly as +they went on, to put the willing Juliet on her way to Lewes. + +The cry, however, from young Gooch, of 'Come! Where are the young +ladies? The pig's ready!' caught the ears of Flora, with charm not to be +resisted; and, hastily pointing out a style, to pass into the meadow, +and another, to pass thence to the high road, she capered briskly back; +fearing to miss some of the sport, if not a seat next to the Baronet. + + + + +CHAPTER L + + +Juliet, as earnest to avoid, as Flora felt eager to pursue, the opening +feats, hurried from the destined spot, after charging the simple damsel +not to make known her departure. Unavailing, however, was the caution; +and immaterial alike the prudence or the indiscretion of Flora: Juliet +had no sooner crossed the first style, than she perceived Sir Lyell +Sycamore sauntering in the meadow. + +She would promptly have returned to the farm, but a shout of noisy +merriment reached her ears from the company that she was quitting, and +pointed out the danger of passing the evening in the midst of such +turbulent and vulgar revelry. She hastened, therefore, on; but neither +the lightness of her step, nor the swiftness of her speed, could save +her from the quick approach of the Baronet. 'My angel!' he cried, +'whither are you going? and why this prodigious haste? What is it my +angel fears? Can she suppose me rascal enough, or fool enough, to make +use of any violence? No, my angel, no! I only ask to be regaled, from +your own sweet lips, with the delicious tale of divine partiality, that +the quaint old knight began revealing. I sigh, I pant to hear +confirmed--' + +'Hold, Sir Lyell!' interrupted Juliet. 'If Sir Jaspar is the author of +this astonishing mistake, I trust he will have the honour to rectify it. +When I named you to him, it was but with a view to rescue a credulous +young creature from your pursuit, whom I feared it might injure; not to +expose to it one whom it never can endanger; however deeply it may +offend.' + +Struck and disappointed at the courage and coolness of this explanation, +Sir Lyell looked mortified and amazed; but, upon seeing her reach the +style, he sprang over it, and, recovering his usual effrontery, offered +her his hand. + +Juliet knew not whether her risk were greater to proceed or to return; +but while she hesitated, a phaeton, which was driving by, stopt, and an +elderly lady, addressing the Baronet, in a tone of fawning courtesy, +enquired after his health, and added, 'So you are come to this famous +junket, Sir Lyell?' + +Sir Lyell forced a laugh, and bowed low; though he muttered, loud enough +for Juliet to hear, 'What cursed spies!' + +Juliet now perceived Mrs and Miss Brinville; and neither innocence, nor +contempt of calumny, could suppress a rising blush, at being surprised, +by persons already unfavourably disposed towards her, in a situation +apparently so suspicious. + +The countenance of the mother exhibited strong chagrin at sight of +Juliet; while the daughter, in a tone of pique, said, 'No doubt but you +are well amused, Sir Lyell?' + +They drove on; not, however, very fast, and with so little self-command, +as frequently to allow themselves to look back. This indelicacy, however +ill adapted to raise them in the esteem of the Baronet, at least rescued +Juliet from his persecution. Disconcerted himself, he felt the necessity +of decency; and, quitting her, with affected carelessness, he hummed an +air, while grumbling curses, and, swinging his switch to and fro, walked +off; not more careful that the ladies in the phaeton should see him +depart, than assiduous to avoid with them any sort of junction. + +The relief caused to Juliet by his retreat, was cruelly clouded by her +terrour of the false suggestions to which this meeting made her liable. +Neither mother nor daughter would believe it accidental; nor credit it +to have been contrived without equal guilt in both parties. Is there no +end, then, she cried, to the evils of defenceless female youth? And, +even where actual danger is escaped, must slander lie in wait, to +misconstrue the most simple actions, by surmising the most culpable +designs? + +Neither to follow the footsteps of Sir Lyell, nor to remain where he +might return, she was going back to the farm; when she was met by Flora, +who, with a species of hysterical laughter, nearly of kin to crying, +called out, 'So Ma'am! so Miss Ellis! I've caught you at last! I've +surprised you at last! a-courting with my sweetheart!' + +Pitying her credulous ignorance, Juliet would have cleared up this +mistake; but the petulant Flora would not listen. 'I'll speak to the +gentleman myself!' she cried, running forward to the style; 'for I have +found out your design; so it's of no use to deny it! I saw you together +all the way I came; so you may as well not try to make a ninny of me, +Miss Ellis, for it i'n't so easy!' + +Catching a glimpse of the Baronet as he descended the road, she jumped +over the style to run after him; but seeing him look round, and, though +he perceived her, quietly walk on, she stopt, crying bitterly: 'Very +well, Miss Ellis! very well! you've got your ends! I see that! and, I +don't thank you for it, I assure you, for I liked him very well; and it +i'n't so easy to find a man of quality every day; so it i'n't doing as +you'd be done by; for nobody likes much to be forsaken, no more than I, +I believe, for it i'n't so agreeable. And I had rather you had not +served me so by half! In particular for a man of quality!' + +Juliet, though vainly, was endeavouring to appease and console her, when +a young lady, bending eagerly from the window of a post chaise which was +passing by, ejaculated, 'Ellis!' and Juliet, with extreme satisfaction, +perceived Elinor. + +The chaise stopt, and Juliet advanced to it with alacrity; but before +she could speak, the impatient Elinor, still looking pale, meagre, and +wretched, burst forth, with rapid and trembling energy, into a string of +disordered, incoherent, scarcely intelligible interrogatories. 'Ellis! +what brings you to this spot?--Whither is it you go?--What project are +you forming?--What purpose are you fulfilling?--Whom are you +flying--Whom are you following?--What is it you design?--What is it you +wish?--Why are you here alone?--Where--Where--' + +Leaning, then, still further out of the window, she fixed her nearly +haggard, yet piercing eyes upon those of Juliet, and, in a hollow voice, +dictatorially added: 'Where--tell me, I charge you! where--is Harleigh?' + +Consternation at sight of her altered countenance, and affright at the +impetuosity of her questions, produced a hesitation in the answer of +Juliet, that, to the agitated Elinor, seemed the effect of surprised +guilt. Her pallid cheeks then burnt with the mixed feelings of triumph +and indignation; yet her voice sought to disguise her wounded feelings, +and in subdued, though broken accents, ''Tis well!' she cried, 'You no +longer, at least, seek to deceive me, and I thank you!' Deaf to +explanation or representation, she then hurried her weak frame from the +chaise, aided by her foreign lackey; and, directing Juliet to follow, +crossed the road to a rising ground upon the Downs; seated herself; sent +off her assistant, and made Juliet take a place by her side; while Flora +returned, crying and alone, to the farm. + +'Now, then,' she said, 'that you try no more to delude, to cajole, to +blind me, tell me now, and in two words,--where is Harleigh?' + +'Believe me, Madam,--' Juliet was tremblingly beginning, when Elinor, +casting off the little she had assumed of self-command, passionately, +cried, 'Must I again be played upon by freezing caution and duplicity? +Must I die without end the lingering death of cold inaction and +uncertainty? breathe for ever without living? Where, I demand, is +Harleigh? Where have you concealed him? Why will Harleigh, the noble +Harleigh, degrade himself by any concealment? Why stoop to the subtilty +of circumspection, to spare himself the appearance of destroying one +whose head, heart, and vitals, all feel the reality of the destruction +he inflicts? And yet not he! No, no! 'tis my own ruthless star! He loves +me not! he is not responsible for my misery, though he is master of my +fate! Where is he? where is he? You,--who are the tyrant of his! tell +me, and at once!' + +'I solemnly protest to you, Madam, with the singleness of the most +scrupulous truth,' cried Juliet, recovering her presence of mind, 'I am +entirely ignorant of his abode, his occupations, and his intentions.' Ah +why, she secretly added, am I not equally unacquainted with his feelings +and his wishes! + +Unable to discredit the candour with which this was pronounced, and +filled with wonder, yet involuntarily consoled, the features of Elinor +lost their rigidity, and her eyes their fierceness; and, in milder +accents, she replied, 'Strange! how strange! Where, then, can he +be?--with whom?--how employed?--Does he fly the whole world as well as +Elinor? Has no one his society?--no one his confidence?--his society, +which, by contrast, makes all existence without it disgusting!--his +confidence, which, to obtain, I would yet live, though doomed daily to +the rack! O Harleigh! love like mine, who has felt?--love like mine, who +but you, O matchless Harleigh! ever inspired!' + +Tears now gushed into her eyes. Ashamed, and angry with herself, she +hastily brushed them off with the back of her hand, and, with forced +vivacity, continued, 'He thinks, perchance, to sicken me into the pining +end of a love-sick consumption? to avert the kindly bowl or dagger, that +cut short human misery, for the languors, the sufferings, and despair of +a loathsome natural death? And for what?--to restore, to preserve me? +No! I have no share in the arrangement; no interest, no advantage from +the plan. Appearances alone are considered; all else is regarded as +immaterial; or sacrificed. And he, Harleigh, the noblest,--the only +noble of men!--can level himself with the narrowest and most illiberal +of his race, to pay coward obeisance to appearances!' + +Again she then repeated her personal interrogatories to Juliet; and +demanded whether she should set off immediately for Gretna Green, with +Lord Melbury; or whether she must wait till he should be of age. + +'Neither!' Juliet solemnly answered; and frankly recounted her recent +difficulties; and entreated the advice of Elinor for adopting another +plan of life. + +Elinor, interrupting her, said, 'Nay, 'twas your own choice, you know, +to live in a garret, and hem pocket-handkerchiefs.' + +'Choice, Madam! Alas! deprived of all but personal resource, I fixed +upon a mode of life that promised me, at least, my mental freedom. I was +not then aware how imaginary is the independence, that hangs for support +upon the uncertain fruits of daily exertions! Independent, indeed, such +situations may be deemed from the oppressions of power, or the tyrannies +of caprice and ill humour; but the difficulty of obtaining employment, +the irregularity of pay, the dread of want,--ah! what is freedom but a +name, for those who have not an hour at command from the subjection of +fearful penury and distress?' + +'If all this is so,' said Elinor, 'which, unless you wait for Lord +Melbury's majority, is more than incomprehensible; what say you, now, to +an asylum safe, at least, from torments of this sort;--will you +commission me, at length, to apply to Mrs Ireton?' + +Juliet, instinctively, recoiled at the very name of that lady; yet a +little reflection upon the dangers to which she was now exposed, through +unprotected poverty; through the lawless pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; +and the vindictive calumnies of the Brinvilles, made the wish of solid +safety repress the disgusts of offended sensibility; and, after a +painful pause, she recommended herself to the support of Elinor: +resolving to accept, for the moment, any proposition, that might secure +her an honourable refuge from want and misconception. + +Elinor, looking at her suspiciously, said, 'And Harleigh?--Will he let +you submit to such slavery?' + +Mr Harleigh, Juliet protested, could have no influence upon her +determination. + +'But you yourself, who a month or two ago, could so ill bear her +tauntings, how is it you are thus suddenly endued with so much +humility?' + +'Alas, Madam, all choice, all taste, all obstacles sink before +necessity! When I came over, I had expectations of immediate succour. I +knew not that the friend I sought was herself ruined, as well as +unhappy! I had hopes, too, of speedy intelligence that might have +liberated me from all my difficulties....' + +She stopt; Elinor exclaimed, 'From whence?--From abroad?--' + +Juliet was silent; and Elinor, after a few passing sallies against +secrets and mystery, sarcastically bid her consider, before she adopted +this new scheme, that Harleigh never visited at Mrs Ireton's; having +taken, in equal portions, a dose of aversion for the mother, and of +contempt for the son. + +Juliet calmly replied, that such a circumstance could be but an +additional motive to seek the situation; and, hopeless, for the moment, +of doing better, seriously begged that proper measures might be taken to +accelerate the plan. + +Elinor, now, from mingled wonder, satisfaction, and scorn, recovered all +her wonted vivacity. 'You are really, and bona fide, contented, then,' +she cried, 'to be shut up as completely from Harleigh, through his +horrour of that woman's irascible temper, as if you were separated by +bolts, bars, dungeons, towers, and bastilles? I applaud your taste, and +wish you the full enjoyment of its fruits! Yet what materials you can be +made of, to see the first of men at your feet, and voluntarily to fly +him, to be trampled under by those of the most odious of women, I cannot +divine! 'Tis an exuberance of apathy that surpasses my comprehension. +And can He, the spirited Harleigh, love, adore, such a composition of +ice, of snow, of marble?' + +She could not, however, disguise the elation with which she looked +forward, to depositing Juliet where information might constantly be +procured of her visitors and her actions. They went together to the +carriage; and Elinor conveyed her submissive and contemned, yet +agonizingly envied rival, to Brighthelmstone. + +In her usually unguarded manner, Elinor, by the way, communicated the +various, but successless efforts by which she had endeavoured to gain +intelligence whither Harleigh had rambled. 'If I pursued him,' she +cried, 'with the vanity of hope; or with the meanness of flattery, he +would do well to shun me; but the pure-minded Harleigh is capable of +believing, that the moment is over for Elinor to desire to be his! And, +to sustain at once and shew my principles, I never seek his sight, but +in presence of her who has blasted even my wishes! Else, thus +clamourously to invoke, thus pertinaciously to follow him, might, +indeed, merit avoidance. But Elinor, now, would be as superiour to +accepting, ... as she is to forgetting him!' + +'Yet his obdurate seclusion,' she continued, 'is the only mark I +receive, that I escape his disdain. It shews me that he fears the event +of a meeting. He does not, therefore, utterly deride the pusillanimity +of my abortive attempt. O could I justify his good opinion!--All others, +I doubt not, insult me by the most ludicrous suspicions; they are +welcome. They judge me by their little-minded selves. But thou, O +Harleigh! could I see thee once more!--in thy sight, thy loved sight, +could I sink, at last, my sorrows and my disgrace to rest! to oblivion, +to sleep eternal!'-- + +Vainly Juliet essayed to plead the cause of religion, and the duties of +life; unanswered, unmarked, unheard, she talked but to the air. All that +was uttered in return, began and ended alike with Harleigh, death, and +annihilation. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + + +Juliet could not but be gratified by a circumstance so important to her +reputation, with the Brinvilles, and with those among the inhabitants of +Brighthelmstone to whom she was known, as that of being brought home by +Miss Joddrel, after an adventure that must unavoidably raise curiosity, +and that threatened to excite slander. For with however just a pride +wronged innocence may disdain injurious aspersions, female fame, like +the wife of Cæsar, ought never to be suspected. + +The celerity of the motions of Elinor, nearly equalled the quickness of +her ideas. Her lackey arrived the next morning, to help to convey +Juliet, and her baggage, immediately to the dwelling of Mrs Ireton; with +a note from his mistress, indicating that Mrs Ireton was already +prepared to take her for a companion. 'An humble companion,' Elinor +wrote, 'I need not add; I had nearly said a pitiful one; for who would +voluntarily live with such an antidote to all the comforts of life, that +has spirit, sense, or soul? O envied Ellis! how potent must be the +passion, the infatuation, that can make Harleigh view such meanness as +grace, and adore it as dignity!--O icy Ellis!--but the human heart would +want strength to support such pre-eminent honour, were it bestowed upon +a mind gifted for its appreciation!' + +Then again, wishing her joy of her taste, she assured her that it was +reciprocated; for Mrs Ireton was all impatience to display, to a new +dependent, her fortune, her power, and her magnificence. + +Juliet, with her answer of thanks for this service, wrote a few lines +for Mrs Pierson, which she begged the messenger to deliver. They were to +warn the imprudent, or deceived mother of the dangerous state of mind in +which her daughter still continued; and to give her notice that Sir +Lyell Sycamore, who could not be guarded against too carefully, was +still in the neighbourhood. + +With a mind revolting from a measure which, while prudence, if not +necessity, dictated, choice and feeling opposed, she now quitted her +mantua-maker's abode, to set out for her new destination; seeking to +cheer herself that, at least, by this step, she should be secured from +the licentious pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; the envenomed shafts of +calumny of the enraged Brinvilles; the perpetual terrour of debts; and +the cruel apprehension of want. + +She had not far to go; but the mortifications, for which she prepared +herself, began by the very sight of the dwelling into which she was to +enter. Mrs Ireton had taken the house of Mrs Howel:--that house in which +Juliet had first, after her arrival in England, received consolation in +her distresses; been melted by kindness; or animated by approbation. +There, too, indeed, she had experienced the pain which she had felt the +most severely; for there all the soothing consideration, so precious to +her sorrows, had abruptly been broken off, to give place to an assault +the most shocking upon her intentions, her probity, her character. + +Here, too, she had suffered the cruel affront, and heartfelt grief, of +seeing the ingenuous, amiable Lord Melbury forget what was due to the +rights of hospitality; to his own character; and to the respect due to +his sister: and here she had witnessed his sincere and candid +repentance; here had been softened, touched, and penetrated by the +impressive anguish of his humiliation. + +These remembrances, and the various affecting and interesting ideas by +which they were accompanied, gave a dejection to her thoughts, and a +sadness to her air, that would have awakened an interest in her favour, +in any one whose heart had been open to the feelings of others: but the +person under whose protection she was now to place herself, was a +stranger to every species of sensation that was not personal. And where +the calls of self upon sensibility are unremitting, what must be the +stock that will gift us, also, with supply sufficient for our +fellow-creatures? + +She found Mrs Ireton reclining upon a sofa; at the side of which, upon a +green velvet cushion, lay a tiny old lap dog, whom a little boy, +evidently too wanton to find pleasure but in mischief, was secretly +tormenting, by displaying before him the breast bone of a chicken, which +he had snatched from the platter of the animal; and which, the moment +that he made it touch the mouth of the cur, he hid, with all its fat and +its grease, in his own waistcoat pocket. + +Near to these two almost equally indulged and spoilt animals, stood a +nursery maid, with a duster and an hearth-broom in her hands, who was +evidently incensed beyond her pittance of patience, from clearing away, +repeatedly, their joint litter and dirt. + +Scared, and keeping humbly aloof, near a window frame, stood, also, a +little girl, of ten or twelve years of age, who, as Juliet afterwards +heard from the angry nursery maid, was an orphan, that had been put to a +charity school by Mrs Ireton, as her particular _protegée_; and who was +now, for the eighth time, by the direction of her governess, come to +solicit the arrears due from the very beginning of her school +instruction. + +Yet another trembler, though not one equally, at this moment, to be +pitied, held the handle of the lock of the door; not having received +intelligible orders to advance, or to depart. This was a young negro, +who was the favourite, because the most submissive servant of Mrs +Ireton; and whose trembling was simply from the fear that his lady might +remark a grin which he could not repress, as he looked at the child and +the dog. + +Mrs Ireton herself, though her restless eye roved incessantly from +object to object, in search of various food for her spleen, was +ostensibly occupied in examining, and decrying, the goods of a Mercer; +but when Juliet, finding herself unnoticed, was retreating, she called +out, 'O, you are there, are you? I did not see you, I protest. But come +this way, if you please. I can't possibly speak so far off.' + +The authoritative tone in which this was uttered, joined to what Juliet +observed of the general tyranny exercised around her, intimidated and +shocked her; and she stood still, and nearly confounded. + +Mrs Ireton, holding her hand above her eyes, as if to aid her sight, and +stretching forward her head, said, 'Who is that?--pray who's there?--I +imagined it had been a person I had sent for; but I must certainly be +mistaken, as she does not come to me. Pray has any body here a spying +glass? I really can't see so far off. I beg pardon for having such bad +eyes! I hope you'll forgive it. Let me know, however, who it is, I beg.' + +Juliet tried to speak, but felt so confused and disturbed what to +answer, that she could not clearly articulate a word. + +'You won't tell me, then?' continued Mrs Ireton, lowering her voice +nearly to a whisper, 'or is it that I am not heard? Has any body got a +speaking trumpet? or do you think my lungs so capacious and powerful, +that they may take its place?' + +Juliet, now, though most unwillingly, moved forward; and Mrs Ireton, +surveying her, said, 'Yes, yes, I see who you are! I recollect you now, +Mrs ... Mrs ... I forget your name, though, I protest. I can't recollect +your name, I own. I'm quite ashamed, but I really cannot call it to +mind. I must beg a little help. What is it? What is your name, Mrs ... +Mrs ... Hay?--Mrs ... What?' + +Colouring and stammering, Juliet answered, that she had hoped Miss +Joddrel would have saved her this explanation, by mentioning that she +was called Miss Ellis. + +'Called?' repeated Mrs Ireton; 'what do you mean by called?--who calls +you?--What are you called for?--Why do you wait to be called?--And where +are you called from?' + +The entire silence of Juliet to these interrogatories, gave a moment to +the mercer to ask for orders. + +'You are in haste, Sir, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'I have your pardon +to beg, too, have I? I am really very unfortunate this morning. However, +pray take your things away, Sir, if it's so immensely troublesome to you +to exhibit them. Only be so good as to acquaint your chief, whoever he +may be, that you had not time to wait for me to make any purchase.' + +The man offered the humblest apologies, which were all disdained; and +self-defending excuses, which were all retorted; he was peremptorily +ordered to be gone; with an assurance that he should answer for his +disrespect to his master; who, she flattered herself, would give him a +lesson of better behaviour, by the loss of his employment. + +Harassed with apprehension of what she had to expect in this new +residence, Juliet would silently have followed him. + +'Stay, Ma'am, stay!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'give me leave to ask one +question:--whither are you going, Mrs ... what's your name?' + +'I ... I feared, Madam, that I had come too soon.' + +'O, that's it, is it? I have not paid you sufficient attention, +perhaps?--Nay it's very likely. I did not run up to receive you, I +confess. I did not open my arms to embrace you, I own! It was very wrong +of me, certainly. But I am apt to forget myself. I want a flapper +prodigiously. I know nothing of life,--nothing of manners. Perhaps you +will be so good as to become my monitress? 'Twill be vastly kind of you. +And who knows but, in time, you may form me? How happy it will be if you +can make something of me!' + +The maid, now, tired of wiping up splash after splash, and rubbing out +spot after spot; finding her work always renewed by the mischievous +little boy, was sullenly walking to the other end of the room. + +'O, you're departing too, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'and pray who +dismissed you? whose commands have you for going? Inform me, I beg, who +it is that is so kind as to take the trouble off my hands, of ordering +my servants? I ought at least to make them my humble acknowledgements. +There's nothing so frightful as ingratitude.' + +The maid, not comprehending this irony, grumblingly answered, that she +had wiped up the grease and the slops till her arms ached; for the +little boy made more dirt and nastiness than the cur himself. + +'The boy?--The cur?--What's all this?' cried Mrs Ireton; 'who, and what, +is the woman talking of? The boy? Has the boy no name?--The cur? Have +you no more respect for your lady's lap dog?--Grease +too?--Nastiness!--you turn me sick! I am ready to faint! What horrible +images you present to me! Has nobody any salts? any lavendar-water? How +unfortunate it is to have such nerves, such sensations, when one lives +with such mere speaking machines!' + +She then cast around her eyes, with a look of silent, but pathetic +appeal to the sensibility of all who were within sight, against this +unheard of indignity; but her speech was soon restored, from mingled +wrath and surprise, upon perceiving her favourite young negro nearly +suffocating with stifled laughter, though thrusting both his knuckles +into his capacious mouth, to prevent its loud explosion. + +'So this amuses you, does it, Sir? You think it very comical? You are so +kind as to be entertained, are you? How happy I am to give you so much +pleasure! How proud I ought to be to afford you such diversion! I shall +make it my business to shew my sense of my good fortune; and, to give +you a proof, Sir, of my desire to contribute to your gaiety, to-morrow +morning I will have you shipped back to the West Indies. And there, that +your joy may be complete, I shall issue orders that you may be striped +till you jump, and that you may jump,--you little black imp!--between +every stripe!' + +The foolish mirth of poor Mungo was now converted into the fearfulest +dismay. He dropt upon his knees to implore forgiveness; but he was +peremptorily ordered to depart, with an assurance that he should keep up +his fine spirits upon bread and water for a fortnight. + +If disgust, now, was painted upon every feature of the face of Juliet, +at this mixture of forced derision with but too natural inhumanity, the +feeling which excited that expression was by no means softened, by +seeing Mrs Ireton turn next to the timid young orphan, imperiously +saying, 'And you, Ma'am, what may you stand there for, with your hands +before you? Have you nothing better to do with them? Can't you find out +some way to make them more useful? or do you hold it more fitting to +consider them as only ornamental? They are very pretty, to be sure. I +say nothing to the contrary of that. But I should suppose you don't +quite intend to reserve them for mere objects of admiration? You don't +absolutely mean, I presume, to devote them to the painter's eye? or to +destine them to the sculptor's chisel? I should think not, at least. I +should imagine not. I beg you to set me right if I am wrong.' + +The poor little girl, staring, and looking every way around to find some +meaning for what she did not comprehend, could only utter a faint +'Ma'am!' in a tone of so much fear and distress, that Juliet, unable, +silently, to witness oppression so wanton, came forward to say, 'The +poor child, Ma'am, only wishes to understand your commands, that she may +obey them.' + +'O! they are not clear, I suppose? They are too abstruse, I imagine?' +contemptuously replied Mrs Ireton. 'And you, who are kind enough to +offer yourself for my companion; who think yourself sufficiently +accomplished to amuse,--perhaps instruct me,--you, also, have not the +wit to find out, what a little chit of an ordinary girl can do better +with her hands, than to stand still, pulling her own fingers?' + +Juliet, now, believing that she had discovered what was meant, kindly +took the little girl by the arm, and pointed to the just overturned +water-bason of the dog. + +'But I don't know where to get a cloth, Ma'am?' said the child. + +'A cloth?--In my wardrobe, to be sure!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'amongst my +gowns, and caps, and hats. Where else should there be dirty cloths, and +dusters, and dish-clouts? Do you know of any other place where they are +likely to be found? Why don't you answer?' + +'Ma'am?' + +'You never heard, perhaps, of such a place as a kitchen? You don't know +where it is? nor what it means? You have only heard talk of +drawing-rooms, dressing-rooms, boudoirs? or, perhaps, sometimes, of a +corridor, or a vestibule, or an anti-chamber? But nothing beyond!--A +kitchen!--O, fie, fie!' + +Juliet now hurried the little girl away, to demand a cloth of the house +maid; but the moment that she returned with it, Mrs Ireton called out, +'And what would you do, now, Ma'am? Make yourself all dirt and filth, +that you may go back to your school, to shew the delicate state of my +house? To make your mistress, and all her brats, believe that I live in +a pig-stie? Or to spread abroad that I have not servants enough to do my +work, and that I seize upon you to supply their place? But I beg your +pardon; perhaps that may be your way to shew your gratitude? To manifest +your sense of my saving you from the work-house? to reward me for +snatching you from beggary, and want, and starving?' + +The poor little girl burst into tears, but courtsied, and quitted the +room; while Mrs Ireton called after her, to desire that she would +acquaint her governess, that she should certainly be paid the following +week. + +Juliet now stood in scarcely less dismay than she had been witnessing +all around her; panic-struck to find herself in the power of a person +whose character was so wantonly tyrannic and irascible. + +The fortunate entrance of some company enabled her, for the present, to +retreat; and to demand, of one of the servants, the way to her chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + + +From the heightened disgust which she now conceived against her new +patroness, Juliet severely repented the step that she had taken. And if +her entrance into the family contributed so little to her contentment, +her subsequent introduction into her office was still less calculated to +exhilarate her spirits. Her baggage was scarcely deposited in a handsome +chamber, of which the hangings, and decorations, as of every part of the +mansion, were sumptuous for the spectator; but in which there was a +dearth of almost every thing that constitutes comfort to the immediate +dweller; ere she was summoned back, by a hasty order to the +drawing-room. + +Mrs Ireton, who was reading a news-paper, did not, for some time, raise +her head; though a glance of her eye procured her the satisfaction of +seeing that her call had been obeyed. Juliet, at first, stood modestly +waiting for commands; but, receiving none, sat down, though at an humble +distance; determined to abide by the consequences, be they what they +might, of considering herself as, at least, above a common domestic. + +This action shortened the term of neglect; Mrs Ireton, letting the +news-paper fall, exclaimed, in a tone of affected alarm, 'Are you ill, +Ma'am? Are you disordered? I hope you are not subject to fits?' + +Juliet coldly answered No. + +'I am very glad to hear it, indeed! Very happy, upon my word! I was +afraid you were going to faint away! But I find that you are only +delicate; only fatigued by descending the stairs. I ought, indeed, to +have sent somebody to help you; somebody you could have leant upon as +you came along. I was very stupid not to think of that. I hope you'll +pardon me?' + +Juliet looked down, but kept her place. + +Mrs Ireton, a little nettled, was silent a few minutes, and then said, +'Pray,--if I may ask,--if it will not be too great a liberty to +ask,--what have been your pursuits since I had the honour of +accompanying you to London? How have you passed your time? I hope you +have found something to amuse you?' + +Juliet sighed a negative. + +'You have been studying the fine arts, I am told. +Painting?--Drawing?--Sculpture?--or what is it?--Something of that sort, +I am informed. Pray what is it, Mrs Thing-a-mi?--I am always forgetting +your name. Yet you have certainly a name; but I don't know how it is, I +can never remember it. I believe I must beg you to write it down.' + +Juliet again only sighed. + +'Perhaps I am making a mistake as to your occupations? Very likely I may +be quite in the wrong? Indeed I think I recollect, now, what it is you +have been doing. Acting?--That's it. Is it not? Pray what stage did you +come out upon first? Did you begin wearing your itinerant buskins in +England, or abroad?' + +'Where I began, Madam, I have ended; at Mrs Maple's.' + +'And pray, have you kept that same face ever since I saw you in +Grosvenor Square? or have you put it on again only now, to come back to +me? I rather suppose you have made it last the whole time. It would be +very expensive, I apprehend, to change it frequently: it can by no means +be so costly to keep it only in repair. How do you put on your colours? +I have heard of somebody who had learnt the art of enamelling their own +skin: is that your method?' + +Waiting vainly for an answer, she went on. + +'Pray, if I may presume so far, how old are you?--But I beg pardon for +so indiscreet a question. I did not reflect upon what I was saying. Very +possibly your age may be indefinable. You may be a person of another +century. A wandering Jewess. I never heard that the old Jew had a wife, +or a mother, who partook of his longevity; but very likely I may now +have the pleasure of seeing one of his family under my own roof? That +red and white, that you lay on so happily, may just as well hide the +wrinkles of two or three grand climacterics, as of only a poor single +sixty or seventy years of age. However, these are secrets that I don't +presume to enquire into. Every trade has its mystery.' + +These splenetic witticisms producing no reply, Mrs Ireton, more +categorically, demanded, 'Pray, Ma'am, pray Mrs What's-your-name, will +you give me leave to ask what brings you to my house?' + +'Miss Joddrel, Madam, informed me that you desired my attendance.' + +'Yes; but with what view?' + +Disconcerted by this interrogatory, Juliet stammered, but could devise +no answer. + +'To what end, what purpose, what intent, I say, may I owe the honour of +your presence?' + +The office pointed out by Elinor, of an humble companion, now died the +cheeks of Juliet with shame; but resentment of the palpable desire to +hear its mortifying acknowledgement, tied her tongue; and though each of +the following interrogatories was succeeded by a pause that demanded a +reply, she could not bring herself to utter a word. + +'You are hardly come, I should imagine, without some motive: I may be +mistaken, to be sure; but I should hardly imagine you would take the +trouble to present yourself merely to afford me the pleasure of seeing +you?--Not but that I ought to be extremely flattered by such a +compliment. 'Twould be vastly amiable, certainly. A lady of your +indescribable consequence! 'Twould be difficult to me to shew an +adequate sense of so high an honour. I am distressed at the very thought +of it.--But perhaps you may have some other design?--You may have the +generosity to intend me some improvement?--You may come to favour me +with some lessons of declamation?--Who knows but you may propose to make +an actress of me?--Or perhaps to instruct me how to become an adept in +your own favourite art of face-daubing?' + +At least, thought Juliet, I need not give you any lessons in the _art of +ingeniously tormenting_! There you are perfect! + +'What! no answer yet?--Am I always so unfortunate as to hit upon +improper subjects?--To ask questions that merit no reply?--I am quite +confounded at my want of judgment! Excuse it, I entreat, and aid me out +of this unprofitable labyrinth of conjecture, by telling me, at once, to +what happy inspiration I am indebted for the pleasure of receiving you +in my house?' + +Juliet pleaded again the directions of Miss Joddrel. + +'Miss Joddrel told you to come, then, only to come?--Only to shew +yourself?--Well, you are worth looking at, I acknowledge, to those who +have seen you formerly. The transformation must always be curious: I +only hope you intend to renew it, from time to time, to keep admiration +alive? That pretty face you exhibit at present, may lose its charms, if +it should become familiar. When shall you put on the other again, that I +had the pleasure to see you in first?' + +Fatigued and spiritless, Juliet would have retired; but Mrs Ireton +called after her, 'O! you are going, are you? Pray may I take the +liberty to ask whither?' + +Again Juliet was silent. + +'You mean perhaps to repose yourself?--or, may be, to pursue your +studies?--or, perhaps, you may have some visits upon your hands?--And +you may only have done me the favour to enter my house to find time to +follow your humour?--You may think it sufficient honour for me, that I +may be at the expence of your board, and find you in lodging, and +furniture, and fire, and candles, and servants?--you may hold this ample +recompense for such an insignificant person as I am? I ought to be much +obliged to Miss Joddrel, upon my word, for bringing me into such +distinction! I had understood her, indeed, that you would come to me as +my humble companion.' + +Juliet, cruelly shocked, turned away her head. + +'And I was stupid enough to suppose, that that meant a person who could +be of some use, and some agreeability; a person who could read to me +when I was tired, and who, when I had nobody else, could talk to me; and +find out a thousand little things for me all day long; coming and going; +prating, or holding her tongue; doing every thing she was bid; and +keeping always at hand.' + +Juliet, colouring at this true, however insulting description of what +she had undertaken, secretly revolved in her mind, how to renounce, at +once, an office which seemed to invite mortification, and license +sarcasm. + +'But I perceive I was mistaken! I perceive I knew nothing of the matter! +It only means a fine lady! a lady that's so delicate it fatigues her to +walk down stairs; a lady who is so independent, that she retires to her +room at pleasure; a lady who disdains to speak but when she is disposed, +for her own satisfaction, to talk; a lady--' + +'A lady who, indeed, Madam,' said the tired Juliet, 'weighed too little +what she attempted, when she hoped to find means of obtaining your +favour; but who now sees her errour, and entreats at once your pardon +and dismission.' + +She then courtsied respectfully, but, though called back even with +vehemence, steadily left the room. + +Not, however, with triumph did she return to her own. The justice of the +sensibility which urged her retreat, could not obviate its imprudence, +or avert its consequences. She was wholly without friends, without +money, without protection, without succour; and the horrour of a +licentious pursuit, and the mischiefs menaced by calumniating ill +wishers, still made a lonely residence as unsafe as when her first +terrour drove her to acquiesce in the proposition of Elinor. Yet, though +she could not exult, she could not repent: how desire, how even support +a situation so sordid? a situation not only distressing, but oppressive; +not merely cruel, but degrading. + +She was preparing, therefore, for immediate departure, when she was +stopt by a footman, who informed her that Mrs Ireton demanded to see her +without delay. + +The expectation of reproach made her hesitate whether to obey this +order; but a desire not to have the air of meriting it, by the defiance +of a refusal, led her again to the dressing-room. + +Here, however, to her great surprise, instead of the haughty or taunting +upbraidings for which she was prepared, she was received with a gracious +inclination of the head; while the footman was told to give her a chair. + +Mrs Ireton, then, fixing her eyes upon a pamphlet which she held in her +hand; that she might avoid taking any notice of the stiff and decided +air with which Juliet stood still, though amazed, said, 'My bookseller +has just sent me something to look at, which may serve for a beginning +of our readings.' + +Juliet now saw, that, however imperiously she had been treated, Mrs +Ireton had no intention to part with her. She saw, too, that that lady +was amongst the many, though terrible characters, who think superior +rank or fortune authorises perverseness, and legitimates arrogance; who +hold the display of ill humour to be the display and mark of power; and +who set no other boundary to their pleasure in the art of tormenting, +than that which, if passed, might endanger their losing its object. She +wished, more than ever, to avoid all connexion with a nature so wilfully +tyrannic; but Mrs Ireton, who read in her dignified demeanour, that a +spirit was awakened which threatened the escape of her prey, determined +to shun any discussion. Suddenly, therefore, rising, and violently +ringing the bell, she exclaimed, 'I dare say those fools have not placed +half the things you want in your chamber; but I shall make Whitly see +immediately that all is arranged as it ought to be.' + +She then gave some parading directions, that Miss Ellis should want for +nothing; and, affecting not to perceive the palpable design of Juliet +to decline these tardy attentions, graciously nodded her head, and +passed into another room. + +Juliet, not absolutely softened, yet somewhat appeased, again hesitated. +A road seemed open, by some exertion of spirit, for obtaining better +treatment; and however ungenial to her feelings was a character whose +humours submitted to no restraint, save to ensure their own lengthened +indulgence, still, in appearing more contemptible, it became less +tremendous. + +She began, also, to see her office as less debasing. Why, she cried, +should I exaggerate my torments, by blindly giving into received +opinions, without examining whether here, as in all things else, there +may not be exceptions to general rules? A sycophant must always be +despicable; a parasite must eternally deserve scorn; but may there not +be a possibility of uniting the affluent with the necessitous upon more +equitable terms? May not some medium be hit upon, between oppression on +one side, and servility on the other? If we are not worthless because +indigent, why conclude ourselves abject because dependent? Happiness, +indeed, dwells not with undue subordination; but the exertion of talents +in our own service can never in itself be vile. It can only become so +where it is mingled and contaminated with flattery, with unfitting +obsequiousness, and unworthy submissions. They who simply repay being +sustained and protected, by a desire to please, a readiness to serve, a +wish to instruct; without falsehood in their counsels, without adulation +in their civilities, without meanness in their manners and conduct; have +at least as just a claim to respect and consideration, for their +services and their labours, as those who, merely through pecuniary +retribution, reap their fruits. + +This idea better reconciled her with her condition; and she blessed her +happy acquaintance with Mr Giles Arbe, which had strengthened her +naturally philosophical turn of mind, by leading her to this simple, yet +useful style of reasoning. + +The rest of the day was propitious to her new views. The storms with +which it had begun subsided, and a calm ensued, in which Mrs Ireton set +apart her querulous irascibility, and forbore her contemptuous +interrogatories. + +The servants were ordered not to neglect Miss Ellis; and Miss Ellis +received permission to carry to her own apartment, any books from off +the piano forte or tables, that might contribute to her amusement. + +Juliet was not of a character to take advantage of a moment of +concession, even in an enemy. The high and grave deportment, therefore, +which had thus happily raised alarm, had no sooner answered its purpose, +than she suffered it to give place to an air of gentleness, more +congenial to her native feelings: and, the next morning, subduing her +resentment, and submitting, with the best grace in her power, to the +business of her office, she cheerfully proposed reading; complied with +the first request that was made her to play upon the piano-forte and the +harp; and even, to sing; though, not so promptly; for her voice and +sensibility were less ductile than her manners. But she determined to +leave nothing untried, that could prove, that it was not more easy to +stimulate her pride by indignity, than to animate her desire to oblige +by mild usage. + +This resolution on her part, which the fear of losing her, on that of +Mrs Ireton, gave time to operate, brought into play so many brilliant +accomplishments, and opened to her patroness such sources of amusement, +that, while Juliet began to hope she had found a situation which she +might sustain till her suspences should be over, Mrs Ireton conceived +that she had met with a treasure, which might rescue her unoccupied +hours from weariness and spleen. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + + +This delusion, unfortunately, was not of long duration on either side. +Mrs Ireton no sooner observed that Juliet appeared to be settled, than +all zest for detaining her ceased; no sooner became accustomed to +hearing at will the harp, or the piano-forte, than she found something +to say, or to do, that interrupted the performance every four or five +bars; and had no sooner secured a reader whose voice she could command +at pleasure, than she either quarrelled with every book that was begun; +or yawned, or fondled and talked aloud to her little lap dog, during the +whole time that any work was read. + +This quick abatement in the power of pleasing, was supported by Juliet +with indifference rather than philosophy. Where interest alone is +concerned, disappointment is rarely heavy with the young and generous. +Age, or misfortune, must teach the value of pecuniary considerations, to +give them force. Yet, though no tender affections, no cherished hopes, +no favourite feelings were in the power of Mrs Ireton, every moment of +time, and consequently all means of comfort, were at her disposal. +Juliet languished, therefore, though she would not repine; and though +she was not afflicted at heart, she sickened with disgust. + +The urgency of finding security from immediate insult and want, induced +her, nevertheless, to persevere in her fortitude for supporting, and her +efforts for ameliorating her situation. But, the novelty over, all +labour was vain, all success was at an end; and, in a very short time, +she would have contributed no more to the expulsion of spleen, than any +other inmate of the house; had not her superiour acquirements opened a +more extensive field for the exercise of tyranny and caprice. And in +that exercise alone, Juliet soon saw, consisted every sensation of +pleasure of which Mrs Ireton was susceptible. + +Of the many new tasks of Juliet, that which she found the most severe, +was inventing amusement for another while sad and dispirited herself. It +was her duty to be always at hand, early or late; it was her business to +furnish entertainment, whether sick or well. Success, therefore, was +unacknowledged, though failure was resented. There was no relaxation to +her toil, no rest for her person, no recruit for her spirits. From her +sleep alone she could purloin the few minutes that she dedicated to her +pen and her Gabriella. + +If a new novel excited interest, or a political pamphlet awakened +curiosity, she was called upon to read whole hours, nay, whole days, +without intermission; even a near extinction of voice did not authorize +so great a liberty as that of requesting a few minutes for rest. Mrs +Ireton, who regarded all the world as robust, compared with herself, +deemed it an impertinent rivalry of a delicacy which she held to be +unexampled, ever to pronounce the word fatigue, ever to heave a sigh of +lassitude, or ever even to allude to that part of the human frame which +is called nerves, unless with some pointed reference to herself. + +With the same despotic hardness, she ordered Juliet to the harp, or +piano-forte, and made her play though she were suffering from the +acutest head-ache; and sing when hoarse and short-breathed from the most +violent cold. Yet those commands, however arbitrary and unfeeling, were +more supportable than those with which, after every other source of +tyrannic authority had been drained, the day was ordinarily concluded. +Mrs Ireton, at the hour of retiring, when weary alike of books and of +music, listless, fretful, captious; too sleepy for any exertion, yet too +wakeful or uneasy for repose; constantly brought forward the same +enquiries which had so often been urged and repelled, in the week that +they had spent together upon their arrival from France; repeated the +same sneers, revived the same suspicions, and recurred to the same rude +interrogatories or offensive insinuations. + +At meals, the humble companion was always helped last; even when there +were gentlemen, even when there were children at the table; and always +to what was worst; to what was rejected, as ill-cooked, or left, as +spoilt and bad. No question was ever asked of what she chose or what she +disliked. Sometimes she was even utterly forgotten; and, as no one +ventured to remind Mrs Ireton of any omission, her helpless _protegée_, +upon such occasions, rose half famished from the inhospitable board. + +Upon the entrance of any visitors, not satisfied to let the humble +companion glide gently away, the haughty patroness called out, in a tone +of command, 'You may go to your room now: I shall send for you when I am +at leisure.' Or, 'You may stand at the window if you will. You won't be +in the way, I believe; and I shall want you presently.' + +Or, if she feared that any one of the party had failed to remark this +augmentation of her household and of her power, she would retard the +willing departure by some frivolous and vexatious commission; as, 'Stop, +Miss Ellis; do pray tie this string a little tighter.' Or, 'Draw up my +gloves a little higher: but be so good as not to pinch me; unless you +have a particular fancy for it!' + +If, drily, though respectfully, Juliet ever proposed to wait in her own +room, the answer was, 'In your own room? O,--ay--well,--that may be +better! I beg your pardon for having proposed that you should wait in +one of mine! I beg your pardon, a thousand times! I really did not think +of what I was saying! I hope you'll forgive my inattention!' + +When then, silently, and with difficulty forbearing from shrugging her +shoulders, Juliet walked away, she was again stopt by, 'One moment, Miss +Ellis! if it won't be requesting too great a favour. Pray, when I want +you, where may I hear of your servants? For to be sure you don't mean +that mine should scamper up and down all day long for you? You cannot +mean that. You must have a lackey of your own, no doubt: some page, or +spruce foot-boy at your command, to run upon your errands: only pray let +some of my people know where he may be met with.' + +But if, when the purpose was answered of drawing the attention of her +guests upon her new dependent, that attention were followed by any looks +of approbation, or marks of civility, she hastily exclaimed, 'O, pray +don't disturb yourself, Sir!' or 'Ma'am! 'tis only a young woman I have +engaged to read to me;--a young person whom I have taken into my house +out of compassion.' And then, affably nodding, she would affect to be +suddenly struck with something which she had already repeatedly seen, +and cry, 'Well, I declare, that gown is not ugly, Miss Ellis! How did +you come by it?' or, 'That ribbon's pretty enough: who gave it you?' + +Ah, thought Juliet, 'tis conduct such as this that makes inequality of +fortune baleful! Where superiour wealth falls into liberal hands,--where +its possessor is an Aurora Granville, it proves a good still more to the +surrounders than to the owners; 'it blesses those that give, and those +that take.'--But Oh! where it is misused for the purposes of bowing +down the indigent, of oppressing the helpless, of triumphing over the +dependent,--then, how baneful then is inequality of fortune! + +With those thoughts, and deeply hurt, she was twenty times upon the +point of retiring, during the first week of her distasteful office; but +the sameness of the offences soon robbed the mortifications of their +poignancy; and apathy; in a short time, taking place of sensibility, she +learnt to bear them if not with indifference, at least with its +precursor contempt. + +Amongst the most irksome of the toils to which this subjection made her +liable, was the care,--not of the education, nor mind, nor manners, but +of the amusements,--of the little nephew of Mrs Ireton; whom that lady +rather exulted than blushed to see universally regarded as a spoilt +child. + +The temper of this young creature was grown so capricious, from +incessant indulgence, that no compliance, no luxury, no diversion could +afford him more than momentary pleasure; while his passions were become +so ungovernable, that, upon every contrariety or disappointment, he +vented his rage, to the utmost extent of his force, upon whomsoever, or +whatsoever, animate or inanimate, he could reach. + +All the mischief thus committed, the injuries thus sustained, the noise +and disturbance thus raised, were to be borne throughout the house +without a murmur. Whatever destruction he caused, Mrs Ireton was always +sure was through the fault of some one else; what he mutilated, or +broke, she had equal certainty must have been merely by accident; and +those he hurt or ill used, must have provoked his anger. If any one +ventured to complain, 'twas the sufferer, not the inflictor who was +treated as culpable. + +It was the misfortune of Juliet to excite, by her novelty, the attention +of this young tyrant; and by her powers of entertainment, exerted +inadvertently, from a love of obliging, to become his favourite. The +hope of softening his temper and manners, by amusing his mind, had +blinded her, at first, to the trouble, the torment rather, of such +pre-eminence, which soon proved one of the most serious evils of her +situation. Mrs Ireton, having raised in his young bosom, expectations +never to be realised, by passing the impossible decree, that nothing +must be denied to her eldest brother's eldest son; had authorised +demands from him, and licensed wishes, destructive both to his +understanding and his happiness. When the difficulties which this decree +occasioned, devolved upon a domestic, she left him to get rid of them as +he could; only reserving to herself the right to blame the way that was +taken, be it what it might: but when the embarrassment fell to her own +lot; when the spoilt urchin claimed what was every way unattainable; she +had been in the habit of sending him abroad, for the immediate relief of +her nerves. The favour into which he took Juliet now offered a new and +more convenient resource. Instead of 'Order the carriage, and let the +child go out:' Miss Ellis was called upon to play with him; to tell him +stories; to shew him pictures; to build houses for him with cards; or to +suffer herself to be dragged unmeaningly, yet wilfully and forcibly, +from walk to walk in the garden, or from room to room in the house; till +tired, and quarrelling even with her compliance, he recruited his +wearied caprices with sleep. + +Nor even here ended the encroachments upon her time, her attention, her +liberty; not only the spoilt child, but the favourite dog was put under +her superintendence; and she was instructed to take charge of the +airings and exercise of Bijou; and to carry him where the road was rough +or miry, that he might not soil those paws, which had the exclusive +privilege of touching the lady of the mansion; and even of pulling, +patting and scratching her robes and attire for his recreation. + +To many, in the place of Juliet, the spoilt child and the spoilt cur +would have been objects of detestation: but against the mere instruments +of malice she harboured no resentment. The dog, though snarling and +snapping at every one but his mistress, Juliet saw as vicious only from +evil habits, which were imbibed, nay taught, rather than natural: the +child, though wantonly revelling in mischief of every kind, she +considered but as a little savage, who, while enjoying the splendour and +luxury of civilized life, was as unformed, as rough, as untaught, and +therefore as little responsible for his conduct, as if just caught, and +brought, wild and untamed, from the woods. The animal, therefore, she +exculpated; the child she pitied; it was the mistress of the mansion +alone, who, wilful in all she did, and conscious of all she inflicted, +provoked bitterer feelings. And to these, the severest poignancy was +accidentally added to Juliet, by the cruel local circumstance of +receiving continual indignity in the very house, nay the very room, +where, in sweetest intercourse, she had been accustomed to be treated +upon terms of generous equality by Lady Aurora Granville. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + + +Juliet had passed but a short space, by the measure of time, in this new +residence, though by that of suffering and disgust it had seemed as long +as it was irksome, when, one morning, she was informed, by the +nursery-maid, that a grand breakfast was to be given, about two o'clock, +to all the first gentry in and near Brighthelmstone. + +Mrs Ireton, herself, making no mention of any such purpose, issued her +usual orders for the attendance of Juliet, with her implements of +amusement; and went, at an early hour, to a light building, called the +Temple of the Sun, which overlooked the sea, from the end of the garden. + +This Temple, like every place which Mrs Ireton capriciously, and even +for the shortest interval, inhabited, was now filled with materials for +recreation, which, ingeniously employed, might have whiled away a +winter; but which, from her fluctuating whims, were insufficient even +for the fleet passage of a few hours. Books, that covered three +window-seats; songs and sonatas that covered those books; various pieces +of needle-work; a billiard-table; a chess-board; a backgammon-board; a +cup and ball, &c. &c.; all, in turn, were tried; all, in turn, rejected; +and invectives the most impatient were uttered against each, as it +ceased to afford her pleasure; as if each, with living malignity, had +studied to cause her disappointment. + +About noon, she took the arm of Juliet, to descend the steps of the +Temple. Upon opening the door, Ireton appeared sauntering in the garden. +Juliet vexed at his sight, which Elinor had assured her that she would +never encounter, severely felt the mortification of being seen in her +present situation, by one who had so repeatedly offended her by +injurious suspicions, and familiar impertinence. + +Mrs Ireton, hastily relinquishing the arm of Juliet, from expecting +that of her son, at whose sight she was evidently surprised; now +resolved, with her most brilliant flourishes, to exhibit the new object +of her power. + +'Why don't you take care of the child, Miss Ellis?' she cried aloud. 'Do +you design to let him break his neck down the stone steps? I beg your +pardon, though, for asking the question. It may be very _mal à propos_. +It may be necessary, perhaps, to some of your plans, to see a tragedy in +real life? You may have some work in agitation, that may require that +sort of study. I am sorry to have stood so unopportunely in your way: +quite ashamed, upon my word, to have prevented your taking a few hints +from the child's dislocating a limb, or two; or just fracturing his +skull. 'Twould have been a pretty melancholy sight, enough, for an +elegiac muse. I really beg your pardon, for being so uncooth, as to +think of such a trumpery circumstance as saving the child's life.' + +Juliet, during this harangue, assiduously followed the young gentleman; +who, with a shout of riotous rebellion, ran down the steps, and jumping +into a parterre, selected, by his eye, the most beautiful of the flowers +for treading under his feet; and, at every representation of Juliet, +flung at her as many pinks, carnations, and geraniums, as his merciless +little fingers could grasp. + +Ireton, approaching, looked smilingly on, negligently nodding, and +calling out, 'Well done, Loddard! Bravo, my little Pickle!' + +Loddard, determined to merit this honourable testimony of his prowess, +continued his sport, with augmented boldness. His wantonness, however, +though rude, was childish; Juliet, therefore, though tormented, gave it +no serious resentment; but she was not equally indifferent to the more +maturely malicious insolence of Ireton, who, while he openly enjoyed the +scene, negligently said to Loddard, 'What, my boy, hast got a new +nurse?' + +Mrs Ireton, having stood some time leaning upon the balustrade of the +steps which she was descending, in vain expectations of the arm of her +son, who had only slightly bowed to her, with an 'How do do, Ma'am?' to +which he waited not for an answer; now indignantly called out, 'So I am +to be left to myself, am I? In this feeble and alarming state to which I +am reduced, incapable to withstand a gust of wind, or to baffle the fall +of a leaf, I may take care of myself, may I? I am too stout to require +any attention? too robust, too obstreperous to need any help? If I fall +down, I may get up again, I suppose? If I faint, I may come to myself +again, I imagine? You will have the goodness to permit that, I presume? +I may be mistaken, to be sure, but I should presume so. Don't you hear +me, Mistress Ellis? But you are deaf, may be?--I am alarmed to the last +degree!--You are suddenly seized, perhaps with the loss of one of your +senses?' + +This attack, begun for her son, though, upon his romping with the little +boy, in total disregard to its reproach, ending for Juliet, made Ireton +now, throwing back his head, to stare, with a sneering half-laugh, at +Juliet, exclaim, 'Fie, Mrs Betty! How can you leave Mrs Ireton, unaided, +in such peril? Fie, Mrs Polly, fie! Mrs.... What is your new nurse's +name, my boy?' + +The boy, who never held his tongue but when he was desired to speak, +would make no answer, but by running violently after Juliet, as she +sought to escape from him; flinging flowers, leaves, grass, or whatever +he could find, at her, with boisterous shouts of laughter, and with all +his little might. + +Mrs Ireton, brought nearly to good humour by the sight of the perplexity +and displeasure of Juliet, only uttered, 'Pretty dear! how playful he +is!' But when, made still more daring by this applause, the little +urchin ventured to touch the hem of her own garments, she became +suddenly sensible of his disobedience and wanton mischief, and commanded +him from her presence. + +As careless of her wrath as he was ungrateful for her favour, the young +gentleman thought of nothing so little as of obedience. He jumped and, +skipped around her, in bold defiance of all authority; laughing loudly +in her face; making a thousand rude grimaces; yet screaming, as if +attacked by a murderer, when she attempted to catch him; though, the +moment that he forced himself out of her reach, hallooing his joyous +triumph in her ears, with vociferous exultation. + +Juliet was ordered to take him in hand, and carry him off; an order +which, to quit the scene, she prepared with pleasure to obey: but the +young gentleman, though he pursued her with fatiguing fondness when she +sought to avoid him, now ran wildly away. + +Mrs Ireton, enraged, menaced personal chastisement; but upon his darting +at Juliet, and tearing her gown, she turned abruptly aside, in the +apprehension of being called upon for reparation; and, gently saying, +'What a frisky little rogue it is!' affected to observe him no longer. + +The torn robe proved a potent attraction to the little dog, who, yelping +with unmeaning fury, flew at and began gnawing it, with as much +vehemence, as if its destruction were essential to his well being. + +A party of company was now announced, that begged to join Mrs Ireton in +the garden; and, tripping foremost from the advancing throng, came, +Selina. + +Ireton, flapping his hat over his eyes, leisurely sauntered away. Mrs +Ireton returned to the Temple, to receive her guests with more state; +and Juliet hoping, though doubtfully, some relief and countenance, bent +forward to greet her young friend. + +Selina, with a look of vivacity and pleasure, eagerly approached; but +while her hands were held out, in affectionate amity, and her eyes +invited Juliet to meet her, she stopt, as if from some sudden +recollection; and, after taking a hasty glance around her, picked a +flower from a border of the parterre, and ran back with it to present to +Lady Arramede. + +Juliet, scarcely disappointed, retreated; and the party advanced in a +body. She would fain have hidden herself, but had no power; the boy, +with romping violence, forcibly detaining her, by loud shrieks, which +rent the air, when she struggled to disengage herself from his hold. +And, as every visitor, however stunned or annoyed, uttered, in +approaching him, the admiring epithets of 'Dear little creature!' 'Sweet +little love!' 'Pretty little dear!' &c. the boy, in common with children +of a larger growth, concluding praise to be approbation, flung himself +upon Juliet, with all his force; protesting that he would give her a +green gown: while all the company,--upon Mrs Ireton's appearing at an +open window of the Temple,--unanimously joined in extolling his +strength, his agility, and his spirited character. + +The wearied and provoked Juliet now seriously and strenuously sought to +disengage herself from the stubborn young athletic; but he clung round +her waist, and was jumping up at her shoulders, to catch at the ribbon +of her hat, when Lady Kendover and her niece, who were the last of the +company that arrived, entered the garden. + +Lady Barbara Frankland no sooner perceived Juliet, and her distress, +than, swift as the wind, breaking from her aunt, she flew forward to +give her succour; seizing the sturdy little assailant by his arms, when +unprepared to defend himself, and twisting him, adroitly, from his prey; +exclaiming, 'You spoilt little wicked creature, beg pardon of that +lovely Miss Ellis directly! this moment!' + +'Ellis! Dear, if it is not Ellis!' cried Selina, now joining them. 'How +glad I am to see you, my dear Ellis! What an age it is since we met!' + +Juliet, whose confidence was somewhat more than staggered in the regard +of Selina, coldly courtsied to her; while, with the warmest gratitude, +she began expressing her acknowledgements for the prompt and generous +kindness of Lady Barbara; when the boy, recovering from his surprise, +and furious at any controul, darted at her ladyship with vindictive +violence; attempting, and intending, to practise upon her the same feats +which had nearly subdued Juliet: but the situation was changed: the +exclamations were reversed; and 'O, you naughty little thing!' 'How can +you be so rude?' 'Fie, child, fie!' were echoed from mouth to mouth; +which every step bent forward to protect 'poor Lady Barbara' from the +troublesome little creature. + +The boy was then seriously made over to his maid, to be new dressed; +with a promise of peaches and sugar plums if he would be so very good a +child, as to submit to the repugnant operations of his toilette, without +crying or fighting. + +The butler now appeared, to announce that the breakfast was ready; and +Juliet saw confirmed, that the party had been invited and expected; +though Mrs Ireton meant to impress her with the magnificent idea, that +this was her common way of life. + +The company all re-entered the house, and all without taking the +smallest notice of Juliet; Lady Barbara excepted, who affectionately +shook hands with her, and warmly regretted that she did not join the +party. + +Juliet, to whom the apparent mystery of her situation offered as much +apology for others, as it brought distress to herself, went back, far +more hurt than offended to the Temple. + +Hence, presently, from under one of the windows, she heard a weak, but +fretful and angry voice, morosely giving impatient reprimands to some +servant, while imperiously refusing to listen to even the most +respectful answer. + +Looking from the window, she saw, and not without concern, from the +contrast to the good humour which she had herself experienced, that this +choleric reproacher was Sir Jaspar Herrington. + +The nursery-maid, who came, soon afterwards, in search of some baubles, +which her young master had left in the Temple; complained that her +mistress's rich brother-in-law, Sir Jaspar, who never entered the house +but upon grand invitations, had been at his usual game of scolding, and +finding fault with all the servants, till they all wished him at +Jericho; sparing nobody but Nanny, whom the men called the Beauty. He +was so particular, when he was in his tantarums, the maid added, that he +was almost as cross as the old lady herself; except, indeed, to his +favourites, and those he could never do enough for. But he commanded +about him at such a rate, that Mrs Ireton, she was sure, would never let +him into the house, if it were not in the hope of wheedling him into +leaving the great fortune, that had fallen to him with the name of +Herrington, to the young 'Squire; though the young 'Squire was well +enough off without it; being certain of the Ireton estate, because it +was entailed upon him, if his uncle, Sir Jaspar, should die without +children. + +Juliet did not hear this history of the ill temper of her generous old +beau, without chagrin; but the prating nursery-maid ceased not recording +what she called his tantarums, till the well known sound of his crutches +announced his approach, when she hastily made her exit. + +With the awkward feeling of uncertain opinion, softened off, +nevertheless, by the remembrance of strong personal obligation, Juliet +presented herself at the door, to shew her intention of descending. + +Occupied by the pain of labouring up the steps, he did not raise his +head, or perceive her, till he had reached the threshold of the little +building. His still brilliant eyes became then brighter, and the air of +harsh asperity which, while mounting, his countenance still retained, +from recent anger, was suddenly converted into a look of the most lively +pleasure, and perfect good humour. After touching his hat, and waving +his hand, with an old fashioned, but well bred air of gallantry, he +laughingly confessed, that he had ascended with the view of recruiting +his strength and spirits, by a private visit to the god Morpheus; to +enable him to get through the weighty enterprize, of encountering a +throng of frivolous females, without affronting them by his yawns. 'How +little,' he continued, 'did I imagine myself coming to Sleep's most +resistless conqueror, Delight! If I rouse not now, I must have more +soporiferous qualities than the Sleepers! or even than the Sleeping +Beauty in the Wood, who took a nap of forty years.' + +Then entreating her to be seated, he dropt upon the easy chair, which +had been prepared for Mrs Ireton; and crossed his crutches, as if by +accident, in a manner that prevented her from retreating. She was the +less, however, impatient of this delay, as she saw that the windows +looking from the house into the garden, were filled with company, which +she desired nothing so little as to pass in review. + +Taking, therefore, a place as far from him as was in her power, she made +herself an occupation, in arranging some mulberry leaves for silk-worms. + +The Baronet, whose face expressed encreasing satisfaction at his +situation, courteously sought to draw her into discourse. 'My little +friends,' cried he, smiling, 'who are always at work, have continually +been tormenting me of late, with pinches and twitches, upon my utter +neglect of my sister-in-law, Mrs Ireton. I could not for my life imagine +why they took so prodigious an interest in my visiting her; but they +nipt, and squeezed, and worried me, without intermission; accusing me of +misbehaviour; saying she was my sister-in-law; and ill, and +hypochondriac; and that it was by no means pretty behaved in me, not to +shew her more respect. It was in vain I represented, that she was rich, +and did not want me; or that she was disagreeable, and that I did not +want her; 'twas all one; they insisted I should go: and this morning, +when I would have excused myself from coming to her fine breakfast, they +beset me in so many ways, that I was forced to comply. And now I see +why! Poor, earthly, mundane mortal that I was! I took them for envious +sprites, jealous of my repose! But I see, now, they were only recreative +little sylphs, amusing themselves with whipping and spurring me on to my +own good!' + +And is this, thought Juliet, the man who bears a character of impatience +and ill humour? this man, whose imagination is so playful, and whose +desire to please can only be equalled by his desire to serve? + +'And where,' he continued, 'have you all this time been eclipsed? From +sundry circumstances, that perversely obtruded themselves upon my +knowledge, in defiance of the ill reception I gave them, I was led, at +first, to conclude, that you had been spirited away by Sir Lyell +Sycamore.' + +He fixed his eyes upon her curiously; but the colour that rose in her +cheeks betrayed no secret consciousness; it shewed open resentment. + +'O! I soon saw,' he resumed, as if he had been answered, though she had +not deigned to disclaim an idea that she deemed fitted simply for +contempt; 'by the mortified silence of my young gallant, that the fates +had not been propitious to his wishes. In characters of his description, +success never courts the shade. It basks in the sun-shine, and seeks the +broadest day. How is it that you have thus piqued the vain spark? He +came to me in such a flame, to upbraid me for what he called the cursed +ridiculous dance that I had led him, that I fairly thought he meant to +call me out! I began, directly, to look about me for the stoutest of my +crutches, to parry, for a last minute or two, his broad sword; and to +deliberate which might be the thickest of my leather cushions, to hold +up in my defence, for reverberating the ball, in case he should prefer +pistols. But he deigned, most fortunately, to content himself with only +abusing me: hinting, that such superannuated old geese, as those who +had passed their grand climacteric, ought not to meddle with affairs of +which they must have lost even the memory. I let him bounce off without +any answer; very thankful to the "Sisters three" to feel myself in a +whole skin.' + +Looking at her, then, with an expression of humorous reproach, 'You will +permit me, I hope, at least,' he added, 'to flatter myself, that, when +your indulgence to the garrulity of age has induced you to bear with my +loquacity till I am a little hoarser, your consideration for sore +throats and heated lungs, will prevail upon you to utter a little word +or two in your turn?' + +Juliet, laughing, answered that she had been too well amused, to be +aware how little she had seemed to merit his exertions. + +'Tell me, then,' cried he, with looks that spoke him enchanted by this +reply; 'through what extraordinary mechanism, in the wheel of fortune, +you have been rolled to this spot? The benevolent sprites, who have +urged me hither, have not given me a jot of information how you became +known to Mrs Ireton? By what strange spell have you been drawn in, to +seem an inmate of her mansion? and what philters and potions have you +swallowed, to make you endure her never-ending vagaries?' + +Half smiling, half sighing, Juliet looked down; not willing to accept, +though hardly able to resist, the offered licence for complaint. + +'Make no stranger,' the old Baronet laughingly added, 'of me, I beg! She +is my sister-in-law, to be sure; but the law, with all its subtleties, +had not yet entailed our affections, with our estates, to our relations; +nor articled our tastes, with our jointures, to our dowagers. Use, +therefore, no manner of ceremony! How do you bear with her freaks and +fancies? or rather,--for that is the essential point, why do you bear +with them?' + +'Can that,' said Juliet, 'be a question?' + +'Not a wise one, I confess!' he returned; 'for what but Necessity could +link together two creatures who seem formed to give a view of human +nature diametrically opposite the one from the other? These indeed must +be imps,--and imps of darkness,--who, busy, busy still--delight + + To join the gentle to the rude![20] + +that can have coupled so unharmonizing a pair. Hymen, with all the +little active sinister devils in his train, that yoke together, pell +mell, for life, hobbling age with bounding youth; choleric violence with +trembling timidity; haggard care with thoughtless merriment;--Hymen +himself, that marrying little lawyer, who takes upon him to unite what +is most discordant, and to tie together all that is most heterogeneous; +even he, though provided with what is, so justly, called a licence, for +binding together what nature itself seems to sunder; he, even he, I +assert, never buckled in the same noose, two beings so completely and +equally dissimilar, both without and within. Since such, however, has +been the ordinance of these fantastic workers of wonders, will you let +me ask, in what capacity it has pleased their impships to conjure you +hither?' + +[Footnote 20: Thomson.] + +Juliet hesitated, and looked ashamed to answer. + +'You are not, I hope,' cried he, fixing upon her his keen eyes, 'one of +those ill-starred damsels, whose task, in the words of Madame de +Maintenon, is to 'amuse the unamuseable?' You are not, I hope, ...' he +stopt, as if seeking a phrase, and then, rather faintly, added, 'her +companion?' + +'Her humble servant, Sir!' with a forced smile, said Juliet; 'and yet, +humbled as I feel myself in that capacity, not humble enough for its +calls!' + +The smiles of the old Baronet vanished in a moment, and an expression of +extreme severity took their place. 'She uses you ill, then?' he +indignantly cried, and, grasping the knobs of his two crutches, he +struck their points against the floor, with a heaviness that made the +little building shake, ejaculating, in a hoarse inward voice, 'Curse +her!' + +Juliet stared at him, affrighted by his violence. + +'Can it be possible,' he cried, 'that so execrable a fate should be +reserved for so exquisite a piece of workmanship? Sweet witch! were I +but ten years younger, I would snatch you from her infernal claws!--or +rather, could I cut off twenty;--yet even then the disparity would be +too great!--thirty years younger,--or perhaps forty,--my hand and +fortune should teach that Fury her distance!' + +Juliet, surprised, and doubting whether what dropt from him were escaped +sincerity, or purposed irony, looked with so serious a perplexity, that, +struck and ashamed, he checked himself; and recovering his usually +polite equanimity, smiled at his own warmth, saying, 'Don't be alarmed, +I beg! Don't imagine that I shall forget myself; nor want to hurry away, +lest my animation should be dangerous! The heat that, at +five-and-twenty, might have fired me into a fever, now raises but a +kindly glow, that stops, or keeps off stagnation. The little sprites, +who hover around me, though they often mischievously spur my poor +fruitless wishes, always take care, by seasonable twitches, in some +vulnerable gouty part, to twirl me from the regions of hope and romance, +to very sober real life!' + +Fearful of appearing distrustful, Juliet looked satisfied, and again he +went on. + +'Since, then, 'tis clear that there can be no danger in so simple an +intercourse, why should I not give myself the gratification of telling +you, that every sight of you does me good? renovates my spirits; +purifies my humours; sweetens my blood; and braces my nerves? Never talk +to me with mockery of fairyism, witchcraft, and sylphs; the real +influence of lovely youth, is a thousand times more wonderful, more +potent, and more incredible! When I have seen you only an instant, I +feel in charity with all mankind for the rest of the day; and, at night, +my kind little friends present you to me again; renew every pleasing +idea; revive the most delightful images; and paint you to me--just such +as I see you at this moment!' + +Juliet, embarrassed, talked of returning to the house. + +'Do you blush?' cried he, with quickness, and evidently increasing +admiration; 'is it possible that you are not enough habituated to +praise, to hear it without modest confusion? I have seen "full many a +lady"--but you--O you!--so perfect and so peerless are created, of every +creature best!'[21] + +[Footnote 21: Shakespeare.] + +'My whole life has been spent in worshipping beauty, till within these +very few years, when I have gotten something like a surfeit, and meant +to give it over. For I have watched and followed Beauties, till I have +grown sick of them. I have admired fine features, only to be disgusted +with vapid vanity. A face with a little meaning, though as ugly as sin +and satan, I have lately thought worth forty of them! But you--fair +sorceress! you have conjured me round again to my old work! I have found +the spell irresistible. You have such intelligence of countenance; such +spirit with such sweetness, smiles so delicious, though rare! looks so +speaking; grace so silent;--that I forget you are a beauty; and fasten +my eyes upon you, only to understand what you say when you don't utter a +word! That's all! Don't be uneasy, therefore, at my staring. Though, to +be candid, we know ourselves so little, that, 'tis possible, had you +not first caught my eyes as a beauty, I might never have looked at you +long enough to find out your wit!' + +A footman now came to acquaint Sir Jaspar, that the rice-soup, which he +had ordered, was ready; and that the ladies were waiting for the honour +of his company to breakfast. + +'I heartily wish they would wait for my company, till I desire to have +theirs!' Sir Jaspar muttered: but, sensible of the impropriety of a +refusal, arose, and, taking off his hat, with a studied formality, which +he hoped would impress the footman with respect for its object, followed +his messenger: whispering, nevertheless, as he quitted the building, +'Leave you for a breakfast!--I would almost as willingly be immersed in +the witches' cauldron, and boiled into morsels, to become a breakfast +myself, for the amusement of the audience at a theatre!' + + + + +CHAPTER LV + + +Juliet, who perceived that the windows were still crowded with company, +contentedly kept her place; and, taking up the second volume of the +Guardian, found, in the lively instruction, the chaste morality, and the +exquisite humour of Addison, an enjoyment which no repetition can cloy. + +In a short time, to her great discomposure, she was broken in upon by +Ireton; who, drawing before the door, which he shut, an easy chair, cast +himself indolently upon it, and, stretching out his arms, said, 'Ah ha! +the fair Ellis! How art thee, my dear?' + +Far more offended than surprised by this freedom, Juliet, perceiving +that she could not escape, affected to go on with her reading, as if he +had not entered the building. + +'Don't be angry, my dear,' he continued, 'that I did not speak to you +before all those people. There's no noticing a pretty girl, in public, +without raising such a devil of a clamour, that it's enough to put a man +out of countenance. Besides, Mrs Ireton is such a very particular quiz, +that she would be sure to contrive I should never have a peep at you +again, if once she suspected the pleasure I take in seeing you. However, +I am going to turn a dutiful son, and spend some days here. And, by that +means, we can squeeze an opportunity, now and then, of getting a little +chat together.' + +Juliet could no longer refrain from raising her head, with amazement, at +this familiar assurance: but he went on, totally disregarding the rebuke +of her indignant eye. + +'How do you like your place here, my dear? Mrs Ireton's rather qualmish, +I am afraid. I never can bear to stay with her myself; except when I +have some point to carry. I can't devise what the devil could urge you +to come into such a business. And where's Harleigh? What's he about? +Gone to old Nick I hope with all my heart! But you,--why are you +separated? What's the reason you are not with him?' + +Yet more provoked, though determined not to look up again, Juliet fixed +her eyes upon the book. + +Ireton continued: 'What a sly dog he is, that Harleigh! But what the +deuce could provoke him to make me cut such a silly figure before Lord +Melbury, with my apologies, and all that? He took me in, poz! I thought +he'd nothing to do with you. And if you had not had that fainting fit, +at the concert; which I suppose you forgot to give him notice of, that +put him so off his guard, I should have believed all he vowed and swore, +of having no connection with you, and all that, to this very moment.' + +This was too much. Juliet gravely arose, put down her book, and said, +with severity, 'Mr Ireton, you will be so good as to let me pass!' + +'No, not I! No, not I, my dear!' he answered, still lolling at his ease. +'We must have a little chat together first. 'Tis an age since I have +been able to speak with you. I have been confounded discreet, I promise +you. I have not told your secret to a soul.' + +'What secret, Sir?' cried Juliet, hastily. + +'Why who you are, and all that.' + +'If you knew, Sir,' recovering her calmness, she replied, 'I should not +have to defend myself from the insults of a son, while under the +protection of his mother!' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' cried he. 'What a droll piece of dainty delicacy thee art! +I'd give a cool hundred, this moment, only to know what the deuce puts +it into thy little head, to play this farce such a confounded length of +time, before one comes to the catastrophe.' + +Juliet, with a disdainful gesture, again took her book. + +'Why won't you trust me, my dear? You sha'n't repent it, I promise you. +Tell me frankly, now, who are you?--Hay?' + +Juliet only turned over a new leaf of her book. + +'How can you be so silly, child?--Why won't you let me serve you? You +don't know what use I may be of to you. Come, make me your friend! only +trust me, and I'll go to the very devil for you with pleasure.' + +Juliet read on. + +'Come, my love, don't be cross! Speak out! Put aside these dainty airs. +Surely you a'n't such a little fool, as to think to take me in, as you +have done Melbury and Harleigh?' + +Juliet felt her cheeks now heated with increased indignation. + +'As to Melbury,--'tis a mere schoolboy, ready to swallow any thing; and +as to Harleigh, he's such a queer, out of the way genius, that he's like +nobody: but as to me, my dear, I'm a man of the world. Not so easily +played upon, I promise you! I have known you from the very beginning! +Found you out at first sight! Only I did not think it worth while +telling you so, while you appeared so confounded ugly. But now that I +see you are such a pretty creature, I feel quite an interest for you. So +tell me who are you? Will you?' + +Somewhat piqued, at length, by her resolute silence, 'Nay,' he added, +with affected scorn, 'don't imagine I have any view! Don't disturb +yourself with any freaks and qualms of that sort. You are a fine girl, +to be sure. Devilish handsome, I own; but still +too--too--grave,--grim,--What the deuce is the word I mean? for my +taste. I like something more buckish. So pray make yourself easy. I +shan't interfere with your two sparks. I am perfectly aware I should +have but a bad chance. I know I am neither as good a pigeon to pluck as +Melbury, nor as marvellous a wight to overcome as Harleigh. But I can't +for my life make out why you don't take to one or t'other of them, and +put yourself at your ease. I'm deadly curious to know what keeps you +from coming to a finish. Melbury would be managed the easiest; but I +strongly suspect you like Harleigh best. What do you turn your back for? +That I mayn't see you blush? Come, come, don't play the baby with a man +of the world like me.' + +To the infinite relief of the disgusted Juliet, she now heard the +approach of some footstep. Ireton, who heard it also, nimbly arose, +and, softly moving his chair from the door, cast half his body out of +the window, and, lolling upon his elbows, began humming an air; as if +totally occupied in regarding the sea. + +A footman, who entered, told Juliet that his lady desired that she would +come to the parlour, to play and sing to the company, while they +breakfasted. + +Juliet, colouring at this unqualified order, hesitated what to answer; +while Ireton, turning round, and pretending not to have heard what was +said, maliciously, made the man repeat, 'My lady, Sir, bid me tell Miss +Ellis, that she must come to play and sing to the company.' + +'Play and sing?' repeated Ireton. 'O the devil! Must we be bored with +playing and singing too? But I did not know breakfast was ready, and I +am half starved.' + +He then sauntered from the building; but the moment that the footman was +out of sight, turned back, to say, 'How devilish provoking to be +interrupted in this manner! How can we contrive to meet again, my dear?' + +The answer of Juliet was shutting and bolting the door. + +His impertinence, however, occupied her mind only while she was under +its influence; the insignificance of his character, notwithstanding the +malice of his temper, made it sink into nothing, to give way to the new +rising difficulty, how she might bear to obey, or how risk to refuse, +the rude and peremptory summons which she had just received. Ought I, +she cried, to submit to treatment so mortifying? Are there no boundaries +to the exactions of prudence upon feeling? or, rather, is there not a +mental necessity, a call of character, a cry of propriety, that should +supersede, occasionally, all prudential considerations, however +urgent?--Oh! if those who receive, from the unequal conditions of life, +the fruits of the toils of others, could,--only for a few +days,--experience, personally, how cruelly those toils are embittered by +arrogance, or how sweetly they may be softened by kindness,--the race of +the Mrs Iretons would become rare,--and Lady Aurora Granville might, +perhaps, be paralleled! + +Yet, with civility, with good manners, had Mrs Ireton made this request; +not issued it as a command by a footman; Juliet felt that, in her +present dependent condition, however ill she might be disposed for +music, or for public exhibition, she ought to yield: and even now, the +horror of having another asylum to seek; the disgrace of seeming driven, +thus continually, from house to house; though they could not lessen her +repugnance to indelicacy and haughtiness, cooled all ardour of desire +for trying yet another change; till she should have raised a sufficient +sum for joining Gabriella; and softening, nay delighting, the future +toils to which she might be destined, by the society of that cherished +friend. + +In a few minutes, she was visited by Selina, who, rapturously embracing +her, declared that she could not stay away from her any longer; and +volubly began her usual babble of news and tales; to all which Juliet +gave scarcely the coldest attention; till she had the satisfaction of +hearing that the health of Elinor was re-established. + +Selina then owned that she had been sent by Mrs Ireton, to desire that +Miss Ellis would make more haste. + +Juliet worded a civil excuse; which Selina, with hands uplifted, from +amazement, carried back to the breakfast-room. + +Soon afterwards, peals of laughter announced the vicinity of the Miss +Crawleys; who merrily called aloud upon Ireton, to come and help them +to haul The Ellis, will ye, nill ye? to the piano-forte, to play and +sing. + +Happy in this intimation of their purpose, Juliet bolted the door; and +would not be prevailed upon to open it, either by their vociferous +prayers, or their squalls of disappointment. + +But, in another minute, a slight rustling sound drawing her eyes to a +window, she saw Ireton preparing to make a forced entry. + +She darted, now, to the door, and, finding the passage clear, as the +Miss Crawleys had gone softly round, to witness the exploit of Ireton, +seized the favourable moment for eluding observation; and was nearly +arrived at the house, before the besiegers of the cage perceived that +the bird was flown. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + + +The two sisters no sooner discovered the escape of their prey, than, +screaming with violent laughter, they began a romping race in its +pursuit. + +Near the entrance into the hall, Juliet was met by Selina, with commands +from Mrs Ireton, that she would either present herself, immediately, to +the company; or seek another abode. + +In minds of strong sensibility, arrogance rouses resentment more quickly +even than injury: a message so gross, an affront so public, required, +therefore, no deliberation on the part of Juliet; and she was answering +that she would make her preparations to depart; when the Miss Crawleys, +rushing suddenly upon her, exclaimed, with clamourous joy, 'She's +caught! She's caught! The Ellis is caught!' and, each of them seizing a +hand, they dragged her, with merry violence, into the breakfast-room. + +Her hoydening conductors failed not to excite the attention of the whole +assembly; though it fell not, after the first glance, upon themselves. +Juliet, to whom exercise and confusion gave added beauty; and whom no +disorder of attire could rob of an air of decency, which, inherent in +her nature, was always striking in her demeanor; was no sooner seen, +than, whether with censure or applause, she monopolized all remark. + +Mrs Ireton haughtily bid her approach. + +Averse, yet unwilling to risk the consequences of a public breach, she +slowly advanced. + +'I am afraid, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, with a smile of derision; 'I am +afraid, Ma'am, you have hurried yourself? It is not much above an hour, +I believe, since I did myself the honour of sending for you. I have no +conception how you have been able to arrive so soon! Pray how far do +you think it may be from hence to the Temple? ten or twelve yards, I +verily believe! You must really be ready to expire!' + +Having constrained herself to hear thus much, Juliet conceived that the +duty even of her humble station could require no more; she made, +therefore, a slight reverence, with intention to withdraw. But Mrs +Ireton, offended, cried, 'Whither may you be going, Ma'am?--And pray, +Ma'am,--if I may take the liberty to ask such a question,--who told you +to go?--Was it I?--Did any body hear me?--Did you, Lady Arramede?--or +you, Miss Brinville?--or only Miss Ellis herself? For, to be sure I must +have done it: I take that for granted: she would not, certainly, think +of going without leave, after I have sent for her. So I make no doubt +but I did it. Though I can't think how it happened, I own. 'Twas +perfectly without knowing it, I confess. In some fit of absence--perhaps +in my sleep;--for I have slept, too, perhaps, without knowing it!' + +Sarcasms so witty, uttered by a lady at an assembly in her own house, +could not fail of being received with applause; and Mrs Ireton, looking +around her triumphantly, regarded the disconcerted Juliet as a +completely vanquished vassal. In a tone, therefore, that marked the most +perfect self-satisfaction, 'Pray, Ma'am,' she continued, 'for what might +you suppose I did myself the favour to want you? was it only to take a +view of your new _costume_? 'Tis very careless and picturesque, to be +sure, to rove abroad in that agreeable dishabille, just like the "maiden +all forlorn;" or rather to speak with mere exactitude, like the "man all +tattered and torn," for 'tis more properly his _costume_ you adopt, than +the neat, tidy maiden's.' + +The warm-hearted young Lady Barbara, all pity and feeling for Juliet, +here broke from her quiet and cautious aunt, and, with irrepressible +eagerness, exclaimed, 'Mrs Ireton, 'twas Mr Loddard, your own little +naughty nephew, who deranged in that manner the dress of that elegant +Miss Ellis.' + +The Miss Crawleys, now, running to the little boy, called out, 'The +Loddard! the Loddard! 'tis the Loddard has set up the new _costume_!' + +Mrs Ireton, though affecting to laugh, had now done with the subject; +and, while she was taking a pinch of snuff, to gain time to suggest some +other, Sir Jaspar Herrington, advancing to Juliet, said, 'Has this young +lady no place?' and, gallantly taking her hand, he led her to his own +chair, and walked to another part of the room. + +A civility such as this from Sir Jaspar, made all the elders of the +company stare, and all the younger titter; but the person the most +surprized was Mrs Ireton, who hastily called out, 'Miss Ellis would not +do such a thing! Take Sir Jaspar's own seat! That has his own particular +cushions! She could not do such a thing! I should think not, at least! I +may judge ill, but I should think not. A seat prepared for Sir Jaspar by +my own order! Miss Ellis can dispense with having an easy chair, and +three cushions, I should presume! I may be wrong, to be sure, but I +should presume so!' + +'Madam,' answered Sir Jaspar, 'in days of old, I never could bear to +sit, when I saw a lady standing; and though those days are past, alas! +and gone,--still I cannot, even to escape a twitch of the gout, see a +fair female neglected, without feeling a twitch of another kind, that +gives me yet greater pain.' + +'Your politeness, Sir Jaspar,' replied Mrs Ireton, 'we all know; and, if +it were for one of my guests,--but Miss Ellis can hardly desire, I +should suppose, to see you drop down with fatigue, while she is reposing +upon your arm-chair. Not that I pretend to know her way of thinking! I +don't mean that. I don't mean to have it imagined I have the honour of +her confidence; but I should rather suppose she could not insist upon +turning you out of your seat, only to give you a paroxysm of the gout.' + +However internally moved, Juliet endured this harangue in total silence; +convinced that where all authority is on the side of the aggressor, +resistance only provokes added triumph. Her looks, therefore, though +they shewed her to be hurt and offended, evinced a dignified +forbearance, superiour to the useless reproach, and vain retaliation, of +unequal contention. + +She rose, nevertheless, from the seat which she had only momentarily, +and from surprise occupied, and would have quitted the room, but that +she saw she should again be publicly called back; and hers was not a +situation for braving open enmity. She thankfully, however, accepted a +chair which was brought to her by Sir Marmaduke Crawley, and placed next +to that which had been vacated by the old Baronet; who then returned to +his own. + +She now hoped to find some support from his countenance; as his powerful +situation in the house, joined to his age, would make his smallest +attention prove to her a kind of protection. Her expectation, however, +was disappointed: he did not address to her a word; or appear to have +ever beheld her before; and his late act of politeness seemed exerted +for a perfect stranger, from habitual good breeding. + +And is it you, thought the pensive Juliet, who, but a few minutes +since, spoke to me with such flattery, such preference? with an even +impassioned regard? And shall this so little assembly guide and awe you? +There, where I wished upon me your compliments;--while here, where a +smile would be encouragement, where notice would be charity, you affect +to have forgotten, or appear never to have seen me! Ah! mentally +continued the silent moralist, if we reflected upon the difficulty of +gaining esteem; upon the chances against exciting affection; upon the +union of time and circumstance necessary for obtaining sincere regard; +we should require courage to withhold, not to follow, the movement of +kindness, that, where distress sighs for succour, where helplessness +solicits support, gives power to the smallest exertion, to a single +word, to a passing smile,--to bestow a favour, and to do a service, that +catch, in the brief space of a little moment, a gratitude that never +dies! + +But, while thus to be situated, was pain and dejection to Juliet, to see +her seated, however unnoticed, in the midst of this society, was almost +equally irksome to Mrs Ireton; who, after some vain internal fretting, +ordered the butler to carry about refreshments; consoled with the +certainty, that he would as little dare present any to Juliet, as omit +to present them to every one else. + +The smiles and best humour of Mrs Ireton now soon returned; for the +dependent state of Juliet became more than ever conspicuous, when thus +decidedly she was marked as the sole person, in a large assembly, that +the servants were permitted, if not instructed to neglect. + +Juliet endeavoured to sit tranquil, and seem unconcerned; but her +fingers were in continual motion; her eyes, meaning to look no where, +looked every where; and Mrs Ireton had the gratification to perceive, +that, however she struggled for indifference, she was fully sensible of +the awkwardness of her situation. + +But this was no sooner remarked by Lady Barbara Frankland, than, +starting with vivacity from her vainly watchful aunt, she flew to her +former instructress, crying, 'Have you taken nothing yet, Miss Ellis? O +pray, then, let me chuse your ice for you?' + +She ran to a side-board, and selecting the colour most pleasing to her +eyes, hastened with it to the blushing, but relieved and grateful +Juliet; to whom this benevolent attention seemed instantly to restore +the self-command, that pointed indignities, and triumphant derision, +were sinking into abashed depression. + +The sensation produced by this action in Mrs Ireton, was as ungenial as +that which it caused to Juliet was consolatory. She could not for a +moment endure to see the creature of her power, whom she looked upon as +destined for the indulgence of her will, and the play of her authority, +receive a mark of consideration which, if shewn even to herself, would +have been accepted as a condescension. Abruptly, therefore, while they +were standing together, and conversing, she called out, 'Is it possible, +Miss Ellis, that you can see the child in such imminent danger, and stay +there amusing yourself?' + +Lady Kendover hastily called off her young niece; and Juliet, sighing +crossed over the room, to take charge of the little boy, who was sitting +astraddle out of one of the windows. + +'But I had flattered myself,' cried Sir Marmaduke Crawley, addressing +Mrs Ireton, 'that we should have a little music?' + +Mrs Ireton, to whom the talents of Juliet gave pleasure in proportion +only to her own repugnance to bringing them into play, had relinquished +the projected performance, when she perceived the general interest which +was excited by the mere appearance of the intended performer. She +declared herself, therefore, so extremely fearful lest some mischief +should befall her little nephew, that she could not possibly trust him +from the care of Miss Ellis. + +Half the company, now, urged by the thirst of fresh amusement, professed +the most passionate fondness for children, and offered their services to +watch the dear, sweet little boy, while Miss Ellis should play or sing; +but the averseness] of Ellis remained uncombated by Mrs Ireton, and, +therefore, unconquered. + +The party was preparing to break up, when Mr Giles Arbe entered the +room, to apologize for the non-appearance of Miss Arbe, his cousin, who +had bid him bring words, he said, that she was taken ill. + +Ireton, by a few crafty questions, soon drew from him, that Miss Arbe +was only gone to a little private music-meeting at Miss Sycamore's: +though, affrighted when he had made the confession, he entreated Mrs +Ireton not to take it amiss; protesting that it was not done in any +disrespect to her, but merely because his cousin was more amused at Miss +Sycamore's. + +Mrs Ireton, extremely piqued, answered, that she should be very careful, +in future, not to presume to make an invitation to Miss Arbe, but in a +total dearth of other entertainment; in a famine; or public fast. + +But, the moment he sauntered into another room, to partake of some +refreshments, 'That old savage,' she cried, 'is a perfect horrour! He +has not a single atom of common sense; and if he were not Miss Arbe's +cousin, one must tell one's butler to shew him the door. At least, such +is my poor opinion. I don't pretend to be a judge; but such is my +notion!' + +'O! I adore him!' cried Miss Crawley. 'He makes me laugh till I am ready +to die! He has never a guess what he is about; and he never hears a word +one says. And he stares so when one laughs at him! O! he's the +delightfullest, stupidest, dear wretch that breathes!' + +'O! I can't look at him without laughing!' exclaimed Miss Di. 'He's the +best thing in nature! He's delicious! enchanting! delightful! O! so dear +a fool!' + +'He is quite unfit,' said Mrs Maple, 'for society; for he says every +thing that comes uppermost, and has not the least idea of what is due to +people.' + +'O! he is the sweetest-tempered, kindest-hearted creature in the world!' +exclaimed Lady Barbara. 'My aunt's woman has heard, from Miss Arbe's +maid, all his history. He has quite ruined himself by serving poor +people in distress. He is so generous, he can never pronounce a +refusal.' + +'But he dresses so meanly,' said Miss Brinville, 'that mamma and I have +begged Miss Arbe not to bring him any more to see us. Besides,--he tells +every thing in the world to every body.' + +'Poor Miss Arbe a'n't to blame, I assure you, Miss Brinville,' said +Selina; 'for she dislikes him as much as you do; only when her papa +invited him to live with them, he was very rich; and it was thought he +would leave all his fortune to them. But, since then, Miss Arbe says, he +is grown quite poor; for he has dawdled away almost all his money, in +one way or another; letting folks out of prison, setting people up in +business, and all that.' + +'O! he's the very king of quizzes!' cried Ireton. 'He drags me out of +the spleen, when I feel as if there were no possibility I could yawn on +another half hour.' + +Sir Jaspar now, looking with an air of authority towards Ireton, said, +'It would have been your good star, not your evil genius, by which you +would have been guided, Mr Ireton, had you been attracted to this old +gentleman as to an example, rather than as a butt for your wit. He has +very good parts, if he knew how to make use of them; though he has a +simplicity of manners, that induces common observers to conclude him to +be nearly an ideot. And, indeed, an absent man seems always in a state +of childhood; for as he is never occupied with what is present, those +who think of nothing else, naturally take it for granted that what +passes is above his comprehension; when perhaps, it is only below his +attention. But with Mr Arbe, though his temper is incomparably good and +placid, absence is neither want of understanding, nor of powers of +observation; for, when once he is awakened to what is passing, by any +thing that touches his feelings of humanity, or his sense of justice, +his seeming stupor turns to energy; his silence is superseded by +eloquence; and his gentle diffidence is supplanted by a mental courage, +which electrifies with surprize, from its contrast with his general +docility; and which strikes, and even awes, from an apparent dignity of +defying consequence;--though, in fact, it is but the effect of never +weighing them. Such, however, as he is, Mr Ireton, with the +singularities of his courage, or the oddities of his passiveness, he is +a man who is useful to the world, from his love of doing good; and happy +in himself, from the serenity of a temper unruffled by any species of +malignity.' + +Ireton ventured not to manifest any resentment at this conclusion; but +when, by his embarrassed air, Sir Jaspar saw that it was understood, he +smiled, and more gaily added, 'If the fates, the sisters three, and such +little branches of learning, had had the benevolence to have fixed my +own birth under the influence of the same planet with that of Mr Giles +Arbe, how many twitches, goadings, and worries should I have been +spared, from impatience, ambition, envy, discontent, and ill will!' + +The subject was here dropt, by the re-entrance of Mr Arbe; who, +observing Selina, said that he wanted prodigiously to enquire about her +poor aunt, whom, lately, he had met with no where; though she used to be +every where. + +'My aunt, Sir?--She's there!' said Selina, pointing to Mrs Maple. + +'No, no, I don't mean that aunt; I mean your young aunt, that used to be +so all alive and clever. What's become of her?' + +'O, I dare say it's my sister you are thinking of?' + +'Ay, it's like enough; for she's young enough, to be sure; only you look +such a mere child. Pray how is she now? I was very sorry to hear of her +cutting her throat.' + +A titter, which was immediately exalted into a hearty laugh by the Miss +Crawleys, was all the answer. + +'It was not right to do such a thing,' he continued; 'very wrong indeed. +There's no need to be afraid of not dying soon enough, for we only come +to be gone! I pitied her, however, with all my heart, for love is but a +dangerous thing; it makes older persons than she is go astray, one way +or other. And it was but unkind of Mr Harleigh not to marry her, whether +he liked or not, to save her from such a naughty action. And pray what +is become of that pretty creature that used to teach you all music? I +have enquired for her at Miss Matson's, often; but I always forgot where +they said she was gone. Indeed they made me a little angry about her, +which, probably, was the reason that I could never recollect what they +told me of her direction.' + +'Angry, Mr Giles?' repeated Mrs Ireton, with an air of restored +complacency; 'What was it, then, they said of her? Not that I am very +curious to hear it, as I presume you will believe! You won't imagine it, +I presume, a matter of the first interest to me!' + +'O, what they said of her was very bad! very bad, indeed; and that's the +reason I give no credit to it.' + +'Well, well, but what was it?' cried Ireton. + +'Why they told me that she was turned toad-eater.' + +Universal and irresistible smiles throughout the whole company, to the +exception of Lady Barbara and Sir Jaspar, now heightened the +embarrassment of Juliet into pain and distress: but the young Loddard +every moment struggled to escape into the garden, through the window; +and she did not dare quit her post. + +'So I asked them what they meant,' Mr Giles continued; 'for I never +heard of any body's eating toads; though I am assured our neighbours, on +t'other bank, are so fond of frogs. But they made it out, that it only +meant a person who would swallow any thing, bad or good; and do whatever +he was bid, right or wrong; for the sake of a little pay.' + +This definition by no means brought the assembly back to its gravity; +but while Juliet, ashamed and indignant, kept her face turned constantly +towards the garden, Ireton called out, 'Why you don't speak to your +little friend, Loddard, Mr Giles. There he is, at the window.' + +Mr Giles now, notwithstanding her utmost efforts to avoid his eyes, +perceived the blushing Juliet; though, doubting his sight, he stared and +exclaimed, 'Good la! that lady's very like Miss Ellis! And, I protest, +'tis she herself! And just as pretty as ever! And with the same innocent +face that not a soul can either buy or make, but God Almighty himself!' + +He then enquired after her health and welfare, with a cordiality that +somewhat lessened the pain caused by the general remark that was +produced by his address: but the relief was at an end upon his adding, +'I wanted to see you prodigiously, for I have never forgotten your +paying your debts so prettily, against your will, that morning. It fixed +you in my good opinion. I hope, however, it is a mistake, what they tell +me, that you are turned what they call toad-eater? and have let yourself +out, at so much a year, to say nothing that you think; and to do nothing +that you like; and to beg pardon when you are not in fault; and to eat +all the offals; and to be beat by the little gentleman; and worried by +the little dog? I hope all that's mere misapprehension, my dear; for it +would be but a very mean way of getting money.' + +The calmness of conscious superiority, with which Juliet heard the +beginning of these interrogatories, was converted into extreme +confusion, by their termination, from the appearance of justice which +the incidents of the morning had given to the attack. + +'For now,' continued he, 'that you have paid all your debts, you ought +to hold up your head; for, where nothing is owing, we are all of us +equal, rich and poor; another man's riches no more making him my +superiour, or benefactor, if I do not partake of them, than my poverty +makes me his servant, or dependent, if I neither work for, nor am +benefited by him. And I am your witness that you gave every one his due. +So don't let any body put you out of your proper place.' + +The mortification of Juliet, at this public exhortation, upon a point so +delicate, was not all that she had to endure: the little dog, who, +though incessantly tormented by the little boy, always followed him; +kept scratching her gown; to be helped up to the window, that he might +play with, or snarl at him, more at his ease; and the boy, making a whip +of his pocket-handkerchief, continually attracted, though merely to +repulse him; while Juliet, seeking alternately to quiet both, had not a +moment's rest. + +'Why now, what's all this my pretty lady?' cried Mr Giles, perceiving +her situation. 'Why do you let those two plagueful things torment you +so? Why don't you teach them to be better behaved.' + +'Miss Ellis would be vastly obliging, certainly,' with a supercilious +brow, said Mrs Ireton, 'to correct my nephew! I don't in the least mean +to contest her abilities for superintending his chastisement; not in the +least, I assure you! But only, as I never heard of my brother's giving +her such a _carte blanche_; and as I don't recollect having given it +myself,--although I may have done it, again, perhaps, in my sleep!--I +should be happy to learn by what authority she would be invested with +such powers of discipline?' + +'By what authority? That of humanity, Ma'am! Not to spoil a poor +ignorant little fellow-creature; nor a poor innocent little beast.' + +'It would be immensely amiable of her, Sir, no doubt,' said Mrs Ireton, +reddening, 'to take charge of the morals of my household; immensely! I +only hope you will be kind enough to instruct the young person, at the +same time, how she may hold her situation? That's all! I only hope +that!' + +'How? Why by doing her duty! If she can't hold it by that, 'tis her duty +to quit it. Nobody is born to be trampled upon.' + +'I hope, too, soon,' said Mrs Ireton, scoffingly, 'nobody will be born +to be poor!' + +'Good! true!' returned he, nodding his head. 'Nobody should be poor! +That is very well said. However, if you think her so poor, I can give +you the satisfaction to shew you your mistake. She mayn't, indeed, be +very rich, poor lady, at bottom; but still--' + +'No, indeed, am I not!' hastily cried Juliet, frightened at the +communication which she saw impending. + +'But still,' continued he, 'if she is poor, it is not for want of money; +nor for want of credit, neither; for she has bank-notes in abundance in +one of her work-bags; and not a penny of them is her own! which shews +her to be a person of great honour.' + +Every one now looked awakened to a new curiosity; and Selina exclaimed, +'O la! have you got a fortune, then, my dear Ellis? O! I dare say, then, +my guess will prove true at last! for I dare say you are a princess in +disguise?' + +'As far as disguise goes, Selina,' answered Mrs Maple, 'we have never, I +think, disputed! but as to a princess!...' + +'A princess?' repeated Mrs Ireton. 'Upon my word, this is an honour I +had not imagined! I own my stupidity! I can't but own my stupidity; but +I really had never imagined myself so much honoured, as to suspect that +I had a princess under my roof, who was so complaisant as to sing, and +play, and read to me, at my pleasure; and to study how to amuse and +divert me! I confess, I had never suspected it! I am quite ashamed of my +total want of sagacity; but it had never occurred to me!' + +'And why not, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why may not a princess be pretty, +and complaisant, and know how to sing and play, and read, as well as +another lady? She is just as able to learn as you, or any common person. +I never heard that a princess took her rank in the place of her +faculties. I know no difference; except that, if she does the things +with good nature, you ought to love and honour her the double, in +consideration of the great temptation she has to be proud and idle, and +to do nothing. We all envy the great, when we ought only to revere them +if they are good, and to pity them if they are bad; for they have the +same infirmities that we have; and nobody that dares put them in mind of +them: so that they often go to the grave, before they find out that they +are nothing but poor little men and women, like the rest of us. For my +part, when I see them worthy, and amiable, I look up to them as +prodigies! Whereas, a common person, such as you, or I, Ma'am,--' + +Mrs Ireton, unable to bear this phrase, endeavoured to turn the +attention of the company into another channel, by abruptly calling upon +Juliet to go to the piano-forte. + +Juliet entreated to be excused. + +'Excused? And why, Ma'am? What else have you got to do? What are your +avocations? I shall really take it as a favour to be informed.' + +'Don't teize her, pretty lady; don't teize her,' cried Mr Giles. 'If she +likes to sing, it's very agreeable; but if not, don't make a point of +it, for it's not a thing at all essential.' + +'Likes it?' repeated Mrs Ireton, superciliously; 'We must do nothing, +then, but what we like? Even when we are in other people's houses? Even +when we exist only through the goodness of some of our superiours? Still +we are to do only what we like? I am quite happy in the information! +Extremely obliged for it, indeed! It will enable me, I hope, to rectify +the gross errour of which I have been guilty; for I really did not know +I had a young lady in my house, who was to make her will and taste the +rule for mine! and, as I suppose, to have the goodness to direct my +servants; as well as to take the trouble to manage me. I knew nothing of +all this, I protest. I thought, on the contrary, I had engaged a young +person, who would never think of taking such a liberty as to give her +opinion; but who would do, as she ought, with respect and submission, +whatever I should indicate.'-- + +'Good la, Ma'am,' interrupted Mr Giles: 'Why that would be leading the +life of a slave! And that, I suppose, is what they meant, all this time, +by a toad-eater. However, don't look so ashamed, my pretty dear, for a +toad-eater-maker is still worse! Fie, fie! What can rich people be +thinking of, to lay out their money in buying their fellow-creatures' +liberty of speech and thought! and then paying them for a bargain which +they ought to despise them for selling?' + +This unexpected retort turning the smiles of the assembly irresistibly +against the lady of the mansion, she hastily renewed her desire that +Juliet would sing. + +'Sing, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why a merry-andrew could not do it, +after being so affronted! Bless my heart! Tell a human being that she +must only move to and fro, like a machine? Only say what she is bid, +like a parrot? Employ her time, call forth her talents, exact her +services, yet not let her make any use of her understanding? Neither say +what she approves, nor object to what she dislikes? Poor, pretty young +thing! You were never so much to be pitied, in the midst of your worst +distresses, as when you were relived upon such terms! Fie upon it, +fie!--How can great people be so little?' + +The mingled shame and resentment of Mrs Ireton, at a remonstrance so +extraordinary and so unqualified, were with difficulty kept within the +bounds of decorum; for though she laughed, and affected to be extremely +diverted, her laugh was so sharp, and forced, that it wounded every ear; +and, through the amusement that she pretended to receive, it was obvious +that she suffered torture, in restraining herself from ordering her +servants to turn the orator out of the room. + +With looks much softened, though in a manner scarcely less fervent, Mr +Giles then, approaching Juliet, repeated, 'Don't be cast down I say, my +pretty lady! You are none the worse for all this. The thing is but +equal, at last; so we must not always look at the bad side of our fate. +State every thing fairly; you have got your talents, your prettiness, +and your winning ways,--but you want these ladies' wealth: they, have +got their wealth, their grandeur, and their luxuries; but they want your +powers of amusing. You can't well do without one another. So it's best +be friends on both sides.' + +Mrs Ireton, now, dying to give some vent to her spleen, darted the full +venom of her angry eyes upon Juliet, and called out, 'You don't see, I +presume, Miss Ellis, what a condition Bijou has put that chair in? 'T +would be too great a condescension for you, I suppose, just to give it a +little pat of the hand, to shake off the crumbs? Though it is not your +business, I confess! I confess that it is not your business! Perhaps, +therefore, I am guilty of an indiscretion in giving you such a hint. +Perhaps I had better let Lady Kendover, or Lady Arramede, or Mrs +Brinville, or any other of the ladies, sit upon the dirt, and soil their +clothes? You may think, perhaps, that it will be for the advantage of +the mercer, or the linen-draper? You may be considering the good of +trade? or perhaps you may think I may do such sort of menial offices for +myself?' + +However generally power may cause timidity, arrogance, in every generous +mind, awakens spirit; Juliet, therefore, raising her head, and, +clearing her countenance, with a modest, but firm step, moved silently +towards the door. + +Astonished and offended, 'Permit me, Madam,' cried Mrs Ireton; 'permit +me, Miss Ellis,--if it is not taking too great a liberty with a person +of your vast consequence,--permit me to enquire who told you to go?' + +Juliet turned back her head, and quietly answered, 'A person, Madam, who +has not the honour to be known to you,--myself!' And then steadily left +the room. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + + +An answer so little expected, from one whose dependent state had been so +freely discussed, caused a general surprize, and an almost universal +demand of who the young person might be, and what she could mean. The +few words that had dropt from her had as many commentators as hearers. +Some thought their inference important; others, their mystery +suspicious; and others mocked their assumption of dignity. Tears started +into the eyes of Lady Barbara; while those of Sir Jaspar were fixed, +meditatively, upon the head of his crutch; but the complacent smile of +admiration, exhibited by Mr Giles, attracted the notice of the whole +assembly, by the peals of laughter which it excited in the Miss +Crawleys. + +With rage difficultly disguised without, but wholly ungovernable within, +Mrs Ireton would instantly have revenged what she considered as the most +heinous affront that she had ever received, by expelling its author +ignominiously from her house, but for the still sharpened curiosity with +which her pretentions to penetration became piqued, from the general cry +of 'How very extraordinary that Mrs Ireton has never been able to +discover who she is!' + +When Juliet, therefore, conceiving her removal from this mansion to be +as inevitable, as her release from its tyranny was desirable, made +known, as soon as the company was dispersed, that she was ready to +depart; she was surprised by a request, from Mrs Ireton, to stay a day +or two longer; for the purpose of taking care of Mr Loddard the +following morning; as Mrs Ireton, who had no one with whom she could +trust such a charge, had engaged herself to join a party to see Arundel +Castle. + +Little as Juliet felt disposed to renew her melancholy wanderings, her +situation in this house appeared to her so humiliating, nay degrading, +that neither this message, nor the fawning civilities with which, at +their next meeting, Mrs Ireton sought to mitigate her late asperity, +could prevail with her to consent to any delay beyond that which was +necessary for obtaining the counsel of Gabriella; to whom she wrote a +detailed account of what had passed; adding, 'How long must I thus waste +my time and my existence, separated from all that can render them +valuable, while fastened upon by constant discomfort and disgust? O +friend of my heart, friend of my earliest years, earliest feelings, +juvenile happiness,--and, alas! maturer sorrows! why must we thus be +sundered in adversity? Oh how,--with three-fold toil, should I revive by +the side of my beloved Gabriella!