The agitation she had undergone in the morning, affected both the
spirits and the looks of Emmeline; and when, immediately after dinner,
Bellozane proposed the party of pleasure he had projected for the next
day, Lady Westhaven answered--'As for me I shall on my own account make
no objection, but I cannot equally answer for our fair cousin.--Emmeline,
my love, you seem ill. I cannot imagine, my Lord, what you have been
saying to her?'
'I have been advising her,' answered Lord Westhaven, 'to go into a
convent; and her looks are merely looks of penitence for all the
mischief she has done. She determines to take the veil, and to do no
more.'
Emmeline, tho' hardly able to bear even this friendly raillery, turned
it off with a melancholy smile. The party was agreed upon; the Baron
went out to give orders for preparing the provisions they were to take
with them, and the Chevalier to see that the boat was in a proper state
for the expedition and give the boatmen notice.
Lady Westhaven then began talking of England, and expressed her
astonishment at having heard nothing from thence for above six weeks.
While Lord Westhaven was attempting to account for this failure of
intelligence, which he saw gave his wife more concern than she
expressed, a servant brought in several large pacquets of letters, which
he said the messenger who was usually sent to the post town, had that
moment brought in.
His Lordship, eagerly surveying the address of each, gave to Emmeline
one for her; which opening, she found came from Mrs. Stafford, and
enclosed another.
_St. Germains, June 6._
'My dearest Emmeline will forgive me if I write only a line in the
envelope, to account for the long detention of the enclosed letter.
It has, by some mistake of Mr. La Fosse, been kept at Rouen instead
of being forwarded to St. Germains; and appears to have passed thro'
numberless hands. I hope you will get it safe; tho' my being at
Paris when it _did_ arrive here has made it
yet a week later. By the next post I shall write more fully, and
therefore will now only tell you we are well, and that I am ever,
with the truest attachment, your
C. STAFFORD.'
Emmeline now saw by the seal and the address that the second letter was
from Lord Montreville. It appeared to have been written in great haste;
and as she unfolded it, infinite was her amazement to find, instead of a
remittance, which about this time she expected, the promise she had
given Delamere, torn in two pieces and put into a blank paper.
The astonishment and agitation she felt at this sight, hardly left her
power to read the letter which she held.
_Berkley-Square, May 5, 17--_
'Dear Miss Mowbray,
'My son, Lord Delamere, convinced at length of the impropriety of
a marriage so unwelcome to his family, allows me to release you from
the promise which he obtained. I do myself the pleasure to enclose
it, and shall be glad to hear you receive it safe by an early post.
My Lord Delamere assures me that you hold no promise of the like
nature from him. If he is in this matter forgetful, I doubt not but
that you will return it on receipt of this.
'Maddox informs me that he shall in a few days forward to you the
payment due: to which I beg leave to add, that if you have occasion
for fifty or an hundred pounds more, during your stay on the
continent, you may draw on Maddox to that amount. With sincere
wishes for your health and happiness, I am, dear Miss Mowbray, your
obedient and faithful humble servant,
MONTREVILLE.'
Tho' joy was, in the heart of Emmeline, the predominant emotion, she yet
felt some degree of pique and resentment involuntarily arise against
Lord Montreville and his son; and tho' the renunciation of the latter
was what she had secretly wished ever since she had discovered the
capricious violence of Delamere and the merit of Godolphin, the cold and
barely civil stile in which his father had acquainted her with it,
seemed at once to shock, mortify, and relieve her.
After having considered a moment the contents of her own letters, she
cast her eyes towards Lady Westhaven, whose countenance expressed great
emotion; while her Lord, sternly and displeased ran over his, and then
put them into his pocket.
'What say _your_ letters from England, my fairest cousin?' said he,
advancing and trying to shake off his chagrin.
'Will you do me the honour to peruse them, my Lord?' said she, half
smiling.--'They will not take you up much time.'
He read them. 'It is a settled thing then I find. Lady Westhaven, your's
are, I presume, from Berkley-square?'
'They are,' answered she.--'Never,' and she took out her
handkerchief--'never have I received any less welcome!'
