Manners Volume Iii Part 4

And now behold her conducted to the chief seat of the fairy power! But if she could be tempted to show that a small portion of human malice lurks in her heart, we might hope to keep her still; therefore I am more than ever anxious she should answer the question I put regarding the mortal inhabitants of this island." "I could not presume," replied Adelaide, colouring as she spoke, "on a casual acquaintance, to suppose myself qualified to estimate fully the merits or defects of the Irish nation; perhaps national character is of all subjects the one on which a woman is least competent to form a correct judgment;--but the Irish character, as it has presented itself to my view, is one I most sincerely and warmly love." Colonel Desmond seizing her hand in delight, shook it almost unconsciously for a second or two, whilst Father Dermoody, in an emphatic tone, and with a complimentary bow, said--

"La sagesse est sublime, on le dit, mais, helas!

Tous ses admirateurs souvent ne l'aiment guere; Et sans vous nous ne saurions pas, Combien la sagesse peut plaire."[8]

[Footnote 8:

Wisdom's sublime, we still are told it, Yet few admire, though all uphold it; And but for thee we ne'er had prov'd, How much e'en wisdom may be lov'd.

Gentle reader, if you are _not_ Irish, you will be perhaps much puzzled to find out what Adele said on this occasion, so marvellously wise. If you are an Hibernian, you will say, "The dear creature!" Be that as it may, Miss Wildenheim pleased her auditors better than if she had uttered three pages of Socratic sense. Poor Colonel Desmond felt but too deeply the admiration the priest had expressed; and putting up a prayer, that she might one day descend from generals to particulars, in the application of these sentiments, was suddenly most a.s.siduous in the examination of the contemned ma.n.u.scripts.

Adelaide, curtsying her thanks for Mr. Dermoody's flattering application of the lines he had repeated, was alleging some trifling excuse for retiring, when Mr. O'Sullivan came into the room to make his daily request, that she would join him and Caroline in a saunter round the garden, where he went every morning with them to gather the nicest fruit it contained for his two favourites.

The party had not proceeded many paces from the house, when they were joined by Mr. Webberly, who was now sufficiently recovered from his sprain to persecute Adelaide once more with his attentions. Mr.

O'Sullivan, addressing him with much civility, said, "I am happy to say, Mr. Webberly, that your mother has consented to remain with me till after the first of September, in order to celebrate my dear little Caroline's birth-day; and bespeak for her the good wishes of my tenantry, who will a.s.semble to congratulate us on the occasion." "Dear uncle, how I love you!" said the little girl, twisting her arms round him; "only for Adele, I think I should break my heart when I go away from you." He pressed her fondly in his arms, and said, "What will be your consolation, Caroline, will be an additional grief to me! My dear young lady," continued he, turning to Adelaide, "you know not the sorrow the idea that I may never see you again causes me; your society has given me more pleasure, than I thought I ever should have felt again.

Your sweet attentive manners have reminded me of one whom even you might be proud to be compared with!"--He paused--his faltering voice had told how deeply he was affected, and a general silence prevailed for a few minutes, which was interrupted Mr. Webberly saying, "I'm sure you'll have no objection to celebrate Miss Wildenheim's birth-day too, Sir;--she will be of age on the thirty-first of August; that day one-and-twenty years, Sir, was a happy day for the world, Miss Adelaide!" "Happy! Good G.o.d!" exclaimed the old man; and dropping Adele's arm, which he had slipped within his, retreated to the house. "I had almost forgot--" said Colonel Desmond to the priest, much moved, "was that the day----" "Yes, the day," interrupted he: "Alas! a father's heart never forgets."

CHAPTER XIII.

Vous etes belle, et votre soeur est belle, Entre vous deux tout choix seroit bien doux, L'Amour etoit blond, comme vous, Mais il aimoit une brune, comme elle.[9]

oeBERNIS.oe

[Footnote 9:

Thou art lovely--so is she, Say, which should my heart prefer?

Cupid sure was fair like thee.

But his love was brown like her.

Whilst these scenes pa.s.sed in Ireland, Lady Eltondale and Miss Seymour arrived at Cheltenham. At first, Selina's delight at breathing once more the pure air of the country made her almost wonder at the pleasure she had so lately found in the feverish amus.e.m.e.nts of London. Her step was still more elastic, as she trod the beautiful meadows that lay along the banks of the Chelt; and when, mounted on her favourite mare, she extended her rides to the surrounding hills, she seemed to regain a fresh existence.

