The following brief epistle from Mrs. Morris to her father will save the
reader the tedious task of following the Heathcote family through an
uneventful interval, and at the same time bring him to that place and
period in which we wish to see him. It is dated Hôtel d'Italie,
Florence:--
“Dear Papa,--You are not to feel any shock or alarm at the black margin
and wax of this epistle, though its object be to inform you that I am a
widow, Captain Penthony Morris having died some eight months back in
Upper India; but the news has only reached me now. In a word, I have
thought it high time to put an end to this mythical personage, whose
cruel treatment of me I had grown tired of recalling, and, I conclude,
others of listening to. Now, although it may be very hard on you to go
into mourning for the death of one who never lived, yet I must bespeak
your grief, in so far as stationery is concerned, and that you write to
me on the most woe-begone of cream-laid, and with the most sorrow-struck
of seals.
“There was, besides, another and most cogent reason for my being a widow
just now. The Heathcotes are here, on their way to Rome, and, like all
English people, eager to go everywhere, do everything, and know
everybody; the consequence is eternal junketing and daily dinner-
parties. I need not tell you that in such a caravanserai as this is,
some one would surely turn up who should recognize me; so there was
nothing for it but to kill Captain M. and go into crape and seclusion.
As my bereavement is only a sham, I perform the affliction without
difficulty. Our mourning, too, becomes us, and, everything considered,
the incident has spared us much sight-seeing and many odious
acquaintances.
“As it is highly important that I should see and consult you, you must
come out here at once. As the friend and executor of poor 'dear
Penthony,' you can see me freely, and I really want your advice. Do I
understand you aright about Ludlow? If so, the creature is a greater
fool than I thought him. Marrying him is purely out of the question. Of
all compacts, the connubial demands implicit credulity; and if this poor
man's tea were to disagree with him, he 'd be screaming out for
antidotes before the servants, and I conclude that he cannot expect _me_
to believe in _him_. The offer you have made him on my part is a great
and brilliant one, and, for the life of me, I cannot see why he should
hesitate about it, though I, perhaps, suspect it to be this. Like most
fast men,--a very shallow class, after all,--his notion is that life,
like a whist-party, requires an accomplice. Now, I would beg him to
believe this is not the case, and that for two people who can play their
cards so well as we can, it is far better to sit down at separate
tables, where no suspicion of complicity can attach to us. I, at least,
understand what suits my own interest, which is distinctly and
emphatically to have nothing to do with him. You say that he threatens,-
-threatens to engulf us both. If he were a woman, the menace would
frighten me, but men are marvellously conservative in their selfishness,
and so I read it as mere threat.
“It is, I will say, no small infliction to carry all this burden of the
past through a present rugged enough with its own difficulties. To feel
that one can be compromised, and, if compromised, ruined at any moment,-
-to walk with a half-drawn indictment over one,--to mingle in a world
where each fresh arrival may turn out accuser,--is very, very wearisome,
and I long for security. It is for this reason I have decided on
marrying Sir William instead of his son. The indiscretion of a man of
his age taking a wife of mine will naturally lead to retirement and
reclusion from the world, and we shall seek out some little visited spot
where no awkward memories are like to leave their cards on us. I have
resigned myself to so much in life, that I shall submit to all this with
as good a grace as I have shown in other sacrifices. Of course L. can
spoil this project,--he can upset the boat,--but he ought to remember,
if he does, that he was never a good swimmer. Do try and impress this
upon him; there are usually some flitting moments of every day when he
is capable of understanding a reason. Catch one of these, dear pa, and
profit by it. It is by no means certain that Miss L. would accept him;
but, certainly, smarting as she is under all manner of broken ties, the
moment is favorable, and the stake a large one. Nor is there much time
to lose, for it seems that young Heathcote cannot persuade the Horse
Guards to give him even a 'Cornetcy,' and is in despair how he is to re-
enter the service; the inevitable consequence of which will be a return
home here, and, after a while, a reconciliation. It is only wise people
who ever know that the science of life is opportunity, everything being
possible at some one moment, which, perhaps, never recurs again.
“I scarcely know what to say about Clara. She has lost her spirits,
though gained in looks, and she is a perfect mope, but very pretty
withal. She fancies herself in love with a young college man lately
here, who won all the disposable hearts in the place, and might have had
a share even in mine, if he had asked for it. The greater fool he that
he did not, since he wanted exactly such guidance as I could give to
open the secret door of success to him. By the way, has his father died,
or what has become of him? In turning over some papers t'other day, the
name recurred with some far from pleasant recollections associated with
it. Scientific folk used to tell us that all the constituents of our
mortal bodies became consumed _every_ seven years of life. And why, I
ask, ought we not to start with fresh memories as well as muscles, and
ignore any past beyond that short term of existence? I am perfectly
convinced it is carrying alone bygones, whether of events or people,
that constitutes the greatest ill of life. One so very seldom repents of
having done wrong, and is so very, very sorry to have lost many
opportunities of securing success, that really the past is all sorrow.
“You have forgotten to counsel me about Clara. The alternative lies
between the stage and a convent. Pray say which of the two, in these
changeful times, gives the best promise of permanence; and believe me
“Your affectionate daughter,
“Louisa.”