Here's another letter to her: she bears the purse too, she is a
region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be cheater to them
both, and they shall be exchequers to me; they shall be my East and
West Indies.
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
As fate had hitherto been so unpropitious to young Webberly, and his
anxious mama, in their personal interviews with Miss Seymour, they
decided, at their next _tÍte ‡ tÍte_, which was generally of a much more
friendly nature than their public communications, that he should not any
longer delay making his proposal in form, which Mrs. Sullivan could not
believe she would hesitate in accepting; for, like the monkey in the
fable, she thought nothing equalled her own progeny. On this occasion
at least, her son implicitly followed her directions; he was aware that
his finances were so reduced, he should never be able to stand another
London campaign, without some new resource, and the gaming table had
lately not been as productive a one as he usually found it. With the
assistance of his sisters, he therefore composed a letter full of darts,
and wounds, and happiness, and agitation, and gratitude, and eternity;
and "used the arts that lovers use;" in hopes, by the superabundance of
his professions, to compensate for his real indifference. For, in truth,
he cared only for Selina's fortune, as he actually loved Miss
Wildenheim, as much as it was in nature for so selfish a being to love
any body. And though he was equally as incapable of justly appreciating
her character as of understanding Selina's, yet her talents were so
veiled by the calm dignity of the manners, that he felt less intimidated
by them than by the brilliant vivacity of Selina's. But, in
anticipating the possibility of becoming Miss Seymour's husband, he
fully, in imagination, indemnified himself for the temporary
mortifications her undoubted superiority now occasioned him, by the
magnanimous resolution of treating her, when she became his wife, with
all possible contempt; believing, as many husbands do in similar
situations, that an ostentatious display of authority will persuade
others, that the dependent is really the inferior being, like the boy on
the ladder, who tramples on that which alone supports him.
Selina and Lady Eltondale were together, when the Viscountess was
presented with an enormous packet, sealed with a coat of arms as ample
in its expansion as it was modern in its date; "Good Heavens!" exclaimed
her Ladyship, holding up the cover, "arms! and the man; here, Selina,
the envelope only is for me: your _nouveau riche_ admirer requests I
will present to you this inimitable manuscript." Selina hastily ran
over the composition, which had cost some hours to indite; and then, no
longer able to keep her countenance, burst into a hearty fit of
laughter, while her cheeks mantled with blushes, "Well, at last, Lady
Eltondale, here is the promised proposal: I had no idea what a real love
letter was--pray read it." "No my dear; excuse me, my dear: all such
tender professions are similar, they '_consistent ‡ dire aux femmes avec
un esprit lÈger et une ame de glace, tout ce qu'on ne croit pas, et tout
ce qu'on voudrait leur faire croire_[7].' I am much more curious to know
what your answer will be."--"A refusal undoubtedly," replied Miss
Seymour; "but I must request of you, Lady Eltondale, to convey it for
me." "You know, Selina, you are your own mistress; it is unnecessary
for me to offer any advice." Selina felt the rebuke; but before she
could make any apology, her aunt continued, "In this instance I think
you right: title, my dear, is the only thing to marry for; it is
terrible to be obliged to purchase one's place in society; and even the
richest commoners are only valued in proportion to their expenditure;
whereas a nobleman maybe as poor and as shabby as he pleases, his wife
must always have precedence." "But surely, Lady Eltondale, you would not
have me marry for precedence." "It is what ninety-nine girls out of a
hundred marry for," resumed the Viscountess, with perfect _sang froid_;
"and as I do not see much difference in your character from that of the
rest of your sex, I conclude what makes others happy would satisfy you."
"I think," replied Selina, hesitatingly, "I should never be happy,
unless I married a man whom I loved and esteemed, and who, I was very
sure, loved me." "Ha! ha! ha! very sentimental, indeed! Child, that
would do admirably for a novel, but in real life, take my word, such
nice distinctions are but little attended to: fine feeling is an
essence, that soon evaporates when exposed to common air; it is
generally adviseable to have something substantial at bottom, to fill up
the phial when the effervescence subsides." "But, is it possible, Lady
Eltondale, that you would have me marry a man I could not love or
esteem, or who did not love me?" inquired Selina, in a tone of gravity
more approaching to censure, than her noble aunt had ever before heard
her use. "Pian! piano! carissima! half your proposition is defensible;
and to that half I willingly accede. When a woman marries, the only
thing necessary for her to be assured of, is her own heart, or rather
her own mind. Every man, when he asks your hand, will certainly profess
to love you; time and experiment can only prove his sincerity, or his
steadiness;--but you, with all Mrs. Galton's philosophy in your head,
must acknowledge, that all a woman's comfort in life depends on her not
knowing the pangs of repentance." "Assuredly." "Well then, a woman who
marries for love, generally sacrifices nine tenths of her life to a
passion, that can, at best, last but a few months; and spends her
remaining years in regretting her 'fond dream:' but she who calculates
well before she marries, and weighs calmly the _pour_ and _contre_ of
the lot she chooses for life, can, at all events, never repent the
choice, which she made deliberately. But, however, why should we cavil
about words, when there is not a chance of our ever dissenting in
action?" Then reaching out her beautiful hand to Selina, with a
bewitching smile, "Come, my love," added she, "tell me what I am to say
for you to your _inamorato_." And then, by Selina's dictation, she
returned a polite, but positive refusal to the obsequious Webberly.
