In vain had our heroine, when Sir Willoughby had asked her to waltz,
pleaded the same excuse alluded to in our last chapter. Lady Palliser,
who was near, and heard Sir Willoughby's request, interfered, and
commanded compliance; while poor Caroline, who seems to have been born
but to be the victim of her mother's caprices, was led away to join the
gay circle, trembling and broken-hearted.
The report that Willoughby's marriage had been broken off was quite
true: he had written the account to Alfred a day or two before. The lady
had the very day previous to that fixed for the wedding eloped with her
former lover; while Sir Willoughby had found himself, his preparations
being all made, in rather an absurd situation.
The newspapers, too, had taken unwarrantable liberties with his name,
and made some witty comments on the superior personal attractions of his
rival.
His vanity it was which had in the first instance been gratified--his
vanity now suffered proportionately. And so irritable was his temper and
so depressed his spirits, on his arrival in Cheltenham, that Alfred, who
had but just returned from his interview with Caroline, felt that it
would be mistimed to mention her, or allude at all at present to his own
happier prospects. He limited the confidential conversation, therefore,
to kind condolence with his brother, being too delicate to remind
Willoughby that he might have escaped this mortification had he taken
his advice.
Thus was the foundation unintentionally laid of a concealment which
finally led to many disastrous consequences.
The moment Willoughby was introduced to Caroline he was captivated by
her beauty. After they had danced together, when our heroine was so
unexpectedly desired by her mother to dance with Alfred, Geoffery Arden,
who may be termed Willoughby's evil genius, took possession of the seat
beside him on the sofa, which had been just vacated by Caroline; and
well knowing his cousin's weak point, said, "Well, that is one of the
most pointed things I ever saw."
"To what do you allude?" asked Willoughby.
"Did you not see how mortified her ladyship looked at having her
flirtation with you disturbed."
"Flirtation, indeed!" repeated Willoughby, laughing; "the acquaintance
is rather short for that, I should think."
"Nay, we hear of love at first sight; and it was certainly something
very like it. You were not many minutes in the room when you asked Lady
Caroline to dance; and I don't know whether you noticed it, but a moment
or two before Alfred, who has been so long acquainted, had made the same
request; the lady pretended not to hear: she heard, however, when you
spoke, and consented with marked alacrity."
Willoughby's vanity, which had been so lately wounded, gladly welcomed
suggestions so flattering. To woo and win the young, the beautiful, the
rich Lady Caroline Montague, might well silence the jeers of those who
were disposed to make impertinent comments on his late disappointment.
As for Geoffery Arden's motive for offering the incense of flattery to
Willoughby, it was the same which in most cases governs most
men--self-interest. It was by the grossest flattery that he had long
since made himself necessary to his cousin; and by the same means he
still sought to retain an influence over him, which, in a pecuniary
point of view, was particularly convenient to himself. On the present
occasion also, he had seen with half a glance sufficient to make him
suspect, at least, that Lady Caroline Montague was an object of interest
to Alfred. If he was right in his conjecture, the circumstance might
afford a favourable opportunity for sowing the seeds of dissension
between the brothers, an object of which he never lost sight, well
knowing that his own influence and that of Alfred could never go hand in
hand--the one being for evil, the other for good.
Added to this, it was always more or less an object with him to throw
obstacles in the way of any love affair of either of the brothers; for
though he was not so romantic as to expect by such means to succeed in
preserving them both old bachelors, should they reach old age--for such
a chance could not be very important to him, who was so much their
senior--it was just as well to keep the book of fate open as long as
possible. There was no use in increasing the chances against himself.
The fewer names, in short, above his own on the list of even improbable
advantages the better.
While the cousins continued to occupy their sofa, and observe the
dancers, Geoffery was eloquent in the praises of Caroline's beauty;
quoting, as he well might, many high authorities for her being the
acknowledged belle of the late season in town. He knew that weak men,
with all their obstinate devotion to their own opinions, unconsciously
see with the eyes, hear with the ears, and even speak in the language of
others; and that their love most especially is a mere reflection!
Indeed, to gain an entire ascendency over weak people only requires a
little management; but unfortunately it is of that uncandid sort which
their best friends are the least likely to adopt.
If you say to an ill-governed child, "My dear, you have eaten enough of
that cake, give it me, and take this pretty toy to play with." The child
says, "No, I won't; it's not a pretty toy," and eats faster than before.
But lay down the toy carelessly within his sight, and if he has eaten
sufficiently, he will drop his cake on the floor, and fly to seize the
toy.
Men and women of weak minds are but children of a larger growth.
When the company had all retired, Lady Palliser thus addressed her
daughter: "Your avoiding to dance with Mr. Arden was quite unnecessary.
I have no desire that your manners towards him in society should be at
all altered: such conduct would draw down remarks which I do not choose
should be made. As for to-morrow," continued her ladyship, "remember
that I shall witness the scene; therefore let your obedience be perfect!
Also, if you have any regard to decency left, take care that no folly on
your part gives Mr. Arden an opportunity of boasting that Lady Caroline
Montague, in despite of the impropriety of the alliance, was
indelicately ready to fling herself into his arms, if Lady Palliser had
not interfered."
Her ladyship here quitted the room; and Caroline, her ideas confused by
this new view of the subject, stood transfixed to the spot, till aroused
from her reverie by the entrance of servants to extinguish the lights.
She retired, but it may be believed not to rest. She flung herself on
her bed without undressing, and wept away the early morning, the
brightness of which entering freely through the shutterless windows of
a Cheltenham bed-room, shone with incongruous lustre alike on her
glittering ornaments and her falling tears. We speak of morning, because
the night, of course, had been over before the ball concluded.