she was _most_ apprehensive for poor little La Fayette. Mrs. Marsden,
who could not endure the idea of their departing till all the
refreshments had been handed round (the best being yet to come), took
great pains to persuade them that there was no real cause of alarm, as
she had had large fires all the afternoon. They held a whispered
consultation, in which they agreed to stay for the oysters and chicken
salad, and Mrs. Marsden went out to send them their shawls, with one for
La Fayette.
By this time the secret of the newly-papered walls had spread round both
rooms; the conversation now turned entirely on colds and rheumatisms;
there was much shivering and considerable coughing, and the demand for
shawls increased. However, nobody actually went home in consequence.
"Papa," said Miss Montague, "let us all take French leave as soon as the
oysters and chicken salad have gone round."
Albina now came up to Aunt Quimby (gladly perceiving that the old lady
looked tired), and proposed that she should return to her chamber,
assuring her that the waiters should be punctually sent up to her--"I do
not feel quite ready to go yet," replied Mrs. Quimby. "I am very well
here. But you need not mind _me_. Go back to your company, and talk a
little to those three poor girls in the yellow frocks that nobody has
spoken to yet, except Bromley Cheston. When I am ready to go I shall
take French leave, as these English people call it."
But Aunt Quimby's idea of French leave was very different from the usual
acceptation of the term; for having always heard that the French were a
very polite people, she concluded that their manner of taking leave must
be particularly respectful and ceremonious. Therefore, having paid her
parting compliments to Mrs. Potts and the Montagues, she walked all
round the room, curtsying to every body and shaking hands, and telling
them she had come to take French leave. To put an end to this ridiculous
scene, Bromley Cheston (who had been on assiduous duty all the evening)
now came forward, and, taking the old lady's arm in his, offered to
escort her up stairs. Aunt Quimby was much flattered by this unexpected
civility from the finest-looking young man in the room, and she
smilingly departed with him, complimenting him on his politeness, and
assuring him that he was a real gentleman; trying also to make out the
degree of relationship that existed between them.
"So much for Buckingham!" said Cheston, as he ran down stairs after
depositing the old lady at the door of her room. "Fools of all ranks and
of all ages are to me equally intolerable. I never can marry into such a
family."
The party went on.
"In the name of heaven, Mrs. Potts," said Mrs. Montague, "what induces
you to patronize these people?"
"Why they are the only tolerable persons in the neighbourhood," answered
Mrs. Potts, "and very kind and obliging in their way. I really think
Albina a very sweet girl, very sweet indeed: and Mrs. Marsden is rather
amiable too, quite amiable. And they are so grateful for any little
notice I take of them, that it is really quite affecting. Poor things!
how much trouble they have given themselves in getting up this party.
They look as if they had had a hard day's work; and I have no doubt they
will be obliged, in consequence, to pinch them for months to come; for I
can assure you their means are very small--very small indeed. As to this
intolerable old aunt, I never saw her before; and as there is something
rather genteel about Mrs. Marsden and her daughter--rather so at least
about Albina--I did not suppose they had any such relations belonging to
them. I think, in future I must confine myself entirely to the
aristocracy."
"We deliberated to the last moment," said Mrs. Montague, "whether we
should come. But as Mr. Montague is going to write his tour when we
return to England, he thinks it expedient to make some sacrifices, for
the sake of seeing the varieties of American society."
"Oh! these people are not in society!" exclaimed Mrs. Potts eagerly. "I
can assure you these Marsdens have not the slightest pretensions to
society. Oh! no--I beg you not to suppose that Mrs. Marsden and her
daughter are at all in society!"
This conversation was overheard by Bromley Cheston, and it gave him more
pain than he was willing to acknowledge, even to himself.
At length all the refreshments had gone their rounds, and the Montagues
had taken real French leave; but Mrs. Washington Potts preferred a
conspicuous departure, and therefore made her adieux with a view of
producing great effect. This was the signal for the company to break up,
and Mrs. Marsden gladly smiled them out; while Albina could have said
with Gray's Prophetess--
"Now my weary lips I close,
Leave me, leave me to repose."
