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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41196 ***
+
+    SELF-CONTROL
+
+    _A Novel by_
+    MARY BRUNTON
+
+
+    His warfare is within.--There unfatigued
+    His fervent spirit labours.--There he fights,
+    And there obtains fresh triumphs o'er himself,
+    And never-withering wreaths, compared with which
+    The laurels that a Caesar reaps are weeds
+
+                                                   Cowper
+
+
+
+
+                           TO
+                   MISS JOANNA BAILLIE
+
+MADAM,
+
+You would smile to hear the insect of a day pay the tribute of its
+praise to the lasting oak which aided its first feeble soaring--Smile
+then;--for a person whom nature, fortune, and inclination, alike, have
+marked for obscurity, one whose very name may never reach your ear,
+offers this tribute of respect to the author of PLAYS on the PASSIONS.
+
+The pleasure of expressing heart-felt admiration is not, however, my
+only motive for inscribing this tale to you. Unknown to the world both
+as an individual and as an author, I own myself desirous of giving a
+pledge of spotless intention in my work, by adorning it with the name of
+one whose writings force every unvitiated heart to glow with a warmer
+love of virtue. On one solitary point I claim equality with you:--In
+purity of intention I yield not even to JOANNA BAILLIE.
+
+May I venture to avow another feeling which has prompted this intrusion?
+What point so small that vanity cannot build on it a resting-place! Will
+you believe that this trifle claims affinity with the Plays on the
+Passions?--Your portraitures of the progress and of the consequences of
+passion,--portraitures whose exquisite truth gives them the force of
+living examples,--are powerful warnings to watch the first risings of
+the insidious rebel. No guard but one is equal to the task. The
+regulation of the passions is the province, it is the triumph of
+RELIGION. In the character of Laura Montreville the religious principle
+is exhibited as rejecting the bribes of ambition; bestowing fortitude in
+want and sorrow; as restraining just displeasure; overcoming
+constitutional timidity; conquering misplaced affection; and triumphing
+over the fear of death and of disgrace.
+
+This little tale was begun at first merely for my own amusement. It is
+published that I may reconcile my conscience to the time which it has
+employed, by making it in some degree useful. Let not the term so
+implied provoke a smile! If my book is read, its uses to the author are
+obvious. Nor is a work of fiction necessarily unprofitable to the
+readers. When the vitiated appetite refuses its proper food, the
+alternative may be administered in a sweetmeat. It may be imprudent to
+confess the presence of the medicine, lest the sickly palate, thus
+warned, turn from it in loathing. But I rely in this instance on the
+world of the philosopher, who avers that 'young ladies never read
+prefaces'; and I am not without hope, that with you, and with all who
+form exceptions to this rule, the avowal of a useful purpose may be an
+inducement to tolerate what otherwise might be thought unworthy of
+regard.
+
+Perhaps in an age whose lax morality, declining the glorious toils of
+virtue, is poorly 'content to dwell in decencies for ever', emulation
+may be repressed by the eminence which the character of Laura claims
+over the ordinary standard of the times. A virtue which, though
+essentially Christian, is certainly not very popular in this Christian
+country, may be stigmatized as romantic; a chilling term of reproach,
+which has blighted many a fair blossom of goodness ere it ripened into
+fruit. Perhaps some of my fair countrywomen, finding it difficult to
+trace in the delineation of Self-Control any striking feature of their
+own minds, may pronounce my picture unnatural. It might be enough to
+reply, that I do not ascribe any of the virtues of Laura to nature, and,
+least of all, the one whose office is to regulate and control nature.
+But if my principal figure want the air, and vivacity of life, the blame
+lies in the painter, not in the subject. Laura is indebted to fancy for
+her drapery and attitudes alone. I have had the happiness of witnessing,
+in real life, a self-command operating with as much force, permanence,
+and uniformity, as that which is depicted in the following volumes. To
+you, Madam, I should perhaps further apologize for having left in my
+model some traces of human imperfection; while, for the generality of my
+readers, I breathe a fervent wish, that these pages may assist in
+enabling their own hearts to furnish proof that the character of Laura,
+however unnatural, is yet not unattainable.
+
+  I have the honour to be,
+    with great respect,
+      Madam,
+        Your obedient Servant,
+          The AUTHOR
+
+                                          January 1811.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  Chapter I               1
+
+  Chapter II             10
+
+  Chapter III            18
+
+  Chapter IV             23
+
+  Chapter V              33
+
+  Chapter VI             39
+
+  Chapter VII            45
+
+  Chapter VIII           56
+
+  Chapter IX             62
+
+  Chapter X              73
+
+  Chapter XI             82
+
+  Chapter XII            90
+
+  Chapter XIII          102
+
+  Chapter XIV           116
+
+  Chapter XV            132
+
+  Chapter XVI           147
+
+  Chapter XVII          161
+
+  Chapter XVIII         185
+
+  Chapter XIX           201
+
+  Chapter XX            215
+
+  Chapter XXI           229
+
+  Chapter XXII          242
+
+  Chapter XXIII         260
+
+  Chapter XXIV          270
+
+  Chapter XXV           283
+
+  Chapter XXVI          298
+
+  Chapter XXVII         312
+
+  Chapter XXVIII        329
+
+  Chapter XXIX          346
+
+  Chapter XXX           367
+
+  Chapter XXXI          387
+
+  Chapter XXXII         402
+
+  Chapter XXXIII        413
+
+  Chapter XXXIV         426
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+It was on a still evening in June, that Laura Montreville left her
+father's cottage, in the little village of Glenalbert, to begin a
+solitary ramble. Her countenance was mournful, and her step languid; for
+her health had suffered from long confinement, and her spirits were
+exhausted by long attendance on the deathbed of her mother. That labour
+of duty had been lessened by no extrinsic circumstance; for Lady Harriet
+Montreville was a peevish and refractory patient; her disorder had been
+tedious as well as hopeless; and the humble establishment of a half-pay
+officer furnished no one who could lighten to Laura the burden of
+constant attendance. But Laura had in herself that which softens all
+difficulty, and beguiles all fatigue--an active mind, a strong sense of
+duty, and the habit of meeting and of overcoming adverse circumstances.
+
+Captain Montreville was of a family ancient and respectable, but so far
+from affluent, that, at the death of his father, he found his wealth, as
+a younger son, to consist only of £500, besides the emoluments arising
+from a lieutenancy in a regiment of foot. Nature had given him a fine
+person and a pleasing address; and to the national opinions of a Scotish
+mother, he was indebted for an education, of which the liberality suited
+better with his birth than with his fortunes. He was in London
+negotiating for the purchase of a company, when he accidentally met with
+Lady Harriet Bircham. Her person was shewy, and her manners had the
+glare, even more than the polish of high life. She had a lively
+imagination, and some wit; had read a little, and knew how to shew that
+little to advantage. The fine person of Montreville soon awakened the
+only sort of sensibility of which Lady Harriet was possessed; and her
+preference was sufficiently visible in every step of its progress. To be
+distinguished by a lady of such rank and attractions, raised in
+Montreville all the vanity of three-and-twenty; and, seen through that
+medium, Lady Harriet's charms were magnified to perfections. Montreville
+soon was, or fancied himself, desperately in love. He sued, and was
+accepted with a frankness, to which some stiff advocates for female
+decorum might give the harsh name of forwardness. Montreville was in
+love, and he was pleased to call it the candour of a noble mind.
+
+As his regiment was at this time under orders for the West Indies, Lady
+Harriet prevailed on him to exchange to half-pay; and her fortune being
+no more than £5000, economy, no less than the fondness for solitude
+natural in young men in love, induced him to retire to the country with
+his bride, who had reasons of her own for wishing to quit London. He had
+been educated in Scotland, and he remembered its wild scenery with the
+enthusiasm of a man of taste, and a painter. He settled therefore in the
+village of Glenalbert, near Perth; and to relieve his conscience from
+the load of utter idleness at twenty-three, began the superintendence of
+a little farm. Here the ease and vivacity of Lady Harriet made her for a
+while the delight of her new acquaintance. She understood all the arts
+of courtesy; and, happy herself, was for a while content to practise
+them. The store of anecdote, which she had accumulated in her
+intercourse with the great, passed with her country neighbours for
+knowledge of the world. To Scotish ears, the accent of the higher ranks
+of English conveys an idea of smartness, as well as of gentility; and
+Lady Harriet became an universal favourite.
+
+Those who succeed best in amusing strangers, are not, it has been
+remarked, the most pleasing in domestic life: they are not even always
+the most entertaining. Lady Harriet's spirits had ebbs, which commonly
+took place during her tête-à-têtes with Captain Montreville. Outward
+attractions, real or imaginary, are the natural food of passion: but
+sound principles must win confidence, and kindness of heart engage
+affection. Poor Montreville soon gave a mournful assent to these truths;
+for Lady Harriet had no principles, and her heart was a mere 'pulsation
+on the left side.' Her passion for her husband soon declined; and her
+more permanent appetite for admiration finding but scanty food in a
+solitary village, her days passed in secret discontent or open
+murmurings. The narrowness of their finances made her feel the necessity
+of economy, though it could not immediately instruct her in the art of
+it; and Montreville, driven from domestic habits by the turmoil of a
+household, bustling without usefulness, and parsimonious without
+frugality, was on the point of returning to his profession, or of
+seeking relief in such dissipation as he had the means of obtaining,
+when the birth of a daughter gave a new turn to all his hopes and
+wishes.
+
+'I should not wish the girl to be a beauty,' said he to his friend, the
+village pastor. 'A pretty face is of no use, but to blind a lover';--and
+he sighed, as he recollected his own blindness. Yet he was delighted to
+see that Laura grew every day more lovely. 'Wit only makes women
+troublesome,' said he;--but before Laura was old enough to shew the
+uncommon acuteness of her understanding, he had quite forgotten that he
+ever applied the remark to her. To amuse her infancy became his chosen
+recreation; to instruct her youth was afterwards his favourite
+employment. Lady Harriet, too, early began to seek food for her vanity
+in the superior endowments of her child, and she forthwith determined
+that Laura should be a paragon. To perfect her on Nature's plan, never
+entered the head of this judicious matron; she preferred a plan of her
+own, and scorned to be indebted to the assistance of nature, even for
+any part of the perfect structure which she resolved to rear. The temper
+of Laura, uniformly calm and placid, was by nature slightly inclined to
+obstinacy. Lady Harriet had predetermined that her daughter should be a
+model of yielding softness. Laura's spirits were inexhaustible; Lady
+Harriet thought nothing so interesting as a pensive beauty. Laura was
+both a reasonable and a reasoning creature: her mother chose that she
+should use the latter faculty in every instance, except where maternal
+authority or opinion was concerned. Innumerable difficulties, therefore,
+opposed Lady Harriet's system; and as violent measures ever occur first
+to those who are destitute of other resources, she had recourse to so
+many blows, disgraces, and deprivations, as must have effectually ruined
+the temper and dispositions of her pupil, if Laura had not soon learnt
+to look upon the ungoverned anger of her mother as a disease, to which
+she owed pity and concealment. This lesson was taught her partly by the
+example of her father, partly by the admonitions of Mrs Douglas, wife to
+the clergyman of the parish.
+
+This lady was in every respect Lady Harriet's opposite. Of sound sense,
+rather than of brilliant abilities; reserved in her manners, gentle in
+her temper, pious, humble, and upright; she spent her life in the
+diligent and unostentatious discharge of Christian and feminine duty;
+beloved without effort to engage the love, respected without care to
+secure the praise of man. She had always treated the little Laura with
+more than common tenderness; and the child, unused to the fascinations
+of feminine kindness, repaid her attention with the utmost enthusiasm of
+love and veneration. With her she passed every moment allowed her for
+recreation; to her she applied in every little difficulty; from her she
+solicited every childish indulgence. The influence of this excellent
+woman increased with Laura's age, till her approbation became essential
+to the peace of her young friend, who instinctively sought to read, in
+the expressive countenance of Mrs Douglas, an opinion of all her words
+and actions. Mrs Douglas, ever watchful for the good of all who
+approached her, used every effort to render this attachment as useful as
+it was delightful, and gradually laid the foundation of the most
+valuable qualities in the mind of Laura. By degrees she taught her to
+know and to love the Author of her being, to adore him as the bestower
+of all her innocent pleasures, to seek his favour, or to tremble at his
+disapprobation in every hour of her life. Lady Harriet had been educated
+among those who despised or neglected the peculiar tenets of the
+Christian faith; she never thought of them, therefore, but as an affair
+that gave scope to lively argument. On Mrs Douglas's own mind they had
+their proper effect; and she convinced Laura that they were not subjects
+for cavil, but for humble and thankful acceptation.
+
+In as far as the religious character can be traced to causes merely
+natural, it may be formed by those who obtain over a mind of sensibility
+and reflection the influence which affection bestows, provided that they
+are themselves duly impressed with the importance, the harmony, the
+excellence of what they teach. Laura early saw the Christian doctrines,
+precepts and promises, warm the heart, and guide the conduct, and
+animate the hopes of her whom she loved best. Sympathy and imitation,
+the strongest tendencies of infancy, first formed the disposition which
+reason afterwards strengthened into principle, and Laura grew up a pious
+Christian.
+
+It is the fashion of the age to account for every striking feature of a
+character from education or external circumstance. Those who are fond of
+such speculations may trace, if they can, the self-denying habits of
+Laura, to the eagerness with which her enthusiastic mind imbibed the
+stories of self-devoting patriots and martyrs, and may find, in one
+lesson of her preceptress, the tint which coloured her future days. The
+child had been reading a narrative of the triumphant death of one of the
+first reformers, and, full of the emulation which the tale of heroic
+virtue inspires, exclaimed, her eyes flashing through their tears, her
+little form erect with noble daring,--'Let them persecute me and I will
+be a martyr.' 'You may be so now, to-day, every day,' returned Mrs
+Douglas. 'It was not at the stake that these holy men began their
+self-denial. They had before taken up their cross daily; and whenever,
+from a regard to duty, you resign any thing that is pleasing or valuable
+to you, you are for the time a little martyr.'
+
+In a solitary village, remote from her equals in age and rank, Laura
+necessarily lived much alone, and in solitude she acquired a grave and
+contemplative turn of mind. Far from the scenes of dissipation and
+frivolity, conversant with the grand and the sublime in nature, her
+sentiments assumed a corresponding elevation. She had heard that there
+was vice in the world: she knew that there was virtue in it; and, little
+acquainted with other minds, deeply studious of her own, she concluded
+that all mankind were, like herself, engaged in a constant endeavour
+after excellence; that success in this struggle was at once virtue and
+happiness, while failure included misery as well as guilt. The habit of
+self-examination, early formed, and steadily maintained, made even
+venial trespass appear the worst of evils;--while, in the labours of
+duty and the pleasures of devotion, she found joys which sometimes rose
+to rapture.
+
+The capricious unkindness of her mother gave constant exercise to her
+fortitude and forbearance, while the principle of charity, no less than
+the feelings of benevolence, led to frequent efforts of self-denial. The
+latter virtue became daily more necessary, for mismanagement had now
+brought her mother's fortune almost to a close; and Captain Montreville,
+while he felt that she was injuring his child, could not prevail on
+himself to withhold from Lady Harriet the control of what he considered
+her own, especially as her health was such as to afford a plea for
+indulgence.
+
+Laura had reached her sixteenth year, when Mr Douglas was induced, by a
+larger benefice, to remove to a parish almost twenty miles distant from
+Glenalbert; and parting with her early friend, was the severest sorrow
+that Laura had ever yet known. Captain Montreville promised, however,
+that his daughter should often visit the new parsonage; but Lady
+Harriet's increasing illness long prevented the performance of his
+promise. After a confinement of many months she died, and was lamented
+by her husband, with that sort of sorrow which it usually costs a man to
+part with an object which he is accustomed to see, when he knows that he
+shall see it no more.
+
+It was on the third evening after her mother's funeral, that Captain
+Montreville prevailed on his daughter to take a solitary walk. Slowly
+she ascended the hill that overlooked the village, and, stopping near
+its brow, looked back towards the churchyard, to observe a brown hillock
+that marked the spot where her mother slept. Tears filled her eyes, as,
+passing over long intervals of unkindness, she recollected some casual
+proof of maternal love; and they fell fast as she remembered, that for
+that love she could now make no return. She turned to proceed;--and the
+moist eye sparkled with pleasure, the faded cheek glowed with more than
+the flush of health, when, springing towards her, she beheld the
+elegant, the accomplished, Colonel Hargrave. Forgotten was languor;
+forgotten was sorrow; for Laura was just seventeen, and Colonel Hargrave
+was the most ardent, the most favoured of lovers. His person was
+symmetry itself; his manners had all the fascination that vivacity and
+intelligence, joined to the highest polish, can bestow. His love for
+Laura suited with the impetuosity of his character, and for more than a
+year he had laboured with assiduity and success to inspire a passion
+corresponding to his own. Yet it was not Hargrave whom Laura loved; for
+the being on whom she doated had no resemblance to him, but in
+externals. It was a creature of her own imagination, pure as her own
+heart, yet impassioned as the wildest dreams of fiction,--intensely
+susceptible of pleasure, and keenly alive to pain, yet ever ready to
+sacrifice the one and to despise the other. This ideal being, clothed
+with the fine form, and adorned with the insinuating manners, and
+animated with the infectious love of Hargrave, what heart of woman could
+resist? Laura's was completely captivated.
+
+Hargrave, charmed with her consummate loveliness, pleased with her
+cheerful good sense, and fascinated with her matchless simplicity, at
+first sought her society without thought but of present gratification,
+till he was no longer master of himself. He possessed an ample fortune,
+besides the near prospect of a title; and nothing was farther from his
+thoughts, than to make the poor unknown Laura a sharer in these
+advantages. But Hargrave was not yet a villain, and he shuddered at the
+thought of seduction. 'I will see her only _once_ more', said he, 'and
+then tear myself from her for ever.'--'Only this once,' said he, while
+day after day he continued to visit her,--to watch with delight, and to
+cherish with eager solicitude, the tenderness which, amidst her daily
+increasing reserve, his practised eye could distinguish. The passion
+which we do not conquer, will in time reconcile us to any means that
+can aid its gratification. 'To leave her now would be dishonourable, it
+would be barbarous,' was his answer to his remonstrating conscience, as
+he marked the glow of her complexion at his approach, the tremor of her
+hand at his pressure. 'I cannot, indeed, make her my wife. The woman
+whom I marry, must assist in supporting the rank which she is to fill.
+But Laura is not made for high life. Short commerce with the world would
+destroy half her witchery. Love will compensate to us for every
+privation. I will hide her and myself from a censorious world; she loves
+solitude; and, with her, solitude will be delightful.'--He forgot that
+solitude is delightful to the innocent alone.
+
+Meantime, the artless Laura saw, in his highly-coloured pictures of
+happy love, only scenes of domestic peace and literary leisure; and,
+judging of his feelings by her own, dreamed not of ought that would have
+disgraced the loves of angels. Tedious weeks of absence had intervened
+since their last meeting; and Hargrave's resolution was taken. To live
+without her was impossible; and he was determined to try whether he had
+overrated the strength of her affection, when he ventured to hope that
+to it she would sacrifice her all. To meet her thus unexpectedly filled
+him with joy, and the heart of Laura throbbed quick as he expressed his
+rapture. Never had his professions been so ardent; and, softened by
+sorrow and by absence, never had Laura felt such seducing tenderness as
+now stole upon her. Unable to speak, and unconscious of her path, she
+listened with silent rapture to the glowing language of her lover, till
+his entreaties wrung from her a reluctant confession of her preference.
+Unmindful of the feeling of humiliation that makes the moment of such a
+confession, of all others, the least favourable to a lover's boldness,
+Hargrave poured forth the most vehement expressions of passion; while,
+shrinking into herself, Laura now first observed, that the shades of
+evening were closing fast, while their lonely path led through a wood
+that climbed the rocky hill.--She stopped.--'I must return,' said she,
+'my father will be anxious for me at this hour.'--'Talk not now of
+returning,' cried Hargrave impetuously, 'trust yourself to a heart that
+adores you. Reward all my lingering pains, and let this happy hour begin
+a life of love and rapture.'--Laura, wholly unconscious of his meaning,
+looked up in his face with an innocent smile. 'I have often taxed you
+with raving,' said she, 'now, I am sure, you must admit the
+charge.'--'Do not sport with me loveliest,' cried Hargrave, 'nor waste
+these precious moments in cold delay. Leave forms to the frozen hearts
+that wait them, and be from this hour mine, wholly and for ever.' Laura
+threw a tearful glance on her mourning habit. 'Is this like bridal
+attire?' said she: 'Would you bring your nuptial festivities into the
+house of death, and mingle the sound of your marriage vow with my
+mother's dying groans?' Can this simplicity be affected, thought
+Hargrave. Is it that she will not understand me? He examined her
+countenance. All there was candour and unsuspecting love. Her arm rested
+on his with confiding pressure, and for a moment Hargrave faltered in
+his purpose. The next, he imagined that he had gone too far to recede;
+and pressing her to his breast with all the vehemence of passion, he, in
+hurried half-articulate whispers, informed her of his real design. No
+words can express her feelings, when, the veil thus rudely torn from her
+eyes, she saw her pure, her magnanimous Hargrave--the god of her
+idolatry, degraded to a sensualist--a seducer. Casting on him a look of
+mingled horror, dismay, and anguish, she exclaimed, 'Are you so base?'
+and freeing herself, with convulsive struggle, from his grasp, sunk
+without sense or motion to the ground.
+
+As he gazed on the death-pale face of Laura, and raised her lifeless
+form from the earth, compassion, which so often survives principle,
+overpowered all Hargrave's impetuous feelings; and they were succeeded
+by the chill of horror, as the dreadful idea occurred to him, that she
+was gone for ever. In vain he chafed her cold hands, tried to warm her
+to life in his bosom, bared her's to the evening-breeze, and
+distractedly called for help; while, with agony, which every moment
+increased, he remembered, what so lately he had thought of with delight,
+that no human help was near. No sign of returning life appeared. At last
+he recollected that, in their walk, they had at some distance crossed a
+little stream, and starting up with renovated hope, he ran to it with
+the speed of lightning; but the way, which was so short as he passed it
+before, now seemed lengthened without end. At last he reached it; and
+filling his hat with water, returned with his utmost speed. He darted
+forward till he found himself at the verge of the wood, and then
+perceived that he had mistaken the path. As he retraced his steps, a
+thousand times he cursed his precipitancy, and wished that he had more
+cautiously ascertained the sentiments of his mistress, ere he permitted
+his licentious purpose to be seen. After a search, prolonged by his own
+frantic impatience, he arrived at the spot where he left her;--but no
+Laura was there. He called wildly on her name--he was answered by the
+mountain-echo alone. After seeking her long, a hope arose that she had
+been able to reach the village; and thither he determined to return,
+that, should his hope prove groundless, he might at least procure
+assistance in his search.
+
+As he approached the little garden that surrounded Captain Montreville's
+cottage, he with joy perceived a light in the window of Laura's
+apartment; and never, in the cheerfulest scenes, had he beheld her with
+such delight as he did now, when every gesture seemed the expression of
+unutterable anguish. He drew nearer, and saw despair painted on her
+every feature; and he felt how tender was the love that could thus mourn
+his degeneracy, and its own blighted hopes. If she could thus feel for
+his guilt, the thought irresistibly pressed on his mind, with what
+bitterness would she feel her own. Seduction, he perceived, would with
+her be a work of time and difficulty; while, could he determine to make
+her his wife, he was secure of her utmost gratitude and tenderness. The
+known honour, too, of Captain Montreville made the seduction of his
+daughter rather a dangerous exploit; and Colonel Hargrave knew, that, in
+spite of the licence of the times, should he destroy the daughter's
+honour, and the father's life, he would no longer be received, even in
+the most fashionable circles, with the cordiality he could at present
+command. The dignified beauty of Laura would grace a coronet, and more
+than excuse the weakness which raised her to that distinction:--his wife
+would be admired and followed, while all her affections would be his
+alone. In fancy he presented her glittering with splendour, or majestic
+in unborrowed loveliness, to his companions; saw the gaze of admiration
+follow wherever she turned;--and that thought determined him. He would
+go next morning, and in form commence honourable lover, by laying his
+pretensions before Captain Montreville. Should Laura have acquainted her
+father with the adventures of the evening, he might feel some little
+awkwardness in his first visit; but she might perhaps have kept his
+secret; and, at all events, his generous intentions would repair his
+offence. Satisfied with himself, he retired to rest, and enjoyed a
+repose that visited not the pillow of the innocent Laura.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Scarcely had Hargrave quitted Laura, when her senses began to return,
+and with them an indefinite feeling of danger and alarm. The blood
+gushing from her mouth and nostrils, she quickly revived to a full sense
+of her situation, and instinctively endeavoured to quit a spot now so
+dark and lonely. Terror gave her strength to proceed. Every path in her
+native woods was familiar to her: she darted through them with what
+speed she could command; and, reckless of all danger but that from which
+she fled, she leapt from the projecting rocks, or gradually descended
+from the more fearful declivities, by clinging to the trees which burst
+from the fissures; till, exhausted with fatigue, she reached the valley,
+and entered the garden that surrounded her home. Here, supported no
+longer by the sense of danger, her spirits utterly failed her; and she
+threw herself on the ground, without a wish but to die.
+
+From this state she was aroused by the voice of her father, who, on the
+outside of the fence, was inquiring of one of the villagers, whether she
+had been seen. Wishing, she scarcely knew why, to escape all human eyes,
+she rose, and, without meeting Captain Montreville, gained her own
+apartment. As she closed her door, and felt for a moment the sense of
+security, which everyone experiences in the chamber which he calls his
+own,--'Oh!' cried she, 'that I could thus shut out the base world for
+ever.'
+
+There was in Laura's chamber one spot, which had, in her eyes, something
+of holy, for it was hallowed by the regular devotions of her life. On
+_it_ she had breathed her first infant prayer. _There_ shone on her the
+eastern sun, as she offered her morning tribute of praise. _There_ first
+fell the shades of evening that invited her to implore the protection of
+her God. On that spot she had so often sought consolation, so often
+found her chief delight, that it was associated in her mind with images
+of hope and comfort; and springing towards it, she now almost
+unconsciously dropped upon her knees. While she poured forth her soul in
+prayer, her anguish softened into resignation; and with the bitter tears
+of disappointment, those of gratitude mingled, while she thanked Him
+who, though He had visited her with affliction, had preserved her from
+guilt.
+
+She rose, composed though wretched, resigned though hopeless; and, when
+summoned to supper, had sufficient recollection to command her voice,
+while she excused herself on the plea of a violent head-ache. Left to
+herself, she passed the sleepless night, now in framing excuses for her
+lover, now in tormenting reflections on her mistaken estimate of his
+character; and in bitter regrets that what seemed so excellent should be
+marred with so foul a stain. But Laura's thoughts were so habitually the
+prelude to action, that, even in the severest conflict of her powers,
+she was not likely to remain long in a state of ineffective meditation.
+'What ought I _now_ to do,' was a question which, from childhood, Laura
+had every hour habitually asked herself; and the irresistible force of
+the habit of many years, brought the same question to her mind when she
+rose with the dawn.
+
+With a heavy heart, she was obliged to confess, that delicacy, no less
+than prudence, must forbid all future intercourse with Hargrave. But he
+had for some time been a constant visitor at the cottage, till excluded
+by the increasing illness of Lady Harriet. He might now renew his
+visits, and how was it possible to prevent this? Should she now refuse
+to see him, her father must be made acquainted with the cause of such a
+refusal, and she could not doubt that the consequences would be such as
+she shuddered to think of. She groaned aloud as the horrid possibility
+occurred to her, that her father might avenge her wrongs at the expense
+of his virtue and his life--become for her sake a murderer, or fall by a
+murderer's hand. She instantly resolved to conceal for ever the insult
+she had received; and to this resolution she determined that all other
+circumstances should bend. Yet should she receive Colonel Hargrave as
+formerly, what might he not have the audacity to infer? How could she
+make him fully sensible of her indignant feelings, yet act such a part
+as might deceive the penetration of her father? Act a part!--deceive her
+father! Laura's thoughts were usually clear and distinct; and there was
+something in this distinct idea of evasions and deceit, that sickened
+her very soul. This was the first system of concealment that had ever
+darkened her fair and candid mind; and she wept bitterly when she
+convinced herself, that from such conduct there was no escape.
+
+She sat lost in these distressing reflections, till the clock struck the
+hour of breakfast; then recollecting that she must not suffer her
+appearance to betray her, she ran to her glass, and, with more interest
+than she had perhaps ever before felt in the employment, proceeded to
+dress her countenance to advantage. She bathed her swollen eyes, shaded
+them with the natural ringlets of her dark hair, rubbed her wan cheeks
+till their colour returned, and then entered the parlour with an
+overacted gaiety that surprised Captain Montreville. 'I scarcely
+expected,' said he, 'to see you so very animated, after being so ill as
+to go to rest last night, for the first time in your life, without your
+father's blessing.'
+
+Laura, instantly sensible of her mistake, colouring, stammered something
+of the cheering influence of the morning air; and then meditating on a
+proper medium in her demeanour, sunk into so long a silence, as Captain
+Montreville could not have failed to remark, had not his attention been
+diverted by the arrival of the newspaper, which he continued to study
+till breakfast was ended, when Laura gladly retired to her room.
+
+Though the understanding of Laura was above her years, she had not
+escaped a mistake common to the youth of both sexes, when smarting under
+a recent disappointment in love,--the mistake of supposing, that all the
+interest of life is, with respect to them, at an end, and that their
+days must thenceforth bring only a dull routine of duties without
+incitement, and of toils without hope. But the leading principle of
+Laura's life was capable of giving usefulness, and almost
+respectability, even to her errors; and the gloom of the wilderness,
+through which her path seemed to lie, only brightened, by contrast, the
+splendour that lay beyond. 'The world,' thought she, 'has now nothing to
+offer that I covet, and little to threaten that I fear. What then
+remains but to do my duty, unawed by its threatenings, unbribed by its
+joys. Ere this cloud darkened all my earthly prospects, I was not
+untaught, though I had too much forgotten the lesson, that it was not
+for pastime I was sent hither. I am here as a soldier, who strives in an
+enemy's land; as one who must run--must wrestle--must strain every
+nerve--exert every power, nor once shrink from the struggle till the
+prize is my own. Nor do I live for myself alone. I have a friend to
+gratify--the poor to relieve--the sorrowful to console--a father's age
+to comfort--a God to serve. And shall selfish feeling disincline me to
+such duties as these? No, with more than seeming cheerfulness, I will
+perform them all. I will thank Heaven for exempting me from the far
+heavier task of honouring and obeying a profligate.'
+
+A profligate! Must she apply such a name to Hargrave. The enthusiasm of
+the moment expired at the word, and the glow of virtuous resolution
+faded to the paleness of despondency and pain.
+
+From a long and melancholy reverie, Laura was awakened by the sound of
+the garden gate, and she perceived that it was entered by Colonel
+Hargrave. Instinctively she was retreating from the window, when she saw
+him joined by her father; and, trembling lest candour was about to
+confess, or inadvertence to betray, what she so much wished to conceal,
+she continued with breathless anxiety to watch their conference.
+
+Though Colonel Hargrave was certainly one of the best bred men in the
+kingdom, and, of consequence, entirely divested of the awkwardness of
+_mauvaise honte_, it must be confessed, that he entered the presence of
+the father of Laura with rather less than his accustomed ease; but the
+cordial salutation of Captain Montreville banishing all fear that the
+lady had been too communicative, our lover proceeded, without any
+remaining embarrassment, to unfold the purpose of his visit. Nor could
+any one have conjectured, from the courtly condescension of the great
+man, that he conceived he was bestowing a benefit; nor from the manly
+frankness of the other, that he considered himself as receiving a
+favour. Not but that the Colonel was in full possession of the pleasures
+of conscious generosity and condescension. So complete, indeed, was his
+self-approbation, that he doubted not but his present magnanimous
+resolve would efface from the mind of Laura all resentment for his
+offence. Her displeasure he thought would be very short lived, if he
+were able to convince her that his fault was not premeditated. This he
+conceived to be an ample excuse, because he chose to consider the insult
+he had offered, apart from the base propensities, the unbridled
+selfishness which it indicated. As Laura had so well concealed his
+indiscretion, he was too good a politician himself to expose it; and he
+proceeded to make such offers in regard to settlements, as suited the
+liberality of his character.
+
+Captain Montreville listened with undisguised satisfaction to proposals
+apparently so advantageous to his beloved child; but, while he
+expressed his entire approbation of the Colonel's suit, regard to
+feminine decorum made him add, 'that he was determined to put no
+constraint on the inclinations of his daughter.' The Colonel felt a
+strong conviction, that no constraint would be necessary: nevertheless,
+turning a neat period, importing his willingness to resign his love,
+rather than interfere with the happiness of Miss Montreville, he closed
+the conference, by entreating that the Captain would give him an
+immediate opportunity of learning his fate from the lips of the fair
+Laura herself.
+
+Laura had continued to follow them with her eyes, till they entered the
+house together; and the next minute Captain Montreville knocked at her
+door.
+
+'If your head-ache is not quite gone,' said he, with a significant
+smile, 'I will venture to recommend a physician. Colonel Hargrave is
+waiting to prescribe for you; and you may repay him in kind, for he
+tells me he has a case for your consideration.'
+
+Laura was on the point of protesting against any communication with
+Colonel Hargrave; but instantly recollecting the explanation that would
+be necessary, 'I will go to him this instant,' she exclaimed with an
+eagerness that astonished her father.
+
+'Surely, you will first smooth these reddish locks of yours,' said he,
+fondly stroaking his hand over her dark auburn hair. 'I fear so much
+haste may make the Colonel vain.'
+
+Laura coloured violently; for, amidst all her fears of a discovery, she
+found place for a strong feeling of resentment, at the easy security of
+forgiveness that seemed intimated by a visit so immediately succeeding
+the offence. Having employed the few moments she passed at her toilette
+in collecting her thoughts, she descended to the parlour, fully resolved
+to give no countenance to the hopes her lover might have built on her
+supposed weakness.
+
+The Colonel was alone; and as she opened the door, eagerly advanced
+towards her. 'My adored Laura,' cried he, 'this condescension--.' Had he
+staid to read the pale, but resolute countenance of his 'adored' Laura,
+he would have spared his thanks for her condescension.
+
+She interrupted him. 'Colonel Hargrave,' said she, with imposing
+seriousness, 'I have a request to make to you. Perhaps the peace of my
+life depends upon your compliance.'
+
+'Ah, Laura! what request can I refuse, where I have so much to ask?'
+
+'Promise me, that you will never make known to my father--that you will
+take every means to conceal from him the--,' she hesitated, 'the--our
+meeting last night,' she added, rejoiced to have found a palliative
+expression for her meaning.
+
+'Oh! dearest Laura! forget it;--think of it no more.'
+
+'Promise--promise solemnly. If indeed,' added she shuddering, while an
+expression of anguish crossed her features, 'if indeed promises can
+weigh with such a one as you.'
+
+'For pity's sake, speak not such cutting words as those.'
+
+'Colonel Hargrave, will you give me your promise?'
+
+'I do promise--solemnly promise. Say, but that you forgive me.'
+
+'I thank you, Sir, for so far ensuring the safety of my father, since he
+might have risked his life to avenge the wrongs of his child. You cannot
+be surprised, if I now wish to close our acquaintance, as speedily as
+may be consistent with the concealment so unfortunately necessary.'
+
+Impatient to conclude an interview which tasked her fortitude to the
+utmost, Laura was about to retire. Hargrave seized her hand. 'Surely,
+Laura, you will not leave me thus. You cannot refuse forgiveness to a
+fault caused by intemperate passion alone. The only atonement in my
+power, I now come to offer: my hand--my fortune--my future rank.'
+
+The native spirit, and wounded delicacy of Laura, flashed from her eyes,
+while she replied: 'I fear, Sir, I shall not be suitably grateful for
+your generosity, while I recollect the alternative you would have
+preferred.'
+
+This was the first time that Laura had ever appeared to her lover, other
+than the tender, the timid girl. From this character she seemed to have
+started at once into the high-spirited, the dignified woman; and, with a
+truly masculine passion for variety, Hargrave thought he had never seen
+her half so fascinating. 'My angelic Laura,' cried he, as he knelt
+before her, 'lovelier in your cruelty, suffer me to prove to you my
+repentance--my reverence--my adoration;--suffer me to prove them to the
+world, by uniting our fates for ever.'
+
+'It is fit the guilty should kneel,' said Laura, turning away, 'but not
+to their fellow mortals. Rise, Sir, this homage to me is but mockery.'
+
+'Say, then, that you forgive me; say, that you will accept the
+tenderness, the duty of my future life.'
+
+'What! rather than control your passions, will you now stoop to receive
+as your wife, her whom so lately you thought vile enough for the lowest
+degradation? Impossible! yours I can never be. Our views, our
+principles, are opposite as light and darkness. How shall I call heaven
+to witness the prostitution of its own ordinances? How shall I ask the
+blessing of my Maker, on my union with a being at enmity with him?'
+
+'Good heavens, Laura, will you sacrifice to a punctilio--to a fit of
+Calvinistic enthusiasm, the peace of my life, the peace of your own? You
+have owned that you love me--I have seen it--delighted seen it a
+thousand times--and will you now desert me for ever?'
+
+'I do not act upon punctilio,' returned Laura calmly;--'I believe I am
+no enthusiast. What _have_ been my sentiments, is now of no importance;
+to unite myself with vice would be deliberate wickedness--to hope for
+happiness from such an union would be desperate folly.'
+
+'Dearest Laura, bound by your charms, allured by your example, my
+reformation would be certain, my virtue secure.'
+
+'Oh, hope it not!--Familiar with my form, my only hold on your regard,
+you would neglect, forsake, despise me; and who should say that my
+punishment was not just.'
+
+'And will you then,' cried Hargrave, in an agony; 'Will you then cut me
+off forever? Will you drive me for ever from your heart?'
+
+'I have now no choice--leave me--forget me--seek some woman less
+fastidious; or rather endeavour, by your virtues, to deserve one
+superior far. Then honoured, beloved, as a husband, as a father'--The
+fortitude of Laura failed before the picture of her fancy, and she was
+unable to proceed. Determined to conceal her weakness from Hargrave, she
+broke from him, and hurried towards the door;--but, melting into
+tenderness at the thought that this interview was perhaps the last, she
+turned. 'Oh, Hargrave,' she cried, clasping her hands as in
+supplication, 'have pity on yourself--have pity on me--forsake the fatal
+path on which you have entered, that, though for ever torn from you
+here, I may yet meet you in a better world.'
+
+She then darted from the room, leaving her lover in dumb amazement, at
+the conclusion of an interview so different from his expectations. For
+the resentment of Laura he had been prepared; but upon her determined
+refusal, he had never calculated, and scarcely could he now admit the
+reality. Could he give her credit for the professed motive of her
+rejection? Colonel Hargrave had nothing in himself that made it natural
+for him to suppose passion sacrificed to reason and principle. Had he
+then deceived himself,--had she never really loved him?--the suggestion
+was too mortifying to be admitted. Had resentment given rise to her
+determination? She had spoken from the first with calmness,--at last
+with tenderness. Was all this but a scene of coquetry, designed to
+enhance her favours? The simple, the noble, the candid Laura guilty of
+coquetry?--impossible! While these thoughts darted with confused
+rapidity through his mind, one idea alone was distinct and
+permanent--Laura had rejected him. This thought was torture. Strong
+resentment mingled with his anguish; and to inflict, on the innocent
+cause of it, pangs answering to those he felt, would have afforded to
+Hargrave the highest gratification. Though his passion for Laura was the
+most ardent of which he was capable, its effects, for the present, more
+resembled those of the bitterest hatred. That she loved him, he would
+not allow himself to doubt; and, therefore, he concluded that neglect
+would inflict the surest, as well as the most painful wound. Swearing
+that he would make her feel it at her heart's core, he left the cottage,
+strode to the village inn, surlily ordered his horses, and, in a humour
+compounded of revenge, impatient passion, and wounded pride, returned to
+his quarters at ----. His scheme of revenge had all the success that
+such schemes usually have or deserve; and while, for one whole week, he
+deigned not, by visit or letter, to notice his mistress, the real
+suffering which he inflicted, did not exactly fall on her for whom he
+intended the pain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+To an interview which he presumed would be as delightful as interesting,
+Captain Montreville chose to give no interruption; and therefore he had
+walked out to superintend his hay-making: But, after staying abroad for
+two hours, which he judged a reasonable length for a tête-à-tête, he
+returned, and was a little surprised to find that the Colonel was gone.
+Though he entertained not a doubt of the issue of the conference, he had
+some curiosity to know the particulars, and summoned Laura to
+communicate them.
+
+'Well, my love,' said he, as the conscious Laura shut the parlour door,
+'is Colonel Hargrave gone?'
+
+'Long ago, Sir.'
+
+'I thought he would have waited my return.'
+
+Laura made no answer.
+
+'When are we to see him again?'
+
+Laura did not know.
+
+'Well, well,' said Captain Montreville, a little impatiently, 'since the
+Colonel is gone without talking to me, I must just hear from you what it
+is you have both determined on.'
+
+Laura trembled in every limb. 'I knew,' said she, without venturing to
+lift her eye, 'that you would never sacrifice your child to rank or
+fortune; and therefore I had no hesitation in refusing Colonel
+Hargrave.'
+
+Captain Montreville started back with astonishment,--'Refuse Colonel
+Hargrave?' cried he,--'Impossible--you cannot be in earnest.'
+
+Laura, with much truth, assured him that she never in her life had been
+more serious.
+
+Captain Montreville was thunderstruck. Surprise for a few moments kept
+him silent. At last recovering himself,--'Why, Laura,' said he, 'what
+objection could you possibly make to Hargrave?--he is young, handsome,
+accomplished, and has shewn such generosity in his choice of you'--
+
+'Generosity! Sir,' repeated Laura.
+
+'Yes; it was generous in Colonel Hargrave, who might pretend to the
+first woman in the kingdom, to think of offering to share his fortune
+and his rank with you, who have neither.'
+
+Laura's sentiments on this subject did not exactly coincide with her
+father's, but she remained silent while he continued: 'I think I have a
+right to hear your objections, for I am entirely at a loss to guess
+them. I don't indeed know a fault Hargrave has, except perhaps a few
+gallantries; which most girls of your age think a very pardonable
+error.'
+
+A sickness, as of death, seized Laura; but she answered steadily,
+'Indeed, Sir, the Colonel's views are so different from mine--his
+dispositions so very unlike--so opposite, that nothing but unhappiness
+could possibly result from such an union. But,' added she, forcing a
+languid smile, 'we shall, if you please, discuss all this to-morrow;
+for, indeed, today, I am unable to defend my own case with you. I have
+been indisposed all day.'
+
+Captain Montreville looked at Laura, and, in the alarm which her unusual
+paleness excited, lost all sense of the disappointment she had just
+caused him. He threw his arm tenderly round her--supported her to her
+own apartment--begged she would try to rest,--ran to seek a cordial for
+his darling; and then, fearing that the dread of his displeasure should
+add to her disorder, hastened back to assure her that, though her
+happiness was his dearest concern, he never meant to interfere with her
+judgment of the means by which it was to be promoted.
+
+Tears of affectionate gratitude burst from the eyes of Laura. 'My dear
+kind father,' she cried, 'let me love--let me please you--and I ask no
+other earthly happiness.'
+
+Captain Montreville then left her to rest; and, quite exhausted with
+illness, fatigue, and sorrow, she slept soundly for many hours.
+
+The Captain spent most of the evening ruminating on the occurrence of
+the day; nor did his meditations at all diminish his surprize at his
+daughter's unaccountable rejection of his favourite. He recollected many
+instances in which he thought he had perceived her partiality to the
+Colonel;--he perplexed himself in vain to reconcile them with her
+present behaviour. He was compelled at last to defer his conclusions
+till Laura herself should solve the difficulty. The subject was, indeed,
+so vexatious to him, that he longed to have his curiosity satisfied, in
+order finally to dismiss the affair from his mind.
+
+Laura had long been accustomed, when assailed by any adverse
+circumstance, whether more trivial or more important, to seize the first
+opportunity of calmly considering how far she had herself contributed to
+the disaster; and, as nothing is more hostile to good humour than an
+ill-defined feeling of self-reproach, the habit was no less useful to
+the regulation of our heroine's temper, than to her improvement in the
+rarer virtues of prudence and candour. Her first waking hour, except
+that which was uniformly dedicated to a more sacred purpose, she now
+employed in strict and impartial self-examination. She endeavoured to
+call to mind every part of her behaviour to Colonel Hargrave, lest her
+own conduct might have seemed to countenance his presumption. But in
+vain. She could not recall a word, a look, even a thought, that could
+have encouraged his profligacy. 'Yet why should I wonder,' she
+exclaimed, 'if he expected that temptation might seduce, or weakness
+betray me, since he knew me fallible, and of the Power by which I am
+upheld he thought not.'
+
+Satisfied of the purity of her conduct, she next proceeded to examine
+its prudence: but here she found little reason for self-congratulation.
+Her conscience, indeed, completely acquitted her of levity or
+forwardness, but its charges of imprudence she could not so easily
+parry. Why had she admitted a preference for a man whose moral character
+was so little known to her? Where slept her discretion, while she
+suffered that preference to strengthen into passion? Why had she
+indulged in dreams of ideal perfection? Why had she looked for
+consistent virtue in a breast where she had not ascertained that piety
+resided? Had she allowed herself time for consideration, would she have
+forgotten that religion was the only foundation strong enough to support
+the self-denying, the purifying virtues? These prudent reflections came,
+in part, too late; for to love, Laura was persuaded she must henceforth
+be a stranger. But to her friendships, she conceived, that they might be
+applicable; and she determined to make them useful in her future
+intercourse with her own sex; to whom, perhaps, they may be applied even
+with more justice than to the other.
+
+The mind of Laura had been early stored with just and rational
+sentiments. These were the bullion--but it was necessary that
+experience should give the stamp that was to make them current in the
+ordinary business of life. Had she called prudence to her aid, in the
+first stage of her acquaintance with the insinuating Hargrave, what
+anguish would she not have spared herself. But if the higher wisdom is
+to foresee and prevent misfortune, the next degree is to make the best
+of it when unavoidable; and Laura resolved that this praise at least
+should be her's. Fortified by this resolution, she quitted her
+apartment, busied herself in her domestic affairs, met her father almost
+with cheerfulness; and, when he renewed the subject of their last
+conversation, repeated, with such composure, her conviction of the
+dissimilarity of Hargrave's dispositions to her own, that Captain
+Montreville began to believe that he had been mistaken in his opinion of
+her preference. Still, however, he could not account for her rejection
+of an offer so unobjectionable; and he hinted a suspicion, that some of
+Hargrave's gallantries had been repeated to her, and perhaps with
+exaggeration. With trembling lips, Laura assured him she had never heard
+the slightest insinuation against Colonel Hargrave. Though Laura had
+little of romance in her composition, her father now began to imagine,
+that she allowed herself to cherish the romantic dream, that sympathy of
+souls, and exactly concordant tastes and propensities, were necessary to
+the happiness of wedded life. But Laura calmly declared, that her tastes
+were not inflexible; and that, had she intended to marry, she should
+have found it an easy duty to conform them to those of her husband: but
+that the thought of marriage was shocking to her, and she trusted no man
+would ever again think of her as a wife. Montreville, who for once
+suspected his daughter of a little affectation, made no effort to combat
+this unnatural antipathy, but trusted to time and nature for its cure.
+
+As soon as her father left her, Laura, determined not to be brave by
+halves, began the painful task of destroying every relic of Hargrave's
+presence. She banished from her port-folio the designs he had made for
+her drawings, destroyed the music from which he had accompanied her, and
+effaced from her books the marks of his pencil. She had amused her
+solitary hours by drawing, in chalks, a portrait of features indelibly
+engraven on her recollection, and her fortitude failed her when about to
+consign it to the flames.--'No;' she exclaimed, 'I can never part with
+this. This, at least, I may love unreproved,' and she pressed it in
+agony to her heart--inwardly vowing that no human being should fill its
+place. But such thoughts as these could not linger in the reasonable
+mind of Laura. The next moment she blushed for her weakness; and,
+casting away its last treasure, averted her eyes till the flames had
+consumed it to ashes. 'Now all is over,' she cried, as she threw herself
+into a chair and burst into tears. But, quickly wiping them away, she
+resolved that she would not wilfully bind herself to the rack of
+recollection, and hastened to exert herself in some of her ordinary
+employments.
+
+Laura was aware that the cottage, where every walk, every shrub, every
+flower spoke of Hargrave, was a scene unlikely to aid her purpose of
+forgetting him; and, therefore, she that evening proposed to her father
+that they should pay their long promised visit to Mrs Douglas. He
+readily consented. Their journey was fixed for the following day, and
+Laura occupied herself in preparing for their departure, though with
+feelings far different from the delight with which, a few days before,
+she would have anticipated a meeting with her early friend.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Mrs Douglas observed, with satisfaction, the improved stature and
+increasing gracefulness of her young favourite; but she remarked, with
+painful interest, that the hectic of pleasure which tinged the cheek of
+Laura, at their meeting, faded fast to the hue of almost sickly
+delicacy. She soon noticed that an expression, as of sudden torture,
+would sometimes contract, for a moment, the polished forehead of Laura;
+that it was now succeeded by the smothered sigh, the compressed lip, the
+hasty motion that spoke of strong mental effort, now subsided into the
+languor of deep unconquered melancholy. Such depression Mrs Douglas
+could not attribute to the loss of a mother, whose treatment furnished
+more occasions of patience than of gratitude; and she anxiously longed
+to discover its real cause. But it was soon evident that this was a
+secret which Laura had no intention to disclose. A glance from the
+inquiring eye of Mrs Douglas, at once recalled her to constrained
+cheerfulness; and the presence of Captain Montreville seemed always to
+put her entirely upon her guard. While he was in the room, she talked,
+read aloud, or played with the children, as if determined to be amused;
+but as soon as he retired, she relapsed, like one wearied with effort,
+into languor and melancholy, till recalled to herself by the
+scrutinizing looks of Mrs Douglas. Even in their most private
+conversations, the name of Hargrave never passed her lips. Months,
+indeed, had elapsed since Laura could have pronounced that name without
+painful emotion--to utter it now was become almost impossible. She felt
+that she had no right to publish, while she rejected, his addresses; and
+she felt an invincible repugnance to expose even his failings, but much
+more his vices, to the censure of the respectable Mrs Douglas. Soon
+after she first saw Hargrave, she had written to her friend a warm
+eulogium of his fine person, captivating manners, and elegant
+accomplishments. Mrs Douglas, in reply, had desired to hear more of this
+phoenix; but before Laura again found leisure to write, she was no
+longer inclined to make Hargrave her subject, and her friend had
+desisted from fruitless inquiries. Mrs Douglas had lately had an
+opportunity of judging for herself of the Colonel's attractions; and, so
+great did they appear to her, that it was with extreme astonishment she
+heard his late disappointment from Captain Montreville, who did not feel
+his daughter's delicacy on the subject. This communication only served
+to increase her perplexity as to the cause of Laura's depression; yet
+she felt herself relieved from the apprehension, that hopeless love for
+Hargrave was wasting the health and peace of her dear Laura. Still,
+however, she continued to watch that expressive countenance, to weigh
+every word that might tend to unfold the enigma. In vain;--Laura
+studiously avoided all approach to an explanation. Mrs Douglas's anxiety
+now increased to a painful extreme. She felt how necessary to female
+inexperience is the advice of a female,--how indispensable to feminine
+sorrows are the consolations of feminine sympathy; and she resolved that
+no false delicacy should withhold her from offering such relief as she
+might have power to bestow.
+
+One morning, after the gentlemen had left them alone together, Mrs
+Douglas, meditating on the best means of introducing the subject she had
+so much at heart, had fallen into a long silence; when, looking up, she
+perceived that Laura had let fall her work, and was sitting with her
+eyes fixed, and her arms dropped, in the attitude of one whose thoughts
+had no connection with present objects. At the heavy sigh with which Mrs
+Douglas surveyed her, she started, and was rousing her attention to some
+indifferent subject, when Mrs Douglas, kindly taking her hand, said, 'My
+dear child, whatever may be necessary with others, I beseech you to be
+under no constraint with me. I am far from wishing to intrude into your
+confidence, but do not add the pain of constraint to anguish that
+already seems so oppressive.'
+
+Large tears stole from under Laura's downcast eyelids; but she spoke
+not. Mrs Douglas continued--'If my best advice, my most affectionate
+sympathy, can be of use to you, I need not say you may command them.'
+
+Laura threw herself into the arms of her friend, and for some moments
+sobbed with uncontrolled emotion; but soon composing herself, she
+replied: 'If advice could have profited, if consolation could have
+reached me, where should I have sought them unless from you, respected
+friend of my youth;--but the warning voice of wisdom comes now too late,
+and even your sympathy would be bestowed in vain.'
+
+'Heaven forbid that my dearest Laura should be beyond the reach of
+comfort. That is the lot of guilt alone.'
+
+'I am grateful to Heaven,' said Laura, 'that I have been less guilty
+than imprudent. But, my best friend, let us quit this subject. This
+wretchedness cannot, shall not last. Only let me implore you not to
+notice it to my father. You know not what horrors might be the
+consequence.'
+
+Mrs Douglas shook her head. 'Ah! Laura,' said she, 'that path is not the
+path of safety in which you would elude a father's eye.' Laura's glance
+met that of her friend; and she read suspicion there. The thought was so
+painful to her, that she was on the point of disclosing all; but she
+remembered that the reasons which had at first determined her to
+silence, were not altered by any one's suspicions, and she restrained
+herself. Colonel Hargrave had cruelly wronged and insulted her--she
+ought therefore to be doubly cautious how she injured him. Sympathy, in
+her case, she felt, would be a dangerous indulgence; and, above all, she
+shrunk with horror from exposing her lover, or his actions, to
+detestation or contempt. 'Perhaps the time may come,' said she, pursuing
+her reflections aloud, 'when you will be convinced that I am incapable
+of any clandestine purpose. At present your compassion might be a
+treacherous balm to me, when my best wisdom must be to forget that I
+have need of pity.'
+
+Mrs Douglas looked on the open candid countenance of Laura, and her
+suspicions vanished in a moment; but they returned when her young friend
+reiterated her intreaties that she would not hint the subject to her
+father. Laura was, however, fortified in her resolutions of concealment,
+by an opinion she had often heard Mrs Douglas express, that the feelings
+of disappointed love should by women be kept inviolably a secret. She
+was decisively giving a new turn to the conversation, when it was
+interrupted by the entrance of the gentlemen; and Mrs Douglas, a little
+hurt at the steadiness of her young friend, more than half determined to
+renew the subject no more.
+
+A letter lay on the table, which the post had brought for Captain
+Montreville; he read it with visible uneasiness, and immediately left
+the room. Laura perceived his emotion; and, ever alive to the painful
+subject nearest her heart, instantly concluded that the letter brought a
+confession from Hargrave. She heard her father's disordered steps pacing
+the apartment above, and earnestly longed, yet feared to join him.
+Anxiety at length prevailed; and she timidly approached the door of
+Captain Montreville's chamber. She laid her hand upon the lock; paused
+again, with failing courage, and was about to retire, when her father
+opened the door. 'Come in, my love,' said he, 'I wish to speak with
+you.' Laura, trembling, followed him into the room. 'I find,' said he,
+'we must shorten our visit to our kind friends here, and travel
+homewards, I must prepare,' continued he, and he sighed heavily, 'I must
+prepare for a much longer journey.'
+
+Laura's imagination took the alarm; and, forgetting how unlikely it was
+that Captain Montreville should disclose such a resolution to her, she
+thought only of his intending to prepare for a journey whence there is
+no return, before he should stake his life against that of Hargrave. She
+had not power to speak; but, laying her hand on her father's arm, she
+cast on him a look of imploring agony. 'Do not be alarmed, my love,'
+said he: 'I shall, in a few days, convey your commands to London; but I
+do not mean to be long absent.'
+
+Laura's heart leapt light. 'To London, Sir?' said she, in a tone of
+cheerful inquiry.
+
+'Yes, my dear child; I must go, and leave you alone at home--while yet I
+have a home to shelter you. Had you resembled any other girl of your
+age, I should have said no more of this--but I will have no concealments
+from you. Read this letter.'
+
+It was from Captain Montreville's agent, and briefly stated, that the
+merchant in whose hands he had lately vested his all, in an annuity on
+his daughter's life, was dead; and that, owing to some informality in
+the deed, the heirs refused to make any payment. Having read the letter,
+Laura continued for some moments to muse on its contents, with her eyes
+vacantly fixed on the civil expression of concern with which it
+concluded. 'How merciful it is,' she exclaimed, 'that this blow fell not
+till my mother was insensible of the stroke.'
+
+'For myself,' said Captain Montreville, 'I think I could have borne it
+well; but this was the little independence I thought I had secured for
+you, dear darling of my heart; and now'--The father's lip quivered, and
+his eyes filled; but he turned aside, for he could _be_ tender--but
+would not _seem_ so.
+
+'Dearest father,' said Laura, 'think not of me. Could you have given me
+millions, I should still have been dependent on the care of Providence,
+even for my daily bread. My dependence will now only be a little more
+perceptible. But perhaps,' added she cheerfully, 'something may be done
+to repair this disaster, Warren's heirs will undoubtedly rectify this
+mistake, when they find it has been merely accidental. At all events, a
+journey to London will amuse you; and I shall manage your harvest so
+actively in your absence.'
+
+Captain Montreville had, from Laura's infancy, been accustomed to
+witness instances of her fortitude, to see her firm under unmerited and
+merciless chastisement, and patient under intense bodily suffering--but
+her composure on this occasion, so far surpassed his expectations, that
+he was inclined to attribute it less to fortitude than to
+inconsideration. 'How light-hearted is youth,' thought he, as he quitted
+her. 'This poor child has never seen the harsh features of poverty, but
+when distance softened their deformity, and she now beholds his approach
+without alarm.' He was mistaken. Laura had often taken a near survey of
+poverty. She had entered the cabins of the very poor--seen infancy
+squalid, and youth spiritless--manhood exhausted by toil, and age pining
+without comfort. In fancy she had substituted herself in the place of
+these victims of want; felt by sympathy their varieties of wretchedness;
+and she justly considered poverty among the heaviest of human
+calamities. But she was sensible that her firmness might support her
+father's spirits, or her weakness serve to aggravate his distress; and
+she wisely pushed aside the more formidable mischief, which she could
+not surmount, to attend to the more immediate evil, which she felt it in
+her power to alleviate.
+
+The moment she was alone, Laura fell on her knees: 'Oh! Heavenly
+Providence,' she cried, 'save, if it be thy will, my dear father's age
+from poverty, though, like my great Master, I should not have where to
+lay my head.' She continued to pray long and fervently, for spirits to
+cheer her father under his misfortune; and for fortitude to endure her
+own peculiar sorrow, in her estimation so much more bitter. Having
+implored the blessing of Heaven on her exertions, she next began to
+practice them. She wandered out to court the exhilarating influence of
+the mountain air; and, studiously turning her attention to all that was
+gay, sought to rouse her spirits for the task she had assigned them. She
+was so successful, that she was that evening the life of the little
+friendly circle. She talked, sang, and recited--she exerted all the wit
+and vivacity of which she was mistress--she employed powers of humour
+which she herself had scarcely been conscious of possessing. Her gaiety
+soon became contagious. Scarcely a trace appeared of the anxious fears
+of Mrs Douglas, or the parental uneasiness of Captain Montreville, and
+fewer still of the death-stroke which disappointed confidence had
+carried to the peace of poor Laura. But, retired to the solitude of her
+chamber, her exhausted spirits found relief in tears. She felt, that
+long to continue her exertion would be impossible; and, in spite of
+reason, which told of the danger of solitude, anticipated, with
+pleasure, the moment when total seclusion should leave her free to
+undisguised wretchedness.
+
+Laura was not yet, however, destined to the hopeless task of combating
+misplaced affection in entire seclusion. On the following morning she
+found a stranger at the breakfast-table. He seemed a man of information
+and accomplishments. An enthusiast in landscape, he was come to
+prosecute his favourite study amidst the picturesque magnificence of
+Highland scenery; and the appearance and manners of a gentleman,
+furnished him with a sufficient introduction to Highland hospitality.
+Relieved, by his presence, from the task of entertaining, Laura scarcely
+listened to the conversation, till the stranger, having risen from
+table, began to examine a picture which occupied a distinguished place
+in Mrs Douglas's parlour. It was the work of Laura, who was no mean
+proficient. She had early discovered what is called a genius for
+painting; that is to say, she had exercised much of her native
+invention, and habitual industry on the art. Captain Montreville added
+to his personal instructions, every facility which it was in his power
+to bestow. Even when her performances had little in them of wonderful
+but their number, her acquaintance pronounced them wonderful; and they
+obtained the more useful approbation of a neighbouring nobleman, who
+invited her to use, as copies, any part of his excellent collection. Her
+progress was now, indeed, marvellous to those who were new to the
+effects of unremitting industry, guided by models of exquisite skill.
+Having long and sedulously copied, from pieces of acknowledged merit,
+she next attempted an original; and having, with great care composed,
+and with incredible labour finished her design, she dedicated to Mrs
+Douglas the first fruits of her improved talents, in the picture which
+the stranger was now contemplating. Willing that her young friend should
+reap advantage from the criticisms of a judicious artist, Mrs Douglas
+encouraged him to speak freely of the beauties and defects of the piece.
+After remarking that there was some skill in the composition, much
+interest in the principal figure, and considerable freedom in the
+touch, he added: 'If this be, as I suppose, the work of a young artist,
+I shall not be surprised that he one day rise both to fame and fortune.'
+
+Mrs Douglas was about to direct his praise to its rightful owner, but
+Laura silenced her by a look. The stranger's last expression had excited
+an interest which no other earthly subject could have awakened. Her
+labours might, it appeared, relieve the wants or increase the comforts
+of her father's age; and, with a face that glowed with enthusiasm, and
+eyes that sparkled with renovated hope, she eagerly advanced to question
+the critic as to the value of her work. In reply, he named a price so
+far exceeding her expectations, that her resolution was formed in a
+moment. She would accompany her father to London, and there try what
+pecuniary advantage was to be derived from her talent. On a scheme which
+was to repair all her father's losses, prudence had not time to pause;
+and, feeling company rather a restraint on her pleasure, Laura ran to
+her apartment, rather to enjoy than to reconsider her plan. Having spent
+some time in delighted anticipation of the pleasure which her father
+would take in the new team and thrashing-mill with which she would adorn
+his farm, and the comfort he would enjoy in the new books and easy sofa
+with which her labours would furnish his library, she recollected a
+hundred questions that she wished to ask the stranger, concerning the
+best means of disposing of her future productions, and she ran down
+stairs to renew the conversation--but the parlour was empty, the
+stranger was gone. No matter. No trifle could at this moment have
+discomposed Laura; and, with steps as light as a heart from which, for a
+time, all selfish griefs were banished, she crossed the little lawn in
+search of her father.
+
+The moment she overtook him, locking her arm in his, and looking
+smilingly up in his face, she began so urgent an entreaty to be admitted
+as the companion of his journey, that Captain Montreville, with some
+curiosity, inquired what had excited in her this sudden inclination to
+travel? Laura blushed and hesitated; for though her plan had, in her own
+opinion, all the charms which we usually attribute to the new born
+children of our fancy, she felt that an air of more prudence and
+forethought might be requisite to render it equally attractive in the
+eyes of Captain Montreville. She exerted, however, all the rhetoric she
+could at that moment command, to give her scheme a plausible appearance.
+With respect to herself, she was entirely successful; and she ventured
+to cast a look of triumphant appeal on her father. Captain Montreville,
+unwilling to refuse the request of his darling, remained silent; but at
+the detail of her plan, he shook his head. Now, to a projector of
+eighteen, a shake of the head is, of all gestures, the most offensive;
+and the smile which usually accompanies it, miserably perverts the
+office of a smile. Tears, half of sorrow, half of vexation, forced their
+way to the eyes of Laura; and she walked silently on, without courage to
+renew the attack, till they were joined by Mrs Douglas. Disconcerted by
+her ill success with her father, Laura felt little inclination to
+subject her scheme to the animadversions of her friend; but Captain
+Montreville, expecting an auxiliary, by whose aid he might conquer the
+weakness of yielding without conviction, called upon Mrs Douglas, in a
+manner which shewed him secure of her reply, to give her opinion of
+Laura's proposal. Mrs Douglas, who had heard, with a degree of horror,
+of the intention to consign Laura to solitude in her present state of
+suppressed dejection, and who considered new scenes and new interests as
+indispensable to her restoration, interpreting the asking looks of the
+fair petitioner, surprised Captain Montreville by a decided verdict in
+her favour. Rapturously thanking her advocate, Laura now renewed her
+intreaties with such warmth, that her father, not possessed of that
+facility in refusing which results from practice, gave a half-reluctant
+acquiescence. The delight which his consent conveyed to Laura, which
+sparkled in her expressive features, and animated her artless gestures,
+converted his half-extorted assent into cordial concurrence; for to the
+defects of any scheme that gave her pleasure, he was habitually blind.
+
+In the course of the evening, Captain Montreville announced that, in
+order to give his daughter time to prepare for her journey, it would be
+necessary for them to return to Glenalbert on the following morning.
+
+While Mrs Douglas was assisting Laura to pack up her little wardrobe,
+she attempted to break her guarded silence on the subject of Hargrave,
+by saying, 'I doubt this same journey of your's will prevent Colonel
+Hargrave from trying the effects of perseverance, which I used to think
+the most infallible resort in love, as well as in more serious
+undertakings.' Laura began a most diligent search for something upon the
+carpet. 'Poor Hargrave,' Mrs Douglas resumed, 'he is a great favourite
+of mine. I wish he had been more successful.' Laura continued
+industriously cramming a bandbox. 'All these gowns and petticoats will
+crush your new bonnet to pieces, my dear.' Laura suddenly desisted from
+her employment, rose, and turning full towards Mrs Douglas, said--'It is
+unkind, it is cruel, thus to urge me, when you know that duty more than
+inclination keeps me silent.' 'Pardon me, my dear Laura,' said Mrs
+Douglas, 'I have no wish to persecute you; but you know I was ignorant
+that Colonel Hargrave was our interdicted subject.'
+
+She then entered on another topic; and Laura, vexed at the partial
+disclosure she had inadvertently made, uneasy at being the object of
+constant scrutiny, and hurt at being obliged to thwart the habitual
+openness of her temper, felt less sorry than relieved as she sprung into
+the carriage that was to convey her to Glenalbert. So true is it, that
+concealment is the bane of friendship.
+
+Other interests, too, quickened her desire to return home. She longed,
+with a feeling which could not be called hope, though it far exceeded
+curiosity, to know whether Hargrave had called or written during her
+absence; and the moment the chaise stopped, she flew to the table where
+the letters were deposited to wait their return. There were none for
+her. She interrupted Nanny's expression of joy at the sight of her
+mistress, by asking who had called while they were from home. 'Nobody
+but Miss Willis.' Laura's eyes filled with tears of bitterness. 'I am
+easily relinquished,' thought she--'but it is better that it should be
+so;' and she dashed away the drops as they rose.
+
+She would fain have vented her feelings in the solitude of her chamber;
+but this was her father's first return to a widowed home, and she would
+not leave him to its loneliness. She entered the parlour. Captain
+Montreville was already there; and, cheerfully welcoming him home, she
+shook up the cushion of an elbow-chair by the fire-side, and invited him
+to sit. 'No, love,' said he, gently compelling her, 'do you take that
+seat; it was your mother's.' Laura saw his lip quiver, and, suppressing
+the sob that swelled her bosom, she tenderly withdrew him from the room,
+led him to the garden, invited his attention to her new-blown
+carnations, and gradually diverted his regard to such cheerful objects,
+that, had Captain Montreville examined what was passing in his own mind,
+he must have confessed that he felt the loss of Lady Harriet less as a
+companion than an antagonist. She was more a customary something which
+it was unpleasant to miss from its place, than a real want which no
+substitute could supply. Laura's conversation, on the contrary, amusing
+without effort, ingenious without constraint, and rational without
+stiffness, furnished to her father a real and constant source of
+enjoyment; because, wholly exempt from all desire to shine, she had
+leisure to direct to the more practicable art of pleasing, those efforts
+by which so many others vainly attempt to dazzle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+The three following days Laura employed in making arrangements for her
+journey. Desirous to enliven the solitude in which she was about to
+leave her only attendant, she consigned the care of the cottage, during
+her absence, to the girl's mother, who was likewise her own nurse; and
+cautious of leaving to the temptations of idleness, one for whose
+conduct she felt herself in some sort accountable, she allotted to Nanny
+the task of making winter clothing for some of the poorest inhabitants
+of Glenalbert; a task which her journey prevented her from executing
+herself. Nor were the materials of this little charity subtracted from
+her father's scanty income, but deducted from comforts exclusively her
+own.
+
+Though, in the bustle of preparation, scarcely a moment remained
+unoccupied, Laura could not always forbear from starting at the sound of
+the knocker, or following with her eyes the form of a horseman winding
+through the trees. In vain she looked--in vain she listened. The
+expected stranger came not--the expected voice was unheard. She tried to
+rejoice at the desertion: 'I am glad of it,' she would say to herself,
+while bitter tears were bursting from her eyes. She often reproached
+herself with the severity of her language at her last interview with
+Hargrave. She asked herself what right she had to embitter
+disappointment by unkindness, or to avenge insult by disdain. Her
+behaviour appeared to her, in the retrospect, ungentle, unfeminine,
+unchristian. Yet she did not for a moment repent her rejection, nor
+waver for a moment in her resolution to adhere to it. Her soul sickened
+at the thought, that she had been the object of licentious passion
+merely; and she loathed to look upon her own lovely form, while she
+thought that it had seduced the senses, but failed to touch the soul of
+Hargrave.
+
+Amidst these employments and feelings the week had closed; and the
+Sabbath evening was the last which Laura was to spend at Glenalbert.
+That evening had long been her chosen season of meditation, the village
+church-yard the scene where she loved to 'go forth to meditate.' The way
+which led to it, and to it alone, was a shady green lane, gay with
+veronica and hare-bell, undefaced by wheels, but marked in the middle
+with one distinct track, and impressed towards the sides with several
+straggling half-formed footpaths. The church itself stood detached from
+the village, on a little knoll, on the west side of which the
+burial-ground sloped towards the woody bank that bounded a brawling
+mountain stream. Thither Laura stole, when the sun, which had been hid
+by the rugged hill, again rolling forth from behind the precipitous
+ascent, poured through the long dale his rays upon this rustic cemetery;
+the only spot in the valley sufficiently elevated to catch his parting
+beam.
+
+'How long, how deep is the shadow--how glorious in brightness the
+reverse,' said she, as she seated herself under the shade of the newly
+raised grave-stone that marked the place of her mother's rest; and
+turning her mind's eye from what seemed a world of darkness, she raised
+it to scenes of everlasting light. Her fancy, as it soared to regions of
+bliss without alloy, looked back with something like disgust on the
+labours that were to prepare her for their enjoyment, and a feeling
+almost of disappointment and impatience accompanied the recollection,
+that her pilgrimage was to all appearance only beginning. But she
+checked the feeling as it rose, and, in penitence and resignation,
+raised her eyes to heaven. They rested as they fell upon a stone marked
+with the name and years of one who died in early youth. Laura remembered
+her well--she was the beauty of Glenalbert; but her lover left her for a
+richer bride, and her proud spirit sunk beneath the stroke. The village
+artist had depicted her want of resignation in a rude sculpture of the
+prophet's lamentation over his withered gourd. 'My gourd, too, is
+withered,' said Laura. 'Do I well to be angry even unto death? Will the
+giver of all good leave me even here without comfort? Shall I refuse to
+find pleasure in any duties but such as are of my own selection: Because
+the gratification of one passion--one misplaced passion, is refused, has
+this world no more to offer? this fair world, which its great Creator
+has stamped with his power, and stored by his bounty, and ennobled by
+making it the temple of his worshippers, the avenue to heaven! Shall I
+find no balm in the consolations of friendship, the endearments of
+parental love--no joy in the sweets of benevolence, the stores of
+knowledge, the miracles of grace! Oh! may I ever fearlessly confide in
+the fatherly care, that snatched me from the precipice from which my
+rash confidence was about to plunge me to my ruin--that opened my eyes
+on my danger ere retreat was impossible.'
+
+The reflections of Laura were disturbed by the noise of some one
+springing over the fence; and, the next moment, Hargrave was at her
+side. Laura uttered neither shriek nor exclamation--but she turned; and,
+with steps as precipitate as would bear the name of walking, proceeded
+towards the gate. Hargrave followed her. 'Am I indeed so happy as to
+find you alone?' said he. Laura replied not, by word or look. 'Suffer me
+to detain you for a few moments.' Laura rather quickened her pace. 'Will
+you not speak to me Miss Montreville?' said Hargrave, in a tone of
+tender reproach. Laura continued to advance. 'Stay but one moment,' said
+he, in a voice of supplication. Laura laid her hand upon the gate.
+Hargrave's patience was exhausted. 'By heaven you _shall_ hear me!' he
+cried, and, throwing his arm round her, compelled her to be seated on
+the stone-bench at the gate. Laura coldly withdrew herself. 'By what
+right, Sir,' said she, 'do you presume to detain me?' 'By the right of
+wretchedness--of misery not to be endured. Since I last saw you, I have
+never known rest or peace. Surely, Laura, you are now sufficiently
+avenged--surely your stubborn pride may now condescend to hear
+me.'--'Well, Sir,' said Laura, without attempting to depart; 'what are
+your commands?' 'Oh, Laura, I cannot bear your displeasure--it makes me
+supremely miserable. If you have any pity, grant me your forgiveness.'
+'If my forgiveness is of any value to you, I give it you, I trust, like
+a Christian--from the heart. Now, then, suffer me to go.'
+
+'What--think you it is the frozen forgiveness of duty that will content
+me? Torn, as I am, by every passion that can drive man to frenzy, think
+you that I will accept--that I will endure this heartless, scornful
+pardon? Laura, you loved me once. I have doated on you--pined for
+you--and passion--passion only--will I accept, or bear from you.'
+
+Laura shrunk trembling from his violence. 'Colonel Hargrave,' said she,
+'if you do not restrain this vehemence, I must, I will be gone. I would
+fain spare you unnecessary pain; but while you thus agitate yourself, my
+stay is useless to you, and to me most distressing.' 'Say, then, that
+you accept my vows--that, hopeless of happiness but with me, you bind
+yourself to me alone, and for ever. Speak, heavenly creature, and bless
+me beyond the fairest dreams of hope!'
+
+'Colonel Hargrave,' said Laura, 'you have my forgiveness. My--what shall
+I say--my esteem you have cast from you--my best wishes for your
+happiness shall ever be yours--more I cannot give. In pity to yourself,
+then--in pity to me--renounce one who can never be yours.'
+
+Hargrave's eyes flashed fire, while his countenance faded to ghastly
+paleness. 'Yes;' he exclaimed, 'cold, pitiless, insensible woman--yes I
+renounce you. In the haunts of riot, in the roar of intemperance, will I
+forget that form, that voice--and, when I am lost to fame, to health, to
+usefulness--my ruin be on your soul.' 'Oh! Hargrave,' cried the
+trembling Laura, 'talk not so wildly; Heaven will hear my prayers for
+you.--Amidst the pursuits of wisdom--amidst the attractions of others,
+you will forget me.'
+
+'Forget you! Never. While I have life, I will follow
+you--supplicate--persecute you.--Mine you shall be, though infamy and
+death ensue. Dare not,' said he, grasping her arm,--'dare not to seek
+the protection of another.--Dare but to give him one smile, and his life
+shall be the forfeit.'
+
+'Alas! Alas!' cried Laura, wringing her hands in anguish, 'this is real
+frenzy. Compose yourself, I implore you--there is no other--there never
+can be'--
+
+Her tears recalled Hargrave to something like composure. 'Dearest
+Laura,' said he, 'I wish to soften--I only terrify you. Fear not,
+beloved of my soul--speak to me without alarm. I will hear you, if it be
+possible, with calmness--but say not, oh! say not, that you reject me!'
+Laura averted her face. 'Why prolong this distressing interview,' said
+she,--'You have heard my determination. I know that it is right, and I
+cannot relinquish it.'
+
+The triumph of self-conquest gave firmness to her voice; and Hargrave,
+driven again from composure by her self-command, sprang from her side.
+'It is well, Madam,' he cried; 'triumph in the destruction of my peace;
+but think not I will so tamely resign you. No; by Heaven. I will go this
+moment to your father--I will tell him my offence; and ask if he thinks
+it deserves such punishment. Let him take my life--I abhor it.'
+
+'Is your promise, then, of such small avail?' said Laura, sternly.
+
+'Shall a promise bind me to a life of wretchedness? Shall I regard the
+feelings of one who takes an inhuman pleasure in my sufferings?' At this
+moment Laura's eyes fell on her father, who was entering the little
+avenue. Hargrave's glance followed hers, and he prepared to join Captain
+Montreville. In an agony of terror, Laura grasped his arm. 'Spare me,
+spare me,' she said, 'and do with me what you will!' Captain Montreville
+saw that the walk was occupied; he turned from it, and Laura had again
+time to breathe. 'Say, then,' said Hargrave, softened by her
+emotion,--'say that, when years of penitence have atoned my offence, you
+will yet be mine.' Laura covered her face with her hands. 'Let me not
+hear you--let me not look upon you,' said Laura;--'leave me to think, if
+it be possible,'--and she poured a silent prayer to Heaven for help in
+this her sorest trial. The effort composed her, and the majesty of
+virtue gave dignity to her form, and firmness to her voice, while she
+said,--'My father's life is in the hands of Providence--it will still be
+so, when I have repeated to you, that I dare not trust to principles
+such as yours the guardianship of this the infancy of my being. I dare
+not incur certain guilt to escape contingent evil. I cannot make you the
+companion of this uncertain life, while your conduct is such, as to make
+our eternal separation the object of my dreadful hope.'
+
+Hargrave had trusted that the tenderness of Laura would seduce, or his
+ardour overpower her firmness; but he read the expression of her pale
+determined countenance, and felt assured that she was lost to him
+forever. Convinced that all appeal to her feelings would be hopeless, he
+would deign to make none; but in a voice made almost inarticulate by the
+struggle of pride and anguish, he said,--'Miss Montreville, your
+father's life is safe from me--I will not lift my hand against it. That
+he should take mine is of small importance, either to you or myself. A
+violent death,' continued he, his pale lip quivering with a smile of
+bitterness,--'may perhaps procure me your tardy pity.'
+
+From the storm of passion, Laura had shrunk with terror and dismay; but
+the voice of suppressed anguish struck her to the soul. 'Oh! Hargrave,'
+she cried, with tears no longer to be restrained, 'you have my tenderest
+pity--would to Heaven that the purity of your future life would restore
+me to the happiness of esteeming you!'
+
+Laura's tenderness revived, in a moment, the hopes of Hargrave. 'Angel
+of sweetness,' he exclaimed, 'mould me to your will--say that, when
+purified by years of repentance, you will again bless me with your love;
+and no exertion will be too severe--no virtue too arduous.'
+
+'No; this I dare not promise; let a higher motive influence you; for it
+is not merely the conduct--it is the heart that must have changed, ere I
+durst expose my feeble virtue to the trial of your example--your
+authority; ere I durst make it my duty to shut my eyes against your
+faults, or to see them with the indulgence of love.'
+
+'Dearest Laura, one word from you will lure me back to the path of
+virtue--will you wilfully destroy even the wish to return. If for a
+year--for two years--my conduct should bear the strictest scrutiny--will
+you not accept this as a proof that my heart is changed--changed in
+every thing but its love for you--will you not then receive me?'
+
+Laura had resisted entreaty--had withstood alarm--had conquered strong
+affection; but the hope of rousing Hargrave to the views, the pursuits,
+the habits of a Christian, betrayed her caution, and gladdened her heart
+to rapture. 'If for two years,' said she, her youthful countenance
+brightening with delight, 'your conduct is such as you describe--if it
+will bear the inspection of the wise, of the sober-minded, of the
+pious,--as my father's friend, as my own friend, will I welcome you.'
+
+Thus suddenly raised from despair, Hargrave seemed at the summit of
+felicity. Once admitted as her 'father's friend, as her own,' he was
+secure of the accomplishment of his wishes. The time that must first
+elapse, appeared to him but a moment; and the labours of duty required
+of him seemed a smiling dream. Love and joy animated every feature of
+his fine countenance; he threw himself at the feet of Laura, and
+rapturously blessed her for her condescension. His extasies first made
+her sensible of the extent of her concession; and she feared that she
+had gone too far. But with her, a promise, however inadvertent, was a
+sacred thing, which she would neither qualify nor retract. She contented
+herself, therefore, with merely repeating the terms of it, emphatically
+guarding the conditions. Desirous now to have leisure for reflection,
+she reminded him that the lateness of the hour made it fit that he
+should depart; and, inwardly persuaded that she would not long
+obdurately refuse him another interview, he obeyed without much
+opposition.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The lovers were no sooner parted, than Hargrave began to repent that he
+had not more distinctly ascertained the kind and manner of the
+intercourse which he was to hold with his mistress during the term of
+his probation; and though he had little fear that she would be very
+rigid, he considered this as a point of such importance, that he
+resolved not to quit Glenalbert without having the matter settled to his
+satisfaction. For this reason he condescended to accept the
+accommodations of the little straw-roofed cottage, by courtesy called
+the Inn, where he had already left his horse; and thither he retired
+accordingly, not without some national misgivings of mind on the subject
+of Scotish nastiness and its consequences. His apartment, however,
+though small, was decent, his bed was clean, his sleep refreshing, and
+his dreams pleasant; nor was it till a late hour the following morning,
+that he rose to the homely comfort, and clumsy abundance of a Highland
+breakfast. As soon as he had finished his repast, he walked towards
+Montreville's cottage, ostensibly to pay his respects to the Captain,
+but, in reality, with the hope of obtaining a private interview with
+Laura. He entered the garden, where he expected to find Captain
+Montreville. It was empty. He approached the house. The shutters were
+barred. He knocked at the door, which was opened by the old woman; and,
+on inquiring for Captain Montreville, he was answered, 'Wow, Sir, him
+an' Miss Laura's awa' at six o'clock this morning.' 'Away,' repeated the
+Colonel,--'Where are they gone?' 'To London, Sir; and I'm sure a lanely
+time we'll hae till they come hame again.' 'What stay do they intend
+making?' 'Hech, Sir, I dare say that's what they dinna ken themsels.'
+'What is their address?' inquired the Colonel. 'What's your will, Sir:'
+'Where are they to be found?' 'Am'n I tellan you they're in London, Sir.
+I'm sure ye ken whar that is?' 'But how are you to send their letters?'
+'Wow! they never got mony letters but frae England; and now 'at they're
+in London, ye ken the folk may gie them into their ain hand.' 'But
+suppose you should have occasion to write to them yourself?' said
+Hargrave, whose small stock of patience wore fast to a close. 'Hech,
+Sir, sorrow a scrape can I write. They learn a' thae newfangled things
+now; but, trouth, i' my young days, we were na' sae upsettan.' Hargrave
+was in no humour to canvas the merits of the different modes of
+education; and, muttering an ejaculation, in which the word _devil_ was
+distinctly audible, he turned away.
+
+Vexed and disappointed, he wandered down the churchyard-lane, and
+reached the spot where he had last seen Laura. He threw himself on the
+seat that had supported her graceful form--called to mind her consummate
+loveliness--her ill-repressed tenderness--and most cordially consigned
+himself to Satan for neglecting to wring from her some further
+concessions. She was now removed from the solitude where he had reigned
+without a rival. Her's would be the gaze of every eye--her's the command
+of every heart. 'She may soon choose among numbers,' cried he,--'she
+will meet with people of her own humour, and some canting hypocritical
+scoundrel will drive me completely from her mind.' By the time he had
+uttered this prediction, and bit his lip half through--he was some steps
+on his way to order his horses, that he might pursue his fair fugitive,
+in the hope of extorting from her some less equivocal kind of promise.
+Fortunately for his reputation for sanity, however, he recollected,
+before he began his pursuit, that, ere he could overtake her, Laura must
+have reached Edinburgh, where, without a direction, it might be
+difficult to discover her abode. In this dilemma, he was again obliged
+to have recourse to the old woman at the cottage; but she could give him
+no information. She neither knew how long Captain Montreville purposed
+remaining in Edinburgh, nor in what part of the town he intended to
+reside.
+
+Thus baffled in his inquiries, Hargrave was convinced that his pursuit
+must be ineffectual; and, in no very placid frame of mind, he changed
+his destination from Edinburgh to his quarters. He arrived there in time
+for a late dinner, but his wine was insipid, his companions tiresome;
+and he retired early, that, early next morning, he might set out on a
+visit to Mrs Douglas, from whom he purposed to learn Captain
+Montreville's address.
+
+On comparing the suppressed melancholy of Laura, her embarrassment at
+the mention of Hargrave, and her inadvertent disclosure, with her
+father's detail of her rejection of the insinuating young soldier, a
+suspicion not very remote from truth, had entered the mind of Mrs
+Douglas. She imagined that Captain Montreville had in some way been
+deceived as to the kind of proposals made to his daughter; and that
+Laura had rejected no offers but such as it would have been infamy to
+accept. Under this conviction, it is not surprising that her reception
+of the Colonel was far from being cordial; nor that, guessing his
+correspondence to be rather intended for the young lady than for the old
+gentleman, she chose to afford no facility to an intercourse which she
+considered as both dangerous and degrading. To Hargrave's questions,
+therefore, she answered, that until she should hear from London, she was
+ignorant of Captain Montreville's address; and that the time of his
+return was utterly unknown to her. When the Colonel, with the same
+intention, soon after repeated his visit, she quietly, but steadily,
+evaded all his inquiries, equally unmoved by his entreaties, and the
+paroxysms of impatience with which he endured his disappointment.
+
+Hargrave was the only child of a widow--an easy, indolent, good sort of
+woman, who would gladly have seen him become every thing that man ought
+to be, provided she could have accomplished this laudable desire without
+recourse to such harsh instruments as contradiction and restraint. But
+of these she disliked the use, as much as her son did the endurance: and
+thus the young gentleman was educated, or rather grew up, without the
+slightest acquaintance of either. Of consequence, his naturally warm
+temper became violent, and his constitutionally strong passions
+ungovernable.
+
+Hargrave was the undoubted heir of a title, and of a fine estate. Of
+money he had never felt the want, and did not know the value; he was,
+therefore, so far as money was concerned, generous even to profusion.
+His abilities were naturally of the highest order. To force him to the
+improvement of them, was an effort above the power of Mrs Hargrave; but,
+fortunately for him, ere his habits of mental inaction were
+irremediable, a tedious illness confined him to recreations in which
+mind had some share, however small. During the interdiction of bats and
+balls, he, by accident, stumbled on a volume of Peregrine Pickle, which
+he devoured with great eagerness; and his mother, delighted with what
+she was pleased to call a _turn for reading_, took care that this new
+appetite should not, any more than the old ones, pine for want of
+gratification. To direct it to food wholesome and invigorating, would
+have required unremitting though gentle labour: and to labour of all
+kinds Mrs Hargrave had a practical antipathy. But it was very easy to
+supply the young man with romances, poetry, and plays; and it was
+pleasing to mistake their intoxicating effect for the bursts of mental
+vigour. A taste for works of fiction, once firmly established, never
+after yielded to the attractions of sober truth; and, though his
+knowledge of history was neither accurate nor extensive, Hargrave could
+boast of an intimate acquaintance with all the plays, with almost all
+the poetry, and as far as it is attainable by human diligence, with all
+the myriads of romances in his mother tongue. He had chosen, of his own
+free-will, to study the art of playing on the flute; the violin
+requiring more patience than he had to bestow; and emulation, which
+failed to incite him to more useful pursuits, induced him to try whether
+he could not draw as well as his play-fellow, De Courcy. At the age of
+seventeen he had entered the army. As he was of good family, of an
+elegant figure, and furnished by nature with one of the finest
+countenances she ever formed, his company was courted in the highest
+circles, and to the ladies he was particularly acceptable. Among such
+associates, his manners acquired a high polish; and he improved in what
+is called knowledge of the world; that is, a facility of discovering,
+and a dexterity in managing the weaknesses of others. One year--one
+tedious year, his regiment had been quartered in the neighbourhood of
+the retirement where the afore-said De Courcy was improving his 'few
+paternal acres;' and, partly by his persuasion and example, partly from
+having little else to do, partly because it was the fashionable science
+of the day, Hargrave had prosecuted the study of chemistry. Thus have we
+detailed, and in some measure accounted for, the whole of Colonel
+Hargrave's accomplishments, excepting only, perhaps, the one in which he
+most excelled--he danced inimitably. For the rest, he had what is called
+a good heart; that is, he disliked to witness or inflict pain, except
+from some incitement stronger than advantage to the sufferer. His fine
+eyes had been seen to fill with tears at a tale of _elegant_ distress;
+he could even compassionate the more vulgar sorrows of cold and hunger
+to the extent of relieving them, provided always that the relief cost
+nothing but money. Some casual instances of his feeling, and of his
+charity, had fallen under the observation of Laura; and upon these, upon
+the fascination of his manners, and the expression of his countenance,
+her fervid imagination had grafted every virtue that can exalt or adorn
+humanity. Gentle reader, excuse the delusion. Laura was only
+seventeen--Hargrave was the first handsome man of fashion she had ever
+known, the first who had ever poured into her ear the soothing voice of
+love.
+
+Unprepared to find, in an obscure village in Scotland, the most perfect
+model of dignified loveliness, Hargrave became the sudden captive of her
+charms; and her manner, so void of all design,--the energy--the
+sometimes wild poetic grace of her language--the shrewdness with which
+she detected, and the simplicity with which she unveiled, the latent
+motives of action, whether in herself or in others, struck him with all
+the force of contrast, as he compared them with the moulded artificial
+standard of the day. His interest in her was the strongest he had ever
+felt, even before it was heightened by a reserve that came too late to
+repress or conceal the tenderness with which she repaid his passion. Yet
+Hargrave was not less insensible to the real charms of Laura's mind,
+than she was unconscious of the defects in his. Her benevolence pleased
+him; for bright eyes look brighter through tears of sympathy, and no
+smile is so lovely as that which shines on the joys of others. Her
+modesty charmed him; for every voluptuary can tell what allurements
+blushes add to beauty. But of her self-denial and humility he made no
+account. Her piety, never obtruded on his notice, had at first escaped
+his observation altogether; and, now that it thwarted his favourite
+pursuit, he considered it merely as a troublesome prejudice. Of all her
+valuable qualities, her unfailing sweetness of temper was perhaps the
+only one that he valued for its own sake. But her person he idolized. To
+obtain her no exertion would have appeared too formidable; and,
+remembering the conditions of their future reconciliation, he began, for
+the first time in his life, to consider his conduct with a view to its
+moral fitness.
+
+This he found a subject of inextricable difficulty. He was ignorant of
+the standard by which Laura would judge him. He was willing to believe
+that, if she were left to herself, it would not be severe; but the words
+of her promise seemed to imply, that his conduct was to be subjected to
+the scrutiny of less partial censors, and he felt some anxiety to know
+who were to be his 'wise,' 'sober-minded,' 'pious' inspectors. He did
+not game, his expences did not much exceed his income, therefore he
+could imagine no change in his deportment necessary to conciliate the
+'wise.' Though, under the name of sociality, he indulged freely in wine,
+he seldom exceeded to intoxication. Here again reform seemed needless.
+But, that he might give no offence to the 'sober-minded,' he intended to
+conduct his indispensable gallantries with great discretion, he
+determined to refrain from all approach to seduction, and magnanimously
+resolved to abstain from the molestation of innocent country-girls and
+decent maid-servants. Finally, to secure the favour of the 'pious,' he
+forthwith made a purchase of Blair's sermons, and resolved to be seen in
+Church once at least every Sunday.
+
+It might be supposed, that when the scale of duty which we trace is low,
+we should be more likely to reach the little eminence at which we
+aspire; but experience shews us, that they who poorly circumscribe the
+Christian race, stop as much short of their humble design, as does he of
+his nobler purpose, whose glorious goal is perfection. The sequel will
+show the attainments of Colonel Hargrave in the ways of virtue. In the
+meantime his magnet of attraction to Perthshire was gone; he soon began
+to grow weary of the feeling of restraint, occasioned by supposing
+himself the subject of a system of _espionage_; and to kill the time,
+and relieve himself from his imaginary shackles, he sought the
+assistance of the Edinburgh races; determined, that if Laura prolonged
+her stay in London, he would obtain leave of absence, and seek her
+there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+The grey lights of morning shone mild on Glenalbert, as the carriage,
+which was conveying Laura to scenes unknown, wound slowly up the hill.
+With watery eyes she looked back on the quiet beauties of her native
+valley. She listened to the dashing of its stream, till the murmur died
+on her ear. Her lowly home soon glided behind the woods; but its early
+smoke rose peaceful from amidst its sheltering oaks, till it blended
+with the mists of morning; and Laura gazed on it as on the parting steps
+of a friend. 'Oh, vales!' she exclaimed, 'where my childhood
+sported--mountains that have echoed to my songs of praise, amidst your
+shades may my age find shelter--may your wild-flowers bloom on my
+grave!'--Captain Montreville pressed the fair enthusiast to his breast
+and smiled. It was a smile of pity--for Montreville's days of enthusiasm
+were past. It was a smile of pleasure--for we love to look upon the
+transcript of our early feelings. But, whatever it expressed, it was
+discord with the tone of Laura's mind. It struck cold on her glowing
+heart; and she carefully avoided uttering a word that might call forth
+such another, till, bright gleaming in the setting sun, she first beheld
+romantic Edinburgh. 'Is it not glorious!' she cried, tears of wonder and
+delight glittering in her eyes, and she longed for its re-appearance,
+when the descent of the little eminence which had favoured their view,
+excluded the city from their sight.
+
+As the travellers approached the town, Laura, whose attention was
+rivetted by the castle and its rocks, now frowning majestic in the
+shades of twilight, and by the antique piles that seemed the work of
+giants, scarcely bestowed a glance on the neat row of modern buildings
+along which she was passing, and she was sorry when the carriage turned
+from the objects of her admiration towards the hotel where Captain
+Montreville intended to lodge.
+
+Next morning, Laura, eager to renew the pleasure of the evening,
+proposed a walk; not without some dread of encountering the crowd which
+she expected to find in such a city. Of this crowd, she had, indeed,
+seen nothing the night before; but she concluded, ere that she reached
+town, most of the inhabitants had soberly retired to rest. At the season
+of the year, however, when Laura reached Edinburgh, she had little cause
+for apprehension. The noble streets through which she passed had the
+appearance of being depopulated by pestilence. The houses were
+uninhabited, the window-shutters were closed, and the grass grew from
+the crevices of the pavement. The few well-dressed people whom she saw,
+stared upon her with such oppressive curiosity, as gave the uninitiated
+Laura a serious uneasiness. At first she thought that some peculiarity
+in her dress occasioned this embarrassing scrutiny. But her dress was
+simple mourning, and its form the least conspicuous possible. She next
+imagined, that to her rather unusual stature she owed this unenviable
+notice; and, with a little displeasure, she remarked to her father, that
+it argued a strange want of delicacy to appear to notice the
+peculiarities of any one's figure; and that, in this respect, the upper
+ranks seemed more destitute of politeness than their inferiors. Captain
+Montreville answered, with a smile, that he did not think it was her
+height which drew such attention. 'Well,' said she, with great
+simplicity, 'I must endeavour to find food for my vanity in this notice,
+though it is rather against my doing so, that the women stare more
+tremendously than the gentlemen.'
+
+As they passed the magnificent shops, the windows, gay with every
+variety of colour, constantly attracted Laura's inexperienced eye; and
+she asked Montreville to accompany her into one where she wished to
+purchase some necessary trifle. The shopman observing her attention
+fixed on a box of artificial flowers, spread them before her; and tried
+to invite her to purchase, by extolling the cheapness and beauty of his
+goods. 'Here is a charming sprig of myrtle, ma'am; and here is a
+geranium-wreath, the most becoming thing for the hair--only seven
+shillings each, ma'am.' Laura owned the flowers were beautiful. 'But I
+fear,' said she, looking compassionately at the man, 'you will never be
+able to sell them all. There are so few people who would give seven
+shillings for what is of no use whatever.' 'I am really sorry for that
+poor young man,' said she to her father, when they left the shop. 'Tall,
+robust, in the very flower of his age, how he must feel humbled by
+being obliged to attend to such trumpery?' 'Why is your pity confined to
+him?' said Montreville. 'There were several others in the same
+situation.' 'Oh! but they were children, and may do something better by
+and by. But the tall one, I suppose, is the son of some weak mother, who
+fears to trust him to fight his country's battles. It is hard that she
+should have power to compel him to such degradation; I really felt for
+him when he twirled those flowers between his finger and thumb, and
+looked so much in earnest about nothing.' The next thing which drew
+Laura's attention was a stay-maker's sign. 'Do the gentlemen here wear
+corsets?' said she to Montreville. 'Not many of them, I believe,' said
+Montreville. 'What makes you inquire?' 'Because there is a _man_
+opposite who makes corsets. It cannot surely be for women.'
+
+Captain Montreville had only one female acquaintance in Edinburgh, a
+lady of some fashion, and hearing that she was come to town to remain
+till after the races, he that forenoon carried Laura to wait upon her.
+The lady received them most graciously, inquired how long they intended
+to stay in Edinburgh; and on being answered that they were to leave it
+in two days, overwhelmed them with regrets, that the shortness of their
+stay precluded her from the pleasure of their company for a longer
+visit. Laura regretted it too; but utterly ignorant of the time which
+must elapse between a fashionable invitation and the consequent visit,
+she could not help wondering whether the lady was really engaged for
+each of the four daily meals of two succeeding days.
+
+These days, Captain Montreville and his daughter passed in examining
+this picturesque city--its public libraries, its antique castle, its
+forsaken palace, and its splendid scenery. But nothing in its singular
+environs more charmed the eye of Laura than one deserted walk, where,
+though the noise of multitudes stole softened on the ear, scarcely a
+trace of human existence was visible, except the ruin of a little chapel
+which peeped fancifully from the ledge of a rock, and reminded her of
+the antick gambols of the red deer on her native hills, when, from the
+brink of the precipice, they look fearless into the dell below. Captain
+Montreville next conducted his daughter to the top of the fantastic
+mountain that adorns the immediate neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and
+triumphantly demanded whether she had ever seen such a prospect. But
+Laura was by no means disposed to let Perthshire yield the palm to
+Lowland scenery. Here indeed, the prospect was varied and extensive, but
+the objects were too various, too distant, too gay--they glared on the
+eye--the interest was lost. The serpentine corn-ridges, offensive to
+agricultural skill; the school, with its well frequented Gean-tree; the
+bright green clover fields, seen at intervals through the oak coppice;
+the church, half hid by its venerable ash trees; the feathery birch,
+trembling in the breath of evening; the smoking hamlet, its soft colours
+blending with those of the rocks that sheltered it; the rill, dashing
+with fairy anger in the channel which its winter fury had
+furrowed--these were the simple objects which had charms for Laura, not
+to be rivalled by neat enclosures and whitened villas. Yet the scenes
+before her were delightful, and had not Captain Montreville's appeal
+recalled the comparison, she would, in the pleasure which they excited,
+have forgotten the less splendid beauties of Glenalbert.
+
+Montreville pointed out the road that led to England. Laura sent a
+longing look towards it, as it wound amid woods and villages and gentle
+swells, and was lost to the eye in a country which smiled rich and
+inviting from afar. She turned her eyes where the Forth is lost in the
+boundless ocean, and sighed as she thought of the perils and hardships
+of them who go down to the sea in ships. Montreville, unwilling to
+subject her to the inconveniencies of a voyage, had proposed to continue
+his journey by land, and Laura herself could not think without
+reluctance of tempting the faithless deep. The scenery, too, which a
+journey promised to present, glowed in her fervid imagination with more
+than nature's beauty. Yet feeling the necessity of rigid economy, and
+determined not to permit her too indulgent parent to consult her
+accommodation at the expence of his prudence, she it was, who persuaded
+Montreville to prefer a passage by sea, as the mode of conveyance best
+suited to his finances.
+
+The next day our travellers embarked for London. The weather was fine,
+and Laura remained all day upon deck, amused with the novelty of her
+situation. Till she left her native solitude, she had never even seen
+the sea, except, when from a mountain top, it seemed far off to mingle
+with the sky; and to her, the majestic Forth, as it widened into an
+estuary, seemed itself a 'world of waters.' But when on one side the
+land receded from the view, when the great deep lay before her, Laura
+looked upon it for a moment, and shuddering, turned away. 'It is too
+mournful,' said she to her father--'were there but one spot, however
+small, however dimly descried, which fancy might people with beings like
+ourselves, I could look with pleasure on the gulf between--but here
+there is no resting place. Thus dismal, thus overpowering, methinks
+eternity would have appeared, had not a haven of rest been made known to
+us.' Compared with the boundless expanse of waters, the little bark in
+which she was floating seemed 'diminished to a point;' and Laura raising
+her eyes to the stars that were beginning to glimmer through the
+twilight, thought that such a speck was the wide world itself, amid the
+immeasurable space in which it rolled. This was Laura's hour of prayer,
+and far less inviting circumstances can recal us to the acts of a
+settled habit.
+
+Five days they glided smoothly along the coast. On the morning of the
+sixth, they entered the river, and the same evening reached London.
+Laura listened with something like dismay, to the mingled discord that
+now burst upon her ear. The thundering of loaded carriages, the wild
+cries of the sailors, the strange dialect, the ferocious oaths of the
+populace, seemed but parts of the deafening tumult. When they were
+seated in the coach which was to convey them from the quay, Laura begged
+her father to prevail on the driver to wait till the unusual concourse
+of carts and sledges should pass, and heard with astonishment that the
+delay would be in vain. At last they arrived at the inn where Captain
+Montreville intended to remain till he could find lodgings; and, to
+Laura's great surprise, they completed their journey without being
+jostled by any carriages, or overturned by any waggoner--for ought she
+knew, without running over any children.
+
+Being shown into a front parlour, Laura seated herself at a window, to
+contemplate the busy multitudes that thronged the streets; and she could
+not help contrasting their number and appearance with those of the
+inhabitants of Edinburgh. There the loitering step, the gay attire, the
+vacant look, or the inquisitive glance, told that mere amusement was the
+object of their walk, if indeed it had an object. Here, every face was
+full of business--none stared, none sauntered, or had indeed the power
+to saunter, the double tide carrying them resistlessly along in one
+direction or the other. Among all the varieties of feature that passed
+before her, Laura saw not one familiar countenance; and she
+involuntarily pressed closer to her father, while she thought, that
+among these myriads she should, but for him, be alone.
+
+Captain Montreville easily found an abode suited to his humble
+circumstances; and, the day after his arrival, he removed with his
+daughter to the second floor above a shop in Holborn. The landlady was
+a widow, a decent orderly-looking person; the apartments, though far
+from elegant, were clean and commodious. They consisted of a parlour,
+two bedchambers, and a small room, or rather closet, which Laura
+immediately appropriated as her painting-room. Here she found amusement
+in arranging the materials of her art, while Captain Montreville walked
+to the west end of the town, to confer with his agent on the unfortunate
+cause of his visit to London. He was absent for some hours; and Laura,
+utterly ignorant of the length of his walk, and of its difficulties for
+one who had not seen the metropolis for twenty years, began to be uneasy
+at his stay. He returned at last, fatigued and dispirited, without
+having seen Mr Baynard, who was indisposed, and could not admit him.
+After a silent dinner, he threw himself upon a sofa, and dismissed his
+daughter, saying that he felt inclined to sleep. Laura took this
+opportunity to write to Mrs Douglas a particular account of her travels.
+She mentioned with affectionate interest some of her few acquaintances
+at Glenalbert, and inquired for all the individuals of Mrs Douglas's
+family; but the name of Hargrave did not once occur in her letter,
+though nothing could exceed her curiosity to know how the Colonel had
+borne her departure, of which, afraid of his vehemence, she had, at
+their last interview, purposely avoided to inform him.
+
+Having finished her letter, Laura, that she might not appear to repress
+civility, availed herself of her landlady's invitation to 'come now and
+then,' as she expressed it, 'to have a chat;' and descended to the
+parlour below. On perceiving that Mrs Dawkins was busily arranging the
+tea equipage, with an air that showed she expected company, Laura would
+have retreated, but her hostess would not suffer her to go. 'No, no,
+Miss,' said she, 'I expects nobody but my daughter Kate, as is married
+to Mr Jones the haberdasher; and you mustn't go, for she can tell you
+all about Scotland; and it is but natural to think that you'd like to
+hear about your own country, now when you're in a foreign land, as a
+body may say.'
+
+The good woman had judged well in the bribe she offered to her guest,
+who immediately consented to join her party; and who, perceiving that
+Mrs Dawkins was industriously spreading innumerable slices of bread and
+butter, courteously offered to share her toils. Mrs Dawkins thanked her,
+and accepted her services, adding, 'indeed it's very hard as I should
+have all them here things to do myself, when I have a grown up daughter
+in the house. But, poor thing, it a'n't her fault after all, for she
+never was larnt to do nothing of use.' 'That was very unfortunate,'
+said Laura. 'Yes, but it might'nt have been so misfortunate neither,
+only, you see, I'll tell you how it was. My sister, Mrs Smith, had a
+matter of £10,000 left her by her husband, and so she took a fancy when
+July was born as she'd have her called a grand name; and I'm sure an
+unlucky name it was for her; for many a fine freak it has put into her
+head. Well, and so as I was saying, she took July home to herself, and
+had her larnt to paint, and to make fillagree, and play on the piano,
+and what not; and to be sure we thought she would never do less than
+provide for her. But what do you think, why, two year's ago, she ran
+away with a young ensign, as had nothing in the varsal world but his
+pay; and so July came home just as she went; and what was worst of all,
+she could'nt do no more in the shop nor the day she was born.'
+
+'That was hard, indeed,' said Laura.
+
+'Wasn't it now,--but one comfort was, I had Kate brought up in another
+guess-way; for I larnt her plain work and writing, and how to cast
+accounts; and never let her touch a book, except the prayer-book
+a-Sundays; and see what's the upshot on't. Why, though July's all to
+nothing the prettiest, nobody has never made an offer for she, and
+Kate's got married to a warm man as any in his line hereabouts, and a
+man as has a house not ten doors off; and besides, as snug a box in the
+country as ever you seed,--so convenient you've no idear. Why, I dare
+say, there's a matter of ten stage-coaches pass by the door every day.'
+
+To all this family history, Laura listened with great patience,
+wondering, however, what could induce the narrator to take so much
+trouble for the information of a stranger.
+
+The conversation, if it deserves the name, was now interrupted by the
+entrance of a young woman, whom Mrs Dawkins introduced as her daughter
+July. Her figure was short, inclining to embonpoint--her face, though
+rather pretty, round and rosy,--and her whole appearance seemed the
+antipodes of sentiment. She had, however, a book in her hand, on which,
+after exchanging compliments with Laura, she cast a languishing look,
+and said, 'I have been paying a watery tribute to the sorrows of my fair
+name-sake.' Then pointing out the title-page to Laura, she added, 'You,
+I suppose, have often done so.'
+
+It was the tragedy of THE MINISTER, and Laura, reading the name aloud,
+said, she was not acquainted with it.
+
+'Oh,' cried Mrs Dawkins, 'that's the young woman as swears so horridly.
+No, I dares to say, Miss Montreville never read no such thing. If it
+an't a shame to be seen in a Christian woman hands, it is. And if she
+would read it by herself, it would be nothing; but there she goes,
+ranting about the house like an actress, cursing all aloud, worser nor
+the drunken apple-woman at the corner of the street.'
+
+'Pray Mamma, forbear,' said Miss Julia Dawkins, in a plaintive tone; 'it
+wounds my feelings to hear you. I am sure, if Miss Montreville would
+read this play, she would own that the expressions which you austerely
+denominate curses, give irresistible energy to the language.'
+
+'This kind of energy,' said Laura, with a smile, 'has at least the merit
+of being very generally attainable.' This remark was not in Miss Julia's
+line. She had, therefore, recourse to her book, and with great variety
+of grimace, read aloud one of Casimir's impassioned, or, as Laura
+thought, frantic speeches. The curious contrast of the reader's manner,
+with her appearance, of the affected sentimentality of her air, with the
+robust vulgarity of her figure, struck Laura as so irresistibly
+ludicrous, that, though of all young ladies, she was the least addicted
+to tittering, her politeness would have been fairly defeated in the
+struggle, had it not been reinforced by the entrance of Mr and Mrs
+Jones. The former was a little man, in a snuff-coloured coat, and a
+brown wig, who seemed to be about fifty,--the latter was a good-humoured
+commonplace looking woman, of about half that age. Laura was pleased
+with the cordiality with which Mr Jones shook his mother-in-law by the
+hand, saying, 'Well, Mother, I's brought you Kate pure and hearty again,
+and the little fellow is fine and well, tho'f he be too young to come a
+wisiting.'
+
+As soon as the commotion occasioned by their entrance was over, and
+Laura formally made acquainted with the lady, Mrs Dawkins began, 'I
+hopes, Kate, you ha'nt forgot how to tell about your jaunt to Scotland;
+for this here young lady staid tea just o'purpose to hear it.' 'Oh, that
+I ha'nt,' said Mrs Jones, 'I'm sure I shall remember it the longest day
+I have to live.' 'Pray Miss,' added she, turning to Laura, 'was you ever
+in Glasgow?' 'Never,' said Laura; 'but I have heard that it is a fine
+city.' 'Ay, but I've been there first and last eleven days; and I can
+say for it, it is really a handsome town, and a mort of good white-stone
+houses in it. For you see, when Mr Jones married me, he had not been
+altogether satisfied with his rider, and he thoft as he'd go down to
+Glasgow himself and do business; and that he'd make it do for his
+wedding jaunt, and that would be killing two dogs with one stone.'
+'That was certainly an excellent plan,' said Laura. 'Well,' continued
+Mrs Jones, 'when we'd been about a week in Glasgow, we were had to dine
+one day with Mr Mactavish, as supplies Mr Jones with ginghams; and he
+talked about some grand house of one of your Scotch dukes, and said as
+how we must'nt go home without seeing it. So we thought since we had
+come so far, we might as well see what was to be seen.' 'Certainly,'
+said Laura, at the pause which was made to take breath, and receive
+approbation. 'Well, we went down along the river, which, to say truth,
+is very pretty, tho'f it be not turfed, nor kept neat round the edges,
+to a place they call Dumbarton; where there is a rock, for all the
+world, like an ill-made sugar loaf, with a slice out o' the middle on't;
+and they told us there was a castle on it, but such a castle!' 'Pray,
+sister,' said Miss Julia, 'have you an accurate idea of what constitutes
+a castle? of the keeps, the turrets, the winding staircases, and the
+portcullis?' 'Bless you, my dear,' returned the traveller, 'ha'nt I seen
+Windsor Castle, and t'other's no more like it--no more than nothing at
+all. Howsoever, we slept that night at a very decent sort of an inn; and
+Mr Jones thought as we were so comfortable, we had best come back to
+sleep. So as the duke's house was but thirty miles off, we thought if we
+set off soon in the morning, we might get back at night. So off we set,
+and went two stages to breakfast, at a place with one of their
+outlandish names; and to be sartain, when we got there, we were as
+hungry as hounds. Well, we called for hot rolls; and, do but think,
+there was'nt no such thing to be had for love or money.'
+
+Mrs Jones paused to give Laura time for the expression of pity; but she
+remained silent, and Mrs Jones resumed: 'Well, they brought us a loaf as
+old as St Paul's, and some good enough butter; so thinks I, I'll make us
+some good warm toast; for I loves to make the best of a bad bargain. So
+I bid the waiter bring us the toast-stool; but if you had seen how he
+stared,--why, the pore fellor had never heard of no such thing in his
+life. Then they shewed us a huge mountain, as black as a sootbag, just
+opposite the window, and said as we must go up there; but, thinks I,
+catch us at that; for if we be so bad off here for breakfast, what shall
+we be there for dinner. So my husband and I were of a mind upon it, to
+get back to Glasgow as fast as we could; for, though to be sure it cost
+us a power of money coming down, yet, thinks we, the first loss is the
+best.'
+
+'What would I have given,' cried Miss Julia, turning up the whites of
+her eyes, 'to have been permitted to mingle my sighs with the mountain
+breezes!' Mrs Jones was accustomed to her sister's nonsense, and she
+only shrugged her shoulders. But Mrs Dawkins, provoked that her daughter
+should be so much more than usually ridiculous before a stranger, said,
+'Why, child, how can you be so silly,--what in the world should you do
+sighing o' top of a Scotch hill? I dare to say, if you were there you
+might sigh long enough before you'd find such a comfortable cup of tea,
+as what you have in your hand.' Miss Julia disdained reply; but turning
+to our heroine, she addressed her in a tone so amusingly sentimental,
+that Laura feared to listen to the purport of her speech, lest the
+manner and the matter united should prove too much for her gravity; and
+rising, she apologized for retiring, by saying, that she heard her
+father stir, and that she must attend him.
+
+When two people of very different ages meet tête à tête in a room, where
+they are not thoroughly domesticated,--where there are no books, no
+musical instruments, nor even that grand bond of sociality, a fire,--it
+requires no common invention and vivacity to pass an evening with
+tolerable cheerfulness. The little appearances of discomfort, however,
+which imperceptibly lower the spirits of others, had generally an
+opposite effect upon those of Laura. Attentive to the comfort of every
+human being who approached her, she was always the first to discover the
+existence and cause of the 'petty miseries of life;'--but, accustomed to
+consider them merely as calls to exertion, they made not the slightest
+impression on her spirits or temper. The moment she cast her eyes on her
+father, leaning on a table, where stood a pair of candles, that but
+half-lighted the room; and on the chimney, where faded fennel occupied
+the place of a fire, she perceived that all her efforts would be
+necessary to produce any thing like comfort. She began her operations,
+by enticing her father out of the large vacant room, into the small one,
+where she intended to work. Here she prepared his coffee, gave him
+account of the party below stairs, read to him her letter to Mrs
+Douglas, and did and said every thing she could imagine to amuse him.
+
+When the efforts to entertain are entirely on one side, it is scarcely
+in human nature to continue them; and Laura was beginning to feel very
+blank, when it luckily occurred to her, that she had brought her little
+chess-board from Glenalbert. Away she flew, and in triumph produced this
+infallible resort. The match was pretty equal. Captain Montreville had
+more skill, Laura more resource; and she defended herself long and
+keenly. At last she was within a move of being checkmated. But the move
+was hers; and the Captain, in the heat of victory, overlooked a step by
+which the fortune of the game would have been reversed. Laura saw it,
+and eagerly extended her hand to the piece; but recollecting that there
+is something in the pride of man's nature that abhors to be beaten at
+chess by a lady, she suddenly desisted; and, sweeping her lily arm
+across the board, 'Nay, now,' she cried, with a look of ineffable good
+nature, 'if you were to complete my defeat after all my hair-breadth
+'scapes, you could not be so unreasonable as to expect that I should
+keep my temper.' 'And how dare you,' said Captain Montreville, in great
+good humour with his supposed victory, 'deprive me at once of the
+pleasures of novelty and of triumph?' By the help of this auxiliary, the
+evening passed pleasantly away; and, before another came, Laura had
+provided for it the cheap luxury of some books from a circulating
+library.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+For the first fortnight after Captain Montreville's arrival in London,
+almost every forenoon was spent in unavailing attempts to see Mr
+Baynard, whose illness, at the end of that time, had increased to such a
+degree, as left no hope that he could soon be in a condition for
+attending to business. Harassed by suspense, and weary of waiting for an
+interview which seemed every day more distant, Captain Montreville
+resolved to stay no longer for his agent's introduction to Mr Warren,
+but to visit the young heir, and himself explain his errand. Having
+procured Mr Warren's address from Mr Baynard's servants, he proceeded to
+Portland Street; and knocking at the door of a handsome house, was there
+informed that Mr Warren was gone to Brighton, and was not expected to
+return for three weeks.
