Tales and Novels, Vol. V by Maria Edgeworth

M >> Maria Edgeworth >> Tales and Novels, Vol. V

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But Lady Julia was resolute in declining to play Calista; and Vivian
admired the spirit and steadiness of her resistance to the solicitations
and the flattery with which she was assailed by the numerous hangers-on
of the family, and by the amateurs assembled at Glistonbury. Russell,
who knew the warmth of her temper, however, dreaded that she should pass
the bounds of propriety in the contest with her father and her
governess; and he almost repented having given any advice upon the
subject. The contest happily terminated in Lord Glistonbury's having a
violent fit of the gout, which, as the newspapers informed the public,
"ended for the season the Christmas hospitalities and theatrical
festivities at Glistonbury Castle!"

Whilst his lordship suffered this fit of torture, his daughter Julia
attended him with so much patience and affection, that he forgave her
for not being willing to be Calista; and, upon his recovery, he
announced to Miss Bateman that it was his will and pleasure that his
daughter Julia should do as she liked on this point, but that he desired
it to be understood that this was no concession to Lady Glistonbury's
prejudices, but an act of his own pure grace.

To celebrate his recovery, his lordship determined to give a ball;
and Miss Bateman persuaded him to make it a _fancy ball_. In this
family, unfortunately, every occurrence, even every proposal of
amusement, became a subject of dispute and a source of misery. Lady
Glistonbury, as soon as her lord announced his intention of giving
this fancy ball, declined taking the direction of an entertainment
which approached, she said, too near to the nature of a masquerade to
meet her ideas of propriety. Lord Glistonbury laughed, and tried the
powers of ridicule and wit:

"But on th'impassive ice the lightnings play'd."

The lady's cool obstinacy was fully a match for her lord's petulance: to
all he could urge, she repeated, "that such entertainments did not meet
her ideas of propriety." Her ladyship, Lady Sarah, and Miss Strictland,
consequently declared it to be their resolution, "to appear in their own
proper characters, and their own proper dresses, and no others."

These three rigid seceders excepted, all the world at Glistonbury
Castle, and within its sphere of attraction, were occupied with
preparations for this ball. Miss Bateman was quite in her element,
flattered and flattering, consulting and consulted, in the midst of
novels, plays, and poetry, prints, and pictures, searching for
appropriate characters and dresses. This preceptress seemed to think and
to expect that others should deem her office of governess merely a
subordinate part of her business: she considered her having accepted of
the superintendence of the education of Lady Julia Lidhurst as a
prodigious condescension on her part, and a derogation from her rank and
pretensions in the literary and fashionable world; a peculiar and
sentimental favour to Lord Glistonbury, of which his lordship was bound
in honour to show his sense, by treating her as a member of his family,
not only with distinguished politeness, but by _deferring_ to her
opinion in all things, so as to prove to her satisfaction that she was
considered _only_ as a friend, and not at all as a governess. Thus she
was raised as much above that station in the family in which she could
be useful, as governesses in other houses have been sometimes depressed
below their proper rank. Upon this, as upon all occasions, Miss Bateman
was the first person to be thought of--her character and her dress were
the primary points to be determined; and they were points of no easy
decision, she having proposed for herself no less than five
characters--the fair Rosamond, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Sigismunda, and
Circe. After minute consideration of the dresses, which, at a fancy
ball, were to constitute these characters, fair Rosamond was rejected,
"because the old English dress muffled up the person too much; Joan of
Arc would find her armour inconvenient for dancing; Cleopatra's diadem
and royal purple would certainly be truly becoming, but then her regal
length of train was as inadmissible in a dancing-dress as Joan of Arc's
armour." Between Sigismunda and Circe, Miss Bateman's choice long
vibrated. The Spanish and the Grecian costume had each its claims on her
favour: for she was assured they both became her remarkably. Vivian was
admitted to the consultation: he was informed that there must be both a
Circe and a Sigismunda; and that Lady Julia was to take whichever of the
two characters Miss Bateman declined. Pending the deliberation, Lady
Julia whispered to Vivian, "For mercy's sake! contrive that I may not be
doomed to be Circe; for Circe is no better than Calista."

Vivian was charmed with her ladyship's delicacy and discretion; he
immediately decided her governess, by pointing out the beautiful
head-dress of Flaxman's Circe, and observing that Miss Bateman's hair
(which was a wig) might easily be arranged, so as to produce the same
effect. Lady Julia rewarded Vivian for this able and successful
manoeuvre by one of her sweetest smiles. Her smiles had now powerful
influence over his heart. He rebelled against Russell's advice, to take
more time to consider how far his character was suited to hers: he was
conscious, indeed, that it would be more prudent to wait a little longer
before he should declare his passion, as Lady Julia was so very young
and enthusiastic, and as her education had been so ill managed; but he
argued that the worse her education, and the more imprudent the people
about her, the greater was her merit in conducting herself with
discretion, and in trying to restrain her natural enthusiasm. Russell
acknowledged this, and gave all due praise to Lady Julia; yet still he
represented that Vivian had been acquainted with her so short time that
he could not be a competent judge of her temper and disposition, even if
his judgment were cool; but it was evident that his passions were now
engaged warmly in her favour. All that Russell urged for delay so far
operated, however, upon Vivian, that he adopted a half measure, and
determined to try what chance he might have of pleasing her before he
should either declare his love to her ladyship, or make his proposal to
her father. A favourable opportunity soon occurred. On the day appointed
for the fancy ball, the young Lord Lidhurst, who was to be Tancred, was
taken ill of a feverish complaint: he was of a very weakly constitution,
and his friends were much alarmed by his frequent indispositions. His
physicians ordered quiet; he was confined to his own apartment; and
another Tancred was of course to be sought for: Vivian ventured to offer
to assume the character; and his manner, when he made this proposal to
his fair Sigismunda, though it was intended to be merely polite and
gallant, was so much agitated, that she now, for the first time, seemed
to perceive the state of his heart. Colouring high, her ladyship
answered, with hesitation unusual to her, "that she believed--she
fancied--that is, she understood from her brother--that he had deputed
Mr. Russell to represent Tancred in his place."

Vivian was not displeased by this answer: the change of colour and
evident embarrassment appeared to him favourable omens; and he thought
that whether the embarrassment arose from unwillingness to let any man
but her brother's tutor, a man domesticated in the family, appear as her
Tancred, or whether she was afraid of offending Mr. Russell, by changing
the arrangement her brother had made; in either case Vivian felt ready,
though a man in love, to approve of her motives. As to the rest, he was
certain that Russell would decline the part assigned him; and, as Vivian
expected, Russell came in a few minutes to resign his pretensions, or
rather to state that though Lord Lidhurst had proposed it, he had never
thought of accepting the honour; and that he should, in all probability,
not appear at the ball, because he was anxious to stay as much as
possible with Lord Lidhurst, whose indisposition increased instead of
abating. Lord Glistonbury, after this explanation, came in high spirits,
and with much satisfaction in his countenance and manner, said he was
happy to hear that his Sigismunda was to have Mr. Vivian for her
Tancred. So far all was prosperous to our hero's hopes.

But when he saw Lady Julia again, which was not till dinner time, he
perceived an unfavourable alteration in her manner; not the timidity or
embarrassment of a girl who is uncertain whether she is or is not
pleased, or whether she should or should not appear to be pleased by the
first approaches of a new lover; but there was in her manner a decided
haughtiness, and an unusual air of displeasure and reserve. Though he
sat beside her, and though in general her delightful conversation had
been addressed either to him or Mr. Russell, they were now both deprived
of this honour; whatever she said, and all she said, was unlike herself,
was directed to persons opposite to her, even to the captain, the
lawyer, and the family parasites, whose existence she commonly seemed to
forget. She ate as well as spoke in a hurried manner, and as if in
defiance of her feelings. Whilst the courses were changing, she turned
towards Mr. Vivian, and after a rapid examining glance at his
countenance, she said, in a low voice--"You must think me, Mr. Vivian,
very unreasonable and whimsical, but I have given up all thoughts of
being Sigismunda. Will you oblige me so far as not to appear in the
dress of Tancred to-night? You will thus spare me all farther
difficulty. You know my mother and sister have declared their
determination not to wear any fancy dress; and though my father is
anxious that I should, I believe it may be best that, in this instance,
I follow my own judgment.--May I expect that you will oblige me?"

Vivian declared his entire submission to her ladyship's judgment: and
he now was delighted to be able to forgive her for all seeming
caprice; because he thought he saw an amiable motive for her
conduct--the wish not to displease her mother, and not to excite the
jealousy of her sister.

The hour when the ball was to commence arrived; the room filled with
company; and Vivian, who flattered himself with the pleasure of dancing
all night with Lady Julia, as the price of his prompt obedience, looked
round the room in search of his expected partner, but he searched in
vain. He looked to the door at every new entrance--no Lady Julia
appeared. Circe, indeed, was every where to be seen and heard, and an
uglier Circe never touched this earth; but she looked happily confident
in the power of her charms. Whilst she was intent upon fascinating
Vivian, he was impatiently waiting for a moment's intermission of her
volubility, that he might ask what had become of Lady Julia.

"Lady Julia?--She's somewhere in the room, I suppose.--Oh! no: I
remember, she told me she would go and sit a quarter of an hour with her
brother. She will soon make her appearance, I suppose; but I am so angry
with her for disappointing us all, and you in particular, by changing
her mind about Sigismunda!--Such a capital Tancred as you would have
made! and now you are no character at all! But then, you are only on a
par with certain ladies. Comfort yourself with the great Pope's (I fear
too true) reflection, that

'Most women have no characters at all.'"

Miss Bateman's eye glanced insolently, as she spoke, upon Lady
Glistonbury's trio, who passed by at this instant, all without fancy
dresses. Vivian shocked by this ill-breeding towards the mistress of the
house, offered his arm immediately to Lady Glistonbury, and conducted
her with Lady Sarah and Miss Strictland to their proper places, where,
having seated themselves, each in the same attitude precisely, they
looked more like martyrs prepared for endurance, than like persons in a
ball-room. Vivian stayed to speak a few words to Lady Glistonbury, and
was just going away, when her ladyship, addressing him with more than
her usual formality, said, "Mr. Vivian, I see, has not adopted the
fashion of the day; and as he is the only gentleman present, whose fancy
dress does not proclaim him engaged to some partner equally _fanciful_,
I cannot but wish that my daughter, Lady Sarah, should, if she dance at
all to-night, dance with a gentleman in his own proper character."

Vivian, thus called upon, felt compelled to ask the honour of Lady
Sarah's hand; but he flattered himself, that after the first dance he
should have done his duty, and that he should be at liberty by the time
Julia should make her appearance. But, to his great disappointment, Mr.
Russell, who came in just as he had finished the first two dances,
informed him that Lady Julia was determined not to appear at the ball,
but to stay with her brother, who wished for her company. So poor Vivian
found himself doomed to be Lady Sarah's partner for the remainder of the
night. It happened that, as he was handing her ladyship to supper, in
passing through an antechamber where some of the neighbours of inferior
rank had been permitted to assemble to see _the show_, he heard one
farmer's wife say to another, "Who _beas_ that there, that's handing of
Lady Sarah?"--They were detained a little by the crowd, so that he had
time to hear the whole answer.--"Don't you know?" was the answer. "That
there gentleman is Mr. Vivian of the new castle, that is to be married
to her directly, and that's what he's come here for; for they've been
engaged to one another ever since the time o' the election."

This speech disturbed our hero's mind considerably; for it awakened a
train of reflections which he had wilfully left dormant. Will it, can it
be believed, that after all his friend Russell's exhortations, after his
own wise resolutions, he had never yet made any of those explanatory
speeches he had intended?

"Positively," said he to himself, "this report shall not prevail
four-and-twenty hours longer. I will propose for Lady Julia Lidhurst
before I sleep. Russell, to be sure, advises me not to be
precipitate--to take more time to study her disposition; but I am
acquainted with her sufficiently;" (he should have said, I am in love
with her sufficiently;) "and really now, I am bound in honour
immediately to declare myself--it is the best possible way of putting a
stop to a report which will be ultimately injurious to Lady Sarah."

Thus Vivian made his past irresolution an excuse for his present
precipitation, flattering himself, as men often do when they are
yielding to the impulse of their passions, that they are submitting to
the dictates of reason. At six o'clock in the morning the company
dispersed. Lord Glistonbury and Vivian were the last in the ball-room.
His lordship began some raillery upon our hero's having declined
appearing as Tancred, and upon his having devoted himself all night to
Lady Sarah. Vivian seized the moment to explain his real feelings, and
he made his proposal for Lady Julia. It was received with warm
approbation by the father, who seemed to rejoice the more in this
proposal, because he knew that it would disappoint and mortify Lady
Glistonbury. The interests of his hatred seemed, indeed, to occupy his
lordship more than the interests of Vivian's love; but politeness threw
a decent veil over these feelings; and, after saying all that could be
expected of the satisfaction it must be to a father to see his daughter
united to a man of Mr. Vivian's family, fortune, talents, and great
respectability; and after having given, incidentally and
parenthetically, his opinions, not only concerning matrimony, but
concerning all other affairs of human life, he wished his future
son-in-law a very good night, and left him to repose. But no rest could
Vivian take--he waited with impatience, that made every hour appear at
least two, for the time when he was again to meet Lady Julia. He saw her
at breakfast; but he perceived by her countenance that she as yet knew
nothing of his proposal. After breakfast Lord Glistonbury said, "Come
with me, my little Julia! it is a long time since I've had a walk and a
talk with you." His lordship paced up and down the terrace, conversing
earnestly with her for some time: he then went on to some labourers, who
were cutting down a tree at the farther end of the avenue. Vivian
hastened out to meet Lady Julia, who, after standing deep in thought for
some moments, seemed returning towards the castle.

CHAPTER IX.

"Mr. Vivian, I trust that I am not deficient in maidenly modesty," said
Lady Julia, "when it is not incompatible with what I deem a higher
virtue--sincerity. Now and ever, frankness is, and shall be, my only
policy. The confidence I am about to repose in you, sir, is the
strongest proof of my esteem, and of the gratitude I feel for your
attachment.--My heart is no longer in my power to bestow. It is--young
as I am, I dare to pronounce the words--irrevocably fixed upon one who
will do honour to my choice. Your proposal was made to my father--Why
was it not made to me?--Men--all men but one--treat women as puppets,
and then wonder that they are not rational creatures!--Forgive me this
too just reproach. But, as I was going to say, your proposal has thrown
me into great difficulties--the greater because my father warmly
approves of it. I have a strong affection for him; and, perhaps, a year
or two ago, I should, in the ignorance in which I was dogmatically
brought up, have thought it my duty to submit implicitly to parental
authority, and to receive a husband from the hands of a father, without
consulting either my own heart or my own judgment. But, since my mind
has been more enlightened, and has opened to higher views of the dignity
of my sex, and higher hopes of happiness, my ideas of duty have altered;
and, I trust, I have sufficient courage to support my own idea of the
rights of my sex, and my firm conviction of what is just and becoming."

Vivian was again going to say something; but, whether against or in
favour of the rights of the sex, he had not clearly decided; when
her ladyship saved him the trouble, by proceeding with the train of
her ideas.

"My sincerity towards my father will, perhaps, cost me dear; but I
cannot repent of it. As soon as I knew the state of my own heart--which
was not till very lately--which was not, indeed, till you gave me reason
to think you seriously liked me--I openly told my father all I knew of
my own heart. Would you believe it?--I am sure I should not, unless I
had seen and felt it--my father, who, you know, professes the most
liberal opinions possible; my father, who, in conversation is 'All for
love, and the world well lost;' my father, who let Miss Bateman put the
Heloise into my hands, was astonished, shocked, indignant, at his own
daughter's confession, I should say, assertion of her preference of a
man of high merit, who wants only the advantages, if they be advantages,
of rank and fortune.

"Mr. Vivian," continued she, "may I hope that now, when you must be
convinced of the inefficacy of any attempt either to win or to control
my affections, you will have the generosity to spare me all unnecessary
contest with my father? It must render him more averse from the only
union that can make his daughter happy; and it may ruin the fortunes
of--the first, in my opinion, of human beings. I will request another
favour from you--and let my willingness to be obliged by you convince
you that I appreciate your character--I request that you will not only
keep secret all that I have said to you; but that, if accident, or your
own penetration, should hereafter discover to you the object of my
affection, you will refrain from making any use of that discovery to my
disadvantage. You see how entirely I have thrown myself on your honour
and generosity."

Vivian assured her that the appeal was powerful with him; and that, by
mastering his own passions, and sacrificing his feelings to hers, he
would endeavour to show his strong desire to secure, at all events, her
happiness.

"You are truly generous, Mr. Vivian, to listen to me with indulgence,
to wish for my happiness, whilst I have been wounding your feelings.
But, without any impeachment of your sincerity, or yet of your
sensibility, let me say, that yours will be only a transient
disappointment. Your acquaintance with me is but of yesterday, and the
slight impression made on your mind will soon be effaced; but upon my
mind there has been time to grave a deep, a first charactery of love,
that never, whilst memory holds her seat, can be erased.--I believe,"
said Julia, checking herself, whilst a sudden blush overspread her
countenance--"I am afraid that I have said too much, too much for a
woman. The fault of my character, I know, I have been told, is the want
of what is called RESERVE."

Blushing still more deeply as she pronounced these last words, the
colour darting up to her temples, spreading over her neck, and making
its way to the very tips of her fingers, "Now I have done worse," cried
she, covering her face with her hands. But the next moment, resuming, or
trying to resume her self-possession, she said, "It is time that I
should retire, now that I have revealed my whole heart to you. It has,
perhaps, been imprudently opened; but for that, your generosity, sir, is
to blame. Had you shown more selfishness, I should assuredly have
exerted more prudence, and have treated you with less confidence."

Lady Julia quitted him, and Vivian remained in a species of amaze, from
which he could not immediately recover. Her frankness, her magnanimity,
her enthusiastic sensibility, her eloquent beauty, had altogether
exalted, to the highest ecstasy, his love and admiration. Then he walked
about, beating his breast in despair at the thought of her affections
being irrecoverably engaged,--next quarrelled with the boldness of the
confession, the _assertion_ of her love--then decided, that, with all
her shining qualities and noble dispositions, she was not exactly the
woman a man should desire for a wife: there was something too rash, too
romantic about her; there was in her character, as she herself had said,
and as Russell had remarked, too little _reserve_. Something like
jealousy and distrust of his friend arose in Vivian's mind: "What!" said
he to himself, "and is Russell my rival? and has he been all this time
in secret my rival? Is it possible that Russell has been practising upon
the affections of this innocent young creature--confided to him too? All
this time, whilst he has been cautioning me against her charms,
beseeching me not to propose for her precipitately, is it possible that
he wanted only to get, to keep the start of me?--No--impossible! utterly
impossible! If all the circumstances, all the evidence upon earth
conspired, I would not believe it."

Resolved not to do injustice, even in his inmost soul, to his friend,
our hero repelled all suspicion of Russell, by reflecting on his long
and tried integrity, and on the warmth and fidelity of his friendship.
In this temper he was crossing the castle-yard to go to Russell's
apartment, when he was met and stopped by one of the domesticated
friends of the family, Mr. Mainwaring, the young lawyer: he was in the
confidence of Lord Glistonbury, and, proud to show it, he let Mr. Vivian
know that he was apprised of the proposal that had been made, and
congratulated him, and all the parties concerned, on the prospect of
such an agreeable connexion. Vivian was quite unprepared to speak to any
one, much less to a lawyer, upon this subject; he had not even thought
of the means of obeying Lady Julia, by withdrawing his suit; therefore,
with a mixture of vexation and embarrassment in his manner, he answered
in commonplace phrases, meant to convey no precise meaning, and
endeavoured to disengage himself from his companion; but the lawyer, who
had fastened upon him, linking his arm in Vivian's, continued to walk
him up and down under the great gateway, saying that he had a word or
two of importance for his private ear. This man had taken much pains to
insinuate himself into Vivian's favour, by the most obsequious and
officious attentions: though his flattery had at first been disgusting,
yet, by persevering in his show of civility, he had at length inclined
Vivian to think that he was too harsh in his first judgment, and to
believe that, "after all, Mainwaring was a good friendly fellow, though
his manner was against him."

Mr. Mainwaring, with many professions of regard for Vivian, and with
sundry premisings that he hazarded himself by the communication, took
the liberty of hinting, that he guessed, from Mr. Vivian's manner this
morning, that obstacles had arisen on the part of a young lady who
should be nameless; and he should make bold to add that, in his private
opinion, the said obstacles would never be removed whilst _a certain
person_ remained in the castle, and whilst the young lady alluded to was
allowed to spend so much of her time studying with her brother when
well, or nursing him when sick. Mr. Mainwaring declared that he was
perfectly astonished at Lord Glistonbury's blindness or imprudence in
keeping this person in the house, after the hints his lordship had
received, and after all the proofs that must or may have fallen within
his cognizance, of the arts of seduction that had been employed. Here
Vivian interrupted Mr. Mainwaring, to beg that he would not keep him
longer in suspense by _inuendoes_, but that he would name distinctly the
object of his suspicions. This, however, Mr. Mainwaring begged to be
excused from doing: he would only shake his head and smile, and leave
people to their own sagacity and penetration. Vivian warmly answered,
that, if Mr. Mainwaring meant Mr. Russell, he was well assured that Mr.
Mainwaring was utterly mistaken in attributing to him any but the most
honourable conduct.

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