Just then a rapping at the door signified visitors; and Emily ran in--
Lord G----, the Earl, and Lady Gertrude, believe me!
Miss Grandison changed colour. A contrivance of my brother's!--Ah, Lord!
Now shall I be beset!--I will be sullen, that I may not be saucy.
Sullen you can't be, Charlotte, said Lady L----: but saucy you can.
Remember, however, my brother's earnestness, and spare Lord G---- before
his father and aunt, or you will give me, and every body, pain.
How can I? Our last quarrel is not made up: but advise him not to be
either impertinent or secure.
Immediately enter'd Sir Charles, introducing the Earl and Lady Gertrude.
After the first compliments, Pray, Sir Charles, said Miss Grandison,
drawing him aside, towards me, and whispering, tell me truly: Did you not
know of this visit?
I invited them, Charlotte, whispered he. I meant not however to surprise
you. If you comply, you will give me great pleasure: if you do not, I
will not be dis-pleased with my sister.
What can I do? Either be less good to me, sir, or less hurrying.
You have sacrificed enough to female punctilio, Charlotte. Lord G----
has been a zealous courtier. You have no doubt of the ardor of his
passion, nor of your own power. Leave the day to me. Let it be Tuesday
next.
Good heaven! I can't bear you, after such a--and she gasped, as if for
breath; and he turning from her to me, she went to Lady Gertrude, who,
rising, took her hand, and withdrew with her into the next room.
They staid out till they were told dinner was served: and when they
returned, I thought I never saw Miss Grandison look so lovely. A
charming flush had overspread her cheeks: a sweet consciousness in her
eyes gave a female grace to her whole aspect, and softened, as I may say,
the natural majesty of her fine features.
Lord G---- looked delighted, as if his heart were filled with happy
presages. The earl seemed no less pleased.
Miss Grandison was unusually thoughtful all dinnertime: she gave me great
joy to see her so, in the hope, that when the lover becomes the husband,
the over-lively mistress will be sunk in the obliging wife.--And yet,
now and then, as the joy in my lord's heart overflowed at his lips, I
could observe that archness rising to her eye, that makes one both love
and fear her.
After dinner, the Earl of G---- and Lady Gertrude desired a conference
with Sir Charles and Lady L----. They were not long absent, when Sir
Charles came in, and carried out Miss Grandison to them. Lord G----'s
complexion varied often.
Sir Charles left them together, and joined us. We were standing; and he
singled me out--I hope, madam, said he, that Charlotte may be prevailed
upon for Tuesday next: but I will not urge it further.
I thought that he was framing himself to say something particular to me,
when Lady L---- came in, and desired him and me to step to her sister,
who had retired from the Earl and Lady Gertrude, by consent.
Ah, my Harriet! said she, pity me, my dear!--Debasement is the child of
pride!--Then turning to Sir Charles, I acknowledge myself overcome, said
she, by your earnestness, as you are so soon to leave us; and by the
importunities of the Earl of G----, Lady Gertrude, and my sister--
Unprepared in mind, in clothes, I am resolved to oblige the best of
brothers. Do you, sir, dispose of me as you think fit.
My sister consents, sir, said Lady L----, for next Tuesday.
Cheerfully, I hope. If Charlotte balances whether, if she took more
time, she should have Lord G---- at all, let her take it. Lord L----, in
my absence, will be to her all that I wish to be, when she shall
determine.
I balance not, sir: but I thought to have had a month's time, at least,
to look about me, and having treated Lord G---- too flippantly, to give
him by degrees some fairer prospects of happiness with me, than hitherto
he has had.
Sir Charles embraced her. She was all his sister, he said. Let the
alteration now begin. Lord G---- would rejoice in it, and consider all
that had passed, as trials only of his love for her. The obliging wife
would banish from his remembrance the petulant mistress. And now, allow
me, my dear sister, to present you to the Earl and Lady Gertrude.
He led her in to them. Lady L---- took my hand, and led me in also.--
Charlotte, my lord, yields to yours and Lady Gertrude's importunities.
Next Tuesday will give the two families a near and tender relation to
each other.
The earl saluted her in a very affectionate manner: so did Lady Gertrude;
who afterwards ran out for her nephew: and, leading him in, presented him
to Miss Grandison.