+
+Captain Montreville had now no resource but to unfold his demands to Mr
+Warren in writing. He did so, stating his claims with all the simple
+energy of truth; but no answer was returned. He fatigued himself and
+Laura in vain, with conjecturing the cause of this silence. He feared
+that, though dictated by scrupulous politeness, his letter might have
+given offence. He imagined that it might have miscarried, or that Mr
+Warren might have left Brighton before it reached him. All his
+conjectures were, however, wide of the truth. The letter had given no
+offence, for it had never been read. It safely reached the person to
+whom it was addressed, just as he was adding a finishing touch to the
+graces of a huge silk handkerchief in which he had enveloped his chin,
+preparatory to the exhibition of his person, and of an elegant new
+curricle upon the Steine. A single glance had convinced him that the
+letter was unworthy to encroach on this momentous concern--he had thrown
+it aside, intending to read it when he had nothing else to do, and had
+seen it no more, till on his return to London, he unrolled from it his
+bottle of esprit de rose, which his valet had wrapped in its folds.
+
+The three wearisome weeks came to an end at last, as well as a fourth,
+which the attractions of Brighton prevailed on Mr Warren to add to his
+stay; and Captain Montreville, making another, almost hopeless, inquiry
+in Portland Street, was, to his great joy, admitted to the long desired
+conference. He found the young man in his nightgown, reclining on a
+sofa, intently studious of the _Sportsman's Magazine_, while he ever and
+anon refreshed himself for this his literary toil, by sipping a cup of
+chocolate. Being courteously invited to partake, the Captain began by
+apologizing for his intrusion, but pleaded that his business was of such
+a nature as to require a personal interview. At the mention of business,
+the smile forsook its prescriptive station on the smooth face of Mr
+Warren. 'Oh pray pardon me, Sir,' said he, 'my agent manages all my
+matters--I never meddle with business--I have really no head for it.
+Here, Du Moulin, give this gentleman Mr William's address.' 'Excuse me,
+Sir,' said Captain Montreville. 'On this occasion I must entreat that
+you will so far depart from your rule as to permit me to state my
+business to you in person.' 'I assure you, Sir,' said the beau rising
+from his luxurious posture, 'I know nothing about business--the very
+name of it is to me the greatest bore in life;--it always reminds me of
+my old dead uncle. The poor man could never talk of any thing but of
+bank-stock, the price of the best archangel tar, and the scarcity of
+hemp. Often did I wish the hemp had been cheap enough to make him apply
+a little of it to his own use--but the old cock took wing at last
+without a halter, he, he, he.'
+
+'I shall endeavour to avoid these offensive subjects,' said Captain
+Montreville, smiling. 'The affair in which I wish to interest you, is
+less a case of law than of equity, and therefore I must beg permission
+to state it to your personal attention, as your agent might not think
+himself at liberty to do me the justice which I may expect from you.'
+
+Mr Warren at this moment recollected an indispensable engagement, and
+begged that Captain Montreville would do him the favour to call another
+time--secretly resolving not to admit him. 'I shall not detain you two
+minutes,' said the Captain; 'I shall in a few words state my request,
+and leave you to decide upon it when you are more at leisure.' 'Well,
+Sir,' replied Mr Warren, with something between a sigh and an
+ill-suppressed yawn, 'if it must be so.'--
+
+'About eighteen months ago,' resumed the Captain, 'my agent, Mr
+Baynard, paid £1500 to your late uncle, as the price of an annuity on my
+daughter's life. The deed is now found to be informal, and Mr Williams
+has refused to make any payment. Mr Baynard's disposition has prevented
+me from seeing him since my arrival in London; but I have no doubt that
+he can produce a discharge for the price of the annuity; in which case,
+I presume you will allow the mistake in the deed to be rectified.'
+
+'Certainly, certainly,' said Mr Warren, who had transferred his thoughts
+from the subject of the conversation to the comparative merits of
+nankeen pantaloons and leather-breeches. 'But even if Mr Baynard should
+have no document to produce,' continued Captain Montreville, 'may I not
+hope that you will instruct Mr Williams to examine, whether there are
+not in Mr Warren's books, traces of the agreement for an annuity of £80,
+in the name of Laura Montreville?' 'Sir?' said Warren, whose ear caught
+the tone of interrogation, though the meaning of the speaker had
+entirely escaped him. The Captain repeated his request. 'Oh, certainly I
+will,' said the young man, who would have promised any thing to get rid
+of the subject. 'I hope the matter will be found to stand as you wish.
+At all events, such a trifling sum can be of no sort of consequence.'
+'Pardon me, Sir,' said Captain Montreville, warmly, 'to me it is of the
+greatest--should this trifle, as you are pleased to call it, be lost to
+me, my child must at my death be left to all the horrors, all the
+temptations of want--temptations aggravated a thousand fold, by beauty
+and inexperience.' His last words awakened something like interest in
+the drowsy soul of his hearer, who said, with the returning smile of
+self-complacency, 'Beauty, Sir, did you say? beauty is what I may call
+my passion--a pretty girl is always sure of my sympathy and good
+offices. I shall call for Mr Williams this very day.' Captain
+Montreville bit his lip. 'Laura Montreville,' thought he, 'an object of
+sympathy to such a thing as thou!' He bowed, however, and, said, 'I
+hope, Sir, you will find, upon examination, that Miss Montreville's
+claims rest upon your justice.' Then laying his address upon the table,
+he took his leave, with an air perhaps a little too stately for one who
+had come to ask a favour.
+
+He returned home, however, much pleased with having at last met with
+Warren, and with having, as he imagined, put in train the business on
+account of which he had performed so long a journey, and suffered so
+much uneasiness. He found Laura, too, in high spirits. She had just
+given the finishing touches to a picture on which she had been most
+busily employed ever since her arrival in London. She had studied the
+composition, till her head ached with intensity of thought. She had
+laboured the finishing with care unspeakable; and she now only waited
+till her work could with safety be moved, to try the success of her
+project for the attainment of wealth. Of this success she scarcely
+entertained a doubt. She was sensible, indeed, that the picture had many
+faults, but not so many as that on which Mrs Douglas's visitor had fixed
+so high a price. Since painting the latter, she had improved in skill;
+and never had she bestowed such pains as on her present work. The
+stranger had said that the Scipio in Mrs Douglas's picture was
+interesting. The Leonidas in this was much more so--she could not doubt
+it, for he resembled Hargrave. She had hoped the resemblance would be
+apparent to no eye but her own. Her father, however, had noticed it, and
+Laura had tried to alter the head, but the Captain declared she had
+spoiled it. Laura thought so herself; and, after sketching a hundred
+regularly handsome countenances, could be satisfied with none that bore
+not some affinity to her only standard of manly beauty.
+
+To add to the pleasure with which Laura surveyed the completion of her
+labours, she had that day received a letter from Mrs Douglas, in which
+mention was made of Hargrave.
+
+In her first letters to Laura, Mrs Douglas had entirely avoided this
+subject. Almost a month Laura had waited, with sickening impatience, for
+some hint from which she might gather intelligence of Hargrave's
+motions--in vain. Her friend had been provokingly determined to believe
+that the subject was disagreeable to her correspondent. Laura at last
+ventured to add, to one of her letters, a postscript, in which, without
+naming the Colonel, she inquired whether the ---- regiment was still at
+Perth. She blushed as she glanced over this postscript. She thought it
+had an air of contrivance and design. She was half tempted to destroy
+the letter; but she could not prevail on herself to make a more direct
+inquiry; and to forbear making any was almost impossible. An answer had
+this day arrived; and Laura read no part of it with such interest, as
+that which, with seeming carelessness, informed her that the Colonel had
+been several times at the parsonage: and that Mrs Douglas understood
+from report, that he was soon to visit London.
+
+Again and again did Laura read this passage, and ponder every word of it
+with care. I am playing the fool, said she to herself, and laid the
+letter aside; took it up again to ascertain some particular expression,
+and again read the paragraph which spoke of Hargrave, and again paused
+upon his name. She was so employed when her father entered, and she made
+an instinctive motion to conceal the paper; but the next moment she held
+it out to him, saying, 'This is from Mrs Douglas.' 'Well, my love,' said
+the Captain, 'if there are no secrets in it, read it to me. I delight in
+Mrs Douglas's simple affectionate style.' Laura did as she was desired;
+but when she reached the sentence which began with the name of Hargrave,
+she blushed, hesitated for a moment, and then, passing over it, began
+the next paragraph.
+
+Without both caution and self-command, the most upright woman will be
+guilty of subterfuges, where love is in question. Men can talk of the
+object of their affections--they find pleasure in confiding, in
+describing, in dwelling upon their passion--but the love of woman seeks
+concealment. If she can talk of it, or even of any thing that leads to
+it, the fever is imaginary, or it is past. 'It is very strange,' said
+the Captain, when Laura had concluded, 'that Mrs Douglas never mentions
+Hargrave, when she knows what an interest I take in him.' Laura coloured
+crimson, but remained silent. 'What do you think can be her reason?'
+asked the Captain. This was a question for which Laura could find no
+evasion short of actual deceit; and, with an effort far more painful
+than that from which her little artifice had saved her, her lovely face
+and neck glowing with confusion, she said: 'She does mention--only I--I.
+Please to read it yourself;' and she pointed it out to her father, who,
+prepared by her hesitation to expect something very particular, was
+surprised to find the passage so unimportant. 'Why, Laura,' said he,
+'what was there to prevent you from reading this?' To this question
+Laura could make no reply; and the Captain, after gazing on her for some
+moments in vain hope of an explanation, dismissed the subject, saying,
+with a shrug of his shoulders, 'Well, well--women are creatures I don't
+pretend to understand.'
+
+Laura had often and deeply reflected upon the propriety of confiding to
+her father her engagement with Hargrave. Vague as it was, she thought a
+parent had an indisputable right to be informed of it. Her promise too
+had been conditional, and what judge so proper as her father to watch
+over the fulfilment of its conditions? What judge so proper as her
+father to examine the character, and to inspect the conduct, of the man
+who might one day become her husband? But, amidst all the train of
+delightful visions which this thought conjured up, Laura felt that
+Hargrave's conduct had been such as she could not endure that her
+father should remember against his future son. Captain Montreville was
+now at a distance from Hargrave. Before they could possibly meet, her
+arguments, or her entreaties, might have so far prevailed over the
+subsiding passions of her father, as to dissuade him from a fashionable
+vindication of her honour. But what was to restore her lover to his
+present rank in the Captain's regard? What would blot from his
+recollection the insult offered to his child? Without mention of that
+insult, her tale must be almost unintelligible; and she was conscious
+that, if she entered on the subject at all, her father's tenderness, or
+his authority, might unlock every secret of her breast. The time when
+her engagement could produce any consequence was distant. Ere it
+arrived, something unforeseen might possibly remove her difficulties;
+or, at the worst, she hoped that, before she permitted her father to
+weigh the fault of Hargrave, she should be able to balance against it
+the exemplary propriety of his after conduct. She was not just satisfied
+with this reasoning; but weaker considerations can dissuade us from what
+we are strongly disinclined to do; and to unveiling her own partiality,
+or the unworthiness of its object, Laura's disinclination was extreme.
+She determined therefore to put off the evil hour; and withdrew her
+father's attention from the subject of the letter, by inquiring whether
+he had seen Warren, and whether he had settled his business
+satisfactorily? The Captain replied, that though it was not absolutely
+settled, he hoped it was now in a fair way of being so; and informed her
+of Warren's promise. 'Yet,' added he, 'any one of a thousand trifles may
+make such an animal forget or neglect the most important concern.' 'What
+sort of man did he seem?' inquired Laura. 'Man!' repeated the Captain,
+contemptuously. 'Why, child, he is a creature entirely new to you. He
+talks like a parrot, looks like a woman, dresses like a monkey, and
+smells like a civet-cat. You might have lived at Glenalbert for half a
+century, without seeing such a creature.' 'I hope he will visit us,'
+said Laura, 'that we may not return home without seeing at least one of
+the curiosities of London.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+The next day, as Captain Montreville sat reading aloud to his daughter,
+who was busy with her needle, Mr Warren was announced.
+
+Laura, who concluded that he had business with her father, rose to
+retire; but her visitor, intercepting her, took both her hands, saying,
+'Pray, Ma'am, don't let me frighten you away.' With a constitutional
+dislike to familiarity, Laura coolly disengaged herself, and left the
+room, without uttering a syllable; but not before Warren had seen enough
+of her to determine, that, if possible, he should see her again. He was
+struck with her extraordinary beauty, which was heightened by the little
+hectic his forwardness had called to her cheek; and he prolonged his
+visit to an unfashionable length, in the hope of her return. He went
+over all the topics which he judged proper for the ear of a stranger of
+his own sex;--talked of the weather, the news, the emptiness of the
+town, of horses, ladies, cock-fights, and boxing-matches. He informed
+the Captain, that he had given directions to his agent to examine into
+the state of the annuity; inquired how long Miss Montreville was to
+grace London with her presence; and was told that she was to leave it
+the moment her father could settle the business, on account of which
+alone he had left Scotland. When it was absolutely necessary to conclude
+his visit, Mr Warren begged permission to repeat it, that he might
+acquaint Captain Montreville with the success of his agent; secretly
+hoping, that Laura would another time be less inaccessible.
+
+Laura meanwhile thought his visit would never have an end. Having
+wandered into every room to which she had access, and found rest in none
+of them, she concluded, rather rashly, that she should find more comfort
+in the one from which his presence excluded her. That disease of the
+mind in which by eager anticipations of the future many are unfitted
+for present enjoyment, was new to the active spirit of Laura. The
+happiness of her life, (and in spite of the caprices of her mother, it
+had, upon the whole, been a happy one), had chiefly arisen from a
+constant succession of regular, but varied pursuits. The methodical
+sequence of domestic usefulness, and improving study, and healthful
+exercise, afforded calm yet immediate enjoyment; and the future pleasure
+which they promised was of that indefinite and progressive kind which
+provokes no eager desires, no impatient expectation. Laura, therefore,
+had scarcely known what it was to long for the morrow; but on this day,
+the morrow was anticipated with wishful solicitude,--a solicitude which
+banished from her mind even the thoughts of Hargrave. Never did youthful
+bridegroom look forward to his nuptial hour with more ardour, than did
+Laura to that which was to begin the realization of her prospects of
+wealth and independence. The next day was to be devoted to the sale of
+her picture. Her father was on that day to visit Mr Baynard at Richmond,
+whither he had been removed for the benefit of a purer air; and she
+hoped on his return, to surprize her beloved parent with an unlooked-for
+treasure. She imagined the satisfaction with which she should spread
+before him her newly acquired riches,--the pleasure with which she would
+listen to his praises of her diligence;--above all, her fancy dwelt on
+the delight which she should feel in relieving her father from the
+pecuniary embarrassment, in which she knew him to be involved by a
+residence in London so much longer than he had been prepared to expect.
+
+That she might add to her intended gift the pleasure of surprize, she
+was resolved not to mention her plan for to-morrow; and with such
+subjects in contemplation, how could she rest,--of what other subject
+could she speak? She tried to banish it from her mind, that she might
+not be wholly unentertaining to her father, who, on her account, usually
+spent his evenings at home. But the task of amusing was so laborious,
+that she was glad to receive in it even the humble assistance of Miss
+Julia Dawkins.
+
+This young lady had thought it incumbent on her to assault our heroine
+with a most violent friendship; a sentiment which often made her
+sufficiently impertinent, though it was a little kept in check by the
+calm good sense and natural reserve of Laura. The preposterous
+affectation of Julia sometimes provoked the smiles, but more frequently
+the pity of Laura; for her real good nature could find no pleasure in
+seeing human beings make themselves ridiculous, and she applied to the
+cure of Miss Dawkins's foibles, the ingenuity which many would have
+employed to extract amusement from them. She soon found, however, that
+she was combating a sort of Hydra, from which, if she succeeded in
+lopping off one excrescence, another was instantly ready to sprout.
+Having no character of her own, Julia was always, as nearly as she was
+able, the heroine whom the last read novel inclined her to personate.
+But as those who forsake the guidance of nature are in imminent danger
+of absurdity, her copies were always caricatures. After reading Evelina,
+she sat with her mouth extended in a perpetual smile, and was so very
+timid, that she would not for the world have looked at a stranger. When
+Camilla was the model for the day, she became insufferably rattling,
+infantine, and thoughtless. After perusing the Gossip's story, she, in
+imitation of the rational Louisa, suddenly waxed very wise--spoke in
+sentences--despised romances--sewed shifts--and read sermons. But, in
+the midst of this fit, she, in an evil hour, opened a volume of the
+Nouvelle Eloise, which had before disturbed many wiser heads. The shifts
+were left unfinished, the sermons thrown aside, and Miss Julia returned
+with renewed _impetus_ to the sentimental. This afternoon her studies
+had changed their direction, as Laura instantly guessed by the lively
+air with which she entered the room, saying that she had brought her
+netting, and would sit with her for an hour. 'But do, my dear,' added
+she, 'first shew me the picture you have been so busy with; Mamma says
+it is beautiful, for she peeped in at it the other day.'
+
+It must be confessed, that Laura had no high opinion of Miss Dawkins's
+skill in painting; but she remembered Moliere's old woman, and went with
+great good will to bring her performance. 'Oh charming,' exclaimed Miss
+Julia, when it was placed before her; 'the figure of the man is quite
+delightful; it is the very image of that bewitching creature Tom Jones.'
+'Tom Jones?' cried Laura, starting back aghast. 'Yes, my dear,'
+continued Julia; 'just such must have been the graceful turn of his
+limbs--just such his hair, his eyes, those lips, that when they touched
+her hand, put poor Sophia into such a flutter.' The astonishment of
+Laura now gave way to laughter, while she said, 'Really Miss Dawkins you
+must have a strange idea of Tom Jones, or I a very extraordinary one of
+Leonidas.' 'Leonce, you mean, in Delphine,' said Julia; 'Oh, he is a
+delightful creature too.' 'Delphine!' repeated Laura, to whom the name
+was as new as that of the Spartan was to her companion. 'No, I mean this
+for the Greek general taking his last leave of his wife.' 'And I
+think,' said Captain Montreville, approaching the picture, 'the
+suppressed anguish of the matron is admirably expressed, and contrasts
+well with the scarcely relenting ardour of the hero.' Miss Julia again
+declared, that the picture was charming, and that Leontine, as she was
+pleased to call him, was divinely handsome; but having newly replenished
+her otherwise empty head with Fielding's novel, she could talk of
+nothing else; and turning to Laura said, 'But why were you so offended,
+that I compared your Leontine to Tom Jones?--Is he not a favourite of
+yours?' 'Not particularly so,' said Laura. 'Oh why not?--I am sure he is
+a delightful fellow--so generous--so ardent. Come, confess--should you
+not like of all things to have such a lover?' 'No, indeed,' said Laura,
+with most unusual energy; for her thoughts almost unconsciously turned
+to one whose character she found no pleasure in associating with that of
+Fielding's hero. 'And why not?' asked Miss Julia. 'Because,' answered
+Laura, 'I could not admire in a lover qualities which would be odious in
+a husband.' 'Oh goodness!' cried Miss Julia, 'do you think Tom Jones
+would make an odious husband?' 'The term is a little strong,' replied
+Laura; 'but he certainly would not make a pleasant yoke-fellow. What is
+your opinion, Sir?' turning to her father. 'I confess,' said the
+Captain, 'I should rather have wished him to marry Squire Western's
+daughter than mine. But still the character is fitted to be popular.' 'I
+think,' said Laura, 'he is indebted for much of the toleration which he
+receives, to a comparison with the despicable Blifil.' 'Certainly,' said
+the Captain; 'and it is unfortunate for the morality of the book, that
+the reader is inclined to excuse the want of religion in the hero, by
+seeing its language made ridiculous in Thwackum, and villanous in
+Blifil. Even the excellent Mr Alworthy excites but feeble interest; and
+it is not by the character which we respect, but by that in which we are
+interested, that the moral effect on our minds is produced.' 'Oh,' said
+Miss Julia, who very imperfectly comprehended the Captain's observation,
+'he might make a charming husband without being religious; and then he
+is so warm-hearted--so generous.' 'I shall not dispute that point with
+you just now,' replied Laura, 'though my opinion differs materially from
+yours; but Tom Jones's warmth of heart and generosity do not appear to
+me of that kind which quality a man for adorning domestic life. His
+seems a constitutional warmth, which in his case, and I believe, in most
+others, is the concomitant of a warm temper,--a temper as little
+favourable to gentleness in those who command, as to submission in
+those who obey. If by generosity you mean the cheerful relinquishing of
+something which we really value, it is an abuse of the term to apply it
+to the profusion with which your favourite squanders his money.'
+
+'If it is not generous to part with one's money,' said Miss Julia, 'I am
+sure I don't know what is.'
+
+'The quiet domestic generosity which is of daily use,' replied Laura,
+'is happily not confined to those who have money to bestow;--but may
+appear in any of a thousand little acts of self-denial.' Julia, whose
+ideas of generosity, culled from her favourite romances, were on that
+gigantic kind of scale that makes it unfit for common occasions, and
+therefore in danger of total extinction, was silent for some moments,
+and then said, 'I am sure you must allow that it was very noble in Jones
+to bury in his own miserable bosom his passion for Sophia, after he knew
+that she felt a mutual flame.' 'If I recollect right,' said Laura,
+smiling at the oddity of Julia's phrases, 'he broke that resolution; and
+I fancy the merely _resolving_ to do right, is a degree of virtue, to
+which even the most profligate attain many times in their lives.'
+
+Miss Dawkins, by this time more than half-suspected her companion of
+being a Methodist. 'You have such strict notions,' said she, 'that I see
+Tom Jones would never have done for you.' 'No,' said Captain
+Montreville, 'Sir Charles Grandison would have suited Laura infinitely
+better.' 'Oh no, papa,' said Laura, laughing; 'if two such formal
+personages as Sir Charles and I had met, I am afraid we should never
+have had the honour of each other's acquaintance.'
+
+'Then, of all the gentlemen who are mentioned in novels,' said Miss
+Julia, 'tell me who is your favourite?--Is it Lord Orville, or Delville,
+or Valancourt, or Edward, or Mortimer, or Peregrine Pickle, or'--and she
+ran on till she was quite out of breath, repeating what sounded like a
+page of the catalogue of a circulating library.
+
+'Really,' said Laura, when a pause permitted her to speak, 'my
+acquaintance with these accomplished persons is so limited that I can
+scarcely venture to decide; but, I believe, I prefer the hero of Miss
+Porter's new publication--Thaddeus of Warsaw. Truly generous, and
+inflexibly upright, his very tenderness has in it something manly and
+respectable; and the whole combination has an air of nature that
+interests one as for a real friend.' Miss Dawkins had never read the
+book, and Laura applied to her father for a confirmation of her opinion.
+'Yes, my dear,' said the Captain, 'your favourite has the same
+resemblance to a human character which the Belvidere Appollo has to a
+human form. It is so like man that one cannot absolutely call it divine,
+yet so perfect, that it is difficult to believe it human.'
+
+At this moment Miss Julia was seized with an uncontrollable desire to
+read the book, which, she declared, she should not sleep till she had
+done; and she went to dispatch a servant in quest of it.
+
+Laura followed her down stairs, to ask from Mrs Dawkins a direction to a
+picture-dealer, to whom she might dispose of her performance. Mrs
+Dawkins said she knew of no such person; but directed Laura to a
+printshop, the master of which was her acquaintance, where she might get
+the intelligence she wanted.
+
+On the following morning, as soon as Captain Montreville had set out for
+Richmond, his daughter, sending for a hackney coach, departed on the
+most interesting business she had ever undertaken. Her heart fluttered
+with expectation--her step was buoyant with hope, and she sprung into
+the carriage with the lightness of a sylph. Stopping at the shop which
+her landlady recommended, she was there directed to several of the
+professional people for whom she was enquiring, and she proceeded to the
+habitation of the nearest. As she entered the house, Laura changed
+colour, and her breath came quick. She stopped a moment to recover
+herself, and then followed her conductor into the presence of the
+connoisseur. Struck with the sight of so elegant a woman, he rose, bowed
+very low, and supposing that she came to make some addition to her
+cabinet, threw open the door of his picture-room, and obsequiously hoped
+that she might find something there worthy of her attention. Laura
+modestly undeceived him, saying, that she had brought in the carriage
+which waited for her, a picture which she wished to dispose of. This
+statement instantly put to flight the servility of her hearer; who, with
+completely recovered consequence, inquired the name of the artist; and
+being answered, that the picture was not the work of a professional man,
+wrinkled his nose into an expression of ineffable contempt, and said--'I
+make it a rule never to buy any of these things--they are generally such
+vile daubs. However to oblige so pretty a lady,' added he, (softening
+his contumelious aspect into a leer), 'I may look at the thing, and if
+it is at all tolerable'--'There is no occasion to give you that
+trouble,' said Laura, turning away with an air which again half
+convinced the man that she must be a person of consequence. He muttered
+something of 'thinking it no trouble;' to which she gave no attention,
+but hastened to her carriage, and ordered the coachman to drive to the
+show-room of an Italian.
+
+Laura did not give him time to fall into the mistake of the other, but
+instantly opened her business; and Mr Sonini was obligingly running
+himself to lift the picture from the carriage, when it was brought in by
+Mrs Dawkins' maid, whom Laura had requested to attend her. Having placed
+the picture, the Italian retreated a few paces to examine the effect,
+and then said--'Ah! I do see--dis is leetle after de manner of
+Correggio--very pretty--very pretty, indeed.' The hopes of Laura rose
+high at these encouraging words; but suffered instantaneous depression,
+when he continued, with a shake of his head, 'but 'tis too new--quite
+moderne--painted in dis contri.--Painter no name--de picture may be all
+so good as it vil--it never vil sell. Me sorry,' added he, reading
+Laura's look of disappointment, 'me sorry displease such bell angela;
+but cannot buy.' 'I am sorry for it,' said Laura, and sighing heavily,
+she courtesied and withdrew.
+
+Her next attempt was upon a little pert-looking man, in a foreign dress,
+and spectacles. 'Hum,' said he, 'a picture to sell--well, let us
+see't.--There, that's the light. Hum--a poor thing enough--no
+keeping--no costûme. Well, Ma'am, what do you please to ask for this?'
+'I should be glad, Sir, that you would fix a price on it.'
+'Hum--well--let me think--I suppose five guineas will be very fair.' At
+this proposal, the blood mounted to the cheeks of Laura; and she raised
+her eyes to examine whether the proposer really had the confidence to
+look her in the face. But finding his eye steadily fixed on her, she
+transferred her suspicions from the honesty of the bidder to the merits
+of her piece, and mildly answering, 'I shall not, I think, be disposed
+to part with it at that price,' she motioned to the servant to carry it
+back to the coach.
+
+One trial still remained; and Laura ordered her carriage to an obscure
+street in the city. She was very politely received by Mr Collins,--a
+young man who had himself been an artist; but whom bad health had
+obliged to relinquish a profession which he loved. 'This piece has
+certainly great merit,' said he, after examining it, 'and most gladly
+would I have made the purchase; but my little room is at present
+overstocked, and, to own the truth to you, the picture is worth more
+than my wife and four little ones can afford to venture upon
+speculation, and such is the purchase of the work, however meritorious,
+of an unknown artist. But if you were to place it in the exhibition, I
+have no doubt that it would speedily find a purchaser.' The prospect
+which the Exhibition held forth, was far too distant to meet the present
+exigency; for Laura well knew that her father would find almost
+immediate occasion for the price of her labours; and with a heavy sigh
+she returned to her carriage.
+
+What now remained but to return home with the subject of so much
+fruitless toil. Still, however, she determined to make one effort more,
+and returned to inquire of the printseller, whether he knew any other
+person to whom she could apply? He had before given his whole list, and
+could make no addition to it. But observing the expression of blank
+disappointment which overcast her face, he offered, if she would trust
+him with the picture, to place it where it would be seen by his
+customers, and expressed a belief that some of them might purchase it.
+Laura thankfully accepted the offer, and after depositing with him her
+treasure, which had lost much of its value in her eyes, and naming the
+price she expected, she returned home; making on her way as many
+sombrous reflections on the vanity and uncertainty of all sublunary
+pursuits, as ever were made by any young lady in her eighteenth year.
+
+She sat down in her now solitary parlour--suffered dinner to be placed
+before her and removed, without knowing of what it consisted; and when
+the servant who brought it disappeared, began, like a true heroine, to
+vent her disappointment in tears. But soon recollecting that, though she
+had no joyful surprize awaiting her father, she might yet gladden it
+with a smiling welcome, she started up from her melancholy
+posture--bathed her eyes--placed the tea equipage--ordered the first
+fire of the season to displace the faded fennel in the chimney--arranged
+the apartment in the nicest order--and had just given to everything the
+greatest possible appearance of comfort, when her father arrived. She
+had need, however, of all her firmness, and of all the elation of
+conscious self-control, to resist the contagious depression of
+countenance and manner with which Captain Montreville accosted her. He
+had good reason for his melancholy. Mr Baynard, his early acquaintance,
+almost the only person known to him in this vast city, had that morning
+breathed his last. All access to his papers was of course at present
+impossible; and until a person could be chosen to arrange his affairs,
+it would be impracticable for Captain Montreville to ascertain whether
+there existed any voucher for the payment of the price of the annuity.
+Harassed by his repeated disappointments, and unendowed by nature with
+the unbending spirit that rises in disaster, he now declared to Laura
+his resolution to remain in London only till a person was fixed upon for
+the management of Mr Baynard's affairs--to lay before him the
+circumstances of his case--and then to return to Scotland, and trust to
+a correspondence for concluding the business.
+
+At this moment nothing could have been further from Laura's wish than to
+quit London. She was unwilling to forfeit her remaining hope that her
+picture might find a purchaser, and a still stronger interest bound her
+to the place which was so soon to be the residence of Hargrave. But she
+saw the prudence of her father's determination--she felt the necessity
+of relinquishing a mode of life so unsuitable to his scanty income, and
+she cheerfully acquiesced in his proposal of returning home. Still some
+time must elapse, before their departure; and she indulged a hope, that
+ere that time expired, the produce of her labours might lighten their
+pecuniary difficulties.
+
+Captain Montreville retired early; and Laura, wearied out with the toils
+and the disappointments of the day, gladly resigned herself to the sleep
+of innocence.
+
+Laura was indebted partly to nature, but more to her own exertion, for
+that happy elasticity of spirit which easily casts off lighter evil,
+while it readily seizes, and fully enjoys, pleasure of moderate
+intensity, and of frequent attainment. Few of the lesser sorrows of
+youth can resist the cheering influence of early morn; and the petty
+miseries which, in the shades of evening, assume portentous size and
+colour, diminish wonderfully in the light of the new-risen sun. With
+recovered spirits, and reviving hopes, Laura awoke to joys which the
+worldly know not,--the joys of pious gratitude--of devout
+contemplation--of useful employment; and so far was her persevering
+spirit from failing under the disappointments of the preceding day, that
+she determined to begin a new picture from the moment she was settled at
+Glenalbert, to compose it with more care, and finish it with greater
+accuracy, than the former; and to try its fate at the exhibition. She
+did not think the season of her father's depression a fit one for
+relating her mortifying adventures, and she found means to amuse him
+with other topics till he left her, with an intention to call in
+Portland Street.
+
+He had not been gone long, when Mr Warren's curricle stopped at the
+door, and the young gentleman, on being informed that the Captain was
+abroad, inquired for Miss Montreville. After paying his compliments like
+one secure of a good reception, he began--'How could you be so cruel as
+to refuse me the pleasure of seeing you the other day--do you know I
+waited here a devilish long time just on purpose, though I had promised
+to take the Countess of Bellamer out an airing, and she was off with
+Jack Villars before I came.' 'I am sorry,' said Laura, 'that I deprived
+her Ladyship of your company.' 'I should not have minded it much, if you
+had but come at last--though the Countess is the prettiest creature in
+London--curse me if she isn't--the present company always excepted.' 'Do
+you mean the exception for me, or for yourself?' said Laura. 'Oh now,
+how can you ask such a question?--I am sure you know that you are
+confoundedly handsome.' Laura gravely surveyed her own face in an
+opposite looking-glass, and then, with the nonchalance of one who talks
+of the most indifferent thing in nature, replied,--'Yes, I think my
+features are uncommonly regular.' Warren was a little embarrassed by so
+unusual an answer to what he intended for a compliment. 'The girl,'
+thought he, 'must be quite a fool to own that she thinks herself so
+handsome.' However, after some consideration, he said,--'It is not so
+much the features, as a certain _je ne sçai quoi_--a certain charm--one
+does not know well what to call it, that makes you look so divine.' 'I
+should suppose,' said Laura, 'from the subject you have chosen to amuse
+me, that the charm, whatever it is, has no great connection with
+intellect.' Warren hesitated; for he began to have some suspicions that
+she was laughing at him, in spite of the immoveable gravity of her
+countenance. 'It--it isn't--Demme, it isn't so much to amuse you; but
+when I see a pretty woman, I never can help telling her of it--curse me
+if I can.' 'And do you often find that your intelligence has the
+advantage of novelty?' said Laura; an arch smile beginning to dimple her
+cheek. 'No, 'pon honour,' replied the beau, 'the women are getting so
+insufferably conceited, they leave one nothing new to tell them.' 'But
+some gentlemen,' said Laura, 'have the happy talent of saying old things
+so well, that the want of novelty is not felt.' The moment the words had
+passed her lips, she perceived, by the gracious smile which they
+produced, that Mr Warren had applied them to himself; and the thought of
+being guilty of such egregious flattery, brought the colour to her face.
+Any explanation, however, would have been actual rudeness; and while the
+consciousness of her involuntary duplicity kept her silent, her
+companion enjoyed her confusion; which, together with the compliment, he
+interpreted in a way most satisfactory to his vanity, and thankfully
+repaid with a torrent of praises in his very best style.
+
+So little value did Laura affix to his commendations, that she was
+beginning to find extreme difficulty in suppressing a yawn, when it
+occurred to her that it might save her father a journey to Portland
+Street, if she could detain Mr Warren till he arrived. Having made an
+observation, which has been more frequently made than profited by, that
+most people prefer talking to listening, she engaged her companion in a
+description of some of the fashionable places of public resort, none of
+which she had seen; in which he acquitted himself so much to his own
+satisfaction, that, before they separated, he was convinced that Laura
+was one of the most penetrating judicious women of his acquaintance; and
+having before remarked, that, with the help of a little rouge, and a
+fashionable riding-habit, she would look better in a curricle than any
+woman in London, he resolved, that if it depended on him, her residence
+in town should not be a short one. In this laudable resolution, he was
+confirmed by a consideration of the insolence and extravagance of a
+certain female, to whose place in his establishment he had some vague
+idea of advancing Miss Laura, though there was a stateliness about both
+her and her father, which he suspected might somewhat interfere with his
+designs in her favour. Soon after the Captain arrived, he took his
+leave, having no new intelligence to communicate, nor indeed any other
+purpose in his visit, except that which had been served by his interview
+with Laura.
+
+As soon as he was gone, Laura went down stairs to beg that Miss Dawkins
+would accompany her after dinner to the print-shop, to inquire what had
+been the fate of her picture. More than one person, she was told, had
+admired it, and expressed a desire to become the owner; but the price
+had been a formidable obstacle, and it remained unsold.
+
+Almost every evening did Laura, with Mrs Dawkins or her daughter for an
+escort, direct her steps to the print-shop, and return from her
+fruitless walk with fainter and fainter hope.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Montague de Courcy had dined tête-à-tête with an old uncle from whom he
+had no expectations, and was returning home to sup quietly with his
+mother and sister, when his progress was arrested by a group occupying
+the whole breadth of the pavement, and he heard a female voice which,
+though unusually musical, had in it less of entreaty than of command,
+say, 'Pray, Sir, allow us to pass.' 'Not till I have seen the face that
+belongs to such a figure,' answered one of a party of young men who were
+rudely obstructing the passage of the lady who had spoken. With this
+condition, however, she seemed not to intend compliance, for she had
+doubled her veil, and pertinaciously resisted the attempts of her
+persecutors to raise it.
+
+De Courcy had a rooted antipathy to all manner of violence and
+oppression, especially when exercised against the more defenceless part
+of the creation; and he no sooner ascertained these circumstances, than,
+with one thrust of his muscular arm, (which, to say the truth, was more
+than a match for half a dozen of the puny fry of sloth and
+intemperance), he opened a passage for the lady and her companion;
+steadily detained her tormentors till she made good her retreat; and
+then, leaving the gentlemen to answer, as they best could, to their own
+interrogatories of 'What do you mean?' and 'Who the d--l are you?' he
+followed the rescued damsel, with whose appearance, considering the
+place and the hour, he was extremely surprised.
+
+Her height, which certainly rose about the beautiful, perhaps even
+exceeded the majestic; her figure, though slender, was admirably
+proportioned, and had all the appropriate roundness of the feminine
+form; her dress, though simple, and of matronly decency, was not
+unfashionable; while the dignity of her gait, and the composure of her
+motion, suited well with the majesty of her stature and mien.
+
+While De Courcy was making these observations, he had offered the lady
+his arm, which she accepted, and his escort home, which she declined,
+saying, that she would take refuge in a shop, till a coach could be
+procured. Nor was he less attentive to her companion, although the
+latter was a little, elderly, vulgar-looking woman, imperfections which
+would have utterly disqualified her for the civility of many a polite
+gentleman.
+
+This person had no sooner recovered the breath of which her supposed
+danger, and the speed of her rescue from it had deprived her, than she
+began, with extreme volubility, to comment on her adventure. 'Well,' she
+cried, 'if that was not the forwardest thing ever I seed. I am sure I
+have comed home afore now of an evening a matter of five hunder times,
+and never met with no such thing in my life. But its all along of my
+being so saving of your money; for I might have took a coach as you'd
+have had me: but its no longer ago nor last week, as I comed from my
+tea, at that very Mr Wilkins's, later nor this, and nobody so much as
+spoke to me; but catch me penny wise again. Howsoever, it's partlins
+your own doings; for if you hadn't staid so long a-looking at the
+pictures in the shop we shouldn't have met with them there men.
+Howsoever, Miss Montreville, you did right enough not to let that there
+jackanapes see your face, otherwise we mightn't have got off from them
+fellors tonight.'
+
+The curiosity of De Courcy thus directed, overcame his habitual dislike
+to staring, and rivetted his eyes on a face, which, once seen, was
+destined never to be forgotten. Her luxuriant hair, (which De Courcy at
+first thought black, though he afterwards corrected this opinion), was
+carelessly divided on a forehead, whose spotless whiteness was varied
+only by the blue of a vein that shone through the transparent skin. As
+she raised her mild religious dark grey eyes, their silken lashes rested
+on the well-defined but delicate eye-brow; or, when her glance fell
+before the gaze of admiration, threw a long shade on a cheek of
+unequalled beauty, both for form and colour. The contour of her
+features, inclining to the Roman, might perhaps have been called
+masculine, had it not been softened to the sweetest model of maiden
+loveliness, by the delicacy of its size and colouring. The glowing
+scarlet of the lips, formed a contrast with a complexion
+constitutionally pale, but varying every moment; while round her easily
+but firmly closing mouth, lurked not a trace of the sensual or the vain,
+but all was calm benevolence, and saintly purity. In the contemplation
+of a countenance, the perfect symmetry of which was its meanest charm,
+De Courcy, who was a physiognomist, suffered the stream of time, as well
+as that of Mrs Dawkins's eloquence, to flow on without notice, and first
+became sensible that he had profited by neither, when the shop-boy
+announced that the carriage was at the door. While handing the ladies
+into the carriage, De Courcy again offered his attendance, which Laura,
+gracefully thanking him for his attentions, again declined; and they
+drove off just as he was about to inquire where they chose to be set
+down.
+
+Now, whether it was that Laura was offended at De Courcy's inspection of
+her face, or whether she saw any thing disagreeable in his; whether it
+was that her pride disdained lodgings in Holborn, or that she desired
+not to be recognized by one who had met with her in such a situation,
+certain it is, that she chose the moment when that gentleman was placing
+her voluble companion in the coach, to give the coachman her directions,
+in sounds that escaped the ears of De Courcy. As he had no means of
+remedying this misfortune, he walked home, and philosophically
+endeavoured to forget it in a game at chess with his mother. The
+fidelity of a historian, however, obliges us to confess, that he this
+evening played in a manner that would have disgraced a school-boy. After
+mistaking his antagonist's men for his own, playing into check, throwing
+away his pieces, and making false moves, he answered his mother's
+question of 'Montague, what are you doing?', by pushing back his chair,
+and exclaiming, 'Mother, you never beheld such a woman.'
+
+'Woman!' repeated Mrs De Courcy, settling her spectacles, and looking
+him full in the face. 'Woman!' said his sister, laying down Bruyere,
+'Who is she?'
+
+'I know not,' answered De Courcy, 'but had Lavater seen her, he could
+scarcely have believed her human.'
+
+'What is her name?'
+
+'The woman who attended her called her Montreville.'
+
+'Where did you meet her?'
+
+'In the street.'
+
+'In the street!' cried Harriet, laughing. 'Oh, Montague, that is not
+half sentimental enough for you. You should have found her all in a
+shady bower, playing on a harp that came there nobody knows how; or, all
+elegant in India muslin, dandling a beggar's brat in a dirty cottage.
+But let us hear the whole adventure.'
+
+'I have already told you all I know,' answered De Courcy. 'Now, Madam,
+will you give me my revenge.' 'No, no,' said Mrs De Courcy, 'I will play
+no more; I should have no glory in conquering such a defenceless enemy.'
+'Well, then,' said Montague, good-humouredly, 'give me leave to read to
+you, for I would rather amuse you and Harriet in any other way than by
+sitting quietly to be laughed at.'
+
+After the ladies had retired for the night, De Courcy meditated for full
+five minutes on the descent from Laura Montreville's forehead to her
+nose, and bestowed a proportionable degree of consideration upon other
+lines in her physiognomy; but it must be confessed, that by the time he
+arrived at the dimple in her left cheek, he had forgotten both Lavater
+and his opinions, and that his recollection of her mouth was somewhat
+confused by that of her parting smile, which he more than once declared
+aloud to himself was 'heavenly.' We are credibly informed, that he
+repeated the same expression three times in his sleep; and whether it
+was that his dreams reminded him of Mrs Dawkins's eloquence, or whether
+his memory was refreshed by his slumbers, he had not been long awake
+before he recollected that he had heard that lady mention a Mr Wilkins,
+and hint that he kept a print-shop. By a proper application to the
+London directory, he easily discovered the print-seller's abode, and
+thither he that very day repaired.
+
+Mr Wilkins was not in the shop when De Courcy entered it, but the
+shop-boy said his master would be there in a minute. This minute
+appearing to De Courcy of unusual length, he, to while it away, began to
+examine the prints which hung around. His eye was presently attracted by
+the only oil picture in the shop; and his attention was fixed by
+observing, that it presented a striking resemblance of his old
+school-fellow Hargrave. He turned to make some inquiry of the shop-boy,
+when Mr Wilkins came in, and his interest reverted to a different
+object. The question, however, which he had come to ask, and which to
+ask would have three minutes before appeared the simplest thing in the
+world, now faltered on his tongue; and it was not without something like
+hesitation, that he inquired whether Mr Wilkins knew a Miss Montreville.
+Desirous to oblige a person of De Courcy's appearance, Wilkins
+immediately related all that he knew of Laura, either from his own
+observation, or from the report of her loquacious landlady; and
+perceiving that he was listened to with attention, he proceeded further
+to detail his conjectures. 'This picture is painted by her,' said he,
+'and I rather think the old Captain can't be very rich, she seemed so
+anxious to have it sold.' De Courcy again turned to the picture, which
+he had before examined, and on this second inspection, was so fortunate
+as to discover that it bore the stamp of great genius,--an opinion in
+which, we believe, he would have been joined by any man of
+four-and-twenty who had seen the artist. 'So,' thought he, 'this lovely
+creature's genius is equal to her beauty, and her worth perhaps
+surpasses both; for she has the courage to rise superior to the silly
+customs of the world, and can dare to be useful to herself and to
+others. I knew by the noble arching of her forehead, that she was above
+all vulgar prejudice:' and he admired Laura the more for being a
+favourable instance of his own penetration,--a feeling so natural, that
+it lessens even our enmity to the wicked, when we ourselves have
+predicted their vices. It must be owned, that De Courcy was a little
+hasty in his judgment of Laura's worth; but the sight of such a face as
+hers, gives great speed to a young man's decision upon female character.
+He instantly purchased the picture, and recollecting that it is highly
+proper to patronize genius and industry, he desired Mr Wilkins to beg
+that a companion might be painted. He then returned home, leaving orders
+that his purchase should follow him immediately.
+
+Though nature, a private education, and studious habits, made De Courcy
+rather reserved to strangers, he was, in his domestic circle, one of the
+most communicative persons in the world; and the moment he saw his
+mother, he began to inform her of the discoveries he had made that
+morning. 'Montreville!' said Mrs De Courcy, when he had ended, 'can that
+be William Montreville who was in the ---- regiment when your father was
+the major of it?' 'Most likely he is,' said Montague, eagerly. 'Many a
+time did he hold you upon his horse, and many a paper kite did he make
+for you.' 'It must be the same,' said Montague; 'the name is not a
+common one; it certainly must be the same.' 'I can hardly believe it,'
+said Mrs De Courcy; 'William Montreville married that strange imprudent
+woman, Lady Harriet Bircham. Poor Montreville!--he deserved a better
+wife.' 'It cannot be he,' said De Courcy, sorrowfully; 'no such woman
+could be the mother of Miss Montreville.' 'He settled in Scotland
+immediately after his marriage,' continued Mrs De Courcy, 'and since
+that time I have never heard of him.' 'It is the same then,' said
+Montague, his countenance lightening with pleasure, 'for Miss
+Montreville is a Scotch woman. I remember his kindness. I think I almost
+recollect his face. He used to set me on his knee and sing to me; and
+when he sung the Babes in the Woods, I pretended to go to sleep on his
+bosom, for I thought it not manly to cry; but when I looked up, I saw
+the tears standing in his own eyes. I will go and see my old friend this
+very hour.' 'You have forgotten,' said Mrs De Courcy, 'that you promised
+to escort Harriet to the park, and she will be disappointed if you
+engage yourself elsewhere.' De Courcy, who would have postponed any
+personal gratification rather than disappoint the meanest servant in his
+household, instantly agreed to defer his visit; and as it had never
+occurred to him that the claims of relationship were incompatible with
+those of politeness, he did not once during their walk insinuate to his
+sister that he would have preferred another engagement.
+
+Never had he, either as a physiognomist or as a man, admired any woman
+so much as he did Laura; yet her charms were no longer his only, or even
+his chief, magnet of attraction towards the Montrevilles. Never before
+had any assemblage of features possessed such power of him, but De
+Courcy's was not a heart on which mere beauty could make any very
+permanent impression; and, to the eternal disgrace of his gallantry, it
+must be confessed, that he scarcely longed more for a second interview
+with Laura, than he did for an opportunity of paying some grateful
+civilities to the man who, twenty years before, had good-naturedly
+forgone the society of his equals in age, to sing ballads and make
+paper-kites for little Montague. Whatever member of his family occupied
+most of his thoughts, certain it is, that he spoke much more that
+evening of Captain Montreville than of his daughter, until the arrival
+of the painting afforded him occasion to enlarge on her genius,
+industry, and freedom from vulgar prejudice. On these he continued to
+descant, till Mrs De Courcy smiled, and Harriet laughed openly; a
+liberty at which Montague testified his displeasure, by carefully
+avoiding the subject for the rest of the evening.
+
+Meanwhile the ungrateful Laura had never, from the hour in which they
+met, bestowed one thought upon her champion. The blackness of his eyes,
+and the whiteness of his teeth, had entirely escaped her observation;
+and, even if she had been asked, whether he was tall or short, she could
+scarcely have given a satisfactory reply. For this extraordinary
+stupidity, the only excuse is, that her heart was already occupied, the
+reader knows how, and that her thoughts were engrossed by an intention
+which her father had mentioned, of borrowing money upon his half-pay.
+
+Though Laura had never known affluence, she was equally a stranger to
+all the shames, the distresses, and embarrassments of a debtor; and the
+thoughts of borrowing what she could not hope by any economy to repay,
+gave to her upright mind the most cutting uneasiness. But no resource
+remained; for, even if Captain Montreville could have quitted London
+within the hour, he had not the means of defraying the expence of the
+journey. Warren's promises had hitherto produced nothing but hope, and
+there was no immediate prospect that the payment of the annuity would
+relieve the difficulty.
+
+Laura turned a despairing wish towards her picture, lamenting that she
+had ever formed her presumptuous scheme, and hating herself for having,
+by her presence, increased the perplexities of her father. She prevailed
+upon him, however, to defer borrowing the money till the following day;
+and once more, accompanied by Julia, bent her almost hopeless steps
+towards the print-shop.
+
+Silent and melancholy she passed on, equally regardless of the
+admiration which she occasionally extorted, and of the animadversions,
+called forth by the appearance of so elegant a woman on foot, in the
+streets of the city. As she entered the shop, she cast a half-despairing
+look towards the place where her picture had hung, and her heart leapt
+when she perceived that it was gone. 'Well, Ma'am,' said Wilkins,
+approaching her, 'it is sold at last, and here is the money;' and he put
+into her hands by far the largest sum they had ever contained. 'You may
+have as much more whenever you please,' continued he, 'for the gentleman
+who bought it wants a companion painted.'
+
+Laura spoke not,--she had not indeed the power to speak;--but she raised
+her eyes with a look that intelligibly said, 'Blessed Father! thy tender
+mercies are over all thy works.' Recollecting herself, she thanked
+Wilkins, liberally rewarded him for his trouble, and taking her
+companion by the arm, she hastened homewards.
+
+The sight of Laura's wealth powerfully affected the mind of Miss
+Dawkins, and she formed an immediate resolution, to grow rich by similar
+means. One little objection to this scheme occurred to her, namely, that
+she had learnt to draw only flowers, and that even this humble branch of
+the art she had discontinued since she left school. But she thought that
+a little practice would repair what she had lost, and that though
+perhaps flowers might not be so productive as historical pieces, she
+might better her fortune by her works; at the least, they would furnish
+her with clothes and pocket-money. Upon this judicious plan, she
+harangued with great volubility to Laura, who, buried in her own
+reflections, walked silently on, unconscious even of the presence of her
+loquacious companion. As she approached her home, she began to frame a
+little speech, with which she meant to present her treasure to her
+father; and, on entering the house, she flew with a beating heart to
+find him. She laid her wealth upon his knee. 'My dearest father,' she
+began, 'the picture'--and she fell upon his neck and burst into tears.
+Sympathetic tears stood in the eyes of Montreville. He had been
+surprized at the stoicism with which his daughter appeared to him to
+support her disappointment, and he was not prepared to expect from her
+so much sensibility to success. But though Laura had learnt from
+frequent experience, how to check the feelings of disappointment, to
+pleasure such as she now felt she was new, and she could not controul
+its emotions. So far was she, however, from thinking that sensibility
+was bestowed merely for an ornament, (an opinion which many fair ladies
+appear to entertain), that the expression of it was always with her an
+occasion of shame. Unable at this moment to contain herself, she burst
+from her father's embrace, and hiding herself in her chamber, poured
+forth a fervent thanksgiving to Him who 'feedeth the ravens when they
+cry to him.'
+
+'This money is yours my love,' said Captain Montreville to her when she
+returned to the parlour. 'I cannot bear to rob you of it. Take it, and
+you can supply me when I am in want of it.' The face and neck of Laura
+flushed crimson. Her whole soul revolted at the thought of her father's
+feeling himself a pensioner on her bounty. 'No indeed, Sir,' she replied
+with energy, 'it is yours--it always was intended for you. But for you,
+I could never have acquired it.' 'I will not disappoint your generosity,
+my dearest,' said Montreville, 'part I will receive from you, but the
+rest you must keep. I know you must have many little wants.' 'No, Papa,'
+said Laura, 'so liberal has your kindness been to me, that I cannot at
+this moment name a single want.' 'Wishes, then, you surely have,' said
+the Captain, still pressing the money upon her; 'and let the
+first-fruits of your industry supply them.' 'I have no wishes,' said
+Laura; 'none at least which money can gratify:--and when I have,' added
+she, with an affectionate smile, 'let their gratification come from you,
+that its pleasure may be doubled to me.'
+
+No creature could less value money for its own sake than did Laura. All
+her wealth, the fruit of so much labour and anxiety, would not have
+purchased the attire of a fashionable lady for one evening. She, who
+had been accustomed to wander in happy freedom among her native hills,
+was imprisoned amidst the smoke and dust of a city. Without a companion,
+almost without an acquaintance to invigorate her spirits for the task,
+it was her province to revive the fainting hopes, and beguile the tedium
+of her father, who was depressed by disappointments in his pursuits, and
+disconcerted by the absence of his accustomed employments. She was at a
+distance from the object, not only of a tender affection, but of a
+romantic passion,--a passion, ardent in proportion as its object was
+indebted to her imagination for his power. Scarce three months had
+elapsed since the depravity of this idolized being had burst on her in
+thunder, the thought of it was still daggers to her heart, and it was
+very doubtful whether he could ever give such proofs of reformation as
+would make it safe for her to restore him to his place in her regard.
+Yet be it known to all who, from similar circumstances, feel entitled to
+fancy themselves miserable, and thus (if they live with beings of common
+humanity) make others really so, that no woman ever passed an evening in
+more heartfelt content, than Laura did that which our history is now
+recording. She did, indeed, possess that which, next to the overflowings
+of a pious heart, confers the purest happiness on this side Heaven. She
+felt that she was USEFUL. Nay, in one respect the consciousness of a
+successful discharge of duty has the advantage over the fervours of
+devotion; for Providence, wise in its bounty, has decreed, that while
+these foretastes of heavenly rapture are transient lest their delights
+should detach us from the business of life, we are invited to a
+religious practice by the permanence of its joys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Captain Montreville and his daughter were engaged in a friendly contest
+on the subject of a companion for the picture, when De Courcy made his
+visit. Though, as he entered the room, something unfashionably like a
+blush visited his face, his manner was free from rustic embarrassment.
+'I believe,' said he, advancing towards Captain Montreville, 'I must
+apologize for the intrusion of a stranger. My person must have outgrown
+your recollection. My name, I hope, has been more fortunate. It is De
+Courcy.' 'The son I presume of Major De Courcy,' said Montreville,
+cordially extending his hand to him. 'Yes,' replied Montague, heartily
+taking the offered hand; 'the same whose childhood was indebted to you
+for so many of its pleasures.' 'My old friend Montague!' cried the
+Captain, 'though your present form is new to me, I remember my lovely
+little noble-spirited play-fellow with an interest which I have never
+felt in any other child except this girl.' 'And who knows,' said De
+Courcy, turning to Laura with a smile, 'who knows what cause I may find
+to rue that Miss Montreville is past the age when I might have repaid
+her father's kindness by assiduities to her doll?' 'That return,' said
+Laura, colouring, as she recollected her late champion, 'would not have
+been quite so arduous as the one you have already made. I hope you have
+had no further trouble with those rude people?' 'No, Madam,' answered De
+Courcy, 'nor did I expect it; the spirits that are so insolent where
+they dare, are submissive enough where they must.' Laura now explained
+to her father her obligation to De Courcy; and the Captain having
+thanked him for his interference, the conversation took a general turn.
+
+Elated as he was with the successful industry and genius of his child,
+and pleased with the attentions of the son of his friend, the spirits
+of Montreville rose higher than they had ever done since his arrival in
+London. Won by the happy mixture of familiarity and respect, of spirit
+and gentleness, which distinguished the manners of De Courcy, the
+Captain became cheerful, and Laura almost talkative: the conversation
+rose from easy to animated, from animated to gay; and two hours had
+passed before any of the party was aware that one-fourth of that time
+was gone. Laura's general reserve with strangers seemed to have forsaken
+her while she conversed with De Courcy. But De Courcy was not a
+stranger. By character she knew him well. Hargrave had mentioned to her
+his intimacy with De Courcy. Nay, De Courcy had, at the hazard of his
+life, saved the life of Hargrave. Laura had heard her lover dwell with
+the eloquence of gratitude upon the courage, the presence of mind, with
+which (while others, confounded by his danger, or fearing for their own
+safety, left him to perish without aid), De Courcy had seized a fisher's
+net, and, binding one end of it to a tree, the other to his body, had
+plunged into the water, and intercepted Hargrave, just as the stream was
+hurrying him to the brink of a tremendous fall. 'All struggle was in
+vain,' had Hargrave said to the breathless Laura; 'but for that noble
+fellow, that minute would have been my last, and I should have died
+without awakening this interest so dear to my heart.' 'I wish I could
+see this De Courcy,' had Laura fervently exclaimed. 'Heaven forbid!' had
+been the hasty reply, 'for your habits--your pursuits--your sentiments
+are so similar, that he would gain without labour, perhaps without a
+wish, the heart that has cost me such anxious toil.' A recollection of
+this dialogue stole into the mind of Laura, as De Courcy was expressing
+an opinion which, though not a common one, coincided exactly with her
+own. For a moment she was absent and thoughtful; but De Courcy continued
+the conversation, and she resumed her gaiety.
+
+When unwillingly at last he rose to take his leave, Captain Montreville
+detained him while he made some friendly inquiries into the history of
+the family for the last twenty years. As the questions of the Captain,
+however, were not impertinently minute, nor the answers of De Courcy
+very copious, it may not be improper to supply what was wanting in the
+narrative.
+
+Major De Courcy was the representative of a family which could trace its
+descent from the times of the Conqueror,--an advantage which they valued
+above the hereditary possessions of their fathers; and if an advantage
+ought to be estimated by its durability, they were in the right; for
+the former, of necessity, was improved by time, the latter seemed
+tending towards decline. Frederick De Courcy was suffered to follow his
+inclinations in entering the army; because that was the profession the
+most suitable to the dignity of an ancient house. That it was of all
+professions the least likely to improve his fortune, was a consideration
+equally despised by his father and himself. When he attained his
+seventeenth year, a commission was purchased for him. Stored with
+counsels sufficient, if he followed them, to conduct him to wisdom and
+happiness, and with money sufficient to make these counsels of no avail,
+he set out from his paternal home to join his regiment. Thus was De
+Courcy, in his dangerous passage from youth to manhood, committed to the
+guidance of example, and the discretion belonging to his years;
+fortified, indeed, by the injunctions of his parents, and his own
+resolutions, never to disgrace his descent. This bulwark, he soon found,
+was too weak to resist the number and variety of the weapons which
+attacked him. The shafts of ridicule assailed him; his own passions took
+up arms; his pride itself turned against him. Unable to resist with
+vigour, he ceased to resist at all; and was hurried into every folly in
+which his companions wished for the assistance of his purse, or the
+countenance of his example.
+
+His father's liberal allowance was soon insufficient to supply his
+extravagance. He contracted debts. After severe but well-merited
+reproof, his father paid them; and De Courcy promised amendment. A whole
+week of strict sobriety ensued; and the young soldier was convinced that
+his resolution was immutable. And so he would probably have found it, if
+now, for the first time since man was made, temptation had become weaker
+by victory, or virtue stronger by defeat. But though he had tasted the
+glittering bait of folly, and though he at times confessed its
+insipidity, the same lure again prevailed, and De Courcy was again
+entangled in pecuniary embarrassments. What was to be done? His father
+had declared his irrevocable determination no further to injure the
+interests of his younger children by supplying the prodigality of the
+eldest. By the advice of a veteran in profusion, De Courcy had recourse
+to Jews. As it was in his father's power to disinherit him, it was
+necessary to conceal these transactions; and the high spirit of
+Frederick was compelled to submit to all the evasions, embarrassments,
+and wretchedness that attend a clandestine course of action.
+
+Often did he illustrate the trite observation that no life is more
+remote from happiness than a life of pleasure. The reward of all his
+labour was satiety; the wages of all his self-reproaches were the
+applause of the thoughtless for his spirit; the lamentations of the
+wise, that an honourable mind should be so perverted. In his
+twenty-second year, his father's death left him at liberty to pay his
+old debts, and to contract new. That which has preserved the virtue of
+many young men, prevented the total ruin of De Courcy. He became
+attached to a virtuous woman; and, influenced much by inclination, more
+by the wishes of her friends, she married him.
+
+Mrs De Courcy brought no dower except the beauty which had captivated
+her husband, the sweetness which prolonged her power, and the good sense
+which made that power useful. She therefore did not think herself
+entitled to remonstrate very warmly on the negligence that appeared in
+the conduct of her husband's affairs; and it was not until after she
+became a mother that she judged it proper to interfere. Her gentle
+remonstrances, however, produced little effect beyond promises and vague
+resolutions, that at some '_convenient season_' the Major would examine
+into the real state of his fortune.
+
+Accident at last befriended her endeavours. Soon after the birth of her
+second child (a daughter), a demand was made on De Courcy for a debt
+which he had not the means of discharging. He could not apply to the
+Jew; for he had solemnly pledged to Mrs De Courcy, that he would never
+more have recourse to that ruinous expedient. He was discussing with his
+wife the possibility of procuring the money by a new mortgage, while
+Montague, then a child of four year's old, was playing in the room.
+Struck by the melancholy tone of his mother's voice, the child forsook
+his play, and taking hold of her gown, looked anxiously from one
+mournful face to the other. 'I am as averse to it as you can be, my
+dear,' said the Major, 'but there is no other way of raising the money.'
+'Wait till I am a man, Papa,' said the child; 'and then Betty says, I
+shall have a good two thousand pounds a-year, and I will give it all to
+you. And here,' added he, searching his little pocket, 'here is my
+pretty shilling that Captain Montreville gave me; take it, and don't
+look sorry any more.' Mrs De Courcy passionately loved this child.
+Overcome by the feeling of the moment, she clasped him in her arms. 'My
+poor wronged child!' she exclaimed, and burst into tears.
+
+These were the first words of bitterness which Major De Courcy had ever
+heard from her lips; and overcome by them, and by her tears, he gave her
+a hasty promise, that he would, that very hour, begin the examination
+of his affairs. Sensible of her advantage, she permitted not his purpose
+to slumber, but persuaded him to a full inquiry into the extent of his
+debts; and in order to remove him from future temptation, she prevailed
+on him to sell his commission, and reside at his paternal Norwood.
+
+After selling so much of his estate as to clear the remainder from all
+incumbrance, he found his income diminished to little more than a third
+of its original extent. His family pride reviving at the sight of the
+halls of his fathers, and a better affection awakening in his
+intercourse with the descendants of those whom his ancestors had
+protected, he determined to guard against the possibility of Norwood and
+its tenants being transferred to strangers, and entailed the remains of
+his property on Montague De Courcy, in the strictest form of English
+law. For Mrs De Courcy he made but a slender provision. For his daughter
+he made none: but he determined to save from his income a sum sufficient
+to supply this deficiency. He was still a young man, and never thought
+of doubting whether he might live long enough to accomplish his design,
+or whether the man who had found an income of £2000 a-year too small for
+his necessities, might be able to make savings from one of £800. In
+spite of the soberness of the establishment, which during the novelty of
+his reform he allowed Mrs De Courcy to arrange, he continued to find
+uses for all the money he could command. His fields wanted inclosures;
+his houses needed repairs; his son's education was an increasing
+expence; and he died while Montague was yet a boy, without having
+realized any part of his plans in favour of his daughter.
+
+He left the highest testimony to the understanding and worth of Mrs De
+Courcy, by making her the sole guardian of his children; and the steady
+rectitude and propriety of her conduct justified his confidence. Aware
+of the radical defect of every mode of education that neglects or severs
+the domestic tie, yet convinced that the house where he was master, and
+the dependents he could command, were dangerous scenes and companions
+for a youth of Montague's spirit, she committed him to the care of a
+clergyman, whose residence was a few miles distant from Norwood, and who
+also took charge of four other boys of about the same age.
+
+This gentleman was admirably fitted for his trust; for he had a
+cultivated understanding, an affectionate heart, sound piety, and a calm
+but inflexible temper. Add to which, he had travelled, and, in his
+youth, associated much with men of rank, and more with men of talents;
+though, since he had become a pastor, the range of his moral observation
+had been narrowed to the hearts of a few simple villagers, which were
+open to him as to their father and their friend. The boys studied and
+played together, but they each had a separate apartment; for Mr
+Wentworth had himself been educated at a public school, and never
+recollected without shuddering, the hour when his youthful modesty had
+shrunk from sharing his bed with a stranger, and when the prayer for his
+parents, which he was mingling with his tears, had been disturbed by the
+jokes of a little rabble.
+
+Every Saturday did Montague bend his joyful course homewards, regardless
+of summer's heat or winter storms. Every Sunday did his mother spend in
+mixing the lessons of piety with the endearments of love; in striving to
+connect the idea of a superintending God with all that is beautiful--all
+that is majestic--in nature. As her children grew up, she unfolded to
+them the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, so sublime, so consolatory,
+so suitable to the wants of man. Aware how much occasion favours the
+strength of impressions, she chose the hour of strong remorse on account
+of a youthful fault, while the culprit yet trembled before the offended
+Majesty of Heaven, to explain to her son the impossibility that
+repentance should, of itself, cancel errors past, or that the great
+Lawgiver should accept a few ineffectual tears, or a tardy and imperfect
+obedience, as a compensation for the breach of a law that is perfect.
+When she saw that the intended impression was made, she spoke of the
+great atonement that once was offered, not to make repentance
+unnecessary, but to make it effectual; and, from that time, using this
+as one of the great landmarks of faith, she contributed to make it in
+the mind of De Courcy a practical and abiding principle. The peculiar
+precepts of Christianity she taught him to apply to his actions, by
+applying them herself; and the praise that is so often lavished upon
+boldness, dexterity, and spirit, she conscientiously reserved for acts
+of candour, humility, and self-denial.
+
+Her cares were amply rewarded, and Montague became all that she wished
+him to be. He was a Christian from the heart, without being either
+forward to claim, or ashamed to own, the distinction. He was industrious
+in his pursuits, and simple in his pleasures. But the distinctive
+feature of his character, was the total absence of selfishness. His own
+pleasure or his own amusement he never hesitated to sacrifice to the
+wishes of others; or, to speak more correctly, he found his pleasure
+and amusement in theirs. Upon the whole, we do not say that Montague De
+Courcy had no faults; but we are sure he had none that he did not strive
+to conquer. Like other human beings, he sometimes acted wrong; but we
+believe he would not deliberately have neglected a known duty to escape
+any worldly misfortune; we are sure he would not deliberately have
+committed a crime to attain any earthly advantage.
+
+Desirous that her darling should enjoy the benefits of the most liberal
+education, yet afraid to trust him to the temptations of an English
+university, Mrs De Courcy went for some years to reside in Edinburgh
+during the winter--in summer she returned with her family to Norwood. To
+his private studies, and his paternal home, Montague returned with ever
+new delight; for his tastes and his habits were all domestic. He had no
+ambitious wishes to lure him from his retreat, for his wants were even
+more moderate than his fortune. Except in so far as he could make it
+useful to others, he had no value for money, nor for anything that money
+could buy, exclusive of the necessaries of life, books, and implements
+of chemistry. The profession which he had chosen was that of improving
+and embellishing his estate; and, in the tranquil pleasures of a country
+gentleman, a man of taste, a classical scholar, and a chemist, he found
+means to occupy himself without injury to his health, his morals, or his
+fortune. His favourite amusements were drawing and physiognomy; and,
+like other favourites, these were sometimes in danger of making
+encroachments, and advancing into the rank of higher concerns. But this
+he prevented by an exact distribution of his time, to which he
+resolutely adhered.
+
+With his mother and his sister he lived in the most perfect harmony,
+though the young lady had the reputation of a wit, and was certainly a
+little addicted to sarcasm. But she was in other respects amiable, and
+incapable of doing anything to offend her brother, whose indignation
+indeed never rose but against cruelty, meanness, or deceit.
+
+De Courcy had just entered his twenty-fifth year, when a rheumatic fever
+deprived his mother of the use of her limbs; and, forsaking all his
+employments, he had quitted his beloved Norwood to attend her in London,
+whither she had come for the benefit of medical advice. He had been but
+a few days in town when he met with Miss Montreville, and the impression
+which her beauty made, the second interview tended to confirm.
+
+Montague had never, even in imagination, been in love. The regulation of
+his passions, the improvement of his mind, and the care of his property,
+had hitherto left him no leisure for the tender folly. He had scarcely
+ever thought of a young woman's face, except with a reference to
+Lavater's opinion, nor of her manners, except to wonder how she could be
+so obtrusive. But in contemplating Laura's face, he forgot the rules of
+the physiognomist; and, in the interesting reserve of her manners, he
+found continually something to desire. If, at the close of his visit, he
+was not in love, he was at least in a fair way for being so. He was
+assailed at once by beauty, grace, good sense, and sweetness; and to
+these Laura added the singular charm of being wholly insensible to their
+effects upon the beholder. No side glance was sent in search of
+admiration; no care was taken to compose her drapery; no look of triumph
+accompanied her judicious remarks; no parade of sensibility disgraced
+her tenderness. Every charm was heightened by a matchless absence of all
+design; and against this formidable battery had poor De Courcy to make
+his stand, just at the inauspicious hour when, for the first time in his
+life, he had nothing else to do.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+As soon as De Courcy was gone, Captain Montreville launched out warmly
+in his praise. Laura joined in the eulogium; and, the next morning,
+forgot that there was such a person in existence, when she read a letter
+from Mrs Douglas, of which the following was a part.
+
+     'Before this reaches you, Colonel Hargrave will be far on his
+     way to London. It is possible that you may have no interest in
+     this journey; but, lest you should, I wish to prevent your
+     being taken by surprize. Since your departure he has repeatedly
+     visited us; and endeavoured, both directly and indirectly, to
+     discover your address. Perhaps you will think my caution
+     ill-timed; but I acted according to my best judgment, in
+     avoiding to comply with his desire. I think, however, that he
+     has elsewhere procured the information he wanted; for his
+     features wore an air of triumph, as he asked my commands for
+     you. Dear child of my affections, richly endowed as you are
+     with the dangerous gift of beauty, you have hitherto escaped,
+     as if by miracle, from the snares of folly and frivolity. My
+     hearts prayer for you is, that you may be as safe from the
+     dangers that await you, in the passions of others, and in the
+     tenderness of your own heart. But alas! my beloved Laura,
+     distant as I am from you, ignorant as I am of the peculiarities
+     of your situation, I can _only_ pray for you. I fear to express
+     my conjectures, lest I should seem to extort your confidence. I
+     fear to caution, lest I should shock or offend you. Yet let me
+     remind you, that it is easier, by one bold effort, to reject
+     temptation, than to resist its continued allurements.
+     Effectually to bar the access of the tempter may cost a painful
+     effort--to parley with him is destruction. But I must stop.
+     Tears of anxious affection blot what I have written.
+
+                                           'E. DOUGLAS.'
+
+The joyful expectation of seeing Hargrave filled for a time the heart of
+Laura, and left no room for other thoughts. The first that found
+entrance was of a less pleasing cast. She perceived that Mrs Douglas
+suspected Hargrave of the baseness of deliberate seduction; and, with a
+feeling of indignation, she collected her writing materials, and sat
+down to exculpate him. But, as she again read her friend's expressions
+of affection, and considered how little her suspicions were remote from
+the truth, she accused herself of ingratitude and injustice in giving
+way to any thing like resentment. She thanked Mrs Douglas for her
+cautions; but assured her, that the proposals of Hargrave were
+honourable, unequivocal, and sanctioned by her father; that they had
+been rejected by herself; and, therefore, that no motive, except that of
+vindicating him from an unfounded suspicion, should have tempted her to
+betray, even to her most confidential friend, a secret which she thought
+a woman bound, both in delicacy and in honour, to keep inviolable. She
+did not once hint at the cause of her rejecting an offer so splendid,
+nor show a trace of the inclination which she had so nobly sacrificed to
+virtue, except what appeared in the warmth of her defence of her lover.
+For, though she felt that her story would have raised her in her
+friend's esteem, she scorned to purchase that advantage at the expence
+of another, and retained all her aversion to exposing the faults of
+Hargrave.
+
+Having finished her letter, she returned to the more agreeable
+contemplation, and began to calculate upon the time when she might
+expect to see the Colonel. Her conclusion was, that he would probably
+visit her on the following day, and her heart throbbed with delight at
+the prospect.
+
+But from the dream of joy, Laura soon returned to the more habitual
+consideration of the line of conduct which it was fit that she should
+pursue. She saw the folly of committing her happiness to the
+guardianship of one whose passions were his masters; and, while it was
+her daily prayer that she might not be led into temptation, her
+conscience revolted from trusting her conduct to the guidance, her
+virtue to the example, of a man whose principles were doubtful. For
+Laura's virtue was not of that saint-errant kind that sallies forth in
+quest of opportunities to signalize itself, and inflames its pride by
+meditation on the wonders it would achieve, if placed in perilous
+situations. Distrustful of herself--watchful to avoid occasions of
+falling--she had no ambition for the dangerous glory of reforming a rake
+into a good husband. She therefore adhered to her determination, that
+she would not consent to a union with her lover, till, by a course of
+virtuous conduct he had given proof that his offence had been the sudden
+fault of a moment, not the deliberate purpose of a corrupted heart.
+
+Yet even in this mitigated view, the recollection was poison to the soul
+of Laura. The painful thought was far from new to her, that the passion
+of Hargrave was a tribute to her personal charms alone. With such a
+passion, even were its continuance possible, Laura felt that she could
+not be satisfied. To be the object of it degraded her in her own eyes.
+'No, no,' she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands, 'let me not
+even legally occupy only the place which the vilest might fill. If I
+cannot be the friend, the companion, as well as the mistress, better,
+far better, were it that we should part for ever.'
+
+No labour is sufficient to acquaint us fully with our own hearts. It
+never occurred to Laura, that she was, as much as Hargrave, the captive
+of mere externals; and that his character would never have deceived her
+penetration, had it been exhibited in the person of a little red-haired
+man, with bandy legs, who spoke broad Scotch, and smoked tobacco. Till
+the hour when he had himself dispelled the illusion, the character of
+Hargrave, such as she chose to imagine it, had been to her a theme of
+the most delightful contemplation; and to its fascinations she had
+willingly and entirely resigned herself. The disguise, which was rather
+the excuse, than the cause of her passion, had been dropped in part; yet
+the passion was as strong as ever. It was, indeed, no longer pleasing,
+no longer blind, no longer paramount; for her reason, which had before
+been silent, was now permitted to speak, and though it was unable to
+conquer, it could control. She imagined the vehemence with which
+Hargrave would urge her to shorten the term of his probation, and she
+feared that she should find it difficult, perhaps impossible, to resist
+his entreaties. She would not, therefore, expose her prudence to too
+severe a trial. 'Yes,' said she, 'I will bar the access of the tempter.
+I will see Hargrave only once, and that shall be to bid him farewell,
+till the stipulated two years are finished. If he really loves me, his
+affection will survive absence. If it fail in the trial, I may, though
+lost to happiness, find in my solitude a peace that never can visit a
+neglected wife.'
+
+This philosophic conclusion was the fruit of her meditations during a
+restless night; and having worked herself, as she thought, into a temper
+decorously relentless, she proceeded, with all the consistency of her
+sex, to adorn her person with a care she had never before bestowed upon
+it. She arranged every curl for effect; chose a dress which shewed to
+advantage the graceful slope of her shoulders; and heightened the
+whiteness of her neck and arms, by contrasting it with fillets of jet.
+Though she was but indifferently pleased with her success, it proved
+sufficient for her occasions. The day passed away, and Hargrave did not
+appear. Laura was disappointed, but not surprized; for it was barely
+possible that he could have reached London on that day. On the
+succeeding one she thought it likely that he might come; but the
+succeeding one was equally barren of event.
+
+On the third she was certain that he would arrive; and, when breakfast
+was over, she seated herself in expectation at the window of the front
+parlour, started if a carriage stopped, and listened to every voice that
+sounded from below stairs. Half-desirous to escape her father's
+observation, half-wishing that her interview with Hargrave should be
+without witnesses, she persuaded Captain Montreville to go and pay his
+respects to Mrs De Courcy. Anxiously she waited, conjectured, doubted,
+reconsulted Mrs Douglas's letter. The Captain returned; the hours of
+visiting passed away; and still no Hargrave came.
+
+Unwilling to own, even to herself, the extent of her anxiety and
+disappointment, Laura talked to her father of his visit, with which he
+had been highly pleased. He had been amused with Harriet; charmed with
+Mrs De Courcy; and doubly charmed with Montague, whom he praised as a
+scholar and a man of sense, as an affectionate brother and a respectful
+son; and, to crown all these commendations, he declared, that De Courcy
+was more than a match for himself at chess.
+
+When they retired for the night, Laura returned to her conjectures on
+the cause of Hargrave's delay. She considered that he might have been
+detained on the road, or that he might have found it necessary to make a
+visit on his way. She had little doubt, that to see her was the object
+of his journey to London at this unfashionable season. She had none,
+that he would hurry to her the first moment that it was possible. By
+degrees, she persuaded herself into an absolute certainty that she
+should see him on the following day; and on that day, she again took her
+anxious station in the parlour.
+
+She was ashamed to lean over the window, and could not otherwise see who
+entered the house; but she left the room door ajar, that she might have
+warning of his approach, held her breath to distinguish the voices from
+below, and listened eagerly to every footstep. At last, she imagined
+that she heard the wished-for inquiry. She was sure some one pronounced
+her name. A man's step ascended the stair; Laura trembled and her breath
+came short. She feared to look up, and leant her face on her hand to
+conceal her emotion.
+
+The voice of her visitor made her start, and turn her head. It was
+Warren!
+
+Expectation had been wound up to its highest pitch, and Laura could not
+instantly recover herself. She paid her compliments with a confusion and
+trepidation, which Warren interpreted in a way most flattering to his
+vanity. He approached her with a look, in which ill-suppressed triumph
+contended with laboured condescension; and spoke to her in a voice that
+seemed to say, 'Pray, endeavour to reassure yourself.' But Laura was in
+no humour to endure his impertinence, and she seized the first
+opportunity to leave the room.
+
+Captain Montreville soon entered on the business in which he took such
+painful interest, by inquiring whether any traces had yet been
+discovered of the sale of his daughter's annuity. Warren, with abundance
+of regret and condolence, informed him, that Williams had as yet been
+able to discover no mention of the transaction in the books.
+
+This assertion was so far true, that Williams had as yet seen no record
+of the business in question; for which Mr Warren could, if he had
+chosen, have given a very satisfactory reason. From the moment this
+_gentleman_ had first seen Laura, he had been determined not wilfully to
+expedite her departure from London; and therefore he had casually
+dropped a hint to his man of business, that, as he was already
+overwhelmed with a multiplicity of affairs, it was unnecessary to hasten
+a concern of such trivial importance; and that he might defer inquiring
+into the sale of the annuity till he was at perfect leisure. Had he
+insinuated to Williams, that this delay was detaining from his home a
+man who could ill afford the consequent expence, or that it was alarming
+a father for the future subsistence of his only child, the man of
+business would have found leisure to investigate the matter, even if he
+had subtracted the necessary time from his hours of rest. But the
+upright Mr Warren had given no such intimation; and in this honourable
+transaction, he was, for the present, secure from detection, for he knew
+that business had called his agent to a distance from London.
+
+Captain Montreville knew not what to think. He could not doubt the
+integrity of Mr Baynard, nor could he imagine to what purpose Warren
+should deny the transaction; since, if it had really taken place, the
+vouchers of it must be found among his deceased friend's papers. He was
+persuaded that to examine the books according to the date of the sale,
+would be the work of only a few hours; and again he inquired whether the
+necessary examination had taken place. Mr Warren answered, that he could
+not take it upon him to say that every possible search had yet been
+made; but his agent, he said, had examined all the most probable records
+of the concern, and would, on his return to town, make a still more
+particular scrutiny.
+
+With this unsatisfactory answer, Captain Montreville was obliged to
+content himself. He had only one alternative--either to wait in London
+the appointment of the person who was to arrange Mr Baynard's papers, or
+to return to Scotland, and resign all hopes of the annuity. He feared,
+too, to offend Warren by urging him too strongly, since, even should a
+voucher of the payment of his £1500 be found, the informality in the
+deed would still leave room for litigation. No merely personal interest
+would have induced the high spirit of Montreville to conciliate a man
+whom he despised as a fool and a coxcomb.--For nothing that concerned
+himself alone, would he have submitted to the trouble and anxiety which
+he had lately undergone. Ill calculated by nature to struggle with
+difficulties, he had long been accustomed to let the lesser disasters
+glide by without notice, and to sink, without effort, under the greater.
+Disappointed in the woman of his choice, and deprived, by her folly or
+perverseness, of the domestic pleasures which he loved, his mind had
+taken a cast of melancholy. Early secluded from society, and tormented
+by the temper of his wife, he had concentrated all the affections which
+solitude confined, and caprice rejected, upon one object: and Laura
+became the passion of his soul. The thought of leaving her destitute, of
+leaving her sensibility to the scorns, her beauty to the temptations of
+poverty, was more than he could bear, and it sometimes almost
+overpowered him. He was naturally inclined to indolence, and as, like
+all indolent people, he was the creature of habit, his spirits had
+suffered much from the loss of the woman who, though too heartless for a
+friend, and too bitter for a companion, had, for twenty years, served
+him as a sort of stimulus. The same force of habit, joined to her
+improving graces and confirming worth, made Laura daily more dear to
+him, and he would willingly have given his life to secure her
+independence and happiness.
+
+Brooding on the obscurity in which she must remain, whom he judged
+worthy to adorn the highest station--on the poverty which awaited her
+during his life--on the want to which his death must consign
+her,--removed from his habitual occupations, and deprived of the
+wholesome air, and exhilarating exercises to which he had long been
+accustomed, he allowed his spirits to grow daily more depressed. Along
+with the idea of the misfortunes which his death would bring upon his
+darling, the fear of death settled on his mind. The little ailments to
+which the sedentary are liable, he magnified into the symptoms of mortal
+disease; and momentary pain seemed to his fancy to foretell sudden
+dissolution. Montreville was fast sinking into a melancholy
+hypochondriac.
+
+His daughter's spirits, too, failed under continued expectation, and
+continued disappointment; for day after day passed on, and still
+Hargrave came not. Her father's dejection increased her own, and her
+ill-disguised depression had a similar effect on him. While, however,
+Captain Montreville gave way without effort to his feelings, the more
+vigorous mind of Laura struggled to suppress the sorrow which she saw
+was contagious. She sometimes prevailed upon her father to seek
+amusement abroad, sometimes endeavoured to amuse him at home. She read
+to him, sung to him, exerted all her conversation talent to entertain
+him; and often, when all was in vain, when he would answer her by forced
+smiles, languid gestures, or heavy sighs, she would turn aside to wipe
+the tears from her eyes, then smile, and attempt her task again.
+
+In these labours she had now, it is true, the assistance of an
+intelligent companion. De Courcy came often; and the Captain seemed to
+receive a pleasure from his visits, which even Laura's efforts could not
+bestow. The tenderness of his child, indeed, appeared sometimes to
+overpower him; for, when she was exerting herself to divert his
+melancholy, he would gaze upon her for a while in an agony of fondness,
+then suddenly desire to be left alone, and dismiss her from his
+presence. But De Courcy's attentions seemed always welcome. He soothed
+the irritated mind with respectful assiduities--he felt for its sickly
+sensibility--and, though ignorant of the cause of Montreville's
+dejection, found in alleviating it a pleasure, which was more than
+doubled by the undisguised approbation and gratitude of Laura.
+
+His sister, too, came to visit Miss Montreville, and, apologizing for
+her mother, who was unable to accompany her, brought an invitation for
+the Captain and his daughter to dine in Audley Street. Laura, in hopes
+of amusing her father, prevailed on him to accept the invitation; and an
+early day was fixed for the visit. She was pleased with the frankness
+and gaiety of Harriet's manner, and her curiosity was roused by Captain
+Montreville's praises of Mrs De Courcy.
+
+The day arrived, and Laura prepared to accompany her father, not without
+trepidation at the thought of entering, for the first time in her life,
+a room which she expected to find full of strangers. When she had
+finished dressing, he examined her with triumph; and thought that
+nothing in nature was so perfect. The thought was legible in his
+countenance, and Laura, with great simplicity, answered to it as if it
+had been spoken. 'Except to please you,' said she, 'I wish I had been
+neither tall nor pretty, for then I should have been allowed to move
+about without notice.' 'Then, too,' thought she with a heavy sigh, 'I
+should have been loved for my self, and not have been perhaps
+forgotten.'
+
+Laura was not ignorant of her own beauty, but no human being could less
+value the distinction. She was aware of the regularity of her features;
+but as she never used a looking-glass, unless for the obvious purpose of
+arranging her dress, she was insensible of the celestial charm which
+expression added to her face. The seriousness and dignity of her manners
+made it difficult to address her with common-place compliment; and she
+had accordingly never experienced any effect of her beauty, but one
+which was altogether disagreeable to her, that of attracting notice. To
+being the subject of observation, Laura retained that Caledonian dislike
+which once distinguished her country-women, before they were polished
+into that glitter which attracts the vulgar, and paid for the
+acquisition by the loss of the timidity which, like the ærugo of ancient
+coin, adds value in the eye of taste to intrinsic worth, while it
+shields even baser merit from contempt.
+
+Laura's courage failed her when, throwing open the door of a large room,
+Mrs de Courcy's servant announced Captain and Miss Montreville. But she
+revived when she perceived that the company consisted only of the
+mistress of the house, her son and daughter. Mrs de Courcy's appearance
+seemed to Laura very prepossessing. She still wore the dress of a widow;
+and her countenance bore the traces of what is called a green old age;
+for though the hair that shaded her commanding forehead was silver
+white, her dark eyes retained their brightness; and though her
+complexion was pale, it glowed at times with the roses of youth. The
+expression of her face, which was serious even to solemnity, brightened
+with a smile of inexpressible benevolence, as she received her guests;
+and, even in the difficulty with which she appeared to move, Laura found
+somewhat interesting. Her air and manners, without a tincture of
+fashion, spoke the gentlewoman. Her dress, her person, her demeanour,
+every thing about her seemed consistently respectable. The dinner was
+plain, but excellent. The few indispensable pieces of plate were antique
+and massive; and the only attendant who appeared, seemed to have grown
+gray in the service of the family. Laura had pleasure in observing, that
+the reverence with which this old man addressed his lady, softened into
+affectionate solicitude to please when he attended De Courcy, who, in
+his turn, seemed to treat him with the most considerate gentleness.
+
+Mrs De Courcy behaved to Laura with distinguished politeness; addressed
+her often; endeavoured to draw forth her latent powers; and soon made
+her sensible that the impression she had given, was no less favourable
+than that which she had received. Montague's conversation had its
+accustomed effect on Montreville, and the lively Harriet gave spirit to
+the whole. The evening passed most agreeably; and Laura was sorry when
+the hour of separation arrived. Mrs De Courcy courteously thanked her
+for her visit, and begged her to repeat it; but Harriet sportively
+objected: 'No, no,' said she, 'if you come back, you will not leave a
+heart among all the household--even old John's seems in danger.'
+
+'Well, Mamma,' continued she, when Laura was gone, 'what do you think of
+my brother's beauty?' 'I think,' said Mrs De Courcy, 'that Montague's
+praises did her no more than justice. She is the most lovely, the most
+elegant woman I ever saw,' 'She is no doubt beautiful and interesting,'
+returned Harriet; 'but I must still think she has too much of the
+buckram of the old school to be elegant.' Montague bit his lip, and
+tried, before he spoke, to ascertain that he was not angry. 'You are too
+severe, Harriet,' said Mrs De Courcy. 'Miss Montreville's reserve is not
+stiffness--it is not "buckram;" it is rather the graceful drapery,
+embellishing what it veils.' 'Mother,' cried Montague, grasping her
+hand, 'you have more candour, sense, and taste, than all the misses in
+England.' 'Oh! pray, except Miss Montreville and the present company,'
+said Harriet, laughing. 'She, you know, is all perfection; and _I_ have
+really candour, sense, and taste enough to admire her more than ever I
+did any woman, except my little self.' De Courcy threw his arm around
+her--'I see by that good-natured smile,' said he, 'that my dear Harriet
+has at least candour enough to pardon the folly of a wayward brother.'
+And, for the rest of the evening, he treated her with even more than his
+usual attentive kindness.
+
+From this day Miss De Courcy frequently accompanied her brother on his
+visits to the Montrevilles, and Laura was a welcome guest in Audley
+Street. By degrees Mrs De Courcy and she discovered the real worth of
+each other's character, and their mutual reserve entirely disappeared.
+Between Laura and De Courcy, almost from the first hour of their
+acquaintance, there seemed (to use the language of romance) a sympathy
+of souls;--an expression which, if it has any meaning, must mean the
+facility with which simple, upright, undesigning minds become
+intelligible to each other. Even the sarcastic Harriet found, in the
+chaste propriety of Laura's character, something to command respect; and
+in her gentleness and warmth of heart, something to engage affection;
+while, in her ideas, which solitude had slightly tinged with romance,
+though strong sense had preserved them from absurdity, and in her
+language, which sometimes rose to the very verge of poetry, she found
+constantly somewhat to interest and amuse.
+
+Meanwhile Montreville's dejection seemed to increase; and Laura's health
+and spirits, in spite of her efforts to support them, daily declined.
+Hargrave did not appear, and vainly did she endeavour to account for his
+absence. She at first conjectured that he had found it impossible to
+leave Scotland at the time he proposed; but a second letter from Mrs
+Douglas had mentioned his departure, and repeated the assurance that,
+however obtained, he had information of Laura's address, since he had
+undertaken to be the bearer of a letter from a neighbouring gentleman to
+Captain Montreville.
+
+She next supposed that he had stopped on the road, or quitted it on some
+errand of business or pleasure--but a newspaper account of a fête
+champêtre at Lady Bellamer's elegant villa at Richmond, was graced,
+among other fashionable names, with that of the handsome Colonel
+Hargrave, nephew and heir of Lord Lincourt. No supposition remained to
+be made, except the mortifying one, that three months of absence had
+erased her image from the fickle heart of Hargrave. She, who had herself
+consigned her lover to a banishment of two years, could not bear that
+he should voluntarily undergo one of a few weeks. Nay, she had once
+herself resigned him; but to be herself resigned without effort, was
+more than she could endure. Her appetite, her sleep forsook her; her
+ordinary employments became irksome; and even the picture, the price of
+which was so soon to be necessary, she had not the spirits to finish.
+
+But one who was accustomed every night to examine the thoughts and
+actions of the day, was not likely to remain long a prey to inactive
+melancholy. Not satisfied with languid efforts in the discharge of duty,
+she reproached herself for every failure. She upbraided herself as a
+wicked and slothful servant, who, when the means of usefulness were put
+in her power, suffered them to remain unimproved; as a rebel who had
+deserted the service of her rightful master, to bow to the worse than
+Egyptian bondage of her passions. She accused herself of having given up
+her love, her wishes, her hopes and fears, almost her worship, to an
+idol; and no sooner did this thought occur to the pious mind of Laura,
+than she became resigned to her loss. She even felt grateful--with such
+gratitude as the wretch feels under the knife which amputates the morbid
+limb.
+
+Unused to let her self-reproaches pass without improvement, she
+resolved, by vigorous efforts, to become herself again. She even called
+in the aid of a decent pride. 'Shall I,' she cried, 'who have vowed to
+overcome the world--I who have called myself by that glorious name, a
+Christian, sink from these honours into a love-sick girl? Shall all my
+happiness, all my duties, the comfort of my father, the very means of
+his support, be sacrificed to a selfish passion? Or is a love, whose
+transient duration has proved its degenerate nature, of such value to
+me, that I must repay it with my whole heart and soul?'
+
+These reflections were not made at once, nor were they at once
+effectual; but, when made, they were called in as oft as the image of
+Hargrave intruded unbidden; and constant and regular occupation was
+again employed to second their operation. The picture was again resorted
+to; but, as it afforded rather an unsocial employment, and as Laura's
+company was more than ever necessary to her father, it proceeded but
+slowly.
+
+De Courcy was now a daily visitor. Sometimes he brought books, and would
+spend hours in reading aloud, an accomplishment in which he excelled.
+Sometimes he would amuse the Captain and his daughter by experiments in
+his favourite science. With a gentleness peculiar to himself, he tried
+to prevent the little annoyances to which hypochondriacs are subject.
+He invented a hundred little indulgences for the invalid; and no day
+passed in which Montreville was not indebted for some comfort, or some
+amusement, to the considerate kindness of De Courcy. At times he would
+gently rally the Captain on his imaginary ailments, and sometimes
+prevailed on him to take the air in Mrs De Courcy's carriage: though to
+such a height had fancy worked upon him, that Montague found it
+impossible to persuade him that he was able to endure the fatigue of
+walking.
+
+To Laura, De Courcy's behaviour, uniformly respectful and attentive, was
+sometimes even tender. But, accustomed to see love only in the
+impassioned looks of Hargrave, to hear its accents only in his words of
+fire, she did not recognize it in a new form; and to consider De Courcy
+as a lover, never once entered her imagination. Captain Montreville was
+more clear-sighted, and hence arose much of the pleasure which he took
+in De Courcy's visits. Not that he was more knowing in the mysteries of
+love than his daughter; but he took it for granted, that no mortal could
+withstand her attractions; and he was persuaded that Laura would not
+withhold her heart, where she so freely expressed approbation. This
+opinion was a proof of the justice of the Captain's former confession,
+'that women were creatures he did not understand.' Laura had never
+praised Hargrave. She never shrunk from De Courcy's eye,--she never felt
+embarrassed by his presence,--she treated him with the frankness of a
+sister; and though she reserved her commendations for his absence, she
+waited only for that to bestow them with all the warmth which his own
+merit and his attentions to her father could demand.
+
+Meanwhile the Captain did not, by a premature disclosure of his hopes,
+endanger their completion; and De Courcy continued unconsciously to
+foster in his bosom, a passion that was destined to destroy his peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+The picture at last was finished, and Laura herself accompanied it to
+the print-shop. Wilkins immediately delivered to her the price, which,
+he said, had been for some time in his hands. It now occurred to Laura
+to ask who had been the purchaser of her work. 'Why, Ma'am,' said
+Wilkins, 'the gentleman desired me not to mention his name.' 'Indeed!'
+said Laura surprised. 'These were his orders. Ma'am, but I shouldn't
+think there could be any great harm in telling it just to you Ma'am.' 'I
+have no wish to hear it,' said Laura, with a look which compelled the
+confident to unwilling discretion; and again thanking him for the
+trouble he had taken, she returned home. The truth was, that De Courcy
+had foreseen the probability of Laura's question; and averse to be known
+to her under a character that savoured of patronage and protection, had
+forbidden the shopkeeper to mention who had purchased the pictures.
+
+Again did Laura, delighted, present to her father the produce of her
+labours, her warm heart glowing with the joys of usefulness. But not as
+formerly did he with pleasure receive the gift. With the fretfulness of
+disease, he refused to share in her satisfaction. Through the gloom of
+melancholy, every object appeared distorted; and Captain Montreville saw
+in his daughter's well-earned treasure only the wages of degrading toil.
+'It is hard, very hard,' said he with a deep sigh, 'that you, my lovely
+child, should be dependent on your daily labour for your support.' 'Oh
+call it not hard, my dear father,' cried Laura. 'Thanks, a thousand
+thanks to your kind foresight, which, in teaching me this blessed art,
+secured to me the only real independence, by making me independent of
+all but my own exertions.' 'Child,' said Montreville, fretfully, 'there
+is an enthusiasm about you that will draw you into ten thousand
+errors--you are quite mistaken in fancying yourself independent. Your
+boasted art depends upon the taste, the very caprice of the public for
+its reward; and you, of course, upon the very same caprice for your very
+existence.' 'It is true,' answered Laura mildly, 'that my success
+depends upon taste, and that the public taste is capricious; but some, I
+should hope, would never be wanting, who could value and reward the
+labours of industry--you observe,' added she with a smile, 'that I rest
+nothing upon genius.' 'Be that as it may,' returned Captain Montreville,
+with increasing querulousness, 'I cannot endure to see you degraded into
+an artist, and, therefore, I desire there may be no more of this
+traffic.'
+
+This was the first time that Montreville had ever resorted to the method
+well known and approved by those persons of both sexes, who, being more
+accustomed to the exercise of authority than of argument, choose to
+wield the weapon in the use of which practice has made them the most
+expert. Laura looked at him with affectionate concern--'Alas!' thought
+she, 'if bodily disease is pitiable, how far more deplorable are its
+ravages on the mind.' But even if her father had been in perfect health,
+she would not have chosen the moment of irritation for reply. Deeply
+mortified at this unexpected prohibition, she yet endeavoured to
+consider it as only one of the transient caprices of illness, and to
+find pleasure in the thought, that the hour was come, when De Courcy's
+daily visit would restore her father to some degree of cheerfulness.
+
+But De Courcy's visit made no one cheerful. He was himself melancholy
+and absent. He said he had only a few minutes to spare, yet lingered
+above an hour; often rose to go, yet irresolutely resumed his seat. At
+last, starting up, he said, 'the longer I remain here, the more
+unwilling I am to go; and yet I _must_ go, without even knowing when I
+may return.' 'Are _you_ going to leave us?' said Montreville, in a tone
+of despondency, 'then we shall be solitary indeed.' 'I fear,' said
+Laura, looking with kind solicitude in De Courcy's face, 'that something
+distressing calls you away.' 'Distressing indeed,' said De Courcy. 'My
+excellent old friend Mr Wentworth has lost his only son, and I must bear
+the news to the parents.' 'Is there no one but you to do this painful
+office?' asked Montreville. 'None,' answered De Courcy, 'on whom it
+could with such propriety fall. Wentworth was one of my earliest
+friends, he was my father's early friend. I owe him a thousand
+obligations; and I would fain, if it be possible, soften this heavy
+blow. Besides,' added he, endeavouring to speak more cheerfully, 'I have
+a selfish purpose to serve,--I want to see how a Christian bears
+misfortune.' 'And can you fix no time for your return?' asked the
+Captain, mournfully. De Courcy shook his head. 'You will not return
+while your presence is necessary to Mr Wentworth,' said Laura, less
+anxious to regain De Courcy's society, than that he support the
+character of benevolence with which her imagination had justly vested
+him. Grieved by the prospect of losing his companion, fretted by an
+indefinite idea that he was wrong in his ungracious rejection of his
+daughter's efforts to serve him, ashamed of his distempered selfishness,
+yet unable to conquer it, Captain Montreville naturally became more
+peevish; for the consciousness of having acted wrong, without the
+resolution to repair the fault, is what no temper can stand. 'Your
+charity is mighty excursive Laura,' said he. 'If Mr De Courcy delays his
+return long, I shall probably not live to profit by it.' Laura, whose
+sweetness no captious expressions could ruffle, would have spoken to
+turn her father's view to brighter prospects; but the rising sob choked
+her voice, and courtesying hastily to De Courcy, she left the room. De
+Courcy now no longer found it difficult to depart. He soon bade the
+Captain farewell, promising to return as soon as it was possible, though
+he had no great faith in Montreville's dismal prediction, uttered in the
+true spirit of hypochondriasis, that he would come but to lay his head
+in his grave.
+
+As he was descending the stairs, Laura, who never forgot in selfish
+feeling to provide for the comfort of others, followed him, to beg that
+when he had leisure, he would write to her father. Laura blushed and
+hesitated as she made this request, not because she had in making it any
+selfish motive whatever, but purely because she was unused to ask
+favours. Flattered by the request, but much more by her confusion, De
+Courcy glowed with pleasure. 'Certainly I shall write,' said he with
+great animation, 'if you--I mean if Captain Montreville wish it.' These
+words, and the tone in which they were uttered, made Laura direct a look
+of inquiry to the speaker's face, where his thoughts were distinctly
+legible; and she no sooner read then, than, stately and displeased, she
+drew back. 'I believe it will give my father pleasure to hear from you,
+sir,' said she, and coldly turned away. 'Is there no man,' thought she,
+'exempt from this despicable vanity--from the insignificant Warren to
+the respectable De Courcy?' Poor Montague would fain have besought her
+forgiveness for his presumption in supposing it possible that she could
+have any pleasure in hearing of him; but the look with which she turned
+from him, left him no courage to speak to her again, and he mournfully
+pursued his way to Audley Street.
+
+He was scarcely gone when Warren called, and Laura, very little
+displeased for his company, took shelter in her own room. Her father,
+however, suffered no inconvenience from being left alone to the task of
+entertaining his visitor, for Warren found means to make the
+conversation sufficiently interesting.
+
+He began by lamenting the Captain's long detention from his home, and
+condoled with him upon the effects which London air had produced upon
+his health. He regretted that Mr Williams's absence from town had
+retarded the final settlement of Montreville's business; informed him
+that Mr Baynard's executors had appointed an agent to inspect his
+papers; and finally, surprised him by an unconditional offer to sign a
+new bond for the annuity. He could not bear, he said, to think of the
+Captain's being detained in London to the prejudice of his health,
+especially as it was evident that Miss Montreville's suffered from the
+same cause. He begged that a regular bond might be drawn up, which he
+would sign at a moment's notice, and which he would trust to the
+Captain's honour to destroy, if it should be found that the £1500,
+mentioned as the price of the annuity, had never been paid.
+
+At this generous proposal, surprise and joy almost deprived Montreville
+of the power of utterance; gratefully clasping Warren's hand, 'Oh, sir,'
+he exclaimed, 'you have, I hope, secured an independence for my child. I
+thank you--with what fervour, you can never know till you are yourself a
+father.' Seemingly anxious to escape from his thanks, Warren again
+promised that he would be ready to sign the bond on the following day,
+or as soon as it was ready for signature. Captain Montreville again
+began to make acknowledgements, but Warren, who appeared rather
+distressed than gratified by them, took his leave, and left the Captain
+to the joyful task of communicating the news to Laura.
+
+She listened with grateful pleasure. 'How much have I been to blame,'
+said she, 'for allowing myself to believe that a little vanity
+necessarily excluded every kind and generous feeling. What a pity it is
+that this man should condescend to such an effeminate attention to
+trifles!' Lost to the expectation, almost to the desire of seeing
+Hargrave, she had now no tie to London, but one which was soon to be
+broken, for Mrs and Miss De Courcy were about to return to Norwood. With
+almost unmixed satisfaction, therefore, she heard her father declare,
+that in less than a week he should be on his way to Scotland. With
+pleasure she looked forward to revisiting her dear Glenalbert, and
+anticipated the effects of its quiet shades and healthful air upon her
+father. Already she beheld her home, peaceful and inviting, as when,
+from the hill that sheltered it, she last looked back upon its simple
+beauties. She heard the ripple of its waters; she trod the well-known
+path; met the kind familiar face, and listened to the cordial welcome,
+with such joy as they feel who return from the land of strangers.
+
+Nor was Montreville less pleased with the prospect of returning to his
+accustomed comforts and employments--of feeling himself once more among
+objects which he could call his own. His own! There was magic in the
+word, that transformed the cottage at Glenalbert into a fairy
+palace--the garden and the farm into a little world. To leave London
+interfered indeed with his hopes of De Courcy as a lover for his
+daughter; but he doubted not that the impression was already made, and
+that Montague would follow Laura to Scotland.
+
+His mind suddenly relieved from anxiety, his spirits rose, all his
+constitutional good nature returned, and he caressed his daughter with a
+fondness that seemed intended to atone for the captious behaviour of the
+morning. At dinner he called for wine, a luxury in which he rarely
+indulged, drank to their safe arrival at Glenalbert, and obliged Laura
+to pledge him to the health of Warren. To witness her father's
+cheerfulness was a pleasure which Laura had of late tasted so sparingly,
+that it had the most exhilarating effect upon her spirits; and neither
+De Courcy nor Hargrave would have been much gratified, could they have
+seen the gaiety with which she supported the absence of the one, and the
+neglect of the other.
+
+She was beginning to enjoy one of those cheerful domestic evenings which
+had always been her delight, when Miss Dawkins came to propose that she
+should accompany her and her mother on a visit to Mrs Jones. Laura would
+have excused herself, by saying, that she could not leave her father
+alone; but the Captain insisted upon her going, and declared that he
+would himself be of the party. She had therefore no apology, and,
+deprived of the amusement which she would have preferred, contentedly
+betook herself to that which was within her reach. She did not sit in
+silent contemplation of her own superiority, or of the vulgarity of her
+companions; nor did she introduce topics of conversation calculated to
+illustrate either; but having observed that even the most ignorant have
+some subject on which they can talk with ease and pleasure, and even be
+heard with advantage, she suffered others to lead the discourse, rightly
+conjecturing that they would guide it to the channel which they judged
+most favourable to their own powers. She was soon engaged with Mrs
+Dawkins in a dissertation on various branches of household economy, and
+to the eternal degradation of her character as a heroine, actually
+listened with interest to the means of improving the cleanliness,
+beauty, and comfort of her dwelling.
+
+Mrs Jones was highly flattered by the Captain's visit, and exerted
+herself to entertain him, her husband being inclined to taciturnity by a
+reason which Bishop Butler has pronounced to be a good one. Perceiving
+that Montreville was an Englishman, she concluded that nothing but dire
+necessity could have exiled him to Scotland. She inquired what town he
+lived in; and being answered that his residence was many miles distant
+from any town, she held up her hands in pity and amazement. But when she
+heard that Montreville had been obliged to learn the language of the
+Highlands, and that it was Laura's vernacular tongue, she burst into an
+exclamation of wonder. 'Mercy upon me,' cried she, 'can you make that
+outlandish spluttering so as them savages can know what you says? Well,
+if I had been among them a thousand years, I should never have made out
+a word of their gibberish.'
+
+'The sound of it is very uncouth to a stranger,' said Captain
+Montreville, 'but now I have learnt to like it.' 'And do them there wild
+men make you wear them little red and green petticoats?' asked Mrs
+Jones, in a tone of compassionate inquiry. 'Oh no,' said Captain
+Montreville, 'they never interfered with my dress. But you seem quite
+acquainted with the Highlands. May I ask if you have been there?' 'Aye,
+that I have, to my sorrow,' said Mrs Jones; and forthwith proceeded to
+recount her adventures, pretty nearly in the same terms as she had
+formerly done to Laura. 'And what was the name of this unfortunate
+place,' inquired the captain, when, having narrated the deficiency of
+hot rolls, Mrs Jones made the pause in which her auditors were
+accustomed to express their astonishment and horror. 'That was what I
+asked the waiter often and often,' replied she, 'but I could never make
+head or tail of what he said. Sometimes it sounded like _A rookery_;
+sometimes like one thing, sometimes like another. So I takes the
+roadbook, and looks it out, and it looked something like A rasher, only
+not right spelt. So, thinks I, they'll call it _A rasher_, because there
+is good bacon here; and I asked the man if they were famous for pigs;
+and he said, no, they got all their pigs from the manufactory in
+Glasgow, and that they weren't famous for any thing but fresh herrings,
+as are catched in that black Loch-Lomond, where they wanted me to go.'
+
+'Kate,' said Mr Jones, setting down his tea-cup, and settling his hands
+upon his knees, 'you know I think you're wrong about them herrings.' 'Mr
+Jones,' returned the lady, with a look that shewed that the herrings had
+been the subject of former altercation, 'for certain the waiter told me
+that they came out of the loch, and to what purpose should he tell lies
+about it.' 'I tells you, Kate, that herrings come out of the sea,' said
+Mr Jones. 'Well, that loch is a great fresh water sea,' said Mrs Jones.
+'Out of the salt sea,' insisted Mr Jones. 'Aye,' said Mrs Jones, 'them
+salt herrings as we gets here, but it stands to reason, Mr Jones, that
+the fresh herrings should come out of fresh water.' 'I say, cod is
+fresh, and does'n't it come out of the sea? answer me that, Mrs Jones.'
+'It is no wonder the cod is fresh,' returned the lady, 'when the
+fishmongers keep fresh water running on it day and night.' 'Kate, it's
+of no use argufying, I say herrings come out of the sea. What say you,
+Sir?' turning to Captain Montreville. The Captain softened his verdict
+in the gentleman's favour, by saying, that Mrs Jones was right in her
+account of the waiter's report, though the man, in speaking of 'the
+loch,' meant not Loch-Lomond, but an arm of the sea. 'I know'd it,' said
+Mr Jones triumphantly, 'for haven't I read it in the newspaper as
+Government offers a reward to any body that'll put most salt upon them
+Scotch herrings, and is'n't that what makes the salt so dear?' So having
+settled this knotty point to his own satisfaction, Mr Jones again
+applied himself to his tea.
+
+'Did you return to Glasgow by the way of Loch-Lomond?' inquired Captain
+Montreville. 'Ay,' cried Mrs Jones, 'that was what the people of the inn
+wanted us to do; but then I looked out, and seed a matter of forty of
+them there savages, with the little petticoats and red and white
+stockings, loitering and lolling about the inn-door, doing nothing in
+the varsal world, except wait till it was dark to rob and murder us all,
+bless us! So, thinks I, let me once get out from among you in a whole
+skin, and catch me in the Highlands again; so as soon as the chaise
+could be got, we just went the way we came.' 'Did you find good
+accommodation in Glasgow,' said the Captain. 'Yes,' replied Mrs Jones;
+'but after all, Captain, there's no country like our own;--do you know,
+I never got so much as a buttered muffin all the while I was in
+Scotland?'
+
+The conversation was here interrupted by an exclamation from Mrs
+Dawkins, who, knowing that she had nothing new to expect in her
+daughter's memoirs of her Scotish excursion, had continued to talk with
+Laura apart. 'Goodness me!' she cried, 'why Kate, as sure as eggs,
+here's Miss never seed a play in all her life!' 'Never saw a play! Never
+saw a play!' exclaimed the landlord and landlady at once. 'Well, that's
+so odd; but to be sure, poor soul, how should she, among them there
+hills.' 'Suppose,' said Mrs Jones, 'we should make a party, and go
+tonight.--We shall be just in time.' Laura was desirous to go: her
+father made no objection; and Mr Jones, with that feeling of
+good-natured self-complacency which most people have experienced,
+arising from the discovery that another is new to a pleasure with which
+he himself is familiar, offered, as he expressed it, 'to do the genteel
+thing, and treat her himself.'
+
+The party was speedily arranged, and Laura soon found herself seated in
+the pit of the theatre. The scene was quite new to her; for her
+ignorance of public places was even greater than her companions had
+discovered it to be. She was dazzled with the glare of the lights, and
+the brilliancy of the company, and confused with the murmur of
+innumerable voices; but the curtain rose, and her attention was soon
+confined to the stage. The play was the Gamester, the most domestic of
+our tragedies; and, in the inimitable representation of Mrs Beverly,
+Laura found an illusion strong enough to absorb for the time every
+faculty of her soul. Of the actress she thought not; but she loved and
+pitied Mrs Beverly with a fervour that made her insensible to the
+amusement which she afforded to her companions. Meanwhile her
+countenance, as beautiful, almost as expressive, followed every change
+in that of Mrs Siddons. She wept with her; listened, started, rejoiced
+with her; and when Mrs Beverly repulsed the villain Stukely, Laura's
+eyes too flashed with 'heaven's own lightnings.' By the time the
+representation was ended, she was so much exhausted by the strength and
+rapidity of her emotions, that she was scarcely able to answer to the
+questions of 'How have you been amused?' and 'How did you like it?' with
+which her companions all at once assailed her. 'Well,' said Miss Julia,
+when they were arrived at home, 'I think nothing is so delightful as a
+play. I should like to go every night--shouldn't you?' 'No,' answered
+Laura. 'Once or twice in a year would be quite sufficient for me. It
+occupies my thoughts too much for a mere amusement.'
+
+In the course of the two following days, Laura had sketched more than
+twenty heads of Mrs Siddons, besides completing the preparations for her
+journey to Scotland. On the third, the Captain, who could now smile at
+his own imaginary debility, prepared to carry the bond to receive Mr
+Warren's signature. The fourth was to be spent with Mrs De Courcy; and
+on the morning of the fifth, the travellers intended to depart.
+
+On the appointed morning, Captain Montreville set out on an early visit
+to Portland Street, gaily telling his daughter at parting that he would
+return in an hour or two, with her dowery in his pocket. When he knocked
+at Mr Warren's door, the servant informed him that his master had gone
+out, but that expecting the Captain to call, he had left a message to
+beg that Montreville would wait till he returned, which would be very
+soon.
+
+The Captain was then shewn into a back parlour, where he endeavoured to
+amuse himself with some books that were scattered round the room. They
+consisted of amatory poems and loose novels, and one by one he threw
+them aside in disgust, lamenting that one who was capable of a kind and
+generous action should seek pleasure in such debasing studies. The room
+was hung with prints and pictures, but they partook of the same
+licentious character; and Montreville shuddered, as the momentary
+thought darted across his mind, that it was strange that the charms of
+Laura had made no impression on one whose libertinism in regard to her
+sex was so apparent. It was but momentary. 'No!' thought he, 'her purity
+would awe the most licentious; and I am uncandid, ungrateful, to harbour
+even for a moment such an idea of the man who has acted towards her and
+me with the most disinterested benevolence.'
+
+He waited long, but Warren did not appear; and he began to blame himself
+for having neglected to fix the exact time of his visit. To remedy this
+omission, he rang for writing materials, and telling the servant that he
+could stay no longer, left a note to inform Mr Warren that he would wait
+upon him at twelve o'clock next day. The servant, who was Mr Warren's
+own valet, seemed unwilling to allow the Captain to depart, and assured
+him that he expected his master every minute; but Montreville, who knew
+that there was no depending upon the motions of a mere man of pleasure,
+would be detained no longer.
+
+He returned home, and finding the parlour empty, was leaving it to seek
+Laura in her painting-room, when he observed a letter lying on the
+table addressed to himself. The hand-writing was new to him. He opened
+it--the signature was equally so. The contents were as follows:--
+
+       'Sir,
+
+     The writer of this letter is even by name a stranger to you. If
+     this circumstance should induce you to discredit my
+     information, I offer no proof of my veracity but this simple
+     one, that obviously no selfish end can be served by my present
+     interference. Of the force of my motive you cannot judge,
+     unless you have yourself lured to destruction the heart that
+     trusted you,--seen it refuse all comfort,--reject all
+     reparation,--and sink at last in untimely decay. From a fate
+     like this, though not softened like this by anxious tenderness,
+     nor mourned like this by remorseless pity, but aggravated by
+     being endured for one incapable of any tender or generous
+     feeling, it is my purpose, Sir, to save your daughter. I was
+     last night one of a party where her name was mentioned;--where
+     she was described as lovely, innocent, and respectable; yet the
+     person who so described her, scrupled not to boast of a plan
+     for her destruction. In the hope (why should I pretend a better
+     motive) of softening the pangs of late but bitter
+     self-reproach, by saving one fellow-creature from perhaps
+     reluctant ruin, one family from domestic shame, I drew from him
+     your address, and learnt that to ingratiate himself with you,
+     and with his intended victim, he has pretended to offer as a
+     gift, what he knew that he could not long withhold. He means to
+     take the earliest opportunity of inveigling her from your care,
+     secure, as he boasts, of her pardon in her attachment. Ill,
+     indeed, does her character, even as described by him, accord
+     with such a boast; yet even indifference might prove no guard
+     against fraud, which, thus warned, you may defy. A fear that my
+     intention should be frustrated by the merited contempt attached
+     to anonymous information, inclines me to add my name, though
+     aware that it can claim no authority with a stranger.
+
+      'I am, SIR,
+        'Your obedient Servant,
+            'PHILIP WILMOT.'
