Thou yet shalt know how sweet, how dear,
To gaze on beauty's glistening eye,
To ask and pause in hope and fear,
Till she reply.
oeMONTGOMERY.oe
Immediately after the departure of Lady Eltondale and Selina from
Cheltenham, Sedley had also quitted it, as he could not bear to remain
in a place, which had been to him the scene of his fondest hopes--his
bitterest disappointment. In fact his having met Miss Seymour there was
by no means the effect of accident. When she and the Viscountess had
left London in June, he had found such a loss in her society, especially
in those particular hours, which he had of late been accustomed to pass
in his daily visits to Portman Square, that life appeared a blank, and
his regrets for her absence first taught him the extent of his regard.
Not however that his mind, tainted as it was by so many of the
fashionable follies, if not vices of the day, was capable of truly
comprehending all the chaste and simple beauties of hers. His admiration
was confined to her personal charms; and though, had she been fated to
move in a humbler sphere, he would perhaps have sought her as a
substitute for the pretty little opera dancer, that was now under his
_protection_, as it is elegantly termed; yet with all Selina's
loveliness, his aversion to matrimony would scarcely have been subdued
by any less powerful motives than those suggested by her riches. For,
like all spendthrifts, Sedley was avaricious; and these united
interests, confirmed by habits of association, and increased by vanity,
led him by degrees to feel for her an attachment, of which at first he
could scarcely have supposed his heart to have been susceptible. Having
once convinced himself, that the possession of Miss Seymour's hand and
fortune would contribute to his own individual happiness, (for of hers
he did not stop to think,) his next object was to determine how to
procure it; nor did he consider her being the destined wife of his
friend as any impediment to the accomplishment of his own wishes. He,
however, was well aware, that it was of the utmost consequence to him to
obtain the countenance and support of the Viscountess; and as he
possessed sufficient penetration to discover the master passion of her
soul, he took his measures accordingly. Soon after she went to
Cheltenham he wrote her a letter, in which he so far betrayed the
confidence Frederick Elton had reposed in him, as to communicate to her
all he knew of his attachment to the fair Adelina at the villa
Marinella; and concluded by proposing, in the most guarded and delicate
_terms_ to her Ladyship, that she should befriend him instead of
Elton--offering, if she would procure for him Selina's hand, either on
the day of their marriage to give her a large sum of money, or to
settle an annuity on her for the remainder of her life.
The information thus conveyed to Lady Eltondale of Mr. Elton's
attachment to a foreigner did not very much surprise her. She suspected
that the reluctance he had expressed about two years before, to accept
an honourable and lucrative employment in the diplomatical line, which
his father had procured for him, and which had obliged him to leave
Catania to reside in Paris--his subsequent return thither, and his
protracted stay on the continent, had all proceeded from some such
motive.
But on the other hand Mr. Elton had, in his letter to his father, stated
explicitly, "that he was not only willing, but anxious, to make every
endeavour to gain Miss Seymour's affections, and bestow his own on her;
convinced, on mature deliberation, that such an attachment would
effectually conduce to his happiness, by filling that void in his heart,
which so much militated against it." And as he was expected to return
very shortly to England, she hesitated to accept Mr. Sedley's offer,
although it was a temptation she could scarcely resist. The result,
therefore, of her deliberations was, that she would remain neuter; and
whichever of the candidates Selina's unbiassed judgment made choice of,
she would endeavour to persuade owed their happiness to her influence.
She therefore wrote an equivocal answer to Mr. Sedley, which he
construed of course in the sense most favourable to his wishes, and
hastened to Cheltenham, where he used all his rhetoric to secure her
friendship; and she, with many a subtle argument, endeavoured to
persuade him not to propose for Selina till after Frederick's arrival;
and as he was by no means confident of the place he held in Miss
Seymour's estimation, he probably would have postponed his declaration
till time had more matured the regard he flattered himself she felt for
him, had he not been irresistibly impelled by circumstances, as has been
before related. Her refusal, however, did not entirely extinguish his
hopes, although it changed his plans; and as the public prints had,
about a fortnight before Lord Eltondale's death, given notice of Mr.
