 Section 79 of the Inheritance by Susan Edmundstein-Ferrier. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 3, Chapter 8, several days past in the same manner, and every day some new scheme of useless profusion was suggested by Colonel Delmore and adopted by the Countess. New stables must be built to accommodate the additional number of horses he declared to be absolutely necessary. The present billiard room was inconvenient. A new one would cost a mere trifle. There was no good music room and there was no living in the country without a private theater. The present library might be turned into a conservatory and the smooth green bank which slope gradually down to the river must be changed into an Italian garden with hanging terraces and marble fountains and he sketched a design of the whole so beautiful that the Countess was in ecstasies. Mrs. St. Clair witnessed all this with very different feelings but she saw the ascendancy Colonel Delmore had gained over her daughter was absolute and she feared to come to extremities with either of them lest it should prove the means of throwing her more completely into his power and he might prevail upon her to unite herself to him notwithstanding her promise to the contrary. She had remonstrated with both on the impropriety of Colonel Delmore continuing to reside at Rossville in the present situation of the family but her words produced no effect till at length finding she could not dislodge him she formed the resolution of taking Lady Rossville to London as the best means of detaching her in some degree from him. She thought of Lindsay's words to let her see others no less gifted than he is and she thought it was not impossible that a change might be brought in Gertrude's sentiments at least there was more likelihood of it's being effected amidst the novelty and variety of the metropolis than in the romantic seclusion of Rossville. This resolution caused infinite chagrin to the lovers to Gertrude's young enthusiastic heart all happiness seemed centered in the spot which contained herself and the idol of her affections and although the mere inanimate objects of nature woods rocks water are in themselves nothing yet combined with the associations of fancy and memory they acquire a powerful hold upon our hearts. Every step to her was fought with fond ideas for it was at Rossville her feelings hadn't been most powerfully excited whether to joy or sadness and Rossville its trees its banks its flowers seemed all entwined with her very existence it is thus when the heart is exclusively occupied with one object it cleans with fontanacity to every circumstance connected with it. Alma Ma said she with the house said we think of leaving Rossville when it is just beginning to burst forth in all its beauty and to amure ourselves amidst the stone and lime and smoke and dust of London the only look at these almond trees and poplars. The Mrs. Sinclair put it on the footing of her health which required change of air and scene and a consultation of the London faculty and her daughter could say no more. Colonel Delmore shared in her regrets but his arose from a different cause his heart was too worldly and sophisticated to participate in those pure and simple pleasures which imparted such delight to hers but he was aware of the admiration Gertrude would excite when she made her appearance in London and he was unwilling that she should be seen there until she should be introduced as his wife. He thought too well of himself and her to dread any rival and her affections but still the gay world was very unfavorable to the growth of sentiment. There was a multiplicity of objects a diversity of amusements a glare a glittering bustle that could not fail to distract her attention and weaken the strength of that exclusive attachment she now cherished for him and selfish and engrossing as he was he felt that John would be diminished for the devotion lesson but in his murmurs and repinings Gertrude heard only the same tender regrets which filled her own heart even too overflowing and she loved him the more for this sympathy in her feelings the day before that on which they were to set off was the Countess's birthday but she would not have it observed this day two years at Shelby celebrated gaily nobly if you will said she and must this one pass away like other vulgar hours said Delmo unmarked by ought to distinguish it from common days without a single memorial to market poor that I am I have not even the most trifling momentum to lay at your feet I will not touch you so immersively as did the ladies of all their lovers said the Countess with a smile I want neither a dragon scale nor a hydra's head nor even a glass of singing water nor a branch of a talking tree but you shall bring me from the greenhouse arose unique and that shall be my only God today colonel delmore brought the rose lady roster drew from her finger a rare and costly gem which had belonged to the late Earl such tokens are but mere vulgar and off repeated emblems of an old story said she smiling from Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex down to the milkmaid and her rush ring but it will mark the day will it not and if you should turn rebel or high tyrant you must choose some more faithful messenger than poor Essex did and that's all the moral of my tale wrote to the hand that shall ever seek to wear this while I live exclaimed Delmore as he pressed it through his lip and then placed it on his finger lady Rossville's soul ornament when she appeared at dinner was the rose unique but the heat of the room caused it to expand through quickly and the leaves dropped suddenly away happily my nurse could never succeed in making me superstitious said she in a low voice to colonel delmore else I should have looked on this as some fatal omen the prodigy is answered he with a smile that either the rose unique has suddenly expired at envy at finding itself so eclipsed by the rare or that your gardener forces his flowers too much I fear the latter is the true cause answer the countess laughing and it is my own fault for I never have the patience to rate the gradual growth of anything I am for everything starting and too for blown perfection at once yes you say true submissive Sinclair significantly as she caught her daughter's last words art seems to carry the day with you and all things good truth is where you are beginning to discover your own foible colonel delmore bit his lip and the countess blushed with wounded feeling as she bent her head to pick up some of the scattered rose leaves in section 79 section 80 of the inheritance by susan edmund steam ferrier this Libra Vox recording is in the public domain volume three chapter nine une personne à la mode n'a de prix et de beauté que ce qu'elle emprend dans Paris la jacquie n'a été qui tombe presque dans le même instant aujourd'hui elle est coureux les femmes sont par demain elle est négliger et ronde du au peuple la brouillette lady Ross fills departure from the home of her father's call forth the regrets and the lamentations of the poor for although her attentions towards them had somewhat relaxed since colonel delmore's arrival yet she had done enough under Lindsay's auspices to render herself completely beloved by them the various works to which she had begun all in the spirit of profuseness and self gratification contributed for the present to her popularity and she flattered herself that she was equally actuated by beneficence and humanity although they had taken a different direction under her lover from what they had done under her cousin's guidance she since mended rather than suitable gifts to her aunts and her cousin and and directed that the former should be constantly supplied with the choices to fruits and flowers from Rossville she felt unwilling to depart without sending some remembrance to Lindsay some little token of her gratitude for all she owed him of generous interference of time and trouble and kindness hitherto but ill requited yet she feared to mention the subject before colonel delmore aware of the jealous irritability it might excite had linked the thought struck her to send him a picture of his mother which was the most admired and conspicuous of any of the family portraits it was a sir Joshua and down at a time when the subject was in all the graces of early beauty and the artist in all the fullness of his perfection the picture was therefore not really precious as a portrait but was valuable in itself as most of that great master's works are on account of its own intrinsic beauty there's something of Lindsay in the half melancholy half smiling expression of those dark eyes thought Gertrude as she looked on the picture something too of his reproachful look at it she with a sigh as her heart told her he had cause to reproach her she wrote a few lines to accompany the picture which was to be packed and sent after she was gone and then all being arranged she bad adieu to Rossville and the tears stood in her eyes as she looked on its budding woods and sparkling waters in the soft rays of vernal sunshine mrs. St. Clair had correctly refused permission to colonel delmore to accompany them to London and Gertrude had at once conceded that point to her mother however much grand he was therefore obliged to acquiesce and as his rate of traveling was rather more rapid than theirs he preceded them by several days in a prize by a note from the countess of their approach to the metropolis was at the hotel ready to receive them on their arrival the following day he brought his mother and sisters to introduce them to Gertrude she had anticipated the meeting with that trepidation natural to one so situated but her timidity was soon dispelled by the pleasant social manners of Lady Augusta and the lively good-humored frankness of her daughters there was much to attract and nothing to be afraid of and before they had been half an hour together Gertrude felt as though she were already one of themselves they were pressed to dine with Lady Augusta in book street but mrs. St Clair declared herself too much fatigue with a journey for such an exertion and Gertrude resisted their entreaties out of compliment to her mother they were however to meet the following day when something was to be fixed and after much talking and a great display of affection on both sides between the cousins they parted even mrs. St Clair was more pleased with them than she cared to admit to herself for they had paid her more attention than she was accustomed to receive and had they not been Colonel Delmore's mother and sister she would have been loud in her praises of them Gertrude spoke of them to her lover with all the warmth she felt but he appeared but little gratified by her commendations you do not seem sufficiently sensible how charming they are said she you did not say half enough in their praise I told you you would find Lady Augusta a very good-looking well-bred person did I not said he with a smile and the girls very gay and good-humored and very like other girls oh more than that Lady Augusta is very delightful and your sisters how much more agree about they are for instance than that miss mill banks are they yes by the by the miss mill banks are very scotch indeed but all mrs. scotcher English are pretty much alike a house had been procured in park lane mrs. St Clair thought it too magnificent and too expensive but colonel delmore approved of it lady rossville admired it and the house was taken then came equipages horses liveries and shortened establishment in which taste and splendor were alone consulted without in regard to the means which indeed Gertrude himself believed to be inexhaustible in which delmore with the reckless perfusion of selfish extravagance thought not about at all since lady rossville was to appear in the world his only anxiety was that she should at the first take her place at the very head of the fashionable world aware that if she once entered in an inferior grade she might not afterwards even as his wife be able to attain the proud preeminence of ton which of all preeminences is the one most esteemed in the great world lady augusta has kindly offered to introduce me to her milliner and jeweler and all sorts of useful people said Gertrude to him one day and in the evening she proposes that no ma and i should accompany her to the opera colonel delmore received this information rather dryly and seemed to hesitate in his reply at last he said i have a great respect for lady augusta's good sense and good intentions but really