initial commit of ebook 9620HEADmain

1 files changed, 20008 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/9620.txt b/9620.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3966518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9620.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,20008 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales and Novels, Vol. 6, by Maria Edgeworth
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tales and Novels, Vol. 6
+
+Author: Maria Edgeworth
+
+Posting Date: December 11, 2011 [EBook #9620]
+Release Date: January, 2006
+First Posted: October 10, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES AND NOVELS, VOL. 6 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TALES AND NOVELS
+
+VOL. 6
+
+BY
+
+MARIA EDGEWORTH
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ABSENTEE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"Are you to be at Lady Clonbrony's gala next week?" said Lady Langdale
+to Mrs. Dareville, whilst they were waiting for their carriages in the
+crush-room of the opera-house.
+
+"Oh, yes! every body's to be there, I hear," replied Mrs. Dareville.
+"Your ladyship, of course?"
+
+"Why, I don't know; if I possibly can. Lady Clonbrony makes it such
+a point with me, that I believe I must look in upon her for a few
+minutes. They are going to a prodigious expense on this occasion. Soho
+tells me the reception rooms are all to be new furnished, and in the
+most magnificent style."
+
+"At what a famous rate those Clonbronies are dashing on," said colonel
+Heathcock. "Up to any thing."
+
+"Who are they?--these Clonbronies, that one hears of so much of
+late?" said her grace of Torcaster. "Irish absentees, I know. But
+how do they support all this enormous expense?" "The son _will_ have
+a prodigiously fine estate when some Mr. Quin dies," said Mrs.
+Dareville.
+
+"Yes, every body who comes from Ireland _will_ have a fine estate when
+somebody dies," said her grace. "But what have they at present?"
+
+"Twenty thousand a year, they say," replied Mrs. Dareville.
+
+"Ten thousand, I believe," cried Lady Langdale.
+
+"Ten thousand, have they?--possibly," said her grace. "I know nothing
+about them--have no acquaintance among the Irish. Torcaster knows
+something of Lady Clonbrony; she has fastened herself by some means
+upon him; but I charge him not to _commit_ me. Positively, I could not
+for any body, and much less for that sort of person, extend the circle
+of my acquaintance."
+
+"Now that is so cruel of your grace," said Mrs. Dareville, laughing,
+"when poor Lady Clonbrony works so hard, and pays so high to get into
+certain circles."
+
+"If you knew all she endures, to look, speak, move, breathe, like an
+Englishwoman, you would pity her," said Lady Langdale.
+
+"Yes, and you _cawnt_ conceive the _peens_ she _teekes_ to talk of the
+_teebles_ and _cheers_, and to thank Q, and with so much _teeste_ to
+speak pure English," said Mrs. Dareville.
+
+"Pure cockney, you mean," said Lady Langdale.
+
+"But does Lady Clonbrony expect to pass for English?" said the
+duchess.
+
+"Oh, yes! because she is not quite Irish _bred and born_--only bred,
+not born," said Mrs. Dareville. "And she could not be five minutes
+in your grace's company, before she would tell you that she was
+_Henglish_, born in _Hoxfordshire_."
+
+"She must be a vastly amusing personage--I should like to meet her
+if one could see and hear her incog.," said the duchess. "And Lord
+Clonbrony, what is he?"
+
+"Nothing, nobody," said Mrs. Dareville: "one never even hears of him."
+
+"A tribe of daughters, too, I suppose?"
+
+"No, no," said Lady Langdale; "daughters would be past all endurance."
+
+"There's a cousin, though, a Miss Nugent," said Mrs. Dareville, "that
+Lady Clonbrony has with her."
+
+"Best part of her, too," said Colonel Heathcock--"d----d fine
+girl!--never saw her look better than at the opera to-night!"
+
+"Fine _complexion_! as Lady Clonbrony says, when she means a high
+colour," said Lady Langdale.
+
+"Miss Nugent is not a lady's beauty," said Mrs. Dareville. "Has she
+any fortune, colonel?"
+
+"'Pon honour, don't know," said the colonel.
+
+"There's a son, somewhere, is not there?" said Lady Langdale.
+
+"Don't know, 'pon honour," replied the colonel.
+
+"Yes--at Cambridge--not of age yet," said Mrs. Dareville. "Bless me!
+here is Lady Clonbrony come back. I thought she was gone half an hour
+ago!"
+
+"Mamma," whispered one of Lady Langdale's daughters, leaning between
+her mother and Mrs. Dareville, "who is that gentleman that passed us
+just now?"
+
+"Which way?"
+
+"Towards the door.--There now, mamma, you can see him. He is speaking
+to Lady Clonbrony--to Miss Nugent--now Lady Clonbrony is introducing
+him to Miss Broadhurst."
+
+"I see him now," said Lady Langdale, examining him through her glass;
+"a very gentlemanlike looking young man indeed."
+
+"Not an Irishman, I am sure, by his manner," said her grace.
+
+"Heathcock!" said Lady Langdale, "who is Miss Broadhurst talking to?"
+
+"Eh! now really--'pon honour--don't know," replied Heathcock.
+
+"And yet he certainly looks like somebody one should know," pursued
+Lady Langdale, "though I don't recollect seeing him any where before."
+
+"Really now!" was all the satisfaction she could gain from the
+insensible, immovable colonel. However, her ladyship, after sending
+a whisper along the line, gained the desired information, that the
+young gentleman was Lord Colambre, son, only son, of Lord and Lady
+Clonbrony--that he was just come from Cambridge--that he was not yet
+of age--that he would be of age within a year; that he would then,
+after the death of somebody, come into possession of a fine estate
+by the mother's side; "and therefore, Cat'rine, my dear," said she,
+turning round to the daughter who had first pointed him out, "you
+understand we should never talk about other people's affairs."
+
+"No, mamma, never. I hope to goodness, mamma, Lord Colambre did not
+hear what you and Mrs. Dareville were saying!"
+
+"How could he, child?--He was quite at the other end of the world."
+
+"I beg your pardon, ma'am--he was at my elbow, close behind us; but I
+never thought about him till I heard somebody say 'my lord--'"
+
+"Good heavens!--I hope he didn't hear."
+
+"But, for my part, I said nothing," cried Lady Langdale.
+
+"And for my part, I said nothing but what every body knows," cried
+Mrs. Dareville.
+
+"And for my part, I am guilty only of hearing," said the duchess. "Do,
+pray, Colonel Heathcock, have the goodness to see what my people are
+about, and what chance we have of getting away to-night."
+
+"The Duchess of Torcaster's carriage stops the way!"--a joyful sound
+to Colonel Heathcock and to her grace, and not less agreeable, at this
+instant, to Lady Langdale, who, the moment she was disembarrassed
+of the duchess, pressed through the crowd to Lady Clonbrony, and
+addressing her with smiles and complacency, was charmed to have a
+little moment to speak to her--could _not_ sooner get through the
+crowd--would certainly do herself the honour to be at her ladyship's
+gala. While Lady Langdale spoke, she never seemed to see or think of
+any body but Lady Clonbrony, though, all the time, she was intent upon
+every motion of Lord Colambre; and whilst she was obliged to listen
+with a face of sympathy to a long complaint of Lady Clonbrony's,
+about Mr. Soho's want of taste in ottomans, she was vexed to perceive
+that his lordship showed no desire to be introduced to her or to
+her daughters; but, on the contrary, was standing talking to Miss
+Nugent. His mother, at the end of her speech, looked round for
+"Colambre"--called him twice before he heard--introduced him to Lady
+Langdale, and to Lady Cat'rine, and Lady Anne ----, and to Mrs.
+Dareville; to all of whom he bowed with an air of proud coldness,
+which gave them reason to regret that their remarks upon his mother
+and his family had not been made _sotto voce_.
+
+"Lady Langdale's carriage stops the way!" Lord Colambre made no offer
+of his services, notwithstanding a look from his mother. Incapable of
+the meanness of voluntarily listening to a conversation not intended
+for him to hear, he had, however, been compelled, by the pressure
+of the crowd, to remain a few minutes stationary, where he could not
+avoid hearing the remarks of the fashionable friends: disdaining
+dissimulation, he made no attempt to conceal his displeasure. Perhaps
+his vexation was increased by his consciousness that there was some
+mixture of truth in their sarcasms. He was sensible that his mother,
+in some points--her manners, for instance--was obvious to ridicule and
+satire. In Lady Clonbrony's address there was a mixture of constraint,
+affectation, and indecision, unusual in a person of her birth, rank,
+and knowledge of the world. A natural and unnatural manner seemed
+struggling in all her gestures, and in every syllable that she
+articulated--a naturally free, familiar, good-natured, precipitate,
+Irish manner, had been schooled, and schooled late in life, into a
+sober, cold, still, stiff deportment, which she mistook for English.
+A strong Hibernian accent she had, with infinite difficulty, changed
+into an English tone. Mistaking reverse of wrong for right, she
+caricatured the English pronunciation; and the extraordinary precision
+of her London phraseology betrayed her not to be a Londoner, as the
+man who strove to pass for an Athenian was detected by his Attic
+dialect. Not aware of her real danger, Lady Clonbrony was, on the
+opposite side, in continual apprehension every time she opened her
+lips, lest some treacherous _a_ or _e_, some strong _r_, some puzzling
+aspirate or non-aspirate, some unguarded note, interrogative, or
+expostulatory, should betray her to be an Irishwoman. Mrs. Dareville
+had, in her mimicry, perhaps, a little exaggerated, as to the
+_teebles_ and _cheers_, but still the general likeness of the
+representation of Lady Clonbrony was strong enough to strike and vex
+her son. He had now, for the first time, an opportunity of judging of
+the estimation in which his mother and his family were held by certain
+leaders of the ton, of whom, in her letters, she had spoken so much,
+and into whose society, or rather into whose parties, she had been
+admitted. He saw that the renegado cowardice with which she denied,
+abjured, and reviled her own country, gained nothing but ridicule and
+contempt. He loved his mother; and, whilst he endeavoured to conceal
+her faults and foibles as much as possible from his own heart, he
+could not endure those who dragged them to light and ridicule. The
+next morning, the first thing that occurred to Lord Colambre's
+remembrance, when he awoke, was the sound of the contemptuous emphasis
+which had been laid on the words IRISH ABSENTEES!--This led to
+recollections of his native country, to comparisons of past and
+present scenes, to future plans of life. Young and careless as he
+seemed, Lord Colambre was capable of serious reflection. Of naturally
+quick and strong capacity, ardent affections, impetuous temper, the
+early years of his childhood passed at his father's castle in Ireland,
+where, from the lowest servant to the well-dressed dependent of the
+family, every body had conspired to wait upon, to fondle, to flatter,
+to worship, this darling of their lord. Yet he was not spoiled--not
+rendered selfish; for in the midst of this flattery and servility,
+some strokes of genuine generous affection had gone home to his little
+heart: and though unqualified submission had increased the natural
+impetuosity of his temper, and though visions of his future grandeur
+had touched his infant thought, yet, fortunately, before he acquired
+any fixed habits of insolence or tyranny, he was carried far away
+from all that were bound or willing to submit to his commands, far
+away from all signs of hereditary grandeur--plunged into one of our
+great public schools--into a new world. Forced to struggle, mind and
+body, with his equals, his rivals, the little lord became a spirited
+school-boy, and in time, a man. Fortunately for him, science and
+literature happened to be the fashion among a set of clever young
+men with whom he was at Cambridge. His ambition for intellectual
+superiority was raised, his views were enlarged, his tastes and
+his manners formed. The sobriety of English good sense mixed most
+advantageously with Irish vivacity: English prudence governed, but did
+not extinguish, his Irish enthusiasm. But, in fact, English and Irish
+had not been invidiously contrasted in his mind: he had been so long
+resident in England, and so intimately connected with Englishmen, that
+he was not obvious to any of the commonplace ridicule thrown upon
+Hibernians; and he had lived with men who were too well informed and
+liberal to misjudge or depreciate a sister country. He had found, from
+experience, that, however reserved the English may be in manner, they
+are warm at heart; that, however averse they may be from forming new
+acquaintance, their esteem and confidence once gained, they make the
+most solid friends. He had formed friendships in England; he was fully
+sensible of the superior comforts, refinement, and information, of
+English society; but his own country was endeared to him by early
+association, and a sense of duty and patriotism attached him to
+Ireland.--"And shall I too be an absentee?" was a question which
+resulted from these reflections--a question which he was not yet
+prepared to answer decidedly.
+
+In the mean time, the first business of the morning was to execute
+a commission for a Cambridge friend. Mr. Berryl had bought from Mr.
+Mordicai, a famous London coachmaker, a curricle, _warranted sound_,
+for which he had paid a sound price, upon express condition that Mr.
+Mordicai should be answerable for all repairs of the curricle for six
+months. In three, both the carriage and body were found to be good for
+nothing--the curricle had been returned to Mordicai--nothing had since
+been heard of it, or from him; and Lord Colambre had undertaken to pay
+him and it a visit, and to make all proper inquiries. Accordingly,
+he went to the coachmaker's; and, obtaining no satisfaction from the
+underlings, desired to see the head of the house. He was answered
+that Mr. Mordicai was not at home. His lordship had never seen Mr.
+Mordicai; but just then he saw, walking across the yard, a man who
+looked something like a Bond-street coxcomb, but not the least like a
+gentleman, who called, in the tone of a master, for "Mr. Mordicai's
+barouche!"--It appeared; and he was stepping into it, when Lord
+Colambre took the liberty of stopping him; and, pointing to the wreck
+of Mr. Berryl's curricle, now standing in the yard, began a statement
+of his friend's grievances, and an appeal to common justice and
+conscience, which he, unknowing the nature of the man with whom he had
+to deal, imagined must be irresistible. Mr. Mordicai stood without
+moving a muscle of his dark wooden face--indeed, in his face there
+appeared to be no muscles, or none which could move; so that, though
+he had what are generally called handsome features, there was,
+altogether, something unnatural and shocking in his countenance. When,
+at last, his eyes turned and his lips opened, this seemed to be done
+by machinery, and not by the will of a living creature, or from the
+impulse of a rational soul. Lord Colambre was so much struck with
+this strange physiognomy, that he actually forgot much he had to say
+of springs and wheels--But it was no matter--Whatever he had said, it
+would have come to the same thing; and Mordicai would have answered
+as he now did; "Sir, it was my partner made that bargain, not myself;
+and I don't hold myself bound by it, for he is the sleeping partner
+only, and not empowered to act in the way of business. Had Mr. Berryl
+bargained with me, I should have told him that he should have looked
+to these things before his carriage went out of our yard."
+
+The indignation of Lord Colambre kindled at these words--but in vain:
+to all that indignation could by word or look urge against Mordicai,
+he replied, "May be so, sir: the law is open to your friend--the law
+is open to all men, who can pay for it."
+
+Lord Colambre turned in despair from the callous coachmaker, and
+listened to one of his more compassionate-looking workmen, who was
+reviewing the disabled curricle; and, whilst he was waiting to know
+the sum of his friend's misfortune, a fat, jolly, Falstaff-looking
+personage came into the yard, and accosted Mordicai with a degree of
+familiarity which, from a gentleman, appeared to Lord Colambre to be
+almost impossible.
+
+"How are you, Mordicai, my good fellow?" cried he, speaking with a
+strong Irish accent.
+
+"Who is this?" whispered Lord Colambre to the foreman, who was
+examining the curricle.
+
+"Sir Terence O'Fay, sir--There must be entire new wheels."
+
+"Now tell me, my tight fellow," continued Sir Terence, holding
+Mordicai fast, "when, in the name of all the saints, good or bad, in
+the calendar, do you reckon to let us sport the _suicide_?"
+
+"Will you be so good, sir, to finish making out this estimate for me?"
+interrupted Lord Colambre.
+
+Mordicai forcibly drew his mouth into what he meant for a smile, and
+answered, "As soon as possible, Sir Terence." Sir Terence, in a tone
+of jocose, wheedling expostulation, entreated him to have the carriage
+finished _out of hand_: "Ah, now! Mordy, my precious! let us have it
+by the birthday, and come and dine with us o' Monday at the Hibernian
+Hotel--there's a rare one--will you?"
+
+Mordicai accepted the invitation, and promised faithfully that the
+_suicide_ should be finished by the birthday. Sir Terence shook hands
+upon this promise, and, after telling a good story, which made one of
+the workmen in the yard--an Irishman--grin with delight, walked off.
+Mordicai, first waiting till the knight was out of hearing, called
+aloud, "You grinning rascal! mind, at your peril, and don't let that
+there carriage be touched, d'ye see, till farther orders."
+
+One of Mr. Mordicai's clerks, with a huge long feathered pen behind
+his ear, observed that Mr. Mordicai was right in that caution, for
+that, to the best of his comprehension, Sir Terence O'Fay, and his
+principal too, were over head and ears in debt.
+
+Mordicai coolly answered, that he was well aware of that, but that the
+estate could afford to dip farther; that, for his part, he was under
+no apprehension; he knew how to look sharp, and to bite before he was
+bit: that he knew Sir Terence and his principal were leagued together
+to give the creditors _the go by_; but that, clever as they were both
+at that work, he trusted he was their match.
+
+"Immediately, sir--Sixty-nine pound four, and the perch--Let us
+see--Mr. Mordicai, ask him, ask Paddy, about Sir Terence," said the
+foreman, pointing back over his shoulder to the Irish workman, who
+was at this moment pretending to be wondrous hard at work. However,
+when Mr. Mordicai defied him to tell him any thing he did not know,
+Paddy, parting with an untasted bit of tobacco, began and recounted
+some of Sir Terence O'Fay's exploits in evading duns, replevying
+cattle, fighting sheriffs, bribing _subs_, managing cants, tricking
+_custodees_, in language so strange, and with a countenance and
+gestures so full of enjoyment of the jest, that, whilst Mordicai
+stood for a moment aghast with astonishment, Lord Colambre could
+not help laughing, partly at, and partly with, his countryman. All
+the yard were in a roar of laughter, though they did not understand
+half of what they heard; but their risible muscles were acted upon
+mechanically, or maliciously, merely by the sound of the Irish brogue.
+
+Mordicai, waiting till the laugh was over, dryly observed, that "the
+law is executed in another guess sort of way in England from what it
+is in Ireland;" therefore, for his part, he desired nothing better
+than to set his wits fairly against such _sharks_--that there was a
+pleasure in doing up a debtor, which none but a creditor could know.
+
+"In a moment, sir; if you'll have a moment's patience, sir, if you
+please," said the slow foreman to Lord Colambre; "I must go down the
+pounds once more, and then I'll let you have it."
+
+"I'll tell you what, Smithfield," continued Mr. Mordicai, coming close
+beside his foreman, and speaking very low, but with a voice trembling
+with anger, for he was piqued by his foreman's doubts of his capacity
+to cope with Sir Terence O'Fay; "I'll tell you what, Smithfield, I'll
+be cursed if I don't get every inch of them into my power--you know
+how."
+
+"You are the best judge, sir," replied the foreman; "but I would not
+undertake Sir Terence; and the question is, whether the estate will
+answer the _tote_ of the debts, and whether you know them all for
+certain--"
+
+"I do, sir, I tell you: there's Green--there's Blancham--there's
+Gray--there's Soho"--naming several more--"and, to my knowledge, Lord
+Clonbrony--"
+
+"Stop, sir," cried Lord Colambre, in a voice which made Mordicai and
+every body present start;--"I am his son--"
+
+"The devil!" said Mordicai.
+
+"God bless every bone in his body, then, he's an Irishman!" cried
+Paddy; "and there was the _ra_son my heart warmed to him from the
+first minute he come into the yard, though I did not know it till
+now."
+
+"What, sir! are you my Lord Colambre?" said Mr. Mordicai, recovering,
+but not clearly recovering, his intellects: "I beg pardon, but I did
+not know you _was_ Lord Colambre--I thought you told me you was the
+friend of Mr. Berryl."
+
+"I do not see the incompatibility of the assertion, sir," replied Lord
+Colambre, taking from the bewildered foreman's unresisting hand the
+account which he had been so long _furnishing_.
+
+"Give me leave, my lord," said Mordicai--"I beg your pardon, my lord;
+perhaps we can compromise that business for your friend Mr. Berryl;
+since he is your lordship's friend, perhaps we can contrive to
+_compromise_ and _split the difference_."
+
+_To compromise_, and _split the difference_, Mordicai thought were
+favourite phrases, and approved Hibernian modes of doing business,
+which would conciliate this young Irish nobleman, and dissipate the
+proud tempest, which had gathered, and now swelled in his breast.
+
+"No, sir, no!" cried Lord Colambre, holding firm the paper: "I want no
+favour from you. I will accept of none for my friend or for myself."
+
+"Favour! No, my lord, I should not presume to offer--But I should
+wish, if you'll allow me, to do your friend justice."
+
+Lord Colambre, recollecting that he had no right, in his pride, to
+fling away his friend's money, let Mr. Mordicai look at the account;
+and his impetuous temper in a few moments recovered by good sense, he
+considered, that, as his person was utterly unknown to Mr. Mordicai,
+no offence could have been intended to him, and that, perhaps, in what
+had been said of his father's debts and distress, there might be more
+truth than he was aware of. Prudently, therefore, controlling his
+feelings, and commanding himself, he suffered Mr. Mordicai to show him
+into a parlour to _settle_ his friend's business. In a few minutes the
+account was reduced to a reasonable form, and, in consideration of the
+partner's having made the bargain, by which Mr. Mordicai felt himself
+influenced in honour, though not bound in law, he undertook to have
+the curricle made better than new again, for Mr. Berryl, for twenty
+guineas. Then came awkward apologies to Lord Colambre, which he ill
+endured. "Between ourselves, my lord," continued Mordicai--
+
+But the familiarity of the phrase. "Between ourselves"--this
+implication of equality--Lord Colambre could not admit: he moved
+hastily towards the door, and departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Full of what he had heard, and impatient to obtain farther information
+respecting the state of his father's affairs, Lord Colambre hastened
+home; but his father was out, and his mother was engaged with Mr.
+Soho, directing, or rather being directed, how her apartments should
+be fitted up for her gala. As Lord Colambre entered the room, he saw
+his mother, Miss Nugent, and Mr. Soho, standing at a large table,
+which was covered with rolls of paper, patterns, and drawings of
+furniture: Mr. Soho was speaking in a conceited, dictatorial tone,
+asserting that there was no "colour in nature for that room equal to
+_the belly-o'-the fawn_;" which _belly-o'-the fawn_ he so pronounced,
+that Lady Clonbrony understood it to be _la belle uniforme_, and,
+under this mistake, repeated and assented to the assertion, till it
+was set to rights, with condescending superiority, by the upholsterer.
+This first architectural upholsterer of the age, as he styled himself,
+and was universally admitted to be by all the world of fashion, then,
+with full powers given to him, spoke _en maitre_. The whole face of
+things must be changed. There must be new hangings, new draperies, new
+cornices, new candelabras, new every thing!--
+
+  "The upholsterer's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
+  Glances from ceiling to floor, from floor to ceiling;
+  And, as imagination bodies forth
+  The form of things unknown, the upholsterer's pencil
+  Turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing
+  A local habitation and a NAME."
+
+Of the value of a NAME no one could be more sensible than Mr. Soho.
+
+"Your la'ship sees--this is merely a scratch of my pencil. Your
+la'ship's sensible--just to give you an idea of the shape, the form
+of the thing. You fill up your angles here with _encoinieres_--round
+your walls with the _Turkish tent drapery_--a fancy of my own--in
+apricot cloth, or crimson velvet, suppose, or, _en flute_, in
+crimson satin draperies, fanned and riched with gold fringes, _en
+suite_--intermediate spaces, Apollo's head with gold rays--and here,
+ma'am, you place four _chancelieres_, with chimeras at the corners,
+covered with blue silk and silver fringe, elegantly fanciful--with
+my STATIRA CANOPY here--light blue silk draperies--aerial tint, with
+silver balls--and for seats here, the SERAGLIO OTTOMANS, superfine
+scarlet--your paws--griffin--golden--and golden tripods, here, with
+antique cranes--and oriental alabaster tables here and there--quite
+appropriate, your la'ship feels.
+
+"And let me reflect. For the next apartment, it strikes me--as your
+la'ship don't value expense--the _Alhambra hangings_--my own thought
+entirely--Now, before I unrol them, Lady Clonbrony, I must beg you'll
+not mention I've shown them. I give you my sacred honour, not a
+soul has set eye upon the Alhambra hangings except Mrs. Dareville,
+who stole a peep; I refused, absolutely refused, the Duchess of
+Torcaster--but I can't refuse your la'ship--So see, ma'am--
+(unrolling them)--scagliola porphyry columns supporting the grand
+dome--entablature, silvered and decorated with imitative bronze
+ornaments: under the entablature, a _valence in pelmets_, of puffed
+scarlet silk, would have an unparalleled grand effect, seen through
+the arches--with the TREBISOND TRELLICE PAPER, Would make a _tout
+ensemble_, novel beyond example. On that trebisond trellice paper, I
+confess, ladies, I do pique myself.
+
+"Then, for the little room, I recommend turning it temporarily into a
+Chinese pagoda, with this _Chinese pagoda paper_, with the _porcelain
+border_, and josses, and jars, and beakers, to match; and I can
+venture to promise one vase of pre-eminent size and beauty.--Oh,
+indubitably! if your la'ship prefers it, you can have the _Egyptian
+hieroglyphic paper_, with the _ibis border_ to match!--The only
+objection is, one sees it every where--quite antediluvian--gone to
+the hotels even; but, to be sure, if your la'ship has a fancy--at
+all events, I humbly recommend, what her grace of Torcaster longs to
+patronise, my MOON CURTAINS, with candlelight draperies. A demi-saison
+elegance this--I hit off yesterday--and--True, your la'ship's quite
+correct--out of the common completely. And, of course, you'd have
+the _sphynx candelabras_, and the phoenix argands--Oh! nothing else
+lights now, ma'am!--Expense!--Expense of the whole!--Impossible to
+calculate here on the spot!--but nothing at all worth your ladyship's
+consideration!"
+
+At another moment, Lord Colambre might have been amused with all this
+rhodomontade, and with the airs and voluble conceit of the orator;
+but, after what he had heard at Mr. Mordicai's, this whole scene
+struck him more with melancholy than with mirth. He was alarmed by the
+prospect of new and unbounded expense; provoked, almost past enduring,
+by the jargon and impertinence of this upholsterer; mortified and
+vexed to the heart, to see his mother the dupe, the sport of such a
+coxcomb.
+
+"Prince of puppies!--Insufferable!--My own mother!" Lord Colambre
+repeated to himself, as he walked hastily up and down the room.
+
+"Colambre, won't you let us have your judgment--your _teeste_?" said
+his mother.
+
+"Excuse me, ma'am--I have no taste, no judgment in these things."
+
+He sometimes paused, and looked at Mr. Soho, with a strong inclination
+to--. But knowing that he should say too much if he said any thing, he
+was silent; never dared to approach the council table--but continued
+walking up and down the room, till he heard a voice which at once
+arrested his attention and soothed his ire. He approached the table
+instantly, and listened, whilst Miss Nugent said every thing he wished
+to have said, and with all the propriety and delicacy with which he
+thought he could not have spoken. He leaned on the table, and fixed
+his eyes upon her--years ago he had seen his cousin--last night he had
+thought her handsome, pleasing, graceful--but now he saw a new person,
+or he saw her in a new light. He marked the superior intelligence,
+the animation, the eloquence of her countenance, its variety, whilst
+alternately, with arch raillery, or grave humour, she played off Mr.
+Soho, and made him magnify the ridicule, till it was apparent even
+to Lady Clonbrony. He observed the anxiety lest his mother should
+expose her own foibles; he was touched by the respectful, earnest
+kindness--the soft tones of persuasion with which she addressed
+her--the care not to presume upon her own influence--the good sense,
+the taste, she showed, yet not displaying her superiority--the
+address, temper, and patience, with which she at last accomplished
+her purpose, and prevented Lady Clonbrony from doing any thing
+preposterously absurd, or exorbitantly extravagant.
+
+Lord Colambre was actually sorry when the business was ended--when Mr.
+Soho departed--for Miss Nugent was then silent; and it was necessary
+to remove his eyes from that countenance on which he had gazed
+unobserved. Beautiful and graceful, yet so unconscious was she of her
+charms, that the eye of admiration could rest upon her without her
+perceiving it--she seemed so intent upon others as totally to forget
+herself. The whole train of Lord Colambre's thoughts was so completely
+deranged, that, although he was sensible there was something of
+importance he had to say to his mother, yet when Mr. Soho's departure
+left him opportunity to speak, he stood silent, unable to recollect
+any thing but--Grace Nugent.
+
+When Miss Nugent left the room, after some minutes' silence, and some
+effort, Lord Colambre said to his mother, "Pray, madam, do you know
+any thing of Sir Terence O'Fay?"
+
+"I!" said Lady Clonbrony, drawing up her head proudly; "I know he is a
+person I cannot endure. He is no friend of mine, I can assure you--nor
+any such sort of person."
+
+"I thought it was impossible!" cried Lord Colambre, with exultation.
+
+"I only wish your father, Colambre, could say as much," added Lady
+Clonbrony.
+
+Lord Colambre's countenance fell again; and again he was silent for
+some time.
+
+"Does my father dine at home, ma'am?"
+
+"I suppose not; he seldom dines at home."
+
+"Perhaps, ma'am, my father may have some cause to be uneasy about--"
+
+"About?" said Lady Clonbrony, in a tone, and with a look of curiosity,
+which convinced her son that she knew nothing of his debts or
+distresses, if he had any. "About what?" repeated her ladyship.
+
+Here was no receding, and Lord Colambre never had recourse to
+artifice.
+
+"About his affairs, I was going to say, madam. But, since you know
+nothing of any difficulties or embarrassments, I am persuaded that
+none exist."
+
+"Nay, I _cawnt_ tell you that, Colambre. There are difficulties for
+ready money, I confess, when I ask for it, which surprise me often. I
+know nothing of affairs--ladies of a certain rank seldom do, you know.
+But, considering your father's estate, and the fortune I brought him,"
+added her ladyship, proudly, "I _cawnt_ conceive it at all. Grace
+Nugent, indeed, often talks to me of embarrassments and economy; but
+that, poor thing! is very natural for her, because her fortune is not
+particularly large, and she has left it all, or almost all, in her
+uncle and guardian's hands. I know she's often distressed for odd
+money to lend me, and that makes her anxious."
+
+"Is not Miss Nugent very much admired, ma'am, in London?"
+
+"Of course--in the company she is in, you know, she has every
+advantage. And she has a natural family air of fashion--Not but what
+she would have _got on_ much better, if, when she first appeared
+in Lon'on, she had taken my advice, and wrote herself on her cards
+Miss de Nogent, which would have taken off the prejudice against the
+_Iricism_ of Nugent, you know; and there is a Count de Nogent."
+
+"I did not know there was any such prejudice, ma'am. There may be
+among a certain set; but, I should think, not among well-informed,
+well-bred people."
+
+"I _big_ your _pawdon_, Colambre; surely I, that was born in England,
+an Henglishwoman _bawn_, must be well _infawmed_ on this _pint_, any
+way."
+
+Lord Colambre was respectfully silent.
+
+"Mother," resumed he, "I wonder that Miss Nugent is not married."
+
+"That is her own fau't entirely; she has refused very good
+offers--establishments that I own I think, as Lady Langdale says,
+I was to blame to allow her to let pass: but young _ledies_, till
+they are twenty, always think they can do better. Mr. Martingale,
+of Martingale, proposed for her, but she objected to him on account
+of _he'es_ being on the turf; and Mr. St. Albans' 7000_l._ a-year,
+because--I _reelly_ forget what--I believe only because she did
+not like him--and something about principles. Now there is Colonel
+Heathcock, one of the most fashionable young men you see, always with
+the Duchess of Torcaster and that set--Heathcock takes a vast deal of
+notice of her, for him; and yet, I'm persuaded, she would not have him
+to-morrow if he came to the _pint_, and for no reason, _reelly_ now,
+that she can give me, but because she says he's a coxcomb. Grace has
+a tincture of Irish pride. But, for my part, I rejoice that she is so
+difficult; for I don't know what I should do without her."
+
+"Miss Nugent is indeed--very much attached to you, mother, I am
+convinced," said Lord Colambre, beginning his sentence with great
+enthusiasm, and ending it with great sobriety.
+
+"Indeed, then, she's a sweet girl, and I am very partial to her,
+there's the truth," cried Lady Clonbrony, in an undisguised Irish
+accent, and with her natural warm manner. But, a moment afterwards,
+her features and whole form resumed their constrained stillness and
+stiffness, and in her English accent she continued, "Before you put my
+_idears_ out of my head, Colambre, I had something to say to you--Oh!
+I know what it was--we were talking of embarrassments--and I wish
+to do your father the justice to mention to you, that he has been
+_uncommon liberal_ to me about this gala, and has _reelly_ given me
+carte blanche; and I've a notion--indeed I know,--that it is you,
+Colambre, I am to thank for this."
+
+"Me, ma'am!"
+
+"Yes: did not your father give you any hint?"
+
+"No, ma'am; I have seen my father but for half an hour since I came to
+town, and in that time he said nothing to me--of his affairs."
+
+"But what I allude to is more your affair."
+
+"He did not speak to me of any affairs, ma'am--he spoke only of my
+horses."
+
+"Then I suppose my lord leaves it to me to open the matter to you. I
+have the pleasure to tell you, that we have in view for you--and, I
+think I may say, with more than the approbation of all her family--an
+alliance--"
+
+"Oh, my dear mother! you cannot be serious," cried Lord Colambre;
+"you know I am not of years of discretion yet--I shall not think of
+marrying these ten years, at least."
+
+"Why not? Nay, my dear Colambre, don't go, I beg--I am serious, I
+assure you--and, to convince you of it, I shall tell you candidly, at
+once, all your father told me: that now you've done with Cambridge,
+and are come to Lon'on, he agrees with me in wishing that you should
+make the figure you ought to make, Colambre, as sole heir apparent to
+the Clonbrony estate, and all that sort of thing; but, on the other
+hand, living in Lon'on, and making you the handsome allowance you
+ought to have, are, both together, more than your father can afford,
+without inconvenience, he tells me."
+
+"I assure you, mother, I shall be content--"
+
+"No, no; you must not be content, child, and you must hear me: you
+must live in a becoming style, and make a proper appearance. I
+could not present you to my friends here, nor be happy, if you did
+not, Colambre. Now the way is clear before you: you have birth and
+title, here is fortune ready made--you will have a noble estate of
+your own when old Quin dies, and you will not be any encumbrance
+or inconvenience to your father or any body. Marrying an heiress
+accomplishes all this at once--and the young lady is every thing we
+could wish besides--you will meet again at the gala. Indeed, between
+ourselves, she is the grand object of the gala--all her friends will
+come _en masse_, and one should wish that they should see things in
+proper style. You have seen the young lady in question, Colambre--Miss
+Broadhurst--Don't you recollect the young lady I introduced you to
+last night after the opera?"
+
+"The little plain girl, covered with diamonds, who was standing beside
+Miss Nugent?"
+
+"In di'monds, yes--But you won't think her plain when you see more of
+her--that wears off--I thought her plain, at first--I hope--"
+
+"I hope," said Lord Colambre, "that you will not take it unkindly of
+me, my dear mother, if I tell you, at once, that I have no thoughts of
+marrying at present--and that I never will marry for money: marrying
+an heiress is not even a new way of paying old debts--at all events,
+it is one to which no distress could persuade me to have recourse; and
+as I must, if I outlive old Mr. Quin, have an independent fortune,
+_there is no_ occasion to purchase one by marriage."
+
+"There is no distress that I know of in the case," cried Lady
+Clonbrony. "Where is your imagination running, Colambre? But merely
+for your establishment, your independence."
+
+"Establishment, I want none--independence I do desire, and will
+preserve. Assure my father, my _dear mother_, that I will not be
+an expense to him--I will live within the allowance he made me at
+Cambridge--I will give up half of it--I will do any thing for his
+convenience--but marry for money, that I cannot do."
+
+"Then, Colambre, you are very disobliging," said Lady Clonbrony, with
+an expression of disappointment and displeasure; "for your father says
+if you don't marry Miss Broadhurst, we can't live in Lon'on another
+winter."
+
+This said--which had she been at the moment mistress of herself, she
+would not have betrayed--Lady Clonbrony abruptly quitted the room.
+Her son stood motionless, saying to himself, "Is this my mother?--How
+altered!"
+
+The next morning he seized an opportunity of speaking to his father,
+whom he caught with difficulty just when he was going out, as usual,
+for the day. Lord Colambre, with all the respect due to his father,
+and with that affectionate manner by which he always knew how
+to soften the strength of his expressions, made nearly the same
+declarations of his resolution, by which his mother had been so much
+surprised and offended. Lord Clonbrony seemed more embarrassed, but
+not so much displeased. When Lord Colambre adverted, as delicately
+as he could, to the selfishness of desiring from him the sacrifice
+of liberty for life, to say nothing of his affections, merely to
+enable his family to make a splendid figure in London, Lord Clonbrony
+exclaimed, "That's all nonsense!--cursed nonsense! That's the way we
+are obliged to state the thing to your mother, my dear boy, because I
+might talk her deaf before she would understand or listen to any thing
+else; but, for my own share, I don't care a rush if London was sunk in
+the salt sea. Little Dublin for my money, as Sir Terence O'Fay says."
+
+"Who is Sir Terence O'Fay, may I ask, sir?"
+
+"Why, don't you know Terry?--Ay, you've been so long at Cambridge--I
+forgot. And did you never see Terry?"
+
+"I have seen him, sir.--I met him yesterday at Mr. Mordicai's, the
+coachmaker's."
+
+"Mordicai's!" exclaimed Lord Clonbrony, with a sudden blush, which he
+endeavoured to hide, by taking snuff. "He is a damned rascal, that
+Mordicai! I hope you didn't believe a word he said--nobody does that
+knows him."
+
+"I am glad, sir, that you seem to know him so well, and to be upon
+your guard against him," replied Lord Colambre; "for, from what I
+heard of his conversation, when he was not aware who I was, I am
+convinced he would do you any injury in his power."
+
+"He shall never have me in his power, I promise him. We shall take
+care of that--But what did he say?"
+
+Lord Colambre repeated the substance of what Mordicai had said, and
+Lord Clonbrony reiterated, "Damned rascal!--damned rascal!--I'll get
+out of his hands--I'll have no more to do with him." But, as he spoke,
+he exhibited evident symptoms of uneasiness, moving continually, and
+shifting from leg to leg, like a foundered horse.
+
+He could not bring himself positively to deny that he had debts and
+difficulties; but he would by no means open the state of his affairs
+to his son: "No father is called upon to do that," said he to himself;
+"none but a fool would do it."
+
+Lord Colambre, perceiving his father's embarrassment, withdrew his
+eyes, respectfully refrained from all further inquiries, and simply
+repeated the assurance he had made to his mother, that he would put
+his family to no additional expense; and that, if it was necessary, he
+would willingly give up half his allowance.
+
+"Not at all, not at all, my dear boy," said his father: "I would
+rather cramp myself than that you should be cramped, a thousand times
+over. But it is all my Lady Clonbrony's nonsense. If people would but,
+as they ought, stay in their own country, live on their own estates,
+and kill their own mutton, money need never be wanting."
+
+For killing their own mutton, Lord Colambre did not see the
+indispensable necessity; but he rejoiced to hear his father assert
+that people should reside in their own country.
+
+"Ay," cried Lord Clonbrony, to strengthen his assertion, as he
+always thought it necessary to do, by quoting some other person's
+opinion--"so Sir Terence O'Fay always says, and that's the reason your
+mother can't endure poor Terry--You don't know Terry? No, you have
+only seen him; but, indeed, to see him is to know him; for he is the
+most off-hand, good fellow in Europe."
+
+"I don't pretend to know him yet," said Lord Colambre. "I am not so
+presumptuous as to form my opinion at first sight."
+
+"Oh, curse your modesty!" interrupted Lord Clonbrony; "you mean, you
+don't pretend to like him yet; but Terry will make you like him. I
+defy you not--I'll introduce you to him--him to you, I mean--most
+warm-hearted, generous dog upon earth--convivial--jovial--with wit and
+humour enough, in his own way, to split you--split me if he has not.
+You need not cast down your eyes, Colambre. What's your objection?"
+
+"I have made none, sir--but, if you urge me, I can only say, that, if
+he has all these good qualities, it is to be regretted that he does
+not look and speak a little more like a gentleman."
+
+"A gentleman!--he is as much a gentleman as any of your formal
+prigs--not the exact Cambridge cut, may be--Curse your English
+education! 'twas none of my advice--I suppose you mean to take after
+your mother in the notion, that nothing can be good or genteel but
+what's English."
+
+"Far from it, sir; I assure you I am as warm a friend to Ireland as
+your heart could wish. You will have no reason, in that respect, at
+least, nor, I hope, in any other, to curse my English education--and,
+if my gratitude and affection can avail, you shall never regret the
+kindness and liberality with which you have, I fear, distressed
+yourself to afford me the means of becoming all that a British
+nobleman ought to be."
+
+"Gad! you distress me now," said Lord Clonbrony, "and I didn't expect
+it, or I wouldn't make a fool of myself this way," added he, ashamed
+of his emotion, and whiffling it off. "You have an Irish heart, that I
+see, which no education can spoil. But you must like Terry--I'll
+give you time, as he said to me, when first he taught me to like
+usquebaugh--Good morning to you."
+
+Whilst Lady Clonbrony, in consequence of her residence in London, had
+become more of a fine lady, Lord Clonbrony, since he left Ireland,
+had become less of a gentleman. Lady Clonbrony, born an Englishwoman,
+disclaiming and disencumbering herself of all the Irish in town, had,
+by giving splendid entertainments, at an enormous expense, made her
+way into a certain set of fashionable company. But Lord Clonbrony,
+who was somebody in Ireland, who was a great person in Dublin, found
+himself nobody in England, a mere cipher in London. Looked down upon
+by the fine people with whom his lady associated, and heartily weary
+of them, he retreated from them altogether, and sought entertainment
+and self-complacency in society beneath him, indeed, both in rank and
+education, but in which he had the satisfaction of feeling himself
+the first person in company. Of these associates, the first in
+talents, and in jovial profligacy, was Sir Terence O'Fay--a man of
+low extraction, who had been knighted by an Irish lord-lieutenant
+in some convivial frolic. No one could tell a good story, or sing a
+good song, better than Sir Terence; he exaggerated his native brogue,
+and his natural propensity to blunder, caring little whether the
+company laughed at him or with him, provided they laughed--"Live
+and laugh--laugh and live," was his motto; and certainly he lived
+on laughing, as well as many better men can contrive to live on a
+thousand a-year.
+
+Lord Clonbrony brought Sir Terence home with him next day, to
+introduce him to Lord Colambre; and it happened that, on this
+occasion, Terence appeared to peculiar disadvantage, because, like
+many other people, "Il gatoit l'esprit qu'il avoit, en voulant avoir
+celui qu'il n'avoit pas."
+
+Having been apprised that Lord Colambre was a fine scholar, fresh from
+Cambridge, and being conscious of his own deficiencies of literature,
+instead of trusting to his natural talents, he summoned to his aid,
+with no small effort, all the scraps of learning he had acquired in
+early days, and even brought before the company all the gods and
+goddesses with whom he had formed an acquaintance at school. Though
+embarrassed by this unusual encumbrance of learning, he endeavoured
+to make all subservient to his immediate design, of paying his court
+to Lady Clonbrony, by forwarding the object she had most anxiously in
+view--the match between her son and Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"And so, Miss Nugent," said he, not daring, with all his assurance, to
+address himself directly to Lady Clonbrony, "and so, Miss Nugent, you
+are going to have great doings, I'm told, and a wonderful grand gala.
+There's nothing in the wide world equal to being in a good handsome
+crowd. No later now than the last ball at the Castle, that was before
+I left Dublin, Miss Nugent, the apartments, owing to the popularity
+of my lady lieutenant, was so throng--so throng--that I remember
+very well, in the doorway, a lady--and a very genteel woman she was,
+too--though a stranger to me, saying to me, 'Sir, your finger's in my
+ear.'--'I know it, madam," says I; 'but I can't take it out till the
+crowd give me elbow-room.'
+
+"But it's the gala I'm thinking of now--I hear you are to have the
+golden Venus, my Lady Clonbrony, won't you?"
+
+"Sir!"
+
+This freezing monosyllable notwithstanding, Sir Terence pursued his
+course fluently. "The golden Venus!--sure, Miss Nugent, you that are
+so quick, can't but know I would apostrophize Miss Broadhurst that
+is--but that won't be long so, I hope. My Lord Colambre, have you seen
+much yet of that young lady?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then I hope you won't be long so. I hear great talk now of the Venus
+of Medici, and the Venus of this and that, with the Florence Venus,
+and the sable Venus, and that other Venus, that's washing of her hair,
+and a hundred other Venuses, some good, some bad. But, be that as it
+will, my lord, trust a fool--ye may, when he tells you truth--the
+golden Venus is the only one on earth that can stand, or that will
+stand, through all ages and temperatures; for gold rules the court,
+gold rules the camp, and men below, and heaven above."
+
+"Heaven above!--Take care, Terry! Do you know what you are saying?"
+interrupted Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Do I?--Don't I?" replied Terry. "Deny, if you please, my lord, that
+it was for a golden pippin that the three goddesses _fit_--and that
+the _Hippomenes_ was about golden apples--and did not Hercules rob a
+garden for golden apples?--and did not the pious AEneas himself take a
+golden branch with him to make himself welcome to his father in hell?"
+said Sir Terence, winking at Lord Colambre.
+
+"Why, Terry, you know more about books than I should have suspected,"
+said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Nor you would not have suspected me to have such a great acquaintance
+among the goddesses neither, would you, my lord? But, apropos, before
+we quit, of what material, think ye, was that same Venus's famous
+girdle, now, that made roses and lilies so quickly appear? Why, what
+was it but a girdle of sterling gold, I'll engage?--for gold is the
+only true thing for a young man to look after in a wife."
+
+Sir Terence paused, but no applause ensued.
+
+"Let them talk of Cupids and darts, and the mother of the Loves and
+Graces--Minerva may sing odes and _dythambrics_, or whatsoever her
+wisdomship pleases. Let her sing, or let her say, she'll never get a
+husband, in this world or the other, without she had a good thumping
+_fortin_, and then she'd go off like wildfire."
+
+"No, no, Terry, there you're out: Minerva has too bad a character for
+learning to be a favourite with gentlemen," said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Tut--Don't tell me!--I'd get her off before you could say Jack
+Robinson, and thank you too, if she had 50,000_l._ down, or 1,000_l._
+a-year in land. Would you have a man so d----d nice as to balk,
+when house and land is agoing--a going--a going!--because of the
+incumbrance of a little learning? But, after all, I never heard that
+Miss Broadhurst was any thing of a learned lady."
+
+"Miss Broadhurst!" said Miss Nugent: "how did you get round to Miss
+Broadhurst?"
+
+"Oh! by the way of Tipperary," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my lord, it was apropos to good fortune, which,
+I hope, will not be out of your way, even if you went by Tipperary.
+She has, besides 100,000_l._ in the funds, a clear landed property of
+10,000_l._ per annum. _Well! some people talk of morality, and some of
+religion, bat give me a little snug_ PROPERTY.--But, my lord, I've a
+little business to transact this morning, and must not be idling and
+indulging myself here." So, bowing to the ladies, he departed.
+
+"Really, I am glad that man is gone," said Lady Clonbrony. "What a
+relief to one's ears! I am sure I wonder, my lord, how you can bear
+to carry that strange creature always about with you--so vulgar as he
+is."
+
+"He diverts me," said Lord Clonbrony; "while many of your
+correct-mannered fine ladies or gentlemen put me to sleep. What
+signifies what accent people speak in, that have nothing to say, hey,
+Colambre?"
+
+Lord Colambre, from respect to his father, did not express his
+opinion; but his aversion to Sir Terence O'Fay was stronger even than
+his mother's, though Lady Clonbrony's detestation of him was much
+increased by perceiving that his coarse hints about Miss Broadhurst
+had operated against her favourite scheme.
+
+The next morning, at breakfast, Lord Clonbrony talked of bringing Sir
+Terence with him that night to her gala--she absolutely grew pale with
+horror.
+
+"Good Heavens!--Lady Langdale, Mrs. Dareville, Lady Pococke, Lady
+Chatterton, Lady D----, Lady G----, His Grace of V----; what would
+they think of him! And Miss Broadhurst, to see him going about with
+my Lord Clonbrony!"--It could not be. No--her ladyship made the most
+solemn and desperate protestation, that she would sooner give up her
+gala altogether--tie up the knocker--say she was sick--rather be sick,
+or be dead, than be obliged to have such a creature as Sir Terence
+O'Fay at her gala.
+
+"Have it your own way, my dear, as you have every thing else," cried
+Lord Clonbrony, taking up his hat, and preparing to decamp; "but, take
+notice, if you won't receive him, you need not expect me. So a good
+morning to you, my Lady Clonbrony. You may find a worse friend in need
+yet, than that same Sir Terence O'Fay."
+
+"I trust I shall never be in need, my lord," replied her ladyship. "It
+would be strange indeed if I were, with the fortune I brought."
+
+"Oh, that fortune of hers!" cried Lord Clonbrony, stopping both his
+ears as he ran out of his room: "shall I never hear the end of that
+fortune, when I've seen the end of it long ago?"
+
+During this matrimonial dialogue, Miss Nugent and Lord Colambre never
+once looked at each other. She was very diligently trying the changes
+that could be made in the positions of a china-mouse, a cat, a dog, a
+cup, and a brahmin, on the mantel-piece; Lord Colambre as diligently
+reading the newspaper.
+
+"Now, my dear Colambre," said Lady Clonbrony, "put down the paper,
+and listen to me. Let me entreat you not to neglect Miss Broadhurst
+to-night, as I know that the family come here chiefly on your
+account."
+
+"My dear mother, I never can neglect any one of your guests; but
+I shall be careful not to show any particular attention to Miss
+Broadhurst, for I never will pretend what I do not feel."
+
+"But, my dear Colambre, Miss Broadhurst is every thing you could wish,
+except being a beauty."
+
+"Perhaps, madam," said Lord Colambre, fixing his eyes on Miss Nugent,
+"you think that I can see no farther than a handsome face?"
+
+The unconscious Grace Nugent now made a warm eulogium of Miss
+Broadhurst's sense, and wit, and independence of character.
+
+"I did not know that Miss Broadhurst was a friend of yours, Miss
+Nugent?"
+
+"She is, I assure you, a friend of mine; and, as a proof, I will not
+praise her at this moment. I will go farther still--I will promise
+that I never will praise her to you till you begin to praise her to
+me."
+
+Lord Colambre smiled, and now listened as if he wished that she should
+go on speaking, even of Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"That's my sweet Grace!" cried Lady Clonbrony. "Oh! she knows how to
+manage these men--not one of them can resist her!"
+
+Lord Colambre, for his part, did not deny the truth of this assertion.
+
+"Grace," added Lady Clonbrony, "make him promise to do as we would
+have him."
+
+"No--promises are dangerous things to ask or to give," said Grace.
+"Men and naughty children never make promises, especially promises to
+be good, without longing to break them the next minute."
+
+"Well, at least, child, persuade him, I charge you, to make my gala go
+off well. That's the first thing we ought to think of now. Ring the
+bell!--And all heads and hands I put in requisition for the gala."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+The opening of her gala, the display of her splendid reception rooms,
+the Turkish tent, the Alhambra, the pagoda, formed a proud moment
+to Lady Clonbrony. Much did she enjoy, and much too naturally,
+notwithstanding all her efforts to be stiff and stately, much too
+naturally did she show her enjoyment of the surprise excited in some
+and affected by others on their first entrance.
+
+One young, very young lady expressed her astonishment so audibly as to
+attract the notice of all the bystanders. Lady Clonbrony, delighted,
+seized both her hands, shook them, and laughed heartily; then, as the
+young lady with her party passed on, her ladyship recovered herself,
+drew up her head, and said to the company near her, "Poor thing! I
+hope I covered her little _naivete_ properly. How NEW she must be!"
+
+Then with well practised dignity, and half subdued self-complacency
+of aspect, her ladyship went gliding about--most importantly busy,
+introducing my lady _this_ to the sphynx candelabra, and my lady
+_that_ to the Trebisond trellice; placing some delightfully for
+the perspective of the Alhambra; establishing others quite to her
+satisfaction on seraglio ottomans; and honouring others with a seat
+under the Statira canopy. Receiving and answering compliments from
+successive crowds of select friends, imagining herself the mirror
+of fashion, and the admiration of the whole world, Lady Clonbrony
+was, for her hour, as happy certainly as ever woman was in similar
+circumstances.
+
+Her son looked at her, and wished that this happiness could last.
+Naturally inclined to sympathy, Lord Colambre reproached himself for
+not feeling as gay at this instant as the occasion required. But the
+festive scene, the blazing lights, the "universal hubbub," failed to
+raise his spirits. As a dead weight upon them hung the remembrance
+of Mordicai's denunciations; and, through the midst of this eastern
+magnificence, this unbounded profusion, he thought he saw future
+domestic misery and ruin to those he loved best in the world.
+
+The only object present on which his eye rested with pleasure was
+Grace Nugent. Beautiful--in elegant and dignified simplicity--
+thoughtless of herself--yet with a look of thought, and with an air
+of melancholy, which accorded exactly with his own feelings, and
+which he believed to arise from the same reflections that had
+passed in his own mind.
+
+"Miss Broadhurst, Colambre! all the Broadhursts!" said his mother,
+wakening him as she passed by to receive them as they entered.
+Miss Broadhurst appeared, plainly dressed--plainly even to
+singularity--without any diamonds or ornament.
+
+"Brought Philippa to you, my dear Lady Clonbrony, this figure, rather
+than not bring her at all," said puffing Mrs. Broadhurst, "and had
+all the difficulty in the world to get her out at all, and now I've
+promised she shall stay but half an hour. Sore throat--terrible cold
+she took in the morning. I'll swear for her, she'd not have come for
+any one but you."
+
+The young lady did not seem inclined to swear, or even to say this
+for herself; she stood wonderfully unconcerned and passive, with an
+expression of humour lurking in her eyes, and about the corners of
+her mouth; whilst Lady Clonbrony was "shocked," and "gratified,"
+and "concerned," and "flattered;" and whilst every body was hoping,
+and fearing, and busying themselves about her, "Miss Broadhurst,
+you'd better sit here!"--"Oh, for heaven's sake! Miss Broadhurst,
+not there!" "Miss Broadhurst, if you'll take my opinion," and "Miss
+Broadhurst, if I may advise--."
+
+"Grace Nugent!" cried Lady Clonbrony. "Miss Broadhurst always listens
+to you. Do, my dear, persuade Miss Broadhurst to take care of herself,
+and let us take her to the inner little pagoda, where she can be so
+warm and so retired--the very thing for an invalid--Colambre! pioneer
+the way for us, for the crowd's immense."
+
+Lady Anne and Lady Catherine H----, Lady Langdale's daughters, were
+at this time leaning on Miss Nugent's arm, and moved along with this
+party to the inner pagoda. There were to be cards in one room, music
+in another, dancing in a third, and in this little room there were
+prints and chess-boards, &c.
+
+"Here you will be quite to yourselves," said Lady Clonbrony; "let
+me establish you comfortably in this, which I call my sanctuary--my
+_snuggery_--Colambre, that little table!--Miss Broadhurst, you play
+chess?--Colambre, you'll play with Miss Broadhurst--"
+
+"I thank your ladyship," said Miss Broadhurst, "but I know nothing of
+chess but the moves: Lady Catherine, you will play, and I will look
+on."
+
+Miss Broadhurst drew her seat to the fire; Lady Catherine sat down to
+play with Lord Colambre: Lady Clonbrony withdrew, again recommending
+Miss Broadhurst to Grace Nugent's care. After some commonplace
+conversation, Lady Anne H----, looking at the company in the adjoining
+apartment, asked her sister how old Miss Somebody was who passed
+by. This led to reflections upon the comparative age and youthful
+appearance of several of their acquaintance, and upon the care with
+which mothers concealed the age of their daughters. Glances passed
+between Lady Catherine and Lady Anne.
+
+"For my part," said Miss Broadhurst, "my mother would labour that
+point of secrecy in vain for me; for I am willing to tell my age, even
+if my face did not tell it for me, to all whom it may concern--I am
+passed three-and-twenty--shall be four-and-twenty the fifth of next
+July."
+
+"Three-and-twenty!--Bless me!--I thought you were not twenty!" cried
+Lady Anne.
+
+"Four-and-twenty next July!--impossible!" cried Lady Catherine.
+
+"Very possible," said Miss Broadhurst, quite unconcerned.
+
+"Now, Lord Colambre, would you believe it? Can you believe it?" asked
+Lady Catherine.
+
+"Yes, he can," said Miss Broadhurst. "Don't you see that he believes
+it as firmly as you and I do? Why should you force his lordship to pay
+a compliment contrary to his better judgment, or extort a smile from
+him under false pretences? I am sure he sees that you, and I trust he
+perceives that I, do not think the worse of him for this."
+
+Lord Colambre smiled now without any false pretence; and, relieved at
+once from all apprehension of her joining in his mother's views, or of
+her expecting particular attention from him, he became at ease with
+Miss Broadhurst, showed a desire to converse with her, and listened
+eagerly to what she said. He recollected that Miss Nugent had told
+him, that this young lady had no common character; and, neglecting his
+move at chess, he looked up at Miss Nugent, as much as to say, "_Draw
+her out_, pray."
+
+But Grace was too good a friend to comply with that request; she left
+Miss Broadhurst to unfold her own character.
+
+"It is your move, my lord," said Lady Catherine.
+
+"I beg your ladyship's pardon--"
+
+"Are not these rooms beautiful, Miss Broadhurst?" said Lady Catherine,
+determined, if possible, to turn the conversation into a commonplace,
+safe channel; for she had just felt, what most of Miss Broadhurst's
+acquaintance had in their turn felt, that she had an odd way of
+startling people, by setting their own secret little motives suddenly
+before them.
+
+"Are not these rooms beautiful?"
+
+"Beautiful!--Certainly."
+
+The beauty of the rooms would have answered Lady Catherine's purpose
+for some time, had not Lady Anne imprudently brought the conversation
+back again to Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"Do you know, Miss Broadhurst," said she, "that if I had fifty sore
+throats, I could not have refrained from my diamonds on this GALA
+night; and such diamonds as you have! Now, really, I could not believe
+you to be the same person we saw blazing at the opera the other
+night!"
+
+"Really! could not you, Lady Anne? That is the very thing that
+entertains me. I only wish that I could lay aside my fortune
+sometimes, as well as my diamonds, and see how few people would know
+me then. Might not I, Grace, by the golden rule, which, next to
+practice, is the best rule in the world, calculate and answer that
+question?"
+
+"I am persuaded," said Lord Colambre, "that Miss Broadhurst has
+friends on whom the experiment would make no difference."
+
+"I am convinced of it," said Miss Broadhurst; "and that is what makes
+me tolerably happy, though I have the misfortune to be an heiress."
+
+"That is the oddest speech," said Lady Anne. "Now I should so like
+to be a great heiress, and to have, like you, such thousands and
+thousands at command."
+
+"And what can the thousands upon thousands do for me? Hearts, you
+know, Lady Anne, are to be won only by radiant eyes. Bought hearts
+your ladyship certainly would not recommend. They're such poor
+things--no wear at all. Turn them which way you will, you can make
+nothing of them."
+
+"You've tried, then, have you?" said Lady Catherine.
+
+"To my cost.--Very nearly taken in by them half a dozen times; for
+they are brought to me by dozens; and they are so made up for sale,
+and the people do so swear to you that it's real, real love, and it
+looks so like it: and, if you stoop to examine it, you hear it pressed
+upon you by such elegant oaths.--By all that's lovely!--By all my
+hopes of happiness!--By your own charming self! Why, what can one do
+but look like a fool, and believe? for these men, at the time, all
+look so like gentlemen, that one cannot bring oneself flatly to tell
+them that they are cheats and swindlers, that they are perjuring their
+precious souls. Besides, to call a lover a perjured creature is to
+encourage him. He would have a right to complain if you went back
+after that."
+
+"O dear! what a move was there!" cried Lady Catherine. "Miss
+Broadhurst is so entertaining to-night, notwithstanding her sore
+throat, that one can positively attend to nothing else. And she talks
+of love and lovers too with such _connoissance de fait_--counts her
+lovers by dozens, tied up in true lovers' knots!"
+
+"Lovers!--no, no! Did I say lovers?--suitors I should have said.
+There's nothing less like a lover, a true lover, than a suitor, as all
+the world knows, ever since the days of Penelope. Dozens!--never had a
+lover in my life!--And fear, with much reason, I never shall have one
+to my mind."
+
+"My lord, you've given up the game," cried Lady Catherine; "but you
+make no battle."
+
+"It would be so vain to combat against your ladyship," said Lord
+Colambre, rising, and bowing politely to Lady Catherine, but turning
+the next instant to converse with Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"But when I talked of liking to be an heiress," said Lady Anne, "I was
+not thinking of lovers."
+
+"Certainly.--One is not always thinking of lovers, you know," added
+Lady Catherine.
+
+"Not always," replied Miss Broadhurst. "Well, lovers out of the
+question on all sides, what would your ladyship buy with the thousands
+upon thousands?"
+
+"Oh, every thing, if I were you," said Lady Anne.
+
+"Rank, to begin with," said Lady Catherine.
+
+"Still my old objection--bought rank is but a shabby thing."
+
+"But there is so little difference made between bought and hereditary
+rank in these days," said Lady Catherine.
+
+"I see a great deal still," said Miss Broadhurst; "so much, that I
+would never buy a title."
+
+"A title, without birth, to be sure," said Lady Anne, "would not be so
+well worth buying; and as birth certainly is not to be bought--"
+
+"And even birth, were it to be bought, I would not buy," said
+Miss Broadhurst, "unless I could be sure to have it with all the
+politeness, all the noble sentiments, all the magnanimity, in short,
+all that should grace and dignify high birth."
+
+"Admirable!" said Lord Colambre. Grace Nugent smiled.
+
+"Lord Colambre, will you have the goodness to put my mother in mind, I
+must go away?"
+
+"I am bound to obey, but I am very sorry for it," said his lordship.
+
+"Are we to have any dancing to-night, I wonder?" said Lady Anne. "Miss
+Nugent, I am afraid we have made Miss Broadhurst talk so much, in
+spite of her hoarseness, that Lady Clonbrony will be quite angry with
+us. And here she comes, Lady Catherine."
+
+My Lady Clonbrony came to hope, to beg, that Miss Broadhurst would not
+think of running away; but Miss Broadhurst could not be prevailed upon
+to stay. Lady Clonbrony was delighted to see that her son assisted
+Grace Nugent most carefully in _shawling_ the young heiress--his
+lordship conducted her to her carriage, and his mother drew many happy
+auguries from the gallantry of his manner, and from the young lady's
+having stayed three quarters, instead of half an hour--a circumstance
+which Lady Catherine did not fail to remark.
+
+The dancing, which, under various pretences, Lady Clonbrony had
+delayed till Lord Colambre was at liberty, began immediately after
+Miss Broadhurst's departure; and the chalked mosaic pavement of the
+Alhambra was, in a few minutes, effaced by the dancers' feet. How
+transient are all human joys, especially those of vanity! Even on this
+long meditated, this long desired, this gala night, Lady Clonbrony
+found her triumph incomplete--inadequate to her expectations. For the
+first hour all had been compliment, success, and smiles; presently
+came the _buts_, and the hesitated objections, and the "damning
+with faint praise"--all _that_ could be borne--every body has his
+taste--and one person's taste is as good as another's; and while
+she had Mr. Soho to cite, Lady Clonbrony thought she might be well
+satisfied. But she could not be satisfied with Colonel Heathcock, who,
+dressed in black, had stretched his "fashionable length of limb" under
+the Statira canopy, upon the snow-white swandown couch. When, after
+having monopolized attention, and been the subject of much bad wit,
+about black swans and rare birds, and swans being geese and geese
+being swans, the colonel condescended to rise, and, as Mrs. Dareville
+said, to vacate his couch--that couch was no longer white--the black
+impression of the colonel remained on the sullied snow.
+
+"Eh, now! really didn't recollect I was in black," was all the apology
+he made. Lady Clonbrony was particularly vexed that the appearance of
+the Statira canopy should be spoiled before the effect had been seen
+by Lady Pococke, and Lady Chatterton, and Lady G----, Lady P----, and
+the Duke of V----, and a party of superlative fashionables, who had
+promised _to look in upon her_, but who, late as it was, had not yet
+arrived. They came in at last. But Lady Clonbrony had no reason to
+regret for their sake the Statira couch. It would have been lost upon
+them, as was every thing else which she had prepared with so much
+pains and cost to excite their admiration. They came resolute not to
+admire. Skilled in the art of making others unhappy, they just looked
+round with an air of apathy.--"Ah! you've had Soho!--Soho has done
+wonders for you here!--Vastly well!--Vastly well!--Soho's very clever
+in his way!"
+
+Others of great importance came in, full of some slight accident that
+had happened to themselves, or their horses, or their carriages; and,
+with privileged selfishness, engrossed the attention of all within
+their sphere of conversation. Well, Lady Clonbrony got over all this;
+and got over the history of a letter about a chimney that was on fire,
+a week ago, at the Duke of V----'s old house, in Brecknockshire. In
+gratitude for the smiling patience with which she listened to him,
+his Grace of V---- fixed his glass to look at the Alhambra, and had
+just pronounced it to be "Well!--very well!" when the Dowager Lady
+Chatterton made a terrible discovery--a discovery that filled Lady
+Clonbrony with astonishment and indignation--Mr. Soho had played her
+false! What was her mortification, when the dowager assured her that
+these identical Alhambra hangings had not only been shown by Mr. Soho
+to the Duchess of Torcaster, but that her grace had had the refusal of
+them, and had actually criticised them, in consequence of Sir Horace
+Grant, the great traveller's objecting to some of the proportions of
+the pillars--Soho had engaged to make a new set, vastly improved, by
+Sir Horace's suggestions, for her Grace of Torcaster.
+
+Now Lady Chatterton was the greatest talker extant; and she went
+about the rooms telling every body of her acquaintance--and she was
+acquainted with every body--how shamefully Soho had imposed upon poor
+Lady Clonbrony, protesting she could not forgive the man. "For," said
+she, "though the Duchess of Torcaster had been his constant customer
+for ages, and his patroness, and all that, yet this does not excuse
+him--and Lady Clonbrony's being a stranger, and from Ireland, makes
+the thing worse." From Ireland!--that was the unkindest cut of
+all--but there was no remedy.
+
+In vain poor Lady Clonbrony followed the dowager about the rooms to
+correct this mistake, and to represent, in justice to Mr. Soho, though
+he had used her so ill, that he knew she was an Englishwoman. The
+dowager was deaf, and no whisper could reach her ear. And when Lady
+Clonbrony was obliged to bawl an explanation in her ear, the dowager
+only repeated, "In justice to Mr. Soho!--No, no; he has not done
+you justice, my dear Lady Clonbrony! and I'll expose him to every
+body. Englishwoman!--no, no, no!--Soho could not take you for an
+Englishwoman!"
+
+All who secretly envied or ridiculed Lady Clonbrony enjoyed this
+scene. The Alhambra hangings, which had been in one short hour before
+the admiration of the world, were now regarded by every eye with
+contempt, as _cast_ hangings, and every tongue was busy declaiming
+against Mr. Soho; every body declared, that from the first, the want
+of proportion "struck them, but that they would not mention it till
+others found it out."
+
+People usually revenge themselves for having admired too much, by
+afterwards despising and depreciating without mercy--in all great
+assemblies the perception of ridicule is quickly caught, and quickly
+too revealed. Lady Clonbrony, even in her own house, on her gala
+night, became an object of ridicule,--decently masked, indeed, under
+the appearance of condolence with her ladyship, and of indignation
+against "that abominable Mr. Soho!"
+
+Lady Langdale, who was now, for reasons of her own, upon her good
+behaviour, did penance, as she said, for her former imprudence,
+by abstaining even from whispered sarcasms. She looked on with
+penitential gravity, said nothing herself, and endeavoured to keep
+Mrs. Dareville in order; but that was no easy task. Mrs. Dareville
+had no daughters, had nothing to gain from the acquaintance of my Lady
+Clonbrony; and conscious that her ladyship would bear a vast deal
+from her presence, rather than forego the honour of her sanction,
+Mrs. Dareville, without any motives of interest, or good-nature of
+sufficient power to restrain her talent and habit of ridicule, free
+from hope or fear, gave full scope to all the malice of mockery, and
+all the insolence of fashion. Her slings and arrows, numerous as they
+were and outrageous, were directed against such petty objects, and the
+mischief was so quick in its aim and its operation, that, felt but not
+seen, it is scarcely possible to register the hits, or to describe the
+nature of the wounds.
+
+Some hits, sufficiently palpable, however, are recorded for the
+advantage of posterity. When Lady Clonbrony led her to look at the
+Chinese pagoda, the lady paused, with her foot on the threshold, as
+if afraid to enter this porcelain Elysium, as she called it--Fool's
+Paradise, she would have said; and, by her hesitation, and by the
+half pronounced word, suggested the idea,--"None but belles without
+petticoats can enter here," said she, drawing her clothes tight round
+her; "fortunately, I have but two, and Lady Langdale has but one."
+Prevailed upon to venture in, she walked on with prodigious care and
+trepidation, affecting to be alarmed at the crowd of strange forms and
+monsters by which she was surrounded.
+
+"Not a creature here that I ever saw before in nature!--Well, now I
+may boast I've been in a real Chinese pagoda!"
+
+"Why, yes, every thing is appropriate here, I flatter my self," said
+Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"And how good of you, my dear Lady Clonbrony, in defiance of bulls
+and blunders, to allow us a comfortable English fire-place and plenty
+of Newcastle coal in China!--And a white marble--no! white velvet
+hearthrug painted with beautiful flowers--Oh! the delicate, the
+_useful_ thing!"
+
+Vexed by the emphasis on the word _useful_, Lady Clonbrony endeavoured
+to turn off the attention of the company. "Lady Langdale, your
+ladyship's a judge of china--this vase is an unique, I am told."
+
+"I am told," interrupted Mrs. Dareville, "this is the very vase in
+which B----, the nabob's father, who was, you know, a China captain,
+smuggled his dear little Chinese wife and all her fortune out of
+Canton--positively, actually put the lid on, packed her up, and sent
+her off on shipboard!--True! true! upon my veracity! I'll tell you my
+authority!"
+
+With this story, Mrs. Dareville drew all attention from the jar, to
+Lady Clonbrony's infinite mortification.
+
+Lady Langdale at length turned to look at a vast range of china jars.
+
+"Ali Baba and the forty thieves!" exclaimed Mrs. Dareville: "I hope
+you have boiling oil ready!"
+
+Lady Clonbrony was obliged to laugh, and to vow that Mrs. Dareville
+was uncommon pleasant to-night--"But now," said her ladyship, "let me
+take you to the Turkish tent."
+
+Having with great difficulty got the malicious wit out of the pagoda
+and into the Turkish tent, Lady Clonbrony began to breathe move
+freely; for here she thought she was upon safe ground:--"Every thing,
+I flatter myself," said she, "is correct, and appropriate, and quite
+picturesque"--The company, dispersed in happy groups, or reposing on
+seraglio ottomans, drinking lemonade and sherbet--beautiful Fatimas
+admiring, or being admired--"Every thing here quite correct,
+appropriate, and picturesque," repeated Mrs. Dareville.
+
+This lady's powers as a mimic were extraordinary, and she found them
+irresistible. Hitherto she had imitated Lady Clonbrony's air and
+accent only behind her back; but, bolder grown, she now ventured, in
+spite of Lady Langdale's warning pinches, to mimic her kind hostess
+before her face, and to her face. Now, whenever Lady Clonbrony saw any
+thing that struck her fancy in the dress of her fashionable friends,
+she had a way of hanging her head aside, and saying, with a peculiarly
+sentimental drawl, "How pretty!--How elegant!--Now that quite suits
+my _teeste_." this phrase, precisely in the same accent, and with the
+head set to the same angle of affectation, Mrs. Dareville had the
+assurance to address to her ladyship, apropos to something which she
+pretended to admire in Lady Clonbrony's _costume_--a costume, which,
+excessively fashionable in each of its parts, was, altogether, so
+extraordinarily unbecoming, as to be fit for a print-shop. The
+perception of this, added to the effect of Mrs. Dareville's mimicry,
+was almost too much for Lady Langdale; she could not possibly have
+stood it, but for the appearance of Miss Nugent at this instant behind
+Lady Clonbrony. Grace gave one glance of indignation, which seemed
+suddenly to strike Mrs. Dareville. Silence for a moment ensued, and
+afterwards the tone of the conversation was changed.
+
+"Salisbury!--explain this to me," said a lady, drawing Mr. Salisbury
+aside. "If you are in the secret, do explain this to me; for unless I
+had seen it, I could not have believed it. Nay, though I have seen it,
+I do not believe it. How was that daring spirit laid? By what spell?"
+
+"By the spell which superior minds always cast on inferior spirits."
+
+"Very fine," said the lady, laughing, "but as old as the days of
+Leonora de Galigai, quoted a million times. Now tell me something new
+and to the purpose, and better suited to modern days."
+
+"Well, then, since you will not allow me to talk of superior minds in
+the present day, let me ask you if you have never observed that a wit,
+once conquered in company by a wit of higher order, is thenceforward
+in complete subjection to the conqueror; whenever and wherever they
+meet."
+
+"You would not persuade me that yonder gentle-looking girl could ever
+be a match for the veteran Mrs. Dareville? She may have the wit, but
+has she the courage?"
+
+"Yes; no one has more courage, more civil courage, where her own
+dignity, or the interests of her friends are concerned--I will tell
+you an instance or two to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow!--To-night!--tell it me now."
+
+"Not a safe place."
+
+"The safest in the world, in such a crowd as this--Follow my example.
+Take a glass of orgeat--sip from time to time, thus--speak low,
+looking innocent all the while straight forward, or now and then up at
+the lamps--keep on in an even tone--use no names--and you may tell any
+thing."
+
+"Well, then, when Miss Nugent first came to London, Mrs. Dareville--"
+
+"Two names already--did not I warn ye?"
+
+"But how can I make myself intelligible?"
+
+"Initials--can't you use--or genealogy?--What stops you?--It is only
+Lord Colambre, a very safe person, I have a notion, when the eulogium
+is of Miss Nugent."
+
+Lord Colambre, who had now performed his arduous duties as a dancer,
+and had disembarrassed himself of all his partners, came into the
+Turkish tent just at this moment to refresh himself, and just in time
+to hear Mr. Salisbury's anecdotes.
+
+"Now go on."
+
+"Mrs. Dareville, you remember, some years ago, went to Ireland, with
+some lady lieutenant, to whom she was related--there she was most
+hospitably received by Lord and Lady Clonbrony--went to their country
+house--was as intimate with Lady Clonbrony and with Miss Nugent as
+possible--stayed at Clonbrony Castle for a month; and yet, when
+Lady Clonbrony came to London, never took the least notice of her.
+At last, meeting at the house of a common friend, Mrs. Dareville
+could not avoid recognizing her ladyship; but, even then, did it in
+the least civil manner and most cursory style possible--'Ho! Lady
+Clonbrony!--didn't know you were in England!--When did you come?--How
+long shall you stay in town?--Hope, before you leave England, your
+ladyship and Miss Nugent will give us a day?'--_A day!_--Lady
+Clonbrony was so astonished by this impudence of ingratitude, that she
+hesitated how to _take it_; but Miss Nugent, quite coolly, and with a
+smile, answered, 'A day!--Certainly--to you, who gave us a month!'"
+
+"Admirable!--Now I comprehend perfectly why Mrs. Dareville declines
+insulting Miss Nugent's friends in her presence."
+
+Lord Colambre said nothing, but thought much. "How I wish my mother,"
+thought he, "had some of Grace Nugent's proper pride! She would not
+then waste her fortune, spirits, health, and life, in courting such
+people as these."
+
+He had not seen--he could not have borne to have beheld--the manner
+in which his mother had been treated by some of her guests; but he
+observed that she now looked harassed and vexed; and he was provoked
+and mortified, by hearing her begging and beseeching some of the saucy
+leaders of the ton to oblige her, to do her the favour, to do her the
+honour, to stay to supper. It was just ready--actually announced. "No,
+they would not, they could not; they were obliged to run away: engaged
+to the Duchess of Torcaster."
+
+"Lord Colambre, what is the matter?" said Miss Nugent, going up to
+him, as he stood aloof and indignant: "Don't look so like a chafed
+lion; others may perhaps read your countenance, as well as I do."
+
+"None can read my mind so well," replied he. "Oh, my dear Grace!--"
+
+"Supper!--Supper!" cried she: "your duty to your neighbour, your hand
+to your partner."
+
+The supper room, fitted up at great expense, with scenery to imitate
+Vauxhall, opened into a superb greenhouse, lighted with coloured
+lamps, a band of music at a distance--every delicacy, every luxury
+that could gratify the senses, appeared in profusion. The company
+ate and drank--enjoyed themselves--went away--and laughed at their
+hostess. Some, indeed, who thought they had been neglected, were in
+too bad humour to laugh, but abused her in sober earnest; for Lady
+Clonbrony had offended half, nay, three quarters of her guests, by
+what they termed her exclusive attention to those very leaders of the
+ton, from whom she had suffered so much, and who had made it obvious
+to all that they thought they did her too much honour in appearing
+at her gala. So ended the gala for which she had lavished such sums;
+for which she had laboured so indefatigably; and from which she had
+expected such triumph.
+
+"Colambre, bid the musicians stop--they are playing to empty benches,"
+said Lady Clonbrony. "Grace, my dear, will you see that these lamps
+are safely put out? I am so tired, so _worn out_, I must go to bed;
+and I am sure I have caught cold, too. What a _nervous business_ it is
+to manage these things! I wonder how one gets through it, or _why_ one
+does it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Lady Clonbrony was taken ill the day after her gala; she had caught
+cold by standing, when much overheated, in a violent draught of wind,
+paying her parting compliments to the Duke of V----, who thought her a
+_bore_, and wished her in heaven all the time for keeping his horses
+standing. Her ladyship's illness was severe and long; she was confined
+to her room for some weeks by a rheumatic fever, and an inflammation
+in her eyes. Every day, when Lord Colambre went to see his mother,
+he found Miss Nugent in her apartment, and every hour he found fresh
+reason to admire this charming girl. The affectionate tenderness, the
+indefatigable patience, the strong attachment she showed for her aunt,
+actually raised Lady Clonbrony in her son's opinion. He was persuaded
+she must surely have some good or great qualities, or she could not
+have excited such strong affection. A few foibles out of the question,
+such as her love of fine people, her affectation of being English, and
+other affectations too tedious to mention, Lady Clonbrony was really a
+good woman, had good principles, moral and religious, and, selfishness
+not immediately interfering, she was good-natured; and, though
+her whole soul and attention were so completely absorbed in the
+duties of acquaintanceship that she did not know it, she really had
+affections--they were concentrated upon a few near relations. She was
+extremely fond and extremely proud of her son. Next to her son, she
+was fonder of her niece than of any other creature. She had received
+Grace Nugent into her family when she was left an orphan, and deserted
+by some of her other relations. She had bred her up, and had treated
+her with constant kindness. This kindness and these obligations had
+raised the warmest gratitude in Miss Nugent's heart; and it was the
+strong principle of gratitude which rendered her capable of endurance
+and exertions seemingly far above her strength. This young lady was
+not of a robust appearance, though she now underwent extraordinary
+fatigue. Her aunt could scarcely bear that she should leave her for
+a moment: she could not close her eyes, unless Grace sat up with her
+many hours every night. Night after night she bore this fatigue; and
+yet, with little sleep or rest, she preserved her health, at least,
+supported her spirits; and every morning when Lord Colambre came into
+his mother's room, he saw Miss Nugent look as blooming as if she had
+enjoyed the most refreshing sleep. The bloom was, as he observed, not
+permanent; it came and went with every emotion of her feeling heart;
+and he soon learned to fancy her almost as handsome when she was pale
+as when she had a colour. He had thought her beautiful when he beheld
+her in all the radiance of light, and with all the advantages of dress
+at the gala, but he found her infinitely more lovely and interesting
+now, when he saw her in a sick-room--a half-darkened chamber--where
+often he could but just discern her form, or distinguish her, except
+by her graceful motion as she passed, or when, but for a moment, a
+window-curtain drawn aside let the sun shine upon her face, or on the
+ringlets of her hair.
+
+Much must be allowed for an inflammation in the eyes, and something
+for a rheumatic fever; yet it may seem strange that Lady Clonbrony
+should be so blind and deaf as neither to see nor hear all this
+time; that having lived so long in the world, it should never occur
+to her that it was rather imprudent to have a young lady, not
+eighteen, nursing her--and such a young lady!--when her son, not
+one-and-twenty--and such a son!--came to visit her daily. But, so it
+was, Lady Clonbrony knew nothing of love--she had read of it, indeed,
+in novels, which sometimes for fashion's sake she had looked at, and
+over which she had been obliged to dose; but this was only love in
+books--love in real life she had never met with--in the life she led,
+how should she? She had heard of its making young people, and old
+people even, do foolish things; but those were foolish people; and if
+they were worse than foolish, why it was shocking, and nobody visited
+them. But Lady Clonbrony had not, for her own part, the slightest
+notion how people could be brought to this pass, nor how any body
+out of Bedlam could prefer, to a good house, a decent equipage, and
+a proper establishment, what is called love in a cottage. As to
+Colambre, she had too good an opinion of his understanding--to say
+nothing of his duty to his family, his pride, his rank, and his being
+her son--to let such an idea cross her imagination. As to her niece;
+in the first place, she was her niece, and first cousins should never
+marry, because they form no new connexions to strengthen the family
+interest, or raise its consequence. This doctrine her ladyship had
+repeated for years so often and so dogmatically, that she conceived
+it to be incontrovertible, and of as full force as any law of the
+land, or as any moral or religious obligation. She would as soon have
+suspected her niece of an intention of stealing her diamond necklace
+as of purloining Colambre's heart, or marrying this heir of the house
+of Clonbrony.
+
+Miss Nugent was so well apprized, and so thoroughly convinced of
+all this, that she never for one moment allowed herself to think of
+Lord Colambre as a lover. Duty, honour, and gratitude--gratitude,
+the strong feeling and principle of her mind--forbade it; she had
+so prepared and accustomed herself to consider him as a person with
+whom she could not possibly be united, that, with perfect ease
+and simplicity, she behaved towards him exactly as if he were her
+brother--not in the equivocating sentimental romance style in which
+ladies talk of treating men as their brothers, whom they are all the
+time secretly thinking of and endeavouring to please as lovers--not
+using this phrase, as a convenient pretence, a safe mode of securing
+herself from suspicion or scandal, and of enjoying the advantages of
+confidence and the intimacy of friendship, till the propitious moment,
+when it should be time to declare or avow _the secret of the heart_.
+No: this young lady was quite above all double dealing; she had no
+mental reservation--no metaphysical subtleties--but, with plain,
+unsophisticated morality, in good faith and simple truth, acted as she
+professed, thought what she said, and was that which she seemed to be.
+
+As soon as Lady Clonbrony was able to see any body, her niece sent to
+Mrs. Broadhurst, who was very intimate with the family; she used to
+come frequently, almost every evening, to sit with the invalid. Miss
+Broadhurst accompanied her mother, for she did not like to go out with
+any other chaperon--it was disagreeable to spend her time alone at
+home, and most agreeable to spend it with her friend Miss Nugent. In
+this she had no design; Miss Broadhurst had too lofty and independent
+a spirit to stoop to coquetry: she thought that, in their interview
+at the gala, she understood Lord Colambre, and that he understood
+her--that he was not inclined to court her for her fortune--that she
+would not be content with any suitor who was not a lover. She was two
+or three years older than Lord Colambre, perfectly aware of her want
+of beauty, yet with a just sense of her own merit, and of what was
+becoming and due to the dignity of her sex. This, she trusted, was
+visible in her manners, and established in Lord Colambre's mind; so
+that she ran no risk of being misunderstood by him; and as to what the
+rest of the world thought, she was so well used to hear weekly and
+daily reports of her going to be married to fifty different people,
+that she cared little for what was said on this subject. Indeed,
+conscious of rectitude, and with an utter contempt for mean and
+commonplace gossiping, she was, for a woman, and a young woman, rather
+too disdainful of the opinion of the world. Mrs. Broadhurst, though
+her daughter had fully explained herself respecting Lord Colambre,
+before she began this course of visiting, yet rejoiced that even on
+this footing there should be constant intercourse between them. It was
+Mrs. Broadhurst's warmest wish that her daughter should obtain rank,
+and connect herself with an ancient family; she was sensible that the
+young lady's being older than the gentleman might be an obstacle; and
+very sorry she was to find that her daughter had so imprudently, so
+unnecessarily, declared her age: but still this little obstacle might
+be overcome, much greater difficulties in the marriage of inferior
+heiresses being every day got over, and thought nothing of. Then, as
+to the young lady's own sentiments, her mother knew them better than
+she did herself: she understood her daughter's pride, that she dreaded
+to be made an object of bargain and sale; but Mrs. Broadhurst, who,
+with all her coarseness of mind, had rather a better notion of love
+matters than Lady Clonbrony, perceived, through her daughter's horror
+of being offered to Lord Colambre, through her anxiety that nothing
+approaching to an advance on the part of her family should be made,
+that if Lord Colambre should himself advance, he would stand a better
+chance of being accepted than any other of the numerous persons who
+had yet aspired to the favour of this heiress. The very circumstance
+of his having paid no court to her at first operated in his favour;
+for it proved that he was not mercenary, and that, whatever attention
+he might afterwards show, she must be sure would be sincere and
+disinterested.
+
+"And now, let them but see one another in this easy, intimate, kind
+of way; and you will find, my dear Lady Clonbrony, things will go on
+of their own accord, all the better for our--minding our cards--and
+never minding any thing else. I remember, when I was young--but let
+that pass--let the young people see one another, and manage their
+own affairs their own way--let them be together--that's all I say.
+Ask half the men you are acquainted with why they married, and
+their answer, if they speak truth, will be--'because I met Miss
+Such-a-one at such a place, and we were continually together.'
+Propinquity!--Propinquity!--as my father used to say--And he was
+married five times, and twice to heiresses."
+
+In consequence of this plan of leaving things to themselves, every
+evening Lady Clonbrony made out her own little card-table with Mrs.
+Broadhurst, and a Mr. and Miss Pratt, a brother and sister, who were
+the most obliging, convenient neighbours imaginable. From time to
+time, as Lady Clonbrony gathered up her cards, she would direct an
+inquiring glance to the group of young people at the other table;
+whilst the more prudent Mrs. Broadhurst sat plump with her back to
+them, pursing up her lips, and contracting her brows in token of
+deep calculation, looking down impenetrable at her cards, never even
+noticing Lady Clonbrony's glances, but inquiring from her partner,
+"How many they were by honours?"
+
+The young party generally consisted of Miss Broadhurst, Lord Colambre,
+Miss Nugent, and her admirer, Mr. Salisbury. Mr. Salisbury was a
+middle-aged gentleman, very agreeable, and well informed; he had
+travelled; had seen a great deal of the world; had lived in the
+best company; had acquired what is called good _tact_; was full of
+anecdote, not mere gossiping anecdotes that lead to nothing, but
+characteristic of national manners, of human nature in general, or
+of those illustrious individuals who excite public curiosity and
+interest. Miss Nugent had seen him always in large companies, where he
+was admired for his scavoir-vivre, and for his entertaining anecdotes,
+but where he had no opportunity of producing any of the higher powers
+of his understanding, or showing character. She found that Mr.
+Salisbury appeared to her quite a different person when conversing
+with Lord Colambre. Lord Colambre, with that ardent thirst for
+knowledge which it is always agreeable to gratify, had an air of
+openness and generosity, a frankness, a warmth of manner, which,
+with good breeding, but with something beyond it and superior to its
+established forms, irresistibly won the confidence and attracted the
+affection of those with whom he conversed. His manners were peculiarly
+agreeable to a person like Mr. Salisbury, tired of the sameness and
+egotism of men of the world.
+
+Miss Nugent had seldom till now had the advantage of hearing
+much conversation on literary subjects. In the life she had been
+compelled to lead she had acquired accomplishments, had exercised
+her understanding upon every thing that passed before her, and from
+circumstances had formed her judgment and her taste by observations
+on real life; but the ample page of knowledge had never been unrolled
+to her eyes. She had never had opportunities of acquiring a taste
+for literature herself, but she admired it in others, particularly
+in her friend Miss Broadhurst. Miss Broadhurst had received all the
+advantages of education which money could procure, and had benefited
+by them in a manner uncommon among those for whom they are purchased
+in such abundance: she not only had had many masters, and read many
+books, but had thought of what she read, and had supplied, by the
+strength and energy of her own mind, what cannot be acquired by
+the assistance of masters. Miss Nugent, perhaps overvaluing the
+information that she did not possess, and free from all idea of
+envy, looked up to her friend as to a superior being, with a sort of
+enthusiastic admiration; and now, with "charmed attention," listened,
+by turns, to her, to Mr. Salisbury, and to Lord Colambre, whilst they
+conversed on literary subjects--listened, with a countenance so full
+of intelligence, of animation, so expressive of every good and kind
+affection, that the gentlemen did not always know what they were
+saying.
+
+"Pray go on," said she, once, to Mr. Salisbury: "you stop, perhaps,
+from politeness to me--from compassion to my ignorance; but though I
+am ignorant, you do not tire me, I assure you. Did you ever condescend
+to read the Arabian Tales? Like him whose eyes were touched by the
+magical application from the dervise, I am enabled at once to see the
+riches of a new world--Oh! how unlike, how superior to that in which I
+have lived--the GREAT world, as it is called!"
+
+Lord Colambre brought down a beautiful edition of the Arabian Tales,
+looked for the story to which Miss Nugent had alluded, and showed it
+to Miss Broadhurst, who was also searching for it in another volume.
+
+Lady Clonbrony, from her card-table, saw the young people thus
+engaged--
+
+"I profess not to understand these things so well as you say you do,
+my dear Mrs. Broadhurst," whispered she; "but look there now; they are
+at their books! What do you expect can come of that sort of thing? So
+ill bred, and downright rude of Colambre, I must give him a hint."
+
+"No, no, for mercy's sake! my dear Lady Clonbrony, no hints, no hints,
+no remarks! What would you have?--she reading, and my lord at the back
+of her chair leaning over--and allowed, mind, to lean over to read the
+same thing. Can't be better!--Never saw any man yet allowed to come so
+near her!--Now, Lady Clonbrony, not a word, not a look, I beseech."
+
+"Well, well!--but if they had a little music."
+
+"My daughter's tired of music. How much do I owe your ladyship
+now?--three rubbers, I think. Now, though you would not believe it of
+a young girl," continued Mrs. Broadhurst, "I can assure your ladyship,
+my daughter would often rather go to a book than a ball."
+
+"Well, now, that's very extraordinary, in the style in which she has
+been brought up; yet books and all that are so fashionable now, that
+it's very natural," said Lady Clonbrony.
+
+About this time, Mr. Berryl, Lord Colambre's Cambridge friend, for
+whom his lordship had fought the battle of the curricle with Mordicai,
+came to town. Lord Colambre introduced him to his mother, by whom he
+was graciously received; for Mr. Berryl was a young gentleman of good
+figure, good address, good family, heir to a good fortune, and in
+every respect a fit match for Miss Nugent. Lady Clonbrony thought that
+it would be wise to secure him for her niece before he should make
+his appearance in the London world, where mothers and daughters would
+soon make him feel his own consequence. Mr. Berryl, as Lord Colambre's
+intimate friend, was admitted to the private evening parties at Lady
+Clonbrony's; and he contributed to render them still more agreeable.
+His information, his habits of thinking, and his views, were
+all totally different from Mr. Salisbury's; and their collision
+continually struck out that sparkling novelty which pleases peculiarly
+in conversation. Mr. Berryl's education, disposition, and tastes,
+fitted him exactly for the station which he was destined to fill in
+society--that of _a country gentleman_; not meaning by that expression
+a mere eating, drinking, hunting, shooting, ignorant, country squire
+of the old race, which is now nearly extinct; but a cultivated,
+enlightened, independent English country gentleman--the happiest,
+perhaps, of human beings. On the comparative felicity of the town
+and country life; on the dignity, utility, elegance, and interesting
+nature of their different occupations, and general scheme of passing
+their time, Mr. Berryl and Mr. Salisbury had one evening a playful,
+entertaining, and, perhaps, instructive conversation; each party,
+at the end, remaining, as frequently happens, of their own opinion.
+It was observed, that Miss Broadhurst ably and warmly defended
+Mr. Berryl's side of the question; and in their views, plans, and
+estimates of life, there appeared a remarkable and, as Lord Colambre
+thought, a happy coincidence. When she was at last called upon to give
+her decisive judgment between a town and a country life, she declared
+that if she were condemned to the extremes of either, she should
+prefer a country life, as much as she should prefer Robinson Crusoe's
+diary to the journal of the idle man in the Spectator.
+
+"Lord bless me!--Mrs. Broadhurst, do you hear what your daughter is
+saying?" cried Lady Clonbrony, who, from the card-table, lent an
+attentive ear to all that was going forward. "Is it possible that Miss
+Broadhurst, with her fortune, and pretensions, and sense, can really
+be serious in saying she would be content to live in the country?"
+
+"What's that you say, child, about living in the country?" said Mrs.
+Broadhurst.
+
+Miss Broadhurst repeated what she had said.
+
+"Girls always think so who have lived in town," said Mrs. Broadhurst:
+"they are always dreaming of sheep and sheep-hooks; but the first
+winter in the country cures them: a shepherdess in winter is a sad and
+sorry sort of personage, except at a masquerade."
+
+"Colambre," said Lady Clonbrony, "I am sure Miss Broadhurst's
+sentiments about town life, and all that, must delight you--For do you
+know, ma'am, he is always trying to persuade me to give up living in
+town? Colambre and Miss Broadhurst perfectly agree."
+
+"Mind your cards, my dear Lady Clonbrony," interrupted Mrs.
+Broadhurst, "in pity to your partner. Mr. Pratt has certainly the
+patience of Job--your ladyship has revoked twice this hand."
+
+Lady Clonbrony begged a thousand pardons, fixed her eyes, and
+endeavoured to fix her mind on the cards; but there was something
+said at the other end of the room, about an estate in Cambridgeshire,
+which soon distracted her attention again. Mr. Pratt certainly had the
+patience of Job. She revoked again, and lost the game, though they had
+four by honours.
+
+As soon as she rose from the card-table, and could speak to Mrs.
+Broadhurst apart, she communicated her apprehensions. "Seriously, my
+dear madam," said she, "I believe I have done very wrong to admit
+Mr. Berryl just now, though it was on Grace's account I did it. But,
+ma'am, I did not know Miss Broadhurst had an estate in Cambridgeshire;
+their two estates just close to one another, I heard them say--Lord
+bless me, ma'am! there's the danger of propinquity indeed!"
+
+"No danger, no danger," persisted Mrs. Broadhurst. "I know my girl
+better than you do, begging your ladyship's pardon. No one thinks less
+of estates than she does."
+
+"Well, I only know I heard her talking of them, and earnestly too."
+
+"Yes, very likely; but don't you know that girls never think of what
+they are talking about, or rather never talk of what they are thinking
+about? And they have always ten times more to say to the man they
+don't care for than to him they do."
+
+"Very extraordinary!" said Lady Clonbrony: "I only hope you are
+right."
+
+"I am sure of it," said Mrs. Broadhurst. "Only let things go on,
+and mind your cards, I beseech you, to-morrow night better than
+you did to-night; and you will see that things will turn out just
+as I prophesied. Lord Colambre will come to a point-blank proposal
+before the end of the week, and will be accepted, or my name's not
+Broadhurst. Why, in plain English, I am clear my girl likes him; and
+when that's the case, you know, can you doubt how the thing will end?"
+
+Mrs. Broadhurst was perfectly right in every point of her reasoning
+but one. From long habit of seeing and considering that such an
+heiress as her daughter might marry whom she pleased,--from constantly
+seeing that she was the person to decide and to reject,--Mrs.
+Broadhurst had literally taken it for granted that every thing was to
+depend upon her daughter's inclinations: she was not mistaken, in the
+present case, in opining that the young lady would not be averse to
+Lord Colambre, if he came to what she called a point-blank proposal.
+It really never occurred to Mrs. Broadhurst, that any man whom her
+daughter was the least inclined to favour, could think of any body
+else. Quick-sighted in these affairs as the matron thought herself,
+she saw but one side of the question: blind and dull of comprehension
+as she thought Lady Clonbrony on this subject, Mrs. Broadhurst
+was herself so completely blinded by her own prejudices, as to be
+incapable of discerning the plain thing that was before her eyes;
+_videlicet_, that Lord Colambre preferred Grace Nugent. Lord Colambre
+made no proposal before the end of the week; but this Mrs. Broadhurst
+attributed to an unexpected occurrence, which prevented things from
+going on in the train in which they had been proceeding so smoothly.
+Sir John Berryl, Mr. Berryl's father, was suddenly seized with a
+dangerous illness. The news was brought to Mr. Berryl one evening
+whilst he was at Lady Clonbrony's. The circumstances of domestic
+distress which afterwards occurred in the family of his friend,
+entirely occupied Lord Colambre's time and attention. All thoughts
+of love were suspended, and his whole mind was given up to the
+active services of friendship. The sudden illness of Sir John Berryl
+spread an alarm among his creditors, which brought to light at once
+the disorder of his affairs, of which his son had no knowledge or
+suspicion. Lady Berryl had been a very expensive woman, especially in
+equipages; and Mordicai, the coachmaker, appeared at this time the
+foremost and the most inexorable of their creditors. Conscious that
+the charges in his account were exorbitant, and that they would not be
+allowed if examined by a court of justice; that it was a debt which
+only ignorance and extravagance could have in the first instance
+incurred, swelled afterwards to an amazing amount by interest, and
+interest upon interest; Mordicai was impatient to obtain payment,
+whilst Sir John yet lived, or at least to obtain legal security for
+the whole sum from the heir. Mr. Berryl offered his bond for the
+amount of the reasonable charges in his account; but this Mordicai
+absolutely refused, declaring that now he had the power in his own
+hands, he would use it to obtain the utmost penny of his debt; that
+he would not let the thing slip through his fingers; that a debtor
+never yet escaped him, and never should; that a man's lying upon his
+deathbed was no excuse to a creditor; that he was not a whiffler to
+stand upon ceremony about disturbing a gentleman in his last moments;
+that he was not to be cheated out of his due by such niceties; that he
+was prepared to go all lengths the law would allow; for that, as to
+what people said of him, he did not care a doit--"Cover your face with
+your hands, if you like it, Mr. Berryl; you may be ashamed for me, but
+I feel no shame for myself--I am not so weak." Mordicai's countenance
+said more than his words; livid with malice, and with atrocious
+determination in his eyes, he stood. "Yes, sir," said he, "you may
+look at me as you please--it is possible--I am in earnest. Consult
+what you'll do now behind my back, or before my face, it comes to the
+same thing; for nothing will do but my money or your bond, Mr. Berryl.
+The arrest is made on the person of your father, luckily made while
+the breath is still in the body--Yes--start forward to strike me, if
+you dare--Your father, Sir John Berryl, sick or well, is my prisoner."
+
+Lady Berryl and Mr. Berryl's sisters, in an agony of grief, rushed
+into the room.
+
+"It's all useless," cried Mordicai, turning his back upon the ladies:
+"these tricks upon creditors won't do with me; I'm used to these
+scenes; I'm not made of such stuff as you think. Leave a gentleman in
+peace in his last moments--No! he ought not, nor sha'n't die in peace,
+if he don't pay his debts; and if you are all so mighty sorry, ladies,
+there's the gentleman you may kneel to: if tenderness is the order of
+the day, it's for the son to show it, not me. Ay, now, Mr. Berryl,"
+cried he, as Mr. Berryl took up the bond to sign it, "you're beginning
+to know I'm not a fool to be trifled with. Stop your hand, if you
+choose it, sir,--it's all the same to me: the person, or the money,
+I'll carry with me out of this house."
+
+Mr. Berryl signed the bond, and threw it to him.
+
+"There, monster!--quit the house!"
+
+"_Monster_ is not actionable--I wish you had called me _knave_,"
+said Mordicai, grinning a horrible smile; and taking up the bond
+deliberately, returned it to Mr. Berryl: "This paper is worth nothing
+to me, sir--it is not witnessed."
+
+Mr. Berryl hastily left the room, and returned with Lord Colambre.
+Mordicai changed countenance and grew pale, for a moment, at sight of
+Lord Colambre.
+
+"Well, my lord, since it so happens, I am not sorry that you should be
+witness to this paper," said he; "and indeed not sorry that you should
+witness the whole proceedings; for I trust I shall be able to explain
+to you my conduct."
+
+"I do not come here, sir," interrupted Lord Colambre, "to listen to
+any explanations of your conduct, which I perfectly understand;--I
+come to witness a bond for my friend Mr. Berryl, if you think proper
+to extort from him such a bond."
+
+"I extort nothing, my lord. Mr. Berryl, it is quite a voluntary act,
+take notice, on your part; sign or not, witness or not, as you please,
+gentlemen," said Mordicai, sticking his hands in his pockets, and
+recovering his look of black and fixed determination.
+
+"Witness it, witness it, my dear lord," said Mr. Berryl, looking at
+his mother and weeping sisters; "witness it, quick!"
+
+"Mr. Berryl must just run over his name again in your presence,
+my lord, with a dry pen," said Mordicai, putting the pen into Mr.
+Berryl's hand.
+
+"No, sir," said Lord Colambre, "my friend shall never sign it."
+
+"As you please, my lord--the bond or the body, before I quit this
+house," said Mordicai.
+
+"Neither, sir, shall you have: and you quit this house directly."
+
+"How! how!--my lord, how's this?"
+
+"Sir, the arrest you have made is as illegal as it is inhuman."
+
+"Illegal, my lord!" said Mordicai, startled.
+
+"Illegal, sir. I came into this house at the moment when your bailiff
+asked and was refused admittance. Afterwards, in the confusion of the
+family above stairs, he forced open the house-door with an iron bar--I
+saw him--I am ready to give evidence of the fact. Now proceed at your
+peril."
+
+Mordicai, without reply, snatched up his hat, and walked towards the
+door; but Lord Colambre held the door open--it was immediately at the
+head of the stairs--and Mordicai, seeing his indignant look and proud
+form, hesitated to pass; for he had always heard that Irishmen are
+"quick in the executive part of justice."
+
+"Pass on, sir," repeated Lord Colambre, with an air of ineffable
+contempt: "I am a gentleman--you have nothing to fear!"
+
+Mordicai ran down stairs; Lord Colambre, before he went back into
+the room, waited to see him and his bailiff out of the house. When
+Mordicai was fairly at the bottom of the stairs, he turned, and, white
+with rage, looked up at Lord Colambre.
+
+"Charity begins at home, my lord," said he. "Look at home--you shall
+pay for this," added he, standing half-shielded by the house-door, for
+Lord Colambre moved forward as he spoke the last words; "and I give
+you this warning, because I know it will be of no use to you--Your
+most obedient, my lord." The house-door closed after him.
+
+"Thank Heaven," thought Lord Colambre, "that I did not horsewhip that
+mean wretch!--This warning shall be of use to me. But it is not time
+to think of that yet."
+
+Lord Colambre turned from his own affairs to those of his friend, to
+offer all the assistance and consolation in his power. Sir John Berryl
+died that night. His daughters, who had lived in the highest style in
+London, were left totally unprovided for. His widow had mortgaged her
+jointure. Mr. Berryl had an estate now left to him, but without any
+income. He could not be so dishonest as to refuse to pay his father's
+just debts; he could not let his mother and sisters starve. The scene
+of distress to which Lord Colambre was witness in this family made a
+still greater impression upon him than had been made by the warning or
+the threats of Mordicai. The similarity between the circumstances of
+his friend's family and of his own struck him forcibly.
+
+All this evil had arisen from Lady Berryl's passion for living
+in London and at watering places. She had made her husband an
+ABSENTEE--an absentee from his home, his affairs, his duties, and his
+estate. The sea, the Irish Channel, did not, indeed, flow between him
+and his estate; but it was of little importance whether the separation
+was effected by land or water--the consequences, the negligence, the
+extravagance, were the same.
+
+Of the few people of his age who are capable of benefiting by the
+experience of others, Lord Colambre was one. "Experience," as an
+elegant writer has observed, "is an article that may be borrowed with
+safety, and is often dearly bought."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+In the mean time, Lady Clonbrony had been occupied with thoughts very
+different from those which passed in the mind of her son. Though she
+had never completely recovered from her rheumatic pains, she had
+become inordinately impatient of confinement to her own house, and
+weary of those dull evenings at home, which had, in her son's absence,
+become insupportable. She told over her visiting tickets regularly
+twice a day, and gave to every card of invitation a heartfelt sigh.
+Miss Pratt alarmed her ladyship, by bringing intelligence of some
+parties given by persons of consequence, to which she was not invited.
+She feared that she should be forgotten in the world, well knowing
+how soon the world forgets those they do not see every day and every
+where. How miserable is the fine lady's lot, who cannot forget, and
+who is forgotten by the world in a moment! How much more miserable
+still is the condition of a would-be fine lady, working her way up in
+the world with care and pains! By her, every the slightest failure of
+attention, from persons of rank and fashion, is marked and felt with a
+jealous anxiety, and with a sense of mortification the most acute--an
+invitation omitted is a matter of the most serious consequence, not
+only as it regards the present but the future; for if she be not
+invited by Lady A, it will lower her in the eyes of Lady B, and of
+all the ladies in the alphabet. It will form a precedent of the most
+dangerous and inevitable application. If she have nine invitations,
+and the tenth be wanting, the nine have no power to make her happy.
+This was precisely Lady Clonbrony's case--there was to be a party at
+Lady St. James's, for which Lady Clonbrony had no card.
+
+"So ungrateful, so monstrous, of Lady St. James!--What! was the gala
+so soon forgotten, and all the marked attentions paid that night to
+Lady St. James!--attentions, you know, Pratt, which were looked upon
+with a jealous eye, and made me enemies enough, I am told, in another
+quarter!--Of all people, I did not expect to be slighted by Lady St.
+James!"
+
+Miss Pratt, who was ever ready to undertake the defence of any person
+who had a title, pleaded, in mitigation of censure that perhaps Lady
+St. James might not be aware that her ladyship was yet well enough to
+venture out.
+
+"Oh, my dear Miss Pratt, that cannot be the thing; for, in spite of my
+rheumatism, which really was bad enough last Sunday, I went on purpose
+to the Royal Chapel, to show myself in the closet, and knelt close to
+her ladyship.--And, my dear, we curtsied, and she congratulated me,
+after church, upon my being abroad again, and was so happy to see me
+look so well, and all that--Oh! it is something very extraordinary and
+unaccountable!"
+
+"But, I dare say, a card will come yet," said Miss Pratt.
+
+Upon this hint, Lady Clonbrony's hope revived; and, staying her anger,
+she began to consider how she could manage to get herself invited.
+Refreshing tickets were left next morning at Lady St. James's with
+their corners properly turned up; to do the thing better, separate
+tickets from herself and Miss Nugent were left for each member of the
+family; and her civil messages, left with the footmen, extended to the
+utmost possibility of remainder. It had occurred to her ladyship, that
+for Miss Somebody, _the companion_, of whom she had never in her life
+thought before, she had omitted to leave a card last time, and she
+now left a note of explanation; she farther, with her rheumatic head
+and arm out of the coach-window, sat, the wind blowing keen upon
+her, explaining to the porter and the footman, to discover whether
+her former tickets had gone safely up to Lady St. James; and on the
+present occasion, to make assurance doubly sure, she slid handsome
+expedition money into the servant's hand--"Sir, you will be sure to
+remember"--"Oh, certainly, your ladyship."
+
+She well knew what dire offence has frequently been taken, what sad
+disasters have occurred in the fashionable world, from the neglect of
+a porter in delivering, or of a footman in carrying up, one of those
+talismanic cards. But, in spite of all her manoeuvres, no invitation
+to the party arrived next day. Pratt was next set to work. Miss Pratt
+was a most convenient go-between, who, in consequence of doing a
+thousand little services, to which few others of her rank in life
+would stoop, had obtained the entree to a number of great houses, and
+was behind the scenes in many fashionable families. Pratt could find
+out, and Pratt could hint, and Pratt could manage to get things done
+cleverly--and hints were given, in all directions, to _work round_
+to Lady St. James. But still they did not take effect. At last Pratt
+suggested, that perhaps, though every thing else had failed, dried
+salmon might be tried with success. Lord Clonbrony had just had some
+uncommonly good from Ireland, which Pratt knew Lady St. James would
+like to have at her supper, because a certain personage, whom she
+would not name, was particularly fond of it--Wheel within wheel in
+the fine world, as well as in the political world!--Bribes for all
+occasions and for all ranks!--The timely present was sent, accepted
+with many thanks, and understood as it was meant. Per favour of this
+propitiatory offering, and of a promise of half a dozen pair of
+real Limerick gloves to Miss Pratt--a promise which Pratt clearly
+comprehended to be a conditional promise--the grand object was at
+length accomplished. The very day before the party was to take place
+came cards of invitation to Lady Clonbrony and to Miss Nugent, with
+Lady St. James's apologies: her ladyship was concerned to find that,
+by some negligence of her servants, these cards were not sent in
+proper time. "How slight an apology will do from some people!" thought
+Miss Nugent; "how eager to forgive, when it is for our interest or
+our pleasure! how well people act the being deceived, even when all
+parties know that they see the whole truth! and how low pride will
+stoop to gain its object!"
+
+Ashamed of the whole transaction, Miss Nugent earnestly wished that a
+refusal should be sent, and reminded her aunt of her rheumatism; but
+rheumatism and all other objections were overruled--Lady Clonbrony
+would go. It was just when this affair was thus, in her opinion,
+successfully settled, that Lord Colambre came in, with a countenance
+of unusual seriousness, his mind full of the melancholy scenes he had
+witnessed in his friend's family.
+
+"What is the matter, Colambre?"
+
+He related what had passed; he described the brutal conduct of
+Mordicai; the anguish of the mother and sisters; the distress of
+Mr. Berryl. Tears rolled down Miss Nugent's cheeks--Lady Clonbrony
+declared it was very _shocking_; listened with attention to all the
+particulars; but never failed to correct her son, whenever he said Mr.
+Berryl--
+
+"_Sir Arthur_ Berryl, you mean."
+
+She was, however, really touched with compassion when he spoke of Lady
+Berryl's destitute condition; and her son was going on to repeat what
+Mordicai had said to him, but Lady Clonbrony interrupted, "Oh, my dear
+Colambre! don't repeat that detestable man's impertinent speeches to
+me. If there is any thing really about business, speak to your father.
+At any rate don't tell us of it now, because I've a hundred things
+to do," said her ladyship, hurrying out of the room--"Grace, Grace
+Nugent! I want you!"
+
+Lord Colambre sighed deeply.
+
+"Don't despair," said Miss Nugent, as she followed to obey her aunt's
+summons. "Don't despair; don't attempt to speak to her again till
+to-morrow morning. Her head is now full of Lady St. James's party.
+When it is emptied of that, you will have a better chance. Never
+despair."
+
+"Never, while you encourage me to hope--that any good can be done."
+
+Lady Clonbrony was particularly glad that she had carried her point
+about this party at Lady St. James's; because, from the first private
+intimation that the Duchess of Torcaster was to be there, her ladyship
+flattered herself that the long-desired introduction might then be
+accomplished. But of this hope Lady St. James had likewise received
+intimation from the double-dealing Miss Pratt; and a warning note was
+despatched to the duchess to let her grace know that circumstances
+had occurred which had rendered it impossible not to _ask the
+Clonbronies_. An excuse, of course, for not going to this party, was
+sent by the duchess--her grace did not like large parties--she would
+have the pleasure of accepting Lady St. James's invitation for her
+select party on Wednesday, the 10th. Into these select parties Lady
+Clonbrony had never been admitted. In return for great entertainments
+she was invited to great entertainments, to large parties; but further
+she could never penetrate.
