MARGARET CAPEL.
VOL. I.
By
Ellen Wallace
MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
By the Author of "THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE," &c.
"One of the best kind of fashionable novels, not only free from the
vulgar impertinences of the 'silver-fork school,' but has the tone
of good society, and better still, a vein of pure and healthful
sentiment. The grave incidents of the story are treated with good
taste and genuine pathos, but enlivened by very amusing scenes, in
which the ridiculous and vicious peculiarities of character, so
often met with in real life, are cleverly hit off with a pencil
which emulates the witty drollery of caricature without its
coarseness."--_Spectator_.
"A very superior work. Without the coarseness of Mrs. Trollope's
writings, it has all her vigour and rapidity of narrative, with
touches of ideal grace and beauty, and a perception of the elevating
impulses of the heart to which that lady seems utterly a stranger.
It might almost be called a dramatic novel, for the characters and
story are developed in a series of animated conversations which are
sustained with remarkable power, distinctness, and variety. The
descriptive portions of the work are written with much
elegance."--_John Bull_.
MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1846.
LONDON:
Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
MARGARET CAPEL.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
And he had ever on his lip some word of mockery.
MAISTRE WACE.
Therefore whenever that thou dost behold
A comely corse with beauty fair endewed,
Know this for certain, that the same doth hold
A beauteous soul, with fair conditions thewed;
Fit to receive the seed of vertue strewed,
For all that fair is, is by nature good;
That is a sign to know the gentle blood.
SPENSER.
"Left guardian to her, are you?" said Mr. Casement, looking with an
expression of much satisfaction at his friend Mr. Grey.
"I told you so three months ago," returned Mr. Grey, in a tone of voice
that betrayed his vexation.
"I have been very busy for these three months, and forgot all about it,"
said Mr. Casement.
"I thought you never were busy, Casement," remarked Mr. Grey.
"One of your mistakes," returned Mr. Casement, as if Mr. Grey's mistakes
were a synonyme for the dullest of all possible blunders. "Why, you seem
to have the luck of it; you are always being made guardian, or executor,
or what not."
"I know I am," said Mr. Grey, looking more and more cold, and vexed, and
peevish; and rubbing his knee with great perseverance, as he drew closer
to the fire; "but never before to a girl."
"What has become of the two young Trevors?"
"One of them drowned near Ilfracombe the summer before last--the other
in India."
"Can't you marry her to one of them?"
"Which?" asked Mr. Grey shortly, "they are both equally within my
reach."
"I thought there was another--Alfred Trevor?"
"He is married already."
"And how old is the girl?"
"Seventeen, I told you."
"When did you close accounts with young Haveloc?"
"Last Christmas, didn't you know?"
"I forgot. Sharp work, Master Grey, upon my word. If you are to have a
ward every year, I don't envy you. As well open a boarding-school at
once. That is the good," continued Mr. Casement, turning round and
addressing the fire, "that is the good of being a single man; he is
bothered with every body's children. Now, I never was appointed guardian
in my life. You had better, my good friend," said he, turning again to
Mr. Grey, "you had better cajole Master Haveloc to take the young lady
off your hands as quickly as possible. There is an arrangement which
would please all parties."
"I have a great regard for young Haveloc," said Mr. Grey seriously; "and
I don't wish him so ill as to force a wife upon him. I never saw any
good come of making matches. Margaret Capel is nearer to me than the
Trevors, who are only second cousins. She is my own sister's child. She
will inherit my property in all likelihood, and then she will find no
difficulty in obtaining a husband without the disgrace of going in
search of one."
"That's a long speech," remarked Mr. Casement.
Mr. Grey made no reply to this statement.
"That is to say," resumed Mr. Casement, "if you don't leave your money
to a hospital."
"I have no intention of leaving a doit to any hospital in the world,"
said Mr. Grey.
"But Master Haveloc would make her a nice husband," said Mr. Casement
maliciously, "you have heard of the pretty things he has been doing at
Florence."
"Yes," replied Mr. Grey shortly.
There was no excuse for repeating the "pretty things," as Mr. Grey
professed to recollect them; and Mr. Casement looked a little baffled
for a moment.
"Mrs. Maxwell Dorset must be a delightful woman," said he, at length.