hurt trades people are so perfectly antediluvian that you will oblige me for having nothing to do with them Gertrude was disposed to take this as a joke but that she saw he was serious lady augusta does not dress in good taste continued he and as for the girls they can scarcely be said to have a taste at all they stick themselves ever with feathers or flowers or butterflies or anything that comes in their way emily rather carries it off well but poor george looks as if her ornaments had been actually blown upon her but how can i refuse so polite an offer and besides i don't know who are the people to employ leave all that to me or rather to a friend of mine lady charles erbin who comes to town tomorrow and who i shall bring to visit you immediately seeing Gertrude look surprised he added she is not handsome and his rather passe but she has the best air and taste of anybody in town in fact she gives the time at present everything and therefore i would rather that you to occur as your god and lady augusta that is in all matters of mere taste and fashion but i have a taste of my own in dress so lady rossville have displeased that the idea of being obliged to submit to the decision of another and a perfect one said colonel derma but taste alone won't do without fashion venus herself even attired by the graces would be thought mosad were she to be introduced by a duchess who had been excluded from all max or who had never slept at d house then who can value the blind admiration of the multitude said Gertrude not i indeed is much too paltry a triumph for me to take any trouble to require i care not astral for such empty distinctions and would rather have the approbation of your mother than of the whole fashionable world what a word for you said delmore laughing approbation is a very good thing in itself and a very useful school word but for you Gertrude with your charms and your graces to be approved out no you must be followed admired adored worship i'm afraid to is in your imagination alone i stand in a chance for being deified said Gertrude smiling so i shall something not start a candidate for immortal honors i'm not ambitious delmore and shall be satisfied with your homage and true affection since you will not allow me the approbation of your family but i'm proud and vain and ambitious of and for you there is Gertrude said delmore gaily and must not suffer your partiality for me and my family to detect from the brilliancy of your star but i would rather be introduced by them than by anyone else if lady a guest that does not mix much in society there's your aunt the duchess of berlington worse and worse grad delmore i would rather you never appeared at all than have you brought out by her why so ask Gertrude in some supplies is she not respectable criminal delmore could scarcely preserve his gravity at the question as he replied respectability like approbation is a thing of no account here it gives no consequence whatever to its possessor then what precious gifts of nature or requirements of art are they which do give consequence in this magic circle of yours said the counties that nameless je ne sais quoi which all admire but none can define and which unfortunately i highly respectable relations want the duchess is an excellent person in a way but she is antiquated in her notions dresses shockingly gives parties where i should blush to be detected and i should be undone where i have to be seen offering her my arm in public this was said in a sportive manner which made Gertrude look upon it as a jest then i may scarce to expect to be acknowledged by you tonight said she in the same tone perhaps it would be your ruin also were you to be seen in lady august's box talking to or it may be handing out a scotch cousin colonel delmore look great you will really oblige me city if you will decline going into public for a day or two although i've been talking mere nonsense on the subject yet i do assure you a first introduction is of more consequence than you at present are aware of consequence repeated Gertrude contemptuously if i'm not entitled to be of consequence on my own account i certainly do not wish to derive it from lady Charles araben you mistake the matter entirely dear skirt rudam desires you should appear with that effect which you are so well entitled to produce but which you will derive much more from your beauty and your grace than from your rank i cannot exactly make one so unsophisticated as you comprehend the arbitrary and capricious mechanism of the fashionable world no pray do not attempt it i'm sure i shall never be fashionable now delmore it was not best we talked and felt that dear rossville what was the world to us there with the heaven we were there now said delmore echoing her sigh but you mistake me Gertrude it is not that i placed the world in competition with you but that i abhor the thoughts of your preference for me lowering you in the slightest degree you have everything that entitles you to take the first place in the best society the absurd as it seems i must candidly confess to you that my family although high in rank and fair in character cannot do you justice in that respect i keep clear of all that sort of thing but if once you get into their circle you will be shackled eternally with bad parties and acquaintances will keep all the best people aloof for instance lady augusta would introduce the girls into that burlington set the consequences they are eternally followed by men with whom i don't associate in short secondary men whom they are forced to smile on vote that may you but that must not be with you Gertrude you have already given up too much for me do not as you love me add yet more to their self-reproach i sometimes feel thriving suffered you to sacrifice so much the feeling is a generous a noble one but i cannot help thinking it is a mistaken one said the counties but since you are so scrupulous i show you the point make me then what you will only pray don't make me a fine lady colonel delmore was all rapture and gratitude and only left her to go and inform his mother the lady rossville had caught cold and was unable to fulfill her engagements his sister's visit to her in the course of the day and Gertrude blushed with shame as she attempted to confirm the falsehood i have suspects at georgiana laughing that master fred has been telling you that mama is not fashionable he is so admired and ratio share himself that we think he gives himself errors so pray don't encourage him or you will spoil him entirely it is so provoking said my family that he won't allow you to go with us or i can see it is he that prevents you from going with us to kitchens this morning he has some such exquisite things just now things really to die for with a deep sigh since that is the case that Gertrude's mind i am fortunate in having escaped the danger but if you are not afraid to encounter it you shall each of you choose something for me according to your own taste and then i shall see how far we agree how happy you must be who can afford to choose what you like said both sisters sorrowfully for today i devolve my happiness upon you said lady rossville only remember to choose exactly what you should like for yourselves the sisters departed delighted with the commission and not without some latent suspicion as to the result of their choice which was verified by each receiving the very handsome and expensive articles of jewelry they had selected end of section 80 section 81 of the inheritance by susan edmund stune farrier this the bravox recording is in the public domain volume 3 chapter 10 the stage is pleasant and the way seems short all strewed with flowers the days appear but hours being spent in time beguiling sport ear griefs do neither press nor doubts perplex ears neither fear to curb nor care to vex quarrels perhaps no woman ever heard another highly commended by her lover without feeling at least a slight sensation of peak and jealousy and something of this sort gertrude had begun to cherish against lady charles erbin before she saw her she was therefore prepared to receive her was something of the air and manner with which a pretty spoiled child might be supposed to welcome its governess and unknown to herself there was a tournure of the head a color on the cheek a slight pout on the lip when that lady and colonel delmore were announced together but the first glance that lady charles instantly dispelled all her fears and thick coming fancies as she beheld what in common life would be called a middle age woman without any pretensions to beauty beyond a tolerably regular set of features and a figure which though evidently of a fine structure was thin almost to meagerness her dress was striking without being singular her manners were quiet but perfectly elegant and the two ensembles conveyed that impression of high birth and high breeding which is something too subtle and refined to be described or analyzed something of so delicate and impalpable a nature that it might sometimes escape notice altogether but for the effect it produces upon others gertrude had never felt that her mother was vulgar till she contrasted the florid pomposity of her manner with the ease grace and simplicity of lady charles arabin she spoke little and there was nothing in her conversation beyond the frivolous chat of the day but her voice and accent were both fine and she skimmed over subjects with an airy lightness that would have baffled anything like discussion even had anyone been so inclined she invited Gertrude to take a drive with her to which she readily exceeded notwithstanding Mrs. St. Clair's manifest displeasure which however she did not venture to express that lady was considerably annoyed by the manners of lady charles which made her feel her own as something unwieldly and overgrown like a long train they were both out of the way and in the way and she did not know very well how to dispose of them indeed few things can be more irritating than for those who have hitherto piqued themselves upon the abundance of their manner to find all at once that they have a great deal too much that no one is inclined to take it off their hands and that in short it is dead stock lady charles took leave for Gertrude stopped a moment in the drawing room behind her companions to say a few coaxing words to her mother then as she hurried to overtake them she heard lady charles say as an answer to some remark of colonel delmore she is perfect and she blushed as she caught the meaning glance he turned to cast upon her much was done in the way of shopping a variety of splendid dresses were ordered a great deal of the jewellery was purchased and Gertrude was world from place to place and from shop to shop till her head was almost turned with the varied and bustling scenes in which she was acting for the first time apart it is not at first that london either astonishes or delights it is too vast and too complicated to be taken in all at once either by the eye or the mind and it requires a little schooling to enjoy even the variety and the brillancy of its pleasures as they flash and rapid and never ceasing succession on the bewildered senses lady ross built like all novices felt something of this and she sighed for the peaceful romantic seclusion of her own domain where she was all in all and where her lover was all to her but it is not the young and admired who can stand long on the brink of pleasure indulging their own sentimental reveries and Gertrude with all her feeling and romance and enthusiasm as soon in the vortex of elegant dissipation born like a feather on the tide of fashionable celebrity she was hurried along she knew not with her well at the same time wherever she went she was hailed as the leader of every favorite fallen she was the idol of the day and she breathed only in an atmosphere of adulation baleful alike in its effects on the head and the heart amidst the delusions of the scene she forgot everything save her lover but even when all looks were turned upon her as the magnet of the glittering throng it was in his eyes only that she sought to read her triumph although her engagement with colonel delmore was pretty generally understood and he had all the bearing of the accepted lover still that did not prevent others from entering the lists but on the contrary was rather an additional attraction and men far superior to himself in rank and station and some of them not much his inferior impersonal endowments had declared themselves her lovers but even delmore jealous and irritable