It is of course taken for granted that the elopement of Miss Glossop
was the only subject of conversation all the rest of the day at
Neverden and Smatterton; and everybody was mightily shocked at it, save
and except the worthy magistrate of Neverden Hall. Sir George Aimwell
laughed at his lady’s fears, and Lady Aimwell scowled indignation at
her lord and master for his flippant manner of treating so serious a
subject. Sir George was very well satisfied that his young kinswoman
was in the way to become a countess, and Lady Aimwell was indignant at
the disgrace brought upon Neverden Hall by such irregular proceedings.
Indeed the truth is, that no turn of affairs whatever could give
satisfaction to Lady Aimwell. For even on the supposition that a
marriage should take place, and that Miss Glossop should become Lady
Spoonbill, that success on the part of the young lady would be a
mortifying mode of disappointing Lady Aimwell’s predictions; and any
other termination would be reproachful to Sir George.
This mortification, which was so deeply felt by her ladyship, was
greatly increased if not altogether occasioned by the confident manner
in which she herself had spoken of her own ability to manage young
people and to subdue the rebellious. It was not however quite so
easy as her ladyship had imagined. And very probably Lady Aimwell is
not the first person who has been so disappointed, and very probably
Lady Aimwell will not be the last person to be so disappointed. So
far will we venture to carry our assertion on this topic, that we
do verily believe, that were it possible to collect together into
one comprehensive mass the experience of all individuals in every
age of the world, from the creation down to the present hour, and
were it possible to convey to such a mind as that of Lady Aimwell a
knowledge of all the disappointments experienced by those who have
thought themselves wiser than the rest of the world, that knowledge
would produce no effect whatever in abating conceit or diminishing
confidence. Let us leave Sir George and Lady Aimwell to grumble at each
other till they are tired.
The effect produced on the feelings of Mr Darnley by the elopement
of Miss Glossop, is of more importance to our narrative than the
disagreements and grumblements at Neverden Hall. After the departure of
Mr Glossop and the other visitors whom the elopement had brought to the
rectory, Mr Darnley retired to his study for the purpose of meditation.
Now when a very obstinate and positive mind is really shaken in its
obstinacy and moved from its perverseness, that movement is a mighty
and effectual movement. And when, combined with obstinacy, there is
a high degree of pride, then the resolution or change of mind is
magnificent and highly thought of. And when, in addition to pride and
obstinacy, there is a conscientious and moral feeling, and no admixture
of essential ill-humour and malignity, then the change of views and
revolution of thought is acknowledged with candour and almost with
penitence.
To some such state of mind as this was Mr Darnley the elder brought
by reflecting on the events of the morning, and by recollecting and
comparing the several observations and remarks which had been made on
the elopement of Miss Glossop. There came into his mind in the very
first statement of the affair a thought of the very wide difference
between the characters of Miss Glossop and Miss Primrose. The
recollection of Penelope’s early life came back to him again with the
thought of those pleasing manners which he had so much admired when she
was too young to think of artifice or concealment. He recollected the
time when he had thought most highly of her, and had regarded her as
giving promise of many virtues, and indicating a development of strong
features of moral beauty and integrity. Then also did he recollect
how very plain and simple an explanation his son had given of those
passages in the young lady’s history, by which the first feelings of
alienation were roused. He thought also of the good understanding
and good feelings of his own beloved and only son; and he could not
upon serious reflection and cool deliberation think it very likely
that Robert Darnley was altogether deceived. He knew that his son
had discernment, and principles of decided integrity; he therefore
became more willing to think that the young man’s attachment was not
infatuation.
Thus thinking, and thus experiencing a total revolution in his feelings
towards Penelope Primrose, the reverend rector of Neverden next
bethought himself that it was an act of duty on his part to avow this
change of thought and feeling. Nine hundred and ninety-nine men in a
thousand would have wriggled and shuffled out of this difficulty by
some mean, roundabout, underhand, contemptible artifice; they would
almost, if not altogether, have told many lies and have made many
trumpery excuses, to avoid the acknowledgment that they had been wrong.
But Mr Darnley was too proud for anything of that kind. So long as he
thought that he was right, he was proudly and firmly stubborn; but when
he found that he had been in an error, he was willing to retract. He
thought it no degradation to acknowledge it, even to his own son.
Mr Darnley therefore sent for the young man into the study, and began
by saying, though with much pomp of manner and dignity of bearing,
“Robert, this is a strange affair of Miss Glossop’s elopement. Had you
any suspicion of any acquaintance between this young woman and Lord
Spoonbill?”
“I had merely heard,” replied the young man, “that Miss Glossop had
been at the castle, and had met Lord Spoonbill, and that his lordship
was very much struck with her beauty and accomplishments.”
There was something ironical in the tone with which this sentence was
uttered, and the dignified rector himself smiled and said: “Beauty and
accomplishments! And may I ask you to whom you were indebted for this
information concerning Lord Spoonbill’s admiration of Miss Glossop’s
beauty and accomplishments?”
“My informant, sir,” replied the young gentleman, “was Sir George
Aimwell.”
The rector of Neverden smiled again, and said, “As good a judge of
beauty and accomplishments as Lord Spoonbill himself.”
Assuming then a more serious look and a graver tone of voice, the
reverend divine continued--“Robert, I fear that I have acted unjustly
towards an excellent young woman.”
There was a symptom of a tear in the eye of the father when the
young gentleman, who immediately understood the full meaning of the
sentence, hastily and warmly grasped his father’s hand, and said, “No,
sir, you never act unjustly; you may have been misinformed.”
