Juliet, in re-mounting the stairs, was stopt, by her new acquaintance,
before the door of his apartment.
'If you knew,' he said, 'how despitefully I have been treated, and how
miserably black and blue I have been pinched, by the little Imp whose
offer you have rejected, sleep would fly your eyes at night, from
remorse for your hardness of heart. Its Impship insists upon it, that
the fault must all be mine. What! it cries, would you persuade me, that
a young creature whose face beams with celestial sweetness, whose voice
is the voice of melody, whose eyes have the softness of the Dove's--'
Juliet, though she smiled, would have escaped; but he told her he must
be heard.
'Would you persuade me, quoth my sprite, that such an angelic personage,
would rather let my poor despised coin canker and rust in your miserly
coffers, than disperse it about in the world, in kind, generous, or
useful activity? No, my antique, continues my little elf, you have
presented it in some clumsy, hunchy, awkward mode, that has made her
deem you an unworthy bearer of fairy gifts; and she flies the downy
wings of my gentle succour, from the fear of falling into your rough and
uncooth claws.'
Juliet, who now, through the ill-closed fingers of his gouty hand,
discerned his prepared purse, seriously begged to decline this
discussion.
'What malice you must bear me!' he cried. 'You are surely in the pay of
my evil genius! and I shall be whipt with nettles, or scratched with
thorns, all night, in revenge of my failure! And that parcel,
too,--which strains the fine fibres of your fair hands,--cast it but
down, and millions of my little elves will struggle to convey it safely
to your chamber.'
'I doubt not their dexterity,' answered Juliet, 'nor the benevolence of
their fabricator; but I assure you, Sir, I want no help.'
'If you will not accept their aerial services, deign, at least, not to
refuse mine!'
He endeavoured, now, to take the gown-packet into his own hands;
laughingly saying, upon her grave resistance, 'Beware, fair nymph, of
the dormant sensations which you may awaken, if you should make me
suppose you afraid of me! Many a long day is past, alas! and gone, since
I could flatter myself with the idea of exciting fear in a young
breast!'
Ceasing, however, the attempt, after some courteous apologies, he
respectfully let her pass.
But, upon entering her room, she heard something chink as she deposited
her parcel upon a table; and, upon examination, found that he had
managed to slip into it, during the contest, a little green purse.
Vexed at this contrivance, and resolved not to lose an instant in
returning what no distress could induce her to retain, she immediately
descended; but the staircase was vacant, and the door was closed.
Fearful any delay might authorize a presumption of acceptance, she
assumed courage to tap at the door.
A scampering, at the same moment, up the stairs, made her instantly
regret this measure; and by no means the less, for finding herself
recognized, and abruptly accosted by young Gooch, the farmer's son, at
the very moment that her gouty admirer had hobbled to answer to her
summons.
'Well, see if I a'n't a good marksman!' he cried; 'for else, Ma'am, I
might have passed you; for they told me, below, you were up there, at
the very top of the house. But I'd warrant to pick you out from a
hundred, Ma'am; as neat as my father would one of his stray sheep. But
what I come for, Ma'am, is to ask the favour of your company, if it's
agreeable to you, to a little junket at our farm.'
Then, rubbing his hands with great glee, unregarding the surprised look
of Juliet, at such an invitation, or the amused watchfulness of the
observant old beau, he went glibly on.
'Father's to give it, Ma'am. You never saw old dad, I believe, Ma'am?
The old gentleman's a very good old chap; only he don't like our clubs:
for he says they make me speak quite in the new manner; so that the
farmers, he says, don't know what I'd be at. He's rather in years,
Ma'am, poor man. He don't know much how things go. However, he's a very
well meaning old gentleman.'
Juliet gravely enquired, to what unknown accident she might attribute an
invitation so unexpected?