as he was felt that he had no cause to dread arrival in her affections mr. delmore and she had only met once and that at a formal dinner at the duke of berlington's where they had merely exchanged the common courtesies of acquaintanceship he was evidently of the family school the duke in dutch is being formal to all personages living in a vast and stately mansion amidst a profusion of magnificent heirlooms of every description that would have been an establishment for you gertrude cider mother as they left the mansion where she had felt more at home than amidst the gay unattainable ease of fashionable manners what madness to reject so magnificent a lot but even yet oh mama beware how you utter even a hope on that subject unless you would raise the shades of the whole race of the mighty departed delmores i've been thinking how fortunate it is that i am destined to be a mere sign on that noble stock how could i ever have sustained the whole weight of the family dignity i protest i've got a quick in my neck with only looking at and imagining the weight of the dutchess's old fashioned diamond necklace and gertrude said to herself that colonel delmore was quite right in wishing to preserve her from his family circle she now gave herself up with greater zest than ever to the round of frivolous occupations and amusements which form the sole business of so many and immortal beings existence in which are no less fascinating to the unreflecting mind than they are vain and unsatisfying to the eye of reason and experience it was to no purpose that mrs. st. claire remonstrated and threatened and denounced her power was gone she never had possessed the affection of the daughter and she had now lost the control of authority besides the counters afforded her little time or opportunity to expatiate on her extravagances she lived in such an unceasing world that mrs. st. claire had in vain strove to keep pace with her she had been obliged to relinquish the attempt their hours did not keep time and their engagements were in opposite spheres each had their apartments their carriages their society and Gertrude felt satisfied that her mother had all these things and was also noticed by and indeed in habits of intimacy with colonel delmore's family her own mornings were spent in sitting to have the sculptors and painters in town for busts and pictures in all possible variety to please the fastidious taste of her lover in writing in the park with him or in shopping with lady charles or some other frivolous idler in the evening there were dinners and parties and balls and operas and concerts and such quick succession has left her scarcely conscious of having been at one before she found herself at some other confess this is to live said delmore to her one evening as he led her from one gate multitude where she had been the admirer of all admirers to another where her appearance would excite an equal sensation all that is wanting replied she with a smile is time to feel one's enjoyment but i can scarcely tell whether i chase pleasure or it chases me or whether we are running a race or in short how we go on together take a ride with me tomorrow in the park and we shall go at a sober foot pace that you may have time to find out said delmore but tomorrow i give laurence another sitting take the ride first and you will go to him with a bloom that will make him burn his palates end of section 81 section 82 of the inheritance by susan edmund stewen farrier this libra vox recording is in the public domain volume three chapter 11 all these inconveniences are incident to love reproaches jealousies quarrels reconcilments war and then peace turns the countess smiled a consent and colonel delmore was at a breakfast table the following morning a selver stood upon it covered with cards notes letters bills petitions and memoranda of every description she carelessly tossed over some opening glanced over others while she listened at the same time to her lover as he read the record of her triumphs in that morning post at length as she discovered some post letters amid the heap she drew back her hand and with a shutter exclaimed ah these ugly letters what letters inquired delmore as he at the same time drew the stand towards himself oh some scotch perish business is that all lectures from my guardians and tiresome explanations from my steward art the best i have to expect i had a letter from him to the day telling me the school house was stopped for want of money how very distressing said colonel delmore with an ironical smile then you will have no long lean gray weeping looking building with its steep straight roof and its little green glass windows and its shoulders of hotty dotty white haired blubbered boys and girls i hope it was to have formed a vista in the park it would have been what is called i believe a most gratifying sight you're very kind to try to reconcile me to myself by treating it so slightly but i feel i have been to blame i've been too expensive in what respect in everything this service for instance pointing to the magnificent breakfast service of richly chased antique plate and several china i'm shocked to think how much it cost why though to be sure would have been cheaper and to the philosophic eye a pewter basin is as becoming perhaps as a silver one tis a pity you did not consult me instead of lady charles about it lady charles is certainly very extravagant set the countess gravely not more so than others in her rank lord charles has a good fortune and allows her to spend it which she does in supporting her station in society methodists and misers i believe are for abolishing all these distinctions and building conventicals and endowing hospitals with their money one of these letters i perceive is from lindsay cigarette treat with another side which you seem afraid even to look upon shall i open it for you do but first give zoe a few of these strawberries colonel delmore read the letter aloud it was short and hurried and the purport of it was communicating the sudden death of the parish minister of rossville by which means the countess would have it in her power to provide for young leslie who had just been with him bespeaking his good offices who is this leslie who finds such a patron in lindsay inquired colonel delmore he is a very interesting young man who is engaged to my cousin and black and the want of a church has said that you've been the only obstacle to the marriage how happy it makes me to have it in my power to remove it pray reach me my writing stand and i shall settle that sur le chant but instead of obeying delmore took the hand she had impatiently extended and said is it possible my dear gertrude you can be serious in this can you really think for a moment of having your relations placed so near you in so inferior a situation only consider the man's is almost close by the gate that is of little consequence with people who have no claim upon you but really the countess of rossville and her cousin the minister's wife thus brought in contact there is confusion in the thought lady rossville looked displeased then said my cousin is a person i never can feel ashamed of not as she is but as she will be when she degenerates into the minister's wife with her printed gown and black mittens with a troop of half licked cubs of children at her heels and the minister himself honest man at their head with his length locks and his customary suit of rusty blacks all coming to visit perchance to dine with their cousin the countess if you are ashamed of my relations you ought to have said so sooner said gertrude struggling with her emotion as it is it is not yet too late dear as gertrude how seriously you take my that inarge but you must be sensible that where the difference of rank and station is so great between near relations the local affinity had as well not be quite so close your own good sense and delicate perception must point out to you the inevitable this agrément that must ensue the slights that will be felt the offenses that will be taken the affronts that will be imagined my cousin is not a person of that sort said gertrude and i am sure her near vicinity would be a source of great pleasure to me i like her society and should have her often with me you may at present but be assured that could not possibly continue you must move in such different spheres and must associate with such different people that is impossible you could act or think alike for instance you told me that the duchess of arlingen the arabans lady pevelly mrs beachy and i know not all who had promised to pay you a visit at rasville this summer and to take parts in your theatricals if you can have the theater ready how do you suppose the minister and his wife could relish or be relished by those of your friends but i am in a manner pledged to my cousin not for this church surely no not for this one in particular but i repeatedly assured her that whenever i had it in my power i would befriend her and now it is so dearest group it is not in your power that is if i possess that influence with you i have hitherto flattered myself i did on that faith in the transaction i had lately with harry monty relating to my exchange into the guards i ventured to promise that the first church that was in your gift as the phrase is you would that is i would engage your interest in behalf of his old tutor quite a charity case as he represented it i married man with a large family and i forget all the particulars but at the time it struck me as a thing that would interest you lady rasville's color rose during this speech and for some moments she remained silent as if struggling with her feelings at last she said you have taken a strange liberty it seems and one which i cannot easily pardon at that moment a servant entered to say her lady ship's horses were at the door desire them to be put up i shall not ride today said she in taking up lindsey's letter she quitted the room leaving delmore too much peaked as well as surprised at this display of spirit to make any attempt to detain her he however lounged to considerable time at the breakfast table expecting her return tossed over all that litter of new publications and music and expensive toys that lay scattered about touched her harp to ascertain whether it were in tune and broke two of the strings stirred the fire although the room was suffocating then threw open a window exclaiming at the smell of a tuber rose but still gertrude did not return carriage after carriage was sent from the door and even lady charles was not admitted at length his patience was exhausted he wrote dearest gertrude see me but for one moment as you love me and ringing the bell he desired it might be conveyed to lady rasville a verbal answer was returned her lady ship was sorry she was particularly engaged and delmore too proud to sue any further left the house in a transport of indignation end of section 82 section 83 of the inheritance by susan edmund stune farrier this leber vox recording is in the public domain volume 3 chapter 12 his nature's course dissolved death times glass stand or has some phallic heart set back the hand of fate's perpetual clock will it never strike his crazy time grown lazy faint or sick with very age quarrels gertrude too was proud in her way and her feelings have been severely wounded she had already become sufficiently fine to be able to feel in some degree the truth of what delmore had said in regard to her relations but she was peak that he should have been the person to force so disagreeable a conviction upon her he who had so often declared that she was all the universe to him and whose favorite maxim it was that love could see no defects in art pertaining to the object beloved how often had he repeated to her when she smilingly jid his flatteries occur laser lesions de la mort sans tab miable des flatteries sans temps on sans des vérités le jugement sauté mais le cours part of why was it then that he was become so clear-sighted as thus to anticipate these paltry feelings of wounded vanity and to represent so far already as to have usurped her power to have promised a way in her name without leave asked or obtained a gift of so much importance one which she might have had a pleasure in conferring at his solicitation but which it would be weakness to allow to be thus taken from her lindsey would not have acted thus thought she as she looked at his letter and a tear dropped upon it she leaned her head upon her hand and for the first time since her arrival in london fell into a train