--Dear to me by every tie of tender +recollection; dear to me by the truest compassion for her sufferings, +and reverence for her resignation; and dear to me,--thrice dear! by the +sacred ties of gratitude, which bind me for ever to her honoured mother, +and to her venerated, saint-like uncle, my pious benefactor!' + +She then tenderly proposed their immediate re-union, at whatever cost of +fatigue, or risk, it might be obtained; and besought Gabriella to seek +some small room, and to enquire for some needle-work; determining to +appropriate to a journey to town, the little sum which she might have to +receive for the long and laborious fortnight, which she had consigned to +the terrible enterprize of aiming at amusing, serving, or interesting, +one whose sole taste of pleasure consisted in seeking, like Strife, in +Spenser's Fairy Queen, occasion for dissension. + +With the apprehension, however, of losing, the desire of retaining her +always revived; and now, as usual, proved some check to the recreations +of spleen, in which Mrs Ireton ordinarily indulged herself. Yet, even in +the midst of intended concession, the love of tormenting was so +predominant, that, had the resolution of Juliet still wavered, whether +to seek some new retreat, or still to support her present irksome +situation, all indecision would have ceased from fresh disgust, at the +sneers which insidiously found their way through every effort at +civility. What had dropt from Mr Giles Arbe, relative to the bank-notes, +had excited curiosity in all; tinted, in some, with suspicion, and, in +Mrs Ireton, blended with malignity and wrath, that a creature whom she +pleased herself to consider, and yet more to represent, as dependent +upon her bounty for sustinence, should have any resources of her own. +Nor was this displeasure wholly free from surmises the most disgraceful; +though to those she forbore to give vent, conscious that to suggest them +would stamp with impropriety all further intercourse with their object. +And a moment that offered new food for inquisition, was the last to +induce Mrs Ireton to relinquish her _protegée_. She confined her +sarcasms, therefore, when she could not wholly repress them, to oblique +remarks upon the happiness of those who were able to lay by private +stores for secret purposes; lamenting that such was not her fate; yet +congratulating herself that she might now sleep in peace, with respect +to any creditors; since, should she be threatened with an execution, her +house had a rich inmate, by whom she flattered herself that she should +be assisted to give bail. + +Already, the next morning, her resolution with regard to her nephew was +reversed; and, the child desiring the change of scene, she gave +directions that Miss Ellis should prepare herself to take him in charge +during the excursion. + +But Juliet was now initiated in the services and the endurance of an +humble companion in public; she offered, therefore, to amuse and to +watch him at home, but decidedly refused to attend him abroad; and her +evident indifference whether to stay or begone herself, forced Mrs +Ireton to deny the humoured boy his intended frolic. + +Little accustomed to any privation, and totally unused to +disappointment, the young gentleman, when his aunt was preparing to +depart, had recourse to his usual appeals against restraint or +authority, clamourous cries and unappeasable blubbering. Juliet, to +whose room he refused to mount, was called upon to endeavour to quiet +him, and to entice him into the garden; that he might not hear the +carriage of his aunt draw up to the door. + +But this commission the refractory spirit of the young heir made it +impossible to execute, till he overheard a whisper to Juliet, that she +would take care, should Mr Loddard chuse to go to the Temple, to place +the silk-worms above his reach. + +Suddenly, then, he sprang from his consolers and attendants, to run +forward to the forbidden fruit; and, with a celerity that made it +difficult for Juliet, even with her utmost speed, and longer limbs, to +arrive at the spot in time to prevent the mischief for which she saw him +preparing. She had just, however, succeeded, in depositing the menaced +insects upon a high bracket, when a footman came to whisper to her the +commands of his lady, that she would detain Mr Loddard till the party +should be set off. + +Before the man had shut himself out, Ireton, holding up his finger to +him in token of secresy, slipt past him into the little building; and, +having turned the key on the inside, and put it into his pocket, said, +'I'll stand centinel for little Pickle!' and flung himself, loungingly, +upon an arm chair. + +Confounded by this action, yet feeling it necessary to appear +unintimidated, Juliet affected to occupy herself with the silk-worms; of +which the young gentleman now, eager to romp with Ireton, thought no +more. + +'At last, then, I have caught you, my skittish dear!' cried Ireton, +while jumping about the little boy, to keep him in good humour. 'I have +had the devil of a difficulty to contrive it. However, I shall make +myself amends now, for they are all going to Arundel Castle, and you and +I can pass the morning together.' + +The indignant look which this boldness excited, he pretended not to +observe, and went on. + +'I can't possibly be easy without having a little private chat with you. +I must consult you about my affairs. I want devilishly to make you my +friend. You might be capitally useful to me. And you would find your +account in it, I promise you. What sayst thee, my pretty one?' + +Juliet, not appearing to hear him, changed the leaves of the silk-worms. + +'Can you guess what it is brings me hither to old madam my mother's? It +is not you, with all your beauty, you arch prude; though I have a great +enjoyment in looking at you and your blushes, which are devilishly +handsome, I own; yet, to say the truth, you are not--all together--I +don't know how it is--but you are not--upon the whole--quite exactly to +my taste. Don't take it ill, my love, for you are a devilish fine girl. +I own that. But I want something more skittish, more wild, more +eccentric. If I were to fix my fancy upon such symmetry as you, I should +be put out of my way every moment. I should always be thinking I had +some Minerva tutoring, or some Juno awing me. It would not do at all. I +want something of another cast; something that will urge me when I am +hippish, without keeping me in order when I am whimsical. Something +frisky, flighty, fantastic,--yet panting, blushing, dying with love for +me!--' + +Neither contempt nor indignation were of sufficient force to preserve +the gravity of Juliet, at this unexpected ingenuousness of vanity. + +'You smile!' he cried; 'but if you knew what a deuced difficult thing it +is, for a man who has got a little money, to please himself, you would +find it a very serious affair. How the deuce can he be sure whether a +woman, when once he has married her, would not, if her settlement be to +her liking, dance at his funeral? The very thought of that would either +carry me off in a fright within a month, or make me want to live for +ever, merely to punish her. It's a hard thing having money! a deuced +hard thing! One does not know who to trust. A poor man may find a wife +in a moment, for if he sees any one that likes him, he knows it is for +himself; but a rich man,--as Sir Jaspar says,--can never be sure whether +the woman who marries him, would not, for the same pin-money, just as +willingly follow him to the outside of the church, as to the inside!' + +At the name of Sir Jaspar, Juliet involuntarily gave some attention, +though she would make no reply. + +'From the time,' continued Ireton, 'that I heard him pronounce those +words, I have never been able to satisfy myself; nor to find out what +would satisfy me. At least not till lately; and now that I know what I +want, the difficulty of the business is to get it! And this is what I +wish to consult with you about; for you must know, my dear, I can never +be happy without being adored.' + +Juliet, now, was surprised into suddenly looking at him, to see whether +he were serious. + +'Yes, adored! loved to distraction! I must be idolized for myself, +myself alone; yet publicly worshiped, that all mankind may see,--and +envy,--the passion I have been able to inspire!' + +Suspecting that he meant some satire upon Elinor, Juliet again fixed her +eyes upon her silk-worms. + +'So you don't ask me what it is that makes me so devilish dutiful all of +a sudden, in visiting my mamma? You think, perhaps, I have some debts to +pay? No; I have no taste for gaming. It's the cursedest fatiguing thing +in the world. If one don't mind what one's about, one is blown up in a +moment; and to be always upon one's guard, is worse than ruin itself. So +I am upon no coaxing expedition, I give you my word. What do you think +it is, then, that brings me hither? Cannot you guess?--Hay?--Why it is +to arrange something, somehow or other, for getting myself from under +this terrible yoke, that seems upon the point of enslaving me. My neck +feels galled by it already! I have naturally no taste for matrimony. And +now that the business seems to be drawing to a point, and I am called +upon to name my lawyer, and cavilled with to declare, to the uttermost +sixpence, what I will do, and what I will give, to make my wife merry +and comfortable upon my going out of the world,--I protest I shudder +with horrour! I think there is nothing upon earth so mercenary, as a +young nymph upon the point of becoming a bride!' + +'Except,--' Juliet here could not resist saying, 'except the man,--young +or old,--who is her bridegroom!' + +'O, that's another thing! quite another thing! A man must needs take +care of his house, and his table, and all that: but the horridest thing +I know, is the condition tied to a man's obtaining the hand of a young +woman; he can never solicit it, but by giving her a prospect of his +death-bed! And she never consents to live with him, till she knows what +she may gain by his dying! Tis the most shocking style of making love +that can be imagined. I don't like it, I swear! What, now, would you +advise me to do?' + +'I?' + +'Yes; you know the scrape I am in, don't you? Sir Jaspar's estate, in +case he should have no children, is entailed upon me; and, in case I +should have none neither, is entailed upon a cousin; the heaviest dog +you ever saw in your life, whom he hates and despises; and whom I wish +at old Nick with all my heart, because I know he, and all his family, +will wish me at the devil myself, if I marry; and, if I have children, +will wish them and my wife there. I hate them all so heartily, that, +whenever I think of them, I am ready, in pure spite, to be tied to the +first girl that comes in my way: but, when I think of myself, I am taken +with a fit of fright, and in a plaguey hurry to cut the knot off short. +And this is the way I have got the character of a male jilt. But I don't +deserve it, I assure you; for of all the females with whom I have had +these little engagements, there is not one whom I have seriously thought +of marrying, after the first half hour. They none of them hit my fancy +further than to kill a little time.' + +The countenance of Juliet, though she neither deigned to speak nor to +turn to him, marked such strong disapprobation, that he thought proper +to add, 'Don't be affronted for little Selina Joddrel: I really meant to +marry her at the time; and I should really have gone on, and "buckled +to," if the thing had been any way possible: but she turns out such a +confounded little fool, that I can't think of her any longer.' + +'And was it necessary,--' Juliet could not refrain from saying, 'to +engage her first, and examine whether she could make you happy +afterwards?' + +'Why that seems a little awkward, I confess; but it's a way I have +adopted. Though I took the decision, I own, rather in a hurry, with +regard to little Selina; for it was merely to free myself from the +reproaches of Sir Jaspar, who, because he is seventy-five, and does not +know what to do with himself, is always regretting that he did not take +a wife when he was a stripling; and always at work to get me into the +yoke. But, the truth is, I promised, when I went abroad, to bring him +home a niece from France, or Italy; unless I went further east; and then +I would look him out a fair Circassian. Now as he has a great taste for +any thing out of the common way, and retains a constant hankering after +Beauty, he was delighted with the scheme. But I saw nothing that would +do! Nothing I could take to! The pretty ones were all too buckish; and +the steady ones, a set of the yellowest frights I ever beheld.' + +'Alas for the poor ladies!' + +'O, you are a mocker, are you?--So to lighten the disappointment to Sir +Jaspar, I hit upon the expedient of taking up with little Selina, who +was the first young thing that fell in my way. And I was too tired to be +difficult. Besides, what made her the more convenient, was her extreme +youth, which gave me a year to look about me, and see if I could do any +better. But she's a poor creature; a sad poor creature indeed! quite too +bad. So I must make an end of the business as fast as possible. Besides, +another thing that puts me in a hurry is,--the very devil would have it +so!--but I have fallen in love with her sister!--' + +Juliet, at a loss how to understand him, now raised her eyes; and, not +without astonishment, perceived that he was speaking with a grave face. + +'O that noble stroke! That inimitable girl! Happy, happy, Harleigh! That +fellow fascinates the girls the more the less notice he takes of them! I +take but little notice of them, neither; but, some how or other, they +never do that sort of thing for me! If I could meet with one who would +take such a measure for my sake, and before such an assembly,--I really +think I should worship her!' + +Then, lowering his voice, 'You may be amazingly useful to me, my angel,' +he cried, 'in this new affair. I know you are very well with Harleigh, +though I don't know exactly how; but if,--nay, hear me before you look +so proud! if you'll help me, a little, how to go to work with the divine +Elinor, I'll bind myself down to make over to you,--in case of +success,--mark that!--as round a sum as you may be pleased to name!' + +The disdain of Juliet at this proposition was so powerful, that, though +she heard it as the deepest of insults, indignation was but a secondary +feeling; and a look of utter scorn, with a determined silence to +whatever else he might say, was the only notice it received. + +He continued, nevertheless, to address her, demanding her advice how to +manage Harleigh, and her assistance how to conquer Elinor, with an air +of as much intimacy and confidence, as if he received the most cordial +replies. He purposed, he said, unless she could counsel him to something +better, making an immediate overture to Elinor; by which means, whether +he should obtain, or not, the only girl in the world who knew how to +love, and what love meant, he should, at least, in a very summary way, +get rid of the little Selina. + +Juliet knew too well the slightness of the texture of the regard of +Selina for Ireton, to be really hurt at this defection; yet she was not +less offended at being selected for the confidant of so dishonourable a +proceeding; nor less disgusted at the unfeeling insolence by which it +was dictated. + +An attempt at opening the door at length silenced him, while the voice +of Mrs Ireton's woman called out, 'Goodness! Miss Ellis, what do you +lock yourself in for? My lady has sent me to you.' + +Juliet cast up her eyes, foreseeing the many disagreeable attacks and +surmises to which she was made liable by this incident; yet immediately +said aloud, 'Since you have thought proper, Mr Ireton, to lock the door, +for your own pleasure, you will, at least, I imagine, think proper to +open it for that of Mrs Ireton.' + +'Deuce take me if I do!' cried he, in a low voice: 'manage the matter as +you will! I have naturally no taste for a prude; so I always leave her +to work her way out of a scrape as well as she can. But I'll see you +again when they are all off.' Then, throwing the key upon her lap, he +softly and laughingly escaped out of the window. + +Provoked and vexed, yet helpless, and without any means of redress, +Juliet opened the door. + +'Goodness! Miss Ellis,' cried the Abigail, peeping curiously around, +'how droll for you to shut yourself in! My lady sent me to ask whether +you have seen any thing of Mr Ireton in the garden, or about; for she +has been ready to go ever so long, and he said he was setting off first +on horseback; but his groom is come, and is waiting for orders, and none +of us can tell where he is.' + +'Mr Ireton,' Juliet quietly answered, 'was here just now; and I doubt +not but you will find him in the garden.' + +'Yes,' cried the boy, 'he slid out of the window.' + +'Goodness! was he in here, then, Master Loddard? Well! my lady'll be in +a fine passion, if she should hear of it!' + +This was enough to give the tidings a messenger: the boy darted forward, +and reached the house in a moment. + +The Abigail ran after him; Juliet, too, followed, dreading the impending +storm yet still more averse to remaining within the reach and power of +Ireton. And the knowledge, that he would now, for the rest of the +morning, be sole master of the house, filled her with such horrour, of +the wanton calumny to which his unprincipled egotism might expose her, +that, rather than continue under the same roof with a character so +unfeelingly audacious, she preferred risking all the mortifications to +which she might be liable in the excursion to Arundel Castle. + +Advanced already into the hall, dragged thither by her turbulent little +nephew, and the hope of detecting the hiding-place of Ireton, stood the +patroness whom she now felt compelled to soothe into accepting her +attendance. Not aware of this purposed concession, and nearly as much +frightened as enraged, to find with whom her son had been shut up, Mrs +Ireton, in a tone equally querulous and piqued, cried, 'I beg you a +thousand pardons, Ma'am, for the indiscretion of which I have been +guilty, in asking for the honour of your company to Arundel Castle this +morning! I ought to make a million of apologies for supposing that a +young lady,--for you are a lady, no doubt! every body is a lady, +now!--of your extraordinary turn and talents the insupportable +insipidity of a tête à tête with a female; or the dull care of a +bantling; when a splendid, flashy, rich, young travelled gentleman, +chusing, also, to remain behind, may be tired, and want some amusement! +'Twas grossly stupid of me, I own, to expect such a sacrifice. You, who, +besides these prodigious talents, that make us all appear like a set of +vulgar, uneducated beings by your side; you, who revel also, in the +luxury of wealth; who wanton in the stores of Plutus; who are accustomed +to the magnificence of unaccounted hoards!--How must the whole detail of +our existence appear penurious, pitiful to you!--I am surprised how you +can forbear falling into fits at the very sight of us! But I presume you +reserve the brilliancy of an action of that _eclat_, for objects better +worth your while to dazzle by a stroke of that grand description? I must +have lost my senses, certainly, to so ill appreciate my own +insignificance! I hope you'll pity me! that's all! I hope you will have +so much unction as to pity me!' + +If, at the opening of this harangue, the patience of Juliet nearly +yielded to resentment, its length gave power to reflection,--which +usually wants but time for checking impulse,--to point out the many and +nameless mischiefs, to which quitting the house under similar suspicions +might give rise. She quietly, therefore, answered, that though to +herself it must precisely be the same thing, whether Mr Ireton were at +home or abroad, if that circumstance gave any choice to Mrs Ireton, she +would change her own plans, either to go or to stay, according to the +directions which she might receive. + +A superiority to accusation or surmize thus cool and decided, no sooner +relieved the apprehensions of Mrs Ireton by its evident innocence, than +it excited her wrath by its deliberate indifference, if not contempt: +and she would now disdainfully have rejected the attendance which, the +moment before, she had anxiously desired, had not the little master of +the house, who had seized the opportunity of this harangue to make his +escape, caught a glimpse of the carriage at the door; and put an end to +all contest, by stunning all ears, with an unremitting scream till he +forced himself into it; when, overpowering every obstacle, he obliged +his aunt and Juliet to follow; while he issued his own orders to the +postilion to drive to Arundel Castle. + +Even the terrour of calumny, that most dangerous and baneful foe to +unprotected woman! would scarcely have frightened Juliet into this +expedition, had she been aware that, as soon as she was seated in the +landau, with orders to take the whole charge of Mr Loddard, the little +dog, also, would have been given to her management. 'Bijou will like to +take the air,' cried Mrs Ireton, languidly; 'and he will serve to +entertain Loddard by the way. He can go very well on Miss Ellis's lap. +Pretty little creature! 'Twould be cruel to leave him at home alone!' + +This terrible humanity, which, in a hot day, in the middle of July, cast +upon the knees of Juliet a fat, round, well furred, and over-fed little +animal, accustomed to snarl, scratch, stretch, and roll himself about at +his pleasure, produced fatigue the most pitiless, and inconvenience the +most comfortless. The little tyrant of the party, whose will was law to +the company, found no diversion so much to his taste, during the short +journey, as exciting the churlish humour of his fellow-favourite, by +pinching his ears, pulling his nose, filliping his claws, squeezing his +throat, and twisting round his tail. And all these feats, far from +incurring any reprimand, were laughed at and applauded. For whom did +they incommode? No one but Miss Ellis;--and for what else was Miss Ellis +there? + +Yet this fatigue and disgust might have been passed over, as local +evils, had they ceased with the journey; and had she then been at +liberty to look at what remains of the venerable old castle; to visit +its ancient chapel; to examine the genealogical records of the long +gallery; to climb up to the antique citadel, and to enjoy the spacious +view thence presented of the sea: but she immediately received orders to +give exercise to Bijou, and to watch that he ran into no danger: though +Selina, who assiduously came forward to meet Mrs Ireton, without +appearing even to perceive Juliet, officiously took young Loddard in +charge, and conducted him, with his aunt, to a large expecting party, +long arrived, and now viewing the citadel. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + + +Relieved, nevertheless, through whatever means effected, by a +separation, Juliet, with her speechless, though far from mute companion, +went forth to seek some obscure walk. But her purpose was defeated by +the junction of a little spaniel, to which Bijou attached himself, with +a fondness so tenacious, that her utmost efforts either to disengage +them, or to excite both to follow her, were fruitless; Bijou would not +quit the spaniel; nor the spaniel his post near the mansion. + +Not daring to go on without her troublesome little charge, the approach +of a carriage made her hasten to a garden-seat, upon which, though she +could not be hidden, she might be less conspicuous. + +The carriage, familiar to her from having frequently seen it at Miss +Matson's, was that of Sir Jaspar Herrington. Not satisfied, though she +had no right to be angry, at the so measured politeness which he had +shewn her the preceding day, when further notice would have softened her +mortifying embarrassment, she was glad that he had not remarked her in +passing. + +She heard him enquire for Mrs Ireton's party, which he had promised to +join; but, affrighted at the sound of the citadel, he said that he would +alight, and wait upon some warm seat in the grounds. + +In descending from his chaise, one of his crutches fell, and a +bonbonniere, of which the contents were dispersed upon the ground, slipt +from the hand of his valet. It was then, and not without chagrin, that +Juliet began further to comprehend the defects of a character which she +had thought an entire composition of philanthropy and courtesy. He +reviled rather than scolded the servant to whom the accident had +happened; and treated the circumstances as an event of the first +importance. He cast an equal share of blame, and with added sharpness, +upon the postilion, for not having advanced an inch nearer to the +stone-steps; and uttered invectives even virulent against the groom, +that he had not come forward to help. Angry, because vexed, with all +around, he used as little moderation in his wrath, as reason in his +reproaches. + +How superficially, thought Juliet, can we judge of dispositions, where +nothing is seen but what is meant to be shewn! where nothing is +pronounced but what is prepared for being heard! Had I fixed my opinion +of this gentleman only upon what he intended that I should witness, I +should have concluded that he had as much urbanity of humour as of +manners. I could never have imagined, that the most trifling of +accidents could, in a moment, destroy the whole harmony of his temper! + +In the midst of the choleric harangue of the Baronet, against which no +one ventured to remonstrate, the little dogs came sporting before him; +and, recollecting Bijou, he hastily turned his head towards the person +upon the garden-seat, whom he had passed without any attention, and +discerned Juliet. + +He hobbled towards her without delay, warmly expressing his delight at +so auspicious a meeting: but the air and look, reserved and grave, with +which, involuntarily, she heard him, brought to his consciousness, what +the pleasure of her sight had driven from it, his enraged attack upon +his servants; which she must unavoidably have witnessed, and of which +her countenance shewed her opinion. + +He stood some moments silent, leaning upon his crutches, and palpably +disconcerted. Then, shrugging his shoulders, with a half smile, but a +piteous look, 'Many,' he cried, 'are the tricks which my quaint little +imps have played me! many, the quirks and villainous wiles I owe +them!--but never yet, with all the ingenuity of their malice, have they +put me to shame and confusion such as this!' + +Rising to be gone, yet sorry for him, and softened, the disapprobation +of Juliet was mingled with a concern, from her disposition to like him, +that made its expression, in the eyes of her old admirer, seem something +nearly divine. He looked at her with reverence and with regret, but made +no attempt to prevent her departure. To separate, however, the dogs, or +induce the spaniel to go further, she still found impossible; and, not +daring to abandon Bijou, was fain quietly to seat herself again, upon a +garden-chair, nearer to the house. + +Sir Jaspar, for some minutes, remained, pensively, upon the spot where +she had left him; then, again shrugging his shoulders, as if bemoaning +his ill luck, and again hobbling after her, 'There is nothing,' he +cried, 'that makes a man look so small, as a sudden self-conviction that +he merits ridicule or disgrace! what intemperance would be averted, +could we believe ourselves always,--not only from above, but by one +another, overhead! Don't take an aversion to me, however! nor suppose me +worse than I am; nor worse than the herd of mankind. You have but seen +an old bachelor in his true colours! Not with the gay tints, not with +the spruce smiles, not with the gallant bows, the courteous homage, the +flowery flourishes, with which he makes himself up for shew; but with +the grim colouring of factious age, and suspicious egotism!' + +The countenance of Juliet shewing her now to be shocked that she had +given rise to these apologies, that of Sir Jaspar brightened; and, +dragging a chair to her side, 'I came hither,' he cried, 'in the fair +hope to seize one of those happy moments, that the fates, now and then, +accord to favoured mortals, for holding interesting and dulcet +discourse, with the most fascinating enchantress that a long life, +filled up with fastidious, perhaps fantastic researches after female +excellence, has cast in my way. Would not one have thought twas some +indulgent sylph that directed me? that inspired me with the idea, and +then seconded the inspiration, by contriving that my arrival should take +place at the critical instant, when that syren was to be found alone? +Who could have suspected 'twas but the envious stratagem of some imp of +darkness and spite, devised purely to expose a poor antiquated soul, +with all his infirmities, physical and moral, to your contempt and +antipathy?' + +Peering now under her hat, his penetrating eyes discerned so entire a +change in his favour, that he completely recovered his pleasantry, his +quaint archness, and his gallantry. + +'If betrayed,' he continued, 'by these perfidious elves, where may a +poor forlorn solitary wight, such as I am, find a counsellor? He has no +bosom friend, like the happy mortal, whose kindly star has guided him to +seek, in lively, all-attractive youth, an equal partner for melancholy, +all revolting age! He has no rising progeny, that, inheritors of his +interests, naturally share his difficulties. He has nothing at hand but +mercenary dependents. Nothing at heart but jealous suspicion of others, +or secret repining for himself! Such, fair censurer! such is the natural +state of that unnatural character, an old bachelor! How, then, when not +upon his guard, or, in other words, when not urged by some outward +object, some passing pleasure, or some fairy hope,--how,--tell me, in +the candour of your gentle conscience! how can you expect from so +decrepit and unwilling a hermit, the spontaneous benevolence of youth?' + +'But what is it I have said, Sir,' cried Juliet smiling, 'that makes you +denounce me as a censurer?' + +'What is it you have said? ask, rather, what is it you have not said, +with those eyes that speak with an eloquence that a thousand tongues +might emulate in vain? They administered to me a lesson so severe, +because just, that, had not a little pity, which just now beamed from +them, revived me, the malignant goblins, who delight in drawing me into +these scrapes, might have paid for their sport by losing their prey! But +what invidious little devils ensnare me even now, into this +superannuated folly, of prating about so worn out an old subject, when I +meant only to name a being bright, blooming, and juvenile--' + +The recollection of his nearly complete neglect, the preceding day, in +presence of Mrs Ireton, and her society, again began to cloud the +countenance of Juliet, as she listened to compliments thus reserved for +private delivery. Sir Jaspar soon penetrated into what passed in her +mind, and, yet again shrugging his shoulders, and resuming the sorrowful +air of a self-convicted culprit, 'Alas!' he cried, 'under what pitiful +star did I first begin limping upon this nether sphere? And what foul +fiend is it, that, taking upon him the name of worldly cunning, has +fashioned my conduct, since here I have been hopping and hobbling? I +burned, yesterday, with desire to make public my admiration of the fair +flower, that I saw nearly trampled under foot; and I should have +considered as the most propitious moment of my life, that in which I had +raised its drooping head, by withering, with a blast, all the sickly, +noxious surrounding weeds: but those little devils, that never leave me +quiet, kept twitching and tweaking me every instant, with +representations of prudence and procrastination; with the danger of +exciting observation; and the better judgement of obtaining a little +private discourse, previous to any public display.' + +Not able to divine to what this might be the intended prelude, Juliet +was silent. Sir Jaspar, after some hesitation, continued. + +'In that motley assembly, you had two antique friends, equally cordial, +and almost equally admiring and desirous to serve you; but by different +means,--perhaps with different views! one of them, stimulated by the +little fairy elves, that alternately enlighten and mislead him, not +seeing yet his way, and embarrassed in his choice of measures, was lying +in wait, cautiously to avail himself of the first favourable moment, for +soliciting your fair leave to dub himself your knight-errant; the +other, urged solely, perhaps, by good-nature and humanity, with an happy +absence of mind, that precludes circumspection; coming forward in your +defence, and for your honour, with unsuspecting, unfearing, +untemporising zeal. Alas! in my conscience, which these tormenting +little imps are for ever goading on, to inflict upon me some +disagreeable compliment, I cannot, all simple as he is, but blush to +view the intrinsic superiority of the unsophisticated man of nature, +over the artificial man of the world! How much more truly a male +character.' + +Looking at her then with examining earnestness, 'To which of these +antediluvian wights,' he continued, 'you will commit the gauntlet, that +must be flung in your defence, I know not; either of us,--alas!--might +be your great grandfather! But, helpless old captives as we are in your +chains, we each feel a most sincere, nay, inordinate desire, to break +those fetters with which, at this moment, you seem yourself to be +shackled. And for this I am not wholly without a scheme, though it is +one that demands a little previous parleying.' + +Juliet positively declined his services; but gratefully acknowledged +those from which she had already, though involuntarily, profited. + +'You cannot, surely,' he cried, 'have a predilection for your present +species of existence? and, least of all, under the galling yoke of this +spirit-breaking dame, into whose ungentle power I cannot see you fallen +without losing sleep, appetite, and pleasure. How may I conjure you into +better hands? How release you from such bondage? And yet, this pale, +withered, stiff, meagre hag, so odious, so tyrannical, so irascible, but +a few years,--in my calculation!--but a few years since,--had all the +enchantment of blithe, blooming loveliness! You, who see her only in her +decline, can never believe it; but she was eminently fair, gay, and +charming!' + +Juliet looked at him, astonished. + +'Her story,' he continued, 'already envelopes the memoirs of a Beauty, +in her four stages of existence. During childhood, indulged, in every +wish; admired where she should have been chidden, caressed where she +should have been corrected; coaxed into pettishness, and spoilt into +tyranny. In youth, adored, followed, and applauded till, involuntarily, +rather than vainly, she believed herself a goddess. In maturity,--ah! +there's the test of sense and temper in the waning beauty!--in maturity, +shocked and amazed to see herself supplanted by the rising bloomers; to +find that she might be forgotten, or left out, if not assiduous herself +to come forward; to be consulted only upon grave and dull matters, out +of the reach of her knowledge and resources; alternately mortified by +involuntary negligence, and affronted by reverential respect! Such has +been her maturity; such, amongst faded beauties, is the maturity of +thousands. In old age,--if a lady may be ever supposed to suffer the +little loves and graces to leave her so woefully in the lurch, as to +permit her to know such a state;--in old age, without stores to amuse, +or powers to instruct, though with a full persuasion that she is endowed +with wit, because she cuts, wounds, and slashes from unbridled, though +pent-up resentment, at her loss of adorers; and from a certain +perverseness, rather than quickness of parts, that gifts her with the +sublime art of ingeniously tormenting; with no consciousness of her own +infirmities, or patience for those of others; she is dreaded by the gay, +despised by the wise, pitied by the good, and shunned by all.' + +Then, looking at Juliet with a strong expression of surprise, 'What Will +o'the Wisp,' he cried, 'has misled you into this briery thicket of +brambles, nettles, and thorns? where you cannot open your mouth but you +must be scratched; nor your ears, but you must be wounded; nor stir a +word but you must be pricked and worried? How is it that, with the most +elegant ideas, the most just perceptions upon every subject that +presents itself, you have a taste so whimsical?' + +'A taste? Can you, then, Sir, believe a fate like mine to have any +connexion with choice?' + +'What would you have me believe, fair Ænigma? Tell me, and I will +fashion my credulity to your commands. But I only hear of you with Mrs +Maple; I only see you with Mrs Ireton! Mrs Maple, having weaker parts, +may have less power, scientifically, to torment than Mrs Ireton; but +nature has been as active in personifying ill will with the one, as art +in embellishing spite with the other. They are equally egotists, equally +wrapt up in themselves, and convinced that self alone is worth living +for in this nether world. What a fate! To pass from Maple to Ireton, was +to fall from Scylla to Charybdis!' + +The blush of Juliet manifested extreme confusion, to see herself +represented, even though it might be in sport, as a professional +parasite. Reading, with concern, in her countenance, the pain which he +had caused her, he exclaimed, 'Sweet witch! loveliest syren!--let me +hasten to develope a project, inspired, I must hope, by my better +genius! Tell me but, frankly, who and what you are, and then--' + +Juliet shook her head. + +'Nay, nay, should your origin be the most obscure, I shall but think +you more nearly allied to the gods! Jupiter, Apollo, and such like +personages, delighted in a secret progeny. If, on the contrary, in +sparkling correspondence with your eyes, it is brilliant, but has been +clouded by fortune, how ravished shall I be to twirl round the wheels of +that capricious deity, till they reach those dulcet regions, where +beauty and merit are in harmony with wealth and ease! Tell me, then, +what country first saw you bloom; what family originally reared you; by +what name you made your first entrance into the world;--and I will turn +your champion against all the spirits of the air, all the fiends of the +earth, and all the monsters of the "vast abyss!" Leave, then, to such as +need those goaders, the magnetism of mystery and wonder, and trust, +openly and securely, to the charm of youth, the fascination of +intelligence, the enchantment of grace, and the witchery of beauty!' + +Juliet was still silent. + +'I see you take me for a vain, curious old caitiff, peeping, peering and +prying into business in which I have no concern. Charges such as these +are ill cleared by professions; let me plead, therefore, by facts. +Should there be a person,--young, rich, _à la mode_, and not ugly; whose +expectations are splendid, who moves in the sphere of high life, who +could terminate your difficulties with honour, by casting at your feet +that vile dross, which, in fairy hands, such as yours, may be transmuted +into benevolence, generosity, humanity,--if such a person there should +be, who in return for these grosser and more substantial services, +should need the gentler and more refined ones of soft society, mild +hints, guidance unseen, admonition unpronounced;--would you, and could +you, in such a case, condescend to reciprocate advantages, and their +reverse? Would you,--and could you,--if snatched from unmerited +embarrassments, to partake of luxuries which your acceptance would +honour, bear with a little coxcomical nonsense, and with a larger +portion, still, of unmeaning perverseness, and malicious nothingness? I +need not, I think, say, that the happy mortal whom I wish to see thus +charmed and thus formed, is my nephew Ireton.' + +Uncertain whether he meant to mock or to elevate her, Juliet simply +answered, that she had long, though without knowing why, found Mr Ireton +her enemy; but had never forseen that an ill will as unaccountable as it +was unprovoked, would have extended so far, and so wide, as to spread +all around her the influence of irony and derision. + +'Hold, hold! fair infidel,'--cried Sir Jaspar, 'unless you mean to give +me a fit of the gout.' + +He then solemnly assured her, that he was so persuaded that her +excellent understanding, and uncommon intelligence, united, in rare +junction, with such youth and beauty, would make her a treasure to a +rich and idle young man, whose character, fluctuating between good and +bad, or rather between something and nothing, was yet unformed; that, if +she would candidly acknowledge her real name, story, and situation, he +should merely have to utter a mysterious injunction to Ireton, that he +must see her no more, in order to bring him to her feet. 'He acts but a +part,' continued the Baronet, 'in judging you ill. He piques himself +upon being a man of the world, which, he persuades himself, he manifests +to all observers, by a hardy, however vague spirit of detraction and +censoriousness; deeming, like all those whose natures have not a +kindlier bent, suspicion to be sagacity.' + +Juliet was entertained by this singular plan, yet frankly acknowledged, +after repeating her thanks, that it offered her not temptation; and +continued immoveable, to either address or persuasion, for any sort of +personal communication. + +A pause of some minutes ensued, during which Sir Jaspar seemed +deliberating how next to proceed. He then said, 'You are decided not to +hear of my nephew? He is not, I confess, deserving you; but who is? +Yet,--a situation such as this,--a companion such as Mrs Ireton,--any +change must surely be preferable to a fixture of such a sort? What, +then, must be done? Where youth, youth itself, even when joined to +figure and to riches, is rejected, how may it be hoped that age,--age +and infirmity!--even though joined with all that is gentlest in +kindness, all that is most disinterested in devotion, may be rendered +more acceptable?' + +Confused, and perplexed how to understand him, Juliet was rising, under +pretence of following Bijou; but Sir Jaspar, fastening her gown to the +grass by his two crutches, laughingly said, 'Which will you resist most +stoutly? your own cruelty, or the kindness of my little fairy friends? +who, at this moment, with a thousand active gambols, are pinning, +gluing, plaistering, in sylphick mosaic-work, your robe between the +ground and my sticks; so that you cannot tear it away without leaving +me, at least, some little memorial that I have had the happiness of +seeing you!' + +Forced either to struggle or to remain in her place, she sat still, and +he continued. + +'Don't be alarmed, for I shall certainly not offend you. Listen, then, +with indulgence, to what I am tempted to propose, and, whether I am +impelled by my evil genius, or inspired by my guardian angel--' + +Juliet earnestly entreated him to spare her any proposition whatever; +but vainly; and he was beginning, with a fervour almost devout, an +address to all the sylphs, elves, and aeriel beings of his fanciful +idolatry, when a sudden barking from Bijou making him look round, he +perceived that Mrs Ireton, advancing on tiptoe, was creeping behind his +garden-chair. + +Confounded by an apparition so unwished, he leant upon his crutches, +gasping and oppressed for breath; while Juliet, to avoid the attack of +which the malevolence of Mrs Ireton's look was the sure precursor, would +have retreated, had not her gown been so entangled in the crutches of +Sir Jaspar, that she could not rise without leaving him the fragment +that he had coveted. In vain she appealed with her eyes for release; his +consternation was such, that he saw only, what least he wished to see, +the scowling brow of Mrs Ireton; who, to his active imagination, +appeared to be Megara herself, just mounted from the lower regions. + +'Well! this is really charming! Quite edifying, I protest!' burst forth +Mrs Ireton, when she found that she was discovered. 'This is a sort of +intercourse I should never have divined! You'll pardon my want of +discernment! I know I am quite behind hand in observation and remark; +but I hope, in time, and with so much good instruction, I may become +more sagacious. I am glad, however, to see that I don't disturb you Miss +Ellis! Extremely glad to find that you treat your place so amiably +without ceremony. I am quite enchanted to be upon terms so familiar and +agreeable with you. I may sit down myself, I suppose, upon the grass, +meanwhile! 'Twill be really very rural! very rural and pretty!' + +Juliet now could no longer conceal her confined situation, for, pinioned +to her place, she was compelled to petition the Baronet to set her at +liberty. + +The real astonishment of Mrs Ireton, upon discovering the cause and +means of her detention, was far less amusing to herself, than that which +she had affected, while concluding her presumptuous _protegée_ to be a +voluntary intruder upon the time, and encroacher upon the politeness of +the Baronet. Her eyes now opened, with alarm, to a confusion so unusual +in her severe and authoritative brother-in-law; whom she was accustomed +to view awing others, not himself awed. Suggestions of the most +unpleasant nature occurred to her suspicious mind; and she stood as if +thunderstruck in her turn, in silent suspension how to act, or what next +to say; till Selina came running forward, to announce that all the +company was gone to look at the Roman Catholic chapel; and to enquire +whether Mrs Ireton did not mean to make it a visit. + +If Sir Jaspar, Mrs Ireton hesitatingly answered, would join the party, +she would attend him with pleasure. + +Sir Jaspar heard not this invitation. In his haste to give Juliet her +freedom, his feeble hands, disobedient to his will, and unable to second +the alacrity of his wishes, struck his crutches through her gown; and +they were now both, and in equal confusion, employed in disentangling +it; and ashamed to look up, or to speak. + +Selina, perceiving their position, with the unmeaning glee of a childish +love of communication, ran, tittering, away, to tell it to Miss +Brinville; who, saying that there was nothing worth seeing in the Roman +Catholic chapel, was sauntering after Mrs Ireton, in hopes of finding +entertainment more congenial to her mind. + +The sight of this lady restored to Mrs Ireton the scoffing powers which +amazement, mingled with alarm, had momentarily chilled; and, as Miss +Brinville peeringly approached, to verify the whisper of Selina, +exclaiming, 'Dear! what makes poor Sir Jaspar stoop so?' his loving +sister-in-law answered, 'Sir Jaspar, Miss Brinville? What can Sir Jaspar +do? I beg pardon for the question, but what can a gentleman do, when a +young woman happens to take a fancy to place herself so near him, that +he can't turn round without incommoding her? Not that I mean to blame +Miss Ellis. I hope I know better. I hope I shall never be guilty of such +injustice; for how can Miss Ellis help it? What could she do? Where +could she turn herself in so confined a place as this? in so narrow a +piece of ground? How could she possibly find any other spot for repose?' + +A contemptuous smile at Juliet from Miss Brinville, shewed that lady's +approbation of this witty sally; and the junction of Mrs Maple, whose +participation in this kind of enjoyment was known to be lively and +sincere, exalted still more highly the spirit of poignant sarcasm in Mrs +Ireton; who, with smiles of ineffable self-complacency, went on, 'There +are people, indeed,--I am afraid,--I don't know, but I am afraid +so,--there are people who may have the ill nature to think, that the +charge of walking out a little delicate animal in the grounds, did not +imply an absolute injunction to recline, with lounging elegance, upon an +easy chair. There are people, I say, who may have so little +intelligence as to be of that way of thinking. 'Tis being abominably +stupid, I own, but there's no enlightening vulgar minds! There is no +making them see the merit of quitting an animal for a gentleman; +especially for a gentleman in such penury; who has no means to +recompense any attentions with which he may be indulged.' + +Juliet, more offended, now, even than confused, would willingly have +torn her gown to hasten her release; but she was still sore, from the +taunts of Mrs Ireton, upon a recent similar mischief. + +They were presently joined by the Arramedes; and Mrs Ireton, secure of +new admirers, felt her powers of pleasantry encrease every moment. + +'I hope I shall never fail to acknowledge,' she continued, 'how +supremely I am indebted to those ladies who have had the goodness to +recommend this young person to me. I can never repay such kindness, +certainly; that would be vastly beyond my poor abilities; for she has +the generosity to take an attachment to all that belongs to me! It was +only this morning that she had the goodness to hold a private conference +with my son. Nobody could tell where to find him. He seemed to have +disappeared from the whole house. But no! he had only, as Mr Loddard +afterwards informed me, stept into the Temple, with Miss Ellis.' + +Sir Jaspar now, surprised and shocked, lifted up his eyes; but their +quick penetration instantly read innocence in the indignation expressed +in those of Juliet. + +Mrs Ireton, however, saw only her own triumph, in the malicious simpers +of Miss Brinville, the spiteful sneers of Mrs Maple, and the haughty +scorn of Lady Arramede. + +Charmed, therefore, with her brilliant success, she went on. + +'How I may be able to reward kindness so extraordinary, I can't pretend +to say. I am so stupid, I am quite at a loss what to devize that may be +adequate to such services; for the attentions bestowed upon my son in +the morning, I see equally displayed to his uncle at noon. Though there +is some partiality, I think, too, shewn to Ireton. I won't affirm it; +but I am rather afraid there is some partiality shewn to Ireton; for +though the conference has been equally interesting, I make no doubt, +with Sir Jaspar, it has not had quite so friendly an appearance. The +open air is very delightful, to be sure; and a beautiful prospect helps +to enliven one's ideas; but still, there is something in complete +retirement that seems yet more romantic and amicable. Ireton was so +impressed with this idea, as I am told; for I don't pretend to speak +from my own personal knowledge upon subjects of so much importance; but +I am told,--Mr Loddard informs me, that Ireton was so sensible to the +advantage of having the honours of an exclusive conference, that he not +only chose that retired spot, but had the precaution, also, to lock the +door. I don't mean to assert this! it may be all a mistake, perhaps. +Miss Ellis can tell best.' + +Neither the steadiness of innate dignity, nor the fearlessness of +conscious innocence, could preserve Juliet from a sensation of horrour, +at a charge which she could not deny, though its implications were false +and even atrocious. She saw, too, that, at the words 'lock the door,' +Sir Jaspar again raised his investigating eyes, in which there was +visibly a look of disturbance. She would not, however, deign to make a +vindication, lest she should seem to acknowledge it possible that she +might be thought culpable; but, being now disengaged, she silently, and +uncontrollably hurt, walked away. + +'And pray, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, 'if the question is not too +impertinent, don't you see Mr Loddard coming? And who is to take care of +Bijou? And where is his basket? And I don't see his cushion?' + +Juliet turned round to answer, 'I will send them Madam, immediately.' + +'Amazing condescension!' exclaimed Mrs Ireton, in a rage that she no +longer aimed at disguising: 'I shall never be able to shew my sense of +such affability! Never! I am vastly too obtuse, vastly too obtuse and +impenetrable to find any adequate means of expressing my gratitude. +However, since you really intend me the astonishing favour of sending +one of my people upon your own errand, permit me to entreat,--if it is +not too great a liberty to take with a person of your unspeakable +rank,--permit me to entreat that you will make use of the same vehicle +for conveying to me your account; for you are vastly too fine a lady for +a person so ordinary as I am to keep under her roof. I have no such +ambition, I assure you; not an intention of the kind. So pray let me +know what retribution I am to make for your trouble. You have taken vast +pains, I imagine, to serve me and please me. I imagine so! I must be +prodigiously your debtor, I make no doubt!' + +'What an excess of impertinence!' cried Lady Arramede. + +'She'll never know her place,' said Mrs Maple: ''tis quite in vain to +try to serve such a body.' + +'I never saw such airs in my life!' exclaimed Miss Brinville. + +Juliet could endure no more. The most urgent distress seemed light and +immaterial, when balanced against submission to treatment so injurious. +She walked, therefore, straight forward to the castle, for shelter, +immediate shelter, from this insupportable attack; disengaging herself +from the spoilt little boy, who strove, nay cried to drag her back; +forcing away from her the snarling cur, who would have followed her; and +decidedly mute to the fresh commands of Mrs Ireton, uttered in tones of +peremptory, but vain authority. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + + +Offended, indignant; escaped, yet without safety; free, yet without +refuge; Juliet, hurried into the noble mansion, with no view but to find +an immediate hiding-place, where, unseen, she might allow some vent to +her wounded feelings, and, unmarked, remain till the haughty party +should be gone, and she could seek some humble conveyance for her own +return. + +Concluding her in haste for some commission of Mrs Ireton's, the +servants let her pass nearly unobserved; and she soon came to a long +gallery, hung with genealogical tables of the Arundel family, and with +various religious reliques, and historical curiosities. + +Believing herself alone, and in a place of which the stillness suited +her desire of solitude and concealment, she had already shut the door +before she saw her mistake. What, then, was her astonishment, what her +emotion, when she discerned, seated, and examining a part of the +hangings, at the further end of the gallery, the gentle form of Lady +Aurora Granville! + +Sudden transport, though mingled with a thousand apprehensions, +instantly converted every dread that could depress into every hope that +could revive her. A start evinced that she was seen. She endeavoured to +courtesy, and would have advanced; but, the first moment over, fear, +uncertainty, and conflicting doubts took place of its joy, and robbed +her of force. Her dimmed eyes perceived not the smiling pleasure with +which Lady Aurora had risen at her approach; her breast heaved quick; +her heart swelled almost to suffocation; and, wholly disordered, she +leaned against a window-frame cut in the immensely thick walls of the +castle. + +Lady Aurora now ran fleetly forward, exclaiming, in a voice of which the +tender melody spoke the softness of her soul, 'Miss Ellis! My dear Miss +Ellis! have I, indeed, the happiness to meet with you again? O! if you +could know how I have desired, have pined for it!--But,--are you ill?! +You cannot be angry? Miss Ellis! sweet Miss Ellis! Can you ever have +believed that it has been my fault that I have appeared so unkind, so +hard, so cruel?' + +With a fulness of joy that, in conquering doubt, overpowered timidity, +Juliet now, with rapturous tears, and resistless tenderness, flung +herself upon the neck of Lady Aurora, whom she encircled with her arms, +and strained fondly to her bosom. + +But the same vent that gave relief to internal oppression brought her to +a sense of external impropriety: she felt that it was rather her part to +receive than to bestow such marks of affection. She drew back; and her +cheeks were suffused with the most vivid scarlet, when she observed the +deep colour which dyed those of Lady Aurora at this action; though +evidently with the blushes of surprise, not of pride. + +Ashamed, and hanging her head, Juliet would have attempted some apology; +but Lady Aurora, warmly returning her embrace, cried, 'How happy, and +how singular a chance that we should have fixed upon this day for +visiting Arundelcastle! We have been making a tour to the Isle of Wight +and to Portsmouth; and we did not intend to go to Brighthelmstone; so +that I had no hope, none upon earth, of such a felicity as that of +seeing my dear Miss Ellis. I need not, I think, say it was not I who +formed our plan, when I own that we had no design to visit +Brighthelmstone, though I knew, from Lady Barbara Frankland, that Miss +Ellis was there?' + +'Alas! I fear,' answered Juliet, 'the design was to avoid +Brighthelmstone! and to avoid it lest a blessing such as I now +experience should fall to my lot! Ah, Lady Aurora! by the pleasure,--the +transport, rather, with which your sudden sight has made me appear to +forget myself, judge my anguish, my desolation, to be banished from your +society, and banished as a criminal!' + +Lady Aurora shuddered and hid her face. 'O Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'what +a word! never may I hear it,--so applied,--again, lest it should +alienate me from those I ought to respect and esteem! and you so good, +so excellent, would be sorry to see me estrange myself, even though it +were for your own sake, from those to whom I owe gratitude and +attachment. I must try to shew my admiration of Miss Ellis in a manner +that Miss Ellis herself will not condemn. And will not that be by +speaking to her without any disguise? And will she not have the goodness +to encourage me to do it? For the world I would not take a liberty with +her;--for the universe I would not hurt her!--but if it were possible +she could condescend to give, ... however slightly, however imperfectly, +some little explanation to ... to ... Mrs Howel....' + +Juliet here, with a strong expression of horrour, interrupted her: 'Mrs +Howel?--O no! I cannot speak with Mrs Howel!--I had nearly said I can +see Mrs Howel no more! But happier days would soon subdue resentment. +And, indeed, what I feel even now, may more justly be called terrour. +Appearances have so cruelly misrepresented me, that I have no right to +be indignant, nor even surprised that they should give rise to false +judgments. I have no right to expect,--in a second instance,--unknown, +friendless, lonely as I am! a trusting angel! a Lady Aurora!' + +The tears of Lady Aurora now flowed as fast as her own. 'If I have been +so fortunate,' she cried, 'as to inspire such sweet kindness in so noble +a mind, even in the midst of its unhappiness, I shall always prize it as +the greatest of honours, and try to use it so as to make me become +better; that you may never wound me by retracting it, nor be wounded +yourself by being ashamed of your partiality.' + +With difficulty Juliet now forbore casting herself at the feet of Lady +Aurora, the hem of whose garment she would have kissed with extacy, had +not her own pecuniary distresses, and the rank of her young friend, made +her recoil from what might have the semblance of flattery. She attempted +not to speak; conscious of the inadequacy of all that she could utter +for expressing what she felt, she left to the silent eloquence of her +streaming, yet transport-glittering eyes, the happy task of +demonstrating her gratitude and delight. + +With calmer, though extreme pleasure, Lady Aurora perceived the +impression which she had made. 'See,' she cried, again embracing her; +'see whether I trust in your kindness, when I venture, once more, to +renew my earnest request, my entreaty, my petition--' + +'O! Lady Aurora! Who can resist you? Not I! I am vanquished! I will tell +you all! I will unbosom myself to you entirely!' + +'No, my Miss Ellis, no! not to me! I will not even hear you! Have I not +said so? And what should make me change? All I have been told by Lady +Barbara Frankland of your exertions, has but increased my admiration; +all she has written of your sufferings, your disappointments, and the +patient courage with which you have borne them, has but more endeared +you to my heart. No explanation can make you fairer, clearer, more +perfect in my eyes. I take, indeed, the deepest interest in your +welfare; but it is an interest that makes me proud to wait, not curious +to hear; proud, my Miss Ellis, to shew my confidence, my trust in your +excellencies! If, therefore, you will have the goodness to speak, it +must be to others, not to me! I should blush to be of the number of +those who want documents, certificates, to love and honour you!' + +Again Juliet was speechless; again all words seemed poor, heartless, +unworthy to describe the sensibility of her soul, at this touching proof +of a tenderness so consonant to her wishes, yet so far surpassing her +dearest expectations. She hung over her ingenuous young friend; she +sighed, she even sobbed with unutterable delight; while tears of rapture +rolled down her glowing cheeks, and while her eyes were lustrous with a +radiance of felicity that no tears could dim. + +Charmed, and encouraged, Lady Aurora continued: 'To those, then, who +have not had the happiness to see you so justly; who dwell only upon the +singularity of your being so ... alone, and so ... young,--O how often +have I told them that I was sure you as little knew as merited their +evil constructions! How often have I wished to write to you! how certain +have I felt that all your motives to concealment, even the most +respectable, would yield to so urgent a necessity, as that of clearing +away every injurious surmise! Speak, therefore, my Miss Ellis, though +not to me! even from them, when you have trusted them, I will hear +nothing till the time of your secresy is over; that I may give them an +example of the discretion they must observe with others. Yet speak! have +the goodness to speak, that every body,--my uncle Denmeath himself,--and +even Mrs Howel,--may acknowledge and respect your excellencies and your +virtues as I do! And then, my Miss Ellis, who shall prevent,--who will +even desire to prevent my shewing to the whole world my sense of your +worth, and my pride in your friendship?' + +The struggles that now heaved the breast of Juliet were nearly too +potent for her strength. She gasped for breath; she held her hand to her +heart; and when, at length, the kind caresses and gentle pleadings of +Lady Aurora, brought back her speech, she painfully pronounced, 'Shall I +repay goodness so exquisite, by filling with regret the sweet mind that +intends me only honour and consolation? Must the charm of such +unexpected kindness, even while it penetrates my heart with almost +piercing delight, entail, from its resistless persuasion, a misery upon +the rest of my days, that may render them a burthen from which I may +hourly sigh,--nay pray, to be delivered?' + +Seized with horrour and astonishment, Lady Aurora exclaimed, 'Oh heaven, +no! I must be a monster if I would not rather die, immediately die, than +cause you any evil! Miss Ellis, my dear Miss Ellis! forget I have made +such a request, and forgive my indiscretion! With all your misfortunes, +Miss Ellis, all your so undeserved griefs, you are quite a stranger to +sorrow, compared to that which I should experience, if, through me, +through my means, you should be exposed to any fresh injury!' + +'Angelic goodness!' cried Juliet, deeply affected: 'I blush, I blush to +hear you without casting myself entirely into your power, without making +you immediate arbitress of my fate! Yet,--since you demand not my +confidence for your own satisfaction,--can I know that to spread it +beyond yourself,--your generous self!--might involve me in instantaneous +earthly destruction, and, voluntarily, suffer your very benevolence to +become its instrument? With regard to Lord Denmeath,--to your uncle,--I +must say nothing; but with regard to Mrs Howel,--let me conjure your +ladyship to consent to my utterly avoiding her, that I may escape the +dreadful accusations and reproaches that my cruel situation forbids me +to repel. I have no words to paint the terrible impression she has left +upon my mind. All that I have borne from others is short of what I have +suffered from that lady! The debasing suspicions of Mrs Maple, the +taunting tyranny of Mrs Ireton, though they make me blush to owe,--or +rather, to earn from them the subsistence without which I know not how +to exist; have yet never smote so rudely and so acutely to my inmost +heart, as the attack I endured from Mrs Howel! They rob me, indeed, of +comfort, of rest, and of liberty--but they do not sever me from Lady +Aurora!' + +'Alas, my Miss Ellis! and have I, too, joined in the general persecution +against such afflicted innocence? I feel myself the most unpardonable of +all not to have acquiesced, without one ungenerous question, or even +conjecture; in full reliance upon the right and the necessity of your +silence. I ought to have forseen that if it were not improper you should +comply, your own noble way of thinking would have made all entreaty as +useless as it has been impertinent. Yet when prejudice alone parts us, +how could I help trying to overcome it? And even my brother, though he +would forfeit, I believe, his life in your defence; and though he says +he is sure you are all purity and virtue; and though he thinks that +there is nothing upon earth that can be compared with you;--even he has +been brought to agree to the cruel resolution, that I should defer +knitting myself closer to my Miss Ellis, till she is able to have the +goodness to let us know--' + +She stopt, alarmed, for the cheeks of Juliet were suddenly dyed with the +deepest crimson; though the transient tint faded away as she pronounced, + +'Lord Melbury!--even Lord Melbury!--' and they became Pale as death, +while, in a faint voice, and with stifled emotion, she added, 'He is +right! He acts as a brother; and as a brother to a sister whom he can +never sufficiently appreciate.--And yet, the more I esteem his +circumspection, the more deeply I must be wounded that calumny,--that +mystery,--that dire circumstance, should make me seem dangerous, where, +otherwise--' + +Unable longer to constrain her feelings, she sunk upon a seat and wept. + +'O Miss Ellis? What have I done?' cried Lady Aurora. 'How have I been so +barbarous, so inconsiderate, so unwise? If my poor brother had caused +you this pain, how should I have blamed him? And how grievously would he +have repented! How severely, then, ought I to be reproached! I who have +done it myself, without his generous precipitancy of temper to palliate +such want of reflection!--' + +The sudden entrance of Selina here interrupted the conversation. She +came tripping forward, to acquaint Lady Aurora that the party had just +discerned a magnificent vessel; and that every body said if her ladyship +did not come directly, it would be sailed away. + +At sight of Juliet, she ran to embrace her, with the warmest expressions +of friendship; unchecked by a coldness which she did not observe, though +now, from the dissatisfaction excited by so unseasonable an intrusion, +it was far more marked, than while it had been under the qualifying +influence of contempt. + +But when she found that neither caresses, nor kind words, could make her +share with Lady Aurora, even for a moment, the attention of Juliet, she +became a little confused; and, drawing her apart, asked what was the +matter? consciously, without waiting for any answer, running into a +string of simple apologies, for not speaking to her in public; which she +should always, she said, do with the greatest pleasure; for she thought +her the most agreeable person in the whole-world; if it were not, that, +nobody knowing her, it would look so odd. + +All answer, save a smile half disdainful, half pitying, was precluded by +the appearance of the Arramedes, Mrs Ireton, and Miss Brinville; who +announced to Lady Aurora that the ship was already out of sight. + +Upon perceiving Juliet, they were nearly as much embarrassed as herself; +for though she instantly retreated, it was evident that she had been +sitting by the side of Lady Aurora, in close and amicable conference. + +An awkward general silence ensued, when Juliet, hearing other steps, was +moving off; but Lady Aurora, following, and holding out her hand, +affectionately said, 'Are you going, Miss Ellis? Must you go? And will +you not bid me adieu?' + +Touched to the soul at this public mark of kindness, Juliet was +gratefully returning, when the voice of Lord Melbury spoke his near +approach. Trembling and changing colour, her folded hands demanded +excuse of Lady Aurora for a precipitate yet reluctant flight; but she +had still found neither time nor means to escape, when Lord Melbury, who +was playing with young Loddard, entered the gallery, saying, 'Aurora, +your genealogical studies have lost you a most beautiful sea-view.' + +The boy, spying Juliet, whom he was more than ever eager to join when he +saw that she strove to avoid notice; darted from his lordship, calling +out, 'Ellis! Ellis! look! look! here's Ellis!' + +Lord Melbury, with an air of the most animated surprize and delight, +darted forward also, exclaiming, 'Miss Ellis! How unexpected a pleasure! +The moment I saw Mrs Ireton I had some hope I might see, also, Miss +Ellis--but I had already given it up as delusory.' + +Again the fallen countenance of Juliet brightened into sparkling beauty. +The idea that even Lord Melbury had been infected by the opinions which +had been circulated to her disadvantage, had wounded, had stung her to +the quick: but to find that, notwithstanding he had been prevailed upon +to acquiesce that his sister, while so much mystery remained, should +keep personally aloof, his own sentiments of esteem remained unshaken; +and to find it by so open, and so prompt a testimony of respect and +regard, displayed before the very witnesses who had sought to destroy, +or invalidate, every impression that might be made in her favour, was a +relief the most exquisitely welcome to her disturbed and fearful mind. + +Eager and rapid enquiries concerning her health, uttered with the ardour +of juvenile vivacity, succeeded this first address. The party standing +by, looked astonished, even abashed; while the face of Lady Aurora +recovered its wonted expression of sweet serenity. + +Mrs Ireton, now, was seized with a desire the most violent, to repossess +a _protegée_ whose history and situation seemed daily to grow more +wonderful. With a courtesy, therefore, as foreign from her usual +manners, as from her real feelings, she said, 'Miss Ellis, I am sure, +will have the goodness to help me home with my two little companions? I +am sure of that. She could not be so unkind as to leave the poor little +things in the lurch?' + +Indignant as Juliet had felt at the treatment which she had received, +resentment at this moment found no place in her mind; she was beginning, +therefore, a civil, however decided excuse; when Mrs Ireton, suspicious +of her purpose, flung herself languishingly upon a seat, and complained +that she was seized with such an immoderate pain in her side, that, if +somebody would not take care of the two _little souls_, she should +arrive at Brighthelmstone a corpse. + +The Arramedes, Miss Brinville, and Selina, all declared that it was +impossible to refuse so essential a service to a health so delicate. + +The fear, now, of a second public scene, with the dread lest Lord +Melbury might be excited to speak or act in her favour, forced the +judgment of Juliet to conquer her inclination, in leading her to defer +the so often given dismission till her return to Brighthelmstone; she +acceded, therefore, though with cruel unwillingness, to what was +required. + +Mrs Ireton instantly recovered; and with the more alacrity, from +observing that Lady Barbara Frankland joined the group, at this moment +of victory. + +'Take the trouble, then, if you please, Ma'am,' she replied, in her +usual tone of irony; 'if it will not be too great a condescension, take +the trouble to carry Bijou to the coach. And bid Simon keep him safe +while you come back,--if it is not asking quite too great a favour,--for +Mr Loddard. And pray bring my wrapping cloak with you, Ma'am. You'll be +so good, I hope, as to excuse all these liberties? I hope so, at least! +I flatter myself you'll excuse them. And, if the cloak should be heavy, +I dare say Simon will give you his arm. Simon is a man of gallantry, I +make no doubt. Not that I pretend to know; but I take it for granted he +is a man of gallantry.' + +Juliet looked down, repentant to have placed herself, even for another +moment, in a power so merciless. Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora, each hurt +and indignant, advanced, uttering kind speeches: while Lady Barbara, +still younger and more unguarded, seizing the little dog, exclaimed 'No, +I'll carry Bijou myself, Mrs Ireton. Poor Miss Ellis looks so tired! +I'll take care of him all the way to Brighthelmstone myself. Dear, +pretty little creature!' Then, skipping behind Lady Aurora, 'Nasty +whelp!' she whispered, 'how I'll pinch him for being such a plague to +that sweet Miss Ellis! Perhaps that will mend him!' + +The satisfaction of Lady Aurora at this trait glistened in her soft +eyes; while Lord Melbury, enchanted, caught the hand of the spirited +little lady, and pressed it to his lips; though, ashamed of his own +vivacity, he let it go before she had time to withdraw it. She coloured +deeply, but visibly with no unpleasant sensation; and, grasping the +little dog, hid her blushes, by uttering a precipitate farewell upon the +bosom of Lady Aurora; who smilingly, though tenderly, kissed her +forehead. + +An idea that teemed with joy and happiness rose high in the breast of +Juliet, as she looked from Lord Melbury to Lady Barbara. Ah! there, +indeed, she thought, felicity might find a residence! there, in the rare +union of equal worth, equal attractions, sympathising feelings, and +similar condition! + +'And I, too,' cried Lord Melbury, 'must have the honour to make myself +of some use; if Mrs Ireton, therefore, will trust Mr Loddard to my care, +I will convey him safely to Brighthelmstone, and overtake my sister in +the evening. And by this means we shall lighten the fatigue of Mrs +Ireton, without increasing that of Miss Ellis.' + +He then took the little boy in his arms; playfully dancing him before +the little dog in those of Lady Barbara. + +The heart of Juliet panted to give utterance to the warm +acknowledgements with which it was fondly beating; but mingled fear and +discretion forced her to silence. + +All the evil tendencies of malice, envy, and ill will, pent up in the +breast of Mrs Ireton, now struggled irresistibly for vent; yet to insist +that Juliet should take change of Mr Loddard, for whom Lord Melbury had +offered his services; or even to force upon her the care of the little +dog, since Lady Barbara had proposed carrying him herself, appeared no +longer to exhibit dependency: Mrs Ireton, therefore, found it expedient +to be again taken ill; and, after a little fretful moaning, 'I feel +quite shaken,' she cried, 'quite in a tremour. My feet are absolutely +numbed. Do get me my furred clogs, Miss Ellis; if I may venture to ask +such a favour. I would not be troublesome, but you will probably find +them in the carriage. Though perhaps I have left them in the hall. You +will have the condescension to help the coachman and Simon to make a +search. And then pray run back, if it won't fatigue you too much, and +tie them on for me.' + +If Juliet now coloured, at least it was not singly; the cheeks of Lady +Aurora, of Lady Barbara, and of Lord Melbury were equally crimsoned. + +'Let me, Mrs Ireton,' eagerly cried Lord Melbury 'have the honour to be +Miss Ellis's deputy.' + +'No, my lord,' said Juliet, with spirit: 'grateful and proud as I should +feel to be honoured with your lordship's assistance, it must not be in a +business that does not belong to me. I will deliver the orders to Simon. +And as Mrs Ireton is now relieved from her anxiety concerning Mr +Loddard, I beg permission, once more, and finally, to take my leave.' + +Gravely then courtsying to Mrs Ireton, and bowing her head with an +expression of the most touching sensibility to her three young +supporters, she quitted the gallery. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer (Volume 3 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + +***** This file should be named 37439-8.txt or 37439-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37439/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 3 of 5) + or, Female Difficulties + +Author: Fanny Burney + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37439] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h2>VOLUME III</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p class="center"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">CHAPTER XLIX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_L">CHAPTER L</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LI">CHAPTER LI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LII">CHAPTER LII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LIII">CHAPTER LIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LIV">CHAPTER LIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LV">CHAPTER LV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LVI">CHAPTER LVI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LVII">CHAPTER LVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII">CHAPTER LVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_LIX">CHAPTER LIX</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI</h2> + + +<p>From the time of this arrangement, the ascendance which Mr Naird +obtained over the mind of Elinor, by alternate assurances and alarms, +relative to her chances of living to see Harleigh again, produced a +quiet that gave time to the drafts, which were administered by the +physician, to take effect, and she fell into a profound sleep. This, Mr +Naird said, might last till late the next day; Ellis, therefore, +promising to be ready upon any summons, returned to her lodging.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson, now, endeavoured to make some enquiries relative to the +public suicide projected, if not accomplished, by Miss Joddrel, which +was the universal subject of conversation at Brighthelmstone; but when +she found it vain to hope for any details, she said, 'Such accidents, +Ma'am, make one really afraid of one's life with persons one knows +nothing of. Pray, Ma'am, if it is not impertinent, do you still hold to +your intention of giving up your pretty apartment?'</p> + +<p>Ellis answered in the affirmative, desiring, with some surprise, to +know, whether the question were in consequence of any apprehension of a +similar event.</p> + +<p>'By no means, Ma'am, from you,' she replied; 'you, Miss Ellis, who have +been so strongly recommended; and protected by so many of our capital +gentry; but what I mean is this. If you really intend to take a small +lodging, why should not you have my little room again up stairs?'</p> + +<p>'Is it not engaged to the lady I saw here this morning?'</p> + +<p>'Why that, Ma'am, is precisely the person I have upon my mind to speak +about. Why should I let her stay, when she's known to nobody, and is +very bad pay, if I can have so genteel a young lady as you, Ma'am, that +ladies in their own coaches come visiting?'</p> + +<p>Ellis, recoiling from this preference, uttered words the most benevolent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>that she could suggest, of the unknown person who had excited her +compassion: but Miss Matson gave them no attention. 'When one has +nothing better to do with one's rooms, Ma'am,' she said, 'it's sometimes +as well, perhaps, to let them to almost one does not know who, as to +keep them uninhabited; because living in them airs them; but that's no +reason for letting them to one's own disadvantage, if can do better. Now +this person here, Ma'am, besides being poor, which, poor thing, may be +she can't help; and being a foreigner, which, you know, Ma'am, is no +great recommendation;—besides all this, Miss Ellis, she has some very +suspicious ways with her, which I can't make out at all; she goes abroad +in a morning, Ma'am, by five of the clock, without giving the least +account of her haunts. And that, Ma'am, has but an odd look with it!'</p> + +<p>'Why so, Miss Matson? If she takes time from her own sleep to enjoy a +little air and exercise, where can be the blame?'</p> + +<p>'Air and exercise, Ma'am? People that have their living to get, and that +a'n't worth a farthing, have other things to think of than air and +exercise! She does not, I hope, give herself quite such airs as those!'</p> + +<p>Ellis, disgusted, bid her good night; and, filled with pity for a person +who seemed still more helpless and destitute than herself, resolved to +see her the next day, and endeavour to offer her some consolation, if +not assistance.</p> + +<p>Before, however, this pleasing project could be put into execution, she +was again, nearly at day break, awakened by a summons from Selina to +attend her sister, who, after quietly reposing many hours, had started, +and demanded Harleigh and Ellis.</p> + +<p>Ellis obeyed the call with the utmost expedition, but met the messenger +returning to her a second time, as she was mounting the street which led +to the lodging of Mrs Maple, with intelligence that Elinor had almost +immediately fallen into a new and sound sleep; and that Mr Naird had +ordered that no one should enter the room, till she again awoke.</p> + +<p>Glad of this reprieve, Ellis was turning back, when she perceived, at +some distance, Miss Matson's new lodger. The opportunity was inviting +for her purposed offer of aid, and she determined to make some opening +to an acquaintance.</p> + +<p>This was not easy; for though the light feet of Ellis might soon have +overtaken the quick, but staggering steps of the apparently distressed +person whom she pursued, she observed her to be in a state of +perturbation that intimidated approach, as much as it awakened concern. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>Her handkerchief was held to her face; though whether to conceal it, or +because she was weeping, could not readily be discovered: but her form +and air penetrated Ellis with a feeling and an interest far beyond +common curiosity; and she anxiously studied how she might better behold, +and how address her.</p> + +<p>The foreigner went on her way, looking neither to the right nor to the +left, till she had ascended to the church-yard upon the hill. There +stopping, she extended her arms, seeming to hail the full view of the +wide spreading ocean; or rather, Ellis imagined, the idea of her native +land, which she knew, from that spot, to be its boundary. The beauty of +the early morning from that height, the expansive view, impressive, +though calm, of the sea, and the awful solitude of the place, would have +sufficed to occupy the mind of Ellis, had it not been completely caught +by the person whom she followed; and who now, in the persuasion of being +wholly alone, gently murmured, 'Oh ma chère patrie!—malheureuse, +coupable,—mais toujours chère patrie!—ne te reverrai-je jamais!'<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +Her voice thrilled to the very soul of Ellis, who, trembling, suspended, +and almost breathless, stood watching her motions; fearing to startle +her by an unexpected approach, and waiting to catch her eye.</p> + +<p>But the mourner was evidently without suspicion that any one was in +sight. Grief is an absorber: it neither seeks nor makes observation; +except where it is joined with vanity, that always desires remark; or +with guilt, by which remark is always feared.</p> + +<p>Ellis, neither advancing nor receding, saw her next move solemnly +forward, to bend over a small elevation of earth, encircled by short +sticks, intersected with rushes. Some of these, which were displaced, +she carefully arranged, while uttering, in a gentle murmur, which the +profound stillness of all around alone enabled Ellis to catch, 'Repose +toi bien, mon ange! mon enfant! le repos qui me fuit, le bonheur que +j'ai perdu, la tranquilité precieuse de l'ame qui m'abandonne—que tout +cela soit à toi, mon ange! mon enfant! Je ne te rappellerai plus ici! Je +ne te rappellerais plus, même si je le pouvais. Loin de toi ma +malheureuse destinée! je priai Dieu pour ta conservation quand je te +possedois encore; quelques cruelles que fussent tes souffrances, et +toute impuissante que J'etois pour les soulager, je priai Dieu, dans +l'angoisse de mon ame, pour ta conservation! Tu n'est plus pour moi—et +je cesse de te reclamer. Je te vois une ange! Je te vois exempt à<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +jamais de douleur, de crainte, de pauvreté et de regrets; te +reclamerai-je, donc, pour partager encore mes malheurs? Non! ne reviens +plus à moi! Que je te retrouve là—où ta félicité sera la mienne! Mais +toi, prie pour ta malheureuse mère! que tes innocentes prières +s'unissent à ses humbles supplications, pour que ta mère, ta pauvre +mère, puisse se rendre digne de te rejoindre!'<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>How long these soft addresses, which seemed to soothe the pious +petitioner, might have lasted, had she not been disturbed, is uncertain: +but she was startled by sounds of more tumultuous sorrow; by sobs, +rather than sighs, that seemed bursting forth from more violent, at +least, more sudden affliction. She looked round, astonished; and saw +Ellis leaning over a monument, and bathed in tears.</p> + +<p>She arose, and, advancing towards her, said, in an accent of pity, +'Helas, Madame, vous, aussi, pleurez vous votre enfant?'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>'Ah, mon amie! ma bien! ameè amie!' cried Ellis, wiping her eyes, but +vainly attempting to repress fresh tears; 't'aì-jè chercheè, t'aì-jè +attendue, t'aì-jè si ardemment desireè, pour te retrouver ainsi? +pleurant sur un tombeau? Et toi!—ne me rappelle tu pas? M'a tu +oubliee?—Gabrielle! ma chère Gabrielle!'<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>'Juste ciel!' exclaimed the other, 'que vois-je? Ma Julie! ma chère, ma +tendre amie? Est il bien vrai?—O! peut il être vrai, qu'il y ait encore +du bonheur ici bas pour moi?'<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Locked in each other's arms, pressed to each other's bosoms, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> now +remained many minutes in speechless agony of emotion, from nearly +overpowering surprise, from gusts of ungovernable, irrepressible sorrow, +and heart-piercing recollections; though blended with the tenderest +sympathy of joy.</p> + +<p>This touching silent eloquence, these unutterable conflicts between +transport and pain, were succeeded by a reciprocation of enquiry, so +earnest, so eager, so ardent, that neither of them seemed to have any +sensation left of self, from excess of solicitude for the other, till +Ellis, looking towards the little grave, said, 'Ah! que ce ne soit plus +question de moi?'<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>'Ah, oui, mon amie,' answered Gabriella, 'ton histoire, tes malheurs, ne +peuvent jamais être aussi terribles, aussi dechirants que les miens! tu +n'as pas encore eprouvé le bonheur d'être mère—comment aurois-tu, donc, +eprouvé, le plus accablant des malheurs? Oh! ce sont des souffrances qui +n'ont point de nom; des douleurs qui rendent nulles toutes autres, que +la perte d'un Etre pûr comme un ange, et tout à soi!'<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The fond embraces, and fast flowing tears of Ellis, evinced the keen +sensibility with which she participated in the sorrows of this afflicted +mother, whom she strove to draw away from the fatal spot; reiterating +the most urgent enquiries upon every other subject, to attract her, if +possible, to yet remaining, to living interests. But these efforts were +utterly useless. 'Restons, restons où nous sommes!' she cried: 'c'est +ici que je te parlerai; c'est ici que je t'écôuterai; ici, où je passe +les seuls momens que j'arrache à la misere, et au travail. Ne crois pas +que de pleurer est ce qu'il y a le plus à craindre! Oh! qu'il ne +t'arrive jamais de savoir que de pleurer, même sur le tombeau de tout ce +qui vous est le plus cher, est un soulagement, un dèlice, auprès du dur +besoin de travailler, la mort dans le cœur, pour vivre, pour exister, +lorsque la vie a perdu toutes ses charmes!'<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> +<p>Seated then upon the monument which was nearest to the little grave, +Gabriella related the principal events of her life, since the period of +their separation. These, though frequently extraordinary, sometimes +perilous, and always touchingly disastrous, she recounted with a +rapidity almost inconceivable; distinctly, nevertheless, marking the +several incidents, and the courage with which she had supported them: +but when, these finished, she entered upon the history of the illness +that had preceded the death of her little son, her voice tremblingly +slackened its velocity, and unconsciously lowered its tones; and, far +from continuing with the same quickness or precision, every circumstance +was dwelt upon as momentous; every recollection brought forth long and +endearing details; every misfortune seemed light, put in the scale with +his loss; every regret seemed concentrated in his tomb!</p> + +<p>Six o'clock, and seven, had tolled unheeded, during this afflicting, yet +soothing recital; but the eighth hour striking, when the tumult of +sorrow was subsiding into the sadness of grief, the sound caught the ear +of Gabriella, who, hastily rising, exclaimed, 'Ah, voilà que je suis +encore susceptible de plaisir, puisque ta société m'a fait oublier les +tristes et penibles devoirs, qui m'appellent à des tâches qui—à +peine—m'empêchent de mourir de faim!'<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>At these words, all the fortitude hitherto sustained by Juliet,—for the +borrowed name of Ellis will now be dropt,—utterly forsook her. Torrents +of tears gushed from her eyes, and lamentations, the bitterest, broke +from her lips. She could bear, she cried, all but this; all but +beholding the friend of her heart, the daughter of her benefactress, +torn from the heights of happiness and splendour; of merited happiness, +of hereditary splendour; to be plunged into such depths of distress, and +overpowered with anguish.</p> + +<p>'Ah! que je te reconnois bien à ce trait!' cried Gabriella, while a +tender smile tried to force its way through her tears: 'cette ame si +noble! si inebralable pour elle-même, si douce, si compatissante pour +tout autre! que de souvenirs chers et touchans ne se presentent, à cet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +instant, à mon cœur! Ma chère Julie! il est bien vrai, donc, que je +te vois, que je te retrouve encore! et, en toi, tout ce qú'il y a de +plus aimable, de plus pûr, et de plus digne! Comment ai-je pû te revoir, +sans retrouver la felicité? Je me sens presque coupable de pouvoir +t'embrasser,—et de pleurer encore!'<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Forcing herself, then, from the fatal but cherished spot, she must +hasten, she said, to her daily labour, lest night should surprise her, +without a roof to shelter her head. But Juliet now detained her; clung +and wept round her neck, and could not even endeavour to resign herself +to the keen woes, and deplorable situation of her friend. She had come +over, she said, buoyed up with the exquisite hope of joining the darling +companion of her earliest youth; of sharing her fate, and of mitigating +her hardships: but this softening expectation was changed into +despondence, in discovering her, thus, a prey to unmixt calamity; not +alone bowed down by the general evils of revolutionary events; punished +for plans in which she had borne no part, and for crimes of which she +had not even any knowledge;—not only driven, without offence, or even +accusation, from prosperity and honours, to exile, to want, to misery, +and to labour; but suffering, at the same time, the heaviest of personal +afflictions, in the immediate loss of a darling child; the victim, in +all probability, to a melancholy change of life, and to sudden privation +of customary care and indulgence!</p> + +<p>The task of consolation seemed now to devolve upon Gabriella: the +feelings of Juliet, long checked by prudence, by fortitude, by imperious +necessity; and kept in dignified but hard command; having once found a +vent, bounded back to nature and to truth, with a vivacity of keen +emotion that made them nearly uncontrollable. Nature and truth,—which +invariably retain an elastic power, that no struggles can wholly subdue; +and that always, however curbed, however oppressed,—lie in wait for +opportunity to spring back to their rights. Her tears, permitted, +therefore, at length, to flow, nearly deluged the sad bosom of her +friend.</p> + +<p>'Helas, ma Julie! sœur de mon ame!' cried Gabriella, 'ne t'abandonne pas +à la douleur pour moi! mais parles moi, ma tendre amie,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> paries moi de +ma mère! Où l'a tu quitte? Et comment? Et à quelle epoque?—La plus +digne, la plus cherie des mères! Helas! eloignée de nous deux, comment +saura-t-elle se resigner á tant de malheurs?'<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Juliet uttered the tenderest assurances, that she had left the +Marchioness well; and had left her by her own injunctions, to join her +darling daughter; to whom, by a conveyance that had been deemed secure, +she had previously written the plan of the intended journey; with a +desire that a few lines of direction, relative to their meeting, under +cover to L.S., to be left till called for, might be sent to the +post-offices both of Dover and Brighthelmstone; as it was not possible +to fix at which spot Juliet might land. The initials L.S. had been fixed +upon by accident.</p> + +<p>Filial anxiety, now, took place of maternal sufferings, and Gabriella +could only talk of her mother; demanding how she looked, and how she +supported the long separation, the ruinous sacrifices, and the perpetual +alarms, to which she must have been condemned since they had parted; +expressing her own surprise, that she had borne to dwell upon any other +subject than this, which now was the first interest of her heart; yet +ceasing to wonder, when she contemplated the fatal spot where her +meeting with Juliet had taken place.</p> + +<p>Each, now, deeply lamented the time and consolation that had been lost, +from their mutual ignorance of each other's abode. Juliet related her +fruitless search upon arriving in London; and Gabriella explained, that, +during three lingering, yet ever regretted months, she had watched over +her dying boy, without writing a single line; to spare her absent +friends the knowledge of her suspensive wretchedness. Since the +irreparable certainty which had followed, she had sent two letters to +her beloved mother, with her address at Brighthelmstone; but both must +have miscarried, as she had received no answer. That Juliet had not +traced her in London was little wonderful, as, to elude the curiosity +excited by a great name, she had passed, in setting out for +Brighthelmstone, by a common one. And to that change, joined to one so +similar on the part of Juliet, it must have been owing that they had +never heard of each other, though residents of the same place. Juliet, +nevertheless, was astonished, in defiance of all alteration of attire +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> appearance, that she had not instantly recognized the air and form +of her elegant and high bred Gabriella. But, equally unacquainted with +her indigence, which was the effect of sundry cruel accidents, and with +the loss of her child; no expectation was awakened of finding her either +in so distressed or so solitary a condition. Now, however, Juliet +continued, that fortunately, though, alas! not happily, they had met, +they would part no more. Juliet was fully at liberty to go whithersoever +her friend would lead, the hope of obtaining tidings of that beloved +friend, having alone kept her stationary thus long at Brighthelmstone; +where she could now leave the address of Gabriella, at the post-office, +for their mutual letters: and, as insuperable obstacles impeded her +writing herself, at present, to the Marchioness, Gabriella might make +known, in a covert manner, that they were together, and were both safe.</p> + +<p>And why, Gabriella demanded, could not Juliet write herself?</p> + +<p>'Alas!' Juliet replied, 'I must not even be named!'</p> + +<p>'Eh, pour quoi?—n'a-t-tu pas vu tes parens?—Peut on te voir sans +t'aimer? te connoître sans te cherir? Non, ma Julie, non! tu n'a qu'à te +montrer.'<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Juliet, changing colour, dejectedly, and not without confusion, besought +her friend, though for reasons that could neither be assigned nor +surmounted, to dispense, at present, with all personal narration. Yet, +upon perceiving the anxious surprise occasioned by a request so little +expected, she dissolved into tears, and offered every communication, in +preference to causing even transitory pain to her best friend.</p> + +<p>'O loin de moi cette exigence!' cried Gabriella, with energy, 'Ne +sais-je pas bien que ton bon esprit, juste émule de ton excellent +cœur, te fera parler lorsqu'il le faudra? Ne me confierai-je pas à +toi, dont la seule étude est le bonheur des autres?'<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Juliet, not more penetrated by this kindness, than affected by a facile +resignation, that shewed the taming effect of misfortune upon the +natural vivacity of her friend, could answer only by caresses and +tears.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Eh mon oncle?' continued Gabriella; 'mon tout-aimable et si pieux +oncle? où est il?'<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>'Monseigneur l'Eveque?' cried Juliet, again changing colour; 'Oh oui! +tout-aimable! sans tâche et sans reproche!—Il sera bientôt, je crois, +ici;—ou j'aurois de ses nouvelles; et alors—ma destinée me sera +connue!'<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>A deep sigh tried to swallow these last words. Gabriella looked at her, +for a moment, with re-awakened earnestness, as if repentant of her own +acquiescence; but the sight of encreasing disturbance in the countenance +of Juliet, checked her rising impatience; and she quietly said, 'Ah! +s'il arrive ici!—si je le revois,—j'éprouverai encore, au milieu de +tant de désolation, un mouvement de joie!—tel que toi, seule, jusqu'à +ce moment, a su m'en inspirer!'<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Juliet, with fond delight, promised to be governed wholly, in her future +plans, occupations, and residence, by her beloved friend.</p> + +<p>'C'est à Brighthelmstone, donc,' cried Gabriella, returning to the +little grave; 'c'est ici que nous demeurions! ici, où il me semble que +je n'ai pas encore tout à fait perdu mon fils!'</p> + +<p>Then, tenderly embracing Juliet, 'Ah, mon amie!' she cried, with a smile +that blended pleasure with agony; 'ah, mon amie! c'est à mon enfant que +je te dois! c'est en pleurant sur ses restes que je t'ai retrouvée! Ah, +oui!' passionately bending over the grave; 'c'est à toi, mon ange! mon +enfant! que je dois mon amie! Ton tombeau, même, me porte bonheur! tes +cendres veulent me bénir! tes restes, ton ombre veulent du bien à ta +pauvre mère!'<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>With difficulty, now, Juliet drew her away from the fond, fatal spot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +and slowly, and silently, while clinging to each other with heartfelt +affection, they returned together to their lodgings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII</h2> + + +<p>Elinor, kept in order by a continual expectation of seeing Harleigh, +ceased to require the presence of Juliet; who, but for the sorrows of +her friend, would have experienced a felicity to which she had long been +a stranger, the felicity of being loved because known; esteemed and +valued because tried and proved. The consideration that is the boon of +even the most generous benevolence, however it may soothe the heart, +cannot elevate the spirits: but here, good opinion was reciprocated, +trust was interchanged, confidence was mutual.</p> + +<p>The affliction of Gabriella, though of a more permanent nature, because +from an irreparable cause, was yet highly susceptible of consolation +from friendship; and when once the acute emotions, arising from the tale +of woe which she had had to relate, at the meeting, were abated, the +charm which the presence of Juliet dispensed, and the renewal of early +ideas, pristine feelings, and first affections, soon reflected back +their influence upon her own mind; which gradually strengthened, and +insensibly revived.</p> + +<p>Juliet immediately resigned her large apartment, and fixed herself in +the small room of Gabriella. There they settled that they would live +together, work together, share their little profits, and endure their +failures, in common. There they hoped to recover their peace of mind, if +not to re-animate their native spirits; and to be restored to the +harmony of social sympathy, if not to that of happiness.</p> + +<p>Yet, it was with difficulty that they learnt to enjoy each other's +society, upon such terms as their altered condition now exacted; where +the eye must never be spared from laborious business, to search, or to +reciprocate a sentiment, in those precious moments of endearing +converse, which, unconsciously, swell into hours, ere they are missed as +minutes. Their intercourse was confined to oral language alone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> The +lively intelligence, the rapid conception, the arch remark, the cordial +smile; which give grace to kindness, playfulness to counsel, gentleness +to raillery, and softness even to reproach; these, the expressive +sources of delight, and of comprehension, in social commerce, they were +fain wholly to relinquish; from the hurry of unremitting diligence, and +undivided attention to manual toil.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, to inhale the same air, and to feel the consoling +certitude, that they were no longer cast wholly upon pity, or charity, +for good opinion, were blessings that filled their thoughts with +gratitude to Providence, and brought back calm and comfort to their +minds.</p> + +<p>Still, at every sun-rise, Gabriella visited the ashes of her little son; +where she poured forth, in maternal enthusiasm, thanks and benedictions +upon his departed spirit, that her earliest friend, the chosen sharer of +her happier days, was restored to her in the hour of her desolation; and +restored to her There,—on that fatal, yet adored spot, which contained +the ever loved, though lifeless remains of her darling boy.</p> + +<p>Juliet, in this peaceful interval, learnt, from the voluble Selina, all +that had been gathered from Mrs Golding relative to the seclusion of +Elinor.</p> + +<p>Elinor had travelled post to Portsmouth, whence she had sailed to the +Isle of Wight. There, meeting with a foreign servant out of place, she +engaged him in her service, and bid him purchase some clothes of an +indigent emigrant. She then dressed herself grotesquely yet, as far as +she could, decently, in man's attire; and, making her maid follow her +example, returned to the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone, and took +lodgings, in the character of a foreigner, who was deaf and dumb, at +Shoreham; where, uninterruptedly, and unsuspectedly, she resided. Here, +by means of her new domestic, she obtained constant intelligence of the +proceedings of Juliet; and she was no sooner informed of the musical +benefit, in which an air, with an harp-accompaniment, was to be +performed by Miss Ellis, than she sent her new attendant to the +assembly-room, to purchase a ticket. Golding, who went thither with the +lackey, met Harleigh in the street, as he was quitting the lodgings of +Juliet.</p> + +<p>The disguise of the maid saved her from being recognised; but her +tidings set her mistress on fire. The moment seemed now arrived for the +long-destined catastrophe; and the few days preceding the benefit, were +spent in its preparation. Careless of what was thought, Elinor, had +since, casually, though not confidentially, related, that her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> intention +had been to mount suddenly into the orchestra, during the performance of +Juliet; and thence to call upon Harleigh, whom she could not doubt would +be amongst the audience; and, at the instant of his joining them, +proclaim to the whole world her immortal passion, and expire between +them. But the fainting fit of Juliet, and its uncontrollable effect upon +Harleigh, had been so insupportable to her feelings, as to precipitate +her design. She acknowledged that she had studied how to die without +torture, by inflicting a wound by which she might bleed gently to death, +while indulging herself, to the last moment, in pouring forth to the +idol of her heart, the fond effusions of her ardent, but exalted +passion.</p> + +<p>The tranquillity of Elinor, built upon false expectations, could not be +long unshaken: impatience and suspicion soon took its place, and Mr +Naird was compelled to acknowledge, that Mr Harleigh had set out upon a +distant tour, without leaving his address, even at his own house; where +he had merely given orders that his letters should be forwarded to a +friend.</p> + +<p>The rage, grief, and shame of the wretched Elinor, now nearly destroyed, +in a moment, all the cares and the skill of Mr Naird, and of her +physician. She impetuously summoned Juliet, to be convinced that she was +not a party in the elopement; and was only rescued from sinking into +utter despair, by adroit exhortations from Mr Naird, to yield patiently +to his ordinances, lest she should yet die without a last view of +Harleigh. This plea led her, once more, though with equal disgust to +herself and to the whole world, to submit to every medical direction, +that might give her sufficient strength to devise means for her ultimate +project; and to put them into practice.</p> + +<p>Mr Naird archly confessed, in private, to Juliet, that the real danger +or safety of Miss Joddrel, so completely hung upon giving the reins, or +the curb, to her passions, that she might, without much difficulty, from +her resolution to die no other death than that of heroic love, in the +presence of its idol, be spurred on, while awaiting, or pursuing, its +object, to the verge of a very comfortable old age.</p> + +<p>He acknowledged himself, also, secretly entrusted with the abode of Mr +Harleigh.</p> + +<p>Elinor, when somewhat calmed, demanded of Juliet when, and how, her +meetings with Harleigh had been renewed.</p> + +<p>Juliet recounted what had passed; sparing such details as might be +hurtful, and solemnly protesting that all intercourse was now at an +end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> + +<p>With a view to draw Elinor from this agitating subject, she then +related, at full length, her meeting, in the church-yard, with the friend +whom she had so long vainly sought.</p> + +<p>In a short time afterwards, feeling herself considerably advanced +towards a recovery, Elinor, impetuously, again sent for Juliet, to say, +'What is your plan? Tell it me sincerely! What is it you mean to do?'</p> + +<p>Juliet answered, that her choice was small, and that her means were +almost null: but when she lamented the severe <span class="smcap">DIFFICULTIES</span> of a <span class="smcap">FEMALE</span>, +who, without fortune or protection, had her way to make in the world, +Elinor, with strong derision, called out, 'Debility and folly! Put aside +your prejudices, and forget that you are a dawdling woman, to remember +that you are an active human being, and your <span class="smcap">FEMALE DIFFICULTIES</span> will +vanish into the vapour of which they are formed. Misery has taught me to +conquer mine! and I am now as ready to defy the world, as the world can +be ready to hold me up to ridicule. To make people wise, you must make +them indifferent; to give them courage, you must make them desperate. +'Tis then, only, that we throw aside affectation and hypocrisy, and act +from impulse.'</p> + +<p>Laughing, now, though with bitterness, rather than gaiety, 'What does +the world say,' she cried, 'to find that I still live, after the pompous +funeral orations, declaimed by myself, upon my death? Does it suspect +that I found second thoughts best, and that I delayed my execution, +thinking, like the man in the song,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That for sure I could die whenever I would,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But that I could live but as long as I could?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>'Well, ye that laugh, laugh on! for I, when not sick of myself, laugh +too! But, to escape mockery, we must all be guided one by another; all +do, and all say, the very same thing. Yet why? Are we alike in our +thoughts? Are we alike in our faces? No. Happily, however, that +soporiferous monotony is beginning to get obsolete. The sublimity of +Revolution has given a greater shake to the minds of men, than to the +kingdoms of the earth.'</p> + +<p>After pausing, then, a few minutes, 'Ellis,' she cried, 'if you are +really embarrassed, why should you not go upon the stage? You know how +transcendently you act.'</p> + +<p>'That which might seem passable in a private representation,' Juliet +answered, 'might, at a public theatre—'</p> + +<p>'Pho, pho, you know perfectly well your powers. But you blight them, I +suppose, yourself, with anathemas, from excommunicating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> scruples? You +are amongst the cold, the heartless, the ungifted, who, to discredit +talents, and render them dangerous, leave their exercise to vice, by +making virtue fear to exert, or even patronize them?'</p> + +<p>'No, Madam, indeed,' cried Juliet: 'I admire, most feelingly, the noble +art of declamation:—how, then, can I condemn the profession which gives +to it life and soul? which personifies the most exalted virtues, which +brings before us the noblest characters, and makes us witnesses to the +sublimest actions? The stage, well regulated, would be the school of +juvenile emulation; would soothe sorrow in the unhappy, and afford +merited relaxation to the laborious. Reformed, indeed, I wish it, and +purified; but not destroyed.'</p> + +<p>'Why, then, do you disdain to wear the buskins?'</p> + +<p>'Disdain is by no means the word. Talents are a constant source to me of +delight; and those who,—rare, but in existence,—unite, to their public +exercise, private virtue and merit, I honour and esteem even more than I +admire; and every mark I could shew, to such, of consideration,—were I +so situated as to bestow, not require protection!—I should regard as +reflecting credit not on them, but on myself.'</p> + +<p>'Pen and ink!' cried Elinor, impatiently: 'I'll write for you to the +manager this moment!—'</p> + +<p>'Hold, Madam!' cried Juliet smiling: 'Much as I am enchanted with the +art, I am not going to profess it! On the contrary, I think it so +replete with dangers and improprieties, however happily they may +sometimes be combatted by fortitude and integrity, that, when a young +female, not forced by peculiar circumstances, or impelled by resistless +genius, exhibits herself a willing candidate for public applause;—she +must have, I own, other notions, or other nerves, than mine!'</p> + +<p>'Ellis, Ellis! you only fear to alarm, or offend the men—who would keep +us from every office, but making puddings and pies for their own +precious palates!—Oh woman! poor, subdued woman! thou art as dependant, +mentally, upon the arbitrary customs of man, as man is, corporally, upon +the established laws of his country!'</p> + +<p>She now grew disturbed, and went on warmly, though nearly to herself.</p> + +<p>'By the oppressions of their own statutes and institutions, they render +us insignificant; and then speak of us as if we were so born! But what +have we tried, in which we have been foiled? They dare not trust us with +their own education, and their own opportunities for distinction:—I +except the article of fighting; against that, there may, perhaps, be +some obstacles: but to be condemned, as weaker vessels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> in intellect, +because, inferiour in bodily strength and stature, we cannot cope with +them as boxers and wrestlers! They appreciate not the understandings of +one another by such manual and muscular criterions. They assert not that +one man has more brains than another, because he is taller; that he is +endowed with more illustrious virtues, because he is stouter. They judge +him not to be less ably formed for haranguing in the senate; for +administering justice in the courts of law; for teaching science at the +universities, because he could ill resist a bully, or conquer a footpad! +No!—Woman is left out in the scales of human merit, only because they +dare not weigh her!'</p> + +<p>Then, turning suddenly to Ellis, 'And you, Ellis, you!' she cried, +'endowed with every power to set prejudice at defiance, and to shew and +teach the world, that woman and man are fellow-creatures, you, too, are +coward enough to bow down, unresisting, to this thraldom?'</p> + +<p>Juliet hazarded not any reply.</p> + +<p>'Yet what futile inconsistency dispenses this prejudice! This Woman, +whom they estimate thus below, they elevate above themselves. They +require from her, in defiance of their examples!—in defiance of their +lures!—angelical perfection. She must be mistress of her passions; she +must never listen to her inclinations; she must not take a step of which +the purport is not visible; she must not pursue a measure of which she +cannot publish the motive; she must always be guided by reason, though +they deny her understanding!—Frankness, the noblest of our qualities, +is her disgrace;—sympathy, the most exquisite of our feelings, is her +bane!—'</p> + +<p>She stopt here, conscious, colouring, indignant, and dropt the subject, +to say, 'Tell me, I again demand, what is it you mean to do? Return to +your concert-singing and harping?'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Madam,' cried Juliet, reproachfully, 'can you believe me not yet +satisfied with attempting any sort of public exhibition?</p> + +<p>'Nay, nay,' cried Elinor, resuming her careless gaiety, 'what passed +that evening will only have served to render you more popular. You may +make your own terms, now, with the managers, for the subscription will +fill, merely to get a stare at you. If I were poor myself, I would +engage to acquire a large fortune, in less than a week, by advertising, +at two-pence a head, a sight of the lady that stabbed herself.'</p> + +<p>'What, however,' she continued, 'is your purpose? Will you go and live +with Mrs Ireton? She is just come hither to give her favourite lap-dog a +six weeks' bathing. What say you to the place of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> toad-eater? It may +be a very lucrative thing; and I can procure it for you with the utmost +ease. It is commonly vacant every ten days. Besides, she has been dying +to have you in her toils, ever since she had known that you spurned the +proposition, when it was started by Mrs Howel.'</p> + +<p>Juliet protested, that any species of fatigue would be preferable to +subservience of such a sort.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps you are afraid of seeing too much of Ireton? Be under no +apprehension. He makes it a point not to visit her. He cannot endure +her. Besides, 'tis so rustic, he says, to have a mother!'</p> + +<p>Juliet answered, that her sole plan, now, was to be guided by her +friend.</p> + +<p>'And who is this friend? Is she of the family of the Incognitas, also? +What do you call her?—L.S.?'</p> + +<p>Juliet only replied by stating their project of needle-work.</p> + +<p>Elinor scoffed the notion; affirming that they would not obtain a morsel +of bread to a glass of water, above once in three days. She felt, +nevertheless, sufficient respect to the design of the noble fugitive, to +send her a sealed note of what she called her approbation.</p> + +<p>This note Juliet took in charge. It contained a draft for fifty pounds.</p> + +<p>Ah, generous Elinor! thought Juliet, tears of gratitude glistening in +her eyes: what a mixture of contrasting qualities sully, and ennoble +your character in turn! Ah, why, to intellects so strong, a heart so +liberal, a temper so gay, is there not joined a better portion of +judgment, a larger one of diffidence, a sense of feminine propriety, and +a mind rectified by religion,—not abandoned, uncontrolled, to +imagination?</p> + +<p>Gabriella, though truly touched by a generosity so unexpected, declined +accepting its fruits; not being yet, she said, so helpless, however +poor, as to prefer pecuniary obligation to industry. She would leave, +therefore, the donation, for those who had lost the resources of +independence which she yet possessed—youth and strength.</p> + +<p>The tender admiration of Juliet forbade all remonstrance, and excluded +any surprise. She well knew, and had long seen, that the distress which +is the offspring of public calamity, not of private misfortune, however +it may ruin prosperity, never humbles the mind.</p> + +<p>Gabriella, in a letter of elegant acknowledgements, to obviate any +accusation of undue pride, solicited the assistance of Elinor, in +procuring orders for embroidery, amongst the ladies of her acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Elinor, zealous to serve, and fearless to demand, instantly attacked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +by note or by message, every rich female at Brighthelmstone; urging the +generous, and shaming the niggardly, till there was scarcely a woman of +fortune in the place, who had not given, or promised, a commission for +some fine muslin-work.</p> + +<p>The two friends, through this commanding protection, began their new +plan of life under the most favourable auspices; and had soon more +employment than time, though they limited themselves to five hours for +sleep; though their meals were rather swallowed than eaten; and though +they allowed not a moment for any kind of recreation, of rest, or of +exercise; save the sacred visit, which they unfailingly made together, +at break of day, to the little grave in the church-yard upon the hill.</p> + +<p>Yet here first, since her arrival on the British shores, the immediate +rapturous moment of landing, and the fortnight passed with Lady Aurora +Granville excepted, here first sweet contentment, soft hopes, and gentle +happiness visited the bosom of Juliet. No privation was hard, no toil +was severe, no application was tedious, while the friend of her heart +was by her side; whose sorrows she could mitigate, whose affections she +could share, and whose tears she could sometimes chase.</p> + +<p>But the relief was not more exquisite than it was transitory; a week +only had passed in delicious repose, when Gabriella received +intelligence that her husband was taken ill.</p> + +<p>Whatever was her reluctance to quitting the spot, where her memory was +every moment fed with cherished recollections, she could not hesitate to +depart; but, when Juliet, in consonance with her inclination and her +promise, prepared to accompany her, that hydra-headed intruder upon +human schemes and desires, Difficulty, arose, in as many shapes as she +could form projects, to impede her wishes. Money they had none: even for +the return to town of Gabriella, her husband was fain to have recourse +for aid to certain admirable persons, whose benevolence had enabled her, +upon the illness of her son, to quit it for Brighthelmstone: and, in a +situation of indigence so obvious, could they propose carrying away with +them the work with which they were entrusted? Juliet, indeed, had still +Harleigh's bank notes in her possession; but she turned inflexibly from +the temptation of adopting a mode of conduct, which she had always +condemned as weak and degrading; that of investing circumstance with +decision, in conscientious dilemmas.</p> + +<p>These terrible obstacles broke into all their plans, their wishes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> +their happiness; involved them in new distress, deluged them in tears, +and, after every effort with which ingenious friendship could combat +them, ended in compelling a separation. Gabriella embraced, with pungent +affliction, the sorrowing Juliet; shed her last bitter tears over the +grave of her lost darling, and, by the assistance of the angelic +beings<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> already hinted at, whose delicacy, whose feeling, whose +respect for misfortune, made their beneficence as balsamic to +sensibility, as it was salutary to want, returned alone to the capital.</p> + +<p>Juliet thus, perforce, remaining, and once again left to herself, was +nearly overwhelmed with grief at a stroke so abrupt and unexpected; so +ruinous to her lately acquired contentment, and dearly prized social +enjoyment. Yet she suffered not regret and disappointment to consume her +time, however cruelly they preyed upon her spirits, and demolished her +comfort. Solitarily she continued the employment which she had socially +begun; but without relaxing in diligence and application, without +permitting herself the smallest intermission that could be avoided: +urged not alone to maintain herself, and to replace what she had touched +of the deposit of Harleigh, but excited, yet more forcibly, by the fond +hope of rejoining her friend; to which she eagerly looked forward, as +the result and reward of her activity and labour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII</h2> + + +<p>Left thus to herself, and devoted to incessant work, Juliet next, had +the vexation to learn, how inadequate for entering into any species of +business was a mere knowledge of its theory.</p> + +<p>She had concluded that, in consecrating her time and her labours to so +simple an employment as needle-work, she secured herself a certain, +though an hardly earned maintenance: but, as her orders became more +extensive, she found that neither talents for what she undertook, nor +even patronage to bring them into notice, was sufficient; a capital also +was requisite, for the purchase of frames, patterns, silver and gold +threads, spangles, and various other articles; to procure which, she was +forced, in the very commencement of her new career, again to run in +debt.</p> + +<p>Alas! she cried, where business is not necessary to subsistence, how +little do we know, believe, or even conceive, its various difficulties! +Imagination may paint enjoyments; but labours and hardships can be +judged only from experience!</p> + +<p>She was equally, also, unprepared for continual and vexatious delays of +payment. Her work was frequently, when best executed; or set apart for +some distant occasion, and forgotten; or received and worn, with no +retribution but by promise. Even the few who possessed more +consideration, seemed to estimate her time and her toil as nothing, +because she was brought forward by recommendation; and to pay debts of +common justice, with the parade of generosity.</p> + +<p>Yet, vanity and false reasoning set apart, the ladies for whom she +worked were neither hard of heart nor illiberal; but they had never +known distress! and were too light and unreflecting to weigh the +circumstances by which it might be produced, or prevented.</p> + +<p>To save time, and obviate innumerable mortifications, Juliet, at first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +employed a commissioner to carry home her work, and to deliver her +bills; but he returned always with empty messages, that if Miss Ellis +would call herself, she should be paid. Yet when, with whatever +reluctance, she complied, she was ordinarily condemned to wait in +passages, or anti-chambers, for whole hours, and even whole mornings; +which were commonly ended by an excuse, through a footman, or lady's +maid, that Lady or Miss such a one was too much engaged, or too much +indisposed, to see her till the next day. The next day, when, with +renewed expectation, she again presented herself, the same scene was +re-acted; though the passing to and fro of various comers and goers, +proved that it was only to herself her fair creditor was invisible.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, if she mentioned that she had some pattern, or some piece +of work, finished for any other lady to exhibit, she was immediately +admitted; though still, with regard to payment, she was desired to call +again in the evening, or the next morning, with a new bill; her old one +happening, unluckily, to be always lost or mislaid; and not seldom, +while stopping in an anti-room, to arrange her packages, she heard +exclamations of 'How amazingly tiresome is that Miss Ellis! pestering +one so, always, for her money!'</p> + +<p>Is it possible, thought Juliet, that common humanity, nay, common sense, +will not tell these careless triflers, that their complaint is a lampoon +upon themselves? Will no reflexion, no feeling point out to them, that +the time which they thus unmercifully waste in humiliating attendance, +however to themselves it may be a play-thing, if not a drug, is, to +those who subsist but by their use of it, shelter, clothing, and +nourishment?</p> + +<p>If sometimes, in the hope of exciting more attention from this +dissipated set, she ventured to drop a mournful hint, that she was a +novice to this hard kind of life; the warm compassion that seemed +rapidly kindled, raised expectations of immediate assistance; but the +emotion, though good, took a direction that made it useless; it merely +played about in exclamations of pity; then blazed into curiosity, vented +itself in questions,—and evaporated.</p> + +<p>She soon, therefore, ceased all attempt to obtain regard through +personal representations; feeling yet more mortified to be left in +passages, or recommended to domestics, after avowing that her lowly +state was the effect of misfortune; than while she permitted it to be +presumed, that she had nothing to brook but what she had been born and +bred to bear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some, indeed, while leaving their own just debts unpaid and unnoticed, +would have collected, from their friends, a few straggling half-crowns; +but when Juliet, declining such aid, modestly solicited her right, they +captiously disputed a bill which had been charged by the strictest +necessity; or offered half what they would have dared propose to any +ordinary and hired day-jobber. And whatever admiration they bestowed +upon the taste and execution of work prepared for others, all that she +finished for themselves, was received with that wary precursor of +under-valuing its price, contempt; and looked over with fault-finding +eyes, and unmeaning criticism.