Captain De Crespigny had heard, with frantic alarm, of the fearful
danger from which Marion was so wonderfully delivered; and then, for
the first time, he discovered the whole depth and reality of his love.
The gracefulness of every thought which she expressed, and the bright
beauty of that look with which it was accompanied, had made an
indelible impression on his heart, so that now, when he saw her so
unexpectedly snatched from the jaws of death, no words could do justice
to his emotion. He hurried that very evening to ascertain the reality
of her escape, and to say what he could on the occasion; while the
tremulousness of his voice, and the quivering of his lip, gave a degree
of depth and reality to his few incoherent sentences, which all his
well-turned speeches in former times had failed to convey. Marion
thanked him warmly for his friendly sympathy, and spoke to him with all
the intimacy of relationship and old acquaintance; but when she turned
to Mr. Granville, Captain De Crespigny then observed the flutter of her
voice, the deep tone of tenderness, and the look full of confidence and
full of interest, with which she spoke to him, and to him only; while
there was a degree of tact and delicacy in her manner of testifying the
wide disparity of her feelings, which left him nothing of which to
complain. Careless of the dry and sarcastic air with which Agnes
watched his mortification, Captain De Crespigny did not even take the
trouble to conceal it; but soon after strode out of the room, and
walked with hurried and agitated steps up and down in the garden,
whistling, but not from want of thought. When thus alone and
unobserved, a thousand angry and indignant feelings made him writhe
with mental suffering, to think that he, who had been so deeply, so
fatally loved by others, who had never sued in vain, and never truly
had loved before, should endure now the agonies of unrequited
affection, should be slighted, avoided, and forgotten, for a man he
hated, as he had always hated Richard Granville.
"He cannot love her as I do!" thought Captain De Crespigny, vehemently
clenching his hands, and throwing himself on a seat. "What does he know
of that magical feeling! a passionless being from boyhood, master of
all his own feelings and impulses, incapable of the wild, ungovernable
ardor, which carries me forward, in the face of all obstacles, to win
her! He has indeed acted manfully on this occasion, but shall the
accident of his success destroy my hopes of happiness! No! it must
not,--shall not be! Dunbar will never consent to their marriage, and he
must prevent his sister from thus throwing herself away. She shall yet
be mine! The only girl who was ever insensible to my preference! I
cannot live without her, and if there be means in the wide world to
thwart Richard Granville, I must find them!"
Sir Patrick received next day, with gratified surprise, the explicit
declaration of his friend's unbounded, and, at length, undisguised,
attachment for Marion, which he had already, in some degree, suspected,
though so much accustomed to Captain De Crespigny's being in jest, that
he could scarcely believe now that he was in earnest, while listening
to the vehement expressions of his attachment, and promising,
nevertheless, to enlist himself in the cause, with all the zeal and all
the interest he could command.
"As her guardian, I have a perfect right to postpone this most absurd
engagement, and Sir Arthur deserves to be _spiflicated_, for ever
having encouraged such a mere penny-wedding affair for that girl, who
does not know her own value. Agnes tells me my uncle has allowed them
to correspond; but this he had no right to do without my consent, and
therefore I shall take most effectual means to intercept every letter,
either to or from her, till she is of age, after which my reign ends,
though, I hope, long before that, yours shall have begun."
Sir Patrick took an early opportunity of expressing to Marion, in no
measured terms, his utter abhorrence of poor marriages in general, of
poor curates especially, and of Richard Granville in particular; while
she, with downcast eyes, blushed, and re-blushed, deeper, and deeper
still; though, unwilling to irritate him more than could be helped, she
listened in silence, till at length, encouraged by meeting with no
reply, he added, in a tone of high exhilaration--
"But we need not talk of that now! The thing does not bear speaking of!
