His Lordship told them that Lady Westhaven had been less alarmed at the
account he had given her of Delamere than he had apprehended; and that
she was preparing to begin their journey towards him immediately after
breakfast.
'I must send,' continued he, 'Miss Mowbray to her; who is, I understand,
already up and walking.'
Bellozane then informed his Lordship of what he knew of Emmeline. But
Godolphin was silent: he dared not trust himself with speaking much of
her; he dared not relate her illness, lest the cause of it should be
enquired into. 'Does Miss Mowbray go with my sister?' asked he.
'That I know not,' replied Lord Westhaven. 'Augusta will very
reluctantly go without her. Yet her situation in regard to Lord Delamere
is such'--He ceased speaking; looked embarrassed; and, soon after, the
Chevalier quitting the room, before whom civility would not allow them
to converse long in English, and to whom his Lordship thought he had no
right to reveal the real situation of Emmeline, while it yet remained
unknown to others, he related to his brother the circumstances of the
discovery that had been made of her birth, and of her consequent claim
to the Mowbray estate.
Godolphin, who would, from the obscurest indigence, have chosen her in
preference to all other women, heard this account with pleasure, only as
supposing that independance might be grateful to her sensibility, and
affluence favourable to the liberality of her spirit. But the
satisfaction he derived from these reflections, was embittered and
nearly destroyed, when he considered, that her acquiring so large a
fortune would make her alliance eagerly sought by the very persons who
had before scorned and rejected her; and that all the family would unite
in persuading her to forgive Delamere, the more especially as this would
be the only means to keep in it the Mowbray estate, and to preclude the
necessity of refunding the income which had been received for so many
years, and which now amounted to a great sum of money. When the pressing
instances of all her own family, and particularly of Lady Westhaven,
whom she so tenderly loved, were added to the affection he believed she
had invariably felt for Delamere, he thought it impossible that her
pride, however it might have been piqued by the desertion of her lover,
could make any effort against a renewal of her engagement; and his own
hopes, which he had never cherished till he was convinced Delamere had
given her up, and which had been weakened by her apparent affection for
him, were by this last event again so nearly annihilated, that, no
longer conscious he retained any, he fancied himself condemned still to
love, serve, and adore the object of his passion, without making any
effort to secure it's success, or being permitted to appear otherwise
than as her friend. He was vexed that he had been unguardedly explicit,
in telling her that he had ever indulged those hopes at all; since he
now feared it would be the means of depriving her conversation and her
manner, when they were together, of that charming frankness, of which,
tho' it rivetted his chains and encreased his torments, he could not
bear to be deprived. Melancholy and desponding, he continued long silent
after Lord Westhaven ceased speaking. Suddenly, however, awakening from
his reverie, he said--'Does your Lordship think Miss Mowbray _ought_ to
go to meet Lord Delamere?'
'Upon my word I know not how to advise: my wife is miserable without
her, and fancies the sight of her will immediately restore Delamere. On
the other hand, I believe Emmeline herself will with reluctance take a
step that will perhaps, appear like forcing herself into the notice of a
man from whom she has received an affront which it is hardly in female
nature to forgive.'
They were now interrupted by Bellozane, who flew about the house in
evident uneasiness and confusion. He did not yet know how Emmeline was
to be disposed of: he saw that Lord Westhaven was himself uncertain of
it; and he had been applying for information to Le Limosin and Madelon,
who had yet received no orders to prepare for her departure.
While Emmeline had created in the bosoms of others so much anxiety, she
was herself tortured with the cruellest uncertainty. Unable to resolve
how she ought to act, she had yet determined on nothing, when Lady
Westhaven sent for her, who, as soon as she entered the room, said--'My
dear Emmeline, are you not preparing for our journey?'
'How can I, dearest Madam--how can I, with any propriety, go where Lord
Delamere is? After the separation which has now so decidedly and
irrevocably taken place between us, shall I intrude again on his
Lordship's sight? and solicit a return of that regard with which I most
sincerely wish he had forborne to honour me?'
'You are piqued, my lovely friend; and I own with great reason. But Mr.
Godolphin has undoubtedly told you that poor Frederic is truly penitent;
that he has taken this journey merely to deprecate your just anger and
to solicit his pardon. Will my Emmeline, generous and gentle as she is
to others, be inexorable only to him? Besides, my sweet coz, pray
consider a moment, what else can you do? You certainly would not wish to
stay here? Surely you would not travel alone to St. Germains. And let me
add my own hopes that you will not quit me now, when poor Frederic's
illness, and my own precarious health, make your company not merely
pleasant but necessary.'
'That is indeed a consideration which must have great force with me.
When Lady Westhaven commands, how shall I disobey, even tho' to obey be
directly contrary to my judgment and my wishes.'
'Commands, my dear friend,' very gravely, and with an air of chagrin,
said her Ladyship, 'are neither for me to give or for you to receive.
Certainly if you are so determined against going with me, I must submit.
But I did not indeed think that Emmeline, however the brother may have
offended her, would thus have resented it to the sister.'