</p> + +<p>Yet, if the following day, or even the following hour, some sudden +invitation to a brilliant assembly, made any of these ladies require her +services, they would give their orders with caressing solicitations for +speed; rush familiarly into her room, three or four times in a day, to +see how she went on; supplicate her to touch nothing for any other human +being; load her with professions of regard; confound her with hurrying +entreaties; shake her by the hand; tap her on the shoulder; call her the +best of souls; assure her of their eternal gratitude; and torment her +out of any time for sleep or food:—yet, the occasion past, and the work +seen and worn, it was thought of no more! Her pains and exertions, their +promises and fondness, sunk into the same oblivion; and the commonest +and most inadequate pay was murmured at, if not contested.</p> + +<p>Now and then, however, she was surprised by sudden starts of kindness, +and hasty enquiries, eagerly made, though scarcely demanding any answer, +into her situation and affairs; followed by drawing her, with an air of +confidence, into a dressing-room or closet:—but there, when prepared +for some mark of favour or esteem, she was only asked, in a mysterious +whisper, whether she could procure any cheap foreign lace, or French +gloves? or whether she could get over from France, any particularly +delicate paste for the hands.</p> + +<p>To ladies and to behaviour of this cast, there were, however, +exceptions; especially amongst the residents of the place and its +neighbourhood, who were not there, like the visitors, for dissipation or +irregular extravagance, that, alternately, causes money to be loosely +squandered, and meanly held back. But this better sort was rare, and +sufficed not to supply employment to Juliet for her maintenance, though +the most parsimonious. Nor were there any amongst them that had the +leisure, or the discernment, to discover, that her mind both required +and merited succour as much as her circumstances.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p> + +<p>Yet there was the seat of what she had most to endure, and found hardest +to sustain. Her short, but precious junction with her Gabriella, gave +poignancy to every latent regret, and added disgust to her solitary +toil. Thoughts uncommunicated, ideas unexchanged, fears unrevealed, and +sorrows unparticipated, infused a heaviness into her existence, that not +all her activity in business could conquer; while slackness of pay, by +rendering the result of her labours distant and precarious, robbed her +industry of cheerfulness, and her exertions of hope. With an ardent love +of elegant social intercourse, she was doomed to pass her lonely days in +a room that no sound of kindness ever cheered; with enthusiastic +admiration of the beauties of Nature, she was denied all prospect, but +of the coarse red tilings of opposite attics: with an innate taste for +the fine arts, she was forced to exist as completely out of their view +or knowledge, as if she had been an inhabitant of some uncivilized +country: and fellow-feeling, that most powerful master of philanthropy! +now taught her to pity the lamentations of seclusion from the world, +that she had hitherto often contemned as weak and frivolous; since now, +though with time always occupied, and a mind fully stored, she had the +bitter self-experience of the weight of solitude without books, and of +the gloom of retirement without a friend.</p> + +<p>During this period, the only notice that she attracted, was that of a +gouty old gentleman, whom she frequently met upon the stairs, when +forced to mount or descend them in pursuit of her fair heedless +creditors. She soon found, by the manner in which he entered, or +quitted, at pleasure, the apartment that she had recently given up, that +he was her successor. He was evidently struck by her beauty, and, upon +their first meeting, looked earnestly after her till she was out of +sight; and then, descended into the shop, to enquire who she was of Miss +Matson. Miss Matson, always perplexed what to think of her, gave so +indefinite, yet so extraordinary an account, that he eagerly awaited an +opportunity of seeing her again. Added examination was less calculated +to diminish curiosity, than to change it into pleasure and interest; and +soon, during whole hours together, he perseveringly watched, upon the +landing-places, for the moments of her going out, or coming back to the +house; that, while smiling and bowing to her as she passed, he might +obtain yet another, and another view of so singular and so lovely an +Incognita.</p> + +<p>As he annexed no fixed idea himself to this assiduity, he impressed none +upon Juliet; who, though she could not but observe it, had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> mind too +much occupied within, for that mental listlessness that applies for +thoughts, conjectures, or adventures from without.</p> + +<p>Soon, however, becoming anxious to behold her nearer, and, soon after, +to behold her longer, he contrived to place himself so as somewhat to +obstruct, though not positively to impede, her passage. The modest +courtesy, which she gave to his age, when, upon her approach, he made +way for her, he pleased himself by attributing to his palpable +admiration; and his bow, which had always been polite, became +obsequious; and his smile, which had always spoken pleasure, displayed +enchantment.</p> + +<p>Still, however, there was nothing to alarm, and little to engage the +attention of Juliet; for though ostentatiously gallant, he was +scrupulously decorous. His manners and deportment were old-fashioned, +but graceful and gentleman-like; and his eyes, though they had lost +their brilliancy, were still quick, scrutinizing, and, where not +softened by female attractions, severe.</p> + +<p>One day, upon her return from a fruitless expedition, as fearfully, +while ascending the stairs, she opened a paper that had just been +delivered to her in the shop, her deeply absorbed and perplexed air, and +the sigh with which she looked at its contents, induced him, with +heightened interest, to attempt following her, that he might make some +enquiry into her situation. He had discerned, as she passed, that what +she held was a bill; he could not doubt her poverty from her change of +apartment; and he wished to offer her some assistance: but finding that +he had no chance of overtaking her, before she reached her chamber, he +gently called, 'Young lady!' and begged that she would stop.</p> + +<p>With that alacrity of youthful purity, which is ever disposed to +consider age and virtue as one, she not only complied, but, seeing the +difficulty with which he mounted the stairs, respected his infirmities, +and descended herself to meet him, and hear his business.</p> + +<p>To a younger man, or to one less experienced, or less sagacious, this +action might have appeared the effect of forwardness, of ignorance, or +of levity; but to a man of the world, hackneyed in its ways, and +penetrating into the motives by which it is ordinarily influenced, it +seemed the result of innocence without suspicion; yet of an innocence to +which her air and manner gave a dignity that destroyed, in its birth, +all interpretation to her disadvantage. His purse, therefore, which +already he held in his hand, he felt must be offered with more delicacy +than he had at first supposed to be necessary; and, though he was by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> no +means a man apt to be embarrassed, he hesitated, for a moment, how to +address a forlorn young stranger.</p> + +<p>That moment, however, sufficed to determine him upon making an apology, +with the most marked respect, for the liberty which he had taken in +claiming her attention. The look with which she listened rewarded his +judgment: it expressed the gratitude of feelings to which politeness was +a pleasure; but not a novelty.</p> + +<p>'I think—I understand, Ma'am,' he then said, 'you are the lady who +inhabited the apartment to which, most unworthily, I have succeeded?'</p> + +<p>Juliet bowed.</p> + +<p>'I am truly concerned, Ma'am, at a mistake so preposterous in our +destinies, so diametrically in opposition to our merits, as that which +immures so much beauty and grace, which every one must wish to behold, +in the attics; while so worn-out, and good-for-nothing an old fellow as +I am, from whom every body must wish to turn their eyes, is perched, +full in front, and precisely on the very spot so every way your +superiour due. Whatever wicked Elf has done this deed, I confess myself +heartily ashamed of my share in its operation; and humbly ready, should +any better genius come amongst us, with a view to putting things into +their proper places, to agree, either that you should be lodged, in the +face of day, in the drawing-room, and I be jammed, out of sight, in the +garret; or—that you should become gouty and decrepit, and I grow +suddenly young and beautiful.'</p> + +<p>Juliet could not but smile, yet waited some explanation without +speaking.</p> + +<p>Charmed with the smile, which his own rigid features immediately caught, +'I have so frequently,' he continued, 'pondered and ruminated upon the +good which those little aerial beings I speak of might do; and the +wrongs which they might redress; were they permitted to visit us, now +and then, as we read of their doing in days of yore; that, sometimes, I +dream while wide awake, and fancy I see them; and feel myself at the +mercy of their antic corrections; or receive courteous presents, or +wholesome advice. Just this moment, as you were passing, methought one +of them appeared to me!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, surprised, involuntarily looked round.</p> + +<p>'And it said to me, "Whence happens it, my worthy antique, that you grow +as covetous as you are rich? Bear, for your pains, the punishment due to +a miser, of receiving money that you must not hoard; and of presenting, +with your own avaricious hand, this purse to the fair young creature +whose dwelling you have usurped; yet who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> resides nearest to those she +most resembles, the gods and goddesses."'</p> + +<p>With these words, and a low bow, he would have put his purse into her +hand; but upon her starting back, it dropt at her feet.</p> + +<p>Surprized, yet touched, as well as amused, by a turn so unexpected to +his pleasantry, Juliet, gracefully restoring, though firmly declining +his offer, uttered her thanks for the kindness of his intentions, with a +sweetness so unsuspicious of evil, that they separated with as strong an +impression of wonder upon his part, as, upon hers, of gratitude.</p> + +<p>Anxious to relieve the perplexity thus excited, and to settle his +opinion, he continued to watch, but could not again address her; for +aware, now, of his purpose, she fled down, or darted up stairs, with a +swiftness that defied pursuit; yet with a passing courtesy, that marked +respectful remembrance.</p> + +<p>Thus, in a life of solitary hardship, with no intermission but for +mortifying disappointment, passed nearly three weeks, when Juliet found, +with affright and astonishment, that all orders for work seemed at an +end. It was no longer the season for Brighthelmstone, whose visitors +were only accidental stragglers, that, here to-day, and gone to-morrow, +had neither care nor leisure but for rambling and amusement. The +residents, though by no means inconsiderable, were soon served; for +Elinor was removed to Lewes, and her influence was lost with her +presence. Some new measure, therefore, for procuring employment, became +necessary; and Juliet, once more, was reduced to make application to +Miss Matson.</p> + +<p>In passing, therefore, one morning, through the shop, with some work +prepared for carrying home, she stopt to open upon the subject; but the +appearance of Miss Bydel at the door, induced her, with an hasty +apology, to make an abrupt retreat; that she might avoid an encounter +which, with that lady, was always irksome, if not painful, from her +unconstrained curiosity; joined to the grossness of her conceptions and +remarks.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV</h2> + + +<p>Juliet, in re-mounting the stairs, was stopt, by her new acquaintance, +before the door of his apartment.</p> + +<p>'If you knew,' he said, 'how despitefully I have been treated, and how +miserably black and blue I have been pinched, by the little Imp whose +offer you have rejected, sleep would fly your eyes at night, from +remorse for your hardness of heart. Its Impship insists upon it, that +the fault must all be mine. What! it cries, would you persuade me, that +a young creature whose face beams with celestial sweetness, whose voice +is the voice of melody, whose eyes have the softness of the Dove's—'</p> + +<p>Juliet, though she smiled, would have escaped; but he told her he must +be heard.</p> + +<p>'Would you persuade me, quoth my sprite, that such an angelic personage, +would rather let my poor despised coin canker and rust in your miserly +coffers, than disperse it about in the world, in kind, generous, or +useful activity? No, my antique, continues my little elf, you have +presented it in some clumsy, hunchy, awkward mode, that has made her +deem you an unworthy bearer of fairy gifts; and she flies the downy +wings of my gentle succour, from the fear of falling into your rough and +uncooth claws.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, who now, through the ill-closed fingers of his gouty hand, +discerned his prepared purse, seriously begged to decline this +discussion.</p> + +<p>'What malice you must bear me!' he cried. 'You are surely in the pay of +my evil genius! and I shall be whipt with nettles, or scratched with +thorns, all night, in revenge of my failure! And that parcel, +too,—which strains the fine fibres of your fair hands,—cast it but +down,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> and millions of my little elves will struggle to convey it safely +to your chamber.'</p> + +<p>'I doubt not their dexterity,' answered Juliet, 'nor the benevolence of +their fabricator; but I assure you, Sir, I want no help.'</p> + +<p>'If you will not accept their aerial services, deign, at least, not to +refuse mine!'</p> + +<p>He endeavoured, now, to take the gown-packet into his own hands; +laughingly saying, upon her grave resistance, 'Beware, fair nymph, of +the dormant sensations which you may awaken, if you should make me +suppose you afraid of me! Many a long day is past, alas! and gone, since +I could flatter myself with the idea of exciting fear in a young +breast!'</p> + +<p>Ceasing, however, the attempt, after some courteous apologies, he +respectfully let her pass.</p> + +<p>But, upon entering her room, she heard something chink as she deposited +her parcel upon a table; and, upon examination, found that he had +managed to slip into it, during the contest, a little green purse.</p> + +<p>Vexed at this contrivance, and resolved not to lose an instant in +returning what no distress could induce her to retain, she immediately +descended; but the staircase was vacant, and the door was closed. +Fearful any delay might authorize a presumption of acceptance, she +assumed courage to tap at the door.</p> + +<p>A scampering, at the same moment, up the stairs, made her instantly +regret this measure; and by no means the less, for finding herself +recognized, and abruptly accosted by young Gooch, the farmer's son, at +the very moment that her gouty admirer had hobbled to answer to her +summons.</p> + +<p>'Well, see if I a'n't a good marksman!' he cried; 'for else, Ma'am, I +might have passed you; for they told me, below, you were up there, at +the very top of the house. But I'd warrant to pick you out from a +hundred, Ma'am; as neat as my father would one of his stray sheep. But +what I come for, Ma'am, is to ask the favour of your company, if it's +agreeable to you, to a little junket at our farm.'</p> + +<p>Then, rubbing his hands with great glee, unregarding the surprised look +of Juliet, at such an invitation, or the amused watchfulness of the +observant old beau, he went glibly on.</p> + +<p>'Father's to give it, Ma'am. You never saw old dad, I believe, Ma'am? +The old gentleman's a very good old chap; only he don't like our clubs: +for he says they make me speak quite in the new manner; so that the +farmers, he says, don't know what I'd be at. He's rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> in years, +Ma'am, poor man. He don't know much how things go. However, he's a very +well meaning old gentleman.'</p> + +<p>Juliet gravely enquired, to what unknown accident she might attribute an +invitation so unexpected?</p> + +<p>'Why, Ma'am,' answered Gooch, delighted at the idea of having given her +an agreeable surprize, 'Why it's the 'Squire, Ma'am, that put it into my +head. You know who I mean? our rich cousin, 'Squire Tedman. He's a great +friend of yours, I can assure you, Ma'am. He wants you to take a little +pleasure sadly. And he's sadly afraid, too, he says, that you'll miss +him, now he's gone to town; for he used often, he says, to bring you one +odd thing or another. He's got a fine fortune of his own, my cousin the +'Squire. And he's a widower.—And he's taken a vast liking to you, I can +tell you, Ma'am;—so who knows....'</p> + +<p>Juliet would have been perfectly unmoved by this ignorant forwardness, +but for the presence of a stranger, to whose good opinion, after her +experience of his benevolence, she could not be indifferent. With an +air, therefore, that marked her little satisfaction at this familiar +jocoseness, she declined the invitation; and begged the young man to +acquaint Mr Tedman, that, though obliged to his intentions, she should +feel a yet higher obligation in his forbearance to forward to her, in +future, any similar proposals.</p> + +<p>'Why, Ma'am,' cried young Gooch, astonished, 'this i'n't a thing you can +get at every day! We shall have all the main farmers of the +neighbourhood! for it's given on account of a bargain that we've made, +of a nice little slip of land, just by our square hay-field. And I've +leave to choose six of the company myself. But they won't be farmers, +Ma'am, I can tell you! They'll be young fellows that know better how the +world goes. And we shall have your good friend 'Squire Stubbs; for it's +he that made our bargain.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, now, turning from him to the silent, remarking stranger, said, +'I am extremely ashamed, Sir, to obtrude thus upon your time, but the +person for whom you so generously destined this donation commissions me +to return it, with many thanks, and an assurance that it is not at all +wanted.'</p> + +<p>She held out her hand with the purse, but, drawing back from receiving +it, 'Madam,' he cried, 'I would upon no account offend any one who has +the honour of being known to you; but you will not, therefore, I hope, +insist that I should quarrel with myself, by taking what does not belong +to me?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p> + +<p>While Juliet, now, looked wistfully around, to discover some place where +she might drop the purse, unseen by the young man, whose +misinterpretations might be injurious, the youth volubly continued his +own discourse.</p> + +<p>'We shall give a pretty good entertainment in the way of supper, I +assure you, Ma'am; for we shall have a goose at top, and a turkey at +bottom, and as fine a fat pig as ever you saw in your life in the +middle; with as much ale, and mead, and punch, as you can desire to +drink. And, as all my sisters are at home, and a brace or so of nice +young lasses of their acquaintance, besides ever so many farmers, and us +seven stout young fellows of my club, into the bargain, we intend to +kick up a dance. It may keep you out a little late, to be sure, Ma'am, +but you shall have our chay-cart to bring you home. You know our +chay-cart of old, Ma'am?'</p> + +<p>'I, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'Why, lauk! have you forgot that, Ma'am? Why it's our chay-cart that +brought you to Brighton, from Madam Maple's at Lewes, as good as half a +year ago. Don't you remember little Jack, that drove you? and that went +for you again the next day, to fetch you back?'</p> + +<p>Juliet now found, that this was the carriage procured for her by +Harleigh, upon her first arrival at Lewes; and, though chagrined at the +air of former, or disguised intimacy, which such an incident might seem +to convey to her new friend, she immediately acknowledged recollecting +the circumstance.</p> + +<p>'Well, I'm only sorry, Ma'am, I did not drive you myself; but I had not +the pleasure of your acquaintance then, Ma'am; for 'twas before of our +acting together.'</p> + +<p>The surprise of the listening old gentleman now altered its expression, +from earnest curiosity to suppressed pleasantry; and he leant against +his door, to take a pinch of snuff, with an air that denoted him to be +rather waiting for some expected amusement, than watching, as +heretofore, for some interesting explanation.</p> + +<p>Juliet, in discerning the passing change in his ideas, became more than +ever eager to return the purse; yet more than ever fearful of +misconstruction from young Gooch; whom she now, with encreased +dissatisfaction, begged to lose no time in acquainting Mr Tedman, that +business only ever took her from home.</p> + +<p>'Why, that's but moping for you, neither, Ma'am,' he answered, in a tone +of pity. 'You'd have double the spirits if you'd go a little abroad;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +for staying within doors gives one but a hippish turn. It will go nigh +to make you grow quite melancholick, Ma'am.'</p> + +<p>Hopeless to get rid either of him or of the purse, Juliet, now, was +moving up stairs, when the voice of Miss Bydel called out from the +passage, 'Why, Mr Gooch, have you forgot I told you to send Mrs Ellis to +me?'</p> + +<p>'That I had clean!' he answered. 'I ask your pardon, I'm sure, +Ma'am.—Why, Ma'am, Miss Bydel told me to tell you, when I said I was +coming up to ask you to our junket, that she wanted to say a word or two +to you, down in the shop, upon business.'</p> + +<p>Juliet would have descended; but Miss Bydel, desiring her to wait, +mounted herself, saying, 'I have a mind to see your little new room:' +stopping, however, when she came to the landing-place, which was square +and large, 'Well-a-day!' she exclaimed: 'Sir Jaspar Herrington!—who'd +have thought of seeing you, standing so quietly at your door? Why I did +not know you could stand at all! Why how is your gout, my good Sir? And +how do you like your new lodgings? I heard of your being here from Miss +Matson. But pray, Mrs Ellis, what has kept you both, you and young Mr +Gooch, in such close conference with Sir Jaspar? I can't think what +you've been talking of so long. Pray how did you come to be so intimate +together? I should like to know that.'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar courteously invited Miss Bydel to enter his apartment; but +that lady, not aware that nothing is less delicate than professions of +delicacy; which degrade a just perception, and strict practice of +propriety, into a display of conscious caution, or a suspicion of evil +interpretation; almost angrily answered, that she could not for the +world do such a thing, for it would set every body a talking: 'for, as +I'm not married, Sir Jaspar, you know, and as you're a single gentleman, +too, it might make Miss Matson and her young ladies think I don't know +what. For, when once people's tongues are set a-going, it's soon too +late to stop them. Besides, every body's always so prodigious curious to +dive into other people's affairs, that one can't well be too prudent.'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar, with an arched brow, of which she was far from comprehending +the meaning, said that he acquiesced in her better judgment; but, as she +had announced that she came to speak with this young lady upon business, +he enquired, whether there would be any incongruity in putting a couple +of chairs upon the landing-place.</p> + +<p>'Well,' she cried, 'that's a bright thought, I declare, Sir Jaspar! for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +it will save me the trouble of groping up stairs;' and then, seizing the +opportunity to peep into his room, she broke forth into warm +exclamations of pleasure, at the many nice and new things with which it +had been furnished, since it had been vacated by Mrs Ellis.</p> + +<p>A look, highly commiserating, shewed him shocked by these observations; +and the air, patiently calm, with which they were heard by Juliet, +augmented his interest, as well as wonder, in her story and situation.</p> + +<p>He ordered his valet to fetch an arm-chair for Miss Bydel; while, +evidently meant for Juliet, he began to drag another forward himself.</p> + +<p>'Bless me, Sir Jaspar!' cried Miss Bydel, looking, a little affronted, +towards Juliet, 'have you no common chairs?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he answered, still labouring on, 'for common purposes!'</p> + +<p>This civility was not lost upon Juliet, who declining, though thankful +for his attention, darted forward, to take, for herself, a seat of less +dignity; hastily, as she passed, dropping the purse upon a table.</p> + +<p>A glance at Sir Jaspar sufficed to assure her, that this action had not +escaped his notice; and though his look spoke disappointment, it shewed +him sensible of the propriety of avoiding any contest.</p> + +<p>Relieved from this burthen, she now cheerfully waited to hear the orders +of Miss Bydel: young Gooch waited to hear them also; seated, +cross-legged, upon the balustrade; though Sir Jaspar sent his valet +away, and, retired, scrupulously, himself, to the further end of his +apartment.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, as little struck with the ill breeding of the young farmer, +as with the good manners of the baronet, forgot her business, from +recollecting that Mr Scope was waiting for her in the shop. 'For +happening,' said she, 'to pass by, and see me, through the glass-door, +he just stept in, on purpose to have a little chat.'</p> + +<p>'O ho, what, is 'Squire Scope here?' cried young Gooch; and, rapidly +sliding down the banisters, seized upon the unwilling and precise Mr +Scope, whom he dragged up to the landing-place.</p> + +<p>'Well, this is droll enough!' cried Miss Bydel, palpably enchanted, +though trying to look displeased; 'only I hope you have not told Mr +Scope 'twas I that sent you for him, Mr Gooch? for, I assure you, Mr +Scope, I would not do such a thing for the world. I should think it +quite improper. Besides, what will Miss Matson and the young milliners +say? Who knows but you may have set them a prating, Mr Gooch? It's no +joke, I can assure you, doing things of this sort.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I'm sure, Ma'am,' said Gooch, 'I thought you wanted to see the 'Squire; +for I did not do it in the least to make game.'</p> + +<p>'There can be no doubt, Madam,' said Mr Scope, somewhat offended, 'that +all descriptions of sport are not, at all times, advisable. For, in +small societies, as in great states, if I may be permitted to compare +little things with great ones, danger often lurks unseen, and mischief +breaks out from trifles. In like manner, for example, if one of those +young milliners, misinterpreting my innocence, in obeying the supposed +commands of the good Miss Bydel, should take the liberty to laugh at my +expence, what, you might ask, could it signify that a young girl should +laugh? Young persons, especially of the female gender, being naturally +given to laughter, at very small provocatives; not to say sometimes +without any whatsoever. Whereupon, persons of an ordinary judgment, may +conclude such an action, by which I mean laughing, to be of no +consequence.—'</p> + +<p>'But I think it very rude!' cried Miss Bydel, extremely nettled.</p> + +<p>'Please to hear me, Madam!' said Mr Scope. 'Persons, I say, of deeper +knowledge in the maxims and manners of the moral world, would look +forward with watchfulness, on such an occasion, to its future effects; +for one laugh breeds another, and another breeds another; for nothing is +so catching as laughing; I mean among the vulgar; in which class I would +be understood to include the main mass of a great nation. What, I ask, +ensues?—'</p> + +<p>'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, rather impatiently, 'I +assure you if I knew any body that took such a liberty as to laugh at +me, I should let them know my thoughts of such airs without much +ceremony!'</p> + +<p>'My very good lady,' said Mr Scope, formally bowing, 'if I may request +such a favour, I beg you to be silent. The laugh, I observe, caught +thus, from one to another, soon spreads abroad; and then, the more aged, +or better informed, may be led to enquire into its origin: and the +result of such investigation must needs be, that the worthy Miss Bydel, +having sent her commands to her humble servant, Mr Scope, to follow her +up stairs—'</p> + +<p>'But if they said that,' cried Miss Bydel, looking very red, 'it would +be as great a fib as ever was told, for I did not send my commands, nor +think of such a thing. It was Mr Gooch's own doing, only for his own +nonsense. And I am curious to know, Mr Gooch, whether any body ever put +such thoughts into your head? Pray did you ever hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> any body talk, Mr +Gooch? For, if you have, I should be glad to know what they said.'</p> + +<p>Mr Scope, waving his hand to demand attention, again begged leave to +remark, that he had not finished what he purposed to advance.</p> + +<p>'My argument, Madam,' he resumed, 'is a short, but, I hope, a clear one, +for 'tis deduced from general principles and analogy; though, upon a +merely cursory view, it may appear somewhat abstruse. But what I mean, +in two words, is, that the laugh raised by Mr Gooch, and those young +milliners; taking it for granted that they laughed; which, indeed, I +rather think I heard them do; may, in itself, perhaps, as only +announcing incapacity, not be condemnable; but when it turns out that it +promulgates false reports, and makes two worthy persons, if I may take +the liberty to name myself with the excellent Miss Bydel, appear to be +fit subjects for ridicule; then, indeed, the laugh is no longer +innocent; and ought, in strict justice, to be punished, as seriously as +any other mode of propagating false rumours.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, after protesting that Mr Scope talked so prodigiously +sensible, that she was never tired of hearing him, for all his speeches +were so long; abruptly told Juliet, that she had called to let her know, +that she should be glad to be paid, out of hand, the money which she had +advanced for the harp.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar, who, during the harangue of Mr Scope, which was uttered in +too loud and important a manner, to leave any doubt of its being +intended for general hearing; had drawn his chair to join the party, +listened to this demand with peculiar attention; and was struck with the +evident distress which it caused to Juliet; who fearfully besought a +little longer law, to collect the debts of others, that she might be +able to discharge her own.</p> + +<p>Young Gooch, coming behind her, said, in a half whisper, 'If you'll tell +me how much it is you owe, Ma'am, I'll help you out in a trice; for I +can have what credit I will in my father's name; and he'll never know +but what 'twas for some frolic of my own; for I don't make much of a +confidant of the old gentleman.'</p> + +<p>The most icy refusal was insufficient to get rid of this offer, or +offerer; who assured her that, if the worst came to the worst, and his +father, by ill luck, should find them out, he would not make a fuss for +above a day or two; 'because,' he continued, 'he has only me, as one may +say, for the rest are nothing but girls; so he can't well help himself. +He gave me my swing too long from the first, to bind me down at this +time of day. Besides, he likes to have me a little in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> fashion, I +know, though he won't own it; for he is a very good sort of an old +gentleman, at bottom.'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar sought to discover, whether the colour which heightened the +cheeks of Juliet at this proposal, which now ceased to be delivered in a +whisper, was owing to confusion at its publicity, or to disdain at the +idea of conspiring either at deceiving or braving the young man's +father; while Miss Bydel, whose plump curiosity saved her from all +species of speculative trouble, bluntly said, 'Why should you hesitate +at such an offer, my dear? I'm sure I don't see how you can do better +than accept it. Mr Gooch is a very worthy young man, and so are all his +family. I'm sure I only wish he'd take to you more solidly, and make a +match of it. That would put an end to your troubles at once; and I +should get my money out of hand.'</p> + +<p>This was an opportunity not to be passed over by the argumentative but +unerring Mr Scope, for trite observations, self-evident truths, and +hackneyed calculations, upon the mingled dangers and advantages of +matrimony, 'which, when weighed,' said he, 'in equal scales, and +abstractedly considered, are of so puzzling a nature, that the wise and +wary, fearing to risk them, remain single; but which, when looked upon +in a more cursory way, or only lightly balanced, preponderate so much in +favour of the state, that the great mass of the nation, having but small +means of reflection, or forethought, ordinarily prefer matrimony. If, +therefore, young Mr Gooch should think proper to espouse this young +person, there would be nothing in it very surprising; nevertheless, in +summing up the expences of wedlock, and a growing family, it might seem, +that to begin the married state with debts already contracted, on the +female side, would appear but a shallow mark of prudence on the male, +where the cares of that state reasonably devolve; he being naturally +supposed to have the most sense.'</p> + +<p>'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, 'if Mr Gooch should take a +liking to this young person, she has money enough to pay her debts, I +can assure you: I should not have asked her for it else; but the thing +is, she don't like to part with it.'</p> + +<p>Juliet solemnly protested, that the severest necessity could alone have +brought her into the pecuniary difficulties under which she laboured; +the money to which Miss Bydel alluded being merely a deposit which she +held in her hands, and for which she was accountable.</p> + +<p>'Well, that's droll enough,' said Miss Bydel, 'that a young person,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> not +worth a penny in the world, should have the care of other people's +money! I should like to know what sort of persons they must be, that can +think of making such a person their steward!'</p> + +<p>Young Gooch said that it would not be his father, for one, who would do +it; and Mr Scope was preparing an elaborate dissertation upon the nature +of confidence, with regard to money-matters, in a great state; when Miss +Bydel, charmed to have pronounced a sentence which seemed to accord with +every one's opinion, ostentatiously added, 'I should like, I say, Mrs +Ellis, to know what sort of person it could be, that would trust a +person with one's cash, without enquiring into their circumstances? for +though, upon hearing that a person has got nothing, one may give 'em +something, one must be no better than a fool to make them one's banker.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, who could not enter into any explanation, stammered, coloured, +and from the horrour of seeing that she was suspected, wore an air of +seeming apprehensive of detection.</p> + +<p>A short pause ensued, during which every one fixed his eyes upon her +face, save Sir Jaspar; who seemed studying a portrait upon his +snuff-box.</p> + +<p>Her immediate wish, in this disturbance, was to clear herself from so +terrible an aspersion, by paying Miss Bydel, as she had paid her other +creditors, from the store of Harleigh; but her wishes, tamed now by +misfortune and disappointment, were too submissively under the controul +of fear and discretion, to suffer her to act from their first dictates: +and a moment's reflection pointed out, that, joined to the impropriety +of such a measure with respect to Harleigh himself, it would be liable, +more than any other, to give her the air of an impostor, who possessed +money that she could either employ, or disclaim all title to, at her +pleasure. Calling, therefore, for composure from conscious integrity, +she made known her project of applying once more to Miss Matson, for +work; and earnestly supplicated for the influence of Miss Bydel, that +this second application might not, also, be vain.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the attentive Sir Jaspar, as he raised them from his +snuff-box, now spoke respect mingled with pity.</p> + +<p>'As to recommending you to Miss Matson, Mrs Ellis,' answered Miss Bydel, +'it's out of all reason to demand such a thing, when I can't tell who +you are myself; and only know that you have got money in your hands +nobody knows how, nor what for.'</p> + +<p>An implication such as this, nearly overpowered the fortitude of Juliet; +and, relinquishing all further effort, she rose, and, silently,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> almost +gloomily, began ascending the stairs. Sir Jaspar caught the expression +of her despair by a glance; and, in a tone of remonstrance, said to Miss +Bydel, 'In your debt, good Miss Bydel? Have you forgotten, then, that +the young lady has paid you?'</p> + +<p>'Paid me? good Me! Sir Jaspar,' cried Miss Bydel, staring; 'how can you +say such a thing? Do you think I'd cheat the young woman?'</p> + +<p>'I think it so little,' answered he, calmly, 'that I venture to remind +you, thus publicly, of the circumstance; in full persuasion that I shall +merit your gratitude, by aiding your memory.'</p> + +<p>'Good Me! Sir Jaspar, why I never heard such a thing in my life! Paid +me? When? Why it can't be without my knowing it?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly not; I beg you, therefore, to recollect yourself.'</p> + +<p>The stare of Miss Bydel was now caught by Mr Scope; and her 'Good Me!' +was echoed by young Gooch; while the surprised Juliet, turning back, +said, 'Pardon me, Sir! I have never been so happy as to be able to +discharge the debt. It remains in full force.'</p> + +<p>'Over you, too, then,' cried Sir Jaspar, with quickness, 'have I the +advantage in memory? Have you forgotten that you delivered, to Miss +Bydel, the full sum, not twenty minutes since?'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel now, reddening with anger, cried, 'Sir Jaspar, I have long +enough heard of your ill nature; but I never suspected your crossness +would take such a turn against a person as this, to make people believe +I demand what is not my own!'</p> + +<p>Juliet again solemnly acknowledged the debt; and Mr Scope opened an +harangue upon the merits of exactitude between debtor and creditor, and +the usefulness of settling no accounts, without, what were the only +legal witnesses to obviate financial controversy, receipts in full; when +Sir Jaspar, disregarding, alike, his rhetoric or Miss Bydel's choler, +quietly patting his snuff-box, said, that it was possible that Miss +Bydel had, inadvertently, put the sum into her work-bag, and forgotten +that it had been refunded.</p> + +<p>Exulting that means, now, were open for vindication and redress, Miss +Bydel eagerly untied the strings of her work-bag; though Juliet +entreated that she would spare herself the useless trouble. But Sir +Jaspar protested, with great gravity, that his own honour was now as +deeply engaged to prove an affirmative, as that of Miss Bydel to prove a +negative: holding, however, her hand, he said that he could not be +satisfied, unless the complete contents of the work-bag were openly and +fairly emptied upon a table, in sight of the whole party.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, though extremely affronted, consented to this proposal;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +which would clear her, she said, of so false a slander. A table was then +brought upon the landing-place; as she still stiffly refused risking her +reputation, by entering the apartment of a single gentleman; though he +might not, as she observed, be one of the youngest.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar demanded the precise amount of the sum owed. A guinea and a +half.</p> + +<p>He then fetched a curious little japan basket from his chamber, into +which he desired that Miss Bydel would put her work-bag; though he would +not suffer her to empty it, till, with various formalities, he had +himself placed it in the middle of the table; around which he made every +one draw a chair.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel now triumphantly turned her work-bag inside out; but what was +her consternation, what the shock of Mr Scope, and how loud the shout of +young Gooch, to see, from a small open green purse, fall a guinea and a +half!</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, utterly confounded, remained speechless; but Juliet, through +whose sadness Sir Jaspar saw a smile force its way, that rendered her +beauty dazzling, recollecting the purse, blushed, and would have +relieved Miss Bydel, by confessing that she knew to whom it belonged; +had she not been withheld by the fear of the strange appearance which so +sudden a seeming intimacy with the Baronet might wear.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar, again patting her snuff-box, composedly said, 'I was +persuaded Miss Bydel would find that her debt had been discharged.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel remained stupified; while Mr Scope, with a look concerned, +and even abashed, condolingly began an harangue upon the frail tenure of +the faculty of human memory.</p> + +<p>Miss Bydel, at length, recovering her speech, exclaimed, 'Well, here's +the money, that's certain! but which way it has got into my work-bag, +without my ever seeing or touching it, I can't pretend to say: but if +Mrs Ellis has done it to play me a trick—'</p> + +<p>Juliet disavowed all share in the transaction.</p> + +<p>'Then it's some joke of Sir Jaspar's! for I know he dearly loves to +mortify; so I suppose he has given me false coin, or something that +won't go, just to make me look like a fool.'</p> + +<p>'The money, I have the honour to assure you, is not mine,' was all that, +very tranquilly, Sir Jaspar replied: while Mr Scope, after a careful +examination of each piece, declared each to be good gold, and full +weight.</p> + +<p>Sundry 'Good me's!' and other expressions of surprise, though all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> of a +pleasurable sort, now broke forth from Miss Bydel, finishing with, +'However, if nobody will own the money, as the debt is fairly my due, I +don't see why I may not take it; though as to the purse, I won't touch +it, because as that's a thing I have not lent to any body, I've no right +to it.'</p> + +<p>Juliet here warmly interfered. The purse, she said, and the money +belonged to the same proprietor; and, as neither of them were hers, both +ought to be regarded as equally inadmissible for the payment of a debt +which she alone had contracted. This disinterested sincerity made even +Mr Scope turn to her with an air of profound, though surprised respect; +while Sir Jaspar fixed his eyes upon her face with encreased and the +most lively wonder; young Gooch stared, not perfectly understanding her; +but Miss Bydel, rolling up the purse, which she put back into the +basket, said, 'Well, if the money is not yours, Mrs Ellis, my dear, it +can be nobody's but Sir Jaspar's; and if he has a mind to pay your debt +for you, I don't see why I should hinder him, when 'twould be so much to +my disadvantage. He's rich enough, I assure you; for what has an old +bachelor to do with his money? So I'll take my due, be it which way it +will.' And, unmoved by all that Juliet could urge, she put the guinea +and the half-guinea carefully into her pocket.</p> + +<p>Juliet declared, that a debt which she had not herself discharged, she +should always consider as unpaid, though her creditor might be changed.</p> + +<p>Confused then, ashamed, perplexed,—yet unavoidably pleased, she mounted +to her chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV</h2> + + +<p>With whatever shame, whatever chagrin, Juliet saw herself again involved +in a pecuniary obligation, with a stranger, and a gentleman, a support +so efficacious, at a moment of such alarm, was sensibly and gratefully +felt. Yet she was not less anxious to cancel a favour which still was +unfitting to be received. She watched, therefore, for the departure of +Miss Bydel, and the restoration of stillness to the staircase, to +descend, once more, in prosecution to her scheme with Miss Matson.</p> + +<p>The anxious fear of rejection, and dread of rudeness, with which she +then renewed her solicitation, soon happily subsided, from a readiness +to listen, and a civility of manner, as welcome as they were unexpected, +in her hostess; by whom she was engaged, without difficulty, to enter +upon her new business the following morning.</p> + +<p>Thus, and with cruel regret, concluded her fruitless effort to attain a +self-dependence which, however subject to toil, might be free, at least, +from controul. Every species of business, however narrow its cast, +however limited its wants, however mean its materials; required, she now +found, some capital to answer to its immediate calls, and some steady +credit for encountering the unforeseen accidents, and unavoidable risks, +to which all human undertakings, whether great or insignificant, are +liable.</p> + +<p>With this conviction upon her mind, she strove to bear the +disappointment without murmuring; hoping to gain in security all that +she lost in liberty. Little reason, indeed, had she for regretting what +she gave up: she had been worn by solitary toil, and heavy rumination; +by labour without interest, and loneliness without leisure.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the beginning of her new career promised little +amelioration from the change. She was summoned early to the shop to +take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> her work; but, when she begged leave to return with it to her +chamber, she was stared at as if she had made a demand the most +preposterous, and told that, if she meant to enter into business, she +must be at hand to receive directions, and to learn how it should be +done.</p> + +<p>To enter into business was far from the intention of Juliet; but the +fear of dismission, should she proclaim how transitory were her views, +silenced her into acquiescence; and she seated herself behind a distant +counter.</p> + +<p>And here, perforce, she was initiated into a new scene of life, that of +the humours of a milliner's shop. She found herself in a whirl of hurry, +bustle, loquacity, and interruptions. Customers pressed upon customers; +goods were taken down merely to be put up again; cheapened but to be +rejected; admired but to be looked at, and left; and only bought when, +to all appearance, they were undervalued and despised.</p> + +<p>It was here that she saw, in its unmasked futility, the selfishness of +personal vanity. The good of a nation, the interest of society, the +welfare of a family, could with difficulty have appeared of higher +importance than the choice of a ribbon, or the set of a cap; and +scarcely any calamity under heaven could excite looks of deeper horrour +or despair, than any mistake committed in the arrangement of a feather +or a flower. Every feature underwent a change, from chagrin and +fretfulness, if any ornament, made by order, proved, upon trial, to be +unbecoming; while the whole complexion glowed with the exquisite joy of +triumph, if something new, devised for a superiour in the world of +fashion, could be privately seized as a model by an inferiour.</p> + +<p>The ladies whose practice it was to frequent the shop, thought the time +and trouble of its mistress, and her assistants, amply paid by the +honour of their presence; and though they tried on hats and caps, till +they put them out of shape; examined and tossed about the choicest +goods, till they were so injured that they could be sold only at half +price; ordered sundry articles, which, when finished, they returned, +because they had changed their minds; or discovered that they did not +want them; still their consciences were at ease, their honour was +self-acquitted, and their generosity was self-applauded, if, after two +or three hours of lounging, rummaging, fault-finding and chaffering, +they purchased a yard or two of ribbon, or a few skanes of netting silk.</p> + +<p>The most callous disregard to all representations of the dearness of +materials, or of the just price of labour, was accompanied by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> most +facile acquiescence even in demands that were exorbitant, if they were +adroitly preceded by, 'Lady ——, or the Duchess of ——, gave that sum +for just such another cap, hat, &c., this very morning.'</p> + +<p>Here, too, as in many other situations into which accident had led, or +distress had driven Juliet, she saw, with commiseration and shame for +her fellow-creatures, the total absence of feeling and of equity, in the +dissipated and idle, for the indigent and laborious. The goods which +demanded most work, most ingenuity, and most hands, were last paid, +because heaviest of expence; though, for that very reason, the many +employed, and the charge of materials, made their payment the first +required. Oh that the good Mr Giles Arbe, thought Juliet, could arraign, +in his simple but impressive style, the ladies who exhibit themselves +with unpaid plumes, at assemblies and operas; and enquire whether they +can flatter themselves, that to adorn them alone is sufficient to +recompense those who work for, without seeing them; who ornament without +knowing them; and who must necessarily, if unrequited, starve in +rendering them more brilliant!</p> + +<p>Upon further observation, nevertheless, her compassion for the milliner +and the work-women somewhat diminished; for she found that their notions +of probity were as lax as those of their customers were of justice; and +saw that their own rudeness to those who had neither rank nor fortune, +kept pace with the haughtiness which they were forced to support, from +those by whom both were possessed. Every advantage was taken of +inexperience and simplicity; every article was charged, not according to +its value, but to the skill or ignorance of the purchaser; old goods +were sold as if new; cheap goods as if dear; and ancient, or vulgar +ornaments, were presented to the unpractised chafferer, as the very pink +of the mode.</p> + +<p>The rich and grand, who were capricious, difficult, and long in their +examinations, because their time was their own; or rather, because it +hung upon their hands; and whose utmost exertion, and sole practice of +exercise consisted in strolling from a sofa to a carriage, were +instantly, and with fulsome adulation, attended; while the meaner, or +economical, whose time had its essential appropriations, and was +therefore precious, were obliged to wait patiently for being served, +till no coach was at the door, and every fine lady had sauntered away. +And even then, they were scarcely heard when they spoke; scarcely shewn +what they demanded; and scarcely thanked for what they purchased.</p> + +<p>In viewing conflicts such as these, between selfish vanity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> cringing +cunning, it soon became difficult to decide, which was least congenial +to the upright mind and pure morality of Juliet, the insolent, vain, +unfeeling buyer, or the subtle, plausible, over-reaching seller.</p> + +<p>The companions of Juliet in this business, though devoted, of course, to +its manual operations, left all its cares to its mistress. Their own +wishes and hopes were caught by other objects. The town was filled with +officers, whose military occupations were brief, whose acquaintances +were few, and who could not, all day long, ride, or pursue the sports of +the field. These gentlemen, for their idle moments, chose to deem all +the unprotected young women whom they thought worth observance, their +natural prey. And though, from race to race, and from time immemorial, +the young female shop-keeper had been warned of the danger, the folly, +and the fate of her predecessors; in listening to the itinerant admirer, +who, here to-day and gone to-morrow, marches his adorations, from town +to town with as much facility, and as little regret, as his regiment; +still every new votary to the counter and the modes, was ready to go +over the same ground that had been trodden before; with the fond +persuasion of proving an exception to those who had ended in misery and +disgrace, by finishing, herself, with marriage and promotion. Their +minds, therefore, were engaged in airy projects; and their leisure, +where they could elude the vigilance of Miss Matson, was devoted to +clandestine coquetry, tittering whispers, and secret frolics.</p> + +<p>'These,' said Juliet, in a letter to Gabriella, 'are now my destined +associates! Ah, heaven! can these—can such as these,—setting aside +pride, prejudice, propriety, or whatever word we use for the +distinctions of society,—can these—can such as these, suffice as +companions to her whose grateful heart has been honoured with the +friendship of Gabriella? O hours of refined felicity past and gone, how +severe is your contrast with those of heaviness and distaste now +endured!'</p> + +<p>The inexperience of Juliet in business, impeded not her acquiring almost +immediate excellence in the millinery art, for which she was equally +fitted by native taste, and by her remembrance of what she had seen +abroad. The first time, therefore, that she was employed to arrange some +ornaments, she adjusted them with an elegance so striking, that Miss +Matson, with much parade, exhibited them to her best lady-customers, as +a specimen of the very last new fashion, just brought her over by one of +her young ladies from Paris.</p> + +<p>In a town that subsists by the search of health for the sick, and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +amusement for the idle, the smallest new circumstance is of sufficient +weight to be related and canvassed; for there is ever most to say where +there is least to do. The phrase, therefore, that went forth from Miss +Matson, that one of her young ladies was just come from France, was soon +spread through the neighbourhood; with the addition that the same person +had brought over specimens of all the French <i>costume</i>.</p> + +<p>Such a report could not fail to allure staring customers to the shop, +where the attraction of the youth and beauty of the new work-woman, +contrasted with her determined silence to all enquiry, gave birth to +perpetually varying conjectures in her presence, which were followed by +the most eccentric assertions where she was the subject of discourse in +her absence. All that already had been spread abroad, of her acting, her +teaching, her playing the harp, her needle-work, and, more than all, her +having excited a suicide; was now in every mouth; and curiosity, baffled +in successive attempts to penetrate into the truth, supplied, as usual, +every chasm of fact by invention.</p> + +<p>This species of commerce, always at hand, and always fertile, proved so +highly amusing to the lassitude of the idle, and to the frivolousness of +the dissipated, that, in a very few days, the shop of Miss Matson became +the general rendezvous of the saunterers, male and female, of +Brighthelmstone. The starers were happy to present themselves where +there was something to see; the strollers, where there was any where to +go; the loungers, where there was any pretence to stay; and the curious +where there was any thing to develop in which they had no concern.</p> + +<p>Juliet, at first, ignorant of the usual traffic of the shop, imagined +this affluence of customers to be habitual; but she was soon undeceived, +by finding herself the object of inquisitive examination; and by +overhearing unrestrained inquiries made to Miss Matson, of 'Pray, Ma'am, +which is your famous French milliner?'</p> + +<p>In the midst of these various distastes and discomforts, some interest +was raised in the mind of Juliet, for one of her young +fellow-work-women. It was not, indeed, that warm interest which is the +precursor of friendship; its object had no qualities that could rise to +such a height; it was simply a sensation of pity, abetted by a wish of +doing good.</p> + +<p>Flora Pierson, without either fine features or fine countenance, had +strikingly the beauty of youth in a fair complexion, round, plump, rosy +cheeks, bright, though unmeaning eyes, and an air of health, strength, +and juvenile good humour, that was diffused copiously through her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> whole +appearance. She was innocent and inoffensive, and, as far as she was +able to think, well meaning, and ready to be at every body's command; +though incapable to be at any body's service. Yet her simplicity was of +that happy sort that never occasions self-distress, from being wholly +unaccompanied by any consciousness of deficiency or inferiority. +Accustomed to be laughed at almost whenever she spoke, she saw the smile +that she raised without emotion; or participated in it without knowing +why; and she heard the sneer that followed her simple merriment without +displeasure; though sometimes she would a little wonder what it meant.</p> + +<p>This young creature, who had but barely passed her sixteenth year, had +already attracted the dangerous attention of various officers, from +whose several attacks and manœuvres she had hitherto been rescued by +the vigilance of Miss Matson. Each of these anecdotes she eagerly took, +or rather made opportunities to communicate to Juliet; waiting for no +other encouragement than the absence of Miss Matson, and using no other +prelude than 'Now I've got something else to tell you!'</p> + +<p>Except for some slight mixture of contempt, Juliet heard these tales +with perfect indifference; till that ungenial feeling, or rather absence +of feeling, was superceded by compassion, upon finding that she was the +object, probably the dupe, of a new and unfinished adventure, with which +Miss Matson was as yet unacquainted. 'Now, Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'I'll +tell you the drollest part of all, shall I? Well, do you know I've got +another admirer that's above all the rest? And yet he i'n't a captain, +neither, nor an officer. But he's quite a gentleman of quality, for he's +a knight baronight. And he's very pretty, I assure you. As pretty as +you, only his nose is a little shorter, and his mouth is a little +bigger. And he has not got quite so much colour; for he is very pale. +But he's prettier than I am, I believe. Yet I'm not very homely, people +say. I'm sure I don't know. One can't judge one's self. But I believe +I'm very well. At least, I am not very brown; I know that, by my +looking-glass. I've a pretty good skin of my own.'</p> + +<p>Neither the giggling derision of her fellow-work-women, nor the total +abstinence from enquiry or comment with which Juliet heard these +insignificant details, checked the pleasure of Flora in her own prattle; +which, whenever she could find some one to address,—for she waited not +till any one would listen,—went on, with sleepy good humour, and +pretty, but unintelligent smiles, from the moment that she rose, to the +moment that she went to rest. But when, in great confidence, and +declaring that nobody was in the secret, except just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> Miss Biddy, and +Miss Jenny, and Miss Polly, and Miss Betsey, she made known who was this +last and most striking admirer, the attention of Juliet was roused; it +was Sir Lyell Sycamore.</p> + +<p>Copiously, and with looks of triumph, Flora related her history with the +young Baronet. First of all, she said, he had declared, in ever so many +little whispers, that he was in love with her; and next, he had made her +ever so many beautiful presents, of ear-rings, necklaces, and trinkets; +always sending them by a porter, who pretended that they were just +arrived by the Diligence; with a letter to shew to Miss Matson, +importing that an uncle of Flora's, who resided in Northumberlandshire, +begged her to accept these remembrances. 'Though I'm sure I don't know +how he found out that I've got an uncle there,' she continued, 'unless +it was by my telling it him, when he asked me what relations I had.'</p> + +<p>Her gratitude and vanity thus at once excited, Sir Lyell told her that +he had some important intelligence to communicate, which could not be +revealed in a short whisper in the shop: he begged her, therefore, to +meet him upon the Strand, a little way out of the town, one Sunday +afternoon; while Miss Matson might suppose that she was taking her usual +recreation with the rest of the young ladies. 'So I could not refuse +him, you may think,' she said, 'after being so much obliged to him; and +so we walked together by the sea-side, and he was as agreeable as ever; +and so was I, too, I believe, if I may judge without flattery. At least, +he said I was, over and over; and he's a pretty good judge, I believe, a +man of his quality. But I sha'n't tell you what he said to me; for he +said I was as fresh as a violet, and as fair as jessamy, and as sweet as +a pink, and as rosy as a rose; but one must not over and above believe +the gentlemen, mamma says, for what they say is but half a compliment. +However, what do you think, Miss Ellis? Only guess! For all his being so +polite, do you know, he was upon the point of behaving rude? Only I told +him I'd squall out, if he did. But he spoke so pretty when he saw I was +vexed, that I could not be very angry with him about it; could I? +Besides, men will be rude, naturally, mamma says.'</p> + +<p>'But does not your mamma tell you, also, Miss Pierson, that you must not +walk out alone with gentlemen?'</p> + +<p>'O dear, yes! She's told me that ever so often. And I told it to Sir +Lyell; and I said to him we had better not go. But he said that would +kill him, poor gentleman! And he looked as sorrowful as ever you saw; +just as if he was going to cry. I'm sure I'm glad he did not, poor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> +gentleman! for if he had, it's ten to one but I should have cried too; +unless, out of ill luck, I had happened to fall a laughing; for it's +odds which I do, sometimes, when I'm put in a fidget. However, upon +seeing his sister, along with some company of his acquaintance, not far +off, he said I had better go back: but he promised me, if I would meet +him again the next Sunday, he would have a post-chaise o'purpose for me, +because of the pebbles being so hard for my feet; and he'd take me ever +so pretty a ride, he said, upon the Downs. But he came the next morning +to tell me he was forced, by ill luck, to go to London; but he'd soon be +back: and he bid me, ever so often, not to say one word of what had +passed to a living creature; for if his sister should get an inkling of +his being in love with me, there would be fine work, he said! But he'd +bring me ever so many pretty things, he said, from London.'</p> + +<p>Juliet listened to this history with the deepest indignation against the +barbarous libertine, who, with egotism so inhuman, sought to rob, first +of innocence, and next, for it would be the inevitable consequence, of +all her fair prospects in life, a young creature whose simplicity +disabled her from seeing her danger; whose credulity induced her to +agree to whatever was proposed; and whose weakness of intellect rendered +it as much a dishonour as a cruelty to make her a dupe.</p> + +<p>Whatever could be suggested to awaken the simple maiden to a sense of +her perilous situation, was instantly urged; but without any effect. Sir +Lyell Sycamore, she answered, had owned that he was in love with her; +and it was very hard if she must be ill natured to him in return; +especially as, if she behaved agreeably, nobody could tell but he might +mean to make her a lady. Where a vision so refulgent, which every speech +of Sir Lyell's, couched in ambiguous terms, though adroitly evasive of +promise, had been insidiously calculated to present, was sparkling full +in sight, how unequal were the efforts of sober truth and reason, to +substitute in its place cold, dull, disappointing reality! Juliet soon +relinquished the attempt as hopeless. Where ignorance is united with +vanity, advice, or reproof, combat it in vain. She addressed her +remonstrances, therefore, to their fellow-work-women; every one of +which, it was evident, was a confidant of the dangerous secret. How was +it, she demanded, that, aware of the ductility of temper of this poor +young creature, they had suffered her to form so alarming a connexion, +unknown either to her friends or to Miss Matson?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p> + +<p>Pettishly affronted, they answered, that they were not a set of fusty +duennas: that if Miss Pierson were ever so young, that did not make them +old; that she might as well take care of herself, therefore, as they of +themselves. Besides, nobody could tell but Sir Lyell Sycamore meant to +marry her; and indeed they none of them doubted that such was his +design; because he was politeness itself to all of them round, though he +was most particular, to be sure, to Miss Pierson. They could not think, +therefore, of making such a gentleman their enemy, any more than of +standing in the way of Miss Pierson's good fortune; for, to their +certain knowledge, there were more grand matches spoilt by meddling and +making, than by any thing else upon earth.</p> + +<p>Here again, what were the chances of truth and reason against the +semblance, at least the pretence of generosity, which thus covered folly +and imprudence? Each aspiring damsel, too, had some similar secret, or +correspondent hope of her own; and found it convenient to reject, as +treachery, an appeal against a sister work-woman, that might operate as +an example for a similar one against herself.</p> + +<p>Juliet, therefore, could but determine to watch the weak, if not willing +victim, while yet under the same roof; and openly, before she quitted +it, to reveal the threatening danger to Miss Matson.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI</h2> + + +<p>The first Sunday that Juliet passed in this new situation, nearly robbed +her of the good will of the whole of the little community to which she +belonged. It was the only day in the week in which the young work-women +were allowed some hours for recreation; they considered it, therefore, +as rightfully dedicated, after the church-service, to amusement with one +another; and Juliet, in refusing to join in a custom which they held to +be the basis of their freedom and happiness, appeared to them an +unsocial and haughty innovator. Yet neither wearying remonstrances, nor +persecuting persuasions, could prevail upon her to parade with them upon +the Steyne; to stroll with them by the sea-side; to ramble upon the +Downs; or to form a party for Shoreham, or Devil's Dyke.</p> + +<p>Evil is so relative, that the same chamber, the lonely sadness of which, +since her privation of Gabriella, had become nearly insupportable to +her, was now, from a new contrast, almost all that she immediately +coveted. The bustle, the fatigue, the obtrusion of new faces, the spirit +of petty intrigue, and the eternal clang of tongues, which she had to +endure in the shop, made quiet, even in its most uninteresting dulness, +desirable and consoling.</p> + +<p>To approach herself, as nearly as might be in her power, to the loved +society which she had lost, she destined this only interval of peace and +leisure, to her pen and Gabriella; and such was her employment, when the +sound of slow steps, upon the stairs, followed by a gentle tap at her +door, at once interrupted and surprised her. Miss Matson and her maids, +as well as her work-women, were spending their Sabbath abroad; and a +shop-man was left to take care of the house. The tap, however, was +repeated, and, obeying its call, Juliet beheld Sir Jaspar Herrington, +the gouty old Baronet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span></p> + +<p>The expression of her countenance immediately demanded explanation, if +not apology, as she stepped forward upon the landing-place, to make +clear that she should not receive him in her apartment.</p> + +<p>His keen eye read her meaning, though, affecting not to perceive it, he +pleasantly said, 'How? immured in your chamber? and of a gala day?'</p> + +<p>The recollection of the essential, however forced obligation, which she +owed to him, for her deliverance from the persecution of Miss Bydel, +soon dissipated her first impression in his disfavour, and she quietly +answered that she went very little abroad: but when she would have +enquired into his business, 'You can refuse yourself, then,' he cried, +pretending not to hear her, 'the honour—or pleasure, which shall we +call it? of sharing in the gaieties of your fair fellow-votaries to the +needle? I suspected you of this self-denial. I had a secret presentiment +that you would be insensible to the fluttering joys of your sister +spinsters. How did I divine you so well? What is it you have about you +that sets one's imagination so to work?'</p> + +<p>Juliet replied, that she would not presume to interfere with the +business of his penetration, but that, as she was occupied, she must beg +to know, at once, his commands.</p> + +<p>'Not so hasty! not so hasty!' he cried: 'You must shew me some little +consideration, if only in excuse for the total want of it which you have +caused in those little imps, that beset my slumbers by night, and my +reveries by day. They have gotten so much the better of me now, that I +am equally at a loss how to sleep or how to wake for them. 'Why don't +you find out,' they cry, 'whether this syren likes her new situation? +Why don't you discover whether any thing better can be done for her?' +And then, all of one accord, they so pommel and bemaul me, that you +would pity me, I give you my word, if you could see the condition into +which they put my poor conscience; however little so fair a young +creature may be disposed to feel pity, for such a hobbling, gouty old +fellow as I am!'</p> + +<p>Softened by this benevolent solicitude, Juliet, thankfully, spoke of +herself with all the cheerfulness that she could assume; and, encouraged +by her lessened reserve, Sir Jaspar, to her unspeakable surprise, said, +'There is one point, I own, which I have an extreme desire to know; how +long may it be that you have left the stage, and from what latent +cause?'</p> + +<p>No explanation, however, could be attempted: the attention of Juliet was +called into another channel, by the sound of a titter, which led<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> her to +perceive Flora Pierson; who, almost convulsed with delight at having +surprised them, said that she had heard, from the shop-man, that Miss +Ellis and Sir Jaspar were talking together upon the stairs, and she had +stolen up the back way, and crept softly through one of the garrets, on +purpose to come upon them unawares. 'So now,' added she, nodding, 'we'll +go into my room, if you please, Miss Ellis; for I have got something +else to tell you! Only you must not stay with me long.'</p> + +<p>'And not to tell me, too?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her under the +chin: 'How's this, my daffodil? my pink? my lilly? how's this? surely +you have not any secrets for me?'</p> + +<p>'O yes, I have, Sir Jaspar! because you're a gentleman, you know, Sir +Jaspar. And one must not tell every thing to gentlemen, mamma says.'</p> + +<p>'Mamma says? but you are too much a woman to mind what mamma says, I +hope, my rose, my daisy?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her again under the +chin, while she smiled and courtsied in return.</p> + +<p>Juliet would have re-entered her chamber; but Flora, catching her gown, +said, 'Why now, Miss Ellis, I bid you come to my room, if you please, +Miss Ellis; 'cause then I can show you my presents; as well as tell you +something.—Come, will you go? for it's something that's quite a secret, +I assure you; for I have not told it to any body yet; not even to our +young ladies; for it's but just happened. So you've got my first +confidence this time: and you have a right to take that very kind of me, +for it's what I've promised, upon my word and honour, and as true as +true can be, not to tell to any body; not so much as to a living soul!'</p> + +<p>To be freed quietly from the Baronet, Juliet consented to attend her; +and Flora, with many smiles and nods at Sir Jaspar, begged that he would +not be affronted that she did not tell all her secrets to gentlemen; +and, shutting him out, began her tale.</p> + +<p>'Now I'll tell you what it is I'm going to tell you, Miss Ellis. Do you +know who I met, just now, upon the Steyne, while I was walking with our +young ladies, not thinking of any thing? You can't guess, can you? Why +Sir Lyell himself. I gave such a squeak! But he spoke to all our young +ladies first. And I was half a mind to cry; only I happened to be in one +of my laughing fits. And when once I am upon my gig, papa says, if the +world were all to tumble down, it would not hinder me of my smiling. +Though I am sure I often don't know what it's for. If any body asked me, +I could not tell, one time in twenty. But Sir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> Lyell's very clever; +cleverer than I am, by half, I believe. For he got to speak to me, at +last, so as nobody could hear a word he said, but just me. Nor I could +not, either, but only he spoke quite in my ear.'</p> + +<p>'And do you think it right, Miss Pierson, to let gentlemen whisper you?'</p> + +<p>'O, I could not bid him not, you know. I could not be rude to a +Knight-Baronet! Besides, he said he was come down from London, on +purpose for nothing else but to see me! A Knight-Baronet, Miss Ellis! +That's very good natured, is it not? I dare say he means something by +it. Don't you? However, I shall know more by and by, most likely; for he +whispered me to make believe I'd got a head-ache, and to come home by +myself, and wait for him in my own room: for he says he has brought me +the prettiest present that ever I saw from London. So you see how +generous he is; i'n't he? And he'll bring it me himself, to make me a +little visit. So then, very likely, he'll speak out. Won't he? But he +bid me tell it to nobody. So say nothing if you see him, for it will +only be the way to make him angry. I must not put the shop-man in the +secret, he says, for he shall only ask for old Sir Jaspar; and he shall +go to him first, and make the shop-man think he is with him all the +time. So I told our young ladies I'd got a head-ache, sure enough; but +don't be uneasy, for it's only make believe; for I'm very well.'</p> + +<p>Filled with alarm for the simple, deluded maiden, Juliet now made an +undisguised representation of her danger; earnestly charging her not to +receive the dangerous visit.</p> + +<p>But Flora, self-willed, though good natured, would not hear a word.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No ass so meek;—no mule so obstinate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She never contradicted, yet never listened; she never gave an opinion, +yet never followed one. She was neither endowed with timidity to suspect +her deficiencies, nor with sense to conceive how she might be better +informed. She came to Juliet merely to talk; and when her prattle was +over, or interrupted, she had no thought but to be gone.</p> + +<p>'O yes, I must see him, Miss Ellis,' she cried; 'for you can't think how +ill he'll take it, if I don't. But now we have stayed talking together +so long, I can't shew you my presents till he is gone, for fear he +should come. But don't mind, for then I shall have the new ones to shew +you, too. But if I don't do what he bids me, he'll be as angry as can +be, for all he's my lover; (smiling.) He makes very free with me +sometimes; only I don't mind it; because I'm pretty much used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> it, +from one or another. Sometimes he'll say I am the greatest simpleton +that ever he knew in his life; for all he calls me his angel! He don't +make much ceremony with me, when I don't understand his signs. But it +don't much signify, for the more he's angry, the more he's kind, when +it's over, (smiling.) And then he brings me prettier things than ever. +So I a'n't much a loser. I've no great need to cry about it. And he says +I'm quite a little goddess, often and often, if I'd believe him. Only +one must not believe the men over much, when they are gentlemen, I +believe.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, kindly taking her hand, would have drawn her into her own +chamber; but they were no sooner in the passage, than Flora jumped back, +and, shaking with laughter at her ingenuity, shut and locked herself +into her room.</p> + +<p>Juliet now renounced, perforce, all thought of serving her except +through the medium of Miss Matson; and she was returning, much vexed, to +her own small apartment, when she saw Sir Jaspar, who, leaning against +the banisters, seemed to have been waiting for her, step curiously +forward, as she opened her door, to take a view of her chamber. With +quick impulse, to check this liberty, she hastily pushed to the door; +not recollecting, till too late, that the key, by which alone it was +opened, was on the inside.</p> + +<p>Chagrined, she repaired to Flora, telling the accident, and begging +admittance.</p> + +<p>Flora, laughing with all her heart, positively refused to open the door; +saying that she would rather be without company.</p> + +<p>The shop-man now came up stairs, to see what was going forward, and to +enquire whether Miss Pierson, who had told him that she was ill, found +herself worse. Flora, hastily checking her mirth, answered that her head +ached, and she would lie down; and then spoke no more.</p> + +<p>The shop-man made an attempt to enter into conversation with Juliet; but +she gravely requested that he would be so good as to order a smith to +open the lock of her door.</p> + +<p>He ought not, he said, to leave the house in the absence of Miss Matson; +but he would run the risk for the pleasure of obliging her, if she would +only step down into the shop, to answer to the bell or the knocker.</p> + +<p>To this, in preference to being shut out of her room, she would +immediately have consented, but that she feared the arrival of Sir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +Lyell Sycamore. She asked the shop-man, therefore, if there were any +objection to her waiting in the little parlour.</p> + +<p>None in the world, he answered; for he had Miss Matson's leave to use it +when she was out of a Sunday; and he should be very glad if Miss Ellis +would oblige him with her company.</p> + +<p>Juliet declined this proposal with an air that repressed any further +attempt at intimacy; and the shop-man returned to his post.</p> + +<p>'I must not, I suppose,' the Baronet, then advancing, said, 'presume to +offer you shelter under my roof from the inclemencies of the staircase? +And yet I think I may venture, without being indecorous, to mention, +that I am going out for my usual airing; and that you may take +possession of your old apartment, upon your own misanthropical terms. At +all events, I shall leave you the door open, place some books upon the +table, take out my servants, and order that no one shall molest you.'</p> + +<p>Extremely pleased by a kindness so much to her taste, Juliet would +gratefully have accepted this offer, but for the visit that she knew to +be designed for the same apartment; which the absence of its master was +not likely to prevent, as the pretence of writing a note, or his name, +would suffice with Sir Lyell for mounting the stairs. Who then could +protect Flora? Could Juliet herself come forward, when no one else +remained in the house, conscious, as she could not but be, of the +dishonourable views of which she, also, had been the object? The +departure of Sir Jaspar appeared, therefore, to be big with mischief; +and, when he was making a leave-taking bow, she almost involuntarily +said, 'You are forced, then, Sir, to go out this morning?'</p> + +<p>Surprized and pleased, he answered, 'What! have my little fairy elves +given you a lesson of humanity? Nay, if so, though they should pommel +and maul me for a month to come, I shall yet be their obedient humble +servant.'</p> + +<p>He then gave orders aloud that his carriage should be put up; saying, +that he had letters to write, and that his servants might go and amuse +themselves for an hour or two where they pleased.</p> + +<p>Juliet, now, was crimsoned with shame and embarrassment. How account for +thus palpably wishing him to remain in the house? or how suffer him, by +silence, to suppose it was from a desire of his society? Her blushes +astonished, yet, by heightening her beauty, charmed still more than they +perplexed him. To settle what to think of her might be difficult and +teazing; but to admire her was easy and pleasant. He approached her, +therefore, with the most flattering looks and smiles;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> but, to avoid any +mistake in his manner of addressing her, he kept his speech back, with +his judgment, till he could learn her purpose.</p> + +<p>This prudential circumspection redoubled her confusion, and she +hesitatingly stammered her concern that she had prevented his airing.</p> + +<p>More amazed still, but still more enchanted, to see her thus at a loss +what to say, though evidently pleased that he had relinquished his +little excursion, he was making a motion to take her hand, which she had +scarcely perceived, when a violent ringing at the door-bell, checked +him; and concentrated all her solicitude in the impending danger of +Flora; and, in her eagerness to rescue the simple girl from ruin, she +hastily said: 'Can you, Sir Jaspar, forgive a liberty in the cause of +humanity? May I appeal to your generosity? You will receive a visitor in +a few minutes, whom I have earnest reasons for wishing you to detain in +your apartment to the last moment that is possible. May I make so +extraordinary a request?'</p> + +<p>'Request?' repeated Sir Jaspar, charmed by what he considered as an +opening to intimacy; 'can you utter any thing but commands? The most +benignant sprite of all Fairyland, has inspired you with this gracious +disposition to dub me your knight.'</p> + +<p>Yet his eyes, still bright with intelligence, and now full of fanciful +wonder, suddenly emitted an expression less rapturous, when he +distinguished the voice of Sir Lyell Sycamore, in parley with the +shop-man. Disappointment and chagrin soon took place of sportive +playfulness in his countenance; and, muttering between his teeth, 'O ho! +Sir Lyell Sycamore!'—he fixed his keen eyes sharply upon Juliet; with a +look in which she could not but read the ill construction to which her +seeming knowledge of that young man's motions, and her apparent interest +in them, made her liable; and how much his light opinion of Sir Lyell's +character, affected his partial, though still fluctuating one of her +own.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, however, was upon the stairs, and she did not dare enter into +any justification; Sir Jaspar, too, was silent; but the young baronet +mounted, singing, in a loud voice,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my love, lov'st thou me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then quickly come and see one who dies for thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>'Yes here I come, Sir Lyell!'—in a low, husky, laughing voice, cried +Flora, peeping through her chamber-door; which was immediately at the +head of the stairs, upon the second floor; and to which Sir Lyell looked +up, softly whispering, 'Be still, my little angel! and, in ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +minutes—' He stopt abruptly, for Sir Jaspar now caught his astonished +sight, upon the landing-place of the attic story, with Juliet retreating +behind him.</p> + +<p>'O ho! you are there, are you?' he cried, in a tone of ludicrous +accusation.</p> + +<p>'And you, you are there, are you?' answered Sir Jaspar, in a voice more +seriously taunting.</p> + +<p>Juliet, hurt and confounded, would have escaped through the garret to +the back stairs, but that her hat and cloak, without which she could not +leave the house, were shut into her room. She tried, therefore, to look +unmoved; well aware that the best chance to escape impertinence, is by +not appearing to suspect that any is intended.</p> + +<p>Three strides now brought Sir Lyell before her. His amazement, vented by +rattling exclamations, again perplexed Sir Jaspar; for how could Juliet +have been apprized of his intended visit, but by himself?</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell, mingling the most florid compliments upon her radiant beauty, +and bright bloom, with his pleasure at her sight, said that, from the +reports which had reached him, that she had given up her singing, and +her teaching, and that Sir Jaspar had taken the room which she had +inhabited, he had concluded that she had quitted Brighthelmstone. He was +going rapidly on in the same strain, the observant Sir Jaspar intently +watching her looks, while curiously listening to his every word; when +Juliet, without seeming to have attended to a syllable, related, with +grave brevity, that she had unfortunately shut in the key of her room, +and must therefore seek Miss Matson, to demand another; and then, with +steady steps, that studiously kept in order innumerable timid fears, she +descended to the shop; leaving the two Baronets mutually struck by her +superiour air and manner; and each, though equally desirous to follow +her, involuntarily standing still, to wait the motions of the other; and +thence to judge of his pretensions to her favour.</p> + +<p>Juliet found the shop empty, but the street-door open, and the shop-man +sauntering before it, to look at the passers by. Glad to be, for a +while, at least, spared the distaste of his company, she shut herself +into the little parlour, carefully drawing the curtain of the +glass-door.</p> + +<p>The two Baronets, as she expected, soon descended; the younger one eager +to take leave of the elder, and privately re-mount the stairs; and Sir +Jaspar, fixed to obey the injunctions, however unaccountable, of Juliet, +in detaining and keeping sight of him to the last moment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Decamped, I swear, the little vixen!' exclaimed Sir Lyell, striding in +first; 'but why the d—l do you come down, Sir Jaspar?'</p> + +<p>'For exercise, not ceremony,' he answered; though, little wanting +further exertion, and heartily tired, he dropt down upon the first +chair.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell vainly offered his arm, and pressed to aid him back to his +apartment; he would not move.</p> + +<p>After some time thus wasted, Sir Lyell, mortified and provoked, cast +himself upon the counter, and whistled, to disguise his ill humour.</p> + +<p>A pause now ensued, which Sir Jaspar broke, by hesitatingly, yet with +earnestness, saying, 'Sir Lyell Sycamore, I am not, you will do me the +justice to believe, a sour old fellow, to delight in mischief; a surly +old dog, to mar the pleasures of which I cannot partake; if, therefore, +to answer what I mean to ask will thwart any of your projects, leave me +and my curiosity in the lurch; if not, you will sensibly gratify me, by +a little frank communication. I don't meddle with your affair with +Flora; 'tis a blooming little wild rose-bud, but of too common a species +to be worth analysing. This other young creature, however, whose wings +your bird-lime seems also to have entangled—'</p> + +<p>'How so?' interrupted Sir Lyell, jumping eagerly from the counter, 'what +the d—l do you mean by that?'</p> + +<p>'Not to be indiscreet, I promise you,' answered Sir Jaspar; 'but as I +see the interest she takes in you,—'</p> + +<p>'The d—l you do?' exclaimed Sir Lyell, in an accent of surprize, yet of +transport.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar now, ironically smiling, said, 'You don't know it, then, Sir +Lyell? You are modest?—diffident? unconscious?—'</p> + +<p>'My dear boy!' cried Sir Lyell, riotously, and approaching familiarly to +embrace him, 'what a devilish kind office I shall owe you, if you can +put any good notions into my head of that delicious girl!'</p> + +<p>New doubts now destroying his recent suspicions, Sir Jaspar held back, +positively refusing to clear up what had dropt from him, and laughingly +saying, 'Far be it from me to put any such notions into your head! I +believe it amply stored! All my desire is to get some out of it. If, +therefore, you can tell me, or, rather, will tell me, who or what this +young creature is, you will do a kind office to my imagination, for +which I shall be really thankful. Who is she, then? And what is she?'</p> + +<p>'D—l take me if I either know or care!' cried Sir Lyell, 'further than +that she is a beauty of the first water; and that I should have adored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +her, exclusively, three months ago, if I had not believed her a thing of +alabaster. But if you think her—'</p> + +<p>'Not I! not I!—I know nothing of her!' interrupted Sir Jaspar: 'she is +a rose planted in the snow, for aught I can tell! The more I see, the +less I understand; the more I surmize, the further I seem from the mark. +Honestly, then, whence does she come? How did you first see her? What +does she do at Brighthelmstone?'</p> + +<p>'May I go to old Nick if I am better informed than yourself! except that +she sings and plays like twenty angels, and that all the women are +jealous of her, and won't suffer a word to be said to her. However, I +made up to her, at first, and should certainly have found her out, but +for Melbury, who annoyed me with a long history of her virtue, and +character, and Lady Aurora's friendship, and the d—l knows what; that +made me so cursed sheepish, I was afraid of embarking in any measures of +spirit. My sister, also, took lessons of her; and other game came into +chase; and I should never have thought of her again, but that, when I +went to town, a week or two ago, I learnt, from that Queen of the Crabs, +Mrs Howel, that Melbury, in fact, knows no more of her than we do. He +had nobody's world but her own for all her fine sentiments; so that he +and his platonics would have kept me at bay no longer, if I had not +believed her decamped from Brighthelmstone, upon hearing that you had +got her lodging. How came you to turn her into the garret, my dear boy? +Is that <i>à la mode</i> of your <i>vieille cour</i>?'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar protested that, when he took the apartment, he knew not of +her existence; and then enquired, whether Sir Lyell could tell in what +name she had been upon the stage; and why she had quitted it.</p> + +<p>'The stage? O the d—l!' he exclaimed, 'has she been upon the stage?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; I heard the fact mentioned to her, the other day, by a +fellow-performer! some low player, who challenged her as a sister of the +buskins.'</p> + +<p>'What a glorious Statira she must make!' cried Sir Lyell. 'I am ready to +be her Alexander when she will. That hint you have dropt, my dear old +boy, sha'n't be thrown away upon me. But how the d—l did you find the +dear charmer out?'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar again sought to draw back his information; but Sir Lyell +swore that he would not so lightly be put aside from a view of success, +now once it was fairly opened; and was vowing that he should begin a +siege in form, and persevere to a surrender; when the conversation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> was +interrupted, by the entrance of the shop-man, accompanied by a +mantua-maker, who called upon some business.</p> + +<p>Juliet, who, from the beginning, had heard this discourse with the +utmost uneasiness, and whom its conclusion had filled with indignant +disgust; had no resource to avoid the yet greater evil of being joined +by the interlocutors, but that of sitting motionless and unsuspected, +till they should depart; or till Miss Matson should return. But her care +and precaution proved vain: the shop-man invited Mrs Hart, the +mantua-maker, into the little parlour; and, upon opening the door, +Juliet met their astonished view.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar, not without evident anxiety, endeavoured to recollect what +had dropt from him, that might hurt her; or how he might palliate what +might have given her offence. But Sir Lyell, not at all disconcerted, +and privately persuaded that half his difficulties were vanquished, by +the accident that acquainted her with his design; was advancing, +eagerly, with a volley of rapid compliments, upon his good fortune in +again meeting with her; when Juliet, not deigning to seem conscious even +of his presence, passed him without notice; and, addressing Mrs Hart, +entreated that she would go up stairs to the room of Miss Pierson, to +examine whether it were necessary to send for any advice; as she had +returned home alone, and complained of being ill. Mrs Hart complied; and +Juliet followed her to Flora's chamber-door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII</h2> + + +<p>The gentle tap that Mrs Hart, fearing to disturb her, gave at the door +of Flora, deceived the expecting girl into a belief that Sir Lyell was +at length arrived; and crying, in a low voice, as she opened it, 'O Sir! +how long you have been coming!' she stared at sight of Mrs Hart, with an +amazement equal to her disappointment.</p> + +<p>Presently, however, with a dejected look and tone, 'Well, now!' she +cried, 'is it only you, Mrs Hart?—I thought it had been somebody quite +different!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Hart, entering, enquired, with surprize, why Miss Ellis had said +that Miss Pierson was ill, when, on the contrary, she had never seen her +look better.</p> + +<p>'Well, now, Miss Ellis,' cried Flora, whispering Juliet, 'did not I tell +you, as plain as could be, 'twas nothing but make believe?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, without offering any apology, answered, that she had invited Mrs +Hart to make her a visit.</p> + +<p>'Why, now, what can you be thinking of?' cried Flora, angrily: 'Why, you +know, as well as can be, that I want to see nobody! Why, have you forgot +all I told you, already, about you know who? Why I never knew the like! +Why he'll be fit to kill himself! I'll never tell you any thing again, +if you beg me on your knees! so there's the end to your knowing any more +of my secrets! and you've nobody but yourself to thank, if it vexes you +never so!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Hart interrupted this murmuring, by enquiring who was the Sir that +Miss Pierson expected; adding that, if it were the shop-man, it would be +more proper Miss Pierson should go down stairs, than that she should let +him come up to her room.</p> + +<p>'The shop-man?' repeated Flora, simpering, and winking at Juliet; 'no, +indeed, Mrs Hart; you have not made a very good guess there!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> Has she, +Miss Ellis? I don't think a man of quality, and a baronet, is very like +a shop-man! Do you, Miss Ellis?'</p> + +<p>This blundering simplicity of vanity was not lost upon Mrs Hart. 'O ho!' +she cried, 'you expect a baronet, do you, then, Miss Pierson? Why there +were no less than two Baronets in the shop as I came through, just now; +and there's one of them this minute crossing the way, and turning the +corner.'</p> + +<p>'O Me! is he gone, then?' cried Flora, looking out of the window. 'O Me! +what shall I do? O Miss Ellis! this is all your fault! And now, perhaps, +he'll be so angry he'll never speak to me again! And if he don't, ten to +one but it may break my heart! for that often happens when one's crossed +in love. And if it does, I sha'n't thank you for it, I assure you! And +it's just as likely as not!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, though she sought to appease both her grief and her wrath, could +not but rejoice that their unguarded redundance informed Mrs Hart of the +whole history: and Mrs Hart, who, though a plain, appeared to be a very +worthy woman, immediately endeavoured to save the poor young creature, +from the snares into which she was rather wilfully jumping, than +deludedly falling, by giving her a pressing invitation to her own house +for the rest of the day. But to this, neither entreaty nor reproof could +obtain consent. Flora, like many who seem gentle, was only simple; and +had neither docility nor comprehension for being turned aside from the +prosecution of her wishes. To be thwarted in any desire, she considered +as cruelty, and resented as ill treatment. She refused, therefore, to +leave the house, while hoping for the return of Sir Lyell; and continued +her childish wailing and fretting, till accident led her eyes to a +favourite little box; when, her tears suddenly stopping, and her face +brightening, she started up, seized, opened it, and, displaying a very +pretty pair of ear-rings, exclaimed, 'Oh, I have never shewn you my +presents, Miss Ellis! And now Mrs Hart may have a peep at them, too. So +she's in pretty good luck, I think!'</p> + +<p>And then, with exulting pleasure, she produced all the costly trinkets +that she had received from Sir Lyell; with some few, less valuable, +which had been presented to her by Sir Jaspar; and all the baubles, +however insignificant or babyish, that had been bestowed upon her by her +friends and relatives, from her earliest youth. And these, with the +important and separate history of each, occupied, unawares, her time, +till the return of Miss Matson.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs Hart then descended, and, urged by Juliet, briefly and plainly +communicated the situation and the danger of the young apprentice.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson, affrighted for the credit of her shop, determined to send +for the mother of Flora, who resided at Lewes, the next day.</p> + +<p>Relieved now from her troublesome and untoward charge, Juliet had her +door opened, and re-took possession of her room.</p> + +<p>And there, a new view of her own helpless and distressed condition, +filled and dejected her with new alarm. The licentiously declared +purpose of Sir Lyell had been shocking to her ears; and the +consciousness that he knew that she was informed of his intention added +to its horrour, from her inability to shew her resentment, in the only +way that suited her character or her disposition, that of positively +seeing him no more. But how avoid him while she had no other means of +subsistence than working in an open shop?</p> + +<p>The following morning but too clearly justified her apprehensive +prognostics, of the improprieties to which her defenceless state made +her liable. At an early hour, Sir Lyell, gay, courteous, gallant, +entered the shop, under pretence of enquiring for Sir Jaspar; whom he +knew to be invisible, from his infirmities, to all but his own nurses +and servants, till noon. Miss Matson was taciturn and watchful, though +still, from the fear of making an enemy, respectful; while Flora, +simpering and blushing, was ready to jump into his arms, in her +eagerness to apologize for not having waited alone for him, according to +his directions: but he did not look at Miss Matson, though he addressed +her; nor address Flora, though, by a side glance, he saw her +expectations; his attention, from the moment that he had asked, without +listening to any answer, whether he could see Sir Jaspar, was all, and +even publicly devoted to Juliet; whom he approached with an air of +homage, and accosted with the most flattering compliments upon her good +looks and her beauty.</p> + +<p>Juliet turned aside from him, with an indignant disgust, in which she +hoped he would read her resentment of his scheme, and her abhorrence of +his principles. But those who are deep in vice are commonly incredulous +of virtue. Sir Lyell took her apparent displeasure, either for a +timidity which flattery would banish, or an hypocrisy which boldness +would conquer. He continued, therefore, his florid adulation to her +charms; regarding the heightened colour of offended purity, but as an +augmented attraction.</p> + +<p>Juliet perceived her failure to repress his assurance, with a +disturbance that was soon encreased, by the visible jealousy manifested +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> the pouting lips and frowning brow of Flora; who, the moment that +Sir Lyell, saying that he would call upon Sir Jaspar again, thought it +prudent to retire, began a convulsive sobbing; averring that she saw why +she had been betrayed; for that it was only to inveigle away her +sweetheart.</p> + +<p>Pity for the ignorant accuser, might have subdued the disdain due to the +accusation, and have induced Juliet to comfort her by a self-defence; +but for a look, strongly expressing a suspicion to the same effect, from +Miss Matson; which was succeeded by a general tossing up of the chins of +the young work-women, and a murmur of, 'I wonder how she would like to +be served so herself!'</p> + +<p>This was too offensive to be supported, and she retired to her chamber.</p> + +<p>If, already, the mingled frivolity and publicity of the business into +which she had entered, had proved fatiguing to her spirits, and ungenial +to her disposition; surmises, such as she now saw raised, of a petty and +base rivality, urged by a pursuit the most licentious, rendered all +attempt at its continuance intolerable. Without, therefore, a moment's +hesitation, she determined to relinquish her present enterprise.</p> + +<p>The only, as well as immediate notion that occurred to her, in this new +difficulty, was to apply to Mrs Hart, who seemed kind as well as civil, +for employment.</p> + +<p>When she was summoned, therefore, by Miss Matson, with surprize and +authority, back to the shop, she returned equipped for going abroad; +and, after thanking her for the essay which she had permitted to be made +in the millinery-business, declared that she found herself utterly unfit +for so active and so public a line of life.</p> + +<p>Leaving then Miss Matson, Flora, and the young journey-women to their +astonishment, she bent her course to the house of Mrs Hart; where her +application was happily successful. Mrs Hart had work of importance just +ordered for a great wedding in the neighbourhood, and was glad to engage +so expert a hand for the occasion; agreeing to allow, in return, bed, +board, and a small stipend per day.</p> + +<p>With infinite relief, Juliet went back to make her little preparations, +and take leave of Miss Matson; by whom she was now followed to her room, +with many earnest instances that she would relinquish her design. Miss +Matson, in unison with the very common character to which she belonged, +had appreciated Juliet not by her worth, her talents, or her labours, +but by her avowed distress, and acknowledged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> poverty. Notwithstanding, +therefore, her abilities and her industry, she had been uniformly +considered as a dead weight to the business, and to the house. But now, +when it appeared that the pennyless young woman had some other resource, +the eyes of Miss Matson were suddenly opened to merits to which she had +hitherto been blind. She felt all the advantages which the shop would +lose by the departure of such an assistant; and recollected the many +useful hints, in fashion and in elegance, which had been derived from +her taste and fancy: her exemplary diligence in work; her gentle +quietness of behaviour; and the numberless customers, which the various +reports that were spread of her history, had drawn to the shop. All, +now, however, was unavailing; the remembrance of what was over occurred +too late to change the plan of Juliet; though a kinder appreciation of +her character and services, while she was employed, might have engaged +her to try some other method of getting rid of the libertine Baronet.</p> + +<p>Miss Matson then admonished her not to lose, at least, the benefit of +her premium.</p> + +<p>'What premium?' cried Juliet.</p> + +<p>'Why that Sir Jaspar paid down for you.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, astonished, now learnt, that her admission as an inmate of the +shop, which she had imagined due to the gossipping verbal influence of +Miss Bydel, was the result of the far more substantial money-mediation +of Sir Jaspar.</p> + +<p>She felt warmly grateful for his benevolence; yet wounded, in reflecting +upon his doubts whether she deserved it; and confounded to owe another, +and so heavy an obligation, to an utter stranger.</p> + +<p>She was finishing her little package, when the loud sobbings of Flora, +while mounting the stairs for a similar, though by no means as voluntary +a purpose, induced her to go forth, with a view to offer some +consolation; but Flora, not less resentful than disconsolate, said that +her mother was arrived to take her from all her fine prospects; and +loaded Juliet with the unqualified accusation, of having betrayed her +secrets, and ruined her fortune.</p> + +<p>Juliet had too strong a mind to suffer weak and unjust censure to breed +any repentance that she had acted right. She could take one view only of +the affair; and that brought only self-approvance of what she had done: +if Sir Lyell meant honourably, Flora was easily followed; if not, she +was happily rescued from earthly perdition.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, she had too much sweetness of disposition, and too much +benevolence of character, to be indifferent to reproach; though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> her +vain efforts, either to clear her own conduct, or to appease the angry +sorrows of Flora, all ended by the indignantly blubbering damsel's +turning from her in sulky silence.</p> + +<p>Juliet then took a quick leave of Miss Matson, and of the young +journey-women; and repaired to her new habitation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII</h2> + + +<p>Experience, the mother of caution, now taught Juliet explicitly to make +known to her new chief, that she had no view to learn the art of +mantua-making as a future trade, or employment; but simply desired to +work at it in such details, as a general knowledge of the use of the +needle might make serviceable and expeditious: no premium, therefore, +could be expected by the mistress; and the work-woman would be at +liberty to continue, or to renounce her engagement, from day to day.</p> + +<p>This agreement offered to her ideas something which seemed like an +approach to the self-dependence, that she had so earnestly coveted: she +entered, therefore, upon her new occupation with cheerfulness and +alacrity, and with a diligence to which the hope, by being useful, to +become necessary, gave no relaxation.</p> + +<p>The business, by this scrupulous devotion to its interests, was +forwarded with such industry and success, that she soon became the open +and decided favourite of the mistress whom she served; and who repaid +her exertions by the warmest praise, and proposed her as a pattern to +the rest of the sewing sisterhood.</p> + +<p>This approbation could not but cheer the toil of one whose mind, like +that of Juliet, sought happiness, at this moment, only from upright and +blameless conduct. She was mentally, also, relieved, by the local change +of situation. She was now employed in a private apartment; and, though +surrounded by still more fellow-work-women than at Miss Matson's, she +was no longer constrained to remain in an open shop, in opposition alike +to her inclinations and her wishes of concealment; no longer startled by +the continual entrance and exit of strangers; nor exposed to curious +enquirers, or hardy starers; and no longer fatigued by the perpetual +revision of goods. She worked in perfect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> quietness, undisturbed and +uninterrupted; her mistress was civil, and gave her encouragement; her +fellow-semptresses were unobservant, and left her to her own reflexions.</p> + +<p>It is not, however, in courts alone that favour is perilous; in all +circles, and all classes, from the most eminent to the most obscure, the +'Favourite has no friend<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>!' The praises and the comparisons, by which +Mrs Hart hoped to stimulate her little community to emulation, excited +only jealousy, envy, and ill will; and a week had not elapsed, in this +new and short tranquillity, before Juliet found that her superiour +diligence was regarded, by her needle-sisterhood, as a mean artifice 'to +set herself off to advantage at their cost.' Sneers and hints to this +effect followed every panegyric of Mrs Hart; and robbed approbation of +its pleasure, though they could not of its value.</p> + +<p>Chagrined by a consequence so unpleasant, to an industry that demanded +fortitude, not discouragement; Juliet now felt the excess of her +activity relax; and soon experienced a desire, if not a necessity, to +steal some moments from application, for retirement and for herself.</p> + +<p>Here, again, she found the mischief to which ignorance of life had laid +her open. The unremitting diligence with which she had begun her new +office, had advanced her work with a rapidity, that made the smallest +relaxation cause a sensible difference in its progress: and Mrs Hart, +from first looking disappointed, asked next, whether nothing more were +done? and then observed, how much quicker business had gone on the first +week. In vain Juliet still executed more than all around her; the +comparison was never made there, where it might have been to her +advantage; all reference was to her own setting out; and she was soon +taught to forgive the displeasure which, so inadvertently, she had +excited, when she saw the claims to which she had made herself liable, +by an incautious eagerness of zeal to reward, as well as earn, the +maintenance which she owed to Mrs Hart.</p> + +<p>Alas, she thought, with what upright intentions may we be injudicious! I +have thrown away the power of obliging, by too precipitate an eagerness +to oblige! I retain merely that of avoiding to displease, by my most +indefatigable application! All I can perform seems but a duty, and of +course; all I leave undone, seems idleness and neglect. Yet what is the +labour that never requires respite? What the mind, that never demands a +few poor unshackled instants to itself?</p> + +<p>From this time, the little pleasure which she had been able to create<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +for herself, from the virtue of her exertions, was at an end: to toil +beyond her fellow-labourers, was but to provoke ill will; to allow +herself any repose, was but to excite disapprobation. Hopeless, +therefore, either way, she gave, with diligence, her allotted time to +her occupation, but no more: all that remained, she solaced, by devoting +to her pen and Gabriella, with whom her correspondence,—her sole +consolation,—was unremitting.</p> + +<p>This unaffected conduct had its customary effect; it destroyed at once +the too hardly earned favour of Mrs Hart, and the illiberal, yet too +natural enmity of her apprentices; and, in the course of a very few +days, Juliet was neither more esteemed, nor more censured, than any of +her sisters of the sewing tribe.</p> + +<p>With the energy, however, of her original wishes and efforts, died all +that could reconcile her to this sort of life. The hope of pleasing, +which alone could soften its hardships, thus forcibly set aside, left +nothing in its place, but calmness without contentment; dulness without +serenity.</p> + +<p>Experience is not more exclusively the guide of our judgment, than +comparison is the mistress of our feelings. Juliet now also found that, +local publicity excepted, there was nothing to prefer in her new to her +former situation; and something to like less. The employment itself was +by no means equally agreeable for its disciples. The taste and fancy, +requisite for the elegance and variety of the light work which she had +quitted; however ineffectual to afford pleasure when called forth by +necessity, rendered it, at least, less irksome, than the wearying +sameness of perpetual basting, running, and hemming. Her +fellow-labourers, though less pert and less obtrusive than those which +she had left, had the same spirit for secret cabal, and the same passion +for frolic and disguise; and also, like those, were all prattle and +confidential sociability, in the absence of the mistress; all sullenness +and taciturnity, in her presence. What little difference, therefore, she +found in her position, was, that there she had been disgusted by +under-bred flippancy; here, she was deadened by uninteresting monotony; +and that there, perpetual motion, and incessant change of orders, and of +objects, affected her nerves; while here, the unvarying repetition of +stitch after stitch, nearly closed in sleep her faculties, as well as +her eyes.</p> + +<p>The little stipend which, by agreement, she was paid every evening, +though it occasioned her the most satisfactory, by no means gave her the +most pleasant feeling, of the day. However respectable reason and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +justice render pecuniary emolument, where honourably earned; there is a +something indefinable, which stands between spirit and delicacy, that +makes the first reception of money in detail, by those not brought up to +gain it, embarrassing and painful.</p> + +<p>During this tedious and unvaried period, if some minutes were snatched +from fatiguing uniformity, it was only by alarm and displeasure, through +the intrusion of Sir Lyell Sycamore; who, though always denied admission +to herself, made frequent, bold, and frivolous pretences for bursting +into the workroom. At one time, he came to enquire about a gown for his +sister, of which Mrs Hart had never heard; at another, to look at a +trimming for which she had had no commission; and at a third, to hurry +the finishing of a dress, which had already been sent home. The motive +to these various mock messages, was too palpable to escape even the most +ordinary observation; yet though the perfect conduct, and icy coldness +of Juliet, rescued her from all evil imputation amongst her companions, +she saw, with pique and even horrour, that they were insufficient to +repress the daring and determined hopes and expectations of the +licentious Baronet; with whom the unexplained hint of Sir Jaspar had +left a firm persuasion, that the fair object of his views more than +returned his admiration; and waited merely for a decent attack, or +proper offers, to acknowledge her secret inclinations.</p> + +<p>Juliet, however shocked, could only commit to time her cause, her +consistency, her vindication.</p> + +<p>Three weeks had, in this manner, elapsed, when the particular business +for which Mrs Hart had wanted an odd hand was finished; and Juliet, who +had believed that her useful services would keep her employed at her own +pleasure, abruptly found that her occupation was at an end.</p> + +<p>Here again, the wisdom of experience was acquired only by distress. The +pleasure with which she had considered herself free, because engaged but +by the day, was changed into the alarm of finding herself, from that +very circumstance, without employment or home; and she now acknowledged +the providence of those ties, which, from only feeling their +inconvenience, she had thought oppressive and unnecessary. The +established combinations of society are not to be judged by the personal +opinions, and varying feelings, of individuals; but by general proofs of +reciprocated advantages. If the needy helper require regular protection, +the recompensing employer must claim regular service; and Juliet now +saw, that though in being contracted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> but by the day, she escaped all +continued constraint, and was set freshly at liberty every evening; she +was, a stranger to security, subject to dismission, at the mercy of +accident, and at the will of caprice.</p> + +<p>Thus perplexed and thus helpless, she applied to Mrs Hart, for counsel +how to obtain immediate support. Gratified by the application, Mrs Hart +again recommended her as a pattern to the young sisterhood; and then +gave her advice, that she should bind herself, either to some milliner +or some mantua-maker, as a journey-woman for three years.</p> + +<p>Painfully, again, Juliet attained further knowledge of the world, in +learning the danger of asking counsel; except of the candid and wise, +who know how to modify it by circumstances, and who will listen to +opposing representations.</p> + +<p>Mrs Hart, from the moment that Juliet declined to be guided wholly by +her judgment, lost all interest in her young work-woman's distresses. +'If people won't follow advice,' she said, ''tis a sign they are not +much to be pitied.' Vainly Juliet affirmed, that reasons which she could +not explain, put it out of her power to take any measure so decisive; +that, far from fixing her own destiny for three years, she had no means +to ascertain, or scarcely even to conjecture, what it might be in three +days; or perhaps in three hours; although in the interval of suspense, +she was not less an object for present humanity, from the incertitude of +what either her wants or her abundance might be in future; vainly she +reasoned, vainly she pleaded. Mrs Hart always made the same reply: 'If +people won't follow advice, 'tis a sign they are not much to be pitied.'</p> + +<p>In consequence of this maxim, Juliet next heard, that the small room and +bed which she occupied, were wanted for another person.</p> + +<p>Alas! she thought, how long must we mingle with the world, ere we learn +how to live in it! Must we demand no help from the understandings of +others, unless we submit to renounce all use of our own?</p> + +<p>These reflections soon led her to hit upon the only true medium, for +useful and safe general intercourse with the mass of mankind: that of +avowing embarrassments, without demanding counsel; and of discussing +difficulties, and gathering opinions, as matters of conversation; but +always to keep in mind, that to ask advice, without a predetermination +to follow it, is to call for censure, and to risk resentment.</p> + +<p>Thus died away in Juliet the short joy of freedom from the controul of +positive engagements.</p> + +<p>Such freedom, she found, was but a source of perpetual difficulty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> and +instability. She had the world to begin again; a new pursuit to fix +upon; new recommendations to solicit; and a new dwelling to seek.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX</h2> + + +<p>Juliet was making enquiries of the young work-women, for a +recommendation to some small lodging, when she was surprised by the +receipt of a letter from Mrs Pierson, soliciting her company immediately +at Lewes; where poor Flora, she said, was taken dangerously ill of a +high fever, and was raving, continually, for Miss Ellis. A return +post-chaise to the postilion of which Mrs Pierson had given directions +to call at Mrs Hart's, at three o'clock in the afternoon, would bring +her, for nearly nothing; if she would have so much charity as to come +and comfort the poor girl; and Mrs Pierson would find a safe conveyance +back at night, if Miss Ellis could not oblige them by sleeping at the +house: but she hoped that Mrs Hart would not refuse to spare her from +her work, for a few hours, as it might produce a favourable turn in the +disorder.</p> + +<p>Juliet read this letter with real concern. Had she rescued the poor, +weak, and wilful Flora from immediate moral, only to devote her to +immediate physical, destruction? And what now could be devised for her +relief? Her intellects were too feeble for reason, her temper was too +petulant for entreaty. Nevertheless, the benevolent are easily urged to +exertion; and Juliet would not refuse the summons of the distressed +mother, while she could flatter herself that any possible means might be +suggested for serving the self-willed, and half-witted, but innocent +daughter.</p> + +<p>She set out, therefore, upon this plan, far from sanguine of success, +but persuaded that the effort was a duty.</p> + +<p>By her own calculations from memory, she was arrived within about a mile +of Lewes, when the horses suddenly turned down a narrow lane.</p> + +<p>She demanded of the postilion why he did not proceed straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> forward. +He answered, that he knew a short cut to the house of Mrs Pierson. +Uneasy, nevertheless, at quitting thus alone the high road, she begged +him to go the common way, promising to reward him for the additional +time which it might require. But he drove on without replying; though, +growing now alarmed, she called, supplicated, and menaced in turn.</p> + +<p>She looked from window to window to seek some object to whom she might +apply for aid; none appeared, save a man on horseback, whom she had +already noticed from time to time, near the side of the chaise; and to +whom she was beginning to appeal, when she surprised him making signs to +hurry on the postilion.</p> + +<p>She now believed the postilion himself to be leagued with some +highwayman; and was filled with affright and dismay.</p> + +<p>The horses galloped on with encreased swiftness, the horseman always +keeping closely behind the chaise; till they were stopt by a small cart, +from which Juliet had the joy to see two men alight, forced, by the +narrowness of the road, to take off their horse, and drag back their +vehicle.</p> + +<p>She eagerly solicited their assistance, and made an effort to open the +chaise door. This, however, was prevented by the pursuing horseman, who, +dismounting, opened it himself; and, to her inexpressible terrour, +sprung into the carriage.</p> + +<p>What, then, was her mingled consternation and astonishment, when, +instead of demanding her purse, he gaily exclaimed, 'Why are you +frightened, you beautiful little creature?' And she saw Sir Lyell +Sycamore.</p> + +<p>A change, but not a diminution of alarm, now took place; yet, assuming a +firmness that sought to conceal her fears, 'Quit the chaise, Sir Lyell,' +she cried, 'instantly, or you will compel me to claim protection from +those two men!'</p> + +<p>'Protection? you pretty little vixen!' cried he, yet more familiarly, +'who should protect you like your own adorer?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, leaning out, as far as was in her power, from the chaise-window, +called with energy for help.</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' cried he, striving to draw her back. 'What are you +afraid of? You don't imagine me such a blundering cavalier, as to intend +to carry you off by force?'</p> + +<p>The postilion was assisting the two men to fix their horse, for dragging +back their cart; but her cries reached their ears, and one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> them, +advancing to the chaise, exclaimed, 'Good now! if it is not Miss Ellis!' +And, to her infinite relief and comfort, she beheld young Gooch.</p> + +<p>She entreated him to open the door; but, lolling his arms over it, +without attending to her, he said, 'Well! to see but how things turn +out! Here have I been twice this very morning, at your new lodgings, to +let you know it's now or never, for our junket's to night; and the old +gentlewoman that keeps the house, who's none of the good-naturedest, as +I take it, would never let me get a sight of you, say what I would; and +here, all of the sudden, when I was thinking of you no more than if you +had never been born, I come pop upon you, as one may say, within +cock-crow of our very door; all alone, with only the young Baronight!'</p> + +<p>Nearly as much shocked, now, as, the moment before, she had been +relieved, Juliet eagerly declared, that she was not with any body; she +was simply going to Lewes upon business.</p> + +<p>'Why then,' cried he, 'the Baronight must be out his head, begging his +pardon, to let you come this way; and the postilion as stupid as a post; +for it's quite the contrary. It will lead you to you don't know where. +We only turned down it ourselves, just to borrow a few glasses, of +farmer Barnes, because we've more mouths than we have got of our own: +for I've invited all our club; which poor dad don't much like. He says I +am but a bungler at saving money, any more than at getting it; but I am +as rare a hand as any you know, far or near, says the old gentleman, for +spending it. The old gentleman likes to say his say. However, I must not +leave my horse to his gambols.'</p> + +<p>Then nodding, still without listening to Juliet, he returned to his +<i>chay-cart</i>.</p> + +<p>Juliet now unhasped the chaise-door herself, and was springing from the +carriage; when Sir Lyell, forcibly holding her, exclaimed, 'What would +you do, you lovely termagant? Would you make me pass for a devil of a +ravisher? No, no, no! you handsome little firebrand! name your terms, +and command me! I know you love me,—and I adore you. Why then this idle +cruelty to us both? to nature itself; and to beauty?'</p> + +<p>More and more indignant, Juliet uttered a cry for help, that immediately +brought back young Gooch, who was followed by an elderly companion.</p> + +<p>Provoked and resentful, yet amazed and ashamed, the Baronet jumped out +of the chaise, saying, with affected contempt, yet stronger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> pique, +'Yes! help, gentlemen, help! come quick! quick! Miss Ellis is taken +suddenly ill!'</p> + +<p>The insolent boldness of this appeal, was felt only by Juliet; whose +scorn, however potent, was less prevalent than her satisfaction, upon +beholding her old friend Mr Tedman. She descended to meet him, with an +energetic 'Thank Heaven!' and an excess of gladness, not more tormenting +to the Baronet, than unexpected by himself. 'Well, this is very kind of +you, indeed, my dear,' cried he, heartily shaking hands with her; 'to be +so glad to see me; especially after the ungenteel way I was served in by +your lodging-gentlewoman, making no more ceremony than refusing to let +me up, under cover that you saw no gentlemen; though I told her what a +good friend I had been to you; and how you learnt my darter the musics; +and how I used to bring you things; and lend you money; and that; and +how I was willing enough to do the like again, put in case you was in +need: but I might just as well have talked to the post; which huffed me +a little, I own.'</p> + +<p>'O, those old gentlewomen,' interrupted Gooch, 'are always like that. +One can never make any thing of 'em. I don't over like them myself, to +tell you the truth.'