 Section 1 of the Inheritance. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Inheritance by Susan Edmundston-Farrier. Volume 1, Chapter 1. Strange is it that our bloods of color, weight, and heat poured all together would quite confound distinction, yet stand off indifferences so mighty, all's well that ends well. It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is no passion so deeply rooted in human nature as that of pride. Whether of self or of family, of deeds done in our own bodies, or deeds done in the bodies of those who lived hundreds of years before us, all find some foundation on which to build their tower of babble. Even the dark uncertain future becomes a bright field of promise to the eye of pride, which, like Banquo's bloody ghost, can smile even upon the dim perspective of posthumous greatness. As the noblest attribute of man, family pride, have been cherished time immemorial by the noble race of Rossville, deep and incurable therefore was the wound inflicted on all its members by the marriage of the honorable Thomas St. Clair Younger's son of the Earl of Rossville with the humble Miss Sarah Black, a beautiful girl of obscure origin and no fortune. In such an union there was everything to exasperate, nothing to molify the outraged feelings of the Rossville family for youth and beauty for all that Mrs. St. Clair had to oppose to pride and ambition. The usual consequences therefore were such as always have and probably always will accompany unequal alliances, these the displeasure of friends, the want of fortune, the world's dread life, and in short all the thousand natural ills that flesh is heir to when it fails in its allegiance to blood. Yet there are minds fitted to encounter and to overcome even these minds possessed of that inherent nobility which regard honor as something more than a mere hereditary name and which seek the nobler distinction open to all in the career of some honorable profession. But Mr. St. Clair's mind was endowed with no such powers for he was a man of weak intellects and indolent habits with just enough for feeling to wish to screen himself from the poverty and contempt his marriage had brought upon him. After hanging on for some time in hopes of reconciliation with his family and finding all attempts in vain, he had length consented to banish himself and the object of their contumely to some remote quarter of the world upon condition of receiving a suitable allowance so long as they should remain abroad. The unfortunate pair thus doomed to unwilling exile therefore retired to France where Mr. St. Clair's mind soon settled into that state which acquires its name from the character of its possessor and according to that is called fortitude, resignation, contentment, or stupidity. There too they soon sunk into that oblivion which is sometimes the portion of the living as well as the dead. His father's death which happened some years after made no alteration in his circumstances. The patrimony to which he expected to succeed was settled on his children should he have any and the slender life annuity was his only portion. The natural wish of every human being the weakest as well as the wisest seems to be to leave some memorial of themselves to posterity, something if but to tell how their father's thought were fought at least to show how they talked or walked. This wish Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair possessed in common with others but year after year passed away and it still remained ungratified while every year it became a still stronger sentiment as death seemed gradually clearing the way to the succession. At the time of his marriage Mr. St. Clair had been the youngest of five sons but three of his brothers had fallen victims to war or pestilence and there now only remained their present Earl and himself both alike childless. And Link when hope was almost extinct Mrs. St. Clair announced herself to be in the way of becoming a mother and the emigrants resolved upon returning to their native land that their child might there first see the light. Previous to taking this step however the important intelligence was communicated to Lord Rossville and also their intention of immediately proceeding to Scotland if agreeable to him at the same time expressed thing of wish that he would favor them with his advice and opinion as they would be entirely guided by him in their plans. Lord Rossville was a man who liked to be consulted and to overturn every plan which he himself had not arranged and as Mr. St. Clair had spoke of taking shipping from Bordeaux where they then were and so going by sea to Scotland Lord Rossville in his answer expressed his decided disapprobation of such a scheme in Mrs. St. Clair's situation and in stormy winter weather but he enclosed a route by way of Paris which he had made out for them with his own hand and directed them upon their arrival there to signify the same to him and there to remain until he had resolved upon what was next to be done as he had by no means made up his mind as to the propriety or at least the necessity of their returning to Scotland the packet also contained an order for a sum of money and letters to some friends of his own at Paris who would be of service to Mrs. St. Clair so far all was kind and conciliating and the exiles after much delay set forth upon their journey according to the rules prescribed by the Earl but within a day's journey of Paris Mrs. St. Clair was taken prematurely ill and there at an obscure village gave birth to a daughter which as Mr. St. Clair sensibly remarked though not so good as a boy was yet better than nothing at all as the salic law was not enforced in the Rossville family the sex of the child was indeed a matter of little consequence saving the eyes of those sturdy sticklers for man's supremacy its health and strength were therefore the chief objects of consideration and although born in the seventh month it was a remarkably fine thriving baby which Mrs. St. Clair contrary to the common practice of mothers ascribed entirely to the excellence of its nurse they had been fortunate enough to meet with a woman of a superior class who having recently lost her husband and her own infant had readily adopted this one and has readily transferred to it that abundant stock of love and tenderness which those dealers in the milk of human kindness always have so freely to bestow on their nursing for the time Mrs. St. Clair's recovery was tedious and her general health she declared to be so much impaired that she could not think of encountering the severity of a northern climate instead of prosecuting their journey therefore they were tired to the south of France and after moving about for some time finally settled there this was not what the Earl had intended for although pride still opposed his brother's return to Scotland he had at the same time wished to have the family somewhere within the sphere of his observation and control the more especially as having lately separated from his lady his brother's job might now be regarded as presumptive heiress to the family honors he had proposed and indeed pressed to have the little Gertrude transmitted to him that she might have the advantage of being trained up under his own eye but to this Mrs. St. Clair would not consent she declared in the most polite but decided manner her determination never depart with her child but promised that as soon as her health was sufficiently reestablished they would return to Britain and that Lord Rossville should have the direction and superintendence if he pleased of the young heiress's education but some obstacle real or pretend it always arose to prevent the accomplishment of this plan till at length Mr. St. Clair was struck with a palsy which rendered it impossible for him to be removed dead to all the purposes of life he lingered on for several years one of those bell and collie mementos who with a human voice and human shape have survived everything human besides at length death claimed him as his own and his widow lost no time in announcing the event to the Earl and in craving his advice and protection for herself and daughter a very polite though long-winded reply was received from Lord Rossville in which he directed that Mrs. and Miss St. Clair should immediately repair to Rossville Castle there to remain until he should have had time and opportunity fully to digest the plans he had formed for the pupillage of his knees this invitation was too advantageous to be refused even although the terms in which it was couched were not very alluring either to the mother or daughter with a mixture of pleasure and regret they therefore hasten to exchange the gay vineyards and bright sons of france for the bleak hills and frowning skies of scotland end of section one section two of the inheritance by susan edmund stewen farrier this liver box recording is in the public domain volume one chapter two hope well to have hate not past fought for cruel storms fair calms have brought after sharp showers the sun shines fair hope comes likewise after despair richard allison many years had elapsed since mrs. st. Clair had left her native land and those who had known her then could scarcely have recognized her now so completely had the two dawn samba changed its character the blooming hoiden with her awkward habits and provincial dialect had been gradually transformed into the beautiful woman graceful in her movements and polished though elaborate in her manners though now long past her meridian she was still handsome and two superficial observers could be captivating but the change was merely outward proceeding from no innate delicacy of thought or ennobling principle of action it was solely the result of nice tact knowledge of the world and long intercourse with foreigners the mind remained the same although the matter had been modified in her early days her pride and ambition had been excited by making what was considered a splendid alliance and it was not till her understanding was thoroughly ripened that she made the mortifying discovery that high birth when coupled with personal insignificance adds no more to real distinction than a flaming sign does to an ill kept in it was this disappointment which operating on a naturally proud and violent temper had brought into play all the worst qualities of her nature and made her look upon the world as indeed a stage where all the men and women were merely players to act a grand and conspicuous part and regain the station her husband's fusillanimity had lost was therefore now her soul aim it rarely happens that one artificial mind can succeed in forming another we seldom imitate what we do not love there is something in human nature which recoils from an artificial character even more than from a faulty one and where the attempt fails the revulsion generally produces a character of a totally different stamp mrs. St. Clair had spared no pains to render her daughter as great an adept and dissimulation as she was herself but all her endeavors had proved unsuccessful and miss St. Clair remained pretty much as nature had formed her a mixture of wheat and tears flowers and weeds there existed no sort of sympathy or congeniality of mind between the mother and daughter there seemed little even of that natural affection which often supplies the want of kindred feeling or similar tastes and which serves to bind together hearts which no human process ever could have bought to amalgamate without any point of resemblance in their characters or ideas there was consequently