'Why, Ma'am,' answered Gooch, delighted at the idea of having given her
an agreeable surprize, 'Why it's the 'Squire, Ma'am, that put it into my
head. You know who I mean? our rich cousin, 'Squire Tedman. He's a great
friend of yours, I can assure you, Ma'am. He wants you to take a little
pleasure sadly. And he's sadly afraid, too, he says, that you'll miss
him, now he's gone to town; for he used often, he says, to bring you one
odd thing or another. He's got a fine fortune of his own, my cousin the
'Squire. And he's a widower.--And he's taken a vast liking to you, I can
tell you, Ma'am;--so who knows....'
Juliet would have been perfectly unmoved by this ignorant forwardness,
but for the presence of a stranger, to whose good opinion, after her
experience of his benevolence, she could not be indifferent. With an
air, therefore, that marked her little satisfaction at this familiar
jocoseness, she declined the invitation; and begged the young man to
acquaint Mr Tedman, that, though obliged to his intentions, she should
feel a yet higher obligation in his forbearance to forward to her, in
future, any similar proposals.
'Why, Ma'am,' cried young Gooch, astonished, 'this i'n't a thing you can
get at every day! We shall have all the main farmers of the
neighbourhood! for it's given on account of a bargain that we've made,
of a nice little slip of land, just by our square hay-field. And I've
leave to choose six of the company myself. But they won't be farmers,
Ma'am, I can tell you! They'll be young fellows that know better how the
world goes. And we shall have your good friend 'Squire Stubbs; for it's
he that made our bargain.'
Juliet, now, turning from him to the silent, remarking stranger, said,
'I am extremely ashamed, Sir, to obtrude thus upon your time, but the
person for whom you so generously destined this donation commissions me
to return it, with many thanks, and an assurance that it is not at all
wanted.'
She held out her hand with the purse, but, drawing back from receiving
it, 'Madam,' he cried, 'I would upon no account offend any one who has
the honour of being known to you; but you will not, therefore, I hope,
insist that I should quarrel with myself, by taking what does not belong
to me?'
While Juliet, now, looked wistfully around, to discover some place where
she might drop the purse, unseen by the young man, whose
misinterpretations might be injurious, the youth volubly continued his
own discourse.
'We shall give a pretty good entertainment in the way of supper, I
assure you, Ma'am; for we shall have a goose at top, and a turkey at
bottom, and as fine a fat pig as ever you saw in your life in the
middle; with as much ale, and mead, and punch, as you can desire to
drink. And, as all my sisters are at home, and a brace or so of nice
young lasses of their acquaintance, besides ever so many farmers, and us
seven stout young fellows of my club, into the bargain, we intend to
kick up a dance. It may keep you out a little late, to be sure, Ma'am,
but you shall have our chay-cart to bring you home. You know our
chay-cart of old, Ma'am?'
'I, Sir?'
'Why, lauk! have you forgot that, Ma'am? Why it's our chay-cart that
brought you to Brighton, from Madam Maple's at Lewes, as good as half a
year ago. Don't you remember little Jack, that drove you? and that went
for you again the next day, to fetch you back?'
Juliet now found, that this was the carriage procured for her by
Harleigh, upon her first arrival at Lewes; and, though chagrined at the
air of former, or disguised intimacy, which such an incident might seem
to convey to her new friend, she immediately acknowledged recollecting
the circumstance.
'Well, I'm only sorry, Ma'am, I did not drive you myself; but I had not
the pleasure of your acquaintance then, Ma'am; for 'twas before of our
acting together.'
The surprise of the listening old gentleman now altered its expression,
from earnest curiosity to suppressed pleasantry; and he leant against
his door, to take a pinch of snuff, with an air that denoted him to be
rather waiting for some expected amusement, than watching, as
heretofore, for some interesting explanation.
Juliet, in discerning the passing change in his ideas, became more than
ever eager to return the purse; yet more than ever fearful of
misconstruction from young Gooch; whom she now, with encreased
dissatisfaction, begged to lose no time in acquainting Mr Tedman, that
business only ever took her from home.
