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diff --git a/36686-h/36686-h.htm b/36686-h/36686-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c221e40 --- /dev/null +++ b/36686-h/36686-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,19194 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Vicar Of Wrexhill, By Frances Trollope + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i15 {display: block; margin-left: 15em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i22 {display: block; margin-left: 22em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i23 {display: block; margin-left: 23em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Vicar of Wrexhill, by Mrs [Frances] Trollope + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vicar of Wrexhill + +Author: Mrs [Frances] Trollope + +Release Date: July 11, 2011 [EBook #36686] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VICAR OF WREXHILL *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>STANDARD NOVELS.</h3> + +<h3>No. LXXVIII.</h3> + +<p>"No kind of literature is so generally attractive as Fiction. Pictures +of life and manners, and Stories of adventure, are more eagerly received +by the many than graver productions, however important these latter may +be. APULEIUS is better remembered by his fable of Cupid and Psyche than +by his abstruser Platonic writings; and the Decameron of BOCCACCIO has +outlived the Latin Treatises, and other learned works of that author."</p> + + +<h1>THE VICAR OF WREXHILL.</h1> + +<h3>COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.</h3> + +<h2>BY FRANCES TROLLOPE</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "JONATHAN JEFFERSON WHITLAW," "DOMESTIC MANNERS OF THE +AMERICANS," "ONE FAULT," ETC.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Les bons et vrais dévots qu'on doit suivre à la trace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne sont pas ceux aussí qui font taut de grimace.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hé, quoi!... vous ne ferez nulle distinction<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Entre l'hypocrisie et la dévotion?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vous les voulez traiter d'un semblable langage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et rendre même honneur au masque qu'au visage?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10"><span class="smcap">Molière.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h3>NEW EDITION, REVISED.</h3> + +<h3>LONDON:<br /> +RICHARD BENTLEY,<br /> +NEW BURLINGTON STREET;<br /> +BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH;<br /> +J. CUMMING, DUBLIN.</h3> + +<h3>1840.</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">London</span>:<br /> +Printed by <span class="smcap">A. Spottiswoode</span>,<br /> +New-Street-Square.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + + +<h3>"A sort of frozen blandishment smoothed the proud face of +the Vicar as he stood with his lady beside him, to receive the +sycophants."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. THE VILLAGE OF WREXHILL.—THE MOWBRAY FAMILY.—A BIRTHDAY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. THE MORNING AFTER THE BIRTHDAY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE VICAR OF WREXHILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE WILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. THE ARISTOCRACY OF WREXHILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE PRINCIPAL PERSON IN THE VILLAGE.—THE VICAR'S FAMILY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST IMPRESSIONS MADE BY MR. CARTWRIGHT.—LETTER FROM LADY +HARRINGTON.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. MRS. RICHARDS AND HER DAUGHTERS.—THE TEA-PARTY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. HELEN AND ROSALIND CALL UPON SIR GILBERT HARRINGTON</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. MRS. MOWBRAY CONSULTS MR. CARTWRIGHT UPON THE SUBJECT OF HER LATE +HUSBAND'S WILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. HELEN'S MISERY AT HER MOTHER'S DISPLEASURE.—SIR G. HARRINGTON'S LETTER +ON THE SUBJECT OF THE WILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. MR. CARTWRIGHT'S LETTER TO HIS COUSIN.—COLONEL HARRINGTON.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. MRS. MOWBRAY'S DEPARTURE FOR TOWN.—AN EXTEMPORARY PRAYER.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. AN INTERVIEW.—THE LIME TREE.—ROSALIND'S LETTER TO MR. MOWBRAY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. ROSALIND'S CONVERSATION WITH MISS CARTWRIGHT.—MRS. SIMPSON AND MISS +RICHARDS MEET THE VICAR AT THE PARK.—THE HYMN.—THE WALK HOME.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#VOLUME_THE_SECOND">VOLUME THE SECOND.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IB">CHAPTER I. CHARLES MOWBRAY'S ARRIVAL AT THE PARK.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIB">CHAPTER II. CHARLES'S AMUSEMENT AT HIS SISTER'S APPEARANCE.—HE DISCUSSES HER CASE +WITH ROSALIND.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIIB">CHAPTER III. CHARLES WALKS OVER TO OAKLEY.—THE VICAR IMPROVES IN HIS OPINION.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IVB">CHAPTER IV. MR. STEPHEN CORBOLD.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VB">CHAPTER V. MR. STEPHEN CORBOLD RETURNS WITH MRS. MOWBRAY AND HELEN TO WREXHILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIB">CHAPTER VI. THE RETURN.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIB">CHAPTER VII. THE VICAR AND HIS COUSIN.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIB">CHAPTER VIII. CHARLES'S SORROW.—MRS. SIMPSON IN HER NEW CHARACTER.—THE VICAR'S +PROCEEDINGS DISCUSSED.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IXB">CHAPTER IX. DISCUSSION ON TRUTH.—MR. CORBOLD INSTALLED.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XB">CHAPTER X. FANNY'S RELIGION.—A VISIT TO OAKLEY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIB">CHAPTER XI. CHARLES'S CONFERENCE WITH MRS. MOWBRAY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIB">CHAPTER XII. THE VICAR'S PROGRESS, AND HIS COUNSEL TO FANNY AS TO THE BEST MEANS OF +ASSISTING THE POOR.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIIB">CHAPTER XIII. MRS. SIMPSON'S CHARITABLE VISIT.—CHARLES'S TROUBLES CONTINUE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIVB">CHAPTER XIV. THE ENTRY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVB">CHAPTER XV. WALK TO OAKLEY—DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS—THE VILLAGE INN.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#VOLUME_THE_THIRD">VOLUME THE THIRD.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IC">CHAPTER I. MR. AND MRS. CARTWRIGHT'S LETTER.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIC">CHAPTER II. THE WIDOW SIMPSON'S DISAPPOINTMENT.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIIC">CHAPTER III. CHARLES'S INTERVIEW WITH HIS STEPFATHER.—HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM +WREXHILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IVC">CHAPTER IV. THE VICAR'S PROSPERITY.—HE SETS ABOUT MAKING SOME IMPORTANT REFORMS IN +THE VILLAGE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VC">CHAPTER V. THE VICAR AT HOME.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIC">CHAPTER VI. A SECOND VISIT TO THE LIME-TREE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIC">CHAPTER VII. THE WILL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIC">CHAPTER VIII. THE LETTER-BAG.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IXC">CHAPTER IX. THE WILL EXECUTED.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XC">CHAPTER X. THE SERIOUS FANCY FAIR.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIC">CHAPTER XI. THE "ELOPEMENT."</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIC">CHAPTER XII. MR. CORBOLD'S ADVENTURES.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIIC">CHAPTER XIII. A CHANGE COMES O'ER THE SPIRIT OF HER DREAM.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIVC">CHAPTER XIV. IN WHICH SUNDRY VISITS ARE MADE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVC">CHAPTER XV. MRS. CARTWRIGHT'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>THE VICAR OF WREXHILL.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"On the turf before the bench and with their backs +towards the spot where Rosalind and Henrietta stood, knelt the Vicar and +Fanny."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE VILLAGE OF WREXHILL.—THE MOWBRAY FAMILY.—A BIRTHDAY.</h3> + + +<p>The beauties of an English village have been so often dwelt upon, so +often described, that I dare not linger long upon the sketch of +Wrexhill, which must of necessity precede my introduction of its vicar. +And yet not even England can show many points of greater beauty than +this oak-sheltered spot can display. Its peculiar style of scenery, half +garden, half forest in aspect, is familiar to all who are acquainted +with the New Forest, although it has features entirely its own. One of +these is an overshot mill, the sparkling fall of which is accurately and +most nobly overarched by a pair of oaks which have long been the glory +of the parish. Another is the grey and mellow beauty of its antique +church, itself unencumbered by ivy, while the wall and old stone gateway +of the churchyard look like a line and knot of sober green, enclosing it +with such a rich and unbroken luxuriance of foliage "never sear," as +seems to show that it is held sacred, and that no hand profane ever +ventured to rob its venerable mass of a leaf or a berry. Close beside +the church, and elevated by a very gentle ascent, stands the pretty +Vicarage, as if placed expressly to keep watch and ward over the safety +and repose of its sacred neighbour. The only breach in the ivy-bound +fence of the churchyard, is the little wicket gate that opens from the +Vicarage garden; but even this is arched over by the same immortal and +unfading green,—a fitting emblem of that eternity, the hope of which +emanates from the shrine it encircles. At this particular spot, indeed, +the growth of the plant is so vigorous, that it is controlled with +difficulty, and has not obeyed the hand which led it over the rustic +arch without dropping a straggling wreath or two, which if a vicar of +the nineteenth century could wear a wig, might leave him in the state +coveted for Absalom by his father. The late Vicar of Wrexhill, +however,—I speak of him who died a few weeks before my story +begins,—would never permit these graceful pendants to be shorn, +declaring that the attitude they enforced on entering the churchyard was +exactly such as befitted a Christian when passing the threshold of the +court of God.</p> + +<p>Behind the Vicarage, and stretching down the side of the little hill on +which it stood, so as to form a beautiful background to the church, rose +a grove of lofty forest-trees, that seemed to belong to its garden, but +which in fact was separated from it by the road which led to Mowbray +Park, on the outskirts of which noble domain they were situated. This +same road, having passed behind the church and Vicarage, led to the +village street of Wrexhill, and thence, towards various other parishes, +over a common, studded with oaks and holly-bushes, on one side of which, +with shelving grassy banks that gave to the scene the appearance of +noble pleasure-grounds, was a sheet of water large enough to be +dignified by the appellation of Wrexhill Lake. Into this, the little +stream that turned the mill emptied itself, after meandering very +prettily through Mowbray Park, where, by the help of a little artifice, +it became wide enough at one spot to deserve a boat and boat-house, and +at another to give occasion for the erection of one of the most graceful +park-bridges in the county of Hampshire.</p> + +<p>On one side of the common stands what might be called an alehouse, did +not the exquisite neatness of every feature belonging to the little +establishment render this vulgar appellation inappropriate. It was in +truth just such a place as a town-worn and fastidious invalid might have +fixed his eyes upon and said, "How I should like to lodge in that house +for a week or two!" Roses and honeysuckles battled together for space to +display themselves over the porch, and above the windows. The little +enclosure on each side the post whence swung the "Mowbray Arms" +presented to the little bay windows of the mansion such a collection of +odorous plants, without a single weed to rob them of their strength, +that no lady in the land, let her flower-garden be what it may, but +would allow that Sally Freeman, the daughter, bar-maid, waiter, gardener +at the "Mowbray Arms," understood how to manage common flowers as well +as any Scotchman in her own scientific establishment.</p> + +<p>Industry, neatness, and their fitting accompaniment and reward, comfort, +were legible throughout the small domain. John Freeman brewed his own +beer, double and single; Dorothy, his loving wife, baked her own bread, +cured her own bacon, churned her own butter, and poached her own eggs, +or roasted her own chicken, when they were called for by any wandering +lover of woodland scenery who was lucky enough to turn his steps towards +Wrexhill. The other labours of the household were performed by Sally, +except indeed the watering of horses, and the like, for which services a +stout, decent peasant-boy received a shilling a week, and three good +meals a day: and happy was the cottager whose son got the appointment, +for both in morals and manners the horse-boy at the Mowbray Arms might +have set an example to his betters.</p> + +<p>There are many other pretty spots and many more good people at Wrexhill; +but they must show themselves by degrees, as it is high time the +business of my story should begin.</p> + +<p>The 2nd of May 1833 was a gay day at Wrexhill, for it was that on which +Charles Mowbray came of age, and the fête given on the occasion was +intended to include every human being in the parish, besides about a +hundred more, neighbours and friends, who came from a greater distance +to witness and share in the festivities.</p> + +<p>A merrier, or in truth a happier set of human beings, than those +assembled round the breakfast-table at Mowbray Park on the morning of +that day, could hardly be found anywhere. This important epoch in the +young heir's life had been long anticipated with gay impatience, and +seemed likely to be enjoyed with a fulness of contentment that should +laugh to scorn the croaking prophecy which speaks of hopes fulfilled as +of something wherein doubtful good is ever blended with certain +disappointment. The Mowbray family had hoped to wake upon a joyous +morning, and they did so: no feeling of anxiety, no touch of disease, no +shadow of unkindness to any being who shared with them the breath of +life, came to blight the light-hearted glee which pervaded the whole +circle.</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray senior had hardly passed the prime of life, though a +constitutional tendency to something like corpulency made him look older +than he really was. Throughout his fifty summers he had scarcely known +an ailment or a grief, and his spirit was as fresh within him as that of +the noble-looking young man on whom his eyes rested with equal pride and +love.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray, just seven years his junior, looked as little scathed by +time as himself; her slight and graceful figure indeed gave her almost +the appearance of youth; and though her delicate face had lost its +bloom, there was enough of beauty left to render her still a very lovely +woman.</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray junior, the hero of the day, was, in vulgar but +expressive phrase, as fine a young fellow as ever the sun shone upon. +His mind, too, was in excellent accordance with the frame it +inhabited,—powerful, elastic, unwearying, and almost majestic in its +unbroken vigour and still-increasing power.</p> + +<p>"Aux cœurs heureux les vertus sont faciles," says the proverb; and as +Charles Mowbray was certainly as happy as it was well possible for a man +to be, he must not be overpraised for the fine qualities that warmed his +heart and brightened his eye. Nevertheless, it is only justice to +declare, that few human beings ever passed through twenty-one years of +life with less of evil and more of good feeling than Charles Mowbray.</p> + +<p>Helen, his eldest sister, was a fair creature of nineteen, whose history +had hitherto been, and was probably ever doomed to be, dependant upon +her affections. As yet, these had been wholly made up of warm and +well-requited attachment to her own family; but few people capable of +loving heartily are without the capacity of suffering heartily also, if +occasion calls for it, and this strength of feeling rarely leaves its +possessor long in the enjoyment of such pure and unmixed felicity as +that which shone in Helen's hazel eye as she threw her arms around her +brother's neck, and wished him a thousand and a thousand times joy!</p> + +<p>Fanny Mowbray, the youngest of the family, wanted three months of +sixteen. Poets have often likened young creatures of this age to an +opening rose-bud, and it was doubtless just such a being as Fanny +Mowbray that first suggested the simile. Any thing more bright, more +delicate, more attractive in present loveliness, or more full of promise +for loveliness more perfect still, was never seen.</p> + +<p>In addition to this surprising beauty of form and feature, she possessed +many of those qualities of mind which are attributed to genius. +Meditative and imaginative in no common degree, with thoughts +occasionally both soaring and profound, she passed many hours of her +existence in a manner but little understood by her family—sometimes +devouring with unwearying ardour the miscellaneous contents of the large +library, and sometimes indulging in the new delight of pouring forth her +own wild, rambling thoughts in prose or rhyme. Unfortunately, the +excellent governess who had attended the two girls from the time that +Helen attained her eighth year died when Fanny was scarcely fourteen; +and the attachment of the whole family being manifested by a general +declaration that it would be impossible to permit any one to supply her +place, the consequence was, that the cadette of the family had a mind +less well and steadily regulated than it might have been, had her good +governess been spared to her a few years longer.</p> + +<p>Though so many persons were expected before night to share the +hospitalities of Mowbray Park, that, notwithstanding the ample size of +its mansion, both the lady and her housekeeper were obliged to exert +considerable skill in arranging their accommodation, there was but one +person besides the family present at the happy breakfast-table; and she +was not a guest, but an inmate.</p> + +<p>Rosalind Torrington was a young Irish girl from the province of Ulster, +who had passed the first seventeen years of her life in great +retirement, in a village not far distant from the coast, with no other +society than the immediate neighbourhood afforded. Since that time her +destiny had undergone a great change. She was an only child, and lost +both father and mother in one of those pestilential fevers which so +frequently ravage the populous districts of Ireland. Her father was one +of that frightfully-wronged and much-enduring race of Protestant +clergy, who, during the last few years, have suffered a degree of +oppression and persecution unequalled for its barefaced injustice by any +thing that the most atrocious page of history can record.</p> + +<p>Her mother, of high English descent, had been banished from all +intercourse with her patrician family, because she refused to use her +influence with her exemplary husband to induce him to abandon his +profitless and often perilous preferment in Ireland, where he felt he +had the power as well the will to do good, in order to place himself in +dependence upon his wife's brother, a bachelor viscount who had invited +the impoverished family to his house, and promised some time or other to +do something for him in his profession—if he could. This invitation was +politely but most positively refused, and for the last three years no +intercourse of any kind had taken place between them. At the end of that +time, Mr. Torrington and his exemplary wife, while sedulously +administering to the sick souls of their poor parishioners, caught the +fever that raged among them, and perished. Mrs. Torrington survived her +husband three days; and during that time her thoughts were painfully +occupied by the future prospects of her highly-connected but +slenderly-portioned girl.</p> + +<p>All she could do for her, she did. She wrote to her haughty brother in +such a manner as she thought, from her deathbed, must produce some +effect: but lest it should not, she addressed another letter to Mrs. +Mowbray, the favourite friend of her youth, entreating her protection +for her orphan child.</p> + +<p>This letter enclosed a will fully executed, by which she left to her +daughter whatever property she might die possessed of, (amounting at the +utmost, as she supposed, to about five thousand pounds,) and +constituting Mrs. Mowbray sole guardian of her person and property.</p> + +<p>During the interval which had elapsed since Mrs. Torrington's +estrangement from her noble brother, his lordship had contrived to +quarrel also with his nephew and heir, and in the height of his +resentment against him made a will, leaving the whole of his unentailed +property, amounting to above eighty thousand pounds, to his sister. By a +singular coincidence, Lord Trenet died two days before Mrs. Torrington; +so that her will was made exactly one day after she had unconsciously +become the possessor of this noble fortune. Had this most unexpected +event been made known to her, however, it would probably have made no +other alteration in her will than the addition of the name of some male +friend, who might have taken care of the property during the minority of +her child: and even this would only have been done for the purpose of +saving her friend trouble; for such was her opinion of Mrs. Mowbray, +that no circumstances attending her daughter's fortune could have +induced her to place the precious deposit of her person in other hands.</p> + +<p>The poor girl herself, while these momentous events were passing, was +stationed at the house of an acquaintance at a few miles' distance, +whither she had been sent at the first appearance of infection; and thus +in the short space of ten days, from the cherished, happy darling of +parents far from rich, she became an heiress and an orphan.</p> + +<p>Rosalind Torrington was a warm-hearted, affectionate girl, who had +fondly loved her parents, and she mourned for them with all her soul. +But the scene around her was so rapidly and so totally changed, and so +much that was delightful mixed with the novelty, that it is not +wonderful if at her age her grief wore away, and left her, sooner than +she could have believed the change possible, the gay and happy inmate of +Mowbray Park.</p> + +<p>About four months had elapsed since her arrival, and she was already +greatly beloved by the whole family. In age she was about half-way +between the two sisters; and as she did not greatly resemble either of +them in temper or acquirements, she was at this time equally the friend +of both.</p> + +<p>In most branches of female erudition Miss Torrington was decidedly +inferior to the Miss Mowbrays: but nature had given her a voice and a +taste for music which led her to excel in it; and so much spirit and +vivacity supplied on other points the want of regular study, that by the +help of her very pretty person, her good birth, and her large fortune, +nobody but Charles Mowbray ever discovered deficiency or inferiority of +any kind in Rosalind Torrington: but he had declared vehemently, the +moment she arrived, that she was not one quarter so pretty as his sister +Fanny, nor one thousandth part so angelic in all ways as his sister +Helen.</p> + +<p>Such was the party who, all smiles and felicitations, first crowded +clamorously round the hero of the fête which now occupied the thoughts +of all, and then seated themselves at the breakfast-table, more intent +upon talking of its coming glories than on doing justice to the good +things before them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you lucky twenty-one!" exclaimed Miss Torrington, addressing young +Mowbray. "Did any one ever see such sunshine!... And just think what it +would have been if all the tents of the people had been drenched with +rain! The inward groans for best bonnets would have checked the +gratulations in their throats, and we should have had sighs perchance +for cheers."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe any single soul would have cared for rain, or thought +for one moment of the weather, let it have been what it would, +Rosalind," observed Helen. "Charles," she continued, "is so adored and +doted upon by all the people round, both rich and poor, that I am +persuaded, while they were drinking his health, there would not have +been a thought bestowed on the weather."</p> + +<p>"Oh!... To be sure, dear Helen.... I quite forgot that. Of course, a +glance at the Mowbray would be worth all the Mackintosh cloaks in the +world, for keeping a dry skin in a storm;—but then, you know, the hero +himself might have caught cold when he went out to shine upon them—and +the avoiding this is surely a blessing for which we all ought to be +thankful: not but what I would have held an umbrella over him with the +greatest pleasure, of course ... but, altogether, I think it is quite as +well as it is."</p> + +<p>"You won't quiz my Helen out of her love for me, Miss Rosalind +Torrington," replied Charles, laughing; "so do not hope it."</p> + +<p>"Miss Rosalind Torrington!" ... repeated the young lady indignantly. +Then rising and approaching Mrs. Mowbray, she said very solemnly, "Is +that my style and title, madam? Is there any other Miss Torrington in +all the world?... Is there any necessity, because he is one-and-twenty, +that he should call me Miss Rosalind?... And is it not your duty, oh! my +guardianess! to support me in all my rights and privileges? And won't +you please to scold him if he calls me Miss Rosalind again?"</p> + +<p>"Beyond all question you are Miss Torrington, my dear," replied Mrs. +Mowbray; "and were not Charles unfortunately of age, and therefore +legally beyond all control, I would certainly command him never to say +Rosalind again."</p> + +<p>"That is not exactly what I said. Most Respected!" replied the young +lady. "He may call me Rosalind if he will; but if I am Miss any thing, I +am Miss Torrington."</p> + +<p>"You certainly are a lucky fellow, Charles," said his Father, "and +Rosalind is quite right in praising the sunshine. Helen with her coaxing +ways may say what she will, but our fête would have been spoilt without +it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I think so, sir.... Pray do not believe me ungrateful. Besides, +I like to see everything accord—and your bright beaming faces would +have been completely out of keeping with a dark frowning sky."</p> + +<p>"Yon are quite right.... But come, make haste with your breakfast ... +let us leave the ladies to give an inquiring glance to the decorations +of the ball-room, and let you and I walk down to the walnut-trees, and +see how they are getting on with the tents and the tables, and all the +rest of it."</p> + +<p>"I shall be ready in a minute, sir; but I have been scampering round the +whole park already this morning, and I am as hungry as a hound. Give me +one more egg, Helen, and then...."</p> + +<p>"It is really a comfort to see what a fine appetite he has!—is it not, +Helen?" said Rosalind, surrounding his plate with rolls of all sorts and +sizes.</p> + +<p>"I will call you '<i>Wild Irish Girl</i>' in the very midst of the ball this +evening if you do not behave better," said young Mowbray.</p> + +<p>"And if you do, I will...."</p> + +<p>"Come along, Charles," said his father; "her threats may put you out of +heart for the whole day."</p> + +<p>"And might not we too take a walk before any of the people arrive?" said +Fanny. "I have heard the cuckoo this morning for the first time. He was +certainly thanking God for the sunshine; and I really think we ought to +go out, and then we shall do so too."</p> + +<p>"A most delightful proposal!" cried Rosalind; "and if the birds should +happen to introduce a jig movement, we can practise our dancing steps as +we go along."</p> + +<p>"Wait half an hour for me," said Charles, rising to accompany his +father, "and I will join your party. Let us go to the Pebble-Ford, +Rosalind; and you shall all three drink my health out of that dear pool +beside it, that Ros.... Miss Torrington—admired so much the other day."</p> + +<p>"No, no, we can't wait a moment, Char.... Mr. Mowbray—" said Rosalind. +"Come, dear girls, let us be gone instantly."</p> + +<p>"Not wait for him on his birthday!" cried Helen. "But you are not in +earnest, Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"How you do labour and toil to spoil that man, Helen!" said Miss +Torrington, raising her hands and eyes as he left the room. "It is a +great blessing for him that I have come amongst you! If any thing can +save him from utter destruction, it is I shall do it."</p> + +<p>Charles however was waited for, and that for at least three times the +period he had named; but he came at last, and the walk was taken, and +the birds sang, and the brook sparkled, and the health was drunk +cordially, even by Rosalind; and the gay party returned in time to see +the first carriage approach, bearing guests invited to be present at the +tenants' dinner in the Park. Their morning toilet was hastily +readjusted, as another and another equipage rolled onwards towards the +house; and then the business of the day began. Lords and ladies, knights +and squires, yeomen and peasants, were seen riding, driving, running, +and walking through the spacious park in all directions. Then followed +the rustic fête and the joyous carouse, in which the name of Charles +Mowbray made the welkin ring; and then, the company having retreated to +the house, came the hurried steps of a dozen lady's-maids hastening to +their various scenes of action, and valets converting closets of all +sorts and sizes into dressing-rooms for unnumbered gentlemen; and then +the banquet, and then the coffee and the short repose—and then the +crowded ball.</p> + +<p>All this came and went in order, and without the intervention of a +single circumstance that might mar the enjoyment of a day long set apart +for happiness, and which began and ended more exactly according to the +wishes and intentions of those who arranged its festivities than often +falls out at galas planned by mortals.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock on the following morning the joyous din at length sank +into silence, and as many as hospitable ingenuity could find room for +lay down at Mowbray Park to enjoy again in dreams the untarnished gaiety +of that happy day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE MORNING AFTER THE BIRTHDAY.</h3> + + +<p>Even the stable-boys deemed themselves privileged to sleep later than +usual on the day after; and the ploughboy, as he went afield, missed the +merry smile of the park dairy-maid, who, like her superiors, seemed to +think on such an occasion time was made for very vulgar souls indeed, +and that none who had joined in so illustrious a gala, could be expected +to recover the full possession of their waking senses for some hours +after the usual time.</p> + +<p>By slow degrees, however, the different members of the establishment +began to stretch themselves and give sign of reviving animation. The +housemaids yawningly opened the window-shutters; the footmen crept after +them to aid in removing from one room at least the traces of the +jubilee, which, like the relics of a lamp that has burnt out, showed but +the more unsightly from its past splendour; and at length, to a +superficial eye, the breakfast-room looked like the breakfast-room of +former years; though a more discriminating glance might have detected +girandoles where no such things had ever glittered before, card-tables +in the place of work-tables, and flowers, still blooming in situations +as little usual to them as a bed of strawberries would have been the day +before.</p> + +<p>But it was long after these hireling efforts of forced labour had +prepared the table for the morning meal, that any one of the favoured +sleepers destined to partake of it left his or her downy pillow.... In +short ... it was past mid-day before the family and their guests began +to assemble; and even then many stragglers were still waited for before +they appeared, and Mrs. Mowbray and Helen began at length to talk of +breaking up the long session, and of giving orders to the butler to take +care of all those who should come after.</p> + +<p>"It is not very surprising that the Davenports, who never ceased +dancing till long after the sun came to look at them," said Helen,—"it +is not all wonderful that they should sleep late, and I believe Mr. +Vivian makes it a principle to be the last on all occasions. But I am +quite astonished that papa does not appear: was he asleep, mamma, when +you came down this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No, Helen, not quite asleep, for he spoke to me. But I think he was +very sleepy, for I hardly understood what he said; and as he appeared +extremely tired when he went to bed, I told Curtis to darken the room +again, and leave him quiet."</p> + +<p>Another half-hour brought forth the Davenports and Mr. Vivian; but still +Mr. Mowbray did not appear, and Helen, though hitherto she had been +quite satisfied by her mother's account of his prolonged slumbers, again +began to feel uneasy about him.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think, mamma," said she, "that I might venture to go up to +him?"</p> + +<p>"I see not the least objection to it, Helen; especially as we know, that +if it were you who happened to wake him out of the soundest sleep he +ever enjoyed, the pleasure of seeing you near him would quite atone for +it."</p> + +<p>"Very well mamma,—then I shall certainly let him sleep no longer now;" +and, so saying, Helen left the room.</p> + +<p>"Is not Helen Mowbray a charming creature!" said a gentleman who was +seated next Miss Torrington, and who, being neither young, handsome, +rich, nor noble, felt that he could wound no feelings by expressing his +admiration of one young lady to another.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you what she is," answered Rosalind warmly: "she is just as +much better than every body else in the world, as her sister, there, is +more beautiful."</p> + +<p>"And you are...." said the middle-aged gentleman, fixing a pair of very +intelligent eyes on her face,—"you are...."</p> + +<p>But notwithstanding the look of curiosity with which Miss Torrington +listened, the speaker suddenly stopped, for a bell was rung with that +sort of sudden and continued vehemence which denotes haste and agitation +in the hand that gives it movement.</p> + +<p>"That is my father's bell!" said Charles in an accent of alarm; and +starting up, he was out of the room in an instant.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray immediately followed him, and for several minutes a sort of +heavy silence seemed to have fallen on every individual present—not a +word being uttered by any one, and the eyes of all fixing themselves on +the face of Fanny, who kept her place as if spell-bound, but with a +countenance that expressed a feeling approaching to terror.</p> + +<p>"This is not to be borne!" exclaimed Rosalind abruptly. "Excuse us for a +moment," she added, addressing those who still remained in the +breakfast-room.—"Come with me, Fanny, and let us know the worst at +once."</p> + +<p>The two girls left the room together; and in a very few minutes +afterwards a servant entered, the violent agitation of whose manner +announced the news he brought before he spoke it.</p> + +<p>"My master ... my poor master is dead!" were the words he uttered; and +their effect upon a party assembled for an occasion of so much +festivity, and who had so lately parted with their kind and happy host +in perfect health, may be easily imagined.</p> + +<p>One single word in reply to the eager chorus of inquiry told the manner +of his death—</p> + +<p>"Apoplexy!"</p> + +<p>The scene which followed was what such an event must necessarily +produce. No single creature present, except one pretty portionless young +lady who thought it very likely that Mr. Charles might now fall in love +with her, could by possibility be benefited by the death of the amiable +man who had just breathed his last, and it is therefore probable that +the universal expression of regret was sincere in quality, though its +quantity might have been somewhat preternaturally increased by the +circumstances in which the parties were relatively placed when the awful +event was made known. Several tears were shed, and some glasses of cold +water called for, while the carriages were getting ready; the gentlemen +all looked grave, and many of the ladies pale; but in less than half an +hour they had all left the house, not one of them, as it happened, being +on terms of sufficient intimacy with the family to justify their +offering to remain at such a moment.</p> + +<p>It is easy enough to dismiss from the scene persons whose feelings were +so slightly interested in it; but far different would be the task were I +to attempt painting the heartfelt anguish of those who remained. Mr. +Mowbray had been so deeply yet so tranquilly loved by every member of +his family—his intercourse with them had been so uniformly that of +constant endearment, unchequered by any mixture of rough temper or +unreasonable caprice, that their love for him was so natural and +inevitable, that they had never reasoned upon it, or were fully aware of +its intensity, till the dreadful moment in which they learned that they +had lost him for ever.</p> + +<p>The feelings of Mrs. Mowbray for many hours amounted to agony; for till +a medical gentleman who examined the body at length succeeded in +convincing her that she was mistaken, she felt persuaded that her +beloved husband owed his death to her neglect, and that if, when she +mistook his unintelligible speech for sleepiness, she had discovered his +condition, and caused him to be bled, his precious life might have been +saved. It was evident, however, from many circumstances, that the +seizure was of a nature not to be baffled or parried by art; and the +relief this conviction at length afforded the widow was so great, that +her having first formed a contrary opinion was perhaps a blessing to +her.</p> + +<p>The grief of Charles was that of a young, ardent, and most affectionate +spirit; but his mother and his sisters now seemed to hang upon him +wholly, and the Being who alone can read all hearts only knew how deep +was the sorrow he felt. The young Fanny, stealing away to her chamber, +threw herself, in an agony of tears, upon her bed, and, forgotten in the +general dismay that had fallen upon all, wept herself into a sleep that +lasted till she awakened on the following morning to a renewed sense of +sorrow which came over her like the dreadful memory of some frightful +dream.</p> + +<p>But of all those whom poor Mowbray had left to deplore his loss, it was +Helen—his darling Helen—who unquestionably felt it the most +profoundly. His love for her had all that is most touching in +partiality, without one atom of the injustice which renders such a +feeling criminal; and its effect upon her loving and enthusiastic temper +was stronger than any words can describe.</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington was perhaps beyond any other member of the family aware +of this, and the tenderest pity for the silent, suffering Helen took +possession of her. She was in truth a looker-on upon the melancholy +scene, and as such, was more qualified to judge how sorrow worked in +each of them than any other could be. Her residence in the family, +though sufficient to impress her with the kindest feelings towards its +chief, and the deepest impression of his worth, had hardly been long +enough to awaken thoroughly her affections towards him, and she wept +more in pity for those around her than from any personal feeling of +grief for the loss she had herself sustained. To soothe poor Helen, to +lead her thoughts even for a moment from the subject that engrossed +them, and to keep her as much as possible from gazing in vain tenderness +and hopeless agony upon the body of her father, became the sole +occupation of Rosalind during the dreadful interval between the real +loss of the beloved being to whom the soul of his child still fondly +clung, and the apparently more final separation still which took place +when all that was left of him was borne from the house.</p> + +<p>Helen made little apparent return to all these tender cares, but she was +fully conscious of them. She felt that Rosalind read her heart, and knew +how to pity her; and the conviction turned liking into love, of that +enduring kind which such hearts as Helen's alone know how to give.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE VICAR OF WREXHILL.</h3> + + +<p>On the day preceding that appointed for the funeral, Mrs. Mowbray +received the following letter:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Madam</span>,</p> + +<p>"I trust that, as the minister of your parish, my venturing to +break in upon your grief will not be considered as an +intrusion. In the festivities which have ended so awfully, your +hospitality invited me and my children to bear a part; and +although I declined the invitation, I am most anxious to prove +to you, madam, and to your family, that no deficiency of +friendly feeling induced me to do so. But 'it is better to go +to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,' and I +now therefore ask your permission to wait on you, with the most +earnest hope that the sacred office I hold may enable you to +receive me rather with a feeling of comfort than of pain. Be +assured, madam, that short as the period of my ministry in the +Parish of Wrexhill has been, it is with deep sympathy in the +grief that afflicts you that I subscribe myself, madam,</p> + +<p>"Your humble servant and friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">William Jacob Cartwright</span>.</p> + +<p>"Wrexhill Vicarage, May 9th, 1833."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Little calculated as this letter may seem to excite violent emotion, it +threw poor Mrs. Mowbray into an agony of renewed grief. The idea of +seeing for the first time since her loss a person who, however +well-meaning in his wish to visit her, must be classed as a stranger, +was inexpressibly painful; and, unused to encounter difficulty or +inconvenience of any kind, she shrank from receiving Mr. Cartwright with +a degree of weakness which made her son, who had seldom left her side, +tremble to think how little she was calculated to endure with firmness +the desolation that had fallen upon her.</p> + +<p>"Oh! no! no! no!" she exclaimed vehemently, "I cannot see him—I can see +no one!—keep him from me, Charles,—keep every one from me, if you +would not see me sink to the earth before your eyes!"</p> + +<p>"My poor mother!..." said Charles, tenderly taking her hand, "do not let +me see you tremble thus—you will make me tremble too! and we have need +of strength—we have all great need of strength in this time of trial."</p> + +<p>"But you will not let this clergyman come to me, Charles!... Oh no! you +cannot be so cruel!"</p> + +<p>"The very weakness which makes you shrink from this, my dearest mother, +is the strongest proof that such a visit should be sought, and not +avoided. Where, mother, are we any of us to look for the strength we +want, except from Him whose minister now seeks to comfort us?"</p> + +<p>"He cannot comfort me!... Can you, can Helen, can my pretty Fanny +comfort me?... Then how should he?... Charles, Charles, there is no +comfort in seeing this strange man; you cannot think there is: then why +do you still stand with his note in your hand as if doubtful how you +ought to answer it?"</p> + +<p>"No, mother, I am not doubtful: my very soul seems to sink within me, +when I think that he whose precepts...."</p> + +<p>Tears—copious woman-like tears choked the utterance of the athletic +youth, who looked as if he could fight and conquer in any strife to +which fortune or misfortune could lead him. But the softness that now +mastered him came not of weakness, but of strength—strength of every +feeling that might do honour to a man. For a few moments he gave way to +this burst of passionate sorrow, and the mother and son wept together.</p> + +<p>"My own dear Charles!" said Mrs. Mowbray, taking his hand and pressing +it to her heart, "how could I think for a moment that you would urge me +to do what was so very painful!"</p> + +<p>"It can hardly be so painful for you to do as for me to urge it, dearest +mother; and yet I must do so ... because I think it right. There is no +other person in the world, I think, of what rank or station soever, for +whose admittance I would plead so earnestly, unless it were one who, +like this gentleman, offered to visit you as the minister of God."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray buried her face in her handkerchief, and turned from him +with a movement of impatience. At this moment, Helen, and her constant +attendant Rosalind, entered the room. Mr. Cartwright's note was still in +Charles's hand, and he gave it to his sister, saying, "Helen, I think my +mother ought not to refuse this visit; but she is very averse to it. I +would not pain her for the world; but this is not a moment to refuse any +one who offers to visit us as the minister of Heaven."</p> + +<p>Helen read the note, and her pale cheeks were washed anew with tears as +she did so.</p> + +<p>"It is meant kindly," she said as she laid it upon the table; "but it is +very soon for my poor mother to meet a stranger."</p> + +<p>Rosalind's eyes rested on the folded note, and some feeling suggested by +the consciousness that she too was almost a stranger brought a flush to +her cheek, and led her to step back towards a distant sofa. Whether +Charles observed or understood the movement, she knew not; but he +followed and placed the letter in her hand.</p> + +<p>The words of Helen seemed to comfort her mother, for she again looked +up, and addressing Charles, almost reproachfully, said,</p> + +<p>"Your sister Helen thinks as I do, Charles: it would almost be an +outrage against decency to receive a stranger on such a day as this."</p> + +<p>"Had the request to wait upon you come from our late clergyman, mother, +would you have refused it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not: but he was a friend of long standing, not a stranger, +Charles."</p> + +<p>"But had he not been a clergyman, mother, you would hardly have wished +him to choose such a time to make a visit here; and our not having yet +become familiar with Mr. Cartwright in the common intercourse of +society, seems to me no sufficient reason for refusing to see him in the +sacred character in which he has offered to come...."</p> + +<p>Some powerful emotion checked his utterance; but in a moment he added,</p> + +<p>"I would wish once more to pray beside my father before he goes hence to +be no more seen by us on earth."</p> + +<p>"Mother!..." cried Helen, dropping on her knees and throwing her arms +round her.</p> + +<p>The appeal was answered by an embrace in which their tears mingled, and +poor Mrs. Mowbray, whose aching heart seemed to dread every new emotion, +said, while something like a shudder ran through her frame, "Do with me +as you will, my children.... I cannot bear much more.... But perhaps it +would be better for me that I should sink to rest beside him!"</p> + +<p>"My dearest friend!" exclaimed Rosalind, coming softly towards her and +impressing a kiss upon her forehead, "you have not lost all for which +you might wish to live."</p> + +<p>"Oh, true ... most true!... Where is my poor Fanny, Rosalind? You will +answer this letter for me, Charles?... I will be ready to see Mr. +Cartwright whenever he chooses to come.... It will be a dreadful +trial—but I am willing to endure it."</p> + +<p>The young man left the room, and such an answer was returned to the +clergyman's note as brought him to the door within an hour after it was +despatched.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, in obedience to Mrs. Mowbray's hint, had sought Fanny in her +chamber, where she seemed to find a sad consolation in versifying all +the tender recollections of her lost father that her memory could +supply; but she instantly obeyed the summons, and when Mr. Cartwright +arrived, the whole family were assembled in the drawing-room to receive +him.</p> + +<p>The person, voice, and address of this gentleman were singularly well +calculated to touch and soothe hearts suffering from affliction; and +after the first painful moment in which they raised their eyes to meet +those of the first stranger who had been admitted to look upon their +sorrow, there was nothing in the interview to justify the terror with +which the thought of it had inspired the poor widow.</p> + +<p>Either from tact or feeling, Mr. Cartwright seemed to avoid speaking to +Mrs. Mowbray, and it was to her son that he addressed such words as the +occasion called for. Meanwhile, from time to time his eyes rested with +gentle pity on the three beautiful girls, whose tears flowed silently as +they listened to him.</p> + +<p>But though the manner of Mr. Cartwright was full of the tenderest +kindness, it was apparently embarrassed. He evidently feared to touch or +to dwell upon the agonising subject which occupied all their thoughts, +and it was Charles who had the courage to turn this melancholy meeting +to the only purpose for which it could be desirable, by saying—though +with a faltering voice,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright ... may we ask you to pray with us beside the coffin +that contains the body of my father?"</p> + +<p>The clergyman started, and his countenance expressed a mixture of +satisfaction and surprise, his manner instantly became more solemn—more +devout, and he replied eagerly, rising from his chair as he spoke, as if +willing to hasten to the scene to which he was called,</p> + +<p>"Most gladly—most joyfully, my dear sir, will I kneel with you and your +amiable family to implore the Divine grace. I did not know.... I had +hardly dared to hope.... Indeed I feared from the festivities ... from +the style in which...."</p> + +<p>"I trust, sir," interrupted young Mowbray almost in a whisper, "that you +do not suppose us unused to prayer, because we have rejoiced in the +blessings which Heaven has bestowed?"</p> + +<p>"I thank my God that it is not so," replied the clergyman, pressing the +young man's hand affectionately; "and I will praise His holy name for +every symptom I find that the world, my dear young friend, has not taken +too strong a hold upon your heart. May we through His grace walk +righteously together in the path in which it hath pleased Him to place +us side by side!"</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray's heart was ever open to every expression of kindness; +and now, softened by sorrow, and warmed by a feeling of the purest +piety, he returned the friendly pressure with interest, and then, taking +his poor mother's arm within his own, led the way to the chamber of +death.</p> + +<p>The mourning family knelt beside the coffin, and listened with +suppressed sobs to an extempore prayer, by no means ill suited to the +occasion, though it was not, as poor Charles had expected, chosen from +among the many solemn and beautiful orisons which the Church has +furnished or which the Scriptures might supply for such an hour of need. +But he was not disposed at this moment to cavil at any words calculated +to raise his thoughts and those of the beings he most fondly loved to +that Power which had hitherto blessed their existence, and from whence +alone they could hope for support under the affliction with which He had +now visited them. Fervently and earnestly he prayed for them and for +himself; and when he rose from his knees and again pressed his suffering +mother to his heart, it was with a feeling of renovated hope and +confidence in the future protection of Heaven which nothing but prayer +uttered with genuine piety can give.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright did not take his leave till he had spoken an individual +blessing to each of them, which was accompanied by a pressure of the +hand that seemed to express more sympathy in what each felt than any +words could have done.</p> + +<p>Young Mowbray then retired with him to arrange everything respecting the +ceremony which was to take place on the morrow. His mother expressed a +wish to lie down for an hour; and the three girls, after attending her +to her room, carefully shutting out the light in the hope that she might +sleep, and each one bidding her do so, with a fond caress, retreated to +the dressing-room of Helen, when their conversation naturally turned on +Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>This gentleman had taken possession of the little living of Wrexhill +only one month before the death of his most distinguished parishioner. +During the week which followed his first performance of duty in the +church, the family at the Park made a visit at the Vicarage: for though +Mr. Cartwright was a widower, he had a daughter nearly twenty years of +age, who, as mistress of her father's house, was of course visited by +the ladies. When this visit was returned, the Mowbray family were all +absent; and during the short interval which followed before the day on +which young Mowbray came of age, the preparations for the fête by which +this event was to be celebrated had prevented Mr. Cartwright and his +family from receiving any other invitation than that which requested +their attendance at it. This having been declined, he was as nearly as +possible a personal stranger to the whole Mowbray family.</p> + +<p>"What exquisite benevolence his countenance expresses!" exclaimed Fanny: +"I never saw eyes so full of gentleness."</p> + +<p>"His eyes are remarkably handsome," replied Rosalind; "but I am not +quite sure that I like him."</p> + +<p>"The moments we passed with him were moments of agony," said Helen: "it +would hardly be fair to pronounce any judgment upon him from such an +interview."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are right, dear Helen, and I will endeavour to suspend +mine," replied Rosalind. "But at least I may venture to remark that he +is a very young-looking father for the full-grown son and daughter we +have seen."</p> + +<p>"I do not think he can be their father," observed Fanny. "Perhaps he is +only the husband of their mother?... Don't you think that is most +likely, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, dear," answered Helen: "I believe I hardly saw him."</p> + +<p>"I really doubt if you did, my poor Helen," said Rosalind; "but if he +speak sooth, he could not say the same of us. If the Reverend gentleman +be given to sketching of portraits, he might, I think, produce a good +likeness of either of us, for, like Hamlet when he looked at Ophelia, +'he fell to such perusal of our faces, as he would draw them'.... I do +not think I shall like this Mr. Cartwright.... I do not mean now, Helen; +I speak only of what I think I shall do when I know more of him."</p> + +<p>"Do you call that suspending your judgment, Rosalind?" said Helen with a +feeble smile.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, do not try to make a hypocrite of me, dearest: it will +never answer: Wisdom is of too slow a growth for my little unprofitable +hotbed of an intellect, which forces every thought to run up to full +growth, lanky and valueless, as soon as it is sown. But by-and-by you +shall transplant some of my notions, Helen, into the fine natural soil +of your brain; and then, if they flourish, we shall see what they are +really worth."</p> + +<p>For all reply, the pale Helen shook her head, as one who knows not well +what has been said to him; and the conversation languished and dropped, +as every other had done since the blow had fallen which had levelled her +young and joyous spirit to the dust.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL.</h3> + + +<p>The day which saw the honoured remains of Mr. Mowbray committed to the +tomb was one of dreadful suffering to his family, and to none more than +to his son, who with a heart swelling with the most genuine grief, was +obliged to assume the garb of ceremony, and do the now gloomy honours of +the mansion to many of the same friends and neighbours who had so +recently received the joyous greeting of his father. Most thankful was +he for the relief which followed the departure of the last of those who +came to do honour to these splendid obsequies; and most soothing was it +to his wounded and weary spirits to find himself once more surrounded +only by those who could read in a look all he wished to express, and who +required no welcome to share in the sorrow of that bitter day.</p> + +<p>But, like all other periods of human life, whether marked by sorrow or +by joy, it passed away with as even and justly-measured a pace as if no +event distinguished it from its fellow days; and then, by slow but sure +degrees, the little trifling ordinary routine of daily circumstance came +with its invisible and unnoticed magic, to efface, or at least to +weaken, feelings which seemed to have been impressed by the stamp of +burning iron on their souls.</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray had not yet taken his degree, and wishing to do so as +soon as possible, he was anxious to return to Christ Church without +delay; but his father's will had not yet been opened, and, at the +request of his mother, he postponed his departure till this could be +done. This important document was in the hands of Sir Gilbert +Harrington, an intimate friend and neighbour, who being in London at the +time of Mr. Mowbray's death, had been unable to obey the summons sent to +him in time to attend the funeral; but within a week after he arrived, +and the following morning was fixed upon for this necessary business.</p> + +<p>The persons present were Sir Gilbert Harrington, Mr. Cartwright, a +respectable solicitor from the country town who had himself drawn the +instrument, and Charles Mowbray.</p> + +<p>It was dated rather more than ten years back, and, after the usual +preamble, ran thus:</p> + +<p>"In order that my children, or any other persons whom it may concern, +may know the reason and motive of the disposition of my property which I +am about to make, it is necessary that I should therewith state the +manner of my marriage with Clara Helena Frances, my dearly-beloved wife. +Notwithstanding her vast possessions, I wooed and married her solely +because I loved her; and this she had the generosity to believe, though +I was nearly penniless, having nothing but my true affection and good +blood to offer in return for all the wealth she brought. For several +months she withstood my earnest solicitations for an immediate union, +because, had she married before she became of age, her guardian would +have insisted upon settlements and restrictions, which would have +deprived me of all control over her property; nor would she subsequently +sign any document whatever previous to her marriage, thereby rendering +me the sole possessor of her fortune. <span class="smcap">Wherefore</span>, to show my sense of +this unparalleled confidence and generosity, I hereby make her the sole +inheritrix of all I possess, to be ultimately disposed of according +wholly and solely to her own own will and pleasure...." And then +followed, with every necessary and unnecessary technicality of the law, +such a disposition of his property as left his children entirely +dependent on their mother both for their present and future subsistence.</p> + +<p>That this will was very different from anything that Charles Mowbray +expected, is most certain, and there might perhaps have been some +slight feeling of disappointment at finding himself dependent even upon +his mother; but if such there were, it was not sufficiently strong to +prevent his doing justice to the noble feeling which had led to it; and, +in truth he felt so certain of the fond affection of his mother, that +not a shadow of fear either for his own interest or that of his sisters +crossed his mind.</p> + +<p>The lawyer who read aloud the deed he had penned, had of course no +observation to make upon it, and Mr. Cartwright only remarked that it +was a proof of very devoted love and confidence.</p> + +<p>Of the small party present at this lecture, Sir Gilbert Harrington was +the only one who testified any strong emotion respecting it; and his +displeasure and vexation were expressed in no very measured terms. His +warmth was at length checked, not because he had uttered all he had to +say, but because he met the eye of Mr. Cartwright fixed upon him with a +sort of scrutiny that was unpleasing to his feelings. He therefore +stopped short in the philippic he was pouring forth upon the infernal +folly of a man's acting in matters of importance without consulting his +friends, and taking the arm of Charles, walked through the hall into the +grounds without appearing to remember that as he was left joint executor +with Mrs. Mowbray to the will, it might be expected that he should make +some notification of its contents to her before he left the house.</p> + +<p>"Shall we not speak to my mother, Sir Gilbert?" said Mowbray, +endeavouring to restrain the eager step of the Baronet as he was passing +through the hall-door.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," was the laconic reply; and on he stalked with a more rapid +step than before.</p> + +<p>The conversation which passed between them during the hour which +intervened before Sir Gilbert clambered up to his saddle and galloped +off, was made up of something between lamentation and anathema on his +side, and the most earnest assurances that no mischief could ensue from +his father's will on the part of Charles. The testy old gentleman could +not, however, be wrought upon to see the widow, who, as he said, must +have used most cursed cunning in obtaining such a will; of which, +however, poor lady, she was as innocent as the babe unborn; and he at +length left the Park, positive that he should have a fit of the gout, +and that the widow Mowbray would marry within a year.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had got rid of his warm-hearted but passionate old friend, +Mowbray hastened to repair the neglect he had been forced into +committing, and sought his mother in the drawing-room. But she was no +longer there.</p> + +<p>The room, indeed, appeared to be wholly untenanted, and he was on the +point of leaving it to seek his mother elsewhere, when he perceived that +Miss Torrington was seated at the most distant corner of it, almost +concealed by the folds of the farthest window-curtain.</p> + +<p>"Rosalind!" ... he exclaimed, "are you hid there?... Where are all the +rest? and how come you to be left alone?"</p> + +<p>"I am left alone, Mr. Mowbray ... because I wished it. Helen and Fanny +are with your mother, I believe, in her room."</p> + +<p>Charles wished to see them all, and to see them together, and had almost +turned to go; but there was something in the look and manner of Rosalind +that puzzled him, and going up to her, he said kindly, "Is anything the +matter, Rosalind? You look as if something had vexed you."</p> + +<p>To his great astonishment she burst into tears, and turning from him as +if to hide an emotion she could not conquer, she said, "Go, go, Mr. +Mowbray—go to your mother—you ought to have gone to her instantly."</p> + +<p>"Instantly?... When?... What do you mean, Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Torrington means, Mr. Mowbray, that it would in every way have +been more proper for you to have announced to your mother yourself the +strange will it has pleased your father to leave, instead of sending a +stranger to do it."</p> + +<p>"Who then has told her of it, Rosalind? Was it the lawyer? was it Mr. +Humphries?"</p> + +<p>"No sir—it was Mr. Cartwright."</p> + +<p>"But why should you be displeased with me for this, dear Rosalind? Sir +Gilbert led me out of the library by force, and would not let me go to +my mother, as I wished to do, and I have but this instant got rid of +him; but I did not commission either Mr. Cartwright or any one else to +make a communication to her which I was particularly desirous of making +myself."</p> + +<p>"You did not send Mr. Cartwright to her?" said Rosalind colouring, and +looking earnestly in his face.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed I did not. Did he say I had sent him?"</p> + +<p>"How very strange it is," she replied after a moment's consideration, +"that I should be perfectly unable to say whether he did or did not! I +certainly do not remember that he explicitly said 'Madam, your son has +sent me here;' but this I do remember—that somehow or other I +understood that you had done so."</p> + +<p>"And how did he announce to my mother that she.... I mean, how did he +communicate to her the purport of my father's will?"</p> + +<p>"Charles Mowbray!" exclaimed Rosalind passionately, clenching her small +hands and stamping her little foot upon the ground—"I may be a very, +very wicked girl: I know I am wilful, headstrong, obstinate, and vain; +and call me also dark-minded, suspicious, what you will; but I do hate +that man."</p> + +<p>"Hate whom, Rosalind?" said Charles, inexpressibly astonished at her +vehemence. "What is it you mean?... Is it Mr. Cartwright, our good +friendly clergyman, that you hate so bitterly?"</p> + +<p>"Go to your mother, Mr. Mowbray. I am little more than seventeen years +old, and have always been considered less instructed, and therefore +sillier of course than was to be expected even from my age and sex; then +will it not be worse than waste of time to inquire what I +mean—especially when I confess, as I am bound to do, that I do not well +know myself?... Go to your mother, Charles, and let her know exactly all +you feel. You, at least, have no cause to hide your faults."</p> + +<p>"I will go—but I wish I knew what has so strangely moved you."</p> + +<p>"Ask your sisters—they saw and heard all that I did; at least, they +were present here, as I was;—ask them, examine them, but ask me +nothing; for I do believe, Charles, that I am less to be depended on +than any other person in the world."</p> + +<p>"And why so, my dear Rosalind?" replied Mowbray, almost laughing. "Do +you mean that you tell fibs against your will?"</p> + +<p>"Yes ... I believe so. At least, I feel strangely tempted to say a great +deal more than I positively know to be true; and that is very much like +telling fibs, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Well, Rosalind, I will go, for you grow more mysterious every moment; +only, remember that I should greatly like to know all the thoughts that +come into that strange little head of yours. Will you promise that I +shall?"</p> + +<p>"No," was the ungracious reply; and turning away, she left the room by a +door that led into a conservatory.</p> + +<p>On entering his mother's dressing-room, Mowbray found her seated between +her two daughters, and holding a hand of each.</p> + +<p>She looked up as he entered: the traces of tears were on her cheeks, and +her eyes rested on him with an expression of melancholy reproach such as +he had never read in them before.</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear mother!" he exclaimed as he approached her, "has my +absence then vexed you so grievously?... I could not help it, mother; +Sir Gilbert literally made me his prisoner."</p> + +<p>"Sir Gilbert, Charles, might have shown more respect to the memory of +the friend he has lost, than by keeping his son to listen to his own +wild invectives against the wife that friend so loved and trusted."</p> + +<p>"Whoever has repeated to you the hasty expressions of Sir Gilbert, my +dear mother, in such a manner as to leave a painful impression on your +mind against him, has not acted well. You know his temper, but you know +his heart also; and I should not have thought that it could have been in +the power of any one to make you doubt the real friendship of Sir +Gilbert for us all."</p> + +<p>"Surely, Charles, it was no symptom of friendship to me, to say that +your dear father had made an accursed will!"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!... what a strange misrepresentation, mother!... and all +hanging, as it should seem, upon one little syllable!... Our friend, as +you well know, is what Rosalind calls a manish man; he denies the +supremacy of woman, and might, and I verily believe did say, that a will +which vested power in her must be a cursed will. But we know too well +his long-licensed coarseness of expression to greatly marvel at that; +but for the solemn and most awful word ac-cursed, believe me, mother, he +never said it."</p> + +<p>"It matters little, my dear son, what particular words of abuse Sir +Gilbert uttered against me, provided that your heart did not echo them."</p> + +<p>"Mother! dearest mother!" cried Helen, rising and going towards her +brother, who seemed petrified at the words he heard, "how for a single +moment could you believe that Charles's heart could echo any word that +spoke not honour and love towards you!"</p> + +<p>"He might have been mistaken, Helen," replied her mother with a heavy +sigh: "Charles could not indeed suspect that the mother his dear father +so fully trusted should prove unworthy of the trust.—But let us quit +this painful theme; and believe me, my children, that the first wish of +my heart is to prove myself worthy of his trust and your love."</p> + +<p>"Such words are just what we might expect to hear from you, mother," +said Mowbray, "were any profession from you to us necessary; but I would +gladly forget that you have ever thought such an assurance called for."</p> + +<p>He bent down and kissed her fervently; and then making a sign to Helen, +who seemed about to follow him, that she should remain where she was, he +walked out for a couple of hours among the darkest thickets he could +find, with more of melancholy feeling than had ever before rested on his +spirits.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE ARISTOCRACY OF WREXHILL.</h3> + + +<p>There was no longer any thing to prevent Charles Mowbray's return to +Oxford, and the following day the time of his departure was canvassed, +and at length fixed for the early part of the following week. During the +few days that intervened, Mrs. Mowbray seemed quite to have forgotten +their painful conversation respecting the will; she resumed all her +former confiding tenderness of manner, and told him before they parted, +that henceforward his liberal allowance would be doubled.</p> + +<p>The day preceding his departure was Sunday, and for the first time since +their heavy loss the whole family appeared at church. They had all +dreaded the moment of reappearing before the eyes of the little village +world, and of thus giving public notice, as it were, that they no longer +required to be left to mourn in secret: but this painful ceremony came, +and was endured, like those that had preceded it; and poor Helen, as she +laid her head upon her pillow, exclaimed, "What is there that we could +not bear, and live."</p> + +<p>The sad parting of the next morning having also passed over them, they +at once, and by necessity, fell into the mode of life which they were +hereafter to pursue. But dreary and heavy was the change that had fallen +on them, and it was long ere the mere act of assembling for their daily +meals ceased to be a source of suffering—for fearful was the blank left +by the absence of the kind, the gentle, the beloved, the venerated +being, whose voice was used to speak a blessing and a welcome over every +repast. But our natures seize with avidity the healing balm which time +and occupation offer: much variety of disposition was, however, +manifested in the manner in which each one of the family sought the +consolation they needed.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray became evidently, though perhaps unconsciously, better both +in health and spirits from the time that her neighbours, according to +their different ranks, resumed their visits of friendship, civility, and +respect. She had testified outwardly, excepting to such an eye as +Rosalind's, more intense suffering than any other member of the family. +Nor was this in the smallest degree the result of affectation: she felt +all, and more than all, that she had ever expressed, and would gladly, +for the sake of her poor children, have concealed a part of it, had the +fibre of her character permitted her doing so. But she was demonstrative +by nature: with great softness and sweetness of temper, was joined that +species of weakness which is often said to be the most attractive +feature in the female character;—a weakness that induced her to seize +gladly and gratefully any hand extended to lead her, and which, while it +made her distrust herself, gave most sovereign sway and masterdom to +any one ready and willing to supply the strength and decision of purpose +which she wanted.</p> + +<p>Many female philippics have been penned, I believe, against that manly +passion for superiority which leads our masters to covet in a companion +chosen for life the temper of mind here described; but I am tempted to +think that this longing to possess a being that wants protection, far +from demonstrating a disposition prone to tyranny, shows a nature +disposed to love and to cherish, in a manner perfectly accordant to the +most perfect <i>beau idéal</i> of married life. But, on the other hand, there +may perhaps be more of fondness than judgment in those who make such +mallability of mind their first requisite in a choice so awfully +important.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray, however, had a thousand good qualities to justify the +devoted affection of her husband. Generous, unsuspicious, and confiding, +she was almost as incapable of doubting the goodness of others, as of +deserving such doubts herself. Though heiress to immense property, no +feeling in the slightest degree approaching to pride had even for a +single instant swelled her heart; and though good, beautiful, and +accomplished, her estimate of herself was lower than that formed of her +by any other human being. Her heart was now more than ever opened to +every expression of sympathy and kindness, and she experienced the most +salutary effects from admitting those who uttered such, yet she was +still a mourner in her very heart and soul; and there were moments in +which she felt so bitterly that all her youthful affections were buried, +and every hope of earthly happiness past, that the fair young faces of +the three affectionate girls who were ready to devote themselves to her +seemed too bright and beautiful to be kept within the influence of her +melancholy, and she often sent them from her to their music-room, their +flower-gardens, or the Park, with a sort of feverish anxiety, lest their +youth and health should be sacrificed to their affection for her.</p> + +<p>Helen had all the tenderness with none of the weakness of her mother's +character. She soon ceased to speak of her father, except occasionally, +when walking or sitting quite alone with Rosalind, when sheltering +boughs or thickening twilight might conceal the working features of her +face even from her. At such a moment, if some kind caress from her young +companion touched unawares the feelings over which she unceasingly kept +guard, as if they were a secret treasure too precious to be exposed to +vulgar eyes, she would from time to time give way to the sacred pleasure +of discoursing on the character of the father she had lost.</p> + +<p>But she had resumed all her former occupations, and added to them the +far from unpleasing task of imparting to Rosalind much that had either +been ill taught or altogether neglected in her early education. This, as +well as their daily-increasing affection for each other, kept them much +together, without any blameable desertion either of Mrs. Mowbray or +Fanny: for the former was really wretched if she thought they confined +themselves too much to her drawing-room and herself; and the latter was +hourly becoming more devoted to solitary study, and to speculations too +poetical and sublime to be shared by any one less romantic and +imaginative than herself.</p> + +<p>The neighbourhood was not a large one: Mowbray Park, and the estate +attached to it, stretched itself so far in all directions, that Oakley, +the residence of Sir Gilbert Harrington, the nearest landed proprietor, +was at the distance of more than a mile. The little village of Wrexhill, +however, had one or two pretty houses in it, inhabited by ladies and +gentlemen of moderate but independent fortune, with whom the family at +the Park associated on terms of intimacy.</p> + +<p>Among these, the late Vicar and his family had been the decided +favourites of the whole race of Mowbrays,—and most deservedly so; for +the father was a man of piety, learning, and most amiable deportment; +his wife, a being whose temper, to say nothing of sundry other good +qualities, had made her the idol of the whole parish; and his two sons +and two daughters, just such sons and daughters as such parents deserved +to have. But, as Gregory Dobbs, the old parish clerk, observed, after +officiating at the funeral of Mr. Mowbray, "Death seemed to have taken a +spite against the village of Wrexhill, for within one short month he had +mowed down and swept away the two best and <i>most powerful</i> men in the +parish, and 'twas no easy matter to say how long the inhabitants might +be likely to wear mourning."</p> + +<p>The dispersion and departure of the good Vicar's family was an +additional misfortune that his parishioners had not looked for. The +living, more valuable for its pleasant house and pretty glebe than for +its revenue, was in the gift of one who through life had been, not in +appearance or profession only, but in most true sincerity, the attached +friend of the late incumbent; and Edward Wallace, his eldest son, was +bred to the church with the express understanding that the next +presentation should be his. With this persuasion, the young man's first +act on the death of his father was to tell his mother and sisters that +they should continue to inhabit the home they had so long loved. But +this arrangement was speedily overthrown; for in reply to the letter +which announced the death of his father to Sir J. C. Blackhouse, the +patron of the living, he received the following answer:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"My dear Fellow,</p> + +<p>"As the devil would have it, I am now a cabinet minister, and I +no more dare give the living to your Tory father's son, than I +dare blow up Westminster Hall, or pull the Lord Chancellor's +nose in public. I do assure you I am very sorry for this, for I +believe you are likely to be as good a man as your excellent +father, who, when he was my tutor, had certainly no notion that +I should turn out such a first-rate Radical. However, there is +no resisting destiny; and so here I am, just going to give my +pretty little living to some Reverend Mr. Somebody that I don't +care a straw about, because my Lord M—— says, that though a +bit of a saint, he is a <i>capital clerical Whig</i>. I wish, +Edward, you'd try to forget all the fusty old nonsense about +Church and State,—upon my life I do. By-gones are by-gones, my +dear fellow; and if you could get up a clever pamphlet on the +Tithe Laws, or on the Protestant affinities to the Church of +Rome, or anything else with a good rich vein of whiggery +running through it, I really think I might still be able to do +something for you. Do think of this, and believe me,</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow,</p> + +<p>"Very affectionately,</p> + +<p>"Your friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">J. C. Blackhouse</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This most unlooked-for disappointment of course banished the Wallace +family from Wrexhill; and the regret their departure left was so +general, that it would be hardly saying too much to declare that no +interference of the Whig government, however personal or tyrannical, +ever produced a stronger sensation of disgust in the circle to which its +influence extended than this.</p> + +<p>It was greatly owing to the influence of Mr. Mowbray, that Mr. +Cartwright, his son and daughter, were visited by the neighbourhood on +their arrival; but the obvious injustice and impropriety of treating +with indignity and disrespect the clergyman who was placed among them, +solely because they would have preferred one of their own choosing, had +led the benevolent owner of "the great house" to banish the painful +feelings to which this unpopular appointment had given rise, and before +he died, he had the satisfaction of knowing that those who looked up to +him as authority had followed his example, and that the new Vicar had +been called upon by all the visiting families of Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>The handsomest house in the village was inhabited by a widow lady still +young enough to be called handsome, and living with sufficient show to +be supposed rich. She played a little, sang a little, sketched a little, +and talked and dressed a great deal. Some people declared that when she +was young, her complexion must have been as beautiful as that of Miss +Fanny Mowbray: but these were only the young farmers, who did not know +rouge when they saw it. This lady, whose name was Simpson, had one +little girl, a pretty little creature of eight years old, who was +sometimes petted and played with till she was completely spoiled, and +sometimes left in the nursery for days together, while her mamma was +absorbed in the perusal of a new novel or the fabrication of a new +dress.</p> + +<p>At the next turn of the village street was the entrance to a little +place of much less pretension, but infinitely prettier, and in better +taste: this also was tenanted by a fair widow, who, had she not been +surrounded by three daughters, all taller than herself, might have +passed for being as young and as handsome as Mrs. Simpson. She was, +however, as little like her as possible in every other respect, being +subject to no caprice, remarkably simple in her dress, and her hair and +her cheeks always remaining of the colour that pleased God. This lady +had been early left a widow by the gallant and unfortunate Colonel +Richards, who lost a life in a skirmish with the native troops of India +which might have done honour to his country in a nobler field. What his +young widow endured in returning from a remote part of the country to +Madras, with her three infants and very little means, had doubtless +contributed, with the good gifts born with her, to make her what she +was; for there was a firmness and strength of mind enveloped in her +miniature frame, which seemed as if her brave husband had bequeathed to +her the legacy of his dauntless spirit to sustain her under all the +privations and misery his early death left her to encounter alone.</p> + +<p>The character of her three girls will be easily understood hereafter.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richards's cottage was the only residence in Wrexhill except the +Vicar's that did not open upon the village street, so that she had no +immediate neighbour; but close to the corner of the pretty field that +fronted her dwelling and fed her cow, lived a bachelor half-pay officer, +who among many other excellent qualities possessed one which made him +pre-eminently interesting in her eyes:—he had known Colonel Richards +well, and less than half the reverence he felt for his memory has often +sufficed to enrich the church of Rome with a saint. It was not Major +Dalrymple's fault if the widow of his umqwhile commanding officer had +not long ago exchanged her comparative poverty for his very comfortable +independence; and considering that he was five years younger than the +lady, was the presumptive heir to a noble Scotch cousin who was thought +consumptive, played the flute exquisitely, and was moreover a tall and +gentlemanly figure, with no other fault imputed to him than a somewhat +obstinate pertinacity of attachment to herself, many people both in and +out of Wrexhill wondered at her obduracy, especially as she had never +been heard to say, even by her most intimate friends, "that her heart +was buried in the grave of her dear Richards."</p> + +<p>The remaining aristocracy of Wrexhill need hardly be enumerated, as they +will not make any very considerable figure in the following pages. But +there was an attorney, an apothecary, and a schoolmaster. The latter, +indeed, was an excellent person, of whom we may hear more in the sequel; +but a <i>catalogue raisonné</i> of names makes but a dull chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE PRINCIPAL PERSON IN THE VILLAGE.—THE VICAR'S FAMILY.</h3> + + +<p>Two days after the Mowbray family appeared at church, the village gentry +began to offer their visits of condolence, which, happily however for +the tranquillity of the persons chiefly concerned, were performed in the +improved manner of modern times; that is to say, every allusion to the +recent event being by all but their intimate friends most cautiously +avoided by all parties.</p> + +<p>The first person who entered the drawing-room was Mrs. Simpson. On all +occasions, indeed, this lady exerted herself to sustain the position of +"the principal person in the village." She seldom gave an order for "the +fly," which, weak as were its own springs, was, in truth, the +main-spring of all the rural visitings; she seldom ordered this +indispensable commodity without adding to her instructions, "Pray be +punctual, Mr. Sims,—I say this for your sake as well as my own; for if +the principal person in the village is made to wait, you may depend upon +it an opposition will be started immediately, and in that case, you +know, I should be obliged to give it my patronage." In like manner, the +butcher and baker in the village, the ruddy-faced milkman out of it, the +shoemaker, the dressmaker, the carpenter, the glazier, the dealer in +small wares and all wares, were severally and collectively given to +understand that Mrs. Simpson, as the principal person in the village, +had a right to expect the first-fruits of their civility, attention, +industry, and general stock-in-trade.</p> + +<p>Her entrance into the presence of Mrs. Mowbray was as pregnant with +sentiment and sympathy as the degree of intimacy to which she was +admitted would permit. The hand-shaking was performed with a little +pressure and a little sigh; every pause in the conversation was made to +speak volumes by the sad tone in which the next sentence was spoken: in +short, if the minds of Mrs. Mowbray, her eldest daughter, and her ward, +who kindly volunteered to sustain this ordeal with her, had not been +fully occupied by the recent event, almost every word, look, and gesture +of the principal person of Wrexhill were calculated to recall it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson was accompanied by her pretty little girl, flowered and +furbelowed into as near a resemblance to a bantam chicken as it was +possible for a pretty little girl to take.</p> + +<p>The distance from the village to the Park was almost too great for so +young a child to walk, and the poor little thing looked heated, cross, +and weary; but her mamma declared that a ramble through those delicious +fields was the greatest treat in the world. "I trust in Heaven," she +continued, using her near-sighted eye-glass to look at a drawing which +lay on the table, "that Mimima" (her abbreviation of Jemima) "will have +my taste for sketching—I like to take her out with me, dear pet, she +enjoys it so! but at this lovely season it is the most difficult thing +in the world not to sketch as one goes. Indeed, when the mind is +pre-occupied"—(a sigh)—"every object, however"—(a pause)—"I beg your +pardon, but it is so difficult—"</p> + +<p>"Come to me, Jemima," said Helen, holding out her hand, "and let me take +your bonnet off."</p> + +<p>The child put up her shoulder, and pressed with distressing closeness +upon the delicate lilac of her mother's new silk dress.</p> + +<p>"It is such a shy puss!" said Mrs. Simpson; "I often think what would +become of her"—(a sigh). "I beg your pardon—but sad thoughts will +press—"</p> + +<p>"Little girl, do you love eau de Cologne?" said Rosalind, taking a +bottle from the table and holding it towards her.</p> + +<p>Either the look, the accent, or the action of Rosalind had attraction +sufficient to draw the child towards her; when she good-humouredly +relieved the glowing cheeks from the stifling encumbrance of a very +close pink bonnet and thick green veil, and then copiously bedewed the +pretty head with the fragrant and refreshing water.</p> + +<p>"Do you like it, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very much; do it again! again!" said the child, laughing aloud.</p> + +<p>"Mimima!—what did I tell you, dear! Alas!—young heads—I beg your +pardon—" (a sigh). "You are too good!—I fear you will spoil her, Miss +Torrington."</p> + +<p>"I am only trying to cool her a little, ma'am; she looks quite in a +fever."</p> + +<p>"She has sported along before me like a little fawn! I brought my maid +and the man servant, as I thought they might carry her between them if +she was tired; but she would not hear of it—the step of childhood is so +elastic!—Alas!—I beg your pardon!—"</p> + +<p>"Don't you like to ride <i>a-cushion</i>, Miss Jemima?" said Rosalind, struck +by the idea of the maid and the man carrying the young lady between +them.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" inquired the child.</p> + +<p>Rosalind laughed a little, and coloured a little, at being obliged to +explain herself; but making the best of it, she took Mimima's little +hands and interlaced them with her own, after the most approved manner +of preparing to treat somebody with riding <i>a-cushion</i>.</p> + +<p>No persons resent ridicule so much as those who are perpetually exposing +themselves to it. Mrs. Simpson out-glowed her rouge as she said, "I did +not mean, Miss Torrington, that my servants were to carry the child +together,—I really wonder such a very droll idea.—I beg your +pardon—but at such a time—"</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington looked at her for a moment, and then rose and left the +room.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson saw that she had offended the heiress, and from that moment +conceived towards her one of those little feminine antipathies, which if +they do not as often lead to daggers and bowls in the higher ranks of +society as to black eyes and broken noses in the lower, are nevertheless +seldom quite innoxious.</p> + +<p>The conversation now began to languish, for the principal person in +Wrexhill was decidedly out of humour, and Helen was painfully seeking +for what she was to say next, when the door was thrown open, and Mr. and +Miss Cartwright, and Mr. Jacob Cartwright, were announced.</p> + +<p>No sudden and unexpected burst of sunshine ever produced a greater +change in the aspect of a watery landscape, than the entrance of this +party on the countenance of the handsome widow. Had Rosalind been +present, she would have found some amusement, or at least some +occupation, in seeking to discover whether it were the father or son who +possessed this vivifying power. To the pale, hollow-eyed daughter she +would certainly have attributed no such influence. But as we have not +her help to decide the doubt, we must leave the matter to the slower +hand of time.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jacob Cartwright was a tall, straight, young man, but as yet a +little inclining to that line of contour, which can only be described by +the expressive word lanky. Neither was his hair handsome, for, +designated as "light" by his particular friends and admirers, it was +called "sandy" by the rest of the world. But the young gentleman had a +finely-formed mouth, with a very beautiful set of teeth, and a large +clear light blue eye, which many persons declared to be beautiful.</p> + +<p>This young man was said to resemble greatly the mother he had lost: to +his father he was certainly as unlike as possible. Mr. Cartwright, +though somewhat above the middle height, was shorter than his son, and +his person incomparably better built; his features were very regularly +handsome, and the habitual expression of his countenance gentle and +attractive. His eyes were large, dark, and very beautifully formed, and +his hair and beard as black as those of a Spaniard, save here and there +a silver line which about the temples began to mix itself with the +sable. His mouth and teeth perhaps might have been said to resemble +those of his son, had not the expression been so different. In the son +these constituted merely a well-formed feature; to the father they +seemed to give a power when he spoke that might work wonders either for +good or evil.</p> + +<p>Henrietta Cartwright resembled neither of them: of the two, she would +have been said to be most like her father, because her hair and eyes +were dark; but the form of the head and face, and above all, the cynic +expression of the mouth, were in perfect contrast to his. Like her +brother she was extremely thin; but she was not proportionably tall, and +in her this ascetic form seemed rather the result of ill health than of +make. She was moreover deadly pale, and seldom spoke in general society +if she could possibly avoid it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray received all the party with cordial kindness. In Helen's +manner there was a shade of coldness, especially to the father, whose +offered hand she did not appear to see; but the whole trio shared the +affectionate greetings of Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>"How <i>very</i> lucky I am to meet you! Such a dismal long walk, all +alone!—but now we can return together. How are you, my dear Miss +Henrietta? has your headache left you?—No?—Oh, how I grieve to see you +suffer so! I need not inquire for you, Mr. Jacob—what a picture of +youth and activity you are! Mimima, come here. Don't you remember your +friend?—don't you remember Mr. Jacob Cartwright?—Ah! I thought you +could not forget him! You would not be your mother's child, dearest, if +you could ever forget kindness."</p> + +<p>In her address to the elder gentleman there seemed to be a little more +caution in the expression of her affectionate feelings; but she looked +at him, and she listened to him, and more than once repeated what he +said, as if to impress the precious words on her memory. In short, from +the moment the Vicar and his family entered the room, it was evident the +ladies of the Park were completely put</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">——"In non cale;"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and this, considering the undeviating respect which through life Mrs. +Simpson had ever paid to wealth and station, was no trifling proof of +the sincerity of that friendship which she professed for her new +friends.</p> + +<p>"I hope your youngest daughter is well, and Miss Torrington also?" said +Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>"Quite well, thank you. Helen, do you know where your sister is?"</p> + +<p>"In the library, I believe, mamma."</p> + +<p>"Miss Cartwright, would you not like some refreshment?... Do ring the +bell, Helen. I am sure, Mrs. Simpson, you ought to take some +wine-and-water after your long walk."</p> + +<p>It was not difficult to see that this civility was the result of a +strong and painful effort on the part of Mrs. Mowbray, and Helen was +provoked with the whole party for not declining it; but no choice was +left her—the bell was rung, and the tray arrived. One comfort she had, +and that no trifling one: neither herself nor her mother had any further +occasion to seek subjects of conversation; Mrs. Simpson took the whole +of this troublesome business upon herself, and for the period that the +luncheon lasted was so completely engaged in eating and talking, that +she had not time for a single sigh.</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen and the little girl were very nearly as busily +employed as herself; but Miss Cartwright sat silently apart, and a +feeling as nearly allied perhaps to curiosity as politeness, induced +Helen to change her place and seat herself near her.</p> + +<p>"Will you not take some refreshment, Miss Cartwright?... Let me get you +some grapes."</p> + +<p>"I thank you—none."</p> + +<p>"Not even a little soda-water and wine? The morning seems unusually +warm."</p> + +<p>"Nothing, I thank you."</p> + +<p>"Are you a great walker?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"This is a charming country for it—such a beautiful variety of lanes +and fields."</p> + +<p>"I seldom vary my walk."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! And what is the favourite spot you have chosen?"</p> + +<p>"The ugliest and most gloomy I could find, that I might be sure of never +meeting any one."</p> + +<p>Helen was silenced—she had not courage for another word, and in order +to cover her retreat, moved towards the table, and bestowed her +attention on the little girl, who, totally forgotten by her mamma, was +quaffing long draughts of wine from a tumbler which Mr. Jacob had been +preparing for himself, but which he had willingly yielded to her, and +now seemed waiting for the inevitable effect of such excess with a sort +of sly and covert glee that made Helen very angry.</p> + +<p>"Your little girl will make herself ill, I am afraid, Mrs. Simpson, by +the quantity of wine she is taking: I am afraid there is no water with +it."</p> + +<p>The lady, who was talking very earnestly in an under tone to Mr. +Cartwright, started at this appeal, and with a glance of more anger than +the age of the child could justify, drew her back from the table and +made her stand at some distance from it.</p> + +<p>"I really think that it is Mr. Jacob Cartwright who should be punished," +said Helen: "for he knew a great deal more about the matter than the +little girl herself."</p> + +<p>"Oh no!... naughty little thing!"—said the mamma.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry if I have been the occasion of the little girl's doing +what was wrong," said Mr. Jacob slowly and in a very gentle tone. "I did +not think she would have taken so much; and she looked very tired and +warm."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson made some civil answer, and turned to renew her +conversation with the Vicar; but he was gone. She positively started, +and looked about her with great interest to discover what had become of +him. The windows of the room opened upon the lawn, and though she had +not seen his exit, she very naturally guessed that it must have been +made in that direction. After rising from the table, and making one or +two unmeaning movements about the room, taking up a book and laying it +down again without looking at its title, examining a vase on the +chimney-piece and a rose on the flower-stand, she gradually drew towards +the open window, and after pausing for half a minute, walked through it +upon the grass.</p> + +<p>The little girl trotted after her; Mr. Jacob followed, probably hoping +to see her stagger about a little; and Helen, though sadly vexed at this +new device to prolong the tedious visit, could do no less than walk +after them.</p> + +<p>The conservatory, drawing-room, and library, formed this side of the +house, the whole range of windows opening uniformly upon the lawn. As +Helen stepped out, she perceived that the party who had preceded her +were entering by the window of the library, and she quickly followed +them, thinking it probable that Fanny might be startled and vexed at +this unexpected interruption, when, as was very likely, she might be in +the very act of invoking the "sacred nine."</p> + +<p>Upon entering the room, however, she found her sister, to her great +surprise, conversing earnestly with Mr. Cartwright, and appearing to be +hardly yet conscious of the presence of the others.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson gave a little, almost imperceptible toss of the head, at +discovering how the gentleman was engaged.</p> + +<p>"We could not think whither you had vanished, Mr. Cartwright," said she, +in her sweetest voice; "but you really were very lucky to ramble in this +direction. Miss Fanny ought to have her picture taken in this fine room, +with all her books about her."</p> + +<p>While she said this, Mr. Cartwright continued in a whisper to finish +what he was addressing to Fanny; and having done so, he turned to the +party which had followed him, saying, "The bright verdure of your +beautiful lawn, Miss Mowbray, tempted me out; but I hope our intrusion +has not disturbed your sister?"</p> + +<p>Fanny answered eagerly that she was very glad to see him. At that moment +Helen chanced to turn her eyes towards the window by which they entered; +when she perceived that Miss Cartwright had followed them. She was, +however, more than half concealed by a large orange tree which stood in +a high square box beside the window; but her head was bent forward to +look into the room, and a sneer of such very singular expression rested +on her lip and in her eye as she looked at her father and Fanny, who +were still standing close together, that Helen remained perfectly still, +staring at her. In another moment Miss Cartwright changed the direction +of her eyes, and encountered those of Helen fixed upon her with a look +of unconcealed astonishment; but her own did not sink before them, and +she turned away with a smile quite as strange and unintelligible as the +look she had bestowed on Fanny.</p> + +<p>At length this tedious visit was brought to its conclusion; the bonnet +of the tipsy and now very pale little girl was replaced, a number of +civil speeches spoken, and the whole party walked off together across +the lawn to a gate which was to take them by a short cut through the +Park.</p> + +<p>"I quite envy Mrs. Simpson her walk home!" said Fanny. "I see she has +taken Mr. Cartwright's arm: I really do think he is the very handsomest +and most agreeable man I ever saw in my life!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST IMPRESSIONS MADE BY MR. CARTWRIGHT.—LETTER FROM LADY +HARRINGTON.</h3> + + +<p>The three girls rallied round Mrs. Mowbray as soon as the guests had +departed, all kindly anxious to see how she bore this first step back +into a world so wholly changed for her.</p> + +<p>She looked pale, and there was an air of languor and weariness about +her: nevertheless, to the great surprise of Helen, she expressed herself +much pleased by the visit:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright," said she, "appears to me to be one of the most amiable +men I ever saw; every tone of his voice speaks kindness, and indeed, if +he did not speak at all, one look of his has more feeling and pity in it +than other people could express by a volume of words."</p> + +<p>"Do you really think so, mamma?" said Helen eagerly, but suddenly +stopped herself, aware that in truth she had no grounds whatever for the +strong feeling of dislike towards him of which she was conscious. She +remembered, too, that her father had expressed himself greatly pleased +by the urbanity of his manners, and that the last act of the benign +influence he was wont to exercise on those around him had been to +conquer the prejudice against him, to which the exclusion of the Wallace +family had unjustly given rise. Helen remembered all this in a moment; +the colour mounted to her cheeks, and she was silent.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, too, was silent, at least from words; but her eyes could speak +as many volumes at a glance as Mr. Cartwright's, and she fixed them for +an instant on Helen with a look that told her plainly her prejudices +against their new neighbour, however unreasonable, were fully shared by +her.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Fanny had thrown her arms round her mother's neck in a sort of +rapture at hearing her own opinions confirmed by such authority. "Oh, +how true that is, dearest mamma!" she exclaimed; "how exactly I feel the +same when he speaks to me!... Such goodness, such gentleness, so much +superiority, yet so much humility! Poor dear Mr. Wallace was an +excellent good man, certainly, but no more to be compared to Mr. +Cartwright than I to Hercules!"</p> + +<p>"How many times have you seen Mr. Cartwright, Fanny?" said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"I have heard him preach three times," she replied, "and they were all +the most beautiful sermons in the world; and I have seen and spoken to +him four times more."</p> + +<p>"Poor Mr. Wallace!" said Rosalind. "It was he who christened you, Fanny; +and from that time to the hour of his death, you seldom passed many days +together, I believe, without seeing and receiving affectionate words and +kind looks from him: and yet four times speaking to this gentle +gentleman has driven the memory of the poor old man from your heart!"</p> + +<p>"No, it has not, Rosalind," replied Fanny, deeply blushing: "I am sure I +did not say that, did I, mamma?—But my loving and remembering Mr. +Wallace all the days of my life need not make me dislike everybody else, +I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"It would be a great misfortune to you if it did, Fanny," said Mrs. +Mowbray. "I am delighted to see, both in you and many others, that the +violent and most unjustifiable prejudice which was conceived against Mr. +Cartwright before he was seen and known, is giving way before his +amiable and excellent qualities: I have no doubt that he will soon be +quite as popular in the parish as Mr. Wallace was."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Cartwright, mamma?" said Helen; "do you think we shall love +her as well as we did Emma Wallace?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing whatever of Miss Cartwright as yet, Helen; she appears +very shy, but we must try to give her courage, my dear girls. I hope we +shall be on terms of as great intimacy with our new Clergyman as with +our former one: it was a sort of association that your dear father +particularly approved, and that alone is a sufficient reason for our +wishing to cultivate it."</p> + +<p>This allusion was too solemn to admit any light conversation to follow +it. Mrs. Mowbray strolled with Fanny into the conservatory, and Rosalind +persuaded Helen that they should find the shrubberies infinitely cooler +and more agreeable than the house.</p> + +<p>But even under the thickest cover that the grounds could offer, Helen +could not be tempted fully to open her heart upon the subject of Mr. +Cartwright, an indulgence which Rosalind certainly expected to obtain +when she proposed the walk; but the name of her father had acted like a +spell on Helen, and all that she could be brought positively to advance +on the subject of the Cartwright family was, that she did not think Miss +Cartwright was shy.</p> + +<p>Within the next fortnight nearly every one who claimed a visiting +acquaintance with the Mowbray family, both in the village and the +neighbourhood round it, had called at the Park.</p> + +<p>"All the calling is over now," said Helen, "and I am very glad of it."</p> + +<p>"Every body has been very kind and attentive," replied her mother, "and +next week we must begin to return their calls. I hope nobody will be +offended, for some of them must be left for many days; the weather is +very hot, and the horses must not be overworked."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why that charming little person that I fell in love with—the +widow, I mean, that lives in the Cottage at Wrexhill," said +Rosalind,—"I wonder she has not been to see you! She appeared to like +you all very much."</p> + +<p>"I have thought of that two or three times," replied Helen. "I think, if +they had any of them been ill, we should have heard it; and yet +otherwise I cannot account for such inattention."</p> + +<p>"It is merely accidental, I am sure," said Mrs. Mowbray. "But there is +one omission, Helen, that cuts me to the heart!" Tears burst from her +eyes as she spoke.</p> + +<p>Poor Helen knew not how to answer: she was well aware that the omission +her mother alluded to was that of Sir Gilbert and Lady Harrington; and +she knew too the cause of it. Lady Harrington, who, with one of the best +hearts in the world, was sometimes rather blunt in her manner of showing +it, had sent over a groom with a letter to Helen, her god-daughter and +especial favourite, very fully explaining the cause of their not +calling, but in a manner that could in no degree enable her to remove +her mother's uneasiness respecting it. This letter, which by her +ladyship's especial orders was delivered privately into the hands of +Helen, ran thus:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"My darling Child!</p> + +<p>"Can't you think what a way I must be in at being prevented +coming to see you? Sir Gilbert excels himself this time for +obstinacy and wilfulness. Every breakfast, every dinner, and +every tea since it happened, William and I do nothing but beg +and entreat that I may be permitted to go over and see your +poor mother! Good gracious! as I tell him, it is not her +fault—though God knows I do think just as much as he does, +that no man ever did make such a tom-fool of a will as your +father. Such a man as Charles! as Sir Gilbert says. 'Twas made +at the full of the moon, my dear, and that's the long and the +short of it; he was just mad, Helen, and nothing else. But is +that any reason that your poor dear mother should be neglected +and forsaken this way! God bless her dear soul! she's more like +a baby than any thing I ever saw, about money; and as to her +being an heiress, why I don't believe, upon my honour, that she +has ever recollected it from the day she married to the time +that your unlucky, poor dear distracted madman of a father +threw all her money back at her in this wild way. He had much +better have pelted her with rotten eggs, Helen! Such a friend +as Sir Gilbert, so warm-hearted, so steady, and so true, is not +to be found every day—old tiger as he is. But what on earth am +I to do about it? I shall certainly go mad too, if I can't get +at you; and yet, I give you my word, I no more dare order the +coachman to drive me to Mowbray Park than to the devil. You +never saw such a tyrannical brute of a husband as Sir Gilbert +is making himself about it! And poor William, too—he really +speaks to him as if he were a little beggar-boy in the streets, +instead of a colonel of dragoons. William said last night +something very like, 'I shall ride over to Wrexhill to-morrow, +and perhaps I shall see the family at Mow....' I wish you had +seen him—I only wish you had seen Sir Gilbert, Helen, for half +a moment!—you would never have forgotten it, my dear, and it +might have given you a hint as to choosing a husband. Never +marry a man with great, wide, open, light-coloured eyes, and +enormous black eyebrows, for fear he should swallow you alive +some day before you know where you are. 'See them! 'roared Sir +Gilbert. 'If you do, by G—d, sir, I'll leave every sou I have +in the world to some cursed old woman myself; but it shan't be +to you, madam,' turning short round as if he would bite +me:—'laugh if you will, but go to Mowbray if you dare!'</p> + +<p>"'But are we never to see any of the family again, sir?' said +the colonel very meekly. 'I never told you so, Colonel Booby,' +was the reply. 'You may see that glorious fellow Charles as +often as you will, and the more you see of him the better; and +I'll manage if I can, as soon as he has taken this degree that +his heart's set upon, to get a commission for him in your +regiment; so you need not palaver about my wanting to part you +from him. And as for you, my lady, I give you full leave to +kidnap the poor destitute, penniless girls if you can; but if I +ever catch you doing any thing that can be construed into +respect or civility to that sly, artful hussy who cajoled my +poor friend Mowbray to make that cursed will, may I.... You +shall see, old lady, what will come of it!'</p> + +<p>"Now what on earth can I do, dear darling? I believe your +mother's as innocent of cajoling as I am, and that's saying +something; and as for your being destitute, sweethearts, you'll +have fifty thousand pounds apiece if you've a farthing. I know +all about the property, and so does Sir Gilbert too; only the +old tiger pretends to believe, just to feed his rage, that your +mother will marry her footman, and bequeath her money to all +the little footboys and girls that may ensue: for one principal +cause of his vengeance against your poor mother is, that she is +still young enough to have children. Was there ever such a +man!—But here have I, according to custom, scribbled my paper +as full as it will hold, and yet have got a hundred thousand +more things to say; but it would all come to this, if I were to +scrawl over a ream. I am miserable because I can't come to see +your mother and you, and yet I can't help myself any more than +if I were shut up in Bridewell: for I never did do any thing +that my abominable old husband desired me not to do, and I +don't think I could do it even to please you, my pretty Helen; +only don't fancy I have forgotten you: but for God's sake don't +write to me! I am quite sure I should get my ears boxed.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, darling child,</p> + +<p>"Your loving friend and godmother,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Jane Matilda Harrington</span>."</p> + +<p>"P. S. I am quite sure that the colonel would send pretty +messages if he knew what I was about: but I will not make him a +party in my sin. I was just going to tell him this morning; but +my conscience smote me, and I turned very sublimely away, +muttering, in the words of Macbeth—'Be innocent of this, my +dearest chuck!'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>This coarse but well-meaning letter gave inexpressible pain to Helen. +She dared not show it to her mother, who, she felt quite sure, would +consider the unjust suspicions of Sir Gilbert as the most cruel insult: +not could she, after Lady Harrington's prohibition, attempt to answer +it, though she greatly wished to do it, in the hope that she might be +able to place her mother's conduct and feelings in a proper light. But +she well knew that, with all her friend's rhodomontade, she was most +devotedly attached to her excellent though hot-headed husband, and that +she could not disoblige her more than by betraying a secret which, under +the present circumstances, would certainly make him very angry.</p> + +<p>But the sight of her mother's tears, and her utter inability to say any +thing that might console her very just sorrow, inspired Helen with a +bold device. To Rosalind only had she shown Lady Harrington's letter, +and to Rosalind only did she communicate her project of boldly writing +to the enraged baronet himself.</p> + +<p>"Do so, Helen," said Rosalind promptly: "it is the only measure to +pursue—unless indeed you and I were to set off and surprise him by a +visit."</p> + +<p>"But my mother?..." replied Helen, evidently struck by the advantages of +this bolder scheme over her own,—"what would my mother say to our +going?"</p> + +<p>"If she knew of it, Helen, I suspect it would lose all favour in Sir +Gilbert's eyes, and you would have no chance whatever of softening his +rage towards her. The expedition, if undertaken at all, must be a secret +one. When he learns it is so, I think it will touch his tough heart, +Helen, for he knows, I fancy, that such escapades are not at all in your +line. I only hope that he will not find out that I proposed it, as that +might lessen your merit in his eyes."</p> + +<p>"No, no, that would do no harm. My doing it would be quite proof enough +how near this matter is to my heart."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, Helen, shall we go?"</p> + +<p>"Let me sleep upon it, Rosalind. If we do go, it must, I think, be quite +early in the morning, so as to have no questions asked before we set +out. It is not a long walk. Shall we see if he will give us some +breakfast?"</p> + +<p>"A most diplomatic project!" replied Rosalind; "for it will enlist his +hospitality on our side, and ten to one but the rough coating of his +heart will thaw and resolve itself into a dew, as Fanny would say, by +the mere act of administering coffee and hot cakes to us; and then the +field is won."</p> + +<p>"I think we will try," said Helen, smiling with a sort of inward +strengthening, from the conviction that such would very probably be the +result.</p> + +<p>A few more words settled the exact time and manner of the expedition, +and the friends parted to dress for dinner.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. RICHARDS AND HER DAUGHTERS.—THE TEA-PARTY.</h3> + + +<p>On the evening of that day, the three girls for the first time induced +Mrs. Mowbray to go beyond the limits of the flower-garden, and walk +under the avenue of beautiful elms in the Park. The simple and +unostentatious tone of her character had influenced all her habits, and +Mrs. Mowbray was a better and more constant walker than ladies generally +who have two or three carriages ready to attend them. She appeared to +enjoy the exercise from which for several weeks she had been debarred; +and when the end of the avenue was reached, and Fanny almost +mechanically opened the wide gate at the bottom, of it, her mother +passed through it without making any observation, and in truth +forgetting at that moment all that had happened since she had last done +so. The gate opened upon a road, which, according to long-established +custom, they crossed nearly at right angles, and then mounted and +descended half a dozen steps, which conducted them into a wide and +beautiful meadow, now fragrant with the new-made hay that several +waggons were conveying to augment a lofty rick in a distant corner of +it.</p> + +<p>It was not till Mrs. Mowbray perceived another party seated round the +base of a haycock which an empty waggon had nearly reached, that she +remembered all the circumstances which made every casual meeting a +matter of importance and agitation to her. The group which seemed a very +merry one, retained their places, till two stout haymakers saucily but +playfully presented their pitch-forks as if to dislodge them. They then +started to their feet to the number of five; and the Park family +recognized Mrs. Richards, her three daughters, and Major Dalrymple.</p> + +<p>"I have not seen them yet, Helen!" said Mrs. Mowbray with nervous +trepidation:—"how very wrong I have been to come so far!"</p> + +<p>"Why so, my dearest mother?" replied Helen, "I am sure it is less +painful to meet thus, than at those dreadful visits in the +drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"But they have not called, Helen ... certainly, we had better go back."</p> + +<p>"Dear mamma, it is not possible," said Fanny, stepping forward to meet a +favourite companion in the youngest Miss Richards: "you see Rosalind has +got to them already."</p> + +<p>It was indeed too late to retreat; nor did the wish to do so last long. +Mrs. Richards pressed the hand of Rosalind, who had taken hers, but, +throwing it off at the same moment, hastened forward to greet the +widowed friend she had wanted courage to seek. Her colour was +heightened, perhaps, from feeling it possible that the cause of her +absence had been mistaken; but large tears trembled in her dark eyes, +and when she silently took the hand of Mrs. Mowbray and pressed it to +her lips, every doubt upon the subject was removed.</p> + +<p>Major Dalrymple and the three girls followed; and the first moment of +meeting over, the two parties seemed mutually and equally pleased to +join. Mrs. Richards was the only person in the neighbourhood to whom +Rosalind, during her six months' residence in it, had at all attached +herself: there was something about her that had fascinated the young +heiress's fancy, and the circumstance of her being the only good second +in a duet to be found within the circle of the Mowbray Park visitings +had completed the charm.</p> + +<p>With the two eldest Misses Richards, Helen was on that sort of intimate +footing which a very sweet-tempered, unpretending girl of nineteen, who +knows she is of some consequence from her station, and is terribly +afraid of being supposed to be proud, is sure to be with young ladies of +nearly her own age, blessed with most exuberant animal spirits, and +desirous of making themselves as agreeable to her as possible.</p> + +<p>Louisa and Charlotte Richards were fine, tall, showy young women, with +some aspirations after the reputation of talent; but they were neither +of them at all like their mother, who was at least six inches shorter +than either of them, and aspired to nothing in the world but to make +her three children happy.</p> + +<p>Little Mary, as her sisters still persisted to call her, approached much +nearer to the stature, person, and character of Mrs. Richards; she was +not quite so <i>mignonne</i> in size, but she</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Had her features, wore her eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perhaps some feeling of her heart,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and was, spite of all the struggles which her mother could make to +prevent it, the darling of her eyes and the hope of her heart. Moreover, +little Mary was, as we have before hinted, the especial friend of Fanny +Mowbray.</p> + +<p>The delights of a balmy evening in the flowery month of June—the +superadded delights of a hay-field, and above all, the supreme delight +of unexpectedly meeting a party of friends, were all enthusiastically +descanted upon by the two tall Misses Richards. They had each taken one +of Helen's slight arms, and borne her along over the stubble grass with +a degree of vehemence which hardly left her breath to speak.</p> + +<p>"I do not think mamma is going any farther," she continued to utter, +while Miss Louisa stopped to tie a shoe-string.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you must!" screamed Miss Charlotte, attempting to drag her +onward singly.</p> + +<p>"Stop, Charlotte!... stop!" cried the eldest sister, snapping off the +shoe-string in her haste—"you shall not carry her away from me. What a +shame! Isn't it a shame, when it is such an age since we met?"</p> + +<p>There is nothing against which it is so difficult to rally, as the +exaggerated expression of feelings in which we do not share. The quiet +Helen could not lash herself into answering vehemence of joy, and having +smiled, and smiled till she was weary, she fairly slipped from her +companions, and hastened back with all the speed she could make to the +tranquil party that surrounded her mother.</p> + +<p>The lively young ladies galloped after her, declaring all the way that +she was the cruellest creature in the world.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray now said that she hoped they would all accompany her home +to tea;—a proposal that met no dissenting voice; but it was some time +before the whole party could be collected, for Fanny Mowbray and little +Mary were nowhere to be seen. Major Dalrymple, however, who was taller +even than the Misses Richards, by means of standing upon the last left +haycock, at length discovered them sitting lovingly side by side under +the shelter of a huge lime-tree that filled one corner of the field. He +was dismissed to bring them up to the main body, and executed his +commission with great gallantry and good-nature, but not without feeling +that the two very pretty girls he thus led away captive would much +rather have been without him; for as he approached their lair, he +perceived, not only that they were in very earnest conversation, but +that various scraps of written paper lay in the lap of each, which at +his approach were hastily exchanged, and conveyed to reticules, pockets, +or bosoms, beyond the reach of his eye.</p> + +<p>They nevertheless smilingly submitted themselves to his guidance, and in +order to prove that he was not very troublesome, Fanny so far returned +to their previous conversation as to say,</p> + +<p>"We must ask your judgment, Major Dalrymple, upon a point on which we +were disputing just before you joined us: which do you prefer in the +pulpit—and out of it—Mr. Wallace, or Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"You were disputing the point, were you?" he replied. "Then I am afraid, +Miss Fanny, I must give it against you; for I believe I know Mary's +opinion already, and I perfectly agree with her."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall say to you, as I say to her," replied Fanny, eagerly "that +you are altogether blinded, benighted, deluded, and wrapt up in +prejudice! I have great faith both in her sincerity and yours, major; +and yet I declare to you, that it does seem to me so impossible for any +one to doubt the superiority of Mr. Cartwright in every way, that I can +hardly persuade myself you are in earnest."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by <i>every way</i>, Miss Fanny?—you cannot surely believe +him to be a better man than our dear old vicar?" said the major.</p> + +<p>"We can none of us, I think, have any right to make comparisons of their +respective goodness—at least not as yet," replied Fanny. "When I said +<i>every way</i>, I meant in the church and in society."</p> + +<p>"On the latter point I suppose I ought to leave the question to be +decided between you, as in all cases of the kind where gentlemen are to +be tried, ladies alone, I believe, are considered competent to form the +jury;—not that Mary can have much right to pronounce a verdict either, +for I doubt if she has ever been in a room with Mr. Cartwright in her +life."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have," said Mary eagerly, "and he is perfectly delightful!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed!—I did not know you had seen him."</p> + +<p>"Yes—we met him at Smith's."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you saw him in a shop, did you?—and even that was sufficient to +prove him delightful?"</p> + +<p>"Quite enough!" replied Mary, colouring a little as she observed Major +Dalrymple smile.</p> + +<p>"The more you see of him, the more you will be aware of his excellence," +said Fanny, coming to the aid of her friend, and with an air of gravity +that was intended to check the levity of the major. "I have seen him +repeatedly at the Park, Major Dalrymple, and under circumstances that +gave sufficient opportunity to show the excellence of his heart, as well +as the charm of his friendly, affectionate, and graceful manner."