She had just time to whisper me, as he approached her; Ah, Harriet! now
comes the worst part of the show.--He kneeled on one knee, kissed her
hand: but was too much overjoyed to speak; for Lady Gertrude had told
him, as she led him in, that Tuesday was to be his happy day.
It is impossible, Lucy, but Sir Charles Grandison must carry every point
he sets his heart upon. When he shall appear before the family of
Porretta in Italy, who will be able to withstand him?--Is not his
consequence doubled, more than doubled, since he was with them? The man
whose absence they requested, they now invite to come among them. They
have tried every experiment to restore their Clementina: he has a noble
estate now in possession. The fame of his goodness is gone out to
distant countries. O my dear! All opposition must fly before him. And
if it be the will of Heaven to restore Clementina, all her friends must
concur in giving her to him upon the terms he has proposed; and from
which, having himself proposed them, Sir Charles Grandison cannot recede.
His heart, it is evident, is at Bologna. Well, and so it ought to be.
And yet I could not forbear being sensibly touched by the following
words, which I overheard him say to Lord L----, in answer to something my
lord said to him:
'I am impatient to be abroad. Had I not waited for Mr. Lowther, the last
letters I received from Italy should have been answered in person.'
But as honour, compassion, love, friendship (still nobler than love!)
have demands upon him, let him obey the call. He has set me high in his
esteem. Let me be worthy of his friendship. Pangs I shall occasionally
feel; but who that values one person above the rest of the world, does
not?
Sir Charles, as we sat at tea, mentioned his cousin Grandison to Lord
L----: It is strange, my lord, said he, that we hear nothing of our
cousin Everard, since he was seen at White's. But whenever he emerges,
Charlotte, if I am absent, receive him without reproaches: yet I should
be glad that he could have rejoiced with us. Must I leave England, and
not see him?
It has been, it seems, the way of this unhappy man, to shut himself up
with some woman in private lodgings, for fear his cousin should find him
out; and in two or three months, when he has been tired of his wicked
companion, emerge, as Sir Charles called it, to notice, and then seek for
his cousin's favour and company, and live for as many more months in a
state of contrition. And Sir Charles, in his great charity, believes,
that till some new temptation arises, he is in earnest in his penitence;
and hopes, that in time he will see his errors.
Oh, Lucy! What a poor creeping, mean wretch is a libertine, when one
looks down upon him, and up to such a glorious creature as Sir Charles
Grandison!
Sir Charles was led to talk of his engagement for to-morrow, on the
triple marriage in the Danby family. We all gave him joy of the happy
success that had rewarded his beneficent spirit, with regard to that
family. He gave us the characters of the three couples greatly to their
advantage, and praised the families on both sides, which were to be so
closely united on the morrow; not forgetting to mention kindly honest Mr.
Sylvester the attorney.
He told us, that he should set out on Friday early for Windsor, in order
to attend Lord W---- in his first visit to Mansfield-house. You, Lady
L----, will have the trouble given you, said he, of procuring to be
new-set the jewels of the late Lady W---- for a present to the future
bride. My lord shewed them to me (among a great number of other valuable
trinkets of his late wife's) in my last return from the Hall. They are
rich, and will do credit to his quality. You, my Lord L----, you, my
sisters, will be charmed with your new aunt, and her whole family. I
have joy on the happiness in prospect that will gild the latter days of
my mother's brother; and at the same time be a means of freeing from
oppression an ancient and worthy family.
Tears were in every eye. There now, thought I, sits this princely man,
rejoicing every one who sees him, and hears him speak: But where will he
be nine days hence? And whose this day twelvemonth?
He talked with particular pleasure of the expected arrival of his
Beauchamp. He pleased himself, that he should leave behind him a man who
would delight every body, and supply to his friends his absence.--What a
character did he give, and Dr. Bartlett confirm, of that amiable friend
of his!
How did the Earl and Lady Gertrude dwell upon all he said! They prided
themselves on the relation they were likely so soon to stand in to so
valuable a man.
In your last letter, you tell me, Lucy, that Mr. Greville has the
confidence to throw out menaces against this excellent man--Sorry wretch!
--How my heart rises against him!--He--But no more of such an earth-born
creature.