_From the same to the same._
You bid me hope for every thing that can relieve my spirits from their
present oppression; and again you repeat, that Horace cannot have
a better advocate than his uncle; yet, my Lucy, I am as weak as an
infant. Why am I not permitted to accompany Captain Flint and Mary to
Heathcot? I would return to my captivity with patience, could I but
see _this Mr. Freeman_; it would satisfy me: no one here would oppose
my journey. Oh! that cruel and too firm spirit may be trusted. Mr.
Flamall's ward will not be seduced,--will not be inveigled by Mr.
Hardcastle--his son is nothing to him! Malcolm gave me last night
a note from Mary, "believing that Miss Cowley can effect _every
thing_." _So it appears._ She and the captain intreat her to employ
her influence with Sir Murdock and Lady Maclairn to favour them with
a visit at the Abbey; or to permit Mary to pay her respects at the
hall before her departure. Unwilling to disturb the baronet, or to
distress his lady, I mentioned Mary's note to her only. She requested
me to assure Miss Howard that she sincerely participated with her
best friends, in the satisfaction they felt, on the subject of her
absence. "Her removal from Mrs. Wilson's," added she, "will do more, I
trust, than the captain thinks, towards conciliating her aunt's mind;
but independently of this consideration, the advantages she will
derive from her situation with Miss Hardcastle, are obvious; and I
rejoice at her good fortune. It grieves me to refuse Captain Flint's
invitation," continued she; "but the implacable animosity which his
sister entertains for the whole family at the Abbey, has been hurtful
to Mary's interest. I cannot, without injury to that interest, and
exasperating Miss Flint, lose sight of the neutrality I have hitherto
maintained. I wish you to give this sweet girl every assurance of my
regard and esteem: tell her, Miss Cowley, that I never was her parents'
enemy, nor am I capable of being hers. She must not come hither, unless
her aunt consent to see her. Say nothing of this application to Sir
Murdock. He will attend you as usual. It is utterly beyond my power to
act otherwise than I do." Her eyes filled with tears, and to conceal
them, she hastily quitted me, saying, that Miss Flint had not sent for
her, being too ill to rise.
If I am to believe Mrs. Allen, this "poor woman" is hourly manifesting
a better frame of mind; but I am under a fit of the spleen, and want
faith for her charity. I am disposed to think that horsewhipping, like
Doctor Lob's muscular exercise, or the dumb bells, might have been
useful to her constitution. Why may not evil spirits be dislodged, in
the same way that certain peccant humours go off, by perspiration? If I
thought the remedy a specific for discontent, I would try its efficacy,
provided the prescription admitted of a whipping-post, instead of my
own _bosom_, or one as white and as soft as the cygnet's down.
I am just returned from Miss Flint's room; her civility supports me in
my theory. She insists on my using the coach as my own. "The weather
will not do for an open carriage, and I ought to be careful of my
health." Poor woman! on saying this, she exhibited the havoc which
sickness has made of late in her robust frame. She looks dreadfully; is
much fallen away; and is nearly confined to her bed-room. She mentioned
her niece's journey; said she was glad to hear she was going from
Wilson's, and thanked me for my recommendation of her to you, adding,
"that Mary could be useful when it pleased her, having a _pretty taste_
and a _quick hand_." Suppose you commission me to purchase for you the
unfinished cross-stitch carpet; as needle-work of this sort goes on
with you, it will employ Mary very well for seven years; and by that
time the Turkey carpeting in Sedley's study, will be the worse for
wear. You will think, no doubt, of availing yourself of this "quick
hand" in some way or other.
To-morrow, yes, to-morrow, I dine with Miss Howard. Her friends will
be collected for the special purpose of taking leave; wishing her a
pleasant journey, with such like _ceremonies_: I have escaped the
word _fooleries!_ so much in honour of my self-command. But is it not
nonsense, to wish people a pleasant journey who are going to Heathcot?
Oh! how much good would it do me, only to behold the direction-post
that points out "Heathcot-farm," and that is within one little mile
of Lucy. Not a word more will I add in this froward humour; but still
subscribe myself