Elton's departure from Paris, on his return to England, Sedley
determined to repair to London immediately, for the purpose of meeting
him, as he knew business would require his presence there. Nor was he
disappointed; in about three weeks Lord Eltondale arrived; and Sedley
sedulously sought to renew their intimacy, as much then from interested
motives, as he had once done from inclination and preference. But though
these two young men associated as much as they had been accustomed
previous to Lord Eltondale's residence abroad, little remained of their
original friendship, except its familiarity of intercourse, which a
_habit_ of intimacy will long preserve. Yet Frederick was scarcely
conscious of this aberration of regard, which was, on the part of
Sedley, produced by a rivalship Lord Eltondale was unsuspicious of; and
on his own was principally owing to the gradual change, that had taken
place in their characters. Sedley, by the influence of dissipated
companions, had converted his natural vivacity of spirits into levity of
principle. Lord Eltondale, by the peculiar circumstances which had led
him to self-communion, study, and reflection, had turned the energies of
his nature to pursuits worthy of the powers of his mind, and of the rank
he was by nature and fortune destined to hold amongst the sons, which
England proudly boasts as truly noble.
Lord Eltondale had written to the Viscountess, that it was his intention
to pay his compliments to her and Miss Seymour immediately on his
arrival in England; but he, from one day to another, sought excuses for
delaying this visit to Deane Hall; and Sedley was not unwilling to
assist in the search, for he still hoped to gain by delay. When he had
first met Frederick, he had inquired, with as much indifference as he
could assume, whether there was any foundation in the newspaper report
of his marriage with Miss Seymour; to which his Lordship replied, in a
peremptory tone, "Yes, if she will have me;" and immediately changed the
conversation in such a manner, that Sedley had not again the courage to
renew it. However, at last his Lordship fixed the day for the
commencement of his journey to Yorkshire, and the evening before he as
usual spent in his friend's society. They were conversing of far
different matters, when Sedley abruptly said, in a tone of marked pique,
"Well, Eltondale, so you have at last determined to do Miss Seymour the
honour of proposing for her. Upon my soul, a great condescension!
Notwithstanding your damned lecturing letters, I knew you would forget
your 'charming Sicilian maid, fairer than Proserpine,' and all that pack
of metaphysical stuff you used to write to me. I knew well enough from
the first it was only an ideal Laura you fancied yourself Petrarch to;
and if, while you were dreaming of her, you had lost the incomparable
_heiress_ your designing step-mother intended for you, it would only
have been what you deserved." "For Heaven's sake, Sedley, what do you
mean?" said Lord Eltondale, colouring deeply. "Is the incomparable
_heiress_ the Laura of your dreams?" "No, no, my Lord," answered Sedley,
with a composure produced alike by envy and mortification, "I leave it
to _you_ to play the part of sleeper awakened--I never lost my senses
for any _Adelina_." "Sedley!" replied Lord Eltondale, with the serious
energy of deep feeling, "if any spark of our former friendship remains
in your bosom, I conjure you never to mention that name again. I can
never forget _her_, but she refused _me_." "Refused you!" exclaimed
Sedley, in a tone of unfeigned surprise; "well, no doubt your pride has
cured your love; but upon my soul I almost pity you; for when a man is
once fascinated by a pretty woman, it is devilish hard to get out of her
toils." "So far from my pride being my cure, her refusal raised my love
to a pitch that made my former attachment seem cold in comparison. You
may smile, Sedley, but if you have a heart to be moved, it must be
touched when I tell you of her noble conduct on that occasion. I believe
I told you of my intention of proposing myself to her; but I never could
summon fortitude to acquaint you with the result. I had perceived a
marked change in her manner to me some time before I wrote you the last
letter concerning her; but I attributed it entirely to her father's
influence, as I had not come to a direct explanation, and therefore took
an opportunity of demanding an interview for that purpose, when I knew
him to be absent.