+
+Captain Montreville read this letter more than once. It bore marks of
+such sincerity that he knew not how to doubt of the intelligence it
+gave; and he perceived with dismay, that the business which he had
+considered as closed, was as far as ever from a conclusion; for how
+could he accept a favour which he had been warned to consider as the
+wages of dishonour. For Laura he had indeed no fear. She was no less
+safe in her own virtue and discretion, than in the contemptuous pity
+with which she regarded Warren. This letter would put her upon her guard
+against leaving the house with him, which Captain Montreville now
+recollected that he had often solicited her to do, upon pretence of
+taking the air in his curricle.
+
+But must he still linger in London; still be cheated with vain hopes;
+still fear for the future subsistence of his child; still approach the
+very verge of poverty; perhaps be obliged to defend his rights by a
+tedious law-suit? His heart sank at the prospect, and he threw himself
+on a seat, disconsolate and cheerless.
+
+He had long been in the habit of seeking relief from every painful
+feeling in the tenderness of Laura,--of finding in her enduring spirit a
+support to the weakness of his own; and he now sought her in the
+conviction that she would either discover some advantage to be drawn
+from this disappointment, or lighten it to him by her affectionate
+sympathy. He knocked at the door.--She did not answer. He called
+her.--All was silent. He rang the bell, and inquired whether she was
+below, and was answered that she had gone out with Mr Warren in his
+curricle two hours before. The unfortunate father heard no more. Wildly
+striking his hand upon his breast, 'She is lost!' he cried, and sunk to
+the ground. The blood burst violently from his mouth and nostrils, and
+he became insensible.
+
+The family were soon assembled round him; and a surgeon being procured,
+he declared that Montreville had burst a blood vessel, and that nothing
+but the utmost care and quiet could save his life. Mrs Dawkins, with
+great humanity, attended him herself, venting in whispers to the surgeon
+her compassion for Montreville, and her indignation against the
+unnatural desertion of Laura, whom she abused as a methodistical
+hypocrite, against whom her wrath was the stronger because she could
+never have suspected her.
+
+Montreville no sooner returned to recollection, than he declared his
+resolution instantly to set off in search of his child. In vain did the
+surgeon expostulate, and assure him that his life would be the forfeit:
+his only answer was, 'Why should I live? She is lost.' In pursuance of
+his design, he tried to rise from the bed on which he had been laid; but
+exhausted nature refused to second him, and again he sunk back
+insensible.
+
+When Montreville called in Portland Street, the servant had deceived him
+in saying that Warren was not at home. He was not only in the house,
+but expected the Captain's visit, and prepared to take advantage of it,
+for the accomplishment of the honourable scheme of which he had boasted
+to his associates. As soon, therefore, as the servant had disposed of
+Montreville, Warren mounted his curricle, which was in waiting at a
+little distance, and driving to Mrs Dawkins's, informed Laura that he
+had been sent to her by her father, who proposed carrying her to see the
+British Museum, and for that purpose was waiting her arrival in Portland
+Street. Entirely unsuspicious of any design, Laura accompanied him
+without hesitation; and though Portland Street appeared to her greatly
+more distant than she had imagined it, it was not till having taken
+innumerable turns, she found herself in an open road, that she began to
+suspect her conductor of having deceived her.
+
+'Whither have you taken me, Mr Warren?' she inquired: 'This road does
+not lead to Portland Street.' 'Oh yes, it does,' answered Warren, 'only
+the road is a little circuitous.' 'Let us immediately return to the
+straight one then,' said Laura. 'My father will be alarmed, and conclude
+that some accident has happened to us.' 'Surely, my charming Miss
+Montreville,' said Warren, still continuing to drive on, 'you do not
+fear to trust yourself with me.' 'Fear _you_!' repeated Laura, with
+involuntary disdain. 'No, but I am at a loss to guess what has
+encouraged you to make me the companion of so silly a frolic. I suppose
+you mean this for an ingenious joke upon my father.' 'No, 'pon my soul,'
+said the beau, a little alarmed by the sternness of her manner, 'I meant
+nothing but to have an opportunity of telling you that I am quite in
+love with you,--dying for you,--faith I am.' 'You should first have
+ascertained,' answered Laura, 'whether I was likely to think the secret
+worth a hearing. I desire you will instantly return.'
+
+The perfect composure of Laura's look and manner (for feeling no alarm
+she shewed none) made Warren conclude that she was not averse to being
+detained; and he thought it only necessary that he should continue to
+make love, to induce her quietly to submit to go on for another half
+mile, which would bring them to a place where he thought she would be
+secure. He began, therefore, to act the lover with all the energy he
+could muster; but Laura interrupted him. 'It is a pity,' said she, with
+a smile of calm contempt, 'to put a stop to such well-timed gallantry,
+which is indeed just such as I should have expected from Mr Warren's
+sense and delicacy. But I would not for the sake of Mr Warren's
+raptures, nor all else that he has to offer, give my father the most
+momentary pain, and therefore if you do not suffer me to alight this
+instant, I shall be obliged to claim the assistance of passengers on an
+occasion very little worthy of their notice.' Her contumelious manner
+entirely undeceived her companion in regard to her sentiments; but it
+had no other effect upon him, except that of adding revenge to the
+number of his incitements; and perceiving that they were now at a short
+distance from the house whither he intended to convey her, he continued
+to pursue his way.
+
+Laura now rose from her seat, and seizing the reins with a force that
+made the horses rear, she coolly chose that moment to spring from the
+curricle; and walked back towards the town, leaving her inammorato in
+the utmost astonishment at her self-possession, as well as rage at her
+disdainful treatment.
+
+She proceeded till she came to a decent-looking shop, where she entered;
+and, begging permission to sit down, dispatched one of the shop-boys in
+search of a hackney-coach. A carriage was soon procured, and Laura,
+concluding that her father, tired of waiting for her, must have left
+Portland Street, desired to be driven directly home.
+
+As she entered the house, she was met by Mrs Dawkins. 'So Miss,' cried
+she, 'you have made a fine spot of work on't. You have murdered your
+father.' 'Good heavens!' cried Laura, turning as pale as death, 'what is
+it you mean? where is my father?' 'Your father is on his deathbed Miss,
+and you may thank your morning rides for it. Thinking you were off, he
+burst a blood-vessel in the fright, and the doctor says, the least stir
+in the world will finish him.'
+
+Laura turned sick to death. Cold drops stood upon her forehead; and she
+shook in every limb. She made an instinctive attempt to ascend the
+stair; but her strength failed her, and she sunk upon the steps. The
+sight of her agony changed in a moment Mrs Dawkins's indignation to
+pity. 'Don't take on so, Miss,' said she, 'to be sure you didn't mean
+it. If he is kept quiet, he may mend still, and now that you're come
+back too.--By the bye, I may as well run up and tell him.' 'Oh stop!'
+cried Laura, reviving at once in the sudden dread that such incautious
+news would destroy her father, 'Stay,' said she, pressing with one hand
+her bursting forehead, while with the other she detained Mrs
+Dawkins.--'Let me think, that we may not agitate him. Oh no! I cannot
+think;' and leaning her head on Mrs Dawkins' shoulder, she burst into an
+agony of tears.
+
+These salutary tears restored her recollection, and she inquired
+whether the surgeon, of whom Mrs Dawkins had spoken, was still in the
+house. Being answered, that he was in Montreville's apartment, she sent
+to beg that he would speak with her. He came, and she entreated him to
+inform her father, with the caution which his situation required, that
+she was returned and safe. She followed him to the door of Montreville's
+apartment, and stood listening in trembling expectation to every thing
+that stirred within. At last she received the wished-for summons. She
+entered; she sprang towards the bed. 'My child!' cried Montreville, and
+he clasped her to his bosom, and sobbed aloud. When he was able to
+speak, 'Oh Laura,' said he, 'tell me again that you are safe, and say by
+what miracle, by what unheard-of mercy, you have escaped.' 'Compose
+yourself, my dearest father, for Heaven's sake,' cried Laura. 'I am
+indeed safe, and never have been in danger. When Warren found that I
+refused to join in his frolic, he did not attempt to prevent me from
+returning home.' She then briefly related the affair as it had appeared
+to her, suppressing Warren's rhapsodies, from the fear of irritating her
+father; and he, perceiving that she considered the whole as a frolic,
+frivolous in its intention, though dreadful in its effects, suffered her
+to remain in that persuasion. She passed the night by his bed-side,
+devoting every moment of his disturbed repose to fervent prayers for his
+recovery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+From feverish and interrupted sleep, Montreville awoke unrefreshed; and
+the surgeon, when he repeated his visit, again alarmed Laura with
+representations of her father's danger, and assurances that nothing but
+the most vigilant attention to his quiet could preserve his life. The
+anguish with which Laura listened to this sentence she suppressed, lest
+it should injure her father. She never approached him but to bring
+comfort; she spoke to him cheerfully, while the tears forced themselves
+to her eyes; and smiled upon him while her heart was breaking. She felt
+what he must suffer, should the thought occur to him that he was about
+to leave her to the world, unfriended and alone; and she never mentioned
+his illness to him unless with the voice of hope. But of the danger
+which she strove to disguise, Montreville was fully sensible; and though
+he forbore to shock her by avowing it explicitly, he could not, like
+her, suppress his fears. He would sometimes fervently wish that he could
+see his child safe in the protection of Mrs Douglas; and sometimes, when
+Laura was bending over him in the tenderest sympathy, he would clasp her
+neck, and cry, with an agony that shook his whole frame, 'What--Oh what
+will become of thee!'
+
+He seemed anxious to know how long Mrs De Courcy was to remain in town,
+and inquired every hour whether Montague was not returned. Full well did
+Laura guess the mournful meaning of these questions. Full well did they
+remind her, that when the De Courcy family left London, she with her
+dying father would amidst this populous wilderness be alone. She
+anticipated the last scene of this sad tragedy; when, amidst busy
+thousands, a senseless corpse would be her sole companion. She looked
+forward to its close, when even this sad society would be withdrawn.
+Human fortitude could not support the prospect; and she would rush from
+her father's presence, to give vent to agonies of sorrow.
+
+But the piety of Laura could half-invest misfortune with the character
+of blessing; as the mists that rise to darken the evening sun are
+themselves tinged with his glory. She called to mind the gracious
+assurance which marks the afflicted who suffer not by their own guilt or
+folly as the favoured of Heaven; and the more her earthly connections
+seemed dissolving, the more did she strive to acquaint herself with Him,
+from whose care no accident can sever. To this care she fervently
+committed her father; praying that no selfish indulgence of her grief
+might embitter his departure; and resolving by her fortitude to convince
+him that she was able to struggle with the storm from which he was no
+longer to shelter her.
+
+The day succeeding that on which Montreville was taken ill had been set
+apart for a farewell visit to Mrs De Courcy; and Laura's note of
+mournful apology, was answered by a kind visit from Harriet. Unconscious
+of the chief cause of her father's impatience for Montague's return,
+Laura wishing to be the bearer of intelligence which she knew would
+cheer him, inquired anxiously when Miss De Courcy expected her brother.
+But De Courcy's motions depended upon the spirits of his venerable
+friend, and Harriet knew not when he might be able to leave Mr
+Wentworth. It was even uncertain whether for the present he would return
+to town at all, as in another week Mrs De Courcy meant to set out for
+Norwood. Laura softened this unpleasing news to her father; she did not
+name the particular time of Mrs De Courcy's departure, and she suffered
+him still confidently to expect the return of his favourite.
+
+The next day brought a letter from De Courcy himself, full of
+affectionate solicitude for the Captain's health and spirits; but
+evidently written in ignorance of the fatal change that had taken place
+since his departure. In this letter the name of Laura was not mentioned,
+not even in a common compliment, and Montreville remarked to her this
+omission. 'He has forgotten it,' answered Laura,--'his warm heart is
+full of his friend's distress and yours, and has not room for more
+ceremony.' 'I hope,' said Montreville, emphatically, 'that is not the
+reason.' 'What is then the reason?' inquired Laura; but Montreville did
+not speak, and she thought no more of De Courcy's little omission.
+
+Her father, indeed, for the present, occupied almost all her earthly
+thoughts, and even her prayers rose more frequently for him than for
+herself. Except during the visits of Montreville's surgeon, she was
+Montreville's sole attendant; and, regardless of fatigue, she passed
+every night by his bed-side, every day in ministering to his comfort.
+If, worn out with watching, she dropt asleep, she started again at his
+slightest motion, and obstinately refused to seek in her own chamber a
+less interrupted repose. 'No,' thought she, 'let my strength serve me
+while I have duties to perform, while my father lives to need my
+efforts; then may I be permitted to sink to early rest, and the weary
+labourer, while yet it is but mornings be called to receive his hire.'
+
+The desertion of Hargrave, whom she had loved with all the ardour of a
+warm heart and a fervid imagination, the death of her father so fast
+approaching, her separation from every living being with whom she could
+claim friendship or kindred, seemed signals for her to withdraw her
+affections from a world where she would soon have nothing left to love
+or to cherish. 'And be it so,' thought she,--'let me no longer grovel
+here in search of objects which earth has not to offer--objects fitted
+for unbounded and unchangeable regard. Nor let me peevishly reject what
+this world really has to give, the opportunity to prepare for a better.
+This it bestows even on me; and a few childish baubles are all else that
+it reserves for those who worship it with all their soul, and strength,
+and mind.'
+
+No mortal can exist without forming some wish or hope. Laura _hoped_
+that she should live while she could be useful to her father; and she
+_wished_ that she might not survive him. One only other wish she had,
+and that was for De Courcy's return; for Montreville, whose spirits more
+than shared his bodily languor, now seldom spoke, but to express his
+longing for the presence of his favourite. Laura continued to cheer him
+with a hope which she herself no longer felt; for now three days only
+remained ere Mrs De Courcy was to quit London. The departure of their
+friends Laura resolved to conceal from her father, that, believing them
+to be near, he might feel himself the less forlorn; and this she thought
+might be practicable, as he had never since his illness expressed any
+wish to quit his bed, or to see Miss De Courcy when she came.
+
+In Montreville's darkened apartment, without occupation but in her cares
+for him, almost without rest, had Laura passed a week, when she was one
+morning summoned from her melancholy charge, to attend a visitor. She
+entered the parlour. 'Mr De Courcy!' she exclaimed, springing joyfully
+to meet him, 'thank Heaven you are come!' But not with equal warmth did
+De Courcy accost her. The repulsive look she had given him at parting
+was still fresh in his recollection; and, with a respectful distant bow,
+he expressed his sorrow for Captain Montreville's illness. 'Oh he is
+ill, indeed!' said Laura, the faint hectic of pleasure fading suddenly
+from her cheek. 'Earnestly has he longed for your return; and we
+feared,' said she, with a violent effort suppressing her tears, 'we
+feared that you might not have come till--till all was over.' 'Surely
+Miss Montreville,' said De Courcy, extremely shocked, 'surely you are
+causelessly alarmed.' 'Oh no,' cried Laura, 'he cannot live!' and no
+longer able to contain her emotion, she burst into a passion of tears.
+Forced entirely from his guard by her grief, Montague threw himself on
+the seat beside her. 'Dearest of human beings,' he exclaimed, 'Oh that I
+could shield thee from every sorrow!' But absorbed in her distress,
+Laura heeded him not; and the next moment, sensible of his imprudence,
+he started from her side, and retreated to a distant part of the room.
+
+As soon as she was again able to command herself, she went to inform her
+father of De Courcy's arrival. Though told with the gentlest caution,
+Montreville heard the news with extreme emotion. He grasped Laura's
+hand; and, with tears of joy streaming down his pale cheeks,
+said,--'Heaven be praised! I shall not leave thee quite desolate.' Laura
+herself felt less desolate and she rejoiced even for herself, when she
+once more saw De Courcy seated beside her father.
+
+It was only the morning before, that a letter from Harriet had informed
+her brother of Montreville's illness and of Laura's distress. To hear of
+that distress, and to remain at a distance was impossible; and Montague
+had left Mr Wentworth's within the hour. He had travelled all night;
+and, without even seeing his mother and sister, had come directly to
+Captain Montreville's lodgings. He was shocked at the death-like looks
+of Montreville, and still more at those of Laura. Her eyes were sunk,
+her lips colourless, and her whole appearance indicated that she was
+worn out with fatigue and wretchedness. Yet De Courcy felt, that never
+in the bloom of health and beauty, had she been so dear to him, and
+scarcely could he forbear from addressing her in the accents of
+compassion and love. Montreville wishing to speak with him alone, begged
+of Laura to leave him for a while to De Courcy's care, and endeavour to
+take some rest. She objected that Montague had himself need of rest,
+having travelled all night; but when he assured her, that even if she
+drove him away he would not attempt to sleep, she consented to retire,
+and seek the repose of which she was so much in want.
+
+When they were alone, Montreville shewed De Courcy the warning letter;
+and related to him the baseness of Warren and Laura's escape. Montague
+listened to him with intense interest. He often changed colour, and his
+lips quivered with emotion; and, when her father described the manner in
+which she had accomplished her escape, he exclaimed with enthusiasm,
+'Yes, she is superior to every weakness, as she is alive to every gentle
+feeling.' Montreville then dwelt upon her unremitting care of him--on
+the fortitude with which she suppressed her sorrow, even while its
+violence was perceptibly injuring her health. 'And is it to be wondered
+at,' said he, 'that I look forward with horror to leaving this lovely
+excellent creature in such a world, alone and friendless?' 'She shall
+never be friendless,' cried De Courcy. 'My mother, my sister, shall be
+her friends, and I will'--He stopped abruptly, and a heavy sigh burst
+from him.
+
+Recovering himself, he resumed, 'You must not talk so despondingly. You
+will live long, I trust, to enjoy the blessing of such a child.'
+Montreville shook his head, and remained silent. He was persuaded that
+De Courcy loved his daughter, and would fain have heard an explicit
+avowal that he did. To have secured to her the protection of Montague
+would have destroyed the bitterness of death. Had Laura been the heiress
+of millions, he would have rejoiced to bestow her and them upon De
+Courcy. But he scorned to force him to a declaration, and respected her
+too much to make an approach towards offering her to any man's
+acceptance.
+
+He was at a loss to imagine what reason withheld De Courcy from avowing
+an attachment which he was convinced that he felt. When he considered
+his favourite's grave reflecting character, he was rather inclined to
+believe that he was cautiously ascertaining the temper and habits of the
+woman with whom he meant to spend his life. But the warmth of
+approbation with which he mentioned Laura, seemed to indicate that his
+opinion of her was already fixed. It was possible, too, that De Courcy
+wished to secure an interest in her regard before he ventured formally
+to petition for it. Whatever was the cause of Montague's silence, the
+Captain anticipated the happiest consequences from his renewed
+intercourse with Laura; and he resolved that he would not, by any
+indelicate interference, compel him to precipitate his declaration. He
+therefore changed the conversation, by inquiring when Mrs De Courcy was
+to leave town. Montague answered, that as he had not seen his mother
+since his return, he did not exactly know what time was fixed for her
+departure: 'but,' said he, 'whenever she goes, I shall only attend her
+to Norwood, and return on the instant; nor will I quit you again, till
+you are much, much better, or till you will no longer suffer me to
+stay.' Montreville received this promise with gratitude and joy; and De
+Courcy persuaded himself, that in making it, he was actuated chiefly by
+motives of friendship and humanity. He remained with Montreville till
+the day was far advanced, and then went to take a late dinner in Audley
+Street.
+
+Next morning, and for several succeeding days, he returned, and spent
+the greatest part of his time in attending, comforting, and amusing the
+invalid. He prevailed on his mother to delay her departure, that he
+might not be obliged immediately to leave his charge. He soothed the
+little impatiences of disease; contrived means to mitigate the
+oppressiveness of debility; knew how to exhilarate the hour of ease; and
+watched the moment, well known to the sickly, when amusement becomes
+fatigue.
+
+Laura repaid these attentions to her father with gratitude unutterable.
+Often did she wish to thank De Courcy as he deserved; but she felt that
+her acknowledgements must fall far short of her feelings and of his
+deserts, if they were not made with a warmth, which to a man, and to a
+young man, she revolted from expressing. She imagined, too, that to one
+who sought for friendship, mere gratitude might be mortifying; and that
+it might wound the generous nature of Montague to be thanked as a
+benefactor, where he wished to be loved as an equal. She therefore did
+not speak of, or but slightly mentioned, her own and her father's
+obligations to him; but she strove to repay them in the way that would
+have been most acceptable to herself, by every mark of confidence and
+good will. Here no timidity restrained her; for no feeling that could
+excite timidity at all mingled with her regard for De Courcy. But,
+confined to her own breast, her gratitude became the stronger; and if
+she had now had a heart to give, to Montague it would have been freely
+given.
+
+Meanwhile the spirits of Montreville lightened of a heavy load, by the
+assurance that, even in case of his death, his daughter would have a
+friend to comfort and protect her, his health began to improve. He was
+able to rise; and one day, with the assistance of Montague's arm,
+surprised Laura with a visit in the parlour. The heart of Laura swelled
+with transport when she saw him once more occupy his accustomed seat in
+the family-room, and received him as one returned from the grave. She
+sat by him, holding his hand between her own, but did not try to speak.
+'If it would not make you jealous, Laura,' said Montreville, 'I should
+tell you that Mr De Courcy is a better nurse than you are. I have
+recruited wonderfully since he undertook the care of me. More indeed
+than I thought I should ever have done.' Laura answered only by glancing
+upon De Courcy a look of heartfelt benevolence and pleasure. 'And yet,'
+said Montague, 'it is alleged that no attentions from our own sex are so
+effectual as those which we receive from the other. How cheaply would
+bodily suffering purchase the sympathy, the endearments of'--the name of
+Laura rose to his lips, but he suppressed it, and changed the expression
+to 'an amiable woman.' 'Is it indeed so?' cried Laura, raising her eyes
+full of grateful tears to his face. 'Oh then, if sickness or sorrow must
+be your portion, may your kindness here be repaid by some spirit of
+peace in woman's form--some gentleness yet more feminine than De
+Courcy's!'
+
+The enthusiasm and gratitude had hurried Laura into a warmth which the
+next moment covered her with confusion; and she withdrew her eyes from
+De Courcy's face before she had time to remark the effect of these, the
+first words of emotion that ever she had addressed to him. The transport
+excited by the ardour of her expressions, and the cordial approbation
+which they implied, instantly gave way to extreme mortification. 'She
+wishes,' thought he, 'that some _woman_ may repay me. She would then,
+not only with indifference, but with pleasure, see me united to another;
+resign me without a pang to some mere common-place insipid piece of
+sweetness; and give her noble self to one who could better feel her
+value.'
+
+De Courcy had never declared his preference for Laura; he was even
+determined not to declare it. Yet to find that she had not even a wish
+to secure it for herself, gave him such acute vexation, that he was
+unable to remain in her presence. He abruptly rose and took his leave.
+He soon however reproached himself with the unreasonableness of his
+feelings; and returned to his oft-repeated resolution to cultivate the
+friendship without aspiring to the love of Laura. He even persuaded
+himself that he rejoiced in her freedom from a passion which could not
+be gratified without a sacrifice of the most important duties. He had a
+sister for whom no provision had been made; a mother, worthy of his
+warmest affection, whose increasing infirmities required increased
+indulgence. Mrs De Courcy's jointure was a very small one; and though
+she consented for the present to share the comforts of his
+establishment, Montague knew her too well to imagine that she would
+accept of any addition to her income, deducted from the necessary
+expences of his wife and family. His generous nature revolted from
+suffering his sister to feel herself a mere pensioner on his bounty, or
+to seek dear-bought independence in a marriage of convenience, a sort of
+bargain upon which he looked with double aversion, since he had himself
+felt the power of an exclusive attachment.
+
+Here even his sense of justice was concerned; for he knew that, if his
+father had lived, it was his intention to have saved from his income a
+provision for Harriet. From the time that the estate devolved to
+Montague, he had begun to execute his father's intention; and he had
+resolved, that no selfish purpose should interfere with its fulfilment.
+The destined sum, however, was as yet little more than half collected,
+and it was now likely to accumulate still more slowly; for, as Mrs De
+Courcy had almost entirely lost the use of her limbs, a carriage was to
+her an absolute necessary of life.
+
+Most joyfully would Montague have sacrificed every luxury, undergone
+every privation, to secure the possession of Laura; but he would not
+sacrifice his mother's health nor his sister's independence to any
+selfish gratification; nor would he subject the woman of his choice to
+the endless embarrassments of a revenue too small for its purposes.
+
+These reasons had determined him against addressing Laura. At their
+first interview he had been struck with her as the most lovely woman he
+had ever beheld; but he was in no fear that his affections should be
+entangled. They had escaped from a hundred lovely women, who had done
+their utmost to ensnare them, while she was evidently void of any such
+design. Besides, Montreville was his old friend, and it was quite
+necessary that he should visit him. Laura's manners had charmed De
+Courcy as much as her person. Still might not a man be pleased and
+entertained, without being in love? Further acquaintance gradually laid
+open to him the great and amiable qualities of her mind, and was it not
+natural and proper to love virtue? but this was not being in love.
+
+Symptoms at last grew so strong upon poor De Courcy, that he could no
+longer disguise them from himself; but it was pleasing to love
+excellence. He would never reveal his passion. It should be the secret
+joy of his heart; and why cast away a treasure which he might enjoy
+without injury to any? Laura's love indeed he could not seek; but her
+friendship he might cherish; and who would exchange the friendship of
+such a woman for the silly fondness of a thousand vulgar minds?
+
+In this pursuit he had all the success that he could desire; for Laura
+treated him with undisguised regard; and with that regard he assured
+himself that he should be satisfied. At last this 'secret joy,' this
+'treasure of his heart' began to mingle pain with its pleasures; and,
+when called away on his mournful errand to Mr Wentworth, De Courcy
+confessed, that it was wise to wean himself a little from one whose
+presence was becoming necessary to his happiness, and to put some
+restraint upon a passion, which from his toy was become his master.
+Short absence, however, had only increased his malady; and Laura in
+sorrow, Laura grateful, confiding, at times almost tender, seized at
+once upon every avenue to the heart of De Courcy: he revered her as the
+best, he admired her as the loveliest, he loved her as the most amiable
+of human beings. Still he resolved that, whatever it might cost him, he
+would refrain from all attempt to gain her love; and he began to draw
+nice distinctions between the _very tender_ friendship with which he
+hoped to inspire her, and the tormenting passion which he must silently
+endure. Happily for the success of De Courcy's self-deceit, there was no
+rival at hand, with whose progress in Laura's regard he could measure
+his own, and he never thought of asking himself what would be his
+sensations if her _very tender_ friendship for him should not exclude
+love for another.
+
+A doubt would sometimes occur to him, as to the prudence of exposing
+himself to the unremitting influence of her charms, but it was quickly
+banished as an unwelcome intruder, or silenced with the plea, that, to
+withdraw himself from Montreville on a sick-bed, would outrage
+friendship and humanity. He had, too, somewhat inadvertently, given his
+friend a promise that he would not leave him till his health was a
+little re-established; and this promise now served as the excuse for an
+indulgence which he had not resolution to forego. After escorting Mrs De
+Courcy to Norwood, he pleaded this promise to himself when he returned
+to London without an hour's delay; and it excused him in his own eyes
+for going every morning to the abode of Montreville, from whence, till
+the return of night drove him away, he had seldom the resolution to
+depart.
+
+Meanwhile, with the health of her father, the spirits of Laura revived;
+and considering it as an act of the highest self-denial in a domestic
+man to quit his home--a literary man to suspend his studies--a young man
+to become stationary in the apartment of an invalid, she exerted herself
+to the utmost to cheer De Courcy's voluntary task. She sometimes
+relieved him in reading aloud, an accomplishment in which she excelled.
+Her pronunciation was correct, her voice varied, powerful, and
+melodious, her conception rapid and accurate, while the expression of
+her countenance was an animated comment upon the author.
+
+De Courcy delighted to hear her sing the wild airs of her native
+mountains, which she did with inimitable pathos, though without skill.
+Her conversation, sometimes literary, sometimes gay, was always simply
+intended to please. Yet, though void of all design to dazzle, it
+happened, she knew not how, that in De Courcy's company she was always
+more lively, more acute, than at other times. His remarks seemed to
+unlock new stores in her mind; and the train of thought which he
+introduced, she could always follow with peculiar ease and pleasure.
+Safe in her preference for another, she treated him with the most
+cordial frankness. Utterly unconscious of the sentiment she inspired,
+she yet had an animating confidence in De Courcy's good will; and
+sometimes pleased herself with thinking, that, next to his mother and
+sister, she stood highest of women in his regard. No arts of the most
+refined coquetry could have rivetted more closely the chains of the
+ill-fated De Courcy; and the gratitude of the unconscious Laura, pointed
+the shaft that gave the death wound to his peace.
+
+How was it possible for her to imagine, that the same sentiment could
+produce a demeanour so opposite as De Courcy's was from that of
+Hargrave. Hargrave had been accustomed to speak of her personal charms
+with rapture. De Courcy had never made them the subject of direct
+compliment; he had even of late wholly discontinued those little
+gallantries which every pretty woman is accustomed to receive. Hargrave
+omitted no opportunity to plead his passion; and though the presence of
+a third person of necessity precluded this topic, it restrained him not
+from gazing upon Laura with an eagerness from which she shrunk abashed.
+De Courcy had never mentioned love; and Laura observed that, when his
+glance met her's, he would sometimes withdraw his eye with (as she
+thought) almost womanly modesty. In her private interviews with
+Hargrave, he had ever approached her with as much vehemence and freedom
+of speech and manner, as her calm dignity would permit. Privacy made no
+change in De Courcy's manner, except to render him a little more
+silent--a little more distant; and to personal familiarity, he seemed to
+be if possible more averse than herself; for if she accidentally touched
+him, he coloured and drew back.
+
+Some of these circumstances Montreville had remarked, and had drawn from
+them inferences very different from those of his daughter. He was
+convinced that the preference of De Courcy for Laura had risen into a
+passion, which, for some unknown reason, he wished to conceal; and he
+perceived, by the ease of her behaviour, that Montague's secret was
+unsuspected by her. Most anxiously did he wish to know the cause of his
+favourite's silence, and to discover whether it was likely to operate
+long. In Laura's absence, he sometimes led the conversation towards the
+subject; but De Courcy never improved the offered opportunity. Partly in
+the hope of inviting equal frankness, Montreville talked of his own
+situation, and mentioned the motive of his journey to London. Montague
+inquired into every particular of the business, and rested not till he
+had found Mr Baynard's executor, and received from him an
+acknowledgement, that he had in his possession a voucher for the payment
+of Montreville's fifteen hundred pounds to Warren.
+
+He next, without mentioned the matter to the Captain, called upon
+Warren, with an intention finally to conclude the business; thinking it
+impossible that, since the payment of the money was ascertained, he
+could refuse either to pay the annuity, or refund the price of it. But
+the disdain of Laura yet rankled in the mind of Warren, and he
+positively refused to bring the affair to any conclusion, declaring,
+that he would litigate it to the last sixpence he was worth; to which
+declaration he added an excellent joke concerning the union of Scotch
+pride with Scotch poverty. At this effrontery the honest blood of De
+Courcy boiled with indignation, and he was on the point of vowing, that
+he too would beggar himself, rather than permit such infamous
+oppression; but his mother, his sister, and Laura herself, rose to his
+mind, and he contented himself with threatening to expose Warren to the
+disgrace that he merited.
+
+Warren now began to suspect that De Courcy was the cause of Laura's
+contemptuous reception of his addresses, and, enraged at his
+interference, yet overawed by his manly appearance and decided manner,
+became sullen, and refused to answer Montague's expostulations. Nothing
+remained to be done, and De Courcy was obliged to communicate to
+Montreville the ill success of his negotiations.
+
+Bereft of all hope of obtaining justice, which he had not the means to
+enforce, Montreville became more anxiously desirous to regain such a
+degree of health as might enable him to return home. In his present
+state, such a journey was impracticable, and he was convinced, that
+while he remained pent up in the polluted air of the city, his recovery
+could advance but slowly. Some weeks must at all events elapse before he
+could be in a condition to travel; and to accommodate his funds to this
+prolonged demand upon them, he saw that he must have recourse to some
+scheme of economy yet more humble than that which he had adopted.
+
+He hoped, if he could recover strength sufficient for the search, to
+find in the suburbs some abode of purer air, and still more moderate
+expense than his present habitation. The former only of these motives he
+mentioned to De Courcy; for though Montreville did not affect to be
+rich, he never spoke of his poverty. Various circumstances, however, had
+led De Courcy to guess at his friend's pecuniary embarrassment; and he
+too had a motive which he did not avow, in the offer which he made to
+secure a more healthful residence for Montreville.
+
+Unwilling to describe the humble accommodation with which he meant to
+content himself, or the limited price which he could afford to offer for
+it, Montreville at first refused De Courcy's services; but they were
+pressed upon him with such warmth, that he was obliged to submit, and
+Montague lost no time in fulfilling his commission.
+
+He soon discovered a situation that promised comfort. It was in the
+outskirts of the town, a small flower-garden belonged to the house, the
+apartments were airy and commodious, the furniture was handsome, and the
+whole most finically neat. The rent, however, exceeded that of
+Montreville's present lodgings; and De Courcy knew that this objection
+would be insurmountable. That Laura should submit to the inelegancies of
+a mean habitation, was what he could not bear to think of; and he
+determined, by a friendly little artifice, to reconcile Montreville's
+comfort with his economy. The surgeon had named two or three weeks as
+the time likely to elapse before Montreville could commence his journey.
+De Courcy paid in advance above half the rent of the apartments for a
+month, charging the landlady to keep the real rent a secret from her
+lodgers.
+
+As far as the author of these memoirs has been able to learn, this was
+the only artifice that ever Montague De Courcy practised in his life;
+and it led, as artifices are wont to do, to consequences which the
+contriver neither wished nor foresaw.
+
+Much to his satisfaction, Montreville was soon settled in his new abode,
+where De Courcy continued to be his daily visitor. A certain delicacy
+prevented Laura from endeavouring to procure a reversal of her father's
+decree, issued in a moment of peevishness, that she should paint no more
+with a view to pecuniary reward. She felt that he had been wrong, and
+she shrunk from reminding him of it, till her labours should again
+become necessary. But, desirous to convey to Mrs De Courcy some token of
+her remembrance and gratitude, she employed some of the hours which
+Montague spent with her father, in labouring a picture which she
+intended to send to Norwood. The subject was the choice of Hercules; and
+to make her gift the more acceptable, she presented in the hero a
+picture of De Courcy, while the form and countenance of Virtue, were
+copied from the simple majesty of her own. The figure of Pleasure was a
+fancied one, and it cost the fair artist unspeakable labour. She could
+not pourtray what she would have shrunk from beholding--a female
+voluptuary. Her draperies were always designed with the most chastened
+decency; and, after all her toil, even the form of Pleasure came sober
+and matronly from the hand of Laura.
+
+Designing a little surprise for her friends, she had never mentioned
+this picture to De Courcy; and as she daily stole some of the hours of
+his visits to bestow upon it, it advanced rapidly. Montague bore these
+absences with impatience; but Montreville, who knew how Laura was
+employed, took no notice of them, and De Courcy durst not complain.
+
+Three weeks had glided away since Montreville's removal to his new
+lodgings, and he remained as much as ever anxious, and as much as ever
+unable to guess the reason which induced De Courcy to conceal a passion
+which evidently increased every day. He recollected that Montague had of
+late never met Laura but in his presence, and he thought it natural that
+the lover should wish to make his first application to his mistress
+herself. He had an idea, that the picture might be made to assist the
+denouement which he so ardently desired; and with this view he privately
+gave orders that when next Mr De Courcy came he should be ushered into
+the painting-room, which he knew would be empty, as Laura never quitted
+him till De Courcy arrived to take her place.
+
+Next morning accordingly Montague was shewn into the room which he had
+himself destined for Laura, and, for that reason, supplied with many
+little luxuries which belonged not to its original furniture. He looked
+round with delight on the marks of her recent presence. There lay her
+book open as she had quitted it, and the pencil with which she had
+marked the margin. It was one which he himself had recommended, and he
+thought it should ever be dear to him. On a table lay her port-folio and
+drawing materials: in a corner stood her easel with the picture, over
+which was thrown a shawl which he had seen her wear.
+
+Not conceiving that she could have any desire to conceal her work, he
+approached it, and, raising the cover, stood for a moment motionless
+with surprise. The next, a thousand sensations, vague but delightful,
+darted through his mind; but before he could give a shape or
+distinctness to any one of them, the step approached that ever aroused
+De Courcy to eager expectation, and letting drop the shawl, he flew
+towards the door to receive Laura.
+
+With rapture in his eyes, but confusion on his tongue, De Courcy paid
+his compliments, and again turned towards the picture. Laura sprung
+forward to prevent him from raising the covering. 'Is this forbidden,
+then?' said he. 'Oh yes, indeed,' said Laura, blushing, 'you must not
+look at it.' 'Can you be so mischievous,' cried De Courcy, a delighted
+smile playing on his countenance, 'as to refuse me such a pleasure?' 'I
+am sure,' said Laura, blushing again, and still more deeply, 'it could
+give you no pleasure in its present state.' 'And I am sure,' said De
+Courcy, ardently, 'it would give me more than I have language to
+express.'
+
+De Courcy's eagerness, and the consciousness of her own confusion, made
+Laura now more unwilling that Montague should discover the cause of both
+to be his own portrait, and actually trembling with emotion, she said,
+putting her hand on the shawl to prevent him from raising it, 'Indeed I
+cannot shew you this. There is my port-folio--look at any thing but
+this.' 'And what inference may I draw as to the subject of a picture
+that Miss Montreville will not shew to the most partial--the most
+devoted of her friends?' 'Any inference,' replied Laura, still holding
+the shawl, 'that friendship or charity will permit.' 'And must I not
+remove this perverse little hand?' said De Courcy, laying his upon it;
+for all prudence was forgotten in his present emotion. Laura, a little
+offended at his perseverance, gravely withdrew her hand, and turned
+away, saying, 'Since my wishes have no power, I shall make no other
+trial of strength.' 'No power!' cried De Courcy, following her, 'they
+have more force than a thousand arms.' 'Well,' said Laura, a little
+surprised by his manner, but turning upon him a smile of gracious
+reconciliation, 'your forbearance may hereafter be rewarded by a sight
+of this important picture; but lest you should forfeit your recompense,
+had we not better remove from temptation?'
+
+She then led the way to the parlour, and De Courcy followed her in a
+state of agitation that could not be concealed. He was absent and
+restless. He often changed colour, seemed scarce sensible of what was
+addressed to him, or began to reply, and the unfinished sentence died
+upon his lips. At last, starting up, he pleaded sudden indisposition,
+and was hurrying away. 'Do not go away ill and alone,' said Laura,
+kindly detaining him. 'Walk round the garden--the fresh air will relieve
+you.' 'No air will relieve me!' said De Courcy, in a voice of
+wretchedness. 'What then can we do for you?' said Laura, with
+affectionate earnestness. 'What can _you_ do for me!' cried De Courcy,
+'Oh nothing, nothing but suffer me to go, while yet I have the power.'
+He then wrung Montreville's hand, and uttering something which his
+emotion made inarticulate, without venturing a glance towards Laura, he
+quitted the house, and returned home in a state bordering on
+distraction.
+
+He shut himself up in his chamber to consider of his situation, if that
+can be called consideration, which was but a conflict of tumultuous
+feeling. That Laura should have painted his portrait in a group where it
+held such a relation to her own; that she should keep it concealed in an
+apartment exclusively appropriated to herself; her alarm lest he should
+examine it; her confusion, which had at last risen to the most
+distressing height, from the idea of what De Courcy might infer, should
+he discover that his own portrait was the cause of so many blushes; the
+confiding affectionate matter in which she treated him,--all conspired
+to mislead De Courcy. He felt a conviction that he was beloved, and, in
+spite of himself, the thought was rapture.
+
+But what availed this discovery? Could he forget the justice of his
+sister's claims, sacrifice to his selfish wishes the comfort of his
+mother, or wed his half-worshipped Laura to the distresses of an
+embarrassed fortune? 'Oh no,' he cried, 'let not my passions involve in
+disaster all that I love.'
+
+Or could he lay open to Laura his feelings and his situation, and sue
+for her love, even while their union must be delayed. Her attachment, he
+thought, was yet in its infancy, born of gratitude, fostered by
+separation from other society, and, for the present, pleasing in its
+sensations, and transient in its nature. But he thought her capable of a
+love as fervent--as deep-rooted as that which she inspired; and should
+he wilfully awaken in her peaceful breast the cravings of such a passion
+as tortured his own; see her spirits, her vigour of mind, her
+usefulness, perhaps her health, give way to the sickness of 'hope
+deferred!' No,--rather let her return to the indifference in which he
+found her. Or, should he shackle her with a promise, of which honour
+might extort a reluctant fulfilment, after the affection that prompted
+it was perhaps withdrawn from him? Or, should he linger on from day to
+day in vain endeavours to conceal his affection, dishonourably sporting
+with the tenderness of the woman he loved, his ill-suppressed feelings
+every hour offering a hope which must every hour be disappointed? No!
+the generous heart of De Courcy would sooner have suffered a thousand
+deaths.
+
+But could he return--could he see again this creature, now more than
+ever dear to him, and stifle the fondness--the anguish that would rend
+his bosom at parting? Impossible! He would see her no more. He would
+tear at once from his heart every hope--every joy--and dare at once all
+the wretchedness that awaited him. In an agony of desperation, he rang
+for his servant, ordered his horses, and in an hour was on his way to
+Norwood, with feelings which the criminal on the rack need not have
+envied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+The next morning, while Montreville and his daughter were expecting,
+with some anxiety the arrival of their daily visitor, a note was brought
+which De Courcy had left in Audley Street, to be delivered after his
+departure. Though nearly illegible, from the agitation in which it was
+written, it contained nothing but the simple information, that he had
+been suddenly obliged to leave London. It assigned no reason for his
+journey--it fixed no period for his absence; and Montreville endeavoured
+to hope that his return would not be distant. But day after day passed
+heavily on, and De Courcy came not. Montreville again began to feel
+himself a solitary deserted being; again became dejected; again became
+the victim of real debility and fancied disease.
+
+All Laura's endeavours failed to animate him to cheerfulness, or rouse
+him to employment. If he permitted her to remain by him, he seemed
+rather to endure than to enjoy her presence, repressed with a languid
+monosyllable her attempts at conversation, or passed whole hours in
+listless silence. Laura, who forboded the worst consequences from the
+indulgence of this depression, endeavoured to persuade him that he might
+now safely attempt a voyage to Scotland, and predicted beneficial
+effects from the sea air. But Montreville answered her with displeasure,
+that such an exertion would certainly destroy him, and that those who
+were themselves in high health and spirits, could not judge of the
+feelings, nor sympathize with the weakness of disease. The reproach had
+no more justice than is usual with the upbraidings of the sickly; for
+Laura's spirits shared every turn of her father's, though her stronger
+mind could support with grace the burden that weighed him to the earth.
+She desisted, however, from a subject which she saw that, for the
+present, he would not bear, and confined her endeavours to persuading
+him to undertake some light occupation, or to walk in the little garden
+that belonged to the house. But, even in these attempts she was commonly
+defeated; for Montreville would make no exertion, and the winter wind,
+now keen and biting, pierced through his wasted form.
+
+None but they who have made the melancholy experiment, can tell how
+cheerless is the labour of supporting the spirit that will make no
+effort to sustain itself, of soliciting the languid smile, offering the
+rejected amusement, or striving, with vain ingenuity, to enliven the
+oft-repulsed conversation. They only know who have tried it, what it is
+to resist contagious depression--to struggle against the effects of the
+complaining voice, the languid motion, the hopeless aspect; what it is
+to suppress the sympathetic sigh, and restrain the little sally of
+impatience, so natural to those whose labours are incessant, yet
+unavailing. Such were the tasks that Laura voluntarily prescribed to
+herself. Incited by affection, and by strong sense of duty, she soothed
+the fretful humour, prompted the reluctant exertion, fanned the expiring
+hope, and seized the most favourable moment to soften by feminine
+tenderness, or exhilarate by youthful gaiety.
+
+Many motives may lead to one great effort of virtue. The hope of reward,
+the desire of approbation, a sense of right, the natural benevolence
+which still affords a faint trait of the image in which man was made,
+all, or any of these, may produce single, or even oft-repeated acts
+deserving of praise; but one principle alone can lead to virtuous
+exertions persevering and unremitting though without success. That
+principle was Laura's; and even while her endeavours seemed unavailing,
+she was content to employ all her powers in the task selected for her by
+the bestower of them.
+
+Montreville often reproached himself for the untimely burden which he
+was laying on the young heart of his daughter; but he could make no
+effort to lighten it, and self-reproach served only to embitter the
+spirit which it failed of stimulating to exertion. Fretful and
+impatient, yet conscious of his injustice, and unwilling that Laura
+should observe it, he would often dismiss her from her attendance, and
+spend whole hours in solitary gloom. These hours Laura devoted to her
+picture, stealing between whiles, on tiptoe, to the door of her father's
+apartment, to listen whether he was stirring; and sometimes venturing to
+knock gently for admittance.
+
+The picture, which was far advanced when De Courcy left town, soon
+received the finishing touches; and Laura lost no time in transmitting
+it to Norwood. She wrote an affectionate letter to Harriet; in which,
+after thanking her for all her kindness, she offered her gift, and
+added, that to give her work a value which it would not otherwise have
+possessed, she had introduced the portrait of De Courcy; and that, glad
+of an opportunity of associating the remembrance of herself with an
+object of interest, she had admitted her own resemblance into the group.
+She apologized for the appearance of conceit which might attend her
+exhibiting her own form under the character of Virtue, by relating, with
+characteristic simplicity, that she had determined on her subject,
+chosen and half-finished her Hercules, before she designed the figures
+of his companions; that she had afterwards thought that her memorial
+would be more effectual if it contained the portrait of the giver. 'And
+you know,' added she, 'it would have been impossible to mould my solemn
+countenance into the lineaments of Pleasure.'
+
+In the singleness of her heart, it never occurred to Laura, that any
+thing in the mutual relation of the figures of her piece stood in need
+of explanation. Had Hargrave furnished the model for her hero, she would
+probably have been a little more quick-sighted. As it was, she felt
+impatient to shew the De Courcy family, not excepting Montague himself,
+that she was not forgetful of their kindness; and she chose a day, when
+the influence of bright sunshine a little revived the spirits of
+Montreville, to leave him for an hour, and accompany the picture to the
+shop of the obliging print-seller, that it might be packed more
+skilfully than by herself.
+
+After seeing it safely put up, she gave the address to Wilkins, who
+immediately exclaimed, 'So, Ma'am, you have found out the secret that
+you would not let me tell you?' 'What secret?' inquired Laura. 'The name
+of the gentleman, Ma'am, that bought your pictures.' 'Was it De Courcy,
+then?' 'Yes, Ma'am;--though to be sure it might'n't be the same. But I
+suppose you'll know him, Ma'am. A tall pleasant-looking gentleman,
+Ma'am. The pictures were sent home to Audley Street.' Laura's
+countenance brightened with satisfaction, and she suffered her informer
+to proceed. 'I am sure,' continued he, 'I managed that business to the
+very best of my power, and, as one might say, very dexterously.' 'Was
+there any occasion for management?' inquired Laura. 'Oh yes, Ma'am; for
+when he seemed very much taken with the first one, then I told him all
+about you just as I had it all from Mrs Dawkins, and how you were so
+anxious to have it sold; and then he said he'd have it, and paid the
+money into my hands; and then I told him how you looked the first day
+you brought it here, and that you were just ready to cry about it; and
+he said he must have a companion to it.'
+
+The flush, both of pride and vexation, for once stained the transparent
+skin of Laura. Yet it was but for a moment; and her next feeling was
+pleasure at the confirmation of the benevolent character with which her
+imagination had invested De Courcy. He had purchased her work when she
+was quite unknown to him, only, as she thought, from a wish to reward
+industry; and because he had been led to believe that the price was an
+object to the artist. Had another been the purchaser, she might have
+allowed something for the merit of the piece, but Laura was not yet
+cured of first imagining characters, and then bending facts to suit her
+theory. Sooner than bate one iota from De Courcy's benevolence, she
+would have assigned to her picture the rank of a sign-post.
+
+She now remembered, that in her visits to Audley Street she had never
+seen her works; and in her approbation of the delicacy which prompted De
+Courcy to conceal that she was known to him as an artist, she forgot the
+little prejudice which this concealment implied. De Courcy, indeed, was
+himself unconscious that he entertained any such prejudice. He applauded
+Laura's exertions; he approved of the spirit that led a young woman of
+family to dare, in spite of custom, to be useful. Yet he could not help
+acting as if she had shared the opinion of the world, and been herself
+ashamed of her labours. But this was a shame that Laura knew not. She
+wished not indeed to intrude on the world's notice. Her choice was
+peaceful obscurity. But if she must be known, she would have far
+preferred the distinction earned by ingenious industry, to the notoriety
+which wealth and luxury can purchase.
+
+On her return home, she found her father reading a letter which he had
+just received from De Courcy. It seemed written in an hour of
+melancholy. The writer made no mention of returning to town; on the
+contrary, he expressed a hope that Montreville might now be able to
+undertake a journey to Scotland. He besought the Captain to remember
+him, to speak of him often, and to write to him sometimes; and ended
+with these words--'Farewell, my friend; the dearest of my earthly hopes
+is, that we may one day meet again, though years, long years, must first
+intervene.'
+
+'So ends my last hope,' said Montreville, letting his head sink
+mournfully on his breast; 'De Courcy comes not, and thou must be left
+alone and unprotected.' 'The protection of so young a man,' said Laura,
+avoiding to answer to a foreboding which she considered merely as a
+symptom of her father's disease, 'might not perhaps have appeared
+advantageous to me in the eyes of those who are unacquainted with Mr De
+Courcy.' 'It would have given comfort to my dying hour,' said
+Montreville, 'to consign thee to such a guardian--such a husband.' 'A
+husband!' cried Laura, starting, and turning pale. 'Heaven be praised,
+that Mr De Courcy never harboured such a thought!' Montreville looked up
+in extreme surprise; and inquired the reason of her thankfulness. 'Oh
+Sir,' she replied, 'we owe so much to Mr De Courcy's friendship, that I
+should have hated myself for being unable to return his affection;--and
+pity would it have been that the love of so amiable a being should have
+been bestowed in vain.'
+
+Montreville fixed his eyes upon her, as if to seek for further
+explanation, and continued to gaze on her face, when his thoughts had
+wandered from the examination of it. After some minutes of silence, he
+said--'Laura, you once rejected an alliance, splendid beyond my hopes,
+almost beyond my wishes, and that with a man formed to be the darling of
+your sex; and now you speak as if even Montague De Courcy would have
+failed to gain you. Tell me, then, have you any secret attachment? Speak
+candidly, Laura;--you will not always have a father to confide in.'
+
+Deep crimson dyed the cheeks of Laura; but, with the hesitation of a
+moment, she replied--'No, Sir, I have no wish to marry. I pretend not to
+lay open my whole heart to you; but I may with truth assure you, that
+there is not at this moment a man in being with whom I would unite
+myself. I know you would not be gratified by extorted confidence.'
+
+'No, Laura,' said Montreville, 'I ask no more than you willingly avow. I
+confide, as I have always done, in your prudence and integrity. Soon,
+alas! you will have no other guides. But it was my heart's wish to see
+you united to a man who could value and protect your worth--of late,
+more especially, when I feel that I so soon must leave you.'
+
+'My dearest father,' said Laura, throwing her arm affectionately round
+his neck, 'do not give way to such gloomy forebodings. Your spirits are
+oppressed by confinement--let us but see Glenalbert again, and all will
+be well.'
+
+'I shall never see Glenalbert,' said Montreville;--'and left alone in
+such a place as this, without money, without friends, without a
+home;--where shall my child find safety or shelter?'
+
+'Indeed, Sir,' said Laura, though a cold shuddering seized her, 'your
+fears have no foundation. Only yesterday Dr Flint told me that your
+complaints were without danger, and that a little exercise would make
+you quite strong again.'
+
+Montreville shook his head. 'Dr Flint deceives you, Laura,' said
+he;--'you deceive yourself.' 'No, indeed,' said Laura, though she
+trembled; 'you look much better,--you are much better. It is only these
+melancholy thoughts that retard your recovery. Trust yourself--trust me
+to the Providence that has hitherto watched over us.'
+
+'I could die without alarm,' said Montreville; 'but to leave thee alone
+and in want--Oh! I cannot bear it.' 'Should the worst befal,' said
+Laura, turning pale as alabaster, 'think that I shall not be alone, I
+shall not want, for'--her voice failed, but she raised her eyes with an
+expression that filled up the ennobling sentiment. 'I believe it, my
+love,' said Montreville, 'but you feel these consolations more strongly
+than I do. Leave me for the present, I am fatigued, and wish to be
+alone.'
+
+Laura retired to her own room, and endeavoured herself to practise the
+trust which she recommended to her father. Her meditations were
+interrupted by the entrance of her landlady, Mrs Stubbs, who, with many
+courtesies and apologies, said that she was come to present her account.
+
+Laura, who always had pleasure in cancelling a debt the moment it was
+incurred, and who conceived no apology to be necessary from those who
+came to demand only their own, received her landlady very graciously,
+and begged her to be seated, while she went to bring her father's purse.
+Mrs Stubbs spread her bills upon the table; and Laura, after examining
+them, was obliged to ask an explanation.
+
+'Why, ma'am,' returned the landlady, 'there are fourteen guineas for
+lodgings for six weeks, and £10, 15s. for victuals and other articles
+that I have furnished. I am sure I have kept an exact account.'
+
+'I understood,' said Laura, 'that we were to have the lodgings for a
+guinea and a half a-week, and'--'A guinea and a half!' cried the
+landlady, colouring with wrath at this disparagement of her property.
+'Sure, Miss, you did not think to have lodgings such as these for a
+guinea and a half a-week. No, no--these lodgings have never been let for
+less than four guineas, and never shall, as long as my name is
+Bridget.'
+
+Laura mildly pleaded her ignorance of those matters, and urged De
+Courcy's information as an excuse for her mistake. 'To be sure, Ma'am,'
+said the now pacified Mrs Stubbs, 'nobody that know'd any thing of the
+matter, would expect to have such rooms for less than four guineas; and
+that was what the gentleman said when he took them; so he paid me two
+guineas and a half advance for four weeks; and charged me not to let you
+know of it; but I can't abide them secret doings; and, besides, if I
+take only a guinea and a half from you, where was I to look for the rest
+of my rent for the last fortnight--for the young gentleman seems to have
+taken himself off.'
+
+Laura suffered her loquacious hostess to proceed without interruption,
+for her thoughts were fully occupied. She had incurred a debt greater,
+by five guineas, than she had been prepared to expect; and this sum was,
+in her present circumstances, of great importance. Yet her predominant
+feeling was grateful approbation of De Courcy's benevolence; nor did her
+heart at all upbraid him with the consequences of his well-meant
+deception. 'Kind, considerate De Courcy,' thought she; 'he had hoped
+that, ere now, we should have ceased to need his generosity, and even
+have been removed from the possibility of discovering it.'
+
+Recollecting herself, she paid the landlady her full demand; and,
+dismissing her, sat down to examine what remained of her finances. All
+that she possessed, she found amounted to no more than one guinea and a
+few shillings; and, dropping the money into her lap, she sat gazing on
+it in blank dismay.
+
+The poverty, whose approach she had so long contemplated with a fearful
+eye, had now suddenly overtaken her. Husbanded with whatever care, the
+sum before her could minister only to the wants of a few hours. In her
+present habitation, it would scarcely purchase shelter for another night
+from the storm which a keen winter-wind was beginning to drive against
+her window. An immediate supply then was necessary; but where could that
+supply be found? It was too late to resort to the earnings of her own
+genius. Painting was a work of time and labour. No hasty production was
+likely to find favour amidst the competition of studied excellence. Even
+the highest effort of her art might long wait a purchaser; and tears
+fell from the eyes of Laura while she reflected that, even if she could
+again produce a Leonidas, she might never again find a De Courcy.
+
+To borrow money on the Captain's half-pay, was an expedient which Laura
+had always rejected, as calculated to load their scanty income with a
+burden which it could neither shake off nor bear. But even to this
+expedient she could now no longer have recourse; for Montreville had
+assured her that, in his present state of health, it would be impossible
+to mortgage his annuity for a single guinea.
+
+She might raise a small supply by stripping her beloved Glenalbert of
+some of its little luxuries and comforts; but, long before this
+revolting business could be transacted, she must be absolutely
+pennyless. Nor did she dare, without consulting her father, to give
+orders for dismantling his home. And how should she inform him of the
+necessity for such a sacrifice? Weakened both in body and in mind, how
+would he endure the privations that attend on real penury? His naturally
+feeble spirits already crushed to the earth, his kindly temper already,
+by anxiety and disappointment, turned to gall, his anxieties for his
+child alarmed even to anguish, how could he bear to learn that real want
+had reached him--had reached that dear child, whom the dread of leaving
+to poverty was poisoning the springs of life within him! 'He thinks he
+is about to leave me,' cried she, 'and shall I tell him that I must owe
+to charity even the sod that covers him from me? No; I will perish
+first,' and, starting from her seat, she paced the room in distressful
+meditation on the means of concealing from her father the extent of
+their calamity.
+
+She determined to take upon herself the care of their little fund, under
+pretence that the trouble was too great for Montreville. He had of late
+shewn such listless indifference to all domestic concerns, that she
+hoped he might never inquire into the extent of his landlady's demand,
+or that his inquiries might be eluded. It seemed a light thing in
+Laura's eyes to suffer alone; or rather she thought not of her own
+sufferings, could she but spare her father the anguish of knowing
+himself and his child utterly destitute. She judged of his feelings by
+her own; felt, by sympathy, all the pangs with which he would witness
+wants which he could not supply; and she inwardly vowed to conceal from
+him every privation that she might endure,--every labour that she might
+undergo.
+
+But, void of every resource, far from every friend, destitute amid
+boundless wealth, alone amid countless multitudes, whither should she
+turn for aid, or even for counsel? 'Whither,' cried she, dropping on her
+knees, 'except to Him who hath supplied me in yet more urgent want, who
+hath counselled me in yet more fearful difficulty, who hath fed my soul
+with angel's food, and guided it with light from heaven?' Laura rose
+from her devotions, more confiding in the care of Providence, more able
+to consider calmly of improving the means which still remained within
+her own power.
+
+Before she could finish and dispose of a picture, weeks must elapse for
+which she could make no provision. To painting, therefore, she could not
+have immediate recourse. But sketches in chalk could be finished with
+expedition; the printseller might undertake the sale of them; and the
+lowness of the price might invite purchasers. Could she but hope to
+obtain a subsistence for her father, she would labour night and day,
+deprive herself of recreation, of rest, even of daily food, rather than
+wound his heart, by an acquaintance with poverty. 'And since his pride
+is hurt by the labours of his child,' said she, 'even his pride shall be
+sacred. He shall never know my labours.' And, so frail are even the
+best, that an emotion of pride swelled the bosom of Laura at the thought
+that the merit of her toils was enhanced by their secrecy.
+
+The resolutions of Laura were ever the immediate prelude to action; and
+here was no time for delay. She again looked mournfully upon her little
+treasure, hopelessly re-examined the purse that contained it; again,
+with dismay, remembered that it was her all; then, hastily putting it
+into her pocket, she drew her portfolio towards her, and began to
+prepare for the work with the hurry of one to whom every moment seems
+precious. Invention was at present impossible; but she tried to
+recollect one of her former designs, and busied herself in sketching it
+till the hour of dinner arrived. She then went to summon her father from
+his chamber to the eating-room. 'This day,' thought she, 'I must share
+his precarious sustenance--another I shall be more provident. And is
+this then, perhaps, our last social meal?' and she turned for a moment
+from the door, to suppress the emotion that would have choked her
+utterance. 'Come in, my dear,' cried Montreville, who had heard her
+footstep; and Laura entered with a smile. She offered her arm to assist
+him in descending to the parlour. 'Why will you always urge me to go
+down stairs, Laura,' said he; 'you see I am unequal to the fatigue.' 'I
+shall not urge you to-morrow,' answered Laura: and Montreville thought
+the tears which stood in her eyes, were the consequence of the impatient
+tone in which he had spoken.
+
+During the evening, Laura avoided all mention of restoring the purse to
+her father, and he appeared to have forgotten its existence. But, by no
+effort could she beguile those cheerless hours. Her utmost exertions
+were necessary to maintain the appearance of composure; and De Courcy's
+letter seemed to have consummated Montreville's feelings of solitude and
+desolation. Wilfully, and without effort, he suffered his spirits to
+expire. His whole train of thinking had become habitually gloomy. He was
+wretched, even without reference to his situation, and the original
+cause of his melancholy was rather the excuse than the reason of his
+depression. But this only rendered more hopeless all attempts to cheer
+him; for the woes of the imagination have this dire pre-eminence over
+those which spring from real evils, that, while these can warm at times
+in benevolent joy, or even brighten for a moment to the flash of
+innocent gaiety, the selfishness of the former, chequered by no kindly
+feeling, reflects not the sunny smile; as the dark and noisome fog
+drinks in vain the beam of Heaven.
+
+Montreville, when in health, had been always and justly considered a
+kind-hearted, good-natured man. He had been a most indulgent husband, an
+easy master, and a fond father. He was honourable, generous, and
+friendly. Those who had witnessed his patient endurance of Lady
+Harriet's caprice had given his philosophy a credit which was better due
+to his indolence: for the grand defect of Montreville's character was a
+total want of fortitude and self-command; and of these failings he was
+now paying the penalty. His health was injured by his voluntary
+inaction, his fancy aggravated his real disorder, and multiplied to
+infinity his imaginary ailments. He had habituated his mind to images of
+disaster, till it had become incapable of receiving any but comfortless
+and doleful impressions.
+
+After spending a few silent hours without effort towards employment or
+recreation, he retired for the night; and Laura experienced a sensation
+of relief, as, shutting herself away into her apartment, she prepared to
+resume her labours. After every other member of the family had retired
+to rest, she continued to work till her candle expired in the socket;
+and then threw herself on her bed to rise again with the first blush of
+dawn.
+
+Montreville had been accustomed to breakfast in his own room; Laura
+therefore found no difficulty in beginning her system of abstemiousness.
+Hastily swallowing a few mouthfuls of dry bread, she continued her
+drawing, till her father rang for his chocolate. She was fully resolved
+to adhere to this plan, to labour with unceasing industry, and to deny
+herself whatever was not essential to her existence.
+
+But neither hard fare, nor labour, nor confinement, could occasion to
+Laura such pain as she suffered from another of the necessities of her
+situation. Amidst her mournful reflections, it had occurred to her, that
+unless she would incur a debt which she could not hope to discharge, it
+would be necessary to dismiss the surgeon who attended her father. All
+her ideas of honour and integrity revolted from suffering a man to
+expend his time and trouble, in expectation of a return which she was
+unable to make. She was besides convinced that in Montreville's case
+medicine could be of no avail. But she feared to hint the subject to her
+father, lest she should lead to a discovery of their present
+circumstances; and such was her conviction of the feebleness of his
+spirits, and such her dread of the consequences of their increased
+depression, that all earthly evils seemed light compared with that of
+adding to his distress. Laura perhaps judged wrong; for one real evil
+sometimes ameliorates the condition, by putting to flight a host of
+imaginary calamities, and by compelling that exertion which makes any
+situation tolerable. But she trembled for the effects of the slightest
+additional suffering upon the life or the reason of her father; and she
+would have thought it little less than parricide to add a new bruise to
+the wounded spirit. On the other hand, she dreaded that Montreville, if
+kept in ignorance of its real cause, might consider the desertion of his
+medical attendant as an intimation that his case was hopeless, and
+perhaps become the victim of his imaginary danger.
+
+She knew not on what to resolve. Her distress and perplexity were
+extreme; and if any thing could have vanquished the stubborn integrity
+of Laura, the present temptation would have prevailed. But no wilful
+fraud could be the issue of her deliberations, who was steadily
+convinced that inflexible justice looks on to blast with a curse even
+the successful schemes of villany, and to shed a blessing on the sorrows
+of the upright. She would not even for her father incur a debt which she
+could never hope to pay; and nothing remained but to consider of the
+best means of executing her painful determination.
+
+Here a new difficulty occurred, for she could not decline the surgeon's
+further attendance without offering to discharge what she already owed.
+In the present state of her funds, this was utterly impossible; for
+though, at her instigation, his bill had been lately paid, she was sure
+that the new one must already amount to more than all she possessed. How
+to procure the necessary supply she knew not; for even if she could have
+secured the immediate sale of her drawings, the price of her daily and
+nightly toil would scarcely suffice to pay for the expensive habitation
+which she durst not propose to leave, and to bribe the fastidious
+appetite of Montreville with dainties of which he could neither bear the
+want nor feel the enjoyment.
+
+Once only, and it was but for a moment, she thought of appealing to the
+humanity of Dr Flint, of unfolding to him her situation, and begging
+his attendance upon the chance of future remuneration. But Laura was
+destined once more to pay the penalty of her hasty judgments of
+character. On Montreville's first illness, Dr Flint had informed Laura,
+with (as she thought) great want of feeling, of her father's danger. He
+was a gaunt, atrabilious, stern-looking man, with a rough voice, and
+cold repulsive manners. He had, moreover, an uninviting name; and though
+Laura was ashamed to confess to herself that such trifles could
+influence her judgment, these disadvantages were the real cause why she
+always met Dr Flint with a sensation resembling that with which one
+encounters a cold, damp, north-east wind. To make any claim upon the
+benevolence of a stranger--and such a stranger! It was not to be thought
+of. Yet Laura's opinion, or rather her feelings, wronged Dr Flint. His
+exterior, it is true, was far from prepossessing. It is also true, that,
+considering Montreville's first illness as the effect of a very
+unpardonable levity on the part of Laura, he had spoken to her on that
+occasion with even more than his usual frigidity. Nor did he either
+possess or lay claim to any great share of sensibility; but he was not
+destitute of humanity; and had Laura explained to him her situation, he
+would willingly have attended her father without prospect of recompense.
+But Laura did not put his benevolence to the test. She suffered him to
+make his morning visit and depart; while she was considering of a plan
+which appeared little less revolting.
+
+Laura knew that one of the most elegant houses in Grosvenor Street was
+inhabited by a Lady Pelham, the daughter of Lady Harriet Montreville's
+mother by a former marriage. She knew that, for many years, little
+intercourse had subsisted between the sisters; and that her father was
+even wholly unknown to Lady Pelham. But she was ignorant, that the
+imprudence of her mother's marriage served as the excuse for a coldness,
+which had really existed before it had any such pretext.
+
+With all her Scotish prejudice in favour of the claims of kindred (and
+Laura in this and many other respects was entirely a Scotch woman), she
+could not, without the utmost repugnance, think of applying to her
+relation. To introduce herself to a stranger whom she had never seen--to
+appear not only as an inferior, but as a supplicant--a beggar! Laura had
+long and successfully combated the innate pride of human nature; but her
+humility almost failed under this trial. Her illustrious ancestry--the
+dignity of a gentlewoman--the independence of one who can bear to labour
+and endure to want, all rose successively to her mind; for pride can
+wear many specious forms. But she had nearer claims than the honour of
+her ancestry--dearer concerns than her personal importance; and when she
+thought of her father, she felt that she was no longer independent.
+
+Severe was her struggle, and bitter were the tears which she shed over
+the conviction that it was right that she should become a petitioner for
+the bounty of a stranger. In vain did she repeat to herself, that she
+was a debtor to the care of Providence for her daily bread, and was not
+entitled to choose the means by which it was supplied. She could not
+conquer her reluctance. But she could act right in defiance of it. She
+could sacrifice her own feelings to the comfort of her father--to a
+sense of duty. Nay, upon reflection, she could rejoice that
+circumstances compelled her to quell that proud spirit with which, as a
+Christian, she maintained a constant and vigorous combat.
+
+While these thoughts were passing in her mind, she had finished her
+drawing; and, impatient to know how far this sort of labour was likely
+to be profitable, she furnished her father with a book to amuse him in
+her absence; and, for the first time since they had occupied their
+present lodgings, expressed a wish to take a walk for amusement. Had
+Montreville observed the blushes that accompanied this little
+subterfuge, he would certainly have suspected that the amusement which
+this walk promised was of no common kind; but he was in one of his
+reveries, hanging over the mantle-piece, with his forehead resting on
+his arm, and did not even look up while he desired her not to be long
+absent.
+
+She resolved to go first to Lady Pelham, that coming early she might
+find her disengaged, and afterwards to proceed to the print-shop.
+
+The wind blew keen across the snow as Laura began her reluctant
+pilgrimage. Her summer attire, to which her finances could afford no
+addition, ill defended her from the blast. Through the streets of London
+she was to explore her way unattended. Accustomed to find both beauty
+and pleasure in the solitude of her walks, she was to mix in the throngs
+of a rude rabble, without protection from insult. But no outward
+circumstances could add to the feelings of comfortless dismay with which
+she looked forward to the moment, when, ushered through stately
+apartments into the presence of self-important greatness, she should
+announce herself a beggar. Her courage failed--she paused, and made one
+step back towards her home. But she recalled her former thoughts. 'I
+have need to be humbled,' said she; and again proceeded on her way.
+
+As she left the little garden that surrounded her lodgings, she
+perceived an old man who had taken shelter by one of the pillars of the
+gate. He shivered in the cold, which found easy entrance through the
+rags that covered him, and famine glared from his hollow eye. His gray
+hair streamed on the wind, as he held out the tattered remains of a hat,
+and said, 'Please to help me, Lady.--I am very poor.' He spoke in the
+dialect of her native land, and the accents went to Laura's heart;--for
+Laura was in the land of strangers. She had never been deaf to the
+petitions of the poor; for all the poor of Glenalbert were known to her;
+and she knew that what she spared from her own comforts, was not made
+the minister of vice. Her purse was already in her hand, ere she
+remembered that to give was become a crime.
+
+As the thought crossed her, she started like one who had escaped from
+sudden danger. 'No, I must not give you money,' said she, and returned
+the purse into her pocket, with a pang that taught her the true
+bitterness of poverty. 'I am cold and hungry,' said the man still
+pleading, and taking encouragement from Laura's relenting eye. 'Hungry!'
+repeated Laura, 'then come with me, and I will give you bread;' and she
+returned to the house to bestow on the old man the humble fare which she
+had before destined to supply her own wants for the day, glad to
+purchase by a longer fast the right to feed the hungry.
+
+'In what respect am I better than this poor creature,' said she to
+herself, as she returned with the beggar to the gate, 'that I should
+offer to him with ease, and even with pleasure, what I myself cannot ask
+without pain. Surely I do not rightly believe that we are of the same
+dust! The same frail, sinful, perishable, dust!'
+
+But it was in vain that Laura continued to argue with herself. In this
+instance she could only do her duty; she could not love it. Her heart
+filled, and the tears rose to her eyes. She dashed them away--but they
+rose again.
+
+When she found herself in Grosvenor Street, she paused for a moment.
+'What if Lady Pelham should deny my request? dismiss me as a bold
+intruder? Why, then,' said Laura, raising her head, and again advancing
+with a firmer step, 'I shall owe no obligation to a stranger.'
+
+She approached the house--she ascended the steps. Almost breathless she
+laid her hand upon the knocker. At that moment she imagined her entrance
+through files of insolent domestics into a room filled with gay company.
+She anticipated the inquisitive glances--shrunk in fancy from the
+supercilious examination; and she again drew back her hand. 'I shall
+never have courage to face all this,' thought she. While we hesitate, a
+trifle turns the scale. Laura perceived that she had drawn the attention
+of a young man on the pavement, who stood gazing on her with familiar
+curiosity; and she knocked, almost before she was sensible that she
+intended it.
+
+The time appeared immeasurable till the door was opened by a
+maid-servant. 'Is Lady Pelham at home?' inquired Laura, taking
+encouragement from the sight of one of her own sex. 'No, Ma'am,'
+answered the maid, 'my lady is gone to keep Christmas in ----shire, and
+will not return for a fortnight.' Laura drew a long breath, as if a
+weight had been lifted from her breast; and, suppressing an ejaculation
+of 'thank Heaven,' sprung in the lightness of her heart at one skip from
+the door to the pavement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Laura's exultation was of short continuance. She had gone but a few
+steps ere she reflected that the wants which she had undertaken so
+painful a visit to supply were as clamant as ever, and now further than
+ever from a chance of relief. Mournfully she pursued her way towards the
+print-shop, hopelessly comparing her urgent and probably prolonged
+necessities with her confined resources.
+
+The utmost price which she could hope to receive for the drawing she
+carried, would be far from sufficient to discharge her debt to the
+surgeon; and there seemed now no alternative but to confess her
+inability to pay, and to throw herself upon his mercy. To this measure,
+however, she was too averse to adopt it without reconsidering every
+other possible expedient. She thought of appealing to the friendship of
+Mrs Douglas, and of suffering Dr Flint to continue his visits till an
+answer from her friend should enable her to close the connection. But
+Mrs Douglas's scanty income was taxed to the uttermost by the
+maintenance and education of a numerous family, by the liberal charities
+of its owners, and by the hospitable spirit, which, banished by
+ostentation from more splendid abodes, still lingers by the fireside of
+a Scotch clergyman. Laura was sure that Mrs Douglas would supply her
+wants at whatever inconvenience to herself; and this very consideration
+withheld her from making application to her friend.
+
+Laura had heard and read that ladies in distress had found subsistence
+by the sale of their ornaments. But by their example she could not
+profit; for her ornaments were few in number and of no value. She wore
+indeed a locket, which she had once received from her mother, with a
+strong injunction neither to lose nor give it away; but Laura, in her
+profound ignorance of the value of trinkets, attached no estimation to
+this one, except as the only unnecessary gift which she had ever
+received from her mother. 'It contains almost as much gold as a guinea,'
+said she, putting her hand to it, 'and a guinea will soon be a great
+treasure to me.' Still she determined that nothing short of extremity
+should induce her to part with it; but desirous to ascertain the extent
+of this last resort, she entered the shop of a jeweller, and presenting
+the locket, begged to know its value.
+
+After examining it, the jeweller replied that he believed it might be
+worth about five guineas, 'for though,' said he, 'the setting is
+antiquated, these emeralds are worth something.'
+
+At the mention of this sum, all Laura's difficulties seemed to vanish.
+Besides enabling her to pay the surgeon, it would make an addition to
+her little fund. With rigorous abstinence on her part, this little fund,
+together with the price of her incessant labour, would pay for her
+lodgings, and support her father in happy ignorance of his poverty, till
+he was able to remove to Glenalbert. Then, when he was quite well and
+quite able to bear it, she would tell him how she had toiled for him,
+and he would see that he had not lavished his fondness on a thankless
+child.
+
+These thoughts occupied far less time than the recital; and yet, ere
+they were passed, Laura had untied the locket from her neck, and put it
+into the hands of the jeweller. It was not till she saw it in the hands
+of another, that she felt all the pain of parting with it. She asked to
+see it once more; as she gazed on it for the last time, tears trickled
+from her eyes; but speedily wiping them away, and averting her head, she
+restored the locket to its new owner, and taking up the money, departed.
+
+She soon arrived at the print-shop, and finding Wilkins disengaged,
+produced her drawing, and asked him to purchase it. Wilkins looked at
+it, and inquired what price she had put upon it. 'I am quite
+unacquainted with its real value,' answered she, 'but the rapid sale of
+my work is at present such an object to me, that I shall willingly make
+it as cheap as possible, or allow you to fix your own price.' 'Have you
+any more to dispose of, Ma'am?' asked Wilkins. 'I have none finished,
+but I could promise you six more in a week if you are inclined to take
+them.' 'I think,' said Wilkins, 'after some consideration, I might
+venture to take them if you could afford them for half a guinea each.'
+'You shall have them,' said Laura, with a sigh; 'but I think
+half-a-guinea rather a low--a high, I believe, I mean.--'
+
+Laura did not at this moment exactly know what she meant; for her eyes
+had just rested on a gentleman, who, with his back towards her, was
+busied in examining a book of caricatures. She thought she could not be
+mistaken in the person. Only one form upon earth was endowed with such
+symmetry and grace; and that form was Hargrave's. He slightly turned his
+head, and Laura was certain.
+
+Though Laura neither screamed nor fainted, this recognition was not made
+without extreme emotion. She trembled violently, and a mist spread
+before her eyes; but she remembered the apparently wilful desertion of
+her lover; and, determined neither to claim his compassion nor gratify
+his vanity by any of the airs of a forsaken damsel, she quietly turned
+away from him, and leant against the counter to recover strength and
+composure.
+
+She was resolved to quit the shop the instant that she was able; and
+yet, perhaps she would have become sooner sensible of her recovered
+powers of motion, had it not been for a latent hope that the caricatures
+would not long continue so very interesting. No one however, accosted
+her; and next came the idea that Hargrave had already observed her,
+without wishing to claim her acquaintance. Before the mortifying thought
+could take a distinct form, Laura was already on her way towards the
+door.
+
+'You have left your half-guinea, Ma'am,' said Wilkins, calling after
+her; and Laura, half angry at being detained, turned back to fetch it.
+At this moment Hargrave's eye fell upon her half averted face. Surprise
+and joy illuminating his fine countenance, 'Laura!' he exclaimed, 'is it
+possible! have I at last found you?' and springing forward, he clasped
+her to his breast, regardless of the inquisitive looks and significant
+smiles of the spectators of his transports. But to the scrutiny of
+strangers, to the caresses of Hargrave, even to the indecorum of her
+situation, poor Laura was insensible. Weakened by the fatigue and
+emotion of the two preceding days, overcome by the sudden conviction
+that she had not been wilfully neglected, her head sunk upon the
+shoulder of Hargrave, and she lost all consciousness.
+
+When Laura recovered, she found herself in a little parlour adjoining to
+the shop, with no attendant but Hargrave, who still supported her in his
+arms. Her first thought was vexation at her own ill-timed sensibility;
+her next, a resolution to make no further forfeiture of her
+respectability, but rather, by the most stoical composure, to regain
+what she had lost. For this purpose, she soon disengaged herself from
+her perilous support, and unwilling to speak till secure of maintaining
+her firmness, she averted her head, and returned all Hargrave's
+raptures of love and joy with provoking silence.
+
+As soon as she had completely recovered her self-possession, she rose,
+and apologizing for the trouble she had occasioned him, said she would
+return home. Hargrave eagerly begged permission to accompany her, saying
+that his carriage was in waiting, and would convey them. Laura, with
+cold politeness, declined his offer. Though a little piqued by her
+manner, Hargrave triumphed in the idea that he retained all his former
+influence. 'My bewitching Laura,' said he, taking her hand, 'I beseech
+you to lay aside this ill-timed coquetry. After so sweet, so interesting
+a proof, that you still allow me some power over your feelings, must I
+accuse you of an affectation of coldness?' 'No, sir,' said Laura
+indignantly, 'rather of a momentary weakness, for which I despise
+myself.'
+
+The lover could not indeed have chosen a more unfavourable moment to
+express his exultation; for Laura's feelings of humiliation and
+self-reproach were just then raised to their height, by her perceiving
+the faces of two of the shop-boys peeping through the glass door with an
+aspect of roguish curiosity. Conscious of her inability to walk home,
+and feeling her situation quite intolerable, she called to one of the
+little spies, and begged that he would instantly procure her a hackney
+coach.
+
+Hargrave vehemently remonstrated against this disorder. 'Why this unkind
+haste?' said he. 'Surely after so tedious, so tormenting an absence, you
+need not grudge me a few short moments.' Laura thought he was probably
+himself to blame for the absence of which he complained, and coldly
+answering, 'I have already been detained too long,' was about to quit
+the room, when Hargrave, impatiently seizing her hand, exclaimed,
+'Unfeeling Laura! does that relentless pride never slumber? Have I
+followed you from Scotland, and sought you for three anxious months, to
+be met without one kind word, one pitying look!'
+
+'Followed me!' repeated Laura with surprise.
+
+'Yes, upon my life, my journey hither had no other object. After you so
+cruelly left me, without warning or farewell, how could I endure to
+exist in the place which you once made delightful to me. Indeed I could
+not bear it. I resolved to pursue you wherever you went, to breathe at
+least the same air with you, sometimes to feast my fond eyes with that
+form, beyond imagination lovely--perhaps to win that beguiling smile
+which no heart can withstand. The barbarous caution of Mrs Douglas in
+refusing me your address, has caused the disappointment of all my
+hopes.'
+
+Hargrave had egregiously mistaken the road to Laura's favour when he
+threw a reflection upon her friend. 'Mrs Douglas certainly acted right,'
+said she. 'I have equal confidence in her prudence and in her
+friendship.' 'Probably then,' said Hargrave, reddening with vexation,
+'this system of torture originated with you. It was at your desire that
+your friend withstood all my entreaties.' 'No,' answered Laura, 'I
+cannot claim the merit of so much forethought. I certainly did not
+expect the honour that you are pleased to say you have done me,
+especially when you were doubtful both of my abode and of your own
+reception.'
+
+'Insulting girl,' cried Hargrave, 'you know too well, that, however
+received, still I must follow you. And, but for a series of the most
+tormenting accidents, I should have defeated the caution of your
+cold-hearted favourite. At the Perth post-office I discovered that your
+letters were addressed to the care of Mr Baynard; and the very hour that
+I reached London, I flew to make inquiries after you. I found that Mr
+Baynard's house was shut up, and that he was gone in bad health to
+Richmond. I followed him, and was told that he was too ill to be spoken
+with, that none of the servants knew your abode, as the footman who used
+to carry messages to you had been dismissed, and that your letters were
+now left at Mr Baynard's chambers in town. Thither I went, and learnt
+that, ever since your removal to Richmond, you had yourself sent for
+your letters, and that, of course, the clerks were entirely ignorant of
+your residence. Imagine my disappointment. The people, however, promised
+to make inquiries of your messenger, and to let me know where you might
+be found; and day after day did I haunt them, the sport of vain hope and
+bitter disappointment. No other letter ever came for you, nor did you
+ever inquire for any.'
+
+'After Mr Baynard's removal to Richmond,' said Laura, 'I directed Mrs
+Douglas to address her letters to our lodgings.'
+
+'Ah Laura, think what anxieties, what wretchedness I have suffered in my
+fruitless search! Yet you meet me only to drive me coldly from your
+presence. Once you said that you pardoned the folly--the madness that
+offended you; but too well I see that you deceived yourself or me--that
+no attachment, no devotion can purchase your forgiveness.' 'Indeed,'
+said Laura, melted by the proof which she had received of her lover's
+affection, yet fearful of forfeiting her caution, 'I am incapable of
+harbouring enmity against the worst of human beings, and--'
+
+'Enmity!' interrupted Hargrave, 'Heavens, what a word!' 'I mean,' said
+Laura, faltering, 'that I am not insensible to the regard--'
+
+'Madam, the coach is at the door,' said the shop-boy, again peeping
+slily into the room; and Laura, hastily bidding Hargrave good morning,
+walked towards the carriage. Having herself given the coachman his
+directions, she suffered Hargrave to hand her in, giving him a slight
+bow in token of dismissal. He continued, however, to stand for some
+moments with his foot upon the step, waiting for a look of permission to
+accompany her; but, receiving none, he sprung into the seat by her side,
+and called to the man to drive on. Laura offended at his boldness, gave
+him a very ungracious look, and drew back in silence, 'I see you think
+me presumptuous,' said he, 'but, just found, how can I consent to leave
+you? Oh Laura, if you knew what I have suffered from an absence that
+seemed endless! Not for worlds would I endure such another.'
+
+'The stipulated two years are still far from a close,' said Laura
+coldly; 'and, till they are ended, our intercourse cannot be too
+slight.'
+
+'Surely,' cried Hargrave, 'when you fixed this lingering probation, you
+did not mean to banish me from your presence for two years!' Laura could
+not with truth aver that such a banishment had been her intention. 'I
+believe,' said she, suppressing a sigh, 'that would have been my wisest
+meaning.' 'I would sooner die,' cried Hargrave, vehemently. 'Oh, had I
+sooner found you,' added he, a dark expression which Laura could not
+define clouding his countenance, 'what wretchedness would have been
+spared! But now that we have at last met,' continued he, his eyes again
+sparkling with love and hope, 'I will haunt you, cling to you,
+supplicate you, till I melt you to a passion as fervent as my own,'
+While he spoke he dropped upon his knee by her side, and drew his arm
+passionately round her. Time had been, that Laura, trembling with
+irrepressible emotion, would have withdrawn from the embrace,
+reproaching herself for sensations from which she imagined that the more
+spotless heart of her lover was free, and hating herself for being
+unable to receive as a sister, the caresses of a fondness pure as a
+brother's love. But Hargrave had himself torn the veil from her eyes;
+and shrinking from him as if a serpent had crossed her path, she cast on
+him a look that struck like an ice-bolt on the glowing heart of
+Hargrave. 'Just Heaven!' he cried, starting up with a convulsive
+shudder, 'this is abhorrence! Why, why have you deceived me with a
+false show of sensibility? Speak it at once,' said he, wildly grasping
+her arm; 'say that you detest me, and tell me too who has dared to
+supplant me in a heart once wholly mine.'
+
+'Be calm, I implore you,' said Laura, terrified at his violence, 'no one
+has supplanted you. I am, I ever shall be, whatever you deserve to find
+me.'
+
+Laura's soothing voice, her insinuating look, retained all their wonted
+power to calm the fierce passions of her lover. 'Oh I shall never
+deserve you,' said he in a tone of wretchedness, while his face was
+again crossed by an expression of anguish, which the unsuspecting Laura
+attributed to remorse for his former treatment of herself.
+
+The carriage at this moment stopped, and anxious to calm his spirits at
+parting, Laura smiled kindly upon him, and said, 'Be ever thus humble in
+your opinion of your own merits, ever thus partial in your estimate of
+mine, and then,' added she, the tears trembling in her lovely eyes, 'we
+shall meet again in happier circumstances.' 'You must not, shall not
+leave me thus,' cried Hargrave impatiently, 'I will not quit this spot,
+till you have consented to see me again.' 'Do not ask it,' replied
+Laura. 'A long, long time must elapse, much virtuous exertion must be
+undergone, ere I dare receive you with other than this coldness, which
+appears to be so painful to you. Why then sport with your own feelings
+and with mine?' 'Ah Laura,' said Hargrave in a voice of supplication,
+'use me as you will, only suffer me to see you.' Moved with the
+imploring tone of her lover, Laura turned towards him that she might
+soften by her manner the meditated refusal; but, in an evil hour for her
+resolution, she met the fine eyes of Hargrave suffused with tears, and,
+wholly unable to utter what she intended, she remained silent. Hargrave
+was instantly sensible of his advantage, and willing to assist her
+acquiescence by putting his request into a less exceptionable form, he
+said, 'I ask not even for your notice, suffer me but to visit your
+father.' 'My father has been very ill,' returned Laura, who, unknown to
+herself, rejoiced to find an excuse for her concession, 'and it may give
+_him_ pleasure to see you; but I can claim no share in the honour of
+your visits.' Hargrave, delighted with his success, rapturously thanked
+her for her condescension; and springing from the carriage, led her, but
+half satisfied with her own conduct, into the house.
+
+She ushered him into the parlour, and before he had time to detain her,
+glided away to acquaint her father with his visit. She found the Captain
+wrapt in the same listless melancholy in which she had left him; the
+book which she had meant to entertain him, used only as a rest for his
+arm. Laura was now beset with her old difficulty. She had not yet learnt
+to speak of Hargrave without sensible confusion; and to utter his name
+while any eye was fixed upon her face, required an effort which no
+common circumstances could have tempted her to make. She therefore took
+refuge behind her father's chair, before she began her partial relation
+of her morning's adventure.
+
+'And is he now in the house,' cried Montreville, with an animation which
+he had long laid aside. 'I rejoice to hear it. Return to him
+immediately, my love. I will see him in a few minutes.' 'As soon as you
+choose to receive him,' said Laura; 'I shall carry your commands. I
+shall remain in the dressing-room.' 'For shame, Laura!' returned
+Montreville. 'I thought you had been above these silly airs of conquest.
+Colonel Hargrave's rejected passion gives you no right to refuse him the
+politeness due to all your father's guests.' 'Certainly not, Sir,
+but'--she stopped, hesitating--'however,' added she, 'since _you_ wish
+it, I will go.'
+
+It was not without embarrassment that Laura returned to her lover; to
+offer him another tête à tête seemed so like soliciting a renewal of his
+ardours. In this idea she was stopping at the parlour door, collecting
+her courage, and meditating a speech decorously repulsive, when
+Hargrave, who had been listening for her approach, impatiently stepped
+out to look for her, and in a moment spoiled all her concerted oratory,
+by taking her hand and leading her into the room.
+
+Though Hargrave could at any time take Laura's feelings by surprise, an
+instant was sufficient to restore her self-possession; and withdrawing
+her hand, she said, 'In a few minutes, Sir, my father will be glad to
+see you, and at his desire I attend you till he can have that honour.'
+'Bless him for the delay!' cried Hargrave, 'I have a thousand things to
+say to you.' 'And I, Sir,' said Laura, solemnly, 'have one thing to say
+to you, of more importance to me, probably, than all the thousand.'
+
+Hargrave bit his lip; and Laura proceeded, her colour, as painful
+recollection rose, fading from the crimson that had newly flushed it, to
+the paleness of anguish. 'Six months ago,' said she, speaking with an
+effort that rendered her words scarcely articulate--'Six months ago you
+made me a promise. Judge of my anxiety that you should keep it, when to
+secure its fulfilment I can call up a subject so revolting--so
+dreadful.' She paused--a cold shudder running through her limbs: but
+Hargrave, abashed and disconcerted, gave her no interruption, and
+ventured not even to raise his eyes from the ground. 'My father,' she
+continued, 'is no longer able to avenge his child;--the bare mention of
+her wrongs would destroy him. If then you value my peace--if you dread
+my detestation--let no circumstance seduce, no accident surprise from
+you this hateful secret.'
+
+While she spoke, the blushes which had deserted her cheek were
+transferred to that of Hargrave; for though, to his own conscience, he
+had palliated his former outrage till it appeared a very venial
+trespass, he was not proof against the unaffected horror with which it
+had inspired the virtuous Laura. Throwing himself at her feet, and
+hiding his face in her gown, he bitterly, and for the moment sincerely,
+bewailed his offence, and vowed to devote his life to its expiation.
+Then, starting up, he struck his hand wildly upon his forehead, and
+exclaimed, 'Madman that I have been! Oh, Laura, thy heavenly purity
+makes me the veriest wretch. No--thou canst never pardon me!'
+
+The innocent Laura, who little suspected all his causes of
+self-reproach, wept tears of joy over his repentance, and, in a voice
+full of tenderness, said, 'Indeed I have myself too many faults to be
+unrelenting. Contrition and amendment are all that Heaven requires--why
+should I ask more?' Hargrave saw that she attributed all his agitation
+to remorse for his conduct towards herself; but the effects of her
+mistake were too delightful to suffer him to undeceive her; and
+perceiving at once that he had found the master-spring of all her
+tenderness, he overpowered her with such vows, protestations, and
+entreaties, that, before their conference was interrupted, he had,
+amidst tremors, blushes, and hesitation, which spoke a thousand times
+more than her words, wrung from her a confession that she felt a more
+than friendly interest in the issue of his probation.
+
+Indeed Montreville was in no haste to break in upon their dialogue. That
+any woman should have refused the hand of the handsome--the
+insinuating--the gallant Colonel Hargrave, had always appeared to him
+little less than miraculous. He had been told, that ladies sometimes
+rejected what they did not mean to relinquish; and though he could
+scarcely believe his daughter capable of such childish coquetry, he was
+not without faith in a maxim, which, it must be confessed, receives
+sanction from experience, namely, that in all cases of feminine
+obduracy, perseverance is an infallible recipé. This recipé, he had no
+doubt, was now to be tried upon Laura; and he fervently wished that it
+might be with success. Though he was too affectionate a father to form
+on this subject a wish at variance with his daughter's happiness, he had
+never been insensible to the desire of seeing her brow graced by a
+coronet. But now more important considerations made him truly anxious to
+consign her to the guardianship of a man of honour.
+
+The unfortunate transaction of the annuity would, in the event of his
+death, leave her utterly destitute. That event, he imagined, was fast
+approaching; and with many a bitter pang he remembered that he had
+neither friend nor relative with whom he could entrust his orphan child.
+His parents had long been dead; his only surviving brother, a
+fox-hunting squire of small fortune, shared his table and bed with a
+person who had stooped to these degrading honours from the more
+reputable situation of an innocent dairy-maid. With Lady Harriet's
+relations (for friends she had none), Montreville had never maintained
+any intercourse. They had affected to resent his intrusion into the
+family, and he had not been industrious to conciliate their favour.
+Except himself, therefore, Laura had no natural protector; and this
+circumstance made him tenfold more anxious that she should recal her
+decision in regard to Hargrave.
+
+He had no doubt that the present visit was intended for Laura; and he
+suffered as long a time to elapse before he claimed any share in it, as
+common politeness would allow. He had meant to receive the Colonel in
+his own apartment, but an inclination to observe the conduct of the
+lovers, induced him to make an effort to join them in the parlour, where
+he with pleasure discovered by the countenances of both, that their
+conversation had been mutually interesting. Hargrave instantly recovered
+himself, and paid his compliments with his accustomed grace; but Laura,
+by no means prepared to stand inspection, disappeared the moment her
+father entered the room.
+
+This was the first time that the gentlemen had met, since the day when
+Montreville had granted his fruitless sanction to the Colonel's suit.
+Delicacy prevented the father from touching upon the subject, and it was
+equally avoided by Hargrave, who had not yet determined in what light to
+represent his repulse. However, as it completely occupied the minds of
+both, the conversation, which turned on topics merely indifferent, was
+carried on with little spirit on either side, and was soon closed by
+Hargrave's taking leave, after begging permission to repeat his visit.
+
+Colonel Hargrave had promised to spend that evening with the most
+beautiful woman in London; but the unexpected rencounter of the
+morning, left him in no humour to fulfil his engagement. He had found
+his Laura,--his lovely, his innocent Laura,--the object of his only
+serious passion,--the only woman whose empire reached beyond his senses.
+He had found her cautious, reserved, severe; yet feeling, constant, and
+tender. He remembered the overwhelming joy which made her sink fainting
+on his bosom; called to mind her ill-suppressed tears--her smothered
+sighs--her unbidden blushes; and a thousand times assured himself that
+he was passionately beloved. He triumphed the more in the proofs of her
+affection, because they were not only involuntary but reluctant; and,
+seen through the flattering medium of gratified pride, her charms
+appeared more than ever enchanting. On these charms he had formerly
+suffered his imagination to dwell, till to appropriate them seemed to
+him almost the chief end of existence; and, though in absence his frenzy
+had a little intermitted, his interview with Laura roused it again to
+double violence.
+
+No passion of Hargrave's soul (and all his passions were of intense
+force), had ever known restraint, or control, or even delay of
+gratification, excepting only this, the strongest that had ever governed
+him. And must he now pine for eighteen lingering months, ere he attained
+the object of such ardent wishes? Must he submit, for a time that seemed
+endless, to the tyranny of this intolerable passion,--see the woman on
+whom he doated receive his protestations with distrust, and spite of her
+affection, shrink from his caresses with horror? No!--he vowed that if
+there were persuasion in man, or frailty in woman, he would shorten the
+period of his trial,--that he would employ for this purpose all the
+power which he possessed over Laura's heart, and, if that failed, that
+he would even have recourse to the authority of the father.
+
+But he had yet a stronger motive than the impetuosity of his passions
+for striving to obtain immediate possession of his treasure. He was
+conscious that there was a tale to tell, which, once known, (and it
+could not long be concealed), would shake his hopes to the foundation.
+But on this subject he could not now dwell without disgust, and he
+turned from it to the more inviting contemplation of Laura's beauty and
+Laura's love; and with his head and his heart, every nerve, every pulse
+full of Laura, he retired to pursue in his dreams, the fair visions that
+had occupied his waking thoughts.
+
+While he was thus wilfully surrendering himself to the dominion of his
+frenzy, Laura, the self-denied Laura, was endeavouring, though it must
+be owned without distinguished success, to silence the pleadings of a
+heart as warm, though better regulated, by attending to the humble
+duties of the hour.
+
+When she quitted Hargrave, she had retired to offer up her fervent
+thanks to Heaven, that he was become sensible of the enormity of his
+former conduct. Earnestly did she pray, that, though earth should never
+witness their union, they might be permitted together to join a nobler
+society--animated by yet purer love--bound by yet holier ties. She next
+reconsidered her own behaviour towards Hargrave; and, though vexed at
+the momentary desertion of her self-command, saw, upon the whole, little
+cause to reproach herself, since her weakness had been merely that of
+body, to which the will gave no consent. She resolved to be guardedly
+cautious in her future demeanour towards him; and since the issue of his
+probation was doubtful, since its close was at all events distant, to
+forfeit the enjoyment of her lover's company, rather than, by remaining
+in the room during his visits, appear to consider them as meant for
+herself.
+
+As soon as Hargrave was gone, Montreville returned to his chamber; and
+there Laura ordered his small but delicate repast to be served, excusing
+herself from partaking of it, by saying that she could dine more
+conveniently in the parlour. Having in the morning bestowed on the
+beggar the meagre fare that should have supplied her own wants, she
+employed the time of her father's meal, in the labour which was to
+purchase him another; pondering meanwhile on the probability that he
+would again enter on the discussion of Hargrave's pretensions. To this
+subject she felt unconquerable repugnance; and though she knew that it
+must at last be canvassed, and that she must at last assign a reason for
+her conduct, she would fain have put off the evil hour.
+
+She delayed her evening visit to her father, till he grew impatient for
+it, and sent for her to his apartment. The moment she entered the room,
+he began, as she had anticipated, to inquire into the particulars of her
+interview with Hargrave. The language of Laura's reply was not very
+perspicuous; the manner of it was more intelligible: and Montreville,
+instantly comprehended the nature of her conference with the Colonel.
+'He has then given you an opportunity of repairing your former
+rashness,' said Montreville, with eagerness,--'and your answer?'
+'Colonel Hargrave had his answer long ago, Sir', replied Laura,
+trembling at this exordium. Montreville sighed heavily, and, fixing his
+eyes mournfully upon her, remained silent. At last, affectionately
+taking her hand, he said, 'My dear child, the time has been, when even
+your caprices on this subject were sacred with your father. While I had
+a shelter, however humble--an independence, however small, to offer you,
+your bare inclination determined mine. But now your situation is
+changed--fatally changed; and no trivial reasons would excuse me for
+permitting your rejection of an alliance so unexceptionable, so
+splendid. Tell me, then, explicitly, what are your objections to Colonel
+Hargrave?'
+
+Laura remained silent, for she knew not how to frame her reply. 'Is it
+possible that he can be personally disagreeable to you?' continued
+Montreville. 'Disagreeable!' exclaimed Laura, thrown off her guard by
+astonishment. 'Colonel Hargrave is one whom any woman might--whom no
+woman could know without--' 'Without what?' said Montreville, with a
+delighted smile. But Laura, shocked at the extent of her own admission,
+covered her face with her hands, and almost in tears, made no reply.
+
+'Well, my love,' said Montreville, more cheerfully than he had spoken
+for many a day. 'I can interpret all this, and will not persecute you.
+But you must still suffer me to ask what strange reasons could induce
+you to reject wealth and title, offered by a man not absolutely
+_disagreeable_?' Laura strove to recollect herself, and deep crimson
+dying her beautiful face and neck, she said without venturing to lift
+her eyes, 'You yourself have told me, Sir, that Colonel Hargrave is a
+man of gallantry, and, believe me, with such a man I should be most
+miserable.'
+
+'Come, come, Laura,' said Montreville, putting his arm around her,
+'confess, that some little fit of jealousy made you answer Hargrave
+unkindly at first, and that now a little female pride, or the obstinacy
+of which we used to accuse you fifteen years ago, makes you unwilling to
+retract.'
+
+'No, indeed,' returned Laura, with emotion, 'Colonel Hargrave has never
+given me cause to be jealous of his affection. But jealousy would feebly
+express the anguish with which his wife would behold his vices,
+degrading him in the eyes of men, and making him vile in the sight of
+Heaven.'
+
+'My love,' said Montreville, 'your simplicity and ignorance of the world
+make you attach far too great importance to Hargrave's little
+irregularities. I am persuaded that a wife whom he loved would have no
+cause to complain of them.'
+
+'She would at least have no _right_ to complain,' returned Laura, 'if,
+knowing them, she chose to make the hazardous experiment.'
+
+'But I am certain,' said Montreville, 'that a passion such as he
+evidently feels for you, would ensure his perfect reformation; and that
+a heart so warm as Hargrave's, would readily acknowledge all the claims
+upon a husband's and a father's love.'
+
+Laura held down her head, and, for a moment, surrendered her fancy to
+prospects, rainbow-like, bright but unreal. Spite of the dictates of
+sober sense, the vision was cheering; and a smile dimpled her cheek
+while she said, 'But since this reformation is so easy and so certain,
+would it be a grievous delay to wait for its appearance.'
+
+'Ah Laura!' Montreville began, 'this is no time for--' 'Nay, now,'
+interrupted Laura, sportively laying her hand upon his mouth,
+'positively I will be no more lectured tonight. Besides I have got a new
+book for you from the library, and the people insisted upon having it
+returned to-morrow.' 'You are a spoiled girl,' said Montreville, fondly
+caressing her, and he dropped the subject with the less reluctance,
+because he believed that his wishes, aided as he perceived they were, by
+an advocate in Laura's own breast, were in a fair train for
+accomplishment. He little knew how feeble was the influence of
+inclination over the decisions of her self-controlling spirit.
+
+To prevent him from returning to the topic he had quitted, she read
+aloud to him till his hour of rest; and then retired to her chamber to
+labour as formerly, till the morning was far advanced.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Laura had it now in her power to discharge her debt to the surgeon, and
+she was resolved that it should immediately be paid. When, therefore, he
+called in the morning to make his daily visit, she met him before he
+entered Montreville's chamber, and requested to speak with him in the
+parlour.
+
+She began by saying, she feared that medicine could be of little use to
+her father, to which Dr Flint readily assented, declaring, in his dry
+way, that generous food and open air would benefit him more than all the
+drugs in London. Laura begged him to say explicitly so to the Captain,
+and to give that as a reason for declining to make him any more
+professional visits. She then presented him a paper containing four
+guineas, which she thought might be the amount of his claim. He took the
+paper, and deliberately unfolding it, returned one-half of its contents;
+saying, that his account had been settled so lately, that the new one
+could not amount to more than the sum he retained. Laura, who having now
+no favour to beg, no debt that she was unable to pay, was no longer
+ashamed of her poverty, easily opened to Dr Flint so much of her
+situation as was necessary to instruct him in the part he had to act
+with Montreville. He made no offer to continue his visits, even as an
+acquaintance, but readily undertook all that Laura required of him,
+adding, 'Indeed, Miss Montreville, I should have told your father long
+ago that physic was useless to him, but whimsical people must have
+something to amuse them, and if he had not paid for my pills, he would
+for some other man's.' He then went to Montreville, and finding him in
+better spirits than he had lately enjoyed, actually succeeded in
+persuading him, for that day at least, that no new prescription was
+necessary, and that he could continue to use the old without the
+inspection of a surgeon.
+
+Laura's mind was much relieved by her having settled this affair to her
+wish; and when the Doctor was gone, she sat down cheerfully to her
+drawing. Her meeting with Hargrave had lightened her heart of a load
+which had long weighed upon it more heavily than she was willing to
+allow; and, spite of poverty, she was cheerful. 'I have now only hunger
+and toil to endure,' thought she, smiling as gaily as if hunger and toil
+had been trifles; 'but light will be my labours, for by them I can in
+part pay back my debt of life to my dear kind father. I am no more
+forlorn and deserted, for he is come who is sunshine to Laura's soul.
+The cloud that darkened him has passed away, and he will brighten all my
+after life. Oh fondly beloved! with thee I would have been content to
+tread the humblest path; but, if we must climb the steeps, together we
+will court the breeze, together meet the storm. No time shall change the
+love I bear thee. Thy step, when feeble with age, shall still be music
+to Laura's ear. When the lustre of the melting eyes is quenched, when
+the auburn ringlet fades to silver, dearer shalt thou be to me than in
+all the pride of manly beauty. And when at last the dust shall cover us,
+one tree shall shelter our narrow beds, and the wind that fans the
+flowers upon thy grave, shall scatter their fallen leaves upon mine.'
+
+Casting these thoughts into the wild extempore measures which are
+familiar to the labourers of her native mountains,[A] Laura was singing
+them to one of the affecting melodies of her country, her sweet voice
+made more sweet by the magic of real tenderness, when the door opened,
+and Hargrave himself entered.
+
+ [A] See Jamieson's Popular Ballads, Vol. ii, p. 558.
+
+He came, resolved to exert all his influence, to urge every plea which
+the affection of Laura would allow him, in order to extort her consent
+to their immediate union; and he was too well convinced of his power to
+be very diffident of success. Laura ceased her song in as much confusion
+as if her visitor had understood the language in which it was composed,
+or could have known himself to be the subject of it. He had been
+listening to its close, and now urged her to continue it, but was unable
+to prevail. He knew that she was particularly sensible to the charms of
+music. He had often witnessed the effect of her own pathetic voice upon
+her feelings; and he judged that no introduction could be more proper to
+a conference in which he intended to work on her sensibility. He
+therefore begged her to sing a little plaintive air with which she had
+often drawn tears from his eyes. But Laura knew that, as her father was
+still in bed, she could not without rudeness avoid a long tête à tête
+with Hargrave, and therefore she did not choose to put her composure to
+any unnecessary test. She excused herself from complying with his
+request, but glad to find any indifferent way to pass the time, she
+offered to sing, if he would allow her to choose her own song, and then
+began a lively air, which she executed with all the vivacity that she
+could command. The style of it was quite at variance with Hargrave's
+present humour and design. He heard it with impatience; and scarcely
+thanking her said, 'Your spirits are high this morning, Miss
+Montreville.'
+
+'They are indeed,' replied Laura, gaily, 'I hope you have no intention
+to make them otherwise.'
+
+'Certainly not; though they are little in unison with my own. The
+meditations of a restless, miserable night, have brought me to you.'
+
+'Is it the usual effect of a restless night to bring you abroad so early
+the next morning?' said Laura, anxious to avoid a trial of strength in a
+sentimental conference.
+
+'I will be heard seriously,' said Hargrave, colouring with anger, 'and
+seriously too I must be answered.'
+
+'Nay,' said Laura, 'if you look so tremendous I shall retreat without
+hearing you at all.'
+
+Hargrave, who instantly saw that he had not chosen the right road to
+victory, checked his rising choler--'Laura,' said he, 'you have yourself
+made me the victim of a passion ungovernable--irresistible; and it is
+cruel--it is ungenerous in you to sport with my uneasiness.'
+
+'Do not give the poor passion such hard names,' said Laura, smiling.
+'Perhaps you have never tried to resist or govern it.'
+
+'As soon might I govern the wind,' cried Hargrave, vehemently,--'as soon
+resist the fires of Heaven. And why attempt to govern it?'
+
+'Because,' answered Laura, 'it is weak, it is sinful, to submit
+unresisting to the bondage of an imperious passion.'
+
+'Would that you too would submit unresisting to its bondage!' said
+Hargrave, delighted to have made her once more serious. 'But if this
+passion is sinful,' continued he, 'my reformation rests with you alone.
+Put a period to my lingering trial. Consent to be mine, and hush all
+these tumults to rest.'
+
+'Take care how you furnish me with arguments against yourself,' returned
+Laura, laughing. 'Would it be my interest, think you, to lull all these
+transports to such profound repose?'
+
+'Be serious Laura, I implore you. Well do you know that my love can end
+only with my existence, but I should no longer be distracted with these
+tumultuous hopes and fears if--' 'Oh,' cried Laura, interrupting him,
+'hope is too pleasing a companion for you to wish to part with that;
+and,' added she, a smile and a blush contending upon her cheek, 'I begin
+to believe that your fears are not very troublesome.' 'Ah Laura,' said
+Hargrave sorrowfully, 'you know not what you say. There are moments when
+I feel as if you were already lost to me--and the bare thought is
+distraction. Oh if you have pity for real suffering,' continued he,
+dropping on his knees, 'save me from the dread of losing you; forget the
+hour of madness in which I offended you. Restore to me the time when you
+owned that I was dear to you. Be yet more generous, and give me
+immediate, unalienable right to your love.'
+
+'You forget, Colonel Hargrave,' said Laura, again taking sanctuary in an
+appearance of coldness; 'you forget that six months ago I fixed two
+years of rectitude as the test of your repentance, and that you were
+then satisfied with my decision.'
+
+'I would then have blessed you for any sentence that left me a hope,
+however distant; but now the time when I may claim your promise seems at
+such a hopeless distance--Oh Laura, let me but prevail with you; and I
+will bind myself by the most solemn oaths to a life of unsullied
+purity.'
+
+'No oaths,' replied Laura with solemnity, 'can strengthen the ties that
+already bind you to a life of purity. That you are of noble rank, calls
+you to be an example to others; and the yet higher distinction of an
+immortal spirit bids you strive after virtues that may never meet the
+eye of man. Only convince me that such are the objects of your ambition,
+and I shall no longer fear to trust with you my improvement and my
+happiness.'
+
+As she spoke unusual animation sparkled in her eyes, and tinged her
+delicate cheek with brighter colouring. 'Lovely, lovely creature!' cried
+Hargrave, in transport, 'give but thyself to these fond arms, and may
+Heaven forsake me if I strive not to make thee blest beyond the sweetest
+dreams of youthful fancy.'
+
+'Alas!' said Laura, 'even your affection would fail to bless a heart
+conscious of acting wrong.'
+
+'Where is the wrong,' said Hargrave, gathering hope from the relenting
+tenderness of her voice, 'Where is the wrong of yielding to the
+strongest impulse of nature--or, to speak in language more like your
+own, where is the guilt of submitting to an ordinance of Heaven's own
+appointment?'
+
+'Why,' replied Laura, 'will you force me to say what seems unkind? Why
+compel me to remind you that marriage was never meant to sanction the
+unholy connection of those whose principles are discordant?'
+
+'Beloved of my heart,' said Hargrave, passionately kissing her hand,
+'take me to thyself, and mould me as thou wilt. I swear to thee that not
+even thine own life shall be more pure, more innocent than mine. Blest
+in thy love, what meaner pleasure could allure me. Oh yield then, and
+bind me for ever to virtue and to thee.'
+
+Laura shook her head. 'Ah Hargrave,' said she, with a heavy sigh,
+'before you can love and practice the purity which reaches the heart,
+far other loves must warm, far other motives inspire you.'
+
+'No other love can ever have such power over me,' said Hargrave with
+energy. 'Be but thou and thy matchless beauty the prize, and every
+difficulty is light, every sacrifice trivial.'
+
+'In little more than a year,' said Laura, 'I shall perhaps ask some
+proofs of the influence you ascribe to me; but till then'--
+
+'Long, long before that time,' cried Hargrave, striking his forehead in
+agony, 'you will be lost to me for ever,' and he paced the room in
+seeming despair. Laura looked at him with a pity not unmixed with
+surprise. 'Hear me for a moment,' said she, with the soothing voice and
+gentle aspect, which had always the mastery of Hargrave's feelings, and
+he was instantly at her side, listening with eagerness to every tone
+that she uttered, intent on every variation of her countenance.
+
+'There are circumstances,' she continued, her transparent cheek glowing
+with bright beauty, tears in her downcast eyes trembling through the
+silken lashes--'There are circumstances that may change me, but time and
+absence are not of the number. Be but true to yourself, and you have
+nothing to fear. After this assurance, I trust it will give you little
+pain to hear that, till the stipulated two years are ended, if we are to
+meet, it must not be without witnesses.'
+
+'Good Heavens! Laura, why this new, this intolerable restriction--What
+can induce you thus wilfully to torment me?'
+
+'Because,' answered the blushing Laura, with all her natural simplicity,
+'because I might not always be able to listen to reason and duty rather
+than to you.'
+
+'Oh that I could fill thee with a love that should for ever silence the
+cold voice of reason!' cried Hargrave, transported by her confession;
+and, no longer master of himself, he would have clasped her in his arms.
+But Laura, to whose mind his caresses ever recalled a dark page in her
+story, recoiled as from pollution, the glow of ingenuous modesty giving
+place to the paleness of terror.
+
+No words envenomed with the bitterest malice, could have stung Hargrave
+to such frenzy as the look and the shudder with which Laura drew back
+from his embrace. His eyes flashing fire, his pale lips quivering with
+passion, he reproached her with perfidy and deceit; accused her of
+veiling her real aversion under the mask of prudence and principle; and
+execrated his own folly in submitting so long to be the sport of a
+cold-hearted, tyrannical, obdurate woman. Laura stood for some minutes
+gazing on him with calm compassion. But displeased at his groundless
+accusations, she disdained to soothe his rage. At last, wearied of
+language which, for the present, expressed much more of hatred than of
+love, she quietly moved towards the door. 'I see you can be very calm,
+Madam,' said Hargrave, stopping her, 'and I can be as calm as yourself,'
+added he, with a smile like a moon-beam on a thunder cloud, making the
+gloom more fearful.
+
+'I hope you soon will be so,' replied Laura coldly. 'I am so now,' said
+Hargrave, his voice half-choked with the effort to suppress his passion.
+'I will but stay to take leave of your father, and then free you for
+ever from one so odious to you.'
+
+'That must be as you please, Sir,' said Laura, with spirit; 'but, for
+the present, I must be excused from attending you.' She then retired to
+her own chamber, which immediately adjoined the painting-room; and with
+tears reflected on the faint prospects of happiness that remained for
+the wife of a man whose passions were so ungovernable. Even the ardour
+of his love, for which vanity would have found ready excuse in many a
+female breast, was to Laura subject of unfeigned regret, as excluding
+him from the dominion of better motives, and the pursuit of nobler ends.
+
+Hargrave was no sooner left to himself than his fury began to evaporate.
+In a few minutes he was perfectly collected, and the first act of his
+returning reason was to upbraid him with his treatment of Laura. 'Is it
+to be wondered that she shrinks from me,' said he, the tears of
+self-reproach rising to his eyes, 'when I make her the sport of all my
+frantic passions? But she shall never again have cause to complain of
+me--let but her love this once excuse me, and henceforth I will treat
+her with gentleness like her own.'
+
+There is no time in the life of a man so tedious, as that which passes
+between the resolution to repair a wrong, and the opportunity to make
+the reparation. Hargrave wondered whether Laura would return to conduct
+him to her father; feared that she would not--hoped that she
+would--thought he heard her footstep--listened--sighed--and tried to
+beguile the time by turning over her drawings.
+
+Almost the first that met his eye, was a sketch of features well known
+to him. He started and turned pale. He sought for a name upon the
+reverse; there was none, and he again breathed more freely. 'This must
+be accident,' said he; 'De Courcy is far from London--yet it is very
+like;' and he longed more than ever for Laura's appearance. He sought
+refuge from his impatience in a book which lay upon the table. It was
+the Pleasures of Hope, and marked in many parts of the margins with a
+pencil. One of the passages so marked was that which begins,
+
+    'Thy pencil traces on the lover's thought
+    'Some cottage home, from towns and toil remote,
+    'Where love and lore may claim alternate hours,' &c.
+
+And Hargrave surrendered himself to the pleasing dream that Laura had
+thought of him, while she approved the lines. 'Her name, written by her
+own snowy fingers, may be here,' said he, and he turned to the
+title-page, that he might press it, with a lover's folly, to his
+lips--The title-page was inscribed with the name of Montague De Courcy.
+
+The glance of the basilisk was not more powerful. Motionless he gazed on
+the words, till all the fiends of jealousy taking possession of his
+soul, he furiously dashed the book upon the ground 'False, false siren,'
+he cried, 'is this the cause of all your coldness--your loathing?' And
+without any wish but to exclude her for ever from his sight, he rushed
+like a madman out of the house.
