CHAPTER x.
A TERMINATION.
Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremelyalarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastenedup stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there andlistened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an aweinto every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was noalteration in his patient.
"And he has not disturbed her?" cried Delvile.
"No, not at all."
"I think, then," said he, advancing, though trembling, "I will yet seeher once more."
"No, no, Mr Mortimer," cried the doctor, "why should you give yourselfso unnecessary a shock?"
"The shock," answered he, "is over!--tell me, however, is there anychance I may hurt _her_?"
"I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you."
"Well, then,--I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more--thatone glance!"--He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have dissuadedhim, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was prepared forthe worst, and forced himself into the room.
When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,--senseless, speechless,motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks withoutcolour, her eyes without meaning,--he shrunk from the sight, he leantupon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but,recovering from this first agony, he turned again to view her, andcasting up his eyes, fervently ejaculated, "Oh merciful powers! Take,or destroy her! let her not linger thus, rather let me lose herfor ever!--O far rather would I see her dead, glad in this dreadfulcondition!"
Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her,"I pray not now," he cried, "for thy life! inhumanly as I have treatedthee, I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no;quick be thy restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!--Ohmy Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death andinsanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, thanin all thy pride of health and beauty!"--
He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he cameback, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable;he kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form,and, recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintlyarticulated, "Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thywretched Delvile?--no, none! the hand of death is on her, and sheis utterly gone!--sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiringCecilia!--but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are watchingto receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were impiousto lament thou shouldst be parted from me.--Yet in thy tomb will bedeposited all that to me could render existence supportable, everyfrail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation ofsorrow!"--
Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change inhis patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returninghimself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seatedhimself by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expectedcrisis was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to bekept quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibilitywas evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from thepillow, looked round her, and called out, "where am I now?"
"Thank Heaven!" cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when DrLyster, by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quiterational.
Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violentlyfor joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief,ran instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings thather mistress had recovered her reason.
Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; butstood at some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission toapproach it.
Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored,and her intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedlysilent, to avoid the effort of speaking.
Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not evenDelvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, andvery calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemedmuch surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, whatof late had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by whatmeans she came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at presentnot to think upon the subject, and promised her a full account ofeverything, when she was stronger, and more fit for conversing.
This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, "Tell me," shesaid, "Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?"
"Yes, yes, you have several friends here," answered the Doctor, "only Ikeep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you."
She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, "You mustnot, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, Ithink, would much revive me."
"Ah, Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, who could not now restrainherself, "may not _I_, among the rest, come and speak to you?"
"Who is that?" said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;"is it my ever-dear Henrietta?"
"Oh this is joy indeed!" cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks andforehead, "joy that I never, never expected to have more!"
"Come, come," cried Dr Lyster, "here's enough of this; did I not do wellto keep such people off?"
"I believe you did," said Cecilia, faintly smiling; "my too kindHenrietta, you must be more tranquil!"
"I will, I will indeed, madam!--my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I willindeed!--now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweetvoice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for mywhole life!"
"Ah, sweet Henrietta!" cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, "you mustsuppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tellme, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?"
Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbationof that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was nowspringing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastilyarose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly thedanger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from hersight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that hemight now reasonably hope her recovery.
Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into hisarms, and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight topour forth fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, againembraced the Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears ofjoy, he could not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urgedhim to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returnedto Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked toher openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted withher marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each wasbetter able to support it.
Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed;but the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happychange, now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced forkeeping her quiet.
She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heartstill throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at herchamber door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time,her anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became soill, and c
onfined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obligedDr Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he mightcommunicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrateto her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonableconduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in hisabsence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate hismarriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlementsand preparations which were to precede its further publication. Hemeant, also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton,and then, after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to hismother, and waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have putin the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted fromhis chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? "No,"answered Ralph, "I am only come up to town with my lady."
"With your lady?" cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then intown?"
"Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's."
"At Mrs Belfield's?--is her daughter returned home?
"No, sir, we left her in the country."
He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusionof mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marchedon himself towards Belfield's.
The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near tohim, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Herletters had never hinted at such a purpose,--the news reached himonly by accident,--it was ten o'clock at night,--yet she was atBelfield's--though the sister was away,--though the mother wasprofessedly odious to her!--In an instant, all he had formerly heard,all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, andhe began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, andthat Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concludedthe whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tendernessvindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in muchdisorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourableexplanation.
The door was open,--a chaise was at it in waiting,--Mrs Belfield waslistening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and encreasedhis agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,--she toldhim he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises,was decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, andopened the door:--but when he saw them together,--the rest of the familyconfessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardlysupport himself.