The picturesque beauties of Dodswell, the magnificent panorama of Lackington Hill, the curious remains of Sudeley castle, all were in time explored and admired by Selina; and often did she prefer a solitary walk amongst the sheltered lanes of Alstone, to accompanying Lady Eltondale to the morning mall, where crowds a.s.sembled at the Wells ostensibly in search of health, but really in pursuit of pleasure. In one of these morning walks, as she rested under the shadow of a gigantic oak, while the fresh breeze played on her glowing cheek, and the song of earliest birds alone interrupted the general silence, her thoughts involuntarily turned to those days which had glided by in similar scenes, when she used to bound like the fawns she chased through the park at Deane, or with more measured steps, though not less buoyant spirits, attended her father, as in his Bath chair he took his morning exercise on the broad smooth terrace, that stretched along the south front of the venerable mansion. The whole scene rose to her mind's eye, and she saw, in imagination, the lawns, the fields, the gardens, in which she had spent so many happy hours, and which were

"Once the calm scene of many a simple sport, When nature pleas'd, for life itself was new, And the heart promis'd what the fancy drew."

She dwelt with a melancholy pleasure on the recollection of all the beloved companions of her earlier years, and sighed to think, that those moments of innocent delights would never again return to her. From this painfully pleasing reverie she was roused by the crying of a child, and the sound of an angry voice, exclaiming in a harsh key, "Hold your tongue, you little devil--ban't I going as fast as I can?" It seemed as if manual correction followed this expostulation, as the infant's cries were redoubled, and Selina heard its little voice, saying in a plaintive tone, "Mammy, mammy, me be a-hungry, me be tired." At that moment a turn in the road presented the speakers to her view, and she beheld a young woman, in whose pallid cheeks disease and wretchedness struggled for preeminence. A few coa.r.s.e black locks strayed from under a cap, which might once have been white, but now in dirt and yellowness rivalled the complexion of the wearer, whilst it served to contrast a gaudy riband, by which it was encircled; a ragged, coloured handkerchief scarcely concealed her shrivelled bosom; and a cotton gown, which in its variegated pattern showed all the hues of the parterre, trained in the dust, and was partly caught up under her arm, below which appeared a tattered stuff petticoat, that scarcely reached to her knees. Her countenance was, if possible, more disgusting than her dress: her dark black eyes and oval forehead showed still some trace of beauty; but an expression of unblus.h.i.+ng vice called forth sensations rather of disgust than of compa.s.sion. The little ragged urchin, that trotted by her side, endeavoured, on seeing Selina, to hide its head beneath her gown; but after a moment's deliberation, she dragged him from his concealment, and pus.h.i.+ng him forward, desired him to demand charity. Selina, pitying the infant, more from the appearance of its a.s.sociate than even from its own wretchedness, could not deny its request; and while she gave the poor child all the silver her purse contained, she inquired if the woman was its mother. "To be sure I am, my lady," replied she, in a tone of impertinent carelessness; "else what do you think I'd be troubled with such a brat as that for?" "It seems a fine boy," returned Selina, willing to rouse the maternal feelings that seemed so nearly extinct.

"And where do you live?" "Down in that hut yonder, and a pretty penny I pay for it. Our landlord never comes to these here parts; if he did, he wouldn't let us be so racked; but he never thinks of us when he is away, and Mr. Smart, his agent, raises our rents just as he pleases; but he has our curses for his gains;" so saying, she seized the child roughly by the arm, and pursued her way, muttering imprecations Selina shuddered to hear. She also proceeded towards home; but her thoughts now took a more unpleasant turn. She recollected with sorrow how many poor cottages on her estate might also, with reason, lament the loss of a landlord, who had always inquired into their distresses and relieved their wants. But she, though possessed of such extensive means of being useful to her fellow-creatures, had hitherto seemed to consider the possession of fortune only as affording her a more ample opportunity for selfish gratification. She called to mind the happiness she had formerly experienced in charitable occupations; and reflected, with remorse, that since she had plunged into the vortex of dissipation, no tear had been wiped from the cheek of indigence by her generous aid--no smile of grat.i.tude had hailed her approach to the couch of misery or pain. Of the many hours she had wasted in the pursuit of pleasure, not one had been devoted to the purposes of benevolence; and while she had lavished uncalculated sums in extravagance and folly, she had never purchased the inestimable benefit of a poor man's blessing.

This trifling incident served to awaken in Selina's mind feelings and reflections that had long lain dormant. The whole tenour of Lady Eltondale's conduct had been calculated to efface all the impressions formerly made on her, both by the precepts and example of the admirable Mrs. Galton; and while her Ladys.h.i.+p contrived, by cautious degrees, to impede, and finally almost destroy the correspondence with her, which might have served occasionally to recall the first, the latter was almost totally obliterated from her mind by the entirely new scenes, into which she had been introduced. As to the habits of charity, to which both from inclination and instruction she had been early habituated, but little opportunity for their exercise had occurred since her residence with the Viscountess; for the very servants at Eltondale were too polite to admit a vulgar beggar within its gates; and in London she had been taught to consider all vagrants indiscriminately as impostors, whom it was almost a crime to relieve.

But are those aware, who are anxious to find plausible excuses for delaying or omitting the fulfilment of the duties of charity, that the feelings of the human heart, though inflamed by casual restraint, are extinguished by a continued suppression? And wo be to that breast, in which the sentiments of benevolence and compa.s.sion are destroyed! The virtues of humanity, as they are those which most peculiarly belong to this present state of existence, so is the exercise of them most necessary to our individual happiness in this world; for he, whose heart has never melted at the sorrows of others, will a.s.suredly, sooner or later, know the agony of seeking in vain for one sympathising bosom on which to repose the burden of his own.

When Selina returned home, she was scarcely less pleased than surprised to find Mr. Sedley seated at breakfast with Lady Eltondale. They were so deeply engaged in conversation, that her entrance was unnoticed by either; and as her astonishment at perceiving so unexpected a guest made her pause for a moment at the door, she heard Lady Eltondale say, apparently in continuation of a previous speech, "And have you proof of this from himself, Mr. Sedley?" "Yes; proofs such as must convince even your Ladys.h.i.+p; otherwise I would never have made the proposal I have done." Selina here interrupted him, but her appearance was so sudden, that it was many minutes before he could collect his thoughts to address her with any composure. Lady Eltondale, however, showed no embarra.s.sment; she inquired most kindly what had so long detained Selina; said that she and Mr. Sedley, whom she had accidentally met at the well, had walked miles in search of her; and finally joined in her vivacious raillery against Mr. Sedley for his visible confusion. In answer to Selina's inquiries when he arrived at Cheltenham, "Only yesterday," said he; "I was quite disappointed at not meeting you at the rooms last night. How is the detestable head-ache that Lady Eltondale told me prevented your accompanying her there?" While Selina hastily dismissed the subject of her casual indisposition, which, in truth, she had hardly remembered, a momentary surprise glanced across her mind at the recollection, that Lady Eltondale had not mentioned to her having seen Mr. Sedley; but she had not time to dwell on the thought, as the Viscountess immediately renewed her inquiries as to what could have so unusually prolonged Selina's walk; and the beggar woman and her boy recurring to her mind, she forgot all her doubts and past reflections, in the earnestness with which she entered into the description of all the wretchedness, which she "was sure the poor infant must suffer from its unfeeling mother." Lady Eltondale seemed to take uncommon interest in the relation, which she prolonged by apposite questions and remarks of "Poor child!--Of course you gave it something.--No wonder you returned so late.--I suppose you were just come home, just opened this door, as I perceived you.--Dear infant, I should like to have seen it!"

And thus continued the conversation, while Mr. Sedley took a turn or two across the room; put into his pocket a letter-case that lay beside his coffee-cup, and regained all his customary self-possession. With his usual manners he resumed his place in Selina's estimation; and the hours flew by unnoticed, as he entertained her with the relation of a thousand ridiculous adventures, all of which had occurred either to himself or "his particular friends," during the s.p.a.ce of three weeks, which he called an age, since they parted. And in truth he did not much exaggerate, when he described his regret at their having been so long separated. Like the unguarded moth, he had flitted round the flame till he actually suffered for his folly; for his improved acquaintance with Selina, during the latter part of their stay in London, had so far increased his admiration of her, that what was at first merely a preference chiefly influenced by pecuniary considerations, had now become a pa.s.sion almost too powerful to be controlled. He had yet however sufficient command over his feelings, to avoid any verbal expression of them; and, while he carefully demonstrated how interesting to him had been all her observations, by delightedly referring to their former conversations, and recapitulating even her most trifling remarks, his present adulation was so delicately conveyed by inferred compliment alone, that, while Selina was gratified by the flattering attention, thus obviously paid her, she felt it would have but compromised her own modesty, had she, by disclaiming praise thus subtilely offered, appropriated to herself an admiration that was only insinuated. And how did Lady Eltondale approve of this? In truth she was not aware of the whole tendency of Mr. Sedley's discourse; a stolen glance or a peculiar emphasis explained his application of a particular sentence to her, who alone he meant should understand him; _et au reste_, the Viscountess, like a skilful navigator, always floated down a stream she found it impossible to stem.

Selina almost persuaded herself, that every clock and watch in the house was out of order, when Lady Eltondale a.s.serted, that the hour was come for Fazani's raffle, which she had particularly patronized; and as, accompanied by the Viscountess and Sedley, Selina walked under the dark avenue, that led to that fas.h.i.+onable rendezvous, she could not help internally observing, "how much Mr. Sedley's vivacity and good-nature enlivened every society of which he was a member."

CHAPTER X.

_Lady Sneerwell._--You are partial, Snake.

_Snake._--Not in the least; every body will allow, that Lady Sneerwell can do more with a word or a look, than many others with the most laboured detail.

oeSCHOOL FOR SCANDAL.oe

When they entered Fazani's, the raffle was only waiting for the arrival of the Viscountess. The prize was a beautiful work-box, and Fortune, who at that moment seemed to smile with peculiar benignity on Sedley, chose him to be the successful adventurer. As soon as he was declared victor, he immediately brought the treasure towards Lady Eltondale and Selina, and the latter, with pardonable vanity, flattered herself that he intended it as a present for her. But in this she was mistaken. He addressed himself to Lady Eltondale, and in a low tone said, with peculiar emphasis, "Will your ladys.h.i.+p accept this from me as a _gage d'amitie_?" "I take it as a flag of truce," replied she in a similar tone. "Then from henceforward you are my friend," exclaimed Sedley, seizing her hand with unusual vehemence. "At least not your enemy,"

answered the Viscountess.--"But this is not a proper place to settle our preliminaries."

This conversation was unintelligible to Selina, yet not uninteresting, as she felt a vague consciousness, that it in some way related to herself, and a momentary distrust of both speakers glanced across her mind. But her attention was quickly attracted by Lady Hammersley, who, on perceiving Lady Eltondale, had advanced from amongst the crowd to pay her compliments. The Viscountess was as minute in her inquiries regarding all that could concern Lady Hammersley, as if she had been sincere in her professions of being glad to meet her; and though Lady Hammersley's eyes were fixed on Selina, it was some minutes before she was sufficiently disengaged to accost her; at length she abruptly exclaimed, "Miss Seymour has, to all appearance, profited as much by her residence in London, as I prophesied she would; possibly amongst her other acquirements she may have learned the art of forgetting old acquaintances." Selina's colour rose, and the implied rebuke checking at once the friendly salutation with which she had prepared to address her, she returned her recognizance with an elegant but frigid compliment, worthy a pupil of Lady Eltondale. "Admirable!" retorted Lady Hammersley with a scornful smile: "My penetration is not baffled. I must write to Mrs. Galton, to notice the improvement _I_ always antic.i.p.ated." "Why, does your Ladys.h.i.+p know Mrs. Galton?" inquired Selina anxiously; while Lady Eltondale, leaning on Mr. Sedley, took the opportunity of escaping from her "Dear Lady Hammersley." "I do know Mrs. Galton," replied she; "we were together all last winter at Bath; and she, Miss Seymour, was so convinced of your perfection, that she never would believe it was even in Lady Eltondale's power to _improve_ you, as I guessed she would, and see she has done." "Dear, dear aunt Mary!" exclaimed Selina, bursting into tears, as she heard this instance of a disinterested partiality, to which she had lately been unused, even though the recital had been made with more of acrimony than of benevolence. Lady Hammersley looked for some moments steadily at Selina, and then continued in her usual cynical tone, "Pray, Miss Seymour, compose yourself; Lady Eltondale will be shocked at my having betrayed you into so gross an impropriety. I had not the slightest idea that the mention of Mrs.

Galton would have roused your feelings, and still less that you could have been tempted to exhibit them." Selina felt hurt at the undeserved censure, which both Lady Hammersley's words and manner expressed, and, with a look of dignity, replied, "I am indeed ashamed of betraying them where they can be so little understood;" and took leave of her Ladys.h.i.+p with a proud politeness, which admitted of no reply. Lady Hammersley for some moments looked after Selina, as she moved to a distant part of the room, where Lady Eltondale was waiting for her. "That girl is still worth knowing," thought she; and for once she turned an unprejudiced eye on the lovely form and heavenly countenance of the innocent girl, who had hitherto so undeservedly shared in the contempt and hatred, which her Ladys.h.i.+p had always been accustomed to feel for every thing, that in the remotest degree appertained to Lady Eltondale.

Meantime Selina joined the Viscountess, while "disdain and scorn rode sparkling in her eyes." "Has Lady Hammersley been entertaining you with any sententious aphorisms?" asked Lady Eltondale. "No," replied Selina, laughing. "For once she has been talking on a subject she does not understand." The Viscountess was not sufficiently interested in her Ladys.h.i.+p's harangues to inquire further, and they continued their walk till it was time to separate for dinner.

The amus.e.m.e.nt allotted for that evening was a public concert, and Lady Eltondale and Selina had acceded to Sedley's earnest entreaty of attending it. He accordingly took post in the outside room, waiting for their arrival, and anxiously inspecting every pa.s.sing groupe, as the different parties entered, in hopes of recognizing them. But his expectations were disappointed; no Lady Eltondale or Selina made their appearance: he bewildered himself in conjectures; and at last, in a moment of pique, attributing their delay to caprice, he left the rooms before the concert was finished, cursing woman's inconsistency, and his own folly, in ever having suffered himself to be interested about any.

This sage reflection was however chased long before morning, not only by the recollection of Selina's manifold charms, but of his own manifold creditors; and at an early hour he repaired to the well, where he and Lady Eltondale had agreed to meet, in order to finish a conversation neither was particularly anxious Selina should witness.

But Lady Eltondale was not to be found; and when the hour for the general dispersion of the company arrived without his seeing her, he lost patience, and hastened to her house to inquire the cause of her protracted absence.

But there, to his utmost consternation, he learned that an express had arrived, just as the ladies were preparing to go to the rooms the night before, to inform the Viscountess, that Lord Eltondale had suddenly expired at Eltondale, after having partaken of a turtle feast with more enjoyment, and even less restraint, than ordinary. Of course neither Selina nor Lady Eltondale was visible, and Sedley returned home agitated by a thousand conjectures and emotions.

It was not to be expected, that Lady Eltondale would deeply lament the death of a husband, who, notwithstanding his uniform indulgence to her, had never possessed either her esteem or affection; but nevertheless Selina could not help being shocked at the total apathy and ingrat.i.tude she displayed; as without even a.s.suming a grief, which it would have been almost more a virtue to dissemble, than thus openly to contemn, she only thought of, only lamented, the change of her circ.u.mstances the event would inevitably produce. Selina listened in astonishment to the calm retrospection of past extravagance, and the despairing antic.i.p.ation of future poverty, in which she indulged even in those first moments of widowhood; and disdaining to offer consolation to the only sorrows she could hear unmoved, at an early hour retired to her own room.

There far, far different reflections agitated her bosom. There is a certain sympathy in misfortune, which, touching a chord that has once jarred, finds an echo in our own breast;

"Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows, Which show like grief itself."

Thus the sudden dissolution of Lord Eltondale recalled to Selina's mind all the circ.u.mstances of her father's death; and though neither in her judgment nor affection they could ever have been compared, yet the last sad scene of mortality blended her recollections of both, and with unrestrained tears she gave way to all the poignancy of regret, in the solitude of her chamber, which the freezing insensibility of Lady Eltondale would have repressed, in the presence of her who should have been the greatest mourner.

In the morning her swollen eyes and pallid cheeks bore testimony to her sleepless night; and as from Lady Eltondale she expected reproof rather than sympathy, she was not sorry to receive a message, stating that her Ladys.h.i.+p wished to breakfast alone, as she was engaged in writing letters.

Selina, lost in reflection, unconsciously prolonged her solitary and almost untasted meal, till she was roused by the abrupt entrance of Lady Hammersley, who, profiting by her plea of relations.h.i.+p, had come to inquire all the particulars of the Viscount's death. Though Selina now felt a degree of repugnance to Lady Hammersley, which her almost impertinent remarks had provoked, yet she could not with propriety refuse the details she demanded; and she accordingly answered her numerous questions with as much brevity as politeness permitted. But her auditor seemed to attend more to her countenance than to her words, and at last abruptly exclaimed, "I certainly did not expect to see so much real sorrow in this house of mourning; you are a good girl, I believe, after all; and I like you for having at least _some_ feeling left."

Though Selina was always grateful for advice, and even reproof, dictated by affection, yet she did not feel, that Lady Hammersley was in any way authorized to offer her either; and therefore she replied, with an air of _hauteur_, which the recollection of her observations the day before increased, "My acquaintance with your Ladys.h.i.+p has been so short, that neither my feelings nor character can be known to you: have you any commands, madam, to Lady Eltondale?" and rising as she spoke, she prepared to quit the room. But Lady Hammersley, taking hold of her hand, exclaimed, "What, proud too! well, I like you the more for it; come, sit down, you and I must be better acquainted. For once I am inclined to think I have been mistaken. When first I saw you at Eltondale,"

continued she, in a tone of unusual kindness, "I was interested by your personal appearance; but above all, by your simplicity of character: but as I knew these were the two precise points, which must infallibly be most changed by your residence with Lady Eltondale, I looked upon you only as a fine piece of plaster of Paris, which she would probably mould to external perfection, but leave all hollow within. I should therefore (forgive my frankness, Miss Seymour), most likely, never have thought of you again, had I not met Mrs. Galton; who spoke of you in such terms, that I own I was curious to learn whether my prognostics were verified or not. Circ.u.mstances have accelerated my knowledge of you; and since I find, at least to all appearance, that Lady Eltondale's arts have not entirely spoiled your character, I am anxious that her schemes should not militate against your happiness." "Schemes! Lady Hammersley, I am at a loss to understand you." "Her favourite scheme," returned her Ladys.h.i.+p, "is this,--she intends you should marry her step-son Frederick Elton, now Lord Eltondale; and her visit to Deane Hall, which you may remember this time twelvemonth, was to procure your father's consent to the match, in which she succeeded." "My father's consent!" exclaimed the agitated girl. "But Mr. Elton and I are unacquainted; we have never even seen each other. You must be mistaken, my dear madam." "No, there is no mistake; both your late uncle and Mrs. Galton were my authorities." "And do you say my father gave his consent?" "I do say so: and I also know, that Frederick is now on his return to England, intending to propose for you. Come, my dear, do not be so agitated: he is one of the finest young men of the day: his character amiable, and his manners attractive; so perhaps you cannot do better than make choice of him, provided your affections are not otherwise engaged." A pause of some minutes ensued.

Lady Hammersley then continued: "But in telling you Lady Eltondale's scheme, it is fit I should explain her motive; for be a.s.sured, Miss Seymour, no action of hers can ever be disinterested. The fact is, she has long known, that the Eltondale estates are as much enc.u.mbered as the entail permits them to be; and in securing your property for Frederick, she flatters herself she has secured an increased jointure for herself."

Selina shuddered, but could make no reply. And Lady Hammersley rising, said, "I have now, my dear Miss Seymour, told you all I know: you may think me an impertinent old woman, but, be a.s.sured, I only wished to be a kind one. G.o.d bless you! perhaps we may never meet again; for I suppose Lady Eltondale will leave this place immediately. But don't forget the key I have given you to her character; and believe me it is not a false one." So saying, she affectionately kissed Selina, who took leave of her with a grat.i.tude and cordiality, she would a few hours before have believed it scarcely possible she could ever have experienced for Lady Hammersley.

It may be supposed this conversation made a deep impression on her mind; and one of the most painful feelings it excited was the insight it gave her into Lady Eltondale's selfish and dissembling character, confirmed as it was by her own previous observations. But even these feelings had not long power to withdraw her attention from that part of Lady Hammersley's communication which related to Frederick, and which was also corroborated by her recollection of several remarks and casual speeches of Lady Eltondale, which, at the time they were made, had seemed to her accidental and undesigned, but each of which, on retrospection, appeared "squared and fitted to its use." Nor did the circ.u.mstance of her deceased father having given his consent to the match serve, as with some romantic ladies it might have done, to determine her against it; on the contrary, it rather served to prejudice her in its favour; and a long train of reflections was concluded in her own mind by Lady Hammersley's observation, "So perhaps you cannot do better, provided your affections are not otherwise engaged."