+
+He darted forward, regardless of the snow that was falling on his
+uncovered head, till it suddenly occurred to him that he would not
+suffer her to triumph in the belief of having deceived him. 'No,' cried
+he, 'I will once more see that deceitful face; reproach her with her
+treachery; enjoy her confusion, and then spurn her from me for ever.'
+
+He returned precipitately to the house; and, flying up stairs, saw
+Laura, the traces of melancholy reflection on her countenance, waiting
+for admission at her father's door. 'Madam', said he, in a voice
+scarcely articulate, 'I must speak with you for a few minutes.' 'Not for
+a moment, Sir,' said Laura, laying her hand upon the lock. 'Yes, by
+Heaven, you shall hear me,' cried Hargrave; and rudely seizing her, he
+forced her into the painting-room, and bolted the door.
+
+'Answer me,' said he fiercely, 'how came that book into your
+possession?' pointing to it as it still lay upon the floor. 'When have
+you this infernal likeness? Speak!'
+
+Laura looked at the drawing, then at the book, and at once understood
+the cause of her lover's frenzy. Sincere compassion filled her heart;
+yet she felt how unjust was the treatment which she received; and, with
+calm dignity, said, 'I will answer all your questions, and then you will
+judge whether you have deserved that I should do so.'
+
+'Whom would not that face deceive?' said Hargrave, gnashing his teeth in
+agony. 'Speak sorceress--tell me, if you dare, that this is not the
+portrait of De Courcy--that he is not the lover for whom I am loathed
+and spurned.'
+
+'That is the portrait of De Courcy,' replied Laura, with the simple
+majesty of truth. 'It is the sketch from which I finished a picture for
+his sister. That book too is his,' and she stooped to lift it from the
+ground. 'Touch not the vile thing,' cried Hargrave in a voice of
+thunder. With quiet self-possession, Laura continued, 'Mr De Courcy's
+father was, as you know, the friend of mine. Mr De Courcy himself was,
+when an infant, known to my father; and they met, providentially met,
+when we had great need of a considerate friend. That friend Mr De Courcy
+was to us, and no selfish motive sullied his benevolence; for he is not,
+nor ever was, nor, I trust, ever will be, known to me as a lover!'
+
+The voice of sober truth had its effect upon Hargrave, and he said, more
+composedly, 'Will you then give me your word, that De Courcy is not, nor
+ever will be, dear to you?'
+
+'No!' answered Laura, 'I will not say so, for he must be loved wherever
+his virtues are known; but I have no regard for him that should disquiet
+you. It is not such,' continued she, struggling with the rising
+tears--'it is not such as would pardon outrage, and withstand neglect,
+and humble itself before unjust aspersion.'
+
+'Oh Laura,' said Hargrave, at once convinced and softened, 'I must
+believe you, or my heart will burst.'
+
+'I have a right to be believed,' returned Laura, endeavouring to rally
+her spirits. 'Now, then, release me, after convincing me that the
+passion of which you boast so much, is consistent with the most insolent
+disrespect, the most unfounded suspicion.' But Hargrave was again at her
+feet, exhausting every term of endearment, and breathing forth the most
+fervent petitions for forgiveness.
+
+Tears, which she could no longer suppress, now streamed down Laura's
+cheeks, while she said, 'How could you suspect me of the baseness of
+pretending a regard which I did not feel, of confirming engagements from
+which my affections revolted!' Hargrave, half wild with the sight of her
+tears, bitterly reproached himself with his injustice; vowed that he
+believed her all perfection; that, with all a woman's tenderness, she
+possessed the truth and purity of angels, and that, could she this once
+pardon his extravagance, he would never more offend. But Laura, vexed
+and ashamed of her weakness, insisted on her release in a tone that
+would be obeyed, and Hargrave, too much humbled to be daring,
+unwillingly suffered her to retire.
+
+In the faint hope of seeing her again, he waited till Montreville was
+ready to admit him; but Laura was not with her father, nor did she
+appear during the remainder of his visit. Desirous to know in what light
+she had represented their affair, in order that his statement might
+tally with hers, he again avoided the subject, resolving that next day
+he should be better prepared to enter upon it. With this view, he
+returned to Montreville's lodgings early in the next forenoon, hoping
+for an opportunity to consult with Laura before seeing her father. He
+was shewn into the parlour, which was vacant. He waited long, but Laura
+came not. He sent a message to beg that she would admit him, and was
+answered that she was sorry it was not in her power. He desired the
+messenger to say that his business was important, but was told that Miss
+Montreville was particularly engaged. However impatient, he was obliged
+to submit. He again saw Montreville without entering upon the subject so
+near his heart; and left the house without obtaining even a glimpse of
+Laura.
+
+The following day he was equally unsuccessful. He indeed saw Laura; but
+it was only in the presence of her father, and she gave him no
+opportunity of addressing her particularly. Finding that she adhered to
+the resolution she had expressed, of seeing him no more without
+witnesses, he wrote to her, warmly remonstrating against the barbarity
+of her determination, and beseeching her to depart from it, if only in a
+single instance. The billet received no answer, and Laura continued to
+act as before.
+
+Fretted almost to fever, Hargrave filled whole pages with the
+description of his uneasiness, and complaints of the cruelty which
+caused it. In conclusion, he assured Laura that he could no longer
+refrain from confiding his situation to her father; and entreated to see
+her, were it only to learn in what terms she would permit him to mention
+their engagement. This letter was rather more successful than the
+former; for, though Laura made no reply to the first part, she answered
+the close by a few cautious lines, leaving Hargrave, excepting in one
+point, at full liberty as to his communications with her father.
+
+Thus authorized, he seized the first opportunity of conversing with
+Montreville. He informed him that he had reason to believe himself not
+indifferent to Laura; but that, some of his little irregularities coming
+to her knowledge, she had sentenced him to a probation which was yet to
+continue for above a year. Though Hargrave guarded his words so as to
+avoid direct falsehood, the conscious crimson rose to his face as he
+uttered this subterfuge. But he took instant refuge in the idea that he
+had no choice left; and that, if there was any blame, it in fact
+belonged to Laura, for forcing him to use concealment. He did yet more.
+He erected his head, and planted his foot more firmly, as he thought,
+that what he dared to do he dared to justify, were he not proud to yield
+to the commands of love, and humanely inclined to spare the feelings of
+a sick man. He proceeded to assure Montreville, that though he must
+plead guilty to a few youthful indiscretions, Laura might rely upon his
+constancy and fidelity. Finally, addressing himself to what he conceived
+to be the predominant failing of age, he offered to leave the grand
+affair of settlements to Montreville's own decision; demanding only in
+return, that the father would use his interest, or even his authority,
+if necessary, to obtain his daughter's consent to an immediate union.
+
+Montreville answered, that he had long desisted from the use of
+authority with Laura, but that his influence was at the Colonel's
+service; and he added, with a smile, that he believed that neither would
+be very necessary.
+
+In consequence of this promise, Montreville sought an opportunity of
+conversing on this subject with his daughter; but she shewed such
+extreme reluctance to enter upon it, and avoided it with such sedulous
+care, that he could not immediately execute his design. He observed,
+too, that she looked ill, that she was pale and languid. Though she
+would not confess any ailment, he could not help fearing that all was
+not right; and he waited the appearance of recovered strength, ere he
+should enter on a topic which was never heard by her without strong
+emotion. But Laura looked daily more wretched. Her complexion became
+wan, her eyes sunk, and her lips colourless.
+
+Hargrave observed the change, and, half persuaded that it was the effect
+of his own capricious behaviour at their last interview, he became more
+anxious for a private conference, in which his tenderness might sooth
+her to forgetfulness of his errors. When she was quitting the room, he
+often followed her to the door, and entreated to be heard for a single
+moment. But the utmost he could obtain was a determined 'I cannot,' or a
+hasty 'I dare not,' and in an instant she had vanished.
+
+Indeed watching and abstinence, though the chief, were not the only
+causes of Laura's sickly aspect. Hargrave's violence had furnished her
+with new and painful subjects of meditation. While yet she thought him
+all perfection, he had often confessed to her the warmth of his temper,
+with a candour which convinced her (anxious as she was to be so
+convinced) that he was conscious of his natural tendency, and vigilantly
+guarded it from excess; consequently, that to the energy of the
+passionate he united the justice of the cool. She had never witnessed
+any instance of his violence; for since their first acquaintance, she
+had herself, at least while she was present, been his only passion. All
+things unconnected with it were trivial in his estimation; and till the
+hour which had roused her caution, she had unconsciously soothed this
+tyrant of his soul with perpetual incense, by proofs of her tenderness,
+which, though unobserved by others, were not lost upon the vanity of
+Hargrave. Successful love shedding a placid gentleness upon his really
+polished manners, he had, without intention to deceive, completely
+misled Laura's judgment of his character. Now he had turned her eyes
+from the vision, and compelled her to look upon the reality; and with
+many a bitter tear she lamented that ever she suffered her peace to
+depend upon an union which, even if accomplished, promised to compensate
+transient rapture with abiding disquiet.
+
+But still fondly attached, Laura took pleasure in persuading herself
+that a mere defect of temper was not such a fault as entitled her to
+withdraw her promise; and having made this concession, she soon
+proceeded to convince herself, that Hargrave's love would make ample
+amends for occasional suffering, however severe. Still she assured
+herself that if, at the stipulated time, he produced not proofs of real
+improvement, much more if that period were stained with actual vice, she
+would, whatever it might cost her, see him no more. She determined to
+let nothing move her to shorten his probation, nor to be satisfied
+without the strictest scrutiny into the manner in which it had been
+spent.
+
+Aware of the difficulty of withstanding the imploring voice, the
+pleading eyes of Hargrave, she would not venture into temptation for the
+mere chance of escape; and adhered to her resolution of affording him no
+opportunity to practise on her sensibility. Nor was this a slight
+exercise of self-denial, for no earthly pleasure could bring such joy to
+Laura's heart, as the assurance, however oft repeated, that she was
+beloved. Yet, day after day, she withstood his wishes, and her own; and
+generally spent the time of his visits in drawing.
+
+Meanwhile, her delicate face and slender form gave daily greater
+indications of malady. Montreville, utterly alarmed, insisted upon
+sending for medical advice; but Laura, with a vehemence most unusual to
+her, opposed this design, telling him, that if he persisted in it,
+vexation would cause the reality of the illness which at present was
+merely imaginary.
+
+The Captain was however the only member of the family who did not
+conjecture the true cause of Laura's decay. The servant who attended
+her, reported to her mistress, that the slender repast was always
+presented, untouched by Laura, to her father; that her drink was only
+water, her fare coarse and scanty; and that often, a few morsels of dry
+bread were the only sustenance of the day. Mrs Stubbs, who entertained a
+suitable contempt for poverty, was no sooner informed of these
+circumstances, than she recollected with indignation the awe with which
+Laura had involuntarily inspired her; and determined to withdraw part of
+her misplaced respect. But Laura had an air of command, a quiet majesty
+of demeanour, that seemed destined to distance vulgar impertinence; and
+Mrs Stubbs was compelled to continue her unwilling reverence.
+Determined, however, that though her pride might suffer, her interest
+should not, she dropped such hints as induced Laura to offer the payment
+of the lodgings a week in advance, an offer which was immediately
+accepted.
+
+In spite of Laura's utmost diligence, this arrangement left her almost
+pennyless. She was obliged, in that inclement season, to give up even
+the comfort of a fire; and more than once passed the whole night in
+labouring to supply the wants of the following day.
+
+In the meantime, Hargrave continued to pay his daily visits, and Laura
+to frustrate all his attempts to speak with her apart. His patience was
+entirely exhausted. He urged Montreville to the performance of his
+promise, and Montreville often approached the subject with his daughter,
+but she either evaded it, or begged with such pathetic earnestness to be
+spared a contest which she was unable to bear, that, when he looked on
+the sickly delicacy of her frame, he had not courage to persecute her
+further. Convinced, however, that Laura's affections were completely
+engaged, he became daily more anxious that she should not sacrifice them
+to what he considered as mistaken prudence; especially since Hargrave
+had dropped a hint, which, though not so intended, had appeared to
+Montreville to import, that his addresses, if rejected in the present
+instance, would not be renewed at the distant date to which Laura chose
+to postpone them.
+
+The father's constant anxiety for the health and happiness of his child
+powerfully affected both his strength and spirits; and he was soon more
+languid and feeble than ever. His imagination, too, betrayed increased
+symptoms of its former disease, and he became more persuaded that he was
+dying. The selfishness of a feeble mind attended his ailments, and he
+grew less tender of his daughter's feelings, less fearful to wound her
+sensibility. To hints of his apprehensions for his own life, succeeded
+direct intimations of his conviction that his end was approaching; and
+Laura listened, with every gradation of terror, to prophetic forebodings
+of the solitude, want, and temptation, to which she must soon be
+abandoned.
+
+Pressed by Hargrave's importunities, and weary of waiting for a
+voluntary change in Laura's conduct towards her lover, Montreville at
+last resolved that he would force the subject which she was so anxious
+to shun. For this purpose, detaining her one morning in his apartment,
+he entered on a melancholy description of the perils which await
+unprotected youth and beauty; and explicitly declared his conviction,
+that to these perils he must soon leave his child. Laura endeavoured, as
+she was wont, to brighten his dark imagination, and to revive his
+fainting hope. But Montreville would now neither suffer her to enliven
+her prospects, nor to divert him from the contemplation of them. He
+persisted in giving way to his dismal anticipations, till, spite of her
+efforts, Laura's spirits failed her, and she could scarcely refrain from
+shedding tears.
+
+Montreville saw that she was affected; and fondly putting his arm round
+her, continued, 'Yet still, my sweet Laura, you, who have been the pride
+of my life, you can soften to me the bitterness of death. Let me but
+commit you to the affection of the man whom I know that you prefer, and
+my fears and wishes shall linger no more in this nether world.'
+
+'Oh Sir,' said Laura, 'I beseech, I implore you to spare me on this
+subject.' 'No!' answered Montreville, 'I have been silent too long. I
+have too long endangered your happiness, in the dread of giving you
+transient pain. I must recur to'--
+
+'My dear father,' interrupted Laura, 'I have already spoken to you on
+this subject--spoken to you with a freedom which I know not where I
+found courage to assume. I can only repeat the same sentiments; and
+indeed, indeed, unless you were yourself in my situation, you cannot
+imagine with what pain I repeat them.'
+
+'I would willingly respect your delicacy,' said Montreville, 'but this
+is no time for frivolous scruples. I must soon leave thee, child of my
+affections! My eyes must watch over thee no more; my ear must be closed
+to the voice of thy complaining. Oh then, give me the comfort to know
+that other love will console, other arms protect thee.'
+
+'Long, long,' cried Laura, clasping his neck, 'be your affection my
+joy--long be your arms my shelter. But alas! what love could console me
+under the sense of acting wrong--what could protect me from an avenging
+conscience?'
+
+'Laura, you carry your scruples too far. When I look on these wan cheeks
+and lustreless eyes, you cannot conceal from me that you are sacrificing
+to these scruples your own peace, as well as that of others.'
+
+'Ah Sir,' said Laura, who from mere despair of escape, gathered courage
+to pursue the subject, 'What peace can I hope to find in a connexion
+which reason and religion alike condemn?'
+
+'That these have from childhood been your guides, has ever been my joy
+and my pride,' returned Montreville. 'But in this instance you forge
+shackles for yourself, and then call them the restraints of reason and
+religion. It were absurd to argue on the reasonableness of preferring
+wealth and title, with the man of your choice, to a solitary struggle
+with poverty, or a humbling dependence upon strangers. And how, my dear
+girl, can any precept of religion be tortured into a restriction on the
+freedom of your choice?'
+
+'Pardon me, Sir, the law which I endeavour to make my guide is here full
+and explicit. In express terms it leaves me free to marry whom I will,
+but with this grand reservation, that I marry "only in the Lord." It
+cannot be thought that this limitation refers only to a careless assent
+to the truth of the Gospel, shedding no purifying influence on the heart
+and life. And can I hope for happiness in a wilful defiance of this
+restriction?'
+
+'If I could doubt,' said Montreville, avoiding a reply to what was
+unanswerable--'if I could doubt that a union with Colonel Hargrave would
+conduce to your happiness, never should I thus urge you. But I have no
+reason to believe that his religious principles are unsound, though the
+follies incident to his sex, and the frailty of human nature, may have
+prevailed against him.'
+
+'My dear Sir,' cried Laura impatiently, 'how can you employ such
+qualifying language to express--what my soul sickens at. How can my
+father urge his child to join to pollution this temple, (and she laid
+her hand emphatically on her breast) which my great master has offered
+to hallow as his own abode? No! the express command of Heaven forbids
+the sacrilege, for I cannot suppose that when man was forbidden to
+degrade himself by a union with vileness, the precept was meant to
+exclude the sex whose feebler passions afford less plea for yielding to
+their power.'
+
+'Whither does this enthusiasm hurry you?' said Montreville, in
+displeasure. 'Surely you will not call your marriage with Colonel
+Hargrave a union with vileness.' 'Yes,' returned Laura, all the glow of
+virtuous animation fading to the paleness of anguish, 'if his vices make
+him vile, I must call it so.'
+
+'Your language is much too free, Laura, as your notions are too rigid.
+Is it dutiful, think you, to use such expressions in regard to a
+connexion which your father approves? Will you call it virtue to sport
+with your own happiness, with the peace of a heart that doats upon
+you--with the comfort of your dying parent?'
+
+'Oh my father,' cried Laura, sinking on her knees, 'my spirit is already
+bowed to the earth--do not crush it with your displeasure. Rather
+support my feeble resolution, lest, knowing the right, I should not have
+power to choose it.'
+
+'My heart's treasure,' said Montreville, kissing the tears from her
+eyes, 'short ever is my displeasure with thee: for I know that though
+inexperience may mislead thy judgment, no pleasure can bribe, no fear
+betray thy inflexible rectitude. Go on then--convince me if thou canst,
+that thou art in the right to choose thy portion amidst self-denial, and
+obscurity, and dependence.'
+
+'Would that I were able to convince you,' returned Laura, 'and then you
+would no longer add to the difficulties of this fearful struggle. Tell
+me then, were Colonel Hargrave your son, and were I what I cannot name,
+could any passion excuse, any circumstances induce you to sanction the
+connexion for which you now plead?'
+
+'My dear love,' said Montreville, 'the cases are widely different. The
+world's opinion affixes just disgrace to the vices in your sex, which in
+ours it views with more indulgent eyes.' 'But I,' returned Laura, 'when
+I took upon me the honoured name of Christian, by that very act became
+bound that the opinion of the world should not regulate my principles,
+nor its customs guide my practice. Perhaps even the worst of my sex
+might plead that the voice of a tempter lured them to perdition; but
+what tongue can speak the vileness of that tempter!--Could I promise to
+_obey_ him who wilfully leads others to their ruin! Could I _honour_ him
+who deceives the heart that trusteth in him! Could I _love_ him who
+could look upon a fellow creature--once the image of the highest, now
+humbled below the brutes that perish--upon the heir of immortality,
+immortal only to misery, and who could, unmoved, unpitying, seek in the
+fallen wretch a minister of pleasure!--Love!' continued Laura,
+forgetting in the deformity of the hideous image that it was capable of
+individual application, 'words cannot express the energy of my
+abhorrence!'
+
+'Were Hargrave such--or to continue such'--said Montreville--'Hargrave!'
+cried Laura, almost with a shriek, 'Oh God forbid--And yet'--She covered
+her face with her hands, and cold drops stood on her forehead, as she
+remembered how just cause she had to dread that the portrait might be
+his.
+
+'Hargrave,' continued Montreville, 'is not an abandoned profligate,
+though he may not have escaped the follies usual to men of his rank; and
+he has promised, if you will be favourable to him, to live henceforward
+in irreproachable purity. Heaven forgives the sins that are forsaken,
+and will you be less lenient?'
+
+'Joyfully will I forgive,' replied Laura, 'when I am assured that they
+are indeed abhorred and forsaken'--'They are already forsaken,' said
+Montreville; 'it rests with you to confirm Hargrave in the right, by
+consenting to his wishes.'
+
+'I ask but the conviction which time alone can bring,' said Laura, 'and
+then'--
+
+'And how will you bear it, Laura, if, weary of your perverse delays,
+Hargrave should relinquish his suit? How would you bear to see the
+affections you have trifled with transferred to another?'
+
+'Better, far better,' answered Laura, 'than to watch the deepening of
+those shades of iniquity, that close at last into outer darkness: better
+than to see each guilty day advance and seal our eternal separation. To
+lose his affection,' continued she with a sickly smile, 'I would bear as
+I strive to bear my other burdens; and should they at last prove too
+heavy for me, they can but weigh me to the earth, where they and I must
+soon rest together.'
+
+'Talk not so, beloved child,' said Montreville, 'a long life is before
+you. All the joys that ambition, all the joys that love can offer, are
+within your power. A father invites, implores, I will not say commands,
+you to accept them. The man of your choice, to whom the proudest might
+aspire, whom the coldest of your sex might love, entreats you to confirm
+him in the ways of virtue. Consent then to this union, on which my heart
+is set, while yet it can be hallowed by the blessing of your dying
+father.'
+
+'Oh take pity on me,' Laura would have said, and 'league not with my
+weak heart to betray me,' but convulsive sobs were all that she could
+utter. 'You consent then,' said Montreville, choosing so to interpret
+her silence--'you have yielded to my entreaties, and made me the
+happiest of fathers.' 'No! no!' cried Laura, tossing her arms
+distractedly, 'I will do right though my heart should break. No, my
+father, my dear honoured father, for whom I would lay down my life, not
+even your entreaties shall prevail.'
+
+'Ungrateful child,' said Montreville; 'what could you have pleaded for,
+that your father would have refused--your father whom anxiety for your
+welfare has brought to the gates of the grave, whose last feeling shall
+be love to you, whose last words shall bless you.'
+
+'Oh most merciful, most gracious,' cried Laura, clasping her hands, and
+raising her eyes in resigned anguish, 'wilt thou suffer me to be tempted
+above what I am able to bear! Oh my dear father, if you have pity for
+misery unutterable, misery that cannot know relief, spare me now, and
+suffer me to think--if to think be yet possible.'
+
+'Hear me but for one moment more,' said Montreville, who from the
+violence of her emotion gathered hopes of success. 'Oh no! no!' cried
+Laura, 'I must leave you while yet I have the power to do right.' And,
+darting from his presence, she shut herself into her chamber. There,
+falling on her knees, she mingled bitter expressions of anguish, with
+fervent prayers for support, and piteous appeals for mercy.
+
+Becoming by degrees more composed, she endeavoured to fortify her
+resolution by every argument of reason and religion which had formerly
+guided her determination. She turned to the passages of Scripture which
+forbid the unequal yoke with the unbeliever; convinced that the
+prohibition applies no less to those whose lives are unchristian, than
+to those whose faith is unsound. She asked herself whether she was able
+to support those trials (the severest of all earthly ones,) which the
+wife of a libertine must undergo; and whether, in temptations which she
+voluntarily sought, and sorrows which she of choice encountered, she
+should be entitled to expect the divine support. 'Holy Father,' she
+cried, 'what peace can enter where thy blessing is withheld! and shall I
+dare to mock thee with a petition for that blessing on a union which
+thou has forbidden! May I not rather fear that this deliberate
+premeditated guilt may be the first step in a race of iniquity! May I
+not dread to share in the awful sentence of those who are joined to
+their idols, and be "let alone" to wander in the way that leadeth to
+destruction?'
+
+Yet, as oft as her father's entreaties rose to her recollection, joined
+with the image of Hargrave--of Hargrave beseeching, of Hargrave
+impassioned--Laura's resolution faltered; and half-desirous to deceive
+herself, she almost doubted of the virtue of that firmness that could
+withstand a parent's wish. But Laura was habitually suspicious of every
+opinion that favoured her inclinations, habitually aware of the
+deceitfulness of her own heart; and she did not, unquestioned, harbour
+for a moment the insidious thought that flattered her strongest wishes.
+'And had my father commended me to marry where I was averse,' said she,
+'would I then have hesitated? Would my father's command have prevailed
+on me then to undertake duties which I was unlikely to perform? No:
+there I would have resisted. There, authority greater than a father's
+would have empowered me to resist; and I know that I should have
+resisted even unto death. And shall mere inclination give more firmness
+than a sense of duty! Yet, Oh dear father, think me not unmindful of all
+your love--or forgetful of a debt that began with my being. For your
+sake cold and hunger shall be light to me--for you poverty and toil
+shall be pleasing. But what solitary sorrow could equal the pang with
+which I should blush before my children for the vices of their father!
+What is the wasting of famine to the mortal anguish of watching the
+declining love, the transferred desires, the growing depravity of my
+husband!'
+
+In thoughts and struggles like these, Laura passed the day alone.
+Montreville, though disappointed at his ill success with his daughter,
+was not without hope that a lover's prayers might prevail where a
+father's were ineffectual; and believing that the season of Laura's
+emotion was a favourable one for the attempt, he was anxious for the
+daily visit of Hargrave.
+
+But, for the first time since his meeting with Laura, Hargrave did not
+appear. In her present frame, Laura felt his absence almost a relief;
+but Montreville was uneasy and half alarmed. It was late in the evening
+when a violent knocking at the house door startled Montreville, who was
+alone in his apartment; and the next minute, without being announced,
+Hargrave burst into the room. His hair was dishevelled, his dress
+neglected, and his eyes had a wildness which Montreville had never
+before seen in them. Abruptly grasping Montreville's hand, he said, in a
+voice of one struggling for composure, 'Have you performed your
+promise--have you spoken with Laura?'
+
+'I have,' answered Montreville; 'and have urged her, till, had you seen
+her, you would yourself have owned that I went too far. But you look'--
+
+'Has she consented,' interrupted Hargrave--'will she give herself to
+me?'
+
+Montreville shook his head. 'Her affections are wholly yours,' said he,
+'you may yourself be more successful--I fervently wish that you may. But
+why this strange emotion? What has happened?'
+
+'Nothing, nothing,' said Hargrave, 'ask me no questions; but let me
+speak instantly with Laura.'
+
+'You shall see her,' returned Montreville, opening the door, and calling
+Laura, 'Only I beseech you to command yourself, for my poor child is
+already half distracted.' 'She is the fitter to converse with me,' said
+Hargrave, with a ghastly smile, 'for I am upon the very verge of
+madness.'
+
+Laura came at her father's summons; but when she saw Hargrave, the
+colour faded from her face, an universal tremour seized her, she
+stopped, and leaned on the door for support. 'Colonel Hargrave wishes to
+speak with you alone,' said Montreville, 'go with him to the parlour.'
+
+'I cannot,' answered Laura, in words scarcely audible--'this night I
+cannot.'
+
+'I command you to go,' said the father in a tone which he had seldom
+employed, and Laura instantly prepared to go. 'Surely, surely,' said
+she, 'Heaven will not leave me to my own weakness, whilst I act in
+obedience to you.'
+
+Perceiving that she trembled violently, Hargrave offered her the support
+of his circling arm; but Laura instantly disengaged herself. 'Will you
+not lean on me, dearest Laura,' said he; 'perhaps it is for the last
+time.'
+
+'I hope,' answered Laura, endeavouring to exert her spirit, 'it will be
+the last time that you will avail yourself of my father's authority to
+constrain me.'
+
+'Spare me your reproaches, Laura,' said Hargrave, 'for I am desperate.
+All that I desire on earth--my life itself depends upon this hour.'
+
+They entered the parlour, and Laura, sinking into a seat, covered her
+eyes with her hand, and strove to prepare for answering this new call
+upon her firmness.
+
+Hargrave stood silent for some moments. Fain would he have framed a
+resistless petition; for the events of that day had hastened the
+unravelling of a tale which, once known to Laura, would, he knew, make
+all his petitions vain. But his impatient spirit could not wait to
+conciliate; and, seizing her hand, he said, with breathless eagerness,
+'Laura, you once said that you loved me, and I believed you. Now to the
+proof--and if that fail--But I will not distract myself with the
+thought. You have allowed me a distant hope. Recall your sentence of
+delay. Circumstances which you cannot--must not know, leave you but one
+alternative. Be mine now, or you are for ever lost to me.'
+
+Astonished at his words, alarmed by the ill-suppressed vehemence of his
+manner, Laura tried to read his altered countenance, and feared she knew
+not what. 'Tell me what you mean?' said she. 'What mean these strange
+words--these wild looks. Why have you come at this late hour?'
+
+'Ask me nothing,' cried Hargrave, 'but decide. Speak. Will you be
+mine--now--to-morrow--within a few hours. Soon, very soon, it will be no
+longer possible for you to choose.'
+
+A hectic of resentment kindled in Laura's cheek at the threat of
+desertion which she imagined to lurk beneath the words of Hargrave. 'You
+have,' said she, 'I know not how, extended my conditional promise to
+receive you as a friend far beyond what the terms of it could warrant.
+In making even such an engagement, perhaps I condescended too far. But,
+admitting it in your own sense, what right have you to suppose that I
+am to be weakly terrified into renouncing a resolution formed on the
+best grounds?'
+
+'I have no right to expect it,' said Hargrave, in a voice of misery. 'I
+came to you in desperation. I cannot--will not survive the loss of you;
+and if I prevail not now, you must be lost to me.'
+
+'What means this strange, this presuming haste?' said Laura. 'Why do you
+seem thus wretched?'
+
+'I am, indeed, most wretched. Oh Laura, thus on my knees I conjure you
+to have pity on me;--or, if it will cost you a pang to lose me, have
+pity on yourself. And if thy love be too feeble to bend thy stubborn
+will, let a father's wishes, a father's prayers, come to its aid.'
+
+'Oh Hargrave,' cried Laura, bursting into tears, 'how have I deserved
+that you should lay on me this heavy load--that you should force me to
+resist the entreaties of my father.'
+
+'Do not--Oh do not resist them. Let a father's prayers--let the
+pleadings of a wretch whose reason, whose life depends upon you, prevail
+to move you.'
+
+'Nothing shall move me,' said Laura, with the firmness of despair, 'for
+I am used to misery, and will bear it.'
+
+'And will you bear it too if driven from virtuous love--from domestic
+joy, I turn to the bought smile of harlots, forget you in the haunts of
+riot, or in the grave of a suicide?'
+
+'Oh for mercy,' cried the terrified Laura, 'talk not so dreadfully. Be
+patient--I implore you. Fear not to lose me. Be but virtuous, and no
+power of man shall wrest me from you. In poverty--in sickness--in
+disgrace itself I will cleave to you.'
+
+'Oh, I believe it,' said Hargrave, moved even to woman's weakness, 'for
+thou art an angel. But wilt though cleave to me in--'
+
+'In what', said Laura.
+
+'Ask me nothing--but yield to my earnest entreaty. Save me from the
+horrors of losing you; and may Heaven forsake me if ever again I give
+you cause to repent of your pity.'
+
+Softened by his imploring looks and gestures, overpowered by his
+vehemence, harassed beyond her strength, Laura seemed almost expiring.
+But the upright spirit shared not the weakness of its frail abode.
+'Cease to importune me,' said she;--'everlasting were my cause of
+repentance, should I wilfully do wrong. You may break my heart--it is
+already broken, but my resolution is immoveable.'
+
+Fire flashed from the eyes of Hargrave; as, starting from her feet, he
+cried, in a voice of frenzy, 'Ungrateful woman, you have never loved
+me! You love nothing but the fancied virtue to which I am sacrificed.
+But tremble, obdurate, lest I dash from me this hated life, and my
+perdition be on your soul!'
+
+'Oh no,' cried Laura, in an agony of terror, 'I will pray for you--pity
+you,--what shall I say--love you as never man was loved. Would that it
+were possible to do more!'
+
+'Speak then your final rejection,' said Hargrave, grasping her hand with
+convulsive energy; 'and abide by the consequence.' 'I must not fear
+consequences,' said Laura, trembling in every limb. 'They are in the
+hands of Heaven.' 'Then be this first fond parting kiss our last!' cried
+Hargrave, and frantickly straining her to his breast, he rushed out of
+the room.
+
+Surprise, confusion, a thousand various feelings kept Laura for a while
+motionless; till, Hargrave's parting words ringing in her ears, a
+dreadful apprehension took possession of her mind. Starting from her
+seat, and following him with her arms as if she could still have
+detained him, 'Oh Hargrave, what mean you?' she cried. But Hargrave was
+already beyond the reach of her voice; and, sinking to the ground, the
+wretched Laura found refuge from her misery in long and deep
+insensibility.
+
+In the attitude in which she had fallen, her lily arms extended on the
+ground, her death-like cheek resting upon one of them, she was found by
+a servant who accidentally entered the room, and whose cries soon
+assembled the family. Montreville alarmed hastened down stairs, and came
+in just as the maid with the assistance of the landlady was raising
+Laura, to all appearance dead.
+
+'Merciful Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'what is this?' The unfeeling landlady
+immediately expressed her opinion that Miss Montreville had died of
+famine, declaring that she had long feared as much. The horror-struck
+father had scarcely power to ask her meaning. 'Oh Sir,' said the maid,
+sobbing aloud, 'I fear it is but too true--for she cared not for
+herself, so you were but well--for she was the sweetest lady that ever
+was born--and many a long night has she sat up toiling when the poorest
+creature was asleep--for she never cared for herself.'
+
+The whole truth flashed at once upon Montreville, and all the storm,
+from which his dutiful child so well had sheltered him, burst upon him
+in a moment. 'Oh Laura,' he cried, clasping her lifeless form, 'my only
+comfort--my good--my gentle--my blameless child, has thou nourished thy
+father with thy life! Oh why didst thou not let me die!' Then laying
+his cheek to hers, 'Oh she is cold--cold as clay,' he cried, and the old
+man wrung his hands, and sobbed like an infant.
+
+Suddenly he ceased his lamentation; and pressing his hands upon his
+breast, uttered a deep groan, and sunk down by the side of his senseless
+child. His alarm and agitation burst again the blood-vessel, which
+before had been slightly healed, and he was conveyed to bed without hope
+of life. A surgeon was immediately found, but he administered his
+prescription without expecting its success; and, departing, left the
+dying Montreville to the care of the landlady.
+
+The tender-hearted Fanny remained with Laura, and at last succeeded in
+restoring her to animation. She then persuaded her to swallow a little
+wine, and endeavoured to prevail upon her to retire to bed. But Laura
+refused. 'No, my kind, good girl,' said she, laying her arm gratefully
+on Fanny's shoulder. 'I must see my father before I sleep. I have
+thwarted his will today, and will not sleep without his blessing.' Fanny
+then besought her so earnestly not to go to the Captain's chamber, that
+Laura, filled as every thought was with Hargrave, took alarm, and would
+not be detained. The girl, dreading the consequences of the shock that
+awaited her, threw her arms round her to prevent her departure. 'Let me
+go,' cried Laura, struggling with her. 'He is ill; I am sure he is ill,
+or he would have come to watch and comfort his wretched child.'
+
+Fanny then, with all the gentleness in her power, informed Laura that
+Montreville, alarmed by the sight of her fainting, had been suddenly
+taken ill. Laura, in terror which effaced the remembrance of all her
+former anguish, scarcely suffered her attendant to finish her relation;
+but broke from her, and hurried as fast as her tottering limbs would
+bear her to her father's chamber.
+
+Softly, on tiptoe, she stole to his bed-side, and drew the curtain. His
+eyes were closed, and death seemed already stamped on every feature.
+Laura shuddered convulsively, and shrunk back in horror. But the dread
+of scaring the spirit from its frail tenement suppressed the cry that
+was rising to her lips. Trembling she laid her hand upon his. He looked
+up, and a gleam of joy brightened in his dying eyes as they rested on
+his daughter. 'Laura, my beloved,' said he, drawing her gently towards
+him, 'thou has been the joy of my life. I thank God that thou art spared
+to comfort me in death.'
+
+Laura tried to speak the words of hope; but the sounds died upon her
+lips.
+
+After a pause of dread silence, Montreville said, 'This is the hour when
+thy father was wont to bless thee. Come, and I will bless thee still.'
+
+The weeping Laura sank upon her knees, and Montreville laid one hand
+upon her hand, while she still held the other, as if wishing to detain
+him. 'My best--my last blessing be upon thee, child of my heart,' said
+he. 'The everlasting arms be around thee, when mine can embrace thee no
+more. The Father of the fatherless be a parent to thee; support thee in
+sorrow; crown thy youth with joy--thy gray hairs with honour; and, when
+thou art summoned to thy kindred angels, may thy heart throb its last on
+some breast kind and noble as thine own.'
+
+Exhausted by the effort which he had made, Montreville sunk back on his
+pillow; and Laura, in agony of supplication, besought Heaven to spare
+him to her. 'Father of mercies!' she inwardly ejaculated, 'if it be
+possible, save me, oh save me from this fearful stroke,--or take me in
+pity from this desolate wilderness to the rest of thy chosen.'
+
+The dead of night came on, and all but the wretched Laura was still.
+Montreville breathed softly. Laura thought he slept, and stifled even
+her sighs, lest they should wake him. In the stillness of the dead, but
+in agony of suspence that baffles description, she continued to kneel by
+his bed-side, and to return his relaxing grasp, till she felt a gentle
+pressure of her hand, and looked up to interpret the gesture. It was the
+last expression of a father's love. Montreville was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Colonel Hargrave had been the spoiled child of a weak mother, and he
+continued to retain one characteristic of spoiled children; some
+powerful stimulant was with him a necessary of life. He despised all
+pleasures of regular recurrence and moderate degree; and even looked
+down upon those who could be satisfied with such enjoyments, as on
+beings confined to a meaner mode of existence. For more than a year
+Laura had furnished the animating principle which kept life from
+stagnation. When she was present, her beauty, her reserve, her
+ill-concealed affection, kept his passions in constant play. In her
+absence, the interpretations of looks and gestures, of which she had
+been unconscious, and the anticipation of concessions which she thought
+not of making, furnished occupation for the many hours which, for want
+of literary habit, Colonel Hargrave was obliged to pass in solitude and
+leisure, when deprived of fashionable company, public amusements, and
+tolerable romances. In a little country town, these latter resources
+were soon exhausted, and Hargrave had no associates to supply the blank
+among his brother officers; some of whom were low both in birth and
+education, and others, from various reasons, rather repelling, than
+courting his intimacy. One had a pretty wife, another an unmarried
+daughter; and the phlegmatic temperament and reserved manners of a third
+tallied not with Hargrave's constitutional warmth. The departure of
+Laura, therefore, deprived him at once of the only society that amused,
+and the only object that interested him. He was prevented by the caution
+of Mrs Douglas from attempting a correspondence with his mistress; and
+his muse was exhausted with composing amatory sonnets, and straining
+half-imaginary torments into reluctant rhimes.
+
+He soon tired of making sentimental visits to the now deserted
+Glenalbert, and grew weary of inspecting his treasures of pilfered
+gloves and stray shoe-bows. His new system of reform, too, sat rather
+heavily upon him. He was not exactly satisfied with its extent, though
+he did not see in what respect he was susceptible of improvement. He had
+some suspicion that it was not entitled to the full approbation of the
+'wise, the pious, the sober-minded' observers, whom he imagined that
+Laura had charged with the inspection of his conduct; and he reflected,
+with a mixture of fear and impatience, that by them every action would
+be reported to Laura, with all the aggravation of illiberal comment. For
+though he did not distinctly define the idea to himself, he cherished a
+latent opinion, that the 'wise' would be narrow-minded, the 'pious'
+bigotted, and the 'sober-minded' cynical. The feeling of being watched
+is completely destructive of comfort, even to those who have least to
+conceal; and Colonel Hargrave sought relief at once from restraint and
+ennui, in exhibiting, at the Edinburgh races, four horses which were the
+envy of all the gentleman, and a person which was the admiration of all
+the ladies. His thoughts dissipated, and his vanity gratified, his
+passion had never, since its first existence, been so little troublesome
+as during his stay in Edinburgh; and once or twice, as he caught a
+languishing glance from a gay young heiress, he thought he had been a
+little precipitate in changing his first designs in regard to Laura. But
+alas! the races endure only for one short week; Edinburgh was deserted
+by its glittering birds of passage; and Hargrave returned to his
+quarters, to solitude, and to the conviction that, however obtained, the
+possession of Laura was necessary to his peace.
+
+Finding that her return was as uncertain as ever, he resolved to follow
+her to London; and the caution of Mrs Douglas baffling his attempts to
+procure her address from any other quarter, he contrived to obtain it by
+bribing one of the under attendants of the Post Office to transcribe for
+him the superscription of a letter to Miss Montreville. Delighted with
+his success, he could not refuse himself the triumph of making it known
+to Mrs Douglas; and, by calling to ask her commands for her young
+friend, occasioned the letter of caution from her to Laura, which has
+been formerly mentioned.
+
+The moment he reached London, he hastened to make inquiries after the
+abode of Captain Montreville; but his search was disappointed by the
+accidents which he afterwards related to Laura. Day after day, he hoped
+that Laura, by sending to Mr Baynard's chambers, would afford him the
+means of discovering her residence. But every day ended in
+disappointment; and Hargrave, who, intending to devote all his time to
+her, had given no intimation to his friends of his arrival in town,
+found himself as solitary, listless, and uncomfortable as before he
+quitted Scotland.
+
+One evening, when, to kill the time, he had sauntered into the Theatre,
+he renewed his acquaintance with the beautiful Lady Bellamer. Two years
+before, Hargrave had been the chief favourite of Lady Bellamer, then
+Miss Walpole. Of all the danglers whom beauty, coquetry, and fifty
+thousands pounds attracted to her train, none was admitted to such easy
+freedom as Hargrave. She laughed more heartily at his wit, whispered
+more familiarly in his ear, and slapped him more frequently on the cheek
+than any of his rivals. With no other man was she so unreasonable,
+troublesome, and ridiculous. In short, she ran through the whole routine
+of flirtation, till her heart was entangled, so far at least as the
+heart of a coquette is susceptible of that misfortune. But whatever
+flames were kindled in the lady's breast, the gentleman, as is usual on
+such occasions, escaped with a very slight tinge. While Miss Walpole was
+present, his vanity was soothed by her blandishments, and his senses
+touched by her charms; but, in her absence, he consoled himself with
+half a dozen other affairs of the same kind.
+
+Meanwhile Lord Bellamer entered the lists, and soon distinguished
+himself from his competitors, by a question, which, with all her
+admirers, Miss Walpole had not often answered. The lady hesitated; for
+she could not help contrasting the insignificant starvling figure of her
+suitor with the manly beauty of Hargrave's person. But Lord Bellamer had
+a title in possession; Hargrave's was only reversionary. His Lordship's
+estate, too, was larger than the Colonel's expectations. Besides, she
+began to have doubts whether her favourite ever intended to propose the
+important question; for though, to awaken his jealousy, she had herself
+informed him of Lord Bellamer's pretensions, and though she had played
+off the whole artillery of coquetry to quicken his operations, the young
+man maintained a resolute and successful resistance. So, after some
+fifty sighs given to the well turned leg and sparkling eyes of Hargrave,
+Miss Walpole became Lady Bellamer; and this was the only change which
+marriage effected in her; for no familiarity could increase her
+indifference to Lord Bellamer, and no sacredness of connection can warm
+the heart of a coquette. She continued equally assiduous in courting
+admiration, equally daring in defying censure; and was content to
+purchase the adulation of fools, at the expence of being obliged to the
+charity of those who were good-natured enough to say, 'to be sure Lady
+Bellamer is a little giddy, but I dare say she means no harm.'
+
+Her husband's departure with his regiment for the continent, made no
+change in her way of life, except to save her the trouble of defending
+conduct which she would not reform. She continued in London, or at her
+villa at Richmond Hill, to enter into every folly which others proposed,
+or herself to project new ones.
+
+Meanwhile Hargrave's duty called him to Scotland, where Lady Bellamer
+and all her rivals in his attention were entirely forgotten amidst the
+superior attractions of Laura; attractions which acted with all the
+force of novelty upon a heart accustomed to parry only premeditated
+attacks, and to resist charms that were merely corporeal. From an early
+date in his acquaintance with Miss Montreville, he had scarcely
+recollected the existence of Lady Bellamer, till he found himself in the
+next box to her at the theatre. The pleasure that sparkled in the
+brightest blue eyes in the world, the flush that tinged her face,
+wherever the rouge permitted its natural tints to appear, convinced
+Hargrave in a moment that her Ladyship's memory had been more tenacious;
+and he readily answered to her familiar nod of invitation, by taking his
+place at her side.
+
+They entered into conversation with all the frankness of their former
+intimacy. Lady Bellamer inquired how the Colonel had contrived to exist
+during eighteen months of rustication; and gave him in return memoirs of
+some of their mutual acquaintances. She had some wit, and an exuberance
+of animal spirits; and she seasoned her nonsense with such lively
+sallies, sly scandal, and adroit flattery, that Hargrave had scarcely
+ever passed an evening so gaily. Once or twice, the composed grace, the
+artless majesty of Laura, rose to his recollections, and he looked
+absent and thoughtful. But his companion rallied him with so much
+spirit, that he quickly recovered himself, and fully repaid the
+amusement which he received. He accepted Lady Bellamer's invitation to
+sup with her after the play, and left her at a late hour, with a promise
+to visit her again the next day. From that time, the freedom of their
+former intercourse was renewed; with this difference only, that Hargrave
+was released from some restraint, by his escape from the danger of
+entanglement which necessarily attends particular assiduities towards an
+unmarried woman.
+
+Let the fair enchantress tremble who approaches even in thought the
+utmost verge of discretion. If she advance but one jot beyond that magic
+circle, the evil spirit is ready to seize her, which before, feared even
+to rise in her presence. Lady Bellamer became the victim of unpardonable
+imprudence on her own part, and mere constitutional tendency on that of
+her paramour. To a most blameable levity she sacrificed whatever
+remained to be sacrificed, of her reputation, her virtue, and her
+marriage vow; while the crime of Hargrave was not palliated by one
+sentiment of genuine affection; for she by whom he fell was no more like
+the object of his real tenderness, than those wandering lights that
+arise from corruption and glimmer only to betray, are to the steady
+sunbeam which enlightens, and guides, and purifies where it shines.
+
+Their intercourse continued, with growing passion on the side of the
+lady, and expiring inclination on that of the gentleman, till Lady
+Bellamer informed him that the consequences of their guilt could not
+long be concealed. Her Lord was about to return to his disgraced home;
+and she called upon Hargrave to concert with her the means of exchanging
+shackles which she would no longer endure for bonds which she could bear
+with pleasure, and himself to stand forth the legal protector of his
+unborn child. Hargrave heard her with a disgust which he scarcely strove
+to conceal; for at that moment Laura stood before him, bewitching in
+chastened love--respectable in saintly purity. He remembered that the
+bare proposal of a degradation which Lady Bellamer had almost courted,
+had once nearly banished the spotless soul from a tenement only less
+pure than itself. In fancy he again saw through her casement the
+wringing of those snowy hands, those eyes raised in agony, and the
+convulsive heavings of that bosom which mourned his unlooked-for
+baseness; and he turned from Lady Bellamer, inwardly cursing the hour
+when his vows to Laura were sacrificed to a wanton.
+
+The very day after this interview was that in which he accidentally
+encountered Laura; and from that moment his whole desire was to make her
+his own, before public report should acquaint her with his guilt. He
+durst not trust to the strength of her affection for the pardon of so
+foul an offence. He could not hope that she would again place confidence
+in vows of reformation which had been so grossly violated. When the
+proper self-distrust of Laura refused him the opportunity of making a
+personal appeal to her sensibilities, he hoped that her father might
+successfully plead his cause; and that before his guilt was known to
+her, he might have made it at once her interest and her duty to forget
+it. But the storm was about to burst even more speedily than he
+apprehended. Lady Bellamer little suspected that her conduct was watched
+with all the malice of jealousy, and all the eagerness of interest. She
+little suspected that her confidential servant was the spy of her
+injured husband, bound to fidelity in this task by ties as disgraceful
+as they were strong, and that this woman waited only for legal proof of
+her mistress's guilt, to lay the particulars before her lord. That proof
+was now obtained; and Lord Bellamer hastened to avail himself of it. He
+arrived in London on the morning of the last day of Montreville's life;
+and, charging his guilty wife with her perfidy, expelled her from his
+house.
+
+She flew to Hargrave's lodgings, and found him preparing for his daily
+visit to Laura. Though provoked at being delayed, he was obliged to stay
+and listen to her, while she hastily related the events of the morning.
+She was about to speak of her conviction, that, by making her his wife,
+he would shield her from the world's scorn, and that he would not, by
+any legal defence, retard her emancipation. But Hargrave suffered her
+not to proceed. He perceived that his adventure must now be public. It
+must immediately find its way into the public prints; and in a few hours
+it might be in the hands of Laura. He bitterly upbraided Lady Bellamer
+with her want of caution in the concealment of their amour; cursed her
+folly as the ruin of all his dearest hopes; and, in the frenzy of his
+rage, scrupled not to reveal the cutting secret, that while another was
+the true object of his affections, Lady Bellamer had sacrificed her all
+to an inclination as transient as it was vile. The wretched creature,
+terrified at his rage, weakened by her situation, overcome by the events
+of the morning, and stung by a reception so opposite to her
+expectations, sunk at his feet in violent hysterics. But Hargrave could
+at that moment feel for no miseries but his own; and consigning her to
+the care of the woman of the house, he was again about to hasten to
+Montreville's, when he was told that a gentleman wished to speak with
+him upon particular business.
+
+This person was the bearer of a note from Lord Bellamer, importing that
+he desired to meet Colonel Hargrave on that or the following day, at any
+hour and place which the Colonel might appoint. After the injuries given
+and received, their meeting, he said, could have but one object.
+Hargrave, in no humour to delay, instantly replied that in three hours
+he should be found in a solitary field, which he named, at a few miles
+distant from town, and that he should bring with him a friend and a
+brace of pistols. He then went in search of this friend, and finding him
+at home, the business was speedily settled.
+
+Nothing, in the slight consideration of death which Hargrave suffered to
+enter his mind, gave him so much disturbance as the thought that he
+might, if he fell, leave Laura to the possession of another. He
+willingly persuaded himself that she had an attachment to him too
+romantic to be transferable. But she was poor; she might in time make a
+marriage of esteem and convenience; and Laura, the virtuous Laura, would
+certainly love her husband, and the father of her children. The bare
+idea stung like a scorpion, and Hargrave hastened to his man of
+business, where he spent the time which yet remained before the hour of
+his appointment, in dictating a bequest of five thousand pounds to Laura
+Montreville; but true to his purpose, he added a clause, by which, in
+case of her marriage, she forfeited the whole.
+
+He then repaired to meet Lord Bellamer; and, the ground being taken,
+Hargrave's first ball penetrated Lord Bellamer's left shoulder, who then
+fired without effect, and instantly fell. Hargrave, whose humanity had
+returned with his temper, accompanied his wounded antagonist to a
+neighbouring cottage to which he was conveyed, anxiously procured for
+him every possible comfort, and heard with real joy, that if he could be
+kept from fever, his wound was not likely to be mortal. The gentleman
+who had been Hargrave's second, offered to remain near Lord Bellamer, in
+order to give warning to his friend should any danger occur; and it was
+late in the evening before Hargrave, alone and comfortless, returned to
+town.
+
+Never had his own thoughts been such vexatious companions. To his own
+scared conscience his crimes might have seemed trivial; but when he
+placed them before him in the light in which he knew that they would be
+viewed by Laura, their nature seemed changed. He knew that she would
+find no plea in the custom of the times, for endangering the life of a
+fellow-creature, and that her moral vocabulary contained no qualifying
+epithet to palliate the foulness of adultery. The next day would give
+publicity to his duel and its cause; and should the report reach Laura's
+ear, what could he hope from her favour? The bribes of love and ambition
+he had found too poor to purchase her sanction to the bare intention of
+a crime. Even the intention seemed forgiven only in the hope of luring
+him to the paths of virtue: and when she should know the failure of that
+hope, would not her forgiveness be withdrawn?
+
+But Laura, thus on the point of being lost, was more dear to him than
+ever; and often did he wish that he had fallen by Lord Bellamer's hand,
+rather than that he should live to see himself the object of her
+indifference, perhaps aversion. Time still remained, however, by one
+desperate effort to hurry or terrify her into immediate compliance with
+his wishes; and, half-distracted with the emotions of remorse, and love,
+and hope, and fear, he ordered his carriage to Montreville's house. Here
+passed the scene which has been already described. Hargrave was too much
+agitated to attend to the best methods of persuasion, and he quitted
+Laura in the full conviction that she would never be his wife. He threw
+himself into his carriage, and was driven home, now frantickly bewailing
+his loss, now vowing, that rather than endure it, he would incur the
+penalties of every law, divine and human. All night he paced his
+apartment, uttering imprecations on his own folly, and forming plans for
+regaining by fraud, force, or persuasion, his lost rights over Laura. At
+last his vehemence having somewhat spent itself, he threw himself on a
+couch, and sunk into feverish and interrupted sleep.
+
+It was not till next morning, that he thought of inquiring after the
+unfortunate partner of his iniquity; and was told that, too ill to be
+removed, she had been carried to bed in the house, where she still
+remained.
+
+Intending to renew the attempt of the preceding night, he again repaired
+to Laura's house; but his intention was frustrated by the death of
+Montreville. On receiving the information, he was at first a good deal
+shocked at the sudden departure of a man, whom, a few hours before, he
+had left in no apparent danger. But that feeling was effaced when once
+he began to consider the event as favourable to his designs upon Laura.
+Left to solitude, to poverty, perhaps to actual want, what resource had
+she so eligible as the acceptance of offers splendid and disinterested
+like his. And he would urge her acceptance of them with all the ardour
+of passion. He would alarm her with the prospects of desolateness and
+dependence, he would appeal to the wishes of her dead father. Such
+pleadings must, he thought, have weight with her; and again the hopes of
+victory revived in his mind. Should the principle, to which she so
+firmly adhered, outweigh all these considerations, he thought she would
+forfeit by her obstinacy all claim to his forbearance, and his heart
+fluttered at the idea that she had now no protector from his power. He
+resolved to haunt, to watch her, to lose no opportunity of pressing his
+suit. Wherever she went he was determined to follow; 'and surely,'
+thought he, 'she must have some moments of weakness, she cannot be
+always on her guard.'
+
+For some days he continued to make regular visits at her lodgings,
+though he had no hope of seeing her till after Montreville was consigned
+to the dust; and he rejoiced that the customary seclusion was likely to
+retard her knowledge of his misconduct. To make inquiries after the
+health and spirits of Laura, was the ostensible, but not the only motive
+of his visits. He wished to discover all that was known to the people of
+the house of her present situation and future plans. On the latter
+subject they could not afford him even the slightest information, for
+Laura had never dropped a hint of her intentions. But he received such
+accounts of her pecuniary distresses, and of the manner in which she
+supported them, as at once increased his reverence for her character,
+and his hopes that she would take refuge from her wants in the affluence
+which he offered her.
+
+From Fanny, who officiated as porter, and who almost adored Laura, he
+received most of his intelligence; and while he listened to instances of
+the fortitude, the piety, the tenderness, the resignation of his
+beloved, a love of virtue, sincere though transient, would cross his
+soul; he would look back with abhorrence on a crime which had hazarded
+the loss of such a treasure; and vow, that, were he once possessed of
+Laura, his life should be a copy of her worth. But Hargrave's vows
+deceived him; for he loved the virtues only that were associated with an
+object of pleasure, he abhorred the vices only which threatened him with
+pain.
+
+On the day succeeding the funeral, he ventured on an attempt to see
+Laura, and sent her a message, begging permission to wait upon her; but
+was answered that she received no visitors. He then wrote to her a
+letter full of the sentiments which she inspired. He expressed his
+sympathy with her misfortunes, and fervently besought her to accept of a
+protector who would outdo in tenderness the one she had lost. He
+implored her to add the strongest incentive to the course of virtue, in
+which, if she would listen to his request, he solemnly promised to
+persevere. He again insinuated that she must speedily decide; that, if
+her decision were unfavourable, he might be driven to seek forgetfulness
+amidst ruinous dissipation; and he adjured her, by the wishes of her
+dead father, a claim which he thought would with her be irresistible, to
+consent to dispense with his further probation. He said he would visit
+her late in the following forenoon, in the hope of receiving his answer
+from her own lips; and concluded by telling her that, lest the late
+unfortunate event had occasioned her any temporary difficulties, he
+begged to be considered as her banker, and enclosed a bill for a hundred
+pounds.
+
+He gave this letter to Fanny, with injunctions to deliver it
+immediately, and then went to inquire for Lord Bellamer, whom it gave
+him real pleasure to find pronounced out of danger. Lady Bellamer, too,
+had ceased to reproach and molest him. She had recovered from her
+indisposition, and removed to the house of a relation, who humanely
+offered to receive her. His hopes were strong of the effect of his
+letter; and he passed the evening in greater comfort than had lately
+fallen to his share. Often did he repeat to himself that Laura must
+accede to his proposals. What other course could she pursue--Would her
+spirit allow her to become a burden on the scanty income of her friend
+Mrs Douglas--Would she venture to pursue, as a profession, the art in
+which she so greatly excelled--Would she return to live alone at
+Glenalbert? This last appeared the most probable to Hargrave, because
+the most desirable. Alone, without any companion whose frozen counsel
+could counteract the softness of her heart, in a romantic solitude,
+watched, as he would watch, importuned as he would importune her,
+strange if no advantage could be wrested from her affection or her
+prudence, her interest or her fears! To possess Laura was the first wish
+of his soul; and he was not very fastidious as to the means of its
+gratification; for even the love of a libertine is selfish. He was
+perfectly sincere in his honourable proposals to Laura. He might have
+been less so had any others possessed a chance of success.
+
+He rose early the next morning, and impatiently looked for the hour
+which he had appointed for his visit. He wished that he had fixed on an
+earlier one, took up a book to beguile the minutes, threw it down again,
+looked a hundred times at his watch, ordered his carriage to the door
+two hours before it was wanted, feared to go too soon, lest Laura should
+refuse to see him, and yet was at her lodgings, long before his
+appointment. He inquired for her, and was answered that she had
+discharged her lodgings, and was gone. 'Gone! Whither?'--Fanny did not
+know; Miss Montreville had been busy all the evening before in preparing
+for her removal, and had left the house early that morning. 'And did she
+leave no address where she might be found?' 'I heard her tell the
+coachman,' said Fanny, 'to stop at the end of Grosvenor-street, and she
+would direct him where she chose to be set down. But I believe she has
+left a letter for you, Sir.' 'Fool!' cried Hargrave, 'why did you not
+tell me so sooner--give it me instantly.'
+
+He impatiently followed the girl to the parlour which had been
+Montreville's. The letter lay on the table. He snatched it, and hastily
+tore it open. It contained only his bill, returned with Miss
+Montreville's compliments and thanks. He twisted the card into atoms,
+and cursed with all his soul the ingratitude and cold prudence of the
+writer. He swore that if she were on earth, he would find her; and vowed
+that he would make her repent of the vexation which he said she had
+always taken a savage delight in heaping upon him.
+
+Restless, and yet unwilling to be gone, he next wandered into Laura's
+painting-room, as if hoping in her once-favourite haunt to find traces
+of her flight. He had never entered it since the day when the discovery
+of De Courcy's portrait had roused his sudden frenzy. Association
+brought back the same train of thought. He imagined that Laura, while
+she concealed herself from him, had taken refuge with the De Courcys;
+and all his jealousy returned. After, according to custom, acting the
+madman for a while, he began as usual to recover his senses. He knew he
+could easily discover whether Miss Montreville was at Norwood, by
+writing to a friend who lived in the neighbourhood; and he was going
+home to execute this design, when, passing through the lobby, he was met
+by the landlady. He stopped to renew his inquiries whether any thing was
+known, or guessed, of Laura's retreat. But Mrs Stubbs could give him no
+more information on that subject than her maid, and she was infinitely
+more surprised at his question than Fanny had been; for having made
+certain observations which convinced her that Hargrave's visits were in
+the character of a lover, she had charitably concluded, and actually
+asserted, that Laura had accepted of his protection.
+
+Hargrave next inquired whether Laura had any visitors but himself? 'No
+living creature,' was the reply. 'Could Mrs Stubbs conjecture whither
+she was gone?' 'None in the world,' answered Mrs Stubbs; 'only this I
+know, it can't be very far off--for to my certain knowledge, she had
+only seven shillings in her pocket, and that could not carry her far, as
+I told the gentleman who was here this morning.' 'What gentleman?' cried
+Hargrave. 'One Mr De Courcy, Sir, that used to call for her; but he has
+not been here these six weeks before; and he seemed quite astounded as
+well as yourself, Sir.' Hargrave then questioned her so closely
+concerning De Courcy's words and looks, as to convince himself that his
+rival was entirely ignorant of the motions of the fugitive. In this
+belief he returned home, uncertain what measures he should pursue, but
+determined not to rest till he had found Laura.
+
+When De Courcy quitted Laura, he had no intention of seeing her again
+till circumstances should enable him to offer her his hand. No sacrifice
+could have cost him more pain; but justice and filial duty did not
+permit him to hesitate. Neither did he think himself entitled to sadden
+with a face of care his domestic circle, nor to make his mother and
+sister pay dear for their comforts, by shewing that they were purchased
+at the expence of his peace. Nor did he languidly resign to idle
+love-dreams the hours which an immortal spirit claimed for its
+improvement, and which the social tie bound him to enliven and cheer.
+But to appear what he was not, to introduce constraint and dissimulation
+into the sacred privacies of home, never occurred to De Courcy. He
+therefore strove not to _seem_ cheerful but to _be_ so. He returned to
+his former studies, and even prosecuted them with alacrity, for he knew
+that Laura respected a cultivated mind. His faults, he was if possible
+more than ever studious to correct, for Laura loved virtue. And when
+occasion for a kind considerate or self-denying action presented itself,
+he eagerly seized it, saying in his heart, 'this is like Laura.'
+
+Sometimes the fear that he might be forgotten, forced from him the
+bitterest sigh that he had ever breathed; but he endeavoured to comfort
+himself with the belief that she would soon be screened from the gaze of
+admiration, and that her regard for him, though yet in its infancy,
+would be sufficient to secure her from other impressions. Of the reality
+of this regard he did not allow himself to doubt, or if he hesitated for
+a moment, he called to mind the picture, Laura's concealment of it, her
+confusion at his attempt to examine it, and he no longer doubted.
+
+The arrival of the picture itself might have explained all that related
+to it, had De Courcy chosen to have it so explained. But he turned his
+eye from the unpleasing sight, and sheltered his hopes by a hundred
+treasured instances of love which had scarcely any existence but in his
+fancy.
+
+His efforts to be cheerful were however less successful, after Laura, in
+a few melancholy lines, informed Miss De Courcy that Montreville's
+increased illness made their return to Scotland more uncertain than
+ever. He imagined his dear Laura the solitary attendant of a sickbed; no
+kind voice to comfort, no friendly face to cheer her; perhaps in
+poverty, that poverty increased too by the artifice which he had used to
+lessen it. He grew anxious, comfortless, and at length really miserable.
+Every day the arrival of the letters was looked for with extreme
+solicitude in hope of more cheering news; but every day brought
+disappointment, for Laura wrote no more. His mother shared in his
+anxiety, and increased it by expressing her own. She feared that Miss
+Montreville was ill, and unable to write; and the image of Laura among
+strangers, sick and in poverty, obliterated Montague's prudent
+resolutions of trusting himself no more in the presence of his beloved.
+He set out for London, and arrived at the door of Laura's lodgings about
+an hour after she had quitted them.
+
+Mrs Stubbs, of whom he made personal inquiries, was abundantly
+communicative. She gave him, as far as it was known to her, a full
+history of Laura's adventures since he had seen her; and, where she was
+deficient in facts, supplied the blank by conjecture. With emotion
+indescribable, he listened to a coarse account of Miss Montreville's
+wants and labours. 'How could you suffer all this?' cried he,
+indignantly, when he was able to speak. 'Times are hard, Sir,' returned
+Mrs Stubbs, the jolly purple deepening in her cheeks. 'Besides, Miss
+Montreville had always such an air with her, that I could not for my
+very heart have asked her to take pot-luck with us.'
+
+The colour faded from De Courcy's face as Mrs Stubbs proceeded to relate
+the constant visits of Hargrave. 'I'll warrant,' said she, growing
+familiar as she perceived that she excited interest, 'I'll warrant he
+did not come here so often for nothing. People must have ears, and use
+them too; and I heard him myself swearing to her one day, that he loved
+her better than his life, or something to that purpose; and that, if she
+would live with him, he would make her dreams pleasant, or some such
+stuff as that; and now, as sure as can be, she has taken him at his
+word, and gone to him.'
+
+'Peace, woman!' cried De Courcy, in a tone which he had never used to
+any of the sex, 'how dare you--?'
+
+Mrs Stubbs, who had all that want of nerve which characterizes vulgar
+arrogance, instantly shrunk into her shell. 'No offence, Sir,' said she.
+'It's all mere guess-work with me; only she does not know a creature in
+London, and she had nothing to carry her out of it; for she had just
+seven shillings in her pocket. I gave her seventeen and sixpence of
+change this morning, and she gave half-a-guinea of that to the
+kitchen-maid. Now it stands to reason, she would not have been so ready
+parting with her money if she had not known where more was to be had.'
+
+De Courcy, shocked and disgusted, turned from her in displeasure; and
+finding that nothing was to be learnt from her of the place of Laura's
+retreat, betook himself to the print-shop, where he remembered that he
+had first procured Miss Montreville's address. Mr Wilkins declared his
+ignorance on the subject of Montague's inquiries; but, seeing the look
+of disappointment with which De Courcy was leaving the shop,
+good-naturedly said, 'I dare say, Sir, if you wish to find out where
+Miss Montreville lives, I could let you know by asking Colonel Hargrave.
+He comes here sometimes to look at the caricatures. And,' added Mr
+Wilkins, winking significantly, 'I am mistaken if they are not very well
+acquainted.'
+
+De Courcy's heart rose to his mouth. 'Perhaps so,' said he, scarcely
+conscious of what he said. 'There was a famous scene between them here
+about three weeks ago,' proceeded the print-seller, anxious to justify
+his own sagacity. 'I suppose they had not met for a while, and there
+such a kissing and embracing'--''Tis false!' cried De Courcy, lightning
+flashing from his eyes, 'Miss Montreville would have brooked such
+indignities from no man on earth.' 'Nay,' said Wilkins, shrugging up his
+shoulders, 'the shop-lads saw it as well as I--she fainted away in his
+arms, and he carried her into the back-room there, and would not suffer
+one of us to come near her; and Mr Finch there saw him down on his knees
+to her.' 'Cease your vile slanders,' cried De Courcy, half-distracted
+with grief and indignation, 'I abhor--I despise them. But at your peril
+dare to breathe them into any other ear.' So saying, he darted from the
+shop, and returned to his hotel, infinitely more wretched than ever he
+had been.
+
+The happy dream was dispelled that painted him the master of Laura's
+affections. Another possessed her love; and how visible, how
+indelicately glaring, must be the preference that was apparent to every
+vulgar eye! But, bitter as was his disappointment, and cruel the pangs
+of jealousy, they were ease compared to the torture with which he
+admitted a thought derogatory to Laura's worth. A thousand times he
+reproached himself for suffering the hints and conjectures of a lowbred
+woman to affect his mind;--a thousand times assured himself, that no
+poverty, no difficulties, would overpower the integrity of Laura. 'Yet
+Hargrave is a libertine,' said he, 'and if she can love a libertine,
+how have I been deceived in her! No! it cannot be!--She is all
+truth--all purity. It is she that is deceived. He has imposed upon her
+by a false show of virtue, and misery awaits her detection of his
+deceit. She gone to him! I will never believe it. Libertine as he is, he
+dared not but to think of it. Extremity of want--lingering famine would
+not degrade her to this,'--and tears filled De Courcy's manly eyes at
+the thought that Laura was indeed in want.
+
+He had no direct means of supplying her necessities; but he hoped that
+she might inquire at her former abode for any letters that might chance
+to be left for her, and that she might thus receive any packet which he
+addressed to her. 'She shall never be humbled,' said he with a heavy
+sigh, 'by knowing that she owes this trifle to an indifferent, forgotten
+stranger;' and inclosing fifty pounds in a blank cover, he put both into
+an envelope to Mrs Stubbs, in which he informed her, that if she could
+find no means of conveying the packet to Miss Montreville, the anonymous
+writer would claim it again at some future time, on describing its
+contents.
+
+Before dispatching the letter, however, he resolved on making an attempt
+to discover whether Hargrave was acquainted with Laura's retreat. He
+shrunk from meeting his rival. His blood ran cold as he pictured to his
+fancy the exulting voice, the triumphant glance which would announce the
+master of Laura's fate. But any thing was preferable to his present
+suspense; and the hope that he might yet be useful to Laura, formed an
+incitement still more powerful. 'Let me but find her,' said he, 'and I
+will yet wrest her from destruction. If she is deceived I will warn; if
+she is oppressed, I will protect her.'
+
+He imagined that he should probably find Hargrave at the house of his
+uncle Lord Lincourt, and hastened thither to seek him; but found the
+house occupied only by servants, who were ignorant of the Colonel's
+address. De Courcy knew none of Hargrave's places of resort. The habits
+and acquaintance of each lay in a different line. No means therefore of
+discovering him occurred to Montague, except that of inquiring at the
+house of Mrs Stubbs, where he thought it probable that the place of
+Hargrave's residence might be known. Thither, then, he next bent his
+course.
+
+The door was opened to him by Fanny; who replied to his questions, that
+none of the family knew where Colonel Hargrave lived, and lamented that
+De Courcy had not come a little earlier, saying that the Colonel had
+been gone not above a quarter of an hour. De Courcy was turning
+disappointed away; when Fanny, stopping him, said with a courtesy and a
+half-whisper, 'Sir, an't please you, my mistress was all wrong about
+Miss Montreville, for the Colonel knows no more about her than I do.'
+'Indeed!' said De Courcy, all attention. 'Yes indeed Sir--when I told
+him she was away, he was quite amazed, and in such a passion! So then I
+thought I would give him the letter.--' 'What letter?' cried De Courcy,
+the glow of animation fading in his face. 'A letter that Miss
+Montreville left for him, Sir, but when he got it he was ten times
+angrier than before, and swore at her for not letting him know where she
+was going. So I thought, Sir, I would make bold to tell you, Sir, as
+Mistress had been speaking her mind, Sir; for it's a sad thing to have
+one's character taken away; and Miss Montreville, I am sure, wouldn't do
+hurt to nobody.'
+
+'You are a good girl, a very good girl,' said De Courcy, giving her,
+with a guinea, a very hearty squeeze of the hand. He made her repeat the
+particulars of Hargrave's violent behaviour; and satisfied from them
+that his rival had no share in Laura's disappearance, he returned to his
+hotel, his heart lightened of half the heaviest load that ever it had
+borne.
+
+Still, however, enough remained to exclude for a time all quiet from his
+breast. He could not doubt that Laura's affections were Hargrave's. She
+had given proof of it palpable to the most common observer; and
+resentment mingled with his grief while he thought, that to his fervent
+respectful love, she preferred the undistinguishing passion of a
+libertine. 'All women are alike,' said he, 'the slaves of mere outward
+show:'--An observation for which the world was probably first indebted
+to circumstances somewhat like De Courcy's.
+
+Restless and uncomfortable, without any hope of finding Laura, he would
+now have left London without an hour's delay. But, though he forgot his
+own fatigues, he was not unmindful of those of the grey-haired domestic
+who attended him. He therefore deferred his journey to the following
+morning; and then set out on his return to Norwood, more depressed and
+wretched than he had quitted it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+All was yet dark and still, when Laura, like some unearthly being, stood
+by the bed where Fanny slept. The light which she bore in her wasted
+hand, shewed faintly the majestic form, darkened by its mourning
+garments; and shed a dreary gleam upon tearless eyes, and a face whence
+all the hues of life were fled. She made a sign for Fanny to rise; and,
+awe-struck by the calm of unutterable grief, Fanny arose, and in silence
+followed her. They entered the chamber of death. With noiseless steps
+Laura approached the body, and softly drew back the covering. She
+beckoned Fanny towards her. The girl comprehended that her aid was
+wanted in performing the last duties to Montreville; and, shrinking with
+superstitious fear, said, in a low tremulous whisper, 'I dare not touch
+the dead.' Laura answered not; but raising her eyes to Heaven, as if
+there to seek assistance in her mournful task, she gently pressed her
+hand upon the half-closed eyes that had so often beamed fondness on her.
+Unaided, and in silence, she did the last offices of love. She shed no
+tears. She uttered no lamentation. The dread stillness was broken only
+by the groans that burst at times from her heavy heart, and the more
+continued sobs of her attendant, who vented in tears her fear, her pity,
+and her admiration.
+
+When the sad task was finished, Laura, still speechless, motioned to the
+servant to retire. In horror at the thoughts of leaving Laura alone with
+the dead, yet fearing to raise her voice, the girl respectfully grasped
+her mistress's gown, and, in a low but earnest whisper, besought her to
+leave this dismal place, and to go to her own chamber. Scarcely sensible
+of her meaning, Laura suffered her to draw her away; but when the door
+closed upon all that remained of her father, she shuddered convulsively,
+and struggled to return. Fanny, however, gathered courage to lead her
+to her own apartment. There she threw herself prostrate on the ground; a
+flood of tears came to relieve her oppressed heart, and her recovered
+utterance broke forth in an act of resignation. She continued for some
+hours to give vent to her sorrow--a sorrow unallayed by any less painful
+feeling, save those of devotion. She had lost the affectionate guide of
+her youth, the fond parent, whose love for her had brought him untimely
+to the grave; and, in the anguish of the thought that she should watch
+his smile and hear his voice no more, she scarcely remembered that he
+had left her to want and loneliness.
+
+The morning was far advanced, when her sorrows were broken in upon by
+her landlady, who came to ask her directions in regard to the funeral.
+Laura had been unable to bend her thoughts to the consideration of this
+subject; and she answered only by her tears. In vain did Mrs Stubbs
+repeat that 'it was folly to take on so,'--'that we must all die;' 'and
+that as every thing has two handles, Laura might comfort herself that
+she should now have but one mouth to feed.' Laura seemed obstinate in
+her grief, and at last Mrs Stubbs declared that whether she would hear
+reason or not, something must without delay be settled about the
+funeral; as for her part she could not order things without knowing how
+they were to be paid for. Laura, putting her hand to her forehead,
+complained that her head felt confused, and, mildly begging her
+persecutor to have a little patience with her, promised, if she might be
+left alone for the present, to return to the conversation in half an
+hour.
+
+Accordingly, soon after the time appointed, the landlady was surprised
+to see Laura enter the parlour, her cheek indeed colourless and her eyes
+swelled with weeping, but her manner perfectly calm and collected. 'Here
+are my father's watch and seals,' said she, presenting them. 'They may
+be disposed of. That cannot wound him now,'--and she turned away her
+head, and drew her hand across her eyes. 'Have the goodness to order
+what is necessary, for I am a stranger, without any friend.' Mrs Stubbs,
+examining the watch, declared her opinion that the sale of it would
+produce very little. 'Let every thing be plain, but decent,' said Laura,
+'and when I am able I will work day and night till all is paid.' 'I
+doubt, Miss,' answered Mrs Stubbs, 'it will be long before your work
+will pay for much; besides you will be in my debt for a week's
+lodgings--we always charge a week extra when there is a death in the
+house.' 'Tell me what you would have me to do, and I will do it,' said
+the unfortunate Laura, wholly unable to contend with her hard-hearted
+companion. 'Why, Miss,' said Mrs Stubbs, 'there is your beautiful
+rose-wood work-table and the foot-stools, and your fine ivory work-box
+that Mr De Courcy sent here before you came; if you choose to dispose of
+them, I will take them off your hands.' 'Take them,' said Laura, 'I knew
+not that they were mine.' Mrs Stubbs then conscientiously offered to
+give a fourth part of the sum which these toys had cost De Courcy three
+months before, an offer which Laura instantly accepted; and the landlady
+having settled this business much to her own satisfaction, cheerfully
+undertook to arrange the obsequies of poor Montreville.
+
+Though the tragical scenes of the night had left Laura no leisure to
+dwell upon her fears for Hargrave, it was not without thankfulness that
+she heard of his safety and restored composure. Her mind was at first
+too much occupied by her recent loss, to attempt accounting for his
+extravagant behaviour; and, after the first paroxysms of her sorrow were
+past, she retained but an imperfect recollection of his late
+conversation with her. She merely remembered his seeming distraction and
+threatened suicide; and only bewildered herself by her endeavours to
+unravel his mysterious conduct. Sometimes a suspicion not very remote
+from truth would dart into her mind; but she quickly banished it, as an
+instance of the causeless fears that are apt to infest the hearts of the
+unfortunate.
+
+An innate delicacy which, in some degree, supplied to Laura the want of
+experience, made her feel an impropriety in the daily visits which she
+was informed that Hargrave made at her lodgings. She was aware that they
+might be liable to misrepresentation, even though she should persist in
+her refusal to see him; and this consideration appeared to add to the
+necessity already so urgent, for resolving on some immediate plan for
+her future course of life. But the future offered to Laura no attractive
+prospect. Wherever she turned, all seemed dark and unpromising. She
+feared not to labour for her subsistence; no narrow pride forbade her
+use of any honourable means of independence. But her personal charms
+were such as no degree of humility could screen from the knowledge of
+their possessor, and she was sensible how much this dangerous
+distinction increased the disqualifications of her sex and age for the
+character of an artist. As an artist, she must be exposed to the
+intrusion of strangers, to public observation if successful; to unpitied
+neglect if she failed in her attempt. Besides, it was impossible to
+think of living alone and unprotected, in the human chaos that
+surrounded her. All her father's dismal forebodings rose to her
+remembrance; and she almost regarded herself as one who would be noticed
+only as a mark for destruction, beguiled by frauds which no vigilance
+could detect, overwhelmed by power which she could neither resist nor
+escape.
+
+Should she seek in solitude a refuge from the destroyer, and return to
+mourn at her deserted Glenalbert, the stroke that had left it like her
+lonely and forlorn, want lurked amidst its shades; for with her father
+had died not only the duties and the joys of life, but even the means of
+its support. Her temporary right to the few acres which Montreville
+farmed, was in less than a year to expire; and she knew that, after
+discharging the claim of the landlord, together with some debts which
+the long illness of Lady Harriet and the ill-fated journey had obliged
+Montreville to contract, little would remain from the sale of her
+effects at Glenalbert.
+
+Laura was sure, that the benevolent friend of her youth, the excellent
+Mrs Douglas, would receive her with open arms--guide her inexperience
+with a mother's counsel--comfort her sorrows with a mother's love. But
+her spirit revolted from a life of indolent dependence, and her sense of
+justice from casting a useless burden upon an income too confined to
+answer claims stronger and more natural than hers. Mrs Douglas was
+herself the preceptress of her children, and both by nature and
+education amply qualified for the momentous task. In domestic
+management, her skill and activity were unrivalled. Laura, therefore,
+saw no possibility of repaying, by her usefulness in any department of
+the family, the protection which she might receive; and she determined
+that nothing but the last necessity should induce her to tax the
+generosity of her friend, or to forego the honourable independence of
+those who, though 'silver or gold they have none,' can barter for the
+comforts they enjoy their mental treasures or their bodily toil.
+
+To undertake the tuition of youth occurred to her as the most eligible
+means of procuring necessary subsistence, and protection, more necessary
+still. It appeared to her that, as a member of any reputable family, she
+should be sheltered from the dangers which her father had most taught
+her to dread. She reviewed her accomplishments, and impartially examined
+her ability to communicate them with temper and perseverance. Though for
+the most part attained with great accuracy, they were few in number, and
+unobtrusive in kind. She read aloud with uncommon harmony and grace. She
+spoke and wrote with fluency and precision. She was grammatically
+acquainted with the French and Latin languages, and an adept in the
+common rules of arithmetic. Her proficiency in painting has been already
+noticed; and she sang with inimitable sweetness and expression.
+
+But though expert in every description of plain needle-work, she was an
+utter novice in the manufacture of all those elegant nothings, which are
+so serviceable to fine ladies in their warfare against time. Though she
+moved with unstudied dignity and peerless grace, we are obliged to
+confess, that the seclusion of her native village had doomed her to
+ignorance of the art of dancing, that she had never entered a ball-room
+less capacious than the horizon, nor performed with a partner more
+illustrious than the schoolmaster's daughter. Her knowledge of music,
+too, was extremely limited. Lady Harriet had indeed tried to teach her
+to play on the piano-forte; but the attempt, after costing Laura many a
+full heart, and many a watery eye, was relinquished as vain. Though the
+child learnt with unusual facility whatever was taught her by her father
+or Mrs Douglas, and though she was already remarkable for the sweetness
+with which she warbled her woodnotes wild, she no sooner approached the
+piano-forte, than an invincible stupidity seemed to seize on all her
+faculties. This was the more mortifying, as it was the only one of her
+ladyship's accomplishments which she ever personally attempted to
+communicate to her daughter. Lady Harriet was astonished at her failure.
+It could proceed, she thought, from nothing but obstinacy. But the
+appropriate remedy for obstinacy, only aggravated the symptoms, and,
+after all, Laura was indebted to Colonel Hargrave's tuition for so much
+skill as enabled her to accompany her own singing.
+
+Laura had more than once felt her deficiency in these fashionable arts,
+on seeing them exhibited by young ladies, who, to use their own
+expression, had returned from _finishing themselves_ at a
+boarding-school, and she feared that this blank in her education might
+prove a fatal bar to her being employed as a governess. But another and
+a greater obstacle lay before her--she was utterly unknown. The only
+patrons whose recommendation she could command, were distant and
+obscure; and what mother would trust the minds and the manners of her
+children to the formation of a stranger? She knew not the ostrich-like
+daring of fashionable mothers. This latter objection seemed equally
+hostile to her being received in quality of companion by those who might
+be inclined to exchange subsistence and protection for relief from
+solitude; and Laura, almost despairing, knew not whither to turn her
+eye.
+
+One path indeed invited her steps, a path bright with visions of
+rapture, warm with the sunshine of love and pleasure; but the flaming
+sword of Heaven guarded the entrance; and as often as her thoughts
+reverted that way, the struggle was renewed which forces the choice from
+the pleasing to the right. No frequency of return rendered this struggle
+less painful. Laura's prudence had slept, when a little vigilance might
+have saved her many an after pang; and she had long paid, was still long
+to pay, the forfeit of neglecting that wisdom which would guard 'with
+all diligence' the first beginnings of even the most innocent passions.
+Had she curbed the infant-strength of an attachment which, though it
+failed to warp her integrity, had so deeply wounded her peace, how had
+she lessened the force of that temptation, which lured her from the
+rugged ascent, where want and difficulty were to be her companions;
+which enticed her to the flowery bowers of pleasure with the voice and
+with the smile of Hargrave!
+
+Yet Laura had resisted a bribe more powerful than any consideration
+merely selfish could supply; and she blushed to harbour a thought of
+yielding to her own inclinations what she had refused to a parent's
+wants, to a parent's prayer. Her heart filled as she called to mind how
+warmly Montreville had seconded the wishes of her lover, how resolutely
+she had withstood his will; and it swelled even to bursting at the
+thought that the vow was now fatally made void, which promised, by every
+endearment of filial love, to atone for this first act of disobedience.
+'Dearest, kindest of friends,' she cried, 'I was inflexible to thy
+request--thy last request! and shall I now recede? now, when, perhaps,
+thou art permitted to behold and to approve my motive; perhaps permitted
+to watch me still--permitted with higher power to guard, with less
+erring wisdom to direct me! And, Thou, who, in matchless condescension,
+refusest not to be called Father of the fatherless--Thou, who, in every
+difficulty canst guide, from every danger canst protect thy children,
+let, if Thou see it good, the Heavens, which are thy throne, be all my
+covering, the earth, which is thy footstool, be all my bed; but suffer
+me not to wander from Thee, the only source of peace and joy, to seek
+them in fountains unhallowed and forbidden.'
+
+Religious habits and sentiments were permanent inmates of Laura's
+breast. They had been invited and cherished, till, like familiar
+friends, they came unsolicited; and, like friends, too, their visits
+were most frequent in adversity. But the more ardent emotions of piety,
+are, alas! transient guests with us all; and, sinking from the flight
+which raised her for a time above the sorrows and the wants of earth,
+Laura was again forced to shrink from the gaunt aspect of poverty, again
+to turn a wistful eye towards a haven of rest on this side the grave.
+
+Young as she was, however, she had long been a vigilant observer of her
+own actions, and of their consequences; and the result was an immutable
+conviction, that no heartfelt comfort could, in any circumstances,
+harbour with wilful transgression. As wilful transgression, she
+considered her marriage with a man whose principles she had fatal reason
+to distrust. As a rash defiance of unknown danger; as a desperate daring
+of temptations whose force was yet untried, as a desertion of those arms
+by which alone she could hope for victory in her Christian combat, Laura
+considered the hazardous enterprize which, trusting to the reformation
+of a libertine, would expose her to his example and his authority, his
+provocations and his associates. Again she solemnly renewed her
+resolution never, by wilfully braving temptation, to forego the
+protection of Him who can dash the fulness of worldly prosperity with
+secret bitterness, or gladden with joys unspeakable the dwelling visited
+by no friend but Him, cheered by no comfort save the light of his
+countenance.
+
+Hargrave's letter served rather to fortify the resolution which it was
+intended to shake; for Laura was not insensible to the indelicacy which
+did not scorn to owe to her necessities a consent which he had in vain
+tried to extort from her affection. Though pleased with his liberality,
+she was hurt by his supposing that she could have so far forgotten the
+mortal offence which he had offered her, as to become his debtor for any
+pecuniary favour; and, as nothing could be further from her intention
+than to owe any obligation to Colonel Hargrave, she did not hesitate a
+moment to return the money. When she had sealed the card in which she
+inclosed it, she again returned to the contemplation of her dreary
+prospects; and half hopelessly examined the possibilities of
+subsistence. To offer instruction to the young, or amusement to the old,
+in exchange for an asylum from want and danger, still appeared to her
+the most eligible plan of life; and again she weighed the difficulty of
+procuring the necessary recommendations.
+
+Lady Pelham occurred to her. Some claim she thought she might have had
+to the patronage of so near a relation. But who should identify her? who
+should satisfy Lady Pelham that the claim of relationship did indeed
+belong to Laura? Had she been previously known to her aunt, her
+difficulties would have been at an end; now she would probably be
+rejected as an impostor; and she gave a sigh to the want of foresight
+which had suffered her to rejoice in escaping an interview with Lady
+Pelham.
+
+After much consideration, she determined to solicit the recommendations
+of Mrs Douglas and the De Courcy family; and, until she could avail
+herself of these, to subsist, in some obscure lodging, by the labour of
+her hands. In the meantime, it was necessary to remove immediately from
+her present abode. The day following was the last when she could claim
+any right to remain there; and she proceeded to make preparations for
+her departure.
+
+With a bleeding heart she began to arrange whatever had belonged to
+Montreville; and paused, with floods of tears, upon every relic now
+become so sacred. She entered his closet. His was the last foot that had
+pressed the threshold. His chair stood as he had risen from it. On the
+ground lay the cushion yet impressed with his knees--his Bible was open
+as he had left it. One passage was blistered with his tears; and there
+Laura read with emotions unutterable--'Leave to me thy fatherless
+children, and I will preserve them alive.' Her recent wounds thus torn
+open, with agony which could not be restrained, she threw herself upon
+the ground; and, with cries of anguish, besought her father to return
+but for one short hour to comfort his desolate child. 'Oh I shall never,
+never see him more,' said she,--'all my cries are vain,'--and she wept
+the more because they were in vain. Soon, however, she reproached
+herself with her immoderate sorrow, soon mingled its accents with those
+of humble resignation; and the vigorous mind recovering in devotion all
+its virtuous energy, she returned, with restored composure, to her
+melancholy labours.
+
+In her father's writing desk she found an unfinished letter. It began
+'My dear De Courcy,'--and Laura was going to read it with the awe of one
+who listens to the last words of a father, when she remembered having
+surprised her father while writing it, and his having hastily concealed
+it from her sight. She instantly folded it without further acquaintance
+with its contents, except that her own name caught her eye. Continuing
+to arrange the papers, she observed a letter addressed to herself in a
+hand which she did not remember to have seen. It was Lady Pelham's
+answer to that in which Laura had announced her mother's death. She
+perceived that it might furnish an introduction to her aunt; and with a
+sensation of gratitude she remembered that she had been accidentally
+prevented from destroying it.
+
+Lady Pelham was elder by several years than her sister Lady Harriet. Her
+father, a saving painstaking attorney, died a few months after she was
+born. His widow, who, from an idea of their necessity, had concurred in
+all his economical plans, discovered with equal surprise and delight,
+that his death had left her the entire management of five-and-forty
+thousand pounds. This fortune, which she was to enjoy during her life,
+was secured, in the event of her demise, to little Miss Bridget; and
+this arrangement was one of the earliest pieces of information which
+little Miss Bridget received. For seven years the little heiress was, in
+her mother's undisguised opinion, and consequently in her own, the most
+important personage upon the face of this terrestrial globe. But worldly
+glories are fleeting. Lord Winterfield's taste in stewed carp had been
+improved by half a century's assiduous cultivation. Now the widow Price
+understood the stewing of carp better than any woman in England, so his
+Lordship secured to himself the benefit of her talent by making her Lady
+Winterfield. In ten months after her marriage, another young lady
+appeared, as much more important than Miss Bridget, as an earl is than
+an attorney. Fortune, however, dispensed her gifts with tolerable
+equality. Beauty and rank, indeed, were all on the side of Lady Harriet,
+but the wealth lay in the scale of Miss Price; for Lord Winterfield,
+leaving the bulk of his property to the children of his first marriage,
+bequeathed to his youngest daughter only five thousand pounds. These
+circumstances procured to Miss Price another advantage, for she married
+a baronet with a considerable estate, while Lady Harriet's fate stooped
+to a lieutenant in a marching regiment. After ten years, which Lady
+Pelham declared were spent in uninterrupted harmony, Sir Edward Pelham
+died. The exclusive property of his wife's patrimony had been strictly
+secured to her; and, either thinking such a provision sufficient for a
+female, or moved by a reason which we shall not at present disclose, Sir
+Edward bestowed on the nephew who inherited his title, his whole estate,
+burthened only with a jointure of five hundred pounds a-year, settled
+upon Lady Pelham by her marriage-contract. Of his daughter, and only
+child, no mention was made in his testament; but Sir Edward, during the
+last years of his life, had acquired the character of an oddity, and
+nobody wondered at his eccentricities. At the commencement of her
+widowhood, Lady Pelham purchased a villa in ----shire, where she spent
+the summer, returning in the winter to Grosvenor Street; and this last
+was almost the only part of her history which was known to Laura. Even
+before Lady Harriet's marriage, little cordiality had existed between
+the sisters. From the date of that event, their intercourse had been
+almost entirely broken off; and the only attention which Laura had ever
+received from her aunt, was contained in the letter which she was now
+thankfully contemplating. Her possession of this letter, together with
+her acquaintance with the facts to which it related, she imagined would
+form sufficient proof of her identity; and her national ideas of the
+claims of relationship, awakened a hope of obtaining her aunt's
+assistance in procuring some respectable situation.
+
+Determined to avail herself of her fortunate discovery, she quitted her
+father's apartments; and, carrying with her her credential, lost no time
+in repairing to Grosvenor Street. Nor did she experience the reluctance
+which she had formerly felt towards an interview with Lady Pelham; for
+she was fully sensible of the difference between a petitioner for
+charity and a candidate for honourable employment. Besides, there is no
+teacher of humility like misfortune; and Laura's spirits were too
+completely subdued to anticipate or to notice diminutive attacks upon
+her self-consequence. She still, however, with constitutional reserve,
+shrunk from intruding upon a stranger; and she passed and repassed the
+door, examining the exterior of the house, as if she could thence have
+inferred the character of its owner, before she took courage to give one
+gentle knock.
+
+A footman opened the door, and Laura, faltering, inquired if Lady Pelham
+was within. From Laura's single knock, her humble voice, and her yet
+more humble habit, which, in ten month's use, had somewhat faded from
+the sober magnificence of black, the man had formed no very lofty idea
+of the visitor's rank. He answered, that he believed his lady was not at
+home; but half-afraid of dismissing some person with whom she might have
+business, he spoke in a tone which made Laura a little doubt the truth
+of his information. She inquired at what time she might be likely to
+gain access to Lady Pelham; and, as she spoke, threw back her cape veil,
+unconscious how successfully she was pleading her own cause. Struck with
+a countenance whose candour, sweetness, and beauty, won a way to every
+heart, the man gazed at her for a moment with vulgar admiration, and
+then throwing open the door of a little parlour, begged her to walk in,
+while he inquired whether his lady were visible. He soon returned,
+telling Laura that Lady Pelham would receive her in a few minutes.
+
+During these few minutes, Laura had formed a hundred conjectures
+concerning her aunt's person, voice, and manner. She wondered whether
+she resembled Lady Harriet; whether her own form would recal to Lady
+Pelham the remembrance of her sister. At every noise her heart
+fluttered--at every step she expected the entrance of this relation, on
+whom perhaps so much of her future fate might depend; and she held her
+breath that she might distinguish her approach. A servant at last came
+to conduct her to his mistress; and she followed him, not without a
+feeling of awe, into the presence of her mother's sister.
+
+That sentiment, however, by no means gathered strength when she took
+courage to raise her eyes to the plain little elderly person to whom she
+was introduced, and heard herself addressed in the accents of cheerful
+familiarity. Laura, with modest dignity, made known her name and
+situation. She spoke of her mother's death, and the tears trickled from
+her eyes--of her father's, and in venting the natural eloquence of
+grief, she forgot that she came to interest a stranger. Lady Pelham
+seemed affected; she held her handkerchief to her eyes, and remained in
+that attitude for some time after Laura had recovered self-possession.
+Then, throwing her arms round her lovely niece, she affectionately
+acknowledged the relationship, adding, 'Your resemblance to my poor
+sister cannot be overlooked, and yet in saying so, I am far from paying
+you a compliment.'
+
+After shewing Lady Pelham her own letter, and mentioning such
+circumstances as tended to confirm her identity, Laura proceeded to
+detail her plans, to which her Ladyship listened with apparent interest.
+She inquired into Laura's accomplishments, and seemed pondering the
+probability of employing them with advantage to the possessor. After a
+few moments silence, she said, 'That short as their acquaintance had
+been, she thought she could perceive that Laura had too much sensibility
+for a dependent situation. But we shall talk of that hereafter,'
+continued she. 'At present, your spirits are too weak for the society of
+strangers;--and mine,' added her Ladyship, with a sigh, 'are not much
+more buoyant than your own.' Laura looked up with the kindly interest
+which, whether she herself were joyful or in sadness, sorrow could
+always command with her; and her aunt answered her glance of inquiry, by
+relating, that her only daughter and heiress, had eloped from her a few
+days before, with an artful young fellow without family or fortune. 'She
+deceived me by a train of the basest artifices,' said Lady Pelham,
+'though she might have known that her happiness was my chief concern;
+and that, to secure it, I might have been brought to consent to any
+thing. Yet with the closest secrecy she misled--with the most unfeeling
+coldness left me. Her disobedience I might have forgiven--her deceit I
+never can; or, if as a Christian I forgive, I never, never can forget
+it.'
+
+Lady Pelham had talked herself out of breath; and Laura, not quite
+understanding this kind of Christian forgiveness, was silent, because
+she did not well know what to say. She felt, however, compassion for a
+parent, deserted by her only child, and the feeling was legible in a
+countenance peculiarly fitted for every tender expression.
+
+There are some degrees of sorrow which increase in acuteness, at least
+which augment in vehemence of expression, by the perception of having
+excited sympathy. Weak fires gather strength from radiation. After a
+glance at Laura, Lady Pelham melted into tears, and continued, 'I know
+not how I had deserved such treatment from her; for never had she reason
+to complain of me. I have always treated her with what I must call
+unmerited kindness.'
+
+Laura now ventured a few conciliating words. 'She will feel her error,
+Madam,--she will strive by her after-life to atone--' Lady Pelham
+immediately dried her eyes, 'No, no, my dear,' interrupted she, 'you
+don't know her--you have no idea of the hardness of her unfeeling heart.
+Rejoice, sweet girl, that you have no idea of it. For my part, though
+sensibility is at best but a painful blessing, I would not exchange it
+for the most peaceful apathy that can feel for nothing but itself. I
+must have something to love and cherish. You shall be that something.
+You shall live with me, and we shall console each other.'
+
+On another occasion, Laura might have been disposed to canvass the
+nature of that sensibility which could thus enlarge to a stranger on the
+defects of an only child. Indeed she was little conversant even with the
+name of this quality. Her own sensibility she had been taught to
+consider as a weakness to be subdued, not as an ornament to be gloried
+in; and the expansion of soul which opens to all the sorrows and to all
+the joys of others, she had learnt to call by a holier name--to regulate
+by a nobler principle. But she was little disposed to examine the merits
+of a feeling to which she owed the offer of an unsolicited asylum. Her
+heart swelling with gratitude, she clasped Lady Pelham's hand between
+her own, and while tears streamed down her face, 'Kind considerate
+friend,' she cried, 'why, why were you not known to us while my father
+could have been sensible to your kindness!'
+
+After Lady Pelham had repeated her proposal in more detail, and Laura
+had thankfully acceded to it, they remained in conversation for some
+time longer. Lady Pelham shewed that she had much wit, much vivacity,
+and some information; and, after settling that Laura should next day
+become an inmate in Grosvenor Street, they separated, mutually delighted
+with each other. Lady Pelham applauded herself for a generous action,
+and, to the interest which Laura awakened in every breast, was added in
+Lady Pelham's all the benevolence of self-complacency. Laura, on the
+other hand, did not dream that any fault could harbour in the
+unsuspicious liberal heart which had believed the tale, and removed the
+difficulties of a stranger. She did not once dream that she owed her new
+asylum to any motives less noble than disinterested goodness.
+
+No wonder that her Ladyship's motive escaped the penetration of Laura,
+when it even evaded her own. And yet no principle could be more simple
+in its nature, or more constant in its operation, than that which
+influenced Lady Pelham; but the Proteus put on so many various forms,
+that he ever evaded detection from the subject of his sway. In the
+meantime, the desire of performing a generous action--of securing the
+gratitude of a feeling heart--of patronizing a poor relation, were the
+only motives which her Ladyship acknowledged to herself, when she
+offered protection to Laura. An idea had, indeed, darted across her
+right honourable mind, that she might now secure a humble companion at a
+rate lower than the usual price of such conveniences: a momentary
+notion, too, she formed of exciting the jealousy of her daughter, by
+replacing her with so formidable a competitor for favour; but these, she
+thought, were mere collateral advantages, and by no means the
+circumstances which fixed her determination. The resolution upon which
+she acted, was taken, as her resolutions generally were, without
+caution; and she expressed it, as her custom was, the moment it was
+formed. Laura was scarcely gone, however, when her aunt began to repent
+of her precipitancy, and to wish, as she had often occasion to do, that
+she had taken a little more time for consideration. But she comforted
+herself, that she could at any time get rid of her charge, by
+recommending Laura to one of the situations which she had mentioned as
+her choice; and the lady knew it would not be difficult to find one more
+lucrative than that upon which her niece was entering; for how could she
+possibly offer wages to so near a relation, or insult with the gift of
+a trifling sum a person of Laura's dignity of deportment? These reasons,
+Lady Pelham alleged to herself, as sufficient grounds for a resolution
+never to affront her niece by a tender of pecuniary favours.
+
+While these thoughts were revolving in Lady Pelham's mind, Laura had
+reached her home; and, on her knees, was thanking Providence for having
+raised up for her a protector and a friend, and praying that she might
+be enabled to repay, in affectionate and respectful duty, a part of the
+debt of gratitude which she owed to her benefactress. The rest of the
+evening she spent in preparing for her removal--in ruminating on her
+interview with her aunt, and in endeavouring to compose, from the scanty
+materials which she possessed, a character of this new arbitress of her
+destiny. From Lady Pelham's prompt decision in favour of a stranger,
+from her unreserved expression of her feelings, from her lively manner
+and animated countenance, Laura concluded that she was probably of a
+warm temper, susceptible, and easily wounded by unkindness or neglect,
+but frank, candid, and forgiving. Laura wished that she had better
+studied her aunt's physiognomy. What she recollected of it was quite
+unintelligible to her. She laboured in vain to reconcile the feminine
+curvatures of the nose and forehead with the inflexible closing of the
+mouth, and the hard outline of the chin, where lurked no soft relenting
+line.
+
+But however the countenance might puzzle conjecture, of the mind she
+harboured not a doubt; Lady Pelham's, she was persuaded, was one of
+those open generous souls, which the young and unwary are always
+prepared to expect and to love--souls having no disguise, and needing
+none. Now this was precisely the character which Lady Pelham often and
+sincerely drew of herself: and who ought to have been so intimately
+acquainted with her Ladyship's dispositions?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+It was not without hesitation that Laura formed her resolution to
+conceal from Hargrave her place of abode. She felt for the uneasiness
+which this concealment would cause him. She feared that her desertion
+might remove one incitement to a virtuous course. But she considered,
+that while their future connection was doubtful, it was imprudent to
+strengthen by habitual intercourse their need of each other's society;
+and she reflected, that she could best estimate his character from
+actions performed beyond the sphere of her influence. Her watchful
+self-distrust made her fear to expose her resolution to his
+importunities; and she felt the impropriety of introducing into her
+aunt's family, a person who stood on terms with her which she did not
+choose to explain. These reasons induced her to withhold from Hargrave
+the knowledge of her new situation; and, certain that if it were known
+to Mrs Stubbs or her servants he would soon be master of the secret, she
+left no clue by which to trace her retreat. Perhaps, though she did not
+confess it to herself, she was assisted in this act of self-command by a
+latent hope, that as she was now to be introduced to a society on his
+own level, Hargrave might not find the mystery quite inscrutable.
+
+She was kindly welcomed by Lady Pelham, and took possession of a small
+but commodious apartment, where she arranged her drawing-materials,
+together with the few books she possessed, intending to make that her
+retreat as often as her aunt found amusement or occupation independent
+of her. She resolved to devote her chief attention to making herself
+useful and entertaining to her patroness. In the first, she derived
+hopes of success, from Lady Pelham's declared incapacity for all
+employments that are strictly feminine. The second, she thought, would
+be at once easy and pleasant, for Lady Pelham was acute, lively, and
+communicative. This latter quality she possessed in an unusual degree,
+and yet Laura found it difficult to unravel her character. In general,
+she saw that her aunt's understanding was bright; she was persuaded that
+in general her heart was warm and generous; but the descent to
+particulars baffled Laura's penetration. Lady Pelham could amuse--could
+delight; she said many wise, and many brilliant things; but her wisdom
+was not always well-timed, and her brilliant things were soap-bubbles in
+the sun, sparkling and highly coloured, but vanishing at the touch of
+him who would examine their structure. Lady Pelham could dispute with
+singular acuteness. By the use of ambiguous terms, by ingenious
+sophistry, by dexterously shifting from the ground of controversy, she
+could baffle, and perplex, and confound her opponents: but she could not
+argue; she never convinced. Her opinions seemed fluctuating, and Laura
+was sometimes ready to imagine that she defended them, not because they
+were just, nor even because they were her own, but merely because she
+had called them so; for with a new antagonist she could change sides,
+and maintain the opposite ground with equal address.
+
+In spite of all the warmth of heart for which she gave her heart credit,
+Laura soon began to imagine that Lady Pelham had no friends. Among all
+the acquaintances whom she attracted and amused, no one seemed to
+exchange regard with her. The gaiety of pleasure never softened in her
+presence into the tenderness of affection. Laura could not discover that
+there existed one being from whose failings Lady Pelham respectfully
+averted her own sight, while reverently veiling them from the eyes of
+others. A few, a very few, seemed to be the objects of Lady Pelham's
+esteem; those of her love Laura could not discover. Towards her,
+however, her aunt expressed a strong affection; and Laura continued to
+persuade herself, that if Lady Pelham had no friends, it was because she
+was surrounded by those who were not worthy of her friendship.
+
+As she appeared to invite and to desire unreserved confidence, Laura had
+soon made her acquainted with the narrative of her short life, excepting
+in so far as it related to Hargrave. At the detail of the unworthy
+advantage which Warren had taken of Montreville's inability to enforce
+his claim for the annuity, Lady Pelham broke out into sincere and
+vehement expressions of indignation and contempt; for no one more
+cordially abhorred oppression, or despised meanness in others. She
+immediately gave directions to her man of business to attempt bringing
+the affair to a conclusion, and even to threaten Warren with a
+prosecution in case of his refusal. Virtuous resistance of injustice was
+motive sufficient for this action. Pity that Lady Pelham should have
+sought another in the economy and ease with which it promised to provide
+for an indigent relative! Mr Warren was no sooner informed that the poor
+obscure unfriended Laura was the niece of Lady Pelham, and the inmate of
+her house, than he contrived to arrive at a marvellous certainty that
+the price of the annuity had been paid, and that the mistake in the
+papers relating to it originated in mere accident. In less than a
+fortnight the informality was rectified, and the arrears of the annuity
+paid into Laura's hands; the lawyer having first, at Lady Pelham's
+desire, deducted the price of his services.
+
+With tears in her eyes, Laura surveyed her wealth, now of diminished
+value in her estimation. 'Only a few weeks ago,' said she, 'how precious
+had this been to me.--But now!--Yet it is precious still,' said she, as
+she wiped the tears away, 'for it can minister occasions of obedience
+and usefulness.' That very day she dispatched little presents for each
+of Mrs Douglas's children, in which use was more considered than show;
+and in the letter which announced her gifts, she inclosed half the
+remaining sum to be distributed among her own poor at Glenalbert. That
+her appearance might not discredit her hostess, she next proceeded to
+renew her wardrobe; and though she carefully avoided unnecessary
+expence, she consulted not only decency but elegance in her attire. In
+this, and all other matters of mere indifference, Laura was chiefly
+guided by her aunt; for she had early observed that this lady, upon all
+occasions, small as well as great, loved to exercise the office of
+dictatrix. No person could have been better fitted than Laura to
+conciliate such a temper; for on all the lesser occasions of submissions
+she was as gentle and complying as she was inflexible upon points of
+real importance. In their conversations, too, though Laura defended her
+own opinions with great firmness, she so carefully avoided direct
+contradiction or sarcastic retort, impatience in defeat, or triumph in
+victory, that even Lady Pelham could scarcely find subject of irritation
+in so mild an antagonist. In some respects, their tempers seemed to
+tally admirably. Lady Pelham had great aptitude in detecting errors,
+Laura a genius for remedying them. Difficulty always roused her
+Ladyship's impatience, but she found an infallible resource in the
+perseverance of Laura. In short, Laura contrived so many opportunities,
+or seized with such happy art those which presented themselves, of
+ministering to the comfort or convenience of her aunt, that she became
+both respectable and necessary to her; and this was, generally speaking,
+the utmost extent of Lady Pelham's attachments.
+
+Lady Pelham sometimes spoke of her daughter, and Laura never missed the
+opportunity of urging a reconciliation. She insisted that the rights of
+natural affection were unalienable; that as they did not rest upon the
+merits, so neither could they be destroyed by the unworthiness either of
+parents or of children. The mother answered, with great impatience, that
+Laura's argument was entirely founded on prejudice; that it was true
+that for the helplessness of infancy, a peculiar feeling was provided;
+but that in all animals this peculiar feeling ceased as soon as it was
+no longer essential to the existence of the individual. 'From
+thenceforth,' added she, 'the regard must be founded on the qualities of
+the head and heart; and if my child is destitute of these, I can see no
+reason why I should prefer her to the child of any other woman.' 'Ah!'
+said Laura, tears of grateful recollection rushing down her cheek, 'some
+parents have loved their child with a fervour which no worth of hers
+could merit.' The gush of natural sensibility for this time averted the
+rising storm; but the next time that Laura renewed her conciliatory
+efforts, Lady Pelham, growing more vehement as she became herself
+convinced that she was in the wrong, burst into a paroxysm of rage; and,
+execrating all rebellious children, and their defenders, commanded Laura
+in future to confine her attention to what might concern herself.
+
+The humbling spectacle of a female face distorted with passion was not
+quite new to Laura. Undismayed, she viewed it with calm commiseration;
+and mildly expressing her sorrow for having given offence, took up her
+work and left the ferment to subside at leisure. Her Ladyship's passion
+soon cooled; and, making advances with a sort of surly condescension,
+she entered on a new topic. Laura answered exactly as if nothing
+disagreeable had happened; and Lady Pelham could not divine whether her
+niece commanded her countenance, or her temper. Upon one principle of
+judging the lady had grounds for her doubt; she herself had sometimes
+commanded her countenance--her temper never.
+
+Laura not only habitually avoided giving or taking offence, but made it
+a rule to extinguish its last traces by some act of cordiality and
+good-will. This evening, therefore, she proposed, with a grace which
+seemed rather to petition a favour than to offer a service, to attempt
+a portrait of her aunt. The offer was accepted with pleasure, and the
+portrait begun on the following day. It proved a likeness, and a
+favourable one. Lady Pelham was kinder than ever. Laura avoided the
+prohibited subject, and all was quiet and serene. Lady Pelham at last
+herself reverted to it; for indeed she could not long forbear to speak
+upon any topic that roused her passions. No dread of personal
+inconvenience could deter Laura from an act of justice or mercy, and she
+again steadily pronounced her opinion. But aware that one who would
+persuade must be careful not to irritate, she expressed her sentiments
+with still more cautious gentleness than formerly; and perceiving that
+her aunt was far more governed by passion than by reason, she quitted
+argument for entreaty. By these means she avoided provoking hostility,
+though she failed to win compliance. Lady Pelham seemed to be utterably
+impenetrable to entreaty, or to take pride in resisting it, and Laura
+had only to hope that time would favour her suit.
+
+Lady Pelham mentioned an intention of moving early to the country, and
+Laura rejoiced in the prospect of once more beholding the open face of
+Heaven--of listening to nature's own music--of breathing the light air
+of spring. She longed to turn her ear from the discords of the city to
+the sweet sounds of peace--her eye from countenances wan with care,
+flushed with intemperance, or ghastly with famine, to cheeks brown with
+wholesome exercise, or ruddy with health and contentment--to exchange
+the sight of dusky brick walls, and walks overlooked by thousands, for
+the sunny slope or the sheltered solitary lane. Lady Pelham took
+pleasure in describing the beauties of Walbourne, and Laura listened to
+her with interest, anticipating eagerly the time when she should inhabit
+so lovely, so peaceful a scene. But that interest and eagerness rose to
+the highest, when she accidentally discovered that the De Courcy family
+were Lady Pelham's nearest neighbours in the country.
+
+The want of something to love and cherish, which was with her Ladyship a
+mere form of speech, was with Laura a real necessity of nature; and
+though it was one which almost every situation could supply, since every
+creature that approached her was the object of her benevolence, yet much
+of the happiness of so domestic a being depended on the exercise of the
+dearer charities, and no one was more capable of a distinguishing
+preference than Laura. She had a hearty regard for the De Courcy family.
+She revered Mrs De Courcy; she liked Harriet; and bestowed on Montague
+her cordial esteem and gratitude. This gratitude had now acquired a
+sacred tenderness; for it was associated in her mind with the
+remembrance of a parent. De Courcy's self-denial had cheered her
+father's sick-bed, his benevolence gladdened her father's heart, and his
+self-denial appeared more venerable, his benevolence more endearing.
+
+Having written to inform Harriet of the change in her situation, she
+discovered from her answer a new proof of De Courcy's friendship, in the
+fruitless journey which he had made to relieve her, and she regretted
+that her caution had deprived her of an opportunity of seeing and
+thanking him for all his kindness. 'Yet, if we had met,' said she, 'I
+should probably have acted as I have done a thousand times before; left
+him to believe me an insensible, ungrateful creature, for want of
+courage to tell him that I was not so.' She longed, however, to see De
+Courcy; for with him she thought she could talk of her father--to him
+lament her irreparable loss, dwell with him on the circumstances that
+aggravated her sorrow--on the prospects which mingled that sorrow with
+hope. This was a subject on which she never entered with Lady Pelham any
+farther than necessity required--real sorrow has its holy ground, on
+which no vulgar foot must tread. The self-command of Laura would have
+forbidden her, in any situation, to darken with a settled gloom the
+sunshine of domestic cheerfulness; but Lady Pelham had in her somewhat
+which repels the confidence of grief. Against all the arrows of
+misfortune, blunted at least as they rebound from the breasts of others,
+she seemed to 'wear a charmed life.' She often indeed talked of
+sensibility, and reprobated the want of it as the worst of faults; but
+the only kind of it in which she indulged rather inclined to the
+acrimonious than the benevolent, and Laura began to perceive, that
+however her aunt might distinguish them in others, irascible passions
+and keen feelings were in herself synonymous.
+
+After the effort of giving and receiving the entertainment which Lady
+Pelham constantly offered, and as constantly exacted in return, Laura
+experienced a sensation of recovered freedom when the arrival of a
+visitor permitted her to escape to her own apartment. She saw nobody but
+her aunt, and never went abroad except to church. Thus, during a
+fortnight which she had passed in Grosvenor Street she had heard nothing
+of Hargrave. She was anxious to know whether he visited Lady Pelham;
+for, with rustic ignorance, she imagined that all people of condition
+who resided in the same town must be known to each other; but she had
+not courage to ask, and searched in vain for his name among the cards
+that crowded the table in the lobby. Though she was conscious of some
+curiosity to know how he employed the hours which her absence left
+vacant, she did not own to herself that she was at all concerned in a
+resolution which she took, to inquire in person whether any letters had
+been left for her with Mrs Stubbs. She did not choose to commit the
+inquiry to a servant, because she would not condescend to enjoin her
+messenger to secrecy as to the place of her abode; and she continued
+resolved to give her lover no clue to discover it.
+
+Accordingly, she early one morning set out in a hackney-coach, which she
+took the precaution to leave at some distance from her old lodgings,
+ordering it to wait her return. Fanny was delighted to see her, and
+charmed with the improvement of her dress, and the returning
+healthfulness of her appearance; but the landlady eyed her askance, and
+surlily answered to her inquiry for her letters, that she would bring
+the only one she had got; muttering, as she went to fetch it, something
+of which the words 'secret doings' were all that reached Laura's ear.
+'There, Miss,' said the ungracious Mrs Stubbs, 'there's your letter, and
+there's the queer scrawl it came wrapped up in.' 'Mr De Courcy's hand,'
+cried Laura surprised, but thinking, from its size, that some time would
+be required to read it, she deferred breaking the seal till she should
+return to her carriage. 'I suppose you're mistaken, Miss,' said Mrs
+Stubbs; 'Mr De Courcy was here twice the day it came, and he never said
+a word of it.'
+
+Laura now tremulously inquired whether she might be permitted to visit
+her father's room; but being roughly answered that it was occupied, she
+quietly prepared to go. As Fanny followed her through the garden, to
+open the gate for her, Laura, a conscious blush rising to her face,
+inquired whether any body else had inquired for her since her departure.
+Fanny, who was ready to burst with the news of Hargrave's visit, and who
+was just meditating how she might venture to introduce it, improved this
+occasion of entering on a full detail of his behaviour. With the true
+waiting-maid-like fondness for romance, she enlarged upon all his
+extravagancies, peeping side-long now and then under Laura's bonnet, to
+catch encouragement from the complacent simper with which such tales are
+often heard. But no smile repaid her eloquence. With immoveable
+seriousness did Laura listen to her, gravely revolving the strange
+nature of that love which could so readily amalgamate with rage and
+jealousy, and every discordant passion. She was hurt at the indecorum
+which exposed these weaknesses to the observation of a servant; and
+with a sigh reflected, that, to constitute the happiness of a woman of
+sense and spirit, a husband must be possessed of qualities respectable
+as well as amiable.