</p> + +<p>Juliet assured them that, having no time but for business, her +injunctions of non-admission had been uniform and universal; and ought +not, therefore, to offend any one. She then requested Mr Tedman to order +that the postilion would return to the high road; which he had quitted +against her positive direction; and to have the goodness to insist upon +his driving her by the side of his own vehicle, till they reached Lewes.</p> + +<p>Tedman, looking equally important and elated, again heartily shook hands +with her, and said, 'My dear, I'll do it with pleasure; or, I'll engage +Tim to send off your chay, and I'll take you in his'n; put in case it +will be more to your liking; for I am as little agreeable as you are, to +letting them rascals of drivers get the better of me.'</p> + +<p>Juliet acceded to this proposal, in which she saw immediate safety, with +the most lively readiness; entreating Mr Tedman to complete his +kindness, in extricating her from so suspicious a person, by paying him +the half-crown, which she had promised him, for carrying her to Lewes.</p> + +<p>'Half-a-crown?' repeated Mr Tedman, angrily refusing to take it. 'It's +too much by half, for coming such a mere step; put in case he did not +put to o'purpose. You're just like the quality; and they're none<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> of +your sharpest; to throw away your money, and know neither the why nor +the wherefore.'</p> + +<p>The Baronet, with a loud oath, said that the postilion was a scoundrel, +for having offended the young lady; and menaced to inform against him, +if he received a sixpence.</p> + +<p>The postilion made no resistance; the horses were taken off, and the +chaise was drawn back to the high road. The little carriage belonging to +young Gooch followed, into which Juliet, refusing all aid but from Mr +Tedman, eagerly sprang; and her old friend placed himself at her side; +while Gooch took the reins.</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell looked on, visibly provoked; and when they were driving away, +called out, in a tone between derision and indignation, 'Bravo, Mr +Tedman! You are still, I see, the happy man!'</p> + +<p>Young Gooch, laughing without scruple, smacked his horse; while Mr +Tedman angrily muttered, 'The quality always allows themselves to say +any thing! They think nothing of that! All's one to them whether one +likes it or not.'</p> + +<p>The design of Juliet was, when safely arrived at the farm, which was +within a very short walk of the town of Lewes, to beg a safe guide to +accompany her to the house of Mrs Pierson; where she resolved to pass +the night; and whence she determined to write to Elinor, and solicit an +interview; in which she meant to lay open her new difficulties, in the +hope of re-awakening some interest that might operate in her favour.</p> + +<p>To save herself from the vulgar forwardness of ignorant importunity, she +forbore to mention her plan, till she alighted from the little vehicle, +at the gate of the farm-yard.</p> + +<p>'Goodness! Ma'am,' then cried young Gooch, 'you won't think of such a +thing as going away, I hope, before you've well come? Why our sport's +all ready! why, if you'll step a little this way, you may see the three +sacks, that three of our men are to run a race in! There'll be fine +scrambling and tumbling, one o' top o' t'other. You'll laugh till you +split your sides. And if you'll only come here, to the right, I'll shew +you the stye where our pig is, that's to be caught by the tail. But it +will be well soaped, I can tell you; so it will be no such easy thing.'</p> + +<p>Slightly thanking him, Juliet applied for aid, in procuring her a +conductor, to Mr Tedman; who, though at first he pressed her to stay, as +she might get a little amusement so pure cheap, since it would cost +nothing but looking on; no sooner heard her pronounce that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> was +called away by business, than he ceased all opposition; and promised to +take care of her to Lewes himself, when he'd just spoken a word or two +to his cousin Gooch: 'For I can't go with you, my dear, only I and you, +you know, without that,' he said, 'just upon coming; for fear it should +put them upon joking; which I don't like; for all the quality's so fond +of it. Besides which, I must give in my presents; for this little +hamper's full of little odd things for the junket; and if I leave 'em +out here, to the mercy of nobody knows who, somebody or other'll be a +pilfering, as sure as a gun; put in case they smoke what I've got in my +hamper. And they're pretty quick at mischief.'</p> + +<p>Juliet supplicated him to be speedy. Pleased to have his services +accepted, he put his hamper under his arm, and walked on to the house; +mindless of the impatient remonstrances of young Gooch, who exclaimed, +'Why now, who'd have thought this of the 'Squire? it's doing just +contrary; for he's the very person I thought would make you stay! for +he's come, as one may say, half o' purpose for your sake; for he never +plump accepted of our invitation till I told him, in my letter, of my +having invited of you. And then he said he would come.'</p> + +<p>Then, lowering his voice into a whisper, he added, 'Between ourselves, +Ma'am, the poor 'Squire, my good cousin, don't get much for his money at +home, I believe. His daughter's got quite the top end; and she's none of +your obligingests; she won't do one mortal thing he desires. She's been +brought up at them fine boarding-schools, with misses that hold up their +heads so high, that nothing's good enough for 'em. So she's always +ashamed of her papa, because, she says, he's so mean; as he tells us. +The poor 'Squire, my cousin, don't much like it; but he can't help +himself. She's as exact like a fine lady as ever you see; and she won't +speak a word to any of her poor relations, because they are so low, she +says.' He then added, 'If you won't go while I'm gone, I'll give you as +agreeable a surprize as ever you had in your life!'</p> + +<p>He ran on to the house.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, Juliet felt something tickle the nape of her neck, +and, imagining it to be an insect, she would have brushed it away with +her hand, but received, between her fingers, a pink; and, looking round, +saw Flora Pierson, nearly breathless from her efforts to smother a +laugh.</p> + +<p>'Is it possible?' cried Juliet, in great amazement. 'Miss Pierson! I +thought you were ill in bed?'</p> + +<p>No further efforts were necessary to repress the laugh; resentment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +rather than gravity, took its place, and, with pouting lips, and a +frowning brow, she answered, 'Ill? Yes! I have had enough to make me +ill, that's sure! It's more a wonder, by half, that I a'n't dead; for I +cried so that my eyes grew quite little; and I looked quite a fright; +and I grew so hoarse that nobody could tell a word I said; though I +talked enough, I'm sure; for nothing can hinder me of my talking, if it +was never so, papa says.'</p> + +<p>Juliet now, upon closer enquiry, learnt that Flora had neither had a +fever, nor desired a meeting; and that Mrs Pierson had neither written +the letter, nor given any orders about a return post-chaise.</p> + +<p>The passing suspicions which already had occurred to Juliet in disfavour +of Sir Lyell Sycamore, returned, now, with redoubled force. That he had +made signs to the driver to quit the high road, however dismaying, she +had attributed to sudden impulse, upon meeting her alone in a +post-chaise; and had not doubted that, upon seeing the sincerity of her +resentment, he would have retired with shame and repentance: but a plan +thus concerted to get her into his power, changed apprehension into +certainty, and indignation into abhorrence.</p> + +<p>The happy accident to which she owed her escape, even from the +knowledge, till it was past, of her danger, she now blessed with +rapture; and the junket, so disdained and rejected, she now felt that +she could never recollect without grateful delight.</p> + +<p>But how return to Brighthelmstone? What vehicle find? How trust herself +to any even when procured?</p> + +<p>She enquired of Flora whether it were possible that Mrs Pierson could +grant her one night's lodging?</p> + +<p>The smiles, the dimples, and the good humour of the simple girl, all +revived, and played about her pretty face, at this request. 'O yes!' she +cried. 'Miss Ellis, I shall be so glad to have you come! for mamma and I +are so dull together that I'm quite moped. I don't like it by half as +well as I did the shop. So many smart gentlemen and ladies coming in and +out every moment! dressed so nice, and speaking so polite! I'm obliged +to wear all my worst things, now, to save my others, mamma says, for +fear of the expence. And it makes me not look as well by half, as I did +at Miss Matson's. I looked well enough there, I believe; as people told +me; at least the gentlemen. But I go such a dowd, here, that it's enough +to frighten you. I'm sure when I go to the glass, and that's a hundred +times a-day, for aught I know, if it were counted, to see what sort of a +figure I make, I could break it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span> with pleasure, for seeing me such a +disguise; for I look quite ugly, unless I happen to be in my smilings.'</p> + +<p>This prattle was interrupted by a signal from Mr Tedman, that made +Juliet hope that he was now ready to depart; but, upon approaching him, +he only said, 'Come hither, my dear, and sit down a bit, upon this +bench, for we can't go yet. I have not given all my presents. And I +don't care to leave 'em!' winking significantly: 'not that I mean to +doubt any body; only it's as well have a sharp eye. We are all honestest +with good looking after.'</p> + +<p>Juliet now was surrounded by young farmers, who offered her cakes or +ale, and asked her hand for the ensuing dance; while young Gooch +collected around him an admiring audience, to listen to his account, how +he and the young gentlewoman, who was so pretty, had acted together in a +play.</p> + +<p>Mr Tedman then bid her divine how his cousin Gooch was employed, and why +the presents were not yet delivered? and upon her declared inability to +conjecture, 'Would you believe it, my dear?' he cried, 'For all Tim +drove us such a good round trot, the quality got the start of us! And +now he's in the kitchen, with cousin Gooch, taking a cup of ale!'</p> + +<p>The disturbance of Juliet at this intelligence, he thought simply +surprize, and continued, 'Nay, it was not easy to guess, sure enough. He +must have rid over every thing, hedge, ditch, and the like. But your +quality's not over mindful of other people's property. He's come to buy +some hay. He come o'purpose, he says. And he's a mortal good customer, +for he says nothing but, "Mighty well! That's very reasonable, indeed! I +thought it had been twice the price!" Old coz chuckles, I warrant him! +Your quality's but a poor hand at a bargain. I would not employ 'em, +between you and I. They never know what they are about.'</p> + +<p>They were now joined by Mr Gooch, a hale, hearty, cherry-cheeked dapper +farmer, fair in all his dealings, and upright in all his principles, +except when they had immediate reference to his professional profits. +'Well!' he cried, ''Squire!' rubbing his hands in great glee. 'I've had +a good chapman enough here! I've often seen un at our races, but I +little thought of having to chaffer with un. Howsever, one may have +worse luck with one's money. A don't much understand business. But who's +that pretty lass with ye, 'Squire? Some play-mate, I warrant, of cousin +Molly? And why did no' cousin Molly come, too? A'd a have been heartily +welcome. And perhaps a'd a picked up a sweetheart.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Stop, father, stop!' cried young Gooch: 'I've something to say to you. +You know how you've always stood to it, that you would not believe a +word about all those battles, and guillotines, and the like, of Mounseer +Robert Speer, in foreign parts; though I told you, over and over, that I +had it from our club? Well! here's a person now here, in your own +grounds, that's seen it all with her own eyes! So if you don't believe +it, never believe it as long as you live.'</p> + +<p>'Like enough not, Tim,' answered the father: 'I do no' much give my mind +to believing all them outlandish fibs, told by travellers. I can hear +staring stories eno' by my own fire-side. And I a'n't over friendly to +believing 'em there. But, bless my heart! for a man for to come for to +go for to pretend telling me, because it be a great ways off, and I +can't find un out, that there be a place where there comes a man, who +says, every morning of his life, to as many of his fellow-creatures as a +can set eyes on, whether they be man, woman, or baby; here, mount me two +or three dozen of you into that cart, and go and have your heads chopt +off! And that they'll make no more ado, than go, only because they're +bid! Why if one will believe such staring stuff as that be, one may as +well believe that the moon be made of cream-cheese, and the like. +There's no sense in such a set of lies; for life's life every where, +even in France; though it be but a poor starving place, at best, without +pasture, or cattle; or corn, either, fit for a man for to eat.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, father, ay; but Bob Spear, as we call him at our club—'</p> + +<p>'Y're young, y're young, Tim,' interrupted Mr Gooch; 'and your +youngsters do believe every thing. When you've sowed your wild oats, +you'll know better. But we mustn't all be calves at the same time. If +there were none for to give milk, there'd be none for to suck. So it be +all for the best. And that makes me for to take it the less to heart, +when I do see you be such a gudgeon, Tim, with no more sense than to +swallow neat down every thing that do come in your way. But you'll never +thrive, Tim, till you be like to what I be; people do tell such a peck +of staring lies, that I do no' believe, nor I wo'no' believe one mortal +word by hear-say.'</p> + +<p>'For my part,' said Mr Tedman, 'I never enquire into all that, whether +it be true, or whether it be false; because it's nothing to me either +way; and one wastes a deal of time in idle curiosity, about things that +don't concern one; put in case one can't turn them to one's profit.'</p> + +<p>'That's true, coz,' said Mr Gooch; 'for as to profit, there be none<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> to +come from foreign parts: for they be all main poor thereabout; for, they +do tell me, that there be not a man among un, as sets his eyes, above +once in his life, or thereabout, upon a golden guinea! And as to roast +beef and plum-pudding, I do hear that they do no' know the taste of such +a thing. So that they be but a poor stinted race at best, for they can +never come to their natural growth.'</p> + +<p>'What, then, you do believe what folks tell you sometimes, father?' +cried the son, grinning.</p> + +<p>'To be sure I do, Tim; when they do tell me somewhat that be worth a +man's hearing.'</p> + +<p>They were now joined by Mr Stubbs, who, seeing Juliet, was happy in the +opportunity of renewing her favourite enquiries, relative to the +agricultural state of the continent.</p> + +<p>Mr Gooch, extremely surprized, exclaimed, 'Odds heart! Why sure such a +young lass as that be, ha'n't been across seas already? Why a couldn't +make out their gibberish, I warrant me! for't be such queer stuff that +they do talk, all o'un, that there's no getting at what they'd be at; +unless one larns to speak after the same guise, like to our +boarding-school misses. I've seen one or two o'un myself, that passed +here about; but their manner o' talk was so out of the way, I could no' +make out a word they did say. T'might all be Dutch for me. And I found +'em vast ignorant. They knew no more than my horse when land ought to be +manured, from when it ought for to lie fallow. I did ask un a many +questions; but a could no' answer me, for to be understood.'</p> + +<p>'But, for all that, Master Gooch,' said Mr Stubbs, 'my late Lord has +told me that France is sincerely a fine country, if they knew how to +make the most of it; but the waste lands are quite out of reason; for +they are such a boggling set of farmers, that they grow nothing but what +comes, as one may say, of itself.'</p> + +<p>'France a fine country, Maister Stubbs? Well, that be a word I did no' +count to hear from a man of your sense. Why't be as poor a place as ye +might wish to set eyes on, all over-run with weeds, and frogs, and the +like. Why ye be as frenchified as Tim, making out them mounseers to be a +parcel of Jack the Giant-killers, lopping off heads for mere play, as a +body may say. However, here be one that's come to our hop, that be a +finer spark than there be in all France, I warrant me: for a makes a bow +as like to a mounseer, as if a was twin-brother to un; and a was so +ready to pay down his money handsomely, I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span> no' but say a'd be +welcome to our junket; for a says a does like such a thing more than all +them new fangled balls and concerts.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, and you believe that upon hear-say do you, father?' cried Tim, +sneeringly.</p> + +<p>'Yes, to be sure, I do, Tim. When a man do say a thing that ha' got some +sense in it, why should no' I believe un, Tim?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, who from what had preceded, had concluded the Baronet to be +gone, earnestly now pressed Mr Tedman to fulfil his kind engagement; but +in vain: Mr Gooch brought his best silver tankard, to insist upon his +cousin's drinking success to the new purchase, that occasioned the +junket; and Tim was outrageous at the proposal of retiring, just as the +feats were going to commence. 'Before five minutes are over,' said he, +'the pig will begin!'</p> + +<p>'Well,' answered Mr Tedman, 'it is but a silly thing, to be sure, things +of that sort; and I never give my mind to them; but still, as it's a +thing I never saw, put in case you've no objections, we'll just stay for +the pig, my dear.'</p> + +<p>Flora, having now gathered that <i>the quality</i> meant Sir Lyell Sycamore, +began dancing and singing, in a childish extacy of delight, that shewed +her already, in idea, Lady Sycamore, when, turning to Juliet with sudden +and angry recollection, her smiles, gaiety, and capering gave way to a +bitter fit of crying, and she exclaimed, 'But if he is here, it will be +nothing to me, I dare say, if Miss Ellis is here the while; for he won't +look at me, almost, when she is by: will he? For some people play one so +false, that one might as well be as ugly as the cat, almost, when they +are in the way.'</p> + +<p>'Don't be fretted, Miss Flora,' cried young Gooch, soothingly; 'for I +shall ask Miss Ellis to dance myself; for as I shall begin the hop, +because of its being our own, I think I've a good right to chuse my +partner; so don't be fretted, so, Miss Flora, for you'll have the +Baronight left to you whether he will or no! But come; don't let's lose +time; if you'll follow me, you won't want sport, I can tell you; for the +beginning's to be a syllabub under the cow.'</p> + +<p>Flora was not too proud to accept this consolation; but Juliet +positively declared that she should not dance; and earnestly entreated +that some one might be found to conduct her to Mrs Pierson's.</p> + +<p>Flora, recovering her spirits, with the hopes of getting rid of her +rival, whispered, 'If you're in real right earnest, Miss Ellis, and +don't say you want to go, only to make a fool of me, which I shall take +pretty unkind, I assure you; why I can shew you the way so as you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> can't +miss it, if you'd never so. And I'm sure I shall be glad enough to have +you go, if I must needs speak without a compliment. Only don't tell +mamma who's here, for she don't like persons of quality, she says, +because of their bad designs; but I'm sure if she was to hear 'em talk +as I do, she'd think quite another opinion: wouldn't she?'</p> + +<p>Fortunately for the intentions of Juliet, which were instantly to make +known to Mrs Pierson the new danger of her daughter, Flora waited not +for any answer to this injunction; but set out, prattling incessantly as +they went on, to put the willing Juliet on her way to Lewes.</p> + +<p>The cry, however, from young Gooch, of 'Come! Where are the young +ladies? The pig's ready!' caught the ears of Flora, with charm not to be +resisted; and, hastily pointing out a style, to pass into the meadow, +and another, to pass thence to the high road, she capered briskly back; +fearing to miss some of the sport, if not a seat next to the Baronet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L</h2> + + +<p>Juliet, as earnest to avoid, as Flora felt eager to pursue, the opening +feats, hurried from the destined spot, after charging the simple damsel +not to make known her departure. Unavailing, however, was the caution; +and immaterial alike the prudence or the indiscretion of Flora: Juliet +had no sooner crossed the first style, than she perceived Sir Lyell +Sycamore sauntering in the meadow.</p> + +<p>She would promptly have returned to the farm, but a shout of noisy +merriment reached her ears from the company that she was quitting, and +pointed out the danger of passing the evening in the midst of such +turbulent and vulgar revelry. She hastened, therefore, on; but neither +the lightness of her step, nor the swiftness of her speed, could save +her from the quick approach of the Baronet. 'My angel!' he cried, +'whither are you going? and why this prodigious haste? What is it my +angel fears? Can she suppose me rascal enough, or fool enough, to make +use of any violence? No, my angel, no! I only ask to be regaled, from +your own sweet lips, with the delicious tale of divine partiality, that +the quaint old knight began revealing. I sigh, I pant to hear +confirmed—'</p> + +<p>'Hold, Sir Lyell!' interrupted Juliet. 'If Sir Jaspar is the author of +this astonishing mistake, I trust he will have the honour to rectify it. +When I named you to him, it was but with a view to rescue a credulous +young creature from your pursuit, whom I feared it might injure; not to +expose to it one whom it never can endanger; however deeply it may +offend.'</p> + +<p>Struck and disappointed at the courage and coolness of this explanation, +Sir Lyell looked mortified and amazed; but, upon seeing her reach the +style, he sprang over it, and, recovering his usual effrontery, offered +her his hand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span></p> + +<p>Juliet knew not whether her risk were greater to proceed or to return; +but while she hesitated, a phaeton, which was driving by, stopt, and an +elderly lady, addressing the Baronet, in a tone of fawning courtesy, +enquired after his health, and added, 'So you are come to this famous +junket, Sir Lyell?'</p> + +<p>Sir Lyell forced a laugh, and bowed low; though he muttered, loud enough +for Juliet to hear, 'What cursed spies!'</p> + +<p>Juliet now perceived Mrs and Miss Brinville; and neither innocence, nor +contempt of calumny, could suppress a rising blush, at being surprised, +by persons already unfavourably disposed towards her, in a situation +apparently so suspicious.</p> + +<p>The countenance of the mother exhibited strong chagrin at sight of +Juliet; while the daughter, in a tone of pique, said, 'No doubt but you +are well amused, Sir Lyell?'</p> + +<p>They drove on; not, however, very fast, and with so little self-command, +as frequently to allow themselves to look back. This indelicacy, however +ill adapted to raise them in the esteem of the Baronet, at least rescued +Juliet from his persecution. Disconcerted himself, he felt the necessity +of decency; and, quitting her, with affected carelessness, he hummed an +air, while grumbling curses, and, swinging his switch to and fro, walked +off; not more careful that the ladies in the phaeton should see him +depart, than assiduous to avoid with them any sort of junction.</p> + +<p>The relief caused to Juliet by his retreat, was cruelly clouded by her +terrour of the false suggestions to which this meeting made her liable. +Neither mother nor daughter would believe it accidental; nor credit it +to have been contrived without equal guilt in both parties. Is there no +end, then, she cried, to the evils of defenceless female youth? And, +even where actual danger is escaped, must slander lie in wait, to +misconstrue the most simple actions, by surmising the most culpable +designs?</p> + +<p>Neither to follow the footsteps of Sir Lyell, nor to remain where he +might return, she was going back to the farm; when she was met by Flora, +who, with a species of hysterical laughter, nearly of kin to crying, +called out, 'So Ma'am! so Miss Ellis! I've caught you at last! I've +surprised you at last! a-courting with my sweetheart!'</p> + +<p>Pitying her credulous ignorance, Juliet would have cleared up this +mistake; but the petulant Flora would not listen. 'I'll speak to the +gentleman myself!' she cried, running forward to the style; 'for I have +found out your design; so it's of no use to deny it! I saw you together<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> +all the way I came; so you may as well not try to make a ninny of me, +Miss Ellis, for it i'n't so easy!'</p> + +<p>Catching a glimpse of the Baronet as he descended the road, she jumped +over the style to run after him; but seeing him look round, and, though +he perceived her, quietly walk on, she stopt, crying bitterly: 'Very +well, Miss Ellis! very well! you've got your ends! I see that! and, I +don't thank you for it, I assure you, for I liked him very well; and it +i'n't so easy to find a man of quality every day; so it i'n't doing as +you'd be done by; for nobody likes much to be forsaken, no more than I, +I believe, for it i'n't so agreeable. And I had rather you had not +served me so by half! In particular for a man of quality!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, though vainly, was endeavouring to appease and console her, when +a young lady, bending eagerly from the window of a post chaise which was +passing by, ejaculated, 'Ellis!' and Juliet, with extreme satisfaction, +perceived Elinor.</p> + +<p>The chaise stopt, and Juliet advanced to it with alacrity; but before +she could speak, the impatient Elinor, still looking pale, meagre, and +wretched, burst forth, with rapid and trembling energy, into a string of +disordered, incoherent, scarcely intelligible interrogatories. 'Ellis! +what brings you to this spot?—Whither is it you go?—What project are +you forming?—What purpose are you fulfilling?—Whom are you +flying—Whom are you following?—What is it you design?—What is it you +wish?—Why are you here alone?—Where—Where—'</p> + +<p>Leaning, then, still further out of the window, she fixed her nearly +haggard, yet piercing eyes upon those of Juliet, and, in a hollow voice, +dictatorially added: 'Where—tell me, I charge you! where—is Harleigh?'</p> + +<p>Consternation at sight of her altered countenance, and affright at the +impetuosity of her questions, produced a hesitation in the answer of +Juliet, that, to the agitated Elinor, seemed the effect of surprised +guilt. Her pallid cheeks then burnt with the mixed feelings of triumph +and indignation; yet her voice sought to disguise her wounded feelings, +and in subdued, though broken accents, ''Tis well!' she cried, 'You no +longer, at least, seek to deceive me, and I thank you!' Deaf to +explanation or representation, she then hurried her weak frame from the +chaise, aided by her foreign lackey; and, directing Juliet to follow, +crossed the road to a rising ground upon the Downs; seated herself; sent +off her assistant, and made Juliet take a place by her side; while Flora +returned, crying and alone, to the farm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Now, then,' she said, 'that you try no more to delude, to cajole, to +blind me, tell me now, and in two words,—where is Harleigh?'</p> + +<p>'Believe me, Madam,—' Juliet was tremblingly beginning, when Elinor, +casting off the little she had assumed of self-command, passionately, +cried, 'Must I again be played upon by freezing caution and duplicity? +Must I die without end the lingering death of cold inaction and +uncertainty? breathe for ever without living? Where, I demand, is +Harleigh? Where have you concealed him? Why will Harleigh, the noble +Harleigh, degrade himself by any concealment? Why stoop to the subtilty +of circumspection, to spare himself the appearance of destroying one +whose head, heart, and vitals, all feel the reality of the destruction +he inflicts? And yet not he! No, no! 'tis my own ruthless star! He loves +me not! he is not responsible for my misery, though he is master of my +fate! Where is he? where is he? You,—who are the tyrant of his! tell +me, and at once!'</p> + +<p>'I solemnly protest to you, Madam, with the singleness of the most +scrupulous truth,' cried Juliet, recovering her presence of mind, 'I am +entirely ignorant of his abode, his occupations, and his intentions.' Ah +why, she secretly added, am I not equally unacquainted with his feelings +and his wishes!</p> + +<p>Unable to discredit the candour with which this was pronounced, and +filled with wonder, yet involuntarily consoled, the features of Elinor +lost their rigidity, and her eyes their fierceness; and, in milder +accents, she replied, 'Strange! how strange! Where, then, can he +be?—with whom?—how employed?—Does he fly the whole world as well as +Elinor? Has no one his society?—no one his confidence?—his society, +which, by contrast, makes all existence without it disgusting!—his +confidence, which, to obtain, I would yet live, though doomed daily to +the rack! O Harleigh! love like mine, who has felt?—love like mine, who +but you, O matchless Harleigh! ever inspired!'</p> + +<p>Tears now gushed into her eyes. Ashamed, and angry with herself, she +hastily brushed them off with the back of her hand, and, with forced +vivacity, continued, 'He thinks, perchance, to sicken me into the pining +end of a love-sick consumption? to avert the kindly bowl or dagger, that +cut short human misery, for the languors, the sufferings, and despair of +a loathsome natural death? And for what?—to restore, to preserve me? +No! I have no share in the arrangement; no interest, no advantage from +the plan. Appearances alone are considered; all else is regarded as +immaterial; or sacrificed. And he, Harleigh, the noblest,—the only +noble of men!—can level himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> with the narrowest and most illiberal +of his race, to pay coward obeisance to appearances!'</p> + +<p>Again she then repeated her personal interrogatories to Juliet; and +demanded whether she should set off immediately for Gretna Green, with +Lord Melbury; or whether she must wait till he should be of age.</p> + +<p>'Neither!' Juliet solemnly answered; and frankly recounted her recent +difficulties; and entreated the advice of Elinor for adopting another +plan of life.</p> + +<p>Elinor, interrupting her, said, 'Nay, 'twas your own choice, you know, +to live in a garret, and hem pocket-handkerchiefs.'</p> + +<p>'Choice, Madam! Alas! deprived of all but personal resource, I fixed +upon a mode of life that promised me, at least, my mental freedom. I was +not then aware how imaginary is the independence, that hangs for support +upon the uncertain fruits of daily exertions! Independent, indeed, such +situations may be deemed from the oppressions of power, or the tyrannies +of caprice and ill humour; but the difficulty of obtaining employment, +the irregularity of pay, the dread of want,—ah! what is freedom but a +name, for those who have not an hour at command from the subjection of +fearful penury and distress?'</p> + +<p>'If all this is so,' said Elinor, 'which, unless you wait for Lord +Melbury's majority, is more than incomprehensible; what say you, now, to +an asylum safe, at least, from torments of this sort;—will you +commission me, at length, to apply to Mrs Ireton?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, instinctively, recoiled at the very name of that lady; yet a +little reflection upon the dangers to which she was now exposed, through +unprotected poverty; through the lawless pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; +and the vindictive calumnies of the Brinvilles, made the wish of solid +safety repress the disgusts of offended sensibility; and, after a +painful pause, she recommended herself to the support of Elinor: +resolving to accept, for the moment, any proposition, that might secure +her an honourable refuge from want and misconception.</p> + +<p>Elinor, looking at her suspiciously, said, 'And Harleigh?—Will he let +you submit to such slavery?'</p> + +<p>Mr Harleigh, Juliet protested, could have no influence upon her +determination.</p> + +<p>'But you yourself, who a month or two ago, could so ill bear her +tauntings, how is it you are thus suddenly endued with so much +humility?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Alas, Madam, all choice, all taste, all obstacles sink before +necessity! When I came over, I had expectations of immediate succour. I +knew not that the friend I sought was herself ruined, as well as +unhappy! I had hopes, too, of speedy intelligence that might have +liberated me from all my difficulties....'</p> + +<p>She stopt; Elinor exclaimed, 'From whence?—From abroad?—'</p> + +<p>Juliet was silent; and Elinor, after a few passing sallies against +secrets and mystery, sarcastically bid her consider, before she adopted +this new scheme, that Harleigh never visited at Mrs Ireton's; having +taken, in equal portions, a dose of aversion for the mother, and of +contempt for the son.</p> + +<p>Juliet calmly replied, that such a circumstance could be but an +additional motive to seek the situation; and, hopeless, for the moment, +of doing better, seriously begged that proper measures might be taken to +accelerate the plan.</p> + +<p>Elinor, now, from mingled wonder, satisfaction, and scorn, recovered all +her wonted vivacity. 'You are really, and bona fide, contented, then,' +she cried, 'to be shut up as completely from Harleigh, through his +horrour of that woman's irascible temper, as if you were separated by +bolts, bars, dungeons, towers, and bastilles? I applaud your taste, and +wish you the full enjoyment of its fruits! Yet what materials you can be +made of, to see the first of men at your feet, and voluntarily to fly +him, to be trampled under by those of the most odious of women, I cannot +divine! 'Tis an exuberance of apathy that surpasses my comprehension. +And can He, the spirited Harleigh, love, adore, such a composition of +ice, of snow, of marble?'</p> + +<p>She could not, however, disguise the elation with which she looked +forward, to depositing Juliet where information might constantly be +procured of her visitors and her actions. They went together to the +carriage; and Elinor conveyed her submissive and contemned, yet +agonizingly envied rival, to Brighthelmstone.</p> + +<p>In her usually unguarded manner, Elinor, by the way, communicated the +various, but successless efforts by which she had endeavoured to gain +intelligence whither Harleigh had rambled. 'If I pursued him,' she +cried, 'with the vanity of hope; or with the meanness of flattery, he +would do well to shun me; but the pure-minded Harleigh is capable of +believing, that the moment is over for Elinor to desire to be his! And, +to sustain at once and shew my principles, I never seek his sight, but +in presence of her who has blasted even my wishes! Else, thus +clamourously to invoke, thus pertinaciously to follow him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span> might, +indeed, merit avoidance. But Elinor, now, would be as superiour to +accepting, ... as she is to forgetting him!'</p> + +<p>'Yet his obdurate seclusion,' she continued, 'is the only mark I +receive, that I escape his disdain. It shews me that he fears the event +of a meeting. He does not, therefore, utterly deride the pusillanimity +of my abortive attempt. O could I justify his good opinion!—All others, +I doubt not, insult me by the most ludicrous suspicions; they are +welcome. They judge me by their little-minded selves. But thou, O +Harleigh! could I see thee once more!—in thy sight, thy loved sight, +could I sink, at last, my sorrows and my disgrace to rest! to oblivion, +to sleep eternal!'—</p> + +<p>Vainly Juliet essayed to plead the cause of religion, and the duties of +life; unanswered, unmarked, unheard, she talked but to the air. All that +was uttered in return, began and ended alike with Harleigh, death, and +annihilation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI</h2> + + +<p>Juliet could not but be gratified by a circumstance so important to her +reputation, with the Brinvilles, and with those among the inhabitants of +Brighthelmstone to whom she was known, as that of being brought home by +Miss Joddrel, after an adventure that must unavoidably raise curiosity, +and that threatened to excite slander. For with however just a pride +wronged innocence may disdain injurious aspersions, female fame, like +the wife of Cæsar, ought never to be suspected.</p> + +<p>The celerity of the motions of Elinor, nearly equalled the quickness of +her ideas. Her lackey arrived the next morning, to help to convey +Juliet, and her baggage, immediately to the dwelling of Mrs Ireton; with +a note from his mistress, indicating that Mrs Ireton was already +prepared to take her for a companion. 'An humble companion,' Elinor +wrote, 'I need not add; I had nearly said a pitiful one; for who would +voluntarily live with such an antidote to all the comforts of life, that +has spirit, sense, or soul? O envied Ellis! how potent must be the +passion, the infatuation, that can make Harleigh view such meanness as +grace, and adore it as dignity!—O icy Ellis!—but the human heart would +want strength to support such pre-eminent honour, were it bestowed upon +a mind gifted for its appreciation!'</p> + +<p>Then again, wishing her joy of her taste, she assured her that it was +reciprocated; for Mrs Ireton was all impatience to display, to a new +dependent, her fortune, her power, and her magnificence.</p> + +<p>Juliet, with her answer of thanks for this service, wrote a few lines +for Mrs Pierson, which she begged the messenger to deliver. They were to +warn the imprudent, or deceived mother of the dangerous state of mind in +which her daughter still continued; and to give her notice that Sir +Lyell Sycamore, who could not be guarded against too carefully, was +still in the neighbourhood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span></p> + +<p>With a mind revolting from a measure which, while prudence, if not +necessity, dictated, choice and feeling opposed, she now quitted her +mantua-maker's abode, to set out for her new destination; seeking to +cheer herself that, at least, by this step, she should be secured from +the licentious pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; the envenomed shafts of +calumny of the enraged Brinvilles; the perpetual terrour of debts; and +the cruel apprehension of want.</p> + +<p>She had not far to go; but the mortifications, for which she prepared +herself, began by the very sight of the dwelling into which she was to +enter. Mrs Ireton had taken the house of Mrs Howel:—that house in which +Juliet had first, after her arrival in England, received consolation in +her distresses; been melted by kindness; or animated by approbation. +There, too, indeed, she had experienced the pain which she had felt the +most severely; for there all the soothing consideration, so precious to +her sorrows, had abruptly been broken off, to give place to an assault +the most shocking upon her intentions, her probity, her character.</p> + +<p>Here, too, she had suffered the cruel affront, and heartfelt grief, of +seeing the ingenuous, amiable Lord Melbury forget what was due to the +rights of hospitality; to his own character; and to the respect due to +his sister: and here she had witnessed his sincere and candid +repentance; here had been softened, touched, and penetrated by the +impressive anguish of his humiliation.</p> + +<p>These remembrances, and the various affecting and interesting ideas by +which they were accompanied, gave a dejection to her thoughts, and a +sadness to her air, that would have awakened an interest in her favour, +in any one whose heart had been open to the feelings of others: but the +person under whose protection she was now to place herself, was a +stranger to every species of sensation that was not personal. And where +the calls of self upon sensibility are unremitting, what must be the +stock that will gift us, also, with supply sufficient for our +fellow-creatures?</p> + +<p>She found Mrs Ireton reclining upon a sofa; at the side of which, upon a +green velvet cushion, lay a tiny old lap dog, whom a little boy, +evidently too wanton to find pleasure but in mischief, was secretly +tormenting, by displaying before him the breast bone of a chicken, which +he had snatched from the platter of the animal; and which, the moment +that he made it touch the mouth of the cur, he hid, with all its fat and +its grease, in his own waistcoat pocket.</p> + +<p>Near to these two almost equally indulged and spoilt animals, stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> a +nursery maid, with a duster and an hearth-broom in her hands, who was +evidently incensed beyond her pittance of patience, from clearing away, +repeatedly, their joint litter and dirt.</p> + +<p>Scared, and keeping humbly aloof, near a window frame, stood, also, a +little girl, of ten or twelve years of age, who, as Juliet afterwards +heard from the angry nursery maid, was an orphan, that had been put to a +charity school by Mrs Ireton, as her particular <i>protegée</i>; and who was +now, for the eighth time, by the direction of her governess, come to +solicit the arrears due from the very beginning of her school +instruction.</p> + +<p>Yet another trembler, though not one equally, at this moment, to be +pitied, held the handle of the lock of the door; not having received +intelligible orders to advance, or to depart. This was a young negro, +who was the favourite, because the most submissive servant of Mrs +Ireton; and whose trembling was simply from the fear that his lady might +remark a grin which he could not repress, as he looked at the child and +the dog.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton herself, though her restless eye roved incessantly from +object to object, in search of various food for her spleen, was +ostensibly occupied in examining, and decrying, the goods of a Mercer; +but when Juliet, finding herself unnoticed, was retreating, she called +out, 'O, you are there, are you? I did not see you, I protest. But come +this way, if you please. I can't possibly speak so far off.'</p> + +<p>The authoritative tone in which this was uttered, joined to what Juliet +observed of the general tyranny exercised around her, intimidated and +shocked her; and she stood still, and nearly confounded.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, holding her hand above her eyes, as if to aid her sight, and +stretching forward her head, said, 'Who is that?—pray who's there?—I +imagined it had been a person I had sent for; but I must certainly be +mistaken, as she does not come to me. Pray has any body here a spying +glass? I really can't see so far off. I beg pardon for having such bad +eyes! I hope you'll forgive it. Let me know, however, who it is, I beg.'</p> + +<p>Juliet tried to speak, but felt so confused and disturbed what to +answer, that she could not clearly articulate a word.</p> + +<p>'You won't tell me, then?' continued Mrs Ireton, lowering her voice +nearly to a whisper, 'or is it that I am not heard? Has any body got a +speaking trumpet? or do you think my lungs so capacious and powerful, +that they may take its place?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, now, though most unwillingly, moved forward; and Mrs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> Ireton, +surveying her, said, 'Yes, yes, I see who you are! I recollect you now, +Mrs ... Mrs ... I forget your name, though, I protest. I can't recollect +your name, I own. I'm quite ashamed, but I really cannot call it to +mind. I must beg a little help. What is it? What is your name, Mrs ... +Mrs ... Hay?—Mrs ... What?'</p> + +<p>Colouring and stammering, Juliet answered, that she had hoped Miss +Joddrel would have saved her this explanation, by mentioning that she +was called Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>'Called?' repeated Mrs Ireton; 'what do you mean by called?—who calls +you?—What are you called for?—Why do you wait to be called?—And where +are you called from?'</p> + +<p>The entire silence of Juliet to these interrogatories, gave a moment to +the mercer to ask for orders.</p> + +<p>'You are in haste, Sir, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'I have your pardon +to beg, too, have I? I am really very unfortunate this morning. However, +pray take your things away, Sir, if it's so immensely troublesome to you +to exhibit them. Only be so good as to acquaint your chief, whoever he +may be, that you had not time to wait for me to make any purchase.'</p> + +<p>The man offered the humblest apologies, which were all disdained; and +self-defending excuses, which were all retorted; he was peremptorily +ordered to be gone; with an assurance that he should answer for his +disrespect to his master; who, she flattered herself, would give him a +lesson of better behaviour, by the loss of his employment.</p> + +<p>Harassed with apprehension of what she had to expect in this new +residence, Juliet would silently have followed him.</p> + +<p>'Stay, Ma'am, stay!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'give me leave to ask one +question:—whither are you going, Mrs ... what's your name?'</p> + +<p>'I ... I feared, Madam, that I had come too soon.'</p> + +<p>'O, that's it, is it? I have not paid you sufficient attention, +perhaps?—Nay it's very likely. I did not run up to receive you, I +confess. I did not open my arms to embrace you, I own! It was very wrong +of me, certainly. But I am apt to forget myself. I want a flapper +prodigiously. I know nothing of life,—nothing of manners. Perhaps you +will be so good as to become my monitress? 'Twill be vastly kind of you. +And who knows but, in time, you may form me? How happy it will be if you +can make something of me!'</p> + +<p>The maid, now, tired of wiping up splash after splash, and rubbing out +spot after spot; finding her work always renewed by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span> mischievous +little boy, was sullenly walking to the other end of the room.</p> + +<p>'O, you're departing too, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'and pray who +dismissed you? whose commands have you for going? Inform me, I beg, who +it is that is so kind as to take the trouble off my hands, of ordering +my servants? I ought at least to make them my humble acknowledgements. +There's nothing so frightful as ingratitude.'</p> + +<p>The maid, not comprehending this irony, grumblingly answered, that she +had wiped up the grease and the slops till her arms ached; for the +little boy made more dirt and nastiness than the cur himself.</p> + +<p>'The boy?—The cur?—What's all this?' cried Mrs Ireton; 'who, and what, +is the woman talking of? The boy? Has the boy no name?—The cur? Have +you no more respect for your lady's lap dog?—Grease +too?—Nastiness!—you turn me sick! I am ready to faint! What horrible +images you present to me! Has nobody any salts? any lavendar-water? How +unfortunate it is to have such nerves, such sensations, when one lives +with such mere speaking machines!'</p> + +<p>She then cast around her eyes, with a look of silent, but pathetic +appeal to the sensibility of all who were within sight, against this +unheard of indignity; but her speech was soon restored, from mingled +wrath and surprise, upon perceiving her favourite young negro nearly +suffocating with stifled laughter, though thrusting both his knuckles +into his capacious mouth, to prevent its loud explosion.</p> + +<p>'So this amuses you, does it, Sir? You think it very comical? You are so +kind as to be entertained, are you? How happy I am to give you so much +pleasure! How proud I ought to be to afford you such diversion! I shall +make it my business to shew my sense of my good fortune; and, to give +you a proof, Sir, of my desire to contribute to your gaiety, to-morrow +morning I will have you shipped back to the West Indies. And there, that +your joy may be complete, I shall issue orders that you may be striped +till you jump, and that you may jump,—you little black imp!—between +every stripe!'</p> + +<p>The foolish mirth of poor Mungo was now converted into the fearfulest +dismay. He dropt upon his knees to implore forgiveness; but he was +peremptorily ordered to depart, with an assurance that he should keep up +his fine spirits upon bread and water for a fortnight.</p> + +<p>If disgust, now, was painted upon every feature of the face of Juliet, +at this mixture of forced derision with but too natural inhumanity, the +feeling which excited that expression was by no means softened, by +seeing Mrs Ireton turn next to the timid young orphan, imperiously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> +saying, 'And you, Ma'am, what may you stand there for, with your hands +before you? Have you nothing better to do with them? Can't you find out +some way to make them more useful? or do you hold it more fitting to +consider them as only ornamental? They are very pretty, to be sure. I +say nothing to the contrary of that. But I should suppose you don't +quite intend to reserve them for mere objects of admiration? You don't +absolutely mean, I presume, to devote them to the painter's eye? or to +destine them to the sculptor's chisel? I should think not, at least. I +should imagine not. I beg you to set me right if I am wrong.'</p> + +<p>The poor little girl, staring, and looking every way around to find some +meaning for what she did not comprehend, could only utter a faint +'Ma'am!' in a tone of so much fear and distress, that Juliet, unable, +silently, to witness oppression so wanton, came forward to say, 'The +poor child, Ma'am, only wishes to understand your commands, that she may +obey them.'</p> + +<p>'O! they are not clear, I suppose? They are too abstruse, I imagine?' +contemptuously replied Mrs Ireton. 'And you, who are kind enough to +offer yourself for my companion; who think yourself sufficiently +accomplished to amuse,—perhaps instruct me,—you, also, have not the +wit to find out, what a little chit of an ordinary girl can do better +with her hands, than to stand still, pulling her own fingers?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, now, believing that she had discovered what was meant, kindly +took the little girl by the arm, and pointed to the just overturned +water-bason of the dog.</p> + +<p>'But I don't know where to get a cloth, Ma'am?' said the child.</p> + +<p>'A cloth?—In my wardrobe, to be sure!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'amongst my +gowns, and caps, and hats. Where else should there be dirty cloths, and +dusters, and dish-clouts? Do you know of any other place where they are +likely to be found? Why don't you answer?'</p> + +<p>'Ma'am?'</p> + +<p>'You never heard, perhaps, of such a place as a kitchen? You don't know +where it is? nor what it means? You have only heard talk of +drawing-rooms, dressing-rooms, boudoirs? or, perhaps, sometimes, of a +corridor, or a vestibule, or an anti-chamber? But nothing beyond!—A +kitchen!—O, fie, fie!'</p> + +<p>Juliet now hurried the little girl away, to demand a cloth of the house +maid; but the moment that she returned with it, Mrs Ireton called out, +'And what would you do, now, Ma'am? Make yourself all dirt and filth, +that you may go back to your school, to shew the delicate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> state of my +house? To make your mistress, and all her brats, believe that I live in +a pig-stie? Or to spread abroad that I have not servants enough to do my +work, and that I seize upon you to supply their place? But I beg your +pardon; perhaps that may be your way to shew your gratitude? To manifest +your sense of my saving you from the work-house? to reward me for +snatching you from beggary, and want, and starving?'</p> + +<p>The poor little girl burst into tears, but courtsied, and quitted the +room; while Mrs Ireton called after her, to desire that she would +acquaint her governess, that she should certainly be paid the following +week.</p> + +<p>Juliet now stood in scarcely less dismay than she had been witnessing +all around her; panic-struck to find herself in the power of a person +whose character was so wantonly tyrannic and irascible.</p> + +<p>The fortunate entrance of some company enabled her, for the present, to +retreat; and to demand, of one of the servants, the way to her chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII</h2> + + +<p>From the heightened disgust which she now conceived against her new +patroness, Juliet severely repented the step that she had taken. And if +her entrance into the family contributed so little to her contentment, +her subsequent introduction into her office was still less calculated to +exhilarate her spirits. Her baggage was scarcely deposited in a handsome +chamber, of which the hangings, and decorations, as of every part of the +mansion, were sumptuous for the spectator; but in which there was a +dearth of almost every thing that constitutes comfort to the immediate +dweller; ere she was summoned back, by a hasty order to the +drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, who was reading a news-paper, did not, for some time, raise +her head; though a glance of her eye procured her the satisfaction of +seeing that her call had been obeyed. Juliet, at first, stood modestly +waiting for commands; but, receiving none, sat down, though at an humble +distance; determined to abide by the consequences, be they what they +might, of considering herself as, at least, above a common domestic.</p> + +<p>This action shortened the term of neglect; Mrs Ireton, letting the +news-paper fall, exclaimed, in a tone of affected alarm, 'Are you ill, +Ma'am? Are you disordered? I hope you are not subject to fits?'</p> + +<p>Juliet coldly answered No.</p> + +<p>'I am very glad to hear it, indeed! Very happy, upon my word! I was +afraid you were going to faint away! But I find that you are only +delicate; only fatigued by descending the stairs. I ought, indeed, to +have sent somebody to help you; somebody you could have leant upon as +you came along. I was very stupid not to think of that. I hope you'll +pardon me?'</p> + +<p>Juliet looked down, but kept her place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, a little nettled, was silent a few minutes, and then said, +'Pray,—if I may ask,—if it will not be too great a liberty to +ask,—what have been your pursuits since I had the honour of +accompanying you to London? How have you passed your time? I hope you +have found something to amuse you?'</p> + +<p>Juliet sighed a negative.</p> + +<p>'You have been studying the fine arts, I am told. +Painting?—Drawing?—Sculpture?—or what is it?—Something of that sort, +I am informed. Pray what is it, Mrs Thing-a-mi?—I am always forgetting +your name. Yet you have certainly a name; but I don't know how it is, I +can never remember it. I believe I must beg you to write it down.'</p> + +<p>Juliet again only sighed.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps I am making a mistake as to your occupations? Very likely I may +be quite in the wrong? Indeed I think I recollect, now, what it is you +have been doing. Acting?—That's it. Is it not? Pray what stage did you +come out upon first? Did you begin wearing your itinerant buskins in +England, or abroad?'</p> + +<p>'Where I began, Madam, I have ended; at Mrs Maple's.'</p> + +<p>'And pray, have you kept that same face ever since I saw you in +Grosvenor Square? or have you put it on again only now, to come back to +me? I rather suppose you have made it last the whole time. It would be +very expensive, I apprehend, to change it frequently: it can by no means +be so costly to keep it only in repair. How do you put on your colours? +I have heard of somebody who had learnt the art of enamelling their own +skin: is that your method?'</p> + +<p>Waiting vainly for an answer, she went on.</p> + +<p>'Pray, if I may presume so far, how old are you?—But I beg pardon for +so indiscreet a question. I did not reflect upon what I was saying. Very +possibly your age may be indefinable. You may be a person of another +century. A wandering Jewess. I never heard that the old Jew had a wife, +or a mother, who partook of his longevity; but very likely I may now +have the pleasure of seeing one of his family under my own roof? That +red and white, that you lay on so happily, may just as well hide the +wrinkles of two or three grand climacterics, as of only a poor single +sixty or seventy years of age. However, these are secrets that I don't +presume to enquire into. Every trade has its mystery.'</p> + +<p>These splenetic witticisms producing no reply, Mrs Ireton, more +categorically, demanded, 'Pray, Ma'am, pray Mrs What's-your-name, will +you give me leave to ask what brings you to my house?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Miss Joddrel, Madam, informed me that you desired my attendance.'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but with what view?'</p> + +<p>Disconcerted by this interrogatory, Juliet stammered, but could devise +no answer.</p> + +<p>'To what end, what purpose, what intent, I say, may I owe the honour of +your presence?'</p> + +<p>The office pointed out by Elinor, of an humble companion, now died the +cheeks of Juliet with shame; but resentment of the palpable desire to +hear its mortifying acknowledgement, tied her tongue; and though each of +the following interrogatories was succeeded by a pause that demanded a +reply, she could not bring herself to utter a word.</p> + +<p>'You are hardly come, I should imagine, without some motive: I may be +mistaken, to be sure; but I should hardly imagine you would take the +trouble to present yourself merely to afford me the pleasure of seeing +you?—Not but that I ought to be extremely flattered by such a +compliment. 'Twould be vastly amiable, certainly. A lady of your +indescribable consequence! 'Twould be difficult to me to shew an +adequate sense of so high an honour. I am distressed at the very thought +of it.—But perhaps you may have some other design?—You may have the +generosity to intend me some improvement?—You may come to favour me +with some lessons of declamation?—Who knows but you may propose to make +an actress of me?—Or perhaps to instruct me how to become an adept in +your own favourite art of face-daubing?'</p> + +<p>At least, thought Juliet, I need not give you any lessons in the <i>art of +ingeniously tormenting</i>! There you are perfect!</p> + +<p>'What! no answer yet?—Am I always so unfortunate as to hit upon +improper subjects?—To ask questions that merit no reply?—I am quite +confounded at my want of judgment! Excuse it, I entreat, and aid me out +of this unprofitable labyrinth of conjecture, by telling me, at once, to +what happy inspiration I am indebted for the pleasure of receiving you +in my house?'</p> + +<p>Juliet pleaded again the directions of Miss Joddrel.</p> + +<p>'Miss Joddrel told you to come, then, only to come?—Only to shew +yourself?—Well, you are worth looking at, I acknowledge, to those who +have seen you formerly. The transformation must always be curious: I +only hope you intend to renew it, from time to time, to keep admiration +alive? That pretty face you exhibit at present, may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> lose its charms, if +it should become familiar. When shall you put on the other again, that I +had the pleasure to see you in first?'</p> + +<p>Fatigued and spiritless, Juliet would have retired; but Mrs Ireton +called after her, 'O! you are going, are you? Pray may I take the +liberty to ask whither?'</p> + +<p>Again Juliet was silent.</p> + +<p>'You mean perhaps to repose yourself?—or, may be, to pursue your +studies?—or, perhaps, you may have some visits upon your hands?—And +you may only have done me the favour to enter my house to find time to +follow your humour?—You may think it sufficient honour for me, that I +may be at the expence of your board, and find you in lodging, and +furniture, and fire, and candles, and servants?—you may hold this ample +recompense for such an insignificant person as I am? I ought to be much +obliged to Miss Joddrel, upon my word, for bringing me into such +distinction! I had understood her, indeed, that you would come to me as +my humble companion.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, cruelly shocked, turned away her head.</p> + +<p>'And I was stupid enough to suppose, that that meant a person who could +be of some use, and some agreeability; a person who could read to me +when I was tired, and who, when I had nobody else, could talk to me; and +find out a thousand little things for me all day long; coming and going; +prating, or holding her tongue; doing every thing she was bid; and +keeping always at hand.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, colouring at this true, however insulting description of what +she had undertaken, secretly revolved in her mind, how to renounce, at +once, an office which seemed to invite mortification, and license +sarcasm.</p> + +<p>'But I perceive I was mistaken! I perceive I knew nothing of the matter! +It only means a fine lady! a lady that's so delicate it fatigues her to +walk down stairs; a lady who is so independent, that she retires to her +room at pleasure; a lady who disdains to speak but when she is disposed, +for her own satisfaction, to talk; a lady—'</p> + +<p>'A lady who, indeed, Madam,' said the tired Juliet, 'weighed too little +what she attempted, when she hoped to find means of obtaining your +favour; but who now sees her errour, and entreats at once your pardon +and dismission.'</p> + +<p>She then courtsied respectfully, but, though called back even with +vehemence, steadily left the room.</p> + +<p>Not, however, with triumph did she return to her own. The justice of the +sensibility which urged her retreat, could not obviate its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> imprudence, +or avert its consequences. She was wholly without friends, without +money, without protection, without succour; and the horrour of a +licentious pursuit, and the mischiefs menaced by calumniating ill +wishers, still made a lonely residence as unsafe as when her first +terrour drove her to acquiesce in the proposition of Elinor. Yet, though +she could not exult, she could not repent: how desire, how even support +a situation so sordid? a situation not only distressing, but oppressive; +not merely cruel, but degrading.</p> + +<p>She was preparing, therefore, for immediate departure, when she was +stopt by a footman, who informed her that Mrs Ireton demanded to see her +without delay.</p> + +<p>The expectation of reproach made her hesitate whether to obey this +order; but a desire not to have the air of meriting it, by the defiance +of a refusal, led her again to the dressing-room.</p> + +<p>Here, however, to her great surprise, instead of the haughty or taunting +upbraidings for which she was prepared, she was received with a gracious +inclination of the head; while the footman was told to give her a chair.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, then, fixing her eyes upon a pamphlet which she held in her +hand; that she might avoid taking any notice of the stiff and decided +air with which Juliet stood still, though amazed, said, 'My bookseller +has just sent me something to look at, which may serve for a beginning +of our readings.'</p> + +<p>Juliet now saw, that, however imperiously she had been treated, Mrs +Ireton had no intention to part with her. She saw, too, that that lady +was amongst the many, though terrible characters, who think superior +rank or fortune authorises perverseness, and legitimates arrogance; who +hold the display of ill humour to be the display and mark of power; and +who set no other boundary to their pleasure in the art of tormenting, +than that which, if passed, might endanger their losing its object. She +wished, more than ever, to avoid all connexion with a nature so wilfully +tyrannic; but Mrs Ireton, who read in her dignified demeanour, that a +spirit was awakened which threatened the escape of her prey, determined +to shun any discussion. Suddenly, therefore, rising, and violently +ringing the bell, she exclaimed, 'I dare say those fools have not placed +half the things you want in your chamber; but I shall make Whitly see +immediately that all is arranged as it ought to be.'</p> + +<p>She then gave some parading directions, that Miss Ellis should want for +nothing; and, affecting not to perceive the palpable design<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span> of Juliet +to decline these tardy attentions, graciously nodded her head, and +passed into another room.</p> + +<p>Juliet, not absolutely softened, yet somewhat appeased, again hesitated. +A road seemed open, by some exertion of spirit, for obtaining better +treatment; and however ungenial to her feelings was a character whose +humours submitted to no restraint, save to ensure their own lengthened +indulgence, still, in appearing more contemptible, it became less +tremendous.</p> + +<p>She began, also, to see her office as less debasing. Why, she cried, +should I exaggerate my torments, by blindly giving into received +opinions, without examining whether here, as in all things else, there +may not be exceptions to general rules? A sycophant must always be +despicable; a parasite must eternally deserve scorn; but may there not +be a possibility of uniting the affluent with the necessitous upon more +equitable terms? May not some medium be hit upon, between oppression on +one side, and servility on the other? If we are not worthless because +indigent, why conclude ourselves abject because dependent? Happiness, +indeed, dwells not with undue subordination; but the exertion of talents +in our own service can never in itself be vile. It can only become so +where it is mingled and contaminated with flattery, with unfitting +obsequiousness, and unworthy submissions. They who simply repay being +sustained and protected, by a desire to please, a readiness to serve, a +wish to instruct; without falsehood in their counsels, without adulation +in their civilities, without meanness in their manners and conduct; have +at least as just a claim to respect and consideration, for their +services and their labours, as those who, merely through pecuniary +retribution, reap their fruits.</p> + +<p>This idea better reconciled her with her condition; and she blessed her +happy acquaintance with Mr Giles Arbe, which had strengthened her +naturally philosophical turn of mind, by leading her to this simple, yet +useful style of reasoning.</p> + +<p>The rest of the day was propitious to her new views. The storms with +which it had begun subsided, and a calm ensued, in which Mrs Ireton set +apart her querulous irascibility, and forbore her contemptuous +interrogatories.</p> + +<p>The servants were ordered not to neglect Miss Ellis; and Miss Ellis +received permission to carry to her own apartment, any books from off +the piano forte or tables, that might contribute to her amusement.</p> + +<p>Juliet was not of a character to take advantage of a moment of +concession, even in an enemy. The high and grave deportment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span> therefore, +which had thus happily raised alarm, had no sooner answered its purpose, +than she suffered it to give place to an air of gentleness, more +congenial to her native feelings: and, the next morning, subduing her +resentment, and submitting, with the best grace in her power, to the +business of her office, she cheerfully proposed reading; complied with +the first request that was made her to play upon the piano-forte and the +harp; and even, to sing; though, not so promptly; for her voice and +sensibility were less ductile than her manners. But she determined to +leave nothing untried, that could prove, that it was not more easy to +stimulate her pride by indignity, than to animate her desire to oblige +by mild usage.</p> + +<p>This resolution on her part, which the fear of losing her, on that of +Mrs Ireton, gave time to operate, brought into play so many brilliant +accomplishments, and opened to her patroness such sources of amusement, +that, while Juliet began to hope she had found a situation which she +might sustain till her suspences should be over, Mrs Ireton conceived +that she had met with a treasure, which might rescue her unoccupied +hours from weariness and spleen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII</h2> + + +<p>This delusion, unfortunately, was not of long duration on either side. +Mrs Ireton no sooner observed that Juliet appeared to be settled, than +all zest for detaining her ceased; no sooner became accustomed to +hearing at will the harp, or the piano-forte, than she found something +to say, or to do, that interrupted the performance every four or five +bars; and had no sooner secured a reader whose voice she could command +at pleasure, than she either quarrelled with every book that was begun; +or yawned, or fondled and talked aloud to her little lap dog, during the +whole time that any work was read.</p> + +<p>This quick abatement in the power of pleasing, was supported by Juliet +with indifference rather than philosophy. Where interest alone is +concerned, disappointment is rarely heavy with the young and generous. +Age, or misfortune, must teach the value of pecuniary considerations, to +give them force. Yet, though no tender affections, no cherished hopes, +no favourite feelings were in the power of Mrs Ireton, every moment of +time, and consequently all means of comfort, were at her disposal. +Juliet languished, therefore, though she would not repine; and though +she was not afflicted at heart, she sickened with disgust.</p> + +<p>The urgency of finding security from immediate insult and want, induced +her, nevertheless, to persevere in her fortitude for supporting, and her +efforts for ameliorating her situation. But, the novelty over, all +labour was vain, all success was at an end; and, in a very short time, +she would have contributed no more to the expulsion of spleen, than any +other inmate of the house; had not her superiour acquirements opened a +more extensive field for the exercise of tyranny and caprice. And in +that exercise alone, Juliet soon saw, consisted every sensation of +pleasure of which Mrs Ireton was susceptible.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of the many new tasks of Juliet, that which she found the most severe, +was inventing amusement for another while sad and dispirited herself. It +was her duty to be always at hand, early or late; it was her business to +furnish entertainment, whether sick or well. Success, therefore, was +unacknowledged, though failure was resented. There was no relaxation to +her toil, no rest for her person, no recruit for her spirits. From her +sleep alone she could purloin the few minutes that she dedicated to her +pen and her Gabriella.</p> + +<p>If a new novel excited interest, or a political pamphlet awakened +curiosity, she was called upon to read whole hours, nay, whole days, +without intermission; even a near extinction of voice did not authorize +so great a liberty as that of requesting a few minutes for rest. Mrs +Ireton, who regarded all the world as robust, compared with herself, +deemed it an impertinent rivalry of a delicacy which she held to be +unexampled, ever to pronounce the word fatigue, ever to heave a sigh of +lassitude, or ever even to allude to that part of the human frame which +is called nerves, unless with some pointed reference to herself.</p> + +<p>With the same despotic hardness, she ordered Juliet to the harp, or +piano-forte, and made her play though she were suffering from the +acutest head-ache; and sing when hoarse and short-breathed from the most +violent cold. Yet those commands, however arbitrary and unfeeling, were +more supportable than those with which, after every other source of +tyrannic authority had been drained, the day was ordinarily concluded. +Mrs Ireton, at the hour of retiring, when weary alike of books and of +music, listless, fretful, captious; too sleepy for any exertion, yet too +wakeful or uneasy for repose; constantly brought forward the same +enquiries which had so often been urged and repelled, in the week that +they had spent together upon their arrival from France; repeated the +same sneers, revived the same suspicions, and recurred to the same rude +interrogatories or offensive insinuations.</p> + +<p>At meals, the humble companion was always helped last; even when there +were gentlemen, even when there were children at the table; and always +to what was worst; to what was rejected, as ill-cooked, or left, as +spoilt and bad. No question was ever asked of what she chose or what she +disliked. Sometimes she was even utterly forgotten; and, as no one +ventured to remind Mrs Ireton of any omission, her helpless <i>protegée</i>, +upon such occasions, rose half famished from the inhospitable board.</p> + +<p>Upon the entrance of any visitors, not satisfied to let the humble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> +companion glide gently away, the haughty patroness called out, in a tone +of command, 'You may go to your room now: I shall send for you when I am +at leisure.' Or, 'You may stand at the window if you will. You won't be +in the way, I believe; and I shall want you presently.'</p> + +<p>Or, if she feared that any one of the party had failed to remark this +augmentation of her household and of her power, she would retard the +willing departure by some frivolous and vexatious commission; as, 'Stop, +Miss Ellis; do pray tie this string a little tighter.' Or, 'Draw up my +gloves a little higher: but be so good as not to pinch me; unless you +have a particular fancy for it!'</p> + +<p>If, drily, though respectfully, Juliet ever proposed to wait in her own +room, the answer was, 'In your own room? O,—ay—well,—that may be +better! I beg your pardon for having proposed that you should wait in +one of mine! I beg your pardon, a thousand times! I really did not think +of what I was saying! I hope you'll forgive my inattention!'</p> + +<p>When then, silently, and with difficulty forbearing from shrugging her +shoulders, Juliet walked away, she was again stopt by, 'One moment, Miss +Ellis! if it won't be requesting too great a favour. Pray, when I want +you, where may I hear of your servants? For to be sure you don't mean +that mine should scamper up and down all day long for you? You cannot +mean that. You must have a lackey of your own, no doubt: some page, or +spruce foot-boy at your command, to run upon your errands: only pray let +some of my people know where he may be met with.'</p> + +<p>But if, when the purpose was answered of drawing the attention of her +guests upon her new dependent, that attention were followed by any looks +of approbation, or marks of civility, she hastily exclaimed, 'O, pray +don't disturb yourself, Sir!' or 'Ma'am! 'tis only a young woman I have +engaged to read to me;—a young person whom I have taken into my house +out of compassion.' And then, affably nodding, she would affect to be +suddenly struck with something which she had already repeatedly seen, +and cry, 'Well, I declare, that gown is not ugly, Miss Ellis! How did +you come by it?' or, 'That ribbon's pretty enough: who gave it you?'</p> + +<p>Ah, thought Juliet, 'tis conduct such as this that makes inequality of +fortune baleful! Where superiour wealth falls into liberal hands,—where +its possessor is an Aurora Granville, it proves a good still more to the +surrounders than to the owners; 'it blesses those that give, and those +that take.'—But Oh! where it is misused for the purposes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> bowing +down the indigent, of oppressing the helpless, of triumphing over the +dependent,—then, how baneful then is inequality of fortune!</p> + +<p>With those thoughts, and deeply hurt, she was twenty times upon the +point of retiring, during the first week of her distasteful office; but +the sameness of the offences soon robbed the mortifications of their +poignancy; and apathy; in a short time, taking place of sensibility, she +learnt to bear them if not with indifference, at least with its +precursor contempt.</p> + +<p>Amongst the most irksome of the toils to which this subjection made her +liable, was the care,—not of the education, nor mind, nor manners, but +of the amusements,—of the little nephew of Mrs Ireton; whom that lady +rather exulted than blushed to see universally regarded as a spoilt +child.</p> + +<p>The temper of this young creature was grown so capricious, from +incessant indulgence, that no compliance, no luxury, no diversion could +afford him more than momentary pleasure; while his passions were become +so ungovernable, that, upon every contrariety or disappointment, he +vented his rage, to the utmost extent of his force, upon whomsoever, or +whatsoever, animate or inanimate, he could reach.</p> + +<p>All the mischief thus committed, the injuries thus sustained, the noise +and disturbance thus raised, were to be borne throughout the house +without a murmur. Whatever destruction he caused, Mrs Ireton was always +sure was through the fault of some one else; what he mutilated, or +broke, she had equal certainty must have been merely by accident; and +those he hurt or ill used, must have provoked his anger. If any one +ventured to complain, 'twas the sufferer, not the inflictor who was +treated as culpable.</p> + +<p>It was the misfortune of Juliet to excite, by her novelty, the attention +of this young tyrant; and by her powers of entertainment, exerted +inadvertently, from a love of obliging, to become his favourite. The +hope of softening his temper and manners, by amusing his mind, had +blinded her, at first, to the trouble, the torment rather, of such +pre-eminence, which soon proved one of the most serious evils of her +situation. Mrs Ireton, having raised in his young bosom, expectations +never to be realised, by passing the impossible decree, that nothing +must be denied to her eldest brother's eldest son; had authorised +demands from him, and licensed wishes, destructive both to his +understanding and his happiness. When the difficulties which this decree +occasioned, devolved upon a domestic, she left him to get rid of them as +he could; only reserving to herself the right to blame the way that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span> was +taken, be it what it might: but when the embarrassment fell to her own +lot; when the spoilt urchin claimed what was every way unattainable; she +had been in the habit of sending him abroad, for the immediate relief of +her nerves. The favour into which he took Juliet now offered a new and +more convenient resource. Instead of 'Order the carriage, and let the +child go out:' Miss Ellis was called upon to play with him; to tell him +stories; to shew him pictures; to build houses for him with cards; or to +suffer herself to be dragged unmeaningly, yet wilfully and forcibly, +from walk to walk in the garden, or from room to room in the house; till +tired, and quarrelling even with her compliance, he recruited his +wearied caprices with sleep.</p> + +<p>Nor even here ended the encroachments upon her time, her attention, her +liberty; not only the spoilt child, but the favourite dog was put under +her superintendence; and she was instructed to take charge of the +airings and exercise of Bijou; and to carry him where the road was rough +or miry, that he might not soil those paws, which had the exclusive +privilege of touching the lady of the mansion; and even of pulling, +patting and scratching her robes and attire for his recreation.</p> + +<p>To many, in the place of Juliet, the spoilt child and the spoilt cur +would have been objects of detestation: but against the mere instruments +of malice she harboured no resentment. The dog, though snarling and +snapping at every one but his mistress, Juliet saw as vicious only from +evil habits, which were imbibed, nay taught, rather than natural: the +child, though wantonly revelling in mischief of every kind, she +considered but as a little savage, who, while enjoying the splendour and +luxury of civilized life, was as unformed, as rough, as untaught, and +therefore as little responsible for his conduct, as if just caught, and +brought, wild and untamed, from the woods. The animal, therefore, she +exculpated; the child she pitied; it was the mistress of the mansion +alone, who, wilful in all she did, and conscious of all she inflicted, +provoked bitterer feelings. And to these, the severest poignancy was +accidentally added to Juliet, by the cruel local circumstance of +receiving continual indignity in the very house, nay the very room, +where, in sweetest intercourse, she had been accustomed to be treated +upon terms of generous equality by Lady Aurora Granville.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV</h2> + + +<p>Juliet had passed but a short space, by the measure of time, in this new +residence, though by that of suffering and disgust it had seemed as long +as it was irksome, when, one morning, she was informed, by the +nursery-maid, that a grand breakfast was to be given, about two o'clock, +to all the first gentry in and near Brighthelmstone.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, herself, making no mention of any such purpose, issued her +usual orders for the attendance of Juliet, with her implements of +amusement; and went, at an early hour, to a light building, called the +Temple of the Sun, which overlooked the sea, from the end of the garden.</p> + +<p>This Temple, like every place which Mrs Ireton capriciously, and even +for the shortest interval, inhabited, was now filled with materials for +recreation, which, ingeniously employed, might have whiled away a +winter; but which, from her fluctuating whims, were insufficient even +for the fleet passage of a few hours. Books, that covered three +window-seats; songs and sonatas that covered those books; various pieces +of needle-work; a billiard-table; a chess-board; a backgammon-board; a +cup and ball, &c. &c.; all, in turn, were tried; all, in turn, rejected; +and invectives the most impatient were uttered against each, as it +ceased to afford her pleasure; as if each, with living malignity, had +studied to cause her disappointment.</p> + +<p>About noon, she took the arm of Juliet, to descend the steps of the +Temple. Upon opening the door, Ireton appeared sauntering in the garden. +Juliet vexed at his sight, which Elinor had assured her that she would +never encounter, severely felt the mortification of being seen in her +present situation, by one who had so repeatedly offended her by +injurious suspicions, and familiar impertinence.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, hastily relinquishing the arm of Juliet, from expecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span> +that of her son, at whose sight she was evidently surprised; now +resolved, with her most brilliant flourishes, to exhibit the new object +of her power.</p> + +<p>'Why don't you take care of the child, Miss Ellis?' she cried aloud. 'Do +you design to let him break his neck down the stone steps? I beg your +pardon, though, for asking the question. It may be very <i>mal à propos</i>. +It may be necessary, perhaps, to some of your plans, to see a tragedy in +real life? You may have some work in agitation, that may require that +sort of study. I am sorry to have stood so unopportunely in your way: +quite ashamed, upon my word, to have prevented your taking a few hints +from the child's dislocating a limb, or two; or just fracturing his +skull. 'Twould have been a pretty melancholy sight, enough, for an +elegiac muse. I really beg your pardon, for being so uncooth, as to +think of such a trumpery circumstance as saving the child's life.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, during this harangue, assiduously followed the young gentleman; +who, with a shout of riotous rebellion, ran down the steps, and jumping +into a parterre, selected, by his eye, the most beautiful of the flowers +for treading under his feet; and, at every representation of Juliet, +flung at her as many pinks, carnations, and geraniums, as his merciless +little fingers could grasp.</p> + +<p>Ireton, approaching, looked smilingly on, negligently nodding, and +calling out, 'Well done, Loddard! Bravo, my little Pickle!'</p> + +<p>Loddard, determined to merit this honourable testimony of his prowess, +continued his sport, with augmented boldness. His wantonness, however, +though rude, was childish; Juliet, therefore, though tormented, gave it +no serious resentment; but she was not equally indifferent to the more +maturely malicious insolence of Ireton, who, while he openly enjoyed the +scene, negligently said to Loddard, 'What, my boy, hast got a new +nurse?'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, having stood some time leaning upon the balustrade of the +steps which she was descending, in vain expectations of the arm of her +son, who had only slightly bowed to her, with an 'How do do, Ma'am?' to +which he waited not for an answer; now indignantly called out, 'So I am +to be left to myself, am I? In this feeble and alarming state to which I +am reduced, incapable to withstand a gust of wind, or to baffle the fall +of a leaf, I may take care of myself, may I? I am too stout to require +any attention? too robust, too obstreperous to need any help? If I fall +down, I may get up again, I suppose? If I faint, I may come to myself +again, I imagine? You will have the goodness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> to permit that, I presume? +I may be mistaken, to be sure, but I should presume so. Don't you hear +me, Mistress Ellis? But you are deaf, may be?—I am alarmed to the last +degree!—You are suddenly seized, perhaps with the loss of one of your +senses?'</p> + +<p>This attack, begun for her son, though, upon his romping with the little +boy, in total disregard to its reproach, ending for Juliet, made Ireton +now, throwing back his head, to stare, with a sneering half-laugh, at +Juliet, exclaim, 'Fie, Mrs Betty! How can you leave Mrs Ireton, unaided, +in such peril? Fie, Mrs Polly, fie! Mrs.... What is your new nurse's +name, my boy?'</p> + +<p>The boy, who never held his tongue but when he was desired to speak, +would make no answer, but by running violently after Juliet, as she +sought to escape from him; flinging flowers, leaves, grass, or whatever +he could find, at her, with boisterous shouts of laughter, and with all +his little might.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, brought nearly to good humour by the sight of the perplexity +and displeasure of Juliet, only uttered, 'Pretty dear! how playful he +is!' But when, made still more daring by this applause, the little +urchin ventured to touch the hem of her own garments, she became +suddenly sensible of his disobedience and wanton mischief, and commanded +him from her presence.</p> + +<p>As careless of her wrath as he was ungrateful for her favour, the young +gentleman thought of nothing so little as of obedience. He jumped and, +skipped around her, in bold defiance of all authority; laughing loudly +in her face; making a thousand rude grimaces; yet screaming, as if +attacked by a murderer, when she attempted to catch him; though, the +moment that he forced himself out of her reach, hallooing his joyous +triumph in her ears, with vociferous exultation.</p> + +<p>Juliet was ordered to take him in hand, and carry him off; an order +which, to quit the scene, she prepared with pleasure to obey: but the +young gentleman, though he pursued her with fatiguing fondness when she +sought to avoid him, now ran wildly away.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, enraged, menaced personal chastisement; but upon his darting +at Juliet, and tearing her gown, she turned abruptly aside, in the +apprehension of being called upon for reparation; and, gently saying, +'What a frisky little rogue it is!' affected to observe him no longer.</p> + +<p>The torn robe proved a potent attraction to the little dog, who, yelping +with unmeaning fury, flew at and began gnawing it, with as much +vehemence, as if its destruction were essential to his well being.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span></p> + +<p>A party of company was now announced, that begged to join Mrs Ireton in +the garden; and, tripping foremost from the advancing throng, came, +Selina.</p> + +<p>Ireton, flapping his hat over his eyes, leisurely sauntered away. Mrs +Ireton returned to the Temple, to receive her guests with more state; +and Juliet hoping, though doubtfully, some relief and countenance, bent +forward to greet her young friend.</p> + +<p>Selina, with a look of vivacity and pleasure, eagerly approached; but +while her hands were held out, in affectionate amity, and her eyes +invited Juliet to meet her, she stopt, as if from some sudden +recollection; and, after taking a hasty glance around her, picked a +flower from a border of the parterre, and ran back with it to present to +Lady Arramede.</p> + +<p>Juliet, scarcely disappointed, retreated; and the party advanced in a +body. She would fain have hidden herself, but had no power; the boy, +with romping violence, forcibly detaining her, by loud shrieks, which +rent the air, when she struggled to disengage herself from his hold. +And, as every visitor, however stunned or annoyed, uttered, in +approaching him, the admiring epithets of 'Dear little creature!' 'Sweet +little love!' 'Pretty little dear!' &c. the boy, in common with children +of a larger growth, concluding praise to be approbation, flung himself +upon Juliet, with all his force; protesting that he would give her a +green gown: while all the company,—upon Mrs Ireton's appearing at an +open window of the Temple,—unanimously joined in extolling his +strength, his agility, and his spirited character.</p> + +<p>The wearied and provoked Juliet now seriously and strenuously sought to +disengage herself from the stubborn young athletic; but he clung round +her waist, and was jumping up at her shoulders, to catch at the ribbon +of her hat, when Lady Kendover and her niece, who were the last of the +company that arrived, entered the garden.</p> + +<p>Lady Barbara Frankland no sooner perceived Juliet, and her distress, +than, swift as the wind, breaking from her aunt, she flew forward to +give her succour; seizing the sturdy little assailant by his arms, when +unprepared to defend himself, and twisting him, adroitly, from his prey; +exclaiming, 'You spoilt little wicked creature, beg pardon of that +lovely Miss Ellis directly! this moment!'</p> + +<p>'Ellis! Dear, if it is not Ellis!' cried Selina, now joining them. 'How +glad I am to see you, my dear Ellis! What an age it is since we met!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, whose confidence was somewhat more than staggered in the regard +of Selina, coldly courtsied to her; while, with the warmest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span> gratitude, +she began expressing her acknowledgements for the prompt and generous +kindness of Lady Barbara; when the boy, recovering from his surprise, +and furious at any controul, darted at her ladyship with vindictive +violence; attempting, and intending, to practise upon her the same feats +which had nearly subdued Juliet: but the situation was changed: the +exclamations were reversed; and 'O, you naughty little thing!' 'How can +you be so rude?' 'Fie, child, fie!' were echoed from mouth to mouth; +which every step bent forward to protect 'poor Lady Barbara' from the +troublesome little creature.</p> + +<p>The boy was then seriously made over to his maid, to be new dressed; +with a promise of peaches and sugar plums if he would be so very good a +child, as to submit to the repugnant operations of his toilette, without +crying or fighting.</p> + +<p>The butler now appeared, to announce that the breakfast was ready; and +Juliet saw confirmed, that the party had been invited and expected; +though Mrs Ireton meant to impress her with the magnificent idea, that +this was her common way of life.</p> + +<p>The company all re-entered the house, and all without taking the +smallest notice of Juliet; Lady Barbara excepted, who affectionately +shook hands with her, and warmly regretted that she did not join the +party.</p> + +<p>Juliet, to whom the apparent mystery of her situation offered as much +apology for others, as it brought distress to herself, went back, far +more hurt than offended to the Temple.</p> + +<p>Hence, presently, from under one of the windows, she heard a weak, but +fretful and angry voice, morosely giving impatient reprimands to some +servant, while imperiously refusing to listen to even the most +respectful answer.</p> + +<p>Looking from the window, she saw, and not without concern, from the +contrast to the good humour which she had herself experienced, that this +choleric reproacher was Sir Jaspar Herrington.</p> + +<p>The nursery-maid, who came, soon afterwards, in search of some baubles, +which her young master had left in the Temple; complained that her +mistress's rich brother-in-law, Sir Jaspar, who never entered the house +but upon grand invitations, had been at his usual game of scolding, and +finding fault with all the servants, till they all wished him at +Jericho; sparing nobody but Nanny, whom the men called the Beauty. He +was so particular, when he was in his tantarums, the maid added, that he +was almost as cross as the old lady herself; except, indeed, to his +favourites, and those he could never do enough for.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> But he commanded +about him at such a rate, that Mrs Ireton, she was sure, would never let +him into the house, if it were not in the hope of wheedling him into +leaving the great fortune, that had fallen to him with the name of +Herrington, to the young 'Squire; though the young 'Squire was well +enough off without it; being certain of the Ireton estate, because it +was entailed upon him, if his uncle, Sir Jaspar, should die without +children.</p> + +<p>Juliet did not hear this history of the ill temper of her generous old +beau, without chagrin; but the prating nursery-maid ceased not recording +what she called his tantarums, till the well known sound of his crutches +announced his approach, when she hastily made her exit.</p> + +<p>With the awkward feeling of uncertain opinion, softened off, +nevertheless, by the remembrance of strong personal obligation, Juliet +presented herself at the door, to shew her intention of descending.</p> + +<p>Occupied by the pain of labouring up the steps, he did not raise his +head, or perceive her, till he had reached the threshold of the little +building. His still brilliant eyes became then brighter, and the air of +harsh asperity which, while mounting, his countenance still retained, +from recent anger, was suddenly converted into a look of the most lively +pleasure, and perfect good humour. After touching his hat, and waving +his hand, with an old fashioned, but well bred air of gallantry, he +laughingly confessed, that he had ascended with the view of recruiting +his strength and spirits, by a private visit to the god Morpheus; to +enable him to get through the weighty enterprize, of encountering a +throng of frivolous females, without affronting them by his yawns. 'How +little,' he continued, 'did I imagine myself coming to Sleep's most +resistless conqueror, Delight! If I rouse not now, I must have more +soporiferous qualities than the Sleepers! or even than the Sleeping +Beauty in the Wood, who took a nap of forty years.'</p> + +<p>Then entreating her to be seated, he dropt upon the easy chair, which +had been prepared for Mrs Ireton; and crossed his crutches, as if by +accident, in a manner that prevented her from retreating. She was the +less, however, impatient of this delay, as she saw that the windows +looking from the house into the garden, were filled with company, which +she desired nothing so little as to pass in review.</p> + +<p>Taking, therefore, a place as far from him as was in her power, she made +herself an occupation, in arranging some mulberry leaves for silk-worms.</p> + +<p>The Baronet, whose face expressed encreasing satisfaction at his +situation, courteously sought to draw her into discourse. 'My little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span> +friends,' cried he, smiling, 'who are always at work, have continually +been tormenting me of late, with pinches and twitches, upon my utter +neglect of my sister-in-law, Mrs Ireton. I could not for my life imagine +why they took so prodigious an interest in my visiting her; but they +nipt, and squeezed, and worried me, without intermission; accusing me of +misbehaviour; saying she was my sister-in-law; and ill, and +hypochondriac; and that it was by no means pretty behaved in me, not to +shew her more respect. It was in vain I represented, that she was rich, +and did not want me; or that she was disagreeable, and that I did not +want her; 'twas all one; they insisted I should go: and this morning, +when I would have excused myself from coming to her fine breakfast, they +beset me in so many ways, that I was forced to comply. And now I see +why! Poor, earthly, mundane mortal that I was! I took them for envious +sprites, jealous of my repose! But I see, now, they were only recreative +little sylphs, amusing themselves with whipping and spurring me on to my +own good!'</p> + +<p>And is this, thought Juliet, the man who bears a character of impatience +and ill humour? this man, whose imagination is so playful, and whose +desire to please can only be equalled by his desire to serve?</p> + +<p>'And where,' he continued, 'have you all this time been eclipsed? From +sundry circumstances, that perversely obtruded themselves upon my +knowledge, in defiance of the ill reception I gave them, I was led, at +first, to conclude, that you had been spirited away by Sir Lyell +Sycamore.'</p> + +<p>He fixed his eyes upon her curiously; but the colour that rose in her +cheeks betrayed no secret consciousness; it shewed open resentment.</p> + +<p>'O! I soon saw,' he resumed, as if he had been answered, though she had +not deigned to disclaim an idea that she deemed fitted simply for +contempt; 'by the mortified silence of my young gallant, that the fates +had not been propitious to his wishes. In characters of his description, +success never courts the shade. It basks in the sun-shine, and seeks the +broadest day. How is it that you have thus piqued the vain spark? He +came to me in such a flame, to upbraid me for what he called the cursed +ridiculous dance that I had led him, that I fairly thought he meant to +call me out! I began, directly, to look about me for the stoutest of my +crutches, to parry, for a last minute or two, his broad sword; and to +deliberate which might be the thickest of my leather cushions, to hold +up in my defence, for reverberating the ball, in case he should prefer +pistols. But he deigned, most fortunately, to content himself with only +abusing me: hinting, that such superannuated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span> old geese, as those who +had passed their grand climacteric, ought not to meddle with affairs of +which they must have lost even the memory. I let him bounce off without +any answer; very thankful to the "Sisters three" to feel myself in a +whole skin.'</p> + +<p>Looking at her, then, with an expression of humorous reproach, 'You will +permit me, I hope, at least,' he added, 'to flatter myself, that, when +your indulgence to the garrulity of age has induced you to bear with my +loquacity till I am a little hoarser, your consideration for sore +throats and heated lungs, will prevail upon you to utter a little word +or two in your turn?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, laughing, answered that she had been too well amused, to be +aware how little she had seemed to merit his exertions.</p> + +<p>'Tell me, then,' cried he, with looks that spoke him enchanted by this +reply; 'through what extraordinary mechanism, in the wheel of fortune, +you have been rolled to this spot? The benevolent sprites, who have +urged me hither, have not given me a jot of information how you became +known to Mrs Ireton? By what strange spell have you been drawn in, to +seem an inmate of her mansion? and what philters and potions have you +swallowed, to make you endure her never-ending vagaries?'</p> + +<p>Half smiling, half sighing, Juliet looked down; not willing to accept, +though hardly able to resist, the offered licence for complaint.</p> + +<p>'Make no stranger,' the old Baronet laughingly added, 'of me, I beg! She +is my sister-in-law, to be sure; but the law, with all its subtleties, +had not yet entailed our affections, with our estates, to our relations; +nor articled our tastes, with our jointures, to our dowagers. Use, +therefore, no manner of ceremony! How do you bear with her freaks and +fancies? or rather,—for that is the essential point, why do you bear +with them?'</p> + +<p>'Can that,' said Juliet, 'be a question?'</p> + +<p>'Not a wise one, I confess!' he returned; 'for what but Necessity could +link together two creatures who seem formed to give a view of human +nature diametrically opposite the one from the other? These indeed must +be imps,—and imps of darkness,—who, busy, busy still—delight</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To join the gentle to the rude!<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>that can have coupled so unharmonizing a pair. Hymen, with all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +little active sinister devils in his train, that yoke together, pell +mell, for life, hobbling age with bounding youth; choleric violence with +trembling timidity; haggard care with thoughtless merriment;—Hymen +himself, that marrying little lawyer, who takes upon him to unite what +is most discordant, and to tie together all that is most heterogeneous; +even he, though provided with what is, so justly, called a licence, for +binding together what nature itself seems to sunder; he, even he, I +assert, never buckled in the same noose, two beings so completely and +equally dissimilar, both without and within. Since such, however, has +been the ordinance of these fantastic workers of wonders, will you let +me ask, in what capacity it has pleased their impships to conjure you +hither?'</p> + +<p>Juliet hesitated, and looked ashamed to answer.</p> + +<p>'You are not, I hope,' cried he, fixing upon her his keen eyes, 'one of +those ill-starred damsels, whose task, in the words of Madame de +Maintenon, is to 'amuse the unamuseable?' You are not, I hope, ...' he +stopt, as if seeking a phrase, and then, rather faintly, added, 'her +companion?'</p> + +<p>'Her humble servant, Sir!' with a forced smile, said Juliet; 'and yet, +humbled as I feel myself in that capacity, not humble enough for its +calls!'</p> + +<p>The smiles of the old Baronet vanished in a moment, and an expression of +extreme severity took their place. 'She uses you ill, then?' he +indignantly cried, and, grasping the knobs of his two crutches, he +struck their points against the floor, with a heaviness that made the +little building shake, ejaculating, in a hoarse inward voice, 'Curse +her!'</p> + +<p>Juliet stared at him, affrighted by his violence.</p> + +<p>'Can it be possible,' he cried, 'that so execrable a fate should be +reserved for so exquisite a piece of workmanship? Sweet witch! were I +but ten years younger, I would snatch you from her infernal claws!—or +rather, could I cut off twenty;—yet even then the disparity would be +too great!—thirty years younger,—or perhaps forty,—my hand and +fortune should teach that Fury her distance!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, surprised, and doubting whether what dropt from him were escaped +sincerity, or purposed irony, looked with so serious a perplexity, that, +struck and ashamed, he checked himself; and recovering his usually +polite equanimity, smiled at his own warmth, saying, 'Don't be alarmed, +I beg! Don't imagine that I shall forget myself; nor want to hurry away, +lest my animation should be dangerous! The heat that, at +five-and-twenty, might have fired me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span> into a fever, now raises but a +kindly glow, that stops, or keeps off stagnation. The little sprites, +who hover around me, though they often mischievously spur my poor +fruitless wishes, always take care, by seasonable twitches, in some +vulnerable gouty part, to twirl me from the regions of hope and romance, +to very sober real life!'</p> + +<p>Fearful of appearing distrustful, Juliet looked satisfied, and again he +went on.</p> + +<p>'Since, then, 'tis clear that there can be no danger in so simple an +intercourse, why should I not give myself the gratification of telling +you, that every sight of you does me good? renovates my spirits; +purifies my humours; sweetens my blood; and braces my nerves? Never talk +to me with mockery of fairyism, witchcraft, and sylphs; the real +influence of lovely youth, is a thousand times more wonderful, more +potent, and more incredible! When I have seen you only an instant, I +feel in charity with all mankind for the rest of the day; and, at night, +my kind little friends present you to me again; renew every pleasing +idea; revive the most delightful images; and paint you to me—just such +as I see you at this moment!'</p> + +<p>Juliet, embarrassed, talked of returning to the house.</p> + +<p>'Do you blush?' cried he, with quickness, and evidently increasing +admiration; 'is it possible that you are not enough habituated to +praise, to hear it without modest confusion? I have seen "full many a +lady"—but you—O you!—so perfect and so peerless are created, of every +creature best!'<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>'My whole life has been spent in worshipping beauty, till within these +very few years, when I have gotten something like a surfeit, and meant +to give it over. For I have watched and followed Beauties, till I have +grown sick of them. I have admired fine features, only to be disgusted +with vapid vanity. A face with a little meaning, though as ugly as sin +and satan, I have lately thought worth forty of them! But you—fair +sorceress! you have conjured me round again to my old work! I have found +the spell irresistible. You have such intelligence of countenance; such +spirit with such sweetness, smiles so delicious, though rare! looks so +speaking; grace so silent;—that I forget you are a beauty; and fasten +my eyes upon you, only to understand what you say when you don't utter a +word! That's all! Don't be uneasy, therefore, at my staring. Though, to +be candid, we know ourselves so little,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span> that, 'tis possible, had you +not first caught my eyes as a beauty, I might never have looked at you +long enough to find out your wit!'</p> + +<p>A footman now came to acquaint Sir Jaspar, that the rice-soup, which he +had ordered, was ready; and that the ladies were waiting for the honour +of his company to breakfast.</p> + +<p>'I heartily wish they would wait for my company, till I desire to have +theirs!' Sir Jaspar muttered: but, sensible of the impropriety of a +refusal, arose, and, taking off his hat, with a studied formality, which +he hoped would impress the footman with respect for its object, followed +his messenger: whispering, nevertheless, as he quitted the building, +'Leave you for a breakfast!—I would almost as willingly be immersed in +the witches' cauldron, and boiled into morsels, to become a breakfast +myself, for the amusement of the audience at a theatre!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV" id="CHAPTER_LV"></a>CHAPTER LV</h2> + + +<p>Juliet, who perceived that the windows were still crowded with company, +contentedly kept her place; and, taking up the second volume of the +Guardian, found, in the lively instruction, the chaste morality, and the +exquisite humour of Addison, an enjoyment which no repetition can cloy.</p> + +<p>In a short time, to her great discomposure, she was broken in upon by +Ireton; who, drawing before the door, which he shut, an easy chair, cast +himself indolently upon it, and, stretching out his arms, said, 'Ah ha! +the fair Ellis! How art thee, my dear?'</p> + +<p>Far more offended than surprised by this freedom, Juliet, perceiving +that she could not escape, affected to go on with her reading, as if he +had not entered the building.</p> + +<p>'Don't be angry, my dear,' he continued, 'that I did not speak to you +before all those people. There's no noticing a pretty girl, in public, +without raising such a devil of a clamour, that it's enough to put a man +out of countenance. Besides, Mrs Ireton is such a very particular quiz, +that she would be sure to contrive I should never have a peep at you +again, if once she suspected the pleasure I take in seeing you. However, +I am going to turn a dutiful son, and spend some days here. And, by that +means, we can squeeze an opportunity, now and then, of getting a little +chat together.'</p> + +<p>Juliet could no longer refrain from raising her head, with amazement, at +this familiar assurance: but he went on, totally disregarding the rebuke +of her indignant eye.</p> + +<p>'How do you like your place here, my dear? Mrs Ireton's rather qualmish, +I am afraid. I never can bear to stay with her myself; except when I +have some point to carry. I can't devise what the devil could urge you +to come into such a business. And where's Harleigh? What's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> he about? +Gone to old Nick I hope with all my heart! But you,—why are you +separated? What's the reason you are not with him?'</p> + +<p>Yet more provoked, though determined not to look up again, Juliet fixed +her eyes upon the book.</p> + +<p>Ireton continued: 'What a sly dog he is, that Harleigh! But what the +deuce could provoke him to make me cut such a silly figure before Lord +Melbury, with my apologies, and all that? He took me in, poz! I thought +he'd nothing to do with you. And if you had not had that fainting fit, +at the concert; which I suppose you forgot to give him notice of, that +put him so off his guard, I should have believed all he vowed and swore, +of having no connection with you, and all that, to this very moment.'</p> + +<p>This was too much. Juliet gravely arose, put down her book, and said, +with severity, 'Mr Ireton, you will be so good as to let me pass!'</p> + +<p>'No, not I! No, not I, my dear!' he answered, still lolling at his ease. +'We must have a little chat together first. 'Tis an age since I have +been able to speak with you. I have been confounded discreet, I promise +you. I have not told your secret to a soul.'</p> + +<p>'What secret, Sir?' cried Juliet, hastily.</p> + +<p>'Why who you are, and all that.'</p> + +<p>'If you knew, Sir,' recovering her calmness, she replied, 'I should not +have to defend myself from the insults of a son, while under the +protection of his mother!'</p> + +<p>'Ha! ha! ha!' cried he. 'What a droll piece of dainty delicacy thee art! +I'd give a cool hundred, this moment, only to know what the deuce puts +it into thy little head, to play this farce such a confounded length of +time, before one comes to the catastrophe.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, with a disdainful gesture, again took her book.</p> + +<p>'Why won't you trust me, my dear? You sha'n't repent it, I promise you. +Tell me frankly, now, who are you?—Hay?'</p> + +<p>Juliet only turned over a new leaf of her book.</p> + +<p>'How can you be so silly, child?—Why won't you let me serve you? You +don't know what use I may be of to you. Come, make me your friend! only +trust me, and I'll go to the very devil for you with pleasure.'</p> + +<p>Juliet read on.</p> + +<p>'Come, my love, don't be cross! Speak out! Put aside these dainty airs. +Surely you a'n't such a little fool, as to think to take me in, as you +have done Melbury and Harleigh?'</p> + +<p>Juliet felt her cheeks now heated with increased indignation.</p> + +<p>'As to Melbury,—'tis a mere schoolboy, ready to swallow any thing;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> and +as to Harleigh, he's such a queer, out of the way genius, that he's like +nobody: but as to me, my dear, I'm a man of the world. Not so easily +played upon, I promise you! I have known you from the very beginning! +Found you out at first sight! Only I did not think it worth while +telling you so, while you appeared so confounded ugly. But now that I +see you are such a pretty creature, I feel quite an interest for you. So +tell me who are you? Will you?'</p> + +<p>Somewhat piqued, at length, by her resolute silence, 'Nay,' he added, +with affected scorn, 'don't imagine I have any view! Don't disturb +yourself with any freaks and qualms of that sort. You are a fine girl, +to be sure. Devilish handsome, I own; but still +too—too—grave,—grim,—What the deuce is the word I mean? for my +taste. I like something more buckish. So pray make yourself easy. I +shan't interfere with your two sparks. I am perfectly aware I should +have but a bad chance. I know I am neither as good a pigeon to pluck as +Melbury, nor as marvellous a wight to overcome as Harleigh. But I can't +for my life make out why you don't take to one or t'other of them, and +put yourself at your ease. I'm deadly curious to know what keeps you +from coming to a finish. Melbury would be managed the easiest; but I +strongly suspect you like Harleigh best. What do you turn your back for? +That I mayn't see you blush? Come, come, don't play the baby with a man +of the world like me.'</p> + +<p>To the infinite relief of the disgusted Juliet, she now heard the +approach of some footstep. Ireton, who heard it also, nimbly arose, +and, softly moving his chair from the door, cast half his body out of +the window, and, lolling upon his elbows, began humming an air; as if +totally occupied in regarding the sea.</p> + +<p>A footman, who entered, told Juliet that his lady desired that she would +come to the parlour, to play and sing to the company, while they +breakfasted.</p> + +<p>Juliet, colouring at this unqualified order, hesitated what to answer; +while Ireton, turning round, and pretending not to have heard what was +said, maliciously, made the man repeat, 'My lady, Sir, bid me tell Miss +Ellis, that she must come to play and sing to the company.'</p> + +<p>'Play and sing?' repeated Ireton. 'O the devil! Must we be bored with +playing and singing too? But I did not know breakfast was ready, and I +am half starved.'</p> + +<p>He then sauntered from the building; but the moment that the footman was +out of sight, turned back, to say, 'How devilish provoking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span> to be +interrupted in this manner! How can we contrive to meet again, my dear?'</p> + +<p>The answer of Juliet was shutting and bolting the door.</p> + +<p>His impertinence, however, occupied her mind only while she was under +its influence; the insignificance of his character, notwithstanding the +malice of his temper, made it sink into nothing, to give way to the new +rising difficulty, how she might bear to obey, or how risk to refuse, +the rude and peremptory summons which she had just received. Ought I, +she cried, to submit to treatment so mortifying? Are there no boundaries +to the exactions of prudence upon feeling? or, rather, is there not a +mental necessity, a call of character, a cry of propriety, that should +supersede, occasionally, all prudential considerations, however +urgent?—Oh! if those who receive, from the unequal conditions of life, +the fruits of the toils of others, could,—only for a few +days,—experience, personally, how cruelly those toils are embittered by +arrogance, or how sweetly they may be softened by kindness,—the race of +the Mrs Iretons would become rare,—and Lady Aurora Granville might, +perhaps, be paralleled!</p> + +<p>Yet, with civility, with good manners, had Mrs Ireton made this request; +not issued it as a command by a footman; Juliet felt that, in her +present dependent condition, however ill she might be disposed for +music, or for public exhibition, she ought to yield: and even now, the +horror of having another asylum to seek; the disgrace of seeming driven, +thus continually, from house to house; though they could not lessen her +repugnance to indelicacy and haughtiness, cooled all ardour of desire +for trying yet another change; till she should have raised a sufficient +sum for joining Gabriella; and softening, nay delighting, the future +toils to which she might be destined, by the society of that cherished +friend.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, she was visited by Selina, who, rapturously embracing +her, declared that she could not stay away from her any longer; and +volubly began her usual babble of news and tales; to all which Juliet +gave scarcely the coldest attention; till she had the satisfaction of +hearing that the health of Elinor was re-established.</p> + +<p>Selina then owned that she had been sent by Mrs Ireton, to desire that +Miss Ellis would make more haste.</p> + +<p>Juliet worded a civil excuse; which Selina, with hands uplifted, from +amazement, carried back to the breakfast-room.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards, peals of laughter announced the vicinity of the Miss +Crawleys; who merrily called aloud upon Ireton, to come and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> help them +to haul The Ellis, will ye, nill ye? to the piano-forte, to play and +sing.</p> + +<p>Happy in this intimation of their purpose, Juliet bolted the door; and +would not be prevailed upon to open it, either by their vociferous +prayers, or their squalls of disappointment.</p> + +<p>But, in another minute, a slight rustling sound drawing her eyes to a +window, she saw Ireton preparing to make a forced entry.</p> + +<p>She darted, now, to the door, and, finding the passage clear, as the +Miss Crawleys had gone softly round, to witness the exploit of Ireton, +seized the favourable moment for eluding observation; and was nearly +arrived at the house, before the besiegers of the cage perceived that +the bird was flown.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI" id="CHAPTER_LVI"></a>CHAPTER LVI</h2> + + +<p>The two sisters no sooner discovered the escape of their prey, than, +screaming with violent laughter, they began a romping race in its +pursuit.</p> + +<p>Near the entrance into the hall, Juliet was met by Selina, with commands +from Mrs Ireton, that she would either present herself, immediately, to +the company; or seek another abode.</p> + +<p>In minds of strong sensibility, arrogance rouses resentment more quickly +even than injury: a message so gross, an affront so public, required, +therefore, no deliberation on the part of Juliet; and she was answering +that she would make her preparations to depart; when the Miss Crawleys, +rushing suddenly upon her, exclaimed, with clamourous joy, 'She's +caught! She's caught! The Ellis is caught!' and, each of them seizing a +hand, they dragged her, with merry violence, into the breakfast-room.</p> + +<p>Her hoydening conductors failed not to excite the attention of the whole +assembly; though it fell not, after the first glance, upon themselves. +Juliet, to whom exercise and confusion gave added beauty; and whom no +disorder of attire could rob of an air of decency, which, inherent in +her nature, was always striking in her demeanor; was no sooner seen, +than, whether with censure or applause, she monopolized all remark.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton haughtily bid her approach.</p> + +<p>Averse, yet unwilling to risk the consequences of a public breach, she +slowly advanced.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, with a smile of derision; 'I am +afraid, Ma'am, you have hurried yourself? It is not much above an hour, +I believe, since I did myself the honour of sending for you. I have no +conception how you have been able to arrive so soon! Pray<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span> how far do +you think it may be from hence to the Temple? ten or twelve yards, I +verily believe! You must really be ready to expire!'</p> + +<p>Having constrained herself to hear thus much, Juliet conceived that the +duty even of her humble station could require no more; she made, +therefore, a slight reverence, with intention to withdraw. But Mrs +Ireton, offended, cried, 'Whither may you be going, Ma'am?—And pray, +Ma'am,—if I may take the liberty to ask such a question,—who told you +to go?—Was it I?—Did any body hear me?—Did you, Lady Arramede?—or +you, Miss Brinville?—or only Miss Ellis herself? For, to be sure I must +have done it: I take that for granted: she would not, certainly, think +of going without leave, after I have sent for her. So I make no doubt +but I did it. Though I can't think how it happened, I own. 'Twas +perfectly without knowing it, I confess. In some fit of absence—perhaps +in my sleep;—for I have slept, too, perhaps, without knowing it!'</p> + +<p>Sarcasms so witty, uttered by a lady at an assembly in her own house, +could not fail of being received with applause; and Mrs Ireton, looking +around her triumphantly, regarded the disconcerted Juliet as a +completely vanquished vassal. In a tone, therefore, that marked the most +perfect self-satisfaction, 'Pray, Ma'am,' she continued, 'for what might +you suppose I did myself the favour to want you? was it only to take a +view of your new <i>costume</i>? 'Tis very careless and picturesque, to be +sure, to rove abroad in that agreeable dishabille, just like the "maiden +all forlorn;" or rather to speak with mere exactitude, like the "man all +tattered and torn," for 'tis more properly his <i>costume</i> you adopt, than +the neat, tidy maiden's.'</p> + +<p>The warm-hearted young Lady Barbara, all pity and feeling for Juliet, +here broke from her quiet and cautious aunt, and, with irrepressible +eagerness, exclaimed, 'Mrs Ireton, 'twas Mr Loddard, your own little +naughty nephew, who deranged in that manner the dress of that elegant +Miss Ellis.'</p> + +<p>The Miss Crawleys, now, running to the little boy, called out, 'The +Loddard! the Loddard! 'tis the Loddard has set up the new <i>costume</i>!'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, though affecting to laugh, had now done with the subject; +and, while she was taking a pinch of snuff, to gain time to suggest some +other, Sir Jaspar Herrington, advancing to Juliet, said, 'Has this young +lady no place?' and, gallantly taking her hand, he led her to his own +chair, and walked to another part of the room.</p> + +<p>A civility such as this from Sir Jaspar, made all the elders of the +company stare, and all the younger titter; but the person the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span> +surprized was Mrs Ireton, who hastily called out, 'Miss Ellis would not +do such a thing! Take Sir Jaspar's own seat! That has his own particular +cushions! She could not do such a thing! I should think not, at least! I +may judge ill, but I should think not. A seat prepared for Sir Jaspar by +my own order! Miss Ellis can dispense with having an easy chair, and +three cushions, I should presume! I may be wrong, to be sure, but I +should presume so!'</p> + +<p>'Madam,' answered Sir Jaspar, 'in days of old, I never could bear to +sit, when I saw a lady standing; and though those days are past, alas! +and gone,—still I cannot, even to escape a twitch of the gout, see a +fair female neglected, without feeling a twitch of another kind, that +gives me yet greater pain.'</p> + +<p>'Your politeness, Sir Jaspar,' replied Mrs Ireton, 'we all know; and, if +it were for one of my guests,—but Miss Ellis can hardly desire, I +should suppose, to see you drop down with fatigue, while she is reposing +upon your arm-chair. Not that I pretend to know her way of thinking! I +don't mean that. I don't mean to have it imagined I have the honour of +her confidence; but I should rather suppose she could not insist upon +turning you out of your seat, only to give you a paroxysm of the gout.'</p> + +<p>However internally moved, Juliet endured this harangue in total silence; +convinced that where all authority is on the side of the aggressor, +resistance only provokes added triumph. Her looks, therefore, though +they shewed her to be hurt and offended, evinced a dignified +forbearance, superiour to the useless reproach, and vain retaliation, of +unequal contention.</p> + +<p>She rose, nevertheless, from the seat which she had only momentarily, +and from surprise occupied, and would have quitted the room, but that +she saw she should again be publicly called back; and hers was not a +situation for braving open enmity. She thankfully, however, accepted a +chair which was brought to her by Sir Marmaduke Crawley, and placed next +to that which had been vacated by the old Baronet; who then returned to +his own.</p> + +<p>She now hoped to find some support from his countenance; as his powerful +situation in the house, joined to his age, would make his smallest +attention prove to her a kind of protection. Her expectation, however, +was disappointed: he did not address to her a word; or appear to have +ever beheld her before; and his late act of politeness seemed exerted +for a perfect stranger, from habitual good breeding.</p> + +<p>And is it you, thought the pensive Juliet, who, but a few minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span> +since, spoke to me with such flattery, such preference? with an even +impassioned regard? And shall this so little assembly guide and awe you? +There, where I wished upon me your compliments;—while here, where a +smile would be encouragement, where notice would be charity, you affect +to have forgotten, or appear never to have seen me! Ah! mentally +continued the silent moralist, if we reflected upon the difficulty of +gaining esteem; upon the chances against exciting affection; upon the +union of time and circumstance necessary for obtaining sincere regard; +we should require courage to withhold, not to follow, the movement of +kindness, that, where distress sighs for succour, where helplessness +solicits support, gives power to the smallest exertion, to a single +word, to a passing smile,—to bestow a favour, and to do a service, that +catch, in the brief space of a little moment, a gratitude that never +dies!</p> + +<p>But, while thus to be situated, was pain and dejection to Juliet, to see +her seated, however unnoticed, in the midst of this society, was almost +equally irksome to Mrs Ireton; who, after some vain internal fretting, +ordered the butler to carry about refreshments; consoled with the +certainty, that he would as little dare present any to Juliet, as omit +to present them to every one else.