of reflection from which she only roused herself to begin an answer to his letter but she only got as far as my dear cousin i'm happy to have it in my power when pernell delmore's billet was brought to her she read it and wavered no i will not see him thought she proudly at this triumph over her already returning tenderness but i will not finish my letter to lindsey till tomorrow one day can make no difference and there's almost time to go to laurence's she rang and ordered the carriage then drove to lady august is to get one of the girls to accompany her as they drove along delmore passed on horseback and merely bowed with an air of lofty respect fred seems to be on his high horse today submissed georgina laughing i told you he would give himself airs but looking after him he certainly is the handsomest man in town and unquestionably the most admired and imitated apropos have you seen the duchess of saint iris i hear she's already doffed her weeds and come out when all her glory delmore was an admirer of hers you must know in her marriage state at least so the ill-natured world said i know she is desperately in love with him and i believe would marry him tomorrow if he would ask her so she will be ready to poison you or appears you to the heart perhaps with a bodkin as the ladies and old ballads used to do their rivals there certainly was nothing in this that ought to have gratified a mind in a right state of feeling it was food for a perverted taste only but how often are the passions and the prejudices gratified at the expense of the principles gertrude vanity was pleased to hear her lover praise and her pride was piqued to show her triumph over the duchess of saint ives these two ladies had met exchanged cards and graced each of his parties but a mutual and instinctive sort of antipathy had from the first existed between them they were both young beautiful distinguished and independent rivals and celebrity and extravagance gertrude learned for the first time that they were also rivals in love and a momentary pang shot across her breast at the discovery but hers was not a nature to harbor jealous fears and she soon dismissed them no thought she would ever delmore's faults may be i should belong him were i to doubt his love and truth and she recollected some sliding and satirical remarks he had made upon the duchess the evening before she therefore listened with complacency well miss delmore rattled away about the duchess her beauty her pride her parties her diamonds her jointure her independence of all control and to sum up the whole she concluded with her sigh you know i never see the duchess of saint ives that i do not wish i had been born a widow when gertrude returned home it was in the secret hope of hearing that colonel delmore had called during her absence as anybody called since i went out inquired she a reporter as she entered the hall oh surely my lady replied he in some surprise at such a question as he pointed to a pile of cards no one else as she tossed them over with an air of chagrin no my lady in the same tone of amazement at being for the first time so strictly interrogated on the duties of his office he may have called although that stupid man has forgot to mention it thought she and he will probably call again it is not very late those french clots and watches are always wrong as they told a different tale it cannot be more than seven but just then mrs st. clare entered and the mother and the daughter exchanged their mourning salutations the former was going to the theater as it was one of her greatest enjoyments to patronize a large party of secondary people by whom she was looked up to with that respect with money and consequence will always procure from one side if not from another she expressed her astonishment at finding her daughter seated at a harp in her morning dress and that count is hastily rising said she was just going to commence her toilet but i've done with lady pevelly who is always late and then what else asked mrs st. clare then i believe i should go to the opera with lady charles and i shall perhaps just look in for half an hour at the detris of allingtons you are killing yourself gertrude absolutely killing yourself you look wretchedly i must put a stop to this we must leave this town we shall talk of that tomorrow mama goodbye drive the countess as she flew away to her dressing room anxious to avoid all unpleasant discussion she hath expected to meet colonel delmore at dinner but she was mistaken at all events there could not be a doubt of seeing him at the opera into the opera she went with lady charles escorted by two or three men to stand gay but delmore was not there and she watched the opening of every box to see whether he would not yet enter her whole attention absorbed in this single point of observation she neither saw nor heard anything else she was merely conscious that her companions were amused at something she knew not cared not what till at last lady charles touching her on the arm said do lady ross will take our little share of our diversion bad as it is that our little nid not in faces too good to be kept all to ourselves and to so comical all its nods and grimaces seen as if directed to our box it is very savage that none of us will return the compliment said lord ifrington it will be no sinecure semester fava sore there must be a prodigious arrear and still accumulating as a fresh succession of nods ensue we must draw lots said lord ifrington but fava sore has the strongest head of the party while this was going on lady rossville had looked to the spot indicated and there in the center of the pit was to be seen a long small throat with a pretty little broad smirking delighted looking face on the top of it so mounted by a most elaborate pile of hair dressed in all the possible varieties of style combining grecian braids and gothic bows and tusking curls which seem to vibrate with renewed vigor as that countess looked in that direction surely thought she that is a face I have seen somewhere but she still looked on it with a vacant eye till it once it flashed upon her that the face and the head and the nods were all combined in the person of her cousin mrs. Augustus Larkins as if to confirm the fact mr. Augustus himself a caricature of the reigning fashions turned round and joined his bowels to his lily's nods on first coming to town Gertrude had heard from mrs. Sinclair that they were in the country which had proved rather a relief and from that time to the present no thought of mr. or mrs. Larkins had ever crossed her brain and now to be recognized by them in this public manner where they were only conspicuous to be laughed at the countess felt her very temples glow and with an exclamation at the heat of the house she drew back and rose and took a chair in the back of the box how mean how silly I am thought she to herself that dare not acknowledge my own relations for fear of sharing in that pitiful ridicule of two or three people who are nothing to me or I could beat myself for my following ah Delmore knows me better than I know myself and I've quarreled with him because he does so and tears of mortification and disappointment rose to her eyes I will get the better of this paltry feeling said she to herself and again she returned to the front of the box determined to acknowledge her cousin but the ballet was drawing nearer clothes and mr. and mrs. Larkins devoted their whole attention to it then came the bustling confusion of breaking up and Gertrude began to think she should have her good resolutions for her pains when again the good humored lily turned round her bright joy's face and lady Rossville gave her a smile and a bow of recognition but the next moment she felt her cheeks glow as she beheld the whole party as if touched by electricity faced about simultaneously with looks of eager expectation again she turned away and only breathed freely when she found herself in her carriage Delmore was not at the Duchess of Allenton's Lady Charles expressed her astonishment at not finding him in any of his usual haunts and Gertrude disclaimed all knowledge of his proceedings with as much indifference as she could assume he is probably at the Duchess of St. I've said Lady Stanley she has a musical party I believe tonight again the Countess found the heat insupportable and her easy good humored chaperone left the party with her as soon as her carriage could be got Gertrude returned home weiried in body and wretched in mind all the worst qualities of her nature have been called forth and excited during the day presentment and the pride jealousy had all been felt and some of their leavens still rot in her breast oh how I hate myself and how hideous I look thought she as she glanced at herself in a mirror is this pleasure how different from the sweet serene days I passed at Rossville but there I was not the vain foolish fantastic thing I am here Lindsay was right when he told me I should never find my happiness in what the world calls pleasure and the admired and envied Lady Rossville owned for the time that to be admired was but vanity and to be envy but vexation of spirit better sound sleep and a bright sun have wonderful effects in dispelling solemn thoughts and the following morning found Gertrude's mind again gay with ideas of happiness and her beauty restored to all its native freshness she tried to think how she ought to receive Delmore but she never could study apart she must always be swayed by circumstances about impulses and to these she committed herself perhaps I shall find him already below thought she and in that half formed expectation she hastened to breakfast there may be some mistake was the next idea that occurred those people are all so stupid and she rang the bell I am at home to everybody this morning everybody my lady yes everybody she dolled over breakfast again murmured at the rapidity of her timepiece while in her heart she felt the slowness of time itself amongst her letters was one from Anne Black to the same effect as Lindsay's I'm quite resolved said she as she read it that William Leslie shall have that church all that I will concede is that I shall first convince Delmore of the propriety of it to be sure I may answer Lindsay's letter now and she took up a pen but I think I began one yesterday which I left in my dressing room I may as well finish it as begin another the entrance of Mrs. Sinclair added another to the many excuses for procrastination end of section 83 section 84 of the inheritance by Susan Edmund Farrier this LibriVox recording is in the public domain volume 3 chapter 13 perish those who have said our good things before us do not us that lady had by some means discovered that a misunderstanding had taken place between the counties and Colonel Delmore though she was ignorant of the cause of it and she deemed it more politic to take no notice of it that she might not be suspected of any sinister design and wishing to get her daughter out of London but before she had an opportunity of beginning an oration on the subject Lady Rossville held out her cousin's letter to her saying by the by mama do you know Mr. Bald the minister of Rossville is dead and I mean to bestow the church upon William Leslie here is a letter from Anne upon the subject Mrs. Sinclair look very solemn you forget you have guardians to consult upon these occasions Gertrude I had a letter from Edward yesterday he is very anxious for it and Anne says her father will not object to it Lord Milbank you know is a mere name and of course you must approve of it mama no I do not approve of your being instrumental to the degrading of your uncle's daughter into the wife of your parish minister if you will throw herself away that it be in some remote situation but don't let her bring her poverty and contempt to our very door she may be poor but I'm sure she never can be despised mama poverty and contempt generally go hand in hand in this world said Mrs. Sinclair she cannot possibly afford to dress herself even upon an occasion so as to be fit to appear at your table as your cousin though merely as the minister's wife she might pass without observation she is so gentle and ladylike in her manners and so I'm assuming in her dress that I'm sure I never could be ashamed of either then she can scarcely afford hats and shoes certainly not stockings and gloves to her children and you would enjoy it very much every time you went outside your gate to be followed by a troop of half naked urchin staring after their fine lady cousin but mama