+
+At Lady St. James's, and with her set, Lady Clonbrony suffered a
+different kind of mortification from that which Lady Langdale and Mrs.
+Dareville made her endure. She was safe from the witty raillery,
+the sly inuendo, the insolent mimicry; but she was kept at a cold,
+impassable distance, by ceremony--"So far shalt thou go, and no
+further," was expressed in every look, in every word, and in a
+thousand different ways.
+
+By the most punctilious respect and nice regard to precedency, even
+by words of courtesy--"Your ladyship does me honour," &c.--Lady St.
+James contrived to mortify and to mark the difference between those
+with whom she was, and with whom she was not, upon terms of intimacy
+and equality. Thus the ancient grandees of Spain drew a line of
+demarcation between themselves and the newly created nobility.
+Whenever or wherever they met, they treated the new nobles with the
+utmost respect, never addressed them but with all their titles, with
+low bows, and with all the appearance of being, with the most perfect
+consideration, anything but their equals; whilst towards one another
+the grandees laid aside their state, and omitting their titles, it was
+"Alcala--Medina Sidonia--Infantado," and a freedom and familiarity
+which marked equality. Entrenched in etiquette in this manner, and
+mocked with marks of respect, it was impossible either to intrude or
+to complain of being excluded.
+
+At supper at Lady St. James's, Lady Clonbrony's present was pronounced
+by some gentlemen to be remarkably high flavoured. This observation
+turned the conversation to Irish commodities and Ireland. Lady
+Clonbrony, possessed by the idea that it was disadvantageous to appear
+as an Irishwoman or as a favourer of Ireland, began to be embarrassed
+by Lady St. James's repeated thanks. Had it been in her power to offer
+any thing else with propriety, she would not have thought of sending
+her ladyship any thing from Ireland. Vexed by the questions that were
+asked her about her _country_, Lady Clonbrony, as usual, denied it to
+be her country, and went on to depreciate and abuse every thing Irish;
+to declare that there was no possibility of living in Ireland; and
+that, for her own part, she was resolved never to return thither. Lady
+St. James, preserving perfect silence, let her go on. Lady Clonbrony
+imagining that this silence arose from coincidence of opinion,
+proceeded with all the eloquence she possessed, which was very little,
+repeating the same exclamations, and reiterating her vow of perpetual
+expatriation; till at last an elderly lady, who was a stranger to
+her, and whom she had till this moment scarcely noticed, took up the
+defence of Ireland with much warmth and energy: the eloquence with
+which she spoke, and the respect with which she was heard, astonished
+Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"Who is she?" whispered her ladyship.
+
+"Does not your ladyship know Lady Oranmore--the Irish Lady Oranmore?"
+
+"Lord bless me!--what have I said!--what have I done!--Oh! why did you
+not give me a hint, Lady St. James?"
+
+"I was not aware that your ladyship was not acquainted with Lady
+Oranmore," replied Lady St. James, unmoved by her distress.
+
+Every body sympathized with Lady Oranmore, and admired the honest zeal
+with which she abided by her country, and defended it against unjust
+aspersions and affected execrations. Every one present enjoyed Lady
+Clonbrony's confusion, except Miss Nugent, who sat with her eyes bowed
+down by penetrative shame during the whole of this scene: she was glad
+that Lord Colambre was not witness to it; and comforted herself with
+the hope that, upon the whole, Lady Clonbrony would be benefited by
+the pain she had felt. This instance might convince her that it was
+not necessary to deny her country to be received in any company in
+England; and that those who have the courage and steadiness to be
+themselves, and to support what they feel and believe to be the truth,
+must command respect. Miss Nugent hoped that in consequence of this
+conviction Lady Clonbrony would lay aside the little affectations by
+which her manners were painfully constrained and ridiculous; and,
+above all, she hoped that what Lady Oranmore had said of Ireland might
+dispose her aunt to listen with patience to all Lord Colambre might
+urge in favour of returning to her home. But Miss Nugent hoped in
+vain. Lady Clonbrony never in her life generalized any observations,
+or drew any but a partial conclusion from the most striking facts.
+
+"Lord! my dear Grace!" said she, as soon as they were seated in
+their carriage, "what a scrape I got into to-night at supper, and
+what disgrace I came to!--and all this because I did not know Lady
+Oranmore. Now you see the inconceivable disadvantage of not knowing
+every body--every body of a certain rank, of course, I mean."
+
+Miss Nugent endeavoured to slide in her own moral on the occasion, but
+it would not do.
+
+"Yes, my dear, Lady Oranmore may talk in that kind of style of
+Ireland, because, on the other hand, she is so highly connected in
+England; and, besides, she is an old lady, and may take liberties; in
+short, she is Lady Oranmore, and that's enough."
+
+The next morning, when they all met at breakfast, Lady Clonbrony
+complained bitterly of her increased rheumatism, of the disagreeable,
+stupid party they had had the preceding night, and of the necessity of
+going to another formal party to-morrow night, and the next, and the
+next night, and, in the true fine lady style, deplored her situation,
+and the impossibility of avoiding those things,
+
+  "Which felt they curse, yet covet still to feel."
+
+Miss Nugent determined to retire as soon as she could from the
+breakfast-room, to leave Lord Colambre an opportunity of talking over
+his family affairs at full liberty. She knew by the seriousness of
+his countenance that his mind was intent upon doing so, and she hoped
+that his influence with his father and mother would not be exerted in
+vain. But just as she was rising from the breakfast-table, in came Sir
+Terence O'Fay, and seating himself quite at his ease, in spite of Lady
+Clonbrony's repulsive looks, his awe of Lord Colambre having now worn
+off, "I'm tired," said he, "and have a right to be tired; for it's no
+small walk I've taken for the good of this noble family this morning.
+And, Miss Nugent, before I say more, I'll take a cup of _ta_ from you,
+if you please."
+
+Lady Clonbrony rose, with great stateliness, and walked to the
+farthest end of the room, where she established herself at her
+writing-table, and began to write notes.
+
+Sir Terence wiped his forehead deliberately.--"Then I've had a fine
+run--Miss Nugent, I believe you never saw me run; but I can run, I
+promise you, when it's to serve a friend--And my lord (turning to
+Lord Clonbrony), what do you think I run for this morning--to buy a
+bargain--and of what?--a bargain of a bad debt--a debt of yours, which
+I bargained for, and up just in time--and Mordicai's ready to hang
+himself this minute--For what do you think that rascal was bringing
+upon you--but an execution?--he was."
+
+"An execution!" repeated every body present, except Lord Colambre.
+
+"And how has this been prevented, sir?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh! let me alone for that," said Sir Terence. "I got a hint from
+my little friend, Paddy Brady, who would not be paid for it either,
+though he's as poor as a rat. Well! as soon as I got the hint, I
+dropped the thing I had in my hand, which was the Dublin Evening,
+and ran for the bare life--for there wasn't a coach--in my slippers,
+as I was, to get into the prior creditor's shoes, who is the little
+solicitor that lives in Crutched Friars, which Mordicai never dreamt
+of, luckily; so he was very genteel, though he was taken on a sudden,
+and from his breakfast, which an Englishman don't like particularly--I
+popped him a douceur of a draft, at thirty-one days, on Garraghty,
+the agent; of which he must get notice; but I won't descant on the
+law before the ladies--he handed me over his debt and execution, and
+he made me prior creditor in a trice. Then I took coach in state, the
+first I met, and away with me to Long Acre--saw Mordicai. 'Sir,' says
+I, 'I hear you're meditating an execution on a friend of mine.'--'Am
+I?' said the rascal; 'who told you so?'--'No matter,' said I; 'but
+I just called in to let you know there's no use in life of your
+execution; for there's a prior creditor with his execution to be
+satisfied first.' So he made a great many black faces, and said a
+great deal, which I never listened to, but came off here clean to tell
+you all the story."
+
+"Not one word of which do I understand," said Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"Then, my dear, you are very ungrateful," said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+Lord Colambre said nothing, for he wished to learn more of Sir Terence
+O'Fay's character, of the state of his father's affairs, and of the
+family methods of proceeding in matters of business.
+
+"Faith! Terry, I know I'm very thankful to you--But an execution's an
+ugly thing,--and I hope there's no danger."
+
+"Never fear!" said Sir Terence: "hav'n't I been at my wits' ends for
+myself or my friends ever since I come to man's estate--to years of
+discretion, I should say, for the deuce a foot of estate have I! But
+use has sharpened my wits pretty well for your service; so never be in
+dread, my good lord; for look ye!" cried the reckless knight, sticking
+his arms akimbo, "look ye here! in Sir Terence O'Fay stands a host
+that desires no better than to encounter, single-witted, all the duns
+in the united kingdoms, Mordicai the Jew inclusive."
+
+"Ah! that's the devil, that Mordicai," said Lord Clonbrony; "that's
+the only man on earth I dread."
+
+"Why, he is only a coachmaker, is not he?" said Lady Clonbrony: "I
+can't think how you can talk, my lord, of dreading such a low man.
+Tell him, if he's troublesome, we won't bespeak any more carriages;
+and, I'm sure, I wish you would not be so silly, my lord, to employ
+him any more, when you know he disappointed me the last birthday about
+the landau, which I have not got yet."
+
+"Nonsense, my dear," said Lord Clonbrony; "you don't know what you are
+talking of--Terry, I say, even a friendly execution is an ugly thing."
+
+"Phoo! phoo!--an ugly thing!--So is a fit of the gout--but one's all
+the better for it after. 'Tis just a renewal of life, my, lord, for
+which one must pay a bit of a fine, you know. Take patience, and leave
+me to manage all properly--you know I'm used to these things: only you
+recollect, if you please, how I managed my friend Lord----it's bad to
+be mentioning names--but Lord _Every-body-knows-who_--didn't I bring
+him through cleverly, when there was that rascally attempt to seize
+the family plate? I had notice, and what did I do, but broke open
+a partition between that lord's house and my lodgings, which I had
+taken next door; and so, when the sheriffs officers were searching
+below on the ground floor, I just shoved the plate easy through to
+my bedchamber at a moment's warning, and then bid the gentlemen walk
+in, for they couldn't set a foot in my paradise, the devils!--So they
+stood looking at it through the wall, and cursing me, and I holding
+both my sides with laughter at their fallen faces."
+
+Sir Terence and Lord Clonbrony laughed in concert.
+
+"This is a good story," said Miss Nugent, smiling; "but surely, Sir
+Terence, such things are never done in real life?"
+
+"Done! ay, are they; and I could tell you a hundred better strokes, my
+dear Miss Nugent."
+
+"Grace!" cried Lady Clonbrony, "do pray have the goodness to seal and
+send these notes; for really," whispered she, as her niece came to the
+table, "I _cawnt stee_, I _cawnt_ bear that man's _vice_, his accent
+grows horrider and horrider!"
+
+Her ladyship rose, and left the room.
+
+"Why, then," continued Sir Terence, following Miss Nugent to the
+table, where she was sealing letters--"I must tell you how I _sa_rved
+that same man on another occasion, and got the victory, too."
+
+No general officer could talk of his victories, or fight his battles
+o'er again, with more complacency than Sir Terence O'Fay recounted his
+_civil_ exploits.
+
+"Now I'll tell you, Miss Nugent. There was a footman in the family,
+not an Irishman, but one of your powdered English scoundrels that
+ladies are so fond of having hanging to the backs of their carriages;
+one Fleming he was, that turned spy, and traitor, and informer, went
+privately and gave notice to the creditors where the plate was hid
+in the thickness of the chimney; but if he did, what happened? Why,
+I had my counter-spy, an honest little Irish boy, in the creditor's
+shop, that I had secured with a little douceur of usquebaugh; and
+he outwitted, as was natural, the English lying valet, and gave us
+notice, just in the nick, and I got ready for their reception; and,
+Miss Nugent, I only wish you'd seen the excellent sport we had,
+letting them follow the scent they got; and when they were sure of
+their game, what did they find?--Ha! ha! ha!--dragged out, after a
+world of labour, a heavy box of--a load of brick-bats; not an item
+of my friend's plate, that was all snug in the coal-hole, where them
+dunces never thought of looking for it--Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+"But come, Terry," cried Lord Clonbrony, "I'll pull down your
+pride.--How finely, another time, your job of the false ceiling
+answered in the hall. I've heard that story, and have been told how
+the sheriff's fellow thrust his bayonet up through your false plaster,
+and down came tumbling the family plate--hey! Terry?--That hit cost
+your friend, Lord Every-body-knows-who, more than your head's worth,
+Terry."
+
+"I ask your pardon, my lord, it never cost him a farthing."
+
+"When he paid 7000_l._ for the plate, to redeem it?"
+
+"Well! and did not I make up for that at the races of ----? The
+creditors learned that my lord's horse, Naboclish, was to run at ----
+races; and, as the sheriff's officer knew he dare not touch him on the
+race-ground, what does he do, but he comes down early in the morning
+on the mail-coach, and walks straight down to the livery stables.
+He had an exact description of the stables, and the stall, and the
+horse's body clothes.
+
+"I was there, seeing the horse taken care of; and, knowing the cut
+of the fellow's jib, what does I do, but whips the body clothes off
+Naboclish, and claps them upon a garrone, that the priest would not
+ride.
+
+"In comes the bailiff--'Good morrow to you, sir,' says I, leading out
+of the stable my lord's horse, with an _ould_ saddle and bridle on.
+
+"'Tim Neal,' says I to the groom, who was rubbing down the garrone's
+heels, 'mind your hits to-day, and _wee'l_ wet the plate to-night."
+
+"'Not so fast, neither,' says the bailiff--'here's my writ for seizing
+the horse.'
+
+"'Och,' says I, 'you wouldn't be so cruel.'
+
+"'That's all my eye,' says he, seizing the garrone, while I mounted
+Naboclish, and rode him off deliberately."
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!--That _was_ neat, I grant you, Terry," said Lord
+Clonbrony. "But what a dolt of a born ignoramus must that sheriff's
+fellow have been, not to know Naboclish when he saw him!"
+
+"But stay, my lord--stay, Miss Nugent--I have more for you," following
+her wherever she moved--"I did not let him off so, even. At the cant,
+I bid and bid against them for the pretended Naboclish, till I left
+him on their hands for 500 guineas--ha! ha! ha!--was not that famous?"
+
+"But," said Miss Nugent, "I cannot believe you are in earnest, Sir
+Terence--Surely this would be--"
+
+"What?--out with it, my dear Miss Nugent."
+
+"I am afraid of offending you."
+
+"You can't, my dear, I defy you--say the word that came to the
+tongue's end; it's always the best."
+
+"I was going to say, swindling," said the young lady, colouring
+deeply.
+
+"Oh, you was going to say wrong, then! It's not called swindling
+amongst gentlemen who know the world--it's only jockeying--fine
+sport--and very honourable to help a friend at a dead lift. Any thing
+to help a friend out of a present pressing difficulty."
+
+"And when the present difficulty is over, do your friends never think
+of the future?"
+
+"The future! leave the future to posterity," said Sir Terence; "I'm
+counsel only for the present; and when the evil comes, it's time
+enough to think of it. I can't bring the guns of my wits to bear till
+the enemy's alongside of me, or within sight of me at the least. And
+besides, there never was a good commander yet, by sea or land, that
+would tell his little expedients beforehand, or before the very day of
+battle."
+
+"It must be a sad thing," said Miss Nugent, sighing deeply, "to be
+reduced to live by little expedients--daily expedients."
+
+Lord Colambre struck his forehead, but said nothing.
+
+"But if you are beating your brains about your own affairs, my Lord
+Colambre, my dear," said Sir Terence, "there's an easy way of settling
+your family affairs at once; and since you don't like little daily
+expedients, Miss Nugent, there's one great expedient, and an expedient
+for life, that will settle it all to your satisfaction--and ours. I
+hinted it delicately to you before; but, between friends, delicacy is
+impertinent; so I tell you, in plain English, you've nothing to do but
+go and propose yourself, just as you stand, to the heiress Miss B----,
+that desires no better--"
+
+"Sir!" cried Lord Colambre, stepping forward, red with sudden anger.
+
+Miss Nugent laid her hand upon his arm. "Oh, my lord!"
+
+"Sir Terence O'Fay," continued Lord Colambre, in a moderated tone,
+"you are wrong to mention that young lady's name in such a manner."
+
+"Why then I said only Miss B----, and there are a whole hive of
+_bees_. But I'll engage she'd thank me for what I suggested, and think
+herself the queen bee if my expedient was adopted by you."
+
+"Sir Terence," said his lordship, smiling, "if my father thinks proper
+that you should manage his affairs, and devise expedients for him, I
+have nothing to say on that point; but I must beg you will not trouble
+yourself to suggest expedients for me, and that you will have the
+goodness to leave me to settle my own affairs."
+
+Sir Terence made a low bow, and was silent for five seconds; then
+turning to Lord Clonbrony, who looked much more abashed than he
+did, "By the wise one, my good lord, I believe there are some
+men--noblemen, too--that don't know their friends from their enemies.
+It's my firm persuasion, now, that if I had served you as I served my
+friend I was talking of, your son there would, ten to one, think I had
+done him an injury by saving the family plate."
+
+"I certainly should, sir. The family plate, sir, is not the first
+object in my mind," replied Lord Colambre; "family honour--Nay, Miss
+Nugent, I must speak," continued his lordship; perceiving, by her
+countenance, that she was alarmed.
+
+"Never fear, Miss Nugent, dear," said Sir Terence; "I'm as cool as
+a cucumber.--Faith! then, my Lord Colambre, I agree with you, that
+family honour's a mighty fine thing, only troublesome to one's self
+and one's friends, and expensive to keep up with all the other
+expenses and debts a gentleman has now-a-days. So I, that am under no
+natural obligations to it by birth or otherwise, have just stood by it
+through life, and asked myself, before I would volunteer being bound
+to it, what could this same family honour do for a man in this world?
+And, first and foremost, I never remember to see family honour stand
+a man in much stead in a court of law--never saw family honour stand
+against an execution, or a custodiam, or an injunction even.--'Tis
+a rare thing, this same family honour, and a very fine thing; but I
+never knew it yet, at a pinch, pay for a pair of boots even," added
+Sir Terence, drawing up his own with much complacency.
+
+At this moment, Sir Terence was called out of the room by one who
+wanted to speak to him on particular business.
+
+"My dear father," cried Lord Colambre, "do not follow him; stay, for
+one moment, and hear your son, your true friend."
+
+Miss Nugent left the room.
+
+"Hear your natural friend for one moment," cried Lord Colambre. "Let
+me beseech you, father, not to have recourse to any of these paltry
+expedients, but trust your son with the state of your affairs, and we
+shall find some honourable means--"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes, very true; when you're of age, Colambre, we'll talk of
+it; but nothing can be done till then. We shall get on, we shall get
+through, very well, till then, with Terry's assistance; and I must beg
+you will not say a word more against Terry--I can't bear it--I can't
+bear it--I can't do without him. Pray don't detain me--I can say no
+more--except," added he, returning to his usual concluding sentence,
+"that there need, at all events, be none of this, if people would but
+live upon their own estates, and kill their own mutton." He stole
+out of the room, glad to escape, however shabbily, from present
+explanation and present pain. There are persons without resource, who,
+in difficulties, return always to the same point, and usually to the
+same words.
+
+While Lord Colambre was walking up and down the room, much vexed
+and disappointed at finding that he could make no impression on his
+father's mind, nor obtain his confidence, Lady Clonbrony's woman, Mrs.
+Petito, knocked at the door, with a message from her lady, to beg, if
+Lord Colambre was _by himself_, he would go to her dressing-room, as
+she wished to have a conference with him. He obeyed her summons.
+
+"Sit down, my dear Colambre--" And she began precisely with her old
+sentence--"With the fortune I brought your father, and with my lord's
+estate, I _cawnt_ understand the meaning of all these pecuniary
+difficulties; and all that strange creature Sir Terence says is
+algebra to me, who speak English. And I am particularly sorry he was
+let in this morning--but he's such a brute that he does not think any
+thing of forcing one's door, and he tells my footman he does not mind
+_not at home_ a pinch of snuff. Now what can you do with a man who
+could say that sort of thing, you know?--the world's at an end."
+
+"I wish my father had nothing to do with him, ma'am, as much as you
+can wish it," said Lord Colambre; "but I have said all that a son can
+say, and without effect."
+
+"What particularly provokes me against him," continued Lady Clonbrony,
+"is what I have just heard from Grace, who was really hurt by it, too,
+for she is the warmest friend in the world: I allude to the creature's
+indelicate way of touching upon a tender _pint_, and mentioning an
+amiable young heiress's name. My dear Colambre, I trust you have given
+me credit for my inviolable silence all this time, upon the _pint_
+nearest my heart. I am rejoiced to hear you _was_ so warm when she
+was mentioned inadvertently by that brute, and I trust you now see
+the advantages of the projected union in as strong and agreeable a
+_pint_ of view as I do, my own Colambre; and I should leave things to
+themselves, and let you prolong the _dees_ of courtship as you please,
+only for what I now hear incidentally from my lord and the brute,
+about pecuniary embarrassments, and the necessity of something being
+done before next winter. And, indeed, I think now, in propriety, the
+proposal cannot be delayed much longer; for the world begins to talk
+of the thing as done; and even Mrs. Broadhurst, I know, had no doubt
+that, if this _contretemps_ about the poor Berryls had not occurred,
+your proposal would have been made before the end of last week."
+
+Our hero was not a man to make a proposal because Mrs. Broadhurst
+expected it, or to marry because the world said he was going to be
+married. He steadily said, that, from the first moment the subject had
+been mentioned, he had explained himself distinctly; that the young
+lady's friends could not, therefore, be under any doubt as to his
+intentions; that, if they had voluntarily deceived themselves, or
+exposed the lady in situations from which the world was led to make
+false conclusions, he was not answerable: he felt his conscience at
+ease--entirely so, as he was convinced that the young lady herself,
+for whose merit, talents, independence, and generosity of character he
+professed high respect, esteem, and admiration, had no doubts either
+of the extent or the nature of his regard.
+
+"Regard, respect, esteem, admiration!--Why, my dearest Colambre! this
+is saying all I want; satisfies me, and I am sure would satisfy Mrs.
+Broadhurst, and Miss Broadhurst too."
+
+"No doubt it will, ma'am: but not if I aspired to the honour of Miss
+Broadhurst's hand, or professed myself her lover."
+
+"My dear, you are mistaken: Miss Broadhurst is too sensible a girl,
+a vast deal, to look for love, and a dying lover, and all that sort
+of stuff: I am persuaded--indeed I have it from good, from the best
+authority, that the young lady--you know one must be delicate in these
+cases, where a young lady of such fortune, and no despicable family
+too, is concerned; therefore I cannot speak quite plainly--but I say
+I have it from the best authority, that you would be preferred to any
+other suitor, and, in short, that--"
+
+"I beg your pardon, madam, for interrupting you," cried Lord Colambre,
+colouring a good deal; "but you must excuse me if I say, that the only
+authority on which I could believe this is one from which I am morally
+certain I shall never hear it--from Miss Broadhurst herself."
+
+"Lord, child! if you only ask her the question, she would tell you it
+is truth, I dare say."
+
+"But as I have no curiosity on the subject, ma'am--"
+
+"Lord bless me! I thought everybody had curiosity. But still, without
+curiosity, I am sure it would gratify you when you did hear it; and
+can't you just put the simple question?"
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Impossible!--now that is so very provoking when the thing is all but
+done. Well, take your own time; all I will ask of you then is, to let
+things go on as they are going--smoothly and pleasantly; and I'll
+not press you further on the subject at present. Let things go on
+smoothly, that's all I ask, and say nothing."
+
+"I wish I could oblige you, mother; but I cannot do this. Since you
+tell me that the world and Miss Broadhurst's friends have already
+misunderstood my intentions, it becomes necessary, in justice to
+the young lady and to myself, that I should make all further doubt
+impossible--I shall, therefore, put an end to it at once, by leaving
+town to-morrow."
+
+Lady Clonbrony, breathless for a moment with surprise, exclaimed,
+"Bless me! leave town to-morrow! Just at the beginning of the season!
+Impossible!--I never saw such a precipitate rash young man. But stay
+only a few weeks, Colambre; the physicians advise Buxton for my
+rheumatism, and you shall take us to Buxton early in the season--you
+cannot refuse me that. Why, if Miss Broadhurst was a dragon, you could
+not be in a greater hurry to run away from her. What are you afraid
+of?"
+
+"Of doing what is wrong--the only thing, I trust, of which I shall
+ever be afraid."
+
+Lady Clonbrony tried persuasion and argument--such argument as she
+could use--but all in vain--Lord Colambre was firm in his resolution;
+at last, she came to tears; and her son, in much agitation, said, "I
+cannot bear this, mother!--I would do any thing you ask, that I could
+do with honour; but this is impossible."
+
+"Why impossible? I will take all blame upon myself; and you are sure
+that Miss Broadhurst does not misunderstand you, and you esteem her,
+and admire her, and all that; and all I ask; is, that you'll go on as
+you are, and see more of her; and how do you know but you may fall in
+love with her, as you call it, to-morrow?"
+
+"Because, madam, since you press me so far, my affections are engaged
+to another person. Do not look so dreadfully shocked, my dear
+mother--I have told you truly, that I think myself too young, much too
+young, yet to marry. In the circumstances in which I know my family
+are, it is probable that I shall not for some years be able to marry
+as I wish. You may depend upon it that I shall not take any step, I
+shall not even declare my attachment to the object of my affection,
+without your knowledge; and, far from being inclined headlong to
+follow my own passions--strong as they are--be assured that the honour
+of my family, your happiness, my mother, my father's, are my first
+objects: I shall never think of my own till these are secured."
+
+Of the conclusion of this speech, Lady Clonbrony heard only the
+sound of the words; from the moment her son had pronounced that his
+affections were engaged, she had been running over in her head every
+probable and improbable person she could think of; at last, suddenly
+starting up, she opened one of the folding-doors into the next
+apartment, and called, "Grace!--Grace Nugent!--put down your pencil,
+Grace, this minute, and come here!"
+
+Miss Nugent obeyed with her usual alacrity; and the moment she entered
+the room, Lady Clonbrony, fixing her eyes full upon her, said,
+"There's your cousin Colambre tells me his affections are engaged."
+
+"Yes, to Miss Broadhurst, no doubt," said Miss Nugent, smiling, with a
+simplicity and openness of countenance, which assured Lady Clonbrony
+that all was safe in that quarter: a suspicion which had darted into
+her mind was dispelled.
+
+"No doubt--Ay, do you hear that _no doubt_, Colambre?--Grace, you see,
+has no doubt; nobody has any doubt but yourself, Colambre."
+
+"And are your affections engaged, and not to Miss Broadhurst?" said
+Miss Nugent, approaching Lord Colambre.
+
+"There now! you see how you surprise and disappoint every body,
+Colambre."
+
+"I am sorry that Miss Nugent should be disappointed," said Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"But because I am disappointed, pray do not call me Miss Nugent, or
+turn away from me, as if you were displeased."
+
+"It must, then, be some Cambridgeshire lady," said Lady Clonbrony. "I
+am sure I am very sorry he ever went to Cambridge--Oxford I advised:
+one of the Miss Berryls, I presume, who have nothing. I'll have no
+more to do with those Berryls--there was the reason of the son's vast
+intimacy. Grace, you may give up all thoughts of Sir Arthur."
+
+"I have no thoughts to give up, ma'am," said Miss Nugent, smiling.
+"Miss Broadhurst," continued she, going on eagerly with what she was
+saying to Lord Colambre, "Miss Broadhurst is my friend, a friend I
+love and admire; but you will allow that I strictly kept my promise,
+never to praise her to you, till you should begin to praise her to me.
+Now recollect, last night, you did praise her to me, so justly, that
+I thought you liked her, I confess; so that it is natural I should
+feel a little disappointed. Now you know the whole of my mind; I have
+no intention to encroach on your confidence; therefore, there is no
+occasion to look so embarrassed. I give you my word, I will never
+speak to you again upon the subject," said she, holding out her hand
+to him, "provided you will never again call me Miss Nugent. Am I not
+your own cousin Grace?--Do not be displeased with her."
+
+"You are my own dear cousin Grace; and nothing can be farther from my
+mind than any thought of being displeased with her; especially just at
+this moment, when I am going away, probably, for a considerable time."
+
+"Away!--when?--where?"
+
+"To-morrow morning, for Ireland."
+
+"Ireland! of all places," cried Lady Clonbrony. "What upon earth puts
+it into your head to go to Ireland? You do very well to go out of the
+way of falling in love ridiculously, since that is the reason of your
+going; but what put Ireland into your head, child?"
+
+"I will not presume to ask my mother what put Ireland out of her
+head," said Lord Colambre, smiling; "but she will recollect that it is
+my native country."
+
+"That was your father's fault, not mine," said Lady Clonbrony; "for
+I wished to have been confined in England: but he would have it to
+say that his son and heir was born at Clonbrony Castle--and there was
+a great argument between him and my uncle, and something about the
+Prince of Wales and Caernarvon Castle was thrown in, and that turned
+the scale, much against my will; for it was my wish that my son should
+be an Englishman born--like myself. But, after all, I don't see that
+having the misfortune to be born in a country should tie one to it in
+any sort of way; and I should have hoped your English _edication_,
+Colambre, would have given you too liberal _idears_ for that--so I
+_reely_ don't see why you should go to Ireland merely because it's
+your native country."
+
+"Not merely because it is my native country--but I wish to go
+thither--I desire to become acquainted with it--because it is the
+country in which my father's property lies, and from which we draw our
+subsistence."
+
+"Subsistence! Lord bless me, what a word! fitter for a pauper than
+a nobleman--subsistence! Then, if you are going to look after your
+father's property, I hope you will make the agents do their duty, and
+send us remittances. And pray how long do you mean to stay?"
+
+"Till I am of age, madam, if you have no objection. I will spend the
+ensuing months in travelling in Ireland; and I will return here by the
+time I am of age, unless you and my father should, before that time,
+be in Ireland."
+
+"Not the least chance of that, if I can prevent it, I promise you,"
+said Lady Clonbrony.
+
+Lord Colambre and Miss Nugent sighed.
+
+"And I am sure I shall take it very unkindly of you, Colambre, if you
+go and turn out a partisan for Ireland, after all, like Grace Nugent."
+
+"A partisan! no;--I hope not a partisan, but a friend," said Miss
+Nugent.
+
+"Nonsense, child!--I hate to hear people, women especially, and young
+ladies particularly, talk of being friends to this country or that
+country. What can they know about countries? Better think of being
+friends to themselves, and friends to their friends."
+
+"I was wrong," said Miss Nugent, "to call myself a friend to Ireland;
+I meant to say, that Ireland had been a friend to me: that I found
+Irish friends, when I had no others; an Irish home, when I had no
+other; that my earliest and happiest years, under your kind care, had
+been spent there; and I can never forget _that_, my dear aunt--I hope
+you do not wish that I should."
+
+"Heaven forbid, my sweet Grace!" said Lady Clonbrony, touched by her
+voice and manner; "Heaven forbid! I don't wish you to do or be any
+thing but what you are; for I am convinced there's nothing I could ask
+you would not do for me: and, I can tell you, there's few things you
+could ask, love, I would not do for you."
+
+A wish was instantly expressed in the eyes of her niece.
+
+Lady Clonbrony, though not usually quick at interpreting the wishes
+of others, understood and answered before she ventured to make her
+request in words.
+
+"Ask any thing but _that_, Grace--Return to Clonbrony, while I am able
+to live in London? That I never can or will do for you or any body!"
+looking at her son in all the pride of obstinacy: "so there is an end
+of the matter. Go you where you please, Colambre; and I shall stay
+where I please:--I suppose, as your mother, I have a right to say this
+much?"
+
+Her son, with the utmost respect, assured her that he had no design to
+infringe upon her undoubted liberty of judging for herself; that he
+had never interfered, except so far as to tell her circumstances of
+her affairs with which she seemed to be totally unacquainted, and of
+which it might he dangerous to her to continue in ignorance.
+
+"Don't talk to me about affairs," cried she, drawing her hand away
+from her son. "Talk to my lord, or my lord's agents, since you are
+going to Ireland about business--I know nothing about business; but
+this I know, I shall stay in England, and be in London, every season,
+as long as I can afford it; and when I cannot afford to live here, I
+hope I shall not live any where. That's my notion of life; and that's
+my determination, once for all; for, if none of the rest of the
+Clonbrony family have any, I thank Heaven I have some spirit." Saying
+this, in her most stately manner she walked out of the room. Lord
+Colambre instantly followed her: for after the resolution and the
+promise he had made, he did not dare to trust himself at this moment
+with Miss Nugent.
+
+There was to be a concert this night at Lady Clonbrony's, at which
+Mrs. and Miss Broadhurst were of course expected. That they might not
+he quite unprepared for the event of her son's going to Ireland, Lady
+Clonbrony wrote a note to Mrs. Broadhurst, begging her to come half
+an hour earlier than the time mentioned in the cards, "that she might
+talk over something _particular_ that had just occurred."
+
+What passed at this cabinet council, as it seems to have had no
+immediate influence on affairs, we need not record. Suffice it
+to observe, that a great deal was said, and nothing done. Miss
+Broadhurst, however, was not a young lady who could easily be
+deceived, even where her passions were concerned. The moment her
+mother told her of Lord Colambre's intended departure, she saw the
+whole truth. She had a strong mind, capable of looking steadily at
+truth. Surrounded as she had been from her childhood by every means
+of self-indulgence which wealth and flattery could bestow, she had
+discovered early what few persons in her situation discover till late
+in life, that selfish gratifications may render us incapable of other
+happiness, but can never, of themselves, make us happy. Despising
+flatterers, she had determined to make herself friends--to make them
+in the only possible way--by deserving them. Her father realized
+his immense fortune by the power and habit of constant, bold, and
+just calculation. The power and habit which she had learned from
+him she applied on a far larger scale: with him it was confined to
+speculations for the acquisition of money; with her, it extended to
+the attainment of happiness. He was calculating and mercenary: she was
+estimative and generous.
+
+Miss Nugent was dressing for the concert, or rather was sitting
+half-dressed before her glass, reflecting, when Miss Broadhurst came
+into her room. Miss Nugent immediately sent her maid out of the room.
+
+"Grace," said Miss Broadhurst, looking at Grace with an air of open
+deliberate composure, "you and I are thinking of the same thing--of
+the same person."
+
+"Yes, of Lord Colambre," said Miss Nugent, ingenuously and
+sorrowfully.
+
+"Then I can put your mind at ease, at once, my dear friend, by
+assuring you that I shall think of him no more. That I have thought
+of him, I do not deny--I have thought, that if, notwithstanding the
+difference in our ages and other differences, he had preferred me, I
+should have preferred him to any person who has ever yet addressed
+me. On our first acquaintance, I clearly saw that he was not disposed
+to pay court to my fortune; and I had also then coolness of judgment
+sufficient to perceive that it was not probable he should fall in
+love with my person. But I was too proud in my humility, too strong
+in my honesty, too brave, too ignorant; in short, I knew nothing of
+the matter. We are all of us, more or less, subject to the delusions
+of vanity, or hope, or love--I--even I!--who thought myself so
+clear-sighted, did not know how, with one flutter of his wings, Cupid
+can set the whole atmosphere in motion; change the proportions, size,
+colour, value, of every object; lead us into a _mirage_, and leave us
+in a dismal desert."
+
+"My dearest friend!" said Miss Nugent in a tone of true sympathy.
+
+"But none but a coward or a fool would sit down in the desert and
+weep, instead of trying to make his way back before the storm rises,
+obliterates the track, and overwhelms every thing. Poetry apart, my
+dear Grace, you may be assured that I shall think no more of Lord
+Colambre."
+
+"I believe you are right. But I am sorry, very sorry, it must be so."
+
+"Oh, spare me your sorrow!"
+
+"My sorrow is for Lord Colambre," said Miss Nugent. "Where will he
+find such a wife?--Not in Miss Berryl, I am sure, pretty as she is; a
+mere fine lady!--Is it possible that Lord Colambre should prefer such
+a girl--Lord Colambre!"
+
+Miss Broadhurst looked at her friend as she spoke, and saw truth in
+her eyes; saw that she had no suspicion that she was herself the
+person beloved.
+
+"Tell me, Grace, are you sorry that Lord Colambre is going away?"
+
+"No, I am glad. I was sorry when I first heard it; but now I am glad,
+very glad: it may save him from a marriage unworthy of him, restore
+him to himself, and reserve him for--, the only woman I ever saw who
+is suited to him, who is equal to him, who would value and love him as
+he deserves to be valued and loved."
+
+"Stop, my dear; if you mean me, I am not, and I never can be, that
+woman. Therefore, as you are my friend, and wish my happiness, as I
+sincerely believe you do, never, I conjure you, present such an idea
+before my mind again--it is out of my mind, I hope, for ever. It is
+important to me that you should know and believe this. At least I
+will preserve my friends. Now let this subject never be mentioned
+or alluded to again between us, my dear. We have subjects enough of
+conversation; we need not have recourse to pernicious sentimental
+gossipings. There is great difference between wanting _a confidante_,
+and treating a friend with confidence. My confidence you possess; all
+that ought, all that is to be known of my mind, you know, and--Now I
+will leave you in peace to dress for the concert."
+
+"Oh, don't go! you don't interrupt me. I shall be dressed in a few
+minutes; stay with me, and you may be assured, that neither now,
+nor at any other time, shall I ever speak to you on the subject you
+desire me to avoid. I entirely agree with you about _confidantes_ and
+sentimental gossipings: I love you for not loving them."
+
+A loud knock at the door announced the arrival of company.
+
+"Think no more of love, but as much as you please of admiration--dress
+yourself as fast as you can," said Miss Broadhurst. "Dress, dress, is
+the order of the day."
+
+"Order of the day and order of the night, and all for people I don't
+care for in the least," said Grace. "So life passes!"
+
+"Dear me, Miss Nugent," cried Petito, Lady Clonbrony's woman, coming
+in with a face of alarm, "not dressed yet! My lady is gone down, and
+Mrs. Broadhurst and my Lady Pococke's come, and the Honourable Mrs.
+Trembleham; and signor, the Italian singing gentleman, has been
+walking up and down the apartments there by himself, disconsolate,
+this half hour. Oh, merciful! Miss Nugent, if you could stand still
+for one single particle of a second. So then I thought of stepping in
+to Miss Nugent; for the young ladies are talking so fast, says I to
+myself, at the door, they will never know how time goes, unless I give
+'em a hint. But now my lady is below, there's no need, to be sure,
+to be nervous, so we may take the thing quietly, without being in a
+flustrum. Dear ladies, is not this now a very sudden motion of our
+young lord's for Ireland? Lud a mercy! Miss Nugent, I'm sure your
+motions is sudden enough; and your dress behind is all, I'm sure, I
+can't tell how."
+
+"Oh, never mind," said the young lady, escaping from her; "it will do
+very well, thank you, Petito."
+
+"It will do very well, never mind," repeated Petito, muttering
+to herself, as she looked after the ladies, whilst they ran down
+stairs. "I can't abide to dress any young lady who says never
+mind, and it will do very well. That, and her never talking to one
+confi_dan_tially, or trusting one with the least bit of her secrets,
+is the thing I can't put up with from Miss Nugent; and Miss Broadhurst
+holding the pins to me, as much as to say, do your business, Petito,
+and don't talk.--Now, that's so impertinent, as if one wasn't the same
+flesh and blood, and had not as good a right to talk of every thing,
+and hear of every thing, as themselves. And Mrs. Broadhurst, too,
+cabinet-councilling with my lady, and pursing up her city mouth, when
+I come in, and turning off the discourse to snuff, forsooth; as if I
+was an ignoramus, to think they closeted themselves to talk of snuff.
+Now, I think a lady of quality's woman has as good a right to be
+trusted with her lady's secrets as with her jewels; and if my Lady
+Clonbrony was a real lady of quality, she'd know that, and consider
+the one as much my paraphernalia as the other. So I shall tell my lady
+to-night, as I always do when she vexes me, that I never lived in an
+Irish family before, and don't know the ways of it--then she'll tell
+me she was born in Hoxfordshire--then I shall say, with my saucy look,
+'Oh, was you, my lady--I always forget that you was an Englishwoman:'
+then may be she'll say, 'Forget! you forget yourself strangely,
+Petito.' Then I shall say, with a great deal of dignity, 'If your
+ladyship thinks so, my lady, I'd better go.' And I'd desire no better
+than that she would take me at my word; for my Lady Dashfort's is a
+much better place, I'm told, and she's dying to have me, I know."
+
+And having formed this resolution, Petito concluded her apparently
+interminable soliloquy, and went with my lord's gentleman into the
+antechamber, to hear the concert, and give her judgment on every
+thing: as she peeped in through the vista of heads into the Apollo
+saloon--for to-night the Alhambra was transformed into the Apollo
+saloon--she saw that whilst the company, rank behind rank, in close
+semicircles, had crowded round the performers to hear a favourite
+singer, Miss Broadhurst and Lord Colambre were standing in the outer
+semicircle, talking to one another earnestly. Now would Petito have
+given up her reversionary chance of the three nearly new gowns she
+expected from Lady Clonbrony, in case she stayed; or, in case she
+went, the reversionary chance of any dress of Lady Dashfort's, except
+her scarlet velvet, merely to hear what Miss Broadhurst and Lord
+Colambre were saying. Alas! she could only see their lips move; and
+of what they were talking, whether of music or love, and whether
+the match was to be on or off, she could only conjecture. But the
+diplomatic style having now descended to waiting-maids, Mrs. Petito
+talked to her friends in the antechamber with as mysterious and
+consequential an air and tone as a charge d'affaires, or as the
+lady of a charge d'affaires, could have assumed. She spoke of her
+_private belief_; of _the impression left upon her mind_; and her
+_confidential_ reasons for thinking as she did; of her "having had it
+from the _fountain's_ head;" and of "her fear of any _committal_ of
+her authorities."
+
+Notwithstanding all these authorities, Lord Colambre left London next
+day, and pursued his way to Ireland, determined that he would see and
+judge of that country for himself, and decide whether his mother's
+dislike to residing there was founded on caprice or on reasonable
+causes.
+
+In the mean time, it was reported in London that his lordship was
+gone to Ireland to make out the title to some estate, which would be
+necessary for his marriage settlement with the great heiress, Miss
+Broadhurst. Whether Mrs. Petito or Sir Terence O'Fay had the greater
+share in raising and spreading this report, it would be difficult to
+determine; but it is certain, however or by whomsoever raised, it was
+most useful to Lord Clonbrony, by keeping his creditors quiet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+The tide did not permit the packet to reach the Pigeon-house, and the
+impatient Lord Colambre stepped into a boat, and was rowed across the
+Bay of Dublin. It was a fine summer morning. The sun shone bright on
+the Wicklow mountains. He admired, he exulted in the beauty of the
+prospect; and all the early associations of his childhood, and the
+patriotic hopes of his riper years, swelled his heart as he approached
+the shores of his native land. But scarcely had he touched his mother
+earth, when the whole course of his ideas was changed; and if his
+heart swelled, it swelled no more with pleasurable sensations, for
+instantly he found himself surrounded and attacked by a swarm of
+beggars and harpies, with strange figures and stranger tones; some
+craving his charity, some snatching away his luggage, and at the same
+time bidding him "never trouble himself," and "never fear." A scramble
+in the boat and on shore for bags and parcels began, and an amphibious
+fight betwixt men, who had one foot on sea and one on land, was seen;
+and long and loud the battle of trunks and portmanteaus raged! The
+vanquished departed, clinching their empty hands at their opponents,
+and swearing inextinguishable hatred; while the smiling victors stood
+at ease, each grasping his booty--bag, basket, parcel, or portmanteau:
+"And, your honour, where _will_ these go?--Where _will_ we carry 'em
+all to for your honour?" was now the question. Without waiting for
+an answer, most of the goods were carried at the discretion of the
+porters to the custom-house, where, to his lordship's astonishment,
+after this scene of confusion, he found that he had lost nothing but
+his patience; all his goods were safe, and a few _tinpennies_ made
+his officious porters happy men and boys; blessings were showered
+upon his honour, and he was left in peace at an excellent hotel, in
+---- street, Dublin. He rested, refreshed himself, recovered his
+good-humour, and walked into the coffee-house, where he found several
+officers, English, Irish, and Scotch. One English officer, a very
+gentlemanlike, sensible-looking man, of middle age, was sitting
+reading a little pamphlet, when Lord Colambre entered: he looked
+up from time to time, and in a few minutes rose and joined the
+conversation; it turned upon the beauties and defects of the city of
+Dublin. Sir James Brooke (for that was the name of the gentleman)
+showed one of his brother officers the book which he had been reading,
+observing that, in his opinion, it contained one of the best views
+of Dublin which he had ever seen, evidently drawn by the hand of a
+master, though in a slight, playful, and ironical style: it was "An
+intercepted Letter from China." The conversation extended from Dublin
+to various parts of Ireland, with all which Sir James Brooke showed
+that he was well acquainted. Observing that this conversation was
+particularly interesting to Lord Colambre, and quickly perceiving
+that he was speaking to one not ignorant of books, Sir James spoke of
+different representations and misrepresentations of Ireland. In answer
+to Lord Colambre's inquiries, he named the works which had afforded
+him the most satisfaction; and with discriminative, not superficial
+celerity, touched on all ancient and modern authors on this subject,
+from Spenser and Davies to Young and Beaufort. Lord Colambre became
+anxious to cultivate the acquaintance of a gentleman who appeared
+so able and willing to afford him information. Sir James Brooke, on
+his part, was flattered by this eagerness of attention, and pleased
+by our hero's manners and conversation: so that, to their mutual
+satisfaction, they spent much of their time together whilst they were
+at this hotel; and meeting frequently in society in Dublin, their
+acquaintance every day increased and grew into intimacy; an intimacy
+which was highly advantageous to Lord Colambre's views of obtaining a
+just idea of the state of manners in Ireland. Sir James Brooke had at
+different periods been quartered in various parts of the country--had
+resided long enough in each to become familiar with the people, and
+had varied his residence sufficiently to form comparisons between
+different counties, their habits, and characteristics. Hence he had it
+in his power to direct the attention of our young observer at once to
+the points most worthy of his examination, and to save him from the
+common error of travellers--the deducing general conclusions from a
+few particular cases, or arguing from exceptions, as if they were
+rules. Lord Colambre, from his family connexions, had of course
+immediate introduction into the best society in Dublin, or rather into
+all the good society of Dublin. In Dublin there is positively good
+company, and positively bad; but not, as in London, many degrees of
+comparison: not innumerable luminaries of the polite world, moving in
+different orbits of fashion; but all the bright planets of note and
+name move and revolve in the same narrow limits. Lord Colambre did
+not find that either his father's or his mother's representations of
+society resembled the reality which he now beheld. Lady Clonbrony had,
+in terms of detestation, described Dublin such as it appeared to her
+soon after the Union; Lord Clonbrony had painted it with convivial
+enthusiasm, such as he saw it long and long before the Union, when
+_first_ he drank claret at the fashionable clubs. This picture,
+unchanged in his memory, and unchangeable by his imagination, had
+remained, and ever would remain, the same. The hospitality of which
+the father boasted, the son found in all its warmth, but meliorated
+and refined; less convivial, more social; the fashion of hospitality
+had improved. To make the stranger eat or drink to excess, to set
+before him old wine and old plate, was no longer the sum of good
+breeding. The guest now escaped the pomp of grand entertainments;
+was allowed to enjoy ease and conversation, and to taste some of
+that feast of reason and that flow of soul so often talked of, and
+so seldom enjoyed. Lord Colambre found a spirit of improvement, a
+desire for knowledge, and a taste for science and literature, in most
+companies, particularly among gentlemen belonging to the Irish bar:
+nor did he in Dublin society see any of that confusion of ranks or
+predominance of vulgarity, of which his mother had complained. Lady
+Clonbrony had assured him, that, the last time she had been at the
+drawing-room at the Castle, a lady, whom she afterwards found to be a
+grocer's wife, had turned angrily when her ladyship had accidentally
+trodden on her train, and had exclaimed with a strong brogue, "I'll
+thank you, ma'am, for the rest of my tail."
+
+Sir James Brooke, to whom Lord Colambre, without _giving up his
+authority_, mentioned the fact, declared that he had no doubt the
+thing had happened precisely as it was stated; but that this was one
+of the extraordinary cases which ought not to pass into a general
+rule,--that it was a slight instance of that influence of temporary
+causes, from which no conclusions, as to national manners, should be
+drawn.
+
+"I happened," continued Sir James, "to be quartered in Dublin soon
+after the Union took place; and I remember the great but transient
+change that appeared from the removal of both houses of parliament:
+most of the nobility and many of the principal families among the
+Irish commoners, either hurried in high hopes to London, or retired
+disgusted and in despair to their houses in the country. Immediately,
+in Dublin, commerce rose into the vacated seats of rank; wealth rose
+into the place of birth. New faces and new equipages appeared: people,
+who had never been heard of before, started into notice, pushed
+themselves forward, not scrupling to elbow their way even at the
+castle; and they were presented to my lord-lieutenant and to my
+lady-lieutenant; for their excellencies might have played their
+vice-regal parts to empty benches, had they not admitted such
+persons for the moment to fill their court. Those of former times,
+of hereditary pretensions and high-bred minds and manners, were
+scandalized at all this; and they complained with justice, that the
+whole _tone_ of society was altered; that the decorum, elegance,
+polish, and charm of society was gone. And I, among the rest," said
+Sir James, "felt and deplored their change. But, now it's all over, we
+may acknowledge, that, perhaps, even those things which we felt most
+disagreeable at the time were productive of eventual benefit.
+
+"Formerly, a few families had set the fashion. From time immemorial
+every thing had, in Dublin, been submitted to their hereditary
+authority; and conversation, though it had been rendered polite by
+their example, was, at the same time, limited within narrow bounds.
+Young people, educated upon a more enlarged plan, in time grew up;
+and, no authority or fashion forbidding it, necessarily rose to their
+just place, and enjoyed their due influence in society. The want of
+manners, joined to the want of knowledge, in the _nouveaux riches_,
+created universal disgust: they were compelled, some by ridicule, some
+by bankruptcies, to fall back into their former places, from which
+they could never more emerge. In the mean time, some of the Irish
+nobility and gentry, who had been living at an unusual expense in
+London--an expense beyond their incomes--were glad to return home to
+refit; and they brought with them a new stock of ideas, and some taste
+for science and literature, which, within these latter years, have
+become fashionable, indeed indispensable, in London. That part of the
+Irish aristocracy, who, immediately upon the first incursions of the
+vulgarians, had fled in despair to their fastnesses in the country,
+hearing of the improvements which had gradually taken place in
+society, and assured of the final expulsion of the barbarians,
+ventured from their retreats, and returned to their posts in town. So
+that now," concluded Sir James, "you find a society in Dublin composed
+of a most agreeable and salutary mixture of birth and education,
+gentility and knowledge, manner and matter; and you see, pervading the
+whole, new life and energy, new talent, new ambition, a desire and a
+determination to improve and be improved--a perception that higher
+distinction can now be obtained in almost all company, by genius and
+merit, than by airs and address.... So much for the higher order. Now,
+among the class of tradesmen and shopkeepers, you may amuse yourself,
+my lord, with marking the difference between them and persons of the
+same rank in London."
+
+Lord Colambre had several commissions to execute for his English
+friends, and he made it his amusement in every shop to observe the
+manners and habits of the people. He remarked that there are in Dublin
+two classes of tradespeople: one, who go into business with intent to
+make it their occupation for life, and as a slow but sure means of
+providing for themselves and their families; another class, who take
+up trade merely as a temporary resource, to which they condescend for
+a few years; trusting that they shall, in that time, make a fortune,
+retire, and commence or re-commence gentlemen. The Irish regular men
+of business are like all other men of business--punctual, frugal,
+careful, and so forth; with the addition of more intelligence,
+invention, and enterprise, than are usually found in Englishmen of
+the same rank. But the Dublin tradesmen _pro tempore_ are a class by
+themselves: they begin without capital, buy stock upon credit, in
+hopes of making large profits, and, in the same hopes, sell upon
+credit.
+
+Now, if the credit they can obtain is longer than that which they are
+forced to give, they go on and prosper; if not, they break, become
+bankrupts, and sometimes, as bankrupts, thrive. By such men, of
+course, every _short cut_ to fortune is followed: whilst every habit,
+which requires time to prove its advantage, is disregarded; nor, with
+such views, can a character for _punctuality_ have its just value.
+In the head of a man, who intends to be a tradesman to-day, and a
+gentleman to-morrow, the ideas of the honesty and the duties of a
+tradesman, and of the honour and the accomplishments of a gentleman,
+are oddly jumbled together, and the characteristics of both are lost
+in the compound.
+
+He will _oblige_ you, but he will not obey you; he will do you a
+favour, but he will not do you _justice_; he will do _anything to
+serve you_, but the particular thing you order he neglects; he asks
+your pardon, for he would not, for all the goods in his warehouse,
+_disoblige_ you; not for the sake of your custom, but he has a
+particular regard for your family. Economy, in the eyes of such a
+tradesman, is, if not a mean vice, at least a shabby virtue, of which
+he is too polite to suspect his customers, and to which he is proud of
+proving himself superior. Many London tradesmen, after making their
+thousands and their tens of thousands, feel pride in still continuing
+to live like plain men of business; but from the moment a Dublin
+tradesman of this style has made a few hundreds, he sets up his
+gig, and then his head is in his carriage, and not in his business;
+and when he has made a few thousands, he buys or builds a country
+house--and, then, and thenceforward, his head, heart, and soul, are in
+his country-house, and only his body in the shop with his customers.
+
+Whilst he is making money, his wife, or rather his lady, is
+spending twice as much out of town as he makes in it. At the word
+country-house, let no one figure to himself a snug little box like
+that in which a _warm_ London citizen, after long years of toil,
+indulges himself, one day out of seven, in repose--enjoying, from his
+gazabo, the smell of the dust, and the view of passing coaches on the
+London road: no, these Hibernian villas are on a much more magnificent
+scale; some of them formerly belonged to Irish members of parliament,
+who were at a distance from their country-seats. After the Union these
+were bought by citizens and tradesmen, who spoiled, by the mixture of
+their own fancies, what had originally been designed by men of good
+taste.
+
+Some time after Lord Colambre's arrival in Dublin, he had an
+opportunity of seeing one of these villas, which belonged to Mrs.
+Raffarty, a grocer's lady, and sister to one of Lord Clonbrony's
+agents, Mr. Nicholas Garraghty. Lord Colambre was surprised to find
+that his father's agent resided in Dublin: he had been used to see
+agents, or stewards, as they are called in England, live in the
+country, and usually on the estate of which they have the management.
+Mr. Nicholas Garraghty, however, had a handsome house in a fashionable
+part of Dublin. Lord Colambre called several times to see him, but he
+was out of town, receiving rents for some other gentlemen, as he was
+agent for more than one property.
+
+Though our hero had not the honour of seeing Mr. Garraghty, he had the
+pleasure of finding Mrs. Raffarty one day at her brother's house. Just
+as his lordship came to the door, she was going, on her jaunting-car,
+to her villa, called Tusculum, situate near Bray. She spoke much of
+the beauties of the vicinity of Dublin; found his lordship was going
+with Sir James Brooke, and a party of gentlemen, to see the county
+of Wicklow; and his lordship and party were entreated to do her the
+honour of taking in their way a little collation at Tusculum.
+
+Our hero was glad to have an opportunity of seeing more of a species
+of fine lady with which he was unacquainted.
+
+The invitation was verbally made, and verbally accepted; but the lady
+afterwards thought it necessary to send a written invitation in due
+form, and the note she sent directed to the _Most Right Honourable_
+the Lord Viscount Colambre. On opening it he perceived that it could
+not have been intended for him. It ran as follows:
+
+    "MY DEAR JULIANA O'LEARY,
+
+    "I have got a promise from Colambre, that he will be with us
+    at Tusculum on Friday, the 20th, in his way from the county of
+    Wicklow, for the collation I mentioned; and expect a large party
+    of officers: so pray come early, with your house, or as many as
+    the jaunting-car can bring. And pray, my dear, be _elegant_. You
+    need not let it transpire to Mrs. O'G----; but make my apologies
+    to Miss O'G----, if she says any thing, and tell her I'm quite
+    concerned I can't ask her for that day; because, tell her, I'm so
+    crowded, and am to have none that day but _real quality_.
+
+    "Yours ever and ever,
+
+    "ANASTASIA RAFFARTY.
+
+    "P.S. And I hope to make the gentlemen stop the night with me: so
+    will not have beds. Excuse haste and compliments, &c.
+
+    "_Tusculum, Sunday 15._"
+
+After a charming tour in the county of Wicklow, where the beauty of
+the natural scenery, and the taste with which those natural beauties
+had been cultivated, far surpassed the sanguine expectations Lord
+Colambre had formed, his lordship and his companions arrived at
+Tusculum, where he found Mrs. Raffarty, and Miss Juliana O'Leary,
+very elegant, with a large party of the ladies and gentlemen of Bray,
+assembled in a drawing-room, fine with bad pictures and gaudy gilding;
+the windows were all shut, and the company were playing cards with all
+their might. This was the fashion of the neighbourhood. In compliment
+to Lord Colambre and the officers, the ladies left the card-tables;
+and Mrs. Raffarty, observing that his lordship seemed _partial_ to
+walking, took him out, as she said, "to do the honours of nature and
+art."
+
+His lordship was much amused by the mixture, which was now exhibited
+to him, of taste and incongruity, ingenuity and absurdity, genius
+and blunder; by the contrast between the finery and vulgarity, the
+affectation and ignorance, of the lady of the villa. We should be
+obliged to _stop_ too long at Tusculum were we to attempt to detail
+all the odd circumstances of this visit; but we may record an example
+or two, which may give a sufficient idea of the whole.
+
+In the first place, before they left the drawing-room, Miss Juliana
+O'Leary pointed out to his lordship's attention a picture over the
+drawing-room chimney-piece. "Is not it a fine piece, my lord?" said
+she, naming the price Mrs. Raffarty had lately paid for it at an
+auction. "It has a right to be a fine piece, indeed; for it cost a
+fine price!" Nevertheless this _fine_ piece was a vile daub; and our
+hero could only avoid the sin of flattery, or the danger of offending
+the lady, by protesting that he had no judgment in pictures.
+
+"Indeed! I don't pretend to be a connoisseur or conoscenti myself; but
+I'm told the style is undeniably modern. And was not I lucky, Juliana,
+not to let that _Medona_ be knocked down to me? I was just going to
+bid, when I heard such smart bidding; but, fortunately, the auctioneer
+let out that it was done by a very old master--a hundred years old.
+Oh! your most obedient, thinks I!--if that's the case, it's not for my
+money: so I bought this, in lieu of the smoke-dried thing, and had it
+a bargain."
+
+In architecture, Mrs. Raffarty had as good a taste and as much skill
+as in painting. There had been a handsome portico in front of the
+house: but this interfering with the lady's desire to have a viranda,
+which she said could not he dispensed with, she had raised the whole
+portico to the second story, where it stood, or seemed to stand, upon
+a tarpaulin roof. But Mrs. Raffarty explained, that the pillars,
+though they looked so properly substantial, were really hollow
+and as light as feathers, and were supported with cramps, without
+_disobliging_ the front wall of the house at all to signify.
+
+Before she showed the company any farther, she said, she must premise
+to his lordship, that she had been originally stinted in room for
+her improvements, so that she could not follow her genius liberally;
+she had been reduced to have some things on a confined scale, and
+occasionally to consult her pocket-compass; but she prided herself
+upon having put as much into a tight pattern as could well be;
+that had been her whole ambition, study, and problem; for she was
+determined to have at least the honour of having a little _taste_ of
+every thing at Tusculum.
+
+So she led the way to a little conservatory, and a little pinery, and
+a little grapery, and a little aviary, and a little pheasantry, and a
+little dairy for show, and a little cottage for ditto, with a grotto
+full of shells, and a little hermitage full of earwigs, and a little
+ruin full of looking-glass, "to enlarge and multiply the effect of the
+Gothic."--"But you could only put your head in, because it was just
+fresh painted, and though there had been a fire ordered in the ruin
+all night, it had only smoked."
+
+In all Mrs. Raffarty's buildings, whether ancient or modern, there was
+a studied crookedness.
+
+Yes, she said, she hated every thing straight, it was so formal and
+_unpicturesque_. "Uniformity and conformity," she observed, "had their
+day; but now, thank the stars of the present day, irregularity and
+deformity bear the bell, and have the majority."
+
+As they proceeded and walked through the grounds, from which Mrs.
+Raffarty, though she had done her best, could not take that which
+nature had given, she pointed out to my lord "a happy moving
+termination," consisting of a Chinese bridge, with a fisherman leaning
+over the rails. On a sudden, the fisherman was seen to tumble over the
+bridge into the water. The gentlemen ran to extricate the poor fellow,
+while they heard Mrs. Raffarty bawling to his lordship to beg he would
+never mind, and not trouble himself.
+
+When they arrived at the bridge, they saw the man hanging from part
+of the bridge, and apparently struggling in the water; but when they
+attempted to pull him up, they found it was only a stuffed figure,
+which had been pulled into the stream by a real fish, which had seized
+hold of the bait.
+
+Mrs. Raffarty, vexed by the fisherman's fall, and by the laughter
+it occasioned, did not recover herself sufficiently to be happily
+ridiculous during the remainder of the walk, nor till dinner was
+announced, when she apologized for having changed the collation, at
+first intended, into a dinner, which she hoped would be found no bad
+substitute, and which she flattered herself might prevail on my lord
+and the gentlemen to sleep, as there was no moon.
+
+The dinner had two great faults--profusion and pretension. There was,
+in fact, ten times more on the table than was necessary; and the
+entertainment was far above the circumstances of the person by whom it
+was given: for instance, the dish of fish at the head of the table had
+been brought across the island from Sligo, and had cost five guineas;
+as the lady of the house failed not to make known. But, after all,
+things were not of a piece; there was a disparity between the
+entertainment and the attendants; there was no proportion or fitness
+of things; a painful endeavour at what could not be attained, and a
+toiling in vain to conceal and repair deficiencies and blunders. Had
+the mistress of the house been quiet; had she, as Mrs. Broadhurst
+would say, but let things alone, let things take their course, all
+would have passed off with well-bred people; but she was incessantly
+apologizing, and fussing, and fretting inwardly and outwardly, and
+directing and calling to her servants--striving to make a butler who
+was deaf, and a boy who was harebrained, do the business of five
+accomplished footmen of _parts and figure_. The mistress of the house
+called for "plates, clean plates!--plates!"
+
+  "But none did come, when she did call."
+
+Mrs. Raffarty called "Lanty! Lanty! My lord's plate, there!--James!
+bread to Captain Bowles!--James! port wine to the major!--James! James
+Kenny! James!"
+
+  "And panting _James_ toiled after her in vain."
+
+At length one course was fairly got through, and after a torturing
+half hour, the second course appeared, and James Kenny was intent upon
+one thing, and Lanty upon another, so that the wine-sauce for the hare
+was spilt by their collision; but, what was worse, there seemed little
+chance that the whole of this second course should ever be placed
+altogether rightly upon the table. Mrs. Raffarty cleared her throat,
+and nodded, and pointed, and sighed, and sent Lanty after Kenny, and
+Kenny after Lanty; for what one did, the other undid; and at last the
+lady's anger kindled, and she spoke: "Kenny! James Kenny! set the
+sea-cale at this corner, and put down the grass cross-corners; and
+match your maccaroni yonder with _them_ puddens, set--Ogh! James! the
+pyramid in the middle, can't ye?"
+
+The pyramid, in changing places, was overturned. Then it was that the
+mistress of the feast, falling back in her seat, and lifting up her
+hands and eyes in despair, ejaculated, "Oh, James! James!"
+
+The pyramid was raised by the assistance of the military engineers,
+and stood trembling again on its base; but the lady's temper could not
+be so easily restored to its equilibrium. She vented her ill humour on
+her unfortunate husband, who happening not to hear her order to help
+my lord to some hare, she exclaimed loud, that all the world might
+hear, "Corny Raffarty! Corny Raffarty! you're no more _gud_ at the
+_fut_ of my table than a stick of celery!"
+
+The comedy of errors, which this day's visit exhibited, amused all
+the spectators. But Lord Colambre, after he had smiled, sometimes
+sighed.--Similar foibles and follies in persons of different rank,
+fortune, and manner, appear to common observers so unlike that they
+laugh without scruples of conscience in one case, at what in another
+ought to touch themselves most nearly. It was the same desire to
+appear what they were not, the same vain ambition to vie with superior
+rank and fortune, or fashion, which actuated Lady Clonbrony and Mrs.
+Raffarty; and whilst this ridiculous grocer's wife made herself the
+sport of some of her guests, Lord Colambre sighed, from the reflection
+that what she was to them, his mother was to persons in a higher rank
+of fashion.--He sighed still more deeply, when he considered, that,
+in whatever station or with whatever fortune, extravagance, that is,
+the living beyond our income, must lead to distress and meanness, and
+end in shame and ruin. In the morning as they were riding away from
+Tusculum and talking over their visit, the officers laughed heartily,
+and rallying Lord Colambre upon his seriousness, accused him of having
+fallen in love with Mrs. Raffarty, or with the _elegant_ Miss Juliana.
+Our hero, who wished never to be nice over much, or serious out of
+season, laughed with those that laughed, and endeavoured to catch the
+spirit of the jest. But Sir James Brooke, who now was well acquainted
+with his countenance, and who knew something of the history of his
+family, understood his real feelings, and, sympathizing in them,
+endeavoured to give the conversation a new turn.
+
+"Look there, Bowles," said he, as they were just riding into the town
+of Bray; "look at the barouche standing at that green door, at the
+farthest end of the town. Is not that Lady Dashfort's barouche?"
+
+"It looks like what she sported in Dublin last year," said Bowles;
+"but you don't think she'd give us the same two seasons. Besides, she
+is not in Ireland, is she? I did not hear of her intending to come
+over again."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said another officer; "she will come again to
+so good a market, to marry her other daughter. I hear she said or
+swore that she will marry the young widow, Lady Isabel, to an Irish
+nobleman."
+
+"Whatever she says, she swears, and whatever she swears, she'll do,"
+replied Bowles.
+
+"Have a care, my Lord Colambre; if she sets her heart upon you for
+Lady Isabel, she has you. Nothing can save you. Heart she has none,
+so there you're safe, my lord," said the other officer; "but if Lady
+Isabel sets her eye upon you, no basilisk's is surer."
+
+"But if Lady Dashfort had landed I am sure we should have heard of it,
+for she makes noise enough wherever she goes; especially in Dublin,
+where all she said and did was echoed and magnified, till one could
+hear of nothing else. I don't think she has landed."
+
+"I hope to Heaven they may never land again in Ireland!" cried
+Sir James Brooke: "one worthless woman, especially one worthless
+Englishwoman of rank, does incalculable mischief in a country like
+this, which looks up to the sister country for fashion. For my own
+part, as a warm friend to Ireland, I would rather see all the toads
+and serpents, and venomous reptiles, that St. Patrick carried off in
+his bag, come back to this island, than these two _dashers_. Why, they
+would bite half the women and girls in the kingdom with the rage for
+mischief, before half the husbands and fathers could turn their heads
+about. And, once bit, there's no cure in nature or art."
+
+"No horses to this barouche!" cried Captain Bowles.--"Pray, sir, whose
+carriage is this?" said the captain to a servant, who was standing
+beside it.
+
+"My Lady Dashfort, sir, it belongs to," answered the servant, in
+rather a surly English tone; and turning to a boy who was lounging at
+the door, "Pat, bid them bring out the horses, for my ladies is in a
+hurry to get home."
+
+Captain Bowles stopped to make his servant alter the girths of his
+horse, and to satisfy his curiosity; and the whole party halted.
+Captain Bowles beckoned to the landlord of the inn, who was standing
+at his door.
+
+"So, Lady Dashfort is here again?--This is her barouche, is not it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she is--it is."
+
+"And has she sold her fine horses?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir--this is not her carriage at all--she is not here. That
+is, she is here, in Ireland; but down in the county of Wicklow, on
+a visit. And this is not her own carriage at all;--that is to say,
+not that which she has with herself, driving; but only just the cast
+barouche like, as she keeps for the lady's maids."
+
+"For the lady's maids! that is good! that is new, faith! Sir James, do
+you hear that?"
+
+"Indeed, then, and it's true, and not a word of a lie!" said the
+honest landlord. "And this minute, we've got a directory of five of
+them Abigails, sitting within our house; as fine ladies, as great
+dashers too, every bit, as their principals; and kicking up as much
+dust on the road, every grain!--Think of them, now! The likes of
+them, that must have four horses, and would not stir a foot with one
+less!--As the gentleman's gentleman there was telling and boasting
+to me about now, when the barouche was ordered for them there at the
+lady's house, where Lady Dashfort is on a visit--they said they would
+not get in till they'd get four horses; and their ladies backed them;
+and so the four horses was got; and they just drove out here to see
+the points of view for fashion's sake, like their betters; and up with
+their glasses, like their ladies; and then out with their watches, and
+'Isn't it time to lunch?' So there they have been lunching within on
+what they brought with them; for nothing in our house could they touch
+of course! They brought themselves a _pick-nick_ lunch, with Madeira
+and Champagne to wash it down. Why, gentlemen, what do you think,
+but a set of them, as they were bragging to me, turned out of a
+boarding-house at Cheltenham, last year, because they had not peach
+pies to their lunch!--But, here they come! shawls, and veils, and
+all!--streamers flying! But mum is my cue!--Captain, are these girths
+to your fancy now?" said the landlord, aloud: then, as he stooped to
+alter a buckle, he said in a voice meant to be heard only by Captain
+Bowles, "If there's a tongue, male or female, in the three kingdoms,
+it's in that foremost woman, Mrs. Petito."
+
+"Mrs. Petito!" repeated Lord Colambre, as the name caught his ear;
+and, approaching the barouche, in which the five Abigails were now
+seated, he saw the identical Mrs. Petito, who, when he left London,
+had been in his mother's service.
+
+She recognized his lordship with very gracious intimacy; and, before
+he had time to ask any questions, she answered all she conceived he
+was going to ask, and with a volubility which justified the landlord's
+eulogium of her tongue.
+
+"Yes, my lord! I left my Lady Clonbrony some time back--the day after
+you left town; and both her ladyship and Miss Nugent was charmingly,
+and would have sent their loves to your lordship, I'm sure, if they'd
+any notion I should have met you, my lord, so soon. And I was very
+sorry to part with them; but the fact was, my lord," said Mrs. Petito,
+laying a detaining hand upon Lord Colambre's whip, one end of which
+he unwittingly trusted within her reach, "I and my lady had a little
+difference, which the best friends, you know, sometimes have: so
+my Lady Clonbrony was so condescending to give me up to my Lady
+Dashfort--and I knew no more than the child unborn that her ladyship
+had it in contemplation to cross the seas. But, to oblige my lady,
+and as Colonel Heathcock, with his regiment of militia, was coming
+for purtection in the packet at the same time, and we to have the
+government-yacht, I waived my objections to Ireland. And, indeed,
+though I was greatly frighted at first, having heard all we've heard,
+you know, my lord, from Lady Clonbrony, of there being no living
+in Ireland, and expecting to see no trees, nor accommodation, nor
+any thing but bogs all along; yet I declare, I was very agreeably
+surprised; for, as far as I've seen at Dublin and in the vicinity,
+the accommodations, and every thing of that nature now, is vastly
+put-up-able with!"
+
+"My lord," said Sir James Brooke, "we shall be late."
+
+Lord Colambre, withdrawing his whip from Mrs. Petito, turned his
+horse away. She, stretching over the back of the barouche as he rode
+off, bawled to him, "My lord, we're at Stephen's Green, when we're at
+Dublin." But as he did not choose to hear, she raised her voice to its
+highest pitch, adding, "And where are you, my lord, to be found?--as I
+have a parcel of Miss Nugent's for you."
+
+Lord Colambre instantly turned back, and gave his direction.
+
+"Cleverly done, faith!" said the major.
+
+"I did not hear her say when Lady Dashfort is to be in town," said
+Captain Bowles.
+
+"What, Bowles! have you a mind to lose more of your guineas to Lady
+Dashfort, and to be jockeyed out of another horse by Lady Isabel?"
+
+"Oh, confound it--no! I'll keep out of the way of that--I have had
+enough," said Captain Bowles; "it is my Lord Colambre's turn now; you
+hear that Lady Dashfort would be very _proud_ to see him. His lordship
+is in for it, and with such an auxiliary as Mrs. Petito, Lady Dashfort
+has him far Lady Isabel, as sure as he has a heart or hand."
+
+"My compliments to the ladies, but my heart is engaged," said Lord
+Colambre; "and my hand shall go with my heart, or not at all."
+
+"Engaged! engaged to a very amiable, charming woman, no doubt," said
+Sir James Brooke. "I have an excellent opinion of your taste; and if
+you can return the compliment to my judgment, take my advice: don't
+trust to your heart's being engaged, much less plead that engagement;
+for it would be Lady Dashfort's sport, and Lady Isabel's joy, to
+make you break your engagement, and break your mistress's heart; the
+fairer, the more amiable, the more beloved, the greater the triumph,
+the greater the delight in giving pain. All the time love would be out
+of the question; neither mother nor daughter would care if you were
+hanged, or, as Lady Dashfort would herself have expressed it, if you
+were d----d."
+
+"With such women I should think a man's heart could be in no great
+danger," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"There you might be mistaken, my lord; there's a way to every man's
+heart, which no man in his own case is aware of, but which every woman
+knows right well, and none better than these ladies--by his vanity."
+
+"True," said Captain Bowles.
+
+"I am not so vain as to think myself without vanity," said Lord
+Colambre; "but love, I should imagine, is a stronger passion than
+vanity."
+
+"You should imagine! Stay till you are tried, my lord. Excuse me,"
+said Captain Bowles, laughing.
+
+Lord Colambre felt the good sense of this, and determined to have
+nothing to do with these dangerous ladies: indeed, though he had
+talked, he had scarcely yet thought of them; for his imagination was
+intent upon that packet from Miss Nugent, which Mrs. Petito said she
+had for him. He heard nothing of it, or of her, for some days. He sent
+his servant every day to Stephen's Green, to inquire if Lady Dashfort
+had returned to town. Her ladyship at last returned; but Mrs. Petito
+could not deliver the parcel to any hand but Lord Colambre's own, and
+she would not stir out, because her lady was indisposed. No longer
+able to restrain his impatience, Lord Colambre went himself--knocked
+at Lady Dashfort's door--inquired for Mrs. Petito--was shown into
+her parlour. The parcel was delivered to him; but, to his utter
+disappointment, it was a parcel _for_, not _from_ Miss Nugent. It
+contained merely an odd volume of some book of Miss Nugent's which
+Mrs. Petito said she had put up along with her things _in a mistake_,
+and she thought it her duty to return it by the first opportunity of a
+safe conveyance.
+
+Whilst Lord Colambre, to comfort himself for his disappointment, was
+fixing his eyes upon Miss Nugent's name, written by her own hand, in
+the first leaf of the book, the door opened, and the figure of an
+interesting-looking lady, in deep mourning, appeared--appeared for one
+moment, and retired.
+
+"Only my Lord Colambre, about a parcel I was bringing for him from
+England, my lady--my Lady Isabel, my lord," said Mrs. Petito.
+
+Whilst Mrs. Petito was saying this, the entrance and retreat had
+been made, and made with such dignity, grace, and modesty: with
+such innocence, dove-like eyes had been raised upon him, fixed and
+withdrawn; with such a gracious bend the Lady Isabel had bowed to
+him as she retired; with such a smile, and with so soft a voice, had
+repeated "Lord Colambre!" that his lordship, though well aware that
+all this was mere acting, could not help saying to himself, as he
+left the house, "It is a pity it is only acting. There is certainly
+something very engaging in this woman. It is a pity she is an actress.
+And so young! A much younger woman than I expected. A widow before
+most women are wives. So young, surely she cannot be such a fiend as
+they described her to be!"
+
+A few nights afterwards Lord Colambre was with some of his
+acquaintance at the theatre, when Lady Isabel and her mother came
+into the box, where seats had been reserved for them, and where their
+appearance instantly made that _sensation_, which is usually created
+by the entrance of persons of the first notoriety in the fashionable
+world. Lord Colambre was not a man to be dazzled by fashion, or to
+mistake notoriety for deference paid to merit, and for the admiration
+commanded by beauty or talents. Lady Dashfort's coarse person, loud
+voice, daring manners, and indelicate wit, disgusted him almost
+past endurance. He saw Sir James Brooke in the box opposite to him;
+and twice determined to go round to him. His lordship had crossed
+the benches, and once his hand was upon the lock of the door; but,
+attracted as much by the daughter as repelled by the mother, he could
+move no farther. The mother's masculine boldness heightened, by
+contrast, the charms of the daughter's soft sentimentality. The Lady
+Isabel seemed to shrink from the indelicacy of her mother's manners,
+and appeared peculiarly distressed by the strange efforts Lady
+Dashfort made, from time to time, to drag her forward, and to fix
+upon her the attention of gentlemen. Colonel Heathcock, who, as Mrs.
+Petito had informed Lord Colambre, had come over with his regiment to
+Ireland, was beckoned into their box by Lady Dashfort, by her squeezed
+into a seat next to Lady Isabel; but Lady Isabel seemed to feel
+sovereign contempt, properly repressed by politeness, for what, in a
+low whisper to a female friend on the other side of her, she called,
+"the self-sufficient inanity of this sad coxcomb." Other coxcombs, of
+a more vivacious style, who stationed themselves round her mother, or
+to whom her mother stretched from box to box to talk, seemed to engage
+no more of Lady Isabel's attention than just what she was compelled to
+give by Lady Dashfort's repeated calls of, "Isabel! Isabel! Colonel
+G----, Isabel! Lord D---- bowing to you. Bell! Bell! Sir Harry B----.
+Isabel, child, with your eyes on the stage? Did you never see a play
+before? Novice! Major P---- waiting to catch your eye this quarter of
+an hour; and now her eyes gone down to her play-bill! Sir Harry, do
+take it from her.
+
+  "'Were eyes so radiant only made to read?'"
+
+Lady Isabel appeared to suffer so exquisitely and so naturally from
+this persecution, that Lord Colambre said to himself, "If this be
+acting, it is the best acting I ever saw. If this be art, it deserves
+to be nature."
+
+And with this sentiment, he did himself the honour of handing Lady
+Isabel to her carriage this night, and with this sentiment he awoke
+next morning; and by the time he had dressed and breakfasted, he
+determined that it was impossible all that he had seen could be
+acting. "No woman, no young woman, could have such art." Sir James
+Brooke had been unwarrantably severe; he would go and tell him so.
+
+But Sir James Brooke this day received orders for his regiment to
+march to quarters in a distant part of Ireland. His head was full of
+arms, and ammunition, and knapsacks, and billets, and routes; and
+there was no possibility, even in the present chivalrous disposition
+of our hero, to enter upon the defence of the Lady Isabel. Indeed, in
+the regret he felt for the approaching and unexpected departure of his
+friend, Lord Colambre forgot the fair lady. But just when Sir James
+had his foot in the stirrup, he stopped.
+
+"By-the-bye, my dear lord, I saw you at the play last night. You
+seemed to be much interested. Don't think me impertinent if I remind
+you of our conversation when we were riding home from Tusculum;
+and if I warn you," said he, mounting his horse, "to beware of
+counterfeits--for such are abroad." Reining in his impatient steed,
+Sir James turned again, and added "_Deeds, not words_, is my motto.
+Remember, we can judge better by the conduct of people towards others
+than by their manner towards ourselves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Our hero was quite convinced of the good sense of his friend's last
+remark, that it is safer to judge of people by their conduct to others
+than by their manners towards ourselves; but as yet, he felt scarcely
+any interest on the subject of Lady Dashfort's or Lady Isabel's
+characters: however, he inquired and listened to all the evidence he
+could obtain respecting this mother and daughter.
+
+He heard terrible reports of the mischief they had done in families;
+the extravagance into which they had led men; the imprudence, to say
+no worse, into which they had betrayed women. Matches broken off,
+reputations ruined, husbands alienated from their wives, and wives
+made jealous of their husbands. But in some of these stories he
+discovered exaggeration so flagrant as to make him doubt the whole; in
+others, it could not be positively determined whether the mother or
+daughter had been the person most to blame.
+
+Lord Colambre always followed the charitable rule of believing only
+half what the world says, and here he thought it fair to believe
+which half he pleased. He farther observed, that, though all joined
+in abusing these ladies in their absence, when present they seemed
+universally admired. Though every body cried "shame!" and "shocking!"
+yet every body visited them. No parties so crowded as Lady Dashfort's;
+no party deemed pleasant or fashionable where Lady Dashfort or Lady
+Isabel was not. The bon-mots of the mother were every where repeated;
+the dress and air of the daughter every where imitated. Yet Lord
+Colambre could not help being surprised at their popularity in Dublin,
+because, independently of all moral objections, there were causes of
+a different sort, sufficient, he thought, to prevent Lady Dashfort
+from being liked by the Irish, indeed by any society. She in general
+affected to be ill-bred, and inattentive to the feelings and opinions
+of others; careless whom she offended by her wit or by her decided
+tone. There are some persons in so high a region of fashion, that they
+imagine themselves above the thunder of vulgar censure. Lady Dashfort
+felt herself in this exalted situation, and fancied she might
+
+  "Hear the innocuous thunder roll below."
+
+Her rank was so high that none could dare to call her vulgar: what
+would have been gross in any one of meaner note, in her was freedom or
+originality, or Lady Dashfort's way. It was Lady Dashfort's pleasure
+and pride to show her power in perverting the public taste. She often
+said to those English companions with whom she was intimate, "Now see
+what follies I can lead these fools into. Hear the nonsense I can make
+them repeat as wit." Upon some occasion, one of her friends _ventured_
+to fear that something she had said was _too strong_. "Too strong,
+was it? Well, I like to be strong--woe be to the weak!" On another
+occasion she was told that certain visitors had seen her ladyship
+yawning. "Yawn, did I?--glad of it--the yawn sent them away, or I
+should have snored;--rude, was I? they won't complain. To say I was
+rude to them, would be to say, that I did not think it worth my while
+to be otherwise. Barbarians! are not we the civilized English, come to
+teach them manners and fashions? Whoever does not conform, and swear
+allegiance too, we shall keep out of the English pale."
+
+Lady Dashfort forced her way, and she set the fashion: fashion, which
+converts the ugliest dress into what is beautiful and charming,
+governs the public mode in morals and in manners; and thus, when great
+talents and high rank combine, they can debase or elevate the public
+taste.
+
+With Lord Colambre she played more artfully: she drew him out in
+defence of his beloved country, and gave him opportunities of
+appearing to advantage; this he could not help feeling, especially
+when the Lady Isabel was present. Lady Dashfort had dealt long enough
+with human nature to know, that to make any man pleased with her, she
+should begin by making him pleased with himself.
+
+Insensibly the antipathy that Lord Colambre had originally felt to
+Lady Dashfort wore off; her faults, he began to think, were assumed;
+he pardoned her defiance of good-breeding, when he observed that she
+could, when she chose it, be most engagingly polite. It was not that
+she did not know what was right, but that she did not think it always
+for her interest to practise it.
+
+The party opposed to Lady Dashfort affirmed that her wit depended
+merely on unexpectedness; a characteristic which may be applied to any
+impropriety of speech, manner, or conduct. In some of her ladyship's
+repartees, however, Lord Colambre now acknowledged there was more
+than unexpectedness; there was real wit; but it was of a sort utterly
+unfit for a woman, and he was sorry that Lady Isabel should hear
+it. In short, exceptionable as it was altogether, Lady Dashfort's
+conversation had become entertaining to him; and though he could never
+esteem, or feel in the least interested about her, he began to allow
+that she could be agreeable.
+
+"Ay, I knew how it would be," said she, when some of her friends told
+her this. "He began by detesting me, and did I not tell you that,
+if I thought it worth my while to make him like me, he must, sooner
+or later? I delight in seeing people begin with me as they do with
+olives, making all manner of horrid faces, and silly protestations
+that they will never touch an olive again as long as they live; but,
+after a little time, these very folk grow so desperately fond of
+olives, that there is no dessert without them. Isabel, child, you are
+in the sweet line--but sweets cloy. You never heard of any body living
+on marmalade, did ye?"
+
+Lady Isabel answered by a sweet smile.
+
+"To do you justice, you play Lydia Languish vastly well," pursued the
+mother; "but Lydia, by herself, would soon tire; somebody must keep up
+the spirit and bustle, and carry on the plot of the piece, and I am
+that somebody--as you shall see. Is not that our hero's voice which I
+hear on the stairs?"
+
+It was Lord Colambre. His lordship had by this time become a constant
+visitor at Lady Dashfort's. Not that he had forgotten, or that he
+meant to disregard his friend Sir James Brooke's parting words. He
+promised himself faithfully, that if any thing should occur to give
+him reason to suspect designs, such as those to which the warning
+pointed, he would be on his guard, and would prove his generalship by
+an able retreat. But to imagine attacks where none were attempted,
+to suspect ambuscades in the open country, would be ridiculous and
+cowardly.
+
+"No," thought our hero; "Heaven forefend I should be such a coxcomb
+as to fancy every woman who speaks to me has designs upon my precious
+heart, or on my more precious estate!" As he walked from his hotel to
+Lady Dashfort's house, ingeniously wrong, he came to this conclusion,
+just as he ascended the stairs, and just as her ladyship had settled
+her future plan of operations.
+
+After talking over the nothings of the day, and after having given
+two or three _cuts_ at the society of Dublin, with two or three
+compliments to individuals, who she knew were favourites with his
+lordship, she suddenly turned to him. "My lord, I think you told me,
+or my own sagacity discovered, that you want to see something of
+Ireland, and that you don't intend, like most travellers, to turn
+round, see nothing, and go home content."
+
+Lord Colambre assured her ladyship that she had judged him rightly,
+for that nothing would content him but seeing all that was possible to
+be seen of his native country. It was for this special purpose he came
+to Ireland.
+
+"Ah!--well--very good purpose--can't be better; but now how to
+accomplish it. You know the Portuguese proverb says, 'You go to hell
+for the good things you _intend_ to do, and to heaven for those you
+do.' Now let us see what you will do. Dublin, I suppose, you've seen
+enough of by this time; through and through--round and round--this
+makes me first giddy, and then sick. Let me show you the country--not
+the face of it, but the body of it--the people.--Not Castle this, or
+Newtown that, but their inhabitants. I know them; I have the key, or
+the pick-lock to their minds. An Irishman is as different an animal on
+his guard and off his guard, as a miss in school from a miss out of
+school. A fine country for game, I'll show you; and if you are a good
+marksman, you may have plenty of shots 'at folly as it flies.'"
+
+Lord Colambre smiled.
+
+"As to Isabel," pursued her ladyship, "I shall put her in charge of
+Heathcock, who is going with us. She won't thank me for that, but you
+will. Nay, no fibs, man; you know, I know, as who does not that has
+seen the world? that, though a pretty woman is a mighty pretty thing,
+yet she is confoundedly in one's way, when any thing else is to be
+seen, heard,--or understood."
+
+Every objection anticipated and removed, and so far a prospect held
+out of attaining all the information he desired, with more than all
+the amusement he could have expected, Lord Colambre seemed much
+tempted to accept the invitation; but he hesitated, because, as he
+said, her ladyship might be going to pay visits where he was not
+acquainted.
+
+"Bless you! don't let that be a stumbling-block in the way of your
+tender conscience. I am going to Killpatricks-town, where you'll
+be as welcome as light. You know them, they know you; at least you
+shall have a proper letter of invitation from my Lord and my Lady
+Killpatrick, and all that. And as to the rest, you know a young man is
+always welcome every where, a young nobleman kindly welcome--I won't
+say such a young man, and such a young nobleman, for that might put
+you to your bows or your blushes--but _nobilitas_ by itself, nobility
+is virtue enough in all parties, in all families, where there are
+girls, and of course balls, as there are always at Killpatricks-town.
+Don't be alarmed; you shall not be forced to dance, or asked to marry.
+I'll be your security. You shall be at full liberty; and it is a house
+where you can do just what you will. Indeed, I go to no others. These
+Killpatricks are the best creatures in the world; they think nothing
+good or grand enough for me. If I'd let them, they would lay down
+cloth of gold over their bogs for me to walk upon. Good-hearted
+beings!" added Lady Dashfort, marking a cloud gathering on Lord
+Colambre's countenance. "I laugh at them, because I love them. I could
+not love any thing I might not laugh at--your lordship excepted. So
+you'll come--that's settled."
+
+And so it was settled. Our hero went to Killpatricks-town.
+
+"Every thing here sumptuous and unfinished, you see," said Lady
+Dashfort to Lord Colambre, the day after their arrival. "All begun as
+if the projectors thought they had the command of the mines of Peru,
+and ended as if the possessors had not sixpence. Luxuries enough for
+an English prince of the blood: comforts not enough for an English
+yeoman. And you may be sure that great repairs and alterations have
+gone on to fit this house for our reception, and for our English
+eyes!--Poor people!--English visitors, in this point of view, are
+horribly expensive to the Irish. Did you ever hear, that in the last
+century, or in the century before the last, to put my story far enough
+back, so that it shall not touch any body living; when a certain
+English nobleman, Lord Blank A----, sent to let his Irish friend, Lord
+Blank B----, know that he and all his train were coming over to pay
+him a visit; the Irish nobleman, Blank B----, knowing the deplorable
+condition of his castle, sat down fairly to calculate whether it would
+cost him most to put the building in good and sufficient repair,
+fit to receive these English visitors, or to burn it to the ground.
+He found the balance to be in favour of burning, which was wisely
+accomplished next day.[1] Perhaps Killpatrick would have done well
+to follow this example. Resolve me which is worst, to be burnt
+out of house and home, or to be eaten out of house and home. In
+this house, above and below stairs, including first and second
+table, housekeeper's room, lady's maids' room, butler's room, and
+gentleman's, one hundred and four people sit down to dinner every
+day, as Petito informs me, besides kitchen boys, and what they call
+_char_-women, who never sit down, but who do not eat or waste the less
+for that; and retainers and friends, friends to the fifth and sixth
+generation, who 'must get their bit and their sup;' for 'sure, it's
+only Biddy,' they say;" continued Lady Dashfort, imitating their Irish
+brogue. "And 'sure, 'tis nothing at all, out of all his honour my lord
+has. How could he _feel_ it[2]?--Long life to him!--He's not that way:
+not a couple in all Ireland, and that's saying a great dale, looks
+less after their own, nor is more off-handeder, or open-hearteder, or
+greater openhouse-keeper, _nor_[3] my Lord and my Lady Killpatrick.'
+Now there's encouragement for a lord and a lady to ruin themselves."
+
+[Footnote 1: Fact.]
+[Footnote 2: _Feel_ it, become sensible of it, know it.]
+[Footnote 3: _Nor_, than.]
+
+Lady Dashfort imitated the Irish brogue in perfection; boasted that
+"she was mistress of fourteen different brogues, and had brogues for
+all occasions." By her mixture of mimicry, sarcasm, exaggeration, and
+truth, she succeeded continually in making Lord Colambre laugh at
+every thing at which she wished to make him laugh; at every _thing_,
+but not at every _body_: whenever she became personal, he became
+serious, or at least endeavoured to become serious; and if he could
+not instantly resume the command of his risible muscles, he reproached
+himself.
+
+"It is shameful to laugh at these people, indeed, Lady Dashfort, in
+their own house--these hospitable people, who are entertaining us."
+
+"Entertaining us! true, and if we are _entertained_, how can we help
+laughing?"
+
+All expostulation was thus turned off by a jest, as it was her
+pride to make Lord Colambre laugh in spite of his better feelings
+and principles. This he saw, and this seemed to him to be her sole
+object; but there he was mistaken. _Off-handed_ as she pretended to
+be, none dealt more in the _impromptu fait a loisir_; and, mentally
+short-sighted as she affected to be, none had more _longanimity_ for
+their own interest.
+
+It was her settled purpose to make the Irish and Ireland ridiculous
+and contemptible to Lord Colambre; to disgust him with his native
+country; to make him abandon the wish of residing on his own estate.
+To confirm him an absentee was her object, previously to her ultimate
+plan of marrying him to her daughter. Her daughter was poor, she would
+therefore be glad to _get_ an Irish peer for her; but would be very
+sorry, she said, to see Isabel banished to Ireland; and the young
+widow declared she could never bring herself to be buried alive in
+Clonbrony Castle.
+
+In addition to these considerations, Lady Dashfort received certain
+hints from Mrs. Petito, which worked all to the same point.
+
+"Why, yes, my lady; I heard a great deal about all that, when I was
+at Lady Clonbrony's," said Petito, one day, as she was attending at
+her lady's toilette, and encouraged to begin chattering. "And I own
+I was originally under the universal error that my Lord Colambre was
+to be married to the great heiress, Miss Broadhurst; but I have been
+converted and reformed on that score, and am at present quite in
+another way of thinking."
+
+Petito paused, in hopes that her lady would ask what was her present
+way of thinking? But Lady Dashfort, certain that she would tell her
+without being asked, did not take the trouble to speak, particularly
+as she did not choose to appear violently interested on the subject.
+
+"My present way of thinking," resumed Petito, "is in consequence of
+my having, with my own eyes and ears, witnessed and overheard his
+lordship's behaviour and words, the morning he was coming away from
+_Lunnun_ for Ireland; when he was morally certain nobody was up, nor
+overhearing nor overseeing him, there did I notice him, my lady,
+stopping in the antechamber, ejaculating over one of Miss Nugent's
+gloves, which he had picked up. 'Limerick!' said he, quite loud enough
+to himself; for it was a Limerick glove, my lady--'Limerick!--dear
+Ireland! she loves you as well as I do!'--or words to that effect;
+and then a sigh, and down stairs and off. So, thinks I, now the cat's
+out of the bag. And I wouldn't give much myself for Miss Broadhurst's
+chance of that young lord, with all her Bank stock, scrip, and
+_omnum_. Now, I see how the land lies, and I'm sorry for it; for she's
+no _fortin_; and she's so proud, she never said a hint to me of the
+matter: but my Lord Colambre is a sweet gentleman; and--"
+
+"Petito! don't run on so; you must not meddle with what you don't
+understand: the Miss Killpatricks, to be sure, are sweet girls,
+particularly the youngest."
+
+Her ladyship's toilette was finished; and she left Petito to go down
+to my Lady Killpatrick's woman, to tell, as a very great secret, the
+schemes that were in contemplation, among the higher powers, in favour
+of the youngest of the Miss Killpatricks.
+
+"So Ireland is at the bottom of his heart, is it?" repeated Lady
+Dashfort to herself: "it shall not be long so."
+
+From this time forward, not a day, scarcely an hour passed, but her
+ladyship did or said something to depreciate the country, or its
+inhabitants, in our hero's estimation. With treacherous ability,
+she knew and followed all the arts of misrepresentation; all those
+injurious arts which his friend, Sir James Brooke, had, with such
+honest indignation, reprobated. She knew how, not only to seize the
+ridiculous points, to make the most respectable people ridiculous,
+but she knew how to select the worst instances, the worst exceptions;
+and to produce them as examples, as precedents, from which to condemn
+whole classes, and establish general false conclusions respecting a
+nation.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Killpatrick's-town, Lady Dashfort said,
+there were several _squireens_, or little squires; a race of men who
+have succeeded to the _buckeens_, described by Young and Crumpe.
+_Squireens_ are persons who, with good long leases, or valuable farms,
+possess incomes from three to eight hundred a year, who keep a pack
+of hounds; _take out_ a commission of the peace, sometimes before
+they can spell (as her ladyship said), and almost always before they
+know any thing of law or justice. Busy and loud about small matters;
+_jobbers at assizes_; combining with one another, and trying upon
+every occasion, public or private, to push themselves forward, to the
+annoyance of their superiors, and the terror of those below them.
+
+In the usual course of things, these men are not often to be found
+in the society of gentry except, perhaps, among those gentlemen or
+noblemen who like to see hangers-on at their, tables: or who find it
+for their convenience to have underling magistrates, to _protect_
+their favourites, or to propose and _carry_ jobs for them on grand
+juries. At election times, however, these persons rise into sudden
+importance with all who have views upon the county. Lady Dashfort
+hinted to Lord Killpatrick, that her private letters from England
+spoke of an approaching dissolution of parliament: she knew that, upon
+this hint, a round of invitations would be sent to the squireens; and
+she was morally certain that they would be more disagreeable to Lord
+Colambre, and give him a worse idea of the country, than any other
+people who could be produced. Day after day some of these personages
+made their appearance; and Lady Dashfort took care to draw them out
+upon the subjects on which she knew that they would show the most
+self-sufficient ignorance, and the most illiberal spirit. They
+succeeded beyond her most sanguine expectations.
+
+"Lord Colambre! how I pity you, for being compelled to these permanent
+sittings after dinner!" said Lady Isabel to him one night, when he
+came late to the ladies from the dining-room.
+
+"Lord Killpatrick insisted upon my staying to help him to push about
+that never-ending, still-beginning electioneering bottle," said Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"Oh! if that were all; if these gentlemen would only drink:--but their
+conversation!" "I don't wonder my mother dreads returning to Clonbrony
+Castle, if my father must have such company as this. But, surely, it
+cannot be necessary."
+
+"Oh, indispensable! positively indispensable!" cried Lady Dashfort;
+"no living in Ireland without it. You know, in every country in the
+world, you must live with the people of the country, or be torn to
+pieces: for my part, I should prefer being torn to pieces."
+
+Lady Dashfort and Lady Isabel knew how to take advantage of the
+contrast between their own conversation, and that of the persons by
+whom Lord Colambre was so justly disgusted: they happily relieved his
+fatigue with wit, satire, poetry, and sentiment; so that he every day
+became more exclusively fond of their company; for Lady Killpatrick
+and the Miss Killpatricks were mere commonplace people. In the
+mornings, he rode or walked with Lady Dashfort and Lady Isabel: Lady
+Dashfort, by way of fulfilling her promise of showing him the people,
+used frequently to take him into the cabins, and talk to their
+inhabitants. Lord and Lady Killpatrick, who had lived always for the
+fashionable world, had taken little pains to improve the condition of
+their tenants: the few attempts they had made were injudicious. They
+had built ornamented, picturesque cottages, within view of their park;
+and favourite followers of the family, people with half a century's
+habit of indolence and dirt, were _promoted_ to these fine dwellings.
+The consequences were such as Lady Dashfort delighted to point out:
+every thing let to go to ruin for the want of a moment's care, or
+pulled to pieces for the sake of the most surreptitious profit: the
+people most assisted always appearing proportionally wretched and
+discontented. No one could, with more ease and more knowledge of her
+ground, than Lady Dashfort, do the _dishonours_ of a country. In
+every cabin that she entered, by the first glance of her eye at the
+head, kerchiefed in no comely guise, or by the drawn-down corners of
+the mouth, or by the bit of a broken pipe, which in Ireland never
+characterizes _stout labour_, or by the first sound of the voice, the
+drawling accent on "your honour," or, "my lady," she could distinguish
+the proper objects of her charitable designs, that is to say, those
+of the old uneducated race, whom no one can help, because they will
+never help themselves. To these she constantly addressed herself,
+making them give, in all their despairing tones, a history of their
+complaints and grievances; then asking them questions, aptly contrived
+to expose their habits of self-contradiction, their servility and
+flattery one moment, and their litigious and encroaching spirit the
+next: thus giving Lord Colambre the most unfavourable idea of the
+disposition and character of the lower class of the Irish people. Lady
+Isabel the while standing by, with the most amiable air of pity, with
+expressions of the finest moral sensibility, softening all her mother
+said, finding ever some excuse for the poor creatures, and following,
+with angelic sweetness, to heal the wounds her mother inflicted.
+
+When Lady Dashfort thought she had sufficiently worked upon Lord
+Colambre's mind to weaken his enthusiasm for his native country; and
+when Lady Isabel had, by the appearance of every virtue, added to
+a delicate preference, if not partiality for our hero, ingratiated
+herself into his good opinion, and obtained an interest in his mind,
+the wily mother ventured an attack of a more decisive nature; and so
+contrived it was, that if it failed, it should appear to have been
+made without design to injure, and in total ignorance.
+
+One day, Lady Dashfort, who, in fact, was not proud of her family,
+though she pretended to be so, was herself prevailed on, though with
+much difficulty, by Lady Killpatrick, to do the very thing she wanted
+to do, to show her genealogy, which had been beautifully blazoned, and
+which was to be produced in evidence in the lawsuit that brought her
+to Ireland. Lord Colambre stood politely looking on and listening,
+while her ladyship explained the splendid intermarriages of her
+family, pointing to each medallion that was filled gloriously with
+noble, and even with royal names, till at last she stopped short, and
+covering one medallion with her finger, she said, "Pass over that,
+dear Lady Killpatrick. You are not to see that, Lord Colambre--that's
+a little blot in our scutcheon. You know, Isabel, we never talk of
+that prudent match of great uncle John's: what could he expect by
+marrying into _that_ family, where, you know, all the men were not
+_sans peur_, and none of the women _sans reproche_?"
+
+"Oh, mamma!" cried Lady Isabel, "not one exception!"
+
+"Not one, Isabel," persisted Lady Dashfort: "there was Lady ----, and
+the other sister, that married the man with the long nose; and the
+daughter again, of whom they contrived to make an honest woman, by
+getting her married in time to a _blue riband_, and who contrived to
+get herself into Doctors' Commons the very next year."
+
+"Well, dear mamma, that is enough, and too much. Oh! pray don't go
+on," cried Lady Isabel, who had appeared very much distressed during
+her mother's speech. "You don't know what you are saying: indeed,
+ma'am, you don't."
+
+"Very likely, child; but that compliment I can return to you on the
+spot, and with interest; for you seem to me, at this instant, not to
+know either what you are saying, or what you are doing. Come, come,
+explain."
+
+"Oh, no, ma'am--Pray say no more; I will explain myself another time."
+
+"Nay, there you are wrong, Isabel; in point of good-breeding, any
+thing is better than hints and mystery. Since I have been so unlucky
+as to touch upon the subject, better go through with it, and, with
+all the boldness of innocence, I ask the question, Are you, my Lord
+Colambre, or are you not, related to or connected with any of the St.
+Omars?"
+
+"Not that I know of," said Lord Colambre; "but I really am so bad a
+genealogist, that I cannot answer positively."
+
+"Then I must put the substance of my question into a new form. Have
+you, or have you not, a cousin of the name of Nugent?"
+
+"Miss Nugent!--Grace Nugent!--Yes," said Lord Colambre, with as much
+firmness of voice as he could command, and with as little change
+of countenance as possible; but, as the question came upon him so
+unexpectedly, it was not in his power to answer with an air of
+absolute indifference and composure.
+
+"And her mother was--" said Lady Dashfort.
+
+"My aunt, by marriage; her maiden name was Reynolds, I think. But she
+died when I was quite a child. I know very little about her. I never
+saw her in my life; but I am certain she was a Reynolds."
+
+"Oh, my dear lord," continued Lady Dashfort; "I am perfectly aware
+that she did take and bear the name of Reynolds; but that was not her
+maiden name--her maiden name was--; but perhaps it is a family secret
+that has been kept, for some good reason, from you, and from the poor
+girl herself; the maiden name was St. Omar, depend upon it. Nay, I
+would not have told this to you, my lord, if I could have conceived
+that it would affect you so violently," pursued Lady Dashfort, in a
+tone of raillery; "you see you are no worse off than we are. We have
+an intermarriage with the St. Omars. I did not think you would be so
+much shocked at a discovery, which proves that our family and yours
+have some little connexion."
+
+Lord Colambre endeavoured to answer, and mechanically said something
+about "happy to have the honour." Lady Dashfort, truly happy to see
+that her blow had hit the mark so well, turned from his lordship
+without seeming to observe how seriously he was affected; and Lady
+Isabel sighed, and looked with compassion on Lord Colambre, and then
+reproachfully at her mother. But Lord Colambre heeded not her looks,
+and heard none of her sighs; he heard nothing, saw nothing, though his
+eyes were intently fixed on the genealogy, on which Lady Dashfort was
+still descanting to Lady Killpatrick. He took the first opportunity he
+could of quitting the room, and went out to take a solitary walk.
+
+"There he is, departed, but not in peace, to reflect upon what has
+been said," whispered Lady Dashfort to her daughter. "I hope it will
+do him a vast deal of good."
+
+"None of the women _sans reproche_! None!--without one exception,"
+said Lord Colambre to himself; "and Grace Nugent's mother a St.
+Omar!--Is it possible? Lady Dashfort seems certain. She could not
+assert a positive falsehood--no motive. She does not know that Miss
+Nugent is the person to whom I am attached--she spoke at random. And
+I have heard it first from a stranger,--not from my mother. Why was
+it kept secret from me? Now I understand the reason why my mother
+evidently never wished that I should think of Miss Nugent--why she
+always spoke so vehemently against the marriages of relations, of
+cousins. Why not tell me the truth? It would have had the strongest
+effect, had she known my mind."
+
+Lord Colambre had the greatest dread of marrying any woman whose
+mother had conducted herself ill. His reason, his prejudices, his
+pride, his delicacy, and even his limited experience were all against
+it. All his hopes, his plans of future happiness, were shaken to their
+very foundation; he felt as if he had received a blow that stunned his
+mind, and from which he could not recover his faculties. The whole
+of that day he was like one in a dream. At night the painful idea
+continually recurred to him; and whenever he was fallen asleep, the
+sound of Lady Dashfort's voice returned upon his ear, saying the
+words, "What could he expect when he married one of the St. Omars?
+None of the women _sans reproche_."
+
+In the morning he rose early; and the first thing he did was to write
+a letter to his mother, requesting (unless there was some important
+reason for her declining to answer the question) that she would
+immediately relieve his mind from a great _uneasiness_ (he altered the
+word four times, but at last left it uneasiness). He stated what he
+had heard, and besought his mother to tell him the whole truth without
+reserve.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+One morning Lady Dashfort had formed an ingenious scheme for leaving
+Lady Isabel and Lord Colambre _tete-a-tete_; but the sudden entrance
+of Heathcock disconcerted her intentions. He came to beg Lady
+Dashfort's interest with Count O'Halloran, for permission to hunt
+and shoot on his grounds next season.--"Not for myself, 'pon honour,
+but for two officers who are quartered at the next _town_ here, who
+will indubitably hang or drown themselves if they are debarred from
+sporting."
+
+"Who is this Count O'Halloran?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+Miss White, Lady Killpatrick's companion, said, "he was a great
+oddity;" Lady Dashfort, "that he was singular;" and the clergyman
+of the parish, who was at breakfast, declared "that he was a man of
+uncommon knowledge, merit, and politeness."
+
+"All I know of him," said Heathcock, "is, that he is a great
+sportsman, with a long queue, a gold-laced hat, and long skirts to a
+laced waistcoat."
+
+Lord Colambre expressed a wish to see this extraordinary personage;
+and Lady Dashfort, to cover her former design, and, perhaps thinking
+absence might be as effectual as too much propinquity, immediately
+offered to call upon the officers in their way, and carry them with
+Heathcock and Lord Colambre to Halloran Castle.
+
+Lady Isabel retired with much mortification, but with becoming grace;
+and Major Benson and Captain Williamson were taken to the count's.
+Major Benson, who was a famous _whip_, took his seat on the box of
+the barouche; and the rest of the party had the pleasure of her
+ladyship's conversation for three or four miles: of her ladyship's
+conversation--for Lord Colambre's thoughts were far distant; Captain
+Williamson had not any thing to say; and Heathcock nothing but "Eh!
+re'lly now!--'pon honour!"
+
+They arrived at Halloran Castle--a fine old building, part of it in
+ruins, and part repaired with great judgment and taste. When the
+carriage stopped, a respectable-looking man-servant appeared on the
+steps, at the open hall-door.
+
+Count O'Halloran was out fishing; but his servant said that he would
+he at home immediately, if Lady Dashfort and the gentlemen would be
+pleased to walk in.
+
+On one side of the lofty and spacious hall stood the skeleton of an
+elk; on the other side, the perfect skeleton of a moose-deer, which,
+as the servant said, his master had made out, with great care, from
+the different bones of many of this curious species of deer, found
+in the lakes in the neighbourhood. The leash of officers witnessed
+their wonder with sundry strange oaths and exclamations.--"Eh! 'pon
+honour--re'lly now!" said Heathcock; and, too genteel to wonder at
+or admire any thing in the creation, dragged out his watch with some
+difficulty, saying, "I wonder now whether they are likely to think of
+giving us any thing to eat in this place?" And, turning his back upon
+the moose-deer, he straight walked out again upon the steps, called to
+his groom, and began to make some inquiry about his led horse. Lord
+Colambre surveyed the prodigious skeletons with rational curiosity,
+and with that sense of awe and admiration, by which a superior mind is
+always struck on beholding any of the great works of Providence.
+
+"Come, my dear lord!" said Lady Dashfort; "with our sublime
+sensations, we are keeping my old friend, Mr. Ulick Brady, this
+venerable person, waiting to show us into the reception-room."
+
+The servant bowed respectfully--more respectfully than servants of
+modern date.
+
+"My lady, the reception-room has been lately painted,--the smell of
+paint may be disagreeable; with your leave, I will take the liberty of
+showing you into my master's study."
+
+He opened the door, went in before her, and stood holding up his
+finger, as if making a signal of silence to some one within. Her
+ladyship entered, and found herself in the midst of an odd assembly:
+an eagle, a goat, a dog, an otter, several gold and silver fish in a
+glass globe, and a white mouse in a cage. The eagle, quick of eye but
+quiet of demeanour, was perched upon his stand; the otter lay under
+the table, perfectly harmless; the Angora goat, a beautiful and
+remarkably little creature of its kind, with long, curling, silky
+hair, was walking about the room with the air of a beauty and a
+favourite; the dog, a tall Irish greyhound--one of the few of that
+fine race, which is now almost extinct--had been given to Count
+O'Halloran by an Irish nobleman, a relation of Lady Dashfort's. This
+dog, who had formerly known her ladyship, looked at her with ears
+erect, recognized her, and went to meet her the moment she entered.
+The servant answered for the peaceable behaviour of all the rest of
+the company of animals, and retired. Lady Dashfort began to feed the
+eagle from a silver plate on his stand; Lord Colambre examined the
+inscription on his collar; the other men stood in amaze. Heathcock,
+who came in last, astonished out of his constant "Eh! re'lly now!"
+the moment he put himself in at the door, exclaimed, "Zounds! what's
+all this live lumber?" and he stumbled over the goat, who was at that
+moment crossing the way. The colonel's spur caught in the goat's curly
+beard; the colonel shook his foot, and entangled the spur worse and
+worse; the goat struggled and butted; the colonel skated forward on
+the polished oak floor, balancing himself with outstretched arms.
+
+The indignant eagle screamed, and, passing by, perched on Heathcock's
+shoulders. Too well bred to have recourse to the terrors of his beak,
+he scrupled not to scream, and flap his wings about the colonel's
+ears. Lady Dashfort, the while, threw herself back in her chair,
+laughing, and begging Heathcock's pardon. "Oh, take care of the dog,
+my dear colonel!" cried she; "for this kind of dog seizes his enemy by
+the back, and shakes him to death." The officers, holding their sides,
+laughed and begged--no pardon; while Lord Colambre, the only person
+who was not absolutely incapacitated, tried to disentangle the spur,
+and to liberate the colonel from the goat, and the goat from the
+colonel; an attempt in which he at last succeeded, at the expense of
+a considerable portion of the goat's beard. The eagle, however, still
+kept his place; and, yet mindful of the wrongs of his insulted friend
+the goat, had stretched his wings to give another buffet. Count
+O'Halloran entered; and the bird, quitting his prey, flew down to
+greet his master. The count was a fine old military-looking gentleman,
+fresh from fishing: his fishing accoutrements hanging carelessly
+about him, he advanced, unembarrassed, to Lady Dashfort; and received
+his other guests with a mixture of military ease and gentlemanlike
+dignity.
+
+Without adverting to the awkward and ridiculous situation in which he
+had found poor Heathcock, he apologized in general for his troublesome
+favourites. "For one of them," said he, patting the head of the dog,
+which lay quiet at Lady Dashfort's feet, "I see I have no need to
+apologize; he is where he ought to be. Poor fellow! he has never lost
+his taste for the good company to which he was early accustomed. As
+to the rest," said he, turning to Lady Dashfort, "a mouse, a bird,
+and a fish, are, you know, tribute from earth, air, and water, to a
+conqueror--"
+
+"But from no barbarous Scythian!" said Lord Colambre, smiling. The
+count looked at Lord Colambre, as at a person worthy his attention;
+but his first care was to keep the peace between his loving subjects
+and his foreign visitors. It was difficult to dislodge the old
+settlers, to make room for the new comers: but he adjusted these
+things with admirable facility; and, with a master's hand and master's
+eye, compelled each favourite to retreat into the back settlements.