"O Dr Lyster!" he continued, "ask of the sweet creature if thesecircumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seizedme? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hencethink my sufferings almost equal to my offence."
He then proceeded in his narration.
When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, hewent back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. Hecomplied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situationin which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as tomake his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his characterthat their abolition should be equally public.
When they were alone, "Belfield," he said, "to obviate any imputation ofimpertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have beentold by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concernsthe lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, anexplicit account of the purpose of your private conversation with her."
"Mr Delvile," answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, "I amnot commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put tome; yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, Ithink I am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assureyou, therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley Inever heard but by common report, that our being alone together was byboth of us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our housein calling at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister'sremoval to Mrs Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in hercondescension, was simply to be consulted upon a journey which she hasin contemplation to the South of France. And now, sir, having given youthis peaceable satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your serviceto offer any other."
Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; "What you assert," he said,"upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry andyour probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I amcontent, and by no means require the intervention of both."
They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctiliosatisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness ofCecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason ofher sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, tofind that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle,was in the house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at thedoor,--"Oh let me not," he continued, "even to myself, let me not tracethe agony of that moment!--where to seek her I knew not, why she was inLondon I could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postiliona new direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished toavoid me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposedBelfield a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,--athis own house,--at the coffee-house where I had left him,--in vain,wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he wentwith equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice weboth failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state,must inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
"I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,--my laborious search,my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the excess ofmy despair!--even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met with him thenext day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he bore withall my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose theremembrance of his high-souled patience.
"And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try,for you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with mysufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the soundof her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold outto me her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.--Oh, Dr Lyster!preserver of _my_ life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!"
"You must be calmer, Sir," said the Doctor, "before I make the attempt.These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, butthey will not do for an invalide."
He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressingwhatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening thewhole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of herperplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed withresentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for sometime to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, herimpatience became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtfulas compliance.
Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation headvanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorsefor the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horrorto behold her so ill and altered.
>
Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him,she attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone ofpleasure, though faintly, "Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?" but tooweak for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,trembling, and disordered.
Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their furtherconversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or hispassions: he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, "Sweetinjured excellence!" he cried, "wife of my heart! sole object of mychosen affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?--do Isee thee again?--art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?"then regarding her more fixedly, "Alas," he cried, "art thou indeed myCecilia! so pale, so emaciated!--Oh suffering angel! and couldst thouthen call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thydestroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?"
Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out tohim her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tearsstarted into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourlesscheeks.
"Angelic creature!" cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while hepressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, "can you give to meagain a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on theauthor of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt thepurity of a mind so seraphic!"
"Ah, Delvile!" cried she, a little reviving, "think no more of what ispast!--to see you,--to be yours,--drives all evil from my remembrance!"
"I am not worthy this joy!" cried he, rising, kneeling, and risingagain; "I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,--whenI believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion wereall I dared expect,--when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thyreason,--when the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receivethee."--
"Too kind, too feeling Delvile!" cried the penetrated Cecilia, "relieveyour loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightenedalready,--lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for_you_!"
"Oh words of transport and extacy!" cried the enraptured Delvile, "ohpartner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so latelyI thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony ofeternal separation!"--
"Come away, Sir, come away," cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Ceciliawas greatly agitated, "I will not be answerable for the continuation ofthis scene;" and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his franticrapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta,who had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardlyaudible, said, "Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy!happy as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice init if I was to die to make you happier!"
Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse withher.
The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second wasfar more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her amoment, Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too greatfor denial, yet too serene for danger.
The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair,prepared for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of hisprofession as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited uponhis father, to acquaint him with his present situation, solicit hisdirections for his future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate ageneral reconciliation.
Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, wasyet touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither hisdignity nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feelingto which, with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view ofher distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of hisson had struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by selfreproach, and pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he hadrefused to tenderness and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to changerepentance for tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom evenwith tears he embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronouncedhis forgiveness.
New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger togenerosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of hisremorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receiveher, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentlemanherself, whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverableloss of her, she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation forthe injuries he had done her.
_To Mr Monckton_.
I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your illoffices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproachessuperfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you;and that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me tothe Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now becomeone of it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to mycharge.
In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
CECILIA DELVILE.
Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
_To Mrs Mortimer Delvile_.
Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to thinkyou so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved youfrom a connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved,but not surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance youhave formed, nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to yourinnocence can, however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declareI believe it without taint.
* * * * *
Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at thedetection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior towhat he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: thatsagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions,and so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his ownfamily from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted hishouse he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, andeach waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which hehad been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry anddissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with muchmortification, "Is this all the grace accorded me?"