</p> + +<p>The smiles and best humour of Mrs Ireton now soon returned; for the +dependent state of Juliet became more than ever conspicuous, when thus +decidedly she was marked as the sole person, in a large assembly, that +the servants were permitted, if not instructed to neglect.</p> + +<p>Juliet endeavoured to sit tranquil, and seem unconcerned; but her +fingers were in continual motion; her eyes, meaning to look no where, +looked every where; and Mrs Ireton had the gratification to perceive, +that, however she struggled for indifference, she was fully sensible of +the awkwardness of her situation.</p> + +<p>But this was no sooner remarked by Lady Barbara Frankland, than, +starting with vivacity from her vainly watchful aunt, she flew to her +former instructress, crying, 'Have you taken nothing yet, Miss Ellis? O +pray, then, let me chuse your ice for you?'</p> + +<p>She ran to a side-board, and selecting the colour most pleasing to her +eyes, hastened with it to the blushing, but relieved and grateful +Juliet; to whom this benevolent attention seemed instantly to restore +the self-command, that pointed indignities, and triumphant derision, +were sinking into abashed depression.</p> + +<p>The sensation produced by this action in Mrs Ireton, was as ungenial as +that which it caused to Juliet was consolatory. She could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span> for a +moment endure to see the creature of her power, whom she looked upon as +destined for the indulgence of her will, and the play of her authority, +receive a mark of consideration which, if shewn even to herself, would +have been accepted as a condescension. Abruptly, therefore, while they +were standing together, and conversing, she called out, 'Is it possible, +Miss Ellis, that you can see the child in such imminent danger, and stay +there amusing yourself?'</p> + +<p>Lady Kendover hastily called off her young niece; and Juliet, sighing +crossed over the room, to take charge of the little boy, who was sitting +astraddle out of one of the windows.</p> + +<p>'But I had flattered myself,' cried Sir Marmaduke Crawley, addressing +Mrs Ireton, 'that we should have a little music?'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, to whom the talents of Juliet gave pleasure in proportion +only to her own repugnance to bringing them into play, had relinquished +the projected performance, when she perceived the general interest which +was excited by the mere appearance of the intended performer. She +declared herself, therefore, so extremely fearful lest some mischief +should befall her little nephew, that she could not possibly trust him +from the care of Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>Half the company, now, urged by the thirst of fresh amusement, professed +the most passionate fondness for children, and offered their services to +watch the dear, sweet little boy, while Miss Ellis should play or sing; +but the averseness] of Ellis remained uncombated by Mrs Ireton, and, +therefore, unconquered.</p> + +<p>The party was preparing to break up, when Mr Giles Arbe entered the +room, to apologize for the non-appearance of Miss Arbe, his cousin, who +had bid him bring words, he said, that she was taken ill.</p> + +<p>Ireton, by a few crafty questions, soon drew from him, that Miss Arbe +was only gone to a little private music-meeting at Miss Sycamore's: +though, affrighted when he had made the confession, he entreated Mrs +Ireton not to take it amiss; protesting that it was not done in any +disrespect to her, but merely because his cousin was more amused at Miss +Sycamore's.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, extremely piqued, answered, that she should be very careful, +in future, not to presume to make an invitation to Miss Arbe, but in a +total dearth of other entertainment; in a famine; or public fast.</p> + +<p>But, the moment he sauntered into another room, to partake of some +refreshments, 'That old savage,' she cried, 'is a perfect horrour! He +has not a single atom of common sense; and if he were not Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span> Arbe's +cousin, one must tell one's butler to shew him the door. At least, such +is my poor opinion. I don't pretend to be a judge; but such is my +notion!'</p> + +<p>'O! I adore him!' cried Miss Crawley. 'He makes me laugh till I am ready +to die! He has never a guess what he is about; and he never hears a word +one says. And he stares so when one laughs at him! O! he's the +delightfullest, stupidest, dear wretch that breathes!'</p> + +<p>'O! I can't look at him without laughing!' exclaimed Miss Di. 'He's the +best thing in nature! He's delicious! enchanting! delightful! O! so dear +a fool!'</p> + +<p>'He is quite unfit,' said Mrs Maple, 'for society; for he says every +thing that comes uppermost, and has not the least idea of what is due to +people.'</p> + +<p>'O! he is the sweetest-tempered, kindest-hearted creature in the world!' +exclaimed Lady Barbara. 'My aunt's woman has heard, from Miss Arbe's +maid, all his history. He has quite ruined himself by serving poor +people in distress. He is so generous, he can never pronounce a +refusal.'</p> + +<p>'But he dresses so meanly,' said Miss Brinville, 'that mamma and I have +begged Miss Arbe not to bring him any more to see us. Besides,—he tells +every thing in the world to every body.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Miss Arbe a'n't to blame, I assure you, Miss Brinville,' said +Selina; 'for she dislikes him as much as you do; only when her papa +invited him to live with them, he was very rich; and it was thought he +would leave all his fortune to them. But, since then, Miss Arbe says, he +is grown quite poor; for he has dawdled away almost all his money, in +one way or another; letting folks out of prison, setting people up in +business, and all that.'</p> + +<p>'O! he's the very king of quizzes!' cried Ireton. 'He drags me out of +the spleen, when I feel as if there were no possibility I could yawn on +another half hour.'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar now, looking with an air of authority towards Ireton, said, +'It would have been your good star, not your evil genius, by which you +would have been guided, Mr Ireton, had you been attracted to this old +gentleman as to an example, rather than as a butt for your wit. He has +very good parts, if he knew how to make use of them; though he has a +simplicity of manners, that induces common observers to conclude him to +be nearly an ideot. And, indeed, an absent man seems always in a state +of childhood; for as he is never occupied with what is present, those +who think of nothing else, naturally take it for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span> granted that what +passes is above his comprehension; when perhaps, it is only below his +attention. But with Mr Arbe, though his temper is incomparably good and +placid, absence is neither want of understanding, nor of powers of +observation; for, when once he is awakened to what is passing, by any +thing that touches his feelings of humanity, or his sense of justice, +his seeming stupor turns to energy; his silence is superseded by +eloquence; and his gentle diffidence is supplanted by a mental courage, +which electrifies with surprize, from its contrast with his general +docility; and which strikes, and even awes, from an apparent dignity of +defying consequence;—though, in fact, it is but the effect of never +weighing them. Such, however, as he is, Mr Ireton, with the +singularities of his courage, or the oddities of his passiveness, he is +a man who is useful to the world, from his love of doing good; and happy +in himself, from the serenity of a temper unruffled by any species of +malignity.'</p> + +<p>Ireton ventured not to manifest any resentment at this conclusion; but +when, by his embarrassed air, Sir Jaspar saw that it was understood, he +smiled, and more gaily added, 'If the fates, the sisters three, and such +little branches of learning, had had the benevolence to have fixed my +own birth under the influence of the same planet with that of Mr Giles +Arbe, how many twitches, goadings, and worries should I have been +spared, from impatience, ambition, envy, discontent, and ill will!'</p> + +<p>The subject was here dropt, by the re-entrance of Mr Arbe; who, +observing Selina, said that he wanted prodigiously to enquire about her +poor aunt, whom, lately, he had met with no where; though she used to be +every where.</p> + +<p>'My aunt, Sir?—She's there!' said Selina, pointing to Mrs Maple.</p> + +<p>'No, no, I don't mean that aunt; I mean your young aunt, that used to be +so all alive and clever. What's become of her?'</p> + +<p>'O, I dare say it's my sister you are thinking of?'</p> + +<p>'Ay, it's like enough; for she's young enough, to be sure; only you look +such a mere child. Pray how is she now? I was very sorry to hear of her +cutting her throat.'</p> + +<p>A titter, which was immediately exalted into a hearty laugh by the Miss +Crawleys, was all the answer.</p> + +<p>'It was not right to do such a thing,' he continued; 'very wrong indeed. +There's no need to be afraid of not dying soon enough, for we only come +to be gone! I pitied her, however, with all my heart, for love is but a +dangerous thing; it makes older persons than she is go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span> astray, one way +or other. And it was but unkind of Mr Harleigh not to marry her, whether +he liked or not, to save her from such a naughty action. And pray what +is become of that pretty creature that used to teach you all music? I +have enquired for her at Miss Matson's, often; but I always forgot where +they said she was gone. Indeed they made me a little angry about her, +which, probably, was the reason that I could never recollect what they +told me of her direction.'</p> + +<p>'Angry, Mr Giles?' repeated Mrs Ireton, with an air of restored +complacency; 'What was it, then, they said of her? Not that I am very +curious to hear it, as I presume you will believe! You won't imagine it, +I presume, a matter of the first interest to me!'</p> + +<p>'O, what they said of her was very bad! very bad, indeed; and that's the +reason I give no credit to it.'</p> + +<p>'Well, well, but what was it?' cried Ireton.</p> + +<p>'Why they told me that she was turned toad-eater.'</p> + +<p>Universal and irresistible smiles throughout the whole company, to the +exception of Lady Barbara and Sir Jaspar, now heightened the +embarrassment of Juliet into pain and distress: but the young Loddard +every moment struggled to escape into the garden, through the window; +and she did not dare quit her post.</p> + +<p>'So I asked them what they meant,' Mr Giles continued; 'for I never +heard of any body's eating toads; though I am assured our neighbours, on +t'other bank, are so fond of frogs. But they made it out, that it only +meant a person who would swallow any thing, bad or good; and do whatever +he was bid, right or wrong; for the sake of a little pay.'</p> + +<p>This definition by no means brought the assembly back to its gravity; +but while Juliet, ashamed and indignant, kept her face turned constantly +towards the garden, Ireton called out, 'Why you don't speak to your +little friend, Loddard, Mr Giles. There he is, at the window.'</p> + +<p>Mr Giles now, notwithstanding her utmost efforts to avoid his eyes, +perceived the blushing Juliet; though, doubting his sight, he stared and +exclaimed, 'Good la! that lady's very like Miss Ellis! And, I protest, +'tis she herself! And just as pretty as ever! And with the same innocent +face that not a soul can either buy or make, but God Almighty himself!'</p> + +<p>He then enquired after her health and welfare, with a cordiality that +somewhat lessened the pain caused by the general remark that was +produced by his address: but the relief was at an end upon his adding, +'I wanted to see you prodigiously, for I have never forgotten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span> your +paying your debts so prettily, against your will, that morning. It fixed +you in my good opinion. I hope, however, it is a mistake, what they tell +me, that you are turned what they call toad-eater? and have let yourself +out, at so much a year, to say nothing that you think; and to do nothing +that you like; and to beg pardon when you are not in fault; and to eat +all the offals; and to be beat by the little gentleman; and worried by +the little dog? I hope all that's mere misapprehension, my dear; for it +would be but a very mean way of getting money.'</p> + +<p>The calmness of conscious superiority, with which Juliet heard the +beginning of these interrogatories, was converted into extreme +confusion, by their termination, from the appearance of justice which +the incidents of the morning had given to the attack.</p> + +<p>'For now,' continued he, 'that you have paid all your debts, you ought +to hold up your head; for, where nothing is owing, we are all of us +equal, rich and poor; another man's riches no more making him my +superiour, or benefactor, if I do not partake of them, than my poverty +makes me his servant, or dependent, if I neither work for, nor am +benefited by him. And I am your witness that you gave every one his due. +So don't let any body put you out of your proper place.'</p> + +<p>The mortification of Juliet, at this public exhortation, upon a point so +delicate, was not all that she had to endure: the little dog, who, +though incessantly tormented by the little boy, always followed him; +kept scratching her gown; to be helped up to the window, that he might +play with, or snarl at him, more at his ease; and the boy, making a whip +of his pocket-handkerchief, continually attracted, though merely to +repulse him; while Juliet, seeking alternately to quiet both, had not a +moment's rest.</p> + +<p>'Why now, what's all this my pretty lady?' cried Mr Giles, perceiving +her situation. 'Why do you let those two plagueful things torment you +so? Why don't you teach them to be better behaved.'</p> + +<p>'Miss Ellis would be vastly obliging, certainly,' with a supercilious +brow, said Mrs Ireton, 'to correct my nephew! I don't in the least mean +to contest her abilities for superintending his chastisement; not in the +least, I assure you! But only, as I never heard of my brother's giving +her such a <i>carte blanche</i>; and as I don't recollect having given it +myself,—although I may have done it, again, perhaps, in my sleep!—I +should be happy to learn by what authority she would be invested with +such powers of discipline?'</p> + +<p>'By what authority? That of humanity, Ma'am! Not to spoil a poor +ignorant little fellow-creature; nor a poor innocent little beast.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span></p> + +<p>'It would be immensely amiable of her, Sir, no doubt,' said Mrs Ireton, +reddening, 'to take charge of the morals of my household; immensely! I +only hope you will be kind enough to instruct the young person, at the +same time, how she may hold her situation? That's all! I only hope +that!'</p> + +<p>'How? Why by doing her duty! If she can't hold it by that, 'tis her duty +to quit it. Nobody is born to be trampled upon.'</p> + +<p>'I hope, too, soon,' said Mrs Ireton, scoffingly, 'nobody will be born +to be poor!'</p> + +<p>'Good! true!' returned he, nodding his head. 'Nobody should be poor! +That is very well said. However, if you think her so poor, I can give +you the satisfaction to shew you your mistake. She mayn't, indeed, be +very rich, poor lady, at bottom; but still—'</p> + +<p>'No, indeed, am I not!' hastily cried Juliet, frightened at the +communication which she saw impending.</p> + +<p>'But still,' continued he, 'if she is poor, it is not for want of money; +nor for want of credit, neither; for she has bank-notes in abundance in +one of her work-bags; and not a penny of them is her own! which shews +her to be a person of great honour.'</p> + +<p>Every one now looked awakened to a new curiosity; and Selina exclaimed, +'O la! have you got a fortune, then, my dear Ellis? O! I dare say, then, +my guess will prove true at last! for I dare say you are a princess in +disguise?'</p> + +<p>'As far as disguise goes, Selina,' answered Mrs Maple, 'we have never, I +think, disputed! but as to a princess!...'</p> + +<p>'A princess?' repeated Mrs Ireton. 'Upon my word, this is an honour I +had not imagined! I own my stupidity! I can't but own my stupidity; but +I really had never imagined myself so much honoured, as to suspect that +I had a princess under my roof, who was so complaisant as to sing, and +play, and read to me, at my pleasure; and to study how to amuse and +divert me! I confess, I had never suspected it! I am quite ashamed of my +total want of sagacity; but it had never occurred to me!'</p> + +<p>'And why not, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why may not a princess be pretty, +and complaisant, and know how to sing and play, and read, as well as +another lady? She is just as able to learn as you, or any common person. +I never heard that a princess took her rank in the place of her +faculties. I know no difference; except that, if she does the things +with good nature, you ought to love and honour her the double, in +consideration of the great temptation she has to be proud<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span> and idle, and +to do nothing. We all envy the great, when we ought only to revere them +if they are good, and to pity them if they are bad; for they have the +same infirmities that we have; and nobody that dares put them in mind of +them: so that they often go to the grave, before they find out that they +are nothing but poor little men and women, like the rest of us. For my +part, when I see them worthy, and amiable, I look up to them as +prodigies! Whereas, a common person, such as you, or I, Ma'am,—'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, unable to bear this phrase, endeavoured to turn the +attention of the company into another channel, by abruptly calling upon +Juliet to go to the piano-forte.</p> + +<p>Juliet entreated to be excused.</p> + +<p>'Excused? And why, Ma'am? What else have you got to do? What are your +avocations? I shall really take it as a favour to be informed.'</p> + +<p>'Don't teize her, pretty lady; don't teize her,' cried Mr Giles. 'If she +likes to sing, it's very agreeable; but if not, don't make a point of +it, for it's not a thing at all essential.'</p> + +<p>'Likes it?' repeated Mrs Ireton, superciliously; 'We must do nothing, +then, but what we like? Even when we are in other people's houses? Even +when we exist only through the goodness of some of our superiours? Still +we are to do only what we like? I am quite happy in the information! +Extremely obliged for it, indeed! It will enable me, I hope, to rectify +the gross errour of which I have been guilty; for I really did not know +I had a young lady in my house, who was to make her will and taste the +rule for mine! and, as I suppose, to have the goodness to direct my +servants; as well as to take the trouble to manage me. I knew nothing of +all this, I protest. I thought, on the contrary, I had engaged a young +person, who would never think of taking such a liberty as to give her +opinion; but who would do, as she ought, with respect and submission, +whatever I should indicate.'—</p> + +<p>'Good la, Ma'am,' interrupted Mr Giles: 'Why that would be leading the +life of a slave! And that, I suppose, is what they meant, all this time, +by a toad-eater. However, don't look so ashamed, my pretty dear, for a +toad-eater-maker is still worse! Fie, fie! What can rich people be +thinking of, to lay out their money in buying their fellow-creatures' +liberty of speech and thought! and then paying them for a bargain which +they ought to despise them for selling?'</p> + +<p>This unexpected retort turning the smiles of the assembly irresistibly +against the lady of the mansion, she hastily renewed her desire that +Juliet would sing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Sing, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why a merry-andrew could not do it, +after being so affronted! Bless my heart! Tell a human being that she +must only move to and fro, like a machine? Only say what she is bid, +like a parrot? Employ her time, call forth her talents, exact her +services, yet not let her make any use of her understanding? Neither say +what she approves, nor object to what she dislikes? Poor, pretty young +thing! You were never so much to be pitied, in the midst of your worst +distresses, as when you were relived upon such terms! Fie upon it, +fie!—How can great people be so little?'</p> + +<p>The mingled shame and resentment of Mrs Ireton, at a remonstrance so +extraordinary and so unqualified, were with difficulty kept within the +bounds of decorum; for though she laughed, and affected to be extremely +diverted, her laugh was so sharp, and forced, that it wounded every ear; +and, through the amusement that she pretended to receive, it was obvious +that she suffered torture, in restraining herself from ordering her +servants to turn the orator out of the room.</p> + +<p>With looks much softened, though in a manner scarcely less fervent, Mr +Giles then, approaching Juliet, repeated, 'Don't be cast down I say, my +pretty lady! You are none the worse for all this. The thing is but +equal, at last; so we must not always look at the bad side of our fate. +State every thing fairly; you have got your talents, your prettiness, +and your winning ways,—but you want these ladies' wealth: they, have +got their wealth, their grandeur, and their luxuries; but they want your +powers of amusing. You can't well do without one another. So it's best +be friends on both sides.'</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, now, dying to give some vent to her spleen, darted the full +venom of her angry eyes upon Juliet, and called out, 'You don't see, I +presume, Miss Ellis, what a condition Bijou has put that chair in? 'T +would be too great a condescension for you, I suppose, just to give it a +little pat of the hand, to shake off the crumbs? Though it is not your +business, I confess! I confess that it is not your business! Perhaps, +therefore, I am guilty of an indiscretion in giving you such a hint. +Perhaps I had better let Lady Kendover, or Lady Arramede, or Mrs +Brinville, or any other of the ladies, sit upon the dirt, and soil their +clothes? You may think, perhaps, that it will be for the advantage of +the mercer, or the linen-draper? You may be considering the good of +trade? or perhaps you may think I may do such sort of menial offices for +myself?'</p> + +<p>However generally power may cause timidity, arrogance, in every generous +mind, awakens spirit; Juliet, therefore, raising her head, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span> +clearing her countenance, with a modest, but firm step, moved silently +towards the door.</p> + +<p>Astonished and offended, 'Permit me, Madam,' cried Mrs Ireton; 'permit +me, Miss Ellis,—if it is not taking too great a liberty with a person +of your vast consequence,—permit me to enquire who told you to go?'</p> + +<p>Juliet turned back her head, and quietly answered, 'A person, Madam, who +has not the honour to be known to you,—myself!' And then steadily left +the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII" id="CHAPTER_LVII"></a>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + + +<p>An answer so little expected, from one whose dependent state had been so +freely discussed, caused a general surprize, and an almost universal +demand of who the young person might be, and what she could mean. The +few words that had dropt from her had as many commentators as hearers. +Some thought their inference important; others, their mystery +suspicious; and others mocked their assumption of dignity. Tears started +into the eyes of Lady Barbara; while those of Sir Jaspar were fixed, +meditatively, upon the head of his crutch; but the complacent smile of +admiration, exhibited by Mr Giles, attracted the notice of the whole +assembly, by the peals of laughter which it excited in the Miss +Crawleys.</p> + +<p>With rage difficultly disguised without, but wholly ungovernable within, +Mrs Ireton would instantly have revenged what she considered as the most +heinous affront that she had ever received, by expelling its author +ignominiously from her house, but for the still sharpened curiosity with +which her pretentions to penetration became piqued, from the general cry +of 'How very extraordinary that Mrs Ireton has never been able to +discover who she is!'</p> + +<p>When Juliet, therefore, conceiving her removal from this mansion to be +as inevitable, as her release from its tyranny was desirable, made +known, as soon as the company was dispersed, that she was ready to +depart; she was surprised by a request, from Mrs Ireton, to stay a day +or two longer; for the purpose of taking care of Mr Loddard the +following morning; as Mrs Ireton, who had no one with whom she could +trust such a charge, had engaged herself to join a party to see Arundel +Castle.</p> + +<p>Little as Juliet felt disposed to renew her melancholy wanderings, her +situation in this house appeared to her so humiliating, nay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span> degrading, +that neither this message, nor the fawning civilities with which, at +their next meeting, Mrs Ireton sought to mitigate her late asperity, +could prevail with her to consent to any delay beyond that which was +necessary for obtaining the counsel of Gabriella; to whom she wrote a +detailed account of what had passed; adding, 'How long must I thus waste +my time and my existence, separated from all that can render them +valuable, while fastened upon by constant discomfort and disgust? O +friend of my heart, friend of my earliest years, earliest feelings, +juvenile happiness,—and, alas! maturer sorrows! why must we thus be +sundered in adversity? Oh how,—with three-fold toil, should I revive by +the side of my beloved Gabriella!—Dear to me by every tie of tender +recollection; dear to me by the truest compassion for her sufferings, +and reverence for her resignation; and dear to me,—thrice dear! by the +sacred ties of gratitude, which bind me for ever to her honoured mother, +and to her venerated, saint-like uncle, my pious benefactor!'</p> + +<p>She then tenderly proposed their immediate re-union, at whatever cost of +fatigue, or risk, it might be obtained; and besought Gabriella to seek +some small room, and to enquire for some needle-work; determining to +appropriate to a journey to town, the little sum which she might have to +receive for the long and laborious fortnight, which she had consigned to +the terrible enterprize of aiming at amusing, serving, or interesting, +one whose sole taste of pleasure consisted in seeking, like Strife, in +Spenser's Fairy Queen, occasion for dissension.</p> + +<p>With the apprehension, however, of losing, the desire of retaining her +always revived; and now, as usual, proved some check to the recreations +of spleen, in which Mrs Ireton ordinarily indulged herself. Yet, even in +the midst of intended concession, the love of tormenting was so +predominant, that, had the resolution of Juliet still wavered, whether +to seek some new retreat, or still to support her present irksome +situation, all indecision would have ceased from fresh disgust, at the +sneers which insidiously found their way through every effort at +civility. What had dropt from Mr Giles Arbe, relative to the bank-notes, +had excited curiosity in all; tinted, in some, with suspicion, and, in +Mrs Ireton, blended with malignity and wrath, that a creature whom she +pleased herself to consider, and yet more to represent, as dependent +upon her bounty for sustinence, should have any resources of her own. +Nor was this displeasure wholly free from surmises the most disgraceful; +though to those she forbore to give vent, conscious that to suggest them +would stamp with impropriety all further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span> intercourse with their object. +And a moment that offered new food for inquisition, was the last to +induce Mrs Ireton to relinquish her <i>protegée</i>. She confined her +sarcasms, therefore, when she could not wholly repress them, to oblique +remarks upon the happiness of those who were able to lay by private +stores for secret purposes; lamenting that such was not her fate; yet +congratulating herself that she might now sleep in peace, with respect +to any creditors; since, should she be threatened with an execution, her +house had a rich inmate, by whom she flattered herself that she should +be assisted to give bail.</p> + +<p>Already, the next morning, her resolution with regard to her nephew was +reversed; and, the child desiring the change of scene, she gave +directions that Miss Ellis should prepare herself to take him in charge +during the excursion.</p> + +<p>But Juliet was now initiated in the services and the endurance of an +humble companion in public; she offered, therefore, to amuse and to +watch him at home, but decidedly refused to attend him abroad; and her +evident indifference whether to stay or begone herself, forced Mrs +Ireton to deny the humoured boy his intended frolic.</p> + +<p>Little accustomed to any privation, and totally unused to +disappointment, the young gentleman, when his aunt was preparing to +depart, had recourse to his usual appeals against restraint or +authority, clamourous cries and unappeasable blubbering. Juliet, to +whose room he refused to mount, was called upon to endeavour to quiet +him, and to entice him into the garden; that he might not hear the +carriage of his aunt draw up to the door.</p> + +<p>But this commission the refractory spirit of the young heir made it +impossible to execute, till he overheard a whisper to Juliet, that she +would take care, should Mr Loddard chuse to go to the Temple, to place +the silk-worms above his reach.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, then, he sprang from his consolers and attendants, to run +forward to the forbidden fruit; and, with a celerity that made it +difficult for Juliet, even with her utmost speed, and longer limbs, to +arrive at the spot in time to prevent the mischief for which she saw him +preparing. She had just, however, succeeded, in depositing the menaced +insects upon a high bracket, when a footman came to whisper to her the +commands of his lady, that she would detain Mr Loddard till the party +should be set off.</p> + +<p>Before the man had shut himself out, Ireton, holding up his finger to +him in token of secresy, slipt past him into the little building; and, +having turned the key on the inside, and put it into his pocket, said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span> +'I'll stand centinel for little Pickle!' and flung himself, loungingly, +upon an arm chair.</p> + +<p>Confounded by this action, yet feeling it necessary to appear +unintimidated, Juliet affected to occupy herself with the silk-worms; of +which the young gentleman now, eager to romp with Ireton, thought no +more.</p> + +<p>'At last, then, I have caught you, my skittish dear!' cried Ireton, +while jumping about the little boy, to keep him in good humour. 'I have +had the devil of a difficulty to contrive it. However, I shall make +myself amends now, for they are all going to Arundel Castle, and you and +I can pass the morning together.'</p> + +<p>The indignant look which this boldness excited, he pretended not to +observe, and went on.</p> + +<p>'I can't possibly be easy without having a little private chat with you. +I must consult you about my affairs. I want devilishly to make you my +friend. You might be capitally useful to me. And you would find your +account in it, I promise you. What sayst thee, my pretty one?'</p> + +<p>Juliet, not appearing to hear him, changed the leaves of the silk-worms.</p> + +<p>'Can you guess what it is brings me hither to old madam my mother's? It +is not you, with all your beauty, you arch prude; though I have a great +enjoyment in looking at you and your blushes, which are devilishly +handsome, I own; yet, to say the truth, you are not—all together—I +don't know how it is—but you are not—upon the whole—quite exactly to +my taste. Don't take it ill, my love, for you are a devilish fine girl. +I own that. But I want something more skittish, more wild, more +eccentric. If I were to fix my fancy upon such symmetry as you, I should +be put out of my way every moment. I should always be thinking I had +some Minerva tutoring, or some Juno awing me. It would not do at all. I +want something of another cast; something that will urge me when I am +hippish, without keeping me in order when I am whimsical. Something +frisky, flighty, fantastic,—yet panting, blushing, dying with love for +me!—'</p> + +<p>Neither contempt nor indignation were of sufficient force to preserve +the gravity of Juliet, at this unexpected ingenuousness of vanity.</p> + +<p>'You smile!' he cried; 'but if you knew what a deuced difficult thing it +is, for a man who has got a little money, to please himself, you would +find it a very serious affair. How the deuce can he be sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span> whether a +woman, when once he has married her, would not, if her settlement be to +her liking, dance at his funeral? The very thought of that would either +carry me off in a fright within a month, or make me want to live for +ever, merely to punish her. It's a hard thing having money! a deuced +hard thing! One does not know who to trust. A poor man may find a wife +in a moment, for if he sees any one that likes him, he knows it is for +himself; but a rich man,—as Sir Jaspar says,—can never be sure whether +the woman who marries him, would not, for the same pin-money, just as +willingly follow him to the outside of the church, as to the inside!'</p> + +<p>At the name of Sir Jaspar, Juliet involuntarily gave some attention, +though she would make no reply.</p> + +<p>'From the time,' continued Ireton, 'that I heard him pronounce those +words, I have never been able to satisfy myself; nor to find out what +would satisfy me. At least not till lately; and now that I know what I +want, the difficulty of the business is to get it! And this is what I +wish to consult with you about; for you must know, my dear, I can never +be happy without being adored.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, now, was surprised into suddenly looking at him, to see whether +he were serious.</p> + +<p>'Yes, adored! loved to distraction! I must be idolized for myself, +myself alone; yet publicly worshiped, that all mankind may see,—and +envy,—the passion I have been able to inspire!'</p> + +<p>Suspecting that he meant some satire upon Elinor, Juliet again fixed her +eyes upon her silk-worms.</p> + +<p>'So you don't ask me what it is that makes me so devilish dutiful all of +a sudden, in visiting my mamma? You think, perhaps, I have some debts to +pay? No; I have no taste for gaming. It's the cursedest fatiguing thing +in the world. If one don't mind what one's about, one is blown up in a +moment; and to be always upon one's guard, is worse than ruin itself. So +I am upon no coaxing expedition, I give you my word. What do you think +it is, then, that brings me hither? Cannot you guess?—Hay?—Why it is +to arrange something, somehow or other, for getting myself from under +this terrible yoke, that seems upon the point of enslaving me. My neck +feels galled by it already! I have naturally no taste for matrimony. And +now that the business seems to be drawing to a point, and I am called +upon to name my lawyer, and cavilled with to declare, to the uttermost +sixpence, what I will do, and what I will give, to make my wife merry +and comfortable upon my going out of the world,—I protest I shudder +with horrour!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span> I think there is nothing upon earth so mercenary, as a +young nymph upon the point of becoming a bride!'</p> + +<p>'Except,—' Juliet here could not resist saying, 'except the man,—young +or old,—who is her bridegroom!'</p> + +<p>'O, that's another thing! quite another thing! A man must needs take +care of his house, and his table, and all that: but the horridest thing +I know, is the condition tied to a man's obtaining the hand of a young +woman; he can never solicit it, but by giving her a prospect of his +death-bed! And she never consents to live with him, till she knows what +she may gain by his dying! Tis the most shocking style of making love +that can be imagined. I don't like it, I swear! What, now, would you +advise me to do?'</p> + +<p>'I?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; you know the scrape I am in, don't you? Sir Jaspar's estate, in +case he should have no children, is entailed upon me; and, in case I +should have none neither, is entailed upon a cousin; the heaviest dog +you ever saw in your life, whom he hates and despises; and whom I wish +at old Nick with all my heart, because I know he, and all his family, +will wish me at the devil myself, if I marry; and, if I have children, +will wish them and my wife there. I hate them all so heartily, that, +whenever I think of them, I am ready, in pure spite, to be tied to the +first girl that comes in my way: but, when I think of myself, I am taken +with a fit of fright, and in a plaguey hurry to cut the knot off short. +And this is the way I have got the character of a male jilt. But I don't +deserve it, I assure you; for of all the females with whom I have had +these little engagements, there is not one whom I have seriously thought +of marrying, after the first half hour. They none of them hit my fancy +further than to kill a little time.'</p> + +<p>The countenance of Juliet, though she neither deigned to speak nor to +turn to him, marked such strong disapprobation, that he thought proper +to add, 'Don't be affronted for little Selina Joddrel: I really meant to +marry her at the time; and I should really have gone on, and "buckled +to," if the thing had been any way possible: but she turns out such a +confounded little fool, that I can't think of her any longer.'</p> + +<p>'And was it necessary,—' Juliet could not refrain from saying, 'to +engage her first, and examine whether she could make you happy +afterwards?'</p> + +<p>'Why that seems a little awkward, I confess; but it's a way I have +adopted. Though I took the decision, I own, rather in a hurry, with +regard to little Selina; for it was merely to free myself from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span> +reproaches of Sir Jaspar, who, because he is seventy-five, and does not +know what to do with himself, is always regretting that he did not take +a wife when he was a stripling; and always at work to get me into the +yoke. But, the truth is, I promised, when I went abroad, to bring him +home a niece from France, or Italy; unless I went further east; and then +I would look him out a fair Circassian. Now as he has a great taste for +any thing out of the common way, and retains a constant hankering after +Beauty, he was delighted with the scheme. But I saw nothing that would +do! Nothing I could take to! The pretty ones were all too buckish; and +the steady ones, a set of the yellowest frights I ever beheld.'</p> + +<p>'Alas for the poor ladies!'</p> + +<p>'O, you are a mocker, are you?—So to lighten the disappointment to Sir +Jaspar, I hit upon the expedient of taking up with little Selina, who +was the first young thing that fell in my way. And I was too tired to be +difficult. Besides, what made her the more convenient, was her extreme +youth, which gave me a year to look about me, and see if I could do any +better. But she's a poor creature; a sad poor creature indeed! quite too +bad. So I must make an end of the business as fast as possible. Besides, +another thing that puts me in a hurry is,—the very devil would have it +so!—but I have fallen in love with her sister!—'</p> + +<p>Juliet, at a loss how to understand him, now raised her eyes; and, not +without astonishment, perceived that he was speaking with a grave face.</p> + +<p>'O that noble stroke! That inimitable girl! Happy, happy, Harleigh! That +fellow fascinates the girls the more the less notice he takes of them! I +take but little notice of them, neither; but, some how or other, they +never do that sort of thing for me! If I could meet with one who would +take such a measure for my sake, and before such an assembly,—I really +think I should worship her!'</p> + +<p>Then, lowering his voice, 'You may be amazingly useful to me, my angel,' +he cried, 'in this new affair. I know you are very well with Harleigh, +though I don't know exactly how; but if,—nay, hear me before you look +so proud! if you'll help me, a little, how to go to work with the divine +Elinor, I'll bind myself down to make over to you,—in case of +success,—mark that!—as round a sum as you may be pleased to name!'</p> + +<p>The disdain of Juliet at this proposition was so powerful, that, though +she heard it as the deepest of insults, indignation was but a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span> secondary +feeling; and a look of utter scorn, with a determined silence to +whatever else he might say, was the only notice it received.</p> + +<p>He continued, nevertheless, to address her, demanding her advice how to +manage Harleigh, and her assistance how to conquer Elinor, with an air +of as much intimacy and confidence, as if he received the most cordial +replies. He purposed, he said, unless she could counsel him to something +better, making an immediate overture to Elinor; by which means, whether +he should obtain, or not, the only girl in the world who knew how to +love, and what love meant, he should, at least, in a very summary way, +get rid of the little Selina.</p> + +<p>Juliet knew too well the slightness of the texture of the regard of +Selina for Ireton, to be really hurt at this defection; yet she was not +less offended at being selected for the confidant of so dishonourable a +proceeding; nor less disgusted at the unfeeling insolence by which it +was dictated.</p> + +<p>An attempt at opening the door at length silenced him, while the voice +of Mrs Ireton's woman called out, 'Goodness! Miss Ellis, what do you +lock yourself in for? My lady has sent me to you.'</p> + +<p>Juliet cast up her eyes, foreseeing the many disagreeable attacks and +surmises to which she was made liable by this incident; yet immediately +said aloud, 'Since you have thought proper, Mr Ireton, to lock the door, +for your own pleasure, you will, at least, I imagine, think proper to +open it for that of Mrs Ireton.'</p> + +<p>'Deuce take me if I do!' cried he, in a low voice: 'manage the matter as +you will! I have naturally no taste for a prude; so I always leave her +to work her way out of a scrape as well as she can. But I'll see you +again when they are all off.' Then, throwing the key upon her lap, he +softly and laughingly escaped out of the window.</p> + +<p>Provoked and vexed, yet helpless, and without any means of redress, +Juliet opened the door.</p> + +<p>'Goodness! Miss Ellis,' cried the Abigail, peeping curiously around, +'how droll for you to shut yourself in! My lady sent me to ask whether +you have seen any thing of Mr Ireton in the garden, or about; for she +has been ready to go ever so long, and he said he was setting off first +on horseback; but his groom is come, and is waiting for orders, and none +of us can tell where he is.'</p> + +<p>'Mr Ireton,' Juliet quietly answered, 'was here just now; and I doubt +not but you will find him in the garden.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' cried the boy, 'he slid out of the window.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Goodness! was he in here, then, Master Loddard? Well! my lady'll be in +a fine passion, if she should hear of it!'</p> + +<p>This was enough to give the tidings a messenger: the boy darted forward, +and reached the house in a moment.</p> + +<p>The Abigail ran after him; Juliet, too, followed, dreading the impending +storm yet still more averse to remaining within the reach and power of +Ireton. And the knowledge, that he would now, for the rest of the +morning, be sole master of the house, filled her with such horrour, of +the wanton calumny to which his unprincipled egotism might expose her, +that, rather than continue under the same roof with a character so +unfeelingly audacious, she preferred risking all the mortifications to +which she might be liable in the excursion to Arundel Castle.</p> + +<p>Advanced already into the hall, dragged thither by her turbulent little +nephew, and the hope of detecting the hiding-place of Ireton, stood the +patroness whom she now felt compelled to soothe into accepting her +attendance. Not aware of this purposed concession, and nearly as much +frightened as enraged, to find with whom her son had been shut up, Mrs +Ireton, in a tone equally querulous and piqued, cried, 'I beg you a +thousand pardons, Ma'am, for the indiscretion of which I have been +guilty, in asking for the honour of your company to Arundel Castle this +morning! I ought to make a million of apologies for supposing that a +young lady,—for you are a lady, no doubt! every body is a lady, +now!—of your extraordinary turn and talents the insupportable +insipidity of a tête à tête with a female; or the dull care of a +bantling; when a splendid, flashy, rich, young travelled gentleman, +chusing, also, to remain behind, may be tired, and want some amusement! +'Twas grossly stupid of me, I own, to expect such a sacrifice. You, who, +besides these prodigious talents, that make us all appear like a set of +vulgar, uneducated beings by your side; you, who revel also, in the +luxury of wealth; who wanton in the stores of Plutus; who are accustomed +to the magnificence of unaccounted hoards!—How must the whole detail of +our existence appear penurious, pitiful to you!—I am surprised how you +can forbear falling into fits at the very sight of us! But I presume you +reserve the brilliancy of an action of that <i>eclat</i>, for objects better +worth your while to dazzle by a stroke of that grand description? I must +have lost my senses, certainly, to so ill appreciate my own +insignificance! I hope you'll pity me! that's all! I hope you will have +so much unction as to pity me!'</p> + +<p>If, at the opening of this harangue, the patience of Juliet nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span> +yielded to resentment, its length gave power to reflection,—which +usually wants but time for checking impulse,—to point out the many and +nameless mischiefs, to which quitting the house under similar suspicions +might give rise. She quietly, therefore, answered, that though to +herself it must precisely be the same thing, whether Mr Ireton were at +home or abroad, if that circumstance gave any choice to Mrs Ireton, she +would change her own plans, either to go or to stay, according to the +directions which she might receive.</p> + +<p>A superiority to accusation or surmize thus cool and decided, no sooner +relieved the apprehensions of Mrs Ireton by its evident innocence, than +it excited her wrath by its deliberate indifference, if not contempt: +and she would now disdainfully have rejected the attendance which, the +moment before, she had anxiously desired, had not the little master of +the house, who had seized the opportunity of this harangue to make his +escape, caught a glimpse of the carriage at the door; and put an end to +all contest, by stunning all ears, with an unremitting scream till he +forced himself into it; when, overpowering every obstacle, he obliged +his aunt and Juliet to follow; while he issued his own orders to the +postilion to drive to Arundel Castle.</p> + +<p>Even the terrour of calumny, that most dangerous and baneful foe to +unprotected woman! would scarcely have frightened Juliet into this +expedition, had she been aware that, as soon as she was seated in the +landau, with orders to take the whole charge of Mr Loddard, the little +dog, also, would have been given to her management. 'Bijou will like to +take the air,' cried Mrs Ireton, languidly; 'and he will serve to +entertain Loddard by the way. He can go very well on Miss Ellis's lap. +Pretty little creature! 'Twould be cruel to leave him at home alone!'</p> + +<p>This terrible humanity, which, in a hot day, in the middle of July, cast +upon the knees of Juliet a fat, round, well furred, and over-fed little +animal, accustomed to snarl, scratch, stretch, and roll himself about at +his pleasure, produced fatigue the most pitiless, and inconvenience the +most comfortless. The little tyrant of the party, whose will was law to +the company, found no diversion so much to his taste, during the short +journey, as exciting the churlish humour of his fellow-favourite, by +pinching his ears, pulling his nose, filliping his claws, squeezing his +throat, and twisting round his tail. And all these feats, far from +incurring any reprimand, were laughed at and applauded. For whom did +they incommode? No one but Miss Ellis;—and for what else was Miss Ellis +there?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span></p> + +<p>Yet this fatigue and disgust might have been passed over, as local +evils, had they ceased with the journey; and had she then been at +liberty to look at what remains of the venerable old castle; to visit +its ancient chapel; to examine the genealogical records of the long +gallery; to climb up to the antique citadel, and to enjoy the spacious +view thence presented of the sea: but she immediately received orders to +give exercise to Bijou, and to watch that he ran into no danger: though +Selina, who assiduously came forward to meet Mrs Ireton, without +appearing even to perceive Juliet, officiously took young Loddard in +charge, and conducted him, with his aunt, to a large expecting party, +long arrived, and now viewing the citadel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII" id="CHAPTER_LVIII"></a>CHAPTER LVIII</h2> + + +<p>Relieved, nevertheless, through whatever means effected, by a +separation, Juliet, with her speechless, though far from mute companion, +went forth to seek some obscure walk. But her purpose was defeated by +the junction of a little spaniel, to which Bijou attached himself, with +a fondness so tenacious, that her utmost efforts either to disengage +them, or to excite both to follow her, were fruitless; Bijou would not +quit the spaniel; nor the spaniel his post near the mansion.</p> + +<p>Not daring to go on without her troublesome little charge, the approach +of a carriage made her hasten to a garden-seat, upon which, though she +could not be hidden, she might be less conspicuous.</p> + +<p>The carriage, familiar to her from having frequently seen it at Miss +Matson's, was that of Sir Jaspar Herrington. Not satisfied, though she +had no right to be angry, at the so measured politeness which he had +shewn her the preceding day, when further notice would have softened her +mortifying embarrassment, she was glad that he had not remarked her in +passing.</p> + +<p>She heard him enquire for Mrs Ireton's party, which he had promised to +join; but, affrighted at the sound of the citadel, he said that he would +alight, and wait upon some warm seat in the grounds.</p> + +<p>In descending from his chaise, one of his crutches fell, and a +bonbonniere, of which the contents were dispersed upon the ground, slipt +from the hand of his valet. It was then, and not without chagrin, that +Juliet began further to comprehend the defects of a character which she +had thought an entire composition of philanthropy and courtesy. He +reviled rather than scolded the servant to whom the accident had +happened; and treated the circumstances as an event of the first +importance. He cast an equal share of blame, and with added sharpness, +upon the postilion, for not having advanced an inch nearer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span> to the +stone-steps; and uttered invectives even virulent against the groom, +that he had not come forward to help. Angry, because vexed, with all +around, he used as little moderation in his wrath, as reason in his +reproaches.</p> + +<p>How superficially, thought Juliet, can we judge of dispositions, where +nothing is seen but what is meant to be shewn! where nothing is +pronounced but what is prepared for being heard! Had I fixed my opinion +of this gentleman only upon what he intended that I should witness, I +should have concluded that he had as much urbanity of humour as of +manners. I could never have imagined, that the most trifling of +accidents could, in a moment, destroy the whole harmony of his temper!</p> + +<p>In the midst of the choleric harangue of the Baronet, against which no +one ventured to remonstrate, the little dogs came sporting before him; +and, recollecting Bijou, he hastily turned his head towards the person +upon the garden-seat, whom he had passed without any attention, and +discerned Juliet.</p> + +<p>He hobbled towards her without delay, warmly expressing his delight at +so auspicious a meeting: but the air and look, reserved and grave, with +which, involuntarily, she heard him, brought to his consciousness, what +the pleasure of her sight had driven from it, his enraged attack upon +his servants; which she must unavoidably have witnessed, and of which +her countenance shewed her opinion.</p> + +<p>He stood some moments silent, leaning upon his crutches, and palpably +disconcerted. Then, shrugging his shoulders, with a half smile, but a +piteous look, 'Many,' he cried, 'are the tricks which my quaint little +imps have played me! many, the quirks and villainous wiles I owe +them!—but never yet, with all the ingenuity of their malice, have they +put me to shame and confusion such as this!'</p> + +<p>Rising to be gone, yet sorry for him, and softened, the disapprobation +of Juliet was mingled with a concern, from her disposition to like him, +that made its expression, in the eyes of her old admirer, seem something +nearly divine. He looked at her with reverence and with regret, but made +no attempt to prevent her departure. To separate, however, the dogs, or +induce the spaniel to go further, she still found impossible; and, not +daring to abandon Bijou, was fain quietly to seat herself again, upon a +garden-chair, nearer to the house.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar, for some minutes, remained, pensively, upon the spot where +she had left him; then, again shrugging his shoulders, as if bemoaning +his ill luck, and again hobbling after her, 'There is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span> nothing,' he +cried, 'that makes a man look so small, as a sudden self-conviction that +he merits ridicule or disgrace! what intemperance would be averted, +could we believe ourselves always,—not only from above, but by one +another, overhead! Don't take an aversion to me, however! nor suppose me +worse than I am; nor worse than the herd of mankind. You have but seen +an old bachelor in his true colours! Not with the gay tints, not with +the spruce smiles, not with the gallant bows, the courteous homage, the +flowery flourishes, with which he makes himself up for shew; but with +the grim colouring of factious age, and suspicious egotism!'</p> + +<p>The countenance of Juliet shewing her now to be shocked that she had +given rise to these apologies, that of Sir Jaspar brightened; and, +dragging a chair to her side, 'I came hither,' he cried, 'in the fair +hope to seize one of those happy moments, that the fates, now and then, +accord to favoured mortals, for holding interesting and dulcet +discourse, with the most fascinating enchantress that a long life, +filled up with fastidious, perhaps fantastic researches after female +excellence, has cast in my way. Would not one have thought twas some +indulgent sylph that directed me? that inspired me with the idea, and +then seconded the inspiration, by contriving that my arrival should take +place at the critical instant, when that syren was to be found alone? +Who could have suspected 'twas but the envious stratagem of some imp of +darkness and spite, devised purely to expose a poor antiquated soul, +with all his infirmities, physical and moral, to your contempt and +antipathy?'</p> + +<p>Peering now under her hat, his penetrating eyes discerned so entire a +change in his favour, that he completely recovered his pleasantry, his +quaint archness, and his gallantry.</p> + +<p>'If betrayed,' he continued, 'by these perfidious elves, where may a +poor forlorn solitary wight, such as I am, find a counsellor? He has no +bosom friend, like the happy mortal, whose kindly star has guided him to +seek, in lively, all-attractive youth, an equal partner for melancholy, +all revolting age! He has no rising progeny, that, inheritors of his +interests, naturally share his difficulties. He has nothing at hand but +mercenary dependents. Nothing at heart but jealous suspicion of others, +or secret repining for himself! Such, fair censurer! such is the natural +state of that unnatural character, an old bachelor! How, then, when not +upon his guard, or, in other words, when not urged by some outward +object, some passing pleasure, or some fairy hope,—how,—tell me, in +the candour of your gentle conscience! how can you expect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span> from so +decrepit and unwilling a hermit, the spontaneous benevolence of youth?'</p> + +<p>'But what is it I have said, Sir,' cried Juliet smiling, 'that makes you +denounce me as a censurer?'</p> + +<p>'What is it you have said? ask, rather, what is it you have not said, +with those eyes that speak with an eloquence that a thousand tongues +might emulate in vain? They administered to me a lesson so severe, +because just, that, had not a little pity, which just now beamed from +them, revived me, the malignant goblins, who delight in drawing me into +these scrapes, might have paid for their sport by losing their prey! But +what invidious little devils ensnare me even now, into this +superannuated folly, of prating about so worn out an old subject, when I +meant only to name a being bright, blooming, and juvenile—'</p> + +<p>The recollection of his nearly complete neglect, the preceding day, in +presence of Mrs Ireton, and her society, again began to cloud the +countenance of Juliet, as she listened to compliments thus reserved for +private delivery. Sir Jaspar soon penetrated into what passed in her +mind, and, yet again shrugging his shoulders, and resuming the sorrowful +air of a self-convicted culprit, 'Alas!' he cried, 'under what pitiful +star did I first begin limping upon this nether sphere? And what foul +fiend is it, that, taking upon him the name of worldly cunning, has +fashioned my conduct, since here I have been hopping and hobbling? I +burned, yesterday, with desire to make public my admiration of the fair +flower, that I saw nearly trampled under foot; and I should have +considered as the most propitious moment of my life, that in which I had +raised its drooping head, by withering, with a blast, all the sickly, +noxious surrounding weeds: but those little devils, that never leave me +quiet, kept twitching and tweaking me every instant, with +representations of prudence and procrastination; with the danger of +exciting observation; and the better judgement of obtaining a little +private discourse, previous to any public display.'</p> + +<p>Not able to divine to what this might be the intended prelude, Juliet +was silent. Sir Jaspar, after some hesitation, continued.</p> + +<p>'In that motley assembly, you had two antique friends, equally cordial, +and almost equally admiring and desirous to serve you; but by different +means,—perhaps with different views! one of them, stimulated by the +little fairy elves, that alternately enlighten and mislead him, not +seeing yet his way, and embarrassed in his choice of measures, was lying +in wait, cautiously to avail himself of the first favourable moment, for +soliciting your fair leave to dub himself your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span> knight-errant; the +other, urged solely, perhaps, by good-nature and humanity, with an happy +absence of mind, that precludes circumspection; coming forward in your +defence, and for your honour, with unsuspecting, unfearing, +untemporising zeal. Alas! in my conscience, which these tormenting +little imps are for ever goading on, to inflict upon me some +disagreeable compliment, I cannot, all simple as he is, but blush to +view the intrinsic superiority of the unsophisticated man of nature, +over the artificial man of the world! How much more truly a male +character.'</p> + +<p>Looking at her then with examining earnestness, 'To which of these +antediluvian wights,' he continued, 'you will commit the gauntlet, that +must be flung in your defence, I know not; either of us,—alas!—might +be your great grandfather! But, helpless old captives as we are in your +chains, we each feel a most sincere, nay, inordinate desire, to break +those fetters with which, at this moment, you seem yourself to be +shackled. And for this I am not wholly without a scheme, though it is +one that demands a little previous parleying.'</p> + +<p>Juliet positively declined his services; but gratefully acknowledged +those from which she had already, though involuntarily, profited.</p> + +<p>'You cannot, surely,' he cried, 'have a predilection for your present +species of existence? and, least of all, under the galling yoke of this +spirit-breaking dame, into whose ungentle power I cannot see you fallen +without losing sleep, appetite, and pleasure. How may I conjure you into +better hands? How release you from such bondage? And yet, this pale, +withered, stiff, meagre hag, so odious, so tyrannical, so irascible, but +a few years,—in my calculation!—but a few years since,—had all the +enchantment of blithe, blooming loveliness! You, who see her only in her +decline, can never believe it; but she was eminently fair, gay, and +charming!'</p> + +<p>Juliet looked at him, astonished.</p> + +<p>'Her story,' he continued, 'already envelopes the memoirs of a Beauty, +in her four stages of existence. During childhood, indulged, in every +wish; admired where she should have been chidden, caressed where she +should have been corrected; coaxed into pettishness, and spoilt into +tyranny. In youth, adored, followed, and applauded till, involuntarily, +rather than vainly, she believed herself a goddess. In maturity,—ah! +there's the test of sense and temper in the waning beauty!—in maturity, +shocked and amazed to see herself supplanted by the rising bloomers; to +find that she might be forgotten, or left out, if not assiduous herself +to come forward; to be consulted only upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span> grave and dull matters, out +of the reach of her knowledge and resources; alternately mortified by +involuntary negligence, and affronted by reverential respect! Such has +been her maturity; such, amongst faded beauties, is the maturity of +thousands. In old age,—if a lady may be ever supposed to suffer the +little loves and graces to leave her so woefully in the lurch, as to +permit her to know such a state;—in old age, without stores to amuse, +or powers to instruct, though with a full persuasion that she is endowed +with wit, because she cuts, wounds, and slashes from unbridled, though +pent-up resentment, at her loss of adorers; and from a certain +perverseness, rather than quickness of parts, that gifts her with the +sublime art of ingeniously tormenting; with no consciousness of her own +infirmities, or patience for those of others; she is dreaded by the gay, +despised by the wise, pitied by the good, and shunned by all.'</p> + +<p>Then, looking at Juliet with a strong expression of surprise, 'What Will +o'the Wisp,' he cried, 'has misled you into this briery thicket of +brambles, nettles, and thorns? where you cannot open your mouth but you +must be scratched; nor your ears, but you must be wounded; nor stir a +word but you must be pricked and worried? How is it that, with the most +elegant ideas, the most just perceptions upon every subject that +presents itself, you have a taste so whimsical?'</p> + +<p>'A taste? Can you, then, Sir, believe a fate like mine to have any +connexion with choice?'</p> + +<p>'What would you have me believe, fair Ænigma? Tell me, and I will +fashion my credulity to your commands. But I only hear of you with Mrs +Maple; I only see you with Mrs Ireton! Mrs Maple, having weaker parts, +may have less power, scientifically, to torment than Mrs Ireton; but +nature has been as active in personifying ill will with the one, as art +in embellishing spite with the other. They are equally egotists, equally +wrapt up in themselves, and convinced that self alone is worth living +for in this nether world. What a fate! To pass from Maple to Ireton, was +to fall from Scylla to Charybdis!'</p> + +<p>The blush of Juliet manifested extreme confusion, to see herself +represented, even though it might be in sport, as a professional +parasite. Reading, with concern, in her countenance, the pain which he +had caused her, he exclaimed, 'Sweet witch! loveliest syren!—let me +hasten to develope a project, inspired, I must hope, by my better +genius! Tell me but, frankly, who and what you are, and then—'</p> + +<p>Juliet shook her head.</p> + +<p>'Nay, nay, should your origin be the most obscure, I shall but think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> +you more nearly allied to the gods! Jupiter, Apollo, and such like +personages, delighted in a secret progeny. If, on the contrary, in +sparkling correspondence with your eyes, it is brilliant, but has been +clouded by fortune, how ravished shall I be to twirl round the wheels of +that capricious deity, till they reach those dulcet regions, where +beauty and merit are in harmony with wealth and ease! Tell me, then, +what country first saw you bloom; what family originally reared you; by +what name you made your first entrance into the world;—and I will turn +your champion against all the spirits of the air, all the fiends of the +earth, and all the monsters of the "vast abyss!" Leave, then, to such as +need those goaders, the magnetism of mystery and wonder, and trust, +openly and securely, to the charm of youth, the fascination of +intelligence, the enchantment of grace, and the witchery of beauty!'</p> + +<p>Juliet was still silent.</p> + +<p>'I see you take me for a vain, curious old caitiff, peeping, peering and +prying into business in which I have no concern. Charges such as these +are ill cleared by professions; let me plead, therefore, by facts. +Should there be a person,—young, rich, <i>à la mode</i>, and not ugly; whose +expectations are splendid, who moves in the sphere of high life, who +could terminate your difficulties with honour, by casting at your feet +that vile dross, which, in fairy hands, such as yours, may be transmuted +into benevolence, generosity, humanity,—if such a person there should +be, who in return for these grosser and more substantial services, +should need the gentler and more refined ones of soft society, mild +hints, guidance unseen, admonition unpronounced;—would you, and could +you, in such a case, condescend to reciprocate advantages, and their +reverse? Would you,—and could you,—if snatched from unmerited +embarrassments, to partake of luxuries which your acceptance would +honour, bear with a little coxcomical nonsense, and with a larger +portion, still, of unmeaning perverseness, and malicious nothingness? I +need not, I think, say, that the happy mortal whom I wish to see thus +charmed and thus formed, is my nephew Ireton.'</p> + +<p>Uncertain whether he meant to mock or to elevate her, Juliet simply +answered, that she had long, though without knowing why, found Mr Ireton +her enemy; but had never forseen that an ill will as unaccountable as it +was unprovoked, would have extended so far, and so wide, as to spread +all around her the influence of irony and derision.</p> + +<p>'Hold, hold! fair infidel,'—cried Sir Jaspar, 'unless you mean to give +me a fit of the gout.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span></p> + +<p>He then solemnly assured her, that he was so persuaded that her +excellent understanding, and uncommon intelligence, united, in rare +junction, with such youth and beauty, would make her a treasure to a +rich and idle young man, whose character, fluctuating between good and +bad, or rather between something and nothing, was yet unformed; that, if +she would candidly acknowledge her real name, story, and situation, he +should merely have to utter a mysterious injunction to Ireton, that he +must see her no more, in order to bring him to her feet. 'He acts but a +part,' continued the Baronet, 'in judging you ill. He piques himself +upon being a man of the world, which, he persuades himself, he manifests +to all observers, by a hardy, however vague spirit of detraction and +censoriousness; deeming, like all those whose natures have not a +kindlier bent, suspicion to be sagacity.'</p> + +<p>Juliet was entertained by this singular plan, yet frankly acknowledged, +after repeating her thanks, that it offered her not temptation; and +continued immoveable, to either address or persuasion, for any sort of +personal communication.</p> + +<p>A pause of some minutes ensued, during which Sir Jaspar seemed +deliberating how next to proceed. He then said, 'You are decided not to +hear of my nephew? He is not, I confess, deserving you; but who is? +Yet,—a situation such as this,—a companion such as Mrs Ireton,—any +change must surely be preferable to a fixture of such a sort? What, +then, must be done? Where youth, youth itself, even when joined to +figure and to riches, is rejected, how may it be hoped that age,—age +and infirmity!—even though joined with all that is gentlest in +kindness, all that is most disinterested in devotion, may be rendered +more acceptable?'</p> + +<p>Confused, and perplexed how to understand him, Juliet was rising, under +pretence of following Bijou; but Sir Jaspar, fastening her gown to the +grass by his two crutches, laughingly said, 'Which will you resist most +stoutly? your own cruelty, or the kindness of my little fairy friends? +who, at this moment, with a thousand active gambols, are pinning, +gluing, plaistering, in sylphick mosaic-work, your robe between the +ground and my sticks; so that you cannot tear it away without leaving +me, at least, some little memorial that I have had the happiness of +seeing you!'</p> + +<p>Forced either to struggle or to remain in her place, she sat still, and +he continued.</p> + +<p>'Don't be alarmed, for I shall certainly not offend you. Listen, then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span> +with indulgence, to what I am tempted to propose, and, whether I am +impelled by my evil genius, or inspired by my guardian angel—'</p> + +<p>Juliet earnestly entreated him to spare her any proposition whatever; +but vainly; and he was beginning, with a fervour almost devout, an +address to all the sylphs, elves, and aeriel beings of his fanciful +idolatry, when a sudden barking from Bijou making him look round, he +perceived that Mrs Ireton, advancing on tiptoe, was creeping behind his +garden-chair.</p> + +<p>Confounded by an apparition so unwished, he leant upon his crutches, +gasping and oppressed for breath; while Juliet, to avoid the attack of +which the malevolence of Mrs Ireton's look was the sure precursor, would +have retreated, had not her gown been so entangled in the crutches of +Sir Jaspar, that she could not rise without leaving him the fragment +that he had coveted. In vain she appealed with her eyes for release; his +consternation was such, that he saw only, what least he wished to see, +the scowling brow of Mrs Ireton; who, to his active imagination, +appeared to be Megara herself, just mounted from the lower regions.</p> + +<p>'Well! this is really charming! Quite edifying, I protest!' burst forth +Mrs Ireton, when she found that she was discovered. 'This is a sort of +intercourse I should never have divined! You'll pardon my want of +discernment! I know I am quite behind hand in observation and remark; +but I hope, in time, and with so much good instruction, I may become +more sagacious. I am glad, however, to see that I don't disturb you Miss +Ellis! Extremely glad to find that you treat your place so amiably +without ceremony. I am quite enchanted to be upon terms so familiar and +agreeable with you. I may sit down myself, I suppose, upon the grass, +meanwhile! 'Twill be really very rural! very rural and pretty!'</p> + +<p>Juliet now could no longer conceal her confined situation, for, pinioned +to her place, she was compelled to petition the Baronet to set her at +liberty.</p> + +<p>The real astonishment of Mrs Ireton, upon discovering the cause and +means of her detention, was far less amusing to herself, than that which +she had affected, while concluding her presumptuous <i>protegée</i> to be a +voluntary intruder upon the time, and encroacher upon the politeness of +the Baronet. Her eyes now opened, with alarm, to a confusion so unusual +in her severe and authoritative brother-in-law; whom she was accustomed +to view awing others, not himself awed. Suggestions of the most +unpleasant nature occurred to her suspicious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span> mind; and she stood as if +thunderstruck in her turn, in silent suspension how to act, or what next +to say; till Selina came running forward, to announce that all the +company was gone to look at the Roman Catholic chapel; and to enquire +whether Mrs Ireton did not mean to make it a visit.</p> + +<p>If Sir Jaspar, Mrs Ireton hesitatingly answered, would join the party, +she would attend him with pleasure.</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar heard not this invitation. In his haste to give Juliet her +freedom, his feeble hands, disobedient to his will, and unable to second +the alacrity of his wishes, struck his crutches through her gown; and +they were now both, and in equal confusion, employed in disentangling +it; and ashamed to look up, or to speak.</p> + +<p>Selina, perceiving their position, with the unmeaning glee of a childish +love of communication, ran, tittering, away, to tell it to Miss +Brinville; who, saying that there was nothing worth seeing in the Roman +Catholic chapel, was sauntering after Mrs Ireton, in hopes of finding +entertainment more congenial to her mind.</p> + +<p>The sight of this lady restored to Mrs Ireton the scoffing powers which +amazement, mingled with alarm, had momentarily chilled; and, as Miss +Brinville peeringly approached, to verify the whisper of Selina, +exclaiming, 'Dear! what makes poor Sir Jaspar stoop so?' his loving +sister-in-law answered, 'Sir Jaspar, Miss Brinville? What can Sir Jaspar +do? I beg pardon for the question, but what can a gentleman do, when a +young woman happens to take a fancy to place herself so near him, that +he can't turn round without incommoding her? Not that I mean to blame +Miss Ellis. I hope I know better. I hope I shall never be guilty of such +injustice; for how can Miss Ellis help it? What could she do? Where +could she turn herself in so confined a place as this? in so narrow a +piece of ground? How could she possibly find any other spot for repose?'</p> + +<p>A contemptuous smile at Juliet from Miss Brinville, shewed that lady's +approbation of this witty sally; and the junction of Mrs Maple, whose +participation in this kind of enjoyment was known to be lively and +sincere, exalted still more highly the spirit of poignant sarcasm in Mrs +Ireton; who, with smiles of ineffable self-complacency, went on, 'There +are people, indeed,—I am afraid,—I don't know, but I am afraid +so,—there are people who may have the ill nature to think, that the +charge of walking out a little delicate animal in the grounds, did not +imply an absolute injunction to recline, with lounging elegance, upon an +easy chair. There are people, I say, who may have so little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span> +intelligence as to be of that way of thinking. 'Tis being abominably +stupid, I own, but there's no enlightening vulgar minds! There is no +making them see the merit of quitting an animal for a gentleman; +especially for a gentleman in such penury; who has no means to +recompense any attentions with which he may be indulged.'</p> + +<p>Juliet, more offended, now, even than confused, would willingly have +torn her gown to hasten her release; but she was still sore, from the +taunts of Mrs Ireton, upon a recent similar mischief.</p> + +<p>They were presently joined by the Arramedes; and Mrs Ireton, secure of +new admirers, felt her powers of pleasantry encrease every moment.</p> + +<p>'I hope I shall never fail to acknowledge,' she continued, 'how +supremely I am indebted to those ladies who have had the goodness to +recommend this young person to me. I can never repay such kindness, +certainly; that would be vastly beyond my poor abilities; for she has +the generosity to take an attachment to all that belongs to me! It was +only this morning that she had the goodness to hold a private conference +with my son. Nobody could tell where to find him. He seemed to have +disappeared from the whole house. But no! he had only, as Mr Loddard +afterwards informed me, stept into the Temple, with Miss Ellis.'</p> + +<p>Sir Jaspar now, surprised and shocked, lifted up his eyes; but their +quick penetration instantly read innocence in the indignation expressed +in those of Juliet.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, however, saw only her own triumph, in the malicious simpers +of Miss Brinville, the spiteful sneers of Mrs Maple, and the haughty +scorn of Lady Arramede.</p> + +<p>Charmed, therefore, with her brilliant success, she went on.</p> + +<p>'How I may be able to reward kindness so extraordinary, I can't pretend +to say. I am so stupid, I am quite at a loss what to devize that may be +adequate to such services; for the attentions bestowed upon my son in +the morning, I see equally displayed to his uncle at noon. Though there +is some partiality, I think, too, shewn to Ireton. I won't affirm it; +but I am rather afraid there is some partiality shewn to Ireton; for +though the conference has been equally interesting, I make no doubt, +with Sir Jaspar, it has not had quite so friendly an appearance. The +open air is very delightful, to be sure; and a beautiful prospect helps +to enliven one's ideas; but still, there is something in complete +retirement that seems yet more romantic and amicable. Ireton was so +impressed with this idea, as I am told; for I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span> pretend to speak +from my own personal knowledge upon subjects of so much importance; but +I am told,—Mr Loddard informs me, that Ireton was so sensible to the +advantage of having the honours of an exclusive conference, that he not +only chose that retired spot, but had the precaution, also, to lock the +door. I don't mean to assert this! it may be all a mistake, perhaps. +Miss Ellis can tell best.'</p> + +<p>Neither the steadiness of innate dignity, nor the fearlessness of +conscious innocence, could preserve Juliet from a sensation of horrour, +at a charge which she could not deny, though its implications were false +and even atrocious. She saw, too, that, at the words 'lock the door,' +Sir Jaspar again raised his investigating eyes, in which there was +visibly a look of disturbance. She would not, however, deign to make a +vindication, lest she should seem to acknowledge it possible that she +might be thought culpable; but, being now disengaged, she silently, and +uncontrollably hurt, walked away.</p> + +<p>'And pray, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, 'if the question is not too +impertinent, don't you see Mr Loddard coming? And who is to take care of +Bijou? And where is his basket? And I don't see his cushion?'</p> + +<p>Juliet turned round to answer, 'I will send them Madam, immediately.'</p> + +<p>'Amazing condescension!' exclaimed Mrs Ireton, in a rage that she no +longer aimed at disguising: 'I shall never be able to shew my sense of +such affability! Never! I am vastly too obtuse, vastly too obtuse and +impenetrable to find any adequate means of expressing my gratitude. +However, since you really intend me the astonishing favour of sending +one of my people upon your own errand, permit me to entreat,—if it is +not too great a liberty to take with a person of your unspeakable +rank,—permit me to entreat that you will make use of the same vehicle +for conveying to me your account; for you are vastly too fine a lady for +a person so ordinary as I am to keep under her roof. I have no such +ambition, I assure you; not an intention of the kind. So pray let me +know what retribution I am to make for your trouble. You have taken vast +pains, I imagine, to serve me and please me. I imagine so! I must be +prodigiously your debtor, I make no doubt!'</p> + +<p>'What an excess of impertinence!' cried Lady Arramede.</p> + +<p>'She'll never know her place,' said Mrs Maple: ''tis quite in vain to +try to serve such a body.'</p> + +<p>'I never saw such airs in my life!' exclaimed Miss Brinville.</p> + +<p>Juliet could endure no more. The most urgent distress seemed light and +immaterial, when balanced against submission to treatment so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span> injurious. +She walked, therefore, straight forward to the castle, for shelter, +immediate shelter, from this insupportable attack; disengaging herself +from the spoilt little boy, who strove, nay cried to drag her back; +forcing away from her the snarling cur, who would have followed her; and +decidedly mute to the fresh commands of Mrs Ireton, uttered in tones of +peremptory, but vain authority.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX" id="CHAPTER_LIX"></a>CHAPTER LIX</h2> + + +<p>Offended, indignant; escaped, yet without safety; free, yet without +refuge; Juliet, hurried into the noble mansion, with no view but to find +an immediate hiding-place, where, unseen, she might allow some vent to +her wounded feelings, and, unmarked, remain till the haughty party +should be gone, and she could seek some humble conveyance for her own +return.</p> + +<p>Concluding her in haste for some commission of Mrs Ireton's, the +servants let her pass nearly unobserved; and she soon came to a long +gallery, hung with genealogical tables of the Arundel family, and with +various religious reliques, and historical curiosities.</p> + +<p>Believing herself alone, and in a place of which the stillness suited +her desire of solitude and concealment, she had already shut the door +before she saw her mistake. What, then, was her astonishment, what her +emotion, when she discerned, seated, and examining a part of the +hangings, at the further end of the gallery, the gentle form of Lady +Aurora Granville!</p> + +<p>Sudden transport, though mingled with a thousand apprehensions, +instantly converted every dread that could depress into every hope that +could revive her. A start evinced that she was seen. She endeavoured to +courtesy, and would have advanced; but, the first moment over, fear, +uncertainty, and conflicting doubts took place of its joy, and robbed +her of force. Her dimmed eyes perceived not the smiling pleasure with +which Lady Aurora had risen at her approach; her breast heaved quick; +her heart swelled almost to suffocation; and, wholly disordered, she +leaned against a window-frame cut in the immensely thick walls of the +castle.</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora now ran fleetly forward, exclaiming, in a voice of which the +tender melody spoke the softness of her soul, 'Miss Ellis!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span> My dear Miss +Ellis! have I, indeed, the happiness to meet with you again? O! if you +could know how I have desired, have pined for it!—But,—are you ill?! +You cannot be angry? Miss Ellis! sweet Miss Ellis! Can you ever have +believed that it has been my fault that I have appeared so unkind, so +hard, so cruel?'</p> + +<p>With a fulness of joy that, in conquering doubt, overpowered timidity, +Juliet now, with rapturous tears, and resistless tenderness, flung +herself upon the neck of Lady Aurora, whom she encircled with her arms, +and strained fondly to her bosom.</p> + +<p>But the same vent that gave relief to internal oppression brought her to +a sense of external impropriety: she felt that it was rather her part to +receive than to bestow such marks of affection. She drew back; and her +cheeks were suffused with the most vivid scarlet, when she observed the +deep colour which dyed those of Lady Aurora at this action; though +evidently with the blushes of surprise, not of pride.</p> + +<p>Ashamed, and hanging her head, Juliet would have attempted some apology; +but Lady Aurora, warmly returning her embrace, cried, 'How happy, and +how singular a chance that we should have fixed upon this day for +visiting Arundelcastle! We have been making a tour to the Isle of Wight +and to Portsmouth; and we did not intend to go to Brighthelmstone; so +that I had no hope, none upon earth, of such a felicity as that of +seeing my dear Miss Ellis. I need not, I think, say it was not I who +formed our plan, when I own that we had no design to visit +Brighthelmstone, though I knew, from Lady Barbara Frankland, that Miss +Ellis was there?'</p> + +<p>'Alas! I fear,' answered Juliet, 'the design was to avoid +Brighthelmstone! and to avoid it lest a blessing such as I now +experience should fall to my lot! Ah, Lady Aurora! by the pleasure,—the +transport, rather, with which your sudden sight has made me appear to +forget myself, judge my anguish, my desolation, to be banished from your +society, and banished as a criminal!'</p> + +<p>Lady Aurora shuddered and hid her face. 'O Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'what +a word! never may I hear it,—so applied,—again, lest it should +alienate me from those I ought to respect and esteem! and you so good, +so excellent, would be sorry to see me estrange myself, even though it +were for your own sake, from those to whom I owe gratitude and +attachment. I must try to shew my admiration of Miss Ellis in a manner +that Miss Ellis herself will not condemn. And will not that be by +speaking to her without any disguise? And will she not have the goodness +to encourage me to do it? For the world I would not take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span> a liberty with +her;—for the universe I would not hurt her!—but if it were possible +she could condescend to give, ... however slightly, however imperfectly, +some little explanation to ... to ... Mrs Howel....'</p> + +<p>Juliet here, with a strong expression of horrour, interrupted her: 'Mrs +Howel?—O no! I cannot speak with Mrs Howel!—I had nearly said I can +see Mrs Howel no more! But happier days would soon subdue resentment. +And, indeed, what I feel even now, may more justly be called terrour. +Appearances have so cruelly misrepresented me, that I have no right to +be indignant, nor even surprised that they should give rise to false +judgments. I have no right to expect,—in a second instance,—unknown, +friendless, lonely as I am! a trusting angel! a Lady Aurora!'</p> + +<p>The tears of Lady Aurora now flowed as fast as her own. 'If I have been +so fortunate,' she cried, 'as to inspire such sweet kindness in so noble +a mind, even in the midst of its unhappiness, I shall always prize it as +the greatest of honours, and try to use it so as to make me become +better; that you may never wound me by retracting it, nor be wounded +yourself by being ashamed of your partiality.'</p> + +<p>With difficulty Juliet now forbore casting herself at the feet of Lady +Aurora, the hem of whose garment she would have kissed with extacy, had +not her own pecuniary distresses, and the rank of her young friend, made +her recoil from what might have the semblance of flattery. She attempted +not to speak; conscious of the inadequacy of all that she could utter +for expressing what she felt, she left to the silent eloquence of her +streaming, yet transport-glittering eyes, the happy task of +demonstrating her gratitude and delight.</p> + +<p>With calmer, though extreme pleasure, Lady Aurora perceived the +impression which she had made. 'See,' she cried, again embracing her; +'see whether I trust in your kindness, when I venture, once more, to +renew my earnest request, my entreaty, my petition—'</p> + +<p>'O! Lady Aurora! Who can resist you? Not I! I am vanquished! I will tell +you all! I will unbosom myself to you entirely!'</p> + +<p>'No, my Miss Ellis, no! not to me! I will not even hear you! Have I not +said so? And what should make me change? All I have been told by Lady +Barbara Frankland of your exertions, has but increased my admiration; +all she has written of your sufferings, your disappointments, and the +patient courage with which you have borne them, has but more endeared +you to my heart. No explanation can make you fairer, clearer, more +perfect in my eyes. I take, indeed, the deepest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span> interest in your +welfare; but it is an interest that makes me proud to wait, not curious +to hear; proud, my Miss Ellis, to shew my confidence, my trust in your +excellencies! If, therefore, you will have the goodness to speak, it +must be to others, not to me! I should blush to be of the number of +those who want documents, certificates, to love and honour you!'</p> + +<p>Again Juliet was speechless; again all words seemed poor, heartless, +unworthy to describe the sensibility of her soul, at this touching proof +of a tenderness so consonant to her wishes, yet so far surpassing her +dearest expectations. She hung over her ingenuous young friend; she +sighed, she even sobbed with unutterable delight; while tears of rapture +rolled down her glowing cheeks, and while her eyes were lustrous with a +radiance of felicity that no tears could dim.</p> + +<p>Charmed, and encouraged, Lady Aurora continued: 'To those, then, who +have not had the happiness to see you so justly; who dwell only upon the +singularity of your being so ... alone, and so ... young,—O how often +have I told them that I was sure you as little knew as merited their +evil constructions! How often have I wished to write to you! how certain +have I felt that all your motives to concealment, even the most +respectable, would yield to so urgent a necessity, as that of clearing +away every injurious surmise! Speak, therefore, my Miss Ellis, though +not to me! even from them, when you have trusted them, I will hear +nothing till the time of your secresy is over; that I may give them an +example of the discretion they must observe with others. Yet speak! have +the goodness to speak, that every body,—my uncle Denmeath himself,—and +even Mrs Howel,—may acknowledge and respect your excellencies and your +virtues as I do! And then, my Miss Ellis, who shall prevent,—who will +even desire to prevent my shewing to the whole world my sense of your +worth, and my pride in your friendship?'</p> + +<p>The struggles that now heaved the breast of Juliet were nearly too +potent for her strength. She gasped for breath; she held her hand to her +heart; and when, at length, the kind caresses and gentle pleadings of +Lady Aurora, brought back her speech, she painfully pronounced, 'Shall I +repay goodness so exquisite, by filling with regret the sweet mind that +intends me only honour and consolation? Must the charm of such +unexpected kindness, even while it penetrates my heart with almost +piercing delight, entail, from its resistless persuasion, a misery upon +the rest of my days, that may render them a burthen from which I may +hourly sigh,—nay pray, to be delivered?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span></p> + +<p>Seized with horrour and astonishment, Lady Aurora exclaimed, 'Oh heaven, +no! I must be a monster if I would not rather die, immediately die, than +cause you any evil! Miss Ellis, my dear Miss Ellis! forget I have made +such a request, and forgive my indiscretion! With all your misfortunes, +Miss Ellis, all your so undeserved griefs, you are quite a stranger to +sorrow, compared to that which I should experience, if, through me, +through my means, you should be exposed to any fresh injury!'</p> + +<p>'Angelic goodness!' cried Juliet, deeply affected: 'I blush, I blush to +hear you without casting myself entirely into your power, without making +you immediate arbitress of my fate! Yet,—since you demand not my +confidence for your own satisfaction,—can I know that to spread it +beyond yourself,—your generous self!—might involve me in instantaneous +earthly destruction, and, voluntarily, suffer your very benevolence to +become its instrument? With regard to Lord Denmeath,—to your uncle,—I +must say nothing; but with regard to Mrs Howel,—let me conjure your +ladyship to consent to my utterly avoiding her, that I may escape the +dreadful accusations and reproaches that my cruel situation forbids me +to repel. I have no words to paint the terrible impression she has left +upon my mind. All that I have borne from others is short of what I have +suffered from that lady! The debasing suspicions of Mrs Maple, the +taunting tyranny of Mrs Ireton, though they make me blush to owe,—or +rather, to earn from them the subsistence without which I know not how +to exist; have yet never smote so rudely and so acutely to my inmost +heart, as the attack I endured from Mrs Howel! They rob me, indeed, of +comfort, of rest, and of liberty—but they do not sever me from Lady +Aurora!'</p> + +<p>'Alas, my Miss Ellis! and have I, too, joined in the general persecution +against such afflicted innocence? I feel myself the most unpardonable of +all not to have acquiesced, without one ungenerous question, or even +conjecture; in full reliance upon the right and the necessity of your +silence. I ought to have forseen that if it were not improper you should +comply, your own noble way of thinking would have made all entreaty as +useless as it has been impertinent. Yet when prejudice alone parts us, +how could I help trying to overcome it? And even my brother, though he +would forfeit, I believe, his life in your defence; and though he says +he is sure you are all purity and virtue; and though he thinks that +there is nothing upon earth that can be compared with you;—even he has +been brought to agree to the cruel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span> resolution, that I should defer +knitting myself closer to my Miss Ellis, till she is able to have the +goodness to let us know—'</p> + +<p>She stopt, alarmed, for the cheeks of Juliet were suddenly dyed with the +deepest crimson; though the transient tint faded away as she pronounced,</p> + +<p>'Lord Melbury!—even Lord Melbury!—' and they became Pale as death, +while, in a faint voice, and with stifled emotion, she added, 'He is +right! He acts as a brother; and as a brother to a sister whom he can +never sufficiently appreciate.—And yet, the more I esteem his +circumspection, the more deeply I must be wounded that calumny,—that +mystery,—that dire circumstance, should make me seem dangerous, where, +otherwise—'</p> + +<p>Unable longer to constrain her feelings, she sunk upon a seat and wept.</p> + +<p>'O Miss Ellis? What have I done?' cried Lady Aurora. 'How have I been so +barbarous, so inconsiderate, so unwise? If my poor brother had caused +you this pain, how should I have blamed him? And how grievously would he +have repented! How severely, then, ought I to be reproached! I who have +done it myself, without his generous precipitancy of temper to palliate +such want of reflection!—'</p> + +<p>The sudden entrance of Selina here interrupted the conversation. She +came tripping forward, to acquaint Lady Aurora that the party had just +discerned a magnificent vessel; and that every body said if her ladyship +did not come directly, it would be sailed away.</p> + +<p>At sight of Juliet, she ran to embrace her, with the warmest expressions +of friendship; unchecked by a coldness which she did not observe, though +now, from the dissatisfaction excited by so unseasonable an intrusion, +it was far more marked, than while it had been under the qualifying +influence of contempt.</p> + +<p>But when she found that neither caresses, nor kind words, could make her +share with Lady Aurora, even for a moment, the attention of Juliet, she +became a little confused; and, drawing her apart, asked what was the +matter? consciously, without waiting for any answer, running into a +string of simple apologies, for not speaking to her in public; which she +should always, she said, do with the greatest pleasure; for she thought +her the most agreeable person in the whole-world; if it were not, that, +nobody knowing her, it would look so odd.</p> + +<p>All answer, save a smile half disdainful, half pitying, was precluded by +the appearance of the Arramedes, Mrs Ireton, and Miss Brinville; who +announced to Lady Aurora that the ship was already out of sight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span></p> + +<p>Upon perceiving Juliet, they were nearly as much embarrassed as herself; +for though she instantly retreated, it was evident that she had been +sitting by the side of Lady Aurora, in close and amicable conference.</p> + +<p>An awkward general silence ensued, when Juliet, hearing other steps, was +moving off; but Lady Aurora, following, and holding out her hand, +affectionately said, 'Are you going, Miss Ellis? Must you go? And will +you not bid me adieu?'</p> + +<p>Touched to the soul at this public mark of kindness, Juliet was +gratefully returning, when the voice of Lord Melbury spoke his near +approach. Trembling and changing colour, her folded hands demanded +excuse of Lady Aurora for a precipitate yet reluctant flight; but she +had still found neither time nor means to escape, when Lord Melbury, who +was playing with young Loddard, entered the gallery, saying, 'Aurora, +your genealogical studies have lost you a most beautiful sea-view.'</p> + +<p>The boy, spying Juliet, whom he was more than ever eager to join when he +saw that she strove to avoid notice; darted from his lordship, calling +out, 'Ellis! Ellis! look! look! here's Ellis!'</p> + +<p>Lord Melbury, with an air of the most animated surprize and delight, +darted forward also, exclaiming, 'Miss Ellis! How unexpected a pleasure! +The moment I saw Mrs Ireton I had some hope I might see, also, Miss +Ellis—but I had already given it up as delusory.'</p> + +<p>Again the fallen countenance of Juliet brightened into sparkling beauty. +The idea that even Lord Melbury had been infected by the opinions which +had been circulated to her disadvantage, had wounded, had stung her to +the quick: but to find that, notwithstanding he had been prevailed upon +to acquiesce that his sister, while so much mystery remained, should +keep personally aloof, his own sentiments of esteem remained unshaken; +and to find it by so open, and so prompt a testimony of respect and +regard, displayed before the very witnesses who had sought to destroy, +or invalidate, every impression that might be made in her favour, was a +relief the most exquisitely welcome to her disturbed and fearful mind.</p> + +<p>Eager and rapid enquiries concerning her health, uttered with the ardour +of juvenile vivacity, succeeded this first address. The party standing +by, looked astonished, even abashed; while the face of Lady Aurora +recovered its wonted expression of sweet serenity.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton, now, was seized with a desire the most violent, to repossess +a <i>protegée</i> whose history and situation seemed daily to grow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span> more +wonderful. With a courtesy, therefore, as foreign from her usual +manners, as from her real feelings, she said, 'Miss Ellis, I am sure, +will have the goodness to help me home with my two little companions? I +am sure of that. She could not be so unkind as to leave the poor little +things in the lurch?'</p> + +<p>Indignant as Juliet had felt at the treatment which she had received, +resentment at this moment found no place in her mind; she was beginning, +therefore, a civil, however decided excuse; when Mrs Ireton, suspicious +of her purpose, flung herself languishingly upon a seat, and complained +that she was seized with such an immoderate pain in her side, that, if +somebody would not take care of the two <i>little souls</i>, she should +arrive at Brighthelmstone a corpse.</p> + +<p>The Arramedes, Miss Brinville, and Selina, all declared that it was +impossible to refuse so essential a service to a health so delicate.</p> + +<p>The fear, now, of a second public scene, with the dread lest Lord +Melbury might be excited to speak or act in her favour, forced the +judgment of Juliet to conquer her inclination, in leading her to defer +the so often given dismission till her return to Brighthelmstone; she +acceded, therefore, though with cruel unwillingness, to what was +required.</p> + +<p>Mrs Ireton instantly recovered; and with the more alacrity, from +observing that Lady Barbara Frankland joined the group, at this moment +of victory.</p> + +<p>'Take the trouble, then, if you please, Ma'am,' she replied, in her +usual tone of irony; 'if it will not be too great a condescension, take +the trouble to carry Bijou to the coach. And bid Simon keep him safe +while you come back,—if it is not asking quite too great a favour,—for +Mr Loddard. And pray bring my wrapping cloak with you, Ma'am. You'll be +so good, I hope, as to excuse all these liberties? I hope so, at least! +I flatter myself you'll excuse them. And, if the cloak should be heavy, +I dare say Simon will give you his arm. Simon is a man of gallantry, I +make no doubt. Not that I pretend to know; but I take it for granted he +is a man of gallantry.'</p> + +<p>Juliet looked down, repentant to have placed herself, even for another +moment, in a power so merciless. Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora, each hurt +and indignant, advanced, uttering kind speeches: while Lady Barbara, +still younger and more unguarded, seizing the little dog, exclaimed 'No, +I'll carry Bijou myself, Mrs Ireton. Poor Miss Ellis looks so tired! +I'll take care of him all the way to Brighthelmstone myself. Dear, +pretty little creature!' Then, skipping behind Lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span> Aurora, 'Nasty +whelp!' she whispered, 'how I'll pinch him for being such a plague to +that sweet Miss Ellis! Perhaps that will mend him!'</p> + +<p>The satisfaction of Lady Aurora at this trait glistened in her soft +eyes; while Lord Melbury, enchanted, caught the hand of the spirited +little lady, and pressed it to his lips; though, ashamed of his own +vivacity, he let it go before she had time to withdraw it. She coloured +deeply, but visibly with no unpleasant sensation; and, grasping the +little dog, hid her blushes, by uttering a precipitate farewell upon the +bosom of Lady Aurora; who smilingly, though tenderly, kissed her +forehead.</p> + +<p>An idea that teemed with joy and happiness rose high in the breast of +Juliet, as she looked from Lord Melbury to Lady Barbara. Ah! there, +indeed, she thought, felicity might find a residence! there, in the rare +union of equal worth, equal attractions, sympathising feelings, and +similar condition!</p> + +<p>'And I, too,' cried Lord Melbury, 'must have the honour to make myself +of some use; if Mrs Ireton, therefore, will trust Mr Loddard to my care, +I will convey him safely to Brighthelmstone, and overtake my sister in +the evening. And by this means we shall lighten the fatigue of Mrs +Ireton, without increasing that of Miss Ellis.'</p> + +<p>He then took the little boy in his arms; playfully dancing him before +the little dog in those of Lady Barbara.</p> + +<p>The heart of Juliet panted to give utterance to the warm +acknowledgements with which it was fondly beating; but mingled fear and +discretion forced her to silence.</p> + +<p>All the evil tendencies of malice, envy, and ill will, pent up in the +breast of Mrs Ireton, now struggled irresistibly for vent; yet to insist +that Juliet should take change of Mr Loddard, for whom Lord Melbury had +offered his services; or even to force upon her the care of the little +dog, since Lady Barbara had proposed carrying him herself, appeared no +longer to exhibit dependency: Mrs Ireton, therefore, found it expedient +to be again taken ill; and, after a little fretful moaning, 'I feel +quite shaken,' she cried, 'quite in a tremour. My feet are absolutely +numbed. Do get me my furred clogs, Miss Ellis; if I may venture to ask +such a favour. I would not be troublesome, but you will probably find +them in the carriage. Though perhaps I have left them in the hall. You +will have the condescension to help the coachman and Simon to make a +search. And then pray run back, if it won't fatigue you too much, and +tie them on for me.'</p> + +<p>If Juliet now coloured, at least it was not singly; the cheeks of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span> Lady +Aurora, of Lady Barbara, and of Lord Melbury were equally crimsoned.</p> + +<p>'Let me, Mrs Ireton,' eagerly cried Lord Melbury 'have the honour to be +Miss Ellis's deputy.'</p> + +<p>'No, my lord,' said Juliet, with spirit: 'grateful and proud as I should +feel to be honoured with your lordship's assistance, it must not be in a +business that does not belong to me. I will deliver the orders to Simon. +And as Mrs Ireton is now relieved from her anxiety concerning Mr +Loddard, I beg permission, once more, and finally, to take my leave.'</p> + +<p>Gravely then courtsying to Mrs Ireton, and bowing her head with an +expression of the most touching sensibility to her three young +supporters, she quitted the gallery.</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> 'Oh my loved country!—unhappy, guilty—but for ever loved +country!—shall I never see thee more!'</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> 'Sleep on, sleep on, my angel child! May the repose that +flies me, the happiness that I have lost, the precious tranquillity of +soul that has forsaken me—be thine! for ever thine! my child! my angel! +I cease to call thee back. Even were it in my power, I would not call +thee back. I prayed for thy preservation, while yet I had the bliss of +possessing thee; cruel as were thy sufferings, and impotent as I found +myself to relieve them, I prayed,—in the anguish of my soul,—I prayed +for thy preservation! Thou art lost to me now!—yet I call thee back no +more! I behold thee an angel! I see thee rescued for ever from sorrow, +from alarm, from poverty, and from bitter recollections;—and shall I +call thee back, to partake again my sufferings?—No! return to me no +more! There, only, let me find thee, where thy felicity will be +mine!—but thou! O pray for thy unhappy mother! Let thy innocent prayers +be united to her humble supplications, that thy mother, thy hapless +mother, may become worthy to join thee!'</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> 'Alas, Madam! are you, also, deploring the loss of a +child?'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> 'Ah, my friend! my much loved friend! have I sought thee, +have I awaited thee, have I so fervently desired thy restoration—to +find thee thus? Weeping over a grave? And thou—dost thou not recollect +me? Hast thou forgotten me?—Gabriella! my loved Gabriella!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 'Gracious heaven! what do I behold? My Juliet! my tender +friend? Can it be real?—O! can it, indeed, be true, that still any +happiness is left on earth for me!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> 'Ah!—upon me can you, yet, bestow a thought?'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> 'True, my dear friend, true! thy history, thy misfortunes, +can never be terrible, never be lacerating like mine! Thou hast not yet +known the bliss of being a mother;—how, then, canst thou have +experienced the most overwhelming of calamities! a suffering that admits +of no description! a woe that makes all others seem null—the loss of a +being pure, spotless as a cherub—and wholly our own!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> 'Here, here let us stay! 'tis here I can best speak to +thee! 'tis here, I can best listen;—here, where I pass every moment +that I can snatch from penury and labour! Think not that to weep is what +is most to be dreaded; oh never mayst thou learn, that to weep—though +upon the tomb of all that has been most dear to thee upon earth, is a +solace, is a feeling of softness, nay of pleasure, compared with the +hard necessity of toiling, when death has seized upon the very heart, +merely to breathe, to exist, after life has lost all its charms!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> 'See, if I am not still susceptible of pleasure! Thy +society has made me forget the sad and painful duties that call me +hence, to tasks that snatch me,—with difficulty,—from perishing by +famine!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> 'Ah, how I know thee by that trait! thy soul so noble! so +firm in itself; so soft, so commiserating for every other! what tender, +what touching recollections present themselves at this instant to my +heart! Dearest Juliet! is it, then, indeed no dream, that I have +found—that I behold thee again? and, in thee, all that is most +exemplary, most amiable, and most worthy upon earth! How is it I can +recover thee, and not recover happiness? I almost feel as if I were +criminal, that I can embrace thee,—yet weep on!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> 'Alas, my Juliet! sister of my soul! abandon not myself to +sorrow for me! but speak to me, my tender friend, speak to me of my +mother! where didst thou leave her? And how? And at what time? The most +precious of mothers! Alas! separated from us both,—how will she be able +to support such accumulation of misfortunes!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> 'And why? Hast thou not seen thy relations?—Canst thou be +seen, and not loved?—known, and not cherished? No, my Juliet, no! thou +hast only to appear!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> 'Oh far from me by any such insistence! Know I not well +that thy admirable judgment, just counterpart of thy excellent heart, +will guide thee to speak when it is right? Shall I not entirely confide +in thee?—In thee, whose sole study has been always the good and +happiness of others?'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> 'And my uncle! My so amiable, so pious uncle? Where is +he?'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> 'My lord the Bishop?—Oh yes! yes!—amiable +indeed!—pure!—without blemish!—He will soon, I believe, be here; or I +shall have some intelligence from him; and then—my fate will be known +to me!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> 'Ah, should he come hither!—should I be blest again by +his sight, I should feel, once more, even in the midst of my desolation, +a sensation of joy—such as thou, only, as yet, hast been able to +re-awaken!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> ''Tis at Brighthelmstone, then,—'tis here that we must +dwell! Here, where I seem not yet, entirely, to have lost my darling +boy! Oh my friend! my dearest, best loved friend! 'tis to him—to my +child, that I am indebted for seeing thee again! 'tis in visiting his +remains that I have met my Juliet!—Oh thou! my child! my angel! 'tis to +thee, to thee, I am indebted for my friend! Even thy grave offers me +comfort! even thy ashes desire to bless me! Thy remains, thy shadow, +would do good, would bring peace to thy unhappy mother!'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Residing in, and,—in 1795!—at the foot of Norbury Park.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Gray.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Thomson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Shakespeare.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer (Volume 3 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + +***** This file should be named 37439-h.htm or 37439-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37439/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 3 of 5) + or, Female Difficulties + +Author: Fanny Burney + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37439] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +VOLUME III + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + + +From the time of this arrangement, the ascendance which Mr Naird +obtained over the mind of Elinor, by alternate assurances and alarms, +relative to her chances of living to see Harleigh again, produced a +quiet that gave time to the drafts, which were administered by the +physician, to take effect, and she fell into a profound sleep. This, Mr +Naird said, might last till late the next day; Ellis, therefore, +promising to be ready upon any summons, returned to her lodging. + +Miss Matson, now, endeavoured to make some enquiries relative to the +public suicide projected, if not accomplished, by Miss Joddrel, which +was the universal subject of conversation at Brighthelmstone; but when +she found it vain to hope for any details, she said, 'Such accidents, +Ma'am, make one really afraid of one's life with persons one knows +nothing of. Pray, Ma'am, if it is not impertinent, do you still hold to +your intention of giving up your pretty apartment?' + +Ellis answered in the affirmative, desiring, with some surprise, to +know, whether the question were in consequence of any apprehension of a +similar event. + +'By no means, Ma'am, from you,' she replied; 'you, Miss Ellis, who have +been so strongly recommended; and protected by so many of our capital +gentry; but what I mean is this. If you really intend to take a small +lodging, why should not you have my little room again up stairs?' + +'Is it not engaged to the lady I saw here this morning?' + +'Why that, Ma'am, is precisely the person I have upon my mind to speak +about. Why should I let her stay, when she's known to nobody, and is +very bad pay, if I can have so genteel a young lady as you, Ma'am, that +ladies in their own coaches come visiting?' + +Ellis, recoiling from this preference, uttered words the most benevolent +that she could suggest, of the unknown person who had excited her +compassion: but Miss Matson gave them no attention. 'When one has +nothing better to do with one's rooms, Ma'am,' she said, 'it's sometimes +as well, perhaps, to let them to almost one does not know who, as to +keep them uninhabited; because living in them airs them; but that's no +reason for letting them to one's own disadvantage, if can do better. Now +this person here, Ma'am, besides being poor, which, poor thing, may be +she can't help; and being a foreigner, which, you know, Ma'am, is no +great recommendation;--besides all this, Miss Ellis, she has some very +suspicious ways with her, which I can't make out at all; she goes abroad +in a morning, Ma'am, by five of the clock, without giving the least +account of her haunts. And that, Ma'am, has but an odd look with it!' + +'Why so, Miss Matson? If she takes time from her own sleep to enjoy a +little air and exercise, where can be the blame?' + +'Air and exercise, Ma'am? People that have their living to get, and that +a'n't worth a farthing, have other things to think of than air and +exercise! She does not, I hope, give herself quite such airs as those!' + +Ellis, disgusted, bid her good night; and, filled with pity for a person +who seemed still more helpless and destitute than herself, resolved to +see her the next day, and endeavour to offer her some consolation, if +not assistance. + +Before, however, this pleasing project could be put into execution, she +was again, nearly at day break, awakened by a summons from Selina to +attend her sister, who, after quietly reposing many hours, had started, +and demanded Harleigh and Ellis. + +Ellis obeyed the call with the utmost expedition, but met the messenger +returning to her a second time, as she was mounting the street which led +to the lodging of Mrs Maple, with intelligence that Elinor had almost +immediately fallen into a new and sound sleep; and that Mr Naird had +ordered that no one should enter the room, till she again awoke. + +Glad of this reprieve, Ellis was turning back, when she perceived, at +some distance, Miss Matson's new lodger. The opportunity was inviting +for her purposed offer of aid, and she determined to make some opening +to an acquaintance. + +This was not easy; for though the light feet of Ellis might soon have +overtaken the quick, but staggering steps of the apparently distressed +person whom she pursued, she observed her to be in a state of +perturbation that intimidated approach, as much as it awakened concern. +Her handkerchief was held to her face; though whether to conceal it, or +because she was weeping, could not readily be discovered: but her form +and air penetrated Ellis with a feeling and an interest far beyond +common curiosity; and she anxiously studied how she might better behold, +and how address her. + +The foreigner went on her way, looking neither to the right nor to the +left, till she had ascended to the church-yard upon the hill. There +stopping, she extended her arms, seeming to hail the full view of the +wide spreading ocean; or rather, Ellis imagined, the idea of her native +land, which she knew, from that spot, to be its boundary. The beauty of +the early morning from that height, the expansive view, impressive, +though calm, of the sea, and the awful solitude of the place, would have +sufficed to occupy the mind of Ellis, had it not been completely caught +by the person whom she followed; and who now, in the persuasion of being +wholly alone, gently murmured, 'Oh ma chere patrie!--malheureuse, +coupable,--mais toujours chere patrie!--ne te reverrai-je jamais!'[1] +Her voice thrilled to the very soul of Ellis, who, trembling, suspended, +and almost breathless, stood watching her motions; fearing to startle +her by an unexpected approach, and waiting to catch her eye. + +[Footnote 1: 'Oh my loved country!--unhappy, guilty--but for ever loved +country!--shall I never see thee more!'] + +But the mourner was evidently without suspicion that any one was in +sight. Grief is an absorber: it neither seeks nor makes observation; +except where it is joined with vanity, that always desires remark; or +with guilt, by which remark is always feared. + +Ellis, neither advancing nor receding, saw her next move solemnly +forward, to bend over a small elevation of earth, encircled by short +sticks, intersected with rushes. Some of these, which were displaced, +she carefully arranged, while uttering, in a gentle murmur, which the +profound stillness of all around alone enabled Ellis to catch, 'Repose +toi bien, mon ange! mon enfant! le repos qui me fuit, le bonheur que +j'ai perdu, la tranquilite precieuse de l'ame qui m'abandonne--que tout +cela soit a toi, mon ange! mon enfant! Je ne te rappellerai plus ici! Je +ne te rappellerais plus, meme si je le pouvais. Loin de toi ma +malheureuse destinee! je priai Dieu pour ta conservation quand je te +possedois encore; quelques cruelles que fussent tes souffrances, et +toute impuissante que J'etois pour les soulager, je priai Dieu, dans +l'angoisse de mon ame, pour ta conservation! Tu n'est plus pour moi--et +je cesse de te reclamer. Je te vois une ange! Je te vois exempt a +jamais de douleur, de crainte, de pauvrete et de regrets; te +reclamerai-je, donc, pour partager encore mes malheurs? Non! ne reviens +plus a moi! Que je te retrouve la--ou ta felicite sera la mienne! Mais +toi, prie pour ta malheureuse mere! que tes innocentes prieres +s'unissent a ses humbles supplications, pour que ta mere, ta pauvre +mere, puisse se rendre digne de te rejoindre!'[2] + +[Footnote 2: 'Sleep on, sleep on, my angel child! May the repose that +flies me, the happiness that I have lost, the precious tranquillity of +soul that has forsaken me--be thine! for ever thine! my child! my angel! +I cease to call thee back. Even were it in my power, I would not call +thee back. I prayed for thy preservation, while yet I had the bliss of +possessing thee; cruel as were thy sufferings, and impotent as I found +myself to relieve them, I prayed,--in the anguish of my soul,--I prayed +for thy preservation! Thou art lost to me now!--yet I call thee back no +more! I behold thee an angel! I see thee rescued for ever from sorrow, +from alarm, from poverty, and from bitter recollections;--and shall I +call thee back, to partake again my sufferings?--No! return to me no +more! There, only, let me find thee, where thy felicity will be +mine!--but thou! O pray for thy unhappy mother! Let thy innocent prayers +be united to her humble supplications, that thy mother, thy hapless +mother, may become worthy to join thee!'] + +How long these soft addresses, which seemed to soothe the pious +petitioner, might have lasted, had she not been disturbed, is uncertain: +but she was startled by sounds of more tumultuous sorrow; by sobs, +rather than sighs, that seemed bursting forth from more violent, at +least, more sudden affliction. She looked round, astonished; and saw +Ellis leaning over a monument, and bathed in tears. + +She arose, and, advancing towards her, said, in an accent of pity, +'Helas, Madame, vous, aussi, pleurez vous votre enfant?'[3] + +[Footnote 3: 'Alas, Madam! are you, also, deploring the loss of a +child?'] + +'Ah, mon amie! ma bien! amee amie!' cried Ellis, wiping her eyes, but +vainly attempting to repress fresh tears; 't'ai-je cherchee, t'ai-je +attendue, t'ai-je si ardemment desiree, pour te retrouver ainsi? +pleurant sur un tombeau? Et toi!--ne me rappelle tu pas? M'a tu +oubliee?--Gabrielle! ma chere Gabrielle!'[4] + +[Footnote 4: 'Ah, my friend! my much loved friend! have I sought thee, +have I awaited thee, have I so fervently desired thy restoration--to +find thee thus? Weeping over a grave? And thou--dost thou not recollect +me? Hast thou forgotten me?--Gabriella! my loved Gabriella!'] + +'Juste ciel!' exclaimed the other, 'que vois-je? Ma Julie! ma chere, ma +tendre amie? Est il bien vrai?--O! peut il etre vrai, qu'il y ait encore +du bonheur ici bas pour moi?'[5] + +[Footnote 5: 'Gracious heaven! what do I behold? My Juliet! my tender +friend? Can it be real?--O! can it, indeed, be true, that still any +happiness is left on earth for me!'] + +Locked in each other's arms, pressed to each other's bosoms, they now +remained many minutes in speechless agony of emotion, from nearly +overpowering surprise, from gusts of ungovernable, irrepressible sorrow, +and heart-piercing recollections; though blended with the tenderest +sympathy of joy. + +This touching silent eloquence, these unutterable conflicts between +transport and pain, were succeeded by a reciprocation of enquiry, so +earnest, so eager, so ardent, that neither of them seemed to have any +sensation left of self, from excess of solicitude for the other, till +Ellis, looking towards the little grave, said, 'Ah! que ce ne soit plus +question de moi?'[6] + +[Footnote 6: 'Ah!--upon me can you, yet, bestow a thought?'] + +'Ah, oui, mon amie,' answered Gabriella, 'ton histoire, tes malheurs, ne +peuvent jamais etre aussi terribles, aussi dechirants que les miens! tu +n'as pas encore eprouve le bonheur d'etre mere--comment aurois-tu, donc, +eprouve, le plus accablant des malheurs? Oh! ce sont des souffrances qui +n'ont point de nom; des douleurs qui rendent nulles toutes autres, que +la perte d'un Etre pur comme un ange, et tout a soi!'[7] + +[Footnote 7: 'True, my dear friend, true! thy history, thy misfortunes, +can never be terrible, never be lacerating like mine! Thou hast not yet +known the bliss of being a mother;--how, then, canst thou have +experienced the most overwhelming of calamities! a suffering that admits +of no description! a woe that makes all others seem null--the loss of a +being pure, spotless as a cherub--and wholly our own!'] + +The fond embraces, and fast flowing tears of Ellis, evinced the keen +sensibility with which she participated in the sorrows of this afflicted +mother, whom she strove to draw away from the fatal spot; reiterating +the most urgent enquiries upon every other subject, to attract her, if +possible, to yet remaining, to living interests. But these efforts were +utterly useless. 'Restons, restons ou nous sommes!' she cried: 'c'est +ici que je te parlerai; c'est ici que je t'ecouterai; ici, ou je passe +les seuls momens que j'arrache a la misere, et au travail. Ne crois pas +que de pleurer est ce qu'il y a le plus a craindre! Oh! qu'il ne +t'arrive jamais de savoir que de pleurer, meme sur le tombeau de tout ce +qui vous est le plus cher, est un soulagement, un delice, aupres du dur +besoin de travailler, la mort dans le coeur, pour vivre, pour exister, +lorsque la vie a perdu toutes ses charmes!'[8] + +[Footnote 8: 'Here, here let us stay! 'tis here I can best speak to +thee! 'tis here, I can best listen;--here, where I pass every moment +that I can snatch from penury and labour! Think not that to weep is what +is most to be dreaded; oh never mayst thou learn, that to weep--though +upon the tomb of all that has been most dear to thee upon earth, is a +solace, is a feeling of softness, nay of pleasure, compared with the +hard necessity of toiling, when death has seized upon the very heart, +merely to breathe, to exist, after life has lost all its charms!'] + +Seated then upon the monument which was nearest to the little grave, +Gabriella related the principal events of her life, since the period of +their separation. These, though frequently extraordinary, sometimes +perilous, and always touchingly disastrous, she recounted with a +rapidity almost inconceivable; distinctly, nevertheless, marking the +several incidents, and the courage with which she had supported them: +but when, these finished, she entered upon the history of the illness +that had preceded the death of her little son, her voice tremblingly +slackened its velocity, and unconsciously lowered its tones; and, far +from continuing with the same quickness or precision, every circumstance +was dwelt upon as momentous; every recollection brought forth long and +endearing details; every misfortune seemed light, put in the scale with +his loss; every regret seemed concentrated in his tomb! + +Six o'clock, and seven, had tolled unheeded, during this afflicting, yet +soothing recital; but the eighth hour striking, when the tumult of +sorrow was subsiding into the sadness of grief, the sound caught the ear +of Gabriella, who, hastily rising, exclaimed, 'Ah, voila que je suis +encore susceptible de plaisir, puisque ta societe m'a fait oublier les +tristes et penibles devoirs, qui m'appellent a des taches qui--a +peine--m'empechent de mourir de faim!'