She gave one from Lady Frances Crofts to his Lordship, in which, with
many details of her own affairs, was this sentence--
'Before this, you have heard from my father or my mother that
Lord Delamere has entirely recovered the use of his reason, and
accepts of Miss Otley with her immense fortune. This change was
brought about suddenly. It was settled in Norfolk, immediately
after Lord Delamere's return from Ireland. I congratulate you and
Lord W. on an event which I conclude _must_ to _both_ of you be
pleasing. I have seen none of the family for near three weeks, as
they are gone back into Norfolk; only my brother called for a
moment, and seemed to be greatly hurried; by which, as well as from
other circumstances, I conclude that preparations are making for
the wedding immediately.'
_May 18._
Lady Westhaven, who saw all hopes of being allied to the friend of her
heart for ever at an end--who believed that she had always cherished an
affection for her brother, and who supposed that in consequence of his
desertion she was left in mortifying dependance on Lord Montreville, was
infinitely hurt at this information. The letter from her father to
Emmeline confirmed all her apprehensions. There was a freezing civility
in the style, which gave no hopes of his alleviating by generosity and
kindness the pain which her Ladyship concluded Emmeline must feel; while
Lord Westhaven, knowing that to her whom he thus insulted with the
distant offer of fifty or an hundred pounds, he really was accountable
for the income of an estate of four thousand five hundred a year, for
near nineteen years, and that he still withheld that estate from her,
could hardly contain his indignation even before his wife; whom he
loved too well not to wish to conceal from her the ill opinion he could
not help conceiving of her father.
Emmeline, who was far from feeling that degree of pain which Lady
Westhaven concluded must penetrate her heart, was yet unwilling to shew
that she actually received with pleasure (tho' somewhat allayed by Lord
Montreville's coldness) an emancipation from her engagement. Of her
partiality to Godolphin, her friend had no idea; for Emmeline, too
conscious of it to be able to converse about him without fearing to
betray herself, had studiously avoided talking of him after their first
meeting; and she now imagined that Lady Westhaven, passionately fond of
her brother as she was, would think her indifference affected thro'
pique; and carried too far, if she did not receive the intelligence of
their eternal separation with some degree of concern. These thoughts
gave her an air of vexation and embarrassment which would have saved her
the trouble of dissimulation had she been an adept in it's practice.
Extremely harrassed and out of spirits before, tears now, in spite of
her internal satisfaction, and perhaps partly arising from it, filled
her eyes; while Lady Westhaven, who was greatly more hurt, exclaimed--
'My brother then marries Miss Otley! After all I have heard him say, I
thought it impossible!'
'He will however, I doubt not, be happy,' answered Emmeline. 'The
satisfaction of having made Lord and Lady Montreville completely happy,
must greatly contribute to his being so himself.'
'Heaven grant it!' replied Lady Westhaven. 'Poor Frederic! he throws
away an invaluable blessing! Whether he will, in any other, find
consolation, I greatly doubt. But however changed _his_ heart may be, my
dearest Emmeline,' added she, tenderly embracing her, 'I think I can
venture to assure you that those of Lord Westhaven and your Augusta,
will, towards you, ever be the same.'
Emmeline now wished to put an end to a conversation which Lady Westhaven
seemed hardly able to support; and she languished herself to be alone.
Forcing therefore a smile, tho' the tears still fell from her eyes, she
said--'My dear friends, tho' I expected this long ago, yet I beg you to
consider that being _but_ a woman, and of course vain, my pride is a
little wounded, and I must recollect all your kindnesses, to put me in
good humour again with myself. Do not let the Chevalier follow me; for I
am not disposed to hear any thing this evening, after these sweetest
and most consoling assurances of your inestimable friendship. Therefore
I shall take Madelon with me, and go for a walk.'
She then left the room, Lady Westhaven not attempting to detain her; and
her Lord, vexed to see his gentle Augusta thus uneasy, remained with
her, pointing out to her the fairest prospects of establishment for her
beloved Emmeline; tho' he thought the present an improper opportunity to
open to her his knowledge of those circumstances in her friend's
fortune, which, without such conspicuous merit, could hardly fail of
obtaining it.
To go to a great distance from the house, alone, Emmeline had not
courage; to stay near it, subjected her to the intrusion and importunity
of the Chevalier. She therefore determined to take Madelon, whose
presence would be some protection without any interruption to her
thoughts. She had wished, ever since her arrival at St. Alpin, to visit
alone the borders of the lake of Geneva. Madelon, alert and sprightly,
undertook to shew her the pleasantest way, and led her thro' a narrow
path crossing a hill covered with broom and coppice wood, into a dark
and gloomy wood of fir, cypress, and chestnut, that extended to the edge
of the water; from which it was in some places separated by rocks
pointing out into the lake, while in others the trees grew almost in the
water, and dipped their extremities in the limpid waves beneath them.