But, according to Mrs. Marsden, the worst of all was the poet, the
professedly eccentric Bewley Garvin Gandy, author of the World of
Sorrow, Elegy on a Broken Heart, Lines on a Suppressed Sigh, Sonnet to a
Hidden Tear, Stanzas to Faded Hopes, &c. &c., and who was just now
engaged in a tale called "The Bewildered," and an Ode to the Waning
Moon, which set him to wandering about the country, and "kept him out
o'nights." The poet, not being a man of this world, did not make his
appearance at the party till the moment of the bustle occasioned by the
exit of Mrs. Washington Potts. He then darted suddenly into the room,
and looked wild.
We will not insinuate that he bore any resemblance to Sandy Clark. He
certainly wore no chapeau, and his coat was not in the least à la
militaire, for it was a dusky brown frock. His collar was open, in the
fashion attributed to Byron, and much affected by scribblers who are
incapable of imitating the noble bard in anything but his follies. His
hair looked as if he had just been tearing it, and his eyes seemed "in
a fine frenzy rolling." He was on his return from one of his moonlight
rambles on the banks of the river, and his pantaloons and coat-skirt
showed evident marks of having been deep among the cat-tails and
splatter-docks that grew in the mud on its margin.
Being a man that took no note of time, he wandered into Mrs. Marsden's
house between eleven and twelve o'clock, and remained an hour after the
company had gone; reclining at full length on a sofa, and discussing
Barry Cornwall and Percy Bysshe Shelley, L. E. L. and Mrs. Cornwall
Baron Wilson. After which he gradually became classical, and poured into
the sleepy ears of Mrs. Marsden and Albina a parallel between Tibullus
and Propertius, a dissertation on Alcæus, and another on Menander.
Bromley Cheston, who had been escorting home two sets of young ladies
that lived "far as the poles asunder," passed Mrs. Marsden's house on
returning to his hotel, and seeing the lights still gleaming, he went in
to see what was the matter, and kindly relieved his aunt and cousin by
reminding the poet of the lateness of the hour, and "fairly carrying him
off."
Aunt Quimby had long since been asleep. But before Mrs. Marsden and
Albina could forget themselves in "tired nature's sweet restorer," they
lay awake for an hour, discussing the fatigues and vexations of the day,
and the mortifications of the evening. "After all," said Albina, "this
party has cost us five times as much as it is worth, both in trouble and
expense, and I really cannot tell what pleasure we have derived from
it."
"No one expects pleasure at their own party," replied Mrs. Marsden. "But
you may depend on it, this little compliment to Mrs. Washington Potts
will prove highly advantageous to us hereafter. And then it is
_something_ to be the only family in the neighbourhood that could
presume to do such a thing."
Next morning, Bromley Cheston received a letter which required his
immediate presence in New York on business of importance. When he went
to take leave of his aunt and cousin, he found them busily engaged in
clearing away and putting in order; a task which is nearly equal to that
of making the preparations for a party. They looked pale and
spiritless, and Mrs. Washington Potts had just sent her three boys to
spend the day with them.
When Cheston took Albina's hand at parting, he felt it tremble, and her
eyes looked as if they were filling with tears. "After all," thought he,
"she is a charming girl, and has both sense and sensibility."
"I am very nervous to-day," said Albina, "the party has been too much
for me; and I have in prospect for to-morrow the pain of taking leave of
Mrs. Washington Potts, who returns with all her family to Philadelphia."
"Strange infatuation!" thought Cheston, as he dropped Albina's hand, and
made his parting bow. "I must see more of this girl, before I can
resolve to trust my happiness to her keeping; I cannot share her heart
with Mrs. Washington Potts. When I return from New York, I will talk to
her seriously about that ridiculous woman, and I will also remonstrate
with her mother on the folly of straining every nerve in the pursuit of
what she calls a certain style."
In the afternoon, Mrs. Potts did Albina the honour to send for her to
assist in the preparations for to-morrow's removal to town; and in the
evening, the three boys were all taken home sick, in consequence of
having laid violent hands on the fragments of the feast: which fragments
they had continued during the day to devour almost without intermission.
Also Randolph had thrown Jefferson down stairs, and raised two green
bumps on his forehead, and Jefferson had pinched La Fayette's fingers in
the door till the blood came; not to mention various minor squabbles and
hurts.