</p> + +<p>"He has certainly been a very handsome man," said the major.</p> + +<p>"Has been!" exclaimed both the girls at once.</p> + +<p>"He is still very well-looking," added the gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Well-looking!" was again indignantly echoed by the ladies.</p> + +<p>"You do not think the term strong enough? but when a man gets on the +wrong side of forty it is, I think, as much as he can expect."</p> + +<p>"I don't care a farthing what his age maybe," cried Mary; "do you, Miss +Mowbray?... If he were a hundred and forty, with that countenance and +that manner, I should still think him the handsomest and most perfect +person I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"Dear Mary!" replied Fanny affectionately, "how exactly we feel alike +about him! I love you dearly for fighting his battles so warmly."</p> + +<p>"There is surely no fighting in the case," said Major Dalrymple, +laughing,—"at least not with me. But have a care, young ladies: such +perfect conformity of taste on these subjects does not always, I +believe, tend to the continuance of female friendship. What a sad thing +it would be if those two little hands were some day to set pulling caps +between their respective owners!"</p> + +<p>"There is not the least danger of any such dismal catastrophe, I assure +you. Is there Mary?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, no!" replied little Mary in a voice of great indignation. +"What a hateful idea!"</p> + +<p>"One reason why it is so delightful to love and admire Mr. Cartwright," +rejoined Fanny, "is, that one may do it and talk of it too, without any +danger that <i>rational people</i>, Major Dalrymple, should make a jest of +it, and talk the same sort of nonsense that every body is so fond of +doing whenever a lady is heard to express admiration for a gentleman. +But we may surely love and admire the clergyman of the parish; indeed I +think it is a sort of duty for every one to do so."</p> + +<p>"I assure you," replied the major, "that I both loved and admired Mr. +Wallace exceedingly, and that I shall gladly pay the same homage to his +successor as soon as I know him to deserve it. But</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Cautious age and youth....<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>you know the song, Mary?"</p> + +<p>"I know your meaning, Major Dalrymple: you are always boasting of your +age; but I don't know any one but yourself who thinks so very much +of...."</p> + +<p>"... My antiquity and my wisdom."</p> + +<p>"Just that.... But, good heavens! Fanny Mowbray, who is that to whom +your mother is speaking on the lawn?"</p> + +<p>"It is Mr. Cartwright!" cried Fanny with animation; "and now, Major +Dalrymple, you will have an opportunity of judging for yourself."</p> + +<p>"I fear not," he replied, taking out his watch; "it is now eight +o'clock, and Mrs. Richards seldom walks much after nine."</p> + +<p>The two girls now withdrew their arms, and hastened forward to the group +of which Mr. Cartwright made one. Fanny Mowbray held out her hand to +him, which was taken and held very affectionately for two or three +minutes.</p> + +<p>"You have been enjoying this balmy air," said he to her in a voice +sweetly modulated to the hour and the theme. "It is heaven's own breath, +Miss Fanny, and to such a mind as yours must utter accents worthy of the +source from whence it comes."</p> + +<p>Fanny's beautiful eyes were fixed upon his face, and almost seemed to +say,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When you speak, I'd have you do it ever."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I do not think he recollects me," whispered Mary Richards in her ear: +"I wish you'd introduce me."</p> + +<p>Fanny Mowbray started, but recovering herself, said, "Mr. Cartwright, +give me leave to introduce my friend Miss Mary Richards to you. She is +one of your parishioners, and one that you will find capable of +appreciating the happiness of being so."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright extended his pastoral hand to the young lady with a most +gracious smile.</p> + +<p>"Bless you both!" said he, joining their hands between both of his. "To +lead you together in the path in which we must all wish to go, would be +a task that might give a foretaste of the heaven we sought!"</p> + +<p>He then turned towards Mrs. Mowbray, and with a look and tone which +showed that though he never alluded to her situation, he never forgot +it, he inquired how far she had extended her ramble.</p> + +<p>"Much farther than I intended when I set out," replied Mrs. Mowbray. +"But my children, the weather, and the hay, altogether beguiled me to +the bottom of Farmer Bennet's great meadow."</p> + +<p>"Quite right, quite right," replied Mr. Cartwright, with something +approaching almost to fervour of approbation: "this species of quiet +courage, of gentle submission, is just what I expected from Mrs. +Mowbray. It is the sweetest incense that you can offer to Heaven; and +Heaven will repay it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray looked up at his mild countenance, and saw a moisture in +his eye that spoke more tender pity than he would permit his lips to +utter. It touched her to the heart.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richards, who was something of a florist, was examining, with the +assistance of Rosalind, some new geraniums that were placed on circular +stands outside the drawing-room, filling the spaces between the windows. +As this occupation had drawn them from the rest of the party from the +time Mr. Cartwright approached to join it, they had not yet received +that gentleman's salutation, and he now went up to them.</p> + +<p>"Miss Torrington looks as if she were discoursing of her kindred. Are +these fair blossoms the children of your especial care?"</p> + +<p>"They are the children of the gardener and the greenhouse, I believe," +she replied carelessly, and stepped on to another stand.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Richards, I believe?" said the graceful vicar, taking off his hat +to her.</p> + +<p>"I hope you are well, Mr. Cartwright?" replied the lady, following the +steps of Rosalind.</p> + +<p>The two eldest Misses Richards were still assiduously besieging the two +ears of Helen; but as the subjects of which they discoursed did not +always require the same answers, she began to feel considerable fatigue +from the exertion necessary for carrying on this double conversation, +and was therefore not sorry to see Mr. Cartwright approach them, which +must, she thought, produce a diversion in her favour. But she found that +the parties were still personally strangers to each other; for though +his bow was general, his address was only to herself.</p> + +<p>"And have you, too, Miss Mowbray, been venturing upon as long a walk as +the rest of the party?"</p> + +<p>"We have all walked the same distance, Mr. Cartwright; but I believe we +none of us consider it to be very far. We are all good walkers."</p> + +<p>"I rejoice to hear it, for it is the way to become good Christians. +Where or how can we meet and <i>meetly</i> examine the works of the great +Creator so well as on the carpet he has spread, and beneath the azure +canopy which his hands have reared above us?—The Misses Richards, I +believe? May I beg an introduction, Miss Mowbray?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright, Miss Richards—Miss Charlotte Richards," said Helen, +without adding another word.</p> + +<p>"I need hardly ask if you are walkers," said the vicar, as he passed a +smiling and apparently an approving glance over their rather remarkable +length of limb. "Your friends, Miss Mowbray, look like young antelopes +ready to bound over the fair face of Nature; and their eyes look as if +there were intelligence within wherewith to read her aright."</p> + +<p>"Mamma is going into tea, I believe," said Helen, moving off.</p> + +<p>The whole manner and demeanour of the two Misses Richards had changed +from the moment Mr. Cartwright approached. They became quite silent and +demure; but as they followed Helen, one on each side of him, they +coloured with pleasure as he addressed a gentle word, first to one, then +to the other; and when, after entering the drawing-room, he left them +for the purpose of making his farewell bow, or the semblance of it, to +Mrs. Mowbray, Miss Louisa whispered to Miss Charlotte, "Little Mary is +quite right: he <i>is</i> the most delightful man in the world."</p> + +<p>"You are not going to leave us, Mr. Cartwright?" said Mrs. Mowbray +kindly. "We are going to tea this moment."</p> + +<p>"You are very obliging; but I had no intention of intruding on you +thus."</p> + +<p>"Pray do not call it an intrusion. We shall be always most happy to see +you. I only wish your son and daughter were with us also."</p> + +<p>"My daughter, thank you, is a sad invalid; and Jacob generally wanders +farther afield in such weather as this.... Is that gentleman Major +Dalrymple? May I ask you to introduce me?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have much pleasure in doing so, I am sure. He is a very amiable +and estimable person."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray crossed the room towards him, followed by the vicar. The +introduction took place, and the two gentlemen conversed together for a +few minutes on the ordinary topics of Russia, the harvest, the +slave-trade, and reform. On every subject, except the harvest, which Mr. +Cartwright despatched by declaring that it would be peculiarly abundant, +the reverend gentleman expressed himself with an unusual flow of words, +in sentences particularly well constructed; yet nevertheless his +opinions seemed enveloped in a mist; and when Mrs. Richards afterwards +asked the major his opinion of the new vicar, he replied that he thought +his manners very gentlemanlike and agreeable, but that he did not +perfectly remember what opinions he had expressed on any subject.</p> + +<p>At first the company seemed inclined to disperse themselves in knots +about the room; but by degrees Mr. Cartwright very skilfully contrived, +on one pretence or another, to collect them all round a table that was +covered with the usual incitements to talk, and the conversation became +general. At least Mr. Cartwright was very generally listened to; the +major did not speak at all; and the ladies did little more than agree +with and applaud from time to time the placid, even, dulcet flow of +words which fell like a gentle rivulet from the lips of their new vicar. +This description, indeed, would not apply quite generally to all the +ladies; but the majority in his favour was five to three, and with this +advantage,—that whereas his admirers were loud and eloquent in their +expressions of approval, the minority contented themselves by preserving +silence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>HELEN AND ROSALIND CALL UPON SIR GILBERT HARRINGTON</h3> + + +<p>Helen Mowbray knew that the choleric friend whose gentler feelings she +wished to propitiate was an early riser himself, and was never better +disposed to be well pleased with others than when they showed themselves +capable of following his example. She was therefore anxious to arrive at +his house in time to have the conversation she sought, yet dreaded, +before nine o'clock, the usual family breakfast-hour; though in the +shooting-season Sir Gilbert generally contrived to coax my lady and her +housekeeper to have hot rolls smoking on the table by eight. But, +luckily for the young ladies' morning repose, it was not +shooting-season; and they calculated that if they started about half +past seven they should have time for their walk, and a reasonably long +conversation afterwards, before the breakfast, to which they looked as +the pacific conclusion of the negotiation, should be ready.</p> + +<p>At half past seven, accordingly, the fair friends met at the door of +Rosalind's dressing-room, and set off, fearless, though unattended, +through the shrubberies, the park, the flowery lanes, and finally, +across one or two hay-fields, which separated the two mansions.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be better calculated to raise the animal spirits than an +early walk in the gay month of June; and on those not accustomed to the +elasticity, the freshness, the exhilarating clearness of the morning +air, the effect is like enchantment. All the sad thoughts which had of +late so constantly brooded round Helen's heart seemed to withdraw their +painful pressure, and she again felt conscious of the luxury of life, +with youth, health, and innocence, a clear sky, bright verdure, flowery +banks, and shady hedge-rows, to adorn it.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, by an irresistible impulse of gaiety, joined her voice to +those of the blackbirds that carolled near her, till she was stopped by +Helen's exclaiming, "Rosalind, I feel courage for anything this +morning!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered her companion, "let Sir Gilbert appear in any shape but +that of the Vicar of Wrexhill, and I should great him with a degree of +confidence and kindness that I am positive would be irresistible."</p> + +<p>They were now within a short distance of the baronet's grounds, and +another step brought their courage to the proof; for on mounting a +stepping-stile which had originally been placed for the especial +accommodation of the Mowbray ladies, they perceived the redoubtable Sir +Gilbert at the distance of fifty paces, in the act of removing an +offending dock-root with his spud.</p> + +<p>He raised his eyes, and recognising his young visitors, stepped eagerly +forward to meet them. To Rosalind, however, though usually a great +favourite, he now paid not the slightest attention; but taking Helen in +his arms, kissing her on both cheeks and on the forehead, and then +looking her in the face very much as if he were going to weep over her, +he exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"My poor, poor child!... Why did not you bring poor Fanny too?... You +are right to come away, quite right, my dear child: it's dreadful to +live in dependence upon any one's caprice for one's daily bread! Your +home shall be here, Helen, and Fanny's too, as long as you like. Come, +my dear, take my arm: my lady will dance, you may depend upon it, when +she sees you, for we have had dreadful work about keeping her from +Mowbray! I'd just as soon keep a wild cat in order as your godmother, +Helen, when she takes a fancy: but you know, my dear, her going to +Mowbray was a thing not to be thought of, You are a good girl to +come—it shows that you see the matter rightly. I wish Fanny were here +too!"</p> + +<p>All this was said with great rapidity, and without pausing for any +answer. Meanwhile he had drawn Helen's arm within his, and was leading +her towards the house.</p> + +<p>Rosalind followed them quietly for a few steps; and then, either moved +thereto by the feeling of courage her walk had inspired, or from some +latent consciousness of the baronet's partiality to herself, she boldly +stepped up and took his arm on the other side.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul, Miss Torrington!... by the honour of a knight, I never +saw you; nor do I think I should have seen a regiment of young ladies, +though they had been all as handsome as yourself, if they had happened +to come with my poor dear Helen. It was very good of you to walk over +with her, poor little thing!... Your fortune is quite safe and +independent, my dear, isn't it? Nobody's doing a foolish thing can +involve you in any way, can it?"</p> + +<p>"Not unless the foolish thing happened to be done by myself, Sir +Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"That's a great blessing, my dear,—a very great blessing!... And you'll +be kind to our two poor girls, won't you, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"I have more need that they should be kind to me—and so they are,—and +we are all very kind to one another; and if you will be but very kind +too, and come and see us all as you used to do, we shall be very happy +again in time."</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense, child!... You may come here, I tell you, and see me +as much as you like, under my own roof,—because I know who that belongs +to, and all about it; but I promise you that you will never see me going +to houses that don't belong to their right owner,—it would not suit me +in the least—quite out of my way; I should be making some confounded +blunder, and talking to poor Charles about his estate and his +property:—poor fellow! and he not worth sixpence in the world."</p> + +<p>During all this time Helen had not spoken a word. They had now nearly +reached the house; and drawing her arm away, she held out her hand to +Sir Gilbert, and said in a very humble and beseeching tone,</p> + +<p>"Sir Gilbert!... may I speak to you alone for a few minutes?"</p> + +<p>"Speak to me, child?—what about? Is it about a sweet-heart? Is it about +wanting pocket-money, my poor child?—I'm executor to your father's +will, you know, Helen; and if you were starving in a ditch, and Fanny in +another, and poor Charles begging his bread on the high road, I have not +the power of giving either of ye a shilling of his property, though he +has left above fourteen thousand a year!"</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert was now lashing himself into a rage that it was evident +would render the object of Helen's visit abortive if she attempted to +bring it forward now. She exchanged a glance with Rosalind, who shook +her head, and the next moment contrived to whisper in her ear, "Wait +till after breakfast."</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert was now striding up the steps to the hall-door: the two +girls silently followed him, and were probably neither of them sorry to +see Colonel Harrington coming forward to meet them.</p> + +<p>This young man had for the two or three last years seen but little of +the Mowbray family, having been abroad during nearly the whole of that +time; but he returned with something very like a tender recollection of +Helen's having been the prettiest little nymph at fifteen that he had +ever beheld, and her appearance at this moment was not calculated to +make him think she had lost her delicate beauty during his absence. Her +slight tall figure was shown to great advantage by her mourning dress; +and the fair and abundant curls that crowded round her face, now a +little flushed by exercise and agitation, made her altogether as pretty +a creature in her peculiar style as a young soldier would wish to look +upon.</p> + +<p>The coal-black hair and sparkling dark eyes of Rosalind, her ruby lips +and pearl-like teeth, her exquisite little figure, and the general air +of piquant vivacity which made her perfectly radiant when animated, +rendered her in most eyes the more attractive of the two; but Colonel +Harrington did not think so; and giving her one glance of +curiosity,—for he had never seen her before,—he decided, that neither +she, nor any other woman he had ever beheld, could compare in loveliness +with his former friend and favourite.</p> + +<p>His greeting to Helen was just what might be expected from a man who had +known her with great intimacy when she was some half-dozen inches +shorter, and who felt the strongest possible desire to renew the +acquaintance with as little delay as possible.</p> + +<p>"Helen Mowbray!" he exclaimed, springing forward and seizing her hand, +"how delighted I am to see you! How is dear little Fanny?—how is +Charles? I trust you have none of you forgotten me?"</p> + +<p>Helen blushed deeply at the unexpected ardour of this address from a +very tall, handsome, fashionable-looking personage, whose face she +certainly would not have recognised had she met him accidentally: but a +happy smile accompanied the blush, and he had no reason to regret the +politic freedom of his first salutation, which had thus enabled him to +pass over an infinity of gradations towards the intimacy he coveted, at +one single step placing him at once on the footing of a familiar friend. +It was indeed nearly impossible that Helen could be offended by the +freedom; for not only was it sanctioned by the long-established union of +their two families, but at this moment she could not but be pleased at +finding another dear old friend in the garrison, who would be sure to +add his influence to that of her godmother, that what she so greatly +wished to obtain should not be refused.</p> + +<p>Before they reached the breakfast-room, therefore, the most perfect +understanding was established between them. Her friend Miss Torrington +was gaily introduced, for her heart felt gladdened by this important +addition to her supporters in the cause she had undertaken; and she was +disposed to believe that Rosalind's proposal to make this alarming visit +would turn out to have been one of the most fortunate things that ever +happened.</p> + +<p>Within the breakfast-room, and approachable by no other access, was a +small room, known throughout the mansion, and indeed throughout the +neighbourhood also, as "My Lady's Closet." This sacred retreat was an +oblong room, about eighteen feet by eight; a large and lofty window +occupied nearly one end of it, across which was placed a deal-dresser or +table of three feet wide, filling the entire space between the walls. +The whole room was lined with shelves and drawers, the former of which +were for the most part sheltered by heavy crimson damask curtains. A few +small tables stood scattered here and there; and the sole accommodation +for sitting consisted of one high stool, such as laundresses use when +ironing.</p> + +<p>To the door of this apartment Sir Gilbert approached, and there +reverently stopped; for by the law of the land, even he, though a pretty +extensively privileged personage, was permitted to go no farther, unless +licensed by an especial warrant from its mistress.</p> + +<p>"My lady," he said, in the cheerful lusty voice that announces +agreeable tidings,—"My lady, I have brought home company to breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Have you, Sir Knight?" replied Lady Harrington, without turning her +head, or otherwise interrupting herself in the performance of some +apparently delicate process upon which she was occupied.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have Mrs. Bluebeard for a wife than such an incurious old +soul as you are!" said the testy baronet.—"And so you have not even the +grace to ask who it is?"</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear Sir Tiger, I shall be sure to know within two minutes +after Tomkins gives his passing thump to announce that he is carrying in +the coffee; then why should I disturb this fairest of the Pentandria +class?—my charming high-dried mirabilis?"</p> + +<p>"The devil take you, and all your classes, orders, and tribes, to his +own hothouse!—I'll be hanged if I don't lock you into your den while I +breakfast with her;—you shan't see her at all!"</p> + +<p>"Mother! mother!" exclaimed the colonel hastily, to anticipate the +execution of the threat—"it is Helen Mowbray!"</p> + +<p>"Helen Mowbray!" cried the old lady, thrusting her hot smoothing-iron on +one side, and her blossom blotting-paper on the other, while the +precious mirabilis fell to the ground; "Helen Mowbray!" and pushing +aside the baronet by no very gentle movement of her tall and substantial +person, she rushed forward, and Helen was speedily folded in a very +close embrace.</p> + +<p>"There, there, there! don't stifle the girl, old lady!—And supposing +you were to bestow one little monosyllable of civility upon this pretty +creature, Miss Torrington, who stands smiling at us all like an angel, +though every soul amongst us is as rude as a bear to her.—I don't +believe you ever found yourself so entirely neglected before, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"I have never witnessed attention more gratifying to me than that which +I have seen displayed this morning," replied Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"You are a good girl, a very good girl, my dear, and I shall always love +you for coming over with this poor dear disinherited child."</p> + +<p>"Miss Torrington, I am delighted to see you, now and ever, my dear +young lady," said Lady Harrington, who, when she chose it, could be as +dignified, and as courteous too, as any lady in the land.</p> + +<p>"You have walked over, I am sure, by the bright freshness of your looks. +Now, then, sit down one on each side of me, that I may be able to see +you without hoisting a <i>lunette d'approche</i> across this prodigious +table."</p> + +<p>"And so, because your ladyship is near-sighted," said Sir Gilbert, +"William and I are to sit at this awful distance from these beautiful +damsels? You are a tiresome old soul as ever lived!"</p> + +<p>"And that's the reason you appear so profoundly melancholy and miserable +at this moment," said Lady Harrington, looking with no trifling degree +of satisfaction at the radiant good-humour and happiness which the +unexpected arrival of Helen had caused to be visible in the countenance +of her boisterous husband. "Do you find William much altered, Helen?" +she continued. "I wonder if any one has had the grace to present Colonel +Harrington to Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"Helen did me that kind office," said the colonel, "and I suppose she +must do the same for me to little Fanny. I long to see if she continues +as surpassingly beautiful as she was when I took my sad, reluctant leave +of Mowbray Park."</p> + +<p>Rosalind immediately became answerable for the undiminished beauty of +Fanny, adding to her report on this point a declaration that the whole +family were anxious to renew their acquaintance with him.</p> + +<p>This was the nearest approach that any of the party ventured to make +towards the mention of Mowbray Park or its inhabitants. Nevertheless, +the breakfast passed cheerfully, and even without a word from Sir +Gilbert in allusion to the destitute condition of Helen, and her brother +and sister. But when even the baronet had disposed of his last +egg-shell, pushed the ham fairly away from him, and swallowed his last +bowl of tea, the beautiful colour of Helen began gradually to deepen; +she ceased to speak, and hardly seemed to hear what was said to her.</p> + +<p>Rosalind took the hint, and with more tact than is usually found in the +possession of seventeen and a half, she said to Lady Harrington,</p> + +<p>"If I promise to keep my hands not only from picking and stealing, but +from touching, will your ladyship indulge me with a sight of your press, +and your boxes, and a volume or two of your <i>hortus siccus</i>? for I feel +considerable aspirations after the glory of becoming a botanist myself."</p> + +<p>"My ladyship will show you something infinitely more to the purpose, +then, if you will come to the hothouse with me," replied Lady +Harrington, rising, and giving an intelligible glance to her son as she +did so, which immediately caused him to rise and follow her. "I cannot +take you where I should be sure to overhear them, my dear," she added in +a whisper as she led Rosalind from the room; "for if my rough diamond +should chance to be too rough with her, I should infallibly burst out +upon them; and yet I know well enough that I should do nothing but +mischief."</p> + +<p>Helen was thus left alone with the kind-hearted but pertinacious +baronet. He seemed to have a misgiving of the attack that was about to +be opened upon him; for he made a fidgetty movement in his chair, pushed +it back, and looked so very much inclined to run away, that Helen saw no +time was to be lost, and, in a voice not over-steady, said,</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to you, Sir Gilbert, about my dear mamma. I fear from +what you said to Charles, and more still by nobody's coming from Oakley +to see us, that you are angry with her.—If it is about the will, Sir +Gilbert, you do her great injustice: I am very, very sure that she +neither wished for such a will, nor knew any thing about it."</p> + +<p>"It is very pretty and dutiful in you, Miss Helen, to say so, and to +think so too if you can. Perhaps I might have done the same at nineteen; +but at sixty-five, child, one begins to know a little better what signs +and tokens mean.—There is no effect without a cause, Miss Helen. The +effect in this affair is already pretty visible to all eyes, and will +speedily become more so, you may depend upon it. The cause may be still +hid from babes and sucklings, but not from an old fellow like me, who +knew your poor father, girl, before you were hatched or thought of,—and +knew him to be both a good and a wise man, who would never have done the +deed he did unless under the influence of one as ever near and ever dear +to him as your mother."</p> + +<p>"You have known my mother too, Sir Gilbert, for many, many years:—did +you ever see in her any symptom of the character you now attribute to +her?"</p> + +<p>"If I had, Miss Helen, I should not loathe and abominate her hypocrisy +as I now do. I will never see her more—for all our sakes: for if I did, +I know right well that I could not restrain my indignation within +moderate bounds."</p> + +<p>"Then certainly it would be better that you should not see her," said +the weeping Helen: "for indeed, sir, I think such unmerited indignation +would almost kill her."</p> + +<p>"If you knew any thing about the matter, child, you would be aware that +<i>merited</i> indignation would be more likely to disagree with her. +Unmerited indignation does one no harm in the world, as I can testify +from experience; for my lady is dreadfully indignant, as I dare say you +guess, at my keeping her and William away from Mowbray Park: and it's +ten to one but you will be indignant too, child;—but I can't help it. I +love you all three very much, Helen; but I must do what I think right, +for all that."</p> + +<p>"Not indignant, Sir Gilbert;—at least, that would not be the prevailing +feeling with me, though a sense of injustice might make it so with my +poor mother. What I shall feel will be grief—unceasing grief, if the +friend my beloved father most valued and esteemed continues to refuse +his countenance and affection to the bereaved family he has left."</p> + +<p>From the time this conversation began, Sir Gilbert had been striding up +and down the room, as it was always his custom to do when he felt +himself in a rage, or was conscious that he was about to be so. He now +stopped opposite Helen; and while something very like tenderness almost +impeded his utterance, he said,</p> + +<p>"That's trash—abominable false trash! Miss Helen. After what's passed +to-day, to say nothing of times past, you must know well enough that I'm +not likely to refuse my countenance and affection to your father's +children;—bereaved they are, sure enough! You know as well as I do, +that I love you all three—for your own sakes, girl, as well as for +his;—and your pretending to doubt it, was a hit of trumpery womanhood, +Helen,—so never make use of it again: for you see I understand the +sex,—and that's just the reason why I like my old woman better than any +other <i>she</i> in the wide world;—she never tries any make-believe tricks +upon me."</p> + +<p>"Believe me, Sir Gilbert," said Helen, smiling, "I hate tricks as much +as my godmother can: and if it were otherwise, you are the last person I +should try them upon. But how can we think you love us, if you will not +come near Mowbray?"</p> + +<p>"You may think it, and know it, very easily, child, by the welcome you +shall always find here. It is very likely that you may not be long +comfortable at home; and before it happens, remember I have told you +that you shall always have a home at Oakley: but it must not be on +condition of bringing your mother with you; for see her I will not,—and +there's an end."</p> + +<p>Helen remained silent. She felt painfully convinced that, at least for +the present, she should gain nothing by arguing the cause of her mother +any farther; and after a long pause, during which Sir Gilbert continued +to pace up and down before her, she rose, and sighing deeply, said,</p> + +<p>"I believe it is time for us to return.—Good-b'ye, Sir Gilbert."</p> + +<p>There was something in the tone of her voice which very nearly overset +all the sturdy resolution of the baronet; but instead of yielding to the +weakness, as he would have called it, like a skilful general he marched +off the field with his colours still flying, and certainly without +giving his adversary any reasonable ground to hope for victory.</p> + +<p>"They are all in the hothouse, I believe," said he, walking before Helen +to a door of the hall which opened upon the beautiful gardens. "You have +not seen my lady's heaths for many a day, Helen:—she'll be savage if +you go without taking a look at them."</p> + +<p>Helen followed without saying a word in reply, for her heart was full; +and when she joined the trio who had so considerately left her to the +uninterrupted possession of Sir Gilbert's ear, there was no need of any +questioning on their part, or answering on hers, to put them all in full +possession of the result of the tête-à-tête.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to say which of the three looked most vexed: +perhaps Lady Harrington gave the strongest outward demonstrations of +what she felt on the occasion.</p> + +<p>She glanced frowningly at Sir Gilbert, who looked as if he intended to +say something amiable, and seizing upon Helen's two hands, kissed them +both, exclaiming, "Dearest and best! what a heart of flint must that +being have who could find the cruel strength to pain thee!"</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington, who, discomposed and disappointed, had thrown +himself on a bench, gave his mother a very grateful look for this; while +Rosalind, after examining her sad countenance for a moment, pressed +closely to her friend and whispered, "Let us go, Helen."</p> + +<p>Poor Helen had no inclination to delay her departure; and knowing that +her partial godmother was fully capable of understanding her feelings, +she said, returning her carresses,</p> + +<p>"Do not keep me a moment longer, dearest friend, for fear I should weep! +and then I am sure he would call it a trick."</p> + +<p>"I will not keep you, Helen," replied Lady Harrington aloud. "You have +come on a mission of love and peace; and if I mistake not that heavy eye +and feverish cheek, you have failed. Poor child! she does not look like +the same creature that she did an hour and a half ago—does she, +William?"</p> + +<p>"Adieu, Lady Harrington!" said Helen, the big tears rolling down her +cheeks despite her struggles to prevent them. "Good morning, Colonel +Harrington;—farewell, Sir Gilbert!"</p> + +<p>"This is hard, Miss Torrington!" said the baronet, turning from Helen's +offered hand; "this is confounded hard! I'm doing my duty, and acting +according to my conscience as a man of honour, and yet I shall be made +to believe that Nero was a dove, and Bluebeard a babe of grace, compared +to me!"</p> + +<p>But Miss Torrington being in no humour to answer him playfully, said +gravely,</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry we broke in upon you so unadvisedly, Sir Gilbert. It is +plain our hopes have not been realised."</p> + +<p>The young lady bowed silently to the colonel, and taking a short +farewell of Lady Harrington, but one in which mutual kindness was +mutually understood, she took the arm of her discomfited friend, and +they proceeded towards a little gate in the iron fencing which divided +the garden from the paddock in front of the house.</p> + +<p>"And you won't shake hands with me, Helen!" said Sir Gilbert, following.</p> + +<p>"Do not say so, sir," replied Helen, turning back and holding out her +hand.</p> + +<p>"And when shall we see you here again?"</p> + +<p>"Whenever you will come and fetch me, Sir Gilbert," she replied, +endeavouring to look cheerful. He took her hand, wrung it, and turned +away without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Your interdict, sir," said Colonel Harrington, "does not, I hope, +extend beyond Mowbray Park paling?—I trust I may be permitted to take +care of these young ladies as far as the lodges?"</p> + +<p>"If you did not do it, you know very well that I should, you puppy!" +replied his father: and so saying, he turned into a walk which led in a +direction as opposite as possible from that which his ireful lady had +chosen.</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington felt that it required some exertion of his +conversational powers to bring his fair companions back to the tone of +cheerful familiarity which had reigned among them all at the +breakfast-table; but the exertion was made, and so successfully, that +before the walk was ended a feeling of perfect confidence was +established between them. When they were about to part, he said,</p> + +<p>"My mother and I shall labour, and cease not, to work our way through +the <i>écorce</i> to the kernel of my good father's heart; and there we shall +find exactly the material we want, of which to form a reconciliation +between your mother and him.—Farewell, Helen!—farewell, Miss +Torrington! I trust that while the interdict lasts, chance will +sometimes favour our meeting beyond the forbidden precincts."</p> + +<p>He stepped forward to open the Park gate for them, shook hands, uttered +another "Farewell!" and departed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. MOWBRAY CONSULTS MR. CARTWRIGHT UPON THE SUBJECT OF HER LATE +HUSBAND'S WILL.</h3> + + +<p>The first person they encountered on entering the house was Fanny.</p> + +<p>"Where <i>have</i> you been!" she exclaimed. "My mother is half frightened to +death. Do go to her this moment, Helen, to set her heart at ease."</p> + +<p>"Where is she, Fanny?" inquired Helen, with a sigh, as she remembered +how little the answers she must necessarily give to the questions she +would be sure to ask were likely to produce that effect.</p> + +<p>"In her dressing-room, Helen. But where <i>have</i> you been?"</p> + +<p>"To Oakley."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, Helen!—and without asking mamma's leave?"</p> + +<p>"I did it with a good intention, Fanny. Do you think I was wrong in +endeavouring to restore the intimacy that has been so cruelly +interrupted? Do you think mamma will be very angry? I am sure it was +chiefly for her sake that I went."</p> + +<p>"No, I am sure she will not when you tell her that. But come directly: I +do assure you she has been seriously uneasy.—Did you find Sir Gilbert +very savage, Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Pas mal</i>, my dear."</p> + +<p>Another moment brought them to Mrs. Mowbray. "Thank Heaven!" was her +first exclamation on seeing them; and the repetition of Fanny's emphatic +"Where <i>have</i> you been?" followed it.</p> + +<p>"Dearest mother!" said Helen, fondly embracing her, "do not chide us +very severely, even if we have been wrong; for indeed we meant to be +very, very right; and when we set out the expedition appeared to us +anything but a pleasant one. We have been to Oakley."</p> + +<p>"I am too thankful at seeing you returned in safety, my dear girls, to +be very angry at any thing. But do tell me, Helen, what could have +induced you to volunteer a visit to the only people who have been unkind +to us since your poor father's death?"</p> + +<p>"In the hope, mamma, of putting an end to an estrangement which I +thought was very painful to you."</p> + +<p>"Dearest Helen! it was just like you! And have you succeeded, my love?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma, I have not."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray coloured.</p> + +<p>"And pray, Helen, have they explained to you the cause of their +extraordinary and most unfeeling conduct?"</p> + +<p>"Do not say <i>they</i>, dearest mother! Lady Harrington is greatly +distressed at Sir Gilbert's conduct: so is the colonel, who is just come +home. Whatever fault there may be, it is Sir Gilbert's alone."</p> + +<p>"Did he, then, explain himself to you?"</p> + +<p>Helen remained silent.</p> + +<p>"I must request, Helen," resumed her mother, "that you make no farther +mystery about the Harringtons. I am willing to excuse the strange step +you took this morning; but I shall be seriously displeased if you refuse +to tell me what passed during your visit. Of what is it that Sir Gilbert +accuses me?"</p> + +<p>"I pointed out to him, mamma, the injustice of being angry with you +because papa made a will that he did not approve."</p> + +<p>"Well, Helen! and what did he say to that?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, mamma, I could not find a shadow of reason in any thing +he said."</p> + +<p>"You evade my questions, Helen. I insist upon knowing what it is that +Sir Gilbert lays to my charge.—Helen!—do you refuse to answer me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no, mamma!—but you cannot think how painful it would be for me to +repeat it!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot help it, Helen: you have brought this pain on yourself by your +very unadvised visit of this morning. But since you have gone to the +house of one who has declared himself my enemy, you must let me know +exactly what it is he has chosen to accuse me of; unless you mean that I +should imagine you wish to shield him from my resentment because you +think him right."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my mother!" cried Helen; "what a word is that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, do not trifle with me any longer, but repeat at once all +that you heard him say."</p> + +<p>Thus urged, poor Helen stated Sir Gilbert's very unjust suspicions +respecting the influence used to induce Mr. Mowbray to make the will he +had left. It was in vain she endeavoured to modify and soften the +accusation,—the resentment and indignation of Mrs. Mowbray were +unbounded; and Helen had the deep mortification of perceiving that the +only result of her enterprise was to have rendered the breach she so +greatly wished to repair a hundred times wider than before.</p> + +<p>"And this man, with these base and vile suspicions, is the person your +father has left as joint executor with me!—What a situation does this +place me in! Did he make any allusion to this, Helen?—did he say any +thing of the necessary business that we have, most unfortunately, to +transact together?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma, he did not."</p> + +<p>A long silence followed this question and answer. Mrs. Mowbray appeared +to suffer greatly, and in fact she did so. Nothing could be farther from +the truth than the idea Sir Gilbert Harrington had conceived, and its +injustice revolted and irritated her to a degree that she never before +experienced against any human being. That Helen should have listened to +such an accusation, pained her extremely; and a feeling in some degree +allied to displeasure against her mingled with the disagreeable +meditations in which she was plunged.</p> + +<p>"My head aches dreadfully!" she said at last. "Fanny, give me my shawl +and parasol: I will try what a walk in the fresh air will do for me."</p> + +<p>"May I go with you, mamma?" said Helen.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear; you have had quite walking enough. Fanny has not been out +at all: she may come with me."</p> + +<p>These words were both natural and reasonable, but there was something in +them that smote Helen to the heart. She fondly loved her mother, and, +for the first time, she suspected that her heart and feelings were not +understood.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray and Fanny had just walked through the library windows into +the garden, when they perceived Mr. Cartwright approaching the house. +They both uttered an exclamation of pleasure at perceiving him, and +Fanny said eagerly, "He must see us, mamma! Do not let him go all the +way round to the hall-door! May we not walk across and meet him?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure. Run forward, Fanny; and when he sees you coming to him, he +will turn this way."</p> + +<p>She was not mistaken: Fanny had not made three steps in advance of her +mother, before Mr. Cartwright turned from the road, and passing through +a gate in the invisible fence, joined her in a moment.</p> + +<p>"How kind this is of you!" said he as he drew near;—"to appear thus +willing to receive again an intruder, whose quick return must lead you +to suspect that you are in danger of being haunted by him! And so I +think you are, Miss Fanny; and I will be generous enough to tell you at +once, that if you greet me thus kindly, I shall hardly know how to keep +away from Mowbray Park."</p> + +<p>"But mamma is so glad to see you," said Fanny, blushing beautifully, +"that I am sure you need not try to keep away!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray now drew near to answer for herself; which she did very +cordially, assuring him that she considered these friendly and +unceremonious visits as the greatest kindness he could show her.</p> + +<p>"It will be long, I think," said she, "before I shall have courage +sufficient to invite any one to this mournful and sadly-altered mansion: +but those whose friendship I really value will, I trust, have the +charity to come to us without waiting for an invitation."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could prove to you, my dear madam," replied Mr. Cartwright +with respectful tenderness, "how fervently I desire to serve you: but, +surrounded by old and long-tried friends as you must be, how can a +new-comer and a stranger hope to be useful?"</p> + +<p>This was touching a very tender point—and it is just possible that Mr. +Cartwright was aware of it, as he was present at the reading of the +will, and heard Sir Gilbert Harrington's first burst of rage on becoming +acquainted with its contents. But Mrs. Mowbray had either forgotten this +circumstance, or, feeling deeply disturbed at the fresh proof which +Helen had brought her of the falling off of an old friend, was disposed +to revert anew to it, in the hope of moving the compasssion and +propitiating the kindness of a new one.</p> + +<p>"Alas! my dear sir," she said feelingly, "even old friends will +sometimes fail us; and then it is that we ought to thank God for such +happy accidents as that which has placed near us one so able and kindly +willing to supply their place as yourself.—Fanny, my love, the business +on which I have to speak is a painful one: go to your sister, dearest, +while I ask our kind friend's advice respecting this unhappy business."</p> + +<p>"Good-b'ye then, Mr. Cartwright," said Fanny, holding out her hand to +him.—"But perhaps I shall see you again as you go away, for I shall be +in the garden."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, my dear child!" said he fervently, as he led her a few steps +towards the shrubberies; "God bless, and have you in his holy keeping!"</p> + +<p>"What an especial blessing have you, my dear friend," he said, returning +to Mrs. Mowbray, "in that charming child!—Watch over her, and guard her +from all evil! for she is one who, if guided in that only path which +leads to good, will be a saving and a precious treasure to all who +belong to her: but if led astray—alas! the guilt that the downfall of +so pure a spirit would entail on those whose duty it is to watch over +her!"</p> + +<p>"She is indeed an excellent young creature!" said the proud mother, +whose darling the lovely Fanny had ever been; "but I think she wants +less guiding than any child I ever saw,—and it has always been so. She +learned faster than she could be taught; and her temper is so sweet, and +her heart so affectionate, that I really do not remember that she has +ever deserved a reprimand in her life."</p> + +<p>"May the precepts of her admirable mother ever keep her thus!" said Mr. +Cartwright, as they seated themselves in the library, into which they +had entered. "But, oh! my dear lady! know you not that it is just such +sweet and gifted creatures as your Fanny that the Evil One seeks for his +own?—Nay, look not thus terrified, my excellent, my exemplary +friend,—look not thus terrified: if it be thus, as most surely it +is—think you that we are left without help to resist? My dear, my +admirable Mrs. Mowbray! yours is the hand appointed to lead this fair +and attractive being unspotted through the world. If great—awfully +great, as assuredly it is, be the responsibility, great—unspeakably +great, will be the reward. Then tremble not, dear friend! watch and +pray, and this unmeasurable reward shall be yours!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray, however, did tremble; but her trembling was accompanied by +a sweet and well-pleased consciousness of being considered by the +excellent man beside her as capable of leading this darling child to +eternal happiness and glory. The look, the accent of Mr. Cartwright went +farther than his words to convince her that he believed this power to be +hers, and she gazed at him with something of the reverence and humble +love with which Catholics contemplate the effigies of the saints they +worship.</p> + +<p>"But what was the business, the painful business, my poor friend, upon +which you wished to consult me, before that vision of light had drawn +all our attention upon herself? What was it, my dear Mrs. Mowbray, you +wished to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"I am hardly justified, I fear, Mr. Cartwright, thus early in our +acquaintance, in taking up your valuable time in listening to my sorrows +and my wrongs; but in truth I have both to bear; and I have at this +moment no friend near me to whom I can apply for advice how to proceed +with business that puzzles almost as much as it distresses me. May I, +then, my dear sir, intrude on your kindness for half an hour, while I +state to you the singular predicament in which I am placed?"</p> + +<p>"Were it not, as most assuredly it is—were it not, dearest Mrs. +Mowbray, a true and deep-felt pleasure to me to believe that I might +possibly be useful to you, it would be my especial and bounden duty to +strive to be so. For what are the ministers of the Most High placed +amidst the people? wherefore are their voices raised, so that all should +hear them? Is it not, my friend, because their lives, their souls, their +bodies, are devoted to the service of those committed by Providence to +their care? And, trust me, the minister who would shrink from this is +unworthy—utterly unworthy the post to which he has been called. Speak, +then, dearest Mrs. Mowbray, as to one bound alike by duty and the most +fervent good-will to aid and assist you to the utmost extent of his +power."</p> + +<p>The great natural gift of Mr. Cartwright was the power of making his +voice, his eye, and the flexible muscles of his handsome mouth, echo, +and, as it were reverberate and reiterate every word he spoke, giving to +his language a power beyond its own. What he now said was uttered +rapidly, but with an apparent depth and intensity of feeling that +brought tears of mingled gratitude and admiration to the eyes of Mrs. +Mowbray. After a moment given to this not unpleasing emotion, she said,</p> + +<p>"It was from you, Mr. Cartwright, if I remember rightly, that I first +heard the enactments of my husband's will. When I give you my word, as I +now most solemnly do, that I had never during his life the slightest +knowledge of what that will was to be, I think you will believe me."</p> + +<p>"Believe you!" exclaimed Mr. Cartwright. "Is there on earth a being +sufficiently depraved to doubt an assertion so vouched by you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Cartwright! if all men had your generous, and, I will say, just +confidence in me, I should not now be in the position I am! But Sir +Gilbert Harrington, the person most unhappily chosen by Mr. Mowbray as +joint executor with myself, is persuaded that this generous will was +made in my favour solely in consequence of my artful influence over him; +and so deeply does he resent this imputed crime, that instead of +standing forward, as he ought to do, as the protector and agent of his +friend's widow, he loads the memory of that friend with insult, and +oppresses me with scorn and revilings, the more bitter because conveyed +to me by my own child."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray wept.—Mr. Cartwright hid his face with his hands, and for +some moments seemed fearful of betraying all he felt. At length he fixed +his eyes upon her—eyes moistened by a tear, and in a low, deep voice +that seemed to indicate an inward struggle, he uttered, "<i>Vengeance is +mine, saith the Lord</i>!"</p> + +<p>He closed his eyes, and sat for a moment silent,—then added, "Perhaps +of all the trials to which we are exposed in this world of temptation, +the obeying this mandate is the most difficult! But, like all uttered by +its Divine Author, it is blessed alike by its authority and its use. +Without it!—my friend! without it, would not my hand be grappling the +throat of your malignant enemy?—Without it, should I not even now be +seeking to violate the laws of God and man, to bring the wretch who can +thus stab an angel woman's breast to the dust before her? But, thanks to +the faith that is in me, I <i>know</i> that his suspicious heart and cruel +soul shall meet a vengeance as much greater than any I could inflict, as +the hand that wields it is more powerful than mine! I humbly thank +Heaven for this, and remembering it, turn with chastened spirit from the +forbidden task of punishing him, to the far more Christian one of +offering aid to the gentle being he would crush.—Was it indeed from the +lips of your child, my poor friend, that these base aspersions reached +you?"</p> + +<p>"It was indeed, Mr. Cartwright; and it was this which made them cut so +deeply. Poor Helen knew not what she was about when she secretly left +her mother's roof to visit this man, in the hope of restoring the +families to their former habits of intimacy!"</p> + +<p>"Did Helen do this?" said Mr. Cartwright, with a sort of shiver.</p> + +<p>"Yes, poor thing, she did; and perhaps for her pains may have won +caresses for herself. But, by her own statement—most reluctantly given, +certainly,—she seems to have listened to calumnies against her mother, +which I should have thought no child of mine would have borne to hear;" +and again Mrs. Mowbray shed tears.</p> + +<p>"Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed Mr. Cartwright, fervently clasping his +hands, "Dear, tortured Mrs. Mowbray, turn your weeping eyes to Heaven! +those drops shall not fall in vain. It was your child—a child nurtured +in that gentle bosom, who repeated to you this blasphemy? Oh, fie! fie! +fie! But let us not think of this,—at least, not at this trying moment. +Hereafter means must be taken to stay this plague-spot from spreading +over the hearts of all whom nature has given to love and honour you. +Your pretty, gentle Fanny! she at least will not, I think, be led to +listen to any voice that shall speak ill of you:—sweet child! let her +be near your heart, and that will comfort you.—But, alas! my poor +friend, this maternal disappointment, grievous as it is, will not be all +you have to bear from this wretch, whom Heaven, for its good but +inscrutable purposes, permits to persecute you. There must be business, +my dear Mrs. Mowbray, business of great importance that this man must be +immediately called upon to execute with you,—the proving the will, for +instance; he must either do this, or refuse to act."</p> + +<p>"Would to Heaven he might refuse!" said Mrs. Mowbray eagerly; "what a +relief would this be to me, Mr. Cartwright! Do you think there would be +any possibility of leading him to it?"</p> + +<p>"Of leading him,—certainly not; for it is very clear, from his conduct, +that whatever you appeared to wish, <i>that</i> he would be averse to do. +Your only hope of obtaining what would most assuredly be an especial +blessing for you, his formal renunciation of the executorship, would, I +think, be from writing to him immediately, and imperatively demanding +his joining you forthwith in proving the will. In such a state of mind +as he must be in before he would bear to utter his vile suspicions to +your daughter, I think it very likely he may refuse."</p> + +<p>"And what would happen then, Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"You must place yourself in the hands of a respectable lawyer, totally a +stranger and unconnected with him, and he would put you in a way to +prove it yourself; after which he could give you no further trouble of +any kind: unless, indeed, your misguided children should continue to +frequent his house, and so become the means of wounding your ears and +your heart by repeating his calumnies. But this, I trust, the source of +all wisdom and goodness will give you power to prevent."</p> + +<p>"With your help and counsel, Mr. Cartwright, I may yet hope to weather +the storm that seems to have burst upon me; but indeed it could hardly +have burst upon any one less capable of struggling with it! In what +language should I write to this, cruel man, who has so undeservedly +become my enemy?"</p> + +<p>"There is no difficulty there, my friend. The shortest and most strictly +ceremonious form must be the best."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray drew towards her materials for writing,—opened the +portfolio, which between its leaves of blotting-paper contained sundry +sheets of wire-wove, black-edged post,—placed one of them before +her,—took a pen and curiously examined its tip—dipped it delicately in +the ink, and finally turned to Mr. Cartwright, saying,</p> + +<p>"How very grateful I should be if you would have the great kindness to +write it for me!"</p> + +<p>"But the handwriting, my dear lady, must be yours."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! I know. But it would be so much more satisfactory if you would +sketch the form!"</p> + +<p>"Then I am sure I will do it most readily." He drew the paper to him and +wrote,</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Mowbray presents her compliments to Sir Gilbert Harrington, and +requests to know on what day it will suit him to meet her and her lawyer +in London, for the purpose of proving her late husband's will at +Doctors' Commons. The amount of the real property may be ascertained by +the rent-roll; that of the personal, by means of papers left by the +deceased, and a valuation of the effects made by competent persons. Mrs. +Mowbray begs leave to intimate that she wishes as little delay as +possible to intervene before the completion of this transaction."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright turned what he had written towards her, saying, "This is +the sort of letter which I should think it advisable to send."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray drew forth another sheet, and transcribed it so rapidly +that it might be doubted whether she allowed herself time to read it as +she did so.</p> + +<p>"And this should be despatched instantly, should it not?" she said, +folding and directing it.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I think so."</p> + +<p>"Then will you have the kindness to ring the bell, Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"Bring me a lighted taper, John," said Mrs. Mowbray to the servant who +entered; "and let Thomas get a horse ready to take this letter +immediately to Oakley."</p> + +<p>The taper was brought, the letter sealed and delivered, with +instructions that the bearer was to wait for an answer.</p> + +<p>This important business concluded, Mr. Cartwright rose to go, saying, +"You have filled my heart and my head so completely by the communication +of Sir Gilbert Harrington's conduct, that I protest to you I do not at +this moment recollect why it was I troubled you with a visit this +morning. I shall recollect it, I dare say, when I see you no longer; and +if I do, you must let me come back before very long to tell you."</p> + +<p>"But whether you recollect it or not," replied Mrs. Mowbray in a +plaintive tone, "I trust you will not let it be long before I see you: +otherwise, Mr. Cartwright, I shall not know how to proceed when I +receive Sir Gilbert's answer."</p> + +<p>This appeal was answered by an assurance, uttered in a tone of the most +soothing kindness, that he would never be far from her when she wished +him near; and then, with a pastoral and affectionate pressure of her +hand, he left her.</p> + +<p>Fanny kept her word, and was walking up and down about a dozen yards +from that end of the shrubbery which terminated in the road leading to +the house. Mr. Cartwright looked in that direction as he stepped from +the library window, and walking quickly to the spot, conversed with her +for several minutes as she stood leaning over the gate. Fanny smiled, +blushed, and looked delighted: her hand, too, was pressed with +affectionate kindness; and Mr. Cartwright returned to his vicarage and +his early dinner.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>HELEN'S MISERY AT HER MOTHER'S DISPLEASURE.—SIR G. HARRINGTON'S LETTER +ON THE SUBJECT OF THE WILL.</h3> + + +<p>When Miss Torrington and Helen retreated to the dressing-room +appropriated to the former, which was the apartment in which they +generally pursued their morning studies, they sat down disconsolately +enough to review the results of their enterprise.</p> + +<p>"Everything is ten times worse than it was before, Helen!" said her +friend; "and it is all my fault!"</p> + +<p>"Your fault?—Oh no! But I believe we are both of us too young to +interfere, with any reasonable hope of doing good, between those who in +age and wisdom are so greatly our superiors. Oh, Rosalind! I fear, I +fear that my dearest mother is very angry with me!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe it, Helen. I hardly know how far a dutiful daughter +may be permitted to act like a rational human being; but to the best of +my knowledge and belief, your conduct has been such as to ensure you the +approbation and gratitude of any mother in the world—at least of any +reasonable mother. You know, Helen, how truly fond I have become of my +sweet-tempered guardianess.—Is there such a word?—I believe not;—of +my guardian, then. During the eight months that I have made one of her +family, I have never yet received a harsh word or unkind look from her, +though I have not the slightest doubt that I have deserved many: but +nevertheless, my own dear Helen, if she should blunder so egregiously as +to be really angry with you for acting with such zealous, tender +affection as you have done this morning merely because that obstinate +old brute Sir Gilbert was not to be brought to reason; if she should +really act thus—which I trust in God she will not—but if she should, I +do verily believe, in all sincerity, that I should hate her."</p> + +<p>"No, you would not,—you would not be so unjust, Rosalind. What right +had we to volunteer our silly services? What right had I, in particular, +to fancy that if Sir Gilbert would not listen to the remonstrances of +his excellent and very clever wife, he would listen to mine?—I really +am ashamed of my silly vanity and most gross presumption; and if my +dear, dearest mother will but forgive me this once, as all naughty +children say, I do not believe she will ever have cause to chide me for +meddling again. Oh, Rosalind! if she did but know how I love her, she +could never have looked so coldly on me as she did when she told me I +had had walking enough!"</p> + +<p>"I hope you are mistaken; I hope she did not look coldly on you. I hope +she is not angry; for if she be ... I shall go over to the enemy, Helen, +as sure as my name is Rosalind, and you may live to see me patting the +rough hide of that very shaggy British bull-dog, Sir Gilbert, every time +he says something impertinent against your mother."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing," said Helen, slightly colouring, "that does in some +little degree reconcile me to the unfortunate visit of this morning—and +that this...."</p> + +<p>"The having met Colonel Harrington!" cried Rosalind, interrupting her. +"Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"You are right," replied her friend composedly. "William Harrington, +when he was simply William Harrington, and not a dashing colonel of +dragoons, was kindness itself to me, when I was a puny, fretful girl, +that cried when I ought to have laughed. I cannot forget his +good-natured protecting ways with me, and I should have been truly sorry +if he had left the country again, as I suppose he will soon do, without +my seeing him."</p> + +<p>"Truly, I believe you, my dear," replied Rosalind, laughing. "And your +plain William Harrington, too, seemed as willing to renew the +acquaintance as yourself. To tell you the truth, Helen, I thought I saw +symptoms of a mighty pretty little incipient flirtation."</p> + +<p>"How can you talk such nonsense, when we have so much to make us sad! +Don't you think I had better go and see if mamma is come in, Rosalind? I +cannot express to you how miserable I shall be as long as I think that +she is angry with me."</p> + +<p>At this moment the bell which announced that the luncheon was ready, +sounded, and poor Helen exclaimed, "Oh, I am so sorry! I ought to have +sought her again, before meeting her in this manner. But come! perhaps +her dear face will look smilingly at me again: how I will kiss her if it +does!"</p> + +<p>But the warm heart was again chilled to its very core by the look Mrs. +Mowbray wore as the two girls entered the room. Fanny was already seated +next her. This was a place often playfully contested between the +sisters, and Helen thought, as she approached the door, that if she +could get it, and once more feel her mother's hand between her own, she +should be the happiest creature living.</p> + +<p>But nothing could be less alike, than what followed her entrance, to the +imaginings which preceded it. Mrs. Mowbray was unusually silent to them +all, but to Helen she addressed not a single word. This was partly owing +to the feeling of displeasure which had recently been so skilfully +fastened in her breast, and partly to the anxiety she felt respecting +the answer of Sir Gilbert to her note.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the silent and nearly untasted meal, the poetical Fanny +being in truth the only one who appeared to have much inclination to +eat, a salver was presented to Mrs. Mowbray, from whence, with a +heightened colour and almost trembling hand, she took a note. She +instantly rose from table and left the room. Helen rose too, but not to +follow her: she could no longer restrain her tears, and it was to hide +this from Fanny, and if possible from Rosalind, that she hastened to +leave them both, and shut herself in her own chamber to weep alone.</p> + +<p>The present emotion of Helen cannot be understood without referring to +the manner in which she had hitherto lived with her mother, and indeed +to the general habits of the family. Mystery of any kind was unknown +among them; and to those who have observed the effect of this, its +prodigious influence on the general tone of family intercourse must be +well known. To those who have not, it would be nearly impossible to +convey in words an adequate idea of the difference which exists in a +household where the parents make a secret of all things of important +interest, and where they do not. It is not the difference between ease +and restraint, or even that more striking still, between sweet and sour +tempers in the chief or chiefs of the establishment; it is a thousand +times more vital than either. Without this easy, natural spontaneous +confidence, the family union is like a rope of sand, that will fall to +pieces and disappear at the first touch of any thing that can attract +and draw off its loose and unbound particles. But if it be important as +a general family habit, it is ten thousand times more so in the +intercourse between a mother and her daughters. Let no parent believe +that affection can be perfect without it; and let no mother fancy that +the heart of her girl can be open to her if it find not an open heart in +return. Mothers! if you value the precious deposit of your dear girls' +inmost thoughts, peril not the treasure by chilling them with any +mystery of your own! It is not in the nature of things that confidence +should exist on one side only: it must be mutual.</p> + +<p>Never was there less of this hateful mildew of mystery than in the +Mowbray family during the life of their father. Whatever were the +questions that arose,—whether they concerned the purchase of an estate, +or the giving or accepting an invitation to dinner,—whether it were a +discussion respecting the character of a neighbour, or the flavour of +the last packet of tea,—they were ever and always canvassed in full +assembly; or if any members were wanting, it was because curiosity, +which lives only by searching for what is hid, lacking its proper +aliment, had perished altogether, and so set the listeners free.</p> + +<p>This new-born secrecy in her mother struck therefore like a bolt of ice +into the very heart of the sensitive Helen. "Have I lost her for ever!" +she exclaimed aloud, though in solitude. "Mother! mother!—is it to be +ever thus!—If this be the consequence of my poor father's will, well +might Sir Gilbert deplore it! How happily could I have lived for ever, +dependent on her for my daily bread, so I could have kept her heart for +ever as open as my own!"</p> + +<p>At this period, Helen Mowbray had much suffering before her; but she +never perhaps felt a pang more bitter in its newness than that which +accompanied the conviction that her mother had a secret which she meant +not to communicate to her. She felt the fact to be what it really was, +neither more nor less; she felt that it announced the dissolution of +that sweet and perfect harmony which had hitherto existed between them.</p> + +<p>The note from Sir Gilbert Harrington was as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Sir Gilbert Harrington presents his compliments to Mrs. +Mowbray, and begs to inform her that he has not the slightest +intention of ever acting as executor to the very singular and +mysterious document opened in his presence on the 12th of May +last past, purporting to be the last will and testament of his +late friend, Charles Mowbray, Esquire.</p> + +<p>"Oakley, June 59th, 1834."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"The lady had gone to her secret bower" to peruse this scroll; and it +was fortunate perhaps that she did so, for it produced in her a +sensation of anger so much more violent than she was accustomed to feel, +that she would have done herself injustice by betraying it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray had passed her life in such utter ignorance of every kind +of business, and such blind and helpless dependence, first on her +guardians, and then on her husband, that the idea of acting for herself +was scarcely less terrible than the notion of navigating a seventy-four +would be to ladies in general. Her thoughts now turned towards Mr. +Cartwright, as to a champion equally able and willing to help and defend +her, and she raised her eyes to Heaven with fervent gratitude for the +timely happiness of having met with such a friend.</p> + +<p>That friend had pointed out to her the fault committed by Helen in a +manner that made it appear to her almost unpardonable. To have doubted +the correctness of his judgment on this, or any point, would have been +to doubt the stability of that staff which Providence had sent her to +lean upon in this moment of her utmost need. She doubted him not: and +Helen was accordingly thrust out, not without a pang perhaps, from that +warm and sacred station in her mother's heart that it had been the first +happiness of her existence to fill. Poor Helen! matters were going worse +for her—far worse than she imagined, though she was unhappy and out of +spirits. She believed, indeed, that her mother was really angry; but, +terrible as her forebodings were, she dreamed not that she was already +and for ever estranged.</p> + +<p>As soon as the first burst of passionate anger had been relieved by a +solitary flood of tears, Mrs. Mowbray called a council with herself as +to whether she should immediately despatch a messenger to request Mr. +Cartwright to call upon her in the evening, or whether she should trust +to the interest he had so warmly expressed, which, if sincere, must +bring him to her, she thought, on the morrow.</p> + +<p>After anxiously debiting this point for nearly an hour, and deciding +first on one line of conduct, and then on the other, at least six +different times within that period, she at last determined to await his +coming; and concealing the doubts and fears which worried her by +confining herself to her room under pretence of headach, the three girls +were left to pass the remainder of the day by themselves, when, as may +easily be imagined, the important events of the morning were fully +discussed among them.</p> + +<p>Fanny, after the motives of the visit to Oakley had been fully explained +to her, gave it as her opinion that Helen was wrong in going without the +consent of her mother, but that her intention might plead in atonement +for it. But her indignation at hearing of the pertinacious obstinacy of +Sir Gilbert was unbounded.</p> + +<p>"Oh! how my poor father was deceived in him!" she exclaimed. "He must +have a truly bad heart to forsake and vilify my mother at the time she +most wants the assistance of a friend. For you know there is business, +Helen, relative to the will, and the property, and all that—Sir Gilbert +understands it all,—hard-hearted wretch! and I doubt not he thinks he +shall crush poor mamma to the dust by thus leaving her, as he believes, +without a friend. But, thank God! he will find he is mistaken."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Fanny?" said Rosalind sharply.</p> + +<p>"I mean, Rosalind, that mamma is <i>not</i> without a friend," replied Fanny +with emphasis. "It has pleased God in his mercy to send her one when she +most needed it."</p> + +<p>"I trust that God will restore to her and to us the old, well known, and +trusted friend of my father," said Helen gravely. "On none other can we +rest our hope for counsel and assistance, when needed, so safely."</p> + +<p>"Even if you were right, Helen," replied her sister, "there would be +small comfort in your observation. Of what advantage to mamma, or to us, +would the good qualities of Sir Gilbert he, if it be his will, as it +evidently is, to estrange himself from us? What a contrast is the +conduct of Mr. Cartwright to his!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright!" cried Rosalind, distorting her pretty features into a +grimace that intimated abundant scorn,—"Mr. Cartwright! There is much +consolation, to be sure, in what an acquaintance of yesterday can do or +say, for the loss of such an old friend as Sir Gilbert Harrington!"</p> + +<p>"It would be a sad thing for poor mamma if there were not," replied +Fanny. "Of what advantage to her, I ask you, is the long standing of her +acquaintance with Sir Gilbert, if his caprice and injustice are to make +him withdraw himself at such a time as this?—And how unreasonable and +unchristianlike would it be, Rosalind, were she to refuse the friendship +of Mr. Cartwright, because she has not known him as long?"</p> + +<p>"The only objection I see to her treating Mr. Cartwright as a +confidential friend is, that she does not know him at all," said +Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"Nor ever can, if she treats him as you do, Miss Torrington," answered +Fanny, colouring. "I believe Mr. Edward Wallace was an especial +favourite of yours, my dear; and that perhaps may in some degree account +for your prejudice against our good Mr. Cartwright.—Confess, +Rosalind;—is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"He was indeed an especial favourite with me!" replied Rosalind gravely; +"and for the love I bear you all, and more particularly for your sake, +Fanny, and your poor mother's, I would give much—much—much, that he +were in the place which Mr. Cartwright holds."</p> + +<p>"But if mamma is in want of a man to transact her business, why does she +not write to Charles and desire him to return?" said Helen. "The taking +his degree a few months later would be of little consequence."</p> + +<p>"Charles?" said Fanny with a smile that seemed to mean a great +deal.—"Charles is one of the most amiable beings in the world, but the +most incapable of undertaking the management of business."</p> + +<p>"How can you know any thing about it, Fanny?" said Helen, looking at her +with surprise.</p> + +<p>"I heard Mr. Cartwright say to mamma, that Charles was quite a boy, +though a very charming one."</p> + +<p>Helen looked vexed, and Rosalind fixed her eyes upon Fanny as if wishing +she would say more.</p> + +<p>"In short," continued Fanny, "if Sir Gilbert chooses to cut us, I don't +see what mamma <i>can</i> do so proper and so right as to make a friend of +the clergyman of the parish."</p> + +<p>Her two companions answered not a word, and the conversation was brought +to a close by Fanny's drawing from her pocket, her bag, and her bosom, +sundry scraps of paper, on which many lines of unequal length were +scrawled; and on these she appeared inclined to her fix whole attention. +This was always considered by Helen and Rosalind as a signal for +departure: for then Fanny was in a poetic mood; a word spoken or a +movement made by those around her produced symptoms of impatience and +suffering which they did not like to witness. Their absence was indeed a +relief: for pretty Fanny, during the few moments of conversation which +she had enjoyed at the gate of the shrubbery in the morning, had +promised Mr. Cartwright to compose a hymn. To perform this promise to +the best of her power was at this moment the first wish of her heart: +for the amiable vicar had already contrived to see some of those +numerous offerings to Apollo with which this fairest and freshest of +Sapphos beguiled her too abundant leisure. He had pronounced her poetic +powers great, and worthy of higher themes than any she had hitherto +chosen: if was most natural, therefore, that she should now tax her +genius to the utmost, to prove that his first judgment had not been too +favourable: so the remainder of that long day passed in melancholy +enough <i>tête-à-tête</i> between Rosalind and Helen, and in finding rhymes +for all the epithets of heaven on the part of Fanny.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>MR. CARTWRIGHT'S LETTER TO HIS COUSIN.—COLONEL HARRINGTON.</h3> + + +<p>The intelligent reader will not be surprised to hear that Mr. Cartwright +did not suffer himself to be long expected in vain on the following +morning. Fanny, however, was already in the garden when he arrived; and +as it so happened that he saw her as she was hovering near the shrubbery +gate, he turned from the carriage-road and approached her.</p> + +<p>"How sweetly does youth, when blessed with such a cheek and eye as +yours, Miss Fanny, accord with the fresh morning of such a day as +this!—I feel," he added taking her hand and looking in her blushing +face, "that my soul never offers adoration more worthy of my Maker than +when inspired by intercourse with such a being as you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Cartwright!" cried Fanny, avoiding his glance by fixing her +beautiful eyes upon the ground.</p> + +<p>"My dearest child! fear not to look at me—fear not to meet the eye of a +friend, who would watch over you, Fanny, as the minister of Heaven +should watch over that which is best and fairest, to make and keep it +holy. Let me have that innocent heart in my keeping, my dearest child, +and all that is idle, light, and vain shall be banished thence, while +heavenward thoughts and holy musings shall take its place. Have you +essayed to hymn the praises of your God, Fanny, since we parted +yesterday?"</p> + +<p>This question was accompanied by an encouraging pat upon her glowing +cheek; and Fanny, her heart beating with vanity, shyness, hope, fear, +and sundry other feelings, drew the MS. containing a fairly-written +transcript of her yesterday's labours from her bosom, and placed it in +his hand.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright pressed it with a sort of pious fervour to his lips, and +enclosing it for greater security in a letter which he drew from his +pocket, he laid it carefully within his waistcoat, on the left side of +his person, and as near, as possible to that part of it appropriated for +the residence of the heart.</p> + +<p>"This must be examined in private, my beloved child," said he solemnly. +"The first attempt to raise such a spirit as yours in holy song has, to +my feelings, something as awful in it as the first glad movement of a +seraph's wing!... Where is your mother, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"She is in the library."</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes!—at least I should think so, for I am sure she is expecting +you."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, then, my dear young friend!—Pursue your solitary musing +walk; and remember, Fanny, that as by your talents you are marked and +set apart, as it were, from the great mass of human souls, so will you +be looked upon the more fixedly by the searching eye of God. It is from +him you received this talent—keep it sacred to his use, as David did, +and great shall be your reward!—Shall I startle your good mother, +Fanny, if I enter by the library window?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no! Mr. Cartwright—I am sure mamma would be quite vexed if you +always went round that long way up to the door, especially in summer you +know, when the windows are always open."</p> + +<p>"Once more, farewell, then!"</p> + +<p>Fanny's hand was again tenderly pressed, and they parted.</p> + +<p>It would be a needless lengthening of my tale, were I to record all that +passed at this and three or four subsequent interviews which took place +between the vicar and Mrs. Mowbray on the subject of proving the will. +Together with the kindest and most soothing demonstrations of rapidly +increasing friendship and esteem, Mr. Cartwright conveyed to her very +sound legal information respecting what it was necessary for her to do. +The only difficulty remaining seemed to arise from Mrs. Mowbray's +dislike to apply to any friend in London, either for their hospitality +or assistance, during the visit it was necessary she should make there +for the completion of the business. This dislike arose from the very +disagreeable difficulties which had been thrown in her way by Sir +Gilbert Harrington's refusing to act. It would have been very painful to +her, as she frankly avowed to her new friend, to announce and explain +this refusal to any one; and it was therefore finally arranged between +them, that he should give her a letter of introduction to a most +excellent and trustworthy friend and relation of his, who was +distinguished, as he assured her, for being the most honourable and +conscientious attorney in London,—and perhaps, as he added with a sigh, +the only one who constantly acted with the fear of the Lord before his +eyes.</p> + +<p>Gladly did Mrs. Mowbray accede to this proposal, for in truth it removed +a world of anxiety from her mind; and urged as much by a wish to prove +how very easy it was to be independent of Sir Gilbert, as by the +strenuous advice of Mr. Cartwright to lose no time in bringing the +business to a conclusion, she fixed upon the following week for this +troublesome but necessary expedition.</p> + +<p>It may serve to throw a light upon the kind and anxious interest which +the Vicar of Wrexhill took in the affairs of his widowed parishioner, if +a copy of his letter to his cousin and friend Mr. Stephen Corbold be +inserted.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"TO STEPHEN CORBOLD, ESQ. SOLICITOR, GRAY'S INN, LONDON.</p> + +<p>"My dear and valued Friend and Cousin,</p> + +<p>"It has at length pleased God to enable me to prove to you how +sincere is the gratitude which I have ever professed for the +important service your father conferred upon me by the timely +loan of two hundred pounds, when I was, as I believe you know, +inconvenienced by a very troublesome claim. It has been a +constant matter of regret to me that I should never, through +the many years which have since passed, been able to repay it: +but, if I mistake not, the service which I am now able to +render you will eventually prove such as fairly to liquidate +your claim upon me; and from my knowledge of your pious and +honourable feelings, I cannot doubt your being willing to +deliver to me my bond for the same, should your advantages from +the transaction in hand prove at all commensurate to my +expectations."</p> + +<p>[Here followed a statement of the widow Mowbray's business in +London, with the commentary upon the ways and means which she +possessed to carry that, and all other business in which she +was concerned, to a satisfactory conclusion, much to the +contentment of all those fortunate enough to be employed as her +assistants therein. The reverend gentleman then proceeded +thus.]</p> + +<p>"Nor is this all I would wish to say to you, cousin Stephen, on +the subject of the widow Mowbray's affairs, and the advantages +which may arise to you from the connexion which equally, of +course, for her advantage as for yours, I am desirous of +establishing between you.</p> + +<p>"I need not tell <i>you</i>, cousin Stephen, who, by the blessing of +Heaven upon your worthy endeavours, have already been able in a +little way to see what law is,—I need not, I say, point out to +you at any great length, how much there must of necessity be to +do in the management of an estate and of funds which bring in a +net income somewhat exceeding fourteen thousand pounds per +annum. Now I learn from my excellent friend Mrs. Mowbray, that +her late husband transacted the whole of this business himself; +an example which it is impossible, as I need not remark, for +his widow and sole legatee to follow. She is quite aware of +this, and by a merciful dispensation of the Most High, her +mind appears to be singularly ductile, and liable to receive +such impressions as a pious and attentive friend would be able +to enforce on all points. In addition to this great and heavy +charge, which it has pleased Providence, doubtless for his own +good purposes, to lay upon her, she has also the entire +management, as legal and sole guardian of a young Irish +heiress, of another prodigiously fine property, consisting, +like her own, partly of money in the English funds, and partly +in houses and lands in the north part of Ireland. The business +connected with the Torrington property is therefore at this +moment, as well as every thing concerning the widow Mowbray's +affairs, completely without any agent whatever; and I am not +without hopes, cousin Stephen, that by the blessing of God to +usward, I may be enabled to obtain the same for you.</p> + +<p>"I know the pious habit of your mind, cousin, and that you, +like myself, never see any remarkable occurrence without +clearly tracing therein the immediate finger of Heaven. I +confess that throughout the whole of this affair;—the sudden +death of the late owner of this noble fortune; the singular +will he left, by which it all has become wholly and solely at +the disposal of his excellent widow; the hasty and not overwise +determination to renounce the executorship on the part of this +petulant Sir Gilbert Harrington; the accident or rather series +of accidents, by which I have become at once and so +unexpectedly, the chief stay, support, comfort, consolation, +and adviser of this amiable but very helpless lady;—throughout +the whole of this, I cannot, I say, but observe the gracious +Providence of my Master, who wills that I should obtain power +and mastery even over the things of this world, worthless +though they be, cousin Stephen, when set in comparison with +those of the world to come. It is my clear perception of the +will of Heaven in this matter which renders me willing,—yea, +ardent in my desire to obtain influence over the Mowbray +family. They are not all, however, equally amiable to the +wholesome guidance I would afford them: on the contrary, it is +evident to me that the youngest child is the only one on whom +the Lord is at present disposed to pour forth a saving light. +Nevertheless I will persevere. Peradventure the hearts of the +disobedient may in the end be turned to the wisdom of the just; +and we know right well who it is that can save from all +danger, even though a man, went to sea without art; a tempting +of Providence which would in my case be most criminal,—for +great in that respect has been its mercy, giving unto me that +light which is needful to guide us through the rocks and shoals +for ever scattered amidst worldly affairs.</p> + +<p>"Thus much have I written to you, cousin Stephen, with my own +hand, that you might fully comprehend the work that lies before +us. But I will not with pen and ink write more unto you, for I +trust I shall shortly see you, and that we shall speak face to +face.</p> + +<p>"I am now and ever, cousin Stephen, your loving kinsman and +Christian friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">William Jacob Cartwright</span>.</p> + +<p>"Wrexhill Vicarage, 9th July, 1834."</p> + +<p>"P.S. Since writing the above, the widow Mowbray has besought +me to instruct <i>the gentleman who is to act as her agent</i> to +obtain lodgings for her in a convenient quarter of the town; +and therefore this letter will precede her. Nor can she indeed +set forth till you shall have written in return to inform her +whereunto her equipage must be instructed to drive. Remember, +cousin, that the apartments be suitable; and in choosing them +recollect that it is neither you nor I who will pay for the +same. Farewell. If I mistake not, the mercy of Heaven +overshadows you, my cousin."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Mowbray would have rejoiced exceedingly had it been possible +for her kind and ever-ready adviser and friend to accompany her to +London; but as he did not himself propose this, she would not venture to +do it, and only asked him, such as an obedient child might ask a parent, +whether he thought she ought to go attended only by a man and maid +servant, or whether she might have the comfort of taking one of her +daughters with her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright looked puzzled; indeed the question involved considerable +difficulties. It was by no means the vicar's wish to appear harsh or +disagreeable in his enactments; yet neither did he particularly desire +that the eldest Miss Mowbray should be placed in circumstances likely to +give her increased influence over her mother: and as to Fanny, his +conscience reproached him for having for an instant conceived the idea +of permitting one to whom the elective finger of grace had so recently +pointed to be removed so far from his fostering care.</p> + +<p>After a few moments of silent consideration, he replied,</p> + +<p>"No! my dearest lady, you ought not to be without the soothing presence +of a child; and if I might advise you on the subject, I should recommend +your being accompanied by Miss Helen,—both, because, as being the +eldest, she might expect this preference, and because, likewise, I +should deem it prudent to remove her from the great risk and danger of +falling into the society of your base and injurious enemy during your +absence."</p> + +<p>"You are quite right about that, as I'm sure you are about every thing, +Mr. Cartwright. I really would not have Helen see more of Sir Gilbert's +family for the world! She has such wild romantic notions about old +friendships being better than new ones, that I am sure it would be the +way to make terrible disputes between us. She has never yet known the +misery of having an old friend turn against her,—nor the comfort, Mr. +Cartwright, of finding a new one sent by Providence to supply his +place!"</p> + +<p>"My dearest lady! I shall ever praise and bless the dispensation that +has placed me near you during this great trial;—and remember always, +that those whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Mr. Cartwright, I fear that I have not been hitherto sufficiently +mindful of this, and that I have repined where I ought to have blessed. +But I trust that a more christian spirit is now awakened within me, and +that henceforward, with your aid, and by the blessing of Heaven upon my +humble endeavours, I may become worthy of the privilege I enjoy as being +one of your congregation."</p> + +<p>"May the Lord hear, receive, record, and bless that hope!" cried the +vicar fervently, seizing her hand and kissing it with holy zeal.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray coloured slightly; but feeling ashamed of the weak and +unworthy feeling that caused this, she made a strong effort to recover +from the sort of embarrassment his action caused, and said, with as much +ease as she could assume,</p> + +<p>"Rosalind and Fanny are both very young and very giddy, Mr. Cartwright. +May I hope that during my short absence—which I shall make as short as +possible,—may I hope, my kind friend, that you will look in upon them +every day?"</p> + +<p>"You cannot doubt it!—what is there I would not do to spare you an +anxious thought!—They are young and thoughtless, particularly your +ward. Miss Torrington is just the girl, I think, to propose some wild +frolic—perhaps another visit to Sir Gilbert; and your sweet Fanny is +too young and has too little authority to prevent it."</p> + +<p>"Good Heaven! do you think so? Then what can I do?"</p> + +<p>"An idea has struck me, my dear friend, which I will mention to you with +all frankness, certain that if you disapprove it, you will tell me so +with an openness and sincerity equal to my own.—I think that if my +staid and quiet daughter Henrietta were to pass the short interval of +your absence here, you might be quite sure that nothing gay or giddy +would be done:—her delicate health and sober turn of mind preclude the +possibility of this;—and her being here would authorize my daily +visit."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing in the world I should like so well," replied Mrs. +Mowbray. "Any thing likely to promote an intimacy between my young +people and a daughter brought up by you must be indeed a blessing to us. +Shall I call upon her?—or shall I write the invitation?"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, dear lady!—very heavenly-minded!—but there is no +sort of necessity that you should take the trouble of doing either. I +will mention to Henrietta your most flattering wish that she should be +here during your absence: and, believe me, she will be most happy to +comply with it."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very grateful to her.—But will it not be more agreeable for +her, and for us also, that she should come immediately? I cannot go +before Monday—this is Thursday; might she not come to us to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"How thoughtful is that!—how like yourself!—Certainly it will be +pleasanter for her, and I will therefore bring her."</p> + +<p>The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of a servant with +a note. But for the better understanding its effect both on the lady and +gentleman, it will be necessary to recount one or two circumstances +which had occurred to the anti-Cartwright party in the Mowbray family, +subsequent to their visit to Oakley.</p> + +<p>A few days after that which witnessed poor Helen's disgrace, after +entering the drawing-room and receiving a hint from her mother (whom +she found there in close conclave with the vicar) that she had better +take her morning walk, it happened that she and Rosalind, as they were +earnestly discoursing of their yesterday's visit, and enjoying the +perfect shade of a lane leading to the village of Wrexhill, perceived a +horseman approaching them as slowly as it was possible to make a fine +horse walk. In the next moment, however, something appeared to have +pricked the sides of his intent, as well as those of his horse; for with +a bound or two he was close to them, and in the next instant dismounted +and by their side.</p> + +<p>The gentleman proved to be Colonel Harrington, who immediately declared, +with very soldierly frankness, that he had been riding through every +avenue leading to Mowbray Park, in the hope of being fortunate enough to +meet them.</p> + +<p>Rosalind smiled; while Helen, without knowing too well what she said, +answered with a deep blush, "You are very kind."</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington carefully tied up his reins and so arranged them as +to leave no danger of their getting loose; then giving his steed a +slight cut with his riding-whip, the obedient animal set off at an easy +trot for Oakley.</p> + +<p>"He knows his way, at least, as well as I do," said the colonel. "It is +my father's old hunter, and I selected him on purpose, that if I were +lucky enough to meet you, I might have no trouble about getting rid of +him. And now tell me, Helen, how did your mother bear the answer my +father sent to her note?"</p> + +<p>"An answer from Sir Gilbert?—and to a note from my mother?" said Helen. +"Alas! it was kept secret from me; and therefore, Colonel Harrington, I +had rather you should not talk of it to me."</p> + +<p>"It is hardly reasonable that you should insist upon my keeping secret +what I have to tell you, Helen, because others are less communicative. +The letters he receives and writes are surely my father's business +either to impart or conceal, as he thinks best; and he is extremely +anxious to learn your opinion respecting your mother's letter, and his +answer to it. He certainly did not imagine that they had been kept +secret from you."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I have never heard of either."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose, then, that she has mentioned them to no one?"</p> + +<p>Helen did not immediately reply, but Rosalind did. "I am very +particularly mistaken, Colonel Harrington," said she, "if the Reverend +William Jacob Cartwright, vicar of Wrexhill, and privy counsellor at +Mowbray Park, did not superintend the writing of the one, and the +reading of the other."</p> + +<p>"Do you really think so, Miss Torrington? What do you say, Helen? do you +believe this to have been the case?"</p> + +<p>"He is very often at the Park," replied Helen.</p> + +<p>"But do you think it possible that Mrs. Mowbray would communicate to him +what she would conceal from you?" said Colonel Harrington.</p> + +<p>This question was also left unanswered by Helen; but Rosalind again +undertook to reply. "You will think me a very interfering person, I am +afraid, Colonel Harrington," said she; "but many feelings keep Helen +silent which do not influence me; and, as far as I am capable of +judging, it is extremely proper, and perhaps important, that Sir Gilbert +should know that this holy vicar never passes a day without finding or +making an excuse for calling at the Park. I can hardly tell how it is, +but it certainly does happen, that these visits generally take place +when we—that is, Helen and I—are not in the house; but ... to confess +my sins, and make a clear breast at once, I will tell you what I have +never yet told Helen, and that is, that I have ordered my maid to find +out, if she can, when Mr. Cartwright comes. He slipped in, however, +through the library window twice yesterday, so it is possible that he +may sometimes make good an entry without being observed; for it is +impossible that my Judy can be always on the watch, though she is so +fond of performing her needlework in that pretty trellised summer-house +in the Park."</p> + +<p>"What an excellent vidette you would make, Miss Torrington," said the +young man, laughing. "But will you tell me, sincerely, and without any +shadow of jesting, why it is that you have been so anxious to watch the +movements of this reverend gentleman?"</p> + +<p>"If I talk on the subject at all," she replied, "it will certainly be +without any propensity to jesting; for I have seldom felt less inclined +to be merry than while watching the increasing influence of Mr. +Cartwright over Mrs. Mowbray and Fanny. It was because I remarked that +they never mentioned his having called, when I knew he had been there, +that I grew anxious to learn, if possible, how constant his visits had +become; and the result of my <i>espionage</i> is, that no day passes without +a visit."</p> + +<p>"But what makes you speak of this as of an evil, Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"That is more than I have promised to tell you," replied Rosalind; "but, +as we <i>have</i> become so very confidential, I have no objection to tell +you all—and that, remember, for the especial use of Sir Gilbert, who +perhaps, if he knew all that I guess, would <i>not</i> think he was doing +right to leave Mrs. Mowbray in such hands."</p> + +<p>"And what then, Miss Torrington, is there, <i>as you guess</i>, against this +gentleman?"</p> + +<p>Rosalind for an instant looked puzzled; but, by the rapidity with which +she proceeded after she began, the difficulty seemed to arise solely +from not knowing what to say first. "There is against him," said she, +"the having hurried away from hearing the will read to the presence of +Mrs. Mowbray, and not only announcing its contents to her with what +might well be called indecent haste, considering that there were others +to whom the task more fitly belonged, and who would have performed it +too, had they not been thus forestalled;—not only did he do this, but +he basely, and, I do believe, most falsely, gave her to understand that +her son, the generous, disinterested, warm-hearted Charles Mowbray, had +manifested displeasure at it. Further, he has turned the head of poor +little Fanny, by begging copies of her verses to send—Heaven knows +where; and he moreover has, I am sure, persuaded Mrs. Mowbray to think +that my peerless Helen is in fault for something—Heaven knows what. He +has likewise, as your account of those secret letters renders certain, +dared to step between an affectionate mother and her devoted child, to +destroy their dear and close union by hateful and poisonous mystery. He +has also fomented the unhappy and most silly schism between your pettish +father and my petted guardian; and moreover, with all his far-famed +beauty and saint-like benignity of aspect, his soft crafty eyes dare not +look me in the face. And twelfthly and lastly, I hate him."</p> + +<p>"After this, Miss Torrington," said the Colonel, laughing, "no man +assuredly could be sufficiently hardy to say a word in his +defence;—and, all jesting apart," he added very seriously, "I do think +you have made out a very strong case against him. If my good father sees +this growing intimacy between the Vicarage and the Park with the same +feelings that you do, I really think it might go farther than any other +consideration towards inducing him to rescind his refusal—for he <i>has</i> +positively refused to act as executor—and lead him at once and for ever +to forget the unreasonable cause of anger he has conceived against your +mother, Helen."</p> + +<p>"Then let him know it without an hour's delay," said Helen. "Dear +Colonel Harrington! why did you let your horse go? Walk you must, but +let it be as fast as you can, and let your father understand exactly +every thing that Rosalind has told you; for though I should hardly have +ventured to say as much myself, I own that I think she is not much +mistaken in any of her conclusions."</p> + +<p>"And do you follow her, Helen, up to her twelfthly and lastly? Do you +too <i>hate</i> this reverend gentleman?"</p> + +<p>Helen sighed. "I hope not, Colonel Harrington," she replied; "I should +be sorry to believe myself capable of hating, but surely I do not love +him."</p> + +<p>The young ladies, in their eagerness to set the colonel off on his road +to Oakley, were unconsciously, or rather most obliviously, guilty of the +indecorum of accompanying him at least half the distance; and at last it +was Rosalind, and not the much more shy and timid Helen, who became +aware of the singularity of the proceeding.</p> + +<p>"And where may <i>we</i> be going, I should like to know?" she said, suddenly +stopping short. "Helen! is it the fashion for the Hampshire ladies to +escort home the gentlemen they chance to meet in their walks? We never +do that in my country."</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington looked positively angry, and Helen blushed celestial +rosy red, but soon recovered herself, and said, with that species of +frankness which at once disarms quizzing,</p> + +<p>"It is very true, Rosalind; we seem to be doing a very strange thing: +but we have had a great deal to say that was really important; yet +nothing so much so, as leading Colonel Harrington to his father with as +little delay as possible.—But now I think we have said all. Good-b'ye, +Colonel Harrington: I need not tell you how grateful we shall all be if +you can persuade Sir Gilbert to restore us all to favour."</p> + +<p>"The all is but one, Helen; but the doing so I now feel to be very +important. Farewell! Take care of yourselves; for I will not vex you, +Helen, by turning back again. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>The letter which interrupted the tête-à-tête between Mrs. Mowbray and +the vicar was an immediate consequence of this conversation, and was as +follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Madam,</p> + +<p>"Upon a maturer consideration of the possible effects to the +family of my late friend which my refusal to act as his +executor may produce, I am willing, notwithstanding my +repugnance to the office, to perform the duties of it, and +hereby desire to revoke my late refusal to do so.</p> + +<p>(Signed) "<span class="smcap">Gilbert Harrington.</span></p> + +<p>"Oakley, July 12th, 1833."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Thank Heaven," exclaimed Mrs. Mowbray as soon as she had read the +note,—"Thank Heaven that I have no longer any occasion to submit myself +to the caprices of any man!—And yet," she added, putting the paper into +Mr. Cartwright's hands, "I suppose it will be best for me to accept his +reluctant and ungracious offer?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright took the paper, and perused it with great attention, and +more than once. At length he said,</p> + +<p>"I trust I did not understand you. What was it you said, dearest Mrs. +Mowbray, respecting this most insulting communication?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know, Mr. Cartwright, what I said," replied Mrs. Mowbray, +colouring. "How can I know what to say to a person who can treat a woman +in my painful situation with such cruel caprice, such unfeeling +inconsistency?"</p> + +<p>"Were I you, my valued friend, I should make the matter very easy, for I +should say nothing to him."</p> + +<p>"Nothing?—Do you mean that you would not answer the letter?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly: that is what I should recommend as the only mode of noticing +it, consistently with the respect you owe yourself."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you are quite right," replied Mrs. Mowbray, looking relieved +from a load of difficulty.</p> + +<p>"It certainly does not deserve an answer," said she, "and I am sure I +should not in the least know what to say to him."</p> + +<p>"Then let us treat the scroll as it does deserve to be treated," said +the vicar with a smile. "Let the indignant wind bear it back to the face +of the hard-hearted and insulting writer!"</p> + +<p>And so saying, he eagerly tore the paper into minute atoms, and appeared +about to consign them to the conveyance he mentioned, but suddenly +checked himself, and with thoughtful consideration for the gardener +added,</p> + +<p>"But no! we will not disfigure your beautiful lawn by casting these +fragments upon it: I will dispose of them on the other side of the +fence."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. MOWBRAY'S DEPARTURE FOR TOWN.—AN EXTEMPORARY PRAYER.</h3> + + +<p>It was about nine o'clock in the evening of this same day, that Mr. +Cartwright was seen approaching across the lawn towards the drawing-room +windows,—and that not only by Judy, but by the whole family, who were +assembled there and preparing to take their tea. His daughter Henrietta +was on his arm; yet still she rather followed than walked with him, so +evidently did she hang back, while he as evidently endeavoured to +quicken his pace and draw her forward.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the whole party were attracted to the windows. Mrs. Mowbray +and Fanny, approaching different sashes, each stepped out to welcome +them; while Miss Torrington and Helen were content to watch the meeting +from their places on a sofa.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see a man drive a pig to market, Helen?" said Rosalind. +"In my country they do it so much more cleverly! for look you, if that +man were half as clever as he thinks himself, he would just go behind +the young lady and pull her backwards."</p> + +<p>"I am not quite sure that the scheme would answer in this case," replied +Helen. "Look at the expression of her face, and I think you will +perceive that nothing but a very straightforward pull could induce her +to approach at all."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she is disgusted at her odious father's presumption and +forwardness?" cried Rosalind, starting up. "If that be so, I will +patronise her.—Poor thing! look at her eyes; I am positive she has been +weeping."</p> + +<p>With this impression, Miss Torrington stepped forward, and, as the party +entered, greeted the young lady very kindly: though she hardly appeared +to perceive that her father entered with her.</p> + +<p>She received in return a look which, with all her acuteness, she found +it extremely difficult to interpret. There was a strong and obvious +expression of surprise in it; and then, in the faint attempt at a smile +about the corners of the mouth,—which attempt, however, was finally +abortive,—Rosalind fancied that she traced a movement of gratitude, +though not of pleasure; but over every feature a settled gloom seemed to +hang, like a dark veil, obscuring, though not quite hiding every +emotion.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of understanding why and wherefore she looked as she did, +was quite enough, with such a disposition as Rosalind's, to make her an +object of interest; and therefore, when Mrs. Mowbray made her the speech +that she was expressly brought to hear, expressive of hope that she +would have the great kindness to console that part of her family who +were to remain at home by affording them the pleasure of her company, +Rosalind relieved her from the immediate necessity of replying, by +saying gaily,</p> + +<p>"She will and she must, Mrs. Mowbray, for we will take her prisoner; but +I will promise, as far as I am concerned, that her durance shall be as +gentle as possible."</p> + +<p>It was now the vicar's turn to look astonished, which he certainly did +in no small degree, and ran some risk of destroying the favourable +impression which his daughter's look of misery had created, by saying, +in the sweet tone that Miss Torrington relished so little,</p> + +<p>"Henrietta, my love—I trust you will be sensible of, and grateful for, +the amiable and condescending kindness of this young lady."</p> + +<p>What the gloomy Henrietta answered, Rosalind did not stay to hear; for +by a movement of that impatience with which she always listened to all +that Mr. Cartwright spoke, she turned from him and walked out of the +window. She only stayed, however, long enough to gather a bunch of +geranium blossoms, which she put into the hand of Henrietta as she +placed herself beside her on re-entering.</p> + +<p>"Are they not superb, Miss Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>Miss Cartwright again answered by a look which once more set all +Rosalind's ingenuity at defiance. It now spoke awakened interest, and an +almost eager desire to look at and listen to her; but the heavy gloom +remained, while her almost total silence gave her an appearance of +reserve greatly at variance with the expression which, for a moment at +least, she had read in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Helen was now, in full assembly, informed for the first time that she +was to attend her mother to town. Had this been told her, as every thing +was wont to be, in the dear seclusion of her mother's dressing-room, she +would have hailed the news with joy and gratitude, and believed that it +predicted a return of all the happiness she had lost: but now the effect +was wholly different; and though she mastered herself sufficiently to +send back the tears before they reached her eyes, and to declare, in the +gentle voice of genuine unaffected obedience, that she should be +delighted if she could be useful to her, the manner of the communication +sank deeply and painfully into her heart.</p> + +<p>An answer having arrived by return of post from Stephen Corbold, Esq., +solicitor, stating that commodious apartments were secured in +Wimpole-street, and himself ready, body and spirit, to do the lady's +bidding, Mrs. Mowbray fixed on the following day for her journey. Miss +Cartwright gave one mutter beyond a tacit consent to remain at the Park +during her absence, and the party separated; Fanny however declaring, as +she wrapped a shawl of her mother's about her head, that she must enjoy +the delicious moonlight by accompanying the vicar and his daughter as +far as the Park gates.</p> + +<p>"And return alone, Fanny?" said her mother.</p> + +<p>"Why not, dear lady?" replied Mr. Cartwright. "Her eye will not be +raised to the lamp of night without her heart's rising also in a hymn to +her Lord and Saviour; and I am willing to believe that her remaining +for a few moments beside her pastor and her friend, while under its soft +influence, will not be likely to make her thoughts wander in a wrong +direction."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, Mr. Cartwright," replied the mother; "I am sure, if you think it +right, she shall go."</p> + +<p>At this moment Miss Torrington was giving a farewell shake of the hand +to Henrietta when, instead of receiving from her an answering "Good +night!" something very like a groan smote her ear.</p> + +<p>"How very strange!" she exclaimed aloud, after a silence that lasted +till the vicar, with Fanny leaning on his arm, and his sulky daughter +following, had half traversed the lawn towards the gate that opened upon +the drive.</p> + +<p>"What is strange, Miss Torrington?" said Mrs. Mowbray.</p> + +<p>"Almost every thing I see and hear, ma'am," replied the young lady.</p> + +<p>"At what hour are we to set off to-morrow, mamma?" inquired Helen.</p> + +<p>"At ten o'clock, my dear. You had better give your orders to Curtis +to-night, Helen, as to what she is to put up for you. I hope we shall +not be obliged to remain in town above two or three days."</p> + +<p>"If you have any thing to do in your room to-night, Helen, it is time to +betake yourself to it," observed Rosalind; "for," looking at her watch, +"it is very near midnight, though Miss Fanny Mowbray is walking in the +Park.—Good night, Mrs. Mowbray." But Mrs. Mowbray did not appear to +hear her.</p> + +<p>"Good night, mamma," said Helen, approaching to kiss her.</p> + +<p>She received a very cold salute upon her forehead, and a "Good night, +Helen," in a tone that answered to it.</p> + +<p>Rosalind took the arm of her friend within hers as they left the room +together, and a silent pressure spoke her sympathy; but neither of them +uttered a word that night, either concerning Mr. Cartwright's increasing +influence, or Mrs. Mowbray's continued coldness to Helen. They both of +them felt more than they wished to speak.</p> + +<p>The following morning brought Mr. Cartwright and his daughter again to +the Park a few minutes before the post-horses arrived for Mrs. Mowbray's +carriage, and in a few minutes more every thing was ready for the +departure of the travellers. Helen gave a farewell embrace to Fanny and +Rosalind; while the attentive vicar stepped into the carriage before +Mrs. Mowbray entered it, to see that as many windows were up and as many +windows down as she wished, and likewise for the purpose of placing a +small volume in the side pocket next the place she was to occupy. He +then returned to her side, and as he handed her in, whispered, while he +pressed her hand,</p> + +<p>"Do not fatigue yourself with talking, my dear friend: it is a great +while since you have taken a journey even so long as this. In the pocket +next you I have placed a little volume that I wish—oh, how +ardently!—that you would read with attention. Will you promise me +this?"</p> + +<p>"I will," replied Mrs. Mowbray, deeply affected by his earnestness—"God +bless you!"</p> + +<p>"The Lord watch over you!" responded Mr. Cartwright with a sigh. He then +retreated a step, and Helen sprang hastily into the carriage without +assistance; the door was closed, and before the equipage reached the +lodges Mrs. Mowbray had plunged into a disquisition on regeneration and +faith—the glory of the new birth—and the assured damnation of all who +cannot, or do not, attain thereto.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the party left under the shade of the portico looked at each +other as if to inquire what they were to do next. On all occasions of +morning departure there is generally a certain degree of +<i>désœuvrement</i> left with those who remain behind. In general, +however, this is soon got over, except by a desperate idler or a very +mournful residuary guest; but on the present occasion the usual +occupations of the parties were put completely out of joint, and +Rosalind, at least, was exceedingly well disposed to exclaim—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">——"Accursed spite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ever I was born to set it right!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She remained stationary for a few minutes, hoping and expecting that the +reverend gentleman would depart: but as this did not happen, she quietly +re-entered the house and retired to her own dressing-room.</p> + +<p>Fanny then made a motion to enter also, but took very hospitable care +that it should include both her companions. Mr. Cartwright spoke not of +going—he even led the way to the library himself, and having closed the +door and put down the ever-open sash windows, he turned to Fanny, and, +with a smile that might have accompanied a proposal to sing or dance, +said,</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Fanny! does not your heart feel full of kind and tender +wishes for the safety of your beloved mother during her absence from +you?"</p> + +<p>"It does indeed!" said Fanny, shaking back her chesnut ringlets.</p> + +<p>"Then should we not," rejoined the vicar, assisting her action by gently +putting back her redundant curls with his own hand,—"should we not, my +dear child, implore a blessing upon her from the only source from whence +it can come!"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," replied Fanny, with affectionate earnestness, but by no means +understanding his immediate purpose,—"Oh yes, Mr. Cartwright; I am sure +I never pray so heartily as when praying for mamma."</p> + +<p>"Then let us kneel," said he, placing a chair before her, and kneeling +down himself at the one that was next to it. Fanny instantly obeyed, +covering her face with her hands, while her young heart beat with a +timid and most truly pious feeling of fear lest the act was not +performed with suitable deference; for hitherto her private devotions +had been performed in strict obedience to the solemn and explicit words +of Scripture—"<i>When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou +hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy +Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.</i>"</p> + +<p>But though conscious that the mode of prayer in which she was now so +unexpectedly invited to join was very unlike what she was used to, her +unbounded love and admiration for Mr. Cartwright rendered it absolutely +impossible for her to conceive it wrong, and she prepared herself to +pray with all the fervour of her young and ardent spirit.</p> + +<p>There was a moment's pause, during which a look was exchanged between +the father and daughter unseen by Fanny; but had it met her eye, it +would only have appeared to her as a mystery that she was incapable of +comprehending. Had Rosalind caught a sight of it, she might perhaps +have fancied that the glance of the father spoke command, accompanied +by direful threatenings, while that of his daughter betrayed disgust and +bitterest contempt mingled with fear.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright began, almost in a whisper, to utter his extemporary +prayer. It first invoked a blessing on <i>the little knot of united +hearts</i> that now offered their homage, and then proceeded to ask, in +flowing periods, for exemption from all dangers likely to beset +travellers by land for "our beloved sister who is this day gone forth." +In a tone somewhat more loud he went on to implore especial grace for +the not yet awakened soul of the child she led with her; and then, his +rich and powerful voice resounding through the room, his eyes raised to +the ceiling, and his clasped and extended hands stretched out before +him, he burst into an ecstasy of enthusiastic rantings, in which he +besought blessings on the head of Fanny.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to repeat such language as Mr. Cartwright and those who +resemble him think fit to use in their extemporary devotions, without +offending against that sensitive horror of profanation which happily +still continues to be one of the strongest feelings in the minds of +Christians not converted—<i>i. e.</i> perverted from the solemn reverence +our church enjoins in the utterance of every word by which we venture to +approach the Deity. To such, the unweighed flippant use of those +momentous words "LET US PRAY," followed as they often are, by turgid +rantings, and familiar appeals to the most High God, in volumes of +rapid, careless wordiness, is perhaps the most offensive outrage to +which their religions feelings can be exposed. One might be almost +tempted to believe that the sectarians who, rejecting the authorized +forms in which the bishops and fathers of our church have cautiously, +reverently, and succinctly rehearsed the petitions which the Scriptures +permit man to offer to his Creator;—one might, I say, almost be tempted +to believe that these men have so misunderstood the Word of God, as to +read:—<span class="smcap">Use</span> <i>vain repetitions as the Heathen do, for they</i> SHALL BE +<i>heard for their much speaking</i>. But this "much speaking," with all its +irreverent accompaniments of familiar phraseology, is an abomination to +those who have preserved their right to sit within the sacred pale of +our established church; and as it is among such that I wish to find my +readers, I will avoid, as much as possible, offending them by +unnecessary repetitions of Mr. Cartwright's rhapsodies, preserving only +so much of their substance as may be necessary to the making his +character fully understood.</p> + +<p>While imploring Heaven to soften the heart of poor Fanny, who knelt +weeping beside him like a Niobe, he rehearsed her talents and good +qualities, earnestly praying that they might not be turned by the Prince +of Darkness into a snare.</p> + +<p>"Let not her gift—her shining gift of poesy, lead her, as it has so +often done others, to the deepest pit of hell! Let not the gentle and +warm affections of her heart cling to those that shall carry her soul, +with their own, down to the worm that dieth not, and to the fire that +cannot be quenched! Rather, fix thou her love upon those who will seek +it in thy holy name. May she know to distinguish between the true and +the false, the holy and the unholy!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" was here uttered by Henrietta, but in so low a whisper that only +her father's ear caught it. He paused for half a moment, and then +continued with still-increasing zeal, so that his voice shook and tears +fell from his eyes.</p> + +<p>Fanny was fully aware of all this strong emotion; for though she +uncovered not her own streaming eyes, she could not mistake the +trembling voice that pronounced its fervent blessing on her amidst sobs.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Miss Torrington, who had seated herself before a book in her +dressing-room, began to think that she was not acting very kindly +towards Fanny, who, she knew, was so nearly childish in her manners as +to render the entertaining company a very disagreeable task to her.</p> + +<p>"Poor little soul!" she exclaimed; "between the manna of the father, and +the crabbishness of the daughter, she will be done to death if I go not +to her rescue." So she closed her book and hastened to the library.</p> + +<p>The sound she heard on approaching the door startled her, and she paused +to listen a moment before she entered; for not having the remotest idea +that it was the voice of prayer, she really believed that some one had +been taken ill,—and the notion of convulsions, blended with the +recollection of Henrietta's sickly appearance, took possession of her +fancy. She determined, however, to enter; but turned the lock with a +very nervous hand,—and on beholding the scene which the opening door +displayed, felt startled, awed, and uncertain whether to advance or +retreat.</p> + +<p>She immediately met Henrietta's eye, which turned towards her as she +opened the door, and its expression at once explained the nature of the +ceremony she so unexpectedly witnessed. Contempt and bitter scorn shot +from it as she slowly turned it towards her father; and a smile of pity +succeeded, as she mournfully shook her head, when, for a moment, she +fixed her glance upon the figure of Fanny. Had the poor girl for whose +especial sake this very unclerical rhapsody was uttered—had she been a +few years older, and somewhat more advanced in the power of judging +human actions, she must have been struck by the remarkable change which +the entrance of Rosalind produced in the language and manner of the +vicar. He did not for an instant suspend the flow of his eloquence, but +the style of it altered altogether.</p> + +<p>"Bless her! bless this lovely and beloved one!" were the words which +preceded the opening of the door, accompanied by the sobbings of +vehement emotion.—"Bless all this worthy family, and all sorts and +conditions of men; and so lead them home" ... &c. were those which +followed,—uttered, too, with very decent sobriety and discretion.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, however, was not quite deceived by this, though far from +guessing how perfectly indecent and profane had been the impassioned +language and vehement emotion which preceded her appearance.