Sir Jaspar had listened to this narrative with trembling interest, and a
species of emotion that was indefinable; his head bent forward, and his
mouth nearly as wide open, from the fear of losing a word, as his eyes,
from eagerness not to lose a look: but, when it was finished, he
exclaimed, in a sort of transport, 'Is this all? Joy, then, to great
Cæsar! Why 'tis nothing! My little fairies are all skipping in ecstacy;
while the wickeder imps are making faces and wry mouths, not to see
mischief enough in the wind to afford them a supper! This a marriage?
Why you are free as air!
'The little birds that fly,
With careless ease, from tree to tree,'
are not more at liberty. Ah! fair enslaver! were I as unshackled!'--
The smiles that, momentarily, broke their way through the tears and
sadness of Juliet shewed how much this declaration was in unison with
her wishes; but, exhausted by relating a history so deeply affecting to
her, she could enter into no discussion; and remained ceaselessly
weeping, till the Baronet, with an expression of surprize, asked whether
the meeting that would now ensue with her own family, could offer her no
consolation?
Rousing, then, from her sorrows, to a grateful though forced exertion,
'Oh yes!' she cried, 'yes! Your generous goodness has given me new
existence! But horrour and distress have pursued me with such
accumulating severity, that the shock is still nearly overpowering.
Yet,--let me not diminish the satisfaction of your beneficence. I am
going now to be happy!--How big a word!--how new to my feelings!--A
sister!--a brother!--Have I, indeed, such relations?' smiling even
brightly through her tears. 'And will Lady Aurora,--the sweetest of
human beings!--condescend to acknowledge me? Will the amiable Lord
Melbury deign to support, to protect me? Oh Sir Jaspar, how have you
brought all this to bear? Where are these dearest persons? And when, and
by what means, am I to be blest with their sight, and honoured with
their sanction to my claim of consanguinity?'
Sir Jaspar begged her to compose her spirits, promising to satisfy her
when she should become more calm. But, her thoughts having once turned
into this channel, all her tenderest affections gushed forth to oppose
their being diverted into any other; and the sound, the soul-penetrating
sound of sister!--of brother! once allowed utterance, vibrated through
her frame with a thousand soft emotions, now first welcomed without
check to her heart.
Urgently, therefore, she desired an explanation of the manner in which
this commission had been given; of the tone of voice in which she had
been named; and of the time and place destined for the precious meeting.
Sir Jaspar, though enchanted to see her revived, and enraptured to give
ear to her thanks, and to suck in her praises, was palpably embarrassed
how to answer her enquiries; which he suffered her to continue so long
without interruption or reply, that, her eagerness giving way to
anxiety, she solemnly required to know, whether it were by accident, or
through his own information, that Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora had been
made acquainted with her rights, or, more properly, with her hopes and
her fears in regard to their kindness and support.
Still no answer was returned, but smiling looks, and encouraging
assurances.
The most alarming doubts now disturbed the just opening views of Juliet
'Ah! Sir Jaspar!' she cried, 'why this procrastination? Practise no
deception, I conjure you!--Alas, you make me fear that you have acted
commission?'--
He protested, upon his honour, that that was not the case; yet asked why
she had settled that his commission came from Lady Aurora, or Lord
Melbury?
'Good Heaven!'--exclaimed Juliet, astonished and affrighted.
He had only, he said, affirmed, that his commission was to take her to
those noble personages; not that it had been from themselves that it had
emanated.
Again every feature of Juliet seemed changed by disappointment; and the
accent of reproach was mingled with that of grief, as she pronounced,
'Oh Sir Jaspar! can you, then, have played with my happiness? have
trifled with my hopes?'--
'Not to be master of the whole planetary system,' he cried, 'with Venus,
in her choicest wiles, at its head! I have honourably had my commission;
but it has been for, not from your honourable relations. Those little
invisible, but active beings, who have taken my conscience in charge,
have spurred and goaded me on to this deed, ever since I saw your
distress at the fair Gallic needle-monger's. Night and day have they
pinched me and jirked me, to seek you, to find you, and to rescue you
from that brawny caitiff.'--
'Alas! to what purpose? If I have no asylum, what is my security?--'
'If I have erred, my beauteous fugitive,' said Sir Jaspar, archly, 'I
must order the horses to turn about! We shall still, probably, be in
time to accompany the happy captive to his cell.'
Juliet involuntarily screamed, but besought, at least, to know how she
had been traced; and what had induced the other pursuit; or caused the
seizure, which she had so unexpectedly witnessed, of her persecutor?
