CHAPTER XC
This tenderly touching intercourse was broken in upon by a summons toAmbroise, whom Juliet found waiting for her in the corridor; where hewas beginning to recount to her, that he had met with a sea-officer, whohad promised him a letter of recommendation for procuring a passport, ifhe could bring proof that he was a proper person for having one; whenthe Admiral issued abruptly from his apartment.
He took off his hat, though with a severe air, to Juliet, who, abashed,passed on to her chamber; but stopping and bluffly accosting Ambroise,'Harkee!' he cried, 'my lad! a word with you!--Pray, what business haveyou with that girl? I have, I know, as good as promised to help you off;but let all be fair and above board. I don't pretend to have much tastefor any person who would go out of old England when once he has gotfooting into it; thoff if I had had the misfortune to be born in France,there's no being sure that I might not have liked it myself; fromknowing no better: for which reason I think nothing narrower thanholding a man cheap for loving his country, be it ever so bad a one.Therefore, if you have a mind, my lad, as far as yourself goes, to sheeroff; as you are neither a sailor nor a soldier, nor, moreover, aprisoner, I will lend you a hand and welcome. But no foul play! Ifthere's any person of your acquaintance, that, after being born in oldEngland, wants to go flaunting and jiggetting to outlandish countries,you'll do well to give her a hint to keep astern of me; for I shallnever uphold a person who behaves o' that sort.'
Ambroise, in broken English, earnestly entreated him not to withdraw hispromised protection; and Juliet, desirous to obtain his counsel for theexecution of her perilous enterprize, ventured back, and joined topetition for instructions where she might embark most expeditiously;endeavouring to make her peace with him, by solemnly avowing, thatnecessity, not inclination, urged her to undertake this voyage; andclaiming assistance, a second time, from his tried benevolence.
The words tried benevolence, and a second time, which inadvertentlyescaped her, from eagerness to interest his attention, struck himforcibly with ire. 'Avast!' he cried, 'none of your flummery! You think,belike, because you've got a pretty face, to make a fool of me? butthat's sooner thought than done! You'll excuse me for speaking my mind alittle plainly; for how the devil, asking your pardon for such a word,should I do any thing for you a second time, when I have never seen orthought of you, up to this moment, a first? Please to tell me that!'
Juliet, looking round, and seeing that no witnesses were by, gentlyenquired whether he had no remembrance of a poor voyager, whom he hadhad the charity to save, the preceding winter, from immediatedestruction, by admitting into a boat?
'What! a swarthy minx? with a sooty sort of skin, and all over rags andjags? Yes, yes, I remember her well enough: I thank her! but I don'tmuch advise her to come in my way! She turned out a mere impostor. Shewas probably French. I gave her a guinea, and paid for her place totown, and her entertainment. She took my guinea, and eat and drank; andthen made off by some other way! and has never been heard of since. Idescribed her at all the Dover stages and diligences; for I intended togive her a trifle more, to help her to find her friends, for fear of herfalling into bad hands. But I could never get any tidings of her; shewas a mere cheat. How did you come to know the jade?'
Juliet blushed violently, and, with some difficulty stammered out, 'Kindas you are, Sir, good and charitable,--you have not well judged thatyoung person!'--
'By all that's sacred,' cried he, striking his cane upon the ground, 'ifit were possible for a girl to be painted to such a pitch of nicety, Ishould swear you were that very mamselle yourself!--though, if you are,I should take it as a favour if you would tell me, how the devil it cameinto your head to let me pay for your stage-coach, when you never madeuse of your place? Where the fun of that was I can't make out!'
'I am but too sensible, Sir, that every thing seems against me!' saidJuliet, in a melancholy tone; 'yet the time, probably, is not very faroff, when I may be able sufficiently to explain myself, to cause youmuch regret,--so generous seems your nature;--should you refuse me yourservices in my very great distress!'