[9] + +[Footnote 9: 'See, if I am not still susceptible of pleasure! Thy +society has made me forget the sad and painful duties that call me +hence, to tasks that snatch me,--with difficulty,--from perishing by +famine!'] + +At these words, all the fortitude hitherto sustained by Juliet,--for the +borrowed name of Ellis will now be dropt,--utterly forsook her. Torrents +of tears gushed from her eyes, and lamentations, the bitterest, broke +from her lips. She could bear, she cried, all but this; all but +beholding the friend of her heart, the daughter of her benefactress, +torn from the heights of happiness and splendour; of merited happiness, +of hereditary splendour; to be plunged into such depths of distress, and +overpowered with anguish. + +'Ah! que je te reconnois bien a ce trait!' cried Gabriella, while a +tender smile tried to force its way through her tears: 'cette ame si +noble! si inebralable pour elle-meme, si douce, si compatissante pour +tout autre! que de souvenirs chers et touchans ne se presentent, a cet +instant, a mon coeur! Ma chere Julie! il est bien vrai, donc, que je +te vois, que je te retrouve encore! et, en toi, tout ce qu'il y a de +plus aimable, de plus pur, et de plus digne! Comment ai-je pu te revoir, +sans retrouver la felicite? Je me sens presque coupable de pouvoir +t'embrasser,--et de pleurer encore!'[10] + +[Footnote 10: 'Ah, how I know thee by that trait! thy soul so noble! so +firm in itself; so soft, so commiserating for every other! what tender, +what touching recollections present themselves at this instant to my +heart! Dearest Juliet! is it, then, indeed no dream, that I have +found--that I behold thee again? and, in thee, all that is most +exemplary, most amiable, and most worthy upon earth! How is it I can +recover thee, and not recover happiness? I almost feel as if I were +criminal, that I can embrace thee,--yet weep on!'] + +Forcing herself, then, from the fatal but cherished spot, she must +hasten, she said, to her daily labour, lest night should surprise her, +without a roof to shelter her head. But Juliet now detained her; clung +and wept round her neck, and could not even endeavour to resign herself +to the keen woes, and deplorable situation of her friend. She had come +over, she said, buoyed up with the exquisite hope of joining the darling +companion of her earliest youth; of sharing her fate, and of mitigating +her hardships: but this softening expectation was changed into +despondence, in discovering her, thus, a prey to unmixt calamity; not +alone bowed down by the general evils of revolutionary events; punished +for plans in which she had borne no part, and for crimes of which she +had not even any knowledge;--not only driven, without offence, or even +accusation, from prosperity and honours, to exile, to want, to misery, +and to labour; but suffering, at the same time, the heaviest of personal +afflictions, in the immediate loss of a darling child; the victim, in +all probability, to a melancholy change of life, and to sudden privation +of customary care and indulgence! + +The task of consolation seemed now to devolve upon Gabriella: the +feelings of Juliet, long checked by prudence, by fortitude, by imperious +necessity; and kept in dignified but hard command; having once found a +vent, bounded back to nature and to truth, with a vivacity of keen +emotion that made them nearly uncontrollable. Nature and truth,--which +invariably retain an elastic power, that no struggles can wholly subdue; +and that always, however curbed, however oppressed,--lie in wait for +opportunity to spring back to their rights. Her tears, permitted, +therefore, at length, to flow, nearly deluged the sad bosom of her +friend. + +'Helas, ma Julie! soeur de mon ame!' cried Gabriella, 'ne t'abandonne pas +a la douleur pour moi! mais parles moi, ma tendre amie, paries moi de +ma mere! Ou l'a tu quitte? Et comment? Et a quelle epoque?--La plus +digne, la plus cherie des meres! Helas! eloignee de nous deux, comment +saura-t-elle se resigner a tant de malheurs?'[11] + +[Footnote 11: 'Alas, my Juliet! sister of my soul! abandon not myself to +sorrow for me! but speak to me, my tender friend, speak to me of my +mother! where didst thou leave her? And how? And at what time? The most +precious of mothers! Alas! separated from us both,--how will she be able +to support such accumulation of misfortunes!'] + +Juliet uttered the tenderest assurances, that she had left the +Marchioness well; and had left her by her own injunctions, to join her +darling daughter; to whom, by a conveyance that had been deemed secure, +she had previously written the plan of the intended journey; with a +desire that a few lines of direction, relative to their meeting, under +cover to L.S., to be left till called for, might be sent to the +post-offices both of Dover and Brighthelmstone; as it was not possible +to fix at which spot Juliet might land. The initials L.S. had been fixed +upon by accident. + +Filial anxiety, now, took place of maternal sufferings, and Gabriella +could only talk of her mother; demanding how she looked, and how she +supported the long separation, the ruinous sacrifices, and the perpetual +alarms, to which she must have been condemned since they had parted; +expressing her own surprise, that she had borne to dwell upon any other +subject than this, which now was the first interest of her heart; yet +ceasing to wonder, when she contemplated the fatal spot where her +meeting with Juliet had taken place. + +Each, now, deeply lamented the time and consolation that had been lost, +from their mutual ignorance of each other's abode. Juliet related her +fruitless search upon arriving in London; and Gabriella explained, that, +during three lingering, yet ever regretted months, she had watched over +her dying boy, without writing a single line; to spare her absent +friends the knowledge of her suspensive wretchedness. Since the +irreparable certainty which had followed, she had sent two letters to +her beloved mother, with her address at Brighthelmstone; but both must +have miscarried, as she had received no answer. That Juliet had not +traced her in London was little wonderful, as, to elude the curiosity +excited by a great name, she had passed, in setting out for +Brighthelmstone, by a common one. And to that change, joined to one so +similar on the part of Juliet, it must have been owing that they had +never heard of each other, though residents of the same place. Juliet, +nevertheless, was astonished, in defiance of all alteration of attire +and appearance, that she had not instantly recognized the air and form +of her elegant and high bred Gabriella. But, equally unacquainted with +her indigence, which was the effect of sundry cruel accidents, and with +the loss of her child; no expectation was awakened of finding her either +in so distressed or so solitary a condition. Now, however, Juliet +continued, that fortunately, though, alas! not happily, they had met, +they would part no more. Juliet was fully at liberty to go whithersoever +her friend would lead, the hope of obtaining tidings of that beloved +friend, having alone kept her stationary thus long at Brighthelmstone; +where she could now leave the address of Gabriella, at the post-office, +for their mutual letters: and, as insuperable obstacles impeded her +writing herself, at present, to the Marchioness, Gabriella might make +known, in a covert manner, that they were together, and were both safe. + +And why, Gabriella demanded, could not Juliet write herself? + +'Alas!' Juliet replied, 'I must not even be named!' + +'Eh, pour quoi?--n'a-t-tu pas vu tes parens?--Peut on te voir sans +t'aimer? te connoitre sans te cherir? Non, ma Julie, non! tu n'a qu'a te +montrer.'[12] + +[Footnote 12: 'And why? Hast thou not seen thy relations?--Canst thou be +seen, and not loved?--known, and not cherished? No, my Juliet, no! thou +hast only to appear!'] + +Juliet, changing colour, dejectedly, and not without confusion, besought +her friend, though for reasons that could neither be assigned nor +surmounted, to dispense, at present, with all personal narration. Yet, +upon perceiving the anxious surprise occasioned by a request so little +expected, she dissolved into tears, and offered every communication, in +preference to causing even transitory pain to her best friend. + +'O loin de moi cette exigence!' cried Gabriella, with energy, 'Ne +sais-je pas bien que ton bon esprit, juste emule de ton excellent +coeur, te fera parler lorsqu'il le faudra? Ne me confierai-je pas a +toi, dont la seule etude est le bonheur des autres?'[13] + +[Footnote 13: 'Oh far from me by any such insistence! Know I not well +that thy admirable judgment, just counterpart of thy excellent heart, +will guide thee to speak when it is right? Shall I not entirely confide +in thee?--In thee, whose sole study has been always the good and +happiness of others?'] + +Juliet, not more penetrated by this kindness, than affected by a facile +resignation, that shewed the taming effect of misfortune upon the +natural vivacity of her friend, could answer only by caresses and +tears. + +'Eh mon oncle?' continued Gabriella; 'mon tout-aimable et si pieux +oncle? ou est il?'[14] + +[Footnote 14: 'And my uncle! My so amiable, so pious uncle? Where is +he?'] + +'Monseigneur l'Eveque?' cried Juliet, again changing colour; 'Oh oui! +tout-aimable! sans tache et sans reproche!--Il sera bientot, je crois, +ici;--ou j'aurois de ses nouvelles; et alors--ma destinee me sera +connue!'[15] + +[Footnote 15: 'My lord the Bishop?--Oh yes! yes!--amiable +indeed!--pure!--without blemish!--He will soon, I believe, be here; or I +shall have some intelligence from him; and then--my fate will be known +to me!'] + +A deep sigh tried to swallow these last words. Gabriella looked at her, +for a moment, with re-awakened earnestness, as if repentant of her own +acquiescence; but the sight of encreasing disturbance in the countenance +of Juliet, checked her rising impatience; and she quietly said, 'Ah! +s'il arrive ici!--si je le revois,--j'eprouverai encore, au milieu de +tant de desolation, un mouvement de joie!--tel que toi, seule, jusqu'a +ce moment, a su m'en inspirer!'[16] + +[Footnote 16: 'Ah, should he come hither!--should I be blest again by +his sight, I should feel, once more, even in the midst of my desolation, +a sensation of joy--such as thou, only, as yet, hast been able to +re-awaken!'] + +Juliet, with fond delight, promised to be governed wholly, in her future +plans, occupations, and residence, by her beloved friend. + +'C'est a Brighthelmstone, donc,' cried Gabriella, returning to the +little grave; 'c'est ici que nous demeurions! ici, ou il me semble que +je n'ai pas encore tout a fait perdu mon fils!' + +Then, tenderly embracing Juliet, 'Ah, mon amie!' she cried, with a smile +that blended pleasure with agony; 'ah, mon amie! c'est a mon enfant que +je te dois! c'est en pleurant sur ses restes que je t'ai retrouvee! Ah, +oui!' passionately bending over the grave; 'c'est a toi, mon ange! mon +enfant! que je dois mon amie! Ton tombeau, meme, me porte bonheur! tes +cendres veulent me benir! tes restes, ton ombre veulent du bien a ta +pauvre mere!'[17] + +[Footnote 17: ''Tis at Brighthelmstone, then,--'tis here that we must +dwell! Here, where I seem not yet, entirely, to have lost my darling +boy! Oh my friend! my dearest, best loved friend! 'tis to him--to my +child, that I am indebted for seeing thee again! 'tis in visiting his +remains that I have met my Juliet!--Oh thou! my child! my angel! 'tis to +thee, to thee, I am indebted for my friend! Even thy grave offers me +comfort! even thy ashes desire to bless me! Thy remains, thy shadow, +would do good, would bring peace to thy unhappy mother!'] + +With difficulty, now, Juliet drew her away from the fond, fatal spot; +and slowly, and silently, while clinging to each other with heartfelt +affection, they returned together to their lodgings. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + + +Elinor, kept in order by a continual expectation of seeing Harleigh, +ceased to require the presence of Juliet; who, but for the sorrows of +her friend, would have experienced a felicity to which she had long been +a stranger, the felicity of being loved because known; esteemed and +valued because tried and proved. The consideration that is the boon of +even the most generous benevolence, however it may soothe the heart, +cannot elevate the spirits: but here, good opinion was reciprocated, +trust was interchanged, confidence was mutual. + +The affliction of Gabriella, though of a more permanent nature, because +from an irreparable cause, was yet highly susceptible of consolation +from friendship; and when once the acute emotions, arising from the tale +of woe which she had had to relate, at the meeting, were abated, the +charm which the presence of Juliet dispensed, and the renewal of early +ideas, pristine feelings, and first affections, soon reflected back +their influence upon her own mind; which gradually strengthened, and +insensibly revived. + +Juliet immediately resigned her large apartment, and fixed herself in +the small room of Gabriella. There they settled that they would live +together, work together, share their little profits, and endure their +failures, in common. There they hoped to recover their peace of mind, if +not to re-animate their native spirits; and to be restored to the +harmony of social sympathy, if not to that of happiness. + +Yet, it was with difficulty that they learnt to enjoy each other's +society, upon such terms as their altered condition now exacted; where +the eye must never be spared from laborious business, to search, or to +reciprocate a sentiment, in those precious moments of endearing +converse, which, unconsciously, swell into hours, ere they are missed as +minutes. Their intercourse was confined to oral language alone. The +lively intelligence, the rapid conception, the arch remark, the cordial +smile; which give grace to kindness, playfulness to counsel, gentleness +to raillery, and softness even to reproach; these, the expressive +sources of delight, and of comprehension, in social commerce, they were +fain wholly to relinquish; from the hurry of unremitting diligence, and +undivided attention to manual toil. + +Nevertheless, to inhale the same air, and to feel the consoling +certitude, that they were no longer cast wholly upon pity, or charity, +for good opinion, were blessings that filled their thoughts with +gratitude to Providence, and brought back calm and comfort to their +minds. + +Still, at every sun-rise, Gabriella visited the ashes of her little son; +where she poured forth, in maternal enthusiasm, thanks and benedictions +upon his departed spirit, that her earliest friend, the chosen sharer of +her happier days, was restored to her in the hour of her desolation; and +restored to her There,--on that fatal, yet adored spot, which contained +the ever loved, though lifeless remains of her darling boy. + +Juliet, in this peaceful interval, learnt, from the voluble Selina, all +that had been gathered from Mrs Golding relative to the seclusion of +Elinor. + +Elinor had travelled post to Portsmouth, whence she had sailed to the +Isle of Wight. There, meeting with a foreign servant out of place, she +engaged him in her service, and bid him purchase some clothes of an +indigent emigrant. She then dressed herself grotesquely yet, as far as +she could, decently, in man's attire; and, making her maid follow her +example, returned to the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone, and took +lodgings, in the character of a foreigner, who was deaf and dumb, at +Shoreham; where, uninterruptedly, and unsuspectedly, she resided. Here, +by means of her new domestic, she obtained constant intelligence of the +proceedings of Juliet; and she was no sooner informed of the musical +benefit, in which an air, with an harp-accompaniment, was to be +performed by Miss Ellis, than she sent her new attendant to the +assembly-room, to purchase a ticket. Golding, who went thither with the +lackey, met Harleigh in the street, as he was quitting the lodgings of +Juliet. + +The disguise of the maid saved her from being recognised; but her +tidings set her mistress on fire. The moment seemed now arrived for the +long-destined catastrophe; and the few days preceding the benefit, were +spent in its preparation. Careless of what was thought, Elinor, had +since, casually, though not confidentially, related, that her intention +had been to mount suddenly into the orchestra, during the performance of +Juliet; and thence to call upon Harleigh, whom she could not doubt would +be amongst the audience; and, at the instant of his joining them, +proclaim to the whole world her immortal passion, and expire between +them. But the fainting fit of Juliet, and its uncontrollable effect upon +Harleigh, had been so insupportable to her feelings, as to precipitate +her design. She acknowledged that she had studied how to die without +torture, by inflicting a wound by which she might bleed gently to death, +while indulging herself, to the last moment, in pouring forth to the +idol of her heart, the fond effusions of her ardent, but exalted +passion. + +The tranquillity of Elinor, built upon false expectations, could not be +long unshaken: impatience and suspicion soon took its place, and Mr +Naird was compelled to acknowledge, that Mr Harleigh had set out upon a +distant tour, without leaving his address, even at his own house; where +he had merely given orders that his letters should be forwarded to a +friend. + +The rage, grief, and shame of the wretched Elinor, now nearly destroyed, +in a moment, all the cares and the skill of Mr Naird, and of her +physician. She impetuously summoned Juliet, to be convinced that she was +not a party in the elopement; and was only rescued from sinking into +utter despair, by adroit exhortations from Mr Naird, to yield patiently +to his ordinances, lest she should yet die without a last view of +Harleigh. This plea led her, once more, though with equal disgust to +herself and to the whole world, to submit to every medical direction, +that might give her sufficient strength to devise means for her ultimate +project; and to put them into practice. + +Mr Naird archly confessed, in private, to Juliet, that the real danger +or safety of Miss Joddrel, so completely hung upon giving the reins, or +the curb, to her passions, that she might, without much difficulty, from +her resolution to die no other death than that of heroic love, in the +presence of its idol, be spurred on, while awaiting, or pursuing, its +object, to the verge of a very comfortable old age. + +He acknowledged himself, also, secretly entrusted with the abode of Mr +Harleigh. + +Elinor, when somewhat calmed, demanded of Juliet when, and how, her +meetings with Harleigh had been renewed. + +Juliet recounted what had passed; sparing such details as might be +hurtful, and solemnly protesting that all intercourse was now at an +end. + +With a view to draw Elinor from this agitating subject, she then +related, at full length, her meeting, in the church-yard, with the friend +whom she had so long vainly sought. + +In a short time afterwards, feeling herself considerably advanced +towards a recovery, Elinor, impetuously, again sent for Juliet, to say, +'What is your plan? Tell it me sincerely! What is it you mean to do?' + +Juliet answered, that her choice was small, and that her means were +almost null: but when she lamented the severe DIFFICULTIES of a FEMALE, +who, without fortune or protection, had her way to make in the world, +Elinor, with strong derision, called out, 'Debility and folly! Put aside +your prejudices, and forget that you are a dawdling woman, to remember +that you are an active human being, and your FEMALE DIFFICULTIES will +vanish into the vapour of which they are formed. Misery has taught me to +conquer mine! and I am now as ready to defy the world, as the world can +be ready to hold me up to ridicule. To make people wise, you must make +them indifferent; to give them courage, you must make them desperate. +'Tis then, only, that we throw aside affectation and hypocrisy, and act +from impulse.' + +Laughing, now, though with bitterness, rather than gaiety, 'What does +the world say,' she cried, 'to find that I still live, after the pompous +funeral orations, declaimed by myself, upon my death? Does it suspect +that I found second thoughts best, and that I delayed my execution, +thinking, like the man in the song, + + That for sure I could die whenever I would, + But that I could live but as long as I could? + +'Well, ye that laugh, laugh on! for I, when not sick of myself, laugh +too! But, to escape mockery, we must all be guided one by another; all +do, and all say, the very same thing. Yet why? Are we alike in our +thoughts? Are we alike in our faces? No. Happily, however, that +soporiferous monotony is beginning to get obsolete. The sublimity of +Revolution has given a greater shake to the minds of men, than to the +kingdoms of the earth.' + +After pausing, then, a few minutes, 'Ellis,' she cried, 'if you are +really embarrassed, why should you not go upon the stage? You know how +transcendently you act.' + +'That which might seem passable in a private representation,' Juliet +answered, 'might, at a public theatre--' + +'Pho, pho, you know perfectly well your powers. But you blight them, I +suppose, yourself, with anathemas, from excommunicating scruples? You +are amongst the cold, the heartless, the ungifted, who, to discredit +talents, and render them dangerous, leave their exercise to vice, by +making virtue fear to exert, or even patronize them?' + +'No, Madam, indeed,' cried Juliet: 'I admire, most feelingly, the noble +art of declamation:--how, then, can I condemn the profession which gives +to it life and soul? which personifies the most exalted virtues, which +brings before us the noblest characters, and makes us witnesses to the +sublimest actions? The stage, well regulated, would be the school of +juvenile emulation; would soothe sorrow in the unhappy, and afford +merited relaxation to the laborious. Reformed, indeed, I wish it, and +purified; but not destroyed.' + +'Why, then, do you disdain to wear the buskins?' + +'Disdain is by no means the word. Talents are a constant source to me of +delight; and those who,--rare, but in existence,--unite, to their public +exercise, private virtue and merit, I honour and esteem even more than I +admire; and every mark I could shew, to such, of consideration,--were I +so situated as to bestow, not require protection!--I should regard as +reflecting credit not on them, but on myself.' + +'Pen and ink!' cried Elinor, impatiently: 'I'll write for you to the +manager this moment!--' + +'Hold, Madam!' cried Juliet smiling: 'Much as I am enchanted with the +art, I am not going to profess it! On the contrary, I think it so +replete with dangers and improprieties, however happily they may +sometimes be combatted by fortitude and integrity, that, when a young +female, not forced by peculiar circumstances, or impelled by resistless +genius, exhibits herself a willing candidate for public applause;--she +must have, I own, other notions, or other nerves, than mine!' + +'Ellis, Ellis! you only fear to alarm, or offend the men--who would keep +us from every office, but making puddings and pies for their own +precious palates!--Oh woman! poor, subdued woman! thou art as dependant, +mentally, upon the arbitrary customs of man, as man is, corporally, upon +the established laws of his country!' + +She now grew disturbed, and went on warmly, though nearly to herself. + +'By the oppressions of their own statutes and institutions, they render +us insignificant; and then speak of us as if we were so born! But what +have we tried, in which we have been foiled? They dare not trust us with +their own education, and their own opportunities for distinction:--I +except the article of fighting; against that, there may, perhaps, be +some obstacles: but to be condemned, as weaker vessels in intellect, +because, inferiour in bodily strength and stature, we cannot cope with +them as boxers and wrestlers! They appreciate not the understandings of +one another by such manual and muscular criterions. They assert not that +one man has more brains than another, because he is taller; that he is +endowed with more illustrious virtues, because he is stouter. They judge +him not to be less ably formed for haranguing in the senate; for +administering justice in the courts of law; for teaching science at the +universities, because he could ill resist a bully, or conquer a footpad! +No!--Woman is left out in the scales of human merit, only because they +dare not weigh her!' + +Then, turning suddenly to Ellis, 'And you, Ellis, you!' she cried, +'endowed with every power to set prejudice at defiance, and to shew and +teach the world, that woman and man are fellow-creatures, you, too, are +coward enough to bow down, unresisting, to this thraldom?' + +Juliet hazarded not any reply. + +'Yet what futile inconsistency dispenses this prejudice! This Woman, +whom they estimate thus below, they elevate above themselves. They +require from her, in defiance of their examples!--in defiance of their +lures!--angelical perfection. She must be mistress of her passions; she +must never listen to her inclinations; she must not take a step of which +the purport is not visible; she must not pursue a measure of which she +cannot publish the motive; she must always be guided by reason, though +they deny her understanding!--Frankness, the noblest of our qualities, +is her disgrace;--sympathy, the most exquisite of our feelings, is her +bane!--' + +She stopt here, conscious, colouring, indignant, and dropt the subject, +to say, 'Tell me, I again demand, what is it you mean to do? Return to +your concert-singing and harping?' + +'Ah, Madam,' cried Juliet, reproachfully, 'can you believe me not yet +satisfied with attempting any sort of public exhibition? + +'Nay, nay,' cried Elinor, resuming her careless gaiety, 'what passed +that evening will only have served to render you more popular. You may +make your own terms, now, with the managers, for the subscription will +fill, merely to get a stare at you. If I were poor myself, I would +engage to acquire a large fortune, in less than a week, by advertising, +at two-pence a head, a sight of the lady that stabbed herself.' + +'What, however,' she continued, 'is your purpose? Will you go and live +with Mrs Ireton? She is just come hither to give her favourite lap-dog a +six weeks' bathing. What say you to the place of her toad-eater? It may +be a very lucrative thing; and I can procure it for you with the utmost +ease. It is commonly vacant every ten days. Besides, she has been dying +to have you in her toils, ever since she had known that you spurned the +proposition, when it was started by Mrs Howel.' + +Juliet protested, that any species of fatigue would be preferable to +subservience of such a sort. + +'Perhaps you are afraid of seeing too much of Ireton? Be under no +apprehension. He makes it a point not to visit her. He cannot endure +her. Besides, 'tis so rustic, he says, to have a mother!' + +Juliet answered, that her sole plan, now, was to be guided by her +friend. + +'And who is this friend? Is she of the family of the Incognitas, also? +What do you call her?--L.S.?' + +Juliet only replied by stating their project of needle-work. + +Elinor scoffed the notion; affirming that they would not obtain a morsel +of bread to a glass of water, above once in three days. She felt, +nevertheless, sufficient respect to the design of the noble fugitive, to +send her a sealed note of what she called her approbation. + +This note Juliet took in charge. It contained a draft for fifty pounds. + +Ah, generous Elinor! thought Juliet, tears of gratitude glistening in +her eyes: what a mixture of contrasting qualities sully, and ennoble +your character in turn! Ah, why, to intellects so strong, a heart so +liberal, a temper so gay, is there not joined a better portion of +judgment, a larger one of diffidence, a sense of feminine propriety, and +a mind rectified by religion,--not abandoned, uncontrolled, to +imagination? + +Gabriella, though truly touched by a generosity so unexpected, declined +accepting its fruits; not being yet, she said, so helpless, however +poor, as to prefer pecuniary obligation to industry. She would leave, +therefore, the donation, for those who had lost the resources of +independence which she yet possessed--youth and strength. + +The tender admiration of Juliet forbade all remonstrance, and excluded +any surprise. She well knew, and had long seen, that the distress which +is the offspring of public calamity, not of private misfortune, however +it may ruin prosperity, never humbles the mind. + +Gabriella, in a letter of elegant acknowledgements, to obviate any +accusation of undue pride, solicited the assistance of Elinor, in +procuring orders for embroidery, amongst the ladies of her acquaintance. + +Elinor, zealous to serve, and fearless to demand, instantly attacked, +by note or by message, every rich female at Brighthelmstone; urging the +generous, and shaming the niggardly, till there was scarcely a woman of +fortune in the place, who had not given, or promised, a commission for +some fine muslin-work. + +The two friends, through this commanding protection, began their new +plan of life under the most favourable auspices; and had soon more +employment than time, though they limited themselves to five hours for +sleep; though their meals were rather swallowed than eaten; and though +they allowed not a moment for any kind of recreation, of rest, or of +exercise; save the sacred visit, which they unfailingly made together, +at break of day, to the little grave in the church-yard upon the hill. + +Yet here first, since her arrival on the British shores, the immediate +rapturous moment of landing, and the fortnight passed with Lady Aurora +Granville excepted, here first sweet contentment, soft hopes, and gentle +happiness visited the bosom of Juliet. No privation was hard, no toil +was severe, no application was tedious, while the friend of her heart +was by her side; whose sorrows she could mitigate, whose affections she +could share, and whose tears she could sometimes chase. + +But the relief was not more exquisite than it was transitory; a week +only had passed in delicious repose, when Gabriella received +intelligence that her husband was taken ill. + +Whatever was her reluctance to quitting the spot, where her memory was +every moment fed with cherished recollections, she could not hesitate to +depart; but, when Juliet, in consonance with her inclination and her +promise, prepared to accompany her, that hydra-headed intruder upon +human schemes and desires, Difficulty, arose, in as many shapes as she +could form projects, to impede her wishes. Money they had none: even for +the return to town of Gabriella, her husband was fain to have recourse +for aid to certain admirable persons, whose benevolence had enabled her, +upon the illness of her son, to quit it for Brighthelmstone: and, in a +situation of indigence so obvious, could they propose carrying away with +them the work with which they were entrusted? Juliet, indeed, had still +Harleigh's bank notes in her possession; but she turned inflexibly from +the temptation of adopting a mode of conduct, which she had always +condemned as weak and degrading; that of investing circumstance with +decision, in conscientious dilemmas. + +These terrible obstacles broke into all their plans, their wishes, +their happiness; involved them in new distress, deluged them in tears, +and, after every effort with which ingenious friendship could combat +them, ended in compelling a separation. Gabriella embraced, with pungent +affliction, the sorrowing Juliet; shed her last bitter tears over the +grave of her lost darling, and, by the assistance of the angelic +beings[18] already hinted at, whose delicacy, whose feeling, whose +respect for misfortune, made their beneficence as balsamic to +sensibility, as it was salutary to want, returned alone to the capital. + +[Footnote 18: Residing in, and,--in 1795!--at the foot of Norbury Park.] + +Juliet thus, perforce, remaining, and once again left to herself, was +nearly overwhelmed with grief at a stroke so abrupt and unexpected; so +ruinous to her lately acquired contentment, and dearly prized social +enjoyment. Yet she suffered not regret and disappointment to consume her +time, however cruelly they preyed upon her spirits, and demolished her +comfort. Solitarily she continued the employment which she had socially +begun; but without relaxing in diligence and application, without +permitting herself the smallest intermission that could be avoided: +urged not alone to maintain herself, and to replace what she had touched +of the deposit of Harleigh, but excited, yet more forcibly, by the fond +hope of rejoining her friend; to which she eagerly looked forward, as +the result and reward of her activity and labour. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + + +Left thus to herself, and devoted to incessant work, Juliet next, had +the vexation to learn, how inadequate for entering into any species of +business was a mere knowledge of its theory. + +She had concluded that, in consecrating her time and her labours to so +simple an employment as needle-work, she secured herself a certain, +though an hardly earned maintenance: but, as her orders became more +extensive, she found that neither talents for what she undertook, nor +even patronage to bring them into notice, was sufficient; a capital also +was requisite, for the purchase of frames, patterns, silver and gold +threads, spangles, and various other articles; to procure which, she was +forced, in the very commencement of her new career, again to run in +debt. + +Alas! she cried, where business is not necessary to subsistence, how +little do we know, believe, or even conceive, its various difficulties! +Imagination may paint enjoyments; but labours and hardships can be +judged only from experience! + +She was equally, also, unprepared for continual and vexatious delays of +payment. Her work was frequently, when best executed; or set apart for +some distant occasion, and forgotten; or received and worn, with no +retribution but by promise. Even the few who possessed more +consideration, seemed to estimate her time and her toil as nothing, +because she was brought forward by recommendation; and to pay debts of +common justice, with the parade of generosity. + +Yet, vanity and false reasoning set apart, the ladies for whom she +worked were neither hard of heart nor illiberal; but they had never +known distress! and were too light and unreflecting to weigh the +circumstances by which it might be produced, or prevented. + +To save time, and obviate innumerable mortifications, Juliet, at first, +employed a commissioner to carry home her work, and to deliver her +bills; but he returned always with empty messages, that if Miss Ellis +would call herself, she should be paid. Yet when, with whatever +reluctance, she complied, she was ordinarily condemned to wait in +passages, or anti-chambers, for whole hours, and even whole mornings; +which were commonly ended by an excuse, through a footman, or lady's +maid, that Lady or Miss such a one was too much engaged, or too much +indisposed, to see her till the next day. The next day, when, with +renewed expectation, she again presented herself, the same scene was +re-acted; though the passing to and fro of various comers and goers, +proved that it was only to herself her fair creditor was invisible. + +Nevertheless, if she mentioned that she had some pattern, or some piece +of work, finished for any other lady to exhibit, she was immediately +admitted; though still, with regard to payment, she was desired to call +again in the evening, or the next morning, with a new bill; her old one +happening, unluckily, to be always lost or mislaid; and not seldom, +while stopping in an anti-room, to arrange her packages, she heard +exclamations of 'How amazingly tiresome is that Miss Ellis! pestering +one so, always, for her money!' + +Is it possible, thought Juliet, that common humanity, nay, common sense, +will not tell these careless triflers, that their complaint is a lampoon +upon themselves? Will no reflexion, no feeling point out to them, that +the time which they thus unmercifully waste in humiliating attendance, +however to themselves it may be a play-thing, if not a drug, is, to +those who subsist but by their use of it, shelter, clothing, and +nourishment? + +If sometimes, in the hope of exciting more attention from this +dissipated set, she ventured to drop a mournful hint, that she was a +novice to this hard kind of life; the warm compassion that seemed +rapidly kindled, raised expectations of immediate assistance; but the +emotion, though good, took a direction that made it useless; it merely +played about in exclamations of pity; then blazed into curiosity, vented +itself in questions,--and evaporated. + +She soon, therefore, ceased all attempt to obtain regard through +personal representations; feeling yet more mortified to be left in +passages, or recommended to domestics, after avowing that her lowly +state was the effect of misfortune; than while she permitted it to be +presumed, that she had nothing to brook but what she had been born and +bred to bear. + +Some, indeed, while leaving their own just debts unpaid and unnoticed, +would have collected, from their friends, a few straggling half-crowns; +but when Juliet, declining such aid, modestly solicited her right, they +captiously disputed a bill which had been charged by the strictest +necessity; or offered half what they would have dared propose to any +ordinary and hired day-jobber. And whatever admiration they bestowed +upon the taste and execution of work prepared for others, all that she +finished for themselves, was received with that wary precursor of +under-valuing its price, contempt; and looked over with fault-finding +eyes, and unmeaning criticism. + +Yet, if the following day, or even the following hour, some sudden +invitation to a brilliant assembly, made any of these ladies require her +services, they would give their orders with caressing solicitations for +speed; rush familiarly into her room, three or four times in a day, to +see how she went on; supplicate her to touch nothing for any other human +being; load her with professions of regard; confound her with hurrying +entreaties; shake her by the hand; tap her on the shoulder; call her the +best of souls; assure her of their eternal gratitude; and torment her +out of any time for sleep or food:--yet, the occasion past, and the work +seen and worn, it was thought of no more! Her pains and exertions, their +promises and fondness, sunk into the same oblivion; and the commonest +and most inadequate pay was murmured at, if not contested. + +Now and then, however, she was surprised by sudden starts of kindness, +and hasty enquiries, eagerly made, though scarcely demanding any answer, +into her situation and affairs; followed by drawing her, with an air of +confidence, into a dressing-room or closet:--but there, when prepared +for some mark of favour or esteem, she was only asked, in a mysterious +whisper, whether she could procure any cheap foreign lace, or French +gloves? or whether she could get over from France, any particularly +delicate paste for the hands. + +To ladies and to behaviour of this cast, there were, however, +exceptions; especially amongst the residents of the place and its +neighbourhood, who were not there, like the visitors, for dissipation or +irregular extravagance, that, alternately, causes money to be loosely +squandered, and meanly held back. But this better sort was rare, and +sufficed not to supply employment to Juliet for her maintenance, though +the most parsimonious. Nor were there any amongst them that had the +leisure, or the discernment, to discover, that her mind both required +and merited succour as much as her circumstances. + +Yet there was the seat of what she had most to endure, and found hardest +to sustain. Her short, but precious junction with her Gabriella, gave +poignancy to every latent regret, and added disgust to her solitary +toil. Thoughts uncommunicated, ideas unexchanged, fears unrevealed, and +sorrows unparticipated, infused a heaviness into her existence, that not +all her activity in business could conquer; while slackness of pay, by +rendering the result of her labours distant and precarious, robbed her +industry of cheerfulness, and her exertions of hope. With an ardent love +of elegant social intercourse, she was doomed to pass her lonely days in +a room that no sound of kindness ever cheered; with enthusiastic +admiration of the beauties of Nature, she was denied all prospect, but +of the coarse red tilings of opposite attics: with an innate taste for +the fine arts, she was forced to exist as completely out of their view +or knowledge, as if she had been an inhabitant of some uncivilized +country: and fellow-feeling, that most powerful master of philanthropy! +now taught her to pity the lamentations of seclusion from the world, +that she had hitherto often contemned as weak and frivolous; since now, +though with time always occupied, and a mind fully stored, she had the +bitter self-experience of the weight of solitude without books, and of +the gloom of retirement without a friend. + +During this period, the only notice that she attracted, was that of a +gouty old gentleman, whom she frequently met upon the stairs, when +forced to mount or descend them in pursuit of her fair heedless +creditors. She soon found, by the manner in which he entered, or +quitted, at pleasure, the apartment that she had recently given up, that +he was her successor. He was evidently struck by her beauty, and, upon +their first meeting, looked earnestly after her till she was out of +sight; and then, descended into the shop, to enquire who she was of Miss +Matson. Miss Matson, always perplexed what to think of her, gave so +indefinite, yet so extraordinary an account, that he eagerly awaited an +opportunity of seeing her again. Added examination was less calculated +to diminish curiosity, than to change it into pleasure and interest; and +soon, during whole hours together, he perseveringly watched, upon the +landing-places, for the moments of her going out, or coming back to the +house; that, while smiling and bowing to her as she passed, he might +obtain yet another, and another view of so singular and so lovely an +Incognita. + +As he annexed no fixed idea himself to this assiduity, he impressed none +upon Juliet; who, though she could not but observe it, had a mind too +much occupied within, for that mental listlessness that applies for +thoughts, conjectures, or adventures from without. + +Soon, however, becoming anxious to behold her nearer, and, soon after, +to behold her longer, he contrived to place himself so as somewhat to +obstruct, though not positively to impede, her passage. The modest +courtesy, which she gave to his age, when, upon her approach, he made +way for her, he pleased himself by attributing to his palpable +admiration; and his bow, which had always been polite, became +obsequious; and his smile, which had always spoken pleasure, displayed +enchantment. + +Still, however, there was nothing to alarm, and little to engage the +attention of Juliet; for though ostentatiously gallant, he was +scrupulously decorous. His manners and deportment were old-fashioned, +but graceful and gentleman-like; and his eyes, though they had lost +their brilliancy, were still quick, scrutinizing, and, where not +softened by female attractions, severe. + +One day, upon her return from a fruitless expedition, as fearfully, +while ascending the stairs, she opened a paper that had just been +delivered to her in the shop, her deeply absorbed and perplexed air, and +the sigh with which she looked at its contents, induced him, with +heightened interest, to attempt following her, that he might make some +enquiry into her situation. He had discerned, as she passed, that what +she held was a bill; he could not doubt her poverty from her change of +apartment; and he wished to offer her some assistance: but finding that +he had no chance of overtaking her, before she reached her chamber, he +gently called, 'Young lady!' and begged that she would stop. + +With that alacrity of youthful purity, which is ever disposed to +consider age and virtue as one, she not only complied, but, seeing the +difficulty with which he mounted the stairs, respected his infirmities, +and descended herself to meet him, and hear his business. + +To a younger man, or to one less experienced, or less sagacious, this +action might have appeared the effect of forwardness, of ignorance, or +of levity; but to a man of the world, hackneyed in its ways, and +penetrating into the motives by which it is ordinarily influenced, it +seemed the result of innocence without suspicion; yet of an innocence to +which her air and manner gave a dignity that destroyed, in its birth, +all interpretation to her disadvantage. His purse, therefore, which +already he held in his hand, he felt must be offered with more delicacy +than he had at first supposed to be necessary; and, though he was by no +means a man apt to be embarrassed, he hesitated, for a moment, how to +address a forlorn young stranger. + +That moment, however, sufficed to determine him upon making an apology, +with the most marked respect, for the liberty which he had taken in +claiming her attention. The look with which she listened rewarded his +judgment: it expressed the gratitude of feelings to which politeness was +a pleasure; but not a novelty. + +'I think--I understand, Ma'am,' he then said, 'you are the lady who +inhabited the apartment to which, most unworthily, I have succeeded?' + +Juliet bowed. + +'I am truly concerned, Ma'am, at a mistake so preposterous in our +destinies, so diametrically in opposition to our merits, as that which +immures so much beauty and grace, which every one must wish to behold, +in the attics; while so worn-out, and good-for-nothing an old fellow as +I am, from whom every body must wish to turn their eyes, is perched, +full in front, and precisely on the very spot so every way your +superiour due. Whatever wicked Elf has done this deed, I confess myself +heartily ashamed of my share in its operation; and humbly ready, should +any better genius come amongst us, with a view to putting things into +their proper places, to agree, either that you should be lodged, in the +face of day, in the drawing-room, and I be jammed, out of sight, in the +garret; or--that you should become gouty and decrepit, and I grow +suddenly young and beautiful.' + +Juliet could not but smile, yet waited some explanation without +speaking. + +Charmed with the smile, which his own rigid features immediately caught, +'I have so frequently,' he continued, 'pondered and ruminated upon the +good which those little aerial beings I speak of might do; and the +wrongs which they might redress; were they permitted to visit us, now +and then, as we read of their doing in days of yore; that, sometimes, I +dream while wide awake, and fancy I see them; and feel myself at the +mercy of their antic corrections; or receive courteous presents, or +wholesome advice. Just this moment, as you were passing, methought one +of them appeared to me!' + +Juliet, surprised, involuntarily looked round. + +'And it said to me, "Whence happens it, my worthy antique, that you grow +as covetous as you are rich? Bear, for your pains, the punishment due to +a miser, of receiving money that you must not hoard; and of presenting, +with your own avaricious hand, this purse to the fair young creature +whose dwelling you have usurped; yet who resides nearest to those she +most resembles, the gods and goddesses."' + +With these words, and a low bow, he would have put his purse into her +hand; but upon her starting back, it dropt at her feet. + +Surprized, yet touched, as well as amused, by a turn so unexpected to +his pleasantry, Juliet, gracefully restoring, though firmly declining +his offer, uttered her thanks for the kindness of his intentions, with a +sweetness so unsuspicious of evil, that they separated with as strong an +impression of wonder upon his part, as, upon hers, of gratitude. + +Anxious to relieve the perplexity thus excited, and to settle his +opinion, he continued to watch, but could not again address her; for +aware, now, of his purpose, she fled down, or darted up stairs, with a +swiftness that defied pursuit; yet with a passing courtesy, that marked +respectful remembrance. + +Thus, in a life of solitary hardship, with no intermission but for +mortifying disappointment, passed nearly three weeks, when Juliet found, +with affright and astonishment, that all orders for work seemed at an +end. It was no longer the season for Brighthelmstone, whose visitors +were only accidental stragglers, that, here to-day, and gone to-morrow, +had neither care nor leisure but for rambling and amusement. The +residents, though by no means inconsiderable, were soon served; for +Elinor was removed to Lewes, and her influence was lost with her +presence. Some new measure, therefore, for procuring employment, became +necessary; and Juliet, once more, was reduced to make application to +Miss Matson. + +In passing, therefore, one morning, through the shop, with some work +prepared for carrying home, she stopt to open upon the subject; but the +appearance of Miss Bydel at the door, induced her, with an hasty +apology, to make an abrupt retreat; that she might avoid an encounter +which, with that lady, was always irksome, if not painful, from her +unconstrained curiosity; joined to the grossness of her conceptions and +remarks. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + + +Juliet, in re-mounting the stairs, was stopt, by her new acquaintance, +before the door of his apartment. + +'If you knew,' he said, 'how despitefully I have been treated, and how +miserably black and blue I have been pinched, by the little Imp whose +offer you have rejected, sleep would fly your eyes at night, from +remorse for your hardness of heart. Its Impship insists upon it, that +the fault must all be mine. What! it cries, would you persuade me, that +a young creature whose face beams with celestial sweetness, whose voice +is the voice of melody, whose eyes have the softness of the Dove's--' + +Juliet, though she smiled, would have escaped; but he told her he must +be heard. + +'Would you persuade me, quoth my sprite, that such an angelic personage, +would rather let my poor despised coin canker and rust in your miserly +coffers, than disperse it about in the world, in kind, generous, or +useful activity? No, my antique, continues my little elf, you have +presented it in some clumsy, hunchy, awkward mode, that has made her +deem you an unworthy bearer of fairy gifts; and she flies the downy +wings of my gentle succour, from the fear of falling into your rough and +uncooth claws.' + +Juliet, who now, through the ill-closed fingers of his gouty hand, +discerned his prepared purse, seriously begged to decline this +discussion. + +'What malice you must bear me!' he cried. 'You are surely in the pay of +my evil genius! and I shall be whipt with nettles, or scratched with +thorns, all night, in revenge of my failure! And that parcel, +too,--which strains the fine fibres of your fair hands,--cast it but +down, and millions of my little elves will struggle to convey it safely +to your chamber.' + +'I doubt not their dexterity,' answered Juliet, 'nor the benevolence of +their fabricator; but I assure you, Sir, I want no help.' + +'If you will not accept their aerial services, deign, at least, not to +refuse mine!' + +He endeavoured, now, to take the gown-packet into his own hands; +laughingly saying, upon her grave resistance, 'Beware, fair nymph, of +the dormant sensations which you may awaken, if you should make me +suppose you afraid of me! Many a long day is past, alas! and gone, since +I could flatter myself with the idea of exciting fear in a young +breast!' + +Ceasing, however, the attempt, after some courteous apologies, he +respectfully let her pass. + +But, upon entering her room, she heard something chink as she deposited +her parcel upon a table; and, upon examination, found that he had +managed to slip into it, during the contest, a little green purse. + +Vexed at this contrivance, and resolved not to lose an instant in +returning what no distress could induce her to retain, she immediately +descended; but the staircase was vacant, and the door was closed. +Fearful any delay might authorize a presumption of acceptance, she +assumed courage to tap at the door. + +A scampering, at the same moment, up the stairs, made her instantly +regret this measure; and by no means the less, for finding herself +recognized, and abruptly accosted by young Gooch, the farmer's son, at +the very moment that her gouty admirer had hobbled to answer to her +summons. + +'Well, see if I a'n't a good marksman!' he cried; 'for else, Ma'am, I +might have passed you; for they told me, below, you were up there, at +the very top of the house. But I'd warrant to pick you out from a +hundred, Ma'am; as neat as my father would one of his stray sheep. But +what I come for, Ma'am, is to ask the favour of your company, if it's +agreeable to you, to a little junket at our farm.' + +Then, rubbing his hands with great glee, unregarding the surprised look +of Juliet, at such an invitation, or the amused watchfulness of the +observant old beau, he went glibly on. + +'Father's to give it, Ma'am. You never saw old dad, I believe, Ma'am? +The old gentleman's a very good old chap; only he don't like our clubs: +for he says they make me speak quite in the new manner; so that the +farmers, he says, don't know what I'd be at. He's rather in years, +Ma'am, poor man. He don't know much how things go. However, he's a very +well meaning old gentleman.' + +Juliet gravely enquired, to what unknown accident she might attribute an +invitation so unexpected? + +'Why, Ma'am,' answered Gooch, delighted at the idea of having given her +an agreeable surprize, 'Why it's the 'Squire, Ma'am, that put it into my +head. You know who I mean? our rich cousin, 'Squire Tedman. He's a great +friend of yours, I can assure you, Ma'am. He wants you to take a little +pleasure sadly. And he's sadly afraid, too, he says, that you'll miss +him, now he's gone to town; for he used often, he says, to bring you one +odd thing or another. He's got a fine fortune of his own, my cousin the +'Squire. And he's a widower.--And he's taken a vast liking to you, I can +tell you, Ma'am;--so who knows....' + +Juliet would have been perfectly unmoved by this ignorant forwardness, +but for the presence of a stranger, to whose good opinion, after her +experience of his benevolence, she could not be indifferent. With an +air, therefore, that marked her little satisfaction at this familiar +jocoseness, she declined the invitation; and begged the young man to +acquaint Mr Tedman, that, though obliged to his intentions, she should +feel a yet higher obligation in his forbearance to forward to her, in +future, any similar proposals. + +'Why, Ma'am,' cried young Gooch, astonished, 'this i'n't a thing you can +get at every day! We shall have all the main farmers of the +neighbourhood! for it's given on account of a bargain that we've made, +of a nice little slip of land, just by our square hay-field. And I've +leave to choose six of the company myself. But they won't be farmers, +Ma'am, I can tell you! They'll be young fellows that know better how the +world goes. And we shall have your good friend 'Squire Stubbs; for it's +he that made our bargain.' + +Juliet, now, turning from him to the silent, remarking stranger, said, +'I am extremely ashamed, Sir, to obtrude thus upon your time, but the +person for whom you so generously destined this donation commissions me +to return it, with many thanks, and an assurance that it is not at all +wanted.' + +She held out her hand with the purse, but, drawing back from receiving +it, 'Madam,' he cried, 'I would upon no account offend any one who has +the honour of being known to you; but you will not, therefore, I hope, +insist that I should quarrel with myself, by taking what does not belong +to me?' + +While Juliet, now, looked wistfully around, to discover some place where +she might drop the purse, unseen by the young man, whose +misinterpretations might be injurious, the youth volubly continued his +own discourse. + +'We shall give a pretty good entertainment in the way of supper, I +assure you, Ma'am; for we shall have a goose at top, and a turkey at +bottom, and as fine a fat pig as ever you saw in your life in the +middle; with as much ale, and mead, and punch, as you can desire to +drink. And, as all my sisters are at home, and a brace or so of nice +young lasses of their acquaintance, besides ever so many farmers, and us +seven stout young fellows of my club, into the bargain, we intend to +kick up a dance. It may keep you out a little late, to be sure, Ma'am, +but you shall have our chay-cart to bring you home. You know our +chay-cart of old, Ma'am?' + +'I, Sir?' + +'Why, lauk! have you forgot that, Ma'am? Why it's our chay-cart that +brought you to Brighton, from Madam Maple's at Lewes, as good as half a +year ago. Don't you remember little Jack, that drove you? and that went +for you again the next day, to fetch you back?' + +Juliet now found, that this was the carriage procured for her by +Harleigh, upon her first arrival at Lewes; and, though chagrined at the +air of former, or disguised intimacy, which such an incident might seem +to convey to her new friend, she immediately acknowledged recollecting +the circumstance. + +'Well, I'm only sorry, Ma'am, I did not drive you myself; but I had not +the pleasure of your acquaintance then, Ma'am; for 'twas before of our +acting together.' + +The surprise of the listening old gentleman now altered its expression, +from earnest curiosity to suppressed pleasantry; and he leant against +his door, to take a pinch of snuff, with an air that denoted him to be +rather waiting for some expected amusement, than watching, as +heretofore, for some interesting explanation. + +Juliet, in discerning the passing change in his ideas, became more than +ever eager to return the purse; yet more than ever fearful of +misconstruction from young Gooch; whom she now, with encreased +dissatisfaction, begged to lose no time in acquainting Mr Tedman, that +business only ever took her from home. + +'Why, that's but moping for you, neither, Ma'am,' he answered, in a tone +of pity. 'You'd have double the spirits if you'd go a little abroad; +for staying within doors gives one but a hippish turn. It will go nigh +to make you grow quite melancholick, Ma'am.' + +Hopeless to get rid either of him or of the purse, Juliet, now, was +moving up stairs, when the voice of Miss Bydel called out from the +passage, 'Why, Mr Gooch, have you forgot I told you to send Mrs Ellis to +me?' + +'That I had clean!' he answered. 'I ask your pardon, I'm sure, +Ma'am.--Why, Ma'am, Miss Bydel told me to tell you, when I said I was +coming up to ask you to our junket, that she wanted to say a word or two +to you, down in the shop, upon business.' + +Juliet would have descended; but Miss Bydel, desiring her to wait, +mounted herself, saying, 'I have a mind to see your little new room:' +stopping, however, when she came to the landing-place, which was square +and large, 'Well-a-day!' she exclaimed: 'Sir Jaspar Herrington!--who'd +have thought of seeing you, standing so quietly at your door? Why I did +not know you could stand at all! Why how is your gout, my good Sir? And +how do you like your new lodgings? I heard of your being here from Miss +Matson. But pray, Mrs Ellis, what has kept you both, you and young Mr +Gooch, in such close conference with Sir Jaspar? I can't think what +you've been talking of so long. Pray how did you come to be so intimate +together? I should like to know that.' + +Sir Jaspar courteously invited Miss Bydel to enter his apartment; but +that lady, not aware that nothing is less delicate than professions of +delicacy; which degrade a just perception, and strict practice of +propriety, into a display of conscious caution, or a suspicion of evil +interpretation; almost angrily answered, that she could not for the +world do such a thing, for it would set every body a talking: 'for, as +I'm not married, Sir Jaspar, you know, and as you're a single gentleman, +too, it might make Miss Matson and her young ladies think I don't know +what. For, when once people's tongues are set a-going, it's soon too +late to stop them. Besides, every body's always so prodigious curious to +dive into other people's affairs, that one can't well be too prudent.' + +Sir Jaspar, with an arched brow, of which she was far from comprehending +the meaning, said that he acquiesced in her better judgment; but, as she +had announced that she came to speak with this young lady upon business, +he enquired, whether there would be any incongruity in putting a couple +of chairs upon the landing-place. + +'Well,' she cried, 'that's a bright thought, I declare, Sir Jaspar! for +it will save me the trouble of groping up stairs;' and then, seizing the +opportunity to peep into his room, she broke forth into warm +exclamations of pleasure, at the many nice and new things with which it +had been furnished, since it had been vacated by Mrs Ellis. + +A look, highly commiserating, shewed him shocked by these observations; +and the air, patiently calm, with which they were heard by Juliet, +augmented his interest, as well as wonder, in her story and situation. + +He ordered his valet to fetch an arm-chair for Miss Bydel; while, +evidently meant for Juliet, he began to drag another forward himself. + +'Bless me, Sir Jaspar!' cried Miss Bydel, looking, a little affronted, +towards Juliet, 'have you no common chairs?' + +'Yes,' he answered, still labouring on, 'for common purposes!' + +This civility was not lost upon Juliet, who declining, though thankful +for his attention, darted forward, to take, for herself, a seat of less +dignity; hastily, as she passed, dropping the purse upon a table. + +A glance at Sir Jaspar sufficed to assure her, that this action had not +escaped his notice; and though his look spoke disappointment, it shewed +him sensible of the propriety of avoiding any contest. + +Relieved from this burthen, she now cheerfully waited to hear the orders +of Miss Bydel: young Gooch waited to hear them also; seated, +cross-legged, upon the balustrade; though Sir Jaspar sent his valet +away, and, retired, scrupulously, himself, to the further end of his +apartment. + +Miss Bydel, as little struck with the ill breeding of the young farmer, +as with the good manners of the baronet, forgot her business, from +recollecting that Mr Scope was waiting for her in the shop. 'For +happening,' said she, 'to pass by, and see me, through the glass-door, +he just stept in, on purpose to have a little chat.' + +'O ho, what, is 'Squire Scope here?' cried young Gooch; and, rapidly +sliding down the banisters, seized upon the unwilling and precise Mr +Scope, whom he dragged up to the landing-place. + +'Well, this is droll enough!' cried Miss Bydel, palpably enchanted, +though trying to look displeased; 'only I hope you have not told Mr +Scope 'twas I that sent you for him, Mr Gooch? for, I assure you, Mr +Scope, I would not do such a thing for the world. I should think it +quite improper. Besides, what will Miss Matson and the young milliners +say? Who knows but you may have set them a prating, Mr Gooch? It's no +joke, I can assure you, doing things of this sort.' + +'I'm sure, Ma'am,' said Gooch, 'I thought you wanted to see the 'Squire; +for I did not do it in the least to make game.' + +'There can be no doubt, Madam,' said Mr Scope, somewhat offended, 'that +all descriptions of sport are not, at all times, advisable. For, in +small societies, as in great states, if I may be permitted to compare +little things with great ones, danger often lurks unseen, and mischief +breaks out from trifles. In like manner, for example, if one of those +young milliners, misinterpreting my innocence, in obeying the supposed +commands of the good Miss Bydel, should take the liberty to laugh at my +expence, what, you might ask, could it signify that a young girl should +laugh? Young persons, especially of the female gender, being naturally +given to laughter, at very small provocatives; not to say sometimes +without any whatsoever. Whereupon, persons of an ordinary judgment, may +conclude such an action, by which I mean laughing, to be of no +consequence.--' + +'But I think it very rude!' cried Miss Bydel, extremely nettled. + +'Please to hear me, Madam!' said Mr Scope. 'Persons, I say, of deeper +knowledge in the maxims and manners of the moral world, would look +forward with watchfulness, on such an occasion, to its future effects; +for one laugh breeds another, and another breeds another; for nothing is +so catching as laughing; I mean among the vulgar; in which class I would +be understood to include the main mass of a great nation. What, I ask, +ensues?--' + +'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, rather impatiently, 'I +assure you if I knew any body that took such a liberty as to laugh at +me, I should let them know my thoughts of such airs without much +ceremony!' + +'My very good lady,' said Mr Scope, formally bowing, 'if I may request +such a favour, I beg you to be silent. The laugh, I observe, caught +thus, from one to another, soon spreads abroad; and then, the more aged, +or better informed, may be led to enquire into its origin: and the +result of such investigation must needs be, that the worthy Miss Bydel, +having sent her commands to her humble servant, Mr Scope, to follow her +up stairs--' + +'But if they said that,' cried Miss Bydel, looking very red, 'it would +be as great a fib as ever was told, for I did not send my commands, nor +think of such a thing. It was Mr Gooch's own doing, only for his own +nonsense. And I am curious to know, Mr Gooch, whether any body ever put +such thoughts into your head? Pray did you ever hear any body talk, Mr +Gooch? For, if you have, I should be glad to know what they said.' + +Mr Scope, waving his hand to demand attention, again begged leave to +remark, that he had not finished what he purposed to advance. + +'My argument, Madam,' he resumed, 'is a short, but, I hope, a clear one, +for 'tis deduced from general principles and analogy; though, upon a +merely cursory view, it may appear somewhat abstruse. But what I mean, +in two words, is, that the laugh raised by Mr Gooch, and those young +milliners; taking it for granted that they laughed; which, indeed, I +rather think I heard them do; may, in itself, perhaps, as only +announcing incapacity, not be condemnable; but when it turns out that it +promulgates false reports, and makes two worthy persons, if I may take +the liberty to name myself with the excellent Miss Bydel, appear to be +fit subjects for ridicule; then, indeed, the laugh is no longer +innocent; and ought, in strict justice, to be punished, as seriously as +any other mode of propagating false rumours.' + +Miss Bydel, after protesting that Mr Scope talked so prodigiously +sensible, that she was never tired of hearing him, for all his speeches +were so long; abruptly told Juliet, that she had called to let her know, +that she should be glad to be paid, out of hand, the money which she had +advanced for the harp. + +Sir Jaspar, who, during the harangue of Mr Scope, which was uttered in +too loud and important a manner, to leave any doubt of its being +intended for general hearing; had drawn his chair to join the party, +listened to this demand with peculiar attention; and was struck with the +evident distress which it caused to Juliet; who fearfully besought a +little longer law, to collect the debts of others, that she might be +able to discharge her own. + +Young Gooch, coming behind her, said, in a half whisper, 'If you'll tell +me how much it is you owe, Ma'am, I'll help you out in a trice; for I +can have what credit I will in my father's name; and he'll never know +but what 'twas for some frolic of my own; for I don't make much of a +confidant of the old gentleman.' + +The most icy refusal was insufficient to get rid of this offer, or +offerer; who assured her that, if the worst came to the worst, and his +father, by ill luck, should find them out, he would not make a fuss for +above a day or two; 'because,' he continued, 'he has only me, as one may +say, for the rest are nothing but girls; so he can't well help himself. +He gave me my swing too long from the first, to bind me down at this +time of day. Besides, he likes to have me a little in the fashion, I +know, though he won't own it; for he is a very good sort of an old +gentleman, at bottom.' + +Sir Jaspar sought to discover, whether the colour which heightened the +cheeks of Juliet at this proposal, which now ceased to be delivered in a +whisper, was owing to confusion at its publicity, or to disdain at the +idea of conspiring either at deceiving or braving the young man's +father; while Miss Bydel, whose plump curiosity saved her from all +species of speculative trouble, bluntly said, 'Why should you hesitate +at such an offer, my dear? I'm sure I don't see how you can do better +than accept it. Mr Gooch is a very worthy young man, and so are all his +family. I'm sure I only wish he'd take to you more solidly, and make a +match of it. That would put an end to your troubles at once; and I +should get my money out of hand.' + +This was an opportunity not to be passed over by the argumentative but +unerring Mr Scope, for trite observations, self-evident truths, and +hackneyed calculations, upon the mingled dangers and advantages of +matrimony, 'which, when weighed,' said he, 'in equal scales, and +abstractedly considered, are of so puzzling a nature, that the wise and +wary, fearing to risk them, remain single; but which, when looked upon +in a more cursory way, or only lightly balanced, preponderate so much in +favour of the state, that the great mass of the nation, having but small +means of reflection, or forethought, ordinarily prefer matrimony. If, +therefore, young Mr Gooch should think proper to espouse this young +person, there would be nothing in it very surprising; nevertheless, in +summing up the expences of wedlock, and a growing family, it might seem, +that to begin the married state with debts already contracted, on the +female side, would appear but a shallow mark of prudence on the male, +where the cares of that state reasonably devolve; he being naturally +supposed to have the most sense.' + +'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, 'if Mr Gooch should take a +liking to this young person, she has money enough to pay her debts, I +can assure you: I should not have asked her for it else; but the thing +is, she don't like to part with it.' + +Juliet solemnly protested, that the severest necessity could alone have +brought her into the pecuniary difficulties under which she laboured; +the money to which Miss Bydel alluded being merely a deposit which she +held in her hands, and for which she was accountable. + +'Well, that's droll enough,' said Miss Bydel, 'that a young person, not +worth a penny in the world, should have the care of other people's +money! I should like to know what sort of persons they must be, that can +think of making such a person their steward!' + +Young Gooch said that it would not be his father, for one, who would do +it; and Mr Scope was preparing an elaborate dissertation upon the nature +of confidence, with regard to money-matters, in a great state; when Miss +Bydel, charmed to have pronounced a sentence which seemed to accord with +every one's opinion, ostentatiously added, 'I should like, I say, Mrs +Ellis, to know what sort of person it could be, that would trust a +person with one's cash, without enquiring into their circumstances? for +though, upon hearing that a person has got nothing, one may give 'em +something, one must be no better than a fool to make them one's banker.' + +Juliet, who could not enter into any explanation, stammered, coloured, +and from the horrour of seeing that she was suspected, wore an air of +seeming apprehensive of detection. + +A short pause ensued, during which every one fixed his eyes upon her +face, save Sir Jaspar; who seemed studying a portrait upon his +snuff-box. + +Her immediate wish, in this disturbance, was to clear herself from so +terrible an aspersion, by paying Miss Bydel, as she had paid her other +creditors, from the store of Harleigh; but her wishes, tamed now by +misfortune and disappointment, were too submissively under the controul +of fear and discretion, to suffer her to act from their first dictates: +and a moment's reflection pointed out, that, joined to the impropriety +of such a measure with respect to Harleigh himself, it would be liable, +more than any other, to give her the air of an impostor, who possessed +money that she could either employ, or disclaim all title to, at her +pleasure. Calling, therefore, for composure from conscious integrity, +she made known her project of applying once more to Miss Matson, for +work; and earnestly supplicated for the influence of Miss Bydel, that +this second application might not, also, be vain. + +The eyes of the attentive Sir Jaspar, as he raised them from his +snuff-box, now spoke respect mingled with pity. + +'As to recommending you to Miss Matson, Mrs Ellis,' answered Miss Bydel, +'it's out of all reason to demand such a thing, when I can't tell who +you are myself; and only know that you have got money in your hands +nobody knows how, nor what for.' + +An implication such as this, nearly overpowered the fortitude of Juliet; +and, relinquishing all further effort, she rose, and, silently, almost +gloomily, began ascending the stairs. Sir Jaspar caught the expression +of her despair by a glance; and, in a tone of remonstrance, said to Miss +Bydel, 'In your debt, good Miss Bydel? Have you forgotten, then, that +the young lady has paid you?' + +'Paid me? good Me! Sir Jaspar,' cried Miss Bydel, staring; 'how can you +say such a thing? Do you think I'd cheat the young woman?' + +'I think it so little,' answered he, calmly, 'that I venture to remind +you, thus publicly, of the circumstance; in full persuasion that I shall +merit your gratitude, by aiding your memory.' + +'Good Me! Sir Jaspar, why I never heard such a thing in my life! Paid +me? When? Why it can't be without my knowing it?' + +'Certainly not; I beg you, therefore, to recollect yourself.' + +The stare of Miss Bydel was now caught by Mr Scope; and her 'Good Me!' +was echoed by young Gooch; while the surprised Juliet, turning back, +said, 'Pardon me, Sir! I have never been so happy as to be able to +discharge the debt. It remains in full force.' + +'Over you, too, then,' cried Sir Jaspar, with quickness, 'have I the +advantage in memory? Have you forgotten that you delivered, to Miss +Bydel, the full sum, not twenty minutes since?' + +Miss Bydel now, reddening with anger, cried, 'Sir Jaspar, I have long +enough heard of your ill nature; but I never suspected your crossness +would take such a turn against a person as this, to make people believe +I demand what is not my own!' + +Juliet again solemnly acknowledged the debt; and Mr Scope opened an +harangue upon the merits of exactitude between debtor and creditor, and +the usefulness of settling no accounts, without, what were the only +legal witnesses to obviate financial controversy, receipts in full; when +Sir Jaspar, disregarding, alike, his rhetoric or Miss Bydel's choler, +quietly patting his snuff-box, said, that it was possible that Miss +Bydel had, inadvertently, put the sum into her work-bag, and forgotten +that it had been refunded. + +Exulting that means, now, were open for vindication and redress, Miss +Bydel eagerly untied the strings of her work-bag; though Juliet +entreated that she would spare herself the useless trouble. But Sir +Jaspar protested, with great gravity, that his own honour was now as +deeply engaged to prove an affirmative, as that of Miss Bydel to prove a +negative: holding, however, her hand, he said that he could not be +satisfied, unless the complete contents of the work-bag were openly and +fairly emptied upon a table, in sight of the whole party. + +Miss Bydel, though extremely affronted, consented to this proposal; +which would clear her, she said, of so false a slander. A table was then +brought upon the landing-place; as she still stiffly refused risking her +reputation, by entering the apartment of a single gentleman; though he +might not, as she observed, be one of the youngest. + +Sir Jaspar demanded the precise amount of the sum owed. A guinea and a +half. + +He then fetched a curious little japan basket from his chamber, into +which he desired that Miss Bydel would put her work-bag; though he would +not suffer her to empty it, till, with various formalities, he had +himself placed it in the middle of the table; around which he made every +one draw a chair. + +Miss Bydel now triumphantly turned her work-bag inside out; but what was +her consternation, what the shock of Mr Scope, and how loud the shout of +young Gooch, to see, from a small open green purse, fall a guinea and a +half! + +Miss Bydel, utterly confounded, remained speechless; but Juliet, through +whose sadness Sir Jaspar saw a smile force its way, that rendered her +beauty dazzling, recollecting the purse, blushed, and would have +relieved Miss Bydel, by confessing that she knew to whom it belonged; +had she not been withheld by the fear of the strange appearance which so +sudden a seeming intimacy with the Baronet might wear. + +Sir Jaspar, again patting her snuff-box, composedly said, 'I was +persuaded Miss Bydel would find that her debt had been discharged.' + +Miss Bydel remained stupified; while Mr Scope, with a look concerned, +and even abashed, condolingly began an harangue upon the frail tenure of +the faculty of human memory. + +Miss Bydel, at length, recovering her speech, exclaimed, 'Well, here's +the money, that's certain! but which way it has got into my work-bag, +without my ever seeing or touching it, I can't pretend to say: but if +Mrs Ellis has done it to play me a trick--' + +Juliet disavowed all share in the transaction. + +'Then it's some joke of Sir Jaspar's! for I know he dearly loves to +mortify; so I suppose he has given me false coin, or something that +won't go, just to make me look like a fool.' + +'The money, I have the honour to assure you, is not mine,' was all that, +very tranquilly, Sir Jaspar replied: while Mr Scope, after a careful +examination of each piece, declared each to be good gold, and full +weight. + +Sundry 'Good me's!' and other expressions of surprise, though all of a +pleasurable sort, now broke forth from Miss Bydel, finishing with, +'However, if nobody will own the money, as the debt is fairly my due, I +don't see why I may not take it; though as to the purse, I won't touch +it, because as that's a thing I have not lent to any body, I've no right +to it.' + +Juliet here warmly interfered. The purse, she said, and the money +belonged to the same proprietor; and, as neither of them were hers, both +ought to be regarded as equally inadmissible for the payment of a debt +which she alone had contracted. This disinterested sincerity made even +Mr Scope turn to her with an air of profound, though surprised respect; +while Sir Jaspar fixed his eyes upon her face with encreased and the +most lively wonder; young Gooch stared, not perfectly understanding her; +but Miss Bydel, rolling up the purse, which she put back into the +basket, said, 'Well, if the money is not yours, Mrs Ellis, my dear, it +can be nobody's but Sir Jaspar's; and if he has a mind to pay your debt +for you, I don't see why I should hinder him, when 'twould be so much to +my disadvantage. He's rich enough, I assure you; for what has an old +bachelor to do with his money? So I'll take my due, be it which way it +will.' And, unmoved by all that Juliet could urge, she put the guinea +and the half-guinea carefully into her pocket. + +Juliet declared, that a debt which she had not herself discharged, she +should always consider as unpaid, though her creditor might be changed. + +Confused then, ashamed, perplexed,--yet unavoidably pleased, she mounted +to her chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + + +With whatever shame, whatever chagrin, Juliet saw herself again involved +in a pecuniary obligation, with a stranger, and a gentleman, a support +so efficacious, at a moment of such alarm, was sensibly and gratefully +felt. Yet she was not less anxious to cancel a favour which still was +unfitting to be received. She watched, therefore, for the departure of +Miss Bydel, and the restoration of stillness to the staircase, to +descend, once more, in prosecution to her scheme with Miss Matson. + +The anxious fear of rejection, and dread of rudeness, with which she +then renewed her solicitation, soon happily subsided, from a readiness +to listen, and a civility of manner, as welcome as they were unexpected, +in her hostess; by whom she was engaged, without difficulty, to enter +upon her new business the following morning. + +Thus, and with cruel regret, concluded her fruitless effort to attain a +self-dependence which, however subject to toil, might be free, at least, +from controul. Every species of business, however narrow its cast, +however limited its wants, however mean its materials; required, she now +found, some capital to answer to its immediate calls, and some steady +credit for encountering the unforeseen accidents, and unavoidable risks, +to which all human undertakings, whether great or insignificant, are +liable. + +With this conviction upon her mind, she strove to bear the +disappointment without murmuring; hoping to gain in security all that +she lost in liberty. Little reason, indeed, had she for regretting what +she gave up: she had been worn by solitary toil, and heavy rumination; +by labour without interest, and loneliness without leisure. + +Nevertheless, the beginning of her new career promised little +amelioration from the change. She was summoned early to the shop to +take her work; but, when she begged leave to return with it to her +chamber, she was stared at as if she had made a demand the most +preposterous, and told that, if she meant to enter into business, she +must be at hand to receive directions, and to learn how it should be +done. + +To enter into business was far from the intention of Juliet; but the +fear of dismission, should she proclaim how transitory were her views, +silenced her into acquiescence; and she seated herself behind a distant +counter. + +And here, perforce, she was initiated into a new scene of life, that of +the humours of a milliner's shop. She found herself in a whirl of hurry, +bustle, loquacity, and interruptions. Customers pressed upon customers; +goods were taken down merely to be put up again; cheapened but to be +rejected; admired but to be looked at, and left; and only bought when, +to all appearance, they were undervalued and despised. + +It was here that she saw, in its unmasked futility, the selfishness of +personal vanity. The good of a nation, the interest of society, the +welfare of a family, could with difficulty have appeared of higher +importance than the choice of a ribbon, or the set of a cap; and +scarcely any calamity under heaven could excite looks of deeper horrour +or despair, than any mistake committed in the arrangement of a feather +or a flower. Every feature underwent a change, from chagrin and +fretfulness, if any ornament, made by order, proved, upon trial, to be +unbecoming; while the whole complexion glowed with the exquisite joy of +triumph, if something new, devised for a superiour in the world of +fashion, could be privately seized as a model by an inferiour. + +The ladies whose practice it was to frequent the shop, thought the time +and trouble of its mistress, and her assistants, amply paid by the +honour of their presence; and though they tried on hats and caps, till +they put them out of shape; examined and tossed about the choicest +goods, till they were so injured that they could be sold only at half +price; ordered sundry articles, which, when finished, they returned, +because they had changed their minds; or discovered that they did not +want them; still their consciences were at ease, their honour was +self-acquitted, and their generosity was self-applauded, if, after two +or three hours of lounging, rummaging, fault-finding and chaffering, +they purchased a yard or two of ribbon, or a few skanes of netting silk. + +The most callous disregard to all representations of the dearness of +materials, or of the just price of labour, was accompanied by the most +facile acquiescence even in demands that were exorbitant, if they were +adroitly preceded by, 'Lady ----, or the Duchess of ----, gave that sum +for just such another cap, hat, &c., this very morning.' + +Here, too, as in many other situations into which accident had led, or +distress had driven Juliet, she saw, with commiseration and shame for +her fellow-creatures, the total absence of feeling and of equity, in the +dissipated and idle, for the indigent and laborious. The goods which +demanded most work, most ingenuity, and most hands, were last paid, +because heaviest of expence; though, for that very reason, the many +employed, and the charge of materials, made their payment the first +required. Oh that the good Mr Giles Arbe, thought Juliet, could arraign, +in his simple but impressive style, the ladies who exhibit themselves +with unpaid plumes, at assemblies and operas; and enquire whether they +can flatter themselves, that to adorn them alone is sufficient to +recompense those who work for, without seeing them; who ornament without +knowing them; and who must necessarily, if unrequited, starve in +rendering them more brilliant! + +Upon further observation, nevertheless, her compassion for the milliner +and the work-women somewhat diminished; for she found that their notions +of probity were as lax as those of their customers were of justice; and +saw that their own rudeness to those who had neither rank nor fortune, +kept pace with the haughtiness which they were forced to support, from +those by whom both were possessed. Every advantage was taken of +inexperience and simplicity; every article was charged, not according to +its value, but to the skill or ignorance of the purchaser; old goods +were sold as if new; cheap goods as if dear; and ancient, or vulgar +ornaments, were presented to the unpractised chafferer, as the very pink +of the mode. + +The rich and grand, who were capricious, difficult, and long in their +examinations, because their time was their own; or rather, because it +hung upon their hands; and whose utmost exertion, and sole practice of +exercise consisted in strolling from a sofa to a carriage, were +instantly, and with fulsome adulation, attended; while the meaner, or +economical, whose time had its essential appropriations, and was +therefore precious, were obliged to wait patiently for being served, +till no coach was at the door, and every fine lady had sauntered away. +And even then, they were scarcely heard when they spoke; scarcely shewn +what they demanded; and scarcely thanked for what they purchased. + +In viewing conflicts such as these, between selfish vanity and cringing +cunning, it soon became difficult to decide, which was least congenial +to the upright mind and pure morality of Juliet, the insolent, vain, +unfeeling buyer, or the subtle, plausible, over-reaching seller. + +The companions of Juliet in this business, though devoted, of course, to +its manual operations, left all its cares to its mistress. Their own +wishes and hopes were caught by other objects. The town was filled with +officers, whose military occupations were brief, whose acquaintances +were few, and who could not, all day long, ride, or pursue the sports of +the field. These gentlemen, for their idle moments, chose to deem all +the unprotected young women whom they thought worth observance, their +natural prey. And though, from race to race, and from time immemorial, +the young female shop-keeper had been warned of the danger, the folly, +and the fate of her predecessors; in listening to the itinerant admirer, +who, here to-day and gone to-morrow, marches his adorations, from town +to town with as much facility, and as little regret, as his regiment; +still every new votary to the counter and the modes, was ready to go +over the same ground that had been trodden before; with the fond +persuasion of proving an exception to those who had ended in misery and +disgrace, by finishing, herself, with marriage and promotion. Their +minds, therefore, were engaged in airy projects; and their leisure, +where they could elude the vigilance of Miss Matson, was devoted to +clandestine coquetry, tittering whispers, and secret frolics. + +'These,' said Juliet, in a letter to Gabriella, 'are now my destined +associates! Ah, heaven! can these--can such as these,--setting aside +pride, prejudice, propriety, or whatever word we use for the +distinctions of society,--can these--can such as these, suffice as +companions to her whose grateful heart has been honoured with the +friendship of Gabriella? O hours of refined felicity past and gone, how +severe is your contrast with those of heaviness and distaste now +endured!' + +The inexperience of Juliet in business, impeded not her acquiring almost +immediate excellence in the millinery art, for which she was equally +fitted by native taste, and by her remembrance of what she had seen +abroad. The first time, therefore, that she was employed to arrange some +ornaments, she adjusted them with an elegance so striking, that Miss +Matson, with much parade, exhibited them to her best lady-customers, as +a specimen of the very last new fashion, just brought her over by one of +her young ladies from Paris. + +In a town that subsists by the search of health for the sick, and of +amusement for the idle, the smallest new circumstance is of sufficient +weight to be related and canvassed; for there is ever most to say where +there is least to do. The phrase, therefore, that went forth from Miss +Matson, that one of her young ladies was just come from France, was soon +spread through the neighbourhood; with the addition that the same person +had brought over specimens of all the French _costume_. + +Such a report could not fail to allure staring customers to the shop, +where the attraction of the youth and beauty of the new work-woman, +contrasted with her determined silence to all enquiry, gave birth to +perpetually varying conjectures in her presence, which were followed by +the most eccentric assertions where she was the subject of discourse in +her absence. All that already had been spread abroad, of her acting, her +teaching, her playing the harp, her needle-work, and, more than all, her +having excited a suicide; was now in every mouth; and curiosity, baffled +in successive attempts to penetrate into the truth, supplied, as usual, +every chasm of fact by invention. + +This species of commerce, always at hand, and always fertile, proved so +highly amusing to the lassitude of the idle, and to the frivolousness of +the dissipated, that, in a very few days, the shop of Miss Matson became +the general rendezvous of the saunterers, male and female, of +Brighthelmstone. The starers were happy to present themselves where +there was something to see; the strollers, where there was any where to +go; the loungers, where there was any pretence to stay; and the curious +where there was any thing to develop in which they had no concern. + +Juliet, at first, ignorant of the usual traffic of the shop, imagined +this affluence of customers to be habitual; but she was soon undeceived, +by finding herself the object of inquisitive examination; and by +overhearing unrestrained inquiries made to Miss Matson, of 'Pray, Ma'am, +which is your famous French milliner?' + +In the midst of these various distastes and discomforts, some interest +was raised in the mind of Juliet, for one of her young +fellow-work-women. It was not, indeed, that warm interest which is the +precursor of friendship; its object had no qualities that could rise to +such a height; it was simply a sensation of pity, abetted by a wish of +doing good. + +Flora Pierson, without either fine features or fine countenance, had +strikingly the beauty of youth in a fair complexion, round, plump, rosy +cheeks, bright, though unmeaning eyes, and an air of health, strength, +and juvenile good humour, that was diffused copiously through her whole +appearance. She was innocent and inoffensive, and, as far as she was +able to think, well meaning, and ready to be at every body's command; +though incapable to be at any body's service. Yet her simplicity was of +that happy sort that never occasions self-distress, from being wholly +unaccompanied by any consciousness of deficiency or inferiority. +Accustomed to be laughed at almost whenever she spoke, she saw the smile +that she raised without emotion; or participated in it without knowing +why; and she heard the sneer that followed her simple merriment without +displeasure; though sometimes she would a little wonder what it meant. + +This young creature, who had but barely passed her sixteenth year, had +already attracted the dangerous attention of various officers, from +whose several attacks and manoeuvres she had hitherto been rescued by +the vigilance of Miss Matson. Each of these anecdotes she eagerly took, +or rather made opportunities to communicate to Juliet; waiting for no +other encouragement than the absence of Miss Matson, and using no other +prelude than 'Now I've got something else to tell you!' + +Except for some slight mixture of contempt, Juliet heard these tales +with perfect indifference; till that ungenial feeling, or rather absence +of feeling, was superceded by compassion, upon finding that she was the +object, probably the dupe, of a new and unfinished adventure, with which +Miss Matson was as yet unacquainted. 'Now, Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'I'll +tell you the drollest part of all, shall I? Well, do you know I've got +another admirer that's above all the rest? And yet he i'n't a captain, +neither, nor an officer. But he's quite a gentleman of quality, for he's +a knight baronight. And he's very pretty, I assure you. As pretty as +you, only his nose is a little shorter, and his mouth is a little +bigger. And he has not got quite so much colour; for he is very pale. +But he's prettier than I am, I believe. Yet I'm not very homely, people +say. I'm sure I don't know. One can't judge one's self. But I believe +I'm very well. At least, I am not very brown; I know that, by my +looking-glass. I've a pretty good skin of my own.' + +Neither the giggling derision of her fellow-work-women, nor the total +abstinence from enquiry or comment with which Juliet heard these +insignificant details, checked the pleasure of Flora in her own prattle; +which, whenever she could find some one to address,--for she waited not +till any one would listen,--went on, with sleepy good humour, and +pretty, but unintelligent smiles, from the moment that she rose, to the +moment that she went to rest. But when, in great confidence, and +declaring that nobody was in the secret, except just Miss Biddy, and +Miss Jenny, and Miss Polly, and Miss Betsey, she made known who was this +last and most striking admirer, the attention of Juliet was roused; it +was Sir Lyell Sycamore. + +Copiously, and with looks of triumph, Flora related her history with the +young Baronet. First of all, she said, he had declared, in ever so many +little whispers, that he was in love with her; and next, he had made her +ever so many beautiful presents, of ear-rings, necklaces, and trinkets; +always sending them by a porter, who pretended that they were just +arrived by the Diligence; with a letter to shew to Miss Matson, +importing that an uncle of Flora's, who resided in Northumberlandshire, +begged her to accept these remembrances. 'Though I'm sure I don't know +how he found out that I've got an uncle there,' she continued, 'unless +it was by my telling it him, when he asked me what relations I had.' + +Her gratitude and vanity thus at once excited, Sir Lyell told her that +he had some important intelligence to communicate, which could not be +revealed in a short whisper in the shop: he begged her, therefore, to +meet him upon the Strand, a little way out of the town, one Sunday +afternoon; while Miss Matson might suppose that she was taking her usual +recreation with the rest of the young ladies. 'So I could not refuse +him, you may think,' she said, 'after being so much obliged to him; and +so we walked together by the sea-side, and he was as agreeable as ever; +and so was I, too, I believe, if I may judge without flattery. At least, +he said I was, over and over; and he's a pretty good judge, I believe, a +man of his quality. But I sha'n't tell you what he said to me; for he +said I was as fresh as a violet, and as fair as jessamy, and as sweet as +a pink, and as rosy as a rose; but one must not over and above believe +the gentlemen, mamma says, for what they say is but half a compliment. +However, what do you think, Miss Ellis? Only guess! For all his being so +polite, do you know, he was upon the point of behaving rude? Only I told +him I'd squall out, if he did. But he spoke so pretty when he saw I was +vexed, that I could not be very angry with him about it; could I? +Besides, men will be rude, naturally, mamma says.' + +'But does not your mamma tell you, also, Miss Pierson, that you must not +walk out alone with gentlemen?' + +'O dear, yes! She's told me that ever so often. And I told it to Sir +Lyell; and I said to him we had better not go. But he said that would +kill him, poor gentleman! And he looked as sorrowful as ever you saw; +just as if he was going to cry. I'm sure I'm glad he did not, poor +gentleman! for if he had, it's ten to one but I should have cried too; +unless, out of ill luck, I had happened to fall a laughing; for it's +odds which I do, sometimes, when I'm put in a fidget. However, upon +seeing his sister, along with some company of his acquaintance, not far +off, he said I had better go back: but he promised me, if I would meet +him again the next Sunday, he would have a post-chaise o'purpose for me, +because of the pebbles being so hard for my feet; and he'd take me ever +so pretty a ride, he said, upon the Downs. But he came the next morning +to tell me he was forced, by ill luck, to go to London; but he'd soon be +back: and he bid me, ever so often, not to say one word of what had +passed to a living creature; for if his sister should get an inkling of +his being in love with me, there would be fine work, he said! But he'd +bring me ever so many pretty things, he said, from London.' + +Juliet listened to this history with the deepest indignation against the +barbarous libertine, who, with egotism so inhuman, sought to rob, first +of innocence, and next, for it would be the inevitable consequence, of +all her fair prospects in life, a young creature whose simplicity +disabled her from seeing her danger; whose credulity induced her to +agree to whatever was proposed; and whose weakness of intellect rendered +it as much a dishonour as a cruelty to make her a dupe. + +Whatever could be suggested to awaken the simple maiden to a sense of +her perilous situation, was instantly urged; but without any effect. Sir +Lyell Sycamore, she answered, had owned that he was in love with her; +and it was very hard if she must be ill natured to him in return; +especially as, if she behaved agreeably, nobody could tell but he might +mean to make her a lady. Where a vision so refulgent, which every speech +of Sir Lyell's, couched in ambiguous terms, though adroitly evasive of +promise, had been insidiously calculated to present, was sparkling full +in sight, how unequal were the efforts of sober truth and reason, to +substitute in its place cold, dull, disappointing reality! Juliet soon +relinquished the attempt as hopeless. Where ignorance is united with +vanity, advice, or reproof, combat it in vain. She addressed her +remonstrances, therefore, to their fellow-work-women; every one of +which, it was evident, was a confidant of the dangerous secret. How was +it, she demanded, that, aware of the ductility of temper of this poor +young creature, they had suffered her to form so alarming a connexion, +unknown either to her friends or to Miss Matson? + +Pettishly affronted, they answered, that they were not a set of fusty +duennas: that if Miss Pierson were ever so young, that did not make them +old; that she might as well take care of herself, therefore, as they of +themselves. Besides, nobody could tell but Sir Lyell Sycamore meant to +marry her; and indeed they none of them doubted that such was his +design; because he was politeness itself to all of them round, though he +was most particular, to be sure, to Miss Pierson. They could not think, +therefore, of making such a gentleman their enemy, any more than of +standing in the way of Miss Pierson's good fortune; for, to their +certain knowledge, there were more grand matches spoilt by meddling and +making, than by any thing else upon earth. + +Here again, what were the chances of truth and reason against the +semblance, at least the pretence of generosity, which thus covered folly +and imprudence? Each aspiring damsel, too, had some similar secret, or +correspondent hope of her own; and found it convenient to reject, as +treachery, an appeal against a sister work-woman, that might operate as +an example for a similar one against herself. + +Juliet, therefore, could but determine to watch the weak, if not willing +victim, while yet under the same roof; and openly, before she quitted +it, to reveal the threatening danger to Miss Matson. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + + +The first Sunday that Juliet passed in this new situation, nearly robbed +her of the good will of the whole of the little community to which she +belonged. It was the only day in the week in which the young work-women +were allowed some hours for recreation; they considered it, therefore, +as rightfully dedicated, after the church-service, to amusement with one +another; and Juliet, in refusing to join in a custom which they held to +be the basis of their freedom and happiness, appeared to them an +unsocial and haughty innovator. Yet neither wearying remonstrances, nor +persecuting persuasions, could prevail upon her to parade with them upon +the Steyne; to stroll with them by the sea-side; to ramble upon the +Downs; or to form a party for Shoreham, or Devil's Dyke. + +Evil is so relative, that the same chamber, the lonely sadness of which, +since her privation of Gabriella, had become nearly insupportable to +her, was now, from a new contrast, almost all that she immediately +coveted. The bustle, the fatigue, the obtrusion of new faces, the spirit +of petty intrigue, and the eternal clang of tongues, which she had to +endure in the shop, made quiet, even in its most uninteresting dulness, +desirable and consoling. + +To approach herself, as nearly as might be in her power, to the loved +society which she had lost, she destined this only interval of peace and +leisure, to her pen and Gabriella; and such was her employment, when the +sound of slow steps, upon the stairs, followed by a gentle tap at her +door, at once interrupted and surprised her. Miss Matson and her maids, +as well as her work-women, were spending their Sabbath abroad; and a +shop-man was left to take care of the house. The tap, however, was +repeated, and, obeying its call, Juliet beheld Sir Jaspar Herrington, +the gouty old Baronet. + +The expression of her countenance immediately demanded explanation, if +not apology, as she stepped forward upon the landing-place, to make +clear that she should not receive him in her apartment. + +His keen eye read her meaning, though, affecting not to perceive it, he +pleasantly said, 'How? immured in your chamber? and of a gala day?' + +The recollection of the essential, however forced obligation, which she +owed to him, for her deliverance from the persecution of Miss Bydel, +soon dissipated her first impression in his disfavour, and she quietly +answered that she went very little abroad: but when she would have +enquired into his business, 'You can refuse yourself, then,' he cried, +pretending not to hear her, 'the honour--or pleasure, which shall we +call it? of sharing in the gaieties of your fair fellow-votaries to the +needle? I suspected you of this self-denial. I had a secret presentiment +that you would be insensible to the fluttering joys of your sister +spinsters. How did I divine you so well? What is it you have about you +that sets one's imagination so to work?' + +Juliet replied, that she would not presume to interfere with the +business of his penetration, but that, as she was occupied, she must beg +to know, at once, his commands. + +'Not so hasty! not so hasty!' he cried: 'You must shew me some little +consideration, if only in excuse for the total want of it which you have +caused in those little imps, that beset my slumbers by night, and my +reveries by day. They have gotten so much the better of me now, that I +am equally at a loss how to sleep or how to wake for them. 'Why don't +you find out,' they cry, 'whether this syren likes her new situation? +Why don't you discover whether any thing better can be done for her?' +And then, all of one accord, they so pommel and bemaul me, that you +would pity me, I give you my word, if you could see the condition into +which they put my poor conscience; however little so fair a young +creature may be disposed to feel pity, for such a hobbling, gouty old +fellow as I am!' + +Softened by this benevolent solicitude, Juliet, thankfully, spoke of +herself with all the cheerfulness that she could assume; and, encouraged +by her lessened reserve, Sir Jaspar, to her unspeakable surprise, said, +'There is one point, I own, which I have an extreme desire to know; how +long may it be that you have left the stage, and from what latent +cause?' + +No explanation, however, could be attempted: the attention of Juliet was +called into another channel, by the sound of a titter, which led her to +perceive Flora Pierson; who, almost convulsed with delight at having +surprised them, said that she had heard, from the shop-man, that Miss +Ellis and Sir Jaspar were talking together upon the stairs, and she had +stolen up the back way, and crept softly through one of the garrets, on +purpose to come upon them unawares. 'So now,' added she, nodding, 'we'll +go into my room, if you please, Miss Ellis; for I have got something +else to tell you! Only you must not stay with me long.' + +'And not to tell me, too?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her under the +chin: 'How's this, my daffodil? my pink? my lilly? how's this? surely +you have not any secrets for me?' + +'O yes, I have, Sir Jaspar! because you're a gentleman, you know, Sir +Jaspar. And one must not tell every thing to gentlemen, mamma says.' + +'Mamma says? but you are too much a woman to mind what mamma says, I +hope, my rose, my daisy?' cried Sir Jaspar, chucking her again under the +chin, while she smiled and courtsied in return. + +Juliet would have re-entered her chamber; but Flora, catching her gown, +said, 'Why now, Miss Ellis, I bid you come to my room, if you please, +Miss Ellis; 'cause then I can show you my presents; as well as tell you +something.--Come, will you go? for it's something that's quite a secret, +I assure you; for I have not told it to any body yet; not even to our +young ladies; for it's but just happened. So you've got my first +confidence this time: and you have a right to take that very kind of me, +for it's what I've promised, upon my word and honour, and as true as +true can be, not to tell to any body; not so much as to a living soul!' + +To be freed quietly from the Baronet, Juliet consented to attend her; +and Flora, with many smiles and nods at Sir Jaspar, begged that he would +not be affronted that she did not tell all her secrets to gentlemen; +and, shutting him out, began her tale. + +'Now I'll tell you what it is I'm going to tell you, Miss Ellis. Do you +know who I met, just now, upon the Steyne, while I was walking with our +young ladies, not thinking of any thing? You can't guess, can you? Why +Sir Lyell himself. I gave such a squeak! But he spoke to all our young +ladies first. And I was half a mind to cry; only I happened to be in one +of my laughing fits. And when once I am upon my gig, papa says, if the +world were all to tumble down, it would not hinder me of my smiling. +Though I am sure I often don't know what it's for. If any body asked me, +I could not tell, one time in twenty. But Sir Lyell's very clever; +cleverer than I am, by half, I believe. For he got to speak to me, at +last, so as nobody could hear a word he said, but just me. Nor I could +not, either, but only he spoke quite in my ear.' + +'And do you think it right, Miss Pierson, to let gentlemen whisper you?' + +'O, I could not bid him not, you know. I could not be rude to a +Knight-Baronet! Besides, he said he was come down from London, on +purpose for nothing else but to see me! A Knight-Baronet, Miss Ellis! +That's very good natured, is it not? I dare say he means something by +it. Don't you? However, I shall know more by and by, most likely; for he +whispered me to make believe I'd got a head-ache, and to come home by +myself, and wait for him in my own room: for he says he has brought me +the prettiest present that ever I saw from London. So you see how +generous he is; i'n't he? And he'll bring it me himself, to make me a +little visit. So then, very likely, he'll speak out. Won't he? But he +bid me tell it to nobody. So say nothing if you see him, for it will +only be the way to make him angry. I must not put the shop-man in the +secret, he says, for he shall only ask for old Sir Jaspar; and he shall +go to him first, and make the shop-man think he is with him all the +time. So I told our young ladies I'd got a head-ache, sure enough; but +don't be uneasy, for it's only make believe; for I'm very well.' + +Filled with alarm for the simple, deluded maiden, Juliet now made an +undisguised representation of her danger; earnestly charging her not to +receive the dangerous visit. + +But Flora, self-willed, though good natured, would not hear a word. + + No ass so meek;--no mule so obstinate. + +She never contradicted, yet never listened; she never gave an opinion, +yet never followed one. She was neither endowed with timidity to suspect +her deficiencies, nor with sense to conceive how she might be better +informed. She came to Juliet merely to talk; and when her prattle was +over, or interrupted, she had no thought but to be gone. + +'O yes, I must see him, Miss Ellis,' she cried; 'for you can't think how +ill he'll take it, if I don't. But now we have stayed talking together +so long, I can't shew you my presents till he is gone, for fear he +should come. But don't mind, for then I shall have the new ones to shew +you, too. But if I don't do what he bids me, he'll be as angry as can +be, for all he's my lover; (smiling.) He makes very free with me +sometimes; only I don't mind it; because I'm pretty much used to it, +from one or another. Sometimes he'll say I am the greatest simpleton +that ever he knew in his life; for all he calls me his angel! He don't +make much ceremony with me, when I don't understand his signs. But it +don't much signify, for the more he's angry, the more he's kind, when +it's over, (smiling.) And then he brings me prettier things than ever. +So I a'n't much a loser. I've no great need to cry about it. And he says +I'm quite a little goddess, often and often, if I'd believe him. Only +one must not believe the men over much, when they are gentlemen, I +believe.' + +Juliet, kindly taking her hand, would have drawn her into her own +chamber; but they were no sooner in the passage, than Flora jumped back, +and, shaking with laughter at her ingenuity, shut and locked herself +into her room. + +Juliet now renounced, perforce, all thought of serving her except +through the medium of Miss Matson; and she was returning, much vexed, to +her own small apartment, when she saw Sir Jaspar, who, leaning against +the banisters, seemed to have been waiting for her, step curiously +forward, as she opened her door, to take a view of her chamber. With +quick impulse, to check this liberty, she hastily pushed to the door; +not recollecting, till too late, that the key, by which alone it was +opened, was on the inside. + +Chagrined, she repaired to Flora, telling the accident, and begging +admittance. + +Flora, laughing with all her heart, positively refused to open the door; +saying that she would rather be without company. + +The shop-man now came up stairs, to see what was going forward, and to +enquire whether Miss Pierson, who had told him that she was ill, found +herself worse. Flora, hastily checking her mirth, answered that her head +ached, and she would lie down; and then spoke no more. + +The shop-man made an attempt to enter into conversation with Juliet; but +she gravely requested that he would be so good as to order a smith to +open the lock of her door. + +He ought not, he said, to leave the house in the absence of Miss Matson; +but he would run the risk for the pleasure of obliging her, if she would +only step down into the shop, to answer to the bell or the knocker. + +To this, in preference to being shut out of her room, she would +immediately have consented, but that she feared the arrival of Sir +Lyell Sycamore. She asked the shop-man, therefore, if there were any +objection to her waiting in the little parlour. + +None in the world, he answered; for he had Miss Matson's leave to use it +when she was out of a Sunday; and he should be very glad if Miss Ellis +would oblige him with her company. + +Juliet declined this proposal with an air that repressed any further +attempt at intimacy; and the shop-man returned to his post. + +'I must not, I suppose,' the Baronet, then advancing, said, 'presume to +offer you shelter under my roof from the inclemencies of the staircase? +And yet I think I may venture, without being indecorous, to mention, +that I am going out for my usual airing; and that you may take +possession of your old apartment, upon your own misanthropical terms. At +all events, I shall leave you the door open, place some books upon the +table, take out my servants, and order that no one shall molest you.' + +Extremely pleased by a kindness so much to her taste, Juliet would +gratefully have accepted this offer, but for the visit that she knew to +be designed for the same apartment; which the absence of its master was +not likely to prevent, as the pretence of writing a note, or his name, +would suffice with Sir Lyell for mounting the stairs. Who then could +protect Flora? Could Juliet herself come forward, when no one else +remained in the house, conscious, as she could not but be, of the +dishonourable views of which she, also, had been the object? The +departure of Sir Jaspar appeared, therefore, to be big with mischief; +and, when he was making a leave-taking bow, she almost involuntarily +said, 'You are forced, then, Sir, to go out this morning?' + +Surprized and pleased, he answered, 'What! have my little fairy elves +given you a lesson of humanity? Nay, if so, though they should pommel +and maul me for a month to come, I shall yet be their obedient humble +servant.' + +He then gave orders aloud that his carriage should be put up; saying, +that he had letters to write, and that his servants might go and amuse +themselves for an hour or two where they pleased. + +Juliet, now, was crimsoned with shame and embarrassment. How account for +thus palpably wishing him to remain in the house? or how suffer him, by +silence, to suppose it was from a desire of his society? Her blushes +astonished, yet, by heightening her beauty, charmed still more than they +perplexed him. To settle what to think of her might be difficult and +teazing; but to admire her was easy and pleasant. He approached her, +therefore, with the most flattering looks and smiles; but, to avoid any +mistake in his manner of addressing her, he kept his speech back, with +his judgment, till he could learn her purpose. + +This prudential circumspection redoubled her confusion, and she +hesitatingly stammered her concern that she had prevented his airing. + +More amazed still, but still more enchanted, to see her thus at a loss +what to say, though evidently pleased that he had relinquished his +little excursion, he was making a motion to take her hand, which she had +scarcely perceived, when a violent ringing at the door-bell, checked +him; and concentrated all her solicitude in the impending danger of +Flora; and, in her eagerness to rescue the simple girl from ruin, she +hastily said: 'Can you, Sir Jaspar, forgive a liberty in the cause of +humanity? May I appeal to your generosity? You will receive a visitor in +a few minutes, whom I have earnest reasons for wishing you to detain in +your apartment to the last moment that is possible. May I make so +extraordinary a request?' + +'Request?' repeated Sir Jaspar, charmed by what he considered as an +opening to intimacy; 'can you utter any thing but commands? The most +benignant sprite of all Fairyland, has inspired you with this gracious +disposition to dub me your knight.' + +Yet his eyes, still bright with intelligence, and now full of fanciful +wonder, suddenly emitted an expression less rapturous, when he +distinguished the voice of Sir Lyell Sycamore, in parley with the +shop-man. Disappointment and chagrin soon took place of sportive +playfulness in his countenance; and, muttering between his teeth, 'O ho! +Sir Lyell Sycamore!'--he fixed his keen eyes sharply upon Juliet; with a +look in which she could not but read the ill construction to which her +seeming knowledge of that young man's motions, and her apparent interest +in them, made her liable; and how much his light opinion of Sir Lyell's +character, affected his partial, though still fluctuating one of her +own. + +Sir Lyell, however, was upon the stairs, and she did not dare enter into +any justification; Sir Jaspar, too, was silent; but the young baronet +mounted, singing, in a loud voice, + + O my love, lov'st thou me? + Then quickly come and see one who dies for thee! + +'Yes here I come, Sir Lyell!'--in a low, husky, laughing voice, cried +Flora, peeping through her chamber-door; which was immediately at the +head of the stairs, upon the second floor; and to which Sir Lyell looked +up, softly whispering, 'Be still, my little angel! and, in ten +minutes--' He stopt abruptly, for Sir Jaspar now caught his astonished +sight, upon the landing-place of the attic story, with Juliet retreating +behind him. + +'O ho! you are there, are you?' he cried, in a tone of ludicrous +accusation. + +'And you, you are there, are you?' answered Sir Jaspar, in a voice more +seriously taunting. + +Juliet, hurt and confounded, would have escaped through the garret to +the back stairs, but that her hat and cloak, without which she could not +leave the house, were shut into her room. She tried, therefore, to look +unmoved; well aware that the best chance to escape impertinence, is by +not appearing to suspect that any is intended. + +Three strides now brought Sir Lyell before her. His amazement, vented by +rattling exclamations, again perplexed Sir Jaspar; for how could Juliet +have been apprized of his intended visit, but by himself? + +Sir Lyell, mingling the most florid compliments upon her radiant beauty, +and bright bloom, with his pleasure at her sight, said that, from the +reports which had reached him, that she had given up her singing, and +her teaching, and that Sir Jaspar had taken the room which she had +inhabited, he had concluded that she had quitted Brighthelmstone. He was +going rapidly on in the same strain, the observant Sir Jaspar intently +watching her looks, while curiously listening to his every word; when +Juliet, without seeming to have attended to a syllable, related, with +grave brevity, that she had unfortunately shut in the key of her room, +and must therefore seek Miss Matson, to demand another; and then, with +steady steps, that studiously kept in order innumerable timid fears, she +descended to the shop; leaving the two Baronets mutually struck by her +superiour air and manner; and each, though equally desirous to follow +her, involuntarily standing still, to wait the motions of the other; and +thence to judge of his pretensions to her favour. + +Juliet found the shop empty, but the street-door open, and the shop-man +sauntering before it, to look at the passers by. Glad to be, for a +while, at least, spared the distaste of his company, she shut herself +into the little parlour, carefully drawing the curtain of the +glass-door. + +The two Baronets, as she expected, soon descended; the younger one eager +to take leave of the elder, and privately re-mount the stairs; and Sir +Jaspar, fixed to obey the injunctions, however unaccountable, of Juliet, +in detaining and keeping sight of him to the last moment. + +'Decamped, I swear, the little vixen!' exclaimed Sir Lyell, striding in +first; 'but why the d--l do you come down, Sir Jaspar?' + +'For exercise, not ceremony,' he answered; though, little wanting +further exertion, and heartily tired, he dropt down upon the first +chair. + +Sir Lyell vainly offered his arm, and pressed to aid him back to his +apartment; he would not move. + +After some time thus wasted, Sir Lyell, mortified and provoked, cast +himself upon the counter, and whistled, to disguise his ill humour. + +A pause now ensued, which Sir Jaspar broke, by hesitatingly, yet with +earnestness, saying, 'Sir Lyell Sycamore, I am not, you will do me the +justice to believe, a sour old fellow, to delight in mischief; a surly +old dog, to mar the pleasures of which I cannot partake; if, therefore, +to answer what I mean to ask will thwart any of your projects, leave me +and my curiosity in the lurch; if not, you will sensibly gratify me, by +a little frank communication. I don't meddle with your affair with +Flora; 'tis a blooming little wild rose-bud, but of too common a species +to be worth analysing. This other young creature, however, whose wings +your bird-lime seems also to have entangled--' + +'How so?' interrupted Sir Lyell, jumping eagerly from the counter, 'what +the d--l do you mean by that?' + +'Not to be indiscreet, I promise you,' answered Sir Jaspar; 'but as I +see the interest she takes in you,--' + +'The d--l you do?' exclaimed Sir Lyell, in an accent of surprize, yet of +transport. + +Sir Jaspar now, ironically smiling, said, 'You don't know it, then, Sir +Lyell? You are modest?--diffident? unconscious?--' + +'My dear boy!' cried Sir Lyell, riotously, and approaching familiarly to +embrace him, 'what a devilish kind office I shall owe you, if you can +put any good notions into my head of that delicious girl!' + +New doubts now destroying his recent suspicions, Sir Jaspar held back, +positively refusing to clear up what had dropt from him, and laughingly +saying, 'Far be it from me to put any such notions into your head! I +believe it amply stored! All my desire is to get some out of it. If, +therefore, you can tell me, or, rather, will tell me, who or what this +young creature is, you will do a kind office to my imagination, for +which I shall be really thankful. Who is she, then? And what is she?' + +'D--l take me if I either know or care!' cried Sir Lyell, 'further than +that she is a beauty of the first water; and that I should have adored +her, exclusively, three months ago, if I had not believed her a thing of +alabaster. But if you think her--' + +'Not I! not I!--I know nothing of her!' interrupted Sir Jaspar: 'she is +a rose planted in the snow, for aught I can tell! The more I see, the +less I understand; the more I surmize, the further I seem from the mark. +Honestly, then, whence does she come? How did you first see her? What +does she do at Brighthelmstone?' + +'May I go to old Nick if I am better informed than yourself! except that +she sings and plays like twenty angels, and that all the women are +jealous of her, and won't suffer a word to be said to her. However, I +made up to her, at first, and should certainly have found her out, but +for Melbury, who annoyed me with a long history of her virtue, and +character, and Lady Aurora's friendship, and the d--l knows what; that +made me so cursed sheepish, I was afraid of embarking in any measures of +spirit. My sister, also, took lessons of her; and other game came into +chase; and I should never have thought of her again, but that, when I +went to town, a week or two ago, I learnt, from that Queen of the Crabs, +Mrs Howel, that Melbury, in fact, knows no more of her than we do. He +had nobody's world but her own for all her fine sentiments; so that he +and his platonics would have kept me at bay no longer, if I had not +believed her decamped from Brighthelmstone, upon hearing that you had +got her lodging. How came you to turn her into the garret, my dear boy? +Is that _a la mode_ of your _vieille cour_?' + +Sir Jaspar protested that, when he took the apartment, he knew not of +her existence; and then enquired, whether Sir Lyell could tell in what +name she had been upon the stage; and why she had quitted it. + +'The stage? O the d--l!' he exclaimed, 'has she been upon the stage?' + +'Yes; I heard the fact mentioned to her, the other day, by a +fellow-performer! some low player, who challenged her as a sister of the +buskins.' + +'What a glorious Statira she must make!' cried Sir Lyell. 'I am ready to +be her Alexander when she will. That hint you have dropt, my dear old +boy, sha'n't be thrown away upon me. But how the d--l did you find the +dear charmer out?' + +Sir Jaspar again sought to draw back his information; but Sir Lyell +swore that he would not so lightly be put aside from a view of success, +now once it was fairly opened; and was vowing that he should begin a +siege in form, and persevere to a surrender; when the conversation was +interrupted, by the entrance of the shop-man, accompanied by a +mantua-maker, who called upon some business. + +Juliet, who, from the beginning, had heard this discourse with the +utmost uneasiness, and whom its conclusion had filled with indignant +disgust; had no resource to avoid the yet greater evil of being joined +by the interlocutors, but that of sitting motionless and unsuspected, +till they should depart; or till Miss Matson should return. But her care +and precaution proved vain: the shop-man invited Mrs Hart, the +mantua-maker, into the little parlour; and, upon opening the door, +Juliet met their astonished view. + +Sir Jaspar, not without evident anxiety, endeavoured to recollect what +had dropt from him, that might hurt her; or how he might palliate what +might have given her offence. But Sir Lyell, not at all disconcerted, +and privately persuaded that half his difficulties were vanquished, by +the accident that acquainted her with his design; was advancing, +eagerly, with a volley of rapid compliments, upon his good fortune in +again meeting with her; when Juliet, not deigning to seem conscious even +of his presence, passed him without notice; and, addressing Mrs Hart, +entreated that she would go up stairs to the room of Miss Pierson, to +examine whether it were necessary to send for any advice; as she had +returned home alone, and complained of being ill. Mrs Hart complied; and +Juliet followed her to Flora's chamber-door. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + + +The gentle tap that Mrs Hart, fearing to disturb her, gave at the door +of Flora, deceived the expecting girl into a belief that Sir Lyell was +at length arrived; and crying, in a low voice, as she opened it, 'O Sir! +how long you have been coming!' she stared at sight of Mrs Hart, with an +amazement equal to her disappointment. + +Presently, however, with a dejected look and tone, 'Well, now!' she +cried, 'is it only you, Mrs Hart?