The next day brought a pleasing change to the current of Emma's
thoughts. She was walking slowly under the old trees on the lawn, and
was not aware of any one's approach until an arm was suddenly clasped
round her waist, and she found herself obliged to submit to several
very unceremonious kisses from her lover, who had contrived as usual
thus unexpectedly to meet her.
"How you do startle one," cried she struggling to release herself. "I
will have you indicted for assault."
"_Tears_, Emma," said he looking at her attentively; "what are those
red eyes for?"
"You had better not ask questions," replied she, "lest you should hear
unpleasant truths."
"But I will ask questions, and you must answer me!" said he earnestly;
"I cannot let you cry without knowing the reason."
"But suppose there is none, what then?" suggested she playfully.
"Then I shall feel under the necessity of effacing the marks of your
tears in the best way I can," replied he.
She then relieved her mind and his feelings by telling him the whole
history of their yesterday's excursion and its termination, which led
of course to almost interminable references to past events,
explanations and details relative to Mr. Morgan himself, of all which
until this moment he had been profoundly ignorant. The slanders
circulated relative to Emma, the expedition of Lord Osborne to rebut
them, and the trouble he had taken on her account made a great
impression on him, and he took a vehement dislike to Croydon and
everything connected with a place where Emma had been exposed to such
misrepresentations. Of course he would not admit that she was in the
least degree to blame for past events, or that she had showed any
undue severity towards Mr. Morgan—on the contrary, he thought she had
throughout been too lenient towards him; but this was an error arising
from the rare goodness of disposition which led her in so remarkable a
degree to tolerate the imperfections and weaknesses of those around
her, of which her attachment to himself was a conspicuous example.
He had some news to communicate in return for hers, which though not
of quite so tragical a nature, was to him a great disappointment.
The rectory house at Carsdeane proved to be in so extremely
dilapidated a state that, in order to make it at all a comfortable
residence, Lord Osborne proposed to rebuild it entirely. In the
meantime there was no suitable home for Emma, and he feared their
marriage must be delayed at least for some months, instead as he had
hoped of taking place immediately.
This was a very great disappointment to them both. Emma had ventured
to hope that the Autumn would have seen her installed in a settled
home, of which she would be the mistress, and they tried very hard to
persuade themselves and each other, that it would not be more prudent
and advisable, to wait till Mr. Howard had a house to receive his
bride. They might have succeeded perhaps in thinking so themselves,
but they could not induce their friends to agree in the decision. On
the contrary, like most friends when two young people wish to marry,
they all concurred in considering it a very great advantage that they
should wait a little.
And I am far from supposing them wrong in the idea. Taking into
consideration Emma's youth, for she was not yet quite twenty, and the
shortness of their acquaintance, which had as yet lasted barely six
months, I am of opinion that the delay even of a whole year would have
been by no means detrimental to their future happiness. It was
perfectly natural that both Mr. and Miss Bridge should adopt this
idea, and I trust equally so that since they urged it, Emma should
yield to their prudent persuasions: the more especially as appearing
to yield at this time and agreeing to wait a twelvemonth, would by no
means preclude them from entirely changing their minds in a couple of
months time, in case they should see any occasion for so doing.
As to any difficulty about Emma's home in the meantime, Miss Bridge
declared it could not exist, since her house was always open to her,
and she could regard her in no other light than as her adopted child.
In vain Mr. Howard remonstrated. Miss Bridge was so firm in her
conviction that Emma had better spend the next year in her house, and
professed so much satisfaction at the idea, that he at last declared,
in despair, he was certain it was for the sake of securing her company
that Miss Bridge interposed to prevent the marriage.
Before however the two disputants could settle their conflicting
claims on Emma's society, a new turn was given to the affair by the
intervention of her youngest brother. He should want a companion at
Chichester, and it had always been an understood thing he declared,
that Emma was to live with him till she married. She readily admitted
the fact, and so it was settled; she was to accompany him to
Chichester immediately after Elizabeth's wedding, and remain there as
he said, "until they were tired of one another."
Howard yielded this point much more readily than the other. Carsdeane
was much nearer Chichester than Burton, and he could easily visit her
there. Besides his penetration led him to surmise that Sam would be
soon desirous of placing another person at the head of his
establishment; that a sister's society would not long content him, and
that when this change took place, he would probably be thankful to be
relieved from the charge he was undertaking. He thought it likewise a
great advantage that she should be removed entirely from Croydon for a
time, and from the painful impressions which he observed seemed still
to haunt her. She had suffered so much there, as he now began to
understand, that he could not help wishing that she should see the
place no more; a wish in which she certainly did not concur when she
remembered it would be Elizabeth's future home.
The wedding that week was a very quiet one: the death of Mr. Morgan
had thrown a damp over the whole town from which it could not at once
recover, and no one felt inclined to indulge in festivities where he
would be so much missed. Accordingly everything was conducted in the
simplest manner, to the great disappointment of Mrs. Watson, who vowed
it was hardly worth putting on her new and handsome clothes, when
there would be no one to see her at Church.
It was some alleviation to her distress of mind however to remember
that they would be equally handsome and more interesting after the
wedding was over, and she should be able to appear in uncommon
splendour, when returning all the congratulatory visits on some
subsequent occasion.