The Admiral now looked deeply perplexed, yet evidently touched. 'Ishould be loath, Madam,' he said, 'very loath, indeed, for the matter ofthat, there's something so agreeable in you,--to think you no betterthan you should be. Not that one ought to expect perfection; for a womanis but a woman; which a man, as her native superiour, ought always tokeep in mind; however, don't take it amiss that I throw out that remark;for I don't mean it to dash you.'
Juliet, too much shocked to reply, cast up her eyes in silent appeal toheaven, and, entering her room, resolved to fold two guineas in a smallpacket, and to send them to the Admiral by Ambroise, for an immediateacquittal of her double pecuniary debt.
But the Admiral, struck by her manner, looked thoughtful, anddissatisfied with himself; and, again calling to Ambroise, said,'Harkee, my lad! I should not be sorry to know who that younggentlewoman is?--I am afraid she thinks me rather unmannerly. And thetruth is, I don't know that I have been over and above polite: which Itake shame to myself for, I give you my word; for I am always devilishbad company with myself when I have misbehaved to a female; because why?She has no means to right herself. So I beg you to make my excuse to thegentlewoman. And please to tell her that, though I am no great friend toceremony, I am very sorry if I have affronted her.'
Ambroise said, that he was sure the young lady would think no more ofit, if his honour would but be kind enough to give the recommendatoryletter.
'Why, with regard to that,' said the Admiral, after some deliberation,'I would do her any service, whereby I might shew my good will; afterhaving been rather over-rough, be her class what it may, consideringshe's a female; and, moreover, seems somewhat in jeopardy; if I were notso cursedly afraid of being put upon! You, that are but an outlandishman,--though I can't say but you've as good a look as another man;--avery honest look, if one might judge by the face;--which made me take toyou, without much thinking what I was about, I can tell you!--'
Ambroise, bowing low, hoped that he would not repent his goodness.
'You, I say, being more in the use of being juggled, begging yourpardon, from its being more the custom of foreign parts; can have nogreat notion, naturally, how little a British tar,--a person you don'tknow over-much about, I believe!' smiling, 'there not being a great manysuch, as I am told, off our own shores!--You, as I was remarking, can'tbe expected to have much notion how little a British tar relishes beingover-reached. But the truth, Sir, is, we are set afloat upon the wideocean, before we have well done with our slabbering bibs; which makes usthe men we are! But, then, all we know of the world is only by bits andscraps; except, mayhap, what we can pick out of books. And that's nogreat matter; for the chief of a seaman's library is most commonly thehistory of cheats and rogues; so that we are always upon the look out,d'ye see, for fear of false colours.'
Ambroise began a warm protestation of his honesty.
'Not but that, let me tell you, Sir!' the Admiral went on, 'we have asmany good scholars upon quarter-deck, counting such as could pay fortheir learning when they were younkers, as in any other calling. Butthis was not the case with myself, who owe nothing to birth nor favour;whereof I am proud to be thankful; for, from ten years old, when I wasturned adrift by my family, I have had little or no schooling,--exceptby the buffets of the world.'
Then, after ruminating for some minutes, he told Ambroise that he shouldnot be sorry to make his apologies to the gentlewoman himself; adding,'For I could have sworn, when I first met her in the gallery, I had seenher some where before; though I could not make out how nor when. But ifshe's only that black madmysell washed white, I should like to have alittle parley with her. She may possibly do me the service of helping meto find a friend; and if she does, I sha'n't be backward, God willing,to requite her. And harkee, my lad! I should be glad to know thegentlewoman's name. What's she called?'
'She's called Mademoiselle Juliette, Monsieur.'
'Juliet?--Are you sure of that?'
cried the Admiral, starting.'Juliet?--Are you very sure, Sir?'
'Oui, oui, Monsieur.'
'Harkee, sirrah! if you impose upon me, I'll trounce you within an inchof your life! Juliet, do you say? Are you sure it's Juliet?'
'Oui, Monsieur; Mademoiselle Juliette.'