You shall hear news to-day that must positively drive all this nonsense
out of your head. The best 'catch' in Britain has actually lost his
heart to a tolerably pretty, and not very disagreeable young lady, by
name Marion Dunbar! A better fellow does not exist on earth than De
Crespigny; and he will render you the happiest of women. I never saw
any man so anxious to make himself liked by any girl as he is!"
Marion felt now that she must no longer be silent, and blushing her
brightest red she replied, in a low, deep, earnest voice, "Hear me,
dear Patrick, and I shall not annoy you by saying one word in favor of
my indissoluble engagement, that being a subject on which, I fear, we
shall never agree; but without reference to a previous attachment, had
it not even existed, my feelings towards Captain De Crespigny would
have been the same. I never could confide my affection and happiness to
one who has found his amusement hitherto in betraying all who trusted
him, and who feeds his vanity by causing misery to those who are as
deserving as myself. It would have been more merciful to destroy life,
than to destroy the happiness of life, as he has done, for many, and
for our own sister, I fear, among the number."
"Pshaw, Marion! Do not stand in your own light like a thief in the
candle!" exclaimed Sir Patrick, impatiently. "De Crespigny is worth a
hundred thousand Richard Granvilles!"
"One is all I care for!" replied Marion, timidly. "But, Patrick, as you
have begun the comparison, let me say, that to have once known Mr.
Granville is a talisman against every other attachment. There is no
pleasure in life worth a thought, without mutual confidence, such as, I
trust, we have established between us for ever, and such as I never
could have felt with Captain De Crespigny. My taste has been tuned to a
higher pitch than to be satisfied with such a transient and capricious
attachment as he could ever offer to any one--mere tinsel and filigree,
compared to the strong and lasting sentiment on which I may now rely."
"Marion! there is not a man living who deserves a more grateful return
for his preference than De Crespigny; and I still hope the time may
come when you shall see his value, and more than return his attachment,
or it will inflict a very great disappointment, which I should be
annoyed beyond measure to occasion him!"
"Patrick! how could your friend, with his heart splintered into atoms,
ever presume to expect a whole one in return? He often reminds me of
that German lady, whose picture is drawn encouraging three lovers at
once. She is giving her hand to the first, stealing a glance at the
second, and treading on the toe of the third, while each believes
himself the favorite. Captain De Crespigny will take the
disappointment, if it be one, to the next ball, and dance it off in a
single quadrille. His love is like wax, ready for all impressions, and
he has weathered so many flirtations already, that you need never be
uneasy about him now. I venture to say what I think, Patrick, to
convince you how vain all future importunity on the subject would be;
and I cannot but observe, that if there be any blame on this occasion,
it is yours, for obliging me so often, most unwillingly, to meet
Captain De Crespigny. Let us hope, however, that you have been misled
into over-estimating his intentions and feelings. Caroline Smythe
sometimes takes off your friend to the very life; and I wish you could
see how cleverly she carries on a furious flirtation with two ladies at
once. There really seemed danger, one day, that uncle Arthur would die,
like the famous Mr. Hope, of suppressed laughter! I wish all ladies
could view the case in as ridiculous a light as Caroline does; but
Patrick, it is very different in respect to Agnes. Her whole thoughts
are embittered by Captain De Crespigny's unpardonable coquetry--her
whole feelings lacerated; and I fear she may, in a paroxysm of angry
disappointment, consign herself to long years of misery--I may even
say, of degradation. You know all I mean, Patrick, and you ought, if
possible, to soothe her, to advise and persuade her into a better line
of conduct. As for myself, Patrick,--lastly, and to conclude," added
Marion, a wandering blush resting its warm tint again on her cheek, "I
can say, like Cardinal Wolsey, but with more satisfaction, 'Farewell to
all my greatness!' Richard is not affluent--probably he never may be
so; but I am no spendthrift. I would rather have love than money; and
whatever befall us, it is happiness enough for the rest of my life to
know that he thinks me deserving of his attachment. We love, and we
understand each other perfectly."