</p> + +<p>After the hesitation of a moment, she closed the door, and walking up to +the side of Fanny, stood beside her for the minute and a half which it +took Mr. Cartwright to bring his harangue to a conclusion. He then +ceased, rose from his knees, and bowed to the intruder with an air so +meek and sanctified, but yet with such a downcast avoidance of her eye +withal, that Rosalind shrank from him with ill-concealed dislike, and +would instantly have left the room, but that she did not choose again to +leave Fanny, who still continued kneeling beside her, to a repetition of +the scene she had interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Fanny!" she said, in an accent a little approaching to impatience.</p> + +<p>But Fanny heeded her not. Vexed and disgusted at this display of a +devotion so unlike the genuine, unaffected, well-regulated piety in +which she had been herself brought up, she repeated her call,—adding, +as she laid her hand lightly on her shoulder,</p> + +<p>"This is not the sort of worship which your excellent father, or good +Mr. Wallace either, would have approved."</p> + +<p>Fanny now rose from her knees, and the cause of her not doing so before +became evident. Her face was as pale as ashes, and traces of violent +weeping were visible on her swollen eyelids.</p> + +<p>"Good Heaven, Fanny! what can have affected you thus?—What, sir, have +you been saying to produce so terrible an effect on Miss Mowbray? The +prayers of the church, in the discipline of which she has been most +carefully bred up, produce no such paroxysms as these, Mr. +Cartwright.—Come with me, Fanny, and do endeavour to conquer this +extraordinary vehemence of emotion."</p> + +<p>Fanny took her arm; but she trembled so violently that she could +scarcely stand.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright," said Rosalind with a burst of indignation that she +could not control, "I must beg of you not to repeat this species of +experiment on the feelings of this young lady during the absence of her +mother. At her return she will of course decide upon your continuance, +or discontinuance, in the office you have been pleased to assume; but, +till then, I must beg, in her name, that we may have no more of this."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Rosalind!" exclaimed Fanny, while a fresh shower of tears burst +from her eyes, "how can you speak so!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me, my dear young lady," said Mr. Cartwright, addressing Miss +Torrington in a voice of the gentlest kindness, "did good Mrs. Mowbray, +on leaving home, place Miss Fanny under your care?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, she did not," replied Rosalind, a crimson flush of anger and +indignation mounting to her cheeks; "but, being considerably older than +Fanny, I deem it my duty to prevent her if possible from again becoming +an actor in such a scene as this."</p> + +<p>Fanny withdrew her arm, and clasping her hands together, again +exclaimed, "Oh! Rosalind!"</p> + +<p>"Do not agitate yourself, my good child," said the vicar; "I shall never +suspect you of that hardening of the heart which would lead you to be of +those who wish to banish the voice of prayer from the roof that shelters +you. Nor shall I," he continued meekly, but firmly,—"nor shall I +consider myself justified in remitting that care and attention which I +promised your excellent mother to bestow on you, because this unhappy +young person lifts her voice against the holy duties of my calling. I +shall return to you in the evening, and then, I trust, we shall again +raise our voices together in praise and prayer."</p> + +<p>So saying, Mr. Cartwright took his hat and departed.</p> + +<p>The three young ladies were left standing, but not in one group. Miss +Cartwright, as soon as released from her kneeling position, had +approached a window, and was assiduously paring her nails; Rosalind +fixed her eyes upon the floor, and seemed to be revolving some question +that puzzled her; and Fanny, after the interval of a moment, left the +room.</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington approached the window, and said coldly, but civilly, "I +am sorry, Miss Cartwright, to have spoken so sternly to your father,—or +rather, for the cause which led me to do so,—but I really considered it +as my duty."</p> + +<p>"Oh! pray, ma'am, do not apologise to me about it."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to offer an apology for doing what I believe to be right; +but only to express my sorrow to a guest, in the house that is my home, +for having been obliged to say any thing that might make her feel +uncomfortable."</p> + +<p>"I do assure you, Miss Torrington," replied the vicar's daughter, "that +my feelings are very particularly independent of any circumstance, +accident, or event, that may affect Mr. Cartwright ... my father."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Rosalind, fixing on her a glance that seemed to invite +her confidence.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" repeated Henrietta, quietly continuing the occupation +furnished by her fingers' ends, but without showing any inclination to +accept the invitation.</p> + +<p>Rosalind was disconcerted. The singularity of Miss Cartwright's manner +piqued her curiosity, and though by no means inclined to form a party +with her against her father, she had seen enough to convince her that +they were far from being on very affectionate terms together. A feeling +of pity, too, though for sorrows and sufferings suggested chiefly by her +own imagination, gave her a kind-hearted inclination for more intimate +acquaintance; but she began to suspect that the wish for this was wholly +on her side, and not shared in any degree by her companion.</p> + +<p>Chilled by this idea, and out of spirits from the prospect of being +daily exposed to Mr. Cartwright's visits, Rosalind prepared to leave the +room; but good-nature, as was usual with her, prevailed over every other +feeling, and before she reached the door, she turned and said,</p> + +<p>"Is there any thing, Miss Cartwright, that I can offer for your +amusement? The books of the day are chiefly in our dressing-rooms, I +believe—and I have abundance of new music—and in this room I can show +you where to find a very splendid collection of engravings."</p> + +<p>"I wish for nothing of the kind, I am much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>"Shall I send Fanny to you? Perhaps, notwithstanding the ocean of tears +you have seen her shed, she would prove a much more cheerful companion +than I could do at this moment."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish for a cheerful companion," said Henrietta.</p> + +<p>"Is there any thing, then, that I can do," resumed Rosalind, half +smiling, "that may assist you in getting rid of the morning?"</p> + +<p>"You may sit with me yourself."</p> + +<p>"May I?—Well, then, so I will. I assure you that I only thought of +going because it appeared to me that you did not particularly desire my +company."</p> + +<p>"To say the truth, Miss Torrington, I do not think there is any thing on +earth particularly worth desiring; but your conversation may perhaps be +amongst the most endurable. Besides, it is agreeable to look at you."</p> + +<p>"You are very civil," replied Rosalind, laughing. "Perhaps you would +like me to hold a nosegay in my hand, or to put on a bonnet and +feathers, that I might be still better worth looking at."</p> + +<p>"No.—If I had a bunch of flowers before my eyes, I should not want you: +no woman can be so beautiful as a collection of flowers. But I shall do +very well, I dare say. Nothing, you know, lasts very long."</p> + +<p>"Your father, then, I presume, has taught your thoughts, Miss +Cartwright, to fix themselves altogether on a future and a better +world."</p> + +<p>"As to a future world, Miss Torrington, I must have better authority +than Mr. Cartwright's before I pretend to know any thing about it."</p> + +<p>"But I hope your distaste for that which we enjoy at present does not +arise from its having been unkind to you?"</p> + +<p>"When I was a child," answered Henrietta, "I had a kind of sickly +longing for kindness; but now, that I am older and wiser, I cannot say +that I think kindness or unkindness are matters of much consequence."</p> + +<p>"That, indeed, is a feeling that must put one speedily either above or +below sorrow."</p> + +<p>"I am below it."</p> + +<p>"It would be just as easy to say, above, Miss Cartwright; and if you +really have reached to a state of such stoical indifference, I rather +wonder you should not feel that it sets you above all the poor sensitive +souls whom you must see longing for a smile, and trembling at a frown."</p> + +<p>"Because, Miss Torrington, I have constantly felt that in approaching +this state of mind I have been gradually sinking lower and lower in my +own estimation: I am become so hatefully familiar with sin and +wickedness, that I perfectly loathe myself—though assuredly it has +ended by giving me a very pre-eminent degree of indifference concerning +all that may hereafter happen to me."</p> + +<p>"Is it in your own person," said Rosalind jestingly, "that you have +become thus familiar with sin?"</p> + +<p>"No. It is in that of my father."</p> + +<p>Rosalind started. "You talk strangely to me, Miss Cartwright," said she +gravely; "and if you are playing upon my credulity or curiosity, I must +submit to it. But if there be any serious meaning in what you say, it +would be more generous if you would permit me to understand you. I +believe you are aware that I do not esteem Mr. Cartwright: an avowal +which delicacy would have certainly prevented my making to you, had you +not given me reason to suspect——"</p> + +<p>"—That I do not very greatly esteem him either," said Henrietta, +interrupting her.</p> + +<p>"Exactly so: and as I am deeply interested for the welfare and happiness +of the family amongst whom he seems disposed to insinuate himself upon +terms of very particular intimacy, I should consider it as a great +kindness if you would tell me what his character really is."</p> + +<p>"The request is a very singular one, considering to whom it is +addressed," said Miss Cartwright; "and besides I really cannot perceive +any reason in the world why I should be guilty of an indecorum in order +to do you <i>a great kindness</i>."</p> + +<p>"The indecorum, Miss Cartwright, has been already committed," said +Rosalind. "You have already spoken of your father as you should not have +spoken, unless you had some strong and virtuous motive for it."</p> + +<p>"How exceedingly refreshing is the unwonted voice of truth!" exclaimed +Henrietta. "Rosalind Torrington, you are an honest girl, and will not +betray me; for I do fear him—coward that I am—I do fear his cruelty, +even while I despise his power. I think but lightly," she continued, "of +the motes that people this paltry world of ours; yet there are +gradations amongst us, from the pure-hearted kind fool, who, like you, +Rosalind, would wish to spend their little hour of life in doing good, +down to the plotting knave who, like my father, Miss Torrington, cares +not what mischief he may do, so that his own unholy interest, and unholy +joys, may be increased thereby: and so, look you, there are gradations +also in my feelings towards them, from very light and easy indifference, +down, down, down to the deepest abyss of hatred and contempt. I know not +what power you may have here—not much, I should fear; for though you +are rich, the Mowbrays are richer; yet it is possible, I think, that if +the energy which I suspect makes part of your character be roused, you +may obtain some influence. If you do, use it to keep Mr. Cartwright as +far distant from all you love as you can. Mistrust him yourself, and +teach all others to mistrust him.—And now, never attempt to renew this +conversation. I may have done you some service—do not let your +imprudence make me repent it. Let us now avoid each other if you please: +I do not love talking, and would not willingly be led into it again."</p> + +<p>Miss Cartwright left the room as soon as these words were spoken, +leaving Rosalind in a state of mind extremely painful. Through all the +strange wildness of Henrietta's manner she thought that she could trace +a friendly intention to put her on her guard; but she hardly knew what +the mischief was which she feared, and less still perhaps what she could +do to guard against it. The most obvious and the most desirable thing, +if she could achieve it, was the preventing Mr. Cartwright's making the +constant morning and evening visits which he threatened; but she felt +that her power was indeed small, and, such as it was, she knew not well +how to use it.</p> + +<p>Having remained for above an hour exactly in the place where Miss +Cartwright had left her, inventing and rejecting a variety of schemes +for keeping Mr. Cartwright from the house during the absence of Mrs. +Mowbray, she at length determined to write to him, and after a good deal +of meditation produced the following note:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Miss Torrington presents her compliments to Mr. Cartwright, +and begs to inform him, that having been very strictly brought +up by her father, a clergyman of the established church, she +cannot, consistently with her ideas of what is right, continue +to make her residence in a house where irregular and extempore +prayer-meetings are held. She therefore takes this method of +announcing to Mr. Cartwright, that if he perseveres in +repeating at Mowbray Park the scene she witnessed this morning, +she shall be obliged to leave the house of her guardian, and +will put herself under the protection of Sir Gilbert Harrington +till such time as Mrs. Mowbray shall return.</p> + +<p>"Mowbray Park, 13th July 1833."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This note she immediately despatched to the Vicarage by her own footman, +who was ordered to wait for an answer, and in the course of an hour +returned with the following short epistle:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Mr. Cartwright presents his compliments to Miss Torrington, +and respectfully requests permission to wait upon her for a few +minutes to-morrow morning.</p> + +<p>"Wrexhill Vicarage, July 13th, 1833."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Nothing could be less like the answer she expected than this note, and +she might possibly have been doubtful whether to grant the audience +requested, or not, had she not perceived, with very considerable +satisfaction, that she had already obtained a remission of the evening +rhapsody he had threatened in the morning, which inspired her with +reasonable hope that her remonstrance would not prove altogether in +vain. She determined therefore to receive Mr. Cartwright on the morrow, +but did not deem it necessary to send another express to say so, feeling +pretty certain that the not forbidding his approach would be quite +sufficient to ensure its arrival.</p> + +<p>The evening passed in very evident and very fidgetty expectation on the +part of Fanny, who more than once strolled out upon the lawn, returning +with an air of restlessness and disappointment. But Rosalind was in +excellent spirits, and contrived to amuse Miss Cartwright, and even +elicit an expression of pleasure from her, by singing some of her +sweetest native melodies, which she did with a delicacy and perfection +of taste and feeling that few could listen to without delight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>AN INTERVIEW.—THE LIME TREE.—ROSALIND'S LETTER TO MR. MOWBRAY.</h3> + + +<p>At about eleven o'clock the following morning, Miss Torrington was +informed that Mr. Cartwright requested to speak to her for a few minutes +in the drawing-room. Henrietta was with her when the message was +delivered, and seemed to await her reply with some curiosity.</p> + +<p>"I will wait upon him immediately," was the civil and ready answer; and +as Rosalind gave it, and at the same moment rose from her chair to obey +the summons, she looked in the face of her companion to see if there +were any wish expressed there that the silence so strictly enjoined +should be broken. But Miss Cartwright was occupied by a volume of +engravings which lay before her, and Rosalind left the room without +having met her eye.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to imagine a demeanour or address more perfectly +gentlemanlike and respectful than those of Mr. Cartwright as he walked +across the room to receive Miss Torrington. Strong as her feelings were +against him, this still produced some effect; and as she seated herself, +and motioned to him to do the same, her mental soliloquy amounted to +this:—"At any rate, I will listen patiently to what he has to say."</p> + +<p>"I have taken the liberty of requesting to speak to you, Miss +Torrington, because I feel persuaded that my conduct and principles have +from some accident been misunderstood; and I cannot but hope that it +may be in my power to explain them, so as in some degree to remove the +prejudice which I fear you have conceived against me."</p> + +<p>"It is my duty, sir, both as a matter of courtesy and justice, to hear +whatever you wish to say in justification or excuse of the scene I +witnessed yesterday morning. Miss Fanny Mowbray is not yet recovered +from the effects of the agitation into which she was thrown by it; and I +have no objection, Mr. Cartwright, to repeat to you in person my fixed +determination not to continue in the house if that scene be repeated."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible," replied Mr. Cartwright "to find a lady of your age +so steadfast in adhering to what she believes to be right, without +feeling both admiration and respect for her; and I should think—forgive +me if I wound you—I should think that such an one cannot altogether +condemn the offering of prayer and thanksgiving?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright," replied Rosalind, her colour rising, and her voice +expressive of great agitation, "you talk of having been misunderstood; +but it is I, sir, who have reason to make this complaint. From which of +my words, either written or spoken, do you presume to infer that I +contemn the offering of prayer and thanksgiving?"</p> + +<p>"I beseech you to bear with me patiently," said Mr. Cartwright with a +look and tone of the most touching mildness; "and be assured that by +doing so, we shall not only be more likely to make ourselves mutually +understood, but finally to arrive at that truth which, I am willing to +believe, is equally the object of both. And the theme, my dear young +lady, on which we speak should never be alluded to,—at least, I think +not,—with any mixture of temper."</p> + +<p>Poor Rosalind! Honest as her vehemence was, she felt that she had been +wrong to show it, and with an effort that did her honour she contrived +to say "You are quite right, sir. As far as manner is concerned, you +have greatly the advantage of me by your self-possession and calmness. +Herein I will endeavour to imitate you, and assure you, with a <i>sang +froid</i> as perfect as your own, that I consider the offering of prayer +and thanksgiving as the first duty of a Christian. It is in consequence +of the reverence in which I hold this sacred duty, that I shrink from +seeing it performed irreverently. I have been taught to believe, sir, +that the deepest learning, the most deliberative wisdom, and the most +grave and solemn meditation given to the subject by the fathers and +founders of our church, were not too much to bestow on the sublime and +awful attempt to address ourselves suitably to God in prayer. Prayers so +framed, and fitted for every exigency that human nature can know, have +been prepared for us with equal piety and wisdom; and while such exist, +I will never join in any crude, unweighed, unauthorised jargon addressed +to the Deity, however vehement the assumption of piety may be in the +bold man who uses it."</p> + +<p>"It is seldom that so young a lady," replied the vicar with a kind and +gentle smile, "can have found time to give this important question so +much attention as you appear to have done. Yet, perhaps,—yet, perhaps, +Miss Torrington, when a few years more of deep consideration have been +given by you to the subject, you may be led to think that fervour of +feeling may more than atone for imperfection in expression."</p> + +<p>"If you imagine, sir," replied Rosalind, in a voice as tranquil and +deliberate as his own, "that I have dared to regulate my conduct and +opinions on such a point as this by any wisdom of my own, you do me +great injustice. Such conduct, if general, would make as many churches +upon earth as there are audacious spirits who reject control. My father, +Mr. Cartwright, was one whose life was passed in the situation which, +perhaps, beyond all others in the world, taught him the value of the +establishment to which he belonged. To those of another and an adverse +faith he was a kind friend and generous benefactor; but he could not be +insensible, nor did he leave me so, of the superior purity and moral +efficacy of his own;—and I hope not to live long enough to forget the +reverence which he has left impressed upon my mind for all that our +church holds sacred."</p> + +<p>"Not for worlds, my excellent young lady," exclaimed Mr. Cartwright with +warmth, "would I attempt to shake opinions so evidently sustained by a +sense of duty! Respect for such will assuredly prevent my again +attempting to perform the office which offended your opinions this +morning, as long as you continue, what you certainly ought to be at this +time, the mistress of this family. I will only ask, Miss Torrington, in +return for the sincere veneration I feel for your conscientious +scruples, that you will judge me with equal candour, and will believe +that however we may differ in judgment, I am not less anxious to be +right than yourself."</p> + +<p>Rosalind answered this appeal by a silent bow.</p> + +<p>"May I, then, hope that we are friends?" said he, rising and presenting +his hand; "and that I may venture to call, as I promised Mrs. Mowbray I +would do, on yourself, Miss Fanny, and my daughter, without driving you +from the house?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir," was Rosalind's cold reply. The request appeared as +reasonable in itself as it was politely and respectfully made, and to +refuse it would have been equally churlish, presumptuous and unjust. +Nevertheless, there was something at the bottom of her heart that +revolted against the act of shaking hands with him; and feigning to be +occupied by arranging some flowers on the table, she suffered the +offered hand to remain extended, till at length its patient owner +withdrew it.</p> + +<p>Though well pleased that her remonstrance had put a stop to the vicar's +extempore prayings at the house, Rosalind was not altogether satisfied +by the result of the interview. "We are still upon infinitely too civil +terms," thought she: "but I see that just at present it would be an +Herculean labour to quarrel with him:—if I smite him on one cheek, he +will turn himself about as unresistingly as a sucking pig upon the spit, +and submit to be basted all round without uttering a single squeak. But +when Mrs. Mowbray returns I suspect that it will be my turn to be +basted:—<i>n'importe</i>—I am sure I have done no more than my father would +have thought right."</p> + +<p>With this consolation she returned to her dressing-room and applied +herself to her usual occupations. Henrietta was no longer there; but as +the fashion of the house was for every one to find employment and +amusement for themselves during the morning, she did not think it +necessary to pursue her in order to prove her wish to be agreeable.</p> + +<p>At luncheon the three young ladies met as usual in the dining-room: +Fanny appeared to have recovered her spirits and good-humour, and +Henrietta seemed to wish to be more conversable than usual. They then +strolled into the gardens, visited the hothouses, and finally placed +themselves in a shady and fragrant bower, where they discoursed of +poetry and music for an hour or two.</p> + +<p>When these subjects seemed to be wellnigh exhausted, Miss Cartwright +rose and slowly walked towards the house without intimating to her +companions what it was her purpose to do next.</p> + +<p>Rosalind and Fanny being thus left tête-à-tête, the former said, "What +do you think of our new acquaintance, Fanny?—How do you like Miss +Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"I do not think she seems at all an amiable girl," replied Fanny. "With +such advantages as she has, it is quite astonishing that her manners are +so little agreeable."</p> + +<p>"She is not remarkably conversable, certainly," said Rosalind; "but I +suspect that she has very bad health. How dreadfully sallow she is!"</p> + +<p>"I suspect that she has a worse infirmity than bad health," answered +Fanny;—"she has, I fear, an extremely bad temper."</p> + +<p>"She has not a violent temper, at any rate," observed Rosalind; "for I +never remember to have seen any one who gave me a greater idea of being +subdued and spirit-broken."</p> + +<p>"That is not at all the impression she makes upon me," said Fanny: "I +should call her rather sullen than gentle, and obstinate instead of +subdued. But this gossiping is sad idle work, Rosalind: as Miss +Henrietta has fortunately taken herself off, I may go on with what I was +doing before luncheon."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Late in the evening, Mr. Cartwright and his son Jacob paid the young +ladies a visit. The vicar's conversation was chiefly addressed to Miss +Torrington; and if she had never seen him before, she must have agreed +with Fanny in thinking him one of the most agreeable persons in the +world—for he spoke fluently and well upon every subject, and with a +person and voice calculated to please every eye and every ear. There +were probably, indeed, but few who could retain as steady a dislike to +him as our Rosalind did.</p> + +<p>The young man got hold of a purse that Fanny was netting, and did his +best to entangle her silks; but his chief amusement was derived from +attempts to quiz and plague his sister, who treated him much as a large +and powerful dog does a little one,—enduring his gambols and annoying +tricks with imperturbable patience for a while, and then suddenly +putting forth a heavy paw and driving him off in an instant.</p> + +<p>The following day passed very nearly in the same manner, excepting that +the three girls separated immediately after breakfast, and did not meet +again till luncheon-time. On the third, Fanny was the first to leave the +breakfast-room; and Miss Cartwright and Rosalind being left together, +the former said,</p> + +<p>"I suppose we owe our repose from morning and evening ranting to you, +Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did not approve it, Miss Cartwright, and I took the liberty +of telling your father so."</p> + +<p>"You were undoubtedly very right and very wise, and I dare say you feel +some inward satisfaction at your success. Mr. Cartwright has really +shown great deference to your opinion by so immediately abandoning, at +your request, so very favourite an occupation."</p> + +<p>Rosalind was about to reply, when Miss Cartwright changed the +conversation by abruptly saying,</p> + +<p>"Will you take a stroll with me this morning, Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly, if you wish it;—but I think we shall find it very +warm."</p> + +<p>"Oh! no. I will lead you a very nice shady walk to the prettiest and +most sheltered little thicket in the world. Let us put on our bonnets +directly;—shall we?"</p> + +<p>"I will not delay you a moment," said Rosalind. "Shall I ask Fanny to go +with us?"</p> + +<p>"Why no," replied Miss Cartwright; "I think you had better not;—the +chances are ten to one against her finding it convenient. You know she +is so fond of solitary study——"</p> + +<p>"I believe you are right," said Rosalind; and the young ladies parted, +to meet again a few minutes after, with bonnets and parasols, at the +hall-door.</p> + +<p>"And which way are we to go to find this welcome shade?" said Rosalind, +holding her parasol low down to shelter her pretty face. "The sun is +almost intolerable."</p> + +<p>"This way," said Henrietta, turning aside from the drive in a direction +which soon brought them to a thickly-planted ride that surrounded the +Park. "We shall find it delightful here."</p> + +<p>It was an hour which, in the month of July, few ladies would choose for +walking; but Miss Torrington politely exerted herself to converse, +though she secretly longed to be lying silent and alone on the sofa in +her own dressing-room, with no greater exertion than was necessary for +the perusal of—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The dear pages of some new romance."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Henrietta, however, only answered her dryly and shortly, and presently +said,</p> + +<p>"I should be really very much obliged to you, Miss Torrington, if you +would not speak to me any more. Just listen to the blackbirds, will +you?—depend upon it we can neither of us express ourselves one half so +well as they do."</p> + +<p>Rosalind willingly submitted to this request; and the young ladies +walked onward, producing no other sound than the occasional brushing of +their dresses against the underwood, which at every step became thicker, +rendering the path almost too narrow for two to walk abreast.</p> + +<p>"Now, let us just turn down through this little opening," said Henrietta +in a whisper; "and pray do not speak to me."</p> + +<p>Rosalind, who began to believe that she must have some meaning for her +strange manner of proceeding, followed her in perfect silence; and they +had not gone far into the intricacies of the tangled copse, before she +heard the sound of a human voice at no great distance from her. +Henrietta, who was in advance, turned round and laid her finger on her +lips. The caution was not needed: Rosalind had already recognised the +tones of Mr. Cartwright, and a few more silent steps brought them to a +spot thickly surrounded on all sides, but from whence they could look +out upon a small and beautiful opening, in the centre of which a +majestic lime-tree stretched its arms in all directions over the soft +green turf.</p> + +<p>Rosalind instantly recognised the spot as one frequently resorted to in +their evening rambles, for the sake of its cool and secluded beauty, and +also because a bench, divided into commodious stalls, surrounded the +capacious tree, from whence opened a vista commanding a charming view +across the Park.</p> + +<p>On the turf before this bench, and with their backs turned towards the +spot where Rosalind and Henrietta stood, knelt Mr. Cartwright and Fanny. +His eyes were fixed upon her with passionate admiration, and the first +words they distinctly heard were these, spoken with great vehemence by +the vicar:—</p> + +<p>"Persecuted—trampled on—turned forth from every other roof, let thy +blue vault spread over us, and while I struggle to snatch this precious +brand from the eternal fire of thy wrath, pour upon our heads the dew of +thy love! Grant me power to save this one dear soul alive, though it +should seem good in thy sight that millions should perish around her! +Save her from the eternal flame that even now rises to lick her feet, +and if not stayed by prayer—the prayer of thy saints,—will speedily +envelope and consume her!"</p> + +<p>Rosalind remained to hear no more. Heartsick, indignant, disgusted, and +almost terrified by what she saw and heard, she retreated hastily, and, +followed by Henrietta, rapidly pursued her way to the house.</p> + +<p>Her companion made an effort to overtake her, and, almost out of breath +by an exertion to which she was hardly equal, she said,</p> + +<p>"I have shown you this, Miss Torrington, for the sake of giving you a +useful lesson. If you are wise, you will profit by it, and learn to know +that it is not always safe to suppose you have produced an effect, +merely because it may be worth some one's while to persuade you into +believing it. Having said thus much to point the moral of our walk in +the sun, you may go your way, and I will go mine. I shall not enter upon +any more elaborate exposition of Mr. Cartwright's character."</p> + +<p>So saying, she fell back among the bushes, and Rosalind reached the +house alone.</p> + +<p>On entering her dressing-room, Miss Torrington sat herself down, with +her eau de Cologne bottle in one hand and a large feather fan in the +other, to meditate—coolly, if she could, but at any rate to +meditate—upon what she ought to do in order immediately to put a stop +to the very objectionable influence which Mr. Cartwright appeared to +exercise over the mind of Fanny.</p> + +<p>Had she been aware of Sir Gilbert Harrington's having written to recall +his refusal of the executorship, she would immediately have had recourse +to him; but this fact had never transpired beyond Mrs. Mowbray and the +vicar; and the idea that he had resisted the representation which she +felt sure his son had made to him after the conversation Helen and +herself had held with him, not only made her too angry to attempt any +farther to soften him, but naturally impressed her with the belief that, +do or say what she would on the subject, it must be in vain.</p> + +<p>At length it struck her that Charles Mowbray was the most proper person +to whom she could address herself; yet the writing such a letter as +might immediately bring him home, was a measure which, under all +existing circumstances, she felt to be awkward and disagreeable. But the +more she meditated the more she felt convinced, that, notwithstanding +the obvious objections to it, this was the safest course she could +pursue: so having once made up her mind upon the subject, she set about +it without farther delay, and, with the straightforward frankness and +sincerity of her character, produced the following epistle:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Dear Mr. Mowbray,</p> + +<p>"Your last letter to Helen, giving so very agreeable an account +of the style and manner of your <i>Little-go</i>, makes it an +ungracious task to interrupt your studies—and yet that is what +I am bent upon doing. You will be rather puzzled, I suspect, at +finding me assuming the rights and privileges of a +correspondent, and moreover of an adviser, or rather a +dictator: but so it is—and you must not blame me till you are +quite sure you know all my reasons for it.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Mowbray is gone to London, accompanied by Helen, for the +purpose of proving (I think it is called) your father's will; a +business in which Sir Gilbert Harrington has, most unkindly for +all of you, refused to join her. This journey was so suddenly +decided upon, that dear Helen had no time to write to you about +it: she knew not she was to go till about nine o'clock the +evening preceding.</p> + +<p>"The Vicar of Wrexhill was probably acquainted with the +intended movement earlier; for no day passes, or has passed for +some weeks, without his holding a private consultation with +your mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh! that vicar, Charles! I think I told you that I hated him, +and you seemed to smile at my hatred as a sort of missish +impertinence and caprice; but what was instinct then has become +reason now, and I am strangely mistaken if your hatred would +not fully keep pace with mine had you seen and heard what I +have done.</p> + +<p>"When I decided upon writing to you I intended, I believe, to +enter into all particulars; but I cannot do this—you must see +for yourself, and draw your own inferences. My dislike for this +man may carry me too far, and you must be much more capable of +forming a judgment respecting his motives than I can be. Of +this however I am quite sure,—Fanny ought at this time to have +some one near her more capable of protecting her from the +mischievous influence of this hateful man than I am. I know, +Mr. Charles, that you have no very exalted idea of my wisdom; +and I am not without some fear that instead of coming home +immediately, as I think you ought to do, you may write me a +very witty, clever answer, with reasons as plenty as +blackberries to prove that I am a goose. <i>Do not do this, Mr. +Mowbray.</i> I do not think that you know me very well, but in +common courtesy you ought not to believe that any young lady +would write you such a summons as this without having very +serious reasons for it.</p> + +<p>"As one proof of the rapidly-increasing intimacy between the +family of the vicar and your own, you will, on your arrival, +find the daughter, Miss Cartwright, established here to console +us for your mother's (and Helen's!) absence. She is a very +singular personage: but on her I pass no judgment, sincerely +feeling that I am not competent to it. If my opinion be of +sufficient weight to induce you to come, Mr. Mowbray, I must +beg you to let your arrival appear the result of accident; and +not to let any one but Helen know of this letter.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, very sincerely,</p> + +<p>"Your friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Rosalind Torrington</span>."</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>ROSALIND'S CONVERSATION WITH MISS CARTWRIGHT.—MRS. SIMPSON AND MISS +RICHARDS MEET THE VICAR AT THE PARK.—THE HYMN.—THE WALK HOME.</h3> + + +<p>In the course of the morning after this letter was despatched, Miss +Cartwright and Rosalind again found themselves tête-à-tête. The nature +of Rosalind Torrington was so very completely the reverse of mysterious +or intriguing, that far from wishing to lead Henrietta to talk of her +father in that style of hints and innuendos to which the young lady +seemed addicted, she determined, in future, carefully to avoid the +subject; although it was very evident, from the preconcerted walk to the +lime-tree, that, notwithstanding her declaration to the contrary, Miss +Cartwright was desirous to make her acquainted with the character and +conduct of her father.</p> + +<p>Whether it were that spirit of contradiction which is said to possess +the breast of woman, or any other more respectable feeling, it may be +difficult to decide, but it is certain that the less Rosalind appeared +disposed to speak of the adventure of yesterday, the more desirous did +Henrietta feel to lead her to it.</p> + +<p>"You were somewhat disappointed, I fancy, Miss Torrington," said she, +"to discover that though you had contrived to banish the conventicle +from the house, it had raised its voice in the grounds."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I was," replied Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"I rather think that you are addicted to speaking truth—and perhaps you +pique yourself upon it," resumed Miss Cartwright. "Will you venture to +tell me what you think of the scene you witnessed?"</p> + +<p>"You are not the person I should most naturally have selected as the +confidant of my opinions respecting Mr. Cartwright," said Rosalind; "but +since you put the question plainly I will answer it plainly, and confess +that I suspect him not only of wishing to inculcate his own Calvinistic +doctrines on the mind of Fanny Mowbray, but moreover, notwithstanding +his disproportionate age, of gaining her affections."</p> + +<p>"Her affections?" repeated Henrietta. "And with what view do you imagine +he is endeavouring to gain her affections?"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless with a view to making her his wife; though, to be sure, the +idea is preposterous."</p> + +<p>"Sufficiently. Pray, Miss Torrington, has Miss Fanny Mowbray an +independent fortune?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever. Like the rest of the family, she is become by the death +of her father entirely dependent upon Mrs. Mowbray."</p> + +<p>"Your fortune is entirely at your own disposal, I believe."</p> + +<p>Rosalind looked provoked at the idle turn Miss Cartwright was giving to +a conversation which, though she had not led to it, interested her +deeply.</p> + +<p>"Do not suspect me of impertinence," said Henrietta in a tone more +gentle than ordinary. "But such is the case, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Cartwright," was Rosalind's grave reply.</p> + +<p>"Then, do you know that I think it infinitely more probable Mr. +Cartwright may have it in contemplation to make you his wife."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Cartwright," said Rosalind, "but I really +thought that you were speaking of your father seriously; and it seems +you are disposed to punish me for imagining you would do so, to one so +nearly a stranger."</p> + +<p>"I never jest on any subject," replied the melancholy-looking girl, +knitting her dark brows into a frown of such austerity as almost made +Rosalind tremble. "A reasoning being who has nothing to hope among the +realities on this side the grave, and hopes nothing on the other, is not +very likely to be jocose."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! Miss Cartwright," exclaimed Rosalind, "what dreadful +language is this? Are you determined to prove to me that there may be +opinions and doctrines more terrible still than those of your father?"</p> + +<p>"I had no meaning of the kind, I assure you," replied Henrietta, in her +usual quiet manner, which always seemed to hover between the bitterness +of a sneer, and the quietude or indifference of philosophy. "Pray do not +trouble yourself for a moment to think about me or my opinions. You +might, perhaps, as you are a bold-spirited, honest-minded girl, do some +good if you fully comprehended all that was going on around you; though +it is very doubtful, for it is impossible to say to what extent the +besotted folly of people may go. But don't you think it might on the +whole be quite as probable that Mr. Cartwright may wish to marry the +mother as the daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Mowbray!—Good gracious! no."</p> + +<p>"Then we differ. But may I ask you why you think otherwise?"</p> + +<p>"One reason is, that Mrs. Mowbray's recent widowhood seems to put such +an idea entirely out of the question; and another, that he appears to be +positively making love to Fanny."</p> + +<p>"Oh!—is that all? I do assure you there is nothing at all particular in +that. He would tell you himself, I am sure, if you were to enter upon +the subject with him, that it is his duty to influence and lead the +hearts of his flock into the way he would have them go, by <i>every</i> means +in his power."</p> + +<p>"Then you really do not think he has been making love to Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure, Miss Torrington," replied Henrietta very gravely, "I did not +mean to say so."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! indeed! Miss Cartwright," said Rosalind with evident symptoms +of impatience, "these riddles vex me cruelly. If your father <i>does</i> +make love to this dear fanciful child, he must, I suppose, have some +hope that she will marry him?"</p> + +<p>"How can I answer you?" exclaimed Henrietta with real feeling. "You +cannot be above two or three years younger than I am, yet your purity +and innocence make me feel myself a monster."</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake do not trifle with me!" cried Rosalind, her face and +neck dyed with indignant blood; "you surely do not mean that your father +is seeking to seduce this unhappy child?"</p> + +<p>"Watch Mr. Cartwright a little while, Rosalind Torrington, as I have +done for the six last terrible years of my hateful life, and you may +obtain perhaps some faint idea of the crooked, complex machinery—the +movements and counter-movements, the shiftings and the balancings, by +which his zig-zag course is regulated. Human passions are in him for +ever struggling with, and combating, what may be called, in their +strength, <i>superhuman</i> avarice and ambition.</p> + +<p>"To touch, to influence, to lead, to rule, to tyrannise over the hearts +and souls of all he approaches, is the great object of his life. He +would willingly do this in the hearts of men,—but for the most part he +has found them tough; and he now, I think, seems to rest all his hopes +of fame, wealth, and station on the power he can obtain over women.—I +say not," she added after a pause, while a slight blush passed over her +pallid cheek, "that I believe his senses uninfluenced by beauty;—this +is far, hatefully far from being the case with Mr. Cartwright;—but he +is careful, most cunningly careful, whatever victims he makes, never to +become one in his own person.</p> + +<p>"You would find, were you to watch him, that his system, both for +pleasure and profit, consists of a certain graduated love-making to +every woman within his reach, not too poor, too old, or too ugly. But if +any among them fancy that he would sacrifice the thousandth part of a +hair's breadth of his worldly hopes for all they could give him in +return—they are mistaken."</p> + +<p>"The character you paint," said Rosalind, who grew pale as she listened, +"is too terrible for me fully to understand, and I would turn my eyes +from the portrait, and endeavour to forget that I had ever heard of it, +were not those I love endangered by it. Hateful as all this new +knowledge is to me, I must still question you further, Miss Cartwright: +What do you suppose to be his object in thus working upon the mind of +Fanny Mowbray?"</p> + +<p>"His motives, depend upon it, are manifold. Religion and love, the new +birth and intellectual attachment—mystical sympathy of hearts, and the +certainty of eternal perdition to all that he does not take under the +shadow of his wing;—these are the tools with which he works. He has got +his foot—perhaps you may think it a cloven one, but, such as it is, he +seems to have got it pretty firmly planted within the paling of Mowbray +Park. He made me follow him hither as a volunteer visiter, very much +against my inclination; but if by what I have said you may be enabled to +defeat any of his various projects among ye,—for he never plots +single-handed,—I shall cease to regret that I came."</p> + +<p>"My power of doing any good," replied Rosalind, "must, I fear, be +altogether destroyed by my ignorance of what Mr. Cartwright's intentions +and expectations are. You have hinted various things, but all so +vaguely, that I own I do not feel more capable of keeping my friends +from any danger which may threaten them, than before this conversation +took place."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for it," said Henrietta coldly, "but I have really no +information more accurate to give."</p> + +<p>"I truly believe that you have meant very kindly," said Rosalind, +looking seriously distressed. "Will you go one step farther, and say +what you would advise me to do, Miss Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"No, certainly, Miss Torrington, I will not. But I will give you a hint +or two what not to do. Do not appear at all better acquainted with me +than I show myself disposed to be with you. Do not make the slightest +alteration in your manner of receiving Mr. Cartwright; and do not, from +any motive whatever, repeat one syllable of this conversation to Fanny +Mowbray. Should you disobey this last injunction, you will be guilty of +very cruel and ungrateful treachery towards me." Having said this, with +the appearance of more emotion than she had hitherto manifested, +Henrietta rose and left the room.</p> + +<p>"At length," thought Rosalind, "she has spoken out; yet what are we +likely to be the better for it? It seems that there is a great net +thrown over us, of which we shall feel and see the meshes by-and-by, +when he who has made prey of us begins to pull the draught to shore; but +how to escape from it, the oracle sayeth not!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the evening of that day, Mrs. Simpson and the eldest Miss Richards +walked over from Wrexhill to pay a visit at the Park. They were not +aware of the absence of Mrs. Mowbray, and seemed disposed to shorten +their visit on finding she was not at home; but Rosalind, who for the +last hour had been sitting on thorns expecting Mr. Cartwright to make +his evening call, most cordially and earnestly invited them to stay till +after tea, feeling that their presence would greatly relieve the +embarrassment which she feared she might betray on again seeing the +vicar.</p> + +<p>"But it will be so late!" said Miss Richards. "How are we to get home +after it is dark? Remember, Mrs. Simpson, there is no moon."</p> + +<p>"It is very true," said Mrs. Simpson. "I am afraid, my dear Miss +Torrington, that we must deny ourselves the pleasure you offer;—but I +am such a nervous creature! It is very seldom that I stir out without +ordering a man-servant to follow me; and I regret excessively that I +omitted to do so this evening."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Rosalind, colouring at her own eagerness, which she was +conscious must appear rather new and rather strange to Mrs. Simpson, +with whom she had hardly ever exchanged a dozen words before,—"I think +Mr. Cartwright will very likely be here this evening, and perhaps he +might attend you home. Do you not think, Miss Cartwright," she added, +turning to Henrietta, "that it is very likely your father will call this +evening?"</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!—Miss Cartwright—I beg your pardon, I did not know you. +I hope you heard that I called;—so very happy to cultivate your +acquaintance!—Oh dear! I would not miss seeing Mr. Cartwright for the +world!—Thank you, my dear Miss Torrington;—thank you, Miss Fanny: I +will just set my hair to rights a little, if you will give me leave. +Perhaps, Miss Fanny, you will permit me to go into your bed-room?" Such +was the effect produced by the vicar's name upon the handsome widow.</p> + +<p>Miss Richards coloured, smiled, spoke to Henrietta with very respectful +politeness, and finally followed her friend Mrs. Simpson out of the +room, accompanied by Fanny, who willingly undertook to be their +gentlewoman usher.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright has already made some impression on these fair ladies, +or I am greatly mistaken," said Henrietta. "Did you remark, Miss +Torrington, the effect produced by his name?"</p> + +<p>"I did," replied Rosalind, "and my reasonings upon it are very +consolatory; for if he has already found time and inclination to produce +so great effect there, why should we fear that his labours of love here +should prove more dangerous in their tendency?"</p> + +<p>"Very true. Nor do I see any reason in the world why the Mowbray is in +greater peril than the Simpson, or the Fanny than the Louisa,—excepting +that one widow is about twenty times richer than the other, and the +little young lady about five hundred times handsomer than the great +one."</p> + +<p>At this moment the Mr. Cartwrights, father and son, were seen turning +off from the regular approach to the house, towards the little gate that +opened from the lawn; a friendly and familiar mode of entrance, which +seemed to have become quite habitual to them.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, who was the first to perceive them, flew towards the door, +saying, "You must excuse me for running away, Miss Cartwright. I invited +that furbelow widow to stay on purpose to spare me this almost +tête-à-tête meeting. I will seek the ladies and return with them."</p> + +<p>"Then so will I too," said Henrietta, hastily following her. "I am by no +means disposed to stand the cross-examination which I know will ensue if +I remain here alone."</p> + +<p>The consequence of this movement was, that the vicar and his son +prepared their smiles in vain; for, on entering the drawing-room, sofas +and ottomans, footstools, tables, and chairs, alone greeted them.</p> + +<p>Young Cartwright immediately began peeping into the work-boxes and +portfolios which lay on the tables.</p> + +<p>"Look here, sir," said he, holding up a caricature of Lord B——m. "Is +not this sinful?"</p> + +<p>"Do be quiet, Jacob!—we shall have them here in a moment;—I really +wish I could teach you when your interest is at stake to make the best +of yourself. You know that I should be particularly pleased by your +marrying Miss Torrington; and I do beg, my dear boy, that you will not +suffer your childish spirits to put any difficulties in my way."</p> + +<p>"I will become an example unto all men," replied Jacob, shutting up his +eyes and mouth demurely, and placing himself bolt upright upon the +music-stool.</p> + +<p>"If you and your sister could but mingle natures a little," said Mr. +Cartwright, "you would both be wonderfully improved. Nothing with which +I am acquainted, however joyous, can ever induce Henrietta to smile; and +nothing, however sad, can prevent your being on the broad grin from +morning to night. However, of the two, I confess I think you are the +most endurable."</p> + +<p>"A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's +back," said Jacob in a sanctified tone.</p> + +<p>"Upon my honour, Jacob, I shall be very angry with you if you do not set +about this love-making as I would have you. Don't make ducks and drakes +of eighty thousand pounds:—at least, not till you have got them."</p> + +<p>"Answer not a fool according to his folly, least he be wise in his own +conceit," said Jacob.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright smiled, as it seemed against his will, but shook his head +very solemnly. "I'll tell you what, Jacob," said he,—"if I see you set +about this in a way to please me, I'll give you five shillings to-morrow +morning."</p> + +<p>"Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing +he hath no heart to it?" replied Jacob. "Nevertheless, father, I will +look lovingly upon the maiden, and receive thy promised gift, even as +thou sayest."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Jacob, you try my patience too severely," said the +vicar; yet there was certainly but little wrath in his eye as he said +so, and his chartered libertine of a son was preparing again to answer +him in the words of Solomon, but in a spirit of very indecent +buffoonery, when the drawing-room door opened, and Mrs. Simpson, Miss +Richards, and Fanny Mowbray entered.</p> + +<p>It appeared that Rosalind and Miss Cartwright on escaping from the +drawing-room had not sought the other ladies, but taken refuge in the +dining-parlour, from whence they issued immediately after the others had +passed the door, and entering the drawing-room with them, enjoyed the +gratification of witnessing the meeting of the vicar and his fair +parishioners.</p> + +<p>To the surprise of Rosalind, and the great though silent amusement of +her companion, they perceived that both the stranger ladies had +contrived to make a very edifying and remarkable alteration in the +general appearance of their dress.</p> + +<p>Miss Richards had combed her abounding black curls as nearly straight as +their nature would allow, and finally brought them into very reverential +order by the aid of her ears, and sundry black pins to boot,—an +arrangement by no means unfavourable to the display of her dark eyes and +eyebrows.</p> + +<p>But the change produced by the <i>castigato</i> toilet of the widow was +considerably more important. A transparent blond <i>chemisette</i>, rather +calculated to adorn than conceal that part of the person to which it +belonged, was now completely hidden by a lavender-coloured silk +handkerchief, tightly, smoothly, and with careful security pinned +behind, and before, and above, and below, upon her full but graceful +bust.</p> + +<p>Rosalind had more than once of late amused herself by looking over the +pages of Molière's "Tartuffe;" and a passage now occurred to her that +she could not resist muttering in the ear of Henrietta:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"Ah, mon Dieu! je vous prie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Avant que de parler, prenez-moi ce mouchoir"—&c.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The comer of Miss Cartwright's mouth expressed her appreciation of the +quotation, but by a movement so slight that none but Rosalind could +perceive it.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the vicar approached Mrs. Simpson with a look that was full of +meaning, and intended to express admiration both of her mental and +personal endowments. She, too, had banished the drooping ringlets from +her cheeks, and appeared before him with all the pretty severity of a +Madonna band across her forehead.</p> + +<p>Was it in the nature of man to witness such touching proofs of his +influence without being affected thereby? At any rate, such indifference +made no part of the character of the Vicar of Wrexhill, and the murmured +"Bless you, my dear lady!" which accompanied his neighbourly pressure of +the widow Simpson's hand, gave her to understand how much his grateful +and affectionate feelings were gratified by her attention to the hints +he had found an opportunity to give her during a tête-à-tête +conversation at her own house a few days before.</p> + +<p>Nor was the delicate attention of Miss Richards overlooked. She, too, +felt at her fingers' ends how greatly the sacrifice of her curls was +approved by the graceful vicar, who now sat down surrounded by this fair +bevy of ladies, smiling with bland and gentle sweetness on them all.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jacob thought of the promised five shillings, and displaying his +fine teeth from ear to ear, presented a chair to Miss Torrington.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would let us have a song, Miss Rosalind Torrington," said +he, stationing himself at the back of her chair and leaning over her +shoulder. "I am told that your voice beats every thing on earth hollow."</p> + +<p>His eye caught an approving glance from his father as he took this +station, and he wisely trusted to his attitude for obtaining his reward, +for these words were audible only to the young lady herself.</p> + +<p>"You are a mighty odd set of people!" said she, turning round to him. "I +cannot imagine how you all contrive to live together! There is not one +of you that does not appear to be a contrast to the other two."</p> + +<p>"Then, at any rate, you cannot dislike us all <i>equally</i>," said the +strange lad, with a grimace that made her laugh, despite her inclination +to look grave.</p> + +<p>"I do not know that," was the reply. "I may dislike you all equally, and +yet have a different species of dislike for each."</p> + +<p>"But one species must be stronger and more vigorous than the others. +Besides, I will assist your judgment. I do not mean to say I am quite +perfect; but, depend upon it, I'm the best of the <i>set</i>, as you call +us."</p> + +<p>"Your authority, Mr. Jacob, is the best in the world, certainly. +Nevertheless, there are many who on such an occasion might suspect you +of partiality."</p> + +<p>"Then they would do me great injustice, Miss Torrington. I am a man, or +a boy, or something between both: take me for all in all, it is five +hundred to one you ne'er shall look upon my like again. But that is a +play-going and sinful quotation, Miss Rosalind, like your name: so be +merciful unto me, and please not to tell my papa."</p> + +<p>"You may be very certain, Mr. Jacob, that I shall obey you in this."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Sweetest nut hath sourest rind,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such a nut is Rosalind."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>responded the youth; and probably thinking that he had fairly won his +five shillings, he raised his tall thin person from the position which +had so well pleased his father, and stole round to the sofa on which +Fanny was sitting.</p> + +<p>Fanny was looking very lovely, but without a trace of that bright and +beaming animation which a few short months before had led her poor +father to give her the <i>sobriquet</i> of "Firefly." He was wont to declare, +and no one was inclined to contradict him, that whenever she appeared, +something like a bright coruscation seemed to flash upon the eye. No +one, not even a fond father, would have hit upon such a simile for her +now. Beautiful she was, perhaps more beautiful than ever; but a sad and +sombre thoughtfulness had settled itself on her young brow,—her voice +was no longer the echo of gay thoughts, and, in a word, her whole aspect +and bearing were changed.</p> + +<p>She now sat silently apart from the company, watching, with an air that +seemed to hover between abstraction and curiosity, Mrs. Simpson's manner +of making herself agreeable to Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>This lady was seated on one side of the vicar, and Miss Richards on the +other: both had the appearance of being unconscious that any other +person or persons were in the room, and nothing but his consummate skill +in the art of uttering an aside both with eyes and lips could have +enabled him to sustain his position.</p> + +<p>"My sisters and I are afraid you have quite forgotten us," murmured Miss +Richards; "but we have been practising the hymns you gave us, and we +are all quite perfect, and ready to sing them to you whenever you come."</p> + +<p>"The hearing this, my dear young lady, gives me as pure and holy a +pleasure as listening to the sacred strains could do:—unless, indeed," +he added, bending his head sideways towards her, so as nearly to touch +her cheek, "unless, indeed, they were breathed by the lips of Louisa +herself. That must be very like hearing a seraph sing!"</p> + +<p>Not a syllable of this was heard save by herself.</p> + +<p>"I have thought incessantly," said Mrs. Simpson, in a very +low voice, as soon as Mr. Cartwright's head had recovered the +perpendicular,—"incessantly, I may truly say, on our last conversation. +My life has been passed in a manner so widely different from what I am +sure it will be in future, that I feel as if I were awakened to a new +existence!"</p> + +<p>"The great object of my hopes is, and will ever be," replied the Vicar +of Wrexhill almost aloud, "to lead my beloved flock to sweet and safe +pastures.—And for you," he added, in a voice so low, that she rather +felt than heard his words, "what is there I would not do?" Here his eyes +spoke a commentary; and hers, a note upon it.</p> + +<p>"Which is the hymn, Mr. Cartwright, that you think best adapted to the +semi-weekly Sabbath you recommended us to institute?" said Miss +Richards.</p> + +<p>"The eleventh, I think.—Yes, the eleventh;—study that, my dear child. +Early and late let your sweet voice breathe those words,—and I will be +with you in spirit, Louisa."</p> + +<p>Not even Mrs. Simpson heard a word of this, beyond "dear child."</p> + +<p>"But when shall I see you?—I have doubts and difficulties on some +points, Mr. Cartwright," said the widow aloud. "How shamefully +ignorant—I must call it <i>shamefully</i> ignorant—did poor Mr. Wallace +suffer us to remain!—Is it not true, Louisa? Did he ever, through all +the years we have known him, utter an awakening word to any of us?"</p> + +<p>"No, <i>indeed</i> he never did," replied Miss Louisa, in a sort of penitent +whine.</p> + +<p>"I am rather surprised to hear you say that, Miss Richards," said +Rosalind, drawing her chair a little towards them. "I always understood +that Mr. Wallace was one of the most exemplary parish priests in +England. Did not your father consider him to be so, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"I—I believe so,—I don't know," replied Fanny, stammering and +colouring painfully.</p> + +<p>"Not know, Fanny Mowbray!" exclaimed Rosalind;—"not know your father's +opinion of Mr. Wallace! That is very singular indeed."</p> + +<p>"I mean," said Fanny, struggling to recover her composure, "that I never +heard papa's opinion of him as compared with—with any one else."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe he would have lost by the comparison," said Rosalind, +rising, and walking out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Is not that prodigiously rich young lady somewhat of the tiger breed?" +said young Cartwright in a whisper to Fanny.</p> + +<p>"Miss Torrington is not at all a person of serious notions," replied +Fanny; "and till one is subdued by religion, one is often very +quarrelsome."</p> + +<p>"I am sure, serious or not, you would never quarrel with any one," +whispered Jacob.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I should be sorry and ashamed to do so now," she replied. "Your +father ought to cure us all of such unchristian faults as that."</p> + +<p>"I wish I was like my father!" said Jacob very sentimentally.</p> + +<p>"Oh! how glad I am to hear you say that!" said Fanny, clasping her hands +together. "I am sure it would make him so happy!"</p> + +<p>"I can't say I was thinking of making him happy, Miss Fanny: I only +meant, that I wished I was like any body that you admire and approve so +much."</p> + +<p>"A poor silly motive for wishing to be like such a father!" replied +Fanny, blushing; and leaving her distant place, she established herself +at the table on which the tea equipage had just been placed, and busied +herself with the tea-cups.</p> + +<p>This remove brought her very nearly opposite Mr. Cartwright and the two +ladies who were seated beside him, and from this moment the conversation +proceeded without any "asides" whatever.</p> + +<p>"At what age, Mr. Cartwright," said Mrs. Simpson, "do you think one +should begin to instil the doctrine of regeneration into a little +girl?"</p> + +<p>"Not later than ten, my dear lady. A very quick and forward child might +perhaps be led to comprehend it earlier. Eight and three-quarters I have +known in a state of the most perfect awakening; but this I hold to be +rare."</p> + +<p>"What a spectacle!" exclaimed Miss Richards in a sort of rapture. "A +child of eight and three-quarters! Did it speak its thoughts, Mr. +Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"The case I allude to, my dear young lady, was published. I will bring +you the pamphlet. Nothing can be more edifying than the out-breakings of +the Spirit through the organs of that chosen little vessel."</p> + +<p>"I hope, Mr. Cartwright, that <i>I</i> shall have the benefit of this dear +pamphlet also. Do not forget that I have a little girl exactly eight +years three-quarters and six weeks.—I beg your pardon, my dear Louisa, +but this must be so much more interesting to me than it can be to you as +yet, my dear, that I trust Mr. Cartwright will give me the precedence in +point of time. Besides, you know, that as the principal person in the +village, I am a little spoiled in such matters. I confess to you, I +should feel hurt if I had to wait for this till you had studied it. You +have no child, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh! without doubt, Mrs. Simpson, you ought to have it first," replied +Miss Richards. "I am certainly not likely as yet to have any one's soul +to be anxious about but my own.—Is this blessed child alive, Mr. +Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"In heaven, Miss Louisa,—not on earth. It is the account of its last +moments that have been so admirably drawn up by the Reverend Josiah +Martin. This gentleman is a particular friend of mine, and I am much +interested in the sale of the little work. I will have the pleasure, my +dear ladies, of bringing a dozen copies to each of you; and you will +give me a very pleasing proof of the pious feeling I so deeply rejoice +to see, if you will dispose of them at one shilling each among your +friends."</p> + +<p>"I am sure I will try all I can!" said Miss Richards.</p> + +<p>"My influence could not be better employed, I am certain, than in +forwarding your wishes in all things," added Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>Young Jacob, either in the hope of amusement, or of more certainly +securing his five shillings, had followed the indignant Rosalind out of +the window, and found her refreshing herself by arranging the vagrant +tendrils of a beautiful creeping plant outside it.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid, Miss Rosalind Torrington," said he, "that you would not +say Amen! if I did say, May the saints have you in their holy keeping! I +do believe in my heart that you would rather find yourself in the +keeping of sinners."</p> + +<p>"The meaning of words often depends upon the character of those who +utter them," replied Rosalind. "There is such a thing as slang, Mr. +Jacob; and there is such a thing as cant."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever mention that to my papa, Miss Rosalind?" inquired Jacob in +a voice of great simplicity.</p> + +<p>Rosalind looked at him as if she wished to discover what he was +at,—whether his object were to quiz her, his father, or both. But +considering his very boyish appearance and manner, there was more +difficulty in achieving this than might have been expected. Sometimes +she thought him almost a fool; at others, quite a wag. At one moment she +was ready to believe him more than commonly simple-minded; and at +another felt persuaded that he was an accomplished hypocrite.</p> + +<p>It is probable that the youth perceived her purpose, and felt more +gratification in defeating it than he could have done from any +love-making of which she were the object. His countenance, which was +certainly intended by nature to express little besides frolic and fun, +was now puckered up into a look of solemnity that might have befitted +one of the Newman-street congregation when awaiting an address in the +unknown tongue.</p> + +<p>"I am sure," he said, "that my papa would like to hear you talk about +all those things very much, Miss Torrington. I do not think that he +would exactly agree with you in every word you might say: but that never +seems to vex him: if the talk does but go about heaven and hell, and +saints and sinners, and reprobation and regeneration, and the old man +and the new birth, that is all papa cares for. I think he likes to be +contradicted a little; for that, you know, makes more talk again."</p> + +<p>"Is that the principle upon which you proceed with him yourself, Mr. +Jacob? Do you always make a point of contradicting every thing he says?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty generally, Miss Torrington, when there is nobody by, and when I +make it all pass for joke. But there <i>is</i> a law that even Miss +Henrietta has been taught to obey; and that is, never to contradict him +in company. Perhaps you have found that out, Miss Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I have, Mr. Jacob."</p> + +<p>"Will you not come in to tea, Miss Torrington?" said Henrietta, +appearing at the window, with the volume in her hand which had seemed to +occupy her whole attention from the time she had re-entered the +drawing-room with Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"I wish, sister," said Jacob, affecting to look extremely cross, "that +you would not pop out so, to interrupt one's conversation! You might +have a fellow feeling, I think, for a young lady, when she walks out of +a window, and a young gentleman walks after her!"</p> + +<p>Rosalind gave him a look from one side, and Henrietta from the other.</p> + +<p>"Mercy on me!" he exclaimed, putting up his hands as if to guard the two +sides of his face. "Four black eyes at me at once!—and so very black in +every sense of the word!"</p> + +<p>The young ladies walked together into the room, and Jacob followed, +seeking the eye of his father, and receiving thence, as he expected, a +glance of encouragement and applause.</p> + +<p>When the tea was removed, Mr. Cartwright went to the piano-forte, and +run his fingers with an appearance of some skill over the keys.</p> + +<p>"I hope, my dear Miss Fanny, that you intend we should have a little +music this evening?"</p> + +<p>"If Mrs. Simpson, Miss Richards, and Miss Torrington will sing," said +Fanny, "I shall be very happy to accompany them."</p> + +<p>"What music have you got, my dear young lady?" said the vicar.</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington had a large collection of songs very commodiously stowed +beneath the instrument; and Helen and herself were nearly as amply +provided with piano-forte music of all kinds: but though this was the +first time Mr. Cartwright had ever approached the instrument, or asked +for music, Fanny had a sort of instinctive consciousness that the +collection would be found defective in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"We have several of Handel's oratorios," she replied; "and I think Helen +has got the 'Creation.'"</p> + +<p>"Very fine music both," replied Mr. Cartwright; "but in the social +meetings of friends, where many perhaps may be able to raise a timid +note toward heaven, though incapable of performing the difficult +compositions of these great masters, I conceive that a simpler style is +preferable. If you will permit me," he continued, drawing a small volume +of manuscript music from his pocket, "I will point out to you some very +beautiful, and, indeed, popular melodies, which have heretofore been +sadly disgraced by the words applied to them. In this little book many +of my female friends have, at my request, written words fit for a +Christian to sing, to notes that the sweet voice of youth and beauty may +love to breathe. Miss Torrington, I have heard that you are considered +to be a very superior vocalist:—will you use the power that God has +given, to hymn his praise?"</p> + +<p>There was too much genuine piety in Rosalind's heart to refuse a +challenge so worded, without a better reason for doing it than personal +dislike to Mr. Cartwright; nevertheless, it was not without putting some +constraint upon herself that she replied,</p> + +<p>"I very often sing sacred music, sir, and am ready to do so now, if you +wish it."</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks," said he, "for this amiable compliance! I hail it as +the harbinger of harmony that shall rise from all our hearts in sweet +accord to heaven."</p> + +<p>Rosalind coloured, and her heart whispered, "I will not be a hypocrite." +But she had agreed to sing, and she prepared to do so, seeking among her +volumes for one of the easiest and shortest of Handel's songs, and +determined when she had finished to make her escape.</p> + +<p>While she was thus employed, however, Mr. Cartwright was equally active +in turning over the leaves of his pocket companion; and before Miss +Torrington had made her selection, he placed the tiny manuscript volume +open upon the instrument, saying, "There, my dear young lady! this is an +air, and these are words which we may all listen to with equal innocence +and delight."</p> + +<p>Rosalind was provoked; but every one in the room had already crowded +round the piano, and having no inclination to enter upon any discussion, +she sat down prepared to sing whatever was placed before her.</p> + +<p>The air was undeniably a popular one, being no other than "Fly not +yet!" which, as all the world knows, has been performed to millions of +delighted listeners, in lofty halls and tiny drawing-rooms, and, +moreover, ground upon every hand-organ in Great Britain for many years +past. Rosalind ran her eyes over the words, which, in fair feminine +characters, were written beneath the notes as follow:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fly not yet! 'Tis just the hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When prayerful Christians own the power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That, inly beaming with new light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Begins to sanctify the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For maids who love the moon.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Oh, pray!—oh, pray!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis but to bless these hours of shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That pious songs and hymns are made;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For now, their holy ardour glowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sets the soul's emotion flowing.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Oh, pray!—oh, pray!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Prayer so seldom breathes a strain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So sweet as this, that, oh! 'tis pain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To check its voice too soon.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Oh, pray!—oh, pray!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>An expression of almost awful indignation rose to the eyes of Rosalind. +"Do you give me this, sir," she said, "as a jest?—or do you propose +that I should sing it as an act of devotion?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright withdrew the little book and immediately returned it to +his pocket.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, Miss Torrington, that you should have asked me such a +question," he replied with a kind of gentle severity which might have +led almost any hearer to think him in the right. "I had hoped that my +ministry at Wrexhill, short as it has been, could not have left it a +matter of doubt whether, in speaking of singing or prayer, I was in +jest?"</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, sir," rejoined Rosalind, "it does to me appear like a +jest, and a very indecent one too, thus to imagine that an air long +familiar to all as the vehicle of words as full of levity as of poetry +can be on the sudden converted into an accompaniment to a solemn +invocation to prayer—uttered, too, in the form of a vile parody."</p> + +<p>"I think that a very few words may be able to prove to you the sophistry +of such an argument," returned the vicar. "You will allow, I believe, +that this air is very generally known to all classes.—Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>Rosalind bowed her assent.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, let me go a step farther, and ask whether the words +originally set to this air are not likely to be recalled by hearing it?"</p> + +<p>"Beyond all doubt."</p> + +<p>"Now observe, Miss Torrington, that what you have been pleased to call +levity and poetry, I, in my clerical capacity, denounce as indecent and +obscene."</p> + +<p>"Is that your reason for setting me to play it?" said Rosalind in a tone +of anger.</p> + +<p>"That question again, does not, I fear, argue an amiable and pious state +of mind," replied Mr. Cartwright, appealing meekly with his eyes to the +right and left. "It is to substitute other thoughts for those which the +air has hitherto suggested that I conceive the singing this song, as it +now stands, desirable."</p> + +<p>"Might it not be as well to leave the air alone altogether?" said +Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"Decidedly not," replied the vicar. "The notes, as you have allowed, are +already familiar to all men, and it is therefore a duty to endeavour to +make that familiarity familiarly suggest thoughts of heaven."</p> + +<p>"Thoughts of heaven," said Rosalind, "should never be suggested +familiarly."</p> + +<p>"Dreadful—very dreadful doctrine that, Miss Torrington! and I must tell +you, in devout assurance of the truth I speak, that it is in order to +combat and overthrow such notions as you now express, that Heaven hath +vouchsafed, by an act of special providence, to send upon earth in these +later days my humble self, and some others who think like me."</p> + +<p>"And permit me, sir, in the name of the earthly father I have lost," +replied Rosalind, while her eyes <i>almost</i> overflowed with the glistening +moisture her earnestness brought into them,—"permit me in his +reverenced name to say, that constant prayer can in no way be identified +with familiarity of address; and that of many lamentable evils which the +class of preachers to whom you allude have brought upon blundering +Christians, that of teaching them to believe that there is righteousness +in mixing the awful and majestic name of God with all the hourly, petty +occurrences of this mortal life, is one of the most deplorable."</p> + +<p>"May your unthinking youth, my dear young lady, plead before the God of +mercy in mitigation of the wrath which such sentiments are calculated to +draw down!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" sobbed Miss Richards.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" sighed Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>"How can you, Rosalind, speak so to the pastor and master of our souls?" +said Fanny, while tears of sympathy for the outraged vicar fell from her +beautiful eyes.</p> + +<p>"My dear children!—my dear friends!" said Mr. Cartwright in a voice +that seemed to tremble with affectionate emotion, "think not of +me!—Remember the words 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for +righteousness' sake!' I turn not from the harsh rebuke of this young +lady, albeit I am not insensible to its injustice,—nor, indeed, blind +to its indecency. But blessed—oh! most blessed shall I hold this trial, +if it lead to the awakening holy thoughts in you!—My dear young lady," +he continued, rising from his seat and approaching Rosalind with an +extended hand, "it may be as well, perhaps, that I withdraw myself at +this moment. Haply, reflection may soften your young heart.—But let us +part in peace, as Christians should do."</p> + +<p>Rosalind did not take his offered hand. "In peace, sir," she +said,—"decidedly I desire you to depart in peace. I have no wish to +molest you in any way. But you must excuse my not accepting your +proffered hand. It is but an idle and unmeaning ceremony perhaps, as +things go; but the manner in which you now stretch forth your hand gives +a sort of importance to it which would make it a species of falsehood in +me to accept it. When it means any thing, it means cordial liking; and +this, sir, I do not feel for you."</p> + +<p>So saying, Rosalind arose and left the room.</p> + +<p>Fanny clasped her hands in a perfect agony, and raising her tearful eyes +to Heaven as if to deprecate its wrath upon the roof that covered so +great wickedness, exclaimed, "Oh, Mr. Cartwright! what can I say to +you!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson showed symptoms of being likely to faint; and as Mr. +Cartwright and Fanny approached her, Miss Richards, with a vehemence of +feeling that seemed to set language at defiance, seized the hand of the +persecuted vicar and pressed it to her lips.</p> + +<p>Several minutes were given to the interchange of emotions too strong to +be described in words. Female tears were blended with holy blessings; +and, as Jacob afterwards assured his sister, who had contrived +unobserved to escape, he at one time saw no fewer than eight human +hands, great and small, all mixed together in a sort of chance-medley +heap upon the chair round which they at length kneeled down.</p> + +<p>It will be easily believed that Miss Torrington appeared no more that +night; and after an hour passed in conversation on the persecutions and +revilings to which the godly are exposed, Mrs. Simpson, who declared +herself dreadfully overcome, proposed to Miss Richards that they should +use such strength as was left them to walk home. A very tender leave was +taken of Fanny, in which Mr. Jacob zealously joined, and the party set +out for a star-lit walk to Wrexhill, its vicar supporting on each arm a +very nervous and trembling hand.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright soon after passing the Park-lodge, desired his son to +step forward and order the clerk to come to him on some urgent parish +business before he went to bed. The young man darted forward nothing +loth, and the trio walked at a leisurely pace under the dark shadows of +the oak-trees that lined the road to the village.</p> + +<p>They passed behind the Vicarage; when the two ladies simultaneously +uttered a sigh, and breathed in a whisper, "Sweet spot!" Can it be +doubted that both were thanked by a gentle pressure of the arm?</p> + +<p>The house of Mrs. Simpson lay on the road to that of Mrs. Richards, and +Miss Louisa made a decided halt before the door, distinctly pronouncing +at the same time,</p> + +<p>"Good night, my dear Mrs. Simpson!"</p> + +<p>But this lady knew the duties of a chaperon too well to think of leaving +her young companion till she saw her safely restored to her mother's +roof.</p> + +<p>"Oh! no, my dear!" she exclaimed: "if your house were a mile off, +Louisa, I should take you home."</p> + +<p>"But you have been so poorly!" persisted the young lady, "and it is so +unnecessary!"</p> + +<p>"<i>It is right</i>," returned Mrs. Simpson with an emphasis that marked too +conscientious a feeling to be further resisted. So Miss Richards was +taken home, and the fair widow languidly and slowly retraced her steps +to her own door, with no other companion than the Vicar of Wrexhill.</p> + +<h3>END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VOLUME_THE_SECOND" id="VOLUME_THE_SECOND"></a>VOLUME THE SECOND.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IB" id="CHAPTER_IB"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES MOWBRAY'S ARRIVAL AT THE PARK.</h3> + + +<p>Never had Rosalind Torrington so strongly felt the want of some one to +advise her what to do, as the morning after this disagreeable scene. Had +she consulted her inclination only, she would have remained in her own +apartments till the return of Mrs. Mowbray and Helen. But more than one +reason prevented her doing so. In the first place, she was not without +hope that her letter would immediately bring young Mowbray home; and it +would be equally disagreeable to miss seeing him, by remaining in her +dressing-room, or to leave it expressly for the purpose of doing so: and +secondly, however far her feelings might be from perfect confidence and +esteem towards Miss Cartwright, she felt that she owed her something, +and that it would be ungrateful and almost cruel to leave her +tête-à-tête with the bewildered Fanny, or en tiers with her and the +vicar.</p> + +<p>She therefore determined to run the risk of encountering Mr. Cartwright +as usual, but felt greatly at a loss how to treat him. Their last démêlé +had been too serious to be forgotten by either; and her opinion of him +was such, that far from wishing to conciliate him, or in any way to +efface the impression of what she had said on leaving him, her +inclination and her principles both led her to wish that it should be +indelible, and that nothing should ever lessen the distance that was now +placed between them. But Rosalind felt all the difficulty of maintaining +this tone towards a person not only on terms of intimate friendship with +the family, but considered by part of it as a man whose word ought to be +law. She began to fear, as she meditated on the position in which she +was placed, that Mowbray Park could not long continue to be her home. +The idea of Helen, and what she would feel at losing her, drew tears +from her eyes; and then the remembrance of her Irish home, of her lost +parents, and the terrible contrast between what she had heard last +night, and the lessons and opinions of her dear father, made them flow +abundantly.</p> + +<p>The day passed heavily. Miss Cartwright appeared to think she had done +enough, and devoted herself almost wholly to the perusal of a French +metaphysical work which she had found in the library, Fanny was silent +and sad, and seemed carefully to avoid being left for a moment alone +with Rosalind. Mr. Cartwright made no visit to the house during the +morning: but Judy informed her mistress, when she came to arrange her +dress for dinner, that the reverend gentleman had been walking in the +shrubberies with Miss Fanny; and in the evening he made his entrance, as +usual, through the drawing-room window.</p> + +<p>It was the result of a strong effort produced by very excellent feeling, +that kept Rosalind in the room when she saw him approach; but she had +little doubt that if she went, Miss Cartwright would follow her, and she +resolved that his pernicious tête-à-têtes with Fanny should not be +rendered more frequent by any selfishness of hers.</p> + +<p>It was evident to her from Mr. Cartwright's manner through the whole +evening, that it was his intention to overload her with gentle kindness, +in order to set off in strong relief her harsh and persecuting spirit +towards him. But not even her wish to defeat this plan could enable her +to do more than answer by civil monosyllables when he spoke to her.</p> + +<p>Miss Cartwright laid aside her book and resumed her netting as soon as +she saw him approach; but as usual, she sat silent and abstracted, and +the conversation was wholly carried on by the vicar and his pretty +proselyte. No man, perhaps, had a greater facility in making +conversation than the Vicar of Wrexhill: his habit of extempore +preaching, in which he was thought by many to excel, probably +contributed to give him this power. But not only had he an endless flow +of words wherewith to clothe whatever thoughts suggested themselves, but +moreover a most happy faculty of turning every thing around him to +account. Every object, animate or inanimate, furnished him a theme; and +let him begin from what point he would, (unless in the presence of noble +or influential personages to whom he believed it would be distasteful,) +he never failed to bring the conversation round to the subject of +regeneration and grace, the blessed hopes of himself and his sect, and +the assured damnation of all the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>Fanny Mowbray listened to him with an earnestness that amounted to +nervous anxiety, lest she should lose a word. His awful dogmas had taken +fearful hold of her ardent and ill-regulated imagination; while his +bland and affectionate manner, his fine features and graceful person, +rendered him altogether an object of the most unbounded admiration and +interest to her.</p> + +<p>As an additional proof, probably, that he did not shrink from +persecution, Mr. Cartwright again opened the piano-forte as soon as the +tea equipage was removed, and asked Fanny if she would sing with him.</p> + +<p>"With you, Mr. Cartwright!" she exclaimed in an accent of glad surprise: +"I did not know that you sang. Oh! how I wish that I were a greater +proficient, that I might sing with you as I would wish to do!"</p> + +<p>"Sing with me, my dear child, with that sweet and pious feeling which I +rejoice to see hourly increasing in your heart. Sing thus, my dearest +child, and you will need no greater skill than Heaven is sure to give to +all who raise their voice to it. This little book, my dear Miss Fanny," +he continued, drawing once more the manuscript volume from his pocket, +"contains much that your pure and innocent heart will approve. Do you +know this air?" and he pointed to the notes of "Là ci darem' la mano."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes!" said Fanny; "I know it very well."</p> + +<p>"Then play it, my good child. This too we have taken as spoil from the +enemy, and instead of profane Italian words, you will here find in your +own language thoughts that may be spoken without fear."</p> + +<p>Fanny instantly complied; and though her power of singing was greatly +inferior to that of Rosalind, the performance, aided by the fine bass +voice of Mr. Cartwright, and an accompaniment very correctly played, was +very agreeable. Fanny herself thought she had never sung so well before, +and required only to be told by the vicar what she was to do next, to +prolong the performance till considerably past Mr. Cartwright's usual +hour of retiring.</p> + +<p>About an hour after the singing began, Henrietta approached Miss +Torrington, and said in a whisper too low to be heard at the instrument, +"My head aches dreadfully. Can you spare me?"</p> + +<p>As she had not spoken a single syllable since the trio entered the +drawing-room after dinner, Rosalind could not wholly refrain from a +smile as she replied "Why, yes; I think I can."</p> + +<p>"I am not jesting; I am suffering, Rosalind. You will not leave that +girl alone with him?"</p> + +<p>"Dear Henrietta!" cried Rosalind, taking her hand with ready sympathy, +"I will not, should they sing together till morning. But is there +nothing I can do for you—nothing I can give you that may relieve your +head?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, nothing! Good night!" and she glided out of the room unseen by +Fanny and unregarded by her father.</p> + +<p>It more than once occurred to Miss Torrington during the two tedious +hours that followed her departure, that Mr. Cartwright, who from time to +time stole a glance at her, prolonged his canticles for the purpose of +making her sit to hear them; a species of penance for her last night's +offence by no means ill imagined.</p> + +<p>At length, however, he departed; and after exchanging a formal "Good +night," the young ladies retired to their separate apartments.</p> + +<p>Rosalind rose with a heavy heart the following morning, hardly knowing +whether to wish for a letter from Charles Mowbray, which it was just +possible the post might bring her, or not. If a letter arrived, there +would certainly be no hope of seeing him; but if it did not, she should +fancy every sound she heard foretold his approach, and she almost +dreaded the having to answer all the questions he would come prepared to +ask.</p> + +<p>This state of suspense, however, did not last long; for, at least one +hour before it was possible that a letter could arrive, Charles Mowbray +in a chaise with four foaming post-horses rattled up to the door.</p> + +<p>Rosalind descried him from her window before he reached the house; and +her first feeling was certainly one of embarrassment, as she remembered +that it was her summons which had brought him there. But a moment's +reflection not only recalled her motives, but the additional reasons she +now had for believing she had acted wisely; so, arming herself with the +consciousness of being right, she hastened down stairs to meet him, in +preference to receiving a message through a servant, requesting to see +her.</p> + +<p>She found him, as she expected, in a state of considerable agitation and +alarm; and feeling most truly anxious to remove whatever portion of this +was unnecessary, she greeted him with the most cheerful aspect she could +assume, saying, "I fear my letter has terrified you, Mr. Mowbray, more +than I wished it to do. But be quite sure that now you are here every +thing will go on as it ought to do; and of course, when your mother +returns, we can neither of us have any farther cause of anxiety about +Fanny."</p> + +<p>"And what is your cause of anxiety about her at present, Miss +Torrington? For Heaven's sake explain yourself fully; you know not how I +have been tormenting myself by fearing I know not what."</p> + +<p>"I am bound to explain myself fully," said Rosalind gravely; "but it is +not easy, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"Only tell me at once what it is you fear. Do you imagine Mr. Cartwright +hopes to persuade Fanny to marry him?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did think so," said Rosalind; "but I believe now that I was +mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" cried the young man fervently. "This is a great relief, +Rosalind, I assure you. I believe now I can pretty well guess what it is +you do fear; and though it is provoking enough, it cannot greatly +signify. We shall soon cure her of any fit of evangelicalism with which +the vicar is likely to infect her."</p> + +<p>"Heaven grant it!" exclaimed Rosalind, uttering a fervent ejaculation in +her turn.</p> + +<p>"Never doubt it, Miss Torrington. I have heard a great deal about this +Cartwright at Oxford. He is a Cambridge man, by the way, and there are +lots of men there who think him quite an apostle. But the thing does not +take at Oxford, and I assure you he is famously quizzed. But the best of +the joke is, that his son was within an ace of being expelled for +performing more outrageous feats in the larking line than any man in the +university; and in fact he must have been rusticated, had not his pious +father taken him home before the business got wind, <i>to prepare him +privately for his degree</i>. They say he is the greatest Pickle in Oxford; +and that, spite of the new light, his father is such an ass as to +believe that all this is ordained only to make his election more +glorious."</p> + +<p>"For his election, Mr. Mowbray, I certainly do not care much; but for +your sister—though I am aware that at her age there may be very +reasonable hope that the pernicious opinions she is now imbibing may be +hereafter removed, yet I am very strongly persuaded that if you were +quite aware of the sort of influence used to convert her to Mr. +Cartwright's Calvinistic tenets, you would not only disapprove it, but +use very effectual measures to put her quite out of his way."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!—I confess this appears to me very unnecessary. Surely the best +mode of working upon so pure a mind as Fanny's is to reason with her, +and to show her that by listening to those pernicious rhapsodies she is +in fact withdrawing herself from the church of her fathers; but I think +this may be done without sending her out of Mr. Cartwright's way."</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Rosalind very meekly, "now you are here, I am quite sure +that you will do every thing that is right and proper. Mrs. Mowbray +cannot be much longer absent; and when she returns, you will perhaps +have some conversation with her upon the subject."</p> + +<p>"Certainly.—And so Sir Gilbert has absolutely refused to act as +executor?"</p> + +<p>"He has indeed, and spite of the most earnest entreaties from Helen. +Whatever mischief happens, I shall always think he is answerable for it; +for his refusal to act threw your mother at once upon seeking counsel +from Mr. Cartwright, as to what it was necessary for her to do; and from +that hour the house has never been free from him for a single day."</p> + +<p>"Provoking obstinacy!" replied Mowbray: "yet after all, Rosalind, the +worst mischief, as you call it, that can happen, is our not being on +such pleasant terms with them as we used to be. And the colonel is at +home too; I must and will see him, let the old man be as cross as he +will.—But where is your little saint? you don't keep her locked up, I +hope, Rosalind? And where is this Miss of the new birth that you told me +of?"</p> + +<p>Young Mowbray threw a melancholy glance round the empty room as he +spoke, and the kind-hearted Rosalind understood his feelings and truly +pitied him. How different was this return home from any other he had +ever made!</p> + +<p>"The room looks desolate—does it not, Mr. Mowbray?—Even I feel it so. +I will go and let Fanny know you are here; but what reason shall I +assign for your return?"</p> + +<p>"None at all, Miss Torrington. The whim took me, and I am here. Things +are so much better than I expected, that I shall probably be back again +in a day or two; but I must contrive to see young Harrington."</p> + +<p>Rosalind left the room, heartily glad that Fanny's brother was near her, +but not without some feeling of mortification at the little importance +he appeared to attach to the information she had given him.</p> + +<p>A few short weeks before, Rosalind would have entered Fanny's room with +as much freedom as her own; but the schism which has unhappily entered +so many English houses under the semblance of superior piety was rapidly +doing its work at Mowbray Park; and the true friend, the familiar +companion, the faithful counsellor, stood upon the threshold, and +ventured not to enter till she had announced her approach by a knock at +the dressing-room door.</p> + +<p>"Come in," was uttered in a gentle and almost plaintive voice by Fanny.</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington entered, and, to her great astonishment, saw Mr. +Cartwright seated beside Fanny, a large Bible lying open on the table +before them.</p> + +<p>She looked at them for one moment without speaking. The vicar spread his +open hand upon the volume, as if to point out the cause of his being +there; and as his other hand covered the lower part of his face the +expression of his countenance was concealed.</p> + +<p>Fanny coloured violently,—and the more so, perhaps, because she was +conscious that her appearance was considerably changed since she met +Miss Torrington at breakfast. All her beautiful curls had been carefully +straightened by the application of a wet sponge; and her hair was now +entirely removed from her forehead, and plastered down behind her poor +little distorted ears as closely as possible.</p> + +<p>Never was metamorphosis more complete. Beautiful as her features were, +the lovely picture which Fanny's face used to present to the eye +required her bright waving locks to complete its charm; and without them +she looked more like a Chinese beauty on a japan skreen, than like +herself.</p> + +<p>Something approaching to a smile passed over Rosalind's features, which +the more readily found place there, perhaps, from the belief that +Charles's arrival would soon set her ringlets curling again.</p> + +<p>"Fanny, your brother is come," said she, "and he is waiting for you in +the drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"Charles?" cried Fanny, forgetting for a moment her new character; and +hastily rising she had almost quitted the room, when she recollected +herself, and turning back, said,</p> + +<p>"You will come too, to see Charles, Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"I will come, as usual, this evening, my dear child," said he, with the +appearance of great composure; "but I will not break in upon him now. +Was his return expected?" he added carelessly, as he took up his hat; +and as he spoke Rosalind thought that his eye glanced towards her.</p> + +<p>"No indeed!" replied Fanny: "I never was more surprised. Did he say, +Rosalind, what it was brought him home?"</p> + +<p>"I asked him to state his reason for it," replied Miss Torrington, "and +he told me he could assign nothing but whim."</p> + +<p>Rosalind looked in the face of the vicar as she said this, and she +perceived a slight, but to her perfectly perceptible, change in its +expression. He was evidently relieved from some uneasy feeling or +suspicion by what she had said.</p> + +<p>"Go to your brother, my dear child; let me not detain you from so happy +a meeting for a moment."</p> + +<p>Fanny again prepared to leave the room; but as she did so, her eye +chanced to rest upon her own figure reflected from a mirror above the +chimney-piece. She raised her hand almost involuntarily to her hair.</p> + +<p>"Will not Charles think me looking very strangely?" said she, turning +towards Mr. Cartwright with a blushing cheek and very bashful eye.</p> + +<p>He whispered something in her ear in reply, which heightened her blush, +and induced her to answer with great earnestness, "Oh no!" and, without +farther doubt or delay, she ran down stairs. Miss Torrington followed +her, not thinking it necessary to take any leave of the vicar, who +gently found his way down stairs, and out of the house, as he had found +his way into it, without troubling any servant whatever.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIB" id="CHAPTER_IIB"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES'S AMUSEMENT AT HIS SISTER'S APPEARANCE.—HE DISCUSSES HER CASE +WITH ROSALIND.</h3> + + +<p>Rosalind and Fanny entered the drawing-room together; and young Mowbray, +at the sound of their approach, sprang forward to meet them; but the +moment he threw his eyes on his sister he burst forth into a fit of +uncontrollable laughter; and though he kissed her again and again, +still, between every embrace, he broke out anew, with every +demonstration of vehement mirth.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to see you, Charles," said Fanny, with a little +sanctified air that certainly was very amusing; "but I should like it +better if you did not laugh at me."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, dear, dearest child! how can I help it?" replied her +brother, again bursting into renewed laughter. "Oh, Fanny, if you could +but see yourself just as you look at this moment! Oh! you hideous little +quiz! I would not have believed it possible that any plastering or +shearing in the world could have made you look so very ugly. Is it not +wonderful, Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly alters the expression of her countenance in a very +remarkable manner," replied Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"The expression of a countenance may be changed by an alteration from +within, as well as from without," said Fanny, taking courage, and not +without some little feeling of that complacency which the persuasion of +superior sanctity is generally observed to bestow upon its possessors.</p> + +<p>"Why, you most ugly little beauty!" cried Charles, again giving way to +merriment; "you don't mean to tell me that the <i>impayable</i> absurdity of +that poor little face is owing to any thing but your having just washed +your hair?"</p> + +<p>"It is owing to conviction, Charles," replied Fanny with great +solemnity.</p> + +<p>"Owing to conviction?—To conviction of what, my poor little girl?"</p> + +<p>"To conviction that it is right, brother."</p> + +<p>"Right, child, to make that object of yourself? What in the world can +you mean, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"I mean, brother, that I have an inward conviction of the sin and folly +of dressing our mortal clay to attract the eyes and the admiration of +the worldly."</p> + +<p>"By worldly, do you mean of all the world?" said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Torrington. By worldly, I mean those whose thoughts and wishes +are fixed on the things of the earth."</p> + +<p>"And it is the admiration of such only that you wish to avoid?" rejoined +Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"Certainly it is. Spiritual-minded persons see all things in the +spirit—do all things in the spirit: of such there is nothing to fear."</p> + +<p>Young Mowbray meanwhile stood looking at his sister, and listening to +her words with the most earnest attention.</p> + +<p>At length he said, more seriously than he had yet spoken, "To tell you +the truth, little puritan, I do not like you at all in your new +masquerading suit: though it must be confessed that you play your part +well. I don't want to begin lecturing you, Fanny, the moment I come +home; but I do hope you will soon get tired of this foolery, and let me +see my poor father's daughter look and behave as a Christian young woman +ought to do. Rosalind, will you take a walk with me? I want to have a +look at my old pony."</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington nodded her assent, and they both left the room together, +leaving Fanny more triumphant than mortified.</p> + +<p>"He said that my persecutions would begin as soon as my election was +made sure! Oh! why is he not here to sustain and comfort me! But I will +not fall away in the hour of trial!"</p> + +<p>The poor girl turned her eyes from the window whence she saw her brother +and Rosalind walking gaily and happily, as she thought, in search of the +old pony, and hastened to take refuge in her dressing-room, now rendered +almost sacred in her eyes by the pastoral visit she had that morning +received there.</p> + +<p>The following hour or two gave Fanny her first taste of martyrdom. She +was, or at least had been, devotedly attached to her brother, and the +knowing him to be so near, yet so distant from her, was terrible. Yet +was she not altogether without consolation. She opened the volume, that +volume that <i>he</i> had so lately interpreted to her (fearful profanation!) +in such a manner as best to suit his own views, and by means of using +the process he had taught her, though unconsciously perhaps, she +contrived to find a multitude of texts, all proving that she and the +vicar were quite right, and all the countless myriads who thought +differently, quite wrong. Then followed a thanksgiving which might have +been fairly expressed in such words as "I thank thee, I am not like +other men!" and then, as the sweet summer air waved the acacias to and +fro before her windows, and her young spirit, panting for lawns and +groves, sunshine and shade, suggested the idea of her brother and +Rosalind enjoying it all without her, her poetical vein came to her +relief, and she sat down to compose a hymn, in which, after rehearsing +prettily enough all the delights of summer rambles through verdant +fields, for four stanzas, she completed the composition by a fifth, of +which "sin," "begin," and "within," formed the rhymes.</p> + +<p>This having recourse to "song divine" was a happy thought for her, +inasmuch as it not only occupied time which must otherwise have hung +with overwhelming weight upon her hands, but the employment soon +conjured up, as she proceeded, the image of Mr. Cartwright, and the +pious smile with which he would receive it from her hands, and the soft +approval spoken more by the eyes than the lips, and the holy +caress—such, according to his authority, as that with which angel meets +angel in the courts of heaven.</p> + +<p>All this was very pleasant and consoling to her feelings; and when her +hymn was finished she determined to go down stairs, in order to sing it +to some (hitherto) profane air, which she might select from among the +songs of her sinful youth.</p> + +<p>As she passed the mirror she again glanced at her disfigured little +head; but at that moment she was so strong in "conviction," that, far +from wishing to accommodate her new birth of <i>coiffure</i> to worldly eyes, +she employed a minute or two in sedulously smoothing and controlling her +rebellious tresses, and even held her head in stiff equilibrium to +prevent their escape from behind her ears.</p> + +<p>"Good and holy man!" she exclaimed aloud, as she gave a parting glance +at the result of all these little pious coquetries. "How well I know +what his kind words would be if he could see me now! Such" she added +with a gentle sigh, "will I strive to be, though all the world should +join together to persecute me for it."</p> + +<p>While Mr. Cartwright's prettiest convert was thus employed, Miss +Torrington and Charles Mowbray, far from being engaged in chasing a +pony, or even in looking at the summer luxury of bloom which breathed +around them as they pursued their way through the pleasure-grounds, were +very gravely discussing the symptoms of her case.</p> + +<p>"It is a joke, Rosalind, and nothing more," said the young man, drawing +her arm within his. "I really can do nothing but laugh at such folly, +and I beg and entreat that you will do the same."</p> + +<p>"Then you think, of course, Mr. Mowbray, that I have been supremely +absurd in sending you the summons I did?"</p> + +<p>"Far, very far otherwise," he replied gravely. "It has shown me a new +feature in your character, Miss Torrington, and one which not to admire +would be a sin, worse even than poor Mr. Cartwright would consider your +wearing these pretty ringlets, Rosalind."</p> + +<p>"<i>Poor</i> Mr. Cartwright!" repeated Rosalind, drawing away her arm. "How +little do we think alike, Mr. Mowbray, concerning that man!"</p> + +<p>"The chief difference between us on the subject, I suspect arises from +your thinking of him a great deal, Rosalind, and my thinking of him very +little. I should certainly, if I set about reasoning on the matter, feel +considerable contempt for a middle-aged clergyman of the Church of +England who manifested his care of the souls committed to his charge by +making their little bodies comb their hair straight, for the pleasure of +saying that it was done upon conviction. But surely there is more room +for mirth than sorrow in this."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed, you are mistaken!—and that not only as regards the +individual interests of your sister Fanny,—though, Heaven knows, I +think that no light matter,—but as a subject that must be interesting +to every Christian soul that lives. Do not make a jest of what involves +by far the most important question that can be brought before poor +mortals: it is unworthy of you, Mr. Mowbray."</p> + +<p>"If you take the subject in its general character," replied Charles, "I +am sure we shall <i>not</i> differ. I deplore as sincerely as you can do, +Miss Torrington, the grievously schismatic inroad into our national +church which these self-chosen apostles have made. But as one objection +against them, though perhaps not the heaviest, is the contempt which +their absurd puritanical ordinances have often brought upon serious +things, I cannot but think that ridicule is a fair weapon to lash them +withal."</p> + +<p>"It may be so," replied Rosalind, "and in truth it is often impossible +to avoid using it; but yet it does not follow that the deeds and +doctrines of these <i>soi-disant</i> saints give more room for mirth than +sorrow."</p> + +<p>"Well, Rosalind, give me your arm again, and I will speak more +seriously. The very preposterous and ludicrous manner which Fanny, or +her spiritual adviser, has chosen for showing forth her own particular +regeneration, has perhaps led me to treat it more slightly than I should +have done had the indications of this temporary perversion of judgment +been of a more serious character. That is doubtless one reason for the +mirth I have shown. Another is, that I conceive it would be more easy to +draw poor little Fanny back again into the bosom of Mother Church by +laughing at her, rather than by making her believe herself a martyr."</p> + +<p>"Your laughter is a species of martyrdom which she will be taught to +glory in enduring. But at present I feel sure that all our discussions +on this topic must be in vain. I rejoice that you are here, though it is +plain that you do not think her situation requires your presence; and I +will ask no further submission of your judgment to mine, than requesting +that you will not leave Mowbray till your mother returns."</p> + +<p>"Be assured I will not; and be assured also, that however much it is +possible we may differ as to the actual atrocity of this new vicar, or +the danger Fanny runs in listening to him, I shall never cease to be +grateful, dearest Miss Torrington, for the interest you have shown for +her, and indeed for us all."</p> + +<p>"Acquit me of silly interference," replied Rosalind, colouring, "and I +will acquit you of all obligation."</p> + +<p>"But I don't wish to be acquitted of it," said Charles rather tenderly: +"you do not know how much pleasure I have in thinking that you already +feel interested about us all!"</p> + +<p>This was giving exactly the turn to what she had done which poor +Rosalind most deprecated. The idea that young Mowbray might imagine she +had sent for him from <i>a general feeling of interest for the family</i>, +had very nearly prevented her writing at all—and nothing but a sense of +duty had conquered the repugnance she felt at doing it. It had not been +a little vexing to perceive that he thought lightly of what she +considered as so important; and now that in addition to this he appeared +to conceive it necessary to return thanks for the <i>interest</i> she had +manifested, Rosalind turned away her head, and not without difficulty +restrained the tears which were gathering in her eyes from falling. She +was not in general slow in finding words to express what she wished to +say; but at this moment, though extremely desirous of answering +<i>suitably</i>, as she would have herself described the power she wanted, +not a syllable would suggest itself which she had courage or inclination +to speak: so, hastening her steps towards the house, she murmured, "You +are very kind—it is almost time to dress, I believe," and left him.</p> + +<p>Charles felt that there was something wrong between them, and decided at +once very generously that it must be his fault. There is nothing more +difficult to trace with a skilful hand than the process by which a young +man and maiden often <i>creep</i> into love, without either of them being at +all aware at what moment they were first seized with the symptoms. When +the parties <i>fall</i> in love, the thing is easy enough to describe: it is +a shot, a thunderbolt, a whirlwind, or a storm; nothing can be more +broadly evident than their hopes and their ecstasies, their agonies and +their fears. But when affection grows unconsciously, and, like a seed of +minionette thrown at random, unexpectedly shows itself the sweetest and +most valued of the heart's treasures, overpowering by its delicious +breath all other fragrance, the case is different.</p> + +<p>Something very like this creeping process was now going on in the heart +of young Mowbray. Rosalind's beauty had appeared to him veiled by a very +dark cloud on her first arrival from Ireland: she was weary, heartsick, +frightened, and, moreover, dressed in very unbecoming mourning. But as +tears gave place to smiles, fears to hopes, and exhausted spirits to +light-hearted cheerfulness, he found out that "she was very pretty +indeed"—and then, and then, and then, he could not tell how it happened +himself, so neither can I; but certain it is, that her letter gave him +almost as much pleasure as alarm; and if, after being convinced that +there was no danger of Mr. Cartwright's becoming his brother-in-law, he +showed a somewhat unbecoming degree of levity in his manner of treating +Fanny's case, it must be attributed to the gay happiness he felt at +being so unexpectedly called home.</p> + +<p>As for the heart of Rosalind, if any thing was going on therein at all +out of the common way, she certainly was not aware of it. She felt +vexed, anxious, out of spirits, as she sought her solitary +dressing-room: but it would have been no easy task to persuade her that +<span class="smcap">LOVE</span> had any thing to do with it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIIB" id="CHAPTER_IIIB"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES WALKS OVER TO OAKLEY.—THE VICAR IMPROVES IN HIS OPINION.</h3> + + +<p>At the time Miss Torrington observed to Mr. Mowbray that it was near +dressing-time, it wanted about four hours of dinner; so, having followed +her with his eyes as she mounted the steps and entered the house, he +drew out his watch, and perceiving that he had quite enough time for the +excursion before "dressing-time" would be over, set off to walk to +Oakley.</p> + +<p>How far Rosalind might have been disposed to quarrel with him for the +very small proportion of meditation which he bestowed on Fanny during +his delightful stroll through the well-known shady lanes, or how far she +might have been tempted to forgive him for the much greater portion +devoted to herself, it is impossible to say; but he arrived at Sir +Gilbert's hall-door in that happy state of mind which is often the +result of a delicious day-dream, when Hope lends the support of her +anchor to Fancy.</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert and the colonel were out on horseback, the servant said—but +"my lady is in the garden." And thither Mowbray went to seek her.</p> + +<p>He was somewhat startled at his first reception; for the old lady +watched his approach for some steps, standing stock-still, and without +giving the slightest symptom of recognition. At length she raised her +glass to her eye and discovered who the tall stranger was; upon which +she sent forth a sound greatly resembling a view "hollo!" which +immediately recalled the servant who had marshalled Mowbray to the +garden, and without uttering a word of welcome, gave the following +order very distinctly:</p> + +<p>"Let Richard take the brown mare and ride her sharp to Ramsden. Sir +Gilbert is gone to the post-office, the bank, the sadler's, and the +nursery-garden. Let him be told that Mr. Mowbray is waiting for him at +Oakley—and let not a single instant be lost."</p> + +<p>The rapid manner in which "Very well, my lady," was uttered in reply, +and the man vanished out of sight, showed that the order was likely to +be as promptly executed as spoken.</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear Charles!" cried the old lady; then stepping forward and +placing her hands in his, "What brings you back to Mowbray? But never +mind what it is—nothing very bad, I hope, and then I must rejoice at +it. I am most thankful to see you here, my dear boy. How is my sweet +Helen?—could you not bring her with you, Charles?"</p> + +<p>"She is in London, my dear Lady Harrington, with my mother. Where is the +colonel?"</p> + +<p>"With his father;—they will return together; no grass will grow under +their horses' feet as they ride homeward to meet you, Charles! But how +comes it that you are at home? If you have left Oxford, why are you not +with your mother and Helen?"</p> + +<p>A moment's thought might have told Mowbray that this question would +certainly be asked, and must in some manner or other be answered; but +the moment's thought had not been given to it, and he now felt +considerably embarrassed how to answer. He lamented the estrangement +already existing, however, too sincerely, to run any risk of increasing +it by ill-timed reserve, and therefore, after a moment's hesitation, +very frankly answered—"I can tell you, my dear lady, why I am here, +more easily than I can explain for what purpose. I returned post to +Mowbray this morning, because Miss Torrington gave me a private +intimation by letter, that she thought the new Vicar of Wrexhill was +obtaining an undue influence over the mind of Fanny. She did not express +herself very clearly, and I was fool enough to imagine that she supposed +he was making love to her; but I find that her fears are only for poor +little Fanny's orthodoxy. Mr. Cartwright is one of, I believe, the most +mischievous sect that ever attacked the established Church; and Miss +Torrington, not without good reason, fears that Fanny is in danger of +becoming a proselyte to his gloomy and unchristianlike doctrine. But, at +her age, such a whim as this is not, I should hope, very likely to be +lasting."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that," replied Lady Harrington sharply. "Miss Torrington +has acted with great propriety, and exactly with the sort of promptitude +and decision of character for which I should have given her credit. +Beware, Mr. Mowbray, how you make light of the appearance of religious +schism among you: it is a deadly weapon of discord, and the poison in +which it is dipped seldom finds an antidote either in family affection +or filial obedience."</p> + +<p>"But Fanny is so nearly a child, Lady Harrington, that I can hardly +believe her capable of manifesting any very dangerous religious zeal at +present."</p> + +<p>"You don't know what you are talking about, Charles! Of every family +into which this insidious and most anti-christian schism has crept, you +would find, upon inquiry, that in nine instances out of ten, it has been +the young girls who have been selected as the first objects of +conversion, and then made the active means of spreading it afterwards. +Don't treat this matter lightly, my dear boy! Personally I know nothing +of this Mr. Cartwright;—we never leave our parish church and our +excellent Dr. Broughton, to run after brawling extempore preachers;—but +I have been told by one or two of our neighbours who do, that he is what +is called a <i>shining light</i>; which means, being interpreted, a ranting, +canting, fanatic. Take care, above all things, that your mother does not +catch the infection."</p> + +<p>"My mother!—Oh no! Her steady principles and quiet good sense would +render such a falling off as that quite impossible."</p> + +<p>"Very well! I am willing to hope so. And yet, Charles, I cannot for the +life of me help thinking that she must have had some other adviser than +her own heart when she left my good Sir Gilbert's letter without an +answer."</p> + +<p>"Of what letter do you speak, Lady Harrington?" said young Mowbray, +colouring;—"of that whereby he refused to execute the trust my father +bequeathed him?"</p> + +<p>"No, Charles! Of that whereby he rescinded his refusal."</p> + +<p>"Has such a letter been sent?" inquired Mowbray eagerly. "I never heard +of it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Then we must presume that Mrs. Mowbray did not think it worth +mentioning. Such a letter has, however, been sent, Mr. Mowbray; and I +confess, I hoped, on seeing you arrive, that you were come to give it an +amicable, though somewhat tardy answer, in person."</p> + +<p>"I am greatly surprised," replied Charles, "to hear that such a letter +has been received by my mother, because I had been led to believe that +Sir Gilbert had declared himself immoveable on the subject; but still +more am I surprised that I should not have heard of it. Could Helen know +it, and not tell me? It must have been to her a source of the greatest +happiness, as the one which preceded had been of the deepest +mortification and sorrow."</p> + +<p>"Your sister, then, saw the first letter?"</p> + +<p>"She did, Lady Harrington, and wrote me word of it, with expressions of +the most sincere regret."</p> + +<p>"But of the second she said nothing? That is not like Helen."</p> + +<p>"So little is it like her, that I feel confident she never heard of the +second letter."</p> + +<p>"I believe so too, Charles. But what, then, are we to think of your +mother's having shown the first letter, and concealed the second?"</p> + +<p>"It cannot be! my mother never conceals any thing from us. We have +never, from the moment we left the nursery, been kept in ignorance of +any circumstance of general interest to the family. My poor father's +constant phrase upon all such occasions was—'Let it be discussed in a +committee of the whole house.'"</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand it," replied the old lady, seating herself upon a +bench in the shade; "but, at any rate, I rejoice that you did not all +think Sir Gilbert's recantation—which was not written without an +effort, I promise you—so totally unworthy of notice as you have +appeared to do."</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray seated himself beside her, and nearly an hour was passed +in conversation on the same subject, or others connected with it. At the +end of that time, Sir Gilbert, booted and spurred, appeared at the door +of the mansion, followed by his son. There was an angry spot upon his +cheek, and though it was sufficiently evident that he was eager to meet +young Mowbray, it was equally so that he was displeased with him.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington, however, soon cleared the way to the most frank and +cordial communication, rendering all explanation unnecessary by +exclaiming, "He has never seen nor heard of your second letter, Sir +Gilbert—nor Helen either."</p> + +<p>The baronet stood still for a moment, looking with doubt and surprise +first at his wife, and then at his guest. The doubt, however, vanished +in a moment, and he again advanced, and now with an extended hand +towards Charles.