little interchange of thought and when Gertrude did address her mother it was more from the overflowing of an open heart and buoyant spirits than from any reciprocity of feeling how I wish I had Prince Hussein's glass exclaimed she as they drew near the borders of Scotland that I might take a peep at the people I'm going amongst a single glance would suffice to give me some idea of them or at least to show whether they are those sort of persons it will be possible for me to love you have formed very high and somewhat presumptuous ideas of your own powers of discrimination it seems said Mrs. St. Clair with a disdainful smile but I should humbly conceive that my knowledge and experience might prove almost as useful as your own observations or theories are likely to do I beg your pardon mama but I did not know you had been acquainted with the Rossville family I'm not personally acquainted with any of them I never was I never would have been but for you it is upon your account I now stoop to a reconciliation which otherwise I would have spurned as I have been spurned she spoke with vehemence then in a calmer tone proceeded it is natural that you should wish to know something of the relations you are going amongst since there is nothing more desirable than our previous knowledge of those whom it is necessary we should please but it is only from report I can speak of the Rossville family though even from report we may form a tolerably accurate idea of people's general character report then says that Lord Rossville is an obstinate troublesome tiresome well-behaved man that is sister lady Betty who resides with him is a harmless doll inquisitive old woman then there are nephews sisters sons to one of whom you are probably destined there is Mr. Delmore a weak formal parliamentary drudge son of lord somebody Delmore and nephew to the Duke of Burlington and his brother Colonel Delmore a fashionable and principled gamester and Mr. Lindsey a sort of quakerish methodistical somber person all of course brimful of pride and prejudice nevertheless beware how you contradict prejudices even knowing them to be such for the generality of people are much more tenacious of their prejudices than of anything belonging to them and should you hear them run out in raptures at such a prospect as this pointing to the long bleak line of Scottish coast even this you too must admire even this cold shrubless tract of bare earth and stone walls and yon dark stormy sea you will perhaps be told as you must have sent our fairer than the lily fields and limpid waters of long dock miss st. Clair remains silent for a few moments contemplating the scene before her at last she said indeed mama I do think there is something fine in such a scene as this although I can scarcely tell in what the charm consists or why it should be more deeply felt than scenes of greater beauty and grandeur but there seems to me something so simple and majestic in such an expanse of mere earth and water that I feel as if I were looking on nature at the beginning of the creation when only the sea and the dry land had been formed rather after the fall me thinks said mrs st. Clair with a bitter smile as she drew her cloak round her at least I feel at present much more as if I have been expelled from paradise than as if I were entering it the scene was indeed a dreary one though calculated to excite emotions in the mind true to nature in all her varied aspects and more especially in the youthful heart where novelty alone possesses a charm sufficient to call forth its admiration the dark lead colored ocean lay stretched before them its dreary expanse concealed by lowering clouds while the sea foul clamoring in crowds to the shore announced the coming storm the yet unclothed fields were black with crows whose discordant cries mingled with the heavy monotonous sound of the waves as they advanced with sullen roar and broke with idle splash a thick mist was gradually spreading over every object an indescribable shivering was thought by every human thing which had bones and skin to feel in short it was an east wind and the effect of an east wind upon the east coast of scotland may have been experienced but cannot be described this is dreadful exclaimed mrs st. Clair as her teeth chattered in her head and her skin began to rise into what is vulgarly termed goose skin you do look ill mama you are quite a pale blue and i certainly feel as i never did before and mrs st. Clair pulled up the windows and wrapped her roclair still closer the french valet and abigail who sat on the dickey looked round with pitiful faces as though to ask esca silla even the postilian seemed affected in the same manner for stopping his horses he drew forth a ponderous many caped great coat and buttoning it up to his nose with a look that bad defiance to the weather he pursued his route the air grew colder and colder the mist became thicker and thicker the shrieks of the sea foul louder and louder till a tremendous hail shower burst forth and dashed with threatening violence against the windows of the carriage the undaunted driver was compelled to bend his purple face beneath its pitiless pelting while he urged his horse as if to escape from its influence this is scotland and this is the month of may exclaimed mrs st. Clair with a groan as she looked on the whitened fields and her thoughts occurred to the smiling skies and balmy vernal airs of langa duck scotland has given us rather a rude welcome i must confess that her daughter but happily i am not superstitious and see it is beginning to smile upon us already in a few minutes the clouds rolled away the sun burst forth in all its warmth and brillancy the tender wheat glittered in the moisture the lark flew exalting aloft the sea foul spread their white wings and skimmed over the blue waters the postillion slackened his pace and put off his great coat such as scotland's varying climb such its varying scenery end of section two section three of the inheritance by susan edmund stewen farrier this liberal box recording is in the public domain volume one chapter three my father's house sent me not vance dishonored but too well too greatness raised suffocates it was on a lovely evening that the travelers reached their destination near the western coast of scotland the air was soft and the setting sun shed his purple light on the mountains which formed the background of the rossville domains the approach wound along the side of a river which possessed all the characteristic variety of a scottish stream now gliding silently along or seeming to stand motionless in the crystal depth of some shaded pool now chafing and gurgling with lulling sound over its pebbly bed while its deep banks presented no less changing features in some places they were covered with wood now in the first tense of spring the formal poplars pale hue and the fringed larches tender green mingling with the red seared leaf of the oak and the brown opening bud of the sycamore in others gray rocks peeped from amidst the lichens and creeping plants which covered them as with a garment of many colors and the wild rose decked them with its transient blossoms farther on the banks became less precipitous and gradually sunk into a gentle slope covered with smooth green turf and sprinkled with trees of noble size the only sounds that mingled with the rush of the stream were the rich full song of the blackbird the plaintive murmur of the wood pigeon and the abrupt but not a musical note of the cuckoo girt crude gaze with ecstasy all around and her heart swell with delight as she thought this fair scene she was destined to inherit and a vague poetical feeling of love and gratitude to heaven caused her to raise her eyes swimming in tearful rapture to the giver of all good but it was merely the overflowing of a young and raptured and enthusiastic mind no deeper principle was felt or understood no trembling mingled with her joy no dark future cast its shatter on the mirror imagination presented to her but visions of pomp and power and wealth and grandeur visions of earthly bliss swam before those eyes which yet were raised from earth to heaven she was roused from her reverie by a deep sigh or rather grown from her mother who linked back in the carriage seemingly overcome by some painful sensation either of mind or body miss st. claire was accustomed to hear her mother sigh and even groan upon very slight occasions sometimes upon no occasion at all but at present there was something that betokan an intensity of suffering too sincere for feigning you are ill mama exclaimed she and terror as she looked on her mother's pale and agitated countenance it was some moments air mrs st claire could find voice to answer but it linked in much emotion she said is it surprising that i should feel at approaching that house from which my husband and myself were exiled nay were even denied an entrance can you imagine that i should be unmoved at the thoughts of beholding that family by whom we were rendered outcasts and whom i have only known as my bitterest enemies mrs st claire's voice and her color both rose as she enumerated her injuries oh mama do not at such a time set for your mind to dwell upon those painful recollections it is natural that melancholy thoughts should suggest themselves but uh there is the castle cried the young eras forgetting all her mother's wrongs as the stately mansion now burst upon their view and again her heart exalted as she looked on its lofty turrets and long range of arched windows glittering in the golden rays of the setting sun in another moment they found themselves at the entrance a train of richly liveried servants were stationed to receive them mrs st claire's agitation increased she stopped and leaned upon her daughter who feared she would have fainted but making an effort she followed the servant who led the way to the presence of his lord when quickly recovering her self-possession she advanced and gracefully presented her daughter saying to your lordship's generous protection i commit my fatherless child lord rosto was a bulky portentous looking person with nothing marked in his physiognomy except a pair of very black elevated eyebrows which gave an unvarying expression of solemn astonishment to his countenance he had a husky voice and a very tedious elocution he was some little time of preparing an answer to this address but at last he replied i shall rest assured madame make a point of fulfilling to the utmost of my power and abilities the highly important duties of the parental office he then saluted his sister-in-law and niece and taking a hand of each led them to a tall thin gray old woman with a long inquisitive looking nose whom he named as lady betty st claire lady betty rose from her seat with that sort of deliberate bustle which generally attends the rising up and the sitting down of old ladies and may be intended to show that it is not an everyday affair with them to practice such condescension having taken off her cyclicals lady betty carefully deposited them within a large work basket out of which protruded a tiger's head in worsted work and a volume of a novel she next lifted a camber handkerchief from off of that sleepy lap dog which lay upon her knees and deposited it on a cushion at her feet she then put aside a small fly table which stood before her as a sort of outwork and thus freed from all impediments welcome to her guests and after regarding them with looks only expressive of stupid curiosity she motioned to them to be seated and replaced herself with even