In my last humble pray'r to the Spirit above,
Thy name shall be mingled with mine.
oeMOOREoe.
Oh! how did Adelaide now wish she could obtain that separation she had
so lately thought worse than death itself! No tear escaped her
bewildered eye; no complaint issued from her lacerated bosom; mute and
motionless she sat, unconscious of all that passed around, musing on the
fearful, fathomless void within! Her constitution could not long support
this existence of silent horror; and a violent fever, which for several
days endangered her life, and reduced her to a state of extreme
weakness, saved her mind from destruction. When she recovered, her
grief, though deep, was placid, and her mild dejection won her the love
and pity of all whose hearts were not harder than adamant. As soon as
she was able to bear the journey, her guardian brought her to Webberly
House, and, during the short time he survived her father, endeavoured to
soothe her sorrow by the most affectionate kindness. His delay in
executing the promise he had given, of presenting her to Mr. O'Sullivan
and Lord Osselstone, arose not from any intention of ultimately
defrauding her of her rights, but from an anticipation of the
mortifications his doing so would probably occasion him to experience in
his domestic circle. He knew the respect with which he was treated by
the Webberlys was principally owing to the idea that he or his daughter
would one day possess a valuable estate; and though in his own person he
could, from the manly firmness of his manners, command a sufficient
degree of consideration for the common purposes of every day
intercourse; yet he was well aware, that when he was not present, his
little portionless Caroline would be treated by his wife's children
with the utmost contumely; and he was moreover weak enough to dread the
first explosion of Mrs. O'Sullivan's violent temper, when her hopes of
increased wealth should be disappointed by the establishment of
Adelaide's claims. He therefore, from day to day, shunned the expected
storm. At night he would sink to sleep, in the firm determination of
informing his wife on the morrow of Adelaide's relationship, as a
preliminary to his writing to her grandfather on the subject; but when
the morrow came, he either thought Mrs. O'Sullivan in such good humour,
it was a pity to spoil the short-lived pleasure arising from it, or else
that she was so much the reverse, it was impolitic to choose that very
time to irritate her further. On other mornings, when convinced she had
attained that happy medium most favourable to his important
communication, business or company interfered; and in the evening he had
too frequent recourse to intoxication, to drown the pains of
recollection. Thus, in impotent resolve and fruitless repentance, passed
the few months he survived after Adelaide was committed to his care. On
his death, Mr. Austin would have done what this spirit of
procrastination had prevented; had he not found, on examining the papers
put into his hands by Adelaide's father, that, though there was enough
to convince willing relatives of their truth, yet the evidence they
contained fell far short of legal testimony. Every necessary formality
to prove her parentage had been neglected at Hamburgh--a circumstance
easily accounted for, by the distraction of her father's mind on leaving
that place; and the name of Wildenheim, which she had received at Meurs,
made it still more difficult to prove her identity as the child of Rose;
for which purpose Mr. Austin then entered into a correspondence with
various people resident in different parts of the Continent. From the
apparent frigidity of Lord Osselstone's character, he had no hopes of
his interesting himself for his orphan niece; whilst from her mother's
family he expected open opposition. He therefore enjoined Adelaide to
remain unknown to her relations, till the period prescribed by her
father for her acting for herself, in case her guardian should fail to
fulfil his promise, by which time, if ever, he hoped to obtain every
necessary proof in support of her claims; and lest any youthful
imprudence should betray her into a premature disclosure, he carefully
concealed from her her relationship to the O'Sullivans, though with her
affinity to Lord Osselstone he knew she was already acquainted.
The time appointed for terminating Miss Wildenheim's suspense at length
arrived, and found her under the roof of her only remaining parent,
though as yet totally unconscious of their relationship. On the eve of
the day on which her minority expired, she retired to her own apartment
in Mr. O'Sullivan's house, sorrowfully reflecting, that in two more she
should part most probably for ever from this interesting old man. But
this feeling was soon lost in the joy with which she remembered, that
on the morrow she should make the first step to claim the love and
protection of her uncle, and the rest of her paternal relatives. She
fondly anticipated the praises which would delight her ear, as due to
her beloved father's virtues and talents; and with heartfelt pleasure
recollected, that Augustus Mordaunt was almost her brother. But the
happiness of these thoughts was damped by the idea, that he and Lord
Osselstone were then abroad; and she reflected with sorrow, that were it
not for Mr. and Mrs. Temple, she should, on her return to England, be as
desolate as ever. "But God," thought she, "tempers the wind to the shorn
lamb;" and her heart dilated with gratitude to earth and Heaven, on the
remembrance of what she humbly felt to be unmerited friendship. Her
first feelings led her to open the portfolio, which contained the packet
of letters Mr. Austin had charged her not to unseal till this period;
but at the sight of her father's writing, the agony of the moment in
which she had received it, with all the dreadful scenes which
immediately followed, rose to her mind in all their first horror; and,
completely overcome, she felt the dreadful consciousness, that none now
existing on earth could fill that vacuum, which the loss of this beloved
father would ever leave in her heart. The vision of happiness, which a
few moments before had appeared so vivid, now seemed to have been but a
vain illusion, that had mocked her with a dream of bliss. At that
instant earth had no consolation to offer for her sorrows; but she
turned to Heaven and found it there.
When she rose from her supplications, she hastily returned the packet to
her portfolio. "I will not trust myself with it again," thought she; "I
have here no friend to soothe, to _control_ my mind.--In a few days I
shall be with Mrs. Temple."
There are minds, which are capable of an intensity of regret, that
others can scarcely conceive. Long after it has lost the more
tumultuous character of grief, it lies deep in the recesses of the
heart. The cares, the pleasures of the world, may for a time conceal it,
even from self-consciousness; but there it ever endures. The vigour of a
strong mind may reduce it to temporary inertness, but it will at times
break every bond, and vindicate its empire. Like the Genius of the
eastern tale, who, though for ages confined in the casket by the seal of
Solomon, rose when the signet of wisdom was broken, in the same awful
might he had possessed, before reduced to submission by its coercive
power.
Whilst in one room at Ballinamoyle a daughter mourned her father, in
another a son defied his mother. Mr. Webberly was at that moment
informing Mrs. O'Sullivan, he would, on the morrow, make his
long-meditated proposal to Miss Wildenheim: he had fulfilled his promise
of waiting till she was of age; and said, that if she was so
unreasonable as to require still further delay, he could no longer
comply, as the difference of a day might deprive him of Adelaide for
ever. The Desmonds were to take their farewell on Caroline's birth-day;
Miss Wildenheim would commence her journey to England on the following
morning; and it was not at all likely Colonel Desmond would suffer her
to depart, without making those offers some people thought would be
accepted. This very idea made Mrs. O'Sullivan more eager in her
entreaties, more authoritative in her commands to her son, to defer his
intentions till their arrival at Webberly House. The conference ended in
passion on both sides, he exclaiming, "By Gad, mother, you are never to
be satisfied;--be damned if I stand shilly shally any longer!" "Then,
Jack, you shan't have my blessing for an _opthalmia_; and you know
that's better worth than the priest's, as the song says."