Marion rushed through what she had to say with agitated rapidity, and
on reaching the conclusion she bent down her head, and leaned it on her
folded arms, while Sir Patrick hastily left the room, uttering a few
emphatic exclamations, which were lost in the thundering report with
which he closed the drawing-room door, till it quivered upon the
hinges.
"Very absurd and unaccountable!" exclaimed Sir Patrick, interrupting
himself next day, during a paroxysm of angry whistling, which he had
carried on for some time, standing with his back to the fire, in that
attitude peculiar to Englishmen, and in which he was said to be the
only man who ever looked graceful. "Most extraordinary."
"What?" asked Agnes, with a start of eager curiosity. "What is there
which astonishes you so much?"
"That I am the only one of our family who cannot endure to eat roast
mutton!" replied he, evidently resolved to balk her inquisitiveness.
"This is a teazing and tormenting world, Agnes, where we cannot order
everything as we like."
"But what has ruffled the surface of your humor to-day, Pat?" asked
Agnes, indifferently. "You seldom treat me to a stage soliloquy!"
"Then, if you must have it, all I can say is this! Here are my two best
friends on earth, Wigton and De Crespigny, with a thousand mental,
personal, titled, and landed recommendations, each making his proposal,
and I cannot give either of them the slightest hopes!"
"Patrick, you must be mad! If they wait long enough, I may perhaps
marry both, but at all events I have no intention to refuse either!"
replied Agnes, in her most conceited tone. "Are you in jest or in
earnest?"
"Why, both! That strange girl, Marion, has given them each a good,
round, decided negative. I did not think she had it in her nature to be
so positive."
"Impossible!" exclaimed Agnes, with angry vehemence, while her eyes
seemed literally striking fire. "This is some ill-natured jest of
yours; but Marion understands Captain De Crespigny too well to fall
into any such absurd mistake. She knows he is secretly attached to me,
though, indeed, that has been no secret for ages past, and Marion never
hinted to me that he had an idea of proposing to her."
"No! Marion is exactly the sort of person never to mention what might
hurt the feelings of another, especially as you would probably not have
believed her; but I had yesterday a point-blank, _bona fide_, serious,
and even solemn proposal to make her from De Crespigny, which I had to
decline with all the usual regret, surprise, gratitude, offers of
friendship, and so forth. It is a great inconvenience, Agnes, that both
your strings should break in this way at once; but Marion is a perfect
loadstone for attracting the attentions, the hearts, and the good
opinions of all mankind. I have seen both these affairs coming on for
some time, and it is really awkward and irritating to be placed in such
a predicament with all my friends," continued Sir Patrick, in the tone
of an ill-used man, thinking only of his own grievances, while Agnes,
feeling herself extinguished at a blow, gazed in his face with a look
of pallid amazement. "If Granville could only be sunk to the bottom of
the sea," added Sir Patrick, impatiently, "I would not beckon with my
finger to bring him up again!"
When a separation is inevitable, those who depart have generally the
advantage, in seeing a variety of interesting novelties, to force their
attention, and occupy it; but while the thoughts of Mr. Granville
reverted continually to Harrowgate, Marion's became now more than ever
engrossed with Sir Arthur, whose nerves had been greatly shattered by
his recent adventure, and who ardently longed, as soon as his health
was in any degree re-established, to be again in the quiet sanctuary of
his own home.
Amidst scenes where she was hourly reminded of the happy past, Marion
delivered herself up to the pleasing consciousness of Richard's
unalterable attachment. Though circumstances had now separated, and
might keep them apart for months, she felt a steady assurance that
their mutual attachment could never be shaken by either time or
distance. In the solitude of her own heart, Marion hoarded up many
cherished remembrances of what he had said, and how he had said it,
while the most transient of Mr. Granville's remarks seemed indelibly
imprinted on her recollection. She read the books he liked, practised
the music he admired, traced out all his favorite walks, and lived with
him as the continual companion of her thoughts.