'Why then, as I am a living man, and on this side t'other world, I mustspeak to her directly! Tell her so this instant.'
Ambroise tapped, and Juliet opened the door; but, when he would havespoken, the Admiral, taking him by the shoulders, and turning him round,bid him go about his business; and, entering the room, shut the door,and flung himself upon a chair.
Rising, however, almost at the same instant, though much agitated, hemade sundry bows, but tried vainly to speak; while the astonished Julietwaited gravely for some explanation of so strange an intrusion.
'Madam,' he at length said, 'that Frenchman there,--who, it's likeenough, don't know what he says,--pretends your name is Juliet?'
'Sir!'--
'If it be so, Ma'am,--you'll do me a remarkable piece of service, if youwill be so complaisant as to let me know how you came by that name?'
Juliet now felt alarmed.
'It's rather making free, Ma'am, I confess, but I shall take it as aspecial favour, if you'll be pleased to tell me what part of the worldyou come from?'
'Sir, I--I--'
'If you think my inquisitiveness impertinent, Ma'am; which it's likeenough you may, I shall beg leave to give you an item of my reason forit; and then it's odds but you'll make less scruple to give me thereply. Not that I mean to make conditions; for binding people down onlyhampers good will. But when you have heard me, you may be glad,perchance, to speak of your own accord; for I don't know, I give you mysolemn word, but that at this very moment you are talking to one of yourown kin!'
He fixed his eyes upon her, then, with great earnestness.
'My own kin?--What, Sir, do you mean?'
'I'll tell you out of hand, Ma'am,--if I may be so bold as to sit down;for whether we happen to be relations or no', there can be no lawagainst our being friends.'
Juliet hastily presented him a chair, and scarcely breathed fromeagerness to reciprocate the enquiry. She had never heard the Admiralmentioned but by his military title.
Seated now by her side, he looked at her for some instants, smilingly,though with glistening eyes; 'Madam,' he said, 'I had a sister whosename was Juliet!--and the name is dear to my soul for her sake! And it'sno common name; so that I never hear it without being moved. She left achild, Ma'am, who for some unnatural reasons, that I sha'n't enter uponjust now, was brought up in foreign parts. This child had her own sweetname; and her own sweet character, too, I make small doubt; as well asher own sweet face.'--
He stopt, and again more earnestly looked at Juliet; but, seeing herstrongly affected, begged her pardon, and, brushing a tear from his eye,went on.
'When I came home from my last station in the East Indies, I crossedover the channel to see after her; a great proof of my good will, I cantell you! for no little thing would have carried me to that lawlessplace; and from the best land upon God's earth! but I got nothing for mypains, except a cursed bad piece of news, which turned me upside down;for I was told that she was married to a French monsieur! Upon which Iswore, God willing, never to see her face to the longest day I had tolive! And I came away with that resolution. However, a Christian isnever so perfect himself, as not to look over a flaw in his neighbour.Wherefore, if I could get any item of the poor girl's repentance, Idon't think, for my dear sister's sake, but I could still take her to mybosom,--yea, to my very heart of hearts!'
'Tell me, Sir,' cried Juliet, rising, with clasped hands, and eyes fastfilling with tears; 'tell me,--for I have never heard it,--your name?'
'By all that's holy!' cried he, rising too, and trembling, 'you make myheart beat all over my body!--My name is Powel! In the name, then, ofthe Most High,--are you not my niece yourself?'
Juliet dropt at his feet; 'Oh heavenly Providence!' she ejaculated, 'youare then my poor mother's brother!' Speech now, for a considerable time,was denied to both; strong emotions, though of joy, nearly suffocatedJuliet, while the Admiral sobbed over her as he pressed her in his arms.
