Mr Darnley and his son were now left to themselves; and the young
gentleman was wishing that Mr Pringle had kept his cousin’s foolish
letter to himself; and Mr Darnley the elder was just beginning an
elaborate and serious lecture on his son’s folly and pertinacity, when
the discourse was suddenly interrupted and stopped by the appearance
of Sir George Aimwell’s carriage driving up the avenue in much quicker
time than it was ordinarily accustomed to. And presently Lady Aimwell
was seen alighting from the carriage in great haste; and presently
afterwards a loud talking was heard, inasmuch as five female voices
were in full cry at their very topmost pitch, and there were heard
gabblings and exclamations and almost shriekings. Mr Darnley and his
son must have been the veriest stoics that ever lived had they not been
anxious and curious to know the meaning of all this clatter.
If the female sex be curious, let not this be said of them
reproachfully; for they are as anxious to gratify the curiosity of
others as they are to have their own curiosity gratified. Not long were
the rector of Neverden and his son kept in suspense, touching the cause
of the clamour above alluded to; for there rushed into the study with
most irreverent haste and unceremonious abruptness, three young ladies
almost out of breath, but all speaking at once, and with such eager
impetuosity, that they were forced to tell their story three times over
before it could be understood. One of the three could have delivered
the message in one-third of the time.
Mr Darnley and his son at length understood that the family at
Neverden Hall were in the utmost consternation at the loss of Miss
Glossop, who was missing, and nowhere to be found. The gentlemen then
quitted the study, and hastened to contribute their share of condolence
and conjectures to the distressed Lady Aimwell.
“Oh, Mr Darnley!” exclaimed her ladyship, in a tone so pathetic that we
would not venture to describe it if we were able--“only think of that
ungrateful and wicked creature Arabella Glossop, after all the kindness
she had experienced at the hall, to leave us in this disgraceful
manner!”
“Disgraceful manner, my lady!” said Mr Darnley; “to what do you allude?”
“I mean, sir,” answered her ladyship, “that there is every reason to
believe that Arabella is gone off with Colonel Crop.”
“With Colonel Crop!” repeated the rector, sceptically and
magnificently; “the colonel is old enough to be Miss Glossop’s father.
And why was any elopement thought necessary? The colonel is a man of
family and consideration; and I should not suppose that Mr Glossop
could object to such a match for his daughter.”
“Oh, but Mr Darnley!” replied her ladyship, “you do not understand me.”
This had a very singular sound to the rector of Neverden, to be told
that there was anything which he did not understand. Then the reverend
gentleman replied, “I perfectly understand your ladyship to say that
Miss Glossop has eloped with Colonel Crop.”
“Yes, sir,” replied her ladyship; “but not to be married to Colonel
Crop.”
Thereat Mr Darnley the elder lifted up his eyes, opening them widely,
and he spread out his hands, lifting them up also, and he stood for a
moment with open lips, and then with prodigious energy he exclaimed,
“Not to be married!”
“No, sir,” answered Lady Aimwell, “not to be married to Colonel Crop.
But the poor simpleton has suffered herself to be persuaded by that
unprincipled man, that Lord Spoonbill is so much attached to her that
he is desirous of marrying her privately; and everybody knows what a
profligate man Lord Spoonbill is.”
This information made the whole party start with astonishment, except
Mr Robert Darnley; for it immediately occurred to him that herein was
a solution of Zephaniah Pringle’s letter. He could not for a moment
suppose it possible that Miss Primrose could, under any circumstances
whatever, have consented to any negociation with Lord Spoonbill; but it
was by no means improbable that Miss Glossop might have been deceived
by his lordship’s plausibilities.
To the elder Mr Darnley, however, there arose a difficulty, as he
was not aware that Miss Glossop had ever had an opportunity of being
in Lord Spoonbill’s company. But a solution of this difficulty was
immediately given by Lady Aimwell, who informed the reverend gentleman
that he had recently been at Smatterton. “And,” her ladyship added,
“Arabella was continually going to the castle, and taking every
opportunity of throwing herself in Lord Spoonbill’s way.”