+With becoming attention, he stroked and kept quiet old Victory, his
+eagle, who eyed Colonel Heathcock still, as if he did not like him;
+and whom the colonel eyed as if he wished his neck fairly wrung off.
+The little goat had nestled himself close up to his liberator, Lord
+Colambre, and lay perfectly quiet, with his eyes closed, going very
+wisely to sleep, and submitting philosophically to the loss of one
+half of his beard. Conversation now commenced, and was carried on by
+Count O'Halloran with much ability and spirit, and with such quickness
+of discrimination and delicacy of taste, as quite surprised and
+delighted our hero. To the lady the count's attention was first
+directed: he listened to her as she spoke, bending with an air of
+deference and devotion. She made her request for permission for Major
+Benson and Captain Williamson to hunt and shoot in his grounds next
+season: this was instantly granted.
+
+Her ladyship's requests were to him commands, the count said.--His
+gamekeeper should be instructed to give the gentlemen, her friends,
+every liberty, and all possible assistance.
+
+Then, turning to the officers, he said, he had just heard that
+several regiments of English militia had lately landed in Ireland;
+that one regiment was arrived at Killpatrick's-town. He rejoiced in
+the advantages Ireland, and he hoped he might be permitted to add,
+England, would probably derive from the exchange of the militia
+of both countries: habits would be improved, ideas enlarged. The
+two countries have the same interest; and, from the inhabitants
+discovering more of each other's good qualities, and interchanging
+little good offices in common life, their esteem and affection for
+each other would increase, and rest upon the firm basis of mutual
+utility.
+
+To all this Major Benson answered only, "We are not militia officers."
+
+"The major looks so like a stuffed man of straw," whispered Lady
+Dashfort to Lord Colambre, "and the captain so like the king of
+spades, putting forth one manly leg."
+
+Count O'Halloran now turned the conversation to field sports, and then
+the captain and major opened at once.
+
+"Pray now, sir," said the major, "you fox-hunt in this country, I
+suppose; and now do you manage the thing here as we do? Over night,
+you know, before the hunt, when the fox is out, stopping up the earths
+of the cover we mean to draw, and all the rest for four miles round.
+Next morning we assemble at the cover's side, and the huntsman throws
+in the hounds. The gossip here is no small part of the entertainment:
+but as soon as we hear the hounds give tongue--"
+
+"The favourite hounds," interposed Williamson.
+
+"The favourite hounds, to be sure," continued Benson: "there is a dead
+silence till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in:
+then cheer the hounds with tally-ho! till your lungs crack. Away he
+goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes
+a stiff country: then they who haven't pluck lag, see no more of him,
+and, with a fine blazing scent, there are but few of us in at the
+death."
+
+"Well, we are fairly in at the death, I hope," said Lady Dashfort: "I
+was thrown out sadly at one time in the chase."
+
+Lord Colambre, with the count's permission, took up a book in which
+the count's pencil lay, "Pasley on the Military Policy of Great
+Britain;" it was marked with many notes of admiration, and with hands
+pointing to remarkable passages.
+
+"That is a book that leaves a strong impression on the mind," said the
+count.
+
+Lord Colambre read one of the marked passages, beginning with "All
+that distinguishes a soldier in outward appearance from a citizen
+is so trifling--" but at this instant our hero's attention was
+distracted by seeing in a black-letter book this title of a chapter:
+"Burial-place of the Nugents."
+
+"Pray now, sir," said Captain Williamson, "if I don't interrupt you,
+as you are a fisherman too; now in Ireland do you, _Mr._--"
+
+A smart pinch on his elbow from his major, who stood behind him,
+stopped the captain short, as he pronounced the word _Mr._ Like all
+awkward people, he turned directly to ask, by his looks, what was the
+matter.
+
+The major took advantage of his discomfiture, and, stepping before
+him, determined to have the fishing to himself, and went on with,
+"Count O'Halloran, I presume you understand fishing, too, as well as
+hunting?"
+
+The count bowed: "I do not presume to say that, sir."
+
+"But pray, count, in this country, do you arm your hook this ways?
+Give me leave;" taking the whip from Williamson's reluctant hand,
+"this ways, laying the outermost part of your feather this fashion
+next to your hook, and the point next to your shank, this wise, and
+that wise; and then, sir,--count, you take the hackle of a cock's
+neck--"
+
+"A plover's topping's better," said Williamson.
+
+"And work your gold and silver thread," pursued Benson, "up to your
+wings, and when your head's made, you fasten all."
+
+"But you never showed how your head's made," interrupted Williamson.
+
+"The gentleman knows how a head's made; any man can make a head, I
+suppose: so, sir, you fasten all."
+
+"You'll never get your head fast on that way, while the world stands,"
+cried Williamson.
+
+"Fast enough for all purposes; I'll bet you a rump and dozen, captain:
+and then, sir,--count, you divide your wings with a needle."
+
+"A pin's point will do," said Williamson.
+
+The count, to reconcile matters, produced from an Indian cabinet,
+which he had opened for Lady Dashfort's inspection, a little basket
+containing a variety of artificial flies of curious construction,
+which, as he spread them on the table, made Williamson and Benson's
+eyes almost sparkle with delight. There was the _dun-fly_, for the
+month of March; and the _stone-fly_, much in vogue for April; and the
+_ruddy-fly_, of red wool, black silk, and red capon's feathers.
+
+Lord Colambre, whose head was in the burial-place of the Nugents,
+wished them all at the bottom of the sea.
+
+"And the _green-fly_, and the _moorish-fly_!" cried Benson, snatching
+them up with transport; "and, chief, the _sad-yellow-fly_, in which
+the fish delight in June; the _sad-yellow-fly_, made with the
+buzzard's wings, bound with black braked hemp, and the _shell-fly_,
+for the middle of July, made of greenish wool, wrapped about with the
+herle of a peacock's tail, famous for creating excellent sport." All
+these and more were spread upon the table before the sportsmen's
+wondering eyes.
+
+"Capital flies! capital, faith!" cried Williamson.
+
+"Treasures, faith, real treasures, by G--!" cried Benson.
+
+"Eh! 'pon honour! re'lly now," were the first words which Heathcock
+had uttered since his battle with the goat.
+
+"My dear Heathcock, are you alive still?" said Lady Dashfort: "I had
+really forgotten your existence."
+
+So had Count O'Halloran, but he did not say so.
+
+"Your ladyship has the advantage of me there," said Heathcock,
+stretching himself; "I wish I could forget my existence, for, in my
+mind, existence is a horrible _bore_."
+
+"I thought you _was_ a sportsman," said Williamson.
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"And a fisherman?"
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"Why look you there, sir," pointing to the flies, "and tell a body
+life's a bore."
+
+"One can't _always_ fish or shoot, I apprehend, sir," said Heathcock.
+
+"Not always--but sometimes," said Williamson, laughing; "for I suspect
+shrewdly you've forgot some of your sporting in Bond-street."
+
+"Eh! 'pon honour! re'lly now!" said the colonel, retreating again
+to his safe entrenchment of affectation, from which he never could
+venture without imminent danger.
+
+"'Pon honour," cried Lady Dashfort, "I can swear for Heathcock, that
+I have eaten excellent hares and ducks of his shooting, which, to my
+knowledge," added she, in a loud whisper, "he bought in the market."
+
+"_Emptum aprum!_" said Lord Colambre to the count, without danger of
+being understood by those whom it concerned.
+
+The count smiled a second time; but politely turning the attention of
+the company from the unfortunate colonel, by addressing himself to
+the laughing sportsmen, "Gentlemen, you seem to value these," said he,
+sweeping the artificial flies from the table into the little basket
+from which they had been taken; "would you do me the honour to accept
+of them? They are all of my own making, and consequently of Irish
+manufacture." Then, ringing the bell, he asked Lady Dashfort's
+permission to have the basket put into her carriage.
+
+Benson and Williamson followed the servant, to prevent them from being
+tossed into the boot. Heathcock stood still in the middle of the room,
+taking snuff.
+
+Count O'Halloran turned from him to Lord Colambre, who had just got
+happily to _the burial-place of the Nugents_, when Lady Dashfort,
+coming between them, and spying the title of the chapter, exclaimed,
+"What have you there?--Antiquities! my delight!--but I never look at
+engravings when I can see realities."
+
+Lord Colambre was then compelled to follow, as she led the way, into
+the hall, where the count took down golden ornaments, and brass-headed
+spears, and jointed horns of curious workmanship, that had been found
+on his estate; and he told of spermaceti wrapped in carpets, and he
+showed small urns, enclosing ashes; and from among these urns he
+selected one, which he put into the hands of Lord Colambre, telling
+him, that it had been lately found in an old abbey-ground in his
+neighbourhood, which had been the burial-place of some of the Nugent
+family.
+
+"I was just looking at the account of it, in the book which you saw
+open on my table.--And as you seem to take an interest in that family,
+my lord, perhaps," said the count, "you may think this urn worth your
+acceptance."
+
+Lord Colambre said, "It would be highly valuable to him--as the
+Nugents were his near relations."
+
+Lady Dashfort little expected this blow; she, however, carried him off
+to the moose-deer, and from moose-deer to round-towers, to various
+architectural antiquities, and to the real and fabulous history of
+Ireland, on all which the count spoke with learning and enthusiasm.
+But now, to Colonel Heathcock's great joy and relief, a handsome
+collation appeared in the dining-room, of which Ulick opened the
+folding-doors.
+
+"Count, you have made an excellent house of your castle," said Lady
+Dashfort.
+
+"It will be, when it is finished," said the count. "I am afraid,"
+added he, smiling, "I live like many other Irish gentlemen, who never
+are, but always to be, blessed with a good house. I began on too large
+a scale, and can never hope to live to finish it."
+
+"'Pon honour! here's a good thing, which I hope we shall live to
+finish," said Heathcock, sitting down before the collation; and
+heartily did he eat of eel-pie, and of Irish ortolans [1], which, as
+Lady Dashfort observed, "afforded him indemnity for the past, and
+security for the future."
+
+[Footnote 1: As it may be satisfactory to a large portion of the
+public, and to all men of taste, the editor subjoins the following
+account of the Irish ortolan, which will convince the world that this
+bird is not in the class of fabulous animals:
+
+"There is a small bird, which is said to be peculiar to the Blasquet
+Islands, called by the Irish, Gourder, the English name of which I
+am at a loss for, nor do I find it mentioned by naturalists. It is
+somewhat larger than a sparrow; the feathers of the back are dark, and
+those of the belly are white; the bill is straight, short, and thick;
+and it is web-footed: they are almost one lump of fat; when roasted,
+of a most delicious taste, and are reckoned to exceed an ortolan; for
+which reason the gentry hereabouts call them the _Irish Ortolan_.
+These birds are worthy of being transmitted a great way to market;
+for ortolans, it is well known, are brought from France to supply the
+markets of London."--See Smith's Account of the County of Kerry, p.
+186.]
+
+"Eh! re'lly now! your Irish ortolans are famous good eating," said
+Heathcock.
+
+"Worth being quartered in Ireland, faith! to taste 'em," said Benson.
+
+The count recommended to Lady Dashfort some of "that delicate
+sweetmeat, the Irish plum."
+
+"Bless me, sir,--count!" cried Williamson, "it's by far the best thing
+of the kind I ever tasted in all my life: where could you get this?"
+
+"In Dublin, at my dear Mrs. Godey's; where _only_, in his majesty's
+dominions, it is to be had," said the count.
+
+The whole vanished in a few seconds.
+
+"'Pon honour! I do believe this is the thing the queen's so fond of,"
+said Heathcock.
+
+Then heartily did he drink of the count's excellent Hungarian wines;
+and, by the common bond of sympathy between those who have no other
+tastes but eating and drinking, the colonel, the major, and the
+captain, were now all the best companions possible for one another.
+
+Whilst "they prolonged the rich repast," Lady Dashfort and Lord
+Colambre went to the window to admire the prospect: Lady Dashfort
+asked the count the name of some distant hill.
+
+"Ah!" said the count, "that hill was once covered with fine wood; but
+it was all cut down two years ago."
+
+"Who could have been so cruel?" said her ladyship.
+
+"I forget the present proprietor's name," said the count; "but he
+is one of those who, according to _the clause of distress_ in their
+leases, _lead, drive, and carry away_, but never _enter_ their lands;
+one of those enemies to Ireland--those cruel absentees!"
+
+Lady Dashfort looked through her glass at the mountain:--Lord Colambre
+sighed, and, endeavouring to pass it off with a smile, said frankly to
+the count, "You are not aware, I am sure, count, that you are speaking
+to the son of an Irish absentee family. Nay, do not be shocked, my
+dear sir; I tell you only because I thought it fair to do so: but let
+me assure you, that nothing you could say on that subject could hurt
+me personally, because I feel that I am not, that I never can be, an
+enemy to Ireland. An absentee, voluntarily, I never yet have been; and
+as to the future, I declare--"
+
+"I declare you know nothing of the future," interrupted Lady Dashfort,
+in a half peremptory, half playful tone--"you know nothing: make no
+rash vows, and you will break none."
+
+The undaunted assurance of Lady Dashfort's genius for intrigue gave
+her an air of frank imprudence, which prevented Lord Colambre from
+suspecting that more was meant than met the ear. The count and he took
+leave of one another with mutual regard; and Lady Dashfort rejoiced to
+have got our hero out of Halloran Castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Lord Colambre had waited with great impatience for an answer to the
+letter of inquiry which he had written about Miss Nugent's mother. A
+letter from Lady Clonbrony arrived: he opened it with the greatest
+eagerness--passed over "Rheumatism--warm weather--warm bath--Buxton
+balls--Miss Broadhurst--your _friend_, Sir Arthur Berryl, very
+assiduous!" The name of Grace Nugent he found at last, and read as
+follows:--
+
+    "Her mother's maiden name was _St. Omar_; and there was a _faux
+    pas_, certainly. She was, I am told, (for it was before my time,)
+    educated at a convent abroad; and there was an affair with a
+    Captain Reynolds, a young officer, which her friends were obliged
+    to hush up. She brought an infant to England with her, and took
+    the name of Reynolds--but none of that family would acknowledge
+    her: and she lived in great obscurity, till your Uncle Nugent saw,
+    fell in love with her, and (knowing her whole history) married
+    her. He adopted the child, gave her his name, and, after some
+    years, the whole story was forgotten. Nothing could be more
+    disadvantageous to Grace than to have it revived: this is the
+    reason we kept it secret."
+
+Lord Colambre tore the letter to bits.
+
+From the perturbation which Lady Dashfort saw in his countenance, she
+guessed the nature of the letter which he had been reading, and for
+the arrival of which he had been so impatient.
+
+"It has worked!" said she to herself. "_Pour le coup Philippe je te
+tiens_!"
+
+Lord Colambre appeared this day more sensible than he had ever yet
+seemed to the charms of the fair Isabel.
+
+"Many a tennis-ball, and many a heart, is caught at the rebound," said
+Lady Dashfort. "Isabel! now is your time!"
+
+And so it was--or so, perhaps, it would have been, but for a
+circumstance which her ladyship, with all her genius for intrigue,
+had never taken into her consideration. Count O'Halloran came to
+return the visit which had been paid to him; and, in the course of
+conversation, he spoke of the officers who had been introduced to him,
+and told Lady Dashfort that he had heard a report which shocked him
+much--he hoped it could not be true--that one of these officers had
+introduced his mistress as his wife to Lady Oranmore, who lived in the
+neighbourhood. This officer, it was said, had let Lady Oranmore send
+her carriage for this woman; and that she had dined at Oranmore with
+her ladyship and her daughters. "But I cannot believe it! I cannot
+believe it to be possible, that any gentleman, that any _officer_
+could do such a thing!" said the count.
+
+"And is this all?" exclaimed Lady Dashfort. "Is this all the terrible
+affair, my good count, which has brought your face to this prodigious
+length?"
+
+The count looked at Lady Dashfort with astonishment.
+
+"Such a look of virtuous indignation," continued she, "did I never
+behold on or off the stage. Forgive me for laughing, count; but,
+believe me, comedy goes through the world better than tragedy, and,
+take it all in all, does rather less mischief. As to the thing in
+question, I know nothing about it; I dare say it is not true: but,
+now, suppose it were--it is only a silly _quiz_ of a raw young officer
+upon a prudish old dowager. I know nothing about it, for my part:
+but, after all, what irreparable mischief has been done? Laugh at the
+thing, and then it is a jest--a bad one, perhaps, but still only a
+jest--and there's an end of it: but take it seriously, and there is
+no knowing where it might end--in this poor man's being broke, and in
+half a dozen duels, may be."
+
+"Of that, madam," said the count, "Lady Oranmore's prudence and
+presence of mind have prevented all danger. Her ladyship _would_ not
+understand the insult. She said, or she acted as if she said, '_Je ne
+veux rien voir, rien ecouter, rien savoir._' Lady Oranmore is one of
+the most respectable--"
+
+"Count, I beg your pardon!" interrupted Lady Dashfort; "but I must
+tell you, that your favourite, Lady Oranmore, has behaved very ill
+to me; purposely omitted to invite Isabel to her ball; offended and
+insulted me:--her praises, therefore, cannot be the most agreeable
+subject of conversation you can choose for my amusement; and as to the
+rest, you, who have such variety and so much politeness, will, I am
+sure, have the goodness to indulge my caprice in this instance."
+
+"I shall obey your ladyship, and be silent, whatever pleasure it might
+give me to speak on that subject," said the count; "and I trust Lady
+Dashfort will reward me by the assurance, that, however playfully she
+may have just now spoken, she seriously disapproves, and is shocked."
+
+"Oh, shocked! shocked to death! if that will satisfy you, my dear
+count."
+
+The count, obviously, was not satisfied: he had civil, as well as
+military courage, and his sense of right and wrong could stand against
+the raillery and ridicule of a fine lady.
+
+The conversation ended: Lady Dashfort thought it would have no farther
+consequences; and she did not regret the loss of a man like Count
+O'Halloran, who lived retired in his castle, and who could not have
+any influence upon the opinion of the fashionable world. However, upon
+turning from the count to Lord Colambre, who she thought had been
+occupied with Lady Isabel, and to whom she imagined all this dispute
+was uninteresting, she perceived, by his countenance, that she had
+made a great mistake. Still she trusted that her power over Lord
+Colambre was sufficient easily to efface whatever unfavourable
+impression this conversation had made upon his mind. He had no
+personal interest in the affair; and she had generally found that
+people are easily satisfied about any wrong or insult, public or
+private, in which they have no immediate concern. But all the charms
+of her conversation were now tried in vain to reclaim him from the
+reverie into which he had fallen.
+
+His friend Sir James Brooke's parting advice occurred to our hero: his
+eyes began to open to Lady Dashfort's character; and he was, from this
+moment, freed from her power. Lady Isabel, however, had taken no part
+in all this--she was blameless; and, independently of her mother, and
+in pretended opposition of sentiment, she might have continued to
+retain the influence she had gained over Lord Colambre, but that a
+slight accident revealed to him _her_ real disposition.
+
+It happened, on the evening of this day, that Lady Isabel came into
+the library with one of the young ladies of the house, talking very
+eagerly, without perceiving Lord Colambre, who was sitting in one of
+the recesses reading.
+
+"My dear creature, you are quite mistaken," said Lady Isabel, "he was
+never a favourite of mine; I always detested him; I only flirted with
+him to plague his wife. Oh, that wife! my dear Elizabeth, I do hate,"
+cried she, clasping her hands, and expressing hatred with all her
+soul, and with all her strength. "I detest that Lady de Cressy to such
+a degree, that, to purchase the pleasure of making her feel the pangs
+of jealousy for one hour, look, I would this moment lay down this
+finger and let it be cut off."
+
+The face, the whole figure of Lady Isabel, at this moment, appeared
+to Lord Colambre suddenly metamorphosed; instead of the soft, gentle,
+amiable female, all sweet charity and tender sympathy, formed to love
+and to be loved, he beheld one possessed and convulsed by an evil
+spirit--her beauty, if beauty it could be called, the beauty of a
+fiend. Some ejaculation, which he unconsciously uttered, made Lady
+Isabel start. She saw him--saw the expression of his countenance, and
+knew that all was over.
+
+Lord Colambre, to the utter astonishment and disappointment of Lady
+Dashfort, and to the still greater mortification of Lady Isabel,
+announced this night that it was necessary he should immediately
+pursue his tour in Ireland. We pass over all the castles in the air
+which the young ladies of the family had built, and which now fell
+to the ground. We pass all the civil speeches of Lord and Lady
+Killpatrick; all the vehement remonstrances of Lady Dashfort; and the
+vain sighs of Lady Isabel. To the last moment Lady Dashfort said, "He
+will not go."
+
+But he went; and, when he was gone, Lady Dashfort exclaimed, "That man
+has escaped from me." After a pause, turning to her daughter, she,
+in the most taunting and contemptuous terms, reproached her as the
+cause of this failure, concluding by a declaration, that she must in
+future manage her own affairs, and had best settle her mind to marry
+Heathcock, since every one else was too wise to think of her.
+
+Lady Isabel of course retorted. But we leave this amiable mother and
+daughter to recriminate in appropriate terms, and we follow our hero,
+rejoiced that he has been disentangled from their snares. Those who
+have never been in similar peril will wonder much that he did not
+escape sooner; those who have ever been in like danger will wonder
+more that he escaped at all. They who are best acquainted with the
+heart or imagination of man will be most ready to acknowledge that the
+combined charms of wit, beauty, and flattery, may, for a time, suspend
+the action of right reason in the mind of the greatest philosopher, or
+operate against the resolutions of the greatest of heroes.
+
+Lord Colambre pursued his way to Halloran Castle, desirous, before
+he quitted this part of the country, to take leave of the count, who
+had shown him much civility, and for whose honourable conduct and
+generous character he had conceived a high esteem, which no little
+peculiarities of antiquated dress or manner could diminish. Indeed,
+the old-fashioned politeness of what was formerly called a well-bred
+gentleman pleased him better than the indolent or insolent selfishness
+of modern men of the ton. Perhaps, notwithstanding our hero's
+determination to turn his mind from every thing connected with the
+idea of Miss Nugent, some latent curiosity about the burial-place
+of the Nugents might have operated to make him call upon the count.
+In this hope he was disappointed; for a cross miller, to whom the
+abbey-ground was let, on which the burial-place was found, had taken
+it into his head to refuse admittance, and none could enter his
+ground.
+
+Count O'Halloran was much pleased by Lord Colambre's visit. The
+very day of his arrival at Halloran Castle, the count was going to
+Oranmore; he was dressed, and his carriage was waiting: therefore Lord
+Colambre begged that he might not detain him, and the count requested
+his lordship to accompany him.
+
+"Let me have the honour of introducing you, my lord, to a family,
+with whom, I am persuaded, you will he pleased; by whom you will be
+appreciated; and at whose house you will have an opportunity of seeing
+the best manner of living of the Irish nobility."
+
+Lord Colambre accepted the invitation, and was introduced at Oranmore.
+The dignified appearance and respectable character of Lady Oranmore;
+the charming unaffected manners of her daughters; the air of domestic
+happiness and comfort in her family; the becoming magnificence,
+free from ostentation, in her whole establishment; the respect and
+affection with which she was treated by all who approached her,
+delighted and touched Lord Colambre; the more, perhaps, because he had
+heard this family so unjustly abused; and because he saw Lady Oranmore
+and her daughter in immediate contrast with Lady Dashfort and Lady
+Isabel.
+
+A little circumstance which occurred during this visit, increased his
+interest for the family. When Lady de Cressy's little boys came in
+after dinner, one of them was playing with a seal, which had just been
+torn from a letter. The child showed it to Lord Colambre, and asked
+him to read the motto. The motto was, "Deeds, not words." His friend
+Sir James Brooke's motto, and his arms. Lord Colambre eagerly inquired
+if this family was acquainted with Sir James, and he soon perceived
+that they were not only acquainted with him, but that they were
+particularly interested about him.
+
+Lady Oranmore's second daughter, Lady Harriet, appeared particularly
+pleased by the manner in which Lord Colambre spoke of Sir James. And
+the child, who had now established himself on his lordship's knee,
+turned round, and whispered in his ear, "'Twas aunt Harriet gave me
+the seal; Sir James is to be married to aunt Harriet, and then he will
+be my uncle."
+
+Some of the principal gentry of this part of the country happened to
+dine at Oranmore on one of the days Lord Colambre was there. He
+was surprised at the discovery, that there were so many agreeable,
+well-informed, and well-bred people, of whom, while he was at
+Killpatrick's-town, he had seen nothing. He now discerned how far he
+had been deceived by Lady Dashfort.
+
+Both the count, and Lord and Lady Oranmore, who were warmly attached
+to their country, exhorted him to make himself amends for the time
+he had lost, by seeing with his own eyes, and judging with his
+own understanding, of the country and its inhabitants, during the
+remainder of the time he was to stay in Ireland. The higher classes,
+in most countries, they observed, were generally similar; but, in the
+lower class, he would find many characteristic differences.
+
+When he first came to Ireland, he had been very eager to go and see
+his father's estate, and to judge of the conduct of his agents, and
+the condition of his tenantry; but this eagerness had subsided, and
+the design had almost faded from his mind, whilst under the influence
+of Lady Dashfort's misrepresentations. A mistake, relative to some
+remittance from his banker in Dublin, obliged him to delay his journey
+a few days, and during that time, Lord and Lady Oranmore showed him
+the neat cottages, and well-attended schools, in their neighbourhood.
+They showed him not only what could be done, but what had been done,
+by the influence of great proprietors residing on their own estates,
+and encouraging the people by judicious kindness.
+
+He saw,--he acknowledged the truth of this; but it did not come home
+to his feelings now as it would have done a little while ago. His
+views and plans were altered: he had looked forward to the idea of
+marrying and settling in Ireland, and then every thing in the country
+was interesting to him; but since he had forbidden himself to think of
+a union with Miss Nugent, his mind had lost its object and its spring;
+he was not sufficiently calm to think of the public good; his thoughts
+were absorbed by his private concerns. He knew and repeated to
+himself, that he ought to visit his own and his father's estates, and
+to see the condition of his tenantry; he desired to fulfil his duties,
+but they ceased to appear to him easy and pleasurable, for hope and
+love no longer brightened his prospects.
+
+That he might see and hear more than he could as heir-apparent to
+the estate, he sent his servant to Dublin to wait for him there. He
+travelled _incognito_, wrapped himself in a shabby great-coat, and
+took the name of Evans. He arrived at a village, or, as it was called,
+a town, which bore the name of Colambre. He was agreeably surprised by
+the air of neatness and finish in the houses and in the street, which
+had a nicely swept paved footway. He slept at a small but excellent
+inn,--excellent, perhaps, because it was small, and proportioned to
+the situation and business of the place. Good supper, good bed, good
+attendance; nothing out of repair; no things pressed into services
+for which they were never intended by nature or art. No chambermaid
+slipshod, or waiter smelling of whiskey; but all tight and right, and
+every body doing their own business, and doing it as if it were their
+every day occupation, not as if it were done by particular desire, for
+the first or last time this season. The landlord came in at supper
+to inquire whether any thing was wanted. Lord Colambre took this
+opportunity of entering into conversation with him, and asked him
+to whom the town belonged, and who were the proprietors of the
+neighbouring estates.
+
+"The town belongs to an absentee lord--one Lord Clonbrony, who lives
+always beyond the seas, in London; and who had never seen the town
+since it was a town, to call a town."
+
+"And does the land in the neighbourhood belong to this Lord
+Clonbrony?"
+
+"It does, sir; he's a great proprietor, but knows nothing of his
+property, nor of us. Never set foot among us, to my knowledge, since
+I was as high as the table. He might as well be a West India planter,
+and we negroes, for any thing he knows to the contrary--has no more
+care, nor thought about us, than if he were in Jamaica, or the
+other world. Shame for him! But there's too many to keep him in
+countenance."
+
+Lord Colambre asked him what wine he could have; and then inquired who
+managed the estate for this absentee.
+
+"Mr. Burke, sir. And I don't know why God was so kind to give so good
+an agent to an absentee like Lord Clonbrony, except it was for the
+sake of us, who is under him, and knows the blessing, and is thankful
+for the same."
+
+"Very good cutlets," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"I am happy to hear it, sir. They have a right to be good, for Mrs.
+Burke sent her own cook to teach my wife to dress cutlets."
+
+"So the agent is a good agent, is he?"
+
+"He is, thanks be to Heaven! And that's what few can boast, especially
+when the landlord's living over the seas: we have the luck to have got
+a good agent over us, in Mr. Burke, who is a right bred gentleman; a
+snug little property of his own, honestly made; with the good-will,
+and good wishes, and respect of all."
+
+"Does he live in the neighbourhood?"
+
+"Just _convanient_.[1] At the end of the town; in the house on the
+hill as you passed, sir; to the left, with the trees about it, all of
+his own planting, grown too; for there's a blessing on all he does,
+and he has done a deal.--There's salad, sir, if you are _partial_ to
+it. Very fine lettuce. Mrs. Burke sent us the plants herself."
+
+[Footnote 1: _Convenient_, near.]
+
+"Excellent salad! So this Mr. Burke has done a great deal, has he? In
+what way?"
+
+"In every way, sir,--sure was not it he that had improved, and
+fostered, and _made_ the town of Colambre?--no thanks to the
+proprietor, nor to the young man whose name it bears, neither!"
+
+"Have you any porter, pray, sir?"
+
+"We have, sir, as good, I hope, as you'd drink in London, for it's the
+same you get there, I understand, from Cork. And I have some of my own
+brewing, which, they say, you could not tell the difference between it
+and Cork quality--if you'd be pleased to try.--Harry, the corkscrew."
+
+The porter of his own brewing was pronounced to be extremely good;
+and the landlord observed it was Mr. Burke encouraged him to learn to
+brew, and lent him his own brewer for a time to teach him.
+
+"Your Mr. Burke, I find, is _apropos_ to porter, _apropos_ to salad,
+_apropos_ to cutlets, _apropos_ to every thing," said Lord Colambre,
+smiling: "he seems to be a very uncommon agent I suppose you are a
+great favourite of his, and you do what you please with him."
+
+"Oh, no, sir, I could not say that; Mr. Burke does not have favourites
+any way; but, according to my deserts, I trust I stand well enough
+with him; for, in truth, he is a right good agent."
+
+Lord Colambre still pressed for particulars; he was an Englishman,
+and a stranger, he said, and did not exactly know what was meant in
+Ireland by a good agent.
+
+"Why, he is the man that will encourage the improving tenant; and show
+no favour or affection, but justice, which comes even to all, and does
+best for all at the long run; and, residing always in the country,
+like Mr. Burke, and understanding country business, and going about
+continually among the tenantry, he knows when to press for the rent,
+and when to leave the money to lay out upon the land; and, according
+as they would want it, can give a tenant a help or a check properly.
+Then no duty work called for, no presents, nor _glove money_, nor
+_sealing money_ even, taken or offered; no underhand hints about
+proposals, when land would be out of lease; but a considerable
+preference, if desarved, to the old tenant, and if not, a fair
+advertisement, and the best offer and tenant accepted: no screwing of
+the land to the highest penny, just to please the head landlord for
+the minute, and ruin him at the end, by the tenant's racking the land,
+and running off with the year's rent; nor no bargains to his own
+relations or friends did Mr. Burke ever give or grant, but all fair
+between landlord and tenant; and that's the thing that will last; and
+that's what I call the good agent."
+
+Lord Colambre poured out a glass of wine, and begged the innkeeper to
+drink the good agent's health, in which he was heartily pledged. "I
+thank your honour:--Mr. Burke's health! and long may he live over and
+amongst us; he saved me from drink and ruin, when I was once inclined
+to it, and made a man of me and all my family."
+
+The particulars we cannot stay to detail; this grateful man, however,
+took pleasure in sounding the praises of his benefactor, and in
+raising him in the opinion of the traveller.
+
+"As you've time, and are curious about such things, sir, perhaps you'd
+walk up to the school that Mrs. Burke has for the poor children; and
+look at the market house, and see how clean he takes a pride to keep
+the town: and any house in the town, from the priest to the parson's,
+that you'd go into, will give you the same character as I do of Mr.
+Burke; from the brogue to the boot, all speak the same of him, and can
+say no other. God for ever bless and keep him over us!"
+
+Upon making further inquiries, every thing the innkeeper had said
+was confirmed by different inhabitants of the village. Lord Colambre
+conversed with the shopkeepers, with the cottagers; and, without
+making any alarming inquiries, he obtained all the information he
+wanted. He went to the village-school--a pretty, cheerful house, with
+a neat garden and a play-green; met Mrs. Burke; introduced himself to
+her as a traveller. The school was shown to him: it was just what it
+ought to be--neither too much nor too little had been attempted; there
+was neither too much interference nor too little attention. Nothing
+for exhibition; care to teach well, without any vain attempt to teach
+in a wonderfully short time. All that experience proves to be useful,
+in both Dr. Bell's and Mr. Lancaster's modes of teaching, Mrs. Burke
+had adopted; leaving it to "graceless zealots" to fight about the
+rest. That no attempts at proselytism had been made, and that no
+illiberal distinctions had been made in his school, Lord Colambre was
+convinced, in the best manner possible, by seeing the children of
+protestants and catholics sitting on the same benches, learning from
+the same books, and speaking to one another with the same cordial
+familiarity. Mrs. Burke was an unaffected, sensible woman, free from
+all party prejudices, and without ostentation, desirous and capable
+of doing good. Lord Colambre was much pleased with her, and very glad
+that she invited him to tea.
+
+Mr. Burke did not come in till late; for he had been detained
+portioning out some meadows, which were of great consequence to the
+inhabitants of the town. He brought home to tea with him the clergyman
+and the priest of the parish, both of whom he had taken successful
+pains to accommodate with the land which suited their respective
+convenience. The good terms on which they seemed to be with each
+other, and with him, appeared to Lord Colambre to do honour to Mr.
+Burke. All the favourable accounts his lordship had received of this
+gentleman were confirmed by what he saw and heard. After the clergyman
+and priest had taken leave, upon Lord Colambre's expressing some
+surprise, mixed with satisfaction, at seeing the harmony which
+subsisted between them, Mr. Burke assured him that this was the
+same in many parts of Ireland. He observed, that "as the suspicion
+of ill-will never fails to produce it," so he had often found,
+that taking it for granted that no ill-will exists, has the most
+conciliating effect. He said, to please opposite parties, he used
+no arts; but he tried to make all his neighbours live comfortably
+together, by making them acquainted with each other's good qualities;
+by giving them opportunities of meeting sociably, and, from time
+to time, of doing each other little services and good offices.
+Fortunately, he had so much to do, he said, that he had no time for
+controversy. He was a plain man, made it a rule not to meddle with
+speculative points, and to avoid all irritating discussions: he was
+not to rule the country, but to live in it, and make others live as
+happily as he could.
+
+Having nothing to conceal in his character, opinions, or
+circumstances, Mr. Burke was perfectly open and unreserved in
+his manner and conversation; freely answered all the traveller's
+inquiries, and took pains to show him every thing he desired to
+see. Lord Colambre said he had thoughts of settling in Ireland; and
+declared, with truth, that he had not seen any part of the country he
+should like better to live in than this neighbourhood. He went over
+most of the estate with Mr. Burke, and had ample opportunities of
+convincing himself that this gentleman was indeed, as the innkeeper
+had described him, "a right good gentleman, and a right good agent."
+
+He paid Mr. Burke some just compliments on the state of the tenantry,
+and the neat and flourishing appearance of the town of Colambre.
+
+"What pleasure it will give the proprietor when he sees all you have
+done!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh, sir, don't speak of it!--that breaks my heart; he never has shown
+the least interest in any thing I have done: he is quite dissatisfied
+with me, because I have not ruined his tenantry, by forcing them to
+pay more than the land is worth; because I have not squeezed money
+from them, by fining down rents; and--but all this, as an Englishman,
+sir, must be unintelligible to you. The end of the matter is, that,
+attached as I am to this place and the people about me, and, as I
+hope, the tenantry are to me,--I fear I shall he obliged to give up
+the agency.
+
+"Give up the agency! How so? you must not," cried Lord Colambre, and,
+for the moment, he forgot himself; but Mr. Burke took this only for an
+expression of good-will.
+
+"I must, I am afraid," continued he. "My employer, Lord Clonbrony,
+is displeased with me--continual calls for money come upon me from
+England, and complaints of my slow remittances."
+
+"Perhaps Lord Clonbrony is in embarrassed circumstances," said Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"I never speak of my employer's affairs, sir," replied Mr. Burke; now
+for the first time assuming an air of reserve.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir--I seem to have asked an indiscreet question." Mr.
+Burke was silent.
+
+"Lest my reserve should give you a false impression, I will add, sir,"
+resumed Mr. Burke, "that I really am not acquainted with the state of
+his lordship's affairs in general. I know only what belongs to the
+estate under my own management. The principal part of his lordship's
+property, the Clonbrony estate, is under another agent, Mr.
+Garraghty."
+
+"Garraghty!" repeated Lord Colambre; "what sort of a person is he? But
+I may take it for granted, that it cannot fall to the lot of one and
+the same absentee to have two such agents as Mr. Burke."
+
+Mr. Burke bowed, and seemed pleased with the compliment, which he
+knew he deserved--but not a word did he say of Mr. Garraghty; and
+Lord Colambre, afraid of betraying himself by some other indiscreet
+question, changed the conversation.
+
+The next night the post brought a letter to Mr. Burke, from Lord
+Clonbrony, which he gave to his wife as soon as he had read it,
+saying, "See the reward of all my services!"
+
+Mrs. Burke glanced her eye over the letter, and being extremely fond
+of her husband, and sensible of his deserving far different treatment,
+burst into indignant exclamations--"See the reward of all your
+services, indeed!--What an unreasonable, ungrateful man!--So, this is
+the thanks for all you have done for Lord Clonbrony!"
+
+"He does not know what I have done, my dear. He never has seen what I
+have done."
+
+"More shame for him!"
+
+"He never, I suppose, looks over his accounts, or understands them."
+
+"More shame for him!"
+
+"He listens to foolish reports, or misrepresentations, perhaps. He is
+at a distance, and cannot find out the truth."
+
+"More shame for him!"
+
+"Take it quietly, my dear; we have the comfort of a good conscience.
+The agency may be taken from me by this lord; but the sense of having
+done my duty, no lord or man upon earth can give or take away."
+
+"Such a letter!" said Mrs. Burke, taking it up again. "Not even the
+civility to write with his own hand!--only his signature to the
+scrawl--looks as if it was written by a drunken man, does not it, Mr.
+Evans?" said she, showing the letter to Lord Colambre, who immediately
+recognized the writing of Sir Terence O'Fay.
+
+"It does not look like the hand of a gentleman, indeed," said Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"It has Lord Clonbrony's own signature, let it be what it will," said
+Mr. Burke, looking closely at it; "Lord Clonbrony's own writing the
+signature is, I am clear of that."
+
+Lord Clonbrony's son was clear of it, also; but he took care not to
+give any opinion on that point.
+
+"Oh, pray read it, sir, read it," said Mrs. Burke; "read it, pray; a
+gentleman may write a bad hand, but no _gentleman_ could write such
+a letter as that to Mr. Burke--pray read it, sir; you who have seen
+something of what he has done for the town of Colambre, and what he
+has made of the tenantry and the estate of Lord Clonbrony."
+
+Lord Colambre read, and was convinced that his father had never
+written or read the letter, but had signed it, trusting to Sir Terence
+O'Fay's having expressed his sentiments properly.
+
+    "SIR,
+
+    "As I have no farther occasion for your services, you will take
+    notice, that I hereby request you will forthwith hand over, on or
+    before the 1st of November next, your accounts, with the balance
+    due of the _hanging-gale_ (which, I understand, is more than ought
+    to be at this season) to Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., College-green,
+    Dublin, who, in future, will act as agent, and shall get, by post,
+    immediately, a power of attorney for the same, entitling him to
+    receive and manage the Colambre, as well as the Clonbrony estate,
+    for,
+
+    "Sir, your obedient humble servant,
+
+    "CLONBRONY.
+
+    "_Grosvenor-square_."
+
+Though misrepresentation, caprice, or interest, might have induced
+Lord Clonbrony to desire to change his agent, yet Lord Colambre knew
+that his father never could have announced his wishes in such a style;
+and, as he returned the letter to Mrs. Burke, he repeated, he was
+convinced that it was impossible that any nobleman could have written
+such a letter; that it must have been written by some inferior person;
+and that his lordship had signed it without reading it.
+
+"My dear, I'm sorry you showed that letter to Mr. Evans," said Mr.
+Burke; "I don't like to expose Lord Clonbrony; he is a well-meaning
+gentleman, misled by ignorant or designing people; at all events, it
+is not for us to expose him."
+
+"He has exposed himself," said Mrs. Burke; "and the world should know
+it."
+
+"He was very kind to me when I was a young man," said Mr. Burke; "we
+must not forget that now, because we are angry, my love."
+
+"Why, no, my love, to be sure we should not; but who could have
+recollected it just at this minute but yourself? And now, sir,"
+turning to Lord Colambre, "you see what kind of a man this is: now is
+it not difficult for me to bear patiently to see him ill-treated?"
+
+"Not only difficult, but impossible, I should think, madam," said Lord
+Colambre; "I know even I, who am a stranger, cannot help feeling for
+both of you, as you must see I do."
+
+"But half the world, who don't know him," continued Mrs. Burke, "when
+they hear that Lord Clonbrony's agency is taken from him, will think
+perhaps that he is to blame."
+
+"No, madam," said Lord Colambre, "that you need not fear; Mr. Burke
+may safely trust to his character: from what I have within these two
+days seen and heard, I am convinced that such is the respect he has
+deserved and acquired, that no blame can touch him."
+
+"Sir, I thank you," said Mrs. Burke, the tears coming into her eyes:
+"you can judge--you do him justice; but there are so many who don't
+know him, and who will decide without knowing any of the facts."
+
+"That, my dear, happens about every thing to every body," said Mr.
+Burke; "but we must have patience; time sets all judgments right,
+sooner or later."
+
+"But the sooner the better," said Mrs. Burke. "Mr. Evans, I hope you
+will be so kind, if ever you hear this business talked of--"
+
+"Mr. Evans lives in Wales, my dear."
+
+"But he is travelling through Ireland, my dear, and he said he should
+return to Dublin, and, you know, there he certainly will hear it
+talked of; and I hope he will do me the favour to state what he has
+seen and knows to be the truth."
+
+"Be assured that I will do Mr. Burke justice--as far as it is in my
+power," said Lord Colambre, restraining himself much, that he might
+not say more than became his assumed character. He took leave of this
+worthy family that night, and, early the next morning, departed.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he drove away from this well-regulated and
+flourishing place, "how happy I might be, settled here with such a
+wife as--her of whom I must think no more."
+
+He pursued his way to Clonbrony, his father's other estate, which was
+at a considerable distance from Colambre: he was resolved to know what
+kind of agent Mr. Nicholas Garraghty might be, who was to supersede
+Mr. Burke, and, by power of attorney, to be immediately entitled to
+receive and manage the Colambre as well as the Clonbrony estate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Towards the evening of the second day's journey, the driver of Lord
+Colambre's hackney chaise stopped, and jumping off the wooden bar, on
+which he had been seated, exclaimed, "We're come to the bad step, now.
+The bad road's beginning upon us, please your honour."
+
+"Bad road! that is very uncommon in this country. I never saw such
+fine roads as you have in Ireland."
+
+"That's true; and God bless your honour, that's sensible of that same,
+for it's not what all the foreign quality I drive have the manners to
+notice. God bless your honour! I heard you're a Welshman, but whether
+or no, I am sure you are a jantleman, any way, Welsh or other."
+
+Notwithstanding the shabby great coat, the shrewd postilion perceived,
+by our hero's language, that he was a gentleman. After much dragging
+at the horses' heads, and pushing and lifting, the carriage was got
+over what the postilion said was the worst part of the _bad step_; but
+as the road "was not yet to say good," he continued walking beside the
+carriage.
+
+"It's only bad just hereabouts, and that by accident," said he, "on
+account of there being no jantleman resident in it, nor near; but only
+a bit of an under-agent, a great little rogue, who gets his own turn
+out of the roads, and every thing else in life. I, Larry Brady, that
+am telling your honour, have a good right to know; for myself, and my
+father, and my brother, Pat Brady, the wheelwright, had once a farm
+under him; but was ruined, horse and foot, all along with him, and
+cast out, and my brother forced to fly the country, and is now working
+in some coachmaker's yard, in London; banished he is!--and here am I,
+forced to be what I am--and now that I'm reduced to drive a hack, the
+agent's a curse to me still, with these bad roads, killing my horses
+and wheels--and a shame to the country, which I think more of--Bad
+luck to him!"
+
+"I know your brother; he lives with Mr. Mordicai, in Long-Acre, in
+London."
+
+"Oh, God bless you for that!"
+
+They came at this time within view of a range of about four-and-twenty
+men and boys, sitting astride on four-and-twenty heaps of broken
+stones, on each side of the road; they were all armed with hammers,
+with which they began to pound with great diligence and noise as soon
+as they saw the carriage. The chaise passed between these batteries,
+the stones flying on all sides.
+
+"How are you, Jem?--How are you Phil?" said Larry. "But hold your
+hand, can't ye, while I stop and get the stones out of the horses'
+_feet_. So you're making up the rent, are you, for St. Dennis?"
+
+"Whoosh!" said one of the pounders, coming close to the postilion, and
+pointing his thumb back towards the chaise. "Who have you in it?"
+
+"Oh, you need not scruple, he's a very honest man;--he's only a man
+from North Wales, one Mr. Evans, an innocent jantleman, that's sent
+over to travel up and down the country, to find is there any copper
+mines in it."
+
+"How do you know, Larry?"
+
+"Because I know very well, from one that was tould, and I _seen_ him
+tax the man of the King's Head with a copper half-crown at first
+sight, which was only lead to look at, you'd think, to them that was
+not skilful in copper. So lend me a knife, till I cut a linchpin out
+of the hedge, for this one won't go far."
+
+Whilst Larry was making the linchpin, all scruple being removed, his
+question about St. Dennis and the rent was answered.
+
+"Ay, it's the rint, sure enough, we're pounding out for him; for he
+sent the driver round last night-was-eight days, to warn us Old Nick
+would be down a'-Monday, to take a sweep among us; and there's only
+six clear days, Saturday night, before the assizes, sure: so we must
+see and get it finished any way, to clear the presentment again' the
+swearing day, for he and Paddy Hart was the overseers themselves, and
+Paddy is to swear to it."
+
+"St. Dennis, is it? Then you've one great comfort and security--that
+he won't be _particular_ about the swearing; for since ever he had his
+head on his shoulders, an oath never stuck in St. Dennis's throat,
+more than in his own brother, Old Nick's."
+
+"His head upon his shoulders!" repeated Lord Colambre. "Pray, did you
+ever hear that St. Dennis's head was off his shoulders?"
+
+"It never was, plase your honour, to my knowledge."
+
+"Did you never, among your saints, hear of St. Dennis carrying his
+head in his hand?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"The _rael_ saint!" said the postilion, suddenly changing his tone,
+and looking shocked. "Oh, don't be talking that way of the saints,
+plase your honour."
+
+"Then of what St. Dennis were you talking just now?--Whom do you mean
+by St. Dennis, and whom do you call Old Nick?"
+
+"Old Nick," answered the postilion, coming close to the side of the
+carriage, and whispering,--"Old Nick, plase your honour, is our
+nickname for one Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., of College-green, Dublin,
+and St. Dennis is his brother Dennis, who is Old Nick's brother in all
+things, and would fain be a saint, only he's a sinner. He lives just
+by here, in the country, under-agent to Lord Clonbrony, as Old Nick is
+upper-agent--it's only a joke among the people, that are not fond of
+them at all. Lord Clonbrony himself is a very good jantleman, if he
+was not an absentee, resident in London, leaving us and every thing to
+the likes of them."
+
+Lord Colambre listened with all possible composure and attention;
+but the postilion, having now made his linchpin of wood, and _fixed
+himself_, he mounted his bar, and drove on, saying to Lord Colambre,
+as he looked at the road-makers, "Poor _cratures_! They couldn't keep
+their cattle out of pound, or themselves out of jail, but by making
+this road."
+
+"Is road-making, then, a very profitable business!--Have road-makers
+higher wages than other men in this part of the country?"
+
+"It is, and it is not--they have, and they have not--plase your
+honour."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+"No, beca-ase you're an Englishman--that is, a Welshman--beg your
+honour's pardon. But I'll tell you how that is, and I'll go slow over
+these broken stones--for I can't go fast: it is where there's no
+jantleman over these under-agents, as here, they do as they plase;
+and when they have set the land they get rasonable from the head
+landlords, to poor cratures at a rackrent, that they can't live and
+pay the rent, they say--"
+
+"Who says?"
+
+"Them under-agents, that have no conscience at all. Not all--but
+_some_, like Dennis, says, says he, 'I'll get you a road to make
+up the rent:' that is, plase your honour, the agent gets them a
+presentment for so many perches of road from the grand jury, at twice
+the price that would make the road. And tenants are, by this means, as
+they take the road by contract, at the price given by the county, able
+to pay all they get by the job, over and above potatoes and salt, back
+again to the agent, for the arrear on the land. Do I make your honour
+_sensible_[1]?"
+
+[Footnote 1: Do I make you understand?]
+
+"You make me much more sensible than I ever was before," said Lord
+Colambre: "but is not this cheating the county?"
+
+"Well, and suppose," replied Larry, "is not it all for my good, and
+yours too, plase your honour?" said Larry, looking very shrewdly.
+
+"My good!" said Lord Colambre, startled. "What have I to do with it?"
+
+"Haven't you to do with the roads as well as me, when you're
+travelling upon them, plase your honour? And sure, they'd never be
+got made at all, if they wern't made this ways; and it's the best way
+in the wide world, and the finest roads we have. And when the _rael_
+jantleman's resident in the country, there's no jobbing can be,
+because they're then the leading men on the grand jury; and these
+journeymen jantlemen are then kept in order, and all's right."
+
+Lord Colambre was much surprised at Larry's knowledge of the manner in
+which county business is managed, as well as by his shrewd good sense:
+he did not know that this is not uncommon in his rank of life in
+Ireland.
+
+Whilst Larry was speaking, Lord Colambre was looking from side to side
+at the desolation of the prospect.
+
+"So this is Lord Clonbrony's estate, is it?"
+
+"Ay, all you see, and as far and farther than you can see. My Lord
+Clonbrony wrote, and ordered plantations here, time back; and enough
+was paid to labourers for ditching and planting. And, what next?--Why,
+what did the under-agent do, but let the goats in through gaps, left
+o' purpose, to bark the trees, and then the trees was all banished.
+And next, the cattle was let in trespassing, and winked at, till the
+land was all poached: and then the land was waste, and cried down:
+and Saint Dennis wrote up to Dublin to Old Nick, and he over to the
+landlord, how none would take it, or bid any thing at all for it: so
+then it fell to him a cheap bargain. Oh, the tricks of them! who knows
+'em, if I don't?" Presently, Lord Colambre's attention was roused
+again, by seeing a man running, as if for his life, across a bog, near
+the roadside: he leaped over the ditch, and was upon the road in an
+instant. He seemed startled at first, at the sight of the carriage;
+but, looking at the postilion, Larry nodded, and he smiled and said,
+"All's safe!" "Pray, my good friend, may I ask what that is you have
+on your shoulder?" said Lord Colambre. "_Plase_ your honour, it
+is only a private still, which I've just caught out yonder in the
+bog; and I'm carrying it in with all speed to the gauger, to make a
+discovery, that the jantleman may benefit by the reward: I expect
+he'll make me a compliment."
+
+"Get up behind, and I'll give you a lift," said the postilion.
+
+"Thank you kindly--but better my legs!" said the man; and, turning
+down a lane, off he ran again, as fast as possible.
+
+"Expect he'll make me a compliment," repeated Lord Colambre, "to make
+a discovery!"
+
+"Ay, plase your honour; for the law is," said Larry, "that, if an
+unlawful still, that is, a still without licence for whiskey, is
+found, half the benefit of the fine that's put upon the parish goes to
+him that made the discovery: that's what that man is after; for he's
+an informer."
+
+"I should not have thought, from what I see of you," said Lord
+Colambre, smiling, "that you, Larry, would have offered an informer a
+lift."
+
+"Oh, plase your honour!" said Larry, smiling archly, "would not I give
+the laws a lift, when in my power?"
+
+Scarcely had he uttered these words, and scarcely was the informer out
+of sight, when, across the same bog, and over the ditch, came another
+man, a half kind of gentleman, with a red silk handkerchief about his
+neck, and a silver-handled whip in his hand.
+
+"Did you see any man pass the road, friend?" said he to the postilion.
+
+"Oh! who would I see? or why would I tell?" replied Larry in a sulky
+tone.
+
+"Come, come, be smart!" said the man with the silver whip, offering
+to put half-a-crown into the postilion's hand; "point me which way he
+took."
+
+"I'll have none o' your silver! don't touch me with it!" said Larry.
+"But, if you'll take my advice, you'll strike across back, and follow
+the fields, out to Killogenesawce."
+
+The exciseman set out again immediately, in an opposite direction to
+that which the man who carried the still had taken. Lord Colambre now
+perceived that the pretended informer had been running off to conceal
+a still of his own.
+
+"The gauger, plase your honour," said Larry, looking back at Lord
+Colambre; "the gauger is a _still-hunting_!"
+
+"And you put him on a wrong scent!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Sure, I told him no lie: I only said, 'If you'll take my advice.' And
+why was he such a fool as to take my advice, when I wouldn't take his
+fee?"
+
+"So this is the way, Larry, you give a lift to the laws!"
+
+"If the laws would give a lift to me, plase your honour, may be I'd do
+as much by them. But it's only these revenue laws I mean; for I never,
+to my knowledge, broke another commandment: but it's what no honest
+poor man among his neighbours would scruple to take--a glass of
+_potsheen_."
+
+"A glass of what, in the name of Heaven?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"_Potsheen_, plase your honour;--beca-ase it's the little whiskey
+that's made in the private still or pot; and _sheen_, because it's a
+fond word for whatsoever we'd like, and for what we have little of,
+and would make much of: after taking the glass of it, no man could go
+and inform to ruin the _cratures_; for they all shelter on that estate
+under favour of them that go shares, and make rent of 'em--but I'd
+never inform again' 'em. And, after all, if the truth was known, and
+my Lord Clonbrony should be informed against, and presented, for it's
+his neglect is the bottom of the nuisance--"
+
+"I find all the blame is thrown upon this poor Lord Clonbrony," said
+Lord Colambre.
+
+"Because he is absent," said Larry: "it would not be so was he
+_prisint_. But your honour was talking to me about the laws. Your
+honour's a stranger in this country, and astray about them things.
+Sure, why would I mind the laws about whiskey, more than the quality,
+or the _jidge_ on the bench?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why! was not I _prisint_ in the court-house myself, when the _jidge_
+was on the bench judging a still, and across the court came in one
+with a sly jug of _potsheen_ for the _jidge_ himself, who _prefarred_
+it, when the right thing, to claret; and when I _seen_ that, by the
+laws! a man might talk himself dumb to me after again' potsheen, or in
+favour of the revenue, or revenue officers. And there they may go on,
+with their gaugers, and their surveyors, and their supervisors, and
+their watching officers, and their coursing officers, setting 'em
+one after another, or one over the head of another, or what way they
+will--we can baffle and laugh at 'em. Didn't I know, next door to our
+inn, last year, ten _watching officers_ set upon one distiller, and
+he was too cunning for them; and it will always be so, while ever
+the people think it no sin. No, till then, not all their dockets and
+permits signify a rush, or a turf. And the gauging rod, even! who
+fears it? They may spare that rod, for it will never mend the child."
+
+How much longer Larry's dissertation on the distillery laws would have
+continued, had not his ideas been interrupted, we cannot guess; but he
+saw he was coming to a town, and he gathered up the reins, and plied
+the whip, ambitious to make a figure in the eyes of its inhabitants.
+
+This _town_ consisted of one row of miserable huts, sunk beneath the
+side of the road, the mud walls crooked in every direction; some of
+them opening in wide cracks, or zigzag fissures, from top to bottom,
+as if there had just been an earthquake--all the roofs sunk in various
+places--thatch off, or overgrown with grass--no chimneys, the smoke
+making its way through a hole in the roof, or rising in clouds from
+the top of the open door--dunghills before the doors, and green
+standing puddles--squalid children, with scarcely rags to cover them,
+gazing at the carriage.
+
+"Nugent's town," said the postilion, "once a snug place, when my Lady
+Clonbrony was at home to white-wash it, and the like."
+
+As they drove by, some men and women put their heads through the smoke
+out of the cabins; pale women, with long, black, or yellow locks--men
+with countenances and figures bereft of hope and energy.
+
+"Wretched, wretched people!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Then it's not their fault, neither," said Larry; "for my uncle's one
+of them, and as thriving and hard a working man as could be in all
+Ireland, he was, _afore_ he was tramped under foot, and his heart
+broke. I was at his funeral, this time last year; and for it, may the
+agent's own heart, if he has any, burn in--"
+
+Lord Colambre interrupted this denunciation by touching Larry's
+shoulder, and asking some question, which, as Larry did not distinctly
+comprehend, he pulled up the reins, and the various noises of the
+vehicle stopped suddenly.
+
+"I did not hear well, plase your honour."
+
+"What are those people?" pointing to a man and woman, curious figures,
+who had come out of a cabin, the door of which the woman, who came out
+last, locked, and carefully hiding the key in the thatch, turned her
+back upon the man, and they walked away in different directions: the
+woman bending under a huge bundle on her back, covered by a yellow
+petticoat turned over her shoulders; from the top of this bundle the
+head of an infant appeared; a little boy, almost naked, followed her
+with a kettle, and two girls, one of whom could but just walk, held
+her hand and clung to her ragged petticoat; forming, all together, a
+complete group of beggars. The woman stopped, and looked after the
+man.
+
+The man was a Spanish-looking figure, with gray hair; a wallet hung
+at the end of a stick over one shoulder, a reaping-hook in the other
+hand: he walked off stoutly, without ever casting a look behind him.
+
+"A kind harvest to you, John Dolan," cried the postilion, "and success
+to ye, Winny, with the quality. There's a luck-penny for the child
+to begin with," added he, throwing the child a penny. "Your honour,
+they're only poor _cratures_ going up the country to beg, while the
+man goes over to reap the harvest in England. Nor this would not be,
+neither, if the lord was in it to give 'em _employ_. That man, now,
+was a good and willing _slave_ in his day: I mind him working with
+myself in the shrubberies at Clonbrony Castle, when I was a boy--but
+I'll not be detaining your honour, now the road's better."
+
+The postilion drove on at a good rate for some time, till he came to
+a piece of the road freshly covered with broken stones, where he was
+obliged again to go slowly.
+
+They overtook a string of cars, on which were piled up high, beds,
+tables, chairs, trunks, boxes, band-boxes.
+
+"How are you, Finnucan? you've fine loading there--from Dublin, are
+you?"
+
+"From Bray."
+
+"And what news?"
+
+"_Great_ news and bad for Old Nick, or some belonging to him, thanks
+be to Heaven! for myself hates him."
+
+"What's happened him?"
+
+"His sister's husband that's failed, the great grocer that was, the
+man that had the wife that _ow'd_[1] the fine house near Bray, that
+they got that time the parliament _flitted_, and that I seen in her
+carriage flaming--well, it's all out; they're all _done up_."
+
+[Footnote 1: Owned.]
+
+"Tut! is that all? then they'll thrive, and set up again grander than
+ever, I'll engage: have not they Old Nick for an attorney at their
+back? a good warrant?"
+
+"Oh, trust him for that! he won't go _security_, nor pay a farthing,
+for his _shister_, nor wouldn't, was she his father; I heard him
+telling her so, which I could not have done in his place, at that
+time, and she crying as if her heart would break, and I standing by in
+the parlour."
+
+"The _neger_[1]! And did he speak that way, and you by?"
+
+[Footnote 1: _Neger_, quasi negro; meo periculo, _niggard_]
+
+"Ay, did he; and said, 'Mrs. Raffarty,' says he, 'it's all your own
+fault; you're an extravagant fool, and ever was, and I wash my hands
+of you.' that was the word he spoke; and she answered, and said, 'And
+mayn't I send the beds and blankets?' said she, 'and what I can, by
+the cars, out of the way of the creditors, to Clonbrony Castle? and
+won't you let me hide there, from the shame, till the bustle's over?'
+'You may do that,' says he, 'for what I care; but remember,' says he,
+'that I've the first claim to them goods;' and that's all he would
+grant. So they are coming down all o' Monday--them are the band-boxes,
+and all--to settle it; and faith it was a pity of her! to hear her
+sobbing, and to see her own brother speak and look so hard! and she a
+lady."
+
+"Sure, she's not a lady born, no more than himself," said Larry; "but
+that's no excuse for him. His heart's as hard as that stone," said
+Larry; "and my own people knew that long ago, and now his own know it:
+and what right have we to complain, since he's as bad to his own flesh
+and blood as to us?"
+
+With this consolation, and with a "God speed you," given to the
+carman, Larry was driving off; but the carman called to him, and
+pointed to a house, at the corner of which, on a high pole, was
+swinging an iron sign of three horse-shoes, set in a crooked frame,
+and at the window hung an empty bottle, proclaiming whiskey within.
+
+"Well, I don't care if I do," said Larry; "for I've no other comfort
+left me in life now. I beg your honour's pardon, sir, for a minute,"
+added he, throwing the reins into the carriage to Lord Colambre, as he
+leaped down. All remonstrance and power of lungs to reclaim him were
+vain! He darted into the whiskey-house with the carman--re-appeared
+before Lord Colambre could accomplish getting out, remounted his seat,
+and, taking the reins, "I thank your honour," said he; "and I'll bring
+you into Clonbrony before it's pitch-dark, though it's nightfall, and
+that's four good miles, but 'a spur in the head is worth two in the
+heel.'"
+
+Larry, to demonstrate the truth of his favourite axiom, drove off at
+such a furious rate over great stones left in the middle of the road
+by carmen, who had been driving in the gudgeons of their axletrees to
+hinder them from lacing[1], that Lord Colambre thought life and limb
+in imminent danger; and feeling that, at all events, the jolting and
+bumping was past endurance, he had recourse to Larry's shoulder, and
+shook and pulled, and called to him to go slower, but in vain: at
+last the wheel struck full against a heap of stones at a turn of the
+road, the wooden linchpin came off, and the chaise was overset: Lord
+Colambre was a little bruised, but glad to escape without fractured
+bones.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Opening_; perhaps, from _lacher_, to loosen.]
+
+"I beg your honour's pardon," said Larry, completely sobered; "I'm as
+glad as the best pair of boots ever I see, to see your honour nothing
+the worse for it. It was the linchpin, and them barrows of loose
+stones, that ought to be fined any way, if there was any justice in
+the country."
+
+"The pole is broke; how are we to get on?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Murder! murder!--and no smith nearer than Clonbrony; nor rope even.
+It's a folly to talk, we can't get to Clonbrony, nor stir a step
+backward or forward the night."
+
+"What, then, do you mean to leave me all night in the middle of the
+road?" cried Lord Colambre, quite exasperated.
+
+"Is it me? plase your honour. I would not use any jantleman so ill,
+_barring_ I could do no other," replied the postilion, coolly: then,
+leaping across the ditch, or, as he called it, the _gripe_ of the
+ditch, he scrambled up, and while he was scrambling, said, "If your
+honour will lend me your hand, till I pull you up the back of the
+ditch, the horses will stand while we go. I'll find you as pretty
+a lodging for the night, with a widow of a brother of my shister's
+husband that was, as ever you slept in your life; for Old Nick or St.
+Dennis has not found 'em out yet: and your honour will he, no compare,
+snugger than at the inn at Clonbrony, which has no roof, the devil a
+stick. But where will I get your honour's hand; for it's coming on so
+dark, I can't see rightly. There, you're up now safe. Yonder candle's
+the house."
+
+"Go and ask whether they can give us a night's lodging."
+
+"Is it _ask_? when I see the light!--Sure they'd be proud to give the
+traveller all the beds in the house, let alone one. Take care of the
+potatoe furrows, that's all, and follow me straight. I'll go on to
+meet the dog, who knows me, and might be strange to your honour."
+
+"Kindly welcome," were the first words Lord Colambre heard when he
+approached the cottage; and "kindly welcome" was in the sound of the
+voice and in the countenance of the old woman who came out, shading
+her rush-candle from the wind, and holding it so as to light the path.
+When he entered the cottage, he saw a cheerful fire and a neat pretty
+young woman making it blaze; she curtsied, put her spinning-wheel out
+of the way, set a stool by the fire for the stranger, and repeating,
+in a very low tone of voice, "Kindly welcome, sir," retired.
+
+"Put down some eggs, dear, there's plenty in the bowl," said the old
+woman, calling to her; "I'll do the bacon. Was not we lucky to be
+up?--The boy's gone to bed, but waken him," said she, turning to the
+postilion; "and he'll help you with the chay, and put your horses in
+the bier for the night."
+
+No: Larry chose to go on to Clonbrony with the horses, that he might
+get the chaise mended betimes for his honour. The table was set; clean
+trenchers, hot potatoes, milk, eggs, bacon, and "kindly welcome to
+all."
+
+"Set the salt, dear; and the butter, love: where's your head, Grace,
+dear."
+
+"Grace!" repeated Lord Colambre, looking up: and, to apologize for
+his involuntary exclamation, he added, "Is Grace a common name in
+Ireland?"
+
+"I can't say, plase your honour; but it was give her by Lady
+Clonbrony, from a niece of her own, God bless her! and a very kind
+lady she was to us and to all when she was living in it; but those
+times are gone past," said the old woman, with a sigh. The young woman
+sighed too; and, sitting down by the fire, began to count the notches
+in a little bit of stick, which she held in her hand; and after she
+had counted them, sighed again.
+
+"But don't be sighing, Grace, now," said the old woman; "sighs is bad
+sauce for the traveller's supper; and we won't be troubling him with
+more," added she, turning to Lord Colambre with a smile.
+
+"Is your egg done to your liking?"
+
+"Perfectly, thank you."
+
+"Then I wish it was a chicken, for your sake, which it should have
+been, and roast too, had we time. I wish I could see you eat another
+egg."
+
+"No more, thank you, my good lady; I never ate a better supper, nor
+received a more hospitable welcome."
+
+"Oh, the welcome is all we have to offer."
+
+"May I ask what that is?" said Lord Colambre, looking at the notched
+stick, which the young woman held in her hand, and on which her eyes
+were still fixed.
+
+"It's a _tally_, plase your honour. Oh, you're a foreigner;--it's
+the way the labourers do keep the account of the day's work with the
+overseer, the bailiff; a notch for every day the bailiff makes on his
+stick, and the labourer the like on his stick, to tally; and when we
+come to make up the account, it's by the notches we go. And there's
+been a mistake, and is a dispute here between our boy and the
+overseer: and she was counting the boy's tally, that's in bed, tired,
+for in truth he's overworked."
+
+"Would you want any thing more from me, mother?" said the girl, rising
+and turning her head away.
+
+"No, child; get away, for your heart's full."
+
+She went instantly.
+
+"Is the boy her brother?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"No; he's her bachelor," said the old woman, lowering her voice.
+
+"Her bachelor?"
+
+"That is, her sweetheart: for she is not my daughter, though you heard
+her call me mother. The boy's my son; but I am _afeard_ they must give
+it up; for they're too poor, and the times is hard, and the agent's
+harder than the times: there's two of them, the under and the upper;
+and they grind the substance of one between them, and then blow one
+away like chaff; but we'll not be talking of that, to spoil your
+honour's night's rest. The room's ready, and here's the rushlight."
+
+She showed him into a very small but neat room.
+
+"What a comfortable-looking bed!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Ah, these red check curtains," said she, letting them down; "these
+have lasted well: they were give me by a good friend, now far away,
+over the seas--my Lady Clonbrony; and made by the prettiest hands ever
+you see, her niece's, Miss Grace Nugent's, and she a little child that
+time; sweet love! all gone!"
+
+The old woman wiped a tear from her eye, and Lord Colambre did what
+he could to appear indifferent. She set down the candle, and left the
+room; Lord Colambre went to bed, but he lay awake,
+
+  "Revolving sweet and bitter thoughts"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+The kettle was on the fire, tea-things set, every thing prepared for
+her guest by the hospitable hostess, who thinking the gentleman would
+take tea to his breakfast, had sent off a _gossoon_ by the _first
+light_ to Clonbrony, for an ounce of tea, a _quarter of sugar_, and
+a loaf of white bread; and there was on the little table good cream,
+milk, butter, eggs--all the promise of an excellent breakfast. It was
+a _fresh_ morning, and there was a pleasant fire on the hearth, neatly
+swept up. The old woman was sitting in her chimney corner, behind a
+little skreen of whitewashed wall, built out into the room, for the
+purpose of keeping those who sat at the fire from the _blast of the
+door_. There was a loop-hole in this wall, to let the light in, just
+at the height of a person's head, who was sitting near the chimney.
+The rays of the morning sun now came through it, shining across the
+face of the old woman, as she sat knitting: Lord Colambre thought
+he had seldom seen a more agreeable countenance, intelligent eyes,
+benevolent smile, a natural expression of cheerfulness, subdued by age
+and misfortune.
+
+"A good morrow to you kindly, sir, and I hope you got the night
+well?--A fine day for us this holyday morning; my Grace is gone to
+early prayers, so your honour will be content with an old woman to
+make your tea. Oh, let me put in plenty of tea, for it will never be
+good; and if your honour takes stirabout, an old hand will engage to
+make that to your liking, any way; for by great happiness, we have
+what will just answer for you of the nicest meal the miller made my
+Grace a compliment of, last time she went to the mill."
+
+Lord Colambre observed, that this miller had good taste; and his
+lordship paid some compliment to Grace's beauty, which the old woman
+received with a smile, but turned off the conversation.
+
+"Then," said she, looking out of the window, "is not that there a nice
+little garden the boy dug for her and me, at his breakfast and dinner
+hours? Ah! he's a good boy, and good warrant to work; and the good son
+_desarves_ the good wife, and it's he that will make the good husband;
+and with my good-will he, and no other, shall get her, and with her
+good-will the same; and I bid 'em keep up their heart, and hope the
+best, for there's no use in fearing the worst till it comes."
+
+Lord Colambre wished very much to know the worst. "If you would not
+think a stranger impertinent for asking," said he, "and if it would
+not be painful to you to explain."
+
+"Oh, impertinent, your honour! it's very kind--and, sure, none's a
+stranger to one's heart, that feels for one. And for myself, I can
+talk of my troubles without thinking of them. So, I'll tell you
+all--if the worst comes to the worst--all that is, is, that we must
+quit, and give up this little snug place, and house, and farm, and
+all, to the agent--which would be hard on us, and me a widow, when my
+husband did all that is done to the land; and if your honour was a
+judge, you could see, if you stepped out, there has been a deal done,
+and built the house, and all--but it plased Heaven to take him. Well,
+he was too good for this world, and I'm satisfied--I'm not saying
+a word again' that--I trust we shall meet in heaven, and be happy,
+surely. And, meantime, here's my boy, that will make me as happy as
+ever widow was on earth--if the agent will let him. And I can't think
+the agent, though they that know him best call him Old Nick, would be
+so wicked to take from us that which he never gave us. The good lord
+himself granted us the _lase_; the life's dropped, and the years is
+out; but we had a promise of renewal in writing from the landlord. God
+bless him! if he was not away, he'd be a good gentleman, and we'd be
+happy and safe."
+
+"But if you have a promise in writing of a renewal, surely you are
+safe, whether your landlord is absent or present."
+
+"Ah, no! that makes a great _differ_, when there's no eye or hand over
+the agent. I would not wish to speak or think ill of him or any man;
+but was he an angel, he could not know to do the tenantry justice, the
+way he is living always in Dublin, and coming down to the country only
+the receiving days, to make a sweep among us, and gather up the rents
+in a hurry, and he in such haste back to town--can just stay to count
+over our money, and give the receipts. Happy for us if we get that
+same!--but can't expect he should have time to see or hear us, or mind
+our improvements, any more than listen to our complaints! Oh, there's
+great excuse for the gentleman, if that was any comfort for us," added
+she, smiling.
+
+"But, if he does not live amongst you himself, has not he some under
+agent, who lives in the country?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"He has so."
+
+"And he should know your concerns: does he mind them?"
+
+"He should know--he should know better; but as to minding our
+concerns, your honour knows," continued she, smiling again, "every one
+in this world must mind their own concerns: and it would be a good
+world, if it was even so. There's a great deal in all things, that
+don't appear at first sight. Mr. Dennis wanted Grace for a wife for
+his bailiff, but she would not have him; and Mr. Dennis was very sweet
+to her himself--but Grace is rather high with him as proper, and he
+has a grudge _again'_ us ever since. Yet, indeed, there," added she,
+after another pause, "as you say, I think we are safe; for we have
+that memorandum in writing, with a pencil, given under his own hand,
+on the back of the _lase_ to me, by the same token when my good lord
+had his foot on the step of the coach, going away; and I'll never
+forget the smile of her that got that good turn done for me, Miss
+Grace. And just when she was going to England and London, and, young
+as she was, to have the thought to stop and turn to the likes of me!
+Oh, then, if you could see her, and know her, as I did! _That_ was the
+comforting angel upon earth--look, and voice, and heart, and all! Oh,
+that she was here present, this minute!--But did you scald yourself?"
+said the widow to Lord Colambre. "Sure you must have scalded yourself;
+for you poured the kettle straight over your hand, and it boiling!--O
+_deear_; to think of so young a gentleman's hand shaking so like my
+own."
+
+Luckily, to prevent her pursuing her observations from the hand to the
+face, which might have betrayed more than Lord Colambre wished she
+should know, her own Grace came in at this instant--"There it's for
+you, safe, mother dear--the _lase_!" said Grace, throwing a packet
+into her lap. The old woman lifted up her hands to heaven, with the
+lease between them--"Thanks be to Heaven!" Grace passed on, and
+sunk down on the first seat she could reach. Her face flushed, and,
+looking much fatigued, she loosened the strings of her bonnet and
+cloak--"Then, I'm tired;" but, recollecting herself, she rose, and
+curtsied to the gentleman.
+
+"What tired ye, dear?"
+
+"Why, after prayers, we had to go--for the agent was not at prayers,
+nor at home for us, when we called--we had to go all the way up to the
+castle; and there, by great good luck, we found Mr. Nick Garraghty
+himself, come from Dublin, and the _lase_ in his hands; and he sealed
+it up that way, and handed it to me very civil. I never saw him so
+good--though he offered me a glass of spirits, which was not manners
+to a decent young woman, in a morning--as Brian noticed after. Brian
+would not take any either, nor never does. We met Mr. Dennis and the
+driver coming home; and he says, the rent must be paid to-morrow, or,
+instead of renewing, he'll seize, and sell all. Mother dear, I would
+have dropped with the walk, but for Brian's arm."
+
+"It's a wonder, dear, what makes you so weak, that used to be so
+strong."
+
+"But if we can sell the cow for any thing at all to Mr. Dennis, since
+his eye is set upon her, better let him have her mother, dear; and
+that and my yarn, which Mrs. Garraghty says she'll allow me for, will
+make up the rent--and Brian need not talk of America. But it must be
+in golden guineas, the agent will take the rent no other way; and you
+won't get a guinea for less than five shillings. Well, even so, it's
+easy selling my new gown to one that covets it, and that will give me
+in exchange the price of the gold; or, suppose that would not do, add
+this cloak--it's handsome, and I know a friend would be glad to take
+it, and I'd part it as ready as look at it--Any thing at all, sure,
+rather than that he should be forced to talk of emigrating: or, oh,
+worse again, listing for the bounty--to save us from the cant or the
+jail, by going to the hospital, or his grave, maybe--oh, mother!"
+
+"Oh, child! This is what makes you weak, fretting. Don't be that way.
+Sure here's the _lase_, and that's good comfort; and the soldiers will
+be gone out of Clonbrony to-morrow, and then that's off your mind.
+And as to America, it's only talk--I won't let him, he's dutiful; and
+would sooner sell my dresser, and down to my bed, dear, than see you
+sell any thing of yours, love. Promise me you won't. Why didn't Brian
+come home all the way with you, Grace?"
+
+"He would have seen me home," said Grace, "only that he went up a
+piece of the mountain for some stones or ore for the gentleman,--for
+he had the manners to think of him this morning, though, shame for me,
+I had not, when I come in, or I would not have told you all this, and
+he by. See, there _he_ is, mother."
+
+Brian came in very hot, out of breath, with his hat full of stones.
+"Good morrow to your honour. I was in bed last night; and sorry they
+did not call me up to be of _sarvice_. Larry was telling us, this
+morning, your honour's from Wales, and looking for mines in Ireland,
+and I heard talk that there was one on our mountain--may be, you'd be
+_curous_ to see, and so I brought the best I could, but I'm no judge."
+
+"Nor I, neither," thought Lord Colambre; but he thanked the young man,
+and determined to avail himself of Larry's misconception of false
+report; examined the stones very gravely, and said, "This promises
+well. Lapis caliminaris, schist, plum-pudding stone, rhomboidal,
+crystal, blend, garrawachy," and all the strange names he could think
+of, jumbling them together at a venture.
+
+"The _lase_!" cried the young man, with joy sparkling in his eyes, as
+his mother held up the packet. "Lend me the papers."
+
+He cracked the seals, and taking off the cover--"Ay, I know it's the
+_lase_ sure enough. But stay, where's the memorandum?"
+
+"It's there, sure," said his mother, "where my lord's pencil writ it.
+I don't read. Grace, dear, look."
+
+The young man put it into her hands, and stood without power to utter
+a syllable.
+
+"It's not here! It's gone!--no sign of it."
+
+"Gracious Heaven! that can't be," said the old woman, putting on her
+spectacles; "let me see,'--I remember the very spot."
+
+"It's taken away--it's rubbed clean out!--Oh, wasn't I fool?--But who
+could have thought he'd be the villain!"
+
+The young man seemed neither to see nor hear, but to be absorbed
+in thought. Grace, with her eyes fixed upon him, grew as pale as
+death.--"He'll go--he's gone."
+
+"She's gone!" cried Lord Colambre, and the mother just caught her in
+her arms as she was falling.
+
+"The chaise is ready, plase your honour," said Larry, coming into the
+room. "Death! what's here?"
+
+"Air!--she's coming to," said the young man--"Take a drop of water, my
+own Grace."
+
+"Young man, I promise you," cried Lord Colambre, (speaking in the tone
+of a master,) striking the young man's shoulder, who was kneeling at
+Grace's feet, but recollecting and restraining himself, he added, in
+a quiet voice--"I promise you I shall never forget the hospitality I
+have received in this house, and I am sorry to be obliged to leave you
+in distress."
+
+These words uttered with difficulty, he hurried out of the house, and
+into his carriage. "Go back to them," said he to the postilion: "go
+back and ask whether, if I should stay a day or two longer in this
+country, they would let me return at night and lodge with them. And
+here, man, stay, take this," putting money into his hands, "for the
+good woman of the house."
+
+The postilion went in, and returned.
+
+"She won't at all--I knew she would not."
+
+"Well, I am obliged to her for the night's lodging she did give me; I
+have no right to expect more."
+
+"What is it?--Sure she bid me tell you,--'and welcome to the lodging;
+for,' said she, 'he's a kind-hearted gentleman;' but here's the money;
+it's that I was telling you she would not have at all."
+
+"Thank you. Now, my good friend, Larry, drive me to Clonbrony, and do
+not say another word, for I'm not in a talking humour."
+
+Larry nodded, mounted, and drove to Clonbrony. Clonbrony was now a
+melancholy scene. The houses, which had been built in a better style
+of architecture than usual, were in a ruinous condition; the dashing
+was off the walls, no glass in the windows, and many of the roofs
+without slates. For the stillness of the place Lord Colambre in some
+measure accounted, by considering that it was holiday; therefore, of
+course, all the shops were shut up, and all the people at prayers. He
+alighted at the inn, which completely answered Larry's representation
+of it. Nobody to be seen but a drunken waiter, who, as well as he
+could articulate, informed Lord Colambre, that "his mistress was in
+her bed since Thursday-was-a-week; the hostler at the _wash-woman's_,
+and the cook at second prayers."
+
+Lord Colambre walked to the church, but the church gate was locked and
+broken--a calf, two pigs, and an ass, in the church-yard; and several
+boys (with more of skin apparent than clothes) were playing at pitch
+and toss upon a tombstone, which, upon nearer observation, he saw was
+the monument of his own family. One of the boys came to the gate,
+and told Lord Colambre, "There was no use in going into the church,
+because there was no church there; nor had not been this twelvemonth;
+beca-ase there was no curate: and the parson was away always, since
+the lord was at home--that is, was not at home--he nor the family."
+
+Lord Colambre returned to the inn, where, after waiting a considerable
+time, he gave up the point--he could not get any dinner--and in
+the evening he walked out again into the town. He found several
+public-houses, however, open, which were full of people; all of them
+as busy and as noisy as possible. He observed that the interest was
+created by an advertisement of several farms on the Clonbrony estate,
+to be set by Nicholas Garraghty, Esq. He could not help smiling at
+his being witness _incognito_ to various schemes for outwitting the
+agents, and defrauding the landlord; but, on a sudden, the scene was
+changed; a boy ran in, crying out, that "St. Dennis was riding down
+the hill into the town; and, if you would not have the licence," said
+the boy, "take care of yourself, Brannagan." "_If you wouldn't have
+the licence_," Lord Colambre perceived, by what followed, meant, "_If
+you have not a licence_." Brannagan immediately snatched an untasted
+glass of whiskey from a customer's lips (who cried, murder!), gave
+it and the bottle he held in his hand to his wife, who swallowed the
+spirits, and ran away with the bottle and glass into some back hole;
+whilst the bystanders laughed, saying, "Well thought of, Peggy!"
+
+"Clear out all of you at the back door, for the love of Heaven, if
+you wouldn't be the ruin of me," said the man of the house, setting
+a ladder to a corner of the shop. "Phil, hoist me up the keg to the
+loft," added he, running up the ladder; "and one of _yees_ step up
+street, and give Rose McGivney notice, for she's selling, too."
+
+The keg was hoisted up; the ladder removed; the shop cleared of
+all the customers; the shutters shut; the door barred; the counter
+cleaned.
+
+"Lift your stones, sir, if you plase," said the wife, as she rubbed
+the counter, "and say nothing of what you _seen_ at all; but that
+you're a stranger and a traveller seeking a lodging, if you're
+questioned, or waiting to see Mr. Dennis. There's no smell of whiskey
+in it now, is there, sir?"
+
+Lord Colambre could not flatter her so far as to say this--he could
+only hope no one would perceive it.
+
+"Oh, and if he would, the smell of whiskey was nothing," as the wife
+affirmed, "for it was every where in nature, and no proof again' any
+one, good or bad."
+
+"Now, St. Dennis may come when he will, or Old Nick himself!" So she
+tied up a blue handkerchief over her head, and had the toothache "very
+bad."
+
+Lord Colambre turned to look for the man of the house.
+
+"He's safe in bed," said the wife.
+
+"In bed! When?"
+
+"Whilst you turned your head, while I was tying the handkerchief over
+my face. Within the room, look, he is snug."
+
+And there he was in bed certainly, and his clothes on the chest.
+
+A knock, a loud knock at the door.
+
+"St. Dennis himself!--Stay, till I unbar the door," said the woman;
+and, making a great difficulty, she let him in, groaning and saying.
+"We was all done up for the night, _plase_ your honour, and myself
+with the toothache, very bad--And the lodger, that's going to take an
+egg only, before he'd go into his bed. My man's in it, and asleep long
+ago."
+
+With a magisterial air, though with a look of blank disappointment,
+Mr. Dennis Garraghty walked on, looked into _the room_, saw the good
+man of the house asleep, heard him snore, and then, returning, asked
+Lord Colambre, "who he was, and what brought him there?"
+
+Our hero said, he was from England, and a traveller; and now, bolder
+grown as a geologist, he talked of his specimens, and his hopes of
+finding a mine in the neighbouring mountains; then adopting, as well
+as he could, the servile tone and abject manner, in which he found Mr.
+Dennis was to be addressed, "he hoped he might get encouragement from
+the gentlemen at the head of the estate."
+
+"To bore, is it?--Well, don't _bore_ me about it. I can't give you any
+answer now, my good friend; I am engaged."
+
+Out he strutted. "Stick to him up the town, if you have a mind to get
+your answer," whispered the woman. Lord Colambre followed, for he
+wished to see the end of this scene.
+
+"Well, sir, what are you following and sticking to me, like my shadow,
+for?" said Mr. Dennis, turning suddenly upon Lord Colambre.
+
+His lordship bowed low. "Waiting for my answer, sir, when you are at
+leisure. Or, may I call upon you to-morrow?"
+
+"You seem to be a civil kind of fellow; but, as to boring, I don't
+know--if you undertake it at your own expense. I dare say there may be
+minerals in the ground. Well, you may call at the castle to-morrow,
+and when my brother has done with the tenantry, I'll speak to him
+_for_ you, and we'll consult together, and see what we think. It's too
+late to-night. In Ireland, nobody speaks to a gentleman about business
+after dinner,--your servant, sir; any body can show you the way to the
+castle in the morning." And, pushing by his lordship, he called to a
+man on the other side of the street, who had obviously been waiting
+for him; he went under a gateway with this man, and gave him a bag of
+guineas. He then called for his horse, which was brought to him by a
+man whom Lord Colambre had heard declaring that he would bid for the
+land that was advertised; whilst another, who had the same intentions,
+most respectfully held his stirrup, whilst he mounted without thanking
+either of these men. St. Dennis clapped spurs to his steed, and rode
+away. No thanks, indeed, were deserved; for the moment he was out of
+hearing, both cursed him after the manner of their country.
+
+"Bad luck go with you, then!--And may you break your neck before you
+get home, if it was not for the _lase_ I'm to get, and that's paid
+for."
+
+Lord Colambre followed the crowd into a public-house, where a new
+scene presented itself to his view.
+
+The man to whom St. Dennis gave the bag of gold was now selling this
+very gold to the tenants, who were to pay their rent next day at the
+castle.
+
+The agent would take nothing but gold. The same guineas were bought
+and sold several times over, to the great profit of the agent and loss
+of the poor tenants; for as the rents were paid, the guineas were
+resold to another set: and the remittances made through bankers to the
+landlord, who, as the poor man that explained the transaction to Lord
+Colambre expressed it, "gained nothing by the business, bad or good,
+but the ill-will of the tenantry."
+
+The higgling for the price of the gold; the time lost in disputing
+about the goodness of the notes, among some poor tenants, who could
+not read or write, and who were at the mercy of the man with the bag
+in his hand; the vexation, the useless harassing of all who were
+obliged to submit ultimately--Lord Colambre saw: and all this time he
+endured the smell of tobacco and whiskey, and the sound of various
+brogues, the din of men wrangling, brawling, threatening, whining,
+drawling, cajoling, cursing, and every variety of wretchedness.
+
+"And is this my father's town of Clonbrony?" thought Lord Colambre.
+"Is this Ireland? No, it is not Ireland. Let me not, like most of
+those who forsake their native country, traduce it. Let me not, even
+to my own mind, commit the injustice of taking a speck for the whole.
+What I have just seen is the picture only of that to which an Irish
+estate and Irish tenantry may be degraded in the absence of those
+whose duty and interest it is to reside in Ireland, to uphold justice
+by example and authority; but who, neglecting this duty, commit power
+to bad hands and bad hearts--abandon their tenantry to oppression, and
+their property to ruin."
+
+It was now fine moonlight, and Lord Colambre met with a boy, who said
+he could show him a short way across the fields to the widow O'Neil's
+cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+All were asleep at the cottage, when Lord Colambre arrived, except
+the widow, who was sitting up, waiting for him; and who had brought
+her dog into the house, that he might not fly at him, or bark at his
+return. She had a roast chicken ready for her guest, and it was--but
+this she never told him--the only chicken she had left; all the others
+had been sent with the _duty fowl_, as a present to the under-agent's
+lady. While he was eating his supper, which he ate with the better
+appetite, as he had had no dinner, the good woman took down from the
+shelf a pocket-book, which she gave him: "Is not that your book?" said
+she. "My boy Brian found it after you in the potatoe furrow, where you
+dropped it."
+
+"Thank you," said Lord Colambre; "there are bank notes in it, which I
+could not afford to lose."
+
+"Are there?" said she: "he never opened it--nor I."
+
+Then, in answer to his inquiries about Grace and the young man, the
+widow answered, "They are all in heart now, I thank ye kindly, sir,
+for asking; they'll sleep easy to-night, any way, and I'm in great
+spirits for them and myself--for all's smooth now. After we parted
+you, Brian saw Mr. Dennis himself about the _lase_ and memorandum,
+which he never denied, but knew nothing about. 'But, be that as it
+may,' says he, 'you're improving tenants, and I'm confident my brother
+will consider ye; so what you'll do is, you'll give up the possession
+to-morrow to myself, that will call for it by cock-crow, just for
+form's sake; and then go up to the castle with the new _lase_ ready
+drawn, in your hand, and if all's paid off clear of the rent, and all
+that's due, you'll get the new _lase_ signed: I'll promise you this
+upon the word and honour of a gentleman.' And there's no going beyond
+that, you know, sir. So my boy came home as light as a feather, and as
+gay as a lark, to bring us the good news; only he was afraid we might
+not make up the rent, guineas and all; and because he could not get
+paid for the work he done, on account of the mistake in the overseer's
+tally, I sold the cow to a neighbour, dog-cheap; but needs must, as
+they say, when Old Nick _drives_," said the widow, smiling. "Well,
+still it was but paper we got for the cow; then that must be gold
+before the agent would take or touch it--so I was laying out to sell
+the dresser, and had taken the plates and cups, and little things
+off it, and my boy was lifting it out with Andy the carpenter,
+that was agreeing for it, when in comes Grace, all rosy and out of
+breath--it's a wonder I never minded her run out, nor ever missed her.
+'Mother,' says she, 'here's the gold for you; don't be stirring your
+dresser.'--'And where's your gown and cloak, Grace?' says I. But, I
+beg your pardon, sir; may be, I'm tiring you?"
+
+Lord Colambre encouraged her to go on.
+
+"'Where's your gown and cloak, Grace?' says I. 'Gone,' says she. 'The
+cloak was too warm and heavy, and I don' doubt, mother, but it was
+that helped to make me faint this morning. And as to the gown, sure
+I've a very nice one here, that you spun for me yourself, mother; and
+that I prize above all the gowns ever came out of a loom; and that
+Brian said become me to his fancy above any gown ever he see me wear;
+and what could I wish for more?' Now I'd a mind to scold her for going
+to sell the gown unknown'st to me, but I don't know how it was, I
+couldn't scold her just then, so kissed her, and Brian the same, and
+that was what no man ever did before. And she had a mind to be angry
+with him, but could not, nor ought not, says I, 'for he's as good
+as your husband now, Grace; and no man can part yees now,' says I,
+putting their hands together. Well, I never saw her look so pretty;
+nor there was not a happier boy that minute on God's earth than my
+son, nor a happier mother than myself; and I thanked God, that had
+given them to me; and down they both fell on their knees for my
+blessing, little worth as it was; and my heart's blessing they had,
+and I laid my hands upon them. 'It's the priest you must get to do
+this for you to-morrow,' says I. And Brian just held up the ring, to
+show me all was ready on his part, but could not speak. 'Then there's
+no America between us any more!' said Grace, low to me, and her heart
+was on her lips; but the colour came and went, and I was _afeard_
+she'd have swooned again, but not for sorrow, so I carried her off.
+Well, if she was not my own--but she is not my own born, so I may
+say it--there never was a better girl, not a more kind-hearted, nor
+generous; never thinking any thing she could do, or give, too much
+for them she loved, and any thing at all would do for herself; the
+sweetest natured and tempered both, and always was, from this high;
+the bond that held all together, and joy of the house."
+
+"Just like her namesake," cried Lord Colambre.
+
+"Plase your honour!"
+
+"Is not it late?" said Lord Colambre, stretching himself and gaping;
+"I've walked a great way to-day."
+
+The old woman lighted his rushlight, showed him to his red check bed,
+and wished him a very good night; not without some slight sentiment
+of displeasure at his gaping thus at the panegyric on her darling
+Grace. Before she left the room, however, her short-lived resentment
+vanished, upon his saying, that he hoped, with her permission, to be
+present at the wedding of the young couple.
+
+Early in the morning Brian went to the priest, to ask his reverence
+when it would be convenient to marry him; and whilst he was gone,
+Mr. Dennis Garraghty came to the cottage, to receive the rent and
+possession. The rent was ready, in gold, and counted into his hand.
+
+"No occasion for a receipt; for a new _lase_ is a receipt in full for
+every thing."
+
+"Very well, sir," said the widow; "I know nothing of law. You know
+best--whatever you direct--for you are acting as a friend to us now.
+My son got the attorney to draw the pair of new _lases_ yesterday, and
+here they are ready, all to signing."
+
+Mr. Dennis said, his brother must settle that part of the business,
+and that they must carry them up to the castle; "but first give me the
+possession."
+
+Then, as he instructed her, she gave up the key of the door to him,
+and a bit of the thatch of the house; and he raked out the fire, and
+said every living creature must go out. "It's only form of law," said
+he.
+
+"And must my lodger get up, and turn out, sir?" said she.
+
+"He must turn out, to be sure--not a living soul must he left in it,
+or it's no legal possession, properly. Who is your lodger?"
+
+On Lord Colambre's appearing, Mr. Dennis showed some surprise, and
+said, "I thought you were lodging at Brannagan's; are not you the man
+who spoke to me at his house about the gold mines?"
+
+"No, sir, he never lodged at Brannagan's," said the widow.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am the person who spoke to you about the gold mines at
+Brannagan's; but I did not like to lodge--"
+
+"Well, no matter where you liked to lodge; you must walk out of this
+lodging now, if you please, my good friend."
+
+So Mr. Dennis pushed his lordship out by the shoulders, repeating, as
+the widow turned back, and looked with some surprise and alarm, "only
+for form sake, only for form sake!" then locking the door, took the
+key, and put it into his pocket. The widow held out her hand for it:
+"The form's gone through now, sir; is not it? Be plased to let us in
+again."
+
+"When the new lease is signed, I'll give you possession again; but not
+till then--for that's the law. So make away with you to the castle;
+and mind," added he, winking slily, "mind you take sealing-money with
+you, and something to buy gloves."
+
+"Oh, where will I find all that?" said the widow.
+
+"I have it, mother; don't fret," said Grace. "I have it--the price
+of--what I can want[1]. So let us go off to the castle without delay.
+Brian will meet us on the road, you know."
+
+[Footnote 1: What I can do without.]
+
+They set off for Clonbrony Castle, Lord Colambre accompanying them.
+Brian met them on the road. "Father Tom is ready, dear mother; bring
+her in, and he'll marry us. I'm not my own man till she's mine. Who
+knows what may happen?"
+
+"Who knows? that's true," said the widow.
+
+"Better go to the castle first," said Grace.
+
+"And keep the priest waiting! You can't use his reverence so," said
+Brian.
+
+So she let him lead her into the priest's house, and she did not make
+any of the awkward draggings back, or ridiculous scenes of grimace
+sometimes exhibited on these occasions; but blushing rosy red, yet
+with more self-possession than could have been expected from her timid
+nature, she gave her hand to the man she loved, and listened with
+attentive devotion to the holy ceremony.
+
+"Ah!" thought Lord Colambre, whilst he congratulated the bride, "shall
+I ever be as happy as these poor people are at this moment?" He longed
+to make them some little present, but all he could venture at this
+moment was to pay the priest's dues.
+
+The priest positively refused to take any thing.
+
+"They are the best couple in my parish," said he; "and I'll take
+nothing, sir, from you, a stranger and my guest."
+
+"Now, come what will, I'm a match for it. No trouble can touch me,"
+said Brian.
+
+"Oh, don't be bragging," said the widow.
+
+"Whatever trouble God sends, he has given one now will help to bear
+it, and sure I may be thankful," said Grace.
+
+"Such good hearts must be happy,--shall be happy!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh, you're very kind," said the widow, smiling; "and I wouldn't doubt
+you, if you had the power. I hope, then, the agent will give you
+encouragement about them mines, that we may keep you among us."
+
+"I am determined to settle among you, warm-hearted, generous people!"
+cried Lord Colambre; "whether the agent gives me encouragement or
+not," added he.
+
+It was a long walk to Clonbrony Castle; the old woman, as she said
+herself, would not have been able for it, but for a _lift_ given to
+her by a friendly carman, whom she overtook on the road with an empty
+car. This carman was Finnucan, who dissipated Lord Colambre's fears of
+meeting and being recognized by Mrs. Raffarty; for he, in answer to
+the question of "Who is at the castle?" replied, "Mrs. Raffarty will
+be in it afore night; but she's on the road still. There's none
+but Old Nick in it yet; and he's more of a _neger_ than ever; for
+think, that he would not pay me a farthing for the carriage of his
+_shister's_ boxes and band-boxes down. If you're going to have any
+dealings with him, God grant ye a safe deliverance!"
+
+"Amen!" said the widow, and her son and daughter.
+
+Lord Colambre's attention was now engaged by the view of the castle
+and park of Clonbrony. He had not seen it since he was six years old.
+Some faint reminiscence from his childhood made him feel or fancy
+that he knew the place. It was a fine castle, spacious park; but all
+about it, from the broken piers at the great entrance, to the mossy
+gravel and loose steps at the hall-door, had an air of desertion and
+melancholy. Walks overgrown, shrubberies wild, plantations run up into
+bare poles; fine trees cut down, and lying on the ground in lots to
+be sold. A hill that had been covered with an oak wood, where in his
+childhood our hero used to play, and which he called the black forest,
+was gone; nothing to be seen but the white stumps of the trees, for
+it had been freshly cut down, to make up the last remittances.--"And
+how it went, when sold!--but no matter," said Finnucan; "it's all
+alike.--It's the back way into the yard, I'll take you, I suppose."
+
+"And such a yard! but it's no matter," repeated Lord Colambre to
+himself; "it's all alike."
+
+In the kitchen, a great dinner was dressing for Mr. Garraghty's
+friends, who were to make merry with him when the business of the day
+was over.
+
+"Where's the keys of the cellar, till I get out the claret for after
+dinner," says one; "and the wine for the cook--sure there's venison,"
+cries another.--"Venison!--That's the way my lord's deer goes," says
+a third, laughing.--"Ay, sure! and very proper, when he's not here
+to eat 'em."--"Keep your nose out of the kitchen, young man, if you
+_plase_," said the agent's cook, shutting the door in Lord Colambre's
+face. "There's the way to the office, if you've money to pay, up the
+back stairs."
+
+"No; up the grand staircase they must,--Mr. Garraghty ordered," said
+the footman; "because the office is damp for him, and it's not there
+he'll see any body to-day; but in my lady's dressing-room."
+
+So up the grand staircase they went, and through the magnificent
+apartments, hung with pictures of great value, spoiling with damp.
+
+"Then, isn't it a pity to see them? There's my lady, and all
+spoiling," said the widow.
+
+Lord Colambre stopped before a portrait of Miss Nugent--"Shamefully
+damaged!" cried he.
+
+"Pass on, or let me pass, if you _plase_," said one of the tenants;
+"and don't be stopping the door-way."
+
+"I have business more nor you with the agent," said the surveyor;
+"where is he?"
+
+"In the _presence-chamber_," replied another: "Where should the
+viceroy be but in the _presence-chamber_?"
+
+There was a full levee, and fine smell of great coats.--"Oh! would you
+put your hats on the silk cushions?" said the widow to some men in the
+doorway, who were throwing off their greasy hats on a damask sofa.
+
+"Why not? where else?"
+
+"If the lady was in it, you wouldn't," said she, sighing.
+
+"No, to be sure, I wouldn't: great news! would I make no _differ_ in
+the presence of Old Nick and my lady?" said he, in Irish. "Have I no
+sense or manners, good woman, think ye?" added he, as he shook the ink
+out of the pen on the Wilton carpet, when he had finished signing his
+name to a paper on his knee.
+
+"You may wait long before you get to the speech of the great man,"
+said another, who was working his way through numbers.
+
+They continued pushing forward, till they came within sight of Mr.
+Nicholas Garraghty, seated in state; and a worse countenance, or a
+more perfect picture of an insolent, petty tyrant in office, Lord
+Colambre had never beheld.
+
+We forbear all further detail of this levee. "It's all the same!" as
+Lord Colambre repeated to himself, on every fresh instance of roguery
+or oppression to which he was witness; and having completely made
+up his mind on the subject, he sat down quietly in the back-ground,
+waiting till it should come to the widow's turn to be dealt with, for
+he was now interested only to see how she would be treated. The room
+gradually thinned I Mr. Dennis Garraghty came in, and sat down at the
+table, to help his brother to count the heaps of gold.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Dennis, I'm glad to see you as kind as your promise, meeting
+me here," said the widow O'Neil, walking up to him;
+
+"I'm sure you'll speak a good word for me: here's the _lases_--who
+will I offer this to?" said she, holding the _glove-money_ and
+_sealing-money_, "for I'm strange and ashamed."
+
+"Oh, don't be ashamed--there's no strangeness in bringing money or
+taking it," said Mr. Nicholas Garraghty, holding out his hand. "Is
+this the proper compliment?"
+
+"I hope so, sir: your honour knows best."
+
+"Very well," slipping it into his private purse. "Now what's your
+business?"
+
+"The _lases_ to sign--the rent's all paid up."
+
+"Leases! Why, woman, is the possession given up?"
+
+"It was, _plase_ your honour; and Mr. Dennis has the key of our little
+place in his pocket."
+
+"Then I hope he'll keep it there. _Your_ little place--it's no longer
+yours; I've promised it to the surveyor. You don't think I'm such a
+fool as to renew to you at this rent."
+
+"Mr. Dennis named the rent. But any thing your honour _plases_--any
+thing at all that we can pay."
+
+"Oh, it's out of the question--put it out of your head. No rent you
+can offer would do, for I have promised it to the surveyor."
+
+"Sir, Mr. Dennis knows my lord gave us his promise in writing of a
+renewal, on the back of the _ould lase_."
+
+"Produce it."
+
+"Here's the _lase_, but the promise is rubbed out."
+
+"Nonsense! coming to me with a promise that's rubbed out. Who'll
+listen to that in a court of justice, do you think?"
+
+"I don't know, plase your honour; but this I'm sure of, my lord and
+Miss Nugent, though but a child at the time, God bless her! who was by
+when my lord wrote it with his pencil, will remember it."
+
+"Miss Nugent! what can she know of business?--What has she to do with
+the management of my Lord Clonbrony's estate, pray?"
+
+"Management!--no, sir."
+
+"Do you wish to get Miss Nugent turned out of the house?"
+
+"Oh, God forbid!--how could that be?"
+
+"Very easily; if you set about to make her meddle and witness in what
+my lord does not choose."
+
+"Well, then, I'll never mention Miss Nugent's name in it at all, if it
+was ever so with me. But be _plased_, sir, to write over to my lord,
+and ask him; I'm sure he'll remember it."
+
+"Write to my lord about such a trifle--trouble him about such
+nonsense!"
+
+"I'd be sorry to trouble him. Then take it on my word, and believe
+me, sir; for I would not tell a lie, nor cheat rich or poor, if in my
+power, for the whole estate, nor the whole world: for there's an eye
+above."
+
+"Cant! nonsense!--Take those leases off the table; I never will sign
+them. Walk off, ye canting hag; it's an imposition--I will never sign
+them."
+
+"You _will_, then, sir," cried Brian, growing red with indignation;
+"for the law shall make you, so it shall; and you'd as good have been
+civil to my mother, whatever you did--for I'll stand by her while
+I've life; and I know she has right, and shall have law. I saw the
+memorandum written before ever it went into your hands, sir, whatever
+became of it after; and will swear to it too."
+
+"Swear away, my good friend; much your swearing will avail in your own
+case in a court of justice," continued Old Nick.
+
+"And against a gentleman of my brother's established character and
+property," said St. Dennis. "What's your mother's character against a
+gentleman's like his?"
+
+"Character! take care how you go to that, any way, sir," cried Brian.
+
+Grace put her hand before his mouth, to stop him.
+
+"Grace, dear, I must speak, if I die for it; sure it's for my mother,"
+said the young man, struggling forward, while his mother held him
+back; "I must speak."
+
+"Oh, he's ruined, I see it," said Grace, putting her hand before her
+eyes, "and he won't mind me."
+
+"Go on, let him go on, pray, young woman," said Mr. Garraghty, pale
+with anger and fear, his lips quivering; "I shall be happy to take
+down his words."
+
+"Write them; and may all the world read it, and welcome!"
+
+His mother and wife stopped his mouth by force.
+
+"Write you, Dennis," said Mr. Garraghty, giving the pen to his
+brother; for his hand shook so he could not form a letter. "Write the
+very words, and at the top" (pointing) "after warning, _with malice
+prepense_."
+
+"Write, then--mother, Grace--let me," cried Brian, speaking in a
+smothered voice, as their hands were over his mouth. "Write then,
+that, if you'd either of you a character like my mother, you might
+defy the world; and your word would be as good as your oath."
+
+"_Oath!_ mind that, Dennis," said Mr. Garraghty.
+
+"Oh, sir! sir! won't you stop him?" cried Grace, turning suddenly to
+Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear, if you haven't lost your feeling for us," cried the
+widow.
+
+"Let him speak," said Lord Colambre, in a tone of authority; "let the
+voice of truth be heard."
+
+"_Truth!_" cried St. Dennis, and dropped the pen.
+
+"And who the devil are you, sir?" said Old Nick.
+
+"Lord Colambre, I protest!" exclaimed a female voice; and Mrs.
+Raffarty at this instant appeared at the open door.
+
+"Lord Colambre!" repeated all present, in different tones.
+
+"My lord, I beg pardon," continued Mrs. Raffarty, advancing as if
+her legs were tied; "had I known you was down here, I would not have
+presumed. I'd better retire; for I see you're busy."
+
+"You'd best; for you're mad, sister," said St. Dennis, pushing her
+back; "and we _are_ busy; go to your room, and keep quiet, if you
+can."
+
+"First, madam," said Lord Colambre, going between her and the door,
+"let me beg that you will consider yourself as at home in this house,
+whilst any circumstances make it desirable to you. The hospitality you
+showed me you cannot think I now forget."
+
+"Oh, my lord, you're too good--how few--too kind--kinder than my own;"
+and, bursting into tears, she escaped out of the room.
+
+Lord Colambre returned to the party round the table, who were in
+various attitudes of astonishment, and with faces of fear, horror,
+hope, joy, doubt.
+
+"Distress," continued his lordship, "however incurred, if not by vice,
+will always find a refuge in this house. I speak in my father's name,
+for I know I speak his sentiments. But never more shall vice," said
+he, darting such a look at the brother agents as they felt to the
+back-bone--"never more shall vice, shall fraud enter here."
+
+He paused, and there was a momentary silence.
+
+"There spoke the true thing! and the _rael_ gentleman; my own heart's
+satisfied," said Brian, folding his arms, and standing erect.
+
+"Then so is mine," said Grace, taking breath, with a deep sigh.
+
+The widow advancing, put on her spectacles, and, looking up close at
+Lord Colambre's face--"Then it's a wonder I didn't know the family
+likeness."
+
+Lord Colambre, now recollecting that he still wore the old great coat,
+threw it off.
+
+"Oh, bless him! Then now I'd know him any where. I'm willing to die
+now, for we'll all be happy."
+
+"My lord, since it is so--my lord, may I ask you," said Mr. Garraghty,
+now sufficiently recovered to be able to articulate, but scarcely to
+express his ideas; "if what your lordship hinted just now--"
+
+"I hinted nothing, sir; I spoke plainly."
+
+"I beg pardon, my lord," said Old Nick; "respecting vice, was levelled
+at me; because, if it was, my lord," trying to stand erect; "let me
+tell your lordship, if I could think it was--"
+
+"If it did not hit you, sir, no matter at whom it was levelled."
+
+"And let me ask, my lord, if I may presume, whether, in what you
+suggested by the word fraud, your lordship had any particular
+meaning?" said St. Dennis.
+
+"A very particular meaning, sir--feel in your pocket for the key of
+this widow's house, and deliver it to her."
+
+"Oh, if that's all the meaning, with all the pleasure in life. I never
+meant to detain it longer than till the leases were signed," said St.
+Dennis.
+
+"And I'm ready to sign the leases this minute," said the brother.
+
+"Do it, sir, this minute; I have read them; I will be answerable to my
+father."
+
+"Oh, as to that, my lord, I have power to sign for your father."
+
+He signed the leases; they were duly witnessed by Lord Colambre.
+
+"I deliver this as my act and deed," said Mr. Garraghty:
+
+"My lord," continued he, "you see, at the first word from you; and had
+I known sooner the interest you took in the family, there would have
+been no difficulty; for I'd make it a principle to oblige you, my
+lord."
+
+"Oblige me!" said Lord Colambre, with disdain.
+
+"But when gentlemen and noblemen travel _incognito_, and lodge in
+cabins," added St. Dennis, with a satanic smile, glancing his eye on
+Grace, "they have good reasons, no doubt."
+
+"Do not judge my heart by your own, sir," said Lord Colambre, coolly;
+"no two things in nature can, I trust, be more different. My purpose
+in travelling _incognito_ has been fully answered: I was determined to
+see and judge how my father's estates were managed; and I have seen,
+compared, and judged. I have seen the difference between the Clonbrony
+and the Colambre property; and I shall represent what I have seen to
+my father."
+
+"As to that, my lord, if we are to come to that--but I trust your
+lordship will suffer me to explain these matters. Go about your
+business, my good friends; you have all you want; and, my lord, after
+dinner, when you are cool, I hope I shall be able to make you sensible
+that things have been represented to your lordship in a mistaken
+light; and, I flatter myself, I shall convince you, I have not only
+always acted the part of a friend to the family, but am particularly
+willing to conciliate your lordship's good-will," said he, sweeping
+the rouleaus of gold into a bag; "any accommodation in my power, at
+any time."
+
+"I want no accommodation, sir--were I starving, I would accept of none
+from you. Never can you conciliate my good-will; for you can never
+deserve it."
+
+"If that be the case, my lord, I must conduct myself accordingly: but
+it's fair to warn you, before you make any representation to my Lord
+Clonbrony, that, if he should think of changing his agent, there are
+accounts to be settled between us--that may be a consideration."
+
+"No, sir; no consideration--my father never shall be the slave of such
+a paltry consideration."
+
+"Oh, very well, my lord; you know best. If you choose to make an
+assumpsit, I'm sure I shall not object to the security. Your lordship
+will be of age soon, I know--I'm sure I'm satisfied--but," added he,
+with a malicious smile, "I rather apprehend you don't know what you
+undertake: I only premise that the balance of accounts between us is
+not what can properly be called a paltry consideration."
+
+"On that point, perhaps, sir, you and I may differ."
+
+"Very well, my lord, you will follow your own principles, if it suits
+your convenience."
+
+"Whether it does or not, sir, I shall abide by my principles."
+
+"Dennis! the letters to the post--When do you go to England, my lord?"
+
+"Immediately, sir," said Lord Colambre: his lordship saw new leases
+from his father to Mr. Dennis Garraghty, lying on the table, unsigned.
+
+"Immediately!" repeated Messrs. Nicholas and Dennis, with an air of
+dismay. Nicholas got up, looked out of the window, and whispered
+something to his brother, who instantly left the room.
+
+Lord Colambre saw the postchaise at the door, which had brought Mrs.
+Raffarty to the castle, and Larry standing beside it: his lordship
+instantly threw up the sash, and holding between his finger and thumb
+a six shilling piece, cried, "Larry, my friend, let me have the
+horses."
+
+"You shall have 'em--your honour," said Larry.
+
+Mr. Dennis Garraghty appeared below, speaking in a magisterial tone.
+"Larry, my brother must have the horses."
+
+"He can't, _plase_ your honour--they're engaged."