'Why, that's but moping for you, neither, Ma'am,' he answered, in a tone
of pity. 'You'd have double the spirits if you'd go a little abroad;
for staying within doors gives one but a hippish turn. It will go nigh
to make you grow quite melancholick, Ma'am.'
Hopeless to get rid either of him or of the purse, Juliet, now, was
moving up stairs, when the voice of Miss Bydel called out from the
passage, 'Why, Mr Gooch, have you forgot I told you to send Mrs Ellis to
me?'
'That I had clean!' he answered. 'I ask your pardon, I'm sure,
Ma'am.--Why, Ma'am, Miss Bydel told me to tell you, when I said I was
coming up to ask you to our junket, that she wanted to say a word or two
to you, down in the shop, upon business.'
Juliet would have descended; but Miss Bydel, desiring her to wait,
mounted herself, saying, 'I have a mind to see your little new room:'
stopping, however, when she came to the landing-place, which was square
and large, 'Well-a-day!' she exclaimed: 'Sir Jaspar Herrington!--who'd
have thought of seeing you, standing so quietly at your door? Why I did
not know you could stand at all! Why how is your gout, my good Sir? And
how do you like your new lodgings? I heard of your being here from Miss
Matson. But pray, Mrs Ellis, what has kept you both, you and young Mr
Gooch, in such close conference with Sir Jaspar? I can't think what
you've been talking of so long. Pray how did you come to be so intimate
together? I should like to know that.'
Sir Jaspar courteously invited Miss Bydel to enter his apartment; but
that lady, not aware that nothing is less delicate than professions of
delicacy; which degrade a just perception, and strict practice of
propriety, into a display of conscious caution, or a suspicion of evil
interpretation; almost angrily answered, that she could not for the
world do such a thing, for it would set every body a talking: 'for, as
I'm not married, Sir Jaspar, you know, and as you're a single gentleman,
too, it might make Miss Matson and her young ladies think I don't know
what. For, when once people's tongues are set a-going, it's soon too
late to stop them. Besides, every body's always so prodigious curious to
dive into other people's affairs, that one can't well be too prudent.'
Sir Jaspar, with an arched brow, of which she was far from comprehending
the meaning, said that he acquiesced in her better judgment; but, as she
had announced that she came to speak with this young lady upon business,
he enquired, whether there would be any incongruity in putting a couple
of chairs upon the landing-place.
'Well,' she cried, 'that's a bright thought, I declare, Sir Jaspar! for
it will save me the trouble of groping up stairs;' and then, seizing the
opportunity to peep into his room, she broke forth into warm
exclamations of pleasure, at the many nice and new things with which it
had been furnished, since it had been vacated by Mrs Ellis.
A look, highly commiserating, shewed him shocked by these observations;
and the air, patiently calm, with which they were heard by Juliet,
augmented his interest, as well as wonder, in her story and situation.
He ordered his valet to fetch an arm-chair for Miss Bydel; while,
evidently meant for Juliet, he began to drag another forward himself.
'Bless me, Sir Jaspar!' cried Miss Bydel, looking, a little affronted,
towards Juliet, 'have you no common chairs?'
'Yes,' he answered, still labouring on, 'for common purposes!'
This civility was not lost upon Juliet, who declining, though thankful
for his attention, darted forward, to take, for herself, a seat of less
dignity; hastily, as she passed, dropping the purse upon a table.
A glance at Sir Jaspar sufficed to assure her, that this action had not
escaped his notice; and though his look spoke disappointment, it shewed
him sensible of the propriety of avoiding any contest.
Relieved from this burthen, she now cheerfully waited to hear the orders
of Miss Bydel: young Gooch waited to hear them also; seated,
cross-legged, upon the balustrade; though Sir Jaspar sent his valet
away, and, retired, scrupulously, himself, to the further end of his
apartment.
