_More of the same_
Mr. Markland did not, like too many of his profession, ever flatter his
clients with an assurance of success in any cause of which he himself
was doubtful: he plainly told Mrs. Munden, that he feared not all the
ill-usage she had sustained would be sufficient to compel her husband to
allow her a separate maintenance. 'Honour and generosity may, indeed,'
added he, 'oblige him to do that which, I am very apprehensive, the law
will not enforce him to.'
'Alas!' cried Mrs. Munden, bursting into tears, 'if I can have no relief
but from his honour and generosity, I must be miserable!'--'Not so, my
dear sister,' said Mr. Thoughtless, 'while you have a brother who has it
in his power to support you against all the injuries of fortune, and the
injustice of a husband so unworthy of you.'
She thanked him in terms which so affectionate an offer demanded from
her, but could not help appearing very much dejected at what Mr.
Markland had said to her: on which, 'Madam,' said he, 'though the letter
of the law may not be altogether so favourable for you in this point as
you certainly deserve, yet, notwithstanding that, and how refractory
soever Mr. Munden may be in his principles or dispositions, I hope there
may be means found to bring him to do you justice. I will wait on
him--will talk to him in a proper manner; and do flatter myself with
being able to give you a good account of what I have done.'
It is not to be doubted but both the brother and the sister earnestly
intreated he would exert all his abilities in an affair which they
easily saw would be difficult enough to manage; but the answers of this
honest, good-natured gentleman, soon convinced them that there was no
need of any persuasions to induce him to do every thing in his power for
the service of ill-treated innocence.
Mrs. Munden having told him that about eleven o'clock was the most
certain time for her husband to be spoke with, he went the next morning
at that hour: on sending up his name, Mr. Munden guessed the errand on
which he came; but that did not hinder him from ordering he should be
introduced, nor, when he was so, from receiving him with that politeness
he always used to strangers.
Mr. Markland began with telling him he was extremely sorry for the
occasion on which he waited on him that morning; 'I little imagined,'
said he, 'that when I drew up the articles for an union between you,
Sir, and Mrs. Munden, I should ever have been employed in transacting a
deed of separation: but, since it has unhappily proved so, I hope, at
least, it may be done as amicably as the nature of the thing will
admit.'
Mr. Munden at first affected to treat this proposal in a manner somewhat
ludicrous; but perceiving it was not well taken by the other, 'You will
pardon me, Sir,' cried he; 'I protest I am under the greatest
consternation in the world, that my wife should have the assurance to
trouble a gentleman of your character on so foolish an affair: upon my
honour, Sir, there is nothing in it but mere whim--caprice!'
'If I did not think it sufficiently serious,' replied Mr. Markland, 'and
were not also well convinced you will hereafter find it so, I should not
have given either myself or you the trouble of this visit: but, Sir,'
continued he, 'you may depend that the lady's complaints will have their
weight.'
'All womanish spite, upon my soul, Sir!' resumed Mr. Munden; 'I defy her
to accuse me of any one action that can justify her quitting my house,
much less to prove any real injury received from me; without which, you
know, Sir, there can be no pretence for separation.'
'You cannot as yet, Sir, be sensible what is in her power to prove,'
said the lawyer: 'but God forbid this unhappy dissention should ever
come to that! for, admitting she should be wanting in such proofs as the
strictness of the law requires in these cases, the very attempt must
necessarily involve you in an infinity of disquiet. Consider, Sir,'
pursued he, 'when the affairs of a family are laid open, and every
dispute between the husband and the wife exposed before a court of
judicature, or even in a petition to a Lord Chancellor, the whole
becomes a publick talk, and furnishes a matter of ridicule for the
unthinking scoffers of the age.'
'I can easily prevent all this,' cried Mr. Munden hastily, 'by procuring
a warrant from the Lord Chief Justice to force her immediately
home.'--'You may certainly do so,' cried Mr. Markland, with a half
smile; 'but, Sir, are you sure of keeping her at home when you have got
her there? Is it not in her power to leave you again the same day, nay,
even the same hour, in which you compelled her to return? so that your
whole time may be spent in an unavailing chase, somewhat of a piece with
the fable of the Sisyphæan stone, which, as often as the driver forced
to the height he aimed at, rolled back to it's beloved descent. In
short, Sir, as Mrs. Munden is determined to live apart, you have no way
to preserve her but by confinement; and I appeal to your own judgment
how that would look in the eyes of the world, and what occasion for
complaint it would afford to all her friends, who would, doubtless, have
a strict watch on your behaviour.'
These words threw Mr. Munden into a deep reverie, which the other would
not interrupt, being willing to see how far this last remonstrance had
worked upon him; till, coming out of it, and vexed that he had shewn any
discomposure; 'Well, Sir,' said he, 'if she resolves to persist in this
obstinacy, let her enjoy her humour; I shall give myself no pain about
it; but she must not expect I shall allow one penny towards her
maintenance.'