+
+Fanny next tried, whether what concerned De Courcy might not awaken more
+apparent interest; and here she had at least a better opportunity to
+judge of the effect of her narrative, for Laura stopped and turned full
+towards her. But Fanny had now no transports to relate, except De
+Courcy's indignation of Mrs Stubbs' calumny; and it was not without
+hesitating, and qualifying, and apologizing, that the girl ventured to
+hint at the insinuation which her mistress had thrown out. She had at
+last succeeded in raising emotion, for indignant crimson dyed Laura's
+cheeks, and fire flashed from her eyes. But Laura seldom spoke while she
+was angry; and again she silently pursued her way. 'Pray, Madam,' said
+the girl as she was opening the gate, 'do be so good as to tell me where
+you live now, that nobody may speak ill of you before me?' 'I thank you,
+my good girl,' returned Laura, a placid smile again playing on her
+countenance; 'but my character is in no danger.--You were kind to us,
+Fanny, when you knew that we could not reward you; accept of this from
+me;' and she put five guineas into her hand. 'No, indeed, Ma'am,' cried
+Fanny, drawing back her hand and colouring; 'I was civil for pure good
+will, and--.' Laura, whose sympathy with her inferiors was not confined
+to her bodily wants, fully understood the feeling that revolts from
+bartering for gold alone the service of the heart. 'I know it my dear,'
+answered she, in an affectionate tone; 'and believe me, I only mean to
+acknowledge, not to repay, your kindness.' Fanny, however, persisted in
+her refusal, and Laura obliged her to leave her at the gate, where, with
+tears in her eyes, the girl stood gazing after her till she was out of
+sight. 'I'm sure,' said she, turning towards the house as Laura
+disappeared, 'I'm sure she was made to be a queen, for the more one
+likes her, the more she frightens one.'
+
+As soon as Laura was seated in her carriage, she opened her packet, and
+with momentary disappointment examined its contents. 'Not one line!' she
+cried in a tone of mortification; and then turned to the envelope
+addressed to Mrs Stubbs. Upon comparing this with the circumstances
+which she had lately heard, she at once comprehended De Courcy's
+intention of serving her by stealth, foregoing the credit due to his
+generosity. She wondered, indeed, that he had neglected to disguise his
+hand-writing in the superscription. 'Did he think,' said she, 'that I
+could have forgotten the writing that has so often brought comfort to my
+father?' She little guessed how distant from his mind was the repose
+which can attend to minute contrivance.
+
+Delighted to discover a trait of character which tallied so well with
+her preconceived opinion, she no sooner saw Lady Pelham than she related
+it to her aunt, and began a warm eulogium on De Courcy's temper and
+dispositions. Lady Pelham coldly cut her short, by saying, 'I believe Mr
+De Courcy is a very good young man, but I am not very fond of prodigies.
+One can't both wonder and like at a time; your men with two heads are
+always either supposititious or disgusting.' This speech was one of the
+dampers which the warm heart abhors; real injury could not more
+successfully chill affection or repress confidence. It had just malice
+and just truth enough to be provoking; and for the second time that day
+Laura had to strive with the risings of anger. She was upon the point of
+saying, 'So, aware of the impossibility of being at once wonderful and
+pleasing, your Ladyship, I suppose, aims at only one of these objects;'
+but ere the sarcasm found utterance, she checked herself, and hastened
+out of the room, with the sensation of having escaped from danger. She
+retired to write to De Courcy a letter of grateful acknowledgment; in
+which, after having received Lady Pelham's approbation, she inclosed his
+gift, explaining the circumstances which now rendered it unnecessary.
+
+Lady Pelham was not more favourable to the rest of the De Courcy family
+than she had been to Montague. She owned, indeed, that Mrs De Courcy was
+the best woman in the world, but a virtue, she said, so cased in armour,
+necessarily precluded all grace or attraction. Harriet she characterized
+as a little sarcastic coquette. Laura, weary of being exposed to the
+double peril of weakly defending, or angrily supporting her attacked
+friends, ceased to mention the De Courcys at all; though, with a
+pardonable spirit of contradiction, she loved them the better for the
+unprovoked hostility of Lady Pelham. The less she talked of them, the
+more she longed for the time when she might, unrestrained, exchange with
+them testimonies of regard. The trees in the Park, as they burst into
+leaf, stimulated Laura's desire for the country; and while she felt the
+genial air of spring, or listened to the early song of some luckless
+bird caged in a neighbouring window, or saw the yellow glories of the
+crocus peeping from its unnatural sanctuary, she counted the days till
+her eyes should be gladdened with the joyous face of nature. Only a
+fortnight had now to pass before her wish was to be gratified, for Lady
+Pelham intended at the end of that time to remove to Walbourne.
+
+Laura was just giving the finishing touches to her aunt's portrait when
+a visitor was announced; and, very unwilling to break off at this
+interesting crisis, Lady Pelham having first scolded the servant for
+letting in her friend, desired him to shew the lady into the room where
+Laura was at work. The usual speeches being made, the lady began--'Who
+does your ladyship think bowed to me _en passant_ just as I was getting
+out of the carriage?--Why, Lady Bellamer!--Can you conceive such
+effrontery?' 'Indeed, I think, in common modesty, she should have waited
+for your notice!' 'Do you know, I am told on good authority that
+Hargrave is determined not to marry her.' Laura's breath came
+short.--'He is very right,' returned Lady Pelham. 'A man must be a great
+fool to marry where he has had such damning proofs of frailty.' Laura's
+heart seemed to pause for a moment, and then to redouble its
+beating.--'What Hargrave can this be?' thought she; but she durst not
+inquire. 'I hear,' resumed the lady, 'that his uncle is enraged at him,
+and more for the duel than the _crim. con._' The pencils dropped from
+Laura's hand.--Fain would she have inquired, what she yet so much
+dreaded to know; but her tongue refused its office. 'I see no cause for
+that,' returned Lady Pelham; 'Hargrave could not possibly refuse to
+fight after such an affair.' 'Oh certainly not!' replied the lady; 'but
+Lord Lincourt thinks, that in such a case, Hargrave ought to have
+insisted upon giving Lord Bellamer the first fire, and then have fired
+his own pistol in the air.--But, bless me, what ails Miss Montreville,'
+cried the visitor, looking at Laura, who, dreadfully convinced, was
+stealing out of the room. 'Nothing,' answered Laura; and fainted.
+
+Lady Pelham called loudly for help; and, while the servants were
+administering it, stood by conjecturing what could be the cause of
+Laura's illness; wondering whether it could have any possible connection
+with Colonel Hargrave; or whether it were the effect of mere
+constitutional habit.
+
+The moment Laura shewed signs of recollection, Lady Pelham began her
+interrogation. 'What has been the matter my dear? What made you ill? Did
+any thing affect you? Are you subject to faintings?' Laura remained
+silent, and, closing her eyes, seemed deaf to all her aunt's questions.
+After a pause, Lady Pelham renewed the attack.--'Have you any concern
+with Colonel Hargrave, Laura?' 'None,' answered Laura, with a smile of
+ineffable bitterness; and again closing her eyes, maintained an
+obstinate silence. Weary of ineffectual inquiries, Lady Pelham quitted
+her, giving orders, that she should be assisted into bed, and
+recommending to her to take some rest.
+
+Vain advice! Laura could not rest! From the stupor which had overpowered
+her faculties, she awoke to the full conviction, that all her earthly
+prospects were for ever darkened. Just entering on life, she seemed
+already forsaken of all its hopes, and all its joys. The affections
+which had delighted her youth were torn from the bleeding soul; no
+sacred connection remained to bless her maturity; no endearment awaited
+her decline. In all her long and dreary journey to the grave, she saw no
+kindly resting-place. Still Laura's hopes and wishes had never been
+bounded to this narrow sphere; and when she found here no rest for the
+sole of her foot, she had, in the promises of religion, an ark whither
+she could turn for shelter. But how should she forget that these
+promises extended not to Hargrave. How shut her ear to the dread voice
+which, in threatening the adulterer and the murderer, denounced
+vengeance against Hargrave! With horror unspeakable she considered his
+incorrigible depravity; with agony, revolved its fearful consequences.
+
+Yet, while the guilt was hateful in her eyes, her heart was full of love
+and compassion for the offender. The feeling with which she remembered
+his unfaithfulness to her had no resemblance to jealousy. 'He has been
+misled,' she cried; 'vilely betrayed by a wretch, who has taken
+advantage of his weakness. Oh how could she look on that form, that
+countenance, and see in them only the objects of a passion, vile as the
+heart that cherished it.'--Then she would repent of her want of
+candour.--'I am unjust, I am cruel,' she said, 'thus to load with all
+the burden of this foul offence, her who had perhaps the least share in
+it.--No! He must have been the tempter; it is not in woman to be so
+lost.'
+
+But in the midst of sorrow, whose violence seemed at times almost to
+confuse her reason, she never hesitated for a moment on the final
+dissolution of her connection with Hargrave. She formed no resolution on
+a subject where no alternative seemed to remain, but assumed, as the
+foundation of all her plans of joyless duty, her eternal separation from
+Hargrave; a separation final as death. By degrees she became more able
+to collect her thoughts; and the close of a sleepless night found her
+exercising the valuable habit of seeking in herself the cause of her
+misfortunes. The issue of her self-examination was the conviction, that
+she had bestowed on a frail fallible creature, a love disproportioned
+to the merits of any created thing; that she had obstinately clung to
+her idol after she had seen its baseness; and that now the broken reed
+whereon she had leaned was taken away, that she might restore her trust
+and her love where alone they were due. That time infallibly brings
+comfort even to the sorest sorrows--that if we make not shipwreck of
+faith and a good conscience, we save from the storms of life the
+materials of peace at least--that lesser joys become valuable when we
+are deprived of those of keener relish--are lessons which even
+experience teaches but slowly: and Laura had them yet in a great measure
+to learn. She was persuaded that she should go on mourning to the grave.
+What yet remained of her path of life seemed to lie through a desert
+waste, never more to be warmed with the sunshine of affection; never
+more to be brightened with any ray of hope, save that which beamed from
+beyond the tomb. She imagined, that lonely and desolate she should pass
+through life, and joyfully hail the messenger that called her away; like
+some wretch, who, cast alone on a desert rock, watches for the sail that
+is to waft him to his native land.
+
+The despair of strong minds is not listless or inactive. The more Laura
+was convinced that life was lost as to all its pleasing purposes, the
+more was she determined that it should be subservient to useful ends.
+Earthly felicity, she was convinced, had fled for ever from her grasp;
+and the only resolution she could form, was never more to pursue it;
+but, in the persevering discharge of the duties which yet remained to
+her, to seek a preparation for joys which earth has not to bestow. That
+she might not devote to fruitless lamentation the time which was claimed
+by duty, she, as soon as it was day, attempted to rise, intending to
+spend the morning in acts of resignation for herself, and prayers that
+pardon and repentance might be granted to him whose guilt had destroyed
+her peace. But her head was so giddy, that, unable to stand, she was
+obliged to return to her bed. It was long ere she was again able to quit
+it. A slow fever seized her, and brought her to the brink of the grave.
+Her senses, however, remained uninjured, and she had full power and
+leisure to make those reflections which force themselves upon all who
+are sensible of approaching dissolution. Happy were it, if all who smart
+under disappointment, would anticipate the hour which will assuredly
+arrive, when the burden which they impatiently bear shall appear to be
+lighter than vanity! The hand which is soon to be cold, resigns without
+a struggle the baubles of the world. Its cheats delude not the eye that
+is for ever closing. A deathbed is that holy ground where the charms of
+the enchanter are dissolved; where the forms which he had clothed with
+unreal beauty, or aggravated to gigantic horror, are seen in their true
+form and colouring. In its true form and colouring did Laura behold her
+disappointment; when, with characteristic firmness, she had wrung from
+her attendants, a confession of her danger. With amazement she looked
+back on the infatuation which could waste on any concern less than
+eternal, the hopes, the fears, and the wishes which she had squandered
+on a passion which now seemed trivial as the vapour scattered by the
+wind.
+
+At last, aided by the rigid temperance of her former life, and her
+exemplary patience in suffering, the strength of her constitution began
+to triumph over her disorder. As she measured her steps back to earth
+again, the concerns which had seemed to her reverting eye diminished
+into nothing, again swelled into importance; but Laura could not soon
+forget the time when she had seen them as they were; and this
+remembrance powerfully aided her mind in its struggle to cast off its
+now disgraceful shackles. Yet bitter was the struggle; for what is so
+painful as to tear at once from the breast what has twined itself with
+every fibre, linked itself with every hope, stimulated every desire, and
+long furnished objects of intense, of unceasing interest. The heart
+which death leaves desolate, slowly and gently resigns the affection to
+which it has fondly clung. It is permitted to seek indulgence in
+virtuous sorrow, to rejoice in religious hope; and even memory brings
+pleasure dear to the widowed mind. But she who mourned the depravity of
+her lover, felt that she was degraded by her sorrow; hope was, as far as
+he was concerned, utterly extinguished; and memory presented only a
+mortifying train of weaknesses and self-deceptions.
+
+But love is not that irremediable calamity which romance has delighted
+to paint, and the vulgar to believe it. Time, vanity, absence, or any of
+a hundred other easy remedies, serves to cure the disease in the mild
+form in which it affects feeble minds, while more Herculean spirits tear
+off the poisoned garment, though it be with mortal anguish. In a few
+weeks, the passion which had so long disturbed the peace of Laura was
+hushed to lasting repose; but it was the repose of the land where the
+whirlwind has passed; dreary and desolate. Her spirits had received a
+shock from which it was long, very long, ere she could rouse them. And
+he who had ceased to be an object of passion, still excited an interest
+which no other human being could awaken. Many a wish did she breathe
+for his happiness; many a fervent prayer for his reformation. In spite
+of herself, she lamented the extinguished love, as well as the lost
+lover; and never remembered, without a heavy sigh, that the season of
+enthusiastic attachment was, with her, passed never to return.
+
+But she cordially wished that she might never again behold the cause of
+so much anguish and humiliation. She longed to be distant from all
+chance of such a meeting, and was anxious to recover strength sufficient
+for her journey to Walbourne. Lady Pelham only waited for her niece's
+recovery; and, as soon as she could bear the motion of a carriage, they
+left London.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+They travelled slowly, and Laura's health seemed improved by the
+journey. The reviving breeze of early spring, the grass field exchanging
+its winter olive for a bright green, the ploughman's cheerful labour,
+the sower whistling to his measured step, the larch trees putting forth
+the first and freshest verdure of the woods, the birds springing busy
+from the thorn, were objects whose cheering influence would have been
+lost on many a querulous child of disappointment. But they were
+industriously improved to their proper use by Laura, who acknowledged in
+them the kindness of a father, mingling with some cordial drop even the
+bitterest cup of sorrow. The grief which had fastened on her heart she
+never obtruded on her companion. She behaved always with composure,
+sometimes with cheerfulness. She never obliquely reflected upon
+Providence, by insinuations of the hardness of her fate, nor indulged in
+splenetic dissertations on the inconstancy and treachery of man. Indeed
+she never, by the most distant hint, approached the ground of her own
+peculiar sorrow. She could not, without the deepest humiliation, reflect
+that she had bestowed her love on an object so unworthy. She burnt with
+shame at the thought of having been so blinded, so infatuated, by
+qualities merely external. While she remembered, with extreme vexation,
+that she had suffered Hargrave to triumph in the confession of her
+regard, she rejoiced that no other witness existed of her folly--that
+she had never breathed the mortifying secret into any other ear.
+
+In this frame of mind, she repelled with calm dignity every attempt
+which Lady Pelham made to penetrate her sentiments; and behaved in such
+a manner that her aunt could not discover whether her spirits were
+affected by languor of body or by distress of mind. Laura, indeed, had
+singular skill in the useful art of repulsing without offence; and Lady
+Pelham, spite of her curiosity, found it impossible to question her
+niece with freedom. Notwithstanding her youth, and her almost dependent
+situation, Laura inspired Lady Pelham with involuntary awe. Her
+dignified manners, her vigorous understanding, the inflexible integrity
+which descended even to the regulation of her forms of speech, extorted
+some degree of respectful caution from one not usually over careful of
+giving offence. Lady Pelham was herself at times conscious of this
+restraint; and her pride was wounded by it. In Laura's absence, she
+sometimes thought of it with impatience, and resolved to cast it off at
+their next interview; but whenever they met, the unoffending majesty of
+Laura effaced her resolution, or awed her from putting it in practice.
+She could not always, however, refrain from using that sort of innuendo
+which is vulgarly called _talking at_ one's companions; a sort of
+rhetoric in great request with those who have more spleen than courage,
+and which differs from common scolding only in being a little more
+cowardly and a little more provoking. All her Ladyship's dexterity and
+perseverance in this warfare were entirely thrown away. Whatever might
+be meant, Laura answered to nothing but what met the ear; and, with
+perverse simplicity, avoided the particular application of general
+propositions. Lady Pelham next tried to coax herself into Laura's
+confidence. She redoubled her caresses and professions of affection. She
+hinted, not obscurely, that if Laura would explain her wishes, they
+would meet with indulgence, and even assistance, from zealous
+friendship. Her professions were received with gratitude--her caresses
+returned with sensibility; but Laura remained impenetrable. Lady
+Pelham's temper could never brook resistance; and she would turn from
+Laura in a pet:--the pitiful garb of anger which cannot disguise, and
+dares not show itself. But Laura never appeared to bestow the slightest
+notice on her caprice, and received her returning smiles with unmoved
+complacency. Laura would fain have loved her aunt; but in spite of
+herself, her affection took feeble root amidst these alternations of
+frost and sunshine. She was weary of hints and insinuations; and felt
+not a little pleased that Lady Pelham's fondness for improving and
+gardening seemed likely to release her, during most of the hours of
+daylight, from this sort of sharpshooting warfare.
+
+It was several days after their arrival at Walbourne before they were
+visited by any of the De Courcy family. Undeceived in his hopes of
+Laura's regard, Montague was almost reluctant to see her again. Yet
+from the hour when he observed Lady Pelham's carriage drive up the
+avenue, he had constantly chosen to study at a window which looked
+towards Walbourne. Laura, too, often looked towards Norwood, excusing to
+herself the apparent neglect of her friends, by supposing that they had
+not been informed of her arrival. Lady Pelham was abroad superintending
+her gardeners, and Laura employed in her own apartment, when she was
+called to receive De Courcy. For the first time since the wreck of all
+her hopes, joy flushed the wan cheek of Laura, and fired her eye with
+transient lustre. 'I shall hear the voice of friendship once more,' said
+she, and she hastened down stairs with more speed than suited her but
+half-recovered strength. 'Dear Mr De Courcy,' she cried, joyfully
+advancing towards him! De Courcy scarcely ventured to raise his eyes.
+Laura held out her hand to him. 'She loves a libertine!' thought he,
+and, scarcely touching it, he drew back. With grief and surprise, Laura
+read the cold and melancholy expression of his face. Her feeble spirits
+failed under so chilling a reception; and while, in a low tremulous
+voice, she inquired for Mrs and Miss De Courcy, unbidden tears wandered
+down her cheeks. In replying, Montague again turned his eyes towards
+her; and, shocked at the paleness and dejection of her altered
+countenance, remembered only Laura ill and in sorrow. 'Good Heavens!' he
+exclaimed, with a voice of the tenderest interest, 'Laura--Miss
+Montreville, you are ill--you are unhappy!' Laura, vexed that her
+weakness should thus extort compassion, hastily dried her tears. 'I have
+been ill,' said she, 'and am still so weak that any trifle can
+discompose me.' Montague's colour rose. 'It is then a mere trifle in her
+eyes,' thought he, 'that I should meet her with coldness.' 'And yet,'
+continued Laura, reading mortification in his face, 'it is no trifle to
+fear that I have given offence where I owe so much gratitude.' 'Talk not
+of gratitude, I beseech you,' said De Courcy, 'I have no claim, no wish,
+to excite it.' 'Mr De Courcy,' cried Laura, bursting into tears of sad
+remembrance, 'has all your considerate friendship, all your soothing
+kindness to him who is gone, no claim to the gratitude of his child!'
+Montague felt that he stood at this moment upon dangerous ground, and he
+gladly availed himself of this opportunity to quit it. He led Laura to
+talk of her father, and of the circumstances of his death; and was not
+ashamed to mingle sympathetic tears with those which her narrative wrung
+from her. In her detail, she barely hinted at the labour by which she
+had supported her father; and avoided all allusion to the wants which
+she had endured. If any thing could have exalted her in the opinion of
+De Courcy, it would have been the humility which sought no praise to
+recompense exertion--no admiration to reward self-denial. 'The praise of
+man is with her as nothing,' thought he, gazing on her wasted form and
+faded features with fonder adoration than ever he had looked on her full
+blaze of beauty. 'She has higher hopes and nobler aims. And can such a
+creature love a sensualist!--Now, too, when his infamy cannot be unknown
+to her! Yet it must be so--she has never named him, even while
+describing scenes where he was daily present; and why this silence if he
+were indifferent to her? If I durst mention him!--but I cannot give her
+pain.'
+
+From this reverie De Courcy was roused by the entrance of Lady Pelham,
+whose presence brought to his recollection the compliments and
+ceremonial which Laura had driven from his mind. He apologized for
+having delayed his visit; and excused himself for having made it alone,
+by saying that his sister was absent on a visit to a friend, and that
+his mother could not yet venture abroad; but he warmly entreated that
+the ladies would wave etiquette, and see Mrs De Courcy at Norwood. Lady
+Pelham, excusing herself for the present on the plea of her niece's
+indisposition, urged De Courcy to direct his walks often towards
+Walbourne; in charity, she said, to Laura, who being unable to take
+exercise, spent her forenoons alone, sighing, she supposed, for some
+Scotch Strephon. Laura blushed; and Montague took his leave, pondering
+whether the blush was deepened by any feeling of consciousness.
+
+'She has a witchcraft in her that no language can express--no heart
+withstand--,' said De Courcy, suddenly breaking a long silence, as he
+and his mother were sitting tête à tête after dinner. 'Marriage is an
+excellent talisman against witchcraft,' said De Courcy, gravely; 'but
+Miss Montreville has charms that will delight the more the better they
+are known. There is such noble simplicity, such considerate benevolence,
+such total absence of vanity and selfishness in her character, that no
+woman was ever better fitted to embellish and endear domestic life.'
+'Perhaps in time,' pursued De Courcy, 'I might have become not unworthy
+of such a companion--But now it matters not,'--and, suppressing a very
+bitter sigh, he took up a book which he had of late been reading to his
+mother. 'You know, Montague,' said Mrs De Courcy, 'I think differently
+from you upon this subject. I am widely mistaken in Miss Montreville, if
+she could bestow her preference on a libertine, knowing him to be
+such.' Montague took involuntary pleasure in hearing this opinion
+repeated; yet he had less faith in it than he usually had in the
+opinions of his mother. 'After the emotion which his presence excited,'
+returned he,--'an emotion which even these low people--I cannot think of
+it with patience,' cried he, tossing away the book, and walking hastily
+up and down the room. 'To betray her weakness, her _only_ weakness, to
+such observers--to the wretch himself.' 'My dear De Courcy, do you make
+no allowance for the exaggeration, the rage for the romantic, so common
+to uneducated minds?' 'Wilkins could have no motive for inventing such a
+tale,' replied De Courcy; 'and if it had _any_ foundation, there is no
+room for doubt.' 'Admitting the truth of all you have heard,' resumed
+Mrs De Courcy, 'I see no reason for despairing of success. If I know any
+thing of character, Miss Montreville's attachments will ever follow
+excellence, real or imaginary. Your worth is real, Montague; and, as
+such, it will in time approve itself to her.' 'Ah, Madam, had her
+affection been founded even on imaginary excellence, must it not now
+have been completely withdrawn--now, when she cannot be unacquainted
+with his depravity. Yet she loves him still.--I am sure she loves him.
+Why else this guarded silence in regard to him?--Why not mention that
+she permitted his daily visits--saw him even on the night when her
+father died?' 'Supposing,' returned Mrs De Courcy, 'that her affection
+had been founded on imaginary excellence, might not traces of the ruins
+remain perceptible, even after the foundation had been taken away? Come,
+come, Montague, you are only four-and-twenty, you can afford a few years
+patience. If you act prudently, I am convinced that your perseverance
+will succeed; but if it should not, I know how you can bear
+disappointment. I am certain that your happiness depends not on the
+smile of any face, however fair.' 'I am ashamed,' said De Courcy, 'to
+confess how much my peace depends upon Laura. You know I have no
+ambition--all my joys must be domestic. It is as a husband and a father
+that all my wishes must be fulfilled--and all that I have ever fancied
+of venerable and endearing, so meet in her, that no other woman can ever
+fill her place.' 'That you have no ambition,' replied Mrs De Courcy, 'is
+one of the reasons why I join in your wishes. If your happiness had any
+connection with splendour, I should have regretted your choice of a
+woman without fortune. But all that is necessary for your comfort you
+will find in the warmth of heart with which Laura will return your
+affection--the soundness of principle with which she will assist you in
+your duties. Still, perhaps, you might find these qualities in others,
+though not united in an equal degree; but I confess to you, Montague, I
+despair of your again meeting with a woman whose dispositions and
+pursuits are so congenial to your own;--a woman, whose cultivated mind
+and vigorous understanding, may make her the companion of your studies
+as well as of your lighter hours.' 'My dear mother,' cried De Courcy,
+affectionately grasping her hand, 'it is no wonder that I persecute you
+with this subject so near to my heart for you always, and you alone,
+support my hopes. Yet should I even at last obtain this treasure, I must
+ever regret that I cannot awaken the enthusiasm which belongs only to a
+first attachment.' 'Montague,' said Mrs De Courcy, smiling, 'from what
+romance have you learnt that sentiment? However I shall not attempt the
+labour of combating it, for I prophesy that, before the change can be
+necessary, you will learn to be satisfied with being loved with reason.'
+'Many a weary day must pass before I can even hope for this cold
+preference. Indeed, if her choice is to be decided by mere rational
+approbation, why should I hope that it will fall upon me? Yet, if it be
+possible, her friendship I will gain--and I would not exchange it for
+the love of all her sex.' 'She already esteems you--highly esteems you,'
+said Mrs De Courcy; 'and I repeat that I think you need not despair of
+animating esteem into a warmer sentiment. But will you profit by my
+knowledge of my sex, Montague? You know, the less use we make of our own
+wisdom, the fonder we grow of bestowing it on others in the form of
+advice! Keep your secret carefully, Montague. Much of your hope depends
+on your caution. Pretensions to a pre-engaged heart are very generally
+repaid with dislike.' Montague promised attention to his mother's
+advice; but added, that he feared he should not long be able to follow
+it. 'I am a bad dissembler,' said he, 'and on this subject, it is
+alleged, that ladies are eagle-eyed.' 'Miss Montreville, of all women
+living, has the least vanity,' returned Mrs De Courcy; 'and you may
+always reinforce your caution, by recollecting that the prepossessions
+which will certainly be against you as a lover, may be secured in your
+favour as a friend.'
+
+The next day found De Courcy again at Walbourne; and again he enjoyed a
+long and private interview with Laura. Though their conversation turned
+only on indifferent subjects, De Courcy observed the settled melancholy
+which had taken possession of her mind. It was no querulous complaining
+sorrow, but a calm sadness, banishing all the cheerful illusions of a
+life which it still valued as the preparation for a better. To that
+better world all her hopes and wishes seemed already fled; and the saint
+herself seemed waiting, with resigned desire, for permission to depart.
+De Courcy's fears assigned to her melancholy its true cause. He would
+have given worlds to know the real state of her sentiments, and to
+ascertain how far her attachment had survived the criminality of
+Hargrave. But he had not courage to probe the painful wound. He could
+not bear to inflict upon Laura even momentary anguish; perhaps he even
+feared to know the full extent of those regrets which she lavished on
+his rival. With scrupulous delicacy he avoided approaching any subject
+which could at all lead her thoughts towards the cause of her sorrow,
+and never even seemed to notice the dejection which wounded him to the
+soul.
+
+'The spring of her mind is for ever destroyed,' said he to Mrs De
+Courcy, 'and yet she retains all her angelic benevolence. She strives to
+make pleasing to others, the objects that will never more give pleasure
+to her.' Mrs De Courcy expressed affectionate concern, but added, 'I
+never knew of a sorrow incurable at nineteen. We must bring Laura to
+Norwood, and find employments for her suited to her kindly nature.
+Meanwhile do you exert yourself to rouse her; and, till she is well
+enough to leave home, I shall freely resign to her all my claims upon
+your time.' De Courcy faithfully profited by his mother's permission,
+and found almost every day an excuse for visiting Walbourne. Sometimes
+he brought a book which he read aloud to the ladies; sometimes he
+borrowed one, which he chose to return in person; now he wished to shew
+Laura a medal, and now he had some particularly fine flower-seeds for
+Lady Pelham. Chemical experiments were an excellent pretext; for they
+were seldom completed at a visit, and the examination of one created a
+desire for another. Laura was not insensible to his attentions. She
+believed that he attributed whatever was visible of her depression to
+regrets for her father; and she was by turns ashamed of permitting her
+weakness to wear the mask of filial piety, and thankful that she escaped
+the degradation of being pitied as a love-sick girl. But love had now no
+share in Laura's melancholy. Compassion, strong indeed to a painful
+excess, was the only gentle feeling that mingled with the pain of
+remembering Hargrave. Who that, in early youth, gives way to the
+chilling conviction, that nothing on earth will ever again kindle a wish
+or a hope, can look without sadness on the long pilgrimage that spreads
+before them? Laura looked upon hers with resigned sadness, and a
+thousand times repeated to herself that it was but a point, compared
+with what lay beyond. Hopeless of happiness, she yet forced herself to
+seek short pleasure in the charms of nature, and the comforts of
+affluence; calling them the flowers which a bountiful hand had scattered
+in the desert which it was needful that she should tread alone. It was
+with some surprise that she found De Courcy's visits produced pleasure
+without requiring an effort to be pleased; and with thankfulness she
+acknowledged that the enjoyments of the understanding were still open to
+her, though those of the heart were for ever withdrawn.
+
+In the meantime her health improved rapidly, and she was able to join in
+Lady Pelham's rambles in the shrubbery. To avoid particularity, De
+Courcy had often quitted Laura to attend on these excursions; and he
+rejoiced when her recovered strength allowed him to gratify, without
+imprudence, the inclination which brought him to Walbourne. It often,
+however, required all his influence to persuade her to accompany him in
+his walks with Lady Pelham. Her Ladyship's curiosity had by no means
+subsided. On the contrary, it was rather exasperated by her conviction
+that her niece's dejection had not been the consequence of ill health,
+since it continued after that plea was removed; and Laura was constantly
+tormented with oblique attempts to discover what she was determined
+should never be known.
+
+Lady Pelham's attacks were now become the more provoking, because she
+could address her hints to a third person, who, not aware of their
+tendency, might strengthen them by assent, or unconsciously point them
+as they were intended. She contrived to make even her very looks
+tormenting, by directing, upon suitable occasions, sly glances of
+discovery to Laura's face; where, if they found out nothing, they at
+least insinuated that there was something to find out. She was
+inimitably dexterous and indefatigable in improving every occasion of
+innuendo. Any subject, however irrelevant, furnished her with the
+weapons of her warfare. 'Does this flower never open any further?' asked
+Laura, shewing one to De Courcy--'No,' said Lady Pelham, pushing in
+between them; 'that close thing, wrapped up in itself, never expands in
+the genial warmth; it never shews its heart.' 'This should be a precious
+book with so many envelopes,' said Laura, untying a parcel.--'More
+likely,' said Lady Pelham, with a sneer, 'that what is folded in so many
+doublings won't be worth looking into.' 'This day is cold for the
+season,' said De Courcy, one day warming himself after his ride.
+'Spring colds are the most chilling of any,' said Lady Pelham. 'They are
+like a repulsive character in youth; one is not prepared for them. The
+frosts of winter are more natural.'
+
+Lady Pelham was not satisfied with using the occasions that presented
+themselves; she invented others. When the weather confined her at home,
+and she had nothing else to occupy her, she redoubled her industry.
+'Bless me, what a sentiment!' she exclaimed, affecting surprise and
+consternation, though she had read the book which contained it above
+twenty times before.--'"Always live with a friend as if he might one day
+become an enemy!" I can conceive nothing more detestable. A cold-hearted
+suspicious wretch! Now to a friend I could not help being all open and
+ingenuous but a creature capable of having such a thought, could never
+have a friend.' Lady Pelham ran on for a while, contrasting her open
+ingenuous self, with the odious character which her significant looks
+appropriated to her niece, till even the mild Laura was provoked to
+reply. Fixing her eyes upon her aunt with calm severity, 'If
+Rochefoucault meant,' said she, 'that a friend should be treated with
+suspicious confidence, as if he might one day betray, I agree with your
+Ladyship in thinking such a sentiment incompatible with friendship; but
+we are indebted to him for a useful lesson, if he merely intended to
+remind us that it is easy to alienate affection without proceeding to
+real injury, and very possible to forfeit esteem without incurring
+serious guilt.'--The blood mounted in Lady Pelham's face, but the calm
+austerity of Laura's eye imposed silence, and she continued to turn over
+the pages of her book, while her niece rose and left the room. She then
+tossed it away, and walked angrily up and down, fretting between baulked
+curiosity and irritated pride. Finding every other mode of attack
+unsuccessful, she once more resolved to have recourse to direct
+interrogation. This intention had been frequently formed, and as often
+defeated by the dignified reserve of Laura; but now that Lady Pelham
+felt her pride concerned, she grew angry enough to be daring. It was so
+provoking to be kept in awe by a mere girl, a dependent. Lady Pelham
+could at any time meditate herself into a passion; she did so on the
+present occasion; and accordingly resolved and executed in the same
+breath. She followed Laura to her apartment, determined to insist upon
+knowing what affected her spirits. Laura received her with a smile so
+gracious, that, spite of herself, her wrath began to evaporate.
+Conceiving it proper, however, to maintain an air of importance, she
+began with an aspect that announced hostility, and a voice in which
+anger increased intended gravity into surliness. 'Miss Montreville, if
+you are at leisure I wish to speak with you.' 'Quite at leisure, Madam,'
+said Laura in a tone of the most conciliating good humour, and motioning
+her aunt to a seat by the fire. 'It is extremely unpleasant,' said Lady
+Pelham, tossing her head to escape the steady look of inquiry which
+Laura directed towards her; 'It is extremely unpleasant (at least if one
+has any degree of sensibility) to live with persons who always seem
+unhappy, and are always striving to conceal it, especially when one can
+see no cause for their unhappiness.' 'It must indeed be very
+distressing,' returned Laura mentally preparing for her defence. 'Then I
+wonder,' said Lady Pelham, with increased acrimony of countenance, 'why
+you choose to subject me to so disagreeable a situation. It is very
+evident that there is something in your mind which you are either afraid
+or ashamed to tell.' 'I am sorry,' said Laura, with unmoved
+self-possession, 'to be the cause of any uneasiness to your Ladyship. I
+do not pretend that my spirits are high, but I should not have thought
+their depression unaccountable. The loss of my only parent, and such a
+parent! is reason for lasting sorrow; and my own so recent escape from
+the jaws of the grave, might impose seriousness upon levity itself.'--'I
+have a strong notion, however, that none of these is the true cause of
+your penseroso humours. Modern misses don't break their hearts for the
+loss of their parents.--I remember you fainted away just when Mrs
+Harrington was talking to me of Colonel Hargrave's affair; and I know he
+was quartered for a whole year in your neighbourhood.'
+
+Lady Pelham stopped to reconnoitre her niece's face, but without
+success; for Laura had let fall her scissors, and was busily seeking
+them on the carpet. 'Did you know him?' inquired Lady Pelham. 'I have
+seen him,' answered Laura, painfully recollecting how little she had
+really known him. 'Did he visit at Glenalbert?' resumed her Ladyship,
+recovering her temper, as she thought she had discovered a clue to
+Laura's sentiments. 'Yes, Madam, often;' replied Laura, who having, with
+a strong effort, resumed her self-possession, again submitted her
+countenance to inspection. 'And he was received there as a lover I
+presume?' said Lady Pelham, in a tone of interrogation. Laura fixed on
+her aunt one of her cool commanding glances. 'Your Ladyship,' returned
+she, 'seems so much in earnest, that if the question were a little less
+extraordinary, I should almost have thought you expected a serious
+answer.' Lady Pelham's eyes were not comfortably placed, and she
+removed them by turns to every piece of furniture in the apartment.
+Speedily recovering herself, she returned to the charge. 'I think, after
+the friendship I have shewn, I have some right to be treated with
+confidence.' 'My dear Madam,' said Laura, gratefully pressing Lady
+Pelham's hand between her own, 'believe me, I am not forgetful of the
+kindness which has afforded me shelter and protection; but there are
+some subjects of which no degree of intimacy will permit the discussion.
+It is evident, that whatever proposals have hitherto been made to me,
+have received such an answer as imposes discretion upon me. No addresses
+which I accept shall ever be a secret from your Ladyship--those which I
+reject I am not equally entitled to reveal.' 'By which I understand you
+to say, that you have rejected Colonel Hargrave?' said Lady Pelham. 'By
+no means,' answered Laura, with spirit, 'I was far from saying so. I
+merely intended to express my persuasion, that you are too generous to
+urge me on a sort of subject where I ought not to be communicative.'
+'Very well, Miss Montreville,' cried Lady Pelham, rising in a pet, 'I
+comprehend the terms on which you choose that we should live. I may have
+the honour of being your companion, but I must not aspire to the rank of
+a friend.' 'Indeed, my dear aunt,' said Laura, in a voice irresistibly
+soothing, 'I have no earthly wish so strong as to find a real friend in
+you: but,' added she, with an insinuating smile, 'I shall never earn the
+treasure with tales of luckless love.' 'Well, Madam,' said Lady Pelham,
+turning to quit the room, 'I shall take care for the future not to press
+myself into your confidence; and as it is not the most delightful thing
+in the world to live in the midst of ambuscades, I shall intrude as
+little as possible on your more agreeable engagements.' 'Pray, don't
+go,' said Laura with perfect good humour, and holding upon her delicate
+fingers a cap which she had been making, 'I have finished your cap. Pray
+have the goodness to let me try it on.' Female vanity is at least a
+_sexagénaire_. Lady Pelham sent a side glance towards the cap. 'Pray
+do,' said Laura, taking her hand, and coaxingly pulling her back. 'Make
+haste then,' said Lady Pelham, sullenly, 'for I have no time to spare.'
+'How becoming,' cried Laura, as she fixed on the cap, 'I never saw you
+look so well in any thing. Look at it;' and she held a looking-glass to
+her aunt. The ill humour which had resisted the graces of the loveliest
+face in the world, could not stand a favourable view of her own; and
+Lady Pelham quitted Laura with a gracious compliment to her genius for
+millinery, and a declaration, that the cap should be worn the next day,
+in honour of a visit from Mr De Courcy and Harriet.
+
+The next day the expected guests dined at Walbourne. As Harriet had just
+returned from her excursion, this was the first time that she had seen
+Laura, and the meeting gave them mutual pleasure. Harriet seemed in even
+more than usual spirits; and Laura, roused by the presence of persons
+whom she loved and respected, shewed a cheerfulness more unconstrained
+than she had felt since her father's death. Montague, who watched her
+assiduously, was enchanted to perceive that she could once more smile
+without effort; and, in the joy of his heart, resumed a gaiety which had
+of late been foreign to him. But the life of the party was Lady Pelham;
+for who could be so delightful, so extravagantly entertaining as Lady
+Pelham could be when she pleased? And she did please this afternoon; for
+a train of fortunate circumstances had put her into high good humour.
+She not only wore the becoming cap; but had hit, without difficulty, the
+most becoming mode of putting it on. The cook had done her office in a
+manner altogether faultless; and the gardener had brought in such a
+sallad! its like had never been seen in the county.
+
+Miss De Courcy was extremely anxious that Laura should pass a few days
+at Norwood. But Laura, remembering the coolness which had of late
+subsisted between herself and Lady Pelham, and unwilling to postpone her
+endeavours to efface every trace of it, objected that she could not quit
+her aunt for such a length of time. Harriet immediately proposed to
+invite Lady Pelham.--'I'll set about it this instant, while she's in the
+vein,' said she. 'This sunshine is too bright to last.' Laura looked
+very grave, and Harriet hastened to execute her purpose. There is no
+weakness of their neighbours which mankind so instinctively convert to
+their own use as vanity. Except to secure Laura's company, Harriet had
+not the slightest desire for Lady Pelham's. Yet she did not even name
+her friend while she pressed Lady Pelham so earnestly to visit Norwood,
+that she succeeded to her wish, and obtained a promise that the ladies
+should accompany her and her brother home on the following day.
+
+When at the close of an agreeable evening, Laura attended her friend to
+her chamber, Harriet, with more sincerity than politeness, regretted
+that Lady Pelham was to join their party to Norwood. 'I wish the old
+lady would have allowed you to go without her,' said she. 'She'll
+interrupt a thousand things I had to say to you. However, my mother can
+keep her in conversation. She'll be so delighted to see you, that she'll
+pay the penalty without a grudge.' 'I shall feel the more indebted to
+your mother's welcome,' said Laura, with extreme gravity, 'because she
+will extend it to a person to whom I owe obligations that cannot be
+repaid.' Harriet, blushing, apologized for her freedom; and Laura
+accepting the apology with smiles of courtesy and affection, the friends
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+Norwood had appeared to Laura to be little more than a mile distant from
+Walbourne. The swellings of the ground had deceived her. It was more
+than twice that distance. As the carriage approached Norwood, Laura
+perceived traces of a noble park, changed from its former purpose to one
+more useful, though less magnificent. The corn fields were intermixed by
+venerable avenues, and studded with gigantic elm and oak. Through one of
+these avenues, straight as a dart, and darkened by the woods that closed
+over it, the party drove up to a massive gate. In the door of a turreted
+lodge, overgrown with hornbeam, stood the grey-haired porter, waiting
+their arrival. He threw open the gate with one hand, and respectfully
+stood with his hat in the other, while De Courcy checked his horse to
+inquire for the old man's family.
+
+The avenue now quitted its formality, to wind along the bank of a rapid
+stream, till the woods suddenly opening to the right, discovered the
+lawn, green as an emerald, and kept with a neatness truly English. A
+variety of flowering shrubs were scattered over it, and here and there a
+lofty forest-tree threw its quivering shadow; while tall spruce-firs,
+their branches descending to the ground, formed a contrast to its
+verdure. At the extremity of this lawn stood Norwood, a large
+castellated building; and, while Laura looked on it, she imagined the
+interior dull with baronial magnificence.
+
+The carriage drove up to the door, and Laura could not helping smiling
+at the cordial welcome that seemed to await De Courcy. The great
+Newfoundland dog that lay upon the steps leapt upon him, and expressed
+his joy by a hundred clumsy gambols; while John, the old servant whom
+she had seen in Audley Street, busied himself about his master, with an
+officiousness that evidently came from the heart, leaving Lady Pelham's
+attendants to wait upon their mistress and her companions. De Courcy,
+giving his hand to Lady Pelham, conducted her, followed by Harriet and
+Laura, into the room where Mrs De Courcy was sitting; and the next
+moment his heart throbbed with pleasure, while he saw the beloved of his
+soul locked in his mother's arms.
+
+When the first joy of the meeting was over, Laura had leisure to observe
+the interior of the mansion, which differed not less from her
+expectations than from any thing she had before seen. Though it was
+equally remote from the humble simplicity of her cottage of Glenalbert,
+and the gaudiness of Lady Pelham's more modern abode, she saw nothing of
+the gloomy splendour which she had fancied; every thing breathed comfort
+and repose. The furniture, though not without magnificence, was
+unadorned and substantial, grandeur holding the second place to
+usefulness. The marble hall through which she had entered, was almost
+covered with matting. In the spacious room in which she was sitting, the
+little Turkey carpet of our forefathers had given place to one of
+homelier grain but far larger dimensions. The apartment was liberally
+stored with couches, footstools, and elbow chairs. A harp occupied one
+window, a piano-forte stood near it; many books were scattered about, in
+bindings which shewed they were not meant for ornament: and in the
+chimney blazed a fire which would have done credit to the days of
+Elizabeth.
+
+The dinner hour was four; and punctual to a moment the dinner appeared,
+plain, neat, and substantial. It was served without tumult, partaken of
+with appetite, and enlivened by general hilarity, and good will. When
+the ladies rose from table, Harriet offered to conduct Laura through the
+other apartments, which exactly corresponded with those she had seen.
+The library was spacious; and besides an excellent collection of books,
+contained globes, astronomical instruments, and cabinets of minerals and
+coins. A smaller room which opened from it, used as De Courcy's
+laboratory, was filled with chemical and mechanical apparatus. Comfort,
+neatness, and peace reigned everywhere, and Norwood seemed a fit retreat
+for literary leisure and easy hospitality.
+
+Between music, work, and conversation, the evening passed away
+cheerfully; nor did Laura mark its flight till the great house clock
+struck nine. The conversation suddenly paused; Harriet laid aside her
+work; Mrs De Courcy's countenance assumed a pleasing seriousness; and
+Montague, quitting his place by Laura's side, seated himself in a
+patriarchal-looking chair at the upper end of the room. Presently John
+entered, followed by all the domestics of the family. He placed before
+his master a reading desk and a large bible, and then sat down at a
+distance with his fellow servants.
+
+With a manner serious and earnest, as one impressed with a just sense of
+their importance, Montague read a portion of the Holy Scriptures. He
+closed the volume; and all present sunk upon their knees. In plain but
+solemn language, he offered a petition in the name of all, that all
+might be endowed with the graces of the Christian spirit. In the name of
+all he confessed that they were unworthy of the blessings they implored.
+In the name of all, he gave thanks for the means of improvement, and for
+the hopes of glory. He next, more particularly, besought a blessing on
+the circumstances of their several conditions. Among the joyous faces of
+this happy household, Laura had observed one alone clouded with sorrow.
+It was that of a young modest-looking girl in deep mourning, whose
+audible sobs attested that she was the subject of a prayer which
+commended an orphan to the Father of the fatherless. The worship was
+closed; the servants withdrew. A silence of a few moments ensued; and
+Laura could not help gazing with delight, not unmingled with awe, on the
+traces of serene benevolence and manly piety, which lingered on the
+countenance of De Courcy.
+
+'Happy Harriet,' said she, when she was alone with her friend, 'Would
+that I had been your sister!' Harriet laughed. 'You need not laugh, my
+dear,' continued Laura, with most unembarrassed simplicity, 'I did not
+mean your brother's wife, but his sister, and Mrs De Courcy's daughter.'
+
+Though Miss De Courcy was much less in Montague's confidence than her
+mother, she was not ignorant of his preference for Laura; but Mrs De
+Courcy had so strongly cautioned her against even hinting this
+preference to the object of it, that, though she but half guessed the
+reasons of her mother's injunction, she was afraid to disobey. That
+Laura was even acquainted with Hargrave was unknown to Harriet; for De
+Courcy was almost as tenacious of Laura's secret as she herself was, and
+would as soon have thought of giving up his own heart to the frolics of
+a kitten, as of exposing that of Laura to the _badinage_ of his sister.
+This kind precaution left Laura perfectly at her ease with Harriet, an
+ease which would quickly have vanished, had she known her to be
+acquainted with her humiliating story.
+
+The young ladies had rambled over half the grounds of Norwood before the
+family had assembled at a cheerful breakfast; and as soon as it was
+ended, Harriet proposed that Laura should assist her with her advice in
+composing a water-colour drawing from one of her own pictures. 'We'll
+leave Lady Pelham and my mother in possession of the drawing-room,' said
+she, 'for the pictures all hang in the library. I wanted them put up in
+the sitting-room, but Montague would have them where they are--and so he
+carried his point, for mamma humours him in everything.' 'Perhaps,'
+returned Laura, 'Mrs De Courcy thinks that he has some right to dictate
+in his own house.' 'Well, that's true,' cried Harriet. 'I protest I had
+forgotten that this house was not my mother's.'
+
+The picture which Miss De Courcy had fixed upon, was that of Leonidas,
+and Laura would far rather have been excused from interference; yet, as
+she could not with propriety escape, nothing remained but to summon her
+composure, and to study anew this resemblance of her unworthy lover. She
+took her work, and began quietly to superintend Harriet's progress.
+Their employments did not interrupt conversation; and though Laura's was
+at first a little embarrassed, she soon recovered her ease. 'Do touch
+the outline of the mouth for me,' said Harriet; 'I can't hit the
+resemblance at all.' Laura excused herself, saying, that since her
+fever, her hand had been unsteady. 'Oh, here's Montague; he'll do it.
+Come hither Montague, and sketch a much prettier mouth than your own.'
+De Courcy, who had approached his sister before he understood her
+request, shrunk back. She could scarcely have proposed an employment
+less agreeable to him; and he was hastily going to refuse it, when,
+happening to meet the eye of Laura, in the dread that she should detect
+his consciousness, he snatched the pencil and began.
+
+Harriet having thus transferred her work, quickly found out other
+occupation. 'Oh, by the by, my dear,' said she to Laura, 'your Leonidas
+is the greatest likeness in the world of my old beau, Colonel Hargrave.
+Bless me, how she blushes! Ah! I see Hargrave has not been so long in
+Scotland for nothing!' 'Take away that thing, Harriet,' cried De Courcy,
+quite thrown off his guard, and pushing the drawing from him. 'I see no
+reason why _everybody_ should do for you what you ought to be doing for
+yourself.' 'Hey-day, what ails the man,' cried Harriet, looking after
+her brother to the window, whither he had retreated. 'You need not be so
+angry at me for making Laura blush. I dare say she likes it; it becomes
+her so well.' 'If you are accustomed to say such strange things to your
+friends, my dear Harriet,' said Laura, 'the blushes you raise will not
+always have that advantage. The colourings of anger are not generally
+becoming.' 'So, with that meek face of yours, you would have me believe
+that it is downright rage that has made you all scarlet. No, no, my
+dear--there is rage, and there is the colour of it, too, (pointing to
+Montague's face); and if you'll put your two heads together before the
+glass, you will see whether the colours are a bit alike!' Montague,
+recovering his temper, tried to laugh, and succeeded very ill. 'I don't
+wonder you laugh,' said Laura, not venturing to look round to him, 'at
+hearing Harriet, on such slender grounds, exalt such a matter-of-fact
+person as myself, into the heroine of a romance. But, to spare your
+imagination, Harriet, I will tell you, that your old beau, as you call
+him, being the handsomest man I had seen, I saw no harm in making use of
+his beauty in my picture.' 'Well, I protest,' cried Harriet, 'it was
+quite by accident I thought of mentioning it, for I had not the least
+idea that ever you had seen Hargrave.' 'And, now that you have made that
+mighty discovery,' said De Courcy, endeavouring to appear unconcerned,
+'I suppose you'll poison Miss Montreville; for you know you were so in
+love with Hargrave, that I was obliged to put a rail round the fish-pond
+to prevent _felo de se_.' 'In love,' said Harriet, yawning, 'ay, so I
+was indeed, for three whole days when I had nothing else to do. But only
+think of the sly girl never even to name him to me! Well! well! I shall
+worm it all out of her when we are by ourselves, though she won't blab
+before you.' 'I will give you an opportunity this moment,' said De
+Courcy, who, quite unable to bear the subject any longer, determined to
+make his mother interrupt it, and immediately went in search of her. In
+a few minutes Mrs De Courcy appeared, and dismissed her unwilling
+daughter to escort Lady Pelham to the flower-garden, while Laura
+preferred remaining at home.
+
+At the next opportunity, Harriet executed her threat, in so far as
+depended upon her. She did what she could to rally Laura out of her
+secret, but she totally failed of success. Laura, now upon her guard,
+not only evaded making any discovery, but, by the easy indifference of
+her answers, convinced Harriet that there was nothing to discover.
+Indeed, her suspicion was merely a transient thought, arising from
+Laura's confusion at her sudden attack, and scarcely outlived the moment
+that gave it birth; though the emotion which Montague had shewn,
+confirmed his sister in the belief of his attachment to Laura.
+
+The subject thus entirely dropped which Laura could never approach
+without pain, the time of her visit to Norwood glided away in peace and
+comfort, every day lessening the dejection which she had believed, nay
+almost wished, would follow her to the grave. Still, however, the traces
+of it were sufficiently visible to the observant eye of love; and
+Montague found in it an interest not to be awakened by the brightest
+flashes of gaiety. 'There is a charm inexpressible in her sadness,' said
+he to Mrs De Courcy. 'I think,' said Mrs De Courcy, 'I can observe that
+that charm is decaying. I think, if it should entirely disappear before
+your fates are more closely united, you need not lament its departure.
+These cypresses look graceful bending over the urn there in the vista,
+but I should not like them to darken the sitting-room.'
+
+The only habit, common to love-lorn damsels, in which Laura indulged,
+was that of preferring solitary rambles; a habit, however, which had
+been imbibed long before she had any title to that character. Delighted
+with the environs of Norwood, she sometimes wandered beyond the dressed
+ground into the park, where art still embellished without restraining
+nature. The park might, indeed, have better deserved the name of an
+ornamented farm; for the lawns were here and there diversified by
+cornfields, and enlivened by the habitations of the labourers necessary
+to the agriculturist. These cottages, banished by fashion far from every
+lordly residence, were contrived so as to unite beauty with usefulness;
+they gave added interest to the landscape even to the eye of a stranger,
+but far more to that of De Courcy, for he knew that every one of them
+contained useful hands or graceful hearts; youth for whom he provided
+employment, or age whose past services he repaid. Here the blue smoke
+curled from amidst the thicket; there the white wall enlivened the
+meadow; here the casement flashed bright with the setting sun; there the
+woodbine and the creeping rose softened the colouring that would have
+glared on the eye.
+
+Laura had followed the windings of a little green lane, till the woods
+which darkened it suddenly opened into a small field, sheltered by them
+on every side, which seemed to form the territory of a cottage of
+singular neatness and beauty. In a porch covered with honeysuckle, which
+led through a flower-garden to the house, a lovely little boy about
+three years old was playing with De Courcy's great Newfoundland dog. The
+child was stretching on tiptoe to hug with one arm the neck of his
+rough companion; while, with the other hand, he was playfully offering
+the animal a bit of bread, and then snatching it in sport away. Neptune,
+not used to be so tantalized, made a catch at his prey; but the child
+succeeded in preserving his prize, and, laughing, hid it behind him. The
+next moment Laura saw the dog throw him down, and heard a piercing cry.
+Fearless of personal danger, she ran to his assistance. The child was
+lying motionless on his face; while, with one huge paw laid on his back,
+Neptune was standing over him, wagging his tail in triumph. Convinced
+that the child was unhurt, and that the scream had been caused merely by
+fear, Laura spoke to the dog, who immediately quitted his posture to
+fawn upon her. She lifted the child from the ground and carried him
+towards the cottage. The poor little fellow, pale with terror, clung
+round her neck; but he no sooner saw himself in safety, than, recovering
+his suspended faculties, he began to roar with all his might. His cries
+reached the people in the house, who hastened to inquire into their
+cause; and Laura was met in the door of the cottage by De Courcy's
+grey-haired servant, John, who seemed its owner, and a decent old woman,
+who was his wife.
+
+Laura prefaced her account of the accident by an assurance that the
+child was not hurt, and the old woman, taking him in her arms, tried to
+sooth him, while John invited Miss Montreville to enter. She followed
+him into a room, which, unacquainted as she was with the cleanliness of
+the English cottages, appeared to her quite Arcadian. While Margaret was
+busy with her little charge, Laura praised the neatness and comfort of
+John's abode. 'It is as snug a place as heart can desire, please you,
+Ma'am,' answered John, visibly gratified; 'and we have every thing here
+as convenient as in the king's palace, or as my master himself has, for
+the matter of that.' 'I thought, John, you had lived in Mr De Courcy's
+house,' said Laura. 'Yes, please you, Ma'am, and so I did, since I was a
+little fellow no higher than my knee, taken in to run messages, till my
+young master came of age, and then he built this house for me, that I
+might just have it to go to when I pleased, without being turned away
+like; for he knew old folks liked to have a home of their own. So now,
+of a fine evening, I come home after prayers, and stay all night; and
+when it's bad weather, I have the same bed as I have had these forty
+years; not a penny worse than my master's own.' 'And if you are employed
+all day at Norwood,' said Laura, 'how do you contrive to keep your
+garden in such nice order?' 'Oh! for the matter of that, Ma'am, my
+master would not grudge me a day's work of the under gardener any time;
+no, nor to pay a man to work the little patch for me; but only, as he
+says, the sweetest flowers are of one's own planting, so, of a fine day
+he often sends me home for an hour or two in the cool, just to put the
+little place in order.' 'Mr De Courcy seems attentive to the comfort of
+every body that comes near him,' said Laura. 'That he is, Madam; one
+would think he had an affection, like, for every mortal creature, and
+particularly when they grow old and useless, like me and Margaret. I
+know who offered him twenty pounds a-year for this house and the bit of
+field; but he said old folks did not like moving, and he would not put
+us out of this, even though he could give us one twice as good.' 'And
+your rent is lower than twenty pounds, I suppose?' said Laura. 'Why
+sure, Ma'am, we never pay a penny for it. My master,' said John, drawing
+up his head, and advancing his chest, 'my master has the proper true
+spirit of a gentleman, and he had it since ever he was born; for it's
+bred in the bone with him, as the saying is. Why, Ma'am, he had it from
+a child.--I have seen him, when he was less than that boy there, give
+away his dinner when he was as hungry as a hound, just because a beggar
+asked it.--Ay, I remember, one day, just two-and-twenty years ago come
+July, that he was sitting at the door on my knee, eating his breakfast,
+and he had asked it half a dozen times from Mrs Martin, for he was very
+hungry; and she did not always attend to him very well. So, up came a
+woman leading a little ragged creature; and it looked at Master
+Montague's bread and milk, and said, 'I wish I had some too.' So, says
+my master, "here take you some, and I'll take what you leave."--Well,
+Ma'am, the brat snapped it up all in a trice, and I waited to see what
+little master would do.--Well, he just laughed as good naturedly! Then I
+was going to have got him another breakfast, but my Lady would not let
+me. "No, No, John!" said my Lady, "we must teach Montague the connection
+between generosity and self-denial."--These were my Lady's very words.'
+
+By this time Margaret had succeeded in quieting the child; and a double
+allowance of bread and butter restored all his gaiety. 'Come, Nep,' said
+he, squatting himself on the ground where Neptune was lying at Laura's
+feet; 'come, Nep, I'll make friends; and there's half for you, Henry's
+own dear Nep.' 'Will you sit upon my knee?' said Laura, who was
+extremely fond of children. The boy looked steadily in her face for a
+few moments, and then holding out his arms to her, said, 'Yes, I will.'
+'Whose charming child is this?' inquired Laura, twisting his golden
+ringlets round her fingers. The colour rose to old Margaret's furrowed
+cheek as she answered, 'He is an orphan, Ma'am.'--'He is our grandson,'
+said John, and drew his hand across his eyes. Laura saw that the subject
+was painful, and she inquired no further. She remained for a while
+playing with little Henry, and listening to John's praises of his
+master; and then returned homewards.
+
+She was met by De Courcy and Harriet, who were coming in search of her.
+She related her little adventure, and praised the extraordinary beauty
+of the child. 'Oh, that's Montague's protegé!' cried Harriet. 'By the by
+he has not been to visit us since you came; I believe he was never so
+long absent before since he could see. I have a great notion my brother
+did not want to produce him to you.'--'To me!' exclaimed Laura in
+surprise; 'Why not?' But receiving no answer from Harriet, who had been
+effectually silenced by a look from De Courcy, she turned for
+explanation to Montague; who made an awkward attempt to laugh off his
+sister's attack, and then as awkwardly changed the subject.
+
+For some minutes Laura gravely and silently endeavoured to account for
+his behaviour. 'His generosity supports this child,' thought she, 'and
+he is superior to blazoning his charity.' So having, as great
+philosophers have done, explained the facts to agree with her theory,
+she was perfectly satisfied, and examined them no more. Association
+carrying her thoughts to the contemplation of the happiness which De
+Courcy seemed to diffuse through every circle where he moved, she
+regretted that she was so soon to exchange the enjoyment of equable
+unobtrusive kindness, for starts of officious fondness mingling with
+intervals of cold neglect or peevish importunity.
+
+'Norwood is the Eden of the earth,' said she to Harriet, as they drew
+their chairs towards the fire, to enjoy a _tête à tête_ after the family
+were retired for the night; 'and it is peopled with spirits fit for
+paradise.--Happy you, who need never think of leaving it!' 'Bless you,
+my dear,' cried Harriet, 'there is nothing I think of half so much.--You
+would not have me be an old maid to comb lapdogs and fatten cats, when I
+might be scolding my own maids and whipping my own children.' 'Really,'
+said Laura, 'I think you would purchase even _these_ delightful
+recreations too dearly by the loss of your present society. Sure it were
+a mad venture to change such a blessing for any uncertainty!' 'And yet,
+Mrs Graveairs, I have a notion that a certain gallant soldier could
+inspire you with the needful daring.--Now, look me in the face, and deny
+it if you can.' Laura did as she was desired; and, with cheeks flushed
+to crimson, but a voice of sweet austere composure, replied, 'Indeed,
+Miss De Courcy, I am hurt that you should so often have taxed me, even
+in sport, with so discreditable a partiality. You cannot be serious in
+supposing that I would marry an'--adulterer, Laura would have said; but
+to apply such an epithet to Hargrave was too much for human firmness,
+and she stopped. 'I declare she is angry,' cried Harriet. 'Well, my
+dear, since it displeases you, I shan't tease you any more; at least not
+till I find a new subject. But, pray now, do you intend to practise as
+you preach. Have you made a vow never to marry?' 'I do not say so,'
+answered Laura; 'it is silly to assert resolutions which nobody credits.
+Besides my situation sadly differs from yours. Like the moon, that is
+rising yonder, I must pursue my course alone. Thousands around me might
+perhaps warm and enlighten me; but far distant, their influence is lost
+ere it reaches me. You are in the midst of a happy family, endeared to
+you by all that is lovely in virtue; all that is sacred in kindred.--I
+know not what would tempt me to resign your situation.'--'What would
+tempt you?' cried Harriet. 'Why a pretty fellow would. But I verily
+believe you have been taking your cue from Montague; these are precisely
+his ideas. I think he has set his heart upon making me lead apes.' 'What
+makes you think so?' inquired Laura. 'Because he finds out a hundred
+faults to every man that talks nonsense to me. One is poor; and he
+thinks it folly to marry a beggar. Another is old, though he's rich; and
+that would be downrightly selling myself. One's a fool, and t'other's
+cross; and in short there's no end to his freaks. Only the other day he
+made me dismiss a creature that I believe I should have liked well
+enough in time. I have not half forgiven him for it yet. Poor
+Wilmot--and I should have had a nice barouche too!' 'What could possibly
+weigh with your brother against the barouche?' said Laura, smiling.
+'Why, my dear, the saucy wretch told me, as plainly as he civilly could,
+that Wilmot and I had not a grain of prudence between us; ergo, that we
+should be ridiculous and miserable. Besides, poor Wilmot once persuaded
+a pretty girl to play the fool; and though he afterwards did every thing
+he could to prevail on her to be made an honest woman, the silly thing
+chose rather to break her heart and die; and, ever since, poor Wilmot
+has been subject to fits of low spirits.' 'Is it possible, Harriet, that
+you can talk so lightly of a crime so black in its nature, so dreadful
+in its consequences: Can it seem a trifle to you to destroy the peace,
+the innocence of a fellow-creature? Can you smile at remorse that
+pursued its victim even to the grave?' Tears filled the eyes of Harriet.
+'Oh no, my dearest,' she cried, throwing her arms round Laura's neck;
+'do not think so hardly of me.--I am a rattle, it is true, but I am not
+unprincipled.'--'Pardon my injustice, dearest Harriet,' said Laura, 'in
+believing, even for a moment, that you were capable of such perversion;
+and join with me in rejoicing that your brother's influence has saved
+you from witnessing, from sharing, the pangs of unavailing repentance.'
+'Indeed,' said Harriet, 'Montague's influence can do any thing with me;
+and no wonder. I should be the most ungrateful wretch on earth if I
+could oppose his wishes. I cannot tell you the thousandth part of the
+affection he has shewn me. Did you ever hear, my dear, that my father
+had it not in his power to make any provision for me?' Laura answered
+that she had never heard the circumstances of the family at all
+mentioned. 'Do you know,' continued Harriet, 'I am certain that Montague
+is averse to my marrying, because he is afraid that my poverty, and not
+my will, consents. But he has himself set that matter to rest; for the
+very morning after I gave Wilmot his _congé_, Montague presented me with
+bills for two thousand pounds. The generous fellow told me that he did
+not offer his gift while Wilmot's suit was pending, lest I should think
+he bought a right to influence my decision.' 'This is just what I should
+have expected from Mr De Courcy,' said Laura, the purest satisfaction
+beaming in her countenance. 'He is ever considerate, ever generous.' 'To
+tell you that he gives me money,' cried Harriet, rapturously, 'is
+nothing; he gives me his time, his labour, his affection. Do love him,
+dear Laura! He is the best of all creatures!' 'Indeed I believe it,'
+said Laura, 'and I have the most cordial regard for him.'--'Ah but you
+must'--Harriet's gratitude to her brother had very nearly been too
+strong for his secret, and she was on the point of petitioning Laura to
+return a sentiment warmer than cordial regard, when, recollecting her
+mother's commands, she desisted; and to fly from the temptation, wished
+Laura good night, and retired.
+
+It was with sincere regret that Laura, the next day, took leave of her
+kind hosts. As De Courcy handed her into the carriage, the tears were
+rising to her eyes: but they were checked by a glance from Lady Pelham,
+in which Laura thought she could read mingled scorn and anger. Lady
+Pelham had remarked the improved spirits of her niece; but, instead of
+rejoicing that any medicine should have 'ministered to a mind diseased,'
+she was offended at the success of a remedy applied by any other than
+herself. She was nettled at perceiving that the unobtrusive seriousness
+of Mrs De Courcy, and the rattling gaiety of Harriet, had effected what
+all her brilliant powers had not achieved. Her powers, indeed, had been
+sometimes directed to entertain, but never to console; they had been
+exerted to purchase admiration, not to win confidence; yet, with a
+common perverseness, she was angry at their ill success, not sorry for
+their wrong direction. She did not consider, that real benevolence, or
+an excellent counterfeit, is the only road to an unadulterated heart. It
+appeared to her a proof of an ungrateful temper in her niece, that she
+should yield in so short a time to strangers to whom she owed nothing,
+what she refused to a relation to whom she owed so much. She had been
+unable to forbear from venting her spleen in little spiteful remarks,
+and sly stings, sometimes so adroitly given, that they were unobserved,
+except by the person who was by degrees becoming accustomed to expect
+them. The presence of the De Courcy family, however, restrained the
+expression of Lady Pelham's ill humour; and, as she detested restraint,
+(a detestation which she always ascribed to a noble ingenuousness of
+mind), she nestled, with peculiar complacency, into the corner of the
+carriage which was to convey her to what she called freedom, namely, the
+liberty to infringe, with impunity, the rights of others. Laura felt
+that her reluctance to quit Norwood was a bad compliment to her aunt,
+and she called a smile to her face as she kissed her hand to her kind
+friends; yet the contrast between their affectionate looks, and the
+'lurking devil' in Lady Pelham's eye, did not lessen her regret at the
+exchange she was making.
+
+Lady Pelham saw the tone of Laura's mind, and she immediately struck up
+a discord. 'Heaven be praised,' she cried, 'we have at last escaped out
+of that stupid place! I think it must be something extraordinary that
+tempts me to spend four days there again.' Laura remained silent; for
+she disliked direct contradiction, and never spoke what she did not
+think. Lady Pelham continued her harangue, declaring, 'that your good
+sort of people were always intolerably tiresome; that clock-work
+regularity was the dullest thing in nature; that Norwood was another
+cave of Trophonius; Mrs De Courcy inspired with the soul of a starched
+old maid; Harriet animated by the joint spirit of a magpie and a monkey;
+and Montague by that of a methodist parson.' Finally, she again
+congratulated herself on her escape from such society, and wondered how
+any body could submit to it without hanging himself. Laura was
+accustomed to support Lady Pelham's attacks upon herself with perfect
+equanimity; but her temper was not proof against this unjust, this
+unexpected philippic against her friends; and she reddened with anger
+and disdain, though she had still so much self-command as to reply only,
+'Your Ladyship is fortunate in being able to lose, without regret, what
+_others_ find it so difficult to replace.'
+
+Lady Pelham fully understood the emphasis which was laid on the word
+_others_, but the mortification to her vanity was compensated by the
+triumph of discovering the vulnerable side of her niece's temper. This
+was the first time that she had been conscious of power over it, and
+severely did Laura pay for the momentary negligence which had betrayed
+the secret. Some persons never feel pleasure without endeavouring to
+communicate it. Lady Pelham acted upon the converse of this amiable
+principle; and, as an ill-regulated mind furnished constant sources of
+pain, a new channel of participation was a precious discovery. As often,
+therefore, as spleen, jealousy, or malice prompted her to annoyance, she
+had recourse henceforth to this new-found weapon; and she varied her
+warfare through all the changes of hints, insinuations, and that mode of
+attack the most provoking of all, which, aiming at no particular point,
+becomes the more difficult to parry. During several months, she made it
+the occasional instrument of her vengeance for the jealousy which she
+entertained of Laura's increasing intimacy with the De Courcys; an
+intimacy which she chose to embitter, though she could not break it off,
+without depriving herself of acquaintances who were visited by the first
+people in the county.
+
+Her industry in teazing was not confined to Laura. She inflicted a
+double stroke, by the petulance or coldness with which she sometimes
+treated the De Courcys. But though Laura was keenly sensible to these
+petty wrongs done her friends, the injury passed them over without much
+notice. Harriet repaid them with laughter or sarcasm; while Montague
+seemed to consider them as wholly unworthy of attention. He continued
+his visits to Walbourne, and accident at last furnished an excuse for
+their frequency.
+
+In the course of Lady Pelham's improvements, a difficulty chanced to
+occur, which a slight knowledge of the elements of mathematics would
+have enabled her to solve. To supply the want of this knowledge, she had
+recourse to Mr De Courcy, who removed her perplexity with the ease of
+one conversant with his subject, and the accuracy of one who speaks to a
+reasoning creature. Lady Pelham was charmed! She was convinced that 'of
+all studies that of mathematics must be the most delightful. She
+imagined it might not be quite impracticable even for a lady, supposing
+she were so fortunate as to meet with a friend who could assist her.' De
+Courcy, laughing, offered his services, not, it must be owned, with any
+idea that they would be accepted. Her Ladyship, however, eagerly
+embraced the offer; for she was little accustomed to forecast the
+difficulties of any scheme that entered her brain. In this triumphant
+expectation that all difficulty would yield to her acuteness, and her
+brighter abilities gain in a comparison with the plain good-sense of her
+niece, she obliged Laura to join her in this new pursuit. Upon the study
+of this science, so little in favour with a sex who reserve cultivation
+for faculties where it is least wanting, Laura entered with a pleasure
+that surprised herself, and she persevered in it with an industry that
+astonished her teacher. Lady Pelham was, for a little while, the
+companion of her labours; but, at the first difficulty, she took offence
+at the unaccommodating thing, which shewed no more indulgence to female
+than to royal indolence.--Forthwith she was fired with a strong aversion
+to philosophers in bibs, and a horror at she-pedants, a term of reproach
+which a dexterous side-glance could appropriate to her niece, though the
+author of those memoirs challenges any mortal to say that ever Laura
+Montreville was heard to mention ellipse or parabola, or to insinuate
+her acquaintance with the properties of circle or polygon. Nothing moved
+by Lady Pelham's sneers, Laura continued her studies, impelled partly by
+the duty of improving the most valuable faculty of an immortal mind,
+partly by the pleasure which she derived from the study itself. It is
+true, that her Ladyship's indiscreet use of the secret, made Laura's
+labours the cause of much merriment to titterers of both sexes; but we
+have never discovered that De Courcy esteemed her the less for her
+persevering industry, or loved her the less for this new subject of
+mutual interest. He watched with delight the restoration of her mind to
+its full vigour; and as he had never known her in the blaze of youthful
+gaiety, he was scarcely sensible of the shade which blended the radiance
+of her mid-day of life with the sober tints of evening.
+
+The impression of her early disappointment was indeed indelible, but it
+was no longer overwhelming. She had given the reins to her
+imagination--it had fatally misled her; but its power had sustained an
+irrecoverable shock, and the sway was transferred to reason. She had
+dreamed of an earthly heaven, and seen that it was but a dream. All her
+earthly joys had vanished--yet misery had been almost as transient as
+delight, and she learned the practical use of a truth which all
+acknowledge in theory. In the course of four months residence at
+Walbourne, she recovered a placid cheerfulness, which afterwards
+continued to be the habitual tenor of her mind. If she looked forward to
+the future events of her life, it was to resolve that they should be
+subservient to the great end of her being. If she glanced backward, it
+was less to lament her disappointment, than to blame the error which had
+led to it; and she never allowed her thoughts to dwell upon her unworthy
+lover, except when praying that he might be awakened to a sense of his
+guilt.
+
+She was chiefly concerned to improve and to enjoy the present; and in
+this she was successful in spite of the peevish humours of Lady Pelham,
+mixed occasionally with ebullitions of rage. Those who are furious where
+they dare, or when the provocation is sufficient to rouse their courage,
+sometimes chide with impotent perseverance where they are awed from the
+full expression of their fury: as the sea, which the lightest breeze
+dashes in billows over the sandbank, frets in puny ripples against the
+rock that frowns over it. If Lady Pelham's temper had any resemblance to
+this stormy element, it was not wholly void of likeness to another--for
+it 'changed as it listed,' without any discoverable reason. It would
+have lost half its power to provoke, and Laura half the merit of her
+patient endurance, if it had been permanently diabolical. The current,
+not only serene but sparkling, would reflect with added beauty every
+surrounding object, then would suddenly burst into foam, or settle into
+a stagnant marsh. Laura threw oil upon the torrent, and suffered the
+marsh to clear itself. She enjoyed Lady Pelham's wit and vivacity in her
+hours of good humour, and patiently submitted to her seasons of low
+spirits, as she complaisantly called them.
+
+Laura at last, undesignedly, opened a new direction to her aunt's
+spleen. From her first introduction to Lady Pelham, she had laboured
+assiduously to promote a reconciliation between her aunt and her
+daughter, Mrs Herbert. Her zeal appeared surprising to Lady Pelham, who
+could not estimate the force of her motive for thus labouring, to the
+manifest detriment of her own interest, she being (after Mrs Herbert)
+the natural heiress of her aunt's fortune. She had seized the moment of
+complacency; watched the relentings of nature; by turns tried to sooth
+and to convince; and, in the proper spirit of a peace-maker, adhered to
+her purpose with meek perseverance. According to the humour of the
+hour, Lady Pelham was alternately flattered by solicitations that
+confessed her power, or rendered peevish by entreaties which she was
+determined to reject, or fired to rage by the recollection of her
+wrongs. If the more placid frame prevailed, she could ring eternal
+changes on the same oft-refuted arguments, or adroitly shift the subject
+by some lively sally of wit, or some neat compliment to her niece. In
+her more stormy tempers, she would profess a total inability to pardon;
+nay, a determination never to attempt it; and took credit for scorning
+to pretend a forgiveness which she could not practise.
+
+Still Laura was not discouraged: for she had often observed that what
+Lady Pelham declared on one day to be wholly impossible, on the next
+became, without any assignable reason, the easiest thing in nature; and
+that what to-day no human force could wrest from her, was yielded
+to-morrow to no force at all. She therefore persisted in her work of
+conciliation; and her efforts at last prevailed so far, that, though
+Lady Pelham still protested implacability, she acknowledged, that, as
+there was no necessity for her family feuds being known to the world,
+she was willing to appear upon decent terms with the Herberts; and, for
+that purpose, would receive them for a few weeks at Walbourne.
+
+Of this opening, unpromising as it was, Laura instantly availed herself;
+and wrote to convey the frozen invitation to her cousin, in the kindest
+language which she was permitted to use. It was instantly accepted; and
+Mrs Herbert and her husband became the inmates of Walbourne.
+
+Mrs Herbert had no resemblance to her mother. Her countenance was grave
+and thoughtful; her manners uniformly cold and repulsive. Laura traced
+in her unbending reserve, the apathy of one whose genial feelings had
+been blunted by early unkindness. Frank, high-spirited, and imprudent,
+Herbert was his wife's opposite; and Laura had not been half an hour in
+his company, before she began to tremble for the effects of these
+qualities on the irascible temper of her aunt. But her alarm seemed
+causeless; for the easy resoluteness with which he maintained his
+opinions, appeared to extort from Lady Pelham a sort of respect; and,
+though she privately complained to Laura of what she called his
+assurance, she exempted him, while present, from her attacks, seeming
+afraid to exert upon him her skill in provoking. Laura began to
+perceive, that a termagant is not so untameable an animal as she had
+once imagined, since one glimpse of the master-spirit is of sovereign
+power to lay the lesser imps of spleen. But though Lady Pelham seemed
+afraid to measure her strength with spirits of kindred irascibility, she
+was under no restraint with Mrs Herbert, upon whom she vented a degree
+of querulousness that appeared less like the ebullitions of ill-temper,
+than the overflowings of settled malice. Every motion, every look,
+furnished matter of censure or of sarcasm. The placing of a book, the
+pronunciation of a word, the snuffing of a candle, called forth
+reprehension; and Laura knew not whether to be most astonished at the
+ingenious malice which contrived to convert 'trifles light as air,' into
+certain proofs of degeneracy, or at the apathy on which the venomed
+shaft fell harmless. Mrs Herbert received all her mother's reprimands in
+silence, without moving a muscle, without announcing, by the slightest
+change of colour, that the sarcasm had reached further than her ear. If,
+as not unfrequently happened, the reproof extended into a harangue, Mrs
+Herbert unmoved withdrew no part of her attention from her netting, but
+politely suppressed a yawn.
+
+These discourteous scenes were exhibited only in Mr Herbert's absence;
+his presence instantly suspended Lady Pelham's warfare; and Laura
+inferred that his wife never made him acquainted with her mother's
+behaviour. That behaviour formed an exception to the general
+unsteadiness of Lady Pelham; for to Mrs Herbert she was consistently
+cruel and insulting. Nothing could be more tormenting to the benevolent
+mind of Laura, than to witness this system of aggression; and she
+repented having been instrumental in renewing an intercourse that could
+lead to no pleasing issue.
+
+But the issue was nearer than she expected. One day, in Herbert's
+absence, Lady Pelham began to discuss with his wife, or rather _to_ her,
+the never-failing subject of her duplicity and disobedience. She was not
+interrupted by any expression of regret or repentance from the culprit,
+who maintained a stoical silence, labouring the while to convey
+mathematical precision to the crimping of a baby's cap, an employment
+upon which Lady Pelham seemed to look with peculiar abhorrence. From the
+turpitude of her daughter's conduct, she proceeded to its consequences.
+She knew no right, she said, that people had to encumber their friends
+with hosts of beggarly brats. She vowed that none such should ever
+receive her countenance or protection. Her rage kindled as she spoke.
+She inveighed against Mrs Herbert's insensibility; and at last talked
+herself into such a pitch of fury, as even to abuse her for submitting
+to the company of one who could not conceal detestation of her;--a want
+of spirit which she directly attributed to the most interested
+views;--views which, however, she absolutely swore that she would
+defeat. In the energy of her declamation, she did not perceive that
+Herbert had entered the room, and stood listening to her concluding
+sentences, with a face of angry astonishment. Advancing towards his
+wife, he indignantly inquired the meaning of the tumult. 'Nothing,'
+answered she, calmly surveying her handywork; 'only my mother is a
+little angry, but I have not spoken a word.' He then turned for
+explanation to Lady Pelham, whom the flashing of his eye reduced to
+instantaneous quiet; and, not finding, in her stammering abstract of the
+conversation, any apology for the insult which he had heard, he took his
+wife by the arm, and instantly left the house, giving orders that his
+baggage should follow him to a little inn in the neighbouring village.
+Thus did the insolence of one person, and the hasty spirit of another,
+undo what Laura had for months been labouring to effect. The Herberts
+never made any attempt at reconciliation, and Lady Pelham would never
+afterwards hear them mentioned, without breaking out into torrents of
+abuse, and even imprecation, which made Laura's blood run cold. Yet,
+with her usual inconsistency, Lady Pelham was vexed at the suspension of
+her intercourse with the Herberts; because she thus lost even the shadow
+of power over her daughter. Not that she acknowledged this cause of
+regret. No! she eloquently bewailed her hard fate, in being exposed to
+the censure of the world as at variance with her nearest relatives. She
+complained that, with a heart 'warm as melting charity,' she had no one
+to love or to cherish. Yet Laura could not always forbear smiling at the
+perverse direction of her aunt's regrets. Lady Pelham was angry, not
+that her own unkindness had driven her children from her, but that
+Laura's officious benevolence had brought them to her house; a measure
+from which, she was pleased to say that no person of common sense could
+have expected a different issue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+If Lady Pelham repined at the desertion of the Herberts, it was not
+because their departure consigned her to solitude. Never had Walbourne
+attracted so many visitors. Lady Pelham's beautiful niece drew thither
+all the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. The ladies followed them of
+course. The beauty and modesty of Laura charmed the men, while the women
+were half-inclined to think it an unfounded slander that such a
+good-natured, obliging, neat-handed creature studied mathematics, and
+read Tacitus in the original.
+
+Among the society to which she was introduced by Lady Pelham, and still
+more among that in which she mingled at Norwood, Laura met with persons
+of distinguished ability, rank, and politeness. In such company she
+rapidly acquired that ease of address which alone was wanting to make
+her manners as fascinating as they were correct. She grew accustomed to
+find herself the object of attention, and though no habit could
+reconcile her to the gaze of numbers, she gradually learnt to carry into
+these lesser occasions, the self-command which distinguished her in more
+important concerns. In real modesty and humility she improved every day;
+for it was the study of her life to improve in them. She retained all
+the timidity which is the fruit of genuine sensibility and quick
+perception of impropriety, while she lost that bashfulness which owes
+its growth to solitude and inexperience. Her personal charms, too,
+increased as they approached maturity. The symmetry of her form and
+features was indeed scarcely susceptible of improvement; but added
+gracefulness gave new attractions to her figure; while the soul lent its
+improving strength and brightness to animate her face with charms which
+mere symmetry knows not.
+
+With such qualifications Laura could not fail to excite admiration; yet
+never perhaps did beauty so seldom listen to its own praises. It was
+labour lost to compliment one who never rewarded the flatterer with one
+smile of gratified vanity, or repaid him with one complaisant departure
+from the simple truth. To the everyday nothings of the common herd she
+listened with a weariness which politeness could sometimes scarcely
+suppress. 'Oh would,' thought she, 'that civil nothings, as they are
+called, required no answer,--or that one obliging gentleman would
+undertake the labour of replying to the rest!' If addressed in the
+language of common-place compliment by one whom she respected, her look
+of mortification intelligibly said, 'Has then your penetration searched
+me deeper than I know myself, and detected in me the more than childish
+weakness of valuing myself on such distinctions as those you are
+praising?'
+
+Laura had no personal vanity; and therefore it required no effort to
+withstand such praise. She had more merit in the more strenuous but less
+successful exertions which she made to resist the silent flattery of the
+respectful glance that awaited her decision, besought her approbation,
+or reflected her sentiments. Sometimes she thought Montague De Courcy an
+adept in this sort of flattery. But more frequently, when administered
+by him, she forgot to call it by that name; and she was the less upon
+her guard against his homage, because it was never offered in any more
+palpable form.
+
+Fortified by the advice of his mother, who had convinced him that a
+premature disclosure of his sentiments would be fatal to his hopes, and
+aware, that were he even successful with Laura, some further provision
+must be made for his sister, ere he could with justice increase the
+expence of his household, he acted with such caution as baffled the
+penetration of common observers. The neighbouring tea-tables were rather
+inclined to consign his affections to a lively young heiress, whose
+estate had formerly been dismembered from that of Norwood; for he had
+flirted with her at a review, and danced with her at the county ball.
+Moreover, the charitable declared, 'that if he was backward it was not
+for want of encouragement, that Miss allowed herself strange liberties;
+though, to be sure, heiresses might do any thing.'
+
+In spite of the lynx eye in detecting embryo passion, which is ascribed
+to the sex, Montague's secret was safe even from Laura herself; or if a
+momentary suspicion had glanced across her mind, she chid it away with
+self accusations of vanity, and recollections of the ten thousand
+opportunities for a declaration which he had suffered to pass
+unimproved. Besides, Mrs De Courcy had once hinted that Montague's
+little fits of melancholy and absence were occasioned by his partiality
+for a lady whose affections were pre-engaged, and Laura was sure that
+the hint could not refer to herself. Her humiliating secret, she was
+thankful, was safely lodged in her own breast, and could never be
+divulged to cover her with mortification.
+
+That which any effort of imagination can ascribe to the influence of
+Cupid, no woman ever attributed to any other power; and if, at any time,
+a shade crossed the open countenance of Montague, Laura called to mind
+his mother's hint, and added to her truly sisterly affection a pity
+which lent indescribable softness to her manners towards him. Indeed she
+always treated him with undisguised regard, and Montague tried to be
+satisfied. Yet he could not help longing to read, in some inadvertent
+glance, a proof that all the heart was not freely shewn. In vain!--the
+heart was open as the day; and all was there that could delight the
+friend, but nothing that could satisfy the lover.
+
+He had, however, none of the temptations of jealousy to betray his
+secret, for his rivals were neither numerous nor formidable. Laura was
+known to have no fortune; she had little talent for chit chat, and still
+less for flattery; thus amid universal admiration and general good-will,
+she had only two professed adorers--one, who haunted her while present,
+toasted her when absent, and raved of her charms, both in prose and
+rhime, without ever suffering his pretensions to become so serious as to
+afford her a pretext for seriously repulsing them--the other, a prudent
+elderly widower, who, being possessed of a good fortune, and a
+full-grown daughter, thought himself entitled to consult his taste
+without regard to pecuniary views, and conceived that Laura might be
+useful to the young lady in the double capacities of companion and
+example. Laura's answer to his proposals was a firm but gentle refusal,
+while she assured him, that she would not abuse his confidence nor
+betray the trust he had reposed in her. Elderly gentlemen are seldom
+inclined to publish a repulse. The widower never mentioned his even to
+Lady Pelham; and Laura, on this occasion, owed to her principle an
+escape from many a tedious remonstrance, and many a covert attack.
+
+The summer had almost glided away, and Montague continued to fluctuate
+between hope and fear, his mother to cherish his hopes and allay his
+apprehensions, Laura to be tranquil, Harriet to be gay, and Lady Pelham
+to exhibit, by turns, every various degree of every various humour, when
+one morning Miss De Courcy, who had lately returned from a visit to a
+companion, accompanied her brother on horseback to Walbourne. Lady
+Pelham was, as usual, engaged in her garden, but the visitors had no
+sooner entered the room where Laura sat, then she observed that they
+seemed to have exchanged characters. Harriet looked almost thoughtful,
+while the countenance of De Courcy sparkled with unusual animation. He
+was gay even to restlessness. He offered to give Laura her lesson in
+mathematics; and before it was half over, having completely bewildered
+both himself and his pupil, he tossed away the book, declaring that he
+never in his life was so little fit for thinking. Pleasure spoke in
+every tone of his voice, or sported in his eye when he was silent.
+
+After a short visit, enlivened by a hilarity which Laura found more
+infectious than the gravity of Harriet, he proposed leaving his sister
+with her friend, while he rode on to call for a gentleman in the
+neighbourhood. 'Begone, then,' cried Laura, gaily, 'for I long to
+question Harriet what has given you such enviable spirits this morning.'
+'Ah, she must not betray me,' said De Courcy, half smiling, half
+sighing, 'or I forfeit my only chance of being remembered when I am out
+of sight. If she can be silent, curiosity may perhaps befriend me.' 'How
+very humble!' cried Laura,--'as if curiosity were the only name you
+could find for the interest I take in what makes you gay, or Harriet
+grave!' 'Dear Laura,' said De Courcy, ardently, 'give the cause what
+name you will, if you will but think of me.' Then snatching her lily
+hands, he pressed them to his lips, and the next moment was gone.
+
+Confused, surprised, a little displeased, Laura stood silently revolving
+his behaviour. He had never before made the slightest approach to
+personal familiarity. Had her frankness invited the freedom? 'Dear
+Laura!' It was the first time he had ever called her by any name less
+respectful than Miss Montreville. 'Well, and what then--it were mere
+prudery to be displeased at such a trifle. What,' thought she, 'can have
+delighted him so much? Perhaps the lady is kind at last. He need not,
+however, have vented his transports upon me.' And Laura was a little
+more angry than before.
+
+During her cogitation, Laura forgot that she might apply to her
+companion for a solution of the mystery; perhaps she did not even
+recollect that Harriet was in the room, till happening to turn her head,
+she met a glance of sly inquisition, which, however, was instantly
+withdrawn. Harriet made no comment on the subject of her observation.
+'The man is as much elated,' cried she, 'as if I were five-and-forty,
+and had never had a lover before.'
+
+'You, my dear Harriet,' exclaimed Laura, instantly recovering her good
+humour, 'is it a conquest of yours that has pleased Mr De Courcy so
+much?' 'Even so,' returned Harriet--'Heigho!'
+
+'I congratulate you: and yet it does not seem to delight you quite so
+much as it does your brother.'
+
+'Really Laura I am not sure whether it does or not; so I am come to ask
+you.'
+
+'Me! Indeed you have too much confidence in my penetration; but you
+have, fortunately, abler, and more natural advisers. Your mother'--
+
+'Oh, my mother is so cautious, so afraid of influencing me! when to be
+influenced is the very thing I want. I do hate caution. Then I can't
+talk it over with her as I could with you. And then, there's Montague
+who looks so provokingly pleased; and yet he pretends to prim up his
+mouth, and say, "really it is a subject on which he neither can, nor
+ought to give an opinion." Pray, advise me, my dear.'
+
+'What! before I know who the gentleman is; when perhaps you have even no
+right to inform me!'
+
+'Pshaw! nonsense.--It is Bolingbroke. But I believe you have never met
+with him.' 'So you would have me advise you to marry a man whom I have
+never seen; for of course that is the advice you want. Had the balance
+lain on the other side, no advice would have been thought necessary.'
+'Poh,' cried Harriet pouting. 'I don't want to be advised to marry him.'
+'Are you sure,' returned Laura, smiling, 'that you know what you
+want.'--'Saucy girl! I would have you tell me whether I am ever likely
+to marry him!' 'Do you think I am by birth entitled to the second-sight,
+that I should foresee this before I know any thing of the gentleman's
+merits, or, what is of more consequence, of their rank in your
+estimation?' 'The man has good legs,' said Harriet, plaiting the fingers
+of her glove with great industry. 'Legs! really, Harriet, I was in hopes
+I had for once found you serious.'--'So I am; my dear; I never was so
+serious before, and hope I never shall again. Yet I don't know what to
+think; so I shall just tell you honestly how the matter stands, and you
+shall think for me.'
+
+'I will not promise that; but I own I have some curiosity to hear your
+_honest_ confession.'--'Oh you need not peep so archly askance under
+those long eyelashes; I can stand a direct look, I assure you; for at
+this moment I have not the slightest preference in the world for
+Bolingbroke over half a score of others.' 'Then what room is there for
+hesitation?' 'Why, my dear, in the first place, he has a noble fortune:
+though that goes for nothing with you; secondly, he is really a good
+creature, and far from a fool; then, to talk in your style, I have had
+advantages in observing his temper and dispositions such as I shall
+never have with any other man; for his sister and I have been companions
+from childhood, and I have lived under his roof for months; then, which
+will weigh with you more than all, he is Montague's particular
+favourite.' 'Great recommendations these, Harriet; sufficient at least
+to bias any woman who intends to marry. I should like to know Mr
+Bolingbroke.' 'Here is his letter, my dear,' said Harriet; 'it came
+inclosed in one to my brother. There is a good deal of the man's turn in
+it.'
+
+Laura took the letter, and read as follows:
+
+     'I will not wrong your penetration so much as to suppose that
+     this letter will surprise you, or that you will fail to
+     anticipate the subject on the first glance at the signature.
+     Nor do I write to tell you, in the hackneyed phrase, that the
+     happiness of my whole life depends upon you, because, next to
+     your affection, nothing is so desirable to me as your esteem,
+     and the hope that, though you should reject my suit, you will
+     continue to respect my understanding. But I may with truth
+     declare, that I prefer you to all women; that I love you, not
+     only in spite of your faults, but, perhaps, even the more for
+     them; and that, to forfeit the hope of your affection, would
+     dispel many a long-cherished vision of domestic peace, and even
+     some lighter dreams of rapture. Dearest Harriet, do not, in
+     return for this confession, write me a cold profession of
+     esteem. I know already that you esteem me, for you have long
+     known me possessed of qualities that inevitably engage esteem;
+     but I am conscious of a deficiency in the gifts that excite
+     passion, and I dread that I may never awaken sentiments like
+     those I feel. Yet it is no small compliment which I offer, when
+     I suppose you superior to the attractions which captivate the
+     vulgar of your sex; and you may value it the more, because it
+     is perhaps the only one I shall ever pay you.
+
+     'To say all this, or something like it, has long been in my
+     thoughts; and, during your late visit to my sister, occupied
+     them more than I shall own; but a dread of I know not what,
+     forced me to let you depart without offering to your acceptance
+     all that I have to offer. I felt a certainty that I was not
+     yet beloved, and, I believe I feared that you, in your lively
+     way, (so I must call it, since no epithet that implies reproof
+     must flow from a lover's pen), would give utterance to the
+     feeling of the moment, and bid me think of you no more. Is it
+     presumption to say, that I hope more from a more considerate
+     decision? Ask your own heart, then, dear Miss De Courcy,
+     whether time and the assiduities of respectful love can beguile
+     you of such tenderness as is due to a confiding affectionate
+     husband. Ask yourself, whether you can ever return my warm
+     attachment, to such a degree as will make the duties of a wife
+     easy and pleasant to you. I need not assure you that I am not
+     the selfish wretch who could find joy in receiving those which
+     were painfully and reluctantly performed. Be candid with
+     yourself then I adjure you. Fear not that I shall persecute you
+     with importunity or complaint. If it must be so, I will see you
+     no more for some months; and, at the end of that time, shall
+     expect, in reward of my self-conquest, to be received with
+     cordiality as your brother's friend. If your sentence be
+     against me, save yourself the pain of telling me so; for I know
+     that it must be painful to you. Yet judge of the strength of
+     that regard which is thus anxious to shield you from
+     uneasiness, at the moment when it anticipates such pain from
+     your hands. If you can give me hope (and, observe, when I say
+     hope, I do not mean certainty), do not tax your delicacy for
+     studied phrases of acceptance, but write me even a common card
+     of invitation to Norwood, and the tenderest billet that ever
+     was penned by woman, never gave more pleasure than it will
+     bring to your very affectionate and obedient servant,
+
+                                 'EDWARD BOLINGBROKE.'
+
+Laura could not help smiling at the composed style of this epistle, so
+different from the only ones of its kind with which she was conversant.
+A lover confess that his mistress had faults, and that he was sensible
+of them!--insinuate that he expected not only duty, but willing and
+grateful duty from his wife!--have the boldness to expect, that, if his
+passion were unsuccessful, he should quickly be able to conquer it!
+Laura felt no inclination to envy her friend a lover so fully in the
+exercise of his judgment and foresight; but she was pleased with the
+plain honest rationality of the letter; and, with the materials before
+her, immediately busied her imagination in its favourite work of
+sketching and adorning character.
+
+She was called from her meditation by another petition for advice. 'You
+see,' said Harriet, 'he pretends not to expect certainty; but it is much
+the same whether one run one's neck into the noose, or gets entangled so
+that one can't decently get off. If I could _creditably_ contrive to
+keep him dangling till I had made up my mind,' continued she,
+illustrating the metaphor with her watch-chain. 'Do assist me, my dear;
+I am sure you have managed a dozen of them in your time.'
+
+'My experience is not so extensive,' replied Laura, 'and I can really
+assist you to no _creditable_ method of trifling.'
+
+'You would not have me resolve to marry a man whom I don't care a
+farthing for.' 'No, indeed! but I think Mr Bolingbroke would have a
+right to complain, if you gave hopes which you did not fulfil.' 'You
+would have me dismiss him at once then?' 'By no means; but I would have
+you think for yourself on a subject of which no other person can judge;
+and remember, my dear, that, as your decision has neither been wrested
+from you by surprise, nor seduced from you by persuasion, you have no
+excuse for forming a weak or wavering resolution.'
+
+Determined that on such a subject she would deliver no opinion, Laura
+was relieved from some embarrassment by the return of De Courcy. His
+reflections during his ride had effectually quelled the exuberance of
+his spirits, and he endeavoured to repair his unguardedness by distant
+politeness. His manner increased the feeling of restraint of which Laura
+could not at that time divest herself; and after a short and constrained
+sequel to a visit which had begun so differently, Montague hurried his
+sister away.
+
+'I shall never conquer her indifference,' said he to his mother, after
+relating the folly of the morning. 'Had you seen her frozen look of
+displeasure, you would have been convinced.' 'And how, my dear Montague,
+could you expect Miss Montreville to receive such freedom? like a little
+village coquette gasping at the prospect of a first lover? If you are
+convinced that your secret would still be heard without pleasure, you
+must redouble your caution to preserve it. But suffer me to warn you
+against the extreme of reserve in which I have sometimes observed that
+you are apt to fall. It can only confirm suspicions if they are excited;
+if not, it will disgust by an appearance of caprice.'
+
+Montague promised to be guarded; and withdrew to seek in his laboratory
+a refuge from despondence. Those who pursue worldly gains and vulgar
+pleasures, must cheerlessly toil on, waiting for their reward till their
+end is attained; but the pursuits of science and of virtue have this
+advantage peculiar to themselves, that there is reward in the labour,
+even though the success be only partial; and, in half an hour, all
+Montague's cares were absorbed in the muriatic acid. In a few days he
+again saw Laura, and her sunny smile of welcome revived hopes which she
+little thought of fulfilling.
+
+When a woman of ordinary delicacy is brought to hesitate upon the
+proposal of a lover, it is easy, provided prudence be on his side, to
+conjecture how the balance will turn. Mr Bolingbroke received his card
+of invitation to Norwood; and his suit advanced prosperously, though
+slowly. He was a plain unpretending man, seven years at least beyond
+excuse for any youthful indiscretion, habitually silent, though sure of
+commanding attention when he spoke. The perfect fairness and integrity
+of his mind had secured him the respect of all his acquaintance in a
+degree which he appeared to have precisely estimated, and he never
+seemed to expect less or to exact more. His calm unobtrusive manners
+never captivated a stranger, nor gave offence to an intimate. He was
+kind and generous to a sister, who, twenty years before, had succeeded
+as his play-thing to tops and marbles; and uniformly respectful to a
+maiden aunt who had, about the same date, replaced his mother as
+directress of the family.
+
+His father had been long dead, and in consequence of his steady
+resistance of all the batteries of charms opened against him, or rather
+against his £7000 a-year, the ladies had begun to shake their heads, and
+pronounce him a determined bachelor. But, notwithstanding their
+decision, Mr Bolingbroke was resolved to marry, for he considered
+marriage as one of the duties of his station.
+
+Harriet amused, became customary, pleasing, necessary, to him. 'Our
+dissimilarity will assist us to correct each other's failings,' thought
+he, and his choice was fixed. He was aware that a grave elderly man
+might find some difficulty in attaching a volatile girl; and though he
+could not condescend to flatter even his mistress, he was assiduous to
+please. He bestowed an infinity of little attentions, which were the
+more gratifying, because, from a man of his temper, they were wholly
+unexpected. His books, his horses, his carriage, waited but a
+half-expressed wish. He planned little excursions and parties of
+pleasure, or contrived to add some agreeable surprise to those which
+were proposed by others. Far from shewing any paltry jealousy, he
+treated Miss De Courcy's favourites of both sexes with distinguished
+politeness; and perhaps he owed his success with a heart which had
+withstood more attractive admirers, partly to the agreeable
+associations which he found means to raise, partly to vanity, pleased
+with power over the philosophic Mr Bolingbroke.
+
+Montague watched the progress of his friend with keen interest, but he
+conscientiously avoided influencing Harriet's decision. On the contrary,
+lest the dread of future dependence should weigh with her, he informed
+her, that, should she prefer a single life, or should other
+circumstances render such a sum important to her, he was determined to
+double the little fortune he had already given.
+
+While he was anxious to see his sister's happiness secured by her union
+with an estimable man, he felt that her marriage with Mr Bolingbroke
+would immediately remove one grand obstacle to his own wishes; for the
+little dower which he was determined ere he settled in life to save for
+Harriet, would form an addition altogether insignificant to the splendid
+settlement which was now in her power. There was nothing Quixotic in the
+justice and generosity of De Courcy; and he had no intention of
+incurring real difficulty and privation for the sake of adding a trifle
+to the stores of affluence. He therefore considered his sister's
+marriage as leaving him at full liberty to pursue his inclinations with
+regard to Laura, if the time should ever arrive when he could declare
+them without hazarding the forfeiture of even his present stinted
+measure of favour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+One day Miss De Courcy expressed a wish to shew Laura the collection of
+paintings at a celebrated seat in the neighbourhood. Mr Bolingbroke
+immediately undertook to procure the permission of the noble owner, who
+was his relation; and the party was speedily arranged. Mrs Penelope's
+sociable, as Mr Bolingbroke always called it, was to convey his aunt,
+his sister, Harriet, and Mrs De Courcy, to whom the genial warmth of the
+season had partially restored the use of her limbs. Mrs Penelope piqued
+herself upon rising with the lark, and enforcing the same wholesome
+habit upon the whole household; the Bolingbrokes were, therefore, to
+take an early breakfast at Norwood, and then to proceed on their
+excursion. De Courcy and Mr Bolingbroke were to ride. Lady Pelham and
+Laura were to join the party in the grounds.
+
+The weather proved delightful; and, after spending some hours in
+examining the paintings, in which Laura derived additional pleasure from
+the skilful comments of De Courcy, the party proceeded to view the
+grounds, when she, with almost equal delight, contemplated a finished
+specimen of modern landscape-gardening. Pursuing, as usual, his cautious
+plan, Montague divided his attentions pretty equally between the elder
+ladies and Miss Bolingbroke, bestowing the least part upon her for whom
+he would willingly have reserved all; while Harriet, in good humour with
+herself, and with all around her, frankly gave her arm to her lover; and
+sometimes laughing, sometimes blushing, suffered herself to loiter, to
+incline her head in listening to somewhat said in a half-whisper, and to
+answer it in an under tone; without recollecting that she had resolved,
+till she had _quite_ made up her mind, to restrain her habitual
+propensity to flirting.
+
+De Courcy was certainly above the meanness of envy, yet he could not
+suppress a sigh as, with Mrs Penelope and his mother leaning on his
+arms, while Laura walked behind with Miss Bolingbroke, he followed
+Harriet and his friend into the darkened path that led to a hermitage.
+The walk was shaded by yew, cypress, and other trees of dusky foliage,
+which, closing into an arch, excluded the gaudy sunshine. As they
+proceeded, the shade deepened into twilight, and the heats of noon gave
+place to refreshing coolness. The path terminated in a porch of
+wicker-work, forming the entrance to the hermitage, the walls of which
+were composed of the roots of trees, on the outside rugged as from the
+hand of nature, but within polished and fancifully adorned with shells
+and fossils. Opposite to the entrance, a rude curtain of leopard skin
+seemed to cover a recess; and Harriet, hastily drawing it aside, gave to
+view a prospect gay with every variety of cheerful beauty. The meadows,
+lately cleared from their burden, displayed a vivid green, and light
+shadows quickly passed over them and were gone. The corn-fields were
+busy with the first labours of the harvest. The village spires were
+thickly sown in the distance. More near, a rapid river flashed bright to
+the sun; yet the blaze came chastened to the eye, for it entered an
+awning close hung with the graceful tendrils of the passion-flower.
+
+The party were not soon weary of so lovely a landscape, and returning to
+the more shady apartment, found an elegant collation of fruits and ices,
+supplied by the gallantry of Mr Bolingbroke. Never was there a more
+cheerful repast. Lady Pelham was luckily in good humour, and therefore
+condescended to permit others to be so too. Laura, happily for herself,
+possessed a faculty not common to beauties--she could be contented where
+another was the chief object of attention; and she was actually enjoying
+the court that was paid to her friend, when, accidentally raising the
+vine leaf which held the fruit she was eating, she observed some verses
+pencilled on the rustic table in a hand-writing familiar to her
+recollection.
+
+Sudden instinct made her hastily replace the leaf, and steal a glance to
+see whether any other eye had followed her's. No one seemed to have
+noticed her; but Laura's gaiety had vanished. The lines were distinct,
+as if recently traced; and Laura's blood ran chill at the thought, that,
+had she even a few hours sooner visited this spot, she might have met
+Colonel Hargrave. 'He may still be near,' thought she; and she wished,
+though she could not propose, to be instantly gone. None of her
+companions, however, seemed inclined to move. They continued their
+merriment, while Laura, her mind wholly occupied with one subject,
+again stole a glimpse of the writing. It was undoubtedly Hargrave's;
+and, deaf to all that was passing around her, she fell into a reverie,
+which was first interrupted by the company rising to depart.
+
+Though she had been in such haste to be gone, she was now the last to
+go. In her momentary glance at the sonnet, she had observed that it was
+inscribed to her. 'Of what possible consequence,' thought she, 'can it
+be to me?' yet she lingered behind to read it. In language half
+passionate, half melancholy, it complained of the pains of absence and
+the cruelty of too rigid virtue; but it broke off abruptly, as if the
+writer had been suddenly interrupted.
+
+So rapidly did Laura glance over the lines, that her companions had
+advanced but a few paces, ere she was hastening to follow them. On
+reaching the porch, she saw that the walk was just entered by two
+gentlemen. An instant convinced her that one of them was Hargrave.
+Neither shriek nor exclamation announced this discovery, but Laura,
+turning pale, shrunk back out of view. Her first feeling was eager
+desire of escape; her first thought, that, returning to the inner
+apartment, she might thence spring from the lofty terrace, on the verge
+of which the hermitage was reared. She was deterred, by recollecting the
+absurd appearance of such an escape, and the surprise it would occasion.
+But what was to be done? There was no third way of leaving the place
+where she stood, and if she remained, in a few moments Hargrave would be
+there.
+
+These ideas darted so confusedly through her mind, that it seemed rather
+by instinct than design, that she drew her hat over her face, and
+doubled her veil in order to pass him unnoticed. She again advanced to
+the porch; but perceived, not without consternation, that Hargrave had
+joined her party, and stood talking to Lady Pelham in an attitude of
+easy cordiality. Laura did not comment upon the free morality which
+accorded such a reception to such a character; for she was sick at
+heart, and trembled in every limb. Now there was no escape. He would
+certainly accost her, and she must answer him--answer him without
+emotion! or how would Mr De Courcy--how would his mother construe her
+weakness! What would Hargrave himself infer from it! What, but that her
+coldness sprung from mere passing anger! or, more degrading still, from
+jealousy! The truant crimson now rushed back unbidden; and Laura
+proceeded with slow but steady steps.
+
+During her short walk she continued to struggle with herself. 'Let me
+but this once command myself,' said she. 'And wherefore should I not? It
+is he who ought to shrink.--It is he who ought to tremble!' Yet it was
+Laura who trembled, when, advancing towards her, Lady Pelham introduced
+her to Colonel Hargrave as her niece. Laura's inclination of the head,
+cold as indifference could make it, did not seem to acknowledge former
+intimacy; and when Hargrave, with a manner respectful even to timidity,
+claimed her acquaintance, she gave a short answer of frozen civility,
+and turned away. Shrinking from even the slightest converse with him,
+she hastily passed on; then, determined to afford him no opportunity of
+speaking to her, she glided in between Mrs De Courcy, who stood
+anxiously watching her, and Harriet, who was studying the contour of
+Hargrave's face; and offering an arm to each, she gently drew them
+forward.
+
+Mr Bolingbroke immediately joined them, and entered into conversation
+with Harriet; while Mrs De Courcy continued to read the legible
+countenance of Laura, who silently walked on, revolving in her mind the
+difference between this and her last unexpected meeting with Hargrave.
+The freedom of his address to the unfriended girl who was endeavouring
+to exchange the labour of her hands for a pittance to support existence,
+(a freedom which had once found sympathetic excuse in the breast of
+Laura), she now, not without indignation, contrasted with the respect
+offered to Lady Pelham's niece, surrounded by the rich and the
+respectable. Yet while she remembered what had then been her
+half-affected coldness, her ill-restrained sensibility; and compared
+them with the total alienation of heart which she now experienced, she
+could not stifle a sigh which rose at the recollection, that in her the
+raptures of love and joy were chilled never more to warm. 'Would that my
+preference had been more justly directed,' thought she, her eye
+unconsciously wandering to De Courcy; 'but that is all over now!'
+
+From idle regrets, Laura soon turned to more characteristic meditation
+upon the conduct most suitable for her to pursue. Hargrave had joined
+her party; had been acknowledged, by some of them at least, as an
+acquaintance; and had particularly attached himself to Lady Pelham, with
+whom he followed in close conversation. Laura thought he would probably
+take the first opportunity of addressing himself to her; and if her
+manner towards him corresponded with the bent of her feelings,
+consciousness made her fear, that in her distance and constraint Lady
+Pelham's already suspicious eye would read more than merely dislike to a
+vicious character. Hargrave himself, too, might mistake who so nearly
+resembled her former manner for the veil of her former sentiments. She
+might possibly escape speaking to him for the present, but if he was
+fixed in the neighbourhood, (and something of the woman whispered that
+he would not leave it immediately), they would probably meet where to
+avoid him was not in her power. After some minutes of close
+consideration, she concluded, that to treat Colonel Hargrave with easy
+civil indifference, best accorded with what she owed to her own dignity;
+and was best calculated, if he retained one spark of sensibility or
+discernment, to convince him that her sentiments had undergone an
+irrevocable change. This method, therefore, she determined to pursue;
+making, with a sigh, this grand proviso, that she should find it
+practicable.
+
+Mrs De Courcy, who guessed the current of her thoughts, suffered it to
+proceed without interruption; and it was not till Laura relaxed her
+brow, and raised her head, like one who has taken his resolution, that
+her companion, stopping, complained of fatigue; proposing, as her own
+carriage was not in waiting, to borrow Lady Pelham's, and return home,
+leaving the other ladies to be conveyed in Mrs Penelope's sociable to
+Norwood, where the party was to dine. Not willing to direct the proposal
+to Laura, upon whose account chiefly it was made, she then turned to Mrs
+Penelope, and inquired whether she did not feel tired with her walk; but
+that lady, who piqued herself upon being a hale active woman of her age,
+declared herself able for much greater exertion, and would walk, she
+said, till she had secured an appetite for dinner. Laura, who had
+modestly held back till Mrs Penelope's decision was announced, now
+eagerly offered her attendance, which Mrs De Courcy, with a little
+dissembled hesitation, accepted, smiling to perceive how well she had
+divined her young favourite's inclinations.
+
+The whole party attended them to the spot where the carriages were
+waiting. On reaching them, Mr Bolingbroke, handing in Mrs De Courcy,
+left Laura's side for the first time free to Hargrave, who instantly
+occupied it; while Montague, the drops standing on his forehead, found
+himself shackled between Mrs Penelope and Miss Bolingbroke. 'Ever dear,
+ever revered Miss Montreville'--Hargrave began in an insinuating
+whisper. 'Sir!' cried Laura, starting with indignant surprise. 'Nay,
+start not,' continued he in an under voice; 'I have much, much to say.
+Lady Pelham allows me to visit Walbourne; will you permit me to'--Laura
+had not yet studied her lesson of easy civility, and therefore the
+courtesy of a slight inclination of the head was contradicted by the
+tone in which she interrupted him, saying, 'I never presume, Sir, to
+select Lady Pelham's visitors.'
+
+She had reached the door of the carriage, and Hargrave took her hand to
+assist her in entering. Had Laura been prepared, she would have suffered
+him, though reluctantly, to do her this little service; but he took her
+unawares, and snatching back her hand as from the touch of a loathsome
+reptile, she sprang, unassisted, into her seat.
+
+As the carriage drove off, Mrs De Courcy again apologized for separating
+Laura from her companions; 'though I know not,' added she, 'whether I
+should not rather take credit for withdrawing you from such dangerous
+society. All ladies who have stray hearts must guard them either in
+person or by proxy, since this formidable Colonel Hargrave has come
+among us.' 'He has fortunately placed the more respectable part of us in
+perfect security,' returned Laura, with a smile and voice of such
+unembarrassed simplicity as fully satisfied her examiner.
+
+Had Laura spent a lifetime in studying to give pain, which, indeed, was
+not in all her thoughts, she could not have inflicted a sharper sting on
+the proud heart of Hargrave, than by the involuntary look and gesture
+with which she quitted him. The idea of inspiring with disgust, unmixed
+irresistible disgust, the woman upon whose affections, or rather upon
+whose passions, he had laboured so zealously and so long, had ever been
+more than he could bear, even when the expression of her dislike had no
+witness; but now she had published it to chattering misses and prying
+old maids, and more favoured rivals. Hargrave bit his lip till the blood
+came; and, if the lightning of the eye could scathe, his wrath had been
+far more deadly to others.
+
+After walking for some minutes surly and apart, he began to comfort
+himself with the hopes of future revenge. 'She had loved him,
+passionately loved him, and he was certain she could not be so utterly
+changed. Her behaviour was either all affectation, or a conceit of the
+strength of her own mind, which all these clever women were so vain of.
+But the spark still lurked somewhere, whatever she might imagine, and if
+he could turn her own weapons against herself.'--Then, recollecting that
+he had resolved to cultivate Lady Pelham, he resumed his station by her
+side, and was again the courtly, insinuating Colonel Hargrave.
+
+Hargrave had lately acquired a friend, or rather an adviser (the
+dissolute have no friends), who was admirably calculated to supply the
+deficiencies of his character as a man of pleasure. Indeed, except in so
+far as pleasure was his constant aim, no term could, with less justice,
+have been applied to Hargrave; for his life was chiefly divided between
+the goadings of temptations to which he himself lent arms, and the pangs
+of self-reproach which he could not exclude, and would not render
+useful. The strait and narrow way he never had a thought of treading,
+but his wanderings were more frequent than he intended, his returns more
+lingering. The very strength of his passions made him incapable of deep
+or persevering deceit; he was humane to the suffering that pressed
+itself on his notice, if it came at a convenient season; and he was
+disinterested, if neglect of gold deserve the name. Lambert, his new
+adviser, had no passions, no humanity, no neglect of gold. He was a
+gamester.
+
+The practice of this profession, for, though a man of family and fortune
+he made it a profession, had rendered him skilful to discern, and
+remorseless to use the weaknesses of his fellow creatures. His estate
+lay contiguous to --, the little town where Hargrave had been quartered
+when he visited at Norwood; but the year which Hargrave passed at -- was
+spent by Lambert almost entirely alone in London. He had returned
+however to the country, had been introduced to Hargrave, and had just
+fixed upon him as an easy prey, when the soldier was saved for a time,
+by receiving intimation of his promotion, and orders to join his
+regiment in a distant county.
+
+They met again in an evil hour, just as Hargrave had half-determined to
+abandon as fruitless his search after Laura. The necessity of a
+stimulant was as strong as ever. Another necessity too was strong, for
+£10,000 of damages had been awarded to Lord Bellamer; Hargrave could not
+easily raise the money, and Lord Lincourt refused to advance a shilling.