Miss Bydel, as little struck with the ill breeding of the young farmer,
as with the good manners of the baronet, forgot her business, from
recollecting that Mr Scope was waiting for her in the shop. 'For
happening,' said she, 'to pass by, and see me, through the glass-door,
he just stept in, on purpose to have a little chat.'
'O ho, what, is 'Squire Scope here?' cried young Gooch; and, rapidly
sliding down the banisters, seized upon the unwilling and precise Mr
Scope, whom he dragged up to the landing-place.
'Well, this is droll enough!' cried Miss Bydel, palpably enchanted,
though trying to look displeased; 'only I hope you have not told Mr
Scope 'twas I that sent you for him, Mr Gooch? for, I assure you, Mr
Scope, I would not do such a thing for the world. I should think it
quite improper. Besides, what will Miss Matson and the young milliners
say? Who knows but you may have set them a prating, Mr Gooch? It's no
joke, I can assure you, doing things of this sort.'
'I'm sure, Ma'am,' said Gooch, 'I thought you wanted to see the 'Squire;
for I did not do it in the least to make game.'
'There can be no doubt, Madam,' said Mr Scope, somewhat offended, 'that
all descriptions of sport are not, at all times, advisable. For, in
small societies, as in great states, if I may be permitted to compare
little things with great ones, danger often lurks unseen, and mischief
breaks out from trifles. In like manner, for example, if one of those
young milliners, misinterpreting my innocence, in obeying the supposed
commands of the good Miss Bydel, should take the liberty to laugh at my
expence, what, you might ask, could it signify that a young girl should
laugh? Young persons, especially of the female gender, being naturally
given to laughter, at very small provocatives; not to say sometimes
without any whatsoever. Whereupon, persons of an ordinary judgment, may
conclude such an action, by which I mean laughing, to be of no
consequence.--'
'But I think it very rude!' cried Miss Bydel, extremely nettled.
'Please to hear me, Madam!' said Mr Scope. 'Persons, I say, of deeper
knowledge in the maxims and manners of the moral world, would look
forward with watchfulness, on such an occasion, to its future effects;
for one laugh breeds another, and another breeds another; for nothing is
so catching as laughing; I mean among the vulgar; in which class I would
be understood to include the main mass of a great nation. What, I ask,
ensues?--'
'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, rather impatiently, 'I
assure you if I knew any body that took such a liberty as to laugh at
me, I should let them know my thoughts of such airs without much
ceremony!'
'My very good lady,' said Mr Scope, formally bowing, 'if I may request
such a favour, I beg you to be silent. The laugh, I observe, caught
thus, from one to another, soon spreads abroad; and then, the more aged,
or better informed, may be led to enquire into its origin: and the
result of such investigation must needs be, that the worthy Miss Bydel,
having sent her commands to her humble servant, Mr Scope, to follow her
up stairs--'
'But if they said that,' cried Miss Bydel, looking very red, 'it would
be as great a fib as ever was told, for I did not send my commands, nor
think of such a thing. It was Mr Gooch's own doing, only for his own
nonsense. And I am curious to know, Mr Gooch, whether any body ever put
such thoughts into your head? Pray did you ever hear any body talk, Mr
Gooch? For, if you have, I should be glad to know what they said.'
Mr Scope, waving his hand to demand attention, again begged leave to
remark, that he had not finished what he purposed to advance.
'My argument, Madam,' he resumed, 'is a short, but, I hope, a clear one,
for 'tis deduced from general principles and analogy; though, upon a
merely cursory view, it may appear somewhat abstruse. But what I mean,
in two words, is, that the laugh raised by Mr Gooch, and those young
milliners; taking it for granted that they laughed; which, indeed, I
rather think I heard them do; may, in itself, perhaps, as only
announcing incapacity, not be condemnable; but when it turns out that it
promulgates false reports, and makes two worthy persons, if I may take
the liberty to name myself with the excellent Miss Bydel, appear to be
fit subjects for ridicule; then, indeed, the laugh is no longer
innocent; and ought, in strict justice, to be punished, as seriously as
any other mode of propagating false rumours.'