+
+"Half a crown!--a crown!--half a guinea!" said Mr. Dennis Garraghty,
+raising his voice, as he increased his proffered bribe. To each offer
+Larry replied, "You can't, _plase_ your honour, they're engaged;" and,
+looking up to the window at Lord Colambre, he said, "As soon as they
+have ate their oats, you shall have 'em."
+
+No other horses were to be had. The agent was in consternation. Lord
+Colambre ordered that Larry should have some dinner, and whilst the
+postilion was eating, and the horses finished their oats, his lordship
+wrote the following letter to his father, which, to prevent all
+possibility of accident, he determined to put, with his own hand, into
+the post-office at Clonbrony, as he passed through the town.
+
+    "MY DEAR FATHER,
+
+    "I hope to be with you in a few days. Lest any thing should detain
+    me on the road, I write this, to make an earnest request, that you
+    will not sign any papers, or transact any farther business with
+    Messrs. Nicholas or Dennis Garraghty before you see
+
+    "Your affectionate son,
+
+    "COLAMBRE."
+
+The horses came out. Larry sent word he was ready, and Lord Colambre,
+having first eaten a slice of his own venison, ran down to the
+carriage, followed by the thanks and blessings of the widow, her
+son, and daughter, who could hardly make their way after him to the
+chaise-door, so great was the crowd which had gathered on the report
+of his lordship's arrival.
+
+"Long life to your honour! Long life to your lordship!" echoed on all
+sides. "Just come, and going, are you?"
+
+"Good bye to you all, good people!"
+
+"Then _good bye_ is the only word we wouldn't wish to hear from your
+honour."
+
+"For the sake both of landlord and tenant, I must leave you now, my
+good friends; but I hope to return to you at some future time."
+
+"God bless you! and speed ye! and a safe journey to your honour!--and
+a happy return to us, and soon!" cried a multitude of voices.
+
+Lord Colambre stopped at the chaise-door, and beckoned to the widow
+O'Neil, before whom others had pressed. An opening was made for her
+instantly.
+
+"There! that was the very way his father stood, with his foot on the
+step. And Miss Nugent was _in it_."
+
+Lord Colambre forgot what he was going to say,--with some difficulty
+recollected. "This pocket-book," said he, "which your son restored to
+me--I intend it for your daughter--don't keep it as your son kept it
+for me, without opening it. Let what is withinside," added he, as he
+got into the carriage, "replace the cloak and gown, and let all things
+necessary for a bride be bought; 'for the bride that has all things to
+borrow has surely mickle to do.' Shut the door, and drive on."
+
+"Blessings be _wid_ you," cried the widow, "and God give you grace!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+Larry drove off at full gallop, and kept on at a good rate, till he
+got out of the great gate, and beyond the sight of the crowd: then,
+pulling up, he turned to Lord Colambre--"_Plase_ your honour, I did
+not know nor guess ye was my lord, when I let you have the horses: did
+not know who you was from Adam, I'll take my affidavit."
+
+"There's no occasion," said Lord Colambre; "I hope you don't repent
+letting me have the horses, now you do know who I am?"
+
+"Oh! not at all, sure: I'm as glad as the best horse ever I crossed,
+that your honour is my lord--but I was only telling your honour, that
+you might not be looking upon me as a _timesarver_."
+
+"I do not look upon you as a _timesarver_, Larry; but keep on, that
+time may serve me."
+
+In two words, he explained his cause of haste; and no sooner explained
+than understood. Larry thundered away through the town of Clonbrony,
+bending over his horses, plying the whip, and lending his very soul at
+every lash. With much difficulty, Lord Colambre stopped him at the end
+of the town, at the post-office. The post was gone out--gone a quarter
+of an hour.
+
+"May be, we'll overtake the mail," said Larry: and, as he spoke,
+he slid down from his seat, and darted into the public-house,
+re-appearing, in a few moments, with a _copper_ of ale and a horn in
+his hand: he and another man held open the horses' mouths, and poured
+the ale through the horn down their throats.
+
+"Now, they'll go with spirit!"
+
+And, with the hope of overtaking the mail, Larry made them go "for
+life or death," as he said: but in vain! At the next stage, at his own
+inn-door, Larry roared for fresh horses till he, got them, harnessed
+them with his own hands, holding the six shilling piece, which Lord
+Colambre had given him, in his mouth, all the while: for he could not
+take time to put it into his pocket.
+
+"Speed ye! I wish I was driving you all the way, then," said he.
+The other postilion was not yet ready. "Then your honour sees,"
+said he, putting his head into the carriage, "_consarning_ of them
+Garraghties--Old Nick and St. Dennis--the best part, that is, the
+worst part, of what I told you, proved true; and I'm glad of it, that
+is, I'm sorry for it--but glad your honour knows it in time. So Heaven
+prosper you! And may all the saints (_barring_ St. Dennis) have charge
+of you, and all belonging to you, till we see you here again!--And
+when will it be?"
+
+"I cannot say when I shall return to you myself, but I will do my best
+to send your landlord to you soon. In the mean time, my good fellow,
+keep away from the sign of the Horseshoe--a man of your sense to drink
+and make an idiot and a brute of yourself!"
+
+"True!--And it was only when I had lost hope I took to it--but now!
+Bring me the book one of _yees_, out of the landlady's parlour. By
+the virtue of this book, and by all the books that ever was shut and
+opened, I won't touch a drop of spirits, good or bad, till I see your
+honour again, or some of the family, this time twelvemonth--that long
+I live on hope,--but mind, if you disappoint me, I don't swear but
+I'll take to the whiskey for comfort, all the rest of my days. But
+don't be staying here, wasting your time, advising me. Bartley! take
+the reins, can't ye?" cried he, giving them to the fresh postilion;
+"and keep on, for your life, for there's thousands of pounds depending
+on the race--so off, off, Bartley, with speed of light!"
+
+Bartley did his best; and such was the excellence of the roads, that,
+notwithstanding the rate at which our hero travelled, he arrived
+safely in Dublin, just in time to put his letter into the post-office,
+and to sail in that night's packet. The wind was fair when Lord
+Colambre went on board, but before they got out of the Bay it changed;
+they made no way all night: in the course of the next day, they had
+the mortification to see another packet from Dublin sail past them,
+and when they landed at Holyhead, were told the packet, which had left
+Ireland twelve hours after them, had been in an hour before them.
+The passengers had taken their places in the coach, and engaged what
+horses could be had. Lord Colambre was afraid that Mr. Garraghty was
+one of them; a person exactly answering his description had taken four
+horses, and set out half an hour before in great haste for London.
+Luckily, just as those who had taken their places in the mail were
+getting into the coach, Lord Colambre saw among them a gentleman, with
+whom he had been acquainted in Dublin, a barrister, who was come over
+during the long vacation, to make a tour of pleasure in England. When
+Lord Colambre explained the reason he had for being in haste to reach
+London, he had the good-nature to give up to him his place in the
+coach. Lord Colambre travelled all night, and delayed not one moment,
+till he reached his father's house, in London.
+
+"My father at home?"
+
+"Yes, my lord, in his own room--the agent from Ireland with him, on
+particular business--desired not to be interrupted--but I'll go and
+tell him, my lord, you are come."
+
+Lord Colambre ran past the servant, as he spoke--made his way into the
+room--found his father, Sir Terence O'Fay, and Mr. Garraghty--leases
+open on the table before them; a candle lighted; Sir Terence sealing;
+Garraghty emptying a bag of guineas on the table, and Lord Clonbrony
+actually with a pen in his hand, ready to sign.
+
+As the door opened, Garraghty started back, so that half the contents
+of his bag rolled upon the floor.
+
+"Stop, my dear father, I conjure you," cried Lord Colambre, springing
+forward, and snatching the pen from his father's hand.
+
+"Colambre! God bless you, my dear boy! at all events. But how came you
+here?--And what do you mean?" said his father.
+
+"Burn it!" cried Sir Terence, pinching the sealing-wax; "for I burnt
+myself with the pleasure of the surprise."
+
+Garraghty, without saying a word, was picking up the guineas that were
+scattered upon the floor.
+
+"How fortunate I am," cried Lord Colambre, "to have arrived just in
+time to tell you, my dear father, before you put your signature to
+these papers, before you conclude this bargain, all I know, all I have
+seen of that man!"
+
+"Nick Garraghty, honest old Nick; do you know him, my lord?" said Sir
+Terence.
+
+"Too well, sir."
+
+"Mr. Garraghty, what have you done to offend my son? I did not expect
+this," said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Upon my conscience, my lord, nothing to my knowledge," said Mr.
+Garraghty, picking up the guineas; "but showed him every civility,
+even so far as offering to accommodate him with cash without security;
+and where will you find the other agent, in Ireland, or any where
+else, will do that? To my knowledge, I never did any thing, by word
+or deed, to offend my Lord Colambre; nor could not, for I never
+saw him but for ten minutes, in my days; and then he was in such
+a foaming passion, begging his lordship's pardon, owing to the
+misrepresentations he met with of me, I presume, from a parcel of
+blackguards that he went amongst, _incognito_, he would not let me or
+my brother Dennis say a word to set him right; but exposed me before
+all the tenantry, and then threw himself into a hack, and drove off
+here, to stop the signing of these leases, I perceive. But I trust,"
+concluded he, putting the replenished money-bag down, with a heavy
+sound on the table, opposite to Lord Clonbrony, "I trust my Lord
+Clonbrony will do me justice; that's all I have to say."
+
+"I comprehend the force of your last argument fully, sir," said Lord
+Colambre. "May I ask, how many guineas there are in the bag?--I don't
+ask whether they are my father's or not."
+
+"They are to be your lordship's father's, sir, if he thinks proper,"
+replied Garraghty. "How many, I don't know that I can justly,
+positively say--five hundred, suppose."
+
+"And they would be my father's, if he signed those leases--I
+understand that perfectly, and understand that my father will lose
+three times that sum by the bargain. My dear father, you start--but it
+is true--is not this the rent, sir, at which you are going to let Mr.
+Garraghty have the land?" placing a paper before Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"It is--the very thing."
+
+"And here, sir, written with my own hand, are copies of the proposals
+I saw from responsible, respectable tenants, offered and refused. Is
+it so, or is it not, Mr. Garraghty?--deny it, if you can."
+
+Mr. Garraghty grew pale; his lips quivered; he stammered; and, after
+a shocking convulsion of face, could at last articulate--only, "That
+there was a great difference between tenant and tenant, his lordship
+must be sensible--especially for so large a rent."
+
+"As great a difference as between agent and agent, I am
+sensible--especially for so large a property!" said Lord Colambre,
+with cool contempt. "You find, sir, I am well informed with regard to
+this transaction; you will find, also, that I am equally well informed
+with respect to every part of your conduct towards my father and his
+tenantry. If, in relating to him what I have seen and heard, I should
+make any mistakes, you are here; and I am glad you are, to set me
+right, and to do yourself justice."
+
+"Oh! as to that, I should not presume to contradict any thing your
+lordship asserts from your own authority: where would be the use?
+I leave it all to your lordship. But, as it is not particularly
+agreeable to stay to hear one's self abused--Sir Terence! I'll thank
+you to hand me my hat!--And if you'll have the goodness, my Lord
+Clonbrony, to look over finally the accounts before morning, I'll
+call at your leisure to settle the balance, as you find convenient:
+as to the leases, I'm quite indifferent." So saying, he took up his
+money-bag.
+
+"Well, you'll call again in the morning, Mr. Garraghty?" said
+Sir Terence; "and, by that time, I hope we shall understand this
+misunderstanding better."
+
+Sir Terence pulled Lord Clonbrony's sleeve: "Don't let him go with the
+money--it's much wanted."
+
+"Let him go," said Lord Colambre: "money can be had by honourable
+means."
+
+"Wheugh!--He talks as if he had the bank of England at his command, as
+every young man does," said Sir Terence.
+
+Lord Colambre deigned no reply. Lord Clonbrony walked undecidedly
+between his agent and his son--looked at Sir Terence, and said
+nothing.
+
+Mr. Garraghty departed: Lord Clonbrony called after him from the head
+of the stairs, "I shall be at home and at leisure in the morning."
+
+Sir Terence ran down stairs after him: Lord Colambre waited quietly
+for their return.
+
+"Fifteen hundred guineas at a stroke of a goose-quill!--That was a
+neat hit, narrowly missed, of honest Nick's!" said Lord Clonbrony.
+"Too bad! too bad, faith!--I am much, very much obliged to you,
+Colambre, for that hint: by to-morrow morning we shall have him in
+another tune."
+
+"And he must double the bag, or quit," said Sir Terence.
+
+"Treble it, if you please, Terry. Sure, three times five's
+fifteen:--fifteen hundred down, or he does not get my signature to
+those leases for his brother, nor get the agency of the Colambre
+estate.--Colambre, what more have you to tell of him? for, since he
+is making out his accounts against me, it is no harm to have a _per
+contra_ against him, that may ease my balance."
+
+"Very fair! very fair!" said Sir Terence. "My lord, trust me for
+remembering all the charges against him--every item: and when he can't
+clear himself, if I don't make him buy a good character dear enough,
+why, say I am a fool, and don't know the value of character, good or
+bad!"
+
+"If you know the value of character, Sir Terence," said Lord Colambre,
+"you know that it is not to be bought or sold." Then turning from Sir
+Terence to his father, he gave a full and true account of all he had
+seen in his progress through his Irish estates; and drew a faithful
+picture both of the bad and good agent. Lord Clonbrony, who had
+benevolent feelings, and was fond of his tenantry, was touched; and
+when his son ceased speaking, repeated several times, "Rascal! rascal!
+How dare he use my tenants so--the O'Neills in particular!--Rascal!
+bad heart!--I'll have no more to do with him." But, suddenly
+recollecting himself, he turned to Sir Terence, and added, "That's
+sooner said than done--I'll tell you honestly, Colambre, your friend
+Mr. Burke may he the best man in the world--but he is the worst man to
+apply to for a remittance or a loan, in a HURRY! He always tells me,
+'he can't distress the tenants.'"
+
+"And he never, at coming into the agency even," said Sir Terence,
+"_advanced_ a good round sum to the landlord, by way of security for
+his good behaviour. Now honest Nick did that much for us at coming
+in."
+
+"And at going out is he not to be repaid?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"That's the devil!" said Lord Clonbrony: "that's the very reason I
+can't conveniently turn him out."
+
+"I will make it convenient to you, sir, if you will permit me," said
+Lord Colambre. "In a few days I shall be of age, and will join with
+you in raising whatever sum you want, to free you from this man. Allow
+me to look over his account; and whatever the honest balance may be,
+let him have it."
+
+"My dear boy!" said Lord Clonbrony, "you're a generous fellow. Fine
+Irish heart!--glad you're my son! But there's more, much more, that
+you don't know," added he, looking at Sir Terence, who cleared his
+throat; and Lord Clonbrony, who was on the point of opening all his
+affairs to his son, stopped short.
+
+"Colambre," said he, "we will not say any thing more of this at
+present; for nothing effectual can be done till you are of age, and
+then we shall see all about it."
+
+Lord Colambre perfectly understood what his father meant, and what was
+meant by the clearing of Sir Terence's throat. Lord Clonbrony wanted
+his son to join him in opening the estate to pay his debts; and Sir
+Terence feared that if Lord Colambre were abruptly told the whole sum
+total of the debts, he would never be persuaded to join in selling or
+mortgaging so much of his patrimony as would be necessary for their
+payment. Sir Terence thought that the young man, ignorant probably of
+business, and unsuspicious of the state of his father's affairs, might
+be brought, by proper management, to any measures they desired. Lord
+Clonbrony wavered between the temptation to throw himself upon the
+generosity of his son, and the immediate convenience of borrowing a
+sum of money from his agent, to relieve his present embarrassments.
+
+"Nothing can be settled," repeated he, "till Colambre is of age; so it
+does not signify talking of it."
+
+"Why so, sir?" said Lord Colambre. "Though my act, in law, may not be
+valid till I am of age, my promise, as a man of honour, is binding
+now; and, I trust, would be as satisfactory to my father as any legal
+deed whatever."
+
+"Undoubtedly, my dear boy; but--"
+
+"But what?" said Lord Colambre, following his father's eye, which
+turned to Sir Terence O'Fay, as if asking his permission to explain.
+"As my father's friend, sir, you ought, permit me to say, at this
+moment to use your influence to prevail upon him to throw aside all
+reserve with a son, whose warmest wish is to serve him, and to see him
+at ease and happy."
+
+"Generous, dear boy," cried Lord Clonbrony. "Terence, I can't stand
+it; but how shall I bring myself to name the amount of the debts?"
+
+"At some time or other, I must know it," said Lord Colambre: "I cannot
+be better prepared at any moment than the present; never more disposed
+to give my assistance to relieve all difficulties. Blindfold, I cannot
+be led to any purpose, sir," said he, looking at Sir Terence: "the
+attempt would be degrading and futile. Blindfolded I will not be--but,
+with my eyes open, I will see, and go straight and prompt as heart can
+go, to my father's interest, without a look or thought to my own."
+
+"By St. Patrick! the spirit of a prince, and an Irish prince, spoke
+there," cried Sir Terence: "and if I'd fifty hearts, you'd have all in
+your hand this minute, at your service, and warm. Blindfold you! After
+that, the man that would attempt it _desarves_ to be shot; and I'd
+have no sincerer pleasure in life than shooting him this moment, was
+he my best friend. But it's not Clonbrony, or your father, my lord,
+would act that way, no more than Sir Terence O'Fay--there's the
+schedule of the debts," drawing a paper from his bosom; "and I'll
+swear to the lot, and not a man on earth could do that but myself."
+
+Lord Colambre opened the paper. His father turned aside, covering his
+face with both his hands.
+
+"Tut, man," said Sir Terence: "I know him now better than you; he will
+stand, you'll find, the shock of that regiment of figures--he is steel
+to the backbone, and proof spirit."
+
+"I thank you, my dear father," said Lord Colambre, "for trusting
+me thus at once with a view of the truth. At first sight it is, I
+acknowledge, worse than I expected; but I make no doubt that, when
+you allow me to examine Mr. Garraghty's accounts and Mr. Mordicai's
+claims, we shall be able to reduce this alarming total considerably."
+
+"The devil a pound, nor a penny," said Sir Terence; "for you have to
+deal with a Jew and Old Nick; and, since I'm not a match for them, I
+don't know who is; and I have no hope of getting any abatement. I've
+looked over the accounts till I'm sick."
+
+"Nevertheless, you will observe that fifteen hundred guineas have been
+saved to my father at one stroke, by his not signing those leases."
+
+"Saved to you, my lord; not your father, if you please," said Sir
+Terence. "For now I'm upon the square with you, I must be straight
+as an arrow, and deal with you as the son and friend of my friend:
+before, I was considering you only as the son and heir, which is quite
+another thing, you know; accordingly, acting for your father here,
+I was making the best bargain against you I could: honestly, now, I
+tell you. I knew the value of the lands well enough: I was as sharp
+as Garraghty, and he knew it; I was to have had for your father
+_the difference_ from him, partly in cash and partly in balance of
+accounts--you comprehend--and you only would have been the loser, and
+never would have known it, may be, till after we all were dead and
+buried; and then you might have set aside Garraghty's lease easy, and
+no harm done to any but a rogue that _desarved_ it; and, in the mean
+time, an accommodation to my honest friend, my lord, your father here.
+But, as fate would have it, you upset all by your progress incognito
+through them estates. Well, it's best as it is, and I am better
+pleased to be as we are, trusting all to a generous son's own heart.
+Now put the poor father out of pain, and tell us what you'll do, my
+dear."
+
+"In one word, then," said Lord Colambre, "I will, upon two conditions,
+either join my father in levying fines to enable him to sell or
+mortgage whatever portion of his estate is necessary for the payment
+of these debts; or I will, in whatever mode he can point out, as more
+agreeable or more advantageous to him, join in giving security to his
+creditors."
+
+"Dear, noble fellow!" cried Sir Terence: "none but an Irishman could
+do it."
+
+Lord Clonbrony, melted to tears, could not articulate, but held his
+arms open to embrace his son.
+
+"But you have not heard my conditions yet," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh, confound the conditions!" cried Sir Terence.
+
+"What conditions could he ask, that I could refuse at this minute?"
+said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Nor I--was it my heart's blood, and were I to be hanged for it,"
+cried Sir Terence. "And what are the conditions?"
+
+"That Mr. Garraghty shall be dismissed from the agency."
+
+"And welcome, and glad to get rid of him--the rogue, the tyrant," said
+Lord Clonbrony; "and, to be beforehand with you in your next wish, put
+Mr. Burke into his place."
+
+"I'll write the letter for you to sign, my lord, this minute," cried
+Terry, "with all the pleasure in life. No; it's my Lord Colambre
+should do that in all justice."
+
+"But what's your next condition? I hope it's no worse," said Lord
+Clonbrony.
+
+"That you and my mother should cease to be absentees."
+
+"Oh, murder!" said Sir Terence; "may be that's not so easy; for there
+are two words to that bargain."
+
+Lord Clonbrony declared that, for his own part, he was ready to return
+to Ireland next morning, and to promise to reside on his estate all
+the rest of his days; that there was nothing he desired more, provided
+Lady Clonbrony would consent to it; but that he could not promise for
+her; that she was as obstinate as a mule on that point; that he had
+often tried, but that there was no moving her; and that, in short, he
+could not promise on her part.
+
+But it was on this condition, Lord Colambre said, he must insist.
+Unless this condition were granted, he would not engage to do any
+thing.
+
+"Well, we must only see how it will be when she comes to town; she
+will come up from Buxton the day you're of age to sign some papers,"
+said Lord Clonbrony; "but," added he with a very dejected look and
+voice, "if all's to depend on my Lady Clonbrony's consenting to return
+to Ireland, I'm as far from all hope of being at ease as ever."
+
+"Upon my conscience, we're all at sea again," said Sir Terence.
+
+Lord Colambre was silent; but in his silence there was such an air
+of firmness, that both Lord Clonbrony and Sir Terence were convinced
+entreaties would, on this point, be fruitless. Lord Clonbrony sighed
+deeply.
+
+"But when it's ruin or safety! and her husband and all belonging to
+her at stake, the woman can't persist in being a mule," said Sir
+Terence.
+
+"Of whom are you talking, sir?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Of whom? Oh, I beg your lordship's pardon--I thought I was talking to
+my lord; but, in other words, as you are her son, I'm persuaded her
+ladyship, your mother, will prove herself a reasonable woman--when she
+sees she can't help it. So, my Lord Clonbrony, cheer up; a great deal
+may be done by the fear of Mordicai, and an execution, especially now
+there's no prior creditor. Since there's no reserve between you and
+I now, my Lord Colambre," said Sir Terence, "I must tell you all,
+and how we shambled on those months while you were in Ireland. First,
+Mordicai went to law, to prove I was in a conspiracy with your father,
+pretending to be prior creditor, to keep him off and out of his own;
+which, after a world of swearing and law--law always takes time to do
+justice, that's one comfort--the villain proved at last to be true
+enough, and so cast us; and I was forced to be paid off last week. So
+there's no prior creditor, or any shield of pretence that way. Then
+his execution was coming down upon us, and nothing to stay it till I
+thought of a monthly annuity to Mordicai, in the shape of a wager.
+So the morning after he cast us, I went to him: 'Mr. Mordicai,' says
+I, 'you must be _plased_ to see a man you've beaten so handsomely;
+and though I'm sore, both for myself and my friend, yet you see I
+can laugh still, though an execution is no laughing matter, and
+I'm sensible you've one in petto in your sleeve for my friend Lord
+Clonbrony. But I'll lay you a wager of a hundred guineas on paper,
+that a marriage of his son with an heiress, before next Lady-day, will
+set all to rights, and pay you with a compliment too."
+
+"Good heavens, Sir Terence! surely you said no such thing?"
+
+"I did--but what was it but a wager? which is nothing but a dream;
+and, when lost, as I am as sensible as you are that it must be, why
+what is it, after all, but a bonus, in a gentlemanlike form, to
+Mordicai? which, I grant you, is more than he deserves--for staying
+the execution till you be of age; and even for my Lady Clonbrony's
+sake, though I know she hates me like poison, rather than have her
+disturbed by an execution, I'd pay the hundred guineas this minute out
+of my own pocket, if I had 'em in it."
+
+A thundering knock at the door was heard at this moment.
+
+"Never heed it; let 'em thunder," said Sir Terence: "whoever it is,
+they won't get in; for my lord bid them let none in for their life.
+It's necessary for us to be very particular about the street-door
+now; and I advise a double chain for it, and to have the footmen well
+tutored to look before they run to a double rap; for a double rap
+might be a double trap."
+
+"My lady and Miss Nugent, my lord," said a footman, throwing open the
+door.
+
+"My mother! Miss Nugent!" cried Lord Colambre, springing eagerly
+forward.
+
+"Colambre! Here!" said his mother: "but it's all too late now, and no
+matter where you are."
+
+Lady Clonbrony coldly suffered her son to embrace her; and he, without
+considering the coldness of her manner, scarcely hearing, and not at
+all understanding, the words she said, fixed his eyes on his cousin,
+who, with a countenance all radiant with affectionate joy, held out
+her hand to him.
+
+"Dear cousin Colambre, what an unexpected pleasure!"
+
+He seized the hand; but, as he was going to kiss it, the recollection
+of _St. Omar_ crossed his mind: he checked himself, and said something
+about joy and pleasure, but his countenance expressed neither; and
+Miss Nugent, much surprised by the coldness of his manner, withdrew
+her hand, and, turning away, left the room.
+
+"Grace! darling!" called Lord Clonbrony, "whither so fast, before
+you've given me a word or a kiss?"
+
+She came back, and hastily kissed her uncle, who folded her in his
+arms. "Why must I let you go? And what makes you so pale, my dear
+child?"
+
+"I am a little, a little tired--I will be with you again soon."
+
+Her uncle let her go.
+
+"Your famous Buxton baths don't seem to have agreed with her, by all I
+can see," said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"My lord, the Buxton baths are no way to blame; but I know what is
+to blame and who is to blame," said Lady Clonbrony, in a tone of
+displeasure, fixing her eyes upon her son. "Yes, you may well look
+confounded, Colambre; but it is too late now--you should have known
+your own mind in time. I see you have heard it, then--but I am sure
+I don't know how; for it was only decided the day I left Buxton. The
+news could hardly travel faster than I did. Pray how did you hear it?"
+
+"Hear what, ma'am?" said Colambre.
+
+"Why, that Miss Broadhurst is going to be married."
+
+"All! Now, Lord Colambre, you _reelly_ are too much for my patience.
+But I flatter myself you will feel, when I tell you that it is your
+friend, Sir Arthur Berryl, as I always prophesied, who has carried off
+the prize from you."
+
+"But for the fear of displeasing my dear mother, I should say, that
+I do feel sincere pleasure in this marriage--I always wished it: my
+friend, Sir Arthur, from the first moment, trusted me with the secret
+of his attachment; he knew that he had my warm good wishes for his
+success; he knew that I thought most highly of the young lady; but
+that I never thought of her as a wife for myself."
+
+"And why did not you? that is the very thing I complain of," said Lady
+Clonbrony. "But it is all over now. You may set your heart at ease,
+for they are to be married on Thursday; and poor Mrs. Broadhurst is
+ready to break her heart, for she was set upon a coronet for her
+daughter; and you, ungrateful as you are, you don't know how she
+wished you to be the happy man. But only conceive, after all that
+has passed, Miss Broadhurst had the assurance to expect I would let
+my niece be her bride's-maid. Oh, I flatly refused; that is, I told
+Grace it could not be; and, that there might be no affront to Mrs.
+Broadhurst, who did not deserve it, I pretended Grace had never
+mentioned it; but ordered my carriage, and left Buxton directly. Grace
+was hurt, for she is very warm in her friendships. I am sorry to hurt
+Grace. But _reelly_ I could not let her be bride's-maid:--and that, if
+you must know, is what vexed her, and made the tears come in her eyes,
+I suppose--and I'm sorry for it; but one must keep up one's dignity a
+little. After all, Miss Broadhurst was only a citizen--and _reelly_
+now, a very odd girl; never did any thing like any body else; settled
+her marriage at last in the oddest way. Grace can tell you the
+particulars. I own, I am tired of the subject, and tired of my
+journey. My lord, I shall take leave to dine in my own room to-day,"
+continued her ladyship, as she quitted the room.
+
+"I hope her ladyship did not notice me," said Sir Terence O'Fay,
+coming from behind a window-curtain.
+
+"Why, Terry, what did you hide for?" said Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"Hide! I didn't hide, nor wouldn't from any man living, _let alone_
+any woman.[1] Hide! no; but I just stood looking out of the window,
+behind this curtain, that my poor Lady Clonbrony might not be
+discomfited and shocked by the sight of one whom she can't abide, the
+very minute she come home. Oh, I've some consideration--it would have
+put her out of humour worse with both of you too; and for that there's
+no need, as far as I see. So I'll take myself off to my coffee-house
+to dine, and may be you may get her down and into spirits again. But,
+for your lives, don't touch upon Ireland this night, nor till she has
+fairly got the better of the marriage. _Apropos_--there's my wager
+to Mordicai gone at a slap. It's I that ought to be scolding you, my
+Lord Colambre; but I trust you will do as well yet, not in point of
+purse, may be. But I'm not one of those that think that money's every
+thing--though, I grant you, in this world there's nothing to be had
+without it--love excepted,--which most people don't believe in--but
+not I--in particular cases. So I leave you, with my blessing, and I've
+a notion, at this time, that is better than my company--your most
+devoted."
+
+[Footnote 1: Leaving any woman out of the question.]
+
+The good-natured Sir Terence would not be persuaded by Lord Clonbrony
+to stay. Nodding at Lord Colambre as he went out of the room, he
+said, "I've an eye, in going, to your heart's ease too. When I played
+myself, I never liked standers-by."
+
+Sir Terence was not deficient in penetration, but he never could help
+boasting of his discoveries.
+
+Lord Colambre was grateful for his judicious departure; and followed
+his equally judicious advice, not to touch upon Ireland this night.
+
+Lady Clonbrony was full of Buxton, and he was glad to be relieved from
+the necessity of talking; and he indulged himself in considering what
+might be passing in Miss Nugent's mind. She now appeared in remarkably
+good spirits; for her aunt had given her a hint that she thought
+her out of humour because she had not been permitted to be Miss
+Broadhurst's bride's-maid, and she was determined to exert herself
+to dispel this notion. This it was now easy for her to do, because
+she had, by this time, in her own imagination, found a plausible
+excuse for that coldness in Lord Colambre's reception of her, by
+which she had at first been hurt: she had settled it, that he had
+taken it for granted she was of his mother's sentiments respecting
+Miss Broadhurst's marriage, and that this idea, and perhaps the
+apprehension of her reproaches, had caused this embarrassment--she
+knew that she could easily set this misunderstanding right.
+Accordingly, when Lady Clonbrony had talked herself to sleep about
+Buxton, and was taking her afternoon's nap, as it was her custom to do
+when she had neither cards nor company to keep her awake, Miss Nugent
+began to explain her own sentiments, and to give Lord Colambre, as her
+aunt had desired, an account of the manner in which Miss Broadhurst's
+marriage had been settled.
+
+"In the first place," said she, "let me assure you, that I rejoice in
+this marriage: I think your friend, Sir Arthur Berryl, is every way
+deserving of my friend Miss Broadhurst; and this from me," said she,
+smiling, "is no slight eulogium. I have marked the rise and progress
+of their attachment; and it has been founded on the perception of
+such excellent qualities on each side, that I have no fear for its
+permanence. Sir Arthur Berryl's honourable conduct in paying his
+father's debts, and his generosity to his mother and sisters, whose
+fortunes were left entirely dependent upon him, first pleased my
+friend. It was like what she would have done herself, and like--in
+short, it is what few young men, as she said, of the present day
+would do. Then his refraining from all personal expenses, his going
+without equipage and without horses, that he might do what he felt
+to be right, whilst it exposed him continually to the ridicule of
+fashionable young men, or to the charge of avarice, made a very
+different impression on Miss Broadhurst's mind; her esteem and
+admiration were excited by these proofs of strength of character, and
+of just and good principles."
+
+"If you go on you will make me envious and jealous of my friend," said
+Lord Colambre.
+
+"You jealous!--Oh, it is too late now--besides, you cannot be jealous,
+for you never loved."
+
+"I never loved Miss Broadhurst, I acknowledge."
+
+"There was the advantage Sir Arthur Berryl had over you--he loved, and
+my friend saw it."
+
+"She was clear-sighted," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"She was clear-sighted," repeated Miss Nugent; "but if you mean that
+she was vain, and apt to fancy people in love with her, I can assure
+you that you are mistaken. Never was woman, young or old, more
+clear-sighted to the views of those by whom she was addressed. No
+flattery, no fashion, could blind her judgment."
+
+"She knew how to choose a friend well, I am sure," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"And a friend for life, too, I am sure you will allow--and she had
+such numbers, such strange variety of admirers, as might have puzzled
+the choice and turned the brain of any inferior person. Such a
+succession of lovers as she has had this summer, ever since you
+went to Ireland--they appeared and vanished like figures in a magic
+lantern. She had three noble admirers--rank in three different forms
+offered themselves First came in, hobbling, rank and gout; next, rank
+and gaming; then rank, very high rank, over head and ears in debt.
+All of these were rejected; and, as they moved off, I thought Mrs.
+Broadhurst would have broken her heart. Next came fashion, with his
+head, heart, and soul in his cravat--he quickly made his bow, or
+rather his nod, and walked off, taking a pinch of snuff. Then came a
+man of wit--but it was wit without worth; and presently came 'worth
+without wit.' She preferred 'wit and worth united,' which she
+fortunately at last found, Lord Colambre, in your friend, Sir Arthur
+Berryl."
+
+"Grace, my girl!" said her uncle, "I'm glad to see you've got up your
+spirits again, though you were not to be bride's-maid. Well, I hope
+you'll be bride soon--I'm sure you ought to be--and you should think
+of rewarding that poor Mr. Salisbury, who plagues me to death,
+whenever he can catch hold of me, about you. He must have our
+definitive at last, you know, Grace."
+
+A silence ensued, which neither Miss Nugent nor Lord Colambre seemed
+able or willing to break.
+
+"Very good company, faith, you three!--One of ye asleep, and the other
+two saying nothing, to keep one awake. Colambre, have you no Dublin
+news? Grace, have you no Buxton scandal? What was it Lady Clonbrony
+told us you'd tell us, about the oddness of Miss Broadhurst's settling
+her marriage? Tell me that, for I love to hear odd things."
+
+"Perhaps you will not think it odd," said she. "One evening--but I
+should begin by telling you that three of her admirers, besides Sir
+Arthur Berryl, had followed her to Buxton, and had been paying their
+court to her all the time we were there; and at last grew impatient
+for her decision."
+
+"Ay, for her definitive!" said Lord Clonbrony. Miss Nugent was put out
+again, but resumed.
+
+"So one evening, just before the dancing began, the gentlemen were
+all standing round Miss Broadhurst; one of them said, 'I wish Miss
+Broadhurst would decide--that whoever she dances with to-night should
+be her partner for life: what a happy man he would be!'
+
+"'But how can I decide?' said Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"'I wish I had a friend to plead for me!' said one of the suitors,
+looking at me.
+
+"'Have you no friend of your own?' said Miss Broadhurst.
+
+"'Plenty of friends,' said the gentleman.
+
+"'Plenty!--then you must be a very happy man,' replied Miss
+Broadhurst. 'Come,' said she, laughing, 'I will dance with that man
+who can convince me that he has, near relations excepted, one true
+friend in the world! That man who has made the best friend, I dare
+say, will make the best husband!'
+
+"At that moment," continued Miss Nugent, "I was certain who would
+be her choice. The gentlemen all declared at first that they had
+abundance of excellent friends--the best friends in the world! but
+when Miss Broadhurst cross-examined them, as to what their friends
+had done for them, or what they were willing to do, modern friendship
+dwindled into a ridiculously small compass. I cannot give you the
+particulars of the cross-examination, though it was conducted with
+great spirit and humour by Miss Broadhurst; but I can tell you the
+result--that Sir Arthur Berryl, by incontrovertible facts, and
+eloquence warm from the heart, convinced every body present that he
+had the best friend in the world; and Miss Broadhurst, as he finished
+speaking, gave him her hand, and he led her off in triumph--So
+you see, Lord Colambre, you were at last the cause of my friend's
+marriage!"
+
+She turned to Lord Colambre as she spoke these words, with such
+an affectionate smile, and such an expression of open, innocent
+tenderness in her whole countenance, that our hero could hardly resist
+the impulse of his passion--could hardly restrain himself from falling
+at her feet that instant, and declaring his love. "But St. Omar! St.
+Omar!--It must not be!"
+
+"I must be gone!" said Lord Clonbrony, pulling out his watch. "It is
+time to go to my club; and poor Terry will wonder what has become of
+me."
+
+Lord Colambre instantly offered to accompany his father; much to Lord
+Clonbrony's, and more to Miss Nugent's surprise.
+
+"What!" said she to herself, "after so long an absence, leave
+me!--Leave his mother, with whom he always used to stay--on purpose to
+avoid me! What can I have done to displease him? It is clear it was
+not about Miss Broadhurst's marriage he was offended; for he looked
+pleased, and like himself, whilst I was talking of that: but the
+moment afterwards, what a constrained, unintelligible expression of
+countenance--and leaves me to go to a club which he detests!"
+
+As the gentlemen shut the door on leaving the room, Lady Clonbrony
+awakened, and, starting up, exclaimed, "What's the matter? Are they
+gone? Is Colambre gone?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, with my uncle."
+
+"Very odd! very odd of him to go and leave me! he always used to stay
+with me--what did he say about me?"
+
+"Nothing, ma'am."
+
+"Well, then, I have nothing to say about him, or about any thing,
+indeed, for I'm excessively tired and stupid--alone in Lon'on's as bad
+as any where else. Ring the bell, and we'll go to bed directly--if you
+have no objection, Grace."
+
+Grace made no objection: Lady Clonbrony went to bed and to sleep in
+ten minutes. Miss Nugent went to bed; but she lay awake, considering
+what could be the cause of her cousin Colambre's hard unkindness, and
+of "his altered eye." She was openness itself; and she determined
+that, the first moment she could speak to him alone, she would at once
+ask for an explanation. With this resolution, she rose in the morning,
+and went down to the breakfast-room, in hopes of meeting him, as it
+had formerly been his custom to be early; and she expected to find him
+reading in his usual place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+No--Lord Colambre was not in his accustomed place, reading in the
+breakfast-room; nor did he make his appearance till both his father
+and mother had been some time at breakfast.
+
+"Good morning to you, my Lord Colambre," said his mother, in a
+reproachful tone, the moment he entered; "I am much obliged to you for
+your company last night."
+
+"Good morning to you, Colambre," said his father, in a more jocose
+tone of reproach; "I am obliged to you for your good company last
+night."
+
+"Good morning to you, Lord Colambre," said Miss Nugent; and though she
+endeavoured to throw all reproach from her looks, and to let none be
+heard in her voice, yet there was a slight tremulous motion in that
+voice, which struck our hero to the heart.
+
+"I thank you, ma'am, for missing me," said he, addressing himself to
+his mother: "I stayed away but half an hour; I accompanied my father
+to St. James's-street, and when I returned I found that every one had
+retired to rest."
+
+"Oh, was that the case?" said Lady Clonbrony: "I own I thought it very
+unlike you to leave me in that sort of way."
+
+"And, lest you should be jealous of that half hour when he was
+accompanying me," said Lord Clonbrony, "I must remark, that, though
+I had his body with me, I had none of his mind; that he left at home
+with you ladies, or with some fair one across the water, for the
+deuce of two words did he bestow upon me, with all his pretence of
+accompanying me."
+
+"Lord Colambre seems to have a fair chance of a pleasant breakfast,"
+said Miss Nugent, smiling; "reproaches on all sides."
+
+"I have heard none on your side, Grace," said Lord Clonbrony; "and
+that's the reason, I suppose, he wisely takes his seat beside you. But
+come, we will not badger you any more, my dear boy. We have given him
+as fine a complexion amongst us as if he had been out hunting these
+three hours: have not we, Grace?"
+
+"When Colambre has been a season or two more in Lon'on, he'll not be
+so easily put out of countenance," said Lady Clonbrony; "you don't see
+young men of fashion here blushing about nothing."
+
+"No, nor about any thing, my dear," said Lord Clonbrony; "but that's
+no proof they do nothing they ought to blush for."
+
+"What they do, there's no occasion for ladies to inquire," said Lady
+Clonbrony; "but this I know, that it's a great disadvantage to a young
+man of a certain rank to blush; for no people, who live in a certain
+set, ever do: and it is the most opposite thing possible to a certain
+air, which, I own, I think Colambre wants; and now that he has done
+travelling in Ireland, which is no use in _pint_ of giving a gentleman
+a travelled air, or any thing of that sort, I hope he will put himself
+under my conduct for next winter's campaign in town."
+
+Lord Clonbrony looked as if he did not know how to look; and, after
+drumming on the table for some seconds, said, "Colambre, I told you
+how it would be: that's a fatal hard condition of yours."
+
+"Not a hard condition, I hope, my dear father," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Hard it must be, since it can't be fulfilled, or won't be fulfilled,
+which comes to the same thing," replied Lord Clonbrony, sighing.
+
+"I am persuaded, sir, that it will be fulfilled," said Lord Colambre;
+"I am persuaded that, when my mother hears the truth, and the whole
+truth--when she finds that your happiness, and the happiness of her
+whole family, depend upon her yielding her taste on one subject--"
+
+"Oh, I see now what you are about," cried Lady Clonbrony; "you are
+coming round with your persuasions and prefaces to ask me to give
+up Lon'on, and go back with you to Ireland, my lord. You may save
+yourselves the trouble, all of you; for no earthly persuasions shall
+make me do it. I will never give up my taste on that _pint_. My
+happiness has a right to be as much considered as your father's,
+Colambre, or anybody's; and, in one word, I won't do it," cried she,
+rising angrily from the breakfast table.
+
+"There! did not I tell you how it would be?" cried Lord Clonbrony.
+
+"My mother has not heard me yet," said Lord Colambre, laying his hand
+upon his mother's arm, as she attempted to pass: "hear me, madam, for
+your own sake. You do not know what will happen, this very day--this
+very hour, perhaps--if you do not listen to me."
+
+"And what will happen?" said Lady Clonbrony, stopping short.
+
+"Ay, indeed; she little knows," said Lord Clonbrony, "what's hanging
+over her head."
+
+"Hanging over my head?" said Lady Clonbrony, looking up;
+"nonsense!--what?"
+
+"An execution, madam!" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Gracious me! an execution!" said Lady Clonbrony, sitting down again;
+"but I heard you talk of an execution months ago, my lord, before my
+son went to Ireland, and it blew over--I heard no more of it."
+
+"It won't blow over now," said Lord Clonbrony; "you'll hear more of
+it now. Sir Terence O'Fay it was, you may remember, that settled it
+then."
+
+"Well, and can't he settle it now? Send for him, since he understands
+these cases; and I will ask him to dinner myself, for your sake, and
+be very civil to him, my lord."
+
+"All your civility, either for my sake or your own, will not signify a
+straw, my dear, in this case--any thing that poor Terry could do, he'd
+do, and welcome, without it; but he can do nothing."
+
+"Nothing!--that's very extraordinary. But I'm clear no one dare to
+bring a real execution against us in earnest; and you are only trying
+to frighten me to your purpose, like a child; but it shan't do."
+
+"Very well, my dear; you'll see--too late."
+
+A knock at the house door.
+
+"Who is it?--What is it?" cried Lord Clonbrony, growing very pale.
+
+Lord Colambre changed colour too, and ran down stairs. "Don't let 'em
+let any body in, for your life, Colambre; under any pretence," cried
+Lord Clonbrony, calling from the head of the stairs: then running to
+the window, "By all that's good, it's Mordicai himself! and the people
+with him."
+
+"Lean your head on me, my dear aunt," said Miss Nugent: Lady Clonbrony
+leant back, trembling, and ready to faint.
+
+"But he's walking off now; the rascal could not get in--safe for the
+present!" cried Lord Clonbrony, rubbing his hands, and repeating,
+"safe for the present!"
+
+"Safe for the present!" repeated Lord Colambre, coming again into the
+room. "Safe for the present hour."
+
+"He could not get in, I suppose.--Oh, I warned all the servants
+well," said Lord Clonbrony; "and so did Terry. Ay, there's the rascal
+Mordicai walking off, at the end of the street; I know his walk a mile
+off. Gad! I can breathe again. I am glad he's gone. But he will come
+back and always lie in wait, and some time or other, when we're off
+our guard (unawares), he'll slide in."
+
+"Slide in! Oh, horrid!" cried Lady Clonbrony, sitting up, and wiping
+away the water which Miss Nugent had sprinkled on her face.
+
+"Were you much alarmed?" said Lord Colambre, with a voice of
+tenderness, looking at his mother first, but his eyes fixing on Miss
+Nugent.
+
+"Shockingly!" said Lady Clonbrony; "I never thought it would _reelly_
+come to this."
+
+"It will really come to much more, my dear," said Lord Clonbrony,
+"that you may depend upon, unless you prevent it."
+
+"Lord! What can I do?--I know nothing of business: how should I, Lord
+Clonbrony? But I know there's Colambre--I was always told that when he
+was of age, every thing should be settled; and why can't he settle it
+when he's upon the spot?"
+
+"And upon one condition, I will," cried Lord Colambre; "at what loss
+to myself, my dear mother, I need not mention."
+
+"Then I will mention it," cried Lord Clonbrony: "at the loss it will
+be of nearly half the estate he would have had, if we had not spent
+it."
+
+"Loss! Oh, I am excessively sorry my son's to be at such a loss--it
+must not be."
+
+"It cannot be otherwise," said Lord Clonbrony; "nor it can't be this
+way either, my Lady Clonbrony, unless you comply with his condition,
+and consent to return to Ireland."
+
+"I cannot--I will not," replied Lady Clonbrony. "Is this your
+condition, Colambre?--I take it exceedingly ill of you. I think it
+very unkind, and unhandsome, and ungenerous, and undutiful of you,
+Colambre; you my son!" She poured forth a torrent of reproaches;
+then came to entreaties and tears. But our hero, prepared for this,
+had steeled his mind; and he stood resolved not to indulge his own
+feelings, or to yield to caprice or persuasion, but to do that which
+he knew was best for the happiness of hundreds of tenants, who
+depended upon them--best for both his father and his mother's ultimate
+happiness and respectability.
+
+"It's all in vain," cried Lord Clonbrony; "I have no resource but one,
+and I must condescend now to go to him this minute, for Mordicai will
+be back and seize all--I must sign and leave all to Garraghty."
+
+"Well, sign, sign, my lord, and settle with Garraghty. Colambre, I've
+heard all the complaints you brought over against that man. My lord
+spent half the night telling them to me: but all agents are bad, I
+suppose; at any rate I can't help it--sign, sign, my lord; he has
+money--yes, do; go and settle with him, my lord."
+
+Lord Colambre and Miss Nugent, at one and the same moment, stopped
+Lord Clonbrony as he was quitting the room, and then approached Lady
+Clonbrony with supplicating looks; but she turned her head to the
+other side, and, as if putting away their entreaties, made a repelling
+motion with both her hands, and exclaimed, "No, Grace Nugent!--no,
+Colambre--no--no, Colambre! I'll never hear of leaving Lon'on--there's
+no living out of Lon'on--I can't, I won't live out of Lon'on, I say."
+
+Her son saw that the _Londonomania_ was now stronger than ever
+upon her, but resolved to make one desperate appeal to her natural
+feelings, which, though smothered, he could not believe were wholly
+extinguished: he caught her repelling hands, and pressing them with
+respectful tenderness to his lips, "Oh, my dear mother, you once loved
+your son," said he; "loved him better than any thing in this world: if
+one spark of affection for him remains, hear him now, and forgive him,
+if he pass the bounds--bounds he never passed before--of filial duty.
+Mother, in compliance with your wishes my father left Ireland--left
+his home, his duties, his friends, his natural connexions, and for
+many years he has lived in England, and you have spent many seasons in
+London."
+
+"Yes, in the very best company--in the very first circles," said Lady
+Clonbrony; "cold as the high-bred English are said to be in general to
+strangers."
+
+"Yes," replied Lord Colambre, "the very best company (if you mean the
+most fashionable) have accepted of our entertainments. We have forced
+our way into their frozen circles; we have been permitted to breathe
+in these elevated regions of fashion; we have it to say, that the
+Duke of _This_, and my Lady _That_, are of our acquaintance.--We may
+say more: we may boast that we have vied with those whom we could
+never equal. And at what expense have we done all this? For a single
+season, the last winter (I will go no farther), at the expense of
+a great part of your timber, the growth of a century--swallowed in
+the entertainments of one winter in London! Our hills to be bare for
+another half century to come! But let the trees go: I think more of
+your tenants--of those left under the tyranny of a bad agent, at the
+expense of every comfort, every hope they enjoyed!--tenants, who were
+thriving and prosperous; who used to smile upon you, and to bless you
+both! In one cottage, I have seen--"
+
+Here Lord Clonbrony, unable to restrain his emotion, hurried out of
+the room.
+
+"Then I am sure it is not my fault," said Lady Clonbrony; "for I
+brought my lord a large fortune: and I am confident I have not, after
+all, spent more any season, in the best company, than he has among a
+set of low people, in his muddling, discreditable way."
+
+"And how has he been reduced to this?" said Lord Colambre. "Did he
+not formerly live with gentlemen, his equals, in his own country;
+his contemporaries? Men of the first station and character, whom I
+met in Dublin, spoke of him in a manner that gratified the heart of
+his son: he was respectable and respected, at his own home; but when
+he was forced away from that home, deprived of his objects and his
+occupations, compelled to live in London, or at watering-places, where
+he could find no employments that were suitable to him--set down, late
+in life, in the midst of strangers, to him cold and reserved--himself
+too proud to bend to those who disdained him as an Irishman--is he
+not more to be pitied than blamed for--yes, I, his son, must say the
+word--the degradation which has ensued? And do not the feelings, which
+have this moment forced him to leave the room, show of what he is
+capable? Oh, mother!" cried Lord Colambre, throwing himself at Lady
+Clonbrony's feet, "restore my father to himself! Should such feelings
+be wasted?--No; give them again to expand in benevolent, in kind,
+useful actions; give him again to his tenantry, his duties, his
+country, his home; return to that home yourself, dear mother! leave
+all the nonsense of high life--scorn the impertinence of these
+dictators of fashion, who, in return for all the pains we take to
+imitate, to court them--in return for the sacrifice of health,
+fortune, peace of mind--bestow sarcasm, contempt, ridicule, and
+mimicry!"
+
+"Oh, Colambre! Colambre! mimicry--I'll never believe it."
+
+"Believe me--believe me, mother; for I speak of what I know. Scorn
+them--quit them! Return to an unsophisticated people--to poor, but
+grateful hearts, still warm with the remembrance of your kindness,
+still blessing you for favours long since conferred, ever praying to
+see you once more. Believe me, for I speak of what I know--your son
+has heard these prayers, has felt these blessings. Here! at my heart
+felt, and still feel them, when I was not known to be your son, in the
+cottage of the widow O'Neil."
+
+"Oh, did you see the widow O'Neil! and does she remember me?" said
+Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"Remember you! and you, Miss Nugent! I have slept in the bed--I would
+tell you more, but I cannot."
+
+"Well! I never should have thought they would have remembered me so
+long! poor people!" said Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"I thought all in Ireland must have forgotten me, it is now so long
+since I was at home."
+
+"You are not forgotten in Ireland by any rank, I can answer for that.
+Return home, my dearest mother--let me see you once more among your
+natural friends, beloved, respected, happy!"
+
+"Oh, return! let us return home!" cried Miss Nugent, with a voice of
+great emotion. "Return, let us return home! My beloved aunt, speak to
+us! say that you grant our request!" She kneeled beside Lord Colambre,
+as she spoke.
+
+"Is it possible to resist that voice, that look?" thought Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"If any body knew," said Lady Clonbrony, "if any body could conceive,
+how I detest the sight, the thoughts of that old yellow damask
+furniture, in the drawing-room at Clonbrony Castle--"
+
+"Good Heavens!" cried Lord Colambre, starting up, and looking at his
+mother in stupified astonishment; "is _that_ what you are thinking of,
+ma'am?"
+
+"The yellow damask furniture!" said her niece, smiling. "Oh, if that's
+all, that shall never offend your eyes again. Aunt, my painted velvet
+chairs are finished; and trust the furnishing that room to me. The
+legacy lately left me cannot be better applied--you shall see how
+beautifully it will be furnished."
+
+"Oh, if I had money, I should like to do it myself; but it would take
+an immensity to new furnish Clonbrony Castle properly."
+
+"The furniture in this house," said Miss Nugent, looking round--
+
+"Would do a great deal towards it, I declare," cried Lady Clonbrony;
+"that never struck me before, Grace, I protest--and what would
+not suit one might sell or exchange here--and it would be a great
+amusement to me--and I should like to set the fashion of something
+better in that country. And I declare now, I should like to see those
+poor people, and that widow O'Neil. I do assure you, I think I was
+happier at home; only that one gets, I don't know how, a notion,
+one's nobody out of Lon'on. But, after all, there's many drawbacks
+in Lon'on--and many people are very impertinent, I'll allow--and if
+there's a woman in the world I hate, it is Mrs. Dareville--and, if I
+was leaving Lon'on, I should not regret Lady Langdale neither--and
+Lady St. James is as cold as a stone. Colambre may well say
+_frozen circles_--these sort of people are really very cold, and
+have, I do believe, no hearts. I don't verily think there is
+one of them would regret me more--Hey! let me see, Dublin--the
+winter--Merrion-square--new furnished--and the summer--Clonbrony
+Castle!"
+
+Lord Colambre and Miss Nugent waited in silence till her mind should
+have worked itself clear. One great obstacle had been removed; and now
+that the yellow damask had been taken out of her imagination, they no
+longer despaired.
+
+Lord Clonbrony put his head into the room. "What hopes?--any? if
+not, let me go." He saw the doubting expression of Lady Clonbrony's
+countenance--hope in the face of his son and niece. "My dear, dear
+Lady Clonbrony, make us all happy by one word," said he, kissing her.
+
+"You never kissed me so since we left Ireland before," said Lady
+Clonbrony. "Well, since it must be so, let us go," said she.
+
+"Did I ever see such joy!" said Lord Clonbrony, clasping his hands: "I
+never expected such joy in my life!--I must go and tell poor Terry!"
+and off he ran.
+
+"And now, since we are to go," said Lady Clonbrony, "pray let us
+go immediately, before the thing gets wind, else I shall have Mrs.
+Dareville, and Lady Langdale, and Lady St. James, and all the world,
+coming to condole with me, just to satisfy their own curiosity: and
+then, Miss Pratt, who hears every thing that every body says, and more
+than they say, will come and tell me how it is reported every where
+that we are ruined. Oh! I never could bear to stay and hear all this.
+I'll tell you what I'll do--you are to be of age soon, Colambre,--very
+well, there are some papers for me to sign,--I must stay to put my
+name to them, and, that done, that minute I'll leave you and Lord
+Clonbrony to settle all the rest; and I'll get into my carriage, with
+Grace, and go down to Buxton again; where you can come for me, and
+take me up, when you're all ready to go to Ireland--and we shall be so
+far on our way. Colambre, what do you say to this?"
+
+"That, if you like it, madam," said he, giving one hasty glance at
+Miss Nugent, and withdrawing his eyes, "it is the best possible
+arrangement."
+
+"So," thought Grace, "that is the best possible arrangement which
+takes us away."
+
+"If I like it!" said Lady Clonbrony; "to be sure I do, or I should
+not propose it. What is Colambre thinking of? I know, Grace, at all
+events, what you and I must think of--of having the furniture packed
+up, and settling what's to go, and what's to be exchanged, and all
+that. Now, my dear, go and write a note directly to Mr. Soho, and bid
+him come himself, immediately: and we'll go and make out a catalogue
+this instant of what furniture I will have packed."
+
+So with her head full of furniture, Lady Clonbrony retired. "I go to
+my business, Colambre: and I leaven you to settle yours in peace."
+
+In peace!--Never was our hero's mind less at peace than at this
+moment. The more his heart felt that it was painful, the more his
+reason told him it was necessary that he should part from Grace
+Nugent. To his union with her there was an obstacle which his prudence
+told him ought to be insurmountable; yet he felt that, during the few
+days he had been with her, the few hours he had been near her, he
+had, with his utmost power over himself, scarcely been master of his
+passion, or capable of concealing its object. It could not have been
+done but for her perfect simplicity and innocence. But how could this
+be supported on his part? How could he venture to live with this
+charming girl? How could he settle at home? What resource?
+
+His mind turned towards the army: he thought that abroad, and in
+active life, he should lose all the painful recollections, and drive
+from his heart all the sentiments, which could now be only a source of
+unavailing regret. But his mother--his mother, who had now yielded her
+own taste to his entreaties, for the good of her family--she expected
+him to return and live with her in Ireland. Though not actually
+promised or specified, he knew that she took it for granted; that it
+was upon this hope, this faith, she consented: he knew that she would
+be shocked at the bare idea of his going into the army. There was one
+chance--our hero tried, at this moment, to think it the best possible
+chance--that Miss Nugent might marry Mr. Salisbury, and settle in
+England. On this idea he relied, as the only means of extricating him
+from difficulties.
+
+It was necessary to turn his thoughts immediately to business, to
+execute his promises to his father. Two great objects were now to be
+accomplished--the payment of his father's debts, and the settlement
+of the Irish agent's accounts; and, in transacting this complicated
+business, he derived considerable assistance from Sir Terence O'Fay,
+and from Sir Arthur Berryl's solicitor, Mr. Edwards. Whilst acting for
+Sir Arthur, on a former occasion, Lord Colambre had gained the entire
+confidence of this solicitor, who was a man of the first eminence. Mr.
+Edwards took the papers and Lord Clonbrony's title-deeds home with
+him, saying that he would give an answer the next morning. He then
+waited upon Lord Colambre, and informed him that he had just received
+a letter from Sir Arthur Berryl, who, with the consent and desire of
+his lady, requested that whatever money might be required by Lord
+Clonbrony should be immediately supplied on their account, without
+waiting till Lord Colambre should be of age, as the ready money might
+be of some convenience to him in accelerating the journey to Ireland,
+which Sir Arthur and Lady Berryl knew was his lordship's object. Sir
+Terence O'Fay now supplied Mr. Edwards with accurate information as to
+the demands that were made upon Lord Clonbrony, and of the respective
+characters of the creditors. Mr. Edwards undertook to settle with
+the fair claimants; Sir Terence with the rogues: so that by the
+advancement of ready money from _the Berryls_, and by the detection
+of false and exaggerated charges which Sir Terence made among the
+inferior class, the debts were reduced nearly to one-half of their
+former amount. Mordicai, who had been foiled in his vile attempt
+to become sole creditor, had, however, a demand of more than seven
+thousand pounds upon Lord Clonbrony, which he had raised to this
+enormous sum in six or seven years, by means well known to himself. He
+stood the foremost in the list: not from the greatness of the sum; but
+from the danger of his adding to it the expenses of law. Sir Terence
+undertook to pay the whole with five thousand pounds. Lord Clonbrony
+thought it impossible: the solicitor thought it improvident, because
+he knew that upon a trial a much greater abatement would be allowed;
+but Lord Colambre was determined, from the present embarrassments of
+his own situation, to leave nothing undone that could be accomplished
+immediately.
+
+Sir Terence, pleased with his commission, immediately went to
+Mordicai.
+
+"Well, Sir Terence," said Mordicai, "I hope you are come to pay me my
+hundred guineas; for Miss Broadhurst is married!"
+
+"Well, Mister Mordicai, what then? The ides of March are come, but
+not gone! Stay, if you plase, Mister Mordicai, till Lady-day, when it
+becomes due: in the mean time, I have a handful, or rather an armful,
+of bank-notes for you, from my Lord Colambre."
+
+"Humph." said Mordicai: "how's that? he'll not be of age these three
+days."
+
+"Don't matter for that: he has sent me to look over your accounts, and
+to hope that you will make some small ABATEMENT in the total."
+
+"Harkee, Sir Terence--you think yourself very clever in things of this
+sort, but you've mistaken your man: I have an execution for the whole,
+and I'll be d----d if all your cunning shall MAKE me take up with
+part!"
+
+"Be _aisy_, Mister Mordicai!--you sha'n't make me break your bones,
+nor make me drop one actionable word against your high character; for
+I know your clerk there, with that long goose-quill behind his ear,
+would be ready evidence again' me. But I beg to know, in one word,
+whether you will take five thousand down, and GIVE Lord Clonbrony a
+discharge?"
+
+"No, Mr. Terence! nor six thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine
+pounds. My demand is seven thousand one hundred and thirty pounds,
+odd shillings: if you have that money, pay it; if not, I know how to
+get it, and along with it complete revenge for all the insults I have
+received from that greenhorn, his son."
+
+"Paddy Brady!" cried Sir Terence, "do you hear that? Remember that
+word _revenge_!--Mind I call you to witness!"
+
+"What, sir, will you raise a rebellion among my workmen?"
+
+"No, Mr. Mordicai, no rebellion; and I hope you won't cut the boy's
+ears off for listening to a little of the brogue--so listen, my good
+lad. Now, Mr. Mordicai, I offer you here, before little goosequill,
+5000_l._ ready penny--take it, or leave it: take your money, and leave
+your revenge; or take your revenge, and lose your money."
+
+"Sir Terence, I value neither your threats nor your cunning. Good
+morning to you."
+
+"Good morning to you, Mr. Mordicai--but not kindly! Mr. Edwards, the
+solicitor, has been at the office to take off the execution: so now
+you may have law to your heart's content! And it was only to plase the
+young lord that the _ould_ one consented to my carrying this bundle to
+you," showing the bank-notes.
+
+"Mr. Edwards employed!" cried Mordicai. "Why, how the devil did Lord
+Clonbrony get into such hands as his? The execution taken off! Well,
+sir, go to law--I am ready for you. Jack Latitat IS A MATCH for your
+sober solicitor."
+
+"Good morning again to you, Mr. Mordicai: we're fairly out of your
+clutches, and we have enough to do with our money."
+
+"Well, Sir Terence, I must allow you have a very wheedling way--Here,
+Mr. Thompson, make out a receipt for Lord Clonbrony: I never go to law
+with an old customer, if I can help it."
+
+This business settled, Mr. Soho was next to be dealt with.
+
+He came at Lady Clonbrony's summons; and was taking directions with
+the utmost _sang froid_, for packing up and sending off the very
+furniture for which he was not paid.
+
+Lord Colambre called him into his father's study; and, producing his
+bill, he began to point out various articles which were charged at
+prices that were obviously extravagant.
+
+"Why, really, my lord, they are _abundantly_ extravagant: if I charged
+vulgar prices, I should be only a vulgar tradesman. I, however, am not
+a broker, nor a Jew. Of the article superintendence, which is only
+500_l._, I cannot abate a doit: on the rest of the bill, if you mean
+to offer _ready_, I mean, without any negotiation, to abate thirty per
+cent., and I hope that is a fair and gentlemanly offer."
+
+"Mr. Soho, there is your money!"
+
+"My Lord Colambre! I would give the contents of three such bills to be
+sure of such noblemanly conduct as yours. Lady Clonbrony's furniture
+shall be safely packed, without costing her a farthing."
+
+With the help of Mr. Edwards, the solicitor, every other claim was
+soon settled; and Lord Clonbrony, for the first time since he left
+Ireland, found himself out of debt, and out of danger.
+
+Old Nick's account could not be settled in London. Lord Colambre had
+detected numerous false charges, and sundry impositions: the land,
+which had been purposely let to run wild, so far from yielding any
+rent, was made a source of constant expense, as remaining still unset:
+this was a large tract, for which St. Dennis had at length offered a
+small rent.
+
+Upon a fair calculation of the profits of the ground, and from other
+items in the account, Nicholas Garraghty, Esq., appeared at last
+to be, not the creditor, but the debtor to Lord Clonbrony. He was
+dismissed with disgrace; which perhaps he might not have felt, if
+it had not been accompanied by pecuniary loss, and followed by the
+fear of losing his other agencies, and by the dread of immediate
+bankruptcy.
+
+Mr. Burke was appointed agent in his stead to the Clonbrony as well
+as the Colambre estate. His appointment was announced to him by the
+following letter:--
+
+    "TO MRS. BURKE, AT COLAMBRE.
+
+    "DEAR MADAM,
+
+    "The traveller whom you so hospitably received some months ago
+    was Lord Colambre; he now writes to you in his proper person. He
+    promised you that he would, as far as it might be in his power, do
+    justice to Mr. Burke's conduct and character, by representing what
+    he had done for Lord Clonbrony in the town of Colambre, and in the
+    whole management of the tenantry and property under his care.
+
+    "Happily for my father, my dear madam, he is now as fully
+    convinced as you could wish him to be of Mr. Burke's merits; and
+    he begs me to express his sense of the obligations he is under to
+    him and to you. He entreats that you will pardon the impropriety
+    of a letter, which, as I assured you the moment I saw it, he never
+    wrote or read.
+
+    "He hopes that you will forget that such a letter was ever
+    received, and that you will use your influence with Mr. Burke
+    to induce him to continue to our family his regard and valuable
+    services. Lord Clonbrony encloses a power of attorney, enabling
+    Mr. Burke to act in future for him, if Mr. Burke will do him that
+    favour, in managing the Clonbrony as well as the Colambre estate.
+
+    "Lord Clonbrony will be in Ireland in the course of next month,
+    and intends to have the pleasure of soon paying his respects in
+    person to Mr. Burke, at Colambre.
+
+    "I am, dear madam,
+
+    "Your obliged guest,
+
+    "And faithful servant,
+
+    "COLAMBRE.
+
+    "_Grosvenor-square, London_."
+
+Lord Colambre was so continually occupied with business, during the
+days previous to his coming of age, every morning at his solicitor's
+chambers, every evening in his father's study, that Miss Nugent never
+saw him but at breakfast or dinner; and, though she watched for it
+most anxiously, never could find an opportunity of speaking to him
+alone, or of asking an explanation of the change and inconsistencies
+of his manner. At last, she began to think, that, in the midst of so
+much business of importance, by which he seemed harassed, she should
+do wrong to torment him, by speaking of any small uneasiness that
+concerned only herself. She determined to suppress her doubts, to
+keep her feelings to herself, and endeavour, by constant kindness, to
+regain that place in his affections, which she imagined that she had
+lost. "Every thing will go right again," thought she, "and we shall
+all be happy, when he returns with us to Ireland--to that dear home
+which he loves as well as I do!"
+
+The day Lord Colambre was of age, the first thing he did was, to sign
+a bond for five thousand pounds, Miss Nugent's fortune, which had been
+lent to his father, who was her guardian.
+
+"This, sir, I believe," said he, giving it to his father as soon as
+signed, "this, I believe, is the first debt you would wish to have
+secured."
+
+"Well thought of, my dear boy!--God bless you!--that has weighed more
+upon my conscience and heart than all the rest, though I never said
+any thing about it. I used, whenever I met Mr. Salisbury, to wish
+myself fairly down at the centre of the earth: not that he ever
+thought of fortune, I'm sure; for he often told me, and I believed
+him, he would rather have Miss Nugent without a penny, if he could get
+her, than the first fortune in the empire. But I'm glad she will not
+go to him pennyless, for all that; and by my fault, especially. There,
+there's my name to it--do witness it, Terry. But, Colambre, you must
+give it to her--you must take it to Grace."
+
+"Excuse me, sir; it is no gift of mine--it is a debt of yours. I beg
+you will take the bond to her yourself, my dear father."
+
+"My dear son, you must not always have your own way, and hide every
+thing good you do, or give me the honour of it--I won't be the jay in
+borrowed feathers. I have borrowed enough in my life, and I've done
+with borrowing now, thanks to you, Colambre--so come along with me;
+for I'll be hanged if ever I give this joint bond to Miss Nugent,
+unless you are with me. Leave Lady Clonbrony here to sign these
+papers. Terry will witness them properly, and do you come along with
+me."
+
+"And pray, my lord," said her ladyship, "order the carriage to the
+door; for, as soon as you have my signature, I hope you'll let me off
+to Buxton."
+
+"Oh, certainly--the carriage is ordered--every thing ready, my dear."
+
+"And pray tell Grace to be ready," added Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"That's not necessary; for she is always ready," said Lord Clonbrony.
+"Come, Colambre," added he, taking his son under the arm, and carrying
+him up to Miss Nugent's dressing-room.
+
+They knocked, and were admitted.
+
+"Ready!" said Lord Clonbrony; "ay, always ready--so I said. Here's
+Colambre, my darling," continued he, "has secured your fortune to you
+to my heart's content; but he would not condescend to come up to tell
+you so, till I made him. Here's the bond; and now, all I have to ask
+of you, Colambre, is, to persuade her to marry out of hand, that I
+may see her happy before I die. Now my heart's at ease; I can meet
+Mr. Salisbury with a safe conscience. One kiss, my little Grace. If
+any body can persuade you, I'm sure it's that man that's now leaning
+against the mantel-piece. It's Colambre will, or your heart's not made
+like mine--so I leave you."
+
+And out of the room walked he, leaving his poor son in as awkward,
+embarrassing, and painful a situation as could well be conceived. Half
+a dozen indistinct ideas crossed his mind; quick conflicting feelings
+made his heart beat and stop. And how it would have ended, if he had
+been left to himself; whether he would have stood or fallen, have
+spoken or have continued silent, can never now be known, for all was
+decided without the action of his will. He was awakened from his
+trance by these simple words from Miss Nugent: "I'm much obliged
+to you, cousin Colambre--more obliged to you for your kindness in
+thinking of me first, in the midst of all your other business, than by
+your securing my fortune. Friendship--and your friendship--is worth
+more to me than fortune. May I believe that is secured?"
+
+"Believe it! Oh, Grace, can you doubt it?"
+
+"I will not; it would make me too unhappy, I will not."
+
+"You need not."
+
+"That is enough--I am satisfied--I ask no farther explanation. You are
+truth itself--one word from you is security sufficient. We are friends
+for life," said she; "are not we?"
+
+"We are--and therefore sit down, cousin Grace, and let me claim the
+privilege of friendship, and speak to you of him who aspires to be
+more than your friend for life, Mr.--"
+
+"Mr. Salisbury!" said Miss Nugent; "I saw him yesterday. We had a very
+long conversation; I believe he understands my sentiments perfectly,
+and that he no longer thinks of being more to me than a friend for
+life."
+
+"You have refused him!"
+
+"Yes. I have a high opinion of Mr. Salisbury's understanding, a great
+esteem for his character; I like his manners and conversation; but I
+do not love him, and, therefore, you know, I could not marry him."
+
+"But, my dear Miss Nugent, with a high opinion, a great esteem, and
+liking his manners and conversation, in such a well-regulated mind as
+yours, can there be a better foundation for love?"
+
+"It is an excellent foundation," said she; "but I never went any
+farther than the foundation; and, indeed, I never wished to proceed
+any farther."
+
+Lord Colambre scarcely dared to ask why; but after some pause he said,
+"I don't wish to intrude upon your confidence."
+
+"You cannot intrude upon my confidence; I am ready to give it to
+you entirely, frankly; I hesitated only because another person was
+concerned. Do you remember, at my aunt's gala, a lady who danced with
+Mr. Salisbury?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+"A lady with whom you and Mr. Salisbury were talking, just before
+supper, in the Turkish tent."
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+"As we went down to supper, you told me you had had a delightful
+conversation with her; that you thought her a charming woman."
+
+"A charming woman!--I have not the slightest recollection of her."
+
+"And you told me that she and Mr. Salisbury had been praising me _a
+l'envie l'une de l'autre_."
+
+"Oh, I recollect her now perfectly," said Lord Colambre: "but what of
+her?"
+
+"She is the woman who, I hope, will be Mrs. Salisbury. Ever since I
+have been acquainted with them both, I have seen that they were suited
+to each other; I fancy, indeed I am almost sure, that she could
+love him, tenderly love him--and, I know, I could not. But my own
+sentiments, you may be sure, are all I ever told Mr. Salisbury."
+
+"But of your own sentiments you may not be sure," said Lord
+Colambre; "and I see no reason why you should give him up from false
+generosity."
+
+"Generosity!" interrupted Miss Nugent; "you totally misunderstand
+me; there is no generosity, nothing for me to give up in the case. I
+did not refuse Mr. Salisbury from generosity, but because I did not
+love him. Perhaps my seeing early what I have just mentioned to you
+prevented me from thinking of him as a lover; but, from whatever
+cause, I certainly never felt love for Mr. Salisbury, nor any of that
+pity which is said to lead to love: perhaps," added she, smiling,
+"because I was aware that he would be so much better off after I
+refused him--so much happier with one suited to him in age, talents,
+fortune, and love--'What bliss, did he but know his bliss,' were
+_his_.'"
+
+"Did he but know his bliss!" repeated Lord Colambre; "but is not he
+the best judge of his own bliss?"
+
+"And am not I the best judge of mine?" said Miss Nugent: "I go no
+farther."
+
+"You are; and I have no right to go farther. Yet, this much permit me
+to say, my dear Grace, that it would give me sincere pleasure, that
+is, real satisfaction, to see you happily--established."
+
+"Thank you, my dear Lord Colambre; but you spoke that like a man of
+seventy at least, with the most solemn gravity of demeanour."
+
+"I meant to be serious, not solemn," said Lord Colambre, endeavouring
+to change his tone.
+
+"There now," said she, in a playful tone, "you have _seriously_
+accomplished the task my good uncle set you; so I will report well of
+you to him, and certify that you did all that in you lay to exhort me
+to marry; that you have even assured me that it would give you sincere
+pleasure, that is, real satisfaction, to see me happily established."
+
+"Oh, Grace, if you knew how much I felt when I said that, you would
+spare this raillery."
+
+"I will be serious--I am most seriously convinced of the sincerity of
+your affection for me; I know my happiness is your object in all you
+have said, and I thank you from my heart for the interest you take
+about me. But really and truly I do not wish to marry. This is not a
+mere commonplace speech; but I have not yet seen any man I could love.
+I am happy as I am, especially now we are all going to dear Ireland,
+home, to live together: you cannot conceive with what pleasure I look
+forward to that."
+
+Lord Colambre was not vain; but love quickly sees love, or foresees
+the probability, the possibility, of its existence. He saw that Miss
+Nugent might love him tenderly, passionately; but that duty, habit,
+the prepossession that it was impossible she could marry her cousin
+Colambre,--a prepossession instilled into her by his mother--had
+absolutely prevented her from ever yet thinking of him as a lover. He
+saw the hazard for her, he felt the danger for himself. Never had she
+appeared to him so attractive as at this moment, when he felt the hope
+that he could obtain return of love.
+
+"But St. Omar!--Why! why is she a St. Omar?--illegitimate!--'No St.
+Omar _sans reproche_.' My wife she cannot be--I will not engage her
+affections."
+
+Swift as thoughts in moments of strong feeling pass in the mind
+without being put into words, our hero thought all this, and
+determined, cost what it would, to act honourably.
+
+"You spoke of my returning to Ireland, my dear Grace. I have not yet
+told you my plans."
+
+"Plans! are not you returning with us?" said she, precipitately; "are
+not you going to Ireland--home--with us?"
+
+"No:--I am going to serve a campaign or two abroad. I think every
+young man in these times--
+
+"Good Heavens! What does this mean? What can you mean?" cried she,
+fixing her eyes upon his, as if she would read his very soul. "Why?
+what reason?--Oh, tell me the truth--and at once."
+
+His change of colour--his hand that trembled, and withdrew from
+hers--the expression of his eyes as they met hers--revealed the truth
+to her at once. As it flashed across her mind, she started back; her
+face grew crimson, and, in the same instant, pale as death.
+
+"Yes--you see, you feel the truth now," said Lord Colambre. "You see,
+you feel, that I love you--passionately."
+
+"Oh, let me not hear it!" said she; "I must not--ought not. Never
+till this moment did such a thought cross my mind--I thought it
+impossible--Oh, make me think so still."
+
+"I will--it _is_ impossible that we can ever he united."
+
+"I always thought so," said she, taking breath with a deep sigh.
+"Then, why not live as we have lived?"
+
+"I cannot--I cannot answer for myself--I will not run the risk;
+and therefore I must quit you, knowing, as I do, that there is an
+invincible obstacle to our union; of what nature I cannot explain; I
+beg you not to inquire."
+
+"You need not beg it--I shall not inquire--I have no curiosity--none,"
+said she in a passive, dejected tone; "that is not what I am thinking
+of in the least. I know there are invincible obstacles; I wish it to
+be so. But, if invincible, you who have so much sense, honour, and
+virtue--"
+
+"I hope, my dear cousin, that I have honour and virtue. But there
+are temptations to which no wise, no good man will expose himself.
+Innocent creature! you do not know the power of love. I rejoice that
+you have always thought it impossible--think so still--it will save
+you from--all I must endure. Think of me but as your cousin, your
+friend--give your heart to some happier man. As your friend, your true
+friend, I conjure you, give your heart to some more fortunate man.
+Marry, if you can feel love--marry, and be happy. Honour! virtue!
+Yes, I have both, and I will not forfeit them. Yes, I will merit your
+esteem and my own--by actions, not words; and I give you the strongest
+proof, by tearing myself from you at this moment. Farewell!"
+
+"The carriage at the door, Miss Nugent, and my lady calling for you,"
+said her maid. "Here's your key, ma'am, and here's your gloves, my
+dear ma'am."
+
+"The carriage at the door, Miss Nugent," said Lady Clonbrony's woman,
+coming eagerly with parcels in her hand, as Miss Nugent passed
+her, and ran down stairs; "and I don't know where I laid my lady's
+_numbrella_, for my life--do you, Anne?"
+
+"No, indeed--but I know here's my own young lady's watch that she has
+left. Bless me! I never knew her to forget any thing on a journey
+before."
+
+"Then she is going to be married, as sure as my name's Le Maistre, and
+to my Lord Colambre; for he has been here this hour, to my certain
+Bible knowledge. Oh, you'll see she will be Lady Colambre."
+
+"I wish she may, with all my heart," said Anne; "but I must run
+down--they're waiting."
+
+"Oh, no!" said Mrs. Le Maistre, seizing Anne's arm, and holding her
+fast; "stay--you may safely--for they're all kissing and taking
+leave, and all that, you know; and _my_ lady is talking on about
+Mr. Soho, and giving a hundred directions about legs of tables, and
+so forth, I warrant--she's always an hour after she's ready before
+she gets in--and I'm looking for the _numbrella_. So stay, and
+tell me--Mrs. Petito wrote over word it was to be Lady Isabel; and
+then a contradiction came--it was turned into the youngest of the
+Killpatricks; and now here he's in Miss Nugent's dressing-room to the
+last moment. Now, in my opinion, that am not censorious, this does not
+look so pretty; but, according to my verdict, he is only making a fool
+of Miss Nugent, like the rest; and his lordship seems too like what
+you might call a male _cocket_, or a masculine jilt."
+
+"No more like a masculine jilt than yourself, Mrs. Le Maistre," cried
+Anne, taking fire. "And my young lady is not a lady to be made a fool
+of, I promise you; nor is my lord likely to make a fool of any woman."
+
+"Bless us all! that's no great praise for any young nobleman, Miss
+Anne."
+
+"Mrs. Le Maistre! Mrs. Le Maistre! are you above?" cried a footman
+from the bottom of the stairs: "my lady's calling for you."
+
+"Very well! Very well!" said sharp Mrs. Le Maistre; "Very well! and
+if she is--manners, sir!--Come up for one, can't you, and don't stand
+bawling at the bottom of the stairs, as if one had no ears to be
+saved. I'm coming as fast as I can--conveniently can."
+
+Mrs. Le Maistre stood in the door-way, so as to fill it up, and
+prevent Anne from passing.
+
+"Miss Anne! Miss Anne! Mrs. Le Maistre!" cried another footman; "my
+lady's in the carriage, and Miss Nugent."
+
+"Miss Nugent!--is she?" cried Mrs. Le Maistre, running down stairs,
+followed by Anne. "Now, for the world in pocket-pieces wouldn't I have
+missed seeing him hand Miss Nugent in; for by that I could have judged
+definitively."
+
+"My lord, I beg pardon!--I'm _afeard_ I'm late," said Mrs. Le Maistre,
+as she passed Lord Colambre, who was standing motionless in the hall.
+"I beg a thousand pardons; but I was hunting, high and low, for my
+lady's _numbrella_." Lord Colambre did not hear or heed her: his eyes
+were fixed, and they never moved.
+
+Lord Clonbrony was at the open carriage-door, kneeling on the step,
+and receiving Lady Clonbrony's "more last words" for Mr. Soho. The two
+waiting-maids stood together on the steps.
+
+"Look at our young lord, how he stands," whispered Mrs. Le Maistre to
+Anne, "the image of despair! And she, the picture of death!--I don't
+know what to think."
+
+"Nor I: but don't stare, if you can help it," said Anne. "Get in, get
+in, Mrs. Le Maistre," added she, as Lord Clonbrony now rose from the
+step, and made way for them.
+
+"Ay, in with you--in with you, Mrs. Le Maistre," said Lord Clonbrony.
+"Good bye to you, Anne, and take care of your young mistress at
+Buxton: let me see her blooming when we meet again; I don't half like
+her looks, and I never thought Buxton agreed with her."
+
+"Buxton never did any body harm," said Lady Clonbrony: "and as
+to bloom, I'm sure, if Grace has not bloom enough in her cheeks
+this moment to please you, I don't know what you'd have, my dear
+lord--Rouge?--Shut the door, John! Oh, stay!--Colambre!--Where upon
+earth's Colambre?" cried her ladyship, stretching from the farthest
+side of the coach to the window.--"Colambre!"
+
+Colambre was forced to appear.
+
+"Colambre, my dear! I forgot to say, that, if any thing detains you
+longer than Wednesday se'nnight, I beg you will not fail to write, or
+I shall be miserable."
+
+"I will write: at all events, my dearest mother, you shall hear from
+me."
+
+"Then I shall be quite happy. Go on!"
+
+The carriage drove on.
+
+"I do believe Colambre's ill: I never saw a man look so ill in my
+life--did you, Grace?--as he did the minute we drove on. He should
+take advice. I've a mind," cried Lady Clonbrony, laying her hand on
+the cord, to stop the coachman, "I've a mind to turn about--tell him
+so--and ask what is the matter with him."
+
+"Better not!" said Miss Nugent: "he will write to you, and tell
+you--if any thing is the matter with him. Better go on now to Buxton!"
+continued she, scarcely able to speak. Lady Clonbrony let go the cord.
+
+"But what is the matter with you, my dear Grace? for you are certainly
+going to die too!"
+
+"I will tell you--as soon as I can; but don't ask me now, my dear
+aunt!"
+
+"Grace, Grace! pull the cord!" cried Lady Clonbrony--"Mr. Salisbury's
+phaeton!--Mr. Salisbury, I'm happy to see you! We're on our way to
+Buxton--as I told you."
+
+"So am I," said Mr. Salisbury. "I hope to be there before your
+ladyship: will you honour me with any commands?--of course, I will see
+that every thing is ready for your reception."
+
+Her ladyship had not any commands. Mr. Salisbury drove on rapidly.
+
+Lady Clonbrony's ideas had now taken the Salisbury channel. "You
+didn't know that Mr. Salisbury was going to Buxton to meet you, did
+you, Grace?" said Lady Clonbrony.
+
+"No, indeed, I did not!" said Miss Nugent; "and I am very sorry for
+it."
+
+"Young ladies, as Mrs. Broadhurst says, 'never know, or at least never
+tell, what they are sorry or glad for,'" replied Lady Clonbrony. "At
+all events, Grace, my love, it has brought the fine bloom back to your
+cheeks; and I own I am satisfied."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+"Gone! for ever gone from me!" said Lord Colambre to himself, as the
+carriage drove away. "Never shall I see her more--never _will_ I see
+her more, till she is married."
+
+Lord Colambre went to his own room, locked the door, and was relieved
+in some degree by the sense of privacy; by the feeling that he could
+now indulge his reflections undisturbed. He had consolation--he had
+done what was honourable--he had transgressed no duty, abandoned no
+principle--he had not injured the happiness of any human being--he
+had not, to gratify himself, hazarded the peace of the woman he
+loved--he had not sought to win her heart. Of her innocent, her warm,
+susceptible heart, he might, perhaps, have robbed her--he knew it--but
+he had left it untouched, he hoped entire, in her own power, to bless
+with it hereafter some man worthy of her. In the hope that she might
+be happy, Lord Colambre felt relief; and in the consciousness that
+he had made his parents happy, he rejoiced; but, as soon as his mind
+turned that way for consolation, came the bitter reflection, that his
+mother must be disappointed in her hopes of his accompanying her home,
+and of his living with her in Ireland: she would be miserable when she
+should hear that he was going abroad into the army--and yet it must be
+so--and he must write, and tell her so. "The sooner this difficulty is
+off my mind, the sooner this painful letter is written, the better,"
+thought he. "It must be done--I will do it immediately."
+
+He snatched up his pen, and began a letter.
+
+"My dear mother, Miss Nugent--" He was interrupted by a knock at his
+door.
+
+"A gentleman below, my lord." said a servant, "who wishes to see you."
+
+"I cannot see any gentleman. Did you say I was at home?"
+
+"No, my lord, I said you was not at home; for I thought you would not
+choose to be at home, and your own man was not in the way for me to
+ask--so I denied you: but the gentleman would not be denied; he said
+I must come and see if you was at home. So, as he spoke as if he was
+a gentleman not used to be denied, I thought it might be somebody of
+consequence, and I showed him into the front drawing-room. I think he
+said he was sure you'd be at home for a friend from Ireland."
+
+"A friend from Ireland! Why did not you tell me that sooner?" said
+Lord Colambre, rising, and running down stairs. "Sir James Brooke, I
+dare say."
+
+No, not Sir James Brooke; but one he was almost as glad to see--Count
+O'Halloran!
+
+"My dear count! the greater pleasure for being unexpected."
+
+"I came to London but yesterday," said the count; "but I could not be
+here a day, without doing myself the honour of paying my respects to
+Lord Colambre."
+
+"You do me not only honour, but pleasure, my dear count. People, when
+they like one another, always find each other out, and contrive to
+meet, even in London."
+
+"You are too polite to ask what brought such a superannuated militaire
+as I am," said the count, "from his retirement into this gay world
+again. A relation of mine, who is one of the ministry, knew that I had
+some maps, and plans, and charts, which might be serviceable in an
+expedition they are planning. I might have trusted my charts across
+the channel, without coming myself to convoy them, you will say. But
+my relation fancied--young relations, you know, if they are good for
+any thing, are apt to overvalue the heads of old relations--fancied
+that mine was worth bringing all the way from Halloran Castle to
+London, to consult with _tete-a-tete_. So, you know, when this was
+signified to me by a letter from the secretary in office, _private,
+most confidential_, what could I do, but do myself the honour to
+obey? For though honour's voice cannot provoke the silent dust, yet
+'flattery soothes the dull cold ear of _age_.'--But enough and too
+much of myself," said the count: "tell me, my dear lord, something of
+yourself. I do not think England seems to agree with you so well as
+Ireland; for, excuse me, in point of health, you don't look like the
+same man I saw some weeks ago."
+
+"My mind has been ill at ease of late," said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Ay, there's the thing! The body pays for the mind--but those who
+have feeling minds, pain and pleasure altogether computed, have the
+advantage; or at least they think so; for they would not change with
+those who have them not, were they to gain by the bargain the most
+robust body that the most selfish coxcomb, or the heaviest dunce
+extant, ever boasted. For instance, would you now, my lord, at this
+moment, change altogether with Major Benson, or Captain Williamson, or
+even with our friend, 'Eh, really now, 'pon honour'--would you?--I'm
+glad to see you smile."
+
+"I thank you for making me smile, for I assure you I want it. I
+wish--if you would not think me encroaching upon your politeness in
+honouring me with this visit--You see," continued he, opening the
+doors of the back drawing-room, and pointing to large packages, "you
+see we are all preparing for a march: my mother has left town half an
+hour ago--my father engaged to dine abroad--only I at home--and, in
+this state of confusion, could I even venture to ask Count O'Halloran
+to stay and dine with me, without being able to offer him Irish
+ortolans or Irish plums--in short, will you let me rob you of two
+or three hours of your time? I am anxious to have your opinion on a
+subject of some importance to me, and on one where you are peculiarly
+qualified to judge and decide for me."
+
+"My dear lord, frankly, I have nothing half so good or so agreeable to
+do with my time; command my hours. I have already told you how much it
+flatters me to be consulted by the most helpless clerk in office; how
+much more about the private concerns of an enlightened young-friend,
+will Lord Colambre permit me to say? I hope so; for, though the
+length of our acquaintance might not justify the word, yet regard and
+intimacy are not always in proportion to the time people have known
+each other, but to their mutual perception of certain attaching
+qualities, a certain similarity and suitableness of character."
+
+The good count, seeing that Lord Colambre was in much distress of
+mind, did all he could to soothe him by kindness: far from making any
+difficulty about giving up a few hours of his time, he seemed to have
+no other object in London, and no purpose in life, but to attend to
+our hero. To put him at ease, and to give him time to recover and
+arrange his thoughts, the count talked of indifferent subjects.
+
+"I think I heard you mention the name of Sir James Brooke."
+
+"Yes, I expected to have seen him when the servant first mentioned a
+friend from Ireland; because Sir James had told me that, as soon as he
+could get leave of absence, he would come to England."
+
+"He is come; is now at his estate in Huntingdonshire; doing, what
+do you think? I will give you a leading hint; recollect the seal
+which the little De Cressy put into your hands the day you dined
+at Oranmore. Faithful to his motto, 'Deeds, not words,' he is this
+instant, I believe, at deeds, title deeds; making out marriage
+settlements, getting ready to put his seal to the happy articles."
+
+"Happy man! I give him joy," said Lord Colambre: "happy man! going to
+be married to such a woman--daughter of such a mother."
+
+"Daughter of such a mother! That is indeed a great addition and a
+great security to his happiness," said the count. "Such a family
+to marry into; good from generation to generation; illustrious by
+character as well as by genealogy; 'all the sons brave, and all the
+daughters chaste.'"
+
+Lord Colambre with difficulty repressed his feelings. "If I could
+choose," said the count, "I would rather that a woman I loved were of
+such a family than that she had for her dower the mines of Peru."
+
+"So would I," cried Lord Colambre.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so, my lord, and with such energy; so few
+young men of the present day look to what I call good connexion. In
+marrying, a man does not, to be sure, marry his wife's mother; and yet
+a prudent man, when he begins to think of the daughter, would look
+sharp at the mother; ay, and back to the grandmother too, and along
+the whole female line of ancestry."
+
+"True--most true--he ought--he must."
+
+"And I have a notion," said the count, smiling, "your lordship's
+practice has been conformable to your theory."
+
+"I!--mine!" said Lord Colambre, starting, and looking at the count
+with surprise.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the count; "I did not intend to surprise
+your confidence. But you forget that I was present, and saw the
+impression which was made on your mind by a mother's want of a proper
+sense of delicacy and propriety--Lady Dashfort."
+
+"Oh, Lady Dashfort! she was quite out of my head."
+
+"And Lady Isabel?--I hope she is quite out of your heart."
+
+"She never was in it," said Lord Colambre. "Only laid siege to it,"
+said the count. "Well, I am glad your heart did not surrender at
+discretion, or rather without discretion. Then I may tell you, without
+fear or preface, that the Lady Isabel, who talks of 'refinement,
+delicacy, sense,' is going to stoop at once, and marry--Heathcock."
+Lord Colambre was not surprised, but concerned and disgusted, as
+he always felt, even when he did not care for the individual, from
+hearing any thing which tended to lower the female sex in public
+estimation.
+
+"As to myself," said he, "I cannot say I have had an escape, for I
+don't think I ever was in much danger."
+
+"It is difficult to measure danger when it is over--past danger, like
+past pain, is soon forgotten," said the old general. "At all events, I
+rejoice in your present safety."
+
+"But is she really going to be married to Heathcock?" said Lord
+Colambre.
+
+"Positively: they all came over in the same packet with me, and
+they are all in town now, buying jewels, and equipages, and horses.
+Heathcock, you know, is as good as another man for all those
+purposes: his father is dead, and has left him a large estate. _Que
+voulez-vous?_ as the French valet said to me on the occasion, _c'est
+que monsieur est un homme de bien: il a des biens, a ce qu'on dit._"
+
+Lord Colambre could not help smiling.
+
+"How they got Heathcock to fall in love is what puzzles me," said his
+lordship. "I should as soon have thought of an oyster's falling in
+love as that being."
+
+"I own I should have sooner thought," replied the count, "of his
+falling in love with an oyster; and so would you, if you had seen him,
+as I did, devouring oysters on shipboard.
+
+ "'Say, can the lovely _heroine_ hope to vie
+   With a fat turtle or a ven'son pie?'
+
+"But that is not our affair; let the Lady Isabel look to it."
+
+Dinner was announced; and no farther conversation of any consequence
+passed between the count and Lord Colambre till the cloth was removed
+and the servants had withdrawn. Then our hero opened on the subject
+which was heavy at his heart.
+
+"My dear count--I have a mind to serve a campaign or two, if I could
+get a commission in a regiment going to Spain; but I understand so
+many are eager to go at this moment, that it is very difficult to get
+a commission in such a regiment."
+
+"It is difficult," said the count. "But," added he, after thinking for
+a moment, "I have it! I can get the thing done for you, and directly.
+Major Benson, who is in danger of being broke, in consequence of that
+affair, you know, about his mistress, wants to sell out; and that
+regiment is to be ordered immediately to Spain: I will have the thing
+done for you, if you request it."
+
+"First, give me your advice, Count O'Halloran: you are well acquainted
+with the military profession, with military life. Would you advise
+me--I won't speak of myself, because we judge better by general views
+than by particular cases--would you advise a young man at present to
+go into the army?"
+
+The count was silent for a few minutes, and then replied: "Since
+you seriously ask my opinion, my lord, I must lay aside my own
+prepossessions, and endeavour to speak with impartiality. To go into
+the army in these days, my lord, is, in my sober opinion, the most
+absurd and base, or the wisest and noblest thing a young man can do.
+To enter into the army, with the hope of escaping from the application
+necessary to acquire knowledge, letters, and science--I run no risk,
+my lord, in saying this to you--to go into the army, with the hope of
+escaping from knowledge, letters, science, and morality; to wear a red
+coat and an epaulette; to be called captain; to figure at a ball; to
+lounge away time in country sports, at country quarters, was never,
+even in times of peace, creditable; but it is now absurd and base.
+Submitting to a certain portion of ennui and contempt, this mode
+of life for an officer was formerly practicable--but now cannot be
+submitted to without utter, irremediable disgrace. Officers are now,
+in general, men of education and information; want of knowledge,
+sense, manners, must consequently be immediately detected, ridiculed,
+and despised, in a military man. Of this we have not long since seen
+lamentable examples in the raw officers who have lately disgraced
+themselves in my neighbourhood in Ireland--that Major Benson and
+Captain Williamson. But I will not advert to such insignificant
+individuals, such are rare exceptions--I leave them out of the
+question--I reason on general principles. The life of an officer
+is not now a life of parade, of coxcombical or of profligate
+idleness--but of active service, of continual hardship and danger. All
+the descriptions which we see in ancient history of a soldier's life,
+descriptions which in times of peace appeared like romance, are now
+realized; military exploits fill every day's newspapers, every day's
+conversation. A martial spirit is now essential to the liberty and
+the existence of our own country. In the present state of things, the
+military must be the most honourable profession, because the most
+useful. Every movement of an army is followed wherever it goes, by
+the public hopes and fears. Every officer must now feel, besides this
+sense of collective importance, a belief that his only dependence
+must be on his own merit--and thus his ambition, his enthusiasm, are
+raised; and, when once this noble ardour is kindled in the breast,
+it excites to exertion, and supports under endurance. But I forget
+myself," said the count, checking his enthusiasm; "I promised to speak
+soberly. If I have said too much, your own good sense, my lord, will
+correct me, and your good nature will forgive the prolixity of an old
+man, touched upon his favourite subject--the passion of his youth."
+
+Lord Colambre, of course, assured the count that he was not tired.
+Indeed, the enthusiasm with which this old officer spoke of his
+profession, and the high point of view in which he placed it,
+increased our hero's desire to serve a campaign abroad. Good sense,
+politeness, and experience of the world preserved Count O'Halloran
+from that foible with which old officers are commonly reproached, of
+talking continually of their own military exploits. Though retired
+from the world, he had contrived, by reading the best books, and
+corresponding with persons of good information, to keep up with the
+current of modern affairs; and he seldom spoke of those in which he
+had been formerly engaged. He rather too studiously avoided speaking
+of himself; and this fear of egotism diminished the peculiar interest
+he might have inspired: it disappointed curiosity, and deprived those
+with whom he conversed of many entertaining and instructive anecdotes.
+However, he sometimes made exceptions to his general rule in favour
+of persons who peculiarly pleased him, and Lord Colambre was of this
+number.
+
+He this evening, for the first time, spoke to his lordship of the
+years he had spent in the Austrian service; told him anecdotes of
+the emperor; spoke of many distinguished public characters whom he
+had known abroad; of those officers who had been his friends and
+companions. Among others he mentioned, with particular regard, a young
+English officer who had been at the same time with him in the Austrian
+service, a gentleman of the name of Reynolds.
+
+The name struck Lord Colambre: it was the name of the officer who had
+been the cause of the disgrace of Miss St. Omar--of--Miss Nugent's
+mother. "But there are so many Reynoldses."
+
+He eagerly asked the age--the character of this officer.
+
+"He was a gallant youth," said the count, "but too adventurous--too
+rash. He fell, after distinguishing himself in a glorious manner, in
+his twentieth year--died in my arms."
+
+"Married or unmarried?" cried Lord Colambre.
+
+"Married--he had been privately married, less than a year before
+his death, to a very young English lady, who had been educated at a
+convent in Vienna. He was heir to a considerable property, I believe,
+and the young lady had little fortune; and the affair was kept secret,
+from the fear of offending his friends, or for some other reason--I do
+not recollect the particulars."
+
+"Did he acknowledge his marriage?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"Never, till he was dying--then he confided his secret to me."
+
+"Do you recollect the name of the young lady he married?"
+
+"Yes--a Miss St. Omar."
+
+"St. Omar!" repeated Lord Colambre, with an expression of lively joy
+in his countenance. "But are you certain, my dear count, that she was
+really married, legally married, to Mr. Reynolds? Her marriage has
+been denied by all his friends and relations--hers have never been
+able to establish it--her daughter is--My dear count, were you present
+at the marriage?"
+
+"No," said the count, "I was not present at the marriage; I never
+saw the lady; nor do I know any thing of the affair, except that Mr.
+Reynolds, when he was dying, assured me that he was privately married
+to a Miss St. Omar, who was then boarding at a convent in Vienna. The
+young man expressed great regret at leaving her totally unprovided
+for; but said that he trusted his father would acknowledge her, and
+that her friends would be reconciled to her. He was not of age, he
+said, to make a will; but I think he told me that his child, who at
+that time was not born, would, even if it should be a girl, inherit a
+considerable property. With this I cannot, however, charge my memory
+positively; but he put a packet into my hands which, he told me,
+contained a certificate of his marriage, and, I think he said, a
+letter to his father: this he requested that I would transmit to
+England by some safe hand. Immediately after his death, I went to the
+English ambassador, who was then leaving Vienna, and delivered the
+packet into his hands: he promised to have it safely delivered. I was
+obliged to go the next day, with the troops, to a distant part of the
+country. When I returned, I inquired at the convent what had become of
+Miss St. Omar--I should say Mrs. Reynolds; and I was told that she had
+removed from the convent to private lodgings in the town, some time
+previous to the birth of her child. The abbess seemed much scandalized
+by the whole transaction; and I remember I relieved her mind by
+assuring her that there had been a regular marriage. For poor young
+Reynolds' sake, I made farther inquiries about the widow, intending,
+of course, to act as a friend, if she were in any difficulty or
+distress. But I found, on inquiry at her lodgings, that her brother
+had come from England for her, and had carried her and her infant
+away. The active scenes," continued the count, "in which I was
+immediately afterwards engaged, drove the whole affair from my mind.
+Now that your questions have recalled them, I feel certain of the
+facts I have mentioned; and I am ready to establish them by my
+testimony."
+
+Lord Colambre thanked him with an eagerness that showed how much he
+was interested in the event. It was clear, he said, that either the
+packet left with the ambassador had not been delivered, or that the
+father of Mr. Reynolds had suppressed the certificate of the marriage,
+as it had never been acknowledged by him or by any of the family. Lord
+Colambre now frankly told the count why he was so anxious about this
+affair; and Count O'Halloran, with all the warmth of youth, and with
+all the ardent generosity characteristic of his country, entered
+into his feelings, declaring that he would never rest till he had
+established the truth.
+
+"Unfortunately," said the count, "the ambassador who took the packet
+in charge is dead. I am afraid we shall have difficulty."
+
+"But he must have had some secretary," said Lord Colambre: "who was
+his secretary?--we can apply to him."
+
+"His secretary is now charge d'affaires in Vienna--we cannot get at
+him."
+
+"Into whose hands have that ambassador's papers fallen--who is his
+executor?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"His executor!--now you have it," cried the count. "His executor is
+the very man who will do your business--your friend Sir James Brooke
+is the executor. All papers, of course, are in his hands; or he can
+have access to any that are in the hands of the family. The family
+seat is within a few miles of Sir James Brooke's, in Huntingdonshire,
+where, as I told you before, he now is."
+
+"I'll go to him immediately--set out in the mail this night. Just in
+time!" cried Lord Colambre, pulling out his watch with one hand, and
+ringing the bell with the other.
+
+"Run and take a place for me in the mail for Huntingdon. Go directly,"
+said Lord Colambre to the servant.
+
+"And take two places, if you please, sir," said the count. "My lord, I
+will accompany you."
+
+But this Lord Colambre would not permit, as it would be unnecessary
+to fatigue the good old general; and a letter from him to Sir James
+Brooke would do all that the count could effect by his presence: the
+search for the papers would be made by Sir James, and if the packet
+could be recovered, or if any memorandum or mode of ascertaining that
+it had actually been delivered to old Reynolds could be discovered,
+Lord Colambre said he would then call upon the count for his
+assistance, and trouble him to identify the packet; or to go with him
+to Mr. Reynolds to make farther inquiries; and to certify, at all
+events, the young man's dying acknowledgment of his marriage and of
+his child.
+
+The place in the mail, just in time, was taken. Lord Colambre sent a
+servant in search of his father, with a note, explaining the necessity
+of his sudden departure. All the business which remained to be done in
+town he knew Lord Clonbrony could accomplish without his assistance.
+Then he wrote a few lines to his mother, on the very sheet of paper
+on which, a few hours before, he had sorrowfully and slowly begun,
+
+"_My dear mother--Miss Nugent._"
+
+He now joyfully and rapidly went on,
+
+"My dear mother and Miss Nugent,
+
+"I hope to be with you on Wednesday se'nnight; but if unforeseen
+circumstances should delay me, I will certainly write to you again.
+Dear mother, believe me,
+
+"Your obliged and grateful son,
+
+"Colambre."
+
+The count, in the mean time, wrote a letter for him to Sir James
+Brooke, describing the packet which he had given to the ambassador,
+and relating all the circumstances that could lead to its recovery.
+Lord Colambre, almost before the wax was hard, seized the letter; the
+count seeming almost as eager to hurry him off as he was to set out.
+He thanked the count with few words, but with strong feeling. Joy and
+love returned in full tide upon our hero's soul; all the military
+ideas, which but an hour before filled his imagination, were put to
+flight: Spain vanished, and green Ireland reappeared.
+
+Just as they shook hands at parting, the good old general, with a
+smile, said to him, "I believe I had better not stir in the matter of
+Benson's commission till I hear more from you. My harangue, in favour
+of the military profession, will, I fancy, prove, like most other
+harangues, a waste of words."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+In what words of polite circumlocution, or of cautious diplomacy,
+shall we say, or hint, that the deceased ambassador's papers were
+found in shameful disorder. His excellency's executor, Sir James
+Brooke, however, was indefatigable in his researches. He and Lord
+Colambre spent two whole days in looking over portfolios of letters,
+and memorials, and manifestoes, and bundles of paper of the most
+heterogeneous sorts; some of them without any docket or direction to
+lead to a knowledge of their contents; others written upon in such
+a manner as to give an erroneous notion of their nature; so that it
+was necessary to untie every paper separately. At last, when they had
+opened, as they thought, every paper, and, wearied and in despair,
+were just on the point of giving up the search, Lord Colambre spied a
+bundle of old newspapers at the bottom of a trunk.
+
+"They are only old Vienna Gazettes; I looked at them," said Sir James.
+
+Lord Colambre, upon this assurance, was going to throw them into the
+trunk again; but observing that the bundle had not been untied, he
+opened it, and withinside of the newspapers he found a rough copy of
+the ambassador's journal, and with it the packet directed to Ralph
+Reynolds, sen., Esq., Old Court, Suffolk, per favour of his excellency
+Earl *****--a note on the cover, signed O'Halloran, stating when
+received by him, and, the date of the day when delivered to the
+ambassador--seals unbroken. Our hero was in such a transport of joy
+at the sight of this packet, and his friend Sir James Brooke so full
+of his congratulations, that they forgot to curse the ambassador's
+carelessness, which had been the cause of so much evil.
+
+The next thing to be done was to deliver the packet to Ralph Reynolds,
+Old Court, Suffolk. But when Lord Colambre arrived at Old Court,
+Suffolk, he found all the gates locked, and no admittance to be had.
+At last an old woman came out of the porter's lodge, who said Mr.
+Reynolds was not there, and she could not say where he was. After
+our hero had opened her heart by the present of half a guinea, she
+explained, that she "could not _justly_ say where he was, because that
+he never let any body of his own people know where he was any day;
+he had several different houses and places in different parts, and
+far off counties, and other shires, as she heard, and by times he
+was at one, and by times at another. The names of two of the places,
+Toddrington and Little Wrestham, she knew; but there were others to
+which she could give no direction. He had houses in odd parts of
+London, too, that he let; and sometimes, when the lodgers' time was
+out, he would go, and be never heard of for a month, may be, in one of
+them. In short, there was no telling or saying where he was or would
+be one day of the week, by where he had been the last."
+
+When Lord Colambre expressed some surprise that an old gentleman,
+as he conceived Mr. Ralph Reynolds to be, should change places so
+frequently, the old woman answered, "that though her master was a deal
+on the wrong side of seventy, and though, to look at him, you'd think
+he was glued to his chair, and would fall to pieces if he should stir
+out of it, yet he was as alert, and thought no more of going about,
+than if he was as young as the gentleman who was now speaking to her.
+It was old Mr. Reynolds' delight to come down and surprise his people
+at his different places, and see that they were keeping all tight."
+
+"What sort of a man is he?--Is he a miser?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+"He is a miser, and he is not a miser," said the woman. "Now he'd
+think as much of the waste of a penny as another man would of a
+hundred pounds, and yet he would give a hundred pounds easier
+than another would give a penny, when he's in the humour. But his
+humour is very odd, and there's no knowing where to have him; he's
+cross-grained, and more _positiver_-like than a mule; and his deafness
+made him worse in this, because he never heard what nobody said, but
+would say on his own way--he was very _odd_, but not _cracked_--no,
+he was as clear-headed, when he took a thing the right way, as any
+man could be, and as clever, and could talk as well as any member of
+parliament--and good-natured, and kind-hearted, where he would take a
+fancy--but then, may be, it would be to a dog (he was remarkably fond
+of dogs), or a cat, or a rat even, that he would take a fancy, and
+think more of 'em than he would of a Christian. But, poor gentleman,
+there's great allowance," said she, "to be made for him, that lost
+his son and heir--that would have been heir to all, and a fine youth
+that he doted upon. But," continued the old woman, in whose mind
+the transitions from great to little, from serious to trivial, were
+ludicrously abrupt, "that was no reason why the old gentleman should
+scold me last time he was here, as he did, for as long as ever he
+could stand over me, only because I killed a mouse who was eating
+my cheese; and, before night, he beat a boy for stealing a piece of
+that same cheese; and he would never, when down here, let me set a
+mouse-trap."
+
+"Well, my good woman," interrupted Lord Colambre, who was little
+interested in this affair of the mouse-trap, and nowise curious to
+learn more of Mr. Reynolds' domestic economy, "I'll not trouble
+you any farther, if you can be so good as to tell me the road to
+Toddrington, or to Little Wickham, I think you call it."
+
+"Little Wickham!" repeated the woman, laughing--"Bless you, sir, where
+do you come from? It's Little Wrestham: sure every body knows, near
+Lantry; and keep the _pike_ till you come to the turn at Rotherford,
+and then you strike off into the by-road to the left, and then turn
+again at the ford to the right. But, if you are going to Toddrington,
+you don't go the road to market, which is at the first turn to the
+left, and the cross country road, where there's no quarter, and
+Toddrington lies--but for Wrestham, you take the road to market."
+
+It was some time before our hero could persuade the old woman to stick
+to Little Wrestham, or to Toddrington, and not to mix the directions
+for the different roads together--he took patience, for his impatience
+only confused his director the more. In process of time he made out,
+and wrote down, the various turns that he was to follow, to reach
+Little Wrestham; but no human power could get her from Little Wrestham
+to Toddrington, though she knew the road perfectly well; but she had,
+for the seventeen last years, been used to go "the other road," and
+all the carriers went that way, and passed the door, and that was all
+she could certify.
+
+Little Wrestham, after turning to the left and right as often as his
+directory required, our hero happily reached: but, unhappily, he
+found no Mr. Reynolds there; only a steward, who gave nearly the same
+account of his master as had been given by the old woman, and could
+not guess even where the gentleman might now be. Toddrington was as
+likely as any place--but he could not say.
+
+"Perseverance against fortune." To Toddrington our hero proceeded,
+through cross country roads--such roads!--very different from the
+Irish roads. Waggon ruts, into which the carriage wheels sunk nearly
+to the nave--and, from time to time, "sloughs of despond," through
+which it seemed impossible to drag, walk, wade, or swim, and all the
+time with a sulky postilion. "Oh, how unlike my Larry!" thought Lord
+Colambre.
+
+At length, in a very narrow lane, going up a hill, said to be two
+miles of ascent, they overtook a heavy laden waggon, and they were
+obliged to go step by step behind it, whilst, enjoying the gentleman's
+impatience much, and the postilion's sulkiness more, the waggoner, in
+his embroidered frock, walked in state, with his long sceptre in his
+hand.
+
+The postilion muttered "curses not loud, but deep." Deep or loud, no
+purpose would they have answered; the waggoner's temper was proof
+against curse in or out of the English language; and from their
+snail's pace neither _Dickens_, nor devil, nor any postilion in
+England could make him put his horses. Lord Colambre jumped out of the
+chaise, and, walking beside him, began to talk to him; and spoke of
+his horses, their bells, their trappings; the beauty and strength
+of the thill-horse--the value of the whole team, which his lordship
+happening to guess right within ten pounds, and showing, moreover,
+some skill about road-making and waggon-wheels, and being fortunately
+of the waggoner's own opinion in the great question about conical and
+cylindrical rims, he was pleased with the young chap of a gentleman;
+and, in spite of the chuffiness of his appearance and churlishness of
+his speech, this waggoner's bosom being "made of penetrable stuff," he
+determined to let the gentleman pass. Accordingly, when half way up
+the hill, and the head of the fore-horse came near an open gate, the
+waggoner, without saying one word or turning his head, touched the
+horse with his long whip--and the horse turned in at the gate, and
+then came, "Dobbin!--Jeho!" and strange calls and sounds, which all
+the other horses of the team obeyed; and the waggon turned into the
+farm-yard.
+
+"Now, master! while I turn, you may pass."
+
+The covering of the waggon caught in the hedge as the waggon turned
+in; and as the sacking was drawn back, some of the packages were
+disturbed--a cheese was just rolling off on the side next Lord
+Colambre; he stopped it from falling: the direction caught his quick
+eye--"To Ralph Reynolds, Esq."--"_Toddrington_" scratched out; "Red
+Lion Square, London," written in another hand below.
+
+"Now I have found him! And surely I know that hand!" said Lord
+Colambre to himself, looking more closely at the direction.