In this part of her ladyship’s narrative there was an inaccuracy of
statement amounting to a falsehood. It was a lie too of that nature
which even Dr Paley would not allow. There are some falsehoods to which
that dexterous moralist extends his mercy. He says, for instance;
“There are falsehoods which are not lies, that is, which are not
criminal--as, where no one is deceived.” This, we presume, is the
principle, though not avowedly so, on which the ingenious moralist
vindicates his latitudinarian doctrine on the subject of subscription
to the Thirty-nine articles. For that subscription does not deceive any
one. But Lady Aimwell had not read Paley, or if she had, she thought
that she had as great a right to extend the latitude as the moralist
had to make it. Thus, laws are like crockery; one servant cracks them,
and another breaks them, and both find their own excuse.
The long and the short of the matter is, that Lady Aimwell’s assertion
that Miss Glossop was in the habit of visiting the castle, and throwing
herself in the way of Lord Spoonbill, was absolutely incorrect. But
without some such assertion there was no making a good story of it. And
as written and printed biography generally contains about fifty per
cent lies of compliment and flattery, so, spoken biography, or gossip,
contains as generally about fifty per cent lies of scandal and calumny.
When Mr Darnley the elder heard this melancholy narrative, and when
Lady Aimwell, through much speaking, was totally exhausted and reduced
to compulsory silence, the worthy clergyman addressed himself in the
language of consolation to her ladyship, and as her ladyship was too
much exhausted to speak, she was under the necessity of listening. And
then Mr Darnley went on to say much concerning the obstinacy of young
women, thinking perhaps at the same time quite as much of the obstinacy
of young men. When, gentle reader, when will that happy day arrive, in
which young men and young women will act, think, dress, talk, and fall
in love, just exactly as old men and old women wish them to do?
The next consideration was to take such steps as might be thought
necessary to bring back the fugitive. And then the consultation went
on very gravely, and then Robert Darnley ventured, and not till then,
to say that no doubt this was the lady alluded to in Mr Zephaniah
Pringle’s letter.
Mr Darnley the elder could not gainsay this, for the evidence was so
very strong; and thereupon the rector of Neverden began to waver in
his opinion concerning Miss Primrose, for it was very clear that Miss
Primrose was not the person who had eloped with Colonel Crop.
Addressing himself again to Lady Aimwell, who was beginning to recover
from her fatigue, Mr Darnley asked more particularly concerning the
eloped one. And in answer to the rector’s enquiries, Lady Aimwell
informed him that Miss Glossop had actually acknowledged having
received proposals from Lord Spoonbill through Colonel Crop, and that
the young lady had also avowed her readiness to consent to a private
marriage. Her ladyship also proceeded to inform Mr Darnley that, in
consequence of this avowal, she had written to inform the young lady’s
father, and that Mr Glossop had sent an answer to the communication,
requesting that Arabella might be sent home immediately. This letter
was shewn to Miss Glossop, who professed her readiness to return home;
and preparations were accordingly made for her departure from Neverden
Hall; but, on this very morning on which she should have returned home,
she was missing. Lady Aimwell then informed Mr Darnley that enquiry
was made among the servants, and that the old gardener had seen Miss
Glossop as early as six in the morning walking towards Smatterton; and
that when messengers were sent to the castle, word was brought back
that Colonel Crop and a young lady had set off in a post-chaise with
four horses at a little after six.
But at length came the worst part of the story, and that was that Sir
George Aimwell treated the whole affair with levity and indifference:
he said that Lord Spoonbill was a man of honor, and that Miss Glossop
was in very good hands. “Lord Spoonbill,” continued her ladyship, “may
be a man of honor, but he is a very profligate and unprincipled man for
all that.”
That was a strange assertion for Lady Aimwell to make, but she was very
much agitated, and she hardly knew what she said.
“But after all, Lady Aimwell,” said Mr Darnley the elder, “what is to
be done?”
That is a question more easily and more frequently asked than
satisfactorily answered. It was altogether unanswerable in the present
case. Sir George Aimwell was not at all disposed to pursue the
fugitives, and such a pursuit was not a fit excursion for Lady Aimwell.
As for sending domestic servants after so fierce and gallant a man as
Colonel Crop, that was quite out of the question. The baronet’s whole
establishment would be insufficient to cope with the powerful arm of
the gallant colonel.
While they were yet talking and meditating on various plans which might
be adopted if they possessed the means, an important addition was made
to the party, by the unexpected entrance of Mr Glossop himself. For the
anxious father, thinking that his daughter would be safest in his own
keeping, had made a journey to Neverden for the purpose of accompanying
the young lady on her return home.