greater commotion than she had risen up such a reception was not calculated to call forth feelings of the most pleasurable kind and Gertry felt chilled at manners so different from the bland courtesy to which she had been accustomed and her heart sunk at the thoughts being domesticated with people who appeared so dull and unpleasing the very apartment seemed to partake of the character of its inmates it had neither the solid magnificence of ancient times nor the elegant luxury of the present age neither was there any of the grotesque ornaments of antiquity nor the amusing litter of fashionable baubles for the eye to have recourse to Lady Betty's huge work basket was the only indication that the apartment was inhabited an air of stiff propriety of splendid discomfort reigned throughout the usual and more than the usual questions were put by the Earl and his sister as to time and distance and roads and drivers and ends and beds and weather and dust and all were answered by Mrs. St. Clair in the manner most calculated to conciliate those with whom she conversed till in the course of half an hour Lord Rossville was of opinion that she was one of the best bread best informed most sensible lady like women he had ever conversed with and his lordship was not a person who was apt to form hasty opinions upon any subject Lord Rossville's character was one of those whose traits though minute are as strongly marked as though they had been cast in a large mold but as not even the powers of the microscope can impart strength and beauty to the object that magnifies so no biographer could have exaggerated into virtues the petty foibles of his mind yet the predominating qualities were such as often cast a false glory around their possessor for the love of power and the desire of human applause were the engrossing principles of his soul in strong capacious minds and in great situations these incentives often produced brilliant results but in a weak contracted mind moving in the narrow sphere of domestic life they could only circulate through the thousand little channels that tend to increase or impair domestic happiness as he was not addicted to any particular vice he considered himself as a man of perfect virtue and having been in some respects very prosperous in his fortune he was thoroughly satisfied that he was a person of the most consummate wisdom with these ideas of himself it is not surprising that he should have deemed it his bound and duty to direct and manage every man woman child or animal who came within his sphere and that too in the most tedious and tormenting manner perhaps the most teasing point in his character was his ambition the fatal ambition of thousands to be thought an eloquent and impressive speaker for this purpose he always used 10 times as many words as were necessary to express his meaning and those two of the longest and strongest description another of his tormenting peculiarities was his desire of explaining everything by which he always perplexed and mystified the simplest subject yet he had his good points where he wished to see those around him happy provided he was the dispenser of their happiness and that they were happy precisely in the manner and degree he thought proper in short Lord Rossville was a sort of petty benevolent tyrant and any attempt to enlarge his soul or open his understanding would have been in vain indeed his mind was already full as full as it could hold of little thoughts little plans little notions little prejudices little whims and nothing short of regeneration could have made him otherwise he had a code of laws a code of proprieties a code of delicacies all his own and he had long languished for subjects to execute them upon Mrs. St. Clair and her daughter were therefore no small acquisitions to his family he looked upon them as two very fine pieces of wax ready to receive whatever impression he chose to give them and the humble confiding manner in which his niece had been committed to him had it once secured both to mother and daughter his favor and protection lady Betty's character does not possess materials to furnish so long a commentary she was chiefly remarkable for the quantity of worsted work she executed which for a person of her time of life was considered no less extraordinary than meritorious she was now employed on her fifth rug the colors were orange and blue the pattern an orange tiger cuchon picked out with scarlet upon an azure ground she also read all the novels and romances which it is presumed are published for the exclusive benefit of superannuated old women and silly young ones such as the enchanted head the invisible hand the miraculous nuptials etc etc etc she was now in the midst of bewildered affections or all is not lost which she was reading unconsciously for the third time with unbroke delight lastly she carefully watched over a fat pampered ill-natured lapdog subject to epilepsy and asked a great many useless questions which few people thought of answering these were the only members of the family who appeared but Lord Rossville mentioned that two of his nephews were on a visit in the neighborhood and might be expected the following day since you are now madam said he addressing Mrs. St. Clair become as it were incorporated in the Rossville family it is proper and expedient that used to be made acquainted with all its members i do not mean that acquaintance which are personal introductions and bays but that knowledge which we acquire by a preconceived opinion founded upon the experience of those on whose judgment and accuracy we can rely i shall therefore give you such information regarding the junior members of this family as observation and opportunity have afforded me and which i flutter myself may not prove altogether unacceptable or unavailing the earl paused him and proceeded the senior of the two juvenile members to whom you will in all probability be introduced in the course of a very short period is Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Delmore of the 19th Degunes youngest son of the late Lord George Delmore who was second son of James Duke of Burlington by the Marchioness of Effingford widow of the deceased Charles Jolliner Marquis of Effingford who died at an early period leaving one son the present Augustus Marquis of Effingford married to the lady Isabella Cadrington daughter of the Duke of Litchfield and one daughter the present much admired Countess of Limington on the other hand William Henry the present Duke of Burlington espoused the only daughter of that illustrious statesman John Earl of Harley by whom he has issued one son the Marquis of Haslington now brought on account of the delicate and precarious state of his health thus it happens and I hope I have made it sufficiently clear that certain members of this family are at the same time united either by consanguinity or by collateral connection of no remote degree with many I might say with most of the illustrious families in the sister kingdom my sister the lady Augusta Delmore widow of the late Lord George Delmore at present resides in the metropolis with her three daughters one of whom is I understand on the eve of forming a highly honorable and advantageous alliance with the eldest son of a certain baronette of large fortunate extensive property in the southern extremity of the island but of this it might not be altogether delicate to say more at present Colonel Frederick Delmore then the subject of our more immediate consideration is in himself a gentleman of figure fashion accomplishments and a very distinguished bravery in his highly honorable profession he's already had the honor of being twice slightly wounded in the field of battle and in being made very honorable mention of in the dispatches from the Earl of Martian to his royal highness the commander-in-chief in these respects the dignity an untarnished honor of the noble families to which he belongs have suffered no diminution in his person but it is to his elder brother and he now turned towards miss St. Clair that we that is the Duke of Burlington and myself look as to one who is to add still greater luster to the coronets with which he is so intimately connected to all the natural advantages accomplishments and requirements of his brother he unites address and abilities of the highest order by means of which he has already acted a most distinguished part in the senate and bids fair to become one of the first if not the first statesman of this or indeed of any age the Earl paused as if overcome with the prophetic visions which crowded on his mind what time of night is it as Lady Betty the Earl recalls from his high anticipations and reminded of the lapse of time resumed his discourse been a less lofty tone the junior member of this family whom I have now to present to you is Edward Lindsey Esquire of Linnwood in this county only child of the late Edward Lindsey of Linnwood Esquire and my youngest sister the deceased lady Jane St. Clair the late Mr. Lindsey was descended from an ancient and highly respectable family but by certain ancestral imprudences was considerably involved and embarrassed during his life in so much that he was under the necessity of accepting a situation in one of our colonial settlements where the he was accompanied by Lady Jane both I lament to say they were victims in a short period to the pestilential effects of the climate leaving this young man then an infant of three years and a half old to my sole protection and guardianship how these duties were discharged it is not for me to say only injustice to myself I deem it right and proper to state that at the expiry of the minority the estate then was I say nothing of the means or management let these speak for themselves I simply deem it due to myself to state that the estate was then free if it is so no longer and the Earl bowed and waved his hands in that significant manner which says I've washed my hands of it but his lordship took a long time even to wash his hands before he still went on there is perhaps no greater or more insuperable impediment to radical improvement in youth and it is I lament to say one of the most distinguishing characteristics of the age in which we live than a disregard for the warning voice of those who have with honor advantage and dignity arrived at that period of life when they are entitled to the meat of at least experience and Mr. Lindsey followed the path which with infinite consideration I've marked out for him he might not by the instrumentality of those great and noble family connections he possesses have been on the high road to honor wealth distinction and self-approbation as it is he has chosen contrary to my recommendation to decline the highly advantageous situation offered to him in our asiatic dominions assigning us his sole reason that he was satisfied with what he already had and meant to devote himself to the management and improvement of his own estate a young man in his situation in life scarcely yet 26 years of age highly educated as I made it a point he should be and possessed of an ancient family estate by no means great and I much fear not wholly unencumbered to refuse a situation of such honor emolument and patronage Mr. Lindsey may be a good man but it was my most anxious wish and endeavor to have made him more I would have made him had he submitted to my guidance in control I would have made him a great man the solemn and dignified silence which followed this was happily broken by the announcement of supper the evening wore slowly away for each minute seemed