MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1846.
LONDON:
Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
MARGARET CAPEL.
CHAPTER I.
For not to think of what I need's must feel,
But to be still and patient all I can,
And haply, by abstruse research, to steal
From my own nature all the natural man:
This was my sole resource, my only plan.
COLERIDGE.
And time, that mirrors on its stream aye flowing
Hope's starry beam, despondency's dark shade;
Green early leaves, flowers in warm sunshine blowing,
Boughs by sharp winter's breath all leafless made.
ANON.
Margaret remained for more than a year in the most perfect retirement.
The solitude of Ashdale was nothing to that of Mrs. Fitzpatrick's
cottage. This tranquillity was well adapted to her state of feeling:
she never experienced a wish to interrupt it. She was sincerely attached
to her hostess. Although reserved, Mrs. Fitzpatrick was even-tempered;
and she became very fond of Margaret, whose society filled up such a
painful blank in her home. Both had suffered much, though neither ever
alluded to her sufferings: and sorrow is always a bond of union. When
first she came to Mrs. Fitzpatrick's, her health was so delicate, that
the poor lady feared she was to go through a second ordeal, similar to
the one she had lately submitted to with her own child. Margaret had a
terrible cough and frequent pain in the side, and whenever Mrs.
Fitzpatrick saw her pause on her way down stairs with her hand pressed
on her heart, or heard the well-known and distressing sound of the
cough, the memory of her daughter was almost too painfully renewed. But
Mr. Lindsay pronounced the cough to be nervous, and the pain in the side
nothing of any consequence; and though winter was stealing on, his
opinion was borne out by Margaret's rapid amendment.
Circumstances had long taught Margaret to suffer in silence: she found
then no difficulty in assuming a composure of manner that she did not
always feel; and soon the healing effects of repose and time were
visible in her demeanour. The loss of her uncle was become a softened
grief--for her other sorrow, she never named it even to herself. Yet
still if any accident suggested to her heart the name of Mr. Haveloc, it
would be followed by a sudden shock, as though a dagger had been plunged
into it. She could not bear to think of him, and it was a comfort to be
in a place where she was never likely to hear him named.
And in the beautiful country, among those fading woods, on that
irregular and romantic shore, was to be found the surest antidote for
all that she had endured--for all she might still suffer. In the soft,
yet boisterous autumn wind--in the swell of the mighty waves--in the
fresh breath, ever wafted over their foam, there was health for the
body, there was peace to the mind. The scenery was so delightful that
she was never tired of rambling--and so secluded, that there was no harm
in rambling alone. And though a beauty, and by no means a portionless
one, she found means to pass her time without an adventure, unless the
vague admiration entertained for her by a young coxcomb who was reading
for college with the clergyman, might deserve that name.
This youth, not being very skilful in shooting the sea-gulls, had
nothing on earth to do except to make love to the first pretty woman he
might encounter. He had literally no choice; for Margaret was the only
young lady in the parish. She was waylaid, stared at--was molested in
church by nosegays laid on the desk of her pew, and annoyed at home by
verses that came in with the breakfast things. She was reduced to walk
out only with Mrs. Fitzpatrick; she was debarred from sitting on the
beach--gathering nuts in the woods--even from wandering in the garden,
unless she could submit to be stared at from the other side of the
hedge. Trained, as she was, in the school of adversity, (a capital
school, by the way, to make people indifferent to minor evils), she
could not help crying with vexation when the butler coolly brought her
up the fiftieth copy of wretched verses, setting forth her charms and
her cruelty in no measured terms.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick had smiled to see the contempt with which Margaret
brushed down the first bouquet among the hassocks, and left the second
unnoticed upon the desk; even the sweet scent of the Russian violets had
not softened her resolution, and the verses wrapped round their stems
became the property of the beadle. But Mrs. Fitzpatrick, really sorry
for the annoyance of her young charge, spoke confidently to the good Mr.
Fletcher; and she had the pleasure to assure Margaret that the Hon. Mr.
Florestan was going away at Christmas. Still she had felt some surprise
and more curiosity at the conduct of so very young a girl, under such
circumstances--there had appeared no vanity, no agitation, none of the
natural emotion resulting from the novelty of inspiring a passion.
Mr. Florestan was a boy of good family; some people would have called
him a man, for he was seventeen and a half; he wrote rhymes and bought
hot-house flowers; so many girls would have been delighted at his
homage. Margaret seemed merely bored: she cried, as she said, from
absolute weariness of him and his scented paper; from the perpetual
chafing of a small annoyance. His love was too contemptible to cause a
stronger feeling; for herself she had never looked at him, and did not
know whether he was tall or short. Once or twice when Mrs. Fitzpatrick
had called to her, 'Look, Margaret, there goes your devoted swain!' she
had been so long in putting down her work, and coming to the window,
that he had turned the rocks, or the corner of the road, and the
opportunity was lost. And he actually left the place, without her ever
having seen more of him than a green coat and brass buttons, with which
he was wont to enliven their parish church every Sunday, and which being
on an exact level with her eye, she could not without affectation avoid.
Such entire indifference to a conquest, Mrs. Fitzpatrick could not
understand, and she told Margaret with a smile, that some day she would
be more indulgent to the feelings of a lover than she seemed at present.