"It is a pity Haveloc could not manage to run off with her."
"Do you think so?" retorted Mr. Grey, still more shortly.
"He don't do you much credit," resumed his provoking companion, "I am
afraid you did not bring him up in the way he should go."
"I did not bring him up at all," replied Mr. Grey. "I had the direction
of him, or his affairs, for a couple of years, from nineteen to
twenty-one. There began and there ended my control."
"And so," said Mr. Casement, "you expect Miss Peggy here every minute."
"I expect my niece, Margaret, to arrive before nine o'clock."
"Fresh from a boarding-school, good luck!" exclaimed Mr. Casement, "with
her head full of sweethearts. You must go over to S----, and call upon
the red-coats, only you must get a better cook, let me tell you, or they
won't come very often to dine with you. I thought the _fondu_ worse than
ever to-day. Miss will never want amusement as long as there is a lazy
fellow to be found, with a spangled cap on his head, to go about
sketching all the gate-posts, far and near, and keep her guitar in
tune."
Mr. Grey employed himself busily during this harangue in making up the
fire; then suddenly dropped the poker and started. A carriage stopped at
the door. Now, he had been cross, not because he was expecting his
sister's child; but because he did not know what on earth to do with her
when she came.
He hurried out into the hall regardless of the wintry wind, and received
the new comer in his arms.
"You are kindly welcome, my dear, to Ashdale," he said, as he led her
into the drawing-room. "Casement, this is my niece, Miss Capel."
"Well, I suspected as much," said Mr. Casement, staring into her bonnet;
"and now the first question to be determined is--who is she like?"
"I am considered like my mother," said Margaret, in a very quiet sweet
voice, laying aside her bonnet as she spoke, almost as if to facilitate
Mr. Casement's impertinent scrutiny; but with so self-possessed a manner
as to perplex even his degree of assurance.
"Why then your mother was--a very pretty creature, that's all," said Mr.
Casement, turning away.
Most persons would have been disposed to echo Mr. Casement's remark, as
Margaret brought to view a profusion of bright hair of a rich deep
brown, falling in low bands over cheeks of velvet softness, where the
warm colour glowed like gathered rose leaves upon the pure white
surface, a small accurate nose, short curved lips, as red and almost as
transparent as rubies; and long almond-shaped blue eyes, with a fringe
of black lashes curved outwards from the upper and under lid, so as to
deepen and almost change the colour of the eye itself.
While Mr. Casement was taking note of these particulars, Mr. Grey placed
his niece beside him close to the fire; and rang for tea, with such
accompaniments as he thought might be acceptable to her after her long
journey.
Margaret, who had been attentively perused by the two gentlemen, now
took a survey of them in return, although in a more guarded manner. Mr.
Grey was a small, quiet old gentleman, with a thin, pale face, wearing
his white hair cut almost close to the head; very mild and pleasing in
his address, with a little of the kind and polished formality of the
old school. She thought she never had seen so hideous an old man as Mr.
Casement, with his snaky grey and sandy hair, his ragged teeth and long
projecting upper lip. As he sat, with the lamp on the other side of his
head, the exaggerated shadow traced upon the wall perfectly amazed her
when she reflected that it belonged to a human creature. She then looked
with some curiosity at the room, which was large though not lofty, with
dark oak panels, and heavy crimson curtains; all the furniture was of
carved oak and crimson velvet, which gave a rich but somewhat gloomy
appearance to the apartment.
"You are very hungry, ain't you, little woman?" said Mr. Casement, who
generally knew exactly what would most annoy those to whom he spoke. A
school-girl never likes to be thought very hungry; and as Margaret was
not tall, she was extremely sensitive to her small stature. With hands
and arms like a Greek nymph, and a small round neck that would have
delighted a sculptor, she envied every girl in the school, however ugly,
who measured any thing above her own five feet two inches. She was very
shy, with all her apparent self-possession; and she sat deeply
colouring, first at the imputation of being hungry, and secondly with a
distressing consciousness that she ought, as the only lady present, to
offer her services in making the tea, instead of allowing the old butler
to prepare it.
The tea being made, and Mr. Grey informed of the fact, the butler
withdrew; and then Mr. Casement remarked that the little girl would pour
it out, and it would be good practise against she grew to be a woman,
and had a house of her own.