“You are generous in putting the most liberal construction on the fact;
but I shall not be satisfied till I have made a suitable recantation of
my error. I have certainly inflicted pain, but my intentions were not
evil.”
“I beg, sir,” interrupted the young gentleman, “that you will not
distress me by such concessions. If your opinion of Miss Primrose
has experienced a favorable change, the knowledge of that fact will
abundantly counterbalance all the unpleasantness that is past.”
“But,” replied Mr Darnley the elder, “I must see Miss Primrose herself
as soon as possible, and must ask her forgiveness of my erroneous
apprehensions.”
To this proposal also the young gentleman made objection as before.
But it was part of the reverend gentleman’s pride to acknowledge
himself in an error, when he found that he had been misled. It was a
pleasure to him to be able to contemplate with complacent approbation
the condescension of his acknowledgments. That, indeed, is the genuine
enjoyment of pride, that it can find peculiar gratification even in the
exercise of humility.
And though the day was then too far advanced for Mr Darnley to go to
Smatterton, he resolved upon paying an early visit on the following
morning to Mr Primrose and his daughter. In this resolution the rector
of Neverden felt himself composed and happy, and as a burden was
thereby removed from his mind, he was cheerful, and then the restraint
which had chained up the tongues of his family was broken, and they
talked--oh, how they did talk!
The breaking up of a long, long frost, the first blossomings of
spring, and the revelling song of the birds, the traveller’s home and
fire-side, and wife, and children, after a weary journey, and a long
anxious absence, are all very delightful in their way, yet they are
faint images of the joy that fluttered and danced on the lightened
bosoms and enlightened countenances of the family of the rector of
Neverden.
Ever since the return of Robert Darnley from India, there had been
an unpleasant and awkward restraint in the family, by the virtual
prohibition of all mention of that topic which formerly had been the
most agreeable and delightful of all topics. They had all been very
partial to Penelope, and had admired and loved her cordially, till
that wicked and profligate young hereditary legislator had so cruelly
interrupted the correspondence between Robert Darnley and his young
friend. And then all the family, except Robert Darnley himself, began
to think unkindly and unjustly of the young woman; and then they began
to find out defects and imperfections which they had never seen,
thought of, or suspected before.
That is a curious faculty which some persons possess of finding the
virtues and vices in clusters. So that, in an individual whom they
regard with a favorable eye, they can see nothing but what is good, and
if by any one single change whatever, a revolution of feeling takes
place in the mind, then all that was good becomes bad. The family
at Neverden had been habituated to admire everything that Penelope
Primrose said or did; but when they regarded her as having renounced
her connexion and intimacy with the family, then were they greatly
indignant and mightily censorious, and everything that she did, or
thought, or said, became altogether stark naught.
But who shall blame them? Is not this the almost universal feeling;
of mankind? It is in this country most especially and peculiarly so.
Every man’s own sect or party contains all that is wise and virtuous,
while folly and vice are the lot of the rest of mankind. What does the
Quarterly Review mean by “the wise and the good,” but Tories and high
churchmen? When Cobbett wrote Peter Porcupine, he was one of the wise
and good, and if he would become Peter Porcupine again, he would be
again one of the wise and good.
We will not however dwell very copiously upon the recollection of the
unfriendly feelings which they of Neverden rectory once entertained
towards Miss Primrose. They themselves have forgotten those feelings
and have recanted their unkind expressions; and as for Penelope
herself, there was too much joy in her heart to admit of a moment’s
hesitation to forgive and forget. This is pleasant. And very pleasantly
did the day pass and close at Neverden rectory; but it did not close
quite so early as it had been wont to do. For, in consequence of the
long suspension of social and pleasing family chat, there was an arrear
of prate to be paid off; and every individual of the family had
something new or extraordinary to say.
But most of all was Robert Darnley himself full of talk, because he
was the personage on whose account the long wearisome silence had been
inflicted upon the family. And though he had much to say concerning
India, his mother and sisters were ready to pass that over, and reserve
it for a future occasion, so that they might hear from him an account
of his visits to Smatterton rectory, and a narration of the particulars
which led to the cessation of the correspondence, and caused the
unpleasant misunderstanding. Something of this the young ladies had
already heard from Penelope herself, but it was only Robert Darnley
who could inform them of the confession of Nick Muggins and the full
measure of Lord Spoonbill’s iniquity. And they were all astonished at
what they heard; and they knew not which to admire most, the virtues of
their brother or the wickedness of Lord Spoonbill.
Mr Darnley the elder also, when he heard with a proper temper and a
patient ear the narrative which his son gave of the events of the few
preceding months, and when he recollected how much of this he had
heard before, and that without paying due regard or attention to it,
then was he indeed and truly sorry. He did most sincerely regret that
he had wilfully and obstinately closed his mind to evidence. In this
recollection he did not feel the pride of humility, but the real and
actual self-abasement of humiliation. How strange it is and yet how
true, that a man, not wanting in understanding, whose business it
has been for twenty, thirty, or perhaps forty years, to give advice
and direction to others, should, in the evening of his days and in
that season when the judgment is most cool, stand in need of lessons
himself! So it was in the present case, and Mr Darnley felt it so, and
he resolved silently and internally that he would not again so give way
to moroseness and ill-humour.
This reflection however, which occupied for a while the mind of Mr
Darnley, did not abate or diminish the pleasantness of the evening at
Neverden rectory.