He answered, that, restless to fathom a mystery, the profundity of which
left, to his active imagination, as much space for distant hope as for
present despair, he had invited Riley to dinner, upon quitting Frith
Street; and, through his means, had discovered the pilot; whose
friendship and services were secured, without scruple, by a few guineas.
By this man, Sir Jaspar was shewn the advertisement, which he now
produced; and which Juliet, though nearly overcome with shame, begged to
read.
'ELOPED from her HUSBAND,
'A young woman, tall, fair, blue-eyed; her face oval; her nose
Grecian; her mouth small; her cheeks high coloured; her chin
dimpled; and her hair of a glossy light brown.
'She goes commonly by the name of Miss Ellis.
'Whoever will send an account where she may be met with, or where
she has been seen, to ---- Attorney in ---- Street London, shall
receive a very handsome reward.'
The pilot further acknowledged to Sir Jaspar, that his employer had,
formerly, been at the head of a gang of smugglers and swindlers; though,
latterly, he had been engaged in business of a much more serious nature.
This intelligence, with an internal conviction that the marriage must
have been forced, decided Sir Jaspar to denounce the criminal to
justice; and then to take every possible measure, to have him either
imprisoned for trial, or sent out of the country, by the alien-bill,
before he should overtake the fair fugitive. His offences were, it
seems, notorious, and the warrant for his seizure was readily granted;
with an order for his being embarked by the first opportunity:
nevertheless, the difficulty to discover him had almost demolished the
scheme: though the Baronet had aided the search in person, to enjoy the
bliss of being the first to announce freedom to the lovely Runaway; and
to offer her immediate protection.
But the pilot, who, after being well paid for his information, had
himself absconded, delayed all proceedings till he was found out, by
Riley, upon the Salisbury-road. He evaded giving any further
intelligence, till the glitter of a few guineas restored his spirit of
communication, when he was brought to confess, that his master was in
that neighbourhood; where they had received assurances that the fugitive
herself was lodged. Sir Jaspar instantly, then, took the measures of
which the result, seconded by sundry happy accidents, had been so
seasonable and prosperous. 'And never,' said he, in conclusion, 'did my
delectable little friends serve me so cogently, as in suggesting my
stratagem at your sight. If you do not directly name, they squeaked in
my ear, her brother and sister, she may demur at accompanying you: if
her brother and sister honour your assertion, you will fix the matchless
Wanderer in her proper sphere; if they protest against it,--what giant
stands in the way to your rearing and protecting the lovely flower
yourself?--This was the manner in which these hovering little beings
egged me on; but whether, with the playful philanthropy of courteous
sylphs, to win me your gentle smiles; or whether, with the wanton
malignity of little devils, to annihilate me with your frowns, is still
locked up in the womb of your countenance!'
He then farther added, that Riley had accompanied him throughout the
expedition; but that, always exhilarated by scenes which excited
curiosity, or which produced commotion; he had scampered into the inn,
to witness the culprit's being secured, while Sir Jaspar had paid his
respects at the chaise.
With a disappointed heart, and with affrighted spirits, Juliet now saw
that she must again, and immediately, renew her melancholy flight, in
search of a solitary hiding-place; till she could be assured of the
positive embarkation of the commissary.
In vain Sir Jaspar pressed to pursue his design of conveying her to her
family; the dread of Lord Denmeath, who was in actual communication and
league with her persecutor, decided her refusal; though, while she had
believed in Sir Jaspar's commission for seeking her, neither risk nor
doubt had had power to check the ardour of her impatience, to cast
herself upon the protection of Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora: but she
felt no courage,--however generously they had succoured and
distinguished her as a distressed individual,--to rush upon them,
uncalled and unexpected, as a near relation; and one who had so large a
claim, could her kindred be proved, upon their inheritance.
Her most earnest wish was to rejoin her Gabriella; but there, where she
had been discovered, she could least hope to lie concealed. She must
still, therefore, fly, in lonely silence. But she besought Sir Jaspar to
take her any whither rather than to Salisbury, where she had had the
horrour of being examined by the advertisement.
Proud to receive her commands, he recommended to her a farm-house about
three miles from the city, of which the proprietor and his wife, who
were worthy and honest people, had belonged, formerly, to his family.
She thankfully agreed to this proposal: but, when they arrived at the
farm, they heard that the master and mistress were gone to a
neighbouring fair, whence they were not expected back for an hour or
two; and that they had locked up the parlour. Some labourers being in
the kitchen, Sir Jaspar proposed driving about in the interval; and
ordered the postilion to Wilton.