like a drop of lead to miss St. Clair who was more of an age and temperament to enjoy than to endure at length it was ended and she retired to her apartment with mingle feelings of pleasure and disappointment end of section three section four of The Inheritance by Susan Edmund Stoon Farrier this LibriVox recording is in the public domain volume one chapter four oh life how pleasant in the morning young fancies raise thy hills adorning cold pausing cautions lessons scorning we frisk away like schoolboys at the expected warning to joy and play burns the following morning Gertrude rose early impatient to take an unmolested survey of what she already looked upon as her own the suite of public rooms engaged but little of her attention she had already settled in her own mind that these must be completely new furnished and with this sweeping resolution she passed quickly through them merely stopping to examine the few pictures they contained an open door an almost dark passage and a turnpike stair at length presented themselves as stimulants to her curiosity and tempted her to diverge from the straight line she had hitherto followed it was the original part of the building to which a modern gothic front had been affixed and she soon found herself in all the inextricable maze of long narrow passages leading only to disappointment steps which seem to have been placed only as if on purpose to make people stumble and little useless rooms which looked as if they had been contrived solely for the past time of hide and seek at length she entered one she guessed to be lord rossville's study and was hastily retreating when her eye was caught by an old-fashioned glass door opening upon a shrubbery she tried to open it but it was locked the prospect from without was alluring and she felt unwilling to turn away from it the windows were but a little distance from the ground and having opened one and smelt the violets that grew beneath her next impulse was to spring lightly through it into the garden as she inhaled the fresh morning air fraught with the sweets of early summer where the scent comes and goes like the warbling of music and looked on the lovely landscape as it's shown in the deep calm radiance of the morning sun her heart exalted in all the joyousness of youth and health in the brightness of creation she had wandered to a considerable distance when having gained the top of an eminence she stood to admire the effect of some cottages situated on the green shelving bank which over hung the river what a pretty picturesque thing a cottage is thought she to herself how gracefully its smoke rises from amongst the trees and contrasts with the clear atmosphere around when this is mine i will certainly have some pretty cottages built inside of the castle and have the good people to dance on the green sword before their doors in an evening when their work is done oh how easy it must be to be good when one has the power of doing good ignorant of herself and of the nature of the human heart Gertrude believed that to will and to do were one in the same as yet untaught that all vague baseless schemes of virtue all vain romantic dreams of benevolence are as much the cobwebs of imagination as the air built castles of human happiness whether of love glory riches or ambition the beauty of the morning the interest each object excited the song of the birds the smell of the opening flowers the sound of the waters all combined to lull her visionary mind into an elysium of her own creating and as she walked along in all the ideal enjoyment of her utopian schemes she found herself at the door of one of those cottages whose picturesque appearance had charmed her so much at a distance a near survey however soon satisfied her that the view owed all its charms to distance some coarse lint haired mahogany faced half-naked urchins with brown legs and black feet were dabbling in a gutter before the door while some bigger ones were pursuing a pig and her litter seemingly for the sole purpose of amusement what a pity those children are all so ugly thought miss saint claire it would have been so delightful to have had them all nicely dressed and have taught them myself but they are so frightful i could have no pleasure in seeing them however she overcame her repugnant so far as to accost them would not you like to be made nice and clean and have pretty new clothes i answered one of them with a broad stare and still broader accent and to go to school and be taught to read and write and work naw answered the whole troop with one voice as they renewed their splashing with fresh vigor miss saint claire made no further attempts in that quarter but she entered the cottage carefully picking her steps and wrapping her garments close round her to prevent their contracting any impurities the smoke which had figured so gracely out of doors had a very different effect within and she stood a few minutes on the threshold before she could some encourage to penetrate farther at length that's her eyes got accustomed to the palpable obscure she discovered the figure of a man seated in a wooden chair by the fire in a ragged coat and striped woollen nightcap he is ill poor creature thought she and quickly advancing she wished him good morning her salutation was respectfully returned and the man making an effort to rise invited her to be seated with considerable courtesy i'm afraid you are ill said gertrude declining the invitation and looking with compassion on his lean sallow visage who deed he's very ill my lady cried a voice from behind and presently advanced to stout blooming broad-faced dame clad in a scanty blue flannel petticoat and short gown she was encompassed by a gur or hoop supporting two stoops a piece of machinery altogether peculiar to scotland having disengaged herself from this involvement or convolvement she dropped a curtsy to her guests and then wiping down a chair pressed her to be seated the good man's really extraordinary ill my lady continued she in a high key i'm sure i can know what to do with him it was first a sudden dune cold and knew he's fallen into sort of a dwindling like and at will i didn't think he'll air get the better at have you any doctor to see him inquired miss saint claire who twill he's had doctors enough and they things been spared on him i'm sure he's pitting his buckled doctor stuff a kind of nether until himself as might have pushed him 20 times or but will of what i think the mare he takes the where he grows perhaps he takes too much medicine deed i'll know say but he may but he can my lady what can he do he won't take what the doctor sends him the things can't be lost but we'll ease very swear to take them while as though i'm sure muckl money they cost and as i tell him their dear morsels perhaps if he were to leave off the medicines and try the effect of fresh air and good milk and soup which i shall endeavor to procure for him i'm sure where muckl applies to you my lady but he needn't want for fresh air he can get enough of that any day by going to the door but there's no getting him to stir for the chimney lug and indeed i can i say want for milk or ball fever for owner of the young gentleman up by spoke to my lord for us and he's really know to mean for his meat if he would take it as i tell him while's my 30 money a man would be glad to have it for the taken is there anything else then in which i can be of use to you inquired miss st. claire now addressing the invalid is there anything you particularly wish for the man held up a ragged elbow again your ladyship has an old coat to spare said he in a hesitating voice an old coat and proposed his damn who what could put an old coat in your head damn i'm sure there's a handle things more needful than an old coat know that he would be the wearer a coat neither for he has nothing between that bear dud on his back in his marriage run and his sabbath he sued in the kiss there pray let me know what things are most wanted for your husband's comfort said miss st. claire and i shall make a point of sending them a bit of carpet for instance looking upon the damp clay floor would you like a bit of carpet damn the lady asks for his wife to him then without waiting for an answer who did he disney ken what we would like and he's never been used to tell a carpet and i dare say it would just be a disconvenience to them knew that he cannot be fast with anything no but what he might pit up with a bit of carpet as warrant if he had either things there are a handle more needful a more comfortable chair than i may surely send said gertrude still persisting in her benevolent attempts the ladies for sending you another chair damn again shouted his tender helpmate the husband nodded his assent but will he sudden so long in that and i'd do it's no worth as well to change to new and i didn't think he could be fast with another chair no but what we make it up with another chair or two if we had our all thing else wise like i'm sorry there is nothing i can think of that would be acceptable to you oh well no say that my lady briskly interrupted the hostess there's a handle things wheel of what we have marconita for a thing but i must think shame to tell it and it's really not for the mind neither my lady but it's just so happened with a thing and another i have never gotten a stick of the goodman's dead clays ready and know to think that he's drawn near his end i'm sure i cannot tell the vexation it's cost me here the dame drew a deep sigh and wiped her eyes with the corner of her apron then proceeded sygna a discreditable light thing to have said and such a comfort is no doubt it would be to him to see a thing ready and wise like before he got out of the world a suited good being comfortable dead clays toms appealing to her husband which sets you better than all the braw chires and carpets in the tomb no but what if he had the time you might pit up with the thither but why not be a bonny like thing to see you set up with a broad carpet in a soft chair and to think you had no so muckle as a wise like wind and she to row ye in a great deal of the pathos of this harangue was of course unintelligible to miss st. claire but she comprehended the main scope of it and somewhat shocked at this scotch mode of evincing conjugal affection she put down some money and withdrew rather surprised to find what different ideas of comfort prevailed in different countries and a good deal disappointed in the failure of her benevolent intentions end of section four section five of the inheritance by susan edmund stune farrier this livervox recording is in the public domain volume one chapter five what kind of cataclysm call you this much to do about nothing time had passed unheeded and chance rather than design led miss st. claire to retrace her steps when as she drew near the castle she was met by one of the servants who informed her that he and several others had been sent in search of her as it was long past the breakfast hour and the family had been sometime assembled ashamed of her own thoughtlessness she quickened her steps and desiring the servant to show the way to the breakfast room without waiting to adjust her dress she hastily entered eager to apologize for her transgression but the dread solemnity that sat on lord rossville's bra made her falter in her purpose with the teapot in one hand with the other he made an awful way for her to be seated lady betty was busy mixing a mess of hot rolls cream and sugar for her epileptic lap dog and impending storm sat on missus st claire's face but veiled under an