+
+The original direction was certainly in a hand-writing well known to
+him--it was Lady Dashfort's.
+
+"That there cheese, that you're looking at so cur'ously," said the
+waggoner, "has been a great traveller; for it came all the way down
+from Lon'on, and now its going all the way up again back, on account
+of not finding the gentleman at home; and the man that booked it told
+me as how it came from foreign parts."
+
+Lord Colambre took down the direction, tossed the honest waggoner a
+guinea, wished him good night, passed, and went on. As soon as he
+could, he turned into the London road--at the first town, got a place
+in the mail--reached London--saw his father--went directly to his
+friend, Count O'Halloran, who was delighted when he beheld the packet.
+Lord Colambre was extremely eager to go immediately to old Reynolds,
+fatigued as he was; for he had travelled night and day, and had
+scarcely allowed himself, mind or body, one moment's repose.
+
+"Heroes must sleep, and lovers too; or they soon will cease to be
+heroes or lovers!" said the count. "Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! this
+night; and to-morrow morning we'll finish the adventures in Red Lion
+Square, or I will accompany you when and where you will; if necessary,
+to earth's remotest bounds."
+
+The next morning Lord Colambre went to breakfast with the count. The
+count, who was not in love, was not up, for our hero was half an
+hour earlier than the time appointed. The old servant Ulick, who had
+attended his master to England, was very glad to see Lord Colambre
+again, and, showing him into the breakfast parlour, could not help
+saying, in defence of his master's punctuality, "Your clocks, I
+suppose, my lord, are half an hour faster than ours: my master will be
+ready to the moment."
+
+The count soon appeared--breakfast was soon over, and the carriage at
+the door; for the count sympathized in his young friend's impatience.
+As they were setting out, the count's large Irish dog pushed out of
+the house-door to follow them; and his master would have forbidden
+him, but Lord Colambre begged that he might be permitted to accompany
+them; for his lordship recollected the old woman's having mentioned
+that Mr. Reynolds was fond of dogs.
+
+They arrived in Red Lion Square, found the house of Mr. Reynolds, and,
+contrary to the count's prognostics, found the old gentleman up, and
+they saw him in his red night-cap at his parlour window. After some
+minutes' running backwards and forwards of a boy in the passage, and
+two or three peeps taken over the blinds by the old gentleman, they
+were admitted.
+
+The boy could not master their names; so they were obliged
+reciprocally to announce themselves--"Count O'Halloran and Lord
+Colambre." The names seemed to make no impression on the old
+gentleman; but he deliberately looked at the count and his lordship,
+as if studying _what_ rather than _who_ they were. In spite of the red
+night-cap, and a flowered dressing-gown, Mr. Reynolds looked like a
+gentleman, an odd gentleman--but still a gentleman.
+
+As Count O'Halloran came into the room, and as his large dog attempted
+to follow, the count's look expressed--
+
+"Say, shall I let him in, or shut the door?"
+
+"Oh, let him in, by all means, sir, if you please! I am fond of
+dogs; and a finer one I never saw: pray, gentlemen, be seated," said
+he--a portion of the complacency, inspired by the sight of the dog,
+diffusing itself over his manner towards the master of so fine an
+animal, and even extending to the master's companion, though in an
+inferior degree. Whilst Mr. Reynolds stroked the dog, the count told
+him that "the dog was of a curious breed, now almost extinct--the
+Irish greyhound; only one nobleman in Ireland, it is said, has a few
+of the species remaining in his possession--Now, lie down, Hannibal,"
+said the count. "Mr. Reynolds, we have taken the liberty, though
+strangers, of waiting upon you--"
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," interrupted Mr. Reynolds; "but did I
+understand you rightly, that a few of the same species are still to be
+had from one nobleman in Ireland? Pray, what is his name?" said he,
+taking out his pencil.
+
+The count wrote the name for him, but observed, that "he had asserted
+only that a few of these dogs remained in the possession of that
+nobleman; he could not answer for it that they were _to be had_."
+
+"Oh, I have ways and means," said old Reynolds; and, rapping his
+snuff-box, and talking, as it was his custom, loud to himself, "Lady
+Dashfort knows all those Irish lords: she shall get one for me--ay!
+ay!"
+
+Count O'Halloran replied, as if the words had been addressed to him,
+"Lady Dashfort is in England."
+
+"I know it, sir; she is in London," said Mr. Reynolds, hastily. "What
+do you know of her?"
+
+"I know, sir, that she is not likely to return to Ireland, and
+that I am; and so is my young friend here: and if the thing can be
+accomplished, we will get it done for you."
+
+Lord Colambre joined in this promise, and added, that, "if the dog
+could be obtained, he would undertake to have him safely sent over to
+England."
+
+"Sir--gentlemen! I'm much obliged; that is, when you have done the
+thing I shall be much obliged. But, may be, you are only making me
+civil speeches!"
+
+"Of that, sir," said the count, smiling with much temper, "your own
+sagacity and knowledge of the world must enable you to judge."
+
+"For my own part, I can only say," cried Lord Colambre, "that I am not
+in the habit of being reproached with saying one thing and meaning
+another."
+
+"Hot! I see," said old Reynolds, nodding as he looked at Lord
+Colambre: "Cool!" added he, nodding at the count. "But a time for
+every thing; I was hot once: both answers good for their ages."
+
+This speech Lord Colambre and the count tacitly agreed to consider as
+another _apart_, which they were not to hear, or seem to hear. The
+count began again on the business of their visit, as he saw that Lord
+Colambre was boiling with impatience, and feared that he should _boil
+over_, and spoil all. The count commenced with, "Mr. Reynolds, your
+name sounds to me like the name of a friend; for I had once a friend
+of that name: I once had the pleasure (and a very great pleasure it
+was to me) to be intimately acquainted abroad, on the continent, with
+a very amiable and gallant youth--your son!"
+
+"Take care, sir," said the old man, starting up from his chair,
+and instantly sinking down again, "take care! Don't mention him to
+me--unless you would strike me dead on the spot!"
+
+The convulsed motions of his fingers and face worked for some moments;
+whilst the count and Lord Colambre, much shocked and alarmed, stood in
+silence.
+
+The convulsed motions ceased; and the old man unbuttoned his
+waistcoat, as if to relieve some sense of oppression; uncovered his
+gray hairs; and, after leaning back to rest himself, with his eyes
+fixed, and in reverie for a few moments, he sat upright again in his
+chair, and exclaimed, as he looked round, "Son!--Did not somebody say
+that word? Who is so cruel to say that word before me? Nobody has ever
+spoken of him to me--but once, since his death! Do you know, sir,"
+said he, fixing his eyes on Count O'Halloran, and laying his cold
+hand on him, "do you know where he was buried, I ask you, sir? do you
+remember how he died?"
+
+"Too well! too well!" cried the count, so much affected as to be
+scarcely able to pronounce the words; "he died in my arms: I buried
+him myself!"
+
+"Impossible!" cried Mr. Reynolds. "Why do you say so, sir?" said he,
+studying the count's face with a sort of bewildered earnestness.
+"Impossible! His body was sent over to me in a lead coffin; and I saw
+it--and I was asked--and I answered, 'In the family vault.' But the
+shock is over," said he: "and, gentlemen, if the business of your
+visit relates to that subject, I trust I am now sufficiently composed
+to attend to you. Indeed, I ought to be prepared; for I had reason,
+for years, to expect the stroke; and yet, when it came, it seemed
+sudden!--it stunned me--put an end to all my worldly prospects--left
+me childless, without a single descendant, or relation near enough to
+be dear to me! I am an insulated being!"
+
+"No, sir, you are not an insulated being," said Lord Colambre: "You
+have a near relation, who will, who must, be dear to you; who will
+make you amends for all you have lost, all you have suffered--who will
+bring peace and joy to your heart: you have a grand-daughter."
+
+"No, sir; I have no grand-daughter," said old Reynolds, his face and
+whole form becoming rigid with the expression of obstinacy. "Rather
+have no descendant than be forced to acknowledge an illegitimate
+child."
+
+"My lord, I entreat as a friend--I command you to be patient," said
+the count, who saw Lord Colambre's indignation suddenly rise.
+
+"So, then, this is the purpose of your visit," continued old Reynolds:
+"and you come from my enemies, from the St. Omars, and you are in a
+league with them," continued old Reynolds: "and all this time it is of
+my eldest son you have been talking."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the count; "of Captain Reynolds, who fell in
+battle, in the Austrian service, about nineteen years ago--a more
+gallant and amiable youth never lived."
+
+Pleasure revived through the dull look of obstinacy in the father's
+eyes.
+
+"He was, as you say, sir, a gallant, an amiable youth, once--and he
+was my pride, and I loved him, too, once--but did not you know I had
+another?"
+
+"No, sir, we did not--we are, you may perceive, totally ignorant of
+your family and of your affairs--we have no connexion whatever or
+knowledge of any of the St. Omars."
+
+"I detest the sound of the name," cried Lord Colambre.
+
+"Oh, good! good!--Well! well! I beg your pardon, gentlemen, a thousand
+times--I am a hasty, very hasty old man; but I have been harassed,
+persecuted, hunted by wretches, who got a scent of my gold; often in
+my rage I longed to throw my treasure-bags to my pursuers, and bid
+them leave me to die in peace. You have feelings, I see, both of you,
+gentlemen; excuse, and bear with my temper."
+
+"Bear with you! Much enforced, the best tempers will emit a hasty
+spark," said the count, looking at Lord Colambre, who was now cool
+again; and who, with a countenance full of compassion, sat with his
+eyes fixed upon the poor--no, not the poor, but the unhappy old man.
+
+"Yes, I had another son," continued Mr. Reynolds, "and on him all my
+affections concentrated when I lost my eldest, and for him I desired
+to preserve the estate which his mother brought into the family. Since
+you know nothing of my affairs, let me explain to you: that estate was
+so settled, that it would have gone to the child, even the daughter of
+my eldest son, if there had been a legitimate child. But I knew there
+was no marriage, and I held out firm to my opinion. 'If there was
+a marriage,' said I, 'show me the marriage certificate, and I will
+acknowledge the marriage, and acknowledge the child:' but they could
+not, and I knew they could not; and I kept the estate for my darling
+boy," cried the old gentleman, with the exultation of successful
+positiveness again appearing strong in his physiognomy: but, suddenly
+changing and relaxing, his countenance fell, and he added, "but now I
+have no darling boy. What use all!--all must go to the heir at law, or
+I must will it to a stranger--a lady of quality, who has just found
+out she is my relation--God knows how! I'm no genealogist--and sends
+me Irish cheese, and Iceland moss, for my breakfast, and her waiting
+gentlewoman to namby-pamby me. Oh, I'm sick of it all--see through
+it--wish I was blind--wish I had a hiding-place, where flatterers
+could not find me--pursued, chased--must change my lodgings again
+to-morrow--will, will--I beg your pardon, gentlemen, again: you were
+going to tell me, sir, something more of my eldest son; and how I was
+led away from the subject, I don't know; but I meant only to have
+assured you that his memory was dear to me, till I was so tormented
+about that unfortunate affair of his pretended marriage, that at
+length I hated to hear him named; but the heir at law, at last, will
+triumph over me."
+
+"No, my good sir, not if you triumph over yourself, and do justice,"
+cried Lord Colambre; "if you listen to the truth, which my friend will
+tell you, and if you will read and believe the confirmation of it,
+under your son's own hand, in this packet."
+
+"His own hand indeed! His seal--unbroken. But how--when--where--why
+was it kept so long, and how came it into your hands?"
+
+Count O'Halloran told Mr. Reynolds that the packet had been given
+to him by Captain Reynolds on his death-bed; related the dying
+acknowledgment which Captain Reynolds had made of his marriage; and
+gave an account of the delivery of the packet to the ambassador, who
+had promised to transmit it faithfully. Lord Colambre told the manner
+in which it had been mislaid, and at last recovered from among the
+deceased ambassador's papers. The father still gazed at the direction,
+and re-examined the seals.
+
+"My son's hand-writing--my son's seals! But where is the certificate
+of the marriage?" repeated he; "if it is withinside of this packet, I
+have done great _in_--but I am convinced it never was a marriage. Yet
+I wish now it could be proved--only, in that case, I have for years
+done great--"
+
+"Won't you open the packet, sir?" said Lord Colambre.
+
+Mr. Reynolds looked up at him with a look that said, "I don't clearly
+know what interest you have in all this." But, unable to speak, and
+his hands trembling so that he could scarcely break the seals, he tore
+off the cover, laid the papers before him, sat down, and took breath.
+Lord Colambre, however impatient, had now too much humanity to hurry
+the old gentleman: he only ran for the spectacles, which he espied
+on the chimney-piece, rubbed them bright, and held them ready. Mr.
+Reynolds stretched his hand out for them, put them on, and the first
+paper he opened was the certificate of the marriage: he read it aloud,
+and, putting it down, said, "Now I acknowledge the marriage. I always
+said, if there is a marriage there must be a certificate. And you see
+now there is a certificate--I acknowledge the marriage."
+
+"And now," cried Lord Colambre, "I am happy, positively happy.
+Acknowledge your grand-daughter, sir--acknowledge Miss Nugent."
+
+"Acknowledge whom, sir?"
+
+"Acknowledge Miss Reynolds--your grand-daughter; I ask no more--do
+what you will with your fortune."
+
+"Oh, now I understand--I begin to understand, this young gentleman is
+in love--but where is my grand-daughter? how shall I know she is my
+grand-daughter? I have not heard of her since she was an infant--I
+forgot her existence--I have done her great injustice."
+
+"She knows nothing of it, sir," said Lord Colambre, who now entered
+into a full explanation of Miss Nugent's history, and of her connexion
+with his family, and of his own attachment to her; concluding the
+whole by assuring Mr. Reynolds that his grand-daughter had every
+virtue under heaven. "And as to your fortune, sir, I know that she
+will, as I do, say--"
+
+"No matter what she will say," interrupted old Reynolds; "where is
+she? When I see her, I shall hear what she says. Tell me where she
+is--let me see her. I long to see whether there is any likeness to her
+poor father. Where is she? Let me see her immediately."
+
+"She is one hundred and sixty miles off, sir, at Buxton."
+
+"Well, my lord, and what is a hundred and sixty miles? I suppose
+you think I can't stir from my chair, but you are mistaken. I think
+nothing of a journey of a hundred and sixty miles--I am ready to set
+off to-morrow--this instant."
+
+Lord Colambre said, that he was sure Miss Reynolds would obey her
+grandfather's slightest summons, as it was her duty to do, and would
+be with him as soon as possible, if this would be more agreeable to
+him. "I will write to her instantly," said his lordship, "if you will
+commission me."
+
+"No, my lord, I do not commission--I will go--I think nothing, I
+say, of a journey of a hundred and sixty miles--I'll go--and set out
+to-morrow morning."
+
+Lord Colambre and the count, perfectly satisfied with the result of
+their visit, now thought it best to leave old Reynolds at liberty
+to rest himself, after so many strong and varied feelings. They
+paid their parting compliments, settled the time for the next day's
+journey, and were just going to quit the room, when Lord Colambre
+heard in the passage a well-known voice--the voice of Mrs. Petito.
+
+"Oh, no, my Lady Dashfort's best compliments, and I will call again."
+
+"No, no," cried old Reynolds, pulling his bell; "I'll have no calling
+again--I'll be hanged if I do! Let her in now, and I'll see her--Jack!
+let in that woman now or never."
+
+"The lady's gone, sir, out of the street door."
+
+"After her, then--now or never, tell her."
+
+"Sir, she was in a hackney coach."
+
+Old Reynolds jumped up, and went to the window himself, and, seeing
+the hackney coachman just turning, beckoned at the window, and Mrs.
+Petito was set down again, and ushered in by Jack, who announced her
+as, "the lady, sir." The only lady he had seen in that house.
+
+"My dear Mr. Reynolds, I'm so obliged to you for letting me in," cried
+Mrs. Petito, adjusting her shawl in the passage, and speaking in a
+voice and manner well mimicked after her betters. "You are so very
+good and kind, and I am so much obliged to you."
+
+"You are not obliged to me, and I am neither good nor kind," said old
+Reynolds.
+
+"You strange man," said Mrs. Petito, advancing graceful in shawl
+drapery; but she stopped short. "My Lord Colambre and Count
+O'Halloran, as I hope to be saved!"
+
+"I did not know Mrs. Petito was an acquaintance of yours, gentlemen,"
+said Mr. Reynolds, smiling shrewdly.
+
+Count O'Halloran was too polite to deny his acquaintance with a lady
+who challenged it by thus naming him; but he had not the slightest
+recollection of her, though it seems he had met her on the stairs
+when he visited Lady Dashfort at Killpatricks-town. Lord Colambre was
+"indeed _undeniably an old acquaintance_:" and as soon as she had
+recovered from her first natural start and vulgar exclamation, she
+with very easy familiarity hoped "my Lady Clonbrony, and my Lord, and
+Miss Nugent, and all her friends in the family, were well;" and said,
+"she did not know whether she was to congratulate his lordship or not
+upon Miss Broadhurst, my Lady Berryl's marriage, but she should soon
+have to hope for his lordship's congratulations for another marriage
+in _her_ present family--Lady Isabel to Colonel Heathcock, who was
+come in for a large _portion_, and they are buying the wedding
+clothes--sights of clothes--and the di'monds, this day; and Lady
+Dashfort and my Lady Isabel sent me especially, sir, to you, Mr.
+Reynolds, and to tell you, sir, before any body else; and to hope the
+cheese _come_ safe up again at last; and to ask whether the Iceland
+moss agrees with your chocolate, and is palatable? it's the most
+_diluent_ thing upon the universal earth, and the most _tonic_ and
+fashionable--the Duchess of Torcaster takes it always for breakfast,
+and Lady St. James too is quite a convert, and I hear the Duke of V***
+takes it too."
+
+"And the devil may take it too, for any thing that I care," said old
+Reynolds.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear sir! you are so refractory a patient."
+
+"I am no patient at all, ma'am, and have no patience either: I am as
+well as you are, or my Lady Dashfort either, and hope, God willing,
+long to continue so."
+
+Mrs. Petito smiled aside at Lord Colambre, to mark her perception of
+the man's strangeness. Then, in a cajoling voice, addressing herself
+to the old gentleman, "Long, long, I hope, to continue so, if Heaven
+grants my daily and nightly prayers, and my Lady Dashfort's also. So,
+Mr. Reynolds, if the ladies' prayers are of any avail, you ought to be
+purely, and I suppose ladies' prayers have the precedence in efficacy.
+But it was not of prayers and death-bed affairs I came commissioned to
+treat--but of weddings my diplomacy was to speak: and to premise my
+Lady Dashfort would have come herself in her carriage, but is hurried
+out of her senses, and my Lady Isabel could not in proper modesty; so
+they sent me as their _double_, to hope you, my dear Mr. Reynolds,
+who is one of the family relations, will honour the wedding with your
+presence."
+
+"It would be no honour, and they know that as well as I do," said the
+intractable Mr. Reynolds. "It will be no advantage, either; but that
+they do not know as well as I do. Mrs. Petito, to save you and your
+lady all trouble about me in future, please to let my Lady Dashfort
+know that I have just received and read the certificate of my son
+Captain Reynolds' marriage with Miss St. Omar. I have acknowledged the
+marriage. Better late than never; and to-morrow morning, God willing,
+shall set out with this young nobleman for Buxton, where I hope to
+see, and intend publicly to acknowledge, my grand-daughter--provided
+she will acknowledge me."
+
+"_Crimini!_" exclaimed Mrs. Petito, "what new turns are here? Well,
+sir, I shall tell my lady of the _metamorphoses_ that have taken
+place, though by what magic I can't guess. But, since it seems
+annoying and inopportune, I shall make my _finale_, and shall thus
+leave a verbal P.P.C.--as you are leaving town, it seems, for Buxton
+so early in the morning. My Lord Colambre, if I see rightly into a
+millstone, as I hope and believe I do on the present occasion, I
+have to congratulate your lordship (haven't I?) upon something like
+a succession, or a windfall, in this _denewment_. And I beg you'll
+make my humble respects acceptable to the _ci-devant_ Miss Grace
+Nugent that was; and I won't _derrogate_ her by any other name in
+the interregnum, as I am persuaded it will only be a temporary name,
+scarce worth assuming, except for the honour of the public adoption;
+and that will, I'm confident, be soon exchanged for a viscount's
+title, or I have no sagacity or sympathy. I hope I don't (pray don't
+let me) put you to the blush, my lord."
+
+Lord Colambre would not have let her, if he could have helped it.
+
+"Count O'Halloran, your most obedient! I had the honour of meeting
+you at Killpatricks-town," said Mrs. Petito, backing to the door, and
+twitching her shawl. She stumbled, nearly fell down, over the large
+dog--caught by the door, and recovered herself--Hannibal rose and
+shook his ears. "Poor fellow! you are of my acquaintance, too." She
+would have stroked his head; but Hannibal walked off indignant, and so
+did she.
+
+Thus ended certain hopes: for Mrs. Petito had conceived that her
+_diplomacy_ might be turned to account; that in her character of an
+ambassadress, as Lady Dashfort's double, by the aid of Iceland moss in
+chocolate, of flattery properly administered, and of bearing with all
+her _dear_ Mr. Reynolds' _oddnesses_ and _rough-nesses_, she might in
+time--that is to say, before he made a new will--become his dear Mrs.
+Petito; or (for stranger things have happened and do happen every
+day), his dear Mrs. Reynolds! Mrs. Petito, however, was good at a
+retreat; and she flattered herself that at least nothing of this
+underplot had appeared: and at all events she secured, by her services
+in this embassy, the long looked-for object of her ambition, Lady
+Dashfort's scarlet velvet gown--"not yet a thread the worse for the
+wear!" One cordial look at this comforted her for the loss of her
+expected _octogenaire_; and she proceeded to discomfit her lady, by
+repeating the message with which strange old Mr. Reynolds had charged
+her. So ended all Lady Dashfort's hopes of his fortune.
+
+Since the death of his youngest son, she had been indefatigable in her
+attentions, and sanguine in her hopes: the disappointment affected
+both her interest and her pride, as an _intrigante_. It was necessary,
+however, to keep her feelings to herself; for if Heathcock should hear
+any thing of the matter before the articles were signed, he might "be
+off!"--so she put him and Lady Isabel into her coach directly--drove
+to Rundell and Bridges', to make sure at all events of the jewels.
+
+In the mean time Count O'Halloran and Lord Colambre, delighted with
+the result of their visit, took leave of Mr. Reynolds, after having
+arranged the journey, and appointed the hour for setting off the next
+day. Lord Colambre proposed to call upon Mr. Reynolds in the evening,
+and introduce his father, Lord Clonbrony; but Mr. Reynolds said, "No,
+no! I'm not ceremonious. I have given you proofs enough of that, I
+think, in the short time we've been already acquainted. Time enough
+to introduce your father to me when we are in a carriage, going our
+journey: then we can talk, and get acquainted: but merely to come
+this evening in a hurry, and say, 'Lord Clonbrony, Mr. Reynolds;--Mr.
+Reynolds, Lord Clonbrony'--and then bob our two heads at one another,
+and scrape one foot back, and away!--where's the use of that nonsense
+at my time of life, or at any time of life? No, no! we have enough to
+do without that, I dare say.--Good morning to you, Count O'Halloran!
+I thank you heartily. From the first moment I saw you, I liked you:
+lucky too, that you brought your dog with you! 'Twas Hannibal made me
+first let you in; I saw him over the top of the blind. Hannibal, my
+good fellow! I'm more obliged to you than you can guess."
+
+"So are we all," said Lord Colambre.
+
+Hannibal was well patted, and then they parted. In returning home they
+met Sir James Brooke.
+
+"I told you," said Sir James, "I should be in London almost as soon as
+you. Have you found old Reynolds?"
+
+"Just come from him."
+
+"How does your business prosper? I hope as well as mine."
+
+A history of all that had passed up to the present moment was given,
+and hearty congratulations received.
+
+"Where are you going now, Sir James?--cannot you come with us?" said
+Lord Colambre and the count.
+
+"Impossible," replied Sir James;--"but, perhaps, you can come with
+me--I'm going to Rundell and Bridges', to give some old family
+diamonds either to be new set or exchanged. Count O'Halloran, I know
+you are a judge of these things; pray come and give me your opinion."
+
+"Better consult your bride elect!" said the count.
+
+"No; she knows little of the matter--and cares less," replied Sir
+James.
+
+"Not so this bride elect, or I mistake her much," said the count,
+as they passed by the window, at Rundell and Bridges', and saw Lady
+Isabel, who, with Lady Dashfort, had been holding consultation deep
+with the jeweller; and Heathcock, playing _personnage muet_.
+
+Lady Dashfort, who had always, as old Reynolds expressed it, "her
+head upon her shoulders,"--presence of mind where her interests were
+concerned, ran to the door before the count and Lord Colambre could
+enter, giving a hand to each--as if they had all parted the best
+friends in the world.
+
+"How do? how do?--Give you joy! give me joy! and all that. But mind!
+not a word," said she, laying her finger upon her lips, "not a word
+before Heathcock of old Reynolds, or of the best part of the old
+fool--his fortune!"
+
+The gentlemen bowed, in sign of submission to her ladyship's commands;
+and comprehended that she feared Heathcock might _be off_, if the best
+part of his bride (her fortune, or her _expectations_) were lowered in
+value or in prospect.
+
+"How low is she reduced," whispered Lord Colambre, "when such a
+husband is thought a prize--and to be secured by a manoeuvre!" He
+sighed.
+
+"Spare that generous sigh!" said Sir James Brooke: "it is wasted."
+
+Lady Isabel, as they approached, turned from a mirror, at which she
+was trying on a diamond crescent. Her face clouded at the sight of
+Count O'Halloran and Lord Colambre, and grew dark as hatred when she
+saw Sir James Brooke. She walked away to the farther end of the shop,
+and asked one of the shopmen the price of a diamond necklace, which
+lay upon the counter.
+
+The man said he really did not know; it belonged to Lady Oranmore; it
+had just been new set for one of her ladyship's daughters, "who is
+going to be married to Sir James Brooke--one of the gentlemen, my
+lady, who are just come in."
+
+Then, calling to his master, he asked him the price of the necklace:
+he named the value, which was considerable.
+
+"I really thought Lady Oranmore and her daughters were vastly too
+philosophical to think of diamonds," said Lady Isabel to her mother,
+with a sort of sentimental sneer in her voice and countenance. "But it
+is some comfort to me to find, in these pattern-women, philosophy and
+love do not so wholly engross the heart, that they
+
+  "'Feel every vanity in fondness lost.'"
+
+"'Twould be difficult, in some cases," thought many present.
+
+"'Pon honour, di'monds are cursed expensive things, I know!" said
+Heathcock. "But, be that as it may," whispered he to the lady, though
+loud enough to be heard by others, "I've laid a damned round wager,
+that no woman's diamonds married this winter, under a countess, in
+Lon'on, shall eclipse Lady Isabel Heathcock's! and Mr. Rundell here's
+to be judge."
+
+Lady Isabel paid for this promise one of her sweetest smiles; one of
+those smiles which she had formerly bestowed upon Lord Colambre,
+and which he had once fancied expressed so much sensibility--such
+discriminative and delicate penetration.
+
+Our hero felt so much contempt, that he never wasted another sigh
+of pity for her degradation. Lady Dashfort came up to him as he was
+standing alone; and, whilst the count and Sir James were settling
+about the diamonds, "My Lord Colambre," said she, in a low voice, "I
+know your thoughts, and I could moralize as well as you, if I did not
+prefer laughing--you are right enough; and so am I, and so is Isabel;
+we are all right. For look here: women have not always the liberty of
+choice, and therefore they can't be expected to have always the power
+of refusal."
+
+The mother, satisfied with her convenient optimism, got into her
+carriage with her daughter, her daughter's diamonds, and her precious
+son-in-law, her daughter's companion for life.
+
+"The more I see," said Count O'Halloran to Lord Colambre, as they
+left the shop, "the more I find reason to congratulate you upon your
+escape, my dear lord."
+
+"I owe it not to my own wit or wisdom," said Lord Colambre; "but much
+to love, and much to friendship," added he, turning to Sir James
+Brooke: "here was the friend who early warned me against the siren's
+voice; who, before I knew the Lady Isabel, told me what I have since
+found to be true, that
+
+ "'Two passions alternately govern her fate--Her
+   business is love, but her pleasure is hate,'"
+
+"That is dreadfully severe, Sir James," said Count O'Halloran; "but, I
+am afraid, is just."
+
+"I am sure it is just, or I would not have said it," replied Sir James
+Brooke. "For the foibles of the sex, I hope, I have as much indulgence
+as any man, and for the errors of passion as much pity; but I cannot
+repress the indignation, the abhorrence I feel against women cold
+and vain, who use their wit and their charms only to make others
+miserable."
+
+Lord Colambre recollected at this moment Lady Isabel's look and voice,
+when she declared that she would let her little finger be cut off to
+purchase the pleasure of inflicting on Lady De Cressy, for one hour,
+the torture of jealousy.
+
+"Perhaps," continued Sir James Brooke, "now that I am going to marry
+into an Irish family, I may feel, with peculiar energy, disapprobation
+of this mother and daughter on another account; but you, Lord
+Colambre, will do me the justice to recollect, that before I had any
+personal interest in the country, I expressed, as a general friend to
+Ireland, antipathy to those who return the hospitality they received
+from a warm-hearted people, by publicly setting the example of elegant
+sentimental hypocrisy, or daring disregard of decorum, by privately
+endeavouring to destroy the domestic peace of families, on which, at
+last, public as well as private virtue and happiness depend. I do
+rejoice, my dear Lord Colambre, to hear you say that I had any share
+in saving you from the siren; and now I will never speak of these
+ladies more. I am sorry you cannot stay in town to see--but why should
+I be sorry--we shall meet again, I trust, and I shall introduce you;
+and you, I hope, will introduce me to a very different charmer.
+Farewell!--you have my warm good wishes, wherever you go."
+
+Sir James turned off quickly to the street in which Lady Oranmore
+lived, and Lord Colambre had not time to tell him that he knew and
+admired his intended bride. Count O'Halloran promised to do this for
+him.
+
+"And now," said the good count, "I am to take leave of you; and I
+assure you I do it with so much reluctance, that nothing less than
+positive engagements to stay in town would prevent me from setting
+off with you to-morrow; but I shall be soon, very soon, at liberty to
+return to Ireland; and Clonbrony Castle, if you will give me leave, I
+will see before I see Halloran Castle."
+
+Lord Colambre joyfully thanked his friend for this promise.
+
+"Nay, it is to indulge myself. I long to see you happy--long to behold
+the choice of such a heart as yours. Pray do not steal a march upon
+me--let me know in time. I will leave every thing--even my friend the
+minister's secret expedition--for your wedding. But I trust I shall be
+in time."
+
+"Assuredly you will, my dear count; if ever that wedding--"
+
+"_If_," repeated the count.
+
+"_If_," repeated Lord Colambre. "Obstacles which, when we last parted,
+appeared to me invincible, prevented my having ever even attempted to
+make an impression on the heart of the woman I love: and if you knew
+her, count, as well as I do, you would know that her love could 'not
+unsought be won.'"
+
+"Of that I cannot doubt, or she would not be your choice; but when
+her love is sought, we have every reason to hope," said the count,
+smiling, "that it may, because it ought to be, won by tried honour and
+affection. I only require to be left in hope."
+
+"Well, I leave you hope," said Lord Colambre: "Miss Nugent--Miss
+Reynolds, I should say, has been in the habit of considering a union
+with me as impossible; my mother early instilled this idea into
+her mind. Miss Nugent thought that duty forbad her to think of me;
+she told me so: I have seen it in all her conduct and manners. The
+barriers of habit, the ideas of duty, cannot, ought not, to be thrown
+down, or suddenly changed, in a well-regulated female mind. And you,
+I am sure, know enough of the best female hearts, to be aware that
+time--"
+
+"Well, well, let this dear good charmer take her own time, provided
+there's none given to affectation, or prudery, or coquetry; and from
+all these, of course, she must be free; and of course I must be
+content. Adieu."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+As Lord Colambre was returning home, he was overtaken by Sir Terence
+O'Fay.
+
+"Well, my lord," cried Sir Terence, out of breath, "you have led me a
+pretty dance all over the town: here's a letter somewhere down in my
+safe pocket for you, which has cost me trouble enough. Phoo! where is
+it now?--it's from Miss Nugent," said he, holding up the letter. The
+direction to Grosvenor-square, London, had been scratched out; and it
+had been re-directed by Sir Terence to the Lord Viscount Colambre, at
+Sir James Brooke's, Bart., Brookwood, Huntingdonshire, or elsewhere,
+with speed, "But the more haste the worse speed; for away it went to
+Brookwood, Huntingdonshire, where I knew, if any where, you was to be
+found; but, as fate and the post would have it, there the letter went
+coursing after you, while you were running round, and _back_, and
+forwards, and every where, I understand, to Toddrington and Wrestham,
+and where not, through all them English places, where there's no
+cross-post: so I took it for granted that it found its way to the
+dead-letter office, or was sticking up across a pane in the d----d
+postmaster's window at Huntingdon, for the whole town to see, and it a
+love-letter, and some puppy to claim it, under false pretence; and you
+all the time without it, and it might breed a coolness betwixt you and
+Miss Nugent."
+
+"But, my dear Sir Terence, give me the letter now you have me."
+
+"Oh, my dear lord, if you knew what a race I have had, missing you
+here by five minutes, and there by five seconds--but I have you at
+last, and you have it--and I'm paid this minute for all I liquidated
+of my substance, by the pleasure I have in seeing you crack
+the seal and read it. But take care you don't tumble over the
+orange-woman--orange barrows are a great nuisance, when one's studying
+a letter in the streets of London, or the metropolis. But never heed;
+stick to my arm, and I'll guide you, like a blind man, safe through
+the thick of them."
+
+Miss Nugent's letter, which Lord Colambre read in spite of the
+jostling of passengers, and the incessant talking of Sir Terence, was
+as follows:--
+
+    "Let me not be the cause of banishing you from your home and your
+    country, where you would do so much good, and make so many happy.
+    Let me not be the cause of your breaking your promise to your
+    mother; of your disappointing my dear aunt so cruelly, who has
+    complied with all our wishes, and who sacrifices, to oblige us,
+    her favourite tastes. How could she be ever happy in Ireland--how
+    could Clonbrony Castle be a home to her without her son? If you
+    take away all she had of amusement and _pleasure_, as it is
+    called, are not you bound to give her, in their stead, that
+    domestic happiness, which she can enjoy only with you, and by your
+    means? If, instead of living with her, you go into the army, she
+    will be in daily, nightly anxiety and alarm about you; and her son
+    will, instead of being a comfort, be a source of torment to her.
+
+    "I will hope that you will do now, as you have always hitherto
+    done, on every occasion where I have seen you act, what is right,
+    and just, and kind. Come here on the day you promised my aunt you
+    would; before that time I shall be in Cambridgeshire, with my
+    friend Lady Berryl; she is so good as to come to Buxton for me--I
+    shall remain with her, instead of returning to Ireland. I have
+    explained my reasons to my dear aunt--Could I have any concealment
+    from her, to whom, from my earliest childhood, I owe every thing
+    that kindness and affection could give? She is satisfied--she
+    consents to my living henceforward with Lady Berryl. Let me have
+    the pleasure of seeing by your conduct, that you approve of mine.
+
+    "Your affectionate cousin
+
+    "and friend,
+
+    "GRACE NUGENT."
+
+This letter, as may be imagined by those who, like him, are capable
+of feeling honourable and generous conduct, gave our hero exquisite
+pleasure. Poor, good-natured Sir Terence O'Fay enjoyed his lordship's
+delight; and forgot himself so completely, that he never even inquired
+whether Lord Colambre had thought of an affair on which he had spoken
+to him some time before, and which materially concerned Sir Terence's
+interest. The next morning, when the carriage was at the door, and
+Sir Terence was just taking leave of his friend Lord Clonbrony, and
+actually in tears, wishing them all manner of happiness, though he
+said there was none left now in London, or the wide world even, for
+him--Lord Colambre went up to him, and said, "Sir Terence, you have
+never inquired whether I have done your business."
+
+"Oh, my dear, I'm not thinking of that now--time enough by the post--I
+can write after you; but my thoughts won't turn for me to business
+now--no matter."
+
+"Your business is done," replied Lord Colambre.
+
+"Then I wonder how you could think of it, with all you had upon your
+mind and heart. When any thing's upon my heart, good morning to my
+head, it's not worth a lemon. Good-bye to you, and thank you kindly,
+and all happiness attend you."
+
+"Good-bye to you, Sir Terence O'Fay," said Lord Clonbrony; "and, since
+it's so ordered, I must live without you."
+
+"Oh! you'll live better without me, my lord; I am not a good liver, I
+know, nor the best of all companions, for a nobleman, young or old;
+and now you'll be rich, and not put to your shifts and your wits, what
+would I have to do for you?--Sir Terence O'Fay, you know, was only
+_the poor nobleman's friend_, and you'll never want to call upon him
+again, thanks to your jewel, your Pitt's-diamond of a son there. So
+we part here, and depend upon it you're better without me--that's all
+my comfort, or my heart would break. The carriage is waiting this
+long time, and this young lover's aching to be off. God bless you
+both!--that's my last word."
+
+They called in Red Lion-square, punctual to the moment, on old Mr.
+Reynolds, but his window-shutters were shut; he had been seized in
+the night with a violent fit of the gout, which, as he said, held him
+fast by the leg. "But here," said he, giving Lord Colambre a letter,
+"here's what will do your business without me. Take this written
+acknowledgment I have penned for you, and give my grand-daughter her
+father's letter to read--it would touch a heart of stone--touched
+mine--wish I could drag the mother back out of her grave, to do her
+justice--all one now. You see, at last, I'm not a suspicious rascal,
+however, for I don't suspect you of palming a false grand-daughter
+upon me."
+
+"Will you," said Lord Colambre, "give your grand-daughter leave to
+come up to town to you, sir! You would satisfy yourself, at least, as
+to what resemblance she may bear to her father: Miss Reynolds will
+come instantly, and she will nurse you."
+
+"No, no; I won't have her come. If she comes, I won't see her--sha'n't
+begin by nursing me--not selfish. As soon as I get rid of this gout,
+I shall be my own man, and young again, and I'll soon be after you
+across the sea, that sha'n't stop me: I'll come to--what's the name
+of your place in Ireland?--and see what likeness I can find to her
+poor father in this grand-daughter of mine, that you puffed so finely
+yesterday. And let me see whether she will wheedle me as finely as
+Mrs. Petito would. Don't get ready your marriage settlements, do you
+hear? till you have seen my will, which I shall sign at--what's the
+name of your place? Write it down there; there's pen and ink; and
+leave me, for the twinge is coming, and I shall roar."
+
+"Will you permit me, sir, to leave my own servant with you to take
+care of you? I can answer for his attention and fidelity."
+
+"Let me see his face, and I'll tell you."
+
+Lord Colambre's servant was summoned.
+
+"Yes, I like his face. God bless you!--Leave me."
+
+Lord Colambre gave his servant a charge to bear with Mr. Reynolds'
+rough manner and temper, and to pay the poor old gentleman every
+possible attention. Then our hero proceeded with his father on his
+journey, and on this journey nothing happened worthy of note. On his
+first perusal of the letter from Grace, Lord Colambre had feared that
+she would have left Buxton with Lady Berryl before he could reach it;
+but, upon recollection, he hoped that the few lines he had written,
+addressed to his mother _and_ Miss Nugent, with the assurance that
+he should be with them on Wednesday, would be sufficient to show her
+that some great change had happened, and consequently sufficient to
+prevent her from quitting her aunt, till she could know whether such
+a separation would be necessary. He argued wisely, more wisely than
+Grace had reasoned; for, notwithstanding this note, she would have
+left Buxton before his arrival, but for Lady Berryl's strength of
+mind, and positive determination not to set out with her till Lord
+Colambre should arrive to explain. In the interval, poor Grace was,
+indeed, in an anxious state of suspense; and her uncertainty, whether
+she was doing right or wrong, by staying to see Lord Colambre,
+tormented her most.
+
+"My dear, you cannot help yourself: be quiet," said Lady Berryl: "I
+will take the whole upon my conscience; and I hope my conscience may
+never have any thing worse to answer for."
+
+Grace was the first person who, from her window, saw Lord Colambre,
+the instant the carriage drove to the door. She ran to her friend Lady
+Berryl's apartment. "He is come!--Now, take me away."
+
+"Not yet, my sweet friend! Lie down upon this sofa, if you please; and
+keep yourself tranquil, whilst I go and see what you ought to do; and
+depend upon me for a true friend, in whose mind, as in your own, duty
+is the first object."
+
+"I depend on you entirely," said Grace, sinking down on the sofa: "and
+you see I obey you!"
+
+"Many thanks to you for lying down, when you can't stand."
+
+Lady Berryl went to Lord Clonbrony's apartment; she was met by Sir
+Arthur. "Come, my love! come quick!--Lord Colambre is arrived."
+
+"I know it; and does he go to Ireland? Speak instantly, that I may
+tell Grace Nugent."
+
+"You can tell her nothing yet, my love; for we know nothing. Lord
+Colambre will not say a word till you come; but I know, by his
+countenance, that he has good and extraordinary news."
+
+They passed rapidly along the passage to Lady Clonbrony's room.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear Lady Berryl, come! or I shall die with impatience,"
+cried Lady Clonbrony, in a voice and manner between laughing and
+crying. "There, now you have congratulated, are very happy, and very
+glad, and all that--now, for mercy's sake, sit down, Lord Clonbrony!
+for Heaven's sake, sit down--beside me here--or any where! Now,
+Colambre, begin; and tell us all at once!"
+
+But as nothing is so tedious as a twice told tale, Lord Colambre's
+narrative need not here be repeated. He began with Count O'Halloran's
+visit, immediately after Lady Clonbrony had left London; and went
+through the history of the discovery that Captain Reynolds was
+the husband of Miss St. Omar, and the father of Grace: the dying
+acknowledgment of his marriage; the packet delivered by Count
+O'Halloran to the careless ambassador--how recovered, by the
+assistance of his executor, Sir James Brooke; the travels from
+Wrestham to Toddrington, and thence to Red Lion-square; the interview
+with old Reynolds, and its final result: all was related as succinctly
+as the impatient curiosity of Lord Colambre's auditors could desire.
+
+"Oh, wonder upon wonder! and joy upon joy!" cried Lady Clonbrony. "So
+my darling Grace is as legitimate as I am, and an heiress after all.
+Where is she? where is she? In your room, Lady Berryl?--Oh, Colambre!
+why wouldn't you let her be by?--Lady Berryl, do you know, he would
+not let me send for her, though she was the person of all others most
+concerned!"
+
+"For that very reason, ma'am; and that Lord Colambre was quite right,
+I am sure you must be sensible, when you recollect, that Grace has no
+idea that she is not the daughter of Mr. Nugent: she has no suspicion
+that the breath of blame ever lighted upon her mother. This part of
+the story cannot be announced to her with too much caution; and,
+indeed, her mind has been so much harassed and agitated, and she is at
+present so far from strong, that great delicacy--."
+
+"True! very true, Lady Berryl," interrupted Lady Clonbrony; "and I'll
+be as delicate as you please about it afterwards: but, in the first
+and foremost place, I must tell her the best part of the story--that
+she's an heiress; that never killed any body!"
+
+So, darting through all opposition, Lady Clonbrony made her way into
+the room where Grace was lying--"Yes, get up! get up! my own Grace,
+and be surprised--well you may!--you are an heiress, after all."
+
+"Am I, my dear aunt?" said Grace.
+
+"True, as I'm Lady Clonbrony--and a very great heiress--and no more
+Colambre's cousin than Lady Berryl here. So now begin and love him as
+fast as you please--I give my consent--and here he is."
+
+Lady Clonbrony turned to her son, who just appeared at the door.
+
+"Ob, mother! what have you done?"
+
+"What have I done?" cried Lady Clonbrony, following her son's
+eyes:--"Lord bless me!--Grace fainted dead--Lady Berryl! Oh, what have
+I done? My dear Lady Berryl, what shall we do?"
+
+Lady Berryl hastened to her friend's assistance.
+
+"There! her colour's coming again," said Lord Clonbrony; "come away,
+my dear Lady Clonbrony, for the present, and so will I--though I long
+to talk to the darling girl myself; but she is not equal to it yet."
+
+When Grace came to herself, she first saw Lady Berryl leaning over
+her, and, raising herself a little, she said, "What has happened?--I
+don't know yet--I don't know whether I am happy or not.--Explain all
+this to me, my dear friend; for I am still as if I were in a dream."
+
+With all the delicacy which Lady Clonbrony deemed superfluous, Lady
+Berryl explained. Nothing could surpass the astonishment of Grace,
+on first learning that Mr. Nugent was not her father. When she was
+told of the stigma that had been cast on her birth; the suspicions,
+the disgrace, to which her mother had been subjected for so many
+years--that mother, whom she had so loved and respected; who had, with
+such care, instilled into the mind of her daughter the principles
+of virtue and religion; that mother whom Grace had always seen the
+example of every virtue she taught; on whom her daughter never
+suspected that the touch of blame, the breath of scandal, could
+rest--Grace could express her sensations only by repeating, in tones
+of astonishment, pathos, indignation--"My mother!--my mother!--my
+mother!"
+
+For some time she was incapable of attending to any other idea, or
+of feeling any other sensations. When her mind was able to admit the
+thought, her friend soothed her, by recalling the expressions of Lord
+Colambre's love--the struggle by which he had been agitated, when he
+fancied a union with her opposed by an invincible obstacle.
+
+Grace sighed, and acknowledged that, in prudence, it ought to have
+been an _invincible_ obstacle--she admired the firmness of his
+decision, the honour with which he had acted towards her. One moment
+she exclaimed, "Then, if I had been the daughter of a mother who had
+conducted herself ill, he never would have trusted me!" The next
+moment she recollected, with pleasure, the joy she had just seen in
+his eyes--the affection, the passion, that spoke in every word and
+look; then dwelt upon the sober certainty, that all obstacles were
+removed. "And no duty opposes my loving him!--And my aunt wishes it!
+my kind aunt! and my dear uncle! should not I go to him?--But he is
+not my uncle, she is not my aunt. I cannot bring myself to think that
+they are not my relations, and that I am nothing to them."
+
+"You may be every thing to them, my dear Grace," said Lady
+Berryl:--"whenever you please, you may be their daughter."
+
+Grace blushed, and smiled, and sighed, and was consoled. But then she
+recollected her new relation, Mr. Reynolds, her grandfather, whom she
+had never seen, who had for years disowned her--treated her mother
+with injustice. She could scarcely think of him with complacency: yet,
+when his age, his sufferings, his desolate state, were represented,
+she pitied him; and, faithful to her strong sense of duty, would
+have gone instantly to offer him every assistance and attention in
+her power. Lady Berryl assured her that Mr. Reynolds had positively
+forbidden her going to him; and that he had assured Lord Colambre he
+would not see her if she went to him. After such rapid and varied
+emotions, poor Grace desired repose, and her friend took care that it
+should be secured to her for the remainder of the day.
+
+In the mean time, Lord Clonbrony had kindly and judiciously employed
+his lady in a discussion about certain velvet furniture, which Grace
+had painted for the drawing-room at Clonbrony Castle.
+
+In Lady Clonbrony's mind, as in some bad paintings, there was no
+_keeping_; all objects, great and small, were upon the same level.
+
+The moment her son entered the room, her ladyship exclaimed, "Every
+thing pleasant at once! Here's your father tells me, Grace's velvet
+furniture's all packed: really Soho's the best man in the world of his
+kind, and the cleverest--and so, after all, my dear Colambre, as I
+always hoped and prophesied, at last you will marry an heiress."
+
+"And Terry," said Lord Clonbrony, "will win his wager from Mordicai."
+
+"Terry!" repeated Lady Clonbrony, "that odious Terry!--I hope, my
+lord, that he is not to be one of my comforts in Ireland."
+
+"No, my dear mother; he is much better provided for than we could
+have expected. One of my father's first objects was to prevent him
+from being any encumbrance to you. We consulted him as to the means
+of making him happy; and the knight acknowledged that he had long
+been casting a sheep's eye at a little snug place, that will soon be
+open in his native country--the chair of assistant barrister at the
+sessions. Assistant barrister!' said my father; 'but, my dear Terry,
+you have been all your life evading the laws, and very frequently
+breaking the peace; do you think this has qualified you peculiarly for
+being a guardian of the laws?' Sir Terence replied, 'Yes, sure; set
+a thief to catch a thief is no bad maxim. And did not Mr. Colquhoun,
+the Scotchman, get himself made a great justice, by his making all the
+world as wise as himself, about thieves of all sorts, by land and by
+water, and in the air too, where he detected the mud-larks?--And is
+not Barrington chief-justice of Botany Bay?"
+
+"My father now began to be seriously alarmed, lest Sir Terence should
+insist upon his using his interest to make him an assistant barrister.
+He was not aware that five years' practice at the bar was a necessary
+accomplishment for this office; when, fortunately for all parties, my
+good friend, Count O'Halloran, helped us out of the difficulty, by
+starting an idea full of practical justice. A literary friend of the
+count's had been for some time promised a lucrative situation under
+government: but, unfortunately, he was a man of so much merit and
+ability, that they could not find employment for him at home, and they
+gave him a commission, I should rather say a contract abroad, for
+supplying the army with Hungarian horses. Now the gentleman had not
+the slightest skill in horse-flesh; and, as Sir Terence is a complete
+_jockey_, the count observed that he would be the best possible deputy
+for his literary friend. We warranted him to be a thorough going
+friend; and I do think the coalition will be well for both parties.
+The count has settled it all, and I left Sir Terence comfortably
+provided for, out of your way, my dear mother; and as happy as he
+could be, when parting from my father."
+
+Lord Colambre was assiduous in engaging his mother's attention upon
+any subject, which could for the present draw her thoughts away from
+her young friend; but at every pause in the conversation, her ladyship
+repeated, "So Grace is an heiress after all--so, after all, they know
+they are not cousins! Well, I prefer Grace, a thousand times over, to
+any other heiress in England. No obstacle, no objection. They have my
+consent. I always prophesied Colambre would marry an heiress; but why
+not marry directly?"
+
+Her ardour and impatience to hurry things forward seemed now likely to
+retard the accomplishment of her own wishes; and Lord Clonbrony, who
+understood rather more of the passion of love than his lady ever had
+felt or understood, saw the agony into which she threw her son, and
+felt for his darling Grace. With a degree of delicacy and address of
+which few would have supposed Lord Clonbrony capable, his lordship
+co-operated with his son in endeavouring to keep Lady Clonbrony
+quiet, and to suppress the hourly thanksgivings of Grace's _turning
+out an heiress_. On one point, however, she vowed she would not be
+overruled--she would have a splendid wedding at Clonbrony Castle, such
+as should become an heir and heiress; and the wedding, she hoped,
+would be immediately on their return to Ireland: she should announce
+the thing to her friends directly on her arrival at Clonbrony Castle.
+
+"My dear," said Lord Clonbrony, "we must wait, in the first place, the
+pleasure of old Mr. Reynolds' fit of the gout."
+
+"Why, that's true, because of his will," said her ladyship; "but a
+will's soon made, is not it? That can't be much delay."
+
+"And then there must be settlements," said Lord Clonbrony; "they take
+time. Lovers, like all the rest of mankind, must submit to the law's
+delay. In the mean time, my dear, as these Buxton baths agree with you
+so well, and as Grace does not seem to be over and above strong for
+travelling a long journey, and as there are many curious and beautiful
+scenes of nature here in Derbyshire--Matlock, and the wonders of the
+Peak, and so on--which the young people would be glad to see together,
+and may not have another opportunity soon--why not rest ourselves a
+little? For another reason, too," continued his lordship, bringing
+together as many arguments as he could--for he had often found,
+that though Lady Clonbrony was a match for any single argument, her
+understanding could be easily overpowered by a number, of whatever
+sort--"besides, my dear, here's Sir Arthur and Lady Berryl come to
+Buxton on purpose to meet us; and we owe them some compliment, and
+something more than compliment, I think: so I don't see why we should
+be in a hurry to leave them, or quit Buxton--a few weeks sooner or
+later can't signify--and Clonbrony Castle will be getting all the
+while into better order for us. Burke is gone down there; and if we
+stay here quietly, there will be time for the velvet furniture to get
+there before us, and to be unpacked, and up in the drawing-room."
+
+"That's true, my lord," said Lady Clonbrony; "and there is a great
+deal of reason in all you say--so I second that motion, as Colambre, I
+see, subscribes to it."
+
+They stayed some time in Derbyshire, and every day Lord Clonbrony
+proposed some pleasant excursion, and contrived that the young people
+should be left to themselves, as Mrs. Broadhurst used so strenuously
+to advise; the recollection of whose authoritative maxims fortunately
+still operated upon Lady Clonbrony, to the great ease and advantage of
+the lovers.
+
+Happy as a lover, a friend, a son; happy in the consciousness of
+having restored a father to respectability, and persuaded a mother
+to quit the feverish joys of fashion for the pleasures of domestic
+life; happy in the hope of winning the whole heart of the woman he
+loved, and whose esteem, he knew, he possessed and deserved; happy
+in developing every day, every hour, fresh charms in his destined
+bride--we leave our hero, returning to his native country.
+
+And we leave him with the reasonable expectation that he will support
+through life the promise of his early character; that his patriotic
+views will extend with his power to carry wishes into action; that his
+attachment to his warm-hearted countrymen will still increase upon
+further acquaintance; and that he will long diffuse happiness through
+the wide circle, which is peculiarly subject to the influence and
+example of a great resident Irish proprietor.
+
+    LETTER FROM LARRY TO HIS BROTHER, PAT BRADY, AT MR. MORDICAI'S,
+    COACH MAKER, LONDON.
+
+    "MY DEAR BROTHER,
+
+    "Yours of the 16th, enclosing the five pound note for my father,
+    came safe to hand Monday last; and with his thanks and blessing
+    to you, he commends it to you herewith enclosed back again, on
+    account of his being in no immediate necessity, nor likelihood to
+    want in future, as you shall hear forthwith; but wants you over
+    with all speed, and the note will answer for travelling charges;
+    for we can't enjoy the luck it has pleased God to give us, without
+    _yees_; put the rest in your pocket, and read it when you've time.
+
+    "Old Nick's gone, and St. Dennis along with him, to the place he
+    come from--praise be to God! The _ould_ lord has found him out in
+    his tricks; and I helped him to that, through the young lord that
+    I driv, as I informed you in my last, when he was a Welshman,
+    which was the best turn ever I did, though I did not know it no
+    more than Adam that time. So _Ould_ Nick's turned out of the
+    agency clean and clear; and the day after it was known, there was
+    surprising great joy through the whole country; not surprising,
+    either, but just what you might, knowing him, rasonably expect.
+    He (that is, Old Nick and St. Dennis) would have been burnt that
+    night--I _mane_, in _effigy_, through the town of Clonbrony, but
+    that the new man, Mr. Burke, came down that day too soon to stop
+    it, and said, 'it was not becoming to trample on the fallen,' or
+    something that way, that put an end to it; and though it was a
+    great disappointment to many, and to me in particular, I could not
+    but like the jantleman the better for it any how. They say he is
+    a very good jantleman, and as unlike Old Nick or the saint as can
+    be; and takes no duty fowl, nor glove, nor sealing money; nor asks
+    duty work nor duty turf. Well, when I was disappointed of the
+    _effigy_, I comforted myself by making a bonfire of Old Nick's big
+    rick of duty turf, which, by great luck, was out in the road, away
+    from all dwelling-house, or thatch, or yards, to take fire: so no
+    danger in life, or objection. And such another blaze! I wished
+    you'd seed it--and all the men, women, and children, in the town
+    and country, far and near, gathered round it, shouting and dancing
+    like mad!--and it was light as day quite across the bog, as far as
+    Hartley Finnigan's house. And I heard after, they seen it from all
+    parts of the three counties, and they thought it was St. John's
+    Eve in a mistake--or couldn't make out what it was; but all took
+    it in good part, for a good sign, and were in great joy. As for
+    St. Dennis and _Ould_ Nick, an attorney had his foot upon 'em with
+    an habere, a latitat, and three executions hanging over 'em: and
+    there's the end of rogues! and a great example in the country.
+    And--no more about it; for I can't be wasting more ink upon them
+    that don't deserve it at my hands, when I want it for them that
+    do, as you shall see. So some weeks past, and there was great
+    cleaning at Clonbrony Castle, and in the town of Clonbrony; and
+    the new agent's smart and clever: and he had the glaziers, and
+    the painters, and the slaters, up and down in the town wherever
+    wanted; and you wouldn't know it again. Thinks I, this is no bad
+    sign! Now, cock up your ears, Pat! for the great news is coming,
+    and the good. The master's come home, long life to him! and family
+    come home yesterday, all entirely! The _ould_ lord and the young
+    lord, (ay, there's the man, Paddy!) and my lady, and Miss Nugent.
+    And I driv Miss Nugent's maid and another; so I had the luck to be
+    in it along _wid_ 'em, and see all, from first to last. And first,
+    I must tell you, my young Lord Colambre remembered and noticed me
+    the minute he lit at our inn, and condescended to beckon me out of
+    the yard to him, and axed me--' Friend Larry,' says he, 'did you
+    keep your promise?'--'My oath again the whiskey, is it?' says
+    I. 'My lord, I surely did,' said I; which was true, as all the
+    country knows I never tasted a drop since. 'And I'm proud to see
+    your honour, my lord, as good as your word, too, and back again
+    among us.' So then there was a call for the horses; and no more at
+    that time passed betwix' my young lord and me, but that he pointed
+    me out to the _ould_ one, as I went off. I noticed and thanked him
+    for it in my heart, though I did not know all the good was to come
+    of it. Well, no more of myself, for the present.
+
+    "Ogh, it's I driv 'em well; and we all got to the great gate of
+    the park before sunset, and as fine an evening as ever you see;
+    with the sun shining on the tops of the trees, as the ladies
+    noticed; the leaves changed, but not dropped, though so late in
+    the season. I believe the leaves knew what they were about, and
+    kept on, on purpose to welcome them; and the birds were singing,
+    and I stopped whistling, that they might hear them; but sorrow
+    bit could they hear when they got to the park gate, for there was
+    such a crowd, and such a shout, as you never see--and they had
+    the horses off every carriage entirely, and drew 'em home, with
+    blessings, through the park. And, God bless 'em! when they got
+    out, they didn't go shut themselves up in the great drawing-room,
+    but went straight out to the _tir_rass, to satisfy the eyes and
+    hearts that followed them. My lady _laning_ on my young lord, and
+    Miss Grace Nugent that was, the beautifullest angel that ever you
+    set eyes on, with the finest complexion, and sweetest of smiles,
+    _laning_ upon the _ould_ lord's arm, who had his hat off, bowing
+    to all, and noticing the old tenants as he passed by name. Oh,
+    there was great gladness and tears in the midst; for joy I could
+    scarce keep from myself.
+
+    "After a turn or two upon the _tir_rass, my Lord Colambre _quit_
+    his mother's arm for a minute, and he come to the edge of the
+    slope, and looked down and through all the crowd for some one.
+
+    "'Is it the Widow O'Neil, my lord?' says I; 'she's yonder, with
+    the white kerchief, betwixt her son and daughter, as usual.'
+
+    "Then my lord beckoned, and they did not know which of the _tree_
+    would stir; and then he gave _tree_ beckons with his own finger,
+    and they all _tree_ came fast enough to the bottom of the slope
+    forenent my lord: and he went down and helped the widow up, (oh,
+    he's the true jantleman!) and brought 'em all _tree_ up on the
+    _tir_rass, to my lady and Miss Nugent; and I was up close after,
+    that I might hear, which wasn't manners, but I couldn't help
+    it. So what he said I don't well know, for I could not get near
+    enough, after all. But I saw my lady smile very kind, and take the
+    Widow O'Neil by the hand, and then my Lord Colambre _'troduced_
+    Grace to Miss Nugent, and there was the word _namesake_, and
+    something about a check curtain; but, whatever it was, they was
+    all greatly pleased: then my Lord Colambre turned and looked for
+    Brian, who had fell back, and took him, with some commendation, to
+    my lord his father. And my lord the master said, which I didn't
+    know till after, that they should have their house and farm at the
+    _ould_ rent; and at the surprise, the widow dropped down dead; and
+    there was a cry as for ten _berrings_. 'Be qui'te,' says I, 'she's
+    only kilt for joy;' and I went and lift her up, for her son had
+    no more strength that minute than the child new born; and Grace
+    trembled like a leaf, as white as the sheet, but not long, for the
+    mother came to, and was as well as ever when I brought some water,
+    which Miss Nugent handed to her with her own hand.
+
+    "'That was always pretty and good,' said the widow, laying her
+    hand upon Miss Nugent, 'and kind and good to me and mine.'
+
+    "That minute there was music from below. The blind harper, O'Neil,
+    with his harp, that struck up 'Gracey Nugent.'
+
+    "And that finished, and my Lord Colambre smiling, with the tears
+    standing in his eyes too, and the _ould_ lord quite wiping his, I
+    ran to the _tir_rass brink to bid O'Neil play it again; but as I
+    run, I thought I heard a voice call 'Larry!'
+
+    "'Who calls Larry?' says I.
+
+    "'My Lord Colambre calls you, Larry,' says all at once; and four
+    takes me by the shoulders and spins me round. 'There's my young
+    lord calling you, Larry--run for your life.'
+
+    "So I run back for my life, and walked respectful, with my hat in
+    my hand, when I got near.
+
+    "'Put on your hat, my father desires it,' says my Lord Colambre.
+    The _ould_ lord made a sign to that purpose, but was too full
+    to speak. 'Where's your father?' continues my young lord. 'He's
+    very _ould_, my lord,' says I.--' I didn't _ax_ you how _ould_ he
+    was,' says he; 'but where is he?'--'He's behind the crowd below,
+    on account of his infirmities; he couldn't walk so fast as the
+    rest, my lord,' says I; 'but his heart is with you, if not his
+    body.'--'I must have his body too: so bring him bodily before
+    us; and this shall be your warrant for so doing,' said my lord,
+    joking: for he knows the _natur_ of us, Paddy, and how we love a
+    joke in our hearts, as well as if he had lived all his life in
+    Ireland; and by the same token will, for that _rason_, do what he
+    pleases with us, and more may be than a man twice as good, that
+    never would smile on us.
+
+    "But I'm telling you of my father. 'I've a warrant for you,
+    father,' says I; 'and must have you bodily before the justice, and
+    my lord chief justice.' So he changed colour a bit at first; but
+    he saw me smile. 'And I've done no sin,' said he; 'and, Larry, you
+    may lead me now, as you led me all my life.'
+
+    "And up the slope he went with me as light as fifteen; and when we
+    got up, my Lord Clonbrony said, 'I am sorry an old tenant, and a
+    good old tenant, as I hear you were, should have been turned out
+    of your farm.'
+
+    "'Don't fret, it's no great matter, my lord,' said my father. 'I
+    shall be soon out of the way; but if you would be so kind to speak
+    a word for my boy here, and that I could afford, while the life is
+    in me, to bring my other boy back out of banishment.'
+
+    "'Then,' says my Lord Clonbrony, 'I'll give you and your sons
+    three lives, or thirty-one years, from this day, of your former
+    farm. Return to it when you please. And,' added my Lord Clonbrony,
+    'the flaggers, I hope, will be soon banished.' Oh, how could
+    I thank him--not a word could I proffer--but I know I clasped
+    my two hands, and prayed for him inwardly. And my father was
+    dropping down on his knees, but the master would not let him; and
+    _obsarved_ that posture should only be for his God. And, sure
+    enough, in that posture, when he was out of sight, we did pray for
+    him that night, and will all our days.
+
+    "But, before we quit his presence, he called me back, and bid me
+    write to my brother, and bring you back, if you've no objections,
+    to your own country.
+
+    "So come, my dear Pat, and make no delay, for joy's not joy
+    compl_a_te till you're in it--my father sends his blessing, and
+    Peggy her love. The family entirely is to settle for good in
+    Ireland, and there was in the castle yard last night a bonfire
+    made by my lord's orders of the _ould_ yellow damask furniture, to
+    plase my lady, my lord says. And the drawing-room, the butler was
+    telling me, is new hung; and the chairs with velvet as white as
+    snow, and shaded over with natural flowers by Miss Nugent. Oh! how
+    I hope what I guess will come true, and I've _rason_ to believe it
+    will, for I dreamt in my bed last night it did. But keep yourself
+    to yourself--that Miss Nugent (who is no more Miss Nugent, they
+    say, but Miss Reynolds, and has a new-found grandfather, and is a
+    big heiress, which she did not want in my eyes, nor in my young
+    lord's), I've a notion, will be sometime, and may be sooner
+    than is expected, my Lady Viscountess Colambre--so haste to the
+    wedding. And there's another thing: they say the rich _ould_
+    grandfather's coming over;--and another thing, Pat, you would not
+    be out of the fashion--and you see it's growing the fashion not to
+    be an Absentee.
+
+    "Your loving brother,
+
+    "LARRY BRADY."
+
+1812.
+
+
+
+
+MADAME DE FLEURY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+  "There oft are heard the notes of infant woe,
+  The short thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall.
+  How can you, mothers, vex your infants so?"--POPE.
+
+
+"D'abord, madame, c'est impossible!--Madame ne descendra pas
+ici?[1]" said Francois, the footman of Mad. de Fleury, with a half
+expostulatory, half indignant look, as he let down the step of her
+carriage at the entrance of a dirty passage, that led to one of the
+most miserable-looking houses in Paris.
+
+[Footnote 1: In the first place, my lady, it is impossible! Surely my
+lady will not get out of her carriage here?]
+
+"But what can be the cause of the cries which I hear in this house?"
+said Mad. de Fleury.
+
+"'Tis only some child, who is crying," replied Francois: and he would
+have put up the step, but his lady was not satisfied.
+
+"'Tis nothing in the world," continued he, with a look of appeal to
+the coachman, "it _can_ be nothing, but some children, who are locked
+up there above. The mother, the workwoman my lady wants, is not at
+home, that's certain."
+
+"I must know the cause of these cries; I must see these children,"
+said Mad. de Fleury, getting out of her carriage.
+
+Francois held his arm for his lady as she got out.
+
+"Bon!" cried he, with an air of vexation. "Si madame la veut
+absolument, a la bonne heure!--Mais madame sera abimee. Madame
+verra que j'ai raison. Madame ne montera jamais ce vilain escalier.
+D'ailleurs c'est an cinquieme. Mais, madame, c'est impossible."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: To be sure it must be as my lady pleases--but my lady
+will find it terribly dirty!--my Lady will find I was right--my lady
+will never get up that shocking staircase--it is impossible!]
+
+Notwithstanding the impossibility, Mad. de Fleury proceeded; and
+bidding her talkative footman wait in the entry, made her way up the
+dark, dirty, broken staircase, the sound of the cries increasing every
+instant, till, as she reached the fifth story, she heard the shrieks
+of one in violent pain. She hastened to the door of the room from
+which the cries proceeded; the door was fastened, and the noise was
+so great, that though she knocked as loud as she was able, she could
+not immediately make herself heard. At last the voice of a child from
+within answered, "The door is locked--mamma has the key in her pocket,
+and won't be home till night; and here's Victoire has tumbled from the
+top of the big press, and it is she that is shrieking so."
+
+Mad. de Fleury ran down the stairs which she had ascended with so
+much difficulty, called to her footman, who was waiting in the entry,
+despatched him for a surgeon, and then she returned to obtain from
+some people who lodged in the house assistance to force open the door
+of the room in which the children were confined.
+
+On the next floor there was a smith at work, filing so earnestly that
+he did not hear the screams of the children. When his door was pushed
+open, and the bright vision of Mad. de Fleury appeared to him, his
+astonishment was so great that he seemed incapable of comprehending
+what she said. In a strong provincial accent he repeated,
+"_Plait-il?_" and stood aghast till she had explained herself three
+times: then suddenly exclaiming, "Ah! c'est ca!"--he collected his
+tools precipitately, and followed to obey her orders. The door of
+the room was at last forced half open, for a press that had been
+overturned prevented its opening entirely. The horrible smells that
+issued did not overcome Mad. de Fleury's humanity: she squeezed her
+way into the room, and behind the fallen press saw three little
+children: the youngest, almost an infant, ceased roaring, and ran
+to a corner: the eldest, a boy of about eight years old, whose face
+and clothes were covered with blood, held on his knee a girl younger
+than himself, whom he was trying to pacify, but who struggled most
+violently, and screamed incessantly, regardless of Mad. de Fleury, to
+whose questions she made no answer.
+
+"Where are you hurt, my dear?" repeated Mad. de Fleury in a soothing
+voice. "Only tell me where you feel pain?"
+
+The boy, showing his sister's arm, said, in a surly tone--"It is this
+that is hurt--but it was not I did it."
+
+"It was, it _was_," cried the girl as loud as she could vociferate:
+"it was Maurice threw me down from the top of the press."
+
+"No--it was you that were pushing me, Victoire, and you fell
+backwards.--Have done screeching, and show your arm to the lady."
+
+"I can't," said the girl.
+
+"She won't," said the boy.
+
+"She _cannot_," said Mad. de Fleury, kneeling down to examine it. "She
+cannot move it: I am afraid that it is broken."
+
+"Don't touch it! don't touch it!" cried the girl, screaming more
+violently.
+
+"Ma'am, she screams that way for nothing often," said the boy. "Her
+arm is no more broke than mine, I'm sure; she'll move it well enough
+when she's not cross."
+
+"I am afraid," said Mad. de Fleury, "that her arm is broken."
+
+"Is it indeed?" said the boy, with a look of terror.
+
+"Oh! don't touch it--you'll kill me, you are killing me," screamed the
+poor girl, whilst Mad. de Fleury with the greatest care endeavoured
+to join the bones in their proper place, and resolved to hold the arm
+till the arrival of the surgeon.
+
+From the feminine appearance of this lady, no stranger would have
+expected such resolution; but with all the natural sensibility and
+graceful delicacy of her sex, she had none of that weakness or
+affectation, which incapacitates from being useful in real distress.
+In most sudden accidents, and in all domestic misfortunes, female
+resolution and presence of mind are indispensably requisite: safety,
+health, and life, often depend upon the fortitude of women. Happy
+they, who, like Mad. de Fleury, possess strength of mind united with
+the utmost gentleness of manner and tenderness of disposition!
+
+Soothed by this lady's sweet voice, the child's rage subsided; and
+no longer struggling, the poor little girl sat quietly on her lap,
+sometimes writhing and moaning with pain.
+
+The surgeon at length arrived: her arm was set: and he said, "that she
+had probably been saved much future pain by Mad. de Fleury's presence
+of mind."
+
+"Sir,--will it soon be well?" said Maurice to the surgeon.
+
+"Oh, yes, very soon, I dare say," said the little girl. "To-morrow,
+perhaps; for now that it is tied up, it does not hurt me to
+signify--and after all, I do believe, Maurice, it was not you threw me
+down."
+
+As she spoke, she held up her face to kiss her brother.--"That is
+right," said Mad. de Fleury; "there is a good sister."
+
+The little girl put out her lips, offering a second kiss, but the boy
+turned hastily away to rub the tears from his eyes with the back of
+his hand.
+
+"I am not cross now: am I, Maurice?" said she.
+
+"No, Victoire, I was cross myself when I said _that_."
+
+As Victoire was going to speak again, the surgeon imposed silence,
+observing that she must be put to bed, and should be kept quiet. Mad.
+de Fleury laid her upon the bed, as soon as Maurice had cleared it of
+the things with which it was covered; and as they were spreading the
+ragged blanket over the little girl, she whispered a request to Mad.
+de Fleury, that she would "stay till her mamma came home, to beg
+Maurice off from being whipped, if mamma should be angry."
+
+Touched by this instance of goodness, and compassionating the desolate
+condition of these children, Mad. de Fleury complied with Victoire's
+request; resolving to remonstrate with their mother for leaving them
+locked up in this manner. They did not know to what part of the town
+their mother was gone; they could tell only, "that she was to go to
+a great many different places to carry back work, and to bring home
+more; and that she expected to be in by five." It was now half after
+four.
+
+Whilst Mad. de Fleury waited, she asked the boy to give her a full
+account of the manner in which the accident had happened.
+
+"Why, ma'am," said Maurice, twisting and untwisting a ragged
+handkerchief as he spoke, "the first beginning of all the mischief
+was, we had nothing to do; so we went to the ashes to make dirt pies:
+but Babet would go so close that she burnt her petticoat, and threw
+about all our ashes, and plagued us, and we whipped her: but all would
+not do, she would not be quiet; so to get out of her reach, we climbed
+up by this chair on the table to the top of the press, and there we
+were well enough for a little while, till somehow we began to quarrel
+about the old scissors, and we struggled hard for them till I got this
+cut."
+
+Here he unwound the handkerchief, and for the first time showed the
+wound, which he had never mentioned before.
+
+"Then," continued he, "when I got the cut, I shoved Victoire, and she
+pushed at me again, and I was keeping her off, and her foot slipped,
+and down she fell; and caught by the press-door, and pulled it and me
+after her, and that's all I know."
+
+"It is well that you were not both killed," said Mad. de Fleury. "Are
+you often left locked up in this manner by yourselves, and without any
+thing to do?"
+
+"Yes, always, when mamma is abroad--except sometimes we are let out
+upon the stairs, or in the street; but mamma says we get into mischief
+there."
+
+This dialogue was interrupted by the return of the mother. She came up
+stairs slowly, much fatigued, and with a heavy bundle under her arm.
+
+"How now! Maurice, how comes my door open? What's all this?" cried
+she, in an angry voice; but seeing a lady sitting upon her child's
+bed, she stopped short in great astonishment. Mad. de Fleury related
+what had happened, and averted her anger from Maurice, by gently
+expostulating upon the hardship and hazard of leaving her young
+children in this manner during so many hours of the day.
+
+"Why, my lady," replied the poor woman, wiping her forehead, "every
+hard-working woman in Paris does the same with her children; and what
+can I do else? I must earn bread for these helpless ones, and to do
+that I must be out backwards and forwards, and to the furthest parts
+of the town, often from morning till night, with those that employ me;
+and I cannot afford to send the children to school, or to keep any
+kind of a servant to look after them; and when I'm away, if I let
+them run about these stairs and entries, or go into the streets, they
+do get a little exercise and air to be sure, such as it is; on which
+account I do let them out sometimes; but then a deal of mischief comes
+of that, too--they learn all kinds of wickedness, and would grow up to
+be no better than pickpockets, if they were let often to consort with
+the little vagabonds they find in the streets. So what to do better
+for them I don't know."
+
+The poor mother sat down upon the fallen press, looked at Victoire,
+and wept bitterly. Mad. de Fleury was struck with compassion: but she
+did not satisfy her feelings merely by words or comfort, or by the
+easy donation of some money--she resolved to do something more, and
+something better.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+  "Come often, then; for haply in my bow'r
+  Amusement, knowledge, wisdom, thou may'st gain:
+  If I one soul improve, I have not lived in vain."
+
+  BEATTIE.
+
+
+It is not so easy to do good as those who have never attempted it may
+imagine; and they who without consideration follow the mere instinct
+of pity, often by their imprudent generosity create evils more
+pernicious to society than any which they partially remedy. "Warm
+Charity, the general friend," may become the general enemy, unless she
+consults her head as well as her heart. Whilst she pleases herself
+with the idea that she daily feeds hundreds of the poor, she is
+perhaps preparing want and famine for thousands. Whilst she delights
+herself with the anticipation of gratitude for her bounties, she is
+often exciting only unreasonable expectations, inducing habits of
+dependence, and submission to slavery.
+
+Those who wish to do good should attend to experience, from whom they
+may receive lessons upon the largest scale that time and numbers can
+afford.
+
+Mad. de Fleury was aware that neither a benevolent disposition nor a
+large fortune were sufficient to enable her to be of real service,
+without the constant exercise of her judgment. She had therefore
+listened with deference to the conversation of well-informed men upon
+those subjects on which ladies have not always the means or the wish
+to acquire extensive and accurate knowledge. Though a Parisian belle,
+she had read with attention some of those books which are generally
+thought too dry or too deep for her sex. Consequently her benevolence
+was neither wild in theory, nor precipitate nor ostentatious in
+practice.
+
+Touched with compassion for a little girl, whose arm had been
+accidentally broken, and shocked by the discovery of the confinement
+and the dangers to which numbers of children in Paris were doomed,
+she did not make a parade of her sensibility. She did not talk of her
+feelings in fine sentences to a circle of opulent admirers, nor did
+she project for the relief of the little sufferers some magnificent
+establishment, which she could not execute or superintend. She was
+contented with attempting only what she had reasonable hopes of
+accomplishing.
+
+The gift of education she believed to be more advantageous than
+the gift of money to the poor; as it ensures the means both of
+future subsistence and happiness. But the application even of
+this incontrovertible principle requires caution and judgment. To
+crowd numbers of children into a place called a school, to abandon
+them to the management of any person called a schoolmaster or a
+schoolmistress, is not sufficient to secure the blessings of a good
+education. Mad. de Fleury was sensible that the greatest care is
+necessary in the choice of the person to whom young children are to
+be intrusted: she knew that only a certain number can be properly
+directed by one superintendent; and that by attempting to do too much,
+she might do nothing, or worse than nothing. Her school was formed,
+therefore, on a small scale, which she could enlarge to any extent,
+if it should be found to succeed. From some of the families of poor
+people, who in earning their bread are obliged to spend most of the
+day from home, she selected twelve little girls, of whom Victoire was
+the eldest, and she was between six and seven.
+
+The person under whose care Mad. de Fleury wished to place these
+children was a nun of the _Soeurs de la Charite_, with whose
+simplicity of character, benevolence, and mild, steady temper, she was
+thoroughly acquainted. Sister Frances was delighted with the plan. Any
+scheme that promised to be of service to her fellow-creatures was sure
+of meeting with her approbation; but this suited her taste peculiarly,
+because she was extremely fond of children. No young person had ever
+boarded six months at her convent without becoming attached to good
+Sister Frances.
+
+The period of which we are writing was some years before convents were
+abolished; but the strictness of their rules had in many instances
+been considerably relaxed. Without much difficulty, permission was
+obtained from the abbess for our nun to devote her time during the day
+to the care of these poor children, upon condition that she should
+regularly return to her convent every night before evening prayers.
+The house which Mad. de Fleury chose for her little school was in an
+airy part of the town; it did not face the street, but was separated
+from other buildings at the back of a court, retired from noise and
+bustle. The two rooms intended for the occupation of the children
+were neat and clean, but perfectly simple, with whitewashed walls,
+furnished only with wooden stools and benches, and plain deal tables.
+The kitchen was well lighted (for light is essential to cleanliness),
+and it was provided with utensils; and for these appropriate places
+were allotted, to give the habit and the taste of order. The
+school-room opened into a garden larger than is usually seen in towns.
+The nun, who had been accustomed to purchase provisions for her
+convent, undertook to prepare daily for the children breakfast and
+dinner; they were to sup and sleep at their respective homes. Their
+parents were to take them to Sister Frances every morning, when they
+went out to work, and to call for them upon their return home every
+evening. By this arrangement, the natural ties of affection and
+intimacy between the children and their parents would not be loosened;
+they would be separate only at the time when their absence must be
+inevitable. Mad. de Fleury thought that any education which estranges
+children entirely from their parents must be fundamentally erroneous;
+that such a separation must tend to destroy that sense of filial
+affection and duty, and those principles of domestic subordination, on
+which so many of the interests, and much of the virtue and happiness,
+of society depend. The parents of these poor children were eager to
+trust them to her care, and they strenuously endeavoured to promote
+what they perceived to be entirely to their advantage. They promised
+to take their daughters to school punctually every morning--a promise
+which was likely to be kept, as a good breakfast was to be ready at a
+certain hour, and not to wait for any body. The parents looked forward
+with pleasure also to the idea of calling for their little girls at
+the end of their day's labour, and of taking them home to their family
+supper. During the intermediate hours, the children were constantly
+to be employed, or in exercise. It was difficult to provide suitable
+employments for their early age; but even the youngest of those
+admitted could be taught to wind balls of cotton, thread, and silk,
+for haberdashers; or they could shell peas and beans, &c. for a
+neighbouring _traiteur_; or they could weed in a garden. The next
+in age could learn knitting and plain-work, reading, writing, and
+arithmetic. As the girls should grow up, they were to be made useful
+in the care of the house. Sister Frances said she could teach them
+to wash and iron, and that she would make them as skilful in cookery
+as she was herself. This last was doubtless a rash promise; for in
+most of the mysteries of the culinary art, especially in the medical
+branches of it, in making savoury messes palatable to the sick, few
+could hope to equal the neat-handed Sister Frances. She had a variety
+of other accomplishments; but her humility and good sense forbade
+her, upon the present occasion, to mention these. She said nothing of
+embroidery, or of painting, or of cutting out paper, or of carving in
+ivory, though in all these she excelled: her cuttings-out in paper
+were exquisite as the finest lace; her embroidered housewives, and
+her painted boxes, and her fan-mounts, and her curiously wrought
+ivory toys, had obtained for her the highest reputation in the
+convent, amongst the best judges in the world. Those only who have
+philosophically studied and thoroughly understand the nature of fame
+and vanity can justly appreciate the self-denial, or magnanimity, of
+Sister Frances, in forbearing to enumerate or boast of these things.
+She alluded to them but once, and in the slightest and most humble
+manner.
+
+"These little creatures are too young for us to think of teaching them
+any thing but plain-work at present; but if hereafter any of them
+should show a superior genius, we can cultivate it properly! Heaven
+has been pleased to endow me with the means--at least our convent says
+so."
+
+The actions of Sister Frances showed as much moderation as her words;
+for though she was strongly tempted to adorn her new dwelling with
+those specimens of her skill, which had long been the glory of her
+apartment in the convent, yet she resisted the impulse, and contented
+herself with hanging over the chimney-piece of her school-room a
+Madonna of her own painting.
+
+The day arrived when she was to receive her pupils in their new
+habitation. When the children entered the room for the first time,
+they paid the Madonna the homage of their unfeigned admiration.
+Involuntarily the little crowd stopped short at the sight of
+the picture. Some dormant emotions of human vanity were now
+awakened--played for a moment about the heart of Sister Frances--and
+may be forgiven. Her vanity was innocent and transient, her
+benevolence permanent and useful. Repressing the vain-glory of an
+artist, as she fixed her eyes upon the Madonna, her thoughts rose to
+higher objects, and she seized this happy moment to impress upon the
+minds of her young pupils their first religious ideas and feelings.
+There was such unaffected piety in her manner, such goodness in her
+countenance, such persuasion in her voice, and simplicity in her
+words, that the impression she made was at once serious, pleasing,
+and not to be effaced. Much depends upon the moment and the manner in
+which the first notions of religion are communicated to children: if
+these ideas be connected with terror, and produced when the mind is
+sullen or in a state of dejection, the future religious feelings are
+sometimes of a gloomy, dispiriting sort; but if the first impression
+be made when the heart is expanded by hope or touched by affection,
+these emotions are happily and permanently associated with religion.
+This should be particularly attended to by those who undertake the
+instruction of the children of the poor, who must lead a life of
+labour, and can seldom have leisure or inclination when arrived at
+years of discretion, to re-examine the principles early infused into
+their minds. They cannot in their riper age conquer by reason those
+superstitious terrors, or bigoted prejudices, which render their
+victims miserable or perhaps criminal. To attempt to rectify any
+errors in the foundation after an edifice has been constructed, is
+dangerous: the foundation, therefore, should be laid with care. The
+religious opinions of Sister Frances were strictly united with just
+rules of morality, strongly enforcing, as the essential means of
+obtaining present and future happiness, the practice of the social
+virtues; so that no good or wise persons, however they might differ
+from her in modes of faith, could doubt the beneficial influence of
+her general principles, or disapprove of the manner in which they were
+inculcated.
+
+Detached from every other worldly interest, this benevolent nun
+devoted all her earthly thoughts to the children of whom she had
+undertaken the charge. She watched over them with unceasing vigilance,
+whilst diffidence of her own abilities was happily supported by her
+high opinion of Mad. de Fleury's judgment. This lady constantly
+visited her pupils every week; not in the hasty, negligent manner in
+which fine ladies sometimes visit charitable institutions, imagining
+that the honour of their presence is to work miracles, and that every
+thing will go on rightly when they have said, "_Let it be so_," or,
+"_I must have it so_." Mad. de Fleury's visits were not of this
+dictatorial or cursory nature. Not minutes, but hours, she devoted
+to these children--she who could charm by the grace of her manners,
+and delight by the elegance of her conversation, the most polished
+circles[1] and the best-informed societies of Paris, preferred to the
+glory of being admired the pleasure of being useful--
+
+  "Her life, as lovely as her face,
+  Each duty mark'd with every grace;
+  Her native sense improved by reading,
+  Her native sweetness by good-breeding."
+
+[Footnote 1: It was of this lady that Marmontel said--"She has the art
+of making the most common thoughts appear new, and the most uncommon
+simple, by the elegance and clearness of her expressions."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+  "Ah me! how much I fear lest pride it be;
+  But if that pride it be, which thus inspires,
+  Beware, ye dames! with nice discernment see
+  Ye quench not too the sparks of nobler fires."
+
+  SHENSTONE.
+
+
+By repeated observation, and by attending to the minute _reports_
+of Sister Frances, Mad. de Fleury soon became acquainted with the
+habits and temper of each individual in this little society. The most
+intelligent and the most amiable of these children was Victoire.
+Whence her superiority arose, whether her abilities were naturally
+more vivacious than those of her companions, or whether they had been
+more early developed by accidental excitation, we cannot pretend to
+determine, lest we should involve ourselves in the intricate question
+respecting natural genius--a metaphysical point, which we shall
+not in this place stop to discuss. Till the world has an accurate
+philosophical dictionary (a work not to be expected in less than half
+a dozen centuries), this question will never be decided to general
+satisfaction. In the mean time, we may proceed with our story.
+
+Deep was the impression made on Victoire's heart by the kindness
+that Mad. de Fleury showed her at the time her arm was broken; and
+her gratitude was expressed with all the enthusiastic _fondness_
+of childhood. Whenever she spoke or heard of Mad. de Fleury, her
+countenance became interested, and animated, in a degree that would
+have astonished a cool English spectator. Every morning her first
+question to Sister Frances was--"Will _she_ come to-day?"--If Mad.
+de Fleury was expected, the hours and the minutes were counted, and
+the sand in the hourglass that stood on the school-room table was
+frequently shaken. The moment she appeared, Victoire ran to her, and
+was silent; satisfied with standing close beside her, holding her gown
+when unperceived, and watching, as she spoke and moved, every turn
+of her countenance. Delighted by these marks of sensibility, Sister
+Frances would have praised the child, but was warned by Mad. de Fleury
+to refrain from injudicious eulogiums, lest she should teach her
+affectation.
+
+"If I must not praise, you will permit me at least to love her," said
+Sister Frances.
+
+Her affection for Victoire was increased by compassion: during two
+months the poor child's arm hung in a sling, so that she could not
+venture to play with her companions. At their hours of recreation, she
+used to sit on the school-room steps, looking down into the garden at
+the scene of merriment, in which she could not partake.
+
+For those who know how to find it, there is good in every thing.
+Sister Frances used to take her seat on the steps, sometimes with her
+work, and sometimes with a book; and Victoire, tired of being quite
+idle, listened with eagerness to the stories which Sister Frances
+read, or watched with interest the progress of her work: soon she
+longed to imitate what she saw done with so much pleasure, and begged
+to be taught to work and read. By degrees she learned her alphabet;
+and could soon, to the amazement of her schoolfellows, read the names
+of all the animals in Sister Frances' _picture-book_. No matter how
+trifling the thing done, or the knowledge acquired, a great point is
+gained by giving the desire for employment. Children frequently become
+industrious from impatience of the pains and penalties of idleness.
+Count Rumford showed that he understood childish nature perfectly
+well, when, in his House of Industry at Munich, he compelled the young
+children to sit for some time idle in a gallery round the hall, where
+others a little older than themselves were busied at work. During
+Victoire's state of idle convalescence, she acquired the desire to be
+employed, and she consequently soon became more industrious than her
+neighbours. Succeeding in her first efforts, she was praised--was
+pleased, and persevered till she became an example of activity to her
+companions. But Victoire, though now nearly seven years old, was not
+quite perfect. Naturally, or accidentally, she was very passionate,
+and not a little self-willed.
+
+One day being mounted, horsemanlike, with whip in hand, upon the
+banister of the flight of stairs leading from the school-room to the
+garden, she called in a tone of triumph to her playfellows, desiring
+them to stand out of the way, and see her slide from top to bottom. At
+this moment Sister Frances came to the school-room door, and forbade
+the feat: but Victoire, regardless of all prohibition, slid down
+instantly, and moreover was going to repeat the glorious operation,
+when Sister Frances, catching hold of her arm, pointed to a heap
+of sharp stones that lay on the ground upon the other side of the
+banisters.
+
+"I am not afraid," said Victoire.
+
+"But if you fall there, you may break your arm again."
+
+"And if I do I can bear it," said Victoire. "Let me go, pray let me
+go: I must do it."
+
+"No; I forbid you, Victoire, to slide down again!--Babet, and all
+the little ones, would follow your example, and perhaps break their
+necks."
+
+The nun, as she spoke, attempted to compel Victoire to dismount:
+but she was so much of a heroine, that she would do nothing upon
+compulsion. Clinging fast to the banisters, she resisted with all her
+might; she kicked and screamed, and screamed and kicked; but at last
+her feet were taken prisoners; then grasping the railway with one
+hand, with the other she brandished high the little whip.
+
+"What!" said the mild nun, "would you strike me with that _arm_?"
+
+The arm dropped instantly--Victoire recollected Mad. de Fleury's
+kindness the day when the arm was broken: dismounting immediately,
+she threw herself upon her knees in the midst of the crowd of young
+spectators, and begged pardon of Sister Frances. For the rest of the
+day she was as gentle as a lamb; nay, some assert that the effects of
+her contrition were visible during the remainder of the week.
+
+Having thus found the secret of reducing the little rebel to obedience
+by touching her on the tender point of gratitude, the nun had recourse
+to this expedient in all perilous cases: but one day, when she was
+boasting of the infallible operation of her charm, Mad. de Fleury
+advised her to forbear recurring to it frequently, lest she should
+wear out the sensibility she so much loved. In consequence of this
+counsel, Victoire's violence of temper was sometimes reduced by force,
+and sometimes corrected by reason; but the principle and the feeling
+of gratitude were not exhausted or weakened in the struggle. The hope
+of reward operated upon her generous mind more powerfully than the
+fear of punishment; and Mad. de Fleury devised rewards with as much
+ability as some legislators invent punishments.
+
+Victoire's brother Maurice, who was now of an age to earn his own
+bread, had a strong desire to be bound apprentice to the smith who
+worked in the house where his mother lodged. This most ardent wish
+of his soul he had imparted to his sister: and she consulted her
+benefactress, whom she considered as all-powerful in this, as in every
+other affair.
+
+"Your brother's wish shall be gratified," replied Mad. de Fleury, "if
+you can keep your temper one month. If you are never in a passion
+for a whole month, I will undertake that your brother shall be bound
+apprentice to his friend the smith. To your companions, to Sister
+Frances, and above all to yourself, I trust, to make me a just report
+this day month."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+  "You she preferr'd to all the gay resorts,
+  Where female vanity might wish to shine,
+  The pomp of cities, and the pride of courts."
+
+  LYTTELTON.
+
+
+At the end of the time prescribed, the judges, including Victoire
+herself, who was the most severe of them all, agreed she had justly
+deserved her reward. Maurice obtained his wish; and Victoire's temper
+never relapsed into its former bad habits--so powerful is the effect
+of a well-chosen motive!--Perhaps the historian may be blamed for
+dwelling on such trivial anecdotes; yet a lady, who was accustomed to
+the conversation of deep philosophers and polished courtiers, listened
+without disdain to these simple annals. Nothing appeared to her a
+trifle that could tend to form the habits of temper, truth, honesty,
+order, and industry;--habits which are to be early induced, not by
+solemn precepts, but by practical lessons. A few more examples of
+these shall be recorded, notwithstanding the fear of being tiresome.
+
+One day little Babet, who was now five years old, saw, as she was
+coming to school, an old woman, sitting at a corner of the street,
+beside a large black brazier full of roasted chestnuts. Babet thought
+that the chestnuts looked and smelled very good; the old woman was
+talking earnestly to some people, who were on her other side; Babet
+filled her work-bag with chestnuts, and then ran after her mother and
+sister, who, having turned the corner of the street, had not seen what
+passed. When Babet came to the school-room, she opened her bag with
+triumph, displayed her treasure, and offered to divide it with her
+companions. "Here, Victoire," said she, "here is the largest chestnut
+for you."
+
+But Victoire would not take it; for she said that Babet had no
+money, and that she could not have come honestly by these chestnuts.
+She spoke so forcibly upon this point, that even those who had the
+tempting morsel actually at their lips, forbore to bite; those who had
+bitten laid down their half-eaten prize; and those who had their hands
+full of chestnuts, rolled them, back again towards the bag, Babet
+cried with vexation.
+
+"I burned my fingers in getting them for you, and now you won't eat
+them!--And I must not eat them!" said she: then curbing her passion,
+she added, "But at any rate, I won't be a thief. I am sure I did not
+think it was being a thief just to take a few chestnuts from an old
+woman, who had such heaps and heaps: but Victoire says it is wrong,
+and I would not be a thief for all the chestnuts in the world--I'll
+throw them all into the fire this minute!"
+
+"No; give them back again to the old woman," said Victoire.
+
+"But, may be, she would scold me for having taken them," said Babet;
+"or who knows but she might whip me?"
+
+"And if she did, could not you bear it?" said Victoire: "I am sure I
+would rather bear twenty whippings than be a thief."
+
+"Twenty whippings! that's a great many," said Babet; "and I am so
+little, consider--and that woman has such a monstrous arm!--Now, if it
+was Sister Frances, it would be another thing. But come! if you will
+go with me, Victoire, you shall see how I will behave."
+
+"We will all go with you," said Victoire.
+
+"Yes, all!" said the children; "and Sister Frances, I dare say, would
+go, if you asked her."
+
+Babet ran and told her, and she readily consented to accompany the
+little penitent to make restitution. The chestnut woman did not whip
+Babet, nor even scold her; but said she was sure, that since the child
+was so honest as to return what she had taken, she would never steal
+again. This was the most _glorious_ day of Babet's life, and the
+happiest. When the circumstance was told to Mad. de Fleury, she gave
+the little girl a bag of the best chestnuts the old woman could
+select, and Babet with great delight shared her reward with her
+companions.
+
+"But, alas! these chestnuts are not roasted. Oh, if we could but roast
+them!" said the children.
+
+Sister Frances placed in the middle of the table, on which the
+chestnuts were spread, a small earthenware furnace--a delightful toy,
+commonly used by children in Paris to cook their little feasts.
+
+"This can be bought for sixpence," said she: "and if each of you
+twelve earn one halfpenny a-piece to-day, you can purchase it
+to-night, and I will put a little fire into it, and you will then he
+able to roast your chestnuts."
+
+The children ran eagerly to their work--some to wind worsted for a
+woman who paid them a _liard_ for each ball, others to shell peas
+for a neighbouring _traiteur_--all rejoicing that they were able to
+earn _something_. The elder girls, under the directions and with the
+assistance of Sister Frances, completed making, washing, and ironing,
+half a dozen little caps, to supply a baby-linen warehouse. At the end
+of the day, when the sum of the produce of their labours was added
+together, they were surprised to find, that, instead of one, they
+could purchase two furnaces. They received and enjoyed the reward of
+their united industry. The success of their first efforts was fixed
+in their memory: for they were very happy roasting the chestnuts, and
+they were all (Sister Frances inclusive) unanimous in opinion that
+no chestnuts ever were so good, or so well roasted. Sister Frances
+always partook in their little innocent amusements; and it was her
+great delight to be the dispenser of rewards, which at once conferred
+present pleasure, and cherished future virtue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+  "To virtue wake the pulses of the heart,
+  And bid the tear of emulation start."--ROGERS.
+
+
+Victoire, who gave constant exercise to the benevolent feelings of the
+amiable nun, became every day more dear to her. Far from having the
+selfishness of a favourite, Victoire loved to bring into public notice
+the good actions of her companions. "Stoop down your ear to me, Sister
+Frances," said she, "and I will tell you a secret--I will tell you why
+my friend Annette is growing so thin--I found it out this morning--she
+does not eat above half her soup everyday. Look, there's her porringer
+covered up in the corner--she carries it home to her mother, who is
+sick, and who has not bread to eat."
+
+Mad. de Fleury came in, whilst Sister Frances was yet bending down to
+hear this secret; it was repeated to her, and she immediately ordered
+that a certain allowance of bread should be given to Annette every day
+to carry to her mother during her illness.
+
+"I give it in charge to you, Victoire, to remember this, and I am sure
+it will never be forgotten. Here is an order for you upon my baker:
+run and show it to Annette. This is a pleasure you deserve; I am glad
+that you have chosen for your friend a girl who is so good a daughter.
+Good daughters make good friends."
+
+By similar instances of goodness Victoire obtained the love
+and confidence of her companions, notwithstanding her manifest
+superiority. In their turn, they were eager to proclaim her merits;
+and, as Sister Frances and Mad. de Fleury administered justice with
+invariable impartiality, the hateful passions of envy and jealousy
+were never excited in this little society. No servile sycophant, no
+malicious detractor, could rob or defraud their little virtues of
+their due reward.
+
+"Whom shall I trust to take this to Mad. de Fleury?" said Sister
+Frances, carrying into the garden where the children were playing a
+pot of fine jonquils, which she had brought from her convent.--"These
+are the first jonquils I have seen this year, and finer I never
+beheld! Whom shall I trust to take them to Mad. de Fleury this
+evening?--It must be some one who will not stop to stare about on the
+way, but who will be very, very careful--some one in whom I can place
+perfect dependence."
+
+"It must be Victoire, then," cried every voice.
+
+"Yes, she deserves it to-day particularly," said Annette, eagerly;
+"because she was not angry with Babet, when she did what was enough to
+put any body in a passion. Sister Frances, you know this cherry-tree
+which you grafted for Victoire last year, and that was yesterday so
+full of blossoms--now you see, there is not a blossom left!--Babet
+plucked them all this morning to make a nosegay."
+
+"But she did not know," said Victoire, "that pulling off the blossoms
+would prevent my having any cherries."
+
+"Oh, I am very sorry I was so foolish," said Babet; "Victoire did not
+even say a cross word to me."
+
+"Though she was excessively anxious about the cherries," pursued
+Annette, "because she intended to have given the first she had to Mad.
+de Fleury."
+
+"Victoire, take the jonquils--it is but just," said Sister Frances.
+"How I do love to hear them all praise her!--I knew what she would be
+from the first."
+
+With a joyful heart Victoire took the jonquils, promised to carry them
+with the utmost care, and not to stop to stare on the way. She set out
+to Mad. de Fleury's hotel, which was in _La Place de Louis Quinze_.
+It was late in the evening, the lamps were lighting, and as Victoire
+crossed the Pont de Louis Seize, she stopped to look at the reflection
+of the lamps in the water, which appeared in succession, as they were
+lighted, spreading as if by magic along the river. While Victoire
+leaned over the battlements of the bridge, watching the rising of
+these stars of fire, a sudden push from the elbow of some rude
+passenger precipitated her pot of jonquils into the Seine. The sound
+it made in the water was thunder to the ear of Victoire; she stood
+for an instant vainly hoping it would rise again, but the waters had
+closed over it for ever.
+
+  "Dans cet etat affreux, que faire?
+  Mon devoir."
+
+Victoire courageously proceeded to Mad. de Fleury's, and desired to
+see her.
+
+"D'abord c'est impossible--madame is dressing to go to a concert;"
+said Francois. "Cannot you leave your message?"
+
+"Oh, no," said Victoire; "it is of great consequence--I must see _her_
+myself; and she is so good, and you too, Monsieur Francois, that I am
+sure you will not refuse."
+
+"Well, I remember one day you found the seal of my watch, which I
+dropped at your school-room door--one good turn deserves another.
+If it is possible, it shall be done--I will inquire of madame's
+woman."--"Follow me up stairs," said he, returning in a few minutes;
+"madame will see you."
+
+She followed him up the large staircase, and through a suite of
+apartments sufficiently grand to intimidate her young imagination.
+
+"Madame est dans son cabinet. Entrez--mais entrez done, entrez
+toujours."
+
+Mad. de Fleury was more richly dressed than usual; and her image was
+reflected in the large looking-glass, so that at the first moment
+Victoire thought she saw many fine ladies, but not one of them the
+lady she wanted.
+
+"Well, Victoire, my child, what is the matter?"
+
+"Oh, it is her voice!--I know you now, madame, and I am not
+afraid--not afraid even to tell you how foolish I have been. Sister
+Frances trusted me to carry for you, madame, a beautiful pot of
+jonquils, and she desired me not to stop on the way to stare; but
+I did stop to look at the lamps on the bridge, and I forgot the
+jonquils, and somebody brushed by me, and threw them into the
+river--and I am very sorry I was so foolish."
+
+"And I am very glad that you are so wise as to tell the truth, without
+attempting to make any paltry excuses. Go home to Sister Frances, and
+assure her that I am more obliged to her for making you such an honest
+girl than I could be for a whole bed of jonquils."
+
+Victoire's heart was so full that she could not speak--she kissed
+Mad. de Fleury's hand in silence, and then seemed to be lost in
+contemplation of her bracelet.
+
+"Are you thinking, Victoire, that you should be much happier, if you
+had such bracelets as these?--Believe me, you are mistaken if you
+think so; many people are unhappy, who wear fine bracelets; so, my
+child, content yourself."
+
+"Myself! Oh, madam, I was not thinking of myself--I was not wishing
+for bracelets, I was only thinking that--"
+
+"That what?"
+
+"That it is a pity you are so very rich; you have every thing in this
+world that you want, and I can never be of the least use to _you_--all
+my life I shall never be able to do _you_ any good--and what,"
+said Victoire, turning away to hide her tears, "what signifies the
+gratitude of such a poor little creature as I am?"
+
+"Did you never hear the fable of the lion and the mouse, Victoire?"
+
+"No, madam--never!"
+
+"Then I will tell it to you."
+
+Victoire looked up with eyes of eager expectation--Francois opened
+the door to announce that the Marquis de M---- and the Comte de S----
+were in the saloon; but Mad. de Fleury stayed to tell Victoire her
+fable--she would not lose the opportunity of making an impression upon
+this child's heart.
+
+It is whilst the mind is warm that the deepest impressions can be
+made. Seizing the happy moment sometimes decides the character and the
+fate of a child. In this respect what advantages have the rich and
+great in educating the children of the poor! they have the power which
+their rank, and all its decorations, obtain over the imagination.
+Their smiles are favours; their words are listened to as oracular;
+they are looked up to as beings of a superior order. Their powers of
+working good are almost as great, though not quite so wonderful, as
+those formerly attributed to beneficent fairies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+  "Knowledge for them unlocks her _useful_ page,
+  And virtue blossoms for a better age."--BARBAULD.
+
+
+A few days after Mad. de Fleury had told Victoire the fable of the
+lion and the mouse, she was informed by Sister Frances that Victoire
+had put the fable into verse. It was wonderfully well done for a child
+of nine years old, and Mad. de Fleury was tempted to praise the lines;
+but, checking the enthusiasm of the moment, she considered whether
+it would be advantageous to cultivate her pupil's talent for poetry.
+Excellence in the poetic art cannot be obtained without a degree of
+application for which a girl in her situation could not have leisure.
+To encourage her to become a mere rhyming scribbler, without any
+chance of obtaining celebrity or securing subsistence, would be folly
+and cruelty. Early prodigies, in the lower ranks of life, are seldom
+permanently successful; they are cried up one day, and cried down the
+next. Their productions rarely have that superiority which secures
+a fair preference in the great literary market. Their performances
+are, perhaps, said to be--_wonderful, all things considered_,
+&c. Charitable allowances are made; the books are purchased by
+associations of complaisant friends or opulent patrons; a kind of
+forced demand is raised, but this can be only temporary and delusive.
+In spite of bounties and of all the arts of protection, nothing but
+what is intrinsically good will long be preferred, when it must be
+purchased. But granting that positive excellence is attained, there
+is always danger that for works of fancy the taste of the public may
+suddenly vary; there is a fashion in these things; and when the mode
+changes, the mere literary manufacturer is thrown out of employment;
+he is unable to turn his hand to another trade, or to any but his own
+peculiar branch of the business. The powers of the mind are often
+partially cultivated in these self-taught geniuses. We often see that
+one part of their understanding is nourished to the prejudice of the
+rest--the imagination, for instance, at the expense of the judgment:
+so that, whilst they have acquired talents for show, they have none
+for use. In the affairs of common life, they are utterly ignorant and
+imbecile--or worse than imbecile. Early called into public notice,
+probably before their moral habits are formed, they are extolled for
+some play of fancy or of wit, as Bacon calls it, some _juggler's trick
+of the intellect_; they immediately take an aversion to plodding
+labour, they feel raised above their situation; _possessed_ by the
+notion that genius exempts them, not only from labour, but from vulgar
+rules of prudence, they soon disgrace themselves by their conduct,
+are deserted by their patrons, and sink into despair, or plunge into
+profligacy.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: To these observations there are honourable exceptions.]
+
+Convinced of these melancholy truths, Mad. de Fleury was determined
+not to add to the number of those imprudent or ostentatious patrons,
+who sacrifice to their own amusement and vanity the future happiness
+of their favourites. Victoire's verses were not handed about in
+fashionable circles, nor was she called upon to recite them before a
+brilliant audience, nor was she produced in public as a prodigy; she
+was educated in private, and by slow and sure degrees, to be a good,
+useful, and happy member of society. Upon the same principles which
+decided Mad. de Fleury against encouraging Victoire to be a poetess,
+she refrained from giving any of her little pupils accomplishments
+unsuited to their situation. Some had a fine ear for music, others
+showed powers of dancing; but they were taught neither dancing nor
+music--talents which in their station were more likely to be dangerous
+than serviceable. They were not intended for actresses or opera-girls,
+but for shop-girls, mantua-makers, work-women, and servants of
+different sorts; consequently they were instructed in things which
+would be most necessary and useful to young women in their rank of
+life. Before they were ten years old, they could do all kinds of plain
+needlework, they could read and write well, and they were mistresses
+of the common rules of arithmetic. After this age, they were practised
+by a writing-master in drawing out bills neatly, keeping accounts, and
+applying to every-day use their knowledge of arithmetic. Some were
+taught by a laundress to wash, and _get up_ fine linen and lace;
+others were instructed by a neighbouring _traiteur_ in those culinary
+mysteries with which Sister Frances was unacquainted. In sweetmeats
+and confectionaries she yielded to no one; and she made her pupils
+as expert as herself. Those who were intended for ladies' maids were
+taught mantua-making, and had lessons from Mad. de Fleury's own woman
+in hair-dressing.
+
+Amongst her numerous friends and acquaintances, and amongst the
+shopkeepers whom she was in the habit of employing, Mad. de Fleury
+had means of placing and establishing her pupils suitably and
+advantageously: of this both they and their parents were aware, so
+that there was a constant and great motive operating continually to
+induce them to exert themselves, and to behave well. This reasonable
+hope of reaping the fruits of their education, and of being
+immediately rewarded for their good conduct; this perception of the
+connexion between what they are taught and what they are to become,
+is necessary to make young people assiduous: for want of attending to
+these principles, many splendid establishments have failed to produce
+pupils answerable to the expectations which had been formed of them.
+
+During seven years that Mad. de Fleury persevered uniformly on the
+same plan, only one girl forfeited her protection--a girl of the
+name of Manon; she was Victoire's cousin, but totally unlike her in
+character.
+
+When very young, her beautiful eyes and hair caught the fancy of a
+rich lady, who took her into her family as a sort of humble playfellow
+for her children. She was taught to dance and to sing: she soon
+excelled in these accomplishments, and was admired, and produced as a
+prodigy of talent. The lady of the house gave herself great credit for
+having discerned, and having _brought forward_, such talents. Manon's
+moral character was in the mean time neglected. In this house, where
+there was a constant scene of hurry and dissipation, the child had
+frequent opportunities and temptations to be dishonest. For some time
+she was not detected; her caressing manners pleased her patroness,
+and servile compliance with the humours of the children of the family
+secured their good-will. Encouraged by daily petty successes in
+the art of deceit, she became a complete hypocrite. With culpable
+negligence, her mistress trusted implicitly to appearances; and
+without examining whether she were really honest, she suffered her to
+have free access to unlocked drawers and valuable cabinets. Several
+articles of dress were missed from time to time; but Manon managed
+so artfully, that she averted from herself all suspicion. Emboldened
+by this fatal impunity, she at last attempted depredations of more
+importance. She purloined a valuable snuff-box--was detected in
+disposing of the broken parts of it at a pawnbroker's, and was
+immediately discarded in disgrace; but by her tears and vehement
+expressions of remorse, she so far worked upon the weakness of the
+lady of the house, as to prevail upon her to conceal the circumstance
+that occasioned her dismissal. Some months afterwards Manon,
+pleading that she was thoroughly reformed, obtained from this lady
+a recommendation to Mad. de Fleury's school. It is wonderful that
+people, who in other respects profess and practise integrity, can
+be so culpably weak as to give good characters to those who do not
+deserve them: this is really one of the worst species of forgery.
+Imposed upon by this treacherous recommendation, Mad. de Fleury
+received into the midst of her innocent young pupils one who might
+have corrupted their minds secretly and irrecoverably. Fortunately a
+discovery was made in time of Manon's real disposition. A mere trifle
+led to the detection of her habits of falsehood. As she could not do
+any kind of needlework, she was employed in winding cotton; she was
+negligent, and did not in the course of the week wind the same number
+of balls as her companions; and to conceal this, she pretended that
+she had delivered the proper number to the woman, who regularly called
+at the end of the week for the cotton. The woman persisted in her
+account; the children in theirs; and Manon would not retract her
+assertion. The poor woman gave up the point; but she declared that she
+would the next time send her brother to make up the account, because
+he was _sharper_ than herself, and would not be imposed upon so
+easily. The ensuing week the brother came, and he proved to be the
+very pawnbroker to whom Manon formerly offered the stolen box: he knew
+her immediately; it was in vain that she attempted to puzzle him, and
+to persuade him that she was not the same person. The man was clear
+and firm. Sister Frances could scarcely believe what she heard.
+Struck with horror, the children shrunk back from Manon, and stood
+in silence. Mad. de Fleury immediately wrote to the lady who had
+recommended this girl, and inquired into the truth of the pawnbroker's
+assertions. The lady, who had given Manon a false character, could not
+deny the facts, and could apologize for herself only by saying, that
+"she believed the girl to be partly reformed, and that she hoped,
+under Mad. de Fleury's judicious care, she would become an amiable and
+respectable woman."
+
+Mad. de Fleury, however, wisely judged, that the hazard of corrupting
+all her pupils should not be incurred for the slight chance of
+correcting one, whose had habits were of such long standing. Manon was
+expelled from this happy little community--even Sister Frances, the
+most mild of human beings, could never think of the danger to which
+they had been exposed without expressing indignation against the lady
+who recommended such a girl as a fit companion for her blameless and
+beloved pupils.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+  "Alas! regardless of their doom,
+  The little victims play:
+  No sense have they of ills to come,
+  No care beyond to-day."--GRAY.
+
+
+Good legislators always attend to the habits, and what is called the
+genius, of the people they have to govern. From youth to age, the
+taste for whatever is called _une fete_ pervades the whole French
+nation. Mad. de Fleury availed herself judiciously of this powerful
+motive, and connected it with the feelings of affection more than with
+the passion for show. For instance, when any of her little people had
+done any thing particularly worthy of reward, she gave them leave to
+invite their parents to a _fete_ prepared for them by their children,
+assisted by the kindness of Sister Frances.
+
+One day--it was a holiday obtained by Victoire's good conduct--all the
+children prepared in their garden a little feast for their parents.
+Sister Frances spread the table with a bountiful hand, the happy
+fathers and mothers were waited upon by their children, and each in
+their turn heard with delight from the benevolent nun some instance
+of their daughter's improvement. Full of hope for the future, and of
+gratitude for the past, these honest people ate and talked, whilst
+in imagination they saw their children all prosperously and usefully
+settled in the world. They blessed Mad. de Fleury in her absence, and
+they wished ardently for her presence.