</p> + +<p>A conversation of some length ensued; but as it consisted wholly of +conjectures upon a point that they were all equally unable to explain, +it is unnecessary to repeat it. The two young men met each other with +expressions of the most cordial regard, and before they parted, Colonel +Harrington related the conversation he had held with Helen and Miss +Torrington, the result of which was his father's having despatched the +letter whose fate appeared involved in so much mystery.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington, notwithstanding they who did not love her called her +masculine, showed some feminine tact in not mentioning to Sir Gilbert +that it was a letter from Miss Torrington which had recalled Charles. It +is probable that when her own questionings had forced this avowal from +him, she had perceived some shade of embarrassment in his answer; but +she failed not to mention the <i>serious</i> turn that Fanny Mowbray appeared +to have taken, and her suspicions that the new Vicar of Wrexhill must +have been rather more assiduous than was desirable in his visit at the +Park.</p> + +<p>"The case is clear—clear as daylight, my lady: I understand it all. +Stop a moment, Charles: if you won't stay dinner, you must stay while I +furnish you with a document by means of which you may, I think, make a +useful experiment."</p> + +<p>Without waiting for an answer, Sir Gilbert left the party in the garden, +and hurried into the house, whence he returned in a few minutes with a +scrap of paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Fortunately, Charles, very fortunately, I have kept a copy of my last +note to your mother. I am sure I know not what induced me to keep it: +had such a thing happened to Mr. Cartwright, he would have declared it +providential—but I, in my modesty, only call it lucky.—Take this +paper, Charles, and read it if you will: 'tis a shame you have not read +it before! You say, I think, that the vicar is expected at Mowbray this +evening: just put this scrap of paper into his hand, and ask him if he +ever read it before. Let him say what he will, I give you credit for +sufficient sharpness to find out the truth. If he has seen it, I shall +know whom I have to thank for the insolent contempt it has met with."</p> + +<p>"But my mother!" cried Charles with emotion. "Is it possible that she +could conceal such a note as this from her children, and show it to this +man? Sir Gilbert, I cannot believe it."</p> + +<p>"I don't like to believe it myself, Charles; upon my life I don't. But +what can we think? At any rate, make the experiment to-night; it can do +no harm; and come here to dinner to-morrow to tell us the result."</p> + +<p>"I will come to you with the greatest pleasure, and bring you all the +intelligence I can get. My own opinion is, that the note was lost before +it reached my mother's hands. The usual hour, I suppose, Sir +Gilbert,—six o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"Six o'clock, Charles,—and, as usual, punctual to a moment."</p> + +<p>When Mowbray reached his home, it was, in truth, rather more than time +to dress; but he kept the young ladies waiting as short a time as +possible. Fanny presented him in proper style to Miss Cartwright as soon +as he appeared in the drawing-room; and he had the honour of giving that +silent young lady his arm to the dining-room.</p> + +<p>Charles thought her deep-set black eyes very handsome; nevertheless, he +secretly wished that she were a hundred miles off, for her presence, of +course, checked every approach to confidential conversation.</p> + +<p>Nothing, indeed, could well be more dull and unprofitable than this +dinner. Miss Cartwright spoke not at all; Fanny, no more than was +necessary for the performance of her duty at the head of the table; and +Rosalind looked pale and languid, and so completely out of spirits, that +every word she spoke seemed a painful effort to her. She was occupied in +recalling to mind the tone and air of the party who dined together in +that same room about six months before, when Charles had last returned +from Oxford. The contrast these recollections offered to the aspect of +the present party was most painful; and as Rosalind turned her eyes +round the table with a look of wistful melancholy, as if looking for +those who were no longer there, her thoughts were so legibly written on +her countenance, that Mowbray understood them as plainly as if they had +been spoken.</p> + +<p>"Rosalind, will you take wine with me?—You look tired and pale." This +was said in a tone of affectionate interest that seemed to excite the +attention of Henrietta; and when Miss Torrington raised her eyes to +answer it, she observed that young lady's looks fixed on Mr. Mowbray's +countenance with an expression that denoted curiosity.</p> + +<p>The whole party seemed glad to escape from the dinner-table; and the +young ladies, with light shawls and parasols, had just wandered out upon +the lawn, when they met Mr. Cartwright approaching the house.</p> + +<p>Fanny coloured, and looked at her brother. Miss Cartwright coloured too; +and her eyes followed the direction of Fanny's, as if to see how this +familiar mode of approach was approved by Mr. Mowbray.</p> + +<p>Charles certainly felt a little surprised, and did not take much pains +to conceal it. For a moment he looked at the vicar, as if not quite +certain who it was, and then, touching his hat with ceremonious +politeness, said, haughtily enough, "Mr. Cartwright, I believe?"</p> + +<p>It would have been difficult for any one to find fault with the manner +in which this salutation was returned. In a tone admirably modulated +between profound respect and friendly kindness, his hat raised +gracefully from his head to greet the whole party, and his handsome +features wearing an expression of the gentlest benevolence, Mr. +Cartwright hoped that he had the happiness of seeing Mr. Mowbray well.</p> + +<p>Charles felt more than half ashamed of the reception he had given him, +and stretched out his hand as if to atone for it. The vicar felt his +advantage, and pursued it by the most easy, winning, yet respectful +style of conversation. His language and manners became completely those +of an accomplished man of the world; his topics were drawn from the +day's paper and the last review: he ventured a jest upon Don Carlos, and +a <i>bon mot</i> upon the Duke of Wellington; took little or no notice of +Fanny; spoke affectionately to his daughter, and gaily to Miss +Torrington; and, in short, appeared to be as little deserving of all +Rosalind had said of him, as it was well possible for a gentleman to +be.</p> + +<p>"Fair Rosalind has certainly suffered her imagination to conjure up a +bugbear in this man," thought Charles. "It is impossible he can be the +violent fanatic she describes."</p> + +<p>After wandering about the gardens for some time, Fanny proposed that +they should go in to tea; but before they reached the house, Mr. +Cartwright proposed to take his leave, saying that he had an engagement +in Wrexhill, which was to prevent his lengthening his visit.</p> + +<p>The adieu had been spoken on all sides, and the vicar turned from them +to depart, when Charles recollected the commission he had received from +Sir Gilbert, and that he had promised to report the result on the +morrow. Hastily following him, therefore, he said, "I beg your pardon, +Mr. Cartwright; hut, before you go, will you have the kindness to read +this note, and tell me if you know whether my mother received such a one +before she went to London?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright took the note, read it attentively, and then returned it, +saying, "No, Mr. Mowbray, I should certainly think not: not because I +never saw or heard of it, but because I imagine that if she had, she +would not have proceeded to London without Sir Gilbert. Was such a note +as that sent, Mr. Mowbray?"</p> + +<p>Charles had kept his eye very steadily fixed on the vicar, both while he +read the note, and while he spoke of it. Not the slightest indication, +however, of his knowing any thing about it was visible in his +countenance, voice, or manner; and, again as he looked at him, young +Mowbray felt ashamed of suspicions for which there seemed to be so +little cause.</p> + +<p>"Such a note as this was sent, Mr. Cartwright," he frankly replied: "but +I suspect that by some unlucky accident it never reached my mother's +hands; otherwise, as you well observe, she would not, most assuredly, +have set off to London on this business without communicating with Sir +Gilbert Harrington."</p> + +<p>"I conceive it must be so, indeed, Mr. Mowbray; and it is greatly to be +lamented, for the receiving it would have saved poor Mrs. Mowbray much +anxiety and trouble."</p> + +<p>"She expressed herself to you as being annoyed by Sir Gilbert's refusing +to act?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, repeatedly; so much so, indeed, that nothing but the +indispensable duty of my parish, prevented my offering to accompany her +to London myself. I wished her very much to send for you; but nothing +would induce her to interrupt your studies."</p> + +<p>It is not in the nature of a frank-hearted young man to doubt statements +thus simply uttered by one having the bearing and appearance of a +gentleman; and Charles Mowbray reported accordingly at the dinner-table +of Sir Gilbert, assuring him that the <i>test</i> had proved Mr. Cartwright's +innocence on this point most satisfactorily.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IVB" id="CHAPTER_IVB"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>MR. STEPHEN CORBOLD.</h3> + + +<p>We must now follow Mrs. Mowbray and Helen to London, as some of the +circumstances which occurred there proved of importance to them +afterwards. The journey was a very melancholy one to Helen, and her +feelings as unlike as possible to those which usually accompany a young +lady of her age, appearance, and station, upon a visit to the +metropolis. Mrs. Mowbray spoke very little, being greatly occupied by +the volume recommended to her notice, at parting, by Mr. Cartwright; and +more than once Helen felt something like envy at the situation of the +two servants, who, perched aloft behind the carriage, were enjoying +without restraint the rapid movement, the fresh air, and the beautiful +country through which they passed; while she, like a drooping flower on +which the sun has ceased to shine, hung her fair hand and languished for +the kindly warmth she had lost.</p> + +<p>They reached Wimpole Street about eight o'clock in the evening, and +found every thing prepared for them with the most sedulous attention in +their handsome and commodious apartments.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray was tired, and, being really in need of the refreshment, +blessed the hand, or rather the thought, which had forestalled all her +wants and wishes, and spread that dearest of travelling banquets, tea +and coffee, ready to greet her as she entered the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>"This letter has been left for you, ma'am, by the gentleman who took the +apartment," said the landlady, taking a packet from the chimney-piece; +"and he desired it might be given to you immediately."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray opened it; but perceiving it enclosed another, the address +of which she glanced her eye upon, she folded it up again, and begged to +be shown to her room while the tea was made.</p> + +<p>Her maid followed her, but was dismissed with orders to see if Miss +Mowbray wanted any thing. As soon as she was alone, she prepared to +examine the packet, the receipt of which certainly startled her, for it +was in the handwriting of Mr. Cartwright, from whom she had parted but a +few hours before.</p> + +<p>The envelope contained only these words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Mr. Stephen Corbold presents his respectful compliments to +Mrs. Mowbray, and will do himself the honour of waiting upon +her to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Gray's Inn, July 13th, 1833."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray ran her eyes very rapidly over these words, and then opened +the enclosed letter. It was as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Do not let the unexpected sight of a letter from your minister +alarm you, my dear and much-valued friend. I have nothing +painful to disclose; and my sole object in writing is to make +you feel that though you are distant from the sheltered spot +wherein the Lord hath caused you to dwell, the shepherd's eye +which hath been appointed to watch over you is not withdrawn.</p> + +<p>"I am no longer a young man, my dear Mrs. Mowbray; and during +the years through which I have passed, my profession, my duty, +and my inclination have alike led me to examine my +fellow-creatures, and to read them, as it were, athwart the +veil of their mortal bodies. Habit and application have given +me, I believe, some skill in developing the inward character of +those amongst whom I am thrown: nor can I doubt that the hand +of Heaven is in this, as in truth it is in all things if we do +but diligently set ourselves to trace it;—I cannot, I say, but +believe that this faculty which I feel so strong within me, of +discerning in whom those spirits abide that the Lord hath +chosen for his own,—I cannot but believe that this faculty is +given me by his especial will and for his especial glory. I +wish well, sincerely well, to the whole human race: I would +never lose an opportunity of lifting my voice in warning to +them, in the hope that peradventure there may be one among the +crowd who may turn and follow me. But, my friend, far different +is the feeling with which my heart clings with stedfast care +and love to those on whom I see the anointing finger of Heaven. +It is such that I would lead, even as a pilot leadeth the +vessel intrusted to his skill, into the peaceful waters, where +glory, and honour, and joy unspeakable and without end, shall +abide with them for ever!</p> + +<p>"Repine not, oh! my friend, if all your race are not of these. +Rather rejoice with exceeding great joy that it hath pleased +Heaven to set its seal on two. To this effect, look round the +world, my gentle friend, and see what myriads of roofs arise +beneath which not one can be found to show forth the saving +power. Mark them! how they thread the giddy maze, and dance +onward down the slippery path that leads to everlasting +perdition! Mark this, sweet spirit! and rejoice that you and +your Fanny are snatched from the burning! My soul revels in an +ecstasy of rapture unspeakable, as I gaze upon you both, and +know that it is I, even I, am chosen to lead you. What are all +the victories and glories of the world to this? Think you, my +gentle friend, that if all the worldly state and station of +Lambeth were offered me on one side, and the task of leading +thy meek steps into the way of life called me to the other, +that I should hesitate for one single instant which to choose?</p> + +<p>"Oh no! Trust me, I would meet the scorn and revilings of all +men—aye, and the bitterest persecutions that ever the saints +of old were called upon to bear, rather than turn mine eyes +from thee and the dear work, though princedoms, principalities, +and powers might be gained thereby!</p> + +<p>"Be strong then in faith, be strong in hope; for thou art well +loved of Heaven, and of him whom it hath been its will to place +near thee as its minister on earth!</p> + +<p>"Be strong in faith! Kneel down, sweet friend!—even now, as +thine eye reads these characters traced by the hand of one who +would give his life to guard thee from harm, kneel down, and +ask that Heaven may be with thee,—well assured that he who +bids thee to do so will at the same moment be kneeling, +likewise, to invoke blessings on thy fair and virtuous head!</p> + +<p>"At a moment when the heart is drawn heavenward, as mine is +now, how hateful—I may say, how profane, seem those worldly +appellations and distinctions with which the silly vanity of +man has sought to decorate our individual nothingness! How much +more befitting a serious Christian is it, in such a moment as +this, to use that name which was bestowed by a higher +authority! You have three such, my sweet friend. The two first +are now appropriated, as it were, to your daughters; but the +third is more especially your own.—Clara! On Clara may the dew +of Heaven descend like healing balm!—Kneel then, sweet +Clara—thou chosen handmaid; kneel down, and think that William +Cartwright kneels beside thee!</p> + +<p>"Written on my knees in the secret recesses of my own +chamber—W. C."</p></blockquote> + +<p>No sooner did Mrs. Mowbray's eye reach the words "kneel down," than she +obeyed them, and in this attitude read to the end of the epistle. Mrs. +Mowbray's feelings whenever strongly excited, either by joy, sorrow, or +any other emotion, always showed themselves in tears, and she now wept +profusely—vehemently; though it is probable she would have been greatly +puzzled to explain why, even to herself. She would certainly, however, +have declared, had she spoken on the subject to any one, that those +tears were a joy, a blessing, and a comfort to her. But as she had +nobody to whom she could thus open her heart, she washed her eyes with +cold water, and descended with all the composure she could assume to +Helen and the tea-table.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this precaution, Helen's watchful eye perceived that her +mother had been weeping, and, forgetting the unnatural coldness which a +breath more fatal than pestilence had placed between them, she exclaimed +with all her wonted tenderness,</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, dear mamma?—I trust that no bad news has met you?"</p> + +<p>If all other circumstances left it a matter of doubt whether evangelical +influence (as it is impiously called) were productive of good or evil, +the terrible power which it is so constantly seen to have of destroying +family union must be quite sufficient to settle the question. Any person +who will take the trouble to inquire into the fact, will find that +family affection has been more blighted and destroyed by the workings of +this fearful superstition than by any other cause of which the history +of man bears record.</p> + +<p>The tone of Helen's voice seemed for a moment to recall former feelings, +and her mother looked at her kindly: but before she could give utterance +to any word of affection, the recollection of all Mr. Cartwright had +said to prove that Helen deserved not the affection of her mother, and +that the only chance left to save herself was to be found in the most +austere estrangement, till such time as her hard heart should be +softened; the recollection of all this came across the terrified mind of +Mrs. Mowbray, and she resumed the solemn and distant bearing she had of +late resumed, with a nervous sensation of alarm at the great crime she +had been on the point of committing.</p> + +<p>Poor Helen saw the look, and listened with her whole soul in her eyes +for the kind words which had so nearly followed it; but when they came +not, her heart sank within her, and pleading fatigue, she begged to be +shown to her own room, where she spent half the night in weeping.</p> + +<p>Most punctually at eleven o'clock on the following morning, Mr. Stephen +Corbold was announced, and a stiff priggish-looking figure entered the +drawing-room, who, though in truth a "special attorney," looked much +more like a thorough-bred methodistical preacher than his friend and +cousin Mr. Cartwright. In age he was a few years that gentleman's +junior, but in all outward gifts most lamentably his inferior; being, in +truth, as ill-looking and ungentlemanlike a person as any congregation +attached to the "Philo-Calvin Frybabe" principles could furnish.</p> + +<p>The footman might have announced him in the same words as Lépine did +Vadius:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Madame, un homme est là, qui veut parler à vous.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Il est vètu de noir, et parle d'un ton doux."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>For, excepting his little tight cravat, he appeared to have nothing +white about him, and he seldom raised his cautious voice above a +whisper.</p> + +<p>"I am here, madam," he began, addressing himself to Mrs. Mowbray, who +felt rather at a loss what to say to him, "at the request of my cousin, +the Reverend William Jacob Cartwright, Vicar of Wrexhill. He hath given +me to understand that you have business to transact at Doctors' Commons, +relative to the last will and testament of your late husband. Am I +correct, madam?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, Mr. Corbold. I wish to despatch this business as quickly as +possible, as I am anxious to return again to my family."</p> + +<p>"No delay shall intervene that I can prevent," replied the attorney. "Is +there any other business, madam, in which my services can be available?"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, sir. I believe there are several things on which I +shall have to trouble you. Mr. Mowbray generally transacted his own +business, which in London consisted, I believe, solely in receiving +dividends and paying tradesmen's bills: the only lawyer he employed, +therefore, was a gentleman who resides in our county, and who has +hitherto had the care of the estates. But my excellent minister and +friend Mr. Cartwright has written upon this sheet of paper, I believe, +what it will be necessary for me to do in order to arrange things for +the future."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray put the paper into the lawyer's hands, who read it over +with great attention, nodding his head slightly from time to time as any +item struck him as particularly interesting and important.</p> + +<p>"Three per Cents—very good. Bank Stock—very good. Power of +Attorney.—All right, madam, all right. It hath pleased the Lord to give +my cousin, his servant, a clear and comprehending intellect. All shall +be done even as it is here set down."</p> + +<p>"How long, sir, do you think it will be necessary for me to remain in +town?"</p> + +<p>"Why, madam, there are many men would run this business out to great +length. Here is indeed sufficient to occupy a very active professional +man many weeks: but by the blessing of Heaven, which is often +providentially granted to me in time of need, I question not but I may +be able to release you in a few days, madam, provided always that you +are prepared to meet such expenses as are indispensable upon all +occasions when great haste is required."</p> + +<p>"Expense will be no object with me, Mr. Corbold; but a prolonged absence +from home would be extremely inconvenient. Pray remember that I shall be +most happy to pay any additional sum which hastening through the +business may require."</p> + +<p>"Very good, madam, very good. That Heaven will be good unto me in this +business, I cannot presume to doubt; for it hath been consigned unto me +by one of its saints on earth, and it is for the service of a lady who, +I am assured by him, is likely to become one of the most favoured agents +that it hath ever selected to do its work on earth."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray coloured from a mixed feeling of modesty and pleasure. That +Mr. Cartwright should have thus described her, was most soothing to her +heart; but when she recollected how far advanced he was, and how very +near the threshold she as yet stood, her diffidence made her shrink from +hearing herself named in language so flattering.</p> + +<p>"Is that fair young person who left the room soon after I entered it +your daughter, madam?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very good. I rejoice to hear it: that is, I would be understood to say, +that I rejoice with an exceeding great joy that the child of a lady who +stands in such estimation as you do with a chosen minister of the +elected church, should wear an aspect so suitable to one who, by +especial Providence, will be led to follow her example."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray sighed.</p> + +<p>"I lament, madam," resumed Mr. Corbold, "I may say with great and bitter +lamentation, both for your sake, and that of the young person who has +left the room, that the London season should be so completely over."</p> + +<p>"Sir!" said Mrs. Mowbray in an accent of almost indignant surprise, "is +it possible that any friend and relation of Mr. Cartwright's can imagine +that I, in my unhappy situation—or indeed, without that, as a Christian +woman hoping with fear and trembling to become one of those set apart +from worldly things,—is it possible, sir, that you can think I should +partake, or let my daughter partake, in the corrupt sinfulness and +profane rioting of a London season!"</p> + +<p>"May Heaven forgive you for so unjust a suspicion, most respected +madam!" cried Mr. Corbold, clasping his hands and raising his eyes to +Heaven. "The language of the saints on earth is yet new to you, most +excellent and highly to be respected convert of my cousin! The London +season of which I speak, and which you will hear alluded to by such +sinful creatures as, like me, have reason to believe by an especial +manifestation of grace that they are set apart,—the London season of +which I and they speak, is that, when during about six blessed weeks in +the spring, the chosen vessels resort in countless numbers to London, +for the purpose of being present at all the meetings which take place +during that time, with as much ardour and holy zeal as the +worldly-minded show in arranging their fêtes and their fooleries at the +instigation of Satan—in anticipation, as it should seem, poor deluded +creatures! of the crowds that they shall hereafter meet amidst fire and +brimstone in his realms below. The season of which I speak, and of which +you will hear all the elect speak with rapture and thanksgiving, +consists of a quick succession of splendid and soul-stirring meetings, +at which all the saints on whom the gift of speech hath descended, some +for one, some for two, some for three, some for four—ay, some for five +hours at a time, sustained, as you may suppose, by a visible resting of +the Divine power upon them. This, madam, is the season that, for your +sake, and for the sake of the fair young person your daughter, I wished +was not yet over."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray made a very penitent and full apology for the blunder she +had committed, and very meekly confessed her ignorance, declaring that +she had never before heard the epithet of "London season" given to any +thing so heavenly-minded and sublime as the meetings he described.</p> + +<p>The discovery of this species of ignorance on the part of Mrs. Mowbray, +which was by no means confined to the instance above mentioned, was a +very favourable circumstance for Mr. Corbold. There was, perhaps, no +other subject in the world upon which he was competent to give +information (except in the technicalities of his own profession); but in +every thing relating to missionary meetings, branch-missionary meetings' +reports, child's missionary branch committees, London Lord's day's +societies, and the like, he was quite perfect. All this gave him a value +in Mrs. Mowbray's eyes as a companion which he might have wanted without +it. At all conversations of this kind, Mrs. Mowbray took great care that +Helen should be present, persuaded that nothing could be so likely to +give her that savour of righteousness in which, as yet, she was so +greatly deficient.</p> + +<p>The consequence of this arrangement was twofold. On Helen's side, it +generated a feeling compounded of contempt and loathing towards the +fanatical attorney, which in most others would have led to the passion +called hatred; but in her it seemed rather a passive than an active +sentiment, which would never have sought either nourishment or relief in +doing injury to its object, but which rendered her so ill at ease in his +presence that her life became perfectly wretched from the frequency of +it.</p> + +<p>On the part of the gentleman, the effect of these frequent interviews +was different. From thinking Mrs. Mowbray's daughter a very fair young +person, he grew by gradual, but pretty rapid degrees, to perceive that +she was the very loveliest tabernacle in which had ever been enshrined +the spirit of a woman; and by the time Mrs. Mowbray had learned by rote +the names, titles, connexions, separations, unions, deputations, and +endowments of all the missionary societies, root and branch, and of all +the central and eccentric establishments for the instruction of +ignorance in infants of four months to adults of fourscore, Mr. Stephen +Corbold had made up his mind to believe that, by fair means or foul, it +was his bounden duty, as a pious man and serious Christian, to +appropriate the fair Helen to himself in this life, and thereby ensure +her everlasting happiness in the life to come.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that while these things passed in London the +Vicar of Wrexhill was forgotten. Mrs. Mowbray's heart and conscience +both told her that such a letter as she had received from him must not +remain unanswered: she therefore placed Helen in the drawing-room, with +a small but very closely-printed volume on "Free Grace," recommended by +Mr. Corbold, and having desired her, in the voice of command, to study +it attentively till dinner-time, she retired to her own room, where, +having knelt, wept, prayed, written, and erased, for about three hours, +she finally signed and sealed an epistle, of which it is unnecessary to +say more than that it conveyed a very animated feeling of satisfaction +to the heart of the holy man to whom it was addressed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VB" id="CHAPTER_VB"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>MR. STEPHEN CORBOLD RETURNS WITH MRS. MOWBRAY AND HELEN TO WREXHILL.</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray's business in London, simple and straightforward as it was, +might probably under existing circumstances have occupied many weeks, +had not a lucky thought which visited the restless couch of Mr. Stephen +Corbold been the means of bringing it to a speedy conclusion.</p> + +<p>"<i>Soyez amant, et vous serez inventif</i>," is a pithy proverb, and has +held good in many an illustrious instance, but in none, perhaps, more +conspicuously than in that of Mr. Stephen Corbold's passion for Miss +Mowbray. One of the earliest proofs he gave of this, was the persuading +Mrs. Mowbray that the only way in which he could, consistently with his +other engagements, devote to her as much time as her affairs required, +would be, by passing every evening with her. And he did pass every +evening with her: and poor Helen was given to understand, in good set +terms, that if she presumed to retire before that excellent man Mr. +Stephen Corbold had finished his last tumbler of soda-water and Madeira, +not only would she incur her mother's serious displeasure, but be +confided (during their absence from Mowbray) to the spiritual +instruction of some <i>earnest</i> minister, who would teach her in what the +duty of a daughter consisted.</p> + +<p>And so Helen Mowbray sat till twelve o'clock every night, listening to +the works of the saints of the nineteenth century, and exposed to the +unmitigated stare of Mr. Stephen Corbold's grey eyes.</p> + +<p>The constituting himself the guide and protector of the ladies through a +series of extemporary preachings and lecturings on Sunday, was perhaps +too obvious a duty to be classed as one of love's invention: but the +ingenuity shown in persuading Mrs. Mowbray that it would be necessary +for the completion of her business that he should attend her home, most +certainly deserves this honour.</p> + +<p>Though no way wanting in that quality of mind which the invidious +denominate "impudence," and the judicious "proper confidence,"—a +quality as necessary to the fitting out of Mr. Stephen Corbold as +parchment and red tape,—he nevertheless felt some slight approach to +hesitation and shame-facedness when he first hinted the expediency of +this measure. But his embarrassment was instantly relieved by Mrs. +Mowbray's cordial assurance that she rejoiced to hear such a manner of +concluding the business was possible, as she knew it would give their +"excellent minister" pleasure to see his cousin.</p> + +<p>There is no Christian virtue, perhaps, to which a serious widow lady is +so often called (unless she belong to that class invited by the +"exemplary" in bevies, by way of charity, when a little teapot is set +between every two of them,)—there is no Christian virtue more +constantly inculcated on the minds of <i>rich</i> serious widows than that of +hospitality; nor is there a text that has been quoted oftener to such, +or with greater variety of accent, as admonitory, encouragingly, +beseechingly, approvingly, jeremiadingly in reproach, and +hallelujahingly in gratitude and admiration, than those three impressive +and laudatory words,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"GIVEN TO HOSPITALITY!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>During a snug little morning visit at the Park, at which only Mrs. +Mowbray and Fanny were present, Mr. Cartwright accidentally turned to +these words; and nothing could be more touchingly eloquent than the +manner in which he dwelt upon and explained them.</p> + +<p>From that hour good Mrs. Mowbray had been secretly lamenting the want of +sufficient opportunity to show how fully she understood and valued this +Christian virtue, and how willing she was to put it in practice toward +all such as her "excellent minister" should approve: it was, therefore, +positively with an out-pouring of fervent zeal that she welcomed the +prospect of a visit from <i>such a man</i> as Mr. Stephen Corbold.</p> + +<p>"It is indeed a blessing and a happiness, Mr. Corbold," said she, "that +what I feared would detain me many days from my home and my family +should be converted into such a merciful dispensation as I must consider +your coming to be. When shall you be able to set out, my dear sir?"</p> + +<p>"I could set out to-morrow, or, at the very latest, the day after, if I +could obtain a conveyance that I should deem perfectly safe for the +papers I have to carry."</p> + +<p>Helen shuddered, for she saw his meaning lurking in the corner of his +eye as he turned towards her one of his detested glances.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Mrs. Mowbray, hesitatingly, and fearful that she might +be taxing his great good-nature too far,—"perhaps, upon such an urgent +occasion, you might have the great goodness Mr. Corbold, to submit to +making a third in my travelling-carriage?"</p> + +<p>"My gratitude would indeed be very great for such a permission," he +replied, endeavouring to betray as little pleasure as possible. "I do +assure you, my dear lady, such precautions are far from unnecessary. +Heaven, for its own especial purposes, which are to us inscrutable, +ordains that its tender care to usward shall be shown rather by giving +us prudence and forethought to avoid contact with the wicked, than by +any removal of them from our path: wherefore I hold myself bound in +righteousness to confess that the papers concerning your affairs—even +yours, my honoured lady, might run a very fearful risk of being +abducted, and purloined, by some of the many ungodly persons with whom +no dispensation of Providence hath yet interfered to prevent their +jostling its own people when they travel, as sometimes unhappily they +must do, in stage-coaches."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mr. Corbold!" replied the widow, (mentally alluding to a +conversation which she had held with Mr. Cartwright on the separation to +be desired between the chosen and the not-chosen even in this world; +such being, as he said, a sort of type or foreshowing of that eternal +separation promised in the world to come;)—"Ah, Mr. Corbold! if I had +the power to prevent it, none of the chosen should ever again find +themselves obliged to submit to such promiscuous mixture with the +ungodly as this unsanctified mode of travelling must lead to. Had I +power and influence sufficient to carry such an undertaking into effect, +I would certainly endeavour to institute a society of Christians, who, +by liberal subscriptions among themselves, might collect a fund for +defraying the travelling expenses of those who are set apart. It must be +an abomination, Mr. Corbold, that such should be seen travelling on +earth by the same vehicles as those which convey the wretched beings who +are on their sure and certain road to eternal destruction!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, dearest madam!" replied the attorney, with a profound sigh, "such +thoughts as those are buds of holiness that shall burst forth into +full-blown flowers of eternal glory round your head in heaven! But, +alas! no such society is yet formed, and the sufferings of the +righteous, for the want of it, are truly great!"</p> + +<p>"I am sure they must be, Mr. Corbold," replied the kind Mrs. Mowbray in +an accent of sincere compassion; "but, at least in the present instance, +you may be spared such unseemly mixture, if you will be good enough not +to object to travelling three in the carriage. Helen is very slight, and +I trust you will not be greatly incommoded."</p> + +<p>Mr. Corbold's gratitude was too great to be expressed in a sitting +attitude; he therefore rose from his chair, and pressing his extended +hands together as if invoking a blessing on the meek lady's holy head, +he uttered, "Heaven reward you, madam, for not forgetting those whom it +hath remembered!" and as he spoke, he bowed his head low, long, and +reverently. As he recovered the erect position on ordinary occasions +permitted to man, he turned a little round to give a glance of very +lover-like timidity towards Helen, who when he began his reverence to +her mother was in the room; but as he now turned his disappointed eyes +all round it, he discovered that she was there no longer.</p> + +<p>After this, the business which could, as Mr. Corbold said, be +conveniently transacted in London, was quickly despatched, and the day +fixed for their return to Mowbray, exactly one week after they left it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stephen Corbold was invited to breakfast previous to the departure; +and he came accompanied by so huge a green bag, as promised a long stay +among those to whose affairs the voluminous contents related.</p> + +<p>When all things in and about the carriage were ready, Mr. Stephen +Corbold presented his arm to the widow, and placed her in it. He then +turned to Helen, who on this occasion found it not so easy as at setting +off to avoid the hand extended towards her; that is to say, she could +not spring by it unheeded: but as she would greatly have preferred the +touch of any other reptile, she contrived to be very awkward, and +actually caught hold of the handle beside the carriage-door, instead of +the obsequious ungloved fingers which made her shudder as she glanced +her eyes towards them.</p> + +<p>"You will sit in the middle, Helen," said Mrs. Mowbray.</p> + +<p>"I wish, mamma, you would be so kind as to let me sit in the dickey," +replied the young lady, looking up as she spoke to the very comfortable +and unoccupied seat in front of the carriage which, but for Mrs. +Mowbray's respectful religious scruples, might certainly have +accommodated Mr. Corbold and his bag perfectly well. "I should like it +so much better, mamma!"</p> + +<p>"Let me sit in the middle, I entreat!" cried Mr. Corbold, entering the +carriage in haste, to prevent farther discussion. "My dear young lady," +he continued, placing his person in the least graceful of all imaginable +attitudes,—"my dear young lady, I beseech you——"</p> + +<p>"Go into the corner, Helen!" said Mrs. Mowbray hastily wishing to put so +exemplary a Christian more at his ease, and without thinking it +necessary to answer the insidious petition of her daughter, which, as +she thought, plainly pointed at the exclusion of the righteous attorney.</p> + +<p>Helen ventured not to repeat it, and the carriage drove off. For the +first mile Mr. Stephen Corbold sat, or rather perched himself, at the +extremest edge of the seat, his hat between his knees, and every muscle +that ought to have been at rest in active exercise, to prevent his +falling forward on his nose; every feature, meanwhile, seeming to say, +"This is not my carriage." But by gentle degrees he slid farther and +farther backwards, till his spare person was not only in the enjoyment +of ease, but of great happiness also.</p> + +<p>Helen, as her mother observed, was "very slight," and Mr. Corbold began +almost to fancy that she would at last vanish into thin air, for, as he +quietly advanced, so did she quietly retreat till she certainly did +appear to shrink into a very small compass indeed.</p> + +<p>"I fear I crowd you, my dearest lady!" he said, addressing Mrs. Mowbray +at least ten times during as many miles; and every time this fear came +over him he gave her a little more room, dreadfully to the annoyance of +the slight young lady on the other side of him. Poor Helen had need to +remember that she was going home—going to Rosalind, to enable her to +endure the disgust of her position; but for several hours she did bear +it heroically. She thought of Mowbray,—of her flower-garden,—of the +beautiful Park,—of Rosalind's snug dressing-room, and the contrast of +all this to the life she had led in London. She thought too of Oakley, +and of the possibility that some of the family might, by some accident +or other, be met in some of the walks which Rosalind and she would be +sure to take. In short, with her eyes incessantly turned through the +open window towards the hedges and ditches, the fields and the flowers +by the road-side, she contrived to keep herself, body and soul, as far +as possible from the hated being who sat beside her.</p> + +<p>On the journey to London, Mrs. Mowbray had not thought it necessary to +stop for dinner on the road, both she and Helen preferring to take a +sandwich in the carriage; but, from the fear of infringing any of the +duties of that hospitality which she now held in such high veneration, +she arranged matters differently, and learning, upon consulting her +footman, that an excellent house was situated about half-way between +London and Wrexhill, she not only determined on stopping there, but +directed the man to send forward a note, ordering an early dinner to be +ready for them.</p> + +<p>This halt was an agreeable surprise to Mr. Stephen Corbold. It was +indeed an arrangement such as those of his peculiar sect are generally +found to approve; for it is a remarkable fact, easily ascertained by any +who will give themselves the trouble of inquiry, that the serious +Christians of the present age indulge themselves bodily, whenever the +power of doing so falls in their way, exactly in proportion to the +mortifications and privations with which they torment their spirits: so +that while a young sinner would fly from an untasted glass of claret +that he might not lose the prologue to a new play, a young saint would +sip up half-a-dozen (if he could get them) while descanting on the +grievous pains of hell which the pursuit of pleasure must for ever +bring.</p> + +<p>The repast, and even the wine, did honour to the recommendation of the +careful and experienced Thomas: and Mrs. Mowbray had the sincere +satisfaction of seeing Mr. Corbold ("<i>le pauvre homme!</i>") eat half a +pound of salmon, one-third of a leg of lamb, and three-quarters of a +large pigeon-pie, with a degree of relish that proved to her that she +was "very right to stop for dinner."</p> + +<p>Nothing can show gratitude for such little attentions as these so +pleasantly and so effectually as taking full advantage of them. Mr. +Corbold indeed carried this feeling so far, that even after the two +ladies had left the room, he stepped back and pretty nearly emptied the +two decanters of wine before he rejoined them.</p> + +<p>The latter part of the journey produced a very disagreeable scene, +which, though it ended, as Helen thought at the time most delightfully +for her, was productive in its consequences of many a bitter heart-ache.</p> + +<p>It is probable that the good cheer at D——, together with the final +libation that washed it down, conveyed more than ordinary animation to +the animal spirits of the attorney, and for some miles he discoursed +with more than his usual unction on the sins of the sinful, and the +holiness of the holy, till poor dear Mrs. Mowbray, despite her vehement +struggles to keep her eyes open, fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p>No sooner was Mr. Stephen Corbold fully aware of this fact, than he +began making some very tender speeches to Helen. For some time her only +reply was expressed by thrusting her head still farther out of the side +window. But this did not avail her long. As if to intimate to her that a +person whose attention could not be obtained through the medium of the +ears must be roused from their apathy by the touch, he took her hand.</p> + +<p>Upon this she turned as suddenly as if an adder had stung her, and +fixing her eyes, beaming with rage and indignation, upon him, said,</p> + +<p>"If you venture, sir, to repeat this insult, I will call to the +postillions to stop, and order the footman instantly to take you out of +the carriage."</p> + +<p>He returned her glance, however, rather with passion than repentance, +and audaciously putting his arm round her waist, drew her towards him, +while he whispered in her ear, "What would your dear good mamma say to +that?"</p> + +<p>Had he possessed the cunning of Mephistophiles, he could not have +uttered words more calculated to unnerve her. The terrible conviction +that it was indeed possible her mother might justify, excuse, or, at any +rate, pardon the action, came upon her heart like ice, and burying her +face in her hands, she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Had Mr. Stephen Corbold been a wise man, he would have here ceased his +persecution: he saw that she was humbled to the dust by the reference he +had so skilfully made to her mother; and perhaps, had he emptied only +one decanter, he might have decided that it would be desirable to leave +her in that state of mind. But, as it was, he had the very exceeding +audacity once more to put his arm round her, and, by a sudden and most +unexpected movement, impressed a kiss upon her cheek.</p> + +<p>Helen uttered a piercing scream; and Mrs. Mowbray, opening her eyes, +demanded, in a voice of alarm, "What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Corbold sat profoundly silent; but Helen answered, in great +agitation, "I can remain in the carriage no longer, mamma, unless you +turn out this man!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen! Helen! what can you mean by using such language?" answered +her mother. "It is pride, I know, abominable pride,—I have seen it from +the very first,—which leads you to treat this excellent man as you do. +Do you forget that he is the relation as well as the friend of our +minister? Fie upon it, Helen! you must bring down this haughty spirit to +something more approaching meek Christian humility, or you and I shall +never be able to live together."</p> + +<p>It seems almost like a paradox, and yet it is perfectly true, that had +not Mrs. Mowbray from <i>the very first</i>, as she said, perceived the utter +vulgarity, in person, language, and demeanour, of the vicar's cousin, +she would have been greatly less observant and punctilious in her +civilities towards him; nor would she have been so fatally ready to +quarrel with her daughter for testifying her dislike of a man who, her +own taste told her, would be detestable, were not the holiness of his +principles such as to redeem every defect with which nature, education, +and habit had afflicted him.</p> + +<p>The more Mrs. Mowbray felt disposed to shrink from an intimate +association with the serious attorney, the more strenuously did she +force her nature to endure him; and feeling, almost unconsciously +perhaps, that it was impossible Helen should not detest him, she put all +her power and authority in action, not only to prevent her showing it, +but to prevent also so very sinful and worldly-minded a sentiment from +taking hold upon her young mind.</p> + +<p>Helen, however, was too much irritated at this moment to submit, as she +had been ever used to do, to the commands of her mother; and still +feeling the pressure of the serious attorney's person against her own, +she let down the front glass, and very resolutely called to the +postillions to stop.</p> + +<p>The boy who rode the wheeler immediately heard and obeyed her.</p> + +<p>"Tell the servant to open the door," said she with a firmness and +decision which she afterwards recalled to herself with astonishment.</p> + +<p>Thomas, who, the moment the carriage stopped, had got down, obeyed the +call she now addressed to him,—opened the door, gave her his arm; and +before either Mrs. Mowbray, or the serious attorney either, had fully +recovered from their astonishment, Helen was comfortably seated on the +dickey, enjoying the cool breeze of a delicious afternoon upon her +flushed cheek.</p> + +<p>The turn which was given to this transaction by Mr. Stephen Corbold +during the tête-à-tête conversation he enjoyed for the rest of the +journey with the young lady's mother was such as to do credit to his +acuteness; and that good lady's part in it showed plainly that the new +doctrines she had so rapidly imbibed, while pretending to purify her +heart, had most lamentably perverted her judgment.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIB" id="CHAPTER_VIB"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE RETURN.</h3> + + +<p>On reaching Mowbray, the first figure which greeted the eyes of the +travellers was that of Charles, stationed on the portico steps waiting +to receive them. A line from Helen to Rosalind, written only the day +before, announced their intended return; but the appearance of Charles +was a surprise to them, and to Helen certainly the most delightful that +she could have experienced.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright had written a long and very edifying letter to Mrs. +Mowbray, informing her of the unexpected arrival of her son from the +scene of his studies, and making such comments upon it as in his wisdom +seemed good. But though this too was written in the secret recesses of +his own chamber, with many affecting little circumstances demonstrative +of his holy and gentle emotions while so employed, it was, nevertheless, +under the influence of still riper wisdom, subsequently destroyed, +because he thought that the first surprise occasioned by the young man's +unwonted appearance would be more likely to produce the effect he +desired than even his statement.</p> + +<p>Neither Rosalind nor Charles himself had written, because they were both +unwilling to state the real cause of his coming, and thought the plea of +<i>whim</i> would pass off better in conversation than on paper. That Fanny +should write nothing which good Mr. Cartwright did not wish known, can +be matter of surprise to no one.</p> + +<p>Helen, who had descried Charles before the carriage stopped, descended +from her lofty position with dangerous rapidity, and sprang into his +arms with a degree of delight, greater, perhaps, than she had ever +before felt at seeing him.</p> + +<p>The exclamation of Mrs. Mowbray certainly had in it, as the wise vicar +predicted, a tone that indicated displeasure as well as surprise; and +the embrace, which she could not refuse, was so much less cordial than +it was wont to be, that he turned again to Helen, and once more pressed +her to his heart, as if to console him for the want of tenderness in his +mother's kiss.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mr. Stephen Corbold stood under the lofty portico, lost in +admiration at the splendid appearance of the house and grounds. Mrs. +Mowbray, with a sort of instinctive feeling that this excellent person +might not altogether find himself at his ease with her family, hastened +towards him, determined that her own Christian humility should at least +set them a good example, and putting out both her hands towards him, +exclaimed, with an earnestness that sounded almost like the voice of +prayer, "Welcome, <i>dear</i>, DEAR, Mr. Corbold, to my house and home! and +may you find in it the comfort and hospitality your exemplary character +deserves!" Then turning to her son, she added, "I know not how long you +are likely to stay away from college, Charles; but while you are here, I +beg that you will exert yourself to the very utmost to make Mowbray +agreeable to this gentleman; and remember, if you please, that his +religious principles, and truly edifying Christian sentiments, are +exactly such as I would wish to place before you as an example."</p> + +<p>Charles turned round towards the serious attorney, intending to welcome +him by an extended hand; but the thing was impossible. There was that in +his aspect with which he felt that he could never hold fellowship, and +his salutation was turned into a ceremonious bow; a change which it was +the less difficult to make, from the respectful distance at which the +stranger guest placed himself, while preparing to receive the young +man's welcome.</p> + +<p>Though Rosalind had purposely remained in her own apartment till the +first meeting with Charles was over, Helen was already in her arms; +having exchanged a hasty kiss with Fanny, whom she met in the hall, +hastening to receive her mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh! my dearest Rosalind! How thankful am I to be once more with you +again! I never, I think, shall be able to endure the sight of London +again as long as I live. I have been so very, very wretched there!"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Helen, I have not lived upon roses since you went. You +can hardly be so glad to come back, as I am to have you. What did your +mother say on seeing Charles?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know. She did not, I think, seem pleased to see him: but I am +more delighted at the chance that has brought him, let it be what it +will, than I have words to express. Oh! it is such a blessing to +me!—dear, dear, Charles! he knows not what a treasure he is. The very +sight of him has cured all my sorrows—and yet I was dreadfully +miserable just now."</p> + +<p>"Then, thank Heaven! he is here, my own Helen! But tell me, dearest, +what is it has made you miserable? Though you tell me it is over, the +tears seemed ready to start when you said so."</p> + +<p>"Oh! my woes will make a long story, Rosalind; and some of them must be +for your ear only; but this shall be at night, when nobody is near to +hear us:—but, by the way, you must have a great deal to tell me. How +comes it that Charles is here? And, what seems stranger still, how comes +it that, as he is here, you have not been living upon roses?"</p> + +<p>"My woes may make a story as well as yours, Helen; and a long one too, +if I tell all: but it must come out by degrees,—a series of sketches, +rather than an history."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen any body from Oakley, Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Helen!" said Rosalind smiling, as she watched the bright colour +mounting even to the brows of her friend; "your history, then, has had +nothing in it to prevent your remembering Oakley?"</p> + +<p>"My history, as you call it, Rosalind, has been made up of a series of +mortifications: some of them have almost broken my heart, and my spirit +too; but others have irritated me into a degree of courage and daring +that might perhaps have surprised you; and every thing that has happened +to me, has sent my thoughts back to my home and to my friends,—all my +friends, Rosalind,—with a degree of clinging and dependent affection +such as I never felt before."</p> + +<p>"My poor Helen! But look up, dearest! and shed no tears if you can help +it. We all seem to be placed in a very singular and unexpected position, +my dear friend; but it is not tears that will help us out of it. This +new man, this vicar, seems inclined to go such lengths with his +fanatical hypocrisy, that I have good hopes your mother and Fanny will +ere long get sick of him and his new lights, and then all will go right +again. Depend upon it, all that has hitherto gone wrong, has been wholly +owing to him. I certainly do not think that your poor father's will was +made in the spirit of wisdom; but even <i>that</i> would have produced none +of the effects it has done, had not this hateful man instilled, within +ten minutes after the will was read, the poison of doubt and suspicion +against Charles, into the mind of your mother. Do you not remember his +voice and his look, Helen, when he entered the room where we were all +three sitting with your mother? I am sure I shall never forget him! I +saw, in an instant, that he intended to make your mother believe that +Charles resented the will; and that, instead of coming himself, he had +sent him to your mother to tell her of it. I hated him then; and every +hour that has passed since has made me hate him more. But let us take +hope, Helen, even from the excess of the evil. Your mother cannot long +remain blind to his real character; and, when once she sees him as he +is, she will again become the dear kind mother you have all so fondly +loved."</p> + +<p>"Could I hope this, Rosalind, for the future, there is nothing I could +not endure patiently for the present,—at least nothing that could +possibly happen while Charles is here; but I do not hope it."</p> + +<p>There was a melancholy earnestness in Helen's voice, as she pronounced +the last words, that sounded like a heavy prophecy of evil to come, in +the ears of Rosalind. "Heaven help us, then!" she exclaimed. "If we are +really to live under the influence and authority of the Vicar of +Wrexhill, our fate will be dreadful. If your dear father had but been +spared to us a few years longer,—if you and I were but one-and-twenty +Helen,—how different would be the light in which I should view all that +now alarms us; my fortune would be plenty for both of us, and I would +take you with me to Ireland, and we would live with——"</p> + +<p>"Oh Rosalind! how can you talk so idly? Do you think that any thing +would make me leave my poor dear mother?"</p> + +<p>"If you were to marry, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"I should never do that without her consent; and that, you know, would +hardly be leaving her."</p> + +<p>"Well! 'Heaven and our innocency defend and guard us!' for I do think, +Helen, we are in a position that threatens vexation, to say the least of +it. I wonder if Miss Cartwright's visit is to end with your absence? She +is the very oddest personage! sometimes I pity her; sometimes I almost +admire her; sometimes I feel afraid of her, but never by any chance can +I continue even to fancy that I understand her character."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Yet in general you set about that rather rapidly, Rosalind. But +must we not go down? I have hardly seen Fanny, and I long to talk a +little to my own dear Charles."</p> + +<p>"And you will like to have some tea after your journey. Mrs. Mowbray, I +think, never stops <i>en route</i>?"</p> + +<p>"In general she does not; but to-day——" a shudder ran through Helen's +limbs as she remembered the travelling adventures of the day, and she +stopped.</p> + +<p>"You look tired and pale, Helen! Come down, take some tea, and then go +to bed directly. If we do not act with promptitude and decision in this +matter, we shall set up talking all night."</p> + +<p>As they passed Miss Cartwright's door, Rosalind knocked, and that young +lady immediately opened it.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you are come back then? I fancied, by Mr. Cartwright's not coming +this evening, that something might have occurred to prevent you?"</p> + +<p>"If it had," said Helen, smiling, "it must have been announced by +express, for you can only have had my letter this morning."</p> + +<p>"True!" replied Miss Cartwright.</p> + +<p>When the three young ladies entered the drawing-room, they found nobody +in it but Mr. Stephen Corbold; Mrs. Mowbray having gone with Fanny to +her own room, and Charles ensconced himself in the library, to avoid a +tête-à-tête with the unpromising-looking stranger.</p> + +<p>Rosalind gave him a glance, and then looked at Helen with an eye that +seemed to say, "Who in the world have you brought us?" Helen, however, +gave no glance of intelligence in return; but, walking to a table which +stood in that part of the room which was at the greatest distance from +the place occupied by Mr. Corbold, she sat down, and began earnestly +reading an old newspaper that she found upon it.</p> + +<p>Miss Cartwright started on recognising her cousin, and though she +condescended to pronounce, "How do you do, Mr. Corbold?" there was but a +cold welcome to him expressed either by her voice or manner. No one +presented him to Rosalind, and altogether he felt as little at his ease +as it was well possible for a gentleman to do, when the door opened, and +Mrs. Mowbray and Fanny appeared. From that moment he became as much +distinguished as he was before overlooked. Fanny, who knew that it was +Mr. Cartwright's cousin who stood bowing to her, delighted at the honour +of being told that she was "Miss Fanny Mowbray," received him with a +kindness and condescension which soothed her own feelings as much as +his, for she felt that every word she spoke to him was a proof of her +devotion to her dear, good Mr. Cartwright! and that, when he heard of +it, he could not fail to understand that it was for his sake.</p> + +<p>The party retired early, ostensibly for the sake of the travellers; but +perhaps the real cause of this general haste to separate, was, that they +all felt themselves singularly embarrassed in each other's company. +Before Mrs. Mowbray had been five minutes in her house, she had ordered +a splendid sleeping apartment to be made ready for Mr. Corbold; and the +first half-hour after retiring to it, was spent by him in taking an +accurate survey of its furniture, fittings-up, and dimensions: after +which, he very nearly stifled himself (forgetful of the dog-days) by +striving to enjoy the full luxury of the abounding pillows with which +his magnificent couch was furnished.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray and Fanny separated after a short but confidential +colloquy. Miss Cartwright took her solitary way to her chamber, where, +as the housemaids asserted, she certainly spent half the night in +reading, or writing, or something or other, before she put out her +light: and Rosalind and Helen, spite of their good resolutions, not only +sat up talking in the library themselves, but permitted Charles to share +their watch with them; so that, before they separated, every fact, +thought, or opinion, treasured in the minds of each, were most +unreservedly communicated to the others,—excepting that Helen did not +disclose at full length <i>all</i> the reasons she had for detesting Mr. +Corbold, and Charles did not think it necessary to mention, that +Rosalind grew fairer to his eyes, and dearer to his heart, every hour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIB" id="CHAPTER_VIIB"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE VICAR AND HIS COUSIN.</h3> + + +<p>None of the Mowbray family were present at the meeting between the Vicar +of Wrexhill and his cousin. The latter, indeed, set out from the Park at +a very early hour on the morning after his arrival, in order to +breakfast with his much esteemed relation, and to enjoy in the privacy +of his Vicarage a little friendly and confidential conversation as to +the projects and intentions concerning him, which had been hinted at in +his letters.</p> + +<p>He was welcomed by Mr. Cartwright with very obliging civility; not but +that the vicar felt and showed, upon this, as well as all other +occasions, a very proper consciousness of his own superiority in all +ways. However, the Corbold connexion had been very essentially useful to +him in days past; and Mr. Stephen, the present representative of the +family, might <i>possibly</i> be extremely useful to him in days to come. +Several fresh-laid eggs were therefore placed on the table,—coffee was +added to tea,—and his reception in all ways such as to make Mr. Stephen +feel himself extremely comfortable.</p> + +<p>When the repast was ended, Mr. Jacob received a hint to withdraw; and +as soon as the door was closed behind him, the serious vicar approached +his chair to that of the serious attorney, with the air of one who had +much to hear, and much to communicate.</p> + +<p>"You seem hereunto, cousin Stephen, to have managed this excellent +business, which under Providence I have been enabled to put into your +hands, with great ability; and, by a continuation of mercy, I am not +without hope, that you will, as I heretofore hinted, bring the same to +good effect."</p> + +<p>"There is hope, great and exceeding merciful hope, cousin William, that +all you have anticipated, and peradventure more too, may come to pass. A +blessing and a providence seem already to have lighted upon you, cousin, +in your new ministry, for into this vessel which your cousinly kindness +hath set within my sight, you have poured grace and abounding +righteousness. Surely there never was a lady endowed with such goodly +gifts who was more disposed to make a free-will offering of them to the +saints, than this pious and in all ways exemplary widow."</p> + +<p>"Your remarks, cousin, are those of a man on whom the light shines. May +the mercy of Heaven strengthen unto you, for its glory, the talent it +hath bestowed! And now with the freedom of kinsmen who speak together, +tell to me what are the hopes and expectations to which your +conversation with this excellent, and already very serious lady, have +given birth."</p> + +<p>"I have no wish or intention, cousin William, of hiding from you any +portion of the thoughts which it has pleased Providence to send into my +heart; the which are in fact, for the most part, founded upon the +suggestions which, by the light of truth, I discerned in the first +letter upon the widow Mowbray's affairs which you addressed unto me."</p> + +<p>"Respecting the agency of her own business, and peradventure that of her +ward's also?"</p> + +<p>"Even so. I have, in truth, well-founded faith and hope that by the +continuation of your friendship and good report, cousin William, I may +at no distant period attain unto both."</p> + +<p>"And if you do, cousin Stephen," returned the vicar, with a smile; "your +<i>benefice</i> in the parish of Wrexhill will be worth considerably more +than mine."</p> + +<p>A serious, waggish, holy, cunning smile now illuminated the +red, dry features of the attorney, and shaking his head with a +Burleigh-like-pregnancy of meaning, he said, "Ah, cousin!"</p> + +<p>The vicar smiled again, and rising from his chair, put his head and +shoulders out of the open window, looking carefully, as it seemed, in +all directions; then, drawing them in again, he proceeded to open the +door of the room, and examined the passage leading to it in the same +cautious manner.</p> + +<p>"My son Jacob is one of the finest young men in Europe, cousin Stephen," +said the vicar, reseating himself; "but he is young, and as full of +little childish innocent fooleries as any baby: so it is as well not to +speak all we may have to say, without knowing that we are alone; for +many an excellent plan in which Providence seemed to have taken a great +share, has been impiously spoiled, frustrated, and destroyed, by the +want of caution in those to whom it was intrusted. Let not such sin lie +at our door! Now tell me then, cousin Stephen, and tell me frankly, why +did you smile and say, 'Ah cousin'?"</p> + +<p>"Because, while speaking of what, through mercy, I may get at Wrexhill, +it seemed to me like a misdoubting of Providence not to speak a little +hint of what its chosen minister there may get too."</p> + +<p>"I get my vicar's dues, cousin Stephen; and it may be, by a blessing +upon my humble endeavours, I may, when next Easter falls, obtain some +trifle both from high and low in the way of Easter offering."</p> + +<p>"Ah, cousin!" repeated the attorney, renewing his intelligent smile.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said the well-pleased vicar, "speak out."</p> + +<p>"I am but a plodding man of business," replied Mr. Corbold, "with such +illumination upon matters of faith as Providence hath been pleased to +bestow; but my sense, such as it is, tells me that the excellent and +pious widow of Mowbray Park will not always be permitted by Providence +to remain desolate."</p> + +<p>"She does, in truth, deserve a better fate," rejoined the vicar.</p> + +<p>"And what better fate can befall her, cousin William, than being bound +together in holy matrimony with one of the most shining lights to be +found among the saints on earth?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!" responded the vicar with a sigh; "that is the fate she merits, +and that is the fate she ought to meet!"</p> + +<p>"And shall we doubt Providence?—shall we doubt that a mate shall be +found for her? No, cousin William; doubt not, for I say unto thee, 'Thou +art the man!'"</p> + +<p>The vicar endeavoured to look solemn; but, though his handsome features +were in general under excellent control, he could not at this moment +repress a pleasant sort of simpering smile that puckered round his +mouth. Mr. Stephen Corbold, perceiving that his cousin was in nowise +displeased by the prophecy he had taken the liberty to utter, returned +to the subject again, saying, "I wish you had seen her face,—she must +have been very like her daughter,—I wish you could have seen her, +cousin William, every time I named you!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Did she really testify some emotion? I trust you are not +jesting, cousin Stephen; this is no subject for pleasantry."</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly it is not! and I think that you must altogether have +forgotten my temper and character, if you suppose that I should think it +such. To tell you the truth, cousin, I look upon the time present as a +period marked and settled by Providence for the calling you up to the +high places. Will it not be a glory to have its minister and servant +placed in such a palace as Mowbray? and will it not be converting what +hitherto has doubtless been the abode of sinners, into a temple for the +elect?"</p> + +<p>"I will not deny," replied the vicar, "that such thoughts have +occasionally found place in my own mind. There have already been some +very singular and remarkable manifestations in this matter; and it is +the perceiving this, which has led me to believe, and indeed feel +certain, that my duty calls upon me so to act, that this wealthy relict +of a man too much addicted to the things of this world may, finally by +becoming part and parcel of myself, lose not the things eternal."</p> + +<p>"I greatly rejoice," rejoined Mr. Corbold, "that such is your decision +in this matter; and if it should so fall out that Heaven in its wisdom +and goodness shall ordain you to become the master of Mowbray Park, (at +these words the vicar cast his eyes upon the ground and meekly bowed his +head,) and I have a persuasion that it will so ordain, borne strongly in +upon my mind, then and in that case, cousin William, I trust that your +patronage and support will not be withdrawn from me."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Stephen," replied the vicar, "you are a man that on many +occasions I shall covet and desire to have by me and near me, both for +your profit and advantage and my own; but in the case which you have +put, and which Heaven seems to have whispered to your soul—in the +case, Stephen, that I should ever become the master and owner of +Mowbray, and all the sundry properties thereunto belonging, I think—no +offence to you, cousin—that I should prefer managing the estates +myself."</p> + +<p>The serious attorney looked somewhat crestfallen, and perhaps some such +questionings were borne in upon his mind as—"What is it to me if he +marries the widow, if I do not get the management of the estates?"</p> + +<p>When the vicar raised his eyes to the face of his cousin, he probably +perceived the impression his words had produced, and kindly anxious to +restore him to more comfortable feelings, he added,—"The fine property +of Miss Torrington, cousin Stephen, might certainly be placed entirely +in your hands—the management of it I mean—till she comes of age; but +then if she marries my son, which I think not unlikely, it is probable +that Jacob may follow my example, and prefer taking care of the property +himself."</p> + +<p>"Then, at the very best," replied Mr. Corbold, "I can only hope to +obtain an agency for a year or two?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, cousin; my hopes for you go much farther than that. +In the first place, I would recommend it to you, immediately to settle +yourself at Wrexhill: I am told that there is a good deal of business up +and down the country hereabouts; and, if I obtain the influence that I +hope to do in more ways than one, I shall take care that no attorney is +employed but yourself, cousin Stephen. Besides this, I know that there +may happen to be settlements or wills wanting amongst us, my good +friend, which may make your being at hand very convenient; and, in all +such cases, you would do your work, you know, pretty much at your own +price. All this, however, is only contingent, I am quite aware of that; +and therefore, in order that you may in some sort share my good +fortune,—if such indeed should fall upon me,—I have been thinking, +cousin Stephen, that when I shall be married to this lady, whom it has +pleased Providence to place in my path, you, being then the near +relative of a person of consequence and high consideration in the +county, may also aspire to increase your means by the same holy +ordinance; and if such a measure should seem good to your judgment, I +have a lady in my eye,—also a widow, and a very charming one, my dear +friend,—who lives in a style that shows her to be favoured by +Providence with the goods of fortune. What say you to this, cousin +Stephen?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it is borne in upon me to say, cousin William, that, in such a +case as this, I should be inclined to follow your good example, and +choose for myself. And, truth to speak, I believe the choice is in some +sort made already; and I don't see but your marriage may be as likely to +help me in this case as in the other; and as to fortune, it is probable +that you may be able to lend me a helping hand there, too; for the young +lady, I fancy, is no other than your own daughter-in-law that is to +be—the pretty Miss Helen, cousin William?"</p> + +<p>The vicar as he listened to these words, very nearly uttered a whistle. +He was, however, as he whispered to himself, mercifully saved from such +an indecorum by the timely remembrance that his cousin, though an +attorney, was a very serious man; but, though he did not whistle, he +deemed it necessary to express in a more solemn and proper manner his +doubts of the success to be hoped from the scheme proposed by Mr. +Corbold.</p> + +<p>"As to the fortune of the young person who may, as you observe, some day +by the blessing of Providence become my daughter-in-law, I must tell you +as a friend and kinsman, cousin Stephen, that I hold it to be very +doubtful if she ever have any fortune at all. Are you aware that she is +not regenerate?"</p> + +<p>"I partly guess as much," replied the attorney. "But," he added with a +smile, "I can't say I should have any objection to marrying her first, +and leading her into the way of salvation afterwards. And when I can +testify to her having forsaken the errors of her ways, and that I have +made her a light to lighten the Gentiles, I suppose you won't object +then to her coming in for a share of her mother's inheritance?"</p> + +<p>"That would certainly make a difference; but I won't disguise from you, +cousin, that I consider this young person's as a hopeless case. She was +foredoomed from the beginning of the world: I see the mark upon her. +However, that might not perhaps make such difference in your +determination, for I know you to be a man very steadfast in hope, cousin +Stephen. But there is, moreover, I think, another obstacle. You must not +take my frankness amiss; but I have an inward misgiving as to her being +willing to accept you."</p> + +<p>"As the young lady is a minor, cousin William, I should count upon its +being in your power to make her marry pretty well whom you please. And +this you may rely upon, that, in case you favour me heartily in this +matter, there is no work of any kind that you could put me to, that I +should not think it my bounden duty to perform."</p> + +<p>"You speak like a just and conscientious man, cousin Corbold; and, by +the blessing of Heaven upon us, I trust that we shall be so able to work +together for righteousness' sake, that in the end we may compass that +which we desire. Nevertheless, I confess that it is still borne in upon +me that the fair and excellent widow Simpson would be the wisest choice +for you."</p> + +<p>"Should it please Providence that such should be my own opinion +hereafter, cousin Cartwright, I will not fail to make it known unto +you."</p> + +<p>"I will rest my faith on your wisdom therein," replied the vicar: "but +it is now time that I should go to speak the blessing of a minister, and +the welcome of a friend, to the excellent lady at the Park. And remember +two things, cousin Stephen: the first is, never to remain in the room +with the widow Mowbray and myself, when no other persons are present; +and the next is in importance like unto it,—remember that the lady is +even yet new in widowhood, and that any imprudent and premature allusion +to my possibly taking her in marriage might ruin all. There are those +near her, cousin Stephen, who I question not will fight against me."</p> + +<p>The attorney promised to be awake and watchful, and never to permit his +tongue to betray the counsels of his heart.</p> + +<p>The cousins and friends (who, notwithstanding the difference of their +callings, considered themselves, as Mr. Corbold observed, +fellow-labourers in the vineyard,) then walked forth together towards +Mowbray Park, well pleased with themselves and all things around them at +the present, and with pious confidence in the reward of their labours +for the future.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIIB" id="CHAPTER_VIIIB"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES'S SORROW.—MRS. SIMPSON IN HER NEW CHARACTER.—THE VICAR'S +PROCEEDINGS DISCUSSED.</h3> + + +<p>The two gentlemen found the family at the Park very sociably seated +round a late breakfast table. Helen, Rosalind, and Charles, before they +broke up their conclave in the library the night before, or rather that +morning, had all decided that in the present thorny and difficult +position of affairs, it was equally their duty and interest to +propitiate the kind feelings of Mrs. Mowbray by every means in their +power, and draw her thereby, if possible, from the mischievous and +insidious influence of her new associates.</p> + +<p>"It is hardly possible to believe," said Charles, "that my mother can +really prefer the society of such an animal as this methodistical +attorney to that of her own family, or of those neighbours and friends +from whom, since my father's death, she has so completely withdrawn +herself. It is very natural she should be out of spirits, poor dear +soul! and Mr. Cartwright is just the sort of person to obtain influence +at such a time; but I trust this will wear off again. She will soon get +sick of the solemn attorney, and we shall all be as happy again as +ever."</p> + +<p>"Heaven grant it!" said Helen with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Heaven grant it!" echoed Rosalind with another.</p> + +<p>It was in consequence of this resolution, that the trio continued to sit +at the table much longer than usual; exerting themselves to amuse Mrs. +Mowbray, to win from Fanny one of her former bright smiles, and even to +make Miss Cartwright sociable.</p> + +<p>Their efforts were not wholly unsuccessful. There was a genuine +animation and vivacity about Charles that seemed irresistible: Mrs. +Mowbray looked at him with a mother's eye; Miss Cartwright forsook her +monosyllables, and almost conversed; and Fanny, while listening first to +Helen, and then to her brother, forgot her duty as a professing +Christian as far as to let a whole ringlet of her sunny hair get loose +from behind her ear, and not notice it.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this gleam of sunshine the door opened, and Mr. +Cartwright and Mr. Corbold were announced. Ambitions of producing effect +as both these serious gentlemen certainly were, they could hardly have +hoped, when their spirits were most exalted within them, to have caused +a more remarkable revolution in the state of things than their +appearance now produced.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray coloured, half rose from her chair, sat down again, and +finally exclaimed, "Oh! Mr. Cartwright!" in a tone of voice that +manifested almost every feeling he could wish to inspire.</p> + +<p>Fanny, who was in the very act of smiling when the door opened, +immediately became conscious that her hair was out of order, and that +her whole attitude and manner were wanting in that Christian grace and +sobriety which had been of late her chiefest glory. Such Christian grace +and sobriety, however, as she had lately learned, poor child! are not +difficult to assume, or long in putting on; so that before "her +minister" had completed his little prayer and thanksgiving in the ear of +her mother, for her eternal happiness and her safe return, Fanny was +quite in proper trim to meet his eye, and receive his blessing.</p> + +<p>Henrietta at once fell back into her wonted heavy silent gloom, like a +leaden statue upon which the sun, shining for a moment, had thrown the +hue of silver.</p> + +<p>Charles stood up, and saluted the vicar civilly but coldly; while to his +companion's low bow he returned a slight and stiff inclination of the +head.</p> + +<p>It should be observed that, during the few days which intervened between +the arrival of Charles and the return of his mother, the vicar had +greatly relaxed in his attentions to Fanny, and indeed altogether in the +frequency of his pastoral visitations at the Park. He had explained this +in the ear of his pretty proselyte, by telling her that he was much +engaged in pushing forward the work of regeneration in his parish, to +the which holy labour he was the more urgently incited by perceiving +that the seed was not thrown upon barren ground. Nor indeed was this +statement wholly untrue. He had taken advantage of the leisure which the +present posture of affairs at the Park left upon his hands, in seeking +to inflame the imaginations of as many of his parishioners as he could +get to listen to him.</p> + +<p>Among the females he had been particularly successful; and, indeed, the +proportion of the fair sex who are found to embrace the tenets which +this gentleman and his sect have introduced in place of those of the +Church of England, is so great, that, as their faith is an exclusive +one, it might be conjectured that the chief object of the doctrine was +to act as a balance-weight against that of Mahomet, who, atrocious +tyrant as he was, shut the gates of heaven against all woman-kind +whatsoever; were it not that an occasional nest of he-saints may here +and there be found,—sometimes in a drum-profaned barrack, and sometimes +in a cloistered college, which show that election is not wholly confined +to the fair. There are, however, some very active and inquiring persons +who assert, that upon a fair and accurate survey throughout England and +Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, no greater +number of this sect can be found of the masculine gender than may +suffice to perform the duties of ministers, deputy ministers, +missionaries, assistant missionaries, speech-makers both in and out of +parliament, committee-men, and such serious footmen, coachmen, butchers, +and bakers, as the fair inhabitants of the Calvinistic heaven require to +perform the unfeminine drudgery of earth.</p> + +<p>It was in consequence of this remission in the vicar's labours for the +regeneration of Fanny, that Charles Mowbray still treated him with the +respect due to the clergyman of his parish. Rosalind felt it quite +impossible to describe to him all she had seen, and her promise to +Henrietta forbade her to repeat what she had heard; so that young +Mowbray, though he disapproved of the puritanic innovations of Fanny's +toilet, and so much disliked Mr. Cartwright's extempore preaching as to +have decided upon attending divine service at Oakley church for the +future, to avoid hearing what he considered as so very indecent an +innovation, he was still quite unaware of Rosalind's real motives for +recalling him, though extremely well inclined to think her right in +having done so.</p> + +<p>Miss Torrington and Helen left the room very soon after the two +gentlemen entered it. Henrietta, with the stealthy step of a cat, +followed them, and young Mowbray felt strongly tempted to do the like; +but was prevented, not so much by politeness perhaps, as by curiosity to +ascertain, if possible, the terms on which both these gentlemen stood +with his mother.</p> + +<p>But it was not possible. As long as he remained with them, the very +scanty conversation which took place was wholly on uninteresting +subjects; and Charles at length left the room, from feeling that it was +not his mother's pleasure to talk to the attorney of the business that +he presumed must have brought him there, as long as he remained in it.</p> + +<p>There is in the domestic history of human life no cause productive of +effects so terrible as the habit of acting according to the impulse, or +the convenience, of the moment, without fully considering the effect +what we are doing may produce on others.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray, in waiting till Charles left the room before she spake to +Mr. Corbold of the title-deeds and other papers which she was to put +into his hands, was almost wholly actuated by the consciousness that the +attorney she was employing (though a serious) was a very vulgar man. She +knew that her son was rather fastidious on such points; and she disliked +the idea that a man, whose distinguished piety rendered him so +peculiarly eligible as a man of business, should, at his first +introduction to the confidential situation she intended he should hold, +lay himself open to the ridicule of a youth, who, she sighed to think, +was as yet quite incapable of appreciating his merit in any way.</p> + +<p>If any secondary motive mixed with this, it arose from the averseness +she felt, of which she was not herself above half conscious, that any +one should hear advice given by Mr. Cartwright, who might think +themselves at liberty to question it; but, with all this, she never +dreamed of the pain she was giving to Charles's heart. She dreamed not +that her son,—her only son,—with a heart as warm, as generous, as +devoted in its filial love, as ever beat in the breast of a man, felt +all his ardent affection for her,—his proud fond wish of being her +protector, her aid, her confidential friend—now checked and chilled at +once, and for ever!</p> + +<p>This consequence of her cold, restrained manner in his presence, was so +natural,—in fact, so inevitable,—that had she turned her eyes from +herself and her own little unimportant feelings, to what might be their +effect upon his, it is hardly possible that she could have avoided +catching some glimpse of the danger she ran,—and much after misery +might have been spared; as it was, she felt a movement of unequivocal +satisfaction when he departed; and, having told Fanny to join the other +young ladies while she transacted business, she was left alone with the +two gentlemen, and, in a few minutes afterwards, the contents of her +late husband's strong-box, consisting of parchments, memoranda, and +deeds almost innumerable, overspread the large table, as well as every +sofa and chair within convenient reach.</p> + +<p>The two serious gentlemen smiled, but it was inwardly. Their eyes ran +over the inscription of every precious packet; and if those of the +professional man caught more rapidly at a glance the respective +importance of each, the vicar had the advantage of him in that prophetic +feeling of their future importance to himself, which rendered the +present hour one of the happiest of his life.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Charles sought Helen and her friend. Far, however, from +wishing to impart to them the painful impression he had received, his +principal object in immediately seeking them was, if possible, to forget +it. He found the four girls together in the conservatory, and, affecting +more gaiety than he felt, exclaimed, "How many recruits shall I get +among you to join me in a walk to Wrexhill? One, two, three, four! +That's delightful! Make haste; bonnet and veil yourselves without delay: +and if we skirt round the plantations to the lodge, we shall escape +being broiled, for the lanes are always shady."</p> + +<p>When he had got his convoy fairly under weigh, they began to make +inquiries as to what he was going to do at Wrexhill. "I will tell you," +he replied, "if you will promise not to run away and forsake me."</p> + +<p>They pledged themselves to be faithful to their escort, and he then +informed them, that it was his very particular wish and desire to pay +sundry visits to the <i>beau monde</i> of Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>"It is treason to the milliner not to have told us so before, Charles," +said Helen; "only look at poor Fanny's little straw-bonnet, without even +a bow to set it off. What will Mrs. Simpson think of us?"</p> + +<p>"I assure you, Helen," said Fanny, "that if I had known we were going to +visit all the fine people in the county, I should have put on no other +bonnet; and as for Mrs. Simpson, I believe you are quite mistaken in +supposing she would object to it. I hope she has seen the error of her +ways, as well as I have, Charles; and that we shall never more see her +dressed like a heathenish woman, as she used to do."</p> + +<p>"Oh Fanny! Fanny!" exclaimed Charles, laughing. "How long will this +spirit vex you."</p> + +<p>Fortunately, however, for the harmony of the excursion, none of the +party appeared at this moment inclined to controversy, and the subject +dropped. Instead, therefore, of talking of different modes of faith, and +of the bonnets thereunto belonging, the conversation turned upon the +peculiar beauty of the woodland scenery around Wrexhill; and Miss +Cartwright, as almost a stranger, was applied to for her opinion of it.</p> + +<p>"I believe I am a very indifferent judge of scenery," she replied. "The +fact is, I never see it."</p> + +<p>"Do you not see it now?" said Rosalind. "Do you not see that beautiful +stretch of park-like common, with its tufts of holly, its rich groups of +forest-trees, with their dark heavy drapery of leaves, relieved by the +light and wavy gracefulness of the delicate and silvery birch? and, +loveliest of all, do you not see that stately avenue of oaks, the turf +under them green in eternal shade, and the long perspective, looking +like the nave of some gigantic church?"</p> + +<p>Rosalind stood still as she spoke, and Henrietta remained beside her. +They were descending the bit of steep road which, passing behind the +church and the vicarage, led into the village street of Wrexhill, and +the scene described by Miss Torrington was at this point completely +given to their view.</p> + +<p>Henrietta put her arm within that of Rosalind with a degree of +familiarity very unusual with her, and having gazed on the fair expanse +before her for several minutes, she replied, "Yes, Rosalind, I do see it +now, and I thank you for making it visible to me. Perhaps, in future, +when I may perchance be thinking of you, I may see it again."</p> + +<p>Rosalind turned to seek her meaning in her face, and saw that her dark +deep-set eyes were full of tears. This was so unexpected, so +unprecedented, so totally unlike any feeling she had ever remarked in +her before, that Rosalind was deeply touched by it, and, pressing the +arm that rested on hers, she said: "Dear Henrietta! Why are you so +averse to letting one understand what passes in your heart? It is only +by an accidental breath, which now and then lifts the veil you hang +before it, that one can even find out you have any heart at all."</p> + +<p>"Did you know all the darkness that dwells there, you would not thank me +for showing it to you."</p> + +<p>Having said this, she stepped hastily forward, and drawing on Rosalind, +who would have lingered, with her, till they had overtaken the others, +they all turned from the lane into the village street together.</p> + +<p>They had not proceeded a hundred yards, before they were met by a dozen +rosy and riotous children returning from dinner to school. At sight of +the Mowbray party, every boy uncapped, and every little girl made her +best courtesy; but one unlucky wag, whose eyes unfortunately fixed +themselves on Fanny, being struck by the precision of her little bonnet, +straight hair, and the total absence of frill, furbelow, or any other +indication of worldly-mindedness, restrained his bounding steps for a +moment, and, pursing up his little features into a look of sanctity, +exclaimed—"Amen!"—and then, terrified at what he had done, galloped +away and hid himself among his fellows.</p> + +<p>Fanny coloured, but immediately assumed the resigned look that +announceth martyrdom. Charles laughed, though he turned round and shook +his switch at the saucy offender. Helen looked vexed, Rosalind amused, +and Henrietta very nearly delighted.</p> + +<p>A few minutes more brought them to the door of Mrs. Simpson. Their +inquiry for the lady was answered by the information that she "was +schooling miss; but if they would be pleased to walk in, she would come +down directly." They accordingly entered the drawing-room, where they +were kept waiting for some time, which was indeed pretty generally the +fate of morning visitors to Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>The interval was employed as the collectors of albums and annuals intend +all intervals should be, namely, in the examination of all the +morocco-bound volumes deposited on the grand round table in the middle +of the room, and on all the square, oblong, octagon, and oval minor +tables, in the various nooks and corners of it.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion they seemed to promise more amusement than usual +to the party, who had most of them been frequently there before,—for +they were nearly all new. Poor little Fanny, though she knew that not +one of those with her were capable of enjoying the intellectual and +edifying feast that almost the first glance of her eye showed her was +set before them, could not restrain an exclamation of—"Oh! How +heavenly-minded!"</p> + +<p>The whole collection indeed, which though recently and hastily formed, +had evidently been brought together by the hand of a master of such +matters, was not only most strictly evangelical, but most evangelically +ingenious.</p> + +<p>Helen, however, appeared to find food neither for pleasantry nor +edification there; for having opened one or two slender volumes, and as +many heavy pamphlets, she abandoned the occupation with a sigh, that +spoke sadness and vexation. Miss Cartwright, who had seated herself on +the same sofa, finished her examination still more quickly, saying in a +low voice as she settled herself in a well-pillowed corner—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Surfeit is the father of much fast."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Miss Torrington and young Mowbray got hold of by far the finest volume +of all, whose gilt leaves and silken linings showed that it was intended +as the repository of the most precious gifts, that, according to the +frontispiece, Genius could offer to Friendship. Having given a glance at +its contents, Charles drew out his pencil, and on the blank side of a +letter wrote the following catalogue of them, which, though imperfect as +not naming them all, was most scrupulously correct as far as it went:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Saint Paul's head, sketched in pen and ink;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Here's the bower,' to words of grace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The death-bed talk of Master Blink;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lines on a fallen maiden's case.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sonnet upon heavenly love;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A pencil drawing of Saint Peter.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Emblems—the pigeon and the dove.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gray's Odes, turned to psalm-tune metre.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Christian ode in praise of tea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Freely translated from Redi."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He had just presented the scrap to Rosalind when Mrs. Simpson entered, +leading her little girl in her hand; but the young lady had leisure to +convey it unnoticed to her pocket, as the mistress of the house had for +the first few minutes eyes only for Fanny. In fact, she literally ran to +her the instant she perceived her little bonnet, and, folding her arms +round her, exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear child! My dear, dear sister! This is providential! It is +a blessing I shall remember alway! Our minister told me that I should +read at a glance the blessed change wrought upon you: I do read it, and +I will rejoice therefore! I beg your pardon, ladies. Mr. Mowbray, pray +sit down—I beg your pardon: I rejoice to see you, though as yet——"</p> + +<p>Her eyes fixed themselves on the bonnet of Rosalind, which, besides +being large, had the abomination of sundry bows, not to mention a bunch +of laburnum blossoms.</p> + +<p>"Ah! my dear Miss Helen! The time will come—I will supplicate that it +may—when you too, like your precious sister, shall become a sign and +example to all men. How the seed grows, my sweet Miss Fanny!" she +continued, turning to the only one of her guests whom, strictly +speaking, she considered it right to converse with. "How it grows and +spreads under the dew of faith and the sunshine of righteousness. It is +just three months, three little blessed months, since the beam first +fell upon my heart, Miss Fanny; and look at me, look at my child, look +at my albums, look at my books, look at my card-racks, look at my +missionary's box on one side, and my London Lord-days' society box on +the other. Is not this a ripening and preparing for the harvest, Miss +Fanny?"</p> + +<p>Fanny coloured, partly perhaps from pride and pleasure; but partly, +certainly, from shyness at being so distinguished, and only murmured the +word "Beautiful!" in reply.</p> + +<p>Miss Mowbray felt equally provoked and disgusted; but, while inwardly +resolving that she would never again put herself in the way of +witnessing what she so greatly condemned, she deemed it best to stay, if +possible, the torrent of nonsense which was thus overwhelming her +sister, by giving another turn to the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen Mrs. Richards lately, Mrs. Simpson?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Richards and I very rarely meet now, Miss Mowbray," was the reply. +"The three young ladies indeed, I am happy to say, have wholly separated +themselves from their mother in spirit, and are all of them becoming +shining lights. Oh, Miss Fanny! how sweetly pious are those lines +written between you and little Mary!"</p> + +<p>Fanny suddenly became as red as scarlet.</p> + +<p>"The alternate verses, I mean, in praise and glory of our excellent +minister. He brought them to me himself, and we read them together, and +we almost shed tears of tender blessing on you both, dear children!"</p> + +<p>Charles, who thought, and with great satisfaction, that whatever stuff +his poor little sister might have written, she was now very heartily +ashamed of it, wishing to relieve her from the embarrassment, which +nevertheless he rejoiced to see, rose from his chair, and approaching a +window, said, "What a very pleasant room you have here, Mrs. Simpson; it +is almost due east, is it not? If the room over it be your apartment, I +should think the sun must pay you too early a visit there, unless your +windows are well curtained."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Mowbray! Sunrise is such a time of praise and blessing, that, +even though the curtains are drawn, I always try, if I am awake, to +think how heavenly it is looking outside."</p> + +<p>"Are you an early riser, Mrs. Simpson?" said Helen.</p> + +<p>"Not very,—at least not always; but since my election I have been +endeavouring to get down to prayers by about half-past eight. It is so +delightful to think how many people are coming down stairs to prayers +just at half-past eight!"</p> + +<p>"Your little girl is very much grown, Mrs. Simpson," said Miss +Torrington, willing to try another opening by which to escape from under +the heels of the lady's hobby; but it did not answer.</p> + +<p>"Hold up your head, Mimima dear!" said the mamma; "and tell these ladies +what you have been learning lately. She is still rather shy; but it is +going off, I hope. Precious child! she is grown such a prayerful thing, +Miss Fanny, you can't imagine. Mimima, why did you not eat up all your +currant-pudding yesterday? tell Miss Fanny Mowbray!"</p> + +<p>"Because it is wicked to love currant-pudding," answered the child, +folding her little hands one over the other upon the bosom of her plain +frock, no longer protruding in all directions its sumptuous +chevaux-de-frise of lace and embroidery.</p> + +<p>"Darling angel! And why, my precious! is it wicked?"</p> + +<p>"Because it is a sin to care for our vile bodies, and because we ought +to love nothing but the Lord."</p> + +<p>"Is not that a blessing?" said Mrs. Simpson, again turning to Fanny. +"And how can I be grateful enough to the angelic man who has put me and +my little one in the right way?"</p> + +<p>It was really generous in good Mrs. Simpson to give all the praise due +for the instruction and religious awakening of her little girl to the +vicar, for it was in truth entirely her own work; as it generally +happened, that when Mr. Cartwright paid her a visit, fearing probably +that the movements of a child might disturb his nerves, she dismissed +her little Mimima to her nursery.</p> + +<p>One or two more attempts on the part of Helen to bring the conversation +to a tone that she should consider as more befitting the neighbourly +chit-chat of a morning visit, and, in plain English, less tinctured with +blasphemy, having been made and failed, she rose and took her leave, the +rest of her party following; but not without Fanny's receiving another +embrace, and this fervent farewell uttered in her ear:</p> + +<p>"The saints and angels bless and keep you, dear sister!"</p> + +<p>After quitting the house of this regenerated lady, the party proposed to +make a visit to that of Mrs. Richards; but Miss Cartwright expressed a +wish to go to the Vicarage instead, and begged they would call at the +door for her as they passed. Miss Torrington offered to accompany her, +but this was declined, though not quite in her usual cynical manner upon +such occasions; and, could Rosalind have followed her with her eye up +the Vicarage hill, she would have seen that she stopped and turned to +look down upon the common and its trees, just at the spot where they had +stood together before.</p> + +<p>On entering Mrs. Richards's pretty flower-scented little saloon, they +were startled and somewhat embarrassed at finding that lady in tears, +and Major Dalrymple walking about the room with very evident symptoms of +discomposure. Helen, who, like every body else in the neighbourhood, was +perfectly aware of the major's unrequited attachment, or, at any rate, +his unsuccessful suit, really thought that the present moment was +probably intended by him to decide his fate for ever; and felt +exceedingly distressed at having intruded, though doubtful whether to +retreat now would not make matters worse. Those who followed her shared +both her fears and her doubts; but not so the widow and the major; who +both, after the interval of a moment, during which Mrs. Richards wiped +her eyes, and Major Dalrymple recovered his composure, declared with +very evident sincerity that they were heartily glad to see them.</p> + +<p>"We are in the midst of a dispute, Mowbray," said the major, addressing +Charles; "and I will bet a thousand to one that you will be on my side, +whatever the ladies may be. Shall I refer the question to Charles +Mowbray, Mrs. Richards?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! I shall like to have it referred to the whole party!" she +replied.</p> + +<p>"Well then, this it is:—I need not tell you, good people, that the +present vicar of Wrexhill is—but <i>holt là</i>!" he exclaimed, suddenly +stopping himself and fixing his eyes on Fanny; "I am terribly afraid by +the trim cut of that little bonnet, that there's one amongst us that +will be taking notes. Is it so, Miss Fanny? Are you as completely over +head and ears in love with the vicar, as your friend little Mary? and, +for that matter, Louisa, Charlotte, Mrs. Simpson, Miss Mimima Simpson, +Dame Rogers the miller's wife, black-eyed Betsey the tailor's daughter, +Molly Tomkins, Sally Finden, Jenny Curtis, Susan Smith, and about +threescore and ten more of our parish, have all put on the armour of +righteousness, being buckled, belted, and spurred by the vicar himself. +Are you really and truly become one of his babes of grace, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"If it is your intention to say any thing disrespectful of Mr. +Cartwright," replied Fanny, "I had much rather not hear it. I will go +and look at your roses, Mrs. Richards;" and, as Mrs. Richards did not +wish her to remain, she quietly opened the glass-door which led into the +garden, let her pass through it, and then closed it after her.</p> + +<p>"Pretty creature!" exclaimed Major Dalrymple; "what a pity!"</p> + +<p>"It will not last, major," said Charles. "He has scared her conscience, +which is actually too pure and innocent to know the sound of its own +voice; and then he seized upon her fanciful and poetic imagination, and +set it in arms against her silly self, till she really seems to see the +seven mortal sins, turn which way she will; and I am sure she would +stand for seven years together on one leg, like an Hindoo, to avoid +them. She is a dear good little soul, and she will get the better of all +this trash, depend upon it."</p> + +<p>"I trust she will, Mowbray; but tell me, while the mischief is still at +work, shall you not think it right to banish the causer of it from your +house? For you must know this brings us exactly to the point at issue +between Mrs. Richards and me. She is breaking her heart because her +three girls—ay, little Mary and all—have been bit by this black +tarantula; and because she (thank Heaven!) has escaped, her daughters +have thought proper to raise the standard of rebellion, and to tell her +very coolly, upon all occasions, that she is doomed to everlasting +perdition, and that their only chance of escape is never more to give +obedience or even attention to any word she can utter."</p> + +<p>The major stopped, overcome by his own vehemence; and Charles would have +fancied that he saw tears in his eyes, if he had dared to look at him +for another moment.</p> + +<p>Rosalind, who had more love and liking for Mrs. Richards than is usually +the growth of six months' acquaintance, had placed herself close beside +her, and taken her hand; but, when Major Dalrymple ceased speaking, she +rose up, and with a degree of energy that probably surprised all her +hearers, but most especially Charles and Helen, she said: "If, Major +Dalrymple, you should be the first in this unfortunate parish of +Wrexhill to raise your voice against this invader of the station, +rights, and duties of a set of men in whose avocations he has neither +part nor lot, you will deserve more honour than even the field of +Waterloo could give you! Yes! turn him from your house, dear friend, as +you would one who brought poison to you in the guise of wholesome food +or healing medicine. Let him never enter your doors again; let him +preach (if preach he must) in a church as empty as his own pretensions +to holiness; and if proper authority should at length be awaked to chase +him from a pulpit that belongs of right to a true and real member of the +English church, then let him buy a sixpenny licence, if he can get it, +to preach in a tub, the only fitting theatre for his doctrines."</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried the major in a perfect ecstasy; "do you hear her, Mrs. +Richards? Charles Mowbray, do you hear her? and will either of you ever +suffer Cartwright to enter your doors again?"</p> + +<p>"I believe in my heart that she is quite right," said Charles: "the +idiot folly I have witnessed at Mrs. Simpson's this morning; and the +much more grievous effects which his ministry, as he calls it, has +produced here, have quite convinced me that such <i>ministry</i> is no +jesting matter. But I have no doors, Dalrymple, to shut against him; all +I can do is to endeavour to open my mother's eyes to the mischief he is +doing."</p> + +<p>Helen sighed, and shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Is, then, your good mother too far gone in this maudlin delirium to +listen to him?" said the major in an accent of deep concern.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, major, I fear so," replied Helen.</p> + +<p>"I told you so, Major Dalrymple," said Mrs. Richards; "I told you that +in such a line of conduct as you advise I should be supported by no one +of any consequence, and I really do not feel courage to stand alone in +it."</p> + +<p>"And it is that very want of courage that I deplore more than all the +rest," replied the major. "You, that have done and suffered so much, +with all the quiet courage of a real heroine—that you should now sink +before such an enemy as this, is what I really cannot see with +patience."</p> + +<p>"And whence comes this new-born cowardice, my dear Mrs. Richards?" said +Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, Miss Torrington," replied the black-eyed widow, her +voice trembling with emotion as she spoke,—"I will tell you: all the +courage of which I have ever given proof has been inspired, +strengthened, and set in action by my children,—by my love for them, +and their love for me. This is over: I have lost their love, I have lost +their confidence. They look upon me,—even my Mary, who once shared +every feeling of my heart,—they all look upon me as one accursed, +separated from them through all eternity, and doomed by a decree of my +Maker, decided on thousands of years before I was born, to live for +countless ages in torments unspeakable. They repeat all this, and hug +the faith that teaches it. Is not this enough to sap the courage of the +stoutest heart that ever woman boasted?"</p> + +<p>"It is dreadful!" cried Helen; "oh! most dreadful! Such then will be, +and already are, the feelings of my mother respecting me,—respecting +Charles. Yet, how she loved us! A few short months ago, how dearly she +loved us both!"</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Miss Mowbray; I did not mean to pain you in this manner," +said the major. "Do not fancy things worse than they really are: depend +upon it, your brother will take care to prevent this man's impious +profanation of religion from doing such mischief at Mowbray as it has +done here. Had there been any master of the House at Meadow Cottage, +this gentleman, so miscalled <i>reverend</i>, would never, never, never, have +got a footing there."</p> + +<p>"Then I heartily wish there were," said Charles, "if only for the sake +of setting a good example to the parish in general; but, for the Park in +particular, it is as masterless as the cottage."</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Mrs. Richards, "that amongst you I shall gain courage +to be mistress here; and this, if effectually done, may answer as well. +You really advise me, then, all of you, to forbid the clergyman of the +parish from entering my doors?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the major firmly; and he was echoed zealously by the rest +of the party.</p> + +<p>"So be it then," said Mrs. Richards. "But I would my enemy, for such +indeed he is, held any other station among us. I could shut my doors +against all the lords and ladies in the country with less pain than +against the clergyman."</p> + +<p>"I can fully enter into that feeling," said Helen: "but surely, in +proportion as the station is venerable, the abuse of it is unpardonable. +Let this strengthen your resolution; and your children will recover +their wits again, depend upon it. I would the same remedy could be +applied with us! but you are so much respected, my dear Mrs. Richards, +that I am not without hope from your example. Adieu! We shall be anxious +to hear how you go on; and you must not fail to let us see you soon."</p> + +<p>The Mowbray party, having recalled the self-banished Fanny, then took +leave, not without the satisfaction of believing that their visit had +been well-timed and useful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IXB" id="CHAPTER_IXB"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>DISCUSSION ON TRUTH.—MR. CORBOLD INSTALLED.</h3> + + +<p>Having called at the Vicarage for Miss Cartwright, they proceeded +homeward along the pleasant paths they had so often trod with +light-hearted gaiety; but now there was a look of care and anxious +thoughtfulness on each young brow, that seemed to say their happiness +was blighted by the fear of sorrow to come.</p> + +<p>Though not at all able to understand Henrietta, and not above half +liking her, there was yet more feeling of intimacy between Miss +Torrington and her than had been attained by any other of the family. +It was she, therefore, who, after preceding the others by a few rapid +steps up the hill, rang the bell of the Vicarage, and waited in the +porch for Miss Cartwright.</p> + +<p>During these few moments the trio had passed on, and Miss Torrington, +finding herself tête-à-tête with the vicar's daughter, ventured to +relate to her pretty nearly all that occurred at the house of Mrs. +Richards; by no means omitting the resolution that lady had come to +respecting Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry for it," said Henrietta.</p> + +<p>"You regret the loss of their society? Then for your sake, Henrietta, I +am sorry too."</p> + +<p>"For my sake? <i>I</i> regret the loss of their society! Are you not mocking +me?"</p> + +<p>"You know I am not," replied Rosalind in a tone of vexation; "why should +you not regret the loss of Mrs. Richards' society?"</p> + +<p>"Only because there is no society in the world that I could either wish +for,—or regret."</p> + +<p>"It is hardly fair in you, Miss Cartwright," said Rosalind, "to excite +my interest so often as you do, and yet to leave it for ever pining, for +want of a more full and generous confidence."</p> + +<p>"I have no such feeling as generosity in me; and as to exciting your +interest, I do assure you it is quite involuntarily; and, indeed, I +should think that no human being could be less likely to trouble their +fellow creatures in that way than myself."</p> + +<p>"But is there not at least a little wilfulness, Henrietta, in the manner +in which from time to time you throw out a bait to my curiosity?"</p> + +<p>"It is weakness, not wilfulness, Rosalind. I am ashamed to confess, even +to myself, that there are moments when I fancy I should like to love +you; and then I would give more than my worthless life, if I had it, +that you should love me. When this contemptible folly seizes me, I may, +perhaps, as you say, throw out a bait to catch your curiosity, and then +it is I utter the words of which you complain. But you must allow that +this childishness never holds me long, and that the moment it is past I +become as reasonable and as wretched again as ever."</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me whether this feeling of profound contempt for +yourself, whenever you are conscious of a kindly sentiment towards me, +arises from your conviction of my individual despicability, or from +believing that all human affections are degrading?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly from either. As for you, Rosalind,—is it not the weak and +wavering Hamlet who says, in one of those flashes of fine philosophy +that burst athwart the gloom of his poor troubled spirit,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Give me that man that is not passion's slave?'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>My wits are often as much diseased as his, I believe; but I too have my +intervals; and, when the moon is not at the full, I sometimes sketch the +portrait of a being that one might venture to love. I, however, have no +quarrel against passion,—it is not from thence my sorrows have +come;—but I would say,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">'Give me that friend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is not <i>falsehood's</i> slave, and I will wear him<br /></span> +<span class="i4">(or her, Rosalind,)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In my heart's core,—ay, in my heart of heart.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And if after all my hard schooling I could be simple enough to believe +that any thing in human form could be true, I should be more likely to +commit the folly about you than about any one I ever saw in my life."</p> + +<p>"But still you believe me false?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"And why, Henrietta?"</p> + +<p>"Because you are a woman;—no, no, because you are a human being."</p> + +<p>"And you really, without meaning to season your speech with pungent +crystals of satire—you really do not believe that truth can be found in +any human being?"</p> + +<p>"I really do not."</p> + +<p>"Heaven help you, then! I would rather pass my life in a roofless cabin, +and feed on potato-parings, than live in such a persuasion."</p> + +<p>"And so would I, Rosalind."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you nourish such hateful theories? I shall begin to think +your jesting words too true, Henrietta; and believe, indeed, that your +wits are not quite healthy."</p> + +<p>"Would I could believe it! I would submit to a strait-waistcoat and a +shaven crown to-morrow if I could but persuade myself that I was mad, +and that all that I have fancied going on around me were but so many +vapours from a moon-sick brain."</p> + +<p>"And so they have been, if you construe every word you hear, and every +act you see, into falsehood and delusion."</p> + +<p>"Rosalind! Rosalind!—how can I do otherwise? Come, come, enough of +this: do not force me against my will, against my resolution, to tell +you what has brought me to the wretched, hopeless state of apathy in +which you found me. Were I to do this, you would only have to follow the +weakness of your nature, and believe, in order to become as moody and as +miserable as myself."</p> + +<p>"But you do not mean to tell me that I should be proving my weakness in +believing <i>you</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do. You surely cannot be altogether so credulous as to suppose +that all you see in me is true, sincere, candid, open, honest?"</p> + +<p>"Are you honest now in telling me that you are false?"</p> + +<p>"Why, partly yes, and partly no, Rosalind; and it is just such a +question as that which sets one upon discovering how contrary to our +very essence it is, to be purely and altogether true. But were I one of +those who fancy that pincushions are often made by the merciful decrees +of an all-wise Providence, I should say that we were ordained to be +false, in order to prevent our being straightforward, undisguised +demons. Why, I,—look you,—who sit netting a purse that I hope will +never be finished, as diligently as if my life would be saved by +completing the last stitch by a given time, and as quietly as if I had +no nails upon my fingers, and no pointed scissors in my +netting-case,—even I, all harmless as I seem, would be likely, were it +not for my consummate hypocrisy, to be stabbing and scratching half a +dozen times a day."</p> + +<p>"And, were you freed from this restraint, would your maiming +propensities betray themselves promiscuously, or be confined to one or +more particular objects?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite promiscuously, I think. But, hypocrisy apart for a moment, do +you not perceive that Mr. Charles Mowbray has been looking round at +us,—at both of us, observe,—about once in every second minute? Do you +know that I think he would like us,—both of us, observe,—to walk on +and join the party."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, let us do so," said Rosalind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As they drew near the house, they perceived Mr. Stephen Corbold +wandering round it, his hands behind his back and under his coat, and +his eyes now raised to the stately portico, now lowered to the long +range of windows belonging to the conservatory; at one moment sent +afield over the spacious park, and in the next brought back again to +contemplate anew the noble mansion to which it belonged. During one of +the wanderings of those speculating orbs, he spied the advancing party; +and immediately settling himself in his attire, and assuming the more +graceful attitude obtained by thrusting a hand in each side-pocket of +his nether garments, he resolutely walked forward to meet them.</p> + +<p>Fanny, his friends and kinsfolk being ever in her memory, made an effort +which seemed to combat instinct, and put out her little hand to welcome +him; but before he was fully aware of the honour, for indeed his eyes +were fixed upon her elder sister, she coloured, and withdrew it again, +satisfying her hospitable feelings by pronouncing simply his name, but +with a sort of indistinctness in the accent which seemed to signify that +something more had either preceded or followed it.</p> + +<p>This word, the only one which greeted him, brought him instantly to her +side, and even gave him the prodigious audacity to offer his arm, which, +however, she did not accept; for at that moment the hook of her parasol +became entangled in the fringe of her shawl, and it seemed to require +vast patience and perseverance to extricate it. Still, notwithstanding +this little disappointment, he kept close to her side, for Helen leaned +upon the arm of her brother; and, though still persuaded that by the aid +of his reverend cousin he should be able to obtain her, and pretty +nearly every thing else he wished for, he had no particular inclination +to renew the courtship he had begun on the journey in the presence of +Charles.</p> + +<p>Fanny, therefore, and her attendant entered the house together; while +the rest wheeled off in order to avail themselves of a postern entrance, +by which the ladies might reach their rooms without any risk of again +encountering Mr. Corbold, who by a sort of tacit consent seemed equally +avoided by all.</p> + +<p>The survey which this person was taking of the premises when the walking +party returned was neither the first, second, third, nor fourth which he +had had the opportunity of making since their setting out; for, in +obedience to Mr. Cartwright's hint, he had no sooner received from Mrs. +Mowbray, under the instructions from that reverend person, the orders +necessary for the new arrangements about to be made, than he +retired,—the vicar remaining with the widow and the keys of her +title-deeds, which perhaps he had reason for thinking would be as safe +anywhere else as in his cousin Stephen's pocket.</p> + +<p>The tête-à-tête which followed the attorney's departure was long, +interesting, and very confidential. On the part of the gentleman great +skill was displayed by the manner in which the following subjects were +made to mix and mingle together, till, like to a skilfully composed +ragout, no flavour of any kind was left distinctly perceptible, but the +effect of the whole was just what the artist intended it should be. The +subjects leading to and composing this general effect, were: first, the +deep interest raised in the breast of every good man by the sight of a +gentle and heavenly-minded woman in want of assistance to carry her +through the wearying and unspiritual cares incident to our passage +through this world of sin; secondly, the exceeding out-pouring of mercy +to be traced in such dispensations as led the unawakened to look for +such aid and assistance from those who have been called and elected; +thirdly, the blessed assurance of everlasting joy that never failed to +visit those who left husband or child for the Lord's sake; fourthly, the +unerring wisdom of Providence in the placing the tender consciences of +the newly-chosen in the keeping of those who best know how to lead them +aright; fifthly, the damnable and never-to-be-atoned-for wickedness of +struggling against Heaven for the sake of any worldly feelings or +affections whatever; and sixthly, the saving merit, surpassing all the +works that our sinful nature could ever permit us to perform, which is +found in such as cling to the spoken word, and who hold fast to the +persecuted and oppressed who preach it. On these themes, blended and +harmonised together so as completely to mystify the mind of the weak and +nervous Mrs. Mowbray, and accompanied with just so much gentle +demonstration of affectionate tenderness as might soften, without +alarming her, did the Vicar of Wrexhill discourse for the three hours +that they were left alone.</p> + +<p>It would lead my narrative into too great length were every step +recorded by which all Mrs. Mowbray's other feelings were made to merge +in the one overwhelming influence of Calvinistic terror on one side, +and Calvinistic pride at presumed election on the other. The wily vicar +contrived in the course of a few months so completely to rule the heart +and head of this poor lady, that she looked upon her son Charles as a +reprobate, who, unless speedily changed in spirit by severe discipline +and the constant prayers of Mr. Cartwright, must inevitably pass from +this mortal life to a state of endless torture in the life to come. For +Helen she was bade to hope that the time of election, after much +wrestling, would come; in Fanny she was told to glory and rejoice; and +for Miss Torrington, quietly to wait the appointed time, till Heaven +should make its voice heard, when it would be borne in upon his mind, or +upon that of some one of the elect, whether she must be given over to +eternal destruction, or saved with the remnant of the true flock which +he and his brother shepherds were bringing together into one fold.