_Mr. Honeywood's Fancies._
Though the Sun had not yet risen, I found a bright little Fire already
kindled in the Parlour, and the little oval Table drawn close to it,
and spread for Breakfast, with strong Tea and hot Toast awaiting me
on the Hob. I felt very grateful to _Prudence_ for this Kindness; and
had scarce seated myself when I heard the soft Tap of my _Mother's_
Ivory-headed Walking-cane as she came down Stairs. I hastened to
receive her; she kissed my Forehead, and then looked at me with anxious
Affection.
"You are weary, my dear Love," said she, "and no wonder. What kind of
a Night?"
"He was feverish, dear _Mother_."
"And wandering, doubtless--I see it was so. Were you frightened?"
"Not much--you know I had nursed _Gatty_."
"Ah, poor _Gatty_!--a very different Patient--"
"Yes, _Mother_; but his Ramblings gave me no Distress, except as
they betokened the height of his Fever--He fancied himself playing
Cards:--and seemed to think People were dancing. He spoke very kindly
of you."
My _Mother_ wiped her Eyes. "That has been the solitary Alleviation all
along," said she. "His old Liking for me has returned."
After we had breakfasted, she accompanied me to his Chamber: "Ah,
you're come at last," said my _Father_, feebly extending his Hand to
her, "I was wearying of _Prue's_ Sighs."
"Dear _Father_, I haven't been sighing," said _Prudence_, hastily.
"Oh, haven't you though, Mrs. _Prue_?"--She put her Hand before her
Eyes, and silently quitted the Room.
"My Love, how are you?" says my _Mother_ to him.
"I've had fine Company all Night, Mrs. _Honeywood_. I've been to the
queerest Ball!--Ah, you think I'm wandering, but I'm not--my Head is as
clear as yours. At twelve o'Clock at Night, a Flourish of Tin Trumpets
announced the Commencement of the Entertainment."
My _Mother_ looked at me in Distress.
"An old Joss in the Corner," continues he, "played the Hautboy.
A Mandarin kept Time, nodding his Head. Then, down came the Five
Senses--you think I've lost mine, but I haven't!--followed by the
Shepherds and Shepherdesses, all in _Chelsea_ China, and took their
respective Places. A Row of _Dresden_ Cups were the Bystanders, backed
by some richly painted Plates against the Wall. Bang! went the Drum.
The Ball immediately opened, and I knew not which Dancer most to
admire. Such sinking! such rising! such easy Turns and Inflections;
such pointing of Toes and presenting of Hands! Meantime, the Music
plays faster and faster; the Joss blows himself out of Breath, the
Mandarin niddle-noddles, till it makes one's Head spin to look at
him. Down falls a Dragon and gets cracked; the others fall and sprawl
over him; never mind, he's up again, and they're at it harder than
ever. Hands across, down the Middle, turn the Corners and pousette! My
Head is too weak to bear it; a small Cream-Ewer invites me into the
Card-room. Gratefully I accept it, when one of the Senses assails me,
insisting I shall dance the Minuet _de la Cour_. I put her aside, she
returns, I burst from her, she pursues; I hurry into the Card-room,
where four respectable _Chinese_ are playing at Loo. They make Room
for me, I sit down, we get on very comfortably together; when lo you!
in burst the Five Senses again, calling me a Recreant, and I know not
what all, plucking at me, nipping, pinching, grinning in my Face; the
Music playing furiously all the While--They cry out the Prices at which
I bought them; one of them names the wrong Sum. I exclaim, 'That's
false!' and give her a Cuff that breaks her all to smash. 'Going,
going, going, gone!' cries the Auctioneer in the Corner. Down goes his
Hammer: the Ball is ended. Why, Mrs. _Honeywood_, Ma'am, you're crying!"
Just then, Dr. _Elwes_ very opportunely came in, with his grave, kind
Face. The Sound of his Voice seemed to re-collect my Father's scattered
Faculties; he did not appear half so bad as he had done before;
nevertheless, I could see the good Physician thought unfavourably of
him. In short, for several Days he hung between Life and Death; after
that, he wandered no more, and slowly amended; requiring incessant and
vigilant Nursing.
It was one Day, when _Prue_ and my Mother had insisted on my going down
Stairs for a little Change, that, on entering the Parlour, I suddenly
came on Mr. _Fenwick_. "Ah!"--said he, and held out his Hand. Overcome
by the Surprise, I turned aside my Head, and burst into Tears. The next
Moment, his Arm was round my Waist; and as quickly withdrawn.
"Dear _Patty_!" said he.
I drew back, and would have left the Room, but he gently detained me,
and led me to a Chair next the Fire.