+
+"The sun is setting, and Mad. de Fleury is not yet come," cried
+Victoire; "she said she would be here this evening--What can be the
+matter?"
+
+"Nothing is the matter, you may be sure," said Babet; "but that she
+has forgotten us--she has so many things to think of."
+
+"Yes; but I know she never forgets us," said Victoire; "and she loves
+so much to see us all happy together, that I am sure it must be
+something very extraordinary that detains her."
+
+Babet laughed at Victoire's fears: but presently even she began to
+grow impatient; for they waited long after sunset, expecting every
+moment that Mad. de Fleury would arrive. At last she appeared, but
+with a dejected countenance, which seemed to justify Victoire's
+foreboding. When she saw this festive company, each child sitting
+between her parents, and all at her entrance looking up with
+affectionate pleasure, a faint smile enlivened her countenance for a
+moment; but she did not speak to them with her usual ease. Her mind
+seemed pre-occupied by some disagreeable business of importance. It
+appeared that it had some connexion with them; for as she walked round
+the table with Sister Frances, she said with a voice and look of great
+tenderness, "Poor children! how happy they are at this moment!--Heaven
+only knows how soon they may be rendered, or may render themselves,
+miserable!"
+
+None of the children could imagine what this meant; but their parents
+guessed that it had some allusion to the state of public affairs.
+About this time some of those discontents had broken out, which
+preceded the terrible days of the Revolution. As yet, most of the
+common people, who were honestly employed in earning their own living,
+neither understood what was going on, nor foresaw what was to happen.
+Many of their superiors were not in such happy ignorance--they
+had information of the intrigues that were forming; and the more
+penetration they possessed, the more they feared the consequences of
+events which they could not control. At the house of a great man, with
+whom she had dined this day, Mad. de Fleury had heard alarming news.
+Dreadful public disturbances, she saw, were inevitable; and whilst she
+trembled for the fate of all who were dear to her, these poor children
+had a share in her anxiety. She foresaw the temptations, the dangers,
+to which they must be exposed, whether they abandoned, or whether they
+abided by, the principles their education had instilled. She feared
+that the labour of years would perhaps be lost in an instant, or that
+her innocent pupils would fall victims even to their virtues.
+
+Many of these young people were now of an age to understand and to
+govern themselves by reason; and with these she determined to use
+those preventive measures which reason affords. Without meddling with
+politics, in which no amiable or sensible woman can wish to interfere,
+the influence of ladies in the higher ranks of life may always be
+exerted with perfect propriety, and with essential advantage to the
+public, in conciliating the inferior classes of society, explaining to
+them their duties and their interests, and impressing upon the minds
+of the children of the poor, sentiments of just subordination and
+honest independence. How happy would it have been for France, if
+women of fortune and abilities had always exerted their talents and
+activity in this manner, instead of wasting their powers in futile
+declamations, or in the intrigues of party!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+  "E'en now the devastation is begun,
+  And half the business of destruction done."
+
+  GOLDSMITH.
+
+
+Madame de Fleury was not disappointed in her pupils. When the public
+disturbances began, these children were shocked by the horrible
+actions they saw. Instead of being seduced by bad example, they
+only showed anxiety to avoid companions of their own age, who were
+dishonest, idle, or profligate. Victoire's cousin Manon ridiculed
+these _absurd_ principles, as she called them; and endeavoured to
+persuade Victoire that she would be much happier if she _followed the
+fashion_.
+
+"What! Victoire, still with your work-bag on your arm, and still going
+to school with your little sister, though you are but a year younger
+than I am, I believe!--thirteen last birthday, were not you?--Mon
+Dieu! Why, how long do you intend to be a child? and why don't you
+leave that old nun, who keeps you in leading-strings?--I assure you,
+nuns, and schoolmistresses, and schools, and all that sort of thing,
+are out of fashion now--we have abolished all that--we are to live a
+life of reason now--and all soon to be equal, I can tell you; let your
+Mad. de Fleury look to that, and look to it yourself; for with all
+your wisdom, you might find yourself in the wrong box by sticking to
+her, and that side of the question.--Disengage yourself from her, I
+advise you, as soon as you can.--My dear Victoire! believe me, you may
+spell very well--but you know nothing of the rights of man, or the
+rights of woman."
+
+"I do not pretend to know any thing of the rights of men, or the
+rights of women," cried Victoire; "but this I know, that I never can
+or will be ungrateful to Mad. de Fleury. Disengage myself from her! I
+am bound to her for ever, and I will abide by her till the last hour I
+breathe."
+
+"Well, well! there is no occasion to be in a passion--I only speak as
+a friend, and I have no more time to reason with you; for I must go
+home, and get ready my dress for the ball to-night."
+
+"Manon, how can you afford to buy a dress for a ball?"
+
+"As you might, if you had common sense, Victoire--only by being a
+_good citizen_. I and a party of us _denounced_ a milliner and a
+confectioner in our neighbourhood, who were horrible aristocrats; and
+of their goods forfeited to the nation we had, as was our just share,
+such delicious _marangles_, and charming ribands!--Oh, Victoire,
+believe me, you will never get such things by going to school, or
+saying your prayers either. You may look with as much scorn and
+indignation as you please, but I advise you to let it alone, for all
+that is out of fashion, and may moreover bring you into difficulties.
+Believe me, my dear Victoire, your head is not deep enough to
+understand these things--you know nothing of politics."
+
+"But I know the difference between right and wrong, Manon: politics
+can never alter that, you know."
+
+"Never alter that!--there you are quite mistaken," said Manon: "I
+cannot stay to convince you now--but this I can tell you, that I know
+secrets that you don't suspect."
+
+"I do not wish to know any of your secrets, Manon," said Victoire,
+proudly.
+
+"Your pride may be humbled, Citoyenne Victoire, sooner than you
+expect," exclaimed Manon, who was now so provoked by her cousin's
+contempt, that she could not refrain from boasting of her political
+knowledge. "I can tell you, that your fine friends will in a few days
+not be able to protect you. The Abbe Tracassier is in love with a dear
+friend of mine, and I know all the secrets of state from her--and I
+know what I know. Be as incredulous, as you please, but you will
+see that, before this week is at end, Monsieur de Fleury will be
+guillotined, and then what will become of you? Good morning, my proud
+cousin."
+
+Shocked by what she had just heard, Victoire could scarcely believe
+that Manon was in earnest; she resolved, however, to go immediately
+and communicate this intelligence, whether true or false, to Mad. de
+Fleury. It agreed but too well with other circumstances, which alarmed
+this lady for the safety of her husband. A man of his abilities,
+integrity, and fortune, could not in such times hope to escape
+persecution. He was inclined to brave the danger; but his lady
+represented that it would not be courage, but rashness and folly, to
+sacrifice his life to the villany of others, without probability or
+possibility of serving his country by his fall.
+
+M. de Fleury, in consequence of these representations, and of
+Victoire's intelligence, made his escape from Paris; and the very next
+day _placards_ were put up in every street, offering a price for the
+head of Citoyen Fleury, _suspected of incivisme_.
+
+Struck with terror and astonishment at the sight of these _placards_,
+the children read them as they returned in the evening from school;
+and little Babet in the vehemence of her indignation mounted a
+lamplighter's ladder, and tore down one of the papers. This imprudent
+action did not pass unobserved: it was seen by one of the spies of
+Citoyen Tracassier, a man who, under the pretence of zeal _pour la
+chose publique_, gratified without scruple his private resentments
+and his malevolent passions. In his former character of an abbe, and
+a man of wit, he had gained admittance into Mad. de Fleury's society.
+There he attempted to dictate both as a literary and religious despot.
+Accidentally discovering that Mad. de Fleury had a little school for
+poor children, he thought proper to be offended, because he had not
+been consulted respecting the regulations, and because he was not
+permitted, as he said, to take the charge of this little flock. He
+made many objections to Sister Frances, as being an improper person
+to have the spiritual guidance of these young people: but as he
+was unable to give any just reason for his dislike, Mad. de Fleury
+persisted in her choice, and was at last obliged to assert, in
+opposition to the domineering abbe, her right to judge and decide
+in her own affairs. With seeming politeness, he begged ten thousand
+pardons for his conscientious interference. No more was said upon the
+subject; and as he did not totally withdraw from her society till the
+revolution broke out, she did not suspect that she had any thing to
+fear from his resentment. His manners and opinions changed suddenly
+with the times; the mask of religion was thrown off; and now, instead
+of objecting to Sister Frances as not being sufficiently strict and
+orthodox in her tenets, he boldly declared, that a nun was not a
+fit person to be intrusted with the education of any of the young
+citizens--they should all be _des eleves de la patrie_. The abbe,
+become a member of the Committee of Public Safety, denounced Mad. de
+Fleury, in the strange jargon of the day, as "_the fosterer of a swarm
+of bad citizens, who were nourished in the anticivic prejudices_ de
+l'ancien regime, _and fostered in the most detestable superstitions,
+in defiance of the law_." He further observed, that he had good reason
+to believe that some of these little _enemies to the constitution_ had
+contrived and abetted M. de Fleury's escape. Of their having rejoiced
+at it in a most indecent manner, he said he could produce irrefragable
+proof. The boy who saw Babet tear down the _placard_ was produced and
+solemnly examined; and the thoughtless action of this poor little girl
+was construed into a state crime of the most horrible nature. In a
+declamatory tone, Tracassier reminded his fellow-citizens, that in the
+ancient Grecian times of virtuous republicanism (times of which France
+ought to show herself emulous), an Athenian child was condemned to
+death for having made a plaything of a fragment of the gilding that
+had fallen from a public statue. The orator, for the reward of his
+eloquence, obtained an order to seize every thing in Mad. de Fleury's
+school-house, and to throw the nun into prison.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+  "Who now will guard bewilder'd youth
+  Safe from the fierce assault of hostile rage?--
+  Such war can Virtue wage?"
+
+
+At the very moment when this order was going to be put in execution,
+Mad. de Fleury was sitting in the midst of the children, listening to
+Babet, who was reading AEsop's fable of _The old man and his sons_.
+Whilst her sister was reading, Victoire collected a number of twigs
+from the garden: she had just tied them together; and was going,
+by Sister Frances' desire, to let her companions try if they could
+break the bundle, when the attention of the moral of the fable was
+interrupted by the entrance of an old woman, whose countenance
+expressed the utmost terror and haste, to tell what she had not breath
+to utter. To Mad. de Fleury she was a stranger; but the children
+immediately recollected her to be the _chestnut woman_, to whom Babet
+had some years ago restored certain purloined chestnuts. "Fly!" said
+she, the moment she had breath to speak: "Fly!--they are coming to
+seize every thing here--carry off what you can--make haste--make
+haste!--I came through a by-street. A man was eating chestnuts at my
+stall, and I saw him show one that was with him the order from Citoyen
+Tracassier. They'll be here in five minutes--quick!--quick!--You, in
+particular," continued she, turning to the nun, "else you'll be in
+prison." At these words, the children, who had clung round Sister
+Frances, loosed their hold, exclaiming, "Go! go quick: but where?
+where?--we will go with her." "No, no!" said Madame de Fleury, "she
+shall come home with me--my carriage is at the door." "Ma belle dame!"
+cried the chestnut woman, "your house is the worst place she can go
+to--let her come to my cellar--the poorest cellar in these days is
+safer than the grandest palace." So saying, she seized the nun with
+honest roughness, and hurried her away. As soon as she was gone, the
+children ran different ways, each to collect some favourite thing,
+which they thought they could not leave behind. Victoire alone stood
+motionless beside Mad. de Fleury; her whole thoughts absorbed by the
+fear that her benefactress would be imprisoned. "Oh, madame! dear,
+dear Madame de Fleury, don't stay! don't stay!"
+
+"Oh, children, never mind these things."
+
+"Don't stay, madame, don't stay! I will stay with them--I will
+stay--do you go."
+
+The children hearing these words, and recollecting Mad. de Fleury's
+danger, abandoned all their little property, and instantly obeyed
+her orders to go home to their parents. Victoire at last saw Mad. de
+Fleury safe in her carriage. The coachman drove off at a great rate;
+and a few minutes afterwards Tracassier's myrmidons arrived at the
+school-house. Great was their surprise, when they found only the
+poor children's little books, unfinished samplers, and half-hemmed
+handkerchiefs. They ran into the garden to search for the nun. They
+were men of brutal habits; yet as they looked at every thing round
+them, which bespoke peace, innocence, and childish happiness, they
+could not help thinking it was a pity to destroy what _could do the
+nation no great harm after all_. They were even glad that the nun
+had made her escape, since they were not answerable for it; and they
+returned to their employer, satisfied for once without doing any
+mischief: but Citizen Tracassier was of too vindictive a temper to
+suffer the objects of his hatred thus to elude his vengeance. The next
+day Mad. de Fleury was summoned before his tribunal, and ordered to
+give up the nun, against whom, as a suspected person, a decree of the
+law had been obtained.
+
+Mad. de Fleury refused to betray the innocent woman: the gentle
+firmness of this lady's answers to a brutal interrogatory was termed
+insolence; she was pronounced a refractory aristocrat, dangerous to
+the state; and an order was made out to seal up her goods, and to keep
+her a prisoner in her own house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+  "Alas! full oft on Guilt's victorious car
+  The spoils of Virtue are in triumph borne,
+  While the fair captive, mark'd with many a scar,
+  In lone obscurity, oppress'd, forlorn,
+  Resigns to tears her angel form."--BEATTIE.
+
+
+A close prisoner in her own house, Mad. de Fleury was now guarded by
+men suddenly become soldiers, and sprung from the dregs of the people;
+men of brutal manners, ferocious countenances, and more ferocious
+minds. They seemed to delight in the insolent, display of their
+newly-acquired power. One of these men had formerly been convicted of
+some horrible crime, and had been sent to the galleys by M. de Fleury.
+Revenge actuated this wretch under the mask of patriotism, and he
+rejoiced in seeing the wife of the man he hated a prisoner in his
+custody. Ignorant of the facts, his associates were ready to believe
+him in the right, and to join in the senseless cry against all
+who were their superiors in fortune, birth, and education. This
+unfortunate lady was forbidden all intercourse with her friends, and
+it was in vain she attempted to obtain from her jailers intelligence
+of what was passing in Paris.
+
+"Tu verras--Tout va bien--Ca ira," were the only answers they deigned
+to make: frequently they continued smoking their pipes in obdurate
+silence. She occupied the back rooms of her house, because her guards
+apprehended that she might from the front windows receive intelligence
+from her friends. One morning she was awakened by an unusual noise in
+the streets; and upon her inquiring the occasion of it, her guards
+told her she was welcome to go to the front windows, and satisfy her
+curiosity. She went, and saw an immense crowd of people surrounding a
+guillotine, that had been erected the preceding night. Mad. de Fleury
+started back with horror--her guards burst into an inhuman laugh, and
+asked whether her curiosity was satisfied. She would have left the
+room; but it was now their pleasure to detain her, and to force her to
+continue the whole day in this apartment. When the guillotine began
+its work, they had even the barbarity to drag her to the window,
+repeating, "It is there you ought to be!--It is there your husband
+ought to be!--You are too happy, that your husband is not there this
+moment. But he will be there--the law will overtake him--he will be
+there in time--and you too!"
+
+The mild fortitude of this innocent, benevolent woman made no
+impression upon these cruel men. When at night they saw her kneeling
+at her prayers, they taunted her with gross and impious mockery; and
+when she sunk to sleep, they would waken her by their loud and drunken
+orgies: if she remonstrated, they answered, "The enemies of the
+constitution should have no rest."
+
+Mad. de Fleury was not an enemy to any human being; she had never
+interfered in politics; her life had been passed in domestic
+pleasures, or employed for the good of her fellow-creatures. Even
+in this hour of personal danger she thought of others more than of
+herself: she thought of her husband, an exile in a foreign country,
+who might be reduced to the utmost distress, now that she was deprived
+of all means of remitting him money. She thought of her friends, who,
+she knew, would exert themselves to obtain her liberty, and whose
+zeal in her cause might involve them and their families in distress.
+She thought of the good Sister Frances, who had been exposed by her
+means to the unrelenting persecution of the malignant and powerful
+Tracassier. She thought of her poor little pupils, now thrown upon the
+world without a protector. Whilst these ideas were revolving in her
+mind, one night, as she lay awake, she heard the door of her chamber
+open softly, and a soldier, one of her guards, with a light in his
+hand, entered: he came to the foot of her bed; and, as she started up,
+laid his finger upon his lips.
+
+"Don't make the least noise," said he in a whisper; "those without are
+drunk, and asleep. Don't you know me?--Don't you remember my face?"
+
+"Not in the least; yet I have some recollection of your voice."
+
+The man took off the bonnet-rouge--still she could not guess who he
+was.--"You never saw me in an uniform before, nor without a black
+face."
+
+She looked again, and recollected the smith, to whom Maurice was bound
+apprentice, and remembered his _patois_ accent.
+
+"I remember you," said he, "at any rate; and your goodness to that
+poor girl the day her arm was broken, and all your goodness to
+Maurice--But I've no time for talking of that now--get up, wrap this
+great coat round you--don't be in a hurry, but make no noise, and
+follow me."
+
+She followed him; and he led her past the sleeping sentinels, opened
+a back door into the garden, hurried her, almost carried her, across
+the garden, to a door at the furthest end of it, which opened into
+Les Champs Elysees--"La voila!" cried he, pushing her through the
+half-opened door. "God be praised!" answered a voice, which Mad. de
+Fleury knew to be Victoire's, whose arms were thrown round her with a
+transport of joy.
+
+"Softly; she is not safe yet--wait till we get her home, Victoire,"
+said another voice, which she knew to be that of Maurice. He produced
+a dark lantern, and guided Mad. de Fleury across the Champs Elysees,
+and across the bridge, and then through various by-streets, in perfect
+silence, till they arrived safely at the house where Victoire's mother
+lodged, and went up those very stairs which she had ascended in such
+different circumstances several years before. The mother, who was
+sitting up waiting most anxiously for the return of her children,
+clasped her hands in an ecstasy, when she saw them return with Mad. de
+Fleury.
+
+"Welcome, madame! Welcome, dear madame! but who would have thought of
+seeing you here, in such a way? Let her rest herself--let her rest;
+she is quite overcome. Here, madame, can you sleep on this poor bed?"
+
+"The very same bed you laid me upon the day my arm was broken," said
+Victoire.
+
+"Ay, Lord bless her!" said the mother; "and though it's seven good
+years ago, it seemed but yesterday that I saw her sitting on that bed,
+beside my poor child, looking like an angel. But let her rest, let her
+rest--we'll not say a word more, only God bless her; thank Heaven,
+she's safe with us at last!"
+
+Mad. de Fleury expressed unwillingness to stay with these good people,
+lest she should expose them to danger; but they begged most earnestly
+that she would remain with them without scruple.
+
+"Surely, madame," said the mother, "you must think that we have some
+remembrance of all you have done for us, and some touch of gratitude."
+
+"And surely, madame, you can trust us, I hope," said Maurice.
+
+"And surely you are not too proud to let us do something for you. The
+lion was not too proud to be served by the poor little mouse," said
+Victoire. "As to danger for us," continued she, "there can be none;
+for Maurice and I have contrived a hiding-place for you, madame,
+that can never be found out--let them come spying here as often as
+they please, they will never find her out, will they, Maurice? Look,
+madame, into this lumber-room--you see it seems to be quite full of
+wood for firing; well, if you creep in behind, you can hide yourself
+quite snug in the loft above, and here's a trap-door into the loft
+that nobody ever would think of--for we have hung these old things
+from the top of it, and who could guess it was a trap-door? So, you
+see, dear madame, you may sleep in peace here, and never fear for us."
+
+Though but a girl of fourteen, Victoire showed at this time all the
+sense and prudence of a woman of thirty. Gratitude seemed at once to
+develope all the powers of her mind. It was she and Maurice who had
+prevailed upon the smith to effect Mad. de Fleury's escape from her
+own house. She had invented, she had foreseen, she had arranged every
+thing; she had scarcely rested night or day since the imprisonment of
+her benefactress; and now that her exertions had fully succeeded, her
+joy seemed to raise her above all feeling of fatigue; she looked as
+fresh and moved as briskly, her mother said, as if she were preparing
+to go to a ball.
+
+"Ah! my child," said she, "your cousin Manon, who goes to those balls
+every night, was never so happy as you are this minute."
+
+But Victoire's happiness was not of long continuance; for the next day
+they were alarmed by intelligence that Tracassier was enraged beyond
+measure at Mad. de Fleury's escape, that all his emissaries were at
+work to discover her present hiding-place, that the houses of all the
+parents and relations of her pupils were to be searched, and that the
+most severe denunciations were issued against all by whom she should
+be harboured. Manon was the person who gave this intelligence, but not
+with any benevolent design; she first came to Victoire, to display
+her own consequence; and to terrify her, she related all she knew
+from a soldier's wife, who was M. Tracassier's mistress. Victoire
+had sufficient command over herself to conceal from the inquisitive
+eyes of Manon the agitation of her heart; she had also the prudence
+not to let any one of her companions into her secret, though, when
+she saw their anxiety, she was much tempted to relieve them, by the
+assurance that Mad. de Fleury was in safety. All the day was passed
+in apprehension. Mad. de Fleury never stirred from her place of
+concealment: as the evening and the hour of the domiciliary visits
+approached, Victoire and Maurice were alarmed by an unforeseen
+difficulty. Their mother, whose health had been broken by hard work,
+in vain endeavoured to suppress her terror at the thoughts of this
+domiciliary visit; she repeated incessantly that she knew they should
+all be discovered, and that her children would be dragged to the
+guillotine before her face. She was in such a distracted state, that
+they dreaded she would, the moment she saw the soldiers, reveal all
+she knew.
+
+"If they question me, I shall not know what to answer," cried the
+terrified woman. "What can I say?--What can I do?"
+
+Reasoning, entreaties, all were vain; she was not in a condition to
+understand, or even to listen to, any thing that was said. In this
+situation they were, when the domiciliary visitors arrived--they heard
+the noise of the soldiers' feet on the stairs--the poor woman sprang
+from the arms of her children; but at the moment the door was opened,
+and she saw the glittering of the bayonets, she fell at full length
+in a swoon on the floor--fortunately before she had power to utter a
+syllable. The people of the house knew, and said, that she was subject
+to fits on any sudden alarm; so that her being affected in this manner
+did not appear surprising. They threw her on a bed, whilst they
+proceeded to search the house: her children stayed with her; and,
+wholly occupied in attending to her, they were not exposed to the
+danger of betraying their anxiety about Mad. de Fleury. They trembled,
+however, from head to foot, when they heard one of the soldiers swear
+that all the wood in the lumber-room must be pulled out, and that he
+would not leave the house till every stick was moved; the sound of
+each log, as it was thrown out, was heard by Victoire: her brother
+was now summoned to assist. How great was his terror, when one of the
+searchers looked up to the roof, as if expecting to find a trap-door!
+fortunately, however, he did not discover it. Maurice, who had seized
+the light, contrived to throw the shadows so as to deceive the eye.
+The soldiers at length retreated; and with inexpressible satisfaction
+Maurice lighted them down stairs, and saw them fairly out of the
+house. For some minutes after they were in safety, the terrified
+mother, who had recovered her senses, could scarcely believe that
+the danger was over. She embraced her children by turns with wild
+transport; and with tears begged Mad. de Fleury to forgive her
+cowardice, and not to attribute it to ingratitude, or to suspect
+that she had a bad heart. She protested that she was now become so
+courageous, since she found that she had gone through this trial
+successfully, and since she was sure that the hiding-place was really
+so secure, that she should never be alarmed at any domiciliary visit
+in future. Mad. de Fleury, however, did not think it either just or
+expedient to put her resolution to the trial. She determined to leave
+Paris; and, if possible, to make her escape from France. The master of
+one of the Paris diligences was brother to Francois, her footman: he
+was ready to assist her at all hazards, and to convey her safely to
+Bourdeaux, if she could disguise herself properly; and if she could
+obtain a pass from any friend under a feigned name.
+
+Victoire--the indefatigable Victoire--recollected that her friend
+Annette had an aunt, who was nearly of Mad. de Fleury's size, and who
+had just obtained a pass to go to Bourdeaux, to visit some of her
+relations. The pass was willingly given up to Mad. de Fleury; and upon
+reading it over it was found to answer tolerably well--the colour of
+the eyes and hair at least would do; though the words _un nez gros_
+were not precisely descriptive of this lady's. Annette's mother, who
+had always worn the provincial dress of Auvergne, furnished the high
+_cornette_, stiff stays, boddice, &c.; and equipped in these, Mad. de
+Fleury was so admirably well disguised, that even Victoire declared
+she should scarcely have known her. Money, that most necessary
+passport in all countries, was still wanting: as seals had been
+put upon all Mad. de Fleury's effects the day she had been first
+imprisoned in her own house, she could not save even her jewels. She
+had, however, one ring on her finger of some value. How to dispose
+of it without exciting suspicion was the difficulty. Babet, who was
+resolved to have her share in assisting her benefactress, proposed
+to carry the ring to a _colporteur_--a pedlar, or sort of travelling
+jeweller, who had come to lay in a stock of hardware at Paris: he was
+related to one of Mad. de Fleury's little pupils, and readily disposed
+of the ring for her: she obtained at least two-thirds of its value--a
+great deal in those times.
+
+The proofs of integrity, attachment, and gratitude, which she received
+in these days of peril, from those whom she had obliged in her
+prosperity, touched her generous heart so much, that she has often
+since declared she could not regret having been reduced to distress.
+Before she quitted Paris, she wrote letters to her friends,
+recommending her pupils to their protection; she left these letters in
+the care of Victoire, who to the last moment followed her with anxious
+affection. She would have followed her benefactress into exile, but
+that she was prevented by duty and affection from leaving her mother,
+who was in declining health.
+
+Mad. de Fleury successfully made her escape from Paris. Some of the
+municipal officers in the towns through which she passed on her
+road were as severe as their ignorance would permit in scrutinizing
+her passport. It seldom happened that more than one of these petty
+committees of public safety could read. One usually spelled out the
+passport as well as he could, whilst the others smoked their pipes,
+and from time to time held a light up to the lady's face to examine
+whether it agreed with the description.
+
+"Mais toi! tu n'as pas le nez gros!" said one of her judges to her.
+"Son nez est assez gros, et c'est moi qui le dit," said another. The
+question was put to the vote; and the man who had asserted what was
+contrary to the evidence of his senses was so vehement in supporting
+his opinion, that it was carried in spite of all that could be said
+against it. Mad. de Fleury was suffered to proceed on her journey.
+She reached Bourdeaux in safety. Her husband's friends--the good have
+always friends in adversity--her husband's friends exerted themselves
+for her with the most prudent zeal. She was soon provided with a sum
+of money sufficient for her support for some time in England; and she
+safely reached that free and happy country, which has been the refuge
+of so many illustrious exiles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+  "Cosi rozzo diamante appena splende
+  Dalla rupe natia quand' esce fuora,
+  E a poco a poco lucido se rende
+  Sotto l'attenta che lo lavora."
+
+
+Mad. de Fleury joined her husband, who was in London; and they both
+lived in the most retired and frugal manner. They had too much of the
+pride of independence to become burthensome to their generous English
+friends. Notwithstanding the variety of difficulties they had to
+encounter, and the number of daily privations to which they were
+forced to submit, yet they were happy--in a tranquil conscience, in
+their mutual affection, and the attachment of many poor but grateful
+friends. A few months after she came to England, Mad. de Fleury
+received, by a private hand, a packet of letters from her little
+pupils. Each of them, even the youngest, who had but just begun to
+learn joining-hand, would write a few lines in this packet.
+
+In various hands, of various sizes, the changes were rung upon these
+simple words:
+
+    "MY DEAR MADAME DE FLEURY,
+
+    "I love you--I wish you were here again--I will be _very very_
+    good whilst you are away. If you stay away ever so long, I shall
+    never forget you, nor your goodness; but I hope you will soon be
+    able to come back, and this is what I pray for every night. Sister
+    Frances says I may tell you that I am very good, and Victoire
+    thinks so too."
+
+This was the substance of several of their little letters. Victoire's
+contained rather more information:--
+
+
+    "You will be glad to _learn_ that dear Sister Frances is safe, and
+    that the good chestnut woman, in whose cellar she took refuge, did
+    not get into any difficulty. After you were gone, M. T---- said
+    that he did not think it worth while to pursue her, as it was only
+    you he wanted to humble. Manon, who has, I do not know how, means
+    of knowing, told me this. Sister Frances is now with her abbess,
+    who, as well as every body else that knows her, is very fond of
+    her. What was a convent is no longer a convent: the nuns are
+    turned out of it. Sister Frances' health is not so good as it used
+    to be, though she never complains; I am sure she suffers much; she
+    has never been the same person since that day when we were driven
+    from our happy school-room. It is all destroyed--the garden and
+    every thing. It is now a dismal sight. Your absence also afflicts
+    Sister Frances much, and she is in great anxiety about all of
+    us. She has the six little ones with her every day, in her own
+    apartment, and goes on teaching them as she used to do. We six
+    eldest go to see her as often as we can. I should have begun, my
+    dear Mad. de Fleury, by telling you, that, the day after you left
+    Paris, I went to deliver all the letters you were so very kind to
+    write for us in the midst of your hurry. Your friends have been
+    exceedingly good to us, and have got places for us all. Rose is
+    with Mad. la Grace, your mantua-maker, who says she is more handy
+    and more expert at cutting out than girls she has had these three
+    years. Marianne is in the service of Mad. de V----, who has lost
+    a great part of her large fortune, and cannot afford to keep her
+    former waiting-maid. Mad. de V---- is well pleased with Marianne,
+    and bids me tell you that she thanks you for her. Indeed,
+    Marianne, though she is only fourteen, can do every thing her lady
+    wants. Susanne is with a confectioner; she gave Sister Frances
+    a box of _bonbons_ of her own making this morning; and Sister
+    Frances, who is a judge, says they are excellent; she only wishes
+    you could taste them. Annette and I (thanks to your kindness!) are
+    in the same service, with Mad. Feuillot, the _brodeuse_, to whom
+    you recommended us: she is not discontented with our work, and
+    indeed sent a very civil message yesterday to Sister Frances on
+    this subject; but I believe it is too flattering for me to repeat
+    in this letter. We shall do our best to give her satisfaction. She
+    is glad to find that we can write tolerably, and that we can make
+    out bills and keep accounts; this being particularly convenient
+    to her at present, as the young man she had in the shop is become
+    an _orator_, and good for nothing but _la chose publique_: her
+    son, who could have supplied his place, is ill; and Mad. Feuillot
+    herself, not having had, as she says, the advantage of such a good
+    education as we have been blessed with, writes but badly, and
+    knows nothing of arithmetic. Dear Mad. de Fleury, how much, how
+    very much we are obliged to you! We feel it every day more and
+    more: in these times what would have become of us, if we could
+    do nothing useful? Who _would_, who _could_ be burdened with us?
+    Dear madame, we owe every thing to you--and we can do nothing, not
+    the least thing, for you!--My mother is still in bad health, and
+    I fear will never recover: Babet is with her always, and Sister
+    Frances is very good to her. My brother Maurice is now so good a
+    workman that he earns a louis a week. He is very steady to his
+    business, and never goes to the revolutionary meetings, though
+    once he had a great mind to be an orator of the people, but never
+    since the day that you explained to him that he knew nothing about
+    equality and the rights of men, &c. How could I forget to tell
+    you, that his master the smith, who was one of your guards, and
+    who assisted you to escape, has returned without suspicion to his
+    former trade? and he declares that he will never more meddle with
+    public affairs. I gave him the money you left with me for him. He
+    is very kind to my brother--yesterday Maurice mended for Annette's
+    mistress the lock of an English writing-desk, and he mended it so
+    astonishingly well, that an English gentleman, who saw it, could
+    not believe the work was done by a Frenchman; so my brother was
+    sent for, to prove it, and they were forced to believe it. To-day
+    he has more work than he can finish this twelvemonth--all this we
+    owe to you. I shall never forget the day when you promised that
+    you would grant my brother's wish to be apprenticed to the smith,
+    if I was not in a passion for a month--that cured me of being so
+    passionate.
+
+    "Dear Mad. de Fleury, I have written you too long a letter, and
+    not so well as I can write when I am not in a hurry; but I wanted
+    to tell you every thing at once, because, may be, I shall not for
+    a long time have so safe an opportunity of sending a letter to
+    you.
+
+    "VICTOIRE."
+
+Several months elapsed before Mad. de Fleury received another letter
+from Victoire: it was short, and evidently written in great distress
+of mind. It contained an account of her mother's death. She was
+now left at the early age of sixteen an orphan. Mad. Feuillot, the
+_brodeuse_, with whom she lived, added a few lines to her letter,
+penned with difficulty and strangely spelled, but expressive of her
+being highly pleased with both the girls recommended to her by Mad. de
+Fleury, especially Victoire, who she said was such a treasure to her,
+that she would not part with her on any account, and should consider
+her as a daughter. "I tell her not to grieve so much; for though she
+has lost one mother, she has gained another for herself, who will
+always love her: and besides, she is so useful, and in so many ways,
+with her pen and her needle, in accounts, and every thing that is
+wanted in a family or a shop, she can never want employment or friends
+in the worst times; and none can be worse than these, especially for
+such pretty girls as she is, who have all their heads turned, and are
+taught to consider nothing a sin that used to be sins. Many gentlemen,
+who come to our shop, have found out that Victoire is very handsome,
+and tell her so; but she is so modest and prudent, that I am not
+afraid for her. I could tell you, madame, a good anecdote on this
+subject, but my paper will not allow, and besides, my writing is so
+difficult."
+
+Above a year elapsed before Mad. de Fleury received another letter
+from Victoire: this was in a parcel, of which an emigrant took charge:
+it contained a variety of little offerings from her pupils, instances
+of their ingenuity, their industry, and their affection: the last
+thing in the packet was a small purse labelled in this manner--
+
+"_Savings from our wages and earnings, for her who taught us all we
+know_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+  "Dans sa pompe elegante, admirez Chantilly,
+  De heros en heros, d'age en age, embelli."
+
+  DE LILLE.
+
+
+The health of the good Sister Frances, which had suffered much from
+the shock her mind received at the commencement of the revolution,
+declined so rapidly in the course of the two succeeding years, that
+she was obliged to leave Paris, and she retired to a little village
+in the neighbourhood of Chantilly. She chose this situation, because
+here she was within a morning's walk of Mad. de Fleury's country-seat.
+The Chateau de Fleury had not yet been seized as national property,
+nor had it suffered from the attacks of the mob, though it was in
+a perilous situation, within view of the high road to Paris. The
+Parisian populace had not yet extended their outrages to this distance
+from the city; and the poor people who lived on the estate of Fleury,
+attached from habit, principle, and gratitude to their lord, were not
+disposed to take advantage of the disorder of the times, to injure the
+property of those from whom they had all their lives received favours
+and protection. A faithful old steward had the care of the castle and
+the grounds. Sister Frances was impatient to talk to him, and to visit
+the chateau, which she had never seen; but for some days after her
+arrival in the village, she was so much fatigued and so weak, that she
+could not attempt so long a walk. Victoire had obtained permission
+from her mistress to accompany the nun for a few days to the country,
+as Annette undertook to do all the business of the shop during the
+absence of her companion. Victoire was fully as eager as Sister
+Frances to see the faithful steward and the Chateau de Fleury, and the
+morning was now fixed for their walk: but in the middle of the night
+they were awakened by the shouts of a mob, who had just entered the
+village fresh from the destruction of a neighbouring castle. The nun
+and Victoire listened; but in the midst of the horrid yells of joy, no
+human voice, no intelligible word, could be distinguished: they looked
+through a chink in the window-shutter, and they saw the street
+below filled with a crowd of men, whose countenances were by turns
+illuminated by the glare of the torches which they brandished.
+
+"Good Heavens!" whispered the nun to Victoire: "I should know the face
+of that man who is loading his musket--the very man whom I nursed ten
+years ago, when he was ill with a jail fever!"
+
+This man, who stood in the midst of the crowd, taller by the head than
+the others, seemed to be the leader of the party; they were disputing
+whether they should proceed further, spend the remainder of the night
+in the village alehouse, or return to Paris. Their leader ordered
+spirits to be distributed to his associates, and exhorted them in a
+loud voice to proceed in their glorious work. Tossing his firebrand
+over his head, he declared that he would never return to Paris till
+he had razed to the ground the Chateau de Fleury. At these words,
+Victoire, forgetful of all personal danger, ran out into the midst of
+the mob, pressed her way up to the leader of these ruffians, caught
+him by the arm, exclaiming, "You will not touch a stone in the Chateau
+de Fleury--I have my reasons--I say you will not suffer a stone in the
+Chateau de Fleury to be touched."
+
+"And why not?" cried the man, turning astonished; "and who are you,
+that I should listen to you?"
+
+"No matter who I am," said Victoire; "follow me, and I will show
+you one to whom you will not refuse to listen. Here!--here she is,"
+continued Victoire, pointing to the nun, who had followed her in
+amazement; "here is one to whom you will listen--yes, look at her
+well: hold the light to her face."
+
+The nun, in a supplicating attitude, stood in speechless expectation.
+
+"Ay, I see you have gratitude, I know you will have mercy," cried
+Victoire, watching the workings in the countenance of the man; "you
+will save the Chateau de Fleury, for her sake--who saved your life."
+
+"I will," cried this astonished chief of a mob, fired with sudden
+generosity. "By my faith you are a brave girl, and a fine girl, and
+know how to speak to the heart, and in the right moment. Friends,
+citizens! this nun, though she is a nun, is good for something. When
+I lay ill with a fever, and not a soul else to help me, she came and
+gave me medicines and food--in short, I owe my life to her. 'Tis ten
+years ago, but I remember it well; and now it is our turn to rule,
+and she shall be paid as she deserves. Not a stone of the Chateau de
+Fleury shall be touched!"
+
+With loud acclamations, the mob joined in the generous enthusiasm of
+the moment, and followed their leader peaceably out of the village.
+All this passed with such rapidity as scarcely to leave the impression
+of reality upon the mind. As soon as the sun rose in the morning,
+Victoire looked out for the turrets of the Chateau de Fleury, and
+she saw that they were safe--safe in the midst of the surrounding
+devastation. Nothing remained of the superb palace of Chantilly but
+the white arches of its foundation!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+  "When thy last breath, ere Nature sank to rest,
+  Thy meek submission to thy God express'd;
+  When thy last look, ere thought and feeling fled,
+  A mingled gleam of hope and triumph shed;
+  What to thy soul its glad assurance gave--
+  Its hope in death, its triumph o'er the grave?
+  The sweet remembrance of unblemish'd youth,
+  Th'inspiring voice of innocence and truth!"
+
+  ROGERS.
+
+
+The good Sister Frances, though she had scarcely recovered from the
+shock of the preceding night, accompanied Victoire to the Chateau de
+Fleury. The gates were opened for them by the old steward and his son
+Basile, who welcomed them with all the eagerness with which people
+welcome friends in time of adversity. The old man showed them the
+place; and through every apartment of the castle went on, talking of
+former times, and with narrative fondness told anecdotes of his dear
+master and mistress. Here his lady used to sit and read--here was
+the table at which she wrote--this was the sofa on which she and
+the ladies sat the very last day she was at the castle, at the open
+windows of the hall, whilst all the tenants and people of the village
+were dancing on the green.
+
+"Ay, those were happy times," said the old man; "but they will never
+return."
+
+"Never! Oh, do not say so," cried Victoire.
+
+"Never during my life, at least," said the nun in a low voice, and
+with a look of resignation.
+
+Basile, as he wiped the tears from his eyes, happened to strike his
+arm against the chord of Mad. de Fleury's harp, and the sound echoed
+through the room.
+
+"Before this year is at an end," cried Victoire, "perhaps that harp
+will be struck again in this chateau by Mad. de Fleury herself. Last
+night we could hardly have hoped to see these walls standing this
+morning, and yet it is safe--not a stone touched! Oh, we shall all
+live, I hope, to see better times!"
+
+Sister Frances smiled, for she would not depress Victoire's
+enthusiastic hope: to please her, the good nun added, that she felt
+better this morning than she had felt for months, and Victoire was
+happier than she had been since Mad. de Fleury left France. But, alas!
+it was only a transient gleam. Sister Frances relapsed, and declined
+so rapidly, that even Victoire, whose mind was almost always disposed
+to hope, despaired of her recovery. With placid resignation, or rather
+with mild confidence, this innocent and benevolent creature met the
+approach of death. She seemed attached to earth only by affection for
+those whom she was to leave in this world. Two of the youngest of the
+children which had formerly been placed under her care, and who were
+not yet able to earn their own subsistence, she kept with her, and in
+the last days of her life she continued her instructions to them with
+the fond solicitude of a parent. Her father confessor, an excellent
+man, who never even in these dangerous times shrunk from his duty,
+came to attend Sister Frances in her last moments, and relieved her
+mind from all anxiety, by promising to place the two little children
+with the lady who had been abbess of her convent, who would to the
+utmost of her power protect and provide for them suitably. Satisfied
+by this promise, the good Sister Frances smiled upon Victoire, who
+stood beside her bed, and with that smile upon her countenance
+expired.--It was some time before the little children seemed to
+comprehend, or to believe, that Sister Frances was dead: they had
+never before seen any one die; they had no idea what it was to die,
+and their first feeling was astonishment: they did not seem to
+understand why Victoire wept. But the next day when no Sister Frances
+spoke to them, when every hour they missed some accustomed kindness
+from her,--when presently they saw the preparations for her
+funeral,--when they heard that she was to be buried in the earth, and
+that they should never see her more,--they could neither play nor eat,
+but sat in a corner holding each other's hands, and watching every
+thing that was done for the dead by Victoire.
+
+In those times, the funeral of a nun, with a priest attending, would
+not have been permitted by the populace. It was therefore performed
+as secretly as possible: in the middle of the night the coffin was
+carried to the burial-place of the Fleury family; the old steward, his
+son Basile, Victoire, and the good father confessor, were the only
+persons present. It is necessary to mention this, because the facts
+were afterwards misrepresented.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+  "The character is lost!
+  Her head adorn'd with lappets, pinn'd aloft,
+  And ribands streaming gay, superbly raised,
+  Indebted to some smart wig-weaver's hand
+  For more than half the tresses it sustains."
+
+  COWPER.
+
+
+Upon her return to Paris, Victoire felt melancholy; but she exerted
+herself as much as possible in her usual occupation; finding that
+employment and the consciousness of doing her duty were the best
+remedies for sorrow.
+
+One day, as she was busy settling Mad. Feuillot's accounts, a servant
+came into the shop, and inquired for Mademoiselle Victoire: he
+presented her a note, which she found rather difficult to decipher.
+It was signed by her cousin Manon, who desired to see Victoire at her
+hotel. "_Her hotel_!" repeated Victoire with astonishment. The servant
+assured her that one of the finest hotels in Paris belonged to his
+lady, and that he was commissioned to show her the way to it. Victoire
+found her cousin in a magnificent house, which had formerly belonged
+to the Prince de Salms. Manon, dressed in the disgusting, indecent
+extreme of the mode, was seated under a richly-fringed canopy. She
+burst into a loud laugh as Victoire entered.
+
+"You look just as much astonished as I expected," cried she. "Great
+changes have happened since I saw you last--I always told you,
+Victoire, I knew the world better than you did. What has come of
+all your schooling, and your mighty goodness, and your gratitude
+truly?--Your patroness is banished and a beggar, and you a drudge in
+the shop of a _brodeuse_, who makes you work your fingers to the bone,
+no doubt.--Now you shall see the difference. Let me show you my house;
+you know it was formerly the hotel of the Prince de Salms, he that was
+guillotined the other day; but you know nothing, for you have been
+out of Paris this month, I understand. Then I must tell you, that my
+friend Villeneuf has acquired an immense fortune! by assignats, made
+in the course of a fortnight--I say an immense fortune! and has bought
+this fine house--Now do you begin to understand?"
+
+"I do not clearly know whom you mean by your friend Villeneuf," said
+Victoire.
+
+"The hairdresser, who lived in our street," said Manon; "he became a
+great patriot, you know, and orator; and, what with his eloquence and
+his luck in dealing in assignats, he has made his fortune and mine."
+
+"And yours! then he is your husband!"
+
+"That does not follow--that is not necessary--but do not look so
+shocked--every body goes on the same way now; besides, I had no
+other resource--I must have starved--I could not earn my bread as
+you do. Besides, I was too delicate for hard work of any sort--and
+besides--but come, let me show you my house--you have no idea how
+fine it is."
+
+With anxious ostentation, Manon displayed all her riches, to excite
+Victoire's envy.
+
+"Confess, Victoire," said she at last, "that you think me the happiest
+person you have ever known.--You do not answer; whom did you ever know
+that was happier?"
+
+"Sister Frances, who died last week, appeared to be much happier,"
+said Victoire.
+
+"The poor nun!" said Manon, disdainfully. "Well, and whom do you think
+the next happiest?"
+
+"Madame de Fleury."
+
+"An exile and a beggar!--Oh, you are jesting now,
+Victoire--or--envious. With that sanctified face, citoyenne--perhaps
+I should say Mademoiselle Victoire, you would be delighted to change
+places with me this instant. Come, you shall stay with me a week, to
+try how you like it."
+
+"Excuse me," said Victoire, firmly; "I cannot stay with you,
+Manon--you have chosen one way of life, and I another--quite another.
+I do not repent my choice--may you never repent yours!--Farewell!"
+
+"Bless me! what airs! and with what dignity she looks! Repent of my
+choice!--a likely thing, truly. Am not I at the top of the wheel?"
+
+"And may not the wheel turn?" said Victoire.
+
+"Perhaps it may," said Manon; "but till it does I will enjoy myself.
+Since you are of a different humour, return to Mad. Feuillot, and
+_figure_ upon cambric and muslin, and make out bills, and nurse old
+nuns, all the days of your life. You will never persuade me, however,
+that you would not change places with me if you could. Stay till you
+are tried, Mademoiselle Victoire. Who was ever in love with you, or
+your virtues?--Stay till you are tried."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+  "But beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree,
+  Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
+  Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye
+  To save her blossoms, or defend her fruit."
+
+  MILTON.
+
+
+The trial was nearer than either Manon or Victoire expected. Manon had
+scarcely pronounced the last words, when the ci-devant hairdresser
+burst into the room, accompanied by several of his political
+associates, who met to consult measures for the good of the nation.
+Among these patriots was the Abbe Tracassier.
+
+"Who is that pretty girl who is with you, Manon?" whispered he; "a
+friend of yours, I hope?"
+
+Victoire left the room immediately, but not before the profligate
+abbe had seen enough to make him wish to see more. The next day he
+went to Mad. Feuillot's, under pretence of buying some embroidered
+handkerchiefs; he paid Victoire a profusion of extravagant
+compliments, which made no impression upon her innocent heart, and
+which appeared ridiculous to her plain good sense. She did not know
+who he was, nor did Mad. Feuillot; for though she had often heard
+of the abbe, yet she had never seen him. Several succeeding days he
+returned, and addressed himself to Victoire, each time with increasing
+freedom. Mad. Feuillot, who had the greatest confidence in her,
+left her entirely to her own discretion. Victoire begged her friend
+Annette to do the business of the shop, and stayed at work in the back
+parlour. Tracassier was much disappointed by her absence; but as he
+thought no great ceremony necessary in his proceedings, he made his
+name known in a haughty manner to Mad. de Feuillot, and desired that
+he might be admitted into the back parlour, as he had something of
+consequence to say to Mlle. Victoire in private. Our readers will
+not require to have a detailed account of this tete-a-tete; it is
+sufficient to say, that the disappointed and exasperated abbe left
+the house muttering imprecations. The next morning a note came to
+Victoire, apparently from Manon: it was directed by her, but the
+inside was written by an unknown hand, and contained these words:--
+
+    "You are a charming, but incomprehensible girl--since you do not
+    like compliments, you shall not be addressed with empty flattery.
+    It is in the power of the person who dictates this, not only to
+    make you as rich and great as your cousin Manon, but also to
+    restore to fortune and to their country the friends for whom you
+    are most interested. Their fate as well as your own is in your
+    power: if you send a favourable answer to this note, the persons
+    alluded to will, to-morrow, be struck from the list of emigrants,
+    and reinstated in their former possessions. If your answer is
+    decidedly unfavourable, the return of your friends to France will
+    be thenceforward impracticable, and their chateau, as well as
+    their house in Paris, will be declared national property, and sold
+    without delay to the highest bidder. To you, who have as much
+    understanding as beauty, it is unnecessary to say more. Consult
+    your heart, charming Victoire! be happy, and make others happy.
+    This moment is decisive of your fate and of theirs, for you have
+    to answer a man of a most decided character."
+
+Victoire's answer was as follows:--
+
+    "My friends would not, I am sure, accept of their fortune, or
+    consent to return to their country, upon the conditions proposed;
+    therefore I have no merit in rejecting them."
+
+Victoire had early acquired good principles, and that plain, steady,
+good sense, which goes straight to its object, without being
+dazzled or imposed upon by sophistry. She was unacquainted with the
+refinements of sentiment, but she distinctly knew right from wrong,
+and had sufficient resolution to abide by the right. Perhaps many
+romantic heroines might have thought it a generous self-devotion to
+have become in similar circumstances the mistress of Tracassier;
+and those who are skilled "to make the worst appear the better
+cause" might have made such an act of heroism the foundation of an
+interesting, or at least a fashionable novel. Poor Victoire had not
+received an education sufficiently refined to enable her to understand
+these mysteries of sentiment. She was even simple enough to flatter
+herself that this libertine patriot would not fulfil his threats,
+and that these had been made only with a view to terrify her into
+compliance. In this opinion, however, she found herself mistaken. M.
+Tracassier was indeed a man of the most decided character, if this
+term may properly be applied to those who act uniformly in consequence
+of their ruling passion. The Chateau de Fleury was seized as national
+property. Victoire heard this bad news from the old steward, who was
+turned out of the castle, along with his son, the very day after her
+rejection of the proposed conditions.
+
+"I could not have believed that any human creature could be so
+wicked!" exclaimed Victoire, glowing with indignation: but indignation
+gave way to sorrow.
+
+"And the Chateau de Fleury is really seized?--and you, good old
+man, are turned out of the place where you were born?--and you too,
+Basile?--and Mad. de Fleury will never come back again!--and perhaps
+she may be put into prison in a foreign country, and may die for
+want--and I might have prevented all this!"
+
+Unable to shed a tear, Victoire stood in silent consternation,
+whilst Annette explained to the good steward and his son the whole
+transaction. Basile, who was naturally of an impetuous temper, was so
+transported with indignation, that he would have gone instantly with
+the note from Tracassier to _denounce_ him before the whole National
+Convention, if he had not been restrained by his more prudent father.
+The old steward represented to him, that as the note was neither
+signed nor written by the hand of Tracassier, no proof could be
+brought home to him, and the attempt to convict one of so powerful a
+party would only bring certain destruction upon the accusers. Besides,
+such was at this time the general depravity of manners, that numbers
+would keep the guilty in countenance. There was no crime which the
+mask of patriotism could not cover.
+
+"There is one comfort we have in our misfortunes, which these men can
+never have," said the old man; "when their downfall comes, and come it
+will most certainly, they will not feel as we do, INNOCENT. Victoire,
+look up! and do not give way to despair--all will yet be well."
+
+"At all events, you have done what is right--so do not reproach
+yourself," said Basile. "Every body--I mean every body who is good for
+any thing--must respect, admire, and love you, Victoire."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+  "Ne mal cio che v'annoja,
+  Quello e vero gioire
+  Che nasce da virtude dopo il soffrire."
+
+
+Basile had not seen without emotion the various instances of goodness
+which Victoire showed during the illness of Sister Frances. Her
+conduct towards M. Tracassier increased his esteem and attachment;
+but he forbore to declare his affection, because he could not,
+consistently with prudence, or with gratitude to his father, think of
+marrying, now that he was not able to maintain a wife and family. The
+honest earnings of many years of service had been wrested from the
+old steward at the time the Chateau de Fleury was seized, and he now
+depended on the industry of his son for the daily support of his age.
+His dependence was just, and not likely to be disappointed; for he had
+given his son an education suitable to his condition in life. Basile
+was an exact arithmetician, could write an excellent hand, and was a
+ready draughtsman and surveyor. To bring these useful talents into
+action, and to find employment for them, with men by whom they would
+be honestly rewarded, was the only difficulty--a difficulty which
+Victoire's brother Maurice soon removed. His reputation as a smith had
+introduced him, among his many customers, to a gentleman of worth and
+scientific knowledge, who was at this time employed to make models and
+plans of all the fortified places in Europe; he was in want of a good
+clerk and draughtsman, of whose integrity he could be secure. Maurice
+mentioned his friend Basile; and upon inquiry into his character, and
+upon trial of his abilities, he was found suited to the place, and
+was accepted. By his well-earned salary he supported himself and his
+father; and began, with the sanguine hopes of a young man, to flatter
+himself that he should soon be rich enough to marry, and that then
+he might declare his attachment to Victoire. Notwithstanding all his
+boasted prudence, he had betrayed sufficient symptoms of his passion
+to have rendered a declaration unnecessary to any clear-sighted
+observer: but Victoire was not thinking of conquests; she was wholly
+occupied with a scheme of earning a certain sum of money for her
+benefactress, who was now, as she feared, in want. All Mad. de
+Fleury's former pupils contributed their share to the common stock;
+and the mantua-maker, the confectioner, the servants of different
+sorts, who had been educated at her school, had laid by, during the
+years of her banishment, an annual portion of their wages and savings:
+with the sum which Victoire now added to the fund, it amounted to
+ten thousand livres. The person who undertook to carry this money to
+Mad. de Fleury, was Francois, her former footman, who had procured a
+pass to go to England as a hairdresser. The night before he set out
+was a happy night for Victoire, as all her companions met, by Mad.
+Feuillot's invitation, at her house; and after tea they had the
+pleasure of packing up the little box, in which each, besides the
+money, sent some token of their gratitude, and some proof of their
+ingenuity. They would with all their hearts have sent twice as many
+_souvenirs_ as Francois could carry.
+
+"D'abord c'est impossible!" cried he, when he saw the box that was
+prepared for him to carry to England: but his good-nature was unable
+to resist the entreaties of each to have her offering carried, "which
+would take up no room."
+
+He departed--arrived safe in England--found out Mad. de Fleury, who
+was in real distress, in obscure lodgings at Richmond. He delivered
+the money, and all the presents of which he had taken charge: but the
+person to whom she entrusted a letter, in answer to Victoire, was not
+so punctual, or was more unlucky; for the letter never reached her,
+and she and her companions were long uncertain whether their little
+treasure had been received. They still continued, however, with
+indefatigable gratitude, to lay by a portion of their earnings for
+their benefactress; and the pleasure they had in this perseverance
+made them more than amends for the loss of some little amusements,
+and for privations to which they submitted in consequence of their
+resolution.
+
+In the mean time Basile, going on steadily with his employments,
+advanced every day in the favour of his master, and his salary was
+increased in proportion to his abilities and industry; so that he
+thought he could now, without any imprudence, marry. He consulted his
+father, who approved of his choice; he consulted Maurice as to the
+probability of his being accepted by Victoire; and encouraged by both
+his father and his friend, he was upon the eve of addressing himself
+to Victoire, when he was prevented by a new and unforeseen misfortune.
+His father was taken up, by an emissary of Tracassier's, and brought
+before one of their revolutionary committees, where he was accused of
+various acts of incivisme. Among other things equally criminal, it was
+proved that one Sunday, when he went to see Le Petit Trianon, then a
+public-house, he exclaimed, "C'est ici que la canaille danse, et que
+les honnetes gens pleurent!"
+
+Basile was present at this mock examination of his father--he saw him
+on the point of being dragged to prison--when a hint was given that
+he might save his father by enlisting immediately, and going with the
+army out of France. Victoire was full in Basile's recollection--but
+there was no other means of saving his father. He enlisted, and in
+twenty-four hours left Paris.
+
+What appear to be the most unfortunate circumstances of life often
+prove ultimately the most advantageous. Indeed, those who have
+knowledge, activity, and integrity, can convert the apparent blanks
+in the lottery of fortune into prizes. Basile was recommended to his
+commanding officer by the gentleman who had lately employed him as
+a clerk--his skill in drawing plans, and in taking rapid surveys of
+the country through which they passed, was extremely useful to his
+general; and his integrity made it safe to trust him as a secretary.
+His commanding officer, though a brave man, was illiterate, and a
+secretary was to him a necessary of life. Basile was not only useful,
+but agreeable; without any mean arts, or servile adulation, he
+pleased, by simply showing the desire to oblige, and the ability to
+serve.
+
+"Diable!" exclaimed the general one day, as he looked at Basile's plan
+of a town, which the army was besieging. "How comes it that you are
+able to do all these things? But you have a genius for this sort of
+work, apparently."
+
+"No, sir," said Basile, "these things were taught to me, when I was a
+child, by a good friend."
+
+"A good friend he was indeed! he did more for you than if he had
+given you a fortune; for, in these times, that might have been soon
+taken from you; but now you have the means of making a fortune for
+yourself."
+
+This observation of the general's, obvious as it may seem, is
+deserving of the serious consideration of those who have children
+of their own to educate, or who have the disposal of money for
+public charities. In these times, no sensible person will venture
+to pronounce that a change of fortune and station may not await
+the highest and the lowest; whether we rise or fall in the scale of
+society, personal qualities and knowledge will be valuable. Those who
+fall, cannot be destitute; and those who rise, cannot be ridiculous or
+contemptible, if they have been prepared for their fortune by proper
+education. In shipwreck, those who carry their all in their minds are
+the most secure.
+
+But to return to Basile. He had sense enough not to make his general
+jealous of him by any unseasonable display of his talents, or any
+officious intrusion of advice, even upon subjects which he best
+understood.
+
+The talents of the warrior and the secretary were in such different
+lines, that there was no danger of competition; and the general,
+finding in his secretary the soul of all the arts, good sense,
+gradually acquired the habit of asking his opinion on every subject
+that came within his department. It happened that the general received
+orders from the Directory at Paris, to take a certain town, let
+it cost what it would, within a given time: in his perplexity, he
+exclaimed before Basile against the unreasonableness of these orders,
+and declared his belief that it was impossible he should succeed, and
+that this was only a scheme of his enemies to prepare his ruin. Basile
+had attended to the operations of the engineer who acted under the
+general, and perfectly recollected the model of the mines of this
+town, which he had seen when he was employed as draughtsman by his
+Parisian friend. He remembered, that there was formerly an old mine,
+that had been stopped up somewhere near the place where the engineer
+was at work; he mentioned _in private_ his suspicions to the general,
+who gave orders in consequence; the old mine was discovered, cleared
+out, and by these means the town was taken the day before the time
+appointed. Basile did not arrogate to himself any of the glory of this
+success--he kept his general's secret and his confidence. Upon their
+return to Paris, after a fortunate campaign, the general was more
+grateful than some others have been, perhaps because more room was
+given by Basile's prudence for the exercise of this virtue.
+
+"My friend," said he to Basile, "you have done me a great service by
+your counsel, and a greater still by holding your tongue. Speak now,
+and tell me freely, if there is any thing I can do for you. You
+see, as a victorious general, I have the upper hand amongst these
+fellows--Tracassier's scheme to ruin me missed--whatever I ask will at
+this moment he granted; speak freely, therefore."
+
+Basile asked what he knew Victoire most desired--that M. and Mad. de
+Fleury should be struck from the list of emigrants, and that their
+property now in the hands of the nation should be restored to them.
+The general promised that this should be done. A warm contest
+ensued upon the subject between him and Tracassier; but the general
+stood firm; and Tracassier, enraged, forgot his usual cunning, and
+quarrelling irrevocably with a party now more powerful than his own,
+he and his adherents were driven from that station in which they had
+so long tyrannized. From being the rulers of France, they in a few
+hours became banished men, or, in the phrase of the times, _des
+deportes_.
+
+We must not omit to mention the wretched end of Manon. The man with
+whom she lived perished by the guillotine. From his splendid house
+she went upon the stage--did not succeed--sunk from one degree of
+profligacy to another; and at last died in an hospital.
+
+In the mean time, the order for the restoration of the Fleury
+property, and for permission for the Fleury family to return to
+France, was made out in due form, and Maurice begged to be the
+messenger of these good tidings:--he set out for England with the
+order.
+
+Victoire immediately went down to the Chateau de Fleury, to get every
+thing in readiness for the reception of the family.
+
+Exiles are expeditious in their return to their native country.
+Victoire had but just time to complete her preparations, when M. and
+Mad. de Fleury arrived at Calais. Victoire had assembled all her
+companions, all Mad. de Fleury's former pupils; and the hour when she
+was expected home, they with the peasants of the neighbourhood were
+all in their holiday clothes, and according to the custom of the
+country singing and dancing. Without music and dancing there is
+no perfect joy in France. Never was _fete du village_ or _fete du
+Seigneur_ more joyful than this.
+
+The old steward opened the gate--the carriage drove in. Mad. de Fleury
+saw that home which she had little expected evermore to behold; but
+all other thoughts were lost in the pleasure of meeting her beloved
+pupils.
+
+"My children!" cried she, as they crowded round her the moment she got
+out of her carriage--"My dear _good_ children!"
+
+It was all she could say. She leaned on Victoire's arm as she went
+into the house, and by degrees recovering from the almost painful
+excess of pleasure, began to enjoy what she yet only confusedly felt.
+
+Several of her pupils were so much grown and altered in their external
+appearance, that she could scarcely recollect them till they spoke,
+and then their voices and the expression of their countenances brought
+their childhood fully to her memory. Victoire, she thought, was
+changed the least, and at this she rejoiced.
+
+The feeling and intelligent reader will imagine all the pleasure that
+Mad. de Fleury enjoyed this day; nor was it merely the pleasure of
+a day. She heard from all her friends, with prolonged satisfaction,
+repeated accounts of the good conduct of these young people during her
+absence. She learned with delight how her restoration to her country
+and her fortune had been effected; and is it necessary to add,
+that Victoire consented to marry Basile, and that she was suitably
+portioned, and, what is better still, that she was perfectly
+happy?--M. de Fleury rewarded the attachment and good conduct of
+Maurice, by taking him into his service; and making him his manager
+under the old steward at the Chateau de Fleury.
+
+On Victoire's wedding-day, Mad. de Fleury produced all the little
+offerings of gratitude which she had received from her and her
+companions during her exile. It was now her turn to confer favours,
+and she knew how to confer them both with grace and judgment.
+
+"No gratitude in human nature! No gratitude in the lower classes of
+the people!" cried she: "how much those are mistaken who think so!
+I wish they could know my history and the history of these _my
+children_, and they would acknowledge their error."
+
+_Edgeworthstown_, 1805.
+
+
+
+
+EMILIE DE COULANGES
+
+
+"I am young, I am in good health." said Emilie de Coulanges; "I am
+not to be pitied. But my poor mamma, who has been used all her life
+to such luxuries! And now to have only her Emilie to wait upon her!
+Her Emilie, who is but an awkward _femme de chambre_! But she will
+improve, it must be hoped; and as to the rest, things, which are now
+always changing, and which cannot change for the worse, must soon
+infallibly change for the better--and mamma will certainly recover
+all her property one of these days. In the mean time (if mamma is
+tolerably well), we shall be perfectly happy in England--that charming
+country, which, perhaps, we should never have seen but for this
+terrible revolution!--Here we shall assuredly find friends. The
+English are such good people!--Cold, indeed, at first--that's their
+misfortune: but then the English coldness is of manner, not of heart.
+Time immemorial, they have been famous for making the best friends in
+the world; and even to us, who are their _natural enemies_, they are
+generous in our distress. I have heard innumerable instances of their
+hospitality to our emigrants; and mamma will certainly not be the
+first exception. At her Hotel de Coulanges, she always received the
+English with distinguished attention; and though our hotel, with half
+Paris, has changed its name since those days, the English have too
+good memories to forget it, I am sure."
+
+By such speeches Emilie endeavoured to revive her mother's spirits.
+To a most affectionate disposition and a feeling heart she joined
+all the characteristic and constitutional gaiety of her nation; a
+gaiety which, under the pressure of misfortune, merits the name of
+philosophy, since it produces all the effects, and is not attended
+with any of the parade of stoicism.
+
+Emilie de Coulanges was a young French emigrant, of a noble family,
+and heiress to a large estate; but the property of her family had been
+confiscated during the revolution. She and her mother, la Comtesse
+de Coulanges, made their escape to England. Mad. de Coulanges was in
+feeble health, and much dispirited by the sudden loss of rank and
+fortune. Mlle. de Coulanges felt the change more for her mother than
+for herself; she always spoke of her mother's misfortunes, never of
+her own.
+
+Upon their arrival in London, Emilie, full of life and hope, went to
+present some of her mother's letters of recommendation. One of them
+was addressed to Mrs. Somers. Mlle. de Coulanges was particularly
+delighted by the manner in which she was received by this lady.
+
+"No English coldness!--no English reserve!--So warm in her expressions
+of kindness!--so eager in her offers of service!" Emilie could
+speak of nothing for the remainder of the day, but "cette charmante
+Mad. Somers!" The next day, and the next, and the next, she found
+increasing reasons to think her charming. Mrs. Somers exerted herself,
+indeed, with the most benevolent activity, to procure for Mad. de
+Coulanges every thing that could be convenient or agreeable. She
+prepared apartments in her own house for the mother and daughter,
+which she absolutely insisted upon their occupying immediately: she
+assured them that they should not be treated as visitors, but as
+inmates and friends of the family. She pressed her invitation with
+such earnestness, and so politely urged her absolute right to show her
+remembrance of the civilities which she had received at Paris, that
+there was no possibility of persisting in a refusal. The pride of high
+birth would have revolted at the idea of becoming dependent, but all
+such thoughts were precluded by the manner in which Mrs. Somers spoke;
+and the Comtesse de Coulanges accepted of the invitation, resolving,
+however, not to prolong her stay, if affairs in her own country should
+not take a favourable turn. She expected remittances from a Paris
+banker, with whom she had lodged a considerable sum--all that could be
+saved in ready money, in jewels, &c. from the wreck of her fortune:
+with this sum, if she should find all schemes of returning to France
+and recovering her property impracticable, she determined to live, in
+some retired part of England, in the most economical manner possible.
+But, in the mean time, as economy had never been either her theory or
+her practice, and as she considered retreat from _the world_ as the
+worst thing, next to death, that could befal a woman, she was glad to
+put off the evil hour. She acknowledged that ill health made her look
+some years older than she really was; but she could not think herself
+yet old enough to become _devout_; and, till that crisis arrived, she,
+of course, would not willingly be banished from _society_. So that,
+upon the whole, she was well satisfied to find herself established
+in Mrs. Somers's excellent house; where, but for the want of three
+antechambers, and of the Parisian quantity of looking-glass on every
+side of every apartment, la comtesse might have fancied herself at her
+own Hotel de Coulanges. Emilie would have been better contented to
+have been lodged and treated with less magnificence; but she rejoiced
+to see that her mother was pleased, and that she became freer from her
+_vapeurs noirs_[1]. Emilie began to love Mrs. Somers for making her
+mother well and happy--to love her with all the fearless enthusiasm of
+a young, generous mind, which accepts of obligation without any idea
+that gratitude may become burdensome. Mrs. Somers excited not only
+affection--she inspired admiration. Capable of the utmost exertion and
+of the most noble sacrifices for her friends, the indulgence of her
+generosity seemed not only to be the greatest pleasure of her soul,
+but absolutely necessary to her nature. To attempt to restrain her
+liberality was to provoke her indignation, or to incur her contempt.
+To refuse her benefits was to forfeit her friendship. She grew
+extremely fond of her present guests, because, without resistance,
+they permitted her to load them with favours. According to her custom,
+she found a thousand perfections in those whom she obliged. She had
+considered la Comtesse de Coulanges, when she knew her at Paris, as a
+very well-bred woman, but as nothing more; yet now she discovered that
+Mad. de Coulanges had a superior understanding and great strength
+of mind;--and Emilie, who had pleased her when a child, only by the
+ingenuous sweetness of her disposition and vivacity of her manners,
+was now become a complete angel--no angel had ever such a variety of
+accomplishments--none but an angel could possess such a combination of
+virtues. Mrs. Somers introduced her charming and noble emigrants to
+all her numerous and fashionable acquaintance; and she would certainly
+have quarrelled with any one who did not at least appear to sympathize
+in her sentiments. Fortunately there was no necessity for quarrelling;
+these foreigners were well received in every company, and Emilie
+pleased universally; or, as Mad. de Coulanges expressed it, "Elle
+avoit des grands _succes_ dans la societe." The French comtesse
+herself could hardly give more emphatic importance to the
+untranslateable word _succes_ than Mrs. Somers annexed to it upon
+this occasion. She was proud of producing Emilie as her protegee; and
+the approbation of others increased her own enthusiasm: much as she
+did for her favourite, she longed to do more.--An opportunity soon
+presented itself.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Vapeurs noirs_--vulgarly known by the name of _blue
+devils_.]
+
+One evening, after Mad. de Coulanges had actually tired herself with
+talking to the crowd, which her vivacity, grace, and volubility had
+attracted about her sofa, she ran to entrench herself in an arm-chair
+by the fireside, sprinkled the floor round her with _eau de senteur_,
+drew, with her pretty foot, a line of circumvallation, and then,
+shaking her tiny fan at the host of assailants, she forbade them,
+under pain of her sovereign displeasure, to venture within the magic
+circle, or to torment her by one more question or compliment. It was
+now absolutely necessary to be serious, and to study the politics of
+Europe. She called for the French newspapers, which Mrs. Somers had
+on purpose for her; and, provided with a pinch of snuff, from the
+ever-ready box of a French abbe, whose arm was permitted to cross
+the line of demarcation, Mad. de Coulanges began to study. Silence
+ensued--for novelty always produces silence in the first instant of
+surprise. An English gentleman wrote on the back of a letter an offer
+to his neighbour of a wager, that the silence would be first broken by
+the French countess, and that it could not last above two minutes. The
+wager was accepted, and watches were produced. Before the two minutes
+had expired, the pinch of snuff dropped from the countess's fingers,
+and, clasping her hands together, she exclaimed, "Ah! ciel!"--The
+surrounding gentlemen, who were full of their wager, and who had
+heard, from the lady, during the course of the evening, at least a
+dozen exclamations of nearly equal vehemence about the merest trifles,
+were more amused than alarmed at this instant: but Emilie, who knew
+her mother's countenance, and who saw the sudden change in it, pressed
+through the circle, and just caught her mother in her arms as she
+fainted. Mrs. Somers, much alarmed, hastened to her assistance. The
+countess was carried out of the room, and every body was full of
+pity and of curiosity. When Mad. de Coulanges recovered from her
+fainting-fit, she was seized with one of her nervous attacks; so that
+no explanation could be obtained. Emilie and Mrs. Somers looked over
+the French paper, but could not find any paragraph unusually alarming.
+At length, more composed, the countess apologized for the disturbance
+which she had occasioned; thanked Mrs. Somers repeatedly for her
+kindness; but spoke in a hurried manner, as if she did not well know
+what she said. She concluded by declaring that she was subject to
+these nervous attacks, that she should be quite well the next morning,
+and that she did not wish that any one should sit up with her during
+the night except Emilie, who was used to her ways. With that true
+politeness which understands quickly the feelings and wishes of
+others, Mrs. Somers forbore to make any ill-timed inquiries or
+officious offers of assistance; but immediately retired, and ordered
+the attendants to leave the room, that Mad. de Coulanges and her
+daughter might be at perfect liberty. Early in the morning Mrs. Somers
+heard somebody knock softly at her door. It was Emilie.
+
+"Mrs. Masham told me that you were awake, madam, or I should not--"
+
+"Come in, come in, my dearest Emilie--I am awake--wide awake. Is your
+mother better?"
+
+"Alas! no, madam!"
+
+"Sit down, my dear, and do not call me _madam_, so coldly.--I do not
+deserve it."
+
+"My dear friend! friend of mamma! my dearest friend!" cried Emilie,
+bursting into tears, and seizing Mrs. Somers' hand; "do not accuse
+me of coldness to you. I am always afraid that my French expressions
+should sound exaggerated to English ears, and that you should think I
+say too much to be sincere in expressing my gratitude."
+
+"My sweet Emilie, who could doubt your sincerity?--none but a brute or
+a fool: but do not talk to me of gratitude."
+
+"I must," said Emilie; "for I feel it."
+
+"Prove it to me, then, in the manner I like best--in the only manner
+I like--by putting it in my power to serve you. I do not intrude upon
+your mother's confidence--I make no inquiries; but do me the justice
+to tell me how I can be of use to her--or rather to you. From you I
+expect frankness. Command my fortune, my time, my credit, my utmost
+exertions--they are all, they ever have been, they ever shall be,
+whilst I have life, at the command of my friends. And are not you my
+friend?"
+
+"Generous lady!--You overpower me with your goodness."
+
+"No praises, no speeches!--Actions for me!--Tell me how I can serve
+you."
+
+"Alas! _you_, even you, can do us no good in this business."
+
+"That I will never believe, till I know the business."
+
+"The worst of it is," said Emilie, "that we must leave you."
+
+"Leave me! Impossible!" cried Mrs. Somers, starting up.--You shall not
+leave me, that I am determined upon. Why cannot you speak out at once,
+and tell me what is the matter, Emilie? How can I act, unless I am
+trusted? and who deserves to be trusted by you, if I do not?"
+
+"Assuredly nobody deserves it better; and if it were only my affair,
+dear Mrs. Somers, you should have known it as soon as I knew it
+myself; but it is mamma's, more than mine."
+
+"Madame la comtesse, then, does not think me worthy of her
+confidence," said Mrs. Somers, in a haughty tone, whilst displeasure
+clouded her whole countenance. "Is that what I am to understand from
+you, Mille. de Coulanges?"
+
+"No, no; that is not what you are to understand, dear madam--my dear
+friend, I should say," cried Emilie, alarmed. "Certainly I have
+explained myself ill, or you could not suspect mamma for a moment of
+such injustice. She knows you to be most worthy of her confidence; but
+on this occasion her reserve, believe me, proceeds solely from motives
+of delicacy, of which you could not but approve."
+
+"Motives of delicacy, my dear Emilie," said Mrs. Somers, softening her
+tone, but still with an air of dissatisfaction--"motives of delicacy,
+my dear Emilie, are mighty pretty sounding words; and at your age I
+used to think them mighty grand things; but I have long since found
+out that _motives of delicacy_ are usually the excuse of weak minds
+for not speaking the plain truth to their friends. People quit the
+straight path from motives of delicacy, may be, to a worm or a
+beetle--vulgar souls, observe, I rank only as worms and beetles; they
+cross our path every instant in life; and those who fear to give them
+offence must deviate and deviate, till they get into a labyrinth,
+from which they can never extricate themselves, or be extricated. My
+Emilie, I am sure, will always keep the straight road--I know her
+strength of mind. Indeed, I did expect strength of mind from her
+mother; but, like all who have lived a great deal in the world, she
+is, I find, a slave to motives of delicacy."
+
+"Mamma's delicacy is of a very different sort from what you describe,
+and what you dislike," said Emilie. "But, since persisting in her
+reserve would, as I see, offend one whom she would be most sorry to
+displease, permit me to go this moment and persuade her to let me tell
+you the simple truth."
+
+"Go--run, my dear. Now I know my Emilie again. Now I shall be able to
+do some good."
+
+By the time that Emilie returned, Mrs. Somers was dressed: she had
+dressed in the greatest hurry imaginable, that she might be ready for
+action--instantaneous action--if the service of her friends, as she
+hoped, required it. Emilie brought the newspaper in her hand, which
+her mother had been reading the preceding night.
+
+"Here is all the mystery," said she, pointing to a paragraph which
+announced the failure of a Paris banker. "Mamma lodged all the money
+she had left in this man's hands."
+
+"And is that all?--I really expected something much more terrible."
+
+"It is terrible to mamma; because, depending on this man's
+punctuality, she has bought in London clothes and trinkets--chiefly
+for me, indeed--and she has no immediate means of paying these debts;
+but, if she will only keep her mind tranquil, all will yet be well.
+You flatter me that I play tolerably on the piano-forte and the harp;
+you will recommend me, and I can endeavour to teach music. So that, if
+mamma will but be well, we shall not be in any great distress--except
+in leaving you; that is painful, but must be done. Yes, it absolutely
+must. Mamma knows what is proper, and so do I. We are not people to
+encroach upon the generosity of our friends. I need not say more;
+for I am sure that Mrs. Somers, who is herself so well-born and
+well-educated, must understand and approve of mamma's way of
+thinking."
+
+Mrs. Somers replied not one word, but rang her bell violently--ordered
+her carriage.
+
+"Do not you breakfast, madam, before you go out?" said the servant.
+
+"No--no."
+
+"Not a dish of chocolate, ma'am?"
+
+"My carriage, I tell you.--Emilie, you have been up all night: I
+insist upon your going to bed this minute, and upon your sleeping till
+I come back again. La comtesse always breakfasts in her own room; so I
+have no apologies to make for leaving her. I shall be at home before
+her toilette is finished, and hope she will then permit me to pay
+my respects to her--you will tell her so, my dear. I must be gone
+instantly.--Why will they not let me have this carriage?--Where are
+those gloves of mine?--and the key of my writing-desk?--Ring again for
+the coach."
+
+Between the acting of a generous thing and the first motion, all the
+interim was, with Mrs. Somers, a delicious phantasma; and her ideas of
+time and distance were as extravagant as those of a person in a dream.
+She very nearly ran over Emilie in her way down stairs, and then said,
+"Oh! I beg pardon a thousand times, my dear!--I thought you had been
+in bed an hour ago."
+
+The toilette of Mad. de Coulanges, this morning, went on at the usual
+rate. Whether in adversity or prosperity, this was to la comtesse an
+elaborate, but never a tedious work. Long as it had lasted, it was,
+however, finished; and she had full leisure for a fit and a half of
+the vapours, before Mrs. Somers returned--she came in with a face
+radiant with joy.
+
+"Fortunately, most fortunately," cried she, "I have it in my power to
+repair the loss occasioned by the failure of this good-for-nothing
+banker! Nay, positively, Mad. de Coulanges, I must not be refused,"
+continued she, in a peremptory manner. "You make an enemy, if you
+refuse a friend."
+
+She laid a pocket-book on the table, and left the room instantly. The
+pocket-book contained notes to a very considerable amount, surpassing
+the sum which Mad. de Coulanges had lost by her banker; and on a
+scrap of paper was written in pencil "Mad. de Coulanges must never
+return this sum, for it is utterly useless to Mrs. Somers; as
+the superfluities it was appropriated to purchase are now in the
+possession of one who will not sell them."
+
+Astonished equally at the magnitude and the manner of the gift, Mad.
+de Coulanges repeated, a million of times, that it was "noble! tres
+noble! une belle action!"--that she could not possibly accept of such
+an obligation--that she could not tell how to refuse it--that Mrs.
+Somers was the most generous woman upon earth--that Mrs. Somers had
+thrown her into a terrible embarrassment.
+
+Then la comtesse had recourse to her smelling-bottle, consulted
+Emilie's eyes, and answered them.
+
+"Child! I have no thoughts of accepting; but I only ask you how I can
+refuse, after what has been said, without making Mrs. Somers my enemy?
+You see her humour--English humours must not be trifled with--her
+humour, you see, is to give. It is a shocking thing for people of our
+birth to be reduced to receive, but we cannot avoid it without losing
+Mrs. Somers' friendship entirely; and that is what you would not wish
+to do, Emilie."
+
+"Oh, no, indeed!"
+
+"Now we must be under obligations to our milliner and jeweller, if we
+do not pay them immediately; for these sort of people call it a favour
+to give credit for a length of time: and I really think that it is
+much better to be indebted to Mrs. Somers than to absolute strangers
+and to rude tradespeople. It is always best to have to deal with
+polite persons."
+
+"And with generous persons!" cried Emilie; "and a more generous person
+than Mrs. Somers, I am sure, cannot exist."
+
+"And then," continued Mad. de Coulanges, "like all these rich English,
+she can afford to be generous. I am persuaded that this Mrs. Somers is
+as rich as a Russian princess; yes, as rich as the Russian princess
+with the superb diadem of diamonds. You remember her at Paris?"
+
+"No, mamma, I forget her," answered Emilie, with a look of absence of
+mind.
+
+"Bon Dieu! what can you be thinking of?" exclaimed Mad. de Coulanges.
+"You forget the Russian princess, with the diamond diadem, that was
+valued at 200,000 livres! She wore it at her presentation--it was the
+conversation of Paris for a week: you must recollect it, Emilie?"
+
+"Oh, yes: I recollect something about its cutting her forehead."
+
+"Not at all, my dear; how you exaggerate! The princess only
+complained, by way of something to say, that the weight of the
+diamonds made her head ache.
+
+"Was that all?"
+
+"That was all. But I will tell you what you are thinking of,
+Emilie--quite another thing--quite another person--broad Mad.
+Vanderbenbruggen: her diamonds were not worth looking at; and they
+were so horribly set, that she deserved all manner of misfortunes, and
+to be disgraced in public, as she was. For you know the bandeau slipt
+over her great forehead; and instead of turning to the gentlemen, and
+ordering some man of sense to arrange her head-dress, she kept holding
+her stiff neck stock still, like an idiot; she actually sat, with the
+patience of a martyr, two immense hours, till somebody cried, 'Ah!
+madame, here is the blood coming!' I see her before me this instant.
+Is it possible, my dear Emilie, that you do not remember the
+difference between this _buche_ of a Mad. Vanderbenbruggen, and our
+charming princess? but you are as dull as Mad. Vanderbenbruggen
+herself, this morning."
+
+The vivacious countess having once seized upon the ideas of Mad.
+Vanderbenbruggen, the charming princess, and the fine diamonds, it was
+some time before Emilie could recall her to the order of the day--to
+the recollection of her banker's failure, and of the necessity of
+giving an answer to generous Mrs. Somers. The decision of Mad. de
+Coulanges was probably at last influenced materially by the gay ideas
+of "stars and dukes, and all their sweeping train," associated with
+Mad. Vanderbenbruggen's image. The countess observed, that, after
+the style in which she had been used to live in the first company
+at Paris, it would be worse than death to be buried alive in some
+obscure country town in England; and that she would rather see Emilie
+guillotined at once, than condemned, with all her grace and talents,
+to work, like a galley slave, at a tambour frame for her bread all the
+days of her life.
+
+Emilie assured her mother that she should cheerfully submit to much
+greater evils than that of working at a tambour frame; and that, as
+far as her own feelings were concerned, she should infinitely prefer
+living by labour to becoming dependent. She therefore intreated that
+her mother might not, from any false tenderness for her Emilie, decide
+contrary to her own principles or wishes.
+
+Mad. de Coulanges, after looking in the glass, at length determined
+that it would be best to accept of Mrs. Somers' generous offer; and
+Emilie, who usually contrived to find something agreeable in all her
+mother's decisions, rejoiced that by this determination, Mrs. Somers
+at least would be pleased. Mrs. Somers, indeed, was highly gratified;
+and her expressions of satisfaction were so warm, that any body would
+have thought she was the person receiving, instead of conferring, a
+great favour. She thanked Emilie, in particular, for having vanquished
+her mother's false delicacy. Emilie blushed at hearing this undeserved
+praise; and assured Mrs. Somers that all the merit was her mother's.
+
+"What!" cried Mrs. Somers hastily, "was it contrary to your
+opinion?--Were you treacherous--were you my enemy--Mlle. de
+Coulanges?"
+
+Emilie replied that she had left the decision to her mother; that
+she confessed she had felt some reluctance to receive a pecuniary
+obligation, even from Mrs. Somers; but that she had rather be obliged
+to her than to any body in the world, except to her mamma.
+
+This explanation was not perfectly satisfactory to Mrs. Somers, and
+there was a marked coldness in her manner towards Emilie during the
+remainder of the day. Her affectionate and grateful disposition made
+her extremely sensible to this change; and, when she retired to her
+own room at night, she sat down beside her bed, and shed tears for the
+first time since she had been in England. Mrs. Somers happened to go
+into Emilie's room to leave some message for Mad. de Coulanges--she
+found Emilie in tears--inquired the cause--was touched and flattered
+by her sensibility--kissed her--blamed herself--confessed she had been
+extremely unreasonable--acknowledged that her temper was naturally too
+hasty and susceptible, especially with those she loved--but assured
+Emilie that this, which had been their first, should be their last
+quarrel;--a rash promise, considering the circumstances in which they
+were both placed. Those who receive and those who confer great favours
+are both in difficult situations; but the part of the benefactor is
+the most difficult to support with propriety. What a combination of
+rare qualities is essential for this purpose! Amongst others, sense,
+delicacy and temper. Mrs. Somers possessed all but the last; and,
+unluckily, she was not sensible of the importance of this deficiency.
+Confident and proud, that, upon all the grand occasions where
+the human heart is put to the trial, she could display superior
+generosity, she disdained attention to the minutiae of kindness.
+This was inconvenient to her friends; because occasion for a great
+sacrifice of the heart occurs, perhaps, but once in a life, whilst
+small sacrifices of temper are requisite every day, and every hour[1].
+
+[Footnote 1: Since this was written, the author has seen the same
+thoughts so much better expressed in the following lines that she
+cannot forbear to quote them:
+
+  "Since trifles make the sum of human things,
+  And half our mis'ry from our foibles springs;
+  Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
+  And few can save or serve, but all may please:
+  Oh! let th'ungentle spirit learn from hence,
+  A small unkindness is a great offence.
+  Large bounties to bestow we wish in vain;
+  But all may shun the guilt of giving pain."
+
+SENSIBILITY. _By Mrs. H. More._]
+
+Mrs. Somers had concealed from Mad. de Coulanges and from Emilie the
+full extent of their obligation: she told them, that the sum of money
+which she offered had become useless to her, because it had been
+destined to the purchase of some superfluities, which were now in
+the possession of another person. The fact was, that she had been in
+treaty for two fine pictures, a Guido and a Correggio; these pictures
+might have been hers, but that on the morning, when she heard of
+the failure of the banker of Mad. de Coulanges, she had hastened to
+prevent the money from being paid for them. She was extremely fond
+of paintings, and had long and earnestly desired to possess these
+celebrated pictures; so that she had really made a great sacrifice
+of her taste and of her vanity. For some time she was satisfied with
+her own self-complacent reflections: but presently she began to be
+displeased that Mad. de Coulanges and Emilie did not see the full
+extent of her sacrifice. She became provoked by their want of
+penetration in not discovering all that she studiously concealed; and
+her mind, going on rapidly from one step to another, decided that this
+want of penetration arose from a deficiency of sensibility.
+
+One day, some of her visitors, who were admiring the taste with
+which she had newly furnished a room, inquired for what those two
+compartments were intended, looking at the compartments which had been
+prepared for the famous pictures. Mrs. Somers replied that she had not
+yet determined what she should put there: she glanced her eye upon
+Mad. de Coulanges and upon Emilie, to observe whether they _felt as
+they ought to do_. Mad. de Coulanges, imagining that an appeal was
+made to her taste, decidedly answered, that nothing would have so fine
+an effect as handsome looking-glasses: "Such," added she, "as we
+have at Paris. No house is furnished without them--they are absolute
+necessaries of life. And, no doubt, these places were originally
+intended for mirrors."
+
+"No," said Mrs. Somers, dryly, and with a look of great displeasure:
+"No, madame la comtesse, those places were not originally intended for
+looking-glasses."
+
+The countess secretly despised Mrs. Somers for her want of taste; but,
+being too well bred to dispute the point, she confessed that she was
+no judge--that she knew nothing of the matter; and then immediately
+turned to her abbe, and asked him if he remembered the superb mirrors
+in Mad. de V----'s charming house on the Boulevards. "It is," said
+she, "in my opinion one of the very best houses in Paris. There you
+enter the principal apartments by an antechamber, such as you ought to
+see in a great house, with real ottomanes, covered with buff trimmed
+with black velvet; and then you pass through the spacious salle a
+manger and the delightful saloon, hung with blue silk, to the _bijou_
+of a boudoir, that looks out upon the garden, with the windows shaded
+by the most beautiful flowering shrubs in summer, and in winter
+adorned with exotics. Then you see, through the plate-glass door of
+the boudoir, into the gallery of paintings--I call it a gallery, but
+it is, in fact, a delightful room, not a gallery--where you are not to
+perish in cold, whilst you admire the magnificence of the place. Not
+at all: it is warmed by a large stove, and you may examine the fine
+pictures at your ease, or, as you English would say, in comfort. This
+gallery must have cost M. de V---- an immense sum. The connoisseurs
+say that it is really the best collection of Flemish pictures in the
+possession of any individual in France. By-the-bye, Mrs. Somers, there
+is, amongst others, an excellent Van Dyck, a portrait of your Charles
+the First, when a boy, which I wonder that none of you rich English
+have purchased."
+
+The countenance of Mrs. Somers had clouded over more and more during
+this speech; but the heedless countess went on, with her usual
+volubility.
+
+"Yet, no doubt, M. de V---- would not sell this Van Dyck: but he
+would, I am told, part with his superb collection of prints, which
+cost him 30,000 of your pounds. He must look for a purchaser amongst
+those Polish and Russian princes who have nothing to do with their
+riches--for instance, my friend Lewenhof, who complained that he was
+not able to spend half his income in Paris; that he could not contrive
+to give an entertainment that cost him money enough. What can he do
+better than commence amateur?--then he might throw away money as fast
+as his heart could wish. M. l'abbe, why do not you, or some man of
+letters, write directly, and advise him to this, for the good of his
+country? What a figure those prints would make in Petersburgh!--and
+how they would polish the Russians! But, as a good Frenchwoman, I
+ought to wish them to remain at Paris: they certainly cannot be better
+than where they are."
+
+"True," cried Emilie, "they cannot be better than where they are, in
+the possession of those generous friends. I used to love to see Mad.
+de V---- in the midst of all her fine things, of which she thought so
+little. Her very looks are enough to make one happy--all radiant with
+good-humoured benevolence. I am sure one might always salute Mad.
+de V---- with the Chinese compliment, 'Felicity is painted in your
+countenance.'"
+
+This was a compliment which could not be paid to Mrs. Somers at the
+present instant; for her countenance was as little expressive of
+felicity as could well be imagined. Emilie, who suddenly turned and
+saw it, was so much struck that she became immediately silent. There
+was a dead pause in the conversation. Mad. de Coulanges was the only
+unembarrassed person in company; she was very contentedly arranging
+her hair upon her forehead opposite to a looking-glass. Mrs. Somers
+broke the silence by observing, that, in her opinion, there was no
+occasion for more mirrors in this room; and she added, in a voice
+of suppressed anger, "I did originally intend to have filled those
+unfortunate blanks with something more to my taste."
+
+Mad. de Coulanges was too much occupied with her ringlets to hear or
+heed this speech. Mrs. Somers fixed her indignant eyes upon Emilie,
+who, perceiving that she was offended, yet not knowing by what, looked
+embarrassed, and simply answered, "Did you?"
+
+This reply, which seemed as neutral as words could make it, and which
+was uttered not only with a pacific, but with an intimidated tone,
+incensed Mrs. Somers beyond measure. It put the finishing stroke
+to the whole conversation. All that had been said about elegant
+houses--antechambers--mirrors--pictures--amateurs--throwing away
+money; and the generous Mad. de V----, _who was always good-humoured_,
+Mrs. Somers fancied was meant _for her_. She decided that it was
+absolutely impossible that Emilie could be so stupid as not to have
+perfectly understood that the compartments had been prepared for the
+Guido and Correggio, which she had so generously sacrificed; and the
+total want of feeling--of common civility--evinced by Emilie's reply,
+was astonishing, was incomprehensible.
+
+The more she reflected upon the words, the more of artifice, of
+duplicity, of ingratitude, of insult, of meanness she discovered in
+them. In her cold fits of ill-humour, this lady was prone to degrade,
+as monsters below the standard of humanity, those whom, in the warmth
+of her enthusiasm, she had exalted to the state of angelic perfection.
+Emilie, though aware that she had unwittingly offended, was not aware
+how low she had sunk in her friend's opinion: she endeavoured, by
+playful wit and caresses, to atone for her fault, and to reinstate
+herself in her favour. But playful wit and caresses were aggravating
+crimes; they were proofs of obstinacy in deceit, of a callous
+conscience, and of a heart that was not to be touched by the marked
+displeasure of a benefactress. Three days and three nights did the
+displeasure of Mrs. Somers continue in full force, and manifest itself
+by a variety of signs, which were lost upon Mad. de Coulanges, but
+which were all intelligible to poor Emilie. She made several attempts
+to bring on an explanation, by saying, "Are you not well?--Is any
+thing the matter, dear Mrs. Somers?" But these questions were always
+coldly answered by, "I am perfectly well, I thank you, Mlle. de
+Coulanges--why should you imagine that any thing is the matter with
+me?"
+
+At the end of the third day of reprobation, Emilie, who could no
+longer endure this state, resolved to take courage and to ask pardon
+for her unknown offence. That night she went, trembling like a real
+criminal, into Mrs. Somers' dressing-room, kissed her forehead, and
+said, "I hope you have not such a headache as I have?"
+
+"Have you the headache?--I am sorry for it," said Mrs. Somers; "but
+you should take something for it--what will you take?"
+
+"I will take nothing, except--your forgiveness."
+
+"My forgiveness!--you astonish me, Mlle. de Coulanges! I am sure that
+I ought to ask yours, if I have said a word that could possibly give
+you reason to imagine I am angry--I really am not conscious of any
+such thing; but if you will point it out to me--"
+
+"You cannot imagine that I come to accuse you, dear Mrs. Somers; I do
+not attempt even to justify myself: I am convinced that, if you are
+displeased, it cannot be without reason."
+
+"But still you do not tell me how I have shown this violent
+displeasure: I have not, to the best of my recollection, said an angry
+or a hasty word."
+
+"No; but when we love people, we know when they are offended, without
+their saying a hasty word--your manner has been so different towards
+me these three days past."
+
+"My manner is very unfortunate. It is impossible always to keep a
+guard over our manners: it is sufficient, I think, to guard our
+words."
+
+"Pray do not guard either with me," said Emilie; "for I would a
+thousand times rather that a friend should say or look the most angry
+things, than that she should conceal from me what she thought; for
+then, you know, I might displease her continually without knowing it,
+and perhaps lose her esteem and affection irretrievably, before I was
+aware of my danger--and with _you_--with you, to whom we owe so much!"
+
+Touched by the feeling manner in which Emilie spoke, and by the
+artless expression of her countenance, Mrs. Somers' anger vanished,
+and she exclaimed, "I have been to blame--I ask your pardon, Emilie--I
+have been much to blame--I have been very unjust--very ill-humoured--I
+see I was quite wrong--I see that I was quite mistaken in what I
+imagined."
+
+"And what did you imagine?" said Emilie.
+
+"_That_ you must excuse me from telling," said Mrs. Somers; "I am too
+much ashamed of it--too much ashamed of myself. Besides, it was a sort
+of thing that I could not well explain, if I were to set about it; in
+short, it was the silliest trifle in the world: but I assure you that
+if I had not loved you very much, I should not have been so foolishly
+angry. You must forgive these little infirmities of temper--you know
+my heart is as it should be."
+
+Emilie embraced Mrs. Somers affectionately; and, in her joy at this
+reconciliation, and in the delight she felt at being relieved from the
+uneasiness which she had suffered for three days, loved her friend the
+better for this quarrel: she quite forgot the pain in the pleasure of
+the reconciliation; and thought that, even if Mrs. Somers had been in
+the wrong, the candour with which she acknowledged it more than made
+amends for the error.
+
+"You must forgive these little infirmities of temper--you know my
+heart is as it should be."
+
+Emilie repeated these words, and said to herself, "Forgive them! yes,
+surely; I should be the most ungrateful of human beings if I did
+otherwise."
+
+Without being the most ungrateful of human beings, Emilie, however,
+found it very difficult to keep her resolution.
+
+Almost every day she felt the apprehension or the certainty of having
+offended her benefactress: and the causes by which she gave offence
+were sometimes so trifling as to elude her notice; so mysterious,
+that they could not be discovered; or so various and anomalous, that,
+even when she was told in what manner she had displeased, she could
+not form any rule, or draw any inference, for her future conduct.
+Sometimes she offended by differing, sometimes by agreeing, in taste
+or opinion with Mrs. Somers. Sometimes she perceived that she was
+thought positive; at other times, too complying. A word, a look,
+or even silence--passive silence--was sufficient to affront this
+susceptible lady. Then she would go on with a string of deductions, or
+rather of imaginations, to prove that there must be something wrong
+in Emilie's disposition; and she would insist upon it, that she knew
+better what was passing, or what would pass, in her mind, than Emilie
+could know herself. Nothing provoked Mrs. Somers more than the want
+of success in any of her active attempts to make others happy. She
+was continually angry with Emilie for not being sufficiently pleased
+or grateful for things which she had not the vanity to suspect were
+intended for her gratification, or which were not calculated to
+contribute to her amusement: this humility, or this difference of
+taste, was always considered as affectation or perversity. One day,
+Mrs. Somers was angry with Emilie because she did not thank her for
+inviting a celebrated singer to her concert; but Emilie had no idea
+that the singer was invited on her account: of this nothing could
+convince Mrs. Somers. Another day, she was excessively displeased
+because Emilie was not so much entertained as she had expected her to
+be at the installation of a knight of the garter.
+
+"Mad. de Coulanges expressed a wish to see the ceremony of the
+installation; and, though I hate such things myself, I took prodigious
+pains to procure tickets, and to have you well placed--"
+
+"Indeed, I was very sensible of it, dear madam."
+
+"May be so, my dear; but you did not look as if you were: you seemed
+tired to death, and said you were sleepy; and ten times repeated,
+'Ah! qu'il fait chaud!' But this is what I am used to--what I have
+experienced all my life. The more pains a person takes to please and
+oblige, the less they can succeed, and the less gratitude they are to
+expect."
+
+Emilie reproached herself, and resolved that, upon the next similar
+trial, she would not complain of being sleepy or tired; and that she
+would take particular care not to say--"Ah! qu'il fait chaud!" A short
+time afterwards she was in a crowded assembly, at the house of a
+friend of Mrs. Somers, a _rout_--a species of entertainment of which
+she had not seen examples in her own country (it appeared to her
+rather a barbarous mode of amusement, to meet in vast crowds, to
+squeeze or to be squeezed, without a possibility of enjoying any
+rational conversation). Emilie was fatigued, and almost fainting,
+from the heat, but she bore it all with a smiling countenance, and
+heroic gaiety; for this night she was determined not to displease
+Mrs. Somers. On their return home, she was rather surprised and
+disappointed to find this lady in a fit of extreme ill-humour.
+
+"I wanted to get away two hours ago," cried she; "but you would not
+understand any of my hints, Mlle. de Coulanges; and when I asked you
+whether you did not find it very hot, you persisted in saying, 'Not in
+the least--not in the least.'"
+
+Mrs. Somers was the more angry upon this occasion, because she
+recollected having formerly reproached Emilie, at the installation,
+for complaining of the heat; and she persuaded herself, that this was
+an instance of perversity in Emilie's temper, and a sly method of
+revenging herself for the past. Nothing could be more improbable, from
+a girl of such a frank, forgiving, sweet disposition; and no one would
+have been so ready to say so as Mrs. Somers in another mood; but the
+moment that she was irritated, she judged without common sense--never
+from general observations, but always from particular instances. It
+was in vain that Emilie disclaimed the motives attributed to her: she
+was obliged to wait the return of her friend's reason, and in the
+mean time to bear her reproaches--she did with infinite patience.
+Unfortunately this patience soon became the source of fresh evils.
+Because Emilie was so gentle, and so ready to acknowledge and to
+believe herself to be in the wrong, Mrs. Somers became convinced that
+she herself was in the right in all her complaints; and she fancied
+that she had great merit in passing over so many defects in one whom
+she had so much obliged, and who professed so much gratitude. Between
+the fits of her ill-humour, she would, however, waken to the full
+sense of Emilie's goodness, and would treat her with particular
+kindness, as if to make amends for the past. Then, if Emilie could
+not immediately resume that easy, gay familiarity of manner, which
+she used to have before experience had taught her the fear of
+offending, Mrs. Somers grew angry again and decided that Emilie had
+not sufficient elevation of soul to understand her character, or to
+forgive the _little infirmities_ of the best of friends. When she was
+under the influence of this suspicion, every thing that Emilie said or
+looked was confirmation strong. Mrs. Somers was apt in conversation to
+throw out general reflections that were meant to apply to particular
+persons; or to speak with one meaning obvious to all the company, and
+another to be understood only by some individual whom she wished to
+reproach. This art, which she had often successfully practised upon
+Emilie, she, for that reason, suspected that Emilie tried upon her.
+And then the utmost ingenuity was employed to torture words into
+strange meanings: she would misinterpret the plainest expressions, or
+attribute to them some double, mysterious signification.
+
+One evening Emilie had been reading a new novel, the merits of which
+were eagerly discussed by the company. Some said that the heroine
+was a fool: others, that she was a mad woman; some, that she was not
+either, but that she acted as if she were both; another party asserted
+that she was every thing that was great and good, and that it was
+impossible to paint in truer colours the passion of love. Mrs. Somers
+declared herself of this opinion; but Emilie, who happened not to be
+present when this declaration was made, on coming into the room and
+joining in the conversation, gave a diametrically opposite judgment:
+she said, that the author had painted the enthusiasm with which the
+heroine yielded to her passion, instead of the violence of the passion
+to which she yielded. The French abbe, to whom Emilie made this
+observation, repeated it triumphantly to Mrs. Somers, who immediately
+changed colour, and replied in a constrained voice, "Certainly that is
+a very apposite remark, and vastly well expressed; and I give Mlle. de
+Coulanges infinite credit for it."
+
+Emilie, who knew every inflection of Mrs. Somers' voice, and every
+turn of her countenance, perceived that these words of praise were
+accompanied with strong feelings of displeasure. She was much
+embarrassed, especially as her friend fixed her eyes upon her whilst
+she blushed; and this made her blush ten times more: she was afraid
+that the company, who were silent, should take notice of her distress;
+and therefore she went on talking very fast about the novel, though
+scarcely knowing what she said. She made sundry blunders in names and
+characters, which were eagerly corrected by the astonished Mad. de
+Coulanges, who could not conceive how any body could forget the
+dramatis personae of the novel of the day. Mrs. Somers, all the time,
+preserved silence, as if she dared not trust herself to speak; but
+her compressed lips showed sufficiently the constraint under which
+she laboured. Whilst every body else went on talking, and helping
+themselves to refreshments which the servants were handing about,
+Mrs. Somers continued leaning on the mantel-piece in a deep reverie,
+pulling her bracelet round and round upon her wrist, till she was
+roused by Mad. de Coulanges, who appealed for judgment upon her new
+method of preparing an orange.
+
+"C'est a la corbeille--Tenez!" cried she, holding it by a slender
+handle of orange-peel; "Tenez! c'est a la corbeille!"
+
+Mrs. Somers, with a forced smile admired the orange-basket; but said,
+that, for her part, her hands were not sufficiently dexterous to
+imitate this fashion: "I," said she, "can only do like the king of
+Prussia and _other people_--squeeze the orange, and throw the peel
+away. By-the-bye, how absurd it was of Voltaire to be angry with the
+king of Prussia for that witty and just apologue!"
+
+"_Just!_" repeated Emilie.
+
+"Just!" reiterated Mrs. Somers, in a harsh voice: "surely you think
+it so. For my part, I like the king the better for avowing his
+principles--all the world act as he did, though few avow it."
+
+"What!" said Emilie, in a low voice, "do not you believe in the
+reality of gratitude?"
+
+"Apparently," cried Mad. de Coulanges, who was still busy with her
+orange, "apparently, madame is a disciple of our Rochefoucault, and
+allows of no principle but self-love. In that case, I shall have as
+bitter quarrels with her as I have with you, mon cher abbe;--for
+Rochefoucault is a man I detest, or rather, I detest his maxims--the
+duke himself, they say, was the most amiable man of his day. Only
+conceive, that such a man should ascribe all our virtues to self-love
+and vanity!"
+
+"And, perhaps," said the abbe, "it was merely vanity that made him say
+so--he wished to write a witty satirical book; but I will lay a wager
+he did not think as ill of human nature as he speaks of it."
+
+"He could hardly speak or think too ill of it," said Mrs. Somers, "if
+he judged of human nature by such speeches as that of the king of
+Prussia about his friend and the orange."
+
+"But," said Emilie, in a timid voice, "would it not be doing poor
+human nature injustice to judge of it by such words as those? I am
+convinced, with M. l'abbe, that some men, for the sake of appearing
+witty, speak more malevolently than they feel; and, perhaps, this was
+the case with the king of Prussia."
+
+"And Mlle. de Coulanges thinks, then," said Mrs. Somers, "that it
+is quite allowable, for the sake of appearing witty, to speak
+malevolently?"
+
+"Dear madam! dear Mrs. Somers!--no!" cried Emilie; "you quite
+misunderstood me."
+
+"Pardon me, I thought you were justifying the king of Prussia,"
+continued Mrs. Somers; "and I do not well see how that can be done
+without allowing--what many people do in practice, though not in
+theory--that it is right, and becoming, and prudent, to sacrifice a
+friend for a bon-mot."
+
+The angry emphasis, and pointed manner, in which Mrs. Somers spoke
+these words, terrified and completely abashed Emilie, who saw that
+something more was meant than met the ear. In her confusion she ran
+over a variety of thoughts; but she could not recollect any thing
+that she had ever said, which merited the name of a bon-mot--and a
+malevolent bon-mot! "Surely what I said about that foolish novel
+cannot have offended Mrs. Somers?--How is it possible!--She cannot
+be so childish as to be angry with me merely for differing with her
+in opinion. What I said might be bad criticism, but it could not be
+malevolent; it referred only to the heroine of a novel. Perhaps the
+author may be a friend of hers, or some person who is in distress,
+and whom she has generously taken under her protection. Why did not I
+think of this before?--I was wrong to give my opinion so decidedly:
+but then my opinion is of so little consequence; assuredly it can
+neither do good nor harm to any author. When Mrs. Somers considers
+this, she will be pacified; and when she is once cool again, she will
+feel that I could not mean to say any thing ill-natured."
+
+The moment Mrs. Somers saw that Emilie was sensible of her
+displeasure, she exerted herself to assume, during the remainder of
+the evening, an extraordinary appearance of gaiety and good-humour.
+Every body shared her smiles and kindness, except the unfortunate
+object of her indignation: she behaved towards Mlle. de Coulanges with
+the most punctilious politeness; but "all the cruel language of the
+eye" was sufficiently expressive of her real feelings. Emilie bore
+with this infirmity of temper with resolute patience: she expected
+that the fit would last only till she could ask for an explanation;
+and she followed Mrs. Somers, as was her usual custom upon such
+occasions, to her room at night, in order to assert her innocence.
+Mrs. Somers walked into her room in a reverie, without perceiving that
+she was followed by Emilie--threw herself into a chair--and gave a
+deep sigh.
+
+"What is the matter, my dear friend?" Emilie began; but, on hearing
+the sound of her voice, Mrs. Somers started up with sudden anger;
+then, constraining herself, she said, "Pardon me, Mlle. de Coulanges,
+if I tell you that I really am tired to-night--body and mind--I wish
+to have rest for both if possible--would you be so very obliging as to
+pull that bell for Masham?--I wish you a very good night.--I hope Mad.
+de Coulanges will have her ass's milk at the proper hour to-morrow--I
+have given particular orders for that purpose."
+
+"Your kindness to mamma, dear Mrs. Somers," said Emilie, "has been
+invariable, and--"
+
+"Spare me, I beseech you, Mlle. de Coulanges, all these _grateful
+speeches_--I really am not prepared to hear them with temper to-night.
+Were you so good as to ring that bell--or will you give me leave to
+ring it myself?"
+
+"If you insist upon it," said Emilie, gently withholding the tassel
+of the bell; "but if you would grant me five minutes--one minute--you
+might perhaps save yourself and me a sleepless night."
+
+Mrs. Somers, incapable of longer commanding her passion, made no
+reply, but snatched the bell-rope, and rang violently--Emilie let go
+the tassel and withdrew. She heard Mrs. Somers say to herself, as
+she left the room--"This is too much--too much--really too
+much!--hypocrisy I cannot endure.--Any thing but hypocrisy!"
+
+These words hurt Emilie more than any thing Mrs. Somers had ever
+said: her own indignation was roused, and she was upon the point
+of returning to vindicate herself; but gratitude, if not prudence,
+conquered her resentment: she recollected her promise to bear with the
+temper of her benefactress; she recollected all Mrs. Somers' kindness
+to her mother; and quietly retired to her room, determining to wait
+till morning for a more favourable opportunity to speak.--After
+passing a restless night, and dreaming the common dream of falling
+down precipices, and the uncommon circumstance of dragging Mrs.
+Somers after her by a bell-rope, she wakened to the confused, painful
+remembrance of all that had passed the preceding evening. She was
+anxious to obtain admittance to Mrs. Somers as soon as she was
+dressed; but Masham informed her that her lady had given particular
+orders that she should "_not be disturbed_." When Mrs. Somers made her
+appearance late at breakfast, there was the same forced good-humour
+in her countenance towards the company in general, and the same
+punctilious politeness towards Emilie, which had before appeared. She
+studiously avoided all opportunity of explaining herself; and every
+attempt of Emilie's towards a reconciliation, either by submissive
+gentleness or friendly familiarity, was disregarded, or noticed with
+cold disdain. Yet all this was visible only to her; for every body
+else observed that Mrs. Somers was in remarkably good spirits, and
+in the most actively obliging humour imaginable. After breakfast she
+proposed and arranged various parties of pleasure: she went with Mad.
+de Coulanges to pay several visits; a large company dined with her;
+and at night she went to a concert. In the midst of these apparent
+amusements, Emilie was made as unhappy as the marked, yet mysterious,
+displeasure of a benefactress could render a person of real
+sensibility. As she did not wish to expose herself to a second
+repulse, she forbore to follow Mrs. Somers to her room at night; but
+she sent her this note by Mrs. Masham.
+
+    "I have done or said something to offend you, dear Mrs. Somers.
+    If you knew how much pain I have felt from your displeasure, I am
+    sure you would explain to me what it can be. Is it possible that
+    my differing in opinion from you about the heroine of the novel
+    can have offended you?--Perhaps the author of the book is a friend
+    of yours, or under your protection. Be assured, that if this be
+    the case, I did not in the least suspect it at the time I made the
+    criticism. Perhaps it was this to which you alluded when you said
+    that the King of Prussia was not the only person who would not
+    hesitate to sacrifice a friend for a bon-mot. What injustice you
+    do me by such an idea! I will not here say one word about my
+    gratitude or my affection, lest you should again reproach me with
+    hypocrisy--any thing else I am able to bear. Pray write, if you
+    will not speak to me.
+
+    "EMILIE."
+
+When Emilie was just falling asleep, Masham came into her room with a
+note in her hand.
+
+"Mademoiselle, I am sorry to waken you; but my mistress thought you
+would not sleep, unless you read this note to-night."
+
+Emilie started up in her bed, and read the following _note_ of four
+pages.
+
+    "Yes I will write, because I am ashamed to speak to you, my dear
+    Emilie. I beg your pardon for pulling the bell-cord so violently
+    from your hand last night--you must have thought me quite
+    ill-bred; and still more, I reproach myself for what I said about
+    _hypocracy_--You have certainly the sweetest and gentlest temper
+    imaginable--would to Heaven I had! But the strength of my feelings
+    absolutely runs away with me. It is the doom of persons of great
+    sensibility to be both unreasonable and unhappy; and often, alas!
+    to involve in their misery those for whom they have the most
+    enthusiastic affection. You see, my dear Emilie, the price you
+    must pay for being my friend; but you have strength of mind
+    joined to a feeling heart, and you will bear with my defects.