Now here we are very sorry that some of our readers must necessarily
be grievously disappointed, inasmuch as at the announcement of Mr
Glossop’s appearance they have made up their minds to find the worthy
gentleman in a most tremendous passion, and raving and roaring without
mercy. But he really was much more cool than might have been expected.
He had received his information of the particulars of the young lady’s
departure from Sir George Aimwell, and the baronet had so represented
the case, and so spoken of Lord Spoonbill, that Mr Glossop was of the
baronet’s opinion, that his lordship only meditated a private marriage,
and that the elopement was for that object. Mr Glossop had so great a
reverence for nobility, that he was content to suffer his fair daughter
to creep up to the dignity of nobility by means of the undignified step
of elopement.
The presence of this gentleman made an alteration in the discussions,
and gave them something of a more definite direction. Now, it is very
strange, though as very true, that Lady Aimwell had been full of
concern under the apprehension of Mr Glossop’s possible and highly
probable indignation; and one source of her grief was the thought
of the gentleman’s violent anger; but when the gentleman made his
appearance and was perfectly, or at least comparatively cool, then did
her ladyship feel very much shocked, and even offended that he was not
in a passion. It is absolutely impossible to please some people.
When Lady Aimwell found that Mr Glossop’s calmness arose from the
conversation which he had had with the worthy baronet, her ladyship
launched out into most eloquent vituperation of Lord Spoonbill, as
a gay deceiver and a most profligate young man; and so far did her
ladyship’s indignation transport her that she did all but explicitly
assert that no marriage, public or private, was contemplated, either by
Lord Spoonbill or the young lady.
This was of course enough to rouse Mr Glossop from his composure, and
at all events to prompt him to pursue the fugitives with as much speed
as possible. For the purpose of this pursuit he very speedily took
leave of the party at Neverden rectory, and was preparing to set out
on his journey for London, when the rector of Smatterton returned to
Neverden, and in great haste begged to speak to Mr Darnley.
Mr Pringle, it appeared, had on his return to Smatterton been greeted
with the information of Miss Glossop’s elopement with Colonel Crop,
and though no daily newspaper was published at Smatterton, stories,
tales, and calumnies were circulated with great rapidity, and everybody
knew everything about everybody. By the story of this elopement, the
reverend divine was puzzled. Had he heard that Miss Primrose had fled
with the colonel, he would not have been astonished; and nothing
could persuade him that he had not been misinformed, till he saw Miss
Primrose herself.
Hereupon, the young divine was under the necessity of hastening back to
Neverden, in order to unsay all that he had said concerning Penelope.
And when he found Mr Glossop there, and heard from Lady Aimwell a brief
narrative of the elopement, he forthwith corroborated, by means of the
information which he had received from his cousin, the suspicions which
Lady Aimwell had excited in the mind of Mr Glossop.
The father of Arabella then became more serious, for this was a matter
of grief rather than violent anger. He questioned Mr Pringle very
minutely, and Mr Pringle found it necessary to state all that he knew;
and it certainly did appear, from the account of the talk between Lord
Spoonbill and Mr Erpingham, that the profligate young lord had an
intention of deceiving and betraying some confiding one. Mr Pringle was
however very anxious that Mr Glossop should not let Lord Spoonbill know
from what source he had received his information.
“My good sir,” said the agitated father, “assist me in recovering my
child, and I will promise you anything.”
“I have told you, sir,” replied Mr Pringle, “all that I know; and if on
your arrival in London you will call on my relative, he will no doubt
be able to direct you where to find Lord Spoonbill.”
For this information Mr Glossop was grateful, and he forthwith
departed. And they that remained at Neverden rectory began to talk
about the strange event, and they all found out that though at first
they had been mightily surprised, yet they could not much wonder at
it. Then they all made their several but not very various comments on
Miss Glossop’s conduct and demeanour. They all agreed that there was
a degree of pertness about her which rendered her very disagreeable;
and then they found out that she was exactly such a person as would
be likely to attract the notice of Lord Spoonbill. So, from beginning
with expressions of great astonishment at the elopement, they concluded
that they were almost astonished that the young lady had not taken her
departure sooner.