But Adeline determined Juan's wedding
In her own mind, and that's enough for woman;
But then with whom? there was the sage Miss Redding,
Miss Raw, Miss Flaw, Miss Showman, and Miss Knowman,
And the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding.
She deem'd his merits something more than common.
All these were unobjectionable matches,
And might go on, if well wound up, like watches.
BYRON.
The young Lord Aveleyn returned to the hall of his ancestors, exchanging
the gloomy cockpit for the gay saloon, the ship's allowance for
sumptuous fare, the tyranny of his mess-mates and the harshness of his
superiors for adulation and respect. Was he happier? No. In this
world, whether in boyhood or riper years, the happiest state of
existence is when under control. Although contrary to received opinion,
this is a fact; but I cannot now stop to demonstrate the truth of the
assertion.
Life may be compared to a gamut of music: there are seven notes from our
birth to our marriage, and thus may we run up the first octave; milk,
sugar-plums, apples, cricket, cravat, gun, horse; then comes the wife, a
_da capo_ to a new existence, which is to continue until the whole
diapason is gone through. Lord Aveleyn ran up his scale like others
before him.
"Why do you not marry, my dear Frank?" said the dowager Lady Aveleyn,
one day, when a thick fog debarred her son of his usual pastime.
"Why, mother, I have no objection to marry, and I suppose I must one of
these days, as a matter of duty; but I really am very difficult, and if
I were to make a bad choice, you know a wife is not like this gun, which
will go _off_ when I please."
"But still my dear Frank, there are many very eligible matches to be
made just now."
"I do not doubt it, madam; but pray who are they?"
"Why, Miss Riddlesworth."
"A very pretty girl, and I am told a large fortune. But let me hear the
others first."
"Clara Beauchamp, well connected, and a very sweet girl."
"Granted also, for any thing I know to the contrary. Have you more on
your list?"
"Certainly. Emily Riddlesdale; not much fortune, but very highly
connected indeed. Her brother, Lord Riddlesdale is a man of great
influence."
"Her want of money is no object, my dear mother, and the influence of
her brother no inducement. I covet neither. I grant you that she is a
very nice girl. Proceed."
"Why, Frank, one would think that you were a sultan with his
handkerchief. There is Lady Selina Armstrong."
"Well, she is a very fine girl, and talks well."
"There is Harriet Butler, who has just come out."
"I saw her at the last ball we were at--a very pretty creature."
"Lady Jemima Calthorpe."
"Not very good-looking, but clever and agreeable."
"There is Louisa Manners, who is very much admired."
"I admire her very much myself."
"Well, Frank, you have exhausted my catalogue. There is not one I have
mentioned who is not unexceptionable, and whom I would gladly embrace as
a daughter-in-law. You are now turned of forty, my dear son, and must
make up your mind to have heirs to the title and estates. I am however
afraid that your admiration is so general, that you will be puzzled in
your choice."
"I will confess to you, my dearest mother, that I have many years
thought of the necessity of taking to myself a wife, but have never yet
had courage to decide. I admit that if all the young women you have
mentioned were what they appear to be, a man need not long hesitate in
his choice; but the great difficulty is, that their real tempers and
dispositions are not to be ascertained till it is too late. Allow that
I should attempt to discover the peculiar disposition of every one of
them, what would be the consequence?--that my attentions would be
perceived. I do not exactly mean to accuse them of deceit; but a woman
is naturally flattered by perceiving herself an object of attraction;
and, when flattered, is pleased. It is not likely, therefore, that the
infirmities of her temper (if she have any) should be discovered by a
man whose presence is a source of gratification. If artful, she will
conceal her faults; if not so there will be no occasion to bring them to
light. And even if, after a long courtship, something wrong should be
discovered, either you have proceeded too far in honour to retract, or
are so blinded by your own feelings as to extenuate it. Now it is only
the parents and near relations of a young woman who can be witnesses to
her real character, unless it be indeed her own maid, whom one could not
condescend to interrogate."
"That is all very true, Frank; but recollect the same observations apply
to your sex as well as ours. Lovers and husbands are very different
beings. It is quite a lottery on both sides."
"I agree with you, my dear mother; and as marry I must, so shall it be a
lottery with me; I will leave it to chance, and not to myself: then, if
I am unfortunate, I will blame my stars and not have to accuse myself of
a want of proper discrimination." Lord Aveleyn took up a sheet of
paper, and dividing it into small slips, wrote upon them the names of
the different young ladies proposed by his mother. Folding them up, he
threw them on the table before her, and requested that she would select
any one of the papers.
The dowager took up one.
"I thank you, madam," said Lord Aveleyn, taking the paper from her hand,
and opening it--"`Louisa Manners.' Well, then, Louisa Manners it shall
be; always provided that she does not refuse me. I will make my first
advances this very afternoon; that is, if it does not clear up, and I
can take out the pointers."
"You surely are joking, Frank?"
"Never was more serious. I have my mother's recommendation, backed by
fate. Marry I must, but choose I will not. I feel myself desperately
in love with the fair Louisa already. I will report my progress to you,
my dear madam, in less than a fortnight."
Lord Aveleyn adhered to his singular resolution, courted, and was
accepted. He never had reason to repent his choice; who proved to be as
amiable as her countenance would have indicated. The fruits of his
marriage was one son, who was watched over with mingled pride and
anxiety, and who had now arrived at the age of fifteen years.
Such was the history of Lord Aveleyn, who continued to extend his
friendship to Edward Forster, and if he had required it, would gladly
have proffered his assistance, in return for the kindness which Forster
had shown towards him when he was a midshipman. The circumstances
connected with the history of the little Amber were known to Lord
Aveleyn and his lady, and the wish of Forster, that his little charge
should derive the advantage of mixing in good female society, was gladly
acceded to, both on his account and on her own. Amber would often
remain for days at the mansion, and was a general favourite, as well as
an object of sympathy.
But the growth of their son, too rapid for his years, and which brought
with it symptoms of pulmonary disease, alarmed Lord and Lady Aveleyn;
and by the advice of the physicians, they broke up their establishment,
and hastened with him to Madeira, to re-establish his health. Their
departure was deeply felt both by Forster and his charge; and before
they could recover from the loss; another severe trial awaited them in
the death of Mrs Beazeley, who, full of years and rheumatism, was
gathered to her fathers. Forster, habituated as he was to the old lady,
felt her loss severely; he was now with Amber, quite alone; and it so
happened that in the following winter his wound broke out, and confined
him to his bed until the spring.
As he lay in a precarious state, the thought naturally occurred to him,
"What will become of this poor child if I am called away? There is not
the slightest provision for her: she has no friends; and I have not even
made it known to any of my own that there is such a person in
existence." Edward Forster thought of his brother, the lawyer, whom he
knew still to be flourishing, although he had never corresponded with
him, and resolved that as soon as he was able to undertake the journey,
he would go to town, and secure his interest for the little Amber, in
case of any accident happening to himself.
The spring and summer passed away before he found himself strong enough
to undertake the journey. It was late in the autumn that Edward Forster
and Amber took their places in a heavy coach for the metropolis, and
arrived without accident on the day or two subsequent to that on which
Nicholas and Newton had entered it on foot.