Margaret went to the tea-table, and Mr. Casement followed her to explain
his peculiar fancies. "That large cup is mine," he said, "give me four
lumps of sugar, and put the cream in first; it makes all the
difference."
She complied with his directions in silence; but she turned to Mr. Grey
and asked if she had made his tea right for him, in that soft low voice
which is in itself a courtesy.
"Quite right, my dear," said Mr. Grey, "a great deal better than when
Land makes it."
"And so, you left school to-day;" said Mr. Casement, as soon as tea was
over.
"Yesterday," replied Margaret, "I went as far as Winchester with a
school-fellow, and staid all night there, and came on here to-day."
"Are you sorry you have left school?"
"No, Sir."
"What--did you not like it?"
"Not much, Sir."
"How's that? Were you a naughty girl, eh? Did you not learn your
lessons?"
"Yes, Sir, I learned my lessons."
"Why did you not like school, my dear?" asked Mr. Grey, kindly.
"Didn't give her enough to eat, I dare say!" exclaimed Mr. Casement.
"Quite enough, Sir," replied Margaret; "but I felt I was wasting my time
there."
"Ay!" cried Mr. Casement, delighted at the reply; "no young sparks
there, eh? No inamoratos! A little in the convent style, is it not? Ugly
old music master, ditto drawing, and dancing taught by a lady!"
"Don't mind him, my dear," said Mr. Grey, taking Margaret's hand in his,
"tell me about it."
Although the indignant blood flashed fast over neck and brow, Margaret
made no answer to Mr. Casement, but turned to Mr. Grey.
"I was learning words all day, Sir," she replied, "and music; they gave
me no time for thinking. I should be sorry if there was no more to learn
than what they teach at school."
"You will have plenty of time here for thinking, little woman," said Mr.
Casement, "for hardly a soul ever crosses his threshold; but I am afraid
you will have nobody to think about, if you have not a spark already, I
don't know where you are to find one. Such a neighbourhood for young
men!"
"There are as many young men hereabouts as there are in other places,
I suppose," said Mr. Grey. "What has become of the young Gages?"
"He lives in the Ark," said Mr. Casement, pointing to Mr. Grey. "The
Gages are all flown. George is in Ireland, and Everard in Canada, and
Hubert I hope from my heart at the bottom of the sea! But they won't do
for you, my dear, naughty, swearing troopers. You don't like troopers,
do you?"
"I don't know any, Sir," returned Margaret.
"I thought Hubert Gage was a sailor?" said Mr. Grey.
"Right as my glove," said Mr. Casement, "so he is, I forgot. I hate the
Gages. George Gage drew a caricature of me; and Everard used to take me
off to my face; and Hubert, he used to bolt out of my way as if I was
poison. I have known him jump out of the parlour window as I came in at
the door."
Margaret found nothing singular in the conduct of the young Gages, she
only wondered what a caricature of Mr. Casement could be like.
"The only one of the family worth any thing is Elizabeth. I mean
Elizabeth for my second," said Mr. Casement.
This remark let Margaret into the secret that he had one wife to begin
with, a thing she would otherwise have thought impossible.
"Though I don't know, now I have seen you," he said turning to Margaret.
"Casement, be quiet; you shall not teaze my child," said Mr. Grey,
drawing Margaret towards him as he marked the angry flush again rise to
her brow.
Neither of them were prepared for what followed--she burst into a
passion of tears.
Mr. Grey passed his hand over her hair, and pressed her closer to him.
Mr. Casement was confused.
"I am really very sorry I have made you cry--I am, indeed," he said.
"You did not, Sir," returned Margaret, becoming calm by a single effort,
and wiping the tears from her bright eyes.
"What was it then, my darling?" asked Mr. Grey.
"You said, 'my child,' and it is so very long since--" A choking in her
throat prevented her finishing the sentence.
"Well, I'm glad it was not my fault," said Mr. Casement. "Good night, I
must be going homeward, or my old woman will scold."
"Does he come here very often, Sir?" asked Margaret, looking up into Mr.
Grey's face, as Mr. Casement closed the door after him.
"Yes, he does, my dear," replied the old gentleman; "but you need not
mind that. You will get used to his ways, and he does not mean any
harm."