When all was over, and Mrs. George Millar and her husband had set out
from Croydon to make a short visit to London, which the bride had
never seen, Emma took an affectionate leave of Annie Millar, and
returned to the Rectory to prepare for her journey.
Sam remained a few minutes behind; it was only to ask Annie if she
still thought marriages as foolish as she had always declared them to
be.
"Twenty times worse," said she, "they are not only foolish but sad,
and I shall consider myself particularly fortunate when this miserable
day is fairly over."
"What do you consider the worst part of the affair," enquired he,
still lingering.
"Oh the leave takings," said Annie hastily, "if Elizabeth had never
married you would all have stayed on here waiting for it, and we have
been so happy for this last week. Now you are going, and you must take
Emma too!"
"And will you give me leave to flatter myself that you are sorry at my
going."
"I dare say you would not wait for my leave; men always take it for
granted that women sit down and cry when they leave them," said she
saucily.
"I should certainly entertain no such expectation Miss Millar; I am
aware my profession renders me too unpleasant in your eyes for you to
do otherwise than rejoice at my departure."
"Upon my word you make me out to be a very rational young woman,"
replied she; "when did I ever find fault with your profession, or
express a wish that you were other than what you are? Because I should
never have chosen the surgical profession myself is that any reason
that I should detest a man who did—or so long as you do not exercise
your skill on me, or in my presence, do you imagine I object to your
exhibiting it elsewhere?"
"I had much rather you should detest my profession than consider it
with indifference, Miss Millar."
She only looked down and blushed, then holding out her hand, said in a
hurried manner,
"Good bye, I must go!" and left him, to his great disappointment.
If Sam felt discouraged by this sudden termination to his interview,
the feeling lasted no longer than till the receipt of Annie's first
letter to his sister after they were settled at Chichester; for there
the allusions and reminiscences were of a most flattering kind, and
the frequent mention of his name, and the manner in which it was
introduced gave him very great pleasure.
Emma became reconciled to Penelope's marriage when she saw how well
she was suited to her situation in life, and though she did not
greatly admire her brother-in-law, he was so very superior to Tom
Musgrove, that she thought her sister quite fortunate in comparison
with Margaret. To forget everything that had passed of an unpleasant
nature previous to her marriage was the wisest source which her
friends could adopt; and it is so exceedingly common that there should
be something which requires forgetting, that if the relatives of all
married couples acted in the same way, there would be a great deal
more of unity in the world than at present.
Before she had been resident at Chichester three months, two events
occurred, which effected a change in her plans. One, as Mr. Howard and
many others had foreseen, was the engagement of Sam and Annie, and
preparations for their speedy marriage. The other was more unexpected.
Her aunt, whose sudden and ill-advised marriage had originally
deprived her of her home, exasperated by the unkind and unprincipled
conduct of her young husband, quitted him abruptly; procured a
separation, and as she still retained the control of her income, he
was left very much as he deserved to be, no better off than when he
made his mercenary marriage. She returned to England, wrote to Emma,
then came to her; was delighted with Sam, with Mr. Howard, and with
everything she learnt of their doings, past, present, or future. She
made Emma a magnificent wedding present, both in money and clothes,
and declared her determination of ultimately dividing her fortune
between her youngest nephew and niece. In the meantime, she took an
elegant mansion in the parish of Carsdeane, and insisted on the
marriage taking place immediately, and the young couple taking up
their residence with her, until the rectory house was prepared for
them.
This advice was much too agreeable to be long resisted, and before
Emma and Mr. Howard had seen the anniversary of their first meeting,
they were man and wife.
Whether they ever repented the interference of Miss Bridge to delay,
or of Mrs. MacMahon to hurry the union, I leave entirely to the
imaginations of my readers to settle; satisfied with having done my
duty in detailing events as they really occurred.
There is but one more circumstance of any importance to relate; but
that is, that Lord Osborne, after Emma's marriage, joined a regiment
abroad as a volunteer—fought for some years in the Peninsular, and
returned to England about ten years after he had been refused by Emma,
accompanied by his wife, a very charming young Spanish lady, with whom
he fell in love, because her dark eyes reminded him of Mrs. Howard's.
He had forgotten the likeness long before he reached Osborne Castle;
and no one who saw Mrs. Howard when visiting the young bride, or
watched his devotion to Lady Osborne, could, for a moment, have
imagined that Lord Osborne's love could have had such a foundation.
I have nothing more to say of any of the party, and only trust that
all who read my tale, may be convinced, as I am, that prudence,
gentleness, and good sense, will secure friends under the most
disadvantageous circumstances; but that marriage alone, unless
undertaken with right feelings and motives, cannot be considered a
certain recipe for worldly happiness.
THE END.
T. C. NEWBY, Printer, 30, Welbeck-street, Cavendish-sq.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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● Transcriber's Notes
○ A few cases of inconsistent spelling were regularized.
○ Word combinations that appeared with and without hyphens were
changed to the predominant form if it could be determined.
○ Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
○ "beant" volume I, page 70, word retained. A contraction of be
not, probably. See also "woant" on volume I, page 143.
○ The spelling of Shakespeare was corrected. There were two
instances of the name, one spelled correctly, the other
incorrectly.
○ The second chapter of volume II was relabeled from CHAPTER XIII
to CHAPTER II.
○ Volume 3, page 223: Rosa changed to Fanny ("You give me more
credit than I deserve a great deal, Fanny;)