_Mrs. Vernon to Lady De Courcy._
Churchhill.
My dear Mother,—You must not expect Reginald back again for some time.
He desires me to tell you that the present open weather induces him to
accept Mr. Vernon’s invitation to prolong his stay in Sussex, that they
may have some hunting together. He means to send for his horses
immediately, and it is impossible to say when you may see him in Kent.
I will not disguise my sentiments on this change from you, my dear
mother, though I think you had better not communicate them to my
father, whose excessive anxiety about Reginald would subject him to an
alarm which might seriously affect his health and spirits. Lady Susan
has certainly contrived, in the space of a fortnight, to make my
brother like her. In short, I am persuaded that his continuing here
beyond the time originally fixed for his return is occasioned as much
by a degree of fascination towards her, as by the wish of hunting with
Mr. Vernon, and of course I cannot receive that pleasure from the
length of his visit which my brother’s company would otherwise give me.
I am, indeed, provoked at the artifice of this unprincipled woman; what
stronger proof of her dangerous abilities can be given than this
perversion of Reginald’s judgment, which when he entered the house was
so decidedly against her! In his last letter he actually gave me some
particulars of her behaviour at Langford, such as he received from a
gentleman who knew her perfectly well, which, if true, must raise
abhorrence against her, and which Reginald himself was entirely
disposed to credit. His opinion of her, I am sure, was as low as of any
woman in England; and when he first came it was evident that he
considered her as one entitled neither to delicacy nor respect, and
that he felt she would be delighted with the attentions of any man
inclined to flirt with her. Her behaviour, I confess, has been
calculated to do away with such an idea; I have not detected the
smallest impropriety in it—nothing of vanity, of pretension, of levity;
and she is altogether so attractive that I should not wonder at his
being delighted with her, had he known nothing of her previous to this
personal acquaintance; but, against reason, against conviction, to be
so well pleased with her, as I am sure he is, does really astonish me.
His admiration was at first very strong, but no more than was natural,
and I did not wonder at his being much struck by the gentleness and
delicacy of her manners; but when he has mentioned her of late it has
been in terms of more extraordinary praise; and yesterday he actually
said that he could not be surprised at any effect produced on the heart
of man by such loveliness and such abilities; and when I lamented, in
reply, the badness of her disposition, he observed that whatever might
have been her errors they were to be imputed to her neglected education
and early marriage, and that she was altogether a wonderful woman. This
tendency to excuse her conduct or to forget it, in the warmth of
admiration, vexes me; and if I did not know that Reginald is too much
at home at Churchhill to need an invitation for lengthening his visit,
I should regret Mr. Vernon’s giving him any. Lady Susan’s intentions
are of course those of absolute coquetry, or a desire of universal
admiration; I cannot for a moment imagine that she has anything more
serious in view; but it mortifies me to see a young man of Reginald’s
sense duped by her at all.
I am, &c.,
CATHERINE VERNON.