"When she entered the room where I was waiting in breathless expectation
of her arrival, she was enveloped in the most icy coldness of manner,
which, however, I was not dismayed by, but poured forth my love with all
the ardour I felt. She changed colour many times, and was silent for a
few moments; but when she did speak, rejected my addresses with such
dignified politeness, and with so much calm self-possession, that,
mortified to the very soul, I, without reply or remonstrance, walked out
of the house. That I might hide my wounded feelings from every eye, I
struck into a private path which led through a flower-garden Adelina's
sitting-room opened into. I instinctively turned to look in, when I
beheld her kneeling, evidently in the act of prayer, her eyes streaming
with tears. To see her weep, and retain self-control or resentment, was
impossible. I was at her side in an instant;--she started up, and
endeavoured to fly, but I forcibly detained her; and as the expression
of her countenance was not to be misunderstood as to the cause of her
grief, I implored her not to destroy our happiness by harbouring any
false impressions of me or my family; entreated her to tell me the
impediments to our union, that if it were possible, by any exertion of
mine, to do them away, they might cease to exist. She turned aside her
head to hide the gushing tears, and in a faltering voice desired me to
leave her.--'Leave me,' said she, 'only for a few moments, that I may
recover composure to tell you all.'
"I respected her feelings sufficiently to remain in the garden till she
made a sign to me to return.
"When I entered, grief, in her calmest attitude, was seated on her brow.
No tear dimmed the majesty of her commanding eye, but a convulsive smile
sometimes passed over her pallid lip. She told me that her father,
though a German Baron, was a British subject by birth, but that some
unfortunate circumstances induced him to condemn himself to perpetual
exile from his native land; that she could not desert her duties by
leaving him, in the evening of his days, to sad solitude in a foreign
country; nor would she ever consent to obscure the morning of my life by
suffering me, if I were so inclined, to quit my country, and leave my
high calling unfulfilled, to waste my hours at her side in unavailing
regret for my lost character: and addressing me with the utmost
solemnity, said in conclusion, 'Frederick, if you really love me, as I
think you do; if you are the noble being I believe you to be--you will
not, after this meeting, try my feelings by any further solicitation. My
resolution is unalterable--do not deprive me of my self-esteem, by
making me feel the sacrifice I make to filial duty too painful.'
"I then told her, if she would promise to be mine when these obstacles
to our union were at an end, I would wait in joyful thankfulness any
length of time.
"'No, no,' said she, 'I could not, in justice to you, enter into such an
engagement. Our affections are involuntary--you _cannot_ answer for the
continuance of your attachment. Time, absence, your country, your
family, will estrange your heart from _me_; and honour alone would
continue to bind you to me when love had fled. I should, when too late
for recall, be doomed to inconsolable misery, by finding your sense of
duty had destroyed your happiness. As for myself, I could not live
under such a load of hopes and fears. No, Frederick, from this day I
will endeavour to destroy every memento of our having ever met. Hope
must be completely eradicated.' Irritated by the misery of my mind, I
had the _inhumanity_ to upbraid her in words that I would now give
worlds to recall, with being cold and unfeeling. 'Would to Heaven I
were!' exclaimed she, and abruptly leaving the room, forbid my following
her.--I never saw her afterwards."
Here Lord Eltondale started up, and paced the room in an agony of
feeling difficult to describe. Even Sedley was moved with compassion.
"Poor fellow!" said he, in a suppressed tone, "And did you make no
further attempt to change her resolution?" "I wrote several letters from
Catania, and returned from Paris after my second visit there to see her
once more, but the villa was deserted--Baron Wildenheim and his daughter
had gone no one knew whither."
"Wildenheim!" exclaimed Sedley, "Good God, is it possible!--Wildenheim
did you say?" Frederick repeated this name, and he, on hearing it a
second time, danced about the room like a madman. "Sedley, are you
absolutely and entirely insane?" exclaimed his friend, indignant at the
levity of his behaviour--"Beware!--by Heavens, you trifle too much with
my feelings!" "Well, you shall judge of the justice of my conjectures;
but if you give me the smallest interruption, I will leave you in the
state of blessed ignorance you at present enjoy," replied Sedley,
wringing his hand rather than shaking it. "First, then, to describe your
charmer, for I spent a month in the house with her last autumn.
_Imprimis_--her mind I know nothing about; she was so damned shy,
sitting alone all morning writing amatory odes to your Lordship I
suppose--there now, if you interrupt me I have done."
Here Sedley made a short pause. He felt that all was at stake: the
effects of a few minutes' conversation might decide his fate for life.