appearance of calm dignified displeasure gird truth felt as if denounced by the whole party she knew not for what unless for having been 20 minutes too late for breakfast and in some trepidation she began to apologize for her absence lord rossville gave several deep sepulchral hems than as if he had been passing sentence upon a criminal said i'm not a verse to postpone the discussion of this delicate and painful investigation miss st claire until you shall have had the benefit of refreshment gird truth was confounded my lord exclaimed she in amazement i'm very sorry if anything has occurred and she looked round for an explanation lord rossville hemmed looks still more appalling and then spoke as follows you are doubtless aware miss st claire that in all countries where civilization and refinement have made any considerable progress female delicacy and propriety are are ever held in the highest estimation and esteem his lordship paused and as no contradiction was offered to this his proam he proceeded but you must or certainly ought to be likewise aware that it is not merely these virtues themselves which must be carefully implanted and vigilantly watched over in the young and tender female for even the possession of the virtues themselves are not a sufficient shield for the female character it was a maxim of juya caesars unquestionably the greatest conqueror that ever lived that his wife must not only be spotless in herself but that she must not even be suspected by others a maxim that in my opinion deserves to be engraved in letters of gold and certainly cannot be too early or too deeply imprinted on the young and tender female breast his lordship had gained a climax and he stopped overpowered with his own eloquence missus st claire made a movement expressive of the deepest attention and most profound admiration such being my sentiments sentiments in which i am borne out by the testimony of one of the greatest men whoever lived it is not surprising that i should feel and feel deeply too the glaring in discretion you have i grieved to say already committed since your entrance within these walls then after another solemn pause during which miss st claire sat in speechless amazement he resumed with more than senatorial dignity i wish to be correctly informed at what hour you quitted your apartment this morning miss st claire indeed my lord i cannot tell answered your truth with perfect naivete i had forgot to wind up my watch and i did not hear any clock strike but from the appearance of the morning i'm sure it was early and what may i ask was the mode or manner miss st claire by which you thought proper to quit my house at so untimely and unusual an hour demanded the earl in a voice of repressed emotion gertrude blushed i'm afraid i was guilty of a transgression my lord for which i ask your pardon but allured by the fineness of the morning and the beauty of the scenery i was desirous of getting out to enjoy them and having in vain tried to make my way through a door i was tempted to escape by a window miss st claire spoke with so much simplicity and gentleness and there was so much sweetness and even melody in her voice and accent that any other than lord rossville would have wished her offense had been greater that her apology might have been longer not so his lordship who possessed neither taste nor ear and was alive to no charm but what he called propriety at the conclusion of his nieces acknowledgement the earl struck his forehead and took two or three turns up and down the room then suddenly stopping are you at all aware miss st claire of the glaring the i must say gross impropriety of such a step in itself of the still more gross construction that will be put upon it by the world the simple fact has only to be told and one inference and but one will be drawn you have quitted the apartment assigned to you under my roof at a nameless untimely consequently unbefitting hour and you rashly wantonly and improperly precipitate yourself from a window and what window why the window of my private sitting room a young female is seen issuing from the window of my study at a nameless hour in the morning the tail circulates and where i ask am i where was you as lady betty mrs st claire put her handkerchief to her face i'm very sorry my lord that i should have done anything to displease you if i have done wrong if you have done wrong good heavens is it thus you view the matter miss st claire what i think wrong who that has proper feelings of delicacy and propriety who that has a due regard for character and reputation but must view the matter precisely as i do such a step and at such an hour and his lordship resumed his troubled walk unacquainted with her uncle's character and ignorant of the manners and customs of the country gertrude was led to believe she had committed a much more serious offense than she had been aware of and she was at length wrought up to that degree of distress which the earl deemed necessary to mark her contrition softened at witnessing the effect of his power which he imputed to the fine style of his language he now took his niece's hand and addressed her in what he intended for a more consolatory string i have considered it my duty a painful one doubtless but nevertheless my duty to point out to you the impropriety you have i hope and believe inadvertently committed as a member of my family and one for whose actions the world will naturally consider me responsible it is necessary that i should henceforth take upon myself the entire regulation of your future manners and conduct in life you madam to mrs. sainclair have delegated to me the authority of a parent and i should ill merit so important to trust where i to shrink from the discharge of the functions of the parental office mrs. sainclair's blood ran cold at the thoughts of being subjected to such thralldom but before dismissing this subject i trust forever let me hear a state to you my sentiments with regard to young ladies walking before breakfast a practice of which i must confess i have always disapproved i'm aware it is a practice that has the sanction of many highly respectable authorities who have written on the subject of female ethics but i own i cannot approve of young ladies of rank and family leaving their apartments at the same hour with chamber maids and dairy maids and walking out unattended at an hour when only the lower orders of the people are abroad walking before breakfast then i must consider as a most rude masculine habit as the right honorable edmund Burke observes an air of robustness and strength is highly prejudicial to beauty that is as i apprehend female beauty while an appearance of fragility is no less essential to it and certainly nothing in my opinion can be more unbecoming more undeminent than to behold a young lady seat herself at the breakfast table with the complexion of a dairy mate and the appetite of a plow man at the same time i am an advocate for early rising as there are doubtless many ways in which young ladies may spend their mornings without rambling abroad and you will find by looking in your dressing room that i have made ample provision for your instruction and amusement and delight that morning walks therefore from henceforth have an end and he pressed his niece's hand with that era pompous forgiveness so revolting from one human being to another luckily his lordship was here summoned away but ere he left the room he signified his intention of returning in an hour to show the ladies what was most worthy of observation in the castle and the means absurd as this scene may appear few will deny the undue importance which many people attach to the trifles of life and how often molehills are magnified into mountains by those with whom trifles are indeed the sum of human things end of section five section six of the inheritance by susan edmund ferrier this liver vox recording is in the public domain volume one chapter six by lakin i can go no farther sir my old bones aches here's a maze trod indeed through fourth rites and meanders by your patience on needs must rest me the tempest true as the dial to the sun even though it be not shined upon lord rossville returned at the hour appointed to do the honors of his castle but as most of my readers have doubtless experienced the misery of being shown a house where there was nothing to be seen and can tell how hard it is to climb from the second sunk story to the uppermost garret's i shall not be so unmerciful as to drag them upstairs and downstairs to my lady's chamber and enter all the chambers except his lordship's own which he was too decorous to exhibit neither shall i insist upon their hearing everything explained and set forth even to the dutch tiles of the dairy the hot and cold pipes of the washing house the new invented ovens the admirably constructed larder the inimitable baths with all the wonder working steam going apparatus of the kitchen here mrs. st. claire acquitted herself to admiration for to see judiciously requires no small skill in the seer and there are a few who see things precisely as they ought to be seen many see too much many too little some see only to find fault some only to admire some are or pretend to be already acquainted with everything they are shown some are profoundly ignorant consequently cannot properly appreciate the inventions where improvements exhibited some are too inquisitive some too indifferent but it is as impossible to describe the vast variety of seers as of mosses neither is it easy to point out the innumerable rocks on which seer may strike a treatise illustrated by a few memorable examples or awful warnings might possibly be of some use to the unskillful beholder but as in most other arts and sciences much must depend upon natural genius mrs. st. claire was so happily endowed that she was unable to see everything as it was intended to be seen and to bestow her admiration in the exact proportion in which she perceived it was required through all the intermediate degrees from ecstatic rapture down to emphatic approval with mrs. st. claire it was far otherwise she had no taste for poking into pantries and chimneys and sellers or of hearing any of the inelegant minutiae of life detailed it seemed like breaking all the enchantments of existence to be thus made to view the complicated machinery by which life artificial life was sustained and she rejoiced when the survey was ended and it was proposed after luncheon to take a drive through the grounds gird trude flattered herself that here she would at least enjoy the repose of inactivity and be suffered to see as much as could be seen from a carriage window of the beauties of nature but lord rossville's mind was never in a quiescent state in any situation there was always something to be done or to be seen the windows were to be either let down or drawn up the blinds to be drawn up or pulled down there was something that ought to be seen but could not be seen or there was something seen that ought not to have been seen thus his mind was not only its own plague but the plague of all who had the misfortune to bear him company in vain were creations charms spread before his eyes there is a mental blindness darker than that which shrouds the visual orb and nature's works were to lord rossville and universal blank or rather they were a sort of account book in which were registered all his own petty doings it was here he had drained there he had embanked here he had planted there he had cut down here he had built a bridge there he had made a road here he had