+'A pretty expensive pleasure has this Lady Bellamer been to me,' said
+Hargrave, bestowing on her Ladyship a coarse enough epithet; for even
+fine gentlemen will sometimes call women what they have found them to
+be. He was prevailed on to try the gaming-table for the supply of both
+his wants, and found that pleasure fully twice as expensive. His friend
+introduced him to some of those accommodating gentlemen who lend money
+at illegal interest, and was generous enough to supply him when they
+would venture no more upon an estate in reversion. Lambert had
+accidentally heard of the phoenix which had appeared at Walbourne; and,
+on comparing the description he received of her with that to which with
+politic patience he had often listened, he had no doubt of having found
+the object of Hargrave's search. But, as it did not suit his present
+views that the lover should renew the pursuit, he dropt not a hint of
+his discovery, listening, with a gamester's insensibility, to the
+regrets which burst forth amidst the struggles of expiring virtue, for
+her whose soft influence would have led to peace and honour.
+
+At last a dispute arising between the worthy Mr Lambert and his
+respectable coadjutors, as to the partition of the spoil, it occurred to
+him that he could more effectually monopolize his prey in the country;
+and thither accordingly he was called by pressing business. There he was
+presently so fortunate as to discover a Miss Montreville, on whose
+charms he descanted in a letter to Hargrave in such terms, that, though
+he averred she could not be Hargrave's Miss Montreville, Hargrave was
+sure she could be no other; and, as his informer expected, arrived in
+----shire as soon as a chaise and four could convey him thither.
+
+Lambert had now a difficult game to play, for he had roused the leading
+passion, and the collateral one could act but feebly; but they who often
+tread the crooked path, find pleasure in its intricacy, vainly
+conceiting that it gives proof of their sagacity, and Lambert looked
+with pleasure on the obstacles in his way. He trusted, that while the
+master-spirit detained Hargrave within the circle of Walbourne, he might
+dexterously practise with the lesser imp of evil.
+
+Had his letter afforded a clue to Laura's residence, Hargrave would have
+flown directly to Walbourne, but he was first obliged to stop at --; and
+Lambert, with some difficulty, persuaded him, that, as he was but
+slightly known to Lady Pelham, and probably in disgrace with her
+protegée, it would be more politic to delay his visit, and first meet
+them at Lord --'s, where he had information that they were to go on the
+following day. 'You will take your girl at unawares,' said he, 'if she
+be your girl; and that is no bad way of feeling your ground.' The vanity
+of extorting from Laura's surprise some unequivocal token of his power
+prevailed on the lover to delay the interview till the morning; and,
+after spending half the evening in dwelling upon the circumstances of
+his last unexpected meeting with her, which distance softened in his
+imagination to more than its actual tenderness, he, early in the morning
+set out with Lambert for --, where he took post in the hermitage, as a
+place which no stranger omitted to visit.
+
+Growing weary of waiting, he dispatched Lambert as a scout; and, lest he
+should miss Laura, remained himself in the hermitage, till his emissary
+brought him information that the party were in the picture gallery.
+Thither he hastened; but the party had already left the house, and thus
+had Laura accidental warning of his approach. No reception could have
+been so mortifying to him, who was prepared to support her sinking under
+the struggle of love and duty, of jealousy and pride. No struggle was
+visible; or, if there was, it was but a faint strife between native
+courtesy and strong dislike. He had boasted to Lambert of her
+tenderness; the specimen certainly was not flattering. Most of her
+companions were little more gracious. De Courcy paid him no more
+attention than bare civility required.--With the Bolingbrokes he was
+unacquainted, but the character of his companion was sufficient reason
+for their reserve. Lady Pelham was the only person present who soothed
+his wounded vanity. Pleased with the prospect of unravelling the mystery
+into which she had pried so long in vain, charmed with the easy
+gallantry and adroit flattery of which Hargrave, in his cooler moments,
+was consummate master, she accepted his attentions with great
+cordiality; while he had the address tacitly to persuade her that they
+were a tribute to her powers of entertaining.
+
+Before they parted, she had converted her permission to visit Walbourne
+into a pressing invitation, nay, had even hinted to De Courcy the
+propriety of asking the Colonel to join the dinner party that day at
+Norwood. The hint, however, was not taken; and therefore, in her way
+home, Lady Pelham indulged her fellow-travellers with sundry moral and
+ingenious reflections concerning the folly of being 'righteous over
+much;' and on the alluring accessible form of the true virtue,
+contrasted with the repulsive, bristly, hedgehog-like make of the false.
+Indeed, it must be owned, that for the rest of the evening her
+Ladyship's conversation was rather sententious than agreeable; but the
+rest of the party, in high good humour, overlooked her attacks, or
+parried them in play.
+
+Montague had watched the cold composure of Laura on Hargrave's first
+accosting her, and seen the gesture which repulsed him at parting; and
+though in the accompanying look he lost volumes, his conclusions, on the
+whole, were favourable. Still a doubt arose, whether her manner sprung
+not from the fleeting resentment of affection; and he was standing
+mournfully calculating the effects of Hargrave's perseverance, when his
+mother, in passing him as she followed her guests to the eating-room,
+said, in an emphatical whisper, 'I am satisfied. There is no worm in the
+bud.'
+
+Mrs De Courcy's encouraging assertion was confirmed by the behaviour of
+Laura herself; for she maintained her usual serene cheerfulness; nor
+could even the eye of love detect more than one short fit of
+distraction; and then the subject of thought seemed any thing rather
+than pleasing retrospect, or glad anticipation. The company of his
+friends, Harriet's pointedly favourable reception of Mr Bolingbroke's
+assiduities, and the rise of his own hopes, all enlivened Montague to
+unusual vivacity, and led him to a deed of daring which he had often
+projected, without finding courage to perform it. He thought, if he
+could speak of Hargrave to Laura, and watch her voice, her eye, her
+complexion, all his doubts would be solved. With this view, contriving
+to draw her a little apart, he ventured, for the first time, to name his
+rival; mentioned Lady Pelham's hint; and, faltering, asked Laura whether
+he had not done wrong in resisting it.
+
+'Really,' answered Laura with a very _naïve_ smile, and a very faint
+blush, 'I don't wonder you hesitate in offering me such a piece of
+flattery as to ask my opinion.'
+
+'Do not tax me with flattering you,' said De Courcy earnestly; 'I would
+as soon flatter an apostle; but tell me candidly what you think.'
+
+'Then, candidly,' said Laura, raising her mild unembarrassed eye to his,
+'I think you did right, perfectly right, in refusing your countenance to
+a person of Colonel Hargrave's character. While vice is making her
+encroachments on every hand, it is not for the friends of virtue to
+remove the ancient landmarks.'
+
+Though this was one of the stalest pieces of morality that ever Montague
+had heard Laura utter, he could scarcely refrain from repaying it by
+clasping her to his heart. Convinced that her affections were free, he
+could not contain his rapture, but exclaimed, 'Laura, you are an angel!
+and, if I did not already love beyond all power of expression, I should
+be'--He raised his eyes to seek those of Laura, and met his mother's,
+fixed on him with an expression that compelled him to silence.--'You
+should be in love with me;' said Laura, laughing, and filling up the
+sentence as she imagined it was meant to conclude. 'Well, I shall be
+content with the second place.'
+
+Mrs De Courcy, who had approached them, now spoke on some indifferent
+subject, and saved her son from a very awkward attempt at explanation.
+She drew her chair close to Laura, and soon engaged her in a
+conversation so animated, that Montague forgot his embarrassment, and
+joined them with all his natural ease and cheerfulness. The infection of
+his ease and cheerfulness Laura had ever found irresistible. Flashes of
+wit and genius followed the collision of their minds; and the unstudied
+eloquence, the poetic imagery of her style, sprung forth at his touch,
+like blossoms in the steps of the fabled Flora.
+
+Happy with her friends, Laura almost forgot the disagreeable adventure
+of the morning; and, every look and word mutually bestowing pleasure,
+the little party were as happy as affection and esteem could make them,
+when Lady Pelham, with an aspect like a sea fog, and a voice suitably
+forbidding, inquired whether her niece would be pleased to go home, or
+whether she preferred sitting chattering there all night. Laura, without
+any sign of noticing the rudeness of this address, rose, and said she
+was quite ready to attend her Ladyship. In vain did the De Courcys
+entreat her to prolong her visit till the morning. To dare to be happy
+without her concurrence, was treason against Lady Pelham's dignity; and
+unfortunately she was not in a humour to concur in the joy of any living
+thing. De Courcy's reserve towards her new favourite she considered as a
+tacit reproof of her own cordiality; and she had just such a conviction
+that the reproof was deserved, as to make her thoroughly out of humour
+with the reprover, with herself, and consequently with everybody else.
+Determined to interrupt pleasure which she would not share, the more her
+hosts pressed her stay, the more she hastened her departure; and she
+mingled her indifferent good nights to them with more energetic
+reprimands to the tardiness of her coachman.
+
+'Thank heaven,' said she, thrusting herself into the corner of her
+carriage with that jerk in her motion which indicates a certain degree
+of irritation, 'to-morrow we shall probably see a civilized being.' A
+short pause followed. Laura's plain integrity and prudence had gained
+such ascendancy over Lady Pelham, that her niece's opinion was to her
+Ladyship a kind of second conscience, having, indeed, much the same
+powers as the first. Its sanction was necessary to her quiet, though it
+had not force to controul her actions. On the present occasion she
+wished, above all things, to know Laura's sentiments; but she would not
+condescend to ask them directly. 'Colonel Hargrave's manners are quite
+those of a gentleman,' she resumed. The remark was entirely ineffectual;
+for Laura coolly assented, without inquiring whether he were the
+civilized being whom Lady Pelham expected to see. Another pause.
+'Colonel Hargrave will be at Walbourne to-morrow,' said Lady Pelham, the
+tone of her voice sharpening with impatience. 'Will he, Ma'am?' returned
+Laura, without moving a muscle. 'If Miss Montreville has no objections,'
+said Lady Pelham, converting by a toss of her head and a twist of her
+upper lip, the words of compliment into an insult. 'Probably,' said
+Laura, with a smile, 'my objections would make no great
+difference.'--'Oh, to be sure!' returned Lady Pelham, 'it would be lost
+labour to state them to such an obstinate, unreasonable person as I am!
+Well, I believe you are the first who ever accused me of obstinacy.' If
+Lady Pelham expected a compliment to her pliability, she was
+disappointed; for Laura only answered, 'I shall never presume to
+interfere in the choice of your Ladyship's visitors.'
+
+That she should be thus compelled to be explicit was more than Lady
+Pelham's temper could endure. Her eyes flashing with rage, 'Superlative
+humility indeed!' she exclaimed with a sneer; but, awed, in spite of
+herself, from the free expression of her fury, she muttered it within
+her shut teeth in a sentence of which the words 'close' and 'jesuitical'
+alone reached Laura's ear. A long and surly silence followed; Lady
+Pelham's pride and anger struggling with her desire to learn the
+foundation and extent of the disapprobation which she suspected that her
+conduct excited. The latter, at last, partly prevailed; though Lady
+Pelham still disclaimed condescending to direct consultation.
+
+'Pray, Miss Montreville,' said she, 'if Colonel Hargrave's visits were
+to _you_, what mighty objections might your sanctity find to
+them?'--Laura had long ago observed that a slight exertion of her spirit
+was the best _quietus_ to her aunt's ill humour; and, therefore,
+addressing her with calm austerity, she said, 'Any young woman, Madam,
+who values her reputation, might object to Colonel Hargrave's visits,
+merely on the score of prudence. But even my "superlative humility" does
+not reconcile me to company which I despise; and my "sanctity," as your
+Ladyship is pleased to call it, rather shrinks from the violator of laws
+divine and human.'
+
+Lady Pelham withdrew her eyes to escape a glance which they never could
+stand; but, bridling, she said, 'Well, Miss Montreville, I am neither
+young nor sanctimonious, therefore your objections cannot apply to
+Colonel Hargrave's visits to me; and I am determined,' continued she,
+speaking as if strength of voice denoted strength of resolution, 'I am
+determined, that I will not throw away the society of an agreeable man,
+to gratify the whims of a parcel of narrow-minded bigots.'
+
+To this attack Laura answered only with a smile. She smiled to see
+herself classed with the De Courcys; for she had no doubt that they were
+the 'bigots' to whom Lady Pelham referred. She smiled, too, to observe
+that the boasted freedom of meaner minds is but a poor attempt to hide
+from themselves the restraint imposed by the opinions of the wise and
+good.
+
+The carriage stopped, and Laura took sanctuary in her own apartment; but
+at supper she met her aunt with smiles of unaffected complacency, and,
+according to the plan which she invariably pursued, appeared to have
+forgotten Lady Pelham's fit of spleen; by that means enabling her aunt
+to recover from it with as little expence to her pride as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Lady Pelham was not disappointed in her expectation of seeing Colonel
+Hargrave on the following day. He called at Walbourne while her Ladyship
+was still at her toilette; and was shown into the drawing-room, where
+Laura had already taken her station. She rose to receive him, with an
+air which shewed that his visit gave her neither surprise nor pleasure;
+and, motioning him to a distant seat, quietly resumed her occupation.
+Hargrave was a little disconcerted. He expected that Laura would shun
+him, with marks of strong resentment, or perhaps with the agitation of
+offended love; and he was prepared for nothing but to entreat the
+audience which she now seemed inclined to offer him.
+
+Lovers are so accustomed to accuse ladies of cruelty, and to find ladies
+take pleasure in being so accused, that unlooked-for kindness
+discomposes them; and a favour unhoped is generally a favour undesired.
+The consciousness of ill desert, the frozen serenity of Laura's manner,
+deprived Hargrave of courage to use the opportunity which she seemed
+voluntarily to throw in his way. He hesitated, he faltered; while, all
+unlike her former self, Laura appeared determined that he should make
+love, for she would not aid his dilemma even by a comment on the
+weather. All the timidity which formerly marked her demeanour, was now
+transferred to his; and, arranging her work with stoical composure, she
+raised her head to listen, as Hargrave approaching her stammered out an
+incoherent sentence expressive of his unalterable love, and his fears
+that he had offended almost beyond forgiveness.
+
+Laura suffered him to conclude without interruption; then answered, in a
+voice mild but determined, 'I had some hopes, Sir, from your knowledge
+of my character and sentiments, that, after what has passed, you could
+have entertained no doubts on this subject.--Yet, lest even a shadow of
+suspense should rest on your mind, I have remained here this morning on
+purpose to end it. I sincerely grieve to hear that you still retain the
+partiality you have been pleased to express, since it is now beyond my
+power to make even the least return.'
+
+The utmost bitterness of reproach would not have struck so chilly on the
+heart of Hargrave as these words, and the manner in which they were
+uttered. From the principles of Laura he had indeed dreaded much; but he
+had feared nothing from her indifference. He had feared that duty might
+obtain a partial victory; but he had never doubted that inclination
+would survive the struggle. With a mixture of doubt, surprise, and
+anguish, he continued to gaze upon her after she was silent; then
+starting, he exclaimed--'I will not believe it; it is impossible. Oh,
+Laura, choose some other way to stab, for I cannot bear this!'--'It
+pains me,' said Laura, in a voice of undissembled concern, 'to add
+disappointment to the pangs which you cannot but feel; yet it were most
+blameable now to cherish in you the faintest expectation.'--'Stop,'
+cried Hargrave, vehemently, 'if you would not have me utterly undone. I
+have never known peace or innocence but in the hope of your love; leave
+me a dawning of that hope, however distant. Nay, do not look as if it
+were impossible. When you thought me a libertine, a seducer--all that
+you can now think me, you suffered me to hope. Let me but begin my trial
+now, and all woman-kind shall not lure me from you.'
+
+'Ah,' said Laura, 'when I dreamt of the success of that trial, a strange
+infatuation hung over me. Now it has passed away for ever. Sincerely do
+I wish and pray for your repentance, but I can no longer offer to reward
+it. My desire for your reformation will henceforth be as disinterested
+as sincere.'
+
+Half distracted with the cutting calmness of her manner, so changed
+since the time when every feature spoke the struggles of the heart, when
+the mind's whole strength seemed collected to resist its tenderness,
+Hargrave again vehemently refused to believe in her indifference. ''Tis
+but a few short months,' he cried, grasping her hand with a violence
+that made her turn pale; ''tis but a few short months since you loved me
+with your whole soul, since you said that your peace depended upon my
+return to virtue. And dare you answer it to yourself to cast away the
+influence, the only influence that can secure me?'
+
+'If I have any influence with you,' returned Laura, with a look and an
+attitude of earnest entreaty, 'let it but this once prevail, and then be
+laid aside for ever. Let me persuade you to the review of your conduct;
+to the consideration of your prospects as an accountable being, of the
+vengeance that awaits the impenitent, of the escape offered in the
+gospel. As you value your happiness, let me thus far prevail. Or if it
+will move you more,' continued she, the tears gushing from her eyes, 'I
+will beseech you to grant this, my only request; in memory of a love
+that mourned your unworthiness almost unto death.'
+
+The sight of her emotions revived Hargrave's hopes; and, casting himself
+at her feet, he passionately declared, while she shuddered at the
+impious sentiment, that he asked no heaven but her love, and cared not
+what were his fate if she were lost. 'Ah, Sir,' said she, with pious
+solemnity, 'believe me, the time is not distant when the disappointment
+of this passion will seem to you a sorrow light as the baffled sports of
+childhood. Believe the testimony of one who but lately drew near to the
+gates of the grave. On a death-bed, guilt appears the only real misery;
+and lesser evils are lost amidst its horror like shadows in a
+midnight-gloom.'
+
+The ideas which Laura was labouring to introduce into the mind of
+Hargrave were such as he had of late too successfully endeavoured to
+exclude. They had intruded like importunate creditors; till, oft refused
+admittance, they had ceased to return. The same arts which he had used
+to disguise from himself the extent of his criminality, he now naturally
+employed to extenuate it in the sight of Laura. He assured her that he
+was less guilty than she supposed; that she could form no idea of the
+force of the temptation which had overcome him; that Lady Bellamer was
+less the victim of his passions than of her own; he vehemently protested
+that he despised and abhorred the wanton who had undone him; and that,
+even in the midst of a folly for which he now execrated himself, his
+affections had never wandered from their first object. While he spoke,
+Laura in confusion cast down her eyes, and offended modesty suffused her
+face and neck with crimson. She could indeed form no idea of a heart
+which, attached to one woman, could find any temptation in the
+allurements of another. But when he ended, virtuous indignation flashing
+in her countenance, 'For shame, Sir!' said she. 'If any thing could
+degrade you in my eyes it were this mean attempt to screen yourself
+behind the partner of your wickedness. Does it lessen your guilt that it
+had not even the poor excuse of passion; or think you that, even in the
+hours of a weakness for which you have given me such just reason to
+despise myself, I could have prized the affections of a heart so
+depraved? You say you detest your crime; I fear you only detest its
+punishment; for, were you really repentant, my opinion, the opinion of
+the whole world, would seem to you a trifle unworthy of regard, and the
+utmost bitterness of censure be but an echo to your own
+self-upbraidings.'
+
+Hargrave had no inclination to discuss the nature of repentance. His
+sole desire was to wrest from Laura some token, however slight, of
+returning tenderness. For this purpose he employed all the eloquence
+which he had often found successful in similar attempts. But no two
+things can be more different in their effects, than the language of
+passion poured into the sympathizing bosom of mutual love, or addressed
+to the dull ear of indifference. The expressions which Laura once
+thought capable of warming the coldest heart seemed now the mere ravings
+of insanity; the lamentations which she once thought might have softened
+rocks, now appeared the weak complainings of a child for his lost toy.
+With a mixture of pity and disgust she listened and replied; till the
+entrance of Lady Pelham put a period to the dialogue, and Laura
+immediately quitted the room.
+
+Lady Pelham easily perceived that the conversation had been particular;
+and Hargrave did not long leave her in doubt as to the subject. He
+acquainted her with his pretensions to Laura, and begged her sanction to
+his addresses; assuring her that his intercourse with Lady Bellamer was
+entirely broken off, and that his marriage would secure his permanent
+reformation. He complimented Lady Pelham upon her liberality of
+sentiment and knowledge of the world; from both of which he had hopes,
+he said, that she would not consider one error as sufficient to blast
+his character. Lady Pelham made a little decent hesitation on the score
+of Lady Bellamer's prior claims; but was assured that no engagement had
+ever subsisted there. 'She hoped Lord Lincourt would not be averse.' She
+was told that Lord Lincourt anxiously desired to see his nephew settled.
+'She hoped Colonel Hargrave was resolved that his married life should be
+irreproachable. Laura had a great deal of sensibility, it would break
+her heart to be neglected; and Lady Pelham was sure, that in that case
+the thought of having consented to the dear child's misery would be more
+than she could support!' Her Ladyship was vanquished by an assurance,
+that for Laura to be neglected by her happy husband was utterly
+impossible.
+
+'Laura's inclinations then must be consulted; every thing depended upon
+her concurrence, for the sweet girl had really so wound herself round
+Lady Pelham's heart, that positively her Ladyship could not bear to give
+her a moment's uneasiness, or to press her upon a subject to which she
+was at all averse.' And, strange as it may seem, Lady Pelham at that
+moment believed herself incapable of distressing the person whom, in
+fact, she tormented with ceaseless ingenuity! Hargrave answered by
+confessing his fears that he was for the present less in favour than he
+had once been; but he disclosed Laura's former confessions of
+partiality, and insinuated his conviction that it was smothered rather
+than extinguished.
+
+Lady Pelham could now account for Laura's long illness and low spirits;
+and she listened with eager curiosity to the solution of the enigma,
+which had so long perplexed her. She considered whether she should
+relate to the lover the sorrows he had caused. She judged (for Lady
+Pelham often _judged_ properly) that it would be indelicate thus to
+proclaim to him the extent of his power; but, with the usual
+inconsistency between her judgment and her practice, in half an hour she
+had informed him of all that she had observed, and hinted all that she
+suspected. Hargrave listened, was convinced, and avowed his conviction
+that Lady Pelham's influence was alone necessary to secure his success.
+Her Ladyship said, 'that she should feel some delicacy in using any
+strong influence with her niece, as the amiable orphan had no friend but
+herself, had owed somewhat to her kindness, and might be biassed by
+gratitude against her own inclination. The fortune which she meant to
+bequeath to Laura might by some be thought to confer a right to advise;
+but, for her part, she thought her little all was no more than due to
+the person whose tender assiduities filled the blank which had been left
+in her Ladyship's maternal heart by the ingratitude and disobedience of
+her child.' This sentiment was pronounced in a tone so pathetic, and in
+language so harmonious, that, though it did not for a moment impose upon
+her hearer, it deceived Lady Pelham herself; and she shed tears, which
+she actually imagined to be forced from her by the mingled emotions of
+gratitude and of disappointed tenderness.
+
+Lady Pelham had now entered on a subject inexhaustible; her own
+feelings, her own misfortunes, her own dear self. Hargrave, who in his
+hours of tolerable composure was the most polite of men, listened, or
+appeared to listen, with unconquerable patience, till he fortunately
+recollected an appointment which his interest in her Ladyship's
+conversation had before banished from his mind; when he took his leave,
+bearing with him a very gracious invitation to repeat his visit.
+
+With him departed Lady Pelham's fit of sentimentality; and, in five
+minutes, she had dried her eyes, composed the paragraph which was to
+announce the marriage of Lord Lincourt (for she killed off the old peer
+without ceremony) to the lovely heiress of the amiable Lady Pelham;
+taken possession of her niece's barouche and four, and heard herself
+announced as the benefactress of this new wonder of the world of
+fashion. She would cut off her rebellious daughter with a shilling; give
+her up to the beggary and obscurity which she had chosen, and leave her
+whole fortune to Lady Lincourt; for so, in the fulness of her content,
+she called Laura. After some time enjoying her niece's prospects, or to
+speak more justly her own, she began to think of discovering how near
+they might be to their accomplishment; and, for this purpose, she
+summoned Laura to a conference.
+
+Lady Pelham loved nothing on earth but herself; yet vanity, gratified
+curiosity, and, above all, the detection of a mere human weakness
+reducing Laura somewhat more to her own level awakened in her breast an
+emotion resembling affection; as, throwing her arms round her niece,
+she, in language half sportive, half tender, declared her knowledge of
+Laura's secret, and reproached her with having concealed it so well.
+Insulted, wronged, and forsaken by Hargrave, Laura had kept his secret
+inviolable, for she had no right to disclose it; but she scorned, by any
+evasion, to preserve her own. Glowing with shame and mortification, she
+stood silently shrinking from Lady Pelham's looks; till, a little
+recovering herself, she said, 'I deserve to be thus humbled for my folly
+in founding my regards, not on the worth of their object, but on my own
+imagination; and more, if it be possible, do I deserve, for exposing my
+weakness to one who has been so ungenerous as to boast of it. But it is
+some compensation to my pride,' continued she, raising her eyes, 'that
+my disorder is cured beyond the possibility of relapse.' Lady Pelham
+smiled at Laura's security, which she did not consider as an infallible
+sign of safety. It was in vain that Laura proceeded solemnly to protest
+her indifference. Lady Pelham could allow for self-deceit in another's
+case, though she never suspected it in her own. Vain were Laura's
+comments upon Hargrave's character; they were but the fond revilings of
+offended love. Laura did not deny her former preference; she even owed
+that it was the sudden intelligence of Hargrave's crimes which had
+reduced her to the brink of the grave; therefore Lady Pelham was
+convinced that a little perseverance would fan the smothered flame; and
+perseverance, she hoped, would not be wanting. Nevertheless, as her
+Ladyship balanced her fondness for contradicting by her aversion to
+being contradicted, and as Laura was too much in earnest to study the
+qualifying tone, the conference concluded rather less amicably than it
+began; though it ended by Lady Pelham's saying, not very consistently
+with her sentiments an hour before, that she would never cease to urge
+so advantageous a match, conceiving that she had a right to influence
+the choice of one whom she would make the heiress of forty thousand
+pounds. Laura was going to insist that all influence would be
+ineffectual, but her aunt quitted her without suffering her to reply.
+She would have followed to represent the injustice of depriving Mrs
+Herbert of her natural rights; but she desisted on recollecting that
+Lady Pelham's purposes were like wedges, never fixed but by resistance.
+
+The time had been when Lady Pelham's fortune would have seemed to
+Hargrave as dust in the balance, joined with the possession of Laura. He
+had gamed, had felt the want of money; and money was no longer
+indifferent to him. But Laura's dower was still light in his estimation,
+compared with its weight in that of Lambert, to whom he accidentally
+mentioned Lady Pelham's intention. That prudent person calculated that
+£40,000 would form a very handsome addition to a fund upon which he
+intended to draw pretty freely. He had little doubt of Hargrave's
+success; he had never known any woman with whom such a lover could fail.
+He thought he could lead his friend to bargain for immediate possession
+of part of his bride's portion, and, for certainty of the rest in
+reversion, before parting with his liberty. He allowed two, or perhaps
+even three months for the duration of Laura's influence; during which
+time he feared he should have little of her husband's company at the
+gaming-table; but from thenceforth, he judged that the day would be his
+own, and that he should soon possess himself of Hargrave's property, so
+far as it was alienable. He considered that, in the meantime, Laura
+would furnish attraction sufficient to secure Hargrave's stay at --, and
+he trusted to his own dexterity for improving that circumstance to the
+best advantage. He failed not, therefore, to encourage the lover's
+hopes, and bestowed no small ridicule on the idea that a girl of
+nineteen should desert a favourite on account of his gallantry.
+
+Cool cunning would engage with fearful odds against imprudence, if it
+could set bounds to the passions, as well as direct their course. But it
+is often deceived in estimating the force of feelings which it knows
+only by their effects. Lambert soon found that he had opened the passage
+to a torrent which bore all before it. The favourite stimulus found, its
+temporary substitute was almost disregarded; and Hargrave, intoxicated
+with his passion, tasted sparingly of the poisoned cup which his friend
+designed for him. His time and thoughts were again devoted to Laura, and
+gaming was only sought as a relief from the disappointment and vexation
+which generally attended his pursuit. The irritation of his mind,
+however, made amends for the lessened number of opportunities for
+plundering him, by rendering it easier to take advantage of those which
+remained.
+
+The insinuating manners and elegant person of Hargrave gained daily on
+the favour of Lady Pelham; for the great as well as the little vulgar
+are the slaves of mere externals. She permitted his visits at home and
+his attendance abroad, expatiating frequently on the liberality of
+sentiment which she thus displayed. At first these encomiums on her own
+conduct were used only to disguise from herself and others her
+consciousness of its impropriety; but she repeated them till she
+actually believed them just, and considered herself as extending a
+charitable hand to rescue an erring brother from the implacable
+malignity of the world.
+
+She was indefatigable in her attempts to promote his success with Laura.
+She lost no opportunity of pressing the subject. She obstinately refused
+to be convinced of the possibility of overcoming a strong prepossession.
+Laura, in an evil hour for herself, thoughtlessly replied, that
+affection was founded on the belief of excellence, and must of course
+give way when the foundation was removed. This observation had just
+fallacy sufficient for Lady Pelham's purpose. She took it for her text,
+and harangued upon it with all the zeal and perseverance of disputation.
+She called it Laura's theory; and insisted that, like other theorists,
+she would shut her eyes against the plainest facts, nay, stifle the
+feelings of her own mind, rather than admit what might controvert her
+opinion. She cited all the instances which her memory could furnish of
+agricultural, and chemical, and metaphysical theorism; and, with
+astonishing ingenuity, contrived to draw a parallel between each of them
+and Laura's case. It was in vain that Laura qualified, almost retracted
+her unlucky observation. Her adversary would not suffer her to desert
+the untenable ground. Delighted with her victory, she returned again
+and again to the attack, after the vanquished had appealed to her mercy;
+and much more than 'thrice she slew the slain.'
+
+Sick of arguing about the possibility of her indifference, Laura at
+length confined herself to simple assertions of the fact. Lady Pelham at
+first merely refused her belief; and, with provoking pity, rallied her
+niece upon her self-deceit; but, finding that she corroborated her words
+by a corresponding behaviour to Hargrave, her Ladyship's temper betrayed
+its accustomed infirmity. She peevishly reproached Laura with taking a
+coquettish delight in giving pain; insisted that her conduct was a
+tissue of cruelty and affectation; and upbraided her with
+disingenuousness in pretending an indifference which she could not feel.
+'And does your Ladyship communicate this opinion to Colonel Hargrave?'
+said Laura, one day, fretted almost beyond her patience by a
+remonstrance of two hours continuance. 'To be sure I do,' returned Lady
+Pelham. 'In common humanity I will not allow him to suffer more from
+your perverseness than I can avoid.' 'Well, Madam,' said Laura, with a
+sigh and a shrug of impatient resignation, 'nothing remains but that I
+shew a consistency, which, at least is not common to affectation.'
+
+Lady Pelham's representations had their effect upon Hargrave. They
+brought balm to his wounded pride, and he easily suffered them to
+counteract the effect of Laura's calm and uniform assurances of her
+indifference. While he listened to these, her apparent candour and
+simplicity, the regret she expressed at the necessity of giving pain,
+brought temporary conviction to his mind; and, with transports of
+alternate rage and grief, he now execrated her inconstancy, then his own
+unworthiness; now abjured her, then the vices which had deprived him of
+her affection. But the joint efforts of Lady Pelham and Lambert always
+revived hopes sufficient to make him continue a pursuit which he had not
+indeed the fortitude to relinquish.
+
+His love (if we must give that name to a selfish desire, mingled at
+times with every ungentle feeling), had never been so ardent. The
+well-known principle of our nature which adds charms to what is
+unattainable, lent new attractions to Laura's really improved
+loveliness. The smile which was reserved for others seemed but the more
+enchanting; the hand which he was forbidden to touch seemed but the more
+soft and snowy; the form which was kept sacred from his approach,
+bewitched him with more resistless graces. Hargrave had been little
+accustomed to suppress any of his feelings, and he gave vent to this
+with an entire neglect of the visible uneasiness which it occasioned to
+its subject. He employed the private interviews, which Lady Pelham
+contrived to extort for him, in the utmost vehemence of complaint,
+protestation, and entreaty. He laboured to awaken the pity of Laura; he
+even condescended to appeal to her ambition; and persevered, in spite of
+unequivocal denials, till Laura, disgusted, positively refused ever
+again to admit him without witnesses.
+
+His public attentions were, if possible, still more distressing to her.
+Encouraged by Lady Pelham, he, notwithstanding the almost repulsive
+coldness of Laura's manner, became her constant attendant. He pursued
+her wherever she went; placed himself, in defiance of propriety, so as
+to monopolize her conversation; and seemed to have laid aside all his
+distinguishing politeness, while he neglected every other woman to
+devote his assiduities to her alone. He claimed the station by her side
+till Laura had the mortification to observe that others resigned it at
+his approach; he snatched every opportunity of whispering his adulations
+in her ear; and, far from affecting any concealment in his preference,
+seemed to claim the character of her acknowledged adorer. It is
+impossible to express the vexation with which Laura endured this
+indelicate pre-eminence. Had Hargrave been the most irreproachable of
+mankind, she would have shrunk from such obtrusive marks of his
+partiality; but her sense of propriety was no less wounded by the
+attendance of such a companion, than her modesty was shocked by her
+being thus dragged into the notice, and committed to the mercy of the
+public. The exclusive attentions of the handsome Colonel Hargrave, the
+mirror of gallantry, the future Lord Lincourt, were not, however
+undesired, to be possessed unenvied. Those who unsuccessfully angled for
+his notice, avenged themselves on her to whom they imputed their
+failure, by looks of scorn, and by sarcastic remarks, which they
+sometimes contrived should reach the ear of the innocent object of their
+malice. Laura, unspeakably averse to being the subject of even laudatory
+observation, could sometimes scarcely restrain the tears of shame and
+mortification that were wrung from her by attacks which she could
+neither resent nor escape. In spite of the natural sweetness of her
+temper, she was sometimes tempted to retort upon Colonel Hargrave the
+vexation which he caused to her: and his officiousness almost compelled
+her to forsake the civility within the bounds of which she had
+determined to confine her coldness.
+
+He complained bitterly of this treatment, and reproached her with taking
+ungenerous advantage of his passion. 'Why then,' said she, 'will you
+force me into the insolence of power. If you will suffer me to consider
+you as a common acquaintance, I shall never claim a right to avenge on
+you the wrongs of society; but approach no nearer.--I am unwilling to
+express a sentiment less respectful than dislike.' The proud spirit of
+Hargrave, however, could ill brook the repulses which he constantly
+provoked; and often in transports of rage he would break from Laura,
+swearing that he would no more submit to be thus made the sport of an
+insensible tyrannical woman.
+
+At first she submitted with patience to his injurious language, in the
+hope that he would keep his oaths; but she soon found that he only
+repaid her endurance of his anger by making her submit to what was yet
+more painful, a renewal of his abject supplications. All her caution
+could not prevent the private interviews which she granted so
+unwillingly. He haunted her walks, stole upon her unannounced, detained
+her almost by force at these accidental meetings, or at those which he
+obtained by the favour of Lady Pelham. His whole conduct conspired to
+make him an object of real dread to Laura, though her watchful
+self-command and habitual benevolence preserved him from her aversion.
+
+Sometimes she could not help wondering at the obstinacy of her
+persecutor. 'Surely,' said she to him, 'after all I have said, after the
+manner in which I have said it, you cannot expect any fruit from all
+these rhapsodies; you must surely think your honour bound to keep them
+up, at whatever hazard to the credit of your understanding.' Laura had
+never herself submitted to be driven into a course of actions contrary
+to reason, and it never occurred to her that her lover had no reason for
+his conduct, except that he was not sufficiently master of himself to
+desist from his pursuit.
+
+From the importunities of Hargrave, however, Laura could sometimes
+escape. Though they were frequent, they were of necessity intermitting.
+He could not always be at Walbourne; he could not intrude into her
+apartment. She visited sometimes where he was not admitted, or she could
+decline the invitation which she knew extended to him. But her
+persecutions by Lady Pelham had no intermission; from them she had no
+retreat. Her chamber was no sanctuary from so familiar a friend; and the
+presence of strangers only served to exercise her Ladyship in that
+ingenious species of conversation which addresses to the _sense_ of one
+of the company what it conveys to the _ear_ of the rest.
+
+For some time she employed all her forces in combating Laura's supposed
+affectation; and when, not without extreme difficulty, she was convinced
+that she strove against a phantom of her own creation, she next employed
+her efforts to alter her niece's determination. She tried to rouse her
+ambition; and again and again expatiated on all the real and on all the
+imaginary advantages of wealth and title. The theme in her Ladyship's
+hands seemed inexhaustible, though Laura repeatedly declared that no
+earthly thing could be less in her esteem than distinctions which she
+must share with such a person as Hargrave. Every day and all day, the
+subject was canvassed, and the oft-confuted argument vamped up anew,
+till Laura was thoroughly weary of the very names of rank, and
+influence, and coronets, and coaches.
+
+Next, her Ladyship was eloquent upon Laura's implacability. 'Those who
+were so very unforgiving,' she supposed, 'were conscious that they had
+no need to be forgiven. Such people might pretend to be Christians, but
+in her opinion such pretensions were mere hypocrisy.' Laura stood amazed
+at the strength of self-deception which could produce this sentiment
+from lips which had pronounced inextinguishable resentment against an
+only child. Recovering herself, she calmly made the obvious reply, 'that
+she entertained no enmity against Hargrave; that on the contrary she
+sincerely wished him every blessing, and the best of all blessings, a
+renewed mind; but that the Christian precept was never meant to make the
+vicious and the impure the denizens of our bosoms.' It might be thought
+that such a reply was quite sufficient, but Lady Pelham possessed one
+grand qualification for a disputant; she defied conviction. She could
+shift, and turn, and bewilder, till she found herself precisely at the
+point from whence she set out.
+
+She had a practice, too, of all others the most galling to an ingenuous
+and independent spirit--she would invent a set of opinions and
+sentiments, and then argue upon them as if they were real. It was in
+vain for Laura to disclaim them. Lady Pelham could prove
+incontrovertibly that they were Laura's sentiments; or, which was the
+same thing, proceeded as if she had proved it. She insisted that Laura
+acted on a principle of revenge against Hargrave, for the slight his
+inconstancy had put upon her; and argued most convincingly on the folly
+and wickedness of a revengeful spirit. Laura in vain protested her
+innocence. Lady Pelham was certain of the fact; and she dilated on the
+guilt of such a sentiment, and extenuated the temporary recession of
+Hargrave, till a bystander must have concluded that Laura was the
+delinquent, and he her harmless victim. Her Ladyship declared, that,
+'she did not wonder at her niece's obduracy. She had never, in her life,
+known a person of cool temper who was capable of forgiving. She had
+reason, for her own part, to be thankful that, if she had the failings
+of a warm temper, she had its advantages too. She had never, except in
+one instance, known what it was to feel permanent displeasure.'
+
+On this topic Lady Pelham had the more room for her eloquence, because
+it admitted of no reply; and, perhaps, for this reason it was the sooner
+exhausted; for it had not been discussed above half a dozen times,
+before she forsook it in order to assert her claims to influence her
+niece's decision. And here her Ladyship was suddenly convinced of the
+indefensible rights of relationship. 'She stood in the place of Laura's
+parents, and in their title might claim authority.' But finding Laura
+firmly of opinion that parental authority extended no further than a
+negative voice, Lady Pelham laid aside the imperative tone to take up
+that of entreaty. 'She would not advance the claim which her tried
+friendship might give her to advise; she would only beseech, conjure.
+She hoped her importunities would be forgiven, as they could proceed
+only from the tenderest regard to her dear girl's wishes. Laura was her
+only hope; the sole being on earth to whom her widowed heart clung with
+partial affection--and to see her thus throw away her happiness was more
+than her Ladyship could bear.' Closely as Laura had studied her aunt's
+character, and well as it was now known to her, she was sometimes
+overpowered by these expressions of love and sorrow; and wept as she was
+compelled to repeat that her happiness and her duty must alike be
+sacrificed ere she could yield to the wishes of her friend. But as she
+never, even in these moments of softness, betrayed the smallest symptom
+of compliance, Lady Pelham had not patience to adhere to the only method
+of attack that possessed a chance of success.
+
+Of all her arts of teazing, this was indeed the most distressing to a
+person of Laura's sensibility, and she felt not a little relieved when,
+exasperated by the failure of all her efforts, Lady Pelham burst into
+vehement upbraidings of her niece's hardness of heart. 'She could not
+have conceived,' she said, 'such obduracy in one so young; in woman too;
+a creature who should be all made up of softness. Laura might pique
+herself upon her stoicism, but a Zeno in petticoats was, in her
+opinion, a monster. For her part she could never resist entreaty in her
+life.'
+
+'Then I beseech you Madam,' said Laura, after having patiently submitted
+to be baited thus for three full hours, 'do not make mine an exception;
+but for pity's sake be prevailed upon to drop this subject. I assure you
+it can have no effect but to distress me.'
+
+'You may be determined, Miss Montreville, that all my endeavours shall
+be in vain, but I shall certainly never be so far wanting to my duty as
+to neglect pressing upon you a match so much for your honour and
+advantage.'
+
+'Is it possible,' cried Laura, losing patience at this prospect of the
+continuation of her persecutions, 'that your Ladyship can think it for
+my "advantage" to marry a man I despise; for my "honour" to share the
+infamy of an adulterer!'
+
+'Upon my word, Miss Montreville,' returned Lady Pelham, reddening with
+anger, 'I am constrained to admire the delicacy of your language; so
+very suitable to the lips of so very delicate a lady.'
+
+A smile, not wholly free from sarcasm, played on Laura's lips. 'If
+delicacy,' said she, 'be henceforth to find so strenuous a supporter in
+your Ladyship, I shall hope to be exempted in future from all
+remonstrance on the subject of this evening's altercation.'
+
+If Laura really entertained the hope she mentioned, she was miserably
+disappointed; for Lady Pelham remitted not a jot of her tormentings. Her
+remonstrances were administered in every possible form, upon every
+possible occasion. They seasoned every tête à tête, were insinuated into
+every conversation. Laura's attempts to avoid the subject were
+altogether vain. The discourse might begin with the conquests of Gengis
+Khan, but it always ended with the advantages of marrying Colonel
+Hargrave.
+
+Teazed and persecuted, disturbed in every useful occupation and every
+domestic enjoyment, Laura often considered of the possibility of
+delivering herself from her indefatigable tormentors, by quitting the
+protection of her aunt and taking refuge with Mrs Douglas. But this plan
+she had unfortunately deprived herself of the means of executing.
+
+Laura knew that her cousins, the Herberts, were poor. She knew that Mrs
+Herbert was in a situation which needs comforts that poverty cannot
+command, and it was vain to expect these comforts from the maternal
+compassion of Lady Pelham. She therefore determined to supply them, as
+far as possible, from her own little fund; and fearing that a gift from
+her might revolt the high spirit of Herbert, she inclosed almost all her
+half-year's annuity in a blank cover, and conveyed it to her cousin. All
+that she retained was a sum far too small to defray the expence of a
+journey to Scotland; and several months were to elapse before she could
+recruit her fund. Till then, she had no resource but patience; and she
+endeavoured to console herself with a hope that in time the perseverance
+of her adversaries would fail.
+
+Often did she with a sigh turn her eyes towards Norwood--Norwood, the
+seat of all the peaceful domestic virtues; where the voice of contention
+was unheard, where courtly politeness, though duly honoured, held the
+second place to the courtesy of the heart. But Mrs De Courcy had never
+hinted a wish that Laura should be a permanent inmate of her family,
+and, even if she had, there would have been a glaring impropriety in
+forsaking Lady Pelham's house for one in its immediate neighbourhood. De
+Courcy, too, she thought, was not the kind friend he was wont to be. She
+had of late seen him seldom, which was probably caused by the marked
+coolness of Lady Pelham's reception; but it had happened unfortunately
+that he had twice surprised her in the midst of Hargrave's
+extravagancies, when she almost feared to speak to him, lest she should
+awaken the furious jealousy to which her tormentor was subject, and she
+dreaded that her father's friend (for so she loved to call him)
+suspected her of encouraging the addresses of such a lover. During these
+visits he had looked, she thought, displeased, and had early taken
+leave. Was it kind to judge her unheard? Perhaps, if an opportunity had
+been given her, she might have assumed courage to exculpate herself;
+but, without even calling to ask her commands, De Courcy was gone with
+Mr Bolingbroke to London, to make arrangements for Harriet's marriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Though Laura could not escape the attacks of Lady Pelham, she sometimes
+found means to elude those of Hargrave. She watched his approach; and
+whenever he appeared, intrenched herself in her own apartment. She
+confined herself almost entirely to the house, and excused herself from
+every visit where she thought he might be of the party. He besieged her
+with letters; she sent them back unopened. Lady Pelham commanded her to
+be present during his visits; she respectfully, but peremptorily,
+refused to comply.
+
+She had thus remained a sort of prisoner for some weeks, when her aunt
+one morning entered her room with an aspect which Laura could not well
+decipher. 'Well, Miss Montreville,' said she, 'you have at last
+accomplished your purpose; your capricious tyranny has prevailed at
+last; Colonel Hargrave leaves--this morning.' 'Dear Madam,' cried Laura,
+starting up overjoyed, 'what a deliverance!' 'Oh to be sure, mighty
+cause you have to congratulate yourself upon a deliverance from a man
+who might aspire to the first woman in England! But you will never have
+it in your power to throw away such another offer. You need hardly
+expect to awaken such another passion.'
+
+'I hope, with all my heart, I shall not; but are you certain he will
+go?' 'Oh, very certain. He has written to tell me so!' 'I trust he will
+keep his word,' said Laura; 'and when I am sure he is gone, I will beg
+of your Ladyship to excuse me for a few hours, while I walk to Norwood.
+I have been so shackled of late! but the first use I make of my liberty
+shall be to visit my friends.' 'I am afraid, my dear,' returned Lady
+Pelham, with more gentleness than she was accustomed to use in
+contradiction, 'you will scarcely find time to visit Mrs De Courcy. I
+have long promised to pass some time with my friend Mrs Bathurst; and I
+propose setting off to-morrow. I should die of _ennui_ here, now I have
+lost the society that has of late given me so much pleasure.'--'Mrs
+Bathurst, Madam? she who was formerly'--'Poh, poh, child,' interrupted
+Lady Pelham, 'don't stir up the embers of decayed slander--Will you
+never learn to forget the little mistakes of your fellow-creatures? Mrs
+Bathurst makes one of the best wives in the world; and to a man with
+whom everybody would not live so well.'
+
+Practice had made Laura pretty expert in interpreting her aunt's
+language, and she understood more in the present instance than it was
+meant she should comprehend. She had heard of Mrs Bathurst's fame, and,
+knowing that it was not quite spotless, was rather averse to being the
+companion of Lady Pelham's visit; but she never, without mature
+deliberation, refused compliance with her aunt's wishes; and she
+resolved to consider the matter before announcing opposition. Besides
+she was determined to carry her point of seeing Mrs De Courcy, and
+therefore did not wish to introduce any other subject of altercation.
+'Though I should accompany you to-morrow, Madam,' said she, 'I shall
+have time sufficient for my walk to Norwood. The preparations for my
+journey cannot occupy an hour; and, if I go to Norwood now,' added she,
+tying on her bonnet, 'I can return early. Good morning, Madam; to-day I
+may walk in peace.'
+
+Laura felt as if a mountain had been lifted from her breast as she
+bounded across the lawn, and thought that Colonel Hargrave was, by this
+time, miles distant from Walbourne; but as she pursued her way, she
+began to wonder that Lady Pelham seemed so little moved by his
+departure. It was strange that she, who had remonstrated so warmly, so
+unceasingly, against Laura's behaviour to him, did not more vehemently
+upbraid her with its consequences. Lady Pelham's forbearance was not in
+character--Laura did not know how to explain it. 'I have taken her by
+surprise,' thought she, 'with my excursion to Norwood, but she will
+discuss it at large in the evening; and probably in many an evening--I
+shall never hear the last of it.'
+
+It was needless, however, to anticipate evil, and Laura turned her
+thoughts to the explanation which she was bent on making to her friends.
+The more she reflected, the more she was persuaded that De Courcy
+suspected her of encouraging the addresses of Hargrave; addresses now
+provokingly notorious to all the neighbourhood. He had most probably
+communicated the same opinion to his mother; and Laura wished much to
+exculpate herself, if she could do so without appearing officiously
+communicative. If she could meet Mr De Courcy alone, if he should lead
+to the subject, or if it should accidentally occur, she thought she
+might be able to speak freely to him; more freely than even to Mrs De
+Courcy. 'It is strange, too,' thought she, 'that I should feel so little
+restraint with a person of the other sex; less than ever I did with one
+of my own.--But my father's friend ought not to be classed with other
+men.'
+
+Her eyes yet swam in tears of grateful recollection, when she raised
+them to a horseman who was meeting her. It was Montague De Courcy; and,
+as he leisurely advanced, Laura's heart beat with a hope that he would,
+as he had often done before, dismount to accompany her walk. But
+Montague, though evidently in no haste to reach the place of his
+destination, stopped only to make a slight inquiry after her health, and
+then passed on. Laura's bosom swelled with grief, unmixed with
+resentment. 'He thinks,' said she, 'that I invite the attentions of a
+libertine; and is it surprising that he should withdraw his friendship
+from me! But he will soon know his error.' And again she more cheerfully
+pursued her way.
+
+Her courage failed her a little as she entered Norwood. 'What if Mrs De
+Courcy too should receive me coldly,' thought she; 'Can I notice it to
+her? Can I beg of her to listen to my justification?' These thoughts
+gave Laura an air of timidity and embarrassment as she entered the room
+where Mrs De Courcy was sitting alone. Her fears were groundless. Mrs De
+Courcy received her with kindness, gently reproaching her for her long
+absence. Laura assured her that it was wholly involuntary, but 'of
+late,' said she, hesitating, 'I have been very little from home.' Mrs De
+Courcy gave a faint melancholy smile; but did not inquire what had
+confined her young friend. 'Harriet has just left me,' said she, 'to pay
+some visits, and to secure the presence of a companion for a very
+important occasion. She meant also to solicit yours, if three weeks
+hence you are still to be capable of acting as a bridemaid.' Laura
+smiling was about to reply, that being in no danger of forfeiting that
+privilege, she would most joyfully attend Miss De Courcy; but she met a
+glance of such marked, such mournful scrutiny, that she stopped; and the
+next moment was covered with blushes. 'Ah!' thought she, 'Mrs De Courcy
+indeed believes all that I feared, and more than I feared--What can I
+say to her?'
+
+Her embarrassment confirmed Mrs De Courcy's belief; but, unwilling
+further to distress Laura, she said, 'Harriet herself will talk over all
+these matters with you, and then your own peculiar manner will soften
+the refusal into somewhat almost as pleasing as consent; if indeed you
+are obliged to refuse.' 'Indeed, Madam,' said Laura, 'nothing can be
+further from my thoughts than refusal; I shall most willingly, most
+gladly, attend Miss De Courcy; but may I--will you allow me to--to ask
+you why you should expect me to refuse?' 'And if I answer you,' returned
+Mrs De Courcy, 'will you promise to be candid with me on a subject where
+ladies think that candour may be dispensed with?' 'I will promise to be
+candid with you on every subject,' said Laura, rejoiced at this
+opportunity of entering on her justification. 'Then I will own to you,'
+said Mrs De Courcy, 'that circumstances have conspired with public
+report to convince me that you are yourself about to need the good
+office which Harriet solicits from you. Colonel Hargrave and you share
+between you the envy of our little world of fashion.' 'And have you,
+Madam--has Harriet--has Mr De Courcy given credit to this vexatious
+report!' cried Laura, the tears of mortification filling her eyes. 'Ah
+how differently should I have judged of you!'--'My dearest girl,' said
+Mrs De Courcy, surprised but delighted, 'I assure you that none of us
+would, upon slight grounds, believe any thing concerning you, that you
+would not wish us to credit. But, in this instance, I thought my
+authority indisputable; Lady Pelham'--'Is it possible,' cried Laura,
+'that my aunt could propagate such a report, when she knew the teasing,
+the persecution that I have endured.' 'Lady Pelham did not directly
+assure me of its truth;' answered Mrs De Courcy; 'but when I made
+inquiries, somewhat, I own, in the hope of being empowered to contradict
+the rumour, her answer was certainly calculated to make me believe that
+you were soon to be lost to us.'--'Lost indeed!' exclaimed Laura. 'But
+what could be my aunt's intention. Surely she cannot still expect to
+prevail with me. My dear friend, if you knew what I have suffered from
+her importunities.--But she has only my advantage in view, though,
+surely, she widely mistakes the means.'
+
+Laura now frankly informed Mrs De Courcy of the inquietude she had
+suffered from the persevering remonstrances of Lady Pelham, and the
+obtrusive assiduities of Hargrave. Mrs De Courcy, though she sincerely
+pitied the comfortless situation of Laura, listened with pleasure to the
+tale. 'And is all this confidential?' said she, 'so confidential that I
+must not mention it even to Montague or Harriet?' 'Oh no, indeed,
+Madam,' cried Laura; 'I wish, above all things, that Mr De Courcy should
+know it; tell him all, Madam; and tell him too, that I would rather be
+in my grave than marry Colonel Hargrave.' Laura had scarcely spoken ere
+she blushed for the warmth with which she spoke, and Mrs De Courcy's
+smile made her blush again, and more deeply. But the plea which excused
+her to herself she the next moment urged to her friend. 'Ah, Madam,'
+said she, 'if you had witnessed Mr De Courcy's kindness to my father; if
+you had known how my father loved him, you would not wonder that I am
+anxious for his good opinion.' 'I do not wonder, my love,' said Mrs De
+Courcy, in a tone of heartfelt affection. 'I should be much more
+surprised if such a mind as yours could undervalue the esteem of a man
+like Montague. But why did not my sweet Laura take refuge from her
+tormentors at Norwood, where no officious friends, no obtrusive lovers
+would have disturbed her quiet?'
+
+Laura excused herself, by saying that she was sure her aunt would never
+have consented to her absence for more than a few hours; but she
+promised, now that Lady Pelham's particular reason for detaining her was
+removed, that she would endeavour to obtain permission to spend some
+time at Norwood. 'I fear I must first pay a much less agreeable visit,'
+continued Laura, 'for my aunt talks of carrying me to-morrow to the
+house of a Mrs Bathurst, of whom you probably have heard.' Mrs De Courcy
+knew that Lady Pelham was on terms of intimacy with Mrs Bathurst, yet
+she could not help feeling some surprise that she should choose to
+introduce her niece to such a _chaperon_. She did not, however, think it
+proper, by expressing her opinion, to heighten Laura's reluctance
+towards what she probably could not prevent; and therefore merely
+expressed a strong wish that Lady Pelham would permit Laura to spend the
+time of her absence at Norwood. Laura, though she heartily wished the
+same, knew her aunt too well to expect that a purpose which she had once
+announced she would relinquish merely because it would interfere with
+the inclinations of others. Still it was not impossible that it might be
+relinquished. A thousand things might happen to alter Lady Pelham's
+resolution, though they were invincible by entreaty. Laura lingered with
+Mrs De Courcy for several hours, and when at last she was obliged to go,
+received, at parting, many a kind injunction to remember her promised
+visit. As she bent her steps homeward, she revolved in her mind every
+chance of escape from being the companion of her aunt's journey. She was
+the more averse to attend Lady Pelham because she conjectured that they
+would not return before Miss De Courcy's marriage, on which occasion
+Laura was unwilling to be absent. But she was sensible that neither this
+nor any other reason she could urge, would in the least affect Lady
+Pelham's motions. Derham Green, the seat of Mrs Bathurst, was above
+ninety miles from Walbourne; and it was not likely that Lady Pelham
+would travel so far with the intention of making a short visit.
+
+Laura had quitted the avenue of Norwood and entered the lane which led
+to that of Walbourne, when the noise of singing, for it could not be
+called music, made her look round; and she perceived that she was
+overtaken by a figure in a dingy regimental coat, and a rusty hat,
+which, however, regained some of its original shade by a contrast with
+the grey side-locks which blew up a-thwart it. This person was applying
+the whole force of his lungs to the utterance of 'Hearts of Oak,' in a
+voice, the masculine bass of which was at times oddly interrupted by the
+weak treble tones of age, while, with a large crabstick, he beat time
+against the sides of a starveling ass upon which he was mounted. The
+other hand was charged with the double employment of guiding the animal,
+and of balancing a large portmanteau, which was placed across its
+shoulders. Laura, retaining the habits of her country, addressed the man
+with a few words of courtesy, to which he replied with the frankness and
+garrulity of an old Englishman; and as they proceeded at much the same
+pace, they continued the conversation. It was, however, soon
+interrupted. At the gate of a grass field, with which the ass seemed
+acquainted, the creature made a full stop.--'Get on,' cried the man,
+striking it with his heel. It would not stir. The rider applied the
+crabstick more vigorously than before. It had no effect; even an ass can
+despise the chastisement with which it is too familiar. The contention
+was obstinate; neither party seemed inclined to yield. At last fortune
+decided in favour of the ass. The portmanteau slipped from its balance,
+and fell to the ground. The man looked dolefully at it. 'How the plague
+shall I get it up again?' said he. 'Don't dismount,' said Laura, who now
+first observed that her companion had but one leg--'I can lift it up for
+you.'
+
+As she raised it, Laura observed that it was directed to Mr Jones, at
+Squire Bathurst's, Derham Green, ----shire. Though the name was too
+common to excite any suspicion, the address struck her as being the same
+place which had so lately occupied her thoughts. 'Have you far to go,'
+said she to the man. 'No, Ma'am,' answered he, 'only to Job Wilson, the
+carrier's, with this portmanteau, for Colonel Hargrave's gentleman. The
+Colonel took Mr Jones with himself in the chay, but he had only room for
+one or two of his boxes, so he left this with the groom, and the groom
+gave me a pot of porter to go with it.'
+
+The whole affair was now clear. Lady Pelham, finding Laura unmanageable
+at home, was contriving that she should meet Colonel Hargrave at a place
+where, being among strangers, she would find it less possible to avoid
+him. Mrs Bathurst too was probably a good convenient friend, who would
+countenance whatever measures were thought necessary. In the first burst
+of indignation at the discovery of her aunt's treachery, Laura thought
+of retracing her steps to Norwood, never more to enter the presence of
+her unworthy relation; but, resentment cooling at the recollection of
+the benefits she owed to Lady Pelham, she determined on returning to
+Walbourne, to announce in person her refusal to go with her aunt;
+conceiving this to be the most respectful way of intimating her
+intentions.
+
+As soon as she returned home she retired to her chamber without seeing
+Lady Pelham; and immediately dispatched the following note to Mrs De
+Courcy. 'My dear Madam, an accident has happened which determines me
+against going to Derham Green. Will you think I presume too soon on your
+kind invitation, if I say that I shall see you to-morrow at breakfast?
+Or will not your benevolence rather acquire a new motive in the
+shelterless condition which awaits your very affectionate L.M.'
+
+She then proceeded to make arrangements for her departure, reflecting,
+with tears, on the hard necessity which was about to set her at variance
+with the only living relation who had ever acknowledged her. She knew
+that Lady Pelham would be enraged at the frustration of a scheme, to
+accomplish which she had stooped to such artifice; and she feared that,
+however gentle might be the terms of her intended refusal, her aunt
+would consider it as unpardonable rebellion. She was, however, firmly
+resolved against compliance, and all that remained was to use the least
+irritating mode of denial.
+
+They met at dinner. Lady Pelham in high good humour, Laura grave and
+thoughtful. Lady Pelham mentioned her journey; but, dreading to rouse
+her aunt's unwearied power's of objurgation, Laura kept silence; and her
+just displeasure rendering her averse to Lady Pelham's company, she
+contrived to spend the evening alone.
+
+As the supper hour approached, Laura began to tremble for the contest
+which awaited her. She felt herself more than half inclined to withdraw
+from the storm, by departing without warning, and leaving Lady Pelham to
+discover the reason of her flight after she was beyond the reach of her
+fury. But she considered that such a proceeding must imply an
+irreconcilable breach with one to whom she owed great and substantial
+obligations; and would carry an appearance of ingratitude which she
+could not bear to incur. Summoning her courage, therefore, she resolved
+to brave the tempest. She determined, that whatever provocation she
+might endure, she would offer none but such as was unavoidable; though,
+at the same time, she would maintain that spirit which she had always
+found the most effectual check to her aunt's violence.
+
+The supper passed in quiet; Laura unwilling to begin the attack; Lady
+Pelham glorying in her expected success. Her Ladyship had taken her
+candle, and was about to retire, before Laura durst venture on the
+subject. 'Good night, my dear,' said Lady Pelham. 'I fear,' replied
+Laura, 'I may rather say farewell, since it will be so long ere I see
+you again.' 'How do you mean!' inquired Lady Pelham. 'That I cannot
+accompany you to Mrs Bathurst's,' replied Laura; fetching, at the close
+of her speech, a breath longer than the speech itself. 'You won't go?'
+exclaimed Lady Pelham, in a voice of angry astonishment. 'Since it is
+your wish that I should,' returned Laura meekly, 'I am sorry that it is
+not in my power.' 'And pray what puts it out of your power?' cried Lady
+Pelham, wrath working in her countenance. 'I cannot go where I am to
+meet Colonel Hargrave.' For a moment Lady Pelham looked confounded, but
+presently recovering utterance, she began--'So! this is your Norwood
+intelligence; and your charming Mrs De Courcy--your model of
+perfection--sets spies upon the conduct of all the neighbourhood!'
+
+Laura reddened at this vulgar abuse of the woman on earth whom she most
+revered; but she had set a guard on her temper, and only answered, that
+it was not at Norwood she received her information. 'A fortunate, I
+should rather say a providential accident,' said she, 'disclosed to me
+the whole'--the word 'strategem' was rising to her lips, but she
+exchanged it for one less offensive.
+
+'And what if Colonel Hargrave is to be there?' said Lady Pelham, her
+choler rising as her confusion subsided. 'I suppose, forsooth, my pretty
+prudish Miss cannot trust herself in the house with a man!' 'Not with
+Colonel Hargrave, Madam,' said Laura coolly.
+
+Lady Pelham's rage was now strong enough to burst the restraints of
+Laura's habitual ascendancy. 'But I say you shall go, Miss,' cried she
+in a scream that mingled the fierceness of anger with the insolence of
+command. 'Yes I say you shall go; we shall see whether I am always to
+truckle to a baby-faced chit, a creature that might have died in a
+workhouse but for my charity.' 'Indeed, Madam,' said Laura, 'I do not
+forget--I never shall forget--what I owe you; nor that when I was
+shelterless and unprotected, you received and cherished me.' 'Then shew
+that you remember it, and do what I desire,' returned Lady Pelham,
+softened in spite of herself, by the resistless sweetness of Laura's
+look and manner. 'Do not, I beseech you, Madam,' said Laura, 'insist
+upon this proof of my gratitude. If you do, I can only thank you for
+your past kindness, and wish that it had been in my power to make a
+better return.' 'Do you dare to tell me that you will not go?' cried
+Lady Pelham, stamping till the room shook. 'I beg, Madam,' said Laura
+entreatingly, 'I beg of you not to command what I shall be compelled to
+refuse.' 'Refuse at your peril!' shrieked Lady Pelham, in a voice scarce
+articulate with passion, and grasping Laura's arm in the convulsion of
+her rage.
+
+Laura had some times been the witness, but seldom the object of her
+aunt's transports; and while Lady Pelham stood eyeing her with a
+countenance 'fierce as ten furies,' she, conscious with what burning
+shame she would herself have shrunk from making such an exhibition,
+sympathetically averted her eyes as if the virago had been sensible of
+the same feeling. 'I say refuse at your peril!' cried Lady Pelham.--'Why
+don't you speak? obstinate'--'Because,' answered Laura with saintlike
+meekness, 'I can say nothing but what will offend you--I cannot go to
+Mrs Bathurst's.'
+
+Angry opposition Lady Pelham might have retorted with some small remains
+of self-possession, but the serenity of Laura exasperating her beyond
+all bounds, she was so far transported as to strike her a violent blow.
+Without uttering a syllable, Laura took her candle and quitted the room;
+while Lady Pelham, herself confounded at the outrage she had committed,
+made no attempt to detain her.
+
+Laura retired to her chamber, and sat quietly down to consider the state
+of her warfare, which she determined to conclude by letter, without
+exposing her person to another assault; but in a few minutes she was
+stormed in her citadel, and the enemy entered, conscious of mistake, but
+with spirit unbroken. Lady Pelham had gone too far to retract, and was
+too much in the wrong to recant her error; her passion, however, had
+somewhat exhausted itself in the intemperate exercise which she had
+allowed it; and though as unreasonable as ever, she was less outrageous.
+Advancing towards Laura with an air intended to express offended majesty
+(for studied dignity is generally the disguise chosen by conscious
+degradation), she began, 'Miss Montreville, do you, in defiance of my
+commands, adhere to your resolution of not visiting Mrs Bathurst?'
+'Certainly, Madam;' replied Laura, provoked that Lady Pelham should
+expect to intimidate her by a blow; 'I have seen no reason to relinquish
+it.'--'There is a reason, however,' returned Lady Pelham, elevating her
+chin, curling her upper lip, and giving Laura the side-glance of
+disdain, 'though probably it is too light to weigh with such a
+determined lady, and that is, that you must either prepare to attend me
+to-morrow, or return to that beggary from which I took you, and never
+more enter my presence.' 'Then, Madam,' said Laura, rising with her
+native mien of calm command, 'we must part; for I cannot go to Mrs
+Bathurst's.'
+
+Laura's cool resistance of a threat which was expected to be all
+powerful, discomposed Lady Pelham's heroics. Her eyes flashing fire, and
+her voice sharpening to a scream, 'Perverse ungrateful wretch!' she
+cried, 'Get out of my sight--leave my house this instant.' 'Certainly,
+if you desire it, Madam,' answered Laura, with unmoved self-possession;
+'but, perhaps, if you please, I had better remain here till morning. I
+am afraid it might give rise to unpleasant observations if it were known
+that I left your house at midnight.'
+
+'I care not who knows it--I would have the world see what a viper I have
+fostered in my bosom. Begone, and never let me see your hypocritical
+face again.'
+
+'Then I hope,' said Laura, 'your Ladyship will allow a servant to
+accompany me to Norwood. At this hour it would be improper for me to go
+alone.' 'Oh to be sure,' cried Lady Pelham, 'do go to your friend and
+favourite and make your complaint of all your harsh usage, and descant
+at large upon poor Lady Pelham's unlucky failings. No, no, I promise
+you, no servant of mine shall be sent on any such errand.' 'There is
+fine moonlight,' said Laura looking calmly from the window, 'I dare say
+I shall be safe enough alone.' 'You shall not go to Norwood!' cried Lady
+Pelham--'I'll take care to keep you from that prying, censorious old
+hag. You two shan't be allowed to sit primming up your mouths, and
+spitting venom on all the neighbourhood.' Weary of such low abuse, Laura
+took her bonnet, and was leaving the room. Lady Pelham placed herself
+between her and the door. 'Where are you going?' she demanded, in a
+voice in which rage was a little mingled with dread. 'To the only
+shelter that England affords me,' returned Laura; 'to the only friends
+from whom death or distance does not sever me.' 'I shall spoil your dish
+of scandal for to-night, however,' said Lady Pelham, flouncing out of
+the room; and, slapping the door with a force that made the windows
+rattle, she locked it on the outside. Laura making no attempt to obtain
+release, quietly sat down expecting a renewal of the charge. Soon,
+however, all the household seemed still, and Laura having mingled with
+the prayer that commended herself to the care of heaven, a supplication
+for pardon and amendment to her aunt, retired to sound and refreshing
+rest.
+
+On quitting Laura, Lady Pelham went to bed, pride and anger in her
+breast fiercely struggling against a sense of blame. But the darkness,
+the silence, the loneliness of night assuage the passions even of a
+termagant; and by degrees she turned from re-acting and excusing her
+conduct, to fretting at its probable consequences.
+
+The courage of a virago is no more than the daring of intoxication. Wait
+till the paroxysms be past, and the timid hare is not more the slave of
+fear. Lady Pelham began to feel, though she would scarcely acknowledge
+it to herself, how very absurdly her contest would figure in the mouths
+of the gossips round Walbourne. If her niece left her house in
+displeasure, if a breach were known to subsist between them, was it not
+most likely that Laura would in her own defence relate the treatment to
+which she had been subjected? At all events, if she went to Norwood
+before a reconciliation took place, she would certainly explain her
+situation to Mrs De Courcy; and Lady Pelham could not brave the contempt
+of the woman whom she disliked and abused. Anger has been compared to a
+short madness, and the resemblance holds in this respect, that in both
+cases, a little terror is of sovereign use in restoring quiet. Lady
+Pelham even feared the calm displeasure of Laura, and shrunk from
+meeting the reproving eye of even the dependent girl whom she had
+persecuted and reproached and insulted. By degrees, Laura's habitual
+ascendancy was completely restored, perhaps with added strength for its
+momentary suspension; for she had rather gained in respectability by
+patient endurance, while Lady Pelham was somewhat humbled by a sense of
+misconduct. Besides, in the course of eight months residence under her
+roof, Laura was become necessary to her aunt. Her prudence, her good
+temper, her various domestic talents, were ever at hand to supply the
+capital defects of Lady Pelham's character. Lady Pelham could not justly
+be said to love any mortal, but she felt the advantages of the method
+and regularity which Laura had introduced into her family; Laura's
+beauty gratified her vanity; Laura's sweetness bore with her caprice;
+Laura's talents amused her solitude; and she made as near an approach as
+nature would permit to loving Laura. What was of more consequence, Laura
+was popular in the neighbourhood; her story would be no sooner told than
+believed; and Lady Pelham's lively imagination strongly represented to
+her the aggravation, commentary, and sarcasm, with which such an
+anecdote would be circulated.
+
+But though these ideas floated in Lady Pelham's mind, let it not be
+thought that she once supposed them to be the motives of her
+determination to seek a reconcilement! No. Lady Pelham had explained,
+and disguised, and adorned her failings, till she had converted the
+natural shame of confession into a notion that a candid avowal atoned
+for any of her errors; and no sooner did she begin to think of making
+concessions to her niece, than the consciousness of blame was lost in
+inward applause of her own candour and condescension. An observing eye,
+therefore, would have seen more of conceit than of humility in her air,
+when early in the morning, she entered Laura's apartment. Laura was
+already dressed, and returned her aunt's salutation more coldly than she
+had ever formerly done, though with perfect good humour. Lady Pelham
+approached and took her hand; Laura did not withdraw it. 'I fear,' said
+Lady Pelham, 'you think I behaved very absurdly last night.' Laura
+looked down and said nothing. 'I am willing to own I was to blame,'
+continued her Ladyship, 'but people of strong feelings, you know, my
+dear, cannot always command themselves.' Laura was still silent. 'We
+must forgive and forget the failings of our friends,' proceeded her
+Ladyship. Laura, who dreaded that these overtures of peace only covered
+a projected attack, still stood speechless. 'Will you not forgive me,
+Laura?' said Lady Pelham coaxingly, her desire of pardon increasing, as
+she began to doubt of obtaining it. 'I do, Madam,' said Laura, clasping
+Lady Pelham's hand between her own. 'I do from my heart forgive all, and
+if you will permit me, I will forget all--all but that when I was an
+orphan, alone in the wide world, you sheltered and protected me.' 'Thank
+you, my good girl,' returned Lady Pelham, sealing the reconciliation
+with a kiss. 'I knew you would think it a duty to excuse an error
+arising merely from my natural warmth, and the interest I take in
+you--"A bad effect from a noble cause." It is a melancholy truth that
+those who have the advantages of a feeling heart, must share its
+weaknesses too.' Laura had so often listened to similar nonsense, that
+it had ceased to provoke a smile. 'Let us talk of this no more,' said
+she; 'let me rather try to persuade you not only to excuse, but to
+sanction the obstinacy that offended you.' 'Ah Laura,' returned Lady
+Pelham, smiling, 'I must not call you obstinate, but you are very firm.
+If I could but prevail on you to go with me only for a day or two, I
+should make my visit as short as you please; for now it has been all
+arranged I must go, and it would look so awkward to go without you!' 'If
+the length of your visit depend upon me,' answered Laura, waving a
+subject on which she was determined not to forfeit her character for
+firmness, 'it shall be short indeed, for I shall long to offer some
+reparation for all my late perverseness and disobedience.'
+
+At another time Lady Pelham's temper would have failed her at this
+steady opposition of her will; but fear kept her in check. After a few
+very gentle expostulations, she gave up the point, and inquired whether
+her niece still intended to spend the time of her absence at Norwood.
+Laura answered that she did; and had promised to breakfast there that
+morning. Upon this Lady Pelham overwhelmed her with such caresses and
+endearments, as she intended should obliterate the remembrance of her
+late injurious behaviour. She extolled Laura's prudence, her sweet and
+forgiving disposition, her commendable reserve with strangers, and her
+caution in speaking of herself or of her own affairs. Unfortunately for
+the effect of the flattery, Laura recollected that some of these
+qualities had at times been the subject of Lady Pelham's severe
+reprehension. She had, besides, sufficient penetration to detect the
+motive of her Ladyship's altered language; and she strove to suppress a
+feeling of contempt, while she replied to her aunt's thoughts as freely
+as if they had been frankly spoken; assuring her that she should be far
+from publishing to strangers the casual vexations of her domestic life.
+Lady Pelham reddened, as her latent thoughts were thus seized and
+exposed naked to her view; but fear again proved victorious, and she
+redoubled her blandishments. She even had recourse to a new expedient,
+and for the first time made Laura an offer of money. With infinite
+difficulty did Laura suppress the indignation which swelled her breast.
+She had forgiven abuse and insult, but it was beyond endurance that her
+aunt should suppose that her pardon and silence might be bought.
+Restraining her anger, however, she positively refused the money; and
+bidding Lady Pelham farewell, departed, amidst pressing injunctions to
+remain at Norwood no longer than till her aunt returned to Walbourne;
+her Ladyship protesting that her own home would not be endurable for an
+hour without the company of her dear Laura.
+
+Lady Pelham unwillingly set out on a journey of which the first
+intention had been totally defeated; but she had no alternative, since,
+besides having promised to visit Mrs Bathurst, she had made an
+appointment to meet Hargrave at the stage where she was to stop for the
+night, and it was now too late to give him warning of his
+disappointment. Even Hargrave's politeness was no match for his
+vexation, when he saw Lady Pelham, late in the evening, alight from her
+carriage, unaccompanied by Laura. He listened with impatience to her
+Ladyship's apology and confused explanations; and more than half
+resolved upon returning to -- to carry on his operations there. But he
+too had promised to Mrs Bathurst, whom for particular reasons he wished
+not to disoblige. The travellers, therefore, next day pursued their
+journey to Derham Green, beguiling the way by joint contrivances to
+conquer the stubbornness of Laura.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Laura had proceeded but a short way towards Norwood when she was met by
+De Courcy, who, with a manner the most opposite to his coldness on the
+preceding day, sprang forward to meet her, his countenance radiant with
+pleasure. Laura, delighted with the change, playfully reproached him
+with his caprice. Montague coloured, but defended himself with spirit;
+and a dialogue, more resembling flirtation than any in which Laura had
+ever engaged, occupied them till, as they loitered along the dark avenue
+of Norwood, a shade of the sentimental began to mingle with their
+conversation. De Courcy had that morning resolved, firmly resolved, that
+while Laura was his guest at Norwood, he would avoid a declaration of
+his sentiments. Convinced, as he now was, that he no longer had any
+thing to fear from the perseverance of Hargrave, he was yet far from
+being confident of his own success. On the contrary, he was persuaded
+that he had hitherto awakened in Laura no sentiment beyond friendship,
+and that she must become accustomed to him as a lover, before he could
+hope for any farther grace. He considered how embarrassing would be her
+situation in a house of which the master was a repulsed, perhaps a
+rejected, admirer; and he had determined not to hazard embittering to
+her a residence from which she had at present no retreat. Yet the
+confiding manner, the bewitching loveliness of Laura, the stillness,
+shade, and solitude of their path had half-beguiled him of his prudence,
+when, fortunately for his resolution, he saw Harriet advancing to meet
+her friend. Harriet's liveliness soon restored gaiety to the
+conversation; and the party proceeded less leisurely than before to
+Norwood, where Laura was received with affectionate cordiality by Mrs De
+Courcy.
+
+Never had the time appeared to Laura to fly so swiftly as now. Every
+hour was sacred to improvement, to elegance, or to benevolence. Laura
+had a mind capable of intense application; and therefore could exalt
+relaxation into positive enjoyment. But the pleasure which a vigorous
+understanding takes in the exercise of its powers, was now heightened in
+her hours of study, by the assistance, the approbation of De Courcy; and
+the hours of relaxation he enlivened by a manner which, at once frank
+and respectful, spirited and kind, seemed peculiarly fitted to adorn the
+domestic circle. A part of each day was employed by Mrs De Courcy in
+various works of charity; and, joining in these, Laura returned with
+satisfaction to a habit which she had unwillingly laid aside during her
+residence in London, and but imperfectly resumed at Walbourne. Amiable,
+rational, and pious, the family at Norwood realized all Laura's
+day-dreams of social happiness; and the only painful feeling that
+assailed her mind arose from the recollection that the time of her visit
+was fast stealing away. Her visit was, however, prolonged by a fortunate
+cold which detained Lady Pelham at Derham Green; and Laura could not
+regret an accident which delayed her separation from her friends. Indeed
+she began to dread Lady Pelham's return, both as the signal of her
+departure from Norwood, and as a prelude to the renewal of her
+persecutions on account of Hargrave. Far from having, as Lady Pelham had
+insinuated, renounced his pursuit, he returned in a few days from Mrs
+Bathurst's; again established himself with Lambert; and, though he could
+not uninvited intrude himself into Norwood, contrived to beset Laura as
+often as she passed its bounds. In the few visits which she paid, she
+generally encountered him; and he regularly waylaid her at church. But
+he had lost an able coadjutor in Lady Pelham; and now, when no one
+present was concerned to assist his designs, and when Laura was
+protected by kind and considerate friends, she generally found means to
+escape his officious attentions; though, remembering his former jealousy
+of Montague, and the irritability of his temper, she was scrupulously
+cautious of marking her preference of De Courcy, or of appearing to take
+sanctuary with him from the assiduities of Hargrave. Indeed,
+notwithstanding the mildness of De Courcy's disposition, she was not
+without fear that he might be involved in a quarrel by the unreasonable
+suspicions of Hargrave, who had often taxed her with receiving his
+addresses, ascribing his own failure to their success. She had in vain
+condescended to assure him that the charge was groundless. He never met
+De Courcy without shewing evident marks of dislike. If he accosted him,
+it was in a tone and manner approaching to insult. The most trivial
+sentence which De Courcy addressed to Laura, drew from Hargrave looks of
+enmity and defiance; while Montague, on his part, returned these
+aggressions by a cool disdain, the most opposite to the conciliating
+frankness of his general manners. Laura's alarm lest Hargrave's
+ill-concealed aversion should burst into open outrage, completed the
+dread with which he inspired her; and she felt like one subjected to the
+thraldom of an evil genius, when he one day announced to her that he had
+procured leave to remove his regiment to --; in order, as he said, 'that
+he might be at hand to assert his rights over her.'
+
+He conveyed this information as, rudely preventing Mr Bolingbroke and De
+Courcy, he led her from Mrs De Courcy's carriage into church. Laura
+durst not challenge his presumptuous expression, for Montague was close
+by her side, and she dreaded that his aversion to arrogance and
+oppression should induce him to engage in her quarrel. Silently
+therefore, though glowing with resentment, she suffered Hargrave to
+retain the place he had usurped, while Montague followed, with a
+countenance which a few short moments had clouded with sudden care.
+'Ah,' thought he, 'those rights must indeed be strong which he dares
+thus boldly, thus publickly assert.' It was some time ere the service
+began, and Laura could not help casting glances of kind inquiry on the
+saddened face, which, a few minutes before, she had seen bright with
+animation and delight. Hargrave's eye followed her's with a far
+different expression. While she observed him darting a scowl of malice
+and aversion on the man to whom he owed his life, Laura shuddered; and
+wondering at the infatuation which had so long disguised his true
+character, bent her head, acknowledged her short-sightedness, and
+resigned the future events of her life to the disposal of heaven. It was
+the day immediately preceding Harriet's marriage, and neither she nor
+Mrs De Courcy was in church; Laura therefore returned home tête à tête
+with Montague. Ignorant that Hargrave's provoking half-whisper had been
+overheard by De Courcy, she could not account for the sudden change in
+his countenance and manner; yet though she took an affectionate interest
+in his melancholy, they had almost reached home before she summoned
+courage to inquire into its cause. 'I fear you are indisposed,' said she
+to him in a voice of kind concern. De Courcy thanked her. 'No, not
+indisposed,' said he, with a faint smile. 'Disturbed, then,' said Laura.
+De Courcy was silent for a moment, and then taking her hand, said, 'May
+I be candid with you?' 'Surely,' returned Laura. 'I trust I shall ever
+meet with candour in you.' 'Then I will own,' resumed De Courcy, 'that I
+am disturbed. And can the friend of Montreville be otherwise when he
+hears a right claimed over you by one so wholly unworthy of you?' 'Ah,'
+cried Laura, 'you have then heard all. I hoped you had not attended to
+him.' 'Attended!' exclaimed De Courcy, 'Could any right be claimed over
+you and I be regardless?' 'It were ungrateful to doubt your friendly
+interest in me,' replied Laura. 'Believe me Colonel Hargrave has no
+right over me, nor ever shall have.' 'Yet I did not hear you resist the
+claim,' returned De Courcy. 'Because,' answered Laura, 'I feared to draw
+your attention. His violence terrifies me, and I feared that--that you
+might'--She hesitated, stopped, and blushed very deeply. She felt the
+awkwardness of appearing to expect that De Courcy should engage in a
+quarrel on her account, but the simple truth ever rose so naturally to
+her lips, that she could not even qualify it without confusion. 'Might
+what?' cried De Courcy eagerly; 'Speak frankly I beseech you.' 'I
+feared,' replied Laura, recovering herself, 'that the interest you take
+in the daughter of your friend might expose you to the rudeness of this
+overbearing man.' 'And did you upon my account, dearest Laura, submit to
+this insolence?' cried De Courcy, his eyes sparkling with exultation.
+'Is my honour, my safety then dear to you? Could you think of me even
+while Hargrave spoke!' With surprise and displeasure Laura read the
+triumphant glance which accompanied his words. 'Is it possible,' thought
+she, 'that, well as he knows me, he can thus mistake the nature of my
+regard! or can he, attached to another, find pleasure in the idle dream.
+Oh man! thou art altogether vanity!' Snatching away the hand which he
+was pressing to his lips, she coldly replied, 'I should have been
+equally attentive to the safety of any common stranger had I expected
+his interference, and Colonel Hargrave's speeches cannot divert my
+attention even from the most trivial object in nature.' Poor De Courcy,
+his towering hopes suddenly levelled with the dust, shrunk from the
+frozen steadiness of her eye. 'Pardon me, Miss Montreville,' said he in
+a tone of mingled sorrow and reproach, 'pardon me for the hope that you
+would make any distinction between me and the most indifferent. I shall
+soon be cured of my presumption.' Grieved at the pain she saw she had
+occasioned, Laura would fain have said something to mitigate the repulse
+which she had given: but a new light began to dawn upon her, and she
+feared to conciliate the friend lest she should encourage the lover.
+Fortunately for the relief of her embarrassment the carriage stopped. De
+Courcy gravely and in silence handed her from it; and, hurrying to her
+chamber, she sat down to reconsider the dialogue she had just ended.
+
+De Courcy's manner more than his words recalled a suspicion which she
+had oftener than once driven from her mind. She was impressed, she
+scarcely knew why, with a conviction that she was beloved. For some
+minutes this idea alone filled her thoughts; the next that succeeded was
+recollection that she ought sincerely to lament a passion which she
+could not return. It was her duty to be sorry, very sorry indeed, for
+such an accident; to be otherwise would have argued the most selfish
+vanity, the most hard-hearted ingratitude towards the best of friends,
+and the most amiable of mankind. Yet she was not _very_ sorry; it was
+out of her power to convince herself that she was; so she imputed her
+philosophy under her misfortune to doubtfulness of its existence. 'But
+after all,' said she to herself, 'his words could not bear such a
+construction; and for his manner--who would build any thing upon a
+manner! While a woman's vanity is so apt to deceive her, what rational
+creature would give credit to what may owe so much to her own
+imagination! Besides, did not Mrs De Courcy more than hint that his
+affections were engaged. Did he not even himself confess to me that they
+were. And I taxed him with vanity!--Truly, if he could see this
+ridiculous freak of mine he might very justly retort the charge. And see
+it he will. What could possess me with my absurd prudery to take offence
+at his expecting that I, who owe him ten thousand kind offices, should
+be anxious for his safety?--How could I be so false, so thankless as to
+say I considered him as a common acquaintance?--The friend of my father,
+my departed father! the friend who supported him in want, and consoled
+him in sorrow! No wonder that he seemed shocked! What is so painful to a
+noble heart as to meet with ingratitude? But he shall never again have
+reason to think me vain or ungrateful;' and Laura hastened down stairs
+that she might lose no time in convincing De Courcy that she did not
+suspect him of being her lover, and highly valued him as a friend. She
+found him in the drawing-room, pensively resting his forehead against
+the window sash; and approaching him, spoke some trifle with a smile so
+winning, so gracious, that De Courcy soon forgot both his wishes and his
+fears, enjoyed the present, and was happy.
+
+The day of Harriet's marriage arrived; and for once she was grave and
+silent. She even forgot her bridal finery; and when Laura went to inform
+her of Mr Bolingbroke's arrival, she found her in the library, sitting
+on the ground in tears, her head resting on the seat of an old-fashioned
+elbow chair. She sprang up as Laura entered; and dashing the drops from
+her eyes, cried, 'I have been trying to grow young again for a few
+minutes, before I am made an old woman for life. Just there I used to
+sit when I was a little little thing, and laid my head upon my father's
+knee; for this was his favourite chair, and there old Rover and I used
+to lie at his feet together. I'll beg this chair of my mother, for now I
+love every thing at Norwood.' Laura drew her away, and she forgot the
+old elbow-chair when she saw the superb diamonds which were lying on her
+dressing-table. The ceremonial of the wedding was altogether adjusted by
+Mrs Penelope; and though, in compliance with Mr Bolingbroke's whims, she
+suffered the ceremony to be privately performed, she invited every
+creature who could claim kindred with the names of Bolingbroke or De
+Courcy to meet and welcome the young bride to her home. Mr Bolingbroke
+having brought a licence, the pair were united at Norwood. Mr Wentworth
+officiated, and De Courcy gave his sister away. Mrs Bolingbroke's own
+new barouche, so often beheld in fancy, now really waited to convey her
+to her future dwelling; but she turned to bid farewell to the domestics
+who had attended her infancy, and forgot to look at the new barouche.
+
+Mr Bolingbroke was a great man, and could not be allowed to marry
+quietly. Bonfires were lighted, bells were rung, and a concourse of his
+tenantry accompanied the carriages which conveyed the party. The
+admiration of the company whom Mrs Penelope had assembled in honour of
+the day, was divided between Mrs Bolingbroke's diamonds and her
+bride-maid; and as the number of each sex was pretty equal, the wonders
+shared pretty equally.
+
+'Did you ever see any thing so lovely as Miss Montreville?' said Sophia
+Bolingbroke to the young lady who sat next her. 'I never can think any
+body pretty who has red hair,' was the reply. 'If her hair be red,'
+returned Sophia, 'it is the most pardonable red hair in the world, for
+it is more nearly black. Don't you admire her figure?' 'Not
+particularly; she is too much of the May-pole for me; besides, who can
+tell what her figure is when she is so muffled up. I dare say she is
+stuffed, or she would shew a little more of her skin.' 'She has at least
+an excellent taste in stuffing, then,' said Sophia, 'for I never saw any
+thing so elegantly formed.' 'It is easy to see,' said the critic, 'that
+she thinks herself a beauty by her dressing so affectedly. To-night
+when every body else is in full dress, do but look at her's!' 'Pure,
+unadorned, virgin white,' said Miss Bolingbroke, looking at Laura; 'the
+proper attire of angels!' The name of Miss Montreville had drawn the
+attention of De Courcy to this dialogue. 'I protest,' cried he to Mr
+Wentworth, who stood by him. 'Sophy Bolingbroke is the most agreeable
+plain girl I ever saw.' He then placed himself by her side; and while
+she continued to praise Laura, gave her credit for all that is most
+amiable in woman.
+
+The moment he left her she ran to rally Laura upon her conquest. 'I give
+you joy, my dear,' said she, 'De Courcy is certainly in love with you.'
+'Nonsense,' cried Laura, colouring crimson; 'what can make you think
+so?' 'Why he will talk of nothing but you, and he looked so delighted
+when I praised you; and paid me more compliments in half an hour than
+ere I received in my whole life before.' 'If he was so complimentary,'
+said Laura, smiling, 'it seems more likely that he is in love with you.'
+'Ah,' said Sophia, sighing, 'that is not very probable.' 'Full as
+probable as the other,' answered Laura; and turned away to avoid a
+subject which she was striving to banish from her thoughts.
+
+During the few days which Laura and the De Courcys spent with the
+newly-married pair, Miss Bolingbroke's observations served to confirm
+her opinion; and merely for the pleasure of speaking of Montague, she
+rallied Laura incessantly on her lover. In weighing credibilities, small
+weight of testimony turns the scale; and Laura began alternately to
+wonder what retarded De Courcy's declaration, and to tax herself with
+vanity in expecting that he would ever make one. She disliked her stay
+at Orfordhall, and counted the hours till her return to Norwood. De
+Courcy's attentions she had long placed to the account of a regard
+which, while she was permitted to give it the name of friendship, she
+could frankly own that she valued above any earthly possessions. These
+attentions were now so familiar to her, that they were become almost
+necessary, and she was vexed at being constantly reminded that she ought
+to reject them. She had therefore a latent wish to return to a place
+where she would have a legitimate claim to his kindness, and where at
+least there would be no one to remind her that she ought to shrink from
+it. Besides, she was weary of the state and magnificence that surrounded
+her. While Harriet glided into the use of her finery as if she had been
+accustomed to it from her cradle, Laura could by no means be reconciled
+to it. She endured with impatience a meal of three hours long; could
+not eat while six footmen were staring at her; started, if she
+thoughtlessly leant her head against the white damask wall; and could
+not move with ease, where every gesture was repeated in endless
+looking-glasses. With pleasure, therefore, she saw the day arrive which
+was to restore her to easy hospitality, and respectable simplicity at
+Norwood; but that very day she received a summons to attend her aunt at
+Walbourne.
+
+Unwilling as Laura was to quit her friends, she did not delay to comply
+with Lady Pelham's requisition. Mrs De Courcy judged it improper to urge
+her to stay; and Montague in part consoled himself for her departure, by
+reflecting, that he would now be at liberty to disclose his
+long-concealed secret. 'No doubt you are at liberty,' said Mrs De
+Courcy, when he spoke to her of his intentions, 'and I am far from
+pretending to advise or interfere. But, my dear Montague, you must
+neither be surprised, nor in despair, if you be at first unsuccessful.
+Though Laura esteems you, perhaps more than esteems you, she is
+convinced that she is invulnerable to love; and it may be so, but her
+fancied security is all in your favour.' Weary of suspense, however, De
+Courcy often resolved to know his fate; and often went to Walbourne,
+determined to learn ere he returned, whether a circle of pleasing duties
+was to fill his after life, or whether it was to be spent alone,
+'loveless, joyless, unendeared;' but when he met the friendly smile of
+Laura, and remembered that, his secret told, it might vanish like the
+gleaming of a wintry sun, his courage failed, and the intended
+disclosure was again delayed. Yet his manner grew less and less
+equivocal, and Laura, unwilling as she was to own the conviction to
+herself, could scarcely maintain her wilful blindness.
+
+She allowed the subject to occupy the more of her thoughts, because it
+came disguised in a veil of self-condemnation and humility. Sometimes
+she repeated to herself, that she should never have known the vanity of
+her own heart, had it not been visited by so absurd a suspicion; and
+sometimes that she should never have been acquainted with its
+selfishness and obduracy, had she not borne with such indifference, the
+thoughts of what must bring pain and disappointment to so worthy a
+breast. But, spite of Laura's efforts to be miserable, the subject cost
+her much more perplexity than distress; and, in wondering whether De
+Courcy really were her lover, and what could be his motive for
+concealing it if he were, she often forgot to deplore the consequences
+of her charms.
+
+Meanwhile Hargrave continued his importunities; and Lady Pelham seconded
+them with unwearied perseverance. In vain did Laura protest that her
+indifference was unconquerable; in vain assure him that though a total
+revolution in his character might regain her esteem, her affection was
+irrecoverably lost. She could at any time exasperate the proud spirit of
+Hargrave, till in transports of fury he would abjure her for ever; but a
+few hours always brought the 'for ever' to an end, and Hargrave back, to
+supplicate, to importune, and not unfrequently to threaten. Though her
+unremitting coldness, however, failed to conquer his passion, it by
+degrees extinguished all of generous or kindly that had ever mingled
+with the flame; and the wild unholy fire which her beauty kept alive,
+was blended with the heart-burnings of anger and revenge. From such a
+passion Laura shrunk with dread and horror. She heard its expressions as
+superstitution listens to sounds of evil omen; and saw his impassioned
+glances with the dread of one who meets the eye of the crouching tiger.
+His increasing jealousy of De Courcy, which testified itself in
+haughtiness, and even ferocity of behaviour towards him, and Montague's
+determined though cool resistance of his insolence, kept her in
+continual alarm. Though she never on any other occasion voluntarily
+entered Hargrave's presence, yet if De Courcy found him at Walbourne,
+she would hasten to join them, fearing the consequences of a private
+interview between two such hostile spirits; and this apparent preference
+not only aggravated the jealousy of Hargrave, but aroused Lady Pelham's
+indefatigable spirit of remonstrance. The subject was particularly
+suited for an episode to her Ladyship's harangues in favour of Hargrave;
+and she introduced and varied it with a dexterity all her own. She taxed
+Laura with a passion for De Courcy; and in terms not eminently delicate,
+reproached her with facility in transferring her regards. While the
+charge was privately made, it appeared to Laura too groundless to affect
+her temper. But Lady Pelham, whose whole life might be said to form one
+grand experiment upon the powers of provocation, took occasion to rally
+her upon it before some of her companions; hinting not obscurely at the
+secret which Laura had so religiously kept, and confessed with so much
+pain. The attempt was partly successful, for Laura was really angry; but
+she commanded herself so far as to parry the attack, secretly vowing
+that her candour should never again commit her to the discretion of Lady
+Pelham.
+
+Sometimes assuming the tone of a tender monitress, Lady Pelham would
+affect to be seriously convinced that her niece entertained a passion
+for De Courcy, and treating all Laura's denials as the effect of maiden
+timidity, would pretend to sympathize in her sufferings, advising her to
+use her strength of mind to conquer this unfortunate partiality; to
+transfer her affections from one to whom they appeared valueless to him
+who sued for them with such interesting perseverance. Above all, she
+entreated her to avoid the appearance of making advances to a man who
+probably never bestowed a thought on her in return; thus intimating that
+Laura's behaviour might bear so provoking a construction. Laura,
+sometimes irritated, oftener amused by these impertinences, could have
+endured them with tolerable patience; but they were mere interludes to
+Lady Pelham's indefatigable chidings on the subject of Hargrave. These
+were continued with a zeal and industry worthy of better success. And
+yet they could not be said to be wholly unsuccessful, while, though they
+could not persuade, they could torment. In vain did Laura recount the
+reasons which, even amidst the utmost strength of inclination, would
+have deterred her from a connection with a person of Hargrave's
+character. To reason with Lady Pelham was a labour at once severe and
+unavailing. She was so dexterous in the use of indefinite language, so
+practised in every art of shift and evasion, that the strongest argument
+failed to conquer; or if forced from her ground, she on the next
+occasion occupied it again, just as if she had always maintained it
+undisputed. Remonstrance and entreaty were not more successful. In
+defiance of both, Lady Pelham continued to ring endless changes on the
+same endless theme, till Laura's patience would have failed her, had she
+not been consoled by reflecting that the time now drew near when the
+payment of her annuity would enable her to escape from her unwearied
+persecutors. She heartily wished, however, that a change of system might
+make her residence with Lady Pelham endurable; for strong as was her
+attachment to Mrs Douglas, it was no longer her only friendship; and she
+could not without pain think of quitting, perhaps for ever, her valued
+friends at Norwood.
+
+Winter advanced; Lady Pelham began to talk of her removal to town; and
+Laura was not without hopes, that when removed to a distance from
+Hargrave, her aunt would remit somewhat of her diligence in his cause.
+Laura expected that his duty would generally confine him to
+head-quarters, and she hoped to find in his absence a respite from one
+half of her plague. At all events, from London she thought she could
+easily procure an escort to Scotland, and she was determined rather
+finally to forfeit the protection of Lady Pelham, than submit to such
+annoyance as she had of late endured. Laura could not help wondering
+sometimes that her aunt, while she appeared so anxious to promote the
+success of Hargrave, should meditate a step which would place him at a
+distance from the object of his pursuit; but Lady Pelham's conduct was
+so generally inconsistent, that Laura was weary of trying to reconcile
+its contradictories. She endeavoured to hope that Lady Pelham, at last
+becoming sensible of the inefficacy of her efforts, was herself growing
+desirous to escape the Colonel's importunity; and she thought she could
+observe, that as the time of their departure approached, her Ladyship
+relaxed somewhat of her industry in teazing.
+
+But the motives of Lady Pelham's removal did not at all coincide with
+her niece's hopes; and nothing could be further from her intention, than
+to resign her labours in a field so rich in controversy and provocation.
+She imagined that Laura's obstinacy was occasioned, or at least
+strengthened by the influence of the De Courcys, and she expected that a
+more general acquaintance with the world would remove her prejudices. At
+Walbourne, Laura, if offended, could always take refuge with Mrs De
+Courcy. In London, she would be more defenceless. At Walbourne, Lady
+Pelham acted under restraint, for there were few objects to divide with
+her the observation of her neighbours, and she felt herself accountable
+to them for the propriety of her conduct; but she would be more at
+liberty in a place where, each immersed in his own business or pleasure,
+no one had leisure to comment on the concerns of others. She knew that
+Hargrave would find means to escape the duty of remaining with his
+regiment, and indeed had concerted with him the whole plan of her
+operations.
+
+Meanwhile Laura, altogether unsuspicious of their designs, gladly
+prepared for her journey, considering it as a fortunate instance of the
+instability of Lady Pelham's purposes. She paid a parting visit to Mrs
+Bolingbroke, whom she found established in quiet possession of all the
+goods of fortune. By the aid of Mrs De Courcy's carriage, she contrived,
+without molestation from Hargrave, to spend much of her time at Norwood,
+where she was always received with a kindness the most flattering, and
+loaded with testimonies of regard. De Courcy still kept his secret; and
+Laura's suspicions rather diminished when she considered that, though he
+knew she was to go without any certainty of returning, he suffered
+numberless opportunities to pass without breathing a syllable of love.
+
+The day preceding that which was fixed for the journey arrived; and
+Laura begged Lady Pelham's permission to spend it entirely with Mrs De
+Courcy. Lady Pelham was rather unwilling to consent, for she remembered
+that her last excursion had been rendered abortive by a visit to
+Norwood; but, flattering herself that her present scheme was secure from
+hazard of failure, she assumed an accommodating humour, and not only
+permitted Laura to go but allowed the carriage to convey her,
+stipulating that she should return it immediately, and walk home in the
+evening. She found the De Courcys alone, and passed the day less
+cheerfully than any she had ever spent at Norwood. Mrs De Courcy, though
+kind, was grave and thoughtful; Montague absent, and melancholy.
+Harriet's never-failing spirits no longer enlivened the party, and her
+place was but feebly supplied by the infantine gaiety of De Courcy's
+little protegé Henry. This child, who was the toy of all his patron's
+leisure hours, had, during her visits to Norwood, become particularly
+interesting to Laura. His quickness, his uncommon beauty, his engaging
+frankness, above all, the innocent fondness which he shewed for her, had
+really attached her to him, and he repaid her with all the affections of
+his little heart. He would quit his toys to hang upon her; and, though
+at other times, as restless as any of his kind, was never weary of
+sitting quietly on her knee, clasping her snowy neck in his little
+sun-burnt arms. His prattle agreeably interrupted the taciturnity into
+which the little party were falling, till his grandfather came to take
+him away. 'Kiss your hand Henry, and bid Miss Montreville farewell,'
+said the old man as he was about to take him from Laura's arms. 'It will
+be a long time before you see her again.' 'Are you going away?' said the
+child, looking sorrowfully in Laura's face. 'Yes, far away,' answered
+Laura. 'Then Henry will go with you, Henry's dear pretty lady.' 'No no,'
+said his grandfather. 'You must go to your mammy; good boys love their
+mammies best.' 'Then you ought to be Henry's mammy,' cried the child,
+sobbing, and locking his arms round Laura's neck, 'for Henry loves you
+best.' 'My dear boy!' cried Laura, kissing him with a smile that
+half-consented to his wish; but, happening to turn her eye towards De
+Courcy, she saw him change colour, and, with an abruptness unlike his
+usual manner, he snatched the boy from her arms, and, regardless of his
+cries, dismissed him from the room.
+
+This little incident did not contribute to the cheerfulness of the
+group. Grieved to part with her favourite, and puzzled to account for De
+Courcy's behaviour, Laura was now the most silent of the trio. She saw
+nothing in the childish expression of fondness which should have moved
+De Courcy; yet it had evidently stung him with sudden uneasiness. She
+now recollected that she had more than once inquired who were the
+parents of this child, and that the question had always been evaded. A
+motive of curiosity prompted her now to repeat her inquiry, and she
+addressed it to Mrs De Courcy. With a slight shade of embarrassment Mrs
+De Courcy answered, 'His mother was the only child of our old servant; a
+pretty, meek-spirited, unfortunate girl; and his father'--'His father's
+crimes,' interrupted De Courcy, hastily, 'have brought their own
+punishment; a punishment beyond mortal fortitude to bear;'--and,
+catching up a book, he asked Laura whether she had seen it, endeavouring
+to divert her attention by pointing out some passages to her notice.
+Laura's curiosity was increased by this appearance of concealment, but
+she had no means of gratifying it, and the subject vanished from her
+mind when she thought of bidding farewell to her beloved friends,
+perhaps for ever.
+
+When she was about to go, Mrs De Courcy affectionately embraced her. 'My
+dear child,' said she, 'second in my love and esteem only to my own
+Montague, almost the warmest wish of my heart is to retain you always
+with me; but, if that is impossible, short may your absence be, and may
+you return to us as joyfully as we shall receive you.' Weeping, and
+reluctant to part, Laura at last tore herself away. Hargrave had so
+often stolen upon her walks that the fear of meeting him was become
+habitual to her, and she wished to escape him by reaching home before
+her return could be expected. As she leant on De Courcy's arms, ashamed
+of being unable to suppress her sensibility, she averted her head, and
+looked sadly back upon a dwelling endeared to her by many an innocent,
+many a rational pleasure.
+
+Absorbed in her regrets, Laura had proceeded a considerable way before
+she observed that she held a trembling arm; and recollected that De
+Courcy had scarcely spoken since their walk began. Her tears ceased
+suddenly, while confused and disquieted, she quickened her pace. Soon
+recollecting herself, she stopped; and thanking him for his escort,
+begged that he would go no further. 'I cannot leave you yet,' said De
+Courcy in a voice of restrained emotion, and again he led her onwards. A
+few short sentences were all that passed till they had almost reached
+the antique gate which terminated the winding part of the avenue. Here
+Laura again endeavoured to prevail upon her companion to return, but
+without success. With more composure than before, he refused to leave
+her. Dreading to encounter Hargrave while De Courcy was in such evident
+agitation, she besought him to go, telling him that it was her
+particular wish that he should proceed no farther. He instantly stopped,
+and, clasping her hand between his, 'Must I then leave you, Laura,' said
+he; 'you whose presence has so long been the charm of my existence!' The
+blood rushed violently into Laura's face, and as suddenly retired. 'And
+can I,' continued De Courcy, 'can I suffer you to go without pouring out
+my full heart to you?' Laura breathed painfully, and she pressed her
+hand upon her bosom to restrain its swelling. 'To talk to you of
+passion,' resumed De Courcy, 'is nothing. You have twined yourself with
+every wish and every employment, every motive, every hope, till to part
+with you is tearing my heart-strings.' Again he paused. Laura felt that
+she was expected to reply, and, though trembling and breathless, made an
+effort to speak. 'This is what I feared,' said she, 'and yet I wish you
+had been less explicit, for there is no human being whose friendship is
+so dear to me as yours; and now I fear I ought'--The sob which had been
+struggling in her breast now choked her utterance, and she wept aloud.
+'It is the will of heaven,' said she, 'that I should be reft of every
+earthly friend.' She covered her face and stood labouring to compose
+herself; while, heart-struck with a disappointment which was not
+mitigated by all the gentleness with which it was conveyed, De Courcy
+was unable to break the silence.
+
+'Ungrateful! selfish that I am,' exclaimed Laura suddenly dashing the
+tears from her eyes, 'thus to think only of my own loss, while I am
+giving pain to the worthiest of hearts.--My best friend, I cannot indeed
+return the regard with which you honour me, but I can make you cease to
+wish that I should. And I deserve the shame and anguish I shall suffer.
+She, whom you honour with your love,' continued she, the burning crimson
+glowing in her face and neck, 'has been the sport of a passion, strong
+as disgraceful--disgraceful as its object is worthless.'
+
+Her look, her voice, her manner conveyed to De Courcy the strongest idea
+of the torture which this confession cost her; and no sufferings of his
+own could make him insensible to those of Laura. 'Cease, cease,' he
+cried, 'best and dearest of women, do not add to my wretchedness the
+thought of giving pain to you.' Then, after a few moments pause, he
+continued, 'it would be wronging your noble candour to doubt that you
+have recalled your affections.' 'In doing so,' answered Laura, 'I can
+claim no merit. Infatuation itself could have been blind no longer.'
+'Then why, dearest Laura,' cried De Courcy, his heart again bounding
+with hope, 'why may not time and the fond assiduities of love'--'Ah!'
+interrupted Laura, 'that is impossible. A mere preference I might give
+you, but I need not tell you that I have no more to give.' 'My heavenly
+Laura,' cried De Courcy, eager joy beaming in his eyes, 'give me but
+this preference, and I would not exchange it for the fondest passion of
+woman-kind.' 'You deceive yourself,' said Laura mournfully, 'miserably
+deceive yourself. Such a sentiment could never content you. You would
+miss a thousand little arts of happiness which love alone can teach;
+observe a thousand nameless coldnesses which no caution could conceal;
+and you would be unhappy without knowing perhaps of what to complain.
+You, who would deserve the warmest affection to be content with mere
+endurance! Oh no, I should be wretched in the bare thought of offering
+you so poor a return.'
+
+'Endurance, Laura! I should indeed be a monster to find joy in any thing
+which you could describe by such a word. But must I despair of awakening
+such affection as will make duty delightful, such as will enjoy the
+bliss which it bestows?'
+
+'Believe me, my dear friend,' said Laura in a voice as sweet, as
+soothing, as ever conveyed the tenderest confession, 'believe me I am
+not insensible to the value of your regard. It adds a new debt of
+gratitude to all that Montreville's daughter owes you. My highest esteem
+shall ever be yours, but after what I have confided to you, a moment's
+consideration must convince you that all beyond is impossible.' 'Ah!'
+thought De Courcy, 'what will it cost me to believe that it is indeed
+impossible.' But Laura's avowal was not quite so fatal to his hopes as
+she imagined; and while she supposed that he was summoning fortitude to
+endure their final destruction, he stood silently pondering Mrs De
+Courcy's oft repeated counsel to let love borrow the garb of friendship,
+nor suffer him undisguised to approach the heart where, having once been
+dethroned as an usurper, all was in arms against him.
+
+'If I must indeed renounce every dearer hope,' resumed he, 'then in your
+friendship, my ever dear Miss Montreville, I must seek the happiness of
+my after-life, and surely'--'Oh no,' interrupted Laura, 'that must not
+be--the part, the little part of your happiness which will depend upon
+earthly connections, you must find in that of some fortunate woman who
+has yet a heart to give.' 'How can you name it to me?' cried De Courcy
+half indignantly! 'Can he who has known you Laura, admired in you all
+that is noble, loved in you all that is enchanting, transfer his heart
+to some common-place being?--You are my business--you are my pleasure--I
+toil but to be worthy of you--your approbation is my sweetest
+reward--all earthly things are precious to me but as you share in
+them--even a better world borrows hope from you. And is this a love to
+be bestowed on some soulless thing? No, Laura, I cannot, I will not
+change. If I cannot win your love, I will admit no substitute but your
+friendship.'
+
+'Indeed, Mr De Courcy,' cried Laura, unconsciously pressing, in the
+energy of speech, the hand which held hers. 'Indeed it is to no
+common-place woman that I wish to resign you. Lonely as my own life must
+be, its chief pleasures must arise from the happiness of my friends, and
+to know that you are happy.'--Laura stopped, for she felt her own voice
+grow tremulous. 'But we will not talk of this now,' resumed she, 'I
+shall be absent for some months at least, and in that time you will
+bring yourself to think differently. Promise me at least to make the
+attempt.'
+
+'No, Laura,' answered De Courcy, 'that I cannot promise. I will never
+harass you with importunity or complaint, but the love of you shall be
+my heart's treasure, it shall last though life--beyond life--and if you
+cannot love me, give in return only such kind thoughts as you would
+bestow on one who would promote your happiness at the expence of his
+own. And promise me, dearest Laura, that when we meet, you will not
+receive me with suspicion or reserve, as if you feared that I should
+presume on your favour, or persecute you with solicitations. Trust to my
+honour, trust to my love itself for sparing you all unavailing entreaty.
+Promise me then, ever to consider me as a friend, a faithful tender
+friend; and forget, till my weakness reminds you of it, that ever you
+knew me as a lover.'
+
+'Ah, Mr De Courcy,' cried Laura, tears filling her eyes, 'what thoughts
+but the kindest can I ever have of him who comforted my father's
+sorrows, who relieved--in a manner that made relief indeed a
+kindness--relieved my father's wants? And what suspicion, what coldness
+can I ever feel towards him whom my father loved and honoured! Yes I
+will trust you; for I know that you are as far above owing favours to
+compassion as to fear.'
+
+'A thousand thanks, beloved Laura,' cried De Courcy, kissing her hands,
+'and thus I seal our compact. One thing more; shall I trespass on your
+noble frankness, if I ask you whether, had not another stolen the
+blessing, I might have hoped to awaken a warmer regard? whether any
+labour, any cares could have won for me what he has forfeited?'
+
+Silent and blushing, Laura stood for a few moments with her eyes fixed
+on the ground, then raising them, said, 'From you I fear no wrong
+construction of my words, and will frankly own to you that for my own
+sake, as well as yours, I wish you had been known to me ere the serpent
+wound me in his poisoned folds. I believe, indeed, that no mortal but
+himself could have inspired the same--what shall I call an infatuation
+with which reason had nothing to do. But you have the virtues which I
+have been taught to love, and--and--But what avails it now? I _was_
+indeed a social creature; domestic habits, domestic wishes strong in me.
+But what avails it now!'
+
+'And was there a time when you could have loved me, Laura? Blessings on
+you for the concession. It shall cheer my exiled heart when you are far
+distant; sooth me with delightful day-dreams of what might have been;
+and give my solitude a charm which none but you could bring to the most
+social hour.'
+
+'Your solitude, my honoured friend,' replied Laura, 'needs it not; it
+has better and nobler charms; the charms of usefulness, of piety; and
+long may these form your business and delight. But what makes me linger
+with you. I meant to have hastened home that I might avoid one as unlike
+to you as confidence is to fear; the feelings which you each
+inspire--Farewell. I trust I shall soon hear that you are well and
+happy.'
+
+Loath to part, De Courcy endeavoured to detain her while he again gave
+utterance to his strong affection; and when she would be gone, bade her
+farewell in language so solemn, so tender, that all her self-command
+could not repress the tears which trickled down her cheeks. They parted;
+he followed her to beg that she would think of him sometimes. Again she
+left him; again he had some little boon to crave. She reached the gate,
+and looking back saw De Courcy standing motionless where she had last
+quitted him. She beckoned a farewell. The gate closed after her, and De
+Courcy felt as if one blank dreary waste had blotted the fair face of
+nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+The evening was closing, when Laura proceeded on her way. She had
+outstaid her purposed time, and from every bush by the path side she
+expected to see Hargrave steal upon her; in every gust of the chill
+November wind she thought she heard his footstep. She passed the last
+cottages connected with Norwood. The evening fires glanced cheerfully
+through the casements, and the voice of rustic merriment came softened
+on the ear. 'Amiable De Courcy!' thought Laura. 'The meanest of his
+dependents finds comfort in his protection, while the being on whom I
+have lavished the affection which might have rejoiced that worthy heart,
+makes himself an object of dread, even to her whom he pretends to love.'
+She reached home, however, without interruption, and was going to join
+Lady Pelham in the sitting-room; when happening to pass a looking-glass,
+she observed that her eyes still bore traces of the tears she had been
+shedding, and, in dread of the merciless raillery of her aunt, she
+retired to her own room. There, with an undefined feeling of
+despondence, she sat down to re-consider her conversation with De
+Courcy.
+
+Never was task more easy, or more unprofitable. She remembered every
+word that De Courcy had uttered; remembered the very tone, look, and
+gesture with which they were spoken. She recollected too all that she
+had said in reply; but she could by no means unravel the confused
+effects of the scene upon her own mind. She certainly pitied her lover
+to a very painful degree. 'Poor De Courcy!' said she, accompanying the
+half-whisper with a heavy sigh. But having, in the course of half an
+hour's rumination, repeated this soliloquy about twenty times, she began
+to recollect that De Courcy had borne his disappointment with
+considerable philosophy, and appeared to derive no small comfort from
+the prospect of an intercourse of mere friendship. This fortunate
+recollection, however, not immediately relieving her, she endeavoured to
+account for her depression by laying hold of a vague idea which was
+floating in her mind, that she had not on this occasion acted as she
+ought. Friendships between young persons of different sexes were
+proverbial fomenters of the tender passion; and though she was herself
+in perfect safety, was it right to expose to such hazard the peace of De
+Courcy? Was it generous, was it even honourable to increase the
+difficulties of his self-conquest, by admitting him to the intimacy of
+friendship? It was true he had voluntarily sought the post of danger:
+but then he was under the dominion of an influence which did not allow
+him to weigh consequences; and was it not unpardonable in her, who was
+in full possession of herself, to sanction, to aid his imprudence? Yet
+how could she have rejected a friendship which did her so much honour?
+the friendship of the man whom her father had so loved and respected! of
+the man to whom her father had wished to see her connected by the
+closest ties! the man to whom she owed obligations never to be repaid?
+Alas! how had she acknowledged these obligations? By suffering the most
+amiable of mankind to sport with his affections, while she had weakly
+thrown away her own. But the mischief was not yet totally irremediable;
+and dazzled by the romantic generosity of sacrificing her highest
+earthly joy to the restoration of her benefactor's quiet, she snatched a
+pen intending to retract her promise. An obsolete notion of decorum was
+for once favourable to a lover, and Laura saw the impropriety of writing
+to De Courcy. Besides, it occurred to her that she might withdraw into
+Scotland, without formally announcing the reason of her retreat; and
+thus leave herself at liberty to receive De Courcy as a friend whenever
+discretion should warrant this indulgence. After her most magnanimous
+resolves however, feeling her mind as confused and comfortless as
+before, she determined to obtain the benefit of impartial counsel, and
+changed the destination of the paper on which she had already written
+'My dear friend,' from De Courcy to Mrs Douglas.
