Songez bien que l'amour sait feindre,
Redoutez un sage berger,
On n'est que plus prËs du danger,
Quand on croit n'avoir rien ‡ craindre[5].
[Footnote 5:
Remember still love can dissemble,
And even with the wisest tremble;
For when we think there's nought to fear,
Often danger's lurking near.
]
Balls, parties, operas, followed each other in rapid succession; and as
rapidly did Selina rise to the very zenith of fashion. She became at
once the _ton_, and, being so, whatever she said, whatever she did, was
of course immediately pronounced "wisest, discreetest, best." She had
many followers, but Lord George Meredith was the only gentleman, who
had yet openly professed himself to be her suitor. It was, however, far
from Lady Eltondale's intention, that Selina should make any choice for
herself; or rather, she determined so to bend her ductile mind, that by
degrees that choice, which was in reality Lady Eltondale's, should seem
to be her own. She therefore carefully observed the manner of all the
young men, who were most sedulous in paying attention to Selina;
believing that she was fully capable of discriminating, whether their
intentions went beyond the amusement of the passing moment, and equally
certain of frustrating any plan that militated against her own. The more
Selina became _the fashion_, the more steady became Lady Eltondale's
determination to marry her to Frederick Elton; and with that
infatuation, which is a natural consequence of self-love, the deeper she
became engaged in the prosecution of her scheme, the more she felt
herself interested in its ultimate success. Lord George Meredith soon
rendered himself an object of her jealousy; and she therefore took an
early opportunity of casually informing Selina, through an apparently
accidental conversation with Sir James Fenton, of his Lordship's
unconquerable passion for gaming, and concluded by turning abruptly to
Selina, remarking, "that, no doubt, the fine oaks of Deane Hall would
serve to repair some of his losses; and, as he regularly made love to
every heiress that _came out_, perhaps Selina might, if she chose,
procure for herself the hitherto rejected title in reversion of
Marchioness Starmont." Lady Eltondale's sarcasm was not without its due
effect: by degrees Selina's behaviour to Lord George sunk into a cold,
though polite reserve; and his Lordship, understanding the change in the
manner both of aunt and niece, gradually withdrew his attentions. The
conduct of Mr. Sedley was much more equivocal, and almost baffled the
penetration of the Viscountess. It always happened his engagements and
theirs were the same, and wherever they went he became one of their
immediate party; but his manner was so perfectly careless, that the
rencontre seemed purely accidental. He admired Selina's beauty avowedly,
but with apparently equal _nonchalance_, sometimes complimented Lady
Eltondale on the elegance of Miss Seymour's dress, and much oftener
finding fault with Selina herself, if any particular ornament or colour
in it happened not to suit his fancy. To the Viscountess herself his
manner was in the highest degree attentive, and even insinuating; and
had the world in which they moved had time to attend to his conduct in
particular, it would probably have decided, that he was much more
assiduous in recommending himself to the aunt than to the niece. He
would often place himself, for a whole evening, behind Lady Eltondale's
chair, when the vivacity and singularity of his conversation,
compounded, as it was, of sense and levity, would withdraw nearly all
her attention from the rest of the company, while at the same time
Selina would appear almost unregarded by him. It also often happened, if
they were at a ball together, he would ask Selina to dance, "provided
she had not any other partner;" or tell her to "say at least she was
engaged to him, if any asked her she did not wish to dance with;" and
such was the pleasure Selina always experienced from his natural
vivacious manners, that it seldom happened that the engagement was not
fulfilled. And yet it seemed almost a matter of indifference to him,
whether it was so or not; he often appeared fully as anxious to procure
other pleasant partners for her, as to be the chosen one himself. One
evening, Selina supposed she had engaged herself to him, and waited in
anxious, though vain, expectation of his coming to claim her hand; and
when, as his apology for not doing so, he told her laughingly, that he
had totally forgotten their engagement, she was almost tempted to be
affronted. But he so good naturedly called the next morning, to bring
her the music of the last new ballet, and appeared so unconscious of
having merited her displeasure, that it quickly vanished, and their
friendship seemed more firmly established than ever.