leveled there he had raised etc etc etc to all that his own head had planned he was feelingly alive but for the dread magnificent sense of heaven he had neither eye ear nor soul and must therefore be forgiven if insensible to its influence mrs. St. Clair was not much more highly gifted in that respect but she could speak if she could not feel and she expatiated and admired till lord rossville thought her without exception the cleverest woman he had ever met with since you are so great an enthusiast in the beauties of nature my dear madame said he addressing his sister-in-law we shall extend our drive a little farther than i had proposed that i may have the pleasure of showing you at a single curb duria the whole extent of the rossville possessions in this county while at the same time you will embrace some other objects in which i am not wholly unconcerned benjamin to the servant to pinnacle hill and to pinnacle hill the horse's heads were turned pinnacle hill continued the earl is a very celebrated spot it is a purchase i made from lord bear acre some years ago it is much resorted to by strangers as commanding with few exceptions one of the finest views in scotland mrs. st. Clair hated fine view since she tried to get off by pretending scruples about encroaching so much on his lordship's time goodness and so forth but all in vain to pinnacle hill they were driven and after being dragged up as far as horses could go they were as indeed the name implied obliged to a light and descend on foot with considerable toil they reached the top and scarcely were they there when the wind having changed to the east it's never failing accompaniment a raw mist began to gather all round but lord rossville was insensible even to an east wind his bodily sensations being quite as obtuse as his mental ones and having got to the top of the pinnacle he faced him round and in the very teeth of the enemy began to point out what was and what was not to be seen here you have a very commanding view or would have had if the atmosphere had been somewhat clear as it is i can enable you distinctly to trace out the boundary line of the rossville estate observe the course of the river in the direction of my cane you see it plainly here there it disappears amongst the millbank woods now it takes a turn and you have it again to your left you follow me perfectly my lord replied mrs. st. Clair although she saw nothing but a wreath of mist undoubtedly that must be the river we see said his lordship doubtingly but at the same time we never can rely with perfect security upon the watery element it has many prototypes which are not easily detected at a distance of bleach field for instance has not unfrequently been mistaken for a piece of water and we read about very singular deception produced upon sand in the eastern countries and termed the mirage water is indeed a deceitful element said mrs. st. Clair hoping by this affirmative to get to the lee side of the discussion on the other hand it is a most useful and invaluable element without water where would be our navigation our commerce our knowledge our arts in one word water it may be termed the bulwark of britain it may indeed said mrs. st. Clair her teeth chattering as she spoke to water we owe our existence as a nation our liberties civil and religious and she retreated a few steps on the faith of having settled the matter pardon me there my dear madam said the earl retaining his original footing that is perhaps going a little too far strictly speaking we cannot with propriety be said to owe our existence to water since had we not been an island a highly favorite island we should certainly have formed part of the vast continent of europe and with regard to our liberties the magna carta that boast of britain was unquestionably procured and i trust will ever be maintained on terra firma mrs. st. Clair could almost have given up the game at this point to stand on the very pinnacle of a pinnacle in the face of an east wind and be talked to about bulwarks and magna cartas it was too much how very cold you look mama said miss st. Clair compassionating her mother's feelings cold repeated lord rossville in a tone of surprise and displeasure impossible cold in the month of may the day would be too hot were not for this cooling breeze this was worse and worse mrs. st. Clair groaned internally as she thought how will it be possible to drag out existence with a man who calls a piercing east wind a cooling breeze lord rossville raised his cane and resumed his observations at great length upon the ravages committed by the river on his friend and neighbor bog hall's property mrs. st. Clair wished the bog hall acres in the bottom of the red sea though even from thence lord rossville might perhaps have fished them up as a thorough bread tormentor like a first rate magician can call spirits even from the vasty deep to torment his victims here continued the url taking his sister-in-law by the hand and leading her to the utmost verge of all she hated oblique exposed promontory here we command a no less charming prospect in a different style observed that range of hills superb exclaimed mrs. st. Clair with an eggy shutter why yes the hills themselves are very well but do you observe nothing my dear madame that relieves the eye from what a friend of mine just recalls a boundless continuity of shade mrs. st. Clair almost cracked her eyeball straining in the direction pointed out but like sister n could see nothing to the purpose i suspect you are looking rather too high near the base and allow your eye to run along by the point of my cane there you must have got it now there are perhaps few everyday situations more tormenting to a delicate mind than that of being called upon to see what you cannot see you must either disappoint the views of the viewpoint or you must sacrifice your conscience as it is much to be feared too many do by pretending that you have at last hit the mark whether it be a puff of smoke indicative of a town a white cloud of the ocean or a black speck of an island i think i discover something now cried mrs. st. Clair quite at a loss to guess whether the white moat in question was a church steeple or a ship's mast or any other wonderful object of the same nature which generous long sided people will always make a point of sharing with their less gifted friends and you think the effect good admirable inimitable why the situation was my own choice there was a committee appointed to make choice of the most favorable site and they fortunately fell in with my views on the subject and indeed paid me the compliment of consulting my feelings on the occasion a public monument i conceive art undoubtedly to be placed in a conspicuous and elevated situation but more especially when that situation happens to be in the very grounds of not only the original proposer and principal inheritor in the county but likewise the personal friend of the illustrious dead to whom this tribute is decreed for i am proud to say our renowned patriot the great lord pension well was with the excellent lord dunderhead the associate of my youthful years the friend of my mature age happy the country said mrs. st. Clair now driven almost a frenzy whose nobles are thus gifted with the power of reflecting kindred excellence and perpetuating national virtue on the broad basis of private friendship mrs. st. Clair knew she was talking nonsense but she also knew who she was talking to and was sure it would pass lord rossville to be sure was a little puzzled but he saw it was meant as a compliment and contained a fine sounding sentiment and it was therefore well received fortunately the rain now began to fall and every object being completely shrouded in mist his lordship was obliged to give in but he comforted himself and thought he comforted his companions by promising to return when the weather was more propitious to repeat and complete their enjoyment in the section six section seven of the inheritance by susan edmund stune farrier this librivox recording is in the public domain volume one chapter seven most musical most melancholy milton dinner passed heavily for although its arrangements were faultless there was a want of that ease which is the essence of good cheer the evening entertainment was still worse for lord rossville peaked himself upon his musical talents and mrs. st. Clair whose taste and execution were both of a superior order was doomed to the tortures of his lordship's accompaniment his false chords his over strain cadences his palsy shakes his tones half and whole grated upon her ear and she felt that music and melody were sometimes very different things he affected to despise all music except that of the great composers and chose for the subject of his execution they tovans symphonia pastoral here said he as he placed it before his niece and himself observed the great point is to have your mind duly impressed with the ideas these grand and characteristic movements are designed to express here we have in the first place the prospect we must of course infer that it is a fine or pleasing prospect such for example as we view today that the great composer intended to represent that your movements therefore be graceful and aerial light and shade hill and dale wood and water then follows the rivulet that I need scarcely inform you must be expressed by a gentle murmuring liquid trickling measure next we have the village dance brisk gay and exhilarating rustic but not vulgar as a powerful contrast to these simple scenes now bursts upon us the storm awful sublime overpowering as the conflict of the elements howling winds descending torrents hail thunder lightning all must be conveyed here or the mighty master's aim is rendered abortive to soothe the mind after this awful explosion of genius we wind up the whole with the shepherd's song breathing the soft accents of peace and pastoral innocence and now capo miss anglaire might well shutter at the prospect before her and her tortures were exquisite when she found her ear taste feeling science all placed under the despotic sway of his lordship's bow and foot but it linked her sufferings were ended by the sound of supper ah exclaimed he starting up it seems we take note note of time here this was a favorite jure demo of the urls and indeed it was suspected that he sometimes allowed himself to be surprised for the pleasure of repeating it supper was nearly over when the trampling of horses barking of dogs ringing of bells and all the usual clamor which attends the arrival of a person of distinction caused a sensation in the company lady betty asked what that was while she took her favorite on her lap and covered it with her pocket handkerchief from beneath which however is jude ever and an on a low asthmatic growl it is colonel del more my lady answered the pompous matron do tell who had dispatched a messenger to inquire it is an extraordinary and several improper time of night i think but his lordship's remarks were stopped by the entrance of the party in question merely touching his uncle's hand as he passed him and scarcely noticing lady betty colonel del more advanced to mizza's amiss st clare and paid his compliments to them with all the graceful hybrid ease of a man of fashion then calling for a chair he seated himself by his cousin seemingly regardless of one having been placed by lord rossville's orders on the other side of the table colonel delmore was strikingly handsome both in face and form and he possessed that high hereditary air of fashion and freedom which bore the