+    Dissimulation is not one of them. In spite of all my efforts, I
+    find it is impossible ever to conceal from you any of even my most
+    unreasonable fancies--your note, which is so characteristically
+    frank and artless, has opened my eyes to my own folly. I must show
+    you that, when I am in my senses, I do you justice. You deserve to
+    be treated with perfect openness; therefore, however humiliating
+    the explanation, I will confess to you the real cause of my
+    displeasure. When you spoke of the heroine of this foolish novel,
+    what you said was so applicable to some part of my own history
+    and character, that I could not help suspecting you had heard the
+    facts from a person with whom you spent some hours lately; and I
+    was much hurt by your alluding to them in such a severe and public
+    manner. You will ask me, how I could conceive you to be capable of
+    such unprovoked malevolence: and my answer is, 'I cannot tell;' I
+    can only say, such is the effect of the unfortunate susceptibility
+    of my heart, or, to speak more candidly, of my temper. I confess
+    I cannot, in these particulars, alter my nature. Blame me as much
+    as I blame myself; be as angry as you please, or as you can, my
+    gentle friend: but at last you must pity and forgive me.
+
+    "Now that all this affair is off my mind, I can sleep in peace:
+    and so, I hope, will you, my dear Emilie--Good night! If
+    friends never quarrelled, they would never taste the joys of
+    reconciliation. Believe me,
+
+    "Your ever sincere and affectionate
+
+    "A. SOMERS."
+
+No one tasted the joys of reconciliation more than Emilie; but, after
+reiterated experience, she was inclined to believe that they cannot
+balance the evils of quarrelling. Mrs. Somers was one of those, who
+"confess their faults, but never mend;" and who expect, for this
+gratuitous candour, more applause than others would claim for the real
+merit of reformation. So far did this lady carry her admiration of her
+own candour, that she was actually upon the point of quarrelling with
+Emilie again, the next morning, because she did not seem sufficiently
+sensible of the magnanimity with which she had confessed herself to be
+ill-tempered. These few specimens are sufficient to give an idea of
+this lady's powers of tormenting; but, to form an adequate notion of
+their effect upon Emilie's spirits, we must conceive the same sort
+of provocations to be repeated every day, for several months. Petty
+torments, incessantly repeated, exhaust the most determined patience.
+
+All this time, Mad. de Coulanges went on very smoothly with Mrs.
+Somers; for she had not Emilie's sensibility; and, notwithstanding her
+great quickness, a hundred things might pass, and did pass, before
+her eyes, without her seeing them. She examined no farther than the
+surface; and, provided that there was not any deficiency of those
+_little attentions_ to which she had been accustomed, it never
+occurred to her that a friend could be more or less pleased: she did
+not understand or study physiognomy; a smile of the lips was, to her,
+always a sufficient token of approbation; and, whether it were merely
+conventional, or whether it came from the heart, she never troubled
+herself to inquire. Provided that she saw at dinner the usual
+_couverts_, and that she had a sufficient number of people to converse
+with, or rather to talk to, she was satisfied that every thing was
+right. All the variations in Mrs. Somers' temper were unmarked by
+her, or went under the general head, _vapeurs noirs_. This species
+of ignorance, or confidence, produced the best effects; for as Mrs.
+Somers could not, without passing the obvious bounds of politeness,
+make Mad. de Coulanges sensible of her displeasure, and as she had the
+utmost respect for the countess's opinion of her good breeding, she
+was, to a certain degree, compelled to command her temper. Mad. de
+Coulanges often, without knowing it, tried it terribly, by differing
+from her in taste and judgment, and by supporting her own side of the
+question with all the enthusiastic volubility of the French language.
+Sometimes the English and French music were compared--sometimes the
+English and French painters; and every time the theatre was mentioned,
+Mad. de Coulanges pronounced an eulogium on her favourite French
+actors, and triumphed over the comparison between the elegance of the
+French, and the _grossierete_ of the English taste for comedy.
+
+"Good Heaven!" said she, "your fashionable comedies would be too
+absurd to make the lowest of our audiences at the Boulevards laugh;
+you have excluded sentiment and wit, and what have you in their place?
+Characters out of drawing and out of nature; grotesque figures, such
+as you see in a child's magic lantern. Then you talk of English
+humour--I wish I could understand it; but I cannot be diverted with
+seeing a tailor turned gentleman pricking his father with a needle, or
+a man making grimaces over a jug of sour beer."
+
+Mrs. Somers, piqued perhaps by the justice of some of these
+observations, would dryly answer, that it was impossible for a
+foreigner to comprehend English humour--that she believed the French,
+in particular, were destitute of taste for humour.
+
+Mad. de Coulanges insisted upon it, that the French have humour; and
+Moliere furnished her with many admirable illustrations.
+
+Emilie, in support of her mother, read a passage from that elegant
+writer, M. Suard[1], who has lately attacked, with much ability, the
+pretensions of the English to the exclusive possession of humour.
+
+[Footnote 1: "Il est tres-difficile de se faire une idee nette de ce
+que les Anglais entendent par ce mot; on a tente plusieurs fois sans
+succes d'en donner une definition precise. Congreve, qui assurement a
+mis beaucoup d'_humour_ dans ses comedies, dit, que c'est _une maniere
+singuliere et inevitable de faire ou de dire quelque chose, qui est
+naturelle et propre a un homme seul, et qui distingue ses discours et
+ses actions des discours et des actions de tout autre._
+
+"Cette definition, que nous traduisons litteralement, n'est pas
+lumineuse; elle conviendrait egalement a la maniere dont Alexandre
+parle et agit dans Plutarque, et a celle dont Sancho parle et agit
+dans Cervantes. II y a apparence que l'_humour_ est comme l'esprit, et
+que ceux qui en ont le plus ne savent pas trop bien ce que c'est.
+
+"Nous croyons que ce genre de plaisanterie consiste surtout dans des
+idees ou des tournures originales, qui tiennent plus au caractere qu'a
+l'esprit, et qui semblent echapper a celui qui les produit.
+
+"L'homme d'_humour_ est un plaisant serieux, qui dit des choses
+plaisantes sans avoir l'air de vouloir etre plaisant. Au reste, une
+scene de Vanbrugh ou une satire de Swift, feront mieux sentir ce que
+c'est, que toutes les definitions du monde. Quant a la pretention
+de quelques Anglais sur la possession exclusive de l'_humour_,
+nous pensons que si ce qu'ils entendent par ce mot est un genre de
+plaisanterie qu'on ne trouve ni dans Aristophane, dans Plaute, et
+dans Lucien, chez lea anciens; ni dans l'Arioste, le Berni, le Pulci,
+et tant d'autres, chez les Italiens; ni dans Cervantes, chez les
+Espagnols; ni dans Rabener, chez les Allemands; ni dans le Pantagruel,
+la satire Menippee, le Roman comique, les comedies de Moliere, de
+Dufreny, de Regnard etc., nous ne savons pas ce que c'est, et nous
+ne prendrons pas la peine de la chercher."--_Suard, Melanges de
+Litterature_, vol. iv. p. 366.]
+
+Mrs. Somers then changed her ground, and inveighed against French
+tragedy, and the unnatural tones and attitudes of the French tragic
+actors.
+
+"Your heroes on the French stage," said she, "always look over their
+right shoulders, to express magnanimous disdain; and a lover, whether
+he be Grecian or Roman, Turk, Israelite, or American, must regularly
+show his passion by the pompous emphasis with which he pronounces the
+word MADAME!--a word which must certainly have, for a French audience,
+some magical charm, incomprehensible to other nations."
+
+What was yet more incomprehensible to Mad. de Coulanges, was the
+enthusiasm of the English for that bloody-minded barbarian Shakspeare,
+who is never satisfied till he has strewn the stage with dead bodies;
+who treats his audience like children, that are to be frightened
+out of their wits by ghosts of all sorts and sizes in their winding
+sheets; or by a set of old beggarmen, dressed in women's clothes,
+armed with broomsticks, and dancing and howling out their nonsensical
+song round a black kettle.
+
+Mrs. Somers, smiling as in scorn, would only reply, "Madame la
+comtesse, yours is Voltaire's Shakspeare, not ours.--Have you read
+Mrs. Montagu's essay upon Shakspeare?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then positively you must read it before we say one word more upon the
+subject."
+
+Mad. de Coulanges, though unwilling to give up the pleasure of
+talking, took the book, which Mrs. Somers pressed upon her, with a
+promise to read it through some morning; but, unluckily, she chanced
+to open it towards the end, and happened to see some animadversions
+upon Racine, by which she was so astonished and disgusted that she
+could read no more. She threw down the book, defying _any good critic
+to point out a single bad line in Racine_. "This is a defiance I have
+heard made by men of letters of the highest reputation in Paris,"
+added la comtesse: "have not you, Mons. l'Abbe?"
+
+The abbe, who was madame's common voucher, acceded, with this slight
+emendation--that he had heard numbers defy any critic of good taste to
+point out a flat line in _Phaedre_.
+
+Mrs. Somers would, perhaps, have acknowledged the beauties of Phaedre,
+if she had not been piqued by this defiance; but exaggeration on one
+side produced injustice on the other: and these disputes about Racine
+and Shakspeare were continually renewed, and never ended to the
+satisfaction of either party. Those who will not make allowances for
+national prejudice, and who do not consider how much all our tastes
+are influenced by early education, example, and the accidental
+association of ideas, may dispute for ever without coming to
+any conclusion; especially, if they avoid stating any distinct
+proposition; if each of the combatants sets up a standard of his own,
+as the universal standard of taste; and if, instead of arguments,
+both parties have recourse to wit and ridicule. In these skirmishes,
+however, Mad. de Coulanges, though apparently the most eager for
+victory, never seriously lost her temper--her eagerness was more of
+manner than of mind; after pleading the cause of Racine, as if it were
+a matter of life and death, as if the fate of Europe or the universe
+depended upon it, she would turn to discuss the merits of a riband
+with equal vehemence, or coolly observe that she was hoarse, and that
+she would quit Racine for a better thing--_de l'eau sucre_. Mrs.
+Somers, on the contrary, took the cause of Shakspeare, or any other
+cause that she defended, seriously to heart. The wit or raillery of
+her adversary, if she affected not to be hurt by it at the moment,
+left a sting in her mind which rankled long and sorely. Though she
+often failed to refute the arguments brought against her, yet she
+always rose from the debate precisely of her first opinion; and even
+her silence, which Mad. de Coulanges sometimes mistook for assent or
+conviction, was only the symptom of contemptuous pity--the proof
+that she deemed the understanding of her opponent beneath all fair
+competition with her own. The understanding of Mad. de Coulanges had,
+indeed, in the space of a few months, sunk far below the point of
+mediocrity, in Mrs. Somers' estimation--she had begun by overvaluing,
+and she ended by underrating it. She at first had taken it for granted
+that Mad. de Coulanges possessed a "very superior understanding and
+great strength of mind;" then she discovered that la comtesse was
+"uncommonly superficial, even for a Frenchwoman;" and at last she
+decided, that "really Mad. de Coulanges was a very silly woman."
+
+Mrs. Somers now began to be seriously angry with Emilie for always
+being of her mother's opinion: "It is really, Mlle. de Coulanges,
+carrying your filial affection too far. We cold-hearted English can
+scarcely conceive this sort of fervid passion, which French children
+express about every thing, the merest trifle, that relates to
+_mamma!_--Well! it is an amiable national prejudice; and one cannot
+help wishing that it may never, like other amiable enthusiasms, fail
+in the moment of serious trial."
+
+Emilie, touched to the quick upon a subject nearest her heart, replied
+with a degree of dignity and spirit which surprised Mrs. Somers, who
+had never seen in her any thing but the most submissive gentleness.
+"The affection, whether enthusiastic or not, which we French children
+profess for our parents, has been of late years put to some strong
+trials, and has not been found to fail. In many instances it
+has proved superior to all earthly terrors--to imprisonment--to
+torture--to death--to Robespierre. Daughters have sacrificed
+themselves for their parents.--Oh! if _my_ life could have saved my
+father's!"
+
+Emilie clasped her hands, and looked up to heaven with the unaffected
+expression of filial piety in her countenance. Every body was silent.
+Mrs. Somers was struck with regret--with remorse--for the taunting
+manner in which she had spoken.
+
+"My dearest Emilie, forgive me!" cried she; "I am shocked at what I
+said."
+
+Emilie took Mrs. Somers' hand between hers, and endeavoured to smile.
+Mrs. Somers resolved that she would keep, henceforward, the strictest
+guard upon her own temper; and that she would never more be so
+ungenerous, so barbarous, as to insult one who was so gentle, so
+grateful, so much in her power, and so deserving of her affection.
+These good resolutions, formed in the moment of contrition, were,
+however, soon forgotten: strong emotions of the heart are transient in
+their power; habits of the temper permanent in their influence.--Like
+a child who promises to be always _good_, and forgets its promise
+in an hour, Mrs. Somers soon grew tired of keeping her temper in
+subjection. It did not, indeed, break out immediately towards
+Emilie; but, in her conversations with Mad. de Coulanges, the same
+feelings of irritation and contempt recurred; and Emilie, who was a
+clear-sighted bystander, suffered continual uneasiness upon these
+occasions--uneasiness, which appeared to Mad. de Coulanges perfectly
+causeless, and at which she frequently expressed her astonishment.
+Emilie's prescient kindness often, indeed, "felt the coming storm;"
+while her mother's careless eye saw not, even when the dark cloud
+was just ready to burst over her head. With all the innocent address
+of which she was mistress, Emilie tried to turn the course of the
+conversation whenever it tended towards _dangerous_ subjects of
+discussion; but her mother, far from shunning, would often dare and
+provoke the war; and she would combat long after both parties were
+in the dark, even till her adversary quitted the field of battle,
+exclaiming, "_Let us have peace on any terms, my dear countess!--I
+give up the point to you, Mad. de Coulanges._"
+
+This last phrase Emilie particularly dreaded, as the precursor of
+ill-humour for some succeeding hours. Mrs. Somers at length became so
+conscious of her own inability to conceal her contempt or to command
+her temper, that she was almost as desirous as Emilie could be to
+avoid these arguments; and, the moment the countess prepared for the
+attack, she would recede, with, "Excuse me, Mad. de Coulanges: we had
+better not talk upon these subjects--it is of no use--really of no
+manner of use: let us converse upon other topics--there are subjects
+enough, I hope, upon which we shall always agree."
+
+Emilie was at first rejoiced at this arrangement, but the constraint
+was insupportable to her mother: indeed, the circle of proper subjects
+for conversation contracted daily; for not only the declared offensive
+topics were to be avoided, but innumerable others, bordering on or
+allied to them, were to be shunned with equal care--a degree of
+caution of which the volatile countess was utterly incapable. One
+day, at dinner, she asked the gentleman opposite to her, "How long
+this intolerable rule--of talking only upon subjects where people are
+of the same opinion--had been the fashion, and what time it would
+probably last in England?--If it continue much longer, I must fly
+the country," said she. "I would almost as soon, at this rate, be a
+prisoner in Paris, as in your land of freedom. You value, above all
+things, your liberty of the press--now, to me, liberty of the tongue,
+which is evidently a part, if not the best part, of personal liberty,
+is infinitely more dear. Bon Dieu!--even in l'Abbaye one might talk of
+Racine!"
+
+Mad. de Coulanges spoke this half in jest, half in earnest; but Mrs.
+Somers took it wholly in earnest, and was most seriously offended.
+Her feelings upon the occasion were strongly expressed in a letter
+to a friend, to whom she had, from her infancy, been in the habit of
+confiding all her joys and sorrows--all the histories of her loves
+and hates--of her quarrels and reconciliations. This friend was an
+elderly lady, who, besides possessing superior mental endowments which
+inspired admiration, and a character which commanded high respect, was
+blessed with an uncommonly placid, benevolent temper. This enabled her
+to do what no other human being had ever accomplished--to continue
+in peace and amity, for upwards of thirty years, with Mrs. Somers.
+The following is one of many hundreds of epistolary complaints or
+invectives, which, during the course of that time, this "much enduring
+lady" was doomed to read and answer.
+
+    "TO LADY LITTLETON.
+
+    "For once, my dear friend, I am secure of your sympathizing in my
+    indignation--my long suppressed, just, virtuous indignation--yes,
+    virtuous; for I do hold indignation to be a part of virtue: it
+    is the natural, proper expression of a warm heart and a strong
+    character against the cold-blooded vices of meanness and
+    ingratitude. Would that those to whom I allude could feel it
+    as a punishment!--but no, this is not the sort of punishment
+    they are formed to feel. Nothing but what comes home to their
+    interests--their paltry interests!--their pleasures--their
+    selfish pleasures!--their amusements--their frivolous amusements!
+    can touch souls of such a sort. To this half-formed race of
+    _worldlings_, who are scarce endued with a moral sense, the
+    generous expression of indignation always appears something
+    incomprehensible--ridiculous; or, in their language, _outre!
+    inoui_! With such beings, therefore, I always am--as much as my
+    nature will allow me to be--upon my guard; I keep within what
+    they call the bounds of politeness--their dear politeness! What a
+    system of _simagree_ it is, after all! and how can honest human
+    nature bear to be penned up all its days by the Chinese paling of
+    ceremony, or that French filigree work, _politesse_? English human
+    nature cannot endure this, as _yet_; and I am glad of it--heartily
+    glad of it--Now to the point.
+
+    "You guess that I am going to speak of the Coulanges. Yes, my
+    dear friend, you were quite right in advising me, when I first
+    became acquainted with them, not to give way blindly to my
+    enthusiasm--not to be too generous, or to expect too much
+    gratitude. Gratitude! why should I ever expect to meet with
+    any?--Where I have most deserved, most hoped for it, I have
+    been always most disappointed. My life has been a life of
+    sacrifices!--thankless and fruitless sacrifices! There is not any
+    possible species of sacrifice of interest, pleasure, happiness,
+    which I have not been willing to make--which I have not made--for
+    my friends--for my enemies. Early in life, I gave up a lover I
+    adored to a friend, who afterwards deserted me. I married a man I
+    detested to oblige a mother, who at last refused to see me on her
+    death-bed. What exertions I made for years to win the affection of
+    the husband to whom I was only bound in duty! My generosity was
+    thrown away upon him--he died--I became ambitious--I had means
+    of gratifying my ambition--a splendid alliance was in my power.
+    Ambition is a strong passion as well as love--but I sacrificed
+    it without hesitation to my children--I devoted myself to the
+    education of my two sons, one of whom has never, in any instance,
+    since he became his own master, shown his mother tenderness or
+    affection; and who, on some occasions, has scarcely behaved
+    towards her with the common forms of respect and duty. Despairing,
+    utterly despairing of gratitude from my own family and natural
+    friends, I looked abroad, and endeavoured to form friendships with
+    strangers, in hopes of finding more congenial tempers. I spared
+    nothing to earn attachment--my time, my health, my money. I
+    lavished money so, as even, notwithstanding my large income, to
+    reduce myself frequently to the most straitened and embarrassing
+    circumstances. And by all I have done, by all I have suffered,
+    what have I gained?--not a single friend--except yourself. You, on
+    whom I have never conferred the slightest favour, you are at this
+    instant the only friend upon earth by whom I am really beloved. To
+    you, who know my whole history, I may speak of myself as I have
+    done, Heaven knows! not with vanity, but with deep humiliation and
+    bitterness of heart. The experience of my whole life leaves me
+    only the deplorable conviction that it is impossible to do good,
+    that it is vain to hope even for friendship from those whom we
+    oblige.
+
+    "My last disappointment has been cruel, in proportion to the fond
+    hopes I had formed. I cannot cure myself of this credulous folly.
+    I did form high expectations of happiness from the society and
+    gratitude of this Mad. and Mlle. de Coulanges; but the mother
+    turns out to be a mere frivolous French comtesse, ignorant,
+    vain, and positive--as all ignorant people are; full of national
+    prejudices, which she supports in the most absurd and petulant
+    manner. Possessed with the insanity, common to all Parisians, of
+    thinking that Paris is the whole world, and that nothing can be
+    good taste, or good sense, or good manners, but what is _a-la-mode
+    de Paris_; through all her boasted politeness, you see, even by
+    her mode of praising, that she has a most illiberal contempt for
+    all who are not Parisians--she considers the rest of the world
+    as barbarians. I could give you a thousand instances; but her
+    conversation is really so frivolous, that it is not worth
+    reciting. I bore with it day after day for several months with a
+    patience for which, I am sure, you would have given me credit;
+    and I let her go on eternally with absurd observations upon
+    Shakspeare, and extravagant nonsense about Racine. To avoid
+    disputing with her, I gave up every point--I acquiesced in all she
+    said--and only begged to have peace. Still she was not satisfied.
+    You know there are tempers which never can be contented, do what
+    you will to please them. Mad. de Coulanges actually quarrelled
+    with me for begging that we might have peace; and that we might
+    talk upon subjects where we should not be likely to disagree.
+    This will seem to you incredible; but it is the nature of French
+    caprice: and for this I ought to have been prepared. But, indeed,
+    I never could have prepared myself for the strange manner in which
+    this lady thought proper to manifest her anger this day at dinner,
+    before a large company. She spoke absolutely, notwithstanding all
+    her good-breeding, in the most brutally ungrateful manner; and,
+    after all I have done for her, she represented me as being as
+    great a tyrant as Robespierre, and spoke of my house as a more
+    intolerable prison than any in Paris!!! I only state the fact to
+    you, without making any comments--I never yet saw so thoroughly
+    selfish and unfeeling a human being.
+
+    "The daughter has as far too much as the mother has too little
+    sensibility. Emilie plagues me to death with her fine feelings
+    and her sentimentality, and all her French parade of affection,
+    and superfluity of endearing expressions, which mean nothing,
+    and disgust English ears. She is always fancying that I am angry
+    or displeased with her or with her mother; and then I am to have
+    tears, and explanations, and apologies: she has not a mind large
+    enough to understand my character: and if I were to explain to
+    eternity, she would be as much in the dark as ever. Yet, after
+    all, there is something so ingenuous and affectionate about this
+    girl that I cannot help loving her, and that is what provokes me;
+    for she does not, and never can, feel for me the affection that I
+    have for her. My little hastiness of temper she has not strength
+    of mind sufficient to bear--I see she is dreadfully afraid of
+    me, and more constrained in my company than in that of any other
+    person. Not a visitor comes, however insignificant, but Mlle. de
+    Coulanges seems more at her ease, and converses more with them
+    than with me--she talks to me only of gratitude, and such stuff.
+    She is one of those feeble persons who, wanting confidence in
+    themselves, are continually afraid that they shall not be grateful
+    enough; and so they reproach and torment themselves, and refine
+    and _sentimentalize_, till gratitude becomes burdensome (as it
+    always does to weak minds), and the very idea of a benefactor
+    odious. Mlle. de Coulanges was originally unwilling to accept of
+    any obligation from me: she knew her own character better than I
+    did. I do not deny that she has a heart; but she has no soul: I
+    hope you understand and feel the difference. I rejoice, my dear
+    Lady Littleton, that you are coming to town immediately. I am
+    harassed almost to death between want of feeling and fine feeling.
+    I really long to see you and to talk over all these things. Nobody
+    but you, my dear friend, ever understood me.--Farewell!
+
+    "Yours affectionately,
+
+    "A. SOMERS."
+
+To this long letter, Lady Littleton replied by the following short
+note.
+
+    "I hope to see you the day after to-morrow, my dear friend; in the
+    mean time, do not decide, irrevocably, that Mlle. de Coulanges has
+    no soul.
+
+    "Yours affectionately,
+
+    "L. LITTLETON."
+
+Mrs. Somers was rather disappointed by the calmness of this note; and
+she was most impatient to see Lady Littleton, that she might work up
+her mind to the proper pitch of indignation. She stationed a servant
+at her ladyship's house to give her notice the moment of her arrival
+in town. The instant that she was informed of it she ordered her
+carriage; and the whole of her conversation during this visit was an
+invective against Emilie and Mad. de Coulanges. The next day, Emilie,
+who had heard the most enthusiastic eulogiums upon Lady Littleton,
+expressed much satisfaction on finding that she was come to town; and
+requested Mrs. Somers' permission to accompany her on her next visit.
+The request was rather embarrassing; but Mrs. Somers granted it with
+a sort of constrained civility. It was fortunate for Emilie that she
+was so unsuspicious; for her manner was consequently frank, natural,
+and affectionate; and she appeared to the greatest advantage to Lady
+Littleton. Mrs. Somers threw herself back in the chair and sat silent,
+whilst Emilie, in hopes of pleasing her, conversed with the utmost
+freedom with her friend. The conversation, at last, was interrupted
+by an exclamation from Mrs. Somers, "Good Heavens! my dear Lady
+Littleton, how can you endure this smell of paint? It has made my head
+ache terribly--where does it come from?"
+
+"From my bedchamber," said Lady Littleton. "They have, unluckily,
+misunderstood my orders; and they have freshly painted every one in my
+house."
+
+"Then it is impossible that you should sleep here--I will not allow
+you--it will poison you--it will give you the palsy immediately--it
+is destruction--it is death. You must come home with me directly--I
+insist upon it--But, no," said she, checking herself, with a look of
+sudden disappointment, "no, my dearest friend! I cannot invite you;
+for I have not a bed to offer you."
+
+"Yes, mine--you forget mine--dear Mrs. Somers," cried Emilie; "you
+know I can sleep with mamma."
+
+"By no means, Mlle. de Coulanges; you cannot possibly imagine--"
+
+"I only imagine the truth," said Emilie, "that this arrangement would
+be infinitely more convenient to mamma; I know she likes to have me in
+the room with her. Pray, dear Mrs. Somers, let it be so."
+
+Mrs. Somers made many ceremonious speeches: but Lady Littleton seemed
+so well inclined to accept Emilie's offered room, that she was obliged
+to yield. She was vexed to perceive that Emilie's manners pleased
+Lady Littleton; and, after they returned home, the activity with
+which Emilie moved her books, her drawing-box, work, &c., furnished
+Mrs. Somers with fresh matter for displeasure. At night, when Lady
+Littleton went to take possession of her apartment, and when she
+observed how active and obliging Mlle. de Coulanges had been, Mrs.
+Somers shook her head, and replied, "All this is just a proof to
+me of what I asserted, Lady Littleton--and what I must irrevocably
+assert--that Mlle. de Coulanges has no soul. You are a new
+acquaintance, and I am an old friend. She exerts herself to please
+you; she does not care what I think or what I feel about the matter.
+Now this is just what I call having no soul."
+
+"My dear Mrs. Somers," said Lady Littleton, "be reasonable; and you
+must perceive that Emilie's eagerness to please me arises from her
+regard and gratitude to you: she has, I make no doubt, heard that I
+am your intimate friend, and your praises have disposed her to like
+me.--Is this a proof that she has no soul?"
+
+"My dear Lady Littleton, we will not dispute about it--I see you are
+fascinated, as I was at first. Manner is a prodigious advantage--but I
+own I prefer solid English sincerity. Stay a little: as soon as Mlle.
+de Coulanges thinks herself secure of you, she will completely abandon
+me. I make no doubt that she will complain to you of my bad temper and
+ill usage; and I dare say that she will succeed in prejudicing you
+against me."
+
+"She will succeed only in prejudicing me against herself, if she
+attempt to injure you," said Lady Littleton; "but, till I have some
+plain proof of it, I cannot believe that any person has such a base
+and ungrateful disposition."
+
+Mrs. Somers spent an hour and a quarter in explaining her causes of
+complaint against both mother and daughter; and she at last retired
+much dissatisfied, because her friend was not as angry as she was,
+but persisted in the resolution to see more before she decided.
+After passing a few days in the house with Mlle. de Coulanges, Lady
+Littleton frankly declared to Mrs. Somers that she thought her
+complaints of Emilie's temper quite unreasonable, and that she was
+a most amiable and affectionate girl. Respect for Lady Littleton
+restrained Mrs. Somers from showing the full extent of her vexation;
+she contented herself with repeating, "Mlle. de Coulanges is certainly
+a very amiable young woman--I would by no means prejudice you against
+her--but when you know her as well as I do, you will find that she has
+no soul."
+
+Mrs. Somers, in the course of four-and-twenty hours, found a multitude
+of proofs in support of her opinion; but they were none of them
+absolutely satisfactory to Lady Littleton's judgment. Whilst they were
+debating about her character, Emilie came into the room to show Mrs.
+Somers a _French_ translation, which she had been making, of a pretty
+little English poem, called "The Emigrant's Grave." It was impossible
+to be displeased with the translation, or with the motive from which
+it was attempted; for it was done at the particular request of Mrs.
+Somers. This lady's ingenuity, however, did not fail to discover some
+cause for dissatisfaction. Mlle. de Coulanges had adapted the words to
+a French, and not to an English air.
+
+"This is a favourite air of mamma's," said Emilie, "and I thought that
+she would be pleased by my choosing it."
+
+"Yes," replied Mrs. Somers, in her constrained voice, "I remember
+that the Countess de Coulanges and her friend--or your friend--M. de
+Brisac, were charmed with this air, when you sang it the other night.
+I found fault with it, I believe--but then you had a majority against
+me; and with some people that is sufficient. Few ask themselves _what
+constitutes a majority_--numbers or sense. Judgments and tastes may
+differ in value; but one vote is always as good as another, in the
+opinion of those who are decided merely by numbers."
+
+"I hope that I shall never be one of those," said Emilie. "Upon
+the present occasion I assure you, my dear Mrs. Somers, that I was
+influenced by--"
+
+"Oh! my dear Mlle. de Coulanges," interrupted Mrs. Somers, "you need
+not give yourself the trouble to explain about such a trifle--the
+thing is perfectly clear. And nothing is more natural than that you
+should despise the taste of a friend when put in competition with that
+of a lover."
+
+"Of a lover!"
+
+"Yes, of a lover. Why should Mlle. de Coulanges think it necessary to
+look astonished? But young ladies imagine this sort of dissimulation
+is becoming; and can I hope to meet with an exception, or to find one
+superior to the _finesse_ of her sex?--I beg your pardon, Mlle. de
+Coulanges, I really forgot that Lady Littleton was present when this
+terrible word lover escaped--but I can assure you that frankness is
+not incompatible with _her_ ideas of delicacy."
+
+"You are mistaken, dear Mrs. Somers; indeed you are mistaken," said
+Emilie; "but you are displeased with me now, and I will take a more
+favourable moment to set you right. In the mean time, I will go and
+water the hydrangia, which I forgot, and which I reproached myself for
+forgetting yesterday."
+
+Emilie left the room.
+
+"Are you convinced now, my dear Lady Littleton," cried Mrs. Somers,
+"that this girl has no soul--and very little heart?"
+
+"I am convinced only that she has an excellent temper," said Lady
+Littleton. "I hope you do not think a good temper is incompatible with
+a heart or a soul."
+
+"I will tell you what I think, and what I am sure of," cried Mrs.
+Somers, raising her voice; "that Mlle. de Coulanges will be a constant
+cause of dispute and uneasiness between you and me, Lady Littleton--I
+foresee the end of this. As a return for all I have done for her and
+her mother, she will rob me of the affections of one whom I love and
+esteem, respect and admire--as she well knows--above all other human
+beings. She will rob me of the affections of one who has been my
+friend, my best, my only constant friend, for twenty years!--Oh! why
+am I doomed eternally to be the victim of ingratitude?"
+
+In spite of Lady Littleton's efforts to stop and calm her, Mrs. Somers
+burst out of the room in an agony of passion. She ran up a back
+staircase which led to her dressing-room, but suddenly stopped when
+she came to the landing-place, for she found Emilie watering her
+plants.
+
+"Look, dear Mrs. Somers, this hydrangia is just going to blow; though
+I was so careless as to forget to water it yesterday."
+
+"I beg, Mlle. de Coulanges, that you will not trouble yourself," said
+Mrs. Somers, haughtily. "Surely there are servants enough in this
+house whose business it is to remember these things."
+
+"Yes," said Emilie, "it is their business, but it is my pleasure. You
+must not, indeed you must not, take my watering-pot from me!"
+
+"Pardon me, I must, mademoiselle--you are very condescending and
+polite, and I am very blunt and rude, or whatever you please to think
+me. But the fact is, that I am not to be flattered by what the French
+call _des petites attentions_: they are suited to little minds, but
+not to me. You will never know my character, Mlle. de Coulanges--I am
+not to be pleased by such means."
+
+"Teach me then better means, my dear friend, and do not bid me despair
+of ever pleasing you," said Emilie, throwing her arms round Mrs.
+Somers to detain her.
+
+"Excuse me--I am an Englishwoman, and do not love _embrassades_, which
+mean nothing," said Mrs. Somers, struggling to disengage herself; and
+she rushed suddenly forward, without perceiving that Emilie's foot was
+entangled in her train. Emilie was thrown from the top of the stairs
+to the bottom. Mrs. Somers screamed--Lady Littleton came out of her
+room.
+
+"She is dead!--I have killed her!"--cried Mrs. Somers. Lady Littleton
+raised Emilie from the ground--she was quite stunned by the violence
+of the fall.
+
+"Oh! speak to me! dearest Emilie, speak once more!" said Mrs. Somers.
+
+As soon as Emilie could speak, she assured Mrs. Somers that she should
+be quite well in a few minutes. When she attempted, however, to
+walk, she found she was unable to move, for her ankle was violently
+sprained: she was carried into Lady Littleton's room, and placed upon
+a sofa. She exerted herself to bear the pain she felt, that she might
+not alarm or seem to reproach Mrs. Somers; and she repeatedly blamed
+herself for the awkwardness with which she had occasioned her own
+fall. Mrs. Somers, in the greatest bustle and confusion, called every
+servant in the house about her, sent them different ways for all the
+remedies she had ever heard of for a sprain; then was sure Emilie's
+skull was fractured--asked fifty times in five minutes whether she did
+not feel a certain sickness in her stomach, which was the infallible
+sign of "_something wrong_"--insisted upon her smelling at salts,
+vinegar, and various essences; and made her swallow, or at least
+taste, every variety of drops and cordials. By this time Mad. de
+Coulanges, who was at her toilet, had heard of the accident, and came
+running in half dressed; the hurry of Mrs. Somers' manner, the crowd
+of assistants, the quantity of remedies, the sight of Emilie stretched
+upon a sofa, and the sound of the word _fracture_, which caught her
+ear, had such an effect upon the countess, that she was instantly
+seized with one of her nervous attacks; and Mrs. Somers was astonished
+to see Emilie spring from the sofa to assist her mother. When Mad. de
+Coulanges recovered, Emilie used all her powers of persuasion to calm
+her spirits, laughed at the idea of her skull being fractured, and
+said, that she had only twisted her ankle, which would merely prevent
+her from dancing for a few days. The countess pitied herself for
+having such terribly weak nerves--congratulated herself upon her
+daughter's safety--declared that it was a miracle how she could
+have escaped, in falling down such a narrow staircase--observed,
+that, though the stairs in London were cleaner and better carpeted,
+the staircases of Paris were at least four times as broad, and,
+consequently, a hundred times as safe. She then reminded Emilie of an
+anecdote mentioned by Mad. de Genlis about a princess of France, who,
+when she retired to a convent, complained bitterly of the narrowness
+of the staircase, which, she said, she found a real misfortune to
+be obliged to descend. "Tell me, Emilie, what was the name of the
+princess?"
+
+"The Princess Louisa of France, I believe, mamma," replied Emilie.
+
+Mad. de Coulanges repeated, "Ay, the Princess Louisa of France;" and
+then, well satisfied, returned to finish her toilette.
+
+"You have an excellent memory, Mlle. de Coulanges," said Mrs. Somers,
+looking with an air of pique at Emilie. "I really am rejoiced to see
+you so much yourself again--I thought you were seriously hurt."
+
+"I told you that I was not," said Emilie, forcing a smile.
+
+"Yes, but I was such a fool as to be terrified out of my senses by
+seeing you lie down on the sofa. I might have saved myself and you a
+great deal of trouble. I must have appeared ridiculously officious. I
+saw indeed that I was troublesome; and I seem to be too much for you
+now. I will leave you with Lady Littleton, to explain to her how the
+accident happened. Pray tell the thing just as it was--do not spare
+me, I beg. I do not desire that Lady Littleton, or any friend I have
+upon earth, should think better of me than I deserve. Remember,
+you have my free leave, Mlle. de Coulanges, to speak of me as you
+think--so don't spare me!" cried Mrs. Somers, shutting the door with
+violence as she left the room.
+
+"Lean upon me, my dear," said Lady Littleton, who saw that Emilie
+turned exceedingly pale, and looked towards a chair, as if she wished
+to reach it, but could not.
+
+"I thought," said she, in a faint voice, "that this pain would go
+off, but it is grown more violent." Emilie could say no more; she had
+borne intense pain as long as she was able: and now, quite overcome,
+she leaned back, and fainted. Lady Littleton threw open the window,
+sprinkled water upon Emilie's face, and gave her assistance in the
+kindest manner, without calling any of the servants; she knew that
+the return of Mrs. Somers would do more harm than good. Emilie soon
+recovered her recollection; and, whilst Lady Littleton was rubbing the
+sprained ankle with ether, in hopes of lessening the pain, she asked
+how the accident had happened.--Emilie replied simply, that she had
+entangled her foot in Mrs. Somers' gown. "I understand, from what Mrs.
+Somers hinted when she left the room," said Lady Littleton, "that she
+was somehow in fault in this affair, and that you could blame her if
+you would; but I see that you will not; and I love you the better for
+justifying the good opinion that I had formed of you, Emilie.--But I
+will not talk sentiment to you now--you are in too much pain to relish
+it."
+
+"Not at all," said Emilie: "I feel more pleasure than pain at
+this moment; indeed my ankle does not hurt me now that I am quite
+still--the pleasant cold of the ether has relieved the pain. How kind
+you are to me, Lady Littleton, and how much I am obliged to you for
+judging so favourably of my character!"
+
+"You are not obliged to me, my dear, for I do you only justice."
+
+"Justice is sometimes felt as the greatest possible obligation,
+especially by those who have experienced the reverse.--But," said
+Emilie, checking herself, "let me not blame Mrs. Somers, or incline
+you to blame her. I should do very wrong, indeed, if I were, in return
+for all she has done for us, to cause any jealousies or quarrels
+between her and her best friend. Oh! that is what I most dread! To
+prevent it, I would--it is not polite to say so--but I would, my dear
+Lady Littleton, even withdraw myself from your society. This very day
+you return to your own house. You were so good as to ask me to go
+often to see you: forgive me if I do not avail myself of this kind
+permission. You will know my reasons; and I hope they are such as you
+will approve of."
+
+A servant came in, to say that her ladyship's carriage was at the
+door.
+
+"One word more before you go, my dear Lady Littleton," said Emilie,
+with a supplicating voice and countenance. "Tell me, I beseech
+you--for you have been her friend from her childhood, and must know
+better than any one living--tell me how I can please Mrs. Somers.
+I begin to be afraid that I shall at last be weary of my fruitless
+efforts, and I dread--above all things I dread--that my affection
+for her should be worn out. How painful it would be to sustain the
+continual weight of obligation without being able to feel the pleasure
+of gratitude!"
+
+Lady Littleton was going to reply, but she was prevented by the sudden
+entrance of Mrs. Somers with her face of wrath.
+
+"So, Lady Littleton, you are actually going, I find!--And I have not
+had one moment of your conversation. May I be allowed--if Mlle. de
+Coulanges has finished her mysteries--to say a few words to you?"
+
+"You will give me leave, I am sure, Emilie," said Lady Littleton, "to
+repeat to Mrs. Somers every word that you have said to me?"
+
+"Yes, every word," said Emilie, blushing, yet speaking with firmness.
+"I have no mysteries--I do not wish to conceal from Mrs. Somers any
+thing that I say or think."
+
+Mrs. Somers seized Lady Littleton's arm, and left the room; but when
+she had entire possession of her friend's ear, she had nothing to say,
+or nothing that she would say, except half sentences, reproaching her
+for not staying longer, and insinuating that Emilie would be the cause
+of their separating for ever.--"Now, as you have her permission, will
+you favour me with a repetition of her last conversation?"
+
+"Not in your present humour, my dear," said Lady Littleton: "this
+is not the happy moment to speak reason to you. Adieu! I give you
+four-and-twenty hours' grace before I declare you a bankrupt in
+temper. You shall hear from me to-morrow; for, on some subjects, I
+have always found it better to write than to speak to you."
+
+Mrs. Somers continued during the remainder of the day in a desperate
+state of ill-humour, which was increased by finding that Mlle. de
+Coulanges could neither stand nor walk. Mrs. Somers was persuaded that
+Emilie, if she would have exerted herself, could have done both, but
+that she preferred exciting the pity of the whole house; and this, all
+circumstances considered, was a proof of total want of generosity and
+gratitude. The next morning, however, she was alarmed by hearing from
+Mrs. Masham, whom she had sent to attend upon Mlle. de Coulanges, that
+her ankle was violently swelled and inflamed.--Just when the full
+tide of her affections was beginning to flow in Emilie's favour, Mrs.
+Somers received the following letter from Lady Littleton:--
+
+    "Enclosed, I have sent you, as well as I can recollect it, every
+    word of the conversation that passed yesterday between Mlle. de
+    Coulanges and me. If I were less anxious for your happiness,
+    and if I had not so high an opinion of the excellence of your
+    disposition, I should wish, my dear friend, to spare both you and
+    myself the pain of speaking and hearing the truth. But I know that
+    I have preserved your affection many years beyond the usual limits
+    of female friendship, by daring to speak to you with perfect
+    sincerity, and by trusting to the justice of your better self.
+    Perhaps you would rather have a compliment to your generosity than
+    to your justice; but in this I shall not indulge you, because I
+    think you already set too high a value upon generosity. It has
+    been the misfortune of your life, my dear friend, to believe that,
+    by making great sacrifices, and conferring great benefits, you
+    could ensure to yourself, in return, affection and gratitude. You
+    mistake both the nature of obligation and the effect which it
+    produces on the human mind. Obligations may command gratitude, but
+    can never ensure love. If the benefit be of a pecuniary nature, it
+    is necessarily attended with a certain sense of humiliation, which
+    destroys the equality of friendship. Of whatever description the
+    favour may be, it becomes burdensome, if gratitude be expected as
+    a tribute, instead of being accepted as the free-will offering
+    of the heart: 'still paying still to owe' is irksome, even to
+    those who have nothing Satanic in their natures. A person who has
+    received a favour is in a defenceless state with respect to a
+    benefactor; and the benefactor who makes an improper use of the
+    power which gratitude gives becomes an oppressor. I know your
+    generous spirit, and I am fully sensible that no one has a more
+    just idea than you have of the delicacy that ought to be used
+    towards those whom you have obliged; but you must permit me to
+    observe, that your practice is not always conformable to your
+    theory. Temper is doubly necessary to those who love, as you do,
+    to confer favours: it is the duty of a benefactress to command her
+    feelings, and to refrain absolutely from every species of direct
+    or indirect reproach; else her kindness becomes only a source
+    of misery; and even from the benevolence of her disposition she
+    derives the means of giving pain.
+
+    "I have said enough; and I know that you will not be offended. The
+    moment your understanding is convinced and your heart touched,
+    all paltry jealousies and petty irritations subside, and you
+    are always capable of acting in a manner worthy of yourself.
+    Adieu!--May you, my dear friend, preserve the affections of one
+    who feels for you, I am convinced, the most sincere gratitude! You
+    will reap a rich harvest, if you do not, with childish impatience,
+    disturb the seeds that you have sown, to examine whether they are
+    growing.
+
+    "Your faithful friend,
+
+    "L. LITTLETON."
+
+This letter had an immediate and strong effect upon the mind of Mrs.
+Somers: she went directly with it open in her hand to Emilie. "Here,"
+said she, "is the letter of a noble-minded woman, who dares to speak
+truth, painful truth, to her best friend. She does me justice in
+being convinced that I shall not be offended; she does me justice
+in believing that an appeal to my candour and generosity cannot be
+in vain, especially when it is made by her voice. Emilie, you shall
+see that I am worthy to have a sincere friend; you shall see that
+I can even command my temper, when I have what, to my own feelings
+and understanding, appears adequate motive. But, my dear, you are
+in pain--let me look at this ankle--I am absolutely afraid to see
+it!--Good Heavens! how it is swelled!--And I fancied, all yesterday,
+that you could have walked upon it!--And I thought you wanted only
+to excite pity!--My poor child!--I have used you barbarously--most
+barbarously!" cried Mrs. Somers, kneeling down beside the sofa. "And
+can you ever forgive me?--Yes! that sweet smile tells me that you
+can."
+
+"All I ask of you," said Emilie, embracing Mrs. Somers, "is to believe
+that I am grateful, and to continue to make me love you as long as I
+live. This must depend upon you more than upon myself."
+
+"I know it, my dear," said Mrs. Somers. "Be satisfied--I will not
+wear out your affections. You have dealt fairly with me. I love you
+for having the courage to speak as you think.--But now that it is all
+over, I must tell you what it was that displeased me--for I hate half
+reconciliations: I will tell you all that passed in my mind."
+
+"Pray do," said Emilie; "for then I shall know how to avoid
+displeasing you another time."
+
+"No danger of that, my dear. You will never make me angry again; for
+I am sure you will now be as frank towards me as I am towards you. It
+was not your adapting that little poem to a French rather than to an
+English air that displeased me--I am not quite so childish as to be
+offended by such a trifle; but I own I did not like your saying that
+you chose it merely to comply with your mother's taste.--And you will
+acknowledge, Emilie, there was a want of sincerity, a want of candour,
+in your affected look of astonishment, when I mentioned M. de Brisac.
+I do not claim your confidence as a right--God forbid!--But if the
+warmest desire for your happiness, the most affectionate sympathy, can
+merit confidence--But I will not say a word that can imply reproach.
+On the contrary, I will only assure you, that I have penetration
+sufficient always to know your wishes, and activity enough to serve
+you effectually, even without being your confidante. I shall this
+night see a friend who is in power--I will speak to him about M. de
+Brisac: I have hopes that his pension from our government may be
+doubled."
+
+"I wish it may, for his sake," said Emilie; "but certainly not for my
+own."
+
+"Oh! Mlle. de Coulanges!--But I have no right to extort confidence. I
+will not, as I said before, utter a syllable that can imply reproach.
+Let me go on with what I was telling you of my intentions. As soon as
+the pension is doubled, I will speak to Mad. de Coulanges about M. de
+Brisac."
+
+"For Heaven's sake, do not!" interrupted Emilie; "for you would do me
+the greatest possible injury. Mamma would then think it a suitable
+match, and she would wish me to marry him; and nothing could make me
+move unhappy than to be under the necessity of acting contrary to my
+duty--of disobeying and displeasing her for ever--or else of uniting
+myself to M. de Brisac, whom I can neither love nor esteem."
+
+"Is it possible," exclaimed Mrs. Somers, with joyful astonishment, "is
+it possible that I have been under a mistake all this time? My dearest
+Emilie! now you are every thing I first thought you! Indeed, I could
+not think with patience of your making such a match; for M. de Brisac
+is a mere nothing--worse than a mere nothing; a coxcomb, and a peevish
+coxcomb."
+
+"And how could you suspect me of loving such a man?" said Emilie.
+
+"I never thought you loved him, but I thought you would marry him.
+French marriages, you know, according to _l'ancien regime_, in which
+you were brought up, were never supposed to be affairs of the heart,
+but mere alliances of interest, pride, or convenience."
+
+"Yes--_des mariages de convenance_," said Emilie. "We have suffered
+terribly by the revolution; but I owe to it one blessing, which,
+putting what mamma has felt out of the question, I should say has
+overbalanced all our losses: I have escaped--what must have been my
+fate in the ancient order of things--_un mariage de convenance_.
+I must tell you how I escaped by a happy misfortune," continued
+Emilie, suddenly recovering her vivacity of manner. "The family of
+M. de Brisac had settled, with mine, that I was to be la Comtesse de
+Brisac--But we lost our property, and M. le comte his memory. Mamma
+was provoked and indignant--I rejoiced. When I saw how shabbily he
+behaved, could I do otherwise than rejoice at having escaped being
+his wife? M. le Comte de Brisac soon lost his hereditary honours and
+possessions--Heaven forgive me for not pitying him! I was only glad
+mamma now agreed with me that we had nothing to regret. I had hoped
+that we should never have heard more of him: but, lo! here he is again
+in my way with a commission in your English army and a pension from
+your generous king, which make him, amongst poor emigrants, a man of
+consequence. And he has taken it into his head to sigh for me, because
+I laugh at him; and he talks of his sentiments!--sentiments!--he who
+has no principles!--"
+
+"My noble-minded Emilie!" cried Mrs. Somers; "I cannot express to you
+the delight I feel at this explanation. How could I be such an idiot
+as not sooner to see the truth! But I was misled by the solicitude
+that Mad. de Coulanges showed about this M. de Brisac; and I foolishly
+concluded that you and your mother were one. On the contrary, no
+two people can be more different, thank Heaven!--I beg your pardon
+for that thanksgiving--I see it distresses you, my dear Emilie--and
+believe me, I never was less disposed to give you pain--I have made
+you suffer too much already, both in mind and body. This terrible
+ankle--"
+
+"It does not give me any pain," said Emilie, "except when I attempt to
+walk; and it is no great misfortune to be obliged to be quiet for a
+few days."
+
+Mrs. Somers' whole soul was now intent upon the means of making her
+young friend amends for all she had suffered: this last conversation
+had raised her to the highest point both of favour and esteem. Mrs.
+Somers was now revolving in her mind a scheme, which she had formed in
+the first moments of her partiality for Emilie--a scheme of marrying
+her to her son. She had often quarrelled with this son; but she
+persuaded herself that Emilie would make him every thing that was
+amiable and respectable, and that she would form an indissoluble bond
+of family union and felicity. "Then," said she to herself, "Emilie
+will certainly be established according to her mother's satisfaction.
+M. de Brisac cannot possibly stand in the way here; for my son has
+name and fortune, and every thing that Mad. de Coulanges can desire."
+
+Mrs. Somers wrote immediately to summon her son home. In the mean
+time, delighted with this new and grand project, and thinking herself
+sure of success, she neglected, according to her usual custom, the
+"little courtesies of life;" and all Lady Littleton's excellent
+observations upon the nature of gratitude, and the effect produced on
+the mind by obligations, were entirely obliterated from her memory.
+
+Emilie's sprained ankle confined her to the house for some weeks; both
+Mad. de Coulanges and Mrs. Somers began by offering in the most eager
+manner, in competition with each other, to stay at home every evening
+to keep her company; but she found that she could not accept of the
+offer of one without offending the other; she knew that her mother
+would have _les vapeurs noirs_, if she were not in _society_; and
+as she had reason to apprehend that Mrs. Somers could not, with the
+best intentions possible, remain three hours alone, with even a
+dear friend, without finding or making some subject of quarrel, she
+wisely declined all these kind offers. In fact, these were _trifling
+sacrifices_, which it would not have suited Mrs. Somers' temper to
+make: for there was no glory to be gained by them. She regularly came
+every evening, as soon as she was dressed, to pity Emilie--to repeat
+her wish that she might be allowed to stay at home--then to step into
+her carriage, and drive away to spend four hours in company which she
+professed to hate.
+
+Lady Littleton made no complimentary speeches, but every day she
+contrived to spend some time with Emilie; and, by a thousand small but
+kind instances of attention, which asked neither for admiration nor
+gratitude, she contributed to Emilie's daily happiness.
+
+This ready sympathy, and this promptitude to oblige in trifles, became
+extremely agreeable to Mlle. de Coulanges: perhaps from the contrast
+with Mrs. Somers' defects, Lady Littleton's manners pleased her
+peculiarly. She was under no fear of giving offence, so that she could
+speak her sentiments or express her feelings without constraint: and,
+in short, she enjoyed in this lady's society, a degree of tranquillity
+of mind and freedom to which she had long been a stranger. Lady
+Littleton had employed her excellent understanding in studying
+the minute circumstances which tend to make people, of different
+characters and tempers, agree and live happily together; and she
+understood and practised so successfully all the _honest_ arts of
+pleasing, that she rendered herself the centre of union to a large
+circle of relations, many of whom she had converted into friends. This
+she had accomplished without any violent effort, without making any
+splendid sacrifices, but with that calm, gentle, persevering kindness
+of temper, which, when united to good sense, forms the real happiness
+of domestic life, and the true perfection of the female character.
+Those who have not traced the causes of family quarrels would not
+readily guess from what slight circumstances they often originate:
+they arise more frequently from small defects in temper than from
+material faults of character. People who would perhaps sacrifice their
+fortunes or lives for each other cannot, at certain moments, give up
+their will, or command their humour in the slightest degree.
+
+Whilst Emilie was confined by her sprained ankle, she employed herself
+in embroidering and painting various trifles, which she intended
+to offer as _souvenirs_ to her English friends. Amongst these, the
+prettiest was one which she called _the watch of Flora_.[1] It
+was a dial plate for a pendule, on which the hours were marked
+by flowers--by those flowers which open or close their petals at
+particular times of the day. "Linnaeus has enumerated forty-six flowers
+which possess this kind of sensibility; and has marked," as he says,
+"their respective hours of rising and setting." From these forty-six
+Emilie wished to select the most beautiful: she had some difficulty in
+finding such as would suit her purpose, especially as the observations
+made in the botanic gardens of Upsal could not exactly agree with our
+climate. She sometimes applied to Mrs. Somers for assistance; but Mrs.
+Somers repeatedly forgot to borrow for her the botanical books which
+she wanted: this was too small a service for her to remember. She
+was provoked at last by Emilie's reiterated requests, and vexed by
+her own forgetfulness; so that Mlle. de Coulanges at last determined
+not to run the risk of offending, and she reluctantly laid aside her
+dial-plate.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Botanic Garden, canto 2.]
+
+Young people of vivacious and inventive tempers, who know what it is
+to be eagerly intent upon some favourite little project, will give
+Emilie due credit for her forbearance. Lady Littleton, though not a
+young person, could so far sympathize in the pursuits of youth, as to
+feel for Emilie's disappointment. "No," said she, "you must not lay
+aside your watch of Flora; perhaps I can help you to what you want."
+She was indefatigable in the search of books and flowers; and, by
+assisting her in the pursuit of this slight object, she not only
+enabled her to spend many happy hours, but was of the most essential
+service to Emilie. It happened, that one morning, when Lady Littleton
+went to Kew Gardens to search in the hot-houses for some of the
+flowers, and to ascertain their hours of closing, she met with a
+French botanist, who had just arrived from Paris, who came to examine
+the arrangement of Kew Gardens, and to compare it with that of
+the Jardin des Plantes. He paid some deserved compliments to the
+superiority of Kew Gardens; and, with the ease of a Frenchman, he
+entered into conversation with Lady Littleton. As he inquired for
+several French emigrants, she mentioned the name of Mad. de Coulanges,
+and asked whether he knew to whom the property of her family now
+belonged. He said, "that it was still in the possession of that
+_scelerat_ of a steward, who had, by his informations, brought his
+excellent master, le Comte de Coulanges, to the guillotine. But,"
+added the botanist, "if you, madam, are acquainted with any of the
+family, will you give them notice that this wretch is near his end;
+that he has, within a few weeks, had two strokes of apoplexy; and that
+his eldest son by no means resembles him; but is a worthy young man,
+who, to my certain knowledge, is shocked at his father's crimes, and
+who might be prevailed upon, by a reasonable consideration, to restore
+to the family, to whom it originally belonged, the property that
+has been seized. I have more than once, even in the most dangerous
+times, heard him (in confidence) express the strongest attachment to
+the descendant of the good master, who loaded him in his childhood
+with favours. These sentiments he has been, of course, obliged to
+dissemble, and to profess directly the contrary principles: it can
+only be by such means that he can gain possession of the estate, which
+he wishes to restore to the rightful owners. He passes for as great
+a scoundrel as his father: this is not the least of his merits. But,
+madam, you may depend upon the correctness of my information, and of
+my knowledge of his character. I was once, as a man of science, under
+obligation to the late Comte de Coulanges, who gave me the use of his
+library; and most happy should I think myself, if I could by any means
+be instrumental in restoring his descendants to the possession of that
+library."
+
+There was such an air of truth and frankness in the countenance and
+manner of this gentleman, that, notwithstanding the extraordinary
+nature of his information, and the still more extraordinary facility
+with which it was communicated, Lady Littleton could not help
+believing him. He gave her ladyship his address; told her that he
+should return to Paris in a few days; and that he should be happy
+if he could be made, in any manner, useful to Mad. de Coulanges.
+Impatient to impart all this good news to her friends, Lady Littleton
+hastened to Mrs. Somers'; but just as she put her hand on the lock of
+Emilie's door, she recollected Mrs. Somers, and determined to tell
+her the first, that she might have the pleasure of communicating the
+joyful tidings. From her knowledge of the temper of her friend, Lady
+Littleton thought that this would be peculiarly gratifying to her;
+but, contrary to all rational expectation, Mrs. Somers heard the news
+with an air of extreme mortification, which soon turned into anger.
+She got up and walked about the room, whilst Lady Littleton was
+speaking; and, as soon as she had finished her story, exclaimed, "Was
+there ever any thing so provoking!"
+
+She continued walking, deep in reverie, whilst Lady Littleton sat
+looking at her in amazement. Mrs. Somers having once formed the
+_generous_ scheme of enriching Emilie by a marriage with her son, was
+actually disappointed to find that there was a probability that Mlle.
+de Coulanges should recover a fortune which would make her more than a
+suitable match for Mr. Somers. There was another circumstance that was
+still more provoking--this property was likely to be recovered without
+the assistance of Mrs. Somers. There are people who would rather that
+their best friends should miss a piece of good fortune than that they
+should obtain it without their intervention. Mrs. Somers at length
+quieted her own mind by the idea that all Lady Littleton had heard
+might have no foundation in truth.
+
+"I am surprised, my dear friend, that a person of your excellent
+judgment can, for an instant, believe such a strange story as this,"
+said Mrs. Somers. "I assure you, I do not give the slightest credit to
+it; and, in my opinion, it would be much better not to say one word
+about the matter, either to Emilie or Mad. de Coulanges: it will only
+fill their minds with false and absurd hopes. Mad. de Coulanges will
+torment herself and me to death with conjectures and exclamations; and
+we shall hear of nothing but the Hotel de Coulanges, and the Chateau
+de Coulanges, from morning till night; and, after all, I am convinced
+she will never see either of them again."
+
+To this assertion, which Mrs. Somers could support only by
+repeating that it was her conviction--that it was her unalterable
+conviction--Lady Littleton simply replied, that it would be improper
+not to mention what had happened to Mad. de Coulanges, because this
+would deprive her of an opportunity of judging and acting for herself
+in her own affairs. "This French gentleman has offered to carry
+letters, or to do her any service in his power; and we should not be
+justifiable in concealing this: the information may be false, but of
+that Mad. de Coulanges should at least have an opportunity of judging;
+she should see this botanist, and she will recollect whether what he
+says of the count, and his allowing him the use of his library, be
+true or false: from these circumstances we may obtain some farther
+reason to believe or disbelieve him. I should be sorry to excite hopes
+which must end in disappointment; but the chance of good, in this
+case, appears to me far greater than the chance of evil."
+
+"Very well, my dear Lady Littleton," interrupted Mrs. Somers, "you
+will follow your judgment, and I must be allowed to follow mine,
+though I make no doubt that yours is superior. Manage this business as
+you please: I will have nothing to do with it. It is your opinion that
+Mad. de Coulanges and her daughter should hear this wonderfully fine
+story; therefore I beg you will be the relater--I must be excused--for
+my part, I can't give any credit to it--no, not the slightest. But
+your judgment is better than mine, Lady Littleton--you will act as you
+think proper, and manage the whole business yourself--I am sure I wish
+you success with all my heart."
+
+Lady Littleton, by a mixture of firmness and gentleness in her manner,
+so far worked upon the temper of Mrs. Somers, as to prevail upon her
+to believe that the management of the business was not her object; and
+she even persuaded Mrs. Somers to be present when the intelligence
+was communicated to Mad. de Coulanges and Emilie. She could not,
+however, forbear repeating, that she did not believe the story:--this
+incredulity afforded her a plausible pretext for not sympathizing in
+the general joy. Mad. de Coulanges was alternately in ecstasy and in
+despair, as she listened to Lady Littleton or to Mrs. Somers: her
+exclamations would have been much less frequent and violent, if Mrs.
+Somers had not provoked them, by mixing with her hopes a large portion
+of fear. The next day, when she saw the French gentleman, her hopes
+were predominant: for she recollected perfectly having seen this
+gentleman, in former times, at the Hotel de Coulanges; she knew that
+he was _un savant_; and that he had, before the revolution, the
+reputation of being a very worthy man. Mad. de Coulanges, by Lady
+Littleton's advice, determined, however, to be cautious in what she
+wrote to send to France by this gentleman. Emilie took the letters to
+Mrs. Somers, and requested her opinion; but she declined giving any.
+
+"I have nothing to do with the business, Mlle. de Coulanges," said
+she; "you will be guided by the opinion of my Lady Littleton."
+
+Emilie saw that it was in vain to expostulate; she retired in silence,
+much embarrassed as to the answer which she was to give to her mother,
+who was waiting to hear the opinion of Mrs. Somers. Mad. de Coulanges,
+impatient with Emilie, for bringing her only a reference to Lady
+Littleton's opinion, went herself, with what she thought the most
+amiable politeness, to solicit the advice of Mrs. Somers; but she was
+astonished, and absolutely shocked, by the coldness and want of good
+breeding with which this lady persisted in a refusal to have any thing
+to do with the business, or even to read the letters which waited
+for her judgment. The countess opened her large eyes to their utmost
+orbicular extent; and, after a moment's _silence_, the strongest
+possible expression that she could give of amazement, she also
+retired, and returned to Emilie, to demand from her an explanation of
+what she could not understand. The ill-humour of Mrs. Somers, now that
+Mad. de Coulanges was wakened to the perception of it, was not, as
+it had been to poor Emilie, a subject of continual anxiety and pain,
+but merely matter of astonishment and curiosity. She looked upon
+Mrs. Somers as an English _oddity_, as a _lusus naturae_; and she
+alternately asked Emilie to account for these strange appearances, or
+shrugged up her shoulders, and submitted to the impossibility of a
+Frenchwoman's ever understanding such _extravagances_.
+
+"Ah que c'est bizarre! Mais, mon enfant, expliquez moi done tout
+ca--Mais ca ne s'explique point--Certes c'est une Anglaise qui scait
+donner, mais qui ne scait pas vivre.--Voltaire s'y connaissait mieux
+que moi apparemment--et heureusement."
+
+Content with this easy method of settling things, Mad. de Coulanges
+sealed and despatched her letters, appealed no more to Mrs. Somers
+for advice, and, when she saw any extraordinary signs of displeasure,
+repeated to herself--"Ah que c'est bizarre!" And this phrase was
+for some time a quieting charm. But as the anxiety of the countess
+increased, at the time when she expected to receive the decisive
+answer from her steward's son, she talked with incessant and
+uncontrollable volubility of her hopes and fears--her conjectures
+and calculations--and of the Chateau and Hotel de Coulanges; and she
+could not endure to see that Mrs. Somers heard all this with affected
+coldness or real impatience.
+
+"How is this possible, Emilie?" said she. "Here is a woman who would
+give me half her fortune, and who yet seems to wish that I should not
+recover the whole of mine! Here is a woman who would move heaven and
+earth to serve me in her own way; but who, nevertheless, will not
+give me either a word of advice or a look of sympathy, in the most
+important affair and the most anxious moment of my life! But this is
+more than _bizarre_--this is intolerably provoking. For my part, I
+would rather a friend would deny me any thing than sympathy: without
+sympathy, there is no society--there is no living--there is no
+talking. I begin to feel my obligations a burden; and, positively,
+with the first money I receive from my estates, I will relieve
+myself from my pecuniary debt to this generous but incomprehensible
+Englishwoman."
+
+Every day Emilie dreaded the arrival of the post, when her mother
+asked, "Are there any letters from Paris?"--Constantly the answer
+was--"No."--Mrs. Somers' look was triumphant; and Mad. de Coulanges
+applied regularly to her smelling-bottle or her snuff-box to conceal
+her emotion, which Mrs. Somers increased by indirect reflections upon
+the absurdity of those who listen to idle reports, and build castles
+in the air. Having set her opinion in opposition to Lady Littleton's,
+she supported it with a degree of obstinacy, and even acrimony, which
+made her often transgress the bounds of that politeness which she had
+formerly maintained in all her differences with the comtesse.
+
+Mad. de Coulanges could no longer consider her humour as merely
+_bizarre_, she found it _insupportable_; and Mrs. Somers appeared to
+her totally changed, and absolutely odious, now that she was roused by
+her own sufferings to the perception of those evils which Emilie had
+long borne with all the firmness of principle, and all the philosophy
+of gratitude. Not a day passed without her complaining to Emilie of
+some _grossierete_ from Mrs. Somers. Mad. de Coulanges suffered so
+much from irritation and anxiety, that her _vapeurs noirs_ returned
+with tenfold violence. Emilie had loved Mrs. Somers, even when most
+unreasonable towards herself, as long as she behaved with kindness to
+her mother; but now that, instead of a source of pleasure, she became
+the hourly cause of pain to Mad. de Coulanges, Emilie's affection
+could no farther go; and she really began to dislike this lady--to
+dread to see her come into the room--and to tremble at hearing her
+voice. Emilie could judge only by what she saw; and she could not
+divine that Mrs. Somers was occupied, all this time, with the generous
+scheme of marrying her to her son and heir, and of settling upon her
+a large fortune; nor could she guess, that all the ill-humour in Mrs.
+Somers originated in the fear that her friends should be made either
+rich or happy without her assistance. Her son's delaying to return
+home, according to her mandate, had disappointed and vexed her
+extremely. Every day, when the post came in, she inquired for letters
+with almost as much eagerness as Mad. de Coulanges. At length a letter
+came from Mr. Somers, to inform his impatient mother that he should
+certainly be in town the beginning of the ensuing week. Delighted by
+this news, she could not refrain from the temptation of opening her
+whole mind to Emilie; though she had previously resolved not to give
+the slightest intimation of her scheme to any one, not even to Lady
+Littleton, till a definitive answer had been received from Paris,
+respecting the fortune of Mad. de Coulanges. Often, when Mrs.
+Somers was full of some magnanimous design, the merest trifle that
+interrupted the full display of her generosity threw her into a
+passion, even with those whom she was going to serve. So it happened
+in the present instance. She went, with her open letter in her hand,
+to the countess's apartment, where unluckily she found M. de Brisac,
+who was going to read the French newspapers to madame. Mrs. Somers sat
+down beside Emilie, who was painting the last flower of her watch of
+Flora. Mrs. Somers wrote on a slip of paper, "Don't ask M. de Brisac
+to read the papers, for I want to speak to you." She threw down the
+note before Emilie, who was so intent upon what she was about, that
+she did not immediately see it--Mrs. Somers touched her elbow--Emilie
+started, and let fall her brush, which made a blot upon her
+dial-plate.
+
+"Oh! what a pity!--Just as I had finished my work," cried Emilie, "I
+have spoiled it!"
+
+M. de Brisac laid down the newspaper to pour forth compliments of
+condolence.--Mrs. Somers tore the piece of paper as he approached
+the table, and said, with some asperity, "One would think this was a
+matter of life and death, by the terms in which it is deplored."
+
+M. de Brisac, who stood so that Mrs. Somers could not see him,
+shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Mad. de Coulanges, who answered
+him by another look, that plainly said, "This is English politeness!"
+
+Emilie, who saw that her mother was displeased, endeavoured to change
+the course of her thoughts, by begging M. de Brisac to go on with what
+he was reading from the French papers. This was a fresh provocation to
+Mrs. Somers, who forgot that Emilie had not read the words on the slip
+of paper which had been torn; and consequently could not know all Mrs.
+Somers' impatience for his departure. M. de Brisac read, in what this
+lady called his _unemphatic French tone_, paragraph after paragraph,
+and column after column, whilst her anxiety to have him go every
+moment increased. She moulded her son's letter into all manner of
+shapes as she sat in penance. To complete her misfortunes, something
+in the paper put Mad. de Coulanges in mind of former times; and she
+began a long history of the destruction of some fine old tapestry
+hangings in the Chateau de Coulanges, at the beginning of the
+Revolution: this led to endless melancholy reflections; and at length
+tears began to flow from the fine eyes of the countess.
+
+Just at this instant a butterfly flew into the room, and passed by
+Mad. de Coulanges, who was sitting near the open window. "Oh! the
+beautiful butterfly!" cried she, starting up to catch it. "Did you
+ever see such a charming creature? Catch it, M. de Brisac!--Catch it,
+Emilie!--Catch it, Mrs. Somers!"
+
+With the tears yet upon her cheeks, Mad. de Coulanges began the
+chase, and M. de Brisac followed, beating the air with his perfumed
+handkerchief, and the butterfly fluttered round the table at which
+Emilie was standing.
+
+"Eh! M. de Brisac, catch it!--Catch it, Emilie!" repeated her
+mother.--"Catch it, Mrs. Somers, for the love of Heaven!"
+
+"_For the love of Heaven_!" repeated Mrs. Somers, who, immovably
+grave, and sullenly indignant, kept aloof during this chase.
+
+"Ah! pour le coup, papillon, je te tiens!" cried la comtesse, and with
+eager joy she covered it with a glass, as it lighted on the table.
+
+"Mlle. de Coulanges," cried Mrs. Somers, "I acknowledge, now, that I
+was wrong in my criticism of Caroline de Lichteld. I blamed the author
+for representing Caroline, at fifteen, or just when she is going to be
+married, as running after butterflies. I said that, at that age, it
+was too frivolous--out of drawing--out of nature. But I should have
+said only, that it was out of _English nature_.--I stand corrected."
+
+Mad. de Coulanges and M. de Brisac again interchanged looks, which
+expressed "_Est-il possible_!" And la comtesse then, with an unusual
+degree of deliberation and dignity in her manner, walked out of the
+room. Emilie, who saw that her mother was extremely offended, was much
+embarrassed--she went on washing the blot out of her drawing. M. de
+Brisac stood silently looking over her, and Mrs. Somers opposite to
+him, wishing him fairly at the antipodes. M. de Brisac, to break the
+silence, which seemed to him as if it never would be broken, asked
+Mlle. de Coulanges if she had ever seen the stadtholder's fine
+collection of butterflies, and if she did not admire them extremely?
+No, she never had; but she said that she admired extremely the
+generosity the stadtholder had shown in sacrificing, not only his fine
+collection of butterflies, but his most valuable pictures, to save the
+lives of the poor French emigrants, who were under his protection.
+
+At the sound of the word generosity, Mrs. Somers became attentive; and
+Emilie was in hopes that she would recover her temper, and apologize
+to her mother: but at this moment a servant came to tell Mlle. de
+Coulanges that la comtesse wished to speak to her immediately. She
+found her mother in no humour to receive any apology, even if it had
+been offered: nothing could have hurt Mad. de Coulanges more than the
+imputation of being frivolous.
+
+"Frivole!--frivole!--moi frivole!" she repeated, as soon as Emilie
+entered the room. "My dear Emilie! I would not live with this
+Mrs. Somers for the rest of my days, were she to offer me the Pitt
+diamond, or the whole mines of Golconda!--Bon Dieu!--neither money
+nor diamonds, after all, can pay for the want of kindness and
+politeness!--There is Lady Littleton, who has never done us any
+favour, but that of showing us attention and sympathy; I protest I
+love her a million of times better than I can love Mrs. Somers, to
+whom we owe so much. It is in vain, Emilie, to remind me that she is
+our benefactress. I have said that over and over to myself, till I am
+tired, and till I have absolutely lost all sense of the meaning of the
+word. Bitterly do I repent having accepted of such obligations from
+this strange woman; for, as to the idea of regaining our estate, and
+paying my debt to her, I have given up all hopes of it. You see that
+we have no letters from France. I am quite tired out. I am convinced
+that we shall never have any good news from Paris. And I cannot, I
+will not, remain longer in this house. Would you have me submit to be
+treated with disrespect? Mrs. Somers has affronted me before M. de
+Brisac, in a manner that I cannot, that I ought not, to endure--that
+you, Emilie, ought not to wish me to endure. I positively will
+not live upon the bounty of Mrs. Somers. There is but one way of
+extricating ourselves. M. de Brisac--Why do you turn pale, child?--M.
+de Brisac has this morning made me a proposal for you, and the best
+thing we can possibly do is to accept of it."
+
+"The best!--Pray don't say the best!" cried Emilie. "Ah! dear mamma,
+for me the worst! Let me beseech you not to sacrifice my happiness for
+ever by such a marriage!"
+
+"And what other can you expect, Emilie, in your present
+circumstances?"
+
+"None," said Emilie.
+
+"And here is an establishment--at least an independence for you--and
+you call it sacrificing your happiness for ever to accept of it!"
+
+"Yes," said Emilie; "because it is offered to me by one whom I can
+neither love nor esteem. Dearest mamma! can you forget all his former
+meanness of conduct?"
+
+"His present behaviour makes amends for the past," said Mad. de
+Coulanges, "and entitles him to my esteem and to yours, and that is
+sufficient. As to love--well educated girls do not marry for love."
+
+"But they ought not to marry without feeling love, should they?" said
+Emilie.
+
+"Emilie! Emilie!" said her mother, "these are strange ideas that have
+come into the heads of young women since the Revolution. If you had
+remained safe in your convent, I should have heard none of this
+nonsense."
+
+"Perhaps not, mamma," said Emilie, with a deep sigh. "But should I
+have been happier?"
+
+"A fine question, truly!--How can I tell? But this I can ask you--How
+can any girl expect to be happy, who abandons the principles in which
+she was bred up, and forgets her duty to the mother by whom she has
+been educated--the mother, whose pride, whose delight, whose darling,
+she has ever been? Oh, Emilie! this is to me worse than all I have
+ever suffered!"
+
+Mad. de Coulanges burst into a passion of tears, and Emilie stood
+looking at her in silent despair.
+
+"Emilie, you cannot deceive me," cried her mother; "you cannot pretend
+that it is simply your want of esteem for M. de Brisac which renders
+you thus obstinately averse to the match. You are in love with another
+person."
+
+"Not in love," said Emilie, in a faltering voice.
+
+"You cannot deceive me, Emilie--remember all you said to me about the
+stranger who was our fellow prisoner at the Abbaye. You cannot deny
+this, Emilie."
+
+"Nor do I, dear mamma," said Emilie. "I _cannot_ deceive you, indeed
+I _would_ not; and the best proof that I do not wish to deceive
+you--that I never attempted it--is, that I told you all I thought and
+felt about that stranger. I told you that his honourable, brave,
+and generous conduct towards us, when we were in distress, made an
+impression upon my heart--that I preferred him to any person I had
+ever seen--and I told you, my dear mamma, that--"
+
+"You told me too much," interrupted Mad. de Coulanges; "more than
+I wished to hear--more than I will have repeated, Emilie. This is
+romance and nonsense. The man, whoever he was--and Heaven knows who
+he was!--behaved very well, and was a very agreeable person: but what
+then? are you ever likely to see him again? Do you even know his
+birth--his name--his country--or any thing about him, but that he
+was brave and generous?--So are fifty other men, five hundred, five
+thousand, five million, I hope. But is this any reason that you should
+refuse to marry M. de Brisac? Henry the Fourth was brave and generous
+two hundred years ago. That is as much to the purpose. You have as
+much chance of establishing yourself, if you wait for Henry the Fourth
+to come to life again, as if you wait for this nameless nobody of a
+hero--who is perhaps married, after all--who knows!--Really, Emilie,
+this is too absurd!"
+
+"But, dear mamma, I cannot marry one man and love another--love I
+did not quite mean to say. But whilst I prefer another, I cannot, in
+honour, marry M. de Brisac."
+
+"Honour!--Love!--But in France, in my time, who ever heard of a
+young lady's being in love before she was married? You astonish, you
+frighten, you shock me, child! Recollect yourself, Emilie! Misfortune
+may have deprived you of the vast possessions to which you are
+heiress; but do not, therefore, degrade yourself and me by forgetting
+your principles, and all that the representative of the house of
+Coulanges ought to remember. And as for myself--have I no claim upon
+your affections, Emilie?--have not I been a fond mother?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" said Emilie, melting into tears. "Of your kindness I
+think more than of any thing else!--more than of the whole house of
+Coulanges!"
+
+"Do not let me see you in tears, child!" said Mad. de Coulanges, moved
+by Emilie's grief. "Your tears hurt my nerves more even than Mrs.
+Somers' _grossierete_. You must blame Mrs. Somers, not me, for all
+this--her temper drives me to it--I cannot live with her. We have no
+alternative. Emilie, my sweet child! make me happy!--I am miserable in
+this house. Hitherto you have ever been the best of daughters, and you
+shall find me the most indulgent of mothers. One whole month I will
+give you to change your mind, and recollect your duty. At the end
+of that time, I must see you Mad. de Brisac, and in a house of your
+own.--In the house of Mrs. Somers I will not, I cannot longer remain."
+
+Poor Emilie was glad of the reprieve of one month. She retired from
+her mother's presence in silent anguish, and hastened to her own
+apartment, that she might give way to her grief. There she found Mrs.
+Somers waiting for her, seated in an arm-chair, with an open letter in
+her hand.
+
+"Why do you start, Emilie? You look as if you were sorry to find me
+here," cried Mrs. Somers--"IF THAT be the case, Mlle. de Coulanges--"
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Somers! do not begin to quarrel with me at this moment, for
+I shall not be able to bear it--I am sufficiently unhappy already!"
+said Emilie.
+
+"I am extremely sorry that any thing should make you unhappy, Emilie,"
+said Mrs. Somers; "but I think that you had never less reason than at
+this moment to suspect me of an intention of quarrelling with you--I
+came here with a very different design. May I know the cause of your
+distress?"
+
+Emilie hesitated, for she did not know how to explain the cause
+without imputing blame either to Mrs. Somers or to her mother--she
+could only say--"_M. de Brisac_--"
+
+"What!" cried Mrs. Somers, "your mother wants you to marry him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Immediately?"
+
+"In one month."
+
+"And you have consented?"
+
+"No--But--"
+
+"_But_--Good Heavens! Emilie, what weakness of mind there is in that
+_but_--"
+
+"Is it weakness of mind to fear to disobey my mother--to dread to
+offend her for ever--to render her unhappy--and to deprive her,
+perhaps, even of the means of subsistence?"
+
+"_The means of subsistence_! my dear. This phrase, you know, can only
+be a figure of rhetoric," said Mrs. Somers. "Your refusing M. de
+Brisac cannot deprive your mother of the means of subsistence. In the
+first place, she expects to recover her property in France."
+
+"No," said Emilie; "she has given up these hopes--you have persuaded
+her that they are vain."
+
+"Indeed I think them so. But still you must know, my dear, that your
+mother can never be in want of the means of subsistence, nor any
+of the conveniences, and, I may add, luxuries of life, whilst I am
+alive."
+
+Emilie sighed; and when Mrs. Somers urged her more closely, she said,
+"Mamma has not, till lately, been accustomed to live on the bounty of
+others; the sense of dependence produces many painful feelings, and
+renders people more susceptible than perhaps they would be, were they
+on terms of equality."
+
+"To what does all this tend, my dear?" interrupted Mrs. Somers. "Is
+Mad. de Coulanges offended with me?--Is she tired of living with
+me?--Does she wish to quit my house?--And where does she intend to
+go?--Oh! that is a question that I need not ask!--Yes, yes--I have
+long foreseen it--you have arranged it admirably--you go to Lady
+Littleton, I presume?"
+
+"Oh, no!"
+
+"To M. de Brisac?"
+
+"Mamma wishes to go--"
+
+"Then to M. de Brisac, for Heaven's sake, let her go," cried Mrs.
+Somers, bursting into a fit of laughter, which astonished Emilie
+beyond measure. "To M. de Brisac let her go--'tis the best thing she
+can possibly do, my dear; and seriously to tell you the truth, I have
+always thought it would be an excellent match. Since she is so much
+prepossessed in his favour, can she do better than marry him? and, as
+he is so much attached to the house of Coulanges, when he cannot have
+the daughter, can he do better than marry the mother?--Your mother
+does not look too old for him, when she is well rouged; and I am sure,
+if she heard me say so, she would forgive me all the rest--butterfly,
+frivolity, and all inclusive. Permit me, Emilie, to laugh."
+
+"I cannot permit any body to laugh at mamma," said Emilie; "and Mrs.
+Somers is the last person whom I should have supposed would have been
+inclined to laugh, when I told her that I was really unhappy."
+
+"My dear Emilie, I forgive you for being angry, because I never saw
+you angry before; and that is more than you can say for me. You do me
+justice, however, by supposing that I should be the last person to
+laugh when you are in woe, unless I thought--unless I was sure--that I
+could remove the cause, and make you completely happy."
+
+"That, I fear, is impossible," said Emilie: "for mamma's pride and her
+feelings have been so much hurt, that I do not think any apology would
+now calm her mind."
+
+"Apology!--I am not in the least inclined to make any. Can I tell Mad.
+de Coulanges that I do not think her frivolous?--Impossible, indeed,
+my dear! I will do any thing else to oblige you. But I have as much
+pride, and as much feeling, in my own way, as any of the house of
+Coulanges: and if, after all I have done, madame can quarrel with
+me about a butterfly, I must say, not only that she is the most
+frivolous, but the most ungrateful woman upon earth; and, as she
+desires to quit my house, far from attempting to detain her, I can
+only wish that she may accomplish her purpose as soon as possible--as
+soon as it may suit her own convenience. As for you, Emilie, I do not
+suspect you of the ingratitude of wishing to leave me--I can make
+distinctions, even when I have most reason to be angry. I do not blame
+you, my dear--I do not ever ask you to blame your mother. I respect
+your filial piety--I am sure you must think her to blame, but I do not
+desire you to say so. Could any thing be more barbarously selfish than
+the plan of marrying _you_ to this M. de Brisac, that _she_ might have
+an establishment more to her taste than my house has been able to
+afford?"
+
+Emilie attempted, but in vain, to say a few words for her mother. Mrs.
+Somers ran on with her own thoughts.
+
+"And at what a time, at what a cruel time for me, did Mad. de
+Coulanges choose to express her desire to leave my house--at the
+moment when my whole soul was intent upon a scheme for the happiness
+of her daughter! Yes, Emilie, for your happiness!--and, my dear, your
+mother's conduct shall change nothing in my views. You I have always
+found uniformly kind, gentle, grateful--I will say no more--I have
+found in you, Emilie, real magnanimity. I have tried your temper
+much--sometimes too much--but I have always found you proof against
+these petty trials. Your character is suited to mine. I love you, as
+if you were my daughter, and I wish you to be my daughter.--Now you
+know my whole mind, Emilie. My son--my _eldest_ son, I should with
+emphasis say, if I were speaking to Mad. de Coulanges--will be here in
+a few days: read this letter. How happy I shall be if you find him--or
+if you will make him--such as you can entirely approve and love! You
+will have power over him--your influence will do what his mother's
+never could accomplish. But whatever reasons I may have to complain of
+him, this is not the time to state them--you will connect him with me.
+At all events, he is a man of honour and a gentleman; and as he is
+not, thank Heaven! under the debasing necessity of considering fortune
+in the choice of a wife, he is, at least in this respect, worthy of my
+dear and high-minded Emilie."
+
+Mrs. Somers paused, and fixed her eyes eagerly on Emilie, impatient
+for her answer, and already half provoked by not seeing the sudden
+transition of countenance which she had pictured in her imagination.
+With a mixture of dignity and affectionate gratitude in her manner,
+Emilie was beginning to thank Mrs. Somers for the generous kindness
+of her intention; but this susceptible lady interrupted her, and
+exclaimed, "Spare me your thanks, Mlle. de Coulanges, and tell me at
+once what is passing in your mind; for something very extraordinary is
+certainly passing there, which I cannot comprehend. Surely you cannot
+for a moment imagine that your mother will insist upon your now
+accepting of M. de Brisac; or, if she does, surely you would not have
+the weakness to yield. I must have some proof of strength of mind from
+my friends. You must judge for yourself, Emilie, or you are not the
+person I take you for. You will have full opportunity of judging in
+a few days. Will you promise me that you will decide entirely for
+yourself, and that you will keep your mind unbiassed? Will you promise
+me this? And will you speak, at all events, my dear, that I may
+understand you?"
+
+Emilie, who saw that even before she spoke Mrs. Somers was on the
+brink of anger, trembled at the idea of confessing the truth--that her
+heart was already biassed in favour of another: she had, however, the
+courage to explain to her all that passed in her mind. Mrs. Somers
+heard her with inexpressible disappointment. She was silent for some
+minutes. At last she said, in a voice of constrained passion, "Mlle.
+de Coulanges, I have only one question to ask of you--you will reflect
+before you answer it, because on your reply depends the continuance
+or utter dissolution of our friendship--do you, or do you not, think
+proper to refuse my son before you have seen him?"
+
+"Before I have seen Mr. Somers, it surely can be no affront to you
+or to him," said Emilie, "to decline an offer that I cannot accept,
+especially when I give as my reason, that my mind is prepossessed in
+favour of another. With that prepossession, I cannot unite myself to
+your son: I can only express to you my gratitude--my most sincere
+gratitude--for your kind and generous intentions, and my hopes that he
+will find, amongst his own countrywomen, one more suited to him than I
+can be. His fortune is far above--"
+
+"Say no more, I beg, Mlle. de Coulanges--I asked only for a simple
+answer to a plain question. You refuse my son--you refuse to be my
+daughter. I am satisfied--perfectly satisfied. I suppose you have
+arranged to go to Lady Littleton's. I heartily hope that she may be
+able to make her house more agreeable to you than I could render mine.
+Shake hands, Mlle. de Coulanges. You have my best wishes for your
+health and happiness--Here we part."
+
+"Oh! do not let us part in anger!" said Emilie.
+
+"In anger!--not in the least--I never was cooler in my life. You have
+completely cooled me--you have shown me the folly of that warmth of
+friendship which can meet with no return."
+
+"Would it be a suitable return for your warm friendship to deceive
+your son?" said Emilie.
+
+"To deceive me, I think still less suitable!" cried Mrs. Somers.
+
+"And how have I deceived you?"
+
+"You know best. Why was I kept in ignorance till the last moment? Why
+did you never confide your thoughts to me, Emilie? Why did you never
+till now say one word to me of this strange attachment?"
+
+"There was no necessity for speaking till now," said Emilie. "It is a
+subject I never named to any one except to mamma--a subject on which I
+did not think it right to speak to any one but to a parent."
+
+"Your notions of right and wrong, ma'am, differ widely from mine--we
+are not fit to live together. I have no idea of a friend's
+concealing any thing from me: without entire confidence, there is no
+friendship--at least no friendship with me. Pray no tears. I am not
+fond of _scenes_. Nobody ever is that feels much.--Adieu!--Adieu!"
+
+Mrs. Somers hurried out of the room, repeating, "I'll write
+directly--this instant--to Lady Littleton. Mad. de Coulanges shall not
+be kept prisoner in _my_ house." Emilie stood motionless.
+
+In a few minutes Mrs. Somers returned with an unfolded letter, which
+she put into Emilie's passive hand. "Read it, ma'am, I beg--read it. I
+do every thing openly--every thing handsomely, I hope--whatever may be
+my faults."
+
+The letter was written with a rapid hand, which was scarcely legible,
+especially to a foreigner. Emilie, with her eyes full of tears, had no
+chance of deciphering it.
+
+"Do not hurry yourself, ma'am," said Mrs. Somers. "I will leave you my
+letter to show to madame la comtesse, and then you will be so good as
+to despatch it.--Mlle. de Coulanges," cried Mrs. Somers, "you will be
+so obliging as to refrain from mentioning to the countess the foolish
+offer that I made you in my son's name this morning. There is no
+necessity for mortifying my pride any farther--a refusal from you is
+quite decisive--so pray let there be no consultations. As to the rest,
+the blame of our disagreement will of course be thrown upon me."
+
+As Emilie moved towards the door, Mrs. Somers said, "Mlle. de
+Coulanges, I beg pardon for calling you back: but should you ever
+think of this business or of me, hereafter, you will do me the justice
+to remember that I made the proposal to you at a time when I was under
+the firm belief that you would never recover an inch of your estates
+in France."
+
+"And you, dear Mrs. Somers, if you should ever think of me hereafter,"
+said Emilie, "will, I hope, remember that my answer was given under
+the same belief."
+
+With a look which seemed to refuse assent, Mrs. Somers continued, "I
+am as well aware, ma'am, as you, or Mad. de Coulanges, can be, that if
+you should recover your hereditary property, the heiress of the house
+of Coulanges would be a person to whom my son should not presume to
+aspire."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Somers! Is not this cruel mockery--undeserved by
+me--unworthy of you?"
+
+"Mockery!--Ma'am, it is not three days since your mother was so
+positive in her expectations of being in the Hotel de Coulanges before
+next winter, that she was almost in fits because I ventured to differ
+on this point from her and Lady Littleton--Lady Littleton's judgment
+is much better than mine, and has, of course, had its weight--very
+justly--But I insist upon your understanding clearly that it had no
+weight with me in this affair. Whatever you may imagine, I never
+thought of the Coulanges estate."
+
+"Believe me, I never could have imagined that you did. If _I_ could
+suspect Mrs. Somers of interested motives," said Emilie, with emotion
+so great that she could scarcely articulate the words, "I must be an
+unfeeling--an ungrateful idiot!"
+
+"No, not an idiot, Mlle. de Coulanges--nobody can mistake you for an
+idiot: but, as I was going to say, if you inquire, Lady Littleton can
+tell you that I was absolutely provoked when I first heard you had a
+chance of recovering your property--you may smile, ma'am, but it is
+perfectly true. I own I might have been more prudent; but prudence,
+in affairs of the heart, is not one of my virtues: I own, however,
+it would have been more prudent to have refrained from making this
+proposal, till you had received a positive answer from France."
+
+"And why?" said Emilie. "Whatever that answer might have been, surely
+you must be certain that it would not have made any alteration in
+my conduct.--You are silent, Mrs. Somers!--You wound me to the
+heart!--Oh! do me justice!--Justice is all I ask."
+
+"I think that I do you justice--full justice--Mlle. de Coulanges; and
+if it wounds you to the heart, I am sorry for it; but that is not my
+fault."
+
+Emilie's countenance suddenly changed from the expression of
+supplicating tenderness to haughty indignation. "You doubt my
+integrity!" she exclaimed: "then, indeed, Mrs. Somers, it is best that
+we should part!"
+
+Mlle. de Coulanges disappeared, and Mrs. Somers shut herself up in her
+room, where she walked backwards and forwards for above an hour, then
+threw herself upon a sofa, and remained nearly another hour, till Mrs.
+Masham came to say that it was time to dress for dinner. She then
+started up, saying aloud, "I will think no more of these ungrateful
+people."
+
+"They are gone, ma'am," said Mrs. Masham--"gone, and gave no
+vails!--which I don't think _on_, upon my own account, God knows! for
+if millions were offered me, in pocket-pieces, I would not touch one
+from any soul that comes to the house, having enough, and more than
+enough, from my own generous lady, who is the only person I stoop to
+receive from with pleasure. But there are others in the house who
+are accustomed to vails, and, after staying so long, it was a little
+ungenteel to go without so much as offering any one any thing--and to
+go in such a hurry and huff--taking only a French leave, after all!
+I must acknowledge with you, ma'am, that they are the ungratefullest
+people that ever were seen in England. Why, ma'am, I went backwards
+and forwards often enough into their apartments, to try to make out
+the cause of the packings and messages to the washer-woman, that I
+might inform you, but nothing transpired; yet I am certain, in their
+hearts, they are more black and ungrateful than any that ever were
+born; for there!--at the last moment, when even, for old acquaintance
+sake, the tears stood in my eyes, there was Miss Emilie, sitting as
+composedly as a judge, painting a butterfly's wing on some of her
+Frenchifications! Her eyes were red, to do her justice; but whether
+with painting or crying, I can't pretend to be certain. But as to Mad.
+de Coulanges, I can answer for her that the sole thing in nature
+she thought of, in leaving this house, was the bad step of the
+hackney-coach."
+
+"Hackney-coach!" cried Mrs. Somers, with surprise. "Did they go away
+in a hackney-coach?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, much against the countess' stomach, I am sure: I only
+wish you had seen the face she made when the glass would not come up."
+
+"But why did not they take my carriage, or wait for Lady Littleton's?
+They were, it seems, in a violent hurry to be gone," said Mrs. Somers.
+
+"So it seems, indeed, ma'am--no better proof of their being the most
+ungratefullest people in the universe: but so it is, by all accounts,
+with all of their nation--the French having no constant hearts for any
+thing but singing, and dancing, and dressing, and making merry-andrews
+of themselves. Indeed, I own, till to-day, I thought Miss Emilie had
+less of the merry-andrew nature than any of her country; but the
+butterfly has satisfied me that there is no striving against climate
+and natural character, which conquer gratitude and every thing else."
+
+Mrs. Somers sighed, and told Masham that she had said enough upon
+this disagreeable subject. At dinner the subject was renewed by many
+visitors, who, as soon as they found that Mad. and Mlle. de Coulanges
+had left Mrs. Somers, began to find innumerable faults with the French
+in general, and with the countess and her daughter in particular. On
+the chapter of gratitude they were most severe; and Mrs. Somers was
+universally pitied for having so much generosity, and blamed for
+having had so much patience. Every body declared that they foresaw
+how she would be treated; and the exclamations of wonder at Lady
+Littleton's inviting to her house those who had behaved so ill to
+her friend were unceasing. Mrs. Somers all the time denied that she
+had any cause of complaint against either Mad. de Coulanges or her
+daughter; but the company judiciously trusted more to her looks than
+her words. Every thing was said or hinted that could exasperate her
+against her former favourites: for Mad. de Coulanges had made many
+enemies by engrossing an unreasonable share in the conversation; and
+Emilie by attracting too great a portion of attention by her beauty
+and engaging manners. Malice often overshoots the mark: Mrs. Somers
+was at first glad to hear the objects of her indignation abused; but
+at last she began to think the profusion of blame greater than was
+merited, and when she retired to rest at night, and when Masham began
+with "Oh, ma'am! do you know that Mlle. de Coulanges--" Mrs. Somers
+interrupted her, and said, "Masham, I desire to hear nothing more
+about Mlle. de Coulanges: I have heard her and her mother abused,
+without ceasing, these two hours, and that is enough."
+
+"Lord! ma'am, I was not going to abuse them--God forbid! I was just
+going to tell you," cried Masham, "that never was any thing so
+mistaken as all I said before dinner. Just now, ma'am, when I went
+into the little dressing-room, within Mad. de Coulanges' room, and
+happened to open the wardrobe, I was quite struck back with shame at
+my own unjustice: there, ma'am, poor Miss Emilie left something--and
+out of her best things!--to every maid-servant in the house; all
+directed in her own hand, and with a good word for each; and this ring
+for me, which she is kind enough to say is of no value but to put me
+in mind of all the attentions I have shown her and her mother--which,
+I am sure, were scarcely worth noticing, especially at such a time
+when she had enough to do, and her heart full, no doubt, poor
+soul!--There are her little paintings and embroideries, and pretty
+things, that she did when she was confined with her sprain, all laid
+out in order--'tis my astonishment how she found time!--and directed
+to her friends in London, as keep-sakes:--and the very butterfly that
+I was so angry with her for staying to finish, is on something for
+you, ma'am; and here's a packet that was with it, and that nobody saw
+till this minute."
+
+"Give it me!" cried Mrs. Somers. She tore it open, and found, in the
+first place, the pocketbook, full of bank notes, which she had given
+Mad. de Coulanges, with a few polite but haughty lines from the
+countess, saying that only twenty guineas had been used, which she
+hoped, at some future period, to be able to repay. Then came a note
+from Emilie, in which Mrs. Somers found her own letter to Lady
+Littleton. Emilie expressed herself as follows.
+
+    "Many thanks for the enclosed, but we have determined not to go to
+    Lady Littleton's: at least we will take care not to be the cause
+    of quarrel between friends to whom we are so much obliged.--No,
+    dear Mrs. Somers! we do not part in anger. Excuse me, if the last
+    words I said to you were hasty--they were forced from me by a
+    moment of passion--but it is past: all your generosity, all your
+    kindness, the recollection of all that you have done, all that you
+    have wished for my happiness, rush upon my mind; and every other
+    thought, and every other feeling, is forgotten. Would to Heaven
+    that I could express to you my gratitude by actions!--but words,
+    alas! are all that I have in my power--and where shall I find
+    words that can reach your heart? I had better be silent, and trust
+    to time and to you. I know your generous temper--you will soon
+    blame yourself for having judged too severely of Emilie. But
+    do not reproach yourself--do not let this give you a moment's
+    uneasiness: the clouds pass away, and the blue sky remains. Think
+    only--as I ever shall--of your goodness to mamma and to me. Adieu!
+
+    "EMILIE DE COULANGES."
+
+Mrs. Somers was much affected by this letter, and by the information
+that Emilie and her mother had declined taking refuge with Lady
+Littleton, lest they should occasion jealousies between her and her
+friend. Generous people are, of all others, the most touched by
+generosity of sentiment or of action. Mrs. Somers went to bed, enraged
+against herself--but it was now too late.
+
+In the mean time, Emilie and her mother were in an obscure lodging, at
+a haberdasher's near Golden Square. The pride of Mad. de Coulanges,
+at first, supported her even beyond her daughter's expectations; she
+uttered no complaints, but frequently repeated, "Mais nous sommes
+bien ici, tres bien--we cannot expect to have things as well as at
+the Hotel de Coulanges." In a short time she was threatened with fits
+of her _vapeurs noirs_; but Emilie, with the assistance of her whole
+store of French songs, a bird-organ, a lap-dog, and a squirrel,
+belonging to the girl of the house, contrived to avert the danger for
+the present--as to the future, she trembled to think of it. M. de
+Brisac seemed to be continually in her mother's thoughts; and whatever
+occurred, or whatever was the subject of conversation, Mad. de
+Coulanges always found means to end with "_a propos de M. de Brisac_."
+Faithful to her promise, however, which Emilie, with the utmost
+delicacy, recalled to her mind, she declared that she would not give
+M. de Brisac an answer till the end of the month, which she had
+allowed her daughter for reflection, and that, till that period,
+she would not even let him know where they were to be found. Emilie
+thought that the time went very fast, and her mother evidently
+rejoiced at the idea that the month would soon be at an end. Emilie
+endeavoured, with all her skill, to demonstrate to her mother that
+it would be possible to support themselves, by her industry and
+ingenuity, without this marriage; and to this, Mad. de Coulanges at
+first replied, "Try, and you will soon be tired, child." Emilie's
+spirits rose on receiving this permission: she began by copying music
+for a music-shop in the neighbourhood; and her mother saw, with
+astonishment, that she persevered in her design, and that no fatigue
+or discouraging circumstances could vanquish her resolution.
+
+"Good Heavens! my child," said she, "you will wear yourself to a
+skeleton with copying music, and with painting, and embroidery,
+besides stooping so many hours over that tambour frame. My dear, how
+can you bear all this?"
+
+"How!--Oh! dear mamma!" said Emilie, "there is no great difficulty in
+all this to me--the difficulty, the impossibility would be, to live
+happily with a man I despise."
+
+"I wish," cried Mad. de Coulanges, "I wish to all the saints, that
+that hero of yours, that fellow-prisoner of ours at the Abbaye, with
+his humanity, and his generosity, and his courage, and all his fine
+qualities, had kept out of your way, Emilie: I wish he were fairly at
+the bottom of the Black Sea."
+
+"But you forget that he was the means of obtaining your liberty,
+mamma."
+
+"I wish I could forget it--I am always doomed to be obliged to those
+whom I cannot love. But, after all, you might as well think of the
+khan of Tartary as of this man, whom we shall never hear of more.
+Marry M. de Brisac, like a reasonable creature, and do not let me see
+you bending, as you do, for ever, over a tambour frame, wasting your
+fine eyes and spoiling your charming shape."
+
+"But, mamma," said Emilie, "would it not be much worse to marry one
+man, and like another?"
+
+"For mercy's sake! say something new to me, Emilie; at all events, I
+have heard this a hundred times."
+
+"The simple truth, alas!" said Emilie, "must always be the same: I
+wish I could put it in any new light that would please you, dear
+mamma."
+
+"It never can please me, child," cried Mad. de Coulanges, angrily;
+"nor can you please me, either, as you are going on. Fine heroism,
+truly!--you will sacrifice your duty and your mother to your obstinacy
+in an idle fancy. But, remember, the last days of the month are at
+hand--longer I will not listen to such provoking nonsense--it has half
+killed me already."
+
+Neither lap-dog, squirrel, bird-organ, nor Emilie's whole stock of
+French songs, could longer support the vivacity of Mad. de Coulanges;
+for some days she had passed the time in watching and listening to the
+London cries, as she sat at her window: the figures and sounds in this
+busy part of the town were quite new to her; and, whilst the novelty
+lasted, she was, like a child, good-humoured and full of exclamations.
+The want of some one to listen to these exclamations was an
+insupportable evil; she complained terribly of her daughter's silence,
+whilst she was attending to her different employments. This want of
+conversation, and of all the luxuries she enjoyed at the house of Mrs.
+Somers, her anger against that lady, her loss of all hope of hearing
+from France, and her fear that Emilie would at last absolutely refuse
+to obey and marry M. de Brisac, all together operated so powerfully
+upon Mad. de Coulanges, that she really felt sick, and kept her bed.
+Emilie now confined herself to her mother's room, and attended her
+with the most affectionate care, and with a degree of anxiety, which
+those only can comprehend who have believed themselves to be the cause
+of the illness of a friend--of a parent. Mad. de Coulanges would
+sometimes reply, when her daughter asked her if such or such a thing
+had done her good, "No, my child, nothing will do me good but your
+obedience, which you refuse me--perhaps on my deathbed."
+
+Though Emilie did not apprehend that her mother was in any immediate
+danger, yet these continual fits of low spirits and nervous attacks
+excited much alarm. Emilie's reflections on her own helpless situation
+contributed to magnify her fears: she considered that she was a
+stranger, a foreigner, without friends, without credit, almost without
+money, and deprived, by the necessary attendance on her sick mother,
+of all power to earn any by her own exertions. The bodily fatigue
+that she endured, even without any mental anxiety, would have been
+sufficient to wear out the spirits of a more robust person than
+Emilie. She had no human being to assist her but a young girl, a
+servant-maid belonging to the house, who, fortunately, was active and
+good-natured; but her mistress was excessively cross, vulgar, and
+avaricious; avarice, indeed, often seemed to conquer in her the common
+feelings of humanity. Once, whilst Mad. de Coulanges was extremely
+ill, she forced her way into her bedchamber, to insist upon changing
+the counterpane upon the bed, which she said was too good to be
+stained with coffee: another day, when she was angry with Mlle. de
+Coulanges, for having cracked a basin by heating some soup for her
+mother, she declared, in the least ceremonious terms possible, that
+she hated to have any of the French _refugees_ and emigrants in the
+house, for that she was not accustomed to let her lodgings to folk
+that nobody ever came near to visit, and that lived only upon soups
+and salads, and such low stuff; "and who, when they were ill, never so
+much as called in a physician, or even a nurse, but must take up the
+time of people that were not bound to wait upon them."
+
+Mlle. de Coulanges bore all this patiently rather than run the
+hazard of removing to other lodgings whilst her mother was so ill.
+The countess had a prejudice against English physicians, as she
+affirmed that it was impossible that they could understand French
+constitutions, especially hers, which was different from that of any
+other human being, and which, as she said, only one medical man in
+France rightly understood. At last, however, she yielded to the
+persuasions of her daughter, and permitted Emilie to send for a
+physician. When she inquired what he thought of her mother, he said,
+that she was in a nervous fever, and that unless her mind was kept
+free from anxiety he could not answer for her recovery. Mad. de
+Coulanges looked full at her daughter, who was standing at the foot
+of her bed; a mist came before Emilie's eyes, a cold dew covered
+her forehead, and she was forced to hold by the bed-post to support
+herself.
+
+At this instant the door opened, and Lady Littleton appeared. Emilie
+sprang forward, and threw herself into her arms--Mad. de Coulanges
+started up in her bed, exclaiming "Ah Ciel!" and then all were
+silent--except the mistress of the house, who went on making apologies
+about the dirt of her stairs, and its being Friday night. But as she
+at length perceived that not a soul in the room knew a word she was
+saying, she retreated. The physician took leave--and, when they were
+thus left at liberty, Lady Littleton seated herself in the broken
+arm-chair beside the bed, and told Mad. de Coulanges that Mrs. Somers
+had been very unhappy, in consequence of their quarrel; and that she
+had been indefatigable in her inquiries and endeavours to find out the
+place of their retreat; that she had at last given up the search in
+despair. "But," continued Lady Littleton, "it has been my good fortune
+to discover you by means of this flower of Emilie's painting"--(she
+produced a little hand-screen, which Emilie had lately made, and which
+she had sent to be disposed of at the Repository for Ingenious Works).
+"I knew it to be yours, my dear, because it is an exact resemblance
+of one upon your watch of Flora, which was drawn from the flower I
+brought you from Kew Gardens. Now you must not be angry with me for
+finding you out, nor for begging of you to be reconciled to poor Mrs.
+Somers, who has suffered much in your absence--much from the idea of
+what you would endure--and more from her self-reproaches. She has,
+indeed, an unfortunate susceptibility of temper, which makes her
+sometimes forget both politeness and justice: but, as you well know,
+her heart is excellent. Come, you must promise me to meet her at my
+house, as soon as you are able to go out, my dear Mad. de Coulanges."
+
+"I do not know when that will be," replied Mad. de Coulanges, in a
+sick voice: "I was never so ill in my life--and so the physician says.
+But I am revived by seeing Lady Littleton--she is, and ever has been,
+all goodness and politeness to us. I am ashamed that she should see us
+in such a miserable place. Emilie, give me my other night-riband, and
+the wretched little looking-glass."
+
+Mad. de Coulanges sat up and arranged her head-dress. At this moment,
+Lady Littleton took Emilie aside, and put into her hand a letter from
+France!--"I would not speak of it suddenly to your mother, my dear,"
+said she; "but you will find the proper time. I hope it contains good
+news--at present I will have patience. You shall see me again soon;
+and you must, at all events, let me take you from this miserable
+place. Mrs. Somers has been punished enough.--Adieu!--I long to know
+the news from France."
+
+The news from France was such as made the looking-glass drop from the
+hand of Mad. de Coulanges. It was a letter from the son of her old
+steward, to tell her that his father was dead--that he was now in
+possession of all the family fortune, which he was impatient to
+restore to the wife and daughter of his former master and friend.
+
+"Heaven be praised!" exclaimed Mad. de Coulanges, in an ecstasy of
+joy--"Heaven be praised! we shall once more see dear Paris, and the
+Hotel de Coulanges!"
+
+"Heaven be praised!" cried Emilie, "I shall never more see M. de
+Brisac. My mother, I am sure, will no longer wish me to marry him."
+
+"No, in truth," said the countess, "it would now be a most unequal
+match, and one to which he is by no means entitled. How fortunate it
+is that I had not given him my promise!--After all, your aversion to
+him, child, was quite providential. Now you may form the most splendid
+alliance that your heart can desire."
+
+"My heart," said Emilie, sighing, "desires no splendid alliance. But
+had you not better lie down, dear mamma?--You will certainly catch
+cold--and remember, your mind must be kept quiet."
+
+It was impossible to keep her mind quiet; she ran on from one subject
+to another with extravagant volubility; and Emilie was afraid that she
+would, the next day, be quite exhausted; but, on the contrary, after
+talking above half the night, she fell into a sound sleep; and when
+she wakened, after having slept fourteen hours, she declared that she
+would no longer be kept a prisoner in bed. The renovating effects of
+joy and the influence of the imagination were never more strongly
+displayed. "Le malheur passe n'est bon qu'a etre oublie," was la
+comtesse's favourite maxim--and to do her justice, she was as ready to
+forget past quarrels as past misfortunes. She readily complied with
+Emilie's request that she would, as soon as she was able to go out,
+accompany her to Lady Littleton's, that they might meet and be
+reconciled to Mrs. Somers.
+
+"She has the most tormenting temper imaginable," said the countess;
+"and I would not live with her for the universe--Mais d'ailleurs c'est
+la meilleure femme du monde."
+
+If, instead of being the best woman in the world, Mrs. Somers had been
+the worst, and if, instead of being a benefactress, she had been an
+enemy, it would have been all the same thing to the countess; for,
+in this moment, she was, as usual, like a child, a _friend_ to every
+creature of every kind.
+
+Her volubility was interrupted by the arrival of Lady Littleton, who
+came to carry Mad. de Coulanges and Emilie to her house, where, as
+her ladyship said, Mrs. Somers was impatiently waiting for them. Lady
+Littleton had prevented her from coming to this poor lodging-house,
+because she knew that the being seen there would mortify the pride of
+some of the house of Coulanges.
+
+Mrs. Somers was indeed waiting for them with inexpressible impatience.
+The moment she heard their voices in the hall at Lady Littleton's, she
+ran down stairs to meet them; and as she embraced Emilie she could not
+refrain from bursting into tears.
+
+"Tears of joy, these must be," cried Mad. de Coulanges: "we are
+all happy now--perfectly happy--Are not we?--Embrace me, Mrs.
+Somers--Emilie shall not have all your heart--I have some gratitude
+as well as my daughter; and I should have none if I did not love
+you--especially at this moment."
+
+Mad. de Coulanges was, by this time, at the head of the stairs; a
+servant opened the drawing-room door; but something was amiss with the
+strings of her sandals--she would stay to adjust them--and said to
+Emilie, "Allez, allez--entrez."
+
+Emilie obeyed. An instant afterwards Mad. de Coulanges thought she
+heard a sudden cry, either of joy or grief, from Emilie--she hurried
+into the drawing-room.
+
+"Bon Dieu! c'est notre homme de l'Abbaye!" cried she, starting back at
+the sight of a gentleman who had been kneeling at Emilie's feet, and
+who arose as she entered.
+
+"My son!" said Mrs. Somers, eagerly presenting him to Mad. de
+Coulanges--"my son! whom it is in your power to make the happiest or
+the most miserable of men!"
+
+"In my power!--in Emilie's, you mean, I suppose," said the countess,
+smiling. "She is so good a girl that I cannot make her miserable;
+and as for you, Mrs. Somers, the honour of your alliance--and our
+obligations--But then I shall be miserable myself if she does not go
+back with me to the Hotel de Coulanges--Ah! Ciel!--And then poor M.
+de Brisac, he will be miserable, unless, to comfort him, I marry him
+myself."--Half laughing, half crying, Mad. de Coulanges scarcely knew
+what she said or did.
+
+It was some time before she was sufficiently composed to understand
+clearly what was said to her by any person in the room, though she
+asked, half a dozen times, at least, from every one present, an
+explanation of all that had happened.
+
+Lady Littleton was the only person who could give an explanation. She
+had contrived this meeting, and even Mrs. Somers had not foreseen the
+event--she never suspected that her own son was the very person to
+whom Emilie was attached, and that it was for Emilie's sake her son
+had hitherto refused to comply with her earnest desire that he should
+marry and settle in the world. He had no hopes that she would consent
+to his marrying a French girl without fortune, because she formerly
+quarrelled with him for refusing to marry a rich lady of quality, who
+happened to be, at that time, high in her favour. Upon the summons
+home that he received from her, he was alarmed by the apprehension
+that she had some new alliance in view for him, and he resolved,
+before he saw his mother, to trust his secret to Lady Littleton, who
+had always been a mediatrix and peace-maker. He declined telling the
+name of the object of his affections; but, from his description, and
+from many concomitant dates and circumstances, Lady Littleton was led
+to suspect that it might be Emilie de Coulanges. She consequently
+contrived an interview, which she knew must be decisive.
+
+Mad. de Coulanges, whose imagination was now at Paris, felt rather
+disappointed at the idea of her daughter's marrying an Englishman, who
+was neither a count, a marquis, nor even a baron; but Lady Littleton
+at length obtained that consent which she knew would be necessary to
+render Emilie happy, even in following the dictates of her heart, or
+her reason.
+
+Some conversation passed between Lady Littleton and Mrs. Somers about
+a dormant title in the Somers' family, which might be revived. This
+made a wonderful impression on the countess. She yielded, as she did
+every thing else, with a good grace.
+
+History does not say, whether she did or did not console M. de Brisac:
+we are only informed that, immediately after her daughter's marriage,
+she returned to Paris, and gave a splendid ball at her Hotel de
+Coulanges. We are further assured that Mrs. Somers never quarrelled
+with Emilie from the day of her marriage till the day of her
+death--but that is incredible.
+
+1803.
+
+
+
+
+THE MODERN GRISELDA.
+
+A TALE.
+
+
+  "And since in man right reason bears the sway,
+  Let that frail thing, weak woman, have her way."