Miss Bydel, after protesting that Mr Scope talked so prodigiously
sensible, that she was never tired of hearing him, for all his speeches
were so long; abruptly told Juliet, that she had called to let her know,
that she should be glad to be paid, out of hand, the money which she had
advanced for the harp.
Sir Jaspar, who, during the harangue of Mr Scope, which was uttered in
too loud and important a manner, to leave any doubt of its being
intended for general hearing; had drawn his chair to join the party,
listened to this demand with peculiar attention; and was struck with the
evident distress which it caused to Juliet; who fearfully besought a
little longer law, to collect the debts of others, that she might be
able to discharge her own.
Young Gooch, coming behind her, said, in a half whisper, 'If you'll tell
me how much it is you owe, Ma'am, I'll help you out in a trice; for I
can have what credit I will in my father's name; and he'll never know
but what 'twas for some frolic of my own; for I don't make much of a
confidant of the old gentleman.'
The most icy refusal was insufficient to get rid of this offer, or
offerer; who assured her that, if the worst came to the worst, and his
father, by ill luck, should find them out, he would not make a fuss for
above a day or two; 'because,' he continued, 'he has only me, as one may
say, for the rest are nothing but girls; so he can't well help himself.
He gave me my swing too long from the first, to bind me down at this
time of day. Besides, he likes to have me a little in the fashion, I
know, though he won't own it; for he is a very good sort of an old
gentleman, at bottom.'
Sir Jaspar sought to discover, whether the colour which heightened the
cheeks of Juliet at this proposal, which now ceased to be delivered in a
whisper, was owing to confusion at its publicity, or to disdain at the
idea of conspiring either at deceiving or braving the young man's
father; while Miss Bydel, whose plump curiosity saved her from all
species of speculative trouble, bluntly said, 'Why should you hesitate
at such an offer, my dear? I'm sure I don't see how you can do better
than accept it. Mr Gooch is a very worthy young man, and so are all his
family. I'm sure I only wish he'd take to you more solidly, and make a
match of it. That would put an end to your troubles at once; and I
should get my money out of hand.'
This was an opportunity not to be passed over by the argumentative but
unerring Mr Scope, for trite observations, self-evident truths, and
hackneyed calculations, upon the mingled dangers and advantages of
matrimony, 'which, when weighed,' said he, 'in equal scales, and
abstractedly considered, are of so puzzling a nature, that the wise and
wary, fearing to risk them, remain single; but which, when looked upon
in a more cursory way, or only lightly balanced, preponderate so much in
favour of the state, that the great mass of the nation, having but small
means of reflection, or forethought, ordinarily prefer matrimony. If,
therefore, young Mr Gooch should think proper to espouse this young
person, there would be nothing in it very surprising; nevertheless, in
summing up the expences of wedlock, and a growing family, it might seem,
that to begin the married state with debts already contracted, on the
female side, would appear but a shallow mark of prudence on the male,
where the cares of that state reasonably devolve; he being naturally
supposed to have the most sense.'
'O, as to that, Mr Scope,' cried Miss Bydel, 'if Mr Gooch should take a
liking to this young person, she has money enough to pay her debts, I
can assure you: I should not have asked her for it else; but the thing
is, she don't like to part with it.'
Juliet solemnly protested, that the severest necessity could alone have
brought her into the pecuniary difficulties under which she laboured;
the money to which Miss Bydel alluded being merely a deposit which she
held in her hands, and for which she was accountable.
'Well, that's droll enough,' said Miss Bydel, 'that a young person, not
worth a penny in the world, should have the care of other people's
money! I should like to know what sort of persons they must be, that can
think of making such a person their steward!'