</p> + +<p>But with all this, though eternally talking of mystical and heavenly +love, which was ever blended with insidious demonstrations of holy, +brotherly, and Christian tenderness, Mr. Cartwright had never yet spoken +to the widow Mowbray of marriage.</p> + +<p>She had been six months a widow, and her deep mourning weeds were +exchanged for a dress elegantly becoming, but still marking her as +belonging to what Mr. Cartwright constantly called, in the midst of all +his prosperous intrigues, the "persecuted church." Mr. Stephen Corbold +was comfortably settled in a snug little mansion in the village, and +though he had never yet got hold of the title-deeds, he had begun to +receive the rents of the Mowbray estates. He too was waiting the +appointed time,—namely, the installing of his cousin at the Park,—for +the fruition of all his hopes in the possession of Helen, and in such a +fortune with her as his report of her progress towards regeneration +might entitle her to. Mrs. Richards had been refused bread by a +converted baker; beer, by an elected brewer; and soap and candles, by +that pious, pains-taking, prayerful servant of the Lord, Richard White, +the tallow-chandler. Her daughters, however, still held fast to the +faith, though their poor mother grew thinner and paler every day, and +continued to meet the vicar sometimes in the highways, sometimes in the +byways, and sometimes in the exemplary Mrs. Simpson's drawing-room. +Colonel Harrington had returned to his regiment without ever again +seeing Helen, who had been forbidden with such awful denunciations in +case of disobedience from ever holding any intercourse direct or +indirect with the family at Oakley, that though she pined in thought, +she obeyed, and was daily denounced by Sir Gilbert and his lady, though +happily she knew it not, as the most ungrateful and heartless of girls. +Fanny was growing tall, thin, sour-looking, and miserable; for having a +sort of stubborn feeling within her which resisted the assurances she +almost hourly received of having been elected to eternal grace, she was +secretly torturing her distempered conscience with the belief that she +was deluding every one but her Creator,—that he alone read her heart +and knew her to be reprobate, hardened, and unregenerate, and that she +must finally and inevitably come to be the prey of the worm that dieth +not and the fire that is never quenched. The sufferings of this innocent +young creature under this terrible persuasion were dreadful, and the +more so because she communicated them to none. Had she displayed the +secret terrors of her soul to Mr. Cartwright or her mother, she knew she +should be told with praises and caresses that she was only the more +blessed and sure of immortal glory for feeling them. Had she opened her +heart to her sister, her brother, or Rosalind, her sufferings would +probably have soon ceased; but from this she shrank as from degradation +unbearable.</p> + +<p>Poor Rosalind, meanwhile, was as profoundly unhappy as it was well +possible for a girl to be who was young, beautiful, rich, talented, +well-born, sweet-tempered, high-principled, not crossed in love, and +moreover in perfect health.</p> + +<p>Young Mowbray had just taken a distinguished degree at Oxford, and +having given a farewell banquet to his college friends, returned home +with the hope of speedily obtaining the commission in a regiment of +horse for which his name had been long ago put down by his father.</p> + +<p>It was at this time that several circumstances occurred at Wrexhill +sufficiently important to the principal personages of my narrative to be +recorded at some length.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XB" id="CHAPTER_XB"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>FANNY'S RELIGION.—A VISIT TO OAKLEY.</h3> + + +<p>It was towards the end of November that young Mowbray returned from +Oxford to his mother's house in Hampshire. As usual, the first three or +four hours' chat with Helen and Rosalind put him <i>au fait</i> of all that +had taken place during his absence. The retrospect was not a cheering +one; yet most of the circumstances which tended to annoy him were of +that minor kind which none but a very gossiping correspondent would +detail—and Helen was not such. Besides, since the mysterious letter +which had recalled Charles to keep watch over Fanny, (the full and true +purpose of which letter he had never yet discovered,) Miss Torrington +had not written to him; and as she was now the chief historian, her +round and unvarnished tale made him acquainted with many particulars to +which Helen had scarcely alluded in her correspondence with him.</p> + +<p>Helen Mowbray's was not a spirit to exhaust itself and its sorrows by +breathing unavailing complaints; and though her brother had pretty +clearly understood from her letters that she was not happy or +comfortable at home, it was from Rosalind he first learned how many +circumstances were daily occurring to make her otherwise.</p> + +<p>The only point on which he blamed her, or in which, according to +Rosalind's account, she had shown more yielding, and, as he called it, +weakness than her helpless and most unhappy position rendered +unavoidable, was in the never having attempted to see Lady Harrington. +This he declared was in itself wrong, and rendered doubly so by her +situation, which would have rendered the society and counsel of such a +friend invaluable. But he did not know—even Rosalind did not know—that +this forbearance for which he blamed her was the result of those +qualities for which they most loved her. But Helen knew, though they did +not, that if she had gone to Oakley, she should have thought more of +hearing news of Colonel Harrington than of any advice her godmother +could have given her, and have been infinitely more anxious to learn if +he ever mentioned her in his letters, than to know whether Lady +Harrington thought it best that she should be civil, or that she should +be rude, in her demeanour towards the Vicar of Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>It was this conscious weakness which lent strength to the unreasonable +violence of her mother on this point. Had Helen been quite fancy-free +and altogether heart-whole, she would have had courage to discover that +a passionate prohibition, originating, as she could not doubt it did, +with a man for whom she entertained no species of esteem, ought not to +make her abandon one of the kindest friends she had ever known. But +there is a feeling stronger than reason in a young girl's breast; and +again and again this feeling had whispered to Helen,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'It is not maidenly—'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>to go to the house of a man that I fear I love, and that I hope loves +me, for the chance of hearing his name mentioned—and that too when my +mother forbids me to enter his father's doors."</p> + +<p>But there was an authority in Charles's voice when he said, "You have +been wrong, Helen," which seemed to have power even over this, and she +promised that if after he paid the visit to Oakley, which he was fully +determined to do on the morrow, he should report that her friends there +were not too angry to receive her, she would consent to volunteer a +visit to them, assigning as her reason for doing so, to her mother, that +it was Charles's wish.</p> + +<p>This conversation took place on the night of his arrival, and lasted for +some hours after every individual of the household, excepting those +engaged in it, were in bed. Poor Fanny was among those who had the +earliest retired, but she was not among the sleepers. She too had once +loved Charles most dearly, and most dearly had she been loved in return. +But now she felt that they were separated for ever in this world, and +that if they were doomed to meet in the world to come, it could only be +amidst torturing and devouring flames. As she knelt for long hours +beside her bed before she dared to lay her aching head on the pillow, +her thoughts reverted to her early youth, and to all the innocent +delights she had enjoyed with him and the now avoided Helen; and as she +remembered the ecstasy with which she once enjoyed the bloom of flowers, +the songs of birds, the breath of early morning, and all the poetry of +Nature, tears of silent, unacknowledged, but most bitter regret, +streamed from her eyes. But then again came the ague fit of visionary +remorse and genuine Calvinistic terror, and she groaned aloud in agony +of spirit for having suffered these natural tears to fall.</p> + +<p>This dreadful vigil left such traces on the pale cheek and heavy eye of +the suffering girl, that her brother's heart ached as he looked at her; +and though with little hope, after what he had heard, of doing any good, +he determined to seek half an hour's conversation with her before he +went out.</p> + +<p>When she rose to leave the breakfast-table therefore, Charles rose too, +and following her out of the room, stopped her as she was in the act of +ascending the stairs by putting his arms round her waist and saying, +"Fanny, will you take a walk with me in the shrubbery?"</p> + +<p>Fanny started, and coloured, and hesitated, as if some deed of very +doubtful tendency had been proposed to her. But he persevered "Come, +dear! put your bonnet on—I will wait for you here—make haste Fanny! +Think how long it is since you and I took a walk together!"</p> + +<p>"Is Helen going?" The question was asked in a voice that trembled; for +the idea that Charles meant during this walk to question her concerning +her faith occurred to her, and she would have given much to avoid it. +But before she could invent an excuse for doing so, her conscience, +always ready to enforce the doing whatever was most disagreeable to her, +suggested that this shrinking looked like being ashamed of her +principles; and no sooner had this idea suggested itself, than she said +readily, "Very well, Charles; I will come to you in a moment."</p> + +<p>But the moment was rather a long one; for Fanny, before she rejoined +him, knelt down and made an extempore prayer for courage and strength to +resist and render of no effect whatever he might say to her. Thus +prepared, she set forth ready to listen with the most determined +obstinacy to any argument which might tend to overthrow any part of the +creed that was poisoning the very sources of her life.</p> + +<p>"You are not looking well, my Fanny," said her brother, fondly pressing +her arm as they turned into the most sheltered part of the garden. "Do +you think the morning too cold for walking, my love? You used to be such +a hardy little thing, Fanny, that you cared for nothing; but I am afraid +the case is different now."</p> + +<p>This was not exactly the opening that Fanny expected, and there was a +tenderness in the tone of his voice that almost softened her heart +towards him; but she answered not a word,—perhaps she feared to trust +her voice.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would tell me, dearest, if any sorrow or vexation has chased +away the bloom and the gladness that we all so loved to look upon. Tell +me, Fanny, what is it that has changed you so sadly? You will not?—Then +you do not love me as I love you; for I am sure if I had a sorrow I +should open my heart to you."</p> + +<p>"When a Christian has a sorrow, brother Charles, he should open his +heart to Heaven and not to a poor sinful mortal as wicked and as weak as +himself."</p> + +<p>"But surely, my dear Fanny, that need not prevent a brother and sister +from conversing with the greatest confidence together. How many texts I +could quote you in which family unity and affection are inculcated in +the Bible!"</p> + +<p>"Pray do not quote the Bible," said Fanny in a voice of alarm, "till the +right spirit has come upon you. It is a grievous sin to do it, or to +hear it."</p> + +<p>"Be assured, Fanny, that I feel quite as averse to quoting the Bible +irreverently as you can do. But tell me why it is you think that the +right spirit, as you call it, has not come upon me."</p> + +<p>"As I call it!" repeated Fanny, shuddering, "It is not I, Charles,—it +is one of Heaven's saints who says it; and it is a sin for me to listen +to you."</p> + +<p>"It is doubtless Mr. Cartwright who says it, Fanny. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"And who has so good a right to say it as the minister of your parish, +and the friend and protector that Heaven has sent to your widowed +mother?"</p> + +<p>Poor Mowbray felt his heart swell. It was difficult to hear the man who +had come between him and all his best duties and affections named in +this manner as his own maligner, and restrain his just and natural +indignation;—yet he did restrain it, and said in a voice of the utmost +gentleness,</p> + +<p>"Do you think, my beloved Fanny, Mr. Cartwright's influence in this +house has been for our happiness?"</p> + +<p>"May the Lord forgive me for listening to such words!" exclaimed Fanny, +with that look of nervous terror which her beautiful face now so often +expressed. "But he can't! he can't!—I know it, I know it! It is my doom +to sin, and you are only an agent of that enemy who is for ever seeking +my soul to destroy it.—Leave me! leave me!"</p> + +<p>"Fanny, this is dreadful! Can you really believe that the God of love +and mercy will hold you guilty for listening to the voice of your +brother? What have I ever done, my Fanny, to deserve to be thus driven +from your presence?"</p> + +<p>The unhappy girl look bewildered. "Done!" she exclaimed. "What have you +done?—Is not that works?—is not that of works you speak, Charles?—Oh! +he knew, he foretold, he prophesied unto me that I should be spoken to +of works, and that I should listen thereunto, to my everlasting +destruction, if I confessed not my soul to him upon the instant. I must +seek him out: he said IF,—oh, that dear blessed IF! Let go my arm, +brother Charles!—let me seek my salvation!"</p> + +<p>"Fanny, this is madness!"</p> + +<p>She looked at him, poor girl, as he said this, with an expression that +brought tears to his eyes. That look seemed to speak a dreadful doubt +whether the words he had spoken were not true. She pressed her hand +against her forehead for a moment, and then said in a voice of the most +touching sadness, "Heaven help me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Fanny!—darling Fanny!" cried the terrified brother, throwing his +arms round her: "save us from the anguish of seeing you destroyed body +and mind by this frightful, this impious doctrine! Listen to me, my own +sweet girl! Think that from me you hear the voice of your father—of the +good and pious Wallace—of your excellent and exemplary governess, and +drive this maddening terror from you. Did you live without God in the +world, Fanny, when you lived under their virtuous rule? How often have +you heard your dear father say, when he came forth and looked upon the +beauty of the groves and lawns, bright in the morning sunshine, 'Praise +the Lord, my children, for his goodness, for his mercy endureth for +ever!' Did not these words raise your young heart to heaven more than +all the frightful denunciations which have almost shaken your reason?"</p> + +<p>"Works! works!—Oh, Charles, let me go from you! Your voice is like the +voice of a serpent: It creeps dreadfully near my heart, and I shall +perish, everlastingly perish, if I listen to you. IF:—is there yet an +IF for me now? Let me go, Charles: let me seek him;—if you love me, let +me seek my salvation."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that you would seek Mr. Cartwright, Fanny? You do not mean +to go to his house, do you?"</p> + +<p>"His house? How little you know him, Charles! Think you that he would +leave me and my poor mother to perish! Poor, poor Charles, you do not +even know that this shepherd and guardian of our souls prays with us +daily?"</p> + +<p>"Prays with you? Where does he pray with you?"</p> + +<p>"In mamma's dressing-room."</p> + +<p>"And who are present at these prayers?"</p> + +<p>"Mamma, and I, and Curtis, and Jem."</p> + +<p>"Jem? Who is Jem, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"The new stable-boy that our minister recommended, Charles, when that +poor deluded Dick Bragg was found walking in the fields with his sister +Patty on the Sabbath."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that Dick Bragg is turned away? He was, without +exception, the steadiest lad in the parish."</p> + +<p>"Works! works!" exclaimed Fanny, wringing her hands. "Oh, Charles! how +your poor soul clings to the perdition of works!"</p> + +<p>"Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed Mowbray with great emotion, "where will all +this end? What an existence for Helen, for Rosalind? Is there no cure +for this folly,—this madness on one side, and this infernal craft and +hypocrisy on the other?"</p> + +<p>On hearing these words, Fanny uttered a cry which very nearly amounted +to a scream, and running off towards the house with the fleetness of a +startled fawn, left her brother in a state of irritation and misery such +as he had never suffered before.</p> + +<p>The idea of seeing Sir Gilbert Harrington immediately had perhaps more +comfort and consolation in it than any other which could have suggested +itself, and the lanes and the fields which divided Oakley from Mowbray +were traversed at a pace that soon brought the agitated young man to the +baronet's door.</p> + +<p>"Is Sir Gilbert at home, John?" he demanded of an old servant who had +known him from childhood; but instead of the widely-opened door, and +ready smile which used to greet him, he received a grave and hesitating +"I don't know sir," from the changed domestic.</p> + +<p>"Is Lady Harrington at home?" said Charles, vexed and colouring.</p> + +<p>"It is likely she may be, Mr. Mowbray," said the old man relentingly. +"Will you please to wait one moment, Master Charles? I think my lady +can't refuse—"</p> + +<p>Charles's heart was full; but he did wait, and John speedily returned, +saying almost in a whisper, "Please to walk in, sir; but you must go +into my lady's closet,—that's the only safe place, she says."</p> + +<p>"Safe?" repeated Charles; but he made no objection to the taking refuge +in my lady's closet, and in another moment he found himself not only in +the closet, but in the arms of the good old lady.</p> + +<p>"Oh!—if Sir Gilbert could see me!" she exclaimed after very heartily +hugging the young man. "He's a greater tiger than ever, Charles, and I +really don't know which of us would be torn to pieces first;—but only +tell me one thing before I abuse him any more:—how long have you been +at home?"</p> + +<p>"The coach broke down at Newberry," replied Charles, "and I did not get +to Mowbray till nine o'clock last night."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated Lady Harrington very fervently. "Then there's +hope at least for you.—But what on earth can you say to me of my +beautiful Helen? Three months, Charles, three whole months since she has +been near me—and she knows I dote upon her, and that Sir Gilbert +himself, untameable hyena as he is, has always been loving and gentle to +her, as far as his nature would permit. Then why has she treated us +thus? You can't wonder, can you, that he swears lustily every morning +that ingratitude is worse than all the mortal sins put together?"</p> + +<p>"I dare not throw the charge back upon you, my dear lady; and yet it is +being ungrateful for poor Helen's true affection to believe it possible +that she should so long have remained absent from you by her own free +will. You know not, dearest Lady Harrington, what my poor Helen has to +endure."</p> + +<p>"Endure? What do you mean, Charles? Surely there is nobody living who +dares to be unkind to her? My poor boy,—I am almost ashamed to ask the +question, but you will forgive an old friend: is there any truth, +Charles, in that abominable report? that horrid report, you know, about +your mother?"</p> + +<p>"What report, Lady Harrington?" said Mowbray, colouring like scarlet. "I +have heard no report, excepting that which is indeed too sure and +certain to be called a report;—namely, that she has become a violent +Calvinistic Methodist."</p> + +<p>"That's bad enough, my dear Charles,—bad enough of all conscience; and +yet I have heard of what would be worse still: I have heard, Charles, +that she is going to be weak and wicked enough to marry that odious +hypocritical Tartuffe, the Vicar of Wrexhill."</p> + +<p>Mowbray put his hand before his eyes, as if he had been blasted by +lightning, and then replied, as steadily as he could, "I have never +heard this, Lady Harrington."</p> + +<p>"Then I trust—I trust it is not true, Charles. Helen, surely, and that +bright-eyed creature Miss Torrington, who have both, I believe, (for, +Heaven help me, I don't know!)—both, I believe, been staying all the +time at Mowbray;—and surely—and surely, if this most atrocious deed +were contemplated, they must have some knowledge of it."</p> + +<p>"And that they certainly have not," returned Charles with recovered +courage; "for I sat with them both for two or three hours last night, +listening to their miserable account of this man's detestable influence +over my mother and Fanny; and certainly they would not have concealed +from me such a suspicion as this, had any such existed in the breast of +either."</p> + +<p>"Quite true, my dear boy, and I can hardly tell you how welcome this +assurance is to me—not for your mother's sake, Charles; if you cannot +bear the truth, you must not come to me,—and on this point the truth +is, that I don't care one single straw about your mother. I never shall +forgive her for not answering Sir Gilbert's note. I know what the +writing it cost him—dear, proud, generous-hearted old fellow! And not +to answer it! not to tell her children of it! No, I never shall forgive +her, and I should not care the value of a rat's tail if she were to +marry every tub preacher throughout England, and all their clerks in +succession—that is, not for her own sake. I dare say she'll preach in a +tub herself before she has done with it; but for your sakes, my dear +souls, I do rejoice that it is not true."</p> + +<p>"That would indeed complete our misery; and it is already quite bad +enough, I assure you. The house, Helen says, is a perfect conventicle. +The girls are ordered to sing nothing but psalms and hymns; some of the +latter so offensively ludicrous, too, as to be perfectly indecent and +profane. A long extempore sermon, or lecture as he calls it, is +delivered to the whole family in the great drawing-room every night; +missionary boxes are not only hung up beside every door, but actually +carried round by the butler whenever any one calls; and a hundred and +fifty other absurdities, at which we should laugh were we in a gayer +mood: but this farce has produced the saddest tragedy I ever witnessed, +in the effect it has had upon our poor Fanny. I have had some +conversation with her this morning, and I do assure you that I greatly +fear her reason is unsettled, or like to be so."</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid, Charles! Pretty innocent young thing! that would be too +horrible to think of."</p> + +<p>The old lady's eyes were full of tears, a circumstance very unusual with +her, but the idea suggested struck her to the heart; and she had not yet +removed the traces of this most unwonted proof of sensibility, when a +heavy thump was heard at the door of the closet.</p> + +<p>"Who's there?" said her ladyship in a voice rather raised than lowered +by the emotion which dimmed her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Let me in, my lady!" responded the voice of Sir Gilbert.</p> + +<p>"What do you want, Sir Gilbert? I am busy."</p> + +<p>"So I understand, my lady, and I'm come to help you."</p> + +<p>"Will you promise, if I let you in, not to hinder me, instead?"</p> + +<p>"I'll promise nothing, except to quarrel with you if you do not."</p> + +<p>"Was there ever such a tyrant! Come in then; see, hear, and understand."</p> + +<p>The door was opened, and Sir Gilbert Harrington and Charles Mowbray +stood face to face. Charles smiled, and held out his hand. The baronet +knit his brows, but the expression of his mouth told her experienced +ladyship plainly enough that he was well enough pleased at the sight of +his unexpected guest.</p> + +<p>"He only got to Mowbray at nine o'clock last night," said Lady +Harrington.</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert held out his hand. "Charles, I am glad to see you," said he. +"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated the old lady.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir Gilbert," said Charles, "I have learnt your kind and +friendly anger at the prolonged absence of my poor sister. The fault is +not hers, Sir Gilbert; she has been most strictly forbidden to visit +you."</p> + +<p>"By her mother?"</p> + +<p>"By her mother, Sir Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"And pray, Charles, do you think it her duty to obey?"</p> + +<p>"I really know not how to answer you. For a girl just nineteen to act in +declared defiance of the commands of her mother, and that mother her +sole surviving parent, is a line of conduct almost too bold to advise. +And yet, such is the lamentable state of infatuation to which my +mother's mind appears to be reduced by the pernicious influence of this +Cartwright, that I think it would be more dangerous still to recommend +obedience."</p> + +<p>"Upon my life I think so," replied Sir Gilbert, in an accent that showed +he thought the proposition too self-evident to be discussed. "I have +been devilish angry with the girls,—with Helen, I mean,—for I +understand that little idiot, Fanny, is just as mad as her mother; but +that Helen, and that fine girl, Rosalind Torrington, should shut +themselves up with an hypocritical fanatic and a canting mad woman, is +enough to put any man out of patience."</p> + +<p>"The situation has been almost enough to put Helen in her grave; she +looks wretchedly; and Miss Torrington is no longer the same creature. It +would wring your heart to see these poor girls, Sir Gilbert; and what +are they to do?"</p> + +<p>"Come to us, Charles. Let them both come here instantly, and remain here +till your mother's mad fit is over. If it lasts, I shall advise you to +take out a commission of lunacy."</p> + +<p>"The madness is not such as a physician would recognise, Sir Gilbert; +and yet I give you my honour that, from many things which my sister and +Miss Torrington told me last night, I really do think my mother's reason +must be in some degree deranged. And for my poor little Fanny, six +months ago the pride and darling of us all, she is, I am quite +persuaded, on the verge of insanity."</p> + +<p>"And you mean to leave her in the power of that distracted driveller, +her mother, that the work may be finished?"</p> + +<p>"What can I do, Sir Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"Remove them all. Take them instantly away from her, I tell you."</p> + +<p>The blood rushed painfully to poor Mowbray's face. "You forget, Sir +Gilbert," he said, "that I have not the means: you forget my father's +will."</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I do not forget it. Nor do I forget either that, had I not in +a fit of contemptible passion refused to act as executor, I might, I +think it possible,—I might have plagued her heart out, and so done some +good. I shall never forgive myself!"</p> + +<p>"But you could have given us no power over the property, Sir Gilbert. +We are beggars."</p> + +<p>"I know it, I know it!" replied the old gentleman, clenching his fists. +"I told you so from the first: and now mark my words,—she'll marry her +saint before she's six months older."</p> + +<p>"I trust that in this you are mistaken. The girls have certainly no +suspicions of the sort."</p> + +<p>"The girls are fools, as girls always are. But let them come here, I +tell you, and we may save their lives at any rate."</p> + +<p>"Tell them both from me, Charles, that they shall find a home, and a +happy one, here; but don't let them chill that old man's heart again by +taking no notice of this, and keeping out of his sight for another three +months. He'll have the gout in his stomach as sure as they're born; just +tell Helen that from me."</p> + +<p>Mowbray warmly expressed his gratitude for their kindness; and though he +would not undertake to promise that either Helen or Miss Torrington +would immediately decide upon leaving his mother's house, in open +defiance of her commands, he promised that they should both come over on +the morrow, to be cheered and supported by the assurance of their +continued friendship. He was then preparing to take his leave when Lady +Harrington laid her hand upon his arm, saying, "Listen to me, Charles, +for a moment. Those dear girls, and you too, my dear boy, you are all +surrounded with great difficulties, and some consideration is necessary +as to how you shall meet them best. It won't do, Sir Gilbert; it will be +neither right nor proper in any way for Helen to set off at once in +utter and open defiance of Mrs. Mowbray. What I advise is, that Charles +should go home, take his mother apart, and, like Hamlet in the closet +scene, 'speak daggers, but use none.' It does not appear, from all we +have yet heard, that any one has hitherto attempted to point out to her +the deplorable folly, ay, and wickedness too, which she is committing. I +do not believe she would admit Sir Gilbert; and, to say the truth, I +don't think it would be very safe to trust him with the job."</p> + +<p>"D—n it! I wish you would," interrupted Sir Gilbert. "I should like to +have the talking to her only just for an hour, and I'd consent to have +the gout for a month afterwards; I would, upon my soul!"</p> + +<p>"Do be tame for a moment, you wild man of the woods," said her +ladyship, laying her hand upon his mouth, "and let me finish what I was +saying. No, no, Sir Gilbert is not the proper person; but you are, +Charles. Speak to her with gentleness, with kindness, but tell her <i>the +truth</i>. If you find her contrite and yielding, use your victory with +moderation; and let her down easily from her giddy elevation of +saintship to the sober, quiet, even path of rational religion, and +domestic duty. But if she be restive—if she still persist in forbidding +Helen to visit her father's oldest friends, while making her own once +happy home a prison, and a wretched one,—then, Charles Mowbray, I would +tell her roundly that she must choose between her children and her +Tartuffe, and that if she keeps him she must lose you."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! capital! old lady; if Charles will just say all that, we shall +be able to guess by the result as to how things are between them, and we +must act accordingly. You have your allowance paid regularly, Charles? I +think she doubled it, did'nt she, after your father died?"</p> + +<p>Charles looked embarrassed, but answered "Yes, Sir Gilbert, my allowance +was doubled."</p> + +<p>"Come boy, don't answer like a Jesuit.—Is it regularly paid?—That was +my question, my main question."</p> + +<p>"The first quarter was paid, Sir Gilbert; but before I left the +University, instead of the remittance, I received a letter from my +mother, desiring me to transmit a statement of all my debts to Stephen +Corbold, Esq. solicitor, Wrexhill; and that they should be attended to; +which would, she added, be more satisfactory to her than sending my +allowance without knowing how I stood with my tradesmen."</p> + +<p>"And have you done this, my fine sir?" said Sir Gilbert, becoming almost +purple with anger. "No, Sir Gilbert, I have not."</p> + +<p>The baronet threw his arms round him, and gave him a tremendous hug.</p> + +<p>"I see you are worth caring for, my boy; I should never have forgiven +you if you had. Audacious rascal! Why, Charles, that Corbold has been +poking his snuffling, hypocritical nose, into every house, not only in +your parish but in mine, and in at least a dozen others, and has +positively beat poor old Gaspar Brown out of the field. The old man +called to take leave of me not a week ago, and told me that one after +another very nearly every client he had in this part of the world had +come or sent to him for their papers, in order to deposit them with this +canting Corbold; and, as I hear, all the little farmers for miles round, +are diligently going to law in the name of the Lord. But what did you +do, my dear boy, for money?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I have managed pretty well. It was a disappointment certainly, and +at first I felt a little awkward, for the letter did not reach me till I +had ordered my farewell supper; and as in truth I had no tradesmen's +bills to pay, I gave my orders pretty liberally, and of course have been +obliged to leave the account unpaid,—an arrangement which to many +others would have had nothing awkward in it at all; but as my allowance +has been always too liberal to permit my being in debt during any part +of the time I have been at college, the not paying my last bill there +was disagreeable. However the people were abundantly civil, and I +flatter myself that, without the assistance of Mr. Corbold, I shall be +able to settle this matter before long."</p> + +<p>"What is the sum you have left unpaid, Charles?" inquired the baronet +bluntly. "Seventy-five pounds, Sir Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"Then just sit down for half a moment, and write a line enclosing the +money; you may cut the notes in half if you think there is any danger."</p> + +<p>And as he spoke he laid bank-notes to the amount of seventy-five pounds +on her ladyship's botanical dresser.</p> + +<p>Young Mowbray, who had not the slightest doubt of receiving his +allowance from his mother as soon as he should ask her for it, would +rather not have been under a pecuniary obligation even for a day; but he +caught the eye of Lady Harrington, who was standing behind her impetuous +husband, and received thence a perfectly intelligible hint that he must +not refuse the offer. Most anxious to avoid renewing the coldness so +recently removed, he readily and graciously accepted the offered loan, +and thereby most perfectly re-established the harmony which had existed +throughout his life between himself and the warm-hearted but impetuous +Sir Gilbert.</p> + +<p>"Now, then," said the old gentleman with the most cordial and happy +good-humour, "be off, my dear boy; follow my dame's advice to the +letter, and come back as soon as you conveniently can, to let us know +what comes of it."</p> + +<p>Cheered in spirit by this warm renewal of the friendship he so truly +valued, young Mowbray set off on his homeward walk, pondering, as he +went, on the best mode of opening such a conversation with his mother as +Lady Harrington recommended; a task both difficult and disagreeable, but +one which he believed it his duty not to shrink from.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIB" id="CHAPTER_XIB"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES'S CONFERENCE WITH MRS. MOWBRAY.</h3> + + +<p>Strolling in the shrubbery near the house, where for some time they had +been anxiously awaiting his return, he met his eldest sister and Miss +Torrington. Helen's first words were "Are they angry with me?" and the +reply, and subsequent history of the visit, filled her heart with +gladness. "And now, my privy counsellors," continued Charles, "tell me +at what hour you should deem it most prudent for me to ask my mother for +an audience."</p> + +<p>"Instantly!" said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"Had he not better wait till to-morrow?" said Helen, turning very pale.</p> + +<p>"If my advisers disagree among themselves, I am lost," said Charles; +"for I give you my word that I never in my whole life entered upon an +undertaking which made me feel so anxious and undecided. Let me hear +your reasons for thus differing in opinion? Why, Rosalind, do you +recommend such prodigious promptitude?"</p> + +<p>"Because I hate suspense,—and because I know the scene will be +disagreeable to you,—wherefore I opine that the sooner you get over it +the better."</p> + +<p>"And you, Helen, why do you wish me to delay it till to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"Because,—oh! Charles,—because I dread the result. You have no idea as +yet how completely her temper is changed. She is very stern, Charles, +when she is contradicted; and if you should make her angry, depend upon +it that it would be Mr. Cartwright who would dictate your punishment."</p> + +<p>"My punishment! Nonsense, Helen! I shall make Miss Torrington both my +Chancellor and Archbishop, for her advice has infinitely more wisdom in +it than yours. Where is she? in her own dressing-room?"</p> + +<p>"I believe so," faltered Helen.</p> + +<p>"Well, then,—adieu for half an hour,—perhaps for a whole one. Where +shall I find you when it is over?"</p> + +<p>"In my dressing-room," said Helen.</p> + +<p>"No, no," cried Rosalind; "I would not have to sit with you there for an +hour, watching you quiver and quake every time a door opened, for my +heiresship. Let us walk to the great lime-tree, and stay there till you +come."</p> + +<p>"And so envelop yourselves in a November woodland fog, wherein to sit +waiting till about four o'clock! The wisdom lies with Helen this time, +Miss Torrington; I think you have both of you been pelted long enough +with falling leaves for to-day, and therefore I strongly recommend that +you come in and wait for my communication beside a blazing fire. Have +you no new book, no lively novel or fancy-stirring romance, wherewith to +beguile the time?"</p> + +<p>"Novels and romances! Oh! Mr. Mowbray,—what a desperate sinner you must +be! The subscription at Hookham's has been out these three months; and +the same dear box that used to be brought in amidst the eager rejoicings +of the whole family, is now become the monthly vehicle of Evangelical +Magazines, Christian Observers, Missionary Reports, and Religious +Tracts, of all imaginable sorts and sizes. We have no other modern +literature allowed us."</p> + +<p>"Poor girls!" said Charles, laughing; "what do you do for books?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the old library supplies us indifferently well, I must confess; +and as Fanny has changed her morning quarters from thence to the +print-room, which is now converted into a chapel of ease for the vicar, +we contrive to abduct from thence such volumes as we wish for without +difficulty. But we were once very near getting a book, which, I have +been told, is of the most exquisite interest and pathos of any in the +language, by a pleasant blunder of Mrs. Mowbray's. I chanced to be in +the room with her one day when she read aloud an old advertisement which +she happened to glance her eye upon, stitched up in a Review of some +dozen years standing I believe, 'Some passages in the life of Mr. Adam +Blair, Minister of the Gospel.' 'That's a book we ought to have,' said +she very solemnly; 'Rosalind, give me that list for Hatchard's, I will +add this.' I took up the advertisement as she laid it down and, not +having it before her eyes, I suspect that she made some blunder about +the title; for, when the box came down, I took care to be present at the +opening of it, and to my great amusement, instead of the little volume +that I was hoping to see, I beheld all Blair's works, with a scrap of +paper from one of the shopmen, on which was written, 'Mrs. Mowbray is +respectfully informed that the whole of Blair's works are herewith +forwarded, but that J. P. is not aware of any other life of Adam than +that written by Moses.' This was a terrible disappointment to me, I +assure you."</p> + +<p>They had now reached the house; the two girls withdrew their arms, and, +having watched Charles mount the stairs, they turned into the drawing +room,—and from thence to the conservatory,—and then back again,—and +then up stairs to lay aside their bonnets and cloaks,—and then down +again; first one and then the other looking at their watches, till they +began to suspect that they must both of them stand still, or something +very like it, so creepingly did the time pass during which they waited +for his return.</p> + +<p>On reaching the dressing-room door, Charles knocked, and it was opened +to him by Fanny.</p> + +<p>The fair brow of his mother contracted at his approach; and he +immediately suspected, what was indeed the fact, that Fanny had been +relating to her the conversation which had passed between them in the +morning.</p> + +<p>He rather rejoiced at this than the contrary, as he thought the +conversation could not be better opened than by his expressing his +opinions and feelings upon what had fallen from her during this +interview. He did not however, wish that she should be present, and +therefore said,</p> + +<p>"Will you let me, dear mother, say a few words to you tête-à-tête. Come, +Fanny; run away, will you, for a little while?"</p> + +<p>Fanny instantly left the room, and Mrs. Mowbray, without answering his +request, sat silently waiting for what he was about to say.</p> + +<p>"I want to speak, to you, mother, about our dear Fanny. I assure you I +am very uneasy about her; I do not think she is in good health, either +of body or mind."</p> + +<p>"Your ignorance of medicine is, I believe, total, Charles," she replied +dryly, "and therefore your opinion concerning her bodily health does not +greatly alarm me; and you must pardon me if I say that I conceive your +ignorance respecting all things relating to a human soul, is more +profound still."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you should think so, dearest mother; but I assure you that +neither physic nor divinity have been neglected in my education."</p> + +<p>"And by whom have you been taught? Blind guides have been your teachers, +who have led you, I fear, to the very brink of destruction. When light +is turned into darkness, how great is that darkness!"</p> + +<p>"My teachers have been those that my dear father appointed me, and I +have never seen any cause to mistrust either their wisdom or their +virtue, mother."</p> + +<p>"And know you not that your poor unhappy father was benighted, led +astray, and lost by having himself listened to such teaching as he +caused to be given to you? But you, Charles, if you did not harden your +heart, even as the nether millstone, might even yet be saved among the +remnant. Put yourself into the hands and under the training of the +pious, blessed minister whom the Lord hath sent us. Open your sinful +heart to Mr. Cartwright, Charles, and you may save your soul alive!"</p> + +<p>"Mother!" said Charles with solemn earnestness, "Mr. Cartwright's +doctrines are dreadful and sinful in my eyes. My excellent and most +beloved father was a Protestant Christian, born, educated, and abiding +to his last hour in the faith and hope taught by the established church +of his country. In that faith and hope, mother, I also have been reared +by him and by you; and rather than change it for the impious and +frightful doctrines of the sectarian minister you name, who most +dishonestly has crept within the pale of an establishment whose dogmas +and discipline he profanes,—rather, mother, than adopt this Mr. +Cartwright's unholy belief, and obey his unauthorised and unscriptural +decrees, I would kneel down and implore that my bones might be at once +laid beside my father's."</p> + +<p>"Leave the room, Charles Mowbray!" exclaimed his mother almost in a +scream; "let not the walls that shelter me be witness to such fearful +blasphemy!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot, and I will not leave you, mother, till I have told you how +very wretched you are making me and my poor sister Helen by thus +forsaking that form of religion in which from our earliest childhood we +have been accustomed to see you worship. Why,—why, dearest mother, +should you bring this dreadful schism upon your family? Can you believe +this to be your duty?"</p> + +<p>"By what right, human or divine, do you thus question me, lost, unhappy +boy? But I will answer you; and I trust that I shall be forgiven for +intercommuning with one who lives in open rebellion to the saints! Yes, +sir; I do believe it is my duty to hold fast the conviction which Heaven +in its goodness has sent me. I do believe it is my duty to testify by my +voice, and by every act of my life during the remaining time for which +the Lord shall spare me for the showing forth of his glory, that I +consider the years that are past as an abomination in his sight; that my +living in peace and happiness with your unawakened and unregenerate +father was an abomination in the sight of the Lord; and that now, at the +eleventh hour, my only hope of being received rests in my hating and +abhorring, and forsaking and turning away from, all that is, and has +been, nearest and dearest to my sinful heart!"</p> + +<p>Charles listened to this rant with earnest and painful attention, and, +when she ceased, looked at her through tears that presently overflowed +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Have I then lost my only remaining parent?" said he. "And can you thus +close your heart against me, and your poor Helen, my mother?"</p> + +<p>"By the blessing of providence I am strong," replied the deluded lady, +struggling to overcome Heaven's best gift of pure affection in her +heart. "By its blessing, and by the earnest prayers of its holiest +saint, I am able, wretched boy, to look at thee, and say, Satan avaunt! +But I am tried sorely," she continued, turning her eyes from the manly +countenance of her son, now wet with tears. "Sorely, sorely, doomed and +devoted boy, am I tried? But he, the Lord's vicar upon earth, the chosen +shepherd, the anointed saint,—he, even he tells me to be of good cheer, +for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."</p> + +<p>"Can you then believe, mother, that the merciful God of heaven and of +earth approves your forsaking your children, solely because they worship +him as they have been taught to do? Can you believe that he approves +your turning your eyes and heart from them to devote yourself to a +stranger to your blood, a preacher of strange doctrine, and one who +loves them not?"</p> + +<p>"I have already told you, impious maligner of the holiest of men, that I +know where my duty lies. I know, I tell you, that I not only know it, +but will do it.—Torment me no more! Leave me, leave me, unhappy boy! +leave me that I may pray for pardon for having listened to thee so +long."</p> + +<p>She rose from her seat and approached him, as if to thrust him from the +chamber; but he suffered her to advance without moving, and when she was +close to him, he threw his arms round her, and held her for a moment in +a close embrace. She struggled violently to disengage herself, and he +relaxed his hold; but, dropping on his knees before her, at the same +moment he exclaimed with passionate tenderness, "My dear, dear mother! +have I then received your last embrace? Shall I never again feel your +beloved lips upon my cheeks, my lips, my forehead? Mother! what can +Helen and I do to win back your precious love?"</p> + +<p>"Surely I shall be rewarded for this!" said the infatuated woman almost +wildly. "Surely I shall be visited with an exceeding great reward! and +will he not visit thee too, unnatural son, for art not thou plotting +against my soul to destroy it?"</p> + +<p>"There is, then, no hope for us from the voice of nature, no hope from +the voice of reason and of truth? Then hear me, mother, for I too must +act according to the voice of conscience. Helen and I must leave you; we +can no longer endure to be so near you in appearance, while in reality +we are so fearfully estranged. You have been very generous to me in the +sum which you named for my allowance at my father's death; and as soon +as my commission is obtained, that allowance will suffice to support me, +for my habits have never been extravagant. May I ask you to assign a +similar sum to Helen? This will enable her to command such a home with +respectable people as may befit your daughter; and you will not doubt, I +think, notwithstanding the unhappy difference in our opinions on points +of doctrine, that I shall watch over her as carefully as our dear father +himself could have done."</p> + +<p>"He is a prophet! yea, a prophet!" exclaimed Mrs. Mowbray; "and shall I +be blind even as the ungodly, and doubt his word into whose mouth Heaven +hath put the gift of prophecy and the words of wisdom? He hath spoken, +and very terrible things are come to pass. Can your heart resist such +proof as this, Charles?" she continued, raising her eyes and hands to +heaven:—"even what you have now spoken, that did he predict and +foretell you should speak!"</p> + +<p>"He guessed the point, then, at which we could bear no more," replied +Charles with bitterness: "and did he predict too what answer our +petition should receive?"</p> + +<p>"He did," returned Mrs. Mowbray either with real or with feigned +simplicity; "and even that too shall be verified. Now, then, hear his +blessed voice through my lips; and as I say, so must thou do. Go to your +benighted sister, and tell her that for her sake I will wrestle in +prayer. With great and exceeding anguish of spirit have I already +wrestled for her; but she is strong and wilful, and resisteth +alway.—Nevertheless, I will not give her over to her own heart's +desire; nor will I turn mine eyes from her. For a while longer I will +endure; and for you, unhappy son, I must take counsel from the same holy +well-spring of righteousness, and what he shall speak, look that it come +to pass."</p> + +<p>"You have denounced a terrible sentence against Helen, mother! for +nearly two years, then, she must look forward to a very wretched life; +but, without your consent, I cannot till she is of age remove her. Dear +girl! she has a sweet and gentle spirit, and will, I trust, be enabled +to bear patiently her most painful situation. But as for myself it may +be as well to inform Mr. Cartwright at once, through you, that any +interference with me or my concerns will not be endured; and that I +advise him, for his own sake, to let me hear and see as little of him as +possible."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray seemed to listen to these words in perfect terror, as if +she feared a thunderbolt must fall and crush at once the speaker and the +hearer of such daring impiety. But the spirit of Charles was chafed; and +conscious perhaps that he was in danger of saying what he might wish to +recall on the influence which his mother avowed that the vicar had +obtained over her, he hastened to conclude the interview, and added: "I +will beg you ma'am, immediately to give me a draft for my quarter's +allowance, due on the first of this month. I want immediately to send +money to Oxford."</p> + +<p>"Did I not tell you, Charles, to inform my man of business,—that +serious and exemplary man, Mr. Corbold,—what money you owed in Oxford, +and to whom? And did I not inform you at the same time that he should +have instructions to acquit the same forthwith?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, you certainly did send me a letter to that effect; but as +my father permitted me before I came of age to pay my own bills, and to +dispose of my allowance as I thought fit, I did not choose to change my +usual manner of proceeding, and therefore left what I owed unpaid, +preferring to remit the money myself. Will you please to give me the +means of doing this now?"</p> + +<p>"May Heaven be gracious to me and mine, as I steadily now, and for ever, +refuse to do so great iniquity! Think you, Charles, that I, guided and +governed, as I glory to say I am, by one sent near me by providence to +watch over me now in my time of need,—think you that I will hire and +pay your wicked will to defy it."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, then, mother, to withdraw my allowance?" said Charles.</p> + +<p>"I thank Heaven that I do!" she replied, uplifting her eyes: "and humbly +on my knees will I thank it for giving me that strength, even in the +midst of weakness!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke, she dropped upon her knees on the floor, with her back +towards her unhappy son. He remained standing for a few moments, +intending to utter some nearly hopeless words of remonstrance upon the +cruel resolution she had just announced; but as she did not rise, he +left the room, and with a heavy heart proceeded to look for Helen and +her friend; though he would gladly have prepared himself by an hour of +solitude for communicating tidings which had very nearly overthrown his +philosophy. But he had promised to see them and to tell them all that +passed; and he prepared to perform this promise with a heavier heart +than had ever before troubled his bosom. He shrank from the idea of +appearing before Rosalind in a situation so miserably humiliating, for +at this moment fears that the report mentioned by Lady Harrington might +be true pressed upon him; and though his better judgment told him that +such feelings were contemptible, when about to meet the eye of a friend +he could not subdue them, and as he opened the drawing-room door, the +youthful fire of his eye was quenched and his pale lip trembled.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Charles, how dreadfully ill you look!" exclaimed Helen.</p> + +<p>"What can have passed?" said Miss Torrington, looking almost as pale +himself.</p> + +<p>"Much that has been very painful," he replied; "but I am ashamed at +being thus overpowered by it. Tell me, both of you, without any reserve, +have you ever thought—has the idea ever entered your heads, that my +unfortunate mother was likely to marry Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"No,—never," replied Helen firmly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rosalind falteringly;—but less with the hesitation of +doubt, than from fear of giving pain.</p> + +<p>"Lady Harrington told me it was spoken of," said Mowbray with a deep +sigh.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible!" said Helen, "I cannot:—I will not believe it. +Rosalind! if you have had such an idea, how comes it that you have kept +it secret from me?"</p> + +<p>"If instead of darkly fearing it," replied Rosalind, "I had positively +known it to be true, I doubt if I should have named it, Helen;—I could +not have borne that words so hateful should have first reached the +family from me."</p> + +<p>"Has she told you it is so?" inquired Helen, her lips so parched with +agitation that she pronounced the words with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"No, dearest, she has not; and perhaps I am wrong both in conceiving +such an idea, and in naming it. But her mind is so violently, so +strangely wrought upon by this detestable man, that I can only account +for it by believing that he is——"</p> + +<p>There was much filial piety in the feeling that prevented his finishing +the sentence.</p> + +<p>"It is so that I have reasoned," said Rosalind. "Heaven grant that we be +both mistaken!—But will you not tell us, Charles, what it is that has +suggested the idea to you? For Heaven's sake relate, if you can, what +has passed between you?"</p> + +<p>"If I can!—Indeed I doubt my power. She spoke of me as of one condemned +of Heaven."</p> + +<p>Rosalind started from her seat.—"Do not go on, Mr. Mowbray!" she +exclaimed with great agitation; "I cannot bear this, and meet her with +such external observance and civility as my situation demands. It can do +us no good to discuss this wicked folly,—this most sinful madness. I, +at least, for one, feel a degree of indignation—a vehemence of +irritation on the subject, that will not, I am sure, produce good to any +of us. She must go on in the dreadful path in which she has lost +herself, till she meet something that shall shock and turn her back +again. But all that can be done or said by others will but drive her on +the faster, adding the fervour of a martyr to that of a convert."</p> + +<p>"You speak like an oracle, dear Rosalind," said poor Mowbray, +endeavouring to smile, and more relieved than he would have avowed to +himself at being spared the task of narrating his downfall from supposed +wealth to actual penury before her.</p> + +<p>"She speaks like an oracle, but a very sad one," said Helen. +"Nevertheless, we will listen and obey.—You have spoken to my mother, +and what you have said has produced no good effect: to me, therefore, it +is quite evident that nothing can. Were it not that the fearful use +which we hear made of the sacred name makes me tremble lest I too should +use it irreverently, I would express the confidence I feel, that if we +bear this heavy sorrow well, his care will be with us: and whether we +say it or not, let us feel it. And now, Rosalind, we must redeem our +lost time, and read for an hour or so upstairs. See! we have positively +let the fire go out;—a proof how extremely injurious it is to permit +our thoughts to fix themselves too intensely on any thing:—it renders +one incapable of attending to the necessary affairs of life.—There, +Charles, is a sermon for you. But don't look so miserable, my dear +brother; or my courage will melt into thin air."</p> + +<p>"I will do my best to master it, Helen," he replied; "but I shall not be +able to make a display of my stoicism before you this evening, for I +must return to Oakley."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to dine there? Why did you not tell me so?"</p> + +<p>"If my conversation with my mother had ended differently, Helen, I +should have postponed my visit till to-morrow; but as it is, it will be +better for me to go now. I will drive myself over in the cab. I suppose +I can have Joseph?" He rang the bell as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Let the cab be got ready for me in half an hour: and tell Joseph I +shall want him to go out with me to dinner."</p> + +<p>"The cab is not at home, sir," replied the servant.</p> + +<p>"Is it gone to the coach-maker's?—What is the matter with it."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing the matter with it, sir; but Mr. Cartwright has got +it."</p> + +<p>"Then let my mare be saddled. She is in the stable, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Corbold has had the use of your mare, Mr. Charles, for more than a +month, sir: and terribly worked she has been, Dick says."</p> + +<p>"Very well—it's no matter: I shall walk, William."</p> + +<p>The servant retired, with an expression of more sympathy than etiquette +could warrant. Helen looked at her brother in very mournful silence; but +tears of indignant passion started to the bright eyes of Rosalind. "Is +there no remedy for all this?" she exclaimed. "Helen, let us run away +together. They cannot rob me of my money, I suppose. Do ask Sir Gilbert, +Charles, if I am obliged to stay here and witness these hateful +goings-on."</p> + +<p>"I will—I will, Miss Torrington. It would, indeed, be best for you to +leave us. But my poor Helen,—she must stay and bear it."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall stay too: and that I think you might guess, Mr. Mowbray."</p> + +<p>Rosalind's tears overflowed as she spoke; and Charles Mowbray looked at +her with that wringing of the heart which arises from thinking that all +things conspire to make us wretched. When he was the reputed heir of +fourteen thousand a year he had passed whole weeks in the society of +Rosalind, and never dreamed he loved her;—but now, now that he was a +beggar, and a beggar too, as it seemed, not very likely to be treated +with much charity by his own mother,—now that it would be infamy to +turn his thoughts towards the heiress with any hope or wish that she +should ever be his, he felt that he adored her—that every hour added +strength to a passion that he would rather die than reveal, and that +without a guinea in the world to take him or to keep him elsewhere, his +remaining where he was would expose him to sufferings that he felt he +had no strength to bear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIB" id="CHAPTER_XIIB"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE VICAR'S PROGRESS, AND HIS COUNSEL TO FANNY AS TO THE BEST MEANS OF +ASSISTING THE POOR.</h3> + + +<p>When the family assembled at dinner, and Mrs. Mowbray perceived the +place of her son vacant, she changed colour, and appeared discomposed +and absent during the whole time she remained at table. This, however, +was not long; for, a very few minutes after the cloth was removed, she +rose, and saying, "I want you, Fanny," left the room with her youngest +daughter without making either observation or apology to those she left. +The result of this conference between the mother and daughter was the +despatching a note to the Vicarage, which brought the vicar to join them +with extraordinary speed.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray then related with a good deal of emotion the scene which +had taken place between herself and her son in the morning; concluding +it with mentioning his absence at dinner, and her fears that, in his +unregenerate state of mind, he might be led to withdraw himself +altogether from a home where godliness had begun to reign, and where, by +the blessing of heaven, it would multiply and increase every day that +they were spared to live.</p> + +<p>When she had concluded, Mr. Cartwright remained for several minutes +silent, his eyes fixed upon the carpet, his arms folded upon his breast, +and his head from time to time moved gently and sadly to and fro, as if +the subject on which he was meditating were both important and +discouraging. At length he raised his eyes, and fixed them upon Fanny.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," he said, "withdraw yourself, and pray, while your +mother and I remain together. Pray for us, Fanny!—pray for both of us, +that we may so do the duty appointed unto us, as what we may decide to +execute shall redound to the glory of heaven, and to our everlasting +salvation, world without end, amen!"</p> + +<p>Fanny rose instantly, and clasping her innocent hands together, +fervently exclaimed "I will!—I will!"</p> + +<p>Having opened the door, and laid his delicate white hand upon her head, +whispering an ardent blessing as she passed through it, he watched her +as she retreated with a rapid step to her chamber anxious to perform the +duty assigned her; and then closing and bolting it after her, he +returned to the sofa near the fire, and seated himself beside Mrs. +Mowbray.</p> + +<p>"My friend!" said Mr. Cartwright, taking her hand; "my dear, dear +friend! you are tried, you are very sorely tried. But it is the will of +the Lord, and we must not repine at it: rather let us praise his name +alway!"</p> + +<p>"I do!" ejaculated the widow with very pious emotion; "I do praise and +bless his holy name for all the salvation he hath vouchsafed to me, a +sinner—and to my precious Fanny with me. Oh, Mr. Cartwright, it is very +dear to me to think that I shall have that little holy angel with me in +paradise! But be my guide and helper"—and here the good and serious +lady very nearly returned the pressure with which her hand was +held,—"oh! be my guide and helper with my other misguided children! +Tell me, dear Mr. Cartwright, what must I do with Charles?"</p> + +<p>"It is borne in upon my mind, my dear and gentle friend, that there is +but one chance left to save that deeply-perilled soul from the +everlasting gulf of gnawing worms and of eternal flame."</p> + +<p>"Is there one chance?" exclaimed the poor woman in a real ecstasy. "Oh! +tell me what it is, and there is nothing in the wide world that I would +not bear and suffer to obtain it."</p> + +<p>"He must abandon the profession of arms and become a minister of the +gospel."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Cartwright, he never will consent to this. From his earliest +childhood, his unhappy and unawakened father taught him to glory in the +thought of fighting the battles of his country; and with the large +fortune he must one day have, is it not probable that he might be +tempted to neglect the cure of souls? And then, you know, Mr. +Cartwright, that the last state of that man would be worse than the +first."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright dropped the lady's hand and rose from his seat. "I must +leave you, then," he said, his rich voice sinking into a tone of the +saddest melancholy. "I must not—I may not give any other counsel; for +in doing so, I should betray my duty, and betray the confidence you +have placed in me. Adieu, then, beloved friend! adieu for ever! My +heart—the weak and throbbing heart of a man is even now heaving in my +breast. That heart will for ever forbid my speaking with harshness and +austerity to you. Therefore, beloved but too feeble friend, adieu! +Should I stay longer with you, that look might betray me into +forgetfulness of every thing on earth—and heaven too!"</p> + +<p>The three last words were uttered in a low and mournful whisper. He then +walked towards the door, turned to give one last look, and having +unfastened the lock and shot back the bolt, was in the very act of +departing, when Mrs. Mowbray rushed towards him, exclaiming "Oh, do not +leave us all to everlasting damnation! Save us! save us! Tell me only +what to do, and I will do it."</p> + +<p>In the extremity of her eagerness, terror, and emotion, she fell on her +knees before him, and raising her tearful eyes to his, seemed silently +to reiterate the petition she had uttered.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright looked down upon her, turned away for one short instant +to rebolt the door, and then, raising his eyes to heaven, and dropping +on his knees beside her, he threw his arms around her, impressed a holy +kiss upon her brow, exclaiming in a voice rendered tremulous, as it +should seem, by uncontrollable agitation, "Oh, never! never!"</p> + +<p>After a few moments unavoidably lost by both in efforts to recover their +equanimity, they rose and reseated themselves on the sofa.</p> + +<p>The handkerchief of Mrs. Mowbray was at her eyes. She appeared greatly +agitated, and totally unable to speak herself, sat in trembling +expectation of what her reverend friend should say next.</p> + +<p>It was not immediately, however, that Mr. Cartwright could recover his +voice; but at length he said, "It is impossible, my too lovely friend, +that we can either of us any longer mistake the nature of the sentiment +which we feel for each other. But we have the comfort of knowing that +this sweet and blessed sentiment is implanted in us by the will of the +Lord! And if it be sanctified to his honour and glory, it becometh the +means of raising us to glory everlasting in the life to come. Wherefore, +let us not weep and lament, but rather be joyful and give thanks that so +it hath seemed good in his sight!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray answered only by a deep sigh, which partook indeed of the +nature of a sob; and by the continued application of her handkerchief, +it appeared that she wept freely. Mr. Cartwright once more ventured to +take her hand; and that she did not withdraw it, seemed to evince such a +degree of Christian humility, and such a heavenly-minded forgiveness of +his presumption, that the pious feelings of his heart broke forth in +thanksgiving.</p> + +<p>"Praise and glory to the Lord alway!" he exclaimed, "your suffering +sweetness, dearest Clara, loveliest of women, most dearly-beloved—your +suffering sweetness shall be bruised no more! Let me henceforward be as +the shield and buckler that shall guard thee, so that thou shalt not be +afraid for any terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. +And tell me, most beloved! does not thy spirit rejoice, and is not thy +heart glad, even as my heart, that the Lord hath been pleased to lay his +holy law upon us—even upon thee and me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Cartwright!" replied the agitated Mrs. Mowbray, "I know not +what I can—I know not what I ought to do. May Heaven guide me!—for, +alas! I know not how to guide myself!"</p> + +<p>"And fear not, Clara, but he will guide thee! for he hath made thee but +a little lower than the angels, and hath crowned thee with glory and +honour. And tell me, thou highly-favoured one, doth not thy own heart +teach thee, that heart being taught of him, that I am he to whom thou +shouldst look for comfort now in the time of this mortal life? Speak to +me, sweet and holy Clara. Tell me, am I deceived in thee? Or art thou +indeed, and wilt thou indeed be mine?"</p> + +<p>"If I shall sin not by doing so, I will, Mr. Cartwright; for my spirit +is too weak to combat all the difficulties I see before me. My soul +trusts itself to thee—be thou to me a strong tower, for I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"Think you, Clara, that he who has led you out of darkness into the way +of life would now, for the gratification of his own earthly love, become +a stumbling-block in thy path? My beloved friend! how are you to wrestle +and fight for and with that misguided young man, who hath now, even now, +caused you such bitter sufferings? He is thine; therefore he is dear to +me. Let me lead him, even as I have led thee, and his spirit too, as +well as thine and Fanny's, shall rejoice!"</p> + +<p>"Then be it so!" exclaimed Mrs. Mowbray. "Promise me only to lead Helen +also into life everlasting, and not to leave the poor benighted Rosalind +for ever in darkness, and I will consent, Mr. Cartwright, to be your +wife!"</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more satisfactory than the vicar's answer to this +appeal, and had not the good Mrs. Mowbray been too generous to exact a +penalty in case of failure, there can be little doubt but that he would +willingly have bound himself under any forfeiture she could have named, +to have ensured a place in heaven, not only to all those she mentioned, +but to every individual of her household, the scullion and stable-boys +included.</p> + +<p>The great question answered of "To be or not to be the husband of Mrs. +Mowbray?" the vicar began to point out to her in a more composed and +business-like manner the great advantages both temporal and spiritual +which must of necessity result to her family from this arrangement; and +so skilfully did he manage her feelings and bend her mind to his +purpose, that when at length he gave her lips the farewell kiss of +affianced love, and departed, he left her in the most comfortable and +prayerful state of composure imaginable. In about ten minutes after he +was gone, she rang her bell, and desired that Miss Fanny might come to +her; when, without exactly telling her the important business which had +been settled during the time she passed upon her knees, she gave her to +understand that Mr. Cartwright had probably thought of the only means by +which all the unhappy disagreements in the family could be settled.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, mamma, I prayed for him," said Fanny, lifting her eyes to +Heaven; "I prayed most earnestly, that Heaven might bring him wisdom to +succour you according to your wish, and therein to heal all our +troubles."</p> + +<p>"And your prayers have been heard, my dear child; and it hath sent him +the wisdom that we all so greatly needed.—Have they had tea in the +drawing-room, Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, mamma. I have been kneeling and praying all the time."</p> + +<p>"Then, my dear, you must want refreshment. Go down and tell them that I +am not quite well this evening, and shall therefore not come down again; +but they may send me some tea by Curtis."</p> + +<p>"I hope you are not very ill, my dearest mother?" said Fanny, looking, +anxiously at her.</p> + +<p>"No, dear,—not very ill—only a little nervous."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>While these scenes passed at Mowbray Park, poor Charles was relieving +his heart by relating, without reserve, what had passed between him and +his mother. His first words on entering the library, where Sir Gilbert +and Lady Harrington were seated, were, "Have you sent that letter to +Oxford, Sir Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have," was the reply. "But why do you inquire, Charles?"</p> + +<p>"Because, if you had not, I would have begged you to delay it."</p> + +<p>"And why so?"</p> + +<p>In reply to this question, young Mowbray told all that had passed; +observing, when his painful tale was ended, that such being his mother's +decision, he intended to apply immediately to Corbold for the money he +wanted.</p> + +<p>"Not you, by Jove, Charles! You shall do no such thing, I tell you! +What! knuckle and truckle to this infernal gang of hypocrites! You shall +do no such thing. Just let me know all that is going on in the garrison, +and if I don't counterplot them, I am a Dutchman."</p> + +<p>"Puff not up your heart, Sir Knight, with such vain conceits," said Lady +Harrington. "You will plot like an honest man, and the Tartuffe will +plot like a rogue. I leave you to guess which will do the most work in +the shortest time. Nevertheless, you are right to keep him out of the +way of these people as long as you can."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the heavy load at his heart which Mowbray brought with +him to Oakley, before he had passed an hour with his old friends his +sorrows appeared lighter, and his hopes from the future brighter and +stronger. Sir Gilbert, though exceedingly angry with Mrs. Mowbray, still +retained some respect for her; and, spite of all his threatening hints +to the contrary, he no more believed that the widow of his old friend +would marry herself to the Reverend William Jacob Cartwright, than that +he, when left a widower by my lady, should marry the drunken landlady of +the Three Tankards at Ramsden. He therefore spoke to Charles of his +present vexatious embarrassments as of all evils that must naturally +clear away, requiring only a little temporary good management to render +them of very small importance to him. Of Helen's situation, however, +Lady Harrington spoke with great concern, and proposed that she and Miss +Torrington should transfer themselves from the Park to Oakley as soon as +Charles joined his regiment, and there remain till Mrs. Mowbray had +sufficiently recovered her senses to make them comfortable at home.</p> + +<p>Before the young man left them, it was settled that Colonel Harrington +should immediately exert himself to obtain the commission so long +promised; a service in the performance of which no difficulty was +anticipated, as the last inquiries made on the subject at the Horse +Guards were satisfactorily answered.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile," said the baronet as he wrung his hand at parting, "give not +way for one single inch before the insolent interference of these +canters and ranters: remember who and what you are, and that you have a +friend who will make the county too hot to hold any one, male or female, +who shall attempt to shake or shackle you in your natural rights. Treat +your mother with the most perfect respect and politeness; but make her +understand that you are your father's son, and that there is such a +thing as public opinion, which, on more occasions than one, has been +found as powerful as any other law of the land. Cheer the spirits of the +poor woe-begone girls as much as you can; and tell Helen that her duty +to her father's memory requires that she should not neglect her father's +friends. And now good night, Charles! Come to us as often as you can; +and God bless you, my dear boy!"</p> + +<p>By this advice young Mowbray determined to act; and wishing to escape +any discussion upon lesser points, he avoided all tête-à-tête +conversations with his mother, kept as much out of Mr. Cartwright's way +as possible, turned his back upon the serious attorney whenever he met +him, and devoted his time to walking, reading, and singing, with Miss +Torrington and his sister Helen, while waiting to receive the news of +his appointment. When this should arrive, he determined once more to see +his mother in private, and settle with her, on the best footing he +could, the amount and manner of his future supplies.</p> + +<p>This interval, which lasted nearly a month, was by no means an unhappy +one to Charles. He had great confidence in the judgment of Sir Gilbert +Harrington, and being much more inclined to believe in his mother's +affection than to doubt it, he resolutely shut his eyes upon whatever +was likely to annoy him, and gave himself up to that occupation which +beyond all others enables a man, or a woman either, to overlook and +forget every other,—namely, the making love from morning to night.</p> + +<p>The manner in which this undeclared but very intelligible devotion of +the heart was received by the fair object of it was such, perhaps, as to +justify hope, though it by no means afforded any certainty that the +feeling was returned. Even Helen, who fully possessed her brother's +confidence, and had hitherto, as she believed, fully possessed the +confidence of Rosalind also,—even Helen knew not very well what to make +of the varying symptoms which her friend's heart betrayed. That Miss +Torrington took great pleasure in the society of Mr. Mowbray, it was +impossible to doubt; and that she wished him to find pleasure in hers, +was equally clear. His favourite songs only were those which she +practised in his absence and sang in his presence; he rarely praised a +passage in their daily readings which she might not, by means of a +little watching, be found to have read again within the next twenty-four +hours. The feeble winter-blossoms from the conservatory, of which he +made her a daily offering, might be seen preserved on her toilet in a +succession of glasses, and only removed at length by a remonstrance from +her maid, who assured her that "stale flowers were unwholesome; though, +to be sure, coming out of that elegant conservatory did make a +difference, no doubt." Yet even then, the bouquet of a week old was not +permitted to make its exit till some aromatic leaf or still green sprig +of myrtle had been drawn from it, and deposited somewhere or other, +where its pretty mistress, perhaps, never saw it more, but which +nevertheless prevented her feeling that she had thrown the flowers he +had given her on Sunday in the breakfast-room, or on Monday in the +drawing-room, &c. &c. &c., quite away.</p> + +<p>Yet, with all this, it was quite impossible that Charles, or even Helen, +who knew more of these little symptomatic whims than he did, could feel +at all sure what Rosalind's answer would be if Mr. Mowbray made her a +proposal of marriage.</p> + +<p>From time to time words dropped from Rosalind indicative of her extreme +disapprobation of early marriages both for women and men, and declaring +that there was nothing she should dread so much as forming a union for +life with a man too young to know his own mind. When asked by Charles at +what age she conceived it likely that a man might attain this very +necessary self-knowledge, she answered with a marked emphasis,</p> + +<p>"Decidedly not till they are many years older than you are, Mr. +Mowbray."</p> + +<p>Even to her own heart Rosalind would at this time have positively +denied, not only that she loved Charles Mowbray, but that Charles +Mowbray loved her. She was neither insensible nor indifferent to his +admiration, or to the pleasure he took in her society; but she had heard +Charles's judgment of her on her arrival more than once repeated in +jest. He had said, that she was neither so amiable as Helen, nor so +handsome as Fanny. To both of these opinions she most sincerely +subscribed, and with such simple and undoubting acquiescence, that it +was only when she began to read in his eyes the legible "I love you," +that she remembered his having said it. Then her woman's heart told her, +that inferior though she might be, it was not her husband that must be +the first to discover it; and superior as he was,—which she certainly +was not disposed to deny,—it was not with such disproportionate +excellence that she should be most likely to form a happy union.</p> + +<p>Had Mowbray guessed how grave and deeply-seated in Rosalind's mind were +the reasons which would have led her decidedly to refuse him, this +flowery portion of his existence would have lost all its sweetness. It +was therefore favourable to his present enjoyment that, confident as he +felt of ultimately possessing the fortune to which he was born, he +determined not to propose to Rosalind till his mother had consented to +assure to him an independence as undoubted as her own. The sweet vapour +of hope, therefore,—the incense with which young hearts salute the +morning of life,—enveloped him on all sides: and pity is it that the +rainbow-tinted mist should ever be blown away from those who, like him, +are better, as well as happier, for the halo that so surrounds them.</p> + +<p>Many a storm is preceded by a calm,—many a gay and happy hour only +gives the frightful force of contrast to the misery that follows it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright having once and again received the plighted faith of Mrs. +Mowbray, for the present confined his operations solely to the gentle +task of urging her to hasten his happiness, and the assurance of eternal +salvation to all her family.</p> + +<p>But here, though the obstacles he had to encounter were of a soft and +malleable nature, easily yielding to the touch, and giving way at one +point, they were yet difficult to get rid of altogether; for they were +sure to swell up like dough, and meet him again in another place.</p> + +<p>Thus, when he proved to the pious widow that Heaven could never wish her +to delay her marriage till her year of mourning was out, seeing that its +honour and glory would be so greatly benefited and increased thereby, +she first agreed perfectly in his view of the case as so put, but +immediately placed before him the violent odium which they should have +to endure from the opinion of the world. And then, when his eloquence +had convinced her, that it was sinful for those who put not their faith +in princes, nor in any child of man, to regulate their conduct by such +worldly considerations,—though she confessed to him that as their +future associations would of course be wholly and solely among the +elect, she might perhaps overcome her fear of what her neighbours and +unregenerate acquaintance might say, yet nevertheless she doubted if she +could find courage to send orders to her milliner and dressmaker for +coloured suits, even of a sober and religious tint, as it was so very +short a time since she had ordered her half-mourning.</p> + +<p>It was more difficult perhaps to push this last difficulty aside than +any other; for Mr. Cartwright could not immediately see how to bring the +great doctrine of salvation to bear upon it.</p> + +<p>However, though the lady had not yet been prevailed upon to fix the day, +and even at intervals still spoke of the eligibility of waiting till the +year of mourning was ended, yet on the whole he had no cause to complain +of the terms on which he stood with her, and very wisely permitted the +peace of mind which he himself enjoyed to diffuse itself benignly over +all the inhabitants of the Park and the Vicarage.</p> + +<p>Henrietta, who throughout the winter had been in too delicate a state of +health to venture out of the house, was permitted to read what books she +liked at the corner of the parlour fire; while Mr. Jacob, far from being +annoyed by any particular strictness of domestic discipline, became +extremely like the wind which bloweth where it listeth, wandering from +farm-house to farm-house—nay, even from village to village, without +restriction of any kind from his much-engaged father.</p> + +<p>Fanny, however, was neither overlooked nor neglected; though to have now +led her about to little tête-à-tête prayer-meetings in the woods was +impossible. First, the wintry season forbad it; and secondly, the very +particular and important discussions which business rendered necessary +in Mrs. Mowbray's dressing-room—or, as it had lately been designated, +Mrs. Mowbray's morning parlour—must have made such an occupation as +difficult as dangerous.</p> + +<p>At these discussions Fanny was never invited to appear. She prayed in +company with her mother and Mr. Cartwright, and some of the most +promising of the domestics, for an hour in the morning and an hour in +the evening; but the manner in which the interval between these two +prayings was spent showed very considerable tact and discrimination of +character in the Vicar of Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>Soon after the important interview which has been stated to have taken +place between the lady of the manor and the vicar had occurred, Mr. +Cartwright having met Fanny on the stairs in his way to her mamma's +morning parlour, asked her, with even more than his usual tender +kindness, whether he might not be admitted for a few minutes into her +"study;" for it was thus that <i>her</i> dressing-room was now called by as +many of the household as made a point of doing every thing that Mr. +Cartwright recommended.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," she replied with all the zealous piety which distinguishes the +sect to which she belonged, whenever their consent is asked to do or +suffer any thing that nobody else would think it proper to do or +suffer,—"Oh yes!—will you come now, Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear child, it is now that I wish to come;"—and in another +moment the Vicar of Wrexhill and his beautiful young parishioner were +sitting tête-à-tête on the sofa of the young lady's dressing-room.</p> + +<p>As usual with him on all such occasions, he took her hand. "Fanny!" he +began,—"dear, precious Fanny! you know not how much of my +attention—how many of my thoughts are devoted to you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Cartwright, how very, very kind you are to think of me at all!"</p> + +<p>"You must listen to me Fanny," (he still retained her hand,) "you must +now listen to me with very great attention. You know I think highly of +your abilities—indeed I have not scrupled to tell you it was my opinion +that the Lord had endowed you with great powers for his own especial +service and glory. That last hymn, Fanny, confirms and strengthens me in +this blessed belief, and I look upon you as a chosen vessel. But, my +child, we must be careful that we use, and not abuse, this exceeding +great mercy and honour. Your verses, Fanny, are sweet to my ear, as the +songs of the children of Israel to those who were carried away captive. +But not for me—not for me alone, or for those who, like me, can taste +the ecstasy inspired by holy song, has that power been given unto you. +The poor, the needy, those of no account in the reckoning of the +proud—they have all, my dearest Fanny, a right to share in the precious +gift bestowed on you. Wherefore, I am now about to propose to you a work +to which the best and the holiest devote their lives, but on which you +have never yet tried your young strength:—I mean, my dearest child, the +writing of tracts for the poor."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Cartwright! Do you really think it possible that I can be +useful in such a blessed way?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure you may, my dear Fanny; and you know this will be the means +of doing good both to the souls and bodies of the saints. For what you +shall write, will not only be read to the edification and salvation of +many Christian souls, but will be printed and sold for the benefit +either of the poor and needy, or for the furthering such works and +undertakings as it may be deemed most fit to patronise and assist."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Cartwright! If I could be useful in such a way as that, I +should be very thankful;—only—I have a doubt."</p> + +<p>Here the bright countenance of Fanny became suddenly overclouded; she +even trembled, and turned pale.</p> + +<p>"What is it, my dear child, that affects you thus?" said the vicar with +real surprise; "tell me, my sweet Fanny, what I have said to alarm you?"</p> + +<p>"If I do this," said Fanny, her voice faltering with timidity, "shall I +not seem to be trusting to works?"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, because the writings of authors are called their works?" +said Mr. Cartwright very gravely.</p> + +<p>"No! Mr. Cartwright!" she replied, colouring from the feeling, that if +so good and holy a man could quiz, she should imagine that he was now +quizzing her,—"No! Mr. Cartwright!—but if I do this, and trust to get +saving grace as a reward for the good I may do, will not this be +trusting to works?"</p> + +<p>"My dear child," he said; gently kissing her forehead, "such tenderness +of conscience is the best assurance that what you will do will be done +in a right spirit. Then fear not, dear Fanny, that those things which +prove a snare to the unbeliever should, in like manner, prove a snare to +the elect."</p> + +<p>Again Fanny Mowbray trembled. "Alas! then I may still risk the danger of +eternal fire by this thing,—for am I of the elect?"</p> + +<p>The vicar knew that Mrs. Mowbray was waiting for him, and fearing that +this long delay might have a strange appearance, he hastily concluded +the conversation by exclaiming with as much vehemence as brevity, "You +are! You are!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIIB" id="CHAPTER_XIIIB"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. SIMPSON'S CHARITABLE VISIT.—CHARLES'S TROUBLES CONTINUE.</h3> + + +<p>From this time most of Fanny Mowbray's hours were spent in writing +tracts; which, as soon as completed, were delivered to Mr. Cartwright. +He received them ever with expressions of mingled admiration and +gratitude, constantly assuring her, the next time they met, that nothing +could be more admirably calculated to answer the effect intended, and +that the last was incomparably superior to all which had preceded it.</p> + +<p>This occupation of writing tracts, first hit upon for the convenient +occupation of Fanny Mowbray, was soon converted, by the ready wit of Mr. +Cartwright, into an occupation, in one way or another, for all the +professing Christians in his parish who happened to have nothing to do.</p> + +<p>Those who are at all acquainted with the manner in which the "Church +Methodists," as they are called, obtain the unbounded influence which +they are known to possess in their different parishes, particularly over +the female part of their congregations, must be aware, that, great and +violent as the effect of their passionate extempore preaching often is, +it is not to that alone that they trust for obtaining it. From the time +Mr. Cartwright became Vicar of Wrexhill, he had been unremitting in his +exertions of every kind to obtain power, influence, and dominion +throughout the parish, and, on the whole, had been pretty generally +successful. How far his handsome person and pleasing address contributed +to this, it is not here necessary to inquire; but it is certain that he +drew upon these advantages largely in his intercourse with the females +in general, and with the ladies in particular. But though at first this +particular species of devotion was exceedingly agreeable to him, both in +its exercise and its success, he now found very considerable +inconvenience from the difficulty of keeping up the frequency of his +pastoral visits to his fair converts without giving more time to them +than was consistent with his infinitely more important avocations at the +Park.</p> + +<p>As soon, however, as he perceived how completely the writing of tracts +occupied Fanny Mowbray during the time that was formerly bestowed upon +listening to his sentimental divinity, he determined that several others +of his female parishioners should dispose of their superfluous time in +the same manner.</p> + +<p>Within twenty-four hours after he came to this decision, the three +Misses Richards had, each and every of them, purchased a quire of +foolscap paper, a quarter of a hundred of goose-quills, with a bottle of +ink, and a Concordance, in common between them. Miss Stokes too, the +little blue-eyed milliner, and Mrs. Knighton, the late post-master's +widow, and Mrs. Watkins, the haberdasher's wife, were all furnished with +abundant materials of the same value; and all of them determined to give +up every earthly thing, if it were necessary, rather than disappoint the +dear, blessed Mr. Cartwright of the comfort of receiving any thing he +expected from them.</p> + +<p>The widow Simpson, and even her little holy Mimima, had also employment +found for them; which, though it could but ill supply to that regenerate +lady the loss of Mr. Cartwright's society, which at this particular +time she was in a great degree deprived of, served, nevertheless, to +soothe her by the conviction, that though not seen, she was remembered.</p> + +<p>The part of the business consigned to Mrs. Simpson was the selling the +tracts. It was not without surprise that the people of the +neighbourhood, particularly the unawakened, saw the parlour-windows of +"the principal person in the village" disfigured by a large square +paper, looking very much as if it announced lodgings to let, but which, +upon closer examination, proved to be inscribed as follows: "Religious +tracts, hymns, and meditations sold here, at one penny each, or +ninepence halfpenny for the dozen."</p> + +<p>Miss Mimima's duty was to hold in her hand a square box, with a slit cut +in the lid thereof, in which all who purchased the tracts were requested +to deposit their money for the same; and when the customer's appearance +betokened the possession of more pennies than their purchase required, +the little girl was instructed to say, "One more penny, please ma'am, +(or sir,) for the love of the Lord."</p> + +<p>Thus, for the pleasant interval of a few weeks, every thing went on +smoothly. Helen, at the earnest request of her brother, and convinced by +his arguments, as well as those of Lady Harrington and Rosalind, that, +under existing circumstances, it was right to do so, made several +morning visits to Oakley.</p> + +<p>Had she been questioned concerning this, she would most frankly have +avowed both the act and the motives for it. But no such questionings +came. Charles himself dined there repeatedly, but was never asked why he +absented himself, nor where he had been.</p> + +<p>During this period, Mrs. Mowbray seemed to encourage rather more than +usual the intercourse of the family with their Wrexhill neighbours. The +season being no longer favourable for walking, the Mowbray carriage was +to be seen two or three times in a week at Mrs. Simpson's, Mrs. +Richards's and the Vicarage; but it often happened, that though Mrs. +Mowbray proposed a visit to Wrexhill while they were at the +breakfast-table, and that the coachman immediately received orders to be +at the door accordingly, when the time arrived her inclination for the +excursion was found to have evaporated, and the young people went +thither alone.</p> + +<p>Upon one occasion of this kind, when, Fanny being deeply engaged in the +composition of a tract, and Charles gone to Oakley, Miss Torrington and +Helen had the carriage to themselves, they agreed that instead of making +the proposed visit to Mrs. Simpson, they should go to inquire for a +little patient of Helen's, the child of a poor hard-working woman, who +had long been one of her pensioners at Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>The entrance to the house was by a side door from a lane too narrow to +permit the carriage to turn; the two young ladies therefore were put +down at the corner of it, and their approach was unheard by those who +occupied the room upon which the door of the house opened, although it +stood ajar. But as they were in the very act of entering, they were +stopped by words so loud and angry, that they felt disposed to turn back +and abandon their charitable intention altogether.</p> + +<p>But Rosalind's ear caught a sound that made her curious to hear more; +and laying her hand on Helen's arm, and at the same time making a sign +that she should be silent, they stood for a moment on the threshold, +that they might decide whether to retreat or advance.</p> + +<p>"You nasty abominable woman, you!" these were the first words which +distinctly reached them; "you nasty untidy creature! look at the +soap-suds, do, all splashed out upon the ground! How can you expect a +Christian lady, who is the principal person in the parish, to come and +look after your nasty dirty soul, you untidy pig, you?"</p> + +<p>"Lord love you, my lady! 'tis downright unpossible to keep one little +room neat, and fit for the like of you, when I have the washing of three +families to do in it.—Heaven be praised for it!—and to cook my +husband's bit of dinner, and let three little ones crawl about in it, +besides."</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense!" responded the principal person in the village, +"whoever heard of washing making people dirty? Look here,—put out your +hand, can't you? I am sure I shall come no nearer to you and your tub. +Take these three tracts, and take care you expound them to your husband; +and remember that you are to bring them back again in one month without +a single speck of dirt upon them."</p> + +<p>"You be sent by the new vicar, beant you, Madam Simpson?" inquired the +woman.</p> + +<p>"Sent, woman? I don't know what you mean by 'sent.' As a friend and +joint labourer with Mr. Cartwright in the vineyard, I am come to take +your soul out of the nethermost pit; but if you will persist in going on +soaping and rubbing at that rate instead of listening to me, I don't see +that you have any more chance of salvation than your black kettle there. +Mercy on me! I shall catch my death of cold here! Tell me at once, do +you undertake to expound these tracts to your husband?"</p> + +<p>"Dear me! no, my lady; I was brought up altogether to the washing line."</p> + +<p>"What has that to do with it, you stupid sinner? I can't stay any longer +in this horrid, damp, windy hole; but take care that you expound, for I +insist upon it; and if you don't you may depend upon it Mr. Cartwright +won't give you one penny of the sacrament money."</p> + +<p>So saying, the pious lady turned away and opened the door upon Miss +Torrington and Helen.</p> + +<p>Conscious, perhaps, that her <i>Christian duty</i> had not been performed in +so lady-like a manner as it might have been, had she known that any +portion of the Park family were within hearing, the principal person in +the village started and coloured at seeing them; but, aware how greatly +she had outrun the two young ladies in the heavenly race, she +immediately recovered herself and said, "I am afraid, young ladies, that +your errand here is not the same as mine. Betty Thomas is a poor sinful +creature, and I hope you are not going to give her money till she is +reported elect, Miss Mowbray? It will really be no less than a sin if +you do."</p> + +<p>"She has a sick child, Mrs. Simpson," replied Helen, "and I am going to +give her money to buy what will make broth for it."</p> + +<p>Helen then entered the room, made her inquiries for the little sufferer, +and putting her donation into sinful Betty Thomas's soapy hand, returned +to Mrs. Simpson and Rosalind, who remained conversing at the door.</p> + +<p>It was raining hard, and Miss Mowbray asked Mrs. Simpson if she should +take her home.</p> + +<p>"That is an offer that I won't refuse, Miss Mowbray, though I am within, +and you are without, the pale. But I am terribly subject to catching +cold; and I do assure you that this winter weather makes a serious +Christian's duty very difficult to do, I have got rid of seventy tracts +since first of December."</p> + +<p>"You sell the tracts, do you not, Mrs. Simpson?" said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Torrington,—I sell them and lend them, and now and then give +them, when I think it is a great object to have them seen in any +particular house."</p> + +<p>"Have you collected much, ma'am, by the sale?"</p> + +<p>"Not a very large sum as yet, Miss Torrington; but I am getting on in +many different ways for the furtherance of Heaven's work. Perhaps, +ladies, though you have not as yet put your own hands to the plough that +shall open the way for you to a place among the heavenly host, you may +like to see my account?"</p> + +<p>"I should like it very much, Mrs. Simpson," said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>The lady then drew from her reticule a small pocket-book, from which she +read several items, which from various sources contributed, as she said, +"to fill a bag for the Work," to be expended upon the saints by the +hands of their pious vicar.</p> + +<p>By the time this interesting lecture was finished, the carriage had +reached Mrs. Simpson's door, and having set her down, was ordered home.</p> + +<p>"Now will I give Charles a <i>pendant</i> to the exquisite poetical effusion +which he bestowed on me some time since," said Rosalind, drawing forth +pencil and paper from a pocket of the carriage, in which Mrs. Mowbray +was accustomed of late to deposit what the vicar called "sacred +memoranda;" by which were signified all the scraps of gossip respecting +the poor people among whom she distributed tracts, that she could +collect for his private ear.</p> + +<p>Having invoked the Sisters Nine for the space of five minutes, she read +aloud the result to Helen, who declared herself willing to give +testimony, if called upon, to the faithful rendering (save and except +the rhymes) of the financial document to which they had just listened.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sixpence a week paid by each serious pew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Mr. Cartwright's church, makes—one pound two;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Wrexhill workhouse, by a farthing rate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Collected by myself, just one pound eight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crumbs for the Lord, gather'd from door to door<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through Hampshire, makes exactly two pound four;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From twelve old ladies, offerings from the hive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In various sums, amount to three pound five;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From our new Sunday school, as the Lord's fee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By pennies from each child, we've shillings three;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And last of all, and more deserving praise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than all the sums raised by all other ways,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The desperate Sinner's certain Road to Heaven,"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sold at the gallows foot,—thirteen pound seven.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"This is a new accomplishment," said Helen, laughing; "and I declare to +you, Rosalind, I think it very unnecessary, Roman Catholic-like, and +unkind, to perform any more works of supererogation in that fascinating +style upon the heart of poor Charles. I am afraid he has had more than +is good for him already."</p> + +<p>"I do not think the beauty of my verses will at all tend to injure Mr. +Mowbray's peace of mind," replied Rosalind rather coldly. "However, we +can watch their effects, you know, and if we see any alarming symptoms +coming on we can withdraw them."</p> + +<p>Just before they reached the lodge-gates, they perceived Charles on foot +before them; and stopping the carriage, Helen made him get in, just to +tell them, as she said, how her dear godmother was, what kind messages +she had sent her, and though last, not least, whether any tidings had +been heard of the commission.</p> + +<p>Charles appeared to be in excellent spirits; repeated many pleasant +observations uttered by Sir Gilbert on the effervescent nature of his +mother's malady; told them that a commission in the Horse Guards was +declared to be at his service as soon as the money for it was +forthcoming, for which, if needs must, even Sir Gilbert had permitted +him to draw on Mr. Corbold; and finally, that he believed they had all +alarmed themselves about Mr. Cartwright and his pernicious influences in +a very wrong and unreasonable manner.</p> + +<p>On reaching the house, they entered the library, which was the usual +winter sitting-room; but it was quite deserted. They drew round the fire +for a few minutes' further discussion of the news and the gossip which +Charles had brought; and, apropos of some of the Oakley anecdotes of the +proceedings at Wrexhill, Helen requested Rosalind to produce her version +of Mrs. Simpson's deeds of grace.</p> + +<p>"Willingly," replied Miss Torrington, drawing the paper from her pocket. +"You dedicated a poem to me, Mr. Mowbray, some weeks ago; and I now beg +to testify my gratitude by presenting you with this."</p> + +<p>Charles took the paper, and while fixing his eyes with a good deal of +meaning upon the beautiful giver, kissed it, and said, "Do you make it a +principle, Miss Torrington, to return in kind every offering that is +made you?"</p> + +<p>"That is <i>selon</i>," she replied, colouring, and turning round to say +something to Helen: but she was gone.</p> + +<p>"Rosalind!" said Charles, thrusting her paper unread into his bosom. +"This commission, though we hail it as good fortune, will yet put an end +to by far the happiest period of my existence, unless—I may hope, +Rosalind, that—if ever the time should come—and I now think it will +come—when I may again consider myself as the heir to a large property, +I may hope that you will some day suffer me to lay this property at your +feet."</p> + +<p>"Never lay your property at the feet of any one, Mr. Mowbray," she +replied carelessly.</p> + +<p>Charles coloured and looked grievously offended. "You teach me at least, +Miss Torrington, to beware how I venture again to hope that you would +accept any thing I could lay at yours."</p> + +<p>"Nay, do not say so, Mr. Mowbray: I accept daily from you most willingly +and gratefully unnumbered testimonies of friendship and good will; and +if their being kindly welcomed will ensure their continuance, you will +not let them cease."</p> + +<p>"I am a coxcomb for having ever hoped for more," said Charles, leaving +the room with cheeks painfully glowing and a heart indignantly +throbbing. He had not looked for this repulse, and his disappointment +was abundantly painful. Over and over again had he decided, while +holding counsel with himself on the subject, that he would not propose +to Rosalind till his mother had made him independent; but these +resolutions were the result rather of a feeling of generosity than of +timidity. Yet Charles Mowbray was no coxcomb. Miss Torrington was not +herself aware how many trifling but fondly-treasured symptoms of partial +liking she had betrayed towards him during the last few weeks; and as it +never entered his imagination to believe that she could doubt the +reality of his strong attachment, he attributed the repulse he had +received, as well as all the encouragement which led him to risk it, as +the result of the most cruel and cold-hearted coquetry.</p> + +<p>It is probable that he left Rosalind little better satisfied with +herself than he was with her; but unfortunately there is no medium by +which thoughts carefully hid in one bosom can be made to pour their +light and warmth into another, and much misery was in this instance, as +well as in ten thousand others, endured by each party, only for want of +understanding what was going on in the heart of the other.</p> + +<p>Mowbray determined not to waste another hour in uncertainty as to the +manner in which his commission was to be paid for, and his future +expenses supplied. But in his way to his mother, he delayed long enough +to say to Helen, "I have proposed, and been most scornfully rejected, +Helen. How could we either of us ever dream that Miss Torrington showed +any more favour to me than she would have done to any brother of yours, +had he been a hunchbacked idiot?"</p> + +<p>Without waiting to receive any expression either of surprise or +sympathy, he left his sister with the same hurried abruptness with which +he sought her, and hastened on to find his mother.</p> + +<p>She was sitting alone, with a bible on one side of her, and two tracts +on the other. In her hand was a little curiously-folded note, such as +she now very constantly received at least once a day, even though the +writer might have left her presence in health and perfect contentment +one short hour before.</p> + +<p>She started at the sudden entrance of her son, and her delicately pale +face became as red as a milkmaid's as she hastily placed the note she +was reading between the leaves of her book. But Charles saw it not; +every pulse within him was beating with such violence, that it required +all the power left him to speak that which he had to say. Had his mother +been weighing out a poison, and packets before her labelled for himself +and his sisters, he would not have seen it.</p> + +<p>"Mother," he said, "I have received notice that the commission in the +Horse Guards which my father applied for some time before he died is now +ready for me. Will you have the kindness to furnish me with the means of +paying for it? and will you also inform me on what sum I may reckon for +my yearly expenses? I mean to join immediately."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mowbray's little agitation had entirely subsided, and she answered +with much solemnity, "You come to me, Charles, in a very abrupt manner, +and apparently in a very thoughtless frame of mind, to speak on +subjects which to my humble capacity seem fraught with consequences most +awfully important.—The Horse Guards! Oh! Charles! is it possible you +can have lived for many weeks in such a regenerated family as mine, and +yet turn your thoughts towards a life so profane as that of an officer +in the Horse Guards?"</p> + +<p>"Let my life pass where it may, mother, I trust it will not be a profane +one. I should ill repay my father's teaching if it were. This is the +profession which he chose for me; it is the one to which I have always +directed my hopes, and it is that which I decidedly prefer. I trust, +therefore, that you will not object to my following the course which my +most excellent father pointed out to me."</p> + +<p>"I shall object to it, sir: and pray understand at once, that I will +never suffer the intemperate pleadings of a hot-headed young man to +overpower the voice of conscience in my heart."</p> + +<p>Poor Mowbray felt inclined to exclaim,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in battalions."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>For a moment he remained perfectly silent, and then said, "This is very +terrible news for me, mother. You shall hear, I trust, no intemperate +pleadings, but I hope you will let me reason with you on the subject. +Surely you will not blame me for wishing in this, and in all things, to +adhere as closely as may be to my dear father's wishes?"</p> + +<p>"If your poor father, Charles, groped through life surrounded on all +sides with outer darkness, is that any reason that I should suffer the +son he left under my care and control to do so likewise? When he left +the whole of my property at my whole and sole disposal, it was plain +that he felt there was more hope of wisdom abiding in me than in you. It +is herein, and herein only, that I must labour to do according to his +wishes and his will, and endeavour so to act that all may see his +confidence in me was not misplaced."</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake, mother! think well before you determine upon +disappointing all my hopes in this most cruel manner; and believe me, +that no lookers-on between you and me—except perhaps the mischievous +fanatic who has lately chosen to meddle so impertinently in our +affairs—but will feel and say that I have been ill treated."</p> + +<p>Had Mowbray not been stung and irritated as he was before this +conversation, it is probable he would not have remonstrated thus warmly +with a mother, whom he had ever been accustomed to treat with the most +tender observance and respect.</p> + +<p>She looked at him with equal anger and astonishment, and remained for +some time without speaking a word, or withdrawing her eyes from his +face. If her son felt inclined to quote Shakspeare at the beginning of +the conversation, she might have done so at the end of it; for all she +wished to say was comprised in these words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Nay, then, I'll send those to you that can speak."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She did not, however, express herself exactly thus, but ended her long +examination of his flushed and agitated countenance by pronouncing +almost in a whisper,</p> + +<p>"This is very terrible! But I thank Heaven I am not left quite alone in +the world!"</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, she rose and retired to her bed-room, leaving her +very unhappy son in possession of her "morning parlour," and of more +bitter thoughts than had ever before been his portion.</p> + +<p>Having continued for some moments exactly in the position in which she +left him, he at length started up, and endeavouring to rouse himself +from the heavy trance that seemed to have fallen on him, he hastened to +find Helen.</p> + +<p>"It is all over with me, Helen!" said he. "You know what I met with in +the library;—and now my mother protests against my accepting my +commission, because she says that officers lead profane lives. What is +to become of me, Helen!"</p> + +<p>"Have patience, dearest Charles! All this cannot last. It cannot be +supposed that we can submit ourselves to the will of Mr. Cartwright: and +depend upon it that it is he who has dictated this refusal. Do not look +so very miserable, my dear brother! I think you would do very wisely if +you returned to Oakley to dinner,—for many reasons."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, love, for the suggestion! It will indeed be a relief to me. +I know not at this moment which I most desire to avoid—my mother, or +Miss Torrington. Have you seen her—Rosalind, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"No, Charles,—not since you parted from her. I heard her enter her +room and lock the door. The answer you have received from her surprises +me more, and vexes me more, than even my mother's."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, Helen! you are a true sister and a true friend. I will go to +Sir Gilbert;—but it rains hard—I wish I had the cab, or my own dear +mare to ride. But that's a minor trouble;—it irks me though, for it +comes from the same quarter."</p> + +<p>"It does indeed;—and it irks me too, believe me. But patience, +Charles!—courage and patience will do much."</p> + +<p>"Will it give me the heart of the woman I love, Helen?—or rather, will +it give her a heart? It is that which galls me. I have been +deceived—trifled with, and have loved with my whole heart and soul a +most heartless, fair-seeming coquette."</p> + +<p>"That you have not, Charles!" replied Helen warmly; "that you have not! +I too have mistaken Rosalind's feelings towards you. Perhaps she has +mistaken them herself: but she is not heartless; and above all, there is +no seeming about her."</p> + +<p>"How I love you for contradicting me, Helen!—and for that bright flush +that so eloquently expresses anger and indignation at my injustice! But +if she be not a coquette, then must I be a most consummate puppy; for as +I live, Helen, I thought she loved me."</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand it. But I know that Rosalind Torrington is +warm-hearted, generous, and sincere; and whatever it is which has led us +to misunderstand her, either now or heretofore, it cannot be coquetry, +or false-seeming of any kind."</p> + +<p>"Well—be it so: I would rather the fault were mine than hers. But I +will not see her again to-day if I can help it. So good-b'ye, Helen: my +lady must excuse my toilet;—I cannot dress and then walk through Oakley +lane."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIVB" id="CHAPTER_XIVB"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE ENTRY.</h3> + + +<p>It was very nearly midnight when Mowbray returned from his visit to Sir +Gilbert Harrington's. To his great surprise, he found Helen waiting for +him, even in the hall; for the moment she heard the door-bell she ran +out to meet him.</p> + +<p>"Why are you up so late, Helen?" he exclaimed: "and for Heaven's sake +tell me what makes you look so pale.—Where is Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"She is in bed;—she has been in tears all day; I made her go to bed. +But, oh, Charles! my mother!—she has left the house."</p> + +<p>"Gracious Heaven! what do you mean? Did she leave the house in anger? +Did she ask for me?"</p> + +<p>"No, Charles: nor for me either!"</p> + +<p>"And where on earth is she gone?"</p> + +<p>"No one in the house has the remotest idea: it is impossible even to +guess. But she has taken Fanny and Curtis with her."</p> + +<p>"When did she set out?"</p> + +<p>"While Rosalind and I were eating our miserable melancholy dinner. Mr. +Cartwright, I find, called after you went, and was shown, as usual, to +her dressing-room; but he did not stay, Thomas says, above half an hour, +for he both let him in and out. Soon after he went away, Fanny was sent +for; and she and Curtis remained with her till a few minutes before +dinner-time. Curtis then went into the kitchen, it seems, and ordered a +tray to be taken for my mother and Fanny into the dressing-room, and the +only message sent to Rosalind and me was, that mamma was not well, and +begged not to be disturbed. Curtis must have seen the coachman and +settled every thing with him very secretly; for not one of the servants, +except the new stable-boy, knew that the carriage was ordered."</p> + +<p>"How are we to interpret this, Helen?—Such a night too!—as dark as +pitch. Had I not known the way blindfold, I should never have got home. +I left Sir Gilbert in a rage because I would not sleep there;—but my +heart was heavy; I felt restless and anxious at the idea of remaining +from you during the night: I think it was a presentiment of this +dreadful news.—Oh! what a day has this been to me! So gay, so happy in +the morning! so supremely wretched before night!—I can remember nothing +that I said which could possibly have driven her to leave her home. What +can it mean, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"Alas! Charles, I have no power to answer you. If asking questions could +avail, might I not ask what I have done? And yet, at the moment of her +leaving home for the night, she sent me word that I was <i>not to disturb +her</i>!"</p> + +<p>"The roads too are so bad! Had she lamps, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes. Some of the maids, while shutting up the rooms upstairs, saw +the lights moving very rapidly towards the lodges."</p> + +<p>"It is an inexplicable and very painful mystery. But go to bed, my +dearest Helen! you look most wretchedly ill and miserable."</p> + +<p>"Ill?—No, I am not ill, Charles, but miserable; yes, more miserable +than I have ever felt since my poor father's death was first made known +to me."</p> + +<p>The following morning brought no relief to the anxiety which this +strange absence occasioned. Rosalind joined the brother and sister at +breakfast, and her jaded looks more than confirmed Helen's report of the +preceding night. Charles, however, hardly saw her sufficiently to know +how she looked, for he carefully avoided her eyes; but if the gentlest +and most soothing tone of voice, and the expression of her almost tender +sympathy in the uneasiness he was enduring, could have consoled the +young man for all he had suffered and was suffering, he would have been +consoled.</p> + +<p>The day passed heavily; but Helen looked so very ill and so very +unhappy, that Charles could not bear to leave her; and though a mutual +feeling of embarrassment between himself and Rosalind made his remaining +with them a very doubtful advantage, he never quitted them.</p> + +<p>But it was quite in vain that he attempted to renew the occupations +which had made the last six weeks pass so delightfully. He began to +read; but Helen stopped him before the end of the page, by saying, "I +cannot think what is the reason of it, Charles, but I cannot comprehend +a single syllable of what you are reading."</p> + +<p>Rosalind, blushing to the ears, and actually trembling from head to +foot, invited him to play at chess with her. Without replying a word, he +brought the table and set up the men before her; but the result of the +game was, that Charles gave Rosalind checkmate, and it was Helen only +who discovered it.</p> + +<p>At an early hour they separated for the night; for the idea of waiting +for Mrs. Mowbray seemed equally painful to them all, and the morrow's +sun rose upon them only to bring a repetition of the sad and restless +hours of the day that was past. Truly might they have said they were +weary of conjecture; for so completely had they exhausted every +supposition to which the imagination of either of the party could reach, +without finding one on which common sense would permit them to repose, +that, by what seemed common consent, they ceased to hazard a single "may +be" more.</p> + +<p>They were sitting with their coffee-cups before them, and Rosalind was +once more trying to fix the attention of Charles, as well as her own, to +the chess-board, when a lusty pull at the door-bell produced an alarm +which caused all the servants in the house to jump from their seats, and +one half of the chessmen to be overturned by the violent start of +Rosalind.</p> + +<p>A few moments of breathless expectation followed. The house door was +opened, and the steps of several persons were heard in the hall, but no +voice accompanied them. Helen rose, but trembled so violently, that her +brother threw his arms round her and almost carried her to a sofa. +Rosalind stood beside her, looking very nearly as pale as herself; while +Charles made three steps forward and one back again, and then stood with +his hands clasped and his eyes fixed on the door in a manner which +showed that, in spite of his manhood, he was very nearly as much +agitated as his companions.</p> + +<p>The next sound they heard was the voice of the lady of the mansion, and +she spoke loud and clear, as she laid her hand on the lock, and partly +opening the door, said addressing the butler, who with half a dozen +other servingmen had hurried to answer the bell, "Chivers! order all the +servants to meet me in this room immediately; and fail not to come +yourself."</p> + +<p>Mowbray had again stepped forward upon hearing his mother's voice, but +stopped short to listen to her words; and having heard them, he turned +back again, and placing himself behind the sofa on which Helen sat, +leaned over it to whisper in her ear—"Let me not see you overcome, +Helen! and then I shall be able to bear any thing."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the door was thrown widely open, and a lady entered dressed +entirely in white and very deeply veiled, followed by Fanny Mowbray and +Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>A heavy sense of faintness seized on the heart of Helen, but she stood +up and endeavoured to advance; Rosalind, on the contrary, stepped back +and seated herself in the darkest corner of the room; while Charles +hastily walked towards the veiled lady, and in a voice thick from +emotion, exclaimed, "My mother!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Charles!" she replied; "your mother; but no longer a widowed, +desolate mother, shrinking before the unnatural rebuke of her son. I +would willingly have acted with greater appearance of deliberation, but +your conduct rendered this impossible. Mr. Cartwright! permit me to +present you to this hot-headed young man and his sister, as my husband +and their father."</p> + +<p>This terrible but expected annunciation was received in total silence. +Mowbray seemed to think only of his sister; for without looking towards +the person thus solemnly presented to him, he turned to her, and taking +her by the arm, said, "Helen!—you had better sit down."</p> + +<p>Fanny, who had entered the room immediately after her mother, looked +pale and frightened; but though she fixed a tearful eye on Helen, she +attempted not to approach her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright himself stood beside his bride, or rather a little in +advance of her: his tall person drawn up to its greatest height. +Meekness, gentleness, and humility appeared to have his lips in their +keeping; but unquenchable triumph was running riot in his eyes, and +flashed upon every individual before him with a very unequivocal and +somewhat scornful air of authority.</p> + +<p>This tableau endured till the door was again thrown open, and one by one +the servants entered, forming at last a long line completely across the +room. When all were in their marshalled places, which here, as +elsewhere, were in as exact conformity to the received order of +precedence as if they had been nobles at a coronation, the lady bride +again lifted her voice and addressed them thus: "I have called you all +together on the present occasion in order to inform you that Mr. +Cartwright is my husband and your master. I hope it is unnecessary for +me to say that every thing in the family must henceforward be submitted +solely to his pleasure, and that his commands must on all occasions +supersede those of every other person. I trust you will all show +yourselves sensible of the inestimable blessing I have bestowed upon you +in thus giving you a master who can lead you unto everlasting life; and +as I have married for the glory of Heaven, so I trust to receive its +blessing upon the same, and to see every member of my family advancing +daily under the guidance of their earthly master's hand to that state +which shall ensure them favour from their heavenly one in the life to +come. Amen! Repeat, I beg you—all of you repeat with me Amen!"</p> + +<p>Though there were some throats there in which Amen would have stuck, +there were enough present besides these to get up a tolerably articulate +Amen.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright then stepped forward, and laying his hat and gloves on +the table, said aloud, "Let us pray!"