I promised but at present you have no right to perform you are a minor you are under pupil age it is your guardians you must be guided by wait till you are of age and then do as you think proper by that time a much better living may be in your gift for this I understand is one of the poorest the discussion will stop for just then they drew up an equipage somewhat of a different style from those which usually grace the countess's door it was a very large heavy roomy looking coach evidently built to carry six of a strong salmon color with grass green hammer clock and green and orange liveries the general effect was shocking to the eye of taste and Gertrude uttered an exclamation of horror as she caught a glance of it it appeared to be literally as full as it could hold as sundry bonnets were to be seen and it was some minutes before mr larkin's could extricate himself from the company within and several more elapsed before mrs larkin's emerged then followed another lady and another in last time and all four were actually in the hall before lady wasville had presence of mind to take any precautions against this eruption mr and mrs augustus larkin's miss larkin's miss barba larkin's were now announced and much bowing and curtsying and introducing took place and the good nature simple really seemed as though she never would worry of shaking hands and expressing her delight at sight of her aunt and cousin that length they were all seated and then apologies commence for not having been to wait upon them sooner you must have thought it very unkind said she but we have been staying at old mr larkin's is beautiful villa willow bank and we only came back to town the day before yesterday and how odd it was that we should see each other first at the opera i saw you didn't know me at first but i guess i said he dare said you were angry because i had not been to wait upon you but i assure you it was only the day before yesterday we came to town and yesterday we couldn't get old mr larkin's is coach for he wanted it himself but we have got it today and all mrs larkin's came with us but she has hurt her leg and finds it very troublesome to get out so she hopes you'll excuse her charming house this man observed mr augustus surveying the apartment all around monsues nice house indeed said miss larkin's sweet party house it is said miss barbara larkin's well men you have been to our theaters of course inquired mr augustus lady rostro answered in the negative good law men it ain't possible why then you have seen nothing suppose we make a party for jury lane some of these nights a thundering rapid the door here proclaimed other visitors and gertry thought she would have swooned when the duchess of saint ives was announced she rose to receive her in the other drawing room but she was too late the duchess was already in the very heart of the larkin's is how do you do dear lady rostro i heard you were taking them at the duchess of allentons last night and i felt quite anxious about you but you seem pretty well today this was added in that tone of incident condescending superiority which is intended at once to convey an impression of the speaker's own triumphant happiness and their commiseration for the person they are addressing. Gertry tried to repel it but she was no adept in dissimulation and her attempt at gertry failed when she answered that she had merely been fatigued by the length of the ballet at the opera and overcome by the excessive heat of the duchess's wounds. i judged wisely then it seemed said that duchess perilously and having my own little quiet party at home though to own the truth i believe i was rather wise by compulsion as i had two or three friends dining with me who positively would not go away and i was forced to sing to them till i actually made myself hoarse giving a little affected cough as she spoke. Gertry's collar rose in her heartbeat but she made no reply. Mrs. St. Clair therefore thought it necessary to say something if only to prevent the larkin's says i'm getting in a word your grace's musical powers it seems have greater attractions than even the wonder of the day the celebrated catalanine. Oh dear no said the duchess in a sort of careless contemptuous manner as if she disdained to be complimented but is pleasant to sing with those who understand one style of singing. There is only one person i know who can sing. Beliche, Chi, Wea, Mira, that is in the way i sing it. That was colonel Delmore's favorite song and one gertry had he had often sung together and she had heard him mention the duchess of St. Ives's style of singing as something fine though in a different style from hers. She felt that her agitation with the treasurer if she attempted to carry on the conversation and she was glad even to turn to the larkin's says who attracted by the splendid binding of some books which lay upon one of the tables had begun to inspect her rather to handle them. This is beautiful said Mrs. Larkin's displaying some fine engravings in one of them to her sisters-in-law and never saw this before by Mrs. Tigg reading the title of it. Fish-G, my dear, whispered Mr. Larkin's as if a little ashamed of her mal pronunciation. Dear, is that B-C-G? Said Mrs. Larkin's a sweet, purty thing it is. Gertry could almost have cried at this malat-pot murder of Psyche by Mrs. Tigg while the duchess had recourse to her little effective cough to conceal the play of her muscles apropos of music which we were talking of. Said, she pray is not Colonel Delmo some relation of yours. I think he told me you were somehow cousins. How very well he sings for Liche, she we mirror. Yes, I believe Colonel Delmo is my cousin. Said Lady Rosfield now brought up to an era of hearty indifference and he does sing some things very well in particular. For I, Che, Alman per Gioche. Ah, that I suppose he keeps for his particular favorites. Said the duchess with an incident smile as he has never sang it to me. I shall certainly reproach him with his treachery when I see him. Meanwhile, good morning, dear Lady Rosfield. I'm quite happy to find you so well. And with a squeeze of a hand to the countess, a slight bow to Mrs. Sinclair and a super silly astere. At the Larkin says as they all rose and bowed and curtsied with profound respect, she swept out of the room. Gertry was much too wretched to know or care what passed during the remainder of the visit. She heard something said about her dinner and about party to the play and about all Mr. Larkin's villa and all Mrs. Larkin's leg and in the inanity of despair, she assented to everything and they had learnt to cleave in patient to carry the tidings of all that had seen and heard to their less noble acquaintances. End of section 84. Section 85 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmundstone Ferrier. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 3, Chapter 14. My truant heart forgets each lesson that resentment taught and in my sight knows only to be happy. Mason's Elfrida. Like all those who are the slaves of their feelings, Lady Rosfield found she must fly to one extreme or other. She must either shut herself up in her chamber and refuse to be comforted, or she must plunge still deeper into the whirlpool of folly and extravagance to drown thought. As persons in a similar state of mind generally do, she chose both evils. She first wept the bitter tears of jealousy and mortification, then ordered her carriage and, throwing on a veil, grove away to Lady Charles Erebin to get her assistance in choosing some dresses and jewels. I may as well order the furniture I want for Rosfield too, said she to herself, I shall be there very soon now, and the tears again sprung to her eyes as Rosfield and all its tender recollections rose to her mind, but she strove to put them down with a splendid plan she tried to busy her imagination about. On being ushered into Lady Charles's drawing room, she found her surrounded by gentlemen, children and dogs, and the bustle of her first entrance prevented her all at once from recognizing Colonel Delmore amongst the number, and when she did a mutual bow was the only acknowledgement. One by one the idlers dropped off, the children were sent to dinner, and only Lady Charles and her two friends remained. Gertrude then made her request to which she acceded adding, though as I have got a little cold today and your carriage is open I must wrap up, so pray don't tire to death if I should be ten minutes at my toilet, and with a smile she disappeared. Silence ensued, Gertrude carefully avoided looking in the direction where Delmore was, lest he should construe it into an appeal to him, and she almost feared to breathe lest he should imagine she had spoken. She flattered herself, she was the very emblem of indifference and abstraction, but even through the folds of her veil Delmore marked with secret triumph for equivering lip and tearful eyes. At length this state became too painful to be endured, she rose with the intention of passing into the adjoining drawing room when Delmore approaching her with an air of agitation said, although I should not have presumed to seek an interview with Lady Rostel in her own house again after having been once turned from it yet I cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without making an attempt to obtain from her justice, but I have now little hope of owing to her tenderness. He stopped in emotion but Gertrude felt her tears ready to spring forth and made no reply. All I ask is that you would hear what I have to offer in excuse for my conduct rash and unwarrantable as it must appear to you until, in some degree, explained. I was wrong, said Lady Rostel, summoning all her pride to her aid. The step you had taken was one of so extraordinary a nature that I certainly ought to have heard what you had to offer in vindication of it. This was a more prompt and spirited reply than Colonel Delmore had reckoned upon, and for a moment or two he was silent and disconcerted. He then said, I find I have mistaken your character, or rather I have judged it by my own. Had I been master of the universe, my pride, my happiness would have been that the object of my love should from the moment I love be the partner also of my power, be it what it might, but your sentiments are different from mine, it seems. I too should have had a pleasure in sharing the gifts of fortune, whatever they were, said the Countess, but to have them rested from me. But I never sought to rest them from you, said Delmore, with earnestness, though being rather rough and blunt in speech I perhaps did not go so wooingly to work as someone more designing would have done. I told you too briefly perhaps the simple truth that at your wish I had used every means to get myself exchanged into the guards, but it was a matter of difficulty. And why should I scruple to own it of expense too beyond my means, but this I was too proud to own to you, and I have been punished for it in short not to bore you with powers and business detail, my auntie proposed that I should engage too to use my influence with you to provide for this old tutor of his who is a sort of dead weight upon the family, and I in the belief that I was pardon my presumption gratifying you foolishly enough pledged myself to that effect. Nay more that you would obtain it, said Lady Rosfield, still struggling against betraying her tenderness. Perhaps I did in the sanguine hope that when the time came for fulfilling my promise I should then have acquired greater influence with you than I can flutter myself I now possess. But that hope is at an end, however disgraceful it may be to fail in my promise disgrace itself could scarce be more intolerable than the misery I have endured under your displeasure. And yet you could sing with the duchess of St. Ives, said Gertrude reproachfully, while her cheek flushed and the tear swelled to the very brim. Did I, and may be so, for I can scarcely tell what I have done for the last four and twenty hours? Yes, now I recollect Lord Westerton forcing me to her house, and being compelled to sing with her something or other, I forget what that I used I believed to sing with her before the flood, that is, when I rather admired her, brought viewer a style of beauty and of singing, but these days are past, never to return. Gertrude's tears hither to with difficulty restrain, now dropped from her eyes, but they were tears of joy and tenderness. Ah Delmore, said she, as she gave him her hand, we have both been to blame, you have been rash and ah heasty, but you