At parting, Mrs. Potts went so far as to kiss Albina, and made her
promise to let her know immediately, whenever she or her mother came to
the city.
In about two weeks, Aunt Quimby finished her visitation: and the day
after her departure, Mrs. Marsden and Albina went to town to make their
purchases for the season, and also with a view towards a party, which
they knew Mrs. Potts had in contemplation. This time they did not, as
usual, stay with their relations, but they took lodgings at a
fashionable boarding-house, where they could receive their "great
woman," _comme il faut_.
On the morning after their arrival, Mrs. Marsden and her daughter, in
their most costly dresses, went to visit Mrs. Potts, that she might be
apprised of their arrival; and they found her in a spacious house,
expensively and ostentatiously furnished.
After they had waited till even _their_ patience was nearly exhausted,
Mrs. Potts came down stairs to them, but there was evidently a great
abatement in her affability. She seemed uneasy, looked frequently
towards the door, got up several times and went to the window, and
appeared fidgety when the bell rung. At last there came in two very
flaunting ladies, whom Mrs. Potts received as if she considered them
people of consequence. They were not introduced to the Marsdens, who,
after the entrance of these new visitors, sat awhile in the pitiable
situation of ciphers, and then took their leave. "Strange," said Mrs.
Marsden, "that she did not say a word of her party."
Three days after their visit, Mrs. Washington Potts left cards for Mrs.
and Miss Marsden, without inquiring if they were at home. And they heard
from report that her party was fixed for the week after next, and that
it was expected to be very splendid, as it was to introduce her
daughter, who had just quitted boarding-school. The Marsdens had seen
this young lady, who had spent the August holidays with her parents. She
was as silly as her mother, and as dull as her father, in the eyes of
all who were not blindly determined to think her otherwise, or who did
not consider it particularly expedient to uphold every one of the name
of Potts.
At length they heard that the invitations were going out for Mrs.
Potts's party, and that though very large, it was not to be general;
which meant that only one or two of the members were to be selected from
each family with whom Mrs. Potts thought proper to acknowledge an
acquaintance. From this moment Mrs. Marsden, who at the best of times
had never really been treated with much respect by Mrs. Potts, gave up
all hope of an invitation for herself; but she counted certainly on one
for Albina, and every ring at the door was expected to bring it. There
were many rings, but no invitation; and poor Albina and her mother took
turns in watching at the window.
At last Bogle[3] was seen to come up the steps with a handful of notes;
and Albina, regardless of all rule, ran to the front-door herself. They
were cards for a party, but not Mrs. Potts's, and were intended for two
other ladies that lodged in the house.
[Footnote 3: A celebrated coloured waiter in Philadelphia.]
Every time that Albina went out and came home, she inquired anxiously
of all the servants if no note had been left for her. Still there was
none. And her mother still insisted that the note _must_ have come, but
had been mislaid afterwards, or that Bogle had lost it in the street.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday passed over, and still no
invitation. Mrs. Marsden talked much of the carelessness of servants,
and had no doubt of the habitual negligence of Messrs. Bogle, Shepherd,
and other "fashionable party-men." Albina was almost sick with "hope
deferred." At last, when she came home on Monday morning from Second
street, her mother met her at the door with a delighted face, and showed
her the long-desired note, which had just been brought by Mrs. Potts's
own man. The party was to take place in two days: and so great was now
Albina's happiness, that she scarcely felt the fatigue of searching the
shops for articles of attire that were very elegant, and yet not _too_
expensive; and shopping with a limited purse is certainly no trifling
exercise both of mind and body; so also is the task of going round among
fashionable mantua-makers, in the hope of coaxing one of them to
undertake a dress at a short notice.
Next morning, Mrs. Potts sent for Albina immediately after breakfast,
and told her that as she knew her to be very clever at all sorts of
things, she wanted her to stay that day and assist in the preparations
for the next. Mrs. Potts, like many other people who live in showy
houses and dress extravagantly, was very economical in servants. She
gave such low wages, that none would come to her who could get places
anywhere else, and she kept them on such limited allowance that none
would stay with her who were worth having.