--I thought it had been somebody quite +different!' + +Mrs Hart, entering, enquired, with surprize, why Miss Ellis had said +that Miss Pierson was ill, when, on the contrary, she had never seen her +look better. + +'Well, now, Miss Ellis,' cried Flora, whispering Juliet, 'did not I tell +you, as plain as could be, 'twas nothing but make believe?' + +Juliet, without offering any apology, answered, that she had invited Mrs +Hart to make her a visit. + +'Why, now, what can you be thinking of?' cried Flora, angrily: 'Why, you +know, as well as can be, that I want to see nobody! Why, have you forgot +all I told you, already, about you know who? Why I never knew the like! +Why he'll be fit to kill himself! I'll never tell you any thing again, +if you beg me on your knees! so there's the end to your knowing any more +of my secrets! and you've nobody but yourself to thank, if it vexes you +never so!' + +Mrs Hart interrupted this murmuring, by enquiring who was the Sir that +Miss Pierson expected; adding that, if it were the shop-man, it would be +more proper Miss Pierson should go down stairs, than that she should let +him come up to her room. + +'The shop-man?' repeated Flora, simpering, and winking at Juliet; 'no, +indeed, Mrs Hart; you have not made a very good guess there! Has she, +Miss Ellis? I don't think a man of quality, and a baronet, is very like +a shop-man! Do you, Miss Ellis?' + +This blundering simplicity of vanity was not lost upon Mrs Hart. 'O ho!' +she cried, 'you expect a baronet, do you, then, Miss Pierson? Why there +were no less than two Baronets in the shop as I came through, just now; +and there's one of them this minute crossing the way, and turning the +corner.' + +'O Me! is he gone, then?' cried Flora, looking out of the window. 'O Me! +what shall I do? O Miss Ellis! this is all your fault! And now, perhaps, +he'll be so angry he'll never speak to me again! And if he don't, ten to +one but it may break my heart! for that often happens when one's crossed +in love. And if it does, I sha'n't thank you for it, I assure you! And +it's just as likely as not!' + +Juliet, though she sought to appease both her grief and her wrath, could +not but rejoice that their unguarded redundance informed Mrs Hart of the +whole history: and Mrs Hart, who, though a plain, appeared to be a very +worthy woman, immediately endeavoured to save the poor young creature, +from the snares into which she was rather wilfully jumping, than +deludedly falling, by giving her a pressing invitation to her own house +for the rest of the day. But to this, neither entreaty nor reproof could +obtain consent. Flora, like many who seem gentle, was only simple; and +had neither docility nor comprehension for being turned aside from the +prosecution of her wishes. To be thwarted in any desire, she considered +as cruelty, and resented as ill treatment. She refused, therefore, to +leave the house, while hoping for the return of Sir Lyell; and continued +her childish wailing and fretting, till accident led her eyes to a +favourite little box; when, her tears suddenly stopping, and her face +brightening, she started up, seized, opened it, and, displaying a very +pretty pair of ear-rings, exclaimed, 'Oh, I have never shewn you my +presents, Miss Ellis! And now Mrs Hart may have a peep at them, too. So +she's in pretty good luck, I think!' + +And then, with exulting pleasure, she produced all the costly trinkets +that she had received from Sir Lyell; with some few, less valuable, +which had been presented to her by Sir Jaspar; and all the baubles, +however insignificant or babyish, that had been bestowed upon her by her +friends and relatives, from her earliest youth. And these, with the +important and separate history of each, occupied, unawares, her time, +till the return of Miss Matson. + +Mrs Hart then descended, and, urged by Juliet, briefly and plainly +communicated the situation and the danger of the young apprentice. + +Miss Matson, affrighted for the credit of her shop, determined to send +for the mother of Flora, who resided at Lewes, the next day. + +Relieved now from her troublesome and untoward charge, Juliet had her +door opened, and re-took possession of her room. + +And there, a new view of her own helpless and distressed condition, +filled and dejected her with new alarm. The licentiously declared +purpose of Sir Lyell had been shocking to her ears; and the +consciousness that he knew that she was informed of his intention added +to its horrour, from her inability to shew her resentment, in the only +way that suited her character or her disposition, that of positively +seeing him no more. But how avoid him while she had no other means of +subsistence than working in an open shop? + +The following morning but too clearly justified her apprehensive +prognostics, of the improprieties to which her defenceless state made +her liable. At an early hour, Sir Lyell, gay, courteous, gallant, +entered the shop, under pretence of enquiring for Sir Jaspar; whom he +knew to be invisible, from his infirmities, to all but his own nurses +and servants, till noon. Miss Matson was taciturn and watchful, though +still, from the fear of making an enemy, respectful; while Flora, +simpering and blushing, was ready to jump into his arms, in her +eagerness to apologize for not having waited alone for him, according to +his directions: but he did not look at Miss Matson, though he addressed +her; nor address Flora, though, by a side glance, he saw her +expectations; his attention, from the moment that he had asked, without +listening to any answer, whether he could see Sir Jaspar, was all, and +even publicly devoted to Juliet; whom he approached with an air of +homage, and accosted with the most flattering compliments upon her good +looks and her beauty. + +Juliet turned aside from him, with an indignant disgust, in which she +hoped he would read her resentment of his scheme, and her abhorrence of +his principles. But those who are deep in vice are commonly incredulous +of virtue. Sir Lyell took her apparent displeasure, either for a +timidity which flattery would banish, or an hypocrisy which boldness +would conquer. He continued, therefore, his florid adulation to her +charms; regarding the heightened colour of offended purity, but as an +augmented attraction. + +Juliet perceived her failure to repress his assurance, with a +disturbance that was soon encreased, by the visible jealousy manifested +in the pouting lips and frowning brow of Flora; who, the moment that +Sir Lyell, saying that he would call upon Sir Jaspar again, thought it +prudent to retire, began a convulsive sobbing; averring that she saw why +she had been betrayed; for that it was only to inveigle away her +sweetheart. + +Pity for the ignorant accuser, might have subdued the disdain due to the +accusation, and have induced Juliet to comfort her by a self-defence; +but for a look, strongly expressing a suspicion to the same effect, from +Miss Matson; which was succeeded by a general tossing up of the chins of +the young work-women, and a murmur of, 'I wonder how she would like to +be served so herself!' + +This was too offensive to be supported, and she retired to her chamber. + +If, already, the mingled frivolity and publicity of the business into +which she had entered, had proved fatiguing to her spirits, and ungenial +to her disposition; surmises, such as she now saw raised, of a petty and +base rivality, urged by a pursuit the most licentious, rendered all +attempt at its continuance intolerable. Without, therefore, a moment's +hesitation, she determined to relinquish her present enterprise. + +The only, as well as immediate notion that occurred to her, in this new +difficulty, was to apply to Mrs Hart, who seemed kind as well as civil, +for employment. + +When she was summoned, therefore, by Miss Matson, with surprize and +authority, back to the shop, she returned equipped for going abroad; +and, after thanking her for the essay which she had permitted to be made +in the millinery-business, declared that she found herself utterly unfit +for so active and so public a line of life. + +Leaving then Miss Matson, Flora, and the young journey-women to their +astonishment, she bent her course to the house of Mrs Hart; where her +application was happily successful. Mrs Hart had work of importance just +ordered for a great wedding in the neighbourhood, and was glad to engage +so expert a hand for the occasion; agreeing to allow, in return, bed, +board, and a small stipend per day. + +With infinite relief, Juliet went back to make her little preparations, +and take leave of Miss Matson; by whom she was now followed to her room, +with many earnest instances that she would relinquish her design. Miss +Matson, in unison with the very common character to which she belonged, +had appreciated Juliet not by her worth, her talents, or her labours, +but by her avowed distress, and acknowledged poverty. Notwithstanding, +therefore, her abilities and her industry, she had been uniformly +considered as a dead weight to the business, and to the house. But now, +when it appeared that the pennyless young woman had some other resource, +the eyes of Miss Matson were suddenly opened to merits to which she had +hitherto been blind. She felt all the advantages which the shop would +lose by the departure of such an assistant; and recollected the many +useful hints, in fashion and in elegance, which had been derived from +her taste and fancy: her exemplary diligence in work; her gentle +quietness of behaviour; and the numberless customers, which the various +reports that were spread of her history, had drawn to the shop. All, +now, however, was unavailing; the remembrance of what was over occurred +too late to change the plan of Juliet; though a kinder appreciation of +her character and services, while she was employed, might have engaged +her to try some other method of getting rid of the libertine Baronet. + +Miss Matson then admonished her not to lose, at least, the benefit of +her premium. + +'What premium?' cried Juliet. + +'Why that Sir Jaspar paid down for you.' + +Juliet, astonished, now learnt, that her admission as an inmate of the +shop, which she had imagined due to the gossipping verbal influence of +Miss Bydel, was the result of the far more substantial money-mediation +of Sir Jaspar. + +She felt warmly grateful for his benevolence; yet wounded, in reflecting +upon his doubts whether she deserved it; and confounded to owe another, +and so heavy an obligation, to an utter stranger. + +She was finishing her little package, when the loud sobbings of Flora, +while mounting the stairs for a similar, though by no means as voluntary +a purpose, induced her to go forth, with a view to offer some +consolation; but Flora, not less resentful than disconsolate, said that +her mother was arrived to take her from all her fine prospects; and +loaded Juliet with the unqualified accusation, of having betrayed her +secrets, and ruined her fortune. + +Juliet had too strong a mind to suffer weak and unjust censure to breed +any repentance that she had acted right. She could take one view only of +the affair; and that brought only self-approvance of what she had done: +if Sir Lyell meant honourably, Flora was easily followed; if not, she +was happily rescued from earthly perdition. + +Nevertheless, she had too much sweetness of disposition, and too much +benevolence of character, to be indifferent to reproach; though her +vain efforts, either to clear her own conduct, or to appease the angry +sorrows of Flora, all ended by the indignantly blubbering damsel's +turning from her in sulky silence. + +Juliet then took a quick leave of Miss Matson, and of the young +journey-women; and repaired to her new habitation. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + + +Experience, the mother of caution, now taught Juliet explicitly to make +known to her new chief, that she had no view to learn the art of +mantua-making as a future trade, or employment; but simply desired to +work at it in such details, as a general knowledge of the use of the +needle might make serviceable and expeditious: no premium, therefore, +could be expected by the mistress; and the work-woman would be at +liberty to continue, or to renounce her engagement, from day to day. + +This agreement offered to her ideas something which seemed like an +approach to the self-dependence, that she had so earnestly coveted: she +entered, therefore, upon her new occupation with cheerfulness and +alacrity, and with a diligence to which the hope, by being useful, to +become necessary, gave no relaxation. + +The business, by this scrupulous devotion to its interests, was +forwarded with such industry and success, that she soon became the open +and decided favourite of the mistress whom she served; and who repaid +her exertions by the warmest praise, and proposed her as a pattern to +the rest of the sewing sisterhood. + +This approbation could not but cheer the toil of one whose mind, like +that of Juliet, sought happiness, at this moment, only from upright and +blameless conduct. She was mentally, also, relieved, by the local change +of situation. She was now employed in a private apartment; and, though +surrounded by still more fellow-work-women than at Miss Matson's, she +was no longer constrained to remain in an open shop, in opposition alike +to her inclinations and her wishes of concealment; no longer startled by +the continual entrance and exit of strangers; nor exposed to curious +enquirers, or hardy starers; and no longer fatigued by the perpetual +revision of goods. She worked in perfect quietness, undisturbed and +uninterrupted; her mistress was civil, and gave her encouragement; her +fellow-semptresses were unobservant, and left her to her own reflexions. + +It is not, however, in courts alone that favour is perilous; in all +circles, and all classes, from the most eminent to the most obscure, the +'Favourite has no friend[19]!' The praises and the comparisons, by which +Mrs Hart hoped to stimulate her little community to emulation, excited +only jealousy, envy, and ill will; and a week had not elapsed, in this +new and short tranquillity, before Juliet found that her superiour +diligence was regarded, by her needle-sisterhood, as a mean artifice 'to +set herself off to advantage at their cost.' Sneers and hints to this +effect followed every panegyric of Mrs Hart; and robbed approbation of +its pleasure, though they could not of its value. + +[Footnote 19: Gray.] + +Chagrined by a consequence so unpleasant, to an industry that demanded +fortitude, not discouragement; Juliet now felt the excess of her +activity relax; and soon experienced a desire, if not a necessity, to +steal some moments from application, for retirement and for herself. + +Here, again, she found the mischief to which ignorance of life had laid +her open. The unremitting diligence with which she had begun her new +office, had advanced her work with a rapidity, that made the smallest +relaxation cause a sensible difference in its progress: and Mrs Hart, +from first looking disappointed, asked next, whether nothing more were +done? and then observed, how much quicker business had gone on the first +week. In vain Juliet still executed more than all around her; the +comparison was never made there, where it might have been to her +advantage; all reference was to her own setting out; and she was soon +taught to forgive the displeasure which, so inadvertently, she had +excited, when she saw the claims to which she had made herself liable, +by an incautious eagerness of zeal to reward, as well as earn, the +maintenance which she owed to Mrs Hart. + +Alas, she thought, with what upright intentions may we be injudicious! I +have thrown away the power of obliging, by too precipitate an eagerness +to oblige! I retain merely that of avoiding to displease, by my most +indefatigable application! All I can perform seems but a duty, and of +course; all I leave undone, seems idleness and neglect. Yet what is the +labour that never requires respite? What the mind, that never demands a +few poor unshackled instants to itself? + +From this time, the little pleasure which she had been able to create +for herself, from the virtue of her exertions, was at an end: to toil +beyond her fellow-labourers, was but to provoke ill will; to allow +herself any repose, was but to excite disapprobation. Hopeless, +therefore, either way, she gave, with diligence, her allotted time to +her occupation, but no more: all that remained, she solaced, by devoting +to her pen and Gabriella, with whom her correspondence,--her sole +consolation,--was unremitting. + +This unaffected conduct had its customary effect; it destroyed at once +the too hardly earned favour of Mrs Hart, and the illiberal, yet too +natural enmity of her apprentices; and, in the course of a very few +days, Juliet was neither more esteemed, nor more censured, than any of +her sisters of the sewing tribe. + +With the energy, however, of her original wishes and efforts, died all +that could reconcile her to this sort of life. The hope of pleasing, +which alone could soften its hardships, thus forcibly set aside, left +nothing in its place, but calmness without contentment; dulness without +serenity. + +Experience is not more exclusively the guide of our judgment, than +comparison is the mistress of our feelings. Juliet now also found that, +local publicity excepted, there was nothing to prefer in her new to her +former situation; and something to like less. The employment itself was +by no means equally agreeable for its disciples. The taste and fancy, +requisite for the elegance and variety of the light work which she had +quitted; however ineffectual to afford pleasure when called forth by +necessity, rendered it, at least, less irksome, than the wearying +sameness of perpetual basting, running, and hemming. Her +fellow-labourers, though less pert and less obtrusive than those which +she had left, had the same spirit for secret cabal, and the same passion +for frolic and disguise; and also, like those, were all prattle and +confidential sociability, in the absence of the mistress; all sullenness +and taciturnity, in her presence. What little difference, therefore, she +found in her position, was, that there she had been disgusted by +under-bred flippancy; here, she was deadened by uninteresting monotony; +and that there, perpetual motion, and incessant change of orders, and of +objects, affected her nerves; while here, the unvarying repetition of +stitch after stitch, nearly closed in sleep her faculties, as well as +her eyes. + +The little stipend which, by agreement, she was paid every evening, +though it occasioned her the most satisfactory, by no means gave her the +most pleasant feeling, of the day. However respectable reason and +justice render pecuniary emolument, where honourably earned; there is a +something indefinable, which stands between spirit and delicacy, that +makes the first reception of money in detail, by those not brought up to +gain it, embarrassing and painful. + +During this tedious and unvaried period, if some minutes were snatched +from fatiguing uniformity, it was only by alarm and displeasure, through +the intrusion of Sir Lyell Sycamore; who, though always denied admission +to herself, made frequent, bold, and frivolous pretences for bursting +into the workroom. At one time, he came to enquire about a gown for his +sister, of which Mrs Hart had never heard; at another, to look at a +trimming for which she had had no commission; and at a third, to hurry +the finishing of a dress, which had already been sent home. The motive +to these various mock messages, was too palpable to escape even the most +ordinary observation; yet though the perfect conduct, and icy coldness +of Juliet, rescued her from all evil imputation amongst her companions, +she saw, with pique and even horrour, that they were insufficient to +repress the daring and determined hopes and expectations of the +licentious Baronet; with whom the unexplained hint of Sir Jaspar had +left a firm persuasion, that the fair object of his views more than +returned his admiration; and waited merely for a decent attack, or +proper offers, to acknowledge her secret inclinations. + +Juliet, however shocked, could only commit to time her cause, her +consistency, her vindication. + +Three weeks had, in this manner, elapsed, when the particular business +for which Mrs Hart had wanted an odd hand was finished; and Juliet, who +had believed that her useful services would keep her employed at her own +pleasure, abruptly found that her occupation was at an end. + +Here again, the wisdom of experience was acquired only by distress. The +pleasure with which she had considered herself free, because engaged but +by the day, was changed into the alarm of finding herself, from that +very circumstance, without employment or home; and she now acknowledged +the providence of those ties, which, from only feeling their +inconvenience, she had thought oppressive and unnecessary. The +established combinations of society are not to be judged by the personal +opinions, and varying feelings, of individuals; but by general proofs of +reciprocated advantages. If the needy helper require regular protection, +the recompensing employer must claim regular service; and Juliet now +saw, that though in being contracted but by the day, she escaped all +continued constraint, and was set freshly at liberty every evening; she +was, a stranger to security, subject to dismission, at the mercy of +accident, and at the will of caprice. + +Thus perplexed and thus helpless, she applied to Mrs Hart, for counsel +how to obtain immediate support. Gratified by the application, Mrs Hart +again recommended her as a pattern to the young sisterhood; and then +gave her advice, that she should bind herself, either to some milliner +or some mantua-maker, as a journey-woman for three years. + +Painfully, again, Juliet attained further knowledge of the world, in +learning the danger of asking counsel; except of the candid and wise, +who know how to modify it by circumstances, and who will listen to +opposing representations. + +Mrs Hart, from the moment that Juliet declined to be guided wholly by +her judgment, lost all interest in her young work-woman's distresses. +'If people won't follow advice,' she said, ''tis a sign they are not +much to be pitied.' Vainly Juliet affirmed, that reasons which she could +not explain, put it out of her power to take any measure so decisive; +that, far from fixing her own destiny for three years, she had no means +to ascertain, or scarcely even to conjecture, what it might be in three +days; or perhaps in three hours; although in the interval of suspense, +she was not less an object for present humanity, from the incertitude of +what either her wants or her abundance might be in future; vainly she +reasoned, vainly she pleaded. Mrs Hart always made the same reply: 'If +people won't follow advice, 'tis a sign they are not much to be pitied.' + +In consequence of this maxim, Juliet next heard, that the small room and +bed which she occupied, were wanted for another person. + +Alas! she thought, how long must we mingle with the world, ere we learn +how to live in it! Must we demand no help from the understandings of +others, unless we submit to renounce all use of our own? + +These reflections soon led her to hit upon the only true medium, for +useful and safe general intercourse with the mass of mankind: that of +avowing embarrassments, without demanding counsel; and of discussing +difficulties, and gathering opinions, as matters of conversation; but +always to keep in mind, that to ask advice, without a predetermination +to follow it, is to call for censure, and to risk resentment. + +Thus died away in Juliet the short joy of freedom from the controul of +positive engagements. + +Such freedom, she found, was but a source of perpetual difficulty and +instability. She had the world to begin again; a new pursuit to fix +upon; new recommendations to solicit; and a new dwelling to seek. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + + +Juliet was making enquiries of the young work-women, for a +recommendation to some small lodging, when she was surprised by the +receipt of a letter from Mrs Pierson, soliciting her company immediately +at Lewes; where poor Flora, she said, was taken dangerously ill of a +high fever, and was raving, continually, for Miss Ellis. A return +post-chaise to the postilion of which Mrs Pierson had given directions +to call at Mrs Hart's, at three o'clock in the afternoon, would bring +her, for nearly nothing; if she would have so much charity as to come +and comfort the poor girl; and Mrs Pierson would find a safe conveyance +back at night, if Miss Ellis could not oblige them by sleeping at the +house: but she hoped that Mrs Hart would not refuse to spare her from +her work, for a few hours, as it might produce a favourable turn in the +disorder. + +Juliet read this letter with real concern. Had she rescued the poor, +weak, and wilful Flora from immediate moral, only to devote her to +immediate physical, destruction? And what now could be devised for her +relief? Her intellects were too feeble for reason, her temper was too +petulant for entreaty. Nevertheless, the benevolent are easily urged to +exertion; and Juliet would not refuse the summons of the distressed +mother, while she could flatter herself that any possible means might be +suggested for serving the self-willed, and half-witted, but innocent +daughter. + +She set out, therefore, upon this plan, far from sanguine of success, +but persuaded that the effort was a duty. + +By her own calculations from memory, she was arrived within about a mile +of Lewes, when the horses suddenly turned down a narrow lane. + +She demanded of the postilion why he did not proceed straight forward. +He answered, that he knew a short cut to the house of Mrs Pierson. +Uneasy, nevertheless, at quitting thus alone the high road, she begged +him to go the common way, promising to reward him for the additional +time which it might require. But he drove on without replying; though, +growing now alarmed, she called, supplicated, and menaced in turn. + +She looked from window to window to seek some object to whom she might +apply for aid; none appeared, save a man on horseback, whom she had +already noticed from time to time, near the side of the chaise; and to +whom she was beginning to appeal, when she surprised him making signs to +hurry on the postilion. + +She now believed the postilion himself to be leagued with some +highwayman; and was filled with affright and dismay. + +The horses galloped on with encreased swiftness, the horseman always +keeping closely behind the chaise; till they were stopt by a small cart, +from which Juliet had the joy to see two men alight, forced, by the +narrowness of the road, to take off their horse, and drag back their +vehicle. + +She eagerly solicited their assistance, and made an effort to open the +chaise door. This, however, was prevented by the pursuing horseman, who, +dismounting, opened it himself; and, to her inexpressible terrour, +sprung into the carriage. + +What, then, was her mingled consternation and astonishment, when, +instead of demanding her purse, he gaily exclaimed, 'Why are you +frightened, you beautiful little creature?' And she saw Sir Lyell +Sycamore. + +A change, but not a diminution of alarm, now took place; yet, assuming a +firmness that sought to conceal her fears, 'Quit the chaise, Sir Lyell,' +she cried, 'instantly, or you will compel me to claim protection from +those two men!' + +'Protection? you pretty little vixen!' cried he, yet more familiarly, +'who should protect you like your own adorer?' + +Juliet, leaning out, as far as was in her power, from the chaise-window, +called with energy for help. + +'What do you mean?' cried he, striving to draw her back. 'What are you +afraid of? You don't imagine me such a blundering cavalier, as to intend +to carry you off by force?' + +The postilion was assisting the two men to fix their horse, for dragging +back their cart; but her cries reached their ears, and one of them, +advancing to the chaise, exclaimed, 'Good now! if it is not Miss Ellis!' +And, to her infinite relief and comfort, she beheld young Gooch. + +She entreated him to open the door; but, lolling his arms over it, +without attending to her, he said, 'Well! to see but how things turn +out! Here have I been twice this very morning, at your new lodgings, to +let you know it's now or never, for our junket's to night; and the old +gentlewoman that keeps the house, who's none of the good-naturedest, as +I take it, would never let me get a sight of you, say what I would; and +here, all of the sudden, when I was thinking of you no more than if you +had never been born, I come pop upon you, as one may say, within +cock-crow of our very door; all alone, with only the young Baronight!' + +Nearly as much shocked, now, as, the moment before, she had been +relieved, Juliet eagerly declared, that she was not with any body; she +was simply going to Lewes upon business. + +'Why then,' cried he, 'the Baronight must be out his head, begging his +pardon, to let you come this way; and the postilion as stupid as a post; +for it's quite the contrary. It will lead you to you don't know where. +We only turned down it ourselves, just to borrow a few glasses, of +farmer Barnes, because we've more mouths than we have got of our own: +for I've invited all our club; which poor dad don't much like. He says I +am but a bungler at saving money, any more than at getting it; but I am +as rare a hand as any you know, far or near, says the old gentleman, for +spending it. The old gentleman likes to say his say. However, I must not +leave my horse to his gambols.' + +Then nodding, still without listening to Juliet, he returned to his +_chay-cart_. + +Juliet now unhasped the chaise-door herself, and was springing from the +carriage; when Sir Lyell, forcibly holding her, exclaimed, 'What would +you do, you lovely termagant? Would you make me pass for a devil of a +ravisher? No, no, no! you handsome little firebrand! name your terms, +and command me! I know you love me,--and I adore you. Why then this idle +cruelty to us both? to nature itself; and to beauty?' + +More and more indignant, Juliet uttered a cry for help, that immediately +brought back young Gooch, who was followed by an elderly companion. + +Provoked and resentful, yet amazed and ashamed, the Baronet jumped out +of the chaise, saying, with affected contempt, yet stronger pique, +'Yes! help, gentlemen, help! come quick! quick! Miss Ellis is taken +suddenly ill!' + +The insolent boldness of this appeal, was felt only by Juliet; whose +scorn, however potent, was less prevalent than her satisfaction, upon +beholding her old friend Mr Tedman. She descended to meet him, with an +energetic 'Thank Heaven!' and an excess of gladness, not more tormenting +to the Baronet, than unexpected by himself. 'Well, this is very kind of +you, indeed, my dear,' cried he, heartily shaking hands with her; 'to be +so glad to see me; especially after the ungenteel way I was served in by +your lodging-gentlewoman, making no more ceremony than refusing to let +me up, under cover that you saw no gentlemen; though I told her what a +good friend I had been to you; and how you learnt my darter the musics; +and how I used to bring you things; and lend you money; and that; and +how I was willing enough to do the like again, put in case you was in +need: but I might just as well have talked to the post; which huffed me +a little, I own.' + +'O, those old gentlewomen,' interrupted Gooch, 'are always like that. +One can never make any thing of 'em. I don't over like them myself, to +tell you the truth.' + +Juliet assured them that, having no time but for business, her +injunctions of non-admission had been uniform and universal; and ought +not, therefore, to offend any one. She then requested Mr Tedman to order +that the postilion would return to the high road; which he had quitted +against her positive direction; and to have the goodness to insist upon +his driving her by the side of his own vehicle, till they reached Lewes. + +Tedman, looking equally important and elated, again heartily shook hands +with her, and said, 'My dear, I'll do it with pleasure; or, I'll engage +Tim to send off your chay, and I'll take you in his'n; put in case it +will be more to your liking; for I am as little agreeable as you are, to +letting them rascals of drivers get the better of me.' + +Juliet acceded to this proposal, in which she saw immediate safety, with +the most lively readiness; entreating Mr Tedman to complete his +kindness, in extricating her from so suspicious a person, by paying him +the half-crown, which she had promised him, for carrying her to Lewes. + +'Half-a-crown?' repeated Mr Tedman, angrily refusing to take it. 'It's +too much by half, for coming such a mere step; put in case he did not +put to o'purpose. You're just like the quality; and they're none of +your sharpest; to throw away your money, and know neither the why nor +the wherefore.' + +The Baronet, with a loud oath, said that the postilion was a scoundrel, +for having offended the young lady; and menaced to inform against him, +if he received a sixpence. + +The postilion made no resistance; the horses were taken off, and the +chaise was drawn back to the high road. The little carriage belonging to +young Gooch followed, into which Juliet, refusing all aid but from Mr +Tedman, eagerly sprang; and her old friend placed himself at her side; +while Gooch took the reins. + +Sir Lyell looked on, visibly provoked; and when they were driving away, +called out, in a tone between derision and indignation, 'Bravo, Mr +Tedman! You are still, I see, the happy man!' + +Young Gooch, laughing without scruple, smacked his horse; while Mr +Tedman angrily muttered, 'The quality always allows themselves to say +any thing! They think nothing of that! All's one to them whether one +likes it or not.' + +The design of Juliet was, when safely arrived at the farm, which was +within a very short walk of the town of Lewes, to beg a safe guide to +accompany her to the house of Mrs Pierson; where she resolved to pass +the night; and whence she determined to write to Elinor, and solicit an +interview; in which she meant to lay open her new difficulties, in the +hope of re-awakening some interest that might operate in her favour. + +To save herself from the vulgar forwardness of ignorant importunity, she +forbore to mention her plan, till she alighted from the little vehicle, +at the gate of the farm-yard. + +'Goodness! Ma'am,' then cried young Gooch, 'you won't think of such a +thing as going away, I hope, before you've well come? Why our sport's +all ready! why, if you'll step a little this way, you may see the three +sacks, that three of our men are to run a race in! There'll be fine +scrambling and tumbling, one o' top o' t'other. You'll laugh till you +split your sides. And if you'll only come here, to the right, I'll shew +you the stye where our pig is, that's to be caught by the tail. But it +will be well soaped, I can tell you; so it will be no such easy thing.' + +Slightly thanking him, Juliet applied for aid, in procuring her a +conductor, to Mr Tedman; who, though at first he pressed her to stay, as +she might get a little amusement so pure cheap, since it would cost +nothing but looking on; no sooner heard her pronounce that she was +called away by business, than he ceased all opposition; and promised to +take care of her to Lewes himself, when he'd just spoken a word or two +to his cousin Gooch: 'For I can't go with you, my dear, only I and you, +you know, without that,' he said, 'just upon coming; for fear it should +put them upon joking; which I don't like; for all the quality's so fond +of it. Besides which, I must give in my presents; for this little +hamper's full of little odd things for the junket; and if I leave 'em +out here, to the mercy of nobody knows who, somebody or other'll be a +pilfering, as sure as a gun; put in case they smoke what I've got in my +hamper. And they're pretty quick at mischief.' + +Juliet supplicated him to be speedy. Pleased to have his services +accepted, he put his hamper under his arm, and walked on to the house; +mindless of the impatient remonstrances of young Gooch, who exclaimed, +'Why now, who'd have thought this of the 'Squire? it's doing just +contrary; for he's the very person I thought would make you stay! for +he's come, as one may say, half o' purpose for your sake; for he never +plump accepted of our invitation till I told him, in my letter, of my +having invited of you. And then he said he would come.' + +Then, lowering his voice into a whisper, he added, 'Between ourselves, +Ma'am, the poor 'Squire, my good cousin, don't get much for his money at +home, I believe. His daughter's got quite the top end; and she's none of +your obligingests; she won't do one mortal thing he desires. She's been +brought up at them fine boarding-schools, with misses that hold up their +heads so high, that nothing's good enough for 'em. So she's always +ashamed of her papa, because, she says, he's so mean; as he tells us. +The poor 'Squire, my cousin, don't much like it; but he can't help +himself. She's as exact like a fine lady as ever you see; and she won't +speak a word to any of her poor relations, because they are so low, she +says.' He then added, 'If you won't go while I'm gone, I'll give you as +agreeable a surprize as ever you had in your life!' + +He ran on to the house. + +In a few minutes, Juliet felt something tickle the nape of her neck, +and, imagining it to be an insect, she would have brushed it away with +her hand, but received, between her fingers, a pink; and, looking round, +saw Flora Pierson, nearly breathless from her efforts to smother a +laugh. + +'Is it possible?' cried Juliet, in great amazement. 'Miss Pierson! I +thought you were ill in bed?' + +No further efforts were necessary to repress the laugh; resentment, +rather than gravity, took its place, and, with pouting lips, and a +frowning brow, she answered, 'Ill? Yes! I have had enough to make me +ill, that's sure! It's more a wonder, by half, that I a'n't dead; for I +cried so that my eyes grew quite little; and I looked quite a fright; +and I grew so hoarse that nobody could tell a word I said; though I +talked enough, I'm sure; for nothing can hinder me of my talking, if it +was never so, papa says.' + +Juliet now, upon closer enquiry, learnt that Flora had neither had a +fever, nor desired a meeting; and that Mrs Pierson had neither written +the letter, nor given any orders about a return post-chaise. + +The passing suspicions which already had occurred to Juliet in disfavour +of Sir Lyell Sycamore, returned, now, with redoubled force. That he had +made signs to the driver to quit the high road, however dismaying, she +had attributed to sudden impulse, upon meeting her alone in a +post-chaise; and had not doubted that, upon seeing the sincerity of her +resentment, he would have retired with shame and repentance: but a plan +thus concerted to get her into his power, changed apprehension into +certainty, and indignation into abhorrence. + +The happy accident to which she owed her escape, even from the +knowledge, till it was past, of her danger, she now blessed with +rapture; and the junket, so disdained and rejected, she now felt that +she could never recollect without grateful delight. + +But how return to Brighthelmstone? What vehicle find? How trust herself +to any even when procured? + +She enquired of Flora whether it were possible that Mrs Pierson could +grant her one night's lodging? + +The smiles, the dimples, and the good humour of the simple girl, all +revived, and played about her pretty face, at this request. 'O yes!' she +cried. 'Miss Ellis, I shall be so glad to have you come! for mamma and I +are so dull together that I'm quite moped. I don't like it by half as +well as I did the shop. So many smart gentlemen and ladies coming in and +out every moment! dressed so nice, and speaking so polite! I'm obliged +to wear all my worst things, now, to save my others, mamma says, for +fear of the expence. And it makes me not look as well by half, as I did +at Miss Matson's. I looked well enough there, I believe; as people told +me; at least the gentlemen. But I go such a dowd, here, that it's enough +to frighten you. I'm sure when I go to the glass, and that's a hundred +times a-day, for aught I know, if it were counted, to see what sort of a +figure I make, I could break it with pleasure, for seeing me such a +disguise; for I look quite ugly, unless I happen to be in my smilings.' + +This prattle was interrupted by a signal from Mr Tedman, that made +Juliet hope that he was now ready to depart; but, upon approaching him, +he only said, 'Come hither, my dear, and sit down a bit, upon this +bench, for we can't go yet. I have not given all my presents. And I +don't care to leave 'em!' winking significantly: 'not that I mean to +doubt any body; only it's as well have a sharp eye. We are all honestest +with good looking after.' + +Juliet now was surrounded by young farmers, who offered her cakes or +ale, and asked her hand for the ensuing dance; while young Gooch +collected around him an admiring audience, to listen to his account, how +he and the young gentlewoman, who was so pretty, had acted together in a +play. + +Mr Tedman then bid her divine how his cousin Gooch was employed, and why +the presents were not yet delivered? and upon her declared inability to +conjecture, 'Would you believe it, my dear?' he cried, 'For all Tim +drove us such a good round trot, the quality got the start of us! And +now he's in the kitchen, with cousin Gooch, taking a cup of ale!' + +The disturbance of Juliet at this intelligence, he thought simply +surprize, and continued, 'Nay, it was not easy to guess, sure enough. He +must have rid over every thing, hedge, ditch, and the like. But your +quality's not over mindful of other people's property. He's come to buy +some hay. He come o'purpose, he says. And he's a mortal good customer, +for he says nothing but, "Mighty well! That's very reasonable, indeed! I +thought it had been twice the price!" Old coz chuckles, I warrant him! +Your quality's but a poor hand at a bargain. I would not employ 'em, +between you and I. They never know what they are about.' + +They were now joined by Mr Gooch, a hale, hearty, cherry-cheeked dapper +farmer, fair in all his dealings, and upright in all his principles, +except when they had immediate reference to his professional profits. +'Well!' he cried, ''Squire!' rubbing his hands in great glee. 'I've had +a good chapman enough here! I've often seen un at our races, but I +little thought of having to chaffer with un. Howsever, one may have +worse luck with one's money. A don't much understand business. But who's +that pretty lass with ye, 'Squire? Some play-mate, I warrant, of cousin +Molly? And why did no' cousin Molly come, too? A'd a have been heartily +welcome. And perhaps a'd a picked up a sweetheart.' + +'Stop, father, stop!' cried young Gooch: 'I've something to say to you. +You know how you've always stood to it, that you would not believe a +word about all those battles, and guillotines, and the like, of Mounseer +Robert Speer, in foreign parts; though I told you, over and over, that I +had it from our club? Well! here's a person now here, in your own +grounds, that's seen it all with her own eyes! So if you don't believe +it, never believe it as long as you live.' + +'Like enough not, Tim,' answered the father: 'I do no' much give my mind +to believing all them outlandish fibs, told by travellers. I can hear +staring stories eno' by my own fire-side. And I a'n't over friendly to +believing 'em there. But, bless my heart! for a man for to come for to +go for to pretend telling me, because it be a great ways off, and I +can't find un out, that there be a place where there comes a man, who +says, every morning of his life, to as many of his fellow-creatures as a +can set eyes on, whether they be man, woman, or baby; here, mount me two +or three dozen of you into that cart, and go and have your heads chopt +off! And that they'll make no more ado, than go, only because they're +bid! Why if one will believe such staring stuff as that be, one may as +well believe that the moon be made of cream-cheese, and the like. +There's no sense in such a set of lies; for life's life every where, +even in France; though it be but a poor starving place, at best, without +pasture, or cattle; or corn, either, fit for a man for to eat.' + +'Ay, father, ay; but Bob Spear, as we call him at our club--' + +'Y're young, y're young, Tim,' interrupted Mr Gooch; 'and your +youngsters do believe every thing. When you've sowed your wild oats, +you'll know better. But we mustn't all be calves at the same time. If +there were none for to give milk, there'd be none for to suck. So it be +all for the best. And that makes me for to take it the less to heart, +when I do see you be such a gudgeon, Tim, with no more sense than to +swallow neat down every thing that do come in your way. But you'll never +thrive, Tim, till you be like to what I be; people do tell such a peck +of staring lies, that I do no' believe, nor I wo'no' believe one mortal +word by hear-say.' + +'For my part,' said Mr Tedman, 'I never enquire into all that, whether +it be true, or whether it be false; because it's nothing to me either +way; and one wastes a deal of time in idle curiosity, about things that +don't concern one; put in case one can't turn them to one's profit.' + +'That's true, coz,' said Mr Gooch; 'for as to profit, there be none to +come from foreign parts: for they be all main poor thereabout; for, they +do tell me, that there be not a man among un, as sets his eyes, above +once in his life, or thereabout, upon a golden guinea! And as to roast +beef and plum-pudding, I do hear that they do no' know the taste of such +a thing. So that they be but a poor stinted race at best, for they can +never come to their natural growth.' + +'What, then, you do believe what folks tell you sometimes, father?' +cried the son, grinning. + +'To be sure I do, Tim; when they do tell me somewhat that be worth a +man's hearing.' + +They were now joined by Mr Stubbs, who, seeing Juliet, was happy in the +opportunity of renewing her favourite enquiries, relative to the +agricultural state of the continent. + +Mr Gooch, extremely surprized, exclaimed, 'Odds heart! Why sure such a +young lass as that be, ha'n't been across seas already? Why a couldn't +make out their gibberish, I warrant me! for't be such queer stuff that +they do talk, all o'un, that there's no getting at what they'd be at; +unless one larns to speak after the same guise, like to our +boarding-school misses. I've seen one or two o'un myself, that passed +here about; but their manner o' talk was so out of the way, I could no' +make out a word they did say. T'might all be Dutch for me. And I found +'em vast ignorant. They knew no more than my horse when land ought to be +manured, from when it ought for to lie fallow. I did ask un a many +questions; but a could no' answer me, for to be understood.' + +'But, for all that, Master Gooch,' said Mr Stubbs, 'my late Lord has +told me that France is sincerely a fine country, if they knew how to +make the most of it; but the waste lands are quite out of reason; for +they are such a boggling set of farmers, that they grow nothing but what +comes, as one may say, of itself.' + +'France a fine country, Maister Stubbs? Well, that be a word I did no' +count to hear from a man of your sense. Why't be as poor a place as ye +might wish to set eyes on, all over-run with weeds, and frogs, and the +like. Why ye be as frenchified as Tim, making out them mounseers to be a +parcel of Jack the Giant-killers, lopping off heads for mere play, as a +body may say. However, here be one that's come to our hop, that be a +finer spark than there be in all France, I warrant me: for a makes a bow +as like to a mounseer, as if a was twin-brother to un; and a was so +ready to pay down his money handsomely, I could no' but say a'd be +welcome to our junket; for a says a does like such a thing more than all +them new fangled balls and concerts.' + +'Oh, and you believe that upon hear-say do you, father?' cried Tim, +sneeringly. + +'Yes, to be sure, I do, Tim. When a man do say a thing that ha' got some +sense in it, why should no' I believe un, Tim?' + +Juliet, who from what had preceded, had concluded the Baronet to be +gone, earnestly now pressed Mr Tedman to fulfil his kind engagement; but +in vain: Mr Gooch brought his best silver tankard, to insist upon his +cousin's drinking success to the new purchase, that occasioned the +junket; and Tim was outrageous at the proposal of retiring, just as the +feats were going to commence. 'Before five minutes are over,' said he, +'the pig will begin!' + +'Well,' answered Mr Tedman, 'it is but a silly thing, to be sure, things +of that sort; and I never give my mind to them; but still, as it's a +thing I never saw, put in case you've no objections, we'll just stay for +the pig, my dear.' + +Flora, having now gathered that _the quality_ meant Sir Lyell Sycamore, +began dancing and singing, in a childish extacy of delight, that shewed +her already, in idea, Lady Sycamore, when, turning to Juliet with sudden +and angry recollection, her smiles, gaiety, and capering gave way to a +bitter fit of crying, and she exclaimed, 'But if he is here, it will be +nothing to me, I dare say, if Miss Ellis is here the while; for he won't +look at me, almost, when she is by: will he? For some people play one so +false, that one might as well be as ugly as the cat, almost, when they +are in the way.' + +'Don't be fretted, Miss Flora,' cried young Gooch, soothingly; 'for I +shall ask Miss Ellis to dance myself; for as I shall begin the hop, +because of its being our own, I think I've a good right to chuse my +partner; so don't be fretted, so, Miss Flora, for you'll have the +Baronight left to you whether he will or no! But come; don't let's lose +time; if you'll follow me, you won't want sport, I can tell you; for the +beginning's to be a syllabub under the cow.' + +Flora was not too proud to accept this consolation; but Juliet +positively declared that she should not dance; and earnestly entreated +that some one might be found to conduct her to Mrs Pierson's. + +Flora, recovering her spirits, with the hopes of getting rid of her +rival, whispered, 'If you're in real right earnest, Miss Ellis, and +don't say you want to go, only to make a fool of me, which I shall take +pretty unkind, I assure you; why I can shew you the way so as you can't +miss it, if you'd never so. And I'm sure I shall be glad enough to have +you go, if I must needs speak without a compliment. Only don't tell +mamma who's here, for she don't like persons of quality, she says, +because of their bad designs; but I'm sure if she was to hear 'em talk +as I do, she'd think quite another opinion: wouldn't she?' + +Fortunately for the intentions of Juliet, which were instantly to make +known to Mrs Pierson the new danger of her daughter, Flora waited not +for any answer to this injunction; but set out, prattling incessantly as +they went on, to put the willing Juliet on her way to Lewes. + +The cry, however, from young Gooch, of 'Come! Where are the young +ladies? The pig's ready!' caught the ears of Flora, with charm not to be +resisted; and, hastily pointing out a style, to pass into the meadow, +and another, to pass thence to the high road, she capered briskly back; +fearing to miss some of the sport, if not a seat next to the Baronet. + + + + +CHAPTER L + + +Juliet, as earnest to avoid, as Flora felt eager to pursue, the opening +feats, hurried from the destined spot, after charging the simple damsel +not to make known her departure. Unavailing, however, was the caution; +and immaterial alike the prudence or the indiscretion of Flora: Juliet +had no sooner crossed the first style, than she perceived Sir Lyell +Sycamore sauntering in the meadow. + +She would promptly have returned to the farm, but a shout of noisy +merriment reached her ears from the company that she was quitting, and +pointed out the danger of passing the evening in the midst of such +turbulent and vulgar revelry. She hastened, therefore, on; but neither +the lightness of her step, nor the swiftness of her speed, could save +her from the quick approach of the Baronet. 'My angel!' he cried, +'whither are you going? and why this prodigious haste? What is it my +angel fears? Can she suppose me rascal enough, or fool enough, to make +use of any violence? No, my angel, no! I only ask to be regaled, from +your own sweet lips, with the delicious tale of divine partiality, that +the quaint old knight began revealing. I sigh, I pant to hear +confirmed--' + +'Hold, Sir Lyell!' interrupted Juliet. 'If Sir Jaspar is the author of +this astonishing mistake, I trust he will have the honour to rectify it. +When I named you to him, it was but with a view to rescue a credulous +young creature from your pursuit, whom I feared it might injure; not to +expose to it one whom it never can endanger; however deeply it may +offend.' + +Struck and disappointed at the courage and coolness of this explanation, +Sir Lyell looked mortified and amazed; but, upon seeing her reach the +style, he sprang over it, and, recovering his usual effrontery, offered +her his hand. + +Juliet knew not whether her risk were greater to proceed or to return; +but while she hesitated, a phaeton, which was driving by, stopt, and an +elderly lady, addressing the Baronet, in a tone of fawning courtesy, +enquired after his health, and added, 'So you are come to this famous +junket, Sir Lyell?' + +Sir Lyell forced a laugh, and bowed low; though he muttered, loud enough +for Juliet to hear, 'What cursed spies!' + +Juliet now perceived Mrs and Miss Brinville; and neither innocence, nor +contempt of calumny, could suppress a rising blush, at being surprised, +by persons already unfavourably disposed towards her, in a situation +apparently so suspicious. + +The countenance of the mother exhibited strong chagrin at sight of +Juliet; while the daughter, in a tone of pique, said, 'No doubt but you +are well amused, Sir Lyell?' + +They drove on; not, however, very fast, and with so little self-command, +as frequently to allow themselves to look back. This indelicacy, however +ill adapted to raise them in the esteem of the Baronet, at least rescued +Juliet from his persecution. Disconcerted himself, he felt the necessity +of decency; and, quitting her, with affected carelessness, he hummed an +air, while grumbling curses, and, swinging his switch to and fro, walked +off; not more careful that the ladies in the phaeton should see him +depart, than assiduous to avoid with them any sort of junction. + +The relief caused to Juliet by his retreat, was cruelly clouded by her +terrour of the false suggestions to which this meeting made her liable. +Neither mother nor daughter would believe it accidental; nor credit it +to have been contrived without equal guilt in both parties. Is there no +end, then, she cried, to the evils of defenceless female youth? And, +even where actual danger is escaped, must slander lie in wait, to +misconstrue the most simple actions, by surmising the most culpable +designs? + +Neither to follow the footsteps of Sir Lyell, nor to remain where he +might return, she was going back to the farm; when she was met by Flora, +who, with a species of hysterical laughter, nearly of kin to crying, +called out, 'So Ma'am! so Miss Ellis! I've caught you at last! I've +surprised you at last! a-courting with my sweetheart!' + +Pitying her credulous ignorance, Juliet would have cleared up this +mistake; but the petulant Flora would not listen. 'I'll speak to the +gentleman myself!' she cried, running forward to the style; 'for I have +found out your design; so it's of no use to deny it! I saw you together +all the way I came; so you may as well not try to make a ninny of me, +Miss Ellis, for it i'n't so easy!' + +Catching a glimpse of the Baronet as he descended the road, she jumped +over the style to run after him; but seeing him look round, and, though +he perceived her, quietly walk on, she stopt, crying bitterly: 'Very +well, Miss Ellis! very well! you've got your ends! I see that! and, I +don't thank you for it, I assure you, for I liked him very well; and it +i'n't so easy to find a man of quality every day; so it i'n't doing as +you'd be done by; for nobody likes much to be forsaken, no more than I, +I believe, for it i'n't so agreeable. And I had rather you had not +served me so by half! In particular for a man of quality!' + +Juliet, though vainly, was endeavouring to appease and console her, when +a young lady, bending eagerly from the window of a post chaise which was +passing by, ejaculated, 'Ellis!' and Juliet, with extreme satisfaction, +perceived Elinor. + +The chaise stopt, and Juliet advanced to it with alacrity; but before +she could speak, the impatient Elinor, still looking pale, meagre, and +wretched, burst forth, with rapid and trembling energy, into a string of +disordered, incoherent, scarcely intelligible interrogatories. 'Ellis! +what brings you to this spot?--Whither is it you go?--What project are +you forming?--What purpose are you fulfilling?--Whom are you +flying--Whom are you following?--What is it you design?--What is it you +wish?--Why are you here alone?--Where--Where--' + +Leaning, then, still further out of the window, she fixed her nearly +haggard, yet piercing eyes upon those of Juliet, and, in a hollow voice, +dictatorially added: 'Where--tell me, I charge you! where--is Harleigh?' + +Consternation at sight of her altered countenance, and affright at the +impetuosity of her questions, produced a hesitation in the answer of +Juliet, that, to the agitated Elinor, seemed the effect of surprised +guilt. Her pallid cheeks then burnt with the mixed feelings of triumph +and indignation; yet her voice sought to disguise her wounded feelings, +and in subdued, though broken accents, ''Tis well!' she cried, 'You no +longer, at least, seek to deceive me, and I thank you!' Deaf to +explanation or representation, she then hurried her weak frame from the +chaise, aided by her foreign lackey; and, directing Juliet to follow, +crossed the road to a rising ground upon the Downs; seated herself; sent +off her assistant, and made Juliet take a place by her side; while Flora +returned, crying and alone, to the farm. + +'Now, then,' she said, 'that you try no more to delude, to cajole, to +blind me, tell me now, and in two words,--where is Harleigh?' + +'Believe me, Madam,--' Juliet was tremblingly beginning, when Elinor, +casting off the little she had assumed of self-command, passionately, +cried, 'Must I again be played upon by freezing caution and duplicity? +Must I die without end the lingering death of cold inaction and +uncertainty? breathe for ever without living? Where, I demand, is +Harleigh? Where have you concealed him? Why will Harleigh, the noble +Harleigh, degrade himself by any concealment? Why stoop to the subtilty +of circumspection, to spare himself the appearance of destroying one +whose head, heart, and vitals, all feel the reality of the destruction +he inflicts? And yet not he! No, no! 'tis my own ruthless star! He loves +me not! he is not responsible for my misery, though he is master of my +fate! Where is he? where is he? You,--who are the tyrant of his! tell +me, and at once!' + +'I solemnly protest to you, Madam, with the singleness of the most +scrupulous truth,' cried Juliet, recovering her presence of mind, 'I am +entirely ignorant of his abode, his occupations, and his intentions.' Ah +why, she secretly added, am I not equally unacquainted with his feelings +and his wishes! + +Unable to discredit the candour with which this was pronounced, and +filled with wonder, yet involuntarily consoled, the features of Elinor +lost their rigidity, and her eyes their fierceness; and, in milder +accents, she replied, 'Strange! how strange! Where, then, can he +be?--with whom?--how employed?--Does he fly the whole world as well as +Elinor? Has no one his society?--no one his confidence?--his society, +which, by contrast, makes all existence without it disgusting!--his +confidence, which, to obtain, I would yet live, though doomed daily to +the rack! O Harleigh! love like mine, who has felt?--love like mine, who +but you, O matchless Harleigh! ever inspired!' + +Tears now gushed into her eyes. Ashamed, and angry with herself, she +hastily brushed them off with the back of her hand, and, with forced +vivacity, continued, 'He thinks, perchance, to sicken me into the pining +end of a love-sick consumption? to avert the kindly bowl or dagger, that +cut short human misery, for the languors, the sufferings, and despair of +a loathsome natural death? And for what?--to restore, to preserve me? +No! I have no share in the arrangement; no interest, no advantage from +the plan. Appearances alone are considered; all else is regarded as +immaterial; or sacrificed. And he, Harleigh, the noblest,--the only +noble of men!--can level himself with the narrowest and most illiberal +of his race, to pay coward obeisance to appearances!' + +Again she then repeated her personal interrogatories to Juliet; and +demanded whether she should set off immediately for Gretna Green, with +Lord Melbury; or whether she must wait till he should be of age. + +'Neither!' Juliet solemnly answered; and frankly recounted her recent +difficulties; and entreated the advice of Elinor for adopting another +plan of life. + +Elinor, interrupting her, said, 'Nay, 'twas your own choice, you know, +to live in a garret, and hem pocket-handkerchiefs.' + +'Choice, Madam! Alas! deprived of all but personal resource, I fixed +upon a mode of life that promised me, at least, my mental freedom. I was +not then aware how imaginary is the independence, that hangs for support +upon the uncertain fruits of daily exertions! Independent, indeed, such +situations may be deemed from the oppressions of power, or the tyrannies +of caprice and ill humour; but the difficulty of obtaining employment, +the irregularity of pay, the dread of want,--ah! what is freedom but a +name, for those who have not an hour at command from the subjection of +fearful penury and distress?' + +'If all this is so,' said Elinor, 'which, unless you wait for Lord +Melbury's majority, is more than incomprehensible; what say you, now, to +an asylum safe, at least, from torments of this sort;--will you +commission me, at length, to apply to Mrs Ireton?' + +Juliet, instinctively, recoiled at the very name of that lady; yet a +little reflection upon the dangers to which she was now exposed, through +unprotected poverty; through the lawless pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; +and the vindictive calumnies of the Brinvilles, made the wish of solid +safety repress the disgusts of offended sensibility; and, after a +painful pause, she recommended herself to the support of Elinor: +resolving to accept, for the moment, any proposition, that might secure +her an honourable refuge from want and misconception. + +Elinor, looking at her suspiciously, said, 'And Harleigh?--Will he let +you submit to such slavery?' + +Mr Harleigh, Juliet protested, could have no influence upon her +determination. + +'But you yourself, who a month or two ago, could so ill bear her +tauntings, how is it you are thus suddenly endued with so much +humility?' + +'Alas, Madam, all choice, all taste, all obstacles sink before +necessity! When I came over, I had expectations of immediate succour. I +knew not that the friend I sought was herself ruined, as well as +unhappy! I had hopes, too, of speedy intelligence that might have +liberated me from all my difficulties....' + +She stopt; Elinor exclaimed, 'From whence?--From abroad?--' + +Juliet was silent; and Elinor, after a few passing sallies against +secrets and mystery, sarcastically bid her consider, before she adopted +this new scheme, that Harleigh never visited at Mrs Ireton's; having +taken, in equal portions, a dose of aversion for the mother, and of +contempt for the son. + +Juliet calmly replied, that such a circumstance could be but an +additional motive to seek the situation; and, hopeless, for the moment, +of doing better, seriously begged that proper measures might be taken to +accelerate the plan. + +Elinor, now, from mingled wonder, satisfaction, and scorn, recovered all +her wonted vivacity. 'You are really, and bona fide, contented, then,' +she cried, 'to be shut up as completely from Harleigh, through his +horrour of that woman's irascible temper, as if you were separated by +bolts, bars, dungeons, towers, and bastilles? I applaud your taste, and +wish you the full enjoyment of its fruits! Yet what materials you can be +made of, to see the first of men at your feet, and voluntarily to fly +him, to be trampled under by those of the most odious of women, I cannot +divine! 'Tis an exuberance of apathy that surpasses my comprehension. +And can He, the spirited Harleigh, love, adore, such a composition of +ice, of snow, of marble?' + +She could not, however, disguise the elation with which she looked +forward, to depositing Juliet where information might constantly be +procured of her visitors and her actions. They went together to the +carriage; and Elinor conveyed her submissive and contemned, yet +agonizingly envied rival, to Brighthelmstone. + +In her usually unguarded manner, Elinor, by the way, communicated the +various, but successless efforts by which she had endeavoured to gain +intelligence whither Harleigh had rambled. 'If I pursued him,' she +cried, 'with the vanity of hope; or with the meanness of flattery, he +would do well to shun me; but the pure-minded Harleigh is capable of +believing, that the moment is over for Elinor to desire to be his! And, +to sustain at once and shew my principles, I never seek his sight, but +in presence of her who has blasted even my wishes! Else, thus +clamourously to invoke, thus pertinaciously to follow him, might, +indeed, merit avoidance. But Elinor, now, would be as superiour to +accepting, ... as she is to forgetting him!' + +'Yet his obdurate seclusion,' she continued, 'is the only mark I +receive, that I escape his disdain. It shews me that he fears the event +of a meeting. He does not, therefore, utterly deride the pusillanimity +of my abortive attempt. O could I justify his good opinion!--All others, +I doubt not, insult me by the most ludicrous suspicions; they are +welcome. They judge me by their little-minded selves. But thou, O +Harleigh! could I see thee once more!--in thy sight, thy loved sight, +could I sink, at last, my sorrows and my disgrace to rest! to oblivion, +to sleep eternal!'-- + +Vainly Juliet essayed to plead the cause of religion, and the duties of +life; unanswered, unmarked, unheard, she talked but to the air. All that +was uttered in return, began and ended alike with Harleigh, death, and +annihilation. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + + +Juliet could not but be gratified by a circumstance so important to her +reputation, with the Brinvilles, and with those among the inhabitants of +Brighthelmstone to whom she was known, as that of being brought home by +Miss Joddrel, after an adventure that must unavoidably raise curiosity, +and that threatened to excite slander. For with however just a pride +wronged innocence may disdain injurious aspersions, female fame, like +the wife of Caesar, ought never to be suspected. + +The celerity of the motions of Elinor, nearly equalled the quickness of +her ideas. Her lackey arrived the next morning, to help to convey +Juliet, and her baggage, immediately to the dwelling of Mrs Ireton; with +a note from his mistress, indicating that Mrs Ireton was already +prepared to take her for a companion. 'An humble companion,' Elinor +wrote, 'I need not add; I had nearly said a pitiful one; for who would +voluntarily live with such an antidote to all the comforts of life, that +has spirit, sense, or soul? O envied Ellis! how potent must be the +passion, the infatuation, that can make Harleigh view such meanness as +grace, and adore it as dignity!--O icy Ellis!--but the human heart would +want strength to support such pre-eminent honour, were it bestowed upon +a mind gifted for its appreciation!' + +Then again, wishing her joy of her taste, she assured her that it was +reciprocated; for Mrs Ireton was all impatience to display, to a new +dependent, her fortune, her power, and her magnificence. + +Juliet, with her answer of thanks for this service, wrote a few lines +for Mrs Pierson, which she begged the messenger to deliver. They were to +warn the imprudent, or deceived mother of the dangerous state of mind in +which her daughter still continued; and to give her notice that Sir +Lyell Sycamore, who could not be guarded against too carefully, was +still in the neighbourhood. + +With a mind revolting from a measure which, while prudence, if not +necessity, dictated, choice and feeling opposed, she now quitted her +mantua-maker's abode, to set out for her new destination; seeking to +cheer herself that, at least, by this step, she should be secured from +the licentious pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore; the envenomed shafts of +calumny of the enraged Brinvilles; the perpetual terrour of debts; and +the cruel apprehension of want. + +She had not far to go; but the mortifications, for which she prepared +herself, began by the very sight of the dwelling into which she was to +enter. Mrs Ireton had taken the house of Mrs Howel:--that house in which +Juliet had first, after her arrival in England, received consolation in +her distresses; been melted by kindness; or animated by approbation. +There, too, indeed, she had experienced the pain which she had felt the +most severely; for there all the soothing consideration, so precious to +her sorrows, had abruptly been broken off, to give place to an assault +the most shocking upon her intentions, her probity, her character. + +Here, too, she had suffered the cruel affront, and heartfelt grief, of +seeing the ingenuous, amiable Lord Melbury forget what was due to the +rights of hospitality; to his own character; and to the respect due to +his sister: and here she had witnessed his sincere and candid +repentance; here had been softened, touched, and penetrated by the +impressive anguish of his humiliation. + +These remembrances, and the various affecting and interesting ideas by +which they were accompanied, gave a dejection to her thoughts, and a +sadness to her air, that would have awakened an interest in her favour, +in any one whose heart had been open to the feelings of others: but the +person under whose protection she was now to place herself, was a +stranger to every species of sensation that was not personal. And where +the calls of self upon sensibility are unremitting, what must be the +stock that will gift us, also, with supply sufficient for our +fellow-creatures? + +She found Mrs Ireton reclining upon a sofa; at the side of which, upon a +green velvet cushion, lay a tiny old lap dog, whom a little boy, +evidently too wanton to find pleasure but in mischief, was secretly +tormenting, by displaying before him the breast bone of a chicken, which +he had snatched from the platter of the animal; and which, the moment +that he made it touch the mouth of the cur, he hid, with all its fat and +its grease, in his own waistcoat pocket. + +Near to these two almost equally indulged and spoilt animals, stood a +nursery maid, with a duster and an hearth-broom in her hands, who was +evidently incensed beyond her pittance of patience, from clearing away, +repeatedly, their joint litter and dirt. + +Scared, and keeping humbly aloof, near a window frame, stood, also, a +little girl, of ten or twelve years of age, who, as Juliet afterwards +heard from the angry nursery maid, was an orphan, that had been put to a +charity school by Mrs Ireton, as her particular _protegee_; and who was +now, for the eighth time, by the direction of her governess, come to +solicit the arrears due from the very beginning of her school +instruction. + +Yet another trembler, though not one equally, at this moment, to be +pitied, held the handle of the lock of the door; not having received +intelligible orders to advance, or to depart. This was a young negro, +who was the favourite, because the most submissive servant of Mrs +Ireton; and whose trembling was simply from the fear that his lady might +remark a grin which he could not repress, as he looked at the child and +the dog. + +Mrs Ireton herself, though her restless eye roved incessantly from +object to object, in search of various food for her spleen, was +ostensibly occupied in examining, and decrying, the goods of a Mercer; +but when Juliet, finding herself unnoticed, was retreating, she called +out, 'O, you are there, are you? I did not see you, I protest. But come +this way, if you please. I can't possibly speak so far off.' + +The authoritative tone in which this was uttered, joined to what Juliet +observed of the general tyranny exercised around her, intimidated and +shocked her; and she stood still, and nearly confounded. + +Mrs Ireton, holding her hand above her eyes, as if to aid her sight, and +stretching forward her head, said, 'Who is that?--pray who's there?--I +imagined it had been a person I had sent for; but I must certainly be +mistaken, as she does not come to me. Pray has any body here a spying +glass? I really can't see so far off. I beg pardon for having such bad +eyes! I hope you'll forgive it. Let me know, however, who it is, I beg.' + +Juliet tried to speak, but felt so confused and disturbed what to +answer, that she could not clearly articulate a word. + +'You won't tell me, then?' continued Mrs Ireton, lowering her voice +nearly to a whisper, 'or is it that I am not heard? Has any body got a +speaking trumpet? or do you think my lungs so capacious and powerful, +that they may take its place?' + +Juliet, now, though most unwillingly, moved forward; and Mrs Ireton, +surveying her, said, 'Yes, yes, I see who you are! I recollect you now, +Mrs ... Mrs ... I forget your name, though, I protest. I can't recollect +your name, I own. I'm quite ashamed, but I really cannot call it to +mind. I must beg a little help. What is it? What is your name, Mrs ... +Mrs ... Hay?--Mrs ... What?' + +Colouring and stammering, Juliet answered, that she had hoped Miss +Joddrel would have saved her this explanation, by mentioning that she +was called Miss Ellis. + +'Called?' repeated Mrs Ireton; 'what do you mean by called?--who calls +you?--What are you called for?--Why do you wait to be called?--And where +are you called from?' + +The entire silence of Juliet to these interrogatories, gave a moment to +the mercer to ask for orders. + +'You are in haste, Sir, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'I have your pardon +to beg, too, have I? I am really very unfortunate this morning. However, +pray take your things away, Sir, if it's so immensely troublesome to you +to exhibit them. Only be so good as to acquaint your chief, whoever he +may be, that you had not time to wait for me to make any purchase.' + +The man offered the humblest apologies, which were all disdained; and +self-defending excuses, which were all retorted; he was peremptorily +ordered to be gone; with an assurance that he should answer for his +disrespect to his master; who, she flattered herself, would give him a +lesson of better behaviour, by the loss of his employment. + +Harassed with apprehension of what she had to expect in this new +residence, Juliet would silently have followed him. + +'Stay, Ma'am, stay!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'give me leave to ask one +question:--whither are you going, Mrs ... what's your name?' + +'I ... I feared, Madam, that I had come too soon.' + +'O, that's it, is it? I have not paid you sufficient attention, +perhaps?--Nay it's very likely. I did not run up to receive you, I +confess. I did not open my arms to embrace you, I own! It was very wrong +of me, certainly. But I am apt to forget myself. I want a flapper +prodigiously. I know nothing of life,--nothing of manners. Perhaps you +will be so good as to become my monitress? 'Twill be vastly kind of you. +And who knows but, in time, you may form me? How happy it will be if you +can make something of me!' + +The maid, now, tired of wiping up splash after splash, and rubbing out +spot after spot; finding her work always renewed by the mischievous +little boy, was sullenly walking to the other end of the room. + +'O, you're departing too, are you?' said Mrs Ireton; 'and pray who +dismissed you? whose commands have you for going? Inform me, I beg, who +it is that is so kind as to take the trouble off my hands, of ordering +my servants? I ought at least to make them my humble acknowledgements. +There's nothing so frightful as ingratitude.' + +The maid, not comprehending this irony, grumblingly answered, that she +had wiped up the grease and the slops till her arms ached; for the +little boy made more dirt and nastiness than the cur himself. + +'The boy?--The cur?--What's all this?' cried Mrs Ireton; 'who, and what, +is the woman talking of? The boy? Has the boy no name?--The cur? Have +you no more respect for your lady's lap dog?--Grease +too?--Nastiness!--you turn me sick! I am ready to faint! What horrible +images you present to me! Has nobody any salts? any lavendar-water? How +unfortunate it is to have such nerves, such sensations, when one lives +with such mere speaking machines!' + +She then cast around her eyes, with a look of silent, but pathetic +appeal to the sensibility of all who were within sight, against this +unheard of indignity; but her speech was soon restored, from mingled +wrath and surprise, upon perceiving her favourite young negro nearly +suffocating with stifled laughter, though thrusting both his knuckles +into his capacious mouth, to prevent its loud explosion. + +'So this amuses you, does it, Sir? You think it very comical? You are so +kind as to be entertained, are you? How happy I am to give you so much +pleasure! How proud I ought to be to afford you such diversion! I shall +make it my business to shew my sense of my good fortune; and, to give +you a proof, Sir, of my desire to contribute to your gaiety, to-morrow +morning I will have you shipped back to the West Indies. And there, that +your joy may be complete, I shall issue orders that you may be striped +till you jump, and that you may jump,--you little black imp!--between +every stripe!' + +The foolish mirth of poor Mungo was now converted into the fearfulest +dismay. He dropt upon his knees to implore forgiveness; but he was +peremptorily ordered to depart, with an assurance that he should keep up +his fine spirits upon bread and water for a fortnight. + +If disgust, now, was painted upon every feature of the face of Juliet, +at this mixture of forced derision with but too natural inhumanity, the +feeling which excited that expression was by no means softened, by +seeing Mrs Ireton turn next to the timid young orphan, imperiously +saying, 'And you, Ma'am, what may you stand there for, with your hands +before you? Have you nothing better to do with them? Can't you find out +some way to make them more useful? or do you hold it more fitting to +consider them as only ornamental? They are very pretty, to be sure. I +say nothing to the contrary of that. But I should suppose you don't +quite intend to reserve them for mere objects of admiration? You don't +absolutely mean, I presume, to devote them to the painter's eye? or to +destine them to the sculptor's chisel? I should think not, at least. I +should imagine not. I beg you to set me right if I am wrong.' + +The poor little girl, staring, and looking every way around to find some +meaning for what she did not comprehend, could only utter a faint +'Ma'am!' in a tone of so much fear and distress, that Juliet, unable, +silently, to witness oppression so wanton, came forward to say, 'The +poor child, Ma'am, only wishes to understand your commands, that she may +obey them.' + +'O! they are not clear, I suppose? They are too abstruse, I imagine?' +contemptuously replied Mrs Ireton. 'And you, who are kind enough to +offer yourself for my companion; who think yourself sufficiently +accomplished to amuse,--perhaps instruct me,--you, also, have not the +wit to find out, what a little chit of an ordinary girl can do better +with her hands, than to stand still, pulling her own fingers?' + +Juliet, now, believing that she had discovered what was meant, kindly +took the little girl by the arm, and pointed to the just overturned +water-bason of the dog. + +'But I don't know where to get a cloth, Ma'am?' said the child. + +'A cloth?--In my wardrobe, to be sure!' cried Mrs Ireton; 'amongst my +gowns, and caps, and hats. Where else should there be dirty cloths, and +dusters, and dish-clouts? Do you know of any other place where they are +likely to be found? Why don't you answer?' + +'Ma'am?' + +'You never heard, perhaps, of such a place as a kitchen? You don't know +where it is? nor what it means? You have only heard talk of +drawing-rooms, dressing-rooms, boudoirs? or, perhaps, sometimes, of a +corridor, or a vestibule, or an anti-chamber? But nothing beyond!--A +kitchen!--O, fie, fie!' + +Juliet now hurried the little girl away, to demand a cloth of the house +maid; but the moment that she returned with it, Mrs Ireton called out, +'And what would you do, now, Ma'am? Make yourself all dirt and filth, +that you may go back to your school, to shew the delicate state of my +house? To make your mistress, and all her brats, believe that I live in +a pig-stie? Or to spread abroad that I have not servants enough to do my +work, and that I seize upon you to supply their place? But I beg your +pardon; perhaps that may be your way to shew your gratitude? To manifest +your sense of my saving you from the work-house? to reward me for +snatching you from beggary, and want, and starving?' + +The poor little girl burst into tears, but courtsied, and quitted the +room; while Mrs Ireton called after her, to desire that she would +acquaint her governess, that she should certainly be paid the following +week. + +Juliet now stood in scarcely less dismay than she had been witnessing +all around her; panic-struck to find herself in the power of a person +whose character was so wantonly tyrannic and irascible. + +The fortunate entrance of some company enabled her, for the present, to +retreat; and to demand, of one of the servants, the way to her chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + + +From the heightened disgust which she now conceived against her new +patroness, Juliet severely repented the step that she had taken. And if +her entrance into the family contributed so little to her contentment, +her subsequent introduction into her office was still less calculated to +exhilarate her spirits. Her baggage was scarcely deposited in a handsome +chamber, of which the hangings, and decorations, as of every part of the +mansion, were sumptuous for the spectator; but in which there was a +dearth of almost every thing that constitutes comfort to the immediate +dweller; ere she was summoned back, by a hasty order to the +drawing-room. + +Mrs Ireton, who was reading a news-paper, did not, for some time, raise +her head; though a glance of her eye procured her the satisfaction of +seeing that her call had been obeyed. Juliet, at first, stood modestly +waiting for commands; but, receiving none, sat down, though at an humble +distance; determined to abide by the consequences, be they what they +might, of considering herself as, at least, above a common domestic. + +This action shortened the term of neglect; Mrs Ireton, letting the +news-paper fall, exclaimed, in a tone of affected alarm, 'Are you ill, +Ma'am? Are you disordered? I hope you are not subject to fits?' + +Juliet coldly answered No. + +'I am very glad to hear it, indeed! Very happy, upon my word! I was +afraid you were going to faint away! But I find that you are only +delicate; only fatigued by descending the stairs. I ought, indeed, to +have sent somebody to help you; somebody you could have leant upon as +you came along. I was very stupid not to think of that. I hope you'll +pardon me?' + +Juliet looked down, but kept her place. + +Mrs Ireton, a little nettled, was silent a few minutes, and then said, +'Pray,--if I may ask,--if it will not be too great a liberty to +ask,--what have been your pursuits since I had the honour of +accompanying you to London? How have you passed your time? I hope you +have found something to amuse you?' + +Juliet sighed a negative. + +'You have been studying the fine arts, I am told. +Painting?--Drawing?--Sculpture?--or what is it?--Something of that sort, +I am informed. Pray what is it, Mrs Thing-a-mi?--I am always forgetting +your name. Yet you have certainly a name; but I don't know how it is, I +can never remember it. I believe I must beg you to write it down.' + +Juliet again only sighed. + +'Perhaps I am making a mistake as to your occupations? Very likely I may +be quite in the wrong? Indeed I think I recollect, now, what it is you +have been doing. Acting?--That's it. Is it not? Pray what stage did you +come out upon first? Did you begin wearing your itinerant buskins in +England, or abroad?' + +'Where I began, Madam, I have ended; at Mrs Maple's.' + +'And pray, have you kept that same face ever since I saw you in +Grosvenor Square? or have you put it on again only now, to come back to +me? I rather suppose you have made it last the whole time. It would be +very expensive, I apprehend, to change it frequently: it can by no means +be so costly to keep it only in repair. How do you put on your colours? +I have heard of somebody who had learnt the art of enamelling their own +skin: is that your method?' + +Waiting vainly for an answer, she went on. + +'Pray, if I may presume so far, how old are you?--But I beg pardon for +so indiscreet a question. I did not reflect upon what I was saying. Very +possibly your age may be indefinable. You may be a person of another +century. A wandering Jewess. I never heard that the old Jew had a wife, +or a mother, who partook of his longevity; but very likely I may now +have the pleasure of seeing one of his family under my own roof? That +red and white, that you lay on so happily, may just as well hide the +wrinkles of two or three grand climacterics, as of only a poor single +sixty or seventy years of age. However, these are secrets that I don't +presume to enquire into. Every trade has its mystery.' + +These splenetic witticisms producing no reply, Mrs Ireton, more +categorically, demanded, 'Pray, Ma'am, pray Mrs What's-your-name, will +you give me leave to ask what brings you to my house?' + +'Miss Joddrel, Madam, informed me that you desired my attendance.' + +'Yes; but with what view?' + +Disconcerted by this interrogatory, Juliet stammered, but could devise +no answer. + +'To what end, what purpose, what intent, I say, may I owe the honour of +your presence?' + +The office pointed out by Elinor, of an humble companion, now died the +cheeks of Juliet with shame; but resentment of the palpable desire to +hear its mortifying acknowledgement, tied her tongue; and though each of +the following interrogatories was succeeded by a pause that demanded a +reply, she could not bring herself to utter a word. + +'You are hardly come, I should imagine, without some motive: I may be +mistaken, to be sure; but I should hardly imagine you would take the +trouble to present yourself merely to afford me the pleasure of seeing +you?--Not but that I ought to be extremely flattered by such a +compliment. 'Twould be vastly amiable, certainly. A lady of your +indescribable consequence! 'Twould be difficult to me to shew an +adequate sense of so high an honour. I am distressed at the very thought +of it.--But perhaps you may have some other design?--You may have the +generosity to intend me some improvement?--You may come to favour me +with some lessons of declamation?--Who knows but you may propose to make +an actress of me?--Or perhaps to instruct me how to become an adept in +your own favourite art of face-daubing?' + +At least, thought Juliet, I need not give you any lessons in the _art of +ingeniously tormenting_! There you are perfect! + +'What! no answer yet?--Am I always so unfortunate as to hit upon +improper subjects?--To ask questions that merit no reply?--I am quite +confounded at my want of judgment! Excuse it, I entreat, and aid me out +of this unprofitable labyrinth of conjecture, by telling me, at once, to +what happy inspiration I am indebted for the pleasure of receiving you +in my house?' + +Juliet pleaded again the directions of Miss Joddrel. + +'Miss Joddrel told you to come, then, only to come?--Only to shew +yourself?--Well, you are worth looking at, I acknowledge, to those who +have seen you formerly. The transformation must always be curious: I +only hope you intend to renew it, from time to time, to keep admiration +alive? That pretty face you exhibit at present, may lose its charms, if +it should become familiar. When shall you put on the other again, that I +had the pleasure to see you in first?' + +Fatigued and spiritless, Juliet would have retired; but Mrs Ireton +called after her, 'O! you are going, are you? Pray may I take the +liberty to ask whither?' + +Again Juliet was silent. + +'You mean perhaps to repose yourself?--or, may be, to pursue your +studies?--or, perhaps, you may have some visits upon your hands?--And +you may only have done me the favour to enter my house to find time to +follow your humour?--You may think it sufficient honour for me, that I +may be at the expence of your board, and find you in lodging, and +furniture, and fire, and candles, and servants?--you may hold this ample +recompense for such an insignificant person as I am? I ought to be much +obliged to Miss Joddrel, upon my word, for bringing me into such +distinction! I had understood her, indeed, that you would come to me as +my humble companion.' + +Juliet, cruelly shocked, turned away her head. + +'And I was stupid enough to suppose, that that meant a person who could +be of some use, and some agreeability; a person who could read to me +when I was tired, and who, when I had nobody else, could talk to me; and +find out a thousand little things for me all day long; coming and going; +prating, or holding her tongue; doing every thing she was bid; and +keeping always at hand.' + +Juliet, colouring at this true, however insulting description of what +she had undertaken, secretly revolved in her mind, how to renounce, at +once, an office which seemed to invite mortification, and license +sarcasm. + +'But I perceive I was mistaken! I perceive I knew nothing of the matter! +It only means a fine lady! a lady that's so delicate it fatigues her to +walk down stairs; a lady who is so independent, that she retires to her +room at pleasure; a lady who disdains to speak but when she is disposed, +for her own satisfaction, to talk; a lady--' + +'A lady who, indeed, Madam,' said the tired Juliet, 'weighed too little +what she attempted, when she hoped to find means of obtaining your +favour; but who now sees her errour, and entreats at once your pardon +and dismission.' + +She then courtsied respectfully, but, though called back even with +vehemence, steadily left the room. + +Not, however, with triumph did she return to her own. The justice of the +sensibility which urged her retreat, could not obviate its imprudence, +or avert its consequences. She was wholly without friends, without +money, without protection, without succour; and the horrour of a +licentious pursuit, and the mischiefs menaced by calumniating ill +wishers, still made a lonely residence as unsafe as when her first +terrour drove her to acquiesce in the proposition of Elinor. Yet, though +she could not exult, she could not repent: how desire, how even support +a situation so sordid? a situation not only distressing, but oppressive; +not merely cruel, but degrading. + +She was preparing, therefore, for immediate departure, when she was +stopt by a footman, who informed her that Mrs Ireton demanded to see her +without delay. + +The expectation of reproach made her hesitate whether to obey this +order; but a desire not to have the air of meriting it, by the defiance +of a refusal, led her again to the dressing-room. + +Here, however, to her great surprise, instead of the haughty or taunting +upbraidings for which she was prepared, she was received with a gracious +inclination of the head; while the footman was told to give her a chair. + +Mrs Ireton, then, fixing her eyes upon a pamphlet which she held in her +hand; that she might avoid taking any notice of the stiff and decided +air with which Juliet stood still, though amazed, said, 'My bookseller +has just sent me something to look at, which may serve for a beginning +of our readings.' + +Juliet now saw, that, however imperiously she had been treated, Mrs +Ireton had no intention to part with her. She saw, too, that that lady +was amongst the many, though terrible characters, who think superior +rank or fortune authorises perverseness, and legitimates arrogance; who +hold the display of ill humour to be the display and mark of power; and +who set no other boundary to their pleasure in the art of tormenting, +than that which, if passed, might endanger their losing its object. She +wished, more than ever, to avoid all connexion with a nature so wilfully +tyrannic; but Mrs Ireton, who read in her dignified demeanour, that a +spirit was awakened which threatened the escape of her prey, determined +to shun any discussion. Suddenly, therefore, rising, and violently +ringing the bell, she exclaimed, 'I dare say those fools have not placed +half the things you want in your chamber; but I shall make Whitly see +immediately that all is arranged as it ought to be.' + +She then gave some parading directions, that Miss Ellis should want for +nothing; and, affecting not to perceive the palpable design of Juliet +to decline these tardy attentions, graciously nodded her head, and +passed into another room. + +Juliet, not absolutely softened, yet somewhat appeased, again hesitated. +A road seemed open, by some exertion of spirit, for obtaining better +treatment; and however ungenial to her feelings was a character whose +humours submitted to no restraint, save to ensure their own lengthened +indulgence, still, in appearing more contemptible, it became less +tremendous. + +She began, also, to see her office as less debasing. Why, she cried, +should I exaggerate my torments, by blindly giving into received +opinions, without examining whether here, as in all things else, there +may not be exceptions to general rules? A sycophant must always be +despicable; a parasite must eternally deserve scorn; but may there not +be a possibility of uniting the affluent with the necessitous upon more +equitable terms? May not some medium be hit upon, between oppression on +one side, and servility on the other? If we are not worthless because +indigent, why conclude ourselves abject because dependent? Happiness, +indeed, dwells not with undue subordination; but the exertion of talents +in our own service can never in itself be vile. It can only become so +where it is mingled and contaminated with flattery, with unfitting +obsequiousness, and unworthy submissions. They who simply repay being +sustained and protected, by a desire to please, a readiness to serve, a +wish to instruct; without falsehood in their counsels, without adulation +in their civilities, without meanness in their manners and conduct; have +at least as just a claim to respect and consideration, for their +services and their labours, as those who, merely through pecuniary +retribution, reap their fruits. + +This idea better reconciled her with her condition; and she blessed her +happy acquaintance with Mr Giles Arbe, which had strengthened her +naturally philosophical turn of mind, by leading her to this simple, yet +useful style of reasoning. + +The rest of the day was propitious to her new views. The storms with +which it had begun subsided, and a calm ensued, in which Mrs Ireton set +apart her querulous irascibility, and forbore her contemptuous +interrogatories. + +The servants were ordered not to neglect Miss Ellis; and Miss Ellis +received permission to carry to her own apartment, any books from off +the piano forte or tables, that might contribute to her amusement. + +Juliet was not of a character to take advantage of a moment of +concession, even in an enemy. The high and grave deportment, therefore, +which had thus happily raised alarm, had no sooner answered its purpose, +than she suffered it to give place to an air of gentleness, more +congenial to her native feelings: and, the next morning, subduing her +resentment, and submitting, with the best grace in her power, to the +business of her office, she cheerfully proposed reading; complied with +the first request that was made her to play upon the piano-forte and the +harp; and even, to sing; though, not so promptly; for her voice and +sensibility were less ductile than her manners. But she determined to +leave nothing untried, that could prove, that it was not more easy to +stimulate her pride by indignity, than to animate her desire to oblige +by mild usage. + +This resolution on her part, which the fear of losing her, on that of +Mrs Ireton, gave time to operate, brought into play so many brilliant +accomplishments, and opened to her patroness such sources of amusement, +that, while Juliet began to hope she had found a situation which she +might sustain till her suspences should be over, Mrs Ireton conceived +that she had met with a treasure, which might rescue her unoccupied +hours from weariness and spleen. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + + +This delusion, unfortunately, was not of long duration on either side. +Mrs Ireton no sooner observed that Juliet appeared to be settled, than +all zest for detaining her ceased; no sooner became accustomed to +hearing at will the harp, or the piano-forte, than she found something +to say, or to do, that interrupted the performance every four or five +bars; and had no sooner secured a reader whose voice she could command +at pleasure, than she either quarrelled with every book that was begun; +or yawned, or fondled and talked aloud to her little lap dog, during the +whole time that any work was read. + +This quick abatement in the power of pleasing, was supported by Juliet +with indifference rather than philosophy. Where interest alone is +concerned, disappointment is rarely heavy with the young and generous. +Age, or misfortune, must teach the value of pecuniary considerations, to +give them force. Yet, though no tender affections, no cherished hopes, +no favourite feelings were in the power of Mrs Ireton, every moment of +time, and consequently all means of comfort, were at her disposal. +Juliet languished, therefore, though she would not repine; and though +she was not afflicted at heart, she sickened with disgust. + +The urgency of finding security from immediate insult and want, induced +her, nevertheless, to persevere in her fortitude for supporting, and her +efforts for ameliorating her situation. But, the novelty over, all +labour was vain, all success was at an end; and, in a very short time, +she would have contributed no more to the expulsion of spleen, than any +other inmate of the house; had not her superiour acquirements opened a +more extensive field for the exercise of tyranny and caprice. And in +that exercise alone, Juliet soon saw, consisted every sensation of +pleasure of which Mrs Ireton was susceptible. + +Of the many new tasks of Juliet, that which she found the most severe, +was inventing amusement for another while sad and dispirited herself. It +was her duty to be always at hand, early or late; it was her business to +furnish entertainment, whether sick or well. Success, therefore, was +unacknowledged, though failure was resented. There was no relaxation to +her toil, no rest for her person, no recruit for her spirits. From her +sleep alone she could purloin the few minutes that she dedicated to her +pen and her Gabriella. + +If a new novel excited interest, or a political pamphlet awakened +curiosity, she was called upon to read whole hours, nay, whole days, +without intermission; even a near extinction of voice did not authorize +so great a liberty as that of requesting a few minutes for rest. Mrs +Ireton, who regarded all the world as robust, compared with herself, +deemed it an impertinent rivalry of a delicacy which she held to be +unexampled, ever to pronounce the word fatigue, ever to heave a sigh of +lassitude, or ever even to allude to that part of the human frame which +is called nerves, unless with some pointed reference to herself. + +With the same despotic hardness, she ordered Juliet to the harp, or +piano-forte, and made her play though she were suffering from the +acutest head-ache; and sing when hoarse and short-breathed from the most +violent cold. Yet those commands, however arbitrary and unfeeling, were +more supportable than those with which, after every other source of +tyrannic authority had been drained, the day was ordinarily concluded. +Mrs Ireton, at the hour of retiring, when weary alike of books and of +music, listless, fretful, captious; too sleepy for any exertion, yet too +wakeful or uneasy for repose; constantly brought forward the same +enquiries which had so often been urged and repelled, in the week that +they had spent together upon their arrival from France; repeated the +same sneers, revived the same suspicions, and recurred to the same rude +interrogatories or offensive insinuations. + +At meals, the humble companion was always helped last; even when there +were gentlemen, even when there were children at the table; and always +to what was worst; to what was rejected, as ill-cooked, or left, as +spoilt and bad. No question was ever asked of what she chose or what she +disliked. Sometimes she was even utterly forgotten; and, as no one +ventured to remind Mrs Ireton of any omission, her helpless _protegee_, +upon such occasions, rose half famished from the inhospitable board. + +Upon the entrance of any visitors, not satisfied to let the humble +companion glide gently away, the haughty patroness called out, in a tone +of command, 'You may go to your room now: I shall send for you when I am +at leisure.' Or, 'You may stand at the window if you will. You won't be +in the way, I believe; and I shall want you presently.' + +Or, if she feared that any one of the party had failed to remark this +augmentation of her household and of her power, she would retard the +willing departure by some frivolous and vexatious commission; as, 'Stop, +Miss Ellis; do pray tie this string a little tighter.' Or, 'Draw up my +gloves a little higher: but be so good as not to pinch me; unless you +have a particular fancy for it!' + +If, drily, though respectfully, Juliet ever proposed to wait in her own +room, the answer was, 'In your own room? O,--ay--well,--that may be +better! I beg your pardon for having proposed that you should wait in +one of mine! I beg your pardon, a thousand times! I really did not think +of what I was saying! I hope you'll forgive my inattention!' + +When then, silently, and with difficulty forbearing from shrugging her +shoulders, Juliet walked away, she was again stopt by, 'One moment, Miss +Ellis! if it won't be requesting too great a favour. Pray, when I want +you, where may I hear of your servants? For to be sure you don't mean +that mine should scamper up and down all day long for you? You cannot +mean that. You must have a lackey of your own, no doubt: some page, or +spruce foot-boy at your command, to run upon your errands: only pray let +some of my people know where he may be met with.' + +But if, when the purpose was answered of drawing the attention of her +guests upon her new dependent, that attention were followed by any looks +of approbation, or marks of civility, she hastily exclaimed, 'O, pray +don't disturb yourself, Sir!' or 'Ma'am! 'tis only a young woman I have +engaged to read to me;--a young person whom I have taken into my house +out of compassion.' And then, affably nodding, she would affect to be +suddenly struck with something which she had already repeatedly seen, +and cry, 'Well, I declare, that gown is not ugly, Miss Ellis! How did +you come by it?' or, 'That ribbon's pretty enough: who gave it you?' + +Ah, thought Juliet, 'tis conduct such as this that makes inequality of +fortune baleful! Where superiour wealth falls into liberal hands,--where +its possessor is an Aurora Granville, it proves a good still more to the +surrounders than to the owners; 'it blesses those that give, and those +that take.'--But Oh! where it is misused for the purposes of bowing +down the indigent, of oppressing the helpless, of triumphing over the +dependent,--then, how baneful then is inequality of fortune! + +With those thoughts, and deeply hurt, she was twenty times upon the +point of retiring, during the first week of her distasteful office; but +the sameness of the offences soon robbed the mortifications of their +poignancy; and apathy; in a short time, taking place of sensibility, she +learnt to bear them if not with indifference, at least with its +precursor contempt. + +Amongst the most irksome of the toils to which this subjection made her +liable, was the care,--not of the education, nor mind, nor manners, but +of the amusements,--of the little nephew of Mrs Ireton; whom that lady +rather exulted than blushed to see universally regarded as a spoilt +child. + +The temper of this young creature was grown so capricious, from +incessant indulgence, that no compliance, no luxury, no diversion could +afford him more than momentary pleasure; while his passions were become +so ungovernable, that, upon every contrariety or disappointment, he +vented his rage, to the utmost extent of his force, upon whomsoever, or +whatsoever, animate or inanimate, he could reach. + +All the mischief thus committed, the injuries thus sustained, the noise +and disturbance thus raised, were to be borne throughout the house +without a murmur. Whatever destruction he caused, Mrs Ireton was always +sure was through the fault of some one else; what he mutilated, or +broke, she had equal certainty must have been merely by accident; and +those he hurt or ill used, must have provoked his anger. If any one +ventured to complain, 'twas the sufferer, not the inflictor who was +treated as culpable. + +It was the misfortune of Juliet to excite, by her novelty, the attention +of this young tyrant; and by her powers of entertainment, exerted +inadvertently, from a love of obliging, to become his favourite. The +hope of softening his temper and manners, by amusing his mind, had +blinded her, at first, to the trouble, the torment rather, of such +pre-eminence, which soon proved one of the most serious evils of her +situation. Mrs Ireton, having raised in his young bosom, expectations +never to be realised, by passing the impossible decree, that nothing +must be denied to her eldest brother's eldest son; had authorised +demands from him, and licensed wishes, destructive both to his +understanding and his happiness. When the difficulties which this decree +occasioned, devolved upon a domestic, she left him to get rid of them as +he could; only reserving to herself the right to blame the way that was +taken, be it what it might: but when the embarrassment fell to her own +lot; when the spoilt urchin claimed what was every way unattainable; she +had been in the habit of sending him abroad, for the immediate relief of +her nerves. The favour into which he took Juliet now offered a new and +more convenient resource. Instead of 'Order the carriage, and let the +child go out:' Miss Ellis was called upon to play with him; to tell him +stories; to shew him pictures; to build houses for him with cards; or to +suffer herself to be dragged unmeaningly, yet wilfully and forcibly, +from walk to walk in the garden, or from room to room in the house; till +tired, and quarrelling even with her compliance, he recruited his +wearied caprices with sleep. + +Nor even here ended the encroachments upon her time, her attention, her +liberty; not only the spoilt child, but the favourite dog was put under +her superintendence; and she was instructed to take charge of the +airings and exercise of Bijou; and to carry him where the road was rough +or miry, that he might not soil those paws, which had the exclusive +privilege of touching the lady of the mansion; and even of pulling, +patting and scratching her robes and attire for his recreation. + +To many, in the place of Juliet, the spoilt child and the spoilt cur +would have been objects of detestation: but against the mere instruments +of malice she harboured no resentment. The dog, though snarling and +snapping at every one but his mistress, Juliet saw as vicious only from +evil habits, which were imbibed, nay taught, rather than natural: the +child, though wantonly revelling in mischief of every kind, she +considered but as a little savage, who, while enjoying the splendour and +luxury of civilized life, was as unformed, as rough, as untaught, and +therefore as little responsible for his conduct, as if just caught, and +brought, wild and untamed, from the woods. The animal, therefore, she +exculpated; the child she pitied; it was the mistress of the mansion +alone, who, wilful in all she did, and conscious of all she inflicted, +provoked bitterer feelings. And to these, the severest poignancy was +accidentally added to Juliet, by the cruel local circumstance of +receiving continual indignity in the very house, nay the very room, +where, in sweetest intercourse, she had been accustomed to be treated +upon terms of generous equality by Lady Aurora Granville. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + + +Juliet had passed but a short space, by the measure of time, in this new +residence, though by that of suffering and disgust it had seemed as long +as it was irksome, when, one morning, she was informed, by the +nursery-maid, that a grand breakfast was to be given, about two o'clock, +to all the first gentry in and near Brighthelmstone. + +Mrs Ireton, herself, making no mention of any such purpose, issued her +usual orders for the attendance of Juliet, with her implements of +amusement; and went, at an early hour, to a light building, called the +Temple of the Sun, which overlooked the sea, from the end of the garden. + +This Temple, like every place which Mrs Ireton capriciously, and even +for the shortest interval, inhabited, was now filled with materials for +recreation, which, ingeniously employed, might have whiled away a +winter; but which, from her fluctuating whims, were insufficient even +for the fleet passage of a few hours. Books, that covered three +window-seats; songs and sonatas that covered those books; various pieces +of needle-work; a billiard-table; a chess-board; a backgammon-board; a +cup and ball, &c. &c.; all, in turn, were tried; all, in turn, rejected; +and invectives the most impatient were uttered against each, as it +ceased to afford her pleasure; as if each, with living malignity, had +studied to cause her disappointment. + +About noon, she took the arm of Juliet, to descend the steps of the +Temple. Upon opening the door, Ireton appeared sauntering in the garden. +Juliet vexed at his sight, which Elinor had assured her that she would +never encounter, severely felt the mortification of being seen in her +present situation, by one who had so repeatedly offended her by +injurious suspicions, and familiar impertinence. + +Mrs Ireton, hastily relinquishing the arm of Juliet, from expecting +that of her son, at whose sight she was evidently surprised; now +resolved, with her most brilliant flourishes, to exhibit the new object +of her power. + +'Why don't you take care of the child, Miss Ellis?' she cried aloud. 'Do +you design to let him break his neck down the stone steps? I beg your +pardon, though, for asking the question. It may be very _mal a propos_. +It may be necessary, perhaps, to some of your plans, to see a tragedy in +real life? You may have some work in agitation, that may require that +sort of study. I am sorry to have stood so unopportunely in your way: +quite ashamed, upon my word, to have prevented your taking a few hints +from the child's dislocating a limb, or two; or just fracturing his +skull. 'Twould have been a pretty melancholy sight, enough, for an +elegiac muse. I really beg your pardon, for being so uncooth, as to +think of such a trumpery circumstance as saving the child's life.' + +Juliet, during this harangue, assiduously followed the young gentleman; +who, with a shout of riotous rebellion, ran down the steps, and jumping +into a parterre, selected, by his eye, the most beautiful of the flowers +for treading under his feet; and, at every representation of Juliet, +flung at her as many pinks, carnations, and geraniums, as his merciless +little fingers could grasp. + +Ireton, approaching, looked smilingly on, negligently nodding, and +calling out, 'Well done, Loddard! Bravo, my little Pickle!' + +Loddard, determined to merit this honourable testimony of his prowess, +continued his sport, with augmented boldness. His wantonness, however, +though rude, was childish; Juliet, therefore, though tormented, gave it +no serious resentment; but she was not equally indifferent to the more +maturely malicious insolence of Ireton, who, while he openly enjoyed the +scene, negligently said to Loddard, 'What, my boy, hast got a new +nurse?' + +Mrs Ireton, having stood some time leaning upon the balustrade of the +steps which she was descending, in vain expectations of the arm of her +son, who had only slightly bowed to her, with an 'How do do, Ma'am?' to +which he waited not for an answer; now indignantly called out, 'So I am +to be left to myself, am I? In this feeble and alarming state to which I +am reduced, incapable to withstand a gust of wind, or to baffle the fall +of a leaf, I may take care of myself, may I? I am too stout to require +any attention? too robust, too obstreperous to need any help? If I fall +down, I may get up again, I suppose? If I faint, I may come to myself +again, I imagine? You will have the goodness to permit that, I presume? +I may be mistaken, to be sure, but I should presume so. Don't you hear +me, Mistress Ellis? But you are deaf, may be?--I am alarmed to the last +degree!--You are suddenly seized, perhaps with the loss of one of your +senses?' + +This attack, begun for her son, though, upon his romping with the little +boy, in total disregard to its reproach, ending for Juliet, made Ireton +now, throwing back his head, to stare, with a sneering half-laugh, at +Juliet, exclaim, 'Fie, Mrs Betty! How can you leave Mrs Ireton, unaided, +in such peril? Fie, Mrs Polly, fie! Mrs.... What is your new nurse's +name, my boy?' + +The boy, who never held his tongue but when he was desired to speak, +would make no answer, but by running violently after Juliet, as she +sought to escape from him; flinging flowers, leaves, grass, or whatever +he could find, at her, with boisterous shouts of laughter, and with all +his little might. + +Mrs Ireton, brought nearly to good humour by the sight of the perplexity +and displeasure of Juliet, only uttered, 'Pretty dear! how playful he +is!' But when, made still more daring by this applause, the little +urchin ventured to touch the hem of her own garments, she became +suddenly sensible of his disobedience and wanton mischief, and commanded +him from her presence. + +As careless of her wrath as he was ungrateful for her favour, the young +gentleman thought of nothing so little as of obedience. He jumped and, +skipped around her, in bold defiance of all authority; laughing loudly +in her face; making a thousand rude grimaces; yet screaming, as if +attacked by a murderer, when she attempted to catch him; though, the +moment that he forced himself out of her reach, hallooing his joyous +triumph in her ears, with vociferous exultation. + +Juliet was ordered to take him in hand, and carry him off; an order +which, to quit the scene, she prepared with pleasure to obey: but the +young gentleman, though he pursued her with fatiguing fondness when she +sought to avoid him, now ran wildly away. + +Mrs Ireton, enraged, menaced personal chastisement; but upon his darting +at Juliet, and tearing her gown, she turned abruptly aside, in the +apprehension of being called upon for reparation; and, gently saying, +'What a frisky little rogue it is!' affected to observe him no longer. + +The torn robe proved a potent attraction to the little dog, who, yelping +with unmeaning fury, flew at and began gnawing it, with as much +vehemence, as if its destruction were essential to his well being. + +A party of company was now announced, that begged to join Mrs Ireton in +the garden; and, tripping foremost from the advancing throng, came, +Selina. + +Ireton, flapping his hat over his eyes, leisurely sauntered away. Mrs +Ireton returned to the Temple, to receive her guests with more state; +and Juliet hoping, though doubtfully, some relief and countenance, bent +forward to greet her young friend. + +Selina, with a look of vivacity and pleasure, eagerly approached; but +while her hands were held out, in affectionate amity, and her eyes +invited Juliet to meet her, she stopt, as if from some sudden +recollection; and, after taking a hasty glance around her, picked a +flower from a border of the parterre, and ran back with it to present to +Lady Arramede. + +Juliet, scarcely disappointed, retreated; and the party advanced in a +body. She would fain have hidden herself, but had no power; the boy, +with romping violence, forcibly detaining her, by loud shrieks, which +rent the air, when she struggled to disengage herself from his hold. +And, as every visitor, however stunned or annoyed, uttered, in +approaching him, the admiring epithets of 'Dear little creature!' 'Sweet +little love!' 'Pretty little dear!' &c. the boy, in common with children +of a larger growth, concluding praise to be approbation, flung himself +upon Juliet, with all his force; protesting that he would give her a +green gown: while all the company,--upon Mrs Ireton's appearing at an +open window of the Temple,--unanimously joined in extolling his +strength, his agility, and his spirited character. + +The wearied and provoked Juliet now seriously and strenuously sought to +disengage herself from the stubborn young athletic; but he clung round +her waist, and was jumping up at her shoulders, to catch at the ribbon +of her hat, when Lady Kendover and her niece, who were the last of the +company that arrived, entered the garden. + +Lady Barbara Frankland no sooner perceived Juliet, and her distress, +than, swift as the wind, breaking from her aunt, she flew forward to +give her succour; seizing the sturdy little assailant by his arms, when +unprepared to defend himself, and twisting him, adroitly, from his prey; +exclaiming, 'You spoilt little wicked creature, beg pardon of that +lovely Miss Ellis directly! this moment!' + +'Ellis! Dear, if it is not Ellis!' cried Selina, now joining them. 'How +glad I am to see you, my dear Ellis! What an age it is since we met!' + +Juliet, whose confidence was somewhat more than staggered in the regard +of Selina, coldly courtsied to her; while, with the warmest gratitude, +she began expressing her acknowledgements for the prompt and generous +kindness of Lady Barbara; when the boy, recovering from his surprise, +and furious at any controul, darted at her ladyship with vindictive +violence; attempting, and intending, to practise upon her the same feats +which had nearly subdued Juliet: but the situation was changed: the +exclamations were reversed; and 'O, you naughty little thing!' 'How can +you be so rude?' 'Fie, child, fie!' were echoed from mouth to mouth; +which every step bent forward to protect 'poor Lady Barbara' from the +troublesome little creature. + +The boy was then seriously made over to his maid, to be new dressed; +with a promise of peaches and sugar plums if he would be so very good a +child, as to submit to the repugnant operations of his toilette, without +crying or fighting. + +The butler now appeared, to announce that the breakfast was ready; and +Juliet saw confirmed, that the party had been invited and expected; +though Mrs Ireton meant to impress her with the magnificent idea, that +this was her common way of life. + +The company all re-entered the house, and all without taking the +smallest notice of Juliet; Lady Barbara excepted, who affectionately +shook hands with her, and warmly regretted that she did not join the +party. + +Juliet, to whom the apparent mystery of her situation offered as much +apology for others, as it brought distress to herself, went back, far +more hurt than offended to the Temple. + +Hence, presently, from under one of the windows, she heard a weak, but +fretful and angry voice, morosely giving impatient reprimands to some +servant, while imperiously refusing to listen to even the most +respectful answer. + +Looking from the window, she saw, and not without concern, from the +contrast to the good humour which she had herself experienced, that this +choleric reproacher was Sir Jaspar Herrington. + +The nursery-maid, who came, soon afterwards, in search of some baubles, +which her young master had left in the Temple; complained that her +mistress's rich brother-in-law, Sir Jaspar, who never entered the house +but upon grand invitations, had been at his usual game of scolding, and +finding fault with all the servants, till they all wished him at +Jericho; sparing nobody but Nanny, whom the men called the Beauty. He +was so particular, when he was in his tantarums, the maid added, that he +was almost as cross as the old lady herself; except, indeed, to his +favourites, and those he could never do enough for. But he commanded +about him at such a rate, that Mrs Ireton, she was sure, would never let +him into the house, if it were not in the hope of wheedling him into +leaving the great fortune, that had fallen to him with the name of +Herrington, to the young 'Squire; though the young 'Squire was well +enough off without it; being certain of the Ireton estate, because it +was entailed upon him, if his uncle, Sir Jaspar, should die without +children. + +Juliet did not hear this history of the ill temper of her generous old +beau, without chagrin; but the prating nursery-maid ceased not recording +what she called his tantarums, till the well known sound of his crutches +announced his approach, when she hastily made her exit. + +With the awkward feeling of uncertain opinion, softened off, +nevertheless, by the remembrance of strong personal obligation, Juliet +presented herself at the door, to shew her intention of descending. + +Occupied by the pain of labouring up the steps, he did not raise his +head, or perceive her, till he had reached the threshold of the little +building. His still brilliant eyes became then brighter, and the air of +harsh asperity which, while mounting, his countenance still retained, +from recent anger, was suddenly converted into a look of the most lively +pleasure, and perfect good humour. After touching his hat, and waving +his hand, with an old fashioned, but well bred air of gallantry, he +laughingly confessed, that he had ascended with the view of recruiting +his strength and spirits, by a private visit to the god Morpheus; to +enable him to get through the weighty enterprize, of encountering a +throng of frivolous females, without affronting them by his yawns. 'How +little,' he continued, 'did I imagine myself coming to Sleep's most +resistless conqueror, Delight! If I rouse not now, I must have more +soporiferous qualities than the Sleepers! or even than the Sleeping +Beauty in the Wood, who took a nap of forty years.' + +Then entreating her to be seated, he dropt upon the easy chair, which +had been prepared for Mrs Ireton; and crossed his crutches, as if by +accident, in a manner that prevented her from retreating. She was the +less, however, impatient of this delay, as she saw that the windows +looking from the house into the garden, were filled with company, which +she desired nothing so little as to pass in review. + +Taking, therefore, a place as far from him as was in her power, she made +herself an occupation, in arranging some mulberry leaves for silk-worms. + +The Baronet, whose face expressed encreasing satisfaction at his +situation, courteously sought to draw her into discourse. 