[Footnote 7: Proceeding from a frivolous head and a cold heart, their
object is to express to women all that men do not feel, and all they
wish to persuade them they do.]
The time now approached for Lord and Lady Eltondale's leaving London, if
so might be called that removal of their physical bodies to another
scene of action, where their habits, their pursuits, and their
associates remained the same. The Viscountess had not yet completed the
annual circle of dissipation, and it was therefore determined, that
while Lord Eltondale returned home alone, her Ladyship and Selina
should, by a visit to Cheltenham, protract for a still longer time their
return to the comparative retirement of Eltondale. Of course the due
preparation for this new scene of gaiety served as an excuse for renewed
visits to the whole circle of shops. In one of these expeditions Lady
Eltondale had left Selina at Mrs.----'s, in Bond Street, while she paid
a visit in the neighbourhood; and Selina was just in the act of trying
on a bonnet, that the officious milliner declared was supremely
becoming, when her ears were suddenly assailed by the loudest tone of
Mrs. Sullivan's discordant voice, "Yes, it be wastly becoming, to be
sure; but, for my part, I thinks a little servility and policy, much
more becoming to a young lady, be she never so much of an airy-ass. Aye,
Aye, Miss Seymour, you may stare and gobble; but it's to you, and of
you, I'm a speaking." "Of me, ma'am?" returned the half frightened
girl. "Yes, Miss, of you, with all your looks of modesty and
ingeniousness;--but in my day, whenever a young lady got a love letter
from a young man, she never lost no time in supplying to him; and, for
my part, I think a purling answer to a civil question would never do
nobody no harm, if it was the queen herself, in all her state of
health." "If you allude to a letter from Mr. Webberly"--"To be sure I
do," interrupted the zealous parent, "what else should I delude to? And
if you did receive Jack's pistol, Miss Seymour, why didn't ye condescend
to answer his operation yourself?" "I thought, my dear madam, Lady
Eltondale could express my regrets much better than I could." "Aye! Aye!
Lady Eltondale, that's it--I'll tell ye vat, Miss Seymour--that 'ere
Lady Eltondale vill make a cat's paw of you, if ye don't mind. As to my
Jacky, he doesn't care for your refusal a brass farthing--but ye may go
farther, and fare worse--he's healthy and wealthy, as the saying is; and
he's not a man for a girl to throw over her shoulder--ye mayn't meet
such a carowzel as his, every day in the veek.--But now I'll tell ye
vat, once for all--ye see me and mine be a-going to Ireland; and it may
so be, that ve may never see each other no more.--Now, ye see, I always
respected your old father, and so out of compliment to him, I'll just
give you a piece of my mind; and that is, that that Lady Eltondale,
with all her valk-softly airs, has some kind of a sign upon you, depend
upon it, or she'd never take all the trouble she does about ye, for it's
not in her nature to do it for mere affection to you or your father
either; and that 'ere sheep-faced Mr. Sedley, with all his aperient
indifference, and no shambles (_nonchalance_), as they call it; he's
playing the puck with you too, I can see that, fast enough; and so, now,
as I have given you varning, and wented my mind a little, I'll just
shake hands with you, for old acquaintance sake." The reconciliation was
scarcely effected, before Lady Eltondale returned for Selina, who most
joyfully escaped from her _soi-disant_ friend. She casually mentioned
the rencontre to the Viscountess, but did not mention the hints she had
received; thus showing to her instructress her first essay in the
practice of her own lessons in the art of dissimulation. By nature
Selina's disposition was candid, even to a fault. For she was not only
willing to confide all her actions, all her thoughts, to those she
loved; but so necessary did she feel it to her happiness to be able to
repose all her feelings, and even the responsibility of her conduct, on
the bosom of another, that she would have preferred having an
indifferent friend to being deprived of a confidant. But her intercourse
with Lady Eltondale had already, in some degree, seared her best
feelings. She had already, even then, acquired that general anxiety to
please, which appertains more to vanity than to benevolence, and which
never fails, in time, to wither the finer sensibilities of the soul. The
natural superiority of her talents enabled her, to discover the true
character of those she associated with. But even her penetration was
dangerous to her purity. She saw hypocrisy was the means, and
self-interest the end, pursued by all: even the stronger passions were
brought under their control: and in being convinced, that in the crowd
that surrounded her there was no individual she could love, she
experienced a chasm in her heart, which left it more open to the
reception of those petrifying principles, that Lady Eltondale so
sedulously inculcated. At this moment, in Selina's history, she stood on
that narrow line, which separates vice and virtue. Her avidity of
praise, by teaching her how best to improve and exercise her talents,
had as yet but increased her charms; and her distrust of others first
taught her to exercise her own judgment. Circumstances were still to
decide, whether her strengthening reason would serve to control the
affections of her heart, or whether the school of stoicism, in which she
was now entered, would entirely eradicate its better feelings: whether
her natural volatility was to be corrected by reflection, or matured
into coquetry by artifice: in short, whether the dormant seeds of a
rational education would finally spring up in the very hotbed of
fashion, which called forth the premature weeds of folly and
extravagance; or whether the intoxicating incense of flattery, aided
both by the precept and example of the designing Viscountess, would
destroy them in the bud, and offer up one more heartless victim as a
sacrifice to that world, which but repays with present scorn and future
repentance the devotion of its wretched votaries.