'I should be a monster, Lady Westhaven,' (hardly was she able to
restrain her tears as she spoke,)--'was I a moment capable of forgetting
all I owe you. But do you really think I _ought_ again to put myself in
the way of Lord Delamere--again to renew all the family contention which
his very unfortunate partiality for me has already occasioned; and again
to hazard being repulsed with contempt by the Marquis, and still more
probably by the Marchioness of Montreville. My lot has hitherto been
humble: I have learned to submit to it, if not without regret, at least
with calmness and resignation; yet pardon me if I say, that however
unhappy my fortune, there is still something due to myself; and if I
again make myself liable to the humiliation of being _refused_, I shall
feel that I am degraded in mind, as much as I have been in
circumstances, and lost to that proper pride to which innocence and
rectitude has in the lowest indigence a right, and which cannot be
relinquished but with the loss of virtue.'
The spirit which Emmeline thought herself obliged to exert, was
immediately lost in softness and in sorrow when she beheld Lady
Westhaven in tears; who, sobbing, said--'Go then, Miss Mowbray!--Go, my
dear Emmeline! (for dear you must ever be to me) leave _me_ to be
unhappy and poor Frederic to die.'
'Hear me, my dear Madam!' answered she with quickness--'If to _you_ I
can be of the least use, I will hesitate no longer; but let it then be
understood that I go _with_ you, and by no means _to_ Lord Delamere.'
'It shall be so understood--be assured, my love, it shall! You will not,
then, leave me?--You will see my poor brother?'
'My best, my dearest friend,' replied Emmeline, collecting all her
fortitude, 'hear me without resentment explain to you at once the real
situation of my heart in regard to Lord Delamere. I feel for him the
truest concern; I feel it for him even to a painful excess; and I have
an affection for him, a sisterly affection for him, which I really
believe is little inferior to your own. But I will not deceive you; nor,
since I am to meet him, will I suffer him to entertain hopes that it is
impossible for me to fulfil. To be considered as the friend, as the
sister of Lord Delamere, is one of the first wishes my heart now
forms--against ever being his wife, I am resolutely determined.'
'Impossible!--Surely you cannot have made such a resolution?'
'I have indeed!--Nor will any consideration on earth induce me from that
determination to recede.'
'And is it anger and resentment only have raised in your heart this
decided enmity to my poor brother? Or is it, that any other----'
Emmeline, whose colourless cheeks were suffused with a deep blush at
this speech, hastily interrupted it.--
'Whatever, dear Lady Westhaven, are my motives for the decision, it is
irrevocable; as Lord Delamere's sister, I shall be honoured, if I am
allowed to consider myself.--As such, if my going with you to Besançon
will give you a day's--an hour's satisfaction, I go.'
'Get ready then, my love. But indeed, cruel girl, if such is your
resolution it were better to leave you here, than take you only to shew
Lord Delamere all he has lost, while you deprive him of all hopes of
regaining you. But I will yet flatter myself you do not mean all
this.--"At lovers' perjuries they say Jove laughs."--And those of my
fair cousin will be forgiven, should she break her angry vow and receive
her poor penitent. Come, let us hasten to begin our journey to him; for
tho' that dear Godolphin, whom I shall love as long as I live,' (ah!
thought Emmeline, and so shall I) 'assures me he does not think him in
any danger, my heart will sadly ache till I see him myself.'
Emmeline then left her to put up her cloaths and prepare for a journey
to which she was determined solely by the pressing instances of Lady
Westhaven. To herself she foresaw only uneasiness and embarrassment; and
even found a degree of cruelty in permitting Lord Delamere to feed, by
her consenting to attend him, those hopes to which she now could never
accede, unless by condemning herself to the most wretched of all
lots--that of marrying one man while her love was another's. The late
narrative which she had heard from Godolphin, encreased her affection
for him, and took from her every wish to oppose it's progress; and tho'
she was thus compelled to see Delamere, she determined not to deceive
him, but to tell him ingenuously that he had lost all that tenderness
which her friendship and long acquaintance with him would have induced
her to cherish, had not his own conduct destroyed it--
But it was hardly less necessary to own to him part of the truth, than
to conceal the rest. Should he suspect that Godolphin was his rival, and
a rival fondly favoured, she knew that his pride, his jealousy, his
resentment, would hurry him into excesses more dreadful, than any that
had yet followed his impetuous love or his unbridled passions.
The apprehensions that he must, if they were long together, discover it,
were more severely distressing than any she had yet felt; and she
resolved, both now and when they reached Besançon, to keep the strictest
guard on her words and looks; and to prevent if possible her real
sentiments being known to Delamere, to Lady Westhaven, and to Godolphin
himself.
So painful and so difficult appeared the dissimulation necessary for
that end; and so contrary did she feel it to her nature, that she was
withheld only by her love to Lady Westhaven from flying to England with
Mrs. Stafford; and should she be restored to her estate, she thought
that the only chance she had of tranquillity would be to hide herself
from Delamere, whom she at once pitied and dreaded, and from Godolphin,
whom she tenderly loved, in the silence and seclusion of Mowbray Castle.