Marion's was an unclouded sunshine of hope, as she confided so entirely
in her absent lover, that she would quite as soon have distrusted her
own heart as his; yet day after day, and week after week passed on,
without a line ever reaching her from either Clara or Richard, and
little did she dream, while suffering from the melancholy monotony of
their long-continued silence, that letter after letter, written from
heart to heart, with ardent affection and entire confidence, had been
consigned to a premature end by the order and contrivance of Sir
Patrick; but nevertheless, with all the ardor of a young and sanguine
mind, she daily expected a satisfactory explanation, and still looked
back upon the past with unembittered feelings.
Marion's was not a weak, wavering, suspicious, or fanciful nature, but
high and generous in all things, she had not lightly confided her
happiness to one on whom she could not implicitly rely. She knew his
attachment to be one of principle as well as of inclination, and though
uneasy lest Mr. Granville might be ill, she entertained no jealous
apprehension that he had become changed, but perseveringly trusted,
believed, and hoped the best. Many a time had Marion's heart throbbed,
and her color risen with a tumult of hope, as she watched the return of
Martin from the post-office, and the flutter of expectation faded sadly
away in mournful disappointment, when she found that another day and
night, at the very least, must be added to her long and weary
disappointment; for no "hope deferr'd" makes the heart more sick, than
vainly watching for a letter, in which the happiness of a life-time is
involved.
"Out of sight out of mind!" said Agnes, sarcastically, one day, when
she observed the look of surprise and anxiety with which Marion was
leaving the room, alter seeing hoards of letters brought into the room
from every quarter but the right one. "Marion! as Shakspeare says, 'No
word from Goodman Dull yet?' That is just like men in general!"
"It may be like men in general, Agnes, but it is not like Richard,"
replied Marion, coloring and smiling. "On him I have the most
consummate reliance. We can both depend on our perfect knowledge of
each other, and I shall not break the long chain of our mutual faith by
a single doubt. I have given him my confidence, and that was all I had
to bestow."
"Well! as some sensible poet remarks, and I quite agree with him," said
Agnes, with a peevish, discontented sigh--
"The maid that loves,
Goes out to sea upon a shattered plank,
And puts her trust in miracles for safety."
"No, Agnes! Those who have loved lightly may change as lightly, but I
should little deserve the inestimable happiness of having known Mr.
Granville so entirely, did I not always believe him above the suspicion
of caprice. We have read each other's mind and heart, we have been
willing to trust each other in life and till death; therefore now,
unless Richard were to tell me with his own lips that he had changed, I
would not believe it,--and scarcely even then! This alone is affection
that deserves the name, not to torment him with distrust, nor to take
up the first cause of offence, but with unenquiring confidence to judge
him as I would myself be judged. It would add a pang to the sorrow of
separation if we believed ourselves at the mercy of every idle
suspicion; but I know his heart to be as incapable of deceit or
dishonor as my own."
In the mean time, Mr. Granville had continued to write from abroad with
unceasing assiduity, believing that some unexpected obstacle must have
occurred to prevent Marion from answering his letters, but never
suspecting that she did not receive one of the many he had written. In
his candid and elevated mind, there was no room for jealousy or
suspicion, and conscious that the transparent nature of Marion's nature
admitted of no concealments, he rejected every angry or impatient
thought. The more he saw of other society, the more dear she became to
his memory now, while his attachment was of that deep and lasting kind
over which the accidents of life have no influence.
"Miss Dunbar," said Captain De Crespigny, one evening, placing himself
on a sofa beside Marion, while Sir Patrick, to whom he had been
speaking very earnestly some minutes before, anxiously watched her
countenance from a distance: "I wish you were now seated in one of
Merlin's chairs, from which no one can rise till a story be finished. I
have something to say, so important to myself, and let me hope also to
you, that I expect to be heard to the end."
"Of course, if you wish it," replied Marion, in a faltering, agitated
voice. "But, Captain De Crespigny, allow me to remark how unlikely it
is that any subject can very deeply interest us both. I trust and hope
we fully understand each other."