Fools are seldom consistent in their expenditure. They generally (to use
a homely expression) strain at gnats and swallow camels.
About noon, Albina having occasion to consult Mrs. Potts concerning
something that was to be done, found her in the front parlour with Mrs.
and Miss Montague. After Albina had left the room, Mrs. Montague said to
Mrs. Potts--"Is not that the girl who lives with her mother at the place
on the river, I forget what you call it--I mean the niece of the aunt?"
"That is Albina Marsden," replied Mrs. Potts.
"Yes," pursued Mrs. Montague, "the people that made so great an exertion
to give you a sort of party, and honoured Mr. and Miss Montague and
myself with invitations."
"She's not to be here to-morrow night, I hope!" exclaimed Miss Montague.
"Really," replied Mrs. Potts, "I could do no less than ask her. The poor
thing did her very best to be civil to us all last summer."
"Oh!" said Mrs. Montague, "in the country one is willing sometimes to
take up with such company as we should be very sorry to acknowledge in
town. You assured me that your party to-morrow night would be extremely
_recherché_. And as it is so early in the season you know that it is
necessary to be more particular now than at the close of the campaign,
when every one is tired of parties, and unwilling to get new evening
dresses lest they should be out of fashion before they are wanted again.
Excuse me, I speak only from what I have heard of American customs."
"I am always particular about my parties," said Mrs. Potts.
"A word in your ear," continued Mrs. Montague. "Is it not impolitic, or
rather are you not afraid to bring forward so beautiful a girl as this
Miss Martin on the very night of your own daughter's _debut_?"
Mrs. Potts looked alarmed for a moment, and then recovering herself
said--"I have no fear of Miss Harriet Angelina Potts being thrown in the
shade by a little country girl like this. Albina Marsden is pretty
enough, to be sure--at least, rather pretty--but then there is a certain
style--a certain air which she of course--in short, a certain style--"
"As to what you call a certain style," said Mrs. Montague, "I do not
know exactly what you mean. If it signifies the air and manner of a
lady, this Miss Martin has as much of it as any other American girl. To
me they are all nearly alike. I cannot distinguish those minute shades
of difference that you all make such a point of. In my unpractised eyes
the daughters of your mechanics and shopkeepers look as well and behave
as well as the daughters of your lawyers and doctors, for I find your
nobility is chiefly made up of these two professions, with the addition
of a few merchants; and you call every one a merchant that does not sell
his commodities by the single yard or the single quart."
"Mamma," whispered Miss Montague, "if that girl is to be here, I don't
wish to come. I can't endure her."
"Take my advice," continued Mrs. Montague to Mrs. Potts, "and put off
this Miss Martin. If she was not so strikingly handsome, she might pass
unnoticed in the crowd. But her beauty will attract general
observation, and you will be obliged to tell exactly who she is, where
you picked her up, and to give or to hear an account of her family and
all her connexions; and from the specimen we have had in the old aunt, I
doubt if they will bear a very minute scrutiny. So if she _is_ invited,
endeavour to uninvite her."
"I am sure I would willingly do that," replied Mrs. Potts, "but I can
really think of no excuse."
"Oh! send her a note to-morrow," answered Mrs. Montague, carelessly, and
rising to depart, "anything or nothing, so that you only signify to her
that she is not to come."
All day Mrs. Potts was revolving in her mind the most feasible means of
preventing Albina from appearing at her party; and her conscience smote
her when she saw the unsuspecting girl so indefatigable in assisting
with the preparations. Before Albina went home, Mrs. Potts had come to
the conclusion to follow Mrs. Montague's advice, but she shrunk from the
task of telling her so in person. She determined to send her next
morning a concise note, politely requesting her not to come; and she
intended afterwards to call on her and apologize, on the plea of her
party being by no means general, but still so large that every inch of
room was an object of importance; also that the selection consisted
entirely of persons well known to each other and accustomed to meet in
company, and that there was every reason to fear that her gentle and
modest friend Albina would have been unable to enjoy herself among so
many strangers, &c., &c. Those excuses, she knew, were very flimsy, but
she trusted to Albina's good nature, and she thought she could smooth
off all by inviting both her and her mother to a sociable tea.