impress of nobility and distinction there might perhaps be something of hall tour in his lofty bearing but it was so qualified by the sport of gaiety of his manners that it seemed nothing more than that elegant and graceful sense of his own superiority to which even without arrogance he could not be insensible he talked much and well and in that general way which allowed everyone to take apart in the conversation without suffering anyone not even the earl to monopolize it altogether his presence was like sunshine upon frostwork and an air of ease and gaiety succeeded to the dullness and constraint which had hitherto prevailed lady betty had three times asked what brought you here at this time of night before colonel delmore answered at last he said two very powerful motives though scarcely fit to be named together the first was my eagerness to do homage here bowing gracefully to miss st clare the other was to avoid the honor of driving miss pratt i thought mr lindsey was to have returned with you said the earl i offered him a seat in my caracle which he wanted to transfer to miss pratt but i could not possibly agree to that arrangement so he remains like a prude chivalier to escort her in a hackney shez and also i believe to attend a bible meeting or a charity sermon or something of that sort it is more i suspect is a paymaster than a protector that his services are required as he discovered it would cost her i can't tell how many shillings and expenses and though i would willingly have paid her expenses yet really to endure her company for a nine mile ta da ta was more than my philosophy dreamt of much depends on the manner in which things are said as to the impression they convey to the unreflecting mind colonel delmore's voice and accent were uncommonly pleasing and he had an air of gay good humor that gave to his words rather the semblance of airy levity than a selfishness or ill nature even when he carelessly sketched on the tablecloth a caricature of mr lindsey with a large bible under his arm handing miss pratt with a huge band box and hers into a hackney shez Gertrude could not resist a smile at their expense miss pratt coming here tomorrow exclaimed the earl in a tone expressive of anything but pleasure that is somewhat unexpected and his lordship made an effort as if to vote some word too hard for utterance then addressing mr st. claire the width of very disturbed look as in all probability madam that lady's visit is designed out of compliment to you and your daughter it is necessary previous to her arrival that you should be aware of the degree of relationship subsisting between miss pratt and the members of this family lord ross leal's air looks mannered hems all portended a story it was but too evident that breath was collecting and reminiscences arranging for the purpose and the pause that ensued was prophetic not alas of its end but of its beginning but colonel delmore seemed quite aware of the danger that was impending and just as his uncle had opened his mouth with miss pratt's great grandfather he interposed i beg pardon but i cannot think of devolving the task of being miss pratt's chronicle upon you as i was guilty of introducing her to the company mind be the punishment of becoming her biographer then with a rapidity which left the earl with his mouth open and miss pratt's great grandfather still vibrating on his tongue he went on miss pratt then by means of great grandfathers and great grandmothers who par parenthes may commonly be classed under the head of great boars is somehow or other cousin to all families of distinction in general throughout scotland put to this one from its local advantages in particular i cannot pretend to show forth the various modifications of which cousinship is susceptible for a second and third degrees as far as numbers and degrees can go and indeed i've already committed a great error in my outset by having introduced miss pratt by herself miss pratt when i ought to have presented her as miss pratt and anthony white in fact as woodington without his cat would be nobody in the nursery so neither would miss pratt be recognized in the world without anthony white not that there exists the same reciprocal attachment or unity or fortune between the aunt and the nephew which distinguished the master and his cat for anthony white is rich and miss pratt is poor anthony white lives in a castle miss pratt in a cottage anthony white has horses and hounds miss pratt has clogs and patterns there is something so uninteresting if not unpromising in the name that addressing himself to miss st clare you at present will scarcely care whether it belongs to a man or a cat and will be ready to explain what's in the name but do not expect long to enjoy this happy state of indifference by dint of hearing it repeated day after day hour after hour minute after minute upon every possible and impossible occasion it will at length take such hold of your imagination that you will see the mystic letters which compose the name of anthony white wherever you turn your eyes she will be ready to hollow out his name to the reverberate rocks and teach the babbling gossips of the air to cry out anthony white what's all that nonsense ask lady betty i've been rather prosy upon miss pratt and her adjunct that's all answered colonel delmore slightly i must have something to put away the sound of anthony white and he harmed a few notes do miss st clare join me in expelling those hideous names i have in vote for your gratification you sing i am sure but grid truth was afraid to comply for no one second at the request lord rossville indeed looked evidently much displeased but it was no less manifest that his nephew neither thought nor cared for anybody's feelings but such as he was solicitous to please and before the party broke up he had contrived to make a very favorable impression on the only person present whose favor he was anxious to obtain end of section seven section eight of the inheritance by susan admonstone farrier this liver box recording is in the public domain volume one chapter eight her tongue runs round like a wheel once spoke after another there is no end of it you would wonder at her matter to hear her talk and would admire her talk when you hear her matter all the wonder is whilst she speaks only thrums how she makes so many different ends hang together richard fleck no 1658 many visitors arrived the two following days from various quarters though all from similar motives bees to see the young eras and her plebeian mother but amongst all the varieties of life how few can even serve to point a mall or adorn a tail the most distinguished of those individuals were lady mill bank and her daughters who drove up in all the bustle and parade of a barouche and four splendidly emblazoned with drivers and riders in the full pomp of blazing liveries and in short the usual a claw of an equipped which at once denotes wealth and grandeur the ladies were in the same style with their outward bearings tall showy dashing personages with scornful looks and super silliest manners they surveyed miss st. claire from head to foot with a bold stare and after making some trifling remarks to her turned their whole artillery against colonel delmore who received their addresses with a sort of careless familiarity very different from the refined attentions he displayed towards his cousin good heavens exclaimed one of the ladies who had stationed herself at a window do look at this colonel delmore and at the piercing exclamation the whole party hastened to ascertain the cause the phenomena appeared to be a hackney shez of the meanest description which was displacing the splendid barouche to the manifest mirth of the insolent minions who stood lounging at the door who can that be i wonder asked lady betty mrs. st. claire turned pale with terror lest it should be any of her bourgeois relations forcing their way i conclude it must be our cousin miss pratt said the earl in some agitation to lady mill bank and while he spoke of female head and hand were to be seen shaking and waving to the driver with eager gesticulation and mr. lindsey i bow exclaimed miss jemima mill bank throwing herself into a theatrical attitude of astonishment the hack shez with its stiff rusty horses had now got close to the door and the broken jingling steps being lowered out stepped a young man who was immediately saluted with shouts of laughter from the party at the window he looked up and smiled but seemed no wise disconcerted as he stood patiently waiting for his companion to emerge i hope they are to perform quarantine said colonel delmore i vote for their being sent to coventry said miss august i prepare to stand upon the defensive said miss maria as she seized a smelling bottle from off the table at length miss pratt appeared shaking the straw from her feet and having alighted it was expected that her next movement would be to enter the house but they knew little of miss pratt who thought always done when she reached her destination much yet remained to be done which she would not trust either to her companion or the servants she had in the first place to speak in a very sharp manner to the driver on the condition of his shez and horses and through out hints of having him severely punished in as much as one of his windows would not let down and she'd almost sprained her wrist in attempting it and another would not pull up though the wind was going through her head like a spear besides having taken two hours and a quarter to bring them nine miles and her watch was held up in a triumphant manner in proof of her assertion she next made it a point to see with her own eyes every article pertaining to her and they were not a few taken out of the shez and to give with her own voice innumerable directions as to the carrying stowing and placing of her bags boxes and bundles all these matters being settled miss pratt then accepted the arm of her companion and was now fairly on her way to the drawing room but people who make use of their eyes have often much to see even between two doors and in her progress from the hall door to the drawing room door miss pratt met with much to attract her attention true all the objects were perfectly familiar to her but a real looker like a great genius is never at a loss for subject things are either better or worse since they saw them last or if the things themselves should happen to be the same they have seen other things either better or worse and can therefore either improve or disprove them miss pratt's head then turned from side to side a thousand times as she went along and a thousand observations and criticisms about stair carpets patent lamps hall chairs slab tables etc etc etc passed through her crowded brain at length miss pratt and mr. linsey were announced and thereupon entered miss pratt in a quick paddling manner as if in all haste to greet her friends how do you do my lord nobilities attacks i hope of late lady betty is stout as ever i see and my old friend flor as fat as i'll call her to you lady mailbag i'm perfectly ashamed to see you in any house but your own but everything must give way to the first visit you know especially amongst kinsfolk taking mrs. st. claire by the hand without waiting for the ceremony of an introduction while this and much more in the same strain was passing with miss pratt at one end of the room mr. linsey had joined the younger part of the company at the other and been introduced by colonel delmore to miss st claire there was nothing so striking in his appearance