Her embarrassment and uneasiness were encreased, when, on her joining
Lord and Lady Westhaven, whose carriages and baggage were now ready, she
found that the Chevalier de Bellozane had insisted on escorting them; an
offer which they had no pretence to refuse. On her taking leave of the
Baron, he very warmly and openly recommended his son to her favour; and
Mrs. St. Alpin, who was very fond of her, repeated her wishes that she
would listen to her nephew; and both with unfeigned concern saw their
English visitors depart. Captain Godolphin had a place in his brother's
chaise; Madelon occupied that which on the former journey was filled by
Bellozane in the coach, the Chevalier now proceeding on horseback.
During the journey, Emmeline was low and dejected; from which she was
sometimes roused by impatient enquiries and fearful apprehensions which
darted into her mind, of what was to happen at the end of it. Every
thing he observed, confirmed Godolphin in his persuasion that her heart
was wholly Delamere's: her behaviour to himself was civil, but even
studiously distant; while the unreserved and ardent addresses of
Bellozane, who made no mystery of his pretensions, she repulsed with yet
more coldness and severity: and tho' towards Lord and Lady Westhaven the
sweetness of her manners was yet preserved, she seemed overwhelmed with
sadness, and her vivacity was quite lost.
As soon as they reached Besançon, Lord Westhaven directed the carriages
to stop at another hotel, while he went with his brother to that where
Lord Delamere was. At the door, they met Millefleur; who, overjoyed to
see them, related, that since Mr. Godolphin left his master the violence
of his impatience had occasioned a severe relapse, in which, according
to the orders Mr. Godolphin had given, the surgeons had bled and
blistered him; that he was now again better, but very weak; yet so
extremely ungovernable and self-willed, that the French people who
attended him could do nothing with him, and that his English footmen,
and Millefleur himself, were forced to be constantly in his room to
prevent his leaving it or committing some other excess that might again
irritate the fever and bring on alarming symptoms. They hastened to him;
and found not only that his fever still hung on him, tho' with less
violence, but that he was also extremely emaciated; and that only his
youth had supported him thro' so severe an illness, or could now enable
him to struggle with it's effects.
The moment they entered the room, he enquired after his sister and
Emmeline; and hearing the latter was actually come, he protested he
would instantly go to her.
Lord Westhaven and Godolphin resolutely opposed so indiscreet a plan:
the former, by his undeviating rectitude of mind and excellent sense,
had acquired a greater ascendant over Delamere than any of his family
had before possessed; and to the latter he thought himself so much
obliged, that he could not refuse to attend to him. He consented
therefore at length to remain where he was; and Lord Westhaven hastened
back to his wife, whom he led immediately to her brother.
She embraced him with many tears; and was at first greatly shocked at
his altered countenance and reduced figure. But as Lord Westhaven and
Godolphin both assured her there was no longer any danger if he would
consent to be governed, she was soothed into hope of his speedy recovery
and soon became tolerably composed.
As Lord Westhaven and Godolphin soon left them alone, he began to talk
to his sister of Emmeline. He told her, that when he had been undeceived
by Mr. Godolphin, and the scandalous artifices discovered which had
raised in his mind such injurious suspicions, he had declared to Lord
and Lady Montreville his resolution to proceed no farther in the treaty
which they had hurried on with Miss Otley, and had solicited their
consent, to his renewing and fulfilling that, which he had before
entered into with Miss Mowbray; but that his mother, with more anger and
acrimony than ever, had strongly opposed his wishes; and that his father
had forbidden him, on pain of his everlasting displeasure, ever again to
think of Emmeline.
After having for some time, he said, combated their inveterate
prejudice, he had left them abruptly, and set out with his three
servants for St. Alpin, (where Godolphin informed him Emmeline was to
be;) when a fever, owing to heat and fatigue, seized and confined him
where he now was.
'Ah, tell me, my sister, what hopes are there that Emmeline will pardon
me? May I dare enquire whether she is yet to be moved in my favour?'
Lady Westhaven, who during their journey could perceive no symptoms that
her resolution was likely to give way, dared not feed him with false
hopes; yet unwilling to depress him by saying all she feared, she told
him that Emmeline was greatly and with justice offended; but that all he
could at present do, was to take care of his health. She entreated him
to consider the consequence of another relapse, which might be brought
on by his eagerness and emotion; and then conjuring him to keep all he
knew of Lady Adelina a secret from Lord Westhaven (the necessity of
which he already had heard from Godolphin) she left him and returned to
Emmeline.
To avoid the importunity of Bellozane, and the melancholy looks of
Godolphin, which affected her with the tenderest sorrow, she had retired
to a bed chamber, where she waited the return of Lady Westhaven with
impatience.
Her solicitude for Delamere was very great; and her heart greatly
lightened when she found that even his tender and apprehensive sister
did not think him in any immediate danger, and believed that a few days
would put him out of hazard even of a relapse.
She now again thought, that since Lady Westhaven had nothing to fear for
his life, her presence would be less necessary; and her mind, the longer
it thought of Mowbray Castle, adhering with more fondness to her plan of
flying thither, she considered how she might obtain in a few days Lady
Westhaven's consent to the preliminary measure of quitting Besançon.