He hastily revolved in his mind Lord Eltondale's Sicilian letters, which
he had lately read for the base purpose of divulging their contents to
the Viscountess, and calling to mind the points on which Frederick's
admiration had been founded, endeavoured to paint Miss Wildenheim's
charms in those terms which he judged most likely to raise his friend's
love and regrets to their _acmÈ_, and thus for ever defeat Lady
Eltondale's schemes for uniting him to Selina. In reply to Frederick's
entreaties to proceed, he continued with affected carelessness, "I can
scarcely give you a more minute description of her person than of her
mind. Her beauty is not to be compared to ----" (Miss Seymour's, he
would have said with well acted indifference, had he not timely
recollected her name was a "word of fear," not only to himself but his
auditor)--"that of some of our reigning belles; but 'the charm of Celia
altogether' is so captivating, so _touching_, that no one ever thought
of _beauty_ in her presence; nor is admiration the sentiment she
excites, that, like her attractions, can only be felt, not described.
Come, don't be jealous; her indifference to me, and every other man she
associated with, was too marked to encourage that love it would have
been impossible not to have felt but for this coldness. Her form and
motions were so graceful, that my attention was too completely engrossed
by their exquisite elegance to observe her stature; nor was I more at
liberty to remark the _minutiÊ_ of her features, rivetted as I was by
the enchanting expression of her countenance, where softness is ennobled
by dignity, and animated by intellect.
"In short, I no longer wonder at what I once termed infatuation, if '_la
bella Adelina_' be (as I verily believe she is) the lovely Adelaide
Wildenheim----" "Where is she, for God's sake where is she?" "Why, your
Venus is at this moment--not rising from the sea, but--enjoying the
delights of a mud bath in a bog in Ireland. I will furnish you with
proper directions to find her. I advise you to lose no time; I assure
you, you have a dangerous rival in the son of the lady she resides
with;--a year may have made a great change in her sentiments though."
Here a severe and long continued fit of coughing saved Sedley from
betraying the laughter he was almost convulsed by, at the thought of the
rival he had terrified Lord Eltondale with, in the person of Mr.
Webberly. "Better, my dear fellow, better," said he at last, in answer
to Frederick's earnest concern on his behalf: "though, to continue my
speech, her aversion even to him was so decided, I have no doubt her
constancy to you would stand a much greater probation." At first Lord
Eltondale's joy was too great for him to believe all this was not a
dream; and he questioned Sedley over and over again as to every
particular regarding Miss Wildenheim. The latter had profited
considerably by the lessons he had received during his intercourse with
the Viscountess, in the science of insinuation and _finesse_, and now
therefore artfully related every circumstance likely to strengthen his
friend's passion for the "divine Adelaide;" but perceiving at last from
Frederick's countenance that he was in danger of over-acting his part,
he abruptly discontinued a _tirade_ on her perfections, by exclaiming,
"All this comes of romancing, Eltondale; if you could have condescended
to have designated your dearly beloved by any more specific term than
'the fair Adelina,' this _quid pro quo_ would never have occurred.--Why
the devil did you never tell me she was plain Adelaide Wildenheim?" "I
had very strong reasons for my silence as to her surname. Though I never
knew a man more highly endowed in mind than Baron Wildenheim, or whose
manners bore the stamp of more refined elegance, more impressive
dignity, yet there was something extremely mysterious in the manner in
which he sometimes avoided, sometimes sought, conversation on English
affairs; in a moment he would interrupt a discussion he had seemed much
interested in, with a perturbation that excited unfavourable
suspicions, which were confirmed in my mind by a variety of minute
circumstances.--None made a stronger impression than the following
occurrence:--I one evening unexpectedly met him and Adelina walking
through a beautiful grove in the neighbourhood of their villa. They were
conversing earnestly, and, to my astonishment, in English--he with that
pure accent a native only can possess, which was forcibly contrasted by
the pronunciation of his daughter. I claimed him as my countryman, and
rallied her for concealing her knowledge of my native language. She,
evidently embarrassed, blushed deeply, (how beautiful she looked!)