"It is time, indeed, that we should," replied he with emotion.
"And if I dare say all I wish, it would still be less than I feel.
Dunbar assures me you are still at liberty to consult only your own
inclinations, and let me hope I am not entirely the dupe of my own
vanity, in believing that I might yet conquer your indifference. Since
the hour when we first met, I had eyes for no one but yourself. Even
when we could not converse I have watched you with ceaseless interest,
and am forever thinking of you in absence, counting the hours of my
existence only by those passed in your society. Why, then, do you so
obviously avoid me? Why am I for ever made the companion of Miss Smythe
or Miss Anybody-else? You know and see that my whole object in life is,
to remain beside yourself. Every look, word, and action tells you as
plainly as language can speak, that I love you to distraction, that my
attachment has not been hastily formed, to be as hastily laid aside,
and now my only apprehension is, that by too openly disclosing my
feelings the confession may separate us for ever, yet it can no longer
be delayed, for I must know at once now, whether I am to be happy or
miserable for life?"
"Patrick has done very wrong," faltered Marion, while tears sprang into
her eyes, "I told him long ago to let you know all. It is most
unfortunate that your preference should be given to one of the very few
who never can return it. You ask for a heart which is not mine to give.
My engagement to Mr. Granville cannot be soon fulfilled, but while we
both live, we shall live only for each other."
"That, Dunbar assures me, can never take place," replied Captain De
Crespigny, while a dark red flush passed over his countenance; "and
till it does, I cannot cease to hope. Nothing is more annoying, I know,
than the perseverance of an unrequited attachment, but I must cling to
the faint and haggard hope which remains. A mere taper is extinguished
by being blown upon, but a fire burns only the brighter. The greatest
felicity of life would not be good enough for you, nor so much as I
wish you, provided only we share it together; but with another, I
cannot wish you happiness. No! the words would choke me. May you never
find any till you find it with me. If you can ever feel one relenting
thought in my favor,--if, dissatisfied with another, you think with
even momentary regret of me, then, were I at the extremity of the
earth, let me but know it, and you shall find that I have been true as
the dial to the sun, even though not brightened by its light."
Captain De Crespigny continued with vehemence of tone and manner which
nothing could interrupt, while Marion's countenance became more and
more expressive of grief and confusion.
"If I have been to others the reckless, inconstant, and unprincipled
being you think, all who ever suffered a pang on my account are now
revenged. I never really loved any one but you! All else was
fancy--vanity--any thing but love. Were others like you, there could be
no changeableness or caprice, but never have I seen before, and never
shall I see again, so much to attract affection and to secure
constancy. Hereafter a solitary recollection of the hours spent with
you will be my only remaining happiness. Happiness!! there is no such
word for me, now! You, who delight in making all others happy, would
condemn me to misery! The thought of my defeated hopes will forever
ring upon my heart. The remembrance, that when I asked that of you,
which I never asked before, you coldly and indifferently rejected me."
"Not indifferently, but with heartfelt gratitude for your disinterested
preference," answered Marion, in a low, agitated voice. "If already
married to another, I could not be more decided in saying, that you
must never renew the subject again, for I owe it to you, as much as to
myself and Richard, to say that my answer is final,--that we never can
be more to each other than friends, but that I sincerely hope the time
may come, when we shall meet as we did formerly, without emotion, but
with kind and cousinly regard."
"Never! oh never! The very thought shows you have never loved as I do!
I could not be in the same room with you,--no! not in the same kingdom.
You may pity, if you cannot love me," replied Captain De Crespigny,
with a deep gasp of acute disappointment; and seizing his hat, he
rushed out of the house, nearly suffocated by contending emotions; but
as he ran, rather than walked, towards his lodgings, the first and
foremost of his thoughts was, under all circumstances, and at all
hazards, to persevere with unalterable pertinacity, and only with his
dying breath, to resign the hope of success.