It was on this head that Mr. Markland found he had occasion to employ
all the rhetorick he was master of: he urged the unreasonableness, the
injustice, the cruelty, of denying the means of subsistence to a lady
whose whole fortune he enjoyed; said such a thing was altogether
unprecedented among persons of condition; and, to prove what he
alledged, produced many instances of wives who, on parting from their
husbands, were allowed a provision proportionable to the sums they had
brought in marriage.
All these arguments were enforced in terms so strong and so pathetick,
that Mr. Munden could make no other answer than, that he did not desire
to part--that it was her own fault--and that if she would not return to
her duty, she ought to be starved into a more just sense of it--and that
he was very sure the law would not compel him to do any thing for her:
on which Mr. Markland again reminded him of the vexation, the fatigue,
the disgrace, with which a suit commenced by either party must be
attended, in whose favour soever the decision should be made.
He talked so long on the subject, that Mr. Munden, either to get rid of
him, or because he was really uncertain what to do, at last told him
that he would consider on what he had been saying, and let him know his
resolution in a week's time. Mr. Markland then replied, that he would
trouble him no farther for the present; and after having prefixed a day
for waiting on him again, took his leave.
The mind of Mr. Munden was, indeed, in the utmost confusion amidst that
variety of vexatious incidents which he had now to struggle with--the
little probability he found there was of re-establishing himself in the
favour of his patron--the loss of all his hopes that way--the sudden
departure of a wife whom, though he had no affection for, he looked upon
as a necessary appendix to his house--the noise her having taken such a
step would make in the town--the apprehensions of being obliged to grant
her a separate maintenance; all these things put together, it is
certain, were sufficient to overwhelm a man of less impatient temper.
He cursed his amour with the Frenchwoman, as having been the cause of
this last misfortune falling on him; and, to prevent all farther trouble
on her account, ordered that the baggage she had left behind should be
immediately put on board a vessel, and sent after her to Bologne: he
also wrote to her at the same time, acquainting her with the disturbance
which had happened; and that it was highly necessary for his future
peace that he should see her no more, nor even hold any correspondence
with her.
Mrs. Munden, in the mean time, was far from being perfectly easy; though
Mr. Markland gave her hopes that her husband would very speedily be
brought to settle things between them in a reasonable way; and her
brother was every day giving her fresh assurances of his friendship and
protection, whether that event proved favourable or not: yet all this
was not enough to quell some scruples which now rose in her mind; the
violence of that passion which had made her resolve to leave Mr. Munden
being a little evaporated, the vows she had made him at the altar were
continually in her thoughts; she could not quite assure herself that a
breach of that solemn covenant was to be justified by any provocations;
nor whether the worst usage on the part of the husband could authorize
resentment in that of a wife.
She was one day disburdening her disquiets on this score to her dear
Lady Loveit, in terms which made that lady see, more than ever she had
done before, the height of her virtue, and the delicacy of her
sentiments, when Sir Bazil came hastily into the room with a paper in
his hand; and after paying his compliments to Mrs. Munden, 'My dear,'
said he to his lady, 'I have very agreeable news to tell you; I have
just received a letter from my brother Trueworth, which informs me that
he is upon the road, and we shall have him with us this evening.'--'I am
extremely glad,' replied she; 'and, likewise, that he is so good to let
us know it, that I may make some little preparations for his welcome.'
Mrs. Munden could not be told that Mr. Trueworth was so near, and might
presently be in the same room with her, without the utmost confusion;
which she fearing would be observed, laid hold of the pretence Lady
Loveit's last words furnished her with, of taking her leave; and, rising
hastily up, 'I will wait on your ladyship,' said she, 'at a more
convenient time; for I perceive you are now going to be busy.'--'Not at
all,' replied the other; 'three words will serve for all the
instructions I have to give; therefore, pr'ythee, dear creature, sit
down.' In speaking these words, she took hold of one of her hands, and
Sir Bazil of the other, in order to replace her on the settee she had
just quitted; but she resisting their efforts, and desiring to be
excused staying any longer, 'I protest,' cried Lady Loveit, 'this sudden
resolution of leaving us would make one think you did it to avoid Mr.
Trueworth! and, if that be the case, I must tell you, that you are very
ungrateful, as he always expresses the greatest regard for you.'--'Aye,
aye!' said Sir Bazil, laughing; 'old love cannot be forgot: I have heard
him utter many tender things of the charming Miss Betsy Thoughtless,
even since his marriage with my sister.'
'I ought not, then,' replied she, 'to increase the number of obligations
I have to him by that compassion which I know he would bestow on my
present distress: but I assure you, Sir Bazil, I would not quit you and
my dear Lady Loveit thus abruptly, if some letters I have to write, and
other affairs which require immediate dispatch, did not oblige me to
it.'
On this they would not offer to detain her; and she went home to give a
loose to those agitations which the mention of Mr. Trueworth always
involved her in.