'My girl!' he cried, when a little recovered, 'my sister'sdaughter!--daughter of the dearest of sisters!--I have found, then, atlast, something appertaining to my poor sister! You shall be dear to mysoul for her sake, whatever you may be for your own. And, moreover, asto what you may have done up to this time, whereof I don't mean to judgeuncharitably, every one of us being but frail, I shall let it all passby. So hold up your head, and take comfort, my girl, and don't be shy ofyour old uncle; for whatever may have slipt from him in a moment ofcholer, he'll protect you, God willing, to his last hour; and never comeout with another unkind word upon what is past and gone.'
The heart of Juliet was too full to let her offer any immediatevindication: she could but pronounce, 'My uncle, when I can beexplicit,--you will not--I hope, and trust,--have cause to blush forme!'--
'Why then you are a very good girl!' cried he, well pleased, 'anexcellent girl, in the main, I make small doubt.' He then demanded,though not, he protested, to find fault with what was past; what hadbrought her over to her native land in such a ragged, mauled, and blackcondition; which had prevented the least guess of who she was; 'for if,when I saw you off the coast,' he continued, 'you had shewn yourselfsuch as you are now, you have so strong a look of my dear sister, that Ishould have hailed you out of hand. Though when I saw you Here it nevercame into my head; because why? I believed you to be There. And yet,instinct is main powerful, whereof I am a proof; for I took a fancy toyou, even when I thought you an old woman; and, which is worse, a Frenchwoman. Coming away from those shores gave me a good opinion of you atonce.'
He then made many tender enquiries concerning the last illness, and thedeath of Mrs Powel, his mother; whom it was now, he said, one-and-twentyyears since he had seen; as, upon his poor father's insolvency, he hadbeen taken from the royal navy, and sent out, in the company's service,to the East Indies.
Juliet, after satisfying his filial solicitude, ventured to express herown, upon every circumstance of her mother's life, which had fallen tohis knowledge.
The insolvency, the Admiral replied, had soon been succeeded by thedeath of his father; and then his poor mother and sister had been drivento a cheap country residence, in the neighbourhood of Melbury-Hall.There, before he set out for the East Indies, he had passed a few daysto take leave; in which time Lord Granville, the Earl of Melbury's onlyson, who had met them, it seems, in their rural strolls, had got such afooting in their house, that he called in both morning and evening; andstayed sometimes for hours, without knowing how time went. Uneasy uponremarking this, he counselled his sister to keep out of the youngnobleman's way; and advised his mother to change her house. They bothpromised so to do; but, for all that, before he set sail, he determinedto wait upon his lordship himself; which he did accordingly; and madefree to tell him, that he should take it but kind of his lordship, if hewould not be quite so sweet upon his sister. His lordship made fairpromises, with such a genteelness, that there was no help but to givehim credit; and, this being done, he went off with an easy heart. Heremained in the Company's service some time; during which, the lettersof his mother brought him the sorrowful tidings of his sister's death;followed up, afterwards, by an account that, for her own health's sake,she was gone over to reside in France.
'This was a bit of news,' he continued, 'which I did not take quite sokindly as I ought, mayhap, to have done, it not appertaining to a son tohave the upper hand of his mother. But, having been, from the first,somewhat of a spoilt child, whereby my poor mother made herself plentyof trouble; I was always rather over choleric when I was contradicted.Taking it, therefore, rather amiss her going out of old England, nogreat matter of letter-writing passed between us from that time, to myreturn to my native land.