Young Gooch said that it would not be his father, for one, who would do
it; and Mr Scope was preparing an elaborate dissertation upon the nature
of confidence, with regard to money-matters, in a great state; when Miss
Bydel, charmed to have pronounced a sentence which seemed to accord with
every one's opinion, ostentatiously added, 'I should like, I say, Mrs
Ellis, to know what sort of person it could be, that would trust a
person with one's cash, without enquiring into their circumstances? for
though, upon hearing that a person has got nothing, one may give 'em
something, one must be no better than a fool to make them one's banker.'
Juliet, who could not enter into any explanation, stammered, coloured,
and from the horrour of seeing that she was suspected, wore an air of
seeming apprehensive of detection.
A short pause ensued, during which every one fixed his eyes upon her
face, save Sir Jaspar; who seemed studying a portrait upon his
snuff-box.
Her immediate wish, in this disturbance, was to clear herself from so
terrible an aspersion, by paying Miss Bydel, as she had paid her other
creditors, from the store of Harleigh; but her wishes, tamed now by
misfortune and disappointment, were too submissively under the controul
of fear and discretion, to suffer her to act from their first dictates:
and a moment's reflection pointed out, that, joined to the impropriety
of such a measure with respect to Harleigh himself, it would be liable,
more than any other, to give her the air of an impostor, who possessed
money that she could either employ, or disclaim all title to, at her
pleasure. Calling, therefore, for composure from conscious integrity,
she made known her project of applying once more to Miss Matson, for
work; and earnestly supplicated for the influence of Miss Bydel, that
this second application might not, also, be vain.
The eyes of the attentive Sir Jaspar, as he raised them from his
snuff-box, now spoke respect mingled with pity.
'As to recommending you to Miss Matson, Mrs Ellis,' answered Miss Bydel,
'it's out of all reason to demand such a thing, when I can't tell who
you are myself; and only know that you have got money in your hands
nobody knows how, nor what for.'
An implication such as this, nearly overpowered the fortitude of Juliet;
and, relinquishing all further effort, she rose, and, silently, almost
gloomily, began ascending the stairs. Sir Jaspar caught the expression
of her despair by a glance; and, in a tone of remonstrance, said to Miss
Bydel, 'In your debt, good Miss Bydel? Have you forgotten, then, that
the young lady has paid you?'
'Paid me? good Me! Sir Jaspar,' cried Miss Bydel, staring; 'how can you
say such a thing? Do you think I'd cheat the young woman?'
'I think it so little,' answered he, calmly, 'that I venture to remind
you, thus publicly, of the circumstance; in full persuasion that I shall
merit your gratitude, by aiding your memory.'
'Good Me! Sir Jaspar, why I never heard such a thing in my life! Paid
me? When? Why it can't be without my knowing it?'
'Certainly not; I beg you, therefore, to recollect yourself.'
The stare of Miss Bydel was now caught by Mr Scope; and her 'Good Me!'
was echoed by young Gooch; while the surprised Juliet, turning back,
said, 'Pardon me, Sir! I have never been so happy as to be able to
discharge the debt. It remains in full force.'
'Over you, too, then,' cried Sir Jaspar, with quickness, 'have I the
advantage in memory? Have you forgotten that you delivered, to Miss
Bydel, the full sum, not twenty minutes since?'
Miss Bydel now, reddening with anger, cried, 'Sir Jaspar, I have long
enough heard of your ill nature; but I never suspected your crossness
would take such a turn against a person as this, to make people believe
I demand what is not my own!'
Juliet again solemnly acknowledged the debt; and Mr Scope opened an
harangue upon the merits of exactitude between debtor and creditor, and
the usefulness of settling no accounts, without, what were the only
legal witnesses to obviate financial controversy, receipts in full; when
Sir Jaspar, disregarding, alike, his rhetoric or Miss Bydel's choler,
quietly patting his snuff-box, said, that it was possible that Miss
Bydel had, inadvertently, put the sum into her work-bag, and forgotten
that it had been refunded.