</p> + +<p>The obedient menials knelt before him,—all save one. This bold +exception was the housekeeper; a staid and sober person of fifty years +of age, who during the dozen years she had presided over the household, +had constantly evinced a strict and conscientious adherence to her +religious duties, and was, moreover, distinguished for her uniformly +respectful, quiet, and unobtrusive demeanour. But she now stepped +forward from her place at the head of the line, and said in a low voice, +but very slowly and distinctly, "I cannot, sir, on this occasion kneel +down to pray at your bidding. This is not a holy business at all, Mr. +Cartwright; and if you were to give me for salary the half of what you +are about to wring from the orphan children of my late master, (deceased +just eight calendar months ago,) I would not take it, sir, to live here +and witness what I cannot but look upon as great sin."</p> + +<p>The good woman then gave a sad look at Helen and her brother, who were +standing together, dropped a respectful curtesy as her eyes rested on +them, and then left the room.</p> + +<p>"Her sin be on her own head!" said Mr. Cartwright as he himself kneeled +down upon a footstool which stood near the table. He drew a cambric +handkerchief from his pocket, gave a preparatory "hem," and apparently +unconscious that Miss Torrington had darted from the remote corner in +which she had been ensconced and followed the housekeeper out of the +room, remained for a moment with his eyes fixed on Mowbray and Helen, +who remained standing.</p> + +<p>"It would be a frightful mockery for us to kneel!" said Charles, drawing +his sister back to the sofa she had quitted. "Sit down with me, Helen; +and when we are alone we will pray for strength to endure as we ought to +do whatever calamity it is Heaven's will to try us with."</p> + +<p>The bride was kneeling beside her husband; but she rose up and said, +"You are of age, Charles Mowbray, and too stiff-necked and wilful to +obey your mother: but you, Helen, I command to kneel."</p> + +<p>She then replaced herself with much solemnity; and Helen knelt too, +while breathing a silent prayer to be forgiven for what she felt to be +profanation.</p> + +<p>Charles stood for a moment irresolute, and then said, dropping on his +knees beside her, "Heaven will pardon me for your sake, dear +Helen,—even for kneeling at a service that my heart disclaims."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright hemmed again, and began.</p> + +<p>"I thank thee! that by thy especial calling and election I am placed +where so many sinful souls are found, who through and by me may be shown +the path by which to escape the eternal pains of hell. But let thy +flames blaze and burn, O Lord! for those who neglect so great salvation! +Pour down upon them visibly thy avenging judgments, and let the earth +see it and be afraid. To me, O Lord! grant power, strength, and courage +to do the work that is set before me. Let me be a rod and a scourge to +the ungodly; and let no sinful weakness on the part of the wife whom +thou hast given me come across or overshadow the light received from +thee for the leading of the rebellious back unto thy paths. Bless my +virtuous wife; teach her to be meekly obedient to my word, and to thine +through me; and make her so to value the inestimable mercy of being +placed in the guiding hands of thy elected servant, that the miserable +earthly dross which she maketh over to me in exchange for the same may +seem but as dirt and filthiness in her sight! May such children as are +already born unto her be brought to a due sense of thy exceeding mercy +in thus putting it into their mother's heart to choose thine elected +servant to lead them through the dangerous paths of youth; make them +rejoice and be exceeding glad for the same, for so shall it be good in +thy sight!"</p> + +<p>This terrible thanksgiving, with all its minute rehearsing of people and +of things, went on for a considerable time longer; but enough has been +given to show the spirit of it. As soon as it was ended, the new master +of the mansion rose from his knees, and waiting with an appearance of +some little impatience till his audience had all recovered their feet, +he turned to his bride with a smile of much complacency, and said, +"Mrs. Cartwright, my love, where shall I order Chivers to bring us some +refreshments? Probably the dining-room fire is out. Shall we sup here?"</p> + +<p>"Wherever you please," answered the lady meekly, and blushing a little +at the sound of her new name pronounced for the first time before her +children.</p> + +<p>This address and the answer to it were too much for Helen to endure with +any appearance of composure. She hid her face in her handkerchief as she +passed her mother, and giving Fanny, who was seated near the door, a +hasty kiss, left the room, followed by her brother.</p> + +<p>Helen ran to the apartment of Rosalind; and Mowbray ran with her, +forgetful, as it seemed, of the indecorum of such an unauthorized +intrusion at any time, and more forgetful still of the icy barrier which +had seemed to exist between him and its fair inhabitant since the first +expression of his love and of his hope had been so cruelly chilled by +her light answer to it. But in this moment of new misery every thing was +forgotten but the common sorrow: they found Rosalind passionately +sobbing, and Mrs. Williams, the housekeeper, weeping very heartily +beside her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my Helen!" exclaimed the young heiress, springing forward to meet +her; "Williams says they cannot take my money from me. Will you let us +divide my fortune and live together?"</p> + +<p>"Williams forgets your age, Rosalind," replied Helen: but though there +was pain in recalling this disqualifying truth, there was a glance of +pleasure too in the look with which Helen thanked her; and Charles, as +he gazed on her swollen eyes and working features, felt that, cruel as +she had been to him, she must ever be the dearest, as she was the best +and the loveliest, being in the world.</p> + +<p>And there was assuredly comfort, even at such a moment, in the devoted +friendship of Rosalind, and in the respectful but earnest expressions of +affection from the good housekeeper; but the future prospects of Charles +and his sisters was one upon which it was impossible to look without +dismay.</p> + +<p>"What ought we to do?" said Helen, appealing as much to her old servant +as her young friend. "Can it be our duty to live with this hypocritical +and designing wretch, and call him <i>father</i>?"</p> + +<p>"No!" replied Rosalind vehemently. "To do so would be shame and sin."</p> + +<p>"But where can the poor girls take refuge? You forget, Miss Torrington, +that they are penniless," said Charles.</p> + +<p>"But I am not penniless, sir," replied Rosalind, looking at him with an +expression of anger that proceeded wholly from his formal mode of +address, but which he interpreted as the result of a manner assumed to +keep him at a distance.</p> + +<p>"May I venture to say one word, my dear children, before I take my leave +of you?" said Mrs. Williams.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said Helen, taking her by the hand; "I wish you would give us +your advice, Williams: we are too young to decide for ourselves at such +a dreadful moment as this."</p> + +<p>"And for that very reason, my dear Miss Helen, I would have you wait a +little before you decide at all. Master Charles,—I beg his pardon—Mr. +Mowbray,—is altogether a different consideration; and if so be it is +any way possible for him, I think he should leave, and wait for the end +elsewhere: but for you and poor Miss Fanny, my dear young lady, I do +think you must learn to bear and forbear till such time as you may leave +your misguided mamma, and perhaps accept this noble young lady's offer, +and share her great fortune with her,—for a time I mean, Miss +Helen,—for it can't be but my mistress will come to her senses sooner +or later, and then she will remember she is a mother; and she will +remember too, take my word for it, the noble-hearted but too confiding +gentleman, who was your father."</p> + +<p>Tears flowed from every eye, for poor Mowbray was no exception, at this +allusion to the beloved father, the gentle master, and the friendly +guardian; but this did not prevent the good woman's words from having +their full weight,—it rather added to it, for it brought back the vivid +remembrance of one in whose temper there was no gall.</p> + +<p>"It will be hard to bear, Williams," replied Helen; "but I do indeed +believe that you are right, and that, for a time at least, this cruelly +changed house must be our home. But do you know that in the midst of all +our misery, I have one comfort,—I think poor Fanny will be restored to +us. Did you see the expression of her lovely face as she looked at us, +Charles? Even you did not look more miserable."</p> + +<p>"And if that be so, Miss Helen, it may atone for much; for it was a +grievous sight to see the poor innocent child taking all Mr. +Cartwright's brass for gold. If she has got a peep at his cloven foot, I +shall leave you almost with a light heart—for I have grieved over her."</p> + +<p>"I will take all the comfort I can, Williams, from your words, and will +follow your counsel too, upon one condition; and that is, nobody must +prevent my setting off betimes to-morrow morning, as you and I did, +Rosalind, once before, for Oakley. If my dear godmother advises me as +you do, Williams, I will return and quietly put my neck into this +hateful yoke, and so remain till Heaven shall see fit to release me."</p> + +<p>"Heaven knows, I shall not oppose that plan," said Rosalind eagerly; +"for to my judgment, it is the very best you can pursue."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I think so," added Charles; "and, dark and dismal as the +mornings are, I would advise you, Helen, to set out before the time +arrives for either accepting or refusing the general summons to join the +family breakfast-table."</p> + +<p>"And may I go too?" said Rosalind with a glance half reproachful at +Charles for the manner in which he seemed to avoid speaking to her.</p> + +<p>"May you, Rosalind?" cried Helen. "For pity's sake, do not fancy it +possible that I can do anything without you now: I should feel that you +were forsaking me."</p> + +<p>"I never forsake any one that I have ever loved," said Rosalind with +emotion, "whatever you or any one else may think to the contrary."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, we will all three go together. But you little thought, +Rosalind, when you first came here, that you would have to trudge +through muddy lanes, and under wintry skies for want of a carriage: but +on this occasion, at least, we will not ask Mr. Cartwright to permit us +the use of one of his."</p> + +<p>"Then go to bed, my dear young ladies," said Mrs. Williams, "that you +may be early up to-morrow: and let me hear from you, Miss Helen. I shall +not go from Wrexhill, at least not till I know a little how you will +settle every thing. I will take Mrs. Freeman's pretty little rooms, that +you always admire so much, Master Charles; and there I will stay for the +present."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that beautiful little cottage that they call the Mowbray Arms!" +said Rosalind. "How we shall envy her, Helen!"</p> + +<p>The party then separated; for the good housekeeper most strenuously +opposed Rosalind's proposition of passing the night with her friend.</p> + +<p>"You would neither of you sleep a wink, ladies, if you bide together. +And now, though there is more sorrow with you than such young hearts +ought to have, yet you will sleep when you have nobody to talk to about +it; for what makes old folks wake and watch, will often made young folks +sleep."</p> + +<p>And the good woman's prediction proved true; though the sleep that +followed the tremendous blow they had received was too feverish and full +of dreams to make the waking feel like that delightful return to new +life and new joy which the waking of the young should ever be.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVB" id="CHAPTER_XVB"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>WALK TO OAKLEY—DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS—THE VILLAGE INN.</h3> + + +<p>Fortunately for their proposed expedition, the morning broke more +brightly than a December morning could reasonably be expected to do, and +the trio set off on their walk to Oakley almost as soon as it was light. +The expedition, notwithstanding the unhappy cause of it, would have been +less silent and less sad, had not Charles thought Rosalind capricious +and cruel, and had not Rosalind thought Charles unkind and cold.</p> + +<p>Nothing could appear more likely to perpetuate the unfortunate +misunderstanding between them than the heavy misfortune that had fallen +upon Mowbray. His total dependence, contrasted with Miss Torrington's +wealth, was perpetually recurring to him, producing a degree of +restraint in his manner that cut Rosalind to the heart, and roused all +her womanly pride to prevent the long-combated feeling of attachment to +which his present sorrows gave tenfold strength from betraying itself.</p> + +<p>The tripping lightly through summer paths, and the picking one's way +through wintry lanes, are two very different operations; and +notwithstanding their early rising, they found the baronet and his lady +already at the breakfast-table.</p> + +<p>The astonishment occasioned by their appearance was great, but yet it +was a joyous astonishment, and it was some time before Sir Gilbert's +noisy welcome subsided sufficiently for her ladyship's more quiet and +more anxious inquiries could be either answered or heard.</p> + +<p>At length there was something in the tone of Helen's voice, the glance +of Rosalind's eye, and the silent pressure of Mowbray's hand, which +awakened his attention.</p> + +<p>"Why, you have walked over to see us, my dear girls, and it was behaving +like a pair of little angels to do so; but you're not one half as well +pleased to see me as I am to see you. Come here, Helen; sit down in my +own chair here, and get warm, and then the words will thaw and come +forth like the notes from the horn of Munchausen's postboy. And your +black eyes, Miss Rose, don't look half as saucy as they used do: and as +for Charles,—What, on earth, is the matter with ye all?"</p> + +<p>Helen burst into tears and buried her face in Lady Harrington's bosom.</p> + +<p>"Sir Gilbert," said Mowbray, colouring to the temples, "my mother is +married!"</p> + +<p>"The devil she is!" thundered the old man, clenching his fists. +"Married, is she?—Jezebel!—May your poor father's ghost haunt her to +her dying hour!—Married! To that canting cur the Vicar of Wrexhill? Is +it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Even so, Sir Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"Heaven help you, my poor children!" said Lady Harrington in accents of +the deepest sorrow; "this is a grief that it will indeed be hard to +bear!"</p> + +<p>"And we come to you for counsel how to bear it, my dear lady," said +Mowbray, "though little choice is left us. Yet, Helen says, if you tell +her that she must submit to call this man her father, it will be easier +for her to do it."</p> + +<p>"Bless her, darling child!" said the old lady, fondly caressing her; +"how shall I ever find the heart to bid her do what it must break her +heart to think of?"</p> + +<p>"Bid her call that rascal father?" cried Sir Gilbert. "My Lady +Harrington must be strangely altered, Mowbray, before she will do that: +she is a very rebellious old lady, and a most prodigious shrew; but you +do her no justice, Charles, in believing she would utter such atrocious +words."</p> + +<p>"But what is to become of Helen, my dear Sir Gilbert, if she quarrel +with this man?"</p> + +<p>"Come to us, to be sure,—what's the man to her? Has your precious +mother made any settlement upon you all?"</p> + +<p>"I imagine not; indeed I may say that I am sure she has not."</p> + +<p>"Am I a prophet, my lady? how did I tell you Mowbray's sentimental will +would answer? And has this meek and gentle lady proved herself deserving +of all the pretty things I said of her?"</p> + +<p>"There is but small comfort in remembering how truly, how very truly, +your predictions foretold what has happened, Sir Gilbert: and he has +predicted that you must come here, my sweet Helen; let this come true +likewise."</p> + +<p>"I cannot leave poor Fanny, Lady Harrington," replied Helen; "I cannot +leave my dear and generous friend Rosalind: and yet your offered +kindness cheers my heart, and I shall think of it with pleasure and +gratitude as long as I live."</p> + +<p>"But I thought Fanny was a disciple of this Calvinistic gentleman's? If +so, it were better she remained with him till she has learned to +distinguish hypocrisy from virtue, and cant from true religion. And for +Miss Torrington, I shall rejoice to have her for my guest for as long a +time as she can find our old-fashioned mansion agreeable to her."</p> + +<p>"You are very, very kind!" replied the two friends in the same breath.</p> + +<p>"Then so let it be. Charles, these good girls will stay here for the +present; so let us eat our breakfast. Let me save them from the odious +spectacle of the Vicar of Wrexhill establishing himself at Mowbray Park, +and the future must take care of itself."</p> + +<p>"But, Fanny," said Helen doubtingly, "she looked so unhappy as she +followed my mother in last night, that I feel almost certain her fit of +enthusiasm is already over."</p> + +<p>"So much the better, my dear," said Sir Gilbert; "but it will do her a +vast deal of good to watch the reverend gentleman's proceedings in his +new character. That scratch upon her intellect must be cauterized before +I shall believe it cured; and when the operation is complete, she may +join the party here. As for you, my dear boy, when your breakfast is +finished I have something for your ear in private."</p> + +<p>This <i>something</i> was the proposal of a loan sufficient for the purchase +of the commission, and for the supply of the expenses consequent upon +joining his corps. But this Mowbray could not be prevailed upon to +accept; and his reasons for refusing it were such, that when he could +prevail on the friendly old gentleman to listen to him, he could not +deny that there was much weight in them.</p> + +<p>"If I withdraw myself altogether from my mother at this moment," said +Charles, "I shall give her husband an excellent and very plausible +excuse for persuading her to banish me from her house and her heart for +ever. Whereas if I remain near her, it can hardly, I think, be doubted +that some reaction will take place in her feelings, and that she will at +last be induced to treat me as a son. At any rate, Sir Gilbert, not even +your generous kindness shall induce me to abandon this hope till I feel +persuaded that it is a vain one. In my opinion, my duty and my interest +equally dictate this line of conduct; and if so, you are the last man in +the world to dissuade me from pursuing it."</p> + +<p>Whether there were too much of firm decision in Mowbray's manner to +leave any hope of overcoming it, or that Sir Gilbert was really +convinced by his arguments, was difficult to decide; but he yielded the +point, on condition that the two girls should be left at Oakley, at +least for the present, and be regulated as to their future conduct by +the manner in which affairs went on at the Park.</p> + +<p>This being settled much to the satisfaction of all parties, Lady +Harrington made Miss Torrington describe the entrée of this most +undesired interloper; a task which the fair Rosalind performed with +great spirit, though she confessed that the impatient feeling to which +she yielded in leaving the room was now a cause of regret, as she had +lost thereby some notable traits in the history of that eventful hour.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington was greatly delighted at the conduct of Mrs. Williams; +and when Charles left them to inform Mrs. Cartwright that her daughter +and her ward had accepted an invitation to remain at Oakley for a few +days, she proposed that they should pay her a visit at the Mowbray Arms, +both to give her the satisfaction of knowing that her conduct was +approved, and likewise to give her the comfort of knowing that Helen and +Miss Torrington were for the present removed from such scenes as they +had witnessed the night before.</p> + +<p>It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when Lady Harrington's +carriage drove across the common to the little public-house already +described as the Mowbray Arms. As they approached, they perceived +several persons who appeared to be occupied in very eager and deep +discussion before the door.</p> + +<p>"What are they doing there?" said Lady Harrington.</p> + +<p>Rosalind put forward her head to ascertain this, but in an instant drew +it back again, exclaiming, "Mr. Cartwright is there!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright!" exclaimed Helen, turning very pale. "Oh, Lady +Harrington, do not let me see him!"</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington let down the glass behind the coachman, and said aloud, +"Turn round instantly, and drive home."</p> + +<p>This order being immediately obeyed, the party escaped the sight of the +vicar; but in gaining this advantage they lost that of beholding a scene +which must have drawn forth a smile, even from Helen herself.</p> + +<p>The parties engaged in it were Mrs. Freeman, her daughter Sally, Jem the +horse-boy, an elderly traveller called forth by the clamour from the +warm comforts of Mrs. Freeman's fireside, and Mr. Cartwright himself. A +short retrospect will be necessary to explain his business there.</p> + +<p>As soon as the prayer of that morning had reached its final Amen—for as +the subject-matter of it consisted chiefly in vehement implorings of the +divine favour on such of his new family and household as should show +unto him the most perfect submission and obedience, the Amen, to make +assurance doubly sure, was three several times repeated;—as soon, +however, as it was finally pronounced, the vicar, his lady, and the pale +Fanny, sat down to breakfast. It would be tedious to tell how many +glances of furtive but deep-felt delight the newly-made master of the +house cast on each and every of the minute, yet not unimportant, +differences between this breakfast-table and any others at which he had +occupied a place of equal authority: suffice it to say, that there were +many. The meal, indeed, altogether lasted much longer than usual; but as +soon as it was ended, and that Mr. Cartwright had watched with feelings +of great complacency the exit of its component parts by the hands of two +footmen and a butler, he told his wife that he should be obliged, though +most unwillingly, to leave her for some hours, as there were many things +to which his personal attention was required.</p> + +<p>"Will the rooms be ready to-day for Jacob and Henrietta, my love?"</p> + +<p>"They are quite ready now, my dear Mr. Cartwright. When may we hope to +see them?"</p> + +<p>"To call and give them their orders about coming here is one part of the +business that takes me from you, my sweet Clara. There are some small +bills in the village, too, with which your happy husband must not be +dunned, sweet love. What ready-money have you, dearest, in the house?"</p> + +<p>"Of money I have very little indeed," said Mrs. Cartwright, unlocking +her desk, and drawing thence a purse with ten or twelve sovereigns in +it. "I pay every thing by drafts."</p> + +<p>"By far the best way, my love. But your drafts, dear, are no longer +worth any thing; and I must therefore see Corbold, to give orders that +every thing is put right about that at the banker's, and so forth: and +this must really be done without delay."</p> + +<p>"Certainly it must," said the lady. "Shall I ... I mean, will you send +one of the men to Wrexhill to bring him here?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright laid his hand on the bell, but, ere he pulled it, checked +his hand, and said, "No! I must walk to the village, and therefore I +will call on him myself."</p> + +<p>"Shall you prefer walking, my dear Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"Why no: I had forgot: perhaps it would be as well to take the +carriage."</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly! And you can bring Henrietta back with you."</p> + +<p>"True, dear,—she will certainly want the carriage: I will go, and send +her and her bandboxes back in it—and then, perhaps, drive myself back +in the cab. It is at the Vicarage, you know."</p> + +<p>"Is it? I did not remember that. Then how are they gone this +morning?—those undutiful children, I mean, who have chosen to set off +this morning without even leaving a message for us. I imagined that +Charles had packed them both into the cab, as he has often done his +sisters."</p> + +<p>"Do not waste a thought on them, my beloved Clara! It is evident that +they have neither of them ever felt the slightest affection for you; and +would it not be worse than folly for you, beloved and adored as you are, +to let any thought of them come to blight our happiness?"</p> + +<p>After this and many more tender and affectionate passages had passed +between them, Mr. Cartwright set off for the Vicarage <i>in his own +coach</i>, as he told himself more than once as he drove along; and having +informed his son and daughter, not greatly to the surprise of either, +that Mowbray Park was to be their future home, he left them to prepare +for their removal, telling Henrietta that he would send his carriage +back from Mr. Corbold's, where it should set him down, and that she +might fill it, if she chose, with her own luggage, as he should drive +Jacob <i>home</i> in his cab.</p> + +<p>At Mr. Corbold's the conversation was rather religious, and moreover +extremely satisfactory to both parties. One or two of his most prayerful +parishioners among the tradespeople were next called upon, and permitted +to offer their congratulations and thanksgivings, and then told to send +their bills to the Park. After this, the reverend bridegroom walked down +the village street to the common, returning the humble bowings and +curtsyings that crossed his path with a benignant sweetness of +countenance that spoke much of the placid contentment that dwelt within.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, solely to enjoy this pleasing interchange of +heavenly-minded civility that he directed his steps along this +well-frequented path—though that was something,—but for the purpose +also of transacting a little business with Freeman, the prosperous +landlord of the Mowbray Arms.</p> + +<p>This good man and his family, it may be observed, had been great +favourites with the family of Mr. Wallace, the late vicar, but stood not +so high by many degrees in the estimation of the present. They were +honest, industrious, regular church-going people, who had never, during +the twenty years they had kept the village inn, been accused or even +suspected of having neglected a Sabbath, or of having ever permitted any +indecorum either on that or any other day, to be practised under their +roof. But they had steadily refused to attend Mr. Cartwright's Tuesday +evening's expounding, and his Thursday evening's lecture; the good +woman, who was no bad scholar, alleging as the reason for this, that +they knew of no such religious service being enjoined by the church of +which they were members, and that not considering themselves in any way +called upon to amend the ordinances of the religion in which they were +born and bred, they thought it more according to their condition to +remain at home and endeavour to do their duty in that state of life to +which it had pleased God to call them.</p> + +<p>This explanation having been very clearly and distinctly given to the +vicar in the presence of several witnesses, before whom he had intended +to make a rather marked display of pastoral piety and eloquence, though +uttered with very becoming modesty and respect, had produced an +impression against the pains-taking Dorothy and all her household never +to be forgotten or forgiven.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright had even taken the trouble of waiting upon the +magistrates of the neighbourhood, requesting them to refuse to continue +Freeman's licence, assuring them that he was a man whose character was +likely to produce a very demoralising influence on his parish. But as +these gentlemen had happened to know the good man for many years, they +begged to consider of it; and the Vicar of Wrexhill was thus left to +discover other ways and means by which to dislodge his obnoxious +parishioner.</p> + +<p>A very favourable occasion for this now seemed to offer itself, and he +accordingly proceeded with an elastic step and dignified gait towards +the Mowbray Arms.</p> + +<p>At the moment he appeared in sight, the ex-housekeeper of the Park was +describing to Mrs. Freeman and her daughter Sally the return of its +mistress and most unwelcome master on the preceding evening.</p> + +<p>"Why, here he comes, as sure as I live!" exclaimed Dorothy. "What in the +wide world can bring him here? It must be to preachify you, Mrs. +Williams."</p> + +<p>"And that's what he shall never do again:—so step out and speak to him +outside—there's a dear good woman; and if I see you can't get rid of +him, I'll make my way out of the back door, and so go round and slip in +again and up to my own room before he can catch me."</p> + +<p>To facilitate this escape, Mrs. Freeman walked forth and met the +reverend bridegroom just as he had reached the foot of the post from +whence depended the Mowbray Arms.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Mrs. Freeman," he said, in the peculiar accent in which +he always addressed those who were not (to use his own phrase) of his +father's house,—a tone in which cold outward civility was struggling +with hot internal hatred;—"Good morning, Mrs. Freeman."</p> + +<p>"Good morning, sir," responded Mrs. Freeman with a very proper and +ceremonious curtsy.</p> + +<p>"I have called to mention to you a necessary alteration that must +immediately take place on your premises. You must forthwith take down +the Mowbray Arms, which have no longer any connexion with the +neighbourhood; and it may be, if you conduct yourselves properly, I may +permit you to substitute the Cartwright Arms."</p> + +<p>"I believe, sir," said Mrs. Freeman in a tone rather too much +approaching to indifference, "that a publican may exhibit what sign he +likes, provided it be not offensive to common decency: and I think there +may be a many," she added, turning away to re-enter her house, "who +might object to the sign you propose, as not coming within that line."</p> + +<p>She had made a step or two towards the door, when she turned again upon +hearing the voice of the vicar raised to a very unusual pitch. He was +not addressing her, however, but the boy Jem, who chanced at that moment +to be entering the little rickyard with a ladder upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Bring here that ladder, boy!" vociferated the imperious great man.</p> + +<p>The boy obeyed, saying, as he drew near, "What's your pleasure, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Fix your ladder against this post, d'ye hear? and mount—steady, +mind,—and take the sign off the hooks. When you have got it loose, you +may let it drop. If it breaks, it's no matter,—it is of no farther +value."</p> + +<p>"Take down master's sign, your honour?" said Jem, opening his mouth and +eyes to their greatest dimensions, but not approaching an inch nearer to +the sign-post.</p> + +<p>"Do you dispute my orders, you little ruffian?" cried the holy vicar, +his eyes flashing, and his cane raised in a very threatening attitude.</p> + +<p>"You be the parson of the parish, I know," said the boy, looking +steadily in his face; "and they do say you be something else besides, +now; but I don't see that's a reason for my lugging master's sign down."</p> + +<p>At this moment the feelings of the man overcame those of the saint, and +Mr. Cartwright seizing upon the ladder, succeeded in disengaging it from +the boy's hands, and himself placing it against the post, had already +got one foot upon it, when Mrs. Freeman stepped back, and taking a quiet +but firm hold of his arm, said, "It is a trespass and a damage you are +committing, sir, and I warn you to desist; and I wish with all my heart +that there was no worser trespass and damage upon your conscience—or at +least that there was still as good time to stop it. But, married or not +to the lady, we won't have nothing to do with your arms, Mr. Cartwright, +nor your legs, neither, if you please, sir; so don't be after climbing +that fashion to disturb our property, for it don't look clerical nohow."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright raised his voice much beyond its usual pitch, to answer; +and at this moment Sally and the traveller, moved by a very natural +feeling of curiosity, joined the group.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the gentleman after?" said the wayfaring man, deliberately +taking out a pair of huge near-sighted spectacles to examine into the +mystery. "I should take un to be a parson by his cloth; only I never did +hear of a reverend climbing a ladder, save and except the famous Dr. +Dodd, as I've read of in the Newgate Calendar."</p> + +<p>This harangue, short as it was, saved the Mowbray Arms from farther +molestation for the present; for the vicar withdrew his foot. But the +glance with which he greeted the speaker was very nearly awful. Dorothy +Freeman, however, turned on her heel, nothing heeding it: her guest and +daughter followed her into the house; Jem quietly took up his ladder and +proceeded on his business; and the Vicar of Wrexhill, with feelings +which the hope of future vengeance alone enabled him to endure with +decent philosophy, was fain to turn on his heel also and walk off.</p> + + +<h3>END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VOLUME_THE_THIRD" id="VOLUME_THE_THIRD"></a>VOLUME THE THIRD.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IC" id="CHAPTER_IC"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>MR. AND MRS. CARTWRIGHT'S LETTER.</h3> + + +<p>The very elegant cab, with its beautiful horse and accoutrements, led +round to the door of the Vicarage as his own—the agreeable vivacity, as +he always thought it, of his remarkably clever son—the multitude of low +bows and lower curtsies which greeted him as he drove along—and above +all, perhaps, the merry peal from the church tower, which had been +ordered by himself to ring him into Mowbray Park, produced altogether so +favourable an effect upon the nerves of the vicar, that when he stopped +at the portico of his mansion, his spirits and his temper appeared +altogether to have recovered the shock they had received at the foot of +the sign-post.</p> + +<p>The family party which met at dinner consisted of Mr. and Mrs. +Cartwright, Miss Cartwright, Mr. Jacob Cartwright, and poor Charles +Mowbray and his sister Fanny.</p> + +<p>Mowbray thought the genial hour of dinner might probably be the most +favourable for mentioning the invitation of Sir Gilbert and Lady +Harrington to his sister and Miss Torrington; an idea which probably +occurred to him in consequence of the remarkably well pleased and +complaisant air visible on his stepfather's countenance as he took his +place at the bottom of the table. Poor Charles! he made this +observation, and he determined to profit by it; though it was not +without a pang that he saw himself thus pushed from the stool that +nature and fortune seemed to have assigned to him.</p> + +<p>"I am glad," thought he, "that the proud Rosalind, who advised me to lay +my fortune at the feet of no one, is not here to witness the moment at +which I take my place at my father's board, Lord of my presence and no +land beside!"</p> + +<p>But his young spirit soon o'er mastered the sensation which seemed +threatening to choke him, when Mr. Cartwright said in the most obliging +voice in the world, "Charles, let me give you some soup."</p> + +<p>This over, he said with the easiest accent he could assume, and +addressing his mother, "I am the bearer, ma'am, of a message from Lady +Harrington. She hopes that you will spare her the society of Miss +Torrington and Helen for a short time."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright looked at her husband to ascertain his sentiments, +before she ventured to have any of her own.</p> + +<p>"It is very considerate of the old lady," said the vicar, with a soft +smile, of which his daughter only knew the full value. "I dare say she +thought we should be a good deal engaged just at first.... Chivers! +don't you see Mr. Jacob Cartwright is waiting for sauce?... I think, my +love, we shall make no objection to the arrangement: however, we will +talk together on the subject before we decide."</p> + +<p>As this amiable speech will not be found to accord exactly with his +subsequent conduct, it may be well to remark that the servants were +waiting at table, who doubtless would report his answer, and speculate +on the temper of it.</p> + +<p>The family party seemed expected to sit at table rather longer than +usual. The master of the banquet was evidently enjoying himself; and +though Charles sickened alike at his dignity and his condescension, and +Henrietta looked more pale and Fanny more melancholy every moment, still +Mr. Jacob appeared in ecstacies; and as Mrs. Cartwright continued to +smile upon her handsome husband with every symptom of satisfaction, he +continued to perform his new and delightful task at the bottom of the +table till long past the usual hour of withdrawing.</p> + +<p>At length, however, the watchful bride received the little nod which her +husband had that morning informed her must always precede her moving +from table. The ladies retired, and Charles followed them as far as the +hall, where, impatiently seizing upon his hat, and wrapping himself in +his cloak, he set off, despite the heavy darkness of the night, to +relieve his heart from the load that oppressed it, by passing an hour at +Oakley.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright and Jacob remained in the dining-room for another very +delightful half-hour; and then followed coffee and tea, and Fanny's own +hymns sung to Irish melodies, and a few conjugal kindnesses exchanged on +the sofa; and Henrietta pleaded illness and went to bed; and then +another very appropriate extempore prayer was uttered, and the family +separated.</p> + +<p>"Will you not take a little wine and water, and a biscuit, my dear Mr. +Cartwright?" said his attentive wife. "You always used to do it."</p> + +<p>"I had rather the tray were taken to your dressing-room, my love."</p> + +<p>There was something so affectionately comfortable in the proposition, +that the lady added a tender smile to her nodded assent, and in a few +minutes the newly-married pair found themselves in robes de chambre, +luxuriously seated in two soft arm-chairs before a blazing fire, in the +very room that a few short weeks before had witnessed the first full +disclosure of the vicar's love.</p> + +<p>Madeira, sugar, nutmeg, hot water, and dainty biscuits, tempted to negus +and to chat; and thus the conversation ran:</p> + +<p>"Only second to my service to the Lord, my Clara, is my adoration of +you!" began the fond husband; "and in nothing perhaps shall I be more +likely to show this, than in the pains I shall almost involuntarily take +to guard you from every spiteful and envious observation which our +union, sweetest, is likely to excite. It was in this spirit, my +beauteous Clara, that I replied in the manner I did to the message from +those very infamous people the Harringtons. Had I, my love, at once +proclaimed my feelings on the subject, I well knew what the result would +be. You would have been abused throughout the country for having married +a tyrant, whose first act of power was to vex and thwart your children. +Therefore, when your sweet eyes looked towards mine, for the purpose of +consulting me, I at once decided upon the line of conduct most certain +of securing you from any invidious remark."</p> + +<p>"How very kind! My dearest husband, I must pray for power to prove my +gratitude for such kindness as I ought!"</p> + +<p>"Sweet love! Together will we pray—together learn how best to prove the +virtuous tenderness of our souls! But do not, my Clara, suspect me +guilty of the contemptible weakness of really intending that your +daughter and your ward should remain inmates in a family that has so +cruelly insulted you. Oh! do not believe it! No! I would rather submit +to insult myself in the most painful form, than permit you, my best +beloved, to encounter it unresisted. You must write, my Clara—you must +write a letter to Helen, and send it with the carriage early to-morrow +morning to Oakley. It must be such a letter, dearest, as shall bring her +home without an hour's delay."</p> + +<p>"But, my dearest Mr. Cartwright, Charles is gone there to-night, you may +depend upon it, and probably for the express purpose of telling the +girls how graciously you received the invitation."</p> + +<p>"You think so, my Clara? I own I hoped it was the case. This, you see, +is exactly what we could most wish to happen. My answer was spoken +precisely in the spirit which I thought could be repeated most +favourably for you. Now therefore your asserting a mother's rights and a +mother's feelings must do you honour even in the eyes of those you +disoblige, and no sort of reflection fall upon the blessed choice which +has made me the happiest of men."</p> + +<p>"That was so thoughtful of you!" replied Mrs. Cartwright, kissing the +hand that clasped hers. "But what shall I say to Helen, dearest?"</p> + +<p>"Give me your desk, my Clara, and I will write a line or two, that you +shall copy. It must be expressed with strength and firmness, my best +love, and it may prevent a repetition of this very improper request for +the future."</p> + +<p>The desk was brought; and while Mrs. Cartwright prepared a second glass +of negus for the vicar, who declared that the night was unusually +chilly, he composed the following epistle:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Helen!</p> + +<p>"That it should have entered into your heart, into the heart of +my own dear child, to wish for permission to become the guest +of a family who from the hour of your late father's death has +ever treated me with the most cruel and unmerited unkindness, +is a mystery that I cannot understand. It was this unkindness +which drove me, sooner than I could have wished to do it, to +find a friend and adviser in Mr. Cartwright; and my only fear +now is, that his indulgent gentleness towards my children may +prevent his being so firm a support to me in the guiding them +as I may sometimes require. But in the present instance I want +no strength beyond my own to declare to you, that I will not +permit you to remain an hour longer at Sir Gilbert +Harrington's; that I command you instantly to put yourself into +the carriage I send for you, and return to Cartwright Park; +(for so, of course, will my residence be called for the +future;) and moreover, I beg you to inform the unprincipled +pair who would seduce you from your mother's roof, that if on +the present or any future occasion they should persuade you to +commit so great a sin, I shall take legal measures to recover +the possession of your person till such time as you shall be of +age; when, if unhappily evil counsellors should still have +influence over you, I shall give you up to them, to penniless +obscurity, to your own heart's remorse, and to that sentence of +everlasting condemnation which will in such case infallibly +doom you to the region where there is howling and gnashing of +teeth.</p> + +<p>"As for my ward Miss Torrington, I must of course take the same +summary mode of getting her again under my protection, for such +time as I shall continue to be her legal guardian.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Clara Helena Frances Cartwright</span>.</p> + +<p>"Cartwright Park, Wednesday."</p></blockquote> + +<p>When this composition was completed, Mr. Cartwright turned the desk to +his lady, laid a fair sheet of blank paper before her, put a pen into +her hand, drew the wax-lights near her, and then set about sipping the +negus she had so kindly prepared for him, without appearing to think it +at all necessary to ask her opinion of the document she was about to +copy.</p> + +<p>Being, however, rather new to the yoke into which it had pleased her to +thrust her head, she took the liberty of reading it. A slight +augmentation of colour was perceived on her delicate cheek as she +proceeded, by the watchful eye of her husband, as he turned it towards +her, over the top of the beautifully cut goblet he held in his hand. But +he nibbled a biscuit, and said nothing.</p> + +<p>When the perusal of it was completed, Mrs. Cartwright dipped the pen she +still held between her fingers, in the ink; but before she began to use +it, she paused, the colour mounted a little higher still, and she +ventured to say in the very gentlest accent in the world, "My dear +friend,—do you not think this might be a little softened?"</p> + +<p>"As how, my sweetest?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright's eye again ran over it, but she seemed unwilling to +speak: at length she said, "If you, dear Cartwright, agree with me +about it, you would make the alteration so much better yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I might, my lovely Clara; but as the fact is that I do not +agree with you at all on the subject, I suspect your epistle would be +rather the worse than the better for any thing further that I could do +to it."</p> + +<p>He rose as he spoke, and going behind her, appeared to read the paper +over her shoulder, and having satisfied himself with the examination, +kissed her fair throat as he bent over it, adding, as he took a light +from the table, "I am going to the library to look for a book, my love: +write it exactly as you like, and I will seal it for you when I return."</p> + +<p>No one who knew Mrs. Cartwright could have the slightest doubt that the +letter would be very fairly copied by the time her obliging husband +returned: and so it was every word of it excepting the date. She +appeared to be in the very act of writing this when he came back, and +stopping short as he entered, she said in a voice that certainly +faltered a little, "My dear Cartwright,—don't you think it would be +better to let those odious Harringtons hear from some other quarter of +this change in the name of our place? Not but that I approve it, I +assure you perfectly; but I know Lady Harrington so well! and I can +guess so exactly the sort of style in which she will observe upon it!"</p> + +<p>"Then, perhaps, dearest," said he, again coming behind her and caressing +her neck,—"perhaps you may think it would please her ladyship better if +your own name, as you have accepted it from me, were to be +suppressed?—Is it so, my fairest?"</p> + +<p>"Good Heaven, no!—May I be forgiven for using such an expression, +Cartwright! How could you say such cruel words?"</p> + +<p>"Nay!—my own Clara!—what could I think of your wishing that the house +we dwell in should retain the name of your former husband? Ah, dearest! +you know not all the jealousy of affection so ardent as mine! What is +the importance of the name of the place, Clara, compared to your own? +Are you not mine?" he continued, throwing his arms round her; "and if +you are—why should you torture me with the remembrance that another has +called you his?—that another's name has been your signature, your date, +your history? Oh, Clara! spare me such thoughts as these!—they unman +me!"</p> + +<p>"My dearest Cartwright!" returned the lady, only disengaging herself +from his arms sufficiently to write with firm though hurried characters +the name of <span class="smcap">Cartwright Park</span>,—"how deeply you have touched me!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIC" id="CHAPTER_IIC"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE WIDOW SIMPSON'S DISAPPOINTMENT.</h3> + + +<p>This letter was certainly commented upon pretty freely in all its parts +by the knight and lady of Oakley; but not the less did it produce the +effect intended: for not even could Sir Gilbert, after the first hot fit +of rage was over, advise poor Helen to expose herself to be recalled by +force. In the case of Miss Torrington, the hated authority of Mr. +Cartwright, though not necessarily so lasting, was for the present +equally imperative, and he therefore advised her peaceably to accompany +her friend to her unhappy home, and then to set about applying to +Chancery in order to emancipate herself from it.</p> + +<p>The parting was a very sad one. Poor Helen wept bitterly. She had felt +more consolation perhaps than she was aware in having been received with +such very <i>parental</i> kindness at Oakley; and her present departure from +it was, she thought, exceedingly like being driven, or rather dragged, +out of paradise. But there was no help for it. The carriage was waiting +at the door, and even the rebellious Sir Gilbert himself said she must +go,—not without adding, however, that it should go hard with him if he +did not find some means or other, before she were twenty-one, of +releasing her from such hateful thraldom.</p> + +<p>Helen had given, as she thought, her last kiss to her warm-hearted +godmother, and was in the very act of stepping aside that Miss +Torrington might take her place in the carriage, when that young lady +blushing most celestial rosy red, said abruptly, as if prompted thereto +by a sudden and desperate effort of courage, "Sir Gilbert +Harrington!—may I speak to you for one single minute alone?"</p> + +<p>"For a double century, fair Rose, if we can but make the tête-à-tête +last so long.—You may give poor god-mamma another hug, Helen: and don't +hurry yourself about it,—Miss Rose and I shall find a great deal to say +to each other."</p> + +<p>As soon as the old baronet had completed the flourish with which he led +her into his library, Miss Torrington turned to him, and with a voice +and manner that betrayed great agitation, she said, "I believe, Sir +Gilbert, I may change my present guardian, by applying to the Court of +Chancery. If I make myself a ward of the court, it will be necessary, I +believe, for me to obtain the Lord Chancellor's consent if I should wish +to marry before I am of age?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear."</p> + +<p>"And what is necessary for the obtaining such consent, Sir Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"That the person who proposes to marry you should be able to offer +settlements in proportion to your own fortune."</p> + +<p>"And if I should choose a person unable to do so?"</p> + +<p>"To guard against such imprudence, Miss Torrington, the Chancellor has +the power of preventing such a marriage."</p> + +<p>Rosalind's colour came, and went and came again, before she could utter +another word; but at length she said, "Have I not the power of choosing +another guardian, Sir Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you have, my dear."</p> + +<p>"If I have,—then will you let me choose you?"</p> + +<p>These words burst so eagerly from her, and she clasped her hands, and +fixed eyes upon him with a look so supplicating, that no man would have +found it an easy task to refuse her. Sir Gilbert probably felt little +inclination to do so, though he had, in the course of his life, +repeatedly refused to take the office now offered him in so singular a +manner.</p> + +<p>"This request, my dear Miss Rose," said he, smiling, "looks very much as +if you thought I should prove such an old fool of a guardian as to let +you have your own way in all things. I hardly know whether I ought to +thank you for the compliment or not. However, I am very willing to +accept the office; for I think, somehow or other, that you will not +plague me much.—What is your fortune, my dear?—and is it English or +Irish property?"</p> + +<p>"Entirely English, Sir Gilbert; and produces, I believe, between three +and four thousand a year."</p> + +<p>"A very pretty provision, my dear young lady. Would you wish to proceed +in this immediately?"</p> + +<p>"Immediately,—without a day's delay, if I could help it."</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert patted her cheek, and smiled again with a look of very great +contentment and satisfaction. "Very well, my dear—I think you are quite +right—quite right to get rid of such a guardian as the Reverend +Mistress Cartwright with as little delay as possible. I imagine you +would not find it very easy to negotiate the business yourself, and I +will therefore recommend my lawyer to you. Shall I put the business into +his hands forthwith?"</p> + +<p>So bright a flash of pleasure darted from the eyes of Rosalind, as made +the old gentleman wink his own—and, in truth, he appeared very nearly +as well pleased as herself. "Now then," she said, holding her hand +towards him that he might lead her out again, "I will keep Mr. +Cartwright's carriage waiting no longer.—Bless you, Sir Gilbert! Do not +talk to any body about this till it is done. Oh! how very kind you are!"</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert gallantly and gaily kissed the tips of her fingers, and led +her again into the drawing-room. Helen, who was still weeping, and +seemed as much determined to persevere in it as ever Beatrice did, +looked with astonishment in the face of her friend, which, though still +covered with blushes, was radiant with joy. It was in vain she looked at +her, however—it was a mystery she could not solve: so, once more +uttering a mournful farewell, Helen gave a last melancholy gaze at her +old friends, and followed Rosalind into the carriage.</p> + +<p>"May I ask you, Rosalind," she said as soon as it drove off, "what it is +that you have been saying to Sir Gilbert, or Sir Gilbert to you, which +can have caused you to look so particularly happy at the moment that you +are about to take up your residence at Cartwright Park, under the +guardianship of its master the Vicar of Wrexhill?"</p> + +<p>"I will explain the mystery in a moment, Helen. I have asked Sir Gilbert +Harrington to let me name him as my guardian, and he has consented."</p> + +<p>"Have you such power?" replied Helen. "Oh, happy, happy Rosalind!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Helen, there may be happiness in that;—but I may find +difficulties, perhaps:—and if I do!—"</p> + +<p>"I trust you will not.—I trust that ere long you will be able to +withdraw yourself from a house so disgraced and afflicted as ours!"</p> + +<p>"And leave you behind, Helen? You think that is part of my scheme?"</p> + +<p>"How can you help it, Rosalind? You have just read my my mother's +letter:—you see the style and tone in which she announces her right +over <i>my person</i>;—and this from the mother I so doated on! I do assure +you, Rosalind, that I often seem to doubt the reality of the misery that +surrounds me, and fancy that I must be dreaming. Throw back your +thoughts to the period of your first coming to us, and then say if such +a letter as this can really come to me from my mother."</p> + +<p>"The letter is a queer letter—a very queer letter indeed. And yet I am +under infinite obligations to it: for had she not used that pretty +phrase,—'for such time as I shall continue to be her legal +guardian,'—it might never have entered my head to inquire for how long +a time that must of necessity be."</p> + +<p>"I rejoice for you, Rosalind, that the odious necessity of remaining +with us is likely to be shortened; and will mix no malice with my envy, +even when I see you turn your back for ever upon Cartwright Park."</p> + +<p>"There would be little cause to envy me, Helen, should I go without +taking you with me."</p> + +<p>A tear stood in Rosalind's bright eye as she said this, and Helen felt +very heartily ashamed of the petulance with which she had spoken. As a +penance for it, she would not utter the sad prognostic that rose to her +lips, as to the impossibility that any thing could give her power to +bestow the freedom she might herself obtain.</p> + +<p>Their return seemed to be unnoticed by every individual of the family +except Henrietta. She saw the carriage approach from her own room, and +continued to waylay Rosalind as she passed to hers.</p> + +<p>"I know the sight of me must be hateful to you Miss Torrington," she +said, "and I have been looking out for you in order that the shock of +first seeing me might be over at once. Poor, pretty Helen +Mowbray!—notwithstanding the hardness of heart on which I pique +myself, I cannot help feeling for her. How does she bear it, Miss +Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"She is very unhappy, Henrietta: and I think it is your duty, as well as +mine, to make her feel her altered home as little miserable as +possible."</p> + +<p>"I should think so too, if I believed I had any power to make it better +or worse,—except, indeed, that of meeting her eyes, or avoiding them. +The sight of any of us must be dreadful to her."</p> + +<p>"You have such a remarkable way of shutting yourself up—your +intellectual self I mean, from every one, that it is not very easy to +say how great or how little your power might be. From the slight and +transient glances which you have sometimes permitted me to take through +your icy casing, I am rather inclined to believe that you ought to +reckon for something in the family of which you make a part."</p> + +<p>Henrietta shook her head. "Your glances have not penetrated to the +centre yet, Miss Torrington. Should you ever do so, you, and your friend +Helen too, would hate me,—even if my name were not Cartwright."</p> + +<p>"I would not hear your enemy say so," replied Rosalind. "However, we are +now likely to be enough together to judge each other by the severest of +all tests, daily experience."</p> + +<p>"An excellent test for the temper,—but not for the heart," replied +Henrietta.</p> + +<p>"You seem determined to make me afraid of you, Miss Cartwright. I have +no great experience of human nature as yet; but I should think a corrupt +heart would rather seek to conceal than proclaim itself."</p> + +<p>"I think you are right; but I have no idea that my heart is corrupt:—it +is diseased."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could heal it," said Rosalind kindly, "for I suspect its +illness, be it what it may, causes your cheek to grow pale. You do not +look well, Miss Cartwright."</p> + +<p>"Well?—Oh no! I have long known I am dying."</p> + +<p>"Good Heaven!—what do you mean? Why do you not take advice?"</p> + +<p>"Because no advice could save me;—and because if it could, I would not +take it."</p> + +<p>"I hope you are not in earnest. Perhaps this strange marriage, if it do +no other good, may benefit your health by placing you in a larger +family. I cannot think you are happy at the Vicarage."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" replied Henrietta with a melancholy smile.</p> + +<p>"And I cannot but hope that you will be more happy here."</p> + +<p>"Well!—we shall see. But I should take it very kind of you if you would +make the three young Mowbrays understand, that if I could have prevented +this iniquitous marriage, I would have done it."</p> + +<p>"Would it be safe to say so much to Fanny?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Mr. Cartwright will never hear her bosom secrets more."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the midst of the tide of triumph and of joy which seemed at this time +to bear the Vicar of Wrexhill far above the reach of any earthly sorrow, +there was a little private annoyance that beset him,—very trifling +indeed, but which required a touch of his able diplomatic adroitness to +settle satisfactorily.</p> + +<p>The widow Simpson was as thorough a coquette as ever decorated the +street of a country village; and often had it happened, since her weeds +were laid aside, that Mr. This, or Mr. That, had been congratulated as +likely to succeed to her vacant heart and hand. But hitherto Mrs. +Simpson had preferred the reputation of having many adorers, to the +humdrum reality of a second husband. But when Mr. Cartwright appeared, +her hopes, her wishes, her feelings underwent a sudden and violent +change. At first, indeed, she only looked at him as a very handsome man, +who must, by some means or other, be brought to think her a very +handsome woman: but more serious thoughts quickly followed, and the idea +of a home at the Vicarage, and the advantage of having all her bills +made out to the Rev. Mr. Cartwright, became one of daily and hourly +recurrence. Mrs. Simpson was not a person to let such a notion lie idle; +nor was Mr. Cartwright a man to permit the gentle advances to intimacy +of a Mrs. Simpson stop short, or lead to nothing. But from any idea of +her becoming mistress of the Vicarage, or of her bills being made out to +him, he was as pure as the angels in heaven.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the intimacy did advance. One by one, every personal +decoration that marks the worldling was laid aside, and the livery of +holiness adopted in its stead. False ringlets were exchanged for false +bands; gauze bonnets covered with bows gave place to straw bonnets +having no bows at all; lilac faded into grey, and the colour of the rose +was exchanged for that of its leaf. These important and very +heavenly-minded reforms were soon followed by others, not more +essential, for that is hardly possible; but they went the length of +turning her little girl into a methodist monkey; her card-boxes, into +branch missionary fund contribution cases; her footstools into praying +cushions; and her sofa into a pulpit and a pew, whence and where she +very often listened to "the word" when pretty nearly all the parish of +Wrexhill were fast asleep.</p> + +<p>In all former affairs of the heart in which Mrs. Simpson had engaged +since the demise of her husband, she had uniformly come off the +conqueror; for she had never failed to obtain exactly as much flirtation +as she required to keep her on good terms with herself, and on bad terms +with all coquettish young ladies for five miles round, and never had +granted any favour in return that she did not consider as a fair price +for the distinction she received.</p> + +<p>But poor Mrs. Simpson's example should be a warning to all widow ladies +to be careful how they enter into holy dalliance and sanctified trifling +with the elect. Common prudence, in short, is no fair match for uncommon +holiness, and the principal person in the village of Wrexhill was at the +time of Mrs. Mowbray's marriage with its vicar really very much to be +pitied.</p> + +<p>It is probably no very agreeable task for a bridegroom to pay a visit to +a lady under such circumstances; but Mr. Cartwright felt that it must be +done, and with nerves braced to the task by the remembrance of the +splendid silver urn, tea and coffee pots, the exquisite French china, +and all the pretty elaborate finishing of his breakfast equipage,—in a +word, at about eleven o'clock on the next morning but one after his +installation (as Jacob called it), he set off on foot, like an humble +and penitent pilgrim, to call on the widow Simpson.</p> + +<p>He was, as usual, shown into the quiet parlour, overlooked by no village +eye, that opened upon the garden. Here he found every thing much as it +used to be—sofas, footstools, albums, missionary boxes and all—but no +Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>"Let missis know, sir," said the boy-servant; and he closed the door, +leaving the vicar to his meditations.</p> + +<p>At length the door reopened, and the pale and languid Mrs. Simpson, her +eyes red with weeping, and her rouge (not partially, as during the +process of election, but really and altogether) laid aside, entered. The +air and manner with which the vicar met her was something of a mixed +breed between audacity and confusion. He was in circumstances, however, +highly favourable to the growth of the former and equally so to the +stifling of the latter feeling.</p> + +<p>He took the widow's hand, kissed it, and led her to the sofa.</p> + +<p>Her handkerchief was at her eyes, and though she made no resistance, she +manifested no inclination to return the tender pressure bestowed upon +her fingers.</p> + +<p>"You weep, my dear friend!" said the vicar in an accent of surprise. "Is +it thus you congratulate me on the great change that has taken place in +my circumstances?"</p> + +<p>"Congratulate you! Oh, Mr. Cartwright! is it possible that you can be so +coldly cruel?—Congratulate you! Gracious Heaven! have you no thought, +no pity for all the anguish that you have made me suffer?"</p> + +<p>"I know not why you should talk of suffering, my dear friend. I had +hoped that the sweet friendship which for several months past has united +us, was to you, as to me, a source of the tenderest satisfaction. But +our feelings for each other must indeed be widely different. There is no +circumstance that could befall you, productive of even worldly +convenience and advantage, but I should rejoice at it as if sent to +myself: but you, my friend, appear to mourn because from a poor man I am +become a rich one."</p> + +<p>"Alas!—Cruel!—Is it for that I mourn? Think you that my heart can +forget what I have been to you, or what I hoped to be? Can you forget +the hours that you have devoted to me? And is this the end of it?"</p> + +<p>"I neither can nor will forget the happy period of our tender +friendship. Nor is there any reason, my excellent Mrs. Simpson, that it +should not continue, even as the Lord hath permitted that it should +begin. Believe me, that were a similar circumstance to happen to you:—I +mean, were you accidentally to connect yourself by means of marriage +with great wealth and extended influence;—instead of complaining of it, +I should rejoice with an exceeding great joy. It could, as I should +imagine, make no possible difference in our friendly and affectionate +feelings for each other; and I should know that your piety and +heavenly-minded zeal in the cause of grace and faith would be rendered +greatly more profitable and efficient thereby."</p> + +<p>"You do not, then, understand a woman's heart, Mr. Cartwright! What is +there, short of the torments of the bottomless pit, that can compare to +the suffering of seeing the heart one believed to be one's own given to +another?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say it must be very disagreeable indeed, my dear friend. But no +such idea, I do assure you, would occur to me were you to marry. Indeed, +my own view of the case is, that as an holy ordinance, it should be +entered into with as little attention as possible to mere pleasure. To a +man like myself, whose heart is altogether given to things above, the +idea of making a marriage of love, as it is called, would be equally +absurd and profane. My object in the connexion I have just formed, was +to increase my sphere of influence and utility; and nothing, I assure +you, can be more opportune and fortunate than my having found this very +worthy and richly-endowed person. It would give me unfeigned +satisfaction, my dear friend, to hear that you had been equally +fortunate, and, permit me to say, equally wise."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Cartwright! I am sure I had no idea when—when I attached +myself to you, that you disapproved of marriage among those who love, as +I thought you and I did; for most surely I thought, Mr. Cartwright, that +I should have been your wife."</p> + +<p>"No?—Is it possible, my dear friend, that such an idea as that, so +perfectly unauthorized, could have occurred to you? I really am greatly +surprised, for I thought that we understood one another perfectly."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed, Mr. Cartwright, I never was more mistaken in any one in +my whole life; and I am sure that if poor Mrs. Mowbray is as much +deceived in you as I was, she will be a very unhappy woman when she +finds it out, poor thing."</p> + +<p>"My dear friend, allow me to assure you that you altogether mistake the +nature of the friendship I have been so happy as to form with you, as +well as that of the connexion I have just ratified with her. I trust the +Lord will give me grace so to conduct myself, as that I may never be +suspected of confounding the two together, which, by the nature of the +ordinances, ought to be kept as separate and distinct as possible. I +will not now enter more fully with you into this interesting question, +for much business presses upon me: but when we shall happen to find +ourselves more at leisure, my dear friend, which I trust will be often +the case, I will explain to you, in a manner that will, I think, be +satisfactory, my opinions on the subject. Meanwhile, dear Mrs. Simpson, +let me entreat you not spoil your charming eyes by weeping, nor let any +thing lead you for an instant to doubt that my sentiments for you are +exactly the same as they have ever been; and above all, cease not to +work out your eternal salvation with fear and trembling. Mrs. Cartwright +is by no means, I believe, a very active-minded person; and I think it +probable that I shall often feel it borne in upon my mind, that by +applying to you I shall be able to forward the great work of grace that +I have in hand more effectually than by any personal assistance that she +is likely to render me. Her wealth indeed is great, as I hope some +little keepsakes from me may prove to you ere long; but as to energy and +fervour of character, there is but one Mrs. Simpson."</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman here saluted the fair lady's lips, and departed, +leaving her exactly in the state he wished; that is to say, puzzled, +confounded, mystified, and not knowing the least in the world what she +should say to him next.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIIC" id="CHAPTER_IIIC"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES'S INTERVIEW WITH HIS STEPFATHER.—HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM +WREXHILL.</h3> + + +<p>There were moreover other ladies to be encountered, most of whom, as the +vicar well knew, would not hear of his brilliant nuptials with pleasure; +but this was a matter of small moment. The benevolent attentions he had +bestowed upon them were chiefly for the purpose of ensuring popularity +and acquiring influence,—and these were now too much at his command for +him to experience the slightest anxiety from the fear of losing them.</p> + +<p>The remembrance of the three Misses Richards was indeed rather heavy +upon him; especially from the circumstance of Miss Mary's having +accidentally seen him kiss Miss Louisa, which he happened to do, in the +little shrubbery behind their cottage, upon occasion of a serious +discourse which they had been holding together upon the nature and +influence of especial grace. Little Mary, who was purity and simplicity +personified, firmly believed, in her very innocent heart, that this +caress could only be given by such a gentleman as Mr. Cartwright as the +ratification of a treaty of marriage; and had accordingly not only +alluded to Louisa's happy prospects herself, but had fully persuaded her +sister Charlotte likewise to believe that this blessed union would be +the result of the vicar's soft attentions to them all. So that upon a +smart discussion with their mother upon the sin of works, when matters +had gone so far as to induce the young lady to declare that she +considered the door of her mother's house as nothing less than a type of +the gates of hell, she had, in relating the scene of this praiseworthy +combat to their apostle, ventured these remarkable words:</p> + +<p>"There is sorrow and sin in dwelling under the roof of the scorner; but +when dear Louisa has quite consented to all your wishes, Mr. Cartwright, +her bowels will yearn towards her sisters, and you will both of you draw +us out of the way of temptation under the shelter and the shadow of your +wing."</p> + +<p>The only reply which the vicar made to this speech was the utterance of +a fervent blessing.</p> + +<p>He now remembered with considerable satisfaction the cautious tendency +of this reply, and, upon the whole, thought that there was no occasion +to fatigue his spirits by making these young ladies a private visit to +announce his change of condition, as in the case of Mrs. Simpson. He +therefore turned from the widow's door, after the pause of a moment on +her threshold, during which these thoughts were rapidly but healthily +digested, leaving him, that is to say, neither loaded with remorse, nor +fevered by anxiety.</p> + +<p>Upon this occasion, for some reason or other, connected perhaps with +that tranquillity of mind in his lady which it was so unquestionably his +duty to guard, the Vicar of Wrexhill had not made use of his carriage +and servants. He walked therefore back to the Park, and met Charles +Mowbray coming through the lodge gates, as he entered them.</p> + +<p>The young man touched his hat, and was walking on; but the vicar stopped +him.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, my dear Charles?" said he. "It is getting quite +late; you will not have time for a walk before dinner—it is almost +dark. You know my habits are those of great punctuality."</p> + +<p>"I shall never interfere with those habits, sir. It is probable that I +may not return to dinner."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!—we shall be very sorry to lose you. Where are you going, then, +my dear boy?"</p> + +<p>Charles hesitated. His heart seemed to swell in his bosom at this +questioning; and though, in fact, he had strolled out without any idea +of absenting himself at dinner, something like a spirit of rebellion +induced him to answer, "To Sir Gilbert Harrington's, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good evening, then. Let me bespeak your ear for half an hour in my +library to-morrow morning, between the hours of eleven and twelve."</p> + +<p>Charles bowed, but uttered not a word, and proceeded towards Oakley, +inwardly muttering "<i>his library</i>!"</p> + +<p>He entered the mansion of his old friends without an apology, but stated +the cause of his visit as it really was.</p> + +<p>"I could not bear to be examined by him as to where I was going, and +when I was coming; and rather to prove my independence, than for any +other reason, I am come to you. Can you forgive this?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, truly can we," replied the old lady; "and be sure to do the same +next time, Charles. It makes me sick to think of this species of +paternal admonishing."</p> + +<p>"I am to be lectured for my impatience under it, as I suspect; for he +bade me meet him in <i>his library</i> to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"His library! Scoundrel!" exclaimed Sir Gilbert through his closed +teeth.</p> + +<p>"Shall I obey the mandate, Sir Gilbert?" said Charles. "Or shall I take +no notice of it?"</p> + +<p>"The question seems an easy one to answer, Charles?" replied the +baronet; "and had I been to answer yesterday morning, I should have said +without hesitation,—set fire to the library, and stifle him in it like +a weazel as he is, rather than come at his call. But I have taken it +into my head since, that our test game will be to keep things soft and +smooth for a while. So wait upon him, Master Charles, in your father's +library, and hear all he has got to say; and don't turn yourself out of +the house; and don't spit upon him if you can help it. But I hope he +won't sit in poor Mowbray's chair!"</p> + +<p>In consequence of this counsel, Charles did wait upon the vicar in his +father's library at the appointed hour, and took what comfort he could +from perceiving that he was not seated in that lamented father's chair, +but had ensconced himself in a newly-invented fauteuil of surpassing +softness, which he had caused to be brought from the drawing-room for +his especial comfort.</p> + +<p>"You have not kept me waiting, and I commend you for it, my son. May he, +in whom I trust, lead you in his own good time to be all that your pious +mother can wish to see you. Sit down, Charles—pray sit down."</p> + +<p>Poor Charles!—the whole scene was purgatory to him; but his courage did +not forsake him: and instead of running out of the room, as he felt +terribly tempted to do, he sat down opposite to his stepfather, +determined to hear every thing he had to say.</p> + +<p>"I think, Charles, that the pious nature of your mother, awakened as it +has of late been, must by this time be so sufficiently known to you all, +as to prevent the possibility of your mistaking her motives for marrying +the second father, in whose presence you are now placed. Her motives +have been of the holiest kind, and never, probably, did any person +perform a more acceptable service than she did when, placing her hand +within mine before his altar, she resigned that power over her children, +which maternal weakness rendered almost nugatory, to one who is too +strong in the Lord to permit any human feelings or motives ever to make +him swerve from that course which he is taught to believe the best. It +would be a very shining pleasure to me if your thankfulness for this +most merciful dispensation were at this very moment to impel you to +kneel down on one of these cushions;—of such there are always +sufficient, and to spare, in the dwellings of the chosen:—I wish, I +say, that even now I could see you fall down before me to give thanks +for having sent to you and to your sisters one of his own, as your +guide and protector through the pitfalls of this life, and to usher you +with favour into his presence in the life to come. I would willingly see +you thus grateful for manifest mercies,—but I shall not insist upon it +at this moment, for I know, Charles, how different have been the paths +in which your teachers have hitherto led you."</p> + +<p>The vicar here paused; but as there was no point in his harangue to +which Mowbray could have replied in the spirit which his friend had +recommended to him, he resolutely kept silence.</p> + +<p>"The time will come," resumed the vicar, "the time <i>shall</i> come, when +your knees, young man, shall be less stubborn. But it is time that I +unfold to you the business upon which I wished to speak when I permitted +your attendance in this apartment. You have been led, doubtless by the +active machinations of the devil, to turn your sinful thoughts towards +that profession which, beyond all others, has made Satan its patron and +its saint. In one word, you have thought of going into the army; and it +is to inform you that I shall not permit this dreadful sin to be +committed by one of my family, that you are now before me. Open not your +mouth, young man, in defence of the God-abandoned set to whom you would +wish to belong: my ears must not be profaned by any words of such +abhorrent tendency. Instead of speaking yourself, hear me. My will is, +that you return to College, there to prepare yourself for ordination. I +utter this command with a conscience void of offence; for though your +awful deficiency in religion is well known to me, I have confidence in +the Lord, and in the power he will give me to work a change: and +moreover, I know to what bishop I shall lead you for ordination; thereby +securing to myself the consolation of knowing that no human learning +will enable you to be received within the pale that we are strengthening +around us, and within which none shall be admitted (if we can help it) +but the regenerate and adopted, or such as we of the evangelical church +may choose to pledge ourselves shall become so. As to the manner and +amount of your future income, I shall take the arrangement of it +entirely into my own hands, reserving to myself the power of varying +your allowance from time to time, as shall seem good. You may have a few +days' holidays here if you wish it, in honour of your mother's marriage; +after which I will give you ten pounds for your journey and other +contingent expenses, and permit you to employ such tradesmen at Oxford +as I shall point out, for such necessaries as it is proper I should +furnish you with. Their bills must be forwarded to Mr. Corbold, who, for +the present, I shall probably continue as my agent; and when I have duly +examined them, they shall be paid. Your College expenses I shall also +order to be transmitted to him, and through him to me.—I must now +dismiss you, for I have letters to write.—Be careful in passing these +windows, if you please, not to approach them too closely. This room is a +favourite apartment of mine, and I must not be interrupted or annoyed in +it in any way. Remember this, if you please. Good morning."</p> + +<p>During the whole of this very trying interview Mowbray had not uttered a +single word. He knew that if he opened his lips, the indignation that +burned at his heart would burst forth with a vehemence he should no +longer be able to control. He felt his heart throb, and every pulse so +fiercely keeping time to it, that he was terrified at himself, and +fearful lest the tide of passion that worked thus fearfully within him +should drive him to do, or even to say what he might repent, he hastened +from the room, leaving Mr. Cartwright very comfortably persuaded that +the eloquence which had been bestowed on him, if it sometimes failed in +converting those who heard him to his doctrine, was of a nature well +calculated to enforce his authority; a species of success which perhaps +satisfied him better still.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate Charles took refuge in Helen's dressing room from the +storm that raged in his bosom. He longed to hear the gentle voice of his +sister with as much eagerness as one panting in fever longs for a cool +breeze or a refreshing stream; and when he entered the room and found it +unoccupied, he felt as if that misfortune were greater than all which +had fallen upon him before.</p> + +<p>In a state of the most pitiable depression of spirits he seated himself +most forlornly on a <i>chaise longue</i> that stood in a recess as far as +possible from the windows, and there, resting his head on the side of +it, and covering his face with his hands, he remained for a considerable +time perfectly immoveable, and quite as miserable as his worst enemy +could wish.</p> + +<p>At length the door opened, and a female entered. Charles sprang forward +to meet her, and very narrowly escaped encircling Miss Torrington in +his arms. She drew back, certainly, but hardly with so sudden a movement +as that of Mowbray, who, colouring and stammering in extreme confusion, +said as he retreated to his former place, "I beg your pardon: I came +here to look for Helen."</p> + +<p>"And so did I, Mr. Mowbray: I cannot think where she has hid +herself.—But you do not look like yourself, Charles. Has Mr. Cartwright +been speaking to you? I heard him tell his wife that he had desired you +to meet him in the library."</p> + +<p>"In his library, Miss Torrington; pray call it as he does <i>his</i> +library—But what a fool am I to care thus for a word! It is his +library; the man says right. But what then is poor Helen? what is Fanny? +what am I?"</p> + +<p>His features expressed such terrible agony of mind, that Rosalind almost +felt afraid to leave him, and stood at some distance from him as he sat, +with her looks riveted upon his face and her eyes overflowing with +tears.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, dear Charles," she said, "what is it that has happened to you? +I will go and seek Helen, and bring her to you in a moment. Only tell me +before I go if any new thing has happened to make us all more miserable +than we were. Is it not common cause, Mr. Mowbray? For Heaven's sake +tell me what has befallen you!"</p> + +<p>"It is not common cause, Miss Torrington," he replied with bitterness. +"My situation is, I heartily hope, without a parallel; and as none can +share my wretchedness, as none can relieve it, it were better, I +believe, that none should know it."</p> + +<p>"That is not the language of friendship, Mr. Mowbray. Were poor Helen +here, I trust you would not answer her inquiries so harshly."</p> + +<p>"Harshly? If so, I have been very wrong. Forgive me.—Could you have +heard the language this man held to me,—could you have seen him +enthroned in my poor father's library, and heard him tell me that when I +passed before the windows I must take care not to approach too +nearly,—oh, Rosalind! could you have heard all this, you would not +wonder if I answered even madly to any questions asked."</p> + +<p>Rosalind stood silently before him when he had ceased to speak, her +hands tightly clasped, and her eyes riveted on the ground. "I will ask +you but one question more," said she after a long pause.</p> + +<p>"And what is that, Miss Torrington?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Miss Torrington!</i>" said she, muttering between her teeth. "Alas!—how +madly have I acted! and how difficult is it to retrace a wrong step once +taken!"</p> + +<p>She trembled violently; so violently, that she was obliged to support +herself by leaning on the back of a chair which stood near her. Charles +Mowbray's head again rested on the sofa, and his eyes were hid from her. +She felt that he saw her not, and this perhaps it was which gave her +courage to proceed in the task she had determined to perform; but her +breast heaved almost convulsively, and her mouth became so parched that +it was with difficulty she could articulate these words: "I learn from +Sir Gilbert Harrington, Mr. Mowbray that—I have the power—of making +him my guardian"—</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed Charles, interrupting her; "I thank Heaven for +it, Miss Torrington.—You may then escape, and immediately, from this +place of torment. This will indeed help me to bear it better."</p> + +<p>He spoke the last words more composedly, but again buried his face on +the sofa.</p> + +<p>"But think you, Mr. Mowbray, I would leave Helen here?"</p> + +<p>"I fear you will have no power to take her," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Not I—but you. Oh! Mr. Mowbray!—Charles! Charles!—will you not +understand me? Will you spare me this agony? No? you will not. But I +have deserved it all, and I will bear it. Charles Mowbray!—it is I who +would now lay my fortune at your feet. Oh! do not answer me as I once +answered you! Charles Mowbray, will you take me for your wife!"</p> + +<p>"No, by Heaven!" he exclaimed, falling on his knees before her. "Poor +Rosalind! dear, generous, devoted friend! And for her sake, then—for my +dear Helen's sake, you would submit to be my wife—<i>my wife!</i>—an +outcast, penniless, insulted beggar!—No, Rosalind; by Heaven, no! I +would rather perish in the lowest state of human wretchedness than so +abuse your noble nature. But do me justice, noble Rosalind; let there on +one point at least be some equality between us. Believe that I love +you,—and that with a strength of passion of which, as I think, your +unawakened heart has yet no power to judge. But should you, Rosalind, +ever learn what it is to love, then do me justice, and know how dear was +honour to my soul when I adored but could refuse you."</p> + +<p>He seized her dress and pressed it to his lips; and, then rising from +his knees, he darted out of the room, without daring to trust his eyes +to look at her.</p> + +<p>Had Mowbray's state of mind been somewhat less miserable—had the +buoyant spirit given to him by nature been less completely crushed by +the galling interview of the morning, it is probable that his memory +might have suggested to him some circumstances in the hours passed +heretofore with Rosalind, which might have raised some blessed hope upon +his mind as to the motive and feelings that had led her to act as she +had done. But, as it was, no such light from heaven fell upon him. In +simplest sincerity he believed that she had rejected his suit because +she did not love him, and that she had now offered to become his wife +solely for Helen's sake, and in the generous hope of saving her by +giving to him the power of offering her a home.</p> + +<p>With this conviction, he determined to spare her the embarrassment and +himself the torture of meeting again. With all the feverish hurry of +impatient suffering, he instantly sought his mother; informed her of Mr. +Cartwright's wish that he should return to Oxford, and of his own desire +to comply with this immediately.</p> + +<p>There was something in the suddenness of this unresisting obedience that +seemed to startle her. She applauded his resolution, but seemed to wish +that for some short time, at least, he should delay the execution of it. +But on this point he was immoveable; and as Mr. Cartwright appeared well +pleased that so it should be, he succeeded in so hastening the +arrangements for his departure that within twenty-four hours he had left +the house, and that without having again seen Rosalind. The greater part +of this interval, indeed, was passed at Oakley, where his reiterated +assurances that he should be much, very much happier at Oxford than at +home, were accepted in excuse for the suddenness of his departure. Sir +Gilbert, indeed, had so well read Rosalind's heart, and so confidently +did he anticipate his speedy and even triumphant return, that both +himself and his lady, who as usual was wholly in his confidence, saw him +depart without regret, and uttered their farewells with a cheerfulness +that grated sadly on the feelings of the poor exile.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IVC" id="CHAPTER_IVC"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE VICAR'S PROSPERITY.—HE SETS ABOUT MAKING SOME IMPORTANT REFORMS IN +THE VILLAGE.</h3> + + +<p>The departure of Charles, so immediate and so unrepining, seemed to the +vicar a most satisfactory proof that the talent and firmness which he +had himself displayed in their final interview had produced exactly the +effect which he hoped and intended. "He will, I think, trouble me no +more:" such was the comfortable little mental soliloquy with which, as +he sat in his noble library, the Vicar of Wrexhill listened to the +wheels of the cab, lent to convey Mowbray to the nearest town through +which the coach passed.</p> + +<p>This good work achieved, which was of that species permitted by the +peculiar doctrine of his sect, Mr. Cartwright, of Cartwright Park, began +to look around him among his neighbours and dependants for opportunities +of displaying both his sanctity and his magnificence.</p> + +<p>Every thing seemed to prosper with him; and the satisfaction produced by +this success was very greatly enhanced by the consciousness that he owed +it all, from the humble courtesy of the village maidens up to the +crowning glory of his lady's love, and all the wealth it brought, wholly +and solely to himself. Ungrateful would he have been for such unnumbered +blessings had he neglected to reward that self by every kind observance +and by every thoughtful care which his active fancy, his fastidious +taste, and his luxurious nature could suggest. But he did it all so +"<i>doucely</i>," that no voice was raised to censure the dainty appetite of +the high-fed priest; no lip was curled in scorn as every week brought +forth some new indulgence, some exquisite refinement of elaborate +luxury.</p> + +<p>Every thing seemed to prosper with him. The wines he ordered could +hardly be accounted dear even at the unheard-of prices he gave for them. +The beautiful creature he bought for his own riding, with just action +enough to show off his handsome figure, and not sufficient to occasion +him the least fatigue, appeared to be so born and bred on purpose for +his use, that every eye was fixed in admiration as he paced along, and +no tongue wagged to tell that while young Mowbray departed from his +father's house with ten pounds in his pocket, his stepfather's ambling +hack cost two hundred.</p> + +<p>Every thing seemed to prosper with him. Mrs. Simpson, instead of +spoiling her fine eyes, and reducing by her secession his fair +congregation of elected saints, which he had certainly good reason to +fear, listened to his doctrine now with the same yielding obedience that +she did before; and so far was the tongue of slander from finding any +thing amiss in the frequent pastoral visits he continued to pay her, +that her credit, particularly with her tradespeople, stood higher than +ever, and her begging-boxes, and her tract-selling, and her albums, +flourished quite as well as when she believed that she and they would +ere long be translated to the Vicarage.</p> + +<p>Of Mrs. Richards's converted daughters, little Mary was the only one who +ventured openly to declare that she thought the vicar had behaved +extremely ill; that after what she saw pass between him and sister +Louisa, it was a sin not to marry her; and that she did not think poor +Mrs. Mowbray would ever be happy with a man who was so very much in love +with another person.</p> + +<p>But it was only little Mary who said all this, and nobody paid much +attention to it. The pious Louisa herself declared, indeed, that there +never had been any thing but the purest evangelical love between them; +and that the kiss about which silly Mary made such a fuss, was nothing +in the world but a kiss of holy peace and brotherly love.</p> + +<p>The same eloquence which persuaded the young lady so to think, or at any +rate, so to say, persuaded her likewise, and her sister Charlotte with +her, to persevere in their avocations. They continued to compose tracts, +to get them printed and sold when they could, and to read them aloud and +give them away in manuscript when they could not. They also continued +most perseveringly to expound both tracts and Scriptures for the +edification of their very unhappy mother; who having passed the last +twenty years of her life in exerting every faculty to render them happy +around her, could not now so change her plan as to give them that +portion of her house for the display of their inspired eloquence which +she herself did not occupy—and thus she passed by far the greater +portion of every day in listening to their ceaseless assurances that the +pit of hell was yawning to receive her.</p> + +<p>Major Dalrymple being present on one occasion when this was going on +with peculiar fervour, waited very patiently till there was a pause in +the eloquence of Miss Charlotte, who was holding forth, and then said +Scotchly and quietly, "Well, well, I see not but it is all very fair +between you and your mother, my bonny lasses: she has been always +forgetting herself for your sakes, and you are now forgetting yourselves +for hers."</p> + +<p>It was not very long, however, after the marriage of the vicar, that a +welcome and much-needed ray of hope once more gleamed upon her. It rose +from the fair forehead of little Mary. From the time of her conversion, +all her very pretty curls had been straightened and pushed behind her +ears, and the little straw bonnet which covered them was the rival, or +rather, the model of Fanny Mowbray's. But by degrees, a few of these +curls began to reappear round her face; her sad-coloured ribbons were +exchanged for the bright tints that suited so well with her clear brown +skin: her laughing eyes began to recover their brightness, and at last +she whispered in her mother's ear, "Forgive me, dearest mamma, for all +my folly, my presumption. Forgive me, dearest mother; and pray God to +forgive me too!"</p> + +<p>From that moment Mrs. Richards felt restored to happiness. She had too +early learnt that, at the best, life is but like a changeable web of +silk, in which the dark tints predominate, to poison the enjoyment which +Mary's return to reason brought her, by remembering at any moment when +it was possible to forget it, that she had still two daughters who +declared their persuasion that they could never meet her in the life to +come. She wisely and with true piety turned all her thoughts to Mary, +soothed her remorse, and reconciled her to herself. In addition to this +great joy, she thought she saw the promise of another, that for years +had formed her favourite castle in the air. She thought she saw that +Major Dalrymple looked at the recovered Mary with eyes expressive of +love as well as of joy; and with this hope before her, and the +delightful occupation of watching Mary sometimes blush, and always smile +when the major entered, her life once more ceased to be a burden, and +Rosalind again found that she sang the very sweetest second in the +world.</p> + +<p>As soon as the occupation of receiving and returning the wedding visits +was pretty well over, Mr. Cartwright set about making some important +alterations and reforms in the village of Wrexhill.</p> + +<p>His attentive wife suggested to him, that he would find the fatigues of +a large landed proprietor who so actively inquired into every thing, as +he did, too much for his health and spirits, if he continued Vicar of +Wrexhill. But to this he answered, "Heaven forbid, my lovely Clara, that +I should ever suffer my cares for my earthly possessions to interfere +with those especially relating to my heavenly ones! The cure of souls, +my love, has ever been a favourite occupation with me. It greatly +assists in giving one that sort of influence over the minds of ones +fellow-creatures which every wise and holy man would wish to possess. +But I have already secured the services of a very serious and exemplary +curate, my dear love, who will relieve me from that part of the duty +which, as you justly fear, might prove injurious to my health. This +arrangement will, I trust, answer all your wishes for the present, sweet +love; and in future I intend that our son Charles shall be my curate. He +will, I have no doubt, like the Vicarage as a residence: it is really +very pretty, and sufficiently near us to permit of easy, and I should +hope, frequent intercourse. But it must be a year or two before this can +be put in practice; and, in the mean time, I trust that we shall find +Mr. Samuel Hetherington a pious and prayerful young man. I am not +without hopes that he will arrive at the Vicarage to-night. I forget, +dear, if I mentioned to you any thing about him?—I certainly, as you +observe, am very much occupied!—However, don't let me forget to say, +that if he comes to-night he must be invited to dine here to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Another of Mr. Cartwright's new arrangements arose from a scene that +passed between Mr. Marsh, the quiet, peaceable, pains-taking village +schoolmaster, and himself. This poor man, who had a wife and some +half-dozen children, contrived to maintain them all by keeping school. +He had a good house and extensive play-ground, which tempted many a +tradesman in the county town, and some even in London, to send their +sons to Wrexhill to improve at once their lungs and their learning. He +had also a considerable number of day-boarders from all the farmers +round, besides many of the most decent and well-born of the village +children as day-scholars.</p> + +<p>To keep up this flourishing concern certainly took up every hour of Mr. +Marsh's waking existence, and weary enough was he at night, poor man, +when he laid his head on his pillow. But no one had ever heard him +complain. His wife and children were comfortably clothed, fed, and +lodged; his "<i>parents</i>" were all well contented with the learning and +the health of their children, and all his neighbours esteemed and spoke +well of him.</p> + +<p>Before Mr. Cartwright had been many weeks at Wrexhill, he took an +opportunity of making a very kind and condescending call upon the worthy +schoolmaster. Mr. Marsh happened at that moment to be superintending the +afternoon writing-lessons; but he instantly obeyed the summons, and +received the vicar in his best parlour with every demonstration of +reverence.</p> + +<p>"You have good premises here, Mr. Marsh," said the newly-installed +clergyman of the parish; "really a very decent and respectable-looking +domain. How many boys have you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-seven boarders, twelve day-boarders, and sixteen day-scholars."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!—that makes a considerable number of Christian souls. And what, +sir, may be the method and the principle of your religious instruction?"</p> + +<p>"I take all my boarders, sir, to church twice every Sunday; and they +read from the Bible twice a week. In addition to which, we have family +prayer night and morning."</p> + +<p>"Then it is as I feared, Mr. Marsh," replied the vicar: "you altogether +neglect, both for your pupils and yourself, sir, my nine o'clock Sabbath +evening lecture in the church, together with the Tuesday evening's +expounding and the Thursday evening's church lecture. This is awful +negligence, sir; it is a terrible tempting of the Lord!"</p> + +<p>"I think, Mr. Cartwright," replied the poor schoolmaster, colouring, +"that I shall be able to explain to your satisfaction my reasons for not +attending your evening lectures. Some of my boys, sir, are almost +grown-up lads: I have two hard upon seventeen, and I need not tell a +gentleman like you that there is a deal of caution necessary at that age +to keep lads out of harm's way. I have had the character of sending home +very good, sober, decent lads; and this, I think, has done me more +service in getting scholars than even my writing and book-keeping. But +perhaps you don't know, sir, and I am sure I don't wish to put myself +forward to tell you—but the truth is, Mr. Cartwright, that these late +meetings, which break up quite in the dark, do bring together a great +many disorderly people. 'Tis an excuse, sir, for every boy and girl that +is in service to get out just when they ought to be at home, and +altogether it is not quite the sort of thing I approve for my boys."</p> + +<p>"But when I tell you, Mr. Marsh," replied the vicar with much dignity, +"that it is the sort of thing which I approve, for all the girls and +boys too who live under my ministry, I presume that you do not intend to +persevere in your very futile, and I must call it, impious objection. If +you, sir, paid the attention that you ought to do to the religious +object of the meeting, your impure imagination would not be quite so +busy about its moral consequences. I am sorry to tell you, Mr. Marsh, +that you are splitting on the rock which sends more wrecked and wretched +souls to hell than any other peril of this mortal life, let it be what +it may."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," replied the schoolmaster mildly, "I must make up my account +between God and my own conscience, and trust to his mercy to overlook my +deficiencies."</p> + +<p>"Overlook your deficiencies?—poor deluded man!—Do you really hope that +the Lord will pardon the clinging to works, and neglecting to hear his +word?—Do you really doubt that Satan stands ready at the door to seize +your soul, and bear it in his poisoned claws to everlasting torture?—Do +you really doubt this, Mr. Marsh?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do, sir."</p> + +<p>"This is terrible!" cried the vicar, starting up and attempting to stop +his ears. "Such blasphemy cannot be listened to without sin. I leave +you, sir, and I will shake the dust off this your carpet from off my +feet. But remember this,—I am your pastor and master, appointed to be +the minister and guide of all the souls in my parish. As for your +soul—I have no hope left for it: it must, and it will have its portion +among the condemned, and will exist only to burn in unspeakable tortures +for ever.—I have spoken, and you know your doom. But not so is it with +the young persons committed to your charge; though, alas! the peril in +which they now abide is sore to think of. Nevertheless, I will neither +leave them nor forsake them as long as hope is left that a single brand +can be snatched from the burning. Wherefore hear me!—This day is +Thursday; let me this night see yourself, and every boy abiding in your +house, in the gallery which you occupy in the church, or I will set to +work to weed the vineyard. Yea! I will cleanse it root and branch from +the corruption and abomination of you and your boys. Poor wretches, that +you are labouring and striving to prepare for the kingdom of hell! But I +speak sinfully in joining you and them together! and may the Lord +forgive me, as I will strive to atone for it. I will clear the vineyard +of you—but not till I have separated your boys from you. They shall be +saved,—by my hand shall they be saved; and when I shall have effected +this, you may perchance, while enjoying the leisure that will be your +portion, remember this day, and value at its worth the wisdom which made +you brave a minister of the evangelical church. Have I softened your +hard heart, Mr. Marsh? Will you bring your school to my lecture this +evening? Say 'Yes!' and you are forgiven."</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I will not!" was the quiet but firm reply of the good man.</p> + +<p>Not another syllable was spoken on either side; but well did the vicar +of Wrexhill keep his word. Public estimation and private good-will +appeared for a time to resist all the efforts he could make to persuade +the villagers, and the farmers round about, that Mr. Marsh was a very +impious and dangerous man, and one whom it was dangerous to trust with +their children. They knew better; they knew that he was honest, +pains-taking, intelligent, patient, and strictly attentive to his +religious duties. But constant dropping will wear away a stone; and +constant malevolence, kept in constant action, by one who was not very +scrupulous as to the truth or falsehood of any statement that tended to +produce the effect he wished, at length began, like rust upon steel, to +cover and hide its true colour and its real brightness. One by one his +daily scholars fell away from him,—one by one the neighbouring farmers +came with some civil reason for not finding the sending their boys so +likely to answer as formerly; and one by one his distant patrons found +out the same thing: so that soon after the vicar's marriage he had the +great delight of hearing that Mr. Marsh was sent to prison because he +could not pay his rent, that his furniture was seized for taxes, and +his tidy little wife lying ill of a brain fever at a small public-house +near the prison, with her children starving round her.</p> + +<p>The sort of inward chuckle with which the prosperous vicar received this +bit of village gossip from his valet has no letters by which it can be +spelt;—it was the hosannah of a fiend.</p> + +<p>The supplying Mr. Marsh's place in Wrexhill was one of the things that +now demanded Mr. Cartwright's immediate attention; and notwithstanding +the many delicious temptations to idleness which surrounded him, his +love of power, stronger even than his love of luxury, led him to hunt +for and to find an individual to fill the situation, whose perfect +obedience to his will made the dominion of the village school worth +counting among the gratifying rights and immunities of his enviable +position.</p> + +<p>Many of the country families, partly from curiosity, and partly from +respect for the owner of the Park, let him be who he would, paid their +visits, and sent their invitations with an appearance of consideration +very dear to his heart, particularly when it chanced that this +consideration proceeded from persons blessed by bearing a title. As to +his domestic circle, it went on rather better than he expected: if not a +happy, it was a very quiet one. Helen drooped, it is true, and looked +wofully pale; but she seldom complained at all, and if she did, he heard +her not. Rosalind was very wretched; but a host of womanly feelings were +at work within her to prevent its being guessed by any. Even Helen +thought that she had a wondrous portion of philosophy so speedily to +forget poor Charles, and so very soon to reconcile herself to the +hateful dominion of the usurper who had seized his place. But Helen knew +not how she passed the hours when no eye saw and no ear heard her. +Neither did Helen know the terrible effort she had made to redeem the +folly and the pride shown in her answer to Charles, the first and only +time that he had ever ventured to disclose his love. Had Helen known +this, and the manner in which this offer of herself had been refused, +she would have loved, and not blamed the resolution with which the +heart-stricken Rosalind hid her wound from every eye.</p> + +<p>Fanny was gloomy, silent, and abstracted; but Mr. Cartwright only +thought that the poor girl, having been passionately in love with him, +was suffering a few natural pangs while teaching herself to consider +him as her father. But all this was so natural, so inevitable indeed, +that he permitted it not to trouble him: and, in truth, he was so +accustomed in the course of his ministry to win young ladies, and +sometimes old ones too, from the ordinary ways of this wicked world, to +his own particular path of righteousness, by means of a little +propitiatory love-making, that the moans and groans which usually +terminated this part of the process towards perfect holiness among the +ladies had become to him a matter of great indifference. Notwithstanding +his long practice in the study of the female heart, however, he did not +quite interpret that of Fanny Mowbray rightly. He knew nothing of the +depth and reality of fanatic enthusiasm into which he had plunged her +young mind; nor could he guess how that pure, but now fettered spirit, +would labour and struggle to reach some vantage-ground of assurance on +which to rest itself, and thence offer its unmixed adoration to the +throne of grace. He had no idea how constantly Fanny was thinking of +heaven, when he was talking of it.</p> + +<p>Of Henrietta he never thought much. She had given him some trouble, and +he had used somewhat violent measures to bring her into such outward +training as might not violently shock his adherents and disciples. But +all this was now settled much to his satisfaction. She combed her hair +quite straight, never wore pink ribands, and sat in church exactly as +many hours as he commanded.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jacob was, as usual, his joy and his pride; and nothing he could do +or say sufficed to raise a doubt in the mind of his admiring father of +his being the most talented young man in Europe. That Jacob was not yet +quite a saint, he was ready to allow; but so prodigiously brilliant an +intellect could not be expected to fold its wings and settle itself at +once in the temperate beatitude of saintship. He would come to it in +time. It offered such inestimable advantages both in this world and the +next, that Jacob, who had even now no objection to an easy chair, would +be sure to discover the advantages of the calling.</p> + +<p>The wife of his bosom was really every thing he could wish a wife to be. +She seemed to forget that there could be any other use for her ample +revenue, than that of ministering to his convenience; and so complete +was the devotion with which she seemed to lay herself and all that was +hers at his feet, that no shadowy doubts or fears tormented him +respecting that now first object of his life, the making her will.</p> + +<p>But though thus assured of becoming her heir whenever it should please +Heaven to recall her, he took care to omit nothing to render assurance +doubly sure. Not a caress, not a look, not a tender word, but had this +for its object; and when his "dearest life" repaid him with a smile, and +his "loveliest Clara" rewarded him with a kiss, he saw in his mind's eye +visions of exquisite engrossings, forming themselves day by day more +clearly into—"all my estates, real and personal, to my beloved +husband."</p> + +<p>Thus, beyond contradiction, every thing seemed to prosper with him; and +few perhaps of those who gratified his vanity by becoming his guests, +guessed how many aching hearts sat around his daily banquet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VC" id="CHAPTER_VC"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE VICAR AT HOME.</h3> + + +<p>Spring succeeded to winter, and summer to spring, without producing any +important change at Cartwright Park. Charles Mowbray requested and +obtained permission to continue his studies without interruption, and +for five months Helen and Rosalind lived upon his letters, which, spite +of all his efforts to prevent it, showed a spirit so utterly depressed +as to render them both miserable.</p> + +<p>They seemed both of them to be converted into parts of that stately and +sumptuous machine which Mr. Cartwright had constructed around him, and +of which he was himself the main spring. The number of servants was +greatly increased, the equipages were much more splendid, and from an +establishment remarkably simple and unostentatious for the income of its +owners, the Park became one of the most magnificent in the country.</p> + +<p>Among the periodical hospitalities with which the vicar,—for Mr. +Cartwright was still Vicar of Wrexhill,—among his periodical +hospitalities was a weekly morning party, which opened by prayers read +by his curate, and ended by a blessing pronounced by himself.</p> + +<p>At about two o'clock a déjeûner à la fourchette was laid in the +dining-room, around which were discussed all the serious, and +serio-political, and serio-literary subjects of the day. On this +occasion the selection of company, though always pious, was not so +aristocratical as at the pompous dinners occasionally given at the Park. +But what was lost to vanity on one side by the unconspicuous rank of +some of the guests, was gained to it on the other by the profound +veneration for their host expressed in every word and in every look. Not +only Mr. Corbold, the lawyer,—who was indeed in some sort ennobled by +his relationship to the great man himself,—but the new curate, and the +new apothecary, and even the new schoolmaster, were admitted.</p> + +<p>The company were always received by Mr. Cartwright and his lady in the +drawing-room, where all the family were expected (that is, commanded on +pain of very heavy displeasure) to assemble round them. The tables were +covered with bibles, tracts, Evangelical Magazines, sanctified drawings, +and missionary begging machines.</p> + +<p>Hardly could Chivers, who was become an example to all serious butlers +in voice, in look, and in step, produce a more delightful sensation on +his master's organs by announcing my Lord This, or my Lady That, than +that master received from watching the reverential bows of the +sycophants who hung upon his patronage. A sort of frozen blandishment on +these occasions smoothed his proud face as he stood, with his lady +beside him, to receive them. The tall, obsequious curate, who hardly +dared to say his soul was his own, though he freely took upon himself to +pronounce the destiny of other people's, bent before him, lower than +mortal ever need bend to mortal; and he was rewarded for it by being +permitted to aspire to the hand of the only daughter of Mr. Cartwright, +of Cartwright Park. The little round apothecary, who by evangelical aid +withal had pushed out his predecessor as effectually as ever pellet did +pellet in a popgun, sighed, whined, bought tracts, expounded them, +kneeled down, though almost too fat to get up again, and would have done +aught else that to a canting doctor's art belongs so that it were not +physically impossible, for one sole object, which for some months past +had hardly quitted his thoughts by day or by night. This lofty object of +ambition and of hope was the attending the lady of Mr. Cartwright, of +Cartwright Park, at her approaching accouchement.</p> + +<p>The new schoolmaster, who was already making hundreds where his +unprofessing predecessor made tens of pounds, was a huge, gaunt man, who +had already buried three wives, and who had besides, as he hoped and +believed, the advantage of being childless;—for he had always made it a +custom to quarrel early with his sons and daughters, and send them to +seek their fortune where they could find it;—this prosperous gentleman +actually and bonâ fide fell in love with Miss Torrington; and having +very tolerably good reasons for believing that there were few things at +Cartwright Park which might not be won by slavish obedience and canting +hypocrisy, he failed not to divide the hours during which he was weekly +permitted an entrée there, between ogling the young lady, and +worshipping the master of the mansion.</p> + +<p>Poor Rosalind had found means, after her dreadful scene with Mowbray, +secretly to convey a note to Sir Gilbert, informing him that she no +longer wished to change her guardian; as her doing so would not, she +feared, enable her to free Helen from her thraldom: she was still +therefore Mrs. Cartwright's ward, and the vicar had not yet quite +abandoned the hope that his talented son might obtain her and her +fortune; but hitherto Mr. Jacob had declined making proposals, avowing +that he did not think he was sufficiently advanced in the fair lady's +good graces to be quite sure of success. So, as no avowed claim had been +hitherto made to her hand, the schoolmaster went on ogling every +Wednesday morning, and dreaming every Wednesday night, unchecked by any: +for the fair object of his passion was perfectly unconscious of having +inspired it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson, of course, never failed to embellish these morning +meetings with her presence when she happened to be in the country; but +she had lately left it, for the purpose, as it was understood, of making +a visit of a month or two to a distant friend, during which she had +intended to place her charming little Mimima at a boarding-school in a +neighbouring town; but Mr. Cartwright so greatly admired that sweet +child's early piety that he recommended his lady to invite her to pass +the period of her mamma's absence at Cartwright Park.</p> + +<p>Then there were the Richards' family, who for various reasons were among +the most constant Wednesday visitors. Mrs. Richards came to see +Rosalind, little Mary to whisper good counsel to her friend Fanny, and +the two elder sisters to meet all the serious young men that the pompous +vicar could collect round him from every village or town in the +vicinity.</p> + +<p>Besides these, there were many others, too numerous indeed to be +permitted a place in these pages, who came from far and near to pray and +to gossip, to eat and to drink, at Cartwright Park.</p> + +<p>It happened at one of these meetings, about the middle of the month of +June, when the beauty of the weather had brought together rather a +larger party than usual, that a subject of great interest to the +majority of the company was brought under discussion by Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Mr. Samuel Hetherington, his curate, finished his prayer, +and such of the company risen from their knees as chose to come early +enough to take part in that portion of the morning's arrangements, than +the vicar opened the subject.</p> + +<p>"My dear friends and neighbours," he said, "I have to communicate what I +am sure will give you all pleasure: for are we not a society united in +the Lord? Notwithstanding the little differences of station that may +perhaps exist among us, have we not all one common object in view? It is +for the furtherance of this divine object that I have now to mention to +you a circumstance at which my soul and the soul of Mrs. Cartwright +rejoice, and at which I am fully persuaded that your souls will rejoice +likewise."</p> + +<p>This preface produced a movement of lively interest throughout the whole +room, and there was hardly a person present who did not eagerly +undertake to answer for the sympathy of his or her soul with those of +the vicar and his lady.</p> + +<p>"Since we had the pleasure of seeing you last," resumed the vicar, "I +have received a despatch from the secretary of the South Central African +Bible Association, by which I learn that it is in contemplation to send +out to Fababo a remarkably serious young Jew, recently converted, as +missionary, and minister plenipotentiary in all spiritual affairs +relative to the church about to be established for Fababo and its +dependencies. But as you all well know that such a glorious enterprise +as this cannot be undertaken without funding and it has been requested +of me, in the despatch to which I have alluded, that I should exert such +little influence as I have among you, my dear friends and neighbours, +for the collecting a sum in aid of it, our good Mrs. Simpson's sweet +little cherub Mimima is furnished with a box, which she will carry round +as soon as the collation is ended, to petition your generous +contributions."</p> + +<p>A murmur of approbation, admiration, and almost of adoration, burst from +the whole company, and the conversation immediately turned upon the +conversion of Jews, and the happiness of having found so very desirable +a mission for Mr. Isaacs. While the enthusiasm was at its height, Mrs. +Cartwright, having previously received a hint from her husband, proposed +that a serious fancy-fair should be held on that day month, on the lawn +before the drawing-room windows of Cartwright Park, for assisting the +outfit of Mr. Isaacs.</p> + +<p>"If all the ladies present," continued Mrs. Cartwright, "and such of +their friends as they can prevail upon to join them, will only occupy +themselves during the ensuing month in the making of pincushions, the +composition of tracts, the sketching some dozens of Apostles' heads, +together with a few thousand allumettes and pen-wipers, we should, I +have no doubt, collect a sum not only very serviceable to the exemplary +Mr. Isaacs, but highly honourable to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Delightful!" cried several ladies at once. "There is nothing," said the +little girlish wife of a neighbouring curate, "that I dote upon like a +fancy-fair;—a serious fancy-fair, of course I mean, my dear," she +added, colouring, as she caught the eye of her alarmed young husband +fixed upon her.</p> + +<p>"A serious fancy-fair for <i>such</i> an object," observed Mr. Cartwright, +"is indeed a charming spectacle. If the Lord favours us by granting a +fine day, the whole of the ceremonies,—I mean, including the opening +prayers, the exposition of some chapters bearing upon the subject, the +reading a tract which I will direct my curate to compose for the +occasion, and the final blessing: all this, I think, if the weather +prove favourable, should be performed out of doors, as well as the sale +of the ladies' works. This, I question not, will produce a very imposing +effect, and will, I think, be likely to bring many persons who, by a +blessing upon our labours, may be induced to purchase. The elderly +ladies will of course sell the articles; and the younger ones, whose +piety will lead them to attend, may conceal themselves as much as +possible from the public eye, by walking about in my groves and +shrubberies, which shall be open for the occasion. It will be desirable, +I imagine, to get handbills printed, to invite the attendance of the +whole neighbourhood! Do you not think this will be advisable? I am sure +that no one can avoid every thing like general display and ostentation +more cautiously than I do; but I conceive this public announcement on +the present occasion absolutely necessary to the profitable success of +our endeavours."</p> + +<p>"Absolutely!" was the word caught by echo for the reply.</p> + +<p>"Have the goodness, Mr. Hetherington, to sit down at that small +table—you will there find all things needful for writing, and indite +the handbill that will be necessary for us. There is a warmth of feeling +at this blessed moment generated among us towards this holy work, which +it would be sin to neglect. Let it not, like those good feelings and +resolutions of which we have been told by the preacher, pass away from +us to pave the courts of hell, and be trodden under the feet of the +scorners who inhabit there. No, my brethren; let it rather rise like a +sweet savour of incense, to tell that not in vain do we pronounce His +name on earth!"</p> + +<p>Before these words were all spoken, the assiduous curate was already +seated, pen in hand, as nearly as possible in the attitude of +Dominichino's St. John, and looking up to Mr. Cartwright for +inspiration.</p> + +<p>In truth, the vicar, though the dignity of a secretary was in some sort +necessary to his happiness, would by no means have intrusted the +sketching out of this document to any hand but his own. He felt it to be +probable that it might become matter of history, and as such it demanded +his best attention. While Mr. Hetherington therefore sat with his pen +between his fingers, like a charged gun waiting for the pressure of the +finger that should discharge it, Mr. Cartwright, with the ready hand of +a master produced the following outline in pencil.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Cartwright Park.</span><br /><br /> +On Wednesday the 12th July, 1834,<br /> +will be held<br /> +a serious<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fancy Fair,</span><br /> +on the lawn of the Rev. Mr. Cartwright's<br /> +Mansion,<br /> +at<br /> +Cartwright Park,<br /> +For the promotion of an object<br /> +most precious<br /> +in the eyes of all<br /> +<span class="smcap">Professing Christians:</span><br /> +namely,<br /> +The fitting out a mission to Fababo, of which the Rev. Isaac <br /> +Isaacs is to be the head and chief; to him being intrusted the <br /> +first formation of an organised Christian establishment for<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fababo</span><br /> +and its dependencies, together with the regulation of all adult<br /> +and infant schools therein, and the superintendance of all the<br /> +bible societies throughout the district.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Large Funds</span><br /> +being required for this very promising and useful mission, the<br /> +ladies and gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Cartwright<br /> +Park are religiously requested to attend the Serious Fancy<br /> +Fair hereby announced, both as contributors and purchasers;<br /> +whereby they will ensure the especial favour of Providence to<br /> +themselves, and the blessings of religious and civil freedom,<br /> +and the purest evangelical instruction, to unnumbered<br /> +<span class="smcap">thousands</span><br /> +yet unborn<br /> +of<br /> +the natives<br /> +of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fababo.</span><br /> +N.B.—Collations will be served at three o'clock in five<br /> +of the principal saloons of Mr. Cartwright's mansion.<br /> +Prayers to be pronounced at one.<br /> +Blessing (from the Reverend Mr. Cartwright himself) at five.<br /> +The whole of the religious ceremonies to be performed in the open air.</p> + +<p>This sketch, as the inspired author called it, having been read aloud +and approved by acclamation, was delivered to the curate to copy; and as +soon as this was completed, Mr. Cartwright received it from him, and +holding it aloft in his right hand, pronounced aloud, in a very solemn +and impressive manner, these words: "May this service, dedicated to the +Lord, be found acceptable in his sight, and bring forth honour and glory +to us and to him in the world to come and the life everlasting. Amen."