shall keep your promise. She rose and placed herself at a writing table. What is the name of the person you wish to befriend? Asked she, as she began to write, but she, aside as the name of William Leslie, presented itself to her mind's eye. Colonel Delmore could not tell the name, but she wrote a few lines, engaging to bestow the church and living her last film upon so and so, then presented the paper to her lover, who, with effective generosity for some time, refused to receive it, but at length the count is prevailed, and he consented to keep his promise at the expense of hers. Steele Gertrude did not feel happy, but the usual panacea was applied, the squandering money, in dissipating thought. Colonel Delmore was of shopping party and encouraged her in every expensive win. The most magnificent orders were given for furnishing Rossville with all possible expedition, and to crown her transient delusive pleasure when they met the Duchess of St. Ives, Delmore's only salutation to her was a distant bow. Do you go to her assembly tonight and inquire the countess of her lover, not unless to accompany you? Then pray, don't, dear Lady Rossville, said Lady Trouse, who was of the opposite faction to the Duchess. Do both of you come and dine quietly with Arabine and me? My cold is really too bad to admit of my going out in an evening, and you know we never give dinners, and we shall be a party choir, eh? No bad things sometimes. Gertrude consented in a quiet evening was passed partly in arranging a ball to be given by her, and partly in losing fifty guineas to Lord Trouse at Eicharte. What an odd jumble of a day this has been, thought she as she later had on her pillar, and yet I have had a great deal of pleasure in it too, but she sighed as she said it for not all the delusions of her own heart, or the blandishments of her lover could stifle the voice of conscience, or conceal from her that she had acted unjustly and unwisely. What shall I say to Lindsay was the first thought that presented itself the following morning, but by the time she was dressed she heard Delmore's well-known knock. I fear I shall not have leisure to write to him today, so that she, as she hastened to receive her lover, glad of the excuse for delaying the irksome task. Then came the strenuous idleness of the day, most unremittingly persevered in, for many successive days till at length it became too late to think of writing at all. It would be better now to wait till she returned to Rossville, she could explain the matter so much better in person than she could do by letter. Alas, she took not into account how few of the great and the gay do the thought of that hope deferred, which maketh the heart sick and which was experienced in all its intensity, as post after post arrived, and brought no tidings for those whose happiness hung upon her word. Anne wrote again in the blush of shame, and Delmore stained Lady Rossville's cheek as she beheld her cousin's handwriting, but she opened all her trifling bullets and read all her cards and newspapers and pampered her dog, and made her bullfinch pipe to her, but still she could not find leisure to break the seal of her cousin's letter. Her mind was now averse to exert itself upon anything that did not bring some semblance of pleasure along with it, and it was not so much the wanted leisure as the utter inability to employ what she had to any useful purpose, that thus bereft her of all self-command and power of action, the thought she takes is how to take no thought, an art in which she was every day becoming a greater adept. She went, however, with her mother to return Mrs. Larkins's visit, and found the romantic rally settled to her heart's content in a dull, vulgar, well-furnished house in the heart of the city, talking cockney by way of English and overflowing with rapture at her own blissful lot. She pressed most vehemently for her aunt and cousin to fix a day to dine with them. Augustus would be so disappointed if they did not do it. He was so anxious they should meet some new relations of his. So Christopher and Lady Huggins, he had been Lord Mayor once, and was a remarkably genteel, nice man. And Lady Huggins was such a nice woman, but indeed Augustus was very particular in his friends and had no idea of visiting vulgar people. But if they would not fix it now, Augustus and she would call in Park Lane someday very soon, for she knew he would take no denial. He kept a gig and could drive her there any day. At this threat, Lady Roscoe promised to look over the list of her engagements when she returned home. And if she had a day disengaged before leaving town, she would dine with them. O cousin, you really must not think of going away without dining with us. I assure you Augustus will never forgive you if you do, and you are a great favorite of his at present. There's a same clear here engaged that a day should certainly be allotted for the purpose, and at length they were permitted to depart with much lamentation that Augustus was from home and repeated assurances of calling again someday soon. In hopes of averting that evil Gertrude upon consulting her engagements found a day disengaged and it was settled accordingly that it should be given to the Larkinses. There's a same clear indeed rather anticipated pleasure from a party there. She was sure of being of consequence and of making and causing a fuss and a bustle, a thing she could by no matter of means affect in the higher circles where she could not even shine in the reflected lust of a daughter. End of section 85, section 86 of the Inheritance by Susan Edmunds-Doomfarer. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 3, chapter 15. O fair ladies, how pleasing war this life of yours if it should ever abide and then in the end that we might pass to heaven with all this gay gear, John Knox. Meanwhile the day of the ball arrived and even in the greatest of great houses a ball causes more or less of confusion and commotion. Mrs. Sinclair had in vain remonstrated against it. Her remonstrances indeed were rather reproaches as the cards had been issued before she had even been consulted in the preparations made upon the most splendid scale had all been arranged by the Countess and Colonel Delmore aided by some of their friends. They were to come early to assist her in receiving the company and she was dressed and her apartments lighted. In due time she walked through them with almost childish delight. All was light and flowers and perfume and her own figure radiant and beauty and pleasure flashed upon her in all directions from the magnificent mirrors as they gave back the brilliant scene in almost endless succession. She had stopped at one of them to alter something about her hair when in the long vista she perceived the servant ushering in a gentleman who she immediately concluded must be Delmore. She turned round to meet him with a smile but to her amazement she beheld not her lover, but her guardian, Lindsay. Mr. Lindsay, my dear cousin, exclaimed she, but there was more of surprise than pleasure in the accent in which the words were uttered. How, where have you dropped from the moon? No, dear Gertrude, said he, as he affectionately shook her hand, you have given me a long journey, but not quite so long a one as that. I come from Scotland. From Scotland, repeated Lady Rossville in some confusion, as her conscious motor at the sound, and how long have you been in town? Only since the morning, but is my morning, which I suppose is your daybreak, for I called, such as my vulgarity about noon, and was told my lady was not up. I left my card and called again at three when I was told my lady had just gone out, and here I am now. It seems just in time for my lady's ball. Will you indeed stay, quite Gertrude, rather at a loss, to ascertain whether he were in jest or earnest, that will add so much to my pleasure, that is I, but indeed I never heard you had called, and I forgot to look over my cards this morning. Is that all you have forgot, Gertrude, inquired Lindsay, in a somewhat reproachful tone? I fear not, said she, with a smile and a blush, but the one was forced, the other natural, but this is not the time for me to remember all I have forgot. When is the time, then, Gertrude? Oh, any time you know, that, that, any morning, any morning sometimes means no day, does it not, said Lindsay, but I have come far on purpose to see you and to talk with you, since you will not write to me, and I must know when you will be disengaged. Spoken like a guardian indeed, said the Countess with an affected laugh, but since you must know, I must candidly confess that I really cannot at this precise moment recollect what my engagements are. Tomorrow I know I made a party to go to Richmond by water to breakfast, I wish to get out of the way of the debris of tonight, and what follows, why we shall probably dine there and return in the evening, when I have several engagements, and the day after tomorrow, can I see you then? What day is that, Friday? I'd rather think, yes indeed. I remember now, I engage to give to Narelli a sitting at a very early hour, and as I've forgotten once before, if I fail this time, he will certainly make a gorgon or a medusa of me, but you will join our party to Richmond tomorrow, and then we can talk it all over, pray do. Lindsay sighed, augured, treat what changed days since those we passed at Rossville together. I little thought, then, you would have grudged half an hour from your pleasures to be still upon your friend. You surely would not have me break my engagements, said the Countess with some pee. On the contrary, it was to remind you of them that chiefly brought me here, said Lindsay mildly, begrably, but I would have you choose the lesser evil, that which will give least pain to others. Your gay friends will not break their hearts, I dare say, although you should disappoint them tomorrow, but there are others, skirted with whom you have made engagements of more consequence than whose happiness is in your hands, it is for them I would intercede. Lady Rossville, colored deeply and rising said, it will have rather a ridiculous effect for you and I to be found sitting here in grave debate, discussing our parish business in the ballroom, the place is at least as ill-chosen as the time, added she, somewhat heartily, as she moved away. For a moment Lindsay seemed too much hurt to reply but recollecting myself. He said, upon my own account I certainly would not intrude where I am evidently so unwelcome, but I have undertaken a task which I must perform. I have engaged to remind Lady Rossville of her promise, and more to get that promise fulfilled. The Countess remains silent, but her countenance betrayed the agitation of her mind. At that moment the knocker sounded an alarm. You have refused to fix an hour to see me, said Lindsay. I will therefore gain one to wait upon you. Tomorrow at one I will be here. Gertrude made no reply but hurried forward to receive Lady Charles, Colonel Delmore and a succession of friends who now came pouring in. Delmore's astonishment at sight of Lindsay could only be equaled by his dissatisfaction, and the meeting on both sides was cold and distant. Mrs. St. Clair now made her appearance. Lady Augusta and her daughters followed, and Lindsay was soon overwhelmed with expressions of surprise and pleasure from all quarters, but he contrived to disengage himself from them and disappeared. Lindsay has been giving you a godly exhortation against the sinfulness of dancing, I suppose, so Delmore as he led Gertrude to open the ball, and you look almost as great as though you had the fear of the Kirk's session before your eyes. Gertrude smiled and exhilarating effects of the music and all the concomitance of a brilliant ball soon dispelled the unpleasant thoughts which Lindsay's appearance had excited, all was enchantment while at last of them accountants believed she was happy. But DeMar told another tale when she awoke to the realities of life and found the delusion had vanished leaving only dust and rubbish to mark where it had been. It was near the hour when Lindsay had said he was to call, but she had not promised to receive him. It was disagreeable to see anybody that morning. Her head ached, her house was in confusion, her servants were all stupid with wine or sleep. Nothing was as it ought to be. Then two o'clock was the hour when she was to set off for Richmond, and she should be so hurried. No, it was impossible, quite impossible. It was unreasonable to expect that she should be