"I was quite unprepared to hear of this domestic Calamity," said he,
"and have been greatly moved by it. Your good Mother has been telling
me how admirably you have behaved. She wept about it, and said never
was such a Daughter."
This set my Tears flowing again--I said there was Nothing out of the
Common in a Daughter's tending of a Parent she loved. He did not
dwell on it; but went on to talk as only a good, feeling, and faithful
Minister, a holy, high-minded, heavenly spirited Servant of God can
talk. I know not how long this delightful Conversation lasted; perhaps
an Hour; and when he went away, he said he would soon come again. From
that Moment, I was a new Creature: quite fresh, quite able to return
anew to my Post. My Heart was full of Peace. If the Body sometimes
bears down the Mind, the Mind sometimes wondrously sustains the Body.
This was, however, a joyless Christmas to us all. Not one of the Family
was able to leave the House to go to Church; and though roast Beef and
Plum-pudding were dressed, they were sparingly and sadly partaken of.
My loved Mother forgot not, however, to send Portions to sundry poor
Widows and Mothers who were habituated to come to us for our stale
Pastry, Broken-meat, and Cinders.
When my _Father_ began to recover a little, he became curious to hear
me talk about my Visit to _Larkfield_; and he made me minutely describe
_Gatty's_ Family, and the Family at _Roaring House_. In a very little
While he settled it to his own Satisfaction that _Gatty_ would some
Day be Mrs. _Heavitree_. But when he heard of her being recalled to
Servitude by Lady _Betty_, of her perilous, protracted Journey, and
of her finding my Lady in the Small-Pox, he became greatly perturbed.
"What," says he, "have not one of you had so much Humanity nor even so
much Curiosity, (a Quality, one would think, not often lacking in your
Sex,) as to ascertain whether this poor Girl sink or swim?"
"Dear _Father_, we have been so busied about you...."
"Fiddlesticks' Ends! I have never had more than one of you about me
at a Time; and has everything else been at a Stand-still? Have your
Shop-shutters been put up, have your Customers been kept out, have you
intermitted your Baking and your Milking? Pshaw! I'm nauseated with
such a false Excuse. If you couldn't go, you might write; if you could
not write, you might send; if you could not spare one of the Men, you
might have sent a Boy for Two-pence. Let me hear by To-morrow Morning,
I insist upon't, whether Mrs. _Gatty_ be alive or dead."
He was quite in a Turmoil about it, and for my Part, I was glad enough
to be commissioned to send; and as _Peter_ knew the House, I contrived
he should go that same Afternoon, and ask for Mr. _James_, and inquire
how fared Mrs. _Gatty_ and Lady _Betty_--bidding him be sure he put
Lady _Betty's_ Name first, or they would think we knew no Manners.
So he went, and brought back Word, with Mr. _James'_ Services, that my
_Lady_ was still very ill, and still kept her Chamber, and so did Mrs.
_Gatty_.
I said, "Did he mean Mrs. _Gatty_ was confined to her own Chamber or to
my _Lady's_? for that makes all the Difference."
_Peter_ says, "Well, Ma'am, I understood him to mean she kept my
_Lady's_ Chamber; but I gave you the very Words he said."
So I gave them, just the same, to my _Father_.
"Blockhead! Dunderhead!" exclaimed he impatiently. "Well, if she's in
her Chamber, she's not in the Churchyard at any Rate--And I shall soon
be able to spare you, _Patty_, to go and see how she really is."
That Night _Prudence_ and I slept together, for the first Time since
my Return Home. Before that, I had lain in the little Closet close to
my _Father's_ Room, to be within Call. We undressed silently enough,
and I noticed again the great Depression she had betrayed ever since my
Return; but yet I was as quiet as she.
When the Candle was put out, she crept closer to me; and though
she was quiet for a While, I had an Impression she was going to say
Something. At length, "_Patty_," says she,--and I could perceive her
Voice was unsteady, "did you ever know what a Burthen it was to have
Something on your Mind that you longed, yet feared, to tell?"
"Well," said I, "I can form some Notion of the Pain it must give."
"I have that Pain," says she, and fell a crying.
I said, "Come, _Prue_, tell me what it is. We didn't use to have any
Secrets from one another."
"Nor needed to have," says she in her Tears--"All that's altered now."
"Why should it be?" said I. She made no Answer.
"Come, what is it?" I said.
"Don't you remember saying to me, 'How fine we are!' a Day or two
back," says _Prue_, "when you noted a Ruby Ring on my Finger?"
"A _Mock_ Ruby, you mean! It's a Glass Ring, if ever there was one! I
told you, if I wore Jewels at all, they should be real."