Madelon informed Emmeline that this was the place where the servants of
the castle assembled to dance of an holyday, in the shade; and where
boats usually landed that came from the other side of the lake.
The scene, softened into more pensive beauty by the approach of a warm
and serene evening, had every thing in it that could charm and soothe
the mind of the lovely orphan. But her internal feelings were at this
time too acute to suffer her to attend to outward circumstances. She
wished only for tranquillity and silence, to collect her thoughts; and
bidding Madelon find herself a seat, she went a few yards into the wood,
and sat down on the long grass, where even Madelon might not remark her.
The events of the two last days appeared to be visions rather than
realities. From being an indigent dependant on the bounty of a relation,
whose caprice or avarice might leave her entirely destitute, she was at
once found to be heiress to an extensive property. From being bound down
to marry, if he pleased, a man for whom she felt only sisterly regard,
and who had thrown her from him in the violence of unreasonable jealousy
and gloomy suspicion, she was now at liberty to indulge the affections
she had so long vainly resisted, and to think, without present
self-accusation, or the danger of future repentance, of Godolphin. In
imagination, she already beheld him avowing that tenderness which he had
before generously struggled to conceal. She saw him, who she believed
would have taken her _without_ fortune, receiving in her estate the
means of bestowing happiness, and the power of indulging his liberal and
noble spirit. She saw the tender, unhappy Adelina, reconciled to life in
contemplating the felicity of her dear William; and Lord Westhaven, to
whom she was so much obliged, glorying in the good fortune of a brother
so deservedly beloved; while still calling her excellent and lovely
friend Augusta by the endearing appellation of sister, she saw her
forget, in the happiness of Godolphin, the concern she had felt for
Delamere.
From this delicious dream of future bliss, she was awakened somewhat
suddenly by Madelon; who running towards her, told her that a boat, in
which there appeared to be several men, was pointing to land just where
she had been sitting. Emmeline, wearied as she was with the Chevalier's
gallantry, immediately supposed it to be him, and she knew he was out on
the lake. She therefore advanced a step or two to look. It was so nearly
dark that she could only distinguish a man standing in the boat, whose
figure appeared to be that of Bellozane; and taking Madelon by the arm,
she hastily struck into the wood, to avoid him by returning to St. Alpin
before he should perceive her.
She had hardly walked twenty paces, when she heard the boat put on
shore, and two or three persons leap out of it. Still hoping, however,
to get thro' the wood before Bellozane could overtake her, she almost
ran with Madelon. But somebody seemed to pursue them. Her cloaths were
white; and she knew, that notwithstanding the evening was so far shut
in, and the path obscured by trees, she must yet be distinguished
gliding between their branches. The persons behind gained upon her, and
her pace quickened as her alarm encreased; for she now apprehended
something yet more disagreeable than being overtaken by Bellozane.
Suddenly she heard--'_Arretez, arretez, Mesdames! de grace dites moi si
vous etes de la famille du Baron de St. Alpin?_'[36]
The first word of this sentence stopped the flying Emmeline, and fixed
her to the spot where she stood. It was the voice of Godolphin--Godolphin
himself was before her!
The suddenness of his appearance quite overcame her, breathless as she
was before from haste and fear; and finding that to support herself was
impossible, she staggered towards a tree which grew on the edge of the
path, but would have fallen if Godolphin had not caught her in his arms.
He did this merely from the impulse of his natural gallantry and good
nature. What were his transports, when he found that the fugitive whom
he had undesignedly alarmed by asking a direction to St. Alpin, was his
adored Emmeline; and that the lovely object whose idea, since their
first meeting, had never a moment been absent from it, he now pressed to
his throbbing heart? Instantly terrified, however, to find her
speechless and almost insensible, he ordered the servant who followed
him to run back for some water; and seating her gently on the ground, he
threw himself down by her and supported her; while Madelon, wringing her
hands called on her _aimable_, her _belle maitresse_; and was too much
frightened to give her any assistance.