able to enter on business all at once, so wholly unprepared, and she resolved to send her excuse. But just then her maid entered to say that Mr. Lindsay was below, but as he was in no hurry, that her ladyship might not be disturbed. There was no evading this, and with a mixture of haste and delay she prepared for the interview. End of section 86, section 87 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmundstone-Farrier. This Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain. Volume 3, Chapter 16. You do imagine, no doubt, you have talked wisely and confuted London past all defense, James Shirley. If Lindsay had parted in displeasure, as Gertrude thought he had done the night before, all traces of it had completely vanished. But there was a settled seriousness in his look and manner, which made her feel that levity would be misplaced, and if anything so graceful could have felt awkward, she would have done so. As it was, she was evidently embarrassed. She rung for her chocolate, caressed her dog, spoke to her bird, ordered away some flowers that were too powerful, desired her maid to fetch her some odour cologne, and in short seemed bent upon keeping up a bustle around her as if to prevent the possibility of anything like settled conversation. Lindsay sat calmly waiting till all this should be over, and at length, her orders having been all obeyed, she began to feel ashamed of such trifling, and allowed the servants to leave the room without any more frivolous commands. I think I am very good-natured, am I not, said she, making an attempt to rally her spirits, as she sipped her chocolate, to admit you this morning, considering how ill you used me last night in running away from my ball, and now to come thus behind the scene, only to see how ugly we look after all is over is scarcely fair. The specter of pleasure is perhaps not more beautiful than other specters, said Lindsay, but I have something of a wizard's eye in these matters, and last night's scene, brilliant as it was, could not impose upon me. I've learned to distinguish real from artificial happiness. But my happiness, I do assure you, was quite real. While it lasted, said Gertrude Galey, the only melancholy part of it was that it did not last quite so long as one could have wished. Is your happiness, then, of so evanescent a nature, Gertrude asked Lindsay, how very literal you are, become, and so she, attempting to laugh, you seem to have forgot the way to jest. Not when there is good occasion, said Lindsay gravely, but at present I confess I'm not in a jesting mood. How unfortunate for I am not in a serious one, so we shall never agree unless indeed you agree to be of my party to Richmond. Come, you surely cannot refuse me that. However, you might despise my ball as an artificial pleasure. You must, by the same rule, approve of my fete champagne as a piece of real, rural felicity. Now don't be so churlish as to refuse. Do consent to be gay and happy like other people. Are you happy, Gertrude asked Lindsay, still more gravely, to be sure? Why should you doubt it? Because I have always looked upon true happiness as a generous, diffusive sentiment that sought to impart a portion of its own blessedness to all around. Such it was with you, Gertrude, at Rossville, but now you seem to confine it within narrower bounds. None of it finds its way there now. Gertrude blushed while she attempted to smile and said, I am keeping it all to carry there along with me. I mean to return to Rossville very soon now, and I intend that you should all be very happy to see me. Some, I trust, will have good cause, said Lindsay, but in the meantime there are two young lovers who are suffering, not merely the tortures of suspense, but the aggravation of an evil report. Yet it seems so incredible a one that I almost hesitate to repeat it. You will think we country folks so credulous. Pray let me hear it, said the Countess faintly. It is said that you have actually given away the living of Rossville, which you had promised to young Leslie, to a superannuated bon vivant, hang her on, of the Monteiths. Lady Rossville's color mounted to her very temples, and at that moment a servant entered to say her lady ship's carriage was in waiting. She rose and stammered something about her engagement, her party, and she knew not what as she was moving towards the door. I too have an engagement to keep, said Lindsay calmly, but very gravely, and he took her hand and led her to her seat. I've engaged to prove the falsity of that report from your own lips, but Lady Rossville remained silent, evidently struggling with her feelings. Gertrude, you could not be so false to others, so unjust to yourself, said Lindsay with emotion. Shame, sorrow, and pride all swelled in Lady Rossville's heart almost to suffocation, but pride prevailed and even while her burning cheeks and downcast eyes betrayed her consciousness of wrong, she answered with an air of haughty indignation. One part of the report, you are certainly at liberty to contradict. I never promised the living of Rossville to Mr. Leslie. You promised to provide for him when it should be in your power, and I will yet do so, but in the present instance it is not in my power. And now Mr. Lindsay, excuse me if I must be gone. No, it is not thus. We must part, said Lindsay, in a tone so firm yet so sad, as odd the Countess even in spite of herself, and she remained passively waiting for what was to follow. If we part thus, we may never meet again, as we have done. He stopped in some emotion and then proceeded. Before I became your guardian, I had learned to consider myself as your friend, and I had flattered myself for confidence you then honored me with, would have been continued, but it has not proved so. I appeal to yourself, Gertrude, as it. For a moment Gertrude could not answer, but at length she said, my sentiments remain unchanged, but surely you might know enough of a London life to make allowance for any omissions. I may have been guiltier. I have. I do make allowance for them, said Lindsay. I knew all the dangers that awaited one of your ardent, confiding, susceptible, but volatile nature. I knew that the adulation of the world would prove in sense to intoxicating, to be resisted by one who had not yet looked through the shallowness of earthly grandeur. I do not therefore reproach you with your neglect, your unkindness, your almost boundless extravagance. These are faults that may yet be repaired, but broken promises and power misused are Gertrude. What can make up for these? Lady Rosville made a gesture of impatience as if to conceal her agitation, then said, I have already disclaimed the promise. The power is my own. I did not imagine I was accountable for it to Mr. Lindsay. No, Gertrude, you are accountable to a higher tribunal, even to God himself, for the choice you make of his ministers. I am aware that in the world the appointment of a clergyman is reckoned a slight thing, but I view it differently. And as your guardian, I protest against the choice you have made. It is too late, said Gertrude, in a faltering voice. No, it cannot be too late. You have been misled, betrayed into one engagement at the expense of another. If you won't give me leave, I will yet extricate you from it. Impossible, exclaimed the Countess in an agitated tone as she shrunk from the thoughts of encountering Delmore's displeasure. Why then tease me by prolonging this painful and needless discussion? I will not, I cannot retract what I have done. A Gertrude, do not suffer a false principle of honor, thus to sway all your better feelings. If no higher motive can influence you in this, at least let me conjure you by the friendship of former days, by the affection you bear your cousin, who loves you so tenderly, she will not believe in the possibility of your deceiving her. Oh, Lindsay, do not, do not torture me, cried Gertrude as she covered her face with her hand. It is to save you from the torture of an upgrading conscience, dear Gertrude, that I thus afflict you. The happiness of two amiable, interesting beings is in your hands. You are there only earthly stay at present. Should you fail them, their disappointment may be bitter, but the reproaches of your own heart will be bitterer still. Lady Rosville's heart heaved, and in spite of her efforts to restrain them, tears burst from her eyes. But at that moment, she thought she heard Delmore's knock. She started up and hastily brushed away the tear from her cheek. Let there be an end of this, said she. I can hear no more. Yes, said Lindsay, seizing her hand to detain her, while his own shook with emotion. You must hear yet more. You must hear me resign from henceforth the office of your guardian. Tis a mockery I can no longer endure. Lady Rosville made no reply. A thousand contending feelings struggled in her breast. But she repressed them all with that force, which is the result of conscious weakness, and with the calmness of one determined to do wrong. She merely bent her head in acquiescence. Should the time ever arrive, when Lady Rosville, gay, and prosperous as she now is, should want the aid or counsel of a friend? Lindsay's voice faltered, but the countess remained calm and motionless. Gertrude wrote, you remember me, but Gertrude averted her face to hide the anguish that filled her heart. At least you will say farewell to me. Farewell, said Gertrude in an assumed tone of indifference and without turning round, Lindsay dropped the hand he held in his and in another instant was gone. It was then Gertrude's long repressed feelings burst forth in all their violence. Unkind, unjust, ungrateful that I am exclaimed she to herself as she wept in an agony of remorse. I've lost the best, the truest friend, and he thinks me, oh what a cold-hearted, unfeeling wretch. Must he think me? How must I have behaved when even Lindsay, the mild forgiving, disinterested Lindsay, has renounced me? But her sorrow and her self-reproaches were checked by the entrance of Delmore, who after knocking and stopped to speak to her friend who was passing, and while so engaged, Lindsay had gone out. Because, since did not speak, but from the expression of his countenance, Delmore at once perceived he had no cause for jealousy. But for the first time, the sight of her lover failed to bring pleasure to Gertrude as she contrasted his gay triumphant meme with Lindsay's mild pleading look and melancholy air, and when he accosted her with an exclamation of astonishment, she turned from him as she thought, it is he who has caused me to act thus. My dear Gertrude, what is the meaning of all this? But I guess, how it is, you have had a puritanical lecture from the very reverend Edward Lindsay, and I am not surprised you should weep at it, were it only from weariness. But Gertrude still leaned her head dejectedly upon her hand and only sighed in answer. By heaven cried Delmore passionately, he shall answer to me for every tear he has made you shed. Beware how you add to the sorrow you have already brought upon me, Delmore. Said Gertrude, I have forgiven much and may forgive more, but I will never forgive insult or injury offered to Edward Lindsay on my account. Haughty and overbearing as Delmore was, he saw that on the present occasion he was not likely to obtain the mastery, and he was piqued to find that it required all his skill and eloquence to prevail upon Lady Rosfield to keep her engagement and join the party to Richmond. At length he prevailed, but she said out with a heavy heart, by degrees, however, the novelty and the gaiety of the scene, the beauty of the day, the succession of lovely landscapes that met the eye, as they glided along, the music, the company, all combined to charm the senses, and Lindsay was forgot. In section 87, section 88 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmundstone-Farrier, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 3, Chapter 17. Something that's bitter will arise, even amid our jollities. Lucretius, Penso qua ne parti qua vi retorno, matastasio. The London season was now drawing near a close, and Lady Rosfield had run her full career of folly and extravagance. As bills came pouring in upon her from all quarters, she was startled at the magnitude of the sums she had expended, and for which she had now nothing to show but a parcel of Jew jaws, which had ceased with their novelty to afford her any pleasure. She felt almost glad that Lindsay was no longer her guardian, but he might not see the extent of her imprudence, for even Delmore was surprised