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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. 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