</p> + +<p>This business happily completed, the religious amusements of the morning +continued to go on as usual;—Mr. Bateman, the enamoured schoolmaster, +constantly sitting, standing, and moving, with his eyes fixed on Miss +Torrington; and the despairing Corbold, whose six passionate proposals +had been six times formally refused by Helen, reposing himself on a sofa +in deep meditation on the ways and means by which he might so wheedle or +work himself into the secrets of his magnificent cousin as to make it +necessary for him to wink at any means by which he could get Helen into +his power, and so oblige her to marry him.</p> + +<p>At length the elegant banquet drew the company from their tracts and +their talk to the dinner-parlour; and iced champagne refreshed the +spirits of all, but particularly of those exhausted by the zealous +warmth with which they had discussed the sinful adherence to good works +so frightfully prevalent among the unregenerated clergy of the Church of +England and Ireland. This was a theme upon which the majority of the +company at the Cartwright Park meetings never wearied.</p> + +<p>At length, the final blessing was pronounced, the party separated, and +the tired family left to repose themselves as they best liked till the +hour of dinner.</p> + +<p>The increasing delicacy of Miss Cartwright's health, and Rosalind's +drooping spirits, had prevented the intimacy between them from gaining +ground so rapidly as they had, perhaps, both expected, when the families +of the Park and Vicarage became blended into one. Yet it was evident +that Rosalind was the only person to whom the pale Henrietta ever wished +to speak, and equally so that Rosalind always listened to her with +interest.</p> + +<p>They were mounting the stairs together after the company were dispersed, +when Henrietta said, "Are you not wearied to death by all this, Miss +Torrington? Oh, how you are changed since the time I told you that I had +pleasure in looking at your face! It was then the brightest looking +countenance I ever gazed upon: but now—to use the words of, I know not +whom—all the sunshine is out of you."</p> + +<p>"It is a sorry compliment you pay me, my dear Henrietta; but I believe I +am not quite the same sort of person I was then." Tears started in her +eyes as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"I have overheard painful comparisons, Miss Torrington, between times +past and present, and I am sorry for it. I really would not willingly +add to the sorrow and suffering my race has brought upon you. Do not go +and sit by yourself and weep till you are sick, as I have done many's +the time and oft. Let us take a very slow ramble into that very thickest +part of the Reverend Mr. Cartwright's shrubbery, where the sun never +enters—shall we? We are quite fine enough for such godly people, +without any more dressing for dinner. So we can sit in the shade till +the last bell rings."</p> + +<p>"I should like nothing so well," replied Rosalind: and hastily skirting +the sunny lawn, they took their stations on a seat which the morning sun +visited as if on purpose to prevent its being dark and damp, but which +for the rest of the twenty-four hours remained almost as cool as if +there were no such globe in the heavens.</p> + +<p>"We are growing very seriously gay, Rosalind,—are we not?" said +Henrietta in a lighter tone than she usually indulged in. "Fancy-fairs +used to be the exclusive property of the worldlings; but it seems that +we are now to come in for a share of their fraudulent charity,—and +their vain benevolence:—not a bad pun that, Rosalind, if I had but +intended to make one? But do tell me if you do not think Mr. Cartwright +has a magnificent taste?"</p> + +<p>"Very—for a person who professes himself so given to the contemplation +of things above the world. But to tell you the truth, Henrietta, I am +much less surprised at the vain-glorious manner in which he displays +his newly-acquired riches, than at the continuance of his saintly +professions. I expected that the Vicarage of Wrexhill would have been +resigned, and all the world peaceably permitted to be just as wicked as +they liked, without Mr. Cartwright of Cartwright Park giving himself the +least trouble concerning it."</p> + +<p>"You little know the nature of the clique to which he belongs. That they +value pleasure fully as much as other men, is quite certain; that they +struggle for riches with anxiety as acute, and hold it with a grasp as +tight, as any human beings can do, it were equally impossible to doubt: +but that power is dearer to them than either, is a truth well known to +all who have sat within the conventicle, and watched its professors, as +I have done."</p> + +<p>"But how can a man so addicted to self-indulgence, as it is evident Mr. +Cartwright is, endure the sort of trouble which the charge of a living +must inevitably bring with it?—especially in the style so universally +practised, I believe, by all serious ministers—that of interfering with +the affairs of every individual in their parish."</p> + +<p>"It is that interference that makes the labour a joy. But you are not +initiated, and cannot comprehend it. You do not, I am sure, conceive the +delight of feeling, that not a man or woman—not a boy or girl in the +parish either do, or leave undone, any single act of labour or of +relaxation, without thinking whether Mr. Cartwright would approve it. +And then, the dependence of so many on him for their daily bread!—the +curate, the clerk, the sexton, the beadle,—and the schoolmaster, and +the schoolmaster's assistant, and the apothecary, and the attorney, and +the undertaker, and—dozens of poor dependent simpletons besides, who, +if, like poor Seymour's organ-grinder, they "knew the walley of peace +and quiet," would run away to batten on the first moor they came to, +rather than endure the slavery of living dependent upon the favour of a +fanatical divine. Whatever it may be to them, however, depend upon it, +that to him, and the like of him, this petty power, this minute tyranny +of interference, is dearer than the breath of life; and that, much as +Mr. Cartwright loves his fair lady and all that belongs to her, he would +think that all still dearly purchased, were he thereby to lose the right +of entering every house in the parish, and unblushingly to ask them what +they have done, are doing, and are about to do."</p> + +<p>The conversation then rambled on to all things connected with the +fancy-fair and its object, till they had talked themselves tired; and +then they sat silently watching the beautiful checker-work of light and +shade which fell on the grass-carpet before them, till the languid +Henrietta, resting her head against a tree, fell fast asleep. Rosalind +sat beside her for some minutes; but, growing weary of the extreme +stillness necessary to guard her slumbers, she quietly withdrew herself, +and wandered on under the trees.</p> + +<p>Having left the sleeper for about half an hour, she turned to walk +gently back again; but fancying as she approached the spot that she +heard the sound of a man's voice, she slanted off by another path, which +took her close behind the seat occupied by Miss Cartwright, though a +thick trimly-cut laurel hedge rendered it impossible for any one to see +or be seen from the other.</p> + +<p>The hedge, though a good one, had not however the same effect on sound +as on sight, and Rosalind was not a little startled, as her soft +footfall silently drew near the seat, to hear a very passionate +declaration of love in the drawling voice of Mr. Hetherington.</p> + +<p>She stopped, by no means from any wish to hear more, but greatly +embarrassed lest, her step being heard, she might appear to have stolen +to this obscure spot for the express purpose of being a listener.</p> + +<p>"Make me the happiest of men, adored Miss Cartwright!" reiterated the +young man. "Your father has permitted my addresses; then do not you, +most charming Henrietta, refuse to listen to them!"</p> + +<p>"It would not be for your happiness, sir," replied the deep low voice of +Henrietta, "that I should do so."</p> + +<p>"Let me be the judge of that! Oh! if such a fear be all that parts us, +we shall not, lovely Miss Cartwright! be long asunder," replied the +ardent Mr. Hetherington.</p> + +<p>"I know myself, sir," said Henrietta, "far better than you can know me; +and though we have not been long acquainted, your situation as curate of +the parish enables me to know your sentiments and opinions better than +you can know mine. I hear you preach twice every Sunday, Mr. +Hetherington, and I do assure you there is not a single question of +importance on which we think alike."</p> + +<p>"Name them, sweet Henrietta! generously tell me wherein we differ, and +trust me that it shall be the study of my life to bring my opinions into +conformity with yours."</p> + +<p>"I heard you, in the middle of your sermon last Sunday, stop short to +scold a little boy who had accidentally made a noise by letting his hat +fall on the ground. You said to him, 'Before next Sunday you may be +brought into this church in your coffin.' I saw the little fellow turn +pale, yet you repeated the words. I really should not like to marry any +one who could so terrify little boys, for he might perhaps think it +right to terrify me also."</p> + +<p>"Never—oh, never again will I so offend you: and for yourself, beloved +Miss Cartwright, what could I say to you but words of hope and joy?"</p> + +<p>"Neither your joy nor your hope, Mr. Hetherington, would do me much +good, I am afraid. In one word, much as it will surprise you to hear it +from my father's daughter, I am not evangelical, sir."</p> + +<p>"It is but a reason the more for my wishing to call you mine! If my +opinions are unsound, you shall correct them."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would be persuaded, Mr. Hetherington, to desist from this +suit. I know that if my father has permitted it, I may find it become +very troublesome to me, unless you have yourself the generosity to +withdraw it; for my father does not brook contradiction."</p> + +<p>"Ask any proof of my obedience but this, and you shall find me a slave, +having no will but that of my charming mistress; but to resign you while +I enjoy the inestimable privilege of your illustrious father's sanction, +it is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Then, sir," said Henrietta, in an altered voice that betokened strong +emotion, "if nothing less will save me from this persecution, I will +disclose to you the great secret of my life; make of it what use you +will. I am an Atheist."</p> + +<p>"Surely you cannot suppose, my beloved Miss Cartwright, that this +confession can produce any effect upon my love, unless indeed it be to +augment it. What noble frankness! what confiding trust! Believe me, +there can be no difference of opinion between us on any subject +sufficiently strong to conquer the tender and powerful passion you have +inspired. Yield then to the soft violence which I know will be +sanctioned by your respected father—let me thus——"</p> + +<p>"Leave me, wretch!" exclaimed Henrietta in a voice that made Rosalind +tremble. "He may lock me up and half-starve me, for he has done it +before to make me obey his will, and I have obeyed it, and hated myself +for my cowardice; but I will not marry you, Mr. Hetherington, even +should he treat me worse than he has yet done—which would not be easy. +Go, sir, go—I am an Atheist; but horrible as that sounds even to my own +ears, it is better than to be what you have proved yourself."</p> + +<p>Rosalind, hardly less agitated than Henrietta appeared to be, stood +trembling from head to foot in her retreat, till aware that the +unscrupulous Mr. Hetherington had retreated in one direction, and the +unhappy Henrietta returned to the house by another.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIC" id="CHAPTER_VIC"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>A SECOND VISIT TO THE LIME-TREE.</h3> + + +<p>Rosalind, as she walked slowly back towards the house, repeated to +herself in shuddering the fearful words of Henrietta Cartwright—<span class="smcap">I am an +Atheist</span>,—and her very soul seemed sick and faint within her. She had +sought in some degree the friendship of this unhappy girl, chiefly +because it was evident that not even the connexion of father and +daughter had sufficed to blind her to the hateful hypocrisy and unholy +fanaticism of the vicar. Did, then, hatred and contempt for him lead to +the hideous abyss of Atheism? She trembled as she asked herself the +question; but the weakness lasted not a moment: the simple and true +piety of her spirit awoke within her, and with kindly warmth cheered and +revived her heart. That the unhappy Henrietta, when revolted by watching +the false religion of her father, should have fled from it with such +passionate vehemence as to plunge her into the extreme of scepticism, +offered no precedent for what would be likely to befall a person who, +like her, loathed the dark sin of hypocrisy, but who, unlike her, had +learned the benignant truths of religion with no false and frightful +commentaries to disfigure them.</p> + +<p>As she remembered this—as she remembered that, probably, the only +religious lessons ever given to this most unhappy girl were such as her +judgment must revolt from, and the sincerity of her nature detest as +false and feigned, pity and compassion took place of terror and +repugnance, and a timid, but most earnest wish, that she might herself +be the means of sending a ray of divine light to cheer the fearful gloom +of poor Henrietta's mind, took possession of her heart.</p> + +<p>The delightful glow of feeling that seemed to pervade every nerve of +Rosalind as this thought took possession of her cannot be described. +Tears again filled her beautiful eyes, but they were no longer the tears +of disappointment and despondency; yet a dread of incurring the guilt of +presumption, by assuming the office of teacher on a theme so awfully +important, so sublimely exalted, mixed fear with her hope, and she +determined to restrict her efforts wholly to the selection of such books +as might tend to enlighten the dark night of that perverted mind, +without producing in it the painful confusion of thought which must ever +result from a loose and unlogical arrangement of proofs and arguments, +however sound or however unquestionable they may individually be.</p> + +<p>When she met Henrietta in the drawing-room, where all the family were +assembled before dinner, she was conscious of being so full of thoughts +concerning her, that she almost feared to encounter her eyes, lest her +own might prematurely disclose her being acquainted with the scene she +had gone through.</p> + +<p>But the moment she heard Henrietta speak, the sound of her voice, so +quiet, so cold, so perfectly composed, convinced her that the +conversation which she had supposed must have agitated her so +dreadfully, had in truth produced no effect on her whatever; and when, +taking courage from this, she ventured to speak to and look at her, the +civil smile, the unaltered eye, the easy allusion to their walk and +their separation, led her almost to doubt her senses as to the identity +of the being now before her, and the one to whom she had listened in +horror a short half-hour ago. This perplexity was, however, in a great +measure relieved by an interpretation suggested by her fancy, and +immediately and eagerly received by her as truth.</p> + +<p>"It was in bitter irony, and shrewdly to test the sincerity of that +man's assumed sanctity, that she uttered those terrible words," thought +Rosalind; and inexpressibly relieved by the supposition, she determined +to take an early opportunity of confessing to Miss Cartwright her +involuntary participation of Mr. Hetherington's tender avowal, and of +her own temporary credulity in believing for a moment that what was +uttered, either to get rid of him or to prove the little worth of his +pretended righteousness, was a serious avowal of her secret sentiments.</p> + +<p>This opportunity was not long wanting; for, perfectly unconscious that +Miss Torrington's motive for hovering near her was to seek a +confidential conversation,—a species of communication from which she +always shrunk,—Henrietta, who really liked and admired her more than +any person she had ever met with, readily seconded her wish, by again +wandering into the garden-walks, on which the sun had just poured his +parting beams, and where the full moon, rising at the same moment to +take her turn of rule, shone with a splendour increasing every moment, +and rendering the night more than a rival in beauty to the day.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to the same seat we occupied this morning," said Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"No, no; go anywhere else, and I shall like it better. Let us go where +we can see the moon rise, and watch her till she reaches her highest +noon;—of all the toys of creation it is the prettiest."</p> + +<p>"Shall you be afraid to go as far as the lime-tree?" asked Rosalind.</p> + +<p>"What! The tree of trees? the bower of paradise?—in short, the tree +that you and I have once before visited together?"</p> + +<p>"The same. There is no point from whence the rising moon is seen to such +advantage."</p> + +<p>"Come along, then; let us each put on the armour of a good shawl, and +steal away from this superlatively dull party by the hall-door."</p> + +<p>The two girls walked on together arm-in-arm, both clad in white, both +raising a fair young face to the clear heavens, both rejoicing in the +sweet breath of evening, heavy with dew-distilling odours. Yet, thus +alike, the wide earth is not ample enough to serve as a type whereby to +measure the distance that severed them. The adoration, the joy, the hope +of Rosalind, as her thoughts rose "from Nature up to Nature's God," +beamed from her full eye; thankfulness and love swelled her young heart, +and every thought and every feeling was a hymn of praise.</p> + +<p>Henrietta, as she walked beside her, though sharing Nature's banquet so +lavishly prepared for every sense, like a thankless guest, bestowed no +thought upon the hand that gave it. Cold, dark, and comfortless was the +spirit within her; she saw that all was beautiful, but remembered not +that all was good,—and the thankless heart heaved with no throb of +worship to the eternal Creator who made the lovely world, and then made +her to use it.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the interpretation which Rosalind had put upon the works +spoken by Henrietta in the morning, and the consolation she had drawn +from it, it was not without considerable agitation that she anticipated +the conversation she was meditating. "If she were mistaken?—if beneath +that pure sky, from whence the eye of Heaven seemed to look down upon +them, she were again to hear the same terrific words—how should she +answer them? How should she find breath, and strength, and thought, and +language, to speak on such a theme?"</p> + +<p>She trembled at her own temerity as this fear pressed upon her, and +inwardly prayed, in most true and sweet humility, for forgiveness for +her presumptuous sin. A prayer so offered never fails of leaving in the +breast it springs from a cheering glow, that seems like an assurance of +its being heard. Like that science-taught air, which blazes as it +exhales itself, prayer—simple, sincere, unostentatious prayer, sheds +light and warmth upon the soul that breathes it, even by the act of +breathing.</p> + +<p>They had, however, reached the seat beneath the lime-tree before +Rosalind found courage to begin: and then she said, as they seated +themselves beneath the spreading canopy, "Miss Cartwright,—I have a +confession to make to you."</p> + +<p>"To me?—Pray, what is it? To judge by the place you have chosen for +your confessional, it should be something rather solemn and majestical."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember that I left you on the shrubbery-seat this morning fast +asleep?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! perfectly.—You mean, then, to confess that the doing so was +unwatchful and unfriendly: and, indeed, I think it was. How did you know +but I might be awakened by some venomous reptile that should come to +sting me?"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, I thought the place secure from interruption of every kind. +But I had reason to think afterwards that it did not prove so."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Miss Torrington?" replied Henrietta, in an accent of +some asperity. "I presume you did not creep away for the purpose of +spying at me from a distance?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no!—You cannot, I am sure, suspect me of wishing to spy at you at +all. And yet things have so fallen out, that when I tell you all, you +must suspect me of it—unless you believe me, as I trust you do, +incapable of such an action."</p> + +<p>"Pray do not speak in riddles," said Henrietta impatiently. "What is it +you have got to confess to me? Tell me at once, Miss Torrington."</p> + +<p>"You really do not encourage me to be very frank with you, for you seem +angry already. But the truth is, Miss Cartwright, that I did most +unintentionally overhear your conversation with Mr. Hetherington."</p> + +<p>"The whole of it?—Did you hear the whole of it, Rosalind?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite. The gentleman appeared to be in the midst of his declaration +when my unwilling ears became his confidants."</p> + +<p>"And then you listened to the end?"</p> + +<p>"I did."</p> + +<p>A deathlike silence followed this avowal, which was at last broken by +Henrietta, who said in a low whisper, "Then at last you know me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! do not say so;—do not say that the fearful words that I heard were +spoken in earnest!—Do not say that;—I cannot bear to hear it!"</p> + +<p>"Poor girl!—poor Rosalind!" said Henrietta, in a voice of the deepest +melancholy. "I have always wished to spare you this—I have always +wished to spare myself the pain of reading abhorrence in the eyes of one +that I do believe I could have loved, had not my heart been dead."</p> + +<p>"But if you feel thus, Henrietta,—if indeed you know that such words as +I heard you utter must raise abhorrence,—it is because that you +yourself must hate them. I know you are unhappy—I know that your +nature scorns the faults that are but too conspicuous in your father; +but is it not beneath a mind of such power as yours to think there is no +God in heaven, because one weak and wicked man has worshipped him +amiss?"</p> + +<p>"He worship!—Trust me, Rosalind, had I been the child of a Persian, and +seen him, in spirit and in truth, worshipping the broad sun as it looked +down from heaven upon earth, making its fragrant dews rise up to him in +incense, I should not have been the wretched thing I am,—for I should +have worshipped too."</p> + +<p>"Henrietta!—If to behold the Maker of the universe, and the Redeemer +whom he sent to teach his law—if to see worship offered to their +eternal throne could teach you to worship too, then look around you. +Look at the poor in heart, the humble, pious Christians who, instead of +uttering the horrible doom of eternal damnation upon their fellow-men, +live and die in the delightful hope that all shall one day meet in the +presence of their God and Father, chastised, purified, and pleading, to +his everlasting mercy, with the promised aid of his begotten Son, for +pardon and for peace.—Look out for this, Henrietta, and you will find +it. Find it, and your heart will be softened, and you will share the +healing balm that makes all the sorrow and suffering of this life seem +but as the too close fitting of a heavy garment that galls but for an +hour!"</p> + +<p>"Dear, innocent Rosalind!—How pure and beautiful your face looks in the +bright moonlight!—But, alas! I know that very sinful faces may look +just as fair. There is no truth to rest on. In the whole wide world, +Rosalind, there is not honesty enough whereon to set a foot, that one +may look around and believe, at least, that what one sees, one sees. But +this is a perfection of holiness—a species of palpable and present +divinity, that is only granted to mortals in their multiplication +tables.—Twice two are four—I feel sure of it,—but my faith goes no +farther."</p> + +<p>"I cannot talk to you," cried Rosalind in great agitation; "I am not +capable of doing justice to this portentous theme, on which hangs the +eternal life of all the men that have been, are, and shall be. It is +profane in me to speak of it,—a child—a worm. Father of mercy, forgive +me!" she cried suddenly dropping upon her knees.</p> + +<p>Henrietta uttered a cry which almost amounted to a shriek. "I had almost +listened to you!" she exclaimed,—"I had almost believed that your voice +was the voice of truth; but now you put yourself in that hateful +posture, and what can I think of you, but that you are all alike—all +juggling—all! The best of ye juggle yourselves,—the worst do as we saw +Mr. Cartwright do;—on that very spot, Rosalind, beneath the shelter of +that very tree, did he not too knuckle down? and for what?—to lure and +cajole a free and innocent spirit to be as false and foul as himself! +Yet this is the best trick of which you can bethink you to teach the +sceptical Henrietta that there is a God."</p> + +<p>"Truth, Henrietta," said Rosalind, rising up and speaking in a tone that +indicated more contempt than anger,—"neither truth nor falsehood can be +tested by a posture of the body. It is but a childish cavil. The +stupendous question, whether this world and all the wonders it contains +be the work of chance, or of unlimited power and goodness, conceiving, +arranging, and governing the whole, can hardly depend for its solution +upon the angle in which the joints are bent. You have read much, Miss +Cartwright,—read one little passage more, which I think may have +escaped you. Read the short and simple instructions given as to the +manner in which prayer should be offered up—read this passage of some +dozen lines, and I think you will allow that in following these +instructions, greatly as they have been misconstrued and abused, there +is nothing that can justify the vehement indignation which you express."</p> + +<p>Poor Henrietta shrunk more abashed before this simple word of common +sense, than she would have done before the revealed word. Rosalind saw +this, and pointed out the anomaly to her, simply, but strongly.</p> + +<p>"Does it not show a mind diseased?" she continued. "You feel that you +were wrong to make an attitude a matter of importance, and you are +ashamed of it: but from the question, whether you shall exist in pure +and intellectual beatitude through countless ages, or perish to-morrow, +you turn with contempt, as too trifling and puerile to merit your +attention."</p> + +<p>"If I do turn from it, Rosalind,—if I do think the examination of such +a question a puerile occupation,—it is in the same spirit that I should +decline to share the employment of a child who would set about counting +the stars. Such knowledge is too excellent for me; I cannot attain unto +it."</p> + +<p>"Your illustration would be more correct, Henrietta, were you to say +that you shut your eyes and would not see the stars, upon the same +principle that you declined inquiring into the future hopes of man. It +would be quite as reasonable to refuse to look at the stars because you +cannot count them, as to close your eyes upon the book of life because +it tells of intellectual power beyond your own.—But this is all +contrary to my resolution, Henrietta,—contrary to all my hopes for your +future happiness. Do not listen to me; do not hang a chance dearer than +life upon the crude reasonings of an untaught woman. Will you read, +Henrietta?—if I will find you books and put them in your hands, will +you read them, and keep your judgment free and clear from any foregone +conclusion that every word that speaks of the existence and providence +of God must be a falsehood? Will you promise me this?"</p> + +<p>"Let us go home, Rosalind; my head is giddy and my heart is sick. I had +hoped never again to fever my aching brain in attempting to sift the +truth from all the lies that may and must surround it. I have made my +choice deliberately, Rosalind. I have never seen sin and wickedness +flourish any where so rapidly and so vigorously as where it has been +decked in the masquerading trappings of religion. I hate sin, Rosalind, +and I have thrown aside for ever the hateful garb in which I have been +used to see it clothed. If there be a God, can I stand guilty before his +eyes for this?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! most guilty! If you have found hypocrisy and sin, turn from it +with all the loathing that you will; and be very sure, let it wear what +mask it will, that religion is not there. Look then elsewhere for it. Be +not frightened by a bugbear, a phantom, from seeking what it is so +precious to find! Dearest Henrietta! will you not listen to me?—will +you not promise for a while to turn your thoughts from every lighter +thing, till you are able to form a surer judgment upon this?"</p> + +<p>"Dearest?—Do you call me dear, and dearest, Rosalind? Know you that I +have lived in almost abject terror lest you should discover the +condition of my mind? I thought you would hate and shun me.—Rosalind +Torrington! you are a beautiful specimen, and a very rare one. To please +you, and to approach you if I could, I would read much, and think and +reason more, and try to hope again, as I did once, until I was +stretched upon the torturing rack of fear: but there is no time left +me!"</p> + +<p>"Do not say that, dear friend," said Rosalind, gently drawing +Henrietta's cold and trembling arm within her own. "You are still so +young, that time is left for harder studies than any I propose to you."</p> + +<p>"I am dying, Rosalind. I have told you so before, but you cannot believe +me because I move about and send for no doctor—but I am dying."</p> + +<p>"And if I could believe it, Henrietta, would not that be the greatest +cause of all for this healing study that I want to give you?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so, Rosalind; but my mind, my intellect, is weak and wayward. +If there be a possibility that I should ever again turn my eyes to seek +for light where I have long believed that all was darkness, it must be +even when and where my sickly fancy wills.—Here let the subject drop +between us. Perhaps, sweet girl! I dread as much the chance of my +perverting you, as you can hope to convert me."</p> + +<p>Rosalind was uttering a protest against this idle fear, when Henrietta +stopped her by again saying, and very earnestly, "Let the subject drop +between us; lay the books you speak of in my room, where I can find +them, but let us speak no more."</p> + +<p>Satisfied, fully satisfied with this permission, Rosalind determined to +obey her injunction scrupulously, and silently pressing her arm in +testimony of her acquiescence, they returned to the house without +uttering another word.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIC" id="CHAPTER_VIIC"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL.</h3> + + +<p>It was about this time that Mr. Cartwright, for reasons which will be +sufficiently evident in the sequel, set about convincing his wife that +there was a very pressing necessity, from motives both temporal and +spiritual, that her son Charles should be immediately ordained. There +are many ways of convincing a woman and a wife besides beating—and Mr. +Cartwright employed them all by turns, till his lady, like a bit of +plastic dough, took exactly the impression he chose to give,—as +evanescent too as it was deep, for he could make her act on Monday in +direct opposition to the principles he had laid down on Saturday, yet +leave her persuaded all the while that he was the wisest and best, as +well as the most enamoured of men.</p> + +<p>But though living with the wife of his bosom in the most delightful +harmony, and opening his heart to her with the most engaging frankness +on a thousand little trifling concerns that a less tender husband might +never have thought it necessary to mention, Mr. Cartwright nevertheless +did not deem it expedient to trouble her with the perusal of his letter +to Charles on the subject of his immediate ordination.</p> + +<p>The especial object of this letter was to obtain a decided refusal to +the command it contained, and, like most of the Vicar of Wrexhill's +plans, it answered completely. Mowbray's reply contained only these +words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Sir,</p> + +<p>"Though all my hopes for this life have been blighted through +your agency, I will not risk my happiness in that which is to +come by impiously taking upon me the office of God's minister, +for which I am in no way prepared.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Charles Mowbray.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>As soon as this letter was received, read, and committed to the flames, +Mr. Cartwright repaired to the dressing-room of his lady, where, as +usual, he found her reposing on the sofa; a little table beside her +loaded with tracts and other fanatical publications, and in her hand a +small bit of very delicate embroidery, which was in time to take the +form of a baby's cap.</p> + +<p>"My sweet love! how have you been since breakfast? Oh! my Clara! how +that occupation touches my heart! But take care of your precious health, +my angel! My life is now bound up with yours, sweet! ten thousand times +more closely than it ever was before: and not mine only,—the life of +the dear unborn being so inexpressibly dear to us both. Remember this, +my lovely wife!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Cartwright!—your tender affection makes me the happiest of women. +Never, surely, was there a husband who continued so completely a lover! +Were my children but one half as sensible of their happiness in having +you for a father as I am in calling you my husband, I should have +nothing left to wish!"</p> + +<p>"Turn not your thoughts that way, my Clara!—it is there that it hath +pleased Heaven to visit us with very sore affliction. But our duty is to +remember his mercies alway, and so to meet and wrestle with the +difficulties which he hath for his own glory permitted the Evil One to +scatter in our path, that in the end we may overcome them. Then shall we +by the heel crush the head of the serpent, and so shall his mercy upon +his chosen servants shine out and appear with exceeding splendour and +with lasting joy!"</p> + +<p>"Heaven prosper your endeavours, my dear Cartwright, to bring the same +to good effect! How I wish that Helen would make up her mind at once to +marry Mr. Corbold! I am sure that, with your remarkably generous +feelings, you would not object to giving her immediately a very handsome +fortune if she would comply with our wishes in this respect. Mr. Corbold +told me yesterday that he had every reason to believe she was +passionately attached to him, but that her brother had made her promise +to refuse. This interference of Charles is really unpardonable! I do not +scruple to say, that in my situation it would be infinitely more +agreeable to me if Helen were married,—we could give Miss Torrington +leave to live with her, dear Cartwright,—and I am quite sure the change +would be for the happiness of us all."</p> + +<p>"Unquestionably it would, my love;—but this unfortunate boy! Alas, my +Clara! I have just received fresh proof of the rebellious spirit that +mocks at all authority, and hates the hand that would use it. I have +this morning received such a letter from him, in answer to that in which +I expressed my wish that he should adopt a profession and prepare to +settle himself in life, as wrung my heart. It shall never blast your +eyes, my Clara! I watched it consume and burn, and turn to harmless +ashes, before I came to cheer and heal my wounded heart by pressing thee +to it!"</p> + +<p>The action answered to the word,—and it was from the bosom of her fond +husband that Mrs. Cartwright murmured her inquiries as to what her +unworthy son had now done to pain the best of fathers.</p> + +<p>"Not only refused, dearest, to adopt the sacred and saving profession we +have chosen for him with the most ribald insolence, but addressed me in +words of such bitter scorn, that not for worlds would I have suffered +thy dear eyes to rest upon them."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible! What then, dear Cartwright, will it be best for us to +do? It is terrible to leave him to his own wilful desire, and suffer him +to enter the army, when we know it will lead him to inevitable +perdition! What can we do to save him?"</p> + +<p>"It appears to me, my sweet love, that at the present moment it will be +most consonant to the will of the Lord to use towards him the most +indulgent gentleness."</p> + +<p>"My dearest Cartwright! After such conduct on his part! Oh! you are too +good!"</p> + +<p>"Sweetest! he is your son. I can never forget that; though I fear that +he himself does not too well remember this. If he did, my Clara! he +would hardly utter such bitter jestings on what he is so cruel as to +call 'my beggarly dependence' on you. This phrase has cut me to the +heart's core, I will not deny it, Clara: it has made me feel my +position, and shudder at it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright here rose from the sofa, and putting his handkerchief to +his eyes, walked towards the window: his breast heaved with audible +sobs.</p> + +<p>"My beloved Cartwright! what mean you?" exclaimed his affectionate wife, +following him to the window, and gently attempting to withdraw the +cambric that concealed his features: "what can that undutiful boy mean? +Your dependence upon me? Good Heaven! is there any thing that was ever +mine that is not now your own?"</p> + +<p>"Alas! dear love, he has not launched a random shot,—he knows but too +well how to take aim, and how to point his dart,—and it has done its +work."</p> + +<p>This was spoken in a tone of such profound sadness, that the soul of +Mrs. Cartwright was moved by it. She threw her arms around her husband's +neck, and fondly kissing him, implored that he would tell her if there +were any thing she could do to prove her love, and place him in a +situation at <i>once</i> to render the repetition of such a hateful phrase +impossible.</p> + +<p>"I thought," she continued, "that your being my husband, dearest +Cartwright, gave you a right to all I possess.—Is it not so, my love?"</p> + +<p>"To your income, dearest Clara, during your life; and as you are several +years my junior, sweetest! this, as far as my wants and wishes are +concerned, is quite enough. But the young man has doubtless found some +wily lawyer to inform him, that should you die intestate he would be +your heir; as by your late husband's will, my love, though he has left +every thing to you, should you not make a will every shilling of the +property will go to him, whatever other children you have now, or may +have hereafter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Cartwright! why did you not tell me this before! Should any thing +happen to me in the hour of danger that is approaching, think what a +dreadful injustice would be done to all! Let me not delay another +day,—do send for Mr. Corbold,—I cannot rest till all this is set +right. My dear unborn babe, as well as its beloved father, may reproach +me for this cruel carelessness."</p> + +<p>"Compose yourself, sweet Clara! I <i>will</i> send for Corbold without delay. +But for Heaven's sale do not agitate your dear spirits!—it was the fear +of this which has alone prevented me from reminding you of the interest +of our dear unborn babe."</p> + +<p>"And your own, my dear generous husband! Do you doubt, dear Cartwright, +that the father's interest is as dear to me as the child's?"</p> + +<p>A tender caress answered this question. But delay in matters of business +was not the besetting sin of Mr. Cartwright; and while the embrace yet +lasted, he stretched his arm to the bell. The summons was answered, and +the cab despatched for the lawyer with a celerity that did much credit +to the establishment.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Corbold arrived, he was received by his cousin in the library, +which, in conformity to the resolution announced long ago to Charles +Mowbray, was preserved religiously for his own use and comfort; and a +few minutes' short but pithy conversation sufficed to put the serious +attorney <i>au fait</i> of what was expected of him.</p> + +<p>"You know, cousin Stephen," said the Vicar of Wrexhill, "that the Lord +is about to bless my house with increase; and it is partly on this +account, and partly for the purpose of making a suitable provision for +me in case of her death,—which may he long delay!"</p> + +<p>"I am sure, cousin Cartwright, there is no work that I could set about +with greater readiness and pleasure. Shall I receive my instructions +from you, cousin, at this present time?" and the zealous Mr. Corbold +accompanied the question by an action very germain to it,—namely, the +pulling forth from a long breast-pocket a technically-arranged portion +of draught-paper tied round with red tape.</p> + +<p>"By no means, cousin Stephen," replied the Vicar of Wrexhill; "it is +from my beloved wife herself that I wish you to receive your +instructions. Of course, what you do to-day can only be preparatory to +the engrossing it on parchment: and though, from delicacy, I will not be +present during your interview with her, yet before the document be +finally signed, sealed, and delivered, I shall naturally wish to glance +my eye over it. There is no longer, therefore, any occasion to delay; +come with me, cousin Stephen, to my dear wife's dressing-room; and may +Heaven bless to you and to me the fruits of this day's labour!"</p> + +<p>The master of the house then preceded the serious but admiring attorney +through the stately hall, and up the stately staircase, and into the +beautiful little apartment where Mrs. Cartwright, with a very pensive +expression of countenance, sat ready to receive them.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Corbold," she said, kindly extending her hand to him, "I am +very glad to see you. But my joy is dashed with remorse when I remember +the thoughtless folly with which I have so long delayed this necessary +interview.—My dearest Cartwright," she continued, turning to her +husband, "can you forgive me for this?—Perhaps, dearest, you can,—for +your soul is all generosity. But I shall never forgive myself. My only +excuse rests in my ignorance. I believed that the law gave, as I am sure +it ought to do, and as in fact it did in the case of my first marriage, +every thing that belongs to me to my husband. It is true that I only +brought my first husband about three hundred thousand pounds in money, +and most of it has been since very profitably converted into land. +Perhaps, Mr. Corbold, it is this which makes the difference."</p> + +<p>Mr. Corbold assured her that she was perfectly right, not considering +himself as called upon at the present moment to allude to the accident +of her having children.</p> + +<p>"Now then, my beloved Clara, I leave you," said Mr. Cartwright. "Not for +worlds would I suffer my presence to influence you, even by a look, in +the disposition of property so entirely your own!"</p> + +<p>"This generous delicacy, my beloved husband, is worthy of you. I shall, +I own, prefer being left on this occasion with our pious kinsman and +friend."</p> + +<p>The vicar kissed his lady's delicate fingers, and departed.</p> + +<p>"Heaven has been exceeding gracious to me, Mr. Corbold. It must be +seldom, I fear, that in your profession you meet with so high-minded and +exemplary a character as that of your cousin. Ah, my dear sir! how can I +be thankful enough for so great mercy!"</p> + +<p>"The Lord hath rewarded his handmaiden," replied the serious attorney. +"You have deserved happiness, excellent lady,—and you have it."</p> + +<p>Corbold now again pulled out his draught-paper, and with an air of much +deference, placed himself opposite to Mrs. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>"I presume you have ink and pens at hand, my honoured lady?"</p> + +<p>"Take my keys, Mr. Corbold;—in that desk you will find every thing you +want for writing; and in the drawer of it is the copy of my late +husband's will. It is this that I mean to make the model of my own. He +set me an example of generous confidence, Mr. Corbold, and I cannot, I +think, do better than follow it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright drew the desk towards her, and from the drawer of it +took the instrument which had made her mistress, not only of all the +property she had originally brought her husband, but also of an estate +which had come to him after his marriage.</p> + +<p>"This deed, sir," she said, putting the parchment in Mr. Corbold's +hands, "will, I hope, supersede the necessity of instructions from me. I +am a very poor lawyer, Mr. Corbold, and I think it very probable that +were you to write after my dictation, my will might turn out to be +something very different from what I wish to make it. But if you take +this as your model, it cannot fail to be right, as by this instrument I +have been made to stand exactly in the position in which I now wish to +place my exemplary husband Mr. Cartwright."</p> + +<p>"If such be your wish, dearest lady," said the attorney, "I will, with +your permission, take this parchment with me; and by so doing, I shall +not only avoid the necessity of troubling you, but, by the blessing of +Heaven upon my humble endeavours, I shall be enabled accurately to +prepare precisely such a document as it appears to be your wish to sign. +In these matters no instructions can make us such plain sailing, my dear +madam, as the having a satisfactory precedent in our hands.—Ah! dearest +lady! when I witness the conjugal happiness of yourself and my +ever-to-be-respected cousin, my heart sinks within me, as I remember +that equal felicity would be my own, were it not for the cruel +interference of one to whom I have never done an injury, and for whom I +would willingly show, if he would let me, all a brother's love."</p> + +<p>"Keep up your spirits, my good cousin!" replied the lady. "If Helen +favours your suit,—and on this point you must be a better judge than +I,—Charles's opposition will not long avail to impede your union."</p> + +<p>The lover sighed, raised his eyes to heaven, and probably, not very well +knowing what to say, departed without replying a word.</p> + +<p>As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he perceived his cousin standing +within the door of his library, which he held ajar. He put out his hand +and beckoned him in.</p> + +<p>"You have made quick work of it, cousin Stephen," said the anxious +vicar. "I trust you have not hurried away without fully understanding my +dear wife's wishes. I ask no questions, cousin Corbold, and do not, I +beseech you, imagine that I wish you to betray any trust;—merely tell +me if my dear Mrs. Cartwright appears to be easier in her mind now that +she has disclosed her intentions to you."</p> + +<p>The best and soberest minded men are sometimes assailed by temptation; +of which painful fact Mr. Stephen Corbold at that moment became proof. +Some merry devil prompted him to affect the belief that his reverend +cousin was in earnest, and, putting on a sanctified look of decorum, he +replied, "Of course, cousin Cartwright, I know you too well to believe +that you would wish to meddle or make with such an instrument as this. +When your excellent and, I doubt not, well-intentioned lady shall be +defunct, you will in the course of law be made acquainted with her will. +I rejoice to tell you that her mind seems now to be perfectly unburdened +and clear from all worldly anxieties whatever."</p> + +<p>As the attorney ended these words, he raised his eyes, which were fixed +as he spoke upon the roll of parchment which he held in his hand, and +caught, fixed full upon him, such a broadside of rage from the large and +really very expressive eyes of his cousin, that he actually trembled +from top to toe, and heartily repenting him of the temerity which led +him to hazard so dangerous a jest, he quietly sat down at a table, and +spreading open the parchment upon it, added, "But although it would be +altogether foreign to your noble nature, cousin Cartwright, to express, +or indeed to feel any thing like curiosity on the subject, it would be +equally foreign to mine not to open my heart to you with all the +frankness that our near kindred demands. Do not then refuse, dear +cousin, to share with me the pleasure I feel in knowing that Heaven has +taken care of its own! The only instruction I have received from your +pious and exemplary wife, cousin Cartwright, was to draw her will +exactly on the model of this, which, as you may perceive, is a copy of +the one under which she herself was put into the possession of the +splendid fortunes of which, by especial providence, you have already the +control, and of which, should it please the merciful Disposer of all +things so to order it that this lady, really fitter for heaven than +earth, should be taken to Abraham's bosom before you, you will become +the sole owner and possessor, you and your heirs for ever!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright had in general great command over himself, rarely +betraying any feeling which he wished to conceal. Perhaps even the anger +which gleamed in his eye a few moments before, and which had now given +place to a placidity that would by every serious lady in England have +been denominated "heavenly,"—perhaps even this, though it seemed to +dart forth involuntarily, was in truth permitted to appear, as being a +more safe and desirable mode of obtaining his object than the collaring +his cousin and saying, "Refuse to let me see that paper, and I murder +you!"</p> + +<p>But no object was now to be obtained by permitting his looks to express +his feelings; and therefore, though he felt his heart spring within him +in a spasm of joy and triumph, he looked as quiet and unmoved as if +nothing extraordinary had happened.</p> + +<p>"It is very well, cousin Stephen," he said; "make not any unnecessary +delay in the preparing of this deed. Life is very uncertain; and +moreover, the time is known to no man. Wherefore, let this thing be done +immediately."</p> + +<p>"Could I see Miss Helen for a moment alone, if I got this completed, +signed, sealed, and delivered by to-morrow night?" said the attorney.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my good cousin, yes; I pledge you my word for it."</p> + +<p>In justice to the character of the unfortunate Mrs. Mowbray, it is but +fair to remark, that notwithstanding the ceaseless process by which, +from the very first hour of their acquaintance, the Vicar of Wrexhill +had sought to estrange her from her children, he never ceased to speak +of Charles as her undoubted heir, and of Helen and Fanny as young ladies +of large fortune. The lamentable infatuation, therefore, which induced +her to put every thing in his power, went not the length of intending to +leave her children destitute; though it led her very sincerely to +believe that the power thus weakly given would be properly—and as she +would have said, poor woman! "religiously" exercised for their +advantage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIIC" id="CHAPTER_VIIIC"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE LETTER-BAG.</h3> + + +<p>Among the many highly-valued comforts and privileges which Mr. +Cartwright's exclusive possession of the library afforded him, that of +receiving in solitary state—and privacy, the family letter-bag, was not +the one least valued.</p> + +<p>It may, I believe, be laid down as a pretty general rule, that those +persons who conceive, or profess it to be their duty, to dive into the +hearts and consciences of their fellow-creatures, and to regulate the +very thoughts and feelings of all the unfortunate people within their +reach, are not very scrupulous as to the methods used to obtain that +<i>inward</i> knowledge. Mr. Cartwright, according to the usual custom of +divines of his class, had his village matron, ostensibly only a merchant +of apples, gingerbread, and lollypops, but intrusted with as many secret +missions of inquiry as the most jealous pontiff ever committed to a +faithful and favoured nuncio on quitting the gates of Rome. She could +tell, and was not ill paid for that precious knowledge, how often Betty +Jackson went to buy baccy; and how many times in the day Sally Wright +looked over her shoulder at the passers-by while walking out with her +master's children; and how many pots of porter were carried to one +house, and how many times the ladies walked forth from another; besides +innumerable other facts and anecdotes, which, though apparently not of +sufficient importance to record, were nevertheless of great value to the +vicar and to his curate, as themes to lecture upon in private, and +preach upon in public.</p> + +<p>Sources of information such as these had never been overlooked or +neglected by Mr. Cartwright at any period of his ministry; but hitherto +he had held them to be important rather to the general welfare of the +Christian world than to his own family: no sooner, however, did he find +himself placed in the responsible position of master of a large +household, than, besides taking the butler into a sort of partnership +for the discovery of petty offences, and having moreover an elected +stable-boy, who made a daily report of all that he saw and heard, and a +little more, he determined that all letters addressed to any member of +the family should pass through his hand; and in like manner, that all +those put into the letter-box in the hall, of which he kept the key +himself, should be submitted to the same species of religious +examination before they were deposited in the post-bag.</p> + +<p>In the execution of this part of his duty Mr. Cartwright displayed, to +himself at least, considerable mechanical skill—for the letters were +excellently well re-sealed—and likewise great equanimity of temper; +for, scanty as the family correspondence proved to be, he chanced to +fall upon some few passages which might have shaken the philosophy of a +mind less admirably regulated.</p> + +<p>In former times, if any Mowbray had wished to send a note from the Park +to the village, a groom or a groom's helper would have taken it: but +now, though the establishment was greatly increased, there was no such +privilege allowed them; and in order to escape the ceremony of asking +permission to employ a servant, they all resorted to the post-bag.</p> + +<p>One of the letters thus sent and thus examined was from little Mary +Richards to her friend Fanny; and many more important documents had +passed through his hands without exciting an equal degree of emotion. It +ran thus:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I cannot express to you, my dearest Fanny, how anxious I feel +to open my whole heart to you on a subject that has long +occupied us both with, I believe, equal depth and sincerity of +interest;—I mean, as I am sure you will instantly anticipate, +that inward call to especial grace and favour which Mr. +Cartwright taught us to expect would be the sure and certain +consequence of unbounded faith in <i>himself</i>; for so only can we +interpret the language he used to us. If I were to live a +thousand years, dear Fanny, I should never cease to regret the +dreadful, but, I thank Heaven brief interval, during which I +firmly believed that I had received this call. While this +frightful and most presumptuous notion had possession of me, I +looked upon my dear and excellent mother—ay, and, to my bitter +sorrow, treated her too, as a being almost unworthy of +communion with me! Is not this of itself enough to prove the +unholy tendency of the doctrine? Now that the madness is +passed, I look back upon it with as much astonishment as +sorrow; and can so clearly trace in it the workings of the most +paltry vanity and egregious self-love, that while remembering +how sincerely I believed myself <i>the better</i> for all the +hateful crimes of impious presumption and filial ingratitude of +which I was guilty, I cannot but think that the most +contemptible follies into which vanity and fine speeches ever +plunged a girl in the ordinary routine of this world's nonsense +must be considered as innocent and respectable, when compared +to those committed (oh! fearful impiety!) in the name of +Heaven.</p> + +<p>"Though we frequently meet, I have never yet been able fully +and clearly to state to you how completely I have made a +recantation of all my religious errors. It is singular how Mr. +Cartwright contrives, either by himself or his satellites, to +be always hovering near us. For the three last Wednesdays I +have set off for the Park with a firm determination to speak to +you on this subject; but I have each time found it impossible. +I believe that my countenance or manner must have expressed +some part of the anxiety I felt to converse with you, and that +my eagerness to obtain my object defeated it. On one occasion, +as I think you must remember, Mr. Cartwright himself, though +constantly drawn here and there to perform his gracious +hospitalities to the rest of the company, ceased not again and +again to return with his soft "Well, dear children! what are +you talking about?"—on another it was his curate and deputy +who performed the office of interrupter; and last Wednesday, +that very unaccountable person Mr. Jacob seemed determined that +no one should speak to you but himself. I have therefore, +dearest Fanny, determined to write to you. I think it likely +that I may soon leave this neighbourhood: Major Dalrymple, who +has been greatly the means of bringing me back to happiness and +common sense, will, I believe, undertake the charge of me for +the rest of my life. This, I find, has long been my dear, dear +mother's wish. Had I been quite sure of this a year ago, I +think I should have been saved this wild interlude of fanatic +raving. However, it is over; and greatly as I have been the +worse, I hope and believe that for the future I shall be the +humbler Christian and the better woman for it.</p> + +<p>"Major Dalrymple is at present in Scotland, attending the +sick—I believe the dying hours of his cousin Lord Hilton. +After his return, it is probable we shall leave Wrexhill; and I +am therefore most anxious to make you acquainted with my +present state of mind, for I cannot but suspect that we have +run the farther into this lamentable folly because we ran +together.</p> + +<p>"You have already said enough to make me hope that you too are +recovering from your delusion; but I cannot be easy without +telling you explicitly, that I am again the same unpretending +little Church-of-England Christian that I was in the days of +our good Mr. Wallace; that I am once more a loving and dutiful +daughter to the best of mothers, and ever and always your very</p> + +<p>"Affectionate friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Mary Richards.</span>"</p> + +<p>"P. S. Pray let me hear from you."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This letter was wormwood to Mr. Cartwright from one end to the other. +Had it rehearsed the kissing story, he would liked it infinitely better. +He was quite aware of Mary Richards's "falling off," and attributed it, +as well as that equally evident in Fanny, to jealousy—woman's jealousy, +and drew thence a species of gratification that almost atoned for their +secession; the more so perhaps as the all-important business of the will +rendered it absolutely necessary that, cost what converts it might, he +should bestow his love-making wholly and solely upon his lady.</p> + +<p>But to find that this pretty little girl really appeared to have +forgotten the kiss altogether, and yet that she had escaped from his +net—at the very moment too when, as it seemed she was on the very verge +of becoming a viscountess, was a mortification so cutting, that he +actually ground his fine teeth together with rage at it.</p> + +<p>His first impulse was to destroy it. But he recollected that by +suffering it to reach Fanny, he should obtain a sight of her answer; and +feeling considerable curiosity to discover how he should fare in the +hands of the little melancholy poetess who had of late evidently avoided +all tête-à-tête communication with him, he carefully re-sealed it, and +sedulously pinching its folds into unsuspicious-looking flatness, put it +aside to be delivered according to its address.</p> + +<p>The event proved that he was quite right in believing that Fanny Mowbray +would answer this letter; but whether the perusal of her reply increased +his satisfaction in being master of Cartwright Park, may be doubted.</p> + +<p>Fanny's reply was as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"My very dear Mary,</p> + +<p>"I am most thankful to have received your letter; for one +source of the mental misery I have endured has arisen from +believing that I first led you to fix your attention on Mr. +Cartwright, and your faith on the hateful dogmas he taught. You +are freed—you have escaped, you are restored to the mother you +love, and <i>you</i> will be happy! I thank Heaven, Mary, that my +heart is not wholly perverted by all the unnatural struggles it +has gone through; for I do rejoice, my dear friend, at your +felicity with a pureness and freshness of joy that I have never +felt at any thing since the death of my poor father came and +blighted all our joys. Neither am I surprised at the end of +your history. May you through life be as happy as I wish you, +and you shall have no reason to complain.</p> + +<p>"Of myself I know not how to speak; and yet I am sure that you +will not be easy without knowing something of the present state +of my mind.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mary, the mad fanaticism has passed away; but it has left +me weak as a child recovered from the delirium of a raging +fever; and I feel very doubtful if I shall ever wholly recover +it. I am thankful that you have suffered less than I have done; +indeed the mischief wrought so differently with you, that I +almost doubt my power of making you understand all I have +suffered. I cannot explain even to myself what species of +feeling it was which took possession of me when first I became +acquainted with Mr. Cartwright. Of this, however, I am quite +sure, that I believed with all the simplicity of truth and +innocence, that all I felt proceeded from the immediate +influence of the Deity working within me to secure my eternal +salvation. I could not more firmly have believed that Mr. +Cartwright was Heaven's appointed agent on earth; and every +thing he did and every thing he said appeared clothed in a sort +of holiness in my eyes which would have rendered it impious to +judge him as another would have been judged. During the first +two or three months of our acquaintance, I was happy—oh! much +more than happy; I lived in a sort of ecstasy. I believed +myself the chosen of Heaven, and that all the agitating but +delightful emotions which Mr. Cartwright's admiration and +praises excited were only so many heavenly assurances that I +was indeed one of the elected few predestined to eternal and +unspeakable happiness. He caressed me—very often he caressed +me. But even now, Mary, that I see clearly much that was then +concealed, I cannot comprehend the sort of effect this had upon +me. I think that had he asked me to marry him, I should have +been conscious of the disparity of his age; and I think, too, +that I should have been startled and shocked at discovering +that his love, always so fervently expressed, and often shown +by tender endearments, was in anyway an earthly love. And yet, +weak and inconsistent creatures that we are! when I discovered +that the object of my mother's last sudden journey to town, in +which I accompanied her—when I discovered that her purpose +was to marry Mr. Cartwright, the sick faintness that seemed to +seize upon my heart and creep over all my limbs convinced me +for a moment that I loved him ... not as I fancied I did, dear +Mary, as a lower angel might love one of higher order, but with +a love of a weak sinful woman. The tortures I endured that +night can never be obliterated from my mind; a terrified +conscience and a wounded heart seemed struggling together, as +if to try which could torment me most. But the struggle did not +last long. My heart—at least all that was tender and womanly +in it—appeared to turn to stone, and was tranquil enough as +far as any feelings connected with love for Mr. Cartwright were +concerned; but religious terrors, frightful, hideous, almost +maddening, took possession of me. I believed that the crime I +had committed in loving the man whom Heaven had ordained to be +my spiritual teacher, was a deadly sin. I now felt certain—or, +in the language of the sect, an inward assurance, that I was +pre-doomed to eternal perdition; and that the belief I had once +entertained, exactly contrary to this, was of itself a sin +never to be atoned, and only to be punished by eternal flames. +Is there another torture of the mind equal to this? I do not +think it; for true and reasonable remorse for crimes really +committed cannot approach it. Not all the sins that man ever +laid upon his soul could equal in atrocity what my guilt seemed +to me. I suppose I was mad, quite mad; for as I now recall the +hours that passed over me, and all the horrid images of the +avenging fury of an angry God which entered and rested upon my +spirit, I can call the state I was in nothing short of madness.</p> + +<p>"This state lasted, with little variation in the amount of +suffering, during the first week after my mother's marriage; +and then its feverish violence gave place to sullen, heavy +gloom. The cure however was near, very near me, for I found it +in Mr. Cartwright himself.</p> + +<p>"It was some trifling instance of contemptible artifice which +first drew aside the veil from my mental vision, and caused me +to see Mr. Cartwright, not as he is—oh no! that has been a +work of steady study, and some length of time,—but as +something of a very different species from that to which I had +fancied he belonged.</p> + +<p>"One must have been under a delusion as complete as mine has +been, to conceive the sensation produced by once more seeing +things as they are. I can compare it only to walking out of a +region peopled with phantoms and shadows into a world filled +with sober, solid realities. It is the phantom world which +produces the strongest effect on the imagination; and the first +effect of the change was to make everything around me seem most +earthly dull, stale, and unprofitable. I was still, however, a +fanatic; I still deemed myself one of those foredoomed to +eternal destruction. But one blessed day, some time after I had +become convinced that Mr. Cartwright was a very pitiful +scoundrel, I chanced to hear him in sweet and solemn accents +expound his scheme of providence to one of our distant +neighbours who came here to pass the morning, and who seemed +well disposed to listen to him. I saw that every word he said, +rendered soothing and attractive by the gentle kindness of his +manner and the eloquent commentary of his eyes, was making its +way to the poor lady's soul, just as a year before the selfsame +words and looks had worked their way to mine.</p> + +<p>"It was at that moment I felt the first doubts of the truth of +the doctrine I had imbibed from him. For himself I had long +felt the most profound contempt; but I had hitherto shrunk from +the impiety of confounding the doctrine and the teacher. +Something artificial and forced in his manner recalled by the +force of contrast the voice and look of our dear Mr. Wallace; +and then came the bold but blessed thought that the awful +dogmas by which he had kept my soul in thrall might be as false +and worthless as himself. My recovery from my mental malady may +be dated from that hour. Every day that has passed since has +led me back nearer and nearer, I hope, to the happy state (of +religious feeling at least) in which Mr. Cartwright found me. +But the more fully I recover my senses, the more fully I become +aware of the sad change he has wrought in every thing else. Not +only do we all creep like permitted slaves through the house +that we once felt to be our own, but he has stolen our mother +from us. Poor, poor mamma! how dearly did she love us! how +dearly did we love her! Where is the feeling gone? She has +never quarrelled with us; with me, particularly, she has never +expressed herself displeased in any way;—and yet her love +seems blighted and dried up, as if some poisonous breath had +blasted it;—and so it has—placid and fair as is the outward +seeming of this hateful man, I question not but every hour +brings forth some sorry trick to draw her farther from us. +Poor, poor mamma! I know this cannot last; and when she finds +him out—how dreadful will her feelings be!</p> + +<p>"Then, too, I have another sorrow, my dear Mary, which +tarnishes, though it cannot destroy, the joy of my return to +reason. While the fit lasted, I believed it a part of my dark +duty to keep Helen and Rosalind, and our poor exiled Charles, +as much at a distance from me as possible; and now I hardly +dare to hope that this can ever be quite forgotten by them. I +have not courage to enter with them into an explanation as full +as this which I have now given you; yet, till I do this, I +cannot hope that they will either understand or forgive me.</p> + +<p>"If Charles were at home, I think the task would be easier; but +Rosalind and Helen both seem to avoid me. I believe they are +too miserable themselves to look much at me, or they might see +that I no longer turned from them as I did some months ago. All +this, however, may some day or other come right again. But what +is to become of poor Charles? I feel convinced this hypocrite +will never rest till he has robbed him of his inheritance; and +I sometimes think that as the doing this must be the act of my +mother, it would be right in me to put her on her guard against +his machinations. But this can only be done by opening her eyes +to his real character; and though I think I could do this, I +tremble at the misery into which it would plunge her.—But this +is going beyond your request, dear Mary. You cannot be ignorant +that my unhappy mother's marriage has plunged us all in misery; +and there is little kindness in impressing this truth upon you +when your own bright prospects ought to occupy you with +pleasant thoughts of future happiness. Forgive me! and believe +me with every wish that this happiness may be as great and as +lasting as the nature of human life can permit,</p> + +<p>"Your ever affectionate friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Fanny Mowbray.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some people might have found the perusal of these letters sufficient to +damp the ardour of their curiosity in the pursuit of private +information; but it had not this effect upon Mr. Cartwright. He even +doubted whether he should not suffer this letter of Fanny's to reach +its destination for the same reason that he had permitted that of her +friend to reach hers—namely, the procuring a reply. But upon a +re-perusal,—for he gave himself the gratification of reading it +twice,—he tore it into tiny atoms, and then lighted a bougie to set +fire to the fragments.</p> + +<p>The next letter of any importance which fell into his hands by the same +means must also be given to the reader, as it contains some important +information which, as it immediately shared the same fate as that of +Fanny's, remained for a considerable time unknown to the person it most +concerned, as well as to all others.</p> + +<p>This letter was addressed to Helen from one whom beyond all others in +the wide world it would best have pleased her to receive any token of +remembrance or attention. It came from Colonel Harrington, and contained +the following lines:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Were Miss Mowbray placed in other circumstances—were not all +proper access to her barred by the hateful influence of an +alien and a stranger to her and to her blood, I should not thus +venture to address her. All application to your mother and +natural guardian would be, we know but too well, in vain: nay, +there is every reason to believe that any application to +yourself through her would never be permitted to reach you. +But, rascal as this Cartwright has proved himself, I presume he +does not tamper with the post; and it is therefore by this +vulgar and ordinary medium that I determine to make known to +you what it is great misery to conceal. Yet, after all, in +saying, '<i>Helen, I love you</i>,' I think I say nothing that you +do not know already. But, nevertheless, it is delightful to say +it; and were I, sweet Helen, once more within reach of being +heard by you, I might perchance weary you with the repetition +of it.</p> + +<p>"But this is not all I have to say, though it is only in the +supposition of your listening to this without anger that I dare +proceed. I believe, Helen, I ought to say something—a great +deal perhaps about my presumption—and my fears, and I know not +what beside,—but the simple truth is, that being quite +conscious I loved you, and not feeling the least reason or wish +to conceal it, my manner and words, too, I believe, must have +let you into the secret the last time we met; and those dear +eyes, with their long eyelashes, so constantly as they are +before me, would long ago have looked me into despair if the +memory of one soft glance at parting had not permitted me to +hope. My father and mother, Helen, know that I love you, and +that all my future happiness hangs on your consenting to become +my wife, <i>even without your mother's consent</i>. Why should I +conceal from you that I know it will be refused?—Why should I +not frankly and fairly tell you at once, my beloved Helen, that +something very like an elopement must be resorted to before you +can be mine?—But what an elopement! It will only be to the +house of your godmother, who already loves you as her child; +and who not only sanctions my addressing you, but has +commissioned me to say that she shall never know any thing +approaching happiness till she can take you in her arms and +call you her real daughter and her William's wife. For my +father,—you know his oddities,—he declares that if you will +come to Oakley and frankly consent to be his daughter, it will +be the happiest moment of his life when he puts your hand in +mine, and calls you so. But he swears lustily, Helen, that no +application to your mother shall ever be made with his consent. +This is rough wooing, sweet one! But do I overrate the +generosity of your temper when I express my belief that you +will not suffer what is inevitable, to destroy hopes that smile +so sweetly on us?</p> + +<p>"Address your answer to Oakley, Helen: write it, if you will, +to my mother. Dear and precious as one little line of kindness +would be to me, I will not ask it if your proud heart would +find it easier to open itself to her than to me. But keep me +not long in suspense; before I shall have sealed my letter, I +shall feel sick because the answer to it is not come. My +regiment is not going abroad. This change in its destination +was only known to us on Friday last.—Farewell! How wholly does +my fate hang upon your answer!</p> + +<p>"Ever, ever yours,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">William Harrington</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The destruction of this letter was attended with a feeling of pleasure +greatly superior both in quality and extent to that which he received +from watching spark after spark die away from the fading embers of poor +Fanny's long epistle. That was merely a matter of mawkish sentiment; +this was an affair of business. "But Miss Helen shall have a lover, +nevertheless." It was thus he ended his cogitation. "My cousin Stephen +will not fail me. This evening he will be here with what will make the +young lady's hand worth just as much as I please, and no more: and if my +worthy cousin likes her, he shall have her." And as he thought these +words, a smile curled his lips, and he playfully blackened the paper, +and singed it, and finally set it in a blaze, uttering aloud as the +flame expired, "A lieutenant-colonel of dragoons <i>versus</i> the Vicar of +Wrexhill."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IXC" id="CHAPTER_IXC"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL EXECUTED.</h3> + + +<p>The evening was pretty far advanced when at length the house-door bell +was loudly rung; and immediately afterwards Mr. Stephen Corbold entered +the drawing-room looking more assured, and, as Helen thought, more +detestable than ever.</p> + +<p>Having deliberately sipped his tea, and indulged himself the while in a +long steady stare in the face of the unfortunate object of his passion, +he at length rose, and with an air of much confidential importance, +raising himself on his toes, and playing with his watch-chain, +approached Mrs. Cartwright, and whispered something in her ear.</p> + +<p>"Have the kindness to ring the bell, Mr. Hetherington," said the lady, +addressing the curate, who, according to his frequent custom, had taken +his tea at the Park, partly for the advantage of receiving the +instructions of his principal upon sundry little points of Church and +village discipline, and partly for the hope of finding some one among +the young ladies less cruel than the inexorable Henrietta, who had never +appeared to see him, from the moment they parted in the shrubbery.</p> + +<p>"Tell Curtis to carry lights to my dressing-room," said Mrs. Cartwright +to the servant who answered the bell.</p> + +<p>The vicar's heart gave a bound. One hour more and he should clutch it! +One short hour more and he should at last be master of his own destiny, +dependent on no fond woman's whim, trembling before no children's power +to change her purpose.</p> + +<p>"Once let her sign this will," thought he, "and if I ever leave her long +enough unwatched to make another, the fault will be my own, and I will +abide the consequence."</p> + +<p>With a placid countenance that manifested no emotion of any kind, Mr. +Cartwright amused himself for a few minutes in examining a drawing just +finished for the Fancy Fair, by the light of a lamp on the +chimney-piece; and as he passed behind his cousin to set it down, he +condescendingly stopped to show it to him, pointing out its merits with +affectionate admiration, for the artist was no other than his +accomplished lady.</p> + +<p>"Is not the expression of this head beautifully holy, cousin Stephen? +Just look at the eyes.... Chivers the butler, her maid Curtis, and my +valet can witness it.... Charming is it not?"</p> + +<p>In a short time afterwards Mrs. Cartwright rose; the attentive attorney +sprang to the door, opened it, and silently followed her out of the +room.</p> + +<p>Henrietta's eye followed them, and she sighed heavily. "You do not seem +well to-night, Miss Cartwright," said Helen, "and I do not feel gay; +what say you to our keeping each other in countenance, and both going to +bed though the clock has not yet struck ten?"</p> + +<p>"A comfortable, and very wise proposal," replied Henrietta, rising at +once. "I am much more inclined to be in bed than up; for I would rather +be asleep than awake."</p> + +<p>"It is very right for you, Henrietta, who are an invalid, to be indulged +in your wish to retire early," said her father. "Good night! I am sorry +that the accidental absence of your mother renders it impossible for me +to hasten the hour of evening prayer. But you shall have my blessing. +May Heaven watch over your slumbers if you close your eyes in faith! If +not, may he visit you in the night season, with such appalling thoughts +as may awaken a right spirit within you! But for you, my dear child," he +continued, turning to Helen, "I cannot suffer you to leave us so +prematurely. We shall have prayers within an hour, and I do not permit +any member of my family to absent herself from the performance of this +sacred ordinance, without very good and sufficient reason for so +doing."</p> + +<p>"I conceive that I have very good and sufficient reason for so doing, +sir," replied Helen, approaching the door: "I wish you all good night."</p> + +<p>"She shall pay for this!" whispered one of the little demons that +nestled in the vicar's heart. "Stephen must absolve me of my promise for +to-night; but if I do not keep it with him nobly on some future +occasion, I will give him leave to tear in fragments the parchment which +at this very moment is growing into a rod wherewith to scourge the +insolence of this proud vixen."</p> + +<p>It was probably not so much the failing to keep his promise with +Corbold, which the late hour might readily excuse, as the displaying to +his slave and curate that his power was not absolute, which galled him +so severely. His wife and cousin, however, soon returned; they both +looked placidly contented, as those do look, who, having had important +business to transact, have done it well and thoroughly. Soon afterwards +the numerous household were summoned to appear, and the labours of the +day were closed with prayer, Mr. Hetherington uttering the extempore +invocation, and the vicar pronouncing the blessing: an arrangement, by +the way, approved by the master of Cartwright Park for three especial +reasons. First, it gave to his establishment very greatly the effect of +having a domestic chaplain at its head.</p> + +<p>Secondly, it afforded an opportunity, which the worthy Mr. Hetherington +never neglected, of calling down sundry especial blessings on the +vicar's own particular head, and, which was perhaps more important +still, of pronouncing a lofty eulogium on his transcendent virtues.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, the having to rise from his knees and pronounce the final +blessing, never failed to soothe his spirit with a delicious foreboding +that he might one day do so likewise in his own cathedral, and from his +own proper throne: this being an object of ambition to him as dear, or +dearer still, than the possession of the precious will itself.</p> + +<p>Rarely indeed did he seat himself in his own soft chair, in his own +noble library, without seeing in his mind's eye a mitre, as distinctly +visible as Macbeth's air-drawn dagger was to him; and the hope that this +crowning blessing would one day fall upon his favoured head, not only +cheered every waking, and often every sleeping hour, but made him so +generously come forward upon all occasions when a penniless Whig was to +be accommodated with a seat in a Parliament, or any other subscription +set on foot to help the radical poor and needy into political power and +place, that he was already considered in the high places as one of the +most conscientious and right-minded clergymen within the pale of the +Established Church, and almost supernaturally gifted (considering he was +not a Roman Catholic priest) with the power of judging political +characters according to their real value.</p> + +<p>As soon as the prayers were ended, the blessing spoken, and the servants +dismissed, Mr. Corbold, whose eyes had vainly wandered round the room in +search of Helen, approached the vicar, and said in a very firm and +intelligible tone, "I wish to speak to you, cousin Cartwright."</p> + +<p>"Certainly!" replied his kinsman in a voice of the most cordial +friendship. "Come into my library with me, cousin Stephen."</p> + +<p>And into the library they went; and almost before the door was shut, Mr. +Corbold exclaimed, "How am I to see Miss Helen, cousin Cartwright, if +you have let her take herself off to bed?"</p> + +<p>This very pertinent question was, however, only answered by another.</p> + +<p>"Have you got the will, cousin Stephen?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have," answered the attorney with more boldness than he had ever +used in speaking to his cousin since he became a great man. "But a +bargain's a bargain."</p> + +<p>"I know it is, cousin,—and Heaven preserve to me my lawful rights and +inheritance, as I faithfully keep to you the word I have given!"</p> + +<p>"And how is it to be managed then?... Am I to go to the girl's +bed-room?"</p> + +<p>"Give me the will, cousin Stephen," said the vicar, holding out his hand +to receive it, "and I will satisfy you fully upon this matter."</p> + +<p>Mr. Corbold, however, looked extremely rebellious, and no corner of +parchment could be descried about any part of his person. "A bargain's a +bargain, I tell you, cousin William," he repeated doggedly; "and you may +as well remember that a lawyer that is intrusted with the keeping of a +will is no way bound to give it up; particularly to the party whom it +chiefly concerns."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright measured his contumacious relative with his eye, very +much as if he intended to floor and rifle him; but wiser thoughts +prevailed, and he gently replied, seating himself in his own peculiar +chair, and making a sign to his companion that he should place himself +opposite: "May He, cousin Stephen, whose professing servants we are, +save and deliver us from quarrelling with one another, especially at a +blessed moment like this, when every thing seems fitted by his holy +providence, so as to ensure us peace and prosperity in this world, and +doubtless, everlasting glory in the life to come!"</p> + +<p>"All that's very true, cousin Cartwright; and if your cloth and calling +set you to speak of heavenly things, especial grace, years ago +manifested in me, makes me nothing behind you in the same. But, for all +that, I know well enough, that there's many a worldly-minded +unprofessing lawyer, who would gain credit and honour both, by taking +care to let young Mowbray know what that pious lady his mother has been +about, instead of keeping the thing as secret as if it were a forgery of +my own; and it is but common justice between man and man, to say nothing +of cousins and professing Christians, that conduct so every way +convenient and considerate as mine, should not go unrewarded. I have set +my heart upon having that girl Helen, and I don't wish for any thing in +the end but lawful wedlock, and all that; and the more, because I take +it for granted that you don't mean altogether to leave the young woman +without fortune;—but she's restive, cousin, and that you know, and we +are therefore called upon, as men and Christians, to make use and profit +of that wit and strength which it hath pleased Providence in its wisdom +to give us over the weaker vessel; and all I ask of you is so to put it +within my reach and power to do this, that the righteous ends we have in +view may be obtained through the same."</p> + +<p>"I have heard you to the end, cousin Stephen, which will, I trust, +considering all things, be accepted in token of an humble spirit. What +you have said, however, excepting that it was needless, is altogether +reasonable, and betokens that wisdom of which the Lord hath seen fit to +make you an example upon the earth. But you find that my conscience +needed not your reproof. Few hours have passed since I gave proof +sufficient of the sincerity with which I desire to strengthen the ties +between us. By the accident of the post-bag's being brought into my +room, I was made aware that it contained a letter addressed to Helen +Mowbray, evidently in the handwriting of a man. And what could it be to +me, cousin Stephen, whether that unconverted girl got a letter from a +man, or went without it? Nothing, positively nothing. But I remembered +me of you, cousin, and of the tender affections which you had fixed upon +her, and, fearless of consequences, I instantly broke the seal, and +found, as I expected, a very worldly-minded proposal of marriage, +without the decency of any allusion whatever to my will in the business; +and I therefore of course felt it my duty to destroy it both for your +sake and that of the Lord, whose blessing the impious young man did not +deem it necessary to mention. Nevertheless, the proposal came from one +of the first families in the county, and the girl would have been my +lady in due course of nature, a thing not altogether without value to +her family and father-in-law. But I never hesitated for one moment, and +you may see the ashes of Colonel Harrington's love-letter under the +grate."</p> + +<p>"That was acting like the good and chosen servant, cousin William, that +I have long known you to be. But, such being the case, why have you +scrupled to let me speak to the young girl this night in private?"</p> + +<p>"For the good and sufficient reason, that she chose to go, even though I +told her to stay, and, without exposing myself to a very unpleasant +scene before my curate and the rest of my people, I could not have +detained her. Besides, at the moment of her departure I knew that the +will, which you still keep from me, cousin Stephen, was not either +signed or executed,—another good and sufficient reason, as I take it, +for not choosing to keep the girl back by force. But fear nothing; what +I have promised, that I will perform. Give me the will, cousin Stephen, +and I will tell you what my scheme is for you."</p> + +<p>"Tell me the scheme first, cousin William; that is but square and fair. +We lawyers have got our ceremonies as well as the clergy, and I don't +see why they should be broken through."</p> + +<p>"I don't very well know what you mean by ceremonies in this case, +cousin, and I don't think you take the best way to oblige me; however, I +am not going to shrink from my word for that. All I expect, cousin +Stephen, is your word pledged to me in return, that, let what will +happen, you will bring no scandal or dishonour upon my family, for so +doing might be of the greatest injury to my hopes."</p> + +<p>"I mean nothing but honour, cousin William," replied Corbold eagerly: +"let me have but a fair opportunity given me, and you shall find that, +though I use it, I will not abuse it. Tell me, then, what is your +scheme?"</p> + +<p>"You know that on the 12th of this month a Serious Fancy Fair is to be +held in my grounds. Not only will all the rank and fashion of the county +assemble on the occasion, but my park-gates will be open likewise to the +people. At two o'clock a very splendid collation will be ready in five +of my saloons; and it is after the company have risen and left the +tables to resort once more to the booths, in order to assist in the +disposal of the remaining articles, that I shall permit every servant in +my establishment to leave the mansion, and repair to witness the busy +and impressive scene in the booths. It will be a very impressive scene, +cousin Stephen, for I shall myself pronounce a blessing upon the +assembled crowd. From this I fear, my dear Stephen, that you must on +this occasion absent yourself; but be assured, that as I speak those +words of power, I will remember you.</p> + +<p>"When you shall see a rush of my hired servants pour forth from my +mansion upon my lawns, it is then that I shall counsel you to retire, +enter the house by the library windows, and if questioned, say you are +sent there on an errand by me. From my library, find your way up the +grand staircase to the small apartment which I permit my wife to +appropriate as her dressing-room—the same in which you have this night +executed, as I trust, her will. There remain, concealed perhaps behind +the curtains, till Helen Mowbray enters. I will deposit in that room +something valuable and curious for sale, which shall be forgotten till +you are safely hidden there, and then I will command my very dear and +obedient wife to send Miss Helen to seek for it. Does this plan please +you, cousin?"</p> + +<p>Before speaking a word, Mr. Corbold drew the will from his long coat +pocket, and placed it in the hands of the vicar. This was a species of +mute eloquence most perfectly understood by the person to whom it was +addressed:</p> + +<p>The Vicar of Wrexhill received the parchment with much solemnity in his +two hands, and bending his head upon it, exclaimed "May the blessing of +the Lord be with me and my heirs for ever!"</p> + +<p>It may possibly appear improbable to many persons that such a phrase as +this last should recur in ordinary discourse so frequently as I have +represented it to do. But to those not belonging to the sect, and +therefore not so familiarized with its phraseology as to be unconscious +of its peculiarity, and who yet have been thrown by accident within +reach of hearing it, I need offer no explanation; for they must know by +experience that this, or expressions of equally religious formation and +import, are in constant use among them.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, especially in the company of the profane, they are uttered +<i>sotto voce</i>, as if to satisfy the secret conscience. Sometimes, in +equally un-elect society, they are pronounced aloud and with most +distinct emphasis, as if to show that the speaker feared not the ribald +laugh of the scorner, and held himself ready to perform this, or any +other feat likely to ensure the same petty, but glorious martyrdom, +despite any possible quantum of absurdity that may attach thereto.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The two kinsmen being now mutually satisfied with each other's conduct, +shook hands and parted; Mr. Corbold ruminating, as he walked slowly back +to Wrexhill, on the happy termination to which he was at last likely to +bring his hitherto unpropitious wooing, and Mr. Cartwright gazing with +unspeakable delight on the signatures and seals which secured to him, +and his heirs for ever, the possession of all the wealth and state in +which he now revelled. Having satisfied himself that all was right, he +opened a secret drawer in his library table, laid the precious parchment +within it, and having turned the lock, actually kissed the key that +secured his treasure. He then carefully secured it to his watch-chain, +and returned to escort his lady to her chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XC" id="CHAPTER_XC"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>THE SERIOUS FANCY FAIR.</h3> + + +<p>There were but few families within an ordinary visiting distance of the +Park who had not called on Mrs. Cartwright upon her marriage. Some went +from simple curiosity,—some expressly to quiz her,—a few from feelings +of real kindness towards the young people, whom it would be, they said, +a shame to give up merely because their mother had played the fool and +ruined all their prospects:—not a few, for the fun of seeing Mowbray +Park turned into a conventicle, and the inhabitants into its +congregation; and the rest came principally because Mr. Cartwright was +such a pious man, and likely to do so much good in the neighbourhood. +Among all these, the Fancy Fair announced to be held there on the 12th +of July, created a lively interest. All the world determined to attend; +and half the world gave themselves up to the making of pincushions and +pen-wipers with as much zeal as if the entire remnant of the Jewish +people, as well as the whole population of Fababo, were to be converted +thereby.</p> + +<p>The mansion and grounds of Mr. Cartwright's residence began to give note +of very great and splendid preparation for this serious fête. Never had +the reverend vicar been seen in such spirits on any former occasion;</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"His bosom's lord sat lightly on his throne;"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and (due allowance being made for the nature of the proceedings) it +might safely be averred, that no entertainment ever given in the +neighbourhood had caused more sensation, or been prepared for with a +more lavish expenditure.</p> + +<p>The whole of the 9th, 10th, and 11th days of the month were entirely +employed by the majority of the Cartwright household in receiving and +arranging the different works of fancy contributed by the neighbouring +ladies for the sale. By far the greater half of these articles were +pincushions, and for the most part they packed and unpacked well and +safely; but amidst the vast variety of forms into which this favourite +vehicle of charity was turned, some among them were equally ingenious in +design, delicate in execution, and difficult of carriage.</p> + +<p>There were harps, of which the strings were actually musical, and the +foot a pincushion. Old women of pasteboard, washing their feet in a +pasteboard tub, but with knees stuffed for pincushions. Pasteboard +hunch-backs, the hunches being pincushions. Babies dressed with the +nicest taste and care, their plump little necks and shoulders forming +pincushions. Pretty silken volumes, lettered "pointed satires," and +their yellow edges stuffed for pincushions. Ladies very fashionably +dressed, with the crowns of their bonnets, and their graceful backs, +prepared as pincushions. These, and ten thousand more, of which a +prolonged description might probably prove tedious, formed the staple +commodity of the elegant booths, which stretched themselves in two long +rows from one extremity of the beautiful lawn to the other. Tracts, so +numerous that it would be impossible to give their measure or their +value by any other calculation than that of their weight, were made by +the ingenuity of the fair and pious contributors to assume a very +tempting aspect, bound by their own delicate hands in silks and velvets +of every hue to be found between earth and heaven, green and blue +inclusive.</p> + +<p>It would be quite impossible to give any thing deserving the name of a +catalogue of the articles contributed to this charming exhibition; and +it will therefore be better not to attempt it. It will be sufficient to +observe, that, by a sentiment of elegant refinement which seemed to have +pervaded all the contributors, every article to which the idea of +utility could attach was scrupulously banished; it not being fair, as +some of the ladies very judiciously observed, to injure the poor +shopkeepers by permitting the sale of any thing that any body in the +world could really wish to buy. One instance of very delicate attention +on the part of Mrs. Cartwright towards the hero of the fête deserves to +be recorded, as showing both the natural kindness of her temper, and the +respect in which every feeling of this celebrated character was held. +Among the almost incredible number of devices for winding silks, or for +converting them into bobbins, or for some other of the ingenious little +contrivances invented for—one hardly knows what, was a very pretty +thing, more in the shape of a Jew's harp than any thing else. The +instant Mrs. Cartwright cast her eyes on this, she ordered it to be +withdrawn, observing that, as the Reverend Isaac Isaacs himself was +expected to honour the entertainment with his presence, she could by no +means permit any thing bearing such a name to appear.</p> + +<p>It may be feared that it was with a far different spirit Mr. Jacob +Cartwright, on hearing his stepmother mention this exclusion, and the +motive for it, proposed that all the cold chickens and turkies to be +eaten at the banquet should appear without their usual accompaniment of +cold hams,—a pleasantry which, though it won a smile from his indulgent +father, was by no means well received by Mrs. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>The twelfth day of July itself arrived at last, and fortunately was as +fine a day as ever shone. Helen asked Rosalind if she remembered the day +on which Charles came of age, and the question brought tears to the eyes +of both: this, however, was but a trifling exception to the general +cheerfulness; all the world really looked as gay as if the Fancy Fair +were not a serious one. In one of the long and elegantly decorated +booths, indeed, one silly young girl was heard to exclaim, "Oh! what a +beautiful place this would be for dancing!"—but the levity was checked +by Mr. Cartwright, who, happening to overhear her, replied, "My dear +young lady, there is no dancing in heaven!"</p> + +<p>It had been settled among the ladies of the neighbourhood, on the first +announcement of this pious and charitable undertaking, that no <i>young</i> +ladies, either married or single, should be invited to sell the +articles; and for some time after the circulation of this decision, it +appeared to be very doubtful whether there would be any ladies found +(not actually too decrepit to endure the fatigue) who would be willing +to undertake it. This circumstance threw poor Mrs. Cartwright into great +embarrassment. The idea of having advertised a Fancy Fair, and then to +be unable to procure ladies to preside at it, was a vexation almost +beyond what even a professing Christian's patience could bear.</p> + +<p>When at length it appeared evident that every middle-aged lady for ten +miles round had, for some excellent good reason or other, declined the +office, Mr. Cartwright proposed that gentlemen, instead of ladies, +should perform it. But to this Miss Charlotte Richards, who happened to +be present when the difficulty was discussed, entered a violent protest, +declaring that she was quite sure, if such a measure were resorted to, +not one hundredth part of the goods would be sold. Neither Jew nor +Gentile, she assured them, would ever make any thing by it, if such a +project were resorted to; and in short she pleaded the cause of the +ladies so well, that after some time it was agreed that the original +principle should be altogether changed, and that the youngest and +prettiest ladies should be selected, only with this condition +annexed—that they should all be dressed in uniform, the form and +material of which were to be specified by Mrs. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>The circular letter announcing this alteration was composed by Mr. +Cartwright himself, and proved perfectly successful, although it +contained but few words.</p> + +<p>"It having been decided at a meeting of some of the senior supporters of +the South Central African Bible Association, that the cause of the poor +inhabitants of Fababo was one which ought to be peculiarly interesting +to the young and lovely, inasmuch as it is beyond all others the cause +of piety; it was therefore strongly recommended that they should be +especially chosen and elected to serve the office of vendors or sellers +at the Fancy Fair instituted by the Reverend William Jacob Cartwright, +and by him appointed to be held on his own premises."—After which +followed a request that such ladies as were kindly willing to undertake +the fatigues of the office, would forthwith forward their names to Mrs. +Cartwright, that they might receive from her instructions respecting the +uniform to be worn on the occasion.</p> + +<p>The number of applications for permission to sell, which followed the +circulation of this letter, was quite extraordinary, and so greatly +exceeded the number required, that the task of selection became +difficult, if not impossible; so it was finally decided that a +description of the uniform should be sent to them all, and that those +who arrived first, should be installed in their office under condition +of permitting a relay to succeed them after the enjoyment of two hours +of duty.</p> + +<p>The consequence of this was, that at a very early hour, not only all the +young and handsome part of the company expected, but all who considered +themselves as belonging to that class, were seen arriving in their very +becoming sad-coloured suits, with their smooth braided tresses, and +Quakerish bonnets and caps.</p> + +<p>"Let all the ladies in the serious uniform stand up together behind the +stalls if they like it," said the accommodating Mrs. Cartwright: "it +would be so very difficult to select; and they will all look so very +well!"</p> + +<p>As the stalls were all ready, having been walked round, through, and +about, by Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, Mr. Hetherington the curate, Chivers +the butler, Curtis the lady's maid, as well as all the other serious +servants, and all agreeing in the opinion that it was impossible any +thing could be more beautiful, the uniform ladies were ushered into +them, and begged to decide among themselves the order in which they +should stand.</p> + +<p>The manner in which this self-regulating system worked was amusing, and +Rosalind Torrington stood by, and enjoyed it greatly. As soon as it was +notified to the young and pretty ladies that the booths were all ready, +the prices of every article marked, and all things prepared so that they +might take their places behind the stands in such order as they should +agree among themselves, any one who had witnessed and watched the sweet +universal smile with which each one regarded the other, and the charming +accents in which all exclaimed as with one voice, "Oh! it is exactly the +same to me where I stand," would have been ready to declare that even +their youth and beauty were less attractive than the sweet temper which +seemed to be so universal among them.</p> + +<p>The fair bevy, amounting to above fifty, poured themselves by various +entrances into the booths, which were in fact a succession of very +handsome tents, against the sides of which were ranged the elegantly +decorated stands; while through the whole extent, a space of nearly +thirty feet was left for promenading. In the centre of the range, the +gaily painted canvass rose into a lofty point, from which, to the +extremity of the circle round it, depended graceful draperies, festooned +with large bunches of flowers. In the middle of this noble circular tent +stood a lofty frame, supporting the finest greenhouse plants, and the +stalls which here skirted the sides of the enclosure were decidedly more +distinguished by their elegant decorations than the rest.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! how lovely!" was the universal exclamation uttered by the +ladies on entering this beautiful circle.</p> + +<p>"Well! I think I will stand here," said one of the most lively and +enterprising among them, placing herself at the same time behind a world +of many-tinted paper and silk commodities, close to which was a side +entrance arched with evergreen boughs, and gay with a thousand blossoms.</p> + +<p>"And I will take this stand!" cried a stout and long-limbed demoiselle, +stepping out with great activity to secure the one opposite.</p> + +<p>"This will just suit me!" said a third, popping into another of the +enviable stations which flanked the garlanded entrances, and immediately +taking possession of its lofty seat and comfortable footstool.</p> + +<p>Up to this point the universal smile continued, with an almost unabated +display of charming teeth; but to the fourth place, promising equal +affluence of passers-by to the three already taken, no less than four +ladies rushed at once. And then began the civil war which in a greater +or less degree, as circumstances may excite or assuage it, rages at all +fancy fairs, bazaars, and charity sales of every class and denomination +whatever.</p> + +<p>Some folks, uninitiated in such matters, may suppose that there is less +of this at a serious fancy fair than at one professing to be gay. But a +little experience will rapidly undeceive them. Whether the benevolent +sale-ladies be beautiful saints or beautiful sinners, the inclination to +show off Nature's gifts to the best advantage is pretty nearly the same; +and whether the sweet graceful thanks, so softly uttered, be constructed +after one form or another, the pleasure of speaking them is the same +likewise. What matters it, whether a bright eye laugh from beneath a +drapery of pendent curls, or is raised to heaven with no twisted meshes +to obscure its upward ray? What matters it whether ruby lips open to +say, "Heaven reward you, sir! Our poor missionaries shall pray for you!" +or, "Thank you!" (with a familiar nod) "some dear Spanish whiskerandos +shall buy a sword with this!" In both cases the speaker would +indisputably prefer having a well-frequented stand to speak from; and if +it chance to be placed beside some avenue through which the crowd must +pass and repass incessantly, why so much the better.</p> + +<p>The four ladies that met together with more of haste than inclination at +the last of the door-way stands, as above described, were really, +considering all things, exceedingly civil to each other. At the early +part of a busy day, the temper can bear much more without wincing, than +after it has been battered and bruised by all the little <i>contretems</i> +that are almost sure to beset it before the close of it.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, ma'am, but I believe I was here first:"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! I hope I did not hurt you, but this is my place:"</p> + +<p>"You must let me stand here, dear ladies, for I have set my heart upon +it:"—comprised very nearly all the spoken part of the contest. A few +sidelong glances there might have been, and one or two almost invisible +<i>nudges</i>; but after all, the person who finally got possession of the +desired post, was a tall, thin, pale, and remarkably pious maiden, who +having laid her hand upon the board, and her foot upon the stool, moved +them no more, but who from first to last did not pronounce a single +word.</p> + +<p>Though these four favourite seats were thus rapidly taken possession of, +there was still a good deal to be struggled for. It appeared indeed for +some time that all the fifty young and handsome ladies had firmly made +up their minds to station themselves in the circular tent, and nowhere +else.</p> + +<p>Greatly did the peaceable Mrs. Cartwright rejoice that she had from the +first desired the ladies to please themselves; for it soon became +evident that it would have been no easy task for her to please them. +Very continuous buzzings made themselves heard around the canvass walls; +and lady-like remonstrances were occasionally audible.</p> + +<p>"Really, ladies, I think we are very close here:"</p> + +<p>"Would it not be better for some of the ladies to move on?"</p> + +<p>"I believe, ma'am, that you will find no room just here:" and,</p> + +<p>"Upon my word I must beg you not to press upon me so!"—were sentences +distinctly repeated in more places than one.</p> + +<p>At length things, or rather ladies, began to arrange themselves in +tolerable order, the difficulty being got over at last, as always +happens upon such occasions, by the best tempers taking the worst +places.</p> + +<p>It was an almost simultaneous rush of carriages through the Park Gates, +and the approach of many persons on foot by various entrances, which at +last produced this desirable effect. Mr. Cartwright now came forth in +all his glory from beneath the shelter of a sort of canvass portico that +formed the entrance to the principal line of tents. Almost innumerable +were the hands he shook, the bows he made, and the smiles he smiled. It +is perfectly impossible that he could have sustained so radiant and +benevolent a graciousness to all sorts and conditions of men, had not +his animal spirits been sustained by the ever-present recollection that +the little key which dangled from his watch-chain, and with which he +constantly dallied when any of his ten fingers were disengaged from +hand-shaking, kept watch and ward over his lady's will.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright, meanwhile, not being in a situation to endure the +fatigue of standing, sat with some dozen chairs around her, waiting for +the most distinguished guests, within the flowery shelter of this same +pretty portico, round which were ranged orange-trees, and various other +fragrant plants, reaching from the ground almost to the roof.</p> + +<p>Whenever any person arrived of sufficient importance to be so +distinguished, the Vicar of Wrexhill himself ushered them to the +presence of his lady, and those so honoured at length filled all the +chairs around her. To all the rest Mrs. Cartwright bowed and smiled as +they passed onward; as they all most obediently did, in compliance with +the mandate of their host, who continued to utter with little +intermission, "Straight on if you please—straight on,—and you will +reach the centre pavilion."</p> + +<p>Between the spot at which the carriages set down the company, and the +entrance to this portico, four servants in rich liveries were stationed +to pass their names to Chivers, who stood within it. At length a party +who had walked across the Park and entered on the lawn by the little +hand gate, (to pass through which, the present master of the domain had +once considered as his dearest privilege,) approached the entrance at a +point by which they escaped three out of the four reverberations of +their names, and were very quietly stepping under the draperied +entrance, when the fourth now stopped them short to demand their style +and title.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. and the Miss Richards,—Lord Hilton," screamed the trumpet-mouthed +London-bred domestic, who, it may be observed in passing, had, like most +of his fellows, answered one of Mr. Cartwright's advertisements headed +thus,</p> + +<h4>"Wanted<br /> +to live in the country<br /> +<span class="smcap">A serious Footman.</span>"</h4> + +<p>No sooner did the title reach the vicar's ears, than he dropped pious +Mr. Somebody's hand which he was affectionately pressing, and turning +short round met the cold glance of the honest-hearted Major Dalrymple, +who advanced with Mrs. Richards upon one arm, and his affianced Mary on +the other. A moment of rather awkward deliberation ensued, as to whether +the man, or the man's title, should modify the manner of his reception; +but before the question could be decided, the party had quietly passed +on, without appearing to perceive him. The two elder Miss Richards +followed, both of them having been obliged to relinquish their hopes of +presiding at a stand, in consequence of the expensive nature of the +uniform. These two young ladies, who from the first hour of their +conversion had really been among the most faithful followers of the +Vicar of Wrexhill in all ways—ready to be in love with him—ready to +pray with him—and now ready to bow before him as almost the greatest +man in the county, were not perhaps greeted with all the distinguished +kindness they deserved. Unfortunately for their feelings, Mr. Cartwright +was more awake to the fact that they were sisters to little Mary, than +to their very excellent chance of becoming sisters-in-law to a +nobleman:—and so they too passed on, without pausing, as they had +intended to do, for the expression of their unbounded admiration for him +and his Fancy Fair.</p> + +<p>Nearly the whole of the invited society were already assembled, and the +Park was beginning to fill with the multitude which was to be admitted +to the tents after the collation, when, at length, the Reverend Isaac +Isaacs was announced.</p> + +<p>The arrival of the hero of the day produced, as may be supposed, a very +powerful sensation; his name was no sooner pronounced by the servants +than it was caught up by the company, and borne along from mouth to +mouth till every individual of the crowd which filled the tents was made +acquainted with the interesting fact, that the Reverend Isaac Isaacs was +approaching. The effect of this was for some moments really alarming; +every Christian soul turned back to welcome the converted Jew, and +something nearly resembling suffocation ensued. Indeed when the throng +which pressed back to meet him, met that which had turned to follow him +as he laboured to make his way between the stands, the crush was really +terrible; and had there not fortunately been many lateral exits through +which those escaped who loved their lives better than the gratification +of their curiosity, the consequences might have been very serious.</p> + +<p>Not all, however, whose strength and whose zeal induced them to remain, +could get a sight of this desired of all eyes: for, as Mr. Isaacs was a +very short man, those only who were very close could distinguish him. +The effect of this procession, however, through the double row of +stands, still thickly studded with pincushions, every one of which had +been made for his sake, was very impressive, and rendered greatly more +so by every fair sales-woman mounting upon the high seat with which she +was furnished for occasional rest, and thus looking down upon him as he +passed in attitudes that displayed both courage and enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>The weather was intensely hot, and more than once he appeared nearly +overcome by his emotions. He expressed the greatest concern for having +arrived so late, and especially for having missed the opening prayer, +which, as he imagined, had been pronounced by Mr. Cartwright himself; +but when it was explained to him that this was not the case, and, +moreover, that he was not too late to share the blessing to be given by +that gentleman, he became more reconciled to the accident which had +detained him, and gave himself wholly up to the enjoyment of the +striking spectacle that surrounded him.</p> + +<p>After he had remained for some time in the central pavilion, gazing, and +gazed at, in a manner which it was extremely interesting to watch, some +one well acquainted with the best method of carrying on the business of +such a meeting as the present, suggested that it would be advisable that +the acolyte should retire till the sale of the goods was pretty well +completed; for if the feeling among the charitable crowd were permitted +to exhaust itself in affectionate glances towards Mr. Isaacs, no more +money would be collected: and it was also judiciously remarked, that it +might be as well to circulate through the company the assurance, that as +soon as the stalls were about two-thirds cleared, the banquet would be +announced.</p> + +<p>The effect of these suggestions was speedily visible; Mr. Isaacs stood +in the enjoyment of space and fresh air before the entrance to the +portico, engrossing the almost undivided attention of his great patron, +while ladies peeped at him from a respectful distance; and Chivers +himself, with a look as reverential as if he were waiting upon an +apostle, approached him with Madeira and soda water.</p> + +<p>The sale, meanwhile, benefited equally by his near presence and his +actual absence. Enthusiasm was raised without being disturbed in that +great object of all English Christian enthusiasm—the disbursing of +money; and by four o'clock such a report was made of the general +receipts, that the selling ladies were waited upon by as many clergymen +as could be collected to hand them from their stands to the banquet, +and, when these were all furnished with a fair partner, the most serious +gentlemen among the company were requested to take charge of the rest.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright herself was led to the great dining-room by Mr. Isaacs, +and for this reason, or else because it was the great dining-room, the +crowd which followed her became so oppressive that the doors of the room +were ordered to be closed and strictly guarded. This measure was equally +serviceable to those within and without; for no sooner was it fully +understood that this decisive mode had been resorted to, than the other +tables were instantly filled, and nothing could be more satisfactory +than the activity with which eating and drinking proceeded in all +directions.</p> + +<p>The champagne flowed freely; and whether it were that the sacred cause +for which the meeting was assembled appeared to justify, or at least +excuse, some little excess,—or that nothing furnished at Mr. +Cartwright's board but must bring a blessing to him who swallowed +it,—or that the fervent season led to thirst, and thirst to copious +libations:—whatever the cause, it is certain that a very large quantity +of wine was swallowed that day, and that even the most serious of the +party felt their spirits considerably elevated thereby.</p> + +<p>But, in recording this fact, it should be mentioned likewise, that, +excepting in some few instances in which thirst, good wine, and +indiscretion united to overpower some unfortunate individuals, the +serious gentlemen of the party, though elevated, were far from drunk; +and the tone of their conversation only became more animated, without +losing any portion of the peculiar jargon which distinguished it when +they were perfectly sober.</p> + +<p>The discourse especially, which was carried on round Mr. Cartwright +after the ladies retired, was, for the most part, of the most purely +Calvinistical cast: though some of the anecdotes related might, perhaps, +in their details, have partaken more of the nature of miracles than they +would have done if fewer champagne corks had saluted the ceiling.</p> + +<p>One clerical gentleman, for instance, a Mr. Thompson, who was much +distinguished for his piety, stated as a fact which had happened to +himself, that, in his early days, before the gift of extempore preaching +was fully come upon him, he was one Sabbath-day at the house of a +reverend friend, who, being taken suddenly ill, desired Mr. Thompson to +preach for him, at the same time furnishing him with the written +discourse which he had been himself about to deliver. "I mounted the +pulpit," said Mr. Thompson, "with this written sermon in my pocket; but +the moment I drew it forth and opened it, I perceived, to my +inexpressible dismay, that the handwriting was totally illegible to me. +For a few moments I was visited with heavy doubts and discomfiture of +spirit, but I had immediate recourse to prayer. I closed the book, and +implored that its characters might be made legible to me;—and when I +opened it again, the pages seemed to my eyes to be as a manuscript of my +own."</p> + +<p>This statement, however, was not only received with every evidence of +the most undoubting belief, but an elderly clergyman, who sat near the +narrator, exclaimed with great warmth, "I thank you, sir,—I thank you +greatly, Mr. Thompson, for this shining example of the effect of ready +piety and ready wit. Though the cloth is removed, sir, I must ask to +drink a glass of wine with you,—and may Heaven continue to you its +especial grace!"</p> + +<p>There were some phrases too, which, though undoubtedly sanctioned by +serious usage, sounded strangely when used in a scene apparently of such +gay festivity.</p> + +<p>One gentleman confessed very frankly his inability to resist taking more +of such wine as that now set before them than was altogether consistent +with his own strict ideas of ministerial propriety. "But," added he, +"though in so yielding, I am conscious of being in some sort wrong, I +feel intimately persuaded at the same time, that by thus freely +demonstrating the strength and power of original sin within me, I am +doing a service to the cause of religion, by establishing one of its +most important truths."</p> + +<p>This apology was received with universal applause; it manifested, as one +of the company remarked, equal soundness of faith, and delicacy of +conscience.</p> + +<p>One of the most celebrated of the regular London speakers, known at all +meetings throughout the whole evangelical season, having silently +emptied a bottle of claret, which he kept close to him, began, just as +he had finished the last glass, to recover the use of his tongue. His +first words were, "My king has been paying me a visit."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Mr. Cartwright, whose attention was instantly roused by +this very interesting statement; "where was the visit made, Mr. White?"</p> + +<p>"Even here, sir," replied Mr. White solemnly: "here, since I have been +sitting silently at your hospitable board."</p> + +<p>"As how, sir?" inquired a certain Sir William Crompton, who was placed +near him. "Do you mean that you have been sleeping, and that his Majesty +has visited you in your dreams?"</p> + +<p>"The Majesty that I speak of, sir," replied Mr. White, "is the King of +Heaven."</p> + +<p>"What other could it be!" exclaimed Mr. Cartwright, showing the whites +of his eyes, and appearing scandalized at the blunder.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, Mr. Cartwright," said a young man of decidedly pious +propensities, but not as yet considering himself quite assured of his +election,—"I wonder, Mr. Cartwright, whether I shall be saved or not?"</p> + +<p>"It is a most interesting question, my young friend," replied the vicar +mildly; "and you really cannot pay too much attention to it. I am happy +to see that it leaves you not, even at the festive board; and I +sincerely hope it will finally be settled to your satisfaction. But as +yet it is impossible to decide."</p> + +<p>"I shall not fail to ride over to hear you preach, excellent Mr. +Cartwright!" said a gentleman of the neighbourhood, who, though not +hitherto enrolled in the evangelical calendar, was so struck on the +present occasion with the hospitable entertainment he received, that he +determined to cultivate the acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"You do me great honour, sir!" replied the vicar. "If you do, I hope it +will be on a day when you can stay supper with us."</p> + +<p>"You are excessively kind, my dear sir!" answered the guest; "but as my +place is at least ten miles distant from yours, I fear, if you sup in +the same style that you dine, it would be somewhat late before I got +home."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright bowed, dropped his eyes, and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir!" said Mr. Hetherington, who, though he had drunk more than any +man at table, excepting the cousin Corbold, had as yet in no degree lost +his apprehension,—"Oh, sir! you quite mistake. The supper that the +excellent Mr. Cartwright means, is to be taken at the table of the +Lord!"</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" exclaimed the squire, who really meant to be both civil and +serious, "I beg pardon, I made a sad blunder indeed!"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing sad but sin, Mr. Wilkins!" replied the vicar meekly. +"A mistake is no sin. Even I myself have sometimes been mistaken."</p> + +<p>"What heavenly-minded humility there is in Mr. Cartwright!" said Mr. +Hetherington in a loud whisper to his neighbour: "every day he lives +seems to elevate my idea of his character. Is not this claret admirable, +Mr. Dickson?"</p> + +<p>Just at this moment Chivers the butler entered the room and whispered +something in his master's ear.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Cartwright, "a very disagreeable accident, upon +my word."</p> + +<p>"What is it, sir?" inquired several voices at once.</p> + +<p>"The head cook, gentlemen," replied Chivers, "has fallen off the +larder-ladder, and has put out his shoulder."</p> + +<p>"A very disagreeable accident indeed," echoed the guests.</p> + +<p>The butler whispered again.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Chivers, certainly. I am very glad Mr. Bird the surgeon +happens to be on the premises. Let him immediately set the joint, and +when this is done, and the poor fellow laid comfortably in bed, come for +Mr. Hetherington, whom I will immediately order to awaken him."