Certain it is, that Selina felt more at ease with Sedley, than with any
other of the beaux who now constantly attended in her train. Sometimes
the compliments of her professed admirers were too exaggerated for even
her vanity to believe. But, with him, she felt she could at all times
talk and laugh unrestrainedly; he seemed to have no pretensions, and
therefore she did not think it necessary to be on her guard against
either wounding or encouraging them. If the inconsiderateness of her
buoyant spirits, or her inexperience of the rules of etiquette, led her
into any trifling dilemma, she was always certain of his good humoured
and effectual assistance in relieving her from her embarrassment;
whilst, on the other hand, he had imperceptibly assumed the privilege,
which she had as unconsciously yielded to him, of reproving her for any
trifling sin, either of omission or commission, against the laws of
fashion. She therefore reposed a certain confidence in Sedley, that led
her to have a different feeling for him, from that she experienced for
the other individuals by whom she was surrounded. For her natural
timidity led her almost always to yield her opinion, without contention,
to that of any other person, whose knowledge or abilities she supposed
superior to her own. She even felt relieved, by believing she could in
safety repose on the wisdom of another; for she had never yet been
placed in a situation, in which she was necessitated to act for herself.
Her ideas of the perfection of her father and Mrs. Galton had been
such, that she not only never had disputed their authority, but had so
entirely relied on their judgment, that her own had never been called
into action. With her recollections of them Augustus Mordaunt had
hitherto been united: the first affections of her heart had turned
towards him, as to the playfellow, the companion, the brother of her
earliest infancy; and had he too been her guide on her first entrance
into life, she would probably have been induced to bestow on him a still
dearer title. But Sir Henry's death, and Lady Eltondale's subsequent
artifices, had totally separated poor Selina from all these her earliest
friends. The misunderstanding, which had at first arisen partly from
accident, between her and Mordaunt, was afterwards carefully increased
by the crafty Viscountess; and her two unsuspecting victims, by their
mutual errors, facilitated the success of her machinations. Both,
conscious of the integrity of their own feelings, avoided rather than
sought an explanation, which both considered due to their own individual
pride. By both the perceptible alteration of each other's manner was
attributed to the change that had taken place in their relative
situation; and, above all, as the interruption of their intimacy had
occurred by imperceptible degrees, no opening was left for
reconciliation by the pretext of decided grievance. Whenever they met,
which was now but seldom, a mutual indifference seemed to have succeeded
to that regard, which had once been so prized by both. As yet however
the indifference was but assumed.--Mordaunt felt, that it would be long
before reason could extinguish his love for her, who was the world's
idol as well as his--but every sentiment of wounded affection and
indignant pride led him to conceal the passion he could not cure--The
more he became conscious of the necessity of self-control, the more did
he close up the real feelings of his heart in an impenetrable armour of
cold and studied reserve. On the other hand, Selina's feelings had taken
a far different coloring. His having, on their first meeting in town,
apparently repulsed her advances to a renewal of their former intimacy,
had given her the severest pang of mortification she had ever
experienced; but vanity soon came to her assistance, and when she found
that he alone appeared insensible to those charms which were so prized
by others, she began, not unnaturally, to attribute his apparent
unkindness to an insensibility she was undecided whether to resent or
despise. Whenever, therefore, by accident they happened to be in the
same society, she rather assumed than corrected the appearance of
flirtation and coquetry, which was dissimilar to the artless _naÔvetÈ_
of her earlier days, and was least suited to the unbending frigidity of
his present deportment. With these sentiments it is not then to be
wondered at, that their mutual society should become a source of pain,
rather than of pleasure, to both; and Lady Eltondale, watching with
secret satisfaction the widening breach, made it still more irreparable,
by ostentatiously appearing to court that intercourse, which both now
evidently wished to shun.