when he heard how much she had spent in so short a time. As for Mrs. St. Clair, this discovery joined to the disappointment of her other schemes, occasioned her a fit of the jaundice, which put a stop to the Larkins's dinner, and as soon as she was able to travel, she was ordered to jump in them for the benefit of the waters. There they accordingly repaired, but not before it had been arranged by the lovers that Colonel Delmore should join them in a short time. At first Gertrude was pleased with the combination of picturesque beauty and fashionable gaiety, which are so happily blended at this celebrated watering place, but a short time suffice to dispel the illusion. The amusements wanted the life, splendor and variety of the London parties, and the walks and rides were a little resorted to the Supreme Bon-Ton of the Idles being to drive a walk backwards and forwards for about the space of a quarter of a mile of dusty street, and that without intermission for two or three hours, day after day, and week after week, and that with as much subtle seriousness as though they were actually fulfilling the high destinies of immortal beings, oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store of charms, which nature to her votary yields. But in vain would the minstrel have attempted to sing the bow, and bells have tuttened them off the burning pavement, even while the dog-star raged, provided the libraries, them confectioners, and toy shops kept their places. What to them, the warbling woodland, the resounding shore, the pomp of groves, and garniture of fields, all that the genial ray of morning gills, and all that echoes to the song of even. But it was otherwise with Lady Rosville her taste was not yet so vitiated as to take pleasure in the vapid pastimes of a watering place, which, however they may amuse and relax the minds of the sick and the studious, can only tend to enfeeble those of the healthy and the gay. She sighed as she thought of her own fair domain, its woods and its waters, his flowers neglected and forsaken, herself a queen there, while here she was one of a motley thong, with naught to recompense her but stare, and heat and dust, and pressure. To add to her weariness and chagrin, Delmore had been detained in London on some regimental business and was not likely to join her before her return to Rosville. Mrs. St. Clairs aversion to Colonel Delmore had by no means diminished, but she found her opposition so perfectly vain in her attempts to lead her daughter now so futile that she had almost abandoned both, but not without many severe struggles and some dark mysterious threats, which, however the Countess had now learned to disregard. At length they batted you to chelton them, but some of was far advanced, or rather autumn had commenced before they returned to Rosville. It was with mingle feelings of pleasure and pain that Gertrude beheld it again, even while her heart bounded at sight of every well-known object, they seemed to reproach her with having lavish true thoughts or affections or money upon worthless baubles and heartless pleasures. Her conscience smote her as she passed some old cottages which she had planned pulling down and building new and more commodious ones in their place. Half of what my opera box cost me would have done that side she and that bridge, as she caught a glimpse of one half finished. The poor people must still go two miles about till my diamond necklaces paid in tears of contrition dropped from her eyes. But it was not so at the castle, for Delmore's orders had superseded Lindsay's schemes, and however the poor might suffer nothing had been left undone there. The conservatory and the garden had been completed and stocked at an immense expense. The apartments were superbly and tastefully furnished. The theatre was almost finished, and again Gertrude's volatile heart throbbed with pride and pleasure. She looked on this new creation of taste and fancy and anticipated the joys yet to come. But as the novelty abated again the voice of conscience was heard and the thoughts of Lindsay recurred. She wondered whether he would come to visit her upon her return, and she both wished and dreaded the meeting, but day after day passed on, and Lindsay came not her cousin Anne, to how could she be hold her without shame and confusion of faith. Better apprehensions on that score were partly relieved by receiving the following note a few days after her arrival. My dear Lady Rossville, I'm very sure it will give you pleasure to hear that William has a link been provided for, as I know how much it must have pained you to be unable to fulfill your kind intentions in his favor. But what you could not do yourself, your kind friend, Mr. Lindsay, has done for you. He has so generously interested himself in this affair that he has got. William appointed to the living of when Brie and Mr. Turner, who was to have succeeded to that church, he has secured in that secular office of greater emolument and better suited to his views and sentiments. The only obstacle to our union is therefore now removed, and as we are to have immediate possession of romance, it is to take place very soon, perhaps in the course of the next week. It is to you under heaven that we owe our happiness by interresting so kind and generous a patron in our behalf. Accept therefore, my dear Lady Rossville, the United Thanks and prayers of your affectionate Ann Black and obliged and grateful William Leslie. Kind and generous indeed, exclaimed Lady Rossville as she read this billet, and a blush of shame burned on her cheek. He has saved me as far as he could from the disgrace of, at best, I fear, equivocation and from the wretchedness of having disappointed the hopes of those whom I had taught to put their trust in me. In the overflowing of her heart she wrote to Ann expressing her participation in her happiness and giving the sole credit of it to Mr. Lindsey. She could not bring herself to tell her exactly how matters stood, but she assured her again and again that it was to him and to him only they were indebted. She thought she ought also to write to Lindsey to thank him for his kindness to her relations, and she took up the pen for that purpose, but she could not write anything to please herself. One style was too cold and formal for the warmth of her feelings, another too humble and penitential for her pride to stoop to, and Delmore might be displeased. No, exclaimed she as she threw down the pen, I cannot write what I feel. I must either say too much or too little. It would be otherwise were we to meet, a few words would set all to rights, and how I wish he would afford me an opportunity of making my peace with him. I cannot be happy while I think I have forfeited his good opinion. Surely he will come, and he will be pleased to find I have not forgot all his good lessons, and she tried to resume the studies and occupation she had begun at his suggestion, but it would not do the illusions of passion and the vanities of life still maintain their sway over her and all was dull and joyless that did not administer to one or other. I shall never be good such she, according to Lindsey's notions, so it is in vain to try. Perhaps Delmore would not like me so well if I were, and that argument was conclusive against all farther attempts of the kind. Colonel Delmore's absence had been protracted much beyond the period assigned by the alarming illness of his brother, whose life at one time had been in imminent danger, in consequence of a pleuritic attack. The consequence it was said as everything of the kind must either have or be a consequence of Cole caught at a late sitting of a committee of which he was chairman. He was now better, and as soon as he was sufficiently recovered for his brother to leave him, the impatient lover was to set off for Rossville, meanwhile he employed Gertrude to write to him every day, every hour, if possible, as the only alleviation to the torches of separation. Such was Colonel Delmore's way of telling the story, and as usual it contained a portion of truth and falsehood. It was true that his brother had been dangerously ill while he was in London, but it was not true that he was still detained there from that cause. The fact was he rather dreaded a doll family party at Rossville for lover as he was. He was too much a man of the world, too much accustomed to be amused to be able to devote himself entirely to one object, however much blood, and Gertrude was as much beloved by him as anything could be, but he felt himself now so secure in her affections that there was not even the stimulants of jealousy or uncertainty to give a zest to their intercourse. In short, Colonel Delmore's heart and affections were so jaded and sophisticated that simple feelings and simple pleasures had now become stale and insipid. He rather liked the country for two or three months in the autumn with a good party, but to be constantly enacting the sentimental lover and with no greater variety than Lady Betty and Mrs. St. Clair or an interchange of neighborly visits with some agricultural lord or raw bone squire to be bored about county politics or county races, it was more than either his love or his philosophy could endure. I think his brother's convalescence left him no excuse, and he wrote to Gertrude that he would have set off instantly, but as the Arabians, Peverelles and his friend Ifrington were preparing to storm Rossville, he had been prevailed upon to wait a day or two and join the party. APS added they should probably go by the lakes as Lady Charles had taken a sketch in turn and Lord Charles wished to eat char. Lady Rossville was deeply mortified at this letter. It contained even more than the usual quantity of love. Superlatives was eloquent on the miseries of separation and the anticipated happiness of their meeting, but still he did not fly to her. He could submit to wait on that movements of a capricious fine lady in the taste of an indolent gourmand, and for the first time a doubt of the reality of his attachment struck upon her heart. The supposition was too dreadful to be endured, and she shrunk from it as she went from the stroke of a dagger. At least he does not love as I do, thought she as she tried to dispel the fast-gathering tears that in spite of herself rushed to her eyes. But I was a fool to expect that whoever loved so fondly, so truly as I have done. And men never loved with the devotion of women, but I would have dealt more different from everyone else. I would be his all as he is mine. Then to wounded tenderness succeeded pride. He had besotted her to write to him as usual and mentioned the places where he should expect to find letters from her. But she determined to punish him by her silence, though the punishment would, in the first instance, fall upon herself as the forbearance of not writing was probably at least equal to the disappointment of not receiving her letters. Gertrude was naturally of an open communicative temper and the want of a confidant had often been severely felt by her, but she had never met with anyone whom she thought perfectly suited to act even that subordinate part. Lady Charles was too much a woman of the world to enter into her enthusiastic notions. The Miss Delmores were too deep in flirtations themselves to be able to listen to anything of the kind at second hand and she had formed no other particular intimacy in London. Her cousin Anne might have downed for she was patient and attentive, but then she was so good and so flat and so matter of fact in her ideas on the subject that it was in vain to expect any congeniality there. Either to she had contrived to exist without one, but now the want was felt as sooner or later it must be in all its loneliness. It would have been such a luxury to have complained of her lover to some considerate friend who would have defended him and proved to her that he was right and she was wrong. Her mother was out of the question she was the last person to whom she would have uttered a complaint of Delmore whose name by a sort of tacit agreement was seldom mentioned between them. In this state of restless displeasure it was a relief to have something to do, however disagreeable in itself and she therefore acceded to Mrs. St. Clair's proposal that she should go and visit some of the members of her family. She herself being confined with us cold. Lady Rosfield then ordered her carriage and set forth to try the effects of rapid driving and change of company in dispelling chagrin and on we. End of section 88.