"Patience, patience, Sir," answered the Doctor; "when you have thwartedany body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will sendyou their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray letthe good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you havetaken such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having itin greater."
"O far from starting obstacles," cried Cecilia, "let us solicit areconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery ofDISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as wethink of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happinesstill forgiven and taken into favour?"
"True, my Cecilia," answered Delvile, "and generous and condescendingas true; and if _you_ can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbearmaking any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from theimpetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by theremembrance of your injuries."
"The whole of this unfortunate business," said Dr Lyster, "has been theresult of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by hisarbitrary will, as if a
n ordinance of his own could arrest the course ofnature! and as if _he_ had power to keep alive, by the loan of a name,a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr Mortimer,continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the wretchedgratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the solidhappiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, sowonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE youwill also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,either of reasoning or entreaty,--and I said all I could suggest, and Isuggested all a man need wish to hear,--was totally thrown away, tillI pointed out to him his _own_ disgrace, in having a _daughter-in-law_immured in these mean lodgings!
"Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, andthe sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failedto melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling hisname with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear hisson called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears ofthe _Three Blue Balls_! Thus the same passions, taking but differentdirections, _do_ mischief and _cure_ it alternately.
"Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You haveall, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, noone knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is thatnow, having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have knownenough of misery to be glad to keep its necessaries."
This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assistin removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remainedin town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back toSuffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible ofthe danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from itany pleasure.
Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she nowappeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the bestapartment in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics wereinstructed to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady HonoriaPemberton, who was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, whatMr Delvile accepted from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, inorder to do honour to his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the firstinterview, and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer wouldinstantly have had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing toexert herself, and hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she waswell able to remain some time longer in the drawing-room.
"My good friends," said Dr Lyster, "in the course of my long practice,I have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a littlestudying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to makeout, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to meat this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and thatyou, Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husbandor any father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can eitherhave or desire."
Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvileforced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoriagaily exclaimed, "Dr Lyster, when you say the _best_ and the most_faultless_, you should always add the rest of the company excepted."
"Upon my word," cried the Doctor, "I beg your ladyship's pardon; butthere is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then,that drives _etiquette_ out of his head, and makes him speak truthbefore he well knows where he is."
"O terrible!" cried she, "this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hopedthe town air would have taught you better things; but I find you havevisited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place."
"Whoever, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile, much offended, "is fit forDelvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every otherplace may by no means be fit for him."
"O yes, Sir," cried she, giddily, "every possible place will be fit forhim, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?"
"Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship," answered he,good-humouredly, "he is apt to think too much of the person, to careabout the place."
"Come, I begin to have some hopes of you," cried she, "for I see, for aDoctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only youhave one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said itfor a joke."
"Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both inword and look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick areformation to demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow.However, give me but a little time and a little encouragement, and, withsuch a tutress, 'twill be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons,learn the right method of seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion oftwisting words from meaning."
"But pray," cried she, "upon those occasions, always remember to lookserious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If youare tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis anexpedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being toofrisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives methe head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have theconstitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living solong at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of everysummer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning."
"The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, LadyHonoria," answered Mr Delvile, "will seldom be apt to injure his health,if he is conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degradedtheir memory."
"How vastly odious this new father of yours is!" said Lady Honoria, in awhisper to Cecilia; "what could ever induce you to give up your charmingestate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would reallyadvise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, totake an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you arean Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily becredited. And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you tomarry my little Lord Derford."
"Would you only, then," said Cecilia, "have me regain my freedom inorder to part with it?"
"Certainly," answered Lady Honoria, "for you can do nothing at allwithout being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackledthan a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know,has nothing to do but just to manage her husband."
"And that," said Cecilia, smiling, "you consider as a trifle?"
"Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for."
"You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!"
"O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may flyabout yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame asa jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he willnever have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer,you will not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the momentyou have put him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself,hold out your hand to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining somematerial point, make up at the first soft word."
"You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?"
"O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say anything, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought tobehave pretty, and seem contented."
"Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship," saidCecilia, "would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!"
"O, it would not signify at all," answered she, "for one's fathers, anduncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, andnot a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by ourconduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for theygi
ve us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the worldwhile we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lessonupon the harpsichord."
"And what else," said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this lastspeech, "need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyshipsurely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist orprofessor?"
"O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well forchildren, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, onehas quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places,and ordering new things, without all that torment of first and secondposition, and E upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!"
"Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting," said Mr Delvile,"that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little."
"O but I hate dignity!" cried she carelessly, "for it's the dullestthing in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were solittle amusing;--really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so littletalkative."
"I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily," answered he,highly piqued, "for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such asmine, will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the officeof amusing it!"