+
+With all her native candour and singleness of heart did Laura detail her
+case to the monitress of her youth. To reveal De Courcy's name was
+contrary to her principles; but she described his situation, his mode of
+life, and domestic habits. She enlarged upon his character, her
+obligations to him, and the regret which, for his sake, she felt, that
+particular circumstances rendered her incapable of such an attachment as
+was necessary to conjugal happiness. She mentioned her compliance with
+her lover's request of a continuance of their former intimacy; confessed
+her doubts of the propriety of her concession; and entreated Mrs
+Douglas's explicit opinion on the past, as well as her directions for
+the future.
+
+Her mind thus unburdened, she was less perplexed and uneasy; and the
+next morning cheerfully commenced her journey, pleasing herself with the
+prospect of being released from the harassing attendance of Hargrave. On
+the evening of the second day the travellers reached Grosvenor Street;
+and the unsuspecting Laura, with renewed sentiments of gratitude to her
+aunt, revisited the dwelling which had received her when she could claim
+no other shelter.
+
+Her annuity having now become due, Laura, soon after her arrival in
+town, one day borrowed Lady Pelham's chariot, that she might go to
+receive the money, and purchase some necessary additions to her
+wardrobe. Remembering, however, the inconveniencies to which she had
+been subjected by her imprudence in leaving herself without money, she
+regulated her disbursements by the strictest economy; determined to
+reserve a sum, which, besides a little gift to her cousin, might defray
+the expences of a journey to Scotland.
+
+Her way chancing to lie through Holborn, a recollection of the
+civilities of her old landlady, induced her to stop and inquire for Mrs
+Dawkins. The good woman almost compelled her to alight; overwhelmed her
+with welcomes, and asked a hundred questions in a breath, giving in
+return a very detailed account of all her family affairs. She informed
+Laura, that Miss Julia, having lately read the life of a heroine who in
+the capacity of a governess captivated the heart of a great lord, had
+been seized with the desire to seek adventures under a similar
+character; but finding that recommendations for experience were
+necessary to her admission into any family of rank, she had condescended
+to serve her apprenticeship in the tuition of the daughters of an
+eminent cowfeeder. The good woman expressed great compassion for the
+pupils of so incompetent a teacher, from whom they could learn nothing
+useful. 'But that was,' she observed, 'their father's look out, and in
+the mean time, it was so far well that July was doing something towards
+her keeping.' After a visit of some length Laura wished to be gone, but
+her hostess would not suspend her eloquence long enough to suffer her to
+take leave. She was at last obliged to interrupt the harangue; and
+breaking from her indefatigable entertainer, hurried home, not a little
+alarmed lest her stay should expose her on her return home to oratory
+of a different kind. Lady Pelham, however, received her most graciously,
+examined all her purchases, and enquired very particularly into the cost
+of each. She calculated the amount, and the balance of the annuity
+remaining in Laura's possession. 'Five and thirty pounds!' she
+exclaimed--'what in the world, Laura, will you do with so much money?'
+'Perhaps five and thirty different things,' answered Laura, smiling; 'I
+have never had, nor ever shall have, half so much money as I could
+spend.' 'Oh you extravagant thing!' cried Lady Pelham patting her cheek.
+'But take care that some one does not save you the trouble of spending
+it. You should be very sure of the locks of your drawers. You had better
+let me put your treasures into my bureau.' Laura was about to comply,
+when recollecting that there might be some awkwardness in asking her
+aunt for the money while she concealed its intended destination, she
+thanked Lady Pelham, but said she supposed it would be perfectly safe in
+her own custody; and then, as usual, avoided impending altercation by
+hastening out of the room. She thought Lady Pelham looked displeased;
+but as that was a necessary effect of the slightest contradiction, she
+saw it without violent concern; and the next time they met, her Ladyship
+was again all smiles and courtesy.
+
+Three days, 'three wondrous days', all was sunshine and serenity. Lady
+Pelham was the most ingenious, the most amusing, the most fascinating of
+woman-kind. 'What a pity,' thought Laura, 'that my aunt's spirits are so
+fluctuating! How delightful she can be when she pleases!' In the midst
+of these brilliant hours, Lady Pelham one morning ran into the room
+where Laura was at work--'Here's a poor fellow,' said she, with a look
+and voice all compassion, 'who has sent me his account, and says he must
+go to jail if it is not paid instantly. But it is quite impossible for
+me to get the money till tomorrow.' 'To jail!' cried Laura,
+shocked--'What is the amount?' 'Forty pounds,' said Lady Pelham, 'and I
+have not above ten in the house.' 'Take mine,' cried Laura, hastening to
+bring it. Lady Pelham stopped her. 'No, my dear good girl,' said she, 'I
+wont take away your little store, perhaps you may want it yourself.' 'Oh
+no,' said Laura, 'I cannot want it, pray let me bring it.' 'The poor man
+has a large family,' said Lady Pelham, 'but indeed I am very unwilling
+to take--' Her Ladyship spared further regrets, for Laura was out of
+hearing. She returned in a moment with the whole of her wealth, out of
+which, Lady Pelham, after some further hesitation, was prevailed upon
+to take thirty pounds; a robbery to which she averred that she would
+never have consented, but for the wretched situation of an innocent
+family, and her own certainty of repaying the debt in a day or two at
+farthest. Several days, however, passed away, and Lady Pelham made no
+mention of discharging her debt. Laura wondered a little that her aunt
+should forget a promise so lately and so voluntarily given; but her
+attention was entirely diverted from the subject by the following letter
+from Mrs Douglas.
+
+     'You see, my dear Laura, I lose no time in answering your
+     letter, though, for the first time, I answer you with some
+     perplexity. The weight which you have always kindly allowed to
+     my opinion, makes me at all times give it with timidity; but
+     that is not the only reason of my present hesitation. I confess
+     that in spite of the apparent frankness and perspicuity with
+     which you have written, I am not able exactly to comprehend
+     you. You describe a man of respectable abilities, of amiable
+     dispositions, of sound principles, and engaging manners. You
+     profess that such qualities, aided by intimacy, have secured
+     your cordial friendship, while obligations beyond return have
+     enlivened this friendship by the warmest gratitude. But, just
+     as I am about to conclude that all this has produced its
+     natural effect, and to prepare my congratulations for a happy
+     occasion, you kill my expectations with a dismal sentence,
+     expressing your regrets for having been obliged to reject the
+     addresses of this excellent person. Now this might have been
+     intelligible enough, supposing you were pre-occupied by a
+     stronger attachment. But so far from this, you declare yourself
+     absolutely incapable of any exclusive affection, or of such a
+     regard as is necessary to any degree of happiness in the
+     conjugal state. I know not, my dear Laura, what ideas you may
+     entertain of the fervency suitable to wedded love; but, had you
+     been less peremptory, I should have thought it not unlikely to
+     spring from a young woman's "most cordial esteem" and "warmest
+     gratitude" towards a young man with "expressive black eyes,"
+     and "the most benevolent smile in the world."
+
+     'From the tenor of your letter, as well as from some
+     expressions you have formerly dropped, I am led to conjecture
+     that you think an extravagant passion necessary to the
+     happiness of married life. You will smile at the expression;
+     but if it offends you, change it for any other descriptive of a
+     feeling beyond tender friendship, and you will find the
+     substitute nearly synonymous with the original. Now this idea
+     appears to me rather erroneous; and I cannot help thinking that
+     calm, dispassionate affection, at least on the side of the
+     lady, promises more permanent comfort.
+
+     'All male writers on the subject of love, so far as my little
+     knowledge extends, represent possession as the infallible cure
+     of passion. A very unattractive picture, it must be confessed,
+     of the love of that lordly sex! but they themselves being the
+     painters, the deformity is a pledge of the resemblance, and I
+     own my small experience furnishes no instance to contradict
+     their testimony. Taking its truth then for granted, I need not
+     inquire whether the passions of our own sex be equally
+     fleeting. If they be, the enamoured pair soon find themselves
+     at best in the same situation with those who marry from sober
+     sentiments of regard; that is, obliged to seek happiness in the
+     esteem, the confidence, the forbearance of each other. But if,
+     in the female breast, the fervours of passion be less
+     transient, I need not describe to you the sufferings of
+     feminine sensibility under half-returned ardour, nor the stings
+     of feminine pride under the unnatural and mortifying
+     transference of the arts of courtship. I trust, my dear child,
+     that should you even make a marriage of passion, your
+     self-command will enable you to smother its last embers in your
+     own bosom, while your prudence will improve the short advantage
+     which is conferred by its empire in that of your husband, to
+     lay the foundation of an affection more tender than friendship,
+     more lasting than love.
+
+     'Again, it is surely of the utmost consequence to the felicity
+     of wedded life, that a just and temperate estimate be formed of
+     the character of him to whose temper we must accommodate
+     ourselves; whose caprices we must endure; whose failings we
+     must pardon, whether the discord burst upon us in thunder, or
+     steal on amid harmonies which render it imperceptible, perhaps
+     half-pleasing. Small chance is there that passion should view
+     with the calm extenuating eye of reason the faults which it
+     suddenly detects in the god of its idolatry. The once fervent
+     votary of the idol, finding it unworthy of his worship,
+     neglects the useful purposes to which he might apply the gold
+     which it contains.
+
+     'I have other reasons for thinking that passion is at best
+     unnecessary to conjugal happiness; but even if I should make
+     you a proselyte to my opinion, the conviction would, in the
+     present case, probably come too late. Such a man as you
+     describe will probably be satisfied with the answer he has
+     received. He will certainly never importune you, nor poorly
+     attempt to extort from your pity what he could not win from
+     your love. His attachment will soon subside into a friendly
+     regard for you, or be diverted into another channel by virtues
+     similar to those which first attracted him. I only wish, my
+     dear Laura, that after this change takes place, the
+     "circumstances" may remain in force which render you "for ever
+     incapable of repaying him with a love like his own." If you are
+     sure that these circumstances are decisive, I foresee no evil
+     which can result from your cultivating a friendship so
+     honourable and advantageous to you, as that of a man of letters
+     and a Christian; whose conversation may improve your mind, and
+     whose experience may supply that knowledge of the world which
+     is rarely attainable by women in the more private walks of
+     life.
+
+     'To him I should suppose that no danger could arise from such
+     an intercourse. We are all apt to over-rate the strength and
+     durability of the attachments we excite. I believe the truth
+     is, that in a vigorous, well-governed, and actively employed
+     mind, love rarely becomes that resistless tyrant which vanity
+     and romances represent him. His empire is divided by the love
+     of fame or the desire of usefulness, the eagerness of research
+     or the triumph of discovery. But even solitude, idleness, and
+     imagination cannot long support his dominion without the
+     assistance of hope; and I take it for granted from your tried
+     honour and generosity, that your answer has been too explicit
+     to leave your lover in any doubt that your sentence is final.
+
+     'I own I could have wished, that the virtues of my ever dear
+     Laura had found in the sacred characters of wife and mother a
+     larger field than a state of celibacy can afford; but I have no
+     fear that your happiness or respectability should ever depend
+     upon outward circumstances. I have no doubt that moderate
+     wishes and useful employments will diffuse cheerfulness in the
+     loneliest dwelling, while piety will people it with guests from
+     heaven.
+
+     'Thus, my beloved child, I have given my opinion with all the
+     freedom you can desire. I have written a volume rather than a
+     letter. The passion for giving advice long survives that which
+     is the subject of our correspondence; but to shew you that I
+     can lay some restraint on an old woman's rage for admonition, I
+     will not add another line except that which assures you that I
+     am, with all a mother's love, and all a friend's esteem,
+
+                   'Your affectionate
+                                     'E. DOUGLAS.'
+
+Laura read this letter often, and pondered it deeply. Though she could
+not deny that it contained some truths, she was not satisfied with the
+doctrine deduced from them. She remembered that Mrs Douglas was the most
+affectionate of wives; and concluded that in one solitary instance her
+judgment had been at variance with her practice; and that, having
+herself made a marriage of love, she was not an adequate judge of the
+disadvantages attending a more dispassionate connection. Some passages
+too she could well have spared; but as these were prophetic rather than
+monitory, they required little consideration; and after the second
+reading, Laura generally omitted them in the perusal of her friend's
+epistle. Upon the whole, however, it gave her pleasure. Her conscience
+was relieved by obtaining the sanction of Mrs Douglas to her promised
+intimacy with De Courcy, and already she looked forward to the time when
+it should be renewed.
+
+Since her arrival in town, her aunt, all kindness and complacency, had
+scarcely named Hargrave; and, with the sanguine temper of youth, Laura
+hoped that she had at last exhausted the perseverance of her
+persecutors. This fruitful source of strife removed, she thought she
+could without much difficulty submit to the casual fits of caprice to
+which Lady Pelham was subject; and considering that her aunt, with all
+her faults, was still her most natural protector, and her house her most
+proper abode, she began to lay aside thoughts of removing immediately to
+Scotland, and to look towards Walbourne as her permanent home.
+
+In the meantime she promised herself that the approaching winter would
+bring her both amusement and information. The capital, with all its
+wonders, of which she had hitherto seen little, the endless diversity of
+character which she expected its inhabitants to exhibit, the
+conversation of the literary and the elegant, of wits, senators, and
+statesmen, promised an inexhaustible fund of instruction and delight.
+Nay, the patriotic heart of Laura beat high with the hope of meeting
+some of those heroes who, undaunted by disaster, where all but honour is
+lost maintain the honour of Britain, or who, with happier fortune, guide
+the triumphant navies of our native land. She was yet to learn how
+little of character appears through the varnish of fashionable manners,
+and how little a hero or a statesman at a rout differs from a mere man
+of fashion in the same situation.
+
+Lady Pelham seemed inclined to furnish her with all the opportunities
+of observation which she could desire, introducing her to every visitor
+of distinction, and procuring for her the particular attention of two
+ladies of high rank, who constantly invited her to share in the gaieties
+of the season. But Laura, instructed in the value of time, and feeling
+herself accountable for its employment, stopped far short of the
+dissipation of her companions. She had long since established a
+criterion by which to judge of the innocence of her pleasure, accounting
+every amusement, from which she returned to her duties with an exhausted
+frame, languid spirits, or distracted attention, to be at best
+dangerous, and contrary to all rational ends of recreation. Of
+entertainments which she had never before witnessed, curiosity generally
+induced her for once to partake; but she found few that could stand her
+test; and to those which failed in the trial, she returned as seldom as
+possible.
+
+One species alone, if it deserves to be classed with entertainments, she
+was unwillingly obliged to except from her rule. From card-parties Laura
+always returned fatigued both in mind and body; while present at them
+she had scarcely any other wish than to escape; and she quitted them
+unfit for any thing but rest. Lady Pelham, however, sometimes made it a
+point that her niece should accompany her to these parties; and, though
+she never asked Laura to play, was occasionally at pains to interest her
+in the game, by calling her to her side, appealing to her against
+ill-fortune, or exacting her congratulations in success. A few of these
+parties excepted, Laura's time passed pleasantly. Though the calm of her
+aunt's temper was now and then disturbed by short gusts of anger, it
+returned as lightly as it fled; and the subject, fertile in endless
+chiding, seemed almost forgotten.
+
+A fortnight had passed in this sort of quiet, when one morning Lady
+Pelham proposed to carry Laura to see the Marquis of --'s superb
+collection of pictures. Laura, obliged by her aunt's attention to her
+prevailing taste, eagerly accepted the proposal, and hastened to equip
+herself for the excursion. Light of heart, she was returning to the
+drawing-room to wait till the carriage drew up, when, on entering, the
+first object she beheld was Colonel Hargrave, seated confidentially by
+the side of Lady Pelham.
+
+Laura, turning sick with vexation, shrunk back; and, bewailing the
+departure of her short-lived quiet, returned, half angry, half
+sorrowful, to her own room. She had little time, however, to indulge her
+chagrin, for Lady Pelham almost immediately sent to her to let her know
+that the carriage waited. Disconcerted, and almost out of humour, Laura
+had tossed aside her bonnet, and was about to retract her consent to go,
+when, recollecting that the plan had been proposed on her account,
+without any apparent motive unless to oblige her, she thought her aunt
+would have just reason to complain of such an ungracious rejection of
+her civility.
+
+'Besides, it is like a spoiled child,' thought she, 'to quarrel with any
+amusement, because one disagreeable circumstance attends it;' and,
+readjusting her bonnet, she joined Lady Pelham, not without a secret
+hope that Hargrave might not be of the party. The hope deceived her. He
+was ready to hand her into the carriage, and to take his seat by her
+side.
+
+Her sanguine expectations thus put to flight, the habitual complacency
+of Laura's countenance suffered a sudden eclipse. She answered almost
+peevishly to Hargrave's inquiries for her health; and so complete was
+her vexation, that it was long ere she observed how much his manner
+towards her was changed. He whispered no extravagancies in her ear;
+offered her no officious attentions; and seized no opportunities of
+addressing her, but such as were consistent with politeness and respect.
+He divided his assiduities not unequally between her and Lady Pelham;
+and even without any apparent reluctance, permitted a genteel young man,
+to whom the ladies curtsied in passing, to share in his office of
+escort, and almost to monopolize Laura's conversation. Having
+accompanied the ladies home, he left them immediately, refusing Lady
+Pelham's invitation to dinner; and Laura, no less pleased than surprised
+at this unexpected turn, wished him good morning more graciously than
+she had of late spoken to him.
+
+The next day he dined in Grosvenor Street, and the same propriety of
+manner continued. The following evening Laura again met with him in a
+large party. He did not distinguish her particularly from any of her
+fair competitors. Laura was delighted. She was convinced that he had at
+last resolved to abandon his fruitless pursuit; but what had so suddenly
+wrought this happy change, she could not divine.
+
+He did not visit Lady Pelham daily, yet it so happened that Laura saw
+him every day, and still he was consistent. Laura scarcely doubted, yet
+durst scarcely trust her good fortune.
+
+The violent passions of Hargrave, however, in some degree unfitted him
+for a deceiver; and sometimes the fiery glance of impatience, of
+admiration, or of jealousy, belied the serenity of his manner. Laura
+did not fail to remark this; but she possessed the happy faculty of
+explaining every ambiguity in human conduct, in a way favourable to the
+actor,--a faculty which, though it sometimes exposed her to mistake and
+vexation, was, upon the whole, at once a happiness and a virtue. She
+concluded that Hargrave, determined to persecute her no further, was
+striving to overcome his passion; that the appearances she had remarked
+were only the struggles which he could not wholly suppress; and she felt
+herself grateful to him for making the attempt,--the more grateful from
+her idea of its difficulty.
+
+With her natural singleness of heart, she one day mentioned to Lady
+Pelham the change in Hargrave's behaviour. 'I suppose,' added she
+smiling, 'that, finding he can make nothing more of me, he is resolved
+to lay me under obligation by leaving me at peace, having first
+contrived to make me sensible of its full value.' Lady Pelham was a
+better dissembler than Colonel Hargrave; and scarcely did a change of
+colour announce the deception, while, in a tone of assumed anger, she
+answered by reproaching her niece with having at last accomplished her
+purpose, and driven her lover to despair. Yet Lady Pelham was aware that
+Hargrave had not a thought of relinquishing his pursuit. His new-found
+self-command was merely intended to throw Laura off her guard, that Lady
+Pelham might have an opportunity of executing a scheme which Lambert had
+conceived, to entangle Laura beyond the possibility of escape.
+
+Many an action, harmless in itself, is seen, by a discerning bystander,
+to have in it 'nature that in time will venom breed, though no teeth for
+the present.' It happened that Lambert, while at Walbourne, had once
+seen Laura engaged in a party at chess; and her bent brow and flushed
+cheek, her palpitating bosom, her trembling hand, her eagerness for
+victory, above all, her pleasure in success, restrained but not
+concealed, inspired him with an idea that play might be made subservient
+to the designs of his friend; designs which he was the more disposed to
+promote, because, for the present, they occupied Hargrave to the
+exclusion of that folly of which Lambert had so well availed himself.
+
+It was Lambert's proposal that he should himself engage Laura in play;
+and having won from her, by means which he could always command, that he
+should transfer the debt to Hargrave. The scheme was seconded by Lady
+Pelham, and, in part, acquiesced in by Hargrave. But though he could
+consent to degrade the woman whom he intended for his wife, he could
+not endure that any other than himself should be the instrument of her
+degradation; and, sickening at the shackles which the love of gaming had
+imposed upon himself, he positively refused to accede to that part of
+the plan, which proposed to make Laura's entanglement with him the
+branch of a habit previously formed. Besides, the formation of a habit,
+especially one so contrary to previous bias, was a work of time; and a
+strategem of tedious execution did not suit the impatience of Hargrave's
+temper. He consented, however, to adopt a more summary modification of
+the same artifice. It was intended that Laura should at first be induced
+to play for a stake too small to alarm her, yet sufficiently great to
+make success desirable; that she should at first be allowed to win; that
+the stake should be increased until she should lose a sum which it might
+incommode her to part with; and then that the stale cheat of gamblers,
+hope of retrieving her loss, should be pressed on her as a motive for
+venturing nearer to destruction.
+
+The chief obstacle to the execution of this honourable enterprise lay in
+the first step, the difficulty of persuading Laura to play for any sum
+which could be at all important to her. For obviating this, Lady Pelham
+trusted to the diffidence, the extreme timidity, the abhorrence of
+notoriety, which nature strengthened by education had made a leading
+feature in the character of Laura. Her Ladyship determined that the
+first essay should be made in a large company, in the presence of
+persons of rank, of fame, of talent, of every qualification which could
+augment the awe almost amounting to horror, with which Laura shrunk from
+the gaze of numbers.
+
+Partly from a craving for a confident, partly in hope of securing
+assistance, Lady Pelham communicated her intention to the honourable Mrs
+Clermont, a dashing widow of five-and-thirty. The piercing black eyes,
+the loud voice, the free manner, and good-humoured assurance of this
+lady, had inspired Laura with a kind of dread, which had not yielded to
+the advances which the widow condescended to make. Lady Pelham judged it
+most favourable to her righteous purpose, that the first attempt should
+be made in the house of Mrs Clermont, rather than in her own; both
+because that lady's higher circle of acquaintance could command a more
+imposing assemblage of visitors; and because this arrangement would
+leave her Ladyship more at liberty to watch the success of her scheme,
+than she could be where she was necessarily occupied as mistress of the
+ceremonies.
+
+The appointed evening came, and Lady Pelham, though with the utmost
+kindness of manner, insisted upon Laura's attendance. Laura would rather
+have been excused; yet, not to interrupt a humour so harmonious, she
+consented to go. Lady Pelham was all complacency. She condescended to
+preside at her niece's toilette, and obliged her to complete her dress
+by wearing for that evening a superb diamond aigrette, one of the
+ornaments of her own earlier years. Laura strenuously resisted this
+addition to her attire, accounting it wholly unsuitable to her
+situation; but her aunt would take no denial, and the affair was not
+worthy of a more serious refusal. This important concern adjusted, Lady
+Pelham viewed her niece with triumphant admiration. She burst forth into
+praises of her beauty, declaring, that she had never seen her look half
+so lovely. Yet, with skilful malice, she contrived to awaken Laura's
+natural bashfulness, by saying, as they were alighting at Mrs Clermont's
+door, 'Now my dear don't mortify me to-night by any of your Scotch
+_gaucheries_. Remember every eye will be turned upon you.' 'Heaven
+forbid,' thought Laura, and timidly followed her aunt to a couch where
+she took her seat.
+
+For a while Lady Pelham's words seemed prophetic, and Laura could not
+raise her eyes without meeting the gaze of admiration or of scrutiny;
+but the rooms began to be crowded by the great and the gay, and Laura
+was relieved from her vexatious distinction. Lady Pelham did not long
+suffer her to enjoy her release, but rising, proposed that they should
+walk. Though Laura felt in her own majestic stature a very unenviable
+claim to notice, a claim rendered more conspicuous by the contrast
+offered in the figure of her companion, she could not with politeness
+refuse to accompany her aunt, and giving Lady Pelham her arm, they began
+their round.
+
+Laura, little acquainted with the ease which prevails in town parties,
+could not help wondering at the nonchalance of Mrs Clermont, who,
+leaving her guests to entertain themselves as they chose, was lounging
+on a sofa playing piquet with Colonel Hargrave. 'Mrs Clermont at
+piquet,' said Lady Pelham. 'Come Laura, piquet is the only civilized
+kind of game you play. You shall take a lesson;' and she led her niece
+forwards through a circle of misses, who, in hopes of catching the
+attention of the handsome Colonel Hargrave, were tittering and talking
+nonsense most laboriously. This action naturally drew the eyes of all
+upon Laura, and Lady Pelham, who expected to find useful engines in her
+timidity and embarrassment, did not fail to make her remark the notice
+which she excited. From this notice Laura would have escaped, by
+seating herself near Mrs Clermont; but Lady Pelham perceiving her
+intention, placed herself there without ceremony, so as to occupy the
+only remaining seats, leaving Laura standing alone, shrinking at the
+consciousness of her conspicuous situation. No one was near her to whom
+she could address herself, and her only resource was bending down to
+overlook Mrs Clermont's game.
+
+She had kept her station long enough to be fully sensible of its
+awkwardness, when Mrs Clermont, suddenly starting up, exclaimed, 'Bless
+me! I had quite forgotten that I promised to make a loo-table for the
+Dutchess. Do, my dear Miss Montreville, take my hand for half an hour.'
+'Excuse me, Madam,' said Laura, drawing back, 'I play so ill.' 'Nay,
+Laura,' interrupted Lady Pelham, 'your teacher is concerned to maintain
+your skill, and I insist on it that you play admirably.' 'Had not your
+Ladyship better play?' 'Oh no, my dear; I join the loo-table.' 'Come,'
+said Mrs Clermont, offering Laura the seat she had just quitted, 'I will
+take no excuse; so sit down, and success attend you!' The seat presented
+Laura with an inviting opportunity of turning her back upon her
+inspectors, she was averse from refusing such a trifling request, and
+rather willing to give Hargrave a proof that she was not insensible to
+the late improvement in his behaviour. She therefore quietly took the
+place assigned her, while the trio exchanged smiles of congratulation on
+the facility with which she had fallen into the snare.
+
+Something, however, yet remained to be arranged, and Lady Pelham and her
+hostess still kept their stations by her side. While dividing the cards,
+Laura recollected having observed that, in town, every game seemed
+played for money; and she asked her antagonist what was to be the stake.
+He of course referred that point to her own decision; but Laura, in
+profound ignorance of the arcana of card-tables, blushed, hesitated, and
+looked at Lady Pelham and Mrs Clermont for instructions. 'We don't play
+high in this house, my dear,' said Mrs Clermont, 'Colonel Hargrave and I
+were only playing guineas.' 'Laura is only a beginner,' said Lady
+Pelham, 'and perhaps half a guinea'--Laura interrupted her aunt by
+rising and deliberately collecting the cards, 'Colonel Hargrave will
+excuse me,' said she. 'That is far too great a stake for me.' 'Don't be
+absurd, my dear,' said Lady Pelham, touching Laura's sleeve, and
+affecting to whisper; 'why should not you play as other people do?'
+Laura not thinking this a proper time to explain her conscientious
+scruples, merely answered, that she could not afford it; and, more
+embarrassed than before, would have glided away, but neither of her
+guards would permit her to pass. 'You need not mind what you stake with
+Hargrave,' said Lady Pelham apart; 'you play so much better than he that
+you will infallibly win.' 'That does not at all alter the case,'
+returned Laura. 'It would be as unpleasant to me to win Colonel
+Hargrave's money as to lose my own.' 'Whatever stake Miss Montreville
+chooses must be equally agreeable to me,' said Colonel Hargrave; but
+Laura observed that the smile which accompanied these words had in it
+more of sarcasm than of complacency. 'I should be sorry, Sir,' said she,
+'that you lowered your play on my account. Perhaps some of these young
+ladies,' continued she, looking round to the talkative circle
+behind--'Be quiet, Laura,' interrupted Lady Pelham, again in an under
+tone; 'you will make yourself the town-talk with your fooleries.' 'I
+hope not,' returned Laura, calmly; 'but if I do, there is no help;
+little inconveniencies must be submitted to for the sake of doing
+right.' 'Lord, Miss Montreville,' cried Mrs Clermont aloud, 'what odd
+notions you have! Who would mind playing for half a guinea. It is
+nothing; absolutely nothing. It would not buy a pocket handkerchief.' It
+would buy a week's food for a poor family, thought Laura; and she was
+confirmed in her resolution; but not willing to expose this reason to
+ridicule, and a little displeased that Mrs Clermont should take the
+liberty of urging her, she coolly, yet modestly replied, 'That such
+matters must greatly depend on the opinions and circumstances of the
+parties concerned, of which they were themselves the best judges.' 'I
+insist on your playing,' said Lady Pelham, in an angry half-whisper. 'If
+you will make yourself ridiculous, let it be when I am not by to share
+in the ridicule.' 'Excuse me, Madam, for to-night,' returned Laura,
+pleadingly. 'Before another evening I will give you reasons which I am
+sure will satisfy you.' 'I am sure,' said Hargrave, darting a very
+significant look towards Laura, 'if Miss Montreville, instead of cards,
+prefers allowing me to attend her in your absence, I shall gain
+infinitely by the exchange.' Laura, to whom his glance made this hint
+very intelligible, reddened; and, saying she would by no means interrupt
+his amusement, was again turning to seek a substitute among her
+tittering neighbours, when Mrs Clermont prevented her, by calling out to
+a lady at a considerable distance. 'My dear Dutchess, do have the
+goodness to come hither, and talk to this whimsical beauty of ours. She
+is seized with an economical fit, and has taken it into her pretty
+little head that I am quite a gambler because I fix her stake at
+half-a-guinea.' 'What may not youth and beauty do!' said her Grace,
+looking at Laura with a smile half-sly half-insinuating. 'When I was the
+Miss Montreville of my day, I too might have led the fashion of playing
+for pence, though now I dare not venture even to countenance it.' The
+mere circumstance of rank could never discompose Laura; and, rather
+taking encouragement from the charming though faded countenance of the
+speaker, she replied, 'But, in consideration of having no pretensions to
+lead the fashion, may I not claim exemption from following it?' 'Oh, by
+no means,' said her Grace. 'When once you have entered the world of
+fashion, you must either be the daring leader or the humble follower. If
+you choose the first, you must defy the opinions of all other people;
+and, if the last, you must have a suitable indifference for your own.'
+'A gentle intimation,' returned Laura, 'that in the world of fashion I
+am quite out of place, since nothing but my own opinion is more awful to
+me than that of others.' 'Miss Montreville,' said Lady Pelham, with an
+aspect of vinegar, 'we all await your pleasure.' 'Pray, Madam,' answered
+Laura, 'do not let me detain you a moment; I shall easily dispose of
+myself.' 'Take up your cards this instant, and let us have no more of
+these airs,' said Lady Pelham, now without affectation whispering, in
+order to conceal from her elegant companions the wrath which was,
+however, distinctly written in her countenance.
+
+It now occurred to Laura as strange, that so much trouble should be
+taken to prevail upon her to play for more than she inclined. Hargrave,
+though he had pretended to release her, still kept his seat, and his
+language had tended rather to embarrass than relieve her. Mrs Clermont
+had interfered further than Laura thought either necessary or proper;
+and Lady Pelham was eager to carry her point. Laura saw that there was
+something in all this which she did not comprehend; and, looking up to
+seek an explanation in the faces of her companions, she perceived that
+the whole trio seemed waiting her decision with looks of various
+interest. The piercing black eyes of Mrs Clermont were fixed upon her
+with an expression of sly curiosity. Hargrave hastily withdrew a
+sidelong glance of anxious expectation; while Lady Pelham's face was
+flushed with angry impatience of delay. 'Has your Ladyship any
+particular reason for wishing that I should play for a higher stake than
+I think right?' said Laura, fixing on her aunt a look of calm scrutiny.
+Too much out of humour to be completely on her guard, Lady Pelham's
+colour deepened several shades, while she answered, 'I child! what
+should make you think so?' 'I don't know,' said Laura. 'People sometimes
+try to _convince_ from mere love of victory; but they seldom take the
+trouble to _persuade_ without some other motive.' 'Any friend,' said
+Lady Pelham, recollecting herself, 'would find motive enough for what I
+have done, in the absurd appearance of these littlenesses to the world,
+and the odium that deservedly falls on a young miser.' 'Nay, Lady
+Pelham,' said the Dutchess, 'this is far too severe. Come,' added she,
+beckoning to Laura, with a gracious smile, 'you shall sit by me, that I
+may endeavour to enlarge your conceptions on the subject of
+card-playing.'
+
+Laura, thus encouraged, instantly begged her aunt's permission to pass.
+Lady Pelham could not decently refuse; and, venting her rage, by
+pinching Laura's arm till the blood came, and muttering through her
+clenched teeth, 'obstinate wretch,' she suffered her niece to escape.
+Laura did not condescend to bestow any notice upon this assault, but,
+pulling her glove over her wounded arm, took refuge beside the Dutchess.
+The fascinating manners of a high-bred woman of fashion, and the
+respectful attentions offered to her whom the Dutchess distinguished by
+her particular countenance, made the rest of the evening pass agreeably,
+in spite of the evident ill-humour of Lady Pelham. Her ladyship
+restrained the further expression of her rage till Laura and she were on
+their way home; when it burst out in reproaches of the parsimony,
+obstinacy, and perverseness which had appeared in her niece's refusal to
+play. Laura listened to her in silence; sensible, that while Lady
+Pelham's passion overpowered the voice of her own reason, it was vain to
+expect that she should hear reason from another. But, next day, when she
+judged that her aunt had had time to grow cool, she took occasion to
+resume the subject; and explained, with such firmness and precision, her
+principles in regard to the uses of money and the accountableness of its
+possessors, that Lady Pelham laid aside thoughts of entangling her by
+means of play; since it was vain to expect that she would commit to the
+power of chance that which she habitually considered as the sacred
+deposit of a father, and specially destined for the support and comfort
+of his children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+Hargrave no sooner perceived the futility of his design to involve Laura
+in a debt of honour, than he laid aside the disguise which had been
+assumed to lull her vigilance, and which he had never worn without
+difficulty. He condescended, however, to save appearance, by taking
+advantage of the idea which Laura had herself suggested to Lady Pelham,
+and averred that he had made a powerful effort to recover his
+self-possession; but he declared that, having totally failed in his
+endeavours to obtain his liberty, he was determined never to renew them,
+and would trust to time and accident for removing Laura's prejudice. In
+vain did she assure him that no time could produce such a revolution in
+her sentiments as would at all avail him; that though his eminent
+improvement in worth might secure her esteem, her affections were
+alienated beyond recall. The old system was resumed, and with greater
+vigour than before, because with less fear of observation and more
+frequent opportunities of attack. Every meal, every visit, every public
+place, furnished occasions for his indefatigable assiduities, from which
+Laura found no refuge beyond the precincts of her own chamber.
+
+Regardless of the vexation which such a report might give her, he chose
+to make his suit a subject of the tittle-tattle of the day. By this
+manoeuvre, in which he had before found his advantage, he hoped that
+several purposes might be served. The publicity of his claim would keep
+other pretenders at a distance; it would oblige those who mentioned him
+to Laura to speak, if not favourably, at least with decent caution; and
+it might possibly at last induce her to listen with less reluctance to
+what every one spoke of as natural and probable. Lady Pelham seconded
+his intentions, by hints of her niece's engagement, and confidential
+complaints to her friends of the _mauvaise honte_ which made Laura
+treat with such reserve the man to whom she had long been affianced. The
+consequence of their manoeuvring was, that Hargrave's right to persecute
+Laura seemed universally acknowledged. The men, at his approach, left
+her free to his attendance; the women entertained her with praises of
+his person, manners, and equipage; with hints of her situation, too
+gentle to warrant direct contradiction; or charges made with conviction
+too strong to yield any form of denial.
+
+Lady Pelham, too, resumed her unwearied remonstrances, and teased,
+chided, argued, upbraided, entreated, and scolded, through every tedious
+hour in which the absence of visitors left Laura at her mercy. Laura had
+at one time determined against submitting to such treatment, and had
+resolved, that, if it were renewed, she would seek a refuge far from her
+persecutors, and from England. But that resolution had been formed when
+there appeared no immediate necessity for putting it in practice; and
+England contained somewhat to which Laura clung almost unconsciously.
+Amidst all her vexations, Mrs De Courcy's letters soothed her ruffled
+spirits; and more than once, when she renewed her determination to quit
+Lady Pelham, a few lines from Norwood made her pause in its fulfilment,
+reminding her that a few months, however unpleasing, would soon steal
+away, and that her return to the country would at least bring some
+mitigation of her persecutions.
+
+Though Mrs De Courcy wrote often, and confidentially, she never
+mentioned Montague further than was necessary to avoid particularity.
+She said little of his health, nothing of his spirits or occupations,
+and never hinted any knowledge of his rejected love. Laura's inquiries
+concerning him were answered with vague politeness; and thus her
+interest in the state of his mind was constantly kept awake. Often did
+she repeat to herself, that she hoped he would soon learn to consider
+her merely as a friend; and that which we have often repeated as truth,
+we in time believe to be true.
+
+Laura had been in town about a month, when one of her letters to Norwood
+was followed by a longer silence than usual. She wrote again, and still
+the answer was delayed. Fearing that illness prevented Mrs De Courcy
+from writing, Laura had endured some days of serious anxiety, when a
+letter was brought her, addressed in Montague's hand. She hastily tore
+it open, and her heart fluttered between pleasure and apprehension, when
+she perceived that the whole letter was written by him. It was short and
+cautious. He apologized for the liberty he took, by saying, that a
+rheumatic affection having prevented his mother from using her pen, she
+had employed him as her secretary, fearing to alarm Laura by longer
+silence. The letter throughout was that of a kind yet respectful friend.
+Not a word betrayed the lover. The expressions of tender interest and
+remembrance with which it abounded, were ascribed to Mrs De Courcy, or
+at least shared with her, in a manner which prevented any embarrassment
+in the reply. Laura hesitated for a moment, whether her answer should be
+addressed to Mrs De Courcy, or to Montague; but Montague was her
+benefactor, their intimacy was sanctioned by her best friend, and it is
+not difficult to imagine how the question was decided. Her answer
+produced a reply, which again was replied to in its turn; and thus a
+correspondence was established, which, though at first constrained and
+formal, was taught by Montague's prudent forbearance, to assume a
+character of friendly ease.
+
+This correspondence, which soon formed one of Laura's chief pleasures,
+she never affected to conceal from Lady Pelham. On the contrary, she
+spoke of it with perfect openness and candour. Unfortunately, however,
+it did not meet with her Ladyship's approbation. She judged it highly
+unfavourable to her designs in regard to Hargrave. She imagined that, if
+not already an affair of love, it was likely soon to become so; and she
+believed that, at all events, Laura's intercourse with the De Courcys
+would foster those antiquated notions of morality to which Hargrave owed
+his ill success. Accordingly, she at first objected to Laura's new
+correspondence; then lectured on its impropriety and imprudence; and,
+lastly took upon her peremptorily to prohibit its continuance. Those who
+are already irritated by oppression, a trifle will at last rouse to
+resistance. This was an exercise of authority so far beyond Laura's
+expectations, that it awakened her resolution to submit no longer to the
+importunity and persecution which she had so long endured, but to depart
+immediately for Scotland. Willing, however, to execute her purpose with
+as little expence of peace as possible, she did not open her intentions
+at the moment of irritation. She waited a day of serenity to propose her
+departure.
+
+In order to procure the means of defraying the expence of her journey,
+it was become necessary to remind Lady Pelham of her loan, which
+appeared to have escaped her Ladyship's recollection. Laura,
+accordingly, one day gently hinted a wish to be repaid. Lady Pelham at
+first looked surprised, and affected to have forgotten the whole
+transaction; but, upon being very distinctly reminded of the
+particulars, she owned that she recollected something of it, and
+carelessly promised to settle it soon; adding that she knew Laura had no
+use for the money. Laura then frankly announced the purpose to which she
+meant to apply it; saying, that, as her aunt was now surrounded by more
+agreeable society, she hoped she might, without inconvenience, be
+spared, and would therefore relieve Lady Pelham of her charge, by paying
+a visit to Mrs Douglas. Rage flamed in Lady Pelham's countenance, while
+she burst into a torrent of invective against her niece's ingratitude,
+and coldness of heart; and it mingled with triumph as she concluded by
+saying,--'Do, Miss; by all means go to your precious Scotland, but find
+the means as you best can; for not one penny will I give you for such a
+purpose. I have long expected some such fine freak as this, but I
+thought I should disappoint it.' Not daunted by this inauspicious
+beginning, Laura, taking encouragement from her aunt's known
+instability, again and again renewed the subject; but Lady Pelham's
+purposes, however easily shaken by accident or caprice, were ever
+inflexible to entreaty. 'She possessed,' she said, 'the means of
+preventing her niece's folly, and she was determined to employ them.'
+Laura burnt with resentment at the injustice of this determination. She
+acknowledged no right which Lady Pelham possessed to detain her against
+her own consent, and she considered the detention of her lawful property
+as little else than fraud. But perceiving that remonstrance was useless,
+she judged it most prudent not to embitter, by vain recriminations, an
+intercourse from which she could not immediately escape. Without further
+complaint or upbraiding, she submitted to her fate; content with
+resolving to employ more discreetly the next payment of her annuity, and
+with making a just but unavailing appeal to her aunt's generosity, by
+asserting the right of defencelessness to protection. Lady Pelham had
+not the slightest idea of conceding any thing to this claim. On the
+contrary, the certainty that Laura could not withdraw from her power,
+encouraged her to use it with less restraint. She invited Hargrave to a
+degree of familiarity which he had not before assumed; admitted him at
+all hours; sanctioned any freedom which he dared to use with Laura; and
+forced or inveigled her into frequent tête-à-têtes with him.
+
+Fretted beyond her patience, Laura's temper more than once failed under
+this treatment, and she bitterly reproached Hargrave as the source of
+all her vexation. As it was, however, her habitual study to convert
+every event of her life to the purposes of virtue, it soon occurred to
+her, that, during these compulsory interviews, she might become the
+instrument of awakening her unworthy lover to more noble pursuits. Like
+a ray of light, the hope of usefulness darted into her soul, shedding a
+cheering beam on objects which before were dark and comfortless; and,
+with all the enthusiastic warmth of her character, she entered on her
+voluntary task; forgetting, in her eagerness to recal a sinner from the
+error of his ways, the weariness, disgust, and dread with which she
+listened to the ravings of selfish passion. She no longer endeavoured to
+avoid him, no longer listened to him with frozen silence or avowed
+disdain. During their interviews, she scarcely noticed his
+protestations, but employed every interval in urging him, with all the
+eloquence of dread, to retreat from the gulf which was yawning to
+receive him; in assuring him, with all the solemnity of truth, that the
+waters of life would repay him a thousand-fold for the poisoned cup of
+pleasure. Truth, spoken by the loveliest lips in the world, confirmed by
+the lightnings of a witching eye, kindled at times in Hargrave a
+something which he mistook for the love of virtue. He declared his
+abhorrence of his former self, asserted the innocence of his present
+manner of life, and vowed that, for the future, he should be blameless.
+But when Laura rather incautiously urged him to give proof of his
+reformation, by renouncing a passion whose least gratifications were
+purchased at the expence of justice and humanity, he insisted that she
+required more than nature could endure, and vehemently protested that he
+would never, but with life, relinquish the hope of possessing her. Her
+remonstrances had however one effect, of which she was altogether
+unconscious. Hargrave could not estimate the force of those motives
+which led her to labour so earnestly for the conversion of a person
+wholly indifferent to her; and though she often assured him that her
+zeal was disinterested, he cherished a hope that she meant to reward his
+improvement. In this hope he relinquished, for a while, the schemes
+which he had devised against the unsuspecting Laura, till accident again
+decided him against trusting to her free consent for the accomplishment
+of his wishes.
+
+Among other exercises of authority to which Lady Pelham was emboldened
+by her niece's temporary dependence on her will, she adhered to her
+former prohibition of Laura's correspondence with De Courcy. Laura,
+unwilling to make it appear a matter of importance, promised that she
+would desist; but said that she must first write to Mr De Courcy to
+account for her seeming caprice. Lady Pelham consented, and the letter
+was written. It spoke of Laura's situation, of her sentiments, of her
+regret for Hargrave's strange perseverance, of the dread and vexation to
+which he occasionally subjected her. To atone for its being the last, it
+was more friendly, more communicative than any she had formerly written.
+Laura meant to disguise under a sportive style the effects which
+oppression had produced upon her spirits; and the playful melancholy
+which ran throughout, gave her expressions an air of artless tenderness.
+Lady Pelham passed through the hall as this letter was lying upon the
+table, waiting for the servant who was to carry it to the post; she
+looked at it. The sheet was completely filled. She wondered what it
+could contain. She took it up and examined it, as far as the seal would
+permit her. What she saw did but increase her curiosity. It was only
+wafered, and therefore easily opened; but then it was so dishonourable
+to open a letter. Yet what could the letter be the worse? A girl should
+have no secrets from her near relations. Still, to break a seal!--It was
+felony by the law. Lady Pelham laid down the letter and walked away,
+already proud of having disdained to do a base action; but she heard the
+servant coming for his charge; she thought it best to have time to
+consider the matter. She could give him the letter at any time--and she
+slipped it into her pocket.
+
+Sad sentence is produced against 'the woman who deliberates:' Lady
+Pelham read the letter; and then, in the heat of her resentment at the
+manner in which her favourite was mentioned, shewed it to Hargrave. As
+he marked the innocent confiding frankness, the unconstrained respect,
+the chastened yet avowed regard, with which Laura addressed his rival,
+and contrasted them with the timid caution which, even during the reign
+of passion, had characterized her intercourse with himself,--contrasted
+them too with the mixture of pity, dislike, and dread, which had
+succeeded her infatuation, all the pangs of rage and jealousy took hold
+on the soul of Hargrave. He would have vented his frenzy by tearing the
+letter to atoms, but Lady Pelham snatched it from his quivering grasp,
+and dreading detection, sealed and restored it to its first destination.
+
+The first use which he made of his returning powers of self-command, was
+to urge Lady Pelham's concurrence in a scheme which he had before
+devised, but which had been laid aside in consequence of his ill-founded
+hopes. He entreated that her Ladyship would, by an opportune absence,
+assist his intention; which was, he said, to alarm Laura with the
+horrors of a pretended arrest for an imaginary debt, and to work upon
+the gratefulness of her disposition, by himself appearing as her
+deliverer from her supposed difficulty. Lady Pelham in vain urged the
+futility of this strategem, representing the obstacles to its
+accomplishment, and the certainty of early detection. Hargrave continued
+to importune, and she yielded.
+
+Yet Hargrave himself was as far as Lady Pelham from expecting any fruits
+from the feeble artifice which he had detailed to her. He had little
+expectation that Laura could ever be induced to receive any pecuniary
+obligation at his hands, and still less that she would consider a loan
+which she might almost immediately repay, as a favour important enough
+to be rewarded with herself. He even determined that his aid should be
+offered in terms which would ensure its rejection. Though he durst not
+venture to unfold his whole plan to Lady Pelham, his real intention was
+merely to employ the disguise of the law in removing Laura from even the
+imperfect protection of her aunt, to a place where she would be utterly
+without defence from his power. To the baseness of his purpose he
+blinded himself by considering the reparation which he should make in
+bestowing wealth and title on his victim; its more than savage brutality
+he forgot in anticipation of the gratitude with which Laura, humbled in
+her own eyes, and in those of the world, would accept the assiduities
+which now she spurned. He little knew the being whom he thus devoted to
+destruction! Incited by jealousy and resentment, he now resolved on the
+immediate execution of his design; and he did not quit Lady Pelham till
+he had obtained her acquiescence in it so far as it was divulged to her.
+He then hastened to prepare the instruments of his villainy; and ere he
+gave himself time to cool, all was in readiness for the scheme which was
+to break the innocent heart that had loved and trusted him in seeming
+virtue, and pitied and prayed for him and warned him in guilt. How had
+the shades of evil deepened since the time when Hargrave first faltered
+between his infant passion and a virtuous purpose! He had turned from
+the path which 'shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' On that in
+which he trode the night was stealing, slow but sure, which closes at
+last in outer darkness.
+
+One morning at breakfast, Lady Pelham, with more than usual civility,
+apologized for leaving Laura alone during the rest of the day, saying
+that business called her but a few miles out of the town, but that she
+would return in the evening. She did not say whither she was going; and
+Laura, never imagining that it could at all concern her to know, did not
+think of inquiring. Pleasing herself with the prospect of one day of
+peace and solitude, she saw her aunt depart, and then sat down to detail
+to the friend of her youth her situation, her wishes, and her
+intentions. She was interrupted by a servant who came to inform her that
+two men below desired to speak with her. Wondering who in that land of
+strangers could have business with her, Laura desired that they should
+be shewn up stairs. Two coarse robust-looking men, apparently of the
+lower rank, entered the room. Laura was unable to divine what could have
+procured her a visit from persons of their appearance; yet, with her
+native courtesy, she was motioning them to a seat, when one of them
+stepped forward; and, laying on her shoulder a stick which he held,
+said, in a rough ferocious voice, 'Laura Montreville, I arrest you at
+the suit of John Dykes.' Laura was surprised but not alarmed. 'This must
+be some mistake,' said she, 'I know no such person as John Dykes.' 'He
+knows you though, and that is enough,' answered the man. 'Friend,'
+returned Laura, mildly, 'you mistake me for some other person.' 'What,
+Miss,' said the other man, advancing, 'do you pretend that you are not
+Laura Montreville, daughter of the late Captain William Montreville, of
+Glenalbert in Scotland?' Laura, now changing colour, owned that she was
+the person so described. 'But,' said she, recovering herself, 'I cannot
+be arrested. I do not owe five shillings in the world.' 'Mayhap not,
+Miss,' said the man, 'but your father did; and you can be proved to have
+intermeddled with his effects as his heiress, which makes you liable for
+all his debts. So you'll please pay me the two hundred pounds which he
+owed to Mr John Dykes.' 'Two hundred pounds!' exclaimed Laura. 'The
+thing is impossible. My father left a list of his debts in his own
+hand-writing, and they have all been faithfully discharged by the sale
+of his property in Scotland.' The men looked at each other for a moment,
+and seemed to hesitate; but the roughest of the two presently answered,
+'What nonsense do you tell me of lists? who's to believe all that? I
+have a just warrant; so either pay the money or come along.' 'Surely,
+friend,' said Laura, who now suspected the people to be mere swindlers,
+'you cannot expect that I should pay such a sum without inquiring into
+your right to demand it. If your claim be a just one, present it in a
+regular account, properly attested, and it shall be paid to-morrow.' 'I
+have nothing to do with to-morrow, Miss,' said the man. 'I must do my
+business. It's all one to me whether you pay or not. It does not put a
+penny in my pocket: only if you do not choose to pay, come along; for we
+can't be standing here all day.' 'I cannot procure the money just now,
+even though I were willing,' answered Laura, with spirit, 'and I do not
+believe you have any right to remove me.' 'Oh, as for the right, Miss,
+we'll let you see that. There is our warrant, properly signed and
+sealed. You may look at it in my hand, for I don't much like to trust
+you with it.'
+
+The warrant was stamped, and imposingly written upon parchment. With the
+tautology which Laura had been taught to expect in a law-paper, it rung
+changes upon the permission to seize and confine the person of Laura
+Montreville, as heiress of William Montreville, debtor to John Dykes of
+Pimlico. It was signed as by a magistrate, and marked with the large
+seals of office. Laura now no longer doubted; and, turning pale and
+faint, asked the men whether they would not stay for an hour while she
+sent to Finsbury Square to beg the advice of Mr Derwent, Lady Pelham's
+man of business. 'You may send for him to the lock-up house,' said the
+savage. 'We have no time to spare.' 'And whither will you take me?'
+cried Laura, almost sinking with horror. 'Most likely,' answered the
+most gentle of the two ruffians, 'you would not like to be put into the
+common prison; and you may have as good accommodations in my house as
+might serve a dutchess.'
+
+Spite of her dismay Laura's presence of mind did not entirely forsake
+her. She hesitated whether she should not send to beg the assistance of
+some of Lady Pelham's acquaintance, or at least their advice in a
+situation so new to her. Among them all there was none with whom she had
+formed any intimacy; none whom, in her present circumstances of
+embarrassment and humiliation, she felt herself inclined to meet. She
+shrunk at the thought of the form in which her story might be
+represented by the malignant or the misjudging, and she conceived it her
+best course to submit quietly to an inconvenience of a few hours
+continuance, from which she did not doubt that her aunt's return would
+that evening relieve her. Still the idea of being a prisoner; of
+committing herself to such attendants; of being an inmate of the abodes
+of misery, of degradation, perhaps of vice, filled her with dread and
+horror, while, sinking on a couch, she covered her pale face with her
+hands, and inwardly commended herself to the care of heaven.
+
+The men, meanwhile, stood whispering apart, and seemed to have forgotten
+the haste which they formerly expressed. At last one of them, after
+looking from the window into the street, suddenly approached her, and,
+rudely seizing her arm, cried, 'Come, Miss, the coach can't wait all
+day. It's of no use crying; we're too well used to that, so walk away if
+you don't choose to be carried.' Laura dashed the tears from her eyes,
+and, faintly trying to disengage her arm, was silently following her
+conductor to the door, when it opened and Hargrave entered.
+
+Prepared as he was for a scene of distress, determined as he was to let
+no movement of compassion divert his purpose, he could not resist the
+quiet anguish which was written in the lovely face of his victim; and
+turning with real indignation to her tormentor, he exclaimed, 'Ruffian!
+what have you done to her?' But quickly recollecting himself, he threw
+his arm familiarly round her, and said, 'My dearest Laura, what is the
+meaning of all this? What can these people want with you?' 'Nothing
+which can at all concern you Sir,' said Laura, her spirit returning at
+the boldness of his address. 'Nay, my dear creature,' said Hargrave, 'I
+am sure something terrible has happened. Speak, fellows,' said he,
+turning to his emissaries, 'what is your business with Miss
+Montreville?' 'No great matter, Sir,' answered the man; 'only we have a
+writ against her for two hundred pounds, and she does not choose to pay
+it; so we must take her to a little snug place, that's all.' 'To a
+prison! You, Laura, to a prison! Heavens! it is not to be thought of.
+Leave the room fellows, and let me talk with Miss Montreville.' 'There
+is no occasion, Sir,' said Laura. 'I am willing to submit to a short
+confinement. My aunt returns this evening, and she will undoubtedly
+advance the money. It ought to be much the same to me what room I
+inhabit for the few intervening hours.' 'Good heaven! Laura do you
+consider what you say? Do you consider the horrors--the disgrace?
+Dearest girl, suffer me to settle this affair, and let me for once do
+something that may give you pleasure.' Laura's spirit revolted from the
+freedom with which this was spoken. Suffering undeserved humiliation,
+never had she been more jealous of her claim to respect. 'I am obliged
+to you, Sir,' said she, 'but your good offices are unnecessary. Some
+little hardship, I find, I must submit to; and I believe the smallest
+within my choice is to let these people dispose of me till Lady Pelham's
+return.' Hargrave reddened. 'She prefers a prison,' thought he, 'to
+owing even the smallest obligation to me. But her pride is near a fall;'
+and he smiled with triumphant pity on the stately mien of his victim.
+
+He was, in effect, almost indifferent whether she accepted or rejected
+his proffered assistance. If she accepted it, he was determined that it
+should be clogged with a condition expressly stated, that he was for the
+future to be received with greater favour. If she refused, and he
+scarcely doubted that she would, he had only to make the signal, and she
+would be hurried, unresisting, to destruction. Yet, recollecting the
+despair, the distraction, with which she would too late discover her
+misfortune; the bitter upbraidings with which she would meet her
+betrayer; the frantic anguish with which she would mourn her disgrace,
+if, indeed, she survived it, he was inclined to wish that she would
+choose the more quiet way of forwarding his designs, and he again
+earnestly entreated her to permit his interference. Laura's strong
+dislike to being indebted for any favour to Hargrave, was somewhat
+balanced in her mind by the horror of a prison, and by the consideration
+that she could immediately repay him by the sale of part of her annuity.
+Though she still resisted his offer, therefore, it was less firmly than
+before. Hargrave continued to urge her. 'If,' said he, 'you dislike to
+allow me the pleasure of obliging you, this trifling sum may be restored
+whenever you please; and if you afterwards think that any little debt
+remains, it is in your power to repay it a thousand fold. One kind
+smile, one consenting look, were cheaply purchased with a world.' The
+hint which concluded this speech seemed to Laura manifestly intended to
+prevent her acceptance of the offer which he urged so warmly. 'Are you
+not ashamed, Sir,' said she, with a disdainful smile, 'thus to make a
+parade of generosity which you do not mean to practise? I know you do
+not--cannot expect, that I should poorly stoop to purchase your
+assistance.' 'Upon my soul, Laura,' cried Hargrave, seizing her hands,
+'I am most earnest, most anxious, that you should yield to me in this
+affair; nor will I quit this spot till you have consented--nor till you
+have allowed me to look upon your consent as a pledge of your future
+favour.' Laura indignantly snatched her hands from his grasp. 'All that
+I comprehend of this,' said she, 'is insult, only insult. Leave me, Sir!
+It is unworthy even of you to insult the misfortunes of a defenceless
+woman.' Hargrave would not be repulsed. He again took her hand and
+persevered in his entreaties, not forgetting, however, to insinuate the
+conditions. Laura, in silent scorn, turned from him, wondering what
+could be the motive of his strange conduct, till it suddenly occurred to
+her that the arrest might be a mere plot contrived by Hargrave himself
+for the purpose of terrifying her into the acceptance of the conditions
+necessary to her escape. This suspicion once formed gained strength by
+every circumstance. The improbability of the debt; the time chosen when
+Lady Pelham was absent; the opportune arrival of Hargrave; the
+submission of the pretended bailiffs to his order; his frequent
+repetition of the conditions of his offer, at the same time that he
+appeared to wish for its acceptance; all conspired to convince Laura
+that she was intended to be made the dupe of a despicable artifice.
+Glowing with indignation, she again forced herself from Hargrave. 'Away
+with this contemptible mockery,' she cried, 'I will hear no more of it.
+While these people choose to guard me in this house, it shall be in an
+apartment secure from your intrusion.' Then, before Hargrave could
+prevent her, she left him, and shut herself into her own chamber.
+
+Here, at greater liberty to think, a new question occurred to her. In
+case of her refusal to accept of Hargrave's terms--in case she actually
+preferred intrusting herself to the pretended bailiffs, whither could
+they intend to convey her? Laura's blood ran cold at the thought. If
+they were indeed the agents of Hargrave, what was there of dreadful that
+she had not to fear! Yet she could scarcely believe that persons could
+be found to attempt so daring a villany. Would they venture upon an
+outrage for which they must answer to the laws! an outrage which Lady
+Pelham would certainly feel herself concerned to bring to immediate
+detection and punishment. 'Unfortunate chance!' cried Laura, 'that my
+aunt should be absent just when she might have saved me. And I know not
+even where to seek her.--Why did she not tell me whither she was going?
+She who was wont to be so open!--Can this be a part of this cruel snare?
+Could she--Oh it is impossible! My fears make me suspicious and unjust.'
+
+Though Laura thus endeavoured to acquit Lady Pelham, her suspicion of
+Hargrave's treachery augmented every moment. While she remembered that
+her father, though he had spoken to her of his affairs with the most
+confidential frankness, had never hinted at such a debt, never named
+such a person as his pretended creditor--while she thought of the manner
+of Hargrave's interference, the improbability that her own and her
+father's name and address, as well as the casualty of Lady Pelham's
+absence should be known to mere strangers--the little likelihood that
+common swindlers would endeavour to extort money by means so hazardous
+and with such small chance of success--her conviction rose to certainty;
+and she determined that nothing short of force should place her in the
+power of these impostors. Yet how soon might that force be employed!
+How feeble was the resistance which she could offer! And who would
+venture to aid her in resisting the pretended servants of law!
+'Miserable creature that I am!' cried she, wringing her hands in an
+agony of grief and terror, 'must I submit to this cruel wrong?--Is there
+no one to save me--no friend near?--Yes! yes, I have a friend from whom
+no treachery of man can tear me--who can deliver me from their
+violence--who can do more--can make their cruelty my passport to life
+eternal. Let me not despair then--Let me not be wanting to myself.--With
+His blessing the feeblest means are mighty.'
+
+After a moment's consideration Laura rung her bell, and the maid who
+usually attended her appeared. 'Catherine,' said Laura, endeavouring to
+speak composedly, 'will you oblige me by going to Finsbury Square, to Mr
+Derwent, and begging of him to come hither instantly?' 'Bless me,
+Madam,' cried the girl, 'you look as if you were just going to faint!
+can I get you any thing?' 'No, no, I shall not faint,' said Laura. 'Go
+my dear--go quickly--if you would save a wretch from destruction. Stop
+not a moment I implore you!--Oh Catherine, more than life depends on
+you!' The girl's curiosity was strongly excited by these words, as well
+as by the strange visit of the men who were waiting in the lobby. She
+would fain have staid to make inquiries, but the imploring anguish of
+Laura's look and manner was irresistible, and she hastened out of the
+room. Laura then double-locking the door determined that by force only
+it should be entered, and throwing herself on a seat, strove to rally
+the spirits she was so soon to need. In a few minutes, however,
+Catherine returned, and through the key hole informed Laura that she had
+been intercepted by the men below stairs, who would not suffer any one
+to leave the house. 'All is then as I feared,' cried Laura in a voice of
+desperation. 'And thus has he made his cruel plot so sure! Is there no
+escape! Oh Catherine! cannot you steal away from them? Is there no means
+to save me?' Moved by the voice of anguish, the girl promised to do her
+utmost, but confessed that she had little hope of succeeding.
+
+For a moment Laura believed her fate sealed, and almost gave herself up
+to despair; but, now convinced of the treachery of Hargrave, and
+unwillingly obliged to suspect Lady Pelham's connivance, indignation at
+such unexampled baseness and cruelty again roused her fainting spirit.
+Again she determined to resist to the uttermost, and if dragged by force
+from her place of refuge, to appeal to the humanity of the passengers
+in the street. 'Surely,' thought she, 'even common strangers will not
+permit such oppression.' The windows of her chamber looked towards the
+gardens behind the house; and she now regretted that she had not rather
+shut herself up in one of the front apartments, from whence she could
+have explained her situation to the passers by. Seeing no other chance
+of escape, she resolved on attempting to change her place of refuge, and
+was approaching the door to listen whether any one was near, when she
+was startled by the rough voice of one of the pretended bailiffs. 'Come
+along Miss,' he cried, 'we are quite tired of waiting. Come along.' The
+shuddering Laura made no reply. 'Come, come Miss,' cried the man again;
+'you have had time enough to make ready.' Laura continued silent, while
+the ruffian called to her again and again, shaking the door violently.
+He threatened, with shocking oaths, that he would burst it open, and
+that she would be punished for resisting the officers of justice. All
+was in vain. Laura would not answer a single word. Trembling in every
+limb, she listened to his blasphemies and vows of vengeance, till she
+had wearied out her persecutor, and her ear was gladdened with the sound
+of his departing. He was almost immediately succeeded by his less
+ferocious companion, who more civilly begged her to hasten, as their
+business would not permit any longer delay. Finding that she would not
+answer, he reminded her of the consequences of obstructing the execution
+of the law; and threatened, if she continued obstinate, to use force.
+Laura sat silent and motionless, using every momentary interval of
+quiet, in breathing a hasty prayer for deliverance. The least violent of
+the fellows proved the most persevering; yet at last she had the
+satisfaction to hear him also retire. Presently a lighter step
+approached, and Hargrave called to her. 'Miss Montreville! Laura! Miss
+Montreville!' Laura was still silent. He called again, without success.
+'Miss Montreville is ill,' cried he aloud, as if to some one at a
+distance. 'She is insensible. The door must be forced.' 'No! No!' cried
+Laura, determined not to leave him this pretence, 'I am not insensible,
+nor ill, if you would leave me in peace.' 'For heaven's sake, then,'
+returned he, 'let me speak a few words to you.' 'No,' answered Laura,
+'you can say nothing that I wish to hear.' 'I beseech you, I implore
+you,' said Hargrave, 'only by one word put it in my power to save you
+from these miscreants--say but that one little word, and you are free.'
+'Man, man!' cried Laura, vehemently, 'why will you make me abhor you? I
+want no freedom but from your persecutions! Begone!' 'Only promise me,'
+said Hargrave, lowering his voice, 'only promise me that you will give
+up that accursed De Courcy, and I will dismiss these men.' 'Do you curse
+him who saved your life! Monster! Leave me! I detest you.' Hargrave
+gnawed his lip with passion. 'You shall dearly pay for this obstinacy,'
+said he, and fiercely strode away.
+
+In the heat of his wrath, he commanded his coadjutors to force the door;
+but the law which makes the home of an Englishman a sacred sanctuary,
+extends its precious influence, in some faint degree, to the breasts
+even of the dregs of mankind; and these wretches, who would have given
+up Laura to any other outrage, hesitated to perpetrate this. They
+objected the danger. 'Does your Honour think,' said one of them, 'that
+the servants will stand by and allow us to break open the door.' 'I tell
+you,' said Hargrave, 'all the men-servants are from home. What do you
+fear from a parcel of women?' 'Women can bear witness as well as men,
+your Honour; and it might be as much as our necks are worth to be
+convicted. But if your Honour could entice her out, we'd soon catch
+her.' Hargrave took two or three turns along the lobby, and then
+returned to Laura. 'Miss Montreville,' said he, 'my dearest Miss
+Montreville, I conjure you to admit me only for a moment. These savages
+will wait no longer. They are determined to force your door. Once more I
+implore you, before it is too late, let me speak with you. I expect them
+every moment.' Laura's breast swelled with indignation at this vile
+pretence of kindness. 'Acting under your commands, Sir,' said she, 'I
+doubt not that they may even dare this outrage. And let them at their
+peril. If the laws of my country cannot protect, they shall avenge me.'
+For a moment Hargrave stood confounded at this detection, till anger
+replacing shame,--'Very well, Madam,' he cried; 'insult me as you
+please, and take the consequences.' He then rejoined his emissaries; and
+by bribery and threats endeavoured to prevail upon them to consummate
+their violence. The men, unwilling to forfeit the reward of the hazard
+and trouble they had already undergone, allured by Hargrave's promises,
+and fearing his vengeance, at last agreed to drag their hapless victim
+to her doom.
+
+Having taken such instruments as they could find, for the purpose of
+forcing the door, they followed Hargrave up stairs, and prepared to
+begin their work. At this near prospect of the success of all his
+schemes, Hargrave's rage began to cool; and a gleam of tenderness and
+humanity reviving in his heart, he shrunk from witnessing the anguish
+which he was about to inflict. 'Stop,' said he to his people, who were
+approaching the door; 'stay a few moments;' and, putting his hand to his
+forehead, he walked about, not wavering in his purpose, but endeavouring
+to excuse it to himself. 'It is all the consequence of her own
+obstinancy,' said he, suddenly stopping. 'You may go on--No; stay, let
+me first get out of this house. Her cries would drive me mad.--Make
+haste--lose no time after I am gone. It is better over.'
+
+Besides the motive which he owned, Hargrave was impelled to depart by
+the dread of meeting Laura's upbraiding eye, and by the shame of
+appearing even to the servants, who were so soon to know his baseness,
+an inactive spectator of Laura's distress. He hastened from the house,
+and the men proceeded in their work. With dread and horror did Laura
+listen to their attempts. Pale, breathless, her hands clenched in
+terror, she fixed her strained eyes upon the door, which every moment
+seemed yielding; then flying to the window, surveyed in despair the
+height, which made escape an act of suicide; then again turning to the
+door, tried with her feeble strength to aid its resistance. In vain! It
+yielded, and the shock threw Laura upon the ground. The ruffians raised
+her, more dead then alive, and were seizing her lily arms to lead her
+away; but, with all her native majesty, she motioned them from her. 'You
+need not touch me,' said she, 'you see I can resist no further.' With
+the composure of despair, she followed them to the hall, where, her
+strength failing, she sunk upon a seat. The servants now in pity and
+amazement approaching her, she addressed herself to one of them. 'Will
+you go with me, my good friend,' said she, 'that you may return and tell
+Lady Pelham where to find her niece's corpse!' The girl consented with
+tears in her eyes; but one of the fellows cried, 'No; no; she may run
+after the coach if she likes, but she don't go within side.' 'Why not?'
+said the other, with a brutal leer. 'They may both get home again
+together. They'll be free enough soon.' Laura shuddered. 'Where wandered
+my senses,' said she, 'when I thought of subjecting any creature to the
+chance of a fate like mine! Stay here, my dear, and tell Lady Pelham,
+that I charge her, by all her hopes here and hereafter, to seek me
+before she sleeps. Let her seek me wherever there is wickedness and
+wo--and there, living or dead, I shall be found.' 'Let's have done with
+all this nonsense,' said one of the men. 'John, make the coach draw up
+close to the door.' The fellow went to do as he was desired; while the
+other with a handkerchief prepared to stifle the cries of Laura, in
+case she should attempt to move the pity of passengers in the street.
+Laura heard the carriage stop, she heard the step let down, and the
+sound was like her death knell.
+
+The man hurried her through the hall. He opened the street door--and
+Catherine entered with Mr Derwent. Laura, raising her bowed-down head,
+uttered a cry of joy. 'I am safe!' she cried, and sunk into the arms of
+Catherine.
+
+Mr Derwent immediately directed his servants to seize the fellow who had
+held Laura, the other having made his escape upon seeing the arrival of
+her deliverers. Laura, soon recovering, told her tale to Mr Derwent, who
+ordering the man to be searched, examined the warrant, and declared it
+to be false. The danger attending forgery, however, had been avoided,
+for there was no magistrate of the same name with that which appeared in
+the signature. Hargrave's villany thus fully detected, Laura wished to
+dismiss his agent; but Mr Derwent would not permit such atrocity to go
+unpunished, and gave up the wretch to the arm of law. He then quitted
+Laura, leaving his servant to attend her till Lady Pelham's return and,
+worn out with the emotion she had undergone, she threw herself on a bed
+to seek some rest.
+
+Early in the evening Lady Pelham returned, and immediately inquired for
+her niece. The servants, always attentive and often uncharitable
+spectators of the actions of their superiors, had before observed the
+encouragement which their mistress gave to Hargrave, and less unwilling
+to suspect than Laura, were convinced of Lady Pelham's connivance in his
+purpose. None of them therefore choosing to announce the failure of a
+scheme in which they believed her so deeply implicated, her questions
+produced no information except that Miss Montreville was gone indisposed
+to bed. The habitual awe with which the good sense and discernment of
+Laura had inspired Lady Pelham, was at present augmented almost to fear
+by the consciousness of duplicity. She shrunk from encountering the
+glance of quiet scrutiny, the plain direct question which left no room
+for prevarication, no choice between simple truth and absolute
+falsehood. But curiosity to know the success of the plot, and still more
+a desire to discover how far she was suspected of abetting it, prevailed
+over her fears; and having before studied the part she was to play, she
+entered Laura's apartment.
+
+She found her already risen and prepared to receive her. 'My dear
+child,' said her Ladyship in one of her kindest tones, 'I am told you
+have been ill. What is the matter?' 'My illness is nothing, Madam,'
+answered Laura, 'but I have been alarmed in your absence by the most
+daring, the most unprincipled outrage!' 'Outrage, my dear!' cried Lady
+Pelham in a voice of the utmost surprise; 'What outrage?' Laura then,
+commanding by a powerful effort the imagination which swelled her heart,
+related her injuries without comment; pausing at times to observe how
+her aunt was affected by the recital. Lady Pelham was all amazement;
+which, though chiefly pretended, was partly real. She was surprised at
+the lengths to which Hargrave had gone, and even suspected his whole
+design, though she was far from intending to discover her sentiments to
+her niece. 'This is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard of!' cried
+she when Laura had ended. 'What can have been the meaning of this trick?
+What can have incited the people?' 'Colonel Hargrave, Madam,' said Laura
+without hesitation. 'Impossible, my dear! Hargrave can be no further
+concerned in it, than so far as taking advantage of the accident to
+extort the promise of a little kindness from you. He would never have
+ventured to send the men into my house on such an errand.' 'One of them
+confessed to Mr Derwent, before the whole family, that Colonel Hargrave
+was his employer.' 'Astonishing!' cried Lady Pelham. 'And what do you
+suppose to have been Hargrave's intention?' 'I doubt not, Madam,'
+returned Laura, commanding her voice, though resentment flashed from her
+eyes, 'I doubt not that his intentions were yet more base and inhuman
+than the means he employed. But whatever they were, I am certain he
+would never have dared to entertain them, had it not been for the
+encouragement which your Ladyship has thought proper to give him.' 'I,
+child!' cried Lady Pelham, truth in her colour contradicting the
+falsehood of her tongue, 'Surely you do not think that I would encourage
+him in such a plot!' 'No, Madam,' answered Laura, 'I hope and believe
+that you are incapable of consenting to such wickedness. I allude only
+to the general countenance which you have always shewn to Colonel
+Hargrave.' Lady Pelham could implicitly rely upon Laura's word; and
+finding that she was herself unsuspected, she had leisure to attempt
+palliating the offence of her _protegé_. 'That countenance,' returned
+she, 'shall be completely withdrawn for the future, if Hargrave does not
+explain this strange frolic to my satisfaction.' 'Frolic, Madam!' cried
+Laura indignantly. 'If that name belongs to crimes which would disgrace
+barbarians, then call this a frolic!' 'Come, my dear girl,' said Lady
+Pelham, coaxingly throwing her arm round Laura, 'you are too much, and
+I must own, according to present appearances, justly irritated, to talk
+of this affair coolly tonight. To-morrow we shall converse about it. Now
+let's go to tea.' 'No, Madam,' said Laura with spirit, for she saw
+through her aunt's intention of glossing over Hargrave's villany--'I
+will never again expose myself to the chance of meeting a wretch whose
+crimes are my abhorrence. I will not leave this room till I quit it for
+ever. Madam, you have often called me firm. Now I will prove to you that
+I am so. Give me the means to go hence in a manner becoming your niece,
+or my own limbs shall bear me to Scotland, and on the charity of my
+fellow-creatures will I rely for support.' 'I protest, my love,' cried
+Lady Pelham, 'you are absolutely in a passion, I never saw you so angry
+till now.' 'Your Ladyship never saw me have such reason for anger,'
+replied Laura. 'I own I am angry, yet I know that my determination is
+right, and I assure you it will outlive the heat with which it is
+expressed.'
+
+Had Laura's purpose been more placidly announced it would have roused
+Lady Pelham to fury; but even those who have least command over their
+tempers have generalship enough to perceive the advantage of the attack;
+and the passion of a virago has commonly a patriarchal submission for
+its elder-born brother. Lady Pelham saw that Laura was in no humour for
+trifling; she knew that her resolutions were not easily shaken; and she
+quitted her upon pretence of fatigue, but in reality that she might
+consider how to divert her from the purpose which she had announced so
+peremptorily.
+
+Laura was every day becoming more necessary to her aunt, and to think of
+parting with her was seriously disagreeable. Besides, Laura's departure
+would effectually blast the hopes of Hargrave; and what would then
+become of all Lady Pelham's prospects of borrowing consequence from the
+lovely young Countess of Lincourt? Never wanting in invention, Lady
+Pelham thought of a hundred projects for preventing her niece's journey
+to Scotland. Her choice was fixed by a circumstance which she could not
+exclude from her consideration. The story of Hargrave's seditious plot
+was likely soon to be made public. It was known to Mr Derwent, and to
+all her own household. Her conscience whispered that her connivance
+would be suspected. Mr Derwent might be discreet; but what was to be
+expected from the discretion of servants? The story would spread from
+the footmen to the waiting-maids, and from these to their ladies, till
+it would meet her at every turn. Nor had her imprudent consent left her
+the power of disclaiming all concern in it, by forbidding Hargrave her
+house, since he would probably revenge himself by disclosing her share
+in the strategem. Lady Pelham saw no better success of palliating these
+evils, than by dismissing her establishment and returning immediately to
+Walbourne; and she hoped, at the same time, that it might not be
+impossible to prevail on Laura to change the direction of her journey.
+For this purpose she began by beseeching her niece to lay aside thoughts
+of retiring to Scotland; and was beginning to recount all the
+disadvantages of such a proceeding; but Laura would listen to no
+remonstrance on the subject; declaring that, if after what had happened,
+she remained in a place where she was liable to such outrage, she should
+be herself accountable for whatever evil might be the consequence. Lady
+Pelham then proposed an immediate removal to Walbourne, artfully
+insinuating that, if any cause of complaint should there arise, Laura
+would be near the advice and assistance of her friends at Norwood, and
+of Mrs Bolingbroke. Laura was not without some wishes that pointed
+towards Walbourne; but she remembered the importunities which she had
+there endured, and she firmly resisted giving occasion to their renewal.
+Lady Pelham had then recourse to tender upbraidings. 'Was it possible
+that Laura, the only hope and comfort of her age, would quit her now,
+when she had so endeared herself to the widowed heart, reft of all other
+treasure--now when increasing infirmity required her aid--now when the
+eye which was so soon to close, was fixed on her as on its last earthly
+treasure! Would Laura thus cruelly punish her for a crime in which she
+had no share; a crime which she was willing to resent to the utmost of
+her niece's wishes!' Lady Pelham talked herself into tears, and few
+hearts of nineteen are hard enough to resist the tears of age. Laura
+consented to accompany her aunt to Walbourne, provided that she should
+never be importuned on the subject of Hargrave, nor even obliged to see
+him. These conditions Lady Pelham solemnly promised to fulfil, and, well
+pleased, prepared for her journey. Hargrave, however, waited on her
+before her departure, and excused himself so well on the score of his
+passion, his despair, and his eager desire to be allied to Lady Pelham,
+that, after a gentle reprimand, he was again received into favour,
+informed of the promises which had been made against him, and warned not
+be discouraged if their performance could not immediately be dispensed
+with. Of this visit Laura knew nothing; for she adhered to her
+resolution of keeping her apartment, nor ever crossed its threshold,
+till, on the third day after her perilous adventure, the carriage was at
+the door which conveyed her to Walbourne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+As Lady Pelham's carriage passed the entrance of the avenue which led to
+Norwood, Laura sunk into a profound reverie; in the course of which she
+settled most minutely the behaviour proper for her first meeting with De
+Courcy. She decided on the gesture of unembarrassed cordiality with
+which she was to accost him; intending her manner to intimate that she
+accounted him a friend, and only a friend. The awkwardness of a private
+interview she meant to avoid by going to Norwood next day, at an hour
+which she knew that Montague employed in reading aloud to his mother.
+All this excellent arrangement, however, was unfortunately useless.
+Laura was taking a very early ramble in what had always been her
+favourite walk, when, at a sudden turn, she saw De Courcy not three
+steps distant. Her white gown shining through the still leafless trees
+had caught his attention, the slightest glimpse of her form was
+sufficient for the eye of love, and he had advanced prepared to meet
+her; while she, thus taken by surprise, stood before him conscious and
+blushing. At this confusion, so flattering to a lover, De Courcy's heart
+gave one bound of triumphant joy; but he was too modest to ascribe to
+love what timidity might so well account for, and he prudently avoided
+reminding Laura, even by a look, of either his hopes or his wishes.
+Quickly recollecting herself, Laura entered into a conversation which,
+though at first reserved and interrupted, returned by degrees to the
+confidential manner which De Courcy had formerly won from her under the
+character of her father's friend.
+
+This confidence, so precious to him, De Courcy was careful never to
+interrupt. From the time of Laura's return, he saw her almost daily. She
+made long visits to Mrs De Courcy; he came often to Walbourne; they met
+in their walks, in their visits; they spent a week together under Mr
+Bolingbroke's roof; yet De Courcy religiously kept his promise, nor ever
+wilfully reminded Laura that he had a wish beyond her friendship. Always
+gentle, respectful and attentive, he never invited observation by
+distinguishing her above others who had equal claims on his politeness.
+She only shared his assiduities with every other woman whom he
+approached; nor did he betray uneasiness when she, in her turn, received
+attentions from others. His prudent self-command, had the effect which
+he intended; and Laura, in conversing with him, felt none of the reserve
+which may be supposed to attend intercourse with a rejected admirer. His
+caution even at times deceived her. She recollected Mrs Douglas's
+prophecy, that 'his attachment would soon subside into friendly regard,'
+and imagined she saw its accomplishment. 'How happy are men in having
+such flexible affections,' thought she with a sigh. 'I wonder whether he
+has entirely conquered the passion which, three short months ago, was to
+"last through life--beyond life?" I hope he has,' whispered she with a
+deeper sigh; and she repeated it again--'I hope he has,'--as if by
+repeating it, she would have ascertained that it was her real sentiment.
+Yet, at other times, some little inadvertency, unheeded by less
+interested observers, would awaken a doubt of De Courcy's self-conquest;
+and in that doubt Laura unconsciously found pleasure. She often
+reconsidered the arguments which her friend had used to prove that
+passion is unnecessary to the happiness of wedded life. She did not
+allow that she was convinced by them; but she half wished that she had
+had an opportunity of weighing them before she had decided her fate with
+regard to De Courcy. Meanwhile, much of her time was spent in his
+company, and his presence had ever brought pleasure with it. Week after
+week passed agreeably away, and the close of the winter atoned for the
+disquiet which had marked its commencement.
+
+During all this time, Laura saw nothing of Hargrave. His visits, indeed,
+to Walbourne were more frequent than she supposed, but the only one of
+which she had been informed, Lady Pelham affected to announce to her,
+advising her to avoid it by spending that day at Norwood. Since their
+return from town, her Ladyship had entirely desisted from her
+remonstrances in his favour, and Laura hoped that his last outrage had
+opened her aunt's eyes to the deformity of his character. And, could
+Lady Pelham's end have been pursued without annoyance to any living
+being, it would long before have shared the perishable nature of her
+other purposes. But whatever conferred the invaluable occasion of
+tormenting, was cherished by Lady Pelham as the dearest of her
+concerns; and she only waited fit opportunity to shew that she could be
+as stubborn in thwarting the wishes of others, as capricious in varying
+her own. De Courcy's attachment could not escape her penetration; and as
+she was far from intending to desert the cause of Hargrave, she saw,
+with displeasure, the progressive advancement of Laura's regard for the
+friend of her father. Though she was sufficiently acquainted with Laura
+to know that chiding would effect no change in her sentiments or
+conduct, she had not temper enough to restrain her upbraidings on this
+subject, but varied them with all the skill and perseverance of a
+veteran in provocation. 'She did not, she must confess, understand the
+delicacy of ladies whose affections could be transferred from one man to
+another. She did not see how any modest woman could find two endurable
+men in the world. It was a farce to tell her of friendship and
+gratitude, and such like stuff. Everybody knew the meaning of a
+friendship between a girl of nineteen and a good-looking young fellow of
+five-and-twenty. She wondered whether Laura was really wise enough to
+imagine that De Courcy could afford to marry her; or whether, if he were
+mad enough to think of such a thing, she could be so ungenerous as to
+take advantage of his folly, to plunge him into irretrievable poverty;
+and this too, when it was well known that a certain young heiress had
+prior claims upon him.' Laura at first listened to these harangues with
+tolerable _sang froid_; yet they became, she was unconscious why, every
+day more provoking. Though she had self-command enough to be silent, her
+changing colour announced Lady Pelham's victory, and it was followed up
+without mercy or respite. It had, however, no other effect than that of
+imposing a restraint when her Ladyship happened to be present; for De
+Courcy continued his attentions, and Laura received him with increasing
+favour.
+
+Lady Pelham omitted none of the minor occasions of disturbing this
+harmonious intercourse. She interrupted their tête à têtes, beset them
+in their walks, watched their most insignificant looks, pried into their
+most common-place messages, and dexterously hinted to the one whatever
+foible she could see or imagine in the other. A casual breath of scandal
+soon furnished her with a golden opportunity of sowing dissension, and
+she lost no time in taking advantage of the hint. 'It is treating me
+like a baby,' said she once to Laura, after opening in form her daily
+attack; 'it is treating me like a mere simpleton to expect that you are
+to deceive me with your flourishing sentiments about esteem and
+gratitude. Have esteem and gratitude the blindness of love? Don't I see
+that you overlook in your beloved Mr Montague De Courcy faults which in
+another you would think sufficient excuse for any ill treatment that you
+chose to inflict?' Laura kept silence; for of late she had found that
+her temper could not stand a charge of this kind. 'What becomes of all
+your fine high-flown notions of purity, and so forth,' continued Lady
+Pelham, 'when you excuse his indiscretions with his mother's _protegée_,
+and make a favourite and a plaything of his spoilt bantling?' Laura
+turned pale, then reddened violently. 'What protegée? what bantling?'
+cried she, quite thrown off her guard. 'I know of no indiscretions--I
+have no playthings.'--'What! you pretend not to know that the brat he
+takes so much notice of is his own. Did you never hear of his affair
+with a pretty girl whom his mamma was training as a waiting-maid for her
+fine-lady daughter.' 'Mr De Courcy, Madam!' cried Laura, making a
+powerful struggle with her indignation--'He seduce a girl who as a
+member of his family was doubly entitled to his protection! Is it
+possible that your Ladyship can give credit to such a calumny?'
+'Heyday,' cried Lady Pelham, with a provoking laugh, 'a most incredible
+occurrence to be sure! And pray why should your immaculate Mr De Courcy
+be impeccable any more than other people?' 'I do not imagine, Madam,'
+returned Laura, with recovered self-possession, 'that Mr De Courcy, or
+any of the human race, is perfectly sinless; but nothing short of proof
+shall convince me that he is capable of deliberate wickedness; or even
+that the casual transgressions of such a man can be so black in their
+nature, so heinous in their degree. It were next to a miracle if one who
+makes conscience of guarding his very thoughts, could, with a single
+step, make such progress in iniquity.' 'It were a miracle indeed,' said
+Lady Pelham, sneeringly, 'if you could be prevailed upon to believe any
+thing that contradicts your romantic vagaries. As long as you are
+determined to worship Mr De Courcy, you'll never listen to any thing
+that brings him down from his pedestal.' 'It is wasting time,' returned
+Laura calmly, 'to argue on the improbability of this malicious tale. I
+can easily give your Ladyship the pleasure of being able to contradict
+it. Mrs Bolingbroke is at Norwood. She will tell me frankly who is the
+real father of little Henry, and I shall feel no difficulty in asking
+her. Will you have the goodness to lend me the carriage for an hour?' 'A
+pretty expedition truly!' cried Lady Pelham, 'and mighty delicate and
+dignified it is for a young lady, to run about inquiring into the
+pedigree of all the bastards in the county! I assure you, Miss
+Montreville, I shall neither countenance nor assist such a scheme!'
+'Then, Madam,' answered Laura coolly, 'I shall walk to Norwood. The
+claims of dignity, or even of delicacy, are surely inferior to those of
+justice and gratitude. But though it should subject me to the scorn of
+all mankind, I will do what in me lies to clear his good name whose
+kindness ministered the last comforts that sweetened the life of my
+father.'
+
+The manner in which these words were pronounced, shewed Lady Pelham that
+resistance was useless. She was far from wishing to quarrel with the De
+Courcy family, and she now began to fear that she should appear the
+propagator of this scandal. Having little time to consult the means of
+safety, since Laura was already leaving the room, she hastily said, 'I
+suppose in your explanations with Mrs Bolingbroke, you will give me up
+for your authority?' 'No, Madam,' replied Laura, with a scorn which she
+could not wholly suppress, 'your Ladyship has no right to think so at
+the moment when I am shewing such concern for the reputation of my
+friends.' Lady Pelham would have fired at this disdain, but her
+_quietus_ was at hand--she was afraid of provoking Laura to expose her,
+and therefore she found it perfectly possible to keep her temper. 'If
+you are resolved to go,' said she, 'you had better wait till I order the
+carriage; I fear we shall have rain.' Laura at first refused; but Lady
+Pelham pressed her, with so many kind concerns for a slight cold which
+she had, that though she saw through the veil, she suffered her Ladyship
+to wear it undisturbed. The carriage was ordered, and Laura hastened to
+Norwood.
+
+Though she entertained not the slightest doubt of De Courcy's integrity,
+she was restless and anxious. It was easy to see that her mind was
+pre-occupied during the few minutes which passed before, taking leave of
+Mrs De Courcy, she begged Mrs Bolingbroke to speak with her apart.
+Harriet followed her into another room; and Laura, with much more
+embarrassment than she had expected to feel, prepared to begin her
+interrogation. Harriet, from the thoughtful aspect of her companion,
+anticipating something of importance, stood gravely waiting to hear what
+she had to say; while Laura was confused by the awkwardness of
+explaining her reason for the question she was about to ask. 'I have
+managed this matter very ill,' said she at last, pursuing her thoughts
+aloud. 'I have entered on it with so much formality, that you must
+expect some very serious affair; and, after all, I am only going to ask
+a trifling question. Will you tell me who is the father of my pretty
+little Henry?' Harriet looked surprised, and answered,--'Really, my
+dear, I am not sure that I dare. You inquired the same thing once
+before; and just when I was going to tell you, Montague looked so
+terrible, that I was forced to hold my tongue. But what makes you ask?
+What! You won't tell? Then I know how it is. My prophecy has proved
+true, and the good folks have given him to Montague himself. Ah! What a
+tell-tale face you have, Laura! And who has told you this pretty story?'
+'It is of no consequence,' replied Laura, 'that you should know my
+authority, provided that I have yours to contradict the slander.' 'You
+shall have better authority than mine,' returned Harriet. 'Those who
+were malicious enough to invent such a tale of Montague, might well
+assert that his sister employed falsehood to clear him. You shall hear
+the whole from nurse Margaret herself; and her evidence cannot be
+doubted. Come, will you walk to the cottage and hear what she has to
+say?'
+
+They found Margaret alone; and Harriet, impatient till her brother
+should be fully justified, scarcely gave herself time to answer the old
+woman's civilities, before she entered on her errand. 'Come, nurse,'
+said she, with all her natural frankness of manner, 'I have something
+particular to say to you. Let's shut the door and sit down. Do you know
+somebody has been malicious enough to tell Miss Montreville that
+Montague is little Henry's father.' Margaret lifted up her hands and
+eyes. 'My young master, Madam!' cried she--'He go to bring shame and
+sorrow into any honest man's family! If you'll believe me, Miss,'
+continued she, turning to Laura, 'this is, begging your pardon, the
+wickedest lie that ever was told.' Laura was about to assure her that
+she gave no credit to the calumny, but Harriet, who had a double reason
+for wishing that her friend should listen to Margaret's tale,
+interrupted her, saying, 'Nurse, I am sure nothing could convince her so
+fully as hearing the whole story from your own lips. I brought her
+hither on purpose; and you may trust her, I assure you, for she is just
+such a wise prudent creature as you always told me that I ought to be.'
+'Ah, Madam,' answered Margaret, 'I know that; for John says she is the
+prettiest-behaved young lady he ever saw; and says how fond my lady is
+of her, and others too besides my lady, though it is not for servants to
+be making remarks.' 'Come, then, nurse,' said Harriet, 'sit down between
+us; and tell us the whole sad story of my poor foster-sister, and clear
+your friend Montague from this aspersion.' Margaret did as she was
+desired. 'Ah, yes!' said she, tears lending to her eyes a transient
+brightness, 'I can talk of it now! Many a long evening John and I speak
+of nothing else. She always used to sit between us,--but now we both sit
+close together. But we are growing old,' continued she, in a more
+cheerful tone, 'and in a little while we shall see them all again. We
+had three of the prettiest boys!--My dear young lady, you will soon have
+children of your own, but never set your heart upon them, nor be too
+proud of them, for that is only provoking Providence to take them away.'
+'I shall probably never have so much reason,' said Harriet, 'as you had
+to be proud of your Jessy.' The mother's pride had survived its object;
+and it brightened Margaret's faded countenance, as, pressing Harriet's
+hand between her own, she cried, 'Ah, bless you! you were always kind to
+her. She was indeed the flower of my little flock; and when the boys
+were taken away, she was our comfort for all. But I was too proud of
+her. Five years since, there was not her like in all the country round.
+A dutiful child, too, and never made us sad or sorrowful till--and such
+a pretty modest creature! But I was too proud of her.'
+
+Margaret stopped, and covered her face with the corner of her apron.
+Sympathizing tears stood in Laura's eyes; while Harriet sobbed aloud at
+the remembrance of the play-fellow of her infancy. The old woman first
+recovered herself. 'I shall never have done at this rate,' said she,
+and, drying her eyes, turned to address the rest of her tale to Laura.
+'Well, Ma'am, a gentleman who used to come a-visiting to the castle, by
+ill fortune chanced to see her; and ever after that he noticed her and
+spoke to her; and flattered me up, too, saying, what a fine-looking
+young creature she was, and so well brought up too, and what a pity it
+was that she should be destined for a tradesman's wife. So, like a fool
+as I was, I thought no harm of his fine speeches, because Jessy always
+said he behaved quite modest and respectful like. But John, to be sure,
+was angry, and said that a tradesman was her equal, and that he hoped
+her rosy cheeks would never give her notions above her station; and,
+says he,--I am sure many and many a time I have thought of his
+words--says he, 'God grant I never see worse come of her than to be an
+honest tradesman's wife.' My young master, too, saw the gentleman one
+day speaking to her; and he was so good as advise her himself, and told
+her that the gentleman meant nothing honest by all his fine speeches. So
+after that, she would never stop with him at all, nor give ear to a word
+of his flatteries; but always ran away from him, telling him to say
+those fine things to his equals. So, one unlucky day I had some matters
+to be done in the town, and Jessy said she would like to go, and poor
+foolish I was so left to myself that I let her go. So she dressed
+herself in her clean white gown.--I remember it as were it but
+yesterday. I went to the door with her, charging her to be home early.
+She shook hands with me. Jessy, says I, you look just like a bride. So
+she smiled. No, mother, says she, I shan't leave home so merrily the day
+I leave it for all--and I never saw my poor child smile again. So she
+went, poor lamb, little thinking!--and I stood in the door looking after
+her, thinking, like a fool as I was, that my young master need not have
+thought it strange though a gentleman had taken her for a wife, for
+there were not many ladies that looked like her.'
+
+Margaret rested her arms upon her knees, bent her head over them, made a
+pause, and then began again. 'All day I was merry as a lark, singing and
+making every thing clean in our little habitation here, where I thought
+we should sit down together so happy when John came home at night from
+the castle. So it was getting darkish before my work was done, and then
+I began to wonder what was become of Jessy; and many a time I went
+across the green to see if there was any sight of her. At last John came
+home, and I told him that I was beginning to be frightened; but he
+laughed at me, and said she had perhaps met with some of her comrades,
+and was gone to take her tea with them. So we sat down by the fire; but
+I could not rest, for my mind misgave me sadly; so says I, John, I will
+go and see after my girl. Well, says he, we may as well go and meet
+her.--Alas! Alas! a sad meeting was that! We went to the door; I opened
+it, and somebody fell against me.--It was Jessy. She looked as dead as
+she did the day I laid her in her coffin; and all her pretty cheek was
+blue, and her pretty mouth, that used to smile so sweetly in my face
+when she was a baby on my knee, it was all bloody. And her pretty
+shining hair that I used to comb so often--Oh woe, woe is me! How could
+I see such a sight and live.'
+
+The mother wrung her withered hands, and sobbed as if her heart were
+breaking. Laura laid her arms kindly round old Margaret's neck, for
+misfortune made the poor and the stranger her equal and her friend. She
+offered no words of unavailing consolation, but pitying tears trickled
+fast down her cheeks; while Mrs Bolingbroke, her eyes flashing indignant
+fires, exclaimed, 'Surely the curse of heaven will pursue that wretch!'
+'Alas!' said Margaret, 'I fear I cursed him too; but I was in a manner
+beside myself then. God forgive both him and me! My poor child never
+cursed him. All that I could say she would not tell who it was that had
+used her so. She said she should never bring him to justice; and always
+prayed that his own conscience might be his only punishment. So from the
+first we saw that her heart was quite broken; for she would never speak
+nor look up, nor let me do the smallest thing for her, but always said
+it was not fit that I should wait on such a one as she. Well, one night,
+after we were all a-bed, a letter was flung in at the window of Jessy's
+closet, and she crept out of her bed to take it. I can shew it you,
+Miss, for it was under her pillow when she died.' Margaret, unlocking a
+drawer, took out a letter and gave it to Laura, who read in it these
+words:
+
+     'My dear Jessy, I am the most miserable wretch upon earth. I
+     wish I had been upon the rack the hour I met you. I am sure I
+     have been so ever since. Do not curse me, dear Jessy! Upon my
+     soul, I had far less thought of being the ruffian I have been
+     to you, than I have at this moment of blowing out my own
+     brains. I wish to heaven that I had been in your own station
+     that I might have made you amends for the injury I have done.
+     But you know it is impossible for me to marry you. I inclose a
+     bank-bill for £100, and I will continue to pay you the same sum
+     annually while you live, though you should never consent to see
+     me more. If you make me a father, no expence shall be spared to
+     provide the means of secrecy and comfort. No accommodation
+     which a wife could have shall be withheld from you. Tell me if
+     there be any thing more than I can do for you. I shall never
+     forgive myself for what I have done. I abhor myself, and from
+     this hour, I forswear all woman-kind for your sake. Once more,
+     dear Jessy, pardon me I implore you.'
+
+This letter was without signature; but the hand-writing was familiar to
+Laura, and could not be mistaken. It was Hargrave's. Shuddering at this
+new proof of his depravity, Laura inwardly offered a thanksgiving that
+she had escaped all connection with such a monster. 'You may trust my
+friend with the wretch's name,' said Harriet, anxious that Laura's
+conviction should be complete. 'She will make no imprudent use of it.'
+'I should never have known it myself had it not been for this letter,'
+answered Margaret. 'But my poor child wished to answer it, and she was
+not able to carry the answer herself, so she was obliged to ask her
+father to go with it. And first she made us both promise on the Bible,
+never to bring him either to shame or punishment; and then she told us
+that it was that same Major Hargrave that used to speak her so fair.
+Here is the scroll that John took of her answer.'
+
+     'Sir, I return your money, for it can be of no use where I am
+     going. I will never curse you; but trust I shall to the last
+     have pity on you, who had no pity on me. I fear your sorrow is
+     not right repentance; for, if it was, you would never think of
+     committing a new sin by taking your own life, but rather of
+     making reparation for the great evil you have done. Not that I
+     say this in respect of wishing to be your wife. My station
+     makes that unsuitable, more especially now when I should be a
+     disgrace to any man. And I must say, a wicked person would be
+     as unsuitable among my friends; for my parents are honest
+     persons, although their daughter is so unhappy as to bring
+     shame on them. I shall not live long enough to disgrace them
+     any farther, so pray inquire no more of me, nor take the
+     trouble to send me money, for I will not buy my coffin with the
+     wages of shame; and I shall need nothing else. So, wishing that
+     my untimely end may bring you to a true repentance, I remain,
+     Sir, the poor dying disgraced,
+
+                                  'JESSY WILSON.'
+
+'Ah, Miss,' continued Margaret, wiping from the paper the drops which
+had fallen on it, 'my poor child's prophecy was true. She always said
+she would just live till her child was born, and then lay her
+dishonoured head and her broken heart in the grave. My Lady and Miss
+Harriet there were very kind, and my young master himself was so good as
+to promise that he would act the part of a father to the little orphan.
+And he used to argue with her that she should submit to the chastisement
+that was laid upon her, and that she might find some comfort still; but
+she always said that her chastisement was less than she deserved, but
+that she could never wish to live to be 'a very scorn of men, an outcast
+and an alien among her mother's children.' So the day that little Henry
+was born, she was doing so well that we were in hopes she would still be
+spared to us; but she knew better; and, when I was sitting by her, she
+pulled me close to her and said, 'Mother,' says she, looking pleased
+like, 'the time of my release is at hand now,' and then she charged me
+never to give poor little Henry to his cruel father. I had not the power
+to say a word to her, but sat hushing the baby, with my heart like to
+break. So, by and by, she said to me again; but very weak and low like,
+'my brothers lie side by side in the churchyard, lay me at their feet;
+it is good enough for me.' So she never spoke more, but closed her
+eyes, and slipped quietly away, and left her poor old mother.'
+
+A long paused followed Margaret's melancholy tale. 'Are you convinced,
+my friend,' said Mrs Bolingbroke at length. 'Fully,' answered Laura, and
+returned to silent and thankful meditation. 'My master,' said Margaret,
+'has made good his promise to poor Jessy. He has shewn a father's
+kindness to her boy. He paid for his nursing, and forces John to take a
+board for him that might serve any gentleman's son; and now it will be
+very hard if the end of all his goodness is to get himself ill spoken
+of; and nobody saying a word against him that was the beginning of all
+this mischief. But that is the way of the world.' 'It is so,' said
+Laura. 'And what can better warn us that the earth was never meant for
+our resting-place. The "raven" wings his way through it triumphant. The
+"dove" finds no rest for the sole of her foot, and turns to the ark from
+whence she came.'
+
+Mrs Bolingbroke soon after took leave of her nurse, and the ladies
+proceeded in their walk towards Walbourne. Harriet continued to express
+the warmest detestation of the profligacy of Hargrave, while Laura's
+mind was chiefly occupied in endeavouring to account for De Courcy's
+desire to conceal from her the enormity which had just come to her
+knowledge. Unable to divine his reason, she applied to Harriet. 'Why my
+dear,' said she, 'should your brother have silenced you on a subject
+which could only be mentioned to his honour?' 'He never told me his
+reasons,' said Harriet smiling, 'but if you will not be angry I may try
+to guess them.' 'I think,' said Laura, 'that thus cautioned, I may
+contrive to keep my temper; so speak boldly.' 'Then, my dear,' said
+Harriet, 'I may venture to say that I think he suspected you of a
+partiality for this wretch, and would not shock you by a full disclosure
+of his depravity. And I know,' added she, in a voice tremulous with
+emotion, 'that in him this delicacy was virtue; for the peace of his
+life depends on securing your affectionate, your exclusive preference.'
+'Ah, Harriet, you have guessed right.--Yes! I see it all. Dear generous
+De Courcy!' cried Laura, and burst into tears. Harriet had not time to
+comment upon this agitation; for the next moment De Courcy himself was
+at her side. For the first time, Laura felt embarrassed and distressed
+by his presence. The words she had just uttered still sounded in her
+ear, and she trembled lest they had reached that of De Courcy. She was
+safe. Her exclamation was unheard by Montague,--but he instantly
+observed her tears, and they banished from his mind every other idea
+than that of Laura in sorrow. He paid his compliments like one whose
+attention was distracted, and scarcely answered what his sister
+addressed to him. Mrs Bolingbroke inwardly enjoying his abstraction and
+Laura's embarrassment, determined not to spoil an opportunity which she
+judged so favourable to her brother's suit. 'This close walk,' said she
+with a sly smile, 'was never meant for a trio. It is just fit for a pair
+of lovers. Now I have letters to write, and if you two will excuse
+me'--De Courcy colouring crimson, had not presence of mind to make any
+reply, while Laura, though burning with shame and vexation, answered
+with her habitual self-command, 'Oh, pray my dear, use no ceremony. Here
+are none but _friends_.' The emphasis which she laid upon the last word,
+wrung a heavy sigh from De Courcy; who, while his sister was taking
+leave, was renewing his resolution not to disappoint the confidence of
+Laura.
+
+The very circumstances which Mrs Bolingbroke had expected should lead to
+a happy eclaircissement, made this interview the most reserved and
+comfortless which the two friends had ever had. Laura was too conscious
+to talk of the story which she had just heard, and she was too full of
+it to enter easily upon any other subject. With her gratitude for the
+delicacy which De Courcy had observed towards her, was mingled a keen
+feeling of humiliation at the idea that he had discovered her secret
+before it had been confided to him; for we can sometimes confess a
+weakness which we cannot without extreme mortification see detected. Her
+silence and depression infected De Courcy; and the few short constrained
+sentences which were spoken during their walk, formed a contrast to the
+general vivacity of their conversations. Laura however recovered her
+eloquence as soon as she found herself alone with Lady Pelham. With all
+the animation of sensibility, she related the story of the ill-fated
+Jessy; and disclosing in confidence the name of her destroyer, drew, in
+the fulness of her heart, a comparison between the violator of laws
+human and divine, owing his life to the mercy of the wretch whom he had
+undone, and the kind adviser of inexperienced youth, the humane
+protector of forsaken infancy. Lady Pelham quietly heard her to an end;
+and then wrinkling her eyelids, and peeping through them with her
+glittering blue eyes, she began, 'Do you know, my dear, I never met with
+prejudices so strong as yours? When will you give over looking for
+prodigies? Would any mortal but you expect a gay young man to be as
+correct as yourself? As for your immaculate Mr De Courcy, with his sage
+advices, I think it is ten to one that he wanted to keep the girl for
+himself. Besides, I'll answer for it, Hargrave would have bid farewell
+to all his indiscretions if you would have married him.' 'Never name it,
+Madam,' cried Laura warmly, 'if you would not banish me from your
+presence. His marriage with me would have been itself a crime; a crime
+aggravated by being, as if in mockery, consecrated to heaven. For _my_
+connection with such a person no name is vile enough.' 'Well, well,'
+said Lady Pelham, shrugging her shoulders, 'I prophesy that one day you
+will repent having refused to share a title with the handsomest man in
+England.' 'All distinctions between right and wrong,' returned Laura,
+'must first be blotted from my mind. The beauty of his person is no more
+to me than the shining colours of an adder; and the rank which your
+Ladyship prizes so highly, would but render me a more conspicuous mark
+for the infamy in which his wife must share.'
+
+Awed by the lightnings of Laura's eye, Lady Pelham did not venture to
+carry the subject farther for the present. She had of late been watching
+an opportunity of procuring the re-admission of Hargrave to the presence
+of his mistress; but this fresh discovery had served, if possible, to
+widen the breach. Hargrave's fiery temper submitted with impatience to
+the banishment which he had so well deserved, and he constantly urged
+Lady Pelham to use her authority on his behalf. Lady Pelham, though
+conscious that this authority had no existence, was flattered by having
+power ascribed to her, and promised at some convenient season to
+interfere. Finding herself, however, considerably embarrassed by a
+promise which she could not fulfil without hazarding the loss of Laura,
+she was not sorry that an opportunity occurred of evading the
+performance of her agreement. She therefore acquainted Hargrave with
+Laura's recent discovery, declaring that she could not ask her niece to
+overlook entirely so great an irregularity. From a regard to the promise
+of secrecy which she had given to Laura, as well as in common prudence,
+Lady Pelham had resolved not to mention the De Courcy family as the
+fountain from which she had drawn her intelligence. Principle and
+prudence sometimes governed her Ladyship's resolutions, but seldom
+swayed her practice. In the first interview with Hargrave which followed
+this rational determination, she was led by the mere vanity of a babbler
+to give such hints as not only enabled him to trace the story of his
+shame to Norwood, but inclined him to fix the publishing of it upon
+Montague.
+
+From the moment when Hargrave first unjustly suspected Laura of a
+preference for De Courcy, his heart had rankled with an enmity
+which a sense of its ingratitude served only to aggravate. The cool
+disdain with which De Courcy treated him--a strong suspicion of his
+attachment,--above all, Laura's avowed esteem and regard--inflamed this
+enmity to the bitterest hatred. Hopeless as he was of succeeding in his
+designs by any fair or honourable means, he might have entertained
+thoughts of relinquishing his suit; and of seeking, in a match of
+interest, the means of escape from his embarrassments: but that Laura,
+with all her unequalled charms, should be the prize of De Courcy, that
+in her he should obtain all that beauty, affluence, and love could give,
+was a thought not to be endured. Lady Pelham, too, more skilled to
+practise on the passions of others than to command her own, was
+constantly exciting him, by hints of De Courcy's progress in the favour
+of Laura; while Lambert, weary of waiting for the tedious accomplishment
+of his own scheme, continually goaded him, with sly sarcasms on his
+failure in the arts of persuasion, and on his patience in submitting to
+be baffled in his wishes by a haughty girl. In the heat of his
+irritation, Hargrave often swore that no power on earth should long
+delay the gratification of his love and his revenge. But to marry a
+free-born British woman against her consent, is, in these enlightened
+times, an affair of some difficulty; and Hargrave, in his cooler
+moments, perceived that the object of three years eager pursuit was
+farther than ever from his attainment.
+
+Fortune seemed in every respect to oppose the fulfilment of his designs,
+for his regiment at this time received orders to prepare to embark for
+America; and Lord Lincourt, who had discovered his nephew's ruinous
+connection with Lambert, had influence to procure, from high authority,
+a hint that Hargrave would be expected to attend his duty on the other
+side of the Atlantic.
+
+The news of this arrangement Hargrave immediately conveyed to Lady
+Pelham, urging her to sanction any means which could be devised for
+making Laura the companion of his voyage. Lady Pelham hesitated to carry
+her complaisance so far; but she resolved to make the utmost use of the
+time which intervened to promote the designs of her favourite. Her
+Ladyship was not at any time much addicted to the communication of
+pleasurable intelligence, and the benevolence of her temper was not
+augmented by a prospect of the defeat of a plan in which her vanity was
+so much interested. She therefore maliciously withheld from her niece a
+piece of information so likely to be heard with joy. It reached Laura,
+however, by means of one who was ever watchful for her gratification. De
+Courcy no sooner ascertained the truth of the report, than he hastened
+to convey it to Laura.
+
+He found her alone, and was welcomed with all her accustomed cordiality.
+'I am sorry,' said he, with a smile which contradicted his words, 'I am
+sorry to be the bearer of bad news to you; but I could not deny myself
+the edification of witnessing your fortitude--Do you know that you are
+on the point of losing the most assiduous admirer that ever woman was
+blessed with? In three weeks Colonel Hargrave embarks for America. Nay,
+do not look incredulous. I assure you it is true.' 'Thank Heaven,' cried
+Laura, 'I shall once more be in peace and safety!' 'Oh, fie! Is this
+your regret for so ardent a lover? Have you no feeling?' 'Just such a
+feeling as the poor man had when he escaped from beneath the sword that
+hung by a hair. Indeed, Mr De Courcy, I cannot tell you to what a degree
+he has embittered the two last years of my life. But I believe,'
+continued she, blushing very deeply, 'I need not explain to you any of
+my feelings towards Colonel Hargrave, since I find you have I know not
+what strange faculty of divining them.' Assisted by a conversation which
+he had had with his sister, De Courcy easily understood Laura's meaning.
+Respectfully taking her hand, 'Pardon me,' said he, in a low voice, 'if
+I have ever ventured to guess what it was your wish to conceal from me.'
+'Oh, believe me,' cried Laura, with a countenance and manner of mingled
+candour and modesty, 'there is not a thought of my heart that I wish to
+conceal from you; since from you, even my most humbling weaknesses are
+sure of meeting with delicacy and indulgence. But since you are so good
+an augur,' added she, with an ingenuous smile, 'I trust you perceive
+that I shall need no more delicacy or indulgence upon the same score.'
+The fascinating sweetness of her looks and voice, for the first time
+beguiled De Courcy of his promised caution. 'Dear, dear Laura,' he
+cried, fondly pressing her hand to his breast, 'it is I who have need of
+indulgence, and I must--I must sue for it. I must repeat to you that--'
+Laura's heart sprung to her lips, and unconsciously snatching away her
+hand, she stood in breathless expectation of what was to follow.
+'Madman, that I am!' cried De Courcy, recalled to recollection by her
+gesture,--'whither am I venturing!' That was precisely what of all
+things Laura was most desirous to know; and she remained with her eyes
+fixed on the ground, half dreading the confidence, half the timidity of
+her lover. A momentary glance at the speaking countenance of Laura,
+glowing with confusion, yet brightened with trembling pleasure, awakened
+the strongest hopes that ever had warmed De Courcy's bosom. 'Beloved
+Laura,' said he, again tenderly approaching her, 'remember I am but
+human. Cease to treat me with this beguiling confidence. Cease to
+bewitch me with these smiles, which are so like all that I wish, or
+suffer me to--' Laura started, as her attention was drawn by some one
+passing close to the ground window near which they were standing. 'Ah!'
+cried she, in a tone of vexation, 'there is my evil genius. Colonel
+Hargrave is come into the house. He will be here this instant. Excuse me
+for driving you away. I beseech you do not remain a moment alone with
+him.'
+
+Laura was not mistaken. She had scarcely spoken, ere, with a dark cloud
+on his brow, Hargrave entered. He bowed to Laura, who was advancing
+towards the door. 'I am afraid, Madam, I interrupt you,' said he,
+darting a ferocious scowl upon De Courcy. Laura, without deigning even a
+single glance in reply, left the room. Hargrave, as he passed the
+window, had observed the significant attitude of the lovers; and his
+jealousy and rage were inflamed to the uttermost by the scorn which he
+had endured in the presence of his rival. Fiercely stalking up to De
+Courcy, 'Is it to you, Sir,' said he, 'that I am indebted for this
+insolence?' 'No Sir,' answered De Courcy, a little disdainfully. 'I have
+not the honour of regulating Miss Montreville's civilities.' 'This is a
+paltry evasion,' cried Hargrave. 'Is it not to your misrepresentations
+of a youthful indiscretion that I owe Miss Montreville's present
+displeasure?' 'I am not particularly ambitious of the character of an
+informer,' answered De Courcy; and taking his hat wished Hargrave a
+stately good morning. 'Stay, Sir!' cried Hargrave, roughly seizing him
+by the arm. 'I must have some further conversation with you--You don't
+go yet.' 'I am not disposed to ask your permission,' returned De Courcy;
+and coolly liberating his arm, walked out of the house. Boiling with
+rage, Hargrave followed him. 'It is easy to see, Sir,' said he, 'from
+whence you borrow a spirit that never was natural to you--Your
+presumption builds upon the partiality of that fickle capricious woman.
+But observe, Sir, that I have claims on her; claims which she herself
+was too happy in allowing; and no man shall dare to interfere with
+them.' 'I shall dare,' returned De Courcy, anger kindling in his eyes,
+'to inquire by what right you employ such expressions in regard to Miss
+Montreville; and whether my spirit be my own or not, you shall find it
+sufficient to prevent your holding such language in my presence.' 'In
+your presence, or the presence of all the devils,' cried De Courcy, 'I
+will maintain my right; and, if you fancy that it interferes with any
+claim of yours, you know how to obtain satisfaction. There is but one
+way to decide the business.' 'I am of your opinion,' replied De Courcy,
+'that there is one way, provided that we can mutually agree to bide by
+it; and that is, an appeal to Miss Montreville herself.' Hargrave turned
+pale, and his lip quivered with rage. 'A mode of decision, no doubt,'
+said he, 'which your vanity persuades you will be all in your favour!
+No, no, Sir, our quarrel must be settled by means in which even your
+conceit cannot deny my equality.' 'By a brace of pistols, you mean of
+course,' said De Courcy, coolly; 'but I frankly tell you. Colonel
+Hargrave, that my notions must have changed before I can find the
+satisfaction of a gentleman in being murdered; and my principles, before
+I shall seek it in murdering you.' 'Curse on your hypocrisy!' cried
+Hargrave. 'Keep this canting to cozen girls, and let me avenge my wrongs
+like a man, or the world shall know you, Sir.' 'Do you imagine,' said De
+Courcy, with a smile of calm disdain, 'that I am to be terrified into
+doing what I tell you I think wrong, by the danger of a little
+misrepresentation? You may, if you think fit, tell the world that I will
+not stake my life in a foolish quarrel, nor wilfully send an unrepenting
+sinner to his great account; and, if you go on to ascribe for my
+forbearance any motive which is derogatory to my character, I may, if
+_I_ think fit, obtain justice as a peacable citizen ought; or I may
+leave you undisturbed the glory of propagating a slander which even you
+yourself believe to be groundless.'