Next morning, Mrs. Potts, who was on no occasion very ready with her
pen, considering that she professed to be _au fait_ to everything,
employed near an hour in manufacturing the following note to Albina.
"Mrs. Washington Potts' compliments to Miss Marsden, and she regrets
being under the necessity of dispensing with Miss M.'s company, to join
the social circle at her mansion-house this evening. Mrs. W. P. will
explain hereafter, hoping Mrs. and Miss M. are both well. Mr. W. P.
requests his respects to both ladies, as well as Miss Potts, and their
favourite little La Fayette desires his best love."
This billet arrived while Albina had gone to her mantua-maker, to have
her new dress fitted on for the last time. Her mother opened the note
and read it; a liberty which no parent should take with the
correspondence of a grown-up daughter. Mrs. Marsden was shocked at its
contents, and at a loss to guess the motive of so strange an
interdiction. At first her only emotion was resentment against Mrs.
Potts. Then she thought of the disappointment and mortification of poor
Albina, whom she pictured to herself passing a forlorn evening at home,
perhaps crying in her own room. Next, she recollected the elegant new
dress in which Albina would have looked so beautifully, and which would
now be useless.
"Oh!" soliloquized Mrs. Marsden, "what a pity this unaccountable note
was not dropped and lost in the street. But then, of course some one
would have found and read it, and that would have been worse than all.
How could Mrs. Potts be guilty of such abominable rudeness, as to desire
poor Albina not to come, after she had been invited? But great people
think they may do anything. I wish the note had fallen into the fire
before it came to my hands; then Albina would have known nothing of it;
she would have gone to the party, looking more charmingly than ever she
did in her life; and she would be seen there, and admired, and make new
acquaintances, and Mrs. Potts could do no otherwise than behave to her
politely in her own house. Nobody would know of this vile billet (which
perhaps after all is only a joke), and Mrs. Potts would suppose, that of
course Albina had not received it; besides, I have no doubt that Mrs.
Potts will send for her to-morrow, and make a satisfactory explanation.
But then, to-night; if Albina could but get there to-night. What harm
can possible arrive from my not showing her the note till to-morrow? Why
should the dear girl be deprived of all the pleasure she anticipated
this evening? And even if she expected no enjoyment whatever, still how
great will be the advantage of having her seen at Mrs. Washington
Potts's select party; it will at once get her on in the world. Of course
Mrs. Potts will conclude that the note had miscarried, and will treat
her as if it had never been sent. I am really most strongly tempted to
suppress it, and let Albina go."
The more Mrs. Marsden thought of this project, the less objectionable it
appeared to her. When she saw Albina come home, delighted with her new
dress, which fitted her exactly, and when she heard her impatiently
wishing that evening was come, this weak and ill-judging mother could
not resolve (as she afterwards said) to dash all her pleasant
anticipations to the ground, and demolish her castles in the air. "My
daughter shall be happy to-night," thought she, "whatever may be the
event of to-morrow." She hastily concealed the note, and kept her
resolution of not mentioning it to Albina.
Evening came, and Albina's beautiful hair was arranged and decorated by
a fashionable French barber. She was dressed, and she looked charmingly.
Albina knew that Mrs. Potts had sent an invitation to the United States
Hotel for Lieutenant Cheston, who was daily expected, but had not yet
returned from New York, and she regretted much that she could not go to
the party under his escort. She knew no one else of the company, and she
had no alternative but to send for a carriage, and proceeded thither by
herself, after her mother had despatched repeated messages to the hotel
to know if Mr. Cheston had yet arrived, for he was certainly expected
back that evening.
As Albina drove to the house, she felt all the terrors of diffidence
coming upon her, and already repented that she had ventured on this
enterprise alone. On arriving, she did not go into the ladies' room, but
gave her hood and cloak at once to a servant, and tremulously requested
another attendant to inform Mr. Potts that a lady wished to see him. Mr.
Potts accordingly came out into the hall, and looked surprised at
finding Albina there, for he had heard his wife and daughter talking of
the note of interdiction. But concluding, as he often did, that it was
in vain for him to try to comprehend the proceedings of women, he
thought it best to say nothing.