The well-known sharp pain went through Margaret's heart as she spoke;
but she smiled too, and said she had a great respect for lovers, but she
saw no cause to enrol the Hon. Mr. Florestan in their ranks. And so the
subject dropped.
After this, many months passed in such stillness, that Margaret hardly
knew how they flew. Her only regular correspondent was Lady d'Eyncourt.
Her letters formed the one excitement of her life. It was so delightful
to trace her from place to place; to hear the little anecdotes of her
travels--even the name of Captain Gage, mentioned casually, brought back
vividly to her remembrance, the many happy days she had passed at Chirke
Weston. And in the few allusions to her husband that her letters
contained, it was evident that the devotion she felt for him before
marriage, had increased, and was still gathering strength in a degree
that it was perilous to indulge. She said, herself, that the unclouded
sunshine of her life could hardly last. To say that she adored Sir
Philip, was no figure of speech in her case. The more intimately she
became acquainted with his character, the more she found to love and to
respect. He had no _little_ faults. The reserve which repelled others,
vanished entirely with her; and the most exacting of an exacting sex,
must have been content with the measure of his fondness. She was not so
much his first, as his only object. Captain Gage often said that they
were made for each other, and neither party seemed inclined to dispute
the opinion. At last, the storm came. After an unusual silence on the
part of Elizabeth, Margaret received a letter--a few lines from Captain
Gage, announcing the terrible news of Sir Philip's death. He had been
carried off in a few weeks by a fever, at Marseilles. Elizabeth was
expecting to become a mother; and the next hurried intelligence from her
father announced the disappointment of her hopes,--and spoke of his
intention of taking her on to Italy as soon as her health would permit.
These few lines had been sent to her at the desire of Elizabeth, and she
could not but feel them a proof of her unaltered friendship.
Margaret felt, after this shock, as young people cumbered with much
feeling are apt to do, when they see and hear around them so much of
sorrow and alarm. Every thing seemed insecure; she could picture no
happiness sufficiently stable to be worth desiring; she looked round to
see what new misfortune threatened herself; she was possessed with a
feeling of vague apprehension. But her religious impressions, always
sincere, and now deepened by the experience of sorrow, enabled her in
time to combat this feeling of undue depression.
Always gentle, she became more grave than was common at her years; more
than would have been graceful in so young a person, had it not been
tempered by the remarkable sweetness of her disposition. She found too
the benefit of constant occupation. She learned that nothing so
effectually dispels regret.
Her improvement in every branch of knowledge was great enough to content
even herself; and in music, her favourite recreation, Mrs. Fitzpatrick
often told her that she could at any time have gained her living by her
proficiency.
The next event of her tranquil life was the receipt of a box of
bride-cake, and a letter from Harriet Conway. This was in the month of
November; just three months after the death of Sir Philip.
The letter, which was written in a good bold hand, ran as follows:----
"Ma mie,
"Do not take it into your head that this is a piece of my
bride-cake. Somewhere in the box you will find the cards--Lord and
Lady Raymond. I wonder if you recollect who I am. Also, I wonder if
you are as pretty as you were two years ago? To be sure you think I
might have asked the question a little earlier. But we returned from
Germany only a short time before Lucy's marriage.
"I am now at Singleton Manor, and desire you, on the receipt of
this, to set off directly, and join me there. I have your promise,
and, therefore, you cannot very well be off paying the visit. So
come instantly; I cannot endure to wait for anything; and stay as
long as ever I please.
So say Uncle and Aunt Singleton, besides the veritable mistress of
the mansion,"
"HARRIET CONWAY."
Margaret at last found the cards Harriet mentioned under a quantity of
bon-bons. She rather wondered that her friend was still Harriet Conway;
but she was glad that this singular young lady still bore her in mind.
She showed the letter to Mrs. Fitzpatrick, and obtained her ready
consent to the visit. There was no objection to Margaret travelling with
Mason; a steady creature, who had been so long with her, and who could
pay the post-boys as well as a manservant.
Mason was in ecstacies. Of course she understood paying the post-boys.
She would have undertaken to pay the National Debt, if that could have
delivered her from the hated seclusion of the cottage. She confessed to
Miss Capel, in confidence, that it had really fretted her to see Miss
Capel growing handsomer every day, and not a soul coming, or likely to
come, to this wilderness of a place, since poor Mr. Florestan. She
confessed she should like to see Miss Capel have her due; and now that
she had her health again, she thought it was high time to get out of
this dungeon and mix in the world; and for that purpose, she supposed
Miss Capel would choose to have a new bonnet, and a new silk walking
dress, and a few evening dresses, and more things than she could
recollect at once; but she could sit down and make a list of them.
Margaret gratified her by leaving entirely in her hands, the reforming
of her wardrobe; and that important matter being arranged, and a warm
and reluctant farewell taken of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, she stepped into the
post-chaise that was to convey her to Singleton Manor.
She was to make one long day's journey of it--a fatiguing
performance--but she was anxious to avoid sleeping on the road.
The last few stages seemed to be interminably long; she was almost
exhausted with fatigue. It had been dark for some miles, and she was
just beginning to convince herself that there was no chance of reaching
their destination that night, when the carriage turned abruptly round;
the wheels echoed over the rough stones of a paved court-yard; lights
glimmered; the Gothic outline of a grey stone porch became visible; and
Margaret alighted at Singleton Manor.