"O no, Sir," cried she, with pretended innocence, "nobody, I am sure,ever saw you with such a thought." Then, turning to Cecilia, she addedin a whisper, "You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detestthis old cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate himyourself?"
"I hope," said Cecilia, "to have no reason."
"Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious,I should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps meat all alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at ourhouse let me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupidold chaperons, that giving them a little torment is really the onlyentertainment I can procure myself. O--but I had almost forgot to tellyou a most delightful thing!"
"What is it?"
"Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my fatherwill quarrel with old Mr Delvile!"
"And is that such a delightful thing!"
"O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, youknow, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looksfrightfullest."
"When Lady Honoria whispers," cried Mortimer, "I always suspect somemischief."
"No indeed," answered her ladyship, "I was merely congratulating MrsMortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, Idon't know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have longbeen convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the wholetime I was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at thevery sound of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked toher of my Lord Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousandtimes a better husband."
"If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile;"your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of yourfamily, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncleand myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than anew-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer."
"Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, whichwould have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of newrelations. Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble bloodof the Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, everybody, I fancy, would have cared for _that_."
"Every body, then," said Mr Delvile, "must be highly mercenary andignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, wouldbe thought contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading acomparison."
"Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth?it would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps norwigs, nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets."
"Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!" interrupted Mr Delvile; "yourladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute."
"Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; andas to dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousandcenturies if they had disdained eating them?"
"Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction," said Mr Delvile,angrily, "in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearlyallied with your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct thislady," turning to Cecilia, "to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquityand dignity."
"This lady," cried Mortimer, "will at least, by condescending to becomeone of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spreadfurther."
"Let me but," said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, "be as securefrom exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have towish?"
"Good and excellent young lady!" said Dr Lyster, "the first of blessingsindeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began yourcareer in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possessmore than your share of the good things of this world; such a union ofriches, beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemeda monopoly to raise general envy and discontent; but mark with whatscrupulous exactness the good and bad is ever balanced! You have hada thousand sorrows to which those who have looked up to you have beenstrangers, and for which not all the advantages you possess have beenequivalent. There is evidently throughout this world, in things aswell as persons, a levelling principle, at war with pre-eminence, anddestructive of perfection."
"Ah!" cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, "how much highermust we all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levellingprinciple will approximate us with YOU!"
He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning toher own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
"Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer," cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave,"to beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me.You know my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy inwaiting upon you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together,you know, very sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if thereshould happen to be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some greattree, and while you amuse yourselves with a _tete-a-tete_, give me theindulgence of my own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, andbeing alone, you know,--especially in thunder and lightning!"
She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed upstairs, and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of everykind, set out for the country.
Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almostwholly in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance ofMortimer, alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: butas soon as her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; thatheart so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvilereceived her with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of hersorrows gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and fromthe watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, ather entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile wastolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death ofLord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, andwhatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarilydevolved to his brother.
The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimatelyconnected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with hercharacter, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinarysacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she alteredher w
ill, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supportedit; while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family,any part of that power and independence of which her generous and pureregard for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that thedeed should be revoked.
Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further convictionof the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always representedto her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in theircircumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit ofactive benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now againdisplayed, though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learntthe error of profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had amotive for oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, andwhose rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his sensesfrom the tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had latelybeen menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed byprudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, shegave to herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing hisafflictions, while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him hisfavourite office of being her almoner and monitor.
She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which hersudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salariesshe had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations fromher bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but withoeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensionersfelt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtuesof her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made hisgratitude perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding MrArnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soonendeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in eitherby Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, tookthe earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation;she married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and,quickly forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again,with new hopes, new connections,--new equipages and new engagements!
Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, thoughdeprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar,she was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and sosolitary his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her totown, and returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And therethe gentle gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from theworthy Mr Arnott the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the woundof his early and hopeless passion.
The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whosemutable and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginningthan progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from publiclife to retirement, soured with the world, and discontented withhimself, till vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship ofDelvile, he consented to accept his good offices in again entering thearmy; and, being fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopeswere revived by ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view offuture honour.
The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, stilllived in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain ofhis wound and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led onby a vain belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he hadindulged without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded byinclination. Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly sufferednothing to stop his course; and though when he began his career he wouldhave started at the mention of actual dishonour, long before it wasconcluded, neither treachery nor perjury were regarded by him asstumbling blocks.
All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk ininterest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of thechace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, thateven in worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joinsdishonour to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderationof her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, andthe unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seemscapable of receiving:--yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she knewthat, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune, andat times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding thatof the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery,she checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful withgeneral felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends