And so I doubt not was my beloved.
Capt. 'You must know, Sir, that I have not been many months in Mr. John
Harlowe's neighbourhood. I removed from Northamptonshire, partly for the
sake of better managing one of two executorship, which I could not avoid
engaging in, (the affairs of which frequently call me to town, and are
part of my present business;) and partly for the sake of occupying a
neglected farm, which has lately fallen into my hands. But though an
acquaintance of no longer standing, and that commencing on the bowling-
green, [uncle John is a great bowler, Belford,] (upon my decision of a
point to every one's satisfaction, which was appealed to me by all the
gentlemen, and which might have been attended with bad consequences,) no
two brothers have a more cordial esteem for each other. You know, Mr.
Lovelace, that there is a consent, as I may call it, in some minds, which
will unite them stronger together in a few hours, than years can do with
others, whom yet we see not with disgust.'
Lovel. Very true, Captain.
Capt. 'It was on the foot of this avowed friendship on both sides, that
on Monday the 15th, as I very well remember, Mr. Harlowe invited himself
home with me. And when there, he acquainted me with the whole of the
unhappy affair that had made them all so uneasy. Till then I knew it
only by report; for, intimate as we were, I forbore to speak of what was
so near his heart, till he began first. And then he told me, that he had
had an application made to him, two or three days before, by a gentleman
whom he named,* to induce him not only to be reconciled himself to his
niece, but to forward for her a general reconciliation.
* See Vol. IV. Letters XXIII and XXIX.
'A like application, he told me, had been made to his sister Harlowe, by
a good woman, whom every body respected; who had intimated, that his
niece, if encouraged, would again put herself into the protection of her
friends, and leave you: but if not, that she must unavoidably be your's.'
I hope, Mr. Lovelace, I make no mischief.--You look concerned--you sigh,
Sir.
Proceed, Captain Tomlinson. Pray proceed.--And I sighed still more
profoundly.
Capt. 'They all thought it extremely particular, that a lady should
decline marriage with a man she had so lately gone away with.'
Pray, Captain--pray, Mr. Tomlinson--no more of this subject. My beloved
is an angel. In every thing unblamable. Whatever faults there have
been, have been theirs and mine. What you would further say, is, that
the unforgiving family rejected her application. They did. She and I
had a misunderstanding. The falling out of lovers--you know, Captain.
--We have been happier ever since.
Capt. 'Well, Sir; but Mr. John Harlowe could not but better consider
the matter afterwards. And he desired my advice how to act in it. He
told me that no father ever loved a daughter as he loved this niece of
his; whom, indeed, he used to call his daughter-niece. He said, she had
really been unkindly treated by her brother and sister: and as your
alliance, Sir, was far from being a discredit to their family, he would
do his endeavour to reconcile all parties, if he could be sure that ye
were actually man and wife.'
Lovel. And what, pray, Captain, was your advice?
Capt. 'I gave it as my opinion, that if his niece were unworthily
treated, and in distress, (as he apprehended from the application to
him,) he would soon hear of her again: but that it was likely, that this
application was made without expecting it would succeed; and as a salvo
only, to herself, for marrying without their consent. And the rather
thought I so, as he had told me, that it came from a young lady her
friend, and not in a direct way from herself; which young lady was no
favourite of the family; and therefore would hardly have been employed,
had success been expected.'
Lovel. Very well, Captain Tomlinson--pray proceed.
Capt. 'Here the matter rested till last Sunday evening, when Mr. John
Harlowe came to me with the man who had seen you and your lady (as I
presume she is) at the play; and who had assured him, that you both
lodged in the same house.--And then the application having been so lately
made, which implied that you were not then married, he was so uneasy for
his niece's honour, that I advised him to dispatch to town some one in
whom he could confide, to make proper inquiries.'
Lovel. Very well, Captain--And was such a person employed on such an
errand by her uncle?
Capt. 'A trusty and discreet person was accordingly sent; and last
Tuesday, I think it was, (for he returned to us on the Wednesday,) he
made the inquiries among the neighbours first.' [The very inquiry, Jack,
that gave us all so much uneasiness.*] 'But finding that none of them
could give any satisfactory account, the lady's woman was come at, who
declared, that you were actually married. But the inquirist keeping
himself on the reserve as to his employers, the girl refused to tell the
day, or to give him other particulars.'
* See Vol. IV. Letter L.
Lovel. You give a very clear account of every thing, Captain Tomlinson.
Pray proceed.
Capt. 'The gentleman returned; and, on his report, Mr. Harlowe, having
still doubts, and being willing to proceed on some grounds in so
important a point, besought me (as my affairs called me frequently to
town) to undertake this matter. "You, Mr. Tomlinson, he was pleased to
say, have children of your own: you know the world: you know what I drive
at: you will proceed, I am sure, with understanding and spirit: and
whatever you are satisfied with shall satisfy me."'
Enter Dorcas again in a hurry.
Sir, the gentleman is impatient.