"Yes, and I said Nothing, and I dare say you thought I was sulky, but I
wasn't. People often make great Mistakes in judging others. Well, that
Ring was given me by _Tom_."
"It wouldn't ruin him then," said I laughing. "Unless indeed, poor
Fellow, as is like enough, 'twas palmed upon him for a real Stone.
Well, _Prue_, is this what all the Sighing has been about? You needn't
break your Heart, I think, at having accepted it of him."
"Don't laugh, or you'll kill me," says _Prudence_, "it's no laughing
Matter, I can tell you. It don't matter whether the Stone be real or
false; but, in fact, it's a Wedding ... no, a Guard-Ring."
"A _what_?" cried I. "Do say it over again!" But she was crying
passionately.
"What's this about Wedding and Guard-Rings, _Prue_? Do you mean to say
you are _married_?"
"Oh _Patty_! don't speak so unkindly--I can't bear it."
"I don't mean to be unkind,"--and I kissed her. "But you rack me with
Suspense. Do speak out! Are you, _can_ you be married to _Tom_?"
"Whether or no, I'm engaged to him quite as irrevocably, I assure you,
_Patty_."
"You amaze and distress me beyond Measure," said I.
"I knew you would be very angry with me," said she.
"Angry? why should I be angry? There's no Reason why _Tom_ and you
should not marry, if you like it, except his Profession, and his being
unable to keep a Wife. Two serious Exceptions, I admit."
"So serious, _Patty_, that I fear my _Father_ and _Mother_ would never
overlook them--Oh! how angry my _Father_ would be! I should never hear
the Last of it."
"Well, he _would_ be angry, I dare say, but it would not be the first
Time; and you generally bear his Rebukes pretty sturdily. If I were in
love with _Tom_, I think I could stand that."
"Do you indeed, dear _Patty_? Ah, but you don't know the Worst."
"What _is_ the Worst, then?" cried I impatiently--"Say in a Word." But
she could not speak it.
"I can't make Head nor Tail of it," said I--"It seems such an
unaccountable Business. I thought you cared for Mr. _Fenwick_."
"Mr. _Fenwick_? Oh, _Patty_! how _could_ you be such a Goose?"
"Well, _Prue_, I chanced to see him one Day holding you by the Hand at
his Window, and talking very earnestly."
"Why, he was talking about _Tom_, and advising me not to go to the
Play!"
"Was that it? Dear me!"
"Yes; and--and--You know, _Patty, Tom_ paid me a good Deal of Attention
from the First; and somehow I was won by it, there's Something so
sincere and genuine about him. And he's very diverting too, and the
Soul of Good-humour--in short, I liked him very much; all the better
for his liking me, and telling me so whenever we went out together.
Well, when he went Home with the Monkey, I missed him sadly; and as you
were very short upon me about that Time, I thought you saw how it was
and didn't like it; which made me vex a good Deal. When he came back,
I was very glad; and when you were gone, he kept staying on, till it
was Time to return to his Ship. The last Walk we took together, which
was when he was on the very Brink of Sailing, out it all came! he made
me a downright Offer, and said you knew all about it, he had spoken to
you at the _Old Angel_, and you were favourable. Well, this encouraged
me, and so I as good as said yes, only I told him I knew _Father_ and
_Mother_ would be hurt at it, on such a short Courting, and therefore
could not tell them of it till he returned from his next Voyage. _Tom_
was quite willing; for what good would it have done him? only he begged
and prayed me to keep constant to him, and not be over-persuaded, while
he was away, to have any one else; which of course I promised. So we
walked along together as merry as Birds, though on the Point of parting
for two Years, without much noting Anything going on around us, till
we were forced to pause by a Knot of People on the Pavement, seeing a
fine Lady get out of a Hackney-Coach. _Tom_ drew me closer to him; and
at the same Moment a Man in a black Coat pops his Face under _Tom's_
Hat, and says, 'Will you like to be married, Sir?' _Tom_ bursts out
laughing with Surprise, and says, 'Aye, that I should, my Lad!' and the
Man taking him by the Shoulders and giving him a Push, we were under a
little Gothic Doorway the next Minute. A gay bridal Party coming out,
pressed us against the Wall. 'Dear _Tom_,' whispered I fearfully, 'what
Place is this? It's no Church.' 'Not a bit of it,' replies he, smiling,
'but yet here's a Parson marrying People, many of them of Quality too;
and though I don't suppose he can tie a very tight Knot, it will serve
to keep you engaged to me till I come back; and then we'll have a merry
Wedding, with Mr. _Fenwick_ for our Parson.' And oh, _Patty_, he took
me so by Surprise that I was over-persuaded!"
[Illustration]