as to arrest the careless eye or call forth instant admiration yet his figure though not much above the middle of size was elegant his head and features were finally formed and altogether he had that sort of classical tour newer which although not conspicuous is uncommon and that air of calm repose which indicates a mind of an elevated cast still seen beside colonel delmore mr. linsey might have been overlooked he had nothing of that brilliancy of a dress which distinguished his cousin but he had what is still more rare that perfect simplicity of manner which borrows nothing from imitation and as someone has well remarked few peculiarities are more striking than a total absence of all affectation scarcely allowing time for the introduction miss millbank began in a tone intended to be very sympathetic how dreadful you must have been bored today with la polva pratt good heavens how could you inflict such appendix upon yourself did you not find her most shockingly annoying and dreadfully tiresome annoying and tiresome to a certain degree as everybody must be who asks idle questions answered mr. linsey with a smile which though very sweet was not without a meaning the rebuff if it was intended for such was however lost upon his fair assailant then good heavens how could you bore yourself with her she was my mother's friend and relation replied he calmly of all descriptions of entail that her friends would be the most severe said colonel delmore oh heavens what a shocking idea exclaimed the three miss mill banks in a breath what's the shocking idea my dears demanded miss pratt as she padded into the midst of the group i'm sure there's no shocking realities here for i never saw a prettier circle darting her eyes all round while she familiarly padded miss st. claire and drawing her arm within hers as she stood by the window seemed resolved to appropriate her entirely to herself gertrude's attention was no less excited by miss pratt who had to her all the charms of novelty for though there are many miss pratt's in the world it had never been her fortune to meet with one till now miss pratt then appeared to her to be a person from whom nothing could be hid her eyes were not by any means fine eyes they were not reflecting eyes they were not soft eyes they were not sparkling eyes they were not melting eyes they were not penetrating eyes neither were they restless eyes nor rolling eyes nor squinting eyes nor prominent eyes but they were active brisk busy vigilant immovable eyes that looked as if they could not be surprised by anything not even by sleep they never looked angry or joyous or perturbed or melancholy or heavy but morning noon and night they shown the same and conveyed the same impression to the beholder these that they were eyes that had a look not like the look of sterns monk beyond this world but a look into all things on the face of this world her other features have nothing remarkable in them but the ears might evidently be classed under the same head with the eyes they were something resembling rabbits long prominent restless vibrating ears forever listening and never shut by the powers of thought her voice had the tone and inflections of one accustomed to make frequent sharp interrogatories she had rather a neat compact figure and the two ensemble of her personal dress was that of smartness such though not quite so strongly defined was the sort of impression miss prat generally made upon the beholder having darted two or three of her sharpest glances at miss st claire you know i'm really puzzled my dear to make out who it is you are so like for your neither a rostle nor black and by the by have you seen your uncle mr alexander black yet what a fine family he's got i heard you was quite smitten with miss lily black at the circuit ball till the night colonel delmore but you're not so ill to please as anthony white that was really a good thing lord pun me down said to him that night looking at the two miss blacks says he to anthony with a shake of his head uh anthony says he i'm afraid two blacks will never make a white ha ha ha lord rostle did you hear that at the circuit ball lord pun me down said to anthony white pointing to the two miss blacks i fear says he two blacks will never make a white no my lord says anthony for you know there's no turning a black or more white ha ha ha a very fair answer says my lord lady mill bank did you hear of lord pun me down satayak upon mr white at the ball the two miss blacks i black ball a repetition of that ball more said colonel delmore you won't really be taken for a magpie if you are so black and white said miss mill bank pun my word that's not at all a miss i must let anthony white hear that but bless me lady mill bank you're not going away already won't you stay and take some lunch and i can answer for the soups here i really think my lord you rival the white hall soups but just regarding miss pratt's pressing invitation lady mill bank and her train took leave and scarcely were they gone when luncheon was announced come my dear resume the tormentor holding gertrude's arm within hers that you and i keep together i want to get better acquainted with you but i wish i could find a likeness for you looking around upon the family portraits as they entered the eating room they must look higher who would find a similitude for miss san claire said colonel delmore miss brack glanced at the painted ceiling representing a band of very fat full blown rosy hours aha do you hear that my lord colonel delmore says there's nothing on earth to compare to miss san claire and that we must look for her likeness in the regions above well goddess or not let me recommend a bit let me recommend a bit of this nice cold land to you very sweet and tender it is and i assure you i'm one of those who think a leg of land looks as well on a table as in a meadow then dropping your knife and fork with a start of joint bless me what was i thinking of that was really very well said of you colonel but i've got it now a most wonderful resemblance see who will be the next to find it out all present looked at each other and then at the pictures lord rossville who had been vainly watching for an opening now took advantage of it and with one of his long suppressed sonorous hems bespoke him as follows although i have not given much of my time or attention to the study of physiognomy as i do not conceive it is one likely to be productive of beneficial results to society yet i do not hesitate to admit the reality of those analogies of feature which may be and undoubtedly are distinctly traced through successive generations the family mouth for example pointing to a long chinned pinky eyed female with a pursed up mouth hanging aloft as portrayed in that most exemplary woman the lady janet st. claire has its prototype in that of my niece turning to gertrude well in the more manly formed nose of robert first earl of rossville an accurate physiognomist might discern the root as it were my dear lord rossville exclaimed miss pratt throwing herself back on her chair i hope you're not going to say miss st. claire has the nose of red robbie as he was called root indeed a pretty compliment if it was a root it must have been a beet root as anthony white says it's a nose like the handle of pump well and as for lady janet's mouth he says it's even more nor less than a slit in a pores box mr anthony white takes most improper liberties with the family of st. claire if he presumes to make use of such unwarrantable such unjustifiable i may add such ungently expressions towards any of its members said lord rossville speaking faster in the heat of his indignation and it is mortifying to reflect that anyone allied to this family should ever have so far forgot what was due to it as to form such course and vulgar and derogatory comparisons one of them is rather a flattering comparison said mr lindsay i'm afraid there are a few mouths that can be represented as um limbs of charity very well it said mr edwards said miss pratt no wires disconcerted at the down set she received shall i send you this nice rib in return lord rossville let me recommend the rhubarb tarp to you miss diana my dear i beg your pardon miss st claire but i'll really never be able to call you anything but diana for such a likeness what have you all been thinking of not to have found out that miss st claire is the very picture of the diana in the yellow turret lord rossville in a ton of surprise and displeasure repeated the diana in the yellow turret impossible impossible or not i cannot show you it's the fact mr st claire have you seen the diana come with me and i'll show it you come my dear and see yourself as a goddess come away seeing's believing my lord and she jumped up almost choking in her eagerness to display the discovery she had made miss pratt cried the earl in her tone enough to have settled quicksilver itself miss pratt this behavior of yours is is what i cannot possibly permit the yellow turret is my private dressing room and it is surely a most improper and unwarrantable liberty i beg you ten thousand pardons my dear lord rossville i really had quite forgot the change you have made in your dressing room but at any rate i would have figured every creek and corner of yours fit to be seen at all times there's mr white his dressing room is a perfect show so neat and nicknacky his silver shoehorn would be an ornament to any drawing room miss pratt this is really i and his lordship hemmed in a manner which showed the greatest discomposure as we cannot be gratified with a sight of mr white's shoehorn said colonel delmore it would certainly be some solace to be allowed to behold your lordship's goddess i forgot that picture it is so long since i've seen it but i should certainly wish to prostrate myself at her shrine now and he looked to miss st clare as he spoke in a manner to give more meaning to his words than met the ear the earl was much embarrassed he was provoked at the irreverent and indecorous manner in which miss pratt had been going to rush into his dressing room and he was peaked at the insinuation she had thrown out of its not being fit to be seen he therefore wavered betwixt his desire of punishing her presumption by exclusion or vindicating his own character by instant and unpremeditated admission after maturely weighing the matter he decided upon the latter mode of proceeding and said although i have certainly no idea of permitting my private apartments to be thrown open whenever idle or impertinent or it may be ill-disposed curiosity might prompt the wish yet i do not object to gratify either my own family and friends or even the public in general with a view of them when the request is properly conveyed and at a proper and reasonable hour for if there is a time for everything it should likewise be remembered there is a manner for everything and although i do not consider a gentleman's dressing room as the most elegant and delicate exhibition for ladies yet upon this occasion if they are so inclined bowing all round i shall be happy to conduct them to my private apartments the sooner the better cried miss pratt while the very ribbons on her bonnet seem to vibrate within patience come my dear and see yourself as a goddess and again seizing miss san claire away she padded full speed there's a broom where a broom shouldn't be darting her eyes into the dark corner of a passage as she whisked through it then peeping into a closet and for all the work he makes i don't think his maids are a bit better than other people's in the section eight