+
+POPE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+  "Blest as th'immortal gods is he,
+  The youth who fondly sits by thee,
+  Who sees and hears thee all the while,
+  Softly speak and sweetly smile."
+
+
+"Is not this ode set to music, my dear Griselda?" said the happy
+bridegroom to his bride.
+
+"Yes, surely, my dear: did you never hear it?"
+
+"Never; and I am glad of it, for I shall have the pleasure of hearing
+it for the first time from you, my love: will you be so kind as to
+play it for me?"
+
+"Most willingly," said Griselda, with an enchanting smile; "but I am
+afraid that I shall not be able to do it justice," added she, as she
+sat down to her harp, and threw her white arm across the chords.
+
+"Charming! Thank you, my love," said the bridegroom, who had listened
+with enthusiastic devotion.--"Will you let me hear it once more?"
+
+The complaisant bride repeated the strain.
+
+"Thank you, my dear love," repeated her husband. This time he omitted
+the word "_charming_"--she missed it, and, pouting prettily, said,
+
+"I never can play any thing so well the second time as the
+first."--She paused: but as no compliment ensued, she continued, in a
+more pettish tone, "And for that reason, I do hate to be made to play
+any thing twice over."
+
+"I did not know that, my dearest love, or I would not have asked you
+to do it; but I am the more obliged to you for your ready compliance."
+
+"Obliged!--Oh, my dear, I am sure you could not be the least obliged
+to me, for I know I played it horridly: I hate flattery."
+
+"I am convinced of that, my dear, and therefore I never flatter: you
+know I did not say that you played as well the last time as the first,
+did I?"
+
+"No, I did not say you did," cried Griselda, and her colour rose as
+she spoke: she tuned her harp with some precipitation--"This harp is
+terribly out of tune."
+
+"Is it? I did not perceive it."
+
+"Did not you, indeed? I am sorry for that."
+
+"Why so, my dear?"
+
+"Because, my dear, I own that I would rather have had the blame thrown
+on my harp than upon myself."
+
+"Blame? my love!--But I threw no blame either on you or your harp. I
+cannot recollect saying even a syllable that implied blame."
+
+"No, my dear, you did not say a syllable; but in some cases the
+silence of those we love is the worst, the most mortifying species of
+blame."
+
+The tears came into Griselda's beautiful eyes.
+
+"My sweet love," said he, "how can you let such a trifle affect you so
+much?"
+
+"Nothing is a trifle to me which concerns those I love," said
+Griselda.--Her husband kissed away the pearly drops which rolled over
+her vermeil-tinctured cheeks. "My love," said he, "this is having too
+much sensibility."
+
+"Yes, I own I have too much sensibility," said she, "too much--a great
+deal too much, for my own happiness.--Nothing ever can be a trifle to
+me which marks the decline of the affection of those who are most dear
+to me."
+
+The tenderest protestations of undiminished and unalterable affection
+could not for some time reassure this timid sensibility: but at length
+the lady suffered herself to be comforted, and with a languid smile
+said, that she hoped she was mistaken--that her fears were perhaps
+unreasonable--that she prayed to Heaven they might in future prove
+groundless.
+
+A few weeks afterwards her husband unexpectedly met with Mr. Granby,
+a friend, of whose company he was particularly fond: he invited him
+home to dinner, and was talking over past times in all the gaiety
+and innocence of his heart, when suddenly his wife rose and left the
+room.--As her absence appeared to him long, and as he had begged his
+friend to postpone _an excellent story_ till her return, he went to
+her apartment and called "Griselda!--Griselda, my love!"--No Griselda
+answered.--He searched for her in vain in every room in the house:
+at last, in an alcove in the garden, he found the fair dissolved in
+tears.
+
+"Good Heavens! my dear Griselda, what can be the matter?"
+
+A melancholy, not to say sullen, silence was maintained by his dear
+Griselda, till this question had been reiterated in all the possible
+tones of fond solicitude and alarm: at last, in broken sentences, she
+replied that she saw he did not love her--never had loved her; that
+she had now but too much reason to be convinced that all her fears
+were real, not imaginary; that her presentiments, alas! never deceived
+her; that she was the most miserable woman on earth.
+
+Her husband's unfeigned astonishment she seemed to consider as an
+aggravation of her woes, and it was an additional insult to plead
+ignorance of his offence.
+
+If he did not understand her feelings, it was impossible, it was
+needless, to explain them. He must have lost all sympathy with her,
+all tenderness for her, if he did not know what had passed in her
+mind.
+
+The man stood in stupid innocence. Provoked to speak more plainly, the
+lady exclaimed, "Unfeeling, cruel, barbarous man!--Have not you this
+whole day been trying your utmost skill to torment me to death? and,
+proud of your success, now you come to enjoy your triumph."
+
+"Success!--triumph!"
+
+"Yes, triumph!--I see it in your eyes--it is in vain to deny it. All
+this I owe to your friend Mr. Granby. Why he should be my enemy!--I
+who never injured him, or any body living, in thought, word, or
+deed--why he should be my enemy!"--
+
+"Enemy!--My love, this is the strangest fancy! Why should you imagine
+that he is your enemy?"
+
+"He _is_ my enemy--nobody shall ever convince me of the contrary;
+he has wounded me in the tenderest point, and in the basest manner:
+has not he done his utmost, in the most artful, insidious way,--even
+before my face,--to persuade you that you were a thousand times
+happier when you were a bachelor than you are now--than you ever have
+been since you married me?"
+
+"Oh, my dear Griselda, you totally misunderstand him: such a thought
+never entered his mind."
+
+"Pardon me, I know him better than you do."
+
+"But I have known him ever since I was a child."
+
+"That is the very reason you cannot judge of him as well as I can: how
+could you judge of character when you were a child?"
+
+"But now that I am a man--"
+
+"Now that you are a man you are prejudiced in his favour by all the
+associations of your childhood--all those associations," continued the
+fair one, renewing her tears, "all those early associations, which are
+stronger than every other species of affection--all those associations
+which I never _can_ have in your mind, which ever must act against me,
+and which no merit--if I had any merit--no tenderness, no fidelity, no
+fondness of mine, can ever hope to balance in the heart of the man I
+love."
+
+"My dearest Griselda! be reasonable, and do not torment yourself and
+me for no earthly purpose about these associations: really it is
+ridiculous. Come, dry these useless tears, let me beseech you, my
+love. You do not know how much pain they give me, unreasonable as they
+are."
+
+At these words they flowed more bitterly.
+
+"Nay, my love, I conjure you to compose yourself, and return to the
+company: you do not know how long you have been away, and I too. We
+shall be missed; we shall make ourselves ridiculous."
+
+"If it be ridiculous to love, I shall be ridiculous all my life. I am
+sorry you think me so; I knew it would come to this; I must bear it if
+I can," said Griselda; "only be so kind to excuse me from returning
+to the company to-night--indeed I am not fit, I am not able: say that
+I am not well; indeed, my love, you may say so with truth.--Tell
+your friend that I have a terrible head-ache, and that I am gone
+to bed--but not to rest," added she, in a lower and more plaintive
+tone, as she drew her hand from her husband's, and in spite of all
+his entreaties retired to her room with an air of heart-broken
+resignation.
+
+Whoever has had the felicity to be beloved by such a wife as our
+Griselda, must have felt how much the charms of beauty are heightened
+by the anguish of sensibility. Even in the moment when a husband is
+most tormented by her caprices, he feels that there is something so
+amiable, so flattering to his vanity in their source, that he cannot
+complain of the killing pleasure. On the contrary, he grows fonder of
+his dear tormentor; he folds closer to him this pleasing bosom ill.
+
+Griselda perceived the effects, and felt the whole extent of the power
+of sensibility; she had too much prudence, however, at once to wear
+out the excitability of a husband's heart; she knew that the influence
+of tears, potent as it is, might in time cease to be irresistible,
+unless aided by the magic of smiles; she knew the power of contrast
+even in charms; she believed the poets, who certainly understand these
+things, and who assure us that the very existence of love depends on
+this blest vicissitude. Convinced, or seemingly convinced, of the
+folly of that fond melancholy in which she persisted for a week, she
+next appeared all radiant with joy; and she had reason to be delighted
+by the effect which this produced. Her husband, who had not yet been
+long enough her husband to cease to be her lover, had suffered much
+from the obstinacy of her sorrow; his spirits had sunk, he had become
+silent, he had been even seen to stand motionless with his arms
+folded; he was in this attitude when she approached and smiled upon
+him in all her glory. He breathed, he lived, he moved, he spoke.--Not
+the influence of the sun on the statue of Memnon was ever more
+exhilarating.
+
+Let any candid female say, or, if she will not say, imagine, what she
+should have felt at that moment in Griselda's place.--How intoxicating
+to human vanity, to be possessed of such powers of enchantment!--How
+difficult to refrain from their exercise!--How impossible to believe
+in their finite duration!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+  "_Some_ hope a lover by their faults to win,
+  As spots on ermine beautify the skin."
+
+
+When Griselda thought that her husband had long enough enjoyed his new
+existence, and that there was danger of his forgetting the taste of
+sorrow, she changed her tone.--One day, when he had not returned home
+exactly at the appointed minute, she received him with a frown,--such
+as would have made even Mars himself recoil, if Mars could have beheld
+such a frown upon the brow of his Venus.
+
+"Dinner has been kept waiting for you this hour, my dear."
+
+"I am very sorry for it; but why did you wait, my dear? I am really
+very sorry I am so late, but (looking at his watch) it is only half
+past six by me."
+
+"It is seven by me."
+
+They presented their watches to each other; he, in an apologetical,
+she, in a reproachful attitude.
+
+"I rather think you are too fast, my dear," said the gentleman.
+
+"I am very sure you are too slow, my dear," said the lady.
+
+"My watch never loses a minute in the four-and-twenty hours," said he.
+
+"Nor mine a second," said she.
+
+"I have reason to believe I am right, my love," said the husband,
+mildly.
+
+"Reason!" exclaimed the wife, astonished; "what reason can you
+possibly have to believe you are right, when I tell you I am morally
+certain you are wrong, my love?"
+
+"My only reason is, that I set my watch by the sun to-day."
+
+"The sun must be wrong, then," cried the lady, hastily.--"You need not
+laugh; for I know what I am saying--the variation, the declination,
+must be allowed for in computing it with the clock. Now you know
+perfectly well what I mean, though you will not explain it for me,
+because you are conscious I am in the right."
+
+"Well, my dear, if _you_ are conscious of it, that is sufficient. We
+will not dispute any more about such a trifle.--Are they bringing up
+dinner?"
+
+"If they know that you are come in; but I am sure I cannot tell
+whether they do or not.--Pray, my dear Mrs. Nettleby," cried the
+lady, turning to a female friend, and still holding her watch in her
+hand, "what o'clock is it by you? There is nobody in the world hates
+disputing about trifles as much as I do; but I own I do love to
+convince people that I am in the right."
+
+Mrs. Nettleby's watch had stopped. How provoking!--Vexed at having no
+immediate means of convincing people that she was in the right, our
+heroine consoled herself by proceeding to criminate her husband, not
+in this particular instance, where he pleaded guilty, but upon the
+general charge of being always late for dinner, which he strenuously
+denied.
+
+There is something in the species of reproach, which advances thus
+triumphantly from particulars to generals, peculiarly offensive to
+every reasonable and susceptible mind: and there is something in the
+general charge of being always late for dinner, which the punctuality
+of man's nature cannot easily endure, especially if he be hungry.
+We should humbly advise our female friends to forbear exposing a
+husband's patience to this trial, or at least to temper it with much
+fondness, else mischief will infallibly ensue. For the first time
+Griselda saw her husband angry; but she recovered him by saying, in
+a softened tone, "My love, you must be sensible that I can have but
+one reason for being so impatient for your return home.--If I liked
+your company less, I should not complain so much of your want of
+punctuality."
+
+Finding that this speech had the desired effect, it was afterwards
+repeated with variations whenever her husband stayed from home to
+enjoy any species of amusement, or to gratify any of his friends.
+When he betrayed symptoms of impatience under this constraint, the
+expostulations became more urgent, if not more forcible.
+
+"Indeed, my dear, I take it rather unkindly of you that you pay so
+little attention to my feelings--"
+
+"I see I am of no consequence to you _now_; I find every body's
+society is preferred to mine: it was not always so.--Well! it is what
+I might have expected--"
+
+"Heigho!--Heigho!--"
+
+Griselda's sighs were still persuasive, and her husband,
+notwithstanding that he felt the restraints which daily multiplied
+upon his time and upon his personal liberty becoming irksome, had not
+the barbarity to give pain to the woman by whom he was so tenderly
+beloved. He did not consider that in this case, as well as in many
+others, apparent mercy is real cruelty. The more this monopolizing
+humour of his wife's was indulged, the more insatiable it became.
+Every person, every thing but herself, was to be excluded from his
+heart; and when this sole patent for pleasure was granted to her, she
+became rather careless in its exercise, as those are apt to be who
+fear no competitors. In proportion as her endeavours to please abated,
+her expectations of being adored increased: the slightest word of
+blame, the most remote hint that any thing in her conduct, manners, or
+even dress, could be altered for the better, was the signal for battle
+or for tears.
+
+One night she wept for an hour, and debated for two, about an
+alteration in her head-dress, which her husband unluckily happened to
+say made it more becoming. _More becoming_! implied that it was before
+unbecoming. She recollected the time when every thing she wore was
+becoming in his eyes--but that time, alas! was completely past; and
+she only wished that she could forget that it had ever been.
+
+"To have been happy is additional misery."
+
+This misery may appear comic to some people, but it certainly was
+not so to our heroine's unfortunate husband. It was in vain that, in
+mitigation of his offence, he pleaded total want of knowledge in the
+arcana of the toilette, absolute inferiority of taste, and a willing
+submission to the decrees of fashion.
+
+This submission was called indifference--this calmness construed into
+contempt. He stood convicted of having said that the lady's dress was
+unbecoming--she was certain that he thought more than he said, and
+that every thing about her was grown disagreeable to him.
+
+It was in vain he represented that his affection had not been created,
+and could not be annihilated, by such trifles; that it rested on the
+solid basis of esteem.
+
+"Esteem!" cried his wife--"that is the unkindest stroke of all! When a
+man begins to talk of esteem, there is an end of love."
+
+To illustrate this position, the fair one, as well as the disorder of
+her mind would permit, entered into a refined disquisition, full of
+all the metaphysics of gallantry, which proved that love--genuine
+love--is an aethereal essence, a union of souls, regulated by none of
+those formal principles, and founded upon none of those vulgar moral
+qualities on which friendship, and the other connexions of society,
+depend. Far, far above the jurisdiction of reason, true love creates
+perfect sympathy in taste, and an absolute identity of opinion upon
+all subjects, physical, metaphysical, moral, political, and economic.
+After having thus established her theory, her practice was wonderfully
+consistent, and she reasonably expected from her husband the most
+exact conformity to her principles--of course, his five senses and
+his understanding were to be identified with hers. If he saw, heard,
+felt, or understood differently from her, he did not, could not, love
+her. Once she was offended by his liking white better than black; at
+another time she was angry with him for loving the taste of mushrooms.
+One winter she quarrelled with him for not admiring the touch of
+satin, and one summer she was jealous of him for listening to the song
+of a blackbird. Then because he could not prefer to all other odours
+the smell of jessamine, she was ready "to die of a rose in aromatic
+pain." The domain of taste, in the more enlarged sense of the
+word, became a glorious field of battle, and afforded subjects of
+inextinguishable war. Our heroine was accomplished, and knew how to
+make all her accomplishments and her knowledge of use. As she was
+mistress not only of the pencil, but of all "the cant of criticism,"
+had infinite advantages in the wordy war. From the _beau ideal_ to
+the choice of a snuffer-dish, all came within her province, and was
+to be submitted, without appeal, to her instinctive sense of moral
+order.--Happy fruits of knowledge!--Happy those who can thus enlarge
+their intellectual dominion, and can vary eternally the dear delight
+of giving pain. The range of opinion was still more ample than the
+province of taste, affording scope for all the joys of assertion
+and declamation--for the opposing of learned and unlearned
+authorities--for the quoting the opinions of friends--counting voices
+instead of arguments--wondering at the absurdity of those who can be
+of a different way of thinking--appealing to the judgment of the whole
+world--or resting perfectly satisfied with her own. Sometimes the most
+important, sometimes the most trivial, and seemingly uninteresting
+subjects, gave exercise to Griselda's powers; and in all cases being
+entirely of her opinion was the only satisfactory proof of love.
+
+Our heroine knew how, with able generalship, to take advantage of
+time and situation.--Just before the birth of their child, which,
+by-the-bye, was born dead, a dispute arose between the husband
+and wife concerning public and private education, which, from its
+vehemence, alarmed the gentleman into a perfect conviction that he was
+in the wrong. Scarcely had Griselda gained this point, when a question
+arose at the tea-table respecting the Chinese method of making tea. It
+was doubted by some of the company whether it was made in a tea-pot or
+a tea-cup. Griselda gave her opinion loudly for the tea-pot--her lord
+and master inclined to the tea-cup; and as neither of them had been
+in China, they could debate without fear of coming to a conclusion.
+The subject seemed at first insignificant; but the lady's method of
+managing it supplied all deficiencies, and roused all the passions
+of human nature on the one side or the other. Victory hung doubtful;
+but our heroine won the day by taking time into the account.--Her
+adversary was in a hurry to go to meet some person on business, and
+quitted the field of battle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+  "Self-valuing Fancy, highly-crested Pride,
+  Strong sovereign Will, and some desire to chide."
+
+
+"There are," says Dr. Johnson, "a thousand familiar disputes which
+reason can never decide; questions that elude investigation, and make
+logic ridiculous--cases where something must be done, and where
+little can be said.--Wretched would be the pair above all names of
+wretchedness who should be doomed to adjust by reason every morning
+all the detail of a domestic day."
+
+Our heroine made a double advantage of this passage: for she regularly
+reasoned where logic was ridiculous, and could not be prevailed upon
+to listen to reason when it might have been useful.--She substituted
+her _will_ most frequently for arguments, and often opposed it to her
+husband's, in order to give him the merit of sacrificing his wishes.
+When he wanted to read, she suddenly wished to walk; when he wished
+to walk, she was immersed in her studies. When he was busy, she was
+talkative; when he was eager to hear her converse, she was inclined
+to be silent. The company that he liked, she disliked; the public
+amusements that she most frequented were those of which he least
+approved. This species of wilfulness was the strongest proof of her
+solicitude about his good opinion.--She could not bear, she said, that
+he should consider her as a child, who was not able to govern herself.
+She could not believe that a man had confidence in her unless he
+proved it by leaving her at liberty to decide and act for herself.
+
+Sometimes she receded, sometimes she advanced in her claims; but
+without marking the daily ebbs and flows of her humour, it is
+sufficient to observe, that it continually encroached upon her
+husband's indulgence. She soon insisted upon being _consulted_, that
+is, obeyed, in affairs which did not immediately come under the
+cognizance of her sex--politics inclusive. This apparently exorbitant
+love of power was veiled under the most affectionate humility.
+
+"Oh, my love! I know you despise my abilities; you think these things
+above the comprehension of poor women. I know I am but your plaything
+after all: you cannot consider me for a moment as your equal or your
+friend--I see that!--You talk of these things to your friend Mr.
+Granby--I am not worthy to hear them.--Well, I am sure I have no
+ambition, except to possess the confidence of the man I love."
+
+The lady forgot that she had, upon a former occasion, considered
+a profession of esteem from her husband as an insult, and that,
+according to her definition of true love, esteem was incompatible with
+its existence.
+
+Tacitus remarks, that it is common with princes to will
+contradictories; in this characteristic they have the honour to
+resemble some of the fair sex, as well as all spoiled children. Having
+every feasible wish gratified, they are obliged to wish for what
+is impossible, for want of something to desire or to do: they are
+compelled to cry for the moon, or for new worlds to conquer.--Our
+heroine having now attained the summit of human glory and happiness,
+and feeling almost as much ennui as was expressed by the conqueror
+of the world, yawned one morning, as she sat tete-a-tete with her
+husband, and said--
+
+"I wish I knew what was the matter with me this morning.--Why do you
+keep the newspaper all to yourself, my dear?"
+
+"Here it is for you, my dear: I have finished it."
+
+"I humbly thank you for giving it to me when you have done with it--I
+hate stale news.--Is there any thing in the paper? for I cannot be at
+the trouble of hunting it."
+
+"Yes, my dear, there are the marriages of two of our friends--"
+
+"Who? Who?"
+
+"Your friend the Widow Nettleby, to her cousin John Nettleby."
+
+"Mrs. Nettleby! Lord! but why did you tell me?"
+
+"Because you asked me, my dear."
+
+"Oh! but it is a hundred times pleasanter to read the paragraph one's
+self: one loses all the pleasure of the surprise by being told.--Well!
+whose was the other marriage?"
+
+"Oh! my dear, I will not tell you--I will leave you the pleasure of
+the surprise."
+
+"But you see I cannot guess it.--How provoking you are, my dear! Do
+pray tell it me."
+
+"Our friend Mr. Granby."
+
+"Mr. Granby!--Dear! Why did not you make me guess? I should have
+guessed him directly: but why do you call him our friend? I am sure he
+is no friend of mine, nor ever was; I took an aversion to him, as you
+may remember, the very first day I saw him: I am sure he is no friend
+of mine."
+
+"I am sorry for it, my dear; but I hope you will go and see Mrs.
+Granby?"
+
+"Not I, indeed, my dear.--Who was she?"
+
+"Miss Cooke."
+
+"Cooke!--but there are so many Cookes.--Can't you distinguish her any
+way?--Has she no Christian name?"
+
+"Emma, I think--yes, Emma."
+
+"Emma Cooke!--No; it cannot be my friend Emma Cooke--for I am sure she
+was cut out for an old maid."
+
+"This lady seems to me to be cut out for a good wife."
+
+"May be so--I am sure I'll never go to see her--Pray, my dear, how
+came you to see so much of her?"
+
+"I have seen very little of her, my dear: I only saw her two or three
+times before she was married."
+
+"Then, my dear, how could you decide that she is cut out for a good
+wife?--I am sure you could not judge of her by seeing her only two or
+three times, and before she was married."
+
+"Indeed, my love, that is a very just observation."
+
+"I understand that compliment perfectly, and thank you for it, my
+dear.--I must own I can bear any thing better than irony."
+
+"Irony! my dear; I was perfectly in earnest."
+
+"Yes, yes; in earnest--so I perceive--I may naturally be dull of
+apprehension, but my feelings are quick enough: I comprehend you too
+well. Yes--it is impossible to judge of a woman before marriage, or
+to guess what sort of a wife she will make. I presume you speak from
+experience; you have been disappointed yourself, and repent your
+choice."
+
+"My dear, what did I say that was like this? Upon my word I meant no
+such thing; I really was not thinking of you in the least."
+
+"No--you never think of me now: I can easily believe that you were not
+thinking of me in the least."
+
+"But I said that only to prove to you that I could not be thinking ill
+of you, my dear."
+
+"But I would rather that you thought ill of me than that you did not
+think of me at all."
+
+"Well, my dear," said her husband, laughing, "I will even think ill of
+you, if that will please you."
+
+"Do you laugh at me?" cried she, bursting into tears. "When it comes
+to this, I am wretched indeed! Never man laughed at the woman he
+loved! As long as you had the slightest remains of love for me,
+you could not make me an object of derision: ridicule and love are
+incompatible, absolutely incompatible. Well, I have done my best, my
+very best, to make you happy, but in vain. I see I am not _cut out_ to
+be a good wife. Happy, happy Mrs. Granby!"
+
+"Happy I hope sincerely that she will be with my friend; but my
+happiness must depend on you, my love; so, for my sake, if not for
+your own, be composed, and do not torment yourself with such fancies."
+
+"I do wonder," cried our heroine, starting from her seat, "whether
+this Mrs. Granby is really that Miss Emma Cooke. I'll go and see her
+directly; see her I must."
+
+"I am heartily glad of it, my dear; for I am sure a visit to his wife
+will give my friend Granby real pleasure."
+
+"I promise you, my dear, I do not go to give him pleasure, or you
+either; but to satisfy my own--_curiosity_."
+
+The rudeness of this speech would have been intolerable to her husband
+if it had not been for a certain hesitation in the emphasis with which
+she pronounced the word curiosity, which left him in doubt as to her
+real motive.
+
+Jealousy is sometimes thought to be a proof of love; and, in
+this point of view, must not all its caprices, absurdities, and
+extravagances, be graceful, amiable, and gratifying?
+
+A few days after Griselda had satisfied her curiosity, she thus, in
+the presence of her husband, began to vent her spleen:
+
+"For Heaven's sake, dear Mrs. Nettleby," cried she, addressing herself
+to the new-married widow, who came to return her wedding visit--"for
+pity's sake, dear Mrs. Nettleby, can you or any body else tell me what
+possessed Mr. Granby to marry Emma Cooke?"
+
+"I am sure I cannot tell, for I have not seen her yet."
+
+"You will be less able to tell after you have seen her, and still less
+after you have heard her."
+
+"What, then, she is neither a wit nor a beauty! I'm quite surprised at
+that; for I thought, to be sure, Mr. Granby, who is such a judge and
+such a critic, and so nice about female manners, would not have been
+content without something very extraordinary."
+
+"Nothing can be more ordinary."
+
+"Astonishing! but I am quite tired of being astonished at marriages!
+One sees such strange matches every day, I am resolved never to be
+surprised at any thing: who _can_, that lives in the world? But really
+now I am surprised at Mr. Granby. What! is she nothing?"
+
+"Nothing--absolutely nothing; a cipher; a nonentity."
+
+"Now really? you do not tell me so," said Mrs. Nettleby. "Well, I am
+so disappointed; for I always resolved to take example by Mr. Granby's
+wife."
+
+"I would rather that she should take warning by me," said Griselda,
+laughing. "But to be candid, I must tell you that to some people's
+taste she is a pattern wife--a perfect Grizzle. She and I should have
+changed names--or characters. Which, my dear?" cried she, appealing to
+her husband.
+
+"Not names, my dear," answered he.
+
+The conversation might here have ended happily, but unluckily our
+heroine could not be easily satisfied before Mrs. Nettleby, to whom
+she was proud of showing her conjugal ascendancy.
+
+"My dear," said she to her husband, "a-propos to pattern wives: you
+have read Chaucer's Tales. Do you seriously like or dislike the real,
+original, old Griselda?"
+
+"It is so long since I have seen her that I cannot tell," replied he.
+
+"Then, my dear, you must read the story over again, and tell me
+without evasion."
+
+"And if he could read it before Mrs. Granby and me, what a compliment
+that would be to one bride," added the malicious Mrs. Nettleby, "and
+what a lesson for another!"
+
+"Oh, it must be so! it must be so!" cried Griselda. "I will ask her
+here on purpose to a reading party; and you, my dear Mrs. Nettleby,
+will come for your lesson. You, my love, who read so well--and who,
+I am sure, will be delighted to pay a compliment to your favourite,
+Mrs. Granby--you will read, and I will--weep. On what day shall it be?
+Let me see: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
+Sunday, I'm engaged: but Sunday is only a party at home; I can put
+that off:--then Sunday let it be."
+
+"Sunday, I am unluckily engaged, my dear," said her husband.
+
+"Engaged? Oh, nonsense! You have no engagements of any consequence:
+and when I put off _my_ party on purpose to have the pleasure of
+hearing you read, oblige me, my love, for once."
+
+"My love, to oblige you, I will do any thing."
+
+Griselda cast a triumphant glance at Mrs. Nettleby, which said as
+plainly as a look could say, "You see how I rule him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+  "Feels every vanity in fondness lost,
+  And asks no power but that of pleasing most."
+
+
+On Sunday evening a large company assembled at our heroine's summons.
+They were all seated in due form: the reader with his book open, and
+waiting for the arrival of the bride, for whom a conspicuous place was
+destined, where the spectators, and especially Mrs. Nettleby and our
+Griselda, could enjoy a full view of her countenance.
+
+"Lord bless me! it is getting late: I am afraid--I am really afraid
+Mrs. Granby will not come."
+
+The ladies had time to discuss who and what she was: as she had lived
+in the country, few of them had seen, or could tell any thing about
+her; but our heroine circulated her opinion in whispers, and every
+one was prepared to laugh at _the pattern wife, the original Griselda
+revived_, as Mrs. Nettleby sarcastically called her.
+
+Mrs. Granby was announced. The buzz was hushed and the titter
+suppressed; affected gravity appeared in every countenance, and
+all eyes turned with malicious curiosity upon the bride as she
+entered.--The timidity of Emma's first appearance was so free both
+from awkwardness and affectation, that it interested at least every
+gentleman present in her favour. Surrounded by strangers, but quite
+unsuspicious that they were prepared to consider her as an object of
+ridicule or satire, she won her way to the lady of the house, to whom
+she addressed herself as to a friend.
+
+"Is not she quite a different person from what you had expected?"
+whispered one of the ladies to her neighbour, as Emma passed. Her
+manner seemed to solicit indulgence rather than to provoke envy. She
+was very sorry to find that the company had been waiting for her; she
+had been detained by the sudden illness of Mr. Granby's mother.
+
+Whilst Emma was making this apology, some of the audience observed
+that she had a remarkably sweet voice; others discovered that there
+was something extremely feminine in her person. A gentleman, who saw
+that she was distressed at the idea of being seated in the conspicuous
+place to which she was destined by the lady of the house, got up, and
+offered his seat, which she most thankfully accepted.
+
+"Oh, my dear Mrs. Granby, I cannot possibly allow you to sit there,"
+cried the lady of the house. "You must have the honours of the day,"
+added she, seizing Emma's hand to conduct her to the _place of
+honour_.
+
+"Pray excuse me," said Mrs. Granby, "honours are so little suited to
+me: I am perfectly well here."
+
+"But with that window _at your back_, my dear madam!" said Mrs.
+Nettleby.
+
+"I do not feel the slightest breath of air. But perhaps I crowd these
+ladies."
+
+"Not in the least, not in the least," said the ladies, who were on
+each side of her: they were won by the irresistible gentleness of
+Emma's manner. Our heroine was vexed to be obliged to give up her
+point; and relinquishing Mrs. Granby's hand, returned to her own seat,
+and said in a harsh tone to her husband,
+
+"Well! my dear, if we are to have any reading to-night, you had better
+begin."
+
+The reading began; and Emma was so completely absorbed, that she did
+not perceive that most of the audience were intent upon her. Those who
+act any part may be ridiculous in the playing it, but those are safe
+from the utmost malignity of criticism who are perfectly unconscious
+that they have any part to perform. Emma had been abashed at her first
+appearance in an assembly of strangers, and concerned by the idea that
+she had kept them waiting; but as soon as this embarrassment passed
+over, her manners resumed their natural ease--a degree of ease which
+surprised her judges, and which arose from the persuasion that she
+was not of sufficient consequence to attract attention. Our heroine
+was provoked by the sight of this insolent tranquillity, and was
+determined that it should not long continue. The reader came to the
+promise which Gualtherus exacts from his bride:--
+
+  "Swear that with ready will, and honest heart,
+  Like or dislike, without regret or art,
+  In presence or alone, by night or day,
+  All that I will, you fail not to obey;
+  All I intend to forward, that you seek,
+  Nor ever once object to what I speak.
+  Nor yet in part alone my wish fulfil;
+  Nor though you do it, do it with ill-will;
+  Nor with a forced compliance half refuse;
+  And acting duty, all the merit lose.
+  To strict obedience add a willing grace,
+  And let your soul be painted in your face;
+  No reasons given, and no pretences sought,
+  To swerve in deed or word, in look or thought."
+
+"Well, ladies!" cried the modern Griselda, "what do you think of
+this?"
+
+Shrill exclamations of various vehemence expressed with one accord the
+sentiments, or rather feelings, of almost all the married ladies who
+were present.
+
+"Abominable! Intolerable! Insufferable! Horrible! I would rather have
+seen the man perish at my feet; I would rather have died: I would have
+remained unmarried all my life rather than have submitted to such
+terms."
+
+A few young unmarried ladies who had not spoken, or who had not
+been heard to speak in the din of tongues, were appealed to by the
+gentlemen next them. They could not be prevailed upon to pronounce any
+distinct opinion: they qualified, and hesitated, and softened, and
+equivocated, and "were not positively able to judge, for really they
+had never thought upon the subject."
+
+Upon the whole, however, it was evident that they did not betray that
+natural horror which pervaded the more experienced matrons. All agreed
+that the terms were "hard terms," and ill expressed: some added, that
+only love could persuade a woman to submit to them: and some still
+more sentimental maidens, in a lower voice, were understood to say,
+that as nothing is impossible to Cupid, they might be induced to
+such submission; but that it must be by a degree of love which they
+solemnly declared they had never felt or could imagine as yet.
+
+"For my part," cried the modern Griselda, "I would sooner have lived
+an old maid to the days of Methusalem than have been so mean as to
+have married any man on earth upon such terms. But I know there are
+people who can never think 'marriage dear-bought.' My dear Mrs.
+Granby, we have not yet heard your opinion, and we should have had
+yours first, as bride."
+
+"I forgot that I was bride," said Emma.
+
+"Forgot! Is it possible?" cried Mrs. Nettleby: "now this is an excess
+of modesty of which I have no notion."
+
+"But for which Mr. Granby," continued our heroine, turning to Mr.
+Granby, who at this moment entered the room, "ought to make his best
+bow. Here is your lady, sir, who has just assured us that she forgot
+she was a bride: bow to this exquisite humility."
+
+"Exquisite vanity!" cried Mr. Granby; "she knows
+
+  "'How much the wife is dearer than the bride.'"
+
+"She will be a singularly happy woman if she knows _that_ this time
+twelvemonth," replied our heroine, darting a reproachful look at her
+silent husband. "In the mean time, do let us hear Mrs. Granby speak
+for herself; I must have her opinion of Griselda's promise to obey her
+lord, right or wrong, in all things, no reasons given, to submit in
+deed, and word, and look, and thought. If Mrs. Granby tells us that is
+her theory, we must all reform our practice."
+
+Every eye was fixed upon Emma, and every ear was impatient for her
+answer.
+
+"I should never have imagined," said she, smiling, "that any person's
+practice could be influenced by my theory, especially as I have no
+theory."
+
+"No more humility, my dear; if you have no theory, you have an opinion
+of your own, I hope, and we must have a distinct answer to this simple
+question: Would you have made the promise that was required from
+Griselda?"
+
+"No," answered Emma; "distinctly no; for I could never have loved or
+esteemed the man who required such a promise."
+
+Disconcerted by this answer, which was the very reverse of what she
+expected; amazed at the modest self-possession with which the timid
+Emma spoke, and vexed by the symptoms of approbation which Emma's
+words and voice excited, our heroine called upon her husband, in a
+more than usually authoritative tone, and bid him--read on.
+
+He obeyed. Emma became again absorbed in the story, and her
+countenance showed how much she felt all its beauties, and all its
+pathos. Emma did all she could to repress her feelings; and our
+heroine all she could to make her and them ridiculous. But in this
+attempt she was unsuccessful; for many of the spectators, who at her
+instigation began by watching Emma's countenance to find subject for
+ridicule, ended by sympathizing with her unaffected sensibility.
+
+When the tale was ended, the modern Griselda, who was determined
+to oppose as strongly as possible the charms of spirit to those of
+sensibility, burst furiously forth into an invective against the
+meanness of her namesake, and the tyranny of the odious Gualtherus.
+
+"_Could_ you have forgiven him, Mrs. Granby? could you have forgiven
+the monster?"
+
+"He repented," said Emma; "and does not a penitent cease to be a
+monster?"
+
+"Oh, I never, never would have forgiven him, penitent or not penitent;
+I would not have forgiven him such sins."
+
+"I would not have put it into his power to commit them," said Emma.
+
+"I confess the story never touched me in the least," cried our
+heroine.
+
+"Perhaps for the same reason that Petrarch's friend said that he read
+it unmoved," replied Mrs. Granby: "because he could not believe that
+such a woman as Griselda ever existed."
+
+"No, no, not for that reason: I believe many such poor, meek,
+mean-spirited creatures exist."
+
+Emma was at length wakened to the perception of her friend's envy and
+jealousy; but--
+
+  "She mild forgave the failing of her sex."
+
+"I cannot admire the original Griselda, or any of her imitators,"
+continued our heroine.
+
+"There is no great danger of her finding imitators in these days,"
+said Mr. Granby. "Had Chaucer lived in our enlightened times, he would
+doubtless have drawn a very different character."
+
+The modern Griselda looked "fierce as ten furies." Emma softened her
+husband's observation by adding, "that allowance should certainly be
+made for poor Chaucer, if we consider the times in which he wrote.
+The situation and understandings of women have been so much improved
+since his days. Women were then slaves, now they are free. My dear,"
+whispered she to her husband, "your mother is not well; shall we go
+home?"
+
+Emma left the room; and even Mrs. Nettleby, after she was gone, said,
+"Really she is not ugly when she blushes."
+
+"No woman is ugly when she blushes," replied our heroine; "but,
+unluckily, a woman cannot _always_ blush."
+
+Finding that her attempt to make Emma ridiculous had failed, and that
+it had really placed Mrs. Granby's understanding, manners, and temper
+in a most advantageous and amiable light, Griselda was mortified
+beyond measure. She could scarcely bear to hear Emma's name mentioned.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+  "She that can please, is certain to persuade,
+  To-day is lov'd, to-morrow is obey'd."
+
+
+A few days after the reading party, Griselda was invited to spend an
+evening at Mrs. Granby's.
+
+"I shall not go," said she, throwing down the card with an air of
+disdain.
+
+"I shall go," said her husband, calmly.
+
+"You will go, my dear!" cried she, amazed. "You will go without _me_?"
+
+"Not without you, if you will be so kind as to go with me, my love,"
+said he.
+
+"It is quite out of my power," said she: "I am engaged to my friend,
+Mrs. Nettleby."
+
+"Very well, my dear," said he; "do as you please."
+
+"Certainly I shall. And I am surprised, my dear, that you do not go to
+see Mr. John Nettleby."
+
+"I have no desire to see him, my dear. He is, as I have often heard
+you say, an obstinate fool. He is a man I dislike particularly."
+
+"Very possibly; but you ought to go to see him notwithstanding."
+
+"Why so, my dear?"
+
+"Because he is married to a woman I like. If you had any regard for
+me, your own feelings would have saved you the trouble of asking that
+question."
+
+"But, my dear, should not your regard for me also suggest to you the
+propriety of keeping up an acquaintance with Mrs. Granby, who is
+married to a man I like, and who is not herself an obstinate fool?"
+
+"I shall not enter into any discussion upon the subject," replied our
+heroine; for this was one of the cases where she made it a rule never
+to reason. "I can only say that I have my own opinion, and that I beg
+to be excused from keeping up any acquaintance whatever with Mrs.
+Granby."
+
+"And I beg to be excused from keeping up any acquaintance whatever
+with Mr. Nettleby," replied her husband.
+
+"Good Heavens!" cried she, raising herself upon the sofa, on which
+she had been reclining, and fixing her eyes upon her husband, with
+unfeigned astonishment: "I do not know you this morning, my dear."
+
+"Possibly not, my dear," replied he; "for hitherto you have seen only
+your lover; now you see your husband."
+
+Never did metamorphosis excite more astonishment. The lady was utterly
+unconscious that she had had any part in producing it--that she had
+herself dissolved the spell. She raged, she raved, she reasoned, in
+vain. Her point she could not compass. Her cruel husband persisted
+in his determination not to go to see Mr. John Nettleby. Absolutely
+astounded, she was silent. There was a truce for some hours. She
+renewed the attack in the evening, and ceased not hostilities for
+three succeeding days and nights, in reasonable hopes of wearying the
+enemy, still without success.
+
+The morning rose, the great, the important day, which was to decide
+the fate of the visit. The contending parties met as usual at
+breakfast; they seemed mutually afraid of each other, and stood at
+bay. There was a forced calm in the gentleman's demeanour--treacherous
+smiles played upon the lady's countenance. He seemed cautious to
+prolong the suspension of hostilities--she fond to anticipate the
+victory. The name of Mrs. Granby, or of Mr. John Nettleby, was not
+uttered by either party, nor did either inquire where the other was
+to spend the evening. At dinner they met again, and preserved on this
+delicate subject a truly diplomatic silence; whilst on the topics
+foreign to their thoughts, they talked with admirable fluency:
+actuated by as sincere desire as ever was felt by negotiating
+politicians to establish peace on the broadest basis, they were,
+_with the most perfect consideration_, each other's devoted, and most
+obedient humble servants. Candour, however, obliges us to confess,
+that though the deference on the part of the gentleman was the most
+unqualified and praiseworthy, the lady was superior in her inimitable
+air of frank cordiality. The _volto sciolto_ was in her favour, the
+_pensieri stretti_ in his. Any one but an ambassador would have been
+deceived by the husband; any one but a woman would have been duped by
+the wife.
+
+So stood affairs when, after dinner, the high and mighty powers
+separated. The lady retired to her toilette. The gentleman remained
+with his bottle. He drank a glass of wine extraordinary. She stayed
+half an hour more than usual at her mirror. Arrayed for battle, our
+heroine repaired to the drawing-room, which she expected to find
+unoccupied;--the enemy had taken the field.
+
+"Dressed, my dear?" said he.
+
+"Ready, my love!" said she.
+
+"Shall I ring the bell for your carriage, my dear?" said the husband.
+
+"If you please. You go with me, my dear?" said the wife.
+
+"I do not know where you are going, my love."
+
+"To Mrs. Nettleby's of course,--and you?"
+
+"To Mrs. Granby's."
+
+The lightning flashed from Griselda's eyes, ere he had half pronounced
+the words. The lightning flashed without effect.
+
+"To Mrs. Granby's!" cried she, in a thundering tone. "To Mrs.
+Granby's!" echoed he. She fell back on the sofa, and a shower of tears
+ensued. Her husband walked up and down the room, rang again for the
+carriage, ordered it in the tone of a master. Then hummed a tune. The
+fair one sobbed: he continued to sing, but was out in the time. The
+lady's sobs grew alarming, and threatened hysterics. He threw open
+the window, and approached the sofa on which she lay. She, half
+recovering, unclasped one bracelet; in haste to get the other off, he
+broke it. The footman came in to announce that the carriage was at the
+door. She relapsed, and seemed in danger of suffocation from her pearl
+necklace, which she made a faint effort to loosen from her neck.
+
+"Send your lady's woman instantly," cried Griselda's husband to the
+footman.
+
+Our heroine made another attempt to untie her necklace, and looked
+up towards her husband with supplicating eyes. His hands trembled;
+he entangled the strings. It would have been all over with him if
+the maid had not at this instant come to his assistance. To her he
+resigned his perilous post; retreated precipitately; and before the
+enemy's forces could rally, gained his carriage, and carried his
+point.
+
+"To Mr. Granby's!" cried he, triumphantly. Arrived there, he hurried
+to Mr. Granby's room.
+
+"Another such victory," cried he, throwing himself into an arm-chair,
+"another such victory, and I am undone."
+
+He related all that had just passed between him and his wife.
+
+"Another such combat," said his friend, "and you are at peace for
+life."
+
+We hope that our readers will not, from this speech, be induced to
+consider Mr. Granby as an instigator of quarrels between man and wife;
+or, according to the plebeian but expressive apophthegm, one who would
+come between the bark and the tree. On the contrary, he was most
+desirous to secure his friend's domestic happiness; and, if possible,
+to prevent the bad effects which were likely to ensue from excessive
+indulgence, and inordinate love of dominion. He had a high respect for
+our heroine's powers, and thought that they wanted only to be well
+managed. The same force which, ill-directed, bursts the engine, and
+scatters destruction, obedient to the master-hand, answers a thousand
+useful purposes, and works with easy, smooth, and graceful regularity.
+Griselda's husband, or, as he now deserves to have his name mentioned,
+Mr. Bolingbroke, roused by his friend's representations, and perhaps
+by a sense of approaching danger, resolved to assume the guidance of
+his wife, or at least--of himself. In opposition to his sovereign
+lady's will, he actually spent this evening as he pleased.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+  "E sol quei giorni io mi vidi contenta,
+  Ch'averla compiaciuto mi trovai."
+
+
+"You are a great deal more courageous than I am, my dear," said Emma
+to her husband, after Mr. Bolingbroke had left them. "I should be very
+much afraid of interfering between your friend and his wife."
+
+"What is friendship," said Mr. Granby, "if it will run no risks? I
+must run the hazard of being called a mischief-maker."
+
+"That is not the danger of which I was thinking," said Emma; "though I
+confess that I should be weak enough to fear that a little: but what I
+meant to express was an apprehension of our doing harm where we most
+wish to do good."
+
+"Do you, my dear Emma, think Griselda incorrigible?"
+
+"No, indeed," cried Emma, with anxious emphasis; "far from it. But
+without thinking a person incorrigible, may we not dislike the idea
+of inflicting correction? I should be very sorry to be the means of
+giving Griselda any pain; she was my friend when we were children; I
+have a real regard for her, and if she does not now seem disposed to
+love me, that must be my fault, not hers: or if it is not my fault,
+call it my misfortune. At all events, I have no right to force myself
+upon her acquaintance. She prefers Mrs. Nettleby; I have not the false
+humility to say, that I think Mrs. Nettleby will prove as safe or as
+good a friend as I hope I should he. But of this Mrs. Bolingbroke has
+a right to judge. And I am sure, far from resenting her resolution to
+avoid my acquaintance, my only feeling about it, at this instant, is
+the dread that it should continue to be a matter of dispute between
+her and her husband."
+
+"If Mr. Bolingbroke insisted, or if I advised him to insist upon his
+wife's coming here, when she does not like it," said Mr. Granby,
+"I should act absurdly, and he would act unjustly; but all that he
+requires is equality of rights, and the liberty of going where _he_
+pleases. She refuses to come to see you: he refuses to go to see Mr.
+John Nettleby. Which has the best of the battle?"
+
+Emma thought it would be best if there were no battle; and observed,
+that refusals and reprisals would only irritate the parties, whose
+interest and happiness it was to be pacified and to agree. She said,
+that if Mr. Bolingbroke, instead of opposing his will to that of his
+wife, which, in fact, was only conquering force by force, would speak
+reasonably to her, probably she might be induced to yield, or to
+command her temper. Mrs. Granby suggested, that a compromise, founded
+on an offer of mutual sacrifice and mutual compliance, might be
+obtained. That Mr. Bolingbroke might promise to give up some of his
+time to the man he disliked, upon condition that Griselda should
+submit to the society of a woman to whom she had an aversion.
+
+"If she consented to this," said Emma, "I would do my best to make her
+like me; or at least to make her time pass agreeably at our house: her
+liking me is a matter of no manner of consequence."
+
+Emma was capable of putting herself entirely out of the question,
+when the interest of others was at stake; her whole desire was to
+conciliate, and all her thoughts were intent upon making her friends
+happy. She seemed to live in them more than in herself, and from
+sympathy arose the greatest pleasure and pain of her existence. Her
+sympathy was not of that useless kind which is called forth only by
+the elegant fictitious sorrows of a heroine of romance; hers was ready
+for all the occasions of real life; nor was it to be easily checked
+by the imperfections of those to whom she could be of service. At
+this moment, when she perceived that her husband was disgusted by
+Griselda's caprice, she said all she could think of in her favour: she
+recollected every anecdote of Griselda's childhood, which showed an
+amiable disposition; and argued, that it was not probable her temper
+should have entirely changed in a few years. Emma's quick-sighted
+good-nature could discern the least portion of merit, where others
+could find only faults; as certain experienced eyes can discover
+grains of gold in the sands, which the ignorant have searched, and
+abandoned as useless. In consequence of Emma's advice--for who would
+reject good advice, offered with so much gentleness?--Mr. Granby wrote
+a note to Mr. Bolingbroke, to recommend the compromise which she had
+suggested. Upon his return home, Mr. Bolingbroke was informed that
+his lady had gone to bed much indisposed; he spent a restless night,
+notwithstanding all his newly-acquired magnanimity. He was much
+relieved in the morning by his friend's note, and blessed Emma for
+proposing the compromise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+  "Each widow to her secret friend alone
+  Whisper'd;--thus treated, he had had his own."
+
+
+Mr. Bolingbroke waited with impatience for Griselda's appearance the
+next morning; but he waited in vain: the lady breakfasted in her own
+apartment, and for two hours afterwards remained in close consultation
+with Mrs. Nettleby, whom she had summoned the preceding night by the
+following note:
+
+    "I have been prevented from spending this evening with you, my
+    dearest Mrs. Nettleby, by the strangest conduct imaginable: am
+    sure you will not believe it when I tell it to you. Come to me, I
+    conjure you, as early to-morrow as you possibly can, that I may
+    explain to you all that has passed, and consult as to the future.
+    My dearest friend, I never was so much in want of an adviser. Ever
+    yours,
+
+    "GRISELDA."
+
+At this consultation, Mrs. Nettleby expressed the utmost astonishment
+at Mr. Bolingbroke's strange conduct, and assured Griselda, that if
+she did not exert herself, all was lost, and she must give up the hope
+of ever having her own way again as long as she lived.
+
+"My dear," said she, "I have had some experience in these things; a
+wife must be either a tyrant or a slave: make your choice; now is your
+time."
+
+"But I never knew him say or do any thing unkind before," said
+Griselda.
+
+"Then the first offence should be properly resented. If he finds you
+forgiving, he will become encroaching; 'tis the nature of man, depend
+upon it."
+
+"He always yielded to me till now," said Griselda; "but even when I
+was ready to go into fits, he left me, and what could I do then?"
+
+"You astonish me beyond expression! you who have every
+advantage--youth, wit, accomplishments, beauty! My dear, if _you_
+cannot keep a husband's heart, who can ever hope to succeed?"
+
+"Oh! as to his heart, I have no doubts of his heart, to do him
+justice," said Griselda; "I know he loves me--passionately loves me."
+
+"And yet you cannot manage him! And you expect me to pity you? Bless
+me, if I had half your advantages, what I would make of them! But if
+you like to be a tame wife, my dear--if you are resolved upon it, tell
+me so at once, and I will hold my tongue."
+
+"I do not know well what I am resolved upon," said Griselda, leaning
+her head in a melancholy posture upon her hand: "I am vexed, out of
+spirits, and out of sorts."
+
+"Out of sorts! I am not surprised at that: but out of spirits! My dear
+creature, you who have every thing to put you in spirits. I am never
+so much _myself_ as when I have a quarrel to fight out."
+
+"I cannot say that is the case with me, unless where I am sure of the
+victory."
+
+"And it is your own fault if you are not always sure of it."
+
+"I thought so till last night; but I assure you last night he showed
+such a spirit!"
+
+"Break that spirit, my dear, break it, or else it will break your
+heart."
+
+"The alternative is terrible," said Griselda, "and more terrible
+perhaps than you could imagine, or I either till now: for would you
+believe it, I never loved him in my life half so well as I did last
+night in the midst of my anger, and when he was doing every thing to
+provoke me?"
+
+"Very natural, my dear; because you saw him behave with spirit, and
+you love spirit; so does every woman; so does every body; show him
+that you have spirit too, and he will be as angry as you were, and
+love you as well in the midst of his anger, whilst you are doing every
+thing to provoke him."
+
+Griselda appeared determined to take this good advice one moment, and
+the next hesitated.
+
+"But, my dear Mrs. Nettleby, did you always find this succeed
+yourself?"
+
+"Yes, always."
+
+This lady had the reputation indeed of having broken the heart of her
+first husband; how she would manage her second was yet to be seen,
+as her honeymoon was but just over. The pure love of mischief was
+not her only motive in the advice which she gave to our heroine; she
+had, like most people, mixed motives for her conduct. She disliked
+Mr. Bolingbroke, because he disliked her; yet she wished that an
+acquaintance should be kept up between him and her husband, because
+Mr. Bolingbroke was a man of fortune and fashion.
+
+Griselda promised that she would behave with that proper spirit,
+which was to make her at once amiable and victorious; and the friends
+parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+  "With patient, meek, submissive mind,
+  To her hard fate resign'd."
+
+POTTER'S AESCHYLUS
+
+
+Left to her own good genius, Griselda reflected that novelty has the
+most powerful effect upon the heart of man. In all the variations of
+her humour, her husband had never yet seen her in the sullen mood; and
+in this she now sat prepared to receive him. He came with an earnest
+desire to speak to her in the kindest and most reasonable manner. He
+began by saying how much it had cost him to give her one moment's
+uneasiness:--his voice, his look, were those of truth and love.
+
+Unmoved, Griselda, without raising her leaden eyes, answered in a cold
+voice, "I am very sorry that you should have felt _any_ concern upon
+my account."
+
+"_Any_! my love; you do not know how _much_ I have felt this night."
+
+She looked upon him with civil disbelief; and replied, "that she was
+sure she ought to be much obliged to him."
+
+This frigid politeness repressed his affection: he was silent for some
+moments.
+
+"My dear Griselda," said he, "this is not the way in which we should
+live together; we who have every thing that can make us contented: do
+not let us throw away our happiness for trifles not worth thinking
+of."
+
+"If we are not happy, it is not my fault," said Griselda.
+
+"We will not inquire whose fault it is, my dear; let the blame rest
+upon me: let the past be forgotten; let us look towards the future. In
+future, let us avoid childish altercations, and live like reasonable
+creatures. I have the highest opinion of your sex in general, and of
+you in particular; I wish to live with my wife as my equal, my friend;
+I do not desire that my will should govern: where our inclinations
+differ, let reason decide between us; or where it is a matter not
+worth reasoning about, let us alternately yield to one another." He
+paused.
+
+"I do not desire or expect that you should ever henceforward yield to
+my wishes either in trifles or in matters of consequence," replied
+Griselda, with provoking meekness; "you have taught me my duty: the
+duty of a wife is to submit; and submit I hope I shall in future,
+without reply or reasoning, to your sovereign will and pleasure."
+
+"Nay, my dear," said he, "do not treat me as a brutal tyrant, when I
+wish to do every thing in my power to make you happy. Use your own
+excellent understanding, and I shall always, I hope, be inclined to
+yield to your reasons."
+
+"I shall never trouble you with my reasons; I shall never use my own
+understanding in the least: I know that men cannot bear understanding
+in women; I shall always, as it is my duty, submit to your better
+judgment."
+
+"But, my love, I do not require duty from you; this sort of blind
+submission would be mortifying, instead of gratifying to me, from a
+wife."
+
+"I do not know what a wife can do to satisfy a husband, if submitting
+in every thing be not sufficient."
+
+"I say it would be too much for me, my dearest love!"
+
+"I can do nothing but submit," repeated the perverse Griselda, with a
+most provoking immoveable aspect of humility.
+
+"Why _will_ you not understand me, my dear?" cried her husband.
+
+"It is not my fault if I cannot understand you, my dear: I do not
+pretend to have your understanding," said the fair politician,
+affecting weakness to gain her point; like those artful candidates for
+papal dominion, who used to affect decrepitude and imbecility, till
+they secured at once absolute power and infallibility.
+
+"I know my abilities are quite inferior to yours, my dear," said
+Griselda; "but I thought it was sufficient for a woman to know how to
+obey; I can do no more."
+
+Fretted beyond his patience, her husband walked up and down the room
+greatly agitated, whilst she sat content and secure in tranquil
+obstinacy.
+
+"You are enough to provoke the patience of Job, my dear," cried her
+husband; "you'll break my heart."
+
+"I am sorry for it, my dear; but if you will only tell me what I can
+do more to please you, I will do it."
+
+"Then, my love," cried he, taking hold of her white hand, which hung
+in a lifeless attitude over the arm of the couch, "be happy, I conjure
+you! all I ask of you is to be happy."
+
+"That is out of my power," said she, mildly, suffering her husband to
+keep her hand, as if it was an act of duty to submit to his caresses.
+He resigned her hand; her countenance never varied; if she had been
+slave to the most despotic sultan of the East, she could not have
+shown more utter submission than she displayed to this most indulgent
+European "husband lover."
+
+Unable to command his temper, or to conceal how much he was hurt, he
+rose and said, "I will leave you for the present, my dear; some time
+when you are better disposed to converse with me, I will return."
+
+"Whenever you please, sir; all times are alike to me: whenever you are
+at leisure, I can have no choice."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+  "And acting duty all the merit lose."
+
+
+Some hours afterwards, hoping to find his sultana in a better humour,
+Mr. Bolingbroke returned; but no sooner did he approach the sofa on
+which she was still seated, than she again seemed to turn into stone,
+like the Princess Rhezzia, in the Persian Tales; who was blooming and
+charming, except when her husband entered the room. The unfortunate
+Princess Rhezzia loved her husband tenderly, but was doomed to this
+fate by a vile enchanter. If she was more to be pitied for being
+subject to involuntary metamorphosis, our heroine is surely more to
+be admired, for the constancy with which she endured a self-inflicted
+penance; a penance calculated to render her odious in the eyes of her
+husband.
+
+"My dear," said this most patient of men, "I am sorry to renew any
+ideas that will be disagreeable to you; I will mention the subject but
+once more, and then let it be forgotten for ever--our foolish dispute
+about Mr. Nettleby. Let us compromise the matter. I will bear Mr. John
+Nettleby for your sake, if you will bear Mrs. Granby for mine. I will
+go to see Mr. Nettleby to-morrow, if you will come the day afterwards
+with me to Mr. Granby's. Where husband and wife do not agree in their
+wishes, it is reasonable that each should yield a little of their will
+to the other. I hope this compromise will satisfy you, my dear."
+
+"It does not become a wife to enter into any compromise with her
+husband; she has nothing to do but to obey, as soon as he signifies
+his pleasure. I shall go to Mr. Granby's on Tuesday, as you command."
+
+"Command! my love."
+
+"As you--whatever you please to call it."
+
+"But are you satisfied with this arrangement, my dear?"
+
+"It is no manner of consequence whether I am or not."
+
+"To me, you know, it is of the greatest: you must be sensible that
+my sincere wish is to make you happy: I give you some proof of it
+by consenting to keep up an acquaintance with a man whose company I
+dislike."
+
+"I am much obliged to you, my dear; but as to your going to see Mr.
+John Nettleby, it is a matter of perfect indifference to me; I only
+just mentioned it as a thing of course; I beg you will not do it on my
+account: I hope you will do whatever you think best and what pleases
+yourself, upon this and every other occasion. I shall never more
+presume to offer my advice."
+
+Nothing more could be obtained from the submissive wife; she went to
+Mr. Granby's; she was all duty, for she knew the show of it was the
+most provoking thing upon earth to a husband, at least to such a
+husband as hers. She therefore persisted in this line of conduct, till
+she made her victim at last exclaim--
+
+  "I love thee and hate thee, but if I can tell
+    The cause of my love and my hate, may I die.
+  I can feel it, alas! I can feel it too well,
+    That I love thee and hate thee, but cannot tell why."
+
+His fair one was much flattered by this confession; she triumphed in
+having excited "this contrariety of feelings;" nor did she foresee
+the possibility of her husband's recollecting that stanza which the
+school-boy, more philosophical than the poet, applies to his tyrant.
+
+Whilst our heroine was thus acting to perfection the part of a dutiful
+wife, Mrs. Nettleby was seconding her to the best of her abilities,
+and announcing her amongst all their acquaintance, in the interesting
+character of--"a woman that is very much to be pitied."
+
+"Poor Mrs. Bolingbroke!--Don't you think, ma'am, she is very much
+changed since her marriage?--Quite fallen away!--and all her fine
+spirits, what are become of them?--It really grieves my heart to see
+her.--Oh, she is a very unhappy woman!! really to be pitied, if you
+knew but all."
+
+Then a significant nod, or a melancholy mysterious look, set the
+imagination of the company at work; or, if this did not succeed, a
+whisper in plain terms pronounced Mr. Bolingbroke "a sad sort of
+husband, a very odd-tempered man, and, in short, a terrible tyrant;
+though nobody would guess it, who only saw him in company: but men are
+such deceivers!"
+
+Mr. Bolingbroke soon found that all his wishes were thwarted, and all
+his hopes of happiness crossed, by the straws which this evil-minded
+dame contrived to throw in his way. Her influence over his wife he saw
+increased every hour: though they visited each other every day, these
+ladies could never meet without having some important secrets to
+impart, and conspiracies were to be performed in private, at which a
+husband could not be permitted to assist. Then notes without number
+were to pass continually, and these were to be thrown hastily into
+the fire at the approach of the enemy. Mr. Bolingbroke determined to
+break this league, which seemed to be more a league of hatred than
+of amity.--The London winter was now over, and, taking advantage of
+the continuance of his wife's perverse fit of duty and unqualified
+submission, he one day requested her to accompany him into the
+country, to spend a few weeks with his friend Mr. Granby, at his
+charming place in Devonshire. The part of a wife was to obey, and
+Griselda was bound to support her character. She resolved, however, to
+make her obedience cost her lord as dear as possible, and she promised
+herself that this party of pleasure should become a party of pain. She
+and her lord were to travel in the same carriage with Mr. and Mrs.
+Granby. Griselda had only time, before she set off, to write a hasty
+billet to Mrs. Nettleby, to inform her of these intentions, and to bid
+her adieu till better times. Mrs. Nettleby sincerely regretted this
+interruption of their hourly correspondence; for she was deprived not
+only of the pleasure of hearing, but of making matrimonial complaints.
+She had now been married two months; and her fool began to grow
+restive; no animal on earth is more restive than a fool: but,
+confident that Mrs. Nettleby will hold the bridle with a strong hand,
+we leave her to pull against his hard mouth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+  "Playzir ne l'est qu'autant qu'on le partage."
+
+
+We pass over the infinite variety of petty torments, which our heroine
+contrived to inflict upon her fellow-travellers during her journey
+down to Devonshire. Inns, food, beds, carriage, horses, baggage,
+roads, prospect, hill, dale, sun, wind, dust, rain, earth, air, fire,
+and water, all afforded her matter of complaint. It was astonishing
+that Emma discovered none of these inconveniences; but, as fast as
+they were complained of, she amused herself in trying to obviate them.
+
+Lord Kames has observed, that a power to recall at will pleasing
+objects would be a more valuable gift to any mortal than ever was
+bestowed in a fairy tale. With this power Emma was endowed in the
+highest perfection; and as fast as our heroine recollected some evil
+that had happened, or was likely to happen, Emma raised the opposite
+idea of some good, past, present, or future; so that it was scarcely
+possible even for the spirit of contradiction personified to resist
+the magic of her good-humour.
+
+No sooner did she arrive at her own house, than she contrived a
+variety of ways of showing attention and kindness to her guest; and
+when all this was received with sullen indifference, or merely
+as tributes due to superiority, Emma was not discouraged in her
+benevolence, but, instead of being offended, seemed to pity her friend
+for "having had her temper so unhappily spoiled."
+
+"Griselda is so handsome," said Mrs. Granby one day, in her defence,
+"she has such talents--she has been so much admired, worshipped, and
+indulged--that it would be wonderful if she were not a little spoiled.
+I dare say that, if I had been in her place, my brain would never
+have stood the intoxication. Who can measure their strength, or their
+weakness, till they are tried? Another thing should be considered;
+Griselda excites envy, and though she may not have more faults than
+her neighbours, they are more noticed, because they are in the full
+light of prosperity. What a number of motes swarm in a single ray of
+light, coming through the shutter of a darkened room! There are not
+more motes in that spot than in any other part of the room, but the
+sun-beams show them more distinctly. The dust that lives in snug
+obscurity should consider this, and have mercy upon its fellow dust."
+
+In Emma's kindness there was none of the parade of goodness; she
+seemed to follow her natural disposition; and, as Griselda once said
+of her, to be good because she could not help it. She required neither
+praise nor thanks for any thing that she did; and, provided her
+friends were happy, she was satisfied, without ever wishing to be
+admired as the cause of that happiness. Her powers of pleasing were
+chiefly remarkable for lasting longer than others, and the secret of
+their permanence was not easily guessed, because it was so simple.
+It depended merely on the equability of her humour. It is said, that
+there is nothing marvellous in the colours of those Egyptian monuments
+which have been the admiration of ages; the secret of their duration
+is supposed to depend simply on the fineness of the climate and
+invariability of the temperature.--But
+
+  "Griselda will admit no wandering muse."
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke was by this time tired of continuing in one mood,
+even though it was the sullen; and her genius was cramped by the
+constraint of affected submission. She recovered her charming spirits
+soon after she came into the country, and for a short time no mortal
+mixture of earth's mould could be more agreeable. She called forth
+every charm; she was all gaiety, wit, and smiles; she poured light and
+life upon conversation.
+
+As the Marquis de Chastellux said of some fascinating fair one--"She
+had no expression without grace, and no grace without expression."
+It was delightful to our heroine to hear it said, "How charming Mrs.
+Bolingbroke can be when she pleases; when she wishes to captivate, how
+irresistible!--Who can equal Mrs. Bolingbroke when she is in one of
+her _good days_?"
+
+The triumph of eclipsing Mrs. Granby would have been delightful, but
+that Emma seemed to feel no mortification from being thrown into the
+shade; she seemed to enjoy her friend's success so sincerely, that
+it was impossible to consider her as a rival. She had so carefully
+avoided noticing any little disagreement or coolness between Mr. and
+Mrs. Bolingbroke, that it might have been doubted whether she attended
+to their mutual conduct; but the obvious delight she took in seeing
+them again on good terms with each other proved that she was not
+deficient in penetration. She appeared to see only what others desired
+that she should see, upon these delicate occasions, where voluntary
+blindness is not artifice, but prudence. Mr. Bolingbroke was now
+enchanted with Griselda, and ready to exclaim every instant, "Be ever
+thus!"
+
+Her husband thought he had found a mine of happiness; he began
+to breathe, and to bless his kind stars. He had indeed lighted
+unexpectedly upon a rich vein, but it was soon exhausted, and all
+his farther progress was impeded by certain vapours, dangerous to
+approach. Fatal sweets! which lure the ignorant to destruction, but
+from which the more experienced fly with precipitation.--Our heroine
+was now fully prepared to kill her husband with kindness; she was
+afraid, if he rode, that his horse would throw him; if he walked, that
+he would tire himself; if he sat still, that he must want exercise; if
+he went out, that he would catch cold; if he stayed at home, that he
+was kept a prisoner; if he did not eat, that he was sick; if he did
+eat, that he would be sick;--&c. &c. &c. &c. There was no end to these
+fond fears: he felt that there was something ridiculous in submitting
+to them; and yet to resist in the least was deemed the height
+of unkindness and ingratitude. One night she fell into a fit of
+melancholy, upon his laughing at her fears, that he should kill
+himself, by standing for an instant at an open window, on a fine
+night, to look at a beautiful rising moon. When he endeavoured to
+recover her from her melancholy, it was suddenly converted into
+anger, and, after tears, came a storm of reproaches. Her husband,
+in consideration of the kindness of her original intention, passed
+over her anger, and even for some days refrained from objecting to
+any regimen she prescribed for his health and happiness. But his
+forbearance failed him at length, and he presumed to eat some salad,
+which his wife "knew would disagree with him." She was provoked
+afterwards, because she could not make him allow that it had made him
+ill. She termed this extreme obstinacy; he pleaded that it was simple
+truth. Truth upon some occasions is the most offensive thing that
+can be spoken: the lady was enraged, and, after saying every thing
+provoking that matrimonial spleen could suggest, when he in his turn
+grew warm, she cooled, and said, "You must be sensible, my dear, that
+all I say and do arises from affection."
+
+"Oh! my love," said he, recovering his good-humour, "this
+never-failing opiate soothes my vanity, and lulls my anger; then you
+may govern me as you please. Torment me to death,--I cannot oppose
+you."
+
+"I suppose," said she, "you think me like the vampire-bat, who fans
+his victim to sleep with its wings, whilst she sucks its life-blood."
+
+"Yes, exactly," said he, smiling: "thank you for the apt allusion."
+
+"Very apt, indeed," said she; and a thick gloom overspread her
+countenance. She persisted in taking his assent in sober earnest.
+"Yes," said she, "I find you think all my kindness is treacherous. I
+will show you no more, and then you cannot accuse me of treachery."
+
+It was in vain that he protested he had been only in jest; she was
+convinced that he was in earnest; she was suddenly afflicted with an
+absolute incapacity of distinguishing jest from earnest. She recurred
+to the idea of the vampire-bat, whenever it was convenient to her to
+suppose that her husband thought strange things of her, which never
+entered his brain. This bat proved to him a bird of ill omen, which
+preceded a train of misfortunes, that no mortal foresight could reach,
+and no human prudence avert. His goddess was not to be appeased by any
+propitiatory or expiatory sacrifice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+  "Short is the period of insulting power,
+  Offended Cupid finds his vengeful hour."
+
+
+Finding it impossible to regain his fair one's favour, Mr. Bolingbroke
+absented himself from her presence. He amused himself for some days
+with his friend Mr. Granby, in attending to a plantation which he was
+laying out in his grounds. Griselda was vexed to perceive that her
+husband could find any amusement independent of her; and she never
+failed, upon his return, to mark her displeasure.
+
+One morning the gentlemen had been so much occupied with their
+plantation, that they did not attend the breakfast-table precisely
+in due time: the contrast in the looks of the two ladies when their
+husbands entered the room was striking. Griselda was provoked with
+Mrs. Granby for being so good-humoured.
+
+"Lord bless me! Mrs. Granby, how you spoil these men," cried she.
+
+All the time the gentlemen were at breakfast, Mrs. Bolingbroke played
+with her tea-spoon, and did not deign to utter a syllable; and
+when the gentlemen left the breakfast-table, and returned to their
+business, Griselda, who was, as our readers may have observed, one
+of the fashionable lollers by profession, established herself upon a
+couch, and began an attack upon Emma, for spoiling her husband in such
+a sad manner. Emma defended herself in a playful way, by answering
+that she could not venture to give unnecessary pain, because she was
+not so sure as some of her friends might be of their power of giving
+pleasure. Mrs. Bolingbroke proceeded to descant upon the difference
+between friendship and love: with some vanity, and some malice, she
+touched upon the difference between the _sorts of sentiments_ which
+different women excited. Passion, she argued, could be kept alive
+only by a certain happy mixture of caprice and grace, coldness and
+ill-humour. She confessed that, for her part, she never could be
+content with the friendship of a husband. Emma, without claiming or
+disclaiming her pretensions to love, quoted the saying of a French
+gentleman:
+
+  "L'Amitie est l'Amour sans ailes."
+
+  "Friendship is Love deprived of his wings."
+
+Griselda had no apprehension that love could ever fly from her, and
+she declared she could not endure him without his wings.
+
+Our heroine did not imagine that any of the little vexations which
+she habitually inflicted upon her husband could really diminish his
+regard. She, never had calculated the prodigious effects which can
+be produced by petty causes constantly acting. Indeed this is a
+consideration, to which the pride or short-sightedness of human nature
+is not prone.
+
+Who in contemplating one of Raphael's finest pictures, fresh from
+the master's hand, ever bestowed a thought upon the wretched little
+worm which works its destruction? Who that beholds the gilded vessel
+gliding in gallant trim--"youth at the prow, and pleasure at the
+helm;" ever at that instant thought of--barnacles? The imagination is
+disgusted by the anti-climax; and of all species of the bathos, the
+sinking from visionary happiness to sober reality is that from which
+human nature is most averse. The wings of the imagination, accustomed
+to ascend, resist the downward flight.
+
+Confident of her charms, heedless of danger, accustomed to think her
+empire absolute and eternal; our heroine, to amuse herself, and to
+display her power to Emma, persisted in her practice of tormenting.
+The ingenuity with which she varied her tortures was certainly
+admirable. After exhausting old ones, she invented new; and when
+the new lost their efficacy, she recurred to the old. She had often
+observed, that the blunt method of contradicting, which some bosom
+friends practise in conversation, is of sovereign power to provoke;
+and this consequently, though unpolite, she disdained not to imitate.
+It had the greater effect, as it was in diametrical opposition to the
+style of Mrs. Granby's conversation; who, in discussions with her
+husband, or her intimate friends, was peculiarly and habitually
+attentive to politeness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+  "Ella biasmandol sempre, e dispregiando
+  Se gli venia piu sempre inimicando."
+
+
+By her judicious and kind interposition, Emma often prevented the
+disagreeable consequences that threatened to ensue from Griselda's
+disputatious habits; but one night it was past her utmost skill to
+avert a violent storm, which arose about the pronunciation of a word.
+It began about eleven o'clock. Just as the family were sitting down
+to supper, seemingly in perfect harmony of spirits, Mr. Bolingbroke
+chanced to say, "I think the wind is rising." (He pronounced the word
+_wi*nd, short_.)
+
+[Transcriber's note: What is printed in the original text as an "i"
+with a breve is rendered here as "i*".]
+
+"_Wi*nd_! my dear," cried his wife, echoing his pronunciation; "do,
+for heaven's sake, call it wi*nd."
+
+The lady sounded this word long.
+
+"Wind! my love," repeated he after her: "I doubt whether that be the
+right pronunciation."
+
+"I am surprised you can doubt it," said she, "for I never heard any
+body call it _wi*nd_ but yourself."
+
+"Did not you, my love? that is very extraordinary: many people, I
+believe, call it _wi*nd_."
+
+"Vulgarians, perhaps!"
+
+"Vulgarians! No, indeed, my dear; very polite, well-informed people."
+
+Griselda, with a look of unutterable contempt, reiterated the word
+_polite_.
+
+"Yes, my dear, _polite_," persisted Mr. Bolingbroke, who was now come
+to such a pass, that he would defend his opinion in opposition to
+hers, stoutly and warmly. "Yes, _polite_, my dear, I maintain it; the
+most _polite_ people pronounce it as I do."
+
+"You may maintain what you please, my dear," said the lady, coolly;
+"but I maintain the contrary."
+
+"Assertion is no proof on either side, I acknowledge," said Mr.
+Bolingbroke, recollecting himself.
+
+"No, in truth," said Mrs. Bolingbroke, "especially such an absurd
+assertion as yours, my dear. Now I will go no farther than Mrs.
+Granby:--Mrs. Granby, did you ever hear any person, who knew how to
+speak, pronounce wi*nd--_wi*nd_?"
+
+"Mrs. Granby, have not you heard it called _wi*nd_ in good company?"
+
+The disputants eagerly approached her at the same instant, and looked
+as if their fortunes or lives depended upon the decision.
+
+"I think I have heard the word pronounced both ways, by well-bred and
+well-informed people," said Mrs. Granby.
+
+"That is saying nothing, my dear," said Mrs. Bolingbroke, pettishly.
+
+"This is saying all I want," said Mr. Bolingbroke, satisfied.
+
+"I would lay any wager, however, that Mr. ----, if he were here,
+would give it in my favour; and I suppose you will not dispute his
+authority."
+
+"I will not dispute the authority of Sheridan's Dictionary," cried Mr.
+Bolingbroke, taking it down from the book-case, and turning over the
+leaves hastily.--"Sheridan gives it for me, my dear," said he, with
+exultation.
+
+"You need not speak with such triumph, my dear, for I do not submit to
+Sheridan."
+
+"No! Will you submit to Kenrick, then?"
+
+"Let us see what he says, and I will then tell you," said the lady.
+"No--Kenrick was not of her opinion, and he was no authority." Walker
+was produced; and this battle of the pronouncing dictionaries seemed
+likely to have no end. Mrs. Granby, when she could be heard, remarked
+that it was difficult to settle any dispute about pronunciation,
+because in fact no reasons could be produced, and no standard appealed
+to but custom, which is perpetually changing; and, as Johnson says,
+"whilst our language is variable with the caprice of all who use it,
+words can no more be ascertained in a dictionary, than a grove in the
+agitation of a storm can be accurately delineated from its picture in
+the water."
+
+The combatants would scarcely allow Emma time to finish this allusion,
+and certainly did not give themselves time to understand it; but
+continued to fight about the word custom, the only word that they had
+heard.
+
+"Yes, custom! custom!" cried they at once, "custom must decide, to
+be sure." Then came _my_ custom and _your_ custom; the custom of the
+stage, the custom of the best company, the custom of the best poets;
+and all these were opposed to one another with increasing rapidity.
+"Good heavens, my dear! did you ever hear Kemble say, 'Rage on, ye
+_wi*nds_!'--Ridiculous!"
+
+"I grant you on the stage it may be winds; but in common conversation
+it is allowable to pronounce it as I do, my dear."
+
+"I appeal to the best poets, Mr. Bolingbroke: nothing can be more
+absurd than your way of--"
+
+"Listen, lively lordlings all!" interrupted Emma, pressing with
+playful vehemence between the disputants; "I must be heard, for I have
+not spoken this half hour, and thus I pronounce--You both are right,
+and both are wrong.
+
+"And now, my good friends, had not we better go to rest?" said she;
+"for it is past midnight."
+
+As they took their candles, and went up stairs, the parties continued
+the battle: Mrs. Bolingbroke brought quotations innumerable to her
+aid, and in a shrill tone repeated,
+
+  "'He might not let even the winds of heaven
+  Visit her face too roughly.'
+
+  ----"'pass by me as the idle wind,
+  Which I respect not.'
+
+  "'And let her down the wind to prey at fortune.'
+
+  "'Blow, thou winter's wind,
+  Thou art not so unkind.'
+
+  "'Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks; rage, blow.'"
+
+Her voice was raised to the highest pitch: it was in vain that her
+husband repeated that he acknowledged the word should be called as
+she pronounced it in poetry; she reiterated her quotations and her
+assertions till at last she knew not what she said; her sense failed
+the more her anger increased. At length Mr. Bolingbroke yielded. Noise
+conquers sometimes where art fails.
+
+"Thus," said he, "the hawk that could not be hoodwinked, was at last
+tamed, by being exposed to the din of a blacksmith's hammer."
+
+Griselda was incensed by this remark, and still more by the allusion,
+which she called the second edition of the vampire-bat. Both husband
+and wife went to sleep mutually displeased, and more disgusted with
+each other than they had ever been since their marriage: and all this
+for the pronunciation of a word!
+
+Early in the morning they were wakened by a messenger, who brought an
+express, informing Mr. Bolingbroke that his uncle was not expected to
+live, and that he wished to see him immediately. Mr. Bolingbroke rose
+instantly; all the time that he was dressing, and preparing in the
+greatest hurry for his journey, Griselda tormented him by disputing
+about the propriety of his going, and ended with, "Promise me to write
+every post, my dear; positively you must."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+  "He sighs for freedom, she for power."
+
+
+Mr. Bolingbroke did not comply with his wife's request, or rather with
+her injunction, to write _every post_: and when he did write, Griselda
+always found some fault with his letters. They were too short, too
+stiff, or too cold, and "very different indeed," she said, "from what
+he used to write before he was married." This was certainly true; and
+absence was not at the present crisis the most advantageous thing
+possible to our heroine. Absence is said to extinguish a weak flame,
+and to increase a strong one. Mr. Bolingbroke's passion for his
+Griselda had, by some means, been of late diminished. He parted from
+her with the disagreeable impression of a dispute upon his mind. As
+he went farther from her he perceived that instead of dragging a
+lengthened chain, his chain grew lighter. His uncle recovered: he
+found agreeable society in the neighbourhood; he was persuaded to
+prolong his stay: his mind, which had been continually harassed, now
+enjoyed some tranquillity. On an unlucky evening, he recollected
+Martial's famous epigram and his wife, in one and the same instant:
+
+  "My mind still hovering round about you,
+  I thought I could not live without you;
+  But now we have lived three weeks asunder,
+  How I lived with you is the wonder."
+
+In the mean time, our heroine's chief amusement, in her husband's
+absence, was writing to complain of him to Mrs. Nettleby. This lady's
+answers were now filled with a reciprocity of conjugal abuse; she had
+found, to her cost, that it is the most desperate imprudence to marry
+a fool, in the hopes of governing him. All her powers of tormenting
+were lost upon her blessed helpmate. He was not to be moved by wit or
+sarcasm, eloquence or noise, tears or caresses, reason, jealousy, or
+the opinion of the world.
+
+What did he care what the world thought, he would do as he pleased
+himself; he would be master in his own house: it did not signify
+talking or crying, or being in the right; right or wrong, he would be
+obeyed; a wife should never govern him; he had no notion of letting a
+woman rule, for his part; women were born to obey, and promised it
+in church. As to jealousy, let his wife look to that; if she did not
+choose to behave properly, he knew his remedy, and would as soon be
+divorced as not: "Rule a wife and have a wife," was the burden of his
+song.
+
+It was in vain to goad his insensible nature, in hopes of obtaining
+any good: vain as the art said to be possessed by Linnaeus, of
+producing pearls by pricking oysters. Mrs. Nettleby, the witty, the
+spirited Widow Nettleby, was now in the most hopeless and abject
+condition; tyrannized over by a dunce,--and who could pity her? not
+even her dear Griselda.
+
+One day Mrs. Bolingbroke received an epistle of seven pages from
+_poor_ Mrs. Nettleby, giving a full and true account of Mr. Nettleby's
+extraordinary obstinacy about "the awning of a pleasure-boat, which
+he would not suffer to be made according to her directions, and which
+consequently caused the oversetting of the boat, and _very nearly_
+the deaths of all the party." Tired with the long history, and with
+the notes upon the history of this adventure, in Mrs. Nettleby's
+declamatory style, our heroine walked out to refresh herself. She
+followed a pleasant path in a field near the house, and came to a
+shady lane, where she heard Mr. and Mrs. Granby's voices. She went
+towards the place. There was a turn in the lane, and a thick hedge
+of hawthorn prevented them from being immediately seen. As she
+approached, she heard Mr. Granby saying to Emma, in the fondest tone
+of affection, "My dear Emma, pray let it be done the way that you like
+best."
+
+They were looking at a cottage which they were building. The masons
+had, by mistake, followed the plan which Mr. Granby proposed, instead
+of that which Emma had suggested. The wall was half built; but Mr.
+Granby desired that it might be pulled down and altered to suit Emma's
+taste.
+
+"Bless me!" cried Griselda, with great surprise, "are you really going
+to have it pulled down, Mr. Granby?"
+
+"Certainly," replied he; "and what is more, I am going to help to pull
+it down."
+
+He ran to assist the masons, and worked with a degree of zeal, which
+increased Mrs. Bolingbroke's astonishment.
+
+"Good Heavens!--He could not do more for you if you were his
+mistress."
+
+"He never did so much for me, till I was his wife," said Emma.
+
+"That's strange!--Very unlike other men. But, my dear," said Mrs.
+Bolingbroke, taking Mrs. Granby's arm, and drawing her aside, "how did
+you acquire such surprising power over your husband?"
+
+"By not desiring it, I believe," replied Emma, smiling; "I have never
+used any other art."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+  "Et cependant avec toute sa diablerie,
+  Il faut que je l'appelle et mon coeur et ma mie."
+
+
+Our heroine was still meditating upon the extraordinary method by
+which Emma had acquired power over her husband, when a carriage drove
+down the lane, and Mr. Bolingbroke's head appeared looking out of the
+chaise window. His face did not express so much joy as she thought it
+ought to display at the sight of her, after three weeks' absence. She
+was vexed, and received him coldly. He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Granby,
+and was not miserable. Griselda did not speak one word during their
+walk home; still her husband continued in good spirits: she was more
+and more out of humour, and took no pains to conceal her displeasure.
+He bore it well, but then he seemed to feel it so little, that she
+was exasperated beyond measure; she seized the first convenient
+opportunity, when she found him alone, of beginning a direct attack.
+
+"This is not the way in which you _used_ to meet me, after an absence
+ever so short." He replied, that he was really very glad to see her,
+but that she, on the contrary, seemed sorry to see him.
+
+"Because you are quite altered now," continued she, in a querulous
+tone. "I always prophesied, that you would cease to love me."
+
+"Take care, my dear," said he, smiling; "some prophecies are the cause
+of their own accomplishment,--the sole cause. Come, my Griselda,"
+continued he, in a serious tone, "do not let us begin to quarrel
+the moment we meet." He offered to embrace her, but she drew back
+haughtily. "What! do you confess that you no longer love me?" cried
+she.
+
+"Far from it: but it is in your own power," said he, hesitating, "to
+diminish or increase my love."
+
+"Then it is no love, if it can be either increased or diminished,"
+cried she; "it is no love worth having. I remember the day when
+you swore to me, that your affection could not be increased or
+diminished."
+
+"I was _in_ love in those days, my dear, and did not know what I
+swore," said Mr. Bolingbroke, endeavouring to turn the conversation:
+"never reproach a man, when he is sober, with what he said when he was
+drunk."
+
+"Then you are sober now, are you?" cried she angrily.
+
+"It is to be hoped I am," said he, laughing.
+
+"Cruel, barbarous man!" cried she.
+
+"For being sober?" said he: "have not you been doing all you could to
+sober me these eighteen months, my dear? and now do not be angry if
+you have in some degree succeeded."
+
+"Succeeded!--Oh, wretched woman! this is thy lot!" exclaimed Griselda,
+clasping her hands in an agony of passion. "Oh, that my whole
+unfortunate sex could _see_ me,--could _hear_ you at this instant!
+Never, never did the love of man endure one twelvemonth after
+marriage. False, treacherous, callous, perjured tyrant! leave me!
+leave me!"
+
+He obeyed; she called him back, with a voice half suffocated with
+rage, but he returned not.
+
+Never was departing love recalled by the voice of reproach. It is
+not, as the poet fables, at the sight of human ties, that Cupid
+is frightened, for he is blind; but he has the most delicate ears
+imaginable: scared at the sound of female objurgation, Love claps his
+wings and urges his irrevocable flight.
+
+Griselda remained for some time in her apartment to indulge her
+ill-humour; she had leisure for this indulgence; she was not now, as
+formerly, disturbed by the fond interruptions of a husband. Longer had
+her angry fit lasted, but for a circumstance, which may to many of our
+readers appear unnatural: our heroine became hungry. The passions are
+more under the control of the hours of meals[1] than any one, who has
+not observed human life out of novels, can easily believe. Dinner-time
+came, and Mrs. Bolingbroke appeared at dinner as usual. In the
+presence of Mr. and Mrs. Granby pride compelled Griselda to command
+herself, and no one could guess what had passed between her and her
+husband: but no sooner was she again tete-a-tete with him, than her
+reproaches recommenced with fresh violence.--"Will you only do me the
+justice to tell me, Mr. Bolingbroke," cried she, "what reason you have
+to love me less?"
+
+[Footnote 1: De Retz' Memoirs.]
+
+"Reason, my dear," said he; "you know love is independent of reason,
+according to your own definition: love is involuntary, you cannot
+therefore blame me for its caprices."
+
+"Insulting casuistry!" said she, weeping; "sophistical nonsense! Have
+you any rational complaint to make against me, Bolingbroke?"
+
+"I make no complaints, rational or irrational, my dear; they are all
+on your side."
+
+"And well they may be," cried Griselda, "when you treat me in such a
+barbarous manner: but I do not complain; the world shall be my judge;
+the world will do me justice, if you will not. I appeal to every body
+who knows me, have I ever given you the slightest cause for ill-usage?
+Can you accuse me of any extravagance, of any imprudence, sir?"
+
+"I accuse you of neither, Mrs. Bolingbroke."
+
+"No, because you cannot, sir; my character, my fidelity is
+unimpeached, unimpeachable: the world will do me justice."
+
+Griselda contrived to make even her virtues causes of torment. Upon
+the strength of this unimpeachable fidelity, she thought she might be
+as ill-humoured as she pleased; she seemed now to think that she had
+acquired an indefeasible right to reproach her husband, since she had
+extorted from him the confession that he loved her less, and that he
+had no crime to lay to her charge. Ten days passed on in this manner;
+the lady becoming every hour more irritable, the gentleman every hour
+more indifferent.
+
+To have revived or killed affection _secundem artem_, the fair
+practitioner should now have thrown in a little jealousy: but,
+unluckily, she was so situated that this was impossible. No object any
+way fit for the purpose was at hand; nothing was to be found within
+ten miles of her but honest country squires; and,
+
+  "With all the powers of nature and of art,
+  She could not break one stubborn country heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+  "To whom the virgin majesty of Eve,
+  As one who loves and some unkindness meets,
+  With sweet austere composure thus replies."
+
+
+Many privileges are, and ought to be, allowed to the virgin majesty
+of the sex; and even when the modern fair one does not reply with all
+the sweet austere composure of Eve, her anger may have charms for a
+lover. There is a certain susceptibility of temper, that sometimes
+accompanies the pride of virtue, which indicates a quick sense of
+shame, and warm feelings of affection; in whatsoever manner this may
+be shown, it appears amiable and graceful. And if this sensibility
+degenerate into irritability, a lover pardons it in his mistress; it
+is her prerogative to be haughty; and if he be dexterous to seize
+"the moment of returning love," it is often his interest to promote
+quarrels, for the sake of the pleasures of reconciliation. The jealous
+doubts, the alternate hopes and fears, attendant on the passion of
+love, are dear to the lover whilst his passion lasts; but when that
+subsides--as subside it must--his taste for altercation ceases. The
+proverb which favours the quarrels of lovers may prove fatal to the
+happiness of husbands; and woe be to the wife who puts her faith in
+it! There are, however, people who would extend that dangerous maxim
+even to the commerce of friendship; and it must be allowed (for
+morality, neither in small matters nor great, can gain any thing by
+suppressing the truth), it must be allowed that in the commencement
+of an intimacy the quarrels of friends may tend to increase their
+mutual regard, by affording to one or both of them opportunities of
+displaying qualities superior even to good humour; such as truth,
+fidelity, honour, or generosity. But whatever may be the sum total
+of their merit, when upon long acquaintance it comes to be fully
+known and justly appreciated, the most splendid virtues or talents
+can seldom compensate in domestic life for the want of temper. The
+fallacy of a maxim, like the absurdity of an argument, is sometimes
+best proved by pushing it as far as it can go, by observing all its
+consequences. Our heroine, in the present instance, illustrates this
+truth to admiration: her life and her husband's had now become a
+perpetual scene of disputes and reproaches; every day the quarrels
+grew more bitter, and the reconciliations less sweet.
+
+One morning, Griselda and her husband were present whilst Emma was
+busy showing some poor children how to plait straw for hats.
+
+"Next summer, my dear, when we are settled at home, I hope you will
+encourage some manufacture of this kind amongst the children of our
+tenants," said Mr. Bolingbroke to his lady.
+
+"I have no genius for teaching manufactures of this sort," replied
+Mrs. Bolingbroke, scornfully.
+
+Her husband urged the matter no farther. A few minutes afterwards, he
+drew out a straw from a bundle, which one of the children held.
+
+"This is a fine straw!" said he, carelessly.
+
+"Fine straw!" cried Mrs. Bolingbroke: "no--that is very coarse. This,"
+continued she, pulling one from another bundle; "this is a fine straw,
+if you please."
+
+"I think mine is the finest," said Mr. Bolingbroke.
+
+"Then you must be blind, Mr. Bolingbroke," cried the lady, eagerly
+comparing them.
+
+"Well, my dear," said he, laughing, "we will not dispute about
+straws."
+
+"No, indeed," said she; "but I observe whenever you know you are in
+the wrong, Mr. Bolingbroke, you say, _we will not dispute, my dear_:
+now pray look at these straws, Mrs. Granby, you that have eyes--which
+is the finest?"
+
+"I will draw lots," said Emma, taking one playfully from Mrs.
+Bolingbroke; "for it seems to me, that there is little or no
+difference between them."
+
+"No difference? Oh, my dear Emma!" said Mrs. Bolingbroke.
+
+"My dear Griselda," cried her husband, taking the other straw from her
+and blowing it away; "indeed it is not worth disputing about: this is
+too childish."
+
+"Childish!" repeated she, looking after the straw, as it floated down
+the wind; "I see nothing childish in being in the right: your raising
+your voice in that manner never convinces me. Jupiter is always in the
+wrong, you know, when he has recourse to his thunder."
+
+"Thunder, my dear Griselda, about a straw! Well, when women are
+determined to dispute, it is wonderful how ingenious they are in
+finding subjects. I give you joy, my dear, of having attained the
+perfection of the art: you can now literally dispute about straws."
+
+Emma insisted at this instant upon having an opinion about the shape
+of a hat, which she had just tied under the chin of a rosy little
+girl of six years old; upon whose smiling countenance she fixed the
+attention of the angry lady.
+
+All might now have been well; but Griselda had a pernicious habit of
+recurring to any slight words of blame which had been used by her
+friends. Her husband had congratulated her upon having attained the
+perfection of the art of disputing, since she could cavil about
+straws. This reproach rankled in her mind. There are certain diseased
+states of the body, in which the slightest wound festers, and becomes
+incurable. It is the same with the mind; and our heroine's was in this
+dangerous predicament.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+  "Que suis je?--qu'ai je fait? Que dois-je faire encore?
+  Quel transport me saisit? Quel chagrin me devore?"
+
+
+Some hours after the quarrel about the straws, when her husband
+had entirely forgotten it, and was sitting very quietly in his
+own apartment writing a letter, Griselda entered the room with a
+countenance prepared for great exploits.
+
+"Mr. Bolingbroke," she began in an awful tone of voice, "if you are at
+leisure to attend to me, I wish to speak to you upon a subject of some
+importance."
+
+"I am quite at leisure, my dear; pray sit down: what is the matter?
+you really alarm me!"
+
+"It is not my intention to alarm you, Mr. Bolingbroke," continued she
+in a still more solemn tone; "the time is past when what I have to say
+could have alarmed: I am persuaded that you will now hear it without
+emotion, or with an emotion of pleasure."
+
+She paused; he laid down his pen, and looked all expectation.
+
+"I am come to announce to you a fixed, unalterable resolution--To part
+from you, Mr. Bolingbroke."
+
+"Are you serious, my dear?"
+
+"Perfectly serious, sir."
+
+These words did not produce the revolution in her husband's
+countenance which Griselda had expected. She trembled with a mixed
+indescribable emotion of grief and rage when she heard him calmly
+reply, "Let us part, then, Griselda, if that be your wish; but let me
+be sure that it is your wish: I must have it repeated from your lips
+when you are perfectly calm."
+
+With a voice inarticulate from passion, Griselda began to assure him
+that she was perfectly calm; but he stopped her, and mildly said,
+"Take four-and-twenty hours to consider of what you are about,
+Griselda; I will be here at this time to-morrow to learn your final
+determination."
+
+Mr. Bolingbroke left the room.
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke was incapable of thinking: she could only feel.
+Conflicting passions assailed her heart. All the woman rushed upon
+her soul; she loved her husband more at this instant than she had
+ever loved him before. His firmness excited at once her anger and
+her admiration. She could not believe that she had heard his _words
+rightly_. She sat down to recall minutely every circumstance of what
+had just passed, every word, every look; she finished by persuading
+herself, that his calmness was affected, that the best method she
+could possibly take was by a show of resistance to bully him out of
+his indifference. She little knew what she hazarded; when the danger
+of losing her husband's love was imaginary, and solely of her own
+creating, it affected her in the most violent manner; but now that the
+peril was real and imminent, she was insensible to its existence.
+
+A celebrated traveller in the Alps advises people to imagine
+themselves walking amidst precipices, when they are safe upon smooth
+ground; and he assures them that by this practice they may inure
+themselves so to the idea of danger, as to prevent all sense of it in
+the most perilous situations.
+
+The four-and-twenty hours passed; and at the appointed moment our
+heroine and her husband met. As she entered the room, she observed
+that he held a book in his hand, but was not reading: he put it down,
+rose deliberately, and placed a chair for her, in silence.
+
+"I thank you, I would rather stand," said she: he put aside the chair,
+and walked to a door at the other end of the room, to examine whether
+there was any one in the adjoining apartment.
+
+"It is not necessary that what we have to say should be overheard by
+servants," said he.
+
+"I have no objection to being overheard," said Griselda: "I have
+nothing to say of which I am ashamed; and all the world must know it
+soon."
+
+As Mr. Bolingbroke returned towards her, she examined his countenance
+with an inquisitive eye. It was expressive of concern; grave, but
+calm.
+
+Whoever has seen a balloon--the reader, however impatient, must listen
+to this allusion--whoever has seen a balloon, may have observed that
+in its flaccid state it can be folded and unfolded with the greatest
+ease, and it is manageable even by a child; but when once filled, the
+force of multitudes cannot restrain, nor the art of man direct its
+course. Such is the human mind--so tractable before, so ungovernable
+after it fills with passion. By slow degrees, unnoticed by our
+heroine, the balloon had been filling. It was full; but yet it was
+held down by strong cords: it remained with her to cut or not to cut
+them.
+
+"Reflect before you speak, my dear Griselda," said her husband;
+"consider that on the words which you are going to pronounce depend
+your fate and mine."
+
+"I have reflected sufficiently," said she, "and decide, Mr.
+Bolingbroke--to part."
+
+"Be it so!" cried he; fire flashed from his eyes; he grew red and pale
+in an instant. "Be it so," repeated he, in an irrevocable voice--"We
+part for ever!"
+
+He vanished before Griselda could speak or think. She was breathless;
+her limbs trembled; she could not support herself; she sunk she knew
+not where. She certainly loved her husband better than any thing upon
+earth, except power. When she came to her senses, and perceived that
+she was alone, she felt as if she was abandoned by all the world. The
+dreadful words "for ever," still sounded in her ears. She was tempted
+to yield her humour to her affection. It was but a momentary struggle;
+the love of sway prevailed. When she came more fully to herself, she
+recurred to the belief that her husband could not be in earnest, or at
+least that he would never persist, if she had but the courage to dare
+him to the utmost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+  "L'ai-je vu se troubler, et me plaindre un moment?
+  En ai-je pu tirer un seul gemissement?"
+
+
+Ashamed of her late weakness, our heroine rallied all her spirits, and
+resolved to meet her husband at supper with an undaunted countenance.
+Her provoking composure was admirably prepared: but it was thrown
+away, for Mr. Bolingbroke did not appear at supper. When Griselda
+retired to rest, she found a note from him on her dressing-table; she
+tore it open with a triumphant hand, certain that it came to offer
+terms of reconciliation.
+
+    "You will appoint whatever friend you think proper to settle
+    the terms of our separation. The time I desire to be as soon as
+    possible. I have not mentioned what has passed to Mr. or Mrs.
+    Granby; you will mention it to them or not, as you think fit. On
+    this point, as on all others, you will henceforward follow your
+    own discretion.
+
+    "T. BOLINGBROKE."
+
+    "Twelve o'clock;
+
+    "Saturday, Aug. 10th."
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke read and re-read this note, weighed every word,
+examined every letter, and at last exclaimed aloud, "He will not,
+cannot, part from me."
+
+"He cannot be in earnest," thought she. "Either he is acting a part or
+he is in a passion. Perhaps he is instigated by Mr. Granby: no, that
+cannot be, because he says he has not mentioned it to Mr. or Mrs.
+Granby, and he always speaks the truth. If Emma had known it, she
+would have prevented him from writing such a harsh note, for she is
+such a good creature. I have a great mind to consult her; she is so
+indulgent, so soothing. But what does Mr. Bolingbroke say about her?
+He leaves me to my own discretion, to mention what has passed or not.
+That means, mention it, speak to Mrs. Granby, that she may advise you
+to submit. I will not say a word to her; I will out-general him yet.
+He cannot leave me when it comes to the trial."
+
+She sat down, and wrote instantly this answer to her husband's note:
+
+    "I agree with you entirely, that the sooner we part the better.
+    I shall write to-morrow to my friend Mrs. Nettleby, with whom I
+    choose to reside. Mr. John Nettleby is the person I fix upon to
+    settle the terms of our separation. In three days I shall have
+    Mrs. Nettleby's answer. This is Saturday: on Tuesday, then, we
+    part--for ever.
+
+    "GRISELDA BOLINGBROKE."
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke summoned her maid. "Deliver this note," said she,
+"with your own hand; do not send Le Grand with it to his master."
+
+Griselda waited impatiently for her maid's return.
+
+"No answer, madam."
+
+"No answer! are you certain?"
+
+"Certain, ma'am: my master only said, 'Very well.'"
+
+"And why did not you ask him if there was any answer?"
+
+"I did, ma'am. I said, 'Is there no answer for my lady?' 'No answer,'
+said he."
+
+"Was he up?"
+
+"No, ma'am: he was in bed."
+
+"Was he asleep when you went in?"
+
+"I cannot say positively, ma'am: he undrew the curtain as I went in,
+and asked, 'Who's there?'"
+
+"Did you go in on tiptoe?"
+
+"I forget, really, ma'am."
+
+"You forget really! Idiot!"
+
+"But, ma'am, I recollect he turned his head to go to sleep as I closed
+the curtain."
+
+"You need not wait," said Mrs. Bolingbroke.
+
+Provoked beyond the power of sleep, Mrs. Bolingbroke gave free
+expression to her feelings, in an eloquent letter to Mrs. Nettleby;
+but even after this relief, Griselda could not rest; so much was she
+disturbed by the repose that her husband enjoyed, or was reputed to
+enjoy. In the morning she placed her letter in full view upon the
+mantel-piece in the drawing-room, in hopes that it would strike terror
+into the heart of her husband. To her great mortification, she saw Mr.
+Bolingbroke, with an unchanged countenance, give it to the servant,
+who came to ask for "letters for the post." She had now three days of
+grace, before Mrs. Nettleby's answer could arrive; but of these she
+disdained to take advantage: she never mentioned what had passed to
+Mrs. Granby, but persisted in the same haughty conduct towards her
+husband, persuaded that she should conquer at last.
+
+The third day came, and brought an answer from Mrs. Nettleby. After
+a prodigious parade of professions, a decent display of astonishment
+at Mr. Bolingbroke's strange conduct, and pity for her dear Griselda,
+Mrs. Nettleby came to the point, and was sorry to say, that Mr.
+Nettleby was in one of his obstinate fits, and could not be brought
+to listen to the scheme so near her heart: "He would have nothing to
+do, he said, with settling the terms of Mr. and Mrs. Bolingbroke's
+separation, not he!--He absolutely refuses to meddle between man and
+wife; and calls it meddling," continued Mrs. Nettleby, "to receive
+you as an inmate, after you have parted from your husband. Mr.
+Bolingbroke, he says, has always been very civil to him, and came to
+see him in town; therefore he will not encourage Mrs. Bolingbroke in
+her tantarums. I represented to him, that Mr. B. desires the thing,
+and leaves the choice of a residence to yourself: but Mr. Nettleby
+replied, in his brutal way, that you might choose a residence where
+you would, except in his house; that his house was his castle, and
+should never be turned into an asylum for runagate wives; that he
+would not set such an example to his own wife, &c. But," continued
+Mrs. Nettleby, "you can imagine all the foolish things he said, and I
+need not repeat them, to vex you and myself. I know that he refuses to
+receive you, my dear Mrs. Bolingbroke, on purpose to provoke me. But
+what can one do or say to such a man?--Adieu, my dear. Pray write when
+you are at leisure, and tell me how things are settled, or rather what
+is settled upon you; which, to be sure, is now the only thing that you
+have to consider.
+
+"Ever yours, affectionately,
+
+"R. H. NETTLEBY.
+
+"P.S. Before you leave Devonshire, do, my dear, get me some of the
+fine Devonshire lace; three or four dozen yards will do. I trust
+implicitly to your taste. You know I do not mind the price; only let
+it be broad, for narrow lace is my aversion."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+  "Lost is the dear delight of giving pain!"
+
+
+Mortified by her dear friend's affectionate letter and postscript,
+Griselda was the more determined to persist in her resolution to defy
+her husband to the utmost. The catastrophe, she thought, would always
+be in her own power; she recollected various separation scenes in
+novels and plays where the lady, after having tormented her husband or
+lover by every species of ill conduct, reforms in an instant, and a
+reconciliation is effected by some miraculous means. Our heroine had
+seen Lady Townley admirably well acted, and doubted not that she could
+now perform her part victoriously. With this hope, or rather in this
+confidence, she went in search of Mr. Bolingbroke. He was not in the
+house; he had gone out to take a solitary walk. Griselda hoped that
+she was the object of his reflections, during his lonely ramble.
+
+"Yes," said she to herself, "my power is not exhausted: I shall make
+his heart ache yet; and when he yields, how I will revenge myself!"
+
+She rang for her woman, and gave orders to have every thing
+immediately prepared for her departure. "As soon as the trunks are
+packed, let them be corded, and placed in the great hall," said she.
+
+Our heroine, who had a happy memory, full well recollected the effect
+which the sight of the corded trunks produced in the "Simple Story,"
+and she thought the stroke so good that it would bear repetition. With
+malice prepense, she therefore prepared the blow, which she flattered
+herself could not fail to astound her victim. Her pride still revolted
+from the idea of consulting Mrs. Granby; but some apology was
+requisite for thus abruptly quitting her house. Mrs. Bolingbroke began
+in a tone that seemed intended to preclude all discussion.
+
+"Mrs. Granby, do you know that Mr. Bolingbroke and I have come to a
+resolution to be happy the rest of our lives; and, for this purpose,
+we find it expedient to separate. Do not start or look so shocked,
+my dear. This word separation may sound terrible to some people,
+but I have, thank Heaven! sufficient strength of mind to hear it
+with perfect composure. When a couple who are chained together pull
+different ways, the sooner they break their chain the better. I shall
+set out immediately for Weymouth. You will excuse me, my dear Mrs.
+Granby; you see the necessity of the case."
+
+Mrs. Granby, with the most delicate kindness, began to expostulate;
+but Griselda declared that she was incapable of using a friend so
+ill as to pretend to listen to advice, when her mind was determined
+irrevocably. Emma had no intention, she said, of obtruding her advice,
+but she wished that Mrs. Bolingbroke would give her own excellent
+understanding time to act, and that she would not throw away the
+happiness of her life in a fit of passion. Mrs. Bolingbroke protested
+that she never was freer from passion of every sort than she was at
+this moment. With an unusually placid countenance, she turned from
+Mrs. Granby and sat down to the piano-forte. "We shall not agree if
+I talk any more upon this subject," continued she, "therefore I had
+better sing. I believe my music is better than my logic: at all events
+I prefer music."
+
+In a fine _bravura_ style Griselda then began to sing--
+
+  "What have I to do with thee,
+  Dull, unjoyous constancy?" &c.
+
+And afterwards she played all her gayest airs to convince Mrs. Granby
+that her heart was quite at ease. She continued playing for an
+unconscionable time, with the most provoking perseverance.
+
+Emma stood at the window, watching for Mr. Bolingbroke's return.
+"Here comes Mr. Bolingbroke!--How melancholy he looks!--Oh, my dear
+Griselda," cried she, stopping Mrs. Bolingbroke's hand as it ran gaily
+over the keys, "this is no time for mirth or bravado: let me conjure
+you--"
+
+"I hate to be conjured," interrupted Griselda, breaking from her; "I
+am not a child, to be coaxed and kissed and sugar-plummed into being
+good, and behaving prettily. Do me the favour to let Mr. Bolingbroke
+know that I am in the study, and desire to speak to him for one
+minute."
+
+No power could detain the peremptory lady: she took her way to the
+study, and rejoiced as she crossed the hall, to see the trunks placed
+as she had ordered. It was impossible that her husband could
+avoid seeing them the moment he should enter the house.--What a
+satisfaction!--Griselda seated herself at ease in an arm-chair in
+the study, and took up a book which lay open on the table. Mr.
+Bolingbroke's pencil-case was in it, and the following passage was
+marked:
+
+"Il y a un lieu sur la terre ou les joies pures sont inconnues; d'ou
+la politesse est exilee et fait place a l'egoisme, a la contradiction,
+aux injures a demivoilees; le remords et l'inquietude, furies
+infatigables, y tourmentent les habitans. Ce lieu est la maison de
+deux epoux qui ne peuvent ni s'estimer, ni s'aimer.
+
+"Il y a un lieu sur la terre ou le vice ne s'introduit pas, ou les
+passions tristes n'ont jamais d'empire, ou le plaisir et l'innocence
+habitent toujours ensemble, ou les soins sont chers, ou les travaux
+sont doux, ou les peines s'oublient dans les entretiens, ou l'on jouit
+du passe, du present, de l'avenir; et c'est la maison de deux epoux
+qui s'aiment."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: M. de Saint Lambert, Oeuvres Philosophiques, tome ii.]
+
+A pang of remorse seized Griselda, as she read these words; they
+seemed to have been written on purpose for her. Struck with the sense
+of her own folly, she paused--she doubted;--but then she thought that
+she had gone too far to recede. Her pride could not bear the idea of
+acknowledging that she had been wrong, or of seeking reconcilement.
+
+"I could live very happily with this man; but then to yield the
+victory to him!--and to reform!--No, no--all reformed heroines are
+stupid and odious."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+  "And, vanquish'd, quit victoriously the field."
+
+
+Griselda flung the book from her as her husband entered the room.
+
+"You have had an answer, madam, from your friend, Mrs. Nettleby, I
+perceive," said he, calmly.
+
+"I have, sir. Family reasons prevent her from receiving me at present;
+therefore I have determined upon going to Weymouth; where, indeed, I
+always wished to spend this summer."
+
+Mr. Bolingbroke evinced no surprise, and made not the slightest
+opposition. Mrs. Bolingbroke was so much vexed, that she could
+scarcely command her countenance: she bit her lip violently.
+
+"With respect to any arrangements that are to be made, I am to
+understand that you wish me to address myself to Mr. J. Nettleby,"
+said her husband.
+
+"No, to myself, if you please; I am prepared to listen, sir, to
+whatever you may have to propose."
+
+"These things are always settled best in writing," replied Mr.
+Bolingbroke. "Be so obliging as to leave me your direction, and you
+shall hear from me, or from Mrs. Granby, in a few days."
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke hastily wrote a direction upon a card, and put it
+into her husband's hand, with as much unconcern as she could maintain.
+Mr. Bolingbroke continued, precisely in the same tone: "If you have
+any thing to suggest, that may contribute to your future convenience,
+madam, you will be so good as to leave a memorandum with me, to which
+I shall attend."
+
+He placed a sheet of paper before Mrs. Bolingbroke, and put a pen into
+her hand. She made an effort to write, but her hand trembled so that
+she could not form a letter. Her husband took up Saint Lambert, and
+read, or seemed to read.--"Open the window, Mr. Bolingbroke," said
+she. He obeyed, but did not, as formerly, "hang over her enamoured."
+He had been so often duped by her fainting-fits and hysterics, that
+now, when she suffered in earnest, he suspected her of artifice. He
+took up his book again, and marked a page with his pencil. She wrote
+a line with a hurried hand, then starting up, flung her pen from her,
+and exclaimed--"I need not, will not write; I have no request to make
+to you, Mr. Bolingbroke; do what you will; I have no wishes, no wish
+upon earth--but to leave you."
+
+"That wish will be soon accomplished, madam," replied he, unmoved.
+
+She pulled the bell till it broke.--A servant appeared.
+
+"My carriage to the door directly, if you please, sir," cried she.
+
+A pause ensued. Griselda sat swelling with unutterable
+rage.--"Heavens! have you no feeling left?" exclaimed she, snatching
+the book from his hand; "have you no feeling left, Mr. Bolingbroke,
+for any thing?"
+
+"You have left me none for some things, Mrs. Bolingbroke, and I thank
+you. All this would have broken my heart six months ago."
+
+"You have no heart to break," cried she.--The carriage drove to the
+door.
+
+"One word more, before I leave you for ever, Mr. Bolingbroke,"
+continued she.--"Blame yourself, not me, for all this.--When we were
+first married, you humoured, you spoiled me; no temper could bear
+it.--Take the consequences of your own weak indulgence.--Farewell."
+
+He made no effort to retain her, and she left the room.
+
+  ----"Thus it shall befall
+  Him who to worth in woman overtrusting
+  Lets tier will rule: restraint she will not brook;
+  And left to herself, if evil thence ensue,
+  She first his _weak indulgence_ will accuse."
+
+A confused recollection of this warning of Adam's was in Mr.
+Bolingbroke's head at this moment.
+
+Mrs. Bolingbroke's carriage drove by the window, and she kissed her
+hand to him as she passed. He had not sufficient presence of mind
+to return the compliment. Our heroine enjoyed this last triumph of
+superior temper.
+
+Whether the victory was worth the winning, whether the modern Griselda
+persisted in her spirited sacrifice of happiness, whether she was
+ever reconciled to her husband, or whether the fear of "reforming
+and growing stupid" prevailed, are questions which we leave to the
+sagacity or the curiosity of her fair contemporaries.
+
+  "He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
+  Let him now speak, 'tis charity to shew."
+
+
+END OF VOLUME VI
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Tales and Novels, Vol. 6, by Maria Edgeworth
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES AND NOVELS, VOL. 6 ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9620.txt or 9620.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/2/9620/
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.