</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul, sir!" exclaimed the good-natured Sir William Crompton; +"won't that be rather injudicious? If the poor fellow should get a nap, +I should think it would be the worst thing in the world to awaken him."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Sir William," replied the vicar with great respect, "but +persons of the world do not well understand the language of those who +are not of the world. No accident, no illness ever occurs in my house, +Sir William, but my first effort is to awaken the soul of the sufferer +to a proper sense of his sins. I always take care they shall be told +that the jaws of the tomb are opening before them, and that, as death +comes like a thief in the night, they should be watching for him. This, +in the language of a pious and professing Christian, is called an +awakening; and needful as it is at all times, it is of course more +needful still in sickness, or danger of any kind."</p> + +<p>Sir William Crompton filled his glass with the wealthy vicar's admirable +wine, and said no more.</p> + +<p>The time was now approaching at which the populace were to be admitted +to the tents on the lawn; and Mr. Cartwright having looked at his watch, +rose and said, "Gentlemen,—It is distressing to me to be forced to +disturb you, but the business of the meeting requires that we should all +repair to the lawn. The populace are about to be admitted, and it is +expected that our estimable Mr. Isaacs will benefit very considerably by +the eagerness with which the farmers' wives and daughters will purchase +the articles which remain of our Christian ladies' elegant handiworks. +One bumper to the success of the Reverend Isaac Isaacs! and to the +conversion of the people of Fababo!—And now we will return to our duty +in the tents."</p> + +<p>"To your tents, O Israel!" shouted a young man, with more of wine than +wit, as he turned towards the converted Jew; "for myself," he added, +"I'll be d—d if I stir an inch till I have finished this bottle."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright stopped short in his progress towards the door. He turned +a glance, more inquiring perhaps than stern, on the face of the +intoxicated speaker, and perceived that he was the nephew of an earl; +the sole reason indeed which had procured him the honour of a seat in +that distinguished circle.</p> + +<p>The vicar balanced for a moment whether he should reprimand him or not. +Had he been the son, instead of the nephew of the noble lord, he would +certainly have passed on in holy meditation, but, as it was, he stopped. +There were many serious eyes upon him, notwithstanding the claret. He +remembered that the earl had a "goodly progeny," and that consequently +his nephew would never be likely to succeed to his title; and therefore +with great dignity, and much pious solemnity, he thus addressed his +curate, who, in his capacity of domestic chaplain, was ever near him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hetherington! you have heard the awful words spoken by Mr. Augustus +Mappleton. Remember, sir, that his repentance and conversion be prayed +for at our concluding service this evening, and also in your extempore +prayer before sermon on next Sabbath morning."</p> + +<p>These words had a very sobering effect on the company, and the whole +party made, all things considered, a very orderly exit from the +dining-room, not however without Mr. Cartwright finding an opportunity +of whispering in the ear of his cousin—</p> + +<p>"Now is your time, Stephen, to go into the dressing-room."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIC" id="CHAPTER_XIC"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE "ELOPEMENT."</h3> + + +<p>When the gentlemen reached the lawn, they found it already covered, not +only with the company from all the other rooms, but likewise with crowds +of people from the Park, who came rushing in through different entrances +from all quarters.</p> + +<p>In the midst of all this bustle and confusion, however, Mr. Cartwright +remembered his engagement with Mr. Stephen Corbold, and, only waiting +till he saw that the servants of his house were among the throng, he +sought Mrs. Cartwright, and finding, as he expected, her daughter close +beside her, whispered in her ear, "Oblige me, dearest Clara! by sending +Helen to your dressing-room for a small packet of very important papers +which I left on the chimney-piece. I cannot go myself; and there is not +a servant to be found."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright immediately spoke the command to Helen, and the vicar +had the satisfaction of watching her make her way through the crowd, and +enter the window of the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Poor Helen was not happy enough to have enjoyed in any degree the +splendid bustle of the day, and the total repose and silence of the +house was quite refreshing to her. She passed through the drawing-room +into the hall, from whence not even the loud buzz of the multitude +without could reach her; and untying her bonnet, and throwing that and +her scarf on a slab, she sat down to enjoy for a few moments the cool +quiet of the lofty silent room.</p> + +<p>At length she reluctantly rose to perform her mother's bidding, walked +slowly and languidly up the stairs, along the spacious corridor, and +into Mrs. Cartwright's dressing-room. This little apartment was no +longer the dear familiar scene of maternal fondness that it once was, or +Helen might here again have been tempted to sit down for the enjoyment +of temporary repose. But, in truth, she no longer loved that +dressing-room; and walking straight to the chimney-piece, she took the +packet she found there, and turned to retrace her steps.</p> + +<p>It was with a start of disagreeable surprise, though hardly of alarm, +that she saw Mr. Stephen Corbold standing between her and the door. The +persevering impertinence of his addresses had long ago obliged her to +decline all communication with him, and it was therefore without +appearing to notice him that she now pursued her way towards the door. +But hardly had she made a step towards it, when the odious wretch +enclosed her in his arms. She uttered a loud shriek, and by a violent +effort disengaged herself; but ere she could reach the door, he had +closed, locked it, and put the key in his pocket.</p> + +<p>A dreadful sensation of terror now seized upon her; yet even then she +remembered that she was in her mother's house, and a feeling of +confidence returned.</p> + +<p>"You are intoxicated, sir!" said she drawing back from him towards the +bell. "But you surely cannot be so mad as to insult me here!"</p> + +<p>"I will insult you nowhere, Miss Helen, if you will behave as you ought +to do to the man whom Heaven hath chosen for your husband. But as for +your ringing the bell, or screeching either, I'll fairly tell you at +once, it is of no use. There is not a single human being left in the +house but our two selves; so you may as well give me satisfaction at +once, and promise to marry me without more trouble, or else, I will make +you thankful for the same, without my ever asking you again."</p> + +<p>"Open that door, sir, and let me out instantly," said Helen, pale as +death, yet still not believing that the monster before her would dare to +attempt any outrage. "Even Mr. Cartwright," she added, "would resent any +impertinence offered to me under my mother's roof. Let me pass, sir: +believe me, you had better."</p> + +<p>"Believe me; I had better not, Miss Helen. You have been playing the +fool with me long enough; and as to my cousin Cartwright, he is quite of +the same opinion, I assure you. Charming Helen!" he exclaimed, again +stretching out his arms to enclose her, "be only half as kind as you are +beautiful, and we shall be the happiest couple in the world!"</p> + +<p>"At least, sir, you must let me consult my mother about it," said Helen, +contriving to keep the table between them, and believing that he was +there only in consequence of his being intoxicated. "Let me ask my +mother's consent, Mr. Corbold."</p> + +<p>Corbold laughed aloud. "You think me tipsy, my sweet girl; but if I am, +trust me it's no more than just to give me courage to teach you your +duty. My charming Helen! let go the table, and understand the thing at +once. My cousin. Mr. Cartwright is under some obligations to me, and he +means to settle them all by giving me a pretty fortune with you; and as +he knows that unhappily you are not converted as yet, and have shown +yourself not over christian-like in return for my love, it is he himself +who invented this scheme of having you sent up here when all the +servants were out of the house—and of my being here ready to meet you, +and to teach you your duty to him, and to your mother, and to your +heavenly father, and to me;—and so now you know all and every thing, +and I have got the key of the room in my pocket.—And will you consent +to be my wife, beginning from this very minute?"</p> + +<p>Dreadful as Helen's terror was, her senses did not leave her; on the +contrary, all the strength of her mind seemed to be roused, and her +faculties sharpened, by the peril that beset her. She doubted not for a +moment that his statement respecting Mr. Cartwright's part in this +villany was true, and that she was indeed left in the power of this +detested being, with no help but the protection of Heaven and her own +courage. She fixed her eye steadily on that of Corbold, and perceived +that as he talked, the look of intoxication increased; she therefore +skilfully prolonged the conversation by asking him, if indeed she must +be his wife, where they were to live, whether her sister Fanny might +live with them, whether he ever meant to take her to London, and the +like; contriving, as she did so, to push the table, which still +continued between them, in such a direction as to leave her between it +and the door of her mother's bed-chamber. Corbold was evidently losing +his head, and appeared aware of it; for he stopped short in his replies +and professions of passionate love that he was making: and exclaiming +with an oath that he would be trifled with no longer, he suddenly thrust +the table from between them, and again threw his arms round Helen's +waist.</p> + +<p>She was not, however, wholly unprepared to receive him. On first +approaching the table that had hitherto befriended her, she perceived on +it a large vial of spirits of hartshorn: this she had taken possession +of, and held firmly in her hand; and at the moment that Corbold bent his +audacious head to kiss her, she discharged the whole contents upon his +eyes and face, occasioning a degree of blindness and suffocation, that +for the moment totally disabled him. He screamed with the sudden pain, +and raised his hands to his tortured eyes. Before he removed them, Helen +had already passed through her mother's bed-room, and was flying by a +back staircase to the servants' room below. Without waiting to see if +she were pursued, she opened a back door that led into the stable-yard, +and, after a moment's consideration, proceeded across it, into a lane +which led in one direction to the kitchen gardens, and in the other into +the road to Oakley.</p> + +<p>Even at that moment Helen had time to remember that if she turned her +steps towards the kitchen gardens, she should pass by a park gate which +would immediately lead her to all the safety that the protection of an +assembled multitude could give. But she remembered also that in a few +hours she should again be left in the hands of Mr. Cartwright, and, +inwardly uttering a solemn vow that nothing should ever again make her +wilfully submit to this, she darted forward, unmindful of her uncovered +head, and, with a degree of speed more proportioned to her agitation +than her strength, pursued the short cut across the fields to Oakley, +and entering the grounds by the gate which led to the lawn, perceived +Sir Gilbert, Lady Harrington, and their son, seated on a garden bench, +under the shelter of a widely spreading cedar-tree.</p> + +<p>Helen knew that she was now safe, and she relaxed her speed, slowly and +with tottering steps approaching the friends from whom, notwithstanding +their long estrangement, her heart anticipated a warm and tender +welcome. Yet they did not rise to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," thought she, "they do not know me;" and it was then she +recollected that her hair was hanging dishevelled about her face without +hat or cap to shelter it. She was greatly heated, and her breath and +strength barely sufficed to bring her within a few yards of the party, +when totally exhausted, she sat down upon the turf, and burst into +tears.</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington had not written the letter to Helen, which the Vicar +of Wrexhill destroyed, without having put both his parents in his +confidence. Lady Harrington's fond affection for her god-daughter, which +her enforced absence had in no degree lessened, rendered the avowal of +her son's attachment a matter of unmixed joy; and though Sir Gilbert +declared that he would as soon stand in the relation of brother to his +Satanic Majesty as to Cartwright, he at length gave his apparently sulky +consent with perhaps as much real pleasure as his lady herself.</p> + +<p>Both the one and the other, however, knew perfectly well that their son +would have been an excellent match for Helen, even when her father was +alive, and would, as it was supposed, have given her a fortune of forty +thousand pounds; and they felt some degree of triumph, neither unamiable +nor ungenerous in its nature, at the idea of securing to one at least of +poor Mowbray's family a station in society that not even their connexion +with Mr. Cartwright could tarnish.</p> + +<p>The whole family understood the position of things at the Park too well +to be surprised at no answer being sent express to Colonel Harrington's +letter, and the following post was waited for with pleasurable though +impatient anxiety. But when it arrived without bringing any answer, and +another and another followed with no notice taken of a proposal of +marriage, which, as Sir Gilbert said, the proudest woman in England +might have been glad to accept, the misery of the young man himself, and +the anger and indignation of his parents, were about equally vehement.</p> + +<p>Considering the opinion entertained by Sir Gilbert of what he was +pleased to term Mr. Cartwright's finished character, it is surprising +that no idea should even have occurred to him of the possible +suppression of this important epistle; but, in truth, the same +interpretation of it had suggested itself to the minds of them all. They +believed that Helen, from a sense of duty, had submitted the proposal to +her mother, and that, forbidden to accept it by the vindictive feelings +of the "parvenu priest," she had been weak enough to obey even his +commands, to leave the letter unanswered—a degree of timidity, and want +of proper feeling, productive of almost equal disappointment to all +three.</p> + +<p>Impressed with such feelings against her, it is perhaps not very +surprising, that neither the heart-stricken lover, nor his offended +parents, rose to welcome the approach of poor Helen.</p> + +<p>"Some family quarrel, I suppose," said Lady Harrington. "They seem to +have turned her out of doors in some haste."</p> + +<p>"I will promise her that she shall not now find an entrance into mine," +said Sir Gilbert. "Perhaps the young lady thinks better of it, and that +it may be as well to contradict pa and ma a little for the sake of being +Mrs. Harrington. Those who will not when they may, when they will they +shall have—" But before Sir Gilbert could finish his stave, Helen +Mowbray was stretched upon the turf.</p> + +<p>Colonel Harrington, not too well knowing what he did, ran to the spot +where she lay, and hardly daring to look at her, stammered out—"Miss +Mowbray! Gracious Heaven, how fearfully she changes colour! So red, and +now so deadly pale! Speak to me, Helen—What has happened to you?—How +comes it that you are here? After——Oh, Helen, open your eyes, and +speak to me! Mother! mother! she is very ill!"</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington now rose slowly and gloomily from her seat, and walked +to the place where Helen lay, her head supported by the arm of Colonel +Harrington; every tinge of colour fled from her cheeks, her eyes closed, +and no symptom of life remaining, excepting that tears from time to time +escaped from beneath her long eyelashes.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to see a person one has ever loved, asleep, and yet +retain anger towards them; they look so helpless, so innocent, so free +from all that could have ever moved our spleen, that not the most +eloquent defence that language ever framed could plead their cause so +well as that mute slumber. Still more difficult would it be to look at a +fair creature in the state in which Helen now lay, and retain any +feeling harsher than pity.</p> + +<p>"There is something more in all this, William, than we yet understand," +said Lady Harrington, after gazing silently at Helen for some minutes. +"This poor child has not fainted, her tears prove that; but she is +suffering from bodily fatigue and mental misery.—Helen! rouse yourself. +Let us understand each other at once. Why did you not reply to my son +William's letter?"</p> + +<p>Helen did rouse herself. She opened her eyes, and fixing them on Lady +Harrington, while the colour for a moment rapidly revisited her cheeks, +she said, in a voice so low as to be scarcely audible, "A letter from +Colonel Harrington?—To me?—A letter to me?—I never received it."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" cried Colonel Harrington, springing from the ground, for +Helen's head no longer rested on his arm. "Oh! what suffering should we +have been spared, if we had done her but the justice to think of this!"</p> + +<p>He hastily returned to his father, who, though he had not advanced a +step, had risen from his seat, and, to do him justice, was looking +towards Helen with great anxiety. "She never received it, sir!" said he, +in a voice husky from agitation: "Oh! come to her; soothe her with +kindness, my dearest father, and all may yet be happiness amongst us."</p> + +<p>"What, Helen!—Helen, my poor girl, are you come to us with some new +trouble?—And did you indeed never get William's letter, my dear child?"</p> + +<p>The mention of such a letter again dyed Helen's cheeks with blushes; but +she raised her eyes to Sir Gilbert's face, with a look that seemed to +ask a thousand questions as she replied, "I never received any letter +from Colonel Harrington in my life."</p> + +<p>"I am devilish glad to hear it, my dear, that's all. So, then, you don't +know that——"</p> + +<p>"Hold your peace, Sir Knight," said Lady Harrington, interrupting +him.—"And you come with me, sweet love. I'll lay my best herbal to that +dead leaf, that you are the only one perfectly faultless among us; and +that one, two, and three of us deserve to be—I can hardly tell what—in +the power of the vicar, I think, for having been so villanous as to +suspect you; and worse still, for having lived so close to you without +ever having found out whether you were really watched like a state +prisoner or not."</p> + +<p>"Has the rascal dared——" cried Sir Gilbert, but before he could finish +his sentence, Lady Harrington and her son were leading Helen between +them towards the house, her ladyship laying a finger on her lip as she +passed her husband, in token that he was to say no more.</p> + +<p>Having reached what Lady Harrington called a place of safety, where, as +she said the men could neither come nor hear, she made Helen lay herself +upon a sofa, and then said, "Now, my Helen, if you are ill at ease in +body, lay there quiet, and try to sleep; but if you are only, or chiefly +ill at ease in mind, let your limbs only remain at rest, and relieve +yourself and me by telling me every thing that has happened since we +parted last."</p> + +<p>"It is a long and sad history, my dearest friend," replied Helen, +kissing the hand which still held hers, "but I am very anxious that you +should know it all; for so only can the action I have committed to-day +be excused."</p> + +<p>"What action, Helen?—what is it you have done, my child?"</p> + +<p>"I have eloped from my mother's house, Lady Harrington."</p> + +<p>"But you have eloped alone, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! alone."</p> + +<p>"Well then, my dear, I will give you absolution for that. Perhaps there +are those among us who may not find it so easy to absolve you from all +blame for not doing it before. But now for particulars.—Will you have a +glass of water, Helen? Mercy on me! I believe it must be a glass of +wine. What can you have got to tell? You change colour every moment, my +dear child."</p> + +<p>Helen's narrative, however, being of necessity less full then that +contained in the preceding pages, need not be repeated. It was given +indeed with all the force and simplicity of truth and deep feeling, and +told all she knew of Mr. Cartwright's plans and projects; but, excepting +what she had that day learned during her dreadful interview with +Corbold, she had little to add to what Lady Harrington knew before.</p> + +<p>This interview, however, was itself fully enough to justify the +"elopement," of which Helen still spoke with such dismay; and, together +with the fact, again asked for, and again repeated, that no letter from +Colonel Harrington had reached her hands, was sufficient to make her +ladyship burst forth into a passion of indignation against the Vicar of +Wrexhill, and to make her, while overpowering Helen with the tenderest +caresses, bless her again and again for having at last flown to seek +shelter where it would be given with such heartfelt joy.</p> + +<p>Soothed, consoled, and almost happy as Helen was made by this recovered +kindness, her anxiety to know why, and upon what subject Colonel +Harrington could have written to her, was becoming every moment more +powerful. There was something so very fond, so very maternal in Lady +Harrington's manner to her,—something that seemed to say that +she was of more consequence to her now than she had ever been +before,—something, in short, quite indescribable, but which gave birth +to such delicious hopes in the breast of Helen, that she almost feared +to meet the eye of the old lady, lest all she guessed, and all she +wished, should be read in her own.</p> + +<p>It is possible, that with all the care she took to avoid the betraying +this anxiety, she did not succeed; for, in answer to some very delicate +and very distant hint, that it was extremely disagreeable to have one's +letters intercepted, Lady Harrington, though she only replied, "Yes, it +is, Helen," rose and left the room, only adding as she closed the door, +"Keep yourself quiet, my dear child: I shall return to you presently."</p> + +<p>"Presently" is a word that certainly appears, by common usage, to admit +of very considerable variety of interpretation; and it was evident that +on the present occasion the two parties between whom it passed +understood it differently. Long before Lady Harrington again appeared, +Helen felt persuaded that some important circumstance must have occurred +to make her so completely change her purpose; yet the good lady herself, +when she re-entered the room, looked and was perfectly unconscious of +having made any delay at all inconsistent with her "presently."</p> + +<p>She held a folded paper in her hand. "You have not asked me, Helen," she +said, "on what subject it was that my son wrote to you; and yet I +suspect that you have some wish to know. I have been down stairs to +consult him on the best mode of repairing your precious vicar's +treachery, and he suggested my putting into your hands the copy of the +letter which has been so basely intercepted; which copy, it seems, has +remained safely in his desk, while its original has probably fed the +flames in Mr. Cartwright's secret chamber, kindling thereby a +sympathetic and very consuming fire in the breast of the writer."</p> + +<p>Helen stretched forth a very trembling hand to receive the paper; her +eyes were fixed upon it, either to read through its enclosure the +characters within, or to avoid at that moment meeting the eye of her +godmother.</p> + +<p>"I shall leave you, my love, to peruse it alone; and presently, when I +think you have done so, will return to ask if you cannot in some degree +comprehend what must have been felt at its not obtaining an answer."</p> + +<p>Having said this, Lady Harrington retired without waiting for a reply, +and leaving Helen unable for a moment to learn what her heart throbbed +with such violence to know.</p> + +<p>The letter of which Helen now held the copy has been already presented +to the reader; and if she chance to be one of Helen's age, having at her +heart a love unbreathed to any human ear, she may guess what my Helen's +feelings were at finding such love had met an equal, an acknowledged +return. Such a one may guess Helen's feelings;—but no other can.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington's <i>presently</i> now seemed to Helen as much shorter than +it really was as the last had seemed longer. She had read the letter but +four times through, and pressed it to her heart, kissed it, and so +forth, not half so much as she desired, and it deserved, when a knock +was heard at the door, and the old lady again entered.</p> + +<p>The happy, but agitated girl stood up to receive her, and though she +spoke not a single word, the manner in which she rushed into her +maternal arms, and hid her face upon her bosom, spoke plainly enough +that the gallant colonel had no reason to despair.</p> + +<p>"What must he have thought of me!" were Helen's first words—"And +you?—and Sir Gilbert?—Such a letter! Dearest, dearest Lady Harrington, +you could not really think I had ever received it!"</p> + +<p>"You have struck the right chord there, my Helen. We all deserve to have +suffered ten thousand times more than we have done, for having for a +moment believed it possible you should have received that letter and not +invented some means to answer it—let the answer be what it might. And +this answer?—you have not yet told me what it is to be. I do not know +how much, or how little, you may happen to like William, my dear; but in +case you should have no insuperable aversion to him, the business is +made delightfully easy by this adventure. The elopement is done and +over already."</p> + +<p>Helen only pressed Lady Harrington's hand to her heart, but said +nothing.</p> + +<p>"Yes,—you have found the way to let me into your secret, without +speaking. This little heart throbs violently enough to prevent any +suspicion of indifference. But what am I to say to my impatient hero +below?—That you will, or you won't marry him, as soon as the lawyers +will let you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Lady Harrington!"</p> + +<p>"Come down stairs, my dear;—you had better come down, I do assure you; +for I expect Sir Gilbert will be up in a moment, and you cannot suppose +that William will remain behind; and my bed-room would by no means be so +dignified a scene for the denouement as the great saloon. Come, dear, +come."</p> + +<p>And Helen went—trembling, blushing, with tears in her eyes, and such +palpitation at her heart that she was very sure she could not pronounce +a word. But what need was there of words? The happy colonel was soon +perfectly satisfied, and thanked her on his bended knee for a consent +more looked than spoken.</p> + +<p>Even Sir Gilbert himself, though singularly attached to plain speaking, +seemed well content on the present occasion to dispense with it; and +pressed Helen to his heart, and kissed her forehead, and called her his +dear daughter, apparently with as much satisfaction as if she had +declared herself ready to accept of his son in the very best arranged +words ever spoken upon such an occasion.</p> + +<p>When the first few decisive moments were past, and each one of the party +felt that all things were settled, or about to be settled, in exact +conformity to their most inward and earnest desires, and when Helen was +placed as the centre of the six loving and admiring eyes that were fixed +upon her, she closed her own; but it was neither to faint, nor to sleep, +but to meditate for a moment with the more intensity upon the miraculous +change wrought in her destiny within the last few hours.</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of, my Helen?" said the colonel, jealous, as it +should seem, of losing sight of those dear eyes, even for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I am endeavouring to believe that it is all real," replied Helen with +beautiful simplicity.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, my darling child," said the rough baronet, greatly touched. +"What an old villain I have been to you, Helen!—abusing you, hating +you, calling you all manner of hard names,—and your little heart as +true as steel all the time."</p> + +<p>"Real?—real that you are beloved by me, Helen?" cried Colonel +Harrington, absolutely forgetting that he was not tête-à-tête with his +fair mistress.</p> + +<p>"And how is she to answer him, with you and me peering in her face, my +lady? Ought we not to be ashamed of ourselves?—Come along this moment."</p> + +<p>"Very well,—I will go, but only upon one condition, Helen. Remember, +William, she is to indulge in no disagreeable reminiscences, and no +melancholy anticipations, but look just as beautiful and as happy when I +come back, as she does now."</p> + +<p>This farewell advice was not thrown away; for it assisted Colonel +Harrington to baffle, or to banish, all the fears and regrets respecting +her mother's displeasure at her conduct, which came like a cloud across +the bright perspective of Helen's hopes for the future. Her lover showed +himself, indeed, sufficiently adroit, both in turning to account all the +favourable circumstances attending their sudden engagement, and in using +his mother's authority to prevent her dwelling upon what was +unfavourable. "Might not a second home," he asked, "be of great +advantage both to Fanny and Miss Torrington? Might not the connexion +tend to keep Mr. Cartwright in order, and prevent his finally injuring +Charles? And lastly, did she not think it would give pleasure to that +Charles himself?"</p> + +<p>To Lady Harrington Helen had frankly recounted the history of Corbold's +hateful persecution, from its first beginning in London, to the fearful +outrage it had led to on that eventful day; but she had begged her to +repeat no more of it to Sir Gilbert and the colonel than might be +sufficient to render her running away intelligible; and this request +having been strictly complied with, for Lady Harrington seemed as +unwilling as Helen to trust her men-folk with this history, Colonel +Harrington, in conversing with her on all she had felt and suffered +since her mother's marriage, spoke of him only as a presumptuous man who +had dared to persevere in addressing her after she had refused him.</p> + +<p>It was, probably, the heightened colour of Helen as she listened to this +mention of his name that excited a greater degree of interest and +curiosity concerning him than her lover had at first bestowed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Were these hateful addresses repeated by letter or in person, Helen?" +said he, fixing his eyes upon her agitated face.</p> + +<p>"In person—in person," answered Helen, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Did your mother know, Helen, how greatly these addresses annoyed you?"</p> + +<p>"I have often attempted to tell her; but she has always evaded the +subject, telling me strangely enough, and Heaven knows not very +correctly, that it was plain I did not know my own mind, or else that I +was guilty of affectation."</p> + +<p>"Your mother, then, Helen, would have approved of this man's addresses?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so."</p> + +<p>"It was, then, to avoid her importunity that you left her house to-day?"</p> + +<p>Helen looked uneasy and distressed under this questioning, but answered, +"No, Colonel Harrington; not her importunity, but his own."</p> + +<p>The blood mounted to the young soldier's face, and an angry glance shot +from his eye, as if he suspected something approaching—but at great +distance—to the truth.</p> + +<p>"He surely did not dare to be impertinent? Helen, you have not told me +all: you came here in a state of dreadful agitation; tell me, I conjure +you, all that has happened to you.—You will not, Helen? What am I to +think of this?—that you have been insulted in a manner that you will +not repeat to your affianced husband? For Heaven's sake, put an end to +this torture; I must know all."</p> + +<p>"Your mother does know all, Colonel Harrington; make me not repeat the +hateful history again."</p> + +<p>"Will you refer me to my mother? Will you permit me to tell her that you +have done so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Colonel Harrington," replied Helen, "should you wish to know more +than I have told you? But of course I cannot object to your knowing all +that has passed between us,—only I think he does not deserve the +trouble you take in speaking of him."</p> + +<p>Much to the surprise of Sir Gilbert and his lady, who were very amiably +undergoing a real penance, by absenting themselves from the sight of +happiness which touched them so nearly, Colonel Harrington was seen +hurrying towards them, where they were beguiling the time as they could, +by inhaling the cool breath of evening under the cedar-tree.</p> + +<p>"Take a turn with me, mother, will you?" said he in a voice not quite so +gay as they expected to hear from him.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington immediately rose, and passing her arm under his they +walked off together at a rapid pace to a distant walk.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" he said stopping short and looking earnestly in her face, +"tell me, I beseech you, every thing that you have learnt from Helen +respecting that wretch Corbold. For some reason or other which I cannot +understand, she is averse to entering upon the subject with me; but she +assures me that you know every thing that has passed, and she has +authorized my asking you for the particulars."</p> + +<p>"Has she, William? Then she is a silly girl for her pains. But it is +your fault, I dare say. You have been tormenting her with +cross-questions about a vulgar villain that neither of you ought ever +again to call to remembrance. Say no more about him or his precious +cousin either. Surely we can find more agreeable subjects to talk about +than the vicar and his cousin."</p> + +<p>"Very likely, mother. But I cannot be easy till I know exactly what it +was which caused Helen to leave her mother's house in the manner she did +this afternoon. Have I not a right to inquire?—can you blame me for +doing so?"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear William, I do not. But heavily shall I blame you if you +make an extorted confidence the source of quarrel between an officer of +rank in his majesty's service and a pettifogging methodist attorney of +Wrexhill."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible, mother, that you know me so little as to think there +can exist the slightest chance of my doing this? Pray do not keep me in +this fever for the sake of protecting me from a duel with Mr. Stephen +Corbold."</p> + +<p>"There you are, hot-head,—your father's own son beyond all question. +Now listen then to this infamous story, and take care that you do not +renew a sorrow that is past, by improperly resenting it."</p> + +<p>After this preface, Lady Harrington ventured to repeat to her son the +narrative she had heard from Helen. He listened with very exemplary +tranquillity, only occasionally biting his lips, but uttering no single +word of any kind till it was concluded. He then said very quietly,—"Let +us return to poor Helen, mother.—How admirably has she behaved +throughout!"</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington looked up into her son's face as if to discover whether +his calmness were genuine; but his pocket handkerchief at that moment +concealed his features, and, as he walked rapidly towards the house, she +could only take it for granted that all was right, and follow him.</p> + +<p>Having reached the door of the room where he had left Helen, he opened +it, but waited outside till his mother overtook him.</p> + +<p>"Go to her, mother," said he, "and confess that you have told me every +thing. I would rather you did this than me;—tell her too, that she has +behaved gloriously, and, when I think you have put her at her ease about +me, I will come to you."</p> + +<p>So saying, he passed on, and entered a small parlour that was called his +own at the front of the house.</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert soon followed his lady, and, without going again over the +disagreeable narrative at length, the whole business was made +sufficiently intelligible to the baronet to make him extol in high terms +the courage and presence of mind of his future daughter. This occupied a +quarter of an hour excellently well, but still the colonel came not: and +Helen, though with no feeling of alarm, certainly kept her eye upon the +door with more steadiness than she was herself aware of. At length, Lady +Harrington began to show evident symptoms of that state of mind usually +called fidgeting. She rang the bell and asked if the colonel were at +home. The servant did not know. Tea was ordered, and when it came the +same question was repeated; but the same answer was not given, for the +man said that the colonel had been seen to go out about half an hour +ago.</p> + +<p>"Who saw him go, John?" said her ladyship; "did you?"</p> + +<p>"No, my lady,—it was the colonel's own groom."</p> + +<p>"Send him here."</p> + +<p>The groom came, and was questioned as to how and when he had seen his +master go out.</p> + +<p>"I was in the harness-room, my lady, and the colonel came in, and took +down, one after another, all the coachman's whips from the pegs, and at +last, my lady, he chose the newest and the stoutest, and carried it away +with him:—but he said never a word."</p> + +<p>"Wheugh!" whistled Sir Gilbert with very considerable continuity of +sound. "That will do, Dick—you may go. And so, his colonelship is gone +forth with the stoutest and the best horsewhip he could find. Well, upon +my word, I do not think he could have done better."</p> + +<p>"Foolish boy!" exclaimed Lady Harrington. "He will get into some +abominable scrape or other!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lady;—he will horsewhip the lawyer, you may depend upon +it:—and then he will have damages to pay. But, for an only son, William +is far from extravagant, and I really don't feel inclined to begrudge +him this little amusement."</p> + +<p>"Nor I, either, Sir Gilbert, provided he takes care not to get into a +downright vulgar brawl."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Helen," said Sir Gilbert, turning towards her, "you must +not look pale, my child, for this. You are not afraid that there will be +any blunder, are you? and that the attorney will horsewhip the +soldier?—No harm will be done, depend upon it,—except to my new +horsewhip."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIC" id="CHAPTER_XIIC"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>MR. CORBOLD'S ADVENTURES.</h3> + + +<p>It was some time before Mr. Stephen Corbold recovered sufficiently from +the effects of Helen's libation to enable him to see where he was, or to +perceive that where he was, she was not. The ceremony had, indeed been a +painful one; but it at least did him the good service of dispelling the +effects of the wine he had taken; and after a few moments more of +winking and blinking, and wiping his smarting eyes, he descended the +stairs to seek his cousin, a soberer, if not a better man than when he +mounted them.</p> + +<p>Every thing was at this time in full activity on the lawn. Above two +thousand people were assembled there, all more more than decently clad, +and presenting altogether a very striking spectacle. Those who before +dinner had been the company were now converted into spectators; many of +them accommodated with seats in the shade, from whence they watched the +chequered movements of the motley crowd. This cool and quiet position +was in every way beneficial to those who had been tempted to heat +themselves by drinking somewhat too freely of the vicar's wine. Among +these Mr. Corbold introduced himself: probably, more sober than any of +them,—except, perhaps, the vicar himself,—but bearing in his "altered +eye," and general discomfiture of aspect, more visible traces of +intemperance than any individual amongst them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright rose to meet him with sensations of considerable alarm. +He fancied, from his appearance, that he was quite intoxicated, and +feared the utterance of some folly which might explain the cause of his +having absented himself more fully than was at all necessary.</p> + +<p>This idea was by no means lessened when his cousin beckoned him from the +party amidst whom he sat, and gravely assured him that Miss Helen had +very nearly murdered him.</p> + +<p>"Compose yourself, cousin Stephen—compose yourself. Where have you left +her?"</p> + +<p>"Left her?—She left me, I tell you, blind, and almost suffocated. If +you don't wish to have the whole county set gossiping about Mrs. +Mowbray's will—your wife's will I mean,—you had better let me see that +vixen properly punished, cousin. As I live and breathe I will have +revenge somehow."</p> + +<p>"You shall, you shall, Stephen," answered the vicar, endeavouring to +quiet him. "She shall be treated in any way that you like, only don't +make a noise now."</p> + +<p>"Will you give orders that she shall be confined to her room and kept on +bread and water?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure I will, if you desire it. She shall be locked up as soon as +the place is cleared: and you shall see it done, Stephen, if you will +only step in, and take a nap in my library to recover yourself a +little."</p> + +<p>This proposal was, on the whole, a very tempting one; for Mr. Stephen +Corbold's head ached with considerable violence, not to mention that he +had hardly yet recovered his eyesight, and was otherwise very ill at +ease. So, without arguing the matter farther, he retreated to the +comfortable station recommended to him, and soon fell into a slumber +that lasted till the whole business of the day, prayers, blessing, and +all, were done and over, and the place as solitary and forsaken as if no +Serious Fancy Fair, no Israelitish missionary, and no Fababo had ever +been heard of.</p> + +<p>It was then that the Vicar of Wrexhill remembered his cousin Stephen. +And it was then that Fanny Mowbray, looking round the room in which the +whole family was assembled, said, "Where is Helen?"</p> + +<p>This question, which, as it seemed, no one could answer, and the +recollection of his library guest, coming at one and the same moment +across him, made Mr. Cartwright start. Poor man! He was most heartily +fatigued and worn out by the honours, glories, and hospitalities of the +day, and wished for nothing on earth so much as soda-water and a +bed-room bougie. But he felt that his labours were not over, though not +exactly aware how much remained to be done.</p> + +<p>Having furnished himself with a light, and commanded that Miss Mowbray +should be desired to meet him in the library, he repaired immediately to +that room, where he found, as he expected, his serious and legal +relative as fast asleep in his favourite arm-chair, as he himself wished +to be in his bed.</p> + +<p>The ceremony of awaking him was soon performed; and when he once more +stood on his feet, and had rubbed his still suffering eyes sufficiently +to perceive where he was, the vicar addressed him thus, in the most +gentle voice imaginable, hoping to soothe and get rid of him.</p> + +<p>"Well, cousin Stephen, you have had a nice nap; and now you had better +go home. It is getting quite late. Good night, Stephen."</p> + +<p>"What have you done with that murderous vixen, cousin Cartwright? I +won't stir till I know you have locked her up, as you promised to do."</p> + +<p>"I have ordered her to come here, Stephen, that you may yourself hear +what I mean to say to her."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to see her, cousin Cartwright," replied the attorney, in a +tone that betokened as much fear as dislike; "I only want to have her +punished."</p> + +<p>"And punished she shall be, depend upon that; but if you really do not +wish to see her, cousin Stephen, you had better be off at once, for I +expect her here every moment. Come along—I will walk with you myself as +far as the lodge."</p> + +<p>Whatever vengeance he wished executed on Helen, that he had no +inclination to be present at it himself, was proved by the alacrity with +which the attorney acceded to this proposal.</p> + +<p>"Only let me get my hat,—it's quite a new hat,—and I'll come with you +this moment, cousin Cartwright."</p> + +<p>The hat was found, and the two serious gentlemen set off together across +the lawn; from that point, to within a few yards of the lodge, the +lawyer entertained the minister with such an account of Helen's attack +upon him, as convinced the latter, that it would be quite necessary, in +his parental character, to exercise such a degree of authority as might +speedily bring the rebellious young lady to reason. It was already as +dark as a fine night in July ever is, and the fine large oaks which in +many places overhung the road, rendered some spots particularly sombre. +At one of these, and just before they arrived at the Park gates, they +heard the steps of a man whom they appeared to be overtaking.</p> + +<p>"Who can this loiterer be?" said Mr. Cartwright, "My people had orders +to see that the grounds were cleared, and all the gates locked before +this time."</p> + +<p>"We shall be able to see him when we get beyond these trees," replied +Corbold.</p> + +<p>He was quite right: a few steps farther brought them to an open space, +and there, as if waiting for them, stood the intruder, as still and +silent as if he had been a statue.</p> + +<p>"We are two to one, however," observed the attorney, "but he is a +monstrous tall fellow."</p> + +<p>The next breath that issued from the lips of the vicar's cousin came not +in words, but in a most dismal, hideous, and prolonged yell; for the +"tall fellow" had seized him by the collar with one hand, while with the +other he brandished and applied a huge horsewhip to his shoulders with +such energy, activity, and perseverance, that his howling startled the +dull ear of night, as well as the frightened organs of his astonished +kinsman. Though Mr. Cartwright had not the slightest intention of doing +so unclerical a thing as interfering in the fray, he drew a little +nearer to it than was quite prudent, from a natural curiosity to know +who the bold mortal was who dared thus belabour his cousin.</p> + +<p>The light was quite sufficient to enable him to discern Colonel +Harrington in the aggressor; but it should seem that it was not equally +effective to the eyes of that gentleman himself, or he would hardly have +ventured to permit a few apparently random, but very sharp cuts to visit +the reverend shoulders of the owner of the soil on which he stood. This +prodigious impiety, however, certainly took place, upon which the vicar, +very properly anxious to put the earliest possible stop to such indecent +proceedings, ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, and in about +half an hour returned again with eight stout servingmen, armed with +bludgeons, broom-sticks, and the great kitchen-poker.</p> + +<p>That he had not, in his agitation, forgotten the spot on which he had +left his unfortunate cousin, was quickly made manifest to the ears of +all who accompanied him; for dismal groans made themselves heard exactly +from the place where the operation had been performed, and on +examination the bruised body of Mr. Stephen Corbold was found extended +on the grass, apparently too stiff and sore to have much power of +movement left.</p> + +<p>Even during the hurried interval which Mr. Cartwright spent in his house +while waiting for the gathering together of his host, he had found time +to inquire of his wife if she had seen Helen, and being told in reply +that she was nowhere to be found, the extremely disagreeable truth +immediately suggested itself to him. In one short, sharp moment he +remembered Colonel Harrington's suppressed letter, Corbold's permitted +outrage, Helen's escape, and the degrading lash that had so vigorously +saluted his own shoulders.</p> + +<p>How was it possible, that being, as he most undoubtedly was, the lord +and master of Cartwright Park, and all the wealth annexed thereto, and +holding his lady's comprehensive will, signed, sealed, and duly +executed, in his own possession,—how could it be that he should feel so +utterly beat down, overpowered, and degraded?</p> + +<p>The bitter pang, however, lasted but a moment. What was the gossip of an +hour, or a day, when set against the solid happiness of wealth? This was +still his, to have and to hold; and after one little pinch at his heart, +as he thought of the longed-for mitre, he struggled manfully to despise +the paltry annoyance, and hastened, with all the speed he could make, +to the rescue of his cousin, and, if Heaven so willed, to inflict +vengeance, even unto death, upon his enemy.</p> + +<p>Heaven, however, did not so will; Colonel Harrington having given the +attorney exactly the quantum of flogging he intended, stuck his card, +with his name and address both in town and country, into the groaning +man's pocket, laid him down very gently on the grass, and departed.</p> + +<p>The disposal of the flogged gentleman's person was now taken into +consideration. Some cousins, perhaps, might have thought that a bed at +Cartwright Park would have been the best thing to propose for it; but it +appeared that such was not the opinion of Mr. Cartwright; for having +quickly ascertained the situation of affairs, and assured himself that +Colonel Harrington was no longer within his reach, he instantly ordered +the coachman and stable-boy, who were among his suite, to return with +all possible haste to the house, and prepare a carriage instantly to +take his ill-used cousin home.</p> + +<p>"Take me to your house, cousin!" murmured the smarting man, "I shall die +if you send me to Wrexhill!" But Mr. Cartwright did not happen to hear +him; and indeed his time and attention were wholly engrossed till the +carriage arrived, and his kinsman lifted into it, by a strict +examination of his people at the lodge, as to when Colonel Harrington +had entered the Park, and whether they were at all aware that he was +still lurking there.</p> + +<p>To all which inquiries he of course received for answer,—"Law! your +honour, upon such a day as this, how was any body to mark who went in, +or who went out of the Park?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Stephen Corbold was therefore safely conveyed to his own dwelling in +Wrexhill; and the vicar returned to tell his lady, that from +circumstances which had transpired, there could be no doubt that her +daughter Helen had eloped with Colonel Harrington.</p> + +<p>"On my word, my dearest Cartwright, I hardly know how to be sorry for +it. William Harrington would be an excellent match for any woman. They +were very fond of each other when they were children; and Helen has been +so miserable and moping ever since I married, that it has been quite a +misery to see her. I thought she was in love with your cousin? However, +I suppose she has changed her mind again, and that it was a fit of +jealousy on the part of Harrington that made him attack poor Mr. +Corbold. But we can't help it, you know. I am tired to death, my dear +Cartwright;—do not let us stay up any longer talking about it; I dare +say Helen will be very happy."</p> + +<p>So ended the eventful day of the Fababo Fancy Fair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is not necessary to inquire what were the reports, or what the +gossipings to which this day's events gave rise. The papers announced +that a very large sum had been collected for the interesting missionary; +and all the Hampshire world soon said that Colonel Harrington was going +to be married to Miss Mowbray. But the attention of the Park family +themselves was at this time greatly engrossed by Henrietta. She had long +been in a very delicate state of health, but, probably from some cold +caught at the late fête, her symptoms had become rapidly more alarming; +she was soon confined to her bed, and the most skilful physician in the +county gave it as his opinion that she could not live many weeks.</p> + +<p>Rosalind was indefatigable in her attentions to her; and when the awful +judgment of the physician was made known to her, she at once resolved +that Henrietta should be made acquainted with it, in the hope that the +prospect of approaching dissolution might soften her heart and lead her +to seek and receive the only consolation of which such a situation +admits.</p> + +<p>Rosalind was too truly attached to Helen not to rejoice at the +unexpected step she had taken, though her surprise at it was unbounded. +She knew Helen's character well, she knew too how implicitly they had +trusted each other; and that this known, trusted and trusting friend +should have eloped without having even hinted to her that Colonel +Harrington had confessed the love which in happier moments she owned she +hoped he felt, was inconceivable! Still it was true. And though no line +of explanation had ever been permitted to reach her, still she rejoiced; +and with all the trusting confidence of her nature believed that +whatever appeared wrong or unkind, would some day or other be explained.</p> + +<p>She now rejoiced yet more at Helen's absence. Henrietta had never +admitted her even to the uncertain and capricious degree of friendship +which she had bestowed on herself; and had she been still at the Park, +it would have been difficult for Rosalind to have devoted herself so +wholly to the poor sufferer as she now did. Mrs. Cartwright's situation +prevented her from being much in the room. Fanny was still less there. +She and Henrietta had never loved each other. At first Fanny disliked +her because it was easy to perceive that she was neither beloved nor +approved by Mr. Cartwright; and Henrietta despised her in return for the +easy weakness with which she had become her father's convert. So that, +in this awful hour, Rosalind was the only friend who drew near her with +affection; and most tender and constant was the care she bestowed upon +her.</p> + +<p>To the communication which she so much dreaded to make, though she +considered it her duty to do it, Henrietta only replied by assuring her +that for more than a year she had been fully aware that death was +rapidly approaching her. "Alas! how lightly have I listened to you, dear +Henrietta, when you have said this!" replied the weeping Rosalind. "But +the reason, dear friend, why I did not, why I could not believe you were +in earnest, was——"</p> + +<p>"Speak fearlessly, dear Rosalind——was—that you thought I was unfit to +die. But so are many, Rosalind, who yet must go when nature bids them."</p> + +<p>"But now, now Henrietta! Oh! tell me that you do not still doubt all +things—doubt even the being of the eternal power that made you; tell +me, I beseech you, that you have read and thought on these things since +that dreadful day that I overheard you make the confession to Mr. +Hetherington which has rung in my ears ever since."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Rosalind, I have read, and I have thought—but not now only, my +kind friend. My short life, Rosalind, has been but one series of +perturbed thinking—my brain has been racked by it. But I have gained +nothing."</p> + +<p>"I have no power, Henrietta, no learning, no strength of reason to +remove the doubts that so fearfully darken these your last hours. Yet +what would I not give that you could taste the ineffable comfort of +perfect hope and perfect faith!"</p> + +<p>"Perfect faith!" repeated Henrietta impatiently—"why do you have +recourse to the slang I hate? Teach me to hope—oh! that you could! but +let me not hear the hateful words, the false use of which has been my +destruction."</p> + +<p>"Henrietta! dearest Henrietta! will you consent to see a clergyman who +can speak to you with the authority of age and wisdom?"</p> + +<p>"A clergyman?" she replied, scoffingly. "Perhaps you will propose that I +should see the Reverend Mr. Cartwright?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. You do not think that it is such as him I would wish to send to +you."</p> + +<p>"Yet he is my father, Miss Torrington. And there it is, you see—there +lies the difficulty. Name a clergyman, and Mr. Cartwright seems to rise +before me. And shall I use my dying breath to say that I would hear with +reverence what such as he could say? Leave me in peace, Rosalind. Let me +sleep, I tell you. If there be a God, he will pity me!"</p> + +<p>There was so much feverish excitement in her manner of speaking, that +Rosalind, terrified lest she might hasten the hour she so earnestly +wished to retard, in the hope that light might break upon that darkness +which it was so terrible to witness, forbore to answer her, and tenderly +arranging her pillows under her head, kissed her pale cheek and set +herself down behind the curtain, in the place that she now almost +constantly occupied.</p> + +<p>After a moment, however, Henrietta spoke again, but it was gently and +calmly. "Leave me, my most kind Rosalind," said she! "leave me for an +hour or two: you must want the fresh air, and I want perfect solitude. +Rosalind, I will think. Let no one come to me till I ring my bell. Go, +my dear friend!"</p> + +<p>Rosalind, greatly affected by the changed voice and manner, pressed to +her lips the emaciated hand held out to her, and retired.</p> + +<p>Rosalind did indeed require the refreshment of air and exercise, from +which she had almost wholly debarred herself for above a week; and such +refreshment will certainly do more towards restoring the exhausted +strength, both to body and mind, than any other remedy which can be +devised. Yet, though it acts well, and almost infallibly, on the system, +the benefit does not at once reach the consciousness of the weary +watcher. Rosalind, as she slowly dragged her languid steps along, felt +none of the pleasurable effects of the sweet breeze that blew in her +face, for she was not aware of it. Her heart and soul were still in the +chamber of the dying Henrietta; and though greatly too well taught to +believe that a few feverish moments of changed opinions can put the +passing spirit into a state of fitness for heaven, still she clung to +the hope of hearing the unhappy girl avow better thoughts and feelings +than those which had so long brooded over her misguided spirit. Fully +occupied with these meditations, Rosalind walked for an hour, almost +mechanically, through the shrubberies, unmindful of the sweet voice of +nature that greeted her in the songs of birds and in the breath of +flowers, and thinking only of what she might say or do to make the light +of truth send one cheering ray upon the last hours of her unhappy +friend.</p> + +<p>When she re-entered the house, her maid, who was watching for her, said +that Miss Cartwright had rung her bell, and requested to know when she +returned.</p> + +<p>Blaming herself for her long absence, Rosalind hastened to the sick +room, and found Henrietta seated upright in her bed, with rather more +animation and brightness in her eyes than she wished to see, for she +thought it betokened fever; but her voice and manner were gentle and +composed.</p> + +<p>"Your words have not fallen to the ground, my most kind Rosalind," said +she; "and if it be possible, during the short period that remains for me +to live, that I should attain a clearer knowledge of what I am than I +have hitherto possessed, I shall welcome it most gladly. But of all the +attributes with which the beautiful idea that you call God is invested, +the only one that I conceive it possible for mortals to share with Him, +is <span class="smcap">Truth</span>. Power, alas! we have none—of knowledge very little, of wisdom +less—and as to perfect goodness, perfect benevolence, we are not framed +to feel it. But <span class="smcap">Truth</span>, clear pure, beautiful, and bright, we can know +and we can feel! It can make a part of us, even as it makes a part of +Him; and by this only, as it seems to me, can we approach Him, touch +Him, and, as it were be part of Him. For truth in a mortal, Rosalind, if +it exist at all, is perfect as in a God. It is therefore, my dear +friend, that though I feel, ay, and have always felt, that there may be +an existing cause, endowed with will, productive of all the wonders of +creation—and though this wondrous existence, if it be! deserves all +worship—and though I (more sinned against than sinning) have offered +none, yet still I feel that I may be forgiven. If I have kept far off +from him my worship and my thoughts, at least I never have approached +him with falsehood on my tongue or in my heart; and, to my judgment, +this is the only crime relating to our intercourse with God at which we +need to tremble. If such a Being be, can our blundering theories so +touch his greatness that he should deign to frown upon us for them? No, +no, no! <span class="smcap">We cannot know Him;</span> and those who guess the nearest, can guess +but very darkly. But truth and falsehood are as much within the compass +of man's nature as of God's, and therefore are they, as concerning Him, +the only virtue and the only sin."</p> + +<p>Henrietta spoke these words with her eyes closed, slowly and +deliberately, as if her mind, like a cloud that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">——"Turns forth its silver lining to the night,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>sought in the midst of darkness to show the faint gleam within.</p> + +<p>But every word she uttered made Rosalind more deeply feel the necessity +of letting her hear the truths of religion from some one who had made +its laws the study of a holy life. She longed that she should hear with +more authority than she could lend to it, the voice of God himself, as +revealed to man in records enduring as the world;—but where was she to +seek such a one? As poor Henrietta had said, the name of a minister +could to her suggest no other image than that of her father;—and from +him she ever seemed to turn with horror.</p> + +<p>Yet still Rosalind could not endure to abandon the hope that such a one +might be found, and only waited till Henrietta would promise to see him +before she took measures for the purpose. In answer to this request, the +dying girl replied "But my permission is not all that is necessary, +dearest Rosalind. What would my father say if you were fortunate enough +to obtain for me a visit from such a one as you describe? He would not +bear it. He would not admit his approach. I know he would not."</p> + +<p>"Let me ask him, Henrietta."</p> + +<p>"No!" cried the invalid with sudden energy, as if she had at that moment +conceived and decided on her line of conduct. "I will ask him myself! +This doubt, this darkness, this fearful mist that seems to hang about +me, is terrible. Why should I not feel hopeful and assured as you do? +Send to him, Rosalind—send to my father; and send too for his besotted +wife, and for the poor, weak, wavering Fanny. Send for them all.—But +don't you leave me, Rosalind. I have a strange, anxious fluttering at +my heart. It will be better when I have spoken to him."</p> + +<p>Rosalind delayed not a moment to do her bidding. There was an inequality +in her manner that frightened her. She feared her time was short; and so +worded the summons she sent to Mr. Cartwright and his wife, that they +came instantly. Fanny entered the room nearly at the same moment; and it +was evident from their manner that they all thought they were come to +receive her last farewell.</p> + +<p>The feeble Henrietta asked Rosalind so to arrange her pillows that she +might sit upright. Rosalind did so, and then kneeled down beside the +bed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright stood with his back leaning against the bed-post, and his +eyes fixed on the ground; his wife entered leaning on his arm, and had +not quitted it; but for some reason or other, Henrietta, who rarely took +notice of her in any way, now asked her to place herself in a chair +beside her bed.</p> + +<p>"You had better sit," said she. "You are not very strong in any way."</p> + +<p>Fanny stood apart, and alone; and having looked round upon each of them, +the dying girl fixed her eyes upon her father, and thus addressed him, +"I have heard you say—a thousand times perhaps—that religion was the +business of your life; and for that reason, sir, its very name hath +become abhorrent to me. Oh, father!—you have much to answer for! I +would have given my own right hand to believe in a good, a merciful, a +forgiving God!—and I turned my young eyes to you. You told me that few +could be saved, and that it was not what I deemed innocence could save +me. You told me too, that I was in danger, but that you were safe. You +told me that Heaven had set its seal upon you. And then I watched +you—oh, how earnestly!—I spied out all your ways!—I found fraud, +pride, impurity, and falsehood, mix with your deeds through every day +you lived! Yet still you said that Heaven had set its seal upon +you,—that your immortal soul was safe,—that happiness eternal was your +predestined doom. I listened to you as a child listens to a father; not +a word was lost; no, nor an action either. And then it was, father, that +I became an unbeliever! an hardened infidel! a daring atheist! If it +were true that God had chosen you, then was it true my soul rejected +him!—Yet Rosalind, dear Rosalind, do not hate me,—do not shudder at my +words. It was because I found no truth in him, that I could not, would +not believe his doctrine true. But you—good, kind, and innocent,—I +believe you."</p> + +<p>The harsh and awful accents of her voice changed into a tone of the +deepest tenderness as she continued to address Rosalind. "When did you +ever lie? You tell me there is a God, and I may trust you. You do not +prate of grace, and then labour to corrupt the innocence that looks into +your face to ask the way to Heaven. You do not bid me wear a mask of +feigned assurance of salvation; nor will you bind my hands, nor keep me +from the light of day, when I refuse to kneel, and sigh, and play the +hypocrite. You will not bid me lie, and tell me that so only I can find +the way to Heaven. You will not——"</p> + +<p>With slow and stealthy pace Mr. Cartwright at this moment began to creep +from his station and approach the door. But Henrietta, whose eyes were +half closed—for the lashes seemed heavy with tears—instantly opened +them, and cried aloud, "Stay! I have a right to bid you.—Father!—This +good girl is kind and innocent; but she is young and very +ignorant.—What can she know of Heaven? Is there—speak truly, these are +the last words you will ever utter to me—is there within our reach some +pious, holy, humble man of God,—such as I have read of,—but no saint, +no saint? Father! is there such a one?—and may he come and pray with +me?"</p> + +<p>Every eye in the room was fixed on Mr. Cartwright, as his daughter made +the appeal. For some moments he did not answer; but upon Henrietta's +repeating loudly, and almost wildly, "May he come?" he answered in a +low, husky voice. "This is mere bravado! You have lived a scoffing +infidel,—and a scoffing infidel will you die. If, indeed, you wished +for prayer and pardon, you would turn to me for it.—My curate may pray +with her,—but none else."</p> + +<p>And with these words he turned away without looking at her, and quitted +the room.</p> + +<p>The silence of death seemed already to have settled on the chamber; +which was broken, at length, by the deep sobbings of the unfortunate +Mrs. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>"Poor soul!" said Henrietta, turning towards her. "She is not wholly +bad, but more unfit to judge and act than a baby:—for they can do +nothing, and she, alas! can do much dreadful mischief. With my dying +breath, unhappy victim of a most finished hypocrite, I do conjure you +not to wrong your children, to enrich him. Poor soul!—He loves her not; +no not even so much as, silly as she is, she well deserves from him. He +will have a child born to him here, and another at Gloucester, much at +the same time. Do not ruin your poor helpless children for him!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright sat with her eyes immoveably fixed on those of +Henrietta, even after she had ceased to speak: she sighed deeply, but +uttered no syllable in reply.</p> + +<p>"Take her away, Rosalind. I have no more to say to her. And poor Fanny +too. Heaven bless you, Fanny!—you may go now, my dear. All go, but +Rosalind."</p> + +<p>Her commands were instantly obeyed, and once more the two strangely +matched friends were left alone together.</p> + +<p>"It is too late now, my Rosalind! My strength is failing fast. I can +hardly see your sweet kind eyes, dear Rosalind!—but I can hear. Read to +me, dearest;—quick, open the Bible that you left for me:—open it where +the man says to Paul, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'"</p> + +<p>Rosalind opened the precious volume, and read to her, slowly and +distinctly, that exquisite passage of heaven-taught eloquence, which +produced in reply the words she had quoted.</p> + +<p>Henrietta's eyes were closed; but now and then a gentle pressure of the +hand she held in hers persuaded Rosalind that she heard and understood +each powerful word of that majestic pleading.</p> + +<p>When she had reached, and read the words Henrietta had quoted, she +paused, and in a moment afterwards the now expiring girl uttered in +broken accents, "Yes,—stop there. It has reached my soul—from your +lips only, Rosalind!"</p> + +<p>Then suddenly her dying eyes opened, and fixed themselves on Rosalind; +she clasped her hands, as if in prayer, and then with a strong effort +pronounced these words, "Lord! I believe!—Help thou my unbelief!"</p> + +<p>Her head sank on her breast. The breath that uttered these words was her +last.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIIC" id="CHAPTER_XIIIC"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>A CHANGE COMES O'ER THE SPIRIT OF HER DREAM.</h3> + + +<p>Helen had been nearly six weeks at Oakley without receiving a single +line or message from any individual at the Park. She had written to her +mother, fully explaining the reasons which had led her so suddenly to +absent herself; and also, in the most respectful and affectionate +manner, announced to her the proposal of Colonel Harrington and the +approbation of his parents,—adding her earnest entreaties that her +mother would not withhold her consent to their marriage. To this letter +she received no answer; a circumstance which would have occasioned her +the most cruel uneasiness, had not the fate of Colonel Harrington's +letter to herself enabled her to guess that of her own to her mother. To +Fanny and to Rosalind she likewise wrote, and with the same ill success: +but, fortunately for her tranquillity, their silence was reasonably +interpreted in the same manner; and though this could but ill console +her for the separation existing between them, it at least prevented her +from feeling the pang of neglected affection.</p> + +<p>From her brother she received the only letter that had reached her since +they parted; and though it was written in a strain of very melancholy +despondency respecting himself, it spoke of her prospects with an energy +of satisfaction and hope that it was delightful to have inspired.</p> + +<p>The report of Henrietta's death reached her through the servants; and +though no cordial intimacy had ever existed between them, she felt as a +gentle-hearted young creature must ever feel on hearing that a companion +of her own age and sex was gone hence to be no more seen.</p> + +<p>More than ever did she wish for tidings of her family; and of Rosalind, +perhaps, more than of any other: for she knew that if her feelings for +the poor Henrietta had not amounted to affection, she had inspired a +very powerful interest in her bosom, and that Rosalind was likely to +feel her early death very painfully. It was therefore with the strongest +emotions of joy that one morning, rather more than a week after the +event, she saw Rosalind approaching the principal entrance of the house, +alone and on foot.</p> + +<p>Helen flew down stairs, through the hall, and out upon the steps to meet +her, opening her arms to receive her with all the eager warmth of +welcome natural after such an absence. But before Rosalind returned the +embrace, she exclaimed, "You have seen your mother, Helen!"</p> + +<p>"Alas! no!" replied Helen. "Would to Heaven I had, Rosalind! What is it +makes you think I have had this great happiness?"</p> + +<p>"Because I have just met her,—just seen her with my own eyes driving +down the avenue."</p> + +<p>"Impossible! Rosalind you must be mistaken. I have been sitting in my +own room these two hours, copying a long act of parliament for Sir +Gilbert; and if any carriage had been here, I must have seen it."</p> + +<p>"No, no, you would not: I observed that the carriage drove direct from +the stable-yard, and out into the avenue below the second gate. When I +saw the carriage, spite of my astonishment, my first feeling was terror +lest I should be seen myself; and accordingly I retreated behind one of +the enormous trees, which I am sure hid me effectually, but from whence +I had not only a full view of the Cartwright equipage, but of Mrs. +Cartwright in it, looking, I am sorry to say, even paler and more ill +than usual."</p> + +<p>"Is my mother looking ill, Rosalind?" said Helen anxiously, and seeming +for the moment to be unmindful of the strange circumstance of her having +been at Oakley. "Is she unwell?"</p> + +<p>"I grieve to say that I think she is. A scene which took place in poor +Henrietta's room only a few moments before she died, and at which Mrs. +Cartwright was present, has, I think, shaken her severely. But what can +have brought her here, Helen, unless it were her wish to see you?—And +yet she has been, and is gone, without your hearing of it."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed most strange," replied Helen, ringing the bell of the +drawing-room, into which they had entered. "Lady Harrington is, I know, +in her closet,—perhaps my mother has seen her."</p> + +<p>"Has my mother been here, Thomas?" inquired Helen of the old servant who +answered the bell.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, no, Miss Mowbray: that was noways likely."</p> + +<p>"Likely or not, Thomas, I assure you she has been here," said Miss +Torrington; "for I myself met her coming away."</p> + +<p>"Then if that is the case, young ladies, there is certainly no use in my +telling any more lies about it; for that's a job I don't like to be put +upon, seeing as I am not over and above used to it. And so, as you know +it already, I'm quite ready and willing to tell you the truth.—Mrs. +Mowbray,—I ask your pardon, ladies, but I really can't call her by no +other name,—Mrs. Mowbray has been shut up in the library for above two +hours with my master."</p> + +<p>"How very strange!" exclaimed Rosalind thoughtfully. "Then I am sure she +has chosen this day for the same reason that I did. Mr. Cartwright was +sent for last night by the Earl of Harrowmore. Though he is not very +communicative about his adventures in general, he could not resist +mentioning this flattering circumstance at tea last night; adding, that +he could not refuse the excellent and pious old nobleman, who probably +was desirous of obtaining the benefit of his advice on some business of +importance. And this morning he set off in his travelling-carriage and +four post-horses with two out-riders, leaving word, as Judy told me, +that he should not return till to-morrow. But, good heavens! what can +Mrs. Cartwright have to say to Sir Gilbert? and how in the world did he +come to admit her, Thomas?"</p> + +<p>"Since you know so much, you may as well know all, ladies. The carriage, +sure enough, did not venture to drive up even to the back door without +leave asked of Sir Gilbert;—at least I suppose it was to ask leave, +that one of the new Park servants brought a note for him first. I took +it in myself to him, and said, as I was bid, that the man was to wait +for an answer. Never did I see mortal face screw itself up funnier than +Sir Gilbert's when he was reading that note: he looked for all the world +as if he wanted to whistle; howsomever, he did no such thing, but only +scrawled a bit of an answer as grave as a judge; and then it was, Miss +Mowbray, that he ordered me to say no word whatever of the Park +servant's coming, or of the carriage coming after, as it was likely to +do; and he sealed up his answer, and told me to give it to the man, and +then to go into the garden to look for you and the colonel, Miss +Mowbray, and bid you come in, as you know I did, miss: and after a bit +you went up stairs, miss, and the colonel's horse was ordered; and when +he was off and all clear, then, and not before, the carriage drove into +the stable-yard; and your poor mamma, Miss Mowbray, looking as white as +a sheet, went tottering and trembling in to Sir Gilbert, and there she +stayed till about ten minutes ago, when the bell rang and out she came +again, but looking, I thought, a deal less miserable."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Thomas," said Helen. "This is, I believe, all we wish to +know."</p> + +<p>The venerable-serving man took the hint and departed.</p> + +<p>"What can all this mean, Rosalind?" said her friend the moment the door +closed behind him. "Has any thing happened at home that can account for +it?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know how to answer you, my Helen, without appearing to know +more than I really do—for in honest truth I know nothing. Your mother, +it would be wrong to conceal it from you, Helen, is certainly very much +out of health, and for some weeks past has appeared, I think, out of +spirits and unhappy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rosalind! Do you think it is I who have made her so? Do you think +that my coming here has made her really unhappy?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do not: on the contrary, I am firmly persuaded she rejoices at +it. You know, dearest, that since her marriage I have never been in +great favour; and no wonder, considering the very particular aversion I +have ever felt, and perhaps manifested, towards her bridegroom. But more +than once, since you left us, she has spoken to me in a manner which +reminded me of the days that are gone; and once she said, when that +hateful cause of all harm, her Tartuffe husband, was not in the room, +'You must greatly miss poor Helen, my dear Rosalind.' I involuntarily +caught her hand and kissed it, earnestly fixing my eyes on hers, to +discover, if possible, what she thought and felt about you. She guessed +as much, I fancy, for she turned her head away from me; but she pressed +my hand, and said, almost in a whisper, 'Dear Helen! I trust that the +step she has taken will end in her happiness.' He entered just as she +had uttered these words; and the manner in which she started, and +withdrew her hand, when the handle of the door turned, told me plainly +enough that her love for her holy spouse was not of that perfect kind +which casteth out fear. There was, moreover, Helen, a tear in her eye +when she named you."</p> + +<p>"Oh! my dear, dear mother!" cried Helen, her own eyes overflowing with +freshly-awakened tenderness. "To hear this, Rosalind, is a joy far +greater than I can express: and yet, if this returning love is obtained +at the expense of her own happiness, I am a wretch to rejoice at it."</p> + +<p>"You would be a wretch to purchase it at that price perhaps," replied +Rosalind,—"but not for rejoicing at it, now that, poor soul! she has +already paid the penalty, as, in truth, I fear she has, of peace of mind +for returning reason."</p> + +<p>"And what has occurred, Rosalind, to make you think her less happy than +heretofore?"</p> + +<p>"It is not very easy to answer that question, Helen. Excepting the death +of poor Henrietta, and the awful scene which preceded it, in which she +accused her father, in the presence of Mrs. Cartwright, Fanny, and +myself, of pretty nearly all the sins and iniquities of which a man can +be guilty;—excepting this, I can hardly say that any particular +circumstance has occurred which can account for the evident change in +your mother's spirits, which was quite as evident before the death of +Henrietta as since."</p> + +<p>"You have observed no unkindness towards her on his part, Rosalind?" +said Helen anxiously.</p> + +<p>"N ... o; certainly I have witnessed nothing that could be called +unkindness. You know, Helen, he can smile and smile—but he seems, I +think, to watch her. More than once, when I have been going to her, I +have met him coming away; and when he has seen me, he has turned back, +and re-entered her room with me. I know I have been savagely cross to +her ever since her hateful marriage: but since I have seen her looking +ill and miserable, my hard heart has softened towards her, and I have +sought, instead of avoiding her; and I am quite sure, that from the +moment he perceived this change, he has been on the <i>qui vive</i> to +prevent our being alone together."</p> + +<p>"My poor dear mother! I fear, I fear that she may live to deplore this +marriage as much as we have ever done. You know, Rosalind, that we never +believed Mr. Cartwright to be the holy man he proclaimed himself; but +since I have been here, I have heard dreadful stories of him. Lady +Harrington's maid is a prodigious gossip; and though I really give her +no encouragement, she never dresses me without telling me some new +report respecting him. He has, however, a very strong party at +Wrexhill, who appear firmly to believe that he is a perfect saint. But +here, you know, they are literally and figuratively of another parish, +and seem to make it a matter of duty to their own pastor to believe all +the tales they can pick up about him. There is one very shocking story +indeed, that is, I think, quite incredible. They say that Mrs. Simpson +has been seduced by him, and only went away to be confined."</p> + +<p>"Incredible. No!—this story is a commentary on one part of Henrietta's +dying accusation. She said he would have a child born to him at +Gloucester nearly at the same time as that expected here."</p> + +<p>"And it is to Gloucester she is gone!" exclaimed Helen. "Gracious +heaven, what a wretch!"</p> + +<p>"That this at least is true, I have not the slightest doubt," rejoined +Rosalind: "and what is more, I am certain your mother has heard it. You +know that this precious vicar invited Mrs. Simpson's child to pass the +period of her absence at the Park; and you must remember how very fond +of the poor little thing your mother seemed to be, actually listening to +her parrot performances in the fanatical line as if she had been +inspired. It was before you went, I think, that I laughed at her so +immoderately for saying that she prayed for currant pudding every night, +and that Mrs. Cartwright was so very angry with me about it. Well! +observe the change, and account for it as you will. For the last two or +three weeks she has hardly spoken to the child, or taken the least +notice of her: and if I am not greatly mistaken, it is for about the +same period that her health and her spirits have appeared to droop. +Depend upon it, Helen, some one has carried this report to her."</p> + +<p>"It certainly seems probable. Poor, poor mamma! How terrible her +feelings must be, Rosalind, if from thinking this man something half-way +between heaven and earth, she has really found out that he is an +hypocrite and a villain!"</p> + +<p>"Terrible indeed! I would that she had not so well deserved it, Helen. +But now comes the question: <i>what has brought her here</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I think I understand that perfectly," replied Helen. "No sooner are her +eyes opened to the real character of this man, than her tenderness for +us returns. I have little doubt that she came here to speak of me. +Perhaps, Rosalind, she has heard, and you too, of my engagement with +Colonel Harrington?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we have, Helen," replied Rosalind, laughing: "and I think it +likely that you have partly read the riddle right, and that she may have +taken advantage of her watchful husband's absence to express to Sir +Gilbert her approbation,—which, you know, is necessary before you can +be married, Helen."</p> + +<p>"I know it is," replied Helen, colouring: "and if indeed she has given +this consent, she has removed the only obstacle to our immediate +marriage."</p> + +<p>"Then heartily I wish you joy, sweet friend!" said Rosalind, kissing +her. "Novice as I am, I found out long ago—did I not, Helen?—that you +and Colonel Harrington, or Colonel Harrington and you—I really do not +know how to express myself to spare your beautiful blushes, my dear +friend,—but I am very, very glad of this—in every way it is so +desirable. Poor dear little Fanny, whose hair is gently creeping down +into ringlets again, will find a fitter home with you, Helen, than +Cartwright Park can be for her."</p> + +<p>"How fast your fancy runs, Rosalind! How do we know that my mother's +visit," (and Helen's bright blushes all forsook her as she spoke,)—"how +do we know that it was not to forbid this marriage that she came, and +not to permit it?"</p> + +<p>"Two months ago, had the same thing occurred, I should have thought so: +now I cannot think it. However, Helen, this suspense cannot last long. +Although Sir Gilbert forbad his servants to mention your mother's visit, +for fear perhaps that it should reach the ears of her husband, you may +depend upon it that he will inform you of it himself. But I must go, +dearest!—I by no means wish this instance of positive rebellion to the +commands of my guardian should be known. You must remember the command I +long ago received not to carry on any correspondence with the family at +Oakley; and this command has never been rescinded. So adieu, my dearest +Helen!—I am quite persuaded now that nothing which you could write +would reach me at the Park; but unless I am positively locked up, we may +surely contrive to meet without my again performing this desperate feat +of disobedience. Could you not wander in the fields sometimes?"</p> + +<p>"I have done so constantly, dear Rosalind; but ever and always in vain."</p> + +<p>"That has not been because you were forgotten; but I have seldom left +poor Henrietta, and never long enough to have reached the fields. But +now I certainly can manage this. I should like to bring poor Fanny with +me: but this I will not do, for fear of drawing down the anger of Mr. +Cartwright upon her—which she would not bear, I think, so well as +I.—But ought I not, before I go, to ask for Lady Harrington?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes!—I am sure she would be so very glad to see you!"</p> + +<p>A message was accordingly sent to my lady's closet, and the two girls +requested to go to her there. Helen was not without hope that she would +mention to her Mrs. Cartwright's visit; but she was disappointed: nor +was there the slightest reason to believe from her manner that she was +acquainted with it. She appeared exceedingly pleased at seeing Miss +Torrington, and told her that whenever she could venture to repeat the +visit without endangering the tranquillity of her present irksome home, +they should all be delighted to see her.</p> + +<p>It was now, however, high time for her to depart; but while returning +through the breakfast-room in her way to the hall-door, she met Sir +Gilbert. The remembrance of her last interview with him, and its +abortive result, brought sudden blushes to her cheeks. She remembered, +too, that she had never offered any explanation to Sir Gilbert for so +suddenly changing her mind; and altogether she felt so painfully +embarrassed, that she hardly ventured to raise her eyes to his face. The +voice in which he greeted her, however, soon chased every feeling of +embarrassment, or any thing else that was not agreeable, for it spoke +nothing but welcome and hilarity.</p> + +<p>"What!—The bright-eyed Rosalind? Come to look after the runaway?—But I +hope you have not scolded her, Miss Torrington, for leaving you all in +the lurch? Upon my honour, young lady, she was very right. Take my word +for it, she never did a wiser thing in her life. But has she told you +the scrape she has got into, Miss Torrington? Poor child!—no sooner ran +away from a snake of a stepfather, than she has got noosed by a tiger +of a father-in-law.—Ask my lady else. Has she told you all about it, my +dear?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not quite all, Sir Gilbert;—but quite enough to make me very +happy, and wish her joy, and you too, most heartily."</p> + +<p>"Thankye my dear;—I am very much obliged to you. I feel very much +inclined to wish myself joy, I assure you, and my pretty daughter too. +Kiss me, Helen! Bless you, my dear child, and Charles too! That's a fine +fellow, Miss Torrington! And bless your pretty Fanny!—especially as her +soul, you say, has found its way out of Limbo. It is a remarkably fine, +pleasant day, Miss Torrington: such a day as this always puts one in +spirits."</p> + +<p>Rosalind turned to give a farewell embrace to her friend, whispering in +her ear as she did so, "At least there has been no refusal of consent, +Helen!—Adieu!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIVC" id="CHAPTER_XIVC"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH SUNDRY VISITS ARE MADE.</h3> + + +<p>Whatever kind or remorseful feelings had led Mrs. Cartwright to make +this unexpected visit to Oakley, she seemed to consider this one visit +enough—for it was never repeated: and however tenderly she might watch +over the fate of Helen, it was evident that she could only venture to do +so secretly; for Sir Gilbert never mentioned her visit to any one. But, +knowing she had been there, Helen's heart was satisfied when Sir +Gilbert, joining her hand and his son's together, said, "Make haste, +children;—get your courting done without loss of time; or you may find +yourselves married before it is finished, and so continue lovers after +the knot is tied,—a thing never heard of in civilised society."</p> + +<p>"—But very likely, nevertheless, to happen to my Helen's husband, let +her marry when she will," said Colonel Harrington.</p> + +<p>To her affianced husband Helen could have no secrets, and accordingly he +had been made acquainted with all that she knew respecting her mother's +most unexpected appearance at Oakley. He drew the same inference from +his father's joyous manner after it that Rosalind had done; and when Sir +Gilbert alluded to their marriage as an event which was speedily to take +place, no doubt remained either on his mind, or on that of the happy +Helen, that Mrs. Cartwright, having learned, from some source which her +husband could not impede, the proposal that had been made her, she had +proved her maternal feelings not extinct, though they had seemed +obscured, and ventured to make this secret visit for the purpose of +formally giving her consent, and thereby removing the only obstacle to +their marriage.</p> + +<p>Instructions were accordingly immediately given by Sir Gilbert in +person, for he declared that he must see the lawyer himself; and every +thing relating to settlements was speedily put in train. The day after +the baronet's return to Oakley, he sent to Miss Mowbray, requesting that +she would meet him in the library; and having greeted her on her +entrance with even more than usual affection, he said, "Do you think, my +dear Helen, that you should have courage to make your mother a visit +even in the lion's den? Do you think you could have courage to spend +half an hour at the Park? I don't think it likely that Master Corbold +has forgotten his horsewhipping as yet;—so I own I think you may +venture."</p> + +<p>"I will go anywhere, or do any thing that you think I ought to do, Sir +Gilbert; and to see my dear mother and poor Fanny once more would indeed +be a pleasure to me. We have met Rosalind twice since you went to +London, and she gives a very indifferent account of mamma's health."</p> + +<p>"Poor thing! you shall go immediately, my dear child; if you have no +objection. I have ordered the carriage. William and I will go in it with +you as far as the Lodge, and there we will wait your return. If you +delay it above an hour, we shall drive up to the house to inquire what +is become of you; but you may return to us as much sooner as you like."</p> + +<p>The carriage drove to the door as he spoke; but Helen kept it not +waiting long, and on returning from her room to the hall found Colonel +Harrington waiting to hand her into it. The two gentlemen stepped in +after her, and in a moment she found herself on her road to +<i>Cartwright</i> Park, accompanied by Sir Gilbert and Colonel Harrington.</p> + +<p>The strangeness of this came upon her so forcibly, that she exclaimed, +almost unconsciously, "Is it possible!"</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder at your saying that, my dear," said Sir Gilbert: "It is +very natural. But you see, Helen, that as your mother has testified no +dislike to your approaching marriage, or taken any steps to oppose it, I +feel that she may expect, perhaps,—in short, I think it is very right +that you should call upon her; and to prove that, angry as I have been, +I do not bear malice, you may give her this little note from me, Helen. +But for your life, child, do not let that wretch her husband see her +receive it. I believe, in my soul, he would be the death of her if he +thought she could touch a bit of paper from me.—But the truth is, +Helen, I think she has suffered enough,—and, in short my dear, I +forgive her with all my heart: and I should like her to have this bit of +a note from me, and to get a friendly word of answer in return, if I +could. But for Heaven's sake be careful, child!"</p> + +<p>"Fear not, Sir Gilbert, that I should run any risk of bringing more +misery upon her than, I fear, she has already. I will be very +careful,—and most thankful am I to be the bearer of a word of kindness +to her from you!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Helen, that's all right,—by-gones are by-gones. Here we +are at the Lodge. Look at your watch, my dear; and remember, if you do +not return in an hour, we shall come and fetch you. I fear nothing, for +the fellow knows you are under the protection of the Oakley horsewhips; +only it is as well to leave nothing to chance. If you cannot in any way +escape the eyes of the villain, bring my note back again.—There, now, +dear, get out. Good b'ye!"</p> + +<p>The colonel was already at the door to assist her, and whispered +earnestly as he quitted her hand, "You will not stay the full hour, +Helen, if—you love me."</p> + +<p>With a step as light as Camilla's, Helen traversed the Park, and, with a +heart throbbing with many feelings, wound her way through sundry +well-known twistings and turnings that brought her to the same door by +which she had quitted the house on the memorable day of the Fancy Fair. +From what Rosalind had told her, she thought that if she could find her +way unannounced to her mother's dressing-room, it was probable she +should find her alone, and thereby be enabled to perform her errand +without danger. In the stable-yard she saw one of the vicar's +regenerated stable-boys; but he did not appear to take much notice of +her, and she succeeded in reaching her mother's dressing-room without +interruption.</p> + +<p>She had calculated rightly. Mrs. Cartwright was sitting, or rather +lying, alone in her dressing-room; for she was stretched upon a sofa, +totally unemployed, and appearing so ill that Helen almost uttered a cry +as she looked at her.</p> + +<p>At the sight of her daughter, Mrs. Cartwright started violently, and +rising from her recumbent posture, threw her arms round her with even +passionate fondness. But dear, inexpressibly dear as was this moment to +Helen's heart, she did not forget her commission; and while her lips +still rested on her mother's cheek, she drew Sir Gilbert's note from her +pocket and placed it in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Read it quick, dearest mother! I know not what it contains; but Sir +Gilbert charged me to let no one see you read it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright seemed not to require any stimulant to caution, for +reading it rapidly, she tore it into atoms, and then, removing some of +the fuel from the grate, which though not lighted was prepared for fire, +she carefully placed the fragments on the rest, and covered them up so +that no speck remained visible. While thus employed, she said to Helen +almost in a whisper, "Thank Sir Gilbert; tell him I am better,—at least +well enough to take an airing."</p> + +<p>Helen had reason to rejoice that she had lost no time in executing her +commission; for scarcely had her mother in all haste resumed her place +upon the sofa, when Mr. Cartwright entered.</p> + +<p>By some means or other her arrival had certainly been announced to him, +for his countenance and manner expressed agitation, but not surprise. He +looked keenly first at his wife, and then at her; but they were prepared +for it; and excepting that Mrs. Cartwright's pale cheek was slightly +flushed, and Helen's brow contracted by an involuntary frown, they +neither of them betrayed any symptom of agitation.</p> + +<p>The Vicar of Wrexhill uttered no word of salutation or of welcome to his +unexpected guest; nor did Helen address him. He placed himself, without +any pretext of occupation whatever, in a chair commanding a full view +of his wife and her daughter, and folding his arms, fixed his eyes first +on one and then on the other with the most undisguised determination of +watching them both.</p> + +<p>The first words spoken were by Helen.</p> + +<p>"May I be permitted to see my sister Fanny?" said she.</p> + +<p>She addressed herself to her mother, but received her answer from Mr. +Cartwright.</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly no!—You have stolen into my house by a back entrance, +and by the same you may leave it; you are used to the mode, it will not +puzzle you; and, if I may venture to give my opinion on the subject, the +sooner you again make use of this appropriate mode of retreat the +better."</p> + +<p>"I believe you are right, sir," replied Helen coldly; adding very +judiciously, "The reception I have met with has not been such as to give +me any inclination to repeat the visit. Good morning, ma'am,—Good +morning, Mr. Cartwright."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cartwright, inexpressibly relieved by this happy stroke of policy, +stiffly bowed her head; and Helen retreated, very literally obeying the +mandate of the imperious master of the mansion, and returning by the way +she came, soon rejoiced her friends by her unhoped-for reappearance +before half the allotted time had expired. Helen most accurately +reported every word and look; which seemed not only to satisfy, but +perfectly to enchant Sir Gilbert. He laughed, rubbed his hands, made her +repeat every word again, and literally chuckled with delight as she +dwelt upon the fortunate rapidity with which she had seized the only +available moment to do his bidding.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, Sir Gilbert, when asked by his lady what he +was going to do with himself, replied that he thought he should ride +over to Wrexhill. He did so, and returned only in time to dress himself +for dinner. The following day, and again the day after, the same +question, answer, and result occurred; it being quietly remarked +moreover by the rest of the party, that the particularly sweet temper +which the worthy baronet had brought from London appeared day by day to +be wearing away, and something of what his lady called his "tiger mood" +taking its place.</p> + +<p>On the fourth morning, her ladyship's daily inquiry having received in +very sullen accents the same reply. Colonel Harrington remarked upon it +as soon as he was gone; adding, that he had a great inclination to go +over to Wrexhill, in order to discover, if possible, how his honoured +but mysterious father employed himself there.</p> + +<p>"I really shall be very much obliged to you, William, if you will find +this out," said Lady Harrington. "It is the first time since we two +became one that I have ever suspected him of having a secret; and the +consequence is, that I am like to die of curiosity."</p> + +<p>"Thus encouraged, I shall be gone instantly. Take care of Helen, mother, +till I come back." And with these words he departed, leaving the two +ladies leisure and inclination to discuss at length the many singular +caprices of which Sir Gilbert had been lately guilty.</p> + +<p>At about four o'clock Colonel Harrington returned; but his report tended +rather to thicken than to elucidate the mystery. He had, without being +remarked himself, seen his father walking up and down the town +apparently in a state of the most perfect idleness; and then the +Cartwright carriage drove by the shop in which he had fixed his +look-out. Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright were both in it. It stopped at the +next door, which was that of the haberdasher, and they entered the shop +together. In about ten minutes Mr. Cartwright came out; and he heard him +say to his lady, (as he supposed,) "Get your business done as quickly as +you can: I shall be back in ten minutes." He then re-entered the +carriage and drove off. The instant he was gone, Sir Gilbert came out of +the post-office into which he had darted as the carriage passed, and +entered the shop in which Mrs. Cartwright was left. The interview, if he +had sought one with her, certainly did not last above five minutes; when +he reappeared, followed by the master of the shop making innumerable +bows. Sir Gilbert cut his obsequious civilities short by heartily +shaking hands with him, and then departed.</p> + +<p>"Where he went next," continued the colonel, "I know not; but not +choosing to meet him, and feeling somehow or other perfectly persuaded +that he had seen Mrs. Cartwright, and that this interview, short as it +was, had been what he waited for, I got my horse and galloped home as +fast as I could."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he finished his narrative, when Sir Gilbert arrived. He +said not a word, however, to throw any light upon his own adventures; +yet was he neither silent nor sad.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Several weeks elapsed after this without bringing to Helen any tidings +of her mother. Her appearance and manner during their short interview +had indicated so much languor and ill-health, that her anxiety +respecting her became very acute, and daily did she haunt every spot +where it was probable she should meet with Rosalind, but in vain—no +Rosalind came, and nothing was left but to inquire through servants and +tradespeople the news of the Park. Nothing however, obtained in this way +afforded her satisfaction: for not only did every report so obtained +tend to confirm the idea that Mrs. Cartwright was an invalid, but +notwithstanding they were on many points uncertain and contradictory, +they all agreed in representing the conduct of Mr. Cartwright as being +strangely altered, and giving ground of fear to those who loved or +pitied his unfortunate wife, that he would every day become a harsher +and more jealous tyrant to her, for that of late he appeared fearful of +leaving her for an hour alone.</p> + +<p>Happy therefore as Helen's individual prospects appeared to be, a heavy +weight and sad foreboding hung upon her spirits. Her brother's letters +too, though eloquent in affection, and in every expression of joy at her +approaching marriage, spoke of himself in a tone of such hopeless +despondency as dashed her happier destiny with bitterness. It was no +slight augmentation of these sorrows that she felt herself in a great +measure obliged to conceal them. To Colonel Harrington, indeed she +ventured to confess that her anxious solicitude for those she loved +tarnished her happiness: but this confidence brought with it more sorrow +than comfort, for she perceived but too plainly that she had blighted +his happiness while confessing the imperfection of her own.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrington, though all kindness and even tenderness to her, seemed +almost cautiously to avoid every subject that led her to talk of her +family: and as for Sir Gilbert, he appeared to be enjoying a state of +spirits so enviable in their uniform cheerfulness, that to mention fear +or sorrow to him would have been wanton cruelty.</p> + +<p>At length, from the butcher, or the baker, or some other of those +indispensable functionaries who know all things concerning those who +live, move, and have their being, by means of their ministering +ambulations, and who fail not to make all they know to circulate as +freely as they do themselves,—at length, from some such the news +arrived at Oakley that Mrs. Cartwright had presented her husband with a +son; and moreover, that the mother and child were as well as could be +expected.</p> + +<p>To Helen this intelligence brought the most unfeigned joy. She believed +that all her fears for her mother's health had been unfounded; and that, +though it seemed certain that she must live banished from her recovered +love, she might at least enjoy the comfort of believing that she was +well and happy.</p> + +<p>On Sir Gilbert the intelligence produced a very different effect. As +Helen regained her spirits, he lost his; and though he was still gentle +and kind to her, he was upon the whole as cross, crusty, and +disagreeable as it is easy to imagine.</p> + +<p>One morning, while Colonel Harrington and Helen were, sauntering in the +avenue, he enjoying her improved cheerfulness, and she secretly blaming +herself for having ever suffered him to pine for the want of it, they +perceived a servant in the Cartwright livery galloping towards the +house. The same idea, the same terror, though felt in a most unequal +degree, struck them both. Helen turned deadly pale; and so persuaded did +she feel that her mother was dead, that when they stopped the man and +received from him a verbal notice that her mother was very ill and +wished to see her, the words, though alarming enough in themselves, +seemed to be a relief. They returned with all haste to the house to +order the carriage for her; and while she was preparing for this sad and +most unexpected expedition, the colonel questioned the servant, and +learned from him that Mrs. Cartwright's infant having died in +convulsions in her arms, she had fallen into a state considered by her +attendants as extremely dangerous; that during the whole of the last +night she had remained nearly insensible, but having recovered her +intellects and speech, her entreaties to see Helen were so urgent that +Mr. Cartwright (who, as the man said, never left her bedside for an +instant,) consented that she should be sent for. Miss Fanny and Miss +Torrington were also with her, he added, and young Mr. Mowbray had been +written to; but he believed, from what the people about her said, that +there was little chance of her surviving till he arrived.</p> + +<p>Having learned these particulars, the colonel sought his father, not +only to communicate them, but to ask his opinion as to the propriety of +his accompanying Helen on this sad visit.</p> + +<p>"I cannot bear," he added, "that she should go alone."</p> + +<p>"Of course, young sir, you cannot," replied Sir Gilbert, with a sudden, +and, as his son thought, not very feeling return of cheerfulness, "I +should as soon think of letting her walk thither on all-fours: but your +lovership must excuse me if I declare that it is my intention to +accompany the young lady myself. I am sorry for you, William;—but so it +must be. There's the carriage;—go to my lady's closet, and let her hear +the news."</p> + +<p>So saying, the baronet, without waiting to receive any answer, hastened +to the door, and reached it just as Helen was stepping into the +carriage. Without consulting her on the subject, he stepped in after +her, and they drove away.</p> + +<p>It would be doing an injustice to the essentially kind feelings of Sir +Gilbert not to avow that his manner expressed very tender sympathy with +Helen's natural and heavy sorrow: but the minds of both were full, and +few words passed between them during their drive.</p> + +<p>The lodge-gates were standing wide open, and they dashed through them +without seeing any one of whom the trembling Helen could make inquiry; +but once arrived at the house, all suspense was soon over: Mrs. +Cartwright had breathed her last about ten minutes before they got +there.</p> + +<p>Poor Helen's first burst of grief was terrible. The remembrance of her +poor mother's last embrace, though it became the most soothing comfort +to her during her after life, seemed at that moment only to soften her +heart to greater suffering. Passive, and almost unconscious, she +suffered Sir Gilbert to lift her out of the carriage and lay her on a +sofa in the drawing-room: and there, her tears flowing fast, and her +very soul, as it seemed, melting within her, she might probably have +long given way to her absorbing grief, had not surprise acted on her +faculties more powerfully than salts or hartshorn, and forced her to +open her eyes and her ears to witness the scene that passed before her.</p> + +<p>Having seen her placed on a sofa with a female servant standing by her, +Sir Gilbert turned his attention from Helen, and politely requested +permission to wait on Mr. Cartwright.</p> + +<p>Many, many things of an ordinary nature might have passed around her +without rousing Helen from her deep and most true sorrow; but this +request, and still more the tone in which it was spoken, awakened all +her attention to what followed.</p> + +<p>The servant to whom Sir Gilbert addressed himself executed his +commission promptly and effectually; for almost immediately after +closing the drawing-room door, he threw it open again, and his master +entered.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright walked into the room with a proud and lofty aspect, and a +something both of sternness and of triumph on his brow, which Helen +thought Sir Gilbert would not easily endure; but, to her extreme +surprise, the baronet accosted him with a degree of almost servile +civility, bowing low, and uttering a few words of respectful condolence +with as much deference and ceremony as if addressing a sovereign prince +on the loss of his consort.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cartwright replied with equal decorum; but the glance of pride and +triumph, not quite unmixed with something that gleamed like malice too, +shot from his eye, and Helen shuddered as she looked at him.</p> + +<p>"I presume that you are aware, Mr. Cartwright," said Sir Gilbert with +imperturbable suavity, "that your late lady's eldest daughter, Miss +Mowbray, is about to contract a marriage with my son. Her remaining +therefore a member of my family will certainly be very agreeable to us +all; but at this painful moment, it would doubtless be a consolation to +the sisters, as well as to their friend, Miss Torrington, could they be +together. Will you therefore permit me, sir, to convey the three young +ladies to my house together, there to await the opening of the late Mrs. +Cartwright's will?"</p> + +<p>"For this young lady, sir," replied the Vicar of Wrexhill, pointing to +Helen, "as she has chosen to exchange the protection of her own mother +for that of your son, I have nothing to say,—excepting, perhaps, that +the sooner she leaves my house, the better satisfied I shall feel +myself. But for Miss Torrington and Miss Fanny Mowbray, I must think +further of it before I resign them to any one."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," replied Sir Gilbert with, if possible, still-increasing +urbanity, "we must in this and all things submit ourselves wholly to +your will and pleasure. But may I, in testimony of my respect to the +memory of a lady towards whom perhaps I have behaved with some +harshness,—may I hope, Mr. Cartwright, that you will permit me to +attend her funeral?"</p> + +<p>"Of this too I must think further," replied Mr. Cartwright with much +haughtiness.</p> + +<p>"And her son?" rejoined the humbled baronet;—"I trust he will be +present at the last sad ceremony?"</p> + +<p>"It is probable I may permit him to be so," replied the vicar, drawing +himself up into an attitude that might really have been called majestic. +"But permit me to observe, Sir Gilbert Harrington,—such is, I think, +your name,—that I require not in the arrangement of my affairs counsel +or advice from any man,—and least of all—from you."</p> + +<p>So saying, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.</p> + +<p>"Come, my poor Helen!" said the repulsed baronet with great gentleness, +and not in the least, as it seemed, resenting the insolence with which +he had been treated,—"Come—I would have wished to have taken your poor +little sister and and your friend Rosalind home with us. But Heaven's +will—and the vicar's—must be done."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVC" id="CHAPTER_XVC"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. CARTWRIGHT'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.</h3> + + +<p>It was probably the love of seeing an enemy mortified,—which, it may be +feared, is too common to all men,—which induced the Vicar of Wrexhill, +notwithstanding the deep aversion he felt for Sir Gilbert Harrington, to +suffer him not only to be invited to attend Mrs. Cartwright's funeral, +but also to be present at the opening of her will.</p> + +<p>To both invitations the baronet returned a gracious acceptance, and +accordingly once more found himself at the Park on the day that its +gates were again to open to the funeral array of its owner.</p> + +<p>Charles Mowbray, as Sir Gilbert's carriage drew up, stood ready on the +steps of the mansion to receive him; and tears moistened the eyes of +both as they silently shook hands and entered the drawing-room, where +the funeral guests were assembled.</p> + +<p>The room was full. Not only all such saintly scions of the new birth as +their esprit de corps always brought together were present there, but as +many of the neighbouring gentry as he could collect were now assembled +to witness the proud fanatic's crowning triumph. One circumstance only +tended to damp the happiness of this full success, this great conclusion +to all his hopes and wishes,—his son was not present at it: and indeed +so great had been the licence granted him, that he was at this time +wandering, his proud father knew not where.</p> + +<p>Nothing however, notwithstanding his deep-felt happiness, could be +better got up than Mr. Cartwright's sorrow as he watched his wife laid +in the tomb: never was white cambric used with better grace. Poor +Charles the while sheltered himself behind the stalwart figure of Sir +Gilbert, and wept unseen.</p> + +<p>Nearly the whole of the company who attended the funeral were invited to +be present at the ceremony of opening of the will, which it was the +pleasure of the bereaved widower should follow immediately after it.</p> + +<p>Again the large drawing-room was surrounded by a circle of sable guests; +not one of whom but felt more than usual curiosity at the opening a will +upon which hung so large a property, and concerning which there were +such conflicting interests.</p> + +<p>Sir Gilbert considerately led his friend Charles into a corner where he +was not conspicuous, and placed himself beside him; both of them being +in good part concealed by the tall and portly person of a gentleman whom +young Mowbray had never seen before, and whom indeed several persons, +not too much interested in the scene to note what passed, had observed +to enter with the funeral train after its return from the church, +although he had not been present at the interment.</p> + +<p>It is probable, however, that the master of the house himself was not +aware of this; for he took no notice of him, and was in fact too fully +occupied by the business afoot to know more or to think more of those +around him than that they were there to witness the proudest and +happiest moment of his life.</p> + +<p>All the company being seated, and mute attentive silence hovering over +all, Mr. Corbold, after bowing to two or three distinguished personages, +whose seats were placed near the table at which he had stationed himself +as if to assure their attentive witnessing of the act he was about to +perform, broke open the seals of the parchment he held in his hand, and +having spread it fairly open upon the table, read its contents aloud +with a clear voice.</p> + +<p>Never man had a more attentive auditory; no sound or movement +interrupted the lecture; and when it was concluded, a murmur only, of +rather shame-faced congratulation from the particular friends of Mr. +Cartwright, broke the continued silence.</p> + +<p>Something, meanwhile, very like a groan burst from the breast of the +unhappy Mowbray; but Sir Gilbert Harrington hemmed so stoutly at the +same moment, that no one heard it.</p> + +<p>The company had already risen from their seats, and some were crowding +round the meek and tranquil-looking vicar,—nay, one active carrier of +evil tidings had slipped out of the room to inform Miss Torrington and +Fanny of the nature of the departed lady's testament,—when the tall +gentleman who sat before the disinherited son arose, and with great +politeness requested the attention of the company for one moment before +they separated, for the purpose of hearing a document which he should be +happy to have the pleasure of reading to them, and which, if not of so +extraordinary a nature as the one they had just listened to, and +therefore less likely to excite general attention, was at least of later +date.</p> + +<p>Every one appeared to listen to this address with interest, and nearly +the whole company immediately reseated themselves. Some keen-eyed +persons fancied they perceived the Vicar of Wrexhill change colour; but +they were probably mistaken; for when Mr. Corbold whispered to him, "In +the name of Heaven, what does this mean, cousin!—You never left her, +did you?" he replied, also in a whisper, but in a steady voice, "Never +for time enough to draw a codicil,—it is impossible!" And having so +spoken, he too reseated himself in the attitude of a listener.</p> + +<p>The tall gentleman then drew forth from his pocket another parchment, +purporting to be the last will of the same lady, containing even more +skins that the first; and running over with technical volubility a +preamble, only important as describing the testator's state of mind, he +proceeded to the more essential portion of the document, and then read +slowly and loudly, so that all men might hear, the bequest of all she +died possessed of to her beloved son Charles Mowbray; the only +deductions being legacies of fifty thousand pounds to each of her +younger children, and her jewels to her daughter Helen, provided that +within one year from the date of the will she should marry, or have +married, Colonel William Harrington, of his Majesty's —— Dragoons.</p> + +<p>The name of Cartwright appeared not in any shape; probably because the +provision for her younger children would have included the infant yet +unborn when this will was made, had it survived her.</p> + +<p>This document was as fully and satisfactorily signed, sealed, witnessed, +and delivered, as the former one; the only difference being that it was +dated some months later.</p> + +<p>The pen that has traced these events is too feeble to portray the state +into which this change of scenery and decorations threw the Vicar of +Wrexhill. It would have been a great mercy for him if he had altogether +lost his senses; but no symptom of this sort appeared, beyond a short +paroxysm, during which he called upon Heaven to witness his promise of +going to law with Mr. Mowbray for the purpose of setting aside his +mother's will.</p> + +<p>After the first buzz produced by this second lecture had subsided, Sir +Gilbert Harrington arose and addressed the company with equal good taste +and good feeling. A few minutes' conversation with his young friend Mr. +Mowbray, he said, authorized him to assure the Vicar of Wrexhill that +whatever private property he could lay claim to (a wag here whispered, +"Sermons, surplices, and the like") should be packed up and sent to the +Vicarage, or any other place he would name, with the utmost attention +and care. He added very succinctly, and without a single syllable +unnecessarily irritating, that circumstances connected with the +situation of the ladies of the family rendered it necessary that the +reverend gentleman should not continue in the house; a necessity which, +it might be hoped, would be the less inconvenient from the circumstance +of his former residence being so near.</p> + +<p>While his old friend was uttering this extremely judicious harangue, +Charles escaped by a side door from the room, and bounding up the stairs +to Rosalind's dressing-room, where (though as yet he had hardly spoken +to her) he pretty well knew she was sitting with his sister Fanny, he +burst open the door, rushed in, and fell on his knees before her, +clasping her most daringly in his arms, and almost devouring her hands +with kisses.</p> + +<p>Fanny stood perfectly aghast at this scene. During the few days that +Charles had been at home she had truly grieved to see the decided +coldness and estrangement that was between Rosalind and him; and what +could have produced this sudden change she was totally unable to guess.</p> + +<p>Not one of the family party had entertained the slightest doubt that the +will, which Mr. Cartwright had more than once alluded to, was such as to +render his late wife's children wholly dependent upon him; and this +painful expectation had been already fully confirmed: but even if it had +proved otherwise, Fanny knew no reason why this should so change the +conduct of Charles towards Miss Torrington.</p> + +<p>Not so, however, the young lady herself. The vehement caresses of +Mowbray explained the whole matter to her as fully and as clearly as the +will itself could have done; and if she did bend forward her head till +her dark tresses almost covered his—and if under that thick veil she +impressed a wild and rapid kiss of joy upon his forehead, most people +would forgive her if they knew how well she had all the while guessed at +his misery, and how often her young heart had ached to think of it.</p> + +<p>This impropriety, however, such as it was, was really the only one +committed on the occasion. Sir Gilbert was an excellent man of business, +as was likewise the tall gentleman his attorney; so seals were put upon +all plate-chests, jewel-cases, and the like, except such as were proved +satisfactorily by Mr. Stephen Corbold to have been purchased since the +marriage of the widow Mowbray and Mr. Cartwright. All such were given +over to the packing-cases of the serious attorney and the serious +butler, and at half-past nine p.m. the Vicar of Wrexhill stepped into +his recently-purchased (but not paid-for) travelling carriage, and +turned his back on the Park—once more <i>Mowbray Park</i>—for ever.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But little remains to be said that may not easily be guessed at by the +accomplished novel-reader:—and for such, of course, these pages are +prepared.</p> + +<p>Little Mary Richards speedily became Lady Hilton; and Fanny Mowbray, +during a visit of some months at her Scotch castle, learned to think of +her religious sufferings with sufficient composure to enable her once +more to look forward as well as around her, with hope and enjoyment. And +who is there that can doubt that the lovely Fanny Mowbray, with +recovered senses and fifty thousand pounds, even though she did for ever +abandon her poetic pursuits, met, at no very advanced age, with a +husband worthy of her?</p> + +<p>The two tall Misses Richards ceased to be serious as soon as it became +decidedly <i>mauvais ton</i> at Wrexhill to be so: and in process of time +they too married; leaving their charming little mother leisure to +cultivate the friendship of Rosalind, who retained her partiality for +her, and enjoyed her friendship and society for many happy years.</p> + +<p>Need it be said that Rosalind and Helen were married on the same +day?—So it was, however; and Mr. Edward Wallace performed the ceremony, +the Vicar of Wrexhill being indisposed. Indeed the air of the Vicarage +evidently disagreed with him; but, by the influence of some of the most +distinguished of his party, both in religion and politics, he soon +obtained an exchange with a gentleman who held preferment in the Fens. +He did not, however, obtain a mitre, though a great many serious people +declared that he deserved it: a disappointment which was perhaps the +more cutting from the circumstance of Mr. Jacob's having joined a troop +of strolling players; and as he was not sufficiently successful amongst +them to add any glory thereby to the family name, the loss of episcopal +honours was the more severely felt.</p> + +<p>Every thing else, I think, went just as it ought to do. Poor Miss Mimima +was sent off to her mamma, who never again ventured to show her face at +Wrexhill; probably fearing that she might cease to be considered as the +principal person of the village.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mowbray speedily re-established Mr. Marsh in his school; the old +lawyer and apothecary returned; the newly-hired serious servants +retreated before the returning honest ones—and, in short, a whole +flight of fanaticals followed their incomparable vicar, till the pretty +village of Wrexhill once more became happy and gay, and the memory of +their serious epidemic rendered its inhabitants the most orderly, +peaceable, and orthodox population in the whole country.</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vicar of Wrexhill, by Mrs [Frances] Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VICAR OF WREXHILL *** + +***** This file should be named 36686-h.htm or 36686-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/8/36686/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +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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