Before the man returned with the water, her recollection was restored,
and she said, faintly--'Mr. Godolphin! Is it possible?'
'Loveliest Miss Mowbray, how thoughtlessly have I alarmed you!--Can you
forgive me?'
'Ah!' cried she, disengaging herself from his support--'how came you
here, and from whence?'
Godolphin, without considering, and almost without knowing what he said,
replied--'I come from Lord Delamere.'
'From Lord Delamere!' exclaimed she, in amazement. 'Is he not in London
then?--is he not married?'
'No; I overtook him at Besançon; where he lies ill--very ill!'
'Ill!' repeated Emmeline.--'Ill, and at Besançon!--merciful heaven!'
She now again relapsed almost into insensibility: for at the mention of
Godolphin's having overtaken him, and having left him ill, a thousand
terrific and frightful images crouded into her mind; but the predominant
idea was, that it was on her account they had met, and that Delamere's
illness was a wound in consequence of that meeting.
That such an imagination should possess her, Godolphin had no means of
knowing. He therefore very naturally concluded that the violent sorrow
which she expressed, on hearing of Delamere's illness, arose from her
love towards him; and, in such a conclusion, he found the ruin of those
hopes he had of late fondly cherished.
'Happy, happy Delamere!' said he, sighing to himself.--'Her first
affections were his, and never will any secondary tenderness supersede
that early impression. Alas! his rejection of her, has not been able to
efface it--For me, there is nothing to hope! and while I thus hold her
to my heart, I have lost her for ever! I came not hither, however,
solely on my own account, but rather to save from pain, her and those
she loves. 'Tis not then of myself I am to think.'
While these reflections passed thro' his mind, he remained silent; and
Emmeline concluded that his silence was owing to the truth of her
conjecture. The grief of Lady Westhaven for her brother, the despair of
Lord Montreville for his son, presented themselves to her mind; and the
contemptuous return of her promise, which a few hours before she thought
of with resentment, was now forgotten in regret for his illness and pity
for his sufferings.
'Ah!' cried she, trying to rise, 'what shall I say to Lady
Westhaven?--How disclose to her such intelligence as this?'
'It was to prevent her hearing it abruptly,' said Godolphin, 'that I
came myself, rather than sent by a messenger or a letter, such
distressing information.'
So strongly had the idea of a duel between them taken possession of the
mind of Emmeline, that she had no courage to ask particulars of his
illness; and shuddering with horror at the supposition that the hand
Godolphin held out to assist her was stained with the blood of the
unfortunate Delamere, she drew her's hastily and almost involuntarily
from him; and taking again Madelon's arm, attempted to hasten towards
home.
But the scene of anguish and terror which she must there encounter with
Lady Westhaven, the distress and vexation of her Lord, and the misery of
believing that Godolphin had made himself for ever hateful to all her
own family, and that if her cousin died she could never again behold him
but with regret and anguish, were altogether reflections so
overwhelming, and so much more than her harrassed spirits were able to
sustain, that after tottering about fifty yards, she was compelled to
stop, and gasping for breath, to accept the offered assistance of
Godolphin. Strongly prepossessed with the idea of her affection for
Delamere, he languidly and mournfully lent it. He had no longer courage
to speak to her; yet wished to take measures for preventing Lady
Westhaven's being suddenly alarmed by his appearance; and he feared,
that not his appearance only, but his countenance, would tell her that
he came not thither to impart tidings of happiness.
It was now quite dark; and the slow pace in which only Emmeline could
walk, had not yet carried them through the wood. The agitation of
Emmeline encreased: she wished, yet dreaded to know the particulars of
Delamere's situation; and unable to summons courage to enquire into it,
she proceeded mournfully along, almost borne by Godolphin and Madelon;
who understanding nothing of what had been said, and not knowing who the
gentleman was who had thus frightened her mistress, was herself almost
as much in dismay.
After a long pause, Emmeline, in faultering accents, asked 'if the
situation of Lord Delamere was absolutely desperate?'
'I hope and believe not,' said Godolphin. 'When I left him, at least,
there were hopes of a favourable issue.'
'Ah! wherefore did you leave him? Why not stay at least to see the
event?'
'Because he so earnestly desired that his sister might know of his
situation, and that I only might acquaint her with it and press her to
go to him.'