whilst the Baron, with a haughty austerity, only answered my compliment
by a profound bow; and, after some trifling remark, pointedly addressed
to me in _French_, alleged the lateness of the hour for taking their
leave, and expressed a flattering wish to see me the following morning;
thus politely giving me to understand my presence was not at that moment
particularly agreeable. This confirmed my former surmise, that in the
revolutionary period he had been engaged in some dark affair inimical to
the interests of Great Britain, and that Baron Wildenheim was merely a
_nom de guerre_, to cover the _incognito_ he found it expedient to
assume; therefore I purposely avoided mentioning it to you. Now as for
Adelina--that is the Italian diminutive of Adelaide, which her father
always called her; it was the first I heard her addressed by; it is one,
in short, that has a charm in my ear, which none who has not loved,
_approved_ as I do, can conceive." "It is strange enough, Eltondale,"
remarked Sedley; "but you and Miss Wildenheim must have been in Paris at
the same time; for she related to me one day a whimsical occurrence,
which took place in the Chamber of Deputies, that one of your letters
informed me you had also witnessed." "Is it possible!" exclaimed
Frederick, "how unfortunate we did not meet! I now recollect, I once
thought I saw her at the _ThÈ‚tre FranÁois_; if so, she had contrived to
forget me in a great hurry; for though it was but three months after a
parting that was almost death to me, she was looking as gay and as happy
as possible." Here Sedley made an involuntary grimace, internally
exclaiming, "The devil she did! That agrees but badly with the _Il
penseroso_ I have described with such effect." "Baron Wildenheim,"
continued Lord Eltondale, "I certainly did see, but could not ascertain
whether the lady who was with him was Adelina or not; for when I
approached near enough to put the matter out of doubt, either by
accident or design, she threw a large shawl over her, so as effectually
to conceal her figure from my sight; and before I could push through the
crowd to speak to them, they had left the theatre. However I trust,
thanks to you, my dear friend, we shall soon meet; and if her heart is
still mine, what happiness!--Gracious Heaven! Miss Seymour!"--and the
recollection of his situation regarding Selina glanced through his mind,
turning all the past to pain--"I must not, dare not, think of her now."
"And why not?" replied Sedley, with an agitation little inferior to his
own, "You are not irrevocably engaged to Miss Seymour, Eltondale?" "I am
as much as a man of honour can be, who has not received the lady's own
consent from her own mouth. But my poor father got Sir Henry Seymour's
consent to our marriage above a year ago--read those two letters,
Sedley, the last I received from Lady Eltondale immediately after my
father's death. You will see by the tenor of it, that she considers the
business as concluded; and though she does not positively tell me Miss
Seymour's opinion, she distinctly says she has no doubt of our mutual
happiness!"
The first of these letters gave Sedley the most unequivocal proofs of
Lady Eltondale's double-dealing, in speaking of Selina to Frederick as
decidedly his future wife, at the very moment when she seemed to favour
his own pretensions. He dashed the letters, one after the other, on the
table, with a violence that made it resound, and internally imprecated
"the treachery, the artifice, of this damned dissembling woman!"
A sense of the moral rectitude, which should guide the conduct of
_others_, grows surprisingly acute, even in the breast of the most
worthless, when they themselves begin to suffer from the effects of
dissimulation in their associates. At that moment Sedley could have
demonstrated sincerity to be "the first of virtues"--in theory at
least--deferring the _practice_ of it to a more convenient season.
For some time both these young men remained absorbed in their own
reflections; till at last Sedley endeavoured to persuade Lord Eltondale,
that it was not incumbent on him to pay his addresses to Miss Seymour:
but neither the sophistry of his friend, nor still more the pleadings of
his own unconquered passion, could make him swerve from the rectitude of
his principles. He knew that even in his very last letter to his
stepmother, he had mentioned his intention of proposing for Selina, and
therefore, under all the circumstances considering himself as pledged
to do so, he endeavoured to find solace in what would once have been the
_acmÈ_ of misery--a belief that Adelaide no longer cherished any regard
for him.
On the other hand Sedley, passing at once from hope to despair,
conceived it impossible Selina could refuse an offer so unexceptionable;
and attributing her indifference to himself to her ambitious views,
internally vowed revenge on both. The rival friends separated with
feelings, which resembled only in their poignancy and defiance of
control; and the next morning Lord Eltondale left London, pursuing, with
agitated haste, his journey to Deane Hall.