Exulting that means, now, were open for vindication and redress, Miss
Bydel eagerly untied the strings of her work-bag; though Juliet
entreated that she would spare herself the useless trouble. But Sir
Jaspar protested, with great gravity, that his own honour was now as
deeply engaged to prove an affirmative, as that of Miss Bydel to prove a
negative: holding, however, her hand, he said that he could not be
satisfied, unless the complete contents of the work-bag were openly and
fairly emptied upon a table, in sight of the whole party.
Miss Bydel, though extremely affronted, consented to this proposal;
which would clear her, she said, of so false a slander. A table was then
brought upon the landing-place; as she still stiffly refused risking her
reputation, by entering the apartment of a single gentleman; though he
might not, as she observed, be one of the youngest.
Sir Jaspar demanded the precise amount of the sum owed. A guinea and a
half.
He then fetched a curious little japan basket from his chamber, into
which he desired that Miss Bydel would put her work-bag; though he would
not suffer her to empty it, till, with various formalities, he had
himself placed it in the middle of the table; around which he made every
one draw a chair.
Miss Bydel now triumphantly turned her work-bag inside out; but what was
her consternation, what the shock of Mr Scope, and how loud the shout of
young Gooch, to see, from a small open green purse, fall a guinea and a
half!
Miss Bydel, utterly confounded, remained speechless; but Juliet, through
whose sadness Sir Jaspar saw a smile force its way, that rendered her
beauty dazzling, recollecting the purse, blushed, and would have
relieved Miss Bydel, by confessing that she knew to whom it belonged;
had she not been withheld by the fear of the strange appearance which so
sudden a seeming intimacy with the Baronet might wear.
Sir Jaspar, again patting her snuff-box, composedly said, 'I was
persuaded Miss Bydel would find that her debt had been discharged.'
Miss Bydel remained stupified; while Mr Scope, with a look concerned,
and even abashed, condolingly began an harangue upon the frail tenure of
the faculty of human memory.
Miss Bydel, at length, recovering her speech, exclaimed, 'Well, here's
the money, that's certain! but which way it has got into my work-bag,
without my ever seeing or touching it, I can't pretend to say: but if
Mrs Ellis has done it to play me a trick--'
Juliet disavowed all share in the transaction.
'Then it's some joke of Sir Jaspar's! for I know he dearly loves to
mortify; so I suppose he has given me false coin, or something that
won't go, just to make me look like a fool.'
'The money, I have the honour to assure you, is not mine,' was all that,
very tranquilly, Sir Jaspar replied: while Mr Scope, after a careful
examination of each piece, declared each to be good gold, and full
weight.
Sundry 'Good me's!' and other expressions of surprise, though all of a
pleasurable sort, now broke forth from Miss Bydel, finishing with,
'However, if nobody will own the money, as the debt is fairly my due, I
don't see why I may not take it; though as to the purse, I won't touch
it, because as that's a thing I have not lent to any body, I've no right
to it.'
Juliet here warmly interfered. The purse, she said, and the money
belonged to the same proprietor; and, as neither of them were hers, both
ought to be regarded as equally inadmissible for the payment of a debt
which she alone had contracted. This disinterested sincerity made even
Mr Scope turn to her with an air of profound, though surprised respect;
while Sir Jaspar fixed his eyes upon her face with encreased and the
most lively wonder; young Gooch stared, not perfectly understanding her;
but Miss Bydel, rolling up the purse, which she put back into the
basket, said, 'Well, if the money is not yours, Mrs Ellis, my dear, it
can be nobody's but Sir Jaspar's; and if he has a mind to pay your debt
for you, I don't see why I should hinder him, when 'twould be so much to
my disadvantage. He's rich enough, I assure you; for what has an old
bachelor to do with his money? So I'll take my due, be it which way it
will.' And, unmoved by all that Juliet could urge, she put the guinea
and the half-guinea carefully into her pocket.
Juliet declared, that a debt which she had not herself discharged, she
should always consider as unpaid, though her creditor might be changed.
Confused then, ashamed, perplexed,--yet unavoidably pleased, she mounted
to her chamber.