'She will need no entreaties. Poor, poor Delamere!'--sighing deeply,
Emmeline again became silent.
They were to mount a small hill, which was between the wood they had
left and the grounds immediately surrounding St. Alpin, which was
extremely steep and rugged. Before she reached the top, she was quite
exhausted.
'I believe,' said she, 'I must again rest before I can proceed.'
She sat down on a bank formed by the roots of the trees which sustained
the earth, on the edge of the narrow path.
Godolphin, excessively alarmed at her weakness and dejection, which he
still attributed to the anguish she felt for Delamere, sat by her,
hardly daring to breathe himself, while he listened to her short
respiration, and fancied he heard the violent palpitation of her heart.
'And how long do you think,' said she, again recurring to Delamere--'how
long may he linger before the event will be known?'
'I really hope, and I think I am not too sanguine, that the fever will
have left him before we see him again.'
'The fever!' repeated Emmeline--'has he a fever then?'
'Yes,' replied Godolphin--'I thought I told you that a fever was his
complaint. But had you not better, my dear Madam, think a little of
yourself! Ill as you appear to be, I see not how you are to get home
unless you will suffer me to go on and procure some kind of conveyance
for you.'
'I shall do very well,' answered she, 'as I am, if you will only tell me
about Lord Delamere. He has only a fever?'
'And is it not enough,' said Godolphin. 'Tho', were I Lord Delamere, I
should think an illness that called forth in my favour the charming
sensibility of Miss Mowbray, the happiest event of my life.'
Having said this, he fell into a profound silence. The certainty of her
affection for Delamere, deprived him of all spirits when he most wanted
to exert them. Yet it was necessary to take some measures for
introducing himself at St. Alpin without alarming Lady Westhaven, and to
consider how he was to account to his brother for Delamere's
estrangement from Emmeline; and while he canvassed these and many other
perplexities, Emmeline, who was relieved from the most distressing of
her apprehensions, and dared not for the world reveal what those
apprehensions had been, in some degree recovered herself; and growing
anxious for Lady Westhaven, said she believed she could now walk home.
As she was about to arise with an intention to attempt it, they heard
the sound of approaching voices, and almost immediately lights appeared
above the hill, while 'Mademoiselle!--Miss Mowbray!--Madelon!--Madelon!'
was frequently and loudly repeated by the persons who carried them.
'The Baron and Lord Westhaven,' said Emmeline, 'alarmed at my being out
so late, have sent persons in search of me.'
Her conjecture was right. In a moment the Chevalier, with a flambeau in
his hand, was before them; who, when he found Emmeline sitting in such
a place, supported by a young man whom he had never before seen, was at
once amazed and displeased. There was no time for explanation. Lord
Westhaven immediately followed him; and after stopping a moment to
consider whether the figure of Godolphin which rose before him was not
an illusion, he flew eagerly into his arms.
The manly eyes of both the brothers were filled with tears. Lord
Westhaven had not seen Godolphin for four years; and, since their last
parting, they had lost their father. After a short pause, his Lordship
introduced Godolphin to Bellozane; and then taking the cold and
trembling hand of Emmeline, who leaned languidly on Madelon, he said--
'And you, my lovely cousin, for whose safety we have been above an hour
in the cruellest alarm, where did you find William, and by what
extraordinary chance are ye here together?'
Emmeline with great difficulty found voice enough to explain their
accidental meeting. And Bellozane observing her apparent faintness,
said--'you seem, Mademoiselle, to be extremely fatigued. Pray allow me
the honour of giving you my arm.'
'If you please,' said she, in a low voice. And supposing that Godolphin
would be glad to have some conversation with his brother, she accepted
his assistance and proceeded.
This preference, however, of Bellozane, Godolphin imputed to her
coldness or dislike towards himself; and so struck was he with the cruel
idea, that it was not without an effort he recollected himself enough to
relate to his brother, as they walked, all that it was necessary for him
to know. Lord Westhaven, anxious for a life so precious to his wife and
her family as was that of Lord Delamere, determined immediately to go to
him. At present it was necessary to reveal as tenderly as possible his
situation to his sister, Lady Westhaven; and first to dissipate the
uneasiness she had suffered from the long absence of Emmeline.
[Footnote 36: Stay, stay a moment, ladies! Have the goodness to tell me
whether you belong to the family of the Baron de St. Alpin?]