At the same time Sedley, apparently without design, seemed to rise in
Selina's estimation, in the proportion as Augustus fell, and gradually
began to insinuate himself into her regard. In Sedley's society Selina
felt perfectly unrestrained. With him her manners were always natural:
she felt assured, that he was, as he professed to be, sincerely her
friend; and she rested with satisfaction on the belief, that he aspired
to no higher distinction. Even the vigilance of Lady Eltondale was for
once baffled. Mr. Sedley's situation in life was exactly in that mean,
which least attracted her notice: his paternal estate was sufficient, as
she believed, to render even Selina's fortune of no vital importance to
him; and judging of Selina by herself, she believed it almost
impossible, that a girl so universally admired, as she undoubtedly was,
would be content to remain a commoner all her life. Besides, she knew
Sedley was Frederick's most intimate friend, and therefore she did not
hesitate to make him the confidant of her views regarding Miss Seymour;
believing that by doing so she might safely encourage his attendance on
her niece, and at the same time make that attendance an additional
defence against the designs of others. But the Viscountess had now to
learn, that duplicity on one side engenders artifice on the other:
Sedley was even more in her son-in-law's confidence, than in her own;
and, while she with wily care cautioned him against allowing Selina to
suspect her plan, she convinced him, that, in seeking the gratification
of his own passion, there was no risk of thwarting the affections either
of his friend, or _the heiress_ allotted to him. It was true, from a
passage in Frederick's last letter, he was led to believe, that it was
his intention to pay his addresses to Miss Seymour on his return to
England, and he therefore cautiously suspended his own operations. "At
present, (thought he) the girl certainly prefers me to every other man;
for now she has quite forgot that perpendicular statue Mordaunt, and it
will be difficult enough for him to revive any regard she might once
have had for such a philosophical personage as he is, whilst both Lady
Eltondale and I keep guard over her. Then if she has sense and
steadiness enough to refuse Elton, when he proposes for her estate, for
I'll take care she understands he does not care a farthing for herself;
why then, notwithstanding my pretty Columbina, I will, without any
remorse of conscience, marry her myself, if it was for nothing but to
rescue her from that devilish calculator of compound interest, that
noble aunt of hers--But if that same crafty duenna, that female
Machiavel succeeds, which, after all, is by no means improbable,
considering her wickedness and Selina's innocence; why then let them all
take the consequence. Frederick will get the old oaks--she'll get his
old title, and I, or any other man, may get her love that pleases." So
reasoned Sedley--and thus did this modern Pylades acquit himself of the
charge of any breach of friendship, as he thus deliberately prepared to
rival his own Orestes.
Far different, and much less successful, were the means adopted by
Webberly for carrying his designs into execution. He had become
painfully convinced, that the paths of fashionable extravagance were not
to be trodden with impunity; and as his credit decreased with his banker
his attentions to Miss Seymour were redoubled. Whenever she appeared in
public, as at the theatres, or in the Park, he was her constant
attendant; "and, like the shadow, proved the substance true," as far at
least as related to her fortune. But notwithstanding his assiduity, he
found it almost impossible to procure access to those more distinguished
parties Lady Eltondale and Sedley frequented; and, being as much
enlightened by his self-interest as the Viscountess was deceived by
hers, he determined to keep a watchful eye over his _ci-devant_ friend,
and heartily repented having ever introduced him at Deane Hall.
While these two competitors were thus, in different ways, striving for
the golden prize, Selina was not less an object of regard to Lord
Osselstone.--He, as might naturally be expected, was usually to be met
in the same circle in which Lady Eltondale moved: but it was more
difficult to account for the perceptible attention he constantly paid to
Selina. At first he seemed more than usually pleased with the
artlessness and vivacity of her manner; and the recollection of the
kindness of his behaviour to her at the moment of her distress, at Lady
Eltondale's first party, made her show a sort of confidence in her
manners and address towards him, that, had she been more experienced in
the ways of the world, his very superiority might perhaps have
prevented. But with Lord Osselstone the idea of Mordaunt was inseparably
connected; and as the recollection of the one became painful, the
pleasure she had derived from the society of the other decreased. She
became gradually suspicious of his character, as a greater familiarity
with it convinced her it was not easily to be understood; and she was
sometimes tempted to wish, either that she was less an object of his
Lordship's observation, or that the veil could be entirely withdrawn,
which seemed so constantly to shroud all his feelings from her view.
At last the day of Selina's presentation at Court arrived. Never had she
looked so lovely--never was she so much admired.--Her heart beat high
with exultation, and her eyes sparkled with redoubled animation, as she
heard her own praise from every lip. When the drawing-room was over, and
she found herself seated in the carriage with Lady Eltondale, she could
not, in the vanity of the moment, repress a wish that Mrs. Galton had
seen how much she was admired: adding, while a smile of conscious beauty
played on her ruby lip, "I think if Mr. Mordaunt had been at Court
to-day, even he might have condescended to have acknowledged his country
friend." It was the first time Selina had voluntarily named him for many
months, and the Viscountess hailed the auspicious omen. She knew that
not to breathe a name on which our thoughts most dwell, is even a more
dangerous symptom, than when it is the sole subject of our conversation.
The spell with Selina now seemed broken; and Lady Eltondale profited by
the opportunity afforded, continuing the conversation in a careless
manner, in hopes of accustoming Selina to the deliberate discussion of
his negligence towards her. "If (thought she) I can habituate her to
talk about him, and to talk calmly, the day is my own:
Lorsqu'on se f‚che, on peut aimer encore;
Lorsqu'on raisonne, on n'aime plus."