'My little +friends,' cried he, smiling, 'who are always at work, have continually +been tormenting me of late, with pinches and twitches, upon my utter +neglect of my sister-in-law, Mrs Ireton. I could not for my life imagine +why they took so prodigious an interest in my visiting her; but they +nipt, and squeezed, and worried me, without intermission; accusing me of +misbehaviour; saying she was my sister-in-law; and ill, and +hypochondriac; and that it was by no means pretty behaved in me, not to +shew her more respect. It was in vain I represented, that she was rich, +and did not want me; or that she was disagreeable, and that I did not +want her; 'twas all one; they insisted I should go: and this morning, +when I would have excused myself from coming to her fine breakfast, they +beset me in so many ways, that I was forced to comply. And now I see +why! Poor, earthly, mundane mortal that I was! I took them for envious +sprites, jealous of my repose! But I see, now, they were only recreative +little sylphs, amusing themselves with whipping and spurring me on to my +own good!' + +And is this, thought Juliet, the man who bears a character of impatience +and ill humour? this man, whose imagination is so playful, and whose +desire to please can only be equalled by his desire to serve? + +'And where,' he continued, 'have you all this time been eclipsed? From +sundry circumstances, that perversely obtruded themselves upon my +knowledge, in defiance of the ill reception I gave them, I was led, at +first, to conclude, that you had been spirited away by Sir Lyell +Sycamore.' + +He fixed his eyes upon her curiously; but the colour that rose in her +cheeks betrayed no secret consciousness; it shewed open resentment. + +'O! I soon saw,' he resumed, as if he had been answered, though she had +not deigned to disclaim an idea that she deemed fitted simply for +contempt; 'by the mortified silence of my young gallant, that the fates +had not been propitious to his wishes. In characters of his description, +success never courts the shade. It basks in the sun-shine, and seeks the +broadest day. How is it that you have thus piqued the vain spark? He +came to me in such a flame, to upbraid me for what he called the cursed +ridiculous dance that I had led him, that I fairly thought he meant to +call me out! I began, directly, to look about me for the stoutest of my +crutches, to parry, for a last minute or two, his broad sword; and to +deliberate which might be the thickest of my leather cushions, to hold +up in my defence, for reverberating the ball, in case he should prefer +pistols. But he deigned, most fortunately, to content himself with only +abusing me: hinting, that such superannuated old geese, as those who +had passed their grand climacteric, ought not to meddle with affairs of +which they must have lost even the memory. I let him bounce off without +any answer; very thankful to the "Sisters three" to feel myself in a +whole skin.' + +Looking at her, then, with an expression of humorous reproach, 'You will +permit me, I hope, at least,' he added, 'to flatter myself, that, when +your indulgence to the garrulity of age has induced you to bear with my +loquacity till I am a little hoarser, your consideration for sore +throats and heated lungs, will prevail upon you to utter a little word +or two in your turn?' + +Juliet, laughing, answered that she had been too well amused, to be +aware how little she had seemed to merit his exertions. + +'Tell me, then,' cried he, with looks that spoke him enchanted by this +reply; 'through what extraordinary mechanism, in the wheel of fortune, +you have been rolled to this spot? The benevolent sprites, who have +urged me hither, have not given me a jot of information how you became +known to Mrs Ireton? By what strange spell have you been drawn in, to +seem an inmate of her mansion? and what philters and potions have you +swallowed, to make you endure her never-ending vagaries?' + +Half smiling, half sighing, Juliet looked down; not willing to accept, +though hardly able to resist, the offered licence for complaint. + +'Make no stranger,' the old Baronet laughingly added, 'of me, I beg! She +is my sister-in-law, to be sure; but the law, with all its subtleties, +had not yet entailed our affections, with our estates, to our relations; +nor articled our tastes, with our jointures, to our dowagers. Use, +therefore, no manner of ceremony! How do you bear with her freaks and +fancies? or rather,--for that is the essential point, why do you bear +with them?' + +'Can that,' said Juliet, 'be a question?' + +'Not a wise one, I confess!' he returned; 'for what but Necessity could +link together two creatures who seem formed to give a view of human +nature diametrically opposite the one from the other? These indeed must +be imps,--and imps of darkness,--who, busy, busy still--delight + + To join the gentle to the rude![20] + +that can have coupled so unharmonizing a pair. Hymen, with all the +little active sinister devils in his train, that yoke together, pell +mell, for life, hobbling age with bounding youth; choleric violence with +trembling timidity; haggard care with thoughtless merriment;--Hymen +himself, that marrying little lawyer, who takes upon him to unite what +is most discordant, and to tie together all that is most heterogeneous; +even he, though provided with what is, so justly, called a licence, for +binding together what nature itself seems to sunder; he, even he, I +assert, never buckled in the same noose, two beings so completely and +equally dissimilar, both without and within. Since such, however, has +been the ordinance of these fantastic workers of wonders, will you let +me ask, in what capacity it has pleased their impships to conjure you +hither?' + +[Footnote 20: Thomson.] + +Juliet hesitated, and looked ashamed to answer. + +'You are not, I hope,' cried he, fixing upon her his keen eyes, 'one of +those ill-starred damsels, whose task, in the words of Madame de +Maintenon, is to 'amuse the unamuseable?' You are not, I hope, ...' he +stopt, as if seeking a phrase, and then, rather faintly, added, 'her +companion?' + +'Her humble servant, Sir!' with a forced smile, said Juliet; 'and yet, +humbled as I feel myself in that capacity, not humble enough for its +calls!' + +The smiles of the old Baronet vanished in a moment, and an expression of +extreme severity took their place. 'She uses you ill, then?' he +indignantly cried, and, grasping the knobs of his two crutches, he +struck their points against the floor, with a heaviness that made the +little building shake, ejaculating, in a hoarse inward voice, 'Curse +her!' + +Juliet stared at him, affrighted by his violence. + +'Can it be possible,' he cried, 'that so execrable a fate should be +reserved for so exquisite a piece of workmanship? Sweet witch! were I +but ten years younger, I would snatch you from her infernal claws!--or +rather, could I cut off twenty;--yet even then the disparity would be +too great!--thirty years younger,--or perhaps forty,--my hand and +fortune should teach that Fury her distance!' + +Juliet, surprised, and doubting whether what dropt from him were escaped +sincerity, or purposed irony, looked with so serious a perplexity, that, +struck and ashamed, he checked himself; and recovering his usually +polite equanimity, smiled at his own warmth, saying, 'Don't be alarmed, +I beg! Don't imagine that I shall forget myself; nor want to hurry away, +lest my animation should be dangerous! The heat that, at +five-and-twenty, might have fired me into a fever, now raises but a +kindly glow, that stops, or keeps off stagnation. The little sprites, +who hover around me, though they often mischievously spur my poor +fruitless wishes, always take care, by seasonable twitches, in some +vulnerable gouty part, to twirl me from the regions of hope and romance, +to very sober real life!' + +Fearful of appearing distrustful, Juliet looked satisfied, and again he +went on. + +'Since, then, 'tis clear that there can be no danger in so simple an +intercourse, why should I not give myself the gratification of telling +you, that every sight of you does me good? renovates my spirits; +purifies my humours; sweetens my blood; and braces my nerves? Never talk +to me with mockery of fairyism, witchcraft, and sylphs; the real +influence of lovely youth, is a thousand times more wonderful, more +potent, and more incredible! When I have seen you only an instant, I +feel in charity with all mankind for the rest of the day; and, at night, +my kind little friends present you to me again; renew every pleasing +idea; revive the most delightful images; and paint you to me--just such +as I see you at this moment!' + +Juliet, embarrassed, talked of returning to the house. + +'Do you blush?' cried he, with quickness, and evidently increasing +admiration; 'is it possible that you are not enough habituated to +praise, to hear it without modest confusion? I have seen "full many a +lady"--but you--O you!--so perfect and so peerless are created, of every +creature best!'[21] + +[Footnote 21: Shakespeare.] + +'My whole life has been spent in worshipping beauty, till within these +very few years, when I have gotten something like a surfeit, and meant +to give it over. For I have watched and followed Beauties, till I have +grown sick of them. I have admired fine features, only to be disgusted +with vapid vanity. A face with a little meaning, though as ugly as sin +and satan, I have lately thought worth forty of them! But you--fair +sorceress! you have conjured me round again to my old work! I have found +the spell irresistible. You have such intelligence of countenance; such +spirit with such sweetness, smiles so delicious, though rare! looks so +speaking; grace so silent;--that I forget you are a beauty; and fasten +my eyes upon you, only to understand what you say when you don't utter a +word! That's all! Don't be uneasy, therefore, at my staring. Though, to +be candid, we know ourselves so little, that, 'tis possible, had you +not first caught my eyes as a beauty, I might never have looked at you +long enough to find out your wit!' + +A footman now came to acquaint Sir Jaspar, that the rice-soup, which he +had ordered, was ready; and that the ladies were waiting for the honour +of his company to breakfast. + +'I heartily wish they would wait for my company, till I desire to have +theirs!' Sir Jaspar muttered: but, sensible of the impropriety of a +refusal, arose, and, taking off his hat, with a studied formality, which +he hoped would impress the footman with respect for its object, followed +his messenger: whispering, nevertheless, as he quitted the building, +'Leave you for a breakfast!--I would almost as willingly be immersed in +the witches' cauldron, and boiled into morsels, to become a breakfast +myself, for the amusement of the audience at a theatre!' + + + + +CHAPTER LV + + +Juliet, who perceived that the windows were still crowded with company, +contentedly kept her place; and, taking up the second volume of the +Guardian, found, in the lively instruction, the chaste morality, and the +exquisite humour of Addison, an enjoyment which no repetition can cloy. + +In a short time, to her great discomposure, she was broken in upon by +Ireton; who, drawing before the door, which he shut, an easy chair, cast +himself indolently upon it, and, stretching out his arms, said, 'Ah ha! +the fair Ellis! How art thee, my dear?' + +Far more offended than surprised by this freedom, Juliet, perceiving +that she could not escape, affected to go on with her reading, as if he +had not entered the building. + +'Don't be angry, my dear,' he continued, 'that I did not speak to you +before all those people. There's no noticing a pretty girl, in public, +without raising such a devil of a clamour, that it's enough to put a man +out of countenance. Besides, Mrs Ireton is such a very particular quiz, +that she would be sure to contrive I should never have a peep at you +again, if once she suspected the pleasure I take in seeing you. However, +I am going to turn a dutiful son, and spend some days here. And, by that +means, we can squeeze an opportunity, now and then, of getting a little +chat together.' + +Juliet could no longer refrain from raising her head, with amazement, at +this familiar assurance: but he went on, totally disregarding the rebuke +of her indignant eye. + +'How do you like your place here, my dear? Mrs Ireton's rather qualmish, +I am afraid. I never can bear to stay with her myself; except when I +have some point to carry. I can't devise what the devil could urge you +to come into such a business. And where's Harleigh? What's he about? +Gone to old Nick I hope with all my heart! But you,--why are you +separated? What's the reason you are not with him?' + +Yet more provoked, though determined not to look up again, Juliet fixed +her eyes upon the book. + +Ireton continued: 'What a sly dog he is, that Harleigh! But what the +deuce could provoke him to make me cut such a silly figure before Lord +Melbury, with my apologies, and all that? He took me in, poz! I thought +he'd nothing to do with you. And if you had not had that fainting fit, +at the concert; which I suppose you forgot to give him notice of, that +put him so off his guard, I should have believed all he vowed and swore, +of having no connection with you, and all that, to this very moment.' + +This was too much. Juliet gravely arose, put down her book, and said, +with severity, 'Mr Ireton, you will be so good as to let me pass!' + +'No, not I! No, not I, my dear!' he answered, still lolling at his ease. +'We must have a little chat together first. 'Tis an age since I have +been able to speak with you. I have been confounded discreet, I promise +you. I have not told your secret to a soul.' + +'What secret, Sir?' cried Juliet, hastily. + +'Why who you are, and all that.' + +'If you knew, Sir,' recovering her calmness, she replied, 'I should not +have to defend myself from the insults of a son, while under the +protection of his mother!' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' cried he. 'What a droll piece of dainty delicacy thee art! +I'd give a cool hundred, this moment, only to know what the deuce puts +it into thy little head, to play this farce such a confounded length of +time, before one comes to the catastrophe.' + +Juliet, with a disdainful gesture, again took her book. + +'Why won't you trust me, my dear? You sha'n't repent it, I promise you. +Tell me frankly, now, who are you?--Hay?' + +Juliet only turned over a new leaf of her book. + +'How can you be so silly, child?--Why won't you let me serve you? You +don't know what use I may be of to you. Come, make me your friend! only +trust me, and I'll go to the very devil for you with pleasure.' + +Juliet read on. + +'Come, my love, don't be cross! Speak out! Put aside these dainty airs. +Surely you a'n't such a little fool, as to think to take me in, as you +have done Melbury and Harleigh?' + +Juliet felt her cheeks now heated with increased indignation. + +'As to Melbury,--'tis a mere schoolboy, ready to swallow any thing; and +as to Harleigh, he's such a queer, out of the way genius, that he's like +nobody: but as to me, my dear, I'm a man of the world. Not so easily +played upon, I promise you! I have known you from the very beginning! +Found you out at first sight! Only I did not think it worth while +telling you so, while you appeared so confounded ugly. But now that I +see you are such a pretty creature, I feel quite an interest for you. So +tell me who are you? Will you?' + +Somewhat piqued, at length, by her resolute silence, 'Nay,' he added, +with affected scorn, 'don't imagine I have any view! Don't disturb +yourself with any freaks and qualms of that sort. You are a fine girl, +to be sure. Devilish handsome, I own; but still +too--too--grave,--grim,--What the deuce is the word I mean? for my +taste. I like something more buckish. So pray make yourself easy. I +shan't interfere with your two sparks. I am perfectly aware I should +have but a bad chance. I know I am neither as good a pigeon to pluck as +Melbury, nor as marvellous a wight to overcome as Harleigh. But I can't +for my life make out why you don't take to one or t'other of them, and +put yourself at your ease. I'm deadly curious to know what keeps you +from coming to a finish. Melbury would be managed the easiest; but I +strongly suspect you like Harleigh best. What do you turn your back for? +That I mayn't see you blush? Come, come, don't play the baby with a man +of the world like me.' + +To the infinite relief of the disgusted Juliet, she now heard the +approach of some footstep. Ireton, who heard it also, nimbly arose, +and, softly moving his chair from the door, cast half his body out of +the window, and, lolling upon his elbows, began humming an air; as if +totally occupied in regarding the sea. + +A footman, who entered, told Juliet that his lady desired that she would +come to the parlour, to play and sing to the company, while they +breakfasted. + +Juliet, colouring at this unqualified order, hesitated what to answer; +while Ireton, turning round, and pretending not to have heard what was +said, maliciously, made the man repeat, 'My lady, Sir, bid me tell Miss +Ellis, that she must come to play and sing to the company.' + +'Play and sing?' repeated Ireton. 'O the devil! Must we be bored with +playing and singing too? But I did not know breakfast was ready, and I +am half starved.' + +He then sauntered from the building; but the moment that the footman was +out of sight, turned back, to say, 'How devilish provoking to be +interrupted in this manner! How can we contrive to meet again, my dear?' + +The answer of Juliet was shutting and bolting the door. + +His impertinence, however, occupied her mind only while she was under +its influence; the insignificance of his character, notwithstanding the +malice of his temper, made it sink into nothing, to give way to the new +rising difficulty, how she might bear to obey, or how risk to refuse, +the rude and peremptory summons which she had just received. Ought I, +she cried, to submit to treatment so mortifying? Are there no boundaries +to the exactions of prudence upon feeling? or, rather, is there not a +mental necessity, a call of character, a cry of propriety, that should +supersede, occasionally, all prudential considerations, however +urgent?--Oh! if those who receive, from the unequal conditions of life, +the fruits of the toils of others, could,--only for a few +days,--experience, personally, how cruelly those toils are embittered by +arrogance, or how sweetly they may be softened by kindness,--the race of +the Mrs Iretons would become rare,--and Lady Aurora Granville might, +perhaps, be paralleled! + +Yet, with civility, with good manners, had Mrs Ireton made this request; +not issued it as a command by a footman; Juliet felt that, in her +present dependent condition, however ill she might be disposed for +music, or for public exhibition, she ought to yield: and even now, the +horror of having another asylum to seek; the disgrace of seeming driven, +thus continually, from house to house; though they could not lessen her +repugnance to indelicacy and haughtiness, cooled all ardour of desire +for trying yet another change; till she should have raised a sufficient +sum for joining Gabriella; and softening, nay delighting, the future +toils to which she might be destined, by the society of that cherished +friend. + +In a few minutes, she was visited by Selina, who, rapturously embracing +her, declared that she could not stay away from her any longer; and +volubly began her usual babble of news and tales; to all which Juliet +gave scarcely the coldest attention; till she had the satisfaction of +hearing that the health of Elinor was re-established. + +Selina then owned that she had been sent by Mrs Ireton, to desire that +Miss Ellis would make more haste. + +Juliet worded a civil excuse; which Selina, with hands uplifted, from +amazement, carried back to the breakfast-room. + +Soon afterwards, peals of laughter announced the vicinity of the Miss +Crawleys; who merrily called aloud upon Ireton, to come and help them +to haul The Ellis, will ye, nill ye? to the piano-forte, to play and +sing. + +Happy in this intimation of their purpose, Juliet bolted the door; and +would not be prevailed upon to open it, either by their vociferous +prayers, or their squalls of disappointment. + +But, in another minute, a slight rustling sound drawing her eyes to a +window, she saw Ireton preparing to make a forced entry. + +She darted, now, to the door, and, finding the passage clear, as the +Miss Crawleys had gone softly round, to witness the exploit of Ireton, +seized the favourable moment for eluding observation; and was nearly +arrived at the house, before the besiegers of the cage perceived that +the bird was flown. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + + +The two sisters no sooner discovered the escape of their prey, than, +screaming with violent laughter, they began a romping race in its +pursuit. + +Near the entrance into the hall, Juliet was met by Selina, with commands +from Mrs Ireton, that she would either present herself, immediately, to +the company; or seek another abode. + +In minds of strong sensibility, arrogance rouses resentment more quickly +even than injury: a message so gross, an affront so public, required, +therefore, no deliberation on the part of Juliet; and she was answering +that she would make her preparations to depart; when the Miss Crawleys, +rushing suddenly upon her, exclaimed, with clamourous joy, 'She's +caught! She's caught! The Ellis is caught!' and, each of them seizing a +hand, they dragged her, with merry violence, into the breakfast-room. + +Her hoydening conductors failed not to excite the attention of the whole +assembly; though it fell not, after the first glance, upon themselves. +Juliet, to whom exercise and confusion gave added beauty; and whom no +disorder of attire could rob of an air of decency, which, inherent in +her nature, was always striking in her demeanor; was no sooner seen, +than, whether with censure or applause, she monopolized all remark. + +Mrs Ireton haughtily bid her approach. + +Averse, yet unwilling to risk the consequences of a public breach, she +slowly advanced. + +'I am afraid, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, with a smile of derision; 'I am +afraid, Ma'am, you have hurried yourself? It is not much above an hour, +I believe, since I did myself the honour of sending for you. I have no +conception how you have been able to arrive so soon! Pray how far do +you think it may be from hence to the Temple? ten or twelve yards, I +verily believe! You must really be ready to expire!' + +Having constrained herself to hear thus much, Juliet conceived that the +duty even of her humble station could require no more; she made, +therefore, a slight reverence, with intention to withdraw. But Mrs +Ireton, offended, cried, 'Whither may you be going, Ma'am?--And pray, +Ma'am,--if I may take the liberty to ask such a question,--who told you +to go?--Was it I?--Did any body hear me?--Did you, Lady Arramede?--or +you, Miss Brinville?--or only Miss Ellis herself? For, to be sure I must +have done it: I take that for granted: she would not, certainly, think +of going without leave, after I have sent for her. So I make no doubt +but I did it. Though I can't think how it happened, I own. 'Twas +perfectly without knowing it, I confess. In some fit of absence--perhaps +in my sleep;--for I have slept, too, perhaps, without knowing it!' + +Sarcasms so witty, uttered by a lady at an assembly in her own house, +could not fail of being received with applause; and Mrs Ireton, looking +around her triumphantly, regarded the disconcerted Juliet as a +completely vanquished vassal. In a tone, therefore, that marked the most +perfect self-satisfaction, 'Pray, Ma'am,' she continued, 'for what might +you suppose I did myself the favour to want you? was it only to take a +view of your new _costume_? 'Tis very careless and picturesque, to be +sure, to rove abroad in that agreeable dishabille, just like the "maiden +all forlorn;" or rather to speak with mere exactitude, like the "man all +tattered and torn," for 'tis more properly his _costume_ you adopt, than +the neat, tidy maiden's.' + +The warm-hearted young Lady Barbara, all pity and feeling for Juliet, +here broke from her quiet and cautious aunt, and, with irrepressible +eagerness, exclaimed, 'Mrs Ireton, 'twas Mr Loddard, your own little +naughty nephew, who deranged in that manner the dress of that elegant +Miss Ellis.' + +The Miss Crawleys, now, running to the little boy, called out, 'The +Loddard! the Loddard! 'tis the Loddard has set up the new _costume_!' + +Mrs Ireton, though affecting to laugh, had now done with the subject; +and, while she was taking a pinch of snuff, to gain time to suggest some +other, Sir Jaspar Herrington, advancing to Juliet, said, 'Has this young +lady no place?' and, gallantly taking her hand, he led her to his own +chair, and walked to another part of the room. + +A civility such as this from Sir Jaspar, made all the elders of the +company stare, and all the younger titter; but the person the most +surprized was Mrs Ireton, who hastily called out, 'Miss Ellis would not +do such a thing! Take Sir Jaspar's own seat! That has his own particular +cushions! She could not do such a thing! I should think not, at least! I +may judge ill, but I should think not. A seat prepared for Sir Jaspar by +my own order! Miss Ellis can dispense with having an easy chair, and +three cushions, I should presume! I may be wrong, to be sure, but I +should presume so!' + +'Madam,' answered Sir Jaspar, 'in days of old, I never could bear to +sit, when I saw a lady standing; and though those days are past, alas! +and gone,--still I cannot, even to escape a twitch of the gout, see a +fair female neglected, without feeling a twitch of another kind, that +gives me yet greater pain.' + +'Your politeness, Sir Jaspar,' replied Mrs Ireton, 'we all know; and, if +it were for one of my guests,--but Miss Ellis can hardly desire, I +should suppose, to see you drop down with fatigue, while she is reposing +upon your arm-chair. Not that I pretend to know her way of thinking! I +don't mean that. I don't mean to have it imagined I have the honour of +her confidence; but I should rather suppose she could not insist upon +turning you out of your seat, only to give you a paroxysm of the gout.' + +However internally moved, Juliet endured this harangue in total silence; +convinced that where all authority is on the side of the aggressor, +resistance only provokes added triumph. Her looks, therefore, though +they shewed her to be hurt and offended, evinced a dignified +forbearance, superiour to the useless reproach, and vain retaliation, of +unequal contention. + +She rose, nevertheless, from the seat which she had only momentarily, +and from surprise occupied, and would have quitted the room, but that +she saw she should again be publicly called back; and hers was not a +situation for braving open enmity. She thankfully, however, accepted a +chair which was brought to her by Sir Marmaduke Crawley, and placed next +to that which had been vacated by the old Baronet; who then returned to +his own. + +She now hoped to find some support from his countenance; as his powerful +situation in the house, joined to his age, would make his smallest +attention prove to her a kind of protection. Her expectation, however, +was disappointed: he did not address to her a word; or appear to have +ever beheld her before; and his late act of politeness seemed exerted +for a perfect stranger, from habitual good breeding. + +And is it you, thought the pensive Juliet, who, but a few minutes +since, spoke to me with such flattery, such preference? with an even +impassioned regard? And shall this so little assembly guide and awe you? +There, where I wished upon me your compliments;--while here, where a +smile would be encouragement, where notice would be charity, you affect +to have forgotten, or appear never to have seen me! Ah! mentally +continued the silent moralist, if we reflected upon the difficulty of +gaining esteem; upon the chances against exciting affection; upon the +union of time and circumstance necessary for obtaining sincere regard; +we should require courage to withhold, not to follow, the movement of +kindness, that, where distress sighs for succour, where helplessness +solicits support, gives power to the smallest exertion, to a single +word, to a passing smile,--to bestow a favour, and to do a service, that +catch, in the brief space of a little moment, a gratitude that never +dies! + +But, while thus to be situated, was pain and dejection to Juliet, to see +her seated, however unnoticed, in the midst of this society, was almost +equally irksome to Mrs Ireton; who, after some vain internal fretting, +ordered the butler to carry about refreshments; consoled with the +certainty, that he would as little dare present any to Juliet, as omit +to present them to every one else. + +The smiles and best humour of Mrs Ireton now soon returned; for the +dependent state of Juliet became more than ever conspicuous, when thus +decidedly she was marked as the sole person, in a large assembly, that +the servants were permitted, if not instructed to neglect. + +Juliet endeavoured to sit tranquil, and seem unconcerned; but her +fingers were in continual motion; her eyes, meaning to look no where, +looked every where; and Mrs Ireton had the gratification to perceive, +that, however she struggled for indifference, she was fully sensible of +the awkwardness of her situation. + +But this was no sooner remarked by Lady Barbara Frankland, than, +starting with vivacity from her vainly watchful aunt, she flew to her +former instructress, crying, 'Have you taken nothing yet, Miss Ellis? O +pray, then, let me chuse your ice for you?' + +She ran to a side-board, and selecting the colour most pleasing to her +eyes, hastened with it to the blushing, but relieved and grateful +Juliet; to whom this benevolent attention seemed instantly to restore +the self-command, that pointed indignities, and triumphant derision, +were sinking into abashed depression. + +The sensation produced by this action in Mrs Ireton, was as ungenial as +that which it caused to Juliet was consolatory. She could not for a +moment endure to see the creature of her power, whom she looked upon as +destined for the indulgence of her will, and the play of her authority, +receive a mark of consideration which, if shewn even to herself, would +have been accepted as a condescension. Abruptly, therefore, while they +were standing together, and conversing, she called out, 'Is it possible, +Miss Ellis, that you can see the child in such imminent danger, and stay +there amusing yourself?' + +Lady Kendover hastily called off her young niece; and Juliet, sighing +crossed over the room, to take charge of the little boy, who was sitting +astraddle out of one of the windows. + +'But I had flattered myself,' cried Sir Marmaduke Crawley, addressing +Mrs Ireton, 'that we should have a little music?' + +Mrs Ireton, to whom the talents of Juliet gave pleasure in proportion +only to her own repugnance to bringing them into play, had relinquished +the projected performance, when she perceived the general interest which +was excited by the mere appearance of the intended performer. She +declared herself, therefore, so extremely fearful lest some mischief +should befall her little nephew, that she could not possibly trust him +from the care of Miss Ellis. + +Half the company, now, urged by the thirst of fresh amusement, professed +the most passionate fondness for children, and offered their services to +watch the dear, sweet little boy, while Miss Ellis should play or sing; +but the averseness] of Ellis remained uncombated by Mrs Ireton, and, +therefore, unconquered. + +The party was preparing to break up, when Mr Giles Arbe entered the +room, to apologize for the non-appearance of Miss Arbe, his cousin, who +had bid him bring words, he said, that she was taken ill. + +Ireton, by a few crafty questions, soon drew from him, that Miss Arbe +was only gone to a little private music-meeting at Miss Sycamore's: +though, affrighted when he had made the confession, he entreated Mrs +Ireton not to take it amiss; protesting that it was not done in any +disrespect to her, but merely because his cousin was more amused at Miss +Sycamore's. + +Mrs Ireton, extremely piqued, answered, that she should be very careful, +in future, not to presume to make an invitation to Miss Arbe, but in a +total dearth of other entertainment; in a famine; or public fast. + +But, the moment he sauntered into another room, to partake of some +refreshments, 'That old savage,' she cried, 'is a perfect horrour! He +has not a single atom of common sense; and if he were not Miss Arbe's +cousin, one must tell one's butler to shew him the door. At least, such +is my poor opinion. I don't pretend to be a judge; but such is my +notion!' + +'O! I adore him!' cried Miss Crawley. 'He makes me laugh till I am ready +to die! He has never a guess what he is about; and he never hears a word +one says. And he stares so when one laughs at him! O! he's the +delightfullest, stupidest, dear wretch that breathes!' + +'O! I can't look at him without laughing!' exclaimed Miss Di. 'He's the +best thing in nature! He's delicious! enchanting! delightful! O! so dear +a fool!' + +'He is quite unfit,' said Mrs Maple, 'for society; for he says every +thing that comes uppermost, and has not the least idea of what is due to +people.' + +'O! he is the sweetest-tempered, kindest-hearted creature in the world!' +exclaimed Lady Barbara. 'My aunt's woman has heard, from Miss Arbe's +maid, all his history. He has quite ruined himself by serving poor +people in distress. He is so generous, he can never pronounce a +refusal.' + +'But he dresses so meanly,' said Miss Brinville, 'that mamma and I have +begged Miss Arbe not to bring him any more to see us. Besides,--he tells +every thing in the world to every body.' + +'Poor Miss Arbe a'n't to blame, I assure you, Miss Brinville,' said +Selina; 'for she dislikes him as much as you do; only when her papa +invited him to live with them, he was very rich; and it was thought he +would leave all his fortune to them. But, since then, Miss Arbe says, he +is grown quite poor; for he has dawdled away almost all his money, in +one way or another; letting folks out of prison, setting people up in +business, and all that.' + +'O! he's the very king of quizzes!' cried Ireton. 'He drags me out of +the spleen, when I feel as if there were no possibility I could yawn on +another half hour.' + +Sir Jaspar now, looking with an air of authority towards Ireton, said, +'It would have been your good star, not your evil genius, by which you +would have been guided, Mr Ireton, had you been attracted to this old +gentleman as to an example, rather than as a butt for your wit. He has +very good parts, if he knew how to make use of them; though he has a +simplicity of manners, that induces common observers to conclude him to +be nearly an ideot. And, indeed, an absent man seems always in a state +of childhood; for as he is never occupied with what is present, those +who think of nothing else, naturally take it for granted that what +passes is above his comprehension; when perhaps, it is only below his +attention. But with Mr Arbe, though his temper is incomparably good and +placid, absence is neither want of understanding, nor of powers of +observation; for, when once he is awakened to what is passing, by any +thing that touches his feelings of humanity, or his sense of justice, +his seeming stupor turns to energy; his silence is superseded by +eloquence; and his gentle diffidence is supplanted by a mental courage, +which electrifies with surprize, from its contrast with his general +docility; and which strikes, and even awes, from an apparent dignity of +defying consequence;--though, in fact, it is but the effect of never +weighing them. Such, however, as he is, Mr Ireton, with the +singularities of his courage, or the oddities of his passiveness, he is +a man who is useful to the world, from his love of doing good; and happy +in himself, from the serenity of a temper unruffled by any species of +malignity.' + +Ireton ventured not to manifest any resentment at this conclusion; but +when, by his embarrassed air, Sir Jaspar saw that it was understood, he +smiled, and more gaily added, 'If the fates, the sisters three, and such +little branches of learning, had had the benevolence to have fixed my +own birth under the influence of the same planet with that of Mr Giles +Arbe, how many twitches, goadings, and worries should I have been +spared, from impatience, ambition, envy, discontent, and ill will!' + +The subject was here dropt, by the re-entrance of Mr Arbe; who, +observing Selina, said that he wanted prodigiously to enquire about her +poor aunt, whom, lately, he had met with no where; though she used to be +every where. + +'My aunt, Sir?--She's there!' said Selina, pointing to Mrs Maple. + +'No, no, I don't mean that aunt; I mean your young aunt, that used to be +so all alive and clever. What's become of her?' + +'O, I dare say it's my sister you are thinking of?' + +'Ay, it's like enough; for she's young enough, to be sure; only you look +such a mere child. Pray how is she now? I was very sorry to hear of her +cutting her throat.' + +A titter, which was immediately exalted into a hearty laugh by the Miss +Crawleys, was all the answer. + +'It was not right to do such a thing,' he continued; 'very wrong indeed. +There's no need to be afraid of not dying soon enough, for we only come +to be gone! I pitied her, however, with all my heart, for love is but a +dangerous thing; it makes older persons than she is go astray, one way +or other. And it was but unkind of Mr Harleigh not to marry her, whether +he liked or not, to save her from such a naughty action. And pray what +is become of that pretty creature that used to teach you all music? I +have enquired for her at Miss Matson's, often; but I always forgot where +they said she was gone. Indeed they made me a little angry about her, +which, probably, was the reason that I could never recollect what they +told me of her direction.' + +'Angry, Mr Giles?' repeated Mrs Ireton, with an air of restored +complacency; 'What was it, then, they said of her? Not that I am very +curious to hear it, as I presume you will believe! You won't imagine it, +I presume, a matter of the first interest to me!' + +'O, what they said of her was very bad! very bad, indeed; and that's the +reason I give no credit to it.' + +'Well, well, but what was it?' cried Ireton. + +'Why they told me that she was turned toad-eater.' + +Universal and irresistible smiles throughout the whole company, to the +exception of Lady Barbara and Sir Jaspar, now heightened the +embarrassment of Juliet into pain and distress: but the young Loddard +every moment struggled to escape into the garden, through the window; +and she did not dare quit her post. + +'So I asked them what they meant,' Mr Giles continued; 'for I never +heard of any body's eating toads; though I am assured our neighbours, on +t'other bank, are so fond of frogs. But they made it out, that it only +meant a person who would swallow any thing, bad or good; and do whatever +he was bid, right or wrong; for the sake of a little pay.' + +This definition by no means brought the assembly back to its gravity; +but while Juliet, ashamed and indignant, kept her face turned constantly +towards the garden, Ireton called out, 'Why you don't speak to your +little friend, Loddard, Mr Giles. There he is, at the window.' + +Mr Giles now, notwithstanding her utmost efforts to avoid his eyes, +perceived the blushing Juliet; though, doubting his sight, he stared and +exclaimed, 'Good la! that lady's very like Miss Ellis! And, I protest, +'tis she herself! And just as pretty as ever! And with the same innocent +face that not a soul can either buy or make, but God Almighty himself!' + +He then enquired after her health and welfare, with a cordiality that +somewhat lessened the pain caused by the general remark that was +produced by his address: but the relief was at an end upon his adding, +'I wanted to see you prodigiously, for I have never forgotten your +paying your debts so prettily, against your will, that morning. It fixed +you in my good opinion. I hope, however, it is a mistake, what they tell +me, that you are turned what they call toad-eater? and have let yourself +out, at so much a year, to say nothing that you think; and to do nothing +that you like; and to beg pardon when you are not in fault; and to eat +all the offals; and to be beat by the little gentleman; and worried by +the little dog? I hope all that's mere misapprehension, my dear; for it +would be but a very mean way of getting money.' + +The calmness of conscious superiority, with which Juliet heard the +beginning of these interrogatories, was converted into extreme +confusion, by their termination, from the appearance of justice which +the incidents of the morning had given to the attack. + +'For now,' continued he, 'that you have paid all your debts, you ought +to hold up your head; for, where nothing is owing, we are all of us +equal, rich and poor; another man's riches no more making him my +superiour, or benefactor, if I do not partake of them, than my poverty +makes me his servant, or dependent, if I neither work for, nor am +benefited by him. And I am your witness that you gave every one his due. +So don't let any body put you out of your proper place.' + +The mortification of Juliet, at this public exhortation, upon a point so +delicate, was not all that she had to endure: the little dog, who, +though incessantly tormented by the little boy, always followed him; +kept scratching her gown; to be helped up to the window, that he might +play with, or snarl at him, more at his ease; and the boy, making a whip +of his pocket-handkerchief, continually attracted, though merely to +repulse him; while Juliet, seeking alternately to quiet both, had not a +moment's rest. + +'Why now, what's all this my pretty lady?' cried Mr Giles, perceiving +her situation. 'Why do you let those two plagueful things torment you +so? Why don't you teach them to be better behaved.' + +'Miss Ellis would be vastly obliging, certainly,' with a supercilious +brow, said Mrs Ireton, 'to correct my nephew! I don't in the least mean +to contest her abilities for superintending his chastisement; not in the +least, I assure you! But only, as I never heard of my brother's giving +her such a _carte blanche_; and as I don't recollect having given it +myself,--although I may have done it, again, perhaps, in my sleep!--I +should be happy to learn by what authority she would be invested with +such powers of discipline?' + +'By what authority? That of humanity, Ma'am! Not to spoil a poor +ignorant little fellow-creature; nor a poor innocent little beast.' + +'It would be immensely amiable of her, Sir, no doubt,' said Mrs Ireton, +reddening, 'to take charge of the morals of my household; immensely! I +only hope you will be kind enough to instruct the young person, at the +same time, how she may hold her situation? That's all! I only hope +that!' + +'How? Why by doing her duty! If she can't hold it by that, 'tis her duty +to quit it. Nobody is born to be trampled upon.' + +'I hope, too, soon,' said Mrs Ireton, scoffingly, 'nobody will be born +to be poor!' + +'Good! true!' returned he, nodding his head. 'Nobody should be poor! +That is very well said. However, if you think her so poor, I can give +you the satisfaction to shew you your mistake. She mayn't, indeed, be +very rich, poor lady, at bottom; but still--' + +'No, indeed, am I not!' hastily cried Juliet, frightened at the +communication which she saw impending. + +'But still,' continued he, 'if she is poor, it is not for want of money; +nor for want of credit, neither; for she has bank-notes in abundance in +one of her work-bags; and not a penny of them is her own! which shews +her to be a person of great honour.' + +Every one now looked awakened to a new curiosity; and Selina exclaimed, +'O la! have you got a fortune, then, my dear Ellis? O! I dare say, then, +my guess will prove true at last! for I dare say you are a princess in +disguise?' + +'As far as disguise goes, Selina,' answered Mrs Maple, 'we have never, I +think, disputed! but as to a princess!...' + +'A princess?' repeated Mrs Ireton. 'Upon my word, this is an honour I +had not imagined! I own my stupidity! I can't but own my stupidity; but +I really had never imagined myself so much honoured, as to suspect that +I had a princess under my roof, who was so complaisant as to sing, and +play, and read to me, at my pleasure; and to study how to amuse and +divert me! I confess, I had never suspected it! I am quite ashamed of my +total want of sagacity; but it had never occurred to me!' + +'And why not, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why may not a princess be pretty, +and complaisant, and know how to sing and play, and read, as well as +another lady? She is just as able to learn as you, or any common person. +I never heard that a princess took her rank in the place of her +faculties. I know no difference; except that, if she does the things +with good nature, you ought to love and honour her the double, in +consideration of the great temptation she has to be proud and idle, and +to do nothing. We all envy the great, when we ought only to revere them +if they are good, and to pity them if they are bad; for they have the +same infirmities that we have; and nobody that dares put them in mind of +them: so that they often go to the grave, before they find out that they +are nothing but poor little men and women, like the rest of us. For my +part, when I see them worthy, and amiable, I look up to them as +prodigies! Whereas, a common person, such as you, or I, Ma'am,--' + +Mrs Ireton, unable to bear this phrase, endeavoured to turn the +attention of the company into another channel, by abruptly calling upon +Juliet to go to the piano-forte. + +Juliet entreated to be excused. + +'Excused? And why, Ma'am? What else have you got to do? What are your +avocations? I shall really take it as a favour to be informed.' + +'Don't teize her, pretty lady; don't teize her,' cried Mr Giles. 'If she +likes to sing, it's very agreeable; but if not, don't make a point of +it, for it's not a thing at all essential.' + +'Likes it?' repeated Mrs Ireton, superciliously; 'We must do nothing, +then, but what we like? Even when we are in other people's houses? Even +when we exist only through the goodness of some of our superiours? Still +we are to do only what we like? I am quite happy in the information! +Extremely obliged for it, indeed! It will enable me, I hope, to rectify +the gross errour of which I have been guilty; for I really did not know +I had a young lady in my house, who was to make her will and taste the +rule for mine! and, as I suppose, to have the goodness to direct my +servants; as well as to take the trouble to manage me. I knew nothing of +all this, I protest. I thought, on the contrary, I had engaged a young +person, who would never think of taking such a liberty as to give her +opinion; but who would do, as she ought, with respect and submission, +whatever I should indicate.'-- + +'Good la, Ma'am,' interrupted Mr Giles: 'Why that would be leading the +life of a slave! And that, I suppose, is what they meant, all this time, +by a toad-eater. However, don't look so ashamed, my pretty dear, for a +toad-eater-maker is still worse! Fie, fie! What can rich people be +thinking of, to lay out their money in buying their fellow-creatures' +liberty of speech and thought! and then paying them for a bargain which +they ought to despise them for selling?' + +This unexpected retort turning the smiles of the assembly irresistibly +against the lady of the mansion, she hastily renewed her desire that +Juliet would sing. + +'Sing, Ma'am?' cried Mr Giles. 'Why a merry-andrew could not do it, +after being so affronted! Bless my heart! Tell a human being that she +must only move to and fro, like a machine? Only say what she is bid, +like a parrot? Employ her time, call forth her talents, exact her +services, yet not let her make any use of her understanding? Neither say +what she approves, nor object to what she dislikes? Poor, pretty young +thing! You were never so much to be pitied, in the midst of your worst +distresses, as when you were relived upon such terms! Fie upon it, +fie!--How can great people be so little?' + +The mingled shame and resentment of Mrs Ireton, at a remonstrance so +extraordinary and so unqualified, were with difficulty kept within the +bounds of decorum; for though she laughed, and affected to be extremely +diverted, her laugh was so sharp, and forced, that it wounded every ear; +and, through the amusement that she pretended to receive, it was obvious +that she suffered torture, in restraining herself from ordering her +servants to turn the orator out of the room. + +With looks much softened, though in a manner scarcely less fervent, Mr +Giles then, approaching Juliet, repeated, 'Don't be cast down I say, my +pretty lady! You are none the worse for all this. The thing is but +equal, at last; so we must not always look at the bad side of our fate. +State every thing fairly; you have got your talents, your prettiness, +and your winning ways,--but you want these ladies' wealth: they, have +got their wealth, their grandeur, and their luxuries; but they want your +powers of amusing. You can't well do without one another. So it's best +be friends on both sides.' + +Mrs Ireton, now, dying to give some vent to her spleen, darted the full +venom of her angry eyes upon Juliet, and called out, 'You don't see, I +presume, Miss Ellis, what a condition Bijou has put that chair in? 'T +would be too great a condescension for you, I suppose, just to give it a +little pat of the hand, to shake off the crumbs? Though it is not your +business, I confess! I confess that it is not your business! Perhaps, +therefore, I am guilty of an indiscretion in giving you such a hint. +Perhaps I had better let Lady Kendover, or Lady Arramede, or Mrs +Brinville, or any other of the ladies, sit upon the dirt, and soil their +clothes? You may think, perhaps, that it will be for the advantage of +the mercer, or the linen-draper? You may be considering the good of +trade? or perhaps you may think I may do such sort of menial offices for +myself?' + +However generally power may cause timidity, arrogance, in every generous +mind, awakens spirit; Juliet, therefore, raising her head, and, +clearing her countenance, with a modest, but firm step, moved silently +towards the door. + +Astonished and offended, 'Permit me, Madam,' cried Mrs Ireton; 'permit +me, Miss Ellis,--if it is not taking too great a liberty with a person +of your vast consequence,--permit me to enquire who told you to go?' + +Juliet turned back her head, and quietly answered, 'A person, Madam, who +has not the honour to be known to you,--myself!' And then steadily left +the room. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + + +An answer so little expected, from one whose dependent state had been so +freely discussed, caused a general surprize, and an almost universal +demand of who the young person might be, and what she could mean. The +few words that had dropt from her had as many commentators as hearers. +Some thought their inference important; others, their mystery +suspicious; and others mocked their assumption of dignity. Tears started +into the eyes of Lady Barbara; while those of Sir Jaspar were fixed, +meditatively, upon the head of his crutch; but the complacent smile of +admiration, exhibited by Mr Giles, attracted the notice of the whole +assembly, by the peals of laughter which it excited in the Miss +Crawleys. + +With rage difficultly disguised without, but wholly ungovernable within, +Mrs Ireton would instantly have revenged what she considered as the most +heinous affront that she had ever received, by expelling its author +ignominiously from her house, but for the still sharpened curiosity with +which her pretentions to penetration became piqued, from the general cry +of 'How very extraordinary that Mrs Ireton has never been able to +discover who she is!' + +When Juliet, therefore, conceiving her removal from this mansion to be +as inevitable, as her release from its tyranny was desirable, made +known, as soon as the company was dispersed, that she was ready to +depart; she was surprised by a request, from Mrs Ireton, to stay a day +or two longer; for the purpose of taking care of Mr Loddard the +following morning; as Mrs Ireton, who had no one with whom she could +trust such a charge, had engaged herself to join a party to see Arundel +Castle. + +Little as Juliet felt disposed to renew her melancholy wanderings, her +situation in this house appeared to her so humiliating, nay degrading, +that neither this message, nor the fawning civilities with which, at +their next meeting, Mrs Ireton sought to mitigate her late asperity, +could prevail with her to consent to any delay beyond that which was +necessary for obtaining the counsel of Gabriella; to whom she wrote a +detailed account of what had passed; adding, 'How long must I thus waste +my time and my existence, separated from all that can render them +valuable, while fastened upon by constant discomfort and disgust? O +friend of my heart, friend of my earliest years, earliest feelings, +juvenile happiness,--and, alas! maturer sorrows! why must we thus be +sundered in adversity? Oh how,--with three-fold toil, should I revive by +the side of my beloved Gabriella!--Dear to me by every tie of tender +recollection; dear to me by the truest compassion for her sufferings, +and reverence for her resignation; and dear to me,--thrice dear! by the +sacred ties of gratitude, which bind me for ever to her honoured mother, +and to her venerated, saint-like uncle, my pious benefactor!' + +She then tenderly proposed their immediate re-union, at whatever cost of +fatigue, or risk, it might be obtained; and besought Gabriella to seek +some small room, and to enquire for some needle-work; determining to +appropriate to a journey to town, the little sum which she might have to +receive for the long and laborious fortnight, which she had consigned to +the terrible enterprize of aiming at amusing, serving, or interesting, +one whose sole taste of pleasure consisted in seeking, like Strife, in +Spenser's Fairy Queen, occasion for dissension. + +With the apprehension, however, of losing, the desire of retaining her +always revived; and now, as usual, proved some check to the recreations +of spleen, in which Mrs Ireton ordinarily indulged herself. Yet, even in +the midst of intended concession, the love of tormenting was so +predominant, that, had the resolution of Juliet still wavered, whether +to seek some new retreat, or still to support her present irksome +situation, all indecision would have ceased from fresh disgust, at the +sneers which insidiously found their way through every effort at +civility. What had dropt from Mr Giles Arbe, relative to the bank-notes, +had excited curiosity in all; tinted, in some, with suspicion, and, in +Mrs Ireton, blended with malignity and wrath, that a creature whom she +pleased herself to consider, and yet more to represent, as dependent +upon her bounty for sustinence, should have any resources of her own. +Nor was this displeasure wholly free from surmises the most disgraceful; +though to those she forbore to give vent, conscious that to suggest them +would stamp with impropriety all further intercourse with their object. +And a moment that offered new food for inquisition, was the last to +induce Mrs Ireton to relinquish her _protegee_. She confined her +sarcasms, therefore, when she could not wholly repress them, to oblique +remarks upon the happiness of those who were able to lay by private +stores for secret purposes; lamenting that such was not her fate; yet +congratulating herself that she might now sleep in peace, with respect +to any creditors; since, should she be threatened with an execution, her +house had a rich inmate, by whom she flattered herself that she should +be assisted to give bail. + +Already, the next morning, her resolution with regard to her nephew was +reversed; and, the child desiring the change of scene, she gave +directions that Miss Ellis should prepare herself to take him in charge +during the excursion. + +But Juliet was now initiated in the services and the endurance of an +humble companion in public; she offered, therefore, to amuse and to +watch him at home, but decidedly refused to attend him abroad; and her +evident indifference whether to stay or begone herself, forced Mrs +Ireton to deny the humoured boy his intended frolic. + +Little accustomed to any privation, and totally unused to +disappointment, the young gentleman, when his aunt was preparing to +depart, had recourse to his usual appeals against restraint or +authority, clamourous cries and unappeasable blubbering. Juliet, to +whose room he refused to mount, was called upon to endeavour to quiet +him, and to entice him into the garden; that he might not hear the +carriage of his aunt draw up to the door. + +But this commission the refractory spirit of the young heir made it +impossible to execute, till he overheard a whisper to Juliet, that she +would take care, should Mr Loddard chuse to go to the Temple, to place +the silk-worms above his reach. + +Suddenly, then, he sprang from his consolers and attendants, to run +forward to the forbidden fruit; and, with a celerity that made it +difficult for Juliet, even with her utmost speed, and longer limbs, to +arrive at the spot in time to prevent the mischief for which she saw him +preparing. She had just, however, succeeded, in depositing the menaced +insects upon a high bracket, when a footman came to whisper to her the +commands of his lady, that she would detain Mr Loddard till the party +should be set off. + +Before the man had shut himself out, Ireton, holding up his finger to +him in token of secresy, slipt past him into the little building; and, +having turned the key on the inside, and put it into his pocket, said, +'I'll stand centinel for little Pickle!' and flung himself, loungingly, +upon an arm chair. + +Confounded by this action, yet feeling it necessary to appear +unintimidated, Juliet affected to occupy herself with the silk-worms; of +which the young gentleman now, eager to romp with Ireton, thought no +more. + +'At last, then, I have caught you, my skittish dear!' cried Ireton, +while jumping about the little boy, to keep him in good humour. 'I have +had the devil of a difficulty to contrive it. However, I shall make +myself amends now, for they are all going to Arundel Castle, and you and +I can pass the morning together.' + +The indignant look which this boldness excited, he pretended not to +observe, and went on. + +'I can't possibly be easy without having a little private chat with you. +I must consult you about my affairs. I want devilishly to make you my +friend. You might be capitally useful to me. And you would find your +account in it, I promise you. What sayst thee, my pretty one?' + +Juliet, not appearing to hear him, changed the leaves of the silk-worms. + +'Can you guess what it is brings me hither to old madam my mother's? It +is not you, with all your beauty, you arch prude; though I have a great +enjoyment in looking at you and your blushes, which are devilishly +handsome, I own; yet, to say the truth, you are not--all together--I +don't know how it is--but you are not--upon the whole--quite exactly to +my taste. Don't take it ill, my love, for you are a devilish fine girl. +I own that. But I want something more skittish, more wild, more +eccentric. If I were to fix my fancy upon such symmetry as you, I should +be put out of my way every moment. I should always be thinking I had +some Minerva tutoring, or some Juno awing me. It would not do at all. I +want something of another cast; something that will urge me when I am +hippish, without keeping me in order when I am whimsical. Something +frisky, flighty, fantastic,--yet panting, blushing, dying with love for +me!--' + +Neither contempt nor indignation were of sufficient force to preserve +the gravity of Juliet, at this unexpected ingenuousness of vanity. + +'You smile!' he cried; 'but if you knew what a deuced difficult thing it +is, for a man who has got a little money, to please himself, you would +find it a very serious affair. How the deuce can he be sure whether a +woman, when once he has married her, would not, if her settlement be to +her liking, dance at his funeral? The very thought of that would either +carry me off in a fright within a month, or make me want to live for +ever, merely to punish her. It's a hard thing having money! a deuced +hard thing! One does not know who to trust. A poor man may find a wife +in a moment, for if he sees any one that likes him, he knows it is for +himself; but a rich man,--as Sir Jaspar says,--can never be sure whether +the woman who marries him, would not, for the same pin-money, just as +willingly follow him to the outside of the church, as to the inside!' + +At the name of Sir Jaspar, Juliet involuntarily gave some attention, +though she would make no reply. + +'From the time,' continued Ireton, 'that I heard him pronounce those +words, I have never been able to satisfy myself; nor to find out what +would satisfy me. At least not till lately; and now that I know what I +want, the difficulty of the business is to get it! And this is what I +wish to consult with you about; for you must know, my dear, I can never +be happy without being adored.' + +Juliet, now, was surprised into suddenly looking at him, to see whether +he were serious. + +'Yes, adored! loved to distraction! I must be idolized for myself, +myself alone; yet publicly worshiped, that all mankind may see,--and +envy,--the passion I have been able to inspire!' + +Suspecting that he meant some satire upon Elinor, Juliet again fixed her +eyes upon her silk-worms. + +'So you don't ask me what it is that makes me so devilish dutiful all of +a sudden, in visiting my mamma? You think, perhaps, I have some debts to +pay? No; I have no taste for gaming. It's the cursedest fatiguing thing +in the world. If one don't mind what one's about, one is blown up in a +moment; and to be always upon one's guard, is worse than ruin itself. So +I am upon no coaxing expedition, I give you my word. What do you think +it is, then, that brings me hither? Cannot you guess?--Hay?--Why it is +to arrange something, somehow or other, for getting myself from under +this terrible yoke, that seems upon the point of enslaving me. My neck +feels galled by it already! I have naturally no taste for matrimony. And +now that the business seems to be drawing to a point, and I am called +upon to name my lawyer, and cavilled with to declare, to the uttermost +sixpence, what I will do, and what I will give, to make my wife merry +and comfortable upon my going out of the world,--I protest I shudder +with horrour! I think there is nothing upon earth so mercenary, as a +young nymph upon the point of becoming a bride!' + +'Except,--' Juliet here could not resist saying, 'except the man,--young +or old,--who is her bridegroom!' + +'O, that's another thing! quite another thing! A man must needs take +care of his house, and his table, and all that: but the horridest thing +I know, is the condition tied to a man's obtaining the hand of a young +woman; he can never solicit it, but by giving her a prospect of his +death-bed! And she never consents to live with him, till she knows what +she may gain by his dying! Tis the most shocking style of making love +that can be imagined. I don't like it, I swear! What, now, would you +advise me to do?' + +'I?' + +'Yes; you know the scrape I am in, don't you? Sir Jaspar's estate, in +case he should have no children, is entailed upon me; and, in case I +should have none neither, is entailed upon a cousin; the heaviest dog +you ever saw in your life, whom he hates and despises; and whom I wish +at old Nick with all my heart, because I know he, and all his family, +will wish me at the devil myself, if I marry; and, if I have children, +will wish them and my wife there. I hate them all so heartily, that, +whenever I think of them, I am ready, in pure spite, to be tied to the +first girl that comes in my way: but, when I think of myself, I am taken +with a fit of fright, and in a plaguey hurry to cut the knot off short. +And this is the way I have got the character of a male jilt. But I don't +deserve it, I assure you; for of all the females with whom I have had +these little engagements, there is not one whom I have seriously thought +of marrying, after the first half hour. They none of them hit my fancy +further than to kill a little time.' + +The countenance of Juliet, though she neither deigned to speak nor to +turn to him, marked such strong disapprobation, that he thought proper +to add, 'Don't be affronted for little Selina Joddrel: I really meant to +marry her at the time; and I should really have gone on, and "buckled +to," if the thing had been any way possible: but she turns out such a +confounded little fool, that I can't think of her any longer.' + +'And was it necessary,--' Juliet could not refrain from saying, 'to +engage her first, and examine whether she could make you happy +afterwards?' + +'Why that seems a little awkward, I confess; but it's a way I have +adopted. Though I took the decision, I own, rather in a hurry, with +regard to little Selina; for it was merely to free myself from the +reproaches of Sir Jaspar, who, because he is seventy-five, and does not +know what to do with himself, is always regretting that he did not take +a wife when he was a stripling; and always at work to get me into the +yoke. But, the truth is, I promised, when I went abroad, to bring him +home a niece from France, or Italy; unless I went further east; and then +I would look him out a fair Circassian. Now as he has a great taste for +any thing out of the common way, and retains a constant hankering after +Beauty, he was delighted with the scheme. But I saw nothing that would +do! Nothing I could take to! The pretty ones were all too buckish; and +the steady ones, a set of the yellowest frights I ever beheld.' + +'Alas for the poor ladies!' + +'O, you are a mocker, are you?--So to lighten the disappointment to Sir +Jaspar, I hit upon the expedient of taking up with little Selina, who +was the first young thing that fell in my way. And I was too tired to be +difficult. Besides, what made her the more convenient, was her extreme +youth, which gave me a year to look about me, and see if I could do any +better. But she's a poor creature; a sad poor creature indeed! quite too +bad. So I must make an end of the business as fast as possible. Besides, +another thing that puts me in a hurry is,--the very devil would have it +so!--but I have fallen in love with her sister!--' + +Juliet, at a loss how to understand him, now raised her eyes; and, not +without astonishment, perceived that he was speaking with a grave face. + +'O that noble stroke! That inimitable girl! Happy, happy, Harleigh! That +fellow fascinates the girls the more the less notice he takes of them! I +take but little notice of them, neither; but, some how or other, they +never do that sort of thing for me! If I could meet with one who would +take such a measure for my sake, and before such an assembly,--I really +think I should worship her!' + +Then, lowering his voice, 'You may be amazingly useful to me, my angel,' +he cried, 'in this new affair. I know you are very well with Harleigh, +though I don't know exactly how; but if,--nay, hear me before you look +so proud! if you'll help me, a little, how to go to work with the divine +Elinor, I'll bind myself down to make over to you,--in case of +success,--mark that!--as round a sum as you may be pleased to name!' + +The disdain of Juliet at this proposition was so powerful, that, though +she heard it as the deepest of insults, indignation was but a secondary +feeling; and a look of utter scorn, with a determined silence to +whatever else he might say, was the only notice it received. + +He continued, nevertheless, to address her, demanding her advice how to +manage Harleigh, and her assistance how to conquer Elinor, with an air +of as much intimacy and confidence, as if he received the most cordial +replies. He purposed, he said, unless she could counsel him to something +better, making an immediate overture to Elinor; by which means, whether +he should obtain, or not, the only girl in the world who knew how to +love, and what love meant, he should, at least, in a very summary way, +get rid of the little Selina. + +Juliet knew too well the slightness of the texture of the regard of +Selina for Ireton, to be really hurt at this defection; yet she was not +less offended at being selected for the confidant of so dishonourable a +proceeding; nor less disgusted at the unfeeling insolence by which it +was dictated. + +An attempt at opening the door at length silenced him, while the voice +of Mrs Ireton's woman called out, 'Goodness! Miss Ellis, what do you +lock yourself in for? My lady has sent me to you.' + +Juliet cast up her eyes, foreseeing the many disagreeable attacks and +surmises to which she was made liable by this incident; yet immediately +said aloud, 'Since you have thought proper, Mr Ireton, to lock the door, +for your own pleasure, you will, at least, I imagine, think proper to +open it for that of Mrs Ireton.' + +'Deuce take me if I do!' cried he, in a low voice: 'manage the matter as +you will! I have naturally no taste for a prude; so I always leave her +to work her way out of a scrape as well as she can. But I'll see you +again when they are all off.' Then, throwing the key upon her lap, he +softly and laughingly escaped out of the window. + +Provoked and vexed, yet helpless, and without any means of redress, +Juliet opened the door. + +'Goodness! Miss Ellis,' cried the Abigail, peeping curiously around, +'how droll for you to shut yourself in! My lady sent me to ask whether +you have seen any thing of Mr Ireton in the garden, or about; for she +has been ready to go ever so long, and he said he was setting off first +on horseback; but his groom is come, and is waiting for orders, and none +of us can tell where he is.' + +'Mr Ireton,' Juliet quietly answered, 'was here just now; and I doubt +not but you will find him in the garden.' + +'Yes,' cried the boy, 'he slid out of the window.' + +'Goodness! was he in here, then, Master Loddard? Well! my lady'll be in +a fine passion, if she should hear of it!' + +This was enough to give the tidings a messenger: the boy darted forward, +and reached the house in a moment. + +The Abigail ran after him; Juliet, too, followed, dreading the impending +storm yet still more averse to remaining within the reach and power of +Ireton. And the knowledge, that he would now, for the rest of the +morning, be sole master of the house, filled her with such horrour, of +the wanton calumny to which his unprincipled egotism might expose her, +that, rather than continue under the same roof with a character so +unfeelingly audacious, she preferred risking all the mortifications to +which she might be liable in the excursion to Arundel Castle. + +Advanced already into the hall, dragged thither by her turbulent little +nephew, and the hope of detecting the hiding-place of Ireton, stood the +patroness whom she now felt compelled to soothe into accepting her +attendance. Not aware of this purposed concession, and nearly as much +frightened as enraged, to find with whom her son had been shut up, Mrs +Ireton, in a tone equally querulous and piqued, cried, 'I beg you a +thousand pardons, Ma'am, for the indiscretion of which I have been +guilty, in asking for the honour of your company to Arundel Castle this +morning! I ought to make a million of apologies for supposing that a +young lady,--for you are a lady, no doubt! every body is a lady, +now!--of your extraordinary turn and talents the insupportable +insipidity of a tete a tete with a female; or the dull care of a +bantling; when a splendid, flashy, rich, young travelled gentleman, +chusing, also, to remain behind, may be tired, and want some amusement! +'Twas grossly stupid of me, I own, to expect such a sacrifice. You, who, +besides these prodigious talents, that make us all appear like a set of +vulgar, uneducated beings by your side; you, who revel also, in the +luxury of wealth; who wanton in the stores of Plutus; who are accustomed +to the magnificence of unaccounted hoards!--How must the whole detail of +our existence appear penurious, pitiful to you!--I am surprised how you +can forbear falling into fits at the very sight of us! But I presume you +reserve the brilliancy of an action of that _eclat_, for objects better +worth your while to dazzle by a stroke of that grand description? I must +have lost my senses, certainly, to so ill appreciate my own +insignificance! I hope you'll pity me! that's all! I hope you will have +so much unction as to pity me!' + +If, at the opening of this harangue, the patience of Juliet nearly +yielded to resentment, its length gave power to reflection,--which +usually wants but time for checking impulse,--to point out the many and +nameless mischiefs, to which quitting the house under similar suspicions +might give rise. She quietly, therefore, answered, that though to +herself it must precisely be the same thing, whether Mr Ireton were at +home or abroad, if that circumstance gave any choice to Mrs Ireton, she +would change her own plans, either to go or to stay, according to the +directions which she might receive. + +A superiority to accusation or surmize thus cool and decided, no sooner +relieved the apprehensions of Mrs Ireton by its evident innocence, than +it excited her wrath by its deliberate indifference, if not contempt: +and she would now disdainfully have rejected the attendance which, the +moment before, she had anxiously desired, had not the little master of +the house, who had seized the opportunity of this harangue to make his +escape, caught a glimpse of the carriage at the door; and put an end to +all contest, by stunning all ears, with an unremitting scream till he +forced himself into it; when, overpowering every obstacle, he obliged +his aunt and Juliet to follow; while he issued his own orders to the +postilion to drive to Arundel Castle. + +Even the terrour of calumny, that most dangerous and baneful foe to +unprotected woman! would scarcely have frightened Juliet into this +expedition, had she been aware that, as soon as she was seated in the +landau, with orders to take the whole charge of Mr Loddard, the little +dog, also, would have been given to her management. 'Bijou will like to +take the air,' cried Mrs Ireton, languidly; 'and he will serve to +entertain Loddard by the way. He can go very well on Miss Ellis's lap. +Pretty little creature! 'Twould be cruel to leave him at home alone!' + +This terrible humanity, which, in a hot day, in the middle of July, cast +upon the knees of Juliet a fat, round, well furred, and over-fed little +animal, accustomed to snarl, scratch, stretch, and roll himself about at +his pleasure, produced fatigue the most pitiless, and inconvenience the +most comfortless. The little tyrant of the party, whose will was law to +the company, found no diversion so much to his taste, during the short +journey, as exciting the churlish humour of his fellow-favourite, by +pinching his ears, pulling his nose, filliping his claws, squeezing his +throat, and twisting round his tail. And all these feats, far from +incurring any reprimand, were laughed at and applauded. For whom did +they incommode? No one but Miss Ellis;--and for what else was Miss Ellis +there? + +Yet this fatigue and disgust might have been passed over, as local +evils, had they ceased with the journey; and had she then been at +liberty to look at what remains of the venerable old castle; to visit +its ancient chapel; to examine the genealogical records of the long +gallery; to climb up to the antique citadel, and to enjoy the spacious +view thence presented of the sea: but she immediately received orders to +give exercise to Bijou, and to watch that he ran into no danger: though +Selina, who assiduously came forward to meet Mrs Ireton, without +appearing even to perceive Juliet, officiously took young Loddard in +charge, and conducted him, with his aunt, to a large expecting party, +long arrived, and now viewing the citadel. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + + +Relieved, nevertheless, through whatever means effected, by a +separation, Juliet, with her speechless, though far from mute companion, +went forth to seek some obscure walk. But her purpose was defeated by +the junction of a little spaniel, to which Bijou attached himself, with +a fondness so tenacious, that her utmost efforts either to disengage +them, or to excite both to follow her, were fruitless; Bijou would not +quit the spaniel; nor the spaniel his post near the mansion. + +Not daring to go on without her troublesome little charge, the approach +of a carriage made her hasten to a garden-seat, upon which, though she +could not be hidden, she might be less conspicuous. + +The carriage, familiar to her from having frequently seen it at Miss +Matson's, was that of Sir Jaspar Herrington. Not satisfied, though she +had no right to be angry, at the so measured politeness which he had +shewn her the preceding day, when further notice would have softened her +mortifying embarrassment, she was glad that he had not remarked her in +passing. + +She heard him enquire for Mrs Ireton's party, which he had promised to +join; but, affrighted at the sound of the citadel, he said that he would +alight, and wait upon some warm seat in the grounds. + +In descending from his chaise, one of his crutches fell, and a +bonbonniere, of which the contents were dispersed upon the ground, slipt +from the hand of his valet. It was then, and not without chagrin, that +Juliet began further to comprehend the defects of a character which she +had thought an entire composition of philanthropy and courtesy. He +reviled rather than scolded the servant to whom the accident had +happened; and treated the circumstances as an event of the first +importance. He cast an equal share of blame, and with added sharpness, +upon the postilion, for not having advanced an inch nearer to the +stone-steps; and uttered invectives even virulent against the groom, +that he had not come forward to help. Angry, because vexed, with all +around, he used as little moderation in his wrath, as reason in his +reproaches. + +How superficially, thought Juliet, can we judge of dispositions, where +nothing is seen but what is meant to be shewn! where nothing is +pronounced but what is prepared for being heard! Had I fixed my opinion +of this gentleman only upon what he intended that I should witness, I +should have concluded that he had as much urbanity of humour as of +manners. I could never have imagined, that the most trifling of +accidents could, in a moment, destroy the whole harmony of his temper! + +In the midst of the choleric harangue of the Baronet, against which no +one ventured to remonstrate, the little dogs came sporting before him; +and, recollecting Bijou, he hastily turned his head towards the person +upon the garden-seat, whom he had passed without any attention, and +discerned Juliet. + +He hobbled towards her without delay, warmly expressing his delight at +so auspicious a meeting: but the air and look, reserved and grave, with +which, involuntarily, she heard him, brought to his consciousness, what +the pleasure of her sight had driven from it, his enraged attack upon +his servants; which she must unavoidably have witnessed, and of which +her countenance shewed her opinion. + +He stood some moments silent, leaning upon his crutches, and palpably +disconcerted. Then, shrugging his shoulders, with a half smile, but a +piteous look, 'Many,' he cried, 'are the tricks which my quaint little +imps have played me! many, the quirks and villainous wiles I owe +them!--but never yet, with all the ingenuity of their malice, have they +put me to shame and confusion such as this!' + +Rising to be gone, yet sorry for him, and softened, the disapprobation +of Juliet was mingled with a concern, from her disposition to like him, +that made its expression, in the eyes of her old admirer, seem something +nearly divine. He looked at her with reverence and with regret, but made +no attempt to prevent her departure. To separate, however, the dogs, or +induce the spaniel to go further, she still found impossible; and, not +daring to abandon Bijou, was fain quietly to seat herself again, upon a +garden-chair, nearer to the house. + +Sir Jaspar, for some minutes, remained, pensively, upon the spot where +she had left him; then, again shrugging his shoulders, as if bemoaning +his ill luck, and again hobbling after her, 'There is nothing,' he +cried, 'that makes a man look so small, as a sudden self-conviction that +he merits ridicule or disgrace! what intemperance would be averted, +could we believe ourselves always,--not only from above, but by one +another, overhead! Don't take an aversion to me, however! nor suppose me +worse than I am; nor worse than the herd of mankind. You have but seen +an old bachelor in his true colours! Not with the gay tints, not with +the spruce smiles, not with the gallant bows, the courteous homage, the +flowery flourishes, with which he makes himself up for shew; but with +the grim colouring of factious age, and suspicious egotism!' + +The countenance of Juliet shewing her now to be shocked that she had +given rise to these apologies, that of Sir Jaspar brightened; and, +dragging a chair to her side, 'I came hither,' he cried, 'in the fair +hope to seize one of those happy moments, that the fates, now and then, +accord to favoured mortals, for holding interesting and dulcet +discourse, with the most fascinating enchantress that a long life, +filled up with fastidious, perhaps fantastic researches after female +excellence, has cast in my way. Would not one have thought twas some +indulgent sylph that directed me? that inspired me with the idea, and +then seconded the inspiration, by contriving that my arrival should take +place at the critical instant, when that syren was to be found alone? +Who could have suspected 'twas but the envious stratagem of some imp of +darkness and spite, devised purely to expose a poor antiquated soul, +with all his infirmities, physical and moral, to your contempt and +antipathy?' + +Peering now under her hat, his penetrating eyes discerned so entire a +change in his favour, that he completely recovered his pleasantry, his +quaint archness, and his gallantry. + +'If betrayed,' he continued, 'by these perfidious elves, where may a +poor forlorn solitary wight, such as I am, find a counsellor? He has no +bosom friend, like the happy mortal, whose kindly star has guided him to +seek, in lively, all-attractive youth, an equal partner for melancholy, +all revolting age! He has no rising progeny, that, inheritors of his +interests, naturally share his difficulties. He has nothing at hand but +mercenary dependents. Nothing at heart but jealous suspicion of others, +or secret repining for himself! Such, fair censurer! such is the natural +state of that unnatural character, an old bachelor! How, then, when not +upon his guard, or, in other words, when not urged by some outward +object, some passing pleasure, or some fairy hope,--how,--tell me, in +the candour of your gentle conscience! how can you expect from so +decrepit and unwilling a hermit, the spontaneous benevolence of youth?' + +'But what is it I have said, Sir,' cried Juliet smiling, 'that makes you +denounce me as a censurer?' + +'What is it you have said? ask, rather, what is it you have not said, +with those eyes that speak with an eloquence that a thousand tongues +might emulate in vain? They administered to me a lesson so severe, +because just, that, had not a little pity, which just now beamed from +them, revived me, the malignant goblins, who delight in drawing me into +these scrapes, might have paid for their sport by losing their prey! But +what invidious little devils ensnare me even now, into this +superannuated folly, of prating about so worn out an old subject, when I +meant only to name a being bright, blooming, and juvenile--' + +The recollection of his nearly complete neglect, the preceding day, in +presence of Mrs Ireton, and her society, again began to cloud the +countenance of Juliet, as she listened to compliments thus reserved for +private delivery. Sir Jaspar soon penetrated into what passed in her +mind, and, yet again shrugging his shoulders, and resuming the sorrowful +air of a self-convicted culprit, 'Alas!' he cried, 'under what pitiful +star did I first begin limping upon this nether sphere? And what foul +fiend is it, that, taking upon him the name of worldly cunning, has +fashioned my conduct, since here I have been hopping and hobbling? I +burned, yesterday, with desire to make public my admiration of the fair +flower, that I saw nearly trampled under foot; and I should have +considered as the most propitious moment of my life, that in which I had +raised its drooping head, by withering, with a blast, all the sickly, +noxious surrounding weeds: but those little devils, that never leave me +quiet, kept twitching and tweaking me every instant, with +representations of prudence and procrastination; with the danger of +exciting observation; and the better judgement of obtaining a little +private discourse, previous to any public display.' + +Not able to divine to what this might be the intended prelude, Juliet +was silent. Sir Jaspar, after some hesitation, continued. + +'In that motley assembly, you had two antique friends, equally cordial, +and almost equally admiring and desirous to serve you; but by different +means,--perhaps with different views! one of them, stimulated by the +little fairy elves, that alternately enlighten and mislead him, not +seeing yet his way, and embarrassed in his choice of measures, was lying +in wait, cautiously to avail himself of the first favourable moment, for +soliciting your fair leave to dub himself your knight-errant; the +other, urged solely, perhaps, by good-nature and humanity, with an happy +absence of mind, that precludes circumspection; coming forward in your +defence, and for your honour, with unsuspecting, unfearing, +untemporising zeal. Alas! in my conscience, which these tormenting +little imps are for ever goading on, to inflict upon me some +disagreeable compliment, I cannot, all simple as he is, but blush to +view the intrinsic superiority of the unsophisticated man of nature, +over the artificial man of the world! How much more truly a male +character.' + +Looking at her then with examining earnestness, 'To which of these +antediluvian wights,' he continued, 'you will commit the gauntlet, that +must be flung in your defence, I know not; either of us,--alas!--might +be your great grandfather! But, helpless old captives as we are in your +chains, we each feel a most sincere, nay, inordinate desire, to break +those fetters with which, at this moment, you seem yourself to be +shackled. And for this I am not wholly without a scheme, though it is +one that demands a little previous parleying.' + +Juliet positively declined his services; but gratefully acknowledged +those from which she had already, though involuntarily, profited. + +'You cannot, surely,' he cried, 'have a predilection for your present +species of existence? and, least of all, under the galling yoke of this +spirit-breaking dame, into whose ungentle power I cannot see you fallen +without losing sleep, appetite, and pleasure. How may I conjure you into +better hands? How release you from such bondage? And yet, this pale, +withered, stiff, meagre hag, so odious, so tyrannical, so irascible, but +a few years,--in my calculation!--but a few years since,--had all the +enchantment of blithe, blooming loveliness! You, who see her only in her +decline, can never believe it; but she was eminently fair, gay, and +charming!' + +Juliet looked at him, astonished. + +'Her story,' he continued, 'already envelopes the memoirs of a Beauty, +in her four stages of existence. During childhood, indulged, in every +wish; admired where she should have been chidden, caressed where she +should have been corrected; coaxed into pettishness, and spoilt into +tyranny. In youth, adored, followed, and applauded till, involuntarily, +rather than vainly, she believed herself a goddess. In maturity,--ah! +there's the test of sense and temper in the waning beauty!--in maturity, +shocked and amazed to see herself supplanted by the rising bloomers; to +find that she might be forgotten, or left out, if not assiduous herself +to come forward; to be consulted only upon grave and dull matters, out +of the reach of her knowledge and resources; alternately mortified by +involuntary negligence, and affronted by reverential respect! Such has +been her maturity; such, amongst faded beauties, is the maturity of +thousands. In old age,--if a lady may be ever supposed to suffer the +little loves and graces to leave her so woefully in the lurch, as to +permit her to know such a state;--in old age, without stores to amuse, +or powers to instruct, though with a full persuasion that she is endowed +with wit, because she cuts, wounds, and slashes from unbridled, though +pent-up resentment, at her loss of adorers; and from a certain +perverseness, rather than quickness of parts, that gifts her with the +sublime art of ingeniously tormenting; with no consciousness of her own +infirmities, or patience for those of others; she is dreaded by the gay, +despised by the wise, pitied by the good, and shunned by all.' + +Then, looking at Juliet with a strong expression of surprise, 'What Will +o'the Wisp,' he cried, 'has misled you into this briery thicket of +brambles, nettles, and thorns? where you cannot open your mouth but you +must be scratched; nor your ears, but you must be wounded; nor stir a +word but you must be pricked and worried? How is it that, with the most +elegant ideas, the most just perceptions upon every subject that +presents itself, you have a taste so whimsical?' + +'A taste? Can you, then, Sir, believe a fate like mine to have any +connexion with choice?' + +'What would you have me believe, fair AEnigma? Tell me, and I will +fashion my credulity to your commands. But I only hear of you with Mrs +Maple; I only see you with Mrs Ireton! Mrs Maple, having weaker parts, +may have less power, scientifically, to torment than Mrs Ireton; but +nature has been as active in personifying ill will with the one, as art +in embellishing spite with the other. They are equally egotists, equally +wrapt up in themselves, and convinced that self alone is worth living +for in this nether world. What a fate! To pass from Maple to Ireton, was +to fall from Scylla to Charybdis!' + +The blush of Juliet manifested extreme confusion, to see herself +represented, even though it might be in sport, as a professional +parasite. Reading, with concern, in her countenance, the pain which he +had caused her, he exclaimed, 'Sweet witch! loveliest syren!--let me +hasten to develope a project, inspired, I must hope, by my better +genius! Tell me but, frankly, who and what you are, and then--' + +Juliet shook her head. + +'Nay, nay, should your origin be the most obscure, I shall but think +you more nearly allied to the gods! Jupiter, Apollo, and such like +personages, delighted in a secret progeny. If, on the contrary, in +sparkling correspondence with your eyes, it is brilliant, but has been +clouded by fortune, how ravished shall I be to twirl round the wheels of +that capricious deity, till they reach those dulcet regions, where +beauty and merit are in harmony with wealth and ease! Tell me, then, +what country first saw you bloom; what family originally reared you; by +what name you made your first entrance into the world;--and I will turn +your champion against all the spirits of the air, all the fiends of the +earth, and all the monsters of the "vast abyss!" Leave, then, to such as +need those goaders, the magnetism of mystery and wonder, and trust, +openly and securely, to the charm of youth, the fascination of +intelligence, the enchantment of grace, and the witchery of beauty!' + +Juliet was still silent. + +'I see you take me for a vain, curious old caitiff, peeping, peering and +prying into business in which I have no concern. Charges such as these +are ill cleared by professions; let me plead, therefore, by facts. +Should there be a person,--young, rich, _a la mode_, and not ugly; whose +expectations are splendid, who moves in the sphere of high life, who +could terminate your difficulties with honour, by casting at your feet +that vile dross, which, in fairy hands, such as yours, may be transmuted +into benevolence, generosity, humanity,--if such a person there should +be, who in return for these grosser and more substantial services, +should need the gentler and more refined ones of soft society, mild +hints, guidance unseen, admonition unpronounced;--would you, and could +you, in such a case, condescend to reciprocate advantages, and their +reverse? Would you,--and could you,--if snatched from unmerited +embarrassments, to partake of luxuries which your acceptance would +honour, bear with a little coxcomical nonsense, and with a larger +portion, still, of unmeaning perverseness, and malicious nothingness? I +need not, I think, say, that the happy mortal whom I wish to see thus +charmed and thus formed, is my nephew Ireton.' + +Uncertain whether he meant to mock or to elevate her, Juliet simply +answered, that she had long, though without knowing why, found Mr Ireton +her enemy; but had never forseen that an ill will as unaccountable as it +was unprovoked, would have extended so far, and so wide, as to spread +all around her the influence of irony and derision. + +'Hold, hold! fair infidel,'--cried Sir Jaspar, 'unless you mean to give +me a fit of the gout.' + +He then solemnly assured her, that he was so persuaded that her +excellent understanding, and uncommon intelligence, united, in rare +junction, with such youth and beauty, would make her a treasure to a +rich and idle young man, whose character, fluctuating between good and +bad, or rather between something and nothing, was yet unformed; that, if +she would candidly acknowledge her real name, story, and situation, he +should merely have to utter a mysterious injunction to Ireton, that he +must see her no more, in order to bring him to her feet. 'He acts but a +part,' continued the Baronet, 'in judging you ill. He piques himself +upon being a man of the world, which, he persuades himself, he manifests +to all observers, by a hardy, however vague spirit of detraction and +censoriousness; deeming, like all those whose natures have not a +kindlier bent, suspicion to be sagacity.' + +Juliet was entertained by this singular plan, yet frankly acknowledged, +after repeating her thanks, that it offered her not temptation; and +continued immoveable, to either address or persuasion, for any sort of +personal communication. + +A pause of some minutes ensued, during which Sir Jaspar seemed +deliberating how next to proceed. He then said, 'You are decided not to +hear of my nephew? He is not, I confess, deserving you; but who is? +Yet,--a situation such as this,--a companion such as Mrs Ireton,--any +change must surely be preferable to a fixture of such a sort? What, +then, must be done? Where youth, youth itself, even when joined to +figure and to riches, is rejected, how may it be hoped that age,--age +and infirmity!--even though joined with all that is gentlest in +kindness, all that is most disinterested in devotion, may be rendered +more acceptable?' + +Confused, and perplexed how to understand him, Juliet was rising, under +pretence of following Bijou; but Sir Jaspar, fastening her gown to the +grass by his two crutches, laughingly said, 'Which will you resist most +stoutly? your own cruelty, or the kindness of my little fairy friends? +who, at this moment, with a thousand active gambols, are pinning, +gluing, plaistering, in sylphick mosaic-work, your robe between the +ground and my sticks; so that you cannot tear it away without leaving +me, at least, some little memorial that I have had the happiness of +seeing you!' + +Forced either to struggle or to remain in her place, she sat still, and +he continued. + +'Don't be alarmed, for I shall certainly not offend you. Listen, then, +with indulgence, to what I am tempted to propose, and, whether I am +impelled by my evil genius, or inspired by my guardian angel--' + +Juliet earnestly entreated him to spare her any proposition whatever; +but vainly; and he was beginning, with a fervour almost devout, an +address to all the sylphs, elves, and aeriel beings of his fanciful +idolatry, when a sudden barking from Bijou making him look round, he +perceived that Mrs Ireton, advancing on tiptoe, was creeping behind his +garden-chair. + +Confounded by an apparition so unwished, he leant upon his crutches, +gasping and oppressed for breath; while Juliet, to avoid the attack of +which the malevolence of Mrs Ireton's look was the sure precursor, would +have retreated, had not her gown been so entangled in the crutches of +Sir Jaspar, that she could not rise without leaving him the fragment +that he had coveted. In vain she appealed with her eyes for release; his +consternation was such, that he saw only, what least he wished to see, +the scowling brow of Mrs Ireton; who, to his active imagination, +appeared to be Megara herself, just mounted from the lower regions. + +'Well! this is really charming! Quite edifying, I protest!' burst forth +Mrs Ireton, when she found that she was discovered. 'This is a sort of +intercourse I should never have divined! You'll pardon my want of +discernment! I know I am quite behind hand in observation and remark; +but I hope, in time, and with so much good instruction, I may become +more sagacious. I am glad, however, to see that I don't disturb you Miss +Ellis! Extremely glad to find that you treat your place so amiably +without ceremony. I am quite enchanted to be upon terms so familiar and +agreeable with you. I may sit down myself, I suppose, upon the grass, +meanwhile! 'Twill be really very rural! very rural and pretty!' + +Juliet now could no longer conceal her confined situation, for, pinioned +to her place, she was compelled to petition the Baronet to set her at +liberty. + +The real astonishment of Mrs Ireton, upon discovering the cause and +means of her detention, was far less amusing to herself, than that which +she had affected, while concluding her presumptuous _protegee_ to be a +voluntary intruder upon the time, and encroacher upon the politeness of +the Baronet. Her eyes now opened, with alarm, to a confusion so unusual +in her severe and authoritative brother-in-law; whom she was accustomed +to view awing others, not himself awed. Suggestions of the most +unpleasant nature occurred to her suspicious mind; and she stood as if +thunderstruck in her turn, in silent suspension how to act, or what next +to say; till Selina came running forward, to announce that all the +company was gone to look at the Roman Catholic chapel; and to enquire +whether Mrs Ireton did not mean to make it a visit. + +If Sir Jaspar, Mrs Ireton hesitatingly answered, would join the party, +she would attend him with pleasure. + +Sir Jaspar heard not this invitation. In his haste to give Juliet her +freedom, his feeble hands, disobedient to his will, and unable to second +the alacrity of his wishes, struck his crutches through her gown; and +they were now both, and in equal confusion, employed in disentangling +it; and ashamed to look up, or to speak. + +Selina, perceiving their position, with the unmeaning glee of a childish +love of communication, ran, tittering, away, to tell it to Miss +Brinville; who, saying that there was nothing worth seeing in the Roman +Catholic chapel, was sauntering after Mrs Ireton, in hopes of finding +entertainment more congenial to her mind. + +The sight of this lady restored to Mrs Ireton the scoffing powers which +amazement, mingled with alarm, had momentarily chilled; and, as Miss +Brinville peeringly approached, to verify the whisper of Selina, +exclaiming, 'Dear! what makes poor Sir Jaspar stoop so?' his loving +sister-in-law answered, 'Sir Jaspar, Miss Brinville? What can Sir Jaspar +do? I beg pardon for the question, but what can a gentleman do, when a +young woman happens to take a fancy to place herself so near him, that +he can't turn round without incommoding her? Not that I mean to blame +Miss Ellis. I hope I know better. I hope I shall never be guilty of such +injustice; for how can Miss Ellis help it? What could she do? Where +could she turn herself in so confined a place as this? in so narrow a +piece of ground? How could she possibly find any other spot for repose?' + +A contemptuous smile at Juliet from Miss Brinville, shewed that lady's +approbation of this witty sally; and the junction of Mrs Maple, whose +participation in this kind of enjoyment was known to be lively and +sincere, exalted still more highly the spirit of poignant sarcasm in Mrs +Ireton; who, with smiles of ineffable self-complacency, went on, 'There +are people, indeed,--I am afraid,--I don't know, but I am afraid +so,--there are people who may have the ill nature to think, that the +charge of walking out a little delicate animal in the grounds, did not +imply an absolute injunction to recline, with lounging elegance, upon an +easy chair. There are people, I say, who may have so little +intelligence as to be of that way of thinking. 'Tis being abominably +stupid, I own, but there's no enlightening vulgar minds! There is no +making them see the merit of quitting an animal for a gentleman; +especially for a gentleman in such penury; who has no means to +recompense any attentions with which he may be indulged.' + +Juliet, more offended, now, even than confused, would willingly have +torn her gown to hasten her release; but she was still sore, from the +taunts of Mrs Ireton, upon a recent similar mischief. + +They were presently joined by the Arramedes; and Mrs Ireton, secure of +new admirers, felt her powers of pleasantry encrease every moment. + +'I hope I shall never fail to acknowledge,' she continued, 'how +supremely I am indebted to those ladies who have had the goodness to +recommend this young person to me. I can never repay such kindness, +certainly; that would be vastly beyond my poor abilities; for she has +the generosity to take an attachment to all that belongs to me! It was +only this morning that she had the goodness to hold a private conference +with my son. Nobody could tell where to find him. He seemed to have +disappeared from the whole house. But no! he had only, as Mr Loddard +afterwards informed me, stept into the Temple, with Miss Ellis.' + +Sir Jaspar now, surprised and shocked, lifted up his eyes; but their +quick penetration instantly read innocence in the indignation expressed +in those of Juliet. + +Mrs Ireton, however, saw only her own triumph, in the malicious simpers +of Miss Brinville, the spiteful sneers of Mrs Maple, and the haughty +scorn of Lady Arramede. + +Charmed, therefore, with her brilliant success, she went on. + +'How I may be able to reward kindness so extraordinary, I can't pretend +to say. I am so stupid, I am quite at a loss what to devize that may be +adequate to such services; for the attentions bestowed upon my son in +the morning, I see equally displayed to his uncle at noon. Though there +is some partiality, I think, too, shewn to Ireton. I won't affirm it; +but I am rather afraid there is some partiality shewn to Ireton; for +though the conference has been equally interesting, I make no doubt, +with Sir Jaspar, it has not had quite so friendly an appearance. The +open air is very delightful, to be sure; and a beautiful prospect helps +to enliven one's ideas; but still, there is something in complete +retirement that seems yet more romantic and amicable. Ireton was so +impressed with this idea, as I am told; for I don't pretend to speak +from my own personal knowledge upon subjects of so much importance; but +I am told,--Mr Loddard informs me, that Ireton was so sensible to the +advantage of having the honours of an exclusive conference, that he not +only chose that retired spot, but had the precaution, also, to lock the +door. I don't mean to assert this! it may be all a mistake, perhaps. +Miss Ellis can tell best.' + +Neither the steadiness of innate dignity, nor the fearlessness of +conscious innocence, could preserve Juliet from a sensation of horrour, +at a charge which she could not deny, though its implications were false +and even atrocious. She saw, too, that, at the words 'lock the door,' +Sir Jaspar again raised his investigating eyes, in which there was +visibly a look of disturbance. She would not, however, deign to make a +vindication, lest she should seem to acknowledge it possible that she +might be thought culpable; but, being now disengaged, she silently, and +uncontrollably hurt, walked away. + +'And pray, Ma'am,' said Mrs Ireton, 'if the question is not too +impertinent, don't you see Mr Loddard coming? And who is to take care of +Bijou? And where is his basket? And I don't see his cushion?' + +Juliet turned round to answer, 'I will send them Madam, immediately.' + +'Amazing condescension!' exclaimed Mrs Ireton, in a rage that she no +longer aimed at disguising: 'I shall never be able to shew my sense of +such affability! Never! I am vastly too obtuse, vastly too obtuse and +impenetrable to find any adequate means of expressing my gratitude. +However, since you really intend me the astonishing favour of sending +one of my people upon your own errand, permit me to entreat,--if it is +not too great a liberty to take with a person of your unspeakable +rank,--permit me to entreat that you will make use of the same vehicle +for conveying to me your account; for you are vastly too fine a lady for +a person so ordinary as I am to keep under her roof. I have no such +ambition, I assure you; not an intention of the kind. So pray let me +know what retribution I am to make for your trouble. You have taken vast +pains, I imagine, to serve me and please me. I imagine so! I must be +prodigiously your debtor, I make no doubt!' + +'What an excess of impertinence!' cried Lady Arramede. + +'She'll never know her place,' said Mrs Maple: ''tis quite in vain to +try to serve such a body.' + +'I never saw such airs in my life!' exclaimed Miss Brinville. + +Juliet could endure no more. The most urgent distress seemed light and +immaterial, when balanced against submission to treatment so injurious. +She walked, therefore, straight forward to the castle, for shelter, +immediate shelter, from this insupportable attack; disengaging herself +from the spoilt little boy, who strove, nay cried to drag her back; +forcing away from her the snarling cur, who would have followed her; and +decidedly mute to the fresh commands of Mrs Ireton, uttered in tones of +peremptory, but vain authority. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + + +Offended, indignant; escaped, yet without safety; free, yet without +refuge; Juliet, hurried into the noble mansion, with no view but to find +an immediate hiding-place, where, unseen, she might allow some vent to +her wounded feelings, and, unmarked, remain till the haughty party +should be gone, and she could seek some humble conveyance for her own +return. + +Concluding her in haste for some commission of Mrs Ireton's, the +servants let her pass nearly unobserved; and she soon came to a long +gallery, hung with genealogical tables of the Arundel family, and with +various religious reliques, and historical curiosities. + +Believing herself alone, and in a place of which the stillness suited +her desire of solitude and concealment, she had already shut the door +before she saw her mistake. What, then, was her astonishment, what her +emotion, when she discerned, seated, and examining a part of the +hangings, at the further end of the gallery, the gentle form of Lady +Aurora Granville! + +Sudden transport, though mingled with a thousand apprehensions, +instantly converted every dread that could depress into every hope that +could revive her. A start evinced that she was seen. She endeavoured to +courtesy, and would have advanced; but, the first moment over, fear, +uncertainty, and conflicting doubts took place of its joy, and robbed +her of force. Her dimmed eyes perceived not the smiling pleasure with +which Lady Aurora had risen at her approach; her breast heaved quick; +her heart swelled almost to suffocation; and, wholly disordered, she +leaned against a window-frame cut in the immensely thick walls of the +castle. + +Lady Aurora now ran fleetly forward, exclaiming, in a voice of which the +tender melody spoke the softness of her soul, 'Miss Ellis! My dear Miss +Ellis! have I, indeed, the happiness to meet with you again? O! if you +could know how I have desired, have pined for it!--But,--are you ill?! +You cannot be angry? Miss Ellis! sweet Miss Ellis! Can you ever have +believed that it has been my fault that I have appeared so unkind, so +hard, so cruel?' + +With a fulness of joy that, in conquering doubt, overpowered timidity, +Juliet now, with rapturous tears, and resistless tenderness, flung +herself upon the neck of Lady Aurora, whom she encircled with her arms, +and strained fondly to her bosom. + +But the same vent that gave relief to internal oppression brought her to +a sense of external impropriety: she felt that it was rather her part to +receive than to bestow such marks of affection. She drew back; and her +cheeks were suffused with the most vivid scarlet, when she observed the +deep colour which dyed those of Lady Aurora at this action; though +evidently with the blushes of surprise, not of pride. + +Ashamed, and hanging her head, Juliet would have attempted some apology; +but Lady Aurora, warmly returning her embrace, cried, 'How happy, and +how singular a chance that we should have fixed upon this day for +visiting Arundelcastle! We have been making a tour to the Isle of Wight +and to Portsmouth; and we did not intend to go to Brighthelmstone; so +that I had no hope, none upon earth, of such a felicity as that of +seeing my dear Miss Ellis. I need not, I think, say it was not I who +formed our plan, when I own that we had no design to visit +Brighthelmstone, though I knew, from Lady Barbara Frankland, that Miss +Ellis was there?' + +'Alas! I fear,' answered Juliet, 'the design was to avoid +Brighthelmstone! and to avoid it lest a blessing such as I now +experience should fall to my lot! Ah, Lady Aurora! by the pleasure,--the +transport, rather, with which your sudden sight has made me appear to +forget myself, judge my anguish, my desolation, to be banished from your +society, and banished as a criminal!' + +Lady Aurora shuddered and hid her face. 'O Miss Ellis!' she cried, 'what +a word! never may I hear it,--so applied,--again, lest it should +alienate me from those I ought to respect and esteem! and you so good, +so excellent, would be sorry to see me estrange myself, even though it +were for your own sake, from those to whom I owe gratitude and +attachment. I must try to shew my admiration of Miss Ellis in a manner +that Miss Ellis herself will not condemn. And will not that be by +speaking to her without any disguise? And will she not have the goodness +to encourage me to do it? For the world I would not take a liberty with +her;--for the universe I would not hurt her!--but if it were possible +she could condescend to give, ... however slightly, however imperfectly, +some little explanation to ... to ... Mrs Howel....' + +Juliet here, with a strong expression of horrour, interrupted her: 'Mrs +Howel?--O no! I cannot speak with Mrs Howel!--I had nearly said I can +see Mrs Howel no more! But happier days would soon subdue resentment. +And, indeed, what I feel even now, may more justly be called terrour. +Appearances have so cruelly misrepresented me, that I have no right to +be indignant, nor even surprised that they should give rise to false +judgments. I have no right to expect,--in a second instance,--unknown, +friendless, lonely as I am! a trusting angel! a Lady Aurora!' + +The tears of Lady Aurora now flowed as fast as her own. 'If I have been +so fortunate,' she cried, 'as to inspire such sweet kindness in so noble +a mind, even in the midst of its unhappiness, I shall always prize it as +the greatest of honours, and try to use it so as to make me become +better; that you may never wound me by retracting it, nor be wounded +yourself by being ashamed of your partiality.' + +With difficulty Juliet now forbore casting herself at the feet of Lady +Aurora, the hem of whose garment she would have kissed with extacy, had +not her own pecuniary distresses, and the rank of her young friend, made +her recoil from what might have the semblance of flattery. She attempted +not to speak; conscious of the inadequacy of all that she could utter +for expressing what she felt, she left to the silent eloquence of her +streaming, yet transport-glittering eyes, the happy task of +demonstrating her gratitude and delight. + +With calmer, though extreme pleasure, Lady Aurora perceived the +impression which she had made. 'See,' she cried, again embracing her; +'see whether I trust in your kindness, when I venture, once more, to +renew my earnest request, my entreaty, my petition--' + +'O! Lady Aurora! Who can resist you? Not I! I am vanquished! I will tell +you all! I will unbosom myself to you entirely!' + +'No, my Miss Ellis, no! not to me! I will not even hear you! Have I not +said so? And what should make me change? All I have been told by Lady +Barbara Frankland of your exertions, has but increased my admiration; +all she has written of your sufferings, your disappointments, and the +patient courage with which you have borne them, has but more endeared +you to my heart. No explanation can make you fairer, clearer, more +perfect in my eyes. I take, indeed, the deepest interest in your +welfare; but it is an interest that makes me proud to wait, not curious +to hear; proud, my Miss Ellis, to shew my confidence, my trust in your +excellencies! If, therefore, you will have the goodness to speak, it +must be to others, not to me! I should blush to be of the number of +those who want documents, certificates, to love and honour you!' + +Again Juliet was speechless; again all words seemed poor, heartless, +unworthy to describe the sensibility of her soul, at this touching proof +of a tenderness so consonant to her wishes, yet so far surpassing her +dearest expectations. She hung over her ingenuous young friend; she +sighed, she even sobbed with unutterable delight; while tears of rapture +rolled down her glowing cheeks, and while her eyes were lustrous with a +radiance of felicity that no tears could dim. + +Charmed, and encouraged, Lady Aurora continued: 'To those, then, who +have not had the happiness to see you so justly; who dwell only upon the +singularity of your being so ... alone, and so ... young,--O how often +have I told them that I was sure you as little knew as merited their +evil constructions! How often have I wished to write to you! how certain +have I felt that all your motives to concealment, even the most +respectable, would yield to so urgent a necessity, as that of clearing +away every injurious surmise! Speak, therefore, my Miss Ellis, though +not to me! even from them, when you have trusted them, I will hear +nothing till the time of your secresy is over; that I may give them an +example of the discretion they must observe with others. Yet speak! have +the goodness to speak, that every body,--my uncle Denmeath himself,--and +even Mrs Howel,--may acknowledge and respect your excellencies and your +virtues as I do! And then, my Miss Ellis, who shall prevent,--who will +even desire to prevent my shewing to the whole world my sense of your +worth, and my pride in your friendship?' + +The struggles that now heaved the breast of Juliet were nearly too +potent for her strength. She gasped for breath; she held her hand to her +heart; and when, at length, the kind caresses and gentle pleadings of +Lady Aurora, brought back her speech, she painfully pronounced, 'Shall I +repay goodness so exquisite, by filling with regret the sweet mind that +intends me only honour and consolation? Must the charm of such +unexpected kindness, even while it penetrates my heart with almost +piercing delight, entail, from its resistless persuasion, a misery upon +the rest of my days, that may render them a burthen from which I may +hourly sigh,--nay pray, to be delivered?' + +Seized with horrour and astonishment, Lady Aurora exclaimed, 'Oh heaven, +no! I must be a monster if I would not rather die, immediately die, than +cause you any evil! Miss Ellis, my dear Miss Ellis! forget I have made +such a request, and forgive my indiscretion! With all your misfortunes, +Miss Ellis, all your so undeserved griefs, you are quite a stranger to +sorrow, compared to that which I should experience, if, through me, +through my means, you should be exposed to any fresh injury!' + +'Angelic goodness!' cried Juliet, deeply affected: 'I blush, I blush to +hear you without casting myself entirely into your power, without making +you immediate arbitress of my fate! Yet,--since you demand not my +confidence for your own satisfaction,--can I know that to spread it +beyond yourself,--your generous self!--might involve me in instantaneous +earthly destruction, and, voluntarily, suffer your very benevolence to +become its instrument? With regard to Lord Denmeath,--to your uncle,--I +must say nothing; but with regard to Mrs Howel,--let me conjure your +ladyship to consent to my utterly avoiding her, that I may escape the +dreadful accusations and reproaches that my cruel situation forbids me +to repel. I have no words to paint the terrible impression she has left +upon my mind. All that I have borne from others is short of what I have +suffered from that lady! The debasing suspicions of Mrs Maple, the +taunting tyranny of Mrs Ireton, though they make me blush to owe,--or +rather, to earn from them the subsistence without which I know not how +to exist; have yet never smote so rudely and so acutely to my inmost +heart, as the attack I endured from Mrs Howel! They rob me, indeed, of +comfort, of rest, and of liberty--but they do not sever me from Lady +Aurora!' + +'Alas, my Miss Ellis! and have I, too, joined in the general persecution +against such afflicted innocence? I feel myself the most unpardonable of +all not to have acquiesced, without one ungenerous question, or even +conjecture; in full reliance upon the right and the necessity of your +silence. I ought to have forseen that if it were not improper you should +comply, your own noble way of thinking would have made all entreaty as +useless as it has been impertinent. Yet when prejudice alone parts us, +how could I help trying to overcome it? And even my brother, though he +would forfeit, I believe, his life in your defence; and though he says +he is sure you are all purity and virtue; and though he thinks that +there is nothing upon earth that can be compared with you;--even he has +been brought to agree to the cruel resolution, that I should defer +knitting myself closer to my Miss Ellis, till she is able to have the +goodness to let us know--' + +She stopt, alarmed, for the cheeks of Juliet were suddenly dyed with the +deepest crimson; though the transient tint faded away as she pronounced, + +'Lord Melbury!--even Lord Melbury!--' and they became Pale as death, +while, in a faint voice, and with stifled emotion, she added, 'He is +right! He acts as a brother; and as a brother to a sister whom he can +never sufficiently appreciate.--And yet, the more I esteem his +circumspection, the more deeply I must be wounded that calumny,--that +mystery,--that dire circumstance, should make me seem dangerous, where, +otherwise--' + +Unable longer to constrain her feelings, she sunk upon a seat and wept. + +'O Miss Ellis? What have I done?' cried Lady Aurora. 'How have I been so +barbarous, so inconsiderate, so unwise? If my poor brother had caused +you this pain, how should I have blamed him? And how grievously would he +have repented! How severely, then, ought I to be reproached! I who have +done it myself, without his generous precipitancy of temper to palliate +such want of reflection!--' + +The sudden entrance of Selina here interrupted the conversation. She +came tripping forward, to acquaint Lady Aurora that the party had just +discerned a magnificent vessel; and that every body said if her ladyship +did not come directly, it would be sailed away. + +At sight of Juliet, she ran to embrace her, with the warmest expressions +of friendship; unchecked by a coldness which she did not observe, though +now, from the dissatisfaction excited by so unseasonable an intrusion, +it was far more marked, than while it had been under the qualifying +influence of contempt. + +But when she found that neither caresses, nor kind words, could make her +share with Lady Aurora, even for a moment, the attention of Juliet, she +became a little confused; and, drawing her apart, asked what was the +matter? consciously, without waiting for any answer, running into a +string of simple apologies, for not speaking to her in public; which she +should always, she said, do with the greatest pleasure; for she thought +her the most agreeable person in the whole-world; if it were not, that, +nobody knowing her, it would look so odd. + +All answer, save a smile half disdainful, half pitying, was precluded by +the appearance of the Arramedes, Mrs Ireton, and Miss Brinville; who +announced to Lady Aurora that the ship was already out of sight. + +Upon perceiving Juliet, they were nearly as much embarrassed as herself; +for though she instantly retreated, it was evident that she had been +sitting by the side of Lady Aurora, in close and amicable conference. + +An awkward general silence ensued, when Juliet, hearing other steps, was +moving off; but Lady Aurora, following, and holding out her hand, +affectionately said, 'Are you going, Miss Ellis? Must you go? And will +you not bid me adieu?' + +Touched to the soul at this public mark of kindness, Juliet was +gratefully returning, when the voice of Lord Melbury spoke his near +approach. Trembling and changing colour, her folded hands demanded +excuse of Lady Aurora for a precipitate yet reluctant flight; but she +had still found neither time nor means to escape, when Lord Melbury, who +was playing with young Loddard, entered the gallery, saying, 'Aurora, +your genealogical studies have lost you a most beautiful sea-view.' + +The boy, spying Juliet, whom he was more than ever eager to join when he +saw that she strove to avoid notice; darted from his lordship, calling +out, 'Ellis! Ellis! look! look! here's Ellis!' + +Lord Melbury, with an air of the most animated surprize and delight, +darted forward also, exclaiming, 'Miss Ellis! How unexpected a pleasure! +The moment I saw Mrs Ireton I had some hope I might see, also, Miss +Ellis--but I had already given it up as delusory.' + +Again the fallen countenance of Juliet brightened into sparkling beauty. +The idea that even Lord Melbury had been infected by the opinions which +had been circulated to her disadvantage, had wounded, had stung her to +the quick: but to find that, notwithstanding he had been prevailed upon +to acquiesce that his sister, while so much mystery remained, should +keep personally aloof, his own sentiments of esteem remained unshaken; +and to find it by so open, and so prompt a testimony of respect and +regard, displayed before the very witnesses who had sought to destroy, +or invalidate, every impression that might be made in her favour, was a +relief the most exquisitely welcome to her disturbed and fearful mind. + +Eager and rapid enquiries concerning her health, uttered with the ardour +of juvenile vivacity, succeeded this first address. The party standing +by, looked astonished, even abashed; while the face of Lady Aurora +recovered its wonted expression of sweet serenity. + +Mrs Ireton, now, was seized with a desire the most violent, to repossess +a _protegee_ whose history and situation seemed daily to grow more +wonderful. With a courtesy, therefore, as foreign from her usual +manners, as from her real feelings, she said, 'Miss Ellis, I am sure, +will have the goodness to help me home with my two little companions? I +am sure of that. She could not be so unkind as to leave the poor little +things in the lurch?' + +Indignant as Juliet had felt at the treatment which she had received, +resentment at this moment found no place in her mind; she was beginning, +therefore, a civil, however decided excuse; when Mrs Ireton, suspicious +of her purpose, flung herself languishingly upon a seat, and complained +that she was seized with such an immoderate pain in her side, that, if +somebody would not take care of the two _little souls_, she should +arrive at Brighthelmstone a corpse. + +The Arramedes, Miss Brinville, and Selina, all declared that it was +impossible to refuse so essential a service to a health so delicate. + +The fear, now, of a second public scene, with the dread lest Lord +Melbury might be excited to speak or act in her favour, forced the +judgment of Juliet to conquer her inclination, in leading her to defer +the so often given dismission till her return to Brighthelmstone; she +acceded, therefore, though with cruel unwillingness, to what was +required. + +Mrs Ireton instantly recovered; and with the more alacrity, from +observing that Lady Barbara Frankland joined the group, at this moment +of victory. + +'Take the trouble, then, if you please, Ma'am,' she replied, in her +usual tone of irony; 'if it will not be too great a condescension, take +the trouble to carry Bijou to the coach. And bid Simon keep him safe +while you come back,--if it is not asking quite too great a favour,--for +Mr Loddard. And pray bring my wrapping cloak with you, Ma'am. You'll be +so good, I hope, as to excuse all these liberties? I hope so, at least! +I flatter myself you'll excuse them. And, if the cloak should be heavy, +I dare say Simon will give you his arm. Simon is a man of gallantry, I +make no doubt. Not that I pretend to know; but I take it for granted he +is a man of gallantry.' + +Juliet looked down, repentant to have placed herself, even for another +moment, in a power so merciless. Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora, each hurt +and indignant, advanced, uttering kind speeches: while Lady Barbara, +still younger and more unguarded, seizing the little dog, exclaimed 'No, +I'll carry Bijou myself, Mrs Ireton. Poor Miss Ellis looks so tired! +I'll take care of him all the way to Brighthelmstone myself. Dear, +pretty little creature!' Then, skipping behind Lady Aurora, 'Nasty +whelp!' she whispered, 'how I'll pinch him for being such a plague to +that sweet Miss Ellis! Perhaps that will mend him!' + +The satisfaction of Lady Aurora at this trait glistened in her soft +eyes; while Lord Melbury, enchanted, caught the hand of the spirited +little lady, and pressed it to his lips; though, ashamed of his own +vivacity, he let it go before she had time to withdraw it. She coloured +deeply, but visibly with no unpleasant sensation; and, grasping the +little dog, hid her blushes, by uttering a precipitate farewell upon the +bosom of Lady Aurora; who smilingly, though tenderly, kissed her +forehead. + +An idea that teemed with joy and happiness rose high in the breast of +Juliet, as she looked from Lord Melbury to Lady Barbara. Ah! there, +indeed, she thought, felicity might find a residence! there, in the rare +union of equal worth, equal attractions, sympathising feelings, and +similar condition! + +'And I, too,' cried Lord Melbury, 'must have the honour to make myself +of some use; if Mrs Ireton, therefore, will trust Mr Loddard to my care, +I will convey him safely to Brighthelmstone, and overtake my sister in +the evening. And by this means we shall lighten the fatigue of Mrs +Ireton, without increasing that of Miss Ellis.' + +He then took the little boy in his arms; playfully dancing him before +the little dog in those of Lady Barbara. + +The heart of Juliet panted to give utterance to the warm +acknowledgements with which it was fondly beating; but mingled fear and +discretion forced her to silence. + +All the evil tendencies of malice, envy, and ill will, pent up in the +breast of Mrs Ireton, now struggled irresistibly for vent; yet to insist +that Juliet should take change of Mr Loddard, for whom Lord Melbury had +offered his services; or even to force upon her the care of the little +dog, since Lady Barbara had proposed carrying him herself, appeared no +longer to exhibit dependency: Mrs Ireton, therefore, found it expedient +to be again taken ill; and, after a little fretful moaning, 'I feel +quite shaken,' she cried, 'quite in a tremour. My feet are absolutely +numbed. Do get me my furred clogs, Miss Ellis; if I may venture to ask +such a favour. I would not be troublesome, but you will probably find +them in the carriage. Though perhaps I have left them in the hall. You +will have the condescension to help the coachman and Simon to make a +search. And then pray run back, if it won't fatigue you too much, and +tie them on for me.' + +If Juliet now coloured, at least it was not singly; the cheeks of Lady +Aurora, of Lady Barbara, and of Lord Melbury were equally crimsoned. + +'Let me, Mrs Ireton,' eagerly cried Lord Melbury 'have the honour to be +Miss Ellis's deputy.' + +'No, my lord,' said Juliet, with spirit: 'grateful and proud as I should +feel to be honoured with your lordship's assistance, it must not be in a +business that does not belong to me. I will deliver the orders to Simon. +And as Mrs Ireton is now relieved from her anxiety concerning Mr +Loddard, I beg permission, once more, and finally, to take my leave.' + +Gravely then courtsying to Mrs Ireton, and bowing her head with an +expression of the most touching sensibility to her three young +supporters, she quitted the gallery. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer (Volume 3 of 5), by Fanny Burney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER (VOLUME 3 OF 5) *** + +***** This file should be named 37439.txt or 37439.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37439/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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