'It was then I was told the worst tiding that ever I w
ish to hear! onecame, and t'other came, and all had some fuel to make the fire burnfiercer, to give me an item that Lord Granville had over-persuaded mysister to elope with him; and that she died of a broken heart; leaving achild, that my mother, for my sister's reputation's sake, had gone tobring up in foreign parts. My blood boiled so, then, in my veins, thathow it ever got cool enough not to burn me to a cinder is a main wonder.But I vowed revenge, and that, I take it, sustained me; revenge being,to my seeming, a noble passion, when it is not to spite those who havedone an ill turn to ourselves, but to punish those who have oppressedthe helpless. What aggravated me the more, was hearing that he wasmarried; and had two fine children, who were dawdled about every day inhis coach; while the child of my poor sister was shut up, immured, nobody knew where, in an outlandish country. I called him, therefore, toaccount, and bid him meet me, at five o'clock in the morning, at acoffee-house. We went into a private room. I used no great matter ofceremony in coming to the point. You have betrayed, I cried, theunprotected! You have seduced the forlorn! You have sold yourself to thedevil!--and as you have given him, of your own accord, your soul, I amcome to lend a hand to your giving him your body.'--
'Shocking!--Shocking!' interrupted Juliet. 'O my uncle!'--
'Why it was not over mannerly, I own; but I was too much aggrieved tostand upon complimenting. I loved her, said I, with all my heart andsoul; but I bore patiently with her death, because I am a Christian; andI know that life and death come from God; but I scorn to bear with herdishonour, for that comes from a man. For the sake of your wife andchildren, as they are not in fault, I would conceal your unmanlybaseness; but for the sake of my much injured sister, who was dearer tome than all your kin and kind, I intend, by the grace, and with thehelp of the Most High, to take a proper vengeance for her wrongs, byblowing out your brains; unless, by the law of chance, you should blowout mine; which, however, I should hold myself the most pitiful ofcowards to expect in so just a cause.
'I then presented him my pistols, and gave him his choice which he wouldhave.'
'Oh my poor father!' cried Juliet. 'Go on, my uncle, go on!'
'He heard me to the finish without a word; and with a countenance sosad, yet so firm, and which had so little the hue of guilt, that I havethought since, many a time and often, that, if choler had not blindedme, I should have stopt half way, and said, This is purely an innocentman!'
'Oh blessed be that word!' cried Juliet, clasping her hands, 'andblessed, blessed be my uncle for so kindly pronouncing it!'
'With what temper he answered me! If I insisted, he said, uponsatisfaction, he would not deny it me; "And I ought, indeed," he said,"after an attack so insulting, to demand it for myself. But you are inan errour; and your cause seems so completely the cause of justice andvirtue, that I cannot defend, till I have cleared myself. The sisterwhom you would avenge was the beloved of my soul! Never will you mournfor her as I have mourned! I neither betrayed nor seduced her. The lovethat I bore her was as untainted as her own honour. The immoveable viewsof my father to another alliance, kept our connexion secret; but yoursister, your unspotted sister, was my wedded wife!"--The joy of myheart, at that moment, my dear girl, made me forget all my mishaps. Ijumped,--for I was but a boy, then, to what I am now; and I flung myarms about his neck, and kissed him; which his lordship did not seem totake at all unkindly. Since she is not dishonoured, I cried, I can bearall else like a man. She is gone, indeed, my poor sister!--but 'tis toheaven she is gone! and I can but pray that we may both, in our duetime, go there after her!--And upon that,--if I were to tell you thehonest truth,--we both fell a blubbering.--But she was no common person,my dear sister!'
Juliet wept with varying emotions.
'His lordship,' the Admiral continued, 'then recorded the whole historyof his marriage, the birth of his child, and the loss of his poor wife.That the child, accompanied by her grandmother, who scarcely breathedout of its sight, was gone to be brought up in a convent, under the careof a family of quality, that had a grand castle in its neighbourhood;and under the immediate guidance of a worthy old parson; that, as soonas she was educated, he should go over to fetch her, and write a letterto his father to own his first marriage. But he begged me, forfamily-reasons, to agree to the concealment, till I returned home forgood; and had a house of my own in which I could receive the child, inthe case his second lady and his father should behave unhandsomely. Ihad no great taste for a hiding scheme; but I was so overcome with joyto think my sister had been always a woman of honour, that I was in nocue for squabbling: and, moreover, I gave way with the greatercomplaisance, from the fear of seeing the child fall into the hands ofpeople who would be ashamed of her, whereby her spirit might be broken;and, moreover, I can't say but I took it kind of his lordship thethought of letting her come to a house of mine; for I had alreadyreturned to his majesty's service; which, God willing, the devil himselfshall never draw me from again; and I was a post-captain, and in prettygood circumstances. So I thought I had as well not meddle, nor domischief. And the more, as his lordship was so honourable as to entrustto me a copy of a codicil to his will; written all in his own hand, andduly signed and sealed; wherein he owns his lawful marriage with my poorsister; and leaves her child the same fortune that he leaves to hisdaughters by his wife of quality.'