+
+De Courcy's coolness served only to exasperate his adversary. 'Truce
+with this methodistical jargon!' cried he fiercely. 'It may impose upon
+women, but I see through it, Sir--see that it is but a miserable trick
+to escape what you dare not meet.' 'Dare not!' cried De Courcy,
+lightnings flashing from his eye. 'My nerves have failed me, then,
+since'--He stopped abruptly, for he scorned at such a moment to remind
+his antagonist of the courageous effort to which he owed his life.
+'Since when!' cried Hargrave, more and more enraged, as the recollection
+which De Courcy had recalled, placed before him the full turpitude of
+his conduct.--'Do you think I owe you thanks for a life which you have
+made a curse to me, by cheating me of its dearest pleasures. But may
+tortures be my portion if I do not foil you!'
+
+The latter part of this dialogue was carried on in a close shady lane
+which branched off from the avenue of Walbourne. The dispute was
+proceeding with increasing warmth on both sides when it was interrupted
+by the appearance of Laura. From a window she had observed the gentlemen
+leave the house together; had watched Hargrave's angry gestures, and
+seen De Courcy accompany him into the by-path. The evil which she had so
+long dreaded seemed now on the point of completion; and alarm leaving no
+room for reserve, she followed them with her utmost speed.
+
+'Oh, Mr De Courcy,' she cried, with a look and attitude of most earnest
+supplication, 'for mercy leave this madman!--If you would not make me
+for ever miserable, carry this no further--I entreat--I implore you.
+Fear for me, if you fear not for yourself.' The tender solicitude for
+the safety of his rival, which Hargrave imagined her words and gestures
+to express, the triumphant delight which they called up to the eyes of
+De Courcy, exasperated Hargrave beyond all bounds of self-command.
+Frantic with jealousy and rage, he drew, and rushed fiercely on De
+Courcy; but Montague having neither fear nor anger to disturb his
+presence of mind, parried the thrust with his cane, closed with his
+adversary before he could recover, wrested the weapon from his hand; and
+having calmly ascertained that no person could be injured by its fall,
+threw it over the fence into the adjoining field. Then taking Hargrave
+aside, he whispered that he would immediately return to him; and, giving
+his arm to Laura, led her towards the house.
+
+She trembled violently, and big tears rolled down her colourless cheeks,
+as, vainly struggling with her emotion, she said, 'Surely you will not
+endanger a life so precious, so'--She was unable to proceed; but, laying
+her hand on De Courcy's arm, she raised her eyes to his face, with such
+a look of piteous appeal as reached his very soul. Enchanted to find his
+safety the object of such tender interest, he again forgot his caution;
+and, fondly supporting with his arm the form which seemed almost sinking
+to the earth, 'What danger would I not undergo,' he cried, 'to purchase
+such concern as this! Be under no alarm, dear Miss Montreville. Even if
+my sentiments in regard to duelling were other than they are, no
+provocation should tempt me to implicate your revered name in a quarrel
+which would, from its very nature, become public.' Somewhat
+tranquillized by his words, Laura walked silently by his side till they
+reached the house, when, in a cheerful tone, he bade her farewell. 'A
+short farewell,' said he, 'for I must see you again this evening.'
+Laura could scarcely prevail on herself to part from him. 'May I trust
+you?' said she, with a look of anxiety that spoke volumes. 'Securely,
+dearest Laura,' answered he. 'He whom you trust needs no other motive
+for rectitude.' He then hastened from her into the field, whither he had
+thrown Hargrave's sword; and having found it, sprung over into the lane
+where he had left its owner. Gracefully presenting it to him, De Courcy
+begged pardon for having deprived him of it, 'though,' added he, 'I
+believe you are now rather disposed to thank me for preventing the
+effects of a momentary irritation.' Hargrave took his sword, and, in
+surly silence walked on; then, suddenly stopping, he repeated that there
+was only one way in which the quarrel could be decided; and asked De
+Courcy whether he was determined to refuse him satisfaction. 'The only
+satisfaction,' returned De Courcy, 'which is consistent with my notions
+of right and wrong, I will give you now, on the spot. It is not to my
+information that you owe Miss Montreville's displeasure. Circumstances,
+which I own were wholly foreign to any consideration of your interests,
+induced me to keep your secret almost as if it had been my own; and it
+is from others that she has learnt a part of your conduct, which, you
+must give me leave to say, warrants, even on the ground of modern
+honour, my refusal to treat you as an equal.' 'Insolent!' cried
+Hargrave, 'Leave me--avoid me, if you would not again provoke me to
+chastise you, unarmed as you are.' 'My horses wait for me at the gate,'
+said De Courcy, coolly proceeding by his side, 'and your way seems to
+lie in the same direction as mine.'
+
+The remainder of the way was passed in silence. At the gate, De Courcy
+mounting his horse, bid his rival good morning, which the other returned
+with an ungracious bow. De Courcy rode home, and Hargrave, finding
+himself master of the field, returned to Walbourne. There he exerted his
+utmost influence with Lady Pelham to procure an opportunity of excusing
+himself to Laura. Lady Pelham confessed that she could not venture to
+take the tone of command, lest she should drive Laura to seek shelter
+elsewhere; but she promised to contrive an occasion for an interview
+which he might prolong at his pleasure, provided such a one could be
+found without her apparent interference. With this promise he was
+obliged for the present to content himself, for, during his stay, Laura
+did not appear. She passed the day in disquiet. She could not rest. She
+could not employ herself. She dreaded lest the interview of the morning
+should have been only preparatory to one of more serious consequence.
+She told herself a hundred times that she was sure of De Courcy's
+principles; and yet feared as if they had been unworthy of confidence.
+He had promised to see her in the evening, and she anxiously expected
+the performance of his promise. She knew that if he came while Lady
+Pelham was in the way, her Ladyship would be too vigilant a guard to let
+one confidential word be exchanged. She therefore, with a
+half-pardonable cunning, said not a word of De Courcy's promised visit;
+and as soon as her aunt betook herself to her afternoon's nap, stole
+from the drawing-room to receive him. Yet perhaps she never met him with
+less semblance of cordiality. She blushed and stammered while she
+expressed her hopes that the morning's dispute was to have no further
+consequences, and apologized for the interest she took in it, in
+language more cold than she would have used to a mere stranger. Scarcely
+could the expression of tenderness have delighted the lover like this
+little ill-concealed affectation, the first and the last which he ever
+witnessed in Laura Montreville. 'Ah, dearest Laura,' cried he, 'it is
+too late to retract--You have said that my safety was dear to you; owned
+that it was for _me_ you feared this morning, and you shall not cancel
+your confession.' Laura's colour deepened to crimson, but she made no
+other reply. Then, with a more timid voice and air, De Courcy said, 'I
+would have told you _then_ what dear presumptuous hopes your anxiety
+awakened, but that I feared to extort from your agitation what perhaps a
+cooler moment might refuse me. My long-loved, ever dear Laura, will you
+pardon me these hopes? Will you not speak to me?--Not one little word to
+tell me that I am not too daring.' Laura spoke not even that little
+word. She made a faint struggle to withdraw the hand which De Courcy
+pressed. Yet the lover read the expressions of her half-averted face,
+and was satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+'Pray,' said Lady Pelham to her niece, 'what might you and your paragon
+be engaged in for the hour and a half you were together this evening?'
+
+'We were discussing a very important subject, Madam,' answered Laura,
+mustering all her confidence.
+
+'May I be permitted to inquire into the nature of it?' returned Lady
+Pelham, covering her spleen with a thin disguise of ceremony.
+
+'Certainly, Madam,' replied Laura. 'You may remember I once told you
+that if ever I received addresses which I could with honour reveal, I
+should bespeak your Ladyship's patience for my tale. Mr De Courcy was
+talking of marriage, Madam; and--and I--'
+
+'Oh, mighty well, Miss Montreville,' cried Lady Pelham, swelling with
+rage, 'I comprehend you perfectly. You may spare your modesty. Keep all
+these airs and blushes till you tell Colonel Hargrave, that all your
+fine high-flown passion for him has been quite at the service of the
+next man you met with!'
+
+Laura's eyes filled with tears of mortification, yet she meekly
+answered, 'I am conscious that the degrading attachment of which I was
+once the sport merits your upbraidings; and indeed they have not been
+its least punishment.' She paused for a moment, and then added with an
+insinuating smile. 'I can bear that you should reproach me with my new
+choice, for inconstancy is the prescriptive right of woman, and nothing
+else can be objected to my present views.'
+
+'Oh, far be it from me!' cried Lady Pelham, scorn and anger throwing her
+whole little person into active motion, 'far be it from me to make any
+objection to your immaculate swain! I would have you understand,
+however, that no part of my property shall go to enrich a parcel of
+proud beggars. It was indeed my intention, if you had made a proper
+match, to give you the little all that I have to bestow; but if you
+prefer starving with your methodist parson to being the heiress of
+five-and-forty thousand pounds, I have no more to say. However, you had
+better keep your own secret. The knowledge of it might probably alter Mr
+De Courcy's plans a little.'
+
+'Your Ladyship,' answered Laura, with spirit, 'has good access to know
+that the love of wealth has little influence on my purposes; and I
+assure you that Mr De Courcy would scorn upon any terms to appropriate
+what he considers as the unalienable right of your own child. Though we
+shall not be affluent, we shall be too rich for your charity, and that
+is the only claim in which I could compete with Mrs Herbert.'
+
+This mention of her daughter exasperated Lady Pelham to fury. In a voice
+half-choked with passion, she cried, 'Neither that rebellious wretch nor
+any of her abbettors or imitators shall ever have countenance or
+assistance from me. No! Not though they should beg with their starved
+bantlings from door to door.' To this intemperate speech Laura made no
+reply, but quietly began to pour out the tea. Lady Pelham continued to
+hurry up and down the room, chafing, and venting her rage in common
+abuse; for a scold in the drawing-room is not very unlike a scold at a
+green-stall. The storm meeting with no opposition, at length spent
+itself; or subsided into short growlings, uttered at the intervals of a
+surly silence. To these, as no answer was absolutely necessary, none was
+returned. Laura did not utter a syllable, till Lady Pelham's wrath
+beginning to give place to her curiosity, she turned to her niece,
+saying, 'Pray, Miss Montreville, when and where is this same wise
+marriage of yours to take place?'
+
+'The time is not quite fixed, Madam,' answered Laura. 'As soon as you
+can conveniently spare me, I intend going to Scotland; and when you, and
+Mrs De Courcy wish me to return, Mr De Courcy will escort me back.'
+
+'I spare you!' returned Lady Pelham with a sneer--'Oh, Ma'am, if that is
+all, pray don't let me retard your raptures. You may go tomorrow, or
+to-night, Ma'am if you please.--Spare you indeed! Truly while I can
+afford to pay a domestic, I need not be dependent on your assistance;
+and in attachment or gratitude any common servant may supply your
+place.'
+
+The rudeness and ingratitude of this speech again forced the tears to
+Laura's eyes; but she mildly replied, 'Well, Madam, as soon as you find
+a substitute for me, I shall be ready to depart.' Then to escape
+further insult she quitted the room.
+
+Lady Pelham's wrath at the derangement of her plan would not suffer her
+to rest till she had communicated the disaster to Colonel Hargrave.
+Early next morning, accordingly, she dispatched a note requiring his
+immediate presence at Walbourne. He obeyed the summons, and was as usual
+privately received by Lady Pelham. He listened to her intelligence with
+transports of rage rather than of sorrow. He loaded his rival with
+execrations, declaring that he would rather see Laura torn in pieces
+than know her to be the wife of De Courcy. He swore that he would
+circumvent their schemes, and that though his life should be the
+forfeit, he would severely revenge the sufferings he had endured.
+
+Lady Pelham had not courage to encounter the evil spirit which she had
+raised. Subdued, and crouching before his violence, she continued to
+give a terrified assent to every extravagance he uttered, till he
+announced his resolution of seeing Laura on the instant, that he might
+know whether she dared to confirm this odious tale. Lady Pelham then
+ventured to represent to him that Laura might be so much offended by
+this breach of contract, as to take refuge with Mrs De Courcy, a measure
+which would oppose a new obstacle to any scheme for breaking off the
+intended marriage. She assured him that she would grant every reasonable
+assistance in preventing a connection so injurious to her niece's
+interest, though she knew Laura's obstinacy of temper too well to hope
+any thing from direct resistance. She hinted that it would be most
+prudent to give the desired interview the appearance of accident, and
+she promised to contrive the occasion as soon as Hargrave was
+sufficiently calm to consider of improving it to best advantage.
+
+But calm was a stranger to the breast of Hargrave. The disquiet which is
+the appointed portion of the wicked, raged there beyond control. To the
+anguish of disappointment were added the pangs of jealousy, and the
+heart-burnings of hatred and revenge. Even the loss of the object of
+three years eager pursuit was less cutting than the success of De
+Courcy; and the pain of a forfeiture which was the just punishment of a
+former crime, was heightened to agony by the workings of such passions
+as consummate the misery of fiends.
+
+The associates of the wicked must forego the consolations of honest
+sympathy. All Hargrave's tortures were aggravated by the sarcasms of
+Lambert; who, willing to hasten the fever to its crisis, goaded him with
+coarse comments upon the good fortune of his rival, and advices (which
+he well knew would act in a direction opposite to their seeming purpose)
+to desist from further competition. After spending four-and-twenty hours
+in alternate fits of rage and despair, Hargrave returned to Lady Pelham,
+informing her, that whatever were the consequences, he would no longer
+delay seeing Laura. Lady Pelham had foreseen this demand; and though not
+without fear of the event, had prepared for compliance. She had already
+arranged her scheme, and the execution was easy.
+
+Laura's favourite walk in the shrubbery led to a little summer-house,
+concealed in a thicket of acacias. Thither Lady Pelham had conveyed some
+dried plants, and had requested Laura's assistance in classing them.
+Laura had readily agreed, and that very morning had been allotted for
+the task. Lady Pelham, having first directed Hargrave where to take his
+station, accompanied her unsuspecting niece to the summer-house, and
+there for a while joined in her employment. Soon, however, feigning a
+pretext for half an hour's absence, she quitted Laura, intending at
+first to loiter in the shrubbery, as a kind of safeguard against the ill
+consequences of her imprudent connivance; but meeting with a gardener
+who was going to transplant a bed of favourite auriculas, she followed
+him to watch over their safety, leaving her niece to guard her own.
+
+Scarcely had Laura been a minute alone, ere she was startled by the
+entrance of Hargrave, and seriously alarmed by seeing him lock the door,
+and deliberately secure the key. 'What is it you mean, Sir?' said she,
+trembling.
+
+'To decide your fate and mine!' answered Hargrave, with a look and voice
+that struck terror to her soul. 'I am told you are a bride, Laura,' said
+he, speaking through his clenched teeth. 'Say,' continued he, firmly
+grasping her arm. 'Speak! is it so?'
+
+'I know no right,' said Laura, recovering herself, 'that you have to
+question me--nor meanly thus to steal--'
+
+'No evasions!' interrupted Hargrave, in a voice of thunder. 'I have
+rights--rights which I will maintain while I have being. Now tell me, if
+you dare, that you have transferred them to that abhorred--'
+
+He stopped,--his utterance choked by the frenzy into which he had worked
+himself. 'What has transported you to this fury, Colonel Hargrave?' said
+Laura, calmly. 'Surely you must be sensible, that whatever claims I
+might once have allowed you, have long since been made void by your own
+conduct. I will not talk to you of principle, though that were of itself
+sufficient to sever us forever; but ask yourself what right you can
+retain over the woman whom you have insulted, and forsaken, and
+oppressed, and outraged?'
+
+'Spare your taunts, Laura. They will only embitter the hour of
+retribution. And may hell be my portion, if I be not richly repaid for
+all the scorn you have heaped upon me. I will be revenged, proud woman.
+You shall be at my mercy, where no cool canting villain can wrest you
+from me!'
+
+His threats, and the frightful violence with which they were uttered,
+filled Laura with mingled dread and pity. 'Command yourself, I beseech
+you, Colonel Hargrave,' said she. 'If you resent the pain which, believe
+me, I have most unwillingly occasioned, you are amply revenged. You have
+already caused me sufferings which mock description.'
+
+'Yes, yes. I know it,' cried Hargrave in a milder voice. 'You were not
+then so hard. You could feel when that vile wanton first seduced me from
+you. Then think what I now endure, when this cold-blooded--but may I
+perish if I do not snatch his prize from him. And think not of
+resistance, Laura; for, by all that I have suffered, resistance shall be
+vain.'
+
+'Why do you talk so dreadfully to me?' said Laura, making a trembling
+effort to release her arm, which he still firmly grasped. 'Why, why will
+you not cease to persecute me? I have never injured you. I have
+forgiven, pitied, prayed for you. How have I deserved this worse than
+savage cruelty?'
+
+'Laura,' said Hargrave, moved by the pleadings of a voice which would
+have touched a murderer's heart, 'you have still a choice. Promise to be
+mine. Permit me only, by slow degrees, to regain what I have lost. Say
+that months--that years hence you will consent, and you are safe.'
+
+'Impossible!' said Laura. 'I cannot bind myself. Nor could you trust a
+promise extorted by fear. Yet be but half what I once thought you, and I
+will esteem--'
+
+'Esteem!' interrupted Hargrave, with a ghastly smile. 'Yes! And shrink
+from me, as you do now, while you hang on that detested wretch till even
+his frozen heart warm to passion. No!' continued he, with an awful
+adjuration, 'though the deed bring me to the scaffold, you shall be
+mine. You shall be my wife, too, Laura,--but not till you have besought
+me--sued at my feet for the title you have so often despised. I will be
+master of your fate, of that reputation, that virtue which you
+worship--and your minion shall know it, that he may writhe under
+jealousy and disappointment.'
+
+'Powers of Mercy!' cried Laura, raising her eyes in strong compunction,
+'have I made this mine idol!' Then, turning on Hargrave a look of deep
+repentance, 'Yes,' she continued, 'I deserve to see thee as thou art,
+without mitigation vile; since on thee my sacrilegious heart bestowed
+such love as was due to the Infinite alone!'
+
+'Oh, Laura,' cried Hargrave, softened by the remembrance of her youthful
+affection, 'let but one faint spark of that love revive, and I will
+forget all your scorns, and feel again such gentle wishes as blest our
+first hours of tenderness. Or only swear that you will renounce that
+bane of my existence--that you will shrink from him, shun him like a
+serpent!--Or give me your word only, and I will trust it. Your liberty,
+your person, shall be as sacred as those of angels. Promise them--'
+
+'Why do you attempt to terrify me?' said Laura, her indignation rising
+as her alarm subsided. 'I have perhaps no longer the right--even if I
+had the inclination--to utter such a vow. I trust that, in this land of
+freedom, I am safe from your violence. My reputation, frail as it is,
+you cannot harm without permission from on high; and if, for wise
+purposes, the permission be given, I doubt not that I shall be enabled
+to bear unjust reproach,--nay, even to profit by the wrong.'
+
+Hargrave suffered her to conclude; rage bereft him, for a time, of the
+power of utterance. Then, bursting into a torrent of reproach, he
+upbraided her in language the most insulting. 'Do you dare to own,' said
+he, 'that your base inclinations favour that abhorred--that this
+accursed marriage is your choice--your free choice?' He paused in vain
+for a reply. Laura would not irritate him further, and scorned to
+disguise the truth. 'Then, Laura,' said he, and he confirmed the
+sentence with a dreadful oath, 'you have sealed your fate. Think you
+that your De Courcy shall foil me? By Heaven, I will see you perish
+first. I will tear you from him, though I answer it with my life and
+soul. Let this be the pledge of my triumph'--and he made a motion to
+clasp her rudely in his arms. With a cry of dread and horror, Laura
+sprung from him, and, throwing open the casement, called loudly for
+assistance. Hargrave forced her back. 'Spare your alarms, my lovely
+proud one,' said he, with a smile, which made her blood run cold. 'You
+are safe till we meet where cries will be useless. What! may I not even
+kiss this pretty hand, as earnest that you shall soon be mine beyond the
+power of fate?' 'Silence, audacious!' cried Laura, bursting into tears
+of mingled fear and indignation, while she struggled violently to
+disengage her hands. 'Nay, this rosy cheek will content me better,'
+cried Hargrave, and was again attempting to clasp her--when the door was
+burst suddenly open, and De Courcy appeared.
+
+'Ruffian!' he exclaimed, approaching Hargrave, who, in his surprise,
+permitted his prey to escape. Her fears now taking a new direction,
+Laura flew to intercept De Courcy. 'Ah!' she cried, 'my folly has done
+this. Fly from this madman, I entreat you. I have nothing to fear but
+for you. Begone, I implore you.'
+
+'And leave you to such treatment! Not while I have life! When you choose
+to go, I will attend you. For you, Sir!--But I must stoop below the
+language of a gentleman ere I find words to describe your conduct.'
+
+'For Heaven's sake,' cried Laura, 'dear De Courcy, provoke him no
+further. Let us fly this place;' and clinging to De Courcy's arm, she
+drew him on; while, with the other, he defended her from Hargrave, who
+had advanced to detain her. Her expression of regard, her confiding
+attitude, exasperated the frenzy of Hargrave to the uttermost. Almost
+unconscious of his actions, he drew a pistol from his pocket and fired.
+Laura uttered a cry of terror, clasping her lover's arm more closely to
+her breast. 'Be not alarmed love,' whispered De Courcy. 'It is
+nothing!'--and staggering forward a few paces, he fell to the ground.
+
+Laura, in desperation rushed from the summer-house, calling wildly for
+help; then struck with the fearful thought that Hargrave might complete
+his bloody work, she hastened back. During the few moments of her
+absence, De Courcy addressed his murderer, whose rage had given place to
+a mild stupor. 'I fear this is an unlucky stroke, Hargrave. Save
+yourself. My horse is at the gate.' Hargrave answered only with a groan;
+and, striking his clenched hand on his forehead, turned away. His crime
+was unpremeditated. No train of self-deceit had reconciled his
+conscience to its atrocity. The remembrance of the courage which had
+saved his life; the generous concern of De Courcy for his safety;
+humility, the last virtue which utterly forsakes us, all awakened him to
+remorse, keen and overwhelming, like every other passion of Hargrave.
+Not bearing to look upon his victim, he stood fixed and motionless;
+while Laura, on her knees, watched, in dismay, the changing countenance
+of De Courcy, and strove to staunch the blood which was streaming from
+his wound.
+
+De Courcy once more tried to cheer Laura with words of comfort. 'Were
+it not,' said he, 'for the pleasure this kind concern gives me, I might
+tell you that I do not suffer much pain. I am sure I could rise, if I
+could trust this slender arm,' laying his hand gently upon it. Laura
+eagerly offered her assistance as he attempted to raise himself; but the
+effort overpowered him, and he sunk back fainting.
+
+In the strong language of terror, Laura besought Hargrave to procure
+help. Still motionless, his forehead resting against the wall, his hands
+clenched as in convulsion, Hargrave seemed not to heed her entreaties.
+'Have you no mercy?' cried she, clasping the arm from which she had so
+lately shrunk in horror. 'He saved your life. Will you let him perish
+without aid?' 'Off, woman!' cried Hargrave, throwing her from him. 'Thy
+witchcraft has undone me;' and he distractedly hurried away.
+
+Laura's terror was not the passive cowardice of a feeble mind. She was
+left alone to judge, to act, for herself--for more than herself.
+Immediate, momentous decision was necessary. And she did decide by an
+effort of which no mind enfeebled by sloth or selfishness would have
+been capable. She saw that loss of blood was the cause of De Courcy's
+immediate danger, a danger which might be irremediable before he could
+receive assistance from more skilful hands than her's. Such remedy,
+then, as she could command she hastened to apply.
+
+To the plants which their beauty had recommended to Lady Pelham, Laura
+had added a few of which the usefulness was known to her. Agaric of the
+oak was of the number, and she had often applied it where many a hand
+less fair would have shrunk from the task. Nor did she hesitate now. The
+ball had entered near the neck; and the feminine, the delicate Laura
+herself disengaged the wound from its coverings; the feeling, the tender
+Laura herself performed an office from which false sensibility would
+have recoiled in horror.
+
+She was thus employed when she was found by a woman whom Hargrave had
+met and sent to her assistance, with an indistinct message, from which
+Laura gathered that he was gone in search of a surgeon. The woman no
+sooner cast her eyes on the bloody form of De Courcy, and on the
+colourless face of Laura, more death-like than his, than, with noisy
+imbecility, she began to bewail and ejaculate. Laura, however, instantly
+put a stop to her exclamations by dispatching her for cordials and
+assistance. In a few minutes all the household was assembled round De
+Courcy; yet such was the general curiosity, horror, or astonishment,
+that he would have remained unaided but for the firmness of her who was
+most interested in the scene. She dismissed every one whose presence
+was unnecessary, and silenced the rest by peremptory command. She
+administered a cordial to recruit the failing strength of De Courcy; and
+causing him to be raised to the posture which seemed the least painful,
+made her own trembling arms his support.
+
+Nothing further now remained to be done, and Laura began to feel the
+full horrors of her situation; to weigh the fearful probability that all
+her cares were vain; to upbraid herself as the cause of this dire
+tragedy. Her anguish was too great to find relief in tears. Pale and
+cold as marble, chilly drops bursting from her forehead, she sat in the
+stillness of him who waits the sentence of condemnation, save when a
+convulsive shudder expressed her suffering.
+
+The mournful quiet was interrupted by the entrance of Lady Pelham, who,
+quite out of breath, began a string of questions, mixed with abundance
+of ejaculation. 'Bless my soul!' she cried, 'how has all this happened?
+For heaven's sake, Laura, tell me the meaning of all this. Why don't you
+speak, girl? Good Lord! could you not have prevented these madmen from
+quarrelling? What brought De Courcy here? How did he find you out? Why
+don't you speak. Mercy on me! Is the girl out of her senses?'
+
+The expression of deep distress with which Laura now raised her eyes,
+reminded Lady Pelham of the sensibility requisite upon such an occasion,
+which her Ladyship's curiosity had hitherto driven from her
+recollection. Approaching, therefore, to De Courcy, she took a hasty
+look at this dismal spectacle; and exclaiming, 'Oh what a sight is here!
+Unfortunate Laura! Dear wretched girl!' she began first to sob, and then
+to scream violently. Laura motioned to the attendants to lead her away;
+and she suffered them to do so without resistance; but she had no sooner
+crossed the threshold, than, perceiving the spectators whom curiosity
+had collected in the shrubbery, she redoubled her shrieks, struggled,
+beat herself; and, but for the untoward strength of her nerves, would
+have soon converted her pretended fit into reality. Wearied with her
+efforts, she was beginning to relax them, when the surgeon appeared, and
+her Ladyship was more vociferous than ever. Mr Raby, a quiet sensible
+man, undertook her care before he proceeded to his more serious
+business; and, either guided by his previous acquaintance with his
+patient, or by his experience in similar cases, gave a prescription
+which, though simple was perfectly efficacious. He directed that the
+lady should be instantly secluded in her own chamber, with only one
+attendant; and the remedy proved so beneficial, that her Ladyship
+enjoyed a night of tranquil repose.
+
+He next turned his attention to De Courcy; and judging it proper to
+extract the ball without delay, advised Laura to retire. Without
+opposition she prepared to obey; and, seeing De Courcy about to speak,
+put her hand on his lips to save him the exertion, and herself the pain
+of a farewell. Yet, as she resigned her charge, raising her eyes to
+heaven, once more to commend De Courcy to the divine protection, the
+fervour of her supplication burst into words. 'Oh if it be possible! if
+it be possible!'--she cried. 'Yes it is possible,' said De Courcy,
+comprehending the unfinished sentence. 'Your firmness, noble creature,
+has made it possible.' Reproaching herself with having allowed De Courcy
+to perceive her alarm, she hastened away; and seating herself on the
+steps that led to the door, awaited in silence the event of the
+operation.
+
+Here, as she sorrowfully called to mind the various excellencies of De
+Courcy, his piety, his integrity, his domestic virtues, so lately known,
+so soon to be lost to her, she suddenly recollected the heavier calamity
+of the mother deprived of such a son, and perceived the inhumanity of
+permitting the stroke to fall without preparation. Having access to no
+messenger more tender than a common servant, she determined, though with
+unspeakable reluctance, herself to bear the tidings to Mrs De Courcy. 'I
+will know the worst,' thought she, 'and then'--
+
+She started at a faint noise that sounded from the summer-house. Steps
+approached the door from within. She sprung up, and the surgeon
+appeared. 'I have the happiness to tell you,' said he, 'that, if no
+fever take place, our friend is safe. The chief danger has been from
+loss of blood; and your presence of mind--Ah!--Do you feel faint?'--
+
+The awful interest which had supported the spirits of Laura thus
+suddenly withdrawn, the tide of various feeling overpowered them; and
+she sunk into one of those long and deep faintings which were now
+unhappily become in some degree constitutional with her. Mr Raby having
+given directions for her recovery, placed De Courcy in Lady Pelham's
+carriage, and himself attended him to Norwood; where he mitigated Mrs De
+Courcy's horror and distress by assuring her of her son's safety, which
+he again delighted Montague by ascribing to the cares of Laura.
+
+It was late in the evening before Laura was sufficiently collected to
+review with composure the events of the day! As soon, however, as she
+was capable of considering all the circumstances, a suspicion occurred
+that her unfortunate interview with Hargrave had been sanctioned, if not
+contrived by Lady Pelham. That he should know the place and the hour in
+which he might surprise her alone;--that to this place, which because of
+its loneliness she had of late rather deserted, she should be conducted
+by her aunt;--that at this moment she should upon a trivial pretence be
+left in solitude,--seemed a coincidence too strong to be merely
+accidental. She recollected some symptoms of private communication
+between Lady Pelham and Hargrave. Suspicions of connivance in the
+infamous strategem of her arrest again revived in her mind. Lady Pelham,
+she perceived, had afforded her a protection at best imperfect, perhaps
+treacherous. Hargrave's late threats too, as she revolved them in her
+thoughts, appeared more like the intimations of settled design than the
+vague ravings of passion. Prudence, therefore, seemed to require that
+she should immediately provide for her own safety: and indignation at
+her aunt's breach of confidence, hastened the purpose which she formed,
+to leave Walbourne without delay. She determined to go the next morning
+to Norwood, there to remain till De Courcy shewed signs of
+convalescence, and then perform her long-projected journey to Scotland.
+
+In order to avoid unpleasant altercation, she resolved to depart without
+warning Lady Pelham of her intention; merely announcing by letter the
+reasons of her conduct. The affectionate Laura would not have parted
+from the meanest servant without a kindly farewell; but her innate
+abhorrence of treachery steeled her heart, and she rejoiced that it was
+possible to escape all present intercourse with her deceitful kinswoman.
+
+As soon as the dawn appeared she arose; and on her knees thankfully
+acknowledged the protecting care which had watched over her, since first
+as a destitute orphan she applied to Lady Pelham. She blessed the
+goodness which had softened in her favour a heart little subject to
+benevolent expressions, which had restored her in sickness, consoled her
+in sorrow, delivered her from the snares of the wicked, and opened to
+her the joys of virtuous friendship. And where is the wretch so
+miserable that he may not in the review of eighteen months find subjects
+of gratitude still more numerous! Laura began no important action of her
+life without imploring a blessing on the event; and she now proceeded to
+commend herself and her future prospects to the same care of which she
+had glad experience.
+
+The proper business of the morning ended, she had begun to make
+arrangements for her immediate departure; when she heard Lady Pelham's
+bell ring, and the next instant heard a noise like that occasioned by
+the fall of something heavy. She listened for a while, but all was again
+still. The rest of the family were yet buried in sleep, and Laura
+hearing no one stirring to answer Lady Pelham's summons, began to fear
+that her aunt was ill, perhaps unable to make any further effort to
+procure assistance. At this idea, all her just indignation subsiding in
+a moment, she flew to Lady Pelham's chamber.
+
+Lady Pelham was lying on the floor, having apparently fallen in an
+attempt to rise from her bed. She was alive though insensible; and her
+face, though altered, was still florid. Laura soon procuring help,
+raised her from the ground; and guessing that apoplexy was her disorder,
+placed her in an upright posture, loosened her night-clothes, and having
+hurried away a servant for Mr Raby, ventured, until his arrival, upon
+such simple remedies as she knew might be safely administered. In little
+more than an hour the surgeon arrived; and having examined his patient,
+declared her to be in extreme danger. Before he left her, however, he
+succeeded in restoring her to some degree of recollection; yet, far from
+changing his first opinion, he advised Laura to lose no time in making
+every necessary use of an amendment which he feared would be only
+transient.
+
+From Lady Pelham, he went to Norwood; and returning to Walbourne in the
+evening, brought the pleasing intelligence that De Courcy continued to
+do well. This second visit produced no change in his sentiments, and he
+remained persuaded that though Lady Pelham might continue to linger for
+a time, the shock had been too great to allow of complete recovery.
+Laura now rejoiced that she had not executed her purpose of leaving
+Walbourne; since, had her aunt's illness succeeded to the rage which her
+departure would have excited, she could never have ceased to blame
+herself as the cause. She looked with profound compassion, too, upon the
+condition of an unfortunate being, whose death-bed was neither smoothed
+by affection, nor cheered by pious hope. 'Unhappy woman!' thought she,
+as she sat watching an unquiet slumber into which her aunt had fallen,
+'to whom the best gifts of nature and of fortune have, by some fatality,
+been useless, or worse than useless; whose affluence has purchased no
+higher joys than half-grudged luxuries; whose abilities have dazzled
+others and bewildered herself, but lent no steady light to guide her
+way; whose generosity has called forth no gratitude, whose kindness has
+awakened no affection; to whom length of days has brought no reverence,
+and length of intimacy no friends! Even the sacred ties of nature have
+been to her unblessed. Her only child, driven from her in anger, dares
+not approach to share the last sad offices with me, who, in performing
+them, must forgive as well as pity. Favourite of fortune! what has been
+wanting to thee save that blessing which "bringeth no sorrow with it."
+But that blessing was light in thine esteem; and amidst the glitter of
+thy toys, the "pearl of great price" was disregarded.'
+
+For some days Lady Pelham continued much in the same situation. She
+suffered no pain, yet gave no signs of amendment. On the sixth morning
+from her first attack she grew suddenly and materially worse. It was
+soon discovered that her limbs were paralyzed, and the surgeon declared
+that her end could not be very distant. Her senses, however, again
+returned, and she continued free from pain. She shewed little
+apprehension of her own danger; and Laura debated with herself whether
+she should permit her aunt to dream away the last precious hours of
+probation, or endeavour to awaken her to a sense of her condition.
+
+Laura had no faith in death-bed repentance. She knew that resolution of
+amendment which there is no longer time to practise, and renunciation of
+sin made under the immediate prospect of punishment, are at best
+suspicious. She knew that, in the ordinary course of providence, the
+grace which has been long despised is at length justly withdrawn. Yet
+she saw that she had no right to judge Lady Pelham as wholly impenitent;
+and she considered a death-bed as highly suitable to the renewal, though
+not to the beginning of repentance. She knew too, that the call _might_
+be made effectual at the 'eleventh hour;' and the bare chance was worth
+the toil of ages. She felt how little she herself would have valued the
+mistaken pity which could suffer her to enter on the 'dark valley'
+without a warning to cling closer to the 'staff and rod' of
+comfort:--She therefore ventured to hint gently to Lady Pelham the
+opinion of her medical friends, and to remind her of the duty of
+preparing for the worst.
+
+Lady Pelham at first appeared a good deal shocked; and lay for some time
+apparently meditating upon her situation. At last, recovering her
+spirits, she said, 'Your nerves, Laura, were always so coarse, that you
+seemed to me to take a pleasure in thinking of shocking things; but I
+am sure it is abominably barbarous in you to tease me with them now I am
+ill. Do keep your horrid fancies to yourself, or keep away till you are
+cured of the vapours--I dare say it is your dismal face that makes me
+dream so unpleasantly.'
+
+Laura, however, was not to be so discouraged. She took occasion to
+represent that no harm could ensue from preparing to meet the foe; since
+his march was not to be retarded by shutting our eyes on his advances,
+nor hastened by the daring which watched his approach. She at length
+thought she had succeeded in convincing her aunt of her danger. Lady
+Pelham _said_ that she feared she was dying, and she believed that she
+said the truth. But Lady Pelham had had sixty years practice in
+self-deceit. The fear might flutter in her imagination, but was not
+strong enough to touch her heart. Laura, however, made use of her
+acknowledgement to press upon her the duties of forgiveness and charity
+towards all mindkind, and especially towards her child; reminding her of
+the affecting parity of situation between offending man and his
+disobedient offspring. Lady Pelham at first answered impatiently that
+she would not be argued on this subject; but as her spirits began to
+fail under the first confinement which she had ever endured, she became
+more tractable. 'God knows,' said she to Laura, one day, 'we all have
+much need to be forgiven; and therefore we must forgive in our turn. For
+my part I am sure I die in charity with all mankind, and with that
+creature among the rest. However, I shall take my friend the Spectator's
+advice, and remember the difference between giving and _for_giving.'
+
+Laura often begged permission to send for Mrs Herbert; but Lady Pelham
+sometimes postponed it till she should get better, sometimes till she
+should grow worse. Laura was in the meantime her constant attendant;
+bearing with her peevishness, soothing her caprice, and striving to
+rouse in her feelings suitable to her condition. Finding, however, that
+she made but little progress in her pious work, she begged that she
+might be allowed to take the assistance of a clergyman. 'A clergyman,
+child!' cried Lady Pelham. 'Do you imagine me to be a papist? Or do you
+think me capable of such weak superstitution as to place more reliance
+on a parson's prayers than on yours, or my maid Betty's? No, no! I trust
+I have been no worse than other people; and I hope, though I may be
+weak, I shall never be fanatical. Besides, I have too high a sense of
+the Divine Justice to think that our Maker would first give us
+ungovernable passions, and then punish us for yielding to them. A
+phlegmatic being like you, may indeed be called to strict account; but
+people of strong feelings must be judged by a different standard.' 'Oh,
+Madam,' said Laura, 'be assured that our Maker gives us no unconquerable
+passions. If we ourselves have made them so, it becomes us to be humbled
+in the dust, not to glory in the presumptuous hope that He will soften
+the sanctions of his law to favour our remissness.'
+
+Driven from the strong hold of justice, rather by the increase of her
+bodily languor, than by the force of truth, the dying sinner had
+recourse to mercy,--a mercy, however, of her own composing. 'It is
+true,' said she one day to Laura, 'that I have done some things which I
+have reason to regret, and which, I must confess, deserve punishment.
+But Divine Mercy towards believers, we are told, is infinite; and though
+I may at times have doubted, I have never disbelieved.' Laura,
+shuddering at this awful blindness, was striving to frame a useful
+reply, when she saw her aunt's countenance change. It was distorted by a
+momentary convulsion, and then fixed for ever in the stillness of
+death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+Laura was more shocked than afflicted by the death of a person whom she
+was unable to love, and had no reason to respect. She lost no time in
+conveying the news to Mrs Herbert, begging that she would herself come
+and give the necessary directions. Thinking it proper to remain at
+Walbourne till after her aunt's funeral, she refused Mrs De Courcy's
+invitation to spend at Norwood the time which intervened. De Courcy
+continued to recover fast; and Laura, thinking she might soon leave him
+without anxiety, again fixed an early day for her journey to Scotland.
+
+Notwithstanding Laura's knowledge of the phlegmatic temperament of her
+cousin, she was surprised at the stoicism with which Mrs Herbert
+supported the death of her mother. She examined the dead body with a
+cold comment on its appearance; gave orders for the interment in an
+unfaltering voice; and neither seemed to feel nor to affect the
+slightest concern. Nor did her philosophy appear to fail her one jot,
+when, upon opening the will, she was found to be left without
+inheritance. The paper, which had been drawn up a few months before,
+evinced Lady Pelham's adherence to her scheme for her niece's
+advancement; and this, with her obstinate enmity to Mrs Herbert,
+furnished the only instance of her consistency or perseverance, which
+were ever known to the world. Her whole property she bequeathed to Laura
+Montreville, and to her second son upon taking the name of Pelham,
+provided that Laura married Colonel Hargrave, or a peer, or the eldest
+son of a peer; but if she married a commoner, or remained unmarried, she
+was to inherit only ten thousand pounds, the bulk of the property going
+to a distant relation.
+
+The very hour that this will was made public, Laura informed the
+contingent heir that he might possess himself of his inheritance, since
+she would certainly never perform the conditions which alone could
+destroy his claim. Not acquiescing in the justice of excluding Mrs
+Herbert from her natural rights she would instantly have offered to
+share with her cousin the bequest of Lady Pelham; but considering that
+her engagement with De Courcy entitled him to decide on the disposal of
+whatever belonged to his future wife, she hastened to ask his sanction
+to her purpose. De Courcy, without hesitation, advised that the whole
+should be given up to its natural owner. 'We shall have enough for
+humble comfort, dear Laura,' said he, 'and have no need to grasp at a
+doubtful claim.' Laura, however, differed from him in opinion. She
+thought she might, in strict justice, retain part of the bequest of so
+near a relation; and she felt pleased to think that she should enter the
+De Courcy family not altogether portionless. She therefore reserved two
+thousand pounds, giving up the rest unconditionally to Mrs Herbert.
+
+These points being settled, nothing now remained to retard Laura's
+journey to Scotland. Mrs De Courcy, indeed, urged her to postpone it
+till Montague should acquire a right to be her escort; but Laura
+objected that it was her wish to give a longer time to her old friend
+than she thought it proper to withdraw De Courcy from his business and
+his home. She reflected, too, with a light heart, that a protector in
+her journey was now less necessary, since her mad lover, as Harriet
+called Colonel Hargrave, had embarked for America. Laura had heard of
+his departure before her aunt's death; and she gladly observed that
+favourable winds were speeding him across the Atlantic.
+
+The day preceding that on which she meant to leave Walbourne, she spent
+with Mrs De Courcy and Montague; who, though not entirely recovered, was
+able to resume his station in the family-room. De Courcy, with the
+enthusiasm of youth and love, spoke of his happy prospects; his mother,
+with the sober eye of experience, looked forward to joys as substantial,
+though less dazzling; while feminine modesty suppressed the pleasure
+with which Laura felt that she was necessary to these schemes of bliss.
+With the confidence of mutual esteem they arranged their plan of
+life,--a plan at once embracing usefulness and leisure, retirement and
+hospitality. Laura consented that one month, 'one little month,' should
+begin the accomplishment of these golden dreams; for she permitted De
+Courcy to follow her at the end of that time to Scotland. A few weeks
+they were to spend in wandering through the romantic scenes of her
+native land; and then join Mrs De Courcy at Norwood, which was to
+continue her permanent abode.
+
+Laura remained with her friends till the evening was closing; then,
+avoiding the solemnity of a farewell by a half-promise of stopping as
+she passed the next day, she sprung into Mrs De Courcy's carriage, and
+drove off. Tears rushed to De Courcy's eyes as the carriage was lost to
+his sight. 'I am still weak,' thought he as he dashed them away. 'She
+will soon return to bring gladness to every heart, and double joy to
+mine. To-morrow too I shall see her,' thought he; yet he continued
+depressed, and soon retired to his chamber.
+
+Mrs De Courcy and her son met early the next morning, expecting that
+Laura would early begin her journey. Montague stationed himself at the
+window to watch for her appearance; half fearing that she would not keep
+her promise, yet every minute repeating that it was impossible she could
+go without bidding farewell. The breakfast hour arrived, and still Laura
+came not. De Courcy, impatient, forgot his weakness, and insisted upon
+walking to the gate that he might inquire whether a carriage had passed
+from Walbourne.
+
+He had scarcely left the house when old John, with a face that boded
+evil, hastily came to beg that his Lady would speak with a servant of
+Lady Pelham's. Mrs De Courcy, somewhat alarmed, desired that the servant
+might come in. 'Please, Madam,' said he, 'let me know where I may find
+Miss Montreville. The carriage has waited for her these three hours?'
+'Good heavens!' cried Mrs De Courcy, in consternation. 'Is Miss
+Montreville not at Walbourne?' 'No, Madam, she has not been there since
+yesterday morning.' Mrs De Courcy, now in extreme alarm, summoned her
+coachman, and desired to know where he had left Miss Montreville the
+evening before. He answered, that, at Laura's desire, he had set her
+down at the gate of Walbourne; that he had seen her enter; and
+afterwards, in turning the carriage, had observed her walking along the
+avenue towards the house. Inexpressibly shocked, Mrs De Courcy had yet
+the presence of mind to forbid alarming her son with these fearful
+tidings. As soon as she could recollect herself, she dispatched old
+Wilson, on whose discretion she thought she might rely, to inform De
+Courcy that a message from Walbourne had made her cease to expect
+Laura's visit. Montague returned home, sad and disappointed. His
+melancholy questions and comments increased the distress of his mother.
+'Did she not even write one line?' said he. 'Could you have believed
+that she would go without one farewell--that she could have passed our
+very gate?' 'She was willing to spare you the pain of a farewell,' said
+Mrs De Courcy, checking the anguish of her heart. 'She will write soon,
+I hope.'
+
+But day after day passed, and Laura did not write. Mrs De Courcy, still
+concealing from her son a misfortune which she thought him yet unequal
+to bear, used every possible exertion to trace the fugitive. She offered
+high rewards to whoever could afford the smallest clue to discovery. She
+advertised in every newspaper except that which De Courcy was accustomed
+to read. Her suspicions at first falling upon Hargrave, she caused
+particular inquiry to be made whether any of his domestics had been left
+in England with orders to follow him; but she found that he with his
+whole suite had sailed from Europe more than a fortnight before Laura's
+disappearance. She employed emissaries to prosecute the search in almost
+every part of the kingdom. Judging the metropolis to be the most likely
+place of concealment, she made application to the officers of police for
+assistance in her inquiries there. All was in vain. No trace of Laura
+was to be found.
+
+For a while De Courcy amused himself from day to day with the hope of
+hearing from her; a hope which his mother had not the courage to
+destroy. He calculated that she would reach the end of her journey on
+the sixth day after that on which she left him. On the seventh she would
+certainly write; therefore in four or five more he should undoubtedly
+hear from her. The expected day came and passed as others had done,
+without bringing news of Laura. Another and another came, and ended only
+in disappointment. De Courcy was miserable. He knew not how to account
+for a silence so adverse to the considerate kindness of Laura's
+character, except by supposing that illness made her unable to write.
+This idea gathering strength in his mind, he resolved to follow her
+immediately to Scotland, tracing her through the route which he knew she
+intended to take. Mrs De Courcy in vain attempted to dissuade him from
+the prosecution of his design, and to sooth him with hopes which she
+knew too well would prove deceitful. He was resolute, and Mrs De Courcy
+was at last obliged to prevent his fruitless journey by unfolding the
+truth. The utmost tenderness of caution was insufficient to prevent the
+effects of this blow on De Courcy's bodily frame. In a few hours strong
+fever seized him; and his wound, which had hitherto worn a favourable
+appearance, gave alarming symptoms of inflammation. Three weeks did Mrs
+De Courcy watch by his bedside in all the anguish of a mother's fears;
+forgetting, in her anxiety for his life, that he must for a time live
+only to sorrow. The balance long hung doubtful. At length the strength
+of his constitution and his early habits of temperance prevailed. By
+slow degrees his health was restored, though his spirits were still
+oppressed by a dejection which long withstood every effort of reason and
+religion.
+
+To divert his sorrow rather than in the hope of removing its cause, he
+left his home and wandered through the most unfrequented parts of
+England, making anxious, yet almost hopeless, inquiries for his lost
+treasure. Sometimes, misled by false intelligence, he was hurried from
+place to place in all the eagerness of expectation, but bitter
+disappointment closed the pursuit; and the companion of his relaxation,
+his encouragement in study, his pattern in virtue, the friend, the
+mistress, almost the wife, was lost beyond recal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While De Courcy was thus languishing on a sick-bed or wandering restless
+and miserable, Laura too was a wanderer, a prey to care more deep, more
+hopeless.
+
+The soft shades of twilight were stealing on as she cast a last look
+back towards Norwood; and were deepening fast as with a sigh,
+half-pleasing, half-melancholy, she surveyed the sheltering chestnut
+tree where she had once parted from De Courcy. As she approached her
+home, the stars coming forth poured their silent language into the ear
+of piety. Never deaf to this holy call, Laura dismissed her attendants
+that she might meditate alone. She proceeded slowly along till she came
+to the entrance of a woody lane, which branched off from the avenue. She
+stopped, half-inclined to enter; a sensation of fear made her pause. The
+next moment the very consciousness of that sensation induced her to
+proceed. 'This is mere childish superstition,' said she, and entered the
+lane. She had taken only a few steps when she felt herself suddenly
+seized from behind; one person forcibly confining her arms while another
+prevented her cries. Vainly struggling against masculine strength, she
+was hurried rapidly forward, till, her breath failing, she could resist
+no farther. Her conductors, soon quitting the beaten path, dragged her
+on through a little wood that sheltered the lawn towards the east; till
+reaching a gap which appeared to have been purposely made in the park
+wall, Laura perceived a carriage in waiting. Again exerting the strength
+of desperation, she struggled wildly for freedom; but the unequal
+contest soon was closed; she was lifted into the carriage; one of the
+men took his place by her side, and they drove off with the speed of
+lightning.
+
+From the moment when she recovered recollection, Laura had not a doubt
+that she owed this outrage to Hargrave. She was convinced that his
+pretence of leaving the kingdom had been merely intended to throw her
+off her guard, and that he was now waiting, at no distant place, the
+success of his daring villany. At this idea, a horrible dread seized
+her, she threw herself back in the carriage, and wept in despair. Her
+attendant perceiving that she no longer struggled, with a coarse
+expression of pity, released her from his grasp; and taking the
+handkerchief from her mouth, told her 'she might cry as long as she
+pleased, for he knew it did a woman's heart good to cry.' Laura now
+besought him to tell her whither she was going. 'You'll know that by and
+by,' said he. 'Let me alone. I am going to sleep; do you the same.'
+
+The bare mention of his purpose revived Laura's hopes. 'Surely,' thought
+she, 'while he sleeps, I may escape. In spite of this fearful speed I
+may spring out; and if I could but gain a few steps, in this darkness I
+should be safe.' Full of this project, she remained still as the dead;
+fearing by the slightest sound or motion to retard the sleep of her
+guard. At last his breathing announced that he was asleep; and Laura
+began, with trembling hands, to attempt her escape. The blinds were
+drawn up; and if she could let down that on the side of the carriage
+where she sat, she might without difficulty open the door. She tried to
+stir the blind. It refused to yield. She used her utmost force, but it
+remained firm. She ventured, cautious and trembling, to attempt that on
+the other side. It dropt; and Laura thought she was free. It only
+remained to open the door of the chaise and leap out. She tried it; but
+the door was immoveable, and, in despair, she shrunk back. Again she
+started up; for it occurred to her that, though with more danger, she
+might escape by the window. Cautiously stepping across her guard, she
+leant out and placed her hands on the top of the carriage, that,
+trusting to her arms for supporting her weight, she might extricate
+herself, and drop from thence into the road. Raising herself upon the
+edge of the step, she fixed her hands more firmly. She paused a moment
+to listen whether her guard were undisturbed. He still slept soundly;
+and resting her limbs upon the window frame, she prepared to complete
+her escape.
+
+A moment more and she had been free; when a horseman riding up, pushed
+her fiercely back, upbraiding, with tremendous oaths, the carelessness
+of his companion. The fellow, rousing himself, retorted upon the
+wretched Laura the abuse of his comrade, swearing that 'since he saw she
+was so cunning, he would keep better watch on her for the future.'
+
+The desponding Laura endured his reproaches in silence. Finding herself
+thus doubly guarded, she resigned all hope of escaping by her own
+unaided exertions; and mingling silent prayers with her fearful
+anticipations, she strove to reanimate her trust that she should not be
+wholly forsaken. Sometimes her habitual confidence prevailed, and she
+felt assured, that she should not be left a prey to the wicked. Yet the
+dreadful threats, the fiery passions of Hargrave rose to her
+recollection, and she again shuddered in despair. She suddenly
+remembered Jessy Wilson. Starting, with an exclamation of horror and
+affright, she sought some weapon which might dispense to her a death
+less terrible; and instinctively grasping her pen-knife hid it in her
+bosom. The next moment she shrunk from her purpose, and doubted the
+lawfulness of such defence. 'Will he dare his own life, too?' thought
+she. 'Oh, Heaven! in mercy spare me the necessity of sending a wretch to
+his great account, with all his crimes unrepented on his head--or pardon
+him and me?'
+
+She continued to commend herself to Heaven, till her terrors by degrees
+subsided. She began again to feel the steady trust which is acquired by
+all who are habituated to a grateful consideration of the care which
+they experience; a trust that even the most adverse events shall
+terminate in their real advantage; that the rugged and slippery ways of
+this dark wilderness, shall, at the dawn of everlasting day, be owned as
+the fittest to conduct us to the house of our Father. She began, too, to
+regain the confidence which strong minds naturally put in their own
+exertions. She resolved not to be wanting to herself; nor, by brooding
+over her terrors, to disable herself from taking advantage of any
+providential circumstance which might favour her escape.
+
+Morning at length began to dawn, but the blinds being closely drawn up,
+Laura could make no observations on the country through which she was
+passing. She remarked that the furious speed with which she had first
+been driven, had slackened to a slow pace; and she judged that the
+wearied cattle could not proceed much further. She hoped that it would
+soon be necessary to stop; and that during the few minutes in which they
+halted to change horses, she might find means of appealing to the
+justice of her fellow-creatures. 'Surely,' said she, 'some heart will be
+open to me.'
+
+After proceeding slowly for some time the carriage stopped. Laura
+listened for the sounds of human voices, but all was silent. She heard
+the trampling of horses as if led close by the carriage. Some one was
+certainly near who had no interest in this base oppression. 'Help! Oh
+help me,' cried Laura. 'I am cruelly and wrongfully detained. I have
+friends that will reward you. Heaven will reward you!--Help me! for kind
+mercy, help me!' 'Heyday!' cried the fellow in the carriage, with
+something between a grin and a stare, 'who is the girl speaking to?
+What! did you imagine we should be wise enough to bring you within holla
+of a whole yardful of stable boys and piping chambermaids? Reward
+indeed! Set your heart at rest, Miss; we shall be rewarded without your
+friends or Heaven either.'
+
+The carriage again proceeded with the same speed as at first, and Laura
+strove to support with composure this new blow to her hopes. Her
+companion, now producing a bottle of wine and some biscuits, advised her
+to share with him; and that she might not wilfully lavish her strength
+and spirits, she consented. Once more in the course of the day the
+travellers stopped to change horses, and Laura once more, though with
+feebler hopes, renewed her appeals to justice and mercy. No answer
+greeted her. Again she was hurried on her melancholy way.
+
+The day, as it advanced, seemed rough and gloomy. The wind swept in
+gusts through the trees, and the rain beat upon the carriage. The
+evening was drawing on when Laura remarked that the motion was changed.
+The chaise proceeded slowly over soft uneven ground, and she guessed,
+with dismay, that it had quitted all frequented paths. In renewed alarm,
+she again besought her companion to tell her whither he meant to conduct
+her, and for what end she was thus cruelly forced from her home. 'Why,
+how should I tell you what I do not know myself?' answered the man. 'I
+shan't conduct you much farther--and a good riddance. As for the end
+you'll see that when it comes.'
+
+About an hour after quitting the road, the carriage stopped; and the man
+letting down the blind, Laura perceived through the dusk, that they were
+on a barren moor. Waste and level, it seemed to spread before her; but
+the darkness prevented her from distinguishing its features or its
+boundaries. Suddenly, as the gust died away, she fancied she heard the
+roar of waters. She listened; but the wind swelled again, and she heard
+only its howlings over the heath. The horseman, who had rode away when
+the carriage stopped, now gallopped back, and directed the postilion to
+proceed. They went on for a few hundred yards, and again they stopped.
+The roar of waters again burst on Laura's ear, now swelling in thunder,
+now sinking in a sullen murmur. She saw a light glimmer at a distance.
+It was tossed by the billows of the ocean.
+
+The door of the chaise was opened, and she was lifted from it. Gliding
+from the arms of the ruffian who held her, and clasping his knees, 'Oh!
+if you have the heart of a man,' she cried, 'let me not be torn from my
+native land--let me not be cast on the merciless deep. Think what it is
+to be an exile--friendless in a strange land--the sport, the prey of a
+pitiless enemy. Oh! if you have need of mercy, have mercy upon
+me.'--'Holla! Robert,' shouted the ruffian, 'take away this girl. She's
+enough to make a man play the fool and whimper.' The other fellow now
+approaching, lifted Laura, more dead than alive, from the ground, and,
+wrapping her in a large cloak, bore her towards the beach.
+
+In a creek sheltered by rocks from the breakers, lay a small boat. One
+man sat near the bow, roaring a hoarse sea-song. As the party
+approached, he rose, and pushing the boat ashore, received the half
+lifeless Laura in his brawny arms, cursing her with strange oaths for
+having made him wait so long. Then, on his uttering a discordant yell,
+two of his companions appeared; and after exchanging with Laura's guards
+a murmuring account of the trouble they had undergone, pushed off from
+the land. The keel grated along the pebbles; the next moment it floated
+on the waves, and Laura starting up, threw back the cloak from her face,
+and with strained eyes gazed on her parting native land, till all behind
+was darkness.
+
+A pang of anguish striking to her heart, she made once more a desperate
+effort to awaken pity. Stretching her clasped hands towards the man who
+sat near her, she cried, in the piercing voice of misery, 'Oh take pity
+on me! I am an orphan. I have heard that sailors have kindly
+hearts--Have pity then--land me on the wildest coast, and I will fall
+down and pray for you!' The person to whom she spoke having eyed her a
+moment in silence, coolly drew in his oar; and rising, wrapped her close
+in the cloak and laid her down in the bottom of the boat, advising her
+with an oath to 'keep snug or she would capsize them.' In despair she
+renounced all further effort. Silent and motionless she lay, the cold
+spray dashing over her unheeded; till wet, chilled, and miserable, she
+was lifted on board a small brig which lay about half a mile from the
+shore. She was carried down to the cabin, which was more decent than is
+usual in vessels of that size. A clean-looking woman attended to
+undress her; night-clothes were in readiness for her; and every
+accommodation provided which her situation rendered possible. Every
+thing served to convince her of the care and precaution with which this
+cruel scheme had been concerted, and to shew her the depth of the snare
+into which she had fallen.
+
+She was laid in her narrow crib, ere it occurred to her that Hargrave
+might be near to watch his prey. Exhausted as she was, sleep fled at the
+thought. She listened for his voice, for his footstep, amid the unwonted
+discord that disturbed her ear. Daylight returned, and no sound reached
+her more terrible than that of the gale rattling in the cordage and
+dashing the waves against the vessel's side. Worn out with fatigue and
+suffering, she slept at length; and a mid-day sun glanced by fits
+through her grated window ere she awoke to a new sense of sorrow. She
+rose, and going upon deck, looked sadly back upon the way she had
+unconsciously passed. Behind, the blue mountains were sinking in the
+distance; on the left lay a coast unknown to her; before her stretched
+the boundless deep, unvaried save by the whitening surge.
+
+Laura spent most of her time upon deck, the fresh air reviving her
+failing spirits. One male and one female attendant seemed appropriated
+to her, and served her with even officious assiduity. Hoping that some
+opportunity might occur of transmitting an account of her situation to
+England, she begged these obsequious attendants to supply her with
+writing materials; but was firmly, though respectfully, refused.
+
+The third morning came, and Laura looked in vain for any object to vary
+the immeasurable waste. The sun rose from one unbending line, and sunk
+again in naked majesty. She observed that the course of the vessel was
+in general directly west; and if she had before doubted, this
+circumstance would have convinced her of her destination. She once
+ventured to inquire whither the ship was bound, but was answered that
+'she should know that when she reached the port.'
+
+It was on the fourth of May that Laura began her ill-omened voyage. On
+the twelfth of June, land! All ran to gaze with glad eyes on what seemed
+a low cloud, faintly descried on the verge of the horizon--all but
+Laura, who looked sadly forward, as to the land of exile, of
+degradation,--of death. Day after day that dreaded land approached;
+till, by degrees, the boundless ocean was narrowed to a mighty river,
+and the unfrequent sail, almost too distant for mortal sight, was
+multiplied to a busy fleet, plying in every direction their cheerful
+labours. At length a city appeared in view, rising like an amphitheatre,
+and flashing bright with a material unknown to European architecture.
+Laura inquired what town it was; and, though refused all information,
+surmised that Quebec lay before her.
+
+Opposite the town, the ship hove to; a boat was launched, and Laura
+expected to be sent on shore. Nor did she unwillingly prepare to go.
+'Surely,' thought she, 'in this populous city some one will be found to
+listen to my tale, and wrest me from the arm of the oppressor.' The boat
+however departed without her, carrying ashore the man who had hitherto
+attended her. After remaining on shore for several hours, the man
+returned, and the vessel again proceeded in her voyage. Laura now
+imagined that Montreal was her destined port; and again she strove to
+hope that, among numbers, she should find aid.
+
+A still cloudy evening had succeeded to a sultry day, when Laura
+observed an unusual bustle upon deck. It was growing dark, when, as she
+leant over the rail, to watch the fire-flies that flashed like stars in
+the air, the captain approaching her, told her that she must go ashore,
+and immediately lifted her into a boat which lay along-side. Her
+attendants and baggage were already there; the sailors had taken their
+oars; and, roaring to their companions a rough 'good night,' made
+towards the land. Instead, however, of gaining the nearest point, they
+rowed into what in the darkness seemed a creek; but Laura soon perceived
+that, having left the great river on which they had hitherto sailed,
+they were following the course of one of its tributary streams. The
+darkness prevented her from distinguishing objects on the banks, though
+now and then a light, glimmering from a casement, shewed that the haunts
+of man were near. She could not even discern the countenances of the
+sailors; but she observed, that he who seemed to direct the others,
+spoke in a voice which was new to her ear. All night the rowers toiled
+up the stream. The day dawned; and Laura perceived that, passing an open
+cultivated plain, she was pursuing her course towards woods impervious
+to the light. Dark and tangled they lowered over the stream, till they
+closed round, and every cheerful object was blotted from the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+The travellers had proceeded for some time shaded by the overhanging
+woods, the distance lengthened by the dreary sameness of their way, when
+a wild halloo smote Laura's ear; and she perceived that three Indians
+stood at the water-edge, making signs for the boat to land. To her
+unspeakable surprise, the sailors joyfully obeyed the signal. They ran
+their bark into a creek to which the Indians pointed, and cheerfully
+busied themselves in discharging their cargo. Placed with her attendants
+on a little eminence, which rose above the swampy margin of the river,
+Laura took a fearful survey of the scene around her. Save where the
+sluggish stream opened to the day, her view was bounded to a few yards
+of marshy ground, rank with unwholesome vegetation. No track appeared to
+lead from this desolate spot. Between the gigantic pines, brushwood and
+coarse grass spread in sad luxuriance. No trace was here of human
+footstep. All was dreary and forlorn, as the land which the first
+wanderers visited unwilling.
+
+She had not long continued her melancholy survey, when the two stoutest
+of the Indians approached; and one of them, after talking apart with her
+attendants, lifted her female servant in his arms, and walked on. The
+other, making some uncouth gestures, prepared to raise Laura from the
+ground. She shrunk back alarmed; but the Indian, in broken French,
+assured her that he would not hurt her; and, pointing towards the woods,
+reminded her of the difficulty of passing them on foot. Her valet, too,
+represented the fatigue she must undergo, if she refused the assistance
+of the Indian. But Laura preferring a toilsome march to such a mode of
+conveyance, persevered in her refusal; and, bidding them lead the way,
+followed into the pathless wild.
+
+They continued their journey for several hours, no object meeting their
+sight that might mark the stages of their way. No work of man appeared,
+not even the faintest trace that ever man had toiled through this
+wilderness; yet Laura perceived that the Indians proceeded without
+hesitation. The position of the grass, the appearance of the leaves,
+gave indication sufficient to guide them in their route. One of them
+carried a bag of provisions; and having reached a spot where the ground
+was firm and dry, he invited Laura to sit down and take some
+refreshment. Faint with fatigue, Laura thankfully acceded. Scarcely,
+however, had she seated herself on the grass, ere her attention was
+drawn by a slight though unusual noise; and she was told that it was
+caused by a rattlesnake. At this intelligence her maid, screaming,
+started up, and was going to dart forward into the wood. The Indians
+beheld her terror with silent contempt, while Laura calmly detained her
+with gentle force. 'Stay, Mary,' said she. 'If you tread on the animal
+you are gone! If we are quiet, we may probably see and avoid it.' The
+influence which Laura always acquired over those with whom she lived,
+prevailed over Mary's dread; and in a few moments the serpent was seen
+by one of the Indians, who killed it with a single blow.
+
+Their hasty meal ended, the party proceeded on their way; but they had
+not gone far ere Laura, worn out with toil and sorrow, sunk upon the
+ground. She had now no choice; and the Indian, lifting her with the same
+ease as she would have done an infant, went on with more speed than
+before.
+
+Towards the close of the day, the woods suddenly opened into a small
+field, surrounded by them on every side, which appeared to have been
+itself imperfectly redeemed from the same state of waste luxuriance. In
+the centre stood a house, or rather cabin, rudely constructed of the
+material which nature so lavishly supplied. Around it a small patch,
+inclosed by a palisade, bore marks of forsaken cultivation. Beyond this
+inclosure, logs of prodigious size lay scattered through the field, and
+the roots, which had not been cleared from the ground, were again
+shooting luxuriantly. With a faint sensation of gladness, Laura beheld
+traces of humankind. Yet no living creature appeared. Here reigned
+primeval stillness. The winds had died away. A sultry calm filled the
+air. The woods were motionless. The birds were silent. All was fixed as
+in death, save where a dull stream stole under the tall canes that
+deformed its margin.
+
+Mary's exclamations of grief and surprise first informed Laura that she
+had reached her home. To Laura the dreariness of the scene was of small
+concern. No outward circumstances could add to the horrors with which
+her fears were familiar. While her attendant bewailed aloud that ever
+thirst of gain had lured her from happy England, Laura was inwardly
+striving to revive the hope that sudden death might snatch her from the
+grasp of the oppressor; and renewing her oft repeated prayer,--'Oh that
+Thou wouldst hide me in the grave.' But no selfish sorrow could make her
+regardless of the woes of others. 'Courage, Mary,' said she, with a
+foreboding smile, 'we shall soon be released; and both, I hope, find
+shelter in our Father's house.'
+
+The cabin was divided into three apartments, each entering from the
+other. To the innermost Laura was conducted; and she saw that it had
+been arranged for her. The window was secured with iron. The furniture,
+unlike that of the other rooms, was new and not inelegant. Laura looked
+round to observe whether any trace of Hargrave's presence was visible.
+None appeared. She examined every recess and corner of her new abode, as
+one who fears the lurking assassin. She ascertained that Hargrave was
+not its inmate; and thanked Heaven for the prospect of one night of
+peace. It was in vain, however, that she tried to discover how long this
+reprieve might last. The servants either could not or would not give her
+any information. She was too well acquainted with the character of her
+oppressor to hope that he would long delay his coming. 'To-morrow,
+perhaps'--thought she; and the cold shivering came over her, which now
+ever followed her anticipation of the future. 'Yet why do I despair?'
+said she. 'Is any time too short, are any means too feeble for the
+Power--for the wisdom in which I trust? But since the hour of trial may
+be so near, let me not waste the time which should prepare for
+it,--prepare to cast off this poor clog of earth, and rise beyond its
+sorrows and its stains.'
+
+Laura's bodily frame, however, could not long keep pace with the efforts
+of her mind, for her health and strength were failing under the
+continued influence of grief and fear. The form, once rounded in fair
+proportion, was wasted to a shadow. The once graceful neck bent
+mournfully forward. The lily arms hung down in listless melancholy. The
+cheek, once of form inimitable, was sunk and hollow now. The colour,
+once quick to tell the modest thought, was fixed in the paleness of the
+dead. And death was ever present to her thoughts,--sole point to which
+her hope turned steadily!
+
+One only desire lingered on earth. She wished that some friend should
+pity her hard fate, and know that the victim had shrunk from it, though
+in vain. Intending to leave behind her some attestation of her
+innocence, she besought Mary to procure for her the means of writing.
+'Why should you fear to trust me?' said she. 'To whom upon earth can my
+complaint reach now? You may see all I write, Mary; and perhaps when I
+am gone you will yourself convey it to my friend. Your master will not
+prevent you then; for then he will have pity on me, and wish that he had
+not dealt with me so hardly.' The irresistible sweetness of Laura had
+won the heart of her attendant, and Mary promised that she would
+endeavour to gratify her. She said that the writing materials were kept
+carefully locked up by Robert, the man-servant; that his master's orders
+on that subject had been peremptory; that she was sure he would not
+venture to disobey while there remained a possibility of conveying
+intelligence from the place of their confinement; that two of the
+Indians were to depart on the following day; that after they were gone,
+no means of access to the habitable world remaining, Robert might
+possibly relax his strictness, and permit Laura to amuse herself with
+writing. Mary's words awakened in Laura's mind an idea that all was not
+yet lost. The Indians were suspected of favouring her. They might then
+bear her appeal to human pity, to human justice. If she could find means
+to speak with them apart, she would plead so earnestly that even savages
+would be moved to mercy! At these thoughts a ray of hope once more
+kindled in her breast. It was the last. All day she watched for an
+opportunity to address one of the Indians. In vain! Robert guarded her
+with such relentless fidelity, that she found it impossible to effect
+her purpose. The Indians departed. Mary performed her promise, and the
+unfortunate Laura wrote the following letter, which was afterwards, with
+Hargrave's permission, conveyed to Mrs Douglas.
+
+     'From this dreary land of exile, to whom shall I address myself
+     save to you, mine own friend, and my father's friend? Where
+     tell my sad fate save to you, who first taught me the hope that
+     lives beyond it? And let it comfort your kind heart to know,
+     that while you are shedding tears over this last memorial of
+     your Laura, I shall be rejoicing in the full consummation of
+     that hope.
+
+     'There is indeed another friend! One to whom my last earthly
+     thoughts are due! But I cannot tell him, that she who was
+     almost the wife of his bosom is gone down to a dishonoured
+     grave. I have not time to soften my sad tale to him, nor to
+     study words of comfort; for the moments are precious with me
+     now. A few, a very few, are all that remain for preparation. I
+     must not rob them of their awful right. Tell him my story as he
+     is able to bear it. Tell him my innocence, and he will believe
+     it, for he knew my very soul. But I must hasten, lest the
+     destroyer come, ere, in these lines, I close my connection with
+     this world of trial.'
+
+     [She then proceeded to give a simple narrative of her wrongs.
+     She expressed no bitterness against the author of them. She
+     spoke of him as a misguided being, and pitied the anguish which
+     he was preparing for himself.] 'Tell Mr De Courcy,' she
+     proceeded, 'that I charge him, by all the love he bears me, to
+     forgive my enemy, even from the heart forgive him. Let him do
+     more. Let him pray for him; and if they meet, admonish him. It
+     may be that his heart will soften when he remembers me.'
+
+     [The remainder of the letter was written at intervals. Laura
+     spent her time chiefly in acts of devotion, of
+     self-examination, and repentance. It was only when exhausted
+     nature could no longer follow these exercises of the soul, that
+     she returned to add another line to her picture of
+     wretchedness.]
+
+     'The saints who resisted unto blood striving against sin, who
+     gave up their lives in defence of the truth, looked forward to
+     the hour of their departure rejoicing. But I must go to the
+     grave laden with shame and sorrow. My soul is weary of my life,
+     and yet I must fear to die. Yet let my enemy a little while
+     delay his coming and my death also will be joyful. Let him stay
+     only a few days, and I shall be deaf to the voice of the
+     oppressor. I am wasting fast away. If he haste not to catch the
+     shadow, it will be gone.--
+
+     'The people whom he has appointed to guard his poor prisoner,
+     no longer watch me as they once did. It is useless now. A few
+     short steps and my feeble limbs bend to the earth, reminding me
+     whither I am hastening.--
+
+     'When I am gone, Mary will carry you the ringlets which you
+     were wont to twine round your finger. Send one of them to her
+     who should have been my sister; but give not any to my own
+     Montague, for he will pine over them when he might be happy in
+     some new connection. Yet tell him that I loved him to the end.
+     I believe he sometimes doubted of my love; but tell him that I
+     bore him a firm affection. Passion is unfit for the things of
+     this world.--
+
+     'I have a letter from my enemy. In two days more.--
+
+     'I have a knife concealed in my bosom. All night it is hidden
+     beneath my pillow; and when my weary eyes close for a moment, I
+     grasp it, and the chill touch rouses me again. Mine own dear
+     friend, did you think when first you taught me to join my
+     little hands in prayer, that these hands should be stained with
+     murder?--
+
+     'Is it a crime to die when I can no longer live with innocence?
+     When there is no escape but in the grave, is it forbidden to
+     hide me there? My mind grows feeble now. I cannot discern
+     between good and evil.--
+
+     'Why is my soul bowed down to the dust, as if the fountain of
+     compassion were sealed? I will yet trust Him who is the helper
+     of those who have no help in man. It may be that he will melt
+     the heart of my enemy, and move him to let me die in peace. Or
+     perhaps even the sight of my persecutor may be permitted to
+     burst the rending heart--to scare the trembling spirit from its
+     prison.--
+
+     'This day is my last, and it is closing now! The silence of
+     midnight is around me. Ere it again return a deeper night shall
+     close for me, and the weary pilgrim shall sink to rest. It is
+     time that I loosen me from the earth; I will not give my last
+     hours to this land of shadows. Then fare you well, mine own
+     dear friend! You first pointed my wishes to that better world
+     where I shall not long wait your coming. And far thee well,
+     mine own Montague! Take comfort. I was not fit to linger here;
+     for I had desires that earth could not satisfy; and thirstings
+     after a perfection which this weak heart could not attain.
+     Farewell--I will look back no more.'
+
+
+     HARGRAVE'S LETTER TO LAURA.
+
+     'My dearest Laura--The tantalizing business which has so long
+     thwarted my wishes will still detain me for two days. Your
+     gentle mind cannot imagine what this delay costs me. My only
+     recompense is, that it affords me an opportunity of shewing you
+     somewhat of that consideration with which I could always wish
+     to treat you. I willingly forego the advantage of surprise for
+     the sake of allowing you to exercise that decision which you
+     are so well qualified to use discreetly. You know Laura how I
+     have doated on you. For near four long years you have been the
+     desire of my soul; and now that my happy daring has placed me
+     within reach of my utmost wishes, I would fain attain them
+     without distress to you. This is no time for concealment; and
+     you must pardon me if I am explicit with you. I have known the
+     disposition of Lady Pelham's fortune from the hour when it was
+     made. You know that with all my faults I am not sordid; but
+     circumstances have rendered money necessary to me. Except in
+     the event of Lord Lincourt's death, I cannot return to England
+     otherwise than as your husband. I will own, too, dearest Laura,
+     that after all I have done, and all that I may be compelled to
+     do, I dare not trust for pardon to your pity alone. I must
+     interest your duty in my cause. Consider your situation, then,
+     my beloved, and spare me the pain of distressing you. I have
+     watched you, implored you, pined for you--I have borne your
+     coldness, your scorn. I have ventured my life to obtain you.
+     Judge whether I be of a temper to be baulked of my reward. You
+     must be mine, bewitching Laura. No cool, insulting, plausible
+     pretender can cheat me of you now. Trackless woods divide you
+     from all human kind. I have provided against the possibility of
+     tracing your retreat. It rests with you then to choose whether
+     you will bless my love with a willing and honourable reward, or
+     force me to extort the power of bestowing obligation. My
+     charming Laura, for now indeed I may call you mine, pardon, in
+     consideration of its sincerity, the abrupt language I am
+     compelled to hold.--One thing more. In three weeks I must
+     return hither. The engagement of your British attendants
+     expires before that time. I cannot for a moment allow myself to
+     suppose that you will prefer a hopeless solitary exile to the
+     reparation which I shall even then be so anxious to make; to
+     the endearments of a fond husband, of an impassioned lover; to
+     the envy and the homage of an admiring world. Suffer me rather,
+     dear lovely girl, to exult in the hope that you will receive,
+     without reluctance, the man to whom fate assigns you, and that
+     you will recal somewhat of the tenderness you once confessed
+     for your own ever-devoted,
+
+                               'VILLIERS HARGRAVE.'
+
+
+     LAURA'S ANSWER
+     (sent with the foregoing to Mrs Douglas:)
+
+     'I thought my spirit had been broken, crushed never more to
+     rise. Must the glow of indignation mingle with the damps of
+     death? But I will not upbraid you. The language of forgiveness
+     best befits me now. The measure of your injuries to me is
+     almost full; while those which you have heaped upon yourself
+     are yet more deep and irreparable. My blasted fame, my life
+     cut off in its prime, even the horrible dread that has
+     overwhelmed me, are nothing to the pangs of hopeless remorse,
+     the unaccepted struggle for repentance.--Yet a little while,
+     and this darkness shall burst into light ineffable. Yet a
+     little while, and this sorrow shall be as the remembrance of a
+     troubled dream. But you--Oh Hargrave, have pity on yourself!
+
+     'It was not to warn, it was to plead with you, that I won on my
+     knees the consent of your messenger to bear my reply. I will
+     strive to hope; for you were not always pitiless. I have seen
+     you feel for the sufferings of a stranger, and have you no
+     mercy for me? Alas! in those pitying tears I saw you shed,
+     began this long train of evil; for then began my base idolatry,
+     and justly have you been made the instrument of my punishment.
+
+     'My mind wanders. I am weaker than a child. Oh Hargrave, if you
+     have human pity let the feeble spark expire in peace. Here,
+     where no Christian footstep shall hallow the turf that covers
+     me, nor song of Christian praise rise near my grave, here let
+     me lay me down and die--and I will bless you that I die in
+     peace. I dare not spend my parting breath in uttering unholy
+     vows, nor die a voluntary partner in your crimes. Nor would I,
+     had my life been prolonged, have joined to pollution this dust,
+     which, perishable as it is, must rise to immortality--which,
+     vile as it is, more vile as it soon may be, shall yet "put on
+     incorruption." Why then should you come hither? Will it please
+     you to see this poor piece of clay, for which you have ventured
+     your soul, faded to an object of horror?--cast uncoffined into
+     the earth, robbed of the decencies which Christians pay even to
+     the worst of sinners? When you look upon my stiffened corpse
+     will you then triumph in the security of your possession? Will
+     you again exult in hope when you turn from my grave and say,
+     "here lies the wretch whom I have undone!"
+
+     'Come not I charge you, if you would escape the anguish of the
+     murderer. When did the evil of your deeds stop within your
+     first intention? Do not amuse your conscience with the dream of
+     reparation. I am fallen indeed, ere you dare insult me with the
+     thought! Will you wed the dead? Or could I outlive your
+     injuries, think you that I would sink so low as to repay them
+     with myself?--reward with vows of love a crime more black than
+     murder! Though my name, already degraded through you, must no
+     more claim alliance with the good and worthy, think you that I
+     would bind myself before heaven to a wretch who owed his very
+     life to my undeserved mercy? Inhuman! Your insults have roused
+     the failing spirit. Yet I must quell these last stirrings of
+     nature. Instant, full, and free must be my forgiveness; for
+     such is the forgiveness which I shall soon require.
+
+     'Perhaps, as now you seem to think me fit for any baseness, you
+     will suppose my forebodings a poor deceit to win you from your
+     purpose. See then if you can trace in these unsteady lines the
+     vigour of health. Ask him who bears them to you, how looks now
+     the face which you call lovely? Ask him if the hand which gave
+     this letter looks soft and graceful now? I love to gaze upon
+     it. It bids me hope, for it is like no living thing. Inquire
+     minutely. Ask if there remains one charm to lure you on to
+     farther guilt. And if death has already seized on all, if he
+     has spared nothing to desire, will you yet hurry him on his
+     prey? You have made life a burden too heavy for the weary
+     frame. Will you make death too dreadful to be endured? Will you
+     add to its horrors till nature and religion shrink from it in
+     agony.
+
+     'I cannot plead with you as I would. My strength fails. My eyes
+     are dim with weeping. Oh grant that this farewell may be the
+     last--that we may meet no more till I welcome you with the joy
+     which angels feel over the sinner that repenteth.'
+
+The whole of the night preceding Hargrave's arrival, was passed by Laura
+in acts of devotion. In her life, blameless as it had appeared to
+others, she saw so much ground for condemnation, that, had her hopes
+rested upon her own merit, they would have vanished like the sunshine of
+a winter storm. Their support was more mighty; and they remained
+unshaken. The raptures of faith beamed on her soul. By degrees they
+triumphed over every fear; and the first sound that awoke the morning,
+was her voice raised in a trembling hymn of praise.
+
+Her countenance elevated as in hope; her eyes cast upwards; her hands
+clasped; her lips half open in the unfinished adoration; her face
+brightened with a smile, the dawn of eternal day--she was found by her
+attendant. Awe-struck, the woman paused, and at a reverend distance
+gazed upon the seraph; but her entrance had called back the unwilling
+spirit from its flight; and Laura, once more a feeble child of earth,
+faintly inquired whether her enemy were at hand. Mary answered that her
+master was not expected to arrive before the evening; and entreated that
+Laura would try to recruit her spirits, and accept of some refreshment.
+Laura made no opposition. She unconsciously swallowed what was placed
+before her; unwittingly suffered her attendant to lead her abroad; nor
+once heeded ought that was done to her, nor ought that passed before her
+eyes, till her exhausted limbs found rest upon the trunk of a tree,
+which lay mouldering near the spot where its root was sending forth a
+luxuriant thicket.
+
+The breath of morning blew chill on the wasted form of Laura, while it
+somewhat revived her to strength and recollection. Her attendant seeing
+her shiver in the breeze, compassionately wrapped her more closely in
+her cloak, and ran to seek a warmer covering. 'She feels for my bodily
+wants,' said Laura. 'Will she have no pity for the sufferings of the
+soul? Yet what relief can she afford: What help is there for me in man?
+Oh be Thou my help who art the guard of the defenceless! Thou who canst
+shield in every danger--Thou who canst guide in every difficulty!'
+
+Her eye rested as it fell, upon a track as of recent footsteps. They had
+brushed away the dew, and the rank grass had not yet risen from their
+pressure. The unwonted trace of man's presence arrested her attention;
+and her mind, exhausted by suffering, and sharing the weakness of its
+frail abode, admitted the superstitious thought that these marks
+afforded a providential indication for her guidance. Transient animation
+kindling in her frame, she followed the track as it wound round a
+thicket of poplar; then, suddenly recollecting herself, she became
+conscious of the delusion, and shed a tear over her mental decay.
+
+She was about to return, when she perceived that she was near the bank
+of the river. Its dark flood was stealing noiseless by, and Laura,
+looking on it, breathed the oft repeated wish that she could seek rest
+beneath its waves. Again she moved feebly forward. She reached the brink
+of the stream, and stood unconsciously following its course with her
+eye; when a light wind stirring the canes that grew down to the water
+edge, she beheld close by her an Indian canoe. With suddenness that
+mocks the speed of light, hope flashed on the darkened soul; and,
+stretching her arms in wild ecstasy, 'Help, help,' cried Laura, and
+sprung towards the boat. A feeble echo from the further shore alone
+returned the cry. Again she called. No human voice replied. But
+delirious transport lent vigour to her frame. She sprung into the bark;
+she pressed the slender oar against the bank. The light vessel yielded
+to her touch. It floated. The stream bore it along. The woods closed
+around her prison. 'Thou hast delivered me!' she cried; and sunk
+senseless.
+
+A meridian sun beat on her uncovered head ere Laura began to revive.
+Recollection stole upon her like the remembrance of a feverish dream. As
+one who, waking from a fearful vision, still trembles in his joy, she
+scarcely dared to hope that the dread hour was past, till raising her
+eyes she saw the dark woods bend over her, and steal slowly away as the
+canoe glided on with the tide. The raptures of fallen man own their
+alliance with pain, by seeking the same expression. Joy and gratitude
+too big for utterance long poured themselves forth in tears. At length
+returning composure permitting the language of extasy, it was breathed
+in the accents of devotion; and the lone wild echoed to a song of
+deliverance.
+
+The saintly strain rose unmixed with other sound. No breeze moaned
+through the impervious woods. No ripple broke the stream. The dark
+shadows trembled for a moment in its bosom as the little bark stole by,
+and then reposed again. No trace appeared of human presence. The fox
+peeping from the brushwood, the wild duck sailing stately in the stream,
+saw the unwonted stranger without alarm, untaught as yet to flee from
+the destroyer.
+
+The day declined; and Laura, with the joy of her escape, began to mingle
+a wish, that, ere the darkness closed around her, she might find shelter
+near her fellow beings. She was not ignorant of the dangers of her
+voyage. She knew that the navigation of the river was interrupted by
+rapids. A cataract which broke its course had been purposely described
+in her hearing. She examined her frail vessel and trembled; for life was
+again become precious, and feeble seemed her defence against the
+torrent. The canoe, which could not have contained more than two
+persons, was constructed of a slender frame of wood, covered with the
+bark of the birch. It yielded to the slightest motion, and caution was
+necessary to poise in it even the light form of Laura.
+
+Slowly it floated down the lingering tide; and, when a pine of larger
+size or form more fantastic than his fellows enabled her to measure her
+progress, she thought that through wilds less impassible her own limbs
+would have borne her more swiftly. In vain behind each tangled point did
+her fancy picture the haunt of man. Vainly amid the mists of eve did she
+trace the smoke of sheltered cottages. In vain at every winding of the
+stream she sent forward a longing eye in search of human dwelling. The
+narrow view was bounded by the dark wilderness, repeating ever the same
+picture of dreary repose.
+
+The sun went down. The shadows of evening fell; not such as in her
+happy native land blend softly with the last radiance of day; but black
+and heavy, harshly contrasting with the light of a naked sky reflected
+from the waters, where they spread beyond the gloom of impending woods.
+Dark, and more dark the night came on. Solemn even amid the peopled
+land, in this vast solitude it became more awful. Ignorant how near the
+place of danger might be, fearing to pursue darkling her perilous way,
+Laura tried to steer her light bark to the shore, intending to moor it,
+to find in it a rude resting place, and in the morning to pursue her
+way. Laboriously she toiled, and at length reached the bank in safety;
+but in vain she tried to draw her little vessel to land. Its weight
+resisted her strength. Dreading that it should slip from her grasp and
+leave her without means of escape, she re-entered it, and again glided
+on in her dismal voyage. She had found in the canoe a little coarse
+bread made of Indian corn; and this, with the water of the river, formed
+her whole sustenance. Her frame worn out with previous suffering, awe
+and fear at last yielded to fatigue; and the weary wanderer sunk to
+sleep.
+
+It was late on the morning of a cloudy day, when a low murmuring sound
+stealing on the silence awoke Laura from the rest of innocence. She
+listened. The murmur seemed to swell on her ear. She looked up. The dark
+woods still bent over her. But they no longer touched the margin of the
+stream. They stretched their giant arms from the summit of a precipice.
+Their image was no more reflected unbroken. The gray rocks which
+supported them but half lent their colours to the rippling water. The
+wild duck, no longer tempting the stream, flew screaming over its bed.
+Each object hastened on with fearful rapidity, and the murmuring sound
+was now a deafening roar.
+
+Fear supplying super-human strength, Laura strove to turn the course of
+her vessel. She strained every nerve; she used the force of desperation.
+Half-hoping that the struggle might save her, half-fearing to note her
+dreadful progress, she toiled on till the oar was torn from her
+powerless grasp, and hurried along with the tide.
+
+The fear of death alone had not the power to overwhelm the soul of
+Laura. Somewhat might yet be done perhaps to avert her fate, at least to
+prepare for it. Feeble as was the chance of life, it was not to be
+rejected. Fixing her cloak more firmly about her, Laura bound it to the
+slender frame of the canoe. Then commending herself to heaven with the
+fervour of a last prayer, she, in dread stillness, awaited her doom.
+
+With terrible speed the vessel hurried on. It was whirled round by the
+torrent--tossed fearfully--and hurried on again. It shot over a
+smoothness more dreadful than the eddying whirl. It rose upon its prow.
+Laura clung to it in the convulsion of terror. A moment she trembled on
+the giddy verge. The next, all was darkness!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+When Laura was restored to recollection, she found herself in a plain
+decent apartment. Several persons of her own sex were humanely busied in
+attending her. Her mind retaining a confused remembrance of the past,
+she inquired where she was, and how she had been brought thither. An
+elderly woman, of a prepossessing appearance, answered with almost
+maternal kindness, 'that she was among friends all anxious for her
+safety; begged that she would try to sleep; and promised to satisfy her
+curiosity when she should be more able to converse.' This benevolent
+person, whose name was Falkland, then administered a restorative to her
+patient; and Laura, uttering almost incoherent expressions of gratitude,
+composed herself to rest.
+
+Awakening refreshed and collected, she found Mrs Falkland and one of her
+daughters still watching by her bed-side. Laura again repeated her
+questions, and Mrs Falkland fulfilled her promise, by relating that her
+husband, who was a farmer, having been employed with his two sons in a
+field which overlooked the river, had observed the canoe approach the
+fall; that seeing it too late to prevent the accident, they had hurried
+down to the bed of the stream below the cataract, in hopes of
+intercepting the boat at its reappearance: That being accustomed to
+float wood down the torrent, they knew precisely the spot where their
+assistance was most likely to prove effectual: That the canoe, though
+covered with foam for a moment, had instantly risen again, and that Mr
+Falkland and his sons had, not without danger, succeeded in drawing it
+to land. She then, in her turn, inquired by what accident Laura had been
+exposed to such a perilous adventure; expressing her wonder at the
+direction of her voyage, since Falkland farm was the last inhabited spot
+in that district. Laura, mingling her natural reserve with a desire to
+satisfy her kind hostess, answered, that she had been torn from her
+friends by an inhuman enemy, and that her perilous voyage was the least
+effect of his barbarity. 'Do you know,' said Mrs Falkland, somewhat
+mistaking her meaning, 'that to his cruelty you partly owe your life;
+for had he not bound you to the canoe, you must have sunk while the boat
+floated on.' Laura heard with a faint smile the effect of her
+self-possession; but considering it as a call to pious gratitude rather
+than a theme of self-applause, she forbore to offer any claim to praise;
+and suffered the subject to drop without further explanation.
+
+Having remained for two days with this hospitable family, Laura
+expressed a wish to depart. She communicated to Mr Falkland her desire
+of returning immediately to Europe; and begged that he would introduce
+her to some asylum where she might wait the departure of a vessel for
+Britain. She expressed her willingness to content herself with the
+poorest accommodation, confessing that she had not the means of
+purchasing any of a higher class. All the wealth, indeed, which she
+could command, consisted in a few guineas which she had accidentally had
+about her when she was taken from her home; and a ring which Mrs De
+Courcy had given her at parting. Her hosts kindly urged her to remain
+with them till they should ascertain that a vessel was immediately to
+sail, in which she might secure her passage; assuring her that a week
+scarcely ever elapsed without some departure for her native country.
+Finding, however, that she was anxious to be gone, Mr Falkland himself
+accompanied her to Quebec. They travelled by land. The country at first
+bore the characters of a half redeemed wilderness. The road wound at
+times through dreary woods, at others through fields where noxious
+variety of hue bespoke imperfect cultivation. At last it approached the
+great river; and Laura gazed with delight on the ever-changing, rich and
+beautiful scenes which were presented to her view; scenes which she had
+passed unheeded when grief and fear veiled every prospect in gloom. One
+of the nuns in the Hotel Dieu was the sister of Mrs Falkland; and to her
+care Mr Falkland intended to commit his charge. But before he had been
+an hour in the town, he received information that a ship was weighing
+anchor for the Clyde, and Laura eagerly embraced the opportunity. The
+captain being informed by Mr Falkland, that she could not advance the
+price of her passage, at first hesitated to receive her; but when, with
+the irresistible candour and majesty that shone in all her looks and
+words, she assured him of his reward, when she spoke to him in the
+accents of his native land, the Scotsman's heart melted; and having
+satisfied himself that she was a Highlander, he closed the bargain, by
+swearing that he was sure he might trust her. With tears in her eyes,
+Laura took leave of her benevolent host; yet her heart bounded with joy
+as she saw the vessel cleaving the tide, and each object in the dreaded
+land of exile swiftly retiring from her view. In a few days that dreaded
+land disappeared. In a few more the mountains of Cape Breton sunk behind
+the wave. The brisk gales of autumn wafted the vessel cheerfully on her
+way; and often did Laura compute her progress.
+
+In a clear frosty morning towards the end of September, she heard once
+more the cry of land!--now music to her ear. Now with a beating breast
+she ran to gaze upon a ridge of mountains indenting the disk of the
+rising sun; but the tears of rapture dimmed her eyes, when every voice
+at once shouted, 'Scotland!'
+
+All day Laura remained on deck, oft measuring, with the light splinter,
+the vessel's course through the deep. The winds favoured not her
+impatience. Towards evening they died away, and scarcely did the vessel
+steal along the liquid mirror. Another and another morning came, and
+Laura's ear was blessed with the first sounds of her native land. The
+tolling of a bell was borne along the water; now swelling loud, and now
+falling softly away. The humble village church was seen on the shore;
+and Laura could distinguish the gay colouring of her country-women's
+Sunday attire,--the scarlet plaid, transmitted from generation to
+generation, pinned decently over the plain clean coif,--the bright blue
+gown, the trophy of more recent housewifery. To her every form in the
+well-known garb seemed the form of a friend. The blue mountains in the
+distance,--the scattered woods,--the fields yellow with the
+harvest,--the river sparkling in the sun, seemed, to the wanderer
+returning from the land of strangers, fairer than the gardens of
+Paradise.
+
+Land of my affections!--when 'I forget thee, may my right hand forget
+her cunning!' Blessed be thou among nations! Long may thy wanderers
+return to thee rejoicing, and their hearts throb with honest pride when
+they own themselves thy children!
+
+The vessel at last cast anchor, and all was cheerful bustle; every one
+eager to hurry ashore. Some hastened to launch the boat; some ran below
+to seek out the little offerings of love which they had brought for
+their friends. Never had Laura heard sound so animating as the cry of
+'all ready!' followed by the light short stroke of the oar that sent
+her swiftly forward. Many a wistful glance did the rowers turn. 'There's
+mother on the pier-head!' cried one. 'I see Annie and the bairns!' cried
+another; and the oar was plied more swiftly. They landed. The shout of
+joy, and the whisper of affection were exchanged on every side. Laura
+stood back from the tumult, breathing a silent thanksgiving on behalf of
+herself and her companions. 'Poor lassie!' said the captain, approaching
+her, 'is there naebody to welcome thee? Come! I'm going up to Glasgow
+the night to see my wife and the owners; and if ye like to gang wi' me,
+ye'll be sae far on your way to your friends.' Laura thankfully accepted
+the proposal; and the fly-boat being just about to sail up the river,
+she placed in it the little packet of necessaries which she had
+collected at Quebec; and accompanied the good-natured sailor to his
+home.
+
+She was kindly received by his wife and daughter, and furnished with the
+best accommodations they could command. The next morning she gave the
+captain a draft for the price of her passage; and producing her purse
+and Mrs De Courcy's ring, offered them as further security; saying, that
+as she was now in her own country, a few shillings would support her
+till she reached her friends, since she might travel to Perthshire on
+foot. The sailor, however, positively refused to accept of any thing
+more than the draft, swearing that if he were deceived in Laura, he
+would never trust woman again. He then, at her desire, procured her a
+seat in the stage-coach, and once more she proceeded on her journey.
+
+At a small village, a few miles from Perth, she desired to be set down.
+A by-road led from the village to Mr Douglas's parish. The distance was
+said to be only seven miles; and Laura, forgetting the latitude allowed
+to Scotish measurement, thought she might easily reach the parsonage
+before night-fall. Leaving her little parcel at the village, she
+hastened forward;--now pausing a moment as some well-known peak or cliff
+met her eye, now bounding on with the light step of joy. She pictured
+the welcome of affection; already she saw the mild countenance of her
+early friend; already she felt the embrace of love.
+
+Darkness surprised her when she had yet much of her journey to perform,
+and had shrouded every object ere she reached the well-known gate, and
+saw across the narrow lawn the lights streaming from the window. She
+stopped--fear stealing on her joy. In five months what changes might not
+have happened! Her friend, her mother, might be ill, might be dead! So
+must weak men mitigate with the prospect of evil the transports which
+belong not to his inheritance! She again proceeded. She entered the
+hall. The parlour door was open. A group of cheerful faces appeared,
+ruddy with youth and health; but Laura's eye rested on one of more
+mature, more interesting grace,--one shaded with untimely silver, and
+lighted up with milder fires. She remained motionless, fearing to
+surprise her friend by too suddenly appearing, till one of the girls,
+observing her, exclaimed, in a transport of joy, 'Laura! Mamma! Laura!'
+Mrs Douglas sprung from her seat; and the welcome of affection, the
+embrace of love were reality!
+
+The first burst of gladness was succeeded by the solicitous inquiry, by
+the interesting narrative; and Laura beguiled her friend of many tears
+by the story of her sad voyage, her hopeless captivity, her perilous
+escape. Tears, too, of real bitterness rose to her eyes, at the thought
+that, although she had escaped from the cruelty of her oppressor, yet
+its consequences must be lasting as her life; and that she was now
+pouring her story perhaps into the only ear that would be open to her
+protestations of innocence. But she would not cloud the hour of joy by
+calling the attention of her friend to the shade that rested on her
+prospects; nor diminish her own gratitude for deliverance from more real
+misfortune, by anticipating the scorns of the world. She uttered not the
+faintest foreboding of evil, but continued with serene cheerfulness to
+'charm as she was wont to do,' till at a late hour the friendly party
+separated for the night.
+
+Weary as she was, Laura could not rest. She had a task to perform too
+painful to be thought of with indifference. It was necessary to write to
+De Courcy; and to damp all the pleasure which a knowledge of her safety
+would convey, by retracting engagements which had been made when her
+alliance inferred no dishonour. She well knew that De Courcy himself,
+convinced of her innocence, would spurn the idea of forsaking her in
+misfortune,--of giving, by his desertion, a sanction to calumny. And
+should she take advantage of his honour and his love to fix in his heart
+the incurable anguish of following to the wife of his bosom the glance
+of suspicion or of scorn! The world's neglect was trivial in her
+estimation. Even its reproach might be endured by one who could appeal
+from its sentence to a higher tribunal. But what should ease the heart
+whose best affections were turned to poison by domestic shame; the heart
+jealous of the honour which it could not defend, bleeding at the stab
+from which it dared not recoil?
+
+Laura had already taken her resolution, and the next day saw it
+effected. She wrote to De Courcy, detailing minutely every event that
+had befallen her from the hour of their separation till her landing in
+Britain. There her narrative closed. She told not in what spot the
+wanderer had found rest. She did not even intimate in what part of the
+island she had disembarked, lest it should furnish a clue to her present
+retreat. Nor did she, by expressions of tenderness and regret, aggravate
+the pang which she was compelled to inflict. In words like these she
+proceeded. 'And now, my respected friend, I imagine you are pausing to
+offer a thanksgiving for yourself and for me. Let it not damp your just
+gratitude that somewhat of evil is permitted to mingle with this signal
+deliverance. Let not my escape from misfortune the most dreadful be
+forgotten, even though the world should refuse to believe in that
+escape. For thus it must be. Known to have been in the power of that bad
+man, will the harsh-judging world believe me innocent? Will it be
+believed that he ventured to cast his very life upon my mercy, by
+dragging me unwilling from my home? So long the sport of his ungoverned
+passions, will it be believed that I have not even seen him?
+
+'I know it will be difficult to convince you that an unjust sentence can
+be pronounced against me. Certain yourself of the truth of my story, you
+imagine that it will find easy credence with others. But even if we
+could change the nature of man, and teach strangers to judge with the
+candour of friendship, who shall furnish them with the materials for
+judging? Not he, who, in corroborating my tale, must publish his own
+disgrace! Not the weak Laura, who, by a constitutional defect, shrinks
+even from the eye where she cannot read distrust!
+
+'Consider all this, and you will at once perceive the reasons which
+induce me to conceal myself from you for a time. Engagements formed
+under circumstances now so materially changed I cannot consider as
+binding. You, I fear, may think otherwise, and be hurried on by your
+generous nature to tempt a fate which that very turn of mind would
+render insupportable. My own part in this fate I think I can bear. The
+share which would fall upon you, I own would crush me to the dust. My
+spirits are not yet what they have been. I am weary of struggling with a
+perverse heart, ever leading me aside from duty. I will not lend it arms
+by exposing myself to entreaties and arguments to which I cannot yield
+without betraying my best friend to anguish unpitied and hopeless;
+anguish which would bear with double pressure on myself.
+
+'A stain is fallen on my good name, and "the glory has departed from
+me." Be it so! He who doth all things well hath chosen my lot, and his
+choice shall be mine. I trust I shall be enabled to act as becomes one
+who is degraded in the public eye. I have sometimes shrunk from the
+approbation of the world--that little circle I mean which we are apt to
+call the world. Now I will hide me from its censure; and shall find in
+the duties which peculiarly belong to the fallen--the duties of
+humility, of charity and of devotion--enough to make life still no
+unpleasing pilgrimage. A good name has been justly likened to a
+jewel--precious, not necessary. But if you, my dear friend, covet fame
+for me, look forward to the time when an assembled universe shall behold
+my acquittal, when a Judge, before whom the assembled universe is as
+nothing, shall proclaim me for his own.'
+
+This letter Laura accompanied with another, in which she begged Mrs De
+Courcy's assistance in reconciling her son to the change in his
+prospects. Both were inclosed by Mr Douglas to a friend in London, who
+was directed to forward them by post; thus avoiding any trace of the
+quarter from whence they came.
+
+Her lot thus chosen, Laura began to make arrangements for entering on a
+mode of life befitting her situation. Fearing that the shaft of slander
+should glance aside from herself to the friends who still clung to her,
+she steadily resisted Mrs Douglas's warm invitations to make the
+parsonage her home. Her father's little farm at Glenalbert had been
+annexed to one of larger size. The cottage remained untenanted, and
+thither Laura determined to retire. Her fortune, however far from
+affluent, she thought would suffice to support the humble establishment
+which she meant to retain. One servant was sufficient for her who had
+been accustomed to make few claims on the assistance of others. To
+obviate the impropriety of living alone while yet extreme youth made
+even nominal protection valuable, she invited an elderly widow lady,
+poor, but respectable, to preside in her household. In necessary
+preparations for her removal to Glenalbert, in affectionate assiduities
+to the friends with whom she resided, in compensating to her own poor
+for her long, though involuntary neglect of their claims, Laura sought a
+refuge from painful reflection; and, if a sigh arose at the review of
+her altered prospects, she called to mind her deliverance, and regret
+was exchanged for thankfulness. The vain might have bewailed a
+seclusion thus untimely, thus permanent; the worldly-minded might have
+mourned the forfeiture of earthly prosperity; any spirit unsupported by
+religion must have sunk under unmerited disgrace, embittered by keen
+sense of shame and constitutional timidity. Laura was a Christian, and
+she could even at times rejoice that the spirit of vanity was mortified,
+the temptations of the world withdrawn; even where the blow was more
+painful, she humbly believed that it was necessary, and thankfully owned
+that it was kind.
+
+The arrangements for her new establishment were soon completed, and the
+time came when Laura was to begin her life of seclusion. The day before
+her intended removal she completed her twentieth year; and Mrs Douglas
+would have assembled a little group of friends to celebrate the
+occasion, but Laura steadily opposed it. 'Let not one who is suspected,'
+said she, 'assume the boldness of innocence! yet since the suspicion
+wrongs me I will not wear the melancholy of guilt. Give the children a
+holiday for my sake, and I shall be as playful and as silly as the
+youngest of them.' The holiday was granted; and Laura, amidst the joyful
+noisy little company that soon assembled round her, forgot that she was
+an outcast.
+
+She was busily searching every corner for the hidden handkerchief, the
+little rogue who had concealed it in his shoe laughing the while and
+clapping his hands in delight, when she started at the voice of a
+stranger in the lobby; who was announcing that he had a letter for Mrs
+Douglas, which he could deliver to no person but herself. The next
+moment the stranger was shewn in to the room, and Laura with amazement
+beheld her American attendant. The amazement on his part was still
+greater. He started, he trembled, he at first shrunk from Laura, then
+eagerly advancing towards her, 'Bless my soul, Madam!' he exclaimed,
+'are you alive? Then Mary's words are true, and the angels watch over
+you.'
+
+It was some time before the man's astonishment would permit him to
+declare his errand. At last when his curiosity had been partially
+satisfied, he was prevailed upon to enter his narrative. 'You may
+remember, Madam,' said he, addressing himself to Laura, 'it was the
+morning we expected my master, (though I told Mary, for a make-believe,
+that he would not come till evening,) that morning Mary took you out and
+left you; for which I was mortal angry with her, for my mind misgave me
+that some mischief would come of it. So she ran down to the place where
+she left you sitting, but you were not there. Then she looked all about,
+but she could see you nowhere. She was afraid to go among the canes,
+for fear of the rattlesnakes, so she ran home and told me. So I went
+with her, scolding her to be sure all the way. Well we sought and
+sought, till at last, half in the water, and half on the shore, we found
+your hat and then to be sure none of us never doubted that you had
+drowned yourself; and Mary cried and wrung her hands like a distracted
+creature, saying that my master was a wicked wretch that had broken your
+heart, and often and often she wished that we could find you to give you
+Christian burial, for she said she was sure your ghost would never let
+her rest in her bed. But we had no drags, nor anything to take you up
+with out of the water. Well, we were just in the midst of all our
+troubles when my master came. "Well, Robert," says he, in his hearty
+way, "Where is my angel?" I had not the heart to say a word; so with
+that Mary ran forward sobbing like a baby, and says she, just off hand,
+"Miss Montreville is in a watery grave, and I am sure, Sir, some heavy
+judgment will light on him that drove her to it." So my master stood for
+a moment thunderstruck, as it were, and then he flew upon us both like a
+tiger, and shook us till he scarce left breath in us, and swore that it
+was all a trick, and that he would make us produce you or he would have
+our lives. So I tried to pacify him the best I could; but Mary answered
+him, that it was all his own doing, and that he might seek you in the
+river where he would find your corpse. This put my master quite beside
+himself; and he catched her up, and flung her from him, just as if she
+had been a kitten; and then he flew down to the river side, and I
+followed him, and shewed him where we had found your hat; and explained
+to him how it was not our fault, for we had both been very civil and
+given you no disturbance at all, which you know Madam was true. So,
+close to the place where we found your hat we saw the print of your
+little shoe in the bank; and when my master saw it he grew quite
+distracted, crying out that he had murdered you, and that he would
+revenge you upon a wretch not fit to live (meaning himself, Madam), and
+so he would have leaped into the river; but by this time one of the
+servants he brought with him came up, and we forced him back to the
+house. Then he grew more quiet; and called for Mary, and gave her his
+purse with all his money, and bid her tell every thing about you, Madam;
+how you had behaved, and what you had said. So she told him, crying all
+the while, for she repented from her heart that ever she consented to
+have any hand in the business. And sometimes he would start away and
+gnash his teeth, and dash his head against the wall; and sometimes he
+would bid her go on, that he might run distracted at once and forget
+all. So she told him that you had written to one Mrs Douglas, in hopes
+that when you were dead he would take pity on you, (repeating your very
+words, Madam). Then he asked to see the letter, and he carried it into
+your room. And there we heard him groaning and speaking to himself, and
+throwing himself against the walls; and we thought it best to let him
+come to himself a little and not disturb him. So by and by he called for
+pen and ink, and I carried them to him, thinking if he wanted to write
+it was a sign he was growing more calm. Then he continued writing for
+some time, though now and again we heard him restless as before. At last
+he opened the door, and called me, "Robert," says he, quite calm and
+composed like, "if you deliver this packet as directed, you will earn
+three hundred pounds. But be sure to deliver it with your own hand." I
+was going to ask him something more about it, for I did not just know
+what he meant about the £300; but he pushed me out, and shut himself
+into the room. Then I bethought myself that there was something strange
+like in his look, and that he was pale, and somehow not like himself. So
+I went to the kitchen to consult with the rest what we had best do. So I
+had scarcely got there when I heard a pistol go off, and we all ran and
+burst open the door, and there we saw my master, Madam, laid out upon
+Miss Montreville's bed, and the pistol still in his hand; though he was
+stone dead, Madam, for I suppose the ball had gone right through his
+heart.'
+
+Laura, dreadfully shocked, and no longer able to listen to this horrible
+relation, hastened out of the room, leaving Mrs Douglas to hear what yet
+remained to be told of the history of a man of pleasure!!! The servant
+proceeded to tell that he and his companions had conveyed their master's
+body to head-quarters, had seen it buried with military honours, and
+then had sailed in the first ship for Britain. That remembering the
+charge to deliver the packet with his own hand, he had come down to
+Scotland on purpose to execute his trust; and hoped that Mrs Douglas
+would fulfil his master's promise. He then delivered the packet, which
+Mrs Douglas opening in his presence, found to contain a bill for £300 in
+favour of Robert Lewson, not payable without her signature; the two
+letters which Laura had written during her exile; and the following
+lines, rendered almost illegible by the convulsive startings of the hand
+which traced them.
+
+     'The angel whom I have murdered, was an angel still. "The
+     destroyer came," but found her not. It was her last wish that
+     you should know her innocence. None can attest it like me. She
+     was purer than heaven's own light. She loved you. There is
+     another, too, whom she protests that she loved to the last--but
+     it was me alone whom she loved with passion. In the anguish of
+     her soul she called it "idolatry;" and the words of agony are
+     true. But I, like a base fool, cast her love away for the
+     heartless toyings of a wanton! And shall I, who might have been
+     so blest, live now to bear the gnawings of this viper--this
+     hell never to be escaped?
+
+     'She has said that she must go to the grave laden with shame;
+     that her name is degraded through me. Once more, then, I charge
+     you, proclaim her innocence. Let no envious tongue presume to
+     stain that name. Let it be accounted holy. I will save what she
+     loved better than life, though I have persecuted her--driven
+     her to death--forced her to hide in the cold waters all that
+     was loveliest in woman. She says that she will meet you in
+     heaven,--and it must be true, for falsehood was a stranger to
+     her lips. Then tell her that he who was her murderer, was her
+     avenger too. It is said that self-destruction is the
+     last--worst crime. In others it may be so. In me it is but
+     justice; for every law condemns the murderer to die. He who
+     destroyed that angel should die a thousand deaths. Justice
+     shall be speedy.
+
+                              'VILLIERS HARGRAVE.'
+
+Mrs Douglas had no sooner read the contents of her packet, than she
+hastened to communicate them to Laura. The horror inspired by Hargrave's
+letter, and the dreadful destiny of the writer, did not render her
+insensible to the pleasure of being empowered to clear, beyond a doubt,
+the fame of her young friend. Laura was, however, for the present, in no
+state to share her joy. She could only weep; and, trembling, pray that
+she might be enabled to guard against the first beginnings of that
+self-indulgence, whose end is destruction!
+
+Mrs Douglas at last found means to rouse her by naming De Courcy, and
+reminding her of his right to immediate information of this happy change
+in her situation. Laura, as superior to coquetry as to any other species
+of despicable cruelty, instantly sat down to communicate the news to her
+lover. To her plain unvarnished tale, she added copies of the letters
+which attested her innocence, with Lewson's account of the names and
+addresses of those persons who had been employed to carry her from
+England.
+
+Evening was drawing on before Laura had finished her task; and, desirous
+to recruit her spirits before she joined the family circle, she stole
+abroad to breathe the reviving air of her native hills. She had crossed
+the little lawn, and was opening the gate, when, seeing a carriage drive
+quickly up, she drew back. The carriage stopped. She heard an
+exclamation of joy, and the next moment she was pressed to the heart of
+De Courcy.
+
+Laura first recovered utterance. 'What happy chance,' she cried, 'has
+brought you here just at the moment when I am permitted to rejoice that
+you are come?' 'Ah, Laura,' said De Courcy, 'could I know that you were
+alive and in Britain, yet make no effort to find you? I was convinced
+that Mrs Douglas must know your retreat. I was sure that I could plead
+so that no human heart could resist my entreaties. And now I have found
+thee, I will never leave thee but with life.'
+
+The little shrubbery walk which led round the lawn to the parsonage was
+not half a quarter of a mile in length, yet it was an hour before the
+lovers reached the house; and before Laura presented De Courcy to her
+friends she had promised that in one week she would reward his tried
+affection; and had settled, that after they had spent a few days in
+delightful solitude at Glenalbert, she would accompany him to Norwood.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Laura has now been for some years a wife; and the same qualities which
+made her youth respectable, endear her to the happy partner of her
+maturer life. She still finds daily exercise for her characteristic
+virtue; since even amidst the purest worldly bliss self-denial is
+necessary. But the tranquil current of domestic happiness affords no
+materials for narrative. The joys that spring from chastened affection,
+tempered desires, useful employment, and devout meditation, must be
+felt--they cannot be described.
+
+
+                      THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcribers Notes:
+
+    Some minor obvious typographical errors have been corrected
+    silently.
+
+    The footnote has been moved to underneath the paragraph it
+    refers to so as to not disrupt the flow of the text.
+
+    All inconsistent hyphenation, apostrophes and single quotes have
+    been left as found unless noted.
+
+
+Corrections made are shown below in square brackets:
+
+    Pg. 2 "She understood all the arts of courtesey[courtesy]"
+
+    Pg. 16 "to unit[unite] myself with vice"
+
+    Pg. 19 "My dear kind feather[father],' she cried,"
+
+    Pg. 21 "features indeliby[indelibly] engraven on her
+    recollection"
+
+    Pg. 23 "Soon after she first saw Hargraves[Hargrave]"
+
+    Pg. 24 "the cause of Laura's depresion[depression]"
+
+    Pg. 41 "Hargraves[Hargrave] was the only child"
+
+    Pg. 66 "and she run[ran] on till she was"
+
+    Pg. 108 "triumphantly, [']for haven't I read it"
+
+    Pg. 127 "Varius[Various] circumstances, however, had led De
+    Courcy"
+
+    Pg. 135 "must have a companion to it.[']"
+
+    Pg. 198 "was leaving the shop, goodnaturedly[good-naturedly]
+    said"
+
+    Pg. 219 "she should inhabit so lovely, so peaceful [a] scene."
+
+    Pg. 224 "Hargrave could not possibility[possibly] refuse to
+    fight"
+
+    Pg. 225 "the close of a sleepness[sleepless] night"
+
+    Pg. 233 "'That you have no ambition,' replied [Mrs] De Courcy,"
+
+    Pg. 237 "twenty times before.--[']"Always live with a"
+
+    Pg. 247 "'I think,' said [Mrs] De Courcy, 'I can observe"
+
+    Pg. 249 "Then I was gong[going] to have got"
+
+    Pg. 253 "namely, the liberty to infrine[infringe]"
+
+    Pg. 264 "Montague [who] looks so provokingly pleased"
+
+    Pg. 306 "'Do you dare to tell you[replaced with "me"] that you
+    will not go?'"
+
+    Pg. 313 "Laura's habitual ascendancy was completed[completely]
+    restored"
+
+    Pg. 343 "instead of cards, prefer[prefers] allowing me to attend
+    her"
+
+    Pg. 347 "through every tedious hours[hour] in which the absence
+    of visitors"
+
+
+Multiple versions of words not changed:
+
+    bridemaid, bride-maid
+    control, controul
+    couldn't, could'nt
+    extasy, ecstasy
+    might'nt, mightn't, might'n't
+    mustn't, must'nt
+    print-seller, printseller
+    recal, recall
+    superstitution, superstition
+    surprise, surprize
+    suspence, suspense
+    tête à tête, tête-à-tête
+    tonight, to-night
+    tremor, tremour
+    wasn't, was'nt
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Self-control, by Mary Brunton
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41196 ***