'Is it possible!--How fortunate! And have you, still, my dear uncle,this codicil?'
'Have I? Aye, my girl! I would sooner part with my right hand! It's theproof and declaration of my sister's honour! and I would not change itagainst all the diamonds, and all the pearls, and all the shawls of allthe nabobs of all Asia! It has been my whole comfort in all my difficultvoyages and hard services.'
Ah! thought Juliet, were my revered Bishop safe, I might now be everyway happy!
'What passed in my mind at that time, was to cross over the Channel, toget my dear mother's blessing, and to give my own to my little niece.But it's of no great consequence what we plan, if it is not upheld bythe Most High. I was all prepared, but I wrote never a word over, forthe sake of giving my mother a surprize; when, all at once, I had asudden promotion, with orders to return to the East Indies. And there Iwas stationed, on and off, in and out, till t'other day, as one may say.And when, at last, I got home again; meaning to marry Jenny Barker,--aspretty a girl as ever came into the world; and to set her at the head ofmy house, and equip her handsomely,--I found every thing turned upsidedown! Lord Granville had been dead five months, and his father about asmany weeks. I had already heard, in the Indies, that my poor mother wasdead; and when I went to get a little comfort with Jenny Barker, and togive her the baubles I had got together for her in the Indies,--alwayspriding myself in thinking how smart she'd look in this! and how prettyher face would peep out of that!--I found her so mortally changed, thatI took her for her own mother! who I had left to the full as welllooking twenty years before; for, after my first voyage, by ill luck, Ihad not seen Jenny, who was down in the country.'
'But if she is amiable, uncle, and worthy--'
'You have a right way of thinking, my dear; and I honour you for it: butthe disappointment came upon me so slap-dash, as one may say, for wantof a little forethought, that I let out what passed in my mind with toolittle ceremony for making up again. However, I gave her the baubles;which she accepted out of hand; and made free to ask me to add somethingmore, to make her amends for waiting for nothing; which was but fair;though it showed me that when she had lost her pretty face, she had nogreat matter to boast of in point of a noble way of thinking. I hope,else, I should have been above playing her false; without which I shouldbe little to chose from a scoundrel. But she was in such a main hurry tosecure herself the rhino, that it's my brief that her inside, if I couldhave got a look at it, was but little short, in point of ugliness, toher outside. Howbeit, I used her handsomely, and we parted friends.'
The Admiral here walked about the room, a little disturbed, and thencontinued his narrative.
He crossed the Straits, having always preserved the direction of thel
ady of the castle near the convent; but the Revolution was thenflaming; the castle had been burnt; all the family was dispersed; and hewas warned not to make any enquiry even after the parson. But he grewsick of the whole business, and not sorry to cut it short, upon hearingthat his niece, who was known by the appellation of MademoiselleJuliette, was married to a French monsieur. He was coming away, in deepdisgust, and burning wrath, when he was seized himself, and put intoprison by order of Mr Robespierre. But this durance did not last long;for he joined a party that was just getting off, and returned to GreatBritain; and moreover, though little enough to his knowledge, in thevery same vessel that brought over his niece. 'And here, my dear girl,is the finish of all I have to recount. But what I observe, with nogreat pleasure, if I should tell you my remark, is, that, while, for somany years, I have given up my head to nothing but thinking of myniece,--to the exception of poor Jenny Barker,--she does not seem somuch as ever to have heard, or thought about her uncle?'
Juliet assured him, on the contrary, that her grandmother Powel hadtalked unceasingly of her son; but that, tender-hearted, timid, anddevoted to Lord Granville, she had never ventured to trust to a letter asecret that demanded so much discretion; and had therefore postponed allcommunication to their meeting; of which she had lived in the constanthope. And Juliet herself, since the afflicting loss of that excellentlady, always believing him to be in the East Indies, had never daredclaim his parentage, nor solicit his favour; her peculiar and unhappysituation making all written accounts, not only of her affairs, but ofher name and her residence, dangerous.
This brought the conversation back to herself. ''Tis remarkable enough,'said the Admiral, 'that, in all this long parley, we have not yet saidan item about the worst part of the job,--your marriage! How came youhere without your husband? For all I have no great goust to yourmarrying in that sort, God forbid I should uphold a wife in running awayfrom her lawful spouse, even though he be a Frenchman! We should alwaysdo right, for the sake of shaming wrong. A man, being the higher vessel,may marry all over the globe, and take his wife to his home; but awoman, as she is only given him for his help-mate, must tack about afterhim, and come to the same anchorage.'
Sadness now clouded the skin, and dimmed the eyes of Juliet. The storywhich she had to reveal, the hard necessity of separating herself fromso near a relation, and so kind a protector, at the very moment of anapparent union; joined to the obstacles which his prejudices andfeelings might put in the way of her decided sacrifice; made the avowalof her intention seem almost as difficult as its execution.
'Don't be cast down, however, my girl,' continued the Admiral; 'for whenthings are come to the worst, as I have taken frequent note, they oftenveer about, nobody knows how, and turn out for the best. I should aslieve you had not tied such an ugly knot, I won't say to the contrary;howbeit, as the thing is done, we may as well make the best of it. Theman may be a tolerable good Christian, mayhap, for a Papist. And indeed,to tell you the truth, though it is a thing I am not over fond ofspeaking about, I have seen some Frenchmen I could have liked mightilymyself, if I had not known where they came from. I had some prisonersonce aboard, that were as likely men, and as much of gentlemen, and asagreeable behaved, and had as good sense, too, of their own, as if theyhad been Englishmen. Perhaps your husband may be one of them? If so, lethim come over here, and he shall want for nothing. I am always proud toshew old England; so invite him, my dear, to come.'
'Alas!--alas!--'cried Juliet, weeping.
'What! he is but a sorry dog, then? Well, I can't pretend to besurprized at that. However, I'll tie up your fortune, and won't let himtouch a penny of it, but upon condition that you come over for ityourself once a year. And now I have you safe and sure, I shall carry mycodicil to Lord Denmeath,--a fellow of steel, they say!--and get youyour thirty thousand pounds; for that, I am told, is the portion of thelady of quality's daughter. But all I shall give you myself shall onlybe bit by bit, till I know how that sorry fellow uses you. It's a mainpity you threw yourself away in such a hurry! But I suppose he's a finelikely young dog?
'Hideous! hideous!' off all guard, exclaimed the shuddering Juliet.
'Why, then, most like, you only married him for the sake of a littlepalaver? Poor girl! However, it's done, and a husband's a husband; soI'll ask no more questions.'
Kissing her then very kindly, he said he would go and suck in a littlefresh breeze upon the beech, to calm his spirits; for he felt as if hehad been steering his vessel in a hurricane.
He asked her to accompany him; but she desired a little stillness andrest. He shook hands with her, and, with a look of concern, said, 'Mysister did but a foolish thing, after all, in marrying that young lord,however the world may judge it to have been an ambitious one. You wouldnever have been smuggled out of your native land, in that fashion, ifshe had taken up with a man in her own rank of life: some honest tar,for example! for, to my seeming, there is not an honester person in thewhole world, nor a person of more honour, than a British tar! Andyet,--see the difference of those topsy-turvy marriages!--a worthy tarwould have been proud of my sister for his wife